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True Green Report
The real cause
March 1, 2004
If you are one of the scores of the innocent and the gullible sending a portion of your paycheck to environmental causes, you may be an unwitting part of a scam.
Check out environmental groups you are supporting through Internet sites such as Consumerfreedom.com.
Millions of Americans mistake environmentalists as loving, caring thoughtful people.
"…In a Human Events article (12-5-97), Walter Williams blew that naïve and dangerous idea into a thousand bits," author Fred Gielow pointed out in his book, You Don’t Say. (Williams) "wrote `while the Soviet Union has collapsed, communism is not dead. It has (been) repackaged under a new name: environmentalism. Communism is about excessive government regulation and control by elites, and so is environmentalism.’
"And that’s what makes the environmental movement so dangerous. Because it sounds so benevolent, so honourable, so gallant, it entices countless citizens into donating "to the cause", when in truth, "the cause" is the overthrow of capitalism, democracy, and the American way of life," says Gielow.
"`(I) f we don’t overthrow capitalism, we don’t have a chance of saving the world ecologically," stated Judi Bari of Earth First." "`We were out to whip the public into a frenzy about the environment,’ admitted Jim Sibbison, former EPA press officer. `In searching for a new enemy to unite us, we came up with the idea that pollution, global warming, water shortages, famine and the like would fit the bill…’ averred the Council of the Club of Rome. `(We) have to offer up scary scenarios (about global warming and the destruction of the environment), make simplified dramatic statements and make little mention of any doubts one might have…Each of us has to decide what the right balance is between being effective and being honest,’ counselled Stephen Schneider, a Stanford University environmentalist. (Note "being honest" is viewed almost as an irritant, getting in the way of "being effective".)
"As Dixy Lee Ray, author of Trashing the Planet (1990) and Environment Overkill (1993) summed up quite succinctly: `(We) must recognize that the environmental movement is not about facts or logic. More and more it is becoming clear that those who support the so called `New World Order’ or World Government under the United Nations have adopted global environmentalism as a basis for the dissolution of independent nations and the international realignment of power…’"
Fun and games with the UN
The United Nations, which spits out thousands of media communiqués from its glass Manhattan headquarters, kicked off 2004 by jumping into the computer games business. The UN wants to boost knowledge of its activities worldwide.
The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) has created three interactive games that allow the young–and the not so young–to increase their knowledge of the world body and sustainable development.
The computer programs feature a "bug" which represents all the problems the UN struggles to resolve. Beating it in a frenetic race in the games, released in December, requires providing the right answers to questions that are accompanied by colourful images and sounds.
"How long is the term of the Secretary-General of the United Nations?" is one. "How many regional commissions does the United Nations have?" asks another. "When does World Environment Day take place?" a third poses.
Name this computer game b-o-r-i-n-g.
Discovery of UN activities not only enriches knowledge, but reinforces the world body’s initiatives, the ECE said, quoting Secretary-General Kofi Annan: "Much of our work here at the United Nations is aimed at giving you, the peoples of the world, greater power over your own lives and your environment. The better informed you are, the greater our chances of success."
In the new computer games, the "peoples of the world" will not likely be offered a question enabling them to explore a main characteristic of the UN: fencesitting.
Interesting to note that the debut of the UN computer games followed within a matter of weeks the UN’s failure to take over total control of the Internet.
Eve’s new apple
by Caitlin Low
Yet another food scare has been unleashed! And this one is pure bologna. Some members of CSPI (Centre for Science in the Public Interest) seem to get by on worrying North Americans about the dangers of food.
CSPI executive director Michael Jacobson excels at frightening Americans away from the dinner table. "CSPI is proud about finding something wrong with practically everything," he says. Who knows whether Mom’s lectures to "eat you spinach" will find a place on the CSPI hit list?
When it comes to eating, Jacobson is a killjoy. CSPI’s executive director is on a strict diet, low carbs and harsh beliefs. A member of the national board of the animal rights-oriented Great American Meatout, Jacobson won’t touch a cookie and refuses to allow his staff to eat "bad" food. CSPI house rules are so stringent, that Jacobson once threatened to remove the office coffee maker–until one-third of his staff threatened to resign.
Although Jacobson is working at becoming the poster boy for the food fright movement, North Americans should be able to enjoy the right to eat the foods they choose. Jacobson is not the father of North America, and should leave off acting like one. CSPI can find a flaw in any food that passes our lips.
Will humanity be able to survive on what is left? In the 21st century, the age-old expression of "Food for Thought" is morphing into obsessive "Thought of Food".
Where the magnolias grow
Who, other than Robert Kennedy Jr. says pork farmers are enemies of the environment?
Carolinian Canada this month presented a conservation award to the Natvik Family, of the Chatham-Kent municipality of Ontario for their stewardship of a habitat in Canada’s most threatened region–Ontario’s Carolinian Life Zone. The Natvik Family operates swine and crop operations, while protecting and "adding back" to local natural habitats near Highgate on the Orford Ridge overlooking Lake Erie. They have restored extensive portions of their farms to native species and operate a native plant nursery.
Unlike Kennedy THEY are really making a difference, not just talking about it. With less than 4 percent forest cover in this part of the Carolinian zone, this family is critical to protecting what remains. The Carolinian life zone has the greatest diversity of species in Canada and the greatest number of rare and endangered species.
On the `back-forty’ of the Lake Erie shoreline, beside a productive farm field, Asta and Lars Natvik, owners of the farm Superpig, steward a portion of Clear Creek Forest, a provincially significant area of natural and scientific interest. With the goal of long-term protection of habitat for several species at risk nationally, including southern flying squirrel and redheaded woodpecker as high priority. Adjoining farms also owned by Superpig and son Olav are managing to provide critical wildlife corridors along creeks, drains and hedgerows.
Carolinian Canada is a 20-year-old coalition of 40-plus public sector and non-government conservation organizations aimed at conserving the wildlife and habitats of southwest Ontario’s Carolinian zone–an ecological zone lying south of a line between Toronto and Grand Bend. Prickly pear cactus, opossum, sassafras and magnolia trees are among the unusual native species found here, more typical found in the more temperate climates of the eastern United States.
Withstanding earthquakes
Just as was thought, inadequate construction standards seem to have played a role in Iran’s recent tragic earthquake, which left up to 32,000 dead and 70,000 homeless.
The tragedy must drive all members of the international community to develop safer shelter conditions across the globe, according to a United Nations human rights expert. "Compliance with sound housing standards achieved progressively throughout the world can ensure that the loss of life, human suffering and homelessness resulting from natural disasters are minimized in the future," said Miloon Kothari, the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing of the UN Commission on Human Rights.
Lauding the courage shown by survivors of the December 26 earthquake, he noted that part of the International Covenant of the Economic, Social and Cultural Rights defines "habitability" as a necessary element of the right to adequate housing. "I would like to stress that standards dictated by ‘habitability’, including durability of homes to withstand earthquakes and other disasters, should guide the reconstruction efforts in Bam," concluded Kothari.
