August 2005 | Evergreen News
Striking a New and Scary Cord
If you haven’t yet heard the term “body burden,” consider it officially in our vocabulary. In a mid-July report, the Environmental Working Group (www. ewg.org) and Commonweal partnered to release a landmark study about the body burden of unborn babies. They commissioned independent researchers to test umbilical cord blood for more than 250 targeted chemicals for the first time.
The results were eye-opening and dig much deeper than the traditional counting to make sure an infant has ten fingers and ten toes.
Researchers at two major Canadian laboratories (one in Sydney, B.C.) found an average of 200 industrial chemicals and pollutants in umbilical cord blood from 10 babies born in August and September of 2004 in U.S. hospitals. Tests revealed a total of 287 chemicals in the group. The umbilical cord blood of these 10 children, collected by Red Cross after the cord was cut, harbored pesticides, consumer product ingredients and wastes from burning coal, gasoline, and garbage.
Here’s the scariest part. For years, scientists thought the placenta shielded the umbilical cord blood from chemicals and pollutants in the environment. Not so. Among the compounds uncovered: eight perfluorochemicals used as stain and oil repellants in fast food packaging, clothes and textiles–including the Teflon chemical PFOA, recently characterized as a likely human carcinogen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’sScience Advisory Board; dozens of widely used brominated flame retardants; and numerous pesticides.
The news is especially disturbing because a developing child—and fetus—are much more affected by pollutant exposure than, say, an adult factory worker. The immature, porous blood-brain barrier is one factor, so is the young child’s lower level of chemical-binding proteins that protect us as we get older and stronger.
EWG reports the 10 children in this study were chosen randomly, from among 2004’s summer season of live births from mothers in Red Cross’ volunteer national cord blood collection program. They were not chosen because their parents work in the chemical industry or because they were known to bear problems from chemical exposures in the womb.
—Andrew Mulholland
You Go, Girl, Part One
When we endorsed Chris Gregoire for governor early in last year’s race (EM, February 2004), there were lots of reasons. But we didn’t have “fittest candidate” on our list.
Nonetheless, Gov. Gregoire recently earned a “red card” for the right to visit wildfire lines this summer. She passed a fire fitness test to acquire it, finishing a brisk one-mile hike, then properly using a small tentlike emergency fire shelter.
Gregoire called the tent device “claustrophobic” and doubted she would feel safe during a fire breakout. But the state’s top fire expert, Mark Kahley from the Department of Natural Resources assured Gregoire the tent is a life-saver, even it does “get hot and noisy in there.”
For the record, Gregoire is the first Washington governor to complete the firefighters work capacity test, allowing her to potentially become the first guv to visit the front lines of wildfires. Now, let’s hope she doesn’t have to exercise this particular privilege.
—A.M.
You Go, Girl, Part Two
It’s not the first time EM will write it, but you just have to like what Sen. Maria Cantwell is doing about biodiesel and alternative fuel legislation. She sponsored a bill that earlier this summer endorsed $550 million in grants over the next five years to promote a new class of biofuels made from vegetables such as soybeans, mustard seed and canola and from high-starch crops, including wheat straw, barley and timber. Another possibility for the grant money is converting municipal waste into fuel.
Before you think it is all just research pies-in-the-sky, consider that Washington State Ferries and Seattle City Light have both joined the biofuel movement in recent months, along with King County Executive Ron Sims (another fave here at EM).
For her part, Cantwell says she anticipates both UW and Washington State will apply for grants, along with local entrepreneurs and businesses. She got the legislation into a massive $18 billion energy bill easily approved.
“Washington state can show how to lead the way on a new energy economy,” she told reporters after the bill passed.
One of the big victories for Cantwell: She urged her Senate colleagues to expand biofuel beyond ethanol, which is made from corn and mostly produced in five midwestern states.
“By expanding [local] production of clean biofuels, we will create jobs right here in Washington state while lowering prices at the pump and decreasing our dependence on foreign oil," Cantwell says.
—A.M.
‘River Bed’ Play Inspired by Victims
Seeking to “elevate the memories” of the Green River women victims, local playwright Laurel Anne White has authored a new play, “River Bed.”
“I want to erase the general public’s view of these women as lesser citizens because they were prostitutes, junkies, etc.,” says White, who has received significant grant money from Seattle’s Office of Arts & Culture. She also was recently selected for the Jack Straw Writers program and an Artist Trust fellowship.
It is just the sort of event that Evergreen Monthly readers can lift to an entirely new level. The workshop production will be presented Aug. 19 and 20 at 8 p.m., plus Aug. 21 at 7 p.m., at The Empty Space Theatre in Fremont. Jerri Lee Young is director, with music by local artists Margi Pos, Pelousa and Jane Siberry. The cast features Selena Whitaker-Paquiet, Stephanie Shine, Maria Glanz, Tess Altiveros, Megan Hill, Kathy Hsieh, Juli Rozensweig, Paul Klein, Kimberly White and Tony nominee Jeanne Paulsen. There will be a suggested $10 minimum donation at the door. The box office opens one hour before curtain.
Audience members are invited to stay for post-play discussion following each performance.
—Bob Condor
Not Permanent, But Bringing Culture
David Holmgren, the celebrated co-founder of permaculture, will be in Seattle this month to conduct a series of lectures and seminars . This is the Australian’s first visit to the Pacific Northwest, so many permaculture advocates here are excitedly anticipating his visit.
“David Holmgren has inspired me and hundreds of thousands of people worldwide to develop permaculture gardens and systems,” says Michael Pilarski, one of the Northwest’s most vigorous permaculture teachers.
Holmgren has authored several seminal books on permaculture. The word permaculture was coined by Holmgren and Australian professor Bill Mollison and the mid-1970s to describe an “integrated, evolving system of perennial or self-perpetuating plant and animal species useful to man.” The ideal was embodied in the combining of the words “permanent” and “culture,” and reflected the "back to nature" movement of the time.
"People, their buildings and the ways they organize themselves are central to permaculture,” says Holmgren. “So the vision of permanent sustainable agriculture has evolved into one of permanent sustainable culture,"
Holmgren took the developing theory and applied it to a piece of land in Australia he called, "Melliodora." This became his laboratory and presented challenges any of us might face in reconstructing or resurrecting the natural state of a piece of property. In fact, the land he purchased to build this model site was damaged by pollution, including bulldozed-over (buried) truck parts, old sawmill residue and contaminated soil.
Holmgren had to adapt a number of agricultural techniques to account for one area of the property often being colder than the other and for winds and other weather peculiarities. He eventually had more and more interaction with town residents and town infrastructure as the nearby town grew larger and enveloped his land. "
“Melliodora: Hepburn Permaculture Gardens" is a book covering his home and the development of his practical permaculture applications. The book was originally written in 1995, spanning the first 10 years building and reinventing the land, and has recently been updated for 2005 publication.
The most innovative aspect of this newly updated book is the fact that it is in "ebook" format. The book comes in a CD that you can load onto your computer and then use the information in a non-linear fashion.
You can focus on flora and fauna, then look at the quasi-political considerations of permaculture. If your particular concern is how to redevelop a property that has been polluted or corroded, you can focus on restoring an ecosystem over time. Holmgren includes charts and plans with zoom functions to get up-close information. For details, check out www. holmgren.com.au.
—Miryam Gordon
It’s All In the Grist Action
Nice work by Seattle-based and world eco-media leader Grist.com’s Amanda Griscom Little, who interviewed Mayor Greg Nickels about his leadership in a national mayoral initiative to support and follow Kyoto Treaty climate protection—even wooing lots of Republicans after President Bush pulled out. Here’s what Nickels said when Little asked about memorable responses: (The entire interview is at www.grist.com.)
“I think the most poignant one that I got was from Mayor Ray Nagin of New Orleans,” recalls Nickels, “who said that another foot of water in the ocean, and New Orleans is gone. That really brought home the fact that the issue of global warming is not one of comfort or convenience -- it really is an issue, in many cases, of survival.”
—B.C.
Winning One For Our Water
Score another point for the strength of Washington’s environmental activists. Local environmental groups persuaded the state Department of Agriculture to more closely regulate the use of herbicides on local waterways.
"We think putting these pesticides in the lakes where we swim and the fish feed should be done as a last resort," says Erika Schreder, staff scientist with the Washington Toxics Coalition. "This agreement assures that safer methods are considered."
The agreement, prompted by a threatened lawsuit from Washington Toxics and People for Puget Sound, was filed in the U.S. District Court in Seattle. The agreement will allow continued herbicide use for select group of noxious weeds—spartina, loosestrife and knotweed—but will heighten scrutiny of the herbicides.
—A.M.
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