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12/26/2002 "More interesting news from the (Eco)Logical Blog"

Dec 13...........Parents protest U.S. schools irradiated meat plan - 12/13/2002 - ENN.com WASHINGTON ? The Bush administration's plan to allow irradiated meat to be served to millions of U.S. school children is raising the ire of some concerned parents.

Irradiation, which has been endorsed by the World Health Organization, exposes food to low doses of electrons or gamma rays to destroy deadly microorganisms such as E. coli O157:H7 and salmonella.

Under the U.S. farm subsidy law enacted in May, the U.S. Agriculture Department must allow government-approved food safety technology such as irradiation to be used in commodities purchased by the federal school lunch program. Some 27 million schoolchildren receive free or low-cost meals daily in the program.........................more.
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Dec. 13 entry ...Court clears way for Clinton ban on forest roads - 12/13/2002 - ENN.com Washington, D.C. -- Environmental groups claimed victory Thursday after a federal appeals court effectively reinstated a Clinton-era ban on road construction on nearly 60 million acres of U.S. forest land, overturning a preliminary injunction obtained by Boise Cascade Corp. last year.

In a sweeping 55-page decision, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said repealing the ban would open federal forests to logging, mining, and other activities, harming some pristine wilderness lands........................more

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Dec. 14...........Some months ago I posted on the attempt by officials in Canada to create a legal option for large predator (wolf and cougar) hunting on Vancouver Island -- really for tourism and votes -- in the name of "saving the deer population." To this end, there may also have been some real concern to save a deer population for hunters as well.

As I pointed out then, while the idea that the wolves and cougars hunt deer, and thereby limit their numbers, is absolutely true, the idea that they were hunting them to the point of extinction would be highly irregular. If such a process really were happening, it would point more towards some other underlying factor that was affecting deer health and reproduction, creating an unnaturally large population of cullable deer, and thereby greatly increasing the number of kills wolves or cougars were making. The emphasis would be away from wolves and cougars, then, because they would be the end part of the process and not the underlying cause.

However, it was my opinion that the data on the issue was completely inconclusive and there was no real evidence that deer population was indeed in the grave danger that was being predicted. Well, I'm happy to report an unexpected victory in this matter, with the caveat that now they are trying to go after large predators in the name of the marmot:...........................more

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Dec. 16...............Global Environmental Histories

Part of an ecological understanding of things is that everything is in relation and is changing over time systematically. Thus, it does some good -- but ultimately not enough -- if we change things in Ohio, but all the surrounding states don't update their own environmental activities and statutes.

The same holds true on the world stage. One of the big projects of our time will be the piecing together and attempting to understand the total environmental history of the planet.

When we have this, then we will finally be able to see the real nature of planetary development and its corresponding effects. The following essays -- one brand new from Finland -- are part of a free H-net series in global environmental history.

Some interesting topics.........more

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