Table of Contents

A Message From Jane Goodall  article
At Bombay Hook: Bird Watching Trip, by Joan Maloof  article
Australian Practicum, by Sherry Jester  article
The Root of the Matter, by Sarah Mann  article
Macah Whale Hunt, by Daniel Salomon  article

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    Daniel led this fun bird watching trip to Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge in Delaware. We saw lots of birds...a number of them first time sightings for us (list below). But perhaps the highlight was going to the shore of the Delaware Bay and seeing the horseshoe crabs mating. The horseshoe crab eggs are an important food source for the shorebirds that arrive on their annual migratory journey at the same time that the crabs are mating.
 
 

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In the Atherton Tablelands of Queensland Australia there exists a beautiful land full of various rare plant and animal species. Within this place lies the Chance to learn about and experience one of the worlds most delicate and important sources of life.......the Rainforest.

This past summer from July 15 to August 13 1999, I was given the opportunity to live in the Rainforest and study reforestation techniques as well as habitat progression or regression. I did this with the Student Field Studies program through Boston University. During this month spent in the forest I lived with 23 other students from various parts of the US and six friendly staff members. We lived in cabins (5-7 in each) located about one mile from the center where we studied.

The goal of this program was to observe diversity and the importance of the Yungaburra Rainforest while attempting to replenish fragmented areas. The summer session consists of three classes; Environmental Economics, Rainforest Ecology, and Botany. Class was usually held a few times a week at the center. We also visited many areas of surrounding forest and farm lands that had been deforested for grazing or farming sugarcane. During a few of the outings we accessed four sites that had been planted by previous students. We measured height, diameter, marsupial damage, and number of species. This data was later used in our final D.R (directive research) projects.

The D.R that I chose, was to use the information collected on the sites to determine which areas were suitable habitat for the Lumholtz=s Tree Kangaroo. The final report done by me and three peers will be viewed by the tree kangaroo association and help analyze the current condition as well as the future possibilities for this particular species. This project was the determinant of the highest percent of our overall grade for the term. Other grades included a test in which we identified twenty tree species by site and another where we identified twenty bird species by site and call. Our final was based on a cumulative test on the three subjects studied.

In between studying we had the chance to go Platypus spotting and marsupial Ahunting@ (eyes only!). We also went to the town market where you could find just about anything you want. Every week we would play ultimate frisbee or spend the afternoon in the town. One weekend we camped in a small town of 220 people called Chilago. This place is in the outback and literally in the middle of nowhere. Here we went caving in limestone caves and slept under the starry night. This place is full of the famous and amazing eucalypts. My favorite field trip however, was to the Great Barrier Reef for snorkeling. Absolutely amazing! Clear blue water and strange ocean creatures you only see on discovery or in your dreams, and I finally got to see a whale!

Overall. The work was hard but very rewarding in many ways. My favorite thing that we did in the schooling aspect was replant two huge plots of forests that had been clear-cut. I plan too return to the forest one day and see how they are. I would love to sit in the middle of them and once again feel the beauty that surrounded me every day this summer. Waking up to the calls of exotic birds such as the kookaburra, whip bird, and Chowchilla to name a few, was the perfect way to start off the day. Walking through the lush green tangled life of the forest to breakfast each morning had me feeling peaceful and at one with this land of experience.

The mystery in the sounds of the wind and forest creatures and the history hidden in the bark of the amazing curtain and strangler figs could never be expressed in words. Even the danger of the painful stinging tree and wait -awhile vines hold within them the awesome beauty of Australia, the land down under. To anyone who wishes to meet great people with the same interest and visit a place that will remain in your heart forever I recommend this trip. Go with the intention of helping the wonderful, endangered Rainforest and see with your own heart why we need to save these remaining fragments on the earth. With all sincerity and hope I guarantee an experience of a lifetime.

By: Sherry Jester   top

At a basic level, environmental issues are recycling and the greening of natural areas. I consider these things important and do them regularly. Most consider these activities to be Earthy, some even call me a tree hugger. While these people are correct, they are not seeing the entire picture. Environmental issues incorporate much more and are a growing way to connect to the national and global scene. The interdisciplinary environmental program at SSU encompasses topics from policy and planning to prejudice and inequality. It shows how citizens can fight for a better future through current political methods and effective consumer knowledge.

Several weeks ago, friends, family, and the green political movement suffered a huge loss when Senator Chaffey (R-RI) passed away. As leader of the Senate, Chaffey stood for tough environmental legislation. Chaffey represented a highlight in the Green movement by passing many bills, enacting Senate leadership, and providing extra funds for environmental issues like hazardous waste clean-ups. Chaffey earned his seat as Senate leader as the longest elected Senate member. The people of Rhode Island continually re-elected him showing environmental issues were important to their lifestyles. It is an example of citizen activism and positive response through legislation. Citizen activism is a leading way the environmental movement recruits support and maintains objectives.

Current techniques of forestation of the West, while benefiting large corporations, are decimating soil structure and future harvesting abilities. Foresters are financially dependent on forest destruction leaving them with a choice of destroying the forests or no job at all. The growing river pollution is a direct result of runoff from harvested mountains is growing worse every year. Also, a corrupt system trying to downplay exposure of corporate exploitation is prevalent. An environmental perspective teaches the economic complexity of the foresters and the corporations. It also teaches planning and maximum resource evaluation through geography and ecology. Policy courses also teach knowledge and control of corporate abuse through the legal process.

Currently, the environmental movement is sponsoring the Dirty Jobs Boycott. Aimed at Ford, BP Oil, and Coka-Cola distributors. Ford is targeted for not planning to meet standards set at the Kyoto Conference for air pollution reduction. BP Oil is targeted for pressuring Congress to open up wildlife refugees in Alaska for oil drilling. Also, Coka-Cola is being targeted for not upholding waste reduction and package reusing goals set by the company earlier this decade. This is a direct way individual actions can make the future a better place by simple actions like buying more efficiently, working for corporations who support positive environmental impact, and refusing to purchase stock that supports companies promoting environmental degradation.

An Environmental Studies minor is not just about recycling and riding bikes. It is a way to see the impact humans make on the world, both locally and globally. We need to understand we are part of a system that continues regardless of our actions or non-actions. We also need to understand the power we have as voters and consumers.

By: Sarah Mann   top
 

    Last Summer, I took a 3-week Environmental Studies course in Olympic National Park in Washington State, with the University of Montana’s Wild Rockies Field Institute, where we studied the ecology and environmental issues of the area while backpacking along the coastline, virgin forests and alpine mountains of the park.  One day on the trip, we visited the Macah Indian Reservation. Here we explored their cultural museum, an addition to talking to them about their controversial plan to resume sacrificial whale hunting, as an attempt to reclaim some of their heritage. This created a tremendous controversy in Washington State.

     I had many inhibitions before going to the Indian Reservation. For one thing, I have been passionately against hunting in my community for many years. Also, the whole idea of visiting an Indian Reservation was a sticky issue for a number of reasons. One reason was because as a recent Christian and addition to being an environmentalist and animal rights person, I faced a whole lot of moral dilemmas. One was how much of native religions do I incorporate into my own, an addition to reconciling my belief in one true God, with a vibrant and beautiful culture which evolved completely separately. Also, the role religion played in persecuting and annihilating Native Americans, was a troubling thing to come to terms with.

     Finally another major issue I had to reckon with, is the fact that many environmentalists (especially at the deep end) automatically assume that the Bible is linked to all our environmental problems. Many totally neglect the newer interpretation of Dominion, which means Stewardship or serventship over the natural world.  They often also gloss over the fact that some passages in the Bible like Job make the strongest case against anthropocentrism that I have seen anywhere. On the other-side, ignore the fact that some of the worst offenders against the environment, are in Buddhist and Hindu countries like Japan, China and India. I guess this is why in the last year I have been turned off by non-Western religions. Not because there is anything inherently wrong with them. Or that I don’t care deeply for the people who follow them. But instead it is more the “ecological Pharisees”, who use Native American spirituality in an almost holier than thou way and their all willingness to accept their beliefs without thinking critically about them, while at same time demeaning my religion without fully investigating it or taking it seriously. In my last year of college I have been experiencing tremendous prejudice towards my religious arguments in favor of the environment, and being lumped together with fundamentalists.

    Unfortunately, because of these life experiences, my first response to the Macah whale hunt was of hostility, not towards them, but to the environmentalists who have been idealizing them for years though the “Noble Savage” while at the same time vilifying Western traditions. From my point of view, here is a culture which is considered the idealized culture of the environmental movement, now pushing to hunt an animal which has just gotten off the endangered species act and is one of the most intelligent and sensitive animals outside of man. But by the end of the day, I learned that this issue was much more complicated than any ethical dilemma that I studied in my Animals and Ethics class. My best hope for getting through the day was to follow St. Francis’s advice, “Be understood, but to understand”.

Sociological Ramifications of the Macah Whale Hunt:

     The confrontation between Macah and Sea Shepherds was in my opinion a major milestone or landmark in man’s relationship to animals and a major milestone in environmental history. Here, are some of the fundamental questions, which I believed were raised during this issue.

1. This was the first time I have encountered an environmental group, who used racism as a tactic.   My impression of environmentalists is that they are fairly sympathetic to human rights and especially Native American rights issues.   It is also one of the first times that environmental thought has been perverted into something evil.  This raises the question, especially since many people like Lynn White, are quick to condemn things like the Crusades and the conquest of America, and feels that the best way to solve the ecological crisis is to have a paradigm shift away from “Judeo-Christian thinking”. But many people don’t realize that the roots of Christianity has gotten perverted in my opinion, is its selling out its core values and aligning itself with worldly governments to increase the numbers and power of the religion. This is how you get things like the Crusades. And this is exactly the next move the environmental movement is making. To put some of its idealism on hold to get greater approval by many worldly institutions like business and government. So one thing, which we as an environmental and animal movement need to realize the chilling possibility, that something like the Crusades is not beyond us. The tactics used by Sea Shepherds in response to the Macah whaling, shows credence for my hypothesis.

2. This is also the first time that I have ever seen white racists, speak out against the killing or mistreating animals. I assume that most people, who view blacks, Hispanics, Jews or Native American’s as sub-human, wouldn’t think twice about being demeaning to animals.  This surprise revelation shows to what extent our relationship with animals has changed within the last couple of decades. For the first time people are using racism to combat “specieism”(prejudice towards animals). In some ways, I am excited about this break-through, but on the other hand it is very dangerous and it is wrong to persecute a people which we have been systematically committing genocide to, for over 400 years.

3. Finally, the Macah whale hunt should be a complete watershed in the way we understand native peoples, especially in their treatment of the land. The whole idea of Macah wanting to hunt a very intelligent animal just taken off the endangered species list, to keep the US accountable for a treaty which is 150 years old, brings into question to what extant do Native American’s live right with the land? Or, how much has the “Noble Savage”, the Culture Wars, the deep ecology movement and our guilt towards destroying their culture colored our modern thinking of native people’s? I got a very fascinating answer to my question from the curator at the museum.  He said that he does agree that the Native American’s have been idealized over the years, and that their culture was much more civilized than people think.  Contrary to public image, the Macah as well as many other tribes did have a concept of land ownership, and their nations were divided up into territories. But the thing, which he believed was the reason why they where able to remain sustainable to the land for so many years, is not because their religion or spirituality was superior to the Judeo-Christian tradition, but that they had a strong “Sense of Place”. For in Western Civilization, if you have a famine in your land or you have used up your resources, than you move onto the next place, and the next place. But in native cultures, you remain loyal to the land. They learned to be content with what the land had to offer. Also, sense they spent much of their time in the same bio-region, they got to know it better than people now-a-days which are always moving form city to city, and state to state, so they are not as accountable to their land.

Conclusion: This was the first time I was able to sit though a talk which was pro-hunting, and approach with an open mind, and not curse the guy out. I am finally beginning to do what Saint Francis said,  “To be understood, as to understand”. Everyone said that I asked appropriate and germane questions over there.

By Daniel Salomon   top