MANNA
The E-Newsletter of the Alliance for Sustainability

Making sustainability a reality worldwide through support of ecologically sound, economically viable, socially just & humane initiatives on a personal, organizational & planetary level.

As President Bush presses towards war, we have begun this edition of Manna with a clarion call from by Dr. Martin Luther King more than 40 years ago, and later, the haunting comments of US Senator Robert Byrd. It is amazing that Feb 26 Americans sent more than a million calls, emails and faxes in support of peace to the White House and US Senate, completely shutting down their communications.

This issue features an inside look at the impact of computer chips on the environment, the tax giveaway for SUVs, an assessment of the impacts from the Bush energy budget proposal, creative actions to counter the junk mail and telemarketing tide, and some final inspiration from Paul Wellstone.

With a new co-editor we thought we’d try out some format changes and see what you think. Please let us know if you prefer this or our previous one and if you have any other suggestions or feedback.

Sustainably,

Keri Lynch and Terry Gips, Co-Editors

MANNA
The E-Newsletter of the Alliance for Sustainability

Making sustainability a reality worldwide through support of ecologically sound, economically viable, socially just & humane initiatives on a personal, organizational & planetary level.

February 28, 2003 Issue 27

The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we used when we created them. --- Albert Einstein

In this issue of MANNA...

* Take Action!Make A Difference:

* Junk Mail and Telemarketing: Just Say NO!

* Cut Catalog Waste

* Help Protect the Arctic (again!)

* Save the Dolphins

* Computers: Chips, Recycling, Take Back Programs

* Home Depot Addresses Some Concerns But Still Has Further to Go

* Air Pollution Fatalities Exceed Traffic Fatalities 3 to1

* Tax breaks for Hummers and SUV’s

* Making a Difference:

* Paul Wellstone Remembered

* Sen. Robert Byrd on War with Iraq

* Resource of the Month and Sustainability Book Club Meeting

* The Great Work - Our Way into the Future by Thomas Berry

* Book Club Meeting Wed March 12

* Alliance Activities:

* Sustainable Sweden Tour

* Upcoming Events, Presentations and Natural Step Framework Seminars

* Special Thanks to Recent Contributors

* Events Calendar

In the days ahead we must not consider it unpatriotic to raise certain basic questions about our national character. We must begin to ask, "Why are there forty million poor people in a nation overflowing with such unbelievable affluence? Why has our nation placed itself in the position of being God’s military agent on earth? Why have we substituted the arrogant undertaking of policing the whole world for the high task of putting our own house in order? --- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Take Action!
Eliminating Telemarketing and Junk Mail
Submitted by Alliance member Lucia Watson
I suppose some degree of commerce would grind to a halt if telephone solicitors weren't able to call people during dinner hour. But that doesn't make it any more pleasant.

Steve Rubenstein of the San Francisco Chronicle proposed "Three Little Words" that could stop this nuisance. The words: "Hold On, Please." Saying this while putting down your phone and walking off instead of hanging up immediately would make telemarketing calls so time-consuming that boiler rooms would grind to a halt. When you hear the phone's beep-beep tone, you can go back and hang up your handset, its task completed. Three little words that (could) eliminate telephone soliciting.

Other Good Ideas
When you get ads in your utility bills, include them with the payment and let the utility companies throw them recycle them. When you get pre-approved letters for everything from credit cards to 2nd mortgages, most have postage paid return envelopes, right? Why not get rid of some junk mail and put it in these cool little envelopes. Send an ad for your local chimney cleaner to American Express. Send the pizza coupon to Citibank. Or, send their application back (preferably with a note asking to be taken off their mailing list)!

Eventually, banks, credit card companies (and other direct mailers) will get junk mail back (and get the message). Let's let them know what it's like to get junk mail, and the best part is: they're paying for it-Twice!

Consumers are encouraging catalog companies to switch to recycled paper and paper suppliers are reporting many new inquiries about recycled paper. Messages that protecting the environment matters to you – the customer – are critical to getting catalogers to use recycled paper. Environmental Defense thanks you. (So do the trees).

Some Catalog Companies Have Made the Switch
Some innovative companies have switched to recycled paper: Norm Thompson, Omaha Steaks, Disney Catalog, Solutions, Waterfront Living, and Early Winters. Please thank these companies for making the switch.

Environmental Defense is reaching out to catalog companies and to help them understand the environmental and economic benefits of recycled paper. To find out more and TAKE ACTION, go to: www.environmentaldefense.org/article.cfm?ContentID=2606

They’re BAAAAAAAACK: Congress returns with Arctic wildlife refuge in bull's-eye.
The 108th Congress has begun and already oil corporations are renewing their campaign to drill in America's premiere wildlife sanctuary -- the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Big Oil's allies in Congress, strengthened by November's election results, are hatching a back-door scheme to hide their measure in the massive federal budget bill. But last year's bipartisan Senate vote to reject drilling reflected the wishes of a solid majority of Americans, and Defenders of Wildlife is again helping lead efforts to save the refuge for future generations. Big Oil wants to drill on the refuge's fragile coastal plain, the biological heart of this magnificent wilderness. That would destroy the home of polar bears, musk oxen, wolves, millions of migratory birds, caribou and hundreds of other species -- for six months of oil that would take 10 years to get to market.

Write your senators and urge them to oppose drilling in the Arctic refuge at: www.SaveArcticRefuge.org

Quashing Science: Dolphin research shut down
Two former government scientists say their bosses shut down their research because it was showing that tuna-fishing practices are exposing dolphins to dangerous levels of stress. Dr. Albert Myrick and Dr. Sarka Southern worked for the Commerce Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. To please Mexican and Latin American tuna producers, the Commerce Department is trying to weaken requirements for using "dolphin-safe" labels on cans of tuna fish sold in the United States. Commerce Secretary Donald Evans claims chasing dolphins into nets has "no significant adverse impact" on them.

To urge the U.S. government to protect dolphins, go to www.savedolphins.org

Chips with everything makes for a hi-tech mess
By Stephen Hesse from Japan Times Online, www.japantimes.com

If you think that your computer, being such a modern, hi-tech device, is -- or surely must be -- environmentally friendly, then think again. Researchers at the United Nations University in Tokyo recently analyzed the material and energy inputs required to produce a 32-megabyte DRAM microchip, and what they discovered came as a shock. Their findings have attracted media attention worldwide.

So what are the environmental impacts of producing and using a 32-megabyte DRAM computer chip that weighs a mere 2 grams? The UNU team found that to make every one of the millions manufactured each year requires 32 kg of water, 1.6 kg of fossil fuels, 700 grams of elemental gases (mainly nitrogen), and 72 grams of chemicals (hundreds are used, including lethal arsine gas and corrosive hydrogen fluoride).

To make matters worse, Williams believes his findings are conservative. "We think the real numbers may be twice that." Secondary materials used in production [of microchips] total 630 times the mass of the final product. An automobile requires only about twice its weight in fossil fuels to produce. For the full story, go to: http://www.japantimes.com/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?fe20030123sh.htm

The San Jose Mercury News, December 7, 2002
High-technology companies reacted cautiously this week to a proposal by Hewlett-Packard for a state law that would nudge the industry toward taking greater responsibility for recycling their toxic products.

The HP plan -- which the company elaborated on Friday for the first time -- is controversial on two key points. First, it would shift the balance of so-called shared responsibility for the cost and obligation of recycling old computers from the consumer to the company that made them. Second, it accepts government regulation instead of a voluntary approach that the industry prefers. See www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/business/4687924.htm

-- Joint statement issued by Nobel Peace Prize laureates at 100th anniversary gathering in Norway, December 14, 2002

From Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, www.svtc.org
Computer companies need to hear from consumers about the need for cleaner product design and take back programs for recycling. Letter writing puts pressure on manufacturers to protect environmental health and safety by phasing out toxic chemicals, by promoting computer take back and recycling and by establishing a framework for Extended Producer Responsibility.

It is crucial that US activists involved in toxics, waste, recycling, corporate accountability, and consumer advocacy, and regular folks, tell manufacturers our opinions on these important issues. To send YOUR free email letters, go to: www.svtc.org/cleancc/4ht_letters.htm and find out if the company can take back your computer.

-- Vaclav Havel

Home Depot Addresses Some Concerns but Still Has Further to Go

Rainforest Action Network, www.ran.org
In 1999, Home Depot responded to RAN’s international campaign and agreed to stop selling products from endangered forests and to promote sustainable forestry products. To date, Home Depot has done an excellent job of establishing systems to track the origin of its wood products and increased its sales of wood certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). However, the company continues to do business with the worst players in the logging industry, including Boise Cascade, which is leading the charge against the US Roadless Policy that would protect 60 million acres of our last remaining wilderness. RAN continues to pressure forest products retailers to catch up with modern values and preserve endangered forests once and for all.

To learn more, and read coverage by The Wall Street Journal, AP, and Reuters, please visit:
www.ran.org/news/newsitem.php?id=609

–- Constance Baker Motley (First Black Woman in the US to become a federal judge)

Air Pollution Fatalities Now Exceed Traffic Fatalities By 3 to 1
By Bernie Fischlowitz-Roberts, Earth Policy Institute

The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that 3 million people now die each year from the effects of air pollution. This is three times the 1 million who die each year in automobile accidents. A study published in The Lancet in 2000 concluded that air pollution in France, Austria, and Switzerland is responsible for more than 40,000 deaths annually in those three countries. About half of these deaths can be traced to air pollution from vehicle emissions. In the United States, traffic fatalities total just over 40,000 per year, while air pollution claims 70,000 lives annually. US air pollution deaths are equal to deaths from breast cancer and prostate cancer combined. This scourge of cities in industrial and developing countries alike threatens the health of billions of people.

Governments go to great lengths to reduce traffic accidents by fining those who drive at dangerous speeds. But they pay much less attention to the deaths people cause by simply driving the cars. While deaths from heart disease and respiratory illness from breathing polluted air may lack the drama of deaths from an automobile crash, with flashing lights and sirens, they are no less real.

As particulate concentrations in the air rise, so do death rates. When people inhale particulates and ozone at concentrations commonly found in urban areas, their arteries become more constricted, thus reducing blood flow and oxygen supply to the heart. In the Canadian province of Ontario, for example, which has a population of 11.9 million, air pollution costs citizens at least $1 billion annually in hospital admissions, emergency room visits, and worker absenteeism.

For more information, go to: www.earth-policy.org/Updates/Update17.htm

Grist Magazine Dec 20, 2002 www.gristmagazine.com/forward.pl?forward_id=810
Tax deductions granted by the federal government to small-business owners and the self-employed provide an incentive to purchase oversize, gas-guzzling vehicles like a GM’s Hummer, rather than small, more fuel-efficient cars like the hybrid Toyota Prius. An eligible buyer of a 2003 Hummer H2 could deduct $34,912 of the base price of the vehicle, for a tax savings of up to $13,500 for those in the highest tax bracket. Because part of the tax code governing the deductions was written in the 1980s, when deductions for car purchases were capped at no more than $7,660, buyers of cars get a far worse deal than those purchasing light trucks and SUVs.

Environmentalists are outraged by the biased tax breaks and want them ended, saying they make no sense in the face of growing concern about U.S. dependence on foreign oil.

As nightfall does not come all at once, neither does oppression. In both instances, there is a twilight when everything remains seemingly unchanged. And it is in such twilight that we all must be most aware of change in the air – however slight – lest we become unwitting victims of the darkness. --- William O. Douglas, Supreme Court Justice

Edited from Alliance to Save Energy News Release, UN Environmental Program News Release Jan 29 and Tom Doggett, Reuters Feb 4
President Bush’s fiscal 2004 budget request would cut Department of Energy energy efficiency funding 3.9% or $35 million to $875.8 million from last year’s budget request, as a host of marketplace-friendly programs would be slashed. The request for the EPA's Energy Star program will remain relatively flat.

"Programs to help cut the energy bills of industry, homeowners, consumers, and even the federal government itself would be hurt, despite the fact that energy efficiency is the quickest, cheapest, and cleanest way to improve our nation's energy security," the Alliance to Save Energy said in a statement.

The President followed through on his promised increases in funding for hydrogen fuel cells and low-income weatherization, but paid for them with even deeper cuts in various marketplace-oriented deployment programs. Research money for hydrogen technology jumped 121 percent to $88 million. The total amount of money in the budget for the hydrogen-based FreedomFuel and FreedomCAR initiatives is $272.4 million for the upcoming energy spending. Research funds are a small part of the Energy Department's total budget, which would increase 5.9 percent to $23.4 billion.

The budget also calls for Congress to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling and begin leasing tracts in the refuge to oil companies in 2005. Bush said leasing ANWR land would raise $2.4 billion in leasing fees in 2005, and half that amount would provide increased funding for the DOE’s renewable energy technology research programs over a seven-year period.

In his previous campaign against Boschwitz, the second time, the attacks on Paul seemed so personal I said, "Paul, why do you put up with this?" He got that look in his eye and he started yelling: "I’m not gonna let those folks run Minnesota, and I’m not gonna let them define me. I’m gonna fight him, and I’m gonna fight and fight." That’s the legacy of Paul Wellstone. You fight. -- Gregory Gray, DFL State Rep. and Candidate for State Auditor

Making a Difference
Paul and Sheila Wellstone Remembered -- Third and Final in a Series
Excerpts from City Pages Magazine, October 30, 2002 www.citypages.com
There was a faction in the office that believed you needed to moderate a position here or there so you don’t piss somebody off. He never listened to that advice. Sometimes he ignored good advice, but he never pulled his punches and he never changed. I saw both sides of Paul. I got to see the side that gets angry and upset, not just the friendly side. I still loved him. -- John Heegard, Minneapolis Public School Teacher and Wellstone Driver

When I was working for him I was the one who had to write his speeches. He would never use them. He would look in his briefing packet and then about five minutes before we got to where we were going he would say, "Okay, I have got to close my eyes and think." And then he’d go bounding out of the car and hug and shake hands with about three-quarters of the people there and then go give this marvelous extemporaneous speech. He was full of joy. And he expressed it by talking about the most challenging issues in a way that created hope. -- Sarah Stoez, Wellstone Staffer 1991-95 and CEO of Planned Parenthood MN

Before he grew into electoral politics, Paul led an organization of welfare people, the Organization for a Better Rice County. We had lots of people on welfare. He explained to these people, "Now you don’t have to be treated the way you’re treated by the county commissioners." They were really being kicked around. It was just terrible. He was upset about that. And he said, "We can use state law to appeal these decisions." So he started appealing to them--he showed them how to appeal--and he would run the appeals for a while. And they never lost a case.

-- Sy Schuster, Retired Carleton College Professor

Paul’s whole thing was really just very old-fashioned politics--go out and talk to people and build relationships at street level, and that’s how you get things accomplished. Don’t sit there and worry and wring your hands. Just go out and do what needs to be done and what you know how to do. And call me if you need any help . -- Marie Zellar, Minnesota Clean Water Action

"To contemplate war is to think about the most horrible of human experiences. On this February day, as this nation stands at the brink of battle, every American on some level must be contemplating the horrors of war.

Yet, this Chamber is, for the most part, silent -- ominously, dreadfully silent. There is no debate, no discussion, no attempt to lay out for the nation the pros and cons of this particular war. There is nothing. We stand passively mute in the United States Senate, paralyzed by our own uncertainty, seemingly stunned by the sheer turmoil of events. Only on the editorial pages of our newspapers is there much substantive discussion of the prudence or imprudence of engaging in this particular war.

And this is no small conflagration we contemplate. This is no simple attempt to defang a villain. No. This coming battle, if it materializes, represents a turning point in U.S. foreign policy and possibly a turning point in the recent history of the world."

To read the complete speech, go to: http://truthout.org/docs_02/021403A.htm

This Administration, now in power for a little over two years, must be judged on its record.

I believe that that record is dismal. – Senator Robert Byrd, Feb 12

Resource of the Month and Sustainability Book Club
March Selection: The Great Work – Our Way into the Future by Thomas Berry

One of our eminent cultural historians presents his ideas and calls for us to experience creation as a source of wonder and delight rather than a commodity for our personal use. Thomas Berry has written and lectured extensively on technological civilization and the need to move from being a disrupting force on this earth to a benign presence.

This transition is the Great Work of which he speaks. It is at the same time the most necessary and most ennobling work we will ever undertake. Berry's message is not one of doom but of hope. He calls upon all aspects of society to remember their function, particularly the universities and other educational institutions whose role is to guide students into an appreciation rather than an exploitation of the world around them.

Berry is the leading spokesperson for the Earth, and his profound ecological insight at this determining moment in history illuminates the path we need to take in the realms of ethics, politics, economics, and education if both we and the planet are to survive.

The future can exist only if humans understand how to commune with the natural world rather than exploit it. Already the planet is so damaged and the future is so challenged by its rising human population that the terms of survival will be severe beyond anything we have known in the past. --- Thomas Berry

Next Book Club Meeting Wed March 12
Come discuss The Great Work at our next Sustainability Book Club which meets at the Ecopolitan Restaurant, 2709 Lyndale Ave S. on the 2nd Wednesday of each month from 7-9 pm. For more information, contact Cindi Contie at ccontie@visi.com .

Great Work indeed! Thomas Berry offers us the benefit of a lifetime of clear-headed, clear-hearted reflection. And by so doing he shows us where our task lies, shows us the particular test that we must face just as our ancestors faced their own great challenges. It's a work to stir the blood. -- Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature

Alliance Activities
Living Green Expo April 12-13, Minnesota State Fairgrounds, St. Paul
The Alliance is playing a lead role helping to coordinate the free Expo which is expected to draw more than 10,000 participants for 88 workshops, 150 + exhibitors, great organic food, fabulous music and performances, eco-cars for test-driving, a community garden and CSA fair, and fun activities on all aspects of sustainable living for families and people of all ages.

Alliance members will be involved in presenting a number of workshops, including Sustainability 101, an Introduction to the Natural Step Framework, Sustainable Careers, Personal Sustainability, Interfaith Perspectives on Sustainability, and Yoga & Sustainability.

The Alliance is also involved in many of the special events, including an Interfaith Celebration of Sustainability and discussion of what steps can be taken from 2-4:15 pm Sun April 13. All churches, synagogues and mosques are encouraged to let their congregants know and to send their buses with congregants.

Volunteers are needed to help before or at the event. Contact the Alliance at iasa@mtn.org , 612-331-1099 or www.livinggreenexpo.org , which also has the Workshop Schedule, Directions, Exhibitor Lists, etc.

Sustainable Sweden Tour and Book
The Alliance is working with its Swedish partner Esam to finalize plans for its fourth annual Sustainable Sweden tour, likely the second half of August with a focus on leading eco-municipalities. It is designed for elected officials, municipal staffs, and business, community and environmental leaders. Please contact Terry Gips tgips@mtn.org about participating and if your organization might like to be a co-sponsor and receive a discount for your members.

The Alliance is also moving forward with Esam in writing a tri-country book on Sustainable Sweden based on last year’s tour with leaders from Mexico, the US and Sweden. Additional funding is being sought. Contributions are tax-deductible and will be acknowledged in Manna and on the website: Alliance, 1521 University Ave. SE, Mpls., MN 55414.

Alliance members in Minneapolis can come express their support for the Sustainable City Initiative at the Minneapolis City Council Chambers 9:30-noon Thurs Mar 6. Also Mar 6 from 4-6 pm Terry Gips will discuss "Corporate Social Responsibility in a World of Globalization" at the University of MN YMCA. Please RSVP.

Terry Gips will lead a Mar 27 Intro to the Natural Step Framework at Iowa State University and a number of spring-time Natural Step Framework Seminars are being planned in Duluth, NJ, NY, and April 30-May 1 in Minneapolis.

Two hundred years from now they will not remember your names, they will not have a roll on which every name is listed. But this thing you are doing will never cease, for when you translate Love into Life, when you become organs of God for a piece of service, nothing can obliterate it…Thank God we can have our little share in this age in translating the love of God into terms of human service, and that we can fight, not with guns, not with bombs, but with the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God.

--- Rufus Jones, 1919, Friends Reconstruction Unit

We'd Like Your Support: Your tax-deductible donations to the Alliance will…
Provide much-needed support for our office and important collaborative projects, including Natural Step Framework Seminars, Green City Initiative, JunkMail Tree Project, Living Green Expo and our Centers for Judaism and Sustainability and Spirituality and Sustainability.

Our on-line membership form is at www.mtn.org/iasa/join.htm or contact Sean Gosiewski at iasa@mtn.org or mail your contribution to the Alliance, 1521 University Ave SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414. We also hope you'll support our efforts by sharing this with others.

Special Thanks to Our Recent Contributors
Four Elements Member Robert Gips

Contributing Members Tom Allen, Jane Barrash, James Cohen, Cindi Contie, Kathy Haskins, Chaiya Isenberg, Pat Levine, Lee Traband, Vonda Vaden, Jerry Werle, Ginny Yingling, Lois Zander

Sustainable Sweden Book Project Szekely Family Foundation, Gun Denhart, Kathy Haskins, Sean Gosiewski, Deborah Nelson, Vonda Vaden, Ginny Yingling

Ski to End Hunger James Cohen, Kathy Haskins, Rachelle Schoessler-Lynn, Vonda Vaden, Dan Yavner

Help us to be ever faithful gardeners of the spirit, who know that without darkness nothing comes to birth, and without light nothing flowers. — May Sarton

Event Calendar
Mar 6 Corporate Social Responsibility, U of MN YMCA, Mpls

Mar 6-9 Natural Products Expo West, Anaheim, CA, www.expowest.com/

Mar 12 Sustainability Book Club, Ecopolitan Restaurant, Mpls, Cindi at ccontie@visi.com

Mar 27 Intro to the Natural Step Framework, Iowa State University, Ames, Contact: Katherine Hannigan at hannigan@iastate.edu

Apr 1-2 CERES Conference, NYC www.ceres.org/conference/2003_agenda.htm
Apr 12 Sustainability Book Club

Apr 12-13 Living Green Expo, MN State Fair Grounds, http://www.livinggreenexpo.org/

April 17 School Earth Week Celebration, Earth Day Operations, 612-766-9233

April 22 Earth Day

Apr 29 Fostering Sustainable Behavior Seminar, Mpls www.cbsm.com/Services/workshopoverview.htm#

Apr 30–May 1 Natural Step Framework Seminar, Mpls.

May 1-4 American Wetlands Campaign Conference, Mpls., www.iwla.org/sos/awm/conference

May 27-29 14^th Annual Global Warming Int’l Conference and Expo, Boston, MA, www.globalwarming.net/gw14-overview.asp

We’d Like Your Stories, Quotes and Factoids about Sustainability
We love to include fun and thought provoking quotes and factoids in Manna . Send us your favorites! Also, let us know about any steps you have taken to bring about sustainability in your personal life, workplace or community that you’d like to share with others: iasa@mtn.org.

Our Wish List: A great way to help us out is to donate new or used resources.
* Two-line office phone
* Current version of Filemaker Pro

NOTE: Any contribution to the Alliance is tax deductible: iasa@mtn.org or 612-331-1099.