Helicopters in Nepal

While Terri Scott expresses some valid concerns about the impacts of helicopters that may be relevant to Hawai'i [Summer '97 EIJ] , the situation is not quite comparable in Nepal (not Tibet as noted by Scott), for a variety of reasons:

1. Airlines operate both fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters on the route described, but passengers have no choice of craft.
2. Foreign tourists pay more than 300 percent above the cost of Nepalis' air tickets; the surcharge is used in part to subsidize affordable fares for locals.
3. These are not pleasure flights: they are an essential economic and safety link between the mountains and the lowlands because they bring in cash-carrying tourists, as well as transporting market goods, local tradespeople, medical supplies, etc.
4. I have never observed or heard of these helicopters "terrorizing" settlements.

While it is easy to assume that indigenous people may have no use for modern technology and that sacred places should remain shut off from the outside world, the reality is that many of these people do desire a modicum of comfort and safety in their lives.

- Justin Lowe
Director, Tibetan Plateau Project

Veto NATO

Gar Smith's suggestion to "Abolish NATO," ("Who Really Needs NATO?" Summer '97 EIJ] conforms with the original purpose when NATO was created. Gen. Dwight Eisenhower said when NATO was founded that, if it exists in ten years, it will have been a failure.

- Roy Bercaw
Cambridge, MA

Depot's Defense Deposed

Home Depot's "No Old Growth Pledge" [Summer '97 EIJ] is a hollow PR maneuver. Home Depot purchases redwood exclusively from Louisiana-Pacific. LP's redwood holdings are all second- and third-generation stands of hybrid trees. LP does not own any milling facilities to even handle large, old-growth timber. Home Depot does purchase lauan plywood from Indonesia and clearcut firs from Idaho. Home Depot has expanded into Canada and South America, both known for their abysmal timber policies. In 12+ years of business, Home Depot made one $2500 donation to the Costa Rican Rainforest Reserve. This, to send "a strong message to our timber suppliers." One Home Depot outlet sells more than this on it's worst sales day.

- Name withheld by request
California

Jet Planes and Air Pollution

I enjoyed reading your article about airline pollution ["Oil Spills in the Sky," Summer '97 EIJ]. Some suggested clarifications. "The fuel efficiency of a Boeing 747-400 is 6.7 mpg." I think you meant to write gallons per mile. [That's correct - ed.] In the box titled "The World's Dirtiest Jets," the following figure appears: the 747-200 burns 29,000 tons of fuel a day. How many planes does that figure include? A single 747-200 burns 3,361 per hour, or 67,220 gallons in 20 hours. At 6 pounds per gallons, that would [amount to] 150 planes . Trees for Travel, started by Trees for the Future, sponsors trees for every airline ticket they sell. The typical airplane emits about .75 of a pound of carbon dioxide per mile per passenger, or about 750 pounds every 1,000 passenger-miles. Since a typical tree in the tropics can absorb at least 1000 pounds of CO₂ over its lifetime, planting 7 trees will absorb more than the 2.25 tons of CO₂. Trees for Travel estimates that one tree should be planted for every 2,000 air miles. Any travel agent wishing to participate can contact Audrey Patterson [Tread Lightly Travel, (860) 868-1710] or Trees for the Future [(800) 643-0001]. For a free list of tree-planting programs, email globalcooling@compuserve.com.

- Stephan McCrea
Global Cooling Action Center Fort Lauderdale, Florida

I so enjoyed your "Oil Spills in the Sky" piece that I sent it along to a friend at the World Bank (see attached response).

- Jeff Gates
The Gates Group Atlanta, Georgia

I will send a copy of your note on "Oil Spills in the Sky" to my colleagues who are concerned with video-conferencing. I am sure they will be interested in it.

- James D. Wolfensohn
President, The World Bank Washington, DC

Mad Cow Rules "Inadequate"

Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rules to prevent a version of mad cow disease in the US are deceptive, inadequate and too little, too late. The feeding of cows to cows apparently spreads the disease. The FDA's June 5 rule will impose a partial ban on feeding rendered mammal remains back to ruminants (cud-chewing animals), but it exempts swine, horses, blood, milk and gelatin. Evidence suggests there may already be a mad-cow-type disease infecting both US pigs and cattle. The new FDA rule still allows billions of pounds of rendered animal waste to be fed to livestock, including feeding pigs to pigs, cattle to pigs, pigs to cattle, and chickens to chickens. Britain banned the cannibal feeding practice nine years ago. The FDA should impose a total ban on feeding mammalian protein to food animals. Anything less in inadequate.

- Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber
authors of Mad Cow USA Center for Media and Democracy Madison, Wisconsin

We are a natural food company in Japan and were shocked to read your articles regarding Mad Cow Disease in the US [Summer 97 EIJ]. We have been planning to bring out a new product which is a gelatin substitute for vegetarians. Testings show that production methods for gelatin will not eliminate BSE agents.

- Karl Nakase
Sokensha Co., Ltd. Yokohama, Japan

Worse than Barbie

In your Fall '96 Journal, you referred to the Barbie Doll as a "culture killer." I assert that rock'n'roll music is a worse culture killer than the Barbie Doll because, in being spread around the world, it has displaced the native music of many lands, infecting the minds of young people, pubescent and beyond, causing them to rebel and reject their native, home-grown music. In the Czech Republic, for example, their native music, lidovka, has been oppressively dispossessed by the beat. Everywhere you go in the Czech Republic today, you hear the same abominable beat music that you hear in the States. The spread of rock'n'roll is the cultural equivalent of kudzu, fire ants and the zebra mussel.

- Henry Peck
South Charleston, Ohio

Greeting from Nigeria

Thank you very much for the financial and material support to our struggle to save the last tropical rainforest in Cross River State, Nigeria. Your journals have been an inspiring information base for our members and students in the University.

- Odigha Odigha
NGO Coalition for the Environment Calabar, Nigeria

Correction: The photograph of Hazel Wolf in our summer issue was taken by [...name of photographer].

---

Want to speak your mind?
Send your letters to the Earth Island Journal, 300 Broadway #28, San Francisco CA 94133 or e-mail them to <journal@earthisland.org>. Letters will be edited.