Some Readers Were Bugged
I found your Winter 1999-2000 issue of the Journal to be the most relevant, on-target, broadly scoped ecological publication I have encountered to date. I read it cover to cover, and clipped several pieces to follow up. What a shock, then, to read Aletheia Price's article on the back inside cover, "Go Eat a Bug!"
Perhaps her intentions are good, and it may well be that insects are a more ecologically sound, healthier source of human nutrition than other, more "politically correct" animals. However, the gratuitous cruelty and grisly "humor" of her article was sickening, especially after reading through a publication that otherwise won kudos for respecting life and nature in all forms.
Her hesitancy at preferring her insects "live and raw" not because of the horror at the gratuitous cruelty of it but because she "prefer[s] food that won't crawl off my plate" is especially sickening.
Insects may not be "cute," but they are still living beings.
On the plus side, the article did confirm my resolve to remain solidly vegan. Thank you for the reminder of what our selfish dietary impulses cost other living beings in pain and unnecessary cruelty.
David Smith
San Francisco, California
Careful about Cars
I was disappointed in your exclusion of the car in your "Climate Solutions" article [page 10, Winter 2000]. To diss ferries and offer a skimpy bike solution is to underrate the implications of the automobile.
Jane Holtz Kay
Boston, Massachusetts
Editor's Note: Clearly, cars are not to be taken lightly. Jane Holtz Kay, the author of the exemplary anti-car book, Asphalt Nation, can gauge the Journal's anti-auto analysis from the article on page 20 of the same issue - "Cars, Hurricanes and the Sixth Extinction."
Zinged by Ziploc®
We hope you don't mind a humble correction regarding your article "En la kech!," which mentioned Ziploc®. With all due respect, we ask that in the future you properly identify Ziploc® as an adjective in conjunction with our product and never as a verb, noun or generic reference.
SC Johnson, like most other consumer product companies, views its trademarks as one of its greatest assets.
Cynthia Georgeson
SC Johnson, Racine, Wisconsin
Michael "Roger & Me" Moore Urges Internet Freedom
New [electronic] technology is nothing short of a revolution. It allows us not only to communicate and to bypass the corporate media, but it then accommodates us to come right back at it.
A couple of weeks ago I asked readers to [e-mail] HMO horror stories. Within 24 hours, I had over 2,000 e-mails. Before the Internet, it would have taken over a year of research to find these people. Now, in literally one day, we are in pre-production of a documentary for our TV series, The Awful Truth [carried on the Bravo Channel].
Those in charge must rue the day the Internet was invented. They are now busy trying to think of any way possible to get control of the thing or to block it, censor it, restrict it, make you pay more for it, and make themselves much bigger profits.
I am asking you to commit yourself to two things:
(1) Write your Congressmembers. Tell them to stop placing any further restrictions on the Internet. Respect the First Amendment and do not allow corporations to sink their greedy paws any deeper into this than they already have.
(2) Do what you can in your communities to get this weapon into the hands of those who can't afford it. Make serious efforts to bring the poor, minorities, and our daughters into the world of the Internet.
Someday, I hope we see the 21st century version of the village Post Office - a free, public Internet center in every town, filled with computer stations that anyone can use.
Michael Moore
New York, New York
Israel's Nuclear Whistleblower
Thank you for contacting my office regarding the international effort seeking the release of Mordechai Vanunu from imprisonment in Israel.
I have been briefed by my staff, both in Washington and San Francisco, regarding this campaign to urge the Israeli government to parole Mr. Vanunu. I understand that Representative Lynn Rivers' (D-MI) letter of March 18, 1999, resulted in a very positive response from President Clinton.
Senator Dianne Feinstein
Washington, DC
A Salute to IRN
Thanks for getting the word out about the struggle for the Narmada Dam ["Villagers Defy Rising Waters," Winter 2000]. International Rivers Network (IRN) has been a long-time supporter of the Narmada Bachao Andolan. We recently sponsored a US tour by Arundati Roy (author of the prizewinning book, The God of Small Things) in which she spoke out about the Sardar Sarovar Dam. In her latest book, The Cost of Living, she credits Silenced Rivers, a book by IRN Campaigns Director Patrick McCully, as "the rock on which this work stands." Both books are available through IRN, as is our latest publication, River Keepers: A Guide to Protecting Rivers and Catchments in Southern Africa.
Mary Houghteling
International Rivers Network, Berkeley, California
Editor's Note: IRN was a major source for the Journal's Narmada coverage. Our apologies for failing to credit our colleagues at IRN. We encourage readers to learn more about the global struggle to halt mega-dams by contacting IRN at 1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, California 94703, (510) 848-1155, www.irn.org.
Fiber Futures
Thank you for including Fiber Futures in your Positive Notes page [Winter 2000]. However, we would like to inform you that the phone number given was incorrect. The correct number is (415) 561-6546; Fax: (415) 561-6474.
Dawn Van Hee, Fiber Futures
San Francisco, California
Chernobyl Critic Attacked
I am a former employee of the Chernobyl Atomic Power Station. I am concerned that international agreements on the future of Chernobyl reactor are being completely ignored. I am trying to start a public interest group on Chernobyl and hope to write a history of the plant from 1972. [Note: Ukraine authorities are preparing to restart the Chernobyl reactor, despite international attempts to shut it down permanently.]
On July 22, 1999, I was contesting the facts being presented at a public hearing on Chernobyl when I was attacked by Nikolai Boyko, my former boss at Chernobyl. Boyko stabbed me with a metal file, wounding me in the leg. I was hospitalized for five days.
There were many witnesses to the attack but Boyko is a former deputy in the Kiev City Council. As of October, no charges have been filed. The official police response to local news reporters is: "We need to do further investigations." The only comment from Boyco's office has been: "No comment."
Victor Sedletskii
Berduacjev - Ekaterina Oblasts, Ukraine
Editor's Note: This letter was handwritten in Ukrainian. It was translated with the assistance of Earth Island's Baikal Watch.
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