MYA Director Sharon Fuller (right) receives the NEETF's National Achievement Award.

The Ma'at Youth Academy has won the coveted National Environmental Education and Training Foundation's coveted National Achievement Award. The NEETF presented the award to MYA Executive Director Sharon Fuller at a ceremony in Washington, DC on January 20. In her acceptance speech, Fuller noted: "Most environmental education programs focus on wildlife and wilderness areas, even though 50 percent of the world population and 70 percent of the US population live in cities. The Ma'at Youth Academy helps high school students and adults make their communities healthier and safer for all species - including human beings." [MYA, 420 Pebble Dr., Suite E, El Sobrante, CA 94803, (510) 222-6594, mya@maatyouthacademy.org.]

Earth Island Founder David Brower returned to Glen Canyon Dam on March 14, as part of the global Day of Action Against Dams. Dave is working with the Glen Canyon Action Network [www.drainit.org] to empty Lake Powell and restore the hidden beauty of the canyon. "All dams fail eventually," Dave warns. The question is whether we want to see Glen Canyon dismantled slowly "in an orderly manner" over nine months, or whether it will be left to self-destruct violently in a few deadly minutes. If the dam fails, the wall of water rushing downstream will threaten the Hoover Dam.

A Millennial Browerism. At the start of the year 2000, Dave notes, there were 500 billionaires on Earth and 3 billion poor people. That growing cry of anger that you hear approaching in the distance may be what Dave once referred to as "the din of inequity."

China's first Earth Day was organized, in part, in Earth Island's suite 26, where Ray Cheung coordinated planning with his Beijing-based compatriot, Sheri Liao. Liao's Global Village Beijing is one of six Chinese NGOs that joined forces to organize China's first Earth Day. The coalition's Green Lifestyle Campaign will challenge China's 1.2 billion citizens "to commit to twelve actions toward a sustainable lifestyle." The coalition also hopes to influence the environmental component of the government's next Five-Year Plan.

Bluewater Network and Earth Justice Legal Defense Fund have filed suit, charging the EPA with failure to regulate emissions from large sea-going vessels. BWN noted that nitrogen oxides from large ships comprise "a significant smog burden in major US port cities."

BWN's Cruise Ship Campaign Director Kira Schmidt convinced California Assemblymember George Nakano to introduce a bill (AB2746) requiring cruise ships to report the volume and nature of all pollutants discharged into state waters. BWN's Alaska representative Gershon Cohen (who also heads the Campaign to Safeguard America's Waters) encouraged Alaska Rep. Beth Kerttula to introduce a similar bill (HB271). Gershon also convinced Sen. Loren Leman to sponsor a bill (SB266) that would end the exemption permitting cruise ships to treat their hulls with toxic tributyltin paint.

BWN assisted CBS television's "60 Minutes" in the preparation of a two-part exposé on the dangers and politics of MTBE - the controversial gasoline additive that has contaminated drinking water supplies across the US.

Bay Area Wilderness Training's [(415) 788-3666, ext. 126] spring training courses will be held on May 24-28 and June 7-11. BAWT's workshops offer intensive training to provide individuals with the skills needed to guide youngsters on multi-day backpack adventures.

The ReThink Paper project (RTP), which researches and promotes tree-free paper alternatives, has two new co-directors: Fiber Futures founder Jeanne Trombly and Fiber Futures research associate Nancy Hurwitz. ReThink Paper Founder Emily Miggins has moved on to work in a management capacity for a major recycling company. RTP [www.ReThinkPaper.org] and Fiber Futures [www.fiberfutures.org] will pursue an expanded joint-effort to promote the use of non-wood fibers in paper, building materials and textiles.

Earth Island Journal has won Sonoma State University's prestigious Project Censored Award. Karl Grossman's article, "US Violates World Law to Militarize Space," [Spring 1999] was judged the Number 4 "Best Censored Story" of 1999. For the full list, see the Project Censored website [www.sonoma.edu/ProjectCensored]. This marks the fifth straight year that Earth Island Journal has been honored by Project Censored.

Earth Island Institute is one of 22 organizations whose signatures have appeared on a series of powerful full-page "Extinction Crisis" ads in The New York Times. The ads, created by the nonprofit Turning Point Project [310 D St., NE, Washington, DC 20002, (800) 249-8712] address such critical issues as family farming, genetic engineering, economic globalization and megatechnology. All of the ads can be read on the Turning Point website [www.turnpoint.org].

Leaf Products, a line of eco-friendly cleaning products, are now available through Real Goods and Whole Foods stores. Proceeds from sales help support a number of environmental groups including Earth Island, Rainforest Action Network and the Solar Living Center.

Hazel Wolf, our dear friend and collaborator, died on January 19 at the age of 101. Hazel left her mark on three centuries and thousands of individuals who knew and loved her. When she reached "retirement" age, Hazel joined the Audubon Society and served as editor of the Federation of Outdoor Club magazine, Outdoor West.

At a memorial service at Seattle's Town Hall, 900 friends celebrated her life and volunteers set up voter-registration tables at every door. Hazel made sure that her activism would out-live her. "If anyone in the room is not registered to vote," Hazel instructed, "I want you to snag them on their way out the door."

Memorial donations can be sent to Hazel's "Kids for the Environment Fund" [c/o the Seattle Audubon Society, 80560 35th Ave. NE, Seattle, WA 98115]. Visit Hazel's website [members.tripod.com/~HazelWolf]. A book and film on Hazel's life are in the works.

Race, Poverty & the Environment, the magazine of the Urban Habitat Program (a former EII project) is publishing again, following the death of editor and EII-colleague Hanna Creighton. The 58-page Winter 2000 issue, devoted to the theme of "Food and Environmental Justice," is a wonderful resource covering land, water, labor, food safety and corporate agriculture issues, and offering grassroots models for change. RP&E is available for $5 from the Urban Habitat Program [UHP, Box 29908 Presidio Station, San Francisco, CA 94129, (415) 561-3333].

Working Assets, the progressive telephone and Internet company, regularly shares its profits with environmental and social justice organizations. In March, Working Assets presented a $79,684 grant to Earth Island Institute. We are extremely grateful for this gift.

Thanks to Dominique Tardif, an Earth Island colleague who returned to San Francisco for a two-day visit and wound up buying a new scanner for the Journal. The old scanner had failed in mid-production. Enjoy the photos in this issue: You have Dominique to thank.

David Brower's latest book, Let the Rivers Run: Let the Mountains Sing (New Society Press) has been reissued in a revised edition in time for Earth Day.

Much to the dismay of SAVE International, the Taiwanese Bin-nan Industrial Complex was approved without warning on December 15, 1999. It appears that the March 2000 presidential election was a factor in the decision. According to the Taipei Times this action was an attempt on the part of KMT candidate Lien Chan to pander to business interests.

Environmentalists, legislators, and local fishermen immediately expressed outrage. SAVE has called upon Taiwan's scientific community to speak out. "In the glare of the international spotlight the same brush of cronyism and corruption taints all involved. It is a poor reflection upon the validity and legitimacy of scientific study if science is so easily bought and sold ... We call upon the many EIA committee members who were left out of these secret and undemocratic proceedings to stand up and oppose this decision."

With no fewer than 30 conditions attached to Bin-nan's approval a great deal of uncertainty still exists. The spoonbill protection area currently proposed by the government is woefully short of the 100,000 hectare area needed. Activists continue to press for the site to be designated a "Wetland of International Importance" under the Ramsar Convention. - Marcia McNally, SAVE International