Today's Topics:
Env. packaging [ Michele Raymond <michele@raymond.co ]
RE: [GreenYes]
Event Waste Reduction/Rec [ "Gassman, Brenda" <blgassma@PUBSERV ]
[GreenYes]
Corporate Welfare Report [ GaryLiss@aol.com (by way of Shay Mi ]
Re: [GreenYes]
Env. packaging [ aschneid@cats.ucsc.edu ]
[GreenYes]
NY Times: Suit Demands Ban on [ DavidOrr@aol.com ]
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Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1998 12:23:06 -0500
From: Michele Raymond <michele@raymond.com>
To: greenyes-d@earthsystems.org
Subject: Env. packaging
Message-Id: <3.0.32.19981217122304.006df308@pop.cais.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
there is info and links on Env packaging on my web site
http://www.raymond.com
The handbook from HP is good, but may be a little out of date by now.
However, no one has done an update because US companies have lost interest
in the subject in the absence of legislation or pressure from
retailers/consumers.
I could do a new handbook here if I felt there was a market. I would have
to charge for it though!
H-P did this sponsored I think.
Best of luck!!
Michele Raymond
Michele Raymond
Publisher
Recycling Laws International/ State Recycling Laws Update
5111 Berwyn Rd. Ste 115 College Park, MD 20740)
301/345-4237 Fax 345-4768
http://www.raymond.com
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1998 13:26:13 -0600
From: "Gassman, Brenda" <blgassma@PUBSERV.CO.ANOKA.MN.US>
To: "'Tara Blumer'" <tarab@spnec.org>, greenyes@ucsd.edu
Subject: RE: [GreenYes]
Event Waste Reduction/Recycling
Message-ID: <810544449120D111908500805F48F899174E8C@pubserv.co.anoka.mn.us>
Content-Type: text/plain;
charset="iso-8859-1"
Tara - The Cherry Creek Arts Festival in Denver CO put together an
"environmental blueprint" booklet on the recycling program at their
event. For more info, contact them at 303-355-2787. The booklet came
out in 1995.
Also, several CA cities put together a brochure on this topic. Contact
city of Los Angeles, 213-237-1444. It's called "Event Recycling."
NEC does a great job w/ the recycling and composting at their bike tour
- hats off!
Brenda Gassman
Anoka County Integrated Waste Management
-----Original Message-----
From: Tara Blumer [mailto:tarab@spnec.org]
Sent: Monday, December 14, 1998 4:14 PM
To: greenyes@ucsd.edu
Subject: [GreenYes]
Event Waste Reduction/Recycling
Hello! I am in the process of gathering information on
waste reduction, composting and recycling at special events like
festivals, fairs, conferences, athletic events, etc. Has anyone put
together a "how to" guide on this topic or is anyone willing to share
information on their successes or failures? All replies will be
appreciated.
For anyone who is interested, the Saint Paul
Neighborhood Energy Consortium (NEC) in Minnesota is a major sponsor and
organizer of the Saint Paul Classic Bike Tour, which attracts 5,000
riders annually. In an effort to reduce the amount of waste disposed of
at this event, the NEC provides a staffed trash/recycling area at each
of the six rest stops along the bike route. Riders sort their waste
into recycling, compost or trash receptacles. This is a great
opportunity to educate participants about waste reduction, composting
and recycling by having them sort their waste into the correct
container. For the past two years, approximately 5% of the waste was
trash. The rest was composted or recycled. For more information you
can contact Tara Blumer (tarab@spnec.org) or Hatti Koth
(hattik@spnec.org) at the NEC.
Happy Holidays!
Tara Blumer
Multifamily Recycling Coordinator
Saint Paul Neighborhood Energy Consortium
475 North Cleveland Avenue, #100
Saint Paul, MN 55104
phone:(651) 644-7678
fax:(651) 649-3109
----------------------------
tarab@spnec.org
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Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1998 16:32:11 -0500
From: GaryLiss@aol.com (by way of Shay Mitchell <shay@earthsystems.org>)
To: greenyes@earthsystems.org
Subject: [GreenYes]
Corporate Welfare Report
Message-Id: <199812172130.QAA03866@gaea.earthsystems.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
ENN DAILY NEWS
E-mail Edition for Thursday, December 17, 1998
Produced by the Environmental News Network
http://www.enn.com/news/enn-stories/1998/12/121798/tbreak.asp
$17.8 BILLION IN POLLUTER TAX BREAKS REVEALED
SUMMARY
Federal tax breaks for polluting industries, such as oil and gas, mining,
timber and agribusiness corporations, are estimated to grow to $17.8 billion
over the next five years, according to a report released Monday by the
Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation. The environmental group Friends of
the Earth says the report, Estimates of Federal Tax Expenditures for Fiscal
Years 1999-2003, is evidence of how the government gives billions of dollars
away in annual tax breaks to businesses that harm the environment.
FULL STORY
$17.8 BILLION IN POLLUTER TAX BREAKS REVEALED
Thursday, December 17, 1998
Oil and gas industry tax breaks will amount to about $11 billion over the next
five years.
Federal tax breaks for polluting industries, such as oil and gas, mining,
timber and agribusiness corporations, are estimated to grow to $17.8 billion
over the next five years, according to a report released Monday by the
Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation.
The environmental group Friends of the Earth says the report, Estimates of
Federal Tax Expenditures for Fiscal Years 1999-2003, is evidence of how the
government gives billions of dollars away in annual tax breaks to businesses
that harm the environment.
Oil and gas tax breaks alone account for close to $11 billion. These subsidies
not only cost ordinary U.S. taxpayers more in taxes, but they stunt the growth
of emerging, environmentally friendly energy technologies, which are crucial
to sustainable development, said Friends of the Earth.
"Santa came early this year for polluting industries," said Gawain Kripke,
director of economic campaigns at Friends of the Earth. "Congress should play
Scrooge and cut these dirty tax breaks."
The tax breaks include:
$11 billion for tax breaks and loopholes that subsidize exploration and
production activities for the oil and gas industry
$1.9 billion for tax breaks to the mining industry -- some of which comes from
mining minerals on public lands
$900 million in special provisions for timber companies, which the
environmental group says drives down the costs of virgin wood products at the
expense of recycled goods
$3.9 billion for loopholes intended to benefit small farmers but that
primarily benefit large agribusiness
"We cannot allow the continued rape of the land by polluters who would deplete
our forests, scar our public lands, pollute our air and water and then have
the tax code subsidize their destruction," said Representative Pete Stark,
D-Calif., a member of the Ways and Means Committee. "This $17.8 billion in
corporate welfare is unconscionable."
Friends of the Earth has tracked corporate welfare for polluters in the tax
code since 1995 and recently updated Dirty Little Secrets, a report targeting
the 15 worst tax breaks for the environment.
"Tax loopholes continue to reward corporations that pollute the air and water,
drill for oil and gas and cut down forests," said Brian Dunkiel, Friends of
the Earth director of tax policy. "It is time to put an end to these
unnecessary and harmful subsidies."
Copyright 1998, Environmental News Network, All Rights Reserved
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------------------------------
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1998 13:36:16 -0800
From: aschneid@cats.ucsc.edu
To: Michele Raymond <michele@raymond.com>
CC: greenyes-d@earthsystems.org
Subject: Re: [GreenYes]
Env. packaging
Message-ID: <3679794A.6EE2@cats.ucsc.edu>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
More background on the Guide to Env. Pkg. It was put together by two
packaging engineers from HP along with Apple and IBM engineers who then
invited many other packaging engineers. They also contact local
government to provide recycling expertise and some environmental groups
to ensure that many perspectives were included.
It was a great project and process. For the most part the engineers
were all young and enthusiastic. They were amazed with the eastern
establishment came down on them so hard.
But, I bet they would be willing to update the document. Local Silicon
Valley companies paid for the first two printings. They'd probably put
the next version on line, public domain.
If a ground swell rises I will pass it along to the lead folks at HP.
Ann Schneider
UC Santa Cruz Extension
in the heart of Silicon Valley
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1998 00:27:22 EST
From: DavidOrr@aol.com
To: community@ag.arizona.edu, rags-rap@ran.org
Subject: [GreenYes]
NY Times: Suit Demands Ban on Logging
Message-ID: <ba302a28.3679e7ba@aol.com>
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit
Thursday, December 17, 1998
<A HREF="aol://4344:104.nytcopy.6445375.574106743">Copyright 1998 The New York
Times</A>
Group's Suit Demands Ban on Logging in U.S. Forest
By JOHN H. CUSHMAN Jr.
WASHINGTON -- A coalition of environmentalists plans to sue the Forest
Service on Thursday, demanding an end to logging in national forests on
grounds that the federal timber program causes more economic harm than good.
The environmental groups, led by Friends of the Earth and Forest Guardians,
assert that the Forest Service routinely ignores laws and regulations that
require it to calculate the economic costs of logging, such as damage to water
resources or tourism, and to weigh them against the benefits, such as the
value of the timber that is sold.
In one sense, the lawsuit upends the typical dispute between business groups
who say that environmental regulations cost more than they are worth, and
environmentalists who usually argue that the benefits of strict environmental
rules cannot be expressed in dollars. For years, the environmentalists have
been fighting attempts in Congress to require cost-benefit tests. Now they are
in court seeking exactly that.
The lawsuit has been joined by recreation, hunting and fishing
organizations, owners of small forest lots, tourism enterprises and others who
say they have been harmed economically by the logging program.
It is supported by some prominent natural resource economists who contend
that is is possible to measure the worth of forests that are not logged -- and
indeed that these values probably far exceed the worth of the timber they hold
and the jobs that are created by logging.
The suit is to be filed in federal district court for Vermont, in
Burlington, said Brian Dunkiel, a staff lawyer for Friends of the Earth. It
follows a year-long campaign in which the environmentalists filed
administrative appeals with the Forest Service challenging hundreds of
individual timber sales by the service, including in the Green Mountains
National Forest in Vermont, on similar grounds, only to be rebuffed
repeatedly.
"The law requires the Forest Service to account for net economic and social
values," Dunkiel said. "It is almost as though the Congress had hired the
Forest Service to serve as the public's accountant, to manage these assets.
What has become clear is that the Forest Service has failed terribly."
James Lyons, the undersecretary of agriculture for natural resources, said
he had not seen the complaint and could not address its specifics.
"As an organization we are certainly moving in a direction that takes into
account all the resources," Lyons said. "We are seeking to improve, if not
maximize, net public benefits. Our analysis is not focused solely on timber
production.
"It's not what we take out of the woods, it's what we leave behind that
really matters."
The coalition's lawsuit relies on a new but increasingly influential theory
among ecologists that it is possible to put a monetary price on the public
benefits that flow from healthy ecosystems, such as providing habitat for
commercial species, protecting drinking water reserves, providing recreation
and helping control global warming.
It comes at a time when the federal timber program, in which the Forest
Service auctions off its trees to commercial companies, is under challenge on
many fronts. The Clinton administration is considering sweeping new forest
policies aimed at protecting the last pristine stands of trees in roadless
areas, and anti-logging forces have proposed legislation in Congress that
would restrict logging and road construction in tens of millions of acres in
national forests.
But some conservationists have complained that the administration's approach
exempts major forests from protection, and the legislation has virtually no
chance of being enacted because pro-logging lawmakers control committees in
the House and Senate that have jurisdiction over forests.
Instead, the plaintiffs in the suit are seeking to force the Forest Service
to stop logging until it obeys what they say are the requirements of existing
laws and rules.
In documents prepared for the lawsuit, John Talberth, the executive director
of Forest Guardians, presents the results of a broad review he conducted of
the professional literature describing what he called generally accepted
standards for measuring the values of forests and the costs of logging them.
He also presents results of a survey of hundreds of timber sale documents
obtained from the Forest Service, which he said demonstrated that the agency
"has failed to incorporate significant information about the socio-economic
values of unlogged national forests into timber sale program decisions."
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End of greenyes-d Digest V98 Issue #15
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