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by Jenny Coyle
The Other Guy's Cheat Sheet
Here's a Web site that's a bonanza for anyone who wants to check out the
anti-environmental agenda and the way its defenders justify their views. A Club member who
wants to stay anonymous so he doesn't get kicked off all the right-wing anti-environmental
lists he's on forwarded it to The Planet.
Corporate-sponsored "environmental education" propaganda is
collected into one directory.
Back on Our Side of
the Environment
We're not the only ones who think Hilda Solis is good for the environment.
So does the Kennedy Foundation, which is recognizing the California state senator's work
on environmental justice issues by giving her this year's "Profiles in Courage
Award."
Solis was elected to the state assembly in 1992, to the state senate in
1994 and was reelected in 1998. Now she's running for Congress, and in the March primary
beat 18-year Democratic incumbent Marty Martinez. The Club's Angeles Chapter endorsed
Solis and unleashed an army of volunteers to work on her campaign.
"We don't usually endorse candidates challenging incumbents in a
primary election," said chapter Political Committee activist JOAN JONES HOLTZ.
"But this time it worked well for her and for us." The vote was 63 percent to 29
percent in Solis' favor. There is no Republican challenger in the November election.
Solis has introduced environmentally friendly legislation on surface
mining, open-space acquisition and environmental justice.
Maryland Radio Show Is
Just Ducky
First there's the distinctive cry of a red-tailed hawk, followed by a
voice that says, "From the Blue Ridge to the bay, it's Watershed." And then
there's a lively guitar lick.
Radio listeners in the Chesapeake Bay watershed - including the states of
Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and New York - know that what comes next
is a one-minute environmental lesson from the Maryland Chapter of the Sierra Club.
A show on horseshoe crabs laying eggs on area beaches will run a week
before the season begins. A spot on International Migratory Bird Day airs before that
occasion. Listeners also hear about the water pollution caused by animal factories and
about air pollution caused by SUVs.
The show is produced by Club volunteers: Robin Jung, a
scientist with the U.S. Geologic Survey; Janis Oppelt, a professional
writer; Andy Roberts, a writer and radio and music producer with his own
studio; and executive producer Chris Bedford, a writer and producer.
Nationally known narrator Lary Lewman is Watershed's technical advisor,
and the voices are Jung and Bill O'Connor. They've produced 260
one-minute spots, which air on six stations - two of them commercial - as public service
announcements.
"No single broadcast is going to change anyone's life," says
Bedford, "but hearing them regularly will create greater awareness about our
surroundings and the science behind it, and about what we've lost."
Oppelt says that in the spots she writes, she focuses on the little things
people can do to make a difference. "Not everyone can be a David Brower,"
she says, "but they can feed the birds, and they can have a garden without
chemicals."
The shows are produced in Roberts' studio, and he creates the musical
background and segues. "This lets me use my professional skills as an activist,"
he said.
For more information on Watershed, contact the Maryland Chapter at (301)
277-7111.
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