World

Bottled Water May Be Tapped out in Toronto

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Toronto, Canada, is considering a ban on the sale of bottled water in city-run buildings, community centers and arenas in order to reduce the amount of garbage in local landfills. According to the Canadian Broadcasting Company, Toronto Mayor David Miller said the city’s water is just as safe as bottled water, and tap water is far more economical. At the center of the issue are environmental concerns about the fossil fuels used to produce and transport plastic bottles, and the overall impact on local landfills. But many companies in the refreshment industry argue that such a ban could be a step backwards in terms of recycling, and would lead consumers to buy other beverages other than water. “So they’ll have the same amount of plastic to recycle,” Elizabeth Griswold, spokeswoman for the Canadian Bottled Water Association, told the news service.

Environment

Forests Saved by Pollution Problem

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Private forest owners in California are making green — in both the environmental and financial senses — by reducing their carbon footprint, according to a San Francisco Chronicle story. The Garcia River and Van Eck forests are selling carbon offsets to support environmentally friendly initiatives after a state- sponsored nonprofit granted them permission to do so. Carbon offsets are voluntary payments to invest in renewable energy programs and counter greenhouse gas-producing activities — and unlike other offset programs, participating forest owners must abide by rigorous standards by promising to preserve the land for permanent forest use. They must also verify the amount of carbon stored in the trees and to store more than they are legally required. Garcia Rivers offsets their largest customer, utility company PG&E, who in turn charge their ratepayers up to $10 per metric ton of carbon dioxide emissions.

Public Health

PTSD Hits the British Armed Forces

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Roughly 24,000 British veterans returning from duty in Iraq or Afghanistan are now battling the UK’s criminal justice system and constituting nine percent of the prison population, according to reports. The U.K.’s Telegraph reported the findings of three separate studies sponsored by the National Association of Probation Officers and other veteran support groups. Research from 2001 to 2004 along with the case histories of 74 veterans showed that the majority of violent offenses committed by veterans is fueled by drug and alcohol abuse, the result of untreated post-traumatic stress disorder. With 8,000 veterans currently in custody, concerned citizens argue that the Ministry of Defense is doing too little to screen recently discharged servicemen and women for early signs of mental illness. The Ministry says it utilizes “robust systems” to treat and prevent PTSD with pre- and post-deployment screenings, and subsequent access to counseling.

Featured

News You Might Have Missed * Vol. 7, No. 36

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Important but overlooked news from around the world. QUOTED:
“So they’ll have the same amount of plastic to recycle.” — Elizabeth Griswold of the Canadian Bottled Water Association says Toronto’s ban on plastic water bottles wouldn’t stem the tide of plastic soft-drink containers (see “Water,” below). CONTENTS:
*The SF Truthiness Report*
Invasion of the policy pushers
*Top Stories*
The perils of pyrethins, and other pesticide problems
The British Army’s PTSD troubles
Forests saved by pollution problem? *Water*
Bottled water may be tapped out of Toronto
The state wants your raindrops
*World*
India: Farms or factories?

Featured

The Perils of Pyrethrins, and Other Pesticide Problems

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A new class of pesticides is making a growing number of people sick — leading to death in some cases — according to a recent report by the Center for Public Integrity. Pyrethrins, derived from chrysanthemums, and their synthetic equivalents, pyrethroids, first started showing up on the market in large quantities a little more than a decade ago, but they’re now in mosquito nets, flea collars, gardening products, lice shampoo and countless other products. In some cases, they are sprayed by misters directly over fast-food restaurants. The Center’s report found a 300 percent rise over the past decade in the number of reported cases of severe reactions to pyrethrins and pyrethroids. Together, they accounted for 26 percent of all fatal and serious pesticide reactions in the United States in 2007.

Democracy & Civics

Sidebar: Swaying Voters at $2 a Word

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• Main Article: “Invasion of the Policy Pushers”
Here are the most lopsided campaigns in the fall 2008 San Francisco voter information pamphlet, with a well organized group on one side dominating the paid argument pages. Measure A: funding construction and renovations at San Francisco General Hospital
FOR: 39 arguments, submitted mostly by Whitehurst Campaigns
AGAINST: 2
Measure H: promoting public power and alternative energy
FOR: 9 arguments
AGAINST: 30, submitted by a Pacific Gas & Electric Co. campaign committee and Citizens for a Better San Francisco, an affiliate of the San Francisco Republican Party
Measure L: establishing a special court to handle petty crimes
FOR: 17 arguments, submitted mostly by Storefront Political Media, run by a San Francisco mayoral aide
AGAINST: none
Here are the most evenly matched campaigns:
Measure B: establishing a public fund for affordable housing
FOR: 7 arguments
AGAINST: 9
Measure K: decriminalizing prostitution
FOR: 9 arguments
AGAINST: 10
Measure V: reverse a policy to phase out JROTC, military training program in public schools
FOR: 10 arguments
AGAINST: 8
–Matthew Hirsch

The Truthiness Report

Invasion of the Policy Pushers / Interest Groups Spin SF Ballot Arguments

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By Matthew Hirsch, Newsdesk.org/The Public Press
• First in a series fact-checking 2008 election ads in San Francisco
• Sidebar: “Swaying Voters at $2 a Word”
For the November 4 election, San Francisco’s voter-information booklet will be packed with dozens of paid arguments around hot-button topics such as housing and public power. Many of these ballot ads are signed by community and small-business leaders and appear to reflect widespread participation in the public debate. Yet the people who sign the paid arguments don’t always pay for or submit the ads themselves. San Francisco legislators changed the election rules in 1997 so voters could find out who was footing the bills. But most voters don’t know that paid arguments are often bundled by professional campaign consultants whose aim is to manufacture a showing of broad support for particular ballot issues, and who sometimes have their own, undisclosed interests.

Featured

No Place Like Home

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Buffeted by gentrification, targeted for redevelopment, San Francisco’s black communities are emptying out at an unprecedented rate. The population dropped from 13 percent in 1970 to 6 percent in 2005, a decline that’s not expected to slow. Photo: Juneteenth celebrants/Gretchen Robinette

World

Journalist Slaying Stirs up Trouble in Russian Hinterland

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Hundreds of protestors packed the streets of a Russian city on Monday after a critic of the Kremlin was arrested and killed by police. Magomed Yevloyev, the owner of a Web site in the rebellious Ingushetia region, was arrested on Sunday at an airport after getting off the same flight as the Moscow-supported leader of the region, according to the BBC. Soon afterwards, he was shot in the head and dumped near a hospital, where he later died from his injuries, the BBC reported. According to the London Telegraph, Ingushetia has been the scene of a number of deadly attacks in recent months, as a low-level Islamist insurgency has targeted local officials. The region has a stormy history with the nearby South Ossetia region, where Russia has supported a breakaway region against the Georgian government, and, the Telegraph reports, Russia’s recent war with Georgia has further destabilized the situation.

Democracy & Civics

In South America, Land Rights go Native

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[UPDATE: A December 15, 2008, court ruling found in favor of the indigenous plaintiffs.]
A group of new reports finds that land-rights battles in South America may be tipping in favor of indigenous peoples. In Brazil, the Supreme Court is deciding on the right of Amazon natives to live in their ancestral homelands. Inter Press Service, a left-leaning advocacy news outlet, reports that the 11-member court has asked for more time to investigate whether a 1.7-million hectare reserve allotted to natives in the Amazon region was taken illegally by wealthy rice farmers. Already one judge voted in favor of the natives, describing the farmers’ residency as “an unlawful possession.” The remaining judges will decide by the end of the year, but conflict over land ownership is ongoing and in some cases has turned violent.