[asia-apec 253] APEC '93 WATCH / ECO Issue 3 Part 2, Seattle, WA

[Northwest FOE Office]

APEC '93 WATCH   No. 3   Second of Two Sections
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THINK GLOBALLY - ACT LOCALLY

If you have not heard about GLOBAL RESPONSE, a Boulder, CO USA
organization, here is an unpaid ad:

   "As environmental awareness and activism help reverse
destructive trends in industrialized nations, one result has been
the export of severe ecological degradation to the developing
world.  GLOBAL RESPONSE is a letter-writing network of dedicated
environmental activists focusing attention on specific
environmental threats and mobilizing broad-based campaigns to
hold those responsible accountable.  GLOBAL RESPONSE issues GR
Actions on rainforest destruction, ocean dumping and pollution,
atmospheric contamination, nuclear disarmament, toxic exports,
and threats to marine mammals.  GLOBAL RESPONSE bases its GR
Actions on information and research provided by the identified
cooperating organizations that request GR to address these
issues"

Among recent GR Actions that cover issues along the Pacific Rim:

GR 7/92  Siberian Forests/Clearcutting "Ninety percent of the
trees harvested in Russia are already felled by clearcuts...The
usual problems of increased erosion and watershed degradation
associated with clearcuts are compounded in the delicate
ecosystems of the (Siberian) taiga." (Pacific Resource and
Resource Center)

GR 10/92 Commercial Plutonium Products-Japan: "...the excess of
plutonium from civilian nuclear programs poses a major political
and security problem worldwide.  From a security point of view,
isolated plutonium is best kept in reactors--in the reactor
fuel." (William Dircks, Deputy Director of International Atomic
Energy Agency)

GR 11/92 Temperate Rainforest Protection - Canada: "...the west
coast of Vancouver Island remains an extraordinary showcase of
environmental elegance and diversity.  In many places, this is
still virgin landscape governed by the unequivocal laws of nature
-- a gift of nature to humanity."  (Cameron Young, environmental
writer, in his book "Clayoquot - On the Wilde Side")

GR 2/93 Offshore Oil Drilling/Alaska USA : "...it's time that
America has to face a solution and quit harming Native
people...Show us that you care...There is a Arctic Ocean full of
sea life.  Don't add another Prince William Sound with a polar
ice pack on it. Protect it.  Care for it...You've already
polluted too much." (Indigenous testimony on the proposed Outer
Continental Shelf oil leases)

GR 4/93 Toxic Waste/Malaysia:"...(the dump site) is an open area
where people used to go.  I was told that the waste could be used
at fertilizer and I took a drag of it to fertilize my mango
tree." (Court testimony from a Bukit Merah resident during the
hearing on Asian Rare Earth's operations) "...severe health
problems exist in Bukit Merah...most probably related to
radiation exposure..." (Canadian public health expert)

GR 7/93 Reprocessing Spent Nuclear Fuel/Siberia:"Any major
accident on the shores of the Yenisei and in the Taiga could
become global in scope and lead to the elimination of life and
economic activity from enormous regions of Siberia for many
years.  Radioactive contents of just one RT-2's storage
facilities will be 20 billion curies or about 2500 Chernobyls."
(Krasnoyarsk Ecological movement)

Copies of these GR Actions are available at the Seattle Citizen
Hospitality Room, 911 Stewart St. (Gethsemane Lutheran Church - 4
blocks North of the Trade Center) or contact: GLOBAL RESPONSE,
Environmental Action Network, P.O. Box 7490, Boulder, CO, USA
80306-7490 Phone/FAX (303) 444-0306
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GREMLIN - (The ECO gremlin has been latteing around APEC looking
into tunnels and corners.  Here is the Gremlin Report)

*Gremlin agrees that TV turns the mind to mush, but Ambassador
Kantor's video show (due to a cancellation to remain in D.C. for
NAFTA lobbying) at Tuesday's luncheon was particularly mushy
especially around his concept of "growing economic growth". 
Maybe he was just trying to invent a new acronym - GEG.

*Rumors have it, but then rumors always do, that limousines were
flown in to seattle from the United Nations to cover a local
shortage.  The dignitaries could have taken the Seattle Metro bus
system.  Then the buses would not have had to carry signs saying,
"Notice schedules may be delayed due to travel congestions caused
by APEC motorcades."
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DISASTROUS ENVIRONMENTAL CONSEQUENCES PREDICTED FOR CHINA'S THREE
GORGES DAM

Ground has been broken at the planned site of the biggest dam in
the world.  China's famous Three Gorges would be drowned behind
the dam by a 350 mile long reservoir, which would back up the
mighty Yangtze River nearly to Chonqging in west China.
Environmentalists and engineers both within and outside of China
fear serious consequences will result if the dam is built.

   *The dam would destroy commercial fish stocks and deprive the 

     complex floodplain agricultural system of water and slit
they      need, threatening the livelihood of 75 million people
who          live by fishing or farming along the Yangtze's
banks. 

   *Flood inundation from catastrophic dam failure would         

    engulf cities, towns,  factories and farms, killing millions.

    The August 27, 1993 failure of Gouhou Dam has raised fears   

    about a far worse disaster should Three Gorges fail.         

    California dam safety official Don Babbitt acknowledged that 

     Three Gorges' seismic design would not meet California      

     criteria.

   *Over one million people, many of whom make their living in   

    farming and fishing, would be forced to relocate.  Nearly    

    half a million of these people would be moved 1200 miles away

    to Kashgar, sparsely populated because of its harsh desert   

     climate.

Recent developments have encouraged dam opponents.  The Canadian
International Development Agency, which prepared the feasibility
study on the dam, will not participate further in the Three
Gorges project.  Nor will the Bureau of Reclamation.

Today at 12 Noon there will be a press conference on the Three
Gorges Dam at the Gethsemane Lutheran Church. Call: 233-9678
________________________

ECO is a publication of the Non-Governmental Organizations
present at the APEC Meeting to present alternative trade models
that incorporate sustainable development, poverty alleviation
measures and the protection of the environment.

Staff:


Karen Fant
Alex Hittle
Emily Kaplan
David E. Ortman
John Reese
Mason Young

The editorial office can be reached at 206-XXX-XXXX, FAX XXX-XXXX
e-mail: foewase at igc.apc.org