Resources

Greenpeace announced today the launch of its redeveloped web site at http://www.greenpeaceusa.org. The site has been completely redesigned and features numerous new sections and capabilities including "Save The Planet" which houses the Greenpeace action center.

The action center gives individuals the opportunity to make their voices heard on the most pressing environmental issues by sending online faxes and emails to government and industry. "Inside Greenpeace" provides staff profiles, job listings, organizational history and a "time machine" which can be used to view historical moments from Greenpeace over the past 28 years. The "Media Center" features the latest news, online media kits and a publications archive. In its multimedia section visitors can watch Greenpeace videos online. The "Green Room" includes the "Kids' Clubhouse," a quiz, a weekly online poll and online postcards.

"Greenpeace in Action" section features Greenpeace's work on global warming, ancient forests, oceans and toxics. For more information call: Adlai Amor, Greenpeace Director of Communications at (202) 319-2494 OR David Barre, www.greenpeaceusa.org webmaster at (202) 319-2486.
Website address: www.greenpeaceuse.org

There is a paperback "Foundations of Ecology, Classic Papers with Commentaries", Edited by Leslie A. Real and James H. Brown, 1991 from the University of Chicago Press, that includes papers by Clements, Gleason, Lindeman, Hutchinson, May, MacArthur, etc. There are about 40 papers, each with the appropriate citation and an additional (short) literature cited following the Introduction.

"Foundations of Ecology", L.A. Real and J.H. Brown (eds.), 1991, ISBN 0-226-70594-3, University of Chicago Press. This is probably the closest you can get to a "best of" collection that illustrates the growth and development of ecological thought.

"The Background of Ecology: Concept and Theory" by R. P. McIntosh, 1985, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-24935. It is a very good text dealing with the origins, development, and current problems in the field of ecology.

Teacher Resources. There are two good websites with resources for K-12 Science/Math: Smarter Links Education Page www.smartandsmarter.com/edlinks.html The ENC Digital Dozen www.enc.org/classroom/dd/ddarchiv.htm

1. Office of Children's Health Protection.

In April 1997, President Clinton issued an Executive Order requiring all federal agencies to make the protection of children a high priority in implementing their statutory responsibilities and fulfilling their overall missions. The Office of Children's Health Protection was created to coordinate children's health issues across EPA. This site is your gateway to the latest information on protecting children's health from environmental hazards. Learn about EPA's research projects and outreach programs to safeguard children from environmental threats and link to more than 50 organizations and other government agencies working on behalf of children. One feature on this site is the full-text of the June 1998 publication, The EPA Children's Environmental Health Yearbook.
Website address: www.epa.gov/children/

2. Children's Environmental Health Network

The Children's Environmental Health Network is a national project to protect the health of children as it relates to environmental hazards. Three areas of concentration for the Network are education, research, and policy. To this end, this site features an introduction into the field of pediatric environmental health, including a recommended reading list; conference and activities announcements; and information on their projects such as Train-the-Trainers which is designed to strengthen the capability of medical and nursing faculty to educate pediatric and family practice residents and graduate nurses in pediatric environmental health. They also have made available online numerous publications like Preventing Child Exposures to Environmental Hazards: Research and Policy Issues. Website address: www.cehn.org/

3. Child Health Home Page, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR)

This site was created by the ATSDR Office of Children's Health to share information on a variety of programs that emphasize the vulnerabilities of infants and children in communities faced with the contamination of their water, soil, air, or food. Find out about upcoming national and international conferences, read news releases and book reviews, or access online publications like the 1997 report from their Child Health Workgroup: Healthy Children-Toxic Environments: Acting on the Unique Vulnerability of Children Who Dwell Near Hazardous Waste Sites. They also offer specially-designed pages for children, students, teachers, and medical professionals. Website address: atsdr1.atsdr.cdc.gov:8080/child/

4. Physicians for Social Responsibility Environment and Health Program

Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) is an non-profit organization working to create a world free of nuclear weapons, global environmental pollution, and gun violence. Their Environment and Health Program site includes, in addition to studies on persistent organic pollutants and climate change and human health, a home page devoted to children's environmental health. This site, available at http://www.psr.org/ceh.htm , describes the organization's platform and goals on this issue and includes a press release regarding their recent Children's Environmental Health Report Card delivered to Congress. The full report is available at http://www.psr.org/reportcard-ExSum.htm . Also, check out their publications page for the full text of such studies as Pesticides and Children and Children and Lead.
Website address: www.psr.org/enviro.htm

Kirk Cunningham, a longtime Sierra Club activist in Colorado, was visited recently by FBI agents investigating the burning of ski facilities at Vail. The Sierra Club does not condone nor advocate law breaking of any kind in the pursuit of environmental justice. But this clear mandate doesn't stop club members from facing investigation by government agents.

If the past is any predictor of the future, the investigation of the Vail arson could be used by the feds as a pretext for fishing expeditions into the activities of law abiding activists and organizations like the Sierra Club. There might be reactionary elements in the federal law enforcement agencies allied with wise use forces who could take advantage our lawful activism

Most people do not know what their rights are in a situation like this. You almost always have the right to refuse to speak with a federal agent. For a very understandable and succinct primer on your rights when confonted by a federal law enforcement agent, see "If an Agent Knocks," by the Center for Constitutional Rights. Website address: www.cs.oberlin.edu/~pjaques/etext/ifanagentknocks.html

* started preparing in 1993 and have spent $36 million (more than 22 States).

* are assessing risks to electric grid, water and sewage, and transportation?

* are working on emergency contingency planning?

* are working on 204 projects, most of which should be completed in 1998.

* heart of contingency planning is being prepared to switch to manual operation.

* PEPCO, Washington Gas, and hospitals are at the table working on emergency planning.

* PEPCO is working on embetted systems and anticipates problems; they are planning for problems; rolling blackouts are possible; they will priority to water, natural gas, and hospitals

* Gravity fed water tanks will be topped off and thus ensure a 3-5 day supply of water

* DC is not well prepared; they have the money, but have just started.

* Status of Region's governments preparation can be found at www.mwcog.org

* Working around embedded systems they can't fix; about 1% of embedded systems fail.

* PEPCO is concerned about fuel - it needs delivery of coal from trains; it will stockpile 2-3 months of coal.

**Railroads have been replacing switches

* Hospitals are already ordering bottle water.

* METRO fare card machines won't work; METRO is behind and looking for funding.

* Telecommunications - a lot of pre-1995 equipment is noncompliant; they are changing a lot of switches and are worried that the system will be overwhelmed by calls on 1/1/2000.

* Brown outs are certainly possible

* Hoping for sporadic interruptions in electricity that don't last long

* If there is good contingency planning and manual over rides, disruptions could last for 3 days - has model for 7-10 day disruption and is working on a model for a 4 week scenario?

* Problem may be in February/March when supply lines run low.

* Transportation could be 80% of demand; telecommunications at 90%; revenue for County at 60% -- could have rolling effect on the economy.

* Water is a high priority and Davis is confident it won't be a major problem for MC; there may be problems in small towns that have their own systems.

* Contingency plan: if they can't replace a mission critical system, they are prepared to replace it or go to manual override; every MC Department is doing this - are ordering extra paper and arranging for fuel trucks to supply generators.

* Police and National Guard are talking; Davis can't tell the details.

* Birthdays are a problem, e.g., a 105 year old is sent a letter telling her to report to kindergarten.

* MC doesn't have a staff or budget yet for community involvement; they need a hotline, but not yet sure on what to tell callers.

* If groups are working with government, please come in with a moderate mind set and facts his website is davislogic.commost of County is not yet thinking of Y2K

* Are working with private groups on health and safety of homeless and other with special needs.

* Planning is evolving around telling people what to do.

* Sheltering in place and a list of practical things to do; this will be put into newspapers and door hangers; it is advice for a long winter storm modeled on last year's New England ice storm that left power off for 4 weeks.

* Best to find a house with wood heat and ride it out with a group of people; MC cannot provide shelter for everyone.

* MC is bringing in experts in human behavior on how to tell the story and how people will react.

* MC has met with its cities and chambers and the next steps are to work on public outreach.

* County Council has been very supportive; Executive Branch has the lead

* They are aware of the potential for civil unrest arising from little food and shelter; people loot their own neighborhoods first; he does not believe in roving gangs; there will be regional participation if order is needed 50% of small towns have not started preparations yet small businesses are way behind; SBA outreach failed there is a pessimistic revenue estimate for the County.

* If nuclear plants go down, there will be rolling blackouts.i.e., electricity cuts.