***** FORWARDED MESSAGE ***** Delivered-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Tue, 8 Dec 1998 21:15:03 -0800 (PST) From: MichaelP <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> X-Sender: papadop@kira To: unlikely.suspects:; Subject: McCarthyism in America isn't dead MIME-Version: 1.0 McCarthyism in America isn't dead, it's simply shifted to environmentalism - Article written by Scott Stouder of Corvallis, Oregon; Published by the Corvallis Gazette-Times on Sunday, September 27, 1998. McCarthyism in America isn't dead, it's simply shifted to environmentalism That's the message in Todd Wilkinson's new book, "Science Under Siege. The Politician's War on Nature and Truth." Wilkinson says political and institutionalized efforts toward scientific spin-doctoring of environmental truth are taking place today via a ruthless fanaticism that obfuscates the message by destroying the messenger. "Politics... have become the cultural filter through which (environmental) truth flows," Wilkinson says. "A campaign of stifling attacks on the essence of scientific truth is present and thriving both within the ranks of the federal government, and within the ranks of natural resource agencies." Science Under Siege is a long overdue story of "whistleblowers" and "combat biologists" who have challenged the union of "Good 'Ol Boy' agency employees and politicians joined at the hip with industry. Every chapter is a story of an employee or biologist assigned to seek scientific truth, that once documented, is suppressed, attacked or discredited by the very agency that assigned it. When he first began researching the book, Wilkinson admits he was skeptical about agency whistleblowers. But he changed his mind when initial inquiries resulted in insinuations of reprisal from both industry and government. If institutions could threaten him "for merely writing," he wondered what they were actually doing to people as: Bear biologist David Mattson whose research for the National Fish and Wildlife Service clearly demonstrates the perils of delisting grizzlies. David Ross, a herpetologist whose research on frogs threatens fortunes from the exploding real estate speculation and development in Utah. Al Espinosa, an Idaho fishery biologist whose research on cutthroat and bull trout blocks the clearcut path of powerful timber interests. Wilkinson tells the stories of conscientious agency biologists and public servants who take seriously their public duties to protect the environment and natural resources, but are intimidated, ostracized and discredited for their efforts. In doing so he uncovers a natural crisis augmented by institutional dogma that few Americans see, but many sense. Nobody epitomizes that crisis more than Jeff DeBonis, who in the late 1980's, stepped from the closed ranks of the Forest Service and founded Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics (FSEEE), a non-profit organization that protects employees who report agency transgressions. After 12 years of working as a Timber Sale Planner and viewing landscape destruction caused by decades of clearcutting, road building and unsustainable timber cutting - and after repeated urging by superiors to alter environmental documents - Debonis had to admit he was no longer working for an agency of foresters, but an agency of de-foresters. "That's when I realized the system didn't work," he said. "The agency will only do the right thing if it's challenged in court or believes it will be exposed." Wilkinson pulls no punches. The 350 page book echoes with names. He points to Northwest politicians in particular who continually attempt to circumvent science and twist federal laws to cut more trees. He says politicians like Frank Murkowski and Don Young from Alaska and Larry Craig and Helen Chenoweth from Idaho, "have fostered an environment of lawlessness" by ordering the Forest Service to continue cutting even when and where the best science reveals destruction of species and ecosystems. Wilkinson accuses these wise-use stratiticians of rhetorically blending ecology and economy in a re-definition of ecosystems that are designed more to enrich developers and industry than wildlife and nature. In Utah he points to this new order of politically defined ecosystem truth as a direct result of a cozy relationship between wildlife agencies, developers and a coalition of western politicians called the "Cowboy Caucus." "What you don't understand," a biologist from Utah tells him, "is that rural politicians in this state believe it is still their duty to tame the frontier. Manifest Destiny didn't die at the turn of the century. It merely shifted from ranching to development, and woe to the environment caught in-between." Science Under Siege sends a clear message that most Americans would rather not hear: That our natural world - the same pure water, diverse wildlife, lush forests and fertile soil that lured us to this continent, has given us the world's most affluent lifestyle and made us a world power - has been systematically destroyed within only a few decades. And today's political answer to that message is to shoot the messenger. Like Theo Colborn's Our Stolen Future and Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, Todd Wilkinson's Science Under Siege will take its place on the book shelf of the 20th century as one of the great wake-up calls regarding our natural world. But unlike Carson and Colborn who uncover hidden attacks against the structure of the natural world by deadly manufactured toxics, Science Under Siege uncovers a hidden attack against nature fueled by the heady toxics of politics, money and power. This is a critical book for anyone who cares about being involved with the future of truth and nature in the American West. Science Under Siege is available from Johnson Publishing Company, 1880 South 57th Court, Boulder, Colorado for $18. e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] The End ** NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. ** ***** END of FORWARDED MESSAGE *****
