A List of Environmental and Telecommunications Events and Issues

June 27 to July 4, 1997









Published, Edited and Written by George Mokray for
Information Ecologies
218 Franklin St #3
Cambridge, MA 02139
(617)661-2676
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Listings

Saturday, June 28

3rd International Interdisciplinary Conference on the Environment - contributions of different disciplines to enhanced understanding of the interactions between the natural environment and human institutions
contact Dr. Demitri Kantarelis or Kevin Hickey, IEA/Kantrelis - Hickey, Assumption College, 500 Salisbury St., Worcester, MA
(508)767-7557 or (508)767-7296, dkantar@eve.assumption.edu, http://www.assumption.edu/html/academic/conf/iicecall.html
Cambridge

9:30 am - 1 pm
Right to a Job at a Liveable Wage
Sponsored by the Greater Boston Chapter of the Labor Party
contact Jonathan King at 253 -4700 or jaking@mit.edu
Community Church of Boston, 565 Boylston St (Copley Sq)

Sunday, June 29

3:30 pm
Paper Mache vs. Neoliberalism
Bread and Puppet and the International Theater of Latin America and the Carribean
contact http://www.blank.org/sweatgear or http://protozoa.protozoa.com/~emre/puppetry/bnp/bnp.html
MIT Student Center

4 pm
Annual Harvest Co-op Picnic
contact 661-1580 or 787-1416
Herter Park, opposite WBZ, Soldiers Field Road, Allston
members $4, kids $2, non-members $5

Tuesday, July 1

11:30 am, 1 pm, 2:30 pm, 4 pm
Computer Animation Festival - animation from SIGGRAPH 1996 contact
Computer Museum, Museum Wharf, Boston
daily through Sunday, July 6

9 pm
Cadillac Desert: Water and the Transformation of Nature
contact http://www.pbs.org/kteh/cadillacdesert/
WGBH 2-TV

Friday, July 4

Practice your own independence!

Sources for Listings:
MIT _Tech Talk_ :
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/www
Harvard _Gazette_ :
http://www.news.harvard.edu/hno.subpages/hno.calendar.full.html
Harvard Environmental Resources On-Line:
http://environment.harvard.edu
MA Executive Office of Environmental Affairs calendar:
http://www.magnet.state.ma.us/envir/earth.htm
Earth Day Network international/national listings:
http://www.cfe.cornell.edu/EarthDay/ednethome.html
Earth Day Greater Boston calendar:
http://www.earthdaygb.org

act-ma the Massachusetts activists mailing list:
subscribe by emailing majordomo@igc.apc.org, leaving the subject line blank and typing "subscribe act-ma" as the message

Peace and Justice Events Hotline at (617)787-6809

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World Trade Organization Looks at Massachusetts Burma Law

Editorial Comment: Ann Stewart (Stewartship@compuserve.com) sent out this alert about one of the effects of internationalization.



June 20, 1997
Yesterday, Sir Leon Brittan, Vice President of the European Commission (EC), sent a letter to US Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky. In the letter, Brittan informed Barshefsky that, today, the EC would request "formal consultations" with the US concerning the Massachusetts Burma law.

Under World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute mechanisms, the EC is required to have three rounds of formal consultations with the US before taking the dispute to a WTO arbitration panel. Consequently, this move by the European Commission represents a significant increase in pressure on the US, possibly leading to the formation of a formal dispute panel.

The European Commission is clearly hoping that, by turning up the heat on the Massachusetts Burma law, it will persuade Massachusetts legislators to water down the Burma law and bring it in compliance with the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement.

The Burma selective purchasing law, enacted in June 1996, requires state purchasing agencies not to do business with companies having business interests in or doing business with the military dictatorship ruling Burma.

SUGGESTIONS FOR ACTION
Letters and phone calls to our elected officials work! In response to our letters, Attorney General Harshbarger has told Reuters of his firm support for the Burma law. State legislators have called to ask how they can help defend the law.

Please write, call or fax. Let our elected officials know that:
1. You strongly support the Massachusetts Burma law as it currently stands.
2. European Commission bureaucrats should not be allowed to tell elected Massachusetts legislators how to spend taxpayers money.
3. On June 12, the European Parliament unanimously passed a resolution that urged the European Commission not to take action against the Massachusetts Burma law at the World Trade Organization. Why should Massachusetts legislators amend their Burma law to suit European Commission bureaucrats when elected European Parliament legislators unanimously support the Massachusetts Burma law?
4. If you're from another New England state, feel free to write the Governor, Attorney General, Senate President and House Speaker to offer your support. Mention that you support the enactment of similar Burma selective purchasing laws in your home state.
*** 5. If you have already written ask a friend, coworker or family member to write too! ***

Governor William Weld
State House, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Boston, MA 02133
(617) 727-3600
(617) 727-5291 fax

Attorney General Scott Harshbarger
1 Ashburton Place, Boston, MA 02108
(617) 727-2200
(617) 727-5778 fax

Senate President Thomas Birmingham
State House, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Boston, MA 02133
(617) 722-1500
(617) 248-3840 fax

House Speaker Thomas Finneran
State House, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Boston, MA 02133
(617) 722-2500
(617) 722-2008 fax

Call your state representative and state senator at: (617) 722-2000 Write to them at:
State House, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Boston, MA 02133

Thank you for your help. Your efforts will protect the Massachusetts Burma law.

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Testifying for the Sun

Cindy Luppi of Clean Water Action asked me to testify at a State House hearing on Masschusetts H.4415, An Act Reducing the Environmental Impact of Electric Power Generation, on Thursday. This bill prohibits any utility from selling electricity from power plants that do not meet tough current pollution standards, require utilities to increase energy efficiency, require utilities to include at least 4% clean, new renewables (such as wind and solar) as part of their mix of energy sources within 10 years, and gives consumers the "Right to Know" by requiring utility bills to disclose electricity sources (both geographic location and type of generation).

When my turn came, I told the Representatives (all two of them) that I have never seen a poll where less than 70% of the public chose renewables and energy efficiency over oil, gas, coal and nuclear and all the polls on utility deregulation I've seen show that at least one third of the public is willing to pay a premium of up to 15% for "green energy". I also told them that a green energy policy by Massachusetts could be a competitive advantage rather than a detriment due to the fact that many businesses are now realizing that environmentalism is not only good public relations but also good business practice. I hope that they listened.

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Environmental Education

In the last year, I've seen two stories in the _Boston Globe_ about increasing attacks against environmental education in the schools. This seems to me to be one of the next tactics in the anti-enviro campaign. The latest _Globe_ article was on June 15 and quoted one Michael Sanera, author of _Facts, Not Fear_ (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=089526448X/alistA/), about how "bad" environmental education really is.

Coincidentally, _Business Week_ of June 30 has a cover story on marketing to children with another story on the commercialization of schools. Which has more money, power, and influence - environmentalists or the business sector?

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Direct Action Media Network

I've gone to two meetings of the Boston Media Collective, an attempt to develop an alternative media coalition. There have been radio, print, photo, and video folks talking around the circle, trying to develop a resource list and determine future joint projects. If you are interested in getting involved in this group, please let me know and I'll add you to the email list.

As part of this new network, I received a mailing about the Direct Action Media Network (DAMN), a nation-wide effort to develop a "news service that has already begun to gather and distribute multi-media coverage of progressive actions, marches, protests and other inclusive campaigns." This looks really juicey, with Web distribution for print, images, sound and video. Just what I've been waiting for.

The contact for print people is Rachel Rinaldo (rrina@spc.uchicago.edu); for radio it's Lyn Gerry (redlyn@loop.com); for video it's Eric Galatas (citizen@speakeasy.org) and/or Robert Wyrod (rjwyrod@midway.uchicago.edu); for still photography it's Daymon Hartley (Daymon2001@aol.com); and if you want to help with the Website, contact Maria Frangos (maria@cpol.com). If you would like to join the mailing list, email majordomo@tao.ca and type "subscribe direct" as the message.

DAMN is already distributing news feeds through its Websites at
http://www.worldmedia.com/madness/directtest/hnj4.htm and http://www.tao.ca/earth/direct.htm
They say, "Feel free to print and/or rebroadcast any DAMN coverage, though please let us know so we know how far our coverage is reaching."

Now, who wants to beat CNN at its own game?

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Third, Fourth, Fifth Parties

Editorial Comment: Here are three chances to get involved in building new local and national political parties.



From: "stith" <stith@prodigy.net>

The 1997 National Gathering of the Greens/Green Party USA is coming to Lawrence, Massachusetts, Wednesday, August 27 through Monday, September 1. Hundreds of Greens, excited by the growth of the global Green movement and the success of Green candidates in the United States, will be coming to the historic and cultural city of Lawrence for the Labor Day weekend event.

In electoral politics, Green candidates ran for over 60 U.S. offices in 1996 and 1997, and currently hold 38 seats on city councils, school boards, and local commissions in ten states. In Hawai'i County, Hawai'i, Keiko Bonk nearly became the county mayor, placing second with 33%. Locally, Charles Laws won over 10,000 votes last fall against William Delahunt and Ed Teague in the 10th Congressional District. And the Green Party ran fourth in the 1996 presidential race, when over 700,000 Americans voted the presidential ticket of Ralph Nader and Winona LaDuke.

In their own communities, Greens work on a variety of issues that will be discussed through panels and workshops in Lawrence, including economic change, anti-racism organizing, sustainable agriculture, protection of forests, police brutality, labor rights, the dangers of nuclear energy, and corporate power. As part of the gathering, Greens will protest the encircling of Lawrence by several waste incinerators, which pollute the air of this low-income city populated mainly by people of color.

The theme of this tenth national gathering is "Green Unity & Progressive Solidarity." Green activists and invited speakers from environmental, economic, and social justice movements around the U.S. and abroad will be in attendance. At this time confirmed speakers include Dottie Stevens, National Welfare Rights Union; Ed Bruno, Labor Party; Madelyn Hoffman, NJ Green gubernatorial candidate; Carolyn Campbell, Center for Voting and Democracy; Mel King, Mass. Rainbow Party; Grace Lee Boggs, Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice; Guy Chichester, Clamshell Alliance; and Paul Gunter, Nuclear Information & Resource Service. Many other speakers, including Ralph Nader, have been invited to attend.

On Monday, September 1, the gathering will end for Lawrence's annual Bread and Roses Labor Day Heritage Festival. The festival celebrates the famous Bread and Roses strike of 1912, when the workers of Lawrence joined together to win higher wages and catalyzed a national movement for progressive labor laws.

The Green Congress, the decision-making body of the Greens/Green Party USA, will meet as part of the gathering. All meetings are open to those attending the gathering. Registration fees for the gathering are $150 for all meals, basic accommodations, and events during the six-day gathering. Discounts are available for early registrants (before July 1) and those needing financial assistance. Lawrence residents can attend the Congress, panels, and workshops for $5 per day. For more information, call (508) 688-3569 or e-mail <lgi@igc.apc.org>.

From: NP National Office <natint@igc.apc.org>
To: np-build@igc.org
Subject: New Party Online News 6/19/97

*******************************
NP Online News -- June 19, 1997
*******************************
Below is our "June 1997 Update." We apologize for the lack of regular postings to the list, largely due to technical problems which have now been worked out. We plan to proceed with bi-weekly postings, with one generally being an update/news piece and the other an interesting background article or story that relates to the work we do.

Meanwhile, as you wait for the next posting, check out our Web site at http://www.newparty.org. And if you haven't joined yet, call us at 1-800-200-1294.

Thanks again to those who have sent in new addresses -- our list has quickly grown to 3000 names. We encourage you to continue send us whatever names you can, whether it's 10, 100, or 1000. We'll send them a message describing NP-Build and ask them to subscribe. Every little bit counts, and this is an extremely inexpensive way for us to get the word out about our work. Onward and upward...

**June 1997 Update**
Progressive Milwaukee/NP Wins 3rd Living Wage Fight
Little Rock New Party Wins Police Accountability Ordinance
Progressive Dane/NP Members Elected to Leadership Posts
Key Unions Affiliate With Progressive Montgomery/NP, Chicago New Party
New Organizing in Houston, Portland
Bronx New Party Member Runs for City Council

for the full report visit the New Party Website at
http://www.newparty.org

The Right to a Job at a Liveable Wage: The 28th Amendment campaign! Sponsored by the Greater Boston Chapter of the Labor Party*

Saturday June 28th 9:30 AM - 1:00 PM
Community Church of Boston
565 Boylston Street (across from Copley Square)

9:30 : Registration and Coffee
9:45: Welcome (Lorraine Dardis, Greater Boston Labor Party)
10:00: Why we need our own Party. Phil Mamber (United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers Union; Mass LP)
10:20 The 28th amendment campaign Jeff Booth (Greater Boston LP)
10:45: Coffee Break
11:00 The Right to a liveable wage for the work we do:
Concurrent Workshops:
A) Care giving and health care: Dottie Stevens (Mass Welfare Rights Union); Sandy Eaton (Mass Nurses Assn); Emma Johnson, SEIU 509, SEUI 285 rep.
B) Education for All: Gary Hicks, (GBLP); Dean Robinson, (U/Mass Amherst, Western. MA LP); Salomon Davila, (Cambridge Rindge and Latin/LUCHA); Chris Lowe (BU, GBLP); Jonathan King (MIT/GBLP).
C) Information/Office Work: Sandra Rosen (HUCTW / AFCME), Rosemary Williams (Burnham and Hines); Karen O' Donnell (Shorter Work Time Coalition), BU UAW Rep, others.
D) Housing and Jobs: Paul Shannon (AFSC/GBLP), Kwaku Zulu, Greater Roxbury Workers Assn; Laura Walker (Mass Welfare Rights Union); Reps from Local 40, Cambridge Eviction Free Zone; Spare Change.
12:15 Reports from workshops on campaign development.
12:45: Announcements and Other Business.
1:00 PM. Adjourn.

Jonathan King
Prof of Molecular Biology
MIT, 68-330
Cambridge, MA 02139
617 253 -4700
jaking@mit.edu

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Harvard Environmental Network Bulletin

Editorial Comment: HEN is a great resource. During the school year, they publish a regular listing of environmental events and opportunities at and around Harvard (and links to "A List...). Tom Parris (Environmental Resources Librarian, Lamont - Level 1, Harvard College Library, Harvard University; Cambridge MA 02138 (617)496-6158, fax (617)496-0440, tparris@fas.harvard.edu, http://environment.harvard.edu) is the editor. Here are two of their latest pieces. Check out the Webpage and see if you want to subscribe.



Survey on Environmental Health Research Opportunies for Harvard Medical Students

A surge of interest among medical students in environmental health, together with the establishment of the Harvard Medical School (HMS) Center for Health and the Global Environment, has prompted this project. We are compiling a directory of research opportunities for HMS students in Environmental Health. We know that this is a broad heading, and that your particular research may intersect with only one aspect of this field. However, a growing number of medical students are eager to work in this area, and have the potential to make a significant contribution. The main opportunities for engaging in full time work exist during the summer in between Years 1 and 2, and during elective periods thereafter. With adequate funding, some students are motivated to extend their educational period to work on especially promising projects.

Please take a few minutes to fill out the following questionnaire, even if you may not have an appropriate project or resources for a student at this time. We will distribute this information to students along with their fall course and registration materials.

Return this questionnaire as follows:

by e-mail to Rebecca Milstein at rmilstei@student.med.harvard.edu or Marty Smith at masmith@student.med.harvard.edu.

or by mail or fax to Center for Health and the Global Environment, Holmes Society, Medical Education Center, HMS; FAX: 432-2595

Thanks so much for your interest!
Center for Health and the Global Environment, Harvard Medical School
Survey on Environmental Health Research Opportunies for HMS Students

Name:
Title:
Address:
Telephone:
FAX:
e-mail:

1. Description of project amenable for HMS student research:

2. How does the research relate to health and the environment?

3. How could a student participate in your research? (e.g. field research, data entry, analysis, etc.)

4. What experience would you prefer a student to have as a prerequisite?

5. What would you expect as a minimum time commitment?

6. Is there any salary or work-student funds to support this activity? If so, what?

7. This survey is being sent to relevant faculty members at the Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard Medical School, and selected faculty and programs in other Schools of the University. Do you have other suggestions of individuals outside of these institutions who might also be interested in having an HMS student work with them and who could provide an enriching experience in this area?

ENVIRONMENTAL LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT LCA SHORT COURSE
MIT, E40-496, 8-9 July 1997, 9 am to 5pm

The present two-day short course aims to enable the participants:
- To know the relationships between Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and other environmental tools
- To know the existing LCA methodologies, the basic rules and frameworks for good LCA practice,
- To criticize an existing LCA, looking rapidly at the key issues.
- To identify the main environmental issues in a production process.
Environmental Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a tool to assess the environmental impact of products and systems over the whole product life cycle, from cradle to grave. This assessment is usually performed in four phases (SETAC, 1993):
- The goal definition defines the product or system function and the functional unit to which emissions will be related, together with the system boundaries.
- The inventory, lists resources consumption and pollutant emissions to air, water, soil.
- The impact assessment assesses the environmental impact of these emissions.
- The interpretation phase performs sensitivity and uncertainty analyses, together with improvement assessment or cost-benefit analysis.
Teaching will follow the four steps of LCA and include practical examples, group work with "your products" and short exercices. Further developments on life cycle impact assessment will be discussed, focusing on toxicity.
The course is offered for no charge. For details or if you would be interested in collaboration on LCA issues, please contact me now at ojolliet@mit.edu or phone at 253-6467.

Dr Olivier Jolliet, physicist, is project leader and lecturer on Life Cycle Assessment at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology - Lausanne, Switzerland. He is a member of the SETAC-Europe working group on impact assessment, chairing the toxicity subgroup. He is carrying out research on LCA at the MIT-Center for Technology, Policy & Industrial Development between May and August 1997.

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Workshop on Sustainable Community Indicators

US EPA New England and the Lowell Center for Sustainable Production at the University of Massachusetts Lowell are having a workshop for individuals and organizations working with community groups on sustainable community initiatives. The workshop will be Tuesday, July 8, 1997 from 8:45 AM to 4:30 PM in Boston, Massachusetts near South Station. Additional directions will be included with registration confirmation. The workshop will be lead by Maureen Hart, the author of the Guide to Sustainable Community Indicators as well as a web site of searchable sustainable community indicators. There is a $10 registration fee, which includes all the materials plus a copy of the Guide to Sustainable Community Indicators. Space is limited and registration will be on a first-come, first-served basis. (Registration fee can be waived in cases of financial hardship.)

For more information, contact Maureen Hart at (508) 975-1988, mhart@tiac.net or Rosemary Monahan at the US EPA New England Office at (617) 565-3551. To learn more about sustainable community indicators, visit the web site at:
http://www.subjectmatters.com/indicators

Editorial Comment: Rosemary Monahan <MONAHAN.ROSEMARY@EPAMAIL.EPA.GOV> adds another aspect to this upcoming workshop.



EPA also has provided funding for Ms.Hart to present a community-specific workshop on indicators. This workshop is for a New England community that is already working on the issues of sustainability and either already has begun or is seriously considering starting an indicators project. I am writing to you to see if your community would be interested in receiving this half-day workshop.

The workshop would be tailored to the needs of your community. If you are just getting started on an indicators project, the workshop would provide an introduction to the concept of sustainability and the use of indicators, as well as tools for evaluating indicators and sustainability projects. The workshop would highlight useful resources and sources of data for indicators. Participants would gain experience in developing and evaluating potential indicators of sustainability. If, on the other hand, your community already has done some work on indicators, but you need some assistance in selecting among a suite of choices, the workshop could be tailored to assist in this effort.

EPA's sponsorship of this workshop includes the cost of the workshop materials and Ms. Hart's time and travel. Your community would have to co-sponsor the workshop and provide logistical support. Co-sponsoring the workshop would entail helping with:

1. the logistics (providing a place for the workshop, an overhead projector, flipcharts, name tags, and refreshments),
2. publicizing the workshop in your community,
3. sending out invitations, and collecting RSVPs, and
4. providing the energy and enthusiasm to keep the project going after the workshop is over.

Since there may be several communities that are interested in this opportunity, I am asking those interested to send me a very brief proposal, explaining why you want this help and how it will fit into other ongoing activities. Attached is a list of questions I would like you to address in your proposal.

I honestly don't want to make this an onerous task, so please don't write anything longer than 2 pages. There is no need for fancy prose or even complete sentences - bullets that capture the major points would be fine. There is some overlap among the questions, so feel free to address a couple of questions with one answer...but please respond to all the questions.

I want to make a decision before July 8th so we can be sure to include space for one or two representatives from the community at the July 8th Train-the-Trainer workshop. If you are interested, please send your response to the questions to me at the address below so that I receive it by Wednesday, July 2. (If for some reason, such as vacation schedules, you are not able to respond by that time, or are not able to attend the July 8th workshop, please let me know).

I'll let everyone who responds know what community has been selected by Thursday, July 3. At that time we will begin working on scheduling the community workshop for later in the summer or fall. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to call me at the phone number/email listed below. You can also contact Maureen Hart at 508-975-1988, email address mhart@tiac.net.

If you are not interested in a community specific workshop but know someone else who is, feel free to pass this invitation on. Also, if you are interested in a community workshop but do not feel that your community is ready to commit to sponsoring one at this time, please let me know since there may be additional funding available in the next fiscal year and I will keep you on my mailing list. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,
Rosemary Monahan
US Environmental Protection Agency, CSP
JFK Federal Building
Boston, MA 02203
phone: 617-565-3551
fax: 617-565-4940
email: monahan.rosemary@epamail.epa.gov

********************************************************
If you are interested in sponsoring a community specific workshop on sustainable community indicators, please provide the following information. Please send your response to Rosemary Monahan at the address listed above so that she receives it by Wednesday, July 2. Remember that the purpose of these questions is to help us get a sense of what is happening in your community relative to sustainable community issues. Please keep your responses brief - bulleted points are sufficient.

Information about you
1. Your name, address, and phone number (and email address, if available).

2. Name of your organization (if applicable).

History of sustainability work in your community
3. What work have you or your organization done that is related to issues of sustainability or sustainable development?

4. Who in the community has been involved and what has happened so far? (You don't need to list names and addresses - just give us a sense of the kinds of people who have been involved, such as local businesses, staff at a local health clinic, municipal officials, grassroots activists, or others.)

5. Have you already started to work on developing indicators of sustainability?
- If so, who has been involved and what has happened so far?
- If not, why is this a good time to start and who (besides you) is interested?

Need for the workshop
6. How would this workshop complement activities underway in your community?

7. How much interest is there in the community? Who is likely to attend? How many people are likely to come?

Workshop logistics
8. What organizations or groups of people would sponsor the workshop? How would you publicize it? What different groups or organizations would you try to attract to the meeting?

9. When would be the best time to have this workshop in your community? (time of day, day of week, month of the year, etc.)

*********************************************************
We are what we measure.
We need to measure what we want to be.

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Transportation for Livable Communities Network and Car-Free

Editorial Comment: Robert H. Russell (rrussell@clf.org) of Conservation Law Foundation sent the following. Nice to have him aboard.



TLCNet -- the Transportation for Livable Communities Network -- links concerned citizens, grassroots activists and professional transportation planners who are involved in community transportation. It may be the first web site on the internet to provide a place where people concerned about traffic and its effect on community life can converse with one another, and get answers. The site is a project of the Conservation Law Foundation, the New England region's leading environmental advocacy group.

So what's cool about TLCNet? For one thing, this site lies at the cutting edge. TLCNet uses the web as an interactive communications tool -- not just a one-way street for passive readers. It lets users post data, analysis and opinion right alongside a growing library of CLF reports, journal articles and thought pieces. It’s a place where people can respond to what they find, or discuss a wide variety of related topics. In short, TLCNet lets users interact globally before they act locally.

TLCNet's on-line discussions will make it the milieu of choice for community activists who want to send a signal from their point of light -- their patch of earth -- to any of thousands of others across the country, said Senior Attorney Stephen H. Burrington, head of CLF's communities initiative.

Transportation has a profound impact on many pressing global and regional environmental issues. At the local level, transportation policies and choices affect how we all live. TLCNet is built on the idea that streets and highways (and the people who design them) can and should respect the needs of human beings. The focus of the site is the role that transportation plays in the creation of communities that are truly livable -- communities where you can see the trees and every child can walk to a library, communities that are planned for people rather than solely for cars.

Three interactive discussion groups on the site welcome questions and information requests, and they give you an opportunity to respond to the comments of others. What's the latest research on the relative community benefits of two-way versus one-way streets? Where do I find data on the safety advantages of traffic calming measures? What arguments support the conversion of disused railway beds to bicycle trails? These are the kinds of questions that come up in TLCNet's three discussion groups: Our Streets and Roads, Public Transit and Intercity Rail, and Policies, Planning and People. For those interested in a more sustained discussion, TLCNet will sign you up for any of three email listserves on these topics.

TLCNet offers key resource documents like Take Back Your Streets, a CLF guide about how to make local transportation systems better suited to the needs of community residents, including pedestrians and bicyclists. A new News and Commentary section includes a white paper on the false promise of biodiesel as a fuel additive in older buses, and a look at the status of nearly $2 billion in transportation and air pollution mitigation measures required as part of the $7 billion-plus Central Artery project in Boston. Many of these features are available nowhere else but on TLCNet web site. Each report can be viewed on line, downloaded as an MS-Word file, or ordered in hard copy.

Although the Conservation Law Foundation's focus is New England, TLCNet is designed to accommodate and respond to the interests of its visitors from all over the country -- and the world. For example, the site offers a baker's dozen of select hot links to other useful web locales, including the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the U.S. Department of Transportation, and the Surface Transportation Policy Project. And it's set up to be of use to a wide range of people: grassroots activists from the urban core and from the suburbs, government policymakers, elected officials, high school and college students, consultants and community leaders.

For more information, check out the site today (http://www.tlcnetwork.org), or contact Robert H. Russell rrussell@clf.org at CLF.

Editorial Comment: And from the EcoCity List (ECOCITY@SEGATE.SUNET.SE, subscribe by emailing listserv@segate.sunet.se and typing "subscribe ecocity" as the message) comes this announcement.



The Spring 1997 issue of Car-Free Times (Vol. 1, No. 2) is now available on-line at:
http://www.mokum.com/city/cft/index.html

We ve been very busy since the last issue was published. The virtual tour of Venice was published in early May and is worth a look by anyone with an interest in car-free cities. It s a fairly high-bandwidth site. http://www.mokum.com/city/ven/index.html

The Cities for People site has also been completely reorganized and extensively rewritten. Many illustrations have also been replaced. http://www.mokum.com/city/

Thank you for your interest and support.

J.H. Crawford
Crawford Systems
jhc@mokum.com
http://www.mokum.com/

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The Begging Bowl

In the past couple of weeks, I have been receiving some of the ancillary benefits of being such a big mouth, bigshot environmental Webpublisher - people have been asking me for advice and information. You see, if you keep pushing your own stuff out there long enough, somebody is sure to make the mistake that you know something.

From Southern California and Beverly Kelley (kelley@robles.callutheran.edu), I got a request for information about environmental ethics - who are the best people I know of, what are the best texts available, and how come theologians seem to be so interested in this subject while philosophers are more interested in medical and bio-ethics. Interesting questions that made me think and that I answered as best I could. Any of you have any ideas about environmental ethics?

From Andres Edwards (aedwards@linex.com) in Northern California, came a request for help in suggesting contacts for a workshop series on Business and the Environment. These folks want to use their site's various biomes for educating small and mid-sized businesses in environmental practices. What was particularly gratifying was the fact that I was recommended as someone to talk to by Art Kleiner, author of _The Age of Heretics_ (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0385415761/alistA/)and someone whose work I respect very much.

I also received a phone call from a New Jersey natural clothing company. They had read one of my pieces in _Earth Times_ (nice to know that others are republishing my work - even without notice) and thought that I might be able to work with them on a project that they are considering. I await a package of materials from them to find out what is it, exactly, they are thinking about. And a hemp cloth cap as a consideration and product sample.

Going through my backlog, I came across a request from Stephane Maes (smaes@gei.org) to investigate and help with the Global Environment Institute (GEI), an attempt to develop a new environmental curriculum. Their Website is at:
http://www.internetserver.com/~smaes/GEI/PUBLIC/geifr.htm

All of these are intriguing projects but my heart remains with "A List..." I am always looking for support for that project and accept praise, criticism, articles, notices for the Listings section, and, of course, filthy lucre or clean, crisp new bills. Thanks for reading.

How "A List..." works:
If you want to have a listing included in "A List..." please send it to me before noon on the Friday before the event and if said even is deemed suitable for coverage, it will be included in the appropriate edition of "A List..." Articles and reviews, ideas, rants and opinions are also solicited. Publication is up to the erratic discretion of the editor.

"A List..." is also a listserv. You can subscribe or unsubscribe to the listserv by emailing a-list-request@world.std.com, leaving the Subject line blank, and typing "subscribe" or "unsubscribe" as the message.

"A List..." is a freeware/shareware publication. If the information is of any value to you, please contribute - money, information, encouragement, prayers and good wishes are all valid currencies for feedback and will be gratefully appreciated by
George Mokray
Information Ecologies
218 Franklin St #3
Cambridge, MA 02139
(617)661-2676
gmoke@world.std.com

This publication is copyrighted to George Mokray and the individual writers of the articles. Permission to reproduce is granted for non-profit purposes as long as the source is cited.

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