Carrot & stick: who walks the walk, who's nothing but talk

CARROT TO

Senators Barbara Boxer of California and Bill Nelson of Florida for forcing the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to kill the agency's Children's Environmental Exposure Research Study (CHEERS). Under the program, cosponsored by the American Chemical Council, low-income families in Florida were paid $970 a year if they did not protect their infants from exposure to pesticides in the home so the agency could measure the toxins' effect. In confirmation hearings in April, new EPA chairman Stephen Johnson agreed to kill the program only when Boxer and Nelson vowed to block his appointment if he did not.

Las Vegas for its (belated) efforts to go green. The 180-acre Las Vegas Springs Preserve--an energy-efficient urban park that includes 30 acres of wetlands and a 46,000-square-foot Desert Living Center built of earth-rammed walls--is among the first projects championed by the Las Vegas Committee on the Environment. Opening during the summer: the Animal Foundation's seven-acre campus with 44 animal bungalows, 255 kennels and a 35,000-square-foot adoption center--all powered by wind turbines and solar panels, with a "living machine" that recycles water.

Maharishi Vedic City, a town of 200 in southeastern Iowa, for banning all synthetic pesticides and fertilizers within the city limits. The all-organic city is also building Iowa's biggest greenhouse, which by 2008 will cover some 80 acres so fresh vegetables can be produced year-round.

STICK TO

Monsanto Company for harassing small farmers who save their herbicide-resistant soybeans for replanting. Over the past eight years, Monsanto has sued more than 140 farmers in 25 states for replanting the company's seeds, which are patented. Under the contract that farmers sign to buy the seed, replanting is considered a violation of the patent. "This forces the farmer to go back to Monsanto every year instead of replanting seeds, as soybean farmers ordinarily do," explains Ronnie Cummins of the Organic Consumers Association. "The solution is not to allow seeds and other life forms to be patented."

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for L his hypocritical call for a ban on junk food in schools.. If the governor is serious, Michele Simon, founder and director of the Oakland, CA-based Center for Informed Food Choices, tells VT, he would stop cutting education funds, which help make schools dependent on vending-machine revenues in the first place. "He'd also make sure that food industry lobbyists don't influence the legislature to undermine nutrition advocacy efforts year after year," Simon says.

The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers (AAM) for its deceptive advertising campaign claiming that today's cars and trucks "are virtually emission-free." In fact, cars release "more global warming emissions now than they did 20 years ago," the Union of Concerned Scientists says. The AAM, which represents BMW, DaimlerChrysler, Ford, General Motors, Mitsubishi, Porsche, Toyota and Volkswagen, timed its ads to coincide with congressional debates over rolling back the Clean Air Act.

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