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Newsweek’s cover story deserves Pulitzer — and global action

Newsweek's Sharon Begley and Scott Johnson should get the Pulitzer Prize for last week's Newsweek cover story, "Slaughter in the Jungle." It was the most moving story of the year and clearly based on truly intrepid reportage. More importantly, I hope it provokes action to stop this brutal global slaughter of wildlife.

Scott Johnson went into the rainforest in the war-torn Congo, home to much of Africa's remaining 700 mountain gorillas. Miles from the nearest town, he discovered and recorded the worst massacre of gorillas in more than 25 years.

The rangers found the first corpse less than a hundred yards away, in a grove of vines and crooked thicket. The mammoth gorilla lay on her side, a small pink tongue protruding slightly from her lips. She was pregnant and her breasts were engorged with milk for the baby that now lay dead inside her womb ... They have not been killed for their meat or their pelts or their internal organs. In fact, no one is quite sure why they've been killed.

Be sure to check out Johnson's astonishing photos of the gorillas. What makes them so powerful, I think, is that they capture our commonality with our fellow creatures: in life, the gorillas seem inspired by the same needs and emotions as we are; in death, their poses and deep, mournful expressions evoke a crucifixion -- in this case, they are sacrifices to human greed, violence, and apathy.

It's clear, however, that whatever the facts and the tragedy of this assassination are, the gorillas are looking extinction in the eye because of many of the same threats that are menacing wildlife around the world.

Friday music blogging: Gonzales

Wow, I sure am glad it’s Friday. I’m exhausted. Not the kind of exhausted where you want music that will re-energize you, but the kind of exhausted where you want something nice and soothing to help you turn off and unload the week’s worries. Solo Piano, an album by an artist known cryptically as Gonzales, […]

The Inferior Department

I’ll admit I don’t know as much about the Interior Department as I should. In my experience, however, it is the nation’s No. 1 source of environmental humor. First, it’s run by a guy named Dirk Kempthorne. Dirk! That pleased our headline writers to no end, though not as much as Johnson getting EPA. Then […]

Bring in the Reserves

Bush administration expands marine reserves off Southern California Ending eight years of debate and study, the Bush administration yesterday announced the expansion of a network of marine reserves around Southern California’s Channel Islands. The move permanently bans recreational fishing in an area of some 150 square miles; nearly 80 percent of the area remains open […]

Vehicle of Change

These touring students give new meaning to school bus When is a school bus not a school bus? When it’s a Big Green Bus, touring the country with a load of college students and recent graduates eager to spread the word about biofuels, energy, and anything else they can get people to talk about. Sarah […]

That Sounds Perhaps Not So Clean

In need of a new solvent, dry cleaners turn to petroleum As dry cleaners stop using the solvent perchloroethylene, a suspected carcinogen that’s being phased out in California, New York, Toronto, and elsewhere, some are choosing a surprising replacement: petroleum-based solvents. Um … what? Turns out petroleum was the solvent of choice in the industry’s […]

Is a lot more solutions like this

This is what the world needs more of: a focus on implementing soft technologies rather than a mania to design ever more complex ones.

Good News, Sad News

Six species discovered in Congo, four endangered gorillas shot A research expedition to a remote forest in the Democratic Republic of the Congo found six new animal species — a bat, a rat, two shrews, and two frogs — and may have found new plant species as well. The trip, which ran from January to […]

We love plaudits

The Guardian has just put out a list of the top ten green websites. You’ll never guess who’s No. 1. The online magazine Grist proved the most popular with Guardian and Observer staff, suggesting it has met its aim to rescue coverage of environment issues from being “predictable, demoralising, or dull”. “An informed and intelligent […]

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