The Dogwood Alliance, Global Justice Ecology Project, Sierra Club, and Institute for Social Ecology are campaigning together to stop the mass plantation of the extremely invasive Eucalyptus tree throughout the southern U.S.
As the Dogwood Alliance press release states:
"This is absolutely unprecedented--the government wants to approve the
mass release of 260,000 flowering GE forest trees in so-called "field
trials," stated Dr. Neil Carman who works with the Sierra Club
Eucalyptus are internationally known for their devastating impacts--from invasiveness to wildfires to their ability to worsen droughts. Massive wildfires in Australia earlier this year were fueled by eucalyptus, which contains a highly volatile oil. These wildfires moved at 100 km/hr and killed 173 people, who literally did not have time to escape. Additionally, eucalyptus grandis, one of the species in the GE eucalyptus hybrid, is also a known host to Cryptococcus gattii, a fungus that can cause fatal fungal meningitis in people and animals that inhale its spores. C. gattii was recently found in the U.S. [2] in Texas. "You cannot call over a quarter of a million trees over 330 acres "field trials." These are experimental forests being planted outdoors under the disguise of "field trials" as a loophole. The government must produce an Environmental Impact Statement to carefully review all of the potential environmental threats from this large-scale GE tree release," Dr. Carman continued.
Eucalyptus are internationally known for their devastating impacts--from invasiveness to wildfires to their ability to worsen droughts. Massive wildfires in Australia earlier this year were fueled by eucalyptus, which contains a highly volatile oil. These wildfires moved at 100 km/hr and killed 173 people, who literally did not have time to escape. Additionally, eucalyptus grandis, one of the species in the GE eucalyptus hybrid, is also a known host to Cryptococcus gattii, a fungus that can cause fatal fungal meningitis in people and animals that inhale its spores. C. gattii was recently found in the U.S. [2] in Texas. "You cannot call over a quarter of a million trees over 330 acres "field trials." These are experimental forests being planted outdoors under the disguise of "field trials" as a loophole. The government must produce an Environmental Impact Statement to carefully review all of the potential environmental threats from this large-scale GE tree release," Dr. Carman continued.
Wake the fuck up people!!!!!
Posted by: Name | August 26, 2009 at 01:30 PM