AristoCats Watercolor by Rafael is among the artwork that will be up for auction at the Sept. 30 Tree House fundraiser. Photo courtesy of the Treehouse Foundation
September 2004 | Choice News
Artful Efforts to Save Cats
In ancient Egyptian times they were elevated to objects of worship, but today in Chicago many are relegated to dark corners of alleys and abandoned buildings.
Thousands are born only to quickly die.
A lucky few end up in places like the Tree House Animal Foundation, (1212 W. Carmen Ave.) a no-kill, no-cage cat shelter with clinical and adoption services. Tree House, a not-for-profit organization that accepts all stray cats regardless of their age or health, is currently at cat capacity, said Jennifer Schlueter, development supervisor for the shelter. And the demand is only expected to get worst with new policy changes at the Chicago Anti-Cruelty Society.
“A lot of people just try to wash their hands of the problem and turn the cats over to us, but they forget that these cats are living beings. People don’t realize how severe the problem is,” Schlueter said, cuddling a sleepy kitten on her lap, while another cat sat on her desk and a third climbed on top of her computer monitor. “We’re inundated with cats.”
Tree House hopes to be able to expand. To help raise funds for a new facility, the shelter is holding an art auction 6 to 9 p.m., Sept. 30, in Preston Bradley Hall at the Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington St.
“[Stray cats] stake out a territory and keep procreating,” said Melanie Sobel of Chicago’s Animal Care and Control Department. Sobel provided sobering statistics, including the fact that one cat can lead to the production of about 420,000 more cats by way of its offspring and its offspring’s offspring over a seven-year-period.
Last year, the city’s facility took in about 12,000 stray cats. Because of overcrowding, about 8,500 of them had to be euthanized, said Sobel.
Beginning in November, even more animals may suffer the same fate when Chicago’s Anti-Cruelty Society starts shuttling all strays, cats and dogs, straight to the city’s facility, commonly known as the pound.
“We prefer to call ourselves an open-door shelter. The term ‘pound’ is too often associated with negative ideas,” Sobel said.
Currently, city law requires that strays be held for five days to give owners time to find their lost pets. However, if the animal is sick or injured it can be put down immediately.
The animals that make it past the five-day holding period, but are considered “not adoptable” are then euthanized.
Under the new plan, Anti-Cruelty is hoping to bring the adoptable animals back to its facilities after the holding period in the city facility. Anti-Cruelty will, however, continue to euthanize an old or sick pet at the owner’s request.
The change in policy is expected to save about $200,000 a year, said Kevin Morrissey, spokesman for the Chicago Anti-Cruelty facility.
“This money will be redirected into our primary program areas of adoption, rehabilitation and spay and neuter services,” said Morrissey. “We think all stray animal holding should be in
one humane place. It’s also easier for people who are looking for their pets if they just have to go to one place.”
In addition, Anti-Cruelty has plans to open a new animal rehabilitation center in late fall, adding more long-term holding areas and a veterinary clinic to its current facility located at 157 W. Grand Ave. The hope is that the clinic will make about 1,000 more animals adoptable each year, Morrissey said. Much of the money to fund the new complex has already been raised, but a substantial amount is still needed.
Such a facility can’t come too soon as the city on any given day holds about 500 animals and is often at capacity.
The city’s Animal Care and Control department already takes in about 26,000 animals a year. That number includes cats, dogs, wildlife and even the occasional stray monkey, according to Sobel. When Anti-Cruelty initiates its stray policy change, the city facility can expect thousands more a year.
Chicago isn’t the only city with a stray overpopulation problem. The U.S. Humane Society estimates that six to eight million dogs and cats enter U.S. shelters each year and at least three to four million of them are euthanized.
One way to solve this problem is to prevent these animals from breeding, said Sobel. Most Chicago cat shelters, the Anti-Cruelty Society and the city’s animal care and control facility offer low-cost spay and neuter services.
For more information:
Tree House’s Art for Animals benefit is 6 to 9 p.m. Sept. 30 in Preston Bradley Hall at the Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington St. Tickets are $30 per person. Call 773-784-5488 or visit www.treehouseanimals.org. To adopt a cat visit the cat shelter at 1212 W. Carmen Ave.
To adopt an animal or use other Anti-Cruelty Society services: visit the society at 157 W. Grand Ave., or call 312-644-8338. To donate to the new clinic: contact Peggy Froh Asseo, at ext. 311.
To locate lost animals being held by the city or to adopt one, visit: Animal Care and Control, 2741 S. Western Ave., Chicago phone: 312-747-1406.
— Caroline Casper
Great Lakes Bioneers Meet in Michigan
IF YOU’RE looking for the latest information on saving money with renewable energy systems or just want to hang out with other eco-visionaries, head up to the third annual Great Lakes Bioneers Conference, in Traverse City, Mich., Oct. 15 to 17.
The wide range of topics will include everything from sources of fair-trade coffee to the latest green building techniques, said Sally Van Vleck, event organizer.
“For those of us who need to know about the green economy, the conference is an opportunity to learn first hand about the importance of interdependence,” said Chris Treter, of Higher Grounds Trading Co., an organization that campaigns for organic agriculture, fair trade and sustainability in the United States and abroad. “We want to bring an international flair to the event.”
To that end, Higher Grounds Trading Co. is sponsoring a keynote speaker, José Perez Vazquez, president of Las Abejas (The Bees), a civil rights society that includes a fair-trade coffee co-op in Chiapas, Mexico. He will address problems facing coffee growers in today’s world market.
The consortium of Bioneers in Michigan will be linked via satellite to a sister gathering in San Rafael, Calif., where the event originated in 1990.
To register or for more information, including fees, contact organizers through the Neahtawanta Center 800-220-1415; email center@nrec.org; visit www.nrec.org/glbioneers or write Neahtawanta Center, 1308 Neahtawanta Rd., Traverse City, Mich. 49686.
— Erin Meyer
Now It’s Mainstream Alternative Medicine
What was once alternative medicine, then came to be called complementary medicine and now is labeled integrative medicine by Bastyr University and other places of higher medical learning, is now plainly mainstream medicine. A new nationwide government survey indicates 36 percent of the adults in this country 18 years and over use some form of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). Federal officials define CAM as a group of diverse medical and health-care systems, practices and products that are not presently considered part of conventional medicine.
When prayer used for health reasons is included in the CAM mix, the number of U.S. adults using some form of CAM in the past year rises to 62 percent. “The data not only assists us in understanding who is using CAM, what is being used, and why, but also in studying relationships between CAM use and other health characteristics, such as chronic health conditions, insurance coverage and health behaviors,” said Dr. Stephen E. Straus, director of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM).
In other words, acupuncture, herbal remedies, massage therapy and other popular healing methods are becoming part of the American health-care landscape. Fewer of us have to convince doctors that alternative treatments make sense, and let’s hope that acceptance begins to knock down the Great Wall of Health Insurance Coverage over the next few years.
The survey, administered to more than 31,000 adults, was conducted as part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) 2002 National Health Interview Survey. Developed by NCCAM and the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, the survey included questions on 27 types of CAM therapies commonly used in the United States. These included 10 types of provider-based therapies, such as acupuncture and chiropractic, and 17 other therapies that do not require a provider, such as natural products (herbs or botanical products), special diets, and megavitamin therapy.
Other intriguing results: A relatively high number of people say they are using some sort of CAM because they are dissatisfied with conventional medicine (this is different from previous surveys).
Plus, the survey indicated a relatively small number who use licensed providers. This means we have some standard raising to do as patients and medical consumers. People who self-diagnose and treat run a higher risk of getting unsatisfactory or even unsafe results.
— Bob Condor
Hemp Legal Battle May Not Be Over
DESPITE A recent victory for the Hemp Industries Association in a federal circuit court, the future of hemp products still may not be secure.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has until the end of September to take its case to the U.S. Supreme Court. In late June the Ninth Circuit Court denied the DEA a rehearing in its case against the manufacturers and merchants of hemp products.
Hemp seed, oil and fiber are used in the production of various products: soaps, candles, clothing and foods such as breads, waffles, cereal, nutrition bars and salad dressings.
The June 28 decision capped a 2 1/2year court battle. The DEA requested the rehearing after the Ninth Circuit Court ruled that hemp fiber, seed and oil are exempt from the Controlled Substance Act.
“If the DEA does not act by Sept. 26, their only recourse will be to completely change the Controlled Substance Act,” said Adam Eidinger, communications director of Vote Hemp, a national organization that lobbies for hemp merchants and growers. “I don’t think the case will get to the Supreme Court. Our main concern is that the DEA will get someone in Congress to issue a bill that would ban hemp altogether.”
The DEA has the case under review, said Rogene Waite, a DEA spokeswoman.
Hemp-product manufacturers argue that the DEA has not fought to ban other popular baked-goods ingredients, such as poppy seeds, which contain high levels of opiates, said Eidinger.
Hemp advocates contend that the DEA’s case is baseless since producers regulate the levels of THC (the plant’s intoxicating component), and some doctors recommend hemp food products for their nutritional value.
Hemp fibers are particularly durable for clothing and other fabrics said Jessica Stiegler of Plainfield, Ill. Stiegler said hemp is used in the diapers she sells at babiesunderwraps.com, an online baby boutique, because hemp has no pesticides and is more environmentally friendly.
“No one is trying to smoke hemp food products, just like no one is trying to smoke the diapers we sell,” she said.
— Erin Meyer
The Mercury is Rising
MANY ENVIRONMENTALISTS have given up hope that the Bush Administration will heed expert advice to impose national standards for mercury emissions from aging coal burning plants, but hope is not yet lost for reducing such toxins in Illinois.
This year Gov. Rod Blagojevich is expected to set new power plant emission standards for mercury and other pollutants. Members of the Illinois Public Information Research Group (PIRG), an environmental and health advocacy group, have their fingers crossed that the governor will set standards sooner and higher than the national recommendations.
“We cannot wait for the Bush Administration to have an epiphany and decide to protect people’s health,” said Rebecca Stanfield, environmental lawyer and program director for PIRG. “There is a growing sense on the part of the state that these old, dirty coal-burning plants are shortening the lives of many Illinoisans.”
In 2001, the Illinois General Assembly passed a law that requires the state to compile a report examining the impact of pollutants such as mercury on Illinois waterways.
The report is due to be released by Sept. 30. The law also requires the governor to sign off on new pollution controls within 90 days of the report’s release.
Local environmentalists are hopeful that the governor will require aging coal plants to install modern technology by 2010 that would eliminate 90 percent of mercury emissions from the power plants.
In December of 2003, the Environmental Protection Agency recommended coal-burning factories constructed before 1970 reduce mercury emissions by 70 percent by the year 2017. Plants constructed after 1970 were required to install pollution control equipment in compliance with the federal Clean Air Act. The majority of power plant pollution comes from plants built before 1970, PIRG said.
Currently there are 23 old coal-fired power plants in Illinois emitting more than 6,000 pounds of mercury into the air each year, according to PIRG. The chemical poses a danger to humans when they consume fish that inhabit waters polluted by mercury. Pregnant women, their unborn children and children under the age of 15 are most at risk to suffer ill effects from high levels of mercury in fish. Over-exposure to mercury can cause children to suffer from learning disabilities and developmental delays, according to studies by the Centers for Disease Control. This year the EPA released estimates that one out of six children in the nation has been exposed to dangerous levels of mercury. In April, Blagojevich wrote President Bush in support of the national standards for mercury controls for aging coal-fired power plants: “Mr. President, I urge you to ask the U.S. EPA to recognize the importance of adopting standards that encourage the use of state-of-the-art control equipment to achieve reductions of mercury in the environment.”
But the Blagojevich Administration is also being pressured by big energy companies to wait on imposing state standards, according to Stanfield.
Utility company officials contend the governor will put the Illinois coal industry at a disadvantage if he adopts regulations ahead of the rest of the country. If Illinois implements high emission standards, while other states do not, Illinois companies may be forced to lay off employees and consumers could end up with higher bills, said Doug McFarlan, a spokesman for Midwest Generation LLC, an electricity wholesaler that owns six Illinois coal-burning plants, including plants in Waukegan, Joliet and Pekin.
“We recognize that mercury is a serious issue,” said McFarlan. “But we strongly believe the rules should be applied nationwide.”
PIRG members would also like national standards but in the meantime they will continue to press for state controls.
“We need to make sure they also hear from citizens that cleaning up these plants is important for our health and our children’s health,” Stanfield said. “The governor has been open but non-committal to our campaign. It is a question of how much and how soon things will happen.”
For more information, visit: www.NoMoreMercury.org or contact PIRG, 180 W. Washington Blvd., Suite 500, Chicago, Ill., 60602 or call: 312-364-0096.
— Erin Meyer
The Co-op that Grew Up
WHEN SEVEN farmers got together to start the Organic Valley Co-op to promote sustainable agriculture it was just a seed of an idea. Sixteen years later it has become one of the largest organic farmers’ co-ops in the nation, handling marketing and distribution for more than 630 farmers scattered across 16 states.
The group has been so successful that this September it will open a new environmentally friendly headquarters in LaFarge, Wis.
Project manager Russell Dawber said the headquarters is built with recycled materials and employs alternative energy systems.
“We care about the planet,” Dawber said. “We care about Mother Earth. It goes completely with our mission.”
The insulation is made from recycled cotton, the frame is built from recycled steel, and the drywall is made from fly ash, a byproduct of aluminum casting. The facility uses low-voltage lights and the parking lot streetlamps are solar powered. The air system swaps cool and warm air within the building, using low energy. Even the glue used on the carpet is water-based, and the paint is zero-VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds — chemicals that contribute to fumes and air pollution).
The barn-style building of about 49,000 square feet will allow the group to consolidate its services under a single roof, as opposed to being spread out at eight locations, as it was previously. Farmers across the nation produce the organic goods, Organic Valley takes care of shipping, handling, sales and marketing.
Theresa Westaby, an organic dairy farmer in northwest Illinois, said she looks forward to the opening of the new headquarters.
“What I like about Organic Valley is that it’s not just about making money,” Westaby said. “They’re being conscious of the environment.”
To learn more about Organic Valley, visit www.organicvalley.coop.
— Elena Velkov
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