Author Archives: floegel

Agent Orange Babies

3/27/1997 – 3:50 pm

There is nothing new under the sun. Everything that passes for news is merely an echo of the past, a restatement of universal themes. I’m thinking this way because I keep reading about Vietnam in the newspaper. The stories, fresh as today’s newsprint, are not “news” at all. They are the latest episodes in a […]

Posted in Commentary | Comments (0)

‘No, Wait! It’s Both!’

3/20/1997 – 3:48 pm

I’ve worked for Greenpeace for eight years and in that time I’ve had the opportunity to observe trends which may not be obvious to the average citizen. For example, many companies with environmental problems will hire a director of environmental affairs. When Greenpeace arrives, out comes the director of environmental affairs, all smiles and handshakes. […]

Posted in Commentary | Comments (0)

Watershed Events

3/13/1997 – 3:46 pm

I’m traveling again and this week I’m in Vancouver, British Columbia. Because Vancouver is so clean, cosmopolitan and politely Canadian, I always get a bit giddy when I visit. Nineteen ninety-seven may be a watershed year for Vancouver. As the Chinese government prepares to take possession of Hong Kong in July, many Hong Kong citizens […]

Posted in Commentary | Comments (0)

The Indicator Classes

3/6/1997 – 3:44 pm

It was in the 1970s, in an essay by Kurt Vonnegut, that I first encountered the metaphor of the canary in the coal mine. In the intervening two decades, its status, for me at least, has slipped from metaphor to cliche. The edges are all worn down and it slides too easily through our conversations […]

Posted in Commentary | Comments (0)

Blue Revolution

2/27/1997 – 3:43 pm

So, you say you want a revolution? Well, you know, we all want to change the world. Somewhere along Madison Avenue, someone got the idea that “revolution” is a marketable idea. This event must have occurred in the early 1960s, when the chemical manufacturers were trying to convince the world that it would be a […]

Posted in Commentary | Comments (0)

What Goes Around, Comes Around

2/20/1997 – 3:42 pm

One of the things I dislike about being an environmentalist is that environmentalists really can’t improve anything. A clean, free-flowing river is a natural phenomenon, we can’t improve on it. Far from that, we are bold if we imagine returning a polluted river to its natural state. The best we can hope for that river […]

Posted in Commentary | Comments (0)

Flying Obruni

2/13/1997 – 3:40 pm

Do you fly in your dreams? I do. One minute I’m walking along and a force as potent as life itself lifts me and carries me through the air. I sail over trees and houses, a breeze on my face. I always awake happy from these dreams; I’m nearly convinced that I’ve been out flying. […]

Posted in Commentary | Comments (1)