Green Hall of Fame

Pikes Peak Justice and Peace Commission and Green Cities Coalition launched a new "Green Hall of Fame" in honor of the UN's World Environment Day June 5. PPJPC Executive Director Steve Saint shared MC honors with Clear Channel's Chris Brooks, in an event at the Cornerstone Arts Center at Colorado College. The three initial recipients (below) were local businessman and former City Council member Richard Skorman; Mark Joyous, founder of Global View Foundation/Earthseeds; and local open-space advocate Annie Oatman-Gardner the still from the top video is Chris Brooks, not Skorman, whose wife accepted for him).







After a cocktail hour sponsored by Bristol Brewing and Whole Foods, the awards were preceded by speeches from James "Jay" Amato of UN Association, who talked about the U.S.'s less than admirable role with Kyoto and other treaties; Carrie McCausland, the City of Colorado Springs' Sustainability Coordinator, who listed new efforts the city is making even in a recessionary year; Manitou Springs Mayor Eric Drummond (below), who talked about the many reasons why the small town west of Colorado Springs is re-defining sustainable city and walkable community; Larry Patterson, utilities director in the City of Fountain, discussing how Fountain is ratcheting up recyclables; and County Commissioner Dennis Hisey, reminding people of the important hazardous waste recycling facility east of town.

When you're in a heavily-military town like Colorado Springs, there's bound to be continuing controversy. Patterson made sure to mention how Fort Carson's 5th Brigade and Pinon Canyon expansions, currently on hold, would help the region, despite their very non-sustainable nature; and Hisey talked about how different assumptions have to drive military and industrial needs. But all in all, it was an auspicious inuagural event for Green Hall of Fame.

The Horrible Truth About Burma

The climax probably won't come until Friday or Saturday. Maybe China can talk some sense into the SLORC or whatever that nasty little junta calls itself these days. But an analyst for the BBC was punditing on a radio show today that the military forces ruling the so-called nation of "Myanmar" have never cared about global public opinion in the past, so anything short of a direct invasion is unlikely to make them blink. So what about standoff air strikes approved by the world community at large? Since the government has abandoned the capital in favor of rural bunkers near the town of Pyinmana, precision weapons could decapitate facilities with very little civilian casualties. But would the people support it, if done in the name of the UN, or would it be as ill-conceived as a U.S. invasion of Iraq? Does the UN have the right to declare a government generally inappropriate for continued existence on this planet, and would it have the right by global consensus to conduct standoff air war on recalcitrants? This subject came up during Bosnia-Croatia-Serbia-Kosovo days, and is unlikely to go away. But without direct action, the Burmese junta is unlikely to go away, either.