When Dutch politicians and business leaders chose to restore their environment within a single generation, they knew that the groundbreaking Green Plan policy would not be enough to bring the public along. A massive public education and outreach campaign flooded Dutch television, radio, and print media with environmental messages.

With the E.U. eventually basing its comprehensive, long-term environmental policy on that of the Netherlands, they too have seen a generational and cultural shift. According to an opinion survey by the European Commission, the environment is an “important personal concern to more than 90% of Europeans.”

The article is a welcome reminder of what’s possible within a generation. Read it here.

Take a look at the kind of ideas RRI cooks up in the new issue of Bay Nature. This time it’s salmon and rice–before they reach your table. You can check out the article on innovative use of fallow rice fields to support young salmon in the Sacramento River area at Baynature.org

Dr. Shanks’ serious warnings about potential dam failure on the Missouri are reaching hundreds of readers and radio listeners nationwide. Here’s St. Louis’ ownKMOX interview with Dr. Bern Shanks on Missouri River dams

Read the original St. Louis Post Dispatch opinion piece.

California’s State Parks Commission will meet on January 27 in Brentwood, CA, to “reconsider” its decision last fall to remove vital protections from Washoe Meadows State Park by reclassifying significant portions of parkland. Despite overwhelming public response opposing the move, the Commissioners had voted on October 21 to downgrade some 20 percent of Washoe Meadows in order to move 9 holes of the Lake Tahoe Golf Course into the parkland as part of the Upper Truckee River Restoration Project. The resistance to the EIR’s “Preferred Alternative” that threatens the Park –which had been designated by the State legislature in 1984 as a “unique and rare natural resource” — has been led by the Washoe Meadows Community since the restoration and “golf course reconfiguration” project was first proposed six years ago. The Community’s unflagging work has brought together environmental and conservation agencies, ecologists and park advocates from throughout California. They advocate for river restoration that will not require razing fragile parts of Washoe Meadows that will jeopardize rare fens, imperil Washoe Tribe cultural sites, require the logging of some 1,600 trees, and disrupt wildlife patterns.
In reaction to the Commission’s vote and approval of the project’s EIR, the Washoe Meadows Community in November filed suit against the Park Commission and the State’s Parks Department. Subsequent to the filing of the suit, the “reconsideration” of the October action was added to the Commission’s January agenda.
Defense of Place and the Washoe Meadows Community hope that the Commissioners will re-evaluate accumulated and new information that will lead to a solution to protect Washoe Meadows while allowing for river restoration.
The environmental and legal stakes involved have drawn widespread media interest, including a story broadcast on Reno’s Public Radio station on November 13.
Support the Washoe Meadows Community in its ongoing campaign that resonates with “Place Defenders” everywhere who combat the betrayal of parks and open spaces by powerful government and private entitites.