OUR ENVIRONMENT originally debuted as a joint publishing/broadcasting venture in 1989. By the time that effort ended in 1995 over 230 weekly newspaper columns and nearly 1,200 daily radio broadcasts had been published and broadcast.

The original intent of the OUR ENVIRONMENT series was to empower individuals to understand the mechanisms and implications of the myriad of local and global environmental problems then facing our communities and our planet. The technique was to present credible and dispassionate information; to "translate" science and technical facts into language appropriate for a mainstream audience; and, above all, to help us all understand how we could take positive action in our daily lives to become part of the solution.

Now, in 1995, all of this and more is still sorely needed. As we near the mid-point of the "Environmental Decade" it is more clear than ever that our environmental future lies in our hands.

Certainly there is good news, and lots of it. In the US our water and air are cleaner. Boston Harbor, once on the verge of being declared a dead zone, now hosts a growing number of healthy marine species. On the American road a 1995 model automobile now produces just 1 percent of the pollution that 1970 models did. Nowhere is this more appreciated than In Los Angeles. Here, in the former smog capital of the world, automotive and industrial air pollution has declined by 40%. Production of CFC's, the leading culprit in ozone depletion, will end this year. Americans are recycling and reducing waste at ever-increasing rates. In 1985 the national recycling rate was in the low single digits. Today we are approaching 25% (my community, the island of Maui, I am happy to report, is now at nearly 40%). We are also complementing this trend by demanding ever more recycled materials and less packaging in consumer products.

Unfortunately there is also an ample supply of bad news. Toxic pollution is still a dreaded threat to all forms of life. Materials such as PCB's, dioxin, even the long-banned DDT continue to wreak their deadly havoc. A new wind has swept through Washington. The Contract With America shows real signs of gutting much of the environmental legislation and regulation which have been instrumental in creating many of our success stories.

Even bigger storm clouds now loom on the international horizon. Our oceans, once thought to be home to an inexhaustible food supply, are now overfished to the point of nearing biological sterility. Every day more precious and irreplaceable topsoil, the very stuff of life, is blown away in the wind. The evidence of global climate change becomes more compelling every year and our continued over-exploitation of endangered rainforest ecosystems shows little sign of slowing down. As the so-called "developing countries" of the third world continue developing their per- capita consumption levels rise. More development means more pollution, more population, and more pressure to achieve the kinds of lifestyles that worldwide American TV portray. Unless the US takes the lead in providing funds and expertise for sustainable development in many of these nations the gains we have achieved here are in jeopardy.

All of which brings us to the core of the OUR ENVIRONMENT mission. We all want to know "What We Can Do." How can we, as individuals, help deal with environmental problems in our backyards and in our global neighbors' backyards as well.

Hopefully, OUR ENVIRONMENT will be able to play a role in informing, educating and motivating us all -- in moving all of our planet's citizens toward the environmental future we all want. Here, in this paperless electronic publication, utilizing the interactive multimedia capabilities of the Internet, we hope to provide "Environmental News We Can All Use." Our sources will include environmental organizations, scientists and regulators, policymakers as well as enlightened and enlightening citizens from every corner of planet earth. We hope to bring to you a balanced perspective on a variety of complex and important issues.

Please come back and visit often. And please take a moment to visit our MAUI! merchants. Without their enthusiastic and generous support OUR ENVIRONMENT could not happen.

Aloha from Maui,

Jeff Stark, Publisher -- OUR ENVIRONMENT

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