Summer 2023

By Alice Andrews, OS Conservation Co- Chair I am inspired and excited to report on environmental concept, referred to as “Personhood”. To quote Claire Parish’s article in The Varsity (University of Toronto’s Student Newspaper), “Rivers aren’t people…but what if we acted like they were?” What makes a person? For example, is it possible for something inanimate to be a person? Environmental personhood clarifies that environmental beings have intrinsic worth, that they have value beyond just their impact on humanity. It is not that people have a right to clean air, but that the air has a right to be clean. The legal concept is both very new and very old, and is rapidly gaining ground around the world: Ecuador, Colombia, India, New Zealand, Bangladesh, Canada, Switzerland, Colorado and a few other states in the U.S. Colorado’s Uncompahgre River has a legal Personhood Resolution, flowing with legal rights through several towns without the potential worries of being polluted or dammed. The legal challenges can be and are difficult but the above-named countries have had great successes. Environmental personhood can be traced to a 1972 paper by Professor Christopher D. Stone, titled “Should trees have standing?” Stone proposed that environmental beings like [...]

By Fred Paillet, OS Education Chair You read that right – there are a few zombies on the loose in the Ozarks. By zombies we mean functionally dead creatures with their nervous systems taken over by alien life forms and programmed to do the bidding of those new masters. In high school biology you may remember hearing about one of nature’s ecological cruelties in the form of wasps that parasitize caterpillars. The female wasps do this by stinging the caterpillar to paralyze the bug, and then depositing eggs injected into the still living body. The wasp larvae then mature by eating the living flesh of their helpless victim. The process of ecological success through such a parasitic process has reached its ultimate form in the zombie ant fungus of the genus Ophiocordyceps. This fungus disseminates spores that infect ants but not to simply digest them. The fungus first takes over the ant’s nervous system to program the ant zombie to become the ideal fruiting body for the dissemination of spores. The ant is programmed to climb to the highest point it can manage so that the spores eventually produced can be exposed to the wind to ensure that they [...]

By Laura Timby, Climate Change Committee It’s on the news everywhere, all the time. Dire predictions regarding the results of Climate Change also referred to as Global Warming. Not everyone agrees on whether its real or some made up scare tactic, but the general consensus of the Scientific Community is that it is real and happening, regardless of what it is called. Rarely a day passes without some news report of increasingly devastating storm events. Whether it is an unimaginably fierce hurricane or tornado, catastrophic flooding, frequent devastating earthquakes, deadly droughts, new records snowfalls, or soaring temperatures that threaten all life on earth, as we know it, it appears to be occurring with increased frequency. Disturbing? Frightening? Yes indeed, and on a scale that makes an individual wonder what they can possibly do to stop or slow the progression of this trend? Margaret Mead was a well-known American cultural anthropologist in the 60’s and 70’s. One of her more publicized quotes goes like this: “Never doubt that a small group of committed individuals can change the world. In fact, it’s the only thing that ever has." Wow! What a powerful and intriguing message. It gives me goose bumps! Very [...]

By Carolyn Shearman and The Shreveport Times Wellborn Jack Jr. passed away April 4, 2023. He was born in Shreveport on July 23, 1936. He attended Barrett Elementary, Broadmoor Jr. High and Byrd High School. He graduated from LSU and LSU Law School where he was named Editor in Chief of the Law Review. He began the practice of law with his father in Shreveport in 1963. Wellborn had a brilliant mind and a passion for the law. He had an unparalleled commitment to his clients. He was included in “The Best Trial Lawyers of America” collection. Of all the cases he tried in his over 50 years as a trial attorney, two of them especially stood out. He was the first in the country to obtain, in a violent case, a not guilty by reason of insanity verdict based upon PTSD from the Vietnam War. He also defended a member of Earth First in an environmental conspiracy case in AZ. Wellborn was a life-long environmentalist. He was instrumental in creating the Caney Creek Wilderness Area, the first designated wilderness area in AR. He obtained a temporary restraining order to stop the dam ultimately built on the Cossatot River. [...]

By Brian Thompson, Ozark Society President This recently approved legislation is about moving the permitting of hog farms from the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) to the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission (ANRC). Back in 2019, there was similar legislation introduced as a result of the C&H Hog Farms controversy. ANRC is a farmer friendly agency established in dustbowl days to assist farmers with the conservation of topsoil. They serve an important purpose, but they are more aligned with farmer’s interests than evaluating permits or conducting enforcement. The goal was to have ANRC rewrite the regulations to be more favorable to hog farms, possibly in a way that would protect C&H. That early legislation fell apart when EPA expressed an unwelcome interest. This year, HB1706 was introduced with the same purpose as the failed 2019 bill, in that it would move permitting from ADEQ to ANRC. The new bill was sponsored by DeAnn Vaught of District 87 (Horatio). Representative Vaught, a senior house member serving on several committees, also raises hogs as part of her farming operation. Surprisingly, the Governor’s Office did not support Vaught’s bill, primarily because ANRC would be required to hire their own legal, geological, and [...]