Perspectives

China, where American mink gets glamour. Report on US-China fur ties, by the Global Agriculture Information Network (GAIN) of the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, May 16, 2007. (PDF)

The skin trade war. By Karen Mazurkewich, Globe and Mail, Canada. (Mar. 17, 2007)

The return of fur. By Eugene LaPointe, president, IWMC World Conservation Trust. (February 2006)

New Styles, Old Fibers Environmental fashion consultant Delia Montgomery explores some exciting new fiber crafts, such as fox wool and fur-and-cotton yarn. (February 2001)

Fur Ethics Environmental fashion consultant Delia Montgomery interviews renowned Illinois fur farmer Larry Frye. (November 2001)

Fur Facts (HTML version; PDF version). Produced by Fur Commission USA. (September 1998)

Producers, Consumers and Clothing Confusion Is mink fur really any different from sheepskin? Is its production really separate from the human food chain? FCUSA commentary. (December 2000)

Fur and Freedom: In Defence of the Fur Trade By Richard North. IEA Studies on the Environment No. 16, published by the Environment Unit, The Institute of Economic Affairs, London. Outside link, PDF format. (January 2000)

Bountiful, beautiful fur. National Post overview of Canada's fur trade. Outside link. (Oct. 15, 2007)

Fur Fervor Commentary from the Salt Lake Tribune, reproduced with permission. (February 2003)

"Democratization" of Fur Fur World magazine interviews Alan Herscovici, executive vice president of the Fur Council of Canada. (April 2002)

Make Mine Mink Oregon Fur Breeders Association president Joe Ruef responds in The Oregonian to an opinion piece by Scott Beckstead, president of the Central Coast Humane Society. (December 2001)

Making A Living Out of Mink By Baird Helgeson for the Post Bulletin, Rochester, Minnesota. (February, 2000)

Plains Folk: Muskrats and Mink Memories of trapping in North Dakota. By Prof. Tom Isern, North Dakota State University. (April 1998)

Winter Time Essay by second-generation fur farmer and high school junior Cristina.

Feminism and Fur Teresa Platt, Executive Director, FCUSA, examines the ways in which People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals demeans women and others. (March 2003)

The Line that Divides Human from Animal Writer and critic Robin Dougherty interviews animal rights lawyer and author Steven Wise for the Boston Globe. (May 26, 2002)

Fur Ethics Environmental fashion consultant Delia Montgomery interviews renowned Illinois fur farmer Larry Frye. (November 2001)

Animal Rights and Catholicism By Dr. James Beers, biologist (retired), US Fish & Wildlife Service. Outside link. (January 2001)

The Illogic of Animal Rights and Fifty Things Animals Can't Do. A pair of essays by award-winning author and founder of the first company to distribute paperless books electronically, J. Neil Schulman. Outside links to Man In Nature. (1995, 2000)

Fur Is Natural ... and Environmentally Sound A letter from fourth-generation furrier Mark Schumacher to a sixth-grade student interested in starting an animal rights club. (Posted here Oct. 7, 1999)

"Ho, ho, ho! Plastic Santas?" A seasonal look at "Evolutionary Fur" - guaranteed 100% unnatural! By Teresa Platt, Executive Director, FCUSA.

Critic speaks against HSUS. Patti Strand, director of the National Animal Interest Alliance, on the agenda and modus operandi of the Humane Society of the United States, Press-Telegram, California. (Oct. 13, 2007)

Duking it out at Duke University. FCUSA's executive director Teresa Platt reports on "simplistic" and "irritating" Animal Law Conference. (May 8, 2006)

PETA's War on the World's Dispossessed Rich Lowry, editor of National Review, considers the damage done by fur opponents to the sealers of Canada. (Feb. 7, 2003)

Trappers Are Ones in Box By Times Union (Albany, NY) columnist Fred LeBrun, reproduced with permission. (Feb. 2, 1999)

The Rise & Fall of Animal Rights: Holding Activists Accountable. By Alan Herscovici, author of "Second Nature: The Animal-Rights Controversy" and chair of the Canadian Fur Industry Adjustment Committee, which brought together Cree trappers, designers, and other sectors of the fur trade to encourage strategic planning for international competitiveness. (1998) Outside link to Man In Nature.

The Trojan Horse of Animal Protectionism: The Battle Over Curriculum. By Patrick Cleveland, Ph.D., president, Coalition for Animals and Animal Research / San Diego. Commentary on attempts by animal rights groups, and in particular the Humane Society of the US, to control the minds of school children. (1994) Outside link to Man In Nature.

Deductions for Destruction Greg Yardley of FrontPage Magazine questions the right of many American charities to tax-exempt status. (August 2003)

War in the Woods By Bill Pickell, Washington Contract Loggers Association, reproduced with permission. (Aug. 26, 2001)

Harvard and the Making of the Unabomber By Alston Chase, author of Playing God in Yellowstone (1986) and In a Dark Wood (1995). Outside link to the Atlantic Monthly. (June 2000)

Biotech Crop Killers By Michael Fumento of the Hudson Institute, Indianapolis, reproduced with permission. (Jan. 12, 2000)

Will Radicals Rule and Humans Suffer? Commentary by Cal Thomas, Los Angeles Times Syndication, on animal rights-related terrorism. Outside link. (June 1997)

Dominion and Stewardship: Believers and the Environment. "A welcome development of the past thirty years has been the emergence of less-utilitarian attitudes towards the environment by believers and non-believers alike," writes Dr. Gregg of Michigan's Acton Institute. "No longer do serious Christians, Jews or Muslims cite Scripture to legitimize the wanton destruction or misuse of the world that God sculpted out of nothingness." Outside link to Man In Nature. (2004)

The Pros and Cons of Modern Farming By Indur Goklany, Julian Simon Fellow at the Bozeman, Montana-based Political Economy Research Center. (2001)

Interview with Prof. Marshall Murphree In the last two decades, sustainable use has evolved from being a marginal philosophy to a mainstream tool, both for human development and for conservation, and in the process has brought these related fields closer together than ever. No one has done more to bring about this transformation than Prof. Murphree. In 1994, Murphree became the inaugural chair of the Sustainable Use Specialist Group of the World Conservation Union (IUCN). Outside link to Man In Nature. (1998)

Animals, People and Politics Dr. Grahame Webb, vice-chair of the IUCN Crocodile Specialist Group and chair of the Australia New Zealand Sustainable Use Specialist Group, says the time has come for Australia's conservationists to be politically bold and capitalise upon wildlife's economic value. Outside link to Man In Nature. (1998)

"Environment Inc.", a five-part series by Tom Knudson of the Sacramento Bee. Part 1: Fat of the Land; Movement's Prosperity Comes at a High Price A century after John Muir served as the Sierra Club's first president, environmental groups have successfully traded on his legacy, becoming bigger and richer than ever before. But in their quest for power and money, have they cashed in their tradition? Part 2: Green Machine; Mission Adrift in a Frenzy of Fund-Raising When you give $20 to an environmental organization, you expect it to go toward protecting the environment. But creative accounting hides the myriad ways groups can fold a hefty chunk of that donation back into their fund raising and bureaucracy. Part 3: Litigation Central; A Flood of Costly Lawsuits Raises Questions About Motive Suing the government has long been one of the environmental movement's most important tools. But today, the targets and proliferation of environmental lawsuits are yielding an uncertain bounty for the land. Part 4: Playing With Fire; Spin on Science Puts National Treasure at Risk Scientists say Western forests are gigantic tinderboxes inviting disaster, badly in need of thinning. But many environmental organizations are ignoring - and sometimes manipulating -- that message. Part 5: Seeds of Change; Solutions Sprouting from Grass-Roots Efforts A new kind of conservation is blossoming at the grass roots that focuses on results, not rhetoric. Its goals include buying, protecting and restoring land, and making commerce and conservation work together - without crying wolf. Outside links to the Sacramento Bee. (Apr. 22-26, 2001)

Coming to Terms with the Arctic. By Lisa Mastny. By melding ancient hunting traditions with modern political technique, Arctic indigenous peoples present a baffling challenge to environmental diplomacy. As the Arctic ecology itself begins to change, the need for a common understanding is growing increasingly urgent. This article first appeared in the January/February 2000 edition of "World Watch", published by the World Watch Institute, and is distributed by FCUSA with permission. (January 2000; PDF format)

Am I My Brother's Keeper? We are not alone in our struggle to make sense of resource policies, say FCUSA's Teresa Platt and Rita Carlson, Alliance for America's Vice President for Natural Resources and Public Lands. (January 1998)

Marine Stewardship Council Review of this important international certification and labeling initiative from WWF and Unilever, February 1998, with background information on the Forestry Stewardship Council and the "dolphin safe" Congressionally mandated "eco"-label. (PDF format)

A Message from the People of Taiji, Japan. Taiji is one of four traditional whaling communities in Japan which have repeatedly been denied a quota of minke whales by the International Whaling Commission. (May 1994)

How Can Anyone Kill a Seal? How Can Anyone Possibly Kill a Whale? "These are natural questions from people who have spent their lives in populous western cities. To the peoples from northern regions, these questions provoke no more concern than the question, 'How can anyone ever kill a pig or a cow?'" Statement from the West Nordic Council to mark its theme for 2001, "West Nordic Hunting Culture". Outside link to "Man In Nature". (Apr. 27, 2001)

The Effects on Inuit Towards Marine Mammal Protection Act Speech presented by Theresie Tungilik, Senior Advisor Arts Economy, Department of Sustainable Development, Government of Nunavut. Outside link to the Alliance for America. (May 2001)

The Tuna-Dolphin Controversy By Michael Scott, senior scientist with the Dolphin Programme of the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission. (August 1998) Outside link to Man In Nature.

Totems, Taboos, Sacred Cows and Tunafish. Teresa Platt of FCUSA, and founder of the Fishermen's Coalition, explains how misguided "conservationists" almost destroyed the US tuna fleet. (December 1997)

Conservation and Local Control: The Front Lines Move to Africa. Why do animal rightists want to derail Zimbabwe's CAMPFIRE program? Teresa Platt (FCUSA), Patti Strand (National Animal Interest Alliance) and Bruce Vincent (Alliance for America) explain. (February 1997)

Calvinism Minus God, by Prof. Robert Nelson, Univ. of Maryland. US conservationists could learn much from Africa. Direct link to Forbes Magazine with permission.

Collaborative Stewardship: A New Environmental Ethic for the West Lecture presented at the University of California, Berkeley, by Mark Rey, Subcommittee on Forests and Public Land Management, Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Outside link. (October 2000)

The American Conservation Ethic. An inspirational summation of why the American people have what it takes to conserve their cherished environment. Direct link to the National Wilderness Institute. (1996)

Hug a Logger, Not a Tree Wall Street Journal interviews logger Bruce Vincent. (May 23, 2002; Outside link to Man In Nature)

The Fight Over Forests and How to Resolve It. By Dr. Alston Chase. Direct link to Forest Industry Lecture Series No. 39, presented by the Dept. of Renewable Resources, Faculty of Agriculture, Forestry, and Home Economics, University of Alberta. (October 1997)

USDA bets the farm on animal ID program (National Animal Identification System). By David Gumpert and William Pentland, The Nation. (Dec. 14, 2007; Outside link)

Rules & Regulations : Labeling

North America

How to Comply with the Fur Products Labeling Act Federal Trade Commission alert, February 1999.

Rules and Regulations Under Fur Products Labeling Act Federal Trade Commission Code of Federal Regulations, Title 16, Part 301. Effective Mar. 16, 1998. (Direct link to FTC)

Federal Trade Commission, 16 CFR Part 24, Guides for Select Leather and Imitation Leather Products Effective Dec. 2, 1996. (Direct link to FTC)

Federal Trade Commission, 16 CFR Part 260, Guides for the Use of Environmental Marketing Claims Commonly called "The Green Guides". (Direct link to FTC)

"The Federal Trade Commission's Green Guides - A Success Story" Speech by FTC Commissioner Roscoe Starek III to the Alliance for Beverage Cartons and the Environment Symposium, Dec. 4, 1996, with particular reference to the 1992 Guides for the Use of Environmental Marketing Claims.

US Code : Title 15, Section 2055 on disclosure requirements for manufacturers and private labelers. (Direct link to the Legal Information Institute)

USDA National Organic Program The NOP's responsibilities include the development and implementation of standards in the US that govern the marketing of agricultural products as organically produced.

Outrage hits "naturally raised" USDA meat labeling plan. Des Moines Register, Mar. 22, 2008.

Organic Trade Association's Fiber Processing Standards. Outside link.

Talking to the consumer: Labeling ourselves or clear communication? By Teresa Platt, executive director, Fur Commission USA. (Apr. 10, 2005)

The Meter Is Running : "Turtle Safe" Meets WTO By Teresa Platt, formerly of the San Diego-based Fishermen's Coalition. (June 1997)

CYBERIAN INFORMATION SERVICES REPORTS

Marine Stewardship Council Review of this important international certification and labeling initiative from WWF and Unilever, February 1998 (with background information on the Forestry Stewardship Council and the "dolphin safe" Congressionally mandated "eco"-label). (PDF format)

United Kingdom

Consumer wises up to the organic illusion. By Julian Baggini, The Herald (UK). (Apr. 1, 2008)

Rules and Regulations: Water

Getting started with TMDLs. Primer by Dr. Wesley Jarrell, Oregon Graduate Institute of Science and Technology, to the science, policy and societal elements of Total Maximum Daily Loading. (PDF format)

Nutrient management. USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service conservation practice standard, Code 590. (May 2001, revised December 2001; PDF format)

Maps for nutrient management planning. By Thomas Bass and Julia Gaskin, Biological and Agricultural Engineering Department, Casey Ritz, Poultry Science Department, University of Georgia Cooperative Extension. (Revised March 2006)

Components of a complete manure management plan. By Profs. James Barker and Joseph Zublena, North Carolina State University, published by North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service. (1996)

Oklahoma water wars. By Trent Loos, for High Plains / Midwest Ag Journal. (Jan. 18, 2008)

The water rights rebellion. Analysis of Clean Water Action Plan by J. Zane Walley, Paragon Foundation. (June 1999)