Multimedia Reporting (Bradford)

With the centennial of environmentalist Rachel Carson’s birth occurring this year, there has been an increased amount of debate about the accuracy of her work. While Carson’s supporters continue to laud her as a prescient voice whose insights led to the modern environmental movement, her critics have begun renewed efforts to expose what they view as scientifically unsound methods in her research.

This national debate was recently brought to a more local level during an event held on June 7 at the Spencer Museum of Art called “Voices from the Margins: ‘Silent Spring/Silencing Rachel Carson.’”
The centerpiece of the event was a showing of the PBS documentary “Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring,” which focused on the difficulties that Rachel Carson had in raising public awareness about the dangers of pesticide use, mainly Dichloro-Diphenyl-Trichoroethane or DDT.

The documentary was introduced by Maril Hazlett, an environmental historian who holds a doctorate in environmental history from the University of Kansas and wrote her dissertation on the public’s response to Rachel Carson’s work.

“Carson told people that they were part of the web of life,” Hazlett said. “She told them that they were not superior to or separate from the laws of the environment, and that their abuse of the environment would come back to them.”

However, not everyone holds Hazlett’s rosy assessment of Carson’s legacy. A recent article by John Tierney published in The New York Times paints Carson as an environmental extremist whose predictions about the disastrous effects of pesticides were largely unfounded.

In the article, Tierney refers to Carson’s work as a “hodgepodge of science and junk science” based upon “dubious statistics and anecdotes.” He also dismisses Carson’s findings on the carcinogenic effects of pesticide use.

And Tierney is not the only critic of Carson’s work. Her findings have also been refuted by Africa Fighting Malaria, a Washington-based think tank that promotes DDT as one of the most effective deterrents of malaria.

Hazlett dismissed the allegations being made against Carson, saying that falsely portraying Carson as an extremist who was completely against pesticide use is the final way in which Carson’s voice is being marginalized.

“Rachel Carson was a moderate voice who drew a distinction between pesticide use and misuse,” Hazlett said. “This is a moderate position that modern environmental activists need to reclaim.”

Valery Terwilliger, a professor of Environmental Studies at the University of Kansas, joined Hazlett in dismissing Tierney’s criticism.

“(Tierney’s) article is rather simplistic and does not provide any new information,” Terwilliger said.
Terwilliger also said that Tierney’s profession as a journalist instead of a scientist undermined the credibility of his article.

Peter Herlihy, another professor of Environmental Studies at the University of Kansas, also defended
Carson’s work, saying that a few mistake in research should not be used to undermine Carson’s otherwise monumental legacy.

“Frankly, it’s hard to critique someone who has done so much, even if there were some small mistakes,” Herlihy said.

In addition to the showing of the documentary, the event also featured an art exhibition showcasing works related to the environment.

Kate Meyer, curatorial assistant at Spencer Museum who helped organize the exhibition, said that the fact that all of the works were created after Carson’s death in 1964 underscored the importance of Carson’s work in bringing environmental issues to the fore.

Meyer also said that art played an important role in continuing the quest for environmental awareness that Carson was so instrumental in spearheading.

“Art allows for a visual access point to an issue that can bring about an emotional
gut reaction that is very powerful and not partisan,” Meyer said.

The event was organized by The Commons, an organization seeking to bring important issues to the forefront and open dialogue about difficult subjects. The organization describes itself as dedicated to exploring the “relationship between nature and culture across the sciences, humanities, and the arts,” and is co-sponsored by members of the Biodiversity Institute, the Hall Center for the Humanities, and the Spencer Museum of Art.

As someone who has made use of Lawrence’s public transportation system for almost three years, Lisa Thompson was alarmed when the City Commission decided last week to raise fares for the bus system from 50 cents to 75 cents. Although she has a car of her own and is capable of driving, Thompson says that busing to her job at JC Penny from her home in northern Lawrence allows her to save money that she hopes to use in planning for her family’s future. With the increase in fares, the amount of money she would save by using buses instead of her car would become almost negligible.

With these considerations in mind, Thompson decided that it was time to try something new: carpooling. Thompson said her first experience with carpooling last week turned out better than she had expected.

“I thought it was much more relaxing than having to take a bus,” Thompson said. “It was most definitely a smoother ride.”

With the changes in the busing system, Thompson could become one of a growing number of people opting to carpool in lieu of using city buses. Lawrence’s Public Transit administrator Cliff Galante said that it’s too soon to tell if the changes to the busing system will have any effect on the number of people who carpool but added that such a spike is feasible.

Thompson used Carpool Connection, a free carpooling program co-sponsored by Lawrence Transit System and RideShare, an environmental group based out of Kansas City, to find a carpooling group in her area. Carpool Connection is an Internet-based program that allows users in the Lawrence and Kansas City areas to join carpools by creating a profile and searching for others interested in carpooling.

Carpools usually consist of three to four participants with member rotating driving duties. While it’s not required that a carpool member drive, non-drivers are expected to make some sort of compensation to other members for driving expenses.

Galante said that Carpool Connection was created about a year ago in order to give Lawrence residents a wider array of public transportation options to choose from.

“We’ve seen the program grow steadily from year to year, and I expect the program to continue to grow,” Galante said.

Carpool Connection currently serves over 250 people in Lawrence and more than 1000 people in the Kansas City area. And although the majority of Lawrence residents that use Carpool Connection commute to places within Lawrence, the program allows Lawrence residents to form carpools to the Kansas City area as well. Galante said this feature was an important consideration in designing the program.

“With so many people commuting to Kansas City from Lawrence every day, we thought it was important to include the Kansas City area in our carpooling plans,” Galante said.

Lawrence resident Katherine Cox is just one Lawrence resident who makes the commute to Kansas City with the help of the city’s carpooling program. Cox has been carpooling to her job at Sprint Nextel Corporation in Overland Park for six months and calls the city’s carpool program a “godsend.”

“When I got a new job in Overland Park I knew that, with gas prices the way they were, it would be too expensive for me to drive myself to work everyday,” Cox said. “So I started carpooling because it seemed like the best option to me.”

There are three other participants in Cox’s carpool, and members switch driving duties on a weekly basis.

However, despite the glowing response of people like Cox and Thompson, there are still a few complaints from users about Carpool Connection.

Galante said that although there has mostly been positive feedback, there have been some complaints from less computer-fluent users about the difficulty of registering for the program online. In addition, Galante said that limited advertising for the program may mean that some Lawrence residents interested in carpooling may not know about the program’s existence.

Funding shortages at the Math and Science Center’s Summer Institute have forced the Institute’s leadership to eliminate programs that previous campers had enjoyed.

Campers of previous years went on end-of-the-summer trips to Washington D.C. as reward for good behavior, but this trip was cancelled three years ago because of lack of funds. Instead, well-behaved campers have received a trip to World’s of Fun in Kansas City for the past three years.

Field trips to the Ozarks, Colorado, and Texas have been phased out as well.

Corey Sowell, an 18 year old graduate of F.L. Schlagle High School in Kansas City, began attending the camp after his eighth grade year in the summer of 2003, the final year that the Washington D.C. trip and other trips were offered to campers.

“When I found out about the changes, it hurt,” Sowell said. “I didn’t know what was going on with all the politics, I just wanted to come here and have fun.”

Shanai Davis, a 17-year-old who attends Turner High School in Kansas City, entered into the program one year too late to go on the trips, but has heard about them through word of mouth from older campers.

“I feel bad that I didn’t get the opportunity to do the same traveling,” Davis said. “I think it would have made it a better experience.”

In addition to cuts in field trips, the Center has also had to undergo staff changes, employing one academic advisor instead of the two that had previously been part of the program.

“Having two counselors would definitely be ideal,” said Dave Walter, the remaining counselor at the Center. “It does feel like we’re stretched too thin at times.”

The Math and Science Center is a year-round program designed to give low-income students the opportunity to prepare for post-secondary educations by offering free academic and career counseling services as well as tutoring in all subjects. The Center’s Summer Institute is a six-week-long program that gives campers the opportunity to experience college living. There are 40 students attending the Summer Institute this year.

The Center is funded by grants from the U.S. Department of Education written every four years. Most of the grant money used by the Summer Institute goes toward covering housing and living expenses that the students incur during their stay in the dormitories.

According to Hong Chuong, project coordinator of the Math and Science Center, the Center’s economic woes derive from the fact that the grant it received three years ago made no provision for the inflation or increases in housing costs that have occurred, forcing the Center to compensate by cutting programs.

With its grant expiring next year, the Center’s leadership plans on writing to the United States Department of Education for a new grant that will counteract the added expenses.

In years past, the Center has attempted to secure more funding by submitting grant proposals to organizations such as the Kauffman Foundation and the National Science Foundation but was unsuccessful.

The organization has considered holding a fundraiser to obtain more money but has yet to do so because of time constrictions.

Chuong said that the cutbacks were unfortunate because most of the campers at the program are from lower-income backgrounds and didn’t have access to the same opportunities as more affluent students.

“We want our students to enjoy some of the things that normal students would enjoy and not miss out on these experiences because of their background.” Chuong said. “Providing them with these opportunities will make them more well-rounded individuals.”

However, Chuong also said that despite the cutbacks, campers still received a net benefit by attending the program.

“Our students are not here because of the field trips,” Chuong said. “They understand the funding crisis that we currently face; they also understand the overall benefits to be gained from the program.”

Both Walter and Chuong say their program is critical in narrowing the widening achievement gap between suburban and intercity schoolchildren.

“The achievement gap between disadvantaged and affluent students is alarming, and this issue needs to be addressed at the national and local levels,” Chuong said. “Our program has helped narrow this disturbing and growing gap.”

Chuong said that roughly 75 percent of participants in the Summer Institute go on to pursue post-secondary educations.

The Math and Science Center was created in 1995 as part of the Upward Bound Program at the University of Kansas, and serves low-income students from the Lawrence, Kansas City and Topeka areas. Students start in the program the summer following their eighth grade year and stay enrolled until the summer after their high school graduation.

Participants in the program usually find out about its existence through their high school counselors. Students fill out an application and are then interviewed to determine if they are right for the program. The Center looks for students who have done well scholastically in the past and have shown a strong desire to obtain a college education.

Lawrence Public Library has a video game program that is drawing young adults to the library in droves. Click above to find out more.

Pinckney, the oldest neighborhood in Lawrence, is showing its age.

It’s impossible to drive around the neighborhood without noticing signs of urban decay, also known as blight: the sagging facades and sliding foundations of ancient Victorian houses rim the streets in some areas, and dilapidated apartment complexes can be seen in others.

“Blight is something that concerns me very deeply,” said Marilyn Roy, a Pinckney resident and treasurer of the Pinckney Neighborhood Association. “Some of the trailer parks in this neighborhood are in shockingly bad shape and one of the houses next door to me looks like it’s falling down and needs taking care of.”

Roy has not contacted the owner of the house but may do so if the property continues to deteriorate.

Roy is not the only resident concerned with blight. In an ongoing poll on the neighborhood association’s Web site, blight was the issue that most concerned Pinckney residents, trumping other choices such as inebriated park users and unsanitary conditions at park restrooms.

Pinckney’s blight is caused by the high concentration of low-income families living in the neighborhood.

“I think it’s important to consider the level of poverty for some people living in the neighborhood,” Roy said. “These houses aren’t in the state they’re in because people are too lazy to make repairs, they’re like this because their owners don’t have the funds to fix them.”

Pinckney, located north of Sixth Street and bordered on the west and east by Iowa Street and the Kansas River respectively, is one of the poorest neighborhoods in Lawrence with 60 percent of its residents living on low to moderate incomes, according to a report by the Department of Neighborhood Resources.

Charles Gruber, an associate broker for Hedges Real Estate, said that the average home in Pinckney sells for around $125,000 while some of the larger homes sell for as high as $200,000.

Ruth Lithwardt, vice president of the Pinckney Neighborhood Association, said that blight has been a cause of concern for Pinckney residents since she joined the Neighborhood Association seven years ago.

However, Lithwardt also said that Pinckney isn't in as bad a condition as other low-income neighborhoods in Lawrence.

“We’re still in the preventative stages at the moment,” Lithwardt said. “It’s not a major problem right now, but could become one if we’re not careful.”

What’s being done

The neighborhood association has begun working with the city of Lawrence to prevent increased blight by rezoning certain areas within the neighborhood.

Many areas in the neighborhood contain small buildings such as single-family houses but are actually zoned to contain bigger structures such as apartments or townhouses, causing some contractors to construct large complexes next to the smaller buildings already in place. These complexes are often shoddily built and fall easily into disrepair

Hilah Vanderlibbe lives in one of these buildings, a townhouse on Florida Street surrounded on both sides by single-family houses.

“I don’t think the owners do that good of a job of keeping this place up,” Vanderlibbe said. “ The roof leaks, the window frames are falling down. People definitely don’t have a vested interest in living here any longer than they have to.”

Vanderlibbe and her four roommates pay $1000 a month in rent for their townhouse. She said the majority of residents at the townhouses are college students although she has seen a few older residents as well.

By rezoning areas to match the structures they already contain, Lithwardt hopes to bring greater stability to the area and prevent further construction of complexes like Vanderlibbe’s.

Pinckney has also been working with Tenants to Homeowners, a Lawrence charity that constructs affordable housing in low-income neighborhoods in hopes of encouraging residents to buy homes instead of renting.

According to a report by Lawrence’s Neighborhood Resources Department, 53 percent of Pinckney residents rent their homes. While this number is low compared to other neighborhoods in Lawrence, Lithwardt said that the number of people renting homes has been increasing since she joined the neighborhood association.

Lithwardt said Pinckney’s blight problems would decrease if more residents owned their own homes because home owners usually take better care of their homes than renters do.

Hayley Travis, resource development specialist for Tenants to Homeowners, said that the organization constructed six single-family homes in the neighborhood in 2005.

Another Solution on the Horizon

A new measure currently being considered by the Lawrence City Commission, the Neighborhood Revitalization Act, could also help Pinckney residents improve their homes.

The act would allow residents in select neighborhoods, Pinckney being one of them, to make renovations increasing the value of their home without having to pay 95 percent of the property taxes brought on by the renovations.

The act has won approval from the Pinckney Neighborhood Association and several members of the city commission.

“I think the act could be a lot of help if the Lawrence government is serious about it,” said Kirk McClure, professor of urban planning at the University of Kansas. “However, the act is not a magic wand or silver bullet; it’s just one of many tools that should be used.”

McClure said that property taxes are not one of the major factors preventing Lawrence residents from keeping up their homes because the Midwest has some of the lowest property tax rates in the country. Lawrence’s property tax is 1.2 percent.

McClure lists low-interest loans, grants, and better promotion for local schools as alternatives that could more effectively improve Lawrence neighborhoods. (See slideshow for more on McClure's ideas for improving Lawrence neighborhoods).

Because the act allows home-owners to rebate taxes going to the Lawrence school district, the school board still needs to agree to the act.

“We don’t have a problem with the act conceptually,” said Randy Weseman, superintendent of Lawrence schools. “We’ve supported (tax) rebates for a long time now.”

The school board was first briefed on the act at a meeting on June 11 and is scheduled to vote on the topic at its July 23 meeting.

“It’s my feeling that we’ll choose to participate in this plan to assist with the revitalization process,” said Linda Robinson, president of the school board.

Robinson said that there was strong support shown for the act at the June 11 meeting. But with three new board members having been sworn in since the June 11 meeting, Robinson said that the vote could still go either way.

Cynthia Shaw has been bird watching since she was a toddler.

Shaw recalls sitting on the back porch of her grandparents’ home in Sterling watching the birds circle above, her grandfather holding a pair of binoculars to her eyes because she was too small to hold them herself. Bird watching trips to Sterling Lake and the Rocky Mountains followed as Shaw got older.

Today, at 72-years-old, Shaw is still watching birds, although in a slightly different form.

“Old age has definitely set in,” Shaw said. “My bird watching is much more sedentary today. I mostly watch birds from the car or through the kitchen window.”

While her bird watching continues, Shaw, a resident of Lawrence for most of her adult life, has noticed a decline in the diversity of bird species she has seen in Douglas County.

“There are some species that I don’t see as often as I used to,” Shaw said. “I haven’t seen a Henslow’s sparrow for years.”

A. Townsend Peterson, an ornithologist at the University of Kansas, said that Henslow’s sparrow is one species of bird that has been almost eliminated from Douglas County. Peterson estimates that 95 percent of the species has been eliminated from the county while there are still high numbers of the species in the Flint Hills to the west.

In addition to Henslow’s sparrow, the greater prairie chicken is another bird that has been dwindling in numbers with the last of the species disappearing from Douglas County around four to five years ago.

Peterson said that the decline can be traced back to the conversion of prairie grasslands, the natural habitat of many bird species, to farmlands in Douglas County. Peterson said that less than 1 percent of Douglas County remains prairie grasslands while the rest has been turned into suburbs or farmland.

Henslow’s sparrow and the greater prairie chicken have been most affected by this conversion because they require larger tracts of grasslands to survive than do other bird species. Most of the remaining grassland areas in Douglas County are simply too small to support populations of the two bird species.

And Douglas County is not the only part of the country that has shown signs of a declining bird population. According to a report released June 14 in the National Audubon Society’s magazine, bird populations have been declining across the country since 1968 with some species showing declines in the 70 to 80 percent range.

Peterson said that this decline in bird numbers can be disastrous for grassland ecosystems. Without the birds present, animals that depend on them for food such as foxes and coyotes are forced to migrate to places with higher bird concentrations or starve.

But the decline in birds can have an adverse effect on humans as well. Without the birds present to prey on disease-carrying insects such as mosquitoes, the number of diseases found in humans could increase.

The government steps in

All of this has raised debate about the role of the municipal and county governments in protecting the environment.

“I think we’re getting to a point where the environment is becoming more of a priority,” said Sheila Stogsdill, director of planning for the city of Lawrence. “We’re probably still not at the same level as other cities, but we’ve begun to have more stringent environmental ordinances.”

As director of Lawrence’s planning division, it’s Stogsdill’s job to make recommendations to the city commission about whether or not to grant contractor’s requests to build.

Stogsdill said that language codified into the city’s development code in February of 2006 could help the city become more environmentally conscious.

The language in the code designates certain zones within the city as “sensitive land” if building in that area could harm wildlife. So far none of the areas designated as “sensitive land” have been targeted by contractors as sites for construction.

In addition, the city commission has been open to receiving input from local environmental groups such as the Jayhawk Audubon Society.

When the city agreed to the construction of a large trail through the forest surrounding Burcham Park, protests from board members of the Audubon Society led to the construction being tabled for further discussion.

“I think the Lawrence government does a pretty good job with environmental issues,” said Mike Fraley, conservation chair of the Jayhawk Audubon Society.

Fraley also lauds efforts by the city commission to protect the environment by designating areas within the city as environmental areas off limits to construction.

But some have said that what the city is doing isn’t enough.

Mark Robbins, professor of ornithology at the University of Kansas, said that designating small areas as off limits to construction will have only a minute effect on reinvigorating the environment because animals need space to survive. Greater benefits could be brought about by protecting larger sections of land where more animal species could survive

The Wakarusa Wetlands is one location that Robbins said would benefit from being designated as a protected area.

However, Robbins admits that only so much change can be brought about by municipal governments.

“For there to be any real change bigger powers need to step in,” Robbins said. “We need national powers and international powers to become more integrated into efforts at the local level.”

A new farm bill being debated by the United States House of Representatives could help the environment. The bill would require farmers to set aside designated areas of their land as conservation areas where they would be prohibited from farming.

The bill was passed in committee, and the House is scheduled to debate and vote upon the bill on July 26. Presidnet Bush has threatened to veto the bill if passed because of tax increases that would go into effect if the bill became law.

“A lot rides on the fate of the bill,” Robbins said. “Many bird species could be saved.”

Click here to view a slide show on disappearing birds