Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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Always Follow the Money Beach Resorts: Eco-friendly? What is the first rule of politics? "Follow the money," says Mickey, a character in Robert Inman's new book, The Governor's Lady. It is a rule that we might overlook in a time when our politics seems to be defined by hard-line ideological differences. In fact, some of us would argue that following the money would be a fruitless diversion if we are searching for the real motivation of today's political activists. Not Mickey. In Inman's book, she is the mother of the new governor of an unnamed southern state. Mickey has been in politics all her life. She has made and broken the careers of aspiring office holders. Her husband was the twoterm governor, and so was her son-in-law. She knows every bathroom in the governor's mansion and which might need a renovation costing several hundred thousand dollars to make presentable. She gives her "follow the money" advice to her daughter, the new governor, who has been asked to approve a big real estate deal with the state getting valuable water front land in exchange for a tract of isolated mountain land. The new governor explains to her mother, "But no money is involved." "Don't be so sure," responds Mickey, the mother. "Money, real money, is quiet. So quiet you have to listen hard to hear it. The noise and politics, it's mostly about what people call 'issues.' Folks at opposite ends of the spectrum yelling at each other. The gun nuts and the tree-huggers here and the bleeding hearts and tree-huggers over here. Smoke and fire, thunder and lightning. But back in the shadows, being quiet, are the people with the big money, people who stand to make a lot more money, depending on who holds office. And they don't really care which bunch it is, gun nuts or treehuggers. They can do business with either, or anything in between, or both at the same time. Whatever works. They are happy letting the circus go on, the nastier and noisier the better, because that's what gets attention." "That's incredibly cynical," the new governor says. Her mother explains, "Don't get me wrong, money people have ideas and opinions, but they rarely let them get in the way of their money. So always, always, follow the money." Author Robert Inman knows politics. He ran the press office of Alabama Governor Albert Brewer, before moving to North Carolina to watch politics for more than 25 years as news anchor at Charlotte's WBTV. When I asked, Inman said he agreed with Mickey's comments about the power of money in politics. The corrupting role of money in politics is a key feature of The Governor's Lady, as Cooper Lanier, the new governor, must deal with the possibility that the former governor, her husband, current presidential candidate Pickett Lanier had arranged state transactions that lined the pockets of his political and financial supporters. Inman's inside look at the family of ambitious politicians makes for great story telling for those of us who remember when Lurleen Wallace won election as governor of Alabama as a stand-in for her husband George, when term limits prevented him from running for re-election. And it resonates with the current drama of a possible return of Bill Clinton to the White House as the nation's first "First Husband." Inman's first book, Home Fires Burning in 1987, signaled his gifts as a storyteller and since he left the WBTV newsroom in 1996, Inman has been a full-time and productive writer of novels, plays, and screenplays. The coming together of his experience covering public affairs and his talents as a writer make The Governor's Lady D.G. MARTIN, Host of UNC's Book Watch. a welcome gift for any reader who loves politics. Contributing Writer. COMMENTS? Editor@ Dear EarthTalk: What are the environmental risks associated with beach resorts? — Shine Shoukkathali, via e-mail by D.G. MARTIN upancomingweekly.com. 32 UCW OCT. 30 - NOV. 5, 2013 From the Editors of Environmental Magazine While they may put up with a lot of stress from wind, waves and weather, beaches and the coastal environments surrounding them are surprisingly fragile. The ecosystems which make up coastal areas have evolved over eons to their current natural states as to their geologic features and the types and distribution of native plants and animals that live there. Development of any kind can scar ecosystems and seriously reduce or eliminate wildlife habitat. When large numbers of humans move in, whether as full-time residents or vacationers, the dynamics of local ecosystems begin to change. If the growth is not managed well, this inundation with people can contribute to a wide range of environmental problems. For starters, development of any kind can scar ecosystems and seriously reduce or eliminate wildlife habitat. As houses, condos, shops, restaurants and other buildings begin to replace sand, grasses, trees and other natural features, the birds, fish and other wildlife that frequent such areas are forced to look elsewhere for suitable habitat if they can find any at all. An oftrepeated side effect of all this building is the removal of mangrove forests and sea grass meadows—important natural buffers against destructive waves from storms as well as important wildlife habitat. Other examples of coastal development gone awry include boardwalks or marinas built near or on top of coral reefs; beach-front houses, condos, hotels or golf courses replacing sand dunes and meadows; massive amounts of freshwater getting diverted from coastal rivers and streams for the benefit of tourists; and sea turtles scared off from nest sites. According to the Climate Institute, the impact of the December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami was much greater in more developed sections of coastal Thailand where mangrove and coral reef loss preceded the natural disaster. "In the absence of these natural protective barriers, the giant wave carried its energy all the way to shore, killing over 250,000 people and causing billions of dollars of damage," reports the group. "In areas where natural buffer zones remained, such as the Phang Nga province, inland territories were protected by large mangrove forests that dulled the wave's impact and dissipated its energy." "The indiscriminate conversion of natural shorelines and mangrove forest ecosystems for shrimp farming, urban settlements, tourism development and other often unregulated and unplanned human activities over the past several decades often make the coastal areas and its inhabitants much more vulnerable to the immense destructive force of the tsunamis," reports the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Likewise, the hurricanes that have battered the U.S. in recent years have been far more destructive than those previous, and many blame unrestrained coastal development. "A significant chunk of the $200-billion-plus bill from the Katrina-Rita hurricanes might have been avoided if there'd been tough, realistic plans to deter development in exposed coastal areas through buffer zones, wetlands protection, tough building codes and relocating settlements to higher land," reports the news service Common Dreams. The key to minimizing property damage and the loss of lives from such natural disasters may well be in what we allow to be developed. By now, most North American coastal regions have learned their lesson the hard way about the perils of unrestrained development, and new building codes now tend to be much tougher. But with coast-battering storms getting more frequent and intense, all bets are off as to whether our newer rules will be enough to protect beaches and surrounding coastal areas in decades to come. CONTACTS: Climate Institute, www.climate.org; WWF, www.panda.org. EarthTalk® is written and edited by Roddy Scheer and Doug Moss and is a registered trademark of E - The Environmental Magazine (www.emagazine. com). WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM