From Pristine to Earth: A Fictional Adventure About Many Environmental Realities

I freely admit that the children's novel From Pristine to Earth by Ashley Ivanov was written by my research assistant. So this is a biased review.

The novel, written for upper elementary and pre-teen students, is a creative means to a real-world end. It was written teach environmental concepts in an imaginative and entertaining way to make children aware of the need for a safe, healthy and clean environment. 

The novel touches on various topics, including the benefits of recycling and the need for clean air and water. However, the primary messages are the need to minimize the risks associated with harmful chemicals by creating safer alternatives and the need for society to develop and use plastics that break down faster in the environment. 

In the end the author leaves us not knowing whether these reforms will have a successful impact or merely be words on paper. As she writes, “[t]ime will tell.”

Students can learn that reform can be accomplished in various ways, including voting for candidates who support change and through the media which can sometimes influence Congressional action. Grassroots activists -- in the trenches planting the seeds for change -- are usually involved in both.

As the book points out, there are current attempts being made to influence Congress to pass new federal chemical legislation. Current federal law, the Toxic Substances Control Act (“TSCA”), was enacted in the 1970s and has been ineffective as it does not ensure that only safe chemicals are used in the United States. It is estimated that approximately eighty thousand chemicals available in the United States have not been fully tested for their safety. See Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Of these eighty thousand chemicals, EPA has required testing for only an estimated two hundred (a quarter of one percent of the total) and has partially regulated only five (less than one percent).  Id.  

Congress is currently considering legislation to reauthorize TSCA. Perhaps, like the new law described in the book, a reauthorized TSCA would, among other things, shift the burden of proof from EPA to the chemical’s manufacturer to prove that that the chemical is safe and provide a means for adequate, independent validation and verification.  

You won’t find many (any?) books written for pre-teens that realistically addresses TSCA and other environmental issues in an entertaining story that engages kids. It could be used in science classes for upper elementary students to introduce these important environmental concepts through a good story with interesting characters.

The novel is available at Amazon.com and online only from Barnes & Noble.

Abraham Lincoln and the Team of Rivals; Compassion, Wisdom and Peacemaking

While the Golden Globes may not have honored the genius of Stephen Spielberg’s direction of the movie Lincoln, I hope and believe the Oscar voters will.  As anyone who has a feel for history will, I think, agree, Lincoln is a uniquely moving portrait of Abraham Lincoln and the late part of the Civil War. 

Much of Spielberg’s movie is based on Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, the wonderfully researched and written book by Doris Kearns Goodwin.

For those who have not read it, Goodwin tells the story of “Lincoln’s political genius revealed through his extraordinary array of personal qualities that enabled him to form friendships with men who had previously opposed him, to repair injured feelings that, left unattended, might have escalated into permanent hostility; to assume responsibility for the failures of subordinates, to share credit with ease; and to learn from mistakes.” 

  

The movie makes the people and politics of the lame duck Congress in late 1864 and early 1865 understandable to viewers of today.  Before watching the movie I had doubts that the director and Daniel Day-Lewis, the actor who plays Lincoln, could make this iconic figure into a living, breathing human being. There is no doubt they succeeded.

The movie shows how Abraham Lincoln was different from other leaders, then and now. Goodwin writes that his “decency, morality, kindness, sensitivity, compassion, honesty and empathy” were “impressive political resources.” Lincoln may have said : “I destroy my enemies when I make them my friends.” We saw him doing that in this movie.

Abraham Lincoln was a lawyer – apparent in the movie – and that was a critically important part of his career; it helped shape who he was. He was famously quoted as advising attorneys to “Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can.  As a peacemaker the lawyer has superior opportunity of being a good man. There will still be business enough.”

Lincoln was a good man and a peacemaker both before and during the Civil War, and his wisdom, compassion and humanity were central to his greatness. 

Mediators Now Targets of Internet Scams: A Cautionary Tale

The internet is a great tool for all legal professionals, including mediators. Between the information available online and the ease in sharing information, it is almost impossible to imagine a world without the internet.

The bad news, however, is that the internet also increases the ease with which internet scammers can communicate their malice.  We all have seen how common internet scams have become. Internet scams cost businesses a great deal of money and frustration; it is essential to know what to look for to avoid these traps.

Mediators are now well enough established in business to become targets of scams.

We recently learned of a scam going around, targeting mediators in particular.

Here is a cautionary tale. 

The scam involves two alleged companies (in this particular scam, Barr Holdings and Arrow Electronics) who are alleged to be involved in a commercial dispute and request the help of a mediator. If the mediator agrees to help, a mediation contract is sent to the mediator with the signature of both company presidents. Here are the initial email exchanges, copied verbatim:

How are you today? We would like to thank you for your response to our inquiry for legal services. On behalf of Barr Holdings Limited, we are one of the UK's leading design and construction companies, specializing in the design and construction of sports stadia and arenas as well as large scale leisure, commercial, and retail projects.

However, We wish to inform you that we would be needing your mediation help to assist us with a breach of contract matter and also retrieve funds owed to our company. We ordered goods from Arrow Electronics, Inc. and was asked to make a 50% down payment for goods to be delivered to us and that we did and up till date no goods were delivered. We asked for a refund and they made a part payment and after that no other payment was made. We seek your help to help us collect these funds owed to our company amicably as we do not wish to go any further with the said transaction. We have made several attempts in the past to collect these funds which all ended negatively. We are aware that a conflict search would need to be done.

Here is the name of our supplier for your conflict check of interest-

Arrow Electronics, Inc., 7067 Columbia Gateway Drive, Suite 170 Columbia, MD 21046

Attached to this email you will find attached copy of contract, email correspondence and proof of payment for your perusal. We are prepared to pay a reasonable retainer fee for this service as soon as our board gets to review the terms of your engagement. So please have that sent to my attention via email if this is a case you are willing to handle.

What we require from you is to mediate the dispute and collect the funds peacefully without litigation [emphasis added]. We look forward to your prompt response. We wanted to also inform you that the said funds owed to us has caused a great strain on our company's operational capital and we want this issue to be resolved quickly. We would like to know a few things about your firm and also how you intend to handle this dispute

Then the mediator is sent an email claiming that the two sides have come to an agreement and one party will send a cashier’s check to the mediator to deposit and hold in trust on behalf of the other party.

On behalf of Barr Holdings Limited we have decided to retain your services after our review of your terms and attached herewith is a copy of the signed agreement. Due to your establishment as our mediator in the United States we have been able to yield a positive result.

Furthermore, we had talks with our contact and brought the possibility of mediation to his notice as we informed him of our correspondence with your service. He informed us that some Payment will be effected on or before 8th November 2012.

This is a positive breakthrough for me as this development will eventually reduce time and cost for all parties involved. However I do not intend to introduce any legal pressure unless the deadline of 8th November 2012.

Contract is breached. I do hope you understand my position as i intend to introduce litigation as a last resort.

I instructed that further correspondence including payment be made via our mediator. Please confirm name and mailing address check payments is to be made out on so we can forward it to him at once. It is also my thinking that your engagement fee be deducted as soon as funds are received by you and the balance held in trust pending further instruction.

I await your urgent acknowledgment and requested details as time is of the essence thank you.”

After the mediator receives the check – supposedly to pay a portion of the money owed that was in dispute -- the party sending the check asks the mediator to wire a portion of the funds to a creditor of the party. A wire transfer cannot be undone. Once the money is sent, it is gone.

In the scam, of course, the cashier’s check is fraudulent, and the mediator is now responsible for the money sent to the creditor. Unlike wire transfers, counterfeit cashier checks are not good until the issuing bank actually pays. So a wire transfer irrevocably removes money from the account and the fraudulent cashier’s check is not finally payable – even if the money initially appears in an account -- until after it has cleared by the issuing bank, which can take days, often longer. Thus, in the scam, the mediator is exposed to losing all of the money sent via wire transfer.  Here is the email exchange from the scammer trying to close the deal.

 How are you doing today??

Please do proceed with the swift wire transfer to our creditors as instructed yesterday. Today is the last date giving to us by our creditor to remit payment to them as promised. I Hope you understand how important this transaction mean to us because we don't want our company to be sued. if they file a law suit against us it will bring a bad reputation to our company and we will also loose our business relationship with our creditor. Due to my daughter condition am leaving the offices to know how she doing so keep me updated once the transfer is made this morning your time. I strongly believe you can handle the transaction ASAP.

Await your acknowledgment of instructions and wire confirmation slip thank you.”

This is an all-too-common situation. Mediators and attorneys must be on the lookout for scams.  Fortunately in this case the mediator sensed there was something ‘fishy’ and did not bite.  

Be careful.

Here are some signs that you might be the target of a scam

• Does the email have poor grammar, spelling errors or strange vernacular in general? A large majority of scams come from outside the U.S. and generally do not write in English very well and often use translation websites. 

• Have you received emails or heard from both sides individually? Most scams are the work of one person who usually speaks for the other side. If you are only hearing from one party, there is a good chance it is part of a scam. 

• Has it developed quickly, or have the two sides come to an agreement without your help? This is usually part of scam. Whoever is part of the scam is trying to get the money from you without you even realizing what is happening.  

• Did you receive a call from a location that does not correspond with either party? The mediator and target of this scam was receiving calls from Naples, Florida, a home to neither of the parties involved. This should be another sign that something fishy is going on.

For more information on this particular scam and for more examples of how scammers contact you, go to LawPro's Avoid A Claim blog. You can also report if you have been the target of a suspected fraud and see tips on how to prevent fraud.

Assisted by Michael Ciccarone

Why Lawyers Have Bad Reputations

From the New York Post: Dad sues own kid in matter of ‘trust’ .

Why is it that some lawyers seem to think the courts are designed to solve every problem? Do they think suing someone – even their own children – will intimidate? Dominate? Scare? Resolve the problem?

Whatever, here is yet another story about an attorney with more bluster than brains.

As the Post put it, “This’ll make for an awkward Thanksgiving. A high-powered Manhattan lawyer has filed a $3 million libel suit — against his daughter.” 

 The daughter had the temerity to ask for an accounting of her trust fund, managed by the father. 

The merits of this case do not really matter.  Just think about this family Thanksgiving  and be grateful about your own.

According to the Post, the attorney, “who once sued a restaurant for $7 million in a dispute over a $354 tip, said he might be willing to relent” and that the family matter will be resolved. But then why did he file suit in the first place?

"The Better Angels of Our Nature" Review

The lead review in the Sunday Book Review section of the New York Times this past week is of a book by Steven Pinker titled “The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined." The review was written by Peter Singer.

I have not yet read the book – although I did purchase and download it based on this review – and will read it soon.

The basic thesis of the book is simple. Our era – the time in which we now live – is less violent and cruel and more peaceful than any other period in human history. Despite World Wars I and II, Vietnam, the Iran/Iraq war, the Holocaust, the Rwandan genocide and all of the other atrocities of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Really?

Mr. Pinker is a professor of psychology at Harvard and author of “The Language Instinct." Mr. Singer makes a compelling argument that professor Pinker’s new book is substantial, worthwhile and interesting.

To sum up this observation, Mr. Singer states, quite simply, ””The Better Angels of Our Nature” is a supremely important book,” adding that the book addresses many of the age-old questions about human nature: Are human beings essentially good or bad? Has the past century witnessed moral progress or a moral collapse? Do we have grounds for being optimistic about the future?

Obviously Mr. Pinker has to convince a skeptical audience. According to the review he spends a substantial portion of the book successfully documenting his claim.

What do you think? Do we live in a more civilized and more just and peaceful world?