Special to Bayview Hill-Jake Sigg's Nature News

1. Once-in-a-lifetime housing opportunity
2. Bird watching on the beach in Pacifica Sunday 28
3. SPUR lunchtime forums - TODAY, and July 7
4. A once and future opportunity to get the skinny on Hetch Hetchy damming
5. End the occupation of Yosemite: March in the San Francisco Pride Parade this
Sunday
6. Crissy Field Center temporary relocation FONSI online
7. The History of Public Funding and the Arts – The Legacy of the New Deal, July 2
8. Keeping poultry in cities
9. Feedback: Dams, renewable energy, feral cats, lead shot
10. CNPS field trip this Saturday 27 June
11. Positive thinking's negative results
12. Voyage of the Dammed: Beaver experts gather to chart a path to a wetter West
13. Paradise Lost: Smyrna 1922 - The Destruction of Islam's City of Tolerance

1. Great house-buying opportunity

Peter Vaernet:

Hi Jake 345 Shields St, SF 94132 will soon be on the market. 3 bedrooms 2 baths...7 acre back yard...Where are the true native plant enthusiasts that will buy this place??? I need some help here for God's sake!!!!!!!!


(Peter is referring to the stewardship of Brooks Park, and he does need help. It is a wonderful park that includes an extensive natural area full of wildflowers in the spring, a large butterfly/wildlife garden, a children's playground, a Tai Chi area, and large community garden. All this in your own backyard! This chance may never happen again.)

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2.
Sunday, June 28, 12:30 p.m. til 2 p.m. or later
Bird Watching on the Beach
Meet on Pacifica State Beach at the Monterey Cypress Tree, located at Highway One and Crespi Drive. Get an education on the birds commonly found on and around Pacifica State Beach. Learn the difference between a Western Snowy Plover and a Sanderling. Bring binoculars if you have them. All ages welcome!

This is a regular hike on the fourth sunday of the month.

Please contact us for more information or other Pacifica birdwalks:
outreach@pacificashorebird.org

www.pacificashorebird.org
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3. SPUR LUNCHTIME FORUMS
The Progressive origins of good government
Thursday, June 25, 12:30-1:30 p.m.
Charter reform, civil service, and settlement houses are all part of the intriguing tale of how progressive reformers responded to big-city "bossism." Buck Delventhal, deputy city attorney for San Francisco, and Phil Ginsburg, former director of the San Francisco Department of Human Resources, explore the origins and legacy of these turn-of-the-century reform efforts.

San Francisco Great Streets Project presents Enrique Peñalosa, Former Mayor of Bogotá, Colombia
Tuesday, July 7th 5:30-7:30 p.m.; Koret Auditorium, Main Public Library in San Francisco; Free, open to the public; Valet bicycle parking provided

Meet Enrique Peñalosa, former Mayor of Bogotá, Colombia and internationally-renowned innovator in the fields of transportation, housing and land use for large cities, as he discusses how San Francisco can learn from international best practices in urban public space development. San Francisco's successful Sunday Streets program is based on similar efforts in Bogotá. Thanks to Mayor Peñalosa, Bogota has also become an international gold standard for Bus Rapid Transit. Peñalosa will discuss how San Francisco can accomplish and benefit from further improvements to our city's public realm. This event will also celebrate the launch of the San Francisco Great Streets Project, a new campaign to catalyze the return of our city's streets to their rightful place as the center of civic life in this wonderful city by working with government, business and neighborhood leaders to test, analyze and institutionalize placemaking. Co-presented by SPUR and the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition. This event is free and open to the public. No RSVPs are necessary.

(How do you like that - Valet bicycle parking!! Times have definitely changed.)

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4. Unfortunately, I received this too late for posting in last newsletter:

LUNCHTIME FORUM
The story of Hetch Hetchy
Tuesday, June 23, 12:30-1:30 p.m.
Ever since the movie "Chinatown," Los Angeles has gotten bad press for "stealing" the Owens River to urbanize the San Fernando Valley. But why did San Francisco's leaders choose an expensive alternative, the Tuolumne River, to augment our local water supply, and then dam Hetch Hetchy Valley despite a nationwide outcry? Gray Brechin, historical geographer and author, explains the process by which arid land can be made to yield its most lucrative crop - a megalopolis.

(JS: However, I will try to find another venue for a return visit, as this topic is of immense interest to me. We were never told the true story of some of these environmentally devastating projects, and the particular interests that were served. The following note from Gray)

Gray:
Weirdly, an elderly Russian attacked me from the audience for being so anti-capitalist and wanting to live under a dictator like Stalin as had he. He was so angry that it was hard for me to make out what he was spluttering. He asked me if I hated capitalism so much, what alternative would I prefer: I said "Norway," and then called on the next person while he inveighed against THAT country. There's no winning!

I thought about what he had to say as illustrative of the false dualities we are given. Ursula LeGuin wrote about this in her novel THE DISPOSSESSED: both alternatives are hell. (As head of the "free world," Franklin Roosevelt once said "Necessitous men are not free men.") My perspective is always biocentric: both unrestrained capitalism and communism destroy nature. In the wonderful movie THE GOLDEN COMPASS, the young girl Lyra Belacqua discovers that there are multiple parallel universes about which the ruling Magisterium does not want people to know. That is why I've been studying the New Deal and the Scandinavian systems since they demonstrate that there is a third or fourth or fifth way that might lead us out of the false choice with which I was challenged yesterday.

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5. End the Occupation of Yosemite
March with Restore Hetch Hetchy!
On June 28th Restore Hetch Hetchy is marching in the San Francisco Pride Parade. SF Pride is the largest public event in Northern California, and we want you to be part of our large and noisy contingent.

In the spirit of irony and fun, which is ever-present at the Pride Parade, each of our marchers will receive a limited edition t-shirt that has our logo on the front and says, "End the Occupation of Yosemite" on the back.

The parade route is about 1 mile. Our contingent will line up for the parade at 10 AM on Beale St. between Howard and Folsom and we'll be marching roughly 1 mile up Market to Civic Center. Our marchers will have banners, signs, stickers, t-shirts, and some light breakfast snacks provided. We hope you'll join us to support the restoration of the Hetch Hetchy Valley, and you're encouraged to bring your friends and family. If you want to participate don't forget to tell us your t-shirt size!

Contact Max with any questions and to RSVP: (415) 956-0401 or by email at max@hetchhetchy.org.

(MORE HETCHY IN THE FEEDBACK SECTION, BELOW)
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6.
Release of FONSI for the Crissy Field Center Temporary Relocation Project
View the FONSI online at:
http://parkplanning.nps.gov/goga (click on project title)

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7. (Save the date: event location was not supplied, so it will be in next newsletter.)

Panel Discussion: The History of Public Funding and the Arts – The Legacy of the New Deal
Thursday, July 2, 2009, 6:00-8:00pm
Speakers: Lincoln Cushing, Tim Drescher, Mark Johnson
Moderator: Gray Brechin, Project Scholar, California’s Living New Deal Project

Funding public artwork benefits more than the artists – viewers witness their space transformed and the art enhances the urban landscape. The arts were greatly supported during the New Deal era and many WPA projects are located in the San Francisco Bay Area. With the recent election of a new president, will money be used to fund art and culture? Panelists speak to the similarities between the present era and the New Deal as they relate to public arts and government funding.
Lincoln Cushing is a librarian, archivist, lecturer, and archival consultant for nonprofit and community organizations. He is the author of a number of books, including the forthcoming Agitate! Educate! Organize! - American Labor Posters, Cornell University Press, expected 2009, which he co-authored with Timothy Drescher. Timothy W. Drescher, Ph.D. is an independent scholar who has been studying, documenting, and photographing community murals since 1972. Mark Dean Johnson is gallery director at San Francisco State University. His curatorial work includes a focus on California contemporary and historical art, and several of his projects have explored under-represented contributions to regional art history.

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8.
Keeping poultry in cities
Checking out the chicks

The financial and health reasons behind a new craze

ONE day Judith Haller was watching television and saw that Martha Stewart had chickens. “I was very envious that she had her own chicken manure,” she recalls. So last year, she got a couple of chickens on behalf of her vegetable garden. They proved to be industrious providers and pleasant companions. Now there are 13 hens pecking around the yard. And Ms Haller has become an advocate for a hot movement: backyard chickens. In April, as part of Austin’s first Funky Chicken Coop Tour, she hosted 637 visitors.

Chickens are having a moment. For Americans who are concerned about eating locally or organically, hens can help. They produce fresh, free-range eggs. They eat table scraps, and their waste goes in the compost pile. Finances are a factor for some families. Mimi Bernhardt says that she and her partner became more reflective about sustainability when the economy worsened. Now they are growing melons, tomatoes, onions and aubergines, and they raise ducks as well as chickens. Their grocery bill has plummeted. There is also a pet aspect. Hens are soft and fluffy, if not very affectionate. As Ms Haller puts it, they make cats seem like dogs.

It is impossible to know exactly how many Americans have joined this trend. The Department of Agriculture does not track hobbyists. Owners can register via the National Animal Identification System, but it is strictly voluntary. This is a sore point with some health experts, who say that America needs a better way to keep track of its animals.

In any case, signs point to a bird surge. Hatcheries that deliver chicks by mail have reported backlogs. Rob Ludlow, the owner of BackyardChickens.com, says that his forum has 35,000 members and about 100 more joining each day. Backyard poultry groups meet in at least two dozen cities, from Seattle in Washington to Tallahassee in Florida. Over the past few years many cities have, in response to public pressure, relaxed ordinances against the birds.

Andy Schneider, a radio host known as the Chicken Whisperer, says he gets calls every day from people who are interested in challenging their city council on this score. Web sites like Craigslist, Facebook and Twitter help them organise. “If you have 50 people wearing buttons saying ‘I love chickens’ on the steps of the courthouse, it does make a statement,” he says.

The Economist, 20 June 2009

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9. Feedback

Christopher Swan wrote:

Victoria Smith's piece is good insofar as it goes, but there are some other elements. You might forward this to her?

* Dams destroy far more than the river, they result in less groundwater recharging and the result land subsidence, increasing salts on the surface of the land and ultimately grasslands or farms turn to deserts. If anyone doubts this they might want to take a look at the land, it's obvious. Desertification is marching north in the Central Valley.

* Diverting water from rivers has also destroying a vast estuary in California, and in countless other places, first by destruction of upstream habitat, second by changing salinity in the estuary, third by eliminating seasonal wetlands and marshes that function as nursery for fish, and fourth by decreasing the quantity of natural salts that would otherwise reach the bay and ocean. Note that carbon dioxide is now shifting the ocean's pH to acidity, this is (almost certainly) due in part to the lack of natural salts entering the sea.

* About 48% of freshwater in the US goes directly to centralized power plants for boiler feed water, and that means the primary function of many reservoirs is to serve other power plants. The dams were "sold" as a means of obtaining freshwater, but in fact people actually drink a tiny portion (~1%) and 74% of the US population drinks bottled water according to USGS.

* Hydroelectric power from big dams is not dependable due to weather and competing demands for water. A major drought, as in Rocky Mountains, essentially reduces the hydroelectric output. From one year to the next one cannot assume a given hydroelectric facility will function at or even near capacity.

* The notion that such power is "green" is ludicrous considering net energy analysis and downstream damage. What is the cost of lost fisheries? What is the cost in jobs and sustainable yield from those fisheries? How much energy was consumed in building the dam, and how much is produced and how much is lost in transmission?

* Saving water with reservoirs is a myth. Evaporation rates are very high, so it's a highly questionable claim. But what's really not noticed is the relative value of storing water underground. The Central Valley was one big underground reservoir, and there were artesian wells. No longer.

* Flood protection is fantasyland. Check the rivers and how they rise as a result of silt accumulation in the bed of the river. There are places in the Central Valley where the top of the levee, and the river in winter, can be 30 feet above the surrounding land, which is kept dry with pumps that use electricity, gobs of it. The risk of catastrophic floods in the CV is greater now than it ever was.

* Recreation value of reservoirs was one reason for their development, but in fact that's rarely materialized and where it has it's not a significant or dependable economy.

In sum, given what we are facing in terms of global ecological and climatic change I have come to the conclusion that humanity needs to return rivers and river systems to their natural state of existence as fast as humanly possible. The shift to renewable energy translates to that 48% of freshwater returning to rivers, and recycling water in buildings translates to "use" of less than five percent of what we're using now.

Or to put it another way, why are we moving water hundreds of miles from remote reservoirs, dirtying it, then cleaning it, then throwing it in the ocean and claiming we have a water shortage and thus building desalinization plants? Then we ignored the fact that most cities receive more in rain than they do from reservoirs, and we clean this in many cities and pour it down the drain. This is insane.

What would the value of fisheries be, in jobs and food, if we restored the entire SF Bay watershed?

Onward,
Christopher Swan


Frank Noto:

Jake - Interesting stuff, as always.

I'm not sure the math on renewable energy is quite as daunting as MacKay makes it out. First of all, he assumes that we will (or need to) change entirely to renewable sources. That's unlikely. And my impression is that some non-renewable sources (e.g., gas) are relatively clean when it comes to climate changing emissions. Let's assume then that 30% of our energy comes from non-renewables in some future decade.

The second fallacy in his argument is that he entirely ignores other sources of renewable energy -- hydro, biomass, thermal, co-generation, wave, etc. Let's assume that 20% of our energy comes from those sources (I'm making these numbers up, others may have better information about why my estimates are unduly optimistic or pessimistic. My guess is that they could be much higher, but I am no expert).

Thirdly, I'm not sure why a 100-fold or 2.5 fold increase in US wind or nuclear power is not feasible over time (if we reduce our need for renewables by 50% then 100 fold /2.5 fold are presumably the appropriate numbers). Other nations certainly have ten times as much solar or nuclear use as we do already, for example, so why not 100 times or 2.5 times as much? I just do not intuitively believe his "mathematical" argument holds water.

And of course, this analysis does not include fusion, lasers, "clean coal," or other more long-range dreams of power. These could shred his argument entirely -- though for now they appear to just be dreams.

By the way, I'm not advocating for or against any one source of energy. I was not a fan of T. Boone Pickens' plan to convert California vehicles to natural gas on the taxpayers dime, nor am I an advocate for subsidized nuclear power. I just think things are not quite as gloomy as Mackay indicates in terms of engineering solutions.

I wish you would be gloomy, Frank. I see us going down a road and that we haven't the vaguest idea where it's taking us. There are costs to everything, including renewables. As I said in my response to an item in the same newsletter that you're responding to, it would be nice if, for once, we'd look down the road to see the consequences of our "solutions". We're talking more than just energy, Frank. I would hope that we're more than economic creatures that consume on one end and excrete on the other--that there's such a thing as life worth living. No one is talking about quality of life, only energy and how to generate it. The facile response is "Jake, people aren't going to think about those things when they're hungry", which is true--but not to the point. Before we get to such a desperate state why not think first and develop a plan based on what is known? There won't avoid unforeseeable problems down the road, but we would have done our best to anticipate them. Won't happen; we will continue to lurch from one "solution" to another until we're in that straitjacket where there are no options left, just sheer survival to the next moment.

I wish you would be gloomy, Frank.
I'm not sure we disagree much, Jake. While I believe the engineering solutions are available, I'm not so sure about what is politically feasible. I'm pretty gloomy about political solutions, too, though we are far better off regarding what comes out of the next 4 years, than we would have been with 4 years of McBush/Palin.


Before we get to such a desperate state why not think first and develop a plan based on what is known?


Can't disagree with you there, Jake. But planning for the future is not a strong point of democratic governments ... Or of any governments anywhere, come to think of it, when the costs are high in the present and the benefits are many years away, and the future is uncertain.


I do think it makes sense to build a constituency in our democracy for planning for our future. Let's work together on that, shall we?

I reprint from last email:

Ian: You have lobbed this grenade into my bunker just as I am about to succumb to permanent depression about this energy thing and where it's taking us. When your email arrived I was in the midst of visions of solar panels stretched across all the world's deserts and arid areas, of windmills atop every windy ridge in the country (slicing up birds, to boot), of turbines lining our shores, capturing the energy of the tides, and, and, and...

Be careful of this renewable energy thing; it's dynamite. And no thought will be given the consequences down the road. Consequences? Perish the thought. It's not our way of doing business.


Susan, Feral Cat Volunteer:

Dear Jake, What do you expect from the American Bird Conservancy, a film that has anything good to say about cats living outdoors. I wish the NAP people would look beyond one-sided anti-cat rhetoric and see that the people doing T-N-R in San Francisco are working for the interests of all animals. We are reducing the numbers of cats by spaying and neutering, removing kittens and tame newly dumped strays. The statistics from the Bird Conservancy are often out of date. Where T-N-R has been in place as it has in San Francisco, outdoor cat populations go down. Golden Gate Park used to have a large number of cats, now there are only a few, largely geriatric cats left. Susan, Feral Cat Volunteer

Susan: Don't shoot the messenger. I post items that people send me, evaluate them to the extent I can, and hope to stimulate constructive conversation--which often happens. Are you saying that the Trap, Neuter, Release program is working in San Francisco, counter to what my correspondent's item stated? And how does the public know when it is working and when not? I strive to provide factual information to my newsletter recipients. (I'm not always successful.)

I take exception to your remark about "NAP people". Who are they? If you're talking about the SF Rec-Park Natural Areas Program, they definitely are not guilty of anti-cat rhetoric; they are part of a public agency, and they do not engage in advocacy or rhetoric. Nor do I, nor any of my friends and associates who work as volunteers with the NAP. We all want dialogue, but it needs to be based in fact, otherwise it's pointless.

I certainly didn't think I was shooting anyone, just trying to get out the word. Yes, Trap-Neuter-Return is working brilliantly in San Francisco.Because of it, hundreds of thousands of cats have never been born and when new, unsterilized cats show up, they get fixed as soon as someone can catch them. I have been involved with T-N-R for a long time, and have first-hand experience with cat colonies in a number of areas in San Francisco.Colonies where there are kittens can be reduced dramatically right away. I have heard the American Bird Conservancy's mantra over and over. It is though they are stuck in a time-warp of cats rrunning wild through streets and parks.
As for NAP, the current Environmental Impact Report singles cats out and a few sections need to be changed.

My fondest hope is that both the bird people and the cat people can come together and try to work together, recognizing that both birds and cats are important. Have you heard about Project Bay Cat in Foster City? There is a nature trail where cats had been dumped and had bred. Foster City Officials, the Audubon Society and a very energetic cat lover named Cimeron Morrissey worked together to spay and neuter all the cats, remove kittens and move cat colonies away from nesting birds. It has gotten national attention as a collaboration that has been a win for all sides. I would like to see the same thing in San Francisco which has great spay-neuter resources. Honest collaboration really does work better than demonization-something the Bird Conservancy unhappily does well.

Thanks, Susan. It's nice to have a civilized conversation with people about a topic that is too often divisive and emotional. On this particular item we have opinions that the San Francisco TNR is not working and that it is working. Regardless of what the situation is, it is apparent that you are doing valuable work--and I thank you for it.

In regard to the NAP EIR--cats definitely have an impact, so an EIR cannot ignore the subject. They catch birds and other wildlife, and alter the natural system in various unseen ways. I understand your feeling toward them and your advocacy on their behalf. A working TNR is very helpful in reducing impacts and reducing the number of cats in the wild. But it does not solve the problem nor does it stop the impacts on wildlife. You are focused on this aspect, and I am focused on natural systems, so we have difficulty talking to each other. But talking is important, so let's keep it up for awhile until we start repeating ourselves.

Jeff Miller:

Hi Jake - regarding item #10 on lead ammunition poisoning, Eli sent his comments to me also (as well as a number of other activists on this issue). We are reasonably certain Eli was responding to a NRA alert on this issue and is using NRA talking points to try to counter the information on lead poisonings from ammunition. His arguments have no basis in fact. Here is the response I sent to Eli:


The evidence of lead poisonings of birds and mammals from ingesting lead shot and bullet fragments as well as lead sinkers and fishing tackle is extensive and overwhelming. There is no credible debate about whether this is occurring.

There is an abundance of scientific research showing that lead ammunition is the primary cause of lead toxicology for scavenging birds, and ingestion of lead fishing weights is the primary cause of lead toxicology for ducks, swans, dabbling birds, game birds, etc. and predators of those birds.

Please read these sources:

Proceedings of the Peregrine Fund Conference, Ingestion of Lead from Spent Ammunition: Implications for Wildlife and Humans http://www.peregrinefund.org/Lead_conference/2008PbConf_Proceedings.htm

This review of scientific studies in 2006 found 59 bird species that have so far been documented to have ingested lead or suffered lead poisoning from ammunition sources:

http://www.ventanaws.org/pdf/species_condor_lead/LeadPoisoningStudyFisher_et_al2006.pdf

NPS list of scientific studies:

http://www.nps.gov/pinn/naturescience/leadstudies.htm

Center for Biological Diversity web page on the lead poisoning of condors, which is the leading cause of death for condors and the biggest threat to their recovery:

http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/get_the_lead_out/index.html



10.California Native Plant Society field trip
Saturday 27 June, 1 pm to 4 pm
Fire-follower field trip to Owl and Buckeye Canyons (San Bruno Mountain)
Leaders: Jake Sigg, Doug Allshouse, Joe Cannon

This trip follows our February field trip to the same place to see the progress of recovery from the very hot June 2008 fire. On our February excursion, fortunately, our worst fears--that prolonged, intense heat would root-kill perennial grasses and forbs--did not happen. And late-June should give us more information than was available in late winter. A few of the less-than-common plants: angelica, aster, California hazelnut, tinker's penny (Hypericum anagalloides), thimbleberry, hummingbird sage, blue elderberry, yellow-eyed grass, and one plant of blue witch (Solanum umbelliferum). There were many grasses rushes, and sedges, many of which we were not able to identify in early season. This may be a challenge for those of you who are into these groups of interesting plants.

Please RSVP to Doug Allshouse: dougsr228@comcast.net, 415-584-5114. He will supply directions to meeting place.

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11.
Positive thinking's negative results
Words of wisdom

For some people, optimistic thoughts can do more harm than good

“I CAN pass this exam”, “I am a wonderful person and will find love again” and “I am capable and deserve that pay rise” are phrases that students, the broken-hearted and driven employees may repeat to themselves over and over again in the face of adversity. Self-help books through the ages, including Norman Vincent Peale’s 1952 classic, “The Power of Positive Thinking”, have encouraged people with low self-esteem to make positive self-statements. New research, however, suggests it may do more harm than good.
Getty Images I am important. I am, really

Since the 1960s psychologists have known that people are more accepting of ideas close to their own views and resistant to those that differ. With regard to self-perception, if a person who believes they are reasonably friendly is told that they are extremely gregarious, they will probably accept the idea. But if told they are socially aloof, the idea will most likely be met with resistance and doubt.

...Dr Wood suggests that positive self-statements cause negative moods in people with low self-esteem because they conflict with those people’s views of themselves. When positive self-statements strongly conflict with self-perception, she argues, there is not mere resistance but a reinforcing of self-perception. People who view themselves as unlovable find saying that they are so unbelievable that it strengthens their own negative view rather than reversing it. Given that many readers of self-help books that encourage positive self-statements are likely to suffer from low self-esteem, they may be worse than useless.

Excerpted from The Economist 13.06.09

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12. Voyage of the Dammed
Beaver experts gather to chart a path to a wetter West

...North America had at least 60 million beaver before European settlement...Explorer David Thompson walked across much of the continent about 200 years ago and observed that it was "in the possession of two distinct races of beings, man and the beaver."

Historical trapping records in the Colorado Rockies show "60 to 80 beaver" per mile of stream, says (an analyst). that abundance was repeated across the West.

But after a century of heavy trapping, the nationwide beaver population had shrunk to an estimated 100,000, and the West held just a fraction of that. Beaver have made a comeback from that low point, but there's a long way to go..."People go into the mountains and love to see a meadow and love to see a pond, and so often in the West those were formed by beaver dams.

...a supervisor in the Office of the Columbia River, is intrigued by the way beaver dams can change the timing of water: Spring runoff that normally gooshes away can be slowed, because beaver dams stretch out the release into late summer. But he warns that politicians will only laugh at beavers, unless the benefits of their dams can be scientifically measured...The ecological benefits are becoming clearer: They report exciting discoveries: Beaver ponds provide habitat for over-wintering juvenile steelhead, in much the way they shelter juvenile coho salmon, an endangered species, in coastal Washington and Oregon. And thermal imaging shows that the water temperature drops between 2 and 4 degrees centigrade when Bridge Creek passes through a section with beaver dams. This counters the conventional wisdom that beaver dams raise water temperature and are harmful to fish.

Excerpted from High Country News June 2009

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13. Paradise Lost: Smyrna 1922 - The Destruction of Islam's City of Tolerance, by Giles Milton

Smyrna was one of the Ottoman empire's great mercantile centres. Even during the first world war, it was a place where Turks, Greeks, Jews, Armenians, Levantines and Europeans could live in peace. Though it fell to the Greeks during the bloody conflict Turks call the war of independence, non-Muslims were not unduly fearful when Turkish soldiers recaptured Smynra in 1922. They hoped Ataturk would view this city as an asset to the new republic. Four days later Smyrna was in flames, and a half a million of its inhabitants had fled to the quayside. While Turkish irregulars moved among them, raping and killing, Ataturk sat watching from a friend's villa in the hills. Every Greek child knows this story; that Turkish children hear a santised version cannot be too surprising. But few in Europe know that, though the allied powers had many ships in the harbour, they chose to do nothing. Milton sets the record straight.

Mini-review in Guardian Weekly 05.06.09