May 2008
A New Universal Global Alliance For Biodiversity Protection Established In Bonn
Bonn -Representatives of 191 Parties and over 100 ministers have produced significant new measures to increase the network of protected areas and to negotiate an international set of rules on access to and sharing of the benefits of the rich genetic resources of the world. In so doing, they made a major contribution to the [...]
The Great Oil Swindle?
The Commodity Futures and Trading Commission (CFTC) is investigating trading in oil futures to determine whether the surge in prices to record levels is the result of manipulation or fraud. They might want to take a look at wheat, rice and corn futures while they’re at it. The whole thing is a hoax cooked up [...]
Maui & Hector Dolphin news roundup - plan fails to guarantee species’ survival
The Maui’s and Hector’s Threat Management Plan announced by the Minister of Fisheries today has failed to guarantee the survival of these endangered species, Green Party Conservation Spokesperson Metiria Turei says. “For Maui’s survival to be guaranteed there must not be even one death from human causes, yet the marine mammal sanctuary and set net [...]
Greenpeace claims North Pacific Whale hunt delayed after Japanese whaling crew “ordered to stay at home”
Sydney/Tokyo - According to information received by Greenpeace, Japan’s whaling crew members, who would normally have left port by now for the annual North Pacific hunt, have been told to stay at home. The information comes two weeks after Greenpeace revealed a major scandal of stolen whale meat from the Southern Ocean hunt (1) - [...]
Top Aussie chefs launch major initiative opposing GM foods
Sydney - Over 50 of Australia’s top chefs have united to express their opposition to serving genetically modified (GM) foods in their restaurants by endorsing a GM-Free Chefs Charter, launched by Greenpeace today. The charter was unveiled at Jared Ingersoll’s Danks Street Depot, at a launch attended by chefs from some of Sydney’s top restaurants. [...]
Top U.S. Scientists and Economists Call For Swift, Deep Cuts In Global Warming Pollution
WASHINGTON - More than 1,700 of the nation’s most prominent scientists and economists today released a joint statement calling on policymakers to require immediate, deep reductions in heat-trapping emissions that cause global warming. Issued just days before the Senate begins debate on the Lieberman-Warner climate bill, the statement marks the first time leading U.S. scientists [...]
World’s rarest rhinos make first video trap appearance - then toss camera
JAKARTA–After just a month in operation, specially designed video cameras installed to capture wildlife footage in the jungles of South East Asia have twice recorded remarkable images of a mother and child pair of the world’s rarest rhino. But the success was not without incident as after a short inspection, the rhino mother charged the [...]
Book review: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s culture of deception
The Washington Post is publishing today a revealing preview of the memoir book by former White House press secretary Scott McClellan, titled “What happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception.” The book, released today in the United States by PublicAffairs, reveals how the Bush Administration orchestrated in 2002 a well-planned “political [...]
Uncontacted tribe photographed near Brazil-Peru border
Members of one of the world’s last uncontacted tribes have been spotted and photographed from the air near the Brazil-Peru border. The photos were taken during several flights over one of the remotest parts of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil’s Acre state. ‘We did the overflight to show their houses, to show they are there, [...]
It’s About the Votes, McCain
It’s no secret that Senator McCain has been trying to separate himself from President Bush. And a few weeks ago, Senator McCain spent not one, not two, but three days speechifying about how global warming was a priority for him. It’s certainly a story a lot of folks have fallen in love with — that [...]
Pens And Swords
In an era when American foreign policy has reached the pinnacle of unilateralism by invading other countries pre-emptively, threatening others with nuclear annihilation, and abrogating in doing so many decades if not more than a century of international law development, Marda Dunsky’s book Pens and Swords presents a very strong, well-referenced argument illuminating the bias [...]
American Complicity
The blame cannot be shifted solely onto the shoulders of our political leaders. The American people cannot claim that they were “misled” by their leaders and don’t know the truth. While they were indeed misled, the truth wasn’t long behind the lies. Whether it its the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan, the food crisis, the [...]
What’s Really Driving The High Price Of Oil?
What factors are causing the zooming price of crude oil, gasoline and heating products? What is going to be done about it? Don’t rely on the White House-with Bush and Cheney marinated in oil-or the Congress-which has hearings that grill oil executives who know that nothing is going to happen on Capitol Hill either.
Last week [...]
The Girl Effect Video
Where women are respected and empowered, families and communities are strengthened, citizens are better represented, corruption is reduced, and peace is prioritized. In many countries women have more opportunities for education and stronger rights than ever before. And where discrimination, gender violence, and inequality persist, dynamic women and men are working to change the status [...]
Getting out of the food crisis
While there has been widespread reporting of the riots that have broken out around the world as a result of the global food crisis, little attention has been paid to the way forward. The solution is a radical shift in power away from the international financial institutions and global development agencies, so that small-scale farmers, [...]
Vote in EU poll on biofuels
There’s a poll today on the European Commission website you might like to participate in right now: ” Should the EU stick to its target to reach 10% biofuels by 2020?”
Greenpeace and the environmental movement’s answer is clearly “No”.
Emerging research shows that it is most probably not possible to produce 10% of the [...]
Save an Acre, Stop Climate Change
The Amazon rainforest is often called the lungs of the earth. Every plant and tree that grows there safely stores huge amounts of carbon inside its precious limbs and leaves - keeping CO2 from being released into the atmosphere. Unfortunately every time an acre of tropical forest is cleared, a staggering 113 tons of CO2 spill [...]
Overcoming Nuclear Danger conference at Harvard University
To mark the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, GSI Adviser Mikhail Gorbachev and the World Political Forum, in conjunction with Graham Allison and the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, held an international conference entitled, “Overcoming Nuclear Danger.”
GSI [...]
End All Conditions on Aid
(New York) - Despite welcome and improved access to the Irrawaddy Delta area affected by Cyclone Nargis, the Burmese military government is still using red tape to obstruct some relief efforts when it should accept all aid immediately and unconditionally, Human Rights Watch said today. The government’s response to the humanitarian disaster as primarily a [...]
The World Torpedoes Ocean Fertilization
As the ninth meeting of the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) draws to a close in Bonn, Germany the world’s governments are set to unanimously agree a wide-ranging “de-facto moratorium” on ocean fertilization activities. This first-ever global decision on a geo-engineering technology should spell the end of commercial plans to sequester carbon dioxide by [...]
“Systemic” Human Rights Abuses Dominate Chevron Annual General Meeting, Casting Shadow over CEO and Record Profits
San Ramon, CA – In a dramatic face-to-face showdown at Chevron’s annual general meeting, victims of the company’s grave human rights abuses from three continents today told shareholders and senior executives that the oil major must live up to its corporate rhetoric on human rights and the environment, and also take decisive action to make [...]
OANZ Organic News - The Organic Science of Farming
Following on from the organic sector’s success at National Fieldays last year, where we won the Best Site Award in the Premiere Feature, we are back in force in June, this time tackling the Fieldays’ theme of the “Science of Farming”. Our message this year is one we have been giving to government over the [...]
US National Climate Assessment Finally Released — Scientists: Effects Will Be Deadly, Bush spokesperson: Don’t Worry, Be Happy
In response to a court order obtained by the Center for Biological Diversity, the Bush administration today issued the first-ever national overview of global warming’s likely impacts on human health, ecosystems, and the economy. Dr. Thomas Lovejoy, who chaired the group of scientists that reviewed the report, told the Associated Press, “It basically says the [...]
Anti nuclear demonstrators arrested, one activist remains missing
According to the details received, the Baloch Nationalist Front (BNF) held a demonstration in front of the Karachi Press Club, on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the nuclear detonations by Pakistan during May 1998. The nuclear tests were conducted in Chaghi, Balochistan, and a southern province of the country. Mr. Ghulam Mohammad, chief [...]
Inquiry into Taser-related deaths before any NZ decision
Amnesty International continues to oppose any introduction of Tasers by the New Zealand Police before a thorough and independent inquiry into their uses and effects occurs. Despite calls from NZ First MP Ron Mark to speed up a decision from the Commissioner of Police to introduce stun guns to front line officers, Amnesty International remains [...]
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