June 2008
Iranians Float an Offer the West Should Not Refuse
If there were any substance to Condi Rice’s repeated assertions, that the strife over Iran’s nuclear program could, and preferably should, be solved through diplomatic means, then one would expect the U.S. Secretary of State to seize on recent offers made by Iranian figures, designed to facilitate the start of talks. Although widely ignored in [...]
Genetic Engineering News from GM Watch UK
The month of June saw the Rome food summit, BIO’s grand business convention in San Diego, and a continuing escalation in the campaign by the biotech industry and its corporate and political supporters to exploit the food crisis. But at the same time as the BIO bash was under way in the States, people from [...]
Dairyman wants super-quality raw milk in retail stores
Jerry Snyder has spent two years asking milk experts what standards it takes to produce the highest-quality fluid milk around. His 50-cow, grass-based herd is showing what’s possible when cow health and meticulous care come together. There are many fronts in the raw-milk wars being waged across the United States. Here in Pennsylvania, we had [...]
Earthrace eco-boat smashes round-the-world speed record by 13 days, 21 hours and 9 minutes
Sagunto, Spain: Earthrace, the world’s fastest eco-boat, has smashed the world speed record for a powerboat to circumnavigate the globe, completing the 24,000 km journey in just 60 days, 23 hours and 49 minutes. The boat crossed the finish line in Sagunto at 14:24hrs CET on Friday 27 June and completed the journey using 100% [...]
Endosulfan: An appalling ‘proposed’ insecticide decision by ERMA
A gender bender (endocrine disruptor) insecticide banned in 55 countries with residues found in Antarctica, breast milk and New Zealand tomatoes looks set to have continued use in New Zealand following an ERMA reassessment. Three New Zealand NGOs that have been fighting to get endosulfan banned in New Zealand for nearly a decade are appalled [...]
To be a human without caste – part 2
How dare a Dalit run a ration shop? The government reserved the licensing of a ration distribution shop at my hometown to be allotted to the member of a Dalit community member in 1988. My father who merely finished 4th standard at the school with the help of my uncle filled the application form to [...]
The Global Voices Citizen Media Summit 2008
Global Voices convenes a yearly Summit which brings together the members of the Global Voices project and its wider community with a diverse group of bloggers, technologists, journalists and other interested persons, to share information on developments in citizen media spearheaded by and of direct relevance to people outside North America and Western Europe. he [...]
Ending 10 000 Years of Conflict between Agriculture and Nature
Humans now directly manage 27 percent of the Earth’s surface area, harvesting more than 40 percent of the planet’s biological productivity for our own uses. Yet food production per person is on the decline, and agriculture worldwide is doing more than ever to worsen the global ecological crisis. Like the Hindu god Shiva, today’s agriculture [...]
Tim Russert, Dick Cheney, and 9/11
While we are remembering Tim Russert and his years as moderator of “Meet the Press,” we would do well to recall his interview with Vice President Dick Cheney at Camp David on September 16, 2001, just five days after the 9/11 attacks.1 In fact, Cheney himself, during an interview with NBC”s Matt Lauer the morning [...]
Flags of convenience fly in face of fisheries protection
Maritime security and the future of fisheries are coming under increasing threat from vessels flying flags of convenience (FOC), a UN conference on the Law of the Sea was told. Real and Present Danger: Flag State Failure and Maritime Security and Safety, a joint WWF and International Transport Workers’ Federation study, found ships under flags [...]
Homeopathy, The Art Of Healing
Homeopathy is the essence of the art of healing. When homeopathy is well practiced, it is the medicine of choice to recover one’s health from the great majority of acute and chronic problems. Homeopathy is a scientific method of treatment that is based on the application of the law of similars. For thousands of years, [...]
Help Mister Splashy Pants rescue the Tokyo Two
Aomori, Japan - Mister Splashy Pants just heard that two of his Greenpeace pals have been arrested. He, too, is amazed that they’ve been locked up for exposing the truth — and he’s going to do something about it. Are you? Two Greenpeace activists expose an embezzlement scandal involving whale meat which is costing Japanese [...]
Getting Out Of The Food Crisis - Grain Newsletter
One of the few benefits of the current food crisis is that it is focusing attention on the way food reaches some of the most disadvantaged people in the world. As we show in our editorial, much of the blame for the remarkable increase in food prices over the last year can be attributed to [...]
Healthy Cleaners In A Changing World (or: How Bad Could it Be? — I Bought it at the Supermarket.)
The other day I noticed that Oprah.com had a feature on going green. No crunchy Birkenstocks for Oprah, no: instead this was the “gorgeously green lifestyle checklist.” It had a long list — change your light bulbs, use healthy cosmetics, eat organic — but my favorite part was the end. It had a checklist for [...]
NZ Big business’ desperation over ETS shameful
Auckland - Big polluting business’ desperate last ditch attempt to halt the emission trading scheme is shameful says Greenpeace. An open letter signed by 14 industry representatives has gone to all MPs urging them not to back the scheme. “This is the same kind of scaremongering and short-term, one-track thinking we’ve seen from big business [...]
Australia’s Energy [R]evolution arrives on board the Esperanza
Sydney - Greenpeace’s largest and fastest vessel, the Esperanza, will arrive in Sydney this morning, beginning a two-month, 2300 km-long voyage along Australia’s east coast to call for urgent action on climate change. Greenpeace Australia Pacific chief executive Steve Shallhorn said the epic ship tour came at the most crucial time in Australia’s fight against [...]
Bush Administration, Biotech Industry, Agribusiness Overstate Genetically Engineered Crops’ Potential
WASHINGTON - A number of recent news stories on soaring food prices worldwide have uncritically cited unsubstantiated claims that genetically engineered crops are the solution to the problem. In fact, according to experts at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), there is no evidence that currently available genetically engineered crops strengthen drought tolerance or reduce [...]
Iran Not Pursuing Nukes, But U.S. Will Attack Before ‘09 :Scott Ritter
In 2002, Scott Ritter, the former Chief United Nations Weapons Inspector In Iraq, publicly accused the Bush administration of lying to Congress and the public about assertions that Iraq was hiding a chemical and biological weapons arsenal. By speaking out publicly, Ritter emerged as one of the most prominent whistleblowers since Daniel Ellsberg leaked the [...]
African Leaders Should Reject Zimbabwe’s Elections
The African Union should not endorse Zimbabwe’s sham presidential runoff election on June 27, Human Rights Watch said today. African Union leaders should intervene to bring an immediate end to massive state-sponsored human rights abuses and enable democratic reform. The runoff was a farce from the beginning. African leaders should declare it null and void [...]
Urgent Appeal for action on behalf of human rights defenders in Colombia
The case we are asking you to take action on this week concerns death threats made against a number of non-governmental organisations, all members of the Espacio de Trabajadores y Trabajadoras de Derechos Humanos (ETTDH – Human Rights Workers’ Coalition), allegedly sent by the paramilitary group, the “Águilas Negras (Black Eagles)”.
Action by members of the [...]
McCain Caught On Tape
This week after touting his misguided plan for offshore planning while visiting the site of one of the nation’s worst environmental catastrophes — the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill — McCain had a major YouTube moment that showed his rank hypocrisy when it comes to nuclear energy. The Arizona Senator is a major proponent of [...]
Ciao FAO: Another “Failure-as-Usual” Food Summit
Contrary to the opinion of many, June’s Food Summit actually did something. It signaled the beginning of the end for the multilateral system as we know it. Over the next six months the food emergency - and the international institutions designed to address it - could get worse. The full text offers a line-by-line interpretation [...]
NZ ETS Rules Prejudge Level of Corporate Welfare Required
Eight of the companies set to qualify for corporate welfare under the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) are together likely to receive $1.4 billion or more over the next decade.These subsides are to be set in legislation before New Zealand has even found out what additional emission cuts it will need to take responsibility for after [...]
Pedersen’s parting shot: NZ’ders should pay even more for food
Auckland, New Zealand - At a time when New Zealanders are already struggling with soaring food prices, outgoing President of Federated Farmers Charlie Pedersen is calling for them to fork out even more to pay for the agriculture sector’s emissions.
Pedersen is calling for a “green tax” - or a charge on all food at the [...]
Rape in War: Will the United Nations Walk Its Talk?
On June 19, 2008, the United Nations Security Council made history by declaring that rape in war is such a bad idea they plan to do something about it. That’s right. After decades of reports on vicious sexual violence in conflicts across the globe, the highest decision-making body of the United Nations has decided that [...]
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