July 2008
Which Renewables?
Life cycle assessments are revealing just how much we can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and save on energy use with different renewable options. The electricity industry currently contributes about 37 percent of the world’s carbon emissions, predominantly from burning fossil fuels while electricity is generated [1]. The best option for reducing carbon emissions is to [...]
Vested interests alter deal– Minister kept in dark
Auckland - Greenpeace NZ has uncovered information confirming the Ministry for Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) kept its minister in the dark over crucial changes to the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Government and the agriculture sector (1). The Ministry is now refusing to release the rationale for the changes, which could mean a bill [...]
Grave Concern over the Deterioration of the Human Rights Situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory
PCHR is gravely concerned over the continuous deterioration in the human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory caused by Palestinian security services in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including attacks against civil society organizations, political arrests campaigns and attacks against journalists. PCHR calls upon the two Palestinian governments in Gaza and Ramallah [...]
10 Facts About Oil and Gas
With gas prices skyrocketing, public transit ridership is at an all time high. Instead of cutting back on public transportation services, we should be reforming our national transportation system to create more affordable travel options for the whole country. Check out our 10 Facts About Oil and Gas to learn more.
96 Percent of the world’s [...]
Indian farmers shun GM for organic solutions
In a half-page feature in The Guardian Society, journalist Sue Branford looks at the stories behind Bt cotton which was billed as a “wonder product” that would solve the serious problems of pests. Branford meets Indian farmers and scientists Abdul Qayum and Kiran Sakhari who assessed Bt cotton’s performance and say that what has been [...]
Mapua Report Shows Systemic Problems With Environmental Protection
The investigation by the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment into the toxin-contaminated site at Mapua, shows a typical example of the cavalier attitude to chemicals, community health and environmental protection by local and central government agencies, according to the Soil & Health Association of NZ. Soil & Health wants an independent environmental monitoring and enforcement [...]
Organic food ‘good for you’ says EU
The European Commission has launched a campaign to inform consumers of the benefits of organic food and support those involved in the ever-growing organic market. The main slogan is: “Organic farming: Good for nature, good for you”. But despite undertones that imply health benefits from organic produce, the European Commission is denying its support for [...]
William Shatner, Sierra Club Fight Global Warming
LOS ANGELES Fresh from his latest EMMY Award nomination, television and film actor William Shatner teams up with Sierra Club to raise awareness of global warming. Shatner is joining with the nation’s oldest, largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization and speaking out for Sierra Club’s 2% Solution Campaign to demonstrate the need to cut [...]
NZ Kiwi Fruit Growers Must Keep it Natural
The New Zealand Kiwi Fruit industry has led the way in positioning itself internationally as ‘GM-free’ and developing successful new varieties like the golden kiwi. It must keep it that way. HortResearch and biotech company Genesis Research and Development Corporation have uncovered the DNA behind the fruit’s colour.
It is vital that such research is applied [...]
IRAN: Growing Threat & DEADLINE Meets Growing Opposition
The threat of a U.S./Israeli attack against Iran is growing - but so is grassroots opposition. What we do in the next few days and weeks can make a difference. In Congress, support is growing for House Resolution 362 and Senate Resolution 580, both of which call for a air, sea, and land blockade of [...]
Keith Olbermann, Crazy Like a FOX?
Chairman Rupert Murdoch of Fox News once said of his former sportscaster Keith Olbermann, “I fired him. He’s crazy.” And when MSNBC’s Senior Vice President Phil Griffin hired Olbermann for his new “Countdown” show in 2003 he agreed “The guy is crazy” but “he is made for this.” According to a revealing profile about Olbermann [...]
Nuclear Reactor revival is NOT ready for prime time
A devastating blow to the much-hyped revival of atomic power has been delivered by an unlikely source—the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The NRC says the “standardized” designs on which the entire premise of returning nuclear power to center stage is based have massive holes in them, and may not be ready for approval for years to [...]
Southern African wetland region to become world’s largest protected freshwater site
An area of the Democratic Republic of Congo containing the largest body of fresh water in Africa has been added to the Ramsar Convention’s list of Wetlands of International Importance, making it the largest region ever to be designated as such. At more than six-and-a-half million hectares, the Ngiri-Tumba-Maingombe area is twice the size of [...]
California Agriculture With a Twist: ‘Carbon-Capture’ Farming
Scientists in California are setting out to create a new kind of agriculture: farming for carbon capture on degraded land in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.The concept works like this: researchers will plant things like cattails and tules (a type of rush that grows in freshwater marshes) in parts of the delta that have been [...]
Serbia: “The Banality of Evil”
What does a war crimes indictee on the lam do in his spare time? Well if your name is Radovan Karadzic, you grow your beard, wear your hair bundled in a ponytail atop your head and become a doctor specialising in alternative medicine. And along the way he found - according to Serbian media - [...]
Pakistan’s New Government Must Reveal Truth about Enforced Disappearances
[Washington, DC]–The new government of Pakistan should immediately reveal details of where hundreds of missing people–victims of enforced disappearances–are being held, investigate all cases and hold to account those responsible, including the country’s security and intelligence agencies, said Amnesty International in a report released today. Hundreds of people who have “disappeared” are detained under counter-terrorism [...]
UFO’s Real and Here - Confirmed by Astronaut Dr. Edgar Mitchell
As UFO researchers and realists are aware, over the past week the most startling of disclosures occurred when Apollo 14 astronaut and sixth man to walk on the surface of the Moon, Dr. Edgar Mitchell, confirmed the UFO phenomenon is a reality and that extraterrestrials have indeed been visiting Earth and interacting with our governments. [...]
Farmers Markets: Think Local as Well as Organic
We often think that farmers markets are a product of our times as they spring up in cities and small towns across the country. Truth is, farmers markets are the traditional way of selling agricultural produce around the world. The really nice aspect of this transaction is that the farmer receives just compensation for his [...]
Neil Young Documents Anti-War Tour In Film
NEW YORK - Not every musician will make a film that features a fan facing him from a concert audience with two arms raised, middle fingers extended - more than one fan, in fact.Neil Young was singing protest songs on a “Freedom of Speech” tour with David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash at the [...]
Austria bans Monsanto’s GE maize
Austria - Austria banned the import of the highly dangerous genetically engineered maize MON 863 today. The maize (corn) is produced by United States agro-chemical giant Monsanto. The announcement was made by Minister of Health and Family, Dr. Andrea Kdolsky, on health safety grounds. MON 863 is genetically engineered to produce a toxin against the cornborer, [...]
Study: biogas from manure could generate energy for millions in the U.S.
Converting livestock manure into a domestic renewable fuel source could generate enough electricity to meet up to three per cent of North America’s entire consumption needs and lead to a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs), according to a paper published today by researchers from the University of Texas at Austin, in the Institute [...]
UK Parliamentary Group: Peak Oil threatens development in poor countries
A group of British MPs, together with two development groups have released a new report showing the potentially catastrophic consequences of the looming peak in world oil production on poor countries. The text warns that decades of progress could be reversed and that the efforts to make poverty history might be in vain. The risk [...]
Climate Camp Is Back
It provoked an absolute storm. CNN’s ticker screamed that Britain was ‘under siege’ from environmental activists. Sky News dubbed it ‘the world’s most organised protest’ and the New Statesman ‘the most important protest of our time’. A band of pioneering environmental activists landed outside Heathrow airport last summer and injected energy and urgency into the [...]
Can Flying Ever Be Green?
Soaring fuel prices and stratospheric carbon emissions bode ill for the aviation industry. Is flying beyond redemption? Mark Anslow tries some blue-sky thinking. The soaring cost of crude oil works in mysterious ways: hard-up hauliers park their rigs along London’s A40, fishermen camp outside Defra with placards and motorcyclists ride noisy go-slows on the M62. [...]
Grassroots Protect Rainforest Shoots
The emergence of rainforest saving initiatives which are intent on action and are already proving successful is refreshing to see. The importance of rainforests in a warming world is common knowledge, yet the painfully slow progress of protective initiatives such as REDD (Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) shows the difficulty such projects have in [...]
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