November 2008
THAILAND: Watershed moment for democracy and rule of law
The takeover of the main international airport in Bangkok by protestors going under the banner of the People’s Alliance for Democracy is a watershed moment for democracy and the rule of law in Thailand. It follows some months of increasingly aggressive strategies to get the current government to resign and to block it from making [...]
Organic News Bytes: Frankenfoods & Fertility, Real Green Transport and More…
Study of the Week:
Pesticide Cocktails Cause 99% Mortality Rate in Frogs
A new study in the journal Oecologia indicates that when pesticides mix in the environment, they form “chemical cocktails” that are more toxic than previously estimated. Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh discovered that when 10 of the world’s most commonly used pesticides combine, as [...]
Ch-Ch-Changes- Lesbian Seagulls And Transgender Crabs
Environmental toxins have given us lesbian seagulls and transgender crabs, but pollutants may also be causing gender ambiguity in humans, says Eric Francis. For all 17 years I’ve been writing about PCBs and dioxins, I’ve been reading about the subtle and not-so-subtle sexual effects of these chemicals and many others related to them. We all [...]
Keep Rocket Fuel Out of Your Water
Drinking water in 35 states and our nation’s capital contains perchlorate, an ingredient in rocket fuel, at levels that could be harmful to human health.
The Bush administration is trying to rush a decision NOT to limit perchlorate rather than heeding the advice of three of their own science advisory committees.
Scientists say perchlorate impacts the thyroid’s [...]
Overwhelming opposition to GE papaya in the USA
Organizations came together with scientists, businesses, organic farmers, bee keepers and others [1] to oppose a U.S. Department of Agriculture proposal to allow the commercialization of genetically engineered (GE) papaya trees in Florida. Over 12,000 people opposed the commercialization while only 17 people submitted statements supporting the commercialization of GE papaya.
The STOP GE Trees Campaign, [...]
New Research Reveals European Land Grab In Developing Countries
Brussels, - New research published today (Friday November 28) reveals that the increasing demand for animal feed and agrofuels in the European Union is resulting in the loss of unique forests, serious climate emissions and rural conflict in developing countries [1]. The EU now uses over 16 million hectares of farmland every year to feed [...]
Israel’s Slow-Motion Genocide In Occupied Palestine
Imagine life under these conditions: Living in limbo under a foreign occupier. Having no self-determination, no right of return, and no power over your daily life. Being in constant fear, economically strangled, and collectively punished. Having your free movement denied by enclosed population centers, closed borders, regular curfews, roadblocks, checkpoints, electric fences, and separation walls. [...]
Bailouts Dwarf Spending on Climate and Poverty Crises
The approximately $4.1 trillion that the United States and Europe have committed to rescue financial firms is 40 times the money they’re spending to fight climate and poverty crises in the developing world. The financial crisis is only one of multiple crises that will affect every country, rich and poor alike.
There’s also the global poverty [...]
Buy Nothing Day Confronts the Economic Meltdown
Now in its 17th year, Buy Nothing Day is celebrated every November by environmentalists, social activists and concerned citizens in over 65 countries around the world. Over the years, Buy Nothing Day (followed by Buy Nothing Christmas) has exploded into a global movement, inspiring the world’s citizens to live more simply and buy a whole [...]
Bush Cannot Pardon a Crime He Authorized
Never before has a president pardoned himself or his subordinates for crimes he authorized. The closest thing to this in U.S. history thus far has been Bush’s commutation of Scooter Libby’s sentence. Bush is widely expected to follow that commutation with a pardon. Not only did Libby work for the White House, but he was [...]
Forget Rio, uranium is BHP Billiton’s major meltdown
The Australian Conservation Foundation will ask the BHP Billiton board to explain to shareholders at today’s AGM why the company has been left highly exposed by making itself dependent on uranium sales to countries with nuclear weapons.
“BHP’s growing involvement in the uranium industry means financial exposure for the company and radiation exposure for communities in [...]
European Leadership Lacking Ahead Of Global Climate Talks
Europe will face major embarrassment at international climate change talks next week if it fails to live up to its commitment to tackle global warming, environment and development groups warned today. The world is looking at how high Europe will set the bar at climate talks in Poznan, Poland, starting on December 1. Its position [...]
EU Risks ‘Climate Time Bomb’ on Biofuels
Brussels, As negotiations over new EU targets for biofuels enter a critical final phase, environment and development campaigners have warned of a ‘climate time bomb’ if so-called ’sustainability criteria’ are not dramatically improved.
The EU’s proposed renewable energy directive (RED) calls for 10 per cent of transport fuel to come from renewable sources by 2020, which will [...]
Financial Collapse: The Fate of Citigroup
On Friday November 21, the world came within a hair’s breadth of the most colossal financial collapse in history according to bankers on the inside of events with whom we have contact. The trigger was the bank which only two years ago was America’s largest, Citigroup. The size of the US Government de facto nationalization [...]
GMO’s in Europe – Greenpeace urges the EU to keep our food safe
1. What is happening on 4 December? On 4 December 2008, EU Environment ministers will take crucial decisions about the future of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). At the heart of the discussion are the measures that will be taken to reform the EU’s authorisation system for GMOs.
GMOs pose an unacceptable risk to our food, to [...]
Greener Electronics – Major companies fail to show leadership
International - The latest edition of our Guide to Greener Electronics has revealed that very few firms are showing true climate leadership. Despite many green claims, major companies like Dell, Microsoft, Lenovo, LG, Samsung and Apple are failing to support the necessary levels of global cuts in emissions and make the absolute cuts in their [...]
Climate change: ambition missing at upcoming U.N. talks
On 1-12 December 2008, the Polish city of Poznan will host crucial United Nations climate talks. The UN reported this week that greenhouse gas emissions in industrialised countries continue to rise, exposing their lack of ambition to seriously address the climate threat. A delegation of Friends of the Earth International - the world’s largest grassroots [...]
National Geographic documentary on terra preta and biochar: solve multiple environmental crises simultaneously
Biochar, or the sequestration of char in nutrient-poor soils to make them more fertile, is gaining interest from a growing number of conservationists, ecologists, climate activists and anthropologists because it is increasingly seen as one of the few realistic ways to tackle multiple environmental and social crises simultaneously: hunger, soil depletion, deforestation and the loss [...]
Refuse to Tolerate Torture - New report details shattered lives of released Guantanamo detainees
This administration did more than commit crimes. It waged war against the law itself. It transformed the Justice Department into a vehicle for voter suppression, and it also summarily dismissed the U.S. attorneys who attempted to investigate its wrongdoing. It issued wartime contracts to substandard vendors with inside connections, and it also defunded efforts to [...]
Take a stand on violence against women on White Ribbon Day
White Ribbon Day is an opportunity to reinforce the message that society does not condone violence against women, says Social Development and Employment Minister Paula Bennett. “We must continue to challenge the attitudes and behaviours that tolerate violence against women.”
Tomorrow is White Ribbon Day and by wearing a white ribbon if offers the chance to [...]
Aussie GE Free True Food Guide
Today Greenpeace launched the 5th edition of the GE Free True Food Guide at Alex Herbert’s Bird, Cow, Fish restaurant in Sydney. We were joined by Australian cooking guru Margaret Fulton and Carolyn Creswell of Carman’s Fine Food. The True Food Guide is your guide to avoiding genetically engineered (GE) foods and is available in a handy [...]
Tell EPA to Regulate Greenhouse Gases Under the Clean Air Act
In response to the landmark Supreme Court ruling Massachusetts v. EPA, a high-profile case brought by the Center and our allies, the Environmental Protection Agency is seeking public input on the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act — a critically important step in solving the climate crisis.
The Clean Air Act is [...]
Dear President Elect Re: Torturers
Dear President-Elect Barack Obama: I am a citizen from Toledo, Ohio, a place you have come to know as where Joe the Plumber lives. Notwithstanding everything advisors are saying to you, I write to urge you with all my heart, mind and soul to criminally prosecute in U.S. domestic courts a small group of U.S. [...]
Toward a Green Deal for Transportation
In early 1942, the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt directed the entire U.S. auto industry to make a sudden and wholesale switch from producing cars to churning out tanks, armored cars, tank engines, and aircraft propellers. Close to 4 million vehicles had rolled off assembly lines the previous year, but emergency wartime priorities brought the [...]
International Antarctic Meeting Falls Short Of Providing Needed Protection To Antarctic Marine Ecosystems Under Threat
The Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) met in
Hobart, Tasmania (Australia) between 27 October and 7 November 2008. In spite of the increasing
evidence that Antarctic marine ecosystems are under increasing pressure from overfishing and climate
change, and that measures are needed to ensure that fishing activities in Antarctica are subject to high
protection [...]
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