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Articles in: Politics
Climate & Change, Politics, Pollution, May 16th, 2012,
Ready for some doom and gloom, alarmist and generally pessimistic news that will either make you want to not care at all (the current favorite option) or join the Dark Mountain Project? Talking about the environment and pretending to be eco-friendly by wearing a ‘Kiss me, I’m Green’ button has apparently not saved the Earth from going to Hell in a proverbial hand basket. Ready for some shocking, but (honestly) to be expected, figures from the new ‘Living Planet’ report compiled by the WWF, the Zoological Society of London and the Global Footprint Network? Let’s get on with the ecocide…
Tags: Living Planet, report, WWF
Climate & Change, Conservation, Politics, May 13th, 2012,
Join Brazilian environmental and human rights organizations, along with the WWF and Greenpeace to stop Brazil’s new ‘forest code’. Sign this petition to urge Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff to veto the proposed law that would open up new areas to deforestation and provide amnesty to landowners who have previously cleared forestland illegally. This new law could result in the destruction of an area of Amazon rainforest equivalent to the size of France and the UK put together. Patrick Cunningham of the Indigenous People’s Cultural Support Trust is quoted in the Guardian: The changes will overturn a law which even Brazil’s…
Tags: amazon, Brazil, Dilma Rousseff, Forest code, petition, veto
Climate & Change, Politics, Science & Technology, May 10th, 2012,
By Michael D. Lemonick It’s just two weeks since a paper in Nature flagged an ominous thinning of ice shelves along parts of the Antarctic coast lying due south of the Pacific Ocean. The ice appears to be melting from below, as changing ocean currents are bringing relatively warm water to bathe the shelves’ undersides — and as the ice shelves lose mass, they also lose their ability to slow land-based ice in its slide toward the sea. Now there’s something new to worry about. A pair of brand-new studies published today, one in Nature and one in its sister…
Tags: Antarctica, climate change, climate science, climatecentral.org, global warming, ice melting
Climate & Change, Politics, Pollution, May 8th, 2012,
The chairman of the UK’s environment agency, Lord Smith, has voiced public support for the controversial natural gas and petroleum technique known as hydraulic fracturing or ‘fracking’ with the argument that it will provide a secure and domestic source of energy. Fracking was linked to minor earthquakes when shale gas extraction was tried in the area around Blackpool, England. There are also concerns about groundwater contamination, methane leaks and the industrialization of the countryside, as has been experienced in large parts of the US, including government protected, publicly owned lands. From The Ecologist: Lord Smith’s backing follows pressure on the…
Tags: fracking, hydraulic fracturing, lord smith, nuclear
Politics, Pollution, May 4th, 2012,
Up to one thousand locations in England and Wales may be contaminated with radioactive waste from military bases and factories. According to a new UK government report, a quarter of these places have been already confirmed to be contaminated. These figures surprised the British people, all the more, because only in December 2011, the Ministry of Defence cleared about 15 landfills of nuclear waste in the entire country. It leads the experts to one of two conclusions: either the authorities hid the real number of contaminated areas, or they did not realise the scale of the problem themselves. “In…
Tags: contamination, nuclear waste, radioactive
Politics, Pollution, Apr 25th, 2012,
Research commissioned by the human rights group Amnesty International found that an oil spill in the Niger Delta was at least 60 times worse than claims made by the oil giant Shell. Royal Dutch Shell is currently being sued over the spill in a London Court by a group of 11,000 Nigerians, including many fishermen of the Bodo region, who claim their livelihoods were destroyed. Though 60 times Shell’s figure, the Amnesty International estimate is still half of what Martyn Day, lawyer for the Bodo communities puts the damage at. From Reuters: The Amnesty accusation is based on footage of…
Tags: amnesty international, bodo, Niger Delta, Nigeria, oil spill, Shell
Conservation, Politics, Wildlife & Flora, Apr 20th, 2012,
The demilitarized zone that makes up the borderlands dividing North and South Korea is an unlikely (and unintentional) wildlife reserve. The DMZ is home to many species that are extinct on the remainder of the Korean peninsula. Full of landmines and guarded by armed soldiers from both the north and south, the area is obviously unwelcoming to human visitors. But this has allowed the forest to grow and wildlife to thrive for nearly 70 years. The rest of Korea is a different story: international competition over the country’s resources and a 40-year Japanese occupation stripped and devastated the peninsula. What…
Tags: DMZ, Korea, wildlife
Climate & Change, Conservation, Politics, Apr 19th, 2012,
Brazil’s controversial Belo Monte Dam project is set to be the 3rd largest dam in the world and is expected to displace roughly 20,000 people and submerge some 4,000 sq km (1,550 sq mi). Located in the Amazon rainforest in the state of Pará, the dam is being built on the Xingu River, which many people depend on for their livelihoods. But it’s not just locals, indigenous groups or environmentalists who should be concerned. The Amazon is the “lungs of the Earth”, meaning that we all benefit from and/or depend on the oxygen the dense rainforest provides, not to mention…
Tags: amazon, Belo Monte, Brazil, dam
Conservation, Politics, Videos & Documentaries, Apr 4th, 2012,
The MST (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Sem Terra), translated as the Landless Workers Movement, is one of the world’s largest social movements. It operates on the principles of social justice, equality, democracy and the right to live on and work the land, a right MST believes is guaranteed by the constitution of Brazil. Brazil’s economy is booming. In 2014 the Latin American giant will host the World Cup and in 2016 the Summer Olympic Games will take place in the iconic city of Rio de Janeiro. Yet despite strong economic growth, Brazil is still home to a shocking inequality, where the…
Tags: Brazil, illegal loggers, Landless Workers Movement, MST
Green Cars, green living, Politics, Science & Technology, Sustainable living, sustainable living, ,
Can higher gas prices actually effect consumer behavior? In many European countries, gas prices are double what we are paying in the U.S. These countries are the closest models we have to compare to see if gas prices were high, if we would lower gasoline consumption and alter our automotive selection for smaller more gas efficient vehicles. Due to high taxes, Europeans have been paying much more for gas for a very long time. Europeans do live differently when it comes to purchasing and owning cars. They are more likely to take public transportation and live in urban areas compared…
Tags: EarthGarage, european cities, european eco-driving, green cars
Politics, Sustainable living, Mar 28th, 2012,
In a country where the ‘troika’ (European Union, International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank) has imposed crippling, draconian austerity measures, the people are finding resourceful ways to survive. Greece is in its fifth year of recession, with unemployment at 21%, medicines in critically short supply and nearly 10% of Athens’ residents using soup kitchens. Last month I posted about some ways Greeks are bypassing conventional economics by bartering and using alternative currencies. But these were generally limited to small communities with no large, echoing effects throughout the country. The potato movement has changed all that. Struck by sharp…
Tags: Greece, Greek, movement, potato
Politics, Pollution, Videos & Documentaries, Mar 23rd, 2012,
A rainbow coalition of indigenous groups and social/political activists recently hit the streets of Quito, the capital of Ecuador, in protest of large-scale mining projects approved by the country’s president Rafael Correa. Correa praised the Chinese mining project, claiming they will bring 50,000 jobs and billions in revenue. Though Correa is popular in Ecuador, the project is facing opposition. Ecuador has already suffered a massive oil spill in the Amazon region, and some 50% of the country is already covered by mining and oil extraction projects. So Ecuadorans are understandably wary of more major mining operations. See the following video…
Tags: Correa, Ecuador, indigenous, mining, oil, park, potash, protest, video, Yorkshire
Conservation, Politics, Mar 21st, 2012,
Justice for Forests, a new report from the World Bank, claims that illegal logging is a $10-15bn (€7.5-11bn) global business. Perhaps the most shocking figure contained in Justice for Forests is that every second forestland the size of a soccer field/football pitch is illegally logged. As much as 90% of all timber felled each year is cut illegally. The report attributes this massive deforestation to organized crime and corrupt officials. A quote from the report (via BBC News): All too often, investigations – in the rare event that they do take place – are amateurish and inconclusive, and the…
Tags: crime, illegal logging, Justice for Forests, Madagascar, report, World Bank
Politics, Sustainable living, Videos & Documentaries, Mar 19th, 2012,
The city of Richmond, California is fighting a local recession with origins that stretch back at least 60 years. For this economically depressed city the answer to the boom and bust style of business that often leaves communities in tatters is a democratic, cooperative model inspired by the Mondragon Corporation, a federation of worker-owned cooperatives in Spain’s Basque region. Richmond was an industrial boomtown during the Second World War, but suffered a harsh economic downturn in the post war years. Unemployment is currently at 17% in the city and crime is high. But cooperatives are offering hope in the form…
Tags: Business, California, cooperative, Mondragon, Richmond, Spain
Climate & Change, Health, Politics, Pollution, Mar 16th, 2012,
Just as the UN published figures that global access to clean water has improved, already surpassing their goals set for 2015, a new OECD report predicts that air pollution is set to become the leading environmental cause of premature death. So the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, whose raison d’être is economic growth, is warning that industrialization, which has worked hand in glove with economic growth and market-based economics, is killing more and more people by polluting the air. Previous UN figures showed that as the Global population increases, more urbanization occurs and the proportion of urban inhabitants without…
Tags: clean water, OECD, Pollution, report, sanitation, UN
Health, Politics, Mar 15th, 2012,
The wealthy countries of the West are exporting processed, unhealthy foods to the developing world – and with dire consequences. The shift towards unhealthy diets – heavy in processed foods, fat, sugar and salt – is not simply a result of an increase in wealth among growing middle classes in the developing world, but a concerted effort by large international corporations to inundate markets with unhealthy, non-locally sourced food. A UN report authored by Olivier de Schutter reveals how this spells economic death for local farmers. The real culprit is globalization, facilitated by international trade agreements. Schutter also cites the…
Tags: developing world, disease, food, globalization, healthy, junk food, Mexico, obesity, rich
Politics, Pollution, Mar 14th, 2012,
The government of Australia, led by Prime Minister Julia Gillard (Labor), recently passed a law called ‘Stronger Futures’, an extension of the previous governments ‘NT Intervention’ laws. Both laws have received criticism because they treat Aboriginal Australians differently then the rest of the country. Stronger Futures has drawn comparisons between Apartheid era South Africa and segregation policies in America’s Southern States before the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. According to the AAP, 27 ‘prominent’ Australians have written a letter to the leaders of the major parties in Australia’s Parliament in protest of the legislation, claiming it violates the Racial…
Tags: Aboriginal, australia, law, Muckati, NT Intervention, nuclear, racist, Stronger Futures
Conservation, Politics, Mar 12th, 2012,
A fast track approach by the US government towards certain renewable energy projects has drawn lawsuits and protests from some Native American groups and environmentalists in California. US President Barack Obama has set a goal of sourcing 80% of the country’s electricity from clean projects, but some of the projects are on lands considered sacred to Native American tribes. Environmental groups are also concerned that the projects could hard sensitive desert ecology. Government officials claim to have consulted tribal organizations and have determined that the works, such as a massive solar energy farm in Blythe, California, will not harm historical…
Tags: California, desert, government, native american, sacred, solar energy
Climate & Change, climate change, Health, Natural disasters, Politics, Mar 8th, 2012,
By Alyson Kenward While the cumulative effects of rising global temperatures have already caused dramatic changes to our planet, those changes often seem distant and it’s hard to put faces to them. But as climate change becomes more disruptive to daily life around the world, it’s more likely than not that the faces of that disruption will be those of women. With the world celebrating International Women’s Day on Thursday, it’s a good time to reflect on just how vulnerable women are to the effects of climate change. If you’re surprised to hear that gender makes a difference, you shouldn’t…
Tags: climatecentral.org, international women's day, Natural Resources Defense Council, women and climate change, world health organization
Climate & Change, Politics, Mar 6th, 2012,
Canada is famous for ice hockey. That, maple syrup and being a nicer, cleaner version of the United States. But real, traditional ice hockey, played outdoors on frozen lakes and ponds, may become a thing of the past due to climate change. Of course, nowadays expensive, energy-consuming technology makes weather obsolete. I mean, even the state of Florida has two ice hockey teams. Winter sports have really taken off in the Sunshine State. But way up north some traditional winter sports are on thin ice, with winter temperatures in some parts of Canada not allowing sufficient ice formation. And climate…
Tags: Alberta, Canada, climate change, greenhouse gas, hockey, ice hockey, tar sands
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