Home/Posts Tagged ‘France’
Posts Tagged ‘France’
Animal Rights, Animals, Conservation, Nature, Wildlife & Flora, Aug 8th, 2012,
Across the globe it’s once again humans vs. wolves. This timeless battle has changed its face from hunters and farmers simply shooting wolves in order to protect their livestock and assuage their communities’ fears, whether real or imagined. It’s now a confusing mix of laws, politics and technology. Wiped out, endangered, protected species… it doesn’t matter. While humans can’t get enough of their domesticated off-shoots (dogs, incase you don’t catch my drift) many still hate and fear wolves. In the US, where local and national laws often collide confusingly, some wolves in some parts of the State of Washington are…
Tags: France, shepherds, Switzerland, USA, Washington State, wolves
Health, Pollution, Feb 16th, 2012,
A court in Lyon, France found American biotech firm Monsanto guilty of poisoning a farmer who inhaled fumes from its Lasso weed killer back in 2004. Monsanto was made famous in the 1970s for being sued by American Vietnam War veterans who were poisoned by the defoliant Agent Orange. They are also being sued by some 300,000 plaintiffs because they patent genetically modified seeds that don’t proliferate, forcing farmers to buy more every year. Lasso has been banned in Canada and the UK since the 80s and is now banned in France. One year after cereal farmer Paul François accidentally…
Tags: France, herbicide, lasso, Monsanto, pesticide, poison
Pollution, Videos & Documentaries, Dec 19th, 2011,
On Sunday a Russian oil platform capsized between Sakhalin Island and the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Sea of Okhotsk off far eastern Russia. The oil rig, which was manned by 67 people subcontracted by Russian oil giant Gazprom, was being towed during a storm when heavy winds toppled it into the sea. So far Russian authorities have confirmed 16 deaths and a rescue raft with 15 people has been spotted, but it is not known how many on the raft – if any – are alive. According to regional emergency services, the accident poses no environmental threat, since the drilling…
Tags: death, France, fuel, oil, okhotsk, platform, rig, Russia, ship
Health, Pollution, Sep 6th, 2011,
In France, nitrogen fertilizers are being blamed for a proliferation of ‘toxic green algae’ covering beaches in Brittany. Ironically, agricultural pollution in France’s pig farming capital may be resulting in the deaths of wild boars in the region. Most pig farms in Brittany use nitrogen-based fertilizers to grow their pig feed. The green algae, which becomes toxic when it decomposes, has also forced the closure of beaches in Brittany. For more on that story see this video report from France 24. Two animal rights activists in Finland will be put on trial next month for exposing cruelty that occurs legally…
Tags: Brittany, cruelty, Finland, France, hog farm, pig farm, pig farming, USA
Green living, Recycling, Oct 4th, 2010,
In a quaint return to yester-year, 60 towns in France have replaced some of their recycling and rubbish collection trucks with horse-drawn carts. The ambient sound of clip-clopping hooves was surely part of the reason for this change, but the horses are more mobile in some narrow streets than the noisy and cumbersome trucks. Plus, they eat grass instead of fossil fuels and produce fertilizer for any gardener not to proud to scoop some off the street. Though there have been failures and drawbacks to these schemes, but some have been successful. A similar idea with donkeys in Italy, has…
Tags: cart, collection, France, horse-drawn, Recycling, rubbish
Politics, Videos & Documentaries, Sep 27th, 2010,
In Germany, fair trade cafés and fair trade boutiques, known as ‘world shops’ are growing in popularity. There are over 30 world shops in the Berlin-Brandenburg area alone. Fair trade doesn’t just mean coffee or chocolate. There are around 1,000 fair trade products available in the country. Germany’s ‘Fair Trade Week’ highlights the benefits of socially responsible goods, including better wages for producers in poor countries, which in turn means that consumers and businesses must be willing to pay higher prices. FA!R 2010 (September 23-25), a fair trade expo, took place in Dortmund during Fair Trade Week and included some…
Tags: coffee, fair trade, France, German, Germany, goods, UK, world shops
Green living, Videos & Documentaries, Sep 23rd, 2010,
If there’s one thing I’ve learned from my travels on the continent it’s this: Europeans love bubbly water. I’m not sure why, as it tickles the nose and tastes weird. Plus you can’t chug it if you’re really hot and thirsty or you might commit the unforgivable faux pas of belching loudly in a Parisian park. It just so happens that in an attempt to discourage bottled water consumption, the Jardin de Reuilly in Paris has installed a fountain dispensing free chilled carbonated water. In case you didn’t know, the bottled water industry in many developed countries is basically a…
Tags: bottled, bubbly, fountain, France, Jardin de Reuilly, Paris, park, plastic, sparkling, water
Climate Change, Green living, Politics, ,
A three-day forum debating environmental issues will take place on the 24, 25 and 26th this month in the city of Lyon in France. Dubbed The Sustainable Planet: three days of debate, opinion and discussion, forum topics will include nuclear energy, biodiversity, GM food, climate change, politics, food, water and a variety of other subjects relating to European and global environmental questions. The Sustainable Planet forum is being hosted by the UK’s Independent newspaper, France’s Libération and Italy’s la Repubblica and will feature 150 intellectuals, politicians, activists and members of industry. For a list of UK speakers, which includes Britain’s…
Tags: forum, France, Lyon, planet, sustainable, UK
Conservation, Nature, Weird Stuff, Wildlife & Flora, Jul 15th, 2010,
This week’s Creature Feature is about a little flower found in the Mediterranean. This little flower is special because it’s part of the IUCN’s Top 50 Plants Campaign. The campaign’s purpose is to save 50 plant species that face a high level of extinction in the Mediterranean region. The Buglosse Crépu (Anchusa crispa) is a critically endangered species and can only be found in 2 places: the French island of Corsica and the Italian island of Sardinia. Their habitat on both islands is limited to the sandy soils found along the upper part of beaches and covers an area less…
Tags: buglosse crepu, buglosse crepue, Corsica, Creature Feature, critically endangered species, flower, France, Italy, Mediterranean, Sardinia, Top 50 Plants Campaign
Nature, Wildlife & Flora, Jun 21st, 2010,
The meat of wild animals – many of them endangered – is routinely and illegally smuggled into Europe from Africa at an astounding rate, according to scientists. A new, never before attempted study on the smuggling of bushmeat suggest that 5 metric tons (11,550 lbs) are trafficked into Paris airport on flights originating mainly from Cameroon, the Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic. Though some bushmeat is brought back for personal consumption – a ‘taste of home’ – much of it is sold in an open market in Paris for €20-€30 per kilo. Some of the meat is…
Tags: Africa, bushmeat, endangered, Europe, France, meat, Paris, smuggled, smuggling
Climate Change, Videos & Documentaries, Jun 18th, 2010,
Southeast France is battling the worst flooding in 180 years as a result of Tuesday’s heavy rains. Continuing thunderstorms and blackouts have plagued the area and made rescue efforts difficult, but water levels have now begun to subside and today’s improved weather is a blessing for cleanup crews. From a report in the Irish Times: While rescue operations had wound down yesterday, the authorities did not exclude the possibility of further bodies being found as the muddy water receded. According to an article in the Telegraph, the French weather agency Meteo France issued warnings of further heavy rains from potential…
Tags: Draguignan, flooding, floods, France, French, rains, Riviera, Southeast
Climate Change, Politics, May 25th, 2010,
The United States and France have a strange rivalry. American revolutionaries were helped by France and in turn inspired French republicans. One hundred years later, France gave the Statue of Liberty to the US as a centennial gift. Things soured after the World Wars and years of hegemonic struggle vis-à-vis Anglo vs. Franco cultural-linguistic dominance. Huh? In other words, to quote the Dandy Warhols: ‘a long time ago, we used to be friends’. Nowadays anything the French do seems to raise hackles on the back of many red-blooded American necks, at the very least for ‘red state’ Americans. On the…
Tags: American, environment, Europe, Exxon, France, French, offshore, oil, spill, turbine, United States, US, Valdez, wind, windmills
Climate Change, Mar 1st, 2010,
Storms in Europe caused at least 58 deaths over the weekend. Most of the deaths occurred in France, where floods drowned victims and severe winds felled trees and sent debris flying, causing deaths and injuries. Transportation infrastructure has been severely affected and hundreds of thousands have been left without power according to a CNN report. Besides France, the storms battered Spain, Portugal, Belgium, England and Germany, claiming lives in each of these countries. A BBC News story has eyewitness reports from several of the affected sites: Everywhere was flooded. The wind had backed up a high tide which met torrential…
Tags: deaths, Europe, flood, France, storms
Wildlife & Flora, Jan 21st, 2010,
Throughout North America, Europe and Asia, the honey bee has been severely affected by a mysterious ailment, known as Colony Collapse Disorder. This strange disorder has wiped out anywhere between a 33% and 90% of entire hives. Some possible causes of the disorder include: poor nutrition, pesticides, the Nosema ceranae fungal parasite, and the varroa mite. However, honey bees who claim France as their home may soon find a bit of salvation. Nectar-bearing flowers are to be sown along roadsides in an experiment to help the honey bee. The experiment, conducted by the Ministry of Sustainable Development, will last 3…
Tags: Colony Collapse Disorder, experiment, France, honey bees, nectar-bearing flowers, roads
Climate Change, Politics, Dec 31st, 2009,
![]( "<!--:en-->Sarkozy")
' src='http://gf2.statico.be/wp-content/themes/greenfudge/thumbnails/3975.jpg' alt='sarkozys-carbon-tax-ruled-unconstitutional' class='art-teaser' width='95' height='95' /> Even conservatives these days are taking climate change seriously. In Europe, anyway. But right-leaning eco-warriors still face difficulties when they try to get anything done. Yesterday the Guardian reported that a long-standing conservative MP John Gummer is leaving Parliament to ‘focus on international climate change campaign’. I say, well done. And Sarkozy… poor Nicolas Sarkozy, the sometimes comical President of France, member of the center-right UMP and pretender to the Green throne of Europe, suffered a defeat when his carbon tax was unexpectedly ruled unconstitutional by a court in France. Well, perhaps Sarkozy’s carbon tax isn’t all it was cracked…
Tags: carbon tax, court, France, French, Guardian, President, ruled, Sarkozy, unconstitutional
