Home/Posts Tagged ‘protest’
Posts Tagged ‘protest’
Politics, Pollution, Videos & Documentaries, Jul 30th, 2012,
In response to public safety concerns and a general anti-nuclear sentiment in the wake of last year’s Fukushima power plant disaster, Japan was nuke-free for a couple of months. That ended earlier this month with the controversial restart of two nuclear power plants. On Sunday anti-nuke demonstrators were out in full force, forming a human chain around the parliament complex in Tokyo. Some witnesses expressed that they haven’t seen protests on this scale in Japan since the 1960s. From the Associated Press: Similar demonstrations have been held outside the prime minister’s residence every Friday evening. The crowds have not dwindled,…
Tags: anti-nuclear, protest, rally, Tokyo
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
Politics, Oct 13th, 2011,
A couple of days ago I posted about why the Occupy Wall Street action is Green, quoting various articles by luminaries of both the environmentalist and anti-globalization movements. Besides specific environmental issues being addressed at OWS and other similar protests around the world, the logic is plain: economic and political models based on unrestrained growth, consumerism and unregulated finance and industry are not only unfair and undemocratic, but clearly ecologically disastrous. From dirty tar sands in the North, to dams and deforestation in the South, it’s all connected. Political power in the hands of corporations, rather than people, spells bad…
Tags: Europe, Greece, Ireland, occupy wall street, Portugal, protest, Spain, UK
Climate Change, Politics, Oct 11th, 2011,
(And why it’s just plain right.) The protesters at Occupy Wall Street have been criticized for being a scruffy bunch of hippies with no clear central message. Indeed, if interviewed they usually preface their answers by explaining how their movement is a broad tent: grass roots, without leaders and based on a variety of premises and complaints. In short, there is no one key demand that functions in the way that anti-Vietnam War sentiments galvanized the protest movements of the 1960s. So what. The US is entrenched in two wars, neither, of which have a definitive end in sight. There…
Tags: Climate change, corporations, environment, Green, Left, occupy wall street, political, protest, Right
Conservation, Politics, Sep 27th, 2011,
Plans for a proposed highway that would cut through Bolivia’s Amazon rain forest, linking Brazil to ports in Chile and Peru, have been put on hold following protests by activists and allegations of excessive police force. Indigenous and environmentalist activists are staunchly opposed to the highway’s construction, which is being financed by Brazil and would run through preserved Amazon forest. The rainforest is home to some 15 thousand indigenous Bolivians. About 1,000 protesters were staging a 500km march on the main city La Paz when they were stopped by riot police on Sunday in the Yucumo region. –BBC News The…
Tags: amazon, Bolivia, Brazil, highway, La Paz, Morales, protest, rain forest
Politics, Pollution, Apr 15th, 2011,
Documents accessed under the Freedom of Information Act show BP attempting to influence independent research into the effects of the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Environmental activist group Greenpeace got a hold of incriminating emails and passed them on to the Guardian. Those concerns go far beyond academic interest into the impact of the spill. BP faces billions in fines and penalties, and possible criminal charges arising from the disaster. Its total liability will depend in part on a final account produced by scientists on how much oil entered the gulf from its blown-out well, and the…
Tags: BP, Gulf, Mexico, oil, protest, research, spill
Politics, Mar 25th, 2011,
The UK’s Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government’s plan to cut social programs as part of a decision to reduce spending by £95bn (€108bn) over 5 years will start to take effect in one week’s time. From a piece in the Guardian: Their disappearance may not be noticed by anyone with a good income, in secure employment, in sound health, without caring responsibilities – anyone who does not look to the state for support with life’s problems. For the more vulnerable, the decision to close these bodies and cut these jobs will be sharply felt. They will be more acutely obvious beyond…
Tags: coalition, cuts, DIY UK, government, protest, Saci Lloyd, UK, university fees
Politics, Pollution, Videos & Documentaries, Mar 23rd, 2011,
Fossil fuel giant Shell struck up a deal with Ireland’s outgoing Fianna Fail party to construct an onshore refinery and massive gas pipeline in a remote corner of the country. It was one of Fianna Fail’s final acts in power. Locals, many who work in fishing and farming, have campaigned and protested vigorously against the project for some 10 years. They succeeded in getting Shell to reduce pressure levels in the pipe and route it away from the village of Rossport, but are still dissatisfied because of the undemocratic nature of the project and the fact that the plans will…
Tags: gas, Ireland, pipeline, protest, refinery, Shell, the pipe
Politics, Pollution, Feb 17th, 2011,
Two bits of good eco-news in the UK this week: Despite the fact that these islands are largely going down the tubes as they become more and more a playground for the rich while the rest form a scrum for the crumbs, we have a couple of points of light. First, there will be no massive US-style factory farm in Lincolnshire due to fierce opposition from locals. The giant mega-dairy was feared to be a font of pollution and a harbinger of more factory farms to come. Despite this small victory, there is another plan for a similar farm in…
Tags: Britain, cows, dairy, factory farm, forest, protest, sell off, UK
Climate Change, Politics, Pollution, Oct 2nd, 2010,
Germany’s cabinet has voted to extend nuclear power use in the country by an average of 12 years. According to legislation passed in 2002 by the Social Democratic-Green Party coalition, all nuclear power stations in Germany were to be decommissioned by 2022. Not any more. German Chancellor Angela Merkel of the Christian Democratic Party, which rules as part of a center right coalition, sees the extension as a way to generate tax income, while meeting greenhouse gas emission reduction goals and transitioning to renewable energy sources. But nuclear energy is not popular in Germany and the decision to extend the…
Tags: atomic, energy, extension, German, Germany, Green, Greenpeace, Merkel, nuclear, power, protest
Conservation, Nature, Politics, Weird Stuff, Wildlife & Flora, Sep 4th, 2010,
This week marked the beginning of the annual Dolphin hunt in Taiji, Japan. Taiji is where the award-winning documentary, The Cove, was filmed. Approximately 20,000 Dolphins are brutally slaughtered in a tiny cove there every year. This year, the Dolphins were herded inside the cove, as usual. A number of them were selected for captivity/training purposes. Then, the bloodbath would begin, but not this time. This time, all of the remaining Dolphins were set free! Could this mean a turn for the better, or are the hunters simply biding their time until the protesters leave? Yes, in case you haven’t…
Tags: activists, Blood Dolphins, Conservation, documentary, dolphin hunt, dolphin slaughter, dolphins, dolphins set free, japan, petition, protest, Taiji, The Cove
Climate Change, Politics, Aug 26th, 2010,
The activists at the recent Climate Camp in Scotland have stirred up controversy and debate, at least in the little corner of the media that pays attention to climate change activism. After a day of ‘climate action’ on Monday, during which several windows were broken at Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) headquarters in Edinburgh, 12 Climate Camp protesters were arrested. A group of Climate Camp protesters intentionally broke the law. One of them, Dan Glass, explains their motivation in a comment piece for the Guardian entitled ‘Yes, we broke the law as climate change activists. And this is why’. Glass…
Tags: action, activism, change, climate, climate camp, Edinburgh, Kingsnorth, law, protest, RBS, Scotland
Conservation, Politics, ,
Environmental activists have been fighting to save Russia’s Khimki forest from plans to build a federal highway through it. On Sunday a rock concert in protest of the highway plans was held in Moscow, attracting some 2,000 people. Police prevented sound equipment from entering the concert area, but well-known Russian rock singer and political critic Yuri Shevchuk performed songs without amplification. From an AFP article: While the demonstration on Pushkin Square against the construction of the road had been sanctioned by the Moscow authorities, they had explicitly banned the holding of a concert. The protest combined environmental activism, anti-government sentiment…
Tags: activist, concert, forest, highway, Khimki, Moscow, protest, Pushkin, rock, Shevchuk, square
Climate Change, Politics, Aug 23rd, 2010,
Climate change activists stepped up their game and held a rash of demonstrations in Edinburgh, Scotland today. Members of the activist group Climate Camp have been set up outside the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) global headquarters in Edinburgh since last week in order to protest the bank’s financing of the fossil fuel industry. But today has seen a sudden increase in protest activity, with separate actions also taking place at Forth Energy in Leith, Edinburgh and at Cairn Energy in the city’s financial district as well as at other RBS locations. From a report in The Herald Scotland: A…
Tags: activists, bank, Cairn, camp, change, climate, Edinburgh, energy, Forth, molasses, protest, RBS, Scotland, superglue
Climate Change, Politics, Aug 22nd, 2010,
In a bit of ‘News of the Weird’ meets environmental activism, a protester glued herself to a desk in the Royal Band of Scotland’s headquarters on Friday. Hundreds of activists have been holding a Climate Camp outside of RBS headquarters, near Edinburgh Scotland in protest of the bank’s loans to fossil fuel companies, thereby facilitating climate change or ‘climate chaos’. From a Press Association report: The activist managed to enter RBS by dressing like a businessperson – as opposed to an eco warrior – and thereafter glued her hands to a desk with super-glue. She was arrested after paramedics helped…
Tags: activist, bank, camp, change, chaos, climate, glue, headquarters, protest, protester, RBS, Royal, Scotland
Conservation, Pollution, Jul 27th, 2010,
Mining giant Vedanta Resources will be having its annual shareholders meeting on Wednesday in London, where the company is headquartered. But this year, shareholders will be met by a well-publicized protest. Activist groups including Amnesty International have consistently criticized Vedanta for human rights violations and poor environmental practices, particularly in the Indian state of Orissa. From an article in the Observer: […] a damning Amnesty report criticised Vedanta’s record in Orissa, where it runs an alumina refinery at the foot of the Niyamgiri hills, alleging river pollution and damage to crops. The hills are home to around 8,000 Dongria Kondh…
Tags: activist, Amnesty, Avatar, Dongria, India, international, Kondh, london, Na’vi, Niyamgiri, Orissa, protest, shareholders, Vedanta
Politics, Videos & Documentaries, Weird Stuff, Jun 29th, 2010,
In a bold statement against arts institutions co-operating with unethical companies, a group of activists poured molasses and threw feathers onto the steps to the entrance of the Tate Britain art gallery in London on Monday. The activist-artists, calling themselves ‘The Good Crude Britannia’ appeared during a protest outside the BP-sponsored Tate Britain summer party, which commemorated 20 years of BP’s support for the Tate. They were clad in black and carrying buckets of molasses emblazoned with the BP logo, which they emptied over the stone entrance to the Tate, stunning partygoers and causing cameras to flash. The act was…
Tags: activists, BP, Britain, entrance, molasses, oil, party, protest, spill, Tate
Politics, Pollution, Videos & Documentaries, Jun 27th, 2010,
On Saturday a national protest against offshore drilling took place on America’s beaches. The protest, called Hands Across the Sand, harkens back to the mid 80s phenomenon known as Hands Across America, which I took part in, but can’t quite remember what it was about. A quick Google search has reminded me that it was to feed starving people in Africa and was part of the whole USA for Africa campaign that included the ‘We Are the World’ single. Sorry, I was just a kid at the time and it was like 25 years ago. Anyway, Hands Across the Sand…
Tags: BP, deep, drilling, Hands Across the Sand, judge, offshore, oil, protest, stocks, water
Climate Change, Politics, Weird Stuff, Jun 15th, 2010,
Greenpeace activists broke into Sweden’s Forsmark nuclear power plant on Monday, demanding parliament vote against the construction of new nuclear facilities. Currently, Sweden has 10 nuclear reactors at 3 power stations and last year they reversed a decision to phase out nuclear power. Parliament is supposed to vote Thursday on whether or not to expand their nuclear facilities. The activists managed to get into the plant by scaling a fence, while others came by way of an inflatable boat in a nearby river. None of them posed any threat to the plant’s operations, nor did they resist arrest (for breaking…
Tags: arrest, break-in, decision, Forsmark, Greenpeace, nuclear power, parliament, plant, protest, Sweden, vote
Nature, Wildlife & Flora, Apr 3rd, 2010,
There are many options when it comes to dealing with the issue of whaling. Some will take the political or legal route. Others may steal a package of whale meat, do some detective work at a sushi restaurant, or become involved in the chaos at sea. While all of these acts have their own point and purpose, sometimes there is never any as daring or dedicated as that of a protest. Yesterday, Greenpeace activists chained themselves to a ship’s mooring ropes to stop the shipping of whale meat from the Netherlands to Japan. Located in Rotterdam, the protesters believed the…
Tags: Greenpeace, japan, Netherlands, protest, whale meat
