by | May 19, 2013 · 10:00 am

Ed Everts Obituary: An Extraordinary Life Well Lived

Source: The Burlington Free Press, May 17, 2013

EDWARD ALOYSIUS EVERTS – CHARLOTTE - Ed Everts’ long, wonderful, adventure-filled life of nearly 94 years, came to a close on May 10, 2013, in the Vermont Respite House with his wife, Raven, by his side.

Born in Berkeley, Calf., on June 12, 1919, Ed grew up in and around southern California and Hawaii. He graduated with a B.S. in chemistry from UC Berkeley in 1940, and was drafted shortly afterwards to serve in W.W.II. Trained at UCLA as a meteorologist, he served in the Army Air Corps in the Pacific theatre as a weather officer.

Returning from a data gathering flight over Japan, Ed narrowly escaped losing his life when the plane crashed at sea. He spent three days adrift with the rest of the crew before being rescued and sent home to the states. He remained in the Air Force Reserve until 1964, retiring as a Lt. Colonel.


Ed worked in a wide variety of jobs from chemistry to TV production and Hollywood movies and commercials, to his favorite position as president of a local meat packers union where he helped lead a long and successful strike. Throughout his life he remained a strong believer in the importance of workers’ rights and solidarity.


In the early 1960s, Ed decided it was time to see more of the world and he set off on a three and a half year odyssey to hitchhike around it. He met his soul mate and future wife, Raven, in Tokyo in 1965.


Ed went back to school to earn a law degree from Boston College in 1970. After a two year driving/camping trip around Africa and Europe, Ed and Raven decided, in 1973, to settle in Charlotte, where they, along with longtime English friends, Paul and Marie Thorogood, among many others, built a passive solar octagon home under the skilled direction of master builder Cal Schneider. The closeknit community that developed over the following years was a great source of love, laughter, and support.


Ed devoted the second half of his life to turning swords into ploughshares working for justice and peace through the Peace and Justice Center in Burlington, the VT chapter of the American Friends Service Committee and the local Veteran’s for Peace, Chapter 57. He produced over 660 hour-long shows for the Peace and Justice Review on Vermont Community Access Media’s Channel 15, and was awarded one of their outstanding producer awards.


In 2006, he was runner-up for United Ways’ Hometown Hero Award. In 2007, he received the first Peace and Justice award (named in his honor) from the Burlington Peace and Justice Center.


Interspersed with their activism, Ed and Raven continued to explore the world, driving a VW bus with four others from Vermont to Tierra del Fuego and back in 1975-76, plus visiting all 50 U.S. states, and all seven continents.


Ed’s love of the natural world led him to co-found the Birds of Vermont Museum in Huntington, and the Nature Conservancy’s Raven Ridge Reserve in Charlotte/Hinesburg/Monkton.


Besides his wife of 45 years, Raven Deborah Davis, and his many good friends and neighbors, Ed will be greatly missed by his sons, Anthony Everts, Eric Kirsch (Francine), and Michael Lopez, all of southern California, and Randall Everts (Dolores) of Hawaii; grandchildren, Alexis and Jasper Kirsch, Scott Everts and Ashley Kahrs; brothers and sisters-in-law, Stephen and Suzanne Davis, and Jeffrey and Gail Davis; nephews, Scott, Christopher, and Eric Davis, of Connecticut; and his deceased sister Johanna’s son, Eric Stone of California. Ed’s family wishes to thank his longtime physician, Richard “Bunky” Bernstien and the staff at the Charlotte Family Health Center, the hospice program of the Visiting Nurse Association and the VT Respite House for their tender and supportive care.


A celebration of Ed’s life will be held Saturday, June 29, 2013, at 2 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Society, 152 Pearl St., Burlington. Online condolences may be sent to www.gregorycremation.com. Memorial contributions in Ed’s honor may be made to the Peace and Justice Center, 60 Lake St., #1C, Burlington, VT 05401; or the Birds of Vermont Museum, 900 Sherman Hollow Road, Huntington, VT 05462.

Leave a Comment

Filed under Climate Change

Tagged as , ,

by | · 9:21 am

US Military ‘power grab’ goes into effect

Note: More wonderfulness under the watchful eye of Obama…

-The GJEP Team

By Jed Morey, May 14, 2013.  Source: Long Island Press

U.S. Troops in Afghanistan Photo: Senior Airman Sean Martin, U.S. Air Force

U.S. Troops in Afghanistan Photo: Senior Airman Sean Martin, U.S. Air Force

The manhunt for the Boston Marathon bombing suspects offered the nation a window into the stunning military-style capabilities of our local law enforcement agencies. For the past 30 years, police departments throughout the United States have benefitted from the government’s largesse in the form of military weaponry and training, incentives offered in the ongoing “War on Drugs.” For the average citizen watching events such as the intense pursuit of the Tsarnaev brothers on television, it would be difficult to discern between fully outfitted police SWAT teams and the military.

The lines blurred even further Monday as a new dynamic was introduced to the militarization of domestic law enforcement. By making a few subtle changes to a regulation in the U.S. Code titled “Defense Support of Civilian Law Enforcement Agencies” the military has quietly granted itself the ability to police the streets without obtaining prior local or state consent, upending a precedent that has been in place for more than two centuries.

Click here to read the new rule

The most objectionable aspect of the regulatory change is the inclusion of vague language that permits military intervention in the event of “civil disturbances.” According to the rule:

Federal military commanders have the authority, in extraordinary emergency circumstances where prior authorization by the President is impossible and duly constituted local authorities are unable to control the situation, to engage temporarily in activities that are necessary to quell large-scale, unexpected civil disturbances.

Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under Politics, Political Repression, War

Tagged as , , , , , ,

by | May 18, 2013 · 9:02 am

Obama administration caves to fracking industry in new proposed rules

Note: While these newly proposed rules allow the fracking industry to essentially regulate itself, McFeeley’s analysis falls short at the end.  While we certainly “deserve better than rules that risk our most treasured places, our environment, and our health,” the health of land and communities won’t be protected without an outright ban on fracking.  No regulations will ever make a process that blasts a highly toxic chemical cocktail thousands of feet below the surface of the earth, despoiling millions of gallons of water along the way.

-The GJEP Team

By Matt McFeeley, May 16, 2013. Source: Switchboard

This afternoon, the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released new proposed rules to govern fracking on publicly owned lands managed by the federal government. This includes wild places like National Forests and National Wildlife Refuges. But it also includes places that supply drinking water to millions of Americans – from larger municipal supplies like that of Washington, D.C., to private water wells (in cases where the federal government owns rights to the minerals below the surface of a homeowners’ property).

The new proposed rules are a significant step backwards even from the weak proposal the Administration released in May of 2012, and, if enacted, will allow fracking to continue to pose unacceptable risks to the environment and public health.

The new proposal is weaker than the previous proposal in a number of ways:

Continue reading →

Leave a Comment

Filed under Ending the Era of Extreme Energy, Energy, False Solutions to Climate Change, Hydrofracking

Tagged as , , ,

by | May 17, 2013 · 3:00 pm

Video: Deutsche Bank and IFC accused of bankrolling land grabs in Laos, Cambodia

Note: Watch the video here

-The GJEP Team

By Kate Hodal, May 13, 2013. Source: The Guardian

sawmill

Two Vietnamese firms bankrolled by Deutsche Bank and the International Finance Corporation – the World Bank’s private lending arm – are leading a wave of land grabs in Cambodia and Laos, causing widespread evictions, illegal logging and food insecurity, according to a report.

The study, concluding a year-long investigation by the watchdog Global Witness, names two of Vietnam’s biggest companies, the privately owned Huang Anh Gia Lai (HAGL) and state-owned Vietnam Rubber Group (VRG), as the businesses behind the land grabs. It claims they are working with the explicit support of the Cambodian and Laotian governments, who have authorised the land developments.

“We’ve known for some time that corrupt politicians in Cambodia and Laos are orchestrating the land-grabbing crisis that is doing so much damage in the region,” said Megan MacInnes, head of Global Witness’s land team, in a statement. “This report completes the picture by exposing the pivotal role of Vietnam’s rubber barons and their financiers, Deutsche Bank and the IFC.”

Global Witness researched land deals between the two governments and the firms, and found that HAGL and VRG had together been handed more than 200,000 hectares (nearly 500,000 acres) of land, including protected forest with rosewood, in which to grow rubber.
Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under Corporate Globalization, Food Sovereignty, Forests, Forests and Climate Change, Illegal logging, Indigenous Peoples, Industrial agriculture, Land Grabs, World Bank

Tagged as , , , , , ,

by | · 1:00 pm

Could NAFTA force Keystone XL on US?

Note: Global Justice Ecology Project has always maintained that the only solution to prevent runaway climate chaos is to confront the root causes of the problem.  Economic domination and the spread of neoliberalism, through free-trade agreements like NAFTA, are the driving forces preventing real solutions to climate change.  These agreements, and the institutions like the WTO and World Bank that support them, have us in a chokehold of the entrenched powers of the global economic elite.  GJEP has witnessed this dynamic of top-down control first hand, from the local level all the way to the halls of the UN climate negotiations.  Until we cast away the chains of free trade agreements and the neoliberal doctrine, our communities will continue to suffer, pipelines or not.

-The GJEP Team

By Farron Cousins, May 13, 2013. Source: DeSmog Blog

keystone-xlAs the public anxiously awaits the U.S. State Department’s final decision on the fate of the Keystone XL Pipeline, the discussion has largely ignored the elephant in the room: the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA.)

Thanks to NAFTA, signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1994, the State Department will likely be able to do little more than stall the pipeline’s construction. In its simplest form, NAFTA removes barriers for North American countries wishing to do business in or through other North American countries, including environmental barriers. The goal of the agreement was to promote intra-continental commerce and help the economies of all involved in the agreement.

Before diving into NAFTA, it’s important to take a look at what the State Department and the media have done so far in regards to Keystone XL. Before she left office and was replaced by John Kerry, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s ties to the project were almost too many to count. Most notable was the fact that many of her former staffers and associates were lobbyists for Keystone, and they had a direct line into both Clinton and President Obama.

It is likely a result of these connections that the State Department’s environmental assessments were strikingly flawed and inadequate.  As the NRDC pointed out, many of the so-called “standards” that the State Department put in place regarding the pipeline were simple “smoke and mirror” schemes to distract the public, and they failed to do their due diligence by considering alternative paths for the pipeline. Furthermore, climate impacts from operation and construction were almost completely ignored.
Continue reading →

Leave a Comment

Filed under Climate Change, Climate Justice, Corporate Globalization, Ending the Era of Extreme Energy, Oil, Tar Sands

Tagged as , , , ,

by | · 11:00 am

Profits vs. disaster in Arctic meltdown

By Stephen Leahy, May 16, 2013. Source: Inter Press Service

Hubbard glacier in Seward, Alaska. Photo: Bigstock

Hubbard glacier in Seward, Alaska. Photo: Bigstock

Many eyes are turning north to the Arctic, some in horror at the rapid decline of a key component of our life support system, others in eager anticipation at the untapped resources beneath the vanishing snow and ice.

“I’ve worked in the north for 21 years and the scale and speed of change up there is astonishing,” said Douglas Clark of the University of Saskatchewan.

“These changes, taken as whole, and reflected in our report, keep me awake at night,” Clark told IPS.

Rapid and even abrupt changes are occurring on multiple fronts across the Arctic, according to the Arctic Resilience Report (ARR).

And what happens in the Arctic does not stay in the Arctic.

“It’s the first international report to tell the world to buckle up, we’re on a wild roller coaster ride and we don’t know what’s coming,” he said.
Continue reading →

Leave a Comment

Filed under Climate Change, Corporate Globalization, Independent Media, Oceans, Oil, Water

Tagged as , , , , ,

by | · 9:13 am

E.U. considers emissions fines on Chinese and Indian airlines

Note: As the failing EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) continues its slow, agonizing death, the EU Commission is scrambling to save it…by penalizing China and India for non-compliance.  The EU ETS is the model emissions trading scheme, and the model shows that carbon markets don’t work.  The EU ETS has been plagued by fraud and mismanagement of permits, as the article below points out:  ”The system was established eight years ago, initially to cover heavy industry in Europe, but it has lately been on the verge of collapse. That is in large part because the weak European economy has somewhat curtailed emissions- producing activity, weakening demand for the permits.”

Thats right:  The cap-and-trade carbon market doesn’t work to lower emissions.  In large part, this is because a shrinking industrial economy (less factories, less energy produced and consumed) is more effective than a market-based approach aimed to keep the polluting industries in business.  Gee, imagine that!

-The GJEP Team

By James Kanter, May 16, 2013. Source: NY Times

Photo: Wang Zhao/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Photo: Wang Zhao/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

The European Commission said Thursday that Air China and Air India were among 10 Chinese and Indian airlines facing the prospect of fines and exclusion from airports in the European Union for refusing to comply with rules aimed at regulating greenhouse emissions.

The carriers are accused of not providing emissions data, as required by the European rules, and not participating in a permit system that entitles airlines to emit greenhouse gases in European airspace.

The volume of carbon dioxide that the European Commission said the 10 carriers emitted through their jet engines in Europe last year was comparable to the emissions from burning about 130 rail cars of coal.

The commission said the eight Chinese carriers could face fines totaling €2.4 million, or $3 million, and the two Indian airlines face total fines of €30,000.

Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under Carbon Trading, Climate Change, False Solutions to Climate Change, REDD

Tagged as , , , , ,

by | May 16, 2013 · 3:00 pm

GMOs: Fooling – er, “feeding” – the world for 20 years

Note: Stand up for Native Forests!  Stop Genetically Engineered Trees!

In addition to controlling the world’s food supply, the evildoers in the biotech industry intend on planting billions of Genetically Engineered trees across the US South and internationally in toxic monoculture plantations.  And they’re meeting this month in Asheville, NC.

Join Global Justice Ecology Project, the Campaign to STOP GE Trees, Earth First!, and others in Asheville from May 26-June 1, for a week of action to confront ArborGen, FuturaGene and other tree biotech evildoers.  Join the protests or donate to support an activist here:www.treebiotech2013.org

-The GJEP Team

May 15 2013. Source: GRAIN

Defending seeds and biodiversity. No to GMOs. Photo: GRAIN

Defending seeds and biodiversity. No to GMOs. Photo: GRAIN

Myths and outright lies about the alleged benefits of genetically engineered crops (GE crops or GMOs) persist only because the multinationals that profit from them have put so much effort into spreading them around.

They want you to believe that GMOs will feed the world; that they are more productive; that they will eliminate the use of agrichemicals; that they can coexist with other crops, and that they are perfectly safe for humans and the environment.

False in every case, and in this article we’ll show how easy it is to debunk these myths. All it takes is a dispassionate, objective look at twenty years of commercial GE planting and the research that supposedly backs it up. The conclusion is clear: GMOs are part of the problem, not part of the solution.

An article by GRAIN, published in Soberania Alimentaria, numero 13.

MYTH: GE crops will end world hunger. Continue reading →

Leave a Comment

Filed under Biodiversity, Climate Change, Commodification of Life, Corporate Globalization, Food Sovereignty, Genetic Engineering, Industrial agriculture

Tagged as , ,

by | · 12:32 pm

Uninvited and unwelcome: First Nation asks Enbridge to leave territory following botched consultation

May 16 2013. Source: Market Wired

20100525-GITAGitga’at First Nation reminds Enbridge that Northern Gateway pipeline and oil tanker project is not welcome in Gitga’at territory

HARTLEY BAY, BRITISH COLUMBIA - The Gitga’at First Nation has instructed Enbridge to leave its territory after the company and a team of oil spill response surveyors showed-up uninvited, during the nation’s annual food harvesting camp, a time of rich cultural activity and knowledge sharing.

Enbridge representatives were instructed to leave Gitga’at council chambers and Gitga’at territory, Wednesday morning, after councillors voiced their displeasure at not being consulted on an Enbridge oil spill response survey.

The dust-up comes on the eve of final oral arguments before the Joint Review Panel, which is reviewing the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline.

“Despite an ongoing review process, Enbridge has entered our territory and begun project work before their proposed oil tanker and pipeline project has even been approved,” said Arnold Clifton, Chief Councillor of the Gitga’at First Nation. “This is disrespectful to the Gitga’at First Nation, the review process, and the people of British Columbia, who oppose oil tankers in our coastal waters.” Continue reading →

1 Comment

Filed under Climate Change, Climate Justice, Corporate Globalization, Ending the Era of Extreme Energy, Energy, Indigenous Peoples, Oil, Tar Sands

Tagged as , , ,

by | · 11:23 am

Interface: Anticolonial and postcolonial movements

Note:  Aziz Choudry, one of the editors and a contributor for this journal, is a good friend of Global Justice Ecology Project, and a member of the GJEP Board of Directors.

-The GJEP Team

Source: Interface Journal

Issue-5-1-outlinedVolume five, issue one of Interface, a peer-reviewed online journal produced and refereed by social movement practitioners and engaged movement researchers, is now out, on the special theme “Struggles, strategies and analysis of anticolonial and postcolonial social movements”. Interface is open-access (free), global and multilingual. Our overall aim is to “learn from each other’s struggles”: to develop a dialogue between practitioners and researchers, but also between different social movements, intellectual traditions and national or regional contexts.

Like all issues of Interface, this issue is free and open-access. You can download articles individually or a complete PDF of the issue (7.44 MB). Please note that you can also subscribe (free) on the right-hand side of the webpage to get email notification each time a new issue or call for papers is out. This issue of Interface includes 388 pages and 21 pieces, by authors writing from / about Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, India, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, the UK and the US among other countries. Continue reading →

Leave a Comment

Filed under Climate Change

Tagged as ,