by | 2014-09-04 · 16:00

DeSmog Blog UK now in business!

Our friends at DeSmog Blog, Clearing the PR Pollution that Clouds Climate Science, have just opened a new UK operation concentrating on European engagement on climate issues in the months leading up to the 2015  UN Paris COP 21 Conference. This is just the newest addition to the DeSmog Blog’s warmly welcomed international reach. logo_uk_1 One of the principle objectives is to fight the fog of climate denial through tactics that include exposing individuals and organizations attacking real solutions. this is a welcome addition to the international tool-kit that many organizations including the Global Justice Ecology Project are building to demand system change!

DeSmog UK Launches To Combat Climate Denial in Europe Ahead of Paris Climate Talks

A welcome message from DeSmogBlog executive director Brendan DeMelle.

We’re pleased to introduce DeSmog UK, a brand new investigative journalism and research outlet dedicated to clearing the PR pollution that clouds climate science and exposing the individuals and organizations attacking solutions to global warming. The newest addition to the international DeSmog network, DeSmog UK seeks to expose the same fossil fuel industry funded attacks on science and democracy that its colleagues at DeSmogBlog and DeSmog Canada investigate every day. DeSmog UK has appointed as Editor the intrepid British journalist Brendan Montague, who has spent the past three years examining climate denial and the origins of the think tanks and front groups that have waged war on climate science and policy solutions to global warming. A small number of individuals and organizations have crafted a polluter-friendly echo chamber to confuse the public about the scientific consensus on global warming.

Read the whole piece here. In addition DeSmog UK has created a “primer” series “Introductory Guide to DeSmog UK“– some really good work! Congratulations to DeSmog Blog!

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Filed under Climate Change, Corporate Globalization, Media

by | 2014-09-02 · 09:30

Nature Journal Covers GE Trees Public Hearing in Brazil

10373502_10152872411982166_525909789707396872_nOn September 4th, the Brazilian biosafety commission will hold a public hearing on GE trees. Stay tuned for more news on that hearing later this week!

Nature recently ran this story by Heidi Ledford about the hearing and Suzano’s push to plant GE eucalyptus tree plantations in Brazil.

The article includes a lot of very good information about where we are at, including quotes from an interview with Anne Petermann. It’s great that media, particularly institutions like Nature, are finally paying attention!

That said, Ledford does not push back enough against industry’s claims about the potential benefits and safety of genetically engineered trees. We can, though! The fact remains that thorough and independent risk assessments have been done. In fact, trees are so complex, as Steven Strauss notes in the article, that scientists don’t even know what questions to ask.

For a more detailed description of the risks and concerns of these GE Eucalyptus trees, read the open letters to the Brazilian biosafety commission here:

Brazil Considers Transgenic Trees
By Heidi Ledford, August 27, 2014. Nature

 

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Filed under GE Trees, South America

by | 2014-09-01 · 09:29

Labor Day Special: Chris Hedges calls out the Climate March

Chris Hedges posted a new piece at Truthdig yesterday, “The last Gasp of the Climate Change Liberals.” Besides getting directly to the point of the critiques associated with the September 21 Climate March, he gives a little love to Climate Connections founder and Global Justice Ecology Project’s Executive Director, Anne Petermann. This is a most important piece. Please read it.

Thanks Chris!

June 25, 2013, President Barack Obama wipes perspiration from his face as he speaks about climate change at Georgetown University in Washington. Courtesy truthdig-AP Photo/Charles Dharpak

June 25, 2013, President Barack Obama wipes perspiration from his face as he speaks about climate change at Georgetown University in Washington. Courtesy TruthDig-AP Photo/Charles Dharpak

 

The Last Gasp of Climate Change Liberals
By Chris Hedges, Truthdig. August 31, 2014.

The upcoming climate change march in New York is the last gasp of conventional liberalism. The time for reform and accommodation has ended. We will build a radical movement or be extinguished in a climate inferno.

The climate change march in New York on Sept. 21, expected to draw as many as 200,000 people, is one of the last gasps of conventional liberalism’s response to the climate crisis. It will take place two days before the actual gathering of world leaders in New York called by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to discuss the November 2015 U.N. Climate Conference in Paris. The marchers will dutifully follow the route laid down by the New York City police. They will leave Columbus Circle, on West 59th Street and Eighth Avenue, at 11:30 a.m. on a Sunday and conclude on 11th Avenue between West 34th and 38th streets. No one will reach the United Nations, which is located on the other side of Manhattan, on the East River beyond First Avenue—at least legally. There will be no speeches. There is no list of demands. It will be a climate-themed street fair.

Read the Full Article Here

Click here to read Anne Peterman’s August 14, 2014 Climate Connections post, “The Need for Clear Connections at the People’s Climate March.”  

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Filed under Actions / Protest, Bioenergy / Agrofuels, Climate Change, Climate Justice, Energy, Events, False Solutions to Climate Change, Green Economy, Greenwashing, Independent Media, Media, Political Repression, Posts from Anne Petermann, Rights, Resilience, and Restoration, Tar Sands, Uncategorized

by | 2014-08-28 · 16:00

Detroiters’ cannot afford their own water as shutoffs to poor people resume

Is access to clean water a human right?”  Many people and activists think-so.  In 2010 the United Nations General Assembly declared that nearly 900 million people do not have access to clean water and that 2.6 billion do not have access to sanitation.  The General Assembly passed a resolution saying that clean and safe drinking water is a human right.

photo_cropped_1

Early this summer the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) started turning water off in poor Detroit neighborhoods because of lack of payments.

According to the DWSD- nearly half of the residences in Detroit are behind on their water bills.  Reports indicate that more than 17,000 Detroit households have already been disconnected. The cost of water in Detroit is amongst the highest in the country.  This despite that Detroit is located near the western end of Lake Erie which makes up part of the Great Lakes which hold 20% of the fresh surface water on the entire globe. Who owns that water?

In a July 21 article in Common Dreams,  Detroit Protesters Win Temporary Reprive from Water Shut-offs,  author Sara Lazare stated Many residents of this majority black city suspect that the disconnections are part of a larger plan, backed by emergency manager Kevyn Orr, to privatize the DWSD and, ultimately, displace poor communities of color to make way for gentrification.

Activists in Detroit think that this economic strategy violates human rights and have brought the Detroit water shutoffs to the attention of the United Nations. In June a panel of UN experts agreed.  This led to a brief halt in the turnoffs.

Now, the month-long shutoff moratorium in Detroit has ended and the water turn-offs have resumed.

 

Photo: Detroit Water Brigade

Photo: Detroit Water Brigade

 Despite Calls for Humanity, Detroit Resumes Water Shutoffs

Lauren McCauley                                   Common Dreams

 

Citizen advocates warn that the “whole world is watching” as city cuts off water to thousands of most impoverished residents 

 

Despite widespread public outcry and international condemnation, the city of Detroit on Tuesday resumed shutting off the water supply to thousands of city residents.

Ending the month long moratorium on shutoffs, Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) public affairs specialist Gregory Eno confirmed to Common Dreams that the city turned off the water to roughly 400 households that are delinquent on their water bills and have not yet set up a payment plan. More shutoffs are expected.

According to the citizens group Detroit Water Brigade, the only thing that changed since shutoffs began in March is that the city has lowered the required down payment water bills from 30% to 10%. “The water is still too expensive for Detroit,” they said. Detroit is one of the poorest cities in the United States with over 38% of the population living below the poverty line, according to Census Bureau statistics.

Read the Whole Common Dreams Article Here

 

For More Resources  On This Issue

Earth Minute:  Detroit’s Water Crisis  by Global Justice Ecology Project’s  Executive Director Anne Petermann   June 26, 2014

Website: Detroit Water Brigade  Fight to keep the water flowing with Detroit Residents and Activists

Article: Detroit Water Crisis, A Prelude to the Privatization of Water   Detroit Water Brigade

 

 

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Filed under Uncategorized

by | 2014-08-22 · 14:00

Earth Watch: Michele Roberts on environmental racism and fence-line communities

Listen to Michele Roberts, national co-coordinator for Environmental Justice and Health Alliance for Chemical Policy Reform and a co-author of the new report, Who’s in Danger: Race, Poverty and Chemical Disasters.

Earth Watch is coordinated by GJEP in partnership with KPFK. 

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Filed under Earth Radio, Earth Watch, Pollution, Uncategorized

by | · 12:00

Earth Minute on Russia’s Repression of Eco-Activists

Global Justice Ecology Project partners with KPFK Pacifica’s Sojourner Truth show on weekly Earth Minutes and Earth Watch interviews.  GJEP ED Anne Petermann writes and records the weekly Earth Minutes.

Transcript:

On July 21st, the Russian government accused EcoDefense, one of the oldest environmental groups in Russia, of being a “foreign agent,” effectively criminalizing their environmental and social justice work.  I have long been familiar with the important work of EcoDefense, since meeting them at a meeting they hosted in Kaliningrad in 1995.

The motivations for Russia’s repressive move is likely due to the effective campaigns of EcoDefense since even before the collapse of the Soviet Union, when EcoDefense was occupying smoke stacks to protest polluting industries.   The accusation against EcoDefense comes now likely due to their campaign against a Baltic nuclear plant under construction near Kaliningrad.

Friends of the Earth France has demanded Russia drop their persecution of EcoDefense, pointing out that protesting nuclear power is a democratic right.

They want Russia to remove Ecodefense from the “foreign agent” roster, repeal the related “foreign agent” law, and to respect the civil and democratic rights of Russian citizens advocating for social and environmental justice.

For the Earth Minute and the Sojourner Truth show, this is Anne Petermann from Global Justice Ecology Project.

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Filed under Actions / Protest, Earth Minute, Earth Radio, Nuclear power, Political Repression, Uncategorized

by | 2014-08-20 · 14:00

An Activist and Photojournalist’s Thoughts on Ferguson, MO

Orin Langelle, director of Langelle Photography, a project of the Global Justice Ecology Project, has been shooting images from the front lines of international social and climate justice events and protests for decades. As a concerned photographer and Missouri native, he is especially moved by the riots, protests and police brutality erupting in Ferguson, MO. The situation reminds him of a demonstration at the National Governors’ Association Conference in Burlington, VT, in 1995.

Two protesters are arrested attempting to blockade President Bill Clinton’s motorcade during the National Governors’ Association Conference in Burlington, VT in 1995. They were protesting to draw attention to the impending execution of political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal.

Two protesters are arrested attempting to blockade President Bill Clinton’s motorcade during the National Governors’ Association Conference in Burlington, VT in 1995. They were protesting to draw attention to the impending execution of political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal.

Langelle will soon open a new gallery, ¡Buen Vivir! in Buffalo, NY, featuring images he has taken from the front lines of the fight against social and environmental injustice. Read his original post here.

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Filed under Actions / Protest, Media, Photo Essays by Orin Langelle

by | 2014-08-16 · 12:00

Earth Watch: Rachel Avery and Dan Kellar talk about Tar Sands, Blockades, and Direct Action

Dam Line 9 shot posted on their Tumblr.

Dam Line 9 shot posted on their Tumblr.

Earth Watch: Listen to Rachel Avery and Dan Kellar from the Dam Line 9 protest on this week’s Sojourner Truth.

Earth Watch is coordinated by GJEP in partnership with KPFK. 

 

 

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Filed under Actions / Protest, Climate Justice, Earth Radio, Earth Watch, Uncategorized