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In this Post :
1. REFUSE Citi!
Earth week of Action April 22-26th
2. ECUADOR/OCP
Treesit Update and
3. EMPOWERING DEMOCRACY CONFERENCE
spotlights
Citigroup! Sign Up! Volunteer! Come Protest
Citi
Shareholder's meeting in NYC!
* * * * * *
#1
Global
warming *** Predatory Lending *** Corporate
Globalization *** Forest Destruction *** Attacking
Indigenous Rights *** Global Destruction ***
STOP CITIGROUP EARTHWEEK ACTIONS
EARTHWEEK
REDUCE, RESUE, RECYCLE, REFUSE “TO DO
BUSINESS WITH
CITI! : APRIL 22nd – 26th
HELLO CITI-STOPPERS:
With Earthweek coming up on April
22nd – 26th 2002,
it’s time to add the
fourth “R” to Earthweek’s
triple “R” demand - Reduce,
Reuse, Recycle and REFUSE!
Refuse to do
business with Citigroup! Refuse to let
Citi
use your money to fund global warming and global
forest
destruction. Citizens and communities concerned
with
our global environmental crisis have tremendous
power
over mega-banks like Citi.. Recently, Dutch bank
ABN-Amro’s decision to refuse funding for resource
extraction related investments within pristine forests
set a precedent for banks to finally take
responsibility in their investment
practices.
With the pressure heating
up, Citi knows that the
public will not accept excuses
for funding global
warming and the subsequent
destruction of our planet.
Mass species extinction,
submersion of countries due to
rising sea levels, and
the spread of diseases are the
result of our deadly
fossil fuel addiction. As the
largest financial
institution in the world and the #1
financier of fossil
fuel projects, Citi determines
what
gets funding and what does not. As a financial
powerhouse, the world’s largest bank must take
responsibility for its actions. Citi must stop
profiting from this deadly industry and begin financing
clean alternatives, such as solar and
wind. Citi’s
destructive practices span
across the globe, fueled by
its profits from the fossil
fuel industry..
With the Middle East becoming
increasingly unstable,
Citi has turned its investments
to the Amazon, fueling
an oil boom in pristine
rainforest ecosystems and on
sacred indigenous lands.
Citi has chosen to act as
financial advisor for the
deadly Camisea project. A
gas pipeline
cutting its way through the Lower
Urumbamba region of
the Peruvian Amazon, this project
is
jeopardizing pristine ecosystems and indigenous
cultures who choose to live in voluntary isolation
rather than have their traditional way of life
threatened. This region is one of the most
biologically diverse areas in the world. 800
species
of birds and trees will be affected by the
construction. The very survival of two
indigenous
tribes is highly jeopardized by this project
that has
already proven deadly for the Nahua
peoples. During
preliminary exploration in
the Camisea region, the
Nahua were exposed to whooping
cough and influenza
epidemics that killed off an
estimated 50 percent of
the tribe’s population.Illegal
road construction has
already begun, paving the way for
further profits at
the expense of innocent
lives.
Citi’s
destruction can be traced from redlining and
predatory
lending, indebting people of color in our
inner cities,
to participating in the OCP / Ecuador
pipeline where
activists have put their bodies on the
line to save
their treasured forests. From Citigroup’s
partnership
with Enron in the contested Dabhol power
plant in India to profiting from global warming,
Citigroup lives up to its reputation as the World’s
Most Destructive Bank. On Earth Day, send a
strong
message that now is the time to REFUSE Citi, and
tell
them“Not with My Money!”Use the solidarity of the
Earth
Day celebrations in your community to Reduce,
Reuse,
Recycle and Refuse to do business with
Citigroup!
The power is in the Public! Close your
Citibank
accounts. Cut up your Citibank
credit cards and save a
Citi customer! Talk to folks,
let them know that their
money is being used to fund
the world’s most
destructive bank. Do a Protest at a
Citibank, Salomon
Smith and Barney, Traveller’s
Insurance, Citifinancial
or a Primerica and send a
message that Citi must rule
in favor of human rights
and environmental justice
instead of shortsighted
corporate greed. Organize an
action on April
22nd 2002 or any day that week. Travel
to any number of
actions in the major cities around the
US being
organized. It’s a week of actions to stop
Citi’s
selling of the planet.
LET’S STOP CITI FROM FINANCING FOSSIL FUELS
AND TELL THEM TO FINANCE CLEAN ENERGY! TELL CITI’S
FUNDING OF DESTRUCTION
“NOT WITH
MY MONEY, CITI”
For more info
contact Matt Prescott with SEAC in
Philadelphia at
IMPULSE275@aol.com 215-222-4711
Emma Kelty, at Grinnell College,
Des Moines,
<mailto:ftp@grinnell.edu>.
Mark Von Topel with Powershift
in DC at
mark.vontopel@shiftpower.org
<mailto:mark.vontopel@shiftpower.org>
(202) 299-9096,
Sabrina Alonso
and Sasha Baxter at at Rainforest Action
Network in San
Francisco at
sabrina@ran.org <mailto:sabrina@ran.org>
415-398-4404
ext 309
For more info on the Citi campaign go to
http://www.ran.org or
www.shiftpower.org
JOIN THE CAMPAIGN FOR A SANE ECONOMY - a low-density,
announcement-only list serve about the campaign to
transform the global financial system by targeting
Citigroup, the world’s most destructive bank.
TO SUBSCRIBE send a blank email to
stopciti-updates-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
* * * *
#2
ECUADOR : ACTIVISTS REMAIN IN TREES. OCP’S
ENVIRONMENTAL PERMIT’S POSSIBLE REINSTATEMENT ENDANGERS
TREESITTERS!
(check www.ran.org and www.amazonwatch.org for pictures
and updates)
On March 6, Ecuador's environmental ministry
temporarily revoked OCP's environmental license for the
Mindo region until environmental damage done during
construction of the pipeline right of way has been
repaired. The suspension comes just hours after the
government reached an agreement with Amazonian
communities of the Sucumbios and Orellana provinces who
had paralyzed commerce in the region and brought oil
production to a near stand still over OCP construction
and long over looked social and economic conditions in
the impoverished region.
According to OCP, they expect to have the environmental
permit reinstated within the next two weeks and then
plan to restart construction in the Mindo Nambillo
Protected Forest. The consortium also expects to begin
preliminary work on the ridgeline of Guarumos within
the next few weeks, where tree sitters celebrated their
75th day blockading the pipeline's passage. Local
activists report that the base of the mountain, one of
the access routes for supplies to the tree sitters is
now controlled 24hrs a day by a handful of Ecuadorian
military soldiers.
Please send an email or fax to the Ministry of the
Government of the Republic of Ecuador, Marcelo Merlo.
Spanish is best but any language will do.
Let the government of Ecuador know that the tree sit
and encampment at Mindo has international support!
EMAIL :Dr. Marcelo Merlo Jaramillo
Ministro de Gobierno y Policia
despacho@mingovierno.gov.ec
FAX: 593
2 2 583 356
Also cc the
Subsecretaria de Policia:
subpol@mingobierno.gov.ed
Let him know that OCP’S permit
should not be reinstated
and we are watching this
eviction, and the police
conduct and treatment of
activists, from around the
world.
* * * *
#3
EMPOWERING DEMOCRACY CONFERENCE spotlights
Citigroup!
Sign Up! Volunteer! Protest the Citi
Shareholder’s
meeting!
EMPOWERING DEMOCRACY: CHALLENGING CORPORATE POWER AND
DEMANDING ACCOUNTABILITY CONFERENCE
The second annual skills training for corporate
campaigners, a project of the Corporate Campaign
Working Group- environmental, human rights and labor
organizations working together to challenge corporate
power and demand
accountability.
April 13-15, 2002, New York City
From Enron to Exxon, Dow to Dupont,
Citigroup to
Chevron, corporations are growing more
powerful than
governments, violating human rights,
decimating our
environment, and destroying cultures
worldwide. Join
the nation's most successful corporate
campaigners in a
three day conference and skills share
on how to run and
win corporate campaigns! Examine not
only how to
leverage power against corporations, but
also how to
join in a growing global movement
challenging corporate
power.
Speakers include:
Randy Hayes,
Rainforest Action Network
Lori Wallach, Global Trade
Watch
Carlos Beas Torres, UCIZON
Kevin Danaher, Global Exchange
Theresa Amato, CitizenWorks
Lladen
Tethong, Students for a Free Tibet
Charlie Cray,
Multinational Monitor
Lucas Benitez, Coalition of
Immokalee Workers
Kathy Mulvey, Infact
Florence Robinson, Cancer Alley activist
Susana Almanza, PODER
and
more.......
Skills trainings in:
Researching Corporations
Influencing a Corporate Board
Direct
Action
Legal Tools to Take on Corporations
Corporate Citizenship
Culture
Jamming
Shareholder Activism
Globalization
Divestment
Grassroots Power
...and more...
To Apply or for more information,
check
www.empoweringcemocracy.org. Some scholarships may
be
available. Apply fast –limited spaces are
available.
The conference needs
volunteers!If you would like to
come, but are on a
budget, you can get the fee waived
by dedicating a some
time and working with and meeting
phenomenal activists
from around the world! For info on
volunteering contact:
Molly@larosa-ranch.com
Stay
after the conference to use your newly acquired
skills
at a day of action against The World’s Most
Destructive
Bank, Citigroup! From predatory lending in
our inner
cities to predatory investments in fossil
fuels and
mining in the earth’s endangered ecosystems,
Citigroup
profits from environmental and social
devestation. Stand together with a broad
coalition of
groups and tell Citi “Not with My Money!”
No longer
will we tolerate our credit card balances and
savings
accounts going towards fossil fuel projects in
the
Amazon Basin, logging endangered orangutan habitat
in
Indonesia, and stramming economically disadvantaged
people through predatory lending and international
debt. Citi is the world’s largest financial
institution and directly contributes to global warming,
the erosion of democracy through political bribery and
architecting global trade agreements. Have a presence
at the annual shareholder meeting the day after the
conference and let the Citigroup Board, shareholders,
and executives know that we demand an ecolological sane
economy!
* The Corporate Campaign Working Group is a
coalition
of Campaign ExxonMobil, AFL-CIO, CERES, Power
Shift, Co-
op America, Corporate Campaign, Global
Exchange,
Infact, ICCR, RAN, Texas Sustainable Energy
and
Economic Development (SEED) Coalition, STARC,
Tri-State
Coalition for Responsible Investment,
CorpWatch,
Friends of the Earth, US PIRG, Action for
Community and
Ecology, Free the Planet!, Health Care
Without Harm,
Institute for a Sustainable Future, PODER,
Strategic
Counsel on Corporate Accountability,
ForestEthics and
Students for Economic and
Environmental Justice.
If you are already a WWF Conservation Action Network member,
see below
for how to take action. If you
received this email from a friend,
please visit the
Conservation Action Network Web site at
http://takeaction.worldwildlife.org/ to take action on
this issue.
Federal environmental
education programs are facing a serious threat.
President Bush is proposing that next year's budget abolish
the
Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) long
standing and highly
successful environmental education
initiative and move the function of
environmental
education to the National Science Foundation (NSF).
EPA currently awards more than 200
grants each year to schools, nature
centers, museums,
and other institutions. Its overhead is lean and
its impact is great, reaching 50,000 to 100,000 educators a
year. The
program meets the highest standards
for educational rigor and
adherence to scientific
accuracy.
Moving the program to
NSF could severely weaken our nation's
environmental
education. With such a transfer, it is likely there
will be far fewer awards and they will be made primarily to
higher
education institutions. The awards
would also be mostly focused on
science, eliminating the
important multidisciplinary approach of EPA's
program.
PLEASE FOLLOW THE SIMPLE STEPS
BELOW TO SEND A FREE MESSAGE URGING
YOUR CONGRESSIONAL
REPRESENTATIVES TO OPPOSE THE TRANSFER.
**********************TAKE ACTION NOW!****************
To send the message below, as is, to
your congressional
representatives, hit "reply" to this
email and then "send." We will
automatically
send the messages for you. However, we urge you to
greatly increase your impact by adding your own thoughts to
your
message. Personalizing your message only
takes a minute; see below
for details.
ADD YOUR OWN THOUGHTS AND INCREASE
YOUR IMPACT
Log in
to your Personal Action Center
(http://takeaction.worldwildlife.org/login.asp) with
your email
address and your password. (If you
have
forgotten your password, follow the instructions on
the log-in page to
have a new password emailed to you.)
Once you are in your Personal
Action Center, click on "Environmental
Education
Programs At Risk" and follow the instructions for adding
your own thoughts to your messages.
Please forward this alert to your
friends and colleagues.
*********************LETTER TEXT******************
Dear (your senators' and
representative's names will be inserted
here):
I am greatly concerned about the
environmental literacy of our nation.
Therefore, in your
personal request to the VA, HUD, and Independent
Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee, I urge you to oppose
the plan to
abolish environmental education at the
Environmental Protection Agency
and to move the function
of environmental education to the National
Science
Foundation. Instead, I believe the federal function for
environmental education should remain at EPA with an
increase in
funding beyond its current $7.3 million
level.
Moving environmental
education out of EPA would be a major setback.
EPA has built a highly effective and popular
interdisciplinary program
that trains and educates young
people, educators, business, and the
public to
understand and grapple with the environmental challenges of
today and tomorrow. At NSF, the program would be
narrowed, shifted
from its multidisciplinary approach to
more of a science program, and
would lose its access to
EPA's wealth of environmental knowledge and
"real world"
perspective.
I strongly support
the current Congressional mandate for a strong,
interdisciplinary environmental education program housed at
EPA.
Environmental education creates an
informed citizenry that has the
knowledge and skills to
understand complex environmental issues and
make
responsible decisions. By supporting environmental education, we
are ensuring that our country will be able to sustainably
manage our
valuable natural resources and compete in a
global economy.
Please do all
you can to guarantee that federal environmental
education efforts remain strong.
Sincerely,
Your name and address
will be
inserted here
______________________________________________________________________
Direct any questions about the WWF Conservation Action
Network to
actionquestions@takeaction.worldwildlife.org
______________________________________________________________________
The Conservation Action Network is sponsored by World
Wildlife Fund-
US. Known worldwide by its
panda logo, WWF is dedicated to
protecting the world's
wildlife and the rich biological diversity
that we all
need to survive. The leading privately supported
international conservation organization in the world, WWF
has
sponsored more than 2,000 projects in 116 countries
and has more than
1 million members in the United
States. WWF calls on everyone --
government,
industry, and individuals -- to take responsibility by
taking action to save our living planet.
World Wildlife Fund
1250 Twenty-fourth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20037
http://www.worldwildlife.org
http://takeaction.worldwildlife.org
ALASKA WILDERNESS - COSPONSOR DRIVE SURGES AHEAD
The Alaska Rainforest Conservation
Act (H.R. 2908), introduced in September 2001 by Reps. Rosa DeLauro (D - CT) and
Connie Morella (R - MD), continues to draw new co-sponsors. Currently
109 members of Congress have signed on to this historic bi-partisan legislation,
which would protect over 14 million acres of threatened lands in the Tongass and
Chugach National Forests in Southern Alaska. As threats surface daily
of new timber sales and road construction in currently roadless areas of these
two magnificent forests, more and more members of Congress are heeding the
demands of their constituents that these areas be protected. As the
ranks of Congressional co-sponsors continue to swell, the imperative of
providing permanent legislative protection for these two forests will become an
irresistible force! To find out more about the bill and whether or not your
Member of Congress is a co-sponsor, visit the Alaska Rainforest Campaign's Take
Action site (www.akrain.org).
TONGASS WILDERNESS PLAN TO BE
UNVEILED FOR PUBLIC COMMENT
This
spring the development of a new Tongass Wilderness Plan will provide Alaska
Wilderness supporters with the opportunity to help safeguard the remaining
unprotected temperate rainforest wildlands on the Tongass National Forest. By
court order, the U.S. Forest Service has had to revisit its management blueprint
for the Tongass National Forest. Originally developed in 1997, the Tongass Land
Management Plan (TLMP) was ruled illegal because it failed to consider new
wildlands eligible for long-term protection under the National Wilderness
Preservation System. As a result, the USFS will issue a supplemental plan which
we expect to include an Alaska Rainforest Conservation alternative. Stay tuned
for information on how you can participate in the upcoming 90-day public comment
period.
****
For more information on either
effort contact:
Laurie Cooper
Forest Outreach Director, Alaska Coalition
laurie@alaskacoalition.org
Thanks for your support.
Alaska Rainforest Campaign Staff.
The National Park Service has failed to implement new
and expanded ocean National Monuments established more
than a year ago to protect beleaguered coral reef
ecosystems.
Please respond to this alert and let the
Park Service
Director know that she must act now to
protect the
U.S. Virgin Islands Coral Reef National
Monuments.
If you have time please try to edit the
letter below.
You can take
action on this alert either via email
(please see
directions below) or via the web at:
http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/USVirginIslands/wkwxs5r278x38e
Visit the web address below and
tell your friends to
take action on this important
campaign!
http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/USVirginIslands/forward/wkwxs5r278x38e
We encourage you to take action
by April 10, 2002
Tell the Park
Service to Protect U.S. Virgin Islands
Coral Reef
Ecosystems Now!
----------------------
In January 2001, then President Clinton created the
new U.S. Virgin Island Coral Reef National Monument
and expanded the boundaries of the existing Buck Island
Reef National Monument (collectively referred to as
the U.S. Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monuments),
to restore and protect the degraded, but extraordinary,
coral reef ecosystems of the Virgin Islands.
These areas were selected for
national monument designation
to protect the
extraordinary diversity of marine life
and unique
tropical ecosystems of the Virgin Islands.
Protection is
needed because overfishing has depleted
reef fish
populations and undermined the health of
coral reef
ecosystems in these areas.
Well
over a year later, however, the National Park
Service
(NPS) has yet to develop important regulations
and
management plans to protect these vital ocean areas.
As
a result, these monuments are merely lines on a
map
without any protection on, or in, the water.
To make matters worse, we understand that, even as
you read this alert, these areas face increasingly
intensive fishing pressure that is further damaging
these remarkable ocean ecosystems.
It is essential to the survival of
these coral reef
ecosystems that NPS avoid any further
delay and move
immediately to develop regulations and
management plans.
In implementing the Executive Orders
establishing the
monuments, NPS should set aside these
areas as fully
protected, no-take marine reserves, where
all extractive
uses, including fishing, are prohibited.
This action
will help these remarkable areas and the
ocean life
they support recover. The National Academy of
Sciences'
National Research Council has concluded that
fully
protected, no-take marine reserves are proven
tools
for restoring and protecting marine ecosystems and
can be key to recovering depleted fish populations.
In addition, as NPS moves forward it
should provide
for substantial education and outreach to
local stakeholders
to gain their support and involvement
in ensuring these
monuments are a success.
Park Service action is long overdue.
Please respond
to this alert immediately and send NPS
Director Fran
Mainella a message urging her to act
immediately to
implement the vital U.S. Virgin Islands
Coral Reef
National Monuments.
If at all possible please try to
edit the sample letter
to reflect your own words. Thank
you for your help.
----------------------
INSTRUCTIONS TO RESPOND VIA THE WEB:
If you have access to a web browser, you can take action
on this alert by going to the following URL:
http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/USVirginIslands/wkwxs5r278x38e
INSTRUCTIONS TO RESPOND VIA
EMAIL:
Just choose the "reply to sender" option on your
email
program, and edit the letter below as you wish. Do
not delete "-YOU MAY EDIT THE LETTER BELOW-" and "-END
OF LETTER-". Please do not add your name and address
to your letter. Our system automatically does this
for you.
We STRONGLY encourage you to make edits directly to
our sample letter below, and put the alert talking
points into your own words. An individualized letter
is worth ten computer generated letters. Of course,
hundreds of unedited letters will still create a large
impact, so please reply even if you don't have time
to personalize the letter.
Your letter will be addressed and sent to:
Director Fran Mainella
-------YOU MAY EDIT THE LETTER
BELOW---------
I urge you to act
immediately to protect the coral
reef ecosystems of the
U.S. Virgin Islands by implementing
the U.S. Virgin
Islands Coral Reef and Buck Island
Reef National
Monuments without any further delay.
These monuments
were established more than a year ago,
yet the National
Park Service still has not developed
any regulations or
management plans for these areas.
As a result of this
delay, the monuments remain simply
"lines on a map,"
while increasing overfishing continues
to degrade these
vital coral reef ecosystems.
The
Park Service must immediately publish regulations
implementing these monuments as fully protected, no-take
marine reserves, stopping all extractive activities,
including fishing, so that these beleaguered marine
ecosystems can recover. There is tremendous public
support for the establishment of no-take marine reserves
in U.S. ocean waters and the National Research Council
has endorsed their use as an effective marine conservation
and management tool.
Beyond implementing these monument designations, you
must also ensure that adequate funding is provided
for the management and enforcement of these areas.
This funding is a critical investment toward ensuring
that the ecological health of these areas is restored.
In addition, the Park Service should begin an aggressive
public outreach and education effort to garner support
and involvement of local stakeholders in the implementation
of these monuments.
Please move immediately to implement
the U.S. Virgin
Island Coral Reef and Buck Island Reef
Monuments, without
further delay. Thank you for
considering my views.
-------END
OF LETTER-------------------------
To: All Activists
From: Steve Holmer
Date: March 25, 2002
Showdown in Congress: Forest Protection Lobby Week June 2 -
7
With new roadless area timber
sales being offered each month and
numerous other
rollbacks of forest protection underway we need help from
Congress to stop the Bush Administration and the Forest
Service from
succeeding with these
attacks. While the news seems to be going from
bad to worse, by acting together, we can turn the tide and
create a
powerful backlash for forest protection.
To help make that happen, all
activists are invited to join activists
from across the
nation for our annual Forest Protection Lobby Week June
2 -7. This is right before the House of
Representatives votes on the
Interior Appropriations
bill.
WE NEED
EVERYONE TO COME TO DC THIS YEAR
This year, we know that much is at stake. The
Forest Service is moving
rapidly to dismantle the
roadless conservation rule while it is tied up
in court
and is pushing forward new roadless area timber sales. Without
action by Congress, these areas will remain at
risk. This year will be
an all-out lobby
blitz to pass permanent legislation protecting roadless
areas and stopping Forest Service rollbacks.
Fire and restoration funding and
policy have dominated the Interior bill
the last several
years and we expect a major fight once again to reign
in
the abuse of restoration and hazardous fuel treatment funds being
diverted for commercial logging. We are
also may be fighting
provisions to increase subsidies
for biomass from the National Forests.
Lack of enforcement of off-road vehicles and the agencies
failure to
monitor their impacts is allowing for
unacceptable damage to the public
lands. This
year, we will ask Congress to start tackling this problem
by asking for additional funding for monitoring and
requiring a portion
of the law enforcement budget be
spent policing off road vehicles.
If you, or someone you work with is interested in coming to
Washington
this June, or at any time of the year to
lobby for your forest
protection priorities, please
contact Steve Holmer at 202/547-9105, or
mailto:wafcdc@americanlands.org American
Lands offers travel
assistance (usually ½ airfare) and
can often find free host housing with
our staff or local
supporters.
Steve Holmer
Campaign Coordinator
American Lands
726 7th Street SE
Washington, D.C. 20003
202/547-9105
202/547-9213 fax
mailto:wafcdc@americanlands.org
http://www.americanlands.org
Monday, March 25th, 2002
Patenting
Elements of Nature:
No Patents on Non-Life Either!
Governments at the UN are meeting
this week to prepare for a painful evaluation of "Agenda 21", the environmental
work plan that came out of the Earth Summit ten years ago. Among the issues on
the New York agenda will be biotechnology, Terminator technology, and "life"
patent monopolies. Meanwhile, unnoticed by policy-makers, the nanotech industry
is acquiring the same broad-spectrum patents that have spurred monopoly in
biotechnology. Patenting at the nano-scale can mean monopolizing the basic
elements that make life possible. Could nanotechnologists patent elements in the
Periodic Table? It wouldn't be the first time!
What is nanotechnology? A nano is a measurement equaling
one-billionth of a meter. Nanotechnology is a very broad term referring to an
array of technologies encompassing everything from the manufacture of nano-scale
materials (the commercial manufacture of bulk sprays, powders and coatings is
already big business), to the fabrication of structures utilizing the quantum
physics of nano-scale materials, to the futuristic and hotly debated goal of
creating self-replicating nano-robots. Some argue that self-replicating
nano-machinery is beyond the realm of possibility while others, including ETC
group, believe that the real question is not if, but when. It is clear that
every industry and technology will be affected by nanotechnology in the future.
ETC group is completing a kit for civil society organizations and policy makers
on nanotechnology for release in April/May.
Summit plans miss mark: Two weeks of meetings begin at the
United Nations today to prepare for the World Summit on Sustainable Development
(WSSD). The Heads of State summit, scheduled for Johannesburg, South Africa
(Aug. 26 - Sept. 4) will review the embarrassing lack of progress in achieving a
sustainable environment and economy since the 1992 "Earth Summit" in Rio de
Janeiro. In the ten years since Rio, governments and civil society activists
have seen biotechnology and intellectual property move from the wings to centre
stage in debates over world food and environmental security. The New York
negotiations will talk about both "life" patent monopolies and the risks
involved in GM crop contamination. Governments have neither nanotechnology nor
material patents on their agenda. As usual, they are running a decade behind
reality.
From "life" patenting
to ...? The starting gun for the privatization of what eventually became known
as biotechnology went off in 1980 when the US Supreme Court decided, in a 5-4
decision, that an oil-guzzling microbe developed by General Electric was
patentable. The US court's verdict signaled to the chemical and pharmaceutical
industries that the world's most commercially important patent regime was open
to patenting any and all forms of life.
Two decades later, many patent attorneys would concede that
"life" patents are in chaos. Forty-six percent of all biotech patents challenged
in US courts are overturned. At an average cost, per litigant, of $1.5 million,
patent lawsuits are the fastest growing item on court dockets in the USA and
many start-up biotech "boutiques" now allocate more money to intellectual
property lawyers than to their scientists. (See ETC Communique #73, "New
Enclosures", November/December, 2001.)i
That even the Gene Giants are finding patents painful gives
civil society organizations small solace. CSOs (including some environmentalists
who sat on their hands in 1980 because they were persuaded that the patented
oil-eating microbe would combat oil spills - it never did) have watched in
horror as the scope of biotech patents has exploded beyond all recognition.
Twenty years down the road, there are patents on genes, gene sequences, entire
species, on human cell lines and on indigenous knowledge. Patents have been
granted to companies for uses that have been known for thousands of years and
biopirates are laying claim to so-called "inventions" they scooped up from
farmers' markets and rain forests. The thievery has become a global pandemic.
Patents on Non-Life: But
biotech's critics have become so focused on the "no patents on life" campaign (a
campaign to which ETC group fully subscribes) that all of us have overlooked the
patents "underneath". The fast-moving nanotechnology industry is busily
acquiring patents on the material building blocks and processes that make
everything from dams to DNA. Because nanotech spends little time talking about
living materials, few have realized the implications for health, agriculture and
the environment if fundamental patents on nature's raw materials go unopposed.
From bio to nano: In a speech
last April, a lobbyist with the US Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) ,
ventured boldly onto the turf of the Gene Giant's nano neighbours: "It is true
that one cannot patent an element found in its natural form; however," said Lila
Feisee, "if you create a purified form of it that has industrial uses - say,
neon - you can certainly secure a patent."ii Feisee, BIO's Director for
Government Relations and Intellectual Property, should know. The biotech
industry has turned the isolation and purification of known genes (for the
purpose of patenting) into an art form.
"Elements, my dear Watson ... and Crick": Of the roughly 112
known elements so far (a handful come and go or are in dispute), 22 elements are
human-made. There will be more. Are they patentable? Glenn Seaborg, the American
who won a Nobel Prize for Physics in 1951, couldn't see why not. He "invented"
Americium #95 and acquired US patent #3,156,523 on November 10th, 1964.
Seaborg's decision to patent contrasts with the explicit choice made by Pierre
and Marie Curie of France: they opted not to patent Radium #88 or Polonium #84.
For their selfless decision, the Curies were awarded the Davy Medal by London's
Royal Society 99 years ago. Ironically, Seaborg marked the Curie's stand by
naming his second "invented" element, Curium #96, after them - U.S. patent #
3,161,462 granted December 15th, 1964. Years after their initial discovery of
Radium, Marie Curie reflected on the "fortune" she and her husband sacrificed to
keep the element in the public domain. "Yet," the Nobel Laureate concluded, "I
still believe that w
Sure enough, there exists a general
doctrine in patent law that products of nature cannot be patented. The
prohibition on product of nature patents was rendered vacuous by the 1980
Supreme Court decision. Today, with the world's largest corporations gearing up
to work down at the nano-level, it is only a matter of time before industry
convinces patent examiners that the genetically-engineered microbe of twenty-two
years ago is no different from the atomically-engineered elements of today.
Between nuclear colliders, atomic force microscopes, and cameras that can
photograph light as it meanders through a retina, the nanotech industry will be
in a political position to argue that any tinkering with the elemental products
of nature is patent-worthy.
Little patents with a giant reach: But nanotech is also
following biotech's passion for sweeping product and process patent claims that
could tie up the technologies involved and give a handful of giants monopoly
over the tools that will be used to manufacture everything. Everything includes
the raw materials essential to life.
Buckyballs: Consider C Sixty Inc., a Toronto, Canada-based
start-up nanotech enterprise, that seems to be rapidly cornering the market on a
rare form of carbon first discovered in 1985.iv Carbon is an essential component
to everything living on earth. This remarkable carbon was named
"Buckminsterfullerene" (or "Fullerene" or "Buckyball") because of its geodesic
(soccer ball) shape.v Essentially, buckyballs are a hollow sphere comprised of
60 carbon atoms. By the mid-90s, fullerene compounds were seen to have vast
potential in drug delivery related to the treatment of disease. A series of
patents was filed, five of which have been granted. The patents are the core
assets of C Sixty Inc. As Uri Sagman, C Sixty's CEO told NanotechPlanet, "If
people want to get in this game they have to deal with us." Sagman stresses,
"We're, in a true sense, a platform company that is able to license out enabling
technology and partner [with other drug development companies]"vi
Buckytubes: C Sixty Inc. is not
alone in exploiting carbon. Carbon Nanotechnology Inc. (CNI - Houston, Texas)
has an exclusive license for a broad array of technologies developed by Dr. Rick
Smalley at Rice University. Smalley, too, won a Nobel Prize for Physics and
co-founded CNI on the side. The existing patents (and applications) cover the
four commercially viable routes to making and using - not Buckyballs but
Buckytubes (nanotubes). Nano-scale tubes of carbon atoms have an enormous range
of pharmaceutical and other uses. Buckytubes are the most important material in
nanotechnology today.vii
Blocking the view: Not all the nanotech work is on carbon
atoms. Microvision, another U.S. "nano-niche" (the nano industry's equivalent to
biotech's "boutiques") start-up in Bothel, Washington, uses nano-scale
technologies for visual display and image capture devices. So far, the company
claims more than 150 patents but many more are in the pipeline. Steve Willey,
executive vice president told Small Times, "At some point you corner an
industry. ... There is value in getting critical mass." Casey Tegreene, who
handles the company's patents, agrees, "Building an unassailable patent
portfolio is an important component of our overall growth strategy...''viii
Chips off a new block:
Nanotechnology is also making huge inroads into the informatics industry and
much work is being done with nano-scale materials for semiconductors. One of the
lead "nano-nichers" in this field is Quantum Dot Corporation (Hayward,
California). QDC is the world leader in nanocrystal technology commercialization
for use in biological, biochemical, and biomedical applications. The company's
strategy is to achieve broad-spectrum coverage of semiconductor nanocrystal
technologies. "We continue to dedicate our efforts to compiling, generating, and
protecting pioneering technology...," QDC states.ix
As it was with the biotech "boutiques", however, nanotech's
"nano-nichers" are going to have to scramble to win patent dominance in
manufacture. QDC is rubbing elbows with giants like Hewlett-Packard in the
semiconductors market and H-P is working in a consortium to develop molecular
switches and other nano-scale materials that could transform the informatics
industry quickly. One of its molecular patents was ranked by MIT's Technology
Review as among the five most important patents of 2000. As is increasingly the
case, many of the nanotech initiatives are being bankrolled by the US Defense
Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).x
Patently worried: "Our big issues are making sure that the
USPTO [US Patent and Trademark Office] understands nanotechnology, so when
people come with their patents, examiners understand what are reasonable
boundaries," says Mark Modzelewski, of the NanoBusiness Alliance (a New
York-headquartered industry trade association). "We would not like to see,
within nanotechnology patents, some of the things we've seen in recent
technology waves, where there have been concept patents awarded, which allow
people to lock up huge areas. That's a real fear for us in nanotechnology."xi
Those of us in advocacy groups
and others in civil society who have been concerned about GMOs and "life"
patents may still regard the sudden rise of nanotechnology as extraneous to our
main concerns. Not for long. According to the NanoBusiness Alliance, nearly half
of the pharmaceutical industry market (or around $180 billion per annum) will be
based on nanotechnology within 15 years. NBA believes that 22% of the potential
business for nanotech will be linked to biotechnology in the life sciences.xii A
market study just released by CMP Cientifica (an investment group in Madrid,
Spain) sees agriculture as next in line after medicine as a potential market for
nanotech: "...genetic engineering methods are moving along quite nicely without
any need to call themselves nanotechnology."xiii Likewise, nanotech is
progressing quite nicely without any need to tell the world that it is tinkering
with the fundamentals of all life and matter.
Perhaps the best opportunity for governments and civil
society to come to grips with new technologies such as nanotech and new monopoly
control threats such as patents on elements in the Periodic Table, will be
during the Johannesburg Summit this August. Among the proposals that should be
debated by governments in New York this week and next is an International
Convention for the Evaluation of New Technologies (ICENT).
For further
information:
Pat Roy Mooney: etc@etcgroup.org (204)
453-5259 CST - Winnipeg
Hope Shand: hope@etcgroup.org
(919) 960-5223 EST - North Carolina
Silvia Ribeiro:
silvia@etcgroup.org (52) 55-55-63-26-64 CST - Mexico City
The Action Group on Erosion, Technology and Concentration,
formerly RAFI, is an international civil society organization headquartered in
Canada. The ETC group is dedicated to the advancement of cultural and ecological
diversity and human rights. www.etcgroup.org. ETC group wishes to acknowledge
and thank Mathieu Charron, a valued volunteer, for his considerable contribution
to the research involved in this report.
Endnotes:
i See ETC group website:
http://www.etcgroup.org/article.asp?newsid=271.
ii Lila Feisee, Director for Government Relations and
Intellectual Property, Biotechnology Industry Organization, in a speech
entitled, "Anything Under the Sun Made by Man," delivered at Case Western
Reserve School of Law, April 11, 2001.
iii For more
information, see: http://physics.nist.gov/GenInt/Curie/1921.html. Marie
Curie made her speech in the USA in 1921 on a fundraising trip for her Radium
institute.
iv See CSixty's website:
www.csixty.com/mission.
v Buckminster Fuller, an
engineer and architect who died in 1983, promoted the geodesic dome as the ideal
design for shelter construction.
vi B. Allen, "CSixty
pioneers drug delivery techniques using buckyballs," NanotechPlanet, January 16,
2002; available at www.nanotech-planet.com.
vii "Carbon
Nanotechnologies, Inc. licenses buckytube production process to DuPont,"
NanotechPlanet, January 9, 2002, available at www.nanotech-planet.com; see also
Carbon Nanotechnologies Inc.'s website: www.cnanotech.com/4-2_intellectual.cfm.
viii J. McIntyre, "Microvision piles up patents in
retinal display technology" Small Times, February 20, 2002; available at
www.smalltimes.com.
ix From Quantum Dot's company
website, www.qdots.com/new/corporate/ip.html.
x
Hewlett-Packard news release, "GP, UCLA collaboration receives key molecular
electronics patent", January 23, 2002; available at
www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/press/23jan02b.htm.
xi D.
Brown, "U.S. Patent examiners may not know enough about nanotech," Small Times,
February 4, 2002, www.smalltimes.com.
xii N. Tinker,
2001 Business of Nanotech Survey, NanoBusiness Alliance, October 2001, p.16.
xiii CMP Cientifica, March 11, 2002, p.23.
www.CMP-Cientifica.com.
March 18-26, 2002
Happy Spring.
Spring springs
eternal, and so does our hope that we
will deal with
climate change. To keep you posted on
progress to that
end it is time now for "Positive Energy" -
Greenpeace's
CLEAN ENERGY NOW! update.
+++ COLLAPSE OF ANTARCTIC ICE SHELF: ANOTHER WAKE UP
CALL TO THE WORLD +++
During a
5-week period, a piece of the Larsen Ice Shelf
with a
surface area of 1,250 square miles dramatically
splintered into a plume of drifting icebergs. This enormous
floating ice shelf, designated Larsen B-22, has existed
since the last Ice Age but collapsed during on of the
warmest summers recorded on the Antartic Peninsula.
Although
scientists stopped just short of straight out
blaming
this event on global warming caused by human
activity, they
noted that the ice shelf has persisted
through 12,000
years of climate changes, well before
civilization began
altering the environment. Both the
United States' and British
agencies are attributing the
collapse and the general trend
of retreating shelves to
warmer temperatures (+2.5 degrees C)
over the past 50
years, supporting arguments that greenhouse
gases
emission is a critical issue that all nations must
address alongside their energy concerns.
Check out the following links for
pictures and
related articles:
http://cybercentre.greenpeace.org//t/s/1016626265/index_html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1880000/1880566.stm
+++ TELL EDISON NOT TO DUMP
COAL IN THAILAND +++
Greenpeace
in the United States and South East Asia are
demanding
that Edison Mission Energy, a sister company to
Southern
California Edison, stop its plans to build a huge
coal-fired power plant in the rural village of Bo Nok,
Thialand. Local people fromm this Thai fishing and
farming community have been fighting the power plant
proposal
for eight years. In January, 10,000 people
demonstrated
against the Edison plant when the Prime
Minister visited
the area. Greenpeace is trying to bring
the outrage of the
community home to the company that is
providing the cash
to build the coal plant in Bo Nok.
Edison has also been
heavily involved in greenwashing
the plant proposal in
Thailand - placing ads in the
national newspapers, claiming
that they will burn "Clean
Coal" and that this plant could
be built in California.
This statement is simply not true
from an air quality
standards point of view, and certainly
a coal power
plant would not be built on a beach in
southern
California but that is where they plan to build
in
Thailand.
To Take Action, just
go to:
http://www.cleanenergynow.org/bin/takeaction.fpl?action_id=116
+++ INDIAN SCIENTIST WINS
ASHDEN AWARD FOR RENEWABLE
ENERGY +++
Dr. A. D. Karve, the head of India's Appropriate Rural
Technology Institute (ARTI), was announced as the 2002
winner of the prestigious Ashden Award for Renewable
Energy. The Princess Royal of the United Kingdom presented
the world's only award for renewable energy work during
the Whitley Laing Foundation's annual awards ceremony
held
in London last Friday evening. Dr. Karve received
international
recognition for his role in the discovery
and implementation
of a unique technology that produces
clean fuel from sugarcane
waste that would otherwise
have been burnt at site; thus
converting a large scale
environmental problem into an
income-generating
opportunity while providing desperately
needed clean and
cheap domestic fuel to rural families
throughout the
region. To find out more about Whitley Laing
Foundation
and the Award for Renewable Energy, just go to:
http://www.whitely-award.org
----------------------------------------------------------
The "Positive Energy" newsletter and our website,
http://www.cleanenergynow.org, will give you good news
about ways to achieve clean air, climate justice, and
renewable energy solutions to our ongoing energy
crisis.
In this post:
#1 Summary of Activities in Ecuador in the last 36 hours
#2 Past Statement by Julia Butterfly Hill on Ecuadoran Tree
Sit
#3 Press Release from Accion Por La Vida
#4 Contact numbers for support
#5
Press Release in Spanish
#1
Summary of events
Friends,
The brave tree sitters who have been
physically blocking the Mindo pipeline,
a Citi backed
project, since January 2nd were forcibly removed yesterday by
the government Special Forces. Remember, this was the first
such tree sit in
the country of Ecuador and could serve
as a test of how such non-violent
protestors are dealt
with in the future. In response, 50 of the fellow
townspeople blockaded the road up to the pipeline site
overnight. They
convinced two truck drivers to divert
their pipeline materials to the town
where locals
confiscated their load and set to painting the new pipe in the
town square. It is critical that we show our outrage at this
time for the
mistreatment of the Mindo Youth who were
putting their bodies on the line to
defend the Mindo
Cloud Forests. See address at the bottom for e-mail address
to support the detained activists.
The best way to be certain these
personal sacrifices are not necessary in
the future is
to get the World's Most Destructive Bank to stop financing
fossil fuel exploration! Citi is the #1 funder of these
types of activities
and we see the results in the
destroyed forests, the displacement of
indigenous people
and our planet heating up. It is time to kick the fossil
fuel habit! Call Citigroup (# below) and tell them not only
to assure the
safe release of the Mindo Youth but also
to stop funding for projects that
result in the
destruction of our ecosystems!
#2
Julia Butterfly Hill, known
worldwide for her two year long tree sit atop a
threatened 2000-year-old redwood tree in northern California
made this
statement in January:
"When we see these Ecuadorian
activists willing to put their bodies where
their
beliefs are, risking serious danger and hardships, we know that all
other systems are failing-- corporations, governments, and
consumers-all
failing in their responsibility to the
planet, the people, and the future. I
stand in
solidarity with my brothers and sisters of Ecuador as they stand
against this absolute greed, destruction, and consumption of
these priceless
and diverse ecosystems. The annihilation
of this forest and all its
inhabitants for the laying of
the oil pipeline and extraction of oil is
absolutely
wrong-- morally, socially, culturally, and ecologically. I and
many others are deeply committed to helping the Ecuadorian
people stop this
crime against humanity and the Earth."
#3 Press Release
ECUADORIAN MILITARY FORCIBLY EVICTS ENVIRONMENTALISTS IN
MINDO!
SEVENTEEN ACTIVISTS ARE CURRENTLY BEING DETAINED!
URGENT LETTERS NEEDED TO DEMAND THEIR RELEASE! (see
addresses below)
Mindo, Ecuador
March 26 2002
PRESS RELEASE
URGENT
Police forcibly remove
peaceful protestors from their camp in Cerro
Guarumos.
Inhabitants of Mindo take control of main highway demanding the
release of the 17 detained activists. Yesterday, at about
12pm, the National
Police Group of Intervention and
Rescue forcibly entered the Guarumos
protest camp and
arrested three Ecuadorians and fourteen foreigners that
were at the site. Since January 2, a permanent group of
activists had been
occupying the most sensitive area of
the Mindo-Nambillo Protected Forest in
order to impede
the advancement of the heavy crude oil pipeline (OCP). Their
intention was to not leave the occupied area until the
construction company
and the government gave up their
intention to destroy this unique ecosystem
which houses
an incredible diversity of flora and fauna, some of which are
in danger of extinction. The activists are detained in the
Provisional
Detention Center. There are 17 in total,
among them local Ecuadorian
activists and international
activists from France, United States, Ireland,
Italy,
Germany and Switzerland. The hearing to resolve the situation of the
detained protestors will be today at 10am at the Pichincha
Police Commission
in Quito.
Last
night at 8pm around 60 people, men and women of the town of Mindo,
blocked the main highway from Quito to Los Bancos in the
sector known as the
Mindo Y. The inhabitants of Mindo
took control of the road from 8pm last
night until 4 am
this morning in response to the arbitrary arrest of the
peaceful activists trying to stop the construction of the
heavy crude oil
pipeline at the camp in Cerro Guarumos.
Two large trailers carrying numerous
pipeline tubes were
brought down by activists from the main highway to the
town of Mindo and are currently being held in the middle of
town, with all
24 tires deflated. The drivers of the
trucks are passive towards the Mindo
activists, both
have decided to stay with the trucks. Phrases like "OCP out
of our town" have been painted by activists on the huge
tubes located on the
back of the trucks. The people of
Mindo will let the trucks go as soon as
all 17 detained
protestors have been released from custody.
In this same
Guarumos area where the peaceful protest camp was, the Ministry
of the Environment revoked OCP's environmental license due
to poor practices
in the construction process that have
caused serious environmental damages.
The report however
only refers to the service road to Cerro Guarumos and
does not incorporate an inspection of the damages within the
Mindo-Nambillo
Protected Forested that have been greater
that those of the service road.
The environmental
damages and the lack of following the construction
regulations that were stated in the Environmental Plan, have
occurred in all
areas where the pipeline construction
continues and have been documented by
Accion Ecologica
in Quito.
The construction of the heavy crude oil
pipeline continues at a fast pace,
blatantly ignoring
the opposition of the local towns and governments y in
complete violation of constitutional precepts, environmental
protection laws
and the human rights of the inhabitants
of the affected areas along the
pipeline route.
We at Accion Por La Vida, the grass roots group from Mindo
that has risen up
since the protest against the OCP
pipeline started over two years ago,
demand the
immediate release of those detained whose only crime is defending
the Ecuadorian patrimony and humanity. We also reaffirm our
struggle against
the construction of the OCP pipeline
and we declare that these types of
repressive measures
will not stop us from continuing our struggle.
#4 Contact Info
!!PLEASE TAKE ACTION AND EMAIL/FAX THE BELOW ADDRESSES AND
DEMAND THE
PROTESTERS BE SET FREE!!
Presidente de la República del
Ecuador
Dr. Gustavo Noboa Bejarano
Calle García Moreno y espejo
Fax:
(5932 ) 2584518
Correo electrónico:
desp-@presidencia.ec-gov.net
Ministro de Defensa
Almirante Hugo
Hunda
Av. Maldonado y calle Exposición 208
Fax: (5932 ) 2580431.
Jefe del Comando Conjunto de las Fuerzas Armadas
Oscar Isch
Comando Conjunto de las
Fuerzas Armadas
Fax: (5932) 2583394
coma-@uio.satnet.net
Ministro de Gobierno y Policía
Dr.
Marcelo Merlo
Fax: (5932) 2580067
Ecuadoran Embassy in the United States
Tel. 202-234-7200
embassy@ecuador.org
cc: all e-mails to
E-mail:
oilwatch@uio.satnet.net
Pagina Web: www.oilwatch.org.ec
CALL CITI'S INVESTOR RELATIONS :
1-888-250-3985 and dial 0 until you reach a human
operator.
Tell them to use their
influence to halt this destructive project and to
stop
funding destructive activities such as fossil fuel development and
logging. As financial backers of the project, they have
influence over how
these situations unfold. Let them
know that we hold them accountable for the
welfare of
each of the arrested tree-sitters.
See http://www.ran.org/ran_campaigns/citigroup/cs_ocp.html
and
www.amazonwatch.org for background info and updates.
#5 Press Release in Spanish
[espanol]
Quito, 25 de marzo del 2002
BOLETIN
DE PRENSA
URGENTE
Fuerzas policiales desalojaron por la fuerza el campamento
de los
ecologistas en Guarumos
El día de hoy, cerca del medio día,
un comando del Grupo de Intervención y
Rescate de la
Policía Nacional irrumpió por la fuerza en el campamento
de Los Guarumos y tomó presos a los ecuatorianos y
extranjeros que se
encontraban en ese momento en el
sitio. Desde el 2 de enero, un grupo
permanente de
activistas se había instalado en la zona más frágil del Bosque
Protector Mindo Nambillo, para impedir el avance de la
construcción del Oleoducto de Crudos Pesados. Su intención
era no abandonar
la zona hasta que la empresa
constructora y el gobierno
desistan de su intención de
destruir éste ecosistema único, que alberga una
diversidad de especies animales y vegetales, muchas de las
cuales
están en peligro de extinción.
Es en esta misma zona de Guarumos
donde el Ministerio del Ambiente retiró la
Licencia
Ambiental al Consorcio, debido a que sus malas
prácticas
en el proceso de construcción que han causado grave deterioro
ambiental. El informe se refiere únicamente a la vía de
acceso al cerro
Guarumos, pero no incorpora una
inspección a las obras dentro del Bosque
Protector
Mindo-Nambillo, donde los daños han sido aún mayores. Los
daños ambientales causados y los incumplimientos de las
normas de
construcción a las que se compromente el OCP
en el Plan de Manejo
Ambiental se repiten en todas las
áreas en donde la construcción del
oleoducto avanza y
han sido documentados por Acción Ecológica para
exigir
al Ministerio del Ambiente el retiro definitivo de la Licencia
Ambiental.
La construcción del Oleoducto de Crudos Pesados sigue
avanzando a un ritmo
desenfrenado, pasando por encima de
la oposición de las
poblaciones y los gobiernos locales,
y en completa violación de preceptos
constitucionales y
legales de protección del medio ambiente y
de respeto a
los derechos humanos de los habitantes de las zonas por donde
atraviesa.
A
través de la prensa, exigimos la inmediata libertad de todos los detenidos
cuyo único delito es defender el patrimonio natural de los
ecuatorianos y de la humanidad, y responsabilizamos al
Ministerio de
Gobierno por su integridad. Al mismo
tiempo, nos reafirmamos en nuestra
lucha en contra de la
construcción del OCP, y declaramos que este tipo de
medidas represivas no nos detendrán.
Natalia Arias
170849278-8
Acción Ecológica
Quito, March 25th, 2002
Presidente de la República del Ecuador
Dr. Gustavo Noboa Bejarano
Calle
García Moreno y espejo
Fax: (5932 ) 2584518
Correo electrónico: desp-@presidencia.ec-gov.net
<http://www.topica.com/lists/amazonwatch_update/read/message.html?mid=160654
2219&sort=d&start=3>
Ministro de Defensa
Almirante Hugo Hunda
Av. Maldonado y
calle Exposición 208
Fax: (5932 ) 2580431
Correo electrónico: midenasocial@org
Jefe del Comando Conjunto de las
Fuerzas Armadas
Oscar Isch
Comando Conjunto de las Fuerzas Armadas
Fax: (5932) 2583394
coma-@uio.satnet.net
<http://www.topica.com/lists/amazonwatch_update/read/message.html?mid=160654
2219&sort=d&start=3>
Ministro de Gobierno y Policía
Dr. Marcelo Merlo
Fax: (5932)
2580067
Please join over 65,000 others who have already signed
this petition, sponsored by the American Wilderness
Coalition. Your comment will be sent to your
Senators.
They do care what their voters want - so
please make
your voice heard today. Then, ask 3 friends
to sign
too - we want to send the Senate over 100,000
signatures
before they vote.
Your voice does matter - please make your comment today:
http://www.care2.com/go/redirect/2/3738
Confused about the facts? Heard
various stories on how
damaging drilling will be? Here
is the truth:
**********FAST
FACTS -- THE TRUTH*************
** Pro-drillers are claiming that only 2,000 acres of
the Arctic refuge will be affected. It is the myth of
the 2,000 acre footprint! THE TRUTH: refuge oil is
scattered and oil companies will need to create miles
of pipelines and roads all across the Refuge. The
pro-drillers are only counting the ground that actually
touches the posts or other drilling equipment towards
that 2,000 acres; bare ground under the pipeline and
roads that destroy the landscape aren't included, even
though they destroy the ecosystem.
** Drilling in the Refuge won't cut
prices at the pump!
The amount of oil that the Arctic
could produce is not
enough to even make a ripple in the
global oil market.
Regardless of production in the
Arctic, most of the oil
is produced by OPEC, an oil
cartel, and will continue
to determine the price of oil
at U.S. pumps.
** Even if Arctic
drilling occurs, lengthy processing
and drilling will
prevent us from seeing any Arctic oil
for 10 years and
then it will only last 6 MONTHS! In
fact, according to
recent editorials, most oil companies
aren't even sure
that the gain from production would be worth
the time
and effort that would be needed to get at it
because of
the poor quality of the oil.
**
There are other ways to solve the oil shortage! A
mere
two-mile-per-gallon improvement in auto efficiency
would
save that same amount of oil in under 3 years,
and keep
on saving.
** Arctic Drilling
WILL NOT reduce our dependence on
foreign oil. The U.S.
has 2.8% of the world's known
petroleum reserves. We
consume over 25% of all oil
produced. Refuge oil would
AT MOST, increase our
reserves by a mere 1% percent --
we'll need to get the
remaining 21% percent from foreign
producers. That isn't
independence!
Click here to register your
opposition:
http://www.care2.com/go/redirect/2/3738
**************TAKE ACTION
NOW****************
It is crucial that we all do as much
as we can to stop
a bill that will cost us all a great
deal for very little
gain. If you have already signed
the House petition, then
we need you to sign this Senate
Petition as well. AND
please ask your friends to sign as
well!
It is no contest. We can't
take the risk of destroying
Precious Arctic lands and
wildlife, when the gain is
so little and there are
clear, easy and lasting
alternatives!
Take Action to stop Arctic Drilling
today!
http://www.care2.com/go/redirect/2/3738
Thank You for taking Action
The PetitionSite Team!
========================================
NRDC's EARTH ACTION:
The Bulletin
for Environmental Activists
March 27, 2002
========================================
In This Issue:
--Action alerts--
1. HABITAT PRESERVATION: Tell the Bush administration to
protect
Wyoming's Powder River Basin from the harmful
effects of oil and gas
drilling
--Updates on Previous alerts--
1. SENATE ENERGY BILL
======================================================
You will also find these alerts in NRDC'S Earth Action
Center, which
includes tools for taking action easily
online, at
http://www.nrdc.org/action
(Please do not reply to this message; see the instructions
below for
how to unsubscribe or contact NRDC with
questions or comments.)
=============
Action alerts
=============
1. HABITAT PRESERVATION
Tell the
Bush administration to protect Wyoming's Powder River Basin
from the harmful effects of oil and gas drilling
Bordered by the beautiful Bighorn
Mountains, Wyoming's Powder River
Basin is home to
dozens of bird species, hundreds of thousands of
pronghorn antelope and mule deer, twelve thousand elk, and
at least
fifteen other sensitive species, including the
white-tailed prairie
dog. Set in a unique landscape of
craggy mountains, rolling hills, and
sweeping plains,
the region has a rich Native American history and
strong
connections to the local rural and agricultural communities.
The Bush administration is now
considering a proposal to drill more
than 50,000 coalbed
gas wells and 3,000 oil wells in the Powder River
Basin.
The proposed plan (the largest natural gas project ever
considered by the federal government) would lead to the
construction
of 17,000 miles of new roads and 20,000
miles of pipelines across
200,000 acres of sensitive,
and largely undeveloped, agricultural
land. Most of the
1.5 trillion gallons of contaminated water produced
by
the drilling would be intentionally dumped or leaked, untreated,
into the ground, eventually making its way into streams and
rivers.
Despite these facts, the
Bureau of Land Management has analyzed only
two
development alternatives, both of which would allow the full
number of wells requested by industry, ultimately leading to
significant, and potentially irreversible, damage to the
region's
soil, water and wildlife (the BLM's own
analysis shows that the
proposed development would
destroy wildlife habitat to such an extent
that many
animals would not survive). In response, local and regional
groups have developed their own proposal for the area -- the
Citizens'
Alternative -- that would minimize harm to the
region and its
wildlife.
The BLM is accepting public comments on the proposed
alternatives
through April 18th.
== What to do ==
Send a message to the BLM before the April 18th comment
deadline,
urging the agency to consider and adopt the
Citizens' Alternative --
and to take all possible steps
to reduce environmental damage to the
area.
== Contact information ==
You can send an official comment directly from NRDC's Earth
Action
Center at http://www.nrdc.org/action. Or use the contact
information
and sample letter below to send your own
message, and please include
your own reasons why
protecting these stunning lands is important to
you.
Paul Beels, Project Manager
Bureau of Land Management
Buffalo
Field Office
1425 Fort Street
Buffalo, WY 82834
Fax: 307-684-1122
Email: buffalo_wymail@blm.gov
== Sample letter ==
Subject: Powder River Basin DEIS -
Increase protection for sensitive
resources
Dear Mr. Beels,
The BLM should not allow Wyoming's
Powder River Basin to be overrun by
thousands of oil and
gas wells. The two development alternatives the
BLM is
considering would severely harm wildlife, including sensitive
species, and lead to serious water quality and other
problems. Neither
of these options includes adequate
measures to deal with these
problems, or to help restore
the land after it is damaged.
Instead, the proposed Citizens' Alternative is based on
substantial
scientific and public input and offers a
balanced approach that would
minimize damage to the
Powder River's precious air, soil, scenic
vistas,
wildlife habitats, and rural heritage. I therefore urge the
BLM to consider this third alternative, and to ensure that
any chosen
alternative fully addresses impacts to the
environment and public
health of this unique region and
includes plans for reducing them.
Sincerely,
[Your name and address]
==========================
Updates
on Previous alerts
==========================
1. SENATE ENERGY BILL
In our last alert we asked you to urge your senators to
oppose the
auto industry-sponsored Levin-Bond amendment,
which would gut the
increased vehicle fuel economy
provisions originally contained in the
Senate energy
bill. Although you sent the Senate more than 6,000
messages in a 24-hour period, on March 13th the amendment
passed,
62-38, in effect guaranteeing that the final
bill will be devoid of
any meaningful fuel economy
advances. Other key environmental votes on
the bill will
occur when Congress returns from its two-week spring
recess, so stay tuned. In the meantime, thanks to all of you
who spoke
out to hold your senators accountable for
caving in to the auto
industry.
==================================================
About Our Bulletins/How to Subscribe & Unsubscribe
==================================================
NRDC distributes three bulletins by
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of them or to join our
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==========
About NRDC
==========
The Natural Resources Defense Council is a nonprofit
environmental
organization with over 500,000 members
nationwide and a staff of
scientists, attorneys and
environmental experts. Our mission is to
protect the
planet's wildlife and wild places and ensure a safe and
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For more information about NRDC or
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please contact us at:
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General email: nrdcinfo@nrdc.org
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http://www.nrdc.org
Also visit:
BioGems -- Saving
Endangered Wild Places
A project of the Natural
Resources Defense Council
http://www.savebiogems.org
===========
Aloha,
We
need your help! There are two critical habitat proposals
in front of the US Fish and Wildlife Service right
now that need our support NOW.
The first recommends strong critical habitat designations
for plant species from the islands of Kaua`i and
Ni`ihau.
Go to: http://ga0.org/campaign/kauai/w5niwb2z78xw56
The second recommends strong
critical habitat designations
for Newcomb's snail, a
critically imperiled native
species that is found only
on Kaua`i. Go to: http://ga0.org/campaign/snail/w5niwb2z78xw56
Please visit the Earthjustice Action
Center at http://ga0.org/pvtm/index.tcl?nkey=w5niwb2z78xw56
or click on one of the links above and voice your support
for these important proposals. Time is running out
- public comment will be accepted only through THIS
FRIDAY, March 29.
--------------------------------------------------
Do you care about critical habitat?
Then visit the
web address below and tell your friends
about this
important issue!
http://ga0.org/join-forward.html?domain=earthjusticeaction&r=Ld1aAPE1uPFH
If you received this message
from a friend, you can
sign up for The Earthjustice
Center at:
http://ga0.org/earthjusticeaction/join.html?r=Ld1aAPE1uPFHE
To: All Activists
From: Steve Holmer
Date: March 27, 2002
Subject: Sign On "A Budget to Protect and Restore National
Forests and
Grasslands"
The House and Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittees
are currently
accepting testimony concerning the Forest
Service and BLM annual budget
for FY
2003. Testimony is due in the House on April 5. In
conjunction
with other activists, American Lands has
created our own budget
outlining how we would spend the
Forest Service budget and offering some
ideas to improve
agency stewardship of the public lands.
"A Budget to Protect and Restore National Forests and
Grasslands and to
Protect Homes and Communities At Risk
From Wildfire" is available for
your use and sign
on. It can be viewed and downloaded at
http://www.americanlands.org/fy_2003_budget.htm
If your organization would like
to sign on please contact me at
mailto:wafcdc@americanlands.org or call 202/547-9105 by next
Thursday
April 4. Individual activists
are encouraged to send a copy of this to
your
Representative and Senators along with a note urging them to
implement these reforms.
House Interior Appropriations Testimony Due April 5
Appropriations testimony for the
House must be submitted by April 5 via
email at
mailto:approp.interior@mail.house.gov Testimony is limited to
four pages, regular type and no photos but charts and
graphs are ok. A
notice will be sent out when
the Senate deadline and testimony details
are made
available. If you or your organization is submitting Interior
testimony, please consider including material from the
Budget to Protect
and Restore the National Forests as
well. Thanks.
A Budget to Protect and Restore National Forests and
Grasslands
In summary, our
budget proposes $452.3 million in reductions from the
Forest Products (-$278.6 million), Timber Roads (-$44.7
million),
Hazardous
Fuels (-$117.5 million) and Research
(-$11.5 million)
line-items. All of the money
would be shifted into invasive species
research (+$22
million), ORV monitoring (+$20 million), restoring the
Economic Action and Pacific Northwest Assistance Programs
(+$35 and +$15
million respectively), providing grants
to communities and homeowners to
protect homes in the
wildland/urban interface (+$200 million), and
creating a
new "ecological restoration" line-item (+160.3 million).
Thus far, the Forest Service has
wasted approximately half of the
hazardous fuels funding
under Fire Plan by spending the money on
projects in
forests where fire is not an issue, or on projects in the
backcountry far from any communities. In
addition, Forest Service
research suggests that the
proper management focus should be on the
homes
themselves and the area immediately surrounding them, not on
backcountry logging. Our proposal to cut funding
for hazardous fuels in
favor of a grant program for
homeowners responds to these facts. It is
an attempt to put the money where it will accomplish the
goal set forth
by Congress to protect communities, while
cutting a program which we
know is being heavily abused.
Other proposals include
requiring NEPA compliant fire management plans
for all
forests before new projects can take place; requiring that
funding for monitoring be assured before projects can begin;
requiring
that 90% of the acres treated under the
National Fire Plan be the
wildland/urban interface;
removing incentives for logging such as goods
for
services and the Salvage Fund; ending the fee demonstration program;
earmarking law enforcement funding specifically for policing
off road
vehicles; prohibiting new road construction and
requiring the protection
of all old growth areas.
Steve Holmer
Campaign Coordinator
American Lands
726 7th Street SE
Washington,
D.C. 20003
202/547-9105
202/547-9213 fax
mailto:wafcdc@americanlands.org
http://www.americanlands.org
Every winter the world of Yellowstone National Park is
transformed from breathtaking to breath threatening, exposing wildlife,
park staff, and visitors to dangerous air pollution caused by recreational
snowmobile use. This winter, park rangers have had to wear respirators to
combat the toxic snowmobile emissions that surround them daily. Moreover,
recreational snowmobiles disturb bison and make it impossible for other
visitors to enjoy the natural soundscapes of the park. Last year, we thought the battle was over when the
National Park Service announced its decision to initiate a snowmobile ban.
But the $7-billion-a-year snowmobile industry sued the Park Service.
Caving to industry demands, Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton has
agreed to "review the finding" that led to the ban.
Take Action! Dear Director Mainella, I strongly support the original winter use plan that
banned recreational snowmobiling from Yellowstone and Grand Teton national
parks. The draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement's (SEIS) "no
action" alternative, which represents the original snowmobile ban, is the
one the National Park Service should choose. The costly alternatives that would allow snowmobiling
in the parks would not protect the park's air, wildlife, visitors,
soundscapes, and staff as they deserve. The Park Service should not have
to expend extra time and money just to control the damage of a
recreational activity that threatens the values of our national
parks. Snowmobiles are neither clean nor quiet enough for use
in national parks, despite manufacturer claims. Furthermore, snowmobiler
harassment of wildlife is difficult to control during a season when
animals are under harsh stress. A guided, snowcoach-only transit system
outlined in the draft SEIS would allow all people to experience the winter
wonderland of both parks and would provide the parks' visitors
top-quality, environment-friendly
transportation. Taking snowmobiles out of Yellowstone and Grand Teton
national parks is the right action. Please keep our national parks free
from snowmobiles so that those of us who appreciate clean, safe places
where wildlife and natural sounds are undisturbed can still enjoy a
premium experience in our greatest national parks. Thank you for
considering my views. Sincerely,
Action Alert - Save
Yellowstone From Snowmobiles!
Action
Center Update: March 27, 2002
Save Yellowstone From
Snowmobiles!
A public comment period is now underway. The only way
to defend Yellowstone and its wildlife is to demonstrate a groundswell of
public support for the snowmobile ban. Please act now to let the Bush
Administration know you support a clean, safe Yellowstone.
| ||||||
To: Forest Activists
From: Harlin
Savage, Southern Rockies Regional Organizer
Date: March
28, 2002
Re: HELP PROTECT ROCK CREEK ROADLESS
AREA ROM OIL AND GAS INVASION!
Dear Activist:
Rock Creek, one of the biggest and most beautiful roadless
areas of the
Medicine Bow National Forest in Wyoming, is
being threatened by a newly
proposed oil and gas
invasion. Please send a letter today telling the
Forest Service to keep drilling rigs out of the Rock Creek
Roadless
Areas.
Your comments
are needed now to stop this proposal.
BACKGROUND
The Medicine Bow National
Forest in south-central Wyoming is a
beautiful,
biologically diverse part of the Southern Rockies. It is also one the
most commercially exploited, with dozens of clearcuts
marring the landscape.
Nearly 99% of the forest is
within 2 miles of a road, and only 7% of the
Forest is
protected as wilderness. The last wild areas of the Medicine
Bow deserve the highest level of protection in order to
preserve this
natural treasure.
ROCK CREEK: A ROADLESS
GEM
Covering over 20,000 acres, the Rock Creek Roadless
Area on the Med-Bow
contains a deep canyon, bounded by
steep forested slopes and dramatic
cliff
outcrops. The area provides habitat for elk and black bear as well as
disappearing animals like the northern goshawk, boreal
owl, wood frog,
and boreal toad. Lynx and
wolverine once inhabited this wild forest. Rock
Creek Roadless Area is also valued for the recreational
opportunities it
provides. It is a favorite
destination for hikers, campers, anglers,
hunters, and
mountain bikers. It is one of the best-loved roadless
areas on the Forest.
THE THREAT: OIL & GAS EXPLORATION COULD HARM
ROCK CREEK'S WILD SIDE.
The oil industry now has the
Rock Creek Roadless Area squarely in its
sights. The industry recently submitted a
proposal to conduct seismic
exploration in the area,
which would require the construction of five
helicopter
landing pads, potentially some logging, and the use of
portable drill rigs and explosives at 330 foot intervals
over a 5-mile line
bisecting the area. These
activities could degrade wildlife habitat and the
recreation experience of visitors. While the
Forest Service has
temporarily delayed a decision on the
project, it could still approve it shortly.
More frightening, oil development - with networks of roads,
huge cleared
areas for drill pads, venting wells, and a
maze of industrial facilities
-
could follow exploration. Industry would not
likely target this area
for expensive exploration
activities unless it was likely to develop the
area.
Keeping out exploration now may save Rock Creek from later
energy
development that would doom this wild area and
its wild inhabitants.
In short,
this is a bad proposal that the Forest Service should reject.
NO SHORTCUTS ON ENVIRONMENTAL
ANALYSIS
If the Forest Service decides to consider this
damaging proposal at all,
the agency must not
short-circuit citizen involvement and input by excluding
this decision from required environmental
review. Industry has
apparently already
pressed the Forest Service to approve the seismic exploration as
quickly as possible - by excluding it from environmental
analysis.
Given Rock Creek's incredible
values, and strong public support for the area's
protection, the Forest Service must prepare a full
environmental impact
statement to consider the potential
impacts of multiple helicopter
landing areas,
explosives, and drill rigs in important wildlife habitat and a
popular recreation area.
In addition, approval of this helicopter and ground assault
could
undermine the ongoing process for updating and
revising the current forest plan.
The Rock
Creek Roadless Area would be protected as a recommended wilderness
area by three of the potential long-term forest plans the
Forest Service is
now analyzing. Clearly, it
is much less likely that Rock Creek will get the
protection it deserves if helicopter landing pads and
drilling areas
have been built within its boundaries,
and if oil and gas development
follows.
The time to protect Rock Creek is now.
SPEAK OUT TO SAVE ROCK CREEK
Please send a letter, fax, email, or make a call to the
Forest Service
by APRIL 20 telling the agency to reject
this seismic project and to
protect the Rock Creek
Roadless Area. In your communication, please use your
own personal experiences and write from your heart.
You may also want to include the
following points:
1. The
wild forests of Rock Creek are far more important for the
wildlife habitat and recreational opportunities than for any
oil or gas that
might exist below its surface, and so
should be protected as wilderness for
all its natural
inhabitants and for the people of the United States. The
Forest Service should flat-out reject this proposal.
2. The oil and gas project
would prejudice the forest planning
process now underway
by harming the unique natural qualities required for wilderness
and "research natural area" designations. If the
Forest Service intends to
consider oil and gas
exploration in Rock Creek, it should not do so
until the
Forest Plan has been revised.
3. The Forest Service must not push through this oil
and gas
project without allowing full public
participation, without evaluating its environmental
consequences, and without allowing the public the right to
appeal the
decision. The Forest Service must
prepare a full "Environmental Impact
Statement" before
carrying out this proposal.
4. Remind the Forest Service that the oil industry
doesn't own
these wildlands; they are owned by all
Americans.
Please mail, fax,
email or call directly to:
Supervisor Mary Peterson
Medicine
Bow National Forest
2468 Jackson St.
Laramie WY 82070
mailto:mhpeterson@fs.fed.us
Telephone: 307-745-2300
Fax: 307-745-2398
Thank you for taking the time to speak out for one of the
last wild
forests on the Medicine Bow National Forest.
For more information, contact:
Erik Molvar at
mailto:erik@biodiversityassociates.org or Eric
Bonds at
mailto:ebonds@biodiversityassociates.org at
Biodiversity Associates
(307-342-7978).
Steve Holmer
Campaign Coordinator
American Lands
726 7th Street SE
Washington,
D.C. 20003
202/547-9105
202/547-9213 fax
mailto:wafcdc@americanlands.org
http://www.americanlands.org
Apologies to those of you who had your e-mails returned on
this very
important issue. The government had their
e-mails changed when the onslaught
of support began.
This glitch is due to our effectiveness, do not be fooled!
To avoid this problem in the future, we are now directing
e-mails to Accion
Ecologica in Ecuador. They will print
them up and hand deliver them to the
government. And
don't forget to call Citi and tell them that they can no
longer continue to fund this type of social and
environmental injustice and
get your business! It is
time to tell them "Not with my money!"
1-888-250-3985
and dial 0 until you reach a human operator.
Below is:
#1
Update on the OCP activists
#2 Contact info for Accion
Ecologica
#3 Press Release from Ecuador
We will continue to keep you posted
as this story unfolds. Thanks for all of
your excellent
work.
#1
OCP UPDATE
ILLEGAL INCARCERATION OF MINDO ACTIVISTS
CONTINUES!
FOREIGN ACTIVISTS TO BE DEPORTED!
URGENT LETTERS NEEDED TO GET THEM RELEASED!
Ecuadorian activists and their
international allies remain in custody today
after being
arrested late Monday afternoon in the Mindo cloudforest region
where local residents had maintained a forest occupation
since Jan 2 to
block the passage of the country's new
OCP oil pipeline. The foreigners,
from
Colombia, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Ireland, and the United States
are all facing imminent deportation. Meanwhile,
the Ecuadorians are facing
charges of halting pipeline
construction, trespass, and damaging
construction
equipment. In response to the charges, local environmental and
human rights groups point out that OCP's environmental
license was revoked
by the country's Environmental
Ministry due to damage done to local
ecosystems BY THE
OCP ITSELF. Until the license is reinstated, the oil
consortium is prohibited from working in the Mindo
region. The peaceful
forest occupation was
also taking place on private property within the Mindo
Nambillo Protected Reserve with permission from the
landowner.
Additionally, evidence continues to surface
of irregularities in both the
eviction and subsequent
arrest of the activists which clearly violated the
Ecuadorian constitution and penal code law, as well as
international human
rights law. Principally,
the eviction and arrests were carried out BEFORE a
warrant or eviction order were given. Local
groups report that government
officials failed to
produce these critical documents even after the
activists had been transferred to a detention center in
Quito, 2 hours from
Mindo.
Accion Ecologica has filed a Habeas Corpus brief before the
Municipality of
Quito which would free the activists and
drop all charges. The hearing is
set for
Monday morning and they are urging concerned citizens around the
world to write letters of solidarity and demand that the
government drop all
charges and release the activists
immediately.
#2 PLEASE TAKE A
MINUTE TO LET THE ECUADORIAN GOVERNMENT KNOW THAT THE EYES
OF
THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY ARE
UPON THEM! WE WILL NOT STAND FOR THE
WRONGFUL
AND ILLEGAL ARREST OF THOSE WHOSE ONLY CRIME WAS TO DEFEND LIFE!
EMAIL LETTERS to Accion Ecologica
at: amazonia@accionecologica.org and
oilwatch@uio.satnet.net (yes, these emails actually work!)
who will deliver
them at the hearing Monday morning.
Please address your letters to:
General (r)
Paco Moncayo
Alcalde del Distrito Metropolitano de Quito
Quito - Ecuador
Señor
Efrén Cocíos
Vice-Alcalde del Distrito Metropolitano de Quito
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________
#3 Acción Por la Vida Mindo ¨ Acción Ecológica ¨ Amazon
Watch ¨ Rainforest
Action Network
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 28 2002
Contacts: In Ecuador - Natalia Arias, Acción Ecológica
(593-22-547-516)
Molly
Brown, Acción por la vida(593-22-765-471)
In US
- Kevin Koenig, Amazon Watch
(510-419-0617) or cell
(202-256-9795)
Ilyse Hogue, Rainforest Action Network (415-398-4404)
PIPELINE PROTESTS CONTINUE AS
ECUADORIAN ARMED FORCES
EVICT MINDO ENVIRONMENTALISTS
Local Community Blocks Highway
and Confiscates OCP Vehicles in Response
(Mindo, Ecuador)-Approximately one hundred members of the
Ecuadorian
National Police forcibly evicted seventeen
activists Monday evening
blockading the OCP pipeline
route through the sensitive Mindo Nambillo
Protected
Cloudforest. Residents of Mindo, with support from international
allies, had been peacefully occupying the treetops and
cloudforest ridgeline
of this protected forest since
January 2 in an effort to stop the
construction of the
heavy crude pipeline through the area.
The Mindo Nambillo Cloudforest Reserve and the surrounding
ecologically
sensitive forests are considered an
unparalleled epicenter of biodiversity
and are home to
more than 450 species of birds---46 of which are threatened
by extinction.
Local Ecuadorian and foreign activists were arrested at the
site and
transported in buses contracted by the OCP
Consortium to a detention center
in capital city of
Quito. They are expected to be charged at a hearing set
for Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon.
In response to the arrests, sixty
men and women demonstrated their
opposition to the
pipeline's passage by blocking the principal highway from
Quito to Los Bancos through the night. During
this time, local citizens
confiscated two large OCP
tractor-trailers carrying pipeline tubes destined
for
Quito. Residents forced the vehicles into the town square where, in a
display of colorful defiance, they painted tubes with
the phrase "OCP out of
Mindo." Townspeople
are demanding that all seventeen detainees be released
before they relinquish the vehicles.
"We demand the immediate release of
those detained whose only crime is
defending the
Ecuadorian patrimony and humanity. We also reaffirm our
struggle against the construction of the OCP pipeline and
declare that these
types of repressive measures will not
stop us," said Efrain Toapanta of
Acción por la Vida.
The eviction is the latest
controversy to plague the embattled pipeline. On
March 6, Ecuador's Ministry of the Environment revoked OCP's
environmental
license for the Mindo region until damage
endured during construction has
been
repaired. The license suspension came just hours after the government
reached an agreement with Amazonian communities who
paralyzed commerce and
brought oil production to a stand
still over OCP construction and
socio-economic
conditions in the impoverished region. Three protesters were
killed in a military crackdown during the week-long state of
emergency.
"Yet again we see OCP
relying on the Ecuadorian military to do its dirty
work. The Consortium is evidently willing to
clear anything in its path-be
it endangered species, old
growth cloudforest, or peaceful protestors," said
Kevin
Koenig, Oil Campaigner with Amazon Watch. "With this latest activity,
OCP has shown their blatant indifference to sensitive
ecosystems, the
livelihoods of local communities, and
basic human rights," said Koenig.
The forest occupation in Mindo has drawn international
attention and
support, including letters of solidarity
from Julia Butterfly Hill.
Financial giants WestLB and
Citibank, who have been hit with protests in 24
countries around the world, continue to come under fire for
their
involvement in the $1.1 billion project.
EarthNet News
... a project of the
Center for Environmental Citizenship
http://www.envirocitizen.org
----------------------------------------------------------------------
March 29, 2002
----------------------------------------------------------------------
This week in EarthNet, we take a
look at how the US
furniture business is treating
ancient forests. And
there's a new section, AT THE
(GRASS)ROOT, that looks
at the good work of good groups.
This week we're highlighting
some Buffalo Soldiers.
Plus, we've got some good news --
you can breathe a
little easier this week after a court
ruling. But the
bad news is that nagging suspicion that
the Bush administration
is in the pocket of Big Oil
turns out to be true. Check
it out in GLIMMER OF HOPE
and MERCY, MERCY ME.
--Zachariah
Silk, EarthNet Editor
mailto:earthnet@envirocitizen.org
----------------------------------------------------------------------
CONTENT
----------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Corporate Corner: Knock on
Wood
2. Quote of the Week
3. At
the (Grass)Root: Buffalo Soldiers
4. Glimmer of Hope:
Take a Deep Breath
5. Mercy, Mercy Me: Quid Pro
Dough?
6. Jobs and Internships
7. Conferences and Gatherings
8.
Activist Phone Book & EarthNet News Info
----------------------------------------------------------------------
CORPORATE CORNER
----------------------------------------------------------------------
KNOCK ON WOOD
CLICK HERE to tell Ethan Allen to
leave ancient forests
alone.
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/g7qAAaF1jPFp/ETHANALLEN
The US has already destroyed over 90
percent of its
ancient forests, and now it's the world's
largest consumer
of ancient forest products. Some
companies -- such
as Ikea, The Home Depot and Lowes --
have promised
not to buy and sell products from
endangered forests.
Others have refused to take such a
strong stand. And
new evidence shows that US furniture
manufacturers
are the single largest illegal-timber
consuming industry
in the country. They buy illegally
harvested timber
from Amazon and African forests and
contribute to the
destruction of ecosystems and
indigenous communities.
Student
activists all over the country are calling
attention to
evidence -- presented in a Greenpeace
report -- that
furniture manufacturers are buying illegally
cut wood.
Despite the shouting, many companies prefer
to turn a
deaf ear to the evidence of their harm. And
Ethan Allen,
one of the largest furniture manufacturers
in the US,
has been the deafest of all.
Ethan Allen is an independent company and retails their
own furniture in more than 300 outlets across the US,
which makes them one of the largest furniture retailers
in the country. Though they've seen clear evidence
they are buying illegal wood, the company refuses to
assess their wood purchases or commit to a total phase
out of wood from endangered forests.
Greenpeace, SEAC, Free the Planet!
and other environmental
groups are launching a campaign
to highlight the questionable
practices of Ethan Allen
and others in the furniture
industry. The groups are
calling on Ethan Allen to
stop buying timber that is
illegally logged from endangered
forests and to commit
to selling timber that is certified
by the Forest
Stewardship Council (FSC). They're going
to radically
change the US furniture industry once
and for all. Want
to help?
TAKE ACTION NOW:
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/g7qAAaF1jPFp/ETHANALLEN
Help radically change the US furniture industry.
TAKE MORE ACTION:
Join in the fun! Greenpeace is organizing Days of Action
across the county on April 14-16. For more info call
Greenpeace's Meghan Conklin at 1-888-363-9197 or go
to http://actionnetwork.org/ct/W7qAAaF1jP-1/GREENPEACE-INFO
.
FOR MORE INFO:
**Greenpeace Report
(requires Adobe Acrobat)
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/6dqAAaF1jPFG/GREENPEACE_REPORT
**Greenpeace Forest Info
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/61qAAaF1jPFH/GREENPEACE
----------------------------------------------------------------------
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Aim for the chopping block. If
you aim for the wood,
you will have nothing. Aim past
the wood, aim through
the wood; aim for the chopping
block.
-- Annie Dillard
----------------------------------------------------------------------
AT THE (GRASS)ROOT
----------------------------------------------------------------------
BUFFALO SOLDIERS
Fifty million buffalo once roamed
the plains of North
America. They were tuned into the
seasons and moved
about at will -- no artificial
boundaries blocking
them in. Think about it -- this was
the largest concentration
of mammals ever known to exist
anywhere at anytime.
We all know that by the early 20th
century all but
a fraction of the herds had been
slaughtered. Their
direct descendants -- the only
continuously wild population
in America -- are alive
today in and around Yellowstone
National Park. However,
the survival of these last
wild buffalo is in jeopardy.
The State of Montana and
public agencies are running a
program that is eerily
reminiscent of the old buffalo
slaughters. Under this
program, any innocent bison who
wander out of a human
drawn line in the snow are chased
by snowmobiles, helicopters
and ATVs -- and then
trapped, confined in pens and
shot dead.
Enter the Buffalo Field Campaign
(BFC) -- a community
of volunteers who defend America's
last free roaming
bison and share their story with the
world. The wily
activists stand side-by-side with the
buffalo on their
native range and advocate for their
protection -- putting
themselves between the bison and
the bullet. These
Buffalo Soldiers are armed with some
impressive tools
including public process, education,
videography, and
litigation. But their most impressive
work comes from
their legions of volunteers who travel
from all over
the world to stand on the snow covered
plains of the
Yellowstone Park and protect these
majestic creatures.
FOR MORE
INFO:
**Buffalo Field Campaign
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/WdqAAaF1jPFC/BUFFALO
**Salon 03-28-02
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/O7qAAaF1jPFK/SALON
TAKE ACTION NOW:
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/W1qAAaF1jPFV/BUFFALO_ACTION
Tell the US Government to protect Yellowstone's
buffalo.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
GLIMMER OF HOPE
----------------------------------------------------------------------
TAKE A DEEP BREATH
The Environmental Protection Agency
says it can finally
move on requiring tougher air
pollution standards after
winning a five-year legal
fight over one of the most
controversial Clinton-era
environmental regulations.
The U.S. Court of Appeals
yesterday upheld the standards
for ozone and particulate
pollution putting a steak
in the heart of a five-year
campaign by industry groups
to have the standards
overturned. The court brushed
aside industry arguments
and ruled that the U.S. EPA
did not exceed its authority
in setting the standards
and that the standards were
neither arbitrary nor unreasonable.
According to some
solid estimates the standards will
prevent 15,000
premature deaths, 350,000 cases of asthma,
and 1 million
cases of decreased lung function in children.
EPA
Administrator Christie Whitman responded to the
ruling
with some groundbreaking insights, "what this
says is
first of all the court recognizes sound science
and the
ability of the EPA to enforce that and in fact
particulate matter and smog are important to public
health." Thanks, Christie, it's a relief to know the
EPA Administrator thinks that the agency should enforce
good science and that pollution is bad for us.
FOR MORE INFO:
**NRDC News 03-27-02
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/O1qAAaF1jPFJ/NRDC_NEWS
**Los Angeles Times 03-27-02
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/6pqAAaF1jPF-/LATIMES
TAKE ACTION NOW:
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/gdqAAaF1jPF0/CLEAN_AIR
Tell the Bush Administration You Want Clean Air
----------------------------------------------------------------------
MERCY, MERCY ME
----------------------------------------------------------------------
QUID PRO DOUGH?
The thousands of Department of
Energy documents released
under court order confirm the
cozy relationship between
huge, politically connected
corporations and the White
House energy task force. It's
clear U.S. Energy Secretary
Spencer Abraham met only
with energy industry executives
and no environmental or
consumer groups as he helped
to write the Bush
administration's energy policy. Sure,
the Bush
administration's love affair with big business
isn't
much news. But now for the first time we're getting
a
look at how this exclusive access works.
Secretary Abraham met with 109 industry representatives
during the drafting of the energy policy. And the kicker
is a set of the individuals or groups that met with
Abraham contributed a total of $16.6 million to the
Republicans since 1999 -- nearly three times what they
gave to the Democrats. So, what does all this dough
get you?
Policy, baby, policy. The Energy Department's documents
show that an executive order on energy policy released
by President Bush last May was copied nearly word-for-word
from a proposal by Big Oil lobbyists. On March 20,
our friends at the American Petroleum Institute (API)
sent an email to the administration containing "a suggested
executive order." And, sure enough, on May 19 Bush
issued an executive order almost identical to API's
"suggestion." Starting to see the connection?
FOR MORE INFO:
**NY Times 03-27-02
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/OdqAAaF1jPFD/NYTIMES
**Washington Post 03-28-02
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/OpqAAaF1jPFZ/WAPOST
GRIST MAGAZINE EXCLUSIVE http://www.gristmagazine.com:
Confessions of an Energy Task Force member -- diary
of Dick Cheney's secretive group discovered!
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/67qAAaF1jPFF/GRIST_MAGAZINE
----------------------------------------------------------------------
JOBS AND INTERNSHIPS
----------------------------------------------------------------------
These are a sampling of the over
200 environmental
and activist jobs and internships
listed at http://www.envirocitizen.org/enet/jobs/index.asp
Job Title: Campaign Director
Organization: Save Our Wild Salmon
Location: Seattle, WA or Portland, OR
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/bpqAAaF1jPFT/3
Job Title: Seasonal Program Leader
Organization: Boys and Girls Harbor Environmental Center
Location: East Hampton, NY
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/b7qAAaF1jPFY/2
Job Title: Field Organizer
Organization: Green Corps.
Location:
Boston, MA
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/bdqAAaF1jPFR/1
----------------------------------------------------------------------
CONFERENCES, GATHERINGS AND VIEWINGS
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Lots more events listed at http://www.envirocitizen.org/enet/events/index.asp
WHAT: Factory Farming Forum and
Rally
WHERE: Trenton, NJ
WHEN:
4/7/02 - 4/8/02
FOR MORE INFO:
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/b1qAAaF1jPFQ/2
WHAT: Corporate Responsibility and
Our Environment
WHERE: Denver, CO
WHEN: 4/10/02
FOR MORE INFO:
http://actionnetwork.org/ct/gpqAAaF1jPFP/1
WHAT: Greenpeace Forest Days of
Action
WHERE: All over the country
WHEN: 04/14/02 - 04/16/02
FOR MORE
INFO:
www.greenpeaceusa.org/forests
----------------------------------------------------------------------
ACTIVIST PHONE BOOK
----------------------------------------------------------------------
U.S. Capitol Switchboard:
202.224.3121
White House Comment Line:
202.456.1111
White
House Address: 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, Washington,
DC
20500
Senate Address: US Senate, Washington,
DC 20510
House Address: US House of
Representatives, Washington,
DC 20515
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Write your own short articles
for submission to EarthNet.
We are particularly
interested in articles about student
activism on your
campus.
For general comments:
mailto:earthnet@envirocitizen.org
Submit Jobs/Internships/Volunteer
listings at:
http://www.envirocitizen.org/enet/jobs/add.asp
Submit Events at:
http://www.envirocitizen.org/enet/events/add.asp
--------------------------------------------------
Visit the web address below and tell
your friends about
this kick@$$ issue!
http://actionnetwork.org/join-forward.html?domain=san&r=e1qAAaF1juFz
If you received this message
from a friend, you can
sign up for Student Action
Network at:
http://actionnetwork.org/san/join.html?r=e1qAAaF1juFzE
March 25-31, 2002
As long as the sun
keeps shining the “Positive Energy” keeps flowing. Time for
Greenpeace’s CLEAN ENERGY NOW! Campaign weekly update.
+++ GREENEST
SCHOOL . . . IN SCOTLAND! +++
Lunnasting Primary in Scotland
was named as the winner of the WWF Our World Schools Challenger.
After
winning this environmental care contest, Lunnasting
Primary in Shetland,
Scotland, will become the greenest
school in Scotland. With solar
panels already in place,
the prize from the contest will provide funding to
install
a wind generator enabling the school to produce 90% of its
electricity needs through sustainable energy. The wind
turbine and solar panels will be connected to the local
grid, enabling
the school to sell electricity to the
generating company outside school
hours. Linda Cracknell,
WWF education officer stated, "winning
ideas like wind
generator at Lunnasting Primary show us how schools can
play an essential part in shaping a better world through a
fresh
approach to education . . . pupils at Lunnasting are
learning about their
roles as citizens. . . " If they can
do it in Scotland imagine what we can
do here!!?
You can learn more about WWF’s education for sustainable
development at: http://www.wwflearning.co.uk/welcome
+++ SEC FORCE
