Humans Cause Global Warming,
US Admits
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The US Government has acknowledged for the first time that man-made pollution is largely to blame for global warming. But it has again refused to shift its position on the Kyoto Protocol, an international
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treaty designed to mitigate global warming which the Bush administration rejected last year. "The report undercuts everything the president has said about global warming since he took office." said Philip Clapp, National Environmental Trust.
full story
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Ghanian Anti-Mining Activists
Threatened and Harrassed
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The National Coalition of Civil Society Groups Against Mining in Ghana’s Forest Reserves has condemned what coalition members describe as deliberate and horrific acts of harassment directed at two of their
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colleagues by Ashanti Goldfields Company, the district chief executive of Adansi West, and traditional rulers in the Obuasi area. The targeted men are engaged in the campaign against injustices by mining companies and their plans to open up some of Ghana's forest reserves for open pit mining. full story
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Senators Wrestle With Impacts
of Reducing Mercury
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Senate critics of efforts to cap mercury emissions from the nation's coal fired power plants contend that the economic damage of such measures outweigh any health benefits. Mercury caps could devastate the economy
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through increased energy costs, Colorado Republican Senator Wayne Allard told colleagues Tuesday, and the Senate should be wary of "attempts to legislate a cure before we know what the disease is." full story
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Oil Leaks from Grounded Tanker
off Karachi
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Crude oil from a Greek flagged oil tanker that ran aground on Sunday night off the Port of Karachi on the Arabian Sea will be lifted from the stricken vessel with the help of a tanker from the United Arab
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Emirates, port officials said. The "MT Tasman Spirit," carrying 62,000 metric tons of crude oil for the Pakistan Oil Refinery, grounded in a squall. The vessel has been ruptured and the spilled oil has spread to popular Clifton beach. full story
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Scientists Optimistic About
Ozone Recovery
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New observations show that the rate of ozone loss in the upper stratosphere is slowing and scientists credit the worldwide reduction in chlorofluorocarbon pollution. The levels of ozone destroying
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chlorine in the upper stratosphere have peaked and are going down, scientists report in a study soon to be published.
full story
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Farmed Salmon Heavy in Chemicals,
Group Says
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Farmed salmon, which Americans are scarfing down because it is supposed to be healthy, may actually be carrying high levels of cancer-causing chemicals called PCBs, an environmental group said
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Wednesday. Wild salmon fished out of rivers and streams may actually be healthier for the time being, the Environmental Working Group said. They bought and tested farmed salmon filets from 10 grocery stores in Washington, San Francisco, and Portland, Oregon, and found seven were contaminated with high levels of polychlorinated biphenyls. full story
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Living Dead Haunt Southeast Asia
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"The living dead" may sound like something borrowed from a horror film, but that's what ecologists are calling species in Southeast Asia whose populations have fallen so low that they are doomed to eventual extinction. Urgent action is needed to prevent the majority of others in the region from suffering the same fate. full story
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GRACE Statement on FEMA's Decision to Certify Indian Point Evacuation Plan
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GRACE (Global Resource Action Center for the Environment) is appalled at the decision made by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to re-certify the Indian Point nuclear power plant evacuation plan on the grounds that it provides for the public safety and will adequately protect surrounding communities. It is reckless on the part of a federal agency whose role is to protect citizens in case of an emergency, to pander to corporate interests, leaving millions of people in serious danger by so blatantly ignoring local and state agencies as well as former FEMA chief James Lee Witt's independent report, which found that the current safety plan does not "consider the reality and impacts of spontaneous evacuation" and disregards "the possible additional ramifications of a terrorist attack." full story
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Bush, the Rainforest and a Gas Pipeline
to Enrich his Friends
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President George Bush is seeking funds for a controversial project to drive gas pipelines from pristine rainforests in the Peruvian Amazon to the coast.
The plan will enrich some of Mr Bush's closest corporate campaign contributors while risking the destruction of rainforest, threatening its indigenous peoples and endangering rare species on the coast.
Among the beneficiaries would be two Texas energy companies with close ties to the White House, Hunt Oil and Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR), a subsidiary of Vice-President Dick Cheney's old company, Haliburton, which is rebuilding Iraq's oil infrastructure. full story
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Australia Acts to Protect Six
Marine Turtle Species
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A national recovery plan has been drafted to increase protection for Australia's marine turtles, Environment Minister Dr. David Kemp announced today. "These ancient creatures have lived in the ocean for more than 100
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million years," Kemp said. "They are part of our unique natural heritage, with six of the world's seven species living in Australian waters." full story
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Zambia Formulates Black Rhino
Recovery Plan
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One month before the World Parks Congress to be held in Durban, South Africa, Zambia has formulated a national policy on rhinoceros management and rehabilitation. Though Zambia's rhino population
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has been poached almost to extinction, Zambia still has no management strategy for administering rhino horn. The animals' horns are valued in traditional Asian medicine and as decorative dagger handles in the Middle East. full story
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GOP Senators Blame Nature
for Climate Change
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Some Senate Republicans say there is considerable doubt that the climate is warming and if it is, humans are not responsible. Backing up statements he made on the Senate floor Monday, Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe
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today told colleagues of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee that the science shows natural variability, not human activity, is the "overwhelming factor" influencing climate change. full story
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Protected Areas: Past, Present,
and Future
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In September this year, some 2,500 experts will gather in Durban, South Africa, for the 5th World Parks Congress — a 10 yearly event which provides the major global forum for setting the agenda for protected
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areas. Government authorities, park directors, conservation groups, and scientists have much to celebrate — but also much to do to ensure the continued relevance and effective protection of the world's protected areas. full story
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House Chooses Nuclear Space
Flight Over Superfund
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The House turned back an effort Friday to fully fund the Bush administration's 2004 request for the Superfund program, opting not to divert $115 million from an initiative to develop nuclear powered space
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flight in order to fund additional efforts to clean up hazardous waste sites. The move comes amid rising concerns that the Superfund program is being undermined by a lack of funding - cleanup of existing sites has fallen by some 50 percent in the last two years. full story
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Tanzania’s Dugongs Under Serious
Risk of Extinction
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Nairobi, Kenya – A new report reveals that Tanzania’s population of dugongs is on the verge of collapse as a result of accidental entanglement in gill nets. The first national survey on the status of the dugong in the
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country reveals that dugongs in Tanzania are now officially a rarity. The July 2003 report says since January 2000, only 32 sightings of this once abundant sea mammal were recorded. Of these, only eight were of live animals at sea. The rest, 75 per cent, were dead having been entrapped and entangled in gillnets. full story
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Uranium Lie is Tip of the Iceberg
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Five months later, the truthfulness of one claim in George W. Bush's State of the Union address has become the focus of growing media scrutiny. The attention media are paying to this single assertion should be part of a larger journalistic inquiry into other misstatements and exaggerations that have been made by the Bush administration about Iraq.
In the January 28 speech, Bush claimed that "the British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." That assertion was similar to claims made previously by administration officials, including Secretary of State Colin Powell (CBS Evening News, 12/19/02), that Iraq had sought to import yellowcake uranium from Niger, a strong indication that Saddam Hussein's regime was reconstituting its nuclear weapons program.
full story
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German Consumers Demand: No Palm Oil at the Cost of Tropical Forests
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Food group Nestlé and detergent manufacturer Henkel are being flooded with mail: in response to a WWF postcard campaign, 17,000 German consumers are demanding information about the cultivation
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and origin of the palm oil that these firms use in their products. Demand for palm oil is rising steadily. Obtained from the fruits or kernels of oil palms, this valuable raw material is used to manufacture countless foods such as margarine, confectionery and ready-to-eat dishes, and also for detergents and cosmetics. But there is a negative side to the boom as well: large areas of tropical forest are being cleared to make way for new plantations, destroying the habitats of endangered animal species such as elephants, tigers, and orang-utans. full story
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Global Warming is Now a Weapon
of Mass Destruction
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It kills more people than terrorism,
yet Blair and Bush do nothing.
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If political leaders have one duty above all others, it is to protect the security of their people. Thus it was, according to the prime minister, to protect Britain's security against Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction that this country went to war in Iraq. And yet our long-term security is threatened by a problem at least as dangerous as chemical, nuclear or biological weapons, or indeed international terrorism: human-induced climate change. full story
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The 9/11 Investigation
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The attacks of September 11 might have been prevented had the US intelligence community been more competent. And the Bush Administration is refusing to tell the public what intelligence the President saw before 9/11 about the threat posed by Al Qaeda.
These are two findings contained in the long-awaited, 800-page final report of the 9/11 joint inquiry conducted the Senate and House intelligence committees, which was released on July 24. As is traditional in Washington, the contents of the report were selectively leaked before it was officially unveiled. And several news outfits noted that the report contained "no smoking guns" and concluded, as the Associated Press put it, that "no evidence surfaced in the probe...to show that the government could have prevented the attacks." Those reports were wrong--and probably based on information parceled out by sources looking to protect the government and the intelligence community. full story
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US Research Plan Another Tactic to Delay Action on Global Warming
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The ten year research proposal for the US Climate Change Science Programme announced today by the Bush Administration appears to be another attempt to focus attention on scientific uncertainties instead of
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taking action on the basis of science that already exists, according to WWF. “If we continue to delay action while the Administration reinvents climate science we will miss the window of opportunity to reduce future impacts on communities and wildlife,” said Katherine Silverthorne, director of WWF’s US Climate Change Program. full story
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Experts at U.S. Conference on Global Warming Say Bush's Position ‘Ludicrous'
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International experts at a gathering of more than 1,000 scientists studying climate change and the future of mankind said the threat of global warming is real and growing worse. One leading researcher at the weeklong conference said it is "ludicrous" President George W. Bush's administration has refused to acknowledge the increasing danger of greenhouse gases. "The voluntary measures the administration is proposing are going to get us nowhere," Raymond Bradley said Friday. full story
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New Study Warns Whale Populations
Too Low for Hunting
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Scientists have underestimated the number of humpbacks and other great whales that inhabited the North Atlantic Ocean before the advent of whaling, according to geneticists from Stanford and Harvard
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Universities. The findings, published today in the journal Science, could cast doubts on the scientific rationale used by countries that advocate lifting a 17-year moratorium on commercial whaling established by the London-based International Whaling Commission (IWC), the scientists say.
full story
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Temperatures, Sea Levels to Rise
on Scottish Islands
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Climate change will force temperatures up and precipitation down across the Scottish islands over the next 100 years, according to new research published today. While the summers will be drier, the winters
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will be wetter says the report prepared for the British-Irish Council using the superfast computers at the Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research, part of the UK Meteorological office.
full story
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Climate Research Called No Excuse
for Inaction
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The Bush administration today released a 10 year research strategy for developing knowledge of climate change and its potential impacts on the environment and human lives. The strategic plan builds on the
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expertise of 13 federal departments and agencies, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Critics say the comprehensive study should not replace action to curb U.S. emissions of greenhouse gases.
full story
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White House Touts
Global Warming Research
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The White House on Thursday will issue a revised 10-year global warming research plan that sets five goals, chief among them identifying "natural variability'' in climate change, an effort that environmentalists
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say diverts the focus away from man-made pollution. The second goal listed by the Bush administration is to find better ways of measuring climate effects from burning fossil fuels, industrial production of warming gases and changes in land use. The 364-page plan emphasizes the difficulties but also the importance of reaching that goal.
full story
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Impeach Bush; Withdraw Troops
by December!
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On the final day of the 2003 national meeting of the Green Party of the US, delegates from state Green Parties represented in the national party's Coordinating Committee approved two major proposals:
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(1) The Green Party endorsed a call to Congress to initiate impeachment proceedings and resolved to take political leadership in the growing
movement for impeachment.
(2) Greens endorsed a "Home by the Holidays" campaign calling for the U.S. to begin withdrawing troops from Iraq, Afghanistan, Colombia, and the Philippines, with this year's winter holidays as a deadline for total return of military personnel.
full story
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Denali Thriving, Conservationists Say
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Denali National Park and Preserve is in excellent condition and stands as a model for the protection of other national parks, according to a new report released today by the National Parks Conservation Association
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(NPCA). The pristine views of mountains and wildlife within the six million acre park and preserve attract some 300,000 visitors each year, the vast majority of which tour Denali via its
bus system. full story
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Europe Completes Laws Governing Transgenic Food and Feed
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The European Union has completed its legislative framework governing genetically modified organisms with the adoption Tuesday of two European Commission proposals. One establishes a system to trace
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and label these products of biotechnology, and another regulates the marketing and labeling of food and feed products derived from genetically modified organisms. full story
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Amnesty: Iraqis Complain of Torture
by U.S. Forces
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BAGHDAD - Iraqis detained by U.S. troops have complained of torture and degrading treatment, Amnesty International said Wednesday. There were also reports of troops shooting detainees, the London-based human
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rights watchdog said in a report based on interviews with former prisoners of the Americans across Iraq. Amnesty staff heard complaints that included prolonged sleep deprivation and detainees being forced to stay in painful positions or wear hoods over their heads for long periods. full story
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GM Crops Gene Leakage 'Could Wipe out Wild Relatives'
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Genetically modified crops could easily spread their genes and threaten the survival of related wild plants, according to a study. Computer models show that pollen from crop fields can rapidly contaminate wild relatives, even under normal conditions. As a result, wild species may be swamped by weak hybrids that reproduce poorly and cause their population size to shrink. At the same time, potentially valuable genetic traits could be lost for ever. full story
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Democratic Candidate Kucinich Pledges Eco-Friendly Presidency
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Congressman Dennis Kucinich, an Ohio Democrat, made his first visit to Washington and Oregon as a Presidential candidate from July 18 to 20. He spoke to audiences in Seattle, Portland, and Eugene,
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making a number of environmental pledges. Kucinich promised that on his first day as President, he would nullify the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and U.S. participation in the World Trade Organization. He would replace them with bilateral trade agreements that repect workers, family farmers, and the environment.
full story
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Corps Held in Contempt Over
Missouri River Flap
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A federal judge held the Army Corps of Engineers in contempt Tuesday for refusing to lower Missouri River water levels to protect endangered birds and fish. U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler ordered the corps
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and the secretary of the Army to comply by Friday or pay half a million dollars for each day her order is disobeyed. She said she may consider "more draconian contempt remedies" if flow is not cut by July 31. Kessler ordered water levels dropped in a July 12 injunction she granted conservation groups that are suing to alter the Missouri's flow. full story
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Global Warming Threatens Beaches
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English Nature has warned that that many of Britain's beaches could be swallowed up within the next 100 years due to the effects of climate change. Greenhouse gases, mostly from transport and industry, are
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continuing to overheat the atmosphere. Stephan Worrall, of the Living with the Sea Project, says beaches will be starved of sand and other sediments.
The changes would affect holiday beaches and areas that support wildlife. Sand dunes and coastal marshes could also vanish.
full story
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Soldier Angered By Bush Remark
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It was a no-brainer that President Bush’s reaction to the attacks on our troops in Iraq was “bring them on.” He’s not there. He’s not feeling the day-to-day heat and the stress of being away from home and getting shot at and maybe killed. Bush sure is a tough guy. So tough, in fact, that he was in the National Guard during the Vietnam War flying over Texas, and during part of that time was absent without leave. Nobody seems to remember that. People should do some research. So let’s all rally around Bush and support the Iraqis to “bring them on.” And let’s keep our troops in a dangerous position while our government tries to figure out what its next move will be. full story
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Australia Attempts Sustainable Management of Southeast Oceans
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A new era in oceans management was introduced Friday with the release of the first regional marine plan under Australia's Oceans Policy. Launching the draft Southeast Regional Marine Plan (SERMP) in
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Melbourne, the Minister for the Environment and Heritage Dr. David Kemp said that nowhere else in the world had ocean planning and management been attempted on such a scale and in such an integrated manner. full story
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WTO = World Transgenic Order
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Greenpeace activists replaced the World Trade Organisation (WTO) sign at its headquarters in Geneva with a new logo, "World Transgenic Order", denouncing the WTO for promoting the corporate interests of the genetic
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engineering (GE) industry. At the same time, Greenpeace activists representing consumers were shoved into straitjackets by Uncle Sam, who dumped genetically engineered (GE) maize on them. This is exactly what the US would like to do - dump GE food on the world. full story
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Report on USA Patriot Act Alleges
Civil Rights Violations
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A report by internal investigators at the Justice Department has identified dozens of recent cases in which department employees have been accused of serious civil rights and civil liberties violations involving enforcement of the sweeping federal antiterrorism law known as the
USA Patriot Act.
The report said that in the six-month period that ended on June 15, the inspector general's office had received 34 complaints of civil rights and civil liberties violations by department employees that it considered credible, including accusations that Muslim and Arab immigrants in federal detention centers had been beaten. full story
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Bush Ready to Wreck Ozone Layer Treaty
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US Slips in Demand to Drop Ban
on Harmful Pesticide
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President George Bush is targeting the international treaty to save the ozone layer which protects all life on earth from deadly radiation, The Independent on Sunday can reveal.
New US demands - tabled at a little-noticed meeting in Montreal earlier this month - threaten to unravel one of the greatest environmental success stories of the past few decades, causing millions of deaths from cancer. full story
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Decades of Devastation Ahead as
Global Warming Melts the Alps
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Mountain guide Victor Saunders and his companion Craig Higgins had reached the Solvay bivouac hut on the Matterhorn's Hornli ridge last week when their balmy morning climb turned into a nightmare.
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'An enormous avalanche hurtled down the mountain's east face,' said Saunders, one of Britain's leading climbers. 'I have never seen so much rock falling at one time.' The pair survived by cowering under an overhang as a rain of boulders ricocheted past them. It would have been a remarkable enough incident on its own. But within a couple of hours, another massive rockfall thundered down the Matterhorn - this time from its north face. full story
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Official Scientific Review Decides
GM Crops Threaten Wildlife
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Some GM crops being considered for Britain, such as sugar beet and oilseed rape, are designed to survive the use of so-called "broad spectrum" herbicides that wipe out other weeds and plants. But that would threaten wildlife, such as skylarks which feed on the "fat-hen" weed growing in sugar beet fields, creating the "green deserts" feared by many naturalists. "This is perhaps the most serious potential harm," the report says. full story
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European Ministers Plan to
Limit Climate Change
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Energy and environment ministers from the 15 European Union member states and 10 accession countries kicked off a three day joint session in Montecatini today. The informal council is organized by the European
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Union's Italian presidency which assumed the reins of power on July 1. The meeting takes place as Italy is gripped by drought and an energy crisis, and Europe is parched by a heatwave attributed
to climate change. full story
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GAO: Make Haste More Slowly
on Nuclear Waste Cleanup
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In its efforts to save time and money while cleaning up the nation's high-level radioactive waste from weapons development and production, the U.S. Energy Department is planning to
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implement technologies that have not been fully tested, the investigative arm of Congress warned in a new report. The report says the Department of Energy should reassess its approach for incorporating new nuclear waste separation technology. full story
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A Kind of Fascism Is Replacing
Our Democracy
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Sept. 11, 2001, hastened a significant shift in our nation's self-understanding. It became commonplace to refer to an "American empire"
and to the United States as "the world's
only superpower."
Instead of those formulations, try to conceive of ones like "superpower democracy" or "imperial democracy," and they seem not only contradictory but opposed to basic assumptions that Americans hold about their political system and their place within it. Supposedly ours is a government of constitutionally limited powers in which equal citizens can take part in power. But one can no more assume that a superpower welcomes legal limits than believe that an empire finds democratic participation congenial. full story
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Overfishing and Pollution Kill 80% of Coral on Caribbean Reefs
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It might look like a tropical paradise, but underneath the sparkling blue waves something truly grim is happening in the Caribbean. Four-fifths of the coral on Caribbean reefs has disappeared in the past 25 years in a phenomenal saga of destruction, British-based researchers reveal today.
Human actions are almost certainly responsible for most of it. And the size of the loss, the first to be accurately quantified over a very wide area anywhere, has astonished even scientists who have been studying the global decline of coral. full story
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Bioweapon Research Endangers Public
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A few scattered reports appeared in the Boston Globe in January 2003 that Boston University Medical Centre plans to build a $1.6 billion biological weapons research facility in the city centre. In February, a proposal went to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious diseases (NIAID), the federal institution charged with developing ‘centres of excellence’ in biological defence research. These Biosafety Level 4 (BSL4) facilities - designed for research on the most dangerous pathogens, such as Ebola virus, for which there are no known cures or treatments – are the centrepieces of the Bush administration’s strategy to counter bio-terrorism. full story
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Mountain & Lowland Gorillas, Bonobos & Chimpanzees Threatened
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Great ape populations in the DRC and Gabon have decreased by 50%, and just 672 mountain gorillas remain in Africa. Years of civil war and genocide in Rwanda and DRC, followed by massive migrations
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of refugees through fragile mountain habitat have put mountain gorillas in grave danger, while in the Republic of Congo and Gabon, logging is destroying critical habitat and opening once remote ape habitat to poachers. full story
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New Wildfires Do Little to Spark
Congress to Act
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As wildfires burn across 10 Western states and back into national headlines, the debate over what the federal government should do to reduce the threat of wildfires continues to simmer in Washington.
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Next week the Senate Energy Committee will again discuss a range of proposals, but some Western citizens who live with the constant fear of wildfire are growing tired of Washington's inability to deliver serious resources or a coordinated plan to reduce the threat. full story
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Analysis: Other Fish in the Sea,
but for How Long?
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A recent review of marine fisheries concluded that a startling 90 percent of the world's large predatory fish, including tuna, swordfish, cod, halibut, and flounder, have disappeared in the past 50 years.
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This 10 year study by Ransom Myers and Boris Worm at Canada's Dalhousie University attributes the decline to a growing demand for seafood, coupled with an expanding global fleet of technologically efficient boats. full story
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Oil Fouls Russian World Heritage Beaches
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Oil seeping from a sunken Chinese cargo vessel has been washing up on the environmentally sensitive shores of a Russian World Heritage site near Kaliningrad, Russian officials said today. The Curonian Spit, a long,
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narrow strip of sand that forms a lagoon along the Baltic Sea coast, was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2000. Oil from the Chinese vessel has polluted 70 kilometers (43 miles) of beaches near several Russian resort towns.
full story
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Pollution Bends Gender at Sea
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It's a sea of confusion out there. More evidence has emerged that humans are responsible for a wave of sex changes in marine animals. Now a British study has found that oysters are the latest creatures to become sexually confused by the chemical cocktails humans release into oceans and rivers. full story
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Empowering Women Results in Smaller Populations that Preserve Biodiversity
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In and around the Kiunga National Marine Reserve on Kenya's northern coast, basic services such as running water, electricity, and health care are hard to come by. Post-primary education, especially for girls, is scarce.
Pushed by poverty and the decline of marine ecosystems further down the coast, local residents and migrants are intensifying their use of resources. Fish, crustaceans, ocean-dwelling coral and turtles are showing signs of stress.
In Kiunga, as in several other priority biodiversity conservation regions where girls rarely complete high school, fertility rates remain high and women's roles in resource use and protection are often ignored. The World Wildlife Fund is supporting a small number of girls' scholarships. These are paired with environmental education, including in-school activities and a week-long conservation camp. full story
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Soldiers Speak Out Against War in Iraq
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Soldiers take an oath to obey their commander-in-chief but that doesn't mean they keep silent when they disagree with the actions of their government.As the U.S. occupation of Iraq extends with no end in sight and the death toll for both U.S. soldiers and Iraqi civilians continues to mount, more voices of dissent from military personnel and families are surfacing by the day.
As of July 9, the Pentagon reports that U.S. troops have suffered 30 deaths from hostile action since Bush declared an end to major combat operations in Iraq on May 1, while 43 other service members have died in incidents unrelated to hostilities.
full story
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Fuel Price Hike Spells Doom
for Nigeria’s Forest
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Inhabitants of an oil rich country, Nigerians have had to resort to fuelwood due to the increase in price of petroleum products by the Nigerian government last month. Nigerian environmental groups say that
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massive deforestation of the nation’s already depleted forests may follow if the price increase
is not reversed. full story
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Thousands Rally to Save
Australia's Tallest Trees
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At least 3,000 people showed up the Styx Valley in southern Tasmania on Sunday in an effort to save the second tallest trees on the planet, just behind the California redwoods. They braved wet weather and muddy
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conditions to protect Australia's tallest hardwood trees, eucalyptus regnans, which are being logged for woodchips by the Commonwealth and state governments. full story
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Windy Britain Powers Up
More Offshore Windfarms
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Offshore windfarms with the potential to power one in every six UK households were given the green light for development today by Trade Secretary Patricia Hewitt. The Department of Trade and Industry
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released proposals for the next generation of offshore windfarms to provide up to six gigawatts of new energy generation by 2010, enough to power 15 percent of all households in the
United Kingdom. full story
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Health Advocacy Group Warns of Conflicted Science
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Powerful corporate interests continue to use science and scientists to manipulate public opinion and influence public policy on health and the environment, experts said at a conference Friday. The public may
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be aware of several prominent examples such as lead, tobacco and asbestos, but the "publicized cases are the tip of the iceberg," said Drummond Rennie, the deputy editor of the "Journal of the American Medical Association. full story
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WWF China Calls for Continued Conservation of Three Parallel Rivers
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Beijing, China - WWF welcomes the recent announcement of the Three Parallel Rivers Region in Southwest China's Yunnan province as a new UNESCO World Heritage site and calls for the continued conservation of this
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fragile area. The Three Parallel Rivers Region is considered an epicenter of Chinese biodiversity and is amongst the most biologically diverse temperate regions on earth. full story
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Last Traditional Oneida Families
Face Home Demolitions
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A native American casino owner, who has destroyed approximately 20 homes of his political opponents, is likely to begin demolition today of the last 5 remaining homes of those who challange his authority.
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Christian Peacemaker Teams are making an urgent plea for media and legal observers to come to Oneida NY. full story
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Healing Our World: ENS Weekly Comment
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Why Is Defending the Earth
Considered Extremist?
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Mainstream media stories, and many members of the public, will often refer to the efforts of small bands of people who want to stop some defenseless animal from being killed or who want to end the destruction of the Earth's
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forests and oceans as being "extreme." full story
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Support for Bush Declines As
Casualties Mount in Iraq
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Public support for President Bush has dropped sharply amid growing concerns about U.S. military casualties and doubts whether the war with Iraq was worth fighting, according to a new Washington
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Post-ABC News poll. Bush's overall job approval rating dropped to 59 percent, down nine points in the past 18 days. That decline exactly mirrored the slide in public support for Bush's handling of the situation in Iraq, which now stands at 58 percent. And for the first time, slightly more than half the country -- 52 percent -- believes there has been an "unacceptable" level of U.S. casualties in Iraq, up eight points in less than three weeks.
full story
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GM crops 'Not Worth Growing'
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The future of genetically modified crops is looking increasingly uncertain as a British Government report has reportedly concluded that there is no economic argument for growing them. The study by the
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Cabinet Office Strategy Unit is also thought to suggest that the British economy may be better off supporting the growth of non-GM crops. The study - which is to be released today - looked at the impacts of GM food on farmers, processors, retailers and consumers. full story
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Human Activities Put Pressure on
Great Barrier Reef
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The world's longest reef is losing its dugongs and nesting sea turtles at a rapid rate, according to the first comprehensive assessment of the Great Barrier Reef since 1998. The annual flow of sediments and
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nutrients from land based activities into the reef has increased four-fold since European settlement, according to the report. full story
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U.S. C02 Emissions Will Rise
Absent Strong Policy
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Voluntary measures will not be enough to reduce U.S. carbon dioxide emissions, finds a new report released Thursday by the Pew Center on Global Climate Change. Without a mandatory
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carbon cap, U.S. emissions of carbon dioxide - widely believed to be a leading contributor to climate change - are likely to rise across a wide range of possible energy futures, according
to the study. full story
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UN Food Commission Lifts
Irradiation Limits
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A United Nations commission that is the highest international body on food standards has adopted an agreement covering the assessment of risks to consumers from genetically modified foods
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and irradiated products. The Codex Alimentarius Commission, a subsidiary of both the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Health Organization on Monday adopted more than 50 new safety and quality standards. full story
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Many U.S. Industry Giants
Ignoring Global Warming
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Most of the nation's largest carbon dioxide emitting companies are failing to assess, disclose and address the financial risks posed by climate change, according to a new
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study of 20 of the world's largest companies. Unlike many of their foreign rivals, American industry giants such as ChevronTexaco, ExxonMobil, General Electric, Southern Company and Xcel Energy, continue to pursue business strategies that discount the global warming threat, the report details. full story
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White House 'Lied About Saddam Threat'
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A former US intelligence official who served under the Bush administration in the build-up to the Iraq war accused the White House yesterday of lying about the threat posed by Saddam Hussein.
The claims came as the Bush administration was fighting to shore up its credibility among a series of anonymous government leaks over its distortion of US intelligence to manufacture
a case against Saddam.
This was the first time an administration official has put his name to specific claims. The whistleblower, Gregory Thielmann, served as a director in the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence until his retirement in September, and had access to the classified reports which formed the basis for the US case against Saddam, spelled out by President Bush and his aides. full story
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Human Effect on Climate Draws
Scientific Consensus
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A group of climate scientists has reaffirmed the "robust consensus view" emerging from the peer reviewed literature that climate warming observed at least in the northern hemisphere in the late 20th century was different from warming in the previous 1,000 years, and that human activity likely played an important role in causing it.
Writing in the July 8 issue of the American Geophysical Union publication "Eos," Michael Mann of the University of Virginia and 12 colleagues in the United States and United Kingdom say that "there is a compelling basis for concern over future climate changes, including increases in global-mean surface temperatures, due to increased concentrations of greenhouse gases, primarily from fossil
fuel burning." full story
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UN food body calls for strict new rules
on GM crops
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A powerful United Nations safety body has warned that the failure to carry out full health checks on GM foods could lead to toxic reactions, allergies and increased resistance to antibiotics.
The food standards body, part of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation, has called for strict worldwide safety checks and scientific studies to stop dangerous GM foods being sold.
full story
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Entire Rainforests Set to Disappear
in Next Decade
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More than 23 million acres of the world's forests - enough to cover the whole of Scotland - are disappearing each year because of logging, mining and land clearance for agriculture.
The scale of deforestation is so great that some countries, such as Indonesia, could lose entire rainforests in the next 10 years. The appetite for wood for furniture, floors and building in Europe and North America is shrinking the world's forests at a rate of 2.4 per cent every 10 years, official figures show. full story
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Report Links Extreme Weather
to Global Warming
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A startling and unprecedented warning about the world's weather is being issued by the World Meteorological Organization. The Geneva-based body says global warming has begun to trigger
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extreme weather. The WMO, which operates under the umbrella of the United Nations, says weather extremes are setting new records in America, Europe and Asia. The organization cites such recent events as Switzerland's hottest-ever June to a record month of tornadoes in the United States as examples. full story
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EPA Unveils New Analysis of
Clear Skies Proposal
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The Bush administration struck back at critics of its plan to reduce air pollution Tuesday, releasing new analysis of the "Clear Skies" program that shows higher health benefits than previously estimated. But
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environmentalists say the new analysis is fundamentally flawed and reflects the administration's concern that opposition is building to its proposal. full story
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UN Takes Yellowstone Off List of Endangered Sites
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Yellowstone National Park was removed today from the United Nation's worldwide list of endangered sites. The committee responsible for the list acknowledged that a major threat
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to the park when it was listed in 1995 - a proposed gold mining operation - is no longer a danger. The elimination of the threat from the mining project and "progress achieved in the handling of all the essential issues" prompted the removal of the park from the list, the committee said. full story
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Environmental Groups Win Temporary
Halt of Logging Plan
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A federal judge has temporarily halted a proposed logging operation in a small roadless section of the Sierra Nevada after concluding that the U.S. Forest Service project intended to reduce the wildfire hazard could actually increase the fire risk. In an order handed down late Tuesday after a Sacramento hearing, U.S. District Judge Morrison C. England Jr. found that environmental groups challenging the sale had made a strong case that timber debris left from the project would stoke future blazes and that logging would harm wildlife habitat. full story
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Lawsuit Filed Against Bush Forest Rules
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Eighteen environmental and conservation organizations from across the country filed suit today against regulations issued by the U.S. Forest Service earlier this month as parts of the Bush administration's Healthy Forests Initiative. The suit was filed in U.S. District for the Middle District of Alabama Northern Division.
The initiative unveiled in August 2002 would abolish the National Environmental Policy Act requirements on fuel reduction and forest health projects and make permanent changes in forest regulations to abolish citizen input, the suit claims. The program would be paid for through
increased logging. full story
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EPA Holding Back Data on Clean Air Bill
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The Environmental Protection Agency for months has withheld key findings of its analysis showing that a Senate plan to combat air pollution would be more effective in reducing harmful pollutants -- and only marginally more expensive -- than would President Bush's Clear Skies initiative for power plant emissions.
The Clear Skies proposal is designed to reduce power plant emissions over the next 20 years. A centerpiece of Bush's environmental policy, its passage could burnish his 2004 re-election credentials. But the president's plan does not address carbon dioxide emissions, which many scientists consider an important greenhouse gas that may contribute to the Earth's warming.
full story
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