Holding BP Accountable: Environmental Justice Struggle Continues in Gulf Region After 2010 Spill

democracynow

Published on Oct 1, 2013

http://www.democracynow.org – The oil giant BP is back in court for the April 2010 accident that caused the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history, killing 11 workers and leaking almost five million barrels of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico. On Monday, the second phase of the trial began with lawyers accusing the oil company of lying about how much oil was leaking, failing to prepare for how to handle the disaster, and for not capping the leak quick enough. We’re joined in New Orleans by Monique Harden, co-director of Advocates for Environmental Human Rights and an attorney who specializes in environmental justice concerns in New Orleans. In the aftermath of the BP spill, Harden’s organization exposed how the oil giant had contracted with a claims processing company that promoted its record of reducing lost dollar pay-outs for injuries and damage caused by its client companies. We are also joined by John Barry, vice president of the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority — East, which has brought a lawsuit against 97 oil and gas companies for destruction of the Gulf coastline, making the area more at risk from flooding and storm surges.

Environmental Justice http://courses.dce.harvard.edu/~envre145
Environment Ethics http://courses.dce.harvard.edu/~envre120

“The Lawbreaking is Ongoing”: Louisiana Levee Board Sues BP, Exxon, Shell, Chevron For Coast Damage

democracynow

Published on Oct 1, 2013

http://www.democracynow.org – Beyond the well-known devastation caused by the BP oil spill in 2010, the oil and gas industry in Louisiana has also been blamed for destroying coastal wetlands that provide a vital barrier against flooding from storms like Hurricane Katrina. Speaking from the front lines of this issue in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans, we hear from community organizer Jacques Morial, the son of the city’s first African-American mayor, Dutch Morial. We are also joined by John Barry, vice president of the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority — East, the levee board responsible for protecting most of greater New Orleans. Barry led the authority’s lawsuit against 97 oil and gas companies for destruction of the coast. On Monday, following pressure from Gov. Bobby Jindal, who opposed the lawsuit, the board’s nominating committee decided not to renominate Barry to another term on the flood board. Barry is also an award-winning historian and author of several books, including “Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America.”

Environmental Justice http://courses.dce.harvard.edu/~envre145
Environment Ethics http://courses.dce.harvard.edu/~envre120

“Imperialism & Fundamentalism Have Joined Hands”: Malalai Joya on 12 Years of U.S.-Led Afghan War

democracynow

Published on Oct 3, 2013

http://www.democracynow.org – Ahead of next week’s 12th anniversary of what has become the longest war in U.S. history, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says the United States is seeking to sign an accord to keep U.S. troops in Afghanistan for the indefinite future. The United States plans to pull out the bulk of its 57,000 troops in Afghanistan by the end of 2014, but the Pentagon wants to retain a smaller force of around 10,000 forces after 2014. We are joined by Afghan activist and former member of parliament, Malalai Joya, author of the book, “A Woman Among Warlords: The Extraordinary Story of an Afghan Who Dared to Raise Her Voice.” A survivor of numerous attempts on her life, Time magazine has named her as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. “We need the support of justice-loving people of the U.S. to join their hands with us,” Joya says. “Unfortunately, we see that today imperialism and fundamentalism have joined hands.”

Environmental Justice http://courses.dce.harvard.edu/~envre145
Environment Ethics http://courses.dce.harvard.edu/~envre120

Jo Confino talks to Peter Lacy of Accenture about the scale and pace of change in sustainability

TheGuardian

Published on Oct 3, 2013

Jo Confino talks to Peter Lacy of Accenture about the scale and pace of change in sustainability

Subscribe to The Guardian: http://bitly.com/UvkFpD

Peter Lacy, managing director of strategy and sustainability services, Asia-Pacific at Accenture talks to Jo Confino about the results of the world’s largest CEO sustainability study.

The study found that there are real concerns about the pace and scale of change when it comes to business and sustainability, with two thirds of CEOs stating that business is not doing enough.

Environmental Justice http://courses.dce.harvard.edu/~envre145
Environment Ethics http://courses.dce.harvard.edu/~envre120

David Kilcullen On The Age Of The Urban Guerrilla

http://onpoint.wbur.org/2013/10/02/kilcullen
October 2, 2013 at 11:00 AM

In the wake of Nairobi’s terror, top counter-insurgency expert David Kilcullen looks at the age of the urban guerrilla.

Armed police from the General Service Unit take cover behind a wall during a bout of gunfire, outside the Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya Monday, Sept. 23, 2013. (AP)

Wartime makes sudden surges to prominence. In the years of Iraq and Afghan war, Australian military man David Kilcullen rocketed to prominence in tip-top US power circles. He was a top strategist at the elbow of General David Petraeus. At the elbow of Condoleezza Rice. At the heart of the Iraq surge and the Afghan struggle. Now Kilcullen is looking onward. Out of the mountains of Afghanistan and into exploding global cities. Asking how they absorb billions more people and new conflicts without what we saw in Nairobi last week. Up next On Point: keeping the peace in the age of megacities.

– Tom Ashbrook

Guests

David Kilcullen, counter-insurgency expert and former soldier, diplomat, and policy adviser for the Australian and U.S. governments. Founder and CEO of Caerus Associates. His new book is “Out of the Mountains: The Coming Age of the Urban Guerilla.”

Mark Bowden, national correspondent for The Atlantic and bestselling author. Author of “Black Hawk Down” and “The Finish: The Killing of Osama Bin Laden.”

Environmental Justice http://courses.dce.harvard.edu/~envre145
Environment Ethics http://courses.dce.harvard.edu/~envre120

How Africa can feed itself in the face of climate change – Opinion

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/09/how-africa-can-feed-itself-face-climate-change-201392991530954835.html

With climate change exacerbating the food insecurity crisis, the solutions to feeding Africa lie with itself. Last Modified: 03 Oct 2013 09:37 Richard Munang Dr Richard Munang is Africa Regional Climate Change Head & Co-ordinator at the United Nations Environment Programme.

Ecosystem-based systems help farmers adapt to climate change and tackle issues like resource scarcity and ecological degradation [AFP]

With the global population approaching 9.6 billion by 2050, huge demands will be placed on states and the environment to provide sufficient food.Already, leaders are searching for solutions to a series of global challenges unprecedented in scale and complexity. Food insecurity, malnutrition, climate change, rural poverty and environmental degradation are at the top of the list. Africa is particularly vulnerable to climate change threats because both supply-side and demand-side challenges are putting additional pressure on an already fragile food production system. Current systems of production will only be able to meet 13 percent of the continent’s food needs by 2050, while three out of every four people added to the planet between now and 2100 will be born in the region. In the coming half century, the land we grow our food on will change. This will make feeding the world’s growing population a complicated task. Higher temperatures could cause total farm yields to drop by 15-20 percent across all African regions. All at once, the 65 percent of the African work force who directly depend on agriculture as their life blood will become the most threatened by climate change and affected food patterns. These stark statistics present a resounding reminder of where the continent is headed, and if nothing is done millions of people in Africa will be pushed back into food insecure situations potentially fueling food riots as was the case in 2007-2008, when prices of maize and soybean peaked fuelling food riots in more than 30 countries. Avoiding the unavoidable The chief science adviser to the British government, John Beddington, has cautioned that by 2030 the combining trends of climate change, population increase, and resource scarcity could present “major destabilisation”, including street riots and mass migrations as people flee food and water shortages. But this terrible prediction is not without a solution. Indeed, across Africa, the solutions for feeding a post climate-change world are already taking hold. To succeed in feeding the planet the solution must use a robust, two-fold strategy. ….(read more).

Global Climate Change http://courses.dce.harvard.edu/~envre130
Environmental Justice http://courses.dce.harvard.edu/~envre145
Environment Ethics http://courses.dce.harvard.edu/~envre120
Food-Matters http://Food-Matters.TV

The BBC betrayed its values by giving Professor Carter this climate platform | John Ashton | Comment is free | The Guardian

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/01/bbc-betrayed-values-carter-scorn-ipcc

How can letting a geologist appear as a legitimate climate scientist to ridicule the IPCC report be in the public interest

• John Ashton
• • The Guardian, Tuesday 1 October 2013 15.30 EDT

Campaigners install a gaint seesaw in Stockholm last Friday, where the IPCC report was unveiled, to represent the report’s finding that there is a 95% scientific certainty that humans cause climate change. Photograph: Roger Vikstrom/AP Images for Avaaz

Outside his native Australia, Bob Carter is hardly a household name. But last Friday his gravelly brogue was inescapable, at least for anyone tuned to BBC radio news bulletins. The news in question was the finding by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that human activity is “extremely likely” to be the dominant cause of the global warming that is “unequivocally” taking place.

At breakfast time, Radio 4’s Today programme informed listeners that despite extensive efforts, the BBC had been unable to find a single British scientist willing to challenge the IPCC’s findings. At that point the BBC might have concluded that the IPCC’s views represent an overwhelming consensus and left it at that.

Instead, BBC news editors evidently cast their net wider. By lunchtime World at One was introducing Prof Carter as an Australian geologist, speaking for the “Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change”, or NIPCC. Someone who is not a climate scientist, in other words, representing a Not-The-IPCC body. Indeed, it turns out that the NIPCC is backed by the Heartland Institute, a US-based free-market thinktank that opposes urgent action on climate change.

….(read more).

Global Climate Change http://courses.dce.harvard.edu/~envre130
Environmental Justice http://courses.dce.harvard.edu/~envre145
Environment Ethics http://courses.dce.harvard.edu/~envre120
media

Climate Resilience and Food Security: A framework for planning and monitoring

http://www.iisd.org/publications/pub.aspx?pno=2831

IISD Publications Centre

» Daysi González, Andrea Rivera Sosa, Angie Murillo Gough, José Luis Solórzano, Ceferino Wilson, Xochilt Hernandez, Steve Bushey, Stephen Tyler, Marius Keller, Darren Swanson, Livia Bizikova, Anne Hammill, Alicia Natalia Zamudio, Marcus Moench, Ajaya Dixit, Ramón Guevara Flores, Carlos Heer, Daysi González, Andrea Rivera Sosa, Angie Murillo Gough, José Luis Solórzano, Ceferino Wilson, Xochilt Hernandez, Steve Bushey, 2013. Paper, 29 pages

This working paper was developed jointly by all partners of the Climate Resilience and Food Security in Central America (CREFSCA) project. It presents approaches to understanding and monitoring food system resilience to climate change. Based on an overview of existing approaches to understanding food systems as well as climate resilience, the paper describes a new framework designed to support the analysis of community-level food security in the context of climate shocks and stresses, as well as of resilience of food systems at larger scales. The document also explores how the framework can be applied in practice by researchers, practitioners and policy-makers.

Global Climate Change http://courses.dce.harvard.edu/~envre130
Environmental Justice http://courses.dce.harvard.edu/~envre145
Environment Ethics http://courses.dce.harvard.edu/~envre120
Food-Matters http://Food-Matters.TV

Distant neighbours | new economics foundation

http://www.neweconomics.org/publications/entry/distant-neighbours

Download

October 3, 2013  –  Written by:

Joe Penny, Researcher, Social Policy
Faiza Shaheen, Senior Researcher, Economic Inequality
Sarah Lyall, Assistant Researcher, Social Policy

Poverty is deepening and inequality is widening in Islington. After five years of economic uncertainty, public sector cuts, and now welfare reform, lower-income residents are under more pressure than ever. The gap between the wealthiest and the rest is growing as house prices and wage polarisation squeeze middle-income families. By 2020, Islington will be a starkly polarised and unequal borough. Despite these challenges this report shows that local actors can make a difference in the face of change. It identifies key areas in which action can make a positive difference to the lives of Islington residents, now and in the long run.

This report is about poverty and inequality in Islington. Through interviews with low and high earners in the borough, as well as statistical analysis of key trends, Distant neighbours explores:

• how life has changed for Islington’s lower-income residents during a period of economic uncertainty, public sector cuts, and welfare reform.
• what inequality looks like in Islington, how people experience it, and what the consequences are for all of us.
• how current trends will continue into the future and what Islington might look like in 2020.
• what can be done locally to address poverty and inequality.

….(read more).

Environmental Justice http://courses.dce.harvard.edu/~envre145
Environment Ethics http://courses.dce.harvard.edu/~envre120

Cottage Industry – Harvard Medical School

http://hms.harvard.edu/news/harvard-medicine/harvard-medicine/how-bugs-are-built/cottage-industry
Cottage Industry

Humans and the life forms they host are in it together
by Susan Karcz

Image: Mattias Paludi
You are a walking ecosystem. And you are not alone. Ever.Microbial life teems on, and in, your body. If you’re healthy, these life forms live in harmony with you in a stable and balanced system, where host and guest alike contribute to the rhythm and hum of a cooperative community.

Humans and microbes have coevolved to a point of mutual benefit—we need each other. The number of microbial cells in our bodies outstrips the number of human cells by about ten to one. And while the human genome contains approximately 30,000 genes, the microbial genome, the microbiome, is made up of more than four million genes. We are more “them” than “us.”

….(read more).

Environment Ethics http://courses.dce.harvard.edu/~envre120