Daily Archives: October 27, 2015

TTIP: The Toxic Trade Deal Coming Up


The Big Picture RT

Published on Oct 27, 2015

Ari Rabin-Havt, -The Agenda/SiriusXM Progress (ch.127)/The Benghazi Hoax, joins Thom. The Transpacific Partnership – or SHAFTA as I like to call it – isn’t the only sweeping trade deal threatening our sovereignty. New documents show that SHAFTA’s Atlantic counterpart might be just as bad for the environment – and just as good for giant corporations. Find out more…

Global Climate Change
Environment Ethics
Environment Justice

Land grabbing – Friends of the earth international

This campaign highlights the destructive environmental and social impacts of unsustainable resource use in the global North and South. We are seeking to defend community territories, protect land rights and increase awareness of corporations’ agendas, strategies, abuses and violations.

Francisco Morosini, Argentina – 8th placeAn elderly woman holds on to the fence separating her land, where she rears goats, from the advancing soya plantations, in Cordoba, Argentina.For centuries, communities have been intimidated to abandon – or forcibly removed from – their land in a seemingly endless battle to control natural resources. Today, these problems still occur and are manifesting in more direct and disturbing ways: multinational corporations occupy large swaths of community land that provides critical supplies for local populations in order to extract profitable resources – including crops for agrofuels, food, carbon offsets or minerals – for the benefit of often quite distant national and international elites.

Driven by greed and materialism, the destruction of local communities and their environments often results in the violation of both human and community rights. We have seen increased militarization and criminalization of communities who resist the appropriation of their communal lands. We have also witnessed severe environmental degradation and the destruction of natural commons for the longevity of communities.

Global Climate Change
Environment Ethics
Environment Justice

Action: Harvard’s investments are wrecking lands and livelihoods in Argentina – Friends of the earth international

01 July, 2015

Harvard University has one of the world’s largest endowments, which manages roughly US$30 billion. Some of this money is invested in forestry projects around the world, including a large plantation in Argentina which has wrecked the ecosystem and left many people wanting for work and food.

Click here to tell Harvard to stop investing in Corrientes plantation

Harvard owns 87,000 hectares of land in Corrientes, Argentina, which are planted with pine and eucalyptus plantations managed by two companies: Empresas Verdes Argentinas S.A. (EVASA) and Las Misiones S.A. Pine trees consume more water than native plant species, drastically reducing the region’s groundwater. The trees do not provide food for local animals, so the animals’ habitat has also been disrupted. Pesticides are used in the plantation, polluting the air and water.

While the plantation is FSC certified, a visit to the affected area shows extensive damage to the ecosystem. The damage combined with encroachment on lands traditionally managed by local communities has deprived many people of their livelihoods. The land was bought without proper consultation, and workers on the plantations work long hours for low pay in dangerous conditions.

This must stop. We are asking Harvard University to immediately:

  1. Stop expanding the plantations until completing a participatory study of their environmental and community impacts.
  2. Remove all plantations within 2,000 meters from the communities.
  3. Comply with all legally required employment practices, which are currently being ignored.

Global Climate Change
Environment Ethics
Environment Justice

Daniel Schrag: Geoengineering – WGBH Forum Network

Dan-Schrag

Daniel Schrag, geochemist and Director of Harvard University’s Center for the Environment, argues that climate change is actually far worse than people are led to believe. Locally, he suggests a feasible project to raise the height of the Charles River Dam, providing Boston with additional protection in the event of future storm flooding and sea-level rise. On the global level, he has cautiously endorsed the study of geoengineering schemes to mitigate or reverse global warming. This lecture is part of the 2008 IDEAS Boston conference.

Other climate-related topics in the American Archive of Public Broadcasting

Global Climate Change
Environment Ethics
Environment Justice

Ronald Prinn: Arctic Warming: Risks for Methane Emissions | Cambridge Forum

Dr. Ronald Prinn, TEPCO Professor of Atmospheric Science in MIT’s Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Science, shares the result of his project measuring the rates of change in atmospheric concentrations of trace greenhouse gases. After more than 30 years of research, he and his colleagues recently noted an unexplained increase in methane concentrations which led them to reconsider the impact of methane vis-a-vis climate change. He outlines those risks in his discussion of “Arctic Warming: Risks for Methane Emissions, Sea Ice Loss, and Ocean Overturn.” This talk is part of Cambridge Forum’s After Copenhagen: Global Climate Change Conference, recorded by Steve MacAusland.

Global Climate Change
Environment Ethics
Environment Justice

ALERT: Coal Companies Prepare for Climate Change Sea Level Rise


United Natures Media

Published on Oct 18, 2015

Watch the full movie here http://www.survivingearthmovie.com
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/survivingearth

Features
Prof. Tim Flannery
Ian Dunlop
Prof. Ian Lowe
Uncle Bob Randall
Bindi Irwin
and more

WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are warned that the movie contains the images and voice of a deceased person.

Global Climate Change
Environment Ethics
Environment Justice

Mobile Content and Storytelling


WGBHForum

Published on Oct 27, 2015

Hear from four leading content makers—from Google, Turbine, American Experience and Hill Holiday—on how they are making content specific to the mobile devices more and more of us are using all the time to listen, learn and play.

Global Climate Change
Environment Ethics
Environment Justice

Thom Hartmann on Science & Green News: October 26, 2015


thomhartmann

Published on Oct 27, 2015

Thom Hartmann comments on science and green news for the week of October 26, 2015.

Global Climate Change
Environment Ethics
Environment Justice

Processed Meat Causes Cancer and is Destroying the Planet


TheRealNews

Published on Oct 26, 2015

Cowspiracy co-director Keegan Kuhn discusses the new WHO report finding processed meat causes cancer and says the animal agricultural industry is a leading contributor to climate change

Global Climate Change
Environment Ethics
Environment Justice

NASA: Coolants Contribute to Ozone Depletion and are strong Greenhouse Gases


ClimateState

Published on Oct 26, 2015

According to a new NASA study, a class of widely used chemical coolants known as hydrofluorocarbons (HFC), found in refrigerators and in home and automobile air conditioners, contributes to ozone depletion by a small but measurable amount, countering a decades-old assumption.

While HFCs are only weak ozone-depleting substances, they are, like CFCs and HCFCs, strong greenhouse gases. If production trends continue, projections show that, by 2050, the amount of global warming by all HFCs could be as large as 20 percent that of carbon dioxide.

Source: http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/god…

Global Climate Change
Environment Ethics
Environment Justice