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Ship Shape: Obama Ocean Policy Task Force Hearings
President Obama wants your ideas on how to protect our Oceans, Coasts and Great Lakes! Our oceans, coasts, and Great Lakes are places of wonder and beauty, and they are also economic engines that provide valuable jobs, food, recreation, energy resources, and tourism. However, these essential resources are currently managed by more than 140 different, and often conflicting, laws which can lead to poor management and even worse problems. Read More
300+ Groups Ask Senate for Stronger Climate Bill
AUGUST 26, 2009 -- A broad coalition of more than 300 faith, human rights, social justice, and environmental groups, including Friends of the Earth, has composed and sent a letter to U.S. senators calling for energy and climate legislation that's much stronger than the Waxman-Markey bill that passed the House of Representatives June 26. That bill contained massive giveaways to polluting special interests and would fail to ensure a rapid transition to clean energy. The full text of the letter follows. Read More
Nano-Sunscreens: Not Worth the Risk
Friends of the Earth teamed up with Consumers Union and the International Center for Technology Assessment to compile the latest info about nanomaterials in sunscreens (pdf) and their potential hazards. Read More
Our Recommendations to Obama’s Ocean Task Force
Friends of the Earth submitted comments to President Barack Obama’s Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force, led by the White House Council on Environmental Quality. We commend President Obama for addressing the critical need for a national policy unifying ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes protections and we make recommendations for improving regulation of the significant air and water pollution from the shipping industry. Read More
Friends of the Earth Opposes Obama Nominee for Office of Surface Mining
Friends of the Earth opposes the nomination of Joseph G. Pizarchik to become Director of the federal Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement. This office, located in the Department of the Interior, holds important regulatory authority over the devastating practice of mountaintop removal coal mining, in which mountaintops are blown to pieces, filling valleys, polluting rivers and streams, and harming local economies. Read More
FOE-US Statement on the Coup in Honduras
UPDATE: Two months after the coup in Honduras, the coup regime has refused to accept diplomatic options to return the county to democracy. In light of these developments, the US State Department officials made it clear that they are considering legally defining the situation as a "military coup." This would creat an automatic cut-off of all remaining aid to Honduras. The coup regime immediately responded by saying that they would allow Zelaya to return with amnesty, but not as president. Clearly the coup leaders are caving to the pres Read More
Friends of the Earth at OECD meeting on potential benefits of nanotechnology
Our Health and Environment Campaigner, Ian Illuminato, traveled to Paris, France in mid July to speak at the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) conference. The conference's focus was Potential Environmental Benefits of Nanotechnology: Fostering Safe Innovation-Led Growth (click to view the Read More
Whale impaled by cruise ship
We received a big reminder of the threat to whales from large, ocean-going ships this past week as the Sapphire Princess, a cruise ship returning from a voyage to Alaska, impaled a fin whale likely north of Vancouver Island. Knowledge of the strike was only realized when the cruise ship arrived at the Port of Vancouver with the whale's dead body wedged against the cruise ship's bow. A test is currently being performed to determine if the whale was ali Read More
Senate Must Fix Biofuels Mistakes
Many bad deals were made to help pass a major climate and energy bill in the House. Some of the most egregious were brokered on behalf of corporate agribusiness by Rep. Collin Peterson (D - Minn.) and his Agriculture Committee. Now we have to pressure the Senate to fix the House's compromises. Read More
Note to Krugman: Carbon Markets Are a Different Beast
By Michelle Chan, Friends of the Earth Read More