Blog
US-EU trade talks end in secrecy
Today, October 7, 2016 the United States and the European Union conclude week-long negotiations on the foundering Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership in New York City. At this latest negotiating round, held behind closed doors, civil society representatives were even denied an opportunity to make presentations at a stakeholder’s event,… Read More
Daddy, I dont want the Earth to gethotter
Raising children in the age of global warming OK, I admit it; I am one of those parents who wants to shelter his kids from the worst of what’s out there. Don’t get me wrong; I know it I’ve got to keep my papa bear protective instincts in check, lest… Read More
Are US tax dollars financing destruction of world’s largest mangrove forest?
In conjunction with the Save the Sundarbans protest today at the UN’s headquarters in New York City, we’re revealing in this EcoWatch exclusive that Friends of the Earth U.S. obtained documents that suggest the U.S. Export-Import Bank, Ex-Im… Read More
Civil Society Concerns Regarding GCF & High Environmental/Social Risk Projects
As the Board of the Green Climate Fund prepares to consider its first high risk projects at the upcoming GCF meeting in South Korea October 12-14, more than 100 groups have issued the following statement to express deep concern about the inadequacy of policies and practices in place for financing… Read More
How are orangutans protected from the peril of palm?
Last month, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature listed the Bornean orangutan as critically endangered — joining its cousin the Sumatran orangutan in that classification. Immediately following, the IUCN World Conservation Congress agreed to take action to halt the expansion of the palm oil industry, for its role as a… Read More
Villagers suffer at the hands of Mozambique’s LNG gas development
Everyone gathered underneath the central banyan tree that provided shade from the heat of the day. Not far from the city of Pemba, Mozambique, villagers clamored to tell us their stories of threats and lost land and livelihoods. This stop was the first of… Read More
The willpower of women in Nigeria leads to victory
In Nigeria, as elsewhere across the world, women are disproportionately affected by corporate land grabs and deforestation. Two recent victories by Nigerian women reclaiming 13,750 hectares of land from a palm oil company (Okomu Oil Palms Plc/Socfin Group) and a rubber company (Iyayi Group) demonstrate how women are organizing… Read More
Vote for the environment
Dear Friends, I am an eternal optimist. I have to be. Every day, Friends of the Earth confronts some of the largest national and global environmental problems. Our game plan typically strikes at the heart of the problem: Pesticides are killing bees and pollinators – so we go directly to… Read More
Study supports Keep It in the Ground call to President Obama
Our public lands and water are “over-leased” according a new study from EcoShift Consulting, for the Center for Biological Diversity and Friends of the Earth. The study – Over-Leased: How Production Horizons of Already Leased Federal Fossil Fuels Outlast Global Carbon Budgets – suggests that avoiding the worst… Read More
Getting the GCF We Fought For
I’ve just returned from attending the 13th meeting of the Board of the Green Climate Fund (GCF). Many of us GCF old-timers[1] can’t help but feel a sense of sincere disappointment. How can anyone who, perhaps naively, looked to the GCF as a people’s alternative to the World Bank… Read More