Blog
Hazmat trade deal: negotiators in San Diego to focus on the TPP investment chapter
I met with Mr. Grant Kesler, the owner of Metalclad. I talked very clearly with him, saying that it was, from my point of view, virtually impossible to open the [hazardous waste disposal] site due to the opposition of the local community and… Read More
Join a Netroots conversation on lessons from the Keystone XL fight
Greetings from Providence, Rhode Island! I’m here today with Friends of the Earth communications manager Kelly Trout for Netroots Nation, an annual national conference of progressive bloggers, media, grassroots organizations and individual activists from across the spectrum of political issues and social justice work. I worked with allies in… Read More
Obama administration confused about its own flawed Keystone XL process
Either Press Secretary Jay Carney was confused at yesterday’s daily White House briefing and misspoke, or the Obama administration has abandoned any semblance of adhering to a legal review process for the southern segment of the Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline, stretching from Cushing, Oklahoma to the Gulf… Read More
US to Rio+20 National Day of Action: Nature and People Over Profit
In June 2012, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil will play host to heads of state, UN agencies, and global stakeholders as they convene for the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD), commonly known as “Rio+20.” There’s a lot at stake. Right now, the Rio+20 “green economy” agenda is being driven by interests that seek to privatize… Read More
Reclaim the UN from corporate capture! Send a letter to the UN Secretary General today.
Friends of the Earth U.S. has today united with the many organizations that form our Friends of the Earth International Federation in order to send a strong message to the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. We ask that you join us in urging him to end corporate capture of… Read More
GE mosquitoes and salmon show the need for better regulation
There’s been a lot of news lately about risky genetically engineered animals in the queue for federal review. British biotechnology firm Oxitec continues to pursue permission to release its genetically engineered mosquitoes into the Florida Keys in what would be the first release of these engineered bugs into… Read More
Oil and gas drilling in the Alaskan Arctic
Absent the success of an eleventh hour legal challenge by environmental groups, Shell will begin exploratory drilling off the coast of northern Alaska this summer. Up to five wells could be drilled in the area — the first time the company has attempted drilling exploratory wells since the 1980s. A… Read More
The TPP trade agreement regulatory coherence chapter is an environmental hazard
“Cost-benefit calculation is the highest art form in the realm of persuasion by information — and the most deceitful…In essence, property rights (and profit) are being assigned a higher value than human rights. Human lives are discounted, quite literally, by government economists…” William Greider, Who Will Tell the People?… Read More
NPR’s Bluefin tuna story leaves a bad taste
Yesterday National Public Radio ran a story asserting that cesium-137 from the Fukushima nuclear accident found in Bluefish tuna on the west coast of the U.S. is harmless. The Fukushima nuclear accident released the rough equivalent of the amount of Cs-137 from a 11 megaton thermonuclear weapon. In the… Read More
Robin Hood, nurses, Woody Guthrie and Friends of the Earth: Let’s tax Wall Street!
For almost 15 years now, I’ve been doing human rights and environmental advocacy work — most of it in Washington, D.C. Just about anyone who has done that sort of thing for more than a decade in the belly of the beast (a.k.a, the nation’s capitol) can attest to how… Read More