Rules agreed a meeting of fund’s board described by Friends of the Earth as ‘like a torture convention that does not forbid torture’ The UN fund to help developing countries fight climate change can be spent on coal-fired power plants – the most polluting form of electricity generation – under rules agreed at a board meeting. The green climate fund (GCF) refused an explicit ban on fossil fuel projects at the contentious meeting in Songdo,…
Fast Track trade promotion legislation is expected to be introduced in Congress the second week of April. Global corporations are calling in all their chits from massive campaign contributions to both parties in the hope of rushing the bill through Congress in the next few weeks. Fast Track would grant President Obama power to sign two sweeping trade deals -- even before Congress has a chance to vote on them. Chemical manufacturers, global food and…
This morning Friends of the Earth and 11 other groups delivered over 150,000 signatures to Congress in support of the People’s Budget, a progressive budget alternative that prioritizes economic and environmental justice. The signatures were received by Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), one of the architects of the People’s Budget and the co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
Unlike the House GOP budget, which calls for steep cuts to social spending and giant tax giveaways to…
On the heels of the introduction of Sen. Murkowski's (R-Alaska) bill last week to crack down on the potential introduction of GMO salmon, Costco is at a crossroads. Will it join its grocery competitors and reject AquaBounty’s GMO salmon, currently pending FDA approval, or will it welcome the first commercialized genetically engineered animal onto its shelves and become “the GMO salmon store?” A coalition of consumer, environmental and labor activists recently held a protest in front…
On February 27, Indra Pelani (left), a 22 year-old farmer and environmental defender from Jambi, Indonesia, was travelling to a harvest festival when he was brutally murdered by the security force of PT WKS (Wirakarya Sakti), a subsidiary of Asia Pulp and Paper, an Indonesian company with a long history of conflict in the region.
Pelani, a member of the Tebo Farmers' Union, was travelling with Nick Karim of the Jambi branch of WALHI/Friends of…
On Thursday, March 19, Friends of the Earth will join the Institute for Policy Studies and the Salvadoran community for a demonstration to say "yes" to life, "no" to mining! We will raise our voices in protest against a biased World Bank tribunal that could allow a multinational mining corporation to gamble with the money, the health, and the lives of the Salvadoran people! We will protest free trade agreements like the Trans…
Congress is considering Fast Track trade promotion legislation that is seen as a prerequisite for the approval of two major trade agreements: the Trans Pacific Partnership and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. If approved, the two deals would undermine government safeguards related to food safety, food product labeling and gene patents.[1] The trade agreements are being negotiated and drafted in secret with the assistance of lawyers and lobbyists from global…
Almost nothing is more stupid than chopping down trees and feeding them to power plants for electricity. It hurts biodiversity, belches toxic chemicals and contributes more to climate change than coal -- all while masquerading as a source of clean “renewable” energy.
Unfortunately, the whole misbegotten enterprise of generating electricity from wood biomass could be getting a boost thanks to the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed rule regulating power plants.
Bending the rule?
The main thing about…
Dean Baker, the co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, recently wrote about official misinformation in the effort to pass Fast Track trade promotion authority legislation to grease the skids for approval of the Trans Pacific Partnership and similar trade agreements:
“Washington politics always involves a high level of silliness (does President Obama really love America?), but when it comes to trade policy it shifts to full-fledged craziness. Anything is fair game…
This weekend marks the end of the traditional Hollywood awards season as millions tune in for the Oscars tomorrow night, recognizing the best movies of 2014. In the same mode, we would like to take a moment to reflect on some of last year's winners and losers for the environment. And of course, we'll keep in line with the traditional Oscar awards categories.
First off: the losers.
1. Worst Picture – Grocery Manufacturers Association