Update: As of late in the evening of January 6th, the Kulluk has been attached to a tow line and pulled away from the shore of Sitkalidak Island, where it had previously been grounded. The salvage efforts were aided in part by a late high tide and improved weather conditions. Salvage crews have not found any sign of fuel leak, but waves did cause water damage to some of the rig's interior.
In addition,…
Negotiations are coming down to the wire on the fiscal cliff. Friends of the Earth warned about the dangers of a bad deal and we are still concerned. That is why Friends of the Earth President Erich Pica wrote President Obama and urged him to preserve the role of government in protecting the environment, public health and social welfare. The text of the letter is below:
December 28, 2012
President Barack Obama…
Robin Hood, a champion of ordinary people, made a stop in Washington, D.C. this week -- to put his hat in the ring to replace outgoing U.S. Treasury Sectary Tim Geithner, a champion of Wall Street. Mr. Hood is running on a platform of taxing Wall Street greed to pay for global need. Mr. Hood’s namesake, the Robin Hood Tax (also known as a financial transaction tax), would see the placement of a…
Call it the fiscal cliff, the fiscal slope or an “austerity crisis,” but no matter the nomenclature, a battle is underway over the role of government in the U.S.: Should we take care of our own or should people be left to fend for themselves?
Our answer will reverberate for decades. Programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, the social safety net that so many Americans depend on, are at…
Two recent articles outline well some of the harms that Arctic shipping, and shipping more generally, poses to the environment. Rick Steiner, a former professor at the University of Alaska, writes, in particular, about shipping through the Unimak Pass of the Aleutian Island chain, as well as the Bering Strait. He argues that not enough safeguards have been put in place along the Aleutians in the eight years since the grounding of the…
At the height of Superstorm Sandy there was a five-foot surge of water rushing down Don's street. Then, in the middle of the storm, a fire sparked in a neighbor’s house and, by the next day, most of his block was in ashes.
“The fire started around the corner… and with the wind, blowing so much it was just like a blow torch from one house to the next house.”
Don is a retired firefighter…
Friends of the Earth in the news this week As developed countries have fled the Kyoto Protocol like rats from a sinking ship, climate financing continues to be central among the issues on the table at the UNFCCC COP18 negotiations taking place right now in Doha, Qatar (as Friends of the Earth’s Karen Orenstein notes here). In the talks on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation, also known as REDD, in Doha, the EU…
It’s that time of year -- as temperatures drop, people start daydreaming about warm weather, and the lucky ones start scheduling their tropical getaways. If you, or anyone you know, are planning a cruise vacation, Friends of the Earth has a great tool for choosing a greener cruise. Friends of the Earth's 2012 Cruise Ship Report Card ranks 15 major cruise lines and 148 cruise ships for their air and water pollution footprint. The…
This past Tuesday the European Commission approved a scheme that would certify "sustainable biodiesel" made from palm oil for use in the EU's transportation sector, despite the fact that palm oil production is a leading source of deforestation and human rights abuses in Southeast Asia.
The European Commission ruled that palm oil diesel certified by the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil, a body that sets some social and environmental criteria for palm oil…
"Global warming is fueled by oil, coal, and natural gas exports. The World Trade Organization, the proposed Trans Pacific trade agreement and international investment agreements are designed to protect “free trade” in dirty energy products. It’s time we got the corporate trade lawyers out of the business of making climate policy." --Erich Pica, President, Friends of the Earth Fred Felleman, a whale biologist, leads Friends of the Earth’s campaign in the Pacific Northwest to reduce…