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 it jades you. I’m no different. That’s why I was so pleasantly surprised by how sincerely inspired I was by National Nurses United and…
In just less than a month, social movements, civil society, Heads of State (accompanied by government delegations), the private sector, and many other groups and individuals from all around the world will gather in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In fact many are already making their way to Rio in order to begin preparations for the People’s Summit and the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, also known as Rio+20 (20 years after the…
This begs a further question: what happens when nanoparticles are released into the environment, and how will they be recycled? Nano-silver has been shown to be toxic to fish and other organisms in soil and water.
The public has reached a strong verdict on the billions of dollars of subsidies that our government hands annually to fossil fuel corporations making historic profits: end them. According to one recent poll, seventy percent of the public opposes giveaways to oil, coal and gas companies, support that largely holds up across the political spectrum.
It’s no wonder. In fiscal year 2011, oil and gas giant Exxon Mobil made $41 billion in profits,…
One of the best-known and trusted environmental labels is the “dolphin-safe” label that today can be found on much of the tuna sold in the U.S. On May 16, a World Trade Organization appeals panel ruled that this label unfairly discriminates against Mexican tuna fishers, and violates international trade law. Now, the U.S. is likely faced with the choice of either rolling back its standards or face possible trade sanctions from Mexico.
Mexican fishing ships…
Yesterday evening, Canadian pipeline company Enbridge kicked off one of the most sweeping expansions in its history, a $3.2 billion (Canadian) series of pipeline projects that would carry some of the world’s dirtiest oil—tar sands oil—across Canada, the American Midwest, and even New England, a region that currently doesn’t import tar sands.
The extraction and processing of tar sands oil is one of the largest industrial operations in the world. Tar sands oil emits…
Synthetic biology is the newest purported cure-all technology for remedying our social, environmental, and public health ills. As many prominent synthetic biologists proclaimed in 2007, the world “face[s] daunting problems of climate change, energy, health, and water resources. Synthetic biology offers solutions to these issues…Fifty years from now, synthetic biology will be as pervasive and transformative as is electronics today.” Bold claims aside, the basic assumption behind synthetic biology—that organismal complexity can be remolded with…
Activists from a broad coalition of environmental groups including Friends of the Earth, Oceana, the Center for Biological Diversity, Ocean Conservancy and Alaska Wilderness League, converged yesterday in front of the White House to demand that President Obama take bold, courageous steps to prevent Royal Dutch Shell from destroying the Arctic's invaluable ecology with harmful oil drilling.
Under the name M15, the May 15th "Million Mobilization to Save the Arctic," coalition activists heard from…
Fred Felleman, Friends of the Earth’s Northwest consultant, stood on the dock in Everett, WA, this past February capturing evidence of the U.S. Navy’s active sonar use with a hydrophone. But the sonar gradually became so loud it could be heard standing at the dock without any special equipment. He was out on the dock that day because earlier in the month, on February 11, a female orca identified as L-112 was…
Today, the majority of U.S transportation fuel is comprised of approximately 10 percent ethanol and 90 percent gasoline, a blend known as E10. However, the ethanol industry recently cleared all federal hurdles required by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to sell a new fuel blend – E15 – at stations nationwide. E15, a mix of up to 15 percent ethanol with 85 percent gasoline, is now eligible for sale, although costs associated…