Friends of the Earth works to bring together diverse interests opposed to ethanol subsidies. We work with other environmental advocates, organizations that advocate against hunger and poverty, industries whose economic profitability is hurt by increased corn prices (such as the livestock industry or food producers), taxpayer advocates, free-marketeers, and dozens of other types of groups opposed to ethanol subsidies.
Below is a compilation of our joint advocacy efforts over the past few years, divided by…
Many of us have driven through coastal communities and looked admiringly at houses nestled close to the water. What we don’t often think about is the fact that many of these houses are built on land that often floods during heavy rains, and that this creates a dangerous situation -- for the houses, the people who live there, the neighborhood businesses, the natural landscape, and the area wildlife.
Development in flood zones bordering rivers, oceans…
In what is becoming a summer ritual high gas prices are again at the forefront of the national consciousness. With the U.S. consuming 20 percent of the world’s oil supply and controlling only 2 percent of the reserves, there simply is no short term solution to reducing prices at the pump. President Obama knows this, but sometimes perception is more important than reality. Right now everyone is scrambling to make it…
President Obama has identified over $4.7 billion that the oil and gas industry should pay under standard tax rules this year but that will remain in company coffers because the industry receives preferential treatment in the code. This special treatment gives oil and gas companies advantages that most other companies, individuals, and families don’t receive, and ultimately leaves more money in oil and gas companies’ pockets and deprives taxpayers of badly needed funds. In the…
Friends of the Earth is thrilled to release the Principles for the Oversight of Synthetic Biology, the first global declaration from civil society to outline principles that must be adopted to protect public health and our environment from the risks posed by synthetic biology. The report also addresses the field’s numerous economic, social and ethical challenges. The writing of these principles was a collaborative effort and has been endorsed by 111 organizations from…
One year ago I, like many people across the United States and around the world, watched as the horrible images flooded in from Japan and the Fukushima Province after the 9.0-magnitude earthquake and resulting tsunami devastated the coastline. News of the natural disaster was grim, and it only became more so when news spread that the nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi facility were damaged and offline. While watching, or should I say living,…
In an in depth piece in Crosscut, Friends of the Earth's Northwest consultant, Fred Felleman, wades into the need to fully investigate the safety and environmental record of BP after a fire broke out at BP's Washington state refinery at Cherry Point last month.
In particular, Fred highlights BP's fix-it-only-when-it-breaks corporate culture, best summarized by two telling facts:
According to the Center for Public Integrity BP had 829 refinery violations…
We have analyzed the Fukushima disaster, seeking to explain the accident, and in particular the current status of the reactors, the human health impacts, the environmental contamination and the effect of the radioactive fallout on agriculture and fisheries, and the implications for the future of nuclear power in Japan and elsewhere. The following fact sheets provide an overview of a human and ecological tragedy that is likely to be the most expensive accident in history.
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As shipping continues to expand in the Arctic, whales in the region are expected to experience increased impacts as a result of underwater noise and ship strikes. A recent study looking at stress levels of right whales in Canada’s Bay of Fundy found that those levels dropped off significantly immediately after September 11, 2011, when shipping along the east coast essentially ceased in the wake of the terrorist attacks. Stress is thought to…
Who should pay to clean up what has been called the “Rainforest Chernobyl” in the Ecuadorian Amazon? Why are the people of the rainforest who suffered the most not represented directly before the international investment tribunal that may decide the question? Is it U.S. policy to favor the financial interests of multi-national corporations over people and the environment in such disputes? The answers to these questions may be found in the case of Chevron…