Friends of the Earth issued a petition to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency urging the EPA to update standards governing sewage dumping from large ships. The current, outdated standards, adopted in 1976, allow the use of 30-year-old treatment technology and fail to protect water quality. Far better treatment technology exists and has been in use in some cruise ships for years.
As Congress debates how to build a clean energy future, one policy proposal threatens our nation's forests: The Renewable Electricity Standard. While a Renewable Electricity Standard -- which would require a set percentage of U.S.
Last year, the Consumer Product Safety Commission warned against the use of fire retardant chemicals in baby products and furniture. This is because scientists around the world have linked these chemicals to hormone disruption, neurological and developmental impairments, cancer, birth defects, learning disabilities, such as attention deficit disorder, hyperactivity, and a host of other health disorders.
With thousands of votes cast, this year's Biggest Biofool is Hugh Grant, CEO of Monsanto.
Grant has been a long-time supporter of biofuels, insisting, despite evidence to the contrary, that biofuels are good for the environment. In fact, biofuels production contributes to deforestation, biodiversity loss, water and air pollution, and increased greenhouse gas emissions.
On April 20 in downtown Charlotte, North Carolina, about 350 people gathered for a highly visible and inspiring march to the headquarters of Duke Energy to protest the company’s plans for a massive new coal-fired plant called Cliffside. Friends of the Earth was a cosponsor of the event, along with organizers such as the Carolinas Clean Air Coalition, NC Waste Awareness and Reduction Network, The Canary Coalition and Greenpeace.
The Friends of the Earth trade campaign draws attention to the trade and investment rules which threaten environmental protection, and works to advance policies which instead promote sustainable development, worker and human rights, and corporate accountability. Current international trade and investment rules embodied in the World Trade Organization and in regional and bilateral trade agreements create a global economic system biased in favor of multinational corporations at the expense of citizens' rights to regulate and set…
While it may not have exactly been what organizers of the April 15 tax day protests had in mind, Friends of the Earth supporters took a no-taxes-for-nukes message to the “tea party” rally at the South Carolina capitol in Columbia.
Dressed as characters from the tea party in Alice in Wonderland, the activists stood on the steps of the capitol, carying signs which decried giving taxpayer money to the nuclear industry in order to build…
Friends of the Earth has long promoted plug-in electric vehicles as a way to dramatically reduce pollution from transportation, especially in states like California where the electric grid contains a significant percentage of renewable power. Plug-in electric vehicles received a major boost—over $10 billion in funds—through the recent federal Stimulus Package.
Congratulations to Secretary Tom Vilsack
With 2,424 votes -- more than the total number cast last year -- the 2011 Biofool of the Year is Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack! There’s no doubt he deserves it; with Secretary Vilsack at the helm, the USDA has doubled down on its support for corn ethanol and biofuels.
About Biofools DayStarting in 2009, we've made a practice each spring of asking Friends of the Earth activists to…
Rep. Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin (D-SD) is at it again, advocating for the removal of critical forest protections in the Renewable Fuels Standard. She has re-introduced her bill that would change the defintion of "Renewable Biomass" and thereby sweeping aside protections for forests and other native habitats from biofuels production.