World Ecology Newswire Archive

In the aftermath of a confrontation between the crew of the whaling ship Nisshin Maru and the crew of the Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin, the Japanese public relations flacks are working overtime to get the spin right. First, they admitted that warning shots were fired, then they corrected themselves and said that only flash grenades were fired at the crew of the Steve Irwin. Then they changed the story again and described the flash grenades as “warning balls.” By tomorrow morning, they may have it spun it again and may be describing them as “marshmallows.”

Captain Paul Watson Shot in Chest; Cameraman and Crewmember Injured by Flash Grenades - At 1545 hours (0445 GMT), a clash between the crew of the Sea Shepherd vessel Steve Irwin and the Japanese whaling ship Nisshin Maru turned violent when the Japanese Coast Guard began to throw flash grenades at the crew of the Steve Irwin. Captain Paul Watson was struck by a bullet in the chest. Fortunately, the bullet was stopped by his Kevlar vest. The bullet struck just above the heart and mangled Captain Watson’s anti-poaching badge, which was worn on his sweater underneath the Kevlar vest.

Worldwide, already around 80 million people have been displaced from their living space by dams.
The hydroelectric installation “Xalalá” in the state Quiché in Guatemala is one of the next large projects that will be realized within the Plan Puebla-Panamá (PPP) and will have negative impacts on around 6000-8000 people.

"ASK THE DUCK" (Mexico)
MINK FREED FROM WIRE PRISONS (Germany)
CARS TORCHED AT VIVISECTION SUPPLIER (Italy)
POULTRY BUSINESS PAINTED (Mexico)
JAPANESE CONSULATE ATTACKED (Italy)
20 RABBITS FREED (Germany)

The Camp for Climate Action have announced the location for this years camp to be EON's Kingsnorth coal fired power station in Kent, from the 4th to 11th of August.

In the face of price increases of 3 times the rate of inflation for average rail journeys in the UK, arguments in support of greater public investment and even re-nationalisation are gaining strength. But as with so much of environmental and transport policy, the opposite is happening in practice.

Winners, losers and hidden costs in the carbon offset game.

Early this morning, at around 4am, three multimillion-dollar model homes in a Seattle suburb were burnt down with messages left by the ELF, "Built Green? Nope black!", mocking the claims that the homes were environmentally friendly.

33KB worth of information...enjoy!

Awareness of Peak Oil, Climate Change, impending global economic implosion, topsoil depletion, biodiversity collapse, and the thousand other dire threats crashing down upon us at the dawn of the new millennium constitutes an enormous psychological burden, one so onerous that most people (and institutions) respond with a battery of psychological defenses-mostly versions of denial and distraction-in an effort to keep conscious awareness comfortably distanced from stark reality. I discuss this in "the Psychology of Peak Oil and Climate Change," chapter 7 of Peak Everything, where I conclude that the healthiest response to dire knowledge is to do something practical and constructive in response, preferably in collaboration with others, both because the worst can probably still be avoided and because engaged action makes us feel better.

The Australian government has informed the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society that they are not prepared to provide any assistance if the Japanese whalers seize any crew from the whale conservation vessel Steve Irwin. Japan has said that any crewmembers seized by their crews will be returned to Japan for prosecution for interfering with their whaling operations.

A national summit meeting of children and teenagers and university students dedicated to saving the human race from extinction caused by global warming, to be held on the site of the planned third runway near Heathrow Airport this summer is being proposed by the Earth Aid Environmental Campaign.

A new youth movement is beginning to emerge in Britain as university students spearhead a drive to recruit other students to the environmental cause, and there are now plans for young people from all over Britain to come together and join forces to lend support to a massive new Children's Revolution campaign.

Anti-Heathrow expansion protesters have climbed on to the roof of the Houses of Parliament next to Big Ben.

This year´s St Paddy´s day, 17th March, has been called as an International day of action against shell, in solidarity with the people of Rossport.

Bhopal Survivors marching on Delhi to get Indian PM to honour pledges

We are pleased to inform you that the Socialist Party will be holding a half-day school on the politics of Climate Change at the Conway Hall, Holborn on Saturday the 5th of April (1-5 pm

Campaigners vowed to take to the streets in hundreds if the government refuses to drop its plans to massively increase the use of biofuels in the UK, despite mounting and now quite overwhelming scientific evidence that far from helping in the struggle to control climate change biofuels have precisely the reverse effect.

The Reality Report interviews Philip Sutton of the Greenleap Strategic Institute and coauthor of a new report called “Climate Code Red: the Case for a Sustainability Emergency.”  http://www.climatecodered.net/ The report reviews disturbing new data and scientific understanding of climate change, explains why existing institutions have failed to respond adequately to the problem, and outlines an appropriate response.

A timeline documenting the disappearance of the bees and Colony Collapse Disorder

An aggregate processing plant on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park has been sabotaged. The Plant is owned by Bardon Aggregates a member of Aggregate Industries, part of the Holcim Group and owner of the Glensanda Quarry on the north west coast of Scotland.