World Ecology Newswire Archive

17th-21st February

FUR STORE COVERED IN RED PAINT (Estonia)
FREEDOM FOR TWO HENS (Mexico)
DIRECT ACTION AGAINST THE FUR TRADE (Germany)
TELMEX PHONES GLUED SHUT (Mexico)
GRAFITTI IN SUPPORT OF DAN WADHAM (France)
HOME VISIT FOR ANALYST AT HLS INVESTOR (UK)
FAST FOOD RESTAURANT LOCKS GLUED (USA)
BOOBY-TRAPPED LETTERS SENT TO VIVISECTORS (USA)

I want you to forget about April 22, 2009. Just do whatever you normally do on that day; don’t write anything in your diary; don’t put a circle round the date on your calendar; don’t make a special effort to talk about the environment. Why should you? If you are not a hypocrite then Earth Day will mean nothing special to you because like all other days it will just be sustainable living as usual.

Once we complete the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy, there’ll be a lot of unused oil rigs sitting around. One architecture firm, the Morris design team, already has an idea that’s making waves: turning them into oceanic eco-resorts. Their ‘Rig Hotel’ concept reuses an abandoned oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, transforming it into a luxury resort offering amenities like boating, snorkeling, and diving as well as acting as a destination for conferences and business meetings.

Coal is killing the planet. It’s as simple as that – so it’s easy to understand why 350.org founder Bill McKibben is willing to risk getting arrested in order to participate in a major act of civil disobedience at a coal-fired power plant next month.

Mark Lynas is a seriously well informed person. While many of us use broad phrases like 'climate change impact', he has very precise knowledge.

To show that climate change isn't something that's going to happen but is already here, he visited many parts of the world already affected, reporting it in the book High Tide: Notes From A Warming World.

As the global temperature is likely to rise up to six degrees this century, he wrote Six Degrees. Six chapters, each detailing the results of extensive research on what the next degree of warming is likely to cause.

He's also a prolific writer of articles, and has spoken out in favour of radical activists such as the Camp for Climate Action.

So it was surprising when, in May 2005, he came out as a convert to the idea of nuclear power using some questionable lines of thinking.

Most would agree the subject of peak oil has not received the mainstream media coverage its importance warrants. On Friday the BBC will be broadcasting an excellent peak oil documentary; it focuses on farming. Presenter and co-producer Rebecca Hosking explores the importance of oil in farming and the potential impact of peak oil. The film has a passionate narrative centred on Rebecca’s small family farm in South West England; can she make her farm fit for the future?

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00hs8zp
Fri 20 Feb 2009, 20:00 on BBC Two, repeated Sun 22 Feb, 17:00 on BBC Two (and also available on iPlayer).

A lot of the time, I quote other people simply because they’ve said what I wanted to but never got around to it. I frequently get criticised on here for taking a hardline stance on environmental issues, especially on supporting groups like Plane Stupid, because they’re seen as too alienating. Because Middle England won’t agree, the argument goes, these people are a danger to the cause. I always disagree.

14th-16th February

DOG RESCUED FROM ABUSE, IN HONOR OF IMPRISONED ACTIVIST (Spain)
THOUSANDS OF MINK FREED FROM CAGES (Italy)
MESSAGE LEFT FOR OWNER OF LEATHER COMPANY (Mexico)
FLAMING BARRICADE BLOCKS HIGHWAY (Mexico)

ABUSED HENS RESCUED FROM "FREE RANGE" FARM (UK)
VACATIONING ALF VISIT HLS CUSTOMERS (Netherlands)
OPEN RESCUE IN SUPPORT OF SHAC PRISONERS (Czech Republic)
MAX MARA SHOP SPRAY-PAINTED (Italy)
TELMEX SABOTAGE CONTINUES (Mexico)

"These players are promoting a tricky way to whack Social Security benefits, but to do it behind closed doors so the public cannot see what's happening or figure out which politicians to blame. The essential transaction would amount to misappropriating the trillions in Social Security taxes that workers have paid to finance their retirement benefits. This swindle is portrayed as "fiscal reform." In fact, it's the political equivalent of bait-and-switch fraud.

Defending Social Security sounds like yesterday's issue--the fight people won when they defeated George W. Bush's attempt to privatize the system in 2005. But the financial establishment has pushed it back on the table, claiming that the current crisis requires "responsible" leaders to take action. Will Obama take the bait? Surely not. The new president has been clear and consistent about Social Security, as a candidate and since his election. The program's financing is basically sound, he has explained, and can be assured far into the future by making only modest adjustments.
But Obama is also playing footsie with the conservative advocates of "entitlement reform" (their euphemism for cutting benefits). The president wants the corporate establishment's support on many other important matters, and he recently promised to hold a "fiscal responsibility summit" to examine the long-term costs of entitlements. That forum could set the trap for a "bipartisan compromise" that may become difficult for Obama to resist, given the burgeoning deficit. If he resists, he will be denounced as an old-fashioned free-spending liberal. The advocates are urging both parties to hold hands and take the leap together, authorizing big benefits cuts in a circuitous way that allows them to dodge the public's blame. In my new book, Come Home, America, I make the point: "When official America talks of 'bipartisan compromise,' it usually means the people are about to get screwed."
The Social Security fight could become a defining test for "new politics" in the Obama era. Will Americans at large step up and make themselves heard, not to attack Obama but to protect his presidency from the political forces aligned with Wall Street interests? This fight can be won if people everywhere raise a mighty din--hands off our Social Security money!--and do it now, before the deal gains momentum."

Campaigners in Greece have apparently succeeded in halting plans for the constructions of new coal-fired power plants. Can we pull off the same here? The future depends on it.

Dear Hazel,

Last week you used an article in the Guardian to attack my “cynical and corrosive commentary”. You asserted your political courage, maintaining that “you don’t get very far in politics without guts, and certainly not as far as the cabinet table.” By contrast, you suggested, I contribute “to the very cynicism and disengagement from politics” that I make my living writing about. You accused me of making claims without supporting evidence and of “wielding great influence without accountability”. “We need more people standing for office and serving their communities,” you wrote, “more people debating, engaging and voting; not more people waving placards on the sidelines.”(1)

8th-10th February

CIRCUS ADS COME DOWN (France)
GASOLINE SPILLED INSIDE CHICKEN SLAUGHTERHOUSE (Mexico)
TELMEX PHONES DAMAGED BY FIRE (Mexico)

This is a collection of photos from the first part of Operation Musashi, a campaign in which the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's ship the Steve Irwin and its crew braved the stormy waters of the Southern Ocean and Antarctica. The campaign is focused on enforcing the laws and regulations which are in place to protect the whales in the area. An illegal Japanese whaling fleet has been operating in this area for some years. Where governments and states fail to enforce the law to protect these magnificent and gentle giants of the oceans, Sea Shepherd will come to their aid. For more information see http://www.seashepherd.org

These photos are posted here with kind permission from the photographers Eric Cheng and Adam Lau. All are copyrighted.

The Sea Shepherd ship the Steve Irwin and her crew have withdrawn from the Japanese whaling fleet to begin preparations to return with a faster and longer range ship.

"I have said always said that we would do everything we can short of hurting people to end illegal whaling in the Antarctic Whale Sanctuary," said Captain Paul Watson. "We have done everything we could with the resources available to us this year. We have shut down their illegal operations for over a month in total. We have cost them money and we have saved the lives of a good many whales. And although we are willing to take the risks required, even to our own lives, I am not prepared to do to the Japanese whalers what they do to the whales and the escalating violence by the whalers will result in some serious injuries and possibly fatalities if this confrontation continues to escalate."

Anti-nuclear power campaigners dressed as “Radioactive Royals and nuclear guards” protested in front of Buckingham Palace on Thursday, 5 February as nuclear industry bigwigs were wined and dined by the Duke of York, Prince Andrew.

Nasty 'theocrats' attack anyone in their way!
Gorillas', wildlife and innocent civilians are massacred.
But you can help.
Support Wildlife Direct and Gorilla.cd NOW!

A couple days ago, I published a piece listing 14 studies that have exposed the high costs of the ethanol scam. But I overlooked two points: A new study by Cornell University’s David Pimentel, and the latest numbers showing the amount of corn ethanol distilling capacity that has been idled due to negative margins.

The Sea Shepherd vessel Steve Irwin has rammed the Yushin Maru No 3 whaling harpoon ship while under attack by Long Range acoustic weapons. This video shows onboard the ship as they ram the whalers. Captain Paul Watson said "I was dazed by the sonic blasts being used on us at close range. I have to admit it was difficult to concentrate with that devise being focused on us."

5th-7th February

RIOT AT BULLRING (Mexico)
SPECTATORS, POLICE ATTACKED DURING BULLFIGHTING CELEBRATION (Mexico)
UCLA VAN PAINT-STRIPPED (USA)
BAYER (HLS CUSTOMER) PAINTED IN SOLIDARITY WITH IMPRISONED ACTIVISTS (Uruguay)
SHOPS GRAFFITIED (Mexico)
FULL COMMUNIQUE RELEASED FROM ELF ACTION AT UNIVERSITY (Mexico)