Environment Archives - Page 25 of 36

Grassroots Activism Key to Pressuring Banks to Stop Financing Mountain Top Destruction

November 10, 2010

This week marks another example of the importance of grassroots pressure and non-violent direct action in effecting real environmental and social change. One of the many actions from last month’s monumental Appalacia Rising in Washington, D.C. was a sit-in of PNC Bank, which is the largest financier of mountain top destruction coal mining. A group of 35 concerned citizens staged a sit-in by bringing mountain soil into the PNC lobby, singing songs, and highlighting the impact of mountain-top destruction from…

1st Prize for the Protection of the Environment Goes to Friends of the Earth Middle East

November 10, 2010

OK, to clarify, the inaugural Prize for the Protection of the Environment from the Aristotle Onassis Public Benefit Foundation has been awarded to Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME)…. (I’m sure there are numerous other “environmental protection prizes” out there.) FoEME has a long history of working to protect the Jordan River and helping communities in Israel, Palestine and Jordan to use it sustainably and efficiently. This is a critical issue in the region and is expected to become more…

Climate Trial Holds Government and Corporations Accountable

November 8, 2010

Citizens gathered in downtown Salt Lake City Saturday to hold their very own climate trial-with or without the courts. On trial were Tim DeChristopher, the U.S. government, citizens, and the “accidental bastard children of the 14th Amendment,” i.e., corporations. Organized by Peaceful Uprising, the Climate Trial was prompted by the case of DeChristopher, who is being charged with disrupting a Bureau of Land Management land auction for oil and gas drilling in December 2008 and whose trial has been delayed…

Children’s Book Links People and Wildlife to the Gulf

November 8, 2010

If someone asked you about the Gulf of Mexico environment today, what would come to your thoughts first? Probably the massive BP oil spill. But in her new children’s book Salty Seas and His Heroic Friends, Louisianan Lynda Deniger informs young people and reminds adults of the bountiful natural resources and enduring way of life that preceded the spill and will endure decades after it is a piece of history. A hit with teachers and young audiences in the Gulf…

Rev. Billy Talen: Enchantment at the Singing Sit-in at PNC Bank

November 8, 2010

This is a special guest post by Rev. Billy Talen. There is a feeling of enchantment in the act of resisting a big deadly institution; in standing in the lobby of a bank, say, a bank that arranges hundreds of millions so that mountains will explode and be made lifeless, and then bulldozed into the valleys nearby, where people live. This is done to get at the coal seam beneath, for the power. There is a feeling, standing in the…

Watch Now: TEDx The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

November 6, 2010

Today is the TEDx Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a gathering of artists, scientists, advocates, and policy makers all addressing the global problem of plastic pollution. It is being hosted by the Plastic Pollution Coalition in Santa Monica, CA on November 6. Speakers include Ed Begley, Jr., Beth Terry (of Fake Plastic Fish fame), Van Jones, Andy Keller (founder of ChicoBags), Monica Wilson (director of Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives), and many others on the front-lines of the battle against the…

Indigenous and Farmers to Lead Mexican Caravans and Alternative Forum For Life and Justice in Cancun

November 3, 2010

The battle between People and the Market in the struggle for climate, environmental, and social justice continues. The next round of negotiations under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP16) is coming up in Cancun, Mexico from November 29 to December 10. Meanwhile, a series of caravans consisting of indigenous people, farmers, and social movements will be traveling from all around Mexico en route to Cancun, where they will host an Alternative Global Forum for Life and Environmental and…

Rwanda Awarded Green Globe Award for Environmental Conservation

November 2, 2010

When most people visit Rwanda they are very surprised to learn about the country’s focus on the environment. However, Rwanda’s efforts to maintain and improve the earth is a focus of everyone in the country, including President Kagame. From outlawing plastic bags to protecting its national parks for wildlife, Rwanda intends to protect its land, and is now receiving international recognition for its efforts. This was the introduction of an email to me regarding Rwanda recently being awarded a Green…

The World Takes Action on Biodiversity

November 1, 2010

In the middle of the world’s 6th great extinction, it is hard to find a lot of positive news on biodiversity and saving species — we currently have a rate of extinction the world has not seen since dinosaurs went extinct 65 million years ago. However, at the end of the Convention of Biodiversity in Nagoya, Japan this last weekend, environment ministers from every country of the world except Andorra (population 83,000) and the United States came to some historic agreements…