10/27/00
11:40:55 AM
Here are today's Reuters 'World Environment News' headlines, proudly brought to you by Planet Ark.
Doing environmental research? Search our news archives at: http://www.planetark.org/searchhome.cfm
FEATURE - Visibility at Texas' Big Bend continues to decline - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8707
Plastics fire, toxic cloud close Calif. schools - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8714
EPA unlikely to again OK biocrop for animal feed only - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8713
Rohn and Haas unit admits environmental violations - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8712
Michigan Republicans use Iacocca to blast Gore - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8709
Gore attacks Bush on global warming, environment - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8717
US scrambles to limit trade costs of biotech corn - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8708
Draft report shows world getting even warmer - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8705
INTERVIEW - Brazil says citrus canker under control - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8704
US Govt gives states $576 mln in royalty revenue - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8703
Calif. consumer group backs Silicon Valley power unit - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8701
Britain starts oil impact study west of Shetlands - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8698
Arctic faces ozone damage by 2020, says scientist - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8711
Turk activists protest ship carrying Spanish waste - TURKEY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8706
West pays Russia to close ozone destroying plants - RUSSIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8710
Tomra surges on German recycling plan - NORWAY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8715
Aventis says no link between Regent and bee deaths - FRANCE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8716
Denmark to launch green power market in 2001 - DENMARK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8700
German power law may be illegal - EU court adviser - BELGIUM http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8702
Australia Delta generator gains green power funds - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8699
10/26/00
6:36:21 PM
Dear Friends,
The conference is a little more than a week away. PLEASE help us get the word out. We have a fantastic roster of workshops scheduled with a host of dynamic presenters. We will post that and the final schedule in the next day or two. And, new amazing possiblities arising each day. Things are far from dull around here. I am very much looking forward to coming together again.
In peace, Carol Mosley
MEDIA MADNESS: HOW THE MEDIA IMPEDES DEMOCRACY (And What Are We Gonna Do About It?)
The Seventh Annual Common Ground Conference of The Florida Coalition For Peace & Justice With Keynote Speaker, Jim Hightower November 3 - 5, 2000 Rollins College, Winter Park (Orlando)
We've all been disgusted at the useless drivel that disguises itself as news these days.
We've longed for accurate information on the important issues. We've seen the media ignore tens of thousands of citizen activists who've taken our messages to the streets of Seattle, D.C., Philadelphia and SOA.
We'vegrown up on the corporate propaganda that promotes our society's obsession with instant gratification through alcohol, tobacco, sex and shopping, shopping, shopping. We're plenty sick and tired of it; so, what are we going to do about it? Join us at Common Ground VII for workshops and discussions on ending this corporate assault. Let's claim our right to speak, hear, and participate.
Return to: Florida Coalition For Peace & Justice, P.O. Box 336, Graham, Fl 32042 (352) 468-3295 e-mail: fcpj@juno.com www.fcpj.org
Early Sponsors Florida Green Party; Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space; Grandparents for Peace, St. Augustine; Metanoia Community, Jacksonville; Mt. Dora Peace & Justice Center; Rollins College; Veterans For Peace, Gainesville; Freedom of Assembly Resource Fund; Florida Organic Growers and Consumers, Inc.; Florida Sunshine 2000 Campaign Committee; Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty; Pax Christi Florida; Crises Press, Inc.; Tampa Bay Wobblies (IWW); Brevardians for Peace & Justice; Orlando Weekly, Inc.; George Orwell Resource Center (St. Petersburg); Polk County Citizens for Peace & Justice; Sunseed Food Co-op, (Cape Canaveral); Women's International League for Peace & Freedom (WILPF), Palm Beach County; Stone Soup Collective (Orlando)
***********************************************
MOTELS: Make your reservations early for Friday and Saturday night and tell them you are attending FCPJ's Common Ground Conference
Day's Inn $49.95 (sleeps 4) 901 North Orlando Ave, Winter Park 407-644-8000
Traveller's Inn $39.95 I-4 and Lee Road, Winter Park 407-644-4100
10/26/00
2:17:04 PM
OAK TREES DYING OFF IN CALIFORNIA
NEW YORK, New York, October 24, 2000 (ENS) -- A diverse array of wildlife ranging from bees to mountain lions may soon be affected by a disease that is killing tanoaks, live oaks and black oaks, say scientists from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). WCS researchers have conducted a preliminary assessment of "sudden oak death syndrome," documenting the widespread nature of the problem, and believe it may affect dozens of wildlife species. WCS is concerned with the potential effects of the disease on acorn, leaf and flower production, and the consequences it may have on the food chain. Species that rely on acorns as a critical food source include black bear, deer, several squirrel species, acorn woodpecker, scrub and Steller's jay, and game birds like California quail and band-tailed pigeon.
"The loss of tanoaks and true oaks represents an urgent ecological problem, far more daunting and profound than the horticultural aspects reported to date," said WCS conservation scientist Dr. Steve Zack. The WCS team assessed the presence and absence of symptoms of the disease on more than eight thousand tanoaks and other oak species throughout the tanoak's range this year. The researchers discovered that the disease is evident over some 350 miles of California coastal forest. WCS's results also reveal considerable regional variation in the extent of the disease. In northern California, about 10 percent of the tanoaks have disease symptoms, whereas in some southern areas, almost 90 percent are dead or diseased. "The rapid spread of this disease, both geographically and across different species of oaks, makes it clear that this problem is growing and may well spread to other oak species," said Zack. "Next spring will be particularly telling as symptomatic, but still green trees are likely to die throughout many regions where the problem is presently difficult to detect with the casual eye."
Claire W. Gilbert, Ph.D. http://www.blazingtattles.com/
David Yarrow Turtle EyeLand Sanctuary 44 Gilligan Road, East Greenbush, NY 12061 518-477-6100 www.danwinter.com/yarrow/ www.championtrees.org
10/26/00
1:04:28 PM
EcoNet Headlines: October 25, 2000
Farmers Angry in Wake of StarLink GE Corn Recall
Some farmers who planted a variety of bioengineered corn unapproved for human consumption say they were not adequately warned about restrictions on how it was to be planted, stored and sold, despite suppliers' claims to have done so. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/972353690/index_html
Critics Blast Spate of Oil Mergers
WASHINGTON, Oct 18 (IPS) - In light of a proposed merger of two multi national oil companies announced this week, consumer and environmental groups are warning that the growing concentration of power and wealth of the oil industry is unsafe for the environment, communities, and consumers worldwide. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/972353772/index_html
EU Demands That US Segregate Gene-Altered Crops
BRUSSELS--The only way the European Union's de facto moratorium on new GM seeds is likely to be lifted is for U.S. farmers to be required to segregate genetically modified crops from those grown from traditional seeds, say officials from the European Commission, some EU member states, and a nongovernmental organization. Commission officials say mandatory segregation of GM crops is necessary because the blocking minority of EU member states is demanding that new labeling, traceability, and accompanying liability schemes be put in place before it allows any new approval of GM seeds. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/972353959/index_html
Forget About Building the Road to Nowhere
10/20/00 OVERVIEW & COMMENTARY Does every spot on the Planet need a road to, and through it? How many roads? Road density is a major indicator of ecosystem health. President Clinton's soon to be announced plan to offer some protection to many of the United States' remaining roadless areas, some 43 million acres, is a start at ensuring large wilderness areas, and their constituent species and ecosystem functions, are not lost forever. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/972354087/index_html
Report: Water Systems in Trouble
EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Fresh water systems around the world are so environmentally degraded they are losing their ability to support human, animal and plant life, according to a report released Saturday. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/972354185/index_html
GREEN/Defenders: Quest To Restore Hetch Hetchy
"QUEST TO RESTORE HETCH HETCHY": The S.F. Examiner reports 10/12 that "John Muir's spiritual heirs have never been reconciled to the loss of a valley," Hetch Hetchy, which "rivaled" Yosemite in beauty and ecological importance and now a new group Restore Hetch Hetchy is proposing "the demolition of the [O'Shaughnessy] dam by 2013" as the first step in restoring the valley. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/972354361/index_html
Enviros Launch Pressure Campaign Against Citigroup
WASHINGTON, Oct 20 (IPS) - Some activists behind the protests against the World Trade Organisation last year in Seattle and demonstrations this year against World Bank and International Monetary Fund, are now taking aim at one of the world's largest banks, Citigroup. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/972354453/index_html
Africa Plans Tropical Hardwood Certification Program
BRAZZAVILLE, Oct 20 (IPS) - African timber exporters and producers are beginning to develop methods to certify their wood as coming from forests managed using environmentally-sound logging practices. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/972354530/index_html
Households Must Throw Out Wasteful Habits In Indonesia
JAKARTA, Oct 20 (IPS) - Urban waste management in Indonesia is supposed to be the concern of the local governments, but green activists say it is high time residents themselves get involved in the matter. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/972354598/index_html
Drillbits & Tailings: Protesters Shot In Indonesia
A violent clash occurred between protesting community members in East Kalimantan, Indonesia and the Indonesian Mobile Police Brigade (BRIMOB) on October 8. Seven protesters were shot, 16 were seriously wounded, and two were declared missing. The violence brought an end to the peaceful, 14 day blockade of UNOCAL’s Tanjung Santan oil refinery. The air and water pollution caused by the refinery has long plagued the local communities. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enheadlines/972354711/index_html
10/26/00
1:03:01 PM
EcoNet Alerts: October 25, 2000
Help Stop Chip Mills From Destroying Forests
Take Action Call North Carolina Governor Hunt at 1(800)662-7952 and recommend that he immediately enact a moratorium on new and expanding chip mills in North Carolina until comprehensive forest protection policies can be enacted. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enalerts/972354816/index_html
Help Protect Yellowstone from Snowmobiles
On October 10th, the National Park Service at Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks released its long awaited winter use management plan. In the plan, the NPS commits to phasing out recreational snowmobiling and replacing it with a clean and quiet mass transit system of snowcoaches by the winter of 2003-2004. While Bluewater Network is troubled by the fact that the NPS has extended the phase out period from two years to three, the winter use plan is still a significant step in the right direction. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enalerts/972354890/index_html
Fax Retailers Against Irradiated Food
While the sale of irradiated beef was in February 2000, other irradiated foods have been legally sold in the U.S. since 1983. The sale of irradiated spices and seasons were legalized in that year. Irradiated pork followed in 1985 and the irradiation of fruits, vegetables and fungus (mushrooms) became legal in 1986. A significant portion of our diet can now be irradiated, even though the studies that FDA relied upon to allow this process did not even meet the agency's own scientific standards. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enalerts/972355009/index_html
Comment Period Extended For CA Endangered Frog
The public comment periods regarding the endangered California Red-Legged Frog have been extended. For the Draft Recovery Plan the new deadline is Nov 8. Read More... http://headlines.igc.apc.org:8080/enalerts/972355152/index_html
10/26/00
12:20:17 PM
Global Resources Websites devoted to Positive Planetary Transformation
Animal Rights AnimalConcerns.org http://animalconcerns.netforchange.com/ An online community for people concerned about the welfare and rights of animals. Includes educational, career, governmental resources, action you can take and animal issues in the news.
Art & Culture Project Turuq Intercultural http://skyboom.com/786rashidaltaliq/ A multicultural Moroccan based blend of art, music, culture, news, information, travel, Sufism, esoterica, mysticism and New Age interests.
Business, Finance & Economy The Message Company http://www.bizspirit.com/ Dedicated to raising consciousness in business, this site offers information, inspiration and resources for those wanting to broaden the definition of "bottom line" to also include Spirit.
Communities Earthaven Eco-village http://www.earthaven.org/ A neo-tribal ecovillage, located near Asheville, NC. USA, dedicated to caring for people and the Earth by learning, living and demonstrating holistic, sustainable culture.
Consciousness New Thought Network http://www.newthought.net/ Your gateway to all New Thought resources on the internet. The term "New Thought" is a collective name for several contemporary expressions of an ancient spiritual paradigm of cosmic connectedness.
Destinations USA * CA * Mt. Shasta http://www.shastaspirit.com/ ShastaSpirit offers you a comprehensive community resource and traveler's guide to mystical Mt. Shasta.
Earth Mysteries Crop Cirlce Connector http://www.marque.demon.co.uk/ One of the most comprehensive crop circle sites on the internet; loaded with information such as an international crop circle database and photos of recent circles found in cereal crop fields from all over the world.
Education Schumacher College http://www.gn.apc.org/schumachercollege Founded in 1991, SC is built upon the belief that the dominate worldview of Western civilization has serious limitations and that a new vision is needed for human society as we move into the new millennium. Its mission is to explore the foundations of that new vision through a residential education program involving physical work, meditation, aesthetic experience and intellectual inquiry.
Environment & Ecology Envirolink Network http://www.envirolink.org/ A grassroots online community that unites hundreds of organizations and volunteers from more than 150 countries and is dedicated to providing you with the most comprehensive, up-to-date environmental resources available.
Galactic Planetary Activation Organization http://www.paoweb.com/ When you've peered into the star studded sky on a clear night, did you ever wonder who or what might be out there in the vastness? While NASA searches in vain for coherent radio signals emanating from beyond, PAO can give you a detailed description who's out there and what they are up to. Visit this site to familiarize yourself with our space family or to understand better some of your own personal experiences with celestial energies.
Human Relations Southern Poverty Law Center http://www.splcenter.org/ Teaching Tolerance, one of several SPLC projects, is an educational initiative dedicated to helping teacher's foster equity, respect and understanding in the classroom and beyond. The project offers free or low-cost resources to educators at all levels.
Meditation Global Meditations Network. http://www.globalmeditations.com/ Bringing meditation to bear on world issues, this site offers viewers an alternative way of seeing world events and how we can affect change.
Science & Technology 21st Century Technology http://hometown.aol.com/marion7800/page1.htm A compilation of leading edge devices currently being used in Australia, England, Mexico, Canada, Cuba, and the USA in a variety of ways including agriculture, conservation and energetic work with humans and animals. Lots of photos.
Spirituality Spiritual Technology http://www.beotel.yu/~zivorad >From Belgrade, Yugoslavia comes the spiritual technology of Z. M. Slavinski, a system designed to help the seeker attain peak mystical, cosmic experience and enlightenment.
Youth & Elders Grandmothers Circle Of Wisdom http://www.rlwandco.com/asoul/gmcircle.htm An inclusive Circle of Grandmothers (elders over 60 years old) representing all nations, races and religions. The Circle is concerned with the well being and healing of our planetary home, and the future of our children and our children's children. They hold that Grandmothers' ancient wisdom and teachings will return balance, harmony, compassion, and sanity to our troubled planet.
Editorial
"There are always opposing concepts that need to be present in order for there to be truth."
"I do not believe in states rights, federal rights, national rights or international rights, for I have noticed that governments at all levels are more than capable of suppressing and denying as well as protecting the only God-given rights which we truly have, and those are human rights." Click Here: Full Story http://savesite.net/gvnr/articles/090100_6.html
10/26/00
11:37:28 AM
ACTION ALERT: Free Air Time on PBS: Not for All Candidates
October 25, 2000
PBS has announced its plan to offer free air time to presidential candidates beginning tonight, October 25, and concluding on Friday, November 3. The candidates will get 2 and a half minutes at the end of the "News Hour with Jim Lehrer" to address viewers directly, but the offer is not open to all the candidates: The PBS proposal provides four nights for Al Gore, and four for George W. Bush.
This narrowing of the debate to the major parties continues the exclusionary spirit of this year's presidential debates, organized by the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) and moderated by NewsHour host Jim Lehrer.
The CPD, a creation of the two major parties, devised debate rules that were intended to keep viable third-party candidates out of the process. For whatever reason, PBS and its flagship newscast have decided to do the same.
The air time proposal is essentially the same as the one being offered by the commercial networks. Ironically, eight nights would give PBS a chance to offer time to virtually all the major and viable minor party candidates.
ACTION: Contact PBS and "The News Hour with Jim Lehrer" and let them know that free air time should be extended to all viable candidates. Point out that because of the exclusionary policies of the Commission on Presidential Debates, Gore and Bush have already received plenty of free air time. Encourage PBS to re-consider its proposal while there is still time.
CONTACT: Sandra Heberer, Director, News and Information Programming, PBS mailto:sheberer@pbs.org fax: 703-739-5295
The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer 3620 South 27th St., Arlington, VA 22206 Phone: 703-998-2150 mailto:newshour@pbs.org
10/25/00
4:20:28 PM
Oct. 25, 2000
106th Congress Did Little for Consumers, Public Citizen Vote Analysis Shows
Pre-Election Vote Chart Rates Lawmakers on Pro-Consumer Votes
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Public Citizen today released its scorecard rating members of Congress on how often they voted in the consumer's interests during the 1999-2000 Congress. Public Citizen released the chart even as the Republican leadership has been unable to wrap up work for the year. The organization is disseminating the information now to reach voters well before they head to the polls.
The vote chart scores each member of Congress on a 0-100 percent scale and includes "best" and "worst" lists. Just four U.S. senators and 32 members of the House of Representatives received perfect scores. Thirteen senators and 36 representatives received scores of 0, the lowest possible. (See attachment.)
"While this scorecard is not exhaustive, the votes covered show that Congress passed into law several harmful measures and enacted few measures that helped consumers," Public Citizen President Joan Claybrook said.
The issues on which Public Citizen rated lawmakers included campaign finance reform, Medicare prescription drug coverage, international trade, corporate welfare, patients' rights, fuel efficiency, nuclear waste disposal, liability protections, regulatory protections and food safety.
Three bills deemed harmful by Public Citizen became law. They were a measure to grant permanent normal trade relations to China, a "NAFTA for Africa" trade bill that will benefit multinational corporations at the expense of African countries, and legislation that limits the legal liability for high-tech companies that developed products with Y2K defects.
On the positive side, Congress made progress on campaign finance reform and a patients' bill of rights, both of which were blocked in the Senate. Congress passed a new campaign finance disclosure law for section 527 groups and a limited auto safety law; however, these votes were not scored by Public Citizen either because they passed by an overwhelming margin or they passed on a voice vote.
The vote chart includes information about campaign money raised by each lawmaker. It is on the Web at http://www.citizen.org/vchart00/map.htm, and is searchable by member or state delegation.
10/24/00
9:07:10 PM
Oct. 24, 2000
Inclusion of Environmental, Labor Issues in U.S.-Jordan Trade Pact Is Important Step To More Balanced Trade Approach
Many More Steps Needed to Accomplish Broader Public Interest Trade Agenda
WASHINGTON, D.C. ¯ Today's signing of a U.S.-Jordan trade agreement that contains labor and environmental provisions is an important first step in a lengthy path towards new trade and globalization policies that benefit the public interest, said Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch. However, because the Clinton administration has refused to release the agreement -- in contradiction to the administration's vow to promote greater openness in trade matters -- provisions beyond the specific labor and environmental terms on which citizen groups have been briefed remain a mystery.
"By placing labor and environmental issues in the pact's core text, the U.S. and Jordan affirm that these and other public interest issues are central to the globalization debate," Wallach said. "However, the manner in which the labor and environmental issues are treated is specific to the U.S.-Jordan context, with different and additional terms needed on labor and environmental goals in more general trade pacts."
The U.S.-Jordan context is unusual. Jordan has unusually comprehensive, strong domestic labor and environmental laws, and trade flows from Jordan are relatively small. Thus, the U.S.-Jordan agreement focuses on enforcement of existing labor and environmental laws that affect trade. Effective labor and environmental terms in other, broader trade deals will require a different approach. Also, the U.S.-Jordan trade agreement does not cover investment issues, so many vital labor and environmental issues connected to investment flows are not covered by this deal. Finally, key human rights, consumer health and safety, and other public interest issues that are vital to future pacts are not emphasized in this agreement. Wallach also questioned Republican motives for criticizing the deal.
"Even this modest but important step towards designing a trade policy more Americans could support is drawing attacks from Republicans," Wallach said. "It begs the question of whose needs the GOP leadership's trade policy represents besides narrow, corporate special interests."
Public Citizen also praised the role of Jordanian and U.S. unions in demanding equal treatment for labor, environmental and commercial issues. The national consumer group criticized the administration for refusing to release the agreement's text, thus keeping the American public from being able to review the details of the agreement and forcing public and press to rely on the administration's characterizations of specific provisions.
10/24/00
3:12:59 PM
FAIR-L Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting Media analysis, critiques and news reports
ACTIVISM UPDATE: PROTESTS TO SUPPORT "DEMOCRACY NOW!" New York -- Washington, D.C. -- Houston -- Berkeley -- Los Angeles
October 23, 2000
FAIR and the San Francisco-based Media Alliance are urging Pacifica Radio listeners across the country to attend protests outside the five Pacifica-owned stations on Wednesday, October 25 to support the show "Democracy Now!" Protests are scheduled outside WBAI in New York City, WPFW in Washington, D.C., KPFT in Houston, KPFA in Berkeley, and KPFK in Los Angeles.
On October 19, FAIR alerted members of our email list to Pacifica management's harassment of "Democracy Now!" host Amy Goodman. The response has been overwhelming: Concerned Pacifica listeners have sent well over 700 letters to the network's national board in support of Goodman and "Democracy Now!" so far, and more are flooding in.
Pacifica Board members Tomas Moran and Leslie Cagan responded promptly to the letters, thanking listeners for making their voices heard and stating that they, along with a minority of other Board members, are working to support "Democracy Now!" and see the issue as "part of an even larger struggle to sustain the vision and mission of Pacifica."
Cagan emphasized that the actions taken against Goodman were instigated not by the Pacifica Board, but "by Bessie Wash, the interim executive director, and Stephen Yasko, the national news director." However, Cagan continued, "what makes the situation worse is that many members of the Board seem to be more than willing to go along with these staff decisions."
Cagan and Moran have called for an emergency board meeting to discuss Wash and Yasko's actions. She noted that though she and others will keep working for the meeting, "it is not at all clear that it will take place."
"Democracy Now!" is still at risk. Please try to attend one of the October 25 demonstrations to support "Democracy Now!" and locally controlled community radio.
You can find more information about logistics online at: http://www.mediademocracynow.org/
and about the New York demonstration at http://www.fair.org/activism/pacifica-history.html .
If you missed FAIR's last alert on this issue, "'Democracy Now!" in Danger," you can read it at: http://www.fair.org/activism/democracy-now.html .
If you haven't yet written to the Pacifica Board, please do; contact information is in the alert.
10/24/00
3:03:49 PM
Hello, we got Your adress from the clemencycampaign for l. peltier. Today we want to ask You for being so pleasant to support another campaign of the LeonardPeltierSupportGroup RheinMain/Germany
emails to the White House. Please send on 1.Dec.00 an email to White House. President Mr. Bill Clinton with following text:
president@whitehouse.gov
Dear Mr. President,
For the past 25 years of his life, Leonard Peltier has been imprisoned for a crime he did not commit. Over the last 20 years, millions of people worldwide have signed petitions and letters asking the US government to release this innocent man! This list includes the Dalai Lama, Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, Robert Redford and many more people famous and unknown. Now Mr. President, we are asking you for your aid in helping to right an injustice that has gone on for far too long now!
We all suffer with Leonard Peltier. This is an innocent man who has had his life taken away from him. Now he is in poor health, and we are asking you Mr. President to show some compassion for a fellow human being and his family. Everyone knows the facts of this case, and that all the facts point to Leonard Peltier's innocence! We are not trying to waste your time Mr. President, but what if it was one of your family or friends? We are begging you Mr. President, in the name of humanity, please set Leonard Peltier free! Please Mr. President, let him spend the last few years of his life surrounded by his family and friends, and not by strangers !!! Don't you think he has suffered enough? We know you will do the right thing, and we thank you in advance from the bottom of our hearts for giving Leonard Peltier a Christmas amnesty!
Sincerely Yours,
..............................................................
This email is part of a worldwide campaign of the LPSG RheinMainGermany
please give us a response, if you´re sending an email to the white house at 1.Dec.00. we need this information for pr-work and may be for a short speech at LP March, 10.Dec.00 in NY
all answers to: Michel7196@aol.com
please ask your friends to support these campaigns and write us back. Mike/Claudia LPSG RheinMainGermany
new: one tip we´re getting from us-supporters: send additional handwritten personal letters to the white house: Präsident William J. Clinton White House 1600 Pennsylvania Ave Washington, DC 20500 United States of America
and: Call the White House for freedom for L.Peltier fon: 001-202-456-1111
Leonard Peltier Support Group RheinMain c/o Michael Koch/Claudia Weigmann-Koch Schubertstr. 9 D 63110 Rodgau Germany
Tel. 06106/22941 or 0177/5736790 (outside germany 49 6106 ....) Fax: 040 3603 757 233 (outside germany +49 40 3603 757 233) eMail: Michel7196@aol.com or RebellNews@aol.com
10/24/00
2:50:55 PM
Dear Nuclear Abolition Friends,
We are happy to include with this email, this year's Abolition 2000 Report Card. It is being released today, United Nations Day, in New York, San Francisco, and Stockholm. In New York, it is being distributed to all members of the United Nations' First Committee, whose mandate includes nuclear disarmament. Please feel free to distribute it widely. The text version follows. A formatted version is included as an attachment. A pdf version will be available for the Nagasaki Abolition Summit in November. Please contact us with any comments or suggestions. Thank you to everyone who contributed this year.
In peace, Janet Bloomfield and Pamela Meidell
Abolition 2000 Report Card Annual Progress toward a Nuclear-Free World United Nations Day October 24, 2000
"We came because of our nightmares. We stayed because of our dream." --the women of Greenham Common
Total grade on progress toward nuclear abolition: 20 out of 120 points. (For comparison, the 1996 report card scored 31/110, the 1997 card: 7/120, the 1998 card: 16/120, the 1999 card: 12/120. (The discrepancy in total points is due to the inclusion since 1997 of the Moorea Declaration.) The five-year review on progress toward nuclear abolition, Must Try Harder, produced for the NPT Review Conference in 2000, scored 29/120 points.)
Introduction: For the last four years, we have issued an Abolition 2000 report card in October, assessing progress toward a nuclear weapons free world. Five years after the Abolition Statement was released at the United Nations, we pause again to take stock of the state of the Nuclear World, and of efforts to abolish nuclear weapons. Looking at this year's events in the context of the Abolition 2000 Statement offers a simple way to make such an evaluation. This Report Card offers a brief assessment of progress in the past year in the implementation of the 11 points of the Abolition Statement, and compliance with the letter and spirit of the Moorea Declaration. We offer it on United Nations Day, October 24, to recall the initial promise of the UN Charter: "to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war." We keep in mind our future descendants, knowing that the elimination of nuclear weapons will go far in fulfilling our promise to them.
1. Immediately initiate and conclude by the year 2000 negotiations on a nuclear weapons abolition convention that requires the phased elimination of all nuclear weapons within a timebound framework, with provisions for effective verification and enforcement.
Report: The most significant event in relation to this goal in the last year was the Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). From April 24 to May 19, representatives of 187 countries and at least as many representatives of civil society organizations from around the world gathered at the United Nations in New York to review the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT). By May 19, the five senior nuclear weapons countries (China, France, Russia, United Kingdom, United States) committed to an "unequivocal undertaking " to accomplish the total elimination of their nuclear arsenals," thus clearly accepting their responsibility under Article VI. Although they did not set a deadline for this worthy goal, they did agree to diminish the role of nuclear weapons in world security. The conference also called upon India, Pakistan, Israel and Cuba to join the treaty, thus making it "universal." The increasing concerns of non-nuclear weapons states that the nuclear weapons states are not fulfilling their disarmament agreements led to a much stronger effort and a unified call for action. The US remains the biggest "state of concern:" Department of Energy documents made public at the meeting revealed the US intention to keep its nuclear weapons "forever." 36,000 nuclear weapons and the doctrine of deterrence are still with us. But the world is inching closer to being free of nuclear weapons, thanks to the persistent efforts of citizen groups and courageous non-nuclear weapon states, such as the New Agenda Coalition (Aotearoa/New Zealand, Ireland, Egypt, Mexico, Sweden, Brazil, South Africa.)
The final document of the NPT, if implemented with a sense of urgency, would transform the current situation. But without any deadlines, or at least serious political will behind its goals, it is in danger of going the way of so many documents agreed at the UN that remain as aspirations never achieved. There is still much to be done. The choices that will be made in the next few years will be crucial.
Grade: 3 out of 10.
2. Immediately make an unconditional pledge not to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons.
Report: It is hard to reconcile the Final Document of the NPT Review Conference with the continuation of first use policies. The contradiction between the NPT Final Document and NATO policy is an opportunity to increase pressure on the alliance as it reviews its nuclear policy. NATO is due to receive a report in December 2000 that will consider "options for confidence and security- building measures, verification, non-proliferation and arms control and disarmament." (NATO Communiqué 24 April 1999). The final document of the NPT commits the nuclear weapons states to "Diminish the role of nuclear weapons in security policies." It is hard to see how this commitment can be reconciled with existing policy in NATO nuclear states, as well as current Russian policy. China still remains the only state with a public policy in place of no first use, while India appears to have adopted it as part of its nuclear posture.
Grade: 1 out of 10.
3. Rapidly complete a truly Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) with a zero threshold and with the stated purpose of precluding nuclear weapons development by all states.
Report: The fallout from the failure of the US Senate to ratify the CTBT in 1999 continues. Newly elected President Putin of Russia seized the opportunity of a more sympathetic Duma to get the CTBT ratified by his country in April, thus putting political pressure on the US as the NPT Review Conference opened. But there is little sign of progress in this year of a US Presidential election. Brajesh Mishra, National Security Advisor of India, announced on September 2 that his country had no intention of signing a global treaty banning atomic testing in the near future. Alongside India, Pakistan and North Korea, the US has become the major obstacle to the entry into force of the Treaty. (See also number 7.)
Grade: 0 out of 10.
4. Cease to produce and deploy new and additional nuclear weapons systems, and commence to withdraw and disable deployed nuclear weapons systems.
Report: The world survived unscathed as computers rolled over to the date 01/01/2000. Whether this quiet passage over the threshold occurred through luck or good judgement it is difficult to know. The joint arrangements between Russia and the US may have helped, although in the days following the New Year celebrations stories emerged of a number of incidents that could have led to much greater problems than actually happened. Sadly, the Center for Y2K Strategic Stability, a 'safety catch' on US and Russian nuclear arsenals, was closed soon after the "rollover." The Center, where Americans and Russians sat side by side on the eve of the millennium, monitored both nations' arsenals, which even now are kept ready to fire on a "hair trigger."
Earlier this year it was revealed that the US strategic war plan target list has actually been growing instead of contracting since the last strategic arms reduction treaty, START II, was signed in 1993. The list has grown by 20 percent over the last five years alone, according to top military and former administration officials. The vast bulk of the targets are in Russia. Three other former republics of the Soviet Union -- Belarus, Ukraine and Kazakhstan -- were dropped from the strategic plan in 1997, yet the list of sites the Pentagon says the US must be ready to destroy has grown from 2,500 in 1995 to 3,000 now. In the United States, modifications or upgrades - including in some instances enhanced military capabilities - are planned for every weapon type in the arsenal. While the United States continues to outspend all the other nuclear weapons states in developing new infrastructure for nuclear weapons development, the others have not been idle. In particular, the United Kingdom is actively colluding with the US and France to maintain and develop their respective nuclear arsenals through an extensive cooperative effort on nuclear weapons research and development. When we consider this and the fact that no nuclear weapons systems have been withdrawn from service this year, the situation looks bleak indeed.
The dominating debate of the year in relation to new weapons systems developed around US plans to deploy a National Missile Defense (NMD) system. This "Son of Star Wars" is designed to shoot down incoming nuclear missiles. Supposed threats from "rogue states," (retermed by the US State Department this summer as "states of concern"), were used to justify deploying this system. Technical, economic and political criticism of NMD has grown over the year. Russia and China have made clear their objections and the dangers of unleashing a new nuclear arms race. European criticism has been more muted, although President Chirac of France and Chancellor Schroder of Germany made public and trenchant criticism of it in Berlin in June. To many people's surprise President Clinton announced on September 1 that he would leave to his successor the decision on whether to deploy a National Missile Defense system. In a speech at Georgetown University, Clinton told his audience that "the system as a whole is not yet proven." But the issue of missile defense has not gone away. In the same speech, Clinton mandated a 'robust' program of continued nuclear development and testing, including 16 more tests at US $100 million each.
Grade: 0 out of 10.
5. Prohibit the military and commercial production and reprocessing of all weapons-usable radioactive materials.
Report: The nuclear industry's troubles continued to pile as high as the mountains of nuclear waste it has produced in the last twelve months. Scandals over falsification of records have dogged British Nuclear Fuels relations with its customers in Japan and Germany. At the OSPAR (Oslo-Paris) talks in Europe in June, Norway and Ireland made clear their determination to stop all discharges into the sea from both Sellafield, England and La Hague, France. But true to form, the nuclear industry is still trying to promote itself. The European Community approved a loan program costing up to US $1 billion on September 6 to help fund two new nuclear reactors at Khmelnitsky and Rivne to replace the unsafe Chernobyl plant when it closes at the end of the year. The closure of the Chernobyl plant, 14 years after the world's worst environmental disaster, will be hollow indeed if this plan goes ahead.
The Fissile Material Cut Off talks at the Conference in Disarmament (CD) in Geneva are stuck in part because the Chinese wish to link progress on this issue with the negotiation of an agreement on the weaponization of space. They feel that if the NMD system is introduced it will mean that they will need to produce more nuclear warheads (and thus more fissile material) to maintain their "deterrent." Arguments about whether or not existing stocks of nuclear material should be included with the prohibition of new production have further prevented progress. Once again the CD was unable to agree on a program of work for 2000. Grade: 1 out of 10.
10/24/00
2:50:07 PM
6. Subject all weapons-usable radioactive materials and nuclear facilities in all states to international accounting, monitoring, and safeguards, and establish a public international registry of all weapons-usable radioactive materials.
Report: In point 10 of the 13 practical steps agreed in the Final Document of the NPT Review Conference this May, nuclear weapons states agreed to place under international verification all fissile material no longer required for military purposes. However we still do not know the details of these stocks worldwide. All nuclear weapons states need to follow the 1998 initiative of the UK when it announced the details of its stocks of weapons-usable radioactive materials.
Grade: 0 out of 10.
7. Prohibit nuclear weapons research, design, development, and testing through laboratory experiments including but not limited to non-nuclear hydrodynamic explosions and computer simulations, subject all nuclear weapons laboratories to international monitoring, and close all nuclear test sites.
Report: The US "subcritical" nuclear test program grinds on with little sign of abatement. In the last twelve months, five sub-critical tests have been conducted deep underground at the Nevada Test Site. It is believed that subcritical tests also are being conducted in steel tanks, above ground, at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. Los Alamos Lab Director, John Browne, recently admitted that unannounced subcritical tests would be impossible to detect. On the island of Novaya Zemlya, Russia carried out three subcritical tests in August and September. It is believed that France also is conducting subcritical tests at one of its nuclear weapons laboratories.
Over the past year, the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, was plagued by huge cost overruns, allegations of gross mismanagement and technical problems, thus raising the hopes of NIF opponents that the project could be halted. Unfortunately, however, a campaign narrowly focussed on budgetary and technical concerns, which for the most part avoided dealing with the NIF's central purpose, backfired badly, and the Congress ultimately responded by actually increasing funding for the project. If the NIF - and indeed the entire Stockpile Stewardship program - is to be stopped, it will have to be challenged directly on the grounds that it is anti-disarmament and proliferation provocative, and is fundamentally incompatible with global security and the nuclear disarmament obligations undertaken in the NPT as reinforced in this year's Review Conference Final Document. (See also number 3)
Grade: 0 out of 10.
8. Create additional nuclear weapons free zones (NWFZs) such as those established by the treaties of Tlatelolco and Rarotonga.
Report: "At a time when over 30,000 nuclear weapons remain in the world, NWFZs offer one of the few activities open to non-nuclear-weapon states, not just to quarantine themselves from the nuclear contagion, but to pool their efforts to resist it." Thus spoke Jayantha Dhanapala, the UN Under-Secretary-General of the Department for Disarmament Affairs in September at an international conference in Sweden on "NWFZs: Crucial Steps towards a Nuclear-Free World." Over 50 scholars, activists, diplomats from six continents called for establishing such zones as a transitional step on the way to nuclear abolition. Meanwhile, the Green Party in Aotearoa/New Zealand has launched an initiative to extend its country's historic nuclear free legislation to include all waters in its 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone. If taken up by other countries in the Pacific, it would complicate the ability of nuclear powered and armed ships to navigate its waters. Efforts are also underway to link the existing NWFZs, and add to them, to create a true nuclear weapon free zone in the Southern Hemisphere. In the US, Las Vegas declared itself a nuclear free zone, confirming its citizens' commitment not to become the route to the nation's nuclear waste dump. Local groups see this declaration as the first step toward the creation of the Nuclear Free Great Basin (of North America).
Grade: 1 out of 10.
9. Recognize and declare the illegality of threat or use of nuclear weapons, publicly and before the World Court.
Report: Citizens around the globe continue to use the historic 1996 opinion of the International Court of Justice to push for nuclear abolition and the dismantling of the nuclear infrastructure. Groups have been especially emboldened by the breakthrough case in Scotland last year, where three anti-nuclear activists were acquitted after having damaged the research infrastructure for Trident submarines at the UK base in Faslane, Scotland. The judgement of Sheriff Gimblett in the case is currently under review in the Scottish High Court. In the US, five nuns who conducted a plowshares action against the US Space Command in Colorado, faced up to eight years in prison if convicted of a felony. In a surprising turn of events, their case was dismissed before they could even present a defense.
Grade: 6 out of 10.
10. Establish an international energy agency to promote and support the development of sustainable and environmentally safe energy sources.
Report: This summer the North Pole became clear of ice for the first time in over 50 million years, a sobering fact that underlines the need for sustainable energy. Nuclear power cannot supply the answer despite attempts by some governments and the industry to convince the public that it can. Global warming is in itself threatening to many nuclear installations. In February, British Government scientists and experts in the nuclear industry warned that many areas predicted to be underwater by 2025 coincide with key nuclear installations. This problem is not just confined to Britain. On December 27, while Hurricane Lothar was sweeping France, the nuclear power plant on the Gironde River, Le Blayais, was flooded. Unfortunately the doors opened towards the inside, and so they could not be shut against the outside to let the water out. Nothing terrible happened, but it took some days to evacuate the water. Who knows what may happen in the future as extreme weather events in low lying areas increase?
Fortunately the case for solar, wind and wave energy gets stronger by the month. Companies and government are daily moving in the direction of renewables. Texaco has invested US $67 million in Energy Conversion Inc. (ECD). BP Amoco has invested US $100 million in the American green-electricity company, Green Mountain Power, and completed its 100th service-station solar panel installation. The British government's budget this summer included a tax cut of 12.5% (from 17.5% to 5 %) on the installation of solar cell systems. The Japanese will spend US $266 million on its ongoing program for the Promotion of Photo Voltaic (PV) Systems, which aims to install 70,000 solar PV roofs in Japan by 2004. Japanese solar companies have scaled up their manufacturing significantly in response to the program.
Grade: 2 out of 10.
11. Create mechanisms to ensure the participation of citizens and NGOs in planning and monitoring the process of nuclear weapons abolition.
Report: This year the Abolition 2000 network has grown to over 2040 organizations and municipalities in over 95 countries. At the NPT Review Conference, citizen groups worked in partnership with the New Agenda Coalition delegations (Brazil, Egypt, Ireland, Mexico, Aotearoa/New Zealand, South Africa, and Sweden) to promote the abolitionist agenda, but were still excluded from many of the sessions. The number of Citizen Weapons Inspection teams attempting to implement the 1996 ICJ opinion at nuclear facilities around the world continues to grow. In August, Pax Christi led an inspection of Yorktown Naval Weapons Station in Virginia. When inspectors were not admitted, a blockade shut down the base for an hour. The possibilities of what concerted action by citizens can achieve were dramatically shown on April 8 at Greenham Common in Britain, when the fence was finally removed at the former US nuclear Cruise Missile base there. In the 1980s Greenham Common was the base for US Cruise Missiles, deployed in Europe as part of NATO's strategy for fighting a "limited nuclear war." Women from all over Britain and farther afield camped outside in non-violent resistance. On some occasions over 30,000 women gathered to "Embrace the Base" and envision a world free of nuclear weapons. The last Cruise Missiles left in 1991 as part of the INF (intermediate-range nuclear forces) Treaty of 1987. Since then local people of all political persuasions have worked to see the Common restored. On April 8, 2000 the dream became reality when the base was finally opened with an invitation to take down the nine-mile fence surrounding it. Greenham Common is once again a place for wildlife, the free grazing of cattle, picnics and play. Plans are going forward to commemorate the Women's Peace Camps with a stone circle and garden outside the Main Gate.
Grade: 5 out of 10
>From the Moorea Declaration: "The anger and tears of colonized peoples arise from the fact that there was no consultation, no consent, no involvement in the decision when their lands, air and waters were taken for the nuclear build-up, from the very start of the nuclear era.... Colonized and indigenous peoples have, in the large part, borne the brunt of this nuclear devastation.... We reaffirm... that indigenous and colonized peoples must be central... in decisions relating to the nuclear weapons cycle - and especially in the abolition of nuclear weapons in all aspects. The inalienable right to self-determination, sovereignty and independence is crucial in allowing all peoples of the world to join in the common struggle to rid the planet forever of nuclear weapons."
Report: For those familiar with the exploitation of colonized and indigenous people by the military powers of the world, it will come as no surprise that the main testing grounds for the US planned National Missile Defense system are on the lands of the native American Chumash people at Vandenberg Air Force base in California, and in the Marshall Islands at Kwajelein atoll in the Pacific. If NMD is ever deployed, the system will include bases in Alaska and Greenland, on indigenous lands. Representatives of the world's 152,000 Inuit people condemned US plans for deployment of the NMD system when they met at the Inuit Circumpolar Conference in Nuuk, Greenland, on August 6, 2000. Inuit peoples live in Greenland, Canada, Alaska and Russia, and their homelands will host new military infrastructure in several places across the Arctic under NMD plans.
In Australia, aboriginal people continue to resist the uranium mines at Jabiluka in Kakadu National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Western Shoshone people and their supporters have issued a call to create a Nuclear Free Great Basin in North America. Their call states in part: "The Great Basin bio-region is a beautiful, diverse and fragile area stretching through five states. Home to strong indigenous people and cultures, high mountainous alpine lakes and forests, as well as many endangered and threatened plants and wildlife. Sadly, this land has experienced the deadly effects of nuclear weapons testing as well as the disposal of radioactive and toxic waste in leaking dumps. Now is the time to create a Nuclear Free Great Basin." Western Shoshone land is home to the US nuclear test site and the proposed high level nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain.
Grade: 1 out of 10
Total grade: 20 out of 120
Conclusions: The dangers of continuing reliance on destructive weapons systems for our "security" was brought into sharp relief when 118 Russian submariners were killed in August as the pride of their navy - the Kursk - was wrecked in the Barents Sea. The Cold War mentality of secrecy combined with national pride and the hangover of the old Soviet culture combined to create great anger in Russia, and shock around the world. The Kursk tragedy was an awful reminder of the human cost of militarism. The deaths serve as a warning to us all that we cannot ignore the perils of our nuclear world and the new dangers developing. If President Clinton had decided to go ahead with NMD, he would have opened the way to the destruction of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, the withdrawal of Russia from further nuclear disarmament and an arms race with the Chinese. These possibilities still exist if a new President decides to give NMD the go-ahead, and should activate increased opposition at both the citizen and governmental levels.
We still need to heed Albert Einstein's prophetic reminder of April 1947: "For there is no secret and there is no defense, there is no possibility of control except through the aroused understanding and insistence of the peoples of the world." Although Abolition 2000 has been insisting on nuclear abolition for five years, our goal of concluding negotiations on a nuclear weapons convention by the end of this year appears remote. The goal is worthy and achievable. But we need the support and clamoring of the world's citizens.
As Helen Clark, Prime Minister of Aotearoa/New Zealand said in a recent speech: "Public opinion worldwide must be mobilized again as it was in the 1980s. Non-governmental organizations must play a vital role, working alongside committed governments. . The world must not retreat to the days when the doctrine of nuclear armament and deterrence seemed unchangeable. Perhaps our greatest challenge is complacency. We must take the opportunities that are available in this new century of globalization to prevent a renewed nuclear arms race and to work for disarmament. We all have a stake in the security of the 21st century, and we must all work together to eliminate the dangers posed by weapons of mass destruction as we strive to free our world from the fear of the catastrophe of war."
Acknowledgements:
This edition of the Abolition 2000 Report Card is dedicated to Mordechai Vanunu. Its production was made possible with financial support from the EarthWays Foundation and the Lifebridge Foundation.
Copyright c 2000 The Atomic Mirror Any or all parts of this report may be freely copied and distributed, with proper acknowledgement of the source. As a courtesy, please send copies containing any reprinted material to:
The Atomic Mirror P.O. Box 220 Port Hueneme, CA 93044-0220 USA Tel: 1 805 985 5073 Fax: 1 805 985 7563 Email: info@atomicmirror.org
10/23/00
12:45:52 PM
The Associated Press
BRUSSELS, Belgium (October 20, 2000 10:51 a.m. EDT http://www.nandotimes.com/) - The natural wealth of the world's ecosystems has declined by a third over the past 30 years, according to a World Wildlife Fund study published Friday.
The Living Planet Report 2000 also showed that the area of land mass and ocean needed to produce natural resources for consumers and to absorb carbon dioxide pollution has doubled since 1961.
In its annual assessment of the earth's environment, the group blamed much of the damage on the rich northern countries at the expense of habitat in the tropical rain forests.
"Mankind cannot afford to keep drawing so heavily on the world's natural resources," said Professor Ruud Lubbers, the former Dutch prime minister, and the World Wildlife Fund's international president. "We have borrowed this planet from our children and our grandchildren."
The World Wildlife Fund said it measures the state of ecosystems based on the populations of species in the world's forests, fresh waters and oceans. It found that ecosystems had declined between 1970 and 1999 by 12 percent in the forests, 50 percent in fresh waters, and 35 percent in the oceans.
The study said the pressure of mankind on nature had increased by about 50 percent over the same period and had now gone beyond the planet's ability to regenerate.
10/23/00
12:38:08 PM
Global Warming: Earth Out Of Balance by William Schlesinger [Published on Tuesday, October 17, 2000 in the Raleigh News & Observer]
DURHAM -- Gaia, the Goddess of Mother Earth, is sick. For thousands of years, she has maintained stable concentrations of gases in our atmosphere: nitrogen at 78 percent, oxygen just shy of 21 percent and carbon dioxide at 270 parts per million. Her servants are the plants, animals and microbes that do the hard work to keep our planet alive and in balance.
A quick glance at Mars and Venus shows just how different the atmosphere on a lifeless planet can be. Neither planet harbors significant oxygen, and a dense atmosphere of carbon dioxide raises the surface temperature on Venus to 885 degrees F.
The theory of Gaia was the brainchild of Dr. James Lovelock over three decades ago. He recognized that the conditions on Earth were not only unique in our solar system, but also remarkably stable throughout the history of our planet. For instance, early in its life, the sun was about 30 percent less luminous than today, yet the temperature of the Earth has never fallen so low that the oceans have frozen from top to bottom, nor risen so high as to boil the oceans away. Looking at the less favorable conditions on neighboring planets, Lovelock postulated that, through a unique symbiosis, life on Earth is responsible for the stable, favorable environment that we inhabit. Upset the biosphere and reduce its species diversity, and you threaten the persistence of life on Earth.
There is increasing evidence that Gaia is running a fever -- global warming. For the past 100 years or so, the concentration of carbon dioxide on Earth has risen steadily to its current value near 370 parts per million. Most of the increase in carbon dioxide is directly linked to burning fossil fuels, something that humans seem to do with great gusto. The concentration of methane and other trace gases is increasing as well.
For millennia, the biosphere maintained stable levels of these gases, and scientists agree that rising concentrations of trace gases in Earth's atmosphere are certain to warm our planet.
These changes in Earth's physical and chemical characteristics appear to be the work of a single species -- Homo sapiens. Unless we take immediate steps to curb population growth, today's human population of 6 billion will rise to 10 billion within the lifetime of our children. To feed and shelter our population has required us to usurp and manage large areas of the Earth's land surface for agriculture and housing.
Our harvest of the sea has reduced the stock of many fishes to less than sustainable levels. Harvest and loss of natural habitat is driving many species to extinction. The human impact reduces the ability of Gaia's servants -- the diverse species on this planet -- to cleanse our effluents and maintain stable conditions for life.
We face a dilemma: each person on Earth wishes to achieve the highest possible standard of living, and our numbers are increasing rapidly. The human pursuit of a better life and the byproducts of this quest now foul the atmosphere and the waters of our planet, denude its vegetation and erode its soils. We can see this trend each day in central North Carolina, and we measure it globally by the rise in Earth's temperature. There are few laws in ecology, but one of the most fundamental predicts the ultimate collapse of a population showing exponential growth in a closed environment.
I am not at all hopeful that our planet will receive an interplanetary delivery of fresh resources. Gaia functions as a closed chemical system, and the persistence of life in that system demands that we manage it well -- both for ourselves and for the myriad of other species that maintain the stable conditions on Earth. As economic incentives demand it, we can use energy efficiently and cleanse and recycle many of the waste products of modern society. However, the changes in the composition of our atmosphere suggest that we are failing in our planetary stewardship. We have forgotten that we too are servants of Gaia.
Perhaps never before has a single species -- through it growth rate and its resource consumption -- had such a dramatic impact on the fabric of the biosphere. While the growth of the human population has slowed somewhat in recent years, each day we still add about 250,000 -- roughly half the population of Wake County, to our number.
The United States must provide leadership by reducing our individual resource use and helping to establish better family planning programs throughout the world. Gaia expects nothing less.
William H. Schlesinger is James B. Duke professor of biogeochemistry at Duke University and author of "Biogeochemistry: An analysis of global change."
© Copyright 2000, The News & Observer
10/21/00
3:24:01 PM
Campaign For A New Jerusalem Declaration 2001
We the people of the world, representing every nation, every religion, every race and ethnic group, hereby declare the Old City Of Jerusalem as the First International City Of Peace.
We declare "null & void" it's violent history of hatred born of it's repeated defeat, destruction, occupation and domination by various countries, cultures and religions.
We declare that Jerusalem belongs to all the people of the Earth and is destined to be a model of our highest collective potential for Harmony, for Holiness, for Light and for Love.
We declare that the only true temple created by the Divine, and shared by us all, is the human heart. The willingness to sacrifice even one life for buildings of stone, created my men and maintained by violence and fear - in the name of God - is the greatest possible sacrilege and blasphemy.
We hereby call upon world governments and all religious and political leaders to work together swiftly for bringing the administration of the Old City Of Jerusalem under the authority, jurisdiction and supervision of the United Nations.
We call upon all people everywhere to acknowledge and embrace this divine moment to the end that Jerusalem may fulfill her destiny in becoming a living model of peace, justice and harmony for the whole world.
I AM One More Voice For Peace & Sanity Now!
Name: City: Country: Date:
Send To:
Israel Prime Minister Ehud Barak ebarak@parliament.gov.il & pm@pmo.gov.il
State Of Israel Ministry Of Defense public@mod.gov.il
Palestine Chairman Yasser Arafat info@nmopic.pna.net
Egypt President Mohammed Mubarak webmaster@presidency.gov.eg
USA President William Jefferson Clinton president@whitehouse.gov
Vice President Al Gore Vice.President@whitehouse.gov
Secretary of State Madeline Albright secretary@state.gov
United Kingdom Prime Minister Tony Blair labour-party@geo2.poptel.org.uk
United Nations The Honorable Kofi Annan United Nations Secretary-General Fax: (212) 963 2155 & 963 7055 sg@un.org or ecu@un.org
Peter Van Walsum President, UN Security Council netherlands@un.int
UN Permanent Security Council Members Ambassador Qin Huasun Permanent Representative of the People's Republic of China france@un.int
Amb. Sergey Lavrov Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation rusun@undp.org
Sir Jeremy Guentin Greenstock, KCMG Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom uk@un.int
Ambassador A. Peter Burleigh Permanent Representative of the United States usaun@undp.org
Pertinent Websites Resources
http://www.knesset.gov.il/knesset/engframe.htm Email address of the Israeli Members of Parliament (Knesset)
http://www.trytel.com/~aberdeen/elinx.html Email addresses for the Heads of State of all countries
http://www.gksoft.com/govt/en/heads.html
Governments on the WWW: Heads of State
http://www.peaceday.org/cntryhds.htm
Email to World Leaders!
http://www.thesurfer.com/government/
Political Resources on the Net
US Congress
http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/
http://www.house.gov/writerep/
10/21/00
2:47:28 PM
From: Vadim Nemirovsky <vadimsky@mindspring.com>
"An honest politician is one who once bought -- stays bought."
-- Robert Heinlein
Over fifteen thousand people paid $20 each to join in last Friday's "super-rally" at Madison Square Garden to support Ralph Nader's presidential campaign. Neither Gore nor Bush can attract more than a few hundred supporters, although they offer them T-shirts, caps, buttons, drinks and snacks. Note: Nader does not have money-for-influence backers, people actually pay money to get his campaign promo.
Time magazine found Nader to be the most respected person in USA for the past three years. He is the founder of "Public Citizen" the watchdog over consumer justice and government and corporate accountability. He is the one man responsible for stronger bumpers, seat belts and baby seats. He has, in fact, saved hundreds of thousands of lives in just that one campaign. Nader has a unique record as a public servant without ever being elected.
He has been on a life-long crusade to protect Americans from government complicity in corporate consumer abuse. He has fought for us, the citizens, wrestling away government's corruption that gives away to corporations those resources and rights that are reserved for us -- citizens, according to U.S. Constitution. Nader popularity is continuously climbing taking the votes away from Bush and Gore alike. Let's hope Americans are wiser than most political pundits predict.
Here are a few reasons to vote for Ralph Nader for President:
1. There is no difference between Gore and Bush according to their agreements on everything (their last debate.) They want more army, more wars, more police control of our lives. They will both continue Clinton's agenda of world dominion by forcing more third world countries into debt by duping them to accept loans from the monetary funds. And, of course, they both agree on greater, exclusive democracy for U.S. and multinational corporations. "Demos" and "Reps" only signifies who buys them and will profit from them once in power.
2. Demos and Reps would have you think, thanks to the mass media, their sponsor, backer and future beneficiary, that they are the only choices. "Flat beer or warm beer?" would be fitting since the debates were sponsored by Anheuser Busch, or maybe "Flat tire or exploding one?" to go along with choices of the other supporter - Ford Motor Co.
3. The pundits tell us Gore has securely clinched California. In this awfully fair scheme the winner takes all, i.e. ALL California's votes go to Gore (did you know that?) so why not vote your conscience? Note: 43% of Gore voters would vote for Nader "if he had a chance!"
4. If we vote for Bush or Gore -- four years from now we will have just as many choices.
5. Voting for one of the corporate parties is voting out fear and apathy that they, especially the last administration, instilled in the voter. Why not vote for future and hope!
6. American Indians made decisions that would be good for seven generations. Do we entrust such wisdom to Clinton/Gore's or Bushes? More corporate control over our lives? More prison and fewer schools? More of that for more generations?
7. Since only 30% of Americans cared to vote in the last election, if all "non-voters" voted for Nader, Bush and Gore would get less than 15% each!
8. Some will vote for a lesser evil. Why vote for evil at all? Vote for someone who's never been accused of any impropriety or sullied a public office!
9. "Save us from Bush" as well as "Environmental Vice-President" are both very successful if not plain lucky promotional campaigns that have no roots in reality. Gore, according to his voting record, is not better than Bush, neither is he for consumers or the environment. As for being a vice-president, he bore it with dignity and in silence, i.e. hadn't done much. Eight years ago I would have voted Gore for president, now seeing what he did and certainly would do - I would as soon vote for Bush.
10. When Clinton came to power many believed it would be a period of greater personal freedoms, especially improvement in women's and minorities' rights -- good advertising. Gore was there, he could've done something. Note: Clinton/Gore administration, no matter what they promised, carried out mostly Republican agenda - check the results!
11. Both Gore and Bush have changed their minds during the campaign to fit in with their handlers' ideas arrived at from endless focus groups. Nader hasn't changed his mind at all or ever inquired into how to be popular (notice the suits he wears.)
12. Presidential debates, originally sponsored by the League of Women Voters, is now run by corporate sponsors that exclude third party candidates. Why? Because historically third parties do invariably well compared to the Two. Note: More than fifty percent of Americans would have liked to see Nader and Buchanan in the debates.
13. After Clinton, the journalists will have a hard time quitting poking fun at the President, in which case dumb Bush will certainly be more entertaining than wooden Gore, whereas Nader might not create any guffaws at all. So, would you like some entertainment?
14. If you would like to be on the winning side by voting for the one who wins - how will that serve you? You know, once politicians get into office they do their own thing as they planned, aided by a few special interest advisors. Nader, a man rather impervious to change (his hairdo) will keep on doing what he's been ceaselessly doing - fighting for us.
15. "Nader will create too much change." Does anyone want this country to decay of stagnation and erode through continuing corporate influence, if not domination, of our democracy? Prisons are the fastest growing industry in U.S., trying to catch up with every infringement of the law that corporations helped to write into our judicial system so as to protect their profits.
16. Nader, with few exceptions, has been ignored by the media, even now, during his exceptional rise in the polls. Presently, national polls show Nader at 5 percent. In key states like California and New York at over 7 percent, in Alaska at 17 percent, in Maine at 11 percent and climbing everywhere while Gore/Bush polls stagnate. Timothy Leary said, "The next revolution will not be televised."
17. We know what professional politicians have done to us. We know what Nader has done for us. Period. Maybe Americans believe that one must be a crook to go into politics - would you like to change that or leave it the same?
18. Presidential candidates are given public money for campaigns depending on how many votes they got. If you don't think the oil boys got enough greenbacks - give them more! They'll keep the same money based political system that we now enjoy.
19. If you are over 21 and consenting to read some strong language, click on this: http://www.robotwisdom.com/issues/nader.html
20. We have some of the most corrupt politics the world has ever seen, which the sold out politicians (read: Democrats and Republicans) and the corporate money lobbyists created behind our backs. Now there is a way to vote them out of power. One can vote Fear and Apathy, or vote Nader NOW!
21. When our founding fathers threw out the Britons they went against their own government, they had vision and guts! Do we have the guts to take our country back through a direct democratic process? Do you have the courage?
"I want to be President for a very simple reason. This country needs a very strong progressive movement that challenges the accepted concentration of power and wealth in the hands of global corporations who dominate our government, our workplace, our environment and many other areas of our political economy."
-- Ralph Nader - June 23, 2000
The more prohibitions you have - the less virtuous people will be. The more weapons you have - the less secure people will be. The more subsidies you have - the less self-reliant people will be.
-- Tao Te Ching by Lao-Tzu translated by Stephen Mitchell
Here are some links to Nader's official, Nader-inspired and Green sites:
http://www.votenader.org/ this is the official Nader for president page http://www.nader2000.org/ this is the unofficial Nader for president page http://www.nader.org/ this site is about Ralph Nader's history http://www.gp.org/ this site is the party platform for the GREEN Party http://www.green-party.org/ this is the site for the U.S. GREEN Party
In Sincere Service to You,
Vadim
"The only truly revolutionary act left is to tell the truth about everything."
-- Robert Anton Wilson
"They that would give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
-- Ben Franklin, 1759
"The environment is hostage of the multinational companies"
- Kofi Annan, UN Secretary General
10/21/00
2:44:47 PM
IMF/World Bank: Stupid, Cruel, Brutal By Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman
There is no policy of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank that is more stupid, cruel and brutal than the insistence that poor countries charge fees for children to attend school and for people to access basic health services.
The IMF and World Bank condition loans to impoverished countries on the adoption of Contract with America-style "structural adjustment" policies. User fees -- also known as community financing, cost sharing or cost recovery -- are often one part of the structural adjustment policy package.
In passing an appropriations amendment in July that would stop future funding for the IMF and the World Bank if the two lending agencies do not stop imposing user fees for basic healthcare and education services, the U.S. House of Representatives has taken an important step toward ending this callous and wrongheaded policy.
Unfortunately, the Treasury Department, anxious to avoid any appropriations limitations for its IMF and World Bank policy arms, is working to block inclusion of the amendment in the final foreign operations appropriations bill. As administration officials and members of Congress and their staffs negotiate the terms of a final foreign operations appropriations bill, the educational opportunity and health of millions of people in the world's poorest countries hang in the balance. The evidence accumulated from around the world over the last decade is quite clear. User fees for education lower school attendance rates, especially among young girls. User fees for primary health services deny access to care and preventative treatment for the poor, leading to the spread of unnecessary and preventable death and disease. And user fee "exemptions" for the poor, or sliding payment scales, routinely fail due to administrative problems, corruption, inadequate notice to the poor or other difficulties.
* In Gambia, in primary health care program villages with insecticide provided free of charge, bednet impregnation -- for malaria prevention -- was five times higher than in villages where charges were introduced. Households consistently cited lack of money as the main reason they chose not to dip bednets.
* Introduction of a 33 cent fee for visits to Kenyan outpatient health centers led to a 52 percent reduction in outpatient visits. After the fee was suspended, visits rose 41 percent. In Papua New Guinea, the introduction of user fees led to a 30 percent decline in outpatient visits. Studies in Niger have found that user fees extend the period that patients wait before seeking outpatient care.
* UNICEF reports that in Malawi, the elimination of modest school fees and uniform requirements in 1994 caused primary enrollment to increase by about 50 percent virtually overnight -- from 1.9 million to 2.9 million. The main beneficiaries were girls. Malawi has been able to maintain near full enrollment since that time.
* In India, reports Dr. Vineeta Gupta, general secretary of Insaaf International, a Punjab, India-based organization, a World Bank-inspired system which is supposed to exclude the poor from healthcare charges fails in practice due to corruption and administrative difficulties, denying the poorest Indians access to healthcare services.
The purported logic of education and healthcare user fees is that payments from children's families and sick people will enable government service agencies to provide services to more people.
But this is a twisted rationale, which should be rejected on both principled and practical grounds. As an issue of principle, access to primary education and healthcare is a right that should not be conditioned on ability to pay.
In practical terms, the real-world record shows that user fees deny children educational opportunity and people of all ages access to basic health services. Charges typically generate little revenue in any case. So the ultimate result of user fees is service denial, not expansion. The IMF/Bank user fee rationalization presents a false choice: even poor country governments have multiple sources of potential revenue there are ways to increase funding for basic services without imposing charges. Most importantly, the real way to free up resources for education and healthcare is for the World Bank and IMF, without delay, to use their existing assets to cancel the debts owed them by poor countries. There are no significant corporate or monied interests served by the imposition of user fees in desperately poor countries. The IMF and World Bank continue to support them out of a dogmatic commitment to a marketized ideology that refuses to concede to empirical refutation. The Treasury Department is opposing corrective legislation so that it can preserve its control of the IMF and World Bank without Congressional interference. These are shameful counterweights to the humanitarian imperative of removing user fees. Whether the humanitarian claim prevails will depend, in significant part, on whether U.S. citizens act now to put an end to user fee nightmare.
Russell Mokhiber is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Corporate Crime Reporter. Robert Weissman is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Multinational Monitor. They are co-authors of Corporate Predators: The Hunt for MegaProfits and the Attack on Democracy (Monroe, Maine: Common Courage Press, 1999).
Focus on the Corporation is a weekly column written by Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman. Please feel free to forward the column to friends or repost the column on other lists. If you would like to post the column on a web site or publish it in print format, we ask that you first contact us (russell@essential.org or rob@essential.org).
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10/21/00
2:42:18 PM
To change a world Corporate globalization is giving rise to a new wave of campus activism by KATE SWOGER The [Montreal] Gazette
In a hot, humid third-floor room, a dozen bodies were squeezed together in a circle of chairs to discuss "a necessary evil" that's "out of control" and "is trying to take control of the world" - corporate globalization.
Gathered in those steamy quarters at a Concordia University building on Mackay St. were CEGEP students, university undergraduates, artists, teachers and longtime activists.
"We're not against globalization per se," said activist Jaggi Singh, part of Montreal's Anti-Capitalist Convergence, as the workshop he was leading picked up speed. "Our group is talking about corporate globalization. It's a vision that sees everything as having a dollar value - people, the environment, the air. We need our own positive vision of what the world should be."
However you define it, globalization is doing more than expanding the reach of industry around the world. It also has the potential to bring together some of the long-fractured elements of activism, and do so more powerfully than any other cause has in decades.
The issue of corporate globalism is broad enough to bring together a diverse range of critics, from environmentalists to peace activists, from consumer-rights lobbyists to trade unionists to those concerned with the treatment of women, minorities and the populations of developing nations.
The movement brings with it critiques of governments and of powerful world bodies. And it carries visions of an alternative way of doing things. But this same movement is sometimes accompanied by images of anger, destruction and clashes between protesters and police.
That face of the new activism was apparent in street protests that disrupted the World Trade Organization conference in Seattle last fall and the World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings in Prague last month.
We might see that kind of activism in the streets of Montreal this month, when federal Finance Minister Paul Martin meets representatives of the "G20" developed and emerging nations to discuss global financial reforms Oct. 24-25.
The protesters promise to be out in even greater force in April in Quebec City, when the heads of 34 governments of the western hemisphere meet for the third Summit of the Americas.
But this umbrella protest movement has many sides to it, almost as many as there are individual activists.
10/21/00
2:39:32 PM
Ten Good Reasons for opposing the G-20
Free Trade is the new face of Colonialism
The G-20 is an extension of the old boys' club, the G-7. It is made up of the following countries: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, The European Union Presidency, the European Central Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, Development Committee of the IMF & the World Bank. Its stated purpose is the stabilization of trade. It is focused on financial matters & is part of a global system that subordinates social & environmental concerns to profit motives. Paul Martin, Canadian minister of finance, heads this new trade partnership. But will the G-20 consider the Tobin Tax of 0.1% on international speculation to the tune of one trillion dollars every day on world financial markets? The Tobin tax would alleviate world poverty with a revenue of $10 billion per year. Will the G-20 abolish Third World Debt, which is choking the poor while enhancing the rich bankers? It remains to be seen!
1. The truth is that globalization of market forces has greatly increased the inequality in the world. Now the richest 20% of the world's people receive 83% of the world's income. While the poorest 60% of the world's people receive just 5.6% of the world's income. The richest 20% of the world's population in northern industrialized countries use 70% of the world's energy, 75% of the world's metals, 85% of the world's wood and 60% of the world's food. This 20% minority is also responsible for producing about 75% of the world's environmental pollution.
2. As Corporations gain more and more power to pillage, destroy the environment & the habitat, workers in free trade zones are reduced to automatons who work 50 to 80 hours a week for as little as 36 cents an hour. Women who refuse to work overtime are dismissed. Many developing countries such as Mexico, contend that labour standards constitute a barrier to free trade. In the global economy, cheap labour is the name of the game.
3. Domestic laws are considered "trade barriers". The ability of governments to legislate laws that are favourable to their citizens or to the environment is eroded, little by little, to suit the big multinationals and their profits. A case in point is when Canada refused to allow Ethyl Corporation to sell MMT, a harmful gasoline substance. Ethyl sued under the eleventh chapter of NAFTA and won the handsome sum of 20 million dollars. Moreover, the Canadian government was forced to rescind its decision to ban the toxic substance & gave its blessings to the American company to sell its poisonous wares in Canada.
4. Globalization undermines national sovereignty. When the European Union tried to ban the import of beef injected with growh hormone, the WTO forced the members to roll back their ban or pay stiff penalties. In the same way, Canada is trying to impose the export of asbestos, a carcinogenic product, on other countries through the arbitration of the WTO.
5. Environmental protections are considered "trade barriers". The US Clean Air Act which required both domestic and foreign producers alike to produce cleaner gasoline, was considered illegal by a WTO ruling in 1993. Pharmaceutical multinationals are given priority at the expense of generic, life-saving drugs. For example, sub-Saharan Africa where 80 per cent of the world's new AIDS cases are found, is not allowed to import the generic, less expensive drugs.
6. The IMF imposes structural adjustment conditions on developing countries, which are encouraged to get rid of their social programs notably in the most essential areas of health and education with disastrous implications.
7. Corporations are considered persons and are treated as such. Local policies, which are aimed at rewarding companies who hire local residents, use domestic materials or adopt environmentally sound practices, are essentially illegal under WTO practices. The auto-pact, which has served Canadian interests well, for years, has been declared illegal by WTO.
8. The wealthy countries which have long used protectionism to develop and subsidize their own industries, are now asking developing countries to abandon state interventionist policies, suddenly deemed illegal under free trade international laws.
9. World Trade policies have been disastrous for the environment. Developing countries are cutting down their forests; they are pumping chemicals into their land to produce export crops such as coffee, tea, tobacco and cotton, thus poisoning their land and water. They are ripping minerals out of the ground at a frantic pace to ensure that questionable debts can be repaid to wealthy bankers so that the latter can have more money to gamble with on international markets.
10. Trade is placed ahead of human rights. Talisman, a Canadian company, is financing the civil war in Sudan with impunity. The Canadian government refuses to intervene lest it should upset its trading partners.
Join us for a demonstration against the G-20, on October 24, 2000, in front of the Sheraton Center on René Levésque (corner Stanley, metro Peel) at 5:00 p.m. For more information, call the Montreal chapter of the Council of Canadians: at: 846-0644, or fax at: (514) 846-0888, e-mail: nadialex@total.net
Join us in solidarity with the poor of the world.