May 2010
114 posts
Invest in the future. Now. →
Invest in the future. Now.: The G8 and G20 are coming to Canada this June to make decisions affecting the future of life on our planet. These twenty powerful leaders need to hear what needs to…
International Peacekeeping Day →
Our friends at the Better World Campaign give you the opportunity to thank a peacekeeper. A couple of unfortunate developments this week demonstrate why that support is critical.
Our…
Lord 'Climate Activists Are Hitler Youth'... →
This is too awesome and frankly admirably obsessive: John Abraham, a professor of mechanical engineering specializing in in heat transfer and fluid mechanics at the University of St….
Morning Coffee - 28 May 2010 →
Summary: BP’s “top kill” not dead yet; Study: Heroin is the new methadone; “Revolting” amounts of bacteria in Canadian bottled water.
Top Story: BP’S “TOP KILL”…
Australia Makes Good on Threat to Take Japan to... →
Whale meat on sale at the Tsukiji fish market in Japan, photo: Stefan Powell. Threatened for some time now, Australia has begun legal action against Japan to stop whaling in the…
The Millennium Development Goals in U.S. National... →
For the Obama administration the MDGs provide a framework to approach what it calls “dignity promotion.”
The Obama Administration’s National Security Strategy drops today. No big…
BP Now Owns the Airspace Above the Spill, Too -... →
image: Toby Oxborrow (no photo graphic) & US Coast Guard (controlled burn of oil spill) Stories about BP contractors working hand in glove with the Coast Guard and local police to …
Calf Head Stomping Dairy Farmer Exposed, Gets... →
Scroll down for for the actual video. Be aware the ‘disturbing images’ warning at the start of it is no joke. In the midst of the all oil spill all the time coverage out there, you may have…
India Publishes Updated Greenhouse Gas Data →
India’s Ministry of Environments and Forests released its greenhouse gas inventory of 2007 emissions Tuesday, making it the first developing country to publish emissions data this year. The…
Morning Coffee - 27 May 2010 →
Summary: Can BP’s “top kill” plug the leaky oil well? 2-tentacle ancestor of squid ID’d; Skinny jeans banned in Aceh.
Top Story: TOP KILL UNDERWAY
…
The Damage Wrought by the BP Oil Spill Should be... →
If the leak cannot be plugged the Gulf of Mexico will be not unlike mountains destroyed by strip minning or wetlands and precious forests lost to development.
David Roberts has a powerful…
Would You Drive 5.4 Miles Less A Day to End... →
Members of a Shoreline Cleanup and Assessment Team removes oil from a beach in Port Fourchon, La.—part of ongoing response efforts to minimize shoreline impacts from the Deepwater…
Obama to Extend Deepwater Drilling Ban for Six... →
photo: Stig Nygaard via flickr Some small measure of sanity… BBC News, CNN, and others are reporting that President Obama will extend a ban on new deepwater offshore oil…
Africa Day Sentiments →
Over at Huffington Post the Egyptian and Chadian ambassadors to the United States team up in an op-ed. They use the occasion of Africa Day to stress the importance of the health related MDGs.
Gross & Wow! Yes, Too Much Spitting Can Destroy a... →
Howrah Bridge from Howrah train station, photo: vinay g via flickr. This is too interesting and gross at the same time. The Guardian reports how the Howrah Bridge in Kolkata,…
New Study Shows Childhood Mortality Declining... →
But will the progress mean we’ll reach Millennium Development Goal 4 to reduce by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate?
A new study by the Institute for…
Morning Coffee - 26 May 2010 →
Summary: U.S. backs South Korea at UN; BP to kill “Top Kill”?; Cancun mayor busted; Rare bird declared extinct; Chavez warns of possible U.S. arrest warrant.
Top Story:
Indigenous Amazonians Prepare For War to Stop... →
image: GDS Digital via EU Infrastructure, scroll down for full infographic. Brazil’s planned 11 gigawatt Belo Monte Dam on the Xingu River (a tributary of the Amazon) has raised…
Transocean Strong-Armed & Detained Deepwater... →
photo: US Coast Guard via flickr I have to say that this is all getting pretty predictable, the BP oil spill. I’ll direct you to Climate Progress for the ‘you couldn’t make it up’ scoop…
Senate climate bill stalled amidst controversy →
U.S. Senators John Kerry (D-MA) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) released their climate bill, the American Power Act, earlier this month. As expected, the bill immediately met resistance from…
US Petitioned to Place Bluefin Tuna on Endangered... →
photo: Stewart Butterfield via flickr With the Gulf oil spill threatening Atlantic bluefin tuna spawning grounds, and rampant and ongoing overfishing wiping them out with abandon,…
First Freshwater Offshore Wind Farm in US Planned... →
photo: Andy S-D via flickr The potential for developing offshore wind power in the Great Lakes has been something touted for some time now, and has now moved one step closer to…
Remembering Fallen Peacekeepers (Video) →
May 29 is International Day of Peacekeeping. As the video below shows, this has been a very difficult year.
May 29 is International Day of Peacekeeping. As the video below shows, this has…
Is Hydropower Really a Clean Power Source? →
When the Hoover Dam was constructed it was the largest dam in the world. Photo: Andrew Parnell via flickr. It’s about 6% of the electricity in the United States, 15% in China (and…
Morning Coffee - 25 May 2010 →
Summary: U.S. steps up covert activities in the Middle East; UN conference on fisheries kicks off; Gay rights workers arrested in Zimbabwe.
Top Story: WHAT…
BP's Siphon is Sucking Up Just 2% of the Gusher &... →
That’s Nelson’s Column, for anyone not up on their London landmarks. It’s 169’ tall. So pretty much all of Trafalgar Square to that height would’ve been filled with oil in the first two…
Better World Campaign: Texas Board of Education... →
Our friends at the Better World Campaign* are slamming the Texas State Board of Education’s decision to adopt social studies curriculum that misrepresents the United Nations.
Our friends…
UN Summer Camp for Children Attacked in Gaza →
A group of some 20 masked gunmen stormed a UN-administered summer camp in Gaza and vandalized the place.
Ugh. It seems that a group of some 20 masked gunmen stormed a UN-administered summer…
Ban Ki Moon Joins The North Korea-Security Council... →
Meanwhile, Japan, the United States, and South Korea are all on board with Security Council action of some sort. The big variable right now is China, where Hillary Clinton happens to be…
Morning Coffee - 24 May 2010 →
Summary: British vaccine quack banned; Drug lord Mr. Coke prompts state of emergency in Jamaica; Families of Iraqi suffocation victims allege torture.
Top Story:
A Declaration of Cetacean Rights! All Should Be... →
photo: NOAA via flickr This isn’t the first time the subject of rights for whales has come up and let’s hope it’s not the last: At a two-day meeting in Helsinki led by the Whale…
Texas School Board Wants to Spread Mis-Information... →
Members of the Texas School Board could use some education themselves.
Some members of the Texas School Board could use some education themselves. In a controversial decision today, the…
Yemen's Hunger Pains →
The World Food Program has begun to cut aid rations to some 3 million Yemenis who depend on WFP food aid.
After issuing warning after warning, the World Food Program has begun to…
Embedded With Afghan Civil Society - Part II - The... →
In May 2010, Una Moore spent three weeks following an Afghan human rights organization in the field.
In May 2010, I was given the opportunity to accompany the Afghanistan Human Rights…
Morning Coffee - 21 May 2010 →
Summary: Bodies of 28 miners found in Turkey;
Top Story: PROSECUTORS ASK UN COURT TO SUBPONENA NAOMI CAMPBELL
Prosecutors in the UN-backed court…
Top UN Rights Official Condemns Imprisonment of... →
The UN’s top human rights official Navi Pillay spoke out against a court decision to sentence a Malawian gay couple to 14 years hard labor.
May 17 was international day against…
Green Groups Again Call on Obama to Ban New... →
Aerial view of oil being burned on, May 19, 2010. Favorable weather conditions allowed burns to total more than nine hours. The burns are part of an effort to reduce the amount of oil in the…
Morning Coffee - 20 May 2010 →
Summary: Ban: “Shut up and drive”; North Korea threatens war if punished for ship sinking; Grim Dostoyevksy murals feared a suicide risk;
Top Story: SEC GEN…
Oceanographers Attack Obama Administration's Oil... →
Gulf oil spill approaching Loop Current image: NASA via flickr. The Federal response to the BP oil spill is getting criticism from all sides, the latest being from some prominent…
How Can Solar Power & SRECs Turn Your Roof Into An... →
If you’ve ever heard the term SREC (that’s ess-wreck) but had no idea what it referred to, let alone how you can profit from them while at the same time generating green electricity from your…
Southern US Apple Growers Lose 2010 Crop Due to... →
photo: Liz West via flickr I’m not saying you can directly attribute this one to climate change, but coming on the heals of NOAA saying the past April was the warmest on record, it’s…
Canadian Tar Sands Will Be US' Largest Imported... →
Considering the absolutely abysmal environmental impact the Canadian tar sands—don’t believe industry supporters or Canadian politicians who say otherwise—this is a really scary thought….
Iran Day at the UN →
Lots of goings on around the UN and Iran. As it happened, I attended a small press briefing with Ban Ki Moon at UN headquarters yesterday.
Lots of goings on around the UN and Iran. As it…
BP Contractors and Coast Guard Prevent CBS From... →
image: CBS News CBS News reporters have been turned away and threatened with arrest, prevented from reporting on the impact of oil coming ashore in Louisiana, by contractors from BP,…
Embedded With Afghan Civil Society - Introduction →
In May 2010, UN Dispatch Afghanistan correspondent Una Moore spent three weeks following an Afghan human rights NGO to diplomatic briefings, remote villages and urban slums.
…
Not Waiting For the Feds, Carbon Tax Enacted by... →
photo: Codo via flickr Not waiting for national legislation to set a price on carbon and kickstart the journey to a low-carbon future, Montgomery County, Maryland has enacted one the…
Indian State of Kerala Starts 10-Year Conversion... →
photo: McKay Savage via flickr. The southern Indian state of Kerala has officially announced a new farming policy which aims to covert all agriculture in the state to organic methods…
More Factory Farming Means More... →
photo: Mike Rosenberg via flickr. Chalk up yet another reason to oppose factory farming: BBC News reports that scientists from the University of Hong Kong have found evidence that
Embedded With Afghan Civil Society - Part 1 -... →
UN Dispatch Afghanistan correspondent Una Moore embarks on a road trip with the Afghanistan Human Rights and Democracy Organization.
In May 2010, I accompanied the Afghanistan Human…
Humans Stopping Malaria Faster Than Global Warming... →
photo: Karunakar Rayker While global warming is expected to spread tropical diseases into new areas, it appears human action to prevent malaria may be outpacing the spread of the…