Two environmental activists were detained by the Tennessee Valley Authority police for photographing the site of last weeks ash spill. While it does not appear that they will be charged with crimes, they were unable to document the ash spill’s effects on the area and its water supply.
Month: December 2008
Martial law of the jungle – When defending the environment means calling in the military
some green thinkers are now coming to a surprising conclusion: In exceptional circumstances, they say, the only effective way to protect the environment may be at the barrel of a gun. […] in certain cases of severe ecological harm, the international community may be justified in mustering troops to intervene, with or without the permission…
Fiddling with words – Climate-change diplomacy
IMAGINE that some huge rocky projectile, big enough to destroy most forms of life, was hurtling towards the earth, and it seemed that deep international co-operation offered the only hope of deflecting the lethal object. Presumably, the nations of the world would set aside all jealousies and ideological hangups, knowing that failure to act together…
How Eta went to war over the environment
Eta has declared war on a high-speed rail link to be built through the heart of some of the most beautiful countryside in Europe. Two weeks ago the new cause claimed its first victim – Ignacio Uría, 71, a businessman shot dead by two Eta gunmen as punishment for his involvement in the railway project….
Somalia’s agricultural region faces dire future
Somalia’s humanitarian situation has been deteriorating in recent months, amid an increase in attacks on the country’s transitional government by opposition fighters. People living in the country are losing hope as politicians in the government, which was once seen as the best possible chance for Somalia, argue among themselves. In Somalia’s agricultural region the situation…
The fight against dirty energy
December 2008: Activists pledge ‘all-out war’ to block power plant Environmentalists are vowing to block a proposed $6 billion coal-fired power plant in Surry County, saying it would increase air pollution, would contribute to global warming and is not needed. Late September 2008: Gore urges civil disobedience to stop coal plants Nobel Peace Prize winner…
In Niger, a war for what’s beneath the desert
A battle is unfolding on the stark mountains and scalloped dunes of northern Niger between a band of Tuareg nomads, who claim the riches beneath their homeland are being taken by a government that gives them little in return, and an army that calls the fighters drug traffickers and bandits. …new screenwriter badly needed… this…
“Conflict over resources could reemerge”
GLOBAL TRENDS 2025: THE NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE COUNCIL’S 2025 PROJECT “Aging populations in the developed world; growing energy, food, and water constraints; and worries about climate change will limit and diminish what will still be an historically unprecedented age of prosperity. […] In terms of size, speed, and directional flow, the transfer of global wealth and…
Highlights: CNN’s Planet in Peril – Battle Lines
CNN has been so kind to produce the Ecowar TV-series: I have been watching a bit of their Planet in Peril – Battle Lines series lately. World’s most valuable resource, a curse for most Nigerians Hundreds of billions of dollars has been made from the Niger Delta’s oil reserves and many people have gotten very…
100 nations ban cluster bombs
Amnesty International / Landmark cluster bomb treaty signed in Oslo Ninety two states signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions – which bans the production, stockpiling, use and export of cluster bombs during a ceremony in Oslo on Wednesday. 100 nations ban cluster bombs The first steps have been taken to banning cluster bombs, a weapon…
Lawyers call for international court for the environment
A former chairman of the Bar Council is calling for an international court for the environment to punish states that fail to protect wildlife and prevent climate change. […] “The time is now ripe to set this up and get it going […] Its remit will be overall climate change and the need for better…
Another Darfur Casualty: Trees
On top of the human toll, the conflict in Darfur is afflicting the environment […] on Mount Marra, the highest peak in the area, there were about 100 trees for each acre of land in the 1990s, on average; by 2001 that was down to 50, and it is now about 20. Desertification helped spark…