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Index Features

Texas Coal Plant’s 50,000 Air Pollution Violations Lead to Legal Challenge
EarthJustice
More than 50,000 air pollution violations at the massive Martin Lake coal-fired power plant led the Sierra Club, represented by Earthjustice and Environmental Integrity Project, to file a lawsuit today in federal court against plant owner Luminant (formerly TXU).
Extractive Industries Transparency and Human Rights: Why Opening the Books is Just the Beginning of the Story
by Nikki Reisch, student at New York Univ. School of Law, on EarthRights Intl. blogBHRRC
As we applaud the significant strides accomplished by transparency advocates this year, it’s useful to recall why opening the books is so important...One of the primary ways that extractive industries contribute to human rights abuses in some countries is by providing a source of income to oppressive governments.
Out-of-State Oil Interests Fund Ballot Measure to Block CA Clean Energy Law
UCS
The campaign promoting Proposition 23, a referendum on California’s November ballot that would essentially annul the state’s landmark clean energy law, is being funded primarily by two Texas-based oil companies.
What is CSR? Free download of introduction to CSR now available
Crane&Matten
We've just posted online our introduction to CSR from our 2008 text co-written with Laura Spence, Corporate Social Responsibility: Readings and Cases in a Global Context. It's available for free download here at the Social Science Research Network, albeit only in the pre-typeset version.
Corporate Benevolence and Corporate Despotism
by Phil MatteraDirtDiggers Digest
When we worry about the influence of big business on our existence these days, we generally think about a variety of companies: our employer, the financial institutions that handle our money, the drug companies that treat our ailments, the agribusiness firms that feed us, the telecoms that allow us to communicate, etc.
USA: Bid to suspend California global-warming law gets $1 million from billionaire brothers' firm
by  Margot Roosevelt, Los Angeles Times CorpWatch
The donation to the Proposition 23 campaign comes from a subsidiary of Kansas-based Koch Industries, which owns refineries and controls 4,000 miles of oil pipelines.
Walmart's war on labor
BrassCheck
It's Labor Day. Over 100 years ago, workers risked life and limb to get things like a five day work week, an eight hour day, and the right to organize. Walmart, the country's #1 retailer, and one of the biggest corporations in the world, is doing its best to dismantle those gains one by one.
Friends of the Earth urges end to 'land grab' for biofuels
by Katie AllenTheGuardianUK
European Union countries must drop their biofuels targets or else risk plunging more Africans into hunger and raising carbon emissions, according to Friends of the Earth (FoE).
New Study Shows Coal Ash Water Contamination Much Worse Than Previous Estimates
EarthJustice
(c) Jerry D. Greer.Days before the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) kicks off a series of regional hearings across the United States on whether and how to regulate toxic coal ash waste from coal-fired power plants, a major new study identifies 39 additional coal-ash dump sites in 21 states that are contaminating drinking water or surface water with arsenic and other heavy metals.
U.S. government may finance massive coal projects in India, South Africa
mongobay.com
The United States Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im Bank) voted on Wednesday to seek a final review of a $900m loan for a controversial 3,960 MW coal-fired power plant in India, reports Pacific Environment, a San Francisco-based environmental group.
Wal-Mart Asks Supreme Court to Hear Bias Suit
by S. GreenhouseNYTimes
Wal-Mart Stores asked the Supreme Court on Wednesday to review the largest employment discrimination lawsuit in American history, involving more than a million female workers, current and former, at Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club stores.
Coalition Demands FDA Deny Approval Of Controversial Genetically Engineered Fish
Center for Food Safety
FDA Considers Approval of GE Salmon–the First GE Food Animal–Yet Fails to Inform the Public of Environmental and Economic Risks
Sodexo and Coalition of Immokalee Workers Sign Fair Food Agreement [USA]
by Coalition of Immokalee Workers, SodexoBHRRC
Sodexo...and the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW)...have joined forces to improve farm worker wages and working conditions in the tomato fields of Florida.
Roundup: Want to Anger a LOT of Women? Propose Eliminating Epidurals to "Save Money"
by Robin Marty, RH Reality Check
We all know that states are dealing with huge budget deficits, and that medical costs are skyrocketing. Well, one Utah legislator believes he has come up with a partial solution to the problem: deny epidurals for any pregnant woman on Medicaid.
The Dark Side of Family Business
by Phil MatteraDirt Diggers Digest
Americans love entrepreneurship, and no form of it is more celebrated than the family business. Most of us distrust big banks and giant corporations, but who doesn’t have warm feelings about mom and pop companies or family farms?
A report from the antitrust in agriculture USDA/DOJ hearing in Colorado
FarmAid
JoelFarm Aid's farmer advocate Joel Morton traveled to Fort Collins, Colorado, this week to stand by America's family farmers and ranchers as they speak out about the lack of competition and fair markets in the livestock sector. Here's what he had to report early this morning...
Cargill backtracks on sustainability push for palm oil, says activist group
mongobay.com
Cargill has not suspended its relationship with a palm oil company recently exposed for misleading investors and buyers on its environmental transgressions, reports the Rainforest Action Network (RAN), an activist group campaigning against environmentally-damaging forms of palm oil production.
39 More Toxic Coal Ash Sites Found to Contaminate US Water Supply With Arsenic & Heavy Metals
by Matthew McDermottTreeHugger
A new report by the Environmental Integrity Project, Earthjustice, and the Sierra Club has identified an additional 39 sites in 21 states where toxic coal ash is contaminating drinking and surface water with arsenic and heavy metals. These new sites added to those already identified by the Environmental Protection Agency brings the US total to 137 in 34 states.
Shooting the Messenger Over CSR -- Again
by Doug BannermanGreenBiz
An editorial in Monday's Wall Street Journal, "The Case against Corporate Social Responsibility," by Associate Professor Aneel Karnani of the University of Michigan's School of Business, joins a number of other recent well-meaning, but uninformed, essays critical of corporate responsibility.
WANTED: The worst corporations of the year. Call for nominations for the Public Eye Awards 2011
by Public eye (Berne Declaration, Greenpeace) Dated: BHHRC
The Berne Declaration and Greenpeace Switzerland are once again on a global hunt for corporations whose social or ecological behavior stinks to high heaven.
Nigeria: Independent Figures Dispute UN’s Findings
by Andy RowellOil Change
If a tobacco company gave the World Health Organisation a $10 million grant to examine the health effects of smoking, health campaigners would be outraged. They would also treat the results with great suspicion.
BENMedia: Corporations supporting the criminalization of immigrants in the U.S.
Enlace is a strategic alliance of low-wage worker centers, unions, and community organizations in Mexico and in the U.S., working with member organizations in battles for workers’ and human rights.
USA: In Mott’s Strike, More Than Pay at Stake
by Stephen GreenhouseCorpWatch
After nearly 90 days of picketing in the broiling sun outside the sprawling Mott’s apple juice plant here in upstate New York, Michelle Muoio recognizes that the lengthy strike is about far more than whether the 305 hourly workers at the plant get a fatter or slimmer paycheck.
Infographic: Politicians Funded by Dirty Energy
by Cliff Kuangfastcodesign
Just how much is that senator getting, and what companies are doling it out?
The Polaris Institute endorses UK re-think Alberta campaign
Polaris Institute
On the heels of its endorsement of a July ad campaign aimed at branding Alberta as one of the world’s dirtiest energy producing places to visit, the Polaris Institute welcomes Corporate Ethics International’s re-think Alberta campaign encouraging people in the United Kingdom to think twice about visiting Alberta.
OCA and Kellogs and biotech sugar - Tell Kelloggs what you think!
OCA
Please take a moment to write to Christina. Let her know that genetic contamination of organic isn't an excuse to grow more Frankencrops, it's one of the reasons we need to get "biotech" out of the food business.
Fraud allegations against Indonesian palm oil giant widen, tarnishing auditors and sustainable palm oil initiative
by Rhett Butlermongobay.com
Sinar Mas, an Indonesian conglomerate whose holdings include Asia Pulp and Paper, a paper products brand, and PT Smart, a palm oil producer, was sharply rebuked Wednesday over a recent report where it claimed not to have engaged in destruction of forests and peatlands.
INSTITUTE INDEX: BP is driving us mad
by Sue SturgisISS
According to a recent study, percent of households living within 10 miles of the Gulf coastline that have seen income drop because of the BP oil disaster: 20.6
The Majestic Plastic Bag - mockumentary.
Heal the Bay
Help stop a 19 billion bag-a--year habit in California and put an end to plastic pollution. Tell your Senator to support the AB 1998 at http://www.HealtheBay.org/BagBill
Monsanto's war-zone harvest
Asian Times
In last month's blitzkrieg tour of Central and Southeast Asia, two of the four stops made by United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton share the unfortunate bond of enduring an invasion by US air and ground forces.
The illusion of diversity: visualizing ownership in the soft drink industry
by Philip H. Howard Assistant Professor, Michigan State Universityhttps://www.msu.edu/~howardp/softdrinks.html
Three firms control 89% of US soft drink sales [1]. This dominance is obscured from us by the appearance of numerous choices on retailer shelves. Steve Hannaford refers to this as "pseudovariety," or the illusion of diversity, concealing a lack of real choice [2]. To visualize the extent of pseudovariety in this industry we developed a cluster diagram to represent the number of soft drink brands and varieties found in the refrigerator cases of 94 Michigan retailers, along with their ownership connections.
Bobbing in Petroleum - Oil Change International and DirtyEnergyMoney.com
Oil Change International
Dirty Energy Money is an interactive tool that tracks the flow of oil, gas, and coal money in U.S. Congress. Find out which energy companies are pumping their dirty money into politics and which politicians are receiving it.
'Conflict minerals' finance gang rape in Africa
by Margot Wallström, UN special representative on sexual violence in conflict, in Guardian [UK] BHRRC
What does the financial reform package recently signed into law in the US have to do with preventing mass rape in Africa? Quite a lot, it seems.
Riki Ott: Seafood Safety and Politics Don’t Mix—Opening of Gulf Fisheries at Odds With Evidence of Harm
by Rikki OttChelsea Green
Eight days after returning home from his Gulf oil-spill response job, Jason Brashears has flashbacks of a scene that he witnessed one day in Lake Ponchartrain, Louisiana: Thousands of fish gasping at the surface in a sea of foamy oil and dispersant.
Pig Iron and Modern Slavery
BHRRC
The TakeAway: Shareowner Activism Can Help Deter Human Rights Violations...[A] landmark agreement released on 4 August 2010...commits Nucor
States Make Anti-Union, Preemptive Strike Against EFCA
by Jonathan J. CooperCommon Dreams
With Washington silent for now on legislation championed by unions, the debate is playing out instead in the states.
Stealth Disclosure
by Phil MatteraDirt Diggers Digest
The Congressional practice of quietly attaching an unrelated provision to a larger piece of legislation at the last minute has all too often been used to benefit powerful corporate interests.
U.S. judge bans planting of genetically engineered beets
by Dan LevineMSN -REuters
A federal judge on Friday banned the planting of genetically modified sugar beets engineered by Monsanto Co in a ruling that marks a major setback for the biotech giant.
Europe E-Waste Exports Continue, Despite Ban; U.S. Exports More, With No Ban At All
by Rachel CernanskyPlanet Green
The U.S. doesn't even have such a ban, and the Basel Action Network's Jim Puckett says we are "way behind" Europe on e-waste, estimating that up to 80 percent of e-waste in the U.S. is exported, again mostly to developing countries, primarily China.
BREAKING NEWS: Independent testing commissioned by the Food Rights Network has found toxic contaminants in San Francisco's sewage sludge "compost".
Source Watch
Watch the CBS 5 KPIX August 10, 2010, report in the top of the left column below for a startling report on how San Francisco is violating its own precautionary principle law by dumping toxic sludge on city gardens.
Victory! City Moves to End a Bronx Olfactory Nightmare
by SAM DOLNICKMOM
Some compare the smell to a filthy toilet, others to rotting meat; but everyone agrees that the stench comes from behind the gates of the New York Organic Fertilizer Company. The company’s Hunts Point plant processes sludge from 14 of the city’s sewage plants, amounting to nearly half of the city’s waste, and converts it into high-grade fertilizer pellets.
Pipeline Protestors Greet Obama in Chicago
FOE
Activists who oppose a controversial pipeline that would bring the world’s dirtiest oil to the U.S. demonstrated outside of a fundraising event attended by President Obama here today and called on the president to reject a permit to allow the project to move forward.
Texas Oil Companies Funding Campaign to Overturn CA Climate Law
by  Brian Merchant,TreeHugger
A few years ago, the state of California passed a landmark bill designed to reign in carbon pollution to 1990 levels by 2020, and Governor Schwarzenegger signed it into law.
Food-Commodity Speculation by Banks Caused Hunger, Group Says
by Rudy Ruitenberg, BloombergCorpWatch
Speculation in agricultural commodities by banks caused hunger during the 2008 food crisis by amplifying price surges, World Development Movement said.
Rio Tinto in Michigan: Native Americans make a stand and bear the brunt
LMN
In 2005, the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community tried to lease the sacred Eagle Rock site from the State of Michigan for ceremonial use. Located in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula near Marquette, Eagle Rock and the surrounding Yellow Dog Plains are part of lands ceded to the tribe for hunting and fishing by an 1842 government treaty upheld by the courts again in 1983.
India's Poor Seek Wealth in E-Waste
SVTC
"New America Now" sat down with Sunita Sohrabji of India West Newspaper and Sheila Davis, the executive director of the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition for a 2-part discussion on the e-waste issue in India and spotlight the SVTC documentary "Citizens at Risk". Below is part 2, featuring SVTC.
Culture clash in business-NGO partnerships
Crane and Matten
Ten years ago last month, Jem Bendell published what turned out to be one of the most influential books yet on business-NGO partnerships called Terms for Endearment: Business, NGOs and Sustainable Development.
Tom Greco: The Geography of a Recession, Unemployment by County [video]
Chelsea Green
Tom shared this video on his informative blog Beyond Money, a great place on the web for learning about alternative currencies and the problems caused by business-as-usual economics.
An Assessment of the Energy Return on Investment (EROI) of Oil Shale [PDF]
WORC
The most reliable studies suggest that the EROI for oil shale falls between 1:1 and 2:1 when self-energy is counted as a cost. Self-energy is energy released by the oil shale conversion process that is used to power that operation.
CBI files curative petition in Bhopal gas tragedy case [India]
by J. Venkatesan, Hindu Dated: BHRRC
The Central Bureau of Investigation…filed a curative petition in the Supreme Court in the Bhopal gas tragedy case to recall the order dated September 13, 1996, quashing charges under Section 304 Part II of the Indian Penal Code (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) against the accused.
Nigeria Oil Producers Agree to Set Up Fund to Cover Costs of Oil Spills
by Elisha Bala-GbogboBloomberg
International oil companies operating in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region agreed to set up a fund to cover the costs of oil spills, the country’s environment minister said.
Africans call for urgent mining reforms
LMN
Following a recent African conference, a substantial number of organisations, supported by their overseas colleagues, are calling for “the promotion and protection of community rights, the environment, and realisation of the aspirations of African peoples” impacted by mining.
Responsible investors at heart of new integrated reporting project
by Daniel BrooksbankRI
Some of responsible investing’s best known names, such as APG, the UN Principles for Responsible Investment, Railpen and the International Corporate Governance Network, are involved in a new group looking at how to integrate ESG (environmental, social and governance) factors into corporate reporting.
Ecuador Sets Major Rainforest and Climate Protection Precedent
Rainforest Portal - EI
It is reported Ecuador will be compensated for leaving oil reserves in Yasuni National Park untouched. This is a major victory for Ecuador, the rainforest movement, and Ecological Internet – who was the first to campaign internationally on the issue.
US court allows suit against contractor in Abu Ghraib
BHRRC
A US court has given approval for a lawsuit to proceed from 72 Iraqi nationals against a private contractor accused of complicity in the alleged abuse of detainees at the US-run Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
Big Oil Maintains Stranglehold on Congress
NRDC
Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nevada) has just announced he is withdrawing oil disaster legislation until after August recess. Following is a statement by Peter Lehner, Executive Director of the Natural Resources Defense Council:
Leaked report on Land grabs
Raj Patel
Today’s Financial Times has a preview of a much-awaited World Bank report on land grabs. The Bank has, for months, been promising the arrival of a report that makes a cast iron case for why allowing rich foreign investors to buy land in poor countries is win-win-win-win.
FDA Advisory Panel Recommends End to Avastin for Advanced Breast Cancer
Breast Cancer Action
Avastin for breast cancer – no evidence of improved overall survival, no improvement in quality of life, serious side effects, all at $50k a year.
The New Petro-Villain
by Phil MatteraDirt Diggers Digest
The BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is 100 days old, and now another company is competing for the spotlight as a major petro-villain.
Victory! Federal Court Halts Oil and Gas Activities Under Chukchi Sea Lease Sale
Pacific Environment
A federal court Wednesday afternoon ordered all activities under Lease Sale 193 in the Chukchi Sea off the north coast of Alaska halted pending further environmental review by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Enforcement, and Regulation, formerly the Minerals Management Service.
Victory! Congress passes law to end secrecy in oil, gas, and mining industry
OxFam
International humanitarian organization Oxfam America commends the US Congress for making disclosure of payments from oil and mining companies to governments around the world a legal requirement.
Obama's policy is a positive step for our seas
by Jackie Dragon, San Francisco ChroniclePacific Environment
Some say that the Deepwater Horizon oil-gushing disaster is Obama's Hurricane Katrina. Perhaps in response to that suggestion, President Obama signed an executive order last week to create a first-ever National Ocean Policy.
EPA Correctly Rejects Petitioners Challenging Climate Science in Endangerment Finding
UCS
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today rejected petitions from Peabody Coal, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Commonwealth of Virginia and others that asked the agency to rescind its scientific finding that heat-trapping gases pose a threat to public health. The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) says the EPA made the right decision based on science.
Ann Wright, Peace Seeker of the Year 2010
PeaceSeekers
The Montana Peace Seekers Network is blessed and deeply privileged to name you, Ann Wright, as Peace Seeker of the Year 2010, as an expression of the deep respect, appreciation and honor in which you are held by the peace and justice community of Montana.
Green Scissors Reports
FOE
Since 1994, the Green Scissors Campaign, led by Friends of the Earth, Taxpayers for Common Sense and U.S. Public Interest Research Group, has been working with Congress and the Administration to end environmentally harmful and wasteful spending. Working to breach party lines, the Green Scissors Campaign has helped cut more the $26 billion in environmental wasteful programs from the federal budget.
Victory! EPA Names e-Stewards Certified Recyclers as Route to Responsible Electronics Recycling
BAN
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has now formally recognized the e-Stewards® Recycler Certification and associated e-Stewards® Standard for the Responsible Recycling and Reuse of Electronic Equipment.
The KORUS: A Bad First Choice for Leftovers
citizens trade campaign
In fact, since Bush first pushed it, not one U.S. labor union, faith group, family farm organization or pro-environmental entity has yet to endorse or support the Korea FTA, or advocate for its passage.
The real scale of industrial pollution in North America is unknown because of national reporting exemptions and incomplete data, an international monitoring body says.
edie.net
The Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) made the declaration this month as it published its annual online update of pollution data from industrial facilities across the continent.
Demand Release of Journalists Who Exposed Human Rights Abuses in the Cocoa Industry
change.org
This past week, three journalists in the West African nation of Cote d'Ivoire were arrested and accused of stealing confidential documents after their newspaper, Le Nouveau Courrier, published the findings of a report into graft allegations against former officials from the Coffee and Cocoa Bourse (BCC).
Gas leases and North Carolina landowners
by Claire Hermann RAFI
According to a June 26, 2010 article in the Raleigh News and Observer, companies are moving fast to sign up these mineral rights. Few landowners are getting legal advice before signing these contracts. RAFI will be working to get understandable information to farmers about what these leases actually mean and how to protect their interests.
Russia Joins United States In Conceding It Will Miss CWC Deadline
CWWG
Russia has conceded it will miss by three years a legally binding deadline of 2012 for destroying its massive stockpile of chemical weapons, the top official overseeing compliance with the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), an international treaty on chemical weapons destruction, announced late last month.
The Fight Over Food Deserts -- Corporate America Smacks Its Way Down
by  Eric Holt Gimenez Huffington Post
This June the City of Chicago approved Walmart's bid to open up dozens of new facilities, beginning with grocery stores in the city's chronically underserved South side.
CODEPINK activist Diane Wilson may go to federal prison for Hayward stunt
by Tina StarrVTdigger
Diane Wilson is a feisty, 61-year-old former shrimp boat captain who was recently arrested at a U.S. Senate hearing for allegedly smearing herself with oil and repeatedly shouting at Tony Hayward, the former CEO of BP, as he spoke to lawmakers.
CIEL publishes Climate Change in the Work of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
CIEL
Published in May 2010, the paper describes how the climate change and human rights issues have developed in practice, assessing its application in the work of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR).CIEL is a non-profit organization dedicated to advocacy in the global public interest, including through legal counsel, policy research, analysis, education, training and capacity building.
Push to Regulate E-Waste in Silicon Valley
by Jacob Simas, New America Media - BayCitizenSVTC
Silicon Valley is the epicenter of computer innovation, but the "e-waste," the debris of Californians' high-tech lifestyle, gets exported to places like India, China and Nigeria, where the electronic scraps sit in open landfills, a source of income for children and adults who sift through the piles of discarded parts in hopes of extracting copper, aluminum and other metals.
$96 for 50 hours of work?
EBASE
You might have read that EBASE and the Coalition for Clean and Safe Ports took our fight to fix the broken port trucking system all the way to Washington, DC this past spring. Thanks to your support, members of Congress turned up the heat on the industry.
Shaming the Corporate Cheapskates
by Phil MatteraDirt DIggeres Digest
Buried among the many features of the financial reform bill passed by Congress is a provision that could get you a raise. For this to happen, however, you have to work for a large company that is uncomfortable with having it made public how little it pays its workers.
Shell to Sea Activist Pat O’Donnell Released From Prison
eirigi:Shell to Sea
Large numbers gathered yesterday (Saturday July 17) for a rally outside Castlerea prison in County Roscommon to celebrate the release of jailed Shell to Sea and Human Rights activist Pat 'the chief' O'Donnell.
Environmental groups sue Lower Colorado River Authority
Texas Campaign for the Environment
Three anti-pollution groups have accused the Lower Colorado River Authority of committing 10,000 violations against the federal Clean Air Act.
Should shareholder proposals serve as an early warning system for emerging risks and retail challenges?
by Sanford LewisCSRnewswire
The socially responsible investment community views the shareholder resolution process as a vehicle for allowing investors to raise and debate issues that may eventually impinge on the corporate bottom line.
Victory! Seattle to Begin Using Sweatfree Uniform Purchasing Policy
SweatFreeCommunities
The new policy requires sweat-free labor standards and a Code of Conduct for all bidders on City uniform contracts and makes a commitment to protections against slave labor, forced labor, forced overtime, excessive hours, child labor, below-poverty wages, discrimination, harassment, and other types of unfair labor practices. The new policy will be integrated into bid and contract materials and used as contracts come up for new bid.
US House renews Myanmar sanctions
AFP - Google
The US House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to renew for one year a ban on imports from Myanmar over alleged human rights abuses by its military rulers.
BP-Style Extreme Energy Nightmares to Come: Four Scenarios for the Next Energy Mega-Disaster
by  Michael Klare The Huffington PostTNI
The BP Gulf oil spill is not an anomaly but the result of industry-wide recklessness, as companies employ more and more risky methods to reach inaccessible reserves as the conventional ones run dry.
CEI Launches the ReThink Alberta Campaign to stop the Tar Sands
CEI
With the Calgary Stampede underway, billboards asking Americans to rethink their travel plans to Alberta rolled out across four major US cities today (cities that bring the most US tourists annually to Alberta) marking the first wave of a multi-year ad campaign aimed at revealing Alberta to be one of the world’s dirtiest destinations.
Victory! Americans Win Protection from Toxic Air Pollution
http://www.earthjustice.org/news/press/2010/americans-win-protection-from-toxic-air-pollution.html
Many American communities now living with heavy industry and toxic air pollution may finally get the chance for real protection from unnecessary health risks and environmental damage.
Rein in the Meatpackers
WORC
Today, a tiny handful of meatpackers and poultry processors dominates the livestock industry, making it hard for an individual farmer or rancher to get a fair deal or equitable price for cattle, hogs, or chickens. Packers are able to use their monopoly-like power to manipulate prices paid to livestock producers.
Rethink Alberta
http://rethinkalberta.org/
Does the Gulf Oil Spill make your angry? Wait until you learn about North America’s “other oil disaster.” The Alberta Tar Sands have been described as “the most destructive energy project on earth.”
EWG: The Farm Subsidy Database
EWG
EWG supports broad-based reform of federal farm policy by expanding farmland conservation programs to increase assistance especially to the bottom 90% of farm subsidy recipients as well as those completely left out of the current system.
What Goes Into (And Comes Out of) A Barrel Of Tar Sands Oil
by  Lloyd AlterTreeHugger
As the Gulf disaster continues to unfold, people are looking at alternatives. Canada's Minister of the environment has been pitching the Alberta oil sands as a greener, safer alternative, but as Jeff Rubin said, "You know you are at the bottom of the ninth when you are schlepping a tonne of sand to get a barrel of oil."
Human rights (the World Bank way)
by Kirk Herbertson, Kim Thompson & Robert GoodlandBretton Woods Project
Most of the world’s governments have ratified at least one human rights treaty or convention. Kirk Herbertson, Kim Thompson and Robert Goodland of the World Resources Institute ask why the World Bank Group – which is owned by these same governments – is hesitant to discuss human rights openly.
Powerful US Congressman Sends Serious Opposition to Canada Oil Sands Pipeline
by Kevin Grandiadesmogblog
Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), a senior member of Congress and chair of the powerful Congressional Committee on Energy and Commerce has penned a public letter to the Secretary of State, Hilary Rodham Clinton, in which he states strong opposition to a planned oil pipeline that would transport Canada's controversial tar sands oil to the US Gulf Coast.
Hogging the Gains from Trade [PDF]
by Timothy A. Wise and Betsy Rakocy*Global Development and Environment Institute Tufts University
A common complaint about U.S. trade and agricultural policies is that they have favored the economically powerful while doing li􀄴le for the average person. Labor and citizen groups say the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) gave unprecedented rights to multinational firms and investors at the expense of workers and communities.
KFC, Walmart contributing to destruction of Indonesia's rainforests, endangering orangutans
mongobay.com
Major U.S. companies are contributing to the destruction of Indonesia's rainforests by sourcing paper from Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), a subsidiary of Indonesia-based conglomerate Sinar Mas, alleges a new report from Greenpeace.
Why BP Does Not Want an Accurate Measurement of the Gulf Oil Spill
by Brian J. DonovanThe Donovan Law Group
The amount of oil that will ultimately be released into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico as a result of the Deepwater Horizon blowout of April 20, 2010 may never be known.
Refusing the Poisoned Apple
by Phil MatteraDirt Diggers Digest
Strikes are rare these days (outside China), so the walkout by a group of some 300 workers at a Mott’s juice and applesauce plant in upstate New York takes on added significance:
Delegation from oil-afflicted Amazon visits Louisiana tribes hit by BP disaster
by Sue SturgisISS
A delegation of indigenous and community leaders from Ecuador is visiting Louisiana this week at the invitation of the United Houma Nation, a tribe in coastal Lafourche and Terrebone parishes that has been hit hard by the BP oil catastrophe.
Adrienne Maree Brown, Executive Director of Ruckus and Octavia Butler too!
by Democracy Now!Raj Patel
Featured this week at the start of the US Social Forum

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