Stop the Forest Destruction in Russia! Save the Khimki Forest. And While You Are At It, Save Japan!
Joseph Raglione
May 17, 2011
Gentle readers of this American Chronicle, I'm not religious but if I were religious, I would begin saying my prayers to save this planet from the greedy and selfish idiots who apparently have no foresight and no compassion for Mother Earth OR EVEN FOR THEIR OWN CHILDREN! These fools care for nothing but their profit margins...>
Greenpeace Blog: Making Waves ...
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Daily news:
1. TEPCO admits a meltdown in Fukushima, and Scholastic provides coal-friendly lessons to US teachers.
2. Conflict over Khimki Forest continues...
3. Daily news: fear for further explosions and leaks in Fukushima, and Greenpeace activists on the top of Germany for energy [R]evolution
Posted: 17 May 2011 04:20 AM PDT
Top news: TEPCO has announced that fuel rods in Fukushima´s number 1 suffered a near complete meltdown soon after the 11 March earthquake; 3,000 tons of contaminated water is set to be dumped into Fukushima soil. Educational company Scholastic used to provide biased coal-friendly lesson plans to US teachers.
Clement Tang / Greenpeace
Nuclear: Fukushima nuclear plant operator TEPCO admitted on May 15 that nuclear fuel at reactor 1 started melting soon after the on March 11 earthquake. "Because there is similar damage to the fuel rods at the No. 2 and 3 reactors, the bottoms of their pressure vessels could also have been damaged," as the TEPCO senior official Junichiro Matsumoto said.
3,000 tons of radioactively contaminated water has been discovered at Fukushima nuclear power plant. The contaminated water could reach the sea through the holes that the melted rods burnt through the vessel. The engineers are now saying that they can no longer flood the reactors in order to cool them, so what will be the next plan to cool down the melting material within the reactors? As Greenpeace is strongly saying these days, "the fact that TEPCO has used more than two months to confirm the complete meltdown, shows the apparent inability of the nuclear industry to face such disasters."
Coal: Scholastic, the main producer of teaching material for classrooms in the US, has been discovered providing biased lesson plans such as "The United States of Energy". According to Greenpeace and the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, the material published doesn´t mention disadvantages of coal mining, such as house gases and pollution it produces. "People have fond feelings about Scholastic and were shocked they were selling their services to the coal industry" said Josh Golin, associate director of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood. According to The Coalblog, Scholastic´s lesson plan is sponsored by the American Coal Foundation, as well as a 2010 series of environmental lessons on land, water, air, and climate tied to the Lexus Eco Challenge, supported by car maker Toyota.
Conflict over Khimki Forest continues
Posted: 17 May 2011 02:45 AM PDT
Elena Kostuchenko is a journalist for Russian paper Novaya Gazeta who has been covering the struggle to save Khimki Forest, she speaks here about the social conflict and involvement of French company Vinci.
The situation in the Khimki forest region is escalating. The activists working to defend the forest have set up a camp where illegal clearing of trees is taking place to try and put a stop to the destruction both day and night. Once again, private security forces and unidentifiable thugs attacked the activists – inflicting serious injuries including head injury, broken nose, and broken jaw. On Sunday during a peaceful demonstration in Khimki the NGO community issued a press release urging Moscow´s regional police authority to resign – due to the use of inappropriate force against the Khimki activists.
A Russian national holiday this week meant one day of peace for the Khimki forest, but now clearing of the trees continues and I am once again extremely concerned for the safety of those forest defenders who continue the struggle – and call for more help via Twitter.
Vinci, the multinational French construction company, which is building the road through the middle of Khimki forest, is "partly washing their hands of what is happening and partly ignoring the whole thing completely" as reported in The Nation recently. There is a complex web of foreign interests and oligarchs behind the controversial motorway project that is threatening the forest, and the leader of the movement to save Khimki – Evgenia Chirikova – attended Vinci´s recent shareholder meeting in Paris to draw attention to this ongoing conflict.
As I write this the activists who are out there in Khimki forest are sacrificing their safety and daily lives in order to stop the illegal destruction of the forest. They cannot expect any help or security from the police. But you can support them by sending a letter to Vinci representatives in your country, by sending a letter to your Russian embassy demanding security for these forest defenders or adding your name to this petition.
For her video go to: http://www.greenpeace.org/international/
Asti Roesle, Forest Campaigner for Greenpeace Switzerland, demands French construction firm Vinci end its involvement in the illegal destruction of Khimki Forest.
Daily news: fear for further explosions and leaks in Fukushima, and Greenpeace activists on the top of Germany for energy [R]evolution
Posted: 16 May 2011 05:48 AM PDT
Top news: Tepco´s plans to cool down the reactor increases the risk for explosions and leaks; Germany: the nationwide protest against nuclear energy reaches the top of the Zugspitze.
Greenpeace Germany
Nuclear: Residents have been moved further away from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant as the no-go zone is extended, and Japanese engineers abandoned their latest attempt to stabilise a stricken reactor at the Fukushima plant. At the same time, the leakage of radioactive material continues to spread, and "radioactive contamination is accumulating in the marine ecosystem that provides Japan with a quarter of its seafood," as Ike Teuling, Greenpeace radiation expert, said in a statement.
Greenpeace is still independently monitoring radioactive levels in the area, and Goshi Hosono, a special adviser to Prime Minister Naoto Kan on the nuclear crisis, said the government would look into the finding by Greenpeace. Given government assurances, we think that "yet the authorities are still doing very little to protect public health".
Following our contamination monitoring, Greenpeace said ten of its seaweed samples had shown radiation levels over 10,000 Bq/kg, over the safety limit. This is particularly alarming for the area, because some types of seaweed are a staple of the Japanese diet, and the seaweed harvesting season is due to begin.
The condition of N1 Fukushima reactor is far from safe, and further massive leaks are still a big risk for the population. Tepco´s plan to cool down the reactor is to flood it with water (that needs to be dumped somewhere, representing a real contamination threat for soil and sea), and as John Large, an independent nuclear engineering consultant in London, said this plan is riddled with "potential risks". As Shaun Burnie, nuclear adviser to Greenpeace Germany, said: "Flooding a reactor that has fuel [that has fallen] through the pressure vessel is not a good idea", because this increases the risk of an explosion that can create an atmospheric release running for days or more.
Energy [R]evolution: Greenpeace activists demonstrated nationwide on Saturday in Germany, including on Germany´s highest mountain, the Zugspitze. Activist deployed on the top of the mountain, always an important scene of actions for climate protection, a banner saying: "Our future is renewable". The action is part of the energy [R]evolution campaign, and demands the closure of German nuclear power plants.
A SUPER VIDEO WORTH WATCHING...>
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZsDliXzyAY&feature=player_embedded
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We shouldn't expect the kids to clean up our mess
I turned 75 in March. That means I probably won't be around to see the worst impacts of climate change or any other looming environmental disasters - or the much brighter future that may emerge if we get off our butts to address the problems.
But I'm also a father and grandfather, and because I care about my children and grandchildren, and all the world's children, I continue to work and to speak out about environmental challenges and solutions.
Climate change is already having noticeable impacts around the world, including food shortages, increasing extreme weather events, shrinking glaciers and ice caps, and rising sea levels. We've already upset the atmospheric carbon balance, so the more we ignore the problem, the worse it will get.
It's unconscionable that we would condemn our children and grandchildren to an increasingly bleak future, especially when readily available solutions would help to resolve many other global problems. Cleaner sources of energy would reduce pollution and the health problems that go along with it. Improving social justice would help give people the time, resources, and inclination to focus on environmental issues and improving their quality of life. Reducing our reliance on fossil fuels would resolve crises that threaten political and economic stability.
It shouldn't be up to young people to clean up the messes we have made. After all, we don't even allow them to vote - to choose who will make decisions on their behalf. And they will be most affected by the decisions made today. But because so many adults have abdicated their responsibility to the world and its children, youth are taking matters into their own hands.
One young person in the U.S., 16-year-old Alec Loorz, is even taking his government to court over its inaction on climate change. He and others have launched actions against state and federal governments in an attempt to have the atmosphere declared a "public trust" that must be protected, a concept that has been used to clean up polluted rivers and coastlines. "We will let the world know that climate change is not about money, it's not about power, it's not about convenience," he says. "It's about our future. It's about the survival of this and every generation to come."
Alec Loorz started an organization called iMatter when he was just 13. He has rallied youth from around the world to march during the second week of May to raise awareness about climate change. He argues that children have "the moral authority" to ask their parents and leaders, "Do I matter to you?"
It's a question that deserves an answer. For many adults, the honest answer would have to be, "No, we're more concerned about cheap gas, the economy, profits for the fossil fuel industry, and having more stuff."
Reading about Alec Loorz reminded me of the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. My daughter Severn, who was just 12, gave a speech that silenced the delegates and brought many to tears. During her talk she asked the adults, "Are we even on your list of priorities?" She also reminded them that "Losing a future is not like losing an election or a few points on the stock market."
After her speech, a reporter said to her, "Yeah, we've done a pretty lousy job of taking care of the environment, but you kids are different; you'll lead the way." I was astonished by her reply. "Oh," she said, "Is that the excuse for adults to do nothing? Besides, you are our role models. We copy what you do, so how can you expect us to be any different?"
Severn is now a mother herself, and I'm proud that she takes her commitment to her child and to all children seriously. As well as being a great mom, she works hard to raise awareness about environmental issues through her writing, speaking, and TV appearances. We owe it to our children and grandchildren to help clean up the messes we've made. We also owe them respect and support when they get involved and push us to do more for the world. Parents must become eco-warriors on behalf of their children, because their future should be as important to us as it is to them.
(Photo Credit: Philippe 2009 via Fickr)
This email was sent to human4us@sympatico.ca
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Greenpeace Blog: Making Waves ...
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Daily news:
1. TEPCO admits a meltdown in Fukushima, and Scholastic provides coal-friendly lessons to US teachers.
2. Conflict over Khimki Forest continues...
3. Daily news: fear for further explosions and leaks in Fukushima, and Greenpeace activists on the top of Germany for energy [R]evolution
Posted: 17 May 2011 04:20 AM PDT
Top news: TEPCO has announced that fuel rods in Fukushima´s number 1 suffered a near complete meltdown soon after the 11 March earthquake; 3,000 tons of contaminated water is set to be dumped into Fukushima soil. Educational company Scholastic used to provide biased coal-friendly lesson plans to US teachers.
Clement Tang / Greenpeace
Nuclear: Fukushima nuclear plant operator TEPCO admitted on May 15 that nuclear fuel at reactor 1 started melting soon after the on March 11 earthquake. "Because there is similar damage to the fuel rods at the No. 2 and 3 reactors, the bottoms of their pressure vessels could also have been damaged," as the TEPCO senior official Junichiro Matsumoto said.
3,000 tons of radioactively contaminated water has been discovered at Fukushima nuclear power plant. The contaminated water could reach the sea through the holes that the melted rods burnt through the vessel. The engineers are now saying that they can no longer flood the reactors in order to cool them, so what will be the next plan to cool down the melting material within the reactors? As Greenpeace is strongly saying these days, "the fact that TEPCO has used more than two months to confirm the complete meltdown, shows the apparent inability of the nuclear industry to face such disasters."
Coal: Scholastic, the main producer of teaching material for classrooms in the US, has been discovered providing biased lesson plans such as "The United States of Energy". According to Greenpeace and the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, the material published doesn´t mention disadvantages of coal mining, such as house gases and pollution it produces. "People have fond feelings about Scholastic and were shocked they were selling their services to the coal industry" said Josh Golin, associate director of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood. According to The Coalblog, Scholastic´s lesson plan is sponsored by the American Coal Foundation, as well as a 2010 series of environmental lessons on land, water, air, and climate tied to the Lexus Eco Challenge, supported by car maker Toyota.
Conflict over Khimki Forest continues
Posted: 17 May 2011 02:45 AM PDT
Elena Kostuchenko is a journalist for Russian paper Novaya Gazeta who has been covering the struggle to save Khimki Forest, she speaks here about the social conflict and involvement of French company Vinci.
The situation in the Khimki forest region is escalating. The activists working to defend the forest have set up a camp where illegal clearing of trees is taking place to try and put a stop to the destruction both day and night. Once again, private security forces and unidentifiable thugs attacked the activists – inflicting serious injuries including head injury, broken nose, and broken jaw. On Sunday during a peaceful demonstration in Khimki the NGO community issued a press release urging Moscow´s regional police authority to resign – due to the use of inappropriate force against the Khimki activists.
A Russian national holiday this week meant one day of peace for the Khimki forest, but now clearing of the trees continues and I am once again extremely concerned for the safety of those forest defenders who continue the struggle – and call for more help via Twitter.
Vinci, the multinational French construction company, which is building the road through the middle of Khimki forest, is "partly washing their hands of what is happening and partly ignoring the whole thing completely" as reported in The Nation recently. There is a complex web of foreign interests and oligarchs behind the controversial motorway project that is threatening the forest, and the leader of the movement to save Khimki – Evgenia Chirikova – attended Vinci´s recent shareholder meeting in Paris to draw attention to this ongoing conflict.
As I write this the activists who are out there in Khimki forest are sacrificing their safety and daily lives in order to stop the illegal destruction of the forest. They cannot expect any help or security from the police. But you can support them by sending a letter to Vinci representatives in your country, by sending a letter to your Russian embassy demanding security for these forest defenders or adding your name to this petition.
For her video go to: http://www.greenpeace.org/international/
Asti Roesle, Forest Campaigner for Greenpeace Switzerland, demands French construction firm Vinci end its involvement in the illegal destruction of Khimki Forest.
Daily news: fear for further explosions and leaks in Fukushima, and Greenpeace activists on the top of Germany for energy [R]evolution
Posted: 16 May 2011 05:48 AM PDT
Top news: Tepco´s plans to cool down the reactor increases the risk for explosions and leaks; Germany: the nationwide protest against nuclear energy reaches the top of the Zugspitze.
Greenpeace Germany
Nuclear: Residents have been moved further away from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant as the no-go zone is extended, and Japanese engineers abandoned their latest attempt to stabilise a stricken reactor at the Fukushima plant. At the same time, the leakage of radioactive material continues to spread, and "radioactive contamination is accumulating in the marine ecosystem that provides Japan with a quarter of its seafood," as Ike Teuling, Greenpeace radiation expert, said in a statement.
Greenpeace is still independently monitoring radioactive levels in the area, and Goshi Hosono, a special adviser to Prime Minister Naoto Kan on the nuclear crisis, said the government would look into the finding by Greenpeace. Given government assurances, we think that "yet the authorities are still doing very little to protect public health".
Following our contamination monitoring, Greenpeace said ten of its seaweed samples had shown radiation levels over 10,000 Bq/kg, over the safety limit. This is particularly alarming for the area, because some types of seaweed are a staple of the Japanese diet, and the seaweed harvesting season is due to begin.
The condition of N1 Fukushima reactor is far from safe, and further massive leaks are still a big risk for the population. Tepco´s plan to cool down the reactor is to flood it with water (that needs to be dumped somewhere, representing a real contamination threat for soil and sea), and as John Large, an independent nuclear engineering consultant in London, said this plan is riddled with "potential risks". As Shaun Burnie, nuclear adviser to Greenpeace Germany, said: "Flooding a reactor that has fuel [that has fallen] through the pressure vessel is not a good idea", because this increases the risk of an explosion that can create an atmospheric release running for days or more.
Energy [R]evolution: Greenpeace activists demonstrated nationwide on Saturday in Germany, including on Germany´s highest mountain, the Zugspitze. Activist deployed on the top of the mountain, always an important scene of actions for climate protection, a banner saying: "Our future is renewable". The action is part of the energy [R]evolution campaign, and demands the closure of German nuclear power plants.
A SUPER VIDEO WORTH WATCHING...>
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZsDliXzyAY&feature=player_embedded
Having trouble reading this email? View it online. Cut and paste this Url
http://view.exacttarget.com/?j=fe6410717464067e7d1c&m=fe5c1570746c0d7a741c&ls=fded12717266067b7d127976&l=fe5c16797763077a7115&s=fe1d117870600c74741c72&jb=ffcf14&ju=fe3016747367007e7d1570&r=0
We shouldn't expect the kids to clean up our mess
I turned 75 in March. That means I probably won't be around to see the worst impacts of climate change or any other looming environmental disasters - or the much brighter future that may emerge if we get off our butts to address the problems.
But I'm also a father and grandfather, and because I care about my children and grandchildren, and all the world's children, I continue to work and to speak out about environmental challenges and solutions.
Climate change is already having noticeable impacts around the world, including food shortages, increasing extreme weather events, shrinking glaciers and ice caps, and rising sea levels. We've already upset the atmospheric carbon balance, so the more we ignore the problem, the worse it will get.
It's unconscionable that we would condemn our children and grandchildren to an increasingly bleak future, especially when readily available solutions would help to resolve many other global problems. Cleaner sources of energy would reduce pollution and the health problems that go along with it. Improving social justice would help give people the time, resources, and inclination to focus on environmental issues and improving their quality of life. Reducing our reliance on fossil fuels would resolve crises that threaten political and economic stability.
It shouldn't be up to young people to clean up the messes we have made. After all, we don't even allow them to vote - to choose who will make decisions on their behalf. And they will be most affected by the decisions made today. But because so many adults have abdicated their responsibility to the world and its children, youth are taking matters into their own hands.
One young person in the U.S., 16-year-old Alec Loorz, is even taking his government to court over its inaction on climate change. He and others have launched actions against state and federal governments in an attempt to have the atmosphere declared a "public trust" that must be protected, a concept that has been used to clean up polluted rivers and coastlines. "We will let the world know that climate change is not about money, it's not about power, it's not about convenience," he says. "It's about our future. It's about the survival of this and every generation to come."
Alec Loorz started an organization called iMatter when he was just 13. He has rallied youth from around the world to march during the second week of May to raise awareness about climate change. He argues that children have "the moral authority" to ask their parents and leaders, "Do I matter to you?"
It's a question that deserves an answer. For many adults, the honest answer would have to be, "No, we're more concerned about cheap gas, the economy, profits for the fossil fuel industry, and having more stuff."
Reading about Alec Loorz reminded me of the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. My daughter Severn, who was just 12, gave a speech that silenced the delegates and brought many to tears. During her talk she asked the adults, "Are we even on your list of priorities?" She also reminded them that "Losing a future is not like losing an election or a few points on the stock market."
After her speech, a reporter said to her, "Yeah, we've done a pretty lousy job of taking care of the environment, but you kids are different; you'll lead the way." I was astonished by her reply. "Oh," she said, "Is that the excuse for adults to do nothing? Besides, you are our role models. We copy what you do, so how can you expect us to be any different?"
Severn is now a mother herself, and I'm proud that she takes her commitment to her child and to all children seriously. As well as being a great mom, she works hard to raise awareness about environmental issues through her writing, speaking, and TV appearances. We owe it to our children and grandchildren to help clean up the messes we've made. We also owe them respect and support when they get involved and push us to do more for the world. Parents must become eco-warriors on behalf of their children, because their future should be as important to us as it is to them.
(Photo Credit: Philippe 2009 via Fickr)
This email was sent to human4us@sympatico.ca
Take Action | Donate | Unsubscribe | Privacy Policy
David Suzuki Foundation
219-2211 West 4th Ave., Vancouver, BC, V6K 4S2
604-732-4228 | contact@davidsuzuki.org
You are subscribed to email updates from Making Waves
To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. Email delivery powered by Google
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