August 11, 2010
Wednesday WTF: At climate change meeting, delegates talk about talking
Oxfam Polar Bear demonstrates at the 2009 Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. Photo courtesy of Oxfam International, Flickcreativecommons. Negotiators are currently engaged in talks in Germany to discuss the agenda for the year-end environmental summit in Mexico. The Mexico meeting is intended to broker a new international agreement to replace the soon-to-be expired (but long since overshadowed)... [More >>]
August 10, 2010
Ezra Levant: Greenpeace should be prosecuted as a criminal organization
James Cagney, Greenpeace, Syncrude, and other menaces to society. Conservative provocateur Ezra Levant suggested in a Calgary Sun column last week that, according to Section 467.1 of the Criminal Code, Greenpeace should be prosecuted as a criminal organization. That section of the Code defines a “criminal organization” as a group numbering more than three people in or outside Canada that “has... [More >>]
August 6, 2010
U.S., U.K. move to stem “conflict minerals” in Congo, while Canada undermines reform
Child miners are forced to work the mines by the warring groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Photo courtesy: ENOUGH Project, Flickr Creative Commons. As I type this, I am complicit in the funding of rape and war. You probably are too–sitting on your laptop, listening to your mp3 player, texting on your smartphone–even if you don’t know it. But that could all change with the passing... [More >>]
July 28, 2010
The UN votes today on making clean water a human right—and Canada’s voting no
Millions around the world live without access to clean drinking water that plays a role in a host of easily preventable diseases. Photo courtesy: from a second story)Mike Bailey-Gates, FlickCreativeCommons. UPDATE: Wednesday, July 28, 12:14 — The Council of Canadians reports that the United Nations general assembly has voted in favour of the resolution to recognize water and sanitation as basic human... [More >>]
June 18, 2010
6 alternative summits you can attend (since you’re not invited to the G20)
Participants at the 2009 World Social Forum in Brazil help keep the world safe. Copyright Vanderlei Almeida/Getty Images. While the prime minister has been trying to do damage control for his G20 agenda, activists and organizers of all stripes have been busy building social justice movements. Sometimes movement-building involves bickering over listservs about who gets to the carry the banner, but... [More >>]
June 18, 2010
Why You Should Give a Damn: 5 Reasons to Care About the G8/G20
Protesters gather outside Union Station dressed as an oil spill in demonstration against Harper's environmental policy, June 17, 2010. Photo credit: Jesse Mintz Unless you have been living under a fake rock beside a fake lake, chances are you’ve heard about this G8/G20 business in some way, shape, or form. The reasons why many people are protesting, however, may not be as clear. That’s... [More >>]
June 17, 2010
Canadian Water Summit 2010: Q&A with Tony Maas of WWF-Canada
[Editor's note: Alixandra Gould is attending the 2010 Canadian Water Summit on Thursday, June 17. In advance of that, she interviewed a few of the experts who will be speaking at the event about some of the key issues in current Canadian water policy. Yesterday she contributed a report on the sorry state of water infrastructure in First Nations communities; Today she sends us a Q&A with Tony Maas,... [More >>]
June 16, 2010
Canadian Water Summit 2010: On Canadian reserves, don’t drink the water
[Editor's note: Alixandra Gould is attending the 2010 Canadian Water Summit on Thursday, June 17. In advance of that, she interviewed a few of the experts who will be speaking at the event about some of the key issues in current Canadian water policy. Today we bring you her report on the sorry state of water infrastructure in First Nations communities; check back tomorrow for her Q&A with Tony... [More >>]
May 21, 2010
In Haiti earthquake aftermath, Monsanto’s “gift” of seeds has strings attached
Vandana Shiva with a Tibetan Monk (the Refugee Government ex-Minister of Agriculture) attend a demonstration against Monsanto in Hyderabad, India in 2003. Photo by Naoko Yatani courtesy of Flickr user skasuga. Monsanto has donated 475 tonnes, that’s $4 million worth, of hybrid vegetable seeds to Haiti, proving that a devastated nation is land ripe for corporate sowing. But at least one of... [More >>]
May 18, 2010
As BP’s oil floods the Gulf Coast, Chevron prepares to drill even deeper in Canada
Louisiana (USA). May 6th, 2010. Aerial view of the oil leaked from the Deepwater Horizon wellhead, the BP leased oil platform exploded April 20 and sank after burning. The picture was taken in the vicinity where the platform sank from an altitude of 3200 ft. Photo by Greenpeace USA 2010. Even as the Deepwater Horizon spill releases an estimated 25,000 barrels of crude oil a day into the Gulf of Mexico—making... [More >>]
