[alternet-l] THE ALTERNET NEWS - ISSUE 118

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THE ALTERNET NEWS - ISSUE 118
April 15th 2005

This issue:

MANY HAPPY RETURNS/
SPOT THE DELIBERATE MISTAKE/
MILLENNIUM ECOSYSTEM ASSESSMENT/
FARMYARD FURORE/
BLANKET COSTS/
DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER, LAND RIGHTS AREN'T/
FAIRFORD FREEDOM FIGHTERS/
VIRTUALLY REALITY/
DEAD LOSS/
VEG OUT/

QUOTE/UNQUOTE/
JOBS/
DIARY/


HOT SITES:


Dangerous levels of growth hormones in milk, food poisoning, Mad cow 
disease, antibiotic resistant bacteria in meat - what's happened to our 
food? "Sustainable Table", found at http://www.gracelinks.org, will help 
you understand the issues, offer suggestions on what you can do, and 
introduce you to the exciting and hugely popular sustainable food movement 
exploding around the world.
   

Women in Action, a magazine published by Isis International-Manila, covers 
a broad range of issues affecting women globally, with focus on the 
particular needs and concerns of women in the Global South as well as the 
problems of under-represented social groups in the Global North. Visit  
http://www.isiswomen.org/ to learn more.

The 10th of November 2005 will be the tenth anniversary of the execution 
of the inspirational writer and human rights activist Ken Saro-Wiwa. The 
Nigerian government's decision to execute Ken and eight of his colleagues 
for campaigning against the devastating environmental impacts of oil 
corporations - especially Shell and Chevron - shocked the world and 
triggered a global re-evaluation of the impacts of corporate activity. 
Find out more about the life-long struggles of Ken Saro-Wiwa at 
www.remembersarowiwa.com






MANY HAPPY RETURNS

Following last month's victory at the European Court of Human Rights, a 
brand new McLibel feature documentary is to be released on TV, DVD and in 
the cinema this week - the week of McDonald's 50th birthday celebrations. 
Filmed over the course of 10 years by director Franny Armstrong ('Drowned 
Out'), with courtroom reconstructions by Ken Loach ('My Name Is Joe', 
'Kes'), 'McLibel' is the story of the postman and the gardener who 
humiliated McDonald's in "the biggest corporate disaster in history". This 
new, 85 minute version follows Helen Steel, 39, and Dave Morris, 50, from 
their beginnings as anonymous campaigners distributing leaflets in North 
London in the late 1980s to global heroes defeating the UK government - 
and libel laws - at the European Court in 2005. They faced infiltration by 
spies, secret meetings with corporate executives and, perhaps most 
worrying of all, a visit from Ronald McDonald himself. 
"Who said ordinary people can't change the world?" says Director Franny 
Armstrong.
"McDonald's have been raking in their profits for 50 years and all of 
society has paid the price.," says Dave Morris, "We should look forward to 
their funeral, not their birthday." 
Available at www.spannerfilms.net/shop, from McDonald's birthday on 
15/4/05. 



SPOT THE DELIBERATE MISTAKE

In a move of unprecedented idiocy, the Bush administration has appointed 
Matthew Hogan as interim head of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 
(Director Steve Williams resigned earlier this month). Among his many and 
varied accomplishments, Hogan used to be the chief lobbyist for Safari 
Club International, a trophy-hunting group that holds competitions wherein 
its members roam five continents, shooting at a variety of exotic (and 
sometimes endangered) species. The members of SCI have also been known to 
take shortcuts, shooting captive animals or animals that have drifted to 
the peripheries of national parks. 

http://grist.org/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=4637



MILLENNIUM ECOSYSTEM ASSESSMENT

Unless governments pay greater attention to what nature does for humanity, 
United Nations goals to halve poverty and hunger by 2015 will not be met, 
and hunger and malnutrition will remain a problem as far into the future 
as 2050, says a UN report published recently.
The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (launched on 30 March 2005 in
London, Tokyo, Beijing, Delhi, Cairo, Nairobi, Washington and Brazil)
has been prepared over the past four years by 1300 scientists from 95
countries. This scientific assessment, focusing on the impact that changes 
to ecosystems will have on human well-being, is a joint project undertaken 
by a range of UN and international scientific agencies and NGOs.
http://www.millenniumassessment.org
FARMYARD FURORE 

Scottish environment groups have called on the government to start taking 
real action to cut climate pollution from farming and to give greater 
support to organic agriculture. The demands come in response to a promise 
by ministers to 'relate' their forthcoming strategy on agriculture to 
issues such as climate change.
However, the groups warned that much more will be needed, as 
farming-related pollution is being underestimated. A recent study by 
researchers from the Universities of Edinburgh and Aberdeen concluded that 
emissions of one major greenhouse gas, nitrous oxide, were 57% higher than 
previously estimated. Neither is the climate pollution resulting from the 
massive amounts of energy required to produce artificial fertilisers being 
fully taken into account. The groups say that unless these problems are 
properly addressed, then government pledges to cut climate emissions will 
not be achieved.
Speaking on behalf of a coalition of 26 Scottish environment groups
campaigning for action to tackle climate change, the President of Scottish 
Environment group LINK, Fred Edwards, said:
"Since farming clearly makes a large contribution to climate emissions,
the government needs to do much more than make its new strategy on 
agriculture 'relate' to climate change. The need for real action is even 
more urgent now that it is becoming clear just how much we have been 
underestimating levels of emissions. Failure to account fully for 
emissions has resulted in little or no real progress to reduce emissions 
in this sector".

http://www.sundayherald.com/48822



BLANKET COSTS

A Swiss ski resort concerned about global warming's ill effects on its 
future is taking matters into its own hands. At the ski season's end in 
May, the Andermatt resort will cover some 32,200 square feet of the 
Gurschen glacier with an insulating PVC foam in hopes of keeping its black 
slopes from melting into nursery slopes. The foam, which costs some 
$84,000 and can be stored during the winter for reuse, was constructed by 
Swiss technicians to protect the snow layer from heat, ultraviolet rays 
and rain. The country's' glaciers have lost roughly a fifth of their 
surface area in the last 15 years, according to a Zurich University study 
linking the loss to global warming, and the ice field above Andermatt is 
retreating by over 16 feet a year, a resort spokesperson reported. If the 
PVC-foam trial is successful, the resort plans to cover more of the 
glacier, and other resorts may also adopt the technology.
The Telegraph



DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER, LAND RIGHTS AREN'T

BHP Billiton, the world's biggest mining company, is exploring the 
Gana and Gwi Bushmen's reserve without their consent. In reaction to 
a complaint to the World Bank, the company's Botswana subsidiary 
Sekaka Diamonds has erected signs in the reserve in English and 
Setswana, explaining that low flying planes will start surveying for 
diamonds. Yet the Bushmen in the reserve read neither English nor 
Setswana. The BHP Billiton venture in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve is 
funded by the private arm of the World Bank, the IFC (International 
Finance Corporation), to the tune of US$ 2 million. The company's 
failure to consult the Gana and Gwi, who have been evicted from the 
reserve, violates the World Bank's own policy on indigenous peoples.
The local Bushman organisation 'First People of the Kalahari' wrote to the 
World Bank in November 2004, complaining that their right 
to live on their ancestral land was being 'undermined' by the BHP 
Billiton project. The Bushmen are opposed to any development on their 
land until they are allowed to return and live freely there.

www.survival-international.org



FAIRFORD FREEDOM FIGHTERS

Two years ago, on 22 March 2003, two days after coalition forces 
launched an attack on Iraq, 120 protestors were turned away by police from 
an anti-war demonstration and detained for over two hours. The House of 
Lords is expected to make a decision within the next four weeks on whether 
to hear the case. A group of coach passengers taking the case forward 
petitioned the House of Lords after the Court of Appeal ruled in December 
that, although the police acted unlawfully in detaining them on their 
coaches, their rights to freedom of movement and of lawful assembly were 
not violated by being turned away from the demonstration at RAF Fairford. 
Giving judgment, Lord Chief Justice Lord Woolf stated that, "the 
passengers were virtually prisoners on the coaches for the length of the 
journey". 
At the Appeal hearing, Gloucestershire police had argued that they were 
protecting the protestors' right to life by detaining them and forcing 
their return to London.  In his statement, Chief Superintendent Kevin 
Lambert, the officer in charge of policing the protest, warned that, "had 
a member of the public penetrated the defences and been killed or injured 
by one of the armed personnel guarding the B52 aircraft. . . the public 
reaction and political consequences would have been extremely damaging to 
the coalition partners". 

http://www.fairfordcoachaction.org.uk



VIRTUALLY REALITY

In an attempt to escape escalating negative publicity, car manufacturers 
have begun to label their vehicles 'virtually emission-free' without 
actually modifying the vehicles themselves. 
The "virtually emission-free" claim is at the heart of a new print ad 
campaign targeted at federal legislators by a coalition of car 
manufacturers including Ford, Toyota, and General Motors. There's a grain 
of truth (but only a grain
) behind the campaign: Some car models generate 
roughly 99 percent fewer smog-forming emissions than their counterparts in 
the pre-regulation 1960s. But critics, including the Union of Concerned 
Scientists (UCS), have pointed out several problems. Firstly, most car 
manufacturers have acknowledged that smog remains a serious public-health 
problem that requires further efforts on their part. Secondly, the 
campaign disregards emissions not classified as pollutants by the U.S. EPA 
- in other words, carbon dioxide. But again, manufacturers themselves have 
acknowledged that greenhouse gases like CO2 are causing climate change and 
need to be cut. The UCS has mounted a counter-campaign that it says has 
generated 20,000 complaints to the Federal Trade Commission about the 
coalition's 
claims.
http://grist.org/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=4612



DEAD LOSS

Amnesty International has stated in its annual report on the use of 
capital punishment that there were nearly 4,000 deaths by capital 
punishment during 2004, and at least 7,395 inmates were sentenced to death 
worldwide. The United States remains one of the top executing countries, 
along with China, Iran, and Viet Nam.
"Our report indicates that governments and citizens around the world have 
realized what the United States government refuses to admit-that the death 
penalty is an inhumane, antiquated form of punishment," said Dr. William 
F. Schulz, Executive Director, Amnesty International USA (AIUSA).
 Amnesty asks the international community to do more to consign the death 
penalty to history.

http://www.amnestyusa.org



VEG OUT

Using biofuel - a mix of vegetable oil and diesel - to power 
vehicles is already popular in certain circles, but using biofuel to heat 
homes is just starting to catch on. A recent surge has taken place largely 
in the U.S. Northeast, where there remains a large concentration of houses 
that use heating oil. 
Proponents tout the fact that biofuel produces far less soot and thus 
requires less furnace cleaning. They are also motivated by a desire to 
support energy independence and the domestic economy. 
"About 20 out of every 100 gallons of bioheat goes to American farmers and 
producers instead of unstable foreign countries," says biofuel user 
Charles Kleekamp. Though it currently costs roughly 10 to 20 cents more 
per gallon than regular heating fuel, mainly because of the paucity of 
manufacturing facilities (Northeast biofuel is transported all the way 
from Florida), enthusiasts hope that rising demand will drive down prices. 
Already a biodiesel production facility is in the works for 
Providence, R.I., for next year.

http://grist.org/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=4628



QUOTE/UNQUOTE


"Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you 
plant." 
-Robert Louis Stephenson



JOBS


Health Delegate - Albania
American Red Cross
Salary: Based on Experience 
Location: Tirana, Albania
Closing Date: 25.04.2005
http://www.oneworld.net/job/view/11038

Program Associate
Centre for Development and Population Activities
Salary: unconfirmed
Location: Washington, D.C., United States
Closing Date: 24.04.2005
http://www.oneworld.net/job/view/11034

Campaigner - Zimbabwe
Amnesty International - International Secretariat
Salary: Full time salary of £24,029 per annum
Location: London, UK
Closing Date: 23.04.2005 
http://www.oneworld.net/job/view/11021

Asia/Middle East Regional Manager
CAFOD
Salary: £36,172 to £39,672 pa
Location: Brixton, London, UK
Closing Date: 20.04.2005        
http://www.oneworld.net/job/view/11018

Training Manager
Heifer Project International
Salary: 48,600-54,630
Location: Little Rock, Arkansas, United States
Closing Date: 20.04.2005        
http://www.oneworld.net/job/view/1101



EVENTS


19th April - 26th April

Globaleyes (play)

The Chicken Shed Theatre Company announces a new production,'Globaleyes' 
Set to open on the 19th April until the 28th May at the Chicken Shed 
Theatre, Chase Side, Southgate, London N14 4PE. 
'Globaleyes weaves a story of unerring passion for the beauty of life 
against the cheapening value that society can put on it. Through dance, 
theatre and music, still and moving image, this stunning, uplifting piece 
of dance theatre brings to life issues of globalisation, the abuse of 
power and the impact of these issues on the world and its future'. 
At the Chicken Shed Theatre, Chase Side, Southgate, London N14


20th April

Amnesty International - DEMANDING JUSTICE FOR THE 'DISAPPEARED'
A conversation with Mexican human rights activist Tita Radilla,
organised by Amnesty International, Peace Brigades International and the 
Latin America Bureau. Hear the inspiring story of a courageous human 
rights defender and the international volunteers who help to keep her 
safe. All welcome.
Will take place at The Human Rights Action Centre, 17-25 New Inn Yard,
London EC2A 3EA, on the 20th April 2005 at 7.30pm,
Please RSVP by email to alison.willis at amnesty.org.uk or telephone: 020 
7033 1544


23rd April

"Making War History", Network for Peace Annual General Meeting. 
Guest speakers include Professor Robert Hinde, co-author of /War No More/ 
(with J. Rotblat) and Jonathan Fryer, a freelance writer, 
lecturer and broadcaster, and a regular contributor to BBC Radio 4's 
'From Our Own Correspondent'. Plus Alison Williams of UNGA-Link UK will 
talk on the UN's report: /A more secure world: Our shared 
responsibility.
10am - 5pm Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, (near Holborn Tube), London WC1. 
NfP AGM will be in the morning, guest speakers 2 - 5pm. All 
welcome, whether members or not. Network for Peace: 020 7278 3267 
nfp at gn.apc.org www.networkforpeace.org.uk


27th April

Earthwatch Lecture - Grey Whales and Orca

Grey Whales & Orca - Feeding Habits & Health. 
Our oceans are powerful indicators of the state of our planet and the 
incidence of climate change. There is currently much public interest in 
whales and their environment, but the information is often poorly reported 
or interpreted. Join us to hear about our research into two charismatic 
species, the coastal grey whale, which can weigh between 30 and 40 tons, 
and the killer whale, the most fearsome predator of the world's oceans - 
research which also tells us about the health of the oceans they inhabit. 
>From 7pm to 8.30pm Royal Geographical Society 1 Kensington Gore, London
Admission is free but by ticket only.
Contact events at earthwatch.org.uk 
01865 318856



'The Peace Cycle 2005' will be the second ever London to Jerusalem Bike 
Ride! 
It will leave central London on Sunday 7th August and will travel through 
the Benelux regions, Switzerland, part of Italy and then on to Turkey and 
the northern Middle East countries before crossing into Israel and the 
West Bank. The ride will again take with it a message of solidarity and 
hope for a just peace for all people in the Middle East and beyond.   
Despite some recent small steps towards peace talks in Israel and 
Palestine, the people of Gaza and the West Bank are still suffering the 
daily humiliation of checkpoints, restrictions of movement, demolition of 
their homes, and general discrimination and injustice. 
We welcome people of all backgrounds, abilities, ages and faiths to join 
the ride for justice and peace, whether for one day, for part of the way, 
or for all of the way to Jerusalem!
End the Cycle of Violence - Join the Cycle for Peace.
For more information on joining The Peace Cycle please see our website: 
www.thepeacecycle.org



TRAINING COURSES


Introduction to Renewable Energy Weekends, 
Wales

(3 days, covering a full range of technologies)
22, 23 & 24  April 2005
and 27, 28 & 29 May 2005


Solar Electrical Installation Courses, 
France

(5 days, incl site visits & practicals)
Monday 16 May -  Friday 20 May
and Monday 27 June -  Friday 1 July
and Monday 19 September -  Friday 23 September


For further information on both courses contact
Green Dragon Energy
tel: + 44 (0) 1654 761 731(Office)
tel: + 44 (0) 784 060 0979 (Mobile)
email: info at greendragonenergy.co.uk
and have a look at
http://www.greendragonenergy.co.uk/courses.htm



See SchNEWS events at http://www.schnews.org.uk/pap/yourarea.htm

Add diary dates at http://www.gn.apc.org/calendar/calindex.shtml and 
http://www.networkforpeace.org.uk/events.htm (diary dates collected by NfP 
are passed on to Peace News for their diary page. In order to get a diary 
listing in PN, groups can email nfp at gn.apc.org with details).

This edition of AlterNet is edited by Lucie Evans for GreenNet.

Send your news and hot sites to actnow at gn.apc.org

Please note that opinions expressed in Alternet News do not 
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