[alternet-l] THE ALTERNET NEWS - ISSUE 121

[alternet]

THE ALTERNET NEWS - ISSUE 121
May 27th 2005

This issue:

BIG BROTHER IS MONITORING YOU/
THE MAN FROM DEL MONTE SAYS. NO/
AIM HIGH - VERY HIGH/
MAKE MINE A TALL SKINNY GREEN LATTE/
BUSH GETS IT WRONG AGAIN/
THEY'VE GOT THE POWER/
IT'S ONE RULE FOR THE MILITARY.
WINDFALL/
ISLAMOPHOBIA STILL RISING IN U.S./
THE BEST NEWS I.VE HAD IN AGES/


QUOTE/UNQUOTE/
JOBS/
DIARY/


FACT OF THE FORTNIGHT:

The name of everyone's favourite search engine is a corruption of 'googol' 
- meaning the numeral 1 followed by a hundred zeros - indicating that with 
Google, the possibilities are (almost) endless.


HOT SITES:

Made up your mind as to whether the London 2012 Olympic bid is a good 
thing or bad thing yet? Check out the facts before you decide.
http://www.nolondon2012.org/


Did you oppose the war in Iraq? Did you oppose Trident? As a taxpayer, you 
paid for it anyway. The chances are you'll go on paying, unless you act 
now. The Peace Tax Seven are looking for ways to broaden tax resistance, 
and to empower people who can't withhold income tax, for example due to 
the PAYE system. They are interested in hearing from supporters, 
individuals, groups, and organisations with a commitment to peace, or an 
interest in finding out more about this issue.
www.peacetaxseven.com


Sign an on-line petition to show your disapproval of the Bush 
Administration.s actions, and impeach George Bush at 
http://www.votetoimpeach.org or 
http://votenader.org/get_involved/impeach.php. You have support: in a poll 
of 22,000 people across 21 countries, 58% expected Bush to have a negative 
impact on peace, and security (not to mention the environment!), only 26% 
considered him a positive force, and dislike of Bush is translating into 
dislike of Americans in general.


BIG BROTHER IS MONITORING YOU

Technological advances in the field of environmental monitoring are 
allowing scientists to take frequent and accurate measurements of weather 
conditions, animal behaviour, and even contaminant levels without leaving 
their workstations. By placing tiny wireless instruments (no larger than a 
deck of cards) in an environmentally sensitive area, researchers are able 
to remotely access data produced by the devices' cameras, robots, and 
sensors, providing them with a detailed account of the area's health.. 
The devices, called motes, are often networked together, able to power 
down when not needed, and compensate for sensors within the network that 
are not working correctly. The field is relatively new, but spreading, 
with over $1 billion worth of sensors planned or in place in areas such as 
Californian hardwood forests and the depths of the Pacific Ocean. Says 
William Kaiser of UCLA's Centre for Embedded Network Sensing; "It's going 
to change the way we think." Indeed it will.

http://www.nytimes.com



THE MAN FROM DEL MONTE SAYS. NO

Nicaraguan fruit plantation workers exposed to the harmful pesticide 
'Nemagon' used by Dole, Chiquita, and Del Monte in the 1970s are today 
suffering from incurable illness, and many of their children are born with 
horrific deformities. Though the chemical was known to be toxic to humans 
and banned early on in the United States, the companies continued to use 
it in other countries without disclosing the health risks, and are still 
emphatically denying any link between the use of the pesticide and the 
resulting illnesses. Needless to say, the workers have never been 
compensated.

http://www.inthesetimes.com



AIM HIGH . VERY HIGH

Yokohama, Japan, a city of 3.5 million, recently sent its citizens a 
27-page instruction book on how to sort waste for recycling into 10 
different categories, detailing how to dispose of more than 500 separate 
items, from used lipsticks to old socks. The city aims to slash the amount 
of waste being sent to incinerators by 30 percent before 2010. Kamikatsu, 
a small town of 2,200 residents, has set its goal even higher - no rubbish 
thrown out at all by 2020. To achieve this lofty aim, the town requires 
citizens to sort their waste into a growing number of recycling categories 
- currently standing at 44. Despite some initial complaints, in the last 
four years Kamikatsu's recycling rate has hovered at around 80 percent. 
Intense social pressure helps, with volunteer garbage guardians across 
Japan inspecting their neighbours' sorting efforts and reporting those not 
so keen on the programme.
http://www.nytimes.com


MAKE MINE A SKINNY GREEN LATTE

Environmental groups are working to help El Salvador's coffee farmers 
achieve green certification so that they can survive in a volatile 
worldwide market - and help the wildlife that finds refuge on their farms 
survive as well. The country's native ecosystems have been almost entirely 
wiped out, and its once-prodigious wildlife now shelters amongst the tall 
shade trees planted to protect coffee shrubs from harsh sunlight. It is 
also coffee farms that are "protecting the watersheds, that are buffering 
and extending the few parks, and that are conserving the soils," says 
Chris Wille of the Rainforest Alliance. Coffee farms now cover some 10 to 
15 percent of the country, but the vagaries of the coffee market mean that 
many are being sold to developers and cattle ranchers. Certified "green" 
coffee (there are a number of different certifications) tends to hold its 
value through market fluctuations.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4513593.stm


BUSH GETS IT WRONG AGAIN

Government soldiers fired into a crowd of at least 10,000 people on 
Friday, killing as many as 500 in the impoverished Uzbek city of Andijan. 
President Bush's pro-democracy rhetoric during a recent visit to the 
region and the city's proximity to the epicenter of Kyrgyzstan's 
revolution may have played a part in encouraging residents to stand up to 
police and troops, say analysts.

http://www.iwpr.net


THEY'VE GOT THE POWER
California is planning yet another green experiment, this time involving 
electricity use and pricing. With up to 15 million high-tech meters, at a 
cost of around $3.6 billion, three California utilities plan to 
meticulously track consumers' minute-by-minute energy usage (which current 
meters can't do) and raise energy prices during peak hours to encourage 
conservation. Next-generation meters could eventually be used to remotely 
control energy-sucking appliances - utilities themselves could turn down 
your too-high air conditioning or refrigerator. The meters and the 
accompanying "dynamic pricing" scheme have received mixed reviews from 
consumers and businesses involved in test programs, but Severin Borenstein 
of U.C. Berkeley's Energy Institute is optimistic: "I think we're going to 
find there's a lot of price responsiveness at the residential level," he 
said. The California Public Utilities Commission is still reviewing the 
proposal.
http://www.grist.org/comments/dispatches


IT'S ONE RULE FOR THE MILITARY.

For the fourth time in as many years, the Defence Department has appealed 
to Congress for exemptions from major environmental laws - this time it's 
air and hazardous waste laws, as part of the 2006 defence authorization 
bill. In congressional testimony last year, a senior Pentagon official 
could cite no actual problems reported by base commanders that had 
resulted from having to comply with environmental laws. When pushed, a 
spokesman replied "The [Defence] department has experienced several close 
calls where the relocation of military readiness activities could have 
been thwarted by the conformity requirements of the Clean Air Act". The 
mention of "close calls" and "could haves" does not impress opponents of 
the exemptions - a coalition of green groups, Democrats, and families in 
and around military bases whose health has been affected by air and 
groundwater pollution. They claim the military, widely regarded as one of 
the country's worst polluters, has all the flexibility it needs under 
current laws.
http://www.nytimes.com


WINDFALL
The people of Pico Truncado in southern Argentina have long known the 
power of the wind that scours their land, as it also provides more than 
half of the town's electricity and could bolster its economic future. Pico 
Truncado already has four working windmills, and a wind-powered hydrogen 
plant will open in June this year. A nearby village is participating in a 
U.N. pilot project as one of five sites worldwide to be powered solely by 
alternative fuels, and an Argentine oil company has begun looking into 
financing a $19 billion wind-powered facility in or near Pico Truncado 
that could export hydrogen around the world. The 15,000 or so residents of 
the Patagonian town are hoping their geographical good fortune will 
continue, possibly making the area the Middle East of the future. "Why 
not?" asks resident Mario Salomon. "We lack water, we lack money, but we 
have never lacked wind. We have plenty to spare."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/


ISLAMOPHOBIA STILL RISING IN U.S.

A new report shows incidences of hate crimes against Muslims in the United 
States have increased by 52 percent in the past year. Arsalan Iftikhar, of 
the Council on American-Islamic Relations, says this trend can partially 
be attributed to Islamophobic rhetoric from certain right-wing circles.

http://tompaine.com



THE BEST NEWS I'VE HAD IN AGES

Eco-minded institutional investors pledged this week to channel $1 billion 
into clean-technology investments and take other steps to help combat 
risks posed by climate change. The action plan emerged from a summit at 
U.N. headquarters in New York where leaders of the green-suit crowd - 
everyone from pension-fund managers and state treasurers to Al Gore and 
former treasury secretary Paul O'Neill - met to talk about how 
environmentally concerned shareholders could prod U.S. corporations into 
facing up to the challenges of global warming.

http://www.grist.org/comments/dispatches


QUOTE/UNQUOTE

"We must use time wisely and forever realize that the time is always ripe 
to do right."
- Nelson Mandela.


JOBS

Development Worker/Campaigner,
Yorkshire Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.
Do you have the drive and imagination to run a regional campaigns office 
and lead a national campaign?
Location: Bradford, West Yorkshire
Permanent, full-time.
Salary: £19,000
Closing date: Wednesday June 1st
www.yorkshirecnd.org.uk/jobs

Child Protection Trainee Scheme
Save the Children UK
Salary: £10,500
Location: Various locations throughout the world, Roaming/Mobile
Closing Date: 30.05.2005
http://www.oneworld.net/job/view/11266


Campaigner . Eurasia (ECA/05/07)
Amnesty International - International Secretariat
Salary: £24 029 per annum (pro rata for part time staff)
Location: London, UK
Closing Date: 27.05.2005
http://www.oneworld.net/job/view/11264


Senior Advocacy Officer (LACG)
Economic Justice and HIV, Christian Aid
Salary: £28,091 - £31,615
Location: London, SE1, UK
Closing Date: 08.06.2005
http://www.oneworld.net/job/view/11261


Country Representative, Cambodia
Ockenden International
Salary: $40-50,000
Location: Cambodia
Closing Date: 29.05.
http://www.oneworld.net/job/view/11260
EVENTS


On World Environment Day . Sunday 5 June 2005 . the Mayor of London is 
holding the first London Green Lifestyle Show in Greenwich Park. As well 
as kicking off the London Sustainability Weeks fortnight, it will be the 
first festival organised by the Mayor celebrating the work taking place to 
make London a truly sustainable world city.  The event will be powered 
using renewable energy sources, waste will be recycled, food waste will be 
composted and noise and air pollution will be minimised.
For more information about the event, visit 
www.london.gov.uk/greenlifestyle/index.jsp, or contact Green Futures 
Festival on 020 8974 8608; for general information, contact London 21 on 
020 7359 8228 or at info at london21.org.



The Peace Tax Seven are looking for ways to broaden tax resistance, and to 
empower people who can.t withhold income tax, for example because of the 
PAYE system.
We hope to spend a day examining the issue in some detail, brainstorming, 
and networking - there is no obligation for
further action.
Venue, time and date:
The Priory Rooms Meeting & Conference Centre
Friends Meeting House
40 Bull Street
Birmingham  B4 6AF
Saturday 9th July 2005, 11am - 4pm
Feel free to turn up, but it's easier for us if you notify our Treasurer 
or Press Officer in advance if you wish to attend. We are asking for an 
admin charge of £5 per person, payable to the Peace Tax Seven in advance, 
or on the day.
info at peacetaxseven.com


The Privacy International's notorious Big Brother Awards will be happening 
again from 7.15pm on Thursday 23rd June. Always a chaotic and fun night.
The venue is the Quad of the LSE. Cheap drinks as always, and this year we 
will be going late into the evening. DJ Rick will be playing the tunes, 
and we'll have a quiet area for people who want to relax and chat.
Our MC for the evening will be Chris Green, the comic mastermind behind 
stand-up stage characters Tina C and Ida Barr.
I'm also reliably informed that Darth Vader and a few of his friends will 
be making an appearance to collect awards.
E-mail Rick at ukbba at privacy.org for information.


SDE Networking Day, 2nd June, Albert Halls, Stirling.
Join us for a day of Action and Networking with a wide variety of 
sustainable development and environmental education practitioners. Try out 
some new educational activities, share ideas and network with colleagues 
and have some fun! There will also be the chance to promote your own 
activities in a "swop shop. session. A very informal but informative day.
Time: 11 . 4.30 pm, Cost: £10 on the day. (£5 concs.)
To book a place contact: Norah on email: info at esdscot.org




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
necessarily reflect the opinions of the editor or of the GreenNet
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