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Benno Hansen

Chevron fined $8bn over Amazon 'contamination' | Dominic Rushe | Environment | The Guar... - 0 views

  • An Ecuadorian judge has ruled that Chevron was responsible for widespread contamination of the country's Amazon basin and fined the company $8bn (£5bn).
  • far below the $27.3bn sought by the plaintiffs – and they may appeal
  • The epic and bitterly fought lawsuit over the "Amazon Chernobyl" has been going on for 18 years. It was brought on behalf of 30,000 people whose health and environment were allegedly damaged by chemical-laden waste water dumped by Texaco's operations from 1972 to 1990. Chevron bought Texaco in 2001.
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  • Chevron had claimed that Ecuador was violating the terms of a 1997 trade pact with the US.
  • According to a report by Sweden's Umeå International School of Public Health more than 30bn gallons of toxic wastes and crude oil had been discharged into the land and waterways of Ecuador's Amazon basin - or "Oriente". This compares to the 10.8m gallons spilled in the Exxon Valdez disaster in 1989 in Alaska or 205m gallons spilt in BP's Deepwater Horizon disaster. The report claims there are at least two big oil spills per week in the area. Printable version Send to a friend Share Clip Contact us larger | smaller Environment Pollution · Oil · Energy Business Oil · Commodities World news Ecuador More news Related 7 Jun 2010 Exxon Mobil argues against knee-jerk reaction to Gulf oil spill 31 Aug 2010 Greenland's prime minister lambasts Greenpeace for raiding Arctic oil rig 7 May 2010 Chevron wins access to film-maker's Amazon pollution footage 1 Dec 2010 A climate journey - The Andes: Ecuador's rainforests
Benno Hansen

A Day to Prevent Exploitation of the Environment in War - 0 views

  • "The natural environment enjoys protection under Protocol 1 of the Geneva Conventions," Ban said. "But this protection is often violated during war and armed conflict. Water wells are polluted, crops torched, forests cut down, soils poisoned, and animals killed, all in order to gain military advantage."
  • Since the outbreak of fighting in August 1998, the conflicts have been rooted in struggles for control of natural resources such as water, timber, diamonds and other minerals as well as various political agendas.
  • "The United Nations attaches great importance to ensuring that action on the environment is part of our approach to peace," Ban stressed today. "Protecting the environment can help countries create employment opportunities, promote development and avoid a relapse into armed conflict.
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  • Ban said that the UN is studying the environmental impacts of conflicts around the world, from the Balkans to Afghanistan, from Lebanon to the Sudan.
  • Lasting peace in war-torn Darfur will depend in part on resolving the underlying competition for water and fertile land, Ban said, adding that there can be no durable peace in Afghanistan if the natural resources that sustain livelihoods and ecosystems are destroyed.
  • "We have seen how environmental damage and the collapse of institutions are threatening human health, livelihoods and security," he said. "These risks can also jeopardize fragile peace and development in post-conflict societies." "Let us renew our commitment to preventing the exploitation of the environment in times of conflict," said the secretary-general, "and to protecting the environment as a pillar of our work for peace."
Benno Hansen

Earth Summit is doomed to fail, say leading ecologists - environment - 10 February 2012... - 0 views

  • "We are disillusioned. The current political system is broken," said Bob Watson, the UK government's chief environmental science advisor
  • "Last time in Rio we had an unreasonable faith in governments. Since then we've lost our innocence in believing government was wise and benevolent and far-sighted. That's been blown completely out of the water," said Camilla Toulmin, director of the International Institute for Environment and Development, a non-profit organisation based in London.
  • "The UN text [for the summit declaration] is weak," said energy researcher José Goldemberg, who was Brazil's environment secretary at the time of the first summit.
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  • Syukuro Manabe, a climate modeller at the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, "the political system is not motivated to worry about the future".
  • "Decision-makers should learn from and scale up grass-roots action and knowledge in areas like energy, food, water and natural resources," the panel declared.
Benno Hansen

Nasa-funded study: industrial civilisation headed for 'irreversible collapse'? | Nafeez... - 0 views

  • By investigating the human-nature dynamics of these past cases of collapse, the project identifies the most salient interrelated factors which explain civilisational decline, and which may help determine the risk of collapse today: namely, Population, Climate, Water, Agriculture, and Energy.
    • Benno Hansen
       
      NASA har lavet Collapse 2 ?
  • These factors can lead to collapse when they converge to generate two crucial social features: "the stretching of resources due to the strain placed on the ecological carrying capacity"; and "the economic stratification of society into Elites [rich] and Masses (or "Commoners") [poor]" These social phenomena have played "a central role in the character or in the process of the collapse," in all such cases over "the last five thousand years."
  • The study challenges those who argue that technology will resolve these challenges by increasing efficiency: "Technological change can raise the efficiency of resource use, but it also tends to raise both per capita resource consumption and the scale of resource extraction, so that, absent policy effects, the increases in consumption often compensate for the increased efficiency of resource use."
    • Benno Hansen
       
      efficiency paradox
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  • the scientists point out that the worst-case scenarios are by no means inevitable, and suggest that appropriate policy and structural changes could avoid collapse, if not pave the way toward a more stable civilisation.
Benno Hansen

Environmental progress looks south | Blog | Ode Magazine - 0 views

  • the overdeveloped nations of the world need to follow the example of their poor neighbors to the south, which dump far fewer pollutants into the global commons
  • these are the places where precious biodiversity, rainforests and other ecological treasures still exist - the natural ecosystems of Europe and North American were largely ravaged a century ago
  • In 2008, Ecuador became the first nation in the world to enshrine the rights of nature in its constitution. The document now asserts that nature "has the right to exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles, structure, functions and its processes in evolution"
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  • Kenya adopted a new constitution that declares in Article 42, "Every person has the right to a clean and healthy environment, which includes the right - a) to have the environment protected for the benefit of present and future generations through legislative and other measures."
  • Article 69 of the new constitution also holds the state responsible for maintaining tree cover over at least ten percent of the nation’s land; for encouraging public participation in protecting and managing the environment; protecting indigenous knowledge of biodiversity; and establishing systems of environmental impact assessment.
Benno Hansen

Climate change action through the courts - 1 views

  • "A large part of the relevant legal literature suggests that the main polluting nations can be held responsible under international law for the harmful effects of their greenhouse-gas emissions," says the paper's author, lawyer Christoph Schwarte.
  • "Developing country governments are understandably reluctant to challenge any of the big donor nations in an international court or tribunal. But this may change once the impacts of climate change become even more visible and an adequate agreement remains wanting."
  • FIELD is a group of public international lawyers based in London working towards a fair, effective and accessible system of international law that protects the global environment and promotes sustainable development.
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    Foundation for International Environment Law and Development (FIELD)
biodegradable123

Disposable bowls - 0 views

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    Disposable bowls have been the standard for convenience and ease of use for a long time. However, the impact of this convenience on the environment has become increasingly apparent in recent years. The use of disposable bowls contributes to a large amount of waste, and the disposal of these products can take hundreds of years to decompose. Biodegradable salad bowls are a more sustainable alternative to disposable bowls, offering a range of benefits for both consumers and the environment.
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    Disposable bowls have been the standard for convenience and ease of use for a long time. However, the impact of this convenience on the environment has become increasingly apparent in recent years. The use of disposable bowls contributes to a large amount of waste, and the disposal of these products can take hundreds of years to decompose. Biodegradable salad bowls are a more sustainable alternative to disposable bowls, offering a range of benefits for both consumers and the environment.
Benno Hansen

United Nations News Centre - On international day, Ban underscores bond between peace a... - 0 views

  • “War and armed conflict shred the fabric of sustainable development,” Mr. Ban said
  • “There can be no peace if the resource base that people depend on for sustenance and income is damaged or destroyed – or if illegal exploitation finances or causes conflict,”
  • “Let us reaffirm our commitment to sustainably managing and safeguarding vital natural resources in times of peace and war,” Mr. Ban said in his message. “Let us do more to prevent conflicts over natural resources and maximize their benefits for maintaining and building peace.”
Benno Hansen

World is facing a natural resources crisis worse than financial crunch | Environment | ... - 1 views

  • humans are using 30% more resources than the Earth can replenish each year, which is leading to deforestation, degraded soils, polluted air and water, and dramatic declines in numbers of fish and other species
  • we are running up an ecological debt of $4tr (£2.5tr) to $4.5tr every year
  • populations and consumption keep growing faster than technology finds new ways of expanding what can be produced from the natural world
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  • by 2030, if nothing changes, mankind would need two planets to sustain its lifestyle
  • Sir David King, the British government's former chief scientific adviser, said: "We all need to agree that there's a crisis of understanding, that we're removing the planet's biodiverse resources at a rate which is as fast if not faster than the world's last great extinction."
  • 50 countries are already experiencing "moderate to severe water stress on a year-round basis"
  • 27 countries are "importing" more than half the water they consume - in the form of water used to produce goods from wheat to cotton - including the UK, Switzerland, Austria, Norway and the Netherlands.
  • A person's footprint ranges vastly across the globe, from eight or more "global hectares" (20 acres or more) for the biggest consumers in the United Arab Emirates, the US, Kuwait and Denmark, to half a hectare in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Afghanistan and Malawi.
  • The global average consumption was 2.7 hectares a person, compared with a notional sustainable capacity of 2.1 hectares.
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    2008
Alex Parker

World Environment Day: 5 green partnerships in tech - 1 views

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    Panasonic, Microsoft, Intel, Google, Apple, GSMA and LinkedIn feature, among others.
Benno Hansen

Eco warrior's Pacific journey shows how 'dumb plastic' is killing our seas | Environmen... - 0 views

  • "One of the difficulties in conveying it to people," De Rothschild says, "is that you can't photograph it, the flecks are too small.
  • Heyerdahl could survive on fish, but on board the Plastiki they have caught only a couple of tuna in three months, despite having their lines in the water every day.
eyal matsliah

Plant Your Roof - top10 emerging environment technologies - 0 views

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    planting your roof can cool your apartment and save air-con costs
Joshua Sherk

Special Coverage: Environment | AlterNet - 0 views

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    Good news stuff environmentally
Mark Kabbbash

a sick graph!!! - A must see. People should know. - 1 views

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    These figures are in millions. The source for energy R&D expenditures is from the National Council for Science and the Environment. Take a look here:
Joshua Sherk

Apple - Environment - Recycle Your iPod or Cell Phone - 0 views

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    title stated...
Joshua Sherk

BAGGU - 0 views

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    Environment reusable bags
Joshua Sherk

Nature's Path - Nature's Path Online Store - 0 views

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    Environment/Health foods
Joshua Sherk

Green Living Ideas - Eco Eyewear for Greener Vision - eco eyewear,reading gla... - 0 views

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    environment recycle eyewear
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