The United Nations Human Rights Council’s Working Group has concluded that two anti-whaling Greenpeace activists have been denied human rights by the Japanese justice system.
For more see http://3.ly/j7y.
Japan denies human rights to anti-whaling activists
USDA to scrap an important food safety check
Our ability to track cattle in cases of food contamination could be compromised
The National Animal Identification System - a USDA program set in place during the Bush administration (one of the small bright spots of his tenure) after the discovery in late 2003 of a cow infected with mad cow disease - will be scrapped due to apparent resistance from ranchers and farmers. Agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack will announce the changes this Friday.
In the meantime, states will need to create a new system that included how to identify livestock. Officials plan to create a different livestock tracing program that they hope will gain widespread industry support.
New federal rules will be developed - this could take two years or more to create - but the officials said these would only apply to animals moved via interstate commerce, such as cattle …
Target and Safeway move to provide sustainable seafood
Driven by consumer demand, more corporations are adopting sustainable business practices, Retailers carrying food products are particularly engaged in this process.
Recently, Target and Safeway announced that they would discontinue carrying farm-raised seafood and switch to wild caught. Environmentalists have been pushing for this, criticizing that net-pens salmon farms, which release pollution, chemicals and parasites into the surrounding ocean, disrupt and sometimes decimate nearby wild fish populations.
Greg Duppler, senior vice president, merchandising for Target, said “Target strives to be a responsible steward of the environment, while providing our guests with the highest-quality food choices.”
Safeway is also on the sustainable bandwagon. They recently announced their partnership with marine conservation group FishWise to develop and implement a more comprehensive sustainable seafood policy.The company will also implement a traceability system to screen out suppliers that don’t conform to its new policies, and will discontinue …
Greenwashing anyone?
Bamboo labeling isn't up for grabs, says the FTC
Bamboo may be a sustainable resource, but it depends on how it’s processed. And it certainly can’t be considered eco-friendly if it’s really rayon.
The Federal Trade Commission recently sent letters to major retailers including Wal-Mart, Target, Kmart, Amazon and 74 other companies, warning them against rayon clothing and other products as bamboo.
“Failing to properly label and advertise textiles misleads consumers and runs afoul of both the Textile Rules and the FTC Act.”
Rayon can be made from any plant cellulose and is made with harsh chemicals. The companies will now be required to distinguish between these two materials.
Soft and fuzzy, but is it really rayon?
“Rayon is rayon, even if bamboo has been used somewhere along the line in the manufacturing process,” said David Vladeck, the FTC’s director …
Will Costa Rica be the world’s first carbon neutral country?
Costa Rica is making great strieds towards becoming the #1 carbon neutral country
While in Costa Rica last Fall, I wrote a number of posts about that country’s ongoing commitment to sustainability. In
one of them I mentioned Costa Rica’s goal to become the world’s first carbon neutral country.
According to Environment and Energy Minister Roberto Dobles, Costa Rica will achieve this using budgeting, laws, and incentives, such as promoting biofuels, hybrid vehicles, and clean energy. This Latin American country already embraces the “C-Neutral” label that will certifies that tourism and certain industrial practices mitigate all of the CO2 they emit.
Becoming carbon neutral will help preserve Costa Rica's many rainforests
This new certification incorporates a voluntary tax on businesses and tourists alike to offset their carbon emissions, with one ton of carbon …
Amazing partnership bringing mattresses to displaced Haitians
The specially designed WorldBed will help displaced people in Haiti
With so much relief effort currently focused on Haiti, a unique partnership has come together to bring specially designed “transitional” mattresses called the “WorldBed” to the people there.
U.S. mattress manufacturer Anatomic Global announced that they’ve partnered with five key suppliers – FXI Foamex Innovations, UPS, Deslee Textiles USA, Royal Packaging and the Brookwood Companies – and that the first 500 mattresses shipped from Southern California this past weekend expected to arrive in Haiti later this week. Thousands more will be shipped each week until a goal of supplying some 200,000 mattresses is reached.
Covered with rugged nylon, this foam mattress is moisture resistant too
The “World …
New kit will help keep pharmaceuticals out of our water
On March 10, 2008, MSNBC’s website read:
“Pharmaceuticals lurking in U.S. drinking water … AP probe found traces of meds in water supplies of 41 million Americans”
More stories have since revealed how extensive the problem’s become. The real ramifications of prescription drugs in the water we drink hasn’t been fully determined but this news is certainly enough to scare the heck out of most of us.
Leave it to the ingenuity of a pharmacist and an engineer to come up with a viable solution.
Chemical engineer John Heaton and pharmacist Brian Deryck have formed start-up company RXDisposal Solutions LLC in Uniontown, Ohio. Its pharmaceutical disposal system turns discarded drugs into an insoluble solid mass that Heaton says will prevent chemical leaching into groundwater supplies.
Wastewater facilities have no way of capturing flushed pharmaceuticals, Heaton says. “There’s just no provision (for that”, he said.
The objective is to catch the drugs at the source so they never enter the water, Heaton said.
“We want to tell …
No wonder the environment is losing
There’s been much lamenting across the media about the apparent failure of the Copenhagen Summit last month. Yet in reading today’s headlines, it really couldn’t have ended any other way.
Take for instance the following:
- “European Manufacturers Rally Against 30% Reduction in GHG Emissions”
- “FirstEnergy Asks to Exceed Mercury Limits in Wastewater Discharges”
And then there’s yesterday’s headline:
“Alaska senator moves to bar EPA rules on greenhouse gas emissions“
With so much pressure and financial backing coming from so many directions, how could the Summit’s outcome been otherwise?
Balance this against continued evidence that climate change is indeed speeding along, with the Arctic northwest passage now being tussled over for a variety of development projects – from laying underwater telecommunications cable to prospective oil drilling. Seems the politicians and corporate America see dollar signs amidst the melting glaciers.
Too bad for the …
With climate change comes … lilypads?
Even conservative estimates suggest that by the year 2100 many low-lying islands and nations around the globe will be under at least a foot of water. With those kind of rising sea levels, where will those displaced folks live?
Belgian architect Vincent Callabaut has come up with an intriguing solution. His amphibious city - aptly named Lilypad - will be a car-free, clean energy paradise that can support 50,000 people with no additional external supplies. Wind and solar power will provide renewable energy, and suspended rooftop gardens will be for food production. This would be the most efficient, advanced, self-contained community ever dreamed of.
Since the lilypad floats, it can be placed in any lake or on any ocean body, towed where needed. Each city will have a lake at its center for fresh water collection and will use solar, wind and wave power for energy generation.
Though Mr Callebaut is still working out the cost of this amazing concept community, one wonders if world …
“How green are you?” – the latest couples debate?
A growing trend - fighting over who's more "green"
According to a recent New York Times article, therapists are reporting an increase in bickering between couples and family members about how green they’re willing to become.Food in particular – whether it’s buying or eating habits – seems to be an emotionally charged issue. It seems that for some, battle lines are being drawn and judgement passed over how much someone does or doesn’t do.
A great deal of political correctness seems to have become wrapped around how green we are. But political correctness isn’t the point, not really. Isn’t it more about becoming aware of one’s actions and their impact on both our personal and global environment?
Taking steps to green your life is what counts
Each person taking whatever steps they can, staring with small ones, is what …