The United States remains one of the few countries in the world which has still not signed the 1997 Landmine Ban Treaty. The Obama administration initiated a review of its landmine policy in late 2009. Since then, Obama has received letters urging the U.S. to sign the treaty from 68 Senators, nearly 100 leaders of […]
US Landmine Policy: We Don't Have a Leg to Stand On Read More 👉
Human Potential For Peace Pursuing economic justice with nonviolent protest is not new, not an invention of the present Occupy movement. It has been around probably as long as economic injustice has been around. One relatively recent example is that it effectively produced change in the 1930s for Northern Europeans who were starving. George
Norway's Nonviolent Example, A Happy Note in Conflict Struggles Read More 👉
UPDATES: There’s been a lot of criticism about “Invisible Children” in the past few days. This “Visible Children” blog is focused, thoughtfully, on that. Boing Boing has a nice roundup of some of the criticisms. The AP also has what I would consider a good piece on the topic, one that “presents both sides”
Kony & Invisible Children Read More 👉
We Americans are not the best at history. Because of the spin of corporate-controlled media, we are not reminded of the consistent pattern of deception exhibited by our government when the ‘power behind the wheel’ wants a new conflict. Nor are we reminded of the tremendous profitability of war for the corporations who count
The Drums of War: Iran Edition Read More 👉
There is a famous biblical parable where Jesus speaks of his new way of thinking as something that cannot be contained in the existing Jewish culture. The idea is that if you put new wine into a used skin, the skin will burst as the new wine ferments, having already been stretched once from its
Occupy: New Wine and Old Skins Read More 👉
This is an excellent video on climate change by some folks who really seem to know how to make science videos, the folks at SciShow. Check it out and share it with friends! Want more? Check out more on the effects of global warming and more excellent global warming and climate change videos (a ton of
Funny & Chilling "5 Scariest Things about Climate Change" Video Read More 👉
In case you missed them, or are just interested in seeing which of our posts from the last week have gotten the most views, here’s a list of our top 10 posts from the past 7 days: US Map of Biggest Polluters (Interactive) Today is Human Trafficking Awareness Day – End Modern Slavery South
Top 10 Posts of the Week Read More 👉
Some top activism news from the past week or so: 1. Masked Activists in Germany Sop Transport of Nuclear Waste As the title indicates, some activists in Germany are fed up with the creating and unsafe transport and storage of nuclear waste (well, no one even knows where to ‘permanently’ store the nuclear waste). So,
Africa has never been a quiet continent, often the centre of attention for all the wrong reasons; wars, famine, drought, poverty, AIDS, to name just a few. Now, according to new research, climate change has the ability to cause Africa further harm by altering the water flows in many of the major river basins throughout
Climate Change Could Dramatically Affect African Population Read More 👉
Successful conflict resolution –especially long-standing conflicts — requires over-coming barriers to peace and compromise. Chief among these barriers are the intensely negative feelings and attitudes towards the ‘other’; there is a natural and pervasive belief shared by both sides in a conflict: that the other group’s beliefs are fixed and inflexible (Kelman, 2007). However, direct
Beliefs That Others' Beliefs are Changeable Are Key to World Peace, New Studies Find Read More 👉
We are all a movement for change for the better, whether that be towards a sustainable future, or whether it’s towards ending corporate rule over our economy. We must stand together for change, change that happens, change that makes sense, change that is in our hands, not in the hands of the 1% and not in the hands of people who put religion and their personal morals over our freedom.
The Climate Movement and Occupy Wall Street Read More 👉
Were history’s “golden ages” and “dark ages”, its wars, epidemics and great social upheavals, ultimately due to climate shifts? A new analysis by researchers from the University of Hong Kong find causal links between 14 key, socio-economic, ecological, and demographic variables, and the rise of “large-scale human crisis” events, such as economic downturns, famines, epidemics, social upheavals/rebellions, and war. The strongest linked variable to all these crises events was ‘climate’ The researchers also determined a “crisis threshold” that accurately backwards-predicted the major conflicts and upheavals over the past millennium.
Wars, Social Upheavals, Caused by Climate Changes, New Analysis Claims Read More 👉
Movements have broken out all across the US (and even across the world) with their subjects ranging from war to corporate greed. Kicking off the start of protests was (in my opinion) the Tar Sands action in DC, where 1,252 people got arrested. Then it was Occupy Wall Street. Now it’s Occupy EVERYWHERE.
Let's Occupy Together Read More 👉
September 11, 2001 is a day that will always live in Americans minds. 2, 996 people died in the attacks on that horrific day, including an estimated 500 foreign nationals from 91 Nations.
The Lasting Health Effects of the 9/11 Attack and Others Things Overlooked Read More 👉
A Sea Shepherd Conservation Society boat full of environment activists, the Steve Irwin, is headed towards Libyan waters today, perhaps arriving as early as later tonight.
Sea Shepherd Headed into Libya Now Read More 👉
From his earlier days at Greenpeace to his current efforts with the show “Whale Wars” in Libyan waters, Paul Watson has focused on direct action that not only attracts eyes but gets results. In this short interview with NYTimes’ Andy Revkin, Watson speaks about his strategy compared to current-day Greenpeace’s — intervening in illegal whaling, not protesting it (and doesn’t refrain from calling Greenpeace activists cowards!).
We’ve written about the adventures of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society probably over a dozen times here on Planetsave. It is a leading environmental and animal activism organization that has achieved some great successes. And there’s one thing quite obvious to most who follow them — they are willing to go where most won’t and take risks most wouldn’t dream of.
'Whale Wars' Stars — Sea Shepherd Crew — Headed into Libyan Waters Read More 👉
Psychologists and biologists who study the phenomenon of revenge from an evolutionary point of view will acknowledge that the impulse for taking revenge is pervasive in human societies, but will also add that this impulse is constrained, and has its costs. It is natural to have feelings of revenge, but to act on those feelings may cost inclusion in the social group. But vengeance towards someone outside one’s group is another matter.
Celebrating a Terrorist's Death – The Psychology & Biology of Revenge Read More 👉
” Climate change poses an immediate and grave threat, driving ill health and increasing the risk of conflict, such that each feeds on the other.” asserts a new report in the British Medical Journal by a group of UK defense, medical and public health officials.
Climate Change, Conflict & Ill Health Linked, Pose 'Grave Threat' Read More 👉
The scientists used a general circulation model known as ModelE (developed at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York). The model calculates ocean-atmosphere coupling effects in addition to allowing varying aerosol inputs.
The initial input for the simulation was 5 teragrams (megatons) of black carbon particles injected into Earth’s upper troposphere. This is the estimated result of the surface detonation of 100 Hiroshima-size bombs (each equivalent to 15K tons of TNT).
Limited Nuclear War Could Halt Global Warming, Short Term, NASA Predicts Read More 👉
This looks like a sweet game. I’m pretty sure if this came out when I was a kid (or if I had the time to play computer games now), I would be into this. It looks fun, informative, addictive, and seems to have been created by some top-notch computer game developers… Here’s more info on
Fate of the World: New Environmental Computer Game [VIDEO TRAILER] Read More 👉
Here’s some of the biggest global warming and environmental politics news and commentary from the last week or so, along with some fun cartoons. Rocket Fuel in Our Water? The inspiration for the cartoon above, among other things: information that there is rocket fuel (or a component of it) in water supplies across the U.S.
Global Warming and Environmental Politics News of the Week Read More 👉
Since we had plenty of news last Friday and I was heading out of town, I decided to leave our weekly roundup of global weirding and environmental news (that we didn’t already cover) to Monday. Here’s the global weirding portion. Climate: Student Reporters Take on Climate Change and Security Coincidences abound—just after posting an item
Global Weirding News of the Week Read More 👉
Wow, here’s a story. Think it’s not enough that the fossil fuel (oil & coal) industry has launched a massive global warming disinformation campaign and the mass media have clung to it (since it’s controversial and will thus get attention.. or just because they don’t know any better or are actually funded by the fossil fuel
(Crossposted from Red Green And Blue) The Tea Partiers said “If ballots don’t work, bullets will.” Today, Arizona Democrat Gabrielle Giffords was cut down by a gunman at a “Congress On Your Corner” event at a Tuscon Safeway. Federal Judge John Roll was killed in the same incident, along with a 9-year-old girl. Giffords is
Giffords Shooting: Environmentalists in Crosshairs Read More 👉
Last week, I briefly covered an international arrest warrant being issued for former Vice President Dick Cheney from the Nigerian court system. The case is regarding a massive bribery scandal in which Halliburton gave Nigerian officials at least $180 million (and was apparently awarded a $6 billion natural gas pipeline project for it). The charges
How Much is Saving Dick Cheney from a Nigerian Prison Worth to Halliburton? Read More 👉
Are you fed up with Japanese whaling, or with the battles between Japanese whaling vessels and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society? Apparently, the U.S., the Netherlands, Australia, and New Zealand are a bit fed up with the former and a bit worried about the latter. They’ve issued a joint statement (below) both opposing whaling in
A recent article in NZ Herald News discusses the looming food crisis and how it might become the world’s biggest problem in the decades to come. “If the world doesn’t act now, it faces a catastrophic global food shortage by mid-century,” Greg Ansley writes. Ansely cites numerous recent studies concerning the degradation of our oceans
World’s Biggest Looming Problem a Food Crisis? Read More 👉
The Aristotle Onassis Public Benefit Foundation announced on Friday that Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME) was awarded its inaugural “Prize for the Protection of the Environment.” Along with the honor of winning this prize, the organization will receive €250,000 ($351,675) to continue its work in this region. FoEME has been putting in considerable work and
Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME) Wins Big Award Read More 👉
They were on the move beneath an unyielding sun, and for a while their approaching shapes seemed just another part of the desert, their tattered clothes bleached like the thorny scrub around them. These weary Bushmen — four men, three women and an infant — were nearing the end of a two-day journey, walking their
Bushmen of the Kalahari, Botswana: Societal Evolution and Struggles Read More 👉
Thought we were past the days of taking people’s land without right or even communication? If only the world were so civil. Survival International reported last week: Peru’s latest Amazon auction has been challenged by indigenous groups after it emerged that they may not have been consulted before their land was sold off to foreign
Amazon Being Sold to Foreign Oil Companies in Peru, Peruvian Indians Demanding Answers Read More 👉
Mysterious whale die-off is largest on record Gandhi quotes Follow Joe Mohr’s cartoonery at JoeMohrToons.com and on Twitter at @GreenCartoons
Wrong Way for Right Whales Read More 👉
In an interview posted on the Big Think website this past Monday, August 9, famed physicist Stephen Hawking declared that “Our only chance of long-term survival is not to remain inward looking on planet Earth, but to spread out into space.”
Hawking Declares ‘We Must Abandon Earth’ – Commentary Read More 👉
From 1946 to 1958, the Bikini Atoll–a Micronesian, volcanic island group in the Pacific Ocean (part of the Marshall Islands)–was “home” to twenty three, U.S.-conducted, nuclear detonations, including the first true Hydrogen bomb test, in 1954. This latter detonation produced an explosion far more powerful than originally predicted and caused wide-spread contamination from radioactive fallout.
Bikini Atoll, Nuke Test Area, Listed as 'World Heritage' Site Read More 👉
Lester R. Brown A dangerous geopolitics of food scarcity is emerging in which individual countries, acting in their narrowly defined self-interest, reinforce the trends causing global food security to deteriorate. This began in late 2007 when wheat-exporting countries, like Russia and Argentina, attempted to counter domestic food price rises by limiting or banning exports. Viet
The Emerging Politics of Food Scarcity Read More 👉
War is harmful for the environment and all those who rely on it (generation after generation in many cases). This is an issue that crossed my mind when I was writing about the Afghanistan War becoming the longest war in US history. I decided at the time not to delve into that huge matter, but
War is Hell on the Environment (and Future Generations) Read More 👉
Toronto hosts G20 and violent protests create serious environmental costs, in addition to the hefty monetary bill that can be attributed to the hosting of delegates from 20 countries. It might not be receiving the same level of international coverage, but in Canada, we have all been sitting glued to TV screens as protests devastate
Environmental Impact of Toronto's G8 and G20 Protests Read More 👉
Nearly $1 trillion in minerals were reportedly just “discovered” in Afghanistan. Will this huge discovery actually benefit the unstable country, though? [social_buttons] The NYTimes recently reported that the US just “discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan, far beyond any previously known reserves and enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and
Jackpot of Minerals Discovered in Afghanistan Good for Afghanistan? Read More 👉
The war in Afghanistan became the longest war in US history this month. Do your part to stop it now. [social_buttons] Generally, we focus on environmental news and action here on Planetsave, but big activism news and opportunities of other sorts is also within our realm of interest and coverage. If you haven’t heard, the
Longest War in US History Read More 👉
A while back we posted about a bomb threat against the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society’s ship, the Steve Irwin. Well, the mystery has been solved: a drunk fisherman called in the threat on his cell phone from his ship across the harbor. [social_buttons] Kenneth James Archer admitted to calling in the threat because of a
Sea Shepherd Bomb Threat Phoned in By Drunk Fisherman Read More 👉
An Arizona man who was caught by police in August 2008 after tying his horse to the back of his truck will face charges for animal cruelty in federal court this Tuesday. [social_buttons] Gorden Allen Bates tied a horse to the back of his truck and then proceeded to stop the vehicle and beat the
Man Faces Charges For Beating, Dragging Horse Behind Truck Read More 👉
The five Sea Shepherd crew members on board the Steve Irwin found Tasmanian police back at their ship a few weeks after they had confiscated all their video material from the latest campaign. But this time, the police arrived to protect the crew. [social_buttons] “Someone called in a bomb threat about 20 minutes ago, stating
Police Warn Sea Shepherd Crew of Potential Bomb Threat Read More 👉
Over 80% of conflicts from 1950 to 2000 happened in some of the planet’s most biologically diverse regions, a new study has concluded. [social_buttons] The research, titled “Warfare in Biodiversity Hotspots” and published in the new issue of Conservation Biology, used environmental group Conservation International’s data to compare the earth’s battle zones to 34 “biodiversity
80% of Wars Occur in World's Most Biologically Rich Areas Read More 👉
Faced with skyrocketing inflation, a tanking economy, and incredible political instability, the government of Zimbabwe is turning to elephant meat in a desperate attempt to feed hungry soldiers. A senior officer in the Zimbabwe Defence Forces told ZimOnline that Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority struck a deal resulting in the slaughter of elephants to
Elephants Slaughtered to Feed Soldiers in Zimbabwe Read More 👉
According to the environmental group Panalipdan-Southern Mindanao Region (SMR), one of their leaders — Fernando “Dodong” Sarmiento — has been brutally murdered.
Anti-Mining Activist Brutally Assassinated by Philippine Militia Read More 👉
A federal jury ruled yesterday that Chevron had done nothing wrong a decade ago when it called the Nigerian military to control protesters who had taken control of an oil platform, demanding better treatment and jobs. [social_buttons] In the end, the military killed two protesters. Accounts of the incident vary drastically: Chevron says the protesters
Chevron Acquitted in Nigerian Human Rights Case, Appeal Expected Read More 👉
Is the Iraq War all about oil? Maybe not. But even former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan has acknowledged the action was “essential” to protect the world’s access to oil. With many of the world’s top-producing oil and gas fields in decline, is it unreasonable to suggest there will be more military action to defend
How Much is Military Defense of Fossil Fuels Costing Us? Up to $215 Billion a Year Read More 👉
That fungus among us may be the answer to uranium-polluted soils eventually being brought back into use. Researchers at Dundee Unversity in the UK have determined that fungi can block uranium from finding its way into plants, animals or the water supply. Scientists have found that what they call free-living and plant fungi can, “colonise
Fungi Locks Away Dangerous Depleted Uranium Read More 👉
