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Archive for July 30th, 2013
A Decade of Legal GM Soy in Brazil
Posted by Inter Press Service: Fabíola Ortiz on July 30th, 2013
Inter Press Service: Ten years ago, Brazil yielded to agribusiness pressure and legalised the cultivation of genetically modified (GM) soy. Today it is the world’s second leading producer of GM crops, surpassed only by the United States. Transgenic soy had been grown clandestinely in Brazil since the second half of the 1990s. In 2003, the adoption of Decree 4680, which stipulated the labelling of foods with a genetically modified organism (GMO) content of at least one percent, was considered a landmark decision. But...
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Japan: Fukushima Fallout Hits Farmers
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 30th, 2013
Inter Press Service: Life for Yoshihiro Watanabe and his wife Mutsuko, mushroom and rice farmers from Fukushima, has changed drastically since the disastrous meltdowns in the Dai Ichi nuclear plant that was hit by a massive tsunami after a 9.0 strong earthquake struck on Mar. 11, 2011. “Dangerous levels of radiation from the crippled nuclear reactors have effectively forced us to stop our mushroom cultivation and reduced our farming income almost 80 percent,” Watanabe told IPS. He added that the family is also taking...
Climate change will cause Alaskan village to vanish under water within 10 years
Posted by Daily News: Carol Kuruvilla on July 30th, 2013
Daily News: Kivalina is home to about 400 Inupiat people. Scientists say the tiny Alaskan village is falling prey to the effects of climate change--and might be uninhabitable within the next 10 years.
The northwestern Alaskan village of Kivalina is perched on a remote and narrow strip of sand next to the frigid waters of the Chukchi sea. Its 400 residents are the descendants of an Iñupiat tribe.
And in just 10 years, these folk might just be America’s first climate change refugees.
The U.S. Army Corps...
Leaked EPA document raises questions about fracking pollution
Posted by Grist: John Upton on July 30th, 2013
Grist: The EPA doesn`t seem very interested in finding out whether fracking pollutes groundwater. The latest indication of this emerged over the weekend in the Los Angeles Times.
Residents of the small town of Dimock in northeastern Pennsylvania have long been convinced that Cabot Oil and Gas Corp. was poisoning their drinking water by fracking the land around them. In July of last year, the EPA announced that although water from some local wells contained “naturally occurring” arsenic, barium, and manganese,...
Anti-Keystone activists keep the heat on
Posted by Grist: None Given on July 30th, 2013
Grist: Dozens of activists young, old, and in between walked 100 miles, from Camp David in Maryland to the White House, to call attention to their campaign for climate action and Keystone rejection. The Walk for Our Grandchildren, which wrapped up over the weekend, was one of many climate actions being coordinated all around the U.S. this summer.
Jay Mallin captured the highlights on video:
Some of the marchers also got themselves arrested at the D.C. office of Environmental Resources Management,...