Posts from — September 2008

“The Arctic sea ice melt is a disaster for the polar bears,” according to Kassie Siegel, staff attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity. “They are dependent on the Arctic sea ice for all of their essential behaviors, and as the ice melts and global warming transforms the Arctic, polar bears are starving, drowning, even resorting to cannibal

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Sleeping with the fishes is getting a lot harder these days. And not because the FBI finally has the mob on the run, either — rather, because noise levels in the world’s oceans are lately reaching staggering levels, in some areas doubling each decade.

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Nasa researchers have dropped 90 ducks into holes in Greenland’s fastest moving glacier, the Jakobshavn Glacier in Baffin Bay, between Greenland and Canada. The toys have each been labelled with the words “science experiment” and “reward” in three languages, along with an e-mail address.

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Britain is trying to weaken European proposals to make governments and companies cut their carbon emissions by 2020 to tackle global warming, the Guardian has learned. Leaked documents show Britain wants Brussels to offset more domestic carbon savings through investment in clean projects in the developing world.

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Hi

The failures of global finance are really getting bad now – from collapses and bailouts to pensions, jobs and the threat of recession. I just signed an urgent petition to fix the basic causes of this crisis. It’s about to be delivered to European leaders, but to make an impact we need a massive global outcry to fix these flaws and loopholes and make sure the public interest is protected in future – please take a look and consider signing too.

Pamela

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On Monday Lehman Brothers, one of the world’s biggest investment banks, went bust with debts of $613 billion, and other institutions and markets are plunging. Many are calling this the worst moment since the Crash of 1929 — the global financial crisis is at the tipping point, and citizens everywhere must raise our voice for action in the public interest.[1] Our jobs, savings, pensions and public services are in danger because of the financiers’ folly — now the snowballing crisis risks triggering a global recession, hurting the poor most and drowning out all the other issues we care about.

Trillions of public money are being staked to stop a global meltdown, but no-one’s addressed the basic causes yet — so we’re launching an urgent campaign for regulation to stop the financiers’ risky practices, which have saddled the world with unsustainable levels of debt and risk.[2] A former prime minister has promised to help deliver our call to European leaders next week, we’ll bring it to US Congress and the next president too — but we need a massive outcry to get them moving — so please sign the petition, then tell your friends and family:

Global financial markets sometimes seem untameable — but the rules that govern them are full of simple flaws and loopholes, and if we seize this moment and act together we can fix them. Cut free by deregulation and driven by greed, the financiers built up huge debts and risks without proper oversight, seeking short-term returns from tax dodges and engineering spaghetti-like financial complexity. Left without decent rules, they thought they could make up their own, and the profits rolled in for a wealthy few — then it all came tumbling down, with the rest of us left to pay the price. Even champions of the free market are now calling for better regulation.[3]

We’re finding powerful allies flocking to the cause, like former Danish Prime Minister Poul Rasmussen who’s pledged to take our campaign to fellow European politicians next Tuesday — and in the weeks to come, we’ll deliver it to the US Congress, the next US president and other global leaders too as they grapple with this crisis.[4] So sign the emergency campaign today at this link, and forward this message to family and friends who might be affected too:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/global_finance_action

With hope and determination,

Paul, Graziela, Ricken, Ben, Iain, Veronique, Brett, Pascal, Milena and the whole Avaaz team

Sources:

1. Reuters: “Lehman fallout threatens global recession”
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1550153420080915

2. For a detailed and authoritative explanation of the debt explosion and the dangers of complexity, see the Annual Report of the Bank for International Settlements (30 June 2008), particularly the introduction and conclusion:
http://www.bis.org/publ/arpdf/ar2008e.htm

3. Financial Times: “The end of lightly regulated finance”, Martin Wolf, 6 May 2008.
http://blogs.ft.com/wolfforum/2008/09/the-end-of-lightly-regulated-finance-has-come-far-closer/

“Seven habits finance regulators must acquire”, 6 May 2008.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/52bf0f4a-1b8b-11dd-9e58-0000779fd2ac.html

“Six principles for a new regulatory order”, Lawrence Summers (former US Treasury Secretary), 2 June 2008
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/52bf0f4a-1b8b-11dd-9e58-0000779fd2ac.html

4. Avaaz met with Poul Rasmussen and other European and American progressives yesterday to coordinate our efforts. Among the key proposals are “capital requirements” (holding sufficient funds to back loans or debts) and “transparency” (telling regulators, investors and the public what you own and what you owe). For more background, see this interview:
http://www.euractiv.com/en/financial-services/interview-real-step-regulate-hedge-funds/article-175450

To follow the latest news on the crisis, we suggest http://ftalphaville.ft.com/

Toront is trying to reduce waste to landfills by 70% in 2010.

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It may seem counterintuitive, but according to a recent report more cyclists on the road mean fewer accidents involving cyclists and motor vehicles. I was convinced of this after spending some time living and cycling in Japan, but it
’s always nice to have some real research to back up one’s personal hearsay.

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In a monumental ruling, a British jury acquitted six Greenpeace activists of criminal damage charges stemming from what the activists said was an attempt to shut down a coal-fired power plant. The jury decided that the activists
’ action was justifiable because the plant emits 20,000 tons of CO2 every day.

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Swedish company Home Energy recently revealed an innovative wind turbine that spins in a spherical formation.

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The North Pole has become an island for the first time in human history as climate change has made it possible to circumnavigate the Arctic ice cap. The historic development was revealed by satellite images taken last week showing that both the north-west and north-east passages have been opened by melting ice.

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