Chlorpyrifos is especially harmful to children causing learning disabilities, including reductions in IQ, developmental delay, and behavioral problems. In the EU the pesticide is already forbidden and now a court in the US has ruled that Chlorpyrifos is too dangerous to grow our food. Tell the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) to follow suit and forbid the chemical.
PFAS (per & polyfluor alkyl substances) are a group of persistent non-biodegradable chemicals impacting the thyroid, immune system, reproductive system, lowering the effects of vaccinations, raising the susceptibility for infections, causing cancer, liver damage, low birth weight and other health problems. These chemicals already have become ubiquituous appearing in breast milk in the US. Though they are regulated in the EU they are easily transported in the environment covering long distances away and an increasing problem worldwide: article at msmagazine.com, mentioned also at elstel.org, plastics article.
An exemplary ruling by a Dutch court orders Shell to cut its emissions by 45% within the next 10 years. “If they truly believe their strategy aligns with Paris, then there should be no problem complying with the court’s demands,” says Teulings. “Shell’s decision to appeal is therefore irreconcilable. Therein lies the lie.” Despite the appeal, the judgment must be implemented immediately. In the aftermath Exxon shareholders, including investment giants BlackRock and Vanguard, voted to oust at least two of the oil giant’s board members in favour of candidates put forward by Engine No 1, an activist hedge fund founded less than six months ago, for failing to take the transition to low-carbon energy seriously. At Chevron, more than 60% of investors voted in favour of a climate resolution from Dutch campaign group Follow This to force the company to reduce its emissions. However, on the other side BlackRock, Vanguard, and State StreetTogether have still provided $46 billion to oil companies currently operating in the Amazon rainforest that are linked to horrific environmental and human rights records, indigenous rights abuses, hazardous pollution, corruption, biodiversity loss, and climate warming (see amazonwatch.org). We have already reported that GeoPark, a Chilean oil company, was actively paying paramilitary forces to threaten and intimidate local residents of the campesino community known as Perla Amazónica, in Putumayo, Colombia. The “Big Three” manage trillions of dollars of investments for individual and institutional investors all over the world, including pension funds and university endowments. Together they control nearly 20 trillion dollars. A Canadian oil and gas exploration company, ReconAfrica, plans to go ahead with fracking in the Namibian headwaters of the Okavango Delta and the Tsodilo Hills, an UNESCO World Heritage Site in Botswana: sign the petition.
A half-year after Donald Trump’s drubbing at the polls, the right-wing effort to criminalize dissent and protest among environmental and social justice activists continues to gain momentum. In early May, Montana governor Greg Gianforte signed into law a bill designed to protect “critical infrastructure” including gas and oil pipelines. Individuals who trespass, or merely “impede or inhibit operations” at these sites could face as much as 18 months in prison and $4,500 fines. Under the new law, protesters who cause more than $1,500 in damage could be faced with a maximum of $150,000 in fines and 30 years in prison. Organizations found to be involved in coordinating with the protesters could be required to pay a maximum fine of $1.5 million. The Montana law is one of a host of copycat bills that have been introduced in Republican-led states over the past several years. Protesters have already been ensnared by these draconian laws. In August 2018, activists from a group called L’eau Est La Vie (French for “water is life”) embarked on a creative protest against a pipeline being built through the bayou country of Louisiana. Using ropes and pulleys, the activists hoisted themselves into ancient cypress trees. “We were targeted,” said Anne White Hat, an Indigenous activist who was arrested at the site and charged with two felony counts of trespassing, which, collectively, carry a maximum sentence of 10 years. White Hat said she and several other protesters were physically accosted by officers. One of her fellow activists was kicked; another, tased. According to a Greenpeace report titled Dollars vs. Democracy, many of the top donors to state legislators who sponsor these anti-protest and “critical infrastructure” bills were fossil fuel companies, including Koch Industries, Berkshire Hathaway, Duke Energy, Dominion Energy, and Marathon Petroleum.
Last weekend, tens of thousands of Brazilians took the streets in more than 200 cities and towns to decry their government's disastrous handling of the coronavirus pandemic and assault on environmental protections. In São Paulo alone, an estimated 80,000 people took to the streets, in loud, masked, social-distanced protest and resistance. On May 26, a major Federal Police operation to remove illegal gold miners from Munduruku Indigenous Territory turned violent, as armed miners first attacked a police outpost and then turned their fury upon the Munduruku themselves, attacking a village, firing shots, and targeting key leaders. Two houses were set ablaze, according to a statement from the Munduruku's Ipereg Ayu Movement. On May 30th, after a broad mobilization of legal action, including support from the Association of Brazil’s Indigenous Peoples (APIB) and parliamentarians allied to the cause, a high court gave the federal government a deadline of 24 hours to redeploy security forces to the municipality of Jacareacanga. However, according to local sources, there are no indications yet of a resumption of the operation or increased security in the region. A group of illegal miners, known as garimpeiros, attempted to overrun a police base and plunder equipment. These brazen moves were a show of strength from well-financed criminal networks with the backing of corrupt local politicians and businessmen and the high-level support of the Bolsonaro regime. Bolsonaro stated to visit an illegal mining operation: “We are not going to arrest anyone. This will not be an operation to punish irregular miners. I want to talk to people, [learn] how they live there. To start to get a sense of how much gold is produced,” he said. U.S. Climate Envoy John Kerry is currently in negotiations with Brazil's Minister of Environment over the future of the Amazon. Amazon Watch and allies have monitored this escalating threat closely, acting quickly to pressure U.S. leaders to act before tragedy struck in Munduruku communities. Two months ago twelve U.S. Representatives wrote to the U.S. Ambassador to Brazil. To date, the letter has not received a response from the Ambassador. Unfortunately, public statements from the U.S. government about the Munduruku situation or others, like the assault on Yanomami territory, are still lacking. There should also be an in-depth criminal investigation into the supply chains that allow for illegal exploitation of gold and timber on indigenous lands of the Amazon, and their export to the United States, Europe, and other countries.
