A 500 person-strong protest in New Orleans against BP on Sunday as efforts for a “top-kill junk shot” (which sounds like another term for a heroin overdose) failed miserably.
As if you already didn’t know that Australia was a political quagmire of environmental devastation and racial discrimination, two more recent actions have shown the ugly side of Australian forest and industrial policy. A “fuel reduction burn,” where the Department of Sustainability and Environment burns down important patches of forest for ‘safety purposes,’ went out of control recently, prompting conservationists to express concerns about biodiversity and protecting endangered species. Out of the 150 Masked Owls in the Victoria province, for instance, 100 are located in the area that was burned. Meanwhile, the Australian government has given approval to Rio Tinto to process up to 180 tonnes of iron ore a year at their western Australia port. In spite of Rio Tinto’s claims of being a green and diversified industrial powerhouse, they have come under fire from various groups, including countries like Norway, for environmentally heinous pursuits. Here’s an article from Counterpunch about the industrial scene in Australia: enjoy!
A roadless moratorium instated by the President has been extended, causing conservationists to breath a sigh of relief. Even the Tongass is supposed to be protected from the timber industry’s compulsive and pathalogical desire to “thin out” forests to “protect them” from fire damage and bugs. We hope that people realize that you can only cut off your nose to spite your face once, and then no nose.
Finally, the latest sham-climate conference is convening in Bonn. We know it’s a sham, because it centers around the so-called “Copenhagen Accord” that Obama signed with a few other countries. So yes, out of the 182 participating countries, at least 2/3 have been left in the dust of China, the EU and the US’s imperial “Great Climate Game.” What’s to come? Probably some overtures to make some NGO’s happy (the compromisers). Probably some empty rhetoric about reducing CO2 emissions at some point and to some amount that still wont save the planet. All told: Total Waste of Time!