Earth Hour 2008 – worth an hour in the dark?
Image from Flickr by aussiegall
What is it?
In two days time, millions of people all over the world are expected to unite as one global community in the World Wildlife Fund’s effort to inspire people to take action on climate change.
WWF is asking everyone to take part in Earth Hour on March 29th between 8-9pm by switching off all lights.
Scepticism
However, despite so many people coming together for a seemingly worthy cause, there are still some sceptics that question whether fighting global warming is really necessary or if global warming even exists at all.
Panagiotis Chatzistamoulis from Greece is a regular contributer to a Facebook group, Global Warming Is Junk Science, and feels the same way he did about Americans who supported the war against Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction.
“They were conned. They thought they were doing the right thing.”
JunkScience.com is a website that claims to provide, “The Real ‘Inconvenient Truth’ ” in response to Al Gore’s documentary which highlighted the issue of global warming to the world.
The website suggests that there are “basic misconceptions” of the Earth and goes on to explain the ‘facts’.
To read JunkScience.com’s version of the truth, click here.
Alternatively, get involved with Earth Hour and sign up here.
For further environmental news stories visit ENO – www.environmentalnewsonline.com
Japanese Open Fire on Sea Shepherd Crew – Time to Boycott Japan?
Terri Irwin with Captain Paul Watson in front of the ‘Steve Irwin’ from Flickr by guano
Rebecca Sherman from London is the creator of a Facebook group which proposes that we ‘Boycott Japanese Products Until Japan Ends Whaling!‘
Just last Friday, a clash between the crew of the Sea Shepherd vessel Steve Irwin, and the Japanese whaling ship Nisshin Maru, turned violent when the Japanese Coast Guard began to throw flash grenades at the crew of the Steve Irwin inside the Australian Territorial Zone .
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society
SSCS is an international non-profit organisation whose mission is to end destruction of habitat and slaughter of wildlife in the world’s oceans in the interest of conservation.
Captain struck by bullet
Captain Paul Watson was struck by a bullet in the chest. However, his life was spared when the bullet was stopped by his Kevlar vest and an anti-poaching badge which was worn on his sweater underneath.
Additional injuries were sustained by crewmembers Ashley Dunn and Ralph Lowe. Dunn, 35, from Launceston, Australia suffered a hip injury when he tried to get out of the way of the exploding grenades. Lowe, 33, from Melbourne, Australia received bruises to his back when one of the flash grenades exploded behind him.
Why did this happen?
“Whales are endangered and hunting them has been illegal since 1986. However, under the auspices of The Institute of Cetacean Research, Japan uses a scientific loophole in the ban to continue hunting and killing endangered whales and selling the meat for profit,” says Sherman.
The Japanese Coast Guard was retaliating against Sea Shepherd crewmembers for tossing rotten butter onto the decks to discourage their illegal whaling activities. The clash came after a week long pursuit by the Steve Irwin of the Nisshin Maru, in an effort to stop illegal whaling activities in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.
Sherman says: “Please boycott Japanese products. Hit Japan wear it hurts. Let them know that you think whale hunting is wrong and it should be stopped.”
Visit www.seashepherd.org for more information on their campaign.
Also check out Sherman’s Facebook group for further details at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5925369230
Independent Liberal Arts Community Co-op supports West Virginia Bottle Bill
The campaign for a Bottle Bill in West Virginia by Linda Frame of West Virginia’s Citizen Action Group is being backed by the Independant Liberal Arts Community Co-op.
Larry Hammons of ILACC, a group primarily interested in the fight against poverty, is currently drafting an e-mail in support of the campaign to Frame, the Program Manager of the Action Group.
The campaign website states that: “West Virginians use over 1 billion containers each year, the majority of which end up in landfils or along our highways.”
A Bottle Bill would essentially provide incentives for existing recyclers, Solid Waste Authority facilities and new businesses to collect empty beverage containers.
A Bottle Bill will also:
-
increase recycling rates and reduce landfill
-
reduce litter
-
reduce overall burden placed on taxpayers and municipal waste management systems
-
save taxpayers money
-
reduce costs to farmers for damages to crops and livestock caused by litter
-
allow West Virginia to join the other 11 states where Bottle Bills enjoy strong public support
-
help West Virginia comply with the West Virginia Recycling Act and it’s goals
-
create hundreds of jobs
Change is needed
Hammons has his own ideas about why a Bottle Bill is the right step to take: “Why would a company want to use virgin materials when our land fills are overflowing with re-usable glass and metal containers?
“Because it’s cheaper for the corporations. In reality the consumer is paying to despose of these throw away containers. Every time we buy a Coke we are giving the Coca-Cola corporation profit and then we pay to despose of there bi-product.”
Hammons emphasises the fact that these corporations want to appear to be environmentally friendly but still they leave us to throw their products into the landfills. So why are we not re-using the glass, plastic and melting down the aluminum?
A disposable society
In celebration of the Bill, Hammons said: “Recycling costs money. America has become a disposable society. The average Joe feels like his opinion means nothing, that no-one listens, so he does nothing. That’s exactly what the media and these corporations want Joe to do – nothing! If there isnt a cry for change there will be none.”
You can telephone, email or write to the legislators and Governor Manchin and ask them to support the Bottle Bill. Details can be found on www.wvbottlebill.org/
Alternatively, click on this link to be taken to an online petition.
Environmental Communities 
