Good News/Bad News August 22, 2002

By Matthew Wheeland, AlterNet
Posted on August 22, 2002, Printed on January 7, 2009
http://www.alternet.org/story/13885/

Remember how last week we talked about the Radioactive Winged Monkeys, and how we were spared their ferocious attack? Well, it turns out they were just regrouping, Voltron-like, and took the form of the Bush Administration. I have a hard time believing that the world has ever seen a more vicious, self-interested gang of thugs. Genghis Khan at least treated his horses well; hell, even Nixon founded the EPA.. History, we hope, will not be kind to the Bush administration...

That said, here's the Bad News:

We see a lot of discouraging stuff in the EnviroHealth wing of AlterNet HQ, but every once in a while something crosses our desk that makes us want to start throwing bricks. It's bad enough that Bush has decided, unsurprisingly, not to attend the World Summit on Sustainable Development; sadder still, he doesn't feel the need to give a reason, and instead sends flunky Colin Powell to take the heat. But when Friends of the Earth UK released a letter sent to Bush from Republicans and conservative lobbying groups pressuring him not to attend, we were awed and dismayed by the sheer self-serving profit-driven audacity of these ExxonMobil-funded organizations...

With its glaring economic inequality, environmental degradation, AIDS crises and food shortages, Johannesburg is an ideal place to spotlight the world's environmental situation. Unfortunately, world leaders will be holed up in Sandton, a plush financial district. Interestingly enough, only Brazil, host of the 1992 WSSD, has a more unequal distribution of wealth than S. Africa.

If Australia is a "renegade state" on environmental progress, what does that make the U.S.?

Citizens of the world, prepare to meet the Super Weed: Not the good "kind" kind, but the bad, GM kind. Two teams of scientists have found the weeds are cross-breeding with genetically modified crops, making them nearly impossible to kill with pesticides.

In more scary Frankenfoods news, the Guardian (UK) reported this week that trial GM crop plantings have gone awry, spreading GM pollen across the countryside.

The U.S. alone produces 2,000 tons of nuclear waste every year, and security experts are recognizing this waste as prime targets for terrorist attacks. Meanwhile, Rep. Edward Markey of Massachusetts has released a report stating that the Department of Energy, responsible for overseeing all this waste, has cut security spending by at least 40 percent in the last decade.

Responding to ever-worsening drought conditions and a rash of wildfires nationwide, President Bush is proposing to ease restrictions on logging in the national parks, ostensibly to clear out deadwood and underbrush that feed the massive blazes. We're all for libertarian naturalism, but something tells us the timber industry isn't in this for the twigs and bushes....

With all that's going down the tank in the world, we're pleased and amazed to find that we do have some Good News to report this week:

All hail the death of the plastic bag: In March of this year, Ireland introduced a tax on shopping bags, amounting to roughly 15 cents per bag. Thus far, the tax has kept millions of bags from landfills, encouraged shoppers to bring their own reusable bags, and netted the Irish government $3.45 million, in five months!

At long last, we've got a series of good-news bits on the battle against GM foods. It turns out that even our erstwhile-staunch ally Great Britain is opposed to planting GM crops. Responding to increasing pressure from U.S. officials, Britain's Environmental Minister said that he doesn't see any benefit to GM crops that could offset their inherent risks.

The next domino to fall is Zambia. The famine-ravished country has decided as well that shipments of biotech corn are not worth the long-term risks, and that accepting GM crops into national soil is an irreversible step.

Even as the U.S. bullies nations into accepting and promoting GM foods, Monsanto is admitting it's going to be a long, slow fight.

Not everyone is so blasé about global warming and/or cowed by U.S. pressure. The countries most at risk from our unwillingness to curb global warming have criticized the U.S. on Bush's withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol.

In a move that's sure to go over like a sack full of hammers at board rooms around the country, environmental groups around the world have joined to push the idea of a World Court for environmental abuses. Even before the idea has been officially announced at the Johannesburg Summit, multinational corporations are objecting.

Putting a face on some of the many enemies of the environment, Friends of the Earth Scotland (FoES) announced this week a list of "Planet-Trashing" companies. The list includes giant energy conglomerates and agribusiness/biotech companies, and exposes their extensive greenwashing campaigns.

That's all for this week; next week the WSSD begins, and the Bad News tally will surely grow exponentially. Until then, be sure to stock up on lithium...

Matt Wheeland is an editorial intern at AlterNet.

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