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GNN ISSUE 6: 13-Jan-05 |
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A free monthly email newsletter that provides green news and views so that together we can create a better world.
This issue starts with the inspiring analogy of the flamingos and moves on to look at the tsunami horrors from a different angle, the folly of free trade, positive aspects of young people, ID cards, Iraq and other injustices, a different approach to Afghanistan's opium, essential oils tackling MRSA and E. coli, household chemicals and health, live exports, the Ukrainian Green Party, GM, and more...
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QUOTE OF THE MONTH
Crooked End Organic Farm up @ Ruardean:
"Before you wonder why good food is a little bit dearer, worry about why cheap food is so cheap."
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FEATURE ITEM: AN INSPIRATION OF FLAMINGOS
1. ASIAN TSUNAMI HIGHLIGHTS ECOLOGICAL COLLAPSE
2. "PROTECTING NATURAL RESOURCES IS UNIMPORTANT"
3. OIL FIRMS BOW TO PRESSURE OVER ARCTIC DRILLING
4. THE FALLOUT FROM FREE TRADE
5. UK FAILING ON GREENHOUSE GASES
6. YOUNG PEOPLE AREN'T TRIVIAL
7. NOT FAIR-FORD
8. ID CARDS
9. IRAQ, OPPRESSION AND TERRORISM
10. AFRICA - MUST MOVE UP GLOBAL AGENDA
11. TAXPAYERS PAY FOR FAILED ARMS DEALS
12. HEALTH NEWS
13. ANIMAL TRANSPORT
14. GREEN PARTY NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD
15. GM SHENANIGANS
16. SCANDAL OF EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT'S SECRET BALLOT
17. FAT CATS TAX LAX
18. PARTY FUNDING FROM PUBLIC PURSE
ACTION - JOIN A REASONABLE REVOLUTION
ACTION - ADD NAME TO LETTER CALLING FOR END OF OCCUPATION OF PALESTINE
INSPIRING READ
INSPIRING WEBSITE
AND FINALLY...
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FEATURE ITEM - AN INSPIRATION OF FLAMINGOS
The Web of Hope launches Project Flamingo
Every year, when the time comes for migration, a few flamingos start the process by taking off from the lake. Since none of the others take any notice, they soon turn round and come back.
The next day they try again. This time a few others straggle along with them but, again, the vast majority just carry on with business as usual, so the pioneers return to the lake. This trend continues for a few days. Each time a few more birds join in...Finally, one day, the same few birds take off again. This time however, the tiny increment to their number - maybe just one extra flamingo - is enough to tip the balance. The whole flock takes flight. The migration begins.
If we apply this concept to our current predicament, it gives rise to an immediate sense of empowerment. Rather than dismissing a small action - 'what difference will it make?' - or the role of the individual - 'what can I do about it?' - we see that change is actually always propelled by the individual, or that a small action can be an instrumental part of the significant changes that arise through complex processes.
More at: http://www.projectflamingo.com/tools/flamingostory.htm
The Web of Hope highlights initiatives, projects, mechanisms and technologies which can help us make the shift to just and sustainable societies...a dynamic and ever-expanding platform for positive action...we can collectively become the change we want to see....we have the power to help create the world we want, rather than being told how it has to be....significant social change only occurs when a critical mass stands up to an injustice...This process brought an end to slavery, to apartheid and the Berlin Wall....as Mahatma Gandhi put it, 'To believe in something and not live it, is dishonest.'
See: www.thewebofhope.com
For information about our Ecological Footprint, visit: http://www.bestfootforward.com/
Resurgence is a leading eco-spiritual magazine which nourishes the soul while keeping the reader abreast of the sustainability debate: www.resurgence.org
The Ecologist investigates and exposes the critical issues of our time: www.theecologist.org
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1. ASIAN TSUNAMI HIGHLIGHTS ECOLOGICAL COLLAPSE
There is nothing new in 'tidal waves' and storm surges hitting coastlines; traditional peoples rarely lived on the beach because of this. This tsunami was so damaging because of commercial coastal development, a lack of a warning system, over-population and the destruction of protective coastal ecosystems.
When a tsunami comes in, it first hits the coral reef which slows it down, then the mangroves, which further slow it down. However, vast coral reefs have been destroyed by over-harvesting and dynamite fishing, while mangroves have been removed for prawn farming. Climate change is raising sea levels - 10-20 cm over the past century - and it is expected that this century's increases will be even greater. Higher sea levels mean greater damage, and not just from tsunamis.
Greens appear to be the only ones who have policies that seriously address issues like our bankrupt economic practices, climate change and deforestation. Unless these are tackled, massive man-abetted natural disasters will increasingly become the norm.
See: http://www.environmentalsustainability.info/ and
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1228-28.htm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1382857,00.html
www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/12/29/161219
The victims of the tsunami pay the price of war on Iraq. US and British aid is dwarfed by the billions both
spend on slaughter. The US government has so far pledged $350m to the victims of the tsunami, and the UK government £50m ($96m). This means that the money pledged for the tsunami disaster by the United States is the equivalent of one and a half day's spending in Iraq. The money the UK has given equates to five and a half days of our involvement in the war.
Read George Monbiot's article on the tsunami aid pledge and military spending at www.alternet.org/waroniraq/20885/
www.monbiot.com
Tsunamis: early warning and infrastructure changes vital, ecologists say. Yves Contassot of France's Green party said on French radio: "Hundreds of millions of euros are going to be invested in reconstructing mass tourism. We might well ask how much is going to be put aside purely for preventive measures, early warning systems and systems of informing the public."
See: http://www.terradaily.com/2004/041229011959.7ygyx8af.html
Plus more on warning systems at http://greenerblog.blogspot.com/2004/12/prevention-worth-mention.html
A tragedy that could make - or break - the troubled UN.
See: http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1385659,00.html
The Mangrove Action Project is working to restore and protect coastlines. See http://www.earthisland.org/map/index.htm
The Other, Man-made Tsunami By John Pilger; January 07, 2005 - The United States and Britain, are giving less to help the tsunami victims than the cost of a Stealth bomber or a week's bloody occupation of Iraq. Bush and Blair increased their first driblets of "aid" only when it became clear that people all over the world were spontaneously giving millions and a public relations problem beckoned. The Blair government's current "generous" contribution is one sixteenth of the £800m it spent bombing Iraq before the invasion and barely one twentieth of a billion pound gift, known as a "soft loan", to the Indonesian military so that it could acquire Hawk fighter-bombers. This other tsunami is worldwide, causing 24,000 deaths every day from poverty and debt and division that are the products of a supercult called neo-liberalism.
See more at: http://www.zmag.org/Sustainers/Content/2005-01/07pilger.cfm
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2. "PROTECTING NATURAL RESOURCES IS UNIMPORTANT"
Meanwhile, the Christian Right advocate continuing the human activities which exacerbated the tsunami's effects, and much more..."Remember James Watt, President Reagan's first Secretary of the Interior? He told the U.S. Congress that protecting natural resources was unimportant in light of the imminent return of Jesus Christ. In public testimony he said, 'after the last tree is felled, Christ will come back.'"
Read more about the Christian Right in Bill Moyer's speech for receiving Harvard Medical School's Global Environment Citizen Award.
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1206-10.htm
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3. OIL FIRMS BOW TO PRESSURE OVER ARCTIC DRILLING
Better news: January 5, 2005 - ConocoPhillips, the largest oil company in Alaska, has dropped out of Arctic Power, the single-issue lobbying group that promotes opening the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil and gas drilling. The decision by the Houston-based oil giant means that the two largest operators on Alaska's North Slope - BP and ConocoPhillips - are no longer members of the Arctic drilling lobby group. This has followed pressure by Green groups and shareholders. See:
http://www.commondreams.org/cgi-bin/print.cgi?file=/news2005/0105-09.htm
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4. THE FALLOUT FROM FREE TRADE
GORDON BROWN REJECTS BUYING LOCAL
Brown's speech, emblazoned as the lead story in many of the broadsheets in November, accuses "Johnnie Foreigner" of failing to play by the European Union's procurement rules. Yet all the evidence is that this Green policy makes sense, economically and environmentally, for cities to source the expertise and goods they need from as near to them as possible. There may be circumstances where a local authority might want to source expertise from further afield, and that is their right. But a system which denies them the right to give greater weight to local business and keep money circulating around their local economy is a recipe for poverty and ultimately for fascism.
Report on Brown speech: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-1360334,00.html
THE GREAT CHRISTMAS FOOD SWAP
Euro-MP Caroline Lucas has warned that ingredients for a typical Christmas dinner may have travelled 30,000 miles from producers and growers to the UK dinner table - damaging the environment and undermining local economies. Dr Lucas, a member of the European Parliament's International Trade Committee and author of the influential 2002 report 'Stopping the Great Food Swap', said that the international trade in locally available produce was contributing significantly to the aviation industry's greenhouse gas emissions and monoculture farming.
To read 'Stopping the Great Food Swap' see www.carolinelucasmep.org.uk
Click on 'food and farming' and scroll down.
ALTERNATIVES TO ECONOMIC GLOBALIZATION
Jean Lambert, Green Party Spokesperson on employment, pensions & social affairs, reiterates fellow-Green MEP Caroline Lucas's contribution of 10th December to the Financial Times, criticising Peter Mandelson's approach to the threat to poor countries from Chinese competition, and citing the Green Party's preferred policy of protecting and rebuilding local economies.
Full article at: http://www.greenparty.org.uk/index.php?nav=comment&n=463
Vote for Trade Justice at: http://www.co-operativebank.co.uk/tradejusticevote
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5. UK FAILING ON GREENHOUSE GASES
Unsurprising in light of trade policies....
Green Party principal speaker Caroline Lucas MEP said that Labour's failure to meet its own targets was an "appalling breach of trust". "The government knows what to do to reduce emissions, and yet it's doing exactly the opposite," she said. "This isn't an accident - it's another example of this government making the right noises and then adopting policies that undermine them, sniggering at the gullibility of the British public as it does so."
See: http://www.onlypunjab.com/fullstory0105-insight-UK+failing+greenhouse+gases-status-3-newsID-6142.html
Vinit Allen, director of the Sustainable World Coalition, goes through the diagnosis and symptoms (ignorance, denial, distraction, fear, cynicism, resignation/apathy) to a prescription for the return of sanity. "We are the only species systematically destroying our own habitat, and destroying countless others with it...We are sick...Join me in taking the medicine."
See: http://www.swcoalition.org/Article7.html
The 1997 Kyoto Protocol, the international treaty that aims to reduce emissions of the gases largely responsible for human-induced global warming has been stalled for seven years with both America and Australia are refusing to sign. It will finally come into effect on February 16. But the targets are so low as to be meaningless with the treaty containing corporate-friendly, market-based mechanisms that give plenty of scope for rich governments to engage in climate change creative accounting. According to the New Scientist magazine, the treaty's range of loopholes and scams will mean that even if the industrialised countries achieve Kyoto's 5.2% reduction on paper, the real-world reduction will be more
likely to be 1.5%. In fact since 1990 annual greenhouse gas emissions from the highly industrialised countries have increased by "more than 7%".
On January 1st 2005 the EU Emissions Trading Directive comes into force - the most important piece of climate change legislation anywhere in the world to date. But last minute decisions have meant that the UK is not yet ready to take part. FoE say this means that UK companies will not yet be required to reduce pollution levels at all compared against recent figures.
More at SchNEWS: www.schnews.org.uk/archive/news479.htm
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6. YOUNG PEOPLE AREN'T TRIVIAL
Nick Barham's article in The Guardian, Monday December 20, 2004 resonates with this month's Feature item on 'powerlessness' and how to take control.
"In the past two years, I have interviewed hundreds of teenagers. They were spending hours in online worlds, taking fashion tips from MTV and celebrity mags, texting furiously and modifying their cars. But...They were well aware of the "serious" issues...They questioned Tony Blair's decision to go to war - some marched in February 2003; they talked smartly about the limits of their education system; and most knew of the famines and wars in parts of Africa. But they also felt that there was little they could do.
Barham detects "a high degree of personal responsibility, where people don't expect transformation unless they initiate it" and "perhaps a different kind of intelligence" which "is about discovering and adding to what is useful, rather than adhering to an inherited canon of knowledge."
He concludes: "An adolescent culture can bring about self-esteem and a level of active sociability that is hard to find elsewhere. It is driven by passion, energy, curiosity, pleasure..."
See: http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1377160,00.html
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7. NOT FAIR-FORD
The Court of Appeal has ruled that police violated the Human Rights Act when they detained 120 protestors en route to a demonstration at RAF Fairford, Gloucestershire, before they even got out of their coaches. The coaches were searched and when police found two pairs of scissors and some pamphlets they were driven back to London under police guard. Police claimed that the protestors were 'well armed'.
However, the judges also ruled that, although the detention was unlawful, it was not unlawful to turn the passengers away from the demonstration. This means that any group of people could be turned away from a demonstration without evidence and based solely on the opinion of a senior police officer. Amnesty International has described the ruling as having a "chilling effect on the rights to freedom of assembly, peaceful protest and expression".
See: www.fairfordcoachaction.org.uk
SchNEWS: www.schnews.org.uk/archive/news477.htm
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8. ID CARDS
Greens call for ID card plans to be thrown out. The Metropolitan Police question the potential for identity cards to reduce crime or increase detection. Paul Whitehouse, former Chief Constable of Sussex Police, even suggested that ID cards could actually cause terrorism: "[I]f you keep driving the state into the all-powerful position, when you look around the world, that's what happens next."
Cards didn't prevent the Madrid bombings. The system planned by the UK government relies on untested, unproven technology, including the very doubtful accuracy of checking iris or facial scans and fingerprints.
While identity theft is making the headlines, the Government is advocating the introduction of one card potentially able to contain huge amounts of information on all of us. These cards will be extremely attractive targets for hackers and professional fraudsters. The estimated cost of ID cards has doubled to £5.5bn, excluding the cost of equipment such as card readers that would be needed at hospitals, doctors' surgeries, police stations, job centres, etc.
Despite considerable opposition to ID cards in Parliament, the bill has cleared its first hurdle as MPs were 'whipped' into line.
Briefing re ID cards: http://www.greenparty.org.uk/index.php?nav=news&n=1697
Full briefing: http://www.greenparty.org.uk/files/reports/2004/1ID%20card%20briefing.ht
Plus Green support for the no 2 id campaign
http://www.greenparty.org.uk/index.php?nav=news&n=1584
Andrew Haldenby, Director of Policy at Reform, said, "...the issues that the government say we need ID cards for...can all actually be solved by measures...which in many cases are less costly and less bureaucratic."
See: http://www.no2id.net/news/newsletters/newsletter.php?issue=11
The government has banned the release of advice given by the attorney general to cabinet ministers on whether ID cards will invade people's privacy or human rights.
See: http://www.guardian.co.uk/idcards/story/0,15642,1377360,00.html
Lord Butler Attacks the Government. Benefits would not justify the cost.
See: http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3862949
Charles Kennedy concerned about likelihood of IT failure:
http://www.epolitix.com/EN/News/200412/0342e8d1-fa2f-467e-9e26-29fd50391120.htm
The Bill and Home Office reports:
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200405/cmbills/008/2005008.pdf
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9. IRAQ, OPPRESSION AND TERRORISM
Richard Perle, Pentagon advisor, and Daniel Cohn-Bendit, leader of the European Parliament's Green Party trade views and barbs.
See: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/issue_mayjune_2003/debate.html
Iraqi women were long the most liberated in the Middle East. Occupation has confined them to their homes.
See: http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1378532,00.html
The falsehoods reproduced by the media before the invasion of Iraq were massive and consequential. David Edwards and David Cromwell argue that it was a classic product of "balanced" professional journalism.
Read more at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1373913,00.html
As the inquiry into the oil-for-food programme in Iraq continues, there are mounting calls in America for Kofi Annan to resign.
See: http://www.guardian.co.uk/editor/story/0,,1367746,00.html
The United States missile defence programme is mired in huge costs and many technical failures like the recent test in the Pacific. Could Iraq's insurgency deal it a fatal blow? Or will it help?
See: http://www.opendemocracy.net/themes/article-2-2293.jsp
Reports suggest that along with high US casualties there are very high levels of civilian casualties in Fallujah. Situation across Iraq described as dire. Undeterred, Washington hawks are intensifying their hardline attitudes towards Iran, North Korea, and perhaps most likely Syria. Could elections be postponed?
See Paul Rogers at: http://www.opendemocracy.net/themes/article-2-2297.jsp
Britain: paramedics question suicide verdict on whistleblower Kelly:
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/dec2004/kell-d16.shtml
Lovers of freedom should fear for Britain, not the US. From hunting to religion, the signs are ominous for our tradition of dissent:
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,9115,1386715,00.html
PROPOSAL TO REDUCE OPPRESSION
The Index of Governance. Iraq is a tragic, bloody mess as a result of the violent intervention led by the USA and the UK. But for all of us who opposed the war, the question remains, "What would you have done to end Saddam Hussein's reign of terror? Or to stop the genocide in Rwanda, or the ethnic cleansing in Kosovo?" There may be a way forward through measuring the human rights performance of the world's governments, and applying rewards for good practice and disincentives for bad practice.
See proposals by the Green Party's Dr Richard Lawson at:
http://www.greenhealth.org.uk/Index%20of%20Governance.htm
DIFFERENT THREATS - DIFFERENT-COLOURED SPECS
Until the invasion of Iraq, there were no links between the Ba'athists and al Qaida; now Bush's government has created the monster it claimed to be slaying. The US army developed anthrax to work out what would happen if someone else did the same. No one else could. The terrorist who launched the anthrax attacks in 2001 took it from one of the US army's laboratories. Now US researchers are preparing genetically modified strains of smallpox on the same pretext. Meanwhile, the Pentagon's space-based weapons programme is being developed in response to a threat which doesn't yet exist, but which it is likely to conjure up.
George Monbiot writes, "The US government is engaged in a global war with itself. It is like a robin attacking its reflection in a window...When anticipating possible terrorist attacks, the US administration, or so it claims, prepares for the worst. When anticipating the impacts of climate change, it prepares for the best."
See www.monbiot.com or
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1377871,00.html
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10. AFRICA - MUST MOVE UP GLOBAL AGENDA
Africa's crisis must move to the top of the global agenda. In its role as EU president, Britain will be responsible for reaching agreement on what Europe will contribute, in aid levels and in trading arrangements, towards the millennium goals. The July G8 summit in Scotland will be an opportunity to put the development crisis in Africa at the centre of the global agenda. The Make Poverty History campaign, backed by the major British NGOs, aims to mobilise political and public opinion throughout the year, with the G8 and the UN meeting in September the key focal points. Could we dare to dream that 2005 would yet be one of those special years which ushered in a new era in politics and human affairs?
See: http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1377876,00.html
France's little Iraq. Ivory Coast is a perfect example of the misrepresentation of Africa in the West's eyes. After the violence meted out by its former colonial masters, Ivory Coast is looking to the Africa Union.
See: http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1377800,00.html
More than 100,000 Congolese have fled renewed fighting between the Democratic Republic of Congo army and rebels in the battle-torn east of the country.
See: http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1377921,00.html
Wangari Maathai interview; "Quite often, people think that democracy, perhaps because it's a Western concept, a Greek word, is something that is being imposed on Africans. But I know that even within our own traditional governance systems, this concept of equity was very strong -- even stronger than it is in many Western democracies. So I believe very strongly that it is not a new concept. It is not a Western concept. It is not a conditionality that is coming from outside. Authoritarianism is just something that has happened in the last 100 years or so.....The developed countries know very well what Africa needs. We all know that their excuses have been corruption, misgovernance and money being used for weapons. They are excuses, but to a certain extent legitimate.
Read more at: http://allafrica.com/stories/200501100049.html
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11. TAXPAYERS PAY FOR FAILED ARMS DEALS
In the last six years, the taxpayer has paid £645m to arms firms for failed deals with Indonesia. The payments have been made by the export credits guarantee department (ECGD).
The latest revelation heaps more controversy on BAE's sale of Hawks to Indonesia which helped to sink Labour's attempt to implement an "ethical foreign policy". Despite promises from the Indonesians, the jets were used to terrorise and crush insurgents. It has also been revealed that the government has secretly agreed to pay BAE £1bn if the regime in Saudi Arabia, one of its most crucial customers, collapses.
See: http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardianpolitics/story/0,,1377308,00.html
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12. HEALTH NEWS
DESTROYING THE DRUGS WE NEED
International Herald Tribune; December 21, 2004 - Emmanuel Reinert from Paris echoes the view of Ashraf Ghani, Afghanistan's finance minister, that "it is not drugs, but an ill-conceived war on drugs that is at the root of the problem in Afghanistan....A solution to this crisis could be the redirection of Afghanistan's poppy production toward replenishing the world's inadequate morphine supplies for medical purposes. This would provide a legal outlet for opium poppy that has been cultivated for centuries in Afghanistan...Reducing the amount of Afghan opium turned into heroin for the illegal market would shift the drug trade and its profits from the drug lords to the state."
Full letter at: http://www.iht.com/articles/2004/12/20/opinion/edlet.html
BBC News; 23 December, 2004 - NHS painkiller shortage warning. Stocks of a powerful painkiller, Diamorphine (heroin) used to treat thousands of NHS patients may run out in the next few weeks, the government has warned...Doctors are being asked to ration the drug to those most in need, such as patients with advanced cancer.
See: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4122173.stm
Afghan heroin leaves a trail of ruined lives on its long journey to the west. Most of this year's bumper opium crop from Afghanistan - worth a record $2.8bn (£1.45bn) - will find its way to lucrative European markets. It will cause more than 10,000 deaths, according to a recent report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. But will also spill over into local markets, with devastating consequences. Pakistan has about 500,000 chronic heroin addicts; Iran has 1 million.
Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1382292,00.html
WILL NATURAL SUPPLEMENTS BE BANNED?
The Alliance for Natural Health has announced that the case in the European Court of Justice seeking to overturn the Food Supplements Directive ban on many natural food-form vitamin and mineral supplements has now been listed for hearing on 25 January 2005.
See: www.alliance-natural-health.org/index.cfm?Action=archive&categoryID=7
AROMATHERAPY OILS 'KILL SUPERBUG'
University of Manchester, 21 December 2004 - Essential Oils Could Stamp Out Spread Of MRSA. Tests revealed that three essential oils killed MRSA and E. coli as well as many other bacteria and fungi within just two minutes of contact. Researcher Dr Peter Warn said that it was proving hard to obtain the further funding necessary (only about £30,000)'because essential oils cannot be patented as they are naturally occurring, so few drug companies are interested in our work as they do not see it as commercially viable.'
The complexity of essential oils means that bacteria are much less able to develop resistance than to 'conventional' drugs. Hospital-acquired infections cost the NHS around £1 billion a year and are estimated to kill 5,000 people annually in the UK.
Full article at: http://www.manchester.ac.uk/press/title,8376,en.htm
BBC News, 21 December, 2004, reports that the researchers say they are unable to reveal which oils carry benefits because of commercial sensitivities.
Full article at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4116053.stm
HOUSEHOLD CHEMICALS AND ILLNESS
University of Bristol; 23 December 2004 - A new study has shown a clear connection between breathing problems in young children and their mothers' use of a range of common products such as bleach, paint stripper and carpet cleaners...other studies throughout Europe and the USA have demonstrated an increased risk of asthma in people working as cleaners.
Full article at: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2004/594
These findings are in line with those from a study at Brunel University, published in October 2004, which linked common household chemicals (including air 'fresheners') with maternal depression and headaches and with diarrhoea and vomiting in babies.
See: http://www.brunel.ac.uk/news/press/releases/1004/airfreshners.shtml
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13. ANIMAL TRANSPORT
Dec 20 2004; The Journal - UK agriculture MEPs have been criticised by their Green counterparts in Europe for failing to support welfare improvements for livestock in transit. Green Party MEP, Caroline Lucas, who led parliamentary calls for a live export ban and other welfare improvements, accused ministers of acting with "shocking disregard" for animal welfare.
She said: "By refusing to support these proposals, the Labour Government has voted to maintain the status quo - which will see millions of animals suffer extreme cruelty and death as they are packed into the backs of lorries and driven across Europe - for at least the next six years. A majority of directly elected MEPs from across the EU have demanded better conditions for animals in transit and their views have simply been ignored: it's no wonder voters feel disconnected from the EU."
Full article at: http://icnewcastle.icnetwork.co.uk/0500business/northernfarming/....
See also: http://www.greenparty.org.uk/index.php?nav=news&n=1734
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14. GREEN PARTY NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD
Greens in Ukraine: When the Green candidate, Mr Kononov, withdrew from the campaign before the first round due to financial reasons, the party asked its supporters to vote according to moral criteria and Green values. When the electoral fraud became evident after the first round, the Greens declared their support for Yushchenko officially, despite serious disagreements with his bloc's vision of political reform, NATO enlargement, etc. The Greens were the first political party among those who had not formally affiliated with Yushchenko to become actively and directly involved in the protests to save democracy in the Ukraine. Greens have since welcomed the new president Yushchenko success.
See: http://www.greenparty.org.ua/orange_maidan.html
http://greens-efa.org/en/press/detail.php?id=2217&lg=de
US Green Party presidential candidate David Cobb has said that Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell has refused to answer questions about the recount process and about a multitude of problems with the presidential election in Ohio. Cobb has now asked a Federal Court to preserve a wide range of evidence, including voting machines and election records, to ensure the integrity of the recount.
See: http://www.commondreams.org/news2004/1224-02.htm and
http://www.gp.org/press/pr_2004_12_22.html
Latest info: http://www.times-standard.com/Stories/0,1413,127~2896~2640190,00.html
Australian Greens are now third in polls with six per cent.
See: http://www.cpod.ca/polls/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewItem&itemID=5389
Australian Greens called for Christmas compassion for refugees.
See: http://kerrynettle.org.au/600_media_sub.php?deptItemID=316
Australian Government is soft on polluters.
See: http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200412/s1271128.htm
New Zealand: Govt sentences millions of animals to misery and pain.
See: http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0412/S00551.htm
New Zealand: Great Debate: China - What price tag on free trade? Debate between Rod Donald (Greens) and Phil O'Reilly (business NZ).
See: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=3&ObjectID=9006024
Daniel Cohn-Bendit, co-president of the Green/EFA group in the EU Parliament, debates with the former US national security advisor Richard Perle about Greens, Iraq and sustainability.
See: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/issue_mayjune_2003/debate.html
Cohn-Bendit's biography is at:
http://cohn-bendit.de/en/dany/lebenslauf/index.html
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroder's ruling coalition of Social Democrats and Greens moved ahead of the opposition alliance for the first time in about two years, according to an opinion poll. Greens garnering 12 percent.
See: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/briefs/0,,1439714,00.html
Germany to grant animal rights.
See: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1993941.stm
German nuclear energy phase-out begins with first plant closure.
See: http://www.terradaily.com/2003/031114130333.jlvf6wjx.html
German Constitutional Court Upholds Eco-Tax.
See: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,1174772,00.html
Austria: Greens were the main political winners in Austria, according to a poll by OGM. 44 per cent of respondents believe 2004 was a good year for the environmentalist party. Green leader Alexander van de Bellen was the top rated parliamentarian with 44 per cent.
See: http://www.cpod.ca/polls/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewItem&itemID=5451
Finland: Coalition Partners Stay Ahead In Finland - poll shows Green League on 9.3 (+0.6%)
See: http://www.cpod.ca/polls/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewItem&itemID=5472
Green party politician Noel Mamere, the mayor of Begles in southern France, set off a political uproar when he united two homosexual men in the country's first homosexual "marriage."...For breaking the law, Mr. Mamere was suspended from his mayoral duties for a month and the "marriage" was invalidated. France, however, may now be ready to enhance its civil pact which recognises same-sex unions.
See: http://washingtontimes.com/world/20041211-105201-5386r.htm
New EU fishing quotas ignore best scientific advice on fisheries; stocks at crisis levels.
See: http://greens-efa.org/en/press/detail.php?id=2216&lg=en and
http://www.greenparty.ie/en/news/latest_news/....
Greens in Ireland: Nine per cent of lung cancer deaths linked to radon.
See: http://www.politics.ie/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=6746
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15. GM SHENANIGANS
BECKETT TO ABOLISH GM SCRUTINY BODY
The Guardian 29.12.04 - The UK environment secretary, Margaret Beckett, is to scrap an advisory committee after it repeatedly obstructed government plans to introduce genetically modified crops. The commission, established by the government to monitor ethical and social issues linked to GM crops, is to be disbanded after its members insisted that conventional and organic farmers should be protected from contamination by GM crops - and be compensated if safeguards fail...the efforts of the Agriculture and Environment Biotechnology Commission were largely ignored in Whitehall...the commission insisted that the consumer should have the freedom to buy non-GM British food.
Full article at: http://politics.guardian.co.uk/green/story/0,9061,1380456,00.html
MONSANTO GUILTY OF BRIBERY
The US agrochemical giant Monsanto has agreed to pay a $1.5m (£799,000) fine for bribing an Indonesian official in a bid to avoid environmental impact studies being conducted on its cotton. The Scottish boss of Monsanto is under pressure to quit from Scottish Greens. Mark Ruskell MSP, the Green Party’s environment spokesman, called on ministers to sack him. “It is plainly ridiculous that a senior figure from Monsanto is at the heart of informing the Executive’s strategy for Scotland’s economic development,” he said. “This highlights the cosy relationship between GM corporations and the Labour-LibDem government in Scotland."
See: http://www.sundayherald.com/47036
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4153635.stm
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16. SCANDAL OF EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT'S SECRET BALLOT
London's Green MEP Jean Lambert has called upon the European Parliament to re-examine the way it does business following a secret ballot over the future of Turkey's accession to the EU. She said: "Attempts by the Conservatives and Christian Democrats to increase the number of no-votes by introducing a secret vote have proven futile. How can we ask for transparency in the EU Council of Ministers when it legislates, if we demand secrecy? We too make decisions in the public interest and are supposed to be accountable for our decisions."
Greens have since welcomed the landmark deal on Turkey's EU entry.
See: http://www.greenparty.org.uk/index.php?nav=news&n=1735 and
http://greens-efa.org/en/press/detail.php?id=2210&lg=en
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17. FAT CATS TAX LAX
From SchNews: Under Labour those with the most cash have doubled their money. A report on inequality from the Office for National Statistics shows that the top 1% increased their share of national wealth from 20% to 23% in the first six years of the Labour government. The top ten per cent of Britain now owns an incredible 54% of the wealth.
Meanwhile Chief Executive (CEO) pay is out of control. In the UK it rose 25 per cent a year from 1983 to 2002 - no matter how a company was performing...CEOs now pocket around 50 times as much as ordinary employees...Plus a leading accountancy expert, Professor Prem Sikka, reckons that billions are lost by multinationals basing themselves in tax havens and says, "the Treasury refused to undertake detailed research to get accurate estimates."
In Gordon Brown's last budget speech, he promised to deal with tax cheats, and then announced that 40,500 jobs would go at the Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise!
See more at SchNEWS: www.schnews.org.uk/archive/news478.htm
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18. PARTY FUNDING FROM PUBLIC PURSE
After 18 months of research the Electoral Commission published its report. While being a touch wishy-washy and not going as far as Greens would have liked, the report at least accepts that state funding and support should be aimed at encouraging active engagement with local people. Conservatives dismissed the report, with Liam Fox calling it "taxpayers' hard-earned money going towards bigger grants to political parties and subsidising more junk mail." Coming from the party that is both more responsible for the public's negative association of politics with "sleaze" and more dependent on public subsidy than any other by far, this is rather hard to take.
Read more at: http://www.new-politics.net/news-releases/party-funding-briefing/
and http://newpoliticsnetwork.blogspot.com/
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ACTION - JOIN A REASONABLE REVOLUTION
ACT stands for Active Citizens Transform: a new non-party political movement that aims to mobilise citizens, to transform Britain into a vibrant, participatory and sustainable society. It works with Charter 88 and others to hold politicians to account, and includes the excellent campaign for a Sustainable Communities Bill. The sustainability agenda is complex and challenging. The issues of democracy, environmental and social justice, wealth creation and economic determination are entangled.
Citizens and communities are losing the battle against centralisation. Executive government, quangos and corporations have too much power over everyday lives...We need much more openness...with strong public interest agendas that underpin and support government policy and company behaviour. Citizens and communities must have a greater say in what goes on. We need new ideas - as well as new forms of government - to rejuvenate democracy and communities nationwide. An active and aware nationwide network of voters, constituents and taxpayers can do that.
As the ACT manifesto says: "Politicians think that there are no votes in democracy, no votes in the environment, and no votes in a new constitution. We aim to change that."
Please consider joining. Read more at: http://www.actnetwork.org.uk
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ACTION - ADD NAME TO LETTER CALLING FOR END OF OCCUPATION OF PALESTINE
A decisive victory to former Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas despite all the constraints of voting in a country under military occupation.
Speaking from Jerusalem, Green MEP Dr Lucas, a member of the European Parliament’s observer mission monitoring the Palestinian presidential election said the "real problem in the Palestinian territories is not the lack of democracy...it’s the illegal Israeli occupation. Of course Mahmoud Abbas faces the challenge of reining in the Palestinian militants, but the Israeli and US authorities must take urgent stock of their own policies in the occupied territories if he is to stand even a chance of doing so. In short, Israel must end the occupation and disband all illegal settlements immediately – in the West Bank as well as the Gaza Strip – and dismantle its so-called ‘security barrier’ which is dividing communities, destroying livelihoods and annexing Palestinian land throughout the occupied territories. Only then will there be hope for a better future for everyone in the region. "
Please consider adding your name to the following open letter calling for the application of effective international pressure on Israel, in order to put an end to the occupation and oppression of the Palestinian people by Israel:
http://www.petitions.medicks.net/
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INSPIRING READ - It was Joanna Macy who coined the phrase 'The Great Turning' to describe the story of change required in our times. An article by her about this is viewable at:
http://www.rainbowbody.net/Ongwhehonwhe/MacyGreatTurn.htm
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INSPIRING WEBSITE - Big Picture TV is an online TV channel that broadcasts video on demand over the web including interviews with some of the world's renowned pioneers in Sustainable Development and from the environmental, social justice and peace movements. The site aims to fill the information gap where mainstream media all too often fails consumers of news. All clips are free. They do not require downloading and you do not need a broadband connection to watch them (although picture quality is enhanced should you have one). Transcripts are also available.
See: www.big-picture.tv
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AND FINALLY...
Berlin will soon have solar powered talking rubbish bins. They will each generate their own electricity and will be programmed to
thank people for putting rubbish in them during the day and glow green at night. It is hoped that they will discourage people from littering. The prototype bins are designed to be "fun" - each one can be programmed to say different things, even in other languages, said a spokesman from the city's cleaning service.
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The GNN editorial team includes: Philip Booth, Stroud, Gloucestershire, Lesley Davies, Cirencester, Gloucestershire and Vivien Pomfrey, Launceston, Cornwall. Each edition will not necessarily include input from each editor. To contribute to this news service (or to subscribe or unsubscribe) contact Philip Booth on 01453 755451. E-mail: philip.booth2@virgin.net.
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