Greenpeace

No podía resistir el enlace a este editorial que apareció en el Washington Post este domingo pasado.  Opino yo que el temor yanqui al socialismo es muy peligroso.  Admito yo que no sé todo sobre la situación venezolana, pero me fascina la reacción a las ideas controversiales del presidente Chavez.  Aunque él dice, hace y crea cosas imperfectas, ¿puede representar Chávez un cambio al clima entre los EE.UU. y sus vecinos al sur?  Y, de verdad, ¿Quiénes son los gobiernos del mundo que utilizan el petróleo para motivos malos en nuestro mundo?  Si el Sr. Fukuyama dice la verdad, ¿por qué no dirige a nosotros al punto de cuestionar nuestra adicción al petróleo?

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Couldn't resist linking to this editorial that appeared in this past Sunday's Washington Post.  I'm of the opinion that the yankee reaction to socialism is dangerous.  I'lla dmit that I don't know everything about the current situation in Venezuela, but the reaction to the ideas of President Chavez really do fascinate me.  Although he says, does and creates imperfect things and ideas, could Chavez represent a climate change between the U.S. and its southern neighbors?  And really, which governments are the ones that are using oil for less-than-moral motives?  If what Mr. Fukuyama says is true, why is he not driving us to question our oil addiction?

 Katrina is a word that will not find itself in the short list of words synonymous with American success, ingenuity or prowess.  Yorktown, Apollo, Peace Corps, Marshall Plan, the list could go on of those moments and initiatives that our government and citizens have waged in the name of progress and goodwill.  But Katrina remains the black eye on the proverbial bruised and bloddied face that embodies the realities of the Bush administration's policies-- foreign and domestic.

The one-year anniversary of the failure of our government to respond to one of the worst tragedies of our time is a time that we should look back, yes, but more importantly- look forward to what we can learn from these mistakes.

Some key media tidbits from the one-year anniversary:

1.) The realities of the hurricane season.  Scope this new bit the media's picking up on.  And there was a lovely ad campaign today by America's insurance lovelies!

2.) The hurricanes will continue to come, and why is it that they keep getting stronger?  Those clever Canadian journos seem to have figured it out faster than their Yankee counterparts.

3.) The financial world has made the connection between hurricanes and our addiction to oil.  When will our politicians follow suit?

4.) Jennifer Loven of AP's editors win today's headline of the day award: "Bush Comforts New Orleans, Urges Hope"  Some of us await the story on when comfort turns to action and urging hope lends itself to informed policy decisions.

5.) To add insult to injury, looks like there's a new nuclear facility planned for the region. 

Marsella, Francia, 24 agosto— En el segundo día de hostilidades, en el que la flota industrial atunera francesa ha bloqueado y abordado el Rainbow Warrior en el puerto de Marsella, el barco de la organización ecologista ha sido finalmente remolcado fuera de las aguas territoriales francesas por orden de la Prefectura Marítima (Policía marítima).

siempre nos han dicho que la inovación y la tecnologia pueden cambiar.  ya sabemos que esto es verdadero, como difundo este mensaje por todas partes del mundo, y sucede sólo por tocar unas teclas.  nuestros móviles ahora tienen buzones, y los programas de instant messenger nos dan el poder de compartir la info, los secretos, y también las realidades de lo que hacemos al medio ambiente. 

como industria que están creciendo a tasas increibles, las posibilidades parecen interminables.  pero las realidades pueden ser más peligrosas que nos damos cuenta.  Estas máquinas contienen muchísimas materias que contaminan cuando las botamos.  de vez en cuando, nuestros computadores y  móviles usados alzan sus fines en un centro de reciclaje, pero más menudo que no, aparecen en otras partes del mundo: donde niños, pobres y mujeres trabajan para quitar todo valoroso de las máquinas.  Por quemar, pegar, y hervir a los componentes plásticos y vinyles, los trabajadores (la mayoría en paieses asiáticos) se contaminan con estas materias carcinogénicas, y ponen estas químicas que pueden causar el cáncer al medioambiente- el agua, el aire, y la tierra. 

Greenpeace acaba de publicar un reportaje sobre la eficaz de la industria tecnológica en estos temas.  lo que pedimos es, como siempre, prágmatico, necesario y sencillo.  es meneester que las compañías que produces computadores y móviles discontinúen la utilización de materias peligrosas, como cloruro de polivinilo y los retardantes del fuego brominados.  también, estas empresas tienen que estar responsables para los que producen, y empezar programas de reciclaje.

se puede leer sobre este reportaje aquí: http://www.reed-electronics.com/electronicnews/article/CA6365867.html

y como siempre, haz clic en www.greenpeaceusa.org para aprender más...

de principio, ¡hola!

segundo, admito que he tardado tanto en excribir aquí en español. en greenpeace, intentamos incrementar nuestra capacidad de comunicar con nuestras comunidades hispanas, y yo querría abrir este canal para todos nuestros socios de habla española.

en las semanas que vienen, empezaré una investigación en los medios de comunicación en castellano, para ver su cobertura de los asuntos medioambientales. si tengan ningún aviso, recomendación, pista, o queja, que me deje saber. 

hasta la protección de nuestra planeta siempre...

to new york, new york. you're so nice, they named you twice. for the record: the big apple is the center of the universe and the greatest city in the world.

this one pretty much sums it up:

It's been a long while since the last posting, so big apologies to all of you die-hard readers out there (whoever you are...).  It's been a whirlwind summer here at the 'peace, and lucky for me I've been able to move my attention to the voyage of a lifetime: the Defending our Oceans expedition.  Greenpeace is sailing its newest and largest ship, the Esperanza (Spanish for hope) around the world for 16 months to discover what hidden mysteries lie beneath our seas.  The truth is, we don't know too much about what's lying beneath those seas.  In fact, there are more maps of the moon than there are of our deep seas.  So, being the newshounds that we are, Greenpeace is out there getting a good picture of the threats facing our oceans.  As you can imagine, those threats are many, and they're pretty damn serious.  From over-fishing to the dumping of hazardous wastes to whaling to bottom-trawling to drift-nets to pollution to coastal over-development, we humans have proven to be pretty good at making a huge mess of our oceans.  And, we're doing it even though our oceans are what give us life: every second breath we take comes from the oceans, and I'll skip the lesson in evolution from sea-based creatures, since we sound-minded people know that evolution is based on solid theories and scientific data.  Hopefully, you've had a chance this summer to enjoy our world's oceans and beaches.  And if you have, you just may have seen some of the junk that's washing up everywhere. 

Don't take my word for it.  Take the Los Angeles Times' word for it.  They ran a really fantastic series called "Altered Oceans" not too long ago that really is fantastic: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/oceans/la-oceans-series,0,7842752.special

Anyway, think twice before you eat shrimp.  Ask your grocer and waiter where the fish they're selling and serving is coming from.  Use environmentally friendly cleaning products, because what goes down your drain has to end up somewhere.  And start using canvas or cloth bags instead of plastic bags: those things are just terrible (and the paper ones made from ancient forests aren't any good either, just so you know).  There are loads of things you can do to help defend our oceans-- and one of the most immediate is to log on to http://oceans.greenpeace.org and get educated and most importantly sign up to become an ocean defender and stand with us at the forefront of the movement to keep our oceans alive and well.

You've heard it before: politics makes for strange bedfellows.  If that's true, well then let's be honest:  environmental politics and the news media make for totally wild orgies.

I'll give you a little background.  There's a little fish that lives in many places, including the Chesapeake Bay called the menhaden.  A smally fish, yes, but an important fish nonetheless.  To make a long story short (for all you newshounds), these tiny fish get vacuumed out of the water, crushed, ground up into tiny pieces, and have all sorts of nasty things done to them in order to create those intersting little dietary supplements of omega-3 acids, since menhaden are so strong and healthy that they're chock-full of the stuff.  Courtesy of Houston-based Omega Protein.  The governing body over these fisheries has placed a cap on how much menhaden that a certain dietary supplement company (whose initials are OMEGA PROTEIN) can take from the bay.  Now, you're probably thinking they set a totally unreasonable cap, and you're wrong.  And, believe it or not, Virginia's governor decided to let that unnamed company (pssst! Omega Protein!) take 110,000 metric tons of these fish (which are about the size of an adult human hand) from the Bay.  Yes, that's taking 110,000 metric tons (LOTS AND LOTS AND LOTS) of fish that are the food source for other critters living in the Bay.  Good government at its best, people.

Don't worry.  Of course Greenpeace took a stand against this (as you've all probably already read in our lovely Greenpeace USA Press Center), and has for a while now, but check out what the Washington Times, which from time to time has been known to have a conservative tilt to it (we hope that last line sent your sarcasm alarm off loud and clear), has to say about this, in Gene Mueller's Outdoors column on p. C7 of the August 9 edition of the Times:

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"Meanwhile, I'm no friend of the radical action group Greenpeace, but I agree with its reaction to the governor's decision to keep the menhaden reduction industry in business.

"Governor Kaine's proposal [would] give the industry favorable treatment with regard to any 'underages,' meaning that if the fishery failed to catch the full quota in one year the deficit would be added to the catch limit for the following year," said John Hocevar, a Greenpeace oceans specialist. The measure was mulled over by the ASMFC last year, but was not adopted.

"Gov. Kaine's proposal is too little too late for Chesapeake Bay," Hocevar said. "After dragging his feet for nearly a year, Gov. Kaine has come up with a watered down plan that has made Houston-based Omega Protein very pleased but will do little to protect the Chesapeake ecosystem or the fishermen that depend on it."

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Mr. Mueller, we're glad that you can agree with us on this issue.  Perhaps in some people's minds advocating for sensible policies and healthy oceans, rivers and bays is radical, but for us here at Greenpeace, being radically sensible really is a way of life.