Greenpeace

Finally... some good news! Nestle, the world's biggest food and drinks company, announced that it will cease using products that drive the tropical rainforest destruction.

This is great news for our environment in what has otherwise been a bleak few weeks. President Obama continues to dig in (or drill in) and stand firm behind his plans to increase offshore oil drilling despite the BP Deepwater oil disaster and continues to work to lift the ban on commercial whaling.

In the midst of it all, Nestle's recent act is a refreshing act of leadership.

Here is why this matters: 17 percent of global-warming pollution comes from deforestation. Brazil and Indonesia are among the four most polluting countries (with China and the U.S.) because cutting trees releases carbon pollution.

To address the main driver of deforestation in Brazil -- cattle ranching -- Greenpeace worked with Nike, Wal-Mart, Timberland, and other companies to pressure their suppliers to stop grazing cattle on recently deforested land.

In Indonesia, palm oil and pulp plantations are both driving deforestation and pushing orangutans to the brink of extinction. After being caught red-handed, Nestle has committed to identify and exclude companies from its supply chain that own or manage "high-risk plantations or farms linked to deforestation." This exclusion would apply to companies such as Sinar Mas, Indonesia's most notorious palm-oil and pulp-and-paper supplier, if it fails to meet the criteria set out in the policy. It also has implications for palm oil traders, such as Cargill, which continue to buy from Sinar Mas.

Read more at Grist.com >>

 

On April 20, 2010, a BP offshore oil rig exploded, killing workers on the rig and spilling tens of thousands of barrels of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico. BP's Deepwater Horizon oil well, located 5,000 feet below the ocean's surface, is now leaking between 5,000 – 60,000 barrels (210, 000 – 2,520,000 gallons) of crude oil into Gulf Coast waters each day, with devastating consequences for Gulf Coast communities and the fragile wetlands, bayous, and coastal waters on which they depend.

We've put together a timeline dating back to July 2007 when the Department of Interior released a report finding that there is a history of accidents, fires and even deaths at offshore oil drilling projects.

It's time for history to stop repeating itself. Let's put an end to this sort of diaster so that our future will be safer. Take action and tell Congress that the time for action is now. Congress must put a ban on new offshore drilling that prevents this threat from spreading to other areas of the country.

--Michelle

The Deepwater Horizon accident continues to spill millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Echoing the sentiment of concernced people all across America, Greenpeace activists delivered a strong message to Congress, "Choose a clean energy future now."

The disaster in the Gulf is a tragic reminder of the impacts of America's addiction to dirty and dangerous sources of energy like oil, and it must serve as a wake up call to Congress of the urgent need to immediately stop plans for any new offshore oil drilling. 

The oil industry's stranglehold on our energy policy has protected oil company profits while sacrificing our health, local economies, and our environment.  It's past time for Congress to shut out the polluter lobbyists and urgently move us toward clean, renewable energy.

 

How much oil is flowing into the Gulf of Mexico from this disastrous oil spill? Our new counter will keep tabs as the oil continues to flow...

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<iframe src="http://go.greenpeaceusa.org/spill-widget/vertical.php" height="325" width="150" border="0" scrolling="no" style="overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px;"></iframe></iframe>