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June 2009

Financing for Clean Water Trust Fund Must Come From Taxes on Non-Discretionary Water-Based Bottled Beverages

Press Statement: This week, the United States Government Accountability Office issued a report to Congress outlining options for generating the $10 billion in annual revenue needed to establish a Clean Water Trust Fund to upgrade our nation’s aging water infrastructure system. The report, entitled Clean Water Infrastructure: A Variety of Issues Need to Be Considered When Designing a Clean Water Trust Fund highlights a number of sources for Congress to consider, including taxes on bottled beverages, fertilizers, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, and water appliances.

Campaigners land blow on 'oil and gas' bank

The government has been roundly criticised from various quarters for the use of public cash to bail out and prop up RBS. Scandals over Sir Fred's pension and now the ten million pound salary and bonus package for the new RBS boss have been grabbing headlines and stoking public outrage. And rightly so. Now the World Development Movement, along with PLATFORM and People and Planet, have dealt a further blow to the government's hands off approach to how it manages the billions of pounds of taxpayers' money poured into the self-styled 'oil and gas' bank.

Climate Action Now!

3 August 2009 - 9 August 2009

Speaker(s)

Oscar Reyes
Oscar Reyes, Kevin Smith

On November 30th, 2009 the governments of the world will come to Copenhagen for the fifteenth UN Climate Conference (COP-15). This will be the biggest summit on climate change ever to have taken place. Yet, previous meetings have produced nothing more than business as usual.

Government faces environmental legal challenge over RBS

The World Development Movement, PLATFORM and People & Planet have today launched legal action against the Treasury for allowing public money, poured into the Royal Bank of Scotland to be invested in energy companies, and projects linked to climate change and human rights violations.

Back to basics

The Left can recover from its rout only through radical rethinking and mass mobilisation on working people’s gut-level issues

The global food price crisis - a critique of orthodox perspectives

in
Capitalist industrial agriculture, with its wrenching destabilisation and transformation of land, nature, and social relations is responsible for today's food crises, argues Walden Bello.
In an extract from his forthcoming book Food Wars, Walden Bello critiques the orthodox views of economist Paul Collier on the global food price crisis.

Cross of Charter impasse, unfolding economy

in

With its representative institutions severely weakened by unscrupulous political machinations, the fate of our constitutional democracy will once again depend on the direct democracy of the streets

New CIIF president eyes measure requiring soap makers to use more coconut-based chemicals

Where published: 
Business Mirror
Author(s) Information
Author(s): 
TNI
Cites Walden Bello

INCOMING president and chief executive officer Jesus L. Arranza of the Coconut Industry Investment Fund (CIIF) wants to revive a measure requiring soap and detergent makers to use at least 60 percent locally-produced and bidegradable coco-based chemicals in their manufacturing activities.

The CIIF chief said he is now in the process of drafting a bill that could be introduced in the Senate.

Could Cap and Trade Cause Another Market Meltdown?

Where published: 
Mother Jones
Author(s) Information
Author(s): 
TNI
External author(s): 
Rachel Morris
Cites Kevin Smith as TNI

You've heard of credit default swaps and subprime mortgages. Are carbon default swaps and subprime offsets next? If the Waxman-Markey climate bill is signed into law, it will generate, almost as an afterthought, a new market for carbon derivatives. That market will be vast, complicated, and dauntingly difficult to monitor.

Land, Rural Social Movements and Democratisation in Indonesia

Although support from urban-based students and activists was important, the rural protest in Indonesia during President Suharto's regime was built on continued protest and organisation around land issues.

U.S. House of Representatives Approves Water Infrastructure Funding, Food & Water Watch Urges Senate to Follow Suit

Press Statement: “Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Environmental Protection Agency appropriation, which allocates $3.9 billion to help over 1,500 communities improve their drinking water and wastewater systems. This legislation includes $2.3 billion for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund to ensure that our nation’s water meets the goals of the Clean Water Act; $1.4 billion for the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund to protect public health by improving drinking water systems; and $160 million for direct grants to communities for water infrastructure.

JBS Swift Beef Recall Exposes Critical Gaps in USDA E. Coli Policy

Press Statement: "The weaknesses in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) policy on E. coli are becoming very clear, thanks to the latest recall of beef for E. coli 0157:H7. This weekend’s announcement that the recall of beef products from a JBS Swift Beef Company plant in Greeley, Colorado had been expanded is just the latest illustration of why USDA’s policies must be strengthened."