EarthAction

The Next Steps Towards a Nuclear-Weapon-Free World

Nagasaki Bomb, Photo courtesy of WIkiCommons. 

The number of countries demanding the elimination of nuclear weapons as a humanitarian imperative has recently grown to 80.

A joint statement on the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons was released on behalf of many delegations to the 2013 Non-Proliferation Treaty Preparatory Committee in Geneva.  This statement discusses critiques of the NPT for ignoring the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons as a global concern. 

The joint statement concluded that:

“It is in the interest of the very survival of humanity that nuclear weapons are never used again, under any circumstances… The only way to guarantee that nuclear weapons will never be used again is through their total elimination.”

As of recent, none of the states known as “nuclear-weapon states”* have signed the statement – United States, Russia, United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, and North Korea.  Nevertheless, four NATO countries that are members of a nuclear alliance with the United States – Denmark, Iceland, Luxembourg, and Norway – did sign. 

The States signing onto this new appeal (not all of them yet listed on the printed version posted to the RCW website) are: Algeria, Argentina, Austria, Belarus, Bangladesh, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Cambodia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire, Cyprus, Denmark, Djibouti, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Ghana, Georgia, Grenada, Guatemala, Holy See, Honduras, Iceland, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Maldives, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nepal, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Norway, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Qatar, Samoa, Singapore, South Africa, Swaziland, Switzerland, Tanzania, Thailand, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Uganda, Ukraine, Uruguay, Yemen and Zambia.

It’s time some of the leading countries with nuclear power consider taking a stride towards a nuclear-weapons-free world.  

Story courtesy of http://peaceandhealthblog.com/2013/04/24/74-npt-states-issue-humanitarian-appeal-for-abolition/

Germany Sets Bar High for Renewable Energy

Photo courtesy of http://now.msn.com/germany-sets-yet-another-solar-power-world-record

The southwestern German state of Baden-Württemberg raised the bar for renewable energy on May 13, 2013 with the completion of the largest locally owned solar array.

Similarly, a developer of solar panels has also announced that four community-owned projects were completed by the end of April in the southeast state of Bavaria in order to be eligible for that month's feed-in tariffs.

“The citizen-owned wind farm is capable of generating 40 million kWh annually from the 19 MW project and has become a beacon for community ownership in Bavaria” (BWE, Deutsche Windindustrie).

The average size is just over two megawatts and one of the solar arrays went up across two hectares of a former concrete production plant.  While these solar panels are providing renewable energy to the community, because they are community-owned the local community also benefits from a land lease for the project.

Shares in the projects were sold starting at 500 euros (645 U.S. dollars) to citizens in nearby communities, making involvement in the project for renewable energy accessible to these communities. These solar projects demonstrate how citizen involvement in photovoltaics (generating electrical power through solar radiation, otherwise known as solar energy) is not only limited to homeowners. 

Coverage thanks to Craig Morris, Renewables International and BWE, Deutsche Windindustrie.

http://www.renewablesinternational.net/more-community-solar/150/510/62690/

http://www.wind-energy-market.com/de/startseite/nachrichten/detail/bp/153/article/bayerns-groesster-buergerwindpark-offiziell-eroeffnet/

Earth Action update thanks to Paul Gipe.  Learn more about his cause at to http://www.wind-works.org/cms/

Millennium Development Goals: Progress and Further Development

Photo credits to ec.europa.eu 

 

In 2000 world leaders gathered at the United Nations to agree on a set of eight targets for international development. Since 2001, the United Nations agreed on a set of eight targets for international development, which they called the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).  They have become the single most important organizing principle of the international community’s fight against extreme poverty and disease.

As of April 2013, there were 1000 days left until the MDGs are meant to reach that goal.

On Friday, April 5th, over 70 organizations marked the 1000-day countdown with a 1000-minute “digital media relay.” to address the questions of how far we have come since the MDGs were first established, what is left to be addressed, and what the global community can do to help. Through Twitter and Facebook chats, Google Hangouts blog posts and more, millions of people came together from every corner of the globe to celebrate global progress in eradicating extreme poverty and disease and press world leaders toclose the gap for those MDGs that have yet to be achieved.

Some MDGs have already been met: reducing the number of people living on less than  $1.25/day by 50% was reached in 2005 – due especially to rapid economic growth in China and India.

The second MDG focuses on making education more accessible.  Primary education in developing regions reached 90 percent in 2010, up from 82% in 1999, which means more kids than ever are attending primary school.  Gender gaps in education are disappearing—there are now more girls enrolled in primary school than at any other time in human history.

In terms of health, HIV/AIDS, Malaria, and TB are at the heart of MDG 6 while the fighting against deadly childhood illnesses like diarrhea, pneumonia and measles is at the heart of MDG 5.  The fight against these illnesses requires funding and an injection of new funds was needed.

The health related MDGs were the organizing principle around which these efforts coalesced. The results have been impressive. On Malaria, prevention strategies like indoor residual spraying and long lasting insecticide treated bed nets have decreased infections by 17% globally since 2000 and the amount of deaths has decreased by 25%. Access to HIV medicines in the developing world has also increased substantially to about half of all people in need today.  Nevertheless, there is still much to be done a the goal calls for universal access to HIV/AIDS medicines.

The set of goals that need the most help is related to maternal health and maternal mortality. MDG 5 sets a target of reducing maternal mortality by three quarters and achieving universal access to reproductive health. Both goals, sadly, are far from their targets, and in many ways these targets are the single most important of all the MDGs. Investing in women and girls can have profoundly positive economic and social results.

Surely, the experience over the last 13 years has demonstrated thatcombining some of the great moral challenges of our time with political and financial backing can yield impressive results. The UN system is now exploring ways to build on the successes of the MDGs and on the momentum of the next 1000 days to design a new global development agenda once the MDGs expire. 

 

Sources: http://www.diplomaticourier.com/news/topics/global-health/1453-sprinting-to-the-millennium-development-goals-finish-line

http://www.unfoundation.org/

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE CEO OF HERAKLES FARMS

(Photo credits to © WWF-Canon / Carlos Drews)

 

Dear Mr. Wrobel,

It is so disheartening and insulting to any right-thinking Cameroonian, in particular, and African, more generally to learn that your company, Herakles Farms, is using rice and fish in the 21^st century to bribe and seduce the indigenous people of Mundemba, Toko and Nguti sub-divisions in the Southwest Region of Cameroon in order to grab their ancestral lands for 99 years. Your so-called sustainable project will destroy the ecosystem of over 73,000 hectares of ancientrainforest and replace it with monoculture oil palm plantations. For this you’ll pay some 50 cents per hectare annual leasing fees.

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