EcoWorldly

An explosive new documentary, Bananas!*, examines global food politics by following the crusade of lawyer Juan J. Dominguez, as he fights for the rights of thousands of banana plantation workers in Nicaragua who have been made sterile from exposure to the banned pesticide DBCP (Dibromo Chloropropane). This toxic chemical has been shown to cause cancer in animals, sterility in humans, and has been banned in most of the Americas since 1977. The film follows Dominguez as he fights the behemoth Dole Company for restitution for the abused Nicaraguan workers in the US courts.

The Dole Food Company is now attempting to sue the filmmakers and producers, and has unsuccessfully attempted to block screenings of the movie at the Los Angeles Film Festival earlier this year. WG Film, Fredrik Gertten and Margarete Jangård, the creators of Bananas!*, have retained a First Amendment rights lawyer to fight back against the multinational giant Dole. The corporation’s lawsuit claims that the film is defamatory and false toward Dole Food. Bananas!* is definitely a movie that the Dole Corporation does not want you to see. It is presently scheduled for wide release this October.

World Fertility Rate Map

The current world population is approximately 6.5 billion people and growing. By or before 2050, that number will grow by almost 50% to 9 billion. With the availability of birth control and better education rates for women being higher in developed (industrial or post-industrial) nations, most of this increase is projected to come from the developing  world–those nations that are just now making significant progress away from exclusively agrarian societies, and towards full industrialization.

And despite the prevalence of fatal diseases, civil wars, and high infant mortality rates (note: the US has the highest infant mortality rate of any developed country), most of these developing countries continue to show population increases–especially as more effective medicines and health education (via government and private sector programs) become available.

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In the largest debt-for-nature swap the U.S. government has organized so far under the U.S. Tropical Forest Conservation Act, the United States has signed an agreement with Indonesia to forgive nearly $30 million in debt.

The U.S. government has agreed to forgive $30 million in Indonesian debt in exchange for Indonesia’s agreement to protect Sumatran forests, according to Conservation International.

Indonesia is said to be the world’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide, behind the United States and China, because of its deforestation rate. These forests are home to critically endangered Sumatran rhinos, tigers, orangutans, and other rare wildlife.

How it works (in a nutshell)

Instead of repaying the debt, Indonesia is to place the money in a trust, to be paid over eight years, which will be used to protect 13 forest areas on Sumatra. Grants from the trust will be issued for critical forest conservation and restoration work in Sumatra.

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According to the most recent data estimates, roughly 70 million sharks are caught (and killed) each year, most of this is for food, some for sport, and sadly, some just out of fear.

But most of the commercially fished sharks are in fact killed for their fins only–their mutilated carcasses are simply tossed overboard. This is known as “finning”. The fins make their way into a dish known as shark fin soup–a prized delicacy in Japan but also in some Scandinavian countries and in Germany. And as its popularity increases, so do catches–and almost any shark will do (100 out of 400 species are presently exploited for food, according to the Shark Foundation). According to the IUCN (which tracks endangered species with its annual “red list“) and governmental and NGO conservation groups, one third or more of all shark species are endangered.

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Isalo National Park, Madagascar (photo: Bernard Gagnon)

160 million years ago, what is now called Madagascar–the world’s fourth largest island–broke free from its parent continent (Africa), allowing evolution to do some of its most creative work.

The Island, located just off the Southeast coast of Africa and roughly the size of California, is home to an amazing array of life-forms found no where else: bats (with suction cup “elbows”), the Silky Sifaka lemur (an ancient line of primate relatives), dozens of “new” species of scorpions and spiders, and an estimated 200 - 400 new species of frog (most of which have yet to be named). There are also numerous, unique species of plants. An estimated 80% of these new species (especially the frogs) exist only in protected areas of Madagascar’s remaining rain forests.

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Before I get into this important topic, please read my article on cancer dedicated to someone special to me, each view constitutes a larger donation to cancer research. http://planetsave.com/blog/2009/07/27/help-me-fight-cancer/

Problem

Almost one half of non-human primates are at risk of extinction, and none more so than gorillas. Gorillas are disappearing at an alarming rate, mostly a victim of their surroundings. Political unrest, wars, poachers, miners, and loggers all converging in a perfect storm of brutality and human depravity, killing one of our closest living relatives. Gorilla’s DNA is 98-99% an exact match for human DNA, just barely trailing our closest living relatives (genus Pan, chimpanzees and bonobos). Unfortunately for the gorillas, they occupy a region rich in tin, diamonds, gold and coltan (a rare mineral used to create capacitors for cellphones, games consoles and laptops).

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We know a bit about the current situation on climate change. We know which countries are emitting the most global warming emissions. We know that the EU is actively implementing policies to get their emissions down and are serious about keeping climate change at the top of the priority list, even in one of the biggest economic struggles in history. We know that little nations like Tuvalu are working to address climate change. We know that ambitious and engaged countries are running into unseen problems and are unsure where to go in the future. We know that the US is looking to pass a climate bill for the first time and could change history in the process, and the USDA supports it but climate change groups, consumer advocate groups, and social equity groups are quite concerned about some of the changes made by the House of Representatives at the last minute. We know that China, India, and Brazil’s growth in greenhouse gas emissions have skyrocketed (several times faster than developed countries’ still growing emissions) in the past two decades.

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The European Union got strongly admonished this month by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) after the release of a report that is more than a decade late and comes to disheartening conclusions. The EU is giving only 0.1% of its budget to nature protection, with drastic consequences. Due to the miniscule investment in protecting wildlife, more than half of European habitats and species are under threat of extinction.
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Ever wonder who leads the world in global warming emissions? And by how much? A report released this month by the New Zealand government gives us this information.
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Tuvalu is the tiny nation in the Pacific that sued the Bush administration because of sea level rise that was destroying its ability to sustain itself. (Tuvalu’s flag is number three above, with the stars of the Southern Cross.)

Climate change was affecting Tuvalu early - its gorgeous islands are only 3 feet above sea level. Crops were being destroyed by encroaching seawater from rising sea levels. Plans were being made to emigrate the entire nation to New Zealand by the end of the century.

Now it appears Tuvalu’s remaining 12,000 residents have a stay put and fight back plan:

Read the rest of this entry at Cleantechnica: