This Alert also includes an action to Make Mercury Pollution a Thing of the Past.

Learn more…

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle…

Hard economic times have many of us reducing our purchasing, and we are finding that perhaps we don’t need as much as we thought we did. But we also have much that can be re-used – both for the good of the planet and to help out those in need.

How can we encourage Reuse?

Start a re-use project in your church. Maybe you can have collection boxes for winter coats or kids’ clothing that is worth passing on. Books and DVDs are other items that are good to swap. Are there a lot of gardeners in your community? Swap seeds and gardening magazines. The possibilities are endless once you start thinking about it.

If you really want to inspire re-use in your community, organize a swap meet. Set up a few tables and get a group of people to bring their perfectly good items that others can take home for free in exchange for a trade. A variation on the old rummage sale…

More and more people – especially young people – are trading on-line. For the low-down on Craig’s List, Freecycle and other internet trade sites, read the Care2.com blog entry – “Not Buying It? How to Trade the Stuff You Already Have”.

Re-use this post – share it with others!

“…….The Millennium Declaration represents the most important promise ever made to the world’s most vulnerable people. The MDG framework for accountability derived from the Declaration has generated an unprecedented level of commitment and partnership in building decent, healthier lives for billions of people and in creating an environment that contributes to peace and security.”

“The Millennium Development Goals are still attainable. The critical question today is how to transform the pace of change from what we have seen over the last decade into dramatically faster progress. The experience of these last ten years offers ample evidence of what works and has provided tools that can help us achieve the MDGs by 2015. The Millennium Development Goals summit in September will be an opportunity for world leaders to translate this evidence into a concrete agenda for action….”

This report is based on a master set of data that has been compiled by an Inter-Agency and Expert Group on MDG Indicators led by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat, in response to the wishes of the General Assembly for periodic assessment of progress towards the MDGs. The Group comprises representatives of the international organizations whose activities include the preparation of one or more of the series of statistical indicators that were identified as appropriate for monitoring progress towards the MDGs,

The Report is available in PDF form [80pp]. Download PDF

The report is available in PDF form in all UN languages, including: English,  French, and Spanish

A Yale Environment 360 article details one campaign’s success:

“In the Amazon, Greenpeace released… [a] report last June linking deforestation by cattle ranchers in the Amazon to major consumer products, including Gucci handbags and Nike shoes. The fallout was immediate: Brazil’s cattle industry — the largest in the world and a dominant force in Brazilian politics — was brought to a standstill virtually overnight. Brazilian officials raided the offices of the country’s cattle giants and suspended or revoked some of their loans. Several of the cattle companies’ biggest buyers publicly rebuked the firms and demanded greater accountability for their supply chains.”

“Wal-Mart, Nike, and Timberland — all identified in the report as buying leather products or meat that came from cattle raised on deforested Amazon land — immediately announced new sourcing policies requiring full traceability and transparency from their suppliers to ensure beef and leather products weren’t coming from former rainforest. Under pressure from their customers and the government — which threatened billions in fines — Brazilian cattle producers, processors, and traders fell into line, declaring moratoriums on deforestation. The hottest commodity in the Brazilian Amazon became credible supply-chain management, spawning a rush to develop certification systems and land registries for “responsible” ranches.”

Learn more at Yale Environment 360…

The G8 summit brought together heads of state and other leaders from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, United Kingdom, United States and the European Community in a multilateral forum to discuss major challenges facing the world including the economy, trade, climate change and food security. The credibility of the G8 on the issue of combating poverty rests on its accountability for past promises. In 2010 key G8 commitments made at Gleneagles (2005) come due – these are the necessary actions to put the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) back on track. With only five years from the 2015 MDG target date, the summit marks a critical moment for G8 governments to take stock of improvement and make necessary changes in reaching the final targets.

The G20 summit is the gathering of world leader from the major industrialized and developing economies to discuss key issues in the global economy. The Group of twenty (G20) is composed of a group of rich nations, namely Germany, the United States, Britain, Japan, Canada and Italy; members from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and South Africa and representatives from the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Union. The two African nations of Malawi and Ethiopia, along with Vietnam, the Netherlands and Spain were also invited to attend the G20 Summit in Canada.

The Missionary Oblates JPIC office, in solidarity with other faith based organizations, has urged leaders at both summits to meet the Millennium Development Goals and fulfill commitments to fight global poverty and climate change. Three important priorities that must be brought to the attention of world leaders are poverty, the global economic and financial system, and partnership to address climate change. Below are two important mobilizing initiatives in Canada to hold world leaders accountable.

In the lead-up to the 2010 G8 and G20 meetings, an Interfaith Leader’s Summit was held in Winnipeg, Manitoba to challenge G8 leaders to live up to their commitments to the world’s poorest and most vulnerable citizens by supporting the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. After their meeting, the faith leaders issued a statement addressed to the G8/G20 leaders entitled “A Time for Inspired Leadership and Action.”

A Canadian-led, but globally supported, civil society campaign called At the Table is mobilizing the grassroots to “take their place” alongside world leaders in important global summits. It is a call to leaders to “take their place” in forging bold decisions on the issues people care about: poverty, climate change, and economic justice.

To give a flavor of the event, these questions were asked on the website:

• Did you ever wanted to change the world but never knew how?
• Everyone speaks of freedom, but is freedom simply to do what one wants?
• Most young people are pursing academic degrees but did you ever ask yourself what is the purpose of education?
• Did you ever ask what is justice or why do we punish people?
• With the current economic crises in mind, did you ever reflect on our society’s ideas and views on work, economy, wealth, etc.?
• And, most importantly, did you ever ask, “Who am I as a person and a human being? What is the foundation of my dignity, rights, and duties?”

If you have ever reflected on these question or would like to do so, then the WYP is for YOU!

Later the same day he gave a report on the conference to the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development, of which he is an active member.

Daniel LeBlanc, OMI was representing VIVAT International at the conference. He is a newly elected Board Member of ICON.

Learn more…

Current U.S. policy towards Zimbabwe is characterized by the Zimbabwe Economic and Democracy Recovery Act of 2001 (ZEDERA) and an Executive Order declared by President Bush in 2003. Extended by President Obama until March 2011, this lists more than 200 individuals and business entities subject to a travel ban and whose assets have been frozen.

The new bill maintains the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (ZDERA) of 2001 which introduced a broad range of sanctions on Zimbabwe. However, the proposed new legislation calls for the lifting of funding restrictions on Zimbabwe in fiscal 2010 and allows the U.S. greater flexibility when engaging with international financial institutions on Zimbabwe. The bill also offers a more flexible approach to imposing and amending sanctions on the country and calls for updating of sanctions against certain individuals. The Zimbabwe Transition to Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2010 would allow more support for civil society groups, small farmers and small businesses that currently do not have access to loans vital for stimulation of employment and the economy.

The proposed bill also encourages new action to address illegal activities involving diamonds in Zimbabwe that are reportedly fueling abuses and undermining democratic progress. The measure urges President Obama and his administration to consider new sanctions on individuals overseeing these activities and to press for Zimbabwe’s suspension from the Kimberley Process because Zimbabwe’s continued participation undermines the integrity of the process. For more information on how to support the Zimbabwe Transition to Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2010(S. 3297),visit http://www.capwiz.com/africaaction/issues/alert/?alertid=14996751

The Alberta Tar sands, an extremely dense and viscous form of petroleum called bitumen, have been referred to as the most damaging project on the planet. According to Greenpeace, emissions from tar sands extraction could grow to between 127 and 140m tonnes by 2020, exceeding the current emissions of Austria, Portugal, Ireland and Denmark. If proposed expansion proceeds,it will result in the loss of vast tracts of boreal forest and peat bogs of a territory the size of England.

The extraction of petroleum from tar sands is a very energy and water intensive process. It is said to generate two to four times the amount of greenhouse gases per barrel of final product as the production of conventional oil.

Oil companies are asking for a new pipeline to be built to carry this dirty oil to the United States, the largest consumer of tar sands oil. Environmental and faith groups are opposing further tar sands development.

Catholic Bishop Luc Bouchard, whose diocese extends over the tar sands, issued a strong pastoral letter on the tar sands last year: “The Integrity of Creation and the Athabasca Oil Sands.”

The letter concludes, “even great financial gain does not justify serious harm to the environment,” and “the present pace and scale of development in the Athabasca oil sands cannot be morally justified.”

Bishop Bouchard notes that “The environmental liabilities that result from the various steps in this process are significant and include”:

• Destruction of the boreal forest eco-system
• Potential damage to the Athabasca water shed
• The release of greenhouse gases
• Heavy consumption of natural gas
• The creation of toxic tailings ponds

He writes at length on all five, and concludes:

“Any one of the above destructive effects provokes moral concern, but it is when the damaging effects are all added together that the moral legitimacy of oil sands production is challenged.”

Read the Bishop’s letter…

“No to new big dams in Patagonia;  Water should be public again”

The Bishop of Aysén Luis Infanti De La Mora

Luis Infanti De La Mora, Bishop of Aysén region (Chile), will attend Enel’s Annual General Meeting today to say “no” to a project for the construction of five big dams on the rivers Baker and Pascua, and to get Chilean water back in public hands. The Bishop will be delegated to attend the meeting by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, by initiative of Fondazione Culturale Responsabilità Etica. The Oblates are shareholders in Etica.

“We wanted to involve the international network of religious investors”, explains Ugo Biggeri, the Foundation’s Chairman. “The Oblates are part of Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), a coalition of more than 275 religious orders, based in New York, that submit over 200 shareholders resolutions each year to the AGM’s of US most important companies and they are founding members of the International Interfaith Investment Group (3iG).”

Enel has inherited the big dams projects in Patagonia by Spanish utility Endesa, acquired by Enel in 2009. It’s a project with devastating impacts on a real natural paradise that poses serious risks on the security of dams, since Aysén is a seismic region.

But dams are not the only problem. The Consejo de Defensa de la Patagonia – CDP (Patagonia Defence Council), represented in the AGM by Bishop Infanti, will ask Enel to give back to Chilean people the rights to exploit the water acquired by Endesa during Pinochet dictatorship a time when even rivers had been privatised. “What Enel plans to do is legal but it’s ethically unsustainable,” continues Infanti. “Water concessions should get back in public hands.”

Luis Infanti, who was born in Italy but has lived in Chile for 35 years, has just written a long pastoral letter with the title “Give us our daily water”. (in Spanish: Danos hoy el agua de cada día) Instead of dams – considered “heavy and obsolete”- the Chilean opponents proposed a series of alternatives focused on energy efficiency, solar and wind energy and, above all, on geothermic energy. Bishop Infanti will be accompanied by Juan Pablo Orrego, coordinator of the campaign “Patagonia sin represas” (Patagonia without dams). In solidarity with the Chilean people, Fondazione Culturale Responsabilità Etica will abstain from voting Enel’s financial statements.

Fondazione Culturale Responsabilità Etica

Fondazione Culturale Responsabilità Etica was founded in Padua (Northern Italy) in 2003. It belongs to the Banca Etica System (www.bancaetica.com). Its mission is to “support networks for new sustainable economies and promote a new economic culture based on social and environmental responsibility”. In 2008 Fondazione Culturale started buying shares of Enel and Eni in order to “be the voice of civil society, NGO’s, human rights and environmental campaigns in the Annual General Meetings of Italian most important companies”. Shareholder engagement by Fondazione is supported by Crbm (Reform the World Bank Campaign, www.crbm.org) and Greenpeace Italy. Research and consultancy is provided by Merian Research (www.merian-research.com).

Shareholder engagement by Fondazione Culturale Responsabilità Etica:

Beginning in 2008, Fondazione Culturale Responsabilità Etica has been attending the annual general meetings of the Italian companies Eni and Enel. These are the main issues on which the Foundation has addressed Enel:

• the excessive costs of nuclear energy;
• Enel’s investments in obsolete nuclear plants in Slovakia;
• the presence of Enel in tax havens, in particular the US state of Delaware;
• the limited investments that they have made in the “new” renewable energies in Italy (solar and wind power);

As a result of all the issues presented at Enel’s AGM, the Cultural Foundation has started a dialogue with the company. Enel has provided answers to some of the questions and has shown an interest in meeting with the Foundation’s representatives. However many questions have yet to be answered.

More details can be found on the site: www.fcre.it