Van Jones to Young Climate Activists: “Shift the Power!” – April 19, 2011

By Brad Johnson

In a passionate keynote address, green jobs leader Van Jones exhorted the 10,000 youth climate activists at the Power Shift conference in Washington DC to “shift the power” and lead the clean power revolution. He argued that both parties need to be held accountable for their failures, and that activists must explain that the climate movement isn’t just about “hippie power” but that it is a vision of liberty and justice for all.

Photo by Chris Eichler, Energy Action CoalitionVan Jones at Power Shift 2011.

Van Jones had harsh words for the national political establishment. “You have… more

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Japan Requires Collective Efforts to Contain the Nuclear Tragedy – April 7, 2011

By Suvendrini Kakuchi/Inter Press Service

My decision to visit Fukushima – the area worst hit by the massive quake, tsunami and nuclear power accident on Mar. 11 – was taken one afternoon last week after a long meeting with scientists.

Photo by Suvendrini Kakuchi/IPSDevastation from the Mar. 11 tsunami swept through Yotukura fishing village.

The invitation to accompany the scientists on a private fact-finding mission to Fukushima was irresistible. The scientists and engineers who gathered that day, had, for decades, harboured misgivings over reactor safety design and policies and were active in the ongoing debate over the future of… more

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Norway Begins Annual Whale Slaughter Despite International Criticism – April 5, 2011

Inhumane whaling methods involving exploding harpoons largely unchanged for 70 years
By Laura Bridgeman

Spring has finally arrived! That means sunny days, blooming flowers and… the brutal slaughter of thousands of whales. That's right – the Norwegian whaling season officially opened on April 1, or All Fools' Day, although this 'cultural tradition' is certainly no joke for the whales or the people who love them.

Norway is one of three nations which continue to kill whales for commercial purposes, despite ardent international opposition and a global moratorium on commercial whaling. This year, the Norwegian government set a quota of 1,286 minke whales for the hunting season, which lasts from April to August.

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Blame It On Canada (and ourselves) – March 17, 2011

by Kenny Bruno

Earth Island Journal editor Jason Mark is harsh on U.S. environmental groups trying to stop the reckless expansion of the Canadian tar sands, calling them “intellectually dishonest” and “strategically lazy” because they are trying to stem the flow of Canadian tar sands oil at the source, rather than focusing entirely on U.S. oil consumption. But those groups (including mine) may not be are not as dumb as the editorial makes them out to be.

Dependence on oil is the mother of all addictions and a damn tough problem to tackle. While we are working on the demand side through energy efficiency, fuel switching (including electrification), and smart growth, the… more

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Important Environmental Organizatons and the Obama Administration Are not Standing Up for the Whales – October 26, 2010

By Sara Wan, California Coastal Commissioner
Mark J. Palmer, Associate Director, International Marine Mammal Project, Earth Island Institute

The United States has let down the whales, with the help of three groups in the environmental community who really ought to have known better: Pew Charitable Trust, Greenpeace and World Wildlife Fund (WWF). For almost forty years, the United States had been an international champion of protecting whales and banning commercial whaling. The US in particular was a strong supporter of the moratorium on commercial whaling, approved by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in 1982 for the 1986-87 whaling season.

That all changed with the administration of President George W. Bush, whose IWC delegation three years ago proposed closed-door negotiations with Japan and other whaling nations to address the continued… more

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