Special Report: Fair Trade
In the News
Animals | Alternative Energy | Corporations | Global Warming | Human rights | Peace & Justice | Products and Services
Animals
Free Speech and Animal Cruelty
Los Angeles Times article says U.S. Supreme Court will consider whether selling films showing animal torture as a form of entertainment is protected by the 1st Amendment of the Constitution guaranteeing free speech.
Crustacians and Pain
BBC article reports on research on hermit crabs that suggests they feel and remember pain. Professor Bob Elwood says there are no protections in the food industry for crustacians such as lobsters, prawns, and crabs because people assume they cannot feel pain, and this needs to be investigated.
Meat and Climate Change
2008 September 7 BBC article reports the chair of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, said UN figures estimate meat production causes "about 18% of the world's total greenhouse gas emissions", whereas transport accounts for 13%. Dr. Pachauri spoke at a lecture organized by Compassion in World Farming (CIWF), which works to end factory farming.
Recalled Beef
2008 February 18 post on website of Humane Society of the U.S. gives details of their investigation showing cruel treatment of downed cows (cows that are unable to walk). Existing laws and the presence of U.S. Dept. of Agriculture inspectors did not prevent this tragedy. The investigation led to the recall of 143 million pounds of beef deemed unsafe for human consumption. The Humane Society recommends passage of the Farm Animal Stewardship Purchasing Act, H.R. 1726 and the Downed Animal Protection Act (S. 394 and H.R. 661). Each of these sites provide links to contact your congresspersons.
Whales and sonar
2007 April 25 article in the Honolulu Weekly describes findings by marine mammal researchers protesting the "U.S. Department of Defense decision to exempt the Navy from the requirements of the Marine Mammal Protection Act, which makes it a crime to harass, kill or injure marine mammals".
The protesters say Navy sonar testing in a Hawaiian breeding grounds for whales causes brain and inner ear hemorraghing in whales, leading to injury and death. They say reports of beached whales are a poor indication of the number of whales affected, because most whales harmed by sonar sink and die, never to be found, rather than beaching themselves.
The protesters' findings are disputed by the Office of Naval Research (ONR). The ONR plans to increase sonar blasts in Hawaii and has issued a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI), which the protesters say is flawed. The protesters say the Navy funds most marine mammal research and has made life difficult for scientists on their payroll when those scientists report findings in conflict with Navy interests. One researcher likened "a Navy-sponsored panel of scientists discussing the effects of noise pollution" to a “special session on lung cancer held at a professional conference of oncologists funded by the tobacco industry.”
Wildlife trade
2007 February 5 BBC article: peace process diverts attention from illegal trade in endangered wildlife in Nepal
Dogs and China
2006 December 22 Environment News Service report: in response to national and international complaints, China Ends Dog Crackdown
Alternative Energy
Power grid hinders wind energy
2008 August 26 New York Times article says wind and solar companies have the ability to produce large amounts of energy in sparsely populated areas, but the current grid is unable to transmit the power to distant population centers. The solutions are political rather than technological. The solutions involve state and federal governments, many companies, property owners, and many permits.Corporations
Social responsibility standards
Inc.com in 2007 July profiles B Corporation in A New Kind of Company. (You have to wait for the ad to display for a moment and then disappear before the article becomes visible.)Several companies are developing standards for certifying socially responsible companies. B Corporation is unique in that it requires articles of incorporation holding companies responsible to stakeholders, not just shareholders, theoretically perpetuating social goals in the event such companies are sold. Legal questions remain.
Unintended consequences
2007 December 16 Los Angeles Times Investigation finds the Gates Foundation's focus on major diseases in Africa has drawn staff away from basic care into higher-paid specialties. The narrow focus has resulted in decreased death rates from diseases that can be treated or prevented with medicines or vaccines, but lack of improvement or worsening of such things as basic hygiene in hospitals, adequate numbers of life-saving oxygen tubes, and transportation to health care facilities.
For news about individual companies, see Company Research, Companies in the News
Global warming
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
The IPCC was organized under the auspices of the United Nations. A comprehensive view of its history, functions, and Assessment Reports is at Wikipedia.
A map of world's hot spots shows effects of global warming on local areas.
Energy Star Computers
Home page for U.S. Energy Star program says "if all computers sold in the United States meet the ENERGY STAR requirements, the savings in energy costs will grow to about $2 billion each year and greenhouse gas emissions will be reduced by the equivalent of those from 2 million cars."
Tibet
2007 July 22 BBC report: Quinghai Province in Tibet already experiencing effects of climate change.
Visual guide
Past, present, and future: 2007 February 2 BBC visual guide.
Local control
How one village is working toward energy independence, financial savings, and helping the environment: 2008 June 23 article from Le Monde, in English ; in French.
Post Carbon Institute advocates moving toward local control of environmental, economic, and social justice issues.
Human Rights
Modern Day Slavery, Including in U.S.
Slavery is no longer legal in any country, but according to the National Geographic, there are an estimated 27 million slaves in the world today, about 150,000 of them in the U.S. President Obama has recognized this "global travesty" in a Proclamation of January as National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month.
The chocolate industry is notorious for having supply chains that use child slaves to harvest cocoa beans. For a clear description of the situation, see Green America's report. The only way to ensure that buying chocolate is not contributing to the enslavement of children is to buy only certified Fairtrade chocolate.
Florida tomato growers use slaves to harvest their tomatoes. These are not people who work in sweatshops for poverty wages. These are people who are literally forced to work for others and treated as property. They are often obtained so cheaply they are considered disposable, without basic physical protections the expensive chattel slaves of the ante-bellum American South had.A historical view: Unitarian Universalists and slavery.
What responsible consumers can do to help:
- Buy products that are certified Fairtrade.
- Spread the word. Dr. Kevin Bales, writing for the National Geographic, says "We all know about the United Nations weapons inspectors, who enforce the Conventions against Weapons of Mass Destruction, but where are the United Nations Slavery Inspectors? When the same effort is put behind searching out and ending slavery, there will be rapid change." Dr. Bales also notes that "In South Asia whole villages come to freedom when others help them form institutions such as small credit unions, inform them of their rights, and show them how to organize to fight for them. Slaves everywhere outnumber their masters. When we all stand with the slaves, their masters cannot keep them in bondage."
- Visit the website of Dr. Kevin Bales's organization, Free The Slaves, to see what you can do to make things better.
- Pressure supermarkets Publix, Stop & Shop, Giant, Kroger, Trader Joe's, Quiznos, and Walmart to sign Fair Food agreements with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers buy tomatoes only from growers that do not use slaves and provide decent working conditions for pickers.
- Work to pass legislation. California has passed the "California Transparency in Supply Chains Act of 2010" law.
- National Geographic says "to report trafficking crimes to the U.S. Department of Justice, or to get help, call its toll-free hotline at 1-888-428-7851."
Child Soldiers in Taliban
2010 Sept. 12 report in USA Today describes children as young as 3 being put in harm's way to work for Taliban forces fighting Americans. Children have been used as human shields, gatherers of spent cartridges and dropped weapons, planters of roadside bombs, and loaders of mortar rounds. Children have also been observed selling heroin in villages.
Labor in China
2010 Oct. 11 report from Global Post, available from Truthout.org, says Foxconn, the electronics manufacturer that was the focus of international attention after a startling number of suicides occured among its workers, has increased salaries, but this is not enough. Demand for low prices from major electronics customers contribute to violations of strict Chinese labor laws. A 2009 Nov. 17 report on an investigation by Global Post begins with a description of conditions in factories that manufacture "some of the most popular gadgets on the holiday season’s gift lists" -- "Hourly wages below a dollar. Firings with no notice. Indifferent bosses. Labor brokers that leech away months of a worker's hard-earned wages. A corporate shell game that leaves no one responsible."U.S.-based China Labor Watch exposes violations of Chinese labor law in factories in China that provide cheap goods to consumers.
Communist Party in China
2007 February 25 New York Times article says people fighting to expand freedom, political openness, and the rule of law in China disagree on whether to work within the Communist Party system or seek to end it. Chinese leaders eager to improve their image in the modern world tolerate an informal network of rights activists working within China's legal system and news media, but crush organized opposition. Rights workers operating within the system focus on fighting abuses at the local level. They say top leaders are more likely to enforce law at the local level to bolster their own popularity, and enable rights defenders to get around local authorities who play by their own rules rather than consitutional law. Rights workers who believe this is a futile tactic say President Hu Jintao has increased Communist Party control over courts and journalists. Dissidents critical of the government have been harassed, physically attacked, or given long prison sentences.
Discrimination
Counterpunch special, "The Legacy of Strom Thurmond", gives insight into history of race relations in U.S., and reminds us of discriminatory and segregationist practices in higher education as recently as 2000.
Free Speech
2008 January 11 article on oppression of citizen bloggers in China, in La Rue, available in English from Truthout, or in French from La Rue
Sweatshops
Nike: 2008 August 5 article in The Oregonian reports on criticisms of conditions in Nike factories and Nike's response. Worker rights advocates say pressure from Nike on contractors to lower prices forces contractors to pay sweatshop wages and maintain sweatshop conditions. Nike counters that they can't change conditions "without help from other companies, governments and workers' rights groups". Consumers have not been boycotting Nike products as the did in the 90's; critics say this is because Nike's public relations efforts have been hugely successful even though they have not helped workers.
Torture
2010 Sept. 8 New York Times editorial says the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in a sharply divided decision, dismissed a lawsuit alleging five men had been sent to other countries by the Bush administration to be tortured. Grounds for dismissal were "that even discussing the matter in court would violate the state secrets privilege". The Justice Department under President Obama argued in the case that the Bush policy should be continued. The minority in the decision "point[ed] out that the plaintiffs were never even given a chance to make their case in court using nonsecret evidence....All too often in the past, the judges pointed out, secrecy privileges have been used to avoid embarrassing the government, not to protect real secrets."
2007 March 9 BBC article on hearings on 14 Guantanamo defendants transfered from secret CIA prisons says there are no reporters or defense lawyers at the hearings, which may consider evidence obtained by force.
Voting
Florida: Being able to cast a vote that is counted accurately is a prerequisite to all other human rights. Problems with electronic voting machines with no auditable paper trails have compromised the integrity of elections. Kindra Muntz, President, Sarasota Alliance for Fair Elections (SAFE) in a 2007 May 3 press release states "In a historic vote, the Florida House today unanimously passed CS/HB 537, already passed in the Senate, that provides almost all voters paper ballots in time for the 2008 Presidential election, and bans paperless DREs [direct record electronic voting machines] outright by 2012. The bill now goes to the Governor [Crist] where he’s sure to sign it since it’s his initiative."
Peace & Justice
Military Recruitment of High School Students
September 2010
Editor, Falmouth Enterprise
(Reprinted with permission of Hilary Morrison)
With the beginning of the new school year comes a deluge of information and forms. Among the latter is one for high school juniors and seniors that enables them to “opt out” of having their name, address, and telephone listing provided to military recruiters.
The school administration is obligated to provide this information to the government for the purposes of military recruitment, based on Section 9528 of the "No Child Left Behind" Act as long as the school receives assistance (funding) under the Act.
The Act states, however, that “[a] secondary school student or the parent of the student may request that the student’s name, address, and telephone listing described in paragraph (1) not be released without prior written parental consent, and the local educational agency or private school shall notify parents of the option to make a request and shall comply with any request.”
Falmouth High School’s form, provided to me by Superintendent Marc Dupuis, states that failure to respond by a particular date implies approval of the release of information and that the information becomes available upon request one week after that due date. Falmouth High School requires the opt out form to be filed annually.
Since inaction implies consent, I urge you to complete the form in a timely way if you dislike the prospect of unwanted and annoyingly personal phone calls from recruiters. Failing that, send a request as described in the Act.
For those who may welcome recruitment, I hope that you read the fine print and don’t count on verbal promises.
Sincerely,
Hilary G. Morrison
Falmouth MA 02540
Department of Peace
2007 February 5: HR808 reintroduces legislation to create a U.S. Department of Peace. Proposed by U.S. Congressman Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, the legislation would require the U.S. to put as much energy into peacemaking (domestic as well as international) as it does into making war.
Negotiation
Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In, by Roger Fisher, William Ury, and Bruce Patton explains principled negotiation, which can be used by individuals, businesses, or nations, even when only one of the parties uses it. This enlightening and practical book can be ordered online from Amazon.com.
Restorative justice
The website Restorative Justice describes resources, principles, programs and outcomes for this alternative approach to traditional punishment that "emphasizes repairing the harm caused or revealed by criminal behaviour".
Weapons of mass destruction
2007 January 26 Truthout article: China's ballistic missile increases India's motives for collaborating with U.S. on building its nuclear missile program.
Products & Services
Real Estate
2010 Oct. 4 article in Cape Cod Times says major lenders in 23 states have voluntarily halted foreclosures in 23 states after revelations they had not properly checked paperwork showing they legally owned the mortgages on homes they planned to foreclose. Tracing the paper trails on many thousands of mortgages has become an unrealistic task because the mortgages are typically sold and resold from one lender to the next multiple times.