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Fashion for glossy, paper shopping bags is ‘destroying rainforest’

They are the must-have accessory for fashion-conscious shoppers who want to be seen carrying home the most exclusive and expensive brands.

But there is a dirty secret behind the glossy paper bags often spotted dangling from the arms of socialites.

Several of Britain’s top fashion brands and makers of luxury goods have been buying these bags from a supplier majority-owned by a company responsible for destroying millions of acres of Indonesian rainforest.

Fashion for glossy, paper shopping bags is ‘destroying rainforest’
Times Online (UK)
Saturday, September 19, 2009

Environmental activists target Alberta tarsands

FORT MCMURRAY, Alta. — The oilsands were the target Tuesday of environmental activists in Niagara Falls and northern Alberta on the eve of a meeting between Prime Minister Stephen Harper and U.S. President Barack Obama.

Two dozen Greenpeace members from Canada, the United States and France chained themselves to giant earth-moving equipment, shutting down Shell’s massive Albian Sands oilsands mine in northwestern Alberta for several hours.

The protesters placed giant banners on the ground reading, "Tarsands: Climate Crime."

Canadian Press
Wednesday, September 16, 2009

EPA identifies 79 coal mine permits for review

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The Obama administration on Friday stepped up its efforts to curb environmental damage from surface coal mining, announcing plans to give 79 permit applications in four states additional scrutiny.

The Environmental Protection Agency said it wants to make certain the proposed mines won't cause water pollution and violate the Clean Water Act. An initial review concluded all 79 probably would affect water quality and require additional study, the EPA said.

Associated Press
Saturday, September 12, 2009

Tar Sands Protesters Hang Banner at RBC’s Toronto Headquarters

July 28 (Bloomberg) -- Protesters hung a 15-foot-long banner at the Toronto headquarters of Royal Bank of Canada, asking the wife of Chief Executive Officer Gordon Nixon to help end the bank’s involvement in funding tar sands projects.

“Please Help Us, Mrs. Nixon.com,” read the banner, hung this morning on poles near the entrance of the headquarters of Canada’s largest bank. A group of firefighters, reporters and about two dozen onlookers watched as police removed the banner.

Rainforest Action Network, a San Francisco-based

Tar Sands Protesters Hang Banner at RBC’s Toronto Headquarters
Bloomberg
Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Hansen of NASA Arrested in Coal Country

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by RAN Field Photography

Hansen of NASA Arrested in Coal Country
Dot Earth Blog: New York Times
Tuesday, June 23, 2009

No consensus on climate change document at indigenous summit

Indigenous delegates at a UN conference on climate change in Alaska could not agree on a final summit document due to disagreements over oil and gas drilling on native lands.

Some delegations at the UN-sponsored Indigenous Peoples' Global Summit on Climate Change were demanding a complete moratorium. Others disputed that language, saying that the use of fossil fuels should be phased out but indigenous people should be allowed to develop their resources.

No consensus on climate change document at indigenous summit Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/north/story/2009/04/27/indigenous-climate-summit865.html#ixzz0fpEWjg2M
CBC News
Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Calif. considers low-carbon fuel standard for cars

SACRAMENTO—California air regulators are taking another step to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, considering first-in-the nation standards to require the use of so-called low-carbon fuels.

The California Air Resources Board, which will debate the standards Thursday, considers the regulation a framework for a potential national policy advocated by President Barack Obama on the campaign trail last year. Democrats have included a goal for low-carbon fuels in the latest climate bill they have introduced in Congress.

Calif. considers low-carbon fuel standard for cars
Associated Press
Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Report Takes Aim at Climate Bill's Giant Carbon Polluter Loophole

A detailed analysis released today by two environmental organizations raises a red flag on the carbon offsetting provisions of the leading climate bill now moving through Congress.

The report from International Rivers and the Rainforest Action Network calls for removing giant carbon pollution loopholes from the Waxman-Markey bill, also known as the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (ACES). Otherwise, the report warns, the carbon cap will fall far short of hitting its targets.

The report says:

Report Takes Aim at Climate Bill's Giant Carbon Polluter Loophole
Solve Climate
Thursday, April 16, 2009

Motion to Reconsider: U.S. Groups desert precautionary principle, 53 to 6

After ducking the matter for a decade, U.S. environmental organizations finally pulled together a climate policy, but the National Call to Action on Global Warming issued by 53 organizations on March 5 is a mistake and should be reconsidered.

U.S. groups desert precautionary principle, 53 to 6
Grist Magazine
Friday, March 20, 2009

Oil and water don't mix at RBC

At Royal Bank of Canada's annual meeting in Vancouver recently, executives faced more than grumblings from depressed shareholders and unhappy customers. A group of environmental and native activists made their way into the meeting to question the bank's involvement with oil sands development. The Rainforest Action Network (RAN), with offices in Edmonton and San Francisco, also staged a demonstration outside the annual meeting - and, at the same time, another one at RBC's Toronto headquarters.

Globe and Mail
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
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