Green Options

Ah, it feels good to have the BSR conference back in San Francisco. Even though the economy has gone to hell, it is good see that probably close to 1000 attendees hit the conference so the sour economy has not killed the whole notion of notion of sustainability and companies.

Good start — as we walked in and registered the staff handed me a recyclable, biodegradable, compostable lanyard.

The theme for this year’s conference - Sustainability in a Reset World

After admiring our lanyards and breakfast we jumped into packed conversation with Pamela Passman of Microsoft. Of course we considered today’s launch of Windows 7.

The discussion centered on the sustainability of Microsoft. Now, most people will admit that the technology business isn’t the least sustainable or “dirtiest” business. But that doesn’t mean that they don’t press a heavy carbon footprint. Passman discussed that companies need software to track their own carbon footprint.Microsoft may have many ideas for other comanies but they need to look in the mirror as well.

She admitted the two most pressing issues that Microsoft needs to improve in so far as reducing their carbon footprint that includes:

1- Traveling (lots of it)

2 – Data centers — The data centers continue to be electric and water intensive.
Microsoft claims to be attempting reduce the footprint of these data centers.

In 1995, environmentalist Ken Saro-Wiwa was executed by the Nigerian military government, along with eight other Ogoni activists, for protesting against the devastation of the Niger Delta by oil companies, particularly Royal Dutch Shell. If Shell is convicted, the case will provide precedence for holding transnational companies owned or operated in the United States responsible for human rights atrocities committed overseas.

Korean police officer Lee Gil-jun is in prison on a 2 year sentence for not returning to work after commanding officers ordered him to fire a water cannon into a crowd of peaceful protesters last May.

While my post earlier this week about police spraying water cannons at World Water Forum protesters was intended to point out the irony, the truth is that the situation in Turkey was out of control, with unprovoked police attacks on peaceful protesters.

In addition to water cannons, police in riot gear fired rubber bullets and tear gas into a crowd, arresting 17 Turkish activists and forcing international activists to leave. The group peacefully gathered outside the official forum for the “People’s Forum” formed to oppose the “commercialization of water.”

The bodies of two well-known social activists were found Guerrero, Mexico showing clear signs of torture.

Raul Lucas and Manuel Ponce were captured on February 13th by three people claiming to be police in Ayutla de los Libres, according to relatives. The men were attending a meeting regarding plans to open several new schools in the area.

The world’s freshwater is under attack. Privatization, pollution, damming, and drought will change the way we view our freshwater in the coming years.

According to Charity Water, one in six people on the planet do not have access to safe, clean drinking water.

According to the environmental group Panalipdan-Southern Mindanao Region (SMR), one of their leaders — Fernando “Dodong” Sarmiento — has been brutally murdered.

A representative of the Survival campaign stopped by the home of Anil Agarwal, billionaire CEO of the UK mining corporation Vedanta Resources, to deliver a complaint to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) that has been filed against his company.

The company plans to mine a sacred mountain in Orissa, India, which could destroy the 800-person Dongria Kondh, one of India’s most isolated tribes. The OECD lays out standards of good corporate behavior on British companies and anyone can file a complaint.

“The only Christmas present the Dongria Kondh want is for Vedanta to abandon its plans,” said Survival’s director Stephen Corry. “They are in no doubt that the mine will destroy them.”

A federal jury ruled yesterday that Chevron had done nothing wrong a decade ago when it called the Nigerian military to control protesters who had taken control of an oil platform, demanding better treatment and jobs.

In the end, the military killed two protesters. Accounts of the incident vary drastically: Chevron says the protesters were violent, armed, and had taken workers hostage, while the protesters and their lawyers claim they had been entirely peaceful and engaged in civil disobedience.

Grassroot Groups Formed At A Chevron Gas Station In Protest Of Human Rights Violations By The Oil Giant

Organizers from Global Exchange, Justice in Nigeria Now, and West County Toxics Coalition gathered at a Chevron gas station here in San Francisco on Monday in support for the Nigerian plaintiffs in a human rights trial against the oil company. About 100 anti-Chevron protesters were staged in front of the gas station located at 9th and Howard.

At the federal court building a few blocks away jury selection was beginning for the case, “Bowoto v. Chevron.” The lawsuit results from an incident back in 1998 in which more than a hundred Nigerians occupied a Chevron drilling platform for three days. The protest resulted in Chevron unleashing Nigerian security forces to have them removed which led to three injuries and one death.

From North Alaska to the Pacific Islands, the phenomena of climate change is threatening the lives and livelihoods of people.

At first glance, human rights and climate change appear to be disconnected but as the world increasingly experiences climatic devastation, the human rights of people, particularly the poor and marginalized, will be adversely affected.

There is no doubt that climate change will have immense human consequences. Looking at climate change through the human rights lens reveals the extent of human suffering that is a product of our treatment of the environment.

According to a report published recently titled “Climate Change and Human Rights: A Rough Guide, 2008,” climate change is already undermining the realisation of a broad range of internationally protected human rights: rights to health and even life; rights to food, water, shelter and property; rights associated with livelihood and culture; with migration and resettlement; and with personal security in the event of conflict.

To make matters worse, the worst effects of climate change are likely to be felt by those individuals and groups whose rights protections are already precarious.