Green Options

Pakistan has finally acknowledged that last year’s terrorist attack on Mumbai was planned on its soil. This is the clearest sign yet that Pakistan intends to cooperate with international efforts to prosecute those behind the attacks.

In an effort to tackle Pakistan’s growing energy shortage, representatives of the burgeoning Chinese solar industry have offered to cooperate with the country on a high profile partnership to manufacture solar energy equipment.

Amid rising tensions with neighboring India and dealing with a resurgent Taliban along the Afghani border, Pakistan’s government is also launching a different kind of campaign - a green one.

Pakistan’s Environment Minister Hameedullah Jan Afridi has finalized a calendar of events for the upcoming year; officially deeming 2009 Pakistan’s “National Year of the Environment.”

In a press conference, Minister Afridi urged international bodies, non-governmental organizations, provincial governments and the private sector to actively participate in making 2009 an environmental success. However, the question still remains whether this is Potemkin-environmental policy or the real thing.

The government-sponsored activities of Pakistan’s National Year of the Environment include the screening of environmental documentaries, panel discussions and dialogues, planting of 10 million trees in a day to surpass a world record, seminars, exhibitions, essay-writing competitions, and walks. Throughout the year, the calendar is littered with awareness days, weeks, and months, in an effort to educate Pakistan’s citizens about the ecological consequences of their individual actions.

While Pakistan should be applauded for their efforts, their praises should not go unqualified.

Even though in its pure definition, the word ‘charity’ connotes positivity and humanitarianism, in a world of increasing doom and gloom, one cannot always assume that this is the case. The New York Times has published an article talking about the detainment of Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, the founder of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, the charity that fronts for the militant group, Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Five years have gone by. The U.S. casualty toll is now 4,000. It is estimated that some 80,000 plus Iraqi civilians have lost their lives in the war.

Photo Courtesy of Luke Plunkett @ Kotaku.com

There isn’t a body count for wildlife, native plants, or eco-systems that have been killed in the struggle.

War takes a priceless toll on everything natural. Yet, nature may be the last thing that nations go to [...]

Scott James and his family founded Fair Trade Sports, a company providing premium quality sports balls stitched by adult workers, paid fair wages, and ensured healthy working conditions. Fair Trade Sports offers guilt-free soccer balls, rugby balls, volleyballs, and hip apparel. Scott and his family are devoted to helping at-risk children around the world. 100% of Fair Trade Sport’s after-tax profits go to children’s charities.

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Image credit: Fair Trade for surgical instruments, Mahmood F Bhutta

As the Fair Trade movement moves into the consciousness of society, so too does the exploitations that occur when fair trade criteria are not met. The past year has highlighted an unlikely, but important, sect of production in Pakistan. Pakistan is one of the world's leading producers of surgical instruments, approximately 20%, though the producers see little,

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