Mark,

Pepsi has nowhere to hide now: its business partner Indofood has been kicked out of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), the world’s largest sustainable palm oil authority, for mistreating workers on its environment-wrecking plantations.

Over 100,000 SumOfUs members like you have already told PepsiCo to cut ties with this palm oil villain, but the snack food giant has resisted so far, hiding behind those RSPO certificates. Nowthough, Pepsi’s surely going to drop Indofood like a hot Cheeto… right?

Wrong. Pepsi’s still cashing obscene profits from its partnership with Indofood, and reacted to the RSPO decision only with “We are very disappointed”.

“Disappointed”, Pepsi?! Indofood isn’t a misbehaving toddler — it’s a corporation that destroys rainforests, mistreats female staff, uses illegal child labour, and exposes its workers to hazardous pesticides.

Tell Pepsi: Stop disappointing us and cut ALL your ties with toxic palm oil company Indofood!

Indofood’s abuses were always an open secret. But in 2016, our partners at Rainforest Action Network exposed Indofood and filed an official complaint with the RSPO. Together, SumOfUs members used our collective power to drive up pressure last summer and get the RSPO to first sanction — and now kick out entirely — the palm oil giant.

Now it’s official: Indofood’s palm oil cannot be called sustainable, even by the subpar RSPO standards. Meaning that if Pepsi’s ‘sustainable’ palm oil policy is to retain any scrap of credibility, it must end its joint venture partnership with the corporation — NOW.

Please sign the petition and help force Pepsi to terminate its business partnership with Indofood once and for all!

We know our people-powered campaigning can push big brands into action. After sustained pressure from SumOfUs members, Nestlé ended its own 13-year business partnership with Indofood. Showing that if PepsiCo really wanted to, it could too.

And after 150,000 SumOfUs members put pressure on Pepsi’s departing CEO, Pepsi responded and stopped sourcing palm oil from Indofood — but failed to cut ties completely, keeping its business partnership in Indonesia.

Unless we use this moment to double down on our campaign, with the threats of reputation damage, negative media coverage, and lost customers, Pepsi may hope to weather out the storm. So we need to act fast.

Let’s tell Pepsi’s CEO there’s no excuse for inaction on exploitation and rainforest destruction — it’s time to drop Indofood.

 Sign the petition 

Thanks for all that you do,
Fatah, Rebecca and the team at SumOfUs

 

Monsanto is fuming: The European Court of Justice just ordered the release of its bogus glyphosate studies to the public.

This is huge.

These studies are the reason the European Union re-licensed cancer-linked glyphosate for another five years back in 2017. Monsanto’s been fighting tooth and nail to keep these studies secret. 

Monsanto would do anything to get its infamous toxic weedkiller approved. But this stops now.

!

But we need to be quick: we have momentum on our side with this court ruling, we need to use it to get the EU to act now and ban glyphosate once and for all. Are you in?

It’s really incredible: not even our MEPs have seen these studies.

Until now, the European Food Safety Authority refused to give anyone access — saying that it “could harm the commercial interests of companies that presented the studies”.

You and I both know what this means: Monsanto doesn’t want anyone — least of all credible scientists — to take a closer look, because it would mean the end of its toxic, cancer-linked weedkiller in Europe, and then around the world.

But the court ruling changes all this. And it has Bayer-Monsanto shaking in its boots. That’s why its lobbyists are likely fighting tooth and nail to stop the research ever seeing the light of day. And that’s why we need to be quick.

This is our chance to ban glyphosate for good — and get the EU to do a U-turn on its license of glyphosate. But we can only do it, if we have enough funds to hire a top scientist to go through the research, page by page. This could be the breakthrough we need to get Monsanto’s toxic pesticide banned for good.

Thanks for all that you do,
Anne and the team at SumOfUs

 

 

 

 

 

 

Image: Peace 4 Animals

New California ‘No Deforestation Policy’ Could Save Thousands of Animals from Extinction

Posted by Carly Day | March 11, 2019

Californian Assembly member Ash Kalra has introduced a new bill tackling habitat destruction and deforestation.

The bill — entitled the California Deforestation-Free Procurement Act (AB-572) — is co-sponsored by Peace 4 Animals, Social Compassion in Legislation (SCIL), and Friends of the Earth.

If successful, AB 572 would require all contractors in the state who are sourcing products considered to be “forest-risk commodities” to certify that these products have not played a part in the destruction of tropical rainforests, or illegal land conversion. Contractors would “have to develop and maintain a No Deforestation, No Peat, No Exploitation Policy (NDPE).”

The legislation will apply to products such as wood, paper, palm oil, soy, beef, leather, coffee, cocoa, rubber and more — all of which are produced in rapidly dwindling rainforest areas throughout the world. If passed, the new regulations would come into effect on January 1, 2021.

Bill AB-572 acknowledges that California — along with the entire planet — is at risk due to climate change, and notes that as the fifth-largest economy in the world, the state has the power to reduce deforestation significantly through its supply chains.

With earth’s rainforests now only covering seven percent of the planet’s surface, they still hold an astounding 50 percent of the earth’s species. A staggering 18,000,000 acres of tropical forests are being razed every year. If we can’t cease this destruction, the rainforests will be gone within 100 years, along with the thousands of species within them.

The importance of this piece of legislation should not be underestimated; it has the potential to save critically endangered animals such as orangutans, rhinos, elephants, and tigers — all at risk of extinction due to land clearing in Indonesia, primarily for the palm oil, paper, and pulp industries.

“When a species is wiped out, it’s forever,” says Katie Cleary, founder of Peace 4 Animals. “With this important bill, California has the chance to stop contributing to this global epidemic, encourage ethical purchasing, and help restore a healthier planet that includes the protection and preservation of our world’s most iconic animals.”

We commend the authors, co-authors, and co-sponsors of this crucial bill for their commitment to protecting tropical ecosystems, and will continue to follow the progress of AB-572 through the Senate.

 

WAV Comment:

We respect and send our congratulations to Californian Assembly member Ash Kalra on the introduction of a new bill tackling habitat destruction and deforestation.

Unlike Trump; California appears to recognise the problems that exist on this planet; and as a result are trying to change things for the better.

Above – Mark ‘Enjoys the Silence’ 

Below – ‘Enjoy the Silence’ video – DM – England.

 

I (Mark) have had so many good times in America’s South West – California, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado etc; and as an English alien; I am amazed and dumbstruck that your current President (or that’s what he calls himself) is going out guns blazing to destroy the beautiful wild animals and natural habitat that you have in such states. All because he thinks of money and nothing else – his head is blank and devoid of absorbing specialist advice and thinking of positive solutions to environmental issues.

I send greetings to the folk of California for taking a stand to make good environmental change by state legislation;  – your policies and legacies will (fortunately) be around a lot longer than the muppet you have at ‘the top’ at present.

Regards Mark

 

 

Japanese scientists take ‘significant step’ towards bringing the woolly mammoth back to life

 

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/03/12/japanese-scientists-take-significant-step-towards-bringing-woolly/

 

With their enormous shaggy torsos and long curved tusks, the imposing creatures last walked on earth during the Ice Age.

Fast forward thousands of years and the woolly mammoth may once again make an appearance on this planet – after Japanese scientists claim to have taken a “significant step” towards bringing the long-extinct animals back to life.

Researchers extracted bone marrow and muscle tissue from the remains of a mammoth named Yuka, who has lain frozen in Siberian permafrost for more than 28,000 years.

As a first step, the team, from Kindai University in Osaka, confirmed the authenticity of Yuka’s extracted tissue samples using whole-genome sequencing techniques.

Scientists then injected cell nuclei from the extinct woolly mammoth’s muscle tissue into mouse cell eggs – resulting in signs of biological activities, according to the study, published by Nature’s on-line journal Scientific Reports.

The biological activity detected in the mouse cell eggs included a type of structural formation that reportedly precedes cell division.

Kei Miyamoto, one of the authors, told the Nikkei that the findings marked a “significant step towards bringing mammoths back from the dead”.

Highlighting that they “still have a long way to go” before the species returns to existence, he added: “We want to move our study forward to the stage of cell division.”

Woolly mammoths last roamed the planet during the last Ice Age, before widely dying out in the face of rising temperatures, evolving food supplies and human hunting.

The Japanese team is also reportedly collaborating with Russian scientists who are attempting to clone the extinct woolly mammoth using a technique known as somatic cell nuclear transfer.

“Our work provides a platform to evaluate the biological activities of nuclei in extinct animal species,” the report read. “Ancient species carry invaluable information about the genetic basis of adaptive evolution and factors related to extinction.”

 

 

In Brazil, once again, the dam of an iron ore mine is broken. On 25th January 2019, about 12 million tons of contaminated waste were dumped at the village of Brumadinho in the mountains from Minas Gerais valley downwards.

The mudslide caused at least 186 people to die, and another 122 people are still missing. The mining complex, housing estates, rivers and tropical vegetation are covered with toxic mud up to 15 meters high.

The dam failure was not an accident, but a serious crime against humans, nature and animals.

The operator of the iron ore mine is the Brazilian group Vale, the largest iron ore producer in the world.

With an annual production of over 430 million (2016) tons of iron ore, Brazil is the second most important global iron ore producer after Australia.

The Brazilian Vale Group – with its international headquarters in Switzerland* – is the second-largest mining group and the largest iron ore exporter in the world, with more than $ 34 billion in sales in 2017.

Those responsible for the disaster are not only in Brazil, but also in Germany.

The TÜV Süd, headquartered in Munich, Germany, had certified the dam of the sedimentation basin as safe in September 2018.

We source a good 26 million tons of iron ore – about 58 percent of our imports – from Brazil each year. Corporations such as ThyssenKrupp, AcelorMittal and Salzgitter AG make steel from which German industry produces millions of cars, machinery, construction steel and many other consumer goods for us and for export to all over the world.

We can no longer ignore this: the federal government and the German economy must take responsibility for the supply chains. Both must ensure that environmental and safety standards as well as labor and human rights are respected in the production of raw materials.

Voluntary corporate commitments are not enough, we need binding regulations and laws. Please support the petition:

https://www.regenwald.org/petitionen/1168/stoppt-die-giftschwemme-in-brasilien

Image: Pilar Olivares / Reuters

 

Activists are also protesting on January 28, 2019 in Rio de Janeiro against the mining company “Vale”.

A black-clad woman appeared as a dead, more demonstrators revealed posters and described the walls with slogans such as “It was not an accident, it was a crime,” “murderer” and “justice for Brumadinho”.

About thirty activists have also demonstrated in front of the headquarters of the mining group Vale in Saint-Prex, Switzerland .

The demonstrators denounced the “catastrophic ecological and human consequences of the corporate greed”. They carried a muddy banner with the ironic inscription “Thank you for choosing Switzerland”!

https://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/panorama/vermischtes/nach-dammbruch-zwei-mitarbeiter-von-tuev-sued-verhaftet/story/

My comment: * First, a correction in the text of the newspaper:  The headquarters of the company is located in Brazil. So it is a Brazilian company with a branch in Switzerland. How and if Vale handles its entire tax revenue through Switzerland is still not  researched and another dirty story.

We experience it every day, with almost every message: a gangster group gives the hand to the other gangster group. Governments and industry are a bunch of corrupt psychopaths who stop at nothing. Humans, nature and animals are the raw materials with which the billions are made.

But we all join it in our own way.
With our consumption, our indifference, our voluntary apathy, our indirect collaboration with systems and their allies.
We live in a time when every act, every decision, every participation is a political one, because over our heads there is a powerful system that is kept alive by us.
Animal welfare is also a political issue, we have to be vigilant.

Remember the petition: https://www.regenwald.org/petitionen/1168/stoppt-die-giftschwemme-in-brasilien

My best regards to all, Venus

 

UPDATE: 100 Animals to Be Released from Russia’s ‘Whale Prison’

Posted by Katie Valentine | March 5, 2019

 

Russian authorities have ordered the release of nearly 100 captive beluga and orca whales, following months of public outrage and activism.

The public first gained access to photographs of the cruel, cramped conditions at the ‘whale prison’ last November when drone footage of the facility made headlines. At the time, 90 beluga whales and 12 orca whales were confined to the jail’s tiny cages — and most are still there.

In an interview with the Associated Press, activist Nina Zyryanova described the cramped confines the whales have been forced to endure, adding: “Although these animals are native to the Arctic, they must move, [a] hundred kilometers a day, to stay warm.”

Animal rights advocates worked tirelessly to convince Russian authorities to free the whales. Lady Freethinker was a voice in the protest. Our petition to Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak garnered over 20,000 signatures:

Celebrities Leonardo DiCaprio and Pamela Anderson used their influence to support the cause. On February 24, Anderson posted an open letter to President Vladimir Putin on her website, urging him to release the whales.

The widespread efforts caught the attention of the president, and Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov reported that Putin personally intervened.

Four companies were charged by Russian officials for violating a worldwide ban on commercial whale hunting that has been in effect since 1982, which only allows the capture of whales for certain scientific and educational purposes. The companies are suspected to have caught the whales for sale to China’s growing amusement park industry, where one whale sells for up to $6 million.

Authorities are currently determining the safest way to release the whales. Representatives from Russia’s Ministry of Natural Resources recently met to discuss the matter and agreed the whales should be returned to their natural environment.

 

 

Breaking 8/3/19

Inside sources have told that the EU is planning to re-approve the toxic pesticide thiacloprid under pressure from its maker, Bayer-Monsanto.

 

Thiacloprid is a neonicotinoid pesticide — just like the ones that the EU banned from outdoor use last year, after hundreds of thousands of people in the EU voiced their concern over the dangers those chemicals pose to bees.

Thiacloprid’s current licence expires at the end of April, and the EU still hasn’t announced its re-approval to the public.

 

We will produce more news on this as we get correct info.

Regards Mark.