Right now Samsung is considering dumping 4.3 million brand new Galaxy Note 7 phones following nearly 100 cases of exploding phones around the world. That is equivalent to almost 730,000 kilograms of hi-spec technology! While Samsung made the right call in taking their phones out of circulation to avoid more accidents or injuries, the question is now what are they going to do with this huge mountain of phones?

A small  child sitting among cables and e-waste in Guiyu, China. Vast amounts are routinely shipped as waste from Europe, USA and Japan to countries in Asia. Much of modern electronic equipment, such as smartphones, contains precious and heavy metals (8 March, 2005).

Greenpeace is calling on the global tech leader to see an opportunity in this crisis and show leadership. Samsung must act transparently to ensure these gadgets don’t end up in the trash but are instead dismantled and separated, and that the precious materials they contain are reused.

What do we know so far?

1. Samsung produced 4.3 million Galaxy Note 7 phones and sold 1.8 million of these devices in 10 countries including South Korea, USA, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan, United Arab Emirates, and China.

2. The company recalled all devices and is still collecting them from consumers at its stores and through partners around the world.

3. Samsung announced that the company will dispose of all the recalled Galaxy Note 7 devices and will not repair, refurbish or resell them.

4. These phones contain rare and precious resources like gold, cobalt and tungsten that could be recovered instead of being easily thrown away.

But there are still some things that Samsung has not come clean on.

Here are a few questions it needs to answer...

• Where, when and how does Samsung plan to dispose of these millions of phones?

• How will Samsung ensure the precious resources contained in these phones are safely recovered?

• Will the phones be recycled locally or shipped to one specific location?

Greenpeace is calling on Samsung to be transparent and publish its plan to deal with dismantling and disposing these phones. We also urge Samsung not to dump or burn the devices. It would be truly innovative if Samsun avoided the huge waste and environmental impact that comes from dumping and burning these devices!

A group of volunteers takes a smartphone repair class at the Greenpeace Mexico office given by a local repair group, Fix Friends.

The world is watching how Samsung will respond to this crisis. Now is the perfect opportunity for the brand to show leadership and vision, breaking with the old ways and opening the door to rethinking how it designs, sells and reuses its electronics.

Be part of the movement for truly innovative gadgets! Ask Samsung not to dump 4.3 million phones!

Jude Lee is a Senior IT Campaigner based in Seoul with Greenpeace East Asia

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Today, the largest marine protected area in the world was created in the Ross Sea, off the coast of Antarctica. This is a HUGE victory for the whales, penguins, and toothfish that live there and for the millions of people standing up to protect our oceans. 

A group of Adeli Penguins are seen here in the Antarctic sea ice of the Southern Ocean.

For years, Greenpeace has campaigned for protection of the Ross Sea at CCAMLR, the international body responsible for stewardship of Antarctic waters. Each year, Greenpeace, the Antarctic Ocean Alliance, and millions of people around the world would call on governments to do the right thing, each time thinking THIS was the year it would finally happen. But year after year, there was always something blocking progress. But this year, all of CCAMLR’s members finally agreed - it’s time to make the Ross Sea a protected sanctuary!

Arctic Sunrise during circumnavigation of James Ross island, in February 1997 - the first time a ship had done this.

The Ross Sea sanctuary becomes the biggest marine protected area in the world, covering 1,550,000km2 (which is roughly the size of three Texases, two Spains, or one Mongolia), almost three quarters of which will be a fully-protected.

Known as ‘the Last Ocean’, the Ross Sea has been identified by scientists as the most pristine shallow ocean left on earth. It’s stunning, but we were starting to wonder if it would ever be protected…

To finally get agreement to protect the Ross Sea a time clause of 35 years was included, which means that in 35 years CCAMLR members will again need to decide on its future. Marine protection, to be truly effective, needs to be long lasting so we have all those years ahead of us to make sure when the Ross Sea sanctuary is up for renewal, there is no resistance to making it permanent. We’re pretty confident that by 2051 it will be a simple decision!

MAP: This is where the world’s newest—and largest—marine protected area is. https://t.co/PXxXnuW6H4 #CCAMLR http://pic.twitter.com/8qjaQm2xKB

— pew environment (@pewenvironment) October 28, 2016

This year has already been a HUGE year for ocean protection.

The Ross Sea win comes on the heels of President Obama’s decision to expand the Papahanaumokuakea National Marine Monument, making it - until now - the world’s largest marine protected area. Just days before that, Obama also made history by establishing the first National Marine Monument in the Atlantic, protecting canyons and seamounts. Other nations have been stepping up too on protecting their national waters - such as Chile's creation of a massive marine park around Easter Island, and the UK's commitment to create protected 'Blue Belts' around its overseas territories.

As big as these new sanctuaries are, the ocean is bigger still. Despite a pledge at the World Conservation Congress this summer to protect 30% of our oceans by 2030, we have a long way to go to meet that target - and Greenpeace is pushing for more, with a goal of setting aside 40% of our world’s oceans as fully-protected sanctuaries.

The science is clear that ocean sanctuaries are vital to protecting biodiversity, rebuilding fish populations, and increasing resilience to climate change. Unfortunately, long battles like the one that led to this victory for the Ross Sea need more than just good science - they need millions of people speaking up for our oceans. Without your voices, the best scientific case in the world is not enough to stand up against the short-term interests of the powerful commercial fishing lobby.

The tide seems to be turning on marine conservation, but as the long battle to win protection for the Ross Sea shows, getting action in shared seas, beyond national jurisdiction is a massive challenge. That's why we need to do more to protect the so-called High Seas, which at the moment not only have no protection, they don't even have an agreed system that could protect them. But we are getting there! Greenpeace is working tirelessly to ensure that United Nations delivers sanctuaries on the high seas, as well as campaigning and mobilising to protect some of our most precious shared seas like the Arctic. With your help, we want to do even more.

Thank you all for your part in this victory! Together, we can keep the momentum building and ensure that we’ll have healthy oceans long into the future. Let’s make this the decade of ocean protection!

Willie Mackenzie is a part of Greenpeace UK’s biodiversity team.

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Nuclear weapons are the only weapon of mass destruction not yet explicitly banned by an international treaty, unlike chemical and biological weapons. But that could soon change.

Today, Thursday 27^th October, the United Nations General Assembly will vote on a draft resolution starting negotiations on a treaty prohibiting nuclear weapons.

The draft resolution would convene a UN conference to “negotiate a legally-binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading toward their total elimination” and would take place in 2017. The adoption of this resolution would mark a major breakthrough for nuclear disarmament.

Nearly 25 years after the end of the Cold War there are still estimated to be 16,300 nuclear weapons at 98 sites in 14 countries.  Rather than disarm, the nine nuclear-armed states continue to spend a fortune maintaining and modernising their arsenals. As long as nuclear weapons exist, the risk of accidental or deliberate use will be present.

If used, nuclear weapons would have catastrophic humanitarian consequences, and in the case of a detonation, no state or humanitarian organisation could provide any meaningful relief.

Past processes suggest that a treaty to ban nuclear weapons would even affect the behaviour of those states outside the treaty. The existence of the treaty would require states to decide if they support nuclear weapons or not. This pressure would influence other international forums, as well as debates at the national level. 


A ban on nuclear weapons will establish an international norm against the possession of nuclear weapons, which will help to reduce the perceived value of such weapons. It will draw the line between those states that believe nuclear weapons are unacceptable and illegitimate and those states that believe nuclear weapons are legitimate and able to provide security.

A growing number of governments have indicated they will vote Yes. Earlier today, the European Parliament has taken a clear stance in support, calling its member states to “support the convening” and “participate substantially’ in the negotiation of a treaty. This however, is a non-binding recommendation and does not guarantee how EU governments will vote.

Greenpeace supports the call for all governments to vote yes to the resolution and participate in negotiations of a new legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons.

You can add your support, too. Take a minute to share this site with friends and family or tweet in support of a worldwide nuclear weapons ban. Together, we can ban them for good.

Jen Maman is the Peace Adviser for Greenpeace International. 

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Greenpeace China's campaign to push one of China's biggest retailers to purge pesticides triggered food safety reform across the whole of Shanghai. Now we're fighting to take it nationwide.

Dried flowers of the Sanqi plant

Five years ago, I walked into a meeting with the top management of Lianhua, one of China's biggest supermarket chains.

It was a tense affair: after 3 years of persistent pressure, rounds of investigations and exposés against leading brands, it was the threat of a lawsuit that had finally brought us to this point.

Filing a lawsuit in 2011

Stating our case to 10 stony-faced middle-aged managers, the idea that they'd take our demands seriously suddenly seemed impossible.

But, incredibly, the CEO agreed to act on all the problems we presented. Lianhua promised to drop 46 of the most harmful pesticides from their produce; call urgent supplier meetings and revise all their contracts, forcing growers and suppliers to drop the pesticides.

Stepping out of their headquarters, I was ecstatic. We'd just scored a mammoth victory for food safety! What we didn't know then was that this breakthrough had created a ripple effect that would change Shanghai's entire food system.

Banned pesticides discovered in a Zhejiang tea plantation

Greenpeace China first started campaigning against pesticides in mainland China's supermarkets in 2008, the year the melamine milk powder scandal broke. Food safety dominated every headline and the entire country was gripped by an acute new awareness that the food and water we depended on could be causing us serious harm.

As we fought for better food safety standards, scandals continued to break across the country. With terrifying stories of toxic ginger, lead-contaminated rice and exploding watermelons filling up their social media feeds, people could no longer ignore that our entire food system is dangerously broken.

Farmer spraying crops in Jiangsu

And neither could the government. In 2015, China's Ministry of Agriculture finally took a stand against pesticides. One of the greatest steps was a new nationwide policy of 'Zero Increase of Pesticide use by 2020'.

But the most astonishing change actually stemmed from that lawsuit 5 years ago. After Greenpeace East Asia sued Lianhua, the Shanghai government established a city-wide traceability system for fresh produce, based on the changes we demanded from Lianhua.

Shanghai's food system is now unrecognisable. 50% of Shanghai's fresh produce is sourced locally, and the traceability system ensures that consumers can find out exactly where their produce comes from. Shanghai now enjoys a far higher level of food safety and while far from perfect, is a model for the rest of the country.

Hou Xueying, an organic farmer from Shanghai

It is time to move to a cleaner future for food. Our latest round of supermarket testing shows that we have a long way to go.

From May to August this year, we sampled produce from 6 supermarkets in 8 cities across China. The results weren't pretty. A whopping 87% of samples tested showed excessive levels of pesticides.

And think again about buying your way out of the problem. Our tests showed that the clean looking vegetables wrapped in plastic wrap contained the highest levels of pesticides. These ‘VIP' veggies are actually worse than their grubbier, loose counterparts.

Collecting samples for testing

We've been led to believe that industrial food production and drowning our pesticides in tons of chemicals is the cost of having enough to eat. But that's simply not true. If in just a few years, we can establish greater levels of food safety and accountability in a megacity like Shanghai, we can do it anywhere- and we'll keep piling on the pressure to make sure that happens.

Meanwhile sustainable, organic agriculture is re-emerging in China as an antidote to the rampant fear and uncertainty in our food system.

As for us, we know that a clean and safe future is possible in China, as long we don't stop fighting for it.

Wang Jing is a Food and Agriculture Campaigner for Greenpeace East Asia.

This blog first appeared on Greenpeace East Asia here.

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Sacramento’s Colliers International third quarter report found that the downtown market was preforming well while the suburban growth takes off. As reported by Colliers, office real estate absorption is positive and vacancies went down. The downtown office vacancy market is the lowest it’s been in 5 years, but it’s suburban expansion that continues to meet growing demand. Third quarter rental
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With the exciting changes happening in Downtown Sacramento, the way people get around is evolving. We’re encouraging people to explore alternate methods of transportation including Regional Transit, biking, walking, etc. To spread awareness of the changes and promote these alternate methods, we’ve created updated our  “Get Around” web page on GoDowntownSac.com. The page includes information on parking, public transportation, biking, walking and links to all available resources. 

This blog,”Your Guide To Getting Around Downtown Sac,” provides a quick rundown of the new “Get Around” web page and will help you better understand the new features and resources we have made available.

To make the transition as easy as possible, we are asking you to help us promote the new resources through your business or personal social media channels. We have developed a few posts for you to select from. Feel free to copy and paste the post as is, personalize it, or use it as inspiration and write your own! 

Thank you for helping us spread the word! We appreciate you ensuring that your customers and friends are prepared for the changes and continue to enjoy Downtown Sacramento. 

Instructions

1. Pick which social media platform(s) you would like to post on

2. Copy/paste one of these posts into your status – or create your own! Be sure to include the website address in your post

3. Include an image to your post if you wish! We have attached a couple options for you. 

4. Post it!

 Facebook Posts

• Downtown is changing and so is its parking! Take a moment to familiarize yourself with the resources available before planning your next trip. Visit http://ift.tt/2eRL6Jm for information on parking, public transportation, bike routes, updates and more. 
• There are big changes happening in Downtown Sacramento. Visit http://ift.tt/2eRL6Jm to learn about new parking protocols, public transportation and more.
• Take a moment to get familiar with the new parking protocols by visiting http://ift.tt/2eRL6Jm! 
• Prepare for the new Downtown! Visit http://ift.tt/2eRL6Jm and get familiar with the new parking protocols.

Twitter

• Prepare for the new Downtown! http://ift.tt/2eRL6Jm
• How you get around Downtown is changing. Get informed at http://ift.tt/2eRL6Jm
• Big changes are happening in Downtown. Get familiar with parking protocols, route updates and more at http://ift.tt/2eRL6Jm

Instagram

For Instagram, we recommend creating your own content. You can also use any of the messages above. Use the hashtag #getarounddowntown

The post New Resource: Get Around Downtown appeared first on Downtown Sacramento Partnership.

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Position:               Digital Communications Specialist

Reports to:           Public Affairs & Communications Director

Function:              This position is responsible for executing digital activities directed at key stakeholders, including but not limited to property owners, businesses, investors, consumers and influencers to build the Downtown Sacramento Partnership brand and grow awareness and interest in downtown Sacramento. Duties include developing digital content, managing online brand presence and growing Downtown Sac’s audience.

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Specific responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

SOCIAL MEDIA

• Manage Downtown Sac social media channels
  • Primary: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat,
  • Secondary: Pinterest, LinkedIn, and new channels as they are developed.
• Write and develop posts, tracking, and optimization of social content.
• Maintain consistent brand voice and tone.
• Manage community engagement.
• Actively define and manage editorial calendars.
• Execute marketing partner and sponsor deliverables.
• Produce graphics and dynamic images for social content.
• Budget, create, deploy and manage advertising complementary to marketing campaigns.
• Track and produce monthly trend monitoring and analytical reports.

DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS

• Coordinate and generate email campaigns in MailChimp, including content and creative development, growth and campaign evaluation.
• Regularly refine content on DowntownSac.org and GoDowntownSac.com websites to ensure up-to-date information that best serves downtown stakeholders and visitors.
• Actively define and manage editorial calendars for Downtown Sac blog and events.

• Coordinate digital influencer programs to support downtown activities, including Downtown Partnership events, public space activation, tours and more.

• Regularly analyze digital content and measure digital reach through regular reporting on trends and analytics.

VISUAL COMMUNICATIONS

• Develop design elements to support digital activities as well as special events, programs and projects as needed.
• Coordinate development of photo and video assets to support campaigns, promotional partners, and Downtown Partnership activities.

GENERAL ACTIVITIES

• Grow reach and engagement of digital channels.

• Stay abreast of emerging digital media trends, practices, mediums, and more.
• Assist marketing, communications, and public relations activities.

Qualifications:

• Passion for Downtown Sacramento and small businesses.
• Excellent communications and writing skills.
• Excellent analytical skills.
• Strong experience managing social media platforms, SEO/SEM, marketing database, and display advertising campaigns.
• Experience engaging with online communities and influencers.
• Graphic design and photography skills.
• Familiarity with Social Media monitoring programs, Microsoft Office and Adobe Creative Suite.
• Experience with WordPress and MailChimp.
• Minimum 2 years of experience in marketing, communications and/or design.
• B.A./B.S. in Communications, Marketing, or related discipline (preferred)

To apply, submit cover letter and résumé to humanresource@downtownsac.org by 5 p.m. on Nov. 4.

The post WE’RE HIRING: Digital Specialist appeared first on Downtown Sacramento Partnership.

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The Paris climate agreement got some new teeth today when more than 450 women aged 65 and older submitted a legal petition to force the Swiss government to take stronger action on climate change. The complaint alleges that weak climate policies are violating their constitutional rights by failing to limit warming to politically-agreed safe levels.

Group portrait of KlimaSeniorinnen, 23 Aug 2016

Greenpeace Switzerland is supporting the new group of women, called KlimaSeniorinnen (Senior Women for Climate Protection), in their quest to hold their government accountable for climate inaction.

Older women are among the most vulnerable groups in a warming climate. Studies of heatwaves in Europe show they are more likely to get sick or die of dehydration, heatstroke, cardiac and circulatory problems.

While the women of KlimaSeniorinnen have initiated a legal challenge to protect their own lives, they are also doing it for the good of future generations. Without decisive action by all governments, generations to come will have to cope with the disastrous effects of future heatwaves, droughts, water shortages, crop failures, and extreme weather events.

Anne Mahrer, former National Councilor of the Green Party, co-president of KlimaSeniorinnen, 23 Aug, 2016

According to the world’s top scientists, human influence on the climate has more than doubled the probability of heat waves happening in some localities. Heat-related deaths have already increased in some regions. Sadly, we should count on heat waves occurring more often and lasting longer in the future.

Drought in Maharashtra, India, 6 Mar, 2016

By holding their government to account for failing to guarantee the basic human right to a safe climate, these elders are helping all of us in our fight to spark the real action needed to overcome the climate crisis.  

This is not the first, and it will definitely not be the last lawsuit that uses the Paris Agreement as both a legal hammer and a beacon of hope to challenge governments and fossil fuel companies.  

Light Painting Activity in Manila, 21 Sep, 2016

The Swiss elders join a wave of people-powered climate challenges that have sprung up to close the gap between what was committed to in Paris and actions that fly in the face of the aim to limit the increase in average global temperatures to 1.5°C.  

• Just last week, Greenpeace Nordic and the NGO Nature & Youth filed a lawsuit challenging the Norwegian government's newly assigned licenses for oil and gas drilling in the Barents Sea.
• In the Netherlands, nearly 900 citizens and the Urgenda Foundation won a case against the the Dutch government, forcing the Dutch state to make more stringent greenhouse gas emissions reductions by 2020.
• U.S. youth, with the support of Our Children’s Trust, are charging ahead with their federal case that seeks science-based emission reductions in order to protect their fundamental right to a stable climate.
• The Conservation Law Foundation launched the first legal action against ExxonMobil aiming to hold it accountable for climate denial.
• Farmers and children in Pakistan and Peru are standing up to governments and fossil fuel companies in the courts as well.
• Disaster survivors, community organisations and Greenpeace Philippines successfully petitioned the Human Rights Commission to launch an investigation into the responsibility of fossil fuel companies for human right impacts resulting from climate change.

The Swiss initiative shares the same aim as the investigation in the Philippines - the protection and empowerment of those most vulnerable to climate change. Among the petitioners in the Philippines are representatives from communities that have been devastated by super typhoons - like Tacloban in 2013, the world’s strongest tropical cyclone ever to make landfall.

All of these legal battles have one thing in common: people are standing up to protect their right to a stable climate. They are fighting for radical climate solutions prescribed by science. They are willing to take bold steps now because there is no time to wait.

Democracy Awakening Rally in Washington D.C. 18 Apr, 2016

But it’s not going to be easy. Despite the Paris Agreement, some governments are still going to fight very hard to do as little as possible. Companies that have long profited from extraction of oil, coal and gas will send in armies of lawyers.

That’s why Greenpeace is proud to stand with the modern-day heroes leading these climate challenges. The people won't be deterred. Who do you stand with, our grandparents and children, or with those still blocking the action we all need to protect our climate from the threat of fossil fuels?

Join the growing global movement of people demanding climate justice, by signing up here.  

Jennifer Morgan is the Executive Director of Greenpeace International.

This article first appeared on Huffington Post

 

 

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Last week, in Kigali, Rwanda, governments across the world agreed on a landmark deal to phase down HFCs (hydrofluorocarbons). HFCs are greenhouse gases that are up to a thousand times more powerful than CO2. They are used as refrigerants in things like air conditioners, and contribute the rapid warming of our planet.

The phase down is a move in the right direction, but progress is simply not happening fast enough. We need to stay below 1.5ºC of global warming to alleviate its worst effects and we only have a few more years to take action before damage to the planet becomes irreversible.  

We need transformational change, not just incremental change. If nations are ambitious and have the courage to take bold action to get rid of HFCs, we could actually decrease temperatures by 0.5ºC by the end of the century.

Together, we need to demand a phase out of HFCs by 2020. Sustainable alternatives, like GreenFreeze, are already available in most cooling appliances. Natural refrigerants are the solution, not their highly polluting alternatives which the chemical lobby is pushing for: HFOs.

Removal of CFCs at electronic waste recycling facility in Slovakia

The pace of negotiations to phase down these gases has always been dictated by the industries that produce them. Since the Montreal Protocol was signed in 1987, the chemical industry has profited from marketing new generations of fluorocarbon chemicals; transitioning from one generation of fluorocarbons to the next. But they have failed to solve the global crises which their products. The costs of cleaning up has been left to the public. And even today, the industry is pushing for new fluorocarbon blends as replacements for HFCs.

Natural refrigerants have been a sustainable alternative since the beginning; climate and environmentally friendly, more energy-efficient and cheaper to produce. But, the chemical industry can’t profit from this technology, so they stand in the way of it. Our socio-economic system is built around profit at all costs. That means that corporate power can take over a process that was originally set up to repair the ozone layer and protect the planet from overheating.

The world has changed dramatically in the seven years since negotiations started. But there are some old power dynamics that won’t change until someone decides that they have to. And that is why we need to keep pushing industry to prioritise the health of the planet and its people over their profits.

We will keep on fighting for the ‘impossible’ until it becomes possible, because that is what we do. We fight for people power. And eventually, we win.

Paula Tejón Carbajal is a Strategist and F gases expert with Greenpeace International

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For 20 years, the people of Okinawa, Japan have opposed the construction of a US military base that will damage the marine environment and endangered sea creatures like the Japanese dugong. Now the construction threatens to take over their forest. Japanese photojournalist, Takashi Morizumi has been documenting the Okinawa people’s movement for nine years. Read his journey and meet the people who are fighting to keep their home.

Children swimming in the lake in the Yambaru forest

Driving north along the highway towards Higashi village, Okinawa I’m immediately struck by the lush, green Yamburu Forest. Home to over 4,000 species of plants and animals, including protected endemic and endangered species like the Okinawa woodpecker, Ryukyu black-breasted leaf turtle, and Ishikawa's frog, it makes sense that this “Galapagos of the East” is currently in the process of being registered as a world natural heritage site.

As sunlight strikes through the canopy hitting my windscreen I feel spiritually healed in the forest mists and wonder: what right does a helipad construction have to take away the nature and desire of the residents who are peacefully living here?

Sunlight streaming through the Yambaru forest

This is what the Japanese government has decided to do - cut down the forest in order to construct six helicopter pads for the United States military, including on sites in the district of Takae in Higashi village. With 140 residents in Takae, they have twice adopted a resolution opposing the construction, but the government has forcefully began construction anyway. To live in peace, residents of Takae have no other choice than to protest at the gates where construction vehicles enter. This is what their lives are like.

Mr Gentatsu Ashimine - cafe owner

Mr Gentatsu Ashimine

Gentatsu Ashimine opened his own café to offer a place of spirituality and calm for city-dwellers. In 2003 he moved from central Okinawa to Takae, looking for a sustainable life. The cafe - constructed without blueprints, and built using his own tools - is situated on the brook in front of his house so that the bubbling stream and bird and insect songs can be heard. It’s paradise.

However, in 2014 two of the helipads were built 400 meters from his place. Thunderous military aircrafts now hover overhead, shattering the peace and tranquility. When night-time military training began, his children could not go to school due to lack of sleep. He was forced to evacuate them to a neighboring village.

“Because of the helipads, we cannot live here. But we didn’t do anything wrong. We don’t want to run away from here,” said Gentatsu.

Military aircrafts now hover over Takae.

Ms Akino Miyagi  - entomologist

Ms Akino Miyagi

In 2007, Akino Miyagi saw an insect exhibition, which changed her life forever. She went to Malaysia to study insects and is now a leading expert on butterflies in Yambaru forest. Takae is where the Riukiuana Rings and other endemic butterflies live.

“If the Japanese government continue to cut down the trees, rare butterflies will become extinct,” Miyagi warns. “It takes only a moment to destroy the forest for the construction of helipads. However, these trees have been nurturing innumerable animals for hundreds of years. Human beings cannot nurture these living creatures.”

Japan's elderly - activists

Takae’s elderly join hands against the riot police

Jostling and shoving, elderly people join hands against the riot police. Many experienced the battle of Okinawa 71 years ago, when a fourth of all Okinawans died.

“We don’t want our youth to experience hell. In order not to fight in a war, we fight now,” I overhear from a group of elderly activists.

Okinawan resistance is committed to non-violence.  

Mr. Masatsugu Isa - craftsman

Mr Masatsugu Isa

Masatsugu Isa carves Tohtohmeh, a tablet to enshrine ancestors’ spirits. Over 20 years have passed since he and his father moved from Okinawa City to Takae. The Northern Training Area is across the street from his workshop. Now he helps represent the residents opposing the helipad construction.

“If we allow this, we will not be able to raise our voices against the atrocious behavior of our government,” says Mr Isa.

Residents who staged a sit-in protest in front of a training area gate in 2007 were sued by the government for “traffic interference”. He brought his fight to the Supreme Court, but lost. However, he will not desist. The blood of his father and grandfather, who also opposed the war and subsequent occupation, flows in his veins.

Takashi Morizumi is a photojournalist who covers topics in Japan and overseas such as the effects of U.S. military bases, radiation contamination, and environmental problems.

Join the hundreds standing up for peace. Send a message to Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, here.

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Full Expansion of Community Center Theater and Convention Center The City Council has voted to move forward and update the 40-year-old center adding 41,000 sf, replace seats, renovate the lobby and dressing rooms. The $83.4 million renovation could begin as soon as the 4 quarter of 2018 and completed by 2021. While work is being done, the Memorial Auditorium would be used for
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Last weekend (14th-16th of October 2016), farmers, scientists and activists from all over the world gathered at the Monsanto Tribunal in the Hague, Netherlands, to present the case against destruction caused by one of the corporate giants that promotes industrial farming.

 Monsanto Tribunal in The Hague, 15 Oct, 2016

The symbolic Monsanto Tribunal aimed to hold Monsanto - the giant agrochemical company - to account for its alleged atrocities against humanity and the environment. This event is far from over. It will echo back through the food system as the tribunal’s participants bring home lessons, solutions and renewed hope for change.

First day of the tribunal, judges Tulkens (left) and Fall Epse Sow. 15 Oct 2016

Five internationally renowned judges heard 30 witnesses. Experts gave their accounts of the environmental damage wrought by Monsanto. One testimony described how monoculture has caused a great loss to seed variety. They compared the patenting of seeds to a new form of colonization.

 Seng Channeang, Cambodian smallscale farmer. 15 Oct 2016

These testimonies will give people all over the world a well-documented legal brief to be used in lawsuits against other similar corporations.

“Although this is not legally binding, it is legally sound,” said Arnaud Apoteker, member of the steering committee of the Tribunal. “The witnesses were presenting real cases to real judges. The lessons from this event can be used in ensuing local battles.”

One of the thirty witnesses, Feliciano Ucam Poot, a Mayan farmer from Mexico, submitted evidence to support his allegations that glyphosate and other chemicals are linked to childrens' sickness. He said, "before the introduction of glyphosate and other agrochemicals, I did not see our people suffer from sickness like this… A lot of people are suffering like us, and this Tribunal will ensure that our stories will be heard around the world.” 

 Scene from the Monsanto Tribunal Press Conference, 15 Oct 2016

Do we need these agrochemicals to feed the world? A question asked of Hans Herren, a renowned scientist and president of the Millennium Institute at the Monsanto Tribunal, “By producing less waste we can feed 10 million people. We need to make more health per acre, not calories per acre.”

Running parallel to the Tribunal hearings was a People's Assembly, where people from around the world discussed solutions to the impacts caused by industrial agriculture. As many of the witnesses pointed out, one of the greatest challenges they face is to make their voices heard. This Assembly provided a much needed forum for communities to come together and find sustainable solutions to common problems.

 The People's Assembly, The Hague. 15 Oct 2016

“We should fight for ourselves. Nobody is free from danger if our food is toxic,” said Farida Akhter of UBINIG (Policy Research for Development Alternatives), Bangladesh.

The stories of people like Feliciano and the concerns of Farida are echoed by millions of voices from across the world; from beekeepers in Mexico to small scale producers in France and farmers in India.

The judges of the tribunal will assess these allegations, examine all evidence put forth and publish their findings in December.

 Judges at the Monsanto Tribunal, 15 Oct 2016

These issues aren’t limited to farmers and environmentalists - they concern us all. We all have a choice: as citizens and consumers, we can all make decisions to shape the future we want.

Here are 12 things you can do to start Eco-Food revolution

Watcharapol Daengsubha is a food and ecological agriculture campaigner with Greenpeace Southeast Asia

 

from Greenpeace news http://ift.tt/2ei8foX