Jennifer Marohasy

a forum for the discussion of issues concerning the natural environment

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New York Times to Defend Indonesian Mining Lawsuit

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“Jakarta (ANTARA News) – The New York Times said Thursday it would “vigorously” defend legal action against the newspaper lodged this week in an Indonesian court by [Richard Ness] an executive of the US mining giant Newmont…

“Over the past few years, The Times has devoted significant resources to covering the social, political and environmental impact of large-scale mining by Newmont and other companies around the world,” it said in a statement sent to AFP.

“We think this is an important global story for our readers, and our coverage of Newmont has been fair and accurate. We plan to defend the suit vigorously,” it said.

Read the complete article here: http://www.antara.co.id/en/arc/2007/5/18/new-york-times-to-defend-indonesian-mining-lawsuit/

I haven’t seen The New York Times acknowledge the law suit in its own paper – yet?

Whaling Continues Because Activists Pushed Too Hard?

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Existing rules and regulations can sometimes be impossible to understand without an understanding of the history of the issue. I’ve only followed ‘whaling’ as an issue for a few years and have never felt I really understood the determination of the Japanese whalers to exploit every loop hole to keep whaling, including through their ‘scientific whaling programme’.

This morning I was sent a link to an article by Richard Black entitled ‘Did Greens help kill the whale?’ with a potted history of the environmental campaign against whaling going back to the early 1980s. Black suggests that, “the environmental movement pushed too hard; that its strident calls helped to alienate Japan at the very point where it was prepared to abandon whaling.”

There is also mention of Japanese resentment that they were being blamed for bringing some whales close to extinction when the UK and USA had historically caught far greater numbers and the push by US fishermen in the late 1980s to exclude the Japanese from access to US waters.

Read the complete article here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6659401.stm

Climatologist Fired for Exposing Warming Myths

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“University of Washington climate scientist Mark Albright was dismissed from his position as associate state climatologist, just weeks after exposing false claims of shrinking glaciers in the Cascade Mountains.

“Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels had asserted in a February 7 Seattle Times editorial, “the average snow pack in the Cascades has declined 50 percent since 1950 and will be cut in half again in 30 years if we don’t start addressing the problems of climate change now.”

“Albright knew from his research that the Cascade Mountains snow pack had not declined anywhere near what Nickels asserted, and that the snow pack has actually been growing in recent years.

Read the complete article by James Taylor at the Heartland Institute website: http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=21207

Richard Ness to Sue New York Times Journalist

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“Today, May 15, at 11:00 am in the District Court of Central Jakarta, Dad’s Legal Counsels filed a civil claim against Jane Perlez and the New York Times Company. While talking to my Dad [Richard Ness] yesterday, I asked what prompted him to take this legal action. His response was simple:

“I have watched people in the Buyat community have their livelihoods destroyed. I have seen my friends and colleagues humiliated, questioned and detained by the police, while their wives and children were scared and embarrassed. I have seen my wife and family impacted by all the negative publicity. When I was summoned by the police who intended to arrest me, I had to reassure my wife and tell her, “Honey you have to trust me, I will be back home at some point and rest assured that we have done nothing wrong, we need to face the problem, be strong and we will get through this because truth is on our side”.

I have been accused of harming and causing the death of children, of polluting a bay by my inaction and of causing the devastation of an entire community. While in reality, I and my people had not done any wrong, the waters of Buyat bay were not polluted – in fact the criminal case brought out the facts that the Buyat waters are pristine, the fish in the bay are excellent and abundant, and the people of the region were not harmed by our operations. Yes, it did take 33 months to get the first court ruling in our favor but it’s not over yet. Over the past two and a half years we were reacting and responding to the unfair accusations leveled against us but it may now be our turn to take some action”

Read the rest of the blog post by Eric Ness here: http://www.richardness.org/link.php?link=2&id=69

And here’s a picture of me snorkling at the beautiful Buyat bay a month or so ago.

jen buyat blog2.jpg

I am writing a book on the saga – on the campaign to jail Richard Ness.

Government Ban on GM to ‘Expire’ in Victoria

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“Victorian farmers have welcomed reports that the Victorian Government will give farmers the choice to grow genetically modified crops, effectively breaking ranks with other Labor states that have imposed moratoria on GM production.

“According to The Age, sources close to Premier Steve Bracks say the government is satisfied there is almost zero risk associated with GM crops and the ban “will be allowed to expire next year”.

Read the complete article at Farm Online: http://www.farmonline.com.au/news_daily.asp?ag_id=42448

Zimbabwe to Head UN Sustainability Program: What Where They Thinking?

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It says much about the state of African politics, and the credibility of the United Nations (UN), that Francis Nhema, Zimbabwe’s minister for environment and tourism, was elected last Saturday to head the UN Commission on Sustainable Development.

Evidently it doesn’t matter that Nhema belongs to a government that has effectively destroyed the agricultural base of a once proud farming nation.

When I visited in 1991, Zimbabwe also had huge and healthy elephant population and well managed national parks.

I don’t know how the elephant population is holding-up, but there is apparently an acute food shortage now, rationing of electricity, and official inflation is running at about 2,200 percent annually.

If the UN Commission needed to be headed by an African – I might have nominated someone from South Africa. What were the Africans thinking when they nominated Nhema from Zimbabwe?