O.R.C.

We certainly don’t want to come off as biased towards arson as a tactic, but these things are certainly some of the most news-worthy. On the night of the 4th of July, while American’s celebrated aimlessly with fireworks, the Swedish ALF (called “Djurens Befrielsefront”) lit fire to a slaughterhouse in Lövudden, Sweden. The slaughterhouse, set to open September 1st, was meant to slaughter elk, moose, and other wildlife, but the fire was not covered by the insurance and the owned has stated that it is unlikely to be rebuilt.

Well, Canada has refused to call polar bears “endangered”, while more evidence emerges about how screwed they are by climate change, and it looks like artic ice is melting even faster than expected. The magic global-warming quick-fix atmospheric sulphur-injection plan has will probably make everything worse by furthering ozone depletion, surprise surprise. Honey bees continue to disappear, and the pathogen behind sudden oak death syndrome is evolving and spreading up the western coast of North America. The US will be building dozens of coal power plants right next to national parks, and every liberal’s darling, the EU, will be building over 50 new coal plants. In slightly better news, the national park service has announced that they’ll be funding a bunch of new projects, mostly focused on maintaining the parks. We cynics at O.R.C. can’t help but suspect that this will somehow be used as an excuse for more logging roads and crap like that. And what’s that? It looks like Bush’s spotted owl plan means more logging! In fact, close to 900 scientists with the EPA reported political influence on their work from industry and government. Another “green” product has been debunked: Palm Oil is the major cause of deforestation in Indonesia. 17-year-old accused arsonist Michael Sykes (background of his story here) got his charges reduced and is now facing 10 years in prison. (His address for letters of support can be found here). Mohawks have set up barricades in Ontario to protest development, and Sioux tribal members in South Dakota have set up blockades to protest against the construction of a hog farm. Salmon-lovers are proposing to reintroduce salmon to the Upper Klamath Basin in Oregon. The Arizona legislature is considering withdrawing funds from state schools that teach anything that is deemed un-american and is contrary to capitalism, democracy, etc. (as well as banning minority-group student groups) by way of bill SB 1108. It looks like the government might finally have admitted that right-wing extremists are more dangerous than “eco-terrorists, although we’ll have to see if their level of infiltration agrees. To end on a positive note, a crocodile killed an illegal mangrove logger in Myanmar (often called Burma).

Reposted from Bombs & Shields
Palmerston North, Manawatu-Wanganui, New Zealand - Vandals stalled construction in the Manawatu River watershed by torching a $750,000 drilling machine. Multimillion-dollar construction projects have have sparked heated battles between current residents, environmental advocates and developers. While above ground eco-groups attempt to slog out compromises in the courts, clandestine saboteurs have been costing the construction industry millions in additional expenses each year. According to Malcolm Abernethy, a technical adviser with the Contractors’ Federation, small acts of arson and vandalism are a serious threat to industrial progress. “Every night something probably happens, but it’s not always reported.”

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As the oceans continue to rise (1.5 meters by 2100) and desalinate, US President Bush pretended for a moment to care about global warming, although of course only if it didn’t affect the US economy. While illegal fishing is decimating the arctic, Canada arrested two sea shepherd activists for interfering with seal-clubbing. The USA’s Department of the Interior continues to procrastinate on listing polar bears as an endangered species, while the EPA has basically given up pretending that it will rule on whether or not CO2 is a pollutant or not, despite being ordered to by the supreme court a year ago. Everyone is freaking out as they finally realize that drinking from plastic Nalgene bottles isn’t actually a very good idea: they contain Bisphenol A (BPA), which is about to be designated as toxic by Canada. Of course, Nalgene says that there is nothing wrong with BPA, but will stop using it anyway. Nalgene is owned by Thermo Fisher Scientific, a maker of laboratory restraints used by animal testers. Despite the fact that there’s enough food to feed the world (kept wasted by capitalism and agricultural subsidies), more countries are buying GMO crops because of the current food crisis. Speaking of frankenfoods, PETA, proving once again that it has nothing to do with anything good, has offered $1 million to whomever can grow test-tube flesh for us to eat.

While the progressives of the world are jumping on the corn-oil fueled bandwagon, many of the horrendous pitfalls of biofuel manufacture are coming to light. A recent study published by the University of Minnesota reports that “..converting rainforests, peatlands, savannas, or grasslands to produce food-based biofuels in Brazil, Southeast Asia, and the United States creates a ‘biofuel carbon debt’ by releasing 17 to 420 times more CO2 than the annual greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions these biofuels provide by displacing fossil fuels.”

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The BBC and Reuters are reporting that Japan succeeded in only catching 551 minke whales out of the 850 it had hoped to, and 0 of the 50 fin whales it had desired.

These lessened numbers are the direct result of the actions of direct action protestors The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, who boarded vehicles, threw foul-smelling liquid, and generally harassed the Japanese whalers for months. Read more

“We are the gentlemen who work in the ocean … since the [Somali] civil war began the ocean has been our Mother.”

These are the words of the anonymous spokesperson of the Ocean Salvation Corps, a group of seafaring Somalians who refuse the label of pirate.

On Feb. 1st, the Gentlemen hijacked the Svitzer Korsakov, a tugboat on its way to break ice at Sakhalin II, a controversial natural gas project off the coast of Russia that threatens, among a great number of species and habitats, the critically endangered Western Pacific Gray Whale. They held the ship until March 18th, whereupon they released the ship and crew unharmed after receiving $700,000 as ransom.

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