The world’s largest consumer goods company continues failing to address concerns over its deforestation and forest degradation in the boreal forest of Canada and tropical forests of Indonesia and Malaysia.
by Jeff Conant, senior international forests program manager
Three months have passed since an “investor rebellion” by two-thirds of Procter & Gamble’s shareholders demanded that the company address its impacts on forests, and there are no signs that P&G is taking serious action. Environmental organizations, including Stand.earth, NRDC, Friends of the Earth U.S., Rainforest Action Network, and Environment America, have spent years raising the alarm about P&G’s role in enabling massive deforestation and forest degradation in the boreal forest of Canada and tropical forests of Indonesia and Malaysia. …
by Kate DeAngelis, international finance manager
EXIM continues to invest in projects with severe environmental impacts, human rights abuses, and detrimental effects on local communities and public health. While EXIM claims to reduce risk in its portfolio, its consistent investment in the fossil fuel industry highlights the poor judgment of Trump-appointed Chairman Kimberly Reed and the Bank’s other decision makers.
At no other time has this been more evident than during the COVID-19 crisis. The pandemic has exposed the vulnerability of fossil fuel markets and underscored some of the worst impacts of the fossil fuel industry. Many oil and gas projects have continued to operate through…
by Erich Pica, president of Friends of the Earth
In thinking of Cecil Corbin-Mark, one phrase of his (only said on rare occasions) came to mind…
“Now Erich, we are all family here, and what I am going to say, I say with love…”
These words left a lasting impression and capture the essence of Cecil’s service on Friends of the Earth’s board.
“Now Erich…”
Cecil was direct. Conversations on environmental policy, the state of the environmental movement and environmental justice, convincing him to join Friends of the Earth’s board or talking explicitly about race and the racial justice movement, were always direct. He expected, without saying so, this…
By Jeff Conant, Senior International Forest Program Manager, Friends of the Earth
“One does not sell the land people walk on.”
— Crazy Horse, Oglala Lakota warrior chief
At the very beginning of 2020, BlackRock, the world’s largest money manager, announced it would place the climate crisis at the center of its investment strategy, stating that “climate risk is investment risk.” The decision included a divestment from coal, greater engagement with polluting companies, and placing sustainability at the core of its business — but it notably lacked an explicit commitment to address investments in extreme dirty energy projects like the Alberta tar sands or oil extraction in the Arctic. It also said…
The latest numbers for the annual honeybee count are in, and the situation is dire. Across the country beekeepers reported losing 44% of their bee colonies overall — and their highest summer losses ever.
And honeybees aren’t the only pollinators in trouble. 40% of all wild invertebrate pollinators are on the brink of extinction. If we lose our pollinators, it could mean ecological collapse on a scale we’ve never seen before.
We can’t let it come to that.
None of…
The latest Western bumblebee numbers are in, and the situation is urgent. Over the last 20 years, their numbers have plummeted 93%.
Not long ago, the Western Bumblebee was one of the most common bee species in the U.S., ranging from New Mexico’s deserts to the Alaskan tundra. Today, this once-common pollinator is fighting for survival. And it’s not the only pollinator we could lose forever — 40 percent of invertebrate pollinators are at risk of extinction.
And study after study has found that the massive use of pesticides, like Bayer-Monsanto’s bee-toxic neonicotinoids and its weed-killer glyphosate, aka Roundup®, is…
The numbers are in from this year’s butterfly count: once in the millions, only 29,000 western monarch butterflies were found in California.
That’s a 99% population decline of these essential pollinators. And we’re not only losing monarchs — 40% of invertebrate pollinators are on the brink of extinction. If we lose them, it will be catastrophic for the ecosystems and food systems on which we rely.
And it’s all for the sake of corporate greed. Big Ag and fossil fuel corporations are driving butterfly decline through pesticide use, climate change, and habitat loss. …
by Jeff Conant, Senior International Forests Program Manager, Friends of the Earth
On the night of September 13, a group of local activists — wearing N-95 masks against the toxic wildfire smoke, under cloth masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19, and maintaining strict physical distance — visited the San Francisco headquarters of BlackRock, the world’s largest investment firm.
The goal was to kick off a series of global actions to bring renewed attention to BlackRock’s role as a major driver of the climate crisis, and to give the company a warning that neither toxic wildfire smoke nor a global pandemic will deflect attention from the role that they and other large…
by Michael Khoo, Friends of the Earth advisor and UpShift Strategies co-founder, and Melissa Ryan, CARD Strategies CEO and Chief Strategist
Big Tech is finally coming for QAnon, but it still doesn’t look good. Twitter, TikTok and Facebook took steps to curb the spread of the far-right QAnon conspiracy, which claims Donald Trump is waging war against the deep state and an international Satanist sex-trafficking pedophile ring.
Unfortunately, these actions are too little, too late. QAnon, where researchers have noted an accelerated increase in membership throughout the pandemic, has become a mega-conspiracy, absorbing multiple political and cultural online conversations in the process. …
by Jason Davidson, food and agriculture campaigner
On the heels of the massive $10 billion proposed lawsuit settlement for more than 95,000 people alleging Bayer’s weed-killer Roundup© caused their cancer, Bayer announced a new program, the Bayer Carbon Initiative, which would pay farmers to sequester carbon in their soil. While this may appear to be a good-faith PR move to bolster the megacorporation’s poor reputation, the Bayer Carbon Initiative is just another attempt to sell more toxic products, monetize farmer data and maintain control of our food system.
Digital agriculture can be broadly defined as the use of mass amounts of data to influence decision-making on farms…
Friends of the Earth
Friends of the Earth U.S. defends the environment and champions a healthy and just world. www.foe.org
