Blogs

The average Nike shoe emits about 40 pounds of CO2 (http://www.greenbiz.com)

A few years ago, the latest green(wash) rage among the rich and famous was offsetting carbon emissions from air travel and energy use. Lately, this trend may be slowly reversing itself.

Companies are beginning to see the problems inherent in offsets and are instead turning to improving energy efficiency. The latest companies to abandon the over-hyped offset are Yahoo! and Nike.

Meles Zenawi and Italy's Foreign Minister inaugurate Gilgel Gibe 2

On Jan. 13, Ethiopia's Prime Minister Meles Zenawi inaugurated the Gilgel Gibe 2 scheme, the country's biggest hydropower project. "It is possible to speed up development without polluting the environment," Zenawi proudly declared as he cut the ceremonial ribbon. Yet this was wishful thinking.

Investigative reporter Mark Schapiro's most recent article, "Conning the Climate" provides an inside look into how Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects are validated and verified, as well as the many problems that arise.

Greetings and Salutations! My name is Martina Plaza, and I am the new Day of Action for Rivers Intern here at International Rivers. I just want to give everybody an idea of who I am, how I got here, and what I will be working on in the coming months.

I am a junior English major and intended Environmental Studies minor at UC Berkeley. I have always been vastly inspired by nature, and was taught much about conservation while growing up. My parents never took me to Disney Land, but instead took me camping and hiking. I’m working to combine this love and respect for the environment with writing. Known nature writers such as Aldo Leopold, David Brower, and Terry Tempest Williams have inspired me to pursue this field. As you can tell, I enjoy writing very much, and look forward to improving my skills through this blogging site and writing for World Rivers Review.

A new short documentary by the Dutch group BothEnds offers a clear, concise "you are there" view of problems being caused by the Bujagali Dam, now being built on the Nile River in Uganda. This well-done piece of activist filmmaking shows the viewer firsthand what is at stake in this controversial project. You'll see what the dam will flood, visit a village forced to move for the project, hear from Ugandans who hope their businesses can afford the project's costly electricity, and see the beautiful Bujagali Falls themselves – soon to be submerged by the dam. People on both sides of the debate give thoughtful commentary on key issues – all against the backdrop of the mighty Nile.

The video comes at a time when activists in Europe and Uganda have teamed up to call the European Investment Bank (EIB) to task for its role in the controversial project. A team from the EIB will visit Uganda next week to investigate the complaint, lodged by Uganda's preeminent

NAPE staff and Terri Hathaway (Int. Rivers), Uganda

environmental group, the National Association of Professional Environmentalists, or NAPE. This is the third such official complaint about the project by the group, which also lodged complaints with the World Bank and African Development Bank. Although these institutions' investigators substantiated key concerns raised by NAPE, the banks have taken few steps to resolve the problems. It seems they see their independent "inspection panels" as little more than suggestion boxes. Perhaps the third time will be the charm for these dogged activists.

Living on Pandora

March 30, 2164. - I have spent a lot of time on Pandora lately. I have explored its verdant valleys, lush rain forests, and floating mountains. I have tried to stay away from the ferocious aynantang and aypalulukan. And I have fallen in love with the mighty rivers and waterfalls, which cascade down sheer cliffs and which you may have admired in the Avatar movie.

Tolstoy believed that it was the existence of the rich that was the real cause of Russian poverty.

I just attended an excellent report-back from the Copenhagen climate talks fiasco. The speakers included Payal Parekh, climate director from my own organization, International Rivers, and representatives from other great Bay Area enviro organizations, 350.org, Rainforest Action Network and EcoEquity.

Three Gorges resettlers (Chongqing China Three Gorges Museum)

"Battling with heaven is endless joy, fighting with the earth is endless joy, and struggling with humanity is endless joy," Mao Zedong once proclaimed. The Three Gorges Dam, which the great helmsman had conjured in one of his poems, is one of the manifestations of this philosophy. Nature inevitably strikes back against those who fight it. In the case of the Three Gorges Dam, we just learned that at least 300,000 more people need to displaced so that the environmental impacts can be kept under control.

avatar

China has pulled the 2D version of the blockbuster hit, Avatar, from the big screen in what is being billed as cinematic protectionism -- reportedly, to keep its theaters focused on showing a new state-sponsored biopic about Confucius. But many believe there is another side to the story.

Liu Xiang of China outran his American competitors in the 2004 Olympic 110 meter hurdle to win the Gold medal (Chine Informations)

In April 2009, President Obama said, "The nation that leads the world in twenty-first-century clean energy will be the nation that leads in the twenty-first-century global economy." Will China or the United States win the race for clean energy technology and future economic predominance? Here is an update with some personal impressions from Beijing.