Costa Rica Makes History

As reported by the BBC, Costa Rica made history Sunday, February 7th, with the election of its first female president, Laura Chinchilla, head of the National Liberation Party. Ms. Chinchilla, who won 47% of the vote, is committed to advancing open-market policies in the country. Also recently reported, a study by the New Economics Foundation, the Happy Planet Index, ranks Costa Rica in first place above all other nations as the most happy, making a connection between happiness and the health of the environment.

Costa Rica is a stable nation with a growing tourism industry and sound environmental policies, something that many people attribute to the nation's protection of their forests. As stated by the BBC, "more than half its territory is now covered in trees, compared to 20% in the 1980s." It is one of the only developing countries in the world rated so high in being happy and green when compared to other nations, and the two measures seem to be related. People profess to being more in-tune with the natural world, a characteristic integral for the active participation in environmental protecion.

Costa Rica was the first developing nation to commit to being carbon neutral by 2021, has implemented a carbon tax, and is currently getting 90% of its energy supply from renewable sources. Costa Rica is right on track for preserving their fragile environment. Yet there is room for improvement, since the government still allows open pit mining and the unfettered melon and pineapple growing by multinational corporations threatens the ecosystem through the use of many agrochemicals.

Hopefully the newly elected president will, in an effor to promote open-market operations, direct more attention to making the tourism industry in the area more eco-friendly as it promises to raise revenues while maintaining what seems to make Costa Ricans most happy, the health of the environment. One Costa Rican, Juan Francisco Montealegre, explains, "We don't have a sensation of death. Nothing is arid here, you can see life everywhere."

Referenced BBC reports:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8498456.stm


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8503425.stm


Photo by Alex Villegas

General Mills Responds to Rainforest Action Network Campaign

As reported yesterday, the environmental activist group Rainforest Action Network launched a campaign against the company General Mills for using palm oil, the production of which results in rainforest destruction, in many of their product lines.

General Mills was quick to respond and clarify that they only use a modest amount of palm oil and palm oil derivatives in their products, and that they have engaged their suppliers, which are all members of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO); and will only purchase from suppliers who meet RSPO principles and criteria.

It is also reassuring that General Mills publicly supports a moratorium on palm oil expansion in tropical rainforests. Unfortunately, their palm oil supplier, Cargill, does not. In Cargill’s recently updated “Palm Oil Commitments”, Cargill commits to no expansion into high conservation value forests (HCVF) or peatlands and only expand on “degraded land”. As the largest importer of palm oil into the United States, Cargill should expand their commitment by supporting a moratorium on palm oil expansion in Southest Asia as other companies have already done. It is hoped that General Mills can convince Cargill to support a moratorium.

General Mills should not only meet RSPO principles and criteria, but exceed that criteria, and certainly should not continue to do business with a supplier such as Cargill, who is not strongly committed to stopping rainforest construction.

To learn more about socially and environmentally responsible palm oil, check out our reccommendations for market leaders and our model policy at www.theproblemwithpalmoil.org

General Mills Linked to Rainforest Destruction

Taken from mongabay.com:

1/19/2010 - The activist activist group Rainforest Action Network (RAN) linked General Mills to destruction of rainforests in Southeast Asia in dramatic fashion on Tuesday, when it unfurled a giant banner, reading "Warning: General Mills Destroys Rainforests", outside the company's Minneapolis headquarters building. The stunt was executed to highlight the role that palm oil consumption has in deforestation in Indonesia, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea. Expansion of oil palm plantations over the past twenty years has emerged as one of the biggest threats to the Southeast Asia's rainforests, which house such endangered species as the orangutan, the pygmy elephant of Borneo, and the Sumatran rhino. Palm oil production has also become a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions, which result from deforestation, degradation and conversion of peatlands, and fires set for plantation establishment.

RAN says that at least a hundred General Mills products, including goods sold under Pillsbury, Betty Crocker, Stovetop Hamburger Helper and Toaster Strudel brands, contain palm oil or palm oil derivatives. RAN is calling for General Mills to commit to buying only responsibly-sourced palm oil.

"General Mills could do a lot to transform the palm oil supply in the food industry and to protect rainforests, communities and the climate," said Madeline Gardner, Minneapolis-based activist, in a statement. "As an industry leader and a trusted brand, General Mills could have a huge impact in changing the food industry for good."

Unilever, the world's largest corporate buyer of palm oil, has already committed to using only palm oil produced in a socially and environmentally responsible manner. Last month the company severed ties with Sinar Mas after an investigation showed that the palm oil producer was clearing rainforests and draining peatlands. In its campaign, dubbed The Problem with Palm Oil, RAN argues that General Mills and other companies face a risk of consumer backlash if they continues current sourcing policies. "Palm oil is a leading cause of rainforest destruction in places like Indonesia," said Ashley Schaeffer of Rainforest Action Network. "As long as General Mills is using irresponsibly sourced palm oil, their customers will have to worry that they are contributing money to rainforest destruction."

A quote to inspire for 2010

"If future generations are to remember us with gratitude rather than contempt, we must leave them something more than the miracles of technology. We must leave them a glimpse of the world as it was in the beginning, not just after we got through with it."

– President Lyndon B. Johnson, on the signing of the Wilderness Act of 1964

Update on the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act

Back in October we reported that the House Natural Resources Committee was about to consider HR 2213, a bill sponsored by Ron Kind (D-WI) that would more than triple funding for the Neotropical Migratory Bird Act.

In response to the call of thousands of Audubon activists, the Senate has acted on this $20 million package for bird conservation and the House Natural Resources Committee passed a similar bill with a $15 million funding level. It is expected to get to the President's desk in the next session of Congress. Final passage will be good news for the more than 125 neotropical species in decline from habitat loss and other threats.

So stay tuned!

Hawaiian Songbird Named One of America's Hottest Species

Media Release by American Bird Conservancy

The Kaua`i Creeper or `Akikiki has been named one of America’s top ten threatened species impacted by global warming in a new report released December 1. The report, America’s Hottest Species, produced by the Endangered Species Coalition in conjunction with a coalition of groups including American Bird Conservancy, demonstrates ways that our changing climate is increasing the risk of extinction for eleven species around the United States that are on the brink of disappearing forever.

“Global warming is like a bulldozer shoving species, already on the brink of extinction, perilously closer to the edge of existence,” said Leda Huta, executive director of the Endangered Species Coalition. “Polar bears, lynx, salmon, coral and many other endangered species are already feeling the heat. The species in this report are representative of all imperiled wildlife, plants, and fish that are now facing an additional, compounding threat to their survival, and why we need to take action today to protect them.”

“Hawai`i is the epicenter of extinction in the America’s,” said George Wallace, American Bird Conservancy’s Vice President for Oceans and Islands. “There are a number of factors that have led to the disappearance of so many of Hawai`i’s native birds since it was colonized, including introduced pigs, goats, cats, rats, and mosquitoes. Global warming adds a huge new, incipient threat to the `Akikiki and the other remaining endemic birds of the archipelago.”

Local Species in Need
The `Akikiki is a type of honeycreeper, a group of birds that shows tremendous variation, even more so than Darwin’s famous finches of the Galapagos. At least 59 species originally occurred in Hawai`i, but, with human settlement came multiple introductions of exotic species that caused the extinction of all but 17. Avian malaria is a serious threat to the `Akikiki, one that could be exacerbated by global warming. An increase in temperature of slightly less than 4°F in the montane forests of Kaua’i would result in an 85% decrease in the ‘Akikiki’s safe haven area where malaria transmission is currently limited by cool temperatures.

In response to a petition from American Bird Conservancy and Hawaiian bird expert, Dr. Eric VanderWerf, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed listing the `Akikiki under the Endangered Species Act, along with `Akeke`e, another imperiled honeycreeper found only on Kaua’i.

New Book on Climate Change

Tim Flannery, PhD, has written a new book titled : “Now or Never: Why We Must Act Now to End Climate Change and Create a Sustainable Future.” Some of his other books include “The Weather Makers: How Man Is Changing the Climate and What It Means for Life on Earth.”

Flannery's book highlights strategies for CO2 removal from the atmosphere and includes habitat and ecosystem management strategies from the tropics poleward.

Get a copy of the book today!