Looming disaster in the Sahel

In Africa’s drought-struck Sahel, a vast region stretching across the continent south of the Sahara, 18 million people are on the brink of disaster, including 1 million children at risk of starvation.

The UN says $1.5 billion in aid is needed immediately in order to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe in the Sahel which may cost millions of lives – the result of drought, political unrest and soaring food prices – yet so far, governments have pledged less than half the required sum.

In a few days world leaders will gather in Brussels to discuss the Sahel – and it is vital that countries such as the US, Japan, France and Germany pledge their fair share, instead of turning a blind eye to this imminent disaster by stalling as they have until now.

Please help by signing the petition at Avaaz started by Senegalese music legend Baaba Maal:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/The_grain_sacks_are_empty/?bIuIubb&v=15193

Thank you.

24 hours to stop tar sands entering EU

In just 24 hours, Europe could pass a new Fuel Quality Directive that would introduce strict pollution controls and stop the flow of deadly tar sands oil – which not only destroys forests and lakes, but also emits 25% more carbon pollution than other oil – from Canada into the EU. But the UK is blocking this crucial law – please email UK Transport Minister now via Avaaz:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/uk_tar_sands/?cl=1612689669&v=12806

The UK and tar sands fuel

Why won’t the UK Government support the EU ban on tar sands fuel…?

A bill currently being introduced in the EU which would effectively ban tar sands fuel – the world’s most environmentally damaging transport oil – is being opposed by the UK. Instead of following its pledges (and as an EU state, legal obligation) to reduce carbon emissions by 2020, the Coalition Government seems bent on aligning itself with the oil industry and the Canadian government (who stand to make the most profit from tar sands fuel), and wants to remove any reference to tar sands fuel from the EU bill.

Campaigners are due to meet with Transport Minister Norman Baker tomorrow. Please sign the Avaaz petition and put pressure on the UK Government not to block this law:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/crude_politics/?vl

To quote Avaaz.org:

‘Tar sands fuel is nasty stuff. Oil companies destroy and degrade millions of acres of pristine Canadian forest and displace indigenous communities just to reach the unrefined bitumen. Refining it spreads cancerous heavy metals and sulphur through the air and leaves a barren, toxic landscape. The US Environmental Protection Agency says refining tar sands causes at least 82% more carbon pollution than refining conventional oil.’

See the recent feature by Terry Macalister in the Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/may/30/uk-undermining-tar-sands-ban

US Environmental Protection Agency review of tar sands impact http://yosemite.epa.gov/oeca/webeis.nsf/(PDFView)/20100126/$file/20100126.PDF?OpenElement (pdf)

Who said the Coalition Government had green credentials…?

Ai Weiwei disappears

The great contemporary Chinese artist Ai Weiwei – whose mindboggling ‘Sunflower Seeds’ (several million of them, all hand crafted and hand painted ceramics) was on display at London’s Tate Modern as part of the Unilever Series until today (and who was artistic consultant on the ‘bird’s nest’ stadium at the Beijing Olympics) – has been taken away by Chinese security forces, and has disappeared. Such is the price paid by dissidents for speaking out against the Chinese government.

Sign the Avaaz petition encouraging artists and galleries not to exhibit in China until Ai Weiwei is released.

http://www.avaaz.org/en/artists_for_ai_weiwei?fp

EU: 3 days to save herbal medicine….

From Avaaz website (www.avaaz.org):

In 3 days, the EU will ban much of herbal medicine, pressing more of us to take pharmaceutical drugs that drive the profits of big Pharma.

The EU Directive erects high barriers to any herbal remedy that hasn’t been on the market for 30 years – including virtually all Chinese, Ayurvedic, and African traditional medicine. It’s a draconian move that instead of simply regulating herbal medicine, helps drug companies and ignores thousands of years of medical knowledge.

Let’s raise a massive outcry to push the Commission to fix the Directive, and our national governments to refuse to implement it. Let’s get to 1 million voices to save herbal medicine. Add your name here:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/eu_herbal_medicine_ban/96.php