Publications

A Sizable Step Towards a Real Commitment to Farmers’ Rights at the FAO?

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ETC Group
News Release
June 5, 2009
www.etcgroup.org

A Sizable Step Towards a Real Commitment to Farmers’ Rights at the FAO?

TUNIS, June 5, 2009 – After four days of difficult negotiations among 121 governments at a UN Food and Agricultural Organization Treaty meeting on the use of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture held in Tunisia, a Canadian effort to block progress was overturned. At midnight on Thursday, Brazil read an amended resolution on farmers’ rights to a tired plenary, shifting the prevailing tension amongst delegates into relief and enthusiasm. Following corridor negotiations, in which Europe, Latin America and Africa confronted Canada’s effort to derail the implementation of farmers’ rights, governments agreed to:

o    encourage member countries to review...   Read More

Categories: FAO

White Roofs, Black Dust And Slippery Slopes: Climate Engineers Seek Techno-fix As Global Negotiations Get Underway

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ETC Group and Biofuelwatch
News Release
June 1, 2009
www.etcgroup.org, www.biofuelwatch.org.uk

White Roofs, Black Dust And Slippery Slopes:

Climate Engineers Seek Techno-fix As Global Negotiations Get Underway

U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu’s speech last week advocating painting rooftops and roadways white to reflect sunlight may be yet another attempt to test the international waters on the controversial subject of geoengineering.[1] “We need an unequivocal statement from the White House that the U.S. Government is not green-lighting geoengineering in the run-up to Copenhagen,” said Pat Mooney, Executive Director of ETC Group, an Ottawa-based civil society organization monitoring new technologies. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) meets in Denmark this December; UNFCCC subsidiary bodies are meeting this week...   Read More








Categories: Geoengineering

Toitures blanches, poussière noire et pentes glissantes : Les ingénieurs climatiques prônent des solutions technologiques dans la foulée des négociations mondiales

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communiqué de presse
Le 1er juin 2009
www.etcgroup.org, www.biofuelwatch.org.uk

Toitures blanches, poussière noire et pentes glissantes :

Les ingénieurs climatiques prônent des solutions technologiques dans la foulée des négociations mondiales

Le discours prononcé la semaine dernière par Steven Chu, Secrétaire à l’énergie des États-Unis, qui proposait de peindre les toitures et les routes en blanc afin de réfléchir les rayons solaires, pourrait bien constituer une nouvelle tentative de tâter le terrain international sur le sujet controversé de la géoingénierie.[i]  « À la veille de la conférence de Copenhague, il importe que la Maison-Blanche déclare de façon non équivoque...   Read More








Categories: Geoengineering

NGOs disappointed at nano outcomes from International Conference on Chemical Management

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**The Second International Conference on Chemicals Management (ICCM), meeting in Geneva May 11-15, closed today. The ICCM addressed nanotechnolgoy and manufactured nanoparticles as an emerging policy issue for the first time. ETC Group's Diana Bronson attended the meeting and worked with NGO partners to urge the ICCM to take effective action on nano-scale technologies.**

IPEN International POPs Elimination Network [POPs = persistent organic pollutants]

News Release

NGOs disappointed at nano outcomes from International Conference on Chemical Management

Geneva, May 15 2009 -- “The actions on nanotechnology that were agreed upon today do not reflect the urgency of the issue. The delegates were made aware that nanomaterials are an intergenerational risk, with nanoparticles being passed from mother to child via...   Read More








Categories: Nanotechnology

Pie in the Sky" Geo-engineering Competition Winning Entry

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Categories: Geoengineering

So Long, Venus! Hello Mars! Orbit Engineering Proposal Takes Top Prize in ETC Group's Pie-in-the-Sky Contest for Do-it-Yourself Geo-engineers

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ETC Group
News Release
Earth Day 22 April 2009
www.etcgroup.org
 
So Long, Venus! Hello Mars!
Orbit Engineering Proposal Takes Top Prize in ETC Group's
Pie-in-the-Sky Contest for Do-it-Yourself Geo-engineers

Vicky Schutte of Oakville, Ontario (Canada) took top honors today in ETC Group's international geo-engineering contest for her proposal to combat climate change by re-engineering the earth's orbit. Her idea is to nudge the planet further from the sun (and closer to Mars). In her entry, Schutte helpfully pointed out that expanding the earth's orbit would not only increase the distance between the earth and sun, thereby cooling the planet, but it would also take our birthdays longer to come around – climate salvation and fountain of youth all in one! The contest calling for geo-engineering proposals closed on April...   Read More










Categories: Geoengineering

Primer lugar en el concurso Tapando el Sol con un Dedo: Rediseñar la órbita de la Tierra

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¡Hasta luego Venus! ¡Hola Marte!

Rediseñar la órbita de la Tierra

Primer lugar en el concurso de geoingeniería del Grupo ETC
“Tapando el sol con un dedo”


Vicky Schutte de Oakville, Ontario (Canadá) recibió los honores hoy en el concurso internacional de geoingeniería para combatir el cambio climático, por su propuesta de rediseñar la órbita de la Tierra alejando el planeta del sol (y acercándolo a Marte). Schutte señaló atinadamente que expandir la órbita de la Tierra no sólo incrementará la distancia entre la Tierra y el sol, enfriando el planeta,...   Read More












Categories: Geoengineering

Terminating Food Sovereignty in Ecuador? President opens door to Terminator seeds

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ETC Group
News Release
April 17, 2009
www.etcgroup.org

Terminating Food Sovereignty in Ecuador?
President opens door to Terminator seeds

On February 18, 2009, the Ecuadorian Congress approved a new Law on Food Sovereignty, which, among other important points, declared the country “free of transgenic crops and seeds.” However, in spite of vocal popular opposition, the legislation left the door open to approvals of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in “exceptional” cases. Now, President Rafael Correa has proposed several changes to the legislation – in what is known in Ecuador as a partial-veto – and sent it back to the Congress. The president's changes dangerously weaken the law and open the door to Terminator seeds.

Terminator technology is designed to make “suicide...   Read More











Categories: Biodiversity & Genetic Resources, Biotechnology, Terminator & Traitor

ETC Group Submission to UK's Royal Society Working Group on Geoengineering-this article has been moved

This article has been moved. It is now here.

Categories: Geoengineering

Obama and Geo-engineering? Yes, you can – but don't!

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ETC Group
News Release
8 April 2009
http://www.etcgroup.org

Obama and Geo-engineering?
Yes, you can – but don't!
Reported musing by Obama Advisor is dangerous

OTTAWA, April 8, 2009 – Today's reports[1] from an Associated Press interview with U.S. Chief Science Advisor John Holdren claiming that the White House could now be taking a serious look at geo-engineering – including the radical proposal to shoot nanoparticles of sulphate into the earth’s atmosphere – are causing alarm around the world. “If this is somebody's trial balloon to test Obama's acceptance of geo-engineering, the White House should shoot it down immediately,” says Pat Mooney, executive director of ETC Group, an Ottawa-based civil society organization that has been monitoring geo-engineering technologies since 2006....   Read More










Categories: Geoengineering

Global Civil Society Opposes Charred Earth Policy

Press Release                                                                        
6th April 2009

147 organisations from 44 countries warn against 'biochar' (large-scale charcoal) as a dangerous new false solution to climate change
 
An international declaration was today launched by 147 organisations opposing the growing hype and political support for Biochar. The groups signing the declaration "strongly oppose the inclusion of soils in carbon trade and offset mechanisms, including in the Clean Development...   Read More






Categories: Geoengineering

ETC Group Submission to Royal Society Working Group on Geo-Engineering (2009)

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6th April 2009

Dear Members of The Royal Society Working Group on Geoengineering,

I am writing on behalf of the ETC Group (Action Group on Erosion, Technology and Concentration). We are a non-profit international organization based in Canada that undertakes research and advocacy work. We monitor emerging technologies and corporate strategies relevant to the protection of biodiversity and the interests of marginalized groups. In January 2007 we published one of the first papers looking at geoengineering from a civil society perspective - entitled "Gambling with Gaia". We have since been monitoring developments in the field with increasing concern.[1] 

We are grateful that the Royal Society is willing to accept a submission at this late stage in its proceedings. We regard this submission as an urgent matter, for we are alarmed at the apparent emergence of an "official...   Read More







Categories: Geoengineering

LAST CALL FOR GEO-ENGINEERING SUBMISSIONS / PIE-IN-THE-SKY CONTEST DEADLINE: APRIL 1 2009

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ETC Group News
30 March 2009
www.etcgroup.org

LAST CALL FOR GEO-ENGINEERING SUBMISSIONS
PIE-IN-THE-SKY CONTEST DEADLINE:  APRIL 1 2009

There are just two days left to submit your very own wacky geo-engineering scheme to the first-ever international Pie-in-the-Sky contest sponsored by ETC Group, which closes this Wednesday, April 1. Contestants have their work cut out for them to surpass the outlandish schemes the real geo-engineers are concocting: sulfates in the atmosphere, mirrors in the sky, iron in the oceans, whiter clouds, fake trees. While preposterous, these schemes are being seriously debated by politicians, pundits and carbon-offsetters the world over and are poised to receive more research dollars and more air time in high-level international meetings. Practical, crucial measures – like reducing our dependence on fossil...   Read More








Categories: Biodiversity & Genetic Resources, Geoengineering

“Wartmongers” Thwarted as Bumpy Pumpkin Patent Goes Flat

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ETC Group
Update
March 20, 2009
www.etcgroup.org
 

Last month, ETC Group reported on a patent application(1) under examination at the US Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) in which Siegers Seed Company of Holland, Michigan, claimed invention of a “warted pumpkin...wherein the outer shell includes at least one wart...” On February 13, the USPTO put its 9-page verdict in the mail(2) rejecting all of the application's 25 claims.

“The good news is that the USPTO rejected all claims in the warty pumpkin patent application,” says Silvia Ribeiro from ETC Group's Mexico office. “And also that in her...   Read More










Categories: Biodiversity & Genetic Resources, Biopiracy, Human Rights / Farmers' Rights, Intellectual Property & Patents

The better world we seek is not Geo-engineered! A Civil Society Statement against Ocean Fertilization

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The better world we seek is

not Geo-engineered!

A Civil Society Statement against Ocean Fertilization

Since the World Social Forum last met in Nairobi in January 2007, civil society organizations from around the globe have confronted an alarming new threat to our rights and biodiversity: the threat of unjust and high risk geo-engineering schemes and specifically ocean fertilization. We are facing off against several...   Read More






Categories: Geoengineering