Rich countries once used gunboats to seize food. Now they use trade deals

"In a recent report on this pillage, ActionAid shows that fishing families that once ate three times a day are now eating only once or twice. As the price of fish rises, their customers also go hungry. The same thing has happened in all the west African countries with which the EU has maintained fisheries agreements. In return for wretched amounts of foreign exchange, their primary source of protein has been looted."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/aug/26/food.eu

Peter Melchett: Don't believe the GM apologists

Arguments about genetic modification, often wrongly characterised as science versus irrational nature-worshippers, have lost none of their passion.

(article from UK Independent)

Maybe the answer to global warming is genetic modification ?
We can modify ourselves to survive higher (or lower) temperatures, lack of food, rising sea levels.

UK adds to drain on global water sources

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/aug/20/water.food

"Water, or lack of it, has moved rapidly up the agenda for British businesses. A report published today by the environmental group WWF highlights why the issue is suddenly being taken so seriously. UK Water Footprint calculates for the first time how much water British consumers use, not just directly, but also indirectly due to the large volumes required to produce the globally-sourced, all year round foods and textile fibres which we now take for granted. According to WWF, each UK resident uses 4,645 litres of the world's water every day, compared to people in poor countries who subsist on 1,000 litres of "virtual water" a day."

UK ready to scrap killer cluster bombs

Excellent news.
UK ready to scrap killer cluster bombs

Gordon Brown has been getting a hard ride, but if he succeeds in getting these bombs banned then this will be a great achievement.

Britain leads the world in fairtrade

A report in the UK Independent newspaper states that Britons brought almost 30% of the worlds total value of fairtrade goods last year.
Are Brits more ethical/moral than other nationalities? Perhaps there is some truth in the idea of British "fair play" ?

Adidas workers on £11 a week in China

"THE German sportswear giant Adidas has paid a reported £50m to sponsor this summer’s Beijing Olympics with the slogan “Impossible is nothing”.

For the thousands of Chinese workers who earn a basic £11.36 a week making Adidas’s expensive trainers at factories in the industrial city of Fuzhou, one thing does seem impossible: to get fair play."

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article3646424.ece

corporate responsibility

Workers at Tesco paid just 8p an hour

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/22/ntesco122.xml

The report from the UK Daily Telegraph describes how Tesco exploits its workers in Malaysia.
I have emailed Tesco customer service to ask them for an explanation, and would suggest that other Tesco customers do the same.

Tesco Customer Service [customer.service@tesco.co.uk]

minerals = money

"A disturbing article this week in the FT reports how cassiterite sourced through the use of child and slave labour has made it into the supply chains of global electronic goods manufacturers. Cassiterite is a derivative of tin ore necessarily used in circuitry and its use has, ironically, enabled devices to become more eco friendly. But at what cost?"

http://blogs.zdnet.com/sustainability/?p=114&tag=nl.e622

Africa has wealth, not only in human resources, but in minerals; but this wealth is not used to benefit the people that live there.

Whistle-blower site taken offline

"A controversial website that allows whistle-blowers to anonymously post government and corporate documents has been taken offline in the US."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7250916.stm

It's interesting that this site can be taken down, whereas sites that exploit children and show pornographic images aren't.

George Bush: a good man in Africa ???

!They may not be George Bush's natural constituency but Rwanda's prostitutes have good things to say about him. So do poor South Africans abandoned by their quixotic government, and doctors across Africa who otherwise regard the American president as a walking crime against humanity."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/feb/15/georgebush.usa

The amazing power of money sent home

"It has been known for years that most economic migrants send money home. But a recent study by the United Nations Agriculture Fund shows that these remittances, as they are called, are far more important than was ever thought."

http://money.uk.msn.com/guides/ethical-money/article.aspx?cp-documentid=7414450