January

The Associated Press
Jan. 29, 2003
North Carolina Company at Odds with Lexmark
By Paul Nowell

At first glance, the court battle between Static Control Components and leading printer maker Lexmark International over replacement toner cartridges looks to be as exciting as watching snow melt.

But the case involves an array of issues as diverse and as thorny as software copyright and environmental protection.

The conflict arises from the way the computer printer business operates. Since printers are relatively inexpensive to buy, manufacturers make most of their profits selling the replacement ink or toner cartridges - in the same way razor blades bring in more money than the shavers for which they're made. Strong consumer demand led to the creation of a new industry: companies like Static Control that collect discarded cartridges, refill them and sell them at steep discounts.

Lexmark, one of the top U.S. manufacturers of computer printers, tried to fight its new rivals by installing tiny computer chips in its cartridges. They cause its printers to malfunction if the replacement cartridge comes from anyone other than the original manufacturer.

Brent Blackwelder, president of Friends of the Earth, said there are serious environmental concerns with discarded toner cartridges. Recycling toner cartridges saves resources such as oil while at the same time reducing the number of cartridges that end up in landfills, he said.

"People think computers are a very clean industry, unlike the old steel mills that polluted the environment," he said. "There's an array of toxic chemicals in computers and electronic equipment. That's why this is so shocking."

Financial Times
Jan. 28, 2003
Lobby group in Davos lawsuit threat
By Dan Roberts

Friends of the Earth, an environmental campaigning organisation, is threatening to sue organisers of the World Economic Forum after a dispute over access highlighted a growing rift between business leaders and non-governmental organisations at this year's Davos gathering.

Last night Friends of the Earth said attempts to persuade organisers to apologise for the statement had failed and it was instructing lawyers to seek damages for libel, arguing that its director was portrayed as "irresponsible, immature, untrustworthy, thuggish, devious and unsuitable to lead and represent a major non-governmental organisation".

Forum organisers declined to comment further, but privately many view the dispute as a sign that some NGOs may be under pressure from their members to disassociate themselves from business summits.

Friends of the Earth insists it prefers to maintain dialogue but has threatened to boycott future events - a step back for relations between environmental pressure groups and big business.

Associated Press Online
Jan. 24, 2003
USDA Accused of Selling Suspicious Corn

Environmentalists and an Iowa farm group accused the government Thursday of selling Iowa corn suspected of containing a toxic mold that made pigs infertile.

Friends of the Earth and the Iowa Farmers Union said they sent a letter to Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman, asking her to block 950 bushels from being used as livestock feed until the corn has been proven safe.

"When the USDA's own researchers are looking for a novel toxin in this corn, why on earth would they sell it into feed channels and put unsuspecting farmers at risk?" asked Larry Bohlen, spokesman for Friends of the Earth. Bohlen provided a copy of a receipt that said the corn was sold Jan. 9 to G & R Elevator in Portsmouth, Iowa.

Kevin Herglotz, a USDA spokesman, said he couldn't comment on the sale but said Friends of the Earth is "trying to distort the facts to promote some sort of agenda out there."

A letter sent to Friends of the Earth by USDA officials in October said the department was going to investigate the corn further.

The corn is a type of biotech grain, known as Bt corn, that is genetically designed to resist pests. It was produced by Garst Seed in Slater, Iowa. The company has said it conducted its own investigation but found nothing amiss.

E- Magazine/Environmental News Newtwork
Jan. 24, 2003
Retirement Billions Can Be Harnessed to Green the Economy
By Paul Clarke
Retirement billions can be harnessed to green the economy

The headlines are full of corporate scandals involving Enron, WorldCom, Xerox and even Martha Stewart Omnimedia, with the result that big business is under scrutiny as never before. In an effort to improve companies' socialand environmental practices while also maximizing long-term revenues, many public and private pension funds are discovering the benefits of investing in a sustainable future.

In the United States alone, the top 1,000 pension plans counted $4.8 trillion in assets in 2001, placing retirement funds third -after commercial banks and mutual funds - in terms of capital available for investment. And since pension plans are composed primarily of small investments from employees and union members, these assets are distributed among a vast number of participants. Taken together, this adds up to a mighty political force.

"A retirement fund is one of the main ways that small savers wind up invested in the stock market," says Michelle Chan-Fishel, coordinator of the Green Investments Project at Friends of the Earth (FOE). Environmental groups such as FOE and the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) long ago recognized that these small-scale investors could significantly influence corporate behavior by targeting their plans' investment choices, without jeopardizing financial performance. This sort of influence was initially detailed by Jeremy Rifkin and Randy Barber in their 1978 book, The North Will Rise Again: Pensions, Politics and Power in the 1980s. In the book, Rifkin and Barber explain how people can wield power as pension investors to deter companies from relocating factories and laying-off employees, or to encourage companies that employ large numbers of union workers.

USING THEIR CLOUT

Increased demand is leading to greater availability of SRI options in employer-sponsored retirement funds, especially in defined contribution plans such as 401(k) or 403(b) plans. "You can can see if your 401(k) plan has an SRI option," says Chan-Fishel. Some major retirement platforms such as Vanguard and Fidelity Investments offer SRI options. Employers may also contract their pension management out to firms like Domini and the Calvert Group that specialize in socially responsible investments. "If you don't have that option," Chan-Fishel adds, "you should work with your plan sponsor to see if you can get one added."

PRESSURE TACTICS

Pension plans with significant SRI accounts are increasingly pressuring companies to improve their environmental practices. The New York City Teachers Retirement System, for example, cosponsored a shareholder resolution with the NWF earlier this year, calling for General Electric to disclose how much it spent on efforts to avoid dredging toxic PCBs from the Hudson River.

Friends of the Earth has a step-by-step guide for employees seeking to green their pension funds, and guidelines are also available from the NWF in a new publication titled How Green Is Your Dollar? Information on individual SRI funds, investment professionals and shareholder activism is available on the website for the Social Investment Forum, an SRI-industry group.

Atlanta Journal and Constitution
Jan. 23, 2003
Full-Size SUVs Lose Ground to Smaller Cousins
By Marlon Manuel

Chevy Tahoe driver Karen Gilley of Marietta considers herself neither self-absorbed nor a demon. She's just a suburban mom who finds solace in her sport utility vehicle.

But to hear the recent high-octane ads of SUV critics --- including a media-savvy band of environmentalists and a group of evangelical Christians --- Gilley and others who drive metallic behemoths are spreading a pestilence; they're a motorized swarm of 285-horsepower locusts.

The federal government has aided in the proliferation of SUVs. A report by the environmental group Friends of the Earth points out that a huge tax loophole in effect subsidizes the big vehicles.

In response to an oil crisis, Congress in 1978 imposed an extra tax on large "gas guzzler" cars to encourage fuel efficiency. But SUVs and other light trucks were granted exemptions, meant as a protection for farmers and construction workers who used them for work. Similarly, SUVs were exempted from the Corporate Average Fuel Economy standard imposed in 1975.

With the tax applied to big passenger cars, sales of sedans fell while those of SUVs and pickup trucks doubled.

Greenwire
Jan. 23, 2003
Enviro Policy: Disclosure Needed for U.S. Multinationals – Report
By Lauren Miura

Large U.S. corporations should disclose information about their environmental, labor and human rights practices overseas the same way they are required to disclose the information while operating in the United States, according to a report released on Tuesday by a coalition of environmental, labor and human rights groups.

The International Right to Know coalition report highlights examples of what it says are irresponsible practices overseas by ExxonMobil, Nike, McDonald's, Unocal, Doe Run, Freeport McMoRan and Newmont Mining. It calls for a law requiring companies based in the U.S. or traded on U.S. stock exchanges and their foreign subsidies and contractors to disclose information on their overseas operations, using American right-to-know laws as a model. The report says disclosure has worked in the United States, citing the Toxic Release Inventory as an example. TRI requires companies to publicly disclose their annual emissions of toxic chemicals into land, air and water. "The Toxic Release Inventory has been extremely effective," said Davis Wascow, international policy analyst for Friends of the Earth. "Companies have voluntarily seen the benefits of reduced emissions," he said.

Colleen Freeman, a spokeswoman from Friends of the Earth, said the laws wouldn't actually prevent accidents like the Newmont incident, but they would at least make residents aware that a danerous toxic substance was being transported through the community.

The IRTK coalition includes the groups: AFL-CIO, Amnesty International USA, EarthRights International, Friends of the Earth, Global Exchange, Oxfam International, Sierra Club and Working Group on Community Right to Know. Representatives from the coalition are currently talking to several members on Capitol Hill to get legislation introduced and the discussions are going well, FOE's Freeman said.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Jan. 16, 2003
Genetically Modified Crop Industry Experiences Healthy Growth Worldwide; 16 Countries Grew Bioengineered Crops Last Year
By Bill Lambrecht

Global plantings of genetically modified crops grew by 12 percent last year, with more U.S. farmers than ever planting them, an industry organization reported Wednesday.

The United States is far and away the leader in bioengineered crops with about 97 million acres, or 66 percent of the world's total, the new report says. Next are Argentina (23 percent), Canada (6 percent) and China (4 percent).

More than half of last year's acreage increase occurred in the United States. All told, 82 percent of the 15 million-acre increase took place in the United States and Argentina, mostly with soybeans modified for easier herbicide use.

Larry Bohlen, a biotech specialist at Friends of the Earth in Washington, argued that the report is deceptive because few of the increases were recorded for new crops. "The industry is finding a few more customers for its existing stable of crops," he said. "But it is facing a stalemate around the world over the introduction of new crops such as rice, wheat and sugar beets."

Greenwire
Jan. 14, 2003
World Bank: Panel Convenes in Mozambique Over Mining, Pipeline; Projects
By Lauren Miura

An independent panel created by the World Bank Group meets this week in Maputo, Mozambique, to review the bank's policies on funding oil, gas and mining projects in developing countries.

Representatives from non-governmental organizations, indigenous peoples' groups, labor organizations, governments, industry and the World Bank Group will discuss during the three-day meeting whether bank involvement in the extractive industries in Africa is in line with the bank's main goals -- poverty eradication and sustainable development.

According to a Friends of the Earth (FOE) mid-term report on the EIR, the review has so far lacked adequate participation from those closest to the extractive projects -- local NGOs and community members. The report essentially compared the EIR to the World Commission on Dams, another independent review commissioned by the Bank. Compared to the WCD, the "Gold Standard" of industry reviews, the report says the EIR lacks in budget, staff and research.

Environmentalists question how seriously the Bank will take the report's recommendations, citing past examples of independent reviews. Bank officials have "developed a track record of distancing themselves from recommendations or distancing themselves from the process entirely," said Steve Herz, international policy analyst for Friends of the Earth. "Regardless of what happens in Mozambique or any other consultation, there is no guarantee the bank will adopt any recommendations," Herz added.

Herz said the Bank ignored the WCD's call for a progressive approach to projects that would compensate and take into consideration the needs of local people affected by the projects. "The Bank received the report and said, 'We were not a part of this, it doesn't fully reflect our experiences. We are not going to start the recommendations,'" Herz said.

The Washington Times
Jan. 13, 2003
Sizable deduction; Small businesses make most of SUV tax break
By Marguerite Higgins

The tax break was offered by Congress in 1978 as a way to help business owners and farmers upgrade equipment and heavy machinery.

Buyers of SUVs weighing more than 6,000 pounds get an automatic $25,000 deduction in the first year of vehicle ownership, under section 179 of the tax code. Then, for the following five years, owners are able to further deduct the price through a quicker depreciation value of the vehicle for a set 20 percent.

"This tax loophole is something that the environmental community has just noticed, but it sends the wrong message to the business world of rewarding people for polluting the environment," said David Hirsch, director of the economic program for Friends of the Earth, an environmental organization

Grist Magazine
Jan. 7, 2003
Green groups work together to counter the Bush attack on the environment
by Keith Schneider

Never in U.S. history have national environmental organizations faced such a formidable political challenge.

But in interviews, some of the country's most prominent environmentalists say the crisis may present a singular opportunity to reinvigorate the environmental movement.

"We are pulling together our collective resources, reaching out to the grassroots, and developing messages," says Brent Blackwelder, president of Washington, D.C.-based Friends of the Earth, who has been active in preparing the defense strategy. "Collaboration between all the [environmental] groups has dramatically improved. It's not an opportunity that any of us looked forward to, but we also understand what we're dealing with. There is real strength in our numbers."

Deseret News
January 2, 2003
Human cloning is fraught with problems

With the cloning announcement, Advanced Cell Technologies also said it had gotten a human egg cell to divide on its own just like a developing embryo, a process called parthenogenesis. In such a process, without any addition of genetic material from a sperm or another source, no viable fetus could ever develop. But it could progress to a stage where stem cells could be extracted.

Uneasy alliance

Reaction to both announcements by the biotech company was swift. United Methodist Board of Church and Society, The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and the Christian Coalition were but a few of the religious voices raised in protest. They were joined by environmentalist groups like Friends of the Earth and pro-choice groups.

The environmental groups, including representatives from Friends of the Earth, Earth Day 1990 and 2000, Rainforest Action Network, Waterkeeper Alliance, Earth Island Institute, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Greenpeace USA, the Sierra Club and the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy co-signed a letter to senators that called for a ban on human cloning and "inheritable genetic modifications." -

Their guiding principle, they said, was clear: respect for nature and the "precautionary principle."

The Miami Herald
Jan. 4, 2003
Ruling on trade papers; Bush told to make documents public

A federal court has ordered the Bush administration to release documents from the negotiations of a U.S.-Chile free-trade accord, dismissing government claims that the papers should be kept under wraps because Chilean negotiators were just consultants.

The decision from District Judge Paul L. Friedman not only gives a boost to the Freedom of Information Act but also sets a precedent for requiring trade negotiators to make public many documents involved in a series of current free-trade negotiations.

The lawsuit was filed in November 2001 by Earthjustice, a nonprofit public-interest law firm, on behalf of the Center for International Environmental Law, Friends of the Earth and Public Citizen, three nonprofit groups that monitor international trade and environmental issues.

Said David Waskow, trade-policy coordinator for Friends of the Earth: ''The case addresses an issue that has been a long-standing concern . . . that the trade process in general and the dispute proceedings in particular are virtually closed to the public.''

Waskow labeled as absurd the government's position in keeping policy documents and other negotiating tools from U.S. trade specialists and groups monitoring negotiations while sharing the papers with other governments.

Under the Free Trade Area of the Americas, 33 governments have access to such papers. Dozens of officials in each government have had such access, while it has been denied to U.S. citizens and even to those U.S. lawmakers charged with approving trade agreements.