International

Philip Morris Pushing Smoking Hard in Foreign Countries

by Anne Landman — March 8, 2010 - 4:16pm
  • Topics: Health, International, Tobacco

    • In the 1950s, more than half the U.S. population smoked. Now that number is down to just 21 percent of adults. As the domestic cigarette market shrinks, tobacco companies are taking their business to the developing world, where they don't have to deal with pesky things like advocacy groups that oppose industry activity, smoking bans, or a populace that is aware of the health hazards of smoking.

    Now Philip Morris (PM) is playing hardball in lesser-developed countries to try and preserve their ability to market cigarettes however they want. On February 19, PM filed a lawsuit against Uruguay to try and force that country to withdraw a new law requiring 80 percent of each side of cigarette packs show graphic images depicting the health effects of smoking.

    First Blackwater, Then Xe, and Now Paravant: Still Armed and Dangerous

    by Anne Landman — February 26, 2010 - 10:05am

    The private military contractor Blackwater -- which rebranded itself as "Xe" in February, 2009 to distance itself from negative incidents like the September, 2007 shooting in Baghdad's Nisoor Square that killed at least a dozen people -- has created a shell company called "Paravant" to try and keep winning lucrative government military contracts.

    Main Source: 
    ABC News, February 25, 2010

    Reflections on COP15, Looking Ahead to COP16

    by Alex Carlin — February 9, 2010 - 11:40am
  • Topics: Global Warming, Environment, International

    • Copenhagen Out of the Frying Pan, Part 8
    Publisher's Note: I asked our guest writer, Alex Carlin, to send along a wrap-up piece reflecting on his experience at COP15, and looking ahead to COP16 later this year. He graciously agreed, and here are his reflections on the conference and climate change. --Lisa Graves, Executive Director

    U.S. Campaign Advisors Influence Ukraine's Election

    by Anne Landman — February 8, 2010 - 2:52pm

    Citizens in the Ukraine are starting to see American-style campaign sloganeering and other tactics in the race between their Prime Minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, and her main rival, Viktor Yanukovich, for the office of President.

    Main Source: 
    Financial Times, January 27, 2010

    Luxury Cruises Resume to Haiti: Bad PR, Good Deed, or Both?

    by Anne Landman — January 22, 2010 - 12:05pm

    Cruise purveyor Royal Caribbean stirred up a public relations storm last week after it resumed taking vacationing tourists to its luxury Haitian beach resort, Labadee, located just 100 miles from the shocking scenes of rubble, suffering and desperation brought by the earthquake.

    Main Source: 
    Dallas Morning News, January 22, 2010

    Credit Card Companies Profit Off Tragedy in Haiti

    by Anne Landman — January 16, 2010 - 2:39pm

    Many relief organizations are soliciting donations to help victims of the earthquake in Haiti by using hotlines and Web sites that prompt people to use their credit cards. While most of the money people give will make it to the designated organizations, credit card companies are charging a two to three percent "transaction fee" or "charity processing fee" that gets subtracted from the donations.

    Main Source: 
    Huffington Post, January 14, 2010

    450 Parts Per Million of Greenwash

    by Bob Burton — December 16, 2009 - 1:34pm
  • Topics: Global Warming, International

    • Whatever the outcome of the final hours of wrangling at the COP15 conference in Copenhagen, the odds are that the leaders of some of the world's richest countries will earnestly declare that they are working hard to stabilize atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations at 450 parts per million (ppm) and ensure that global average temperatures don't exceed 2 degrees centigrade.

    Will Copenhagen Resuscitate Carbon Capture and Storage?

    by Bob Burton — December 16, 2009 - 12:33pm
  • Topics: Global Warming, International, Lobbying

    • In a final end-game bid, the governments of Saudi Arabia and Australia are frantically trying to shoe-horn support for the experimental Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technology into a final agreement from the COP15 conference in Copenhagen. By the end of the first week of negotiations, promoters of the technology failed to win support from one of the major committees of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

    But just two days later, draft text prepared by the chair of one of the two 'tracks' of UNFCCC negotiations threw a lifeline to the coal and power generation industries by flagging that whether or not to include CCS in the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) as one of the most important issues requiring resolution. Including CCS projects in the CDM would provide a massive financial incentive for the development of trial CCS projects, most of which would be attached to massive new coal-fired power stations in developing countries. And this is just what groups such as the World Coal Institute and the International Emissions Trading Association have been lobbying for.

    Polluters Pose as Saviors at Copenhagen

    by Bob Burton — December 13, 2009 - 8:48pm

    Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO), a European lobbying industry watchdog, notes that the largest non-government delegation at the COP15 conference in Copenhagen is the 486-strong squad from the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA).

    Main Source: 
    Corporate Europe Observatory, December 12, 2008

    Climate Talks Turn Radioactive

    by Bob Burton — December 11, 2009 - 5:36am

    World Nuclear News, a pro-nuclear website run by the World Nuclear Association, is upbeat about the draft "Danish text" climate change agreement. The text, which was secretly drafted by the governments of the U.K., the U.S., Denmark and Australia, has provoked uproar at the COP15 conference in Copenhagen.

    Main Source: 
    World Nuclear News, December 9, 2009
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