Category: RT Newswire

Contact: Alberto Saldamando
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

IITC General Counsel
Tel: (415) 641-4482
Email: alberto@treatycouncil.org

Consolidated Indigenous Shadow Report to United Nations Committee on the
Elimination of Racial Discrimination highlights Racism by United States

February 5, 2008 – The International Indian Treaty Council (IITC), in
coordination with the Western Shoshone Defense Project, submitted a
Consolidated Indigenous Shadow Report to the United Nations Committee on the
Elimination of Racial Discrimination (UNCERD) on January 6th, 2008.  The
UNCERD is the “Treaty Monitoring Body” for the International Convention on
the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD).  It monitors
compliance of the States (countries) which have ratified the Convention with
its provisions, including the United States (US).

Submissions from Indigenous Peoples, tribes, organizations and communities
from around the country were included in the report.  It highlights a range
of human rights violations and examples of racial discrimination reported by
Indigenous Peoples in the US.  These include the destruction of sacred
sites, threats to spiritual and cultural practices, environmental racism,
violence against Indigenous women, Homeland Security-promoted border and
immigration policies, Treaty rights violations, widespread discrimination in
education, health and prisoners’ rights.  Information was also included from
Indigenous Peoples in countries outside the US who are affected by US
policy. The report will be considered in the upcoming examination of the US
by the UNCERD in February in Geneva, Switzerland.

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Experts Challenge Ice Shelf Claim

Two scientists have claimed that climate change was not the only cause of the
collapse of a 500bn tonne ice shelf in Antarctica six years ago.

The 656ft (200m) thick, 1,255 sq mile (3,250 sq km) Larsen B shelf broke apart
in March 2002. But Neil Glasser of Aberystwyth University and Ted Scambos of
Colorado University claim in a new study that it had been on the brink for decades.

They argue that glaciological and atmospheric factors were also involved.

In a paper published in the Journal of Glaciology, the pair say that when Larsen B
collapsed it appeared to be the latest in a long line of victims of Antarctic summer
heatwaves linked to global warming. Researchers from the British Antarctic Survey
predicted in 1998 that several ice shelves around the peninsula were doomed because of rising temperatures in the region, but the speed with which Larsen B went shocked them in 2002.

But Prof Glasser said the dramatic event was “not as simple as we first thought”. He
acknowledged that global warming had a major part to play in the collapse, but
emphasised that it was only one of a number of contributory factors.

“Because large amounts of meltwater appeared on the ice shelf just before it
collapsed, we had always assumed that air temperature increases were to blame,” he
added. “But our new study shows that ice-shelf break up is not controlled simply by
climate.”

A number of other atmospheric, oceanic and glaciological factors are involved. “For
example, the location and spacing of fractures on the ice shelf such as crevasses and
rifts are very important too because they determine how strong or weak the ice shelf is.” Dr. Scambos, of the University of Colorado’s national Snow and Ice Data Centre, said the ice shelf had probably been in distress for decades before its demise.

“It’s likely that melting from higher ocean  temperatures, or even a gradual decline in
the ice mass of the peninsula over the centuries, was pushing the Larsen to the brink,” he added.

Story from BBC NEWS:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/wales/mid_/7231372.stm

Published: 2008/02/07 09:10:25 GMT                © BBC MMVIII

***For Immediate Release***

Contact: Emily Posner, Native Forest Network, Organizer–207-930-5232

All Charges Dropped Against Activists Harassed by Plum Creek

On Monday, February 4th, Emily Posner, Alex Lundberg and John Waters
all received notice from the Piscataquis County Prosecutors Office
that their pending criminal trespassing charges were dropped.

The three are volunteers from Native Forest Network–Gulf of Maine
(NFN), a grass-roots statewide coalition of concerned citizens working
to conserve and restore Maine’s forest spaces-and 1 of them, an atmospheric scientist,  is also with Rising Tide North America. NFN is registered with
LURC as an intervenor in the Plum Creek rezoning proposal, and has
been participating in official hearings regarding the Seattle-based
company’s Concept Plan for the Moosehead Region. NFN supports a
stance of “No Compromise” in regards to Plum Creek’s proposed
development, claiming, “this type of project contributes to global
climate change, threatens the ecological integrity of the largest
undeveloped region east of the Mississippi River, and undermines the
rural heritage of the region.”

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 4, 2008
10:04 AM
CONTACT: Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER)
Carol Goldberg (202) 265-7337

Leaked E-Mails May Sink Arctic Offshore Lease Sales

Officials Scramble to Suppress Scientific Dissent over Bush Arctic Oil
Initiative

WASHINGTON, DC – February 4 – The Interior Department is scrambling to
stanch the flow of internal e-mails from its own scientists that undermine
the legality of its aggressive offshore oil and gas lease sales in federal
Arctic waters, according to correspondence released today by Public
Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). The e-mails belie Bush
administration claims that environmental risks were adequately considered
prior to offering tracts in the Chukchi, Beaufort and Bering Seas for
drilling.

During the past three weeks, PEER has released a series of internal e-mails
from current and former Interior scientists raising troubling questions
about how badly environmental assessments of Arctic offshore oil development
were skewed. These e-mails have fueled two new lawsuits in the past week
that threaten to stymie new lease sales and lend further support to ongoing
litigation against earlier lease sales.

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