Posts by Tara Lohan

Tara Lohan is a managing editor at AlterNet.

Are Coke's Water Conservation Intentions for Real?
Posted by Tara Lohan, AlterNet on April 17, 2008 at 11:15 AM.

Coca-Cola just began their annual shareholders meeting yesterday and they were met with resistance from activists and some shareholders when it came to their environmental commitments.

"Coke is working very hard to avoid addressing reasonable questions about product quality testing and disclosure, all the while talking about its rigorous safety and quality requirements," said Gigi Kellett, national director of Corporate Accountability International's Think Outside the Bottle campaign. "People are wondering what exactly this corporation has to hide."

It seems Coke is trying to green (or blue) its image, but anyone with any real concern about the environment and our water crisis aren't buying it. Folks have been calling on the company to report on water quality, label their water sources, and stop pumping in regions that already have limited amounts of water.

One of the areas particularly hard hit has been India. As the India Resource Center reports:

A recent study funded by Coca-Cola confirmed that the company's bottling plants contribute to severe water shortages around some of its bottling plants in India. The report also recommended the closure of a bottling plant in Kala Dera in Rajasthan and cautioned Coca-Cola on the declining water tables in Mehdiganj in Uttar Pradesh.

"Coca-Cola's own report as well as government studies have confirmed what we have been saying all along -- that the company has worsened the water crisis for thousands of people," said Nandlal Master of Lok Samiti which coordinates the community campaign against Coca-Cola in Mehdiganj.

How has Coke responded? They've come up with some initiatives that don't hold much weight. Here's the rundown from Corporate Accountability International:

Read the rest of the post on the flip side »

The Rivers Need You
Posted by Tara Lohan, AlterNet on March 12, 2008 at 2:13 PM.

Have a special place in your heart for a river in your hometown or somewhere in the world? If you do, get on board with the International Day of Action for Rivers, which is officially March 14 (although it kicks off with a great Bay Area event on March 13).

And if the state of our rivers hasn't crossed you mind lately -- it should. Because our water and food supplies, and the biodiversity and many of the recreational opportunities that we've come to appreciated, rely on rivers.

Our rivers are being dammed, drained, and reconfigured at the whim of governments, power companies, and developer -- threatening priceless ecosystems.

So, let's do something about it. Join International Rivers this week and the hundreds of world-wide actions that will be taking place.

Here's what IR says about the event:

The International Day of Action Against Dams: For Rivers, Water, and Life is the next step in strengthening the international movement. Our aim is to raise our voices in unison against destructive water development projects, reclaim the health of our rivers and watersheds, and demand the equitable and sustainable management of our waterways. By acting together, we will demonstrate that these issues are not merely local, but global in scope.

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World's Water Crisis Makes the Big Screen
Posted by Tara Lohan, AlterNet on March 4, 2008 at 3:00 PM.

If you want to see what the global water crisis looks like -- in the U.S., in China, in Mexico, in India, in Bolivia, in South Africa ... -- then start with FLOW: For Love of Water, the new documentary from French filmmaker Irena Salina.

The film kicked off to rave reviews at Sundance and I was able to catch its New York debut last week at a sold out screening held by the Film Society of Lincoln Center. In a nut shell, the film dramatically captures the water crisis, the current push for privatization from corporations, and the growing water justice movement that is fighting back.

Here's what the film's website says:

With an unflinching focus on politics, pollution and human rights, FLOW: For Love of Water ensures that the precarious relationship between humanity and water can no longer be ignored. While specifics of locality and issue may differ, the message is the same; water, and our future as a species, is quickly drying up. Armed with a thirst for survival, people around the world are fighting for their birthright; unless we instigate change, we face a world in which only those that can pay for their water will survive. FLOW: For Love of Water, is a catalyst for people everywhere: the time has come to turn the tide and we can't wait any longer.

While the film attempts to cover a lot of ground, one of the main points is really about privatization and drawing the link between corporate take over of municipal water systems, the lack of government funding for public water, and the bottled water industry -- all topics that are being covered in campaigns by groups actively engaged in the water justice movement -- Food & Water Watch, Corporate Accountability International, and Polaris Institute, to name a few.

One the most frequent faces seen on the film is that of Maude Barlow, an international water guru from Canada who I interviewed recently for AlterNet about her new book Blue Covenant and who also spoke with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now! last week.

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Reforestation Efforts Get Help from Book Store
Posted by Tara Lohan, AlterNet on February 14, 2008 at 6:34 PM.

As many of you know -- we're losing trees and we are losing them fast. According to The Rainforest Action Network, "An area of rainforest the size of a football field is destroyed every second of every day. Over half of all the rainforests have already disappeared."

There are myriad ways to tackle the problem, but here's a group that involved in reforestation -- iChapters.com. They're actually an on-line store where students can purchase print and digital books. For the last month they've been trying to support conservation and reforestation efforts by partnering with ChangingthePresent.org and Paso Pacifico in Central America.

Here's their project: for every eChapter or eBook purchased on their site, a tree is planted by Paso Pacifico in their reforestation efforts. The kicker is ... time is running out. The project ends tomorrow -- February 15.

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This Year Give Up Bottled Water for Lent
Posted by Tara Lohan, AlterNet on February 13, 2008 at 5:22 PM.

This week the BBC reported on a new group getting on board the "think outside the bottle" mentality -- the church.

The patriarch of Venice is urging Catholics in the Italian city to give up bottled water for the Christian fasting season of Lent.

Angelo Cardinal Scola wants them to donate the money saved to a water pipeline project in Thailand.

Apparently he has the mayor's blessing on this as well. The mayor is apparently a tap-only drinker. But their decree may be falling on deaf ears. The story reports that "Nearly all Italians drink bottled water rather than the piped stuff. The industry is worth an estimated 3.2bn euros (£2.38bn) a year to the Italian economy."

But Scola and others have good reason to for their actions and the movement against bottled water is gaining steam among environmental groups -- particularly in the U.S. and Canada where campaigns have been waged by Polaris Institute, Food and Water Watch, and Corporate Accountability International.

A recent piece in the UK's Guardian, declared that "bottled water is set to be the latest battleground in the eco war."

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How Global Warming Will Affect the Water Crisis
Posted by Tara Lohan, AlterNet on February 7, 2008 at 3:50 PM.

Here's an important heads up: Things are going to get more bleak in the U.S. when it comes to available fresh water.

Here's what the UK's Telegraph had to say:

An impending crisis in America's water supply is signalled by a study that concludes more than half of the recent decline seen in the west can be linked to human activities. Scientists have been documenting significant changes in water flow in the western United States for the past 50 years. Now it has been found that to 60 percent of the changes in river flow, snow pack and winter air temperatures in the region during this period can be attributed to human-caused climate change.

Dr Tim Barnett of the University of California, San Diego, and colleagues conclude that for the inhabitants, from Seattle to Los Angeles, the results "are not good news" and call for immediate action to secure future supplies.

The report came from the journal, Science, and it also said there would be shifts in water supply worldwide. That's the funny thing about climate change. The winners would likely be "Eurasia, Alaska, Canada, and some tropical regions," with more water. Losers, where there would be substantial decline in water availabity, would be "southern Europe, the Middle East, southern Africa and southwestern North America."

Decreasing water availablity will also have a huge affect on not just drinking water, but agriculture.

As the Telegraph reports:

We were surprised by how much and how soon these regions could suffer if we don't adapt," says study co-author Marshall Burke. "For example, our study suggests that Southern Africa could lose more than 30 percent of its main crop, maize, in the next two decades, with possibly devastating implications for hunger in the region."

Potential losses in South Asia are also significant, he added, with projected losses of 10 percent or more for many regional staples, including millet, maize and rice. "For poor farmers on the margin of survival, these losses could really be crushing," Burke says.

This information comes on the heels of a new report from India, that "two billion people face acute water shortage this century as Himalayan glaciers melt due to global warming."

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What Would You Say to Coke's Executives?
Posted by Tara Lohan, AlterNet on January 30, 2008 at 4:08 AM.

OK, if you live in U.S., you have an important choice to make. You can turn on the tap in your home and get clean, safe drinking water for virtually nothing. Or you can buy bottled water, giving your hard earned dollars to a multinational company for a product that sucks an unnecessary amount of energy and resources, and creates a ton of waste.

If you are thinking you'd like to join the growing number of folks who are waking up and "taking back the tap," then here's a great initiative to get involved with. The folks who created Tappening reusable drinking bottles are asking you to send a note in a bottle that gives your pledge to drink tap over bottled water.

The first one million empty water bottles will all be delivered to incoming Coca Cola (marketer of Dasani bottled water) CEO, Muhter Kent, on his first day on the job this July. All the messages will be posted on the Tappening educational website. Empty water bottles with their messages should be sent to "Tappening" c/o DIGO, 220 East 23rd, Street, New York, New York 10010.

Here's a chance for Coke's excecutives to hear loud and clear, the direction we want our world to be going in. If you still aren't convinced, read these quick facts below from Tappening:

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Instead of Buying a Latte, You Can Help Free Tibet
Posted by Tara Lohan, AlterNet on January 29, 2008 at 12:08 PM.

You've seen the bumper-stickers, you've seen the flags, but will Tibet ever be "free"? The answer, is yes -- with your help.

Students for a Free Tibet, in solidarity with the Tibetan people, have been fighting for their freedom and independence. But as you know, fighting for human rights in Tibet is not an easy thing. Sometimes it seems hard to make a measurable difference.

These next four days are not one of those times.

In these next four days, you can make a big difference and help Students for a Free Tibet (SFT) win $50,000 through the Facebook causes giving challenge!

The popular social-networking site Facebook (it's the new MySpace!) has mounted a giving challenge for causes on Facebook. Students for a Free Tibet (SFT) is poised to win the grand prize of $50,000!! The competition ends at 3 pm EST on Friday, Feb. 1st.

This $50,000 is critical to help SFT turn the spotlight on Tibet during the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. In the past year, SFT has unfurled a banner on Mt. Everest as a Chinese team was doing a practice summit with the Olympic torch (unbelievable, but true), had their Executive Director deported from China for blogging in Beijing about the illegal occupation of Tibet, and hung a 450 square foot banner on the Great Wall of China on the eve of the One Year Countdown to the Olympics. The Olympics are in Beijing this summer and this is an unprecedented opportunity to turn the spotlight on Tibet and the Chinese government's brutal occupation.

The giving challenge is simple: The cause that gets the most number of people to donate $10 wins the $50 grand. Feel like you don't have $10? Think about it as three lattes, two pints of beer, a movie ticket. And it can turn into $50,000 for global actions for Tibet just by giving!

There is a fierce urgency of now. SFT has already raised almost $40,000 through the generous online giving of over 1,000 Tibet supporters. With just 72 hours left, Students for a free Tibet needs our help, NOW. They are in a close-tie for first place, but if we don't help them now, they will lose. Please immediately visit the site now and donate $10.

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Historic Agreement Reached in Klamath Dam Controversy
Posted by Tara Lohan, AlterNet on January 16, 2008 at 1:51 PM.

The largest river restoration project in American history may become a reality.

Tribal, fishery, and environmental groups in California and Oregon's Klamath Basin have been trying for years to get a series of antiquated dams removed from the Klamath River -- but they've run into conflict from upstream irrigators used to getting cheap and plentiful water, and PacifiCorp, the dams' owner. (You can read more about that in my AlterNet story.)

The dams, which produce a minimal amount of electricity, were constructed in 1918 and have resulted in the loss of historic salmon runs, changes in water quality and safety of the river, and have devastated the economies of Native and fishing communities along the river and coast.

But, after over two years of talks, an alliance of 26 diverse stakeholders from the Basin has produced a draft agreement.

A representative from the Karuk tribe confirmed that: "the Klamath Settlement Group has produced a draft agreement to settle many of the key issues that have for years divided the Klamath Basin's diverse communities. ... The meetings producing the agreement were convened by the Yurok Tribe, Karuk Tribe, and Klamath Water Users Association.

According to Maria Tripp, Yurok Tribal Chair:

This is a historic moment for the Yurok people and all other Klamath Basin communities. For many generations, the Yurok people have witnessed a steady decline in the health of the river and the life that it sustains. Implementation of this agreement, coupled with removal of the four PacifiCorp dams from the Klamath River, turns the tide from degradation to restoration. These agreements will enable our children's children to have the same cultural experiences and memories of the river and fish that our families enjoyed a hundred years ago.

The Karuk's press info says that, "The proposal addresses the needs of fish and farms. It provides a reliable and adequate allocation of water to farms and wildlife refuges, addresses the need for affordable power for Klamath Project irrigators who move water between farms, wildlife refuges and to the river. At the same time more water will be made available to the lower river to for the benefit of fisheries and coastal communities. Proponents of the agreement see it as a giant leap forward in the effort to restore the entirety of the Klamath basin."

A representative of the Klamath Irrigation project, which speaks for the interests of farmers in the area, gave his support, as did Glen Spain of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations.

But there are still some pieces of the puzzle missing.

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The Funniest 'Green' Book You'll Read
Posted by Tara Lohan, AlterNet on January 14, 2008 at 5:07 PM.

There's a lot of books out there about how to green you life, but the folks at Grist, took a stab at their own version (Wake Up and Smell the Planet). And it's very, well, Grist -- which, if you aren't a regular reader of their environmental news and commentary, means it's pretty damn amusing.

It opens:

We bet we can guess what your morning routine looks like: You gently click off your solar-powered alarm clock, crawl out of your hemp sheets, don organic cotton slippers and a recycled fleece robe, and shuffle across your bamboo floors to the bathroom, where you bathe in rainwater and botanicals harvested from your own garden.

Not quite? Good

The book is a reality check of sorts for the average eco-minded individual or those looking to get more green. The narrative follows the course of the day and provides information about everything from shaving tips to car choices to kitty litter disposal. The style is fun and engaging -- and at times, even downright funny. But that's Grist's trademark. As their editor's describe the book: "It's a guide to making it through your day with your values -- and your sanity -- in tact. And it's proof that you can help the planet and have a little fun along the way." Hey, if you can't laugh at global warming, what can you laugh at, right?

And if if you think you're pretty eco-conscious already, there is still some fun facts to learn. Here's some of my favorites:

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How Green are Obama and Huckabee?
Posted by Tara Lohan, AlterNet on January 4, 2008 at 4:18 PM.

This was originally published in Grist Magazine.

Mike Huckabee is the winner of the Iowa GOP caucuses, a surprising victory that puts him at the front of the pack in the Republican presidential race -- at least until the New Hampshire primary next week. Huckabee is one of just two GOP candidates who support a cap-and-trade system to fight climate change (McCain is the other), although Huckabee hasn't come out in support of any specific emission targets.

In an interview with Grist earlier this year, Huckabee stressed the connection between his Christian faith and his desire to protect the environment.

On the Democratic side, Barack Obama is the winner. Like all of the other Democratic candidates, he's got a strong, ambitious plan to tackle climate and energy issues, which he described in an interview with Grist this summer.

For a thorough look at the winners' green stances, check out Grist's fact sheets on Huckabee and Obama.