Omega-News

05.05.2004 (Auszug)

Die Auswirkungen auf Gesundheit und Umwelt seien bisher wenig beachtet worden, führt Hilty aus. Kaum einer habe sich Gedanken über Elektroreste und Kupfer gemacht, wenn Produkte mit RFID-Tags flächendeckend im Hausmüll landen. Man schätzt, dass in einigen Jahren 20 Megatonnen an Elektroschrott pro Jahr entstehen werden. Weiterhin bestehe ein Aufklärungsbedarf hinsichtlich der Auswirkungen der nicht-ionisierenden Strahlung (NIS), also Elektrosmog. Und nicht zuletzt die Ängste der Bürger, RFID ermögliche die totale Überwachung, müssen ernst genommen und thematisiert werden, um die Weiterentwicklung der Transponder- Technologie nicht zu gefährden. Ungeklärt sei auch, wer das Risiko der technischen Komplexität trage, die mit RFID-Systemen eingeführt werde. „Wer ist für Schäden durch Fehlfunktionen und Systemausfälle verantwortlich?“ fragt Hilty am Ende seines Vortrages. Er appelliert an die Hersteller, Produkte mit RFID zu kennzeichnen, Kunden über Verwendung der Daten zu informieren und offene statt proprietäre Standards zu fordern.

http://www.portel.de/news/view_redsys_artikel.asp?id=3531

Quelle: http://www.buergerwelle.de/body_newsletter_70504.html

Starmail - 7. Mai, 18:41

Satellite data confirms climate change

Global warming anomaly may succumb to microwave study.

6 May 2004

QUIRIN SCHIERMEIER

This article is from the news section of the journal Nature

For years, climate researchers have struggled with an apparent discrepancy in the data on global warming: temperatures in the lower atmosphere have been rising far slower than models predict, given how fast the Earth’s surface is heating.

The discrepancy has been central to the arguments of sceptics about global warming. But according to a study in this issue of Nature1 it can be explained by interactions between the troposphere - the first 11 km of the atmosphere - and the stratosphere above it.

In the study, a team from the University of Washington at Seattle and the Air Resources Laboratory of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), based in Maryland, analysed microwave emissions from the atmosphere. The emissions were recorded between 1979 and 2001 by NOAA’s polar orbiting satellites. The data can be used to deduce temperatures in different layers of the atmosphere. And the study finds that stratospheric cooling, a known effect of greenhouse gases,appears to account for discrepancies between temperature trends on the ground and in the troposphere.

The team, led by Qiang Fu, an atmospheric researcher at the University of Washington, subtracted the impact of such cooling from data on the stratosphere and performed a statistical analysis, which found temperature trends consistent with observed warming on the surface and the predictions of climate models.

The finding is “a stunningly elegant and accurate method of clarifying global trends”, says Kevin Trenberth, head of the climate analysis section at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder,Colorado.

But it does not impress John Christy, director of the Earth System Science Center at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, whose work established the inconsistency between temperature trends on the surface and in the troposphere2. “You cannot eliminate the stratospheric influence with statistical tools alone,” he says. “If you want to know precisely what happens you need physical measurements.” He says that Fu has overcorrected for the impact of the stratosphere in his analysis.

Other climate scientists welcomed the new findings. “This is the answer - I wish we had recognized it ourselves,” says John Wallace, an atmospheric researcher also at the University ofWashington, who chaired a 2000 survey on reconciling global warming discrepancies for the US National Academies.

The study should be noted by policymakers who justify lack of action on global warming by citing scientific uncertainty, says Wallace. But he is not optimistic about how many minds will be changed. “Single scientific discoveries have little impact in the political arena,” he says. NOAA officials declined to comment on the political implications of the study.

The research comes just after a report from the Pew Center on Global Climate Change predicted that global warming could shrink the US economy.

But neither economic nor scientific analyses are likely to affect US climate change policy, says Henry Jacoby, director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change. “After the Kyoto fiasco, the US administration began to ask for advice from all sides,” he says.“But unfortunately it has never taken the advice it received.”

References

1. Qiang, F., Johanson, C. M., Warren, S. G. & Seidel, D. J. Nature, 429, 55 - 57, doi:10.1038/nature02524 (2004). |Article|
http://www.nature.com/doifinder/10.1038/nature02524
2. Science, 247, 1558 - 1662, (1990). |Homepage|
http://www.sciencemag.org

© Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2004

http://www.nature.com/nsu/040503/040503-5.html

Informant: NHNE

Starmail - 7. Mai, 18:07

Gesteuerte Demokratie?

Wie neoliberale Eliten die Politik beeinflussen

25.- 27. Juni 2004, Frankfurt am Main

Einleitung

Neoliberale und wirtschaftliche Eliten nehmen immer stärkeren Einfluss auf Politik und Öffentlichkeit. In die Debatte um die "Reformen" der letzten Monate haben sie massiv neoliberal geprägte Ideen einbringen und verankern können. Auf der anderen Seite werden selbst kleine Ansätze für mehr Umweltschutz oder Gerechtigkeit von Wirtschaftsverbänden und Industrie blockiert, wo es nur geht - sei es die EU-Chemikalienpolitik, die Bürgerversicherung oder jüngst der Emissionshandel.

Während der Streit um die "Reformen" entbrannt ist, bleiben die eingesetzten Einflussstrategien und Machtstrukturen weitgehend unbeachtet. Der Kongress "Gesteuerte Demokratie?" soll das ändern und eine überfällige gesellschaftliche Debatte anstoßen. Denn die medialen Kampagnen der Arbeitgeberverbände und anderer Lobbies hebeln eine faire öffentliche Debatte aus und schädigen die Demokratie. Mit ihnen soll eine Politik mehrheitsfähig gemacht werden, die auf Werte wie soziale Gerechtigkeit oder Ökologie keine Rücksicht nimmt.

Der Kongress "Gesteuerte Demokratie?" nimmt diese Interessen, Einflusskanäle und Methoden unter die Lupe. Diskussionsrunden, Vorträge, Foren und Workshops beleuchten Akteure und Themenfelder, analysieren Strategien und stellen neue Ansatzpunkte für mehr Demokratie und eine kritischere Öffentlichkeit vor. Der Kongress soll ein breites Spektrum gesellschaftlicher Initiativen, Organisationen und Bewegungen zusammenbringen.

http://www.gesteuerte-demokratie.de/
Programm unter:
http://www.gesteuerte-demokratie.de/programm.htm

Nachricht von Sven Giegold

Starmail - 7. Mai, 16:37

6
Mai
2004

KEINE SCHWEINEREIEN MEHR! - STOP LUGGING AROUND OUR PIGS!

Bitte in alle Netze !

ECOTERRA Intl. ( http://www.ecoterra.org.uk ) unterstützt diese Aktion:

Millionen deutsche Schweine müssen jedes Jahr umziehen nach Italien und Spanien eine Reise von mehr als 30 Stunden, ohne Platz, Klimaanlage und vernünftige Pausen. Um im sonnigen Süden fettgemästet oder geschlachtet zu werden. Und als Scheiben roher Schinken wieder zurückgeschickt zu werden nach Deutschland.

Solche Schweinereien lassen wir uns nicht mehr gefallen! Auch Rinder und Schafe sollen nicht länger als 6 Stunden (oder 400 Kilometer) durch Europa kutschiert werden. Die gerade gegründete Europäische Grüne Partei braucht hierfür Ihre Unterschrift! Bitte Vordruck in der Anlage (ist virusfrei) verwenden.

Vordruck siehe unter:
http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/keine_schweinereien_mehr.doc

Sehr geehrter Herr Fischler,

Der Entwurf der Europäischen Verfassung gibt Europäischen Bürgerinnen und Bürgern das Recht um mit 1 Million Unterschriften ein Thema auf die Europäische Tagesordnung zu setzen. Dem möchten wir vorausgreifen und Sie hiermit bitten, Schluß zu machen mit unnötig langen Tiertransporten. Wir fragen Sie, ein Gesetz auszuarbeiten das Tiertransporte auf 6 Stunden und 400 Kilometer beschränkt und die Kontrolle dieser Bestimmungen garantiert.

ECOTERRA Intl.
For Natural Life on Earth!

und/and

STOP LUGGING AROUND OUR PIGS!

Pls distribute wide and far !

1.000.000 signatures needed of EU citizens to force the EU to take the initiative for new legislation

ECOTERRA Intl. ( http:www.ecoterra.org.uk ) supports this campaign:

STOP LUGGING AROUND OUR PIGS!

Tightly packed together millions of pigs yearly undergo the more than 30 hours¹ trip from Northern Europe to Spain and Italy. To be fattened or slaughtered upon arrival. And brought back to the North in slices raw ham.

European citizens don't take it anymore that their pigs, cows and sheep are victims of abuse. The future European constitution gives them the right to transform their anger in severe rules: with one million signatures they will be able force the EU to take the initiative for new legislation. Green parties all over Europe support them wholeheartedly by collecting signatures.

Please see and use the (virus free) form:
http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/stop_lugging_around_our_pigs.doc

Dear Mr. Fischler,

Anticipating on my constitutional right* to put a subject on the European agenda together with 1 million co-Europeans, I ask you to put an end to the unnecessary lugging around of animals and therefore to prepare a law that reduces transport of livestock to 6 hours and 400 kilometers and guarantees a waterproof control of the observance of the rules.

ECOTERRA Intl.
For Natural Life on Earth!

Starmail - 6. Mai, 23:41

Study Finds Top Air Polluters Closely Tied to Bush Administration

May 06, 2004

The nation's top 50 polluting power plants are owned by corporations that are tightly allied with the Bush Administration both as major campaign contributors and in conducting pollution policymaking, according to a new study released yesterday. Conducted by two nonprofit, nonpartisan groups--the Environmental Integrity Project and Public Citizen--the study utilized data from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI).

Ranking the polluters based on their emissions of mercury, sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide, the report finds that sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide pollution actually increased from 2002-2003, thereby expanding risks of asthma attacks and lung ailments.

According to the report, America's Dirtiest Power Plants: Plugged into the Bush Administration, the firms cited in the study, along with their trade associations, met at least 17 times with Vice President Cheney's energy task force.

The report found that since 1999, the 30 largest utility companies owning the majority of the 89 dirtiest power plants in the study have contributed $6.6 million to the Bush presidential campaigns and the Republican National Committee. The 30 companies also hired at least 16 lobbying or law firms that have raised at least $3.4 million more for the Bush campaigns.

"It is no coincidence that a wholesale assault on the Clean Air Act is taking place today," said Eric Schaeffer, who founded EIP after resigning in early 2002 from his post as director of EPA's Office of Regulatory Enforcement, in protest of the administration's rollback of environmental protections. "This is a well-connected industry that is absolutely intent on preserving its 'right' to foul the air regardless of the consequences to the American people."

The study ranked the top 50 polluters for each of the three emissions (mercury, SO2, CO2). Because several companies were in the top 50 for more than one pollutant, the list totaled 89 power plants. Of those 89, some 47 have either been sued or placed under investigation by the EPA for violating the Clean Air Act's New Source Review requirement, under which plants that upgrade or expand must add expensive new clean technology.

Last August the EPA stirred a huge controversy by relaxing requirements for New Source Review, exempting many plants from the law's pollution control requirements. A federal court stayed the new rules, but as the report notes, "The result of the administration's policy, coupled with the program's current status in legal limbo, is that many of these companies have either had the cases against them undermined or simply dropped by the Bush Adminstration."

The study lists five former executives or lobbyists for the electric utility industry who have been placed in important regulatory posts in the Bush administration. One is assistant administrator of EPA's Office of Air and Radiation, another is counsel to that office, and a third is deputy administrator of EPA. A fourth is now in charge of all government lawsuits against coal-fired power plants, and the fifth helped write national energy policy as assistant secretary at the Department of Energy.

The full report is available at

http://www.environmentalintegrity.org

Source: http://www.bushgreenwatch.org/mt_archives/000112.php

Starmail - 6. Mai, 16:30