Breaking Green – Détails, épisodes et analyse

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What if conservation efforts meant to protect our planet were actually causing significant harm to the very people who have safeguarded these lands for generations? 

On this episode of Breaking Green, we speak with founder and executive director of the Oakland Institute, Anuradha Mittal. Anuradha is an internationally renowned expert on issues of human rights, agriculture, development and conservation policies. Under Anuradha’s leadership, the Oakland Institute has unveiled land investment deals in the developing world to expose a disturbing pattern of lack of transparency, fairness and accountability. Anuradha has authored and edited numerous books and reports. Her articles and opinion pieces have been published in widely circulated newspapers and she is frequently interviewed on CNN, BBC World, CBC, ABC, Al Jazeera and National Public Radio. 

Join us as we discuss the Oakland Institute’s new report, “From Abuse to Power,” which exposes the severe human rights abuses reportedly inflicted upon Indigenous communities by “EcoGuards” — funded by prominent NGOs like the World Wildlife Fund.

We explore the deeply rooted colonial and racist undertones of the conservation industry, particularly in Africa. Discover how powerful international institutions and donor countries perpetuate a model that expels Indigenous Peoples from their ancestral lands. The conversation contrasts Western views that see humanity as a threat to nature with Indigenous perspectives that emphasize harmony with the environment.

Find Oakland Institute’s report “From Abuse to Power” here.

This podcast is produced by Global Justice Ecology Project.

Breaking Green is made possible by tax deductible donations from people like you. Please help us lift up the voices of those working to protect forests, defend human rights and expose false solutions.  

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Can converting petroleum refineries into renewable diesel production truly serve as a green alternative, or is it merely greenwashing? Join us this week on Breaking Green as we tackle this controversial issue with Gary Hughes from Biofuelwatch. Gary reveals the significant risks and threats posed by industrial bioenergy projects, including their impacts on land, forests, ecosystems, food sovereignty, and human rights. We also explore Biofuelwatch's mission and their recent victories, like opposing a geoengineering project and advocating for indigenous communities in Chile.

Is greenwashing misleading the public about what’s truly sustainable? Gary Hughes of Biofuelwatch and I uncover how fossil fuel giants exploit biofuels and renewable diesel to maintain their environmentally damaging practices. These companies gain carbon credits while the global south suffers deforestation and heavy pesticide use in soy cultivation. We discuss the insidious nature of climate colonialism and the influence of neoliberal economic expansion on climate policy, especially in California.

In the final segment, we question the ethics and practicality of solar geoengineering as a climate solution. With Gary's insights into the billionaire class's fascination with technological fixes over real emission reductions, we critique the normalization of geoengineering and its potential catastrophic impacts. We also highlight the environmental crises in Chile, from wildfires to severe flooding, and the ongoing efforts of Global Justice Ecology Project to advocate for environmental justice. Tune in for a engaging conversation on the socio-environmental challenges we face and the urgent need for genuine solutions.

This podcast is produced by Global Justice Ecology Project.

Breaking Green is made possible by tax deductible donations from people like you. Please help us lift up the voices of those working to protect forests, defend human rights and expose false solutions.  

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Or simply text GIVE to 716-257-4187

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The Pruitt Igoe housing complex in St. Louis that was built in the 1950s and infamously demolished in the 1970s has been touted by many as a cautionary tale against public housing projects. But its history is complex. In 2012 it was reported that Pruitt Igoe was in a region targeted by the Military for secret tests that were part of a radiological weapons development program. According to government documents obtained by sociologist and researcher Dr. Lisa Martino-Taylor, the Army referred to the test area a “Densely Populated Slum District.”

Now Pruitt Igoe is back in national headlines. Ben Phillips and Chester Deans, both former residents of the Pruitt Igoe housing complex, are spearheading efforts to have the government recognize its wrong doing, release more information about the its covert actions, and compensate residents of Pruitt-Igoe and surrounding areas. They hope to have residents of the area added to a bill working its way through congress that seeks to compensate residents that were exposed to radiation during cold war era production of nuclear weapons in St. louis.

In this episode of Breaking Green we will talk with Dr. Lisa Martino-Taylor, the sociologist and researcher who examined the St. Louis open-air experiments for her doctoral dissertation at the University of Missouri Columbia, and after more than a decade of research wrote a book called Behind the Fog: How the US Cold War Radiological Weapons Program Exposed Innocent Americans.

We will also talk with Ben Phillips who prior to spearheading the recent push for justice for former residents of Pruitt Igoe, received a degree in sociology from the University of Missouri at St. Louis.

Phillips had a distinguished career in public service as well as St. Louis and Missouri politics.

Ben Phillip's accomplishments include  a gubernatorial appointee to the St. Louis City board of elections commission,  a Mayoral appointment to the City of St. Louis Employees Retirement Board and serving as Presiding of the Missouri State President of the National Association of Blacks in Criminal Justice (NABCJ).

Link to Post-Dispatch story on documentary base on Pruitt Igoe experiments.

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New Zealand is a "GE Free zone" meaning that all produce grown in New Zealand can be guaranteed free of genetic engineering (GE) and GMO traits.

Companies are allowed to do research with genetically modified organisms but according to current New Zealand law such organisms must be proven safe before they are allowed for use for farming. 

Yet as New Zealand heads into its 2023 election, several national political parties are threatening New Zealand's GE free status by suggesting the revocation of its precautionary legislation. 

In this episode of Breaking Green we will talk with Claire Bleakley, president of GE Free New Zealand about this push for the dropping of this long cherished GE  free status and what and who is behind it.

Claire Bleakley is the president of GE Free New Zealand. GE Free NZ has been active in raising awareness around the dangers of genetic engineering and gene editing over the last 20 years.

 Claire and her husband live on a small organic farm in New Zealand. She became actively involved in the GE Free movement when genetically engineered animals and crops, designed to withstand a cocktail of herbicides and insecticidal toxins, were developed. 

Claire and GE Free NZ have successfully challenged in court the safety of GE animals and crops. 

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This podcast is produced by Global Justice Ecology Project.

Breaking Green is made possible by tax deductible donations from people like you. Please help us lift up the voices of those working to protect forests, defend human rights and expose false solutions.  

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Or simply text GIVE to 716-257-4187

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Marginalized communities are frequently targeted for the placement of toxic projects. Protest and community organizing has been an indispensable strategy in seeking environmental justice and fighting for those living in minority, poor and indigenous communities.

But now, so-called critical infrastructure laws are springing up around the United States in what appears to be a coordinated effort by corporate interests to muzzle protest. These laws seek to criminalize dissent and characterize peaceful protest as acts of terrorism.

On this episode of Breaking Green, we will talk with Basav Sen and Gabrielle Colchete who together authored a July article in In These Times titled, "Cop City and the Escalating War on Environmental Defenders." The story was based on a report they coauthored for the Institute for Policy Studies on the increased criminalization of protest activities.

Basav Sen joined the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), as the Climatic Justice Project Director in February 2017. Prior to joining IPS, Basav worked for about 11 years as a strategic corporate campaign researcher fo the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW). He also had experience as a campaigner against the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

Gabrielle Colchete is a Next Leaders Alum from the Institute for Policy Studies 2020 Fellowship Cohort, where she researched frontline community resistance against fossil fuel projects and the role of corporate interests in increasing state criminalization of protest activities.

Don't miss an episode and subscribe to Breaking Green wherever you get your podcasts.

This podcast is produced by Global Justice Ecology Project.

Breaking Green is made possible by tax deductible donations from people like you. Please help us lift up the voices of those working to protect forests, defend human rights and expose false solutions.  

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Or simply text GIVE to 716-257-4187

Photo of Tortuguita Memorial by Don Kimball

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Deforestation of Brazil's Amazon rainforest is a well-known threat to the world's environment, but the loss of natural biodiversity to so-called "green deserts" resulting from expanding non-native eucalyptus plantations for pulp and paper production, is a lesser known ecological and social disaster that is likely to worsen if genetically engineered trees are used.

Spearheaded by Global Justice Ecology Project, the Campaign to STOP GE Trees brought together members from the United States, New Zealand, Ireland, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom and Canada in Brazil to document the impacts and meet with communities on the front lines.

The group also met to develop plans for the international campaign to stop the commercial development of genetically engineered trees and to support and highlight opposition to pulp company Suzano's rapid expansion of industrial eucalyptus plantations, and potential use of genetically engineered (GE) eucalyptus trees modified to tolerate toxic herbicides.
 
GJEP and the Campaign met with Brazilian NGOs, indigenous and Quilombola communities and  Landless Worker Movement members in order to document and amplify the voices and concerns of rural communities on the frontlines of resisting the devastating social and ecological impacts of industrial eucalyptus plantations.

On this episode of Breaking Green, we spoke with Anne Petermann.  Petermann co- founded Global Justice Ecology Project in 2003. She is the international coordinator of the Campaign to STOP GE Trees, which she also co founded. Petermann is a founding board member of the Will Miller Social Justice Lecture Series. She has been involved in movements for forest protection and indigenous rights since 1991, and the international and national climate justice movements since 2004. She participated in the founding of the Durban group for climate justice in 2004, in Durban, South Africa, and Climate Justice Now in 2007 at the Bali Indonesia UN climate conference. She was adopted as an honorary member of the St. Francis- Sokoki band of the Abenaki in 1992 for her work in support of their struggle for state recognition. In 2000, she received the wild nature award for activist of the year.

Photo by Orin Langelle.

For more information visit: https://globaljusticeecology.org/brazil-2023/

This podcast is produced by Global Justice Ecology Project.

Breaking Green is made possible by tax deductible donations from people like you. Please help us lift up the voices of those working to protect forests, defend human rights and expose false solutions.  

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On February 3, 2023 a train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, causing an environmental disaster of historic proportions. It was a Norfolk Southern train, which was over a mile long and carrying hazardous materials, including over 100,000 gallons of vinyl chloride. Three days later, a so-called control to burn toxic materials from the crash released an unknown chemical soup into the atmosphere, which continues to affect communities for miles around. Since the derailment, many in East Palestine and neighboring communities have been struggling with the toxic impacts of the chemical contamination as well as a lack of transparency from federal and state agencies.

Background Information on Amanda Kiger

Amanda Kiger is the director of River Valley Organizing a citizens based community organization that works for a safer, cleaner and more community oriented environment in the Appalachian river valley, a region long challenged by environmental degradation. Amanda Kiger has been featured prominently in the media as her organization and members of the East Palestine community seek a meaningful response from state and federal agencies that seem more concerned with the financial well being of Norfolk Southern than the residents.

Don't miss an episode and subscribe to Breaking Green wherever you get your podcasts.

This podcast is produced by Global Justice Ecology Project.

Breaking Green is made possible by tax deductible donations from people like you. Please help us lift up the voices of those working to protect forests, defend human rights and expose false solutions.  

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Or simply text GIVE to 716-257-4187

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Ahead of a meeting of African Union Heads of States in Addis Ababa Ethiopia, numerous civil society organizations called on the African Union not to Geoengineer the African Continent.

The organizations noted that geoengineering is a false techno-fix that can only provide an excuse for the Global North to continue relying on fossil-fuel based energy generation in light of the ongoing climate emergency.

The organizations stated that  advancing geoengineering technologies distracts countries from their commitments to large emission cuts, responsible consumption and delivering over-due climate finance.

On this episode of Breaking Green we will talk with Dr. Mfoniso Antia of the Health of Mother Earth Foundation.

Dr. Antia is an environmental scientist, researcher and climate justice advocate – She holds a Master of Science Degree in Aquatic Pollution and Toxicology, and a PhD in Environmental Toxicology from the World Bank Africa Centre of Excellence in Public Health and Toxicological Research hosted by University of Port Harcourt.

She works with Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) as a Program Manager and the Project Lead, overseeing Health of Mother Earth Foundation’s learning spaces. Dr. Antia is also the Anglophone coordinator of Africa Technology Assessment Platform, a network to which Health of Mother Earth Foundation is a founding member.

She is also co-leading the Hands Off Mother Earth Africa Working Group on Geoengineering.

Don't miss an episode and subscribe to Breaking Green wherever you get your podcasts.

This podcast is produced by Global Justice Ecology Project.

Breaking Green is made possible by tax deductible donations from people like you. Please help us lift up the voices of those working to protect forests, defend human rights and expose false solutions.  

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It is 90 seconds to midnight on the Doomsday Clock. In large part due to developments in the war in Ukraine, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists  moved the hands of the infamous timepiece forward.

Just weeks earlier the Department of Energy announced the first reported controlled fusion reaction that was touted as a breakthrough for national defense and the future of clean energy.

Given the history of The Lawrence Livermore lab that conducted the experiment, there is reason for skepticism.

In this episode of Breaking Green we will talk with Dr. Helen Caldicott.

Born in Melbourne, Australia in 1938, Dr Caldicott received her medical degree from the University of Adelaide Medical School in 1961. She founded the Cystic Fibrosis Clinic at the Adelaide Children’s Hospital in 1975 and subsequently was an instructor in pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and on the staff of the Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Boston, Mass., until 1980 when she resigned to work full time on the prevention of nuclear war.

In 1971, Dr Caldicott played a major role in Australia’s opposition to French atmospheric nuclear testing in the Pacific; in 1975 she worked with the Australian trade unions to educate their members about the medical dangers of the nuclear fuel cycle, with particular reference to uranium mining.

While living in the United States from 1977 to 1986, she played a major role in re-invigorating as President,    Physicians for Social Responsibility, an organization of 23,000 doctors committed to educating their colleagues about the dangers of nuclear power, nuclear weapons and nuclear war. On trips abroad she helped start similar medical organizations in many other countries. The international umbrella group (International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War) won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985. 

Dr Caldicott has received many prizes and awards for her work, including the Lannan Foundation’s 2003 Prize for Cultural Freedom and twenty one  honorary doctoral degrees. She was personally nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Linus Pauling – himself a Nobel Laureate. The Smithsonian has named Dr Caldicott as one of the most influential women of the 20th Century.

Video of Caldicott's description the effects of Nuclear War.

Don't miss an episode and subscribe to Breaking Green wherever you get your podcasts.

This podcast is produced by Global Justice Ecology Project.

Breaking Green is made possible by tax deductible donations from people like you. Please help us lift up the voices of those working to protect forests, defend human rights and expose false solutions.  

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In December 2022, at the 15th Conference of the Parties of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity in Montreal, 188 countries adopted a new Global Biodiversity Framework to supposedly create strategies to halt biodiversity loss.

The framework has been touted as a sweeping agreement to protect biodiversity by turning 30 percent of the planet’s land and oceans into protected areas by 2030.

While the agreement mentions partnerships with indigenous peoples, however, numerous environmental and human rights groups have criticized it for placing the greatest burden on indigenous peoples, least responsible for biodiversity loss, instead of addressing the real cause of the crisis. 

Pointing to research that shows that 80 percent of biodiversity is found on indigenous lands, Survival International criticized the agreement arguing that the best way to protect biodiversity is to protect the land rights of indigenous peoples instead of removing these communities from these new protected areas and banning those who have historically lived in harmony with the land from their ancestral homes and livelihoods. 

On this episode of Breaking Green we will talk with Fiore Longo of Survival International- an organization formed in 1969 to promote the rights of indigenous peoples as contemporary societies with a right to self-determination. 

Fiore Longo is a campaigner at Survival International, the global movement for tribal peoples and is the director of Survival International France and Spain. She also coordinates Survival’s conservation campaign, and has visited many communities in Africa and Asia that face human rights abuses in the name of conservation.

Don't miss an episode and subscribe to Breaking Green wherever you get your podcasts.

This podcast is produced by Global Justice Ecology Project.

Breaking Green is made possible by tax deductible donations from people like you. Please help us lift up the voices of those working to protect forests, defend human rights and expose false solutions.  

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Or simply text GIVE to 716-257-4187

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