Facebook Removes March Against Monsanto Event

By Lauren Berlekamp / Ecowatch

Facebook has been accused of being a facade for free speech as it has been known to censor controversial content. For example, earlier this year, Mark Zuckerberg was called out for practicing censorship when a Facebook ad by CREDO Mobile was pulled for criticizing his financial and political ties to the Keystone XL pipeline. 

The group March Against Monsanto announced yesterday on their Facebook page that Facebook removed an event page promoting a rally in St. Louis, MO, where the biotech giant is headquartered.

 

Circus Lions Decide They’re Not Going to Take It Anymore

from Dangerous Minds

This is exactly why I hate the circus. Torture wild animals all day long so they’ll perform neato little tricks for human entertainment! No thanks.

I remember a school trip to Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus when I was kid. We watched a caravan of polar bears and grizzly bears shuttled out on the main floor in teeny-tiny cages. It was one of the bleakest things I’ve ever witnessed. The bears’ eyes were full of sadness, confusion and mostly… depression. 

Whilst I sincerely hope the lion tamer is okay (the lions attack him in the video), what did he honestly expect was going to happen to him—eventually—after years and years of whipping these wild beasts? A lion is going to lion, buddy. If someone tortures you for years, when you see your shot, you’re gonna take it and that’s what these lions did. Don’t support circuses that “employ” animals with your money.

Warning: While the footage is disturbing, it proves my point.

Via reddit

Tahltan Activists Serve Fortune Minerals with Eviction Notice

Protest over Coal Mine at Mt.Klappan (Photo: Skeena Watershed Coalition)

by John Ahni Schertow / Intercontinental Cry

On Wednesday night, citizens of the Tahltan Nation served Fortune Minerals Limited with a “24-hour eviction notice” informing the company that it must vacate the Tahltan’s unceded traditional territory. Although the 24-hour deadline has now passed, the Tahltan activists say they have no intention of backing down.

The action was a direct response to Fortune Mineral’s infringement on a hunting camp located near the site where the company has set up a small camp of its own. As reported by Allison Bench of CFTK TV, the hunters complained that a helicopter was scaring away all the animals. The activists, who identified themselves as members of the “Klabona Keepers” Elders Society, decided that enough was enough.

U.S. Navy to Increase Sonar Training and Underwater Detonations Despite Injury to Marine Mammals

from Natural Resources Defense Council

The U.S. Navy has indicated that it intends to disregard the California Coastal Commission’s (CCC) recommendations to mitigate the harmful effects of Navy sonar and offshore training exercises on the state’s marine mammals. In a letter dated July 31, the Navy responded to the CCC’s March objection, which concluded that the Navy’s planned training and testing activities in Southern California would not be consistent with California coastal law.

Tense Situation in Tibet After Crackdown on Mine Protests

by Yeshe Choesang / Tibet Post

Emerging reports from Tibet say over hundred Tibetans were injured and one man committed suicide in Yulshul County, Kham region of eastern Tibet, after a massive crackdown carried out by armed Chinese military forces to disperse Tibetans peacefully protesting against diamond mining in the region.

“The protestors were severely beaten by Chinese security forces with gun butts and hurling tear gas to disperse the peaceful protesting against diamond mining in Yulshul County in eastern Tibet. The situation remains tense in the county, as there is a growing anger over the severe crackdown,” sources said.

Statement from Grand Jury Resister Jerry Koch

from Jerry Resists Facebook Page

Jerry’s first statement from inside:

First and foremost, I want to thank everyone who has supported me in so many ways these past three months. It has been a hell of a ride thus far, full of sudden transfers and inexplicable delays. In the face of all that, I’m doing all right, although I’d like to see the sun more and truly miss the color green. I miss my friends and my loved ones, and I’m looking forward to the day when I can finally rejoin you all in the land of the living. But I am holding strong. I do not know how much longer the State plans to keep me separated from my family and friends, but I will not bend.

UK Green Party MP Among Dozens Arrested in Balcombe Anti-Fracking Protest

by Fiona Harvey and Peter Walker / The Guardian

The UK’s only Green party MP, Caroline Lucas, was among dozens of anti-fracking protesters arrested on Monday as a “day of action” saw thousands of people take part in demonstrations at sites across England.

Hundreds of activists blockaded the Balcombe oil drilling site in Sussex owned by the fracking company Cuadrilla, as well as its Lichfield headquarters and the offices of its PR firm in London. Demonstrators hung banners at the country home of the Conservative Lord Howells, who stirred controversy by suggesting the “desolate” north should be fracked, and attempted to put up a small wind turbine at the home of Tory MP Francis Maude, whose constituency includes Balcombe.

Amid accusations of “heavy-handed” policing, protesters at Balcombe blocked part of the site road but were driven back by police. Sussex police did not comment, or confirm the number of arrests.

Real ‘Avatar’ Tribe Deals Fatal Blow to Vedanta Mine

The Dongria Kondh have overwhelmingly rejected Vedanta’s mine in their sacred hills. © Jason Taylor/Survival

from Survival International

India’s Dongria Kondh tribe has overwhelmingly rejected plans by notorious British mining giant Vedanta Resources for an open-pit bauxite mine in their sacred Niyamgiri Hills, in an unprecedented triumph for tribal rights.

Twelve Dongria villages have now unanimously voted against Vedanta’s mine during consultations ordered by India’s Supreme Court in April 2013, because their religious, cultural and social rights would be jeopardized if mining were to go ahead.

Dongria leader Lodu Sikaka said, ‘Our God lives in open space, you keep your God locked up with a key. We won’t leave Niyamgiri. If the government and politicians ask for it we will fight.’

Proposed Elliott State Forest Land Sales Pit School Funding Against Environmental Conservation

 

Environmental activists previously staged sit-ins, road blockades and protests at Elliott State Forest. A bill passed in the Oregon Senate Monday targets tree sitters and others who interfere with state forestland management. (Thomas Boyd/The Oregonian)

By Yuxing Zheng / Oregon Live

A threatened sea bird that nests in coastal forests could impact funding for schools across the state.

Environmental activists are protesting against the proposed sale or exchange of three parcels in the Elliott State Forest, which they say are prime nesting grounds for the marbled murrelet. Three environmental groups in May 2012 filed a lawsuit that said logging in the forest would threaten the bird.

The lawsuit largely tied up logging in the forest, which state officials had originally estimated would net $25.2 million for the state’s Common School Fund over the next two years. Now, officials say the sale of the three parcels, if completed, would fetch enough to manage the forest in the current biennium without raising any money for the school fund.

JTTF Approaches Anti-Fracking Activists

from Croatan EF!

This week in Maryland, the the Joint Terrorism Task Force visited the home of an activist in Maryland, regarding the Momentive anti-fracking action on July 8, 2013 in North Carolina, and attempted to speak with their family.

“On the afternoon of Thursday August 15th, two members of the Joint Terrorism Task Force visited the homes of anti-fracking activists in the Frederick, MD. This is related to recent actions against fracking that area activists participated in during the EF! rondy. If you are also visited please let your local legal support know. More importantly, if they come to your home please do not speak to them, and of course we will do the same.”  —Some local activists