Code Red: Coke Bust Goin' Down
Australia - Soda machines in Sydney didn't wait for Y2K to go haywire. Last summer thousands of "smart" vending machines installed throughout the city started making crank calls. The machines were designed to dial a resupply company whenever they ran out of cold cans. Instead, the machines started dialing the city's emergency numbers, jamming the lines to police, firefighters, hospitals, and ambulance services. An exasperated emergency worker complained that the problem was "getting worse and spreading to other electronic devices."

Crops Clipped. Good, Lord!
UK - Last August, more than 40 white-suited protesters were arrested after trying to attack a field of genetically modified maize at Home Farm, Spital-in-the-Street, Lincolnshire. Farmer Adam Duguid said the activists had attacked the wrong field. According to Duguid, only 23 acres of his 50-acre farm were dedicated to GAC (genetically altered crops - pronounced "gack!") maize. The protesters ripped up six acres of normal maize worth about £2,000 ($3,200). That same week, 31 activists - including Greenpeace Executive Director Lord Peter Melchett - were arrested after pulling up a crop of GAC sugar beets in Norfolk. (Not only is the Eton-educated Melchett a member of the House of Lords, his father headed British Steel and his great-grandfather founded the ICI chemical empire.)

CIA Chief's Plan to Nuke Russia
Russia - The Russian nuclear agency Minatom and the Non-Proliferation Trust (NPT), a private US company, are planning to dump 6,000 tons of nuclear fuel at the Mayak plutonium facility in central Russia. (The NPT previously tried to create an international nuclear waste dump on Wake Island in the Pacific.) The NPT is owned by executive Alex Copson, former CIA Director William Webster, retired Admiral Bruce Demars, and Daniel Murphy, a former chief of staff to President Bush. "The project is a violation of several Russian laws which ban the import of high-level waste into Russia," says Vladimir Slivyak of Russia's Socio-Ecological Union (SEU). The project also violates a US law banning shipments of nuclear fuel to countries lacking Agreement for Cooperation pacts with the US. The SEU is outraged that the Natural Resources Defense Council is supporting a plan that "promotes the interest of the western nuclear industry." Michael Mariotte of the Nuclear Information and Resource Service [NIRS, 1424 16th St., NW, #404, Washington, DC 20036, (202) 328-0002, www.nirs.org] also has condemned the scheme as "the most hazardous and incomprehensible atomic waste transport program yet contemplated."

A New Car vs. a Stable Planet
US -The UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reminds us that stabilizing Earth's whacked-out climate will require at least a 60 percent cut in global carbon dioxide emissions. The typical US home generates 11.7 tons of CO₂ annually. Acting on this data, Randy Udall, director of Colorado's Community Office for Resource Efficiency, retrofitted his home with a solar water heater, a 1.8 kW photovoltaic system and an energy-efficient refrigerator. Udall's annual power use fell from 7,900 to 2,100 kWh and his CO₂ burden dropped 73 percent. What would it cost to match these cuts and meet the IPCC's Earth-saving target? According to Udall: $15,800 per home. In other words, you can save the planet for the price of a new car.

Pollute and Die!
Oman - Local authorities are stepping up surveillance to identify vessels that pollute Oman's beaches by discharging oil at night. BBC World News reports that the United Arab Emirates has a more direct approach - anyone caught dumping oil is put to death.

Hydrogen in Your Tank
UK - Royal Dutch/Shell is preparing to move to hydrogen as "the fuel of choice" for the new millennium. While less efficient than gasoline, hydrogen is lighter and its primary combustion by-product is water vapor. Ford Motor Company Chairman William Clay Ford, Jr., plans to have zero-emission fuel-cell-powered cars "for sale in 2004." DaimlerChrysler is gearing up to build 100,000 fuel-cell cars a year.

Seed-Planters Beaten
Kenya - Environmentalists were alarmed to learn that most of the 2,000-acre Karura Forest had been secretly sold to 67 different developers linked to Kenya's ruling elite. In January 1999, when Goldman Award Winner Wangari Maathai led a protest march to the forest and attempted to plant tree seedlings, she was severely beaten by security guards. Maathai's subsequent "seedling marches" to the forest have grown to include Green activists, opposition politicians, students, Kenyan professionals and Catholic Church leaders. The government has refused to identify the owners of the 67 development companies.

Outlaw Riders Strike Again
US - Scores of "riders" hidden in last year's Senate Appropriations Bill were written to slash environmental protections and benefit timber, mining, oil, gas and ranching interests. Most of the riders were written by just three politicians who received more than $850,000 in campaign contributions from timber, mining, oil, gas and ranching interests - Republican Senators Larry E. Craig (Idaho), Slade Gorton (Washington) and Ted Stevens (Alaska). Each year, legislative riders wreak havoc on the public interest. Until very recently, such shenanigans were banned under Senate Rule XVI, which kept politicians from tacking last-minute laws onto spending bills. Rule XVI was shoved aside in 1995 in the GOP's attempt to destroy the Endangered Species Act. It's time to rein in these outlaw riders. It's time to bring back Senate Rule XVI!

Protect the Imataca
Venezuela - Plans to build a powerline through the world-renowned Imataca Forest Reserve and Canaima National Park (a World Heritage Site and home to Angel Falls, the planet's highest known waterfall) may have run into a brick wall of global outrage. After a letter-writing campaign launched by Global Response [PO Box 7490, Boulder, CO 80306, (303) 444-0306, fax: 449-9794, www.globalresponse.org], a Venezuelan government official waving a fistful of letters confronted the state power company and declared: "We cannot do irresponsible things, because the eyes of the world will watch us." The government subsequently announced a freeze on new mining concessions in the Imataca.

Gimme an "F"!
US - In November 1998, voters in Arcata, California overwhelmingly passed Measure F, an initiative calling for a public debate on the question: "Can we have democracy when large corporations wield so much power and wealth under law?" Historian Howard Zinn saluted the move, noting that "the special privileges given to corporations are a threat to democracy." Given recent mega-mergers, Zinn added, "It is more important than ever ... for legislative bodies to exercise their rightful powers of control over corporations." California's 1879 Constitution clearly stated that "the exercise of the police power of the state shall never be so abridged or constituted as to permit corporations to conduct their business in such a manner as to infringe the rights of individuals or the general well-being of the State." Democracy Unlimited [PO Box 27, Arcata, CA 95518, www.monitor.net/ democracyunlimited] says that corporate lawyers have quietly managed to excise such language from most State Constitutions over the past 100 years. Measure F instructs the city to establish "programs which ensure democratic control over corporations conducting business within the city of Arcata." Noam Chomsky stated that Arcata's "citizens' inquiry should serve as a model for many other communities."

That Sinking Feeling
Pakistan - The Kirthar National Park is Pakistan's largest wildlife sanctuary. After the country's wildlife officials rejected a bid to open the reserve to oil drilling, Pakistan's Director General of Petroleum barreled ahead and invited three oil companies to start sinking wells. Shell Oil quickly announced the discovery of a productive gas field.

US to Fund Enron's Pipe Dream
Bolivia - Shell Bolivia and US-based Enron have taken heat for plans to carve a 98-foot-wide, 391-mile-long gas pipeline through the Chiquitano Forest, the largest dry tropical forest on Earth. Now the World Wildlife Fund, Wildlife Conservation Society and the Missouri Botanical Gardens have drawn fire for backing the $570 million project. The two oil giants gave the US enviros and two Bolivian groups a $20 million "conservation fund" to administer. US taxpayers will help pay for this greenhouse-gas-promoting project through a $200 million loan guarantee from the Overseas Private Investment Corporation. More than 60 enviro groups from 25 countries have condemned the OPIC loan.

Sioux's Sweet Suit
US - Over the last 100 years, the Homestake Mining Co. has dumped 100 million tons of cyanide- and arsenic-laced mine tailings into South Dakota's Whitewood Creek and the Cheyenne and Missouri rivers. Homestake's Lead Mine was the most productive (and polluting) gold mine in the US. In 1997, the Cheyenne River Sioux and the US government joined forces to sue Homestake. In 1999, Homestake agreed to pay a fine of $5 million, with $4 million dedicated to the restoration of the poisoned waterways. "This is the first time Homestake has ever had to pay anything for any of the damage they've caused," said Tribal Attorney Steven Emery. It also marks the first time the Sioux have had land (400 acres in the Black Hills) returned through the US courts.

The Army is MOBILized
Equatorial Guinea - Ninety percent of this West African nation's oil wealth is produced by the US multinational Mobil, which has been pumping crude from offshore fields since 1996. In Equatorial Guinea, local economist Fernando Abago has observed, "An opulent minority sails in a sea of misery." (Since making that observation, Abago has received death threats and has gone into hiding.) Despite the oil wealth, few citizens have electricity or running water. According to Drillbits & Tailings [Project Underground, www.moles.org], health and education systems are decrepit, disease is rampant and life expectancy is 48 years. Worst off are the Bubi people on the island of Bioko. Drillbits reports that the ruling elite's army is harassing the Bubi "with the generous financial support of Mobil ... and the discreet military advice of the French government."

Solar Power on the Horizon
US - Since July 1998, southern California has been drawing more than 25 megawatt-hours of power from a unique solar-power generator set (genset) in Huntington Beach. Stirling Energy Systems and Boeing plan to begin production on similar Boeing Dish Stirling gensets within two years and hope to be producing 1,000 units a month soon thereafter. Nevada plans to be producing several gigawatts of solar power with these gensets by 2010.

A Chile Reception
Chile - Several years ago, Esprit Co-founder Doug Tompkins retired from the fashion front, resettled in Chile and put his money to work buying land to protect it from development. Tompkins' plan to purchase Huinay, a key 125-square-mile parcel of land owned by the Catholic diocese of Valparaiso, was dashed in 1999. Over the years, Tompkins had provided financial support to local activists fighting plans to build power-dams on Chile's Bio Bio River. The national power company, ENDESA, found a way to strike back. It purchased Huinay for $2 million.

A New Kind of Outcast
UK - In the past, Great Britain sent its criminals and outcasts to Australia. Now the Empire has a £6 billion [$9.6 billion] plan to ship casks of unwanted nuclear waste to Australia where it hopes to build the world's largest atomic dump. Britain has the world's second-largest pile of nuclear garbage. Guess who's first.

Globalizing Repression
Geneva - In 1998, 30,000 Danish police were dispatched to confront demonstrators who had traveled from all over Europe to protest the shipment of nuclear waste into Arhus. Within months, the European Union (EU) Joint Home Affairs Council secretly agreed to establish a Statewide Information Service (SIS) to keep track of "sizable groups" crossing the borders of the 15 EU countries. The SIS was promoted as a means to deal with drug dealers and British soccer hooligans, but according to Green Pepper magazine [PO Box 94115, 1090 GC Amsterdam, The Netherlands], the SIS also applies to "legal social gatherings, as well as political or environmental protest." The SIS is based on Britain's notorious Public Order law, which defines conflict as "any act that is contrary to the general public's perception of normality ... [or] has the potential to adversely affect the status quo." Any protestor whose name winds up on the SIS register can be halted at any EU border, Green Pepper reports. "Your right to protest outside your own country is removed." The SIStematic suppression of civil assembly and free speech went unreported by the European media until European activists discovered and published the documents.

All Aboard the Mega-Titanic
US - US entrepreneur Norman Nixon is building a mile-long ship that could offer sanctuary from economic and climatic meltdown to any landlubbers rich enough to fork over anywhere from $138,000 to $7 million for a space on the gargantuan vessel. Nixon's Freedom Ship [www.freedomship.com] would tower 25 stories high. It would house 50,000 select survivors in 17,000 condominiums. Residents would be served by 3,000 businesses and guarded by 2,000 cops. Once the $6 billion ship sets sail, it would never return to land. Nearly 3,000 well-heeled prospective live-aboards already have expressed interest - some clearly recognizing the tax advantages of declaring their residence on the Freedom Ship. The ship will have a golf course, bowling alleys, theaters, as well as an onboard airport, 200 acres of parks and possibly its own currency. Nixon says he wants a "real" community, not just a refuge for the mega-rich, but Florida's St. Petersburg Times reports that his deck plan includes a "private floor for celebrities that is off-limits to the public." Norwegian Cruise Lines reportedly plans to build similar "residential vessels" with spaces available (by invitation only) for $1 million.

US Profits vs. AIDS in Africa
Africa - The World Health Organization reports that within the decade, 22.5 million Africans will die from AIDS and 40 million children will be orphaned. But when South Africa passed a law to promote local production of low-cost AIDS medicines, the US filed a complaint under the World Trade Organization, claming that providing low-cost AIDS treatment to stricken Africans violated the patents of US drug companies, which stand to make billions from the sales of expensive versions of the drugs. "How can the world stand by and let 20 million people die, and do nothing?" asked former US Congressmember Ron Dellums. Dellums has called for the US to mount a $1 billion AIDS Marshall Plan for Africa. "The virus travels," Dellums stresses, "What makes us think we live in a cocoon? This is a great storm that can also engulf the United States." AIDS is now spreading through India. Prospects for African aid seems slim with Republicans calling for 10 percent cuts in the domestic healthcare budget.

Physicians Healing Themselves
US - "First, do no harm" is the first rule of medical practice. The doctors' group Health Care Without Harm believes that "it is ironic and deeply troubling that the medical profession ... [puts] present and future generations at risk through the use and disposal of certain medical devises." What concerns HCWH [PO Box 6806, Falls Church, VA 22040, (703) 237-2249, www.noharm.org] is medical products made with polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and mercury. More than 80 percent of IV bags and tubing are made with PVC plastics, which can leach a carcinogenic compound called DEHP into the blood. When burned, PVC products produce dioxin. HCWH is supporting a global Campaign for Environmentally Responsible Health Care and is calling on doctors to adopt readily available "FDA-approved, cost-effective alternatives." In April, 1999, Baxter International, a leading manufacturer of IV bags and medical supplies, committed itself "to exploring and developing alternatives to PVC products."

Really Rad Radishes
US - Although 77 percent of the public rejects using nuclear radiation to "preserve" food, the Food and Drug Administration wants to remove all labeling that indicates whether a food product has been zapped. The Campaign for Food Safety [CFS, 860 Highway 61, Little Marais, MI 55614, (213) 387-5122, www.purefood.org] says irradiation is "just a quick (and temporary) fix for poor slaughterhouse sanitation and a way of disposing of nuclear wastes by selling them to private industry." CFS wants nuked foods to be prominently labeled with the words "irradiation" and "irradiated" The FDA prefers the phrases "cold pasteurization" and "electronic pasteurization." As in: "The people downwind from Chernobyl succumbed to excessive cold pasteurization."

Hey! We Built the "Death Star"!
US - The 130-ton "target chamber" for the National Ignition Facility was lowered into a 36-foot deep hole last year as work continued on a controversial US plan to use 192 focused laser beams to trigger "virtual" nuclear explosions inside the 30-foot-wide chamber. On June 11, Lawrence Livermore Lab Chief Mike Campbell proudly compared the target chamber to the "Death Star" from Star Wars. The watchdog group Tri-Valley CAREs [2582 Old First St., Livermore, CA 94550, (925) 443-7148, www.igc.org/tvc] reports that French and British scientists will eventually use the facility. "Generally speaking, when one nation shares information and technology that could allow another nation to upgrade its nuclear arsenal, that is called nuclear proliferation."

Frankenfood-Free Zealand
New Zealand - The Waiheke Island Community Council has declared its intention to become a Genetic Engineering-Free Zone. Waiheke Island, which lies off Auckland, New Zealand, hopes to see the "GE-Free Zone" expand across all of New Zealand, thus making it the world's first GE-Free country. "Because of its island status," supporters argue, "New Zealand could become the one and only green and clean supplier of safe food for an increasingly toxified world."

Building Tensions
France -The European Parliament's new building in Strasbourg (it already has one in Brussels) cost $400 million (about one-fifth of the EU's operating budget). The EU's 47-member Green delegation wanted the building constructed from recycled material and equipped with renewable energy technologies. "Unfortunately," Green representative Isabelle Zerrouk told BBC World News, "nobody listened to us." The Greens protested at the official opening by offering solar-heated coffee, tea, and croissants. The sprawling edifice contains 1,133 offices and is so vast that one Dutch parliamentarian brought his bike to work so he could commute down the corridors. Each MP has a luxurious office equipped with a $12,000 shower - although the building is emptied and closed each night "for security reasons." The office will be used only one week per month and will be closed in August.

Expand NATO; Make Billions
US - In 1989, President George Bush promised Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev that the US would not expand NATO further if Russia would accept Germany's NATO membership. President Clinton broke this promise. The reason? Expanding NATO means money. Alice Slater, President of the Global Resource Action Center notes that the US Committee to Expand NATO was chaired by the vice president of Lockheed-Martin and NATO's 50th Anniversary Summit "was hosted by corporate sponsors, including Boeing, Raytheon, and the like, who paid up to $250,000 to mingle and peddle their deadly wares to the 19 foreign ministers in attendance."

Dirtying the Trade Winds
US - The long-haul ocean shipping basic to global trade is a long-haul polluter, according to Carnegie Mellon and Duke University researchers. While merchant ships burn only two percent of the world's fossil fuels, they generate 14 percent of the world's nitrogen emissions and 16 percent of all sulfur emissions from petroleum. Satellite images show that the ships leave unnatural and highly reflective clouds in their wakes.

Only You Can Prevent Forest Fees
US - Under a 1997 "demonstration" program, visitors to federal parks and beaches have been required to pay a fee to enter and enjoy these public lands. The three-year experiment has not been overwhelmingly popular with the public - especially with low-income families - but Congress is being lobbied to make the fees permanent. According to Wild Wilderness [248 NW Wilmington Ave., Bend, OR 97701, (541) 385-5261, www.wildwilderness.org], the American Recreation Coalition, the main pro-fee lobbying group "represents big corporations like Chevron, Coleman, Kawasaki and Disney."

"The underlying purpose of pay-to-play recreation is to pave the way for commercial development and to accommodate high-impact motorized recreation on federal lands," says Wild Wilderness Executive Director Scott Silver. If forest management decisions are based on a user's ability to pay, Silver warned, "hikers, fishermen and tent campers could easily be displaced by dirt bikers, jet-skiers and RVers." Wild Wilderness' goal is to stop "Industrial Strength Recreation from becoming just another public lands extractive industry, such as logging, mining and grazing."

Responding to the argument that there is no money to maintain public lands, Wild Wilderness noted that: "Budget cuts have created the 'crisis' this plan is claimed to solve." Meanwhile, "Congress [is arguing] about how to spend a [budget] surplus."

What You Can Do: Contact Michael Dombeck, USDA Forest Service, 1400 Independence Ave., SW, Washington, DC 20090-6090; Bruce Babbitt, Secretary of the Interior, 1849 C St., NW, Washington, DC 20240.