Four Of the Year's Most Important Environment Stories That You Probably Haven't Read

[n2doc]

From fast-tracking oil development in the Amazon to privatizing water around the world, these stories have been either overlooked or ignored in the news. Why?

By Rachel Cernansky
Boulder, CO, USA | Mon Oct 19 11:15:00 GMT 2009

Every year, Project Censored compiles the 25 most important but under-reported stories of the year. This year, some urgent environmental issues are included, and if you're concerned about the environment, you really should know about them.

Treehugger has already covered some of Project Censored's stories: in Somalia, toxic waste is at least part of the fuel behind the increasing piracy of the last few years, and the EU has stepped up its stance against toxic chemicals.

Here are four others that deserve more attention, and action, than they've been getting.

1. Amazon in Peril: New Wave of Oil and Gas Exploration

The Amazon, perhaps the most biodiverse rainforest in the world, may soon be the oil industry's next victim. The race to explore and develop oil and gas in the Amazon has been picking up in just the last few years, with little, if any, environmental impact assessments conducted and no overseeing power to evaluate the cumulative effect of such major exploration projects taking place simultaneously.

more:
http://planetgreen.discovery.com/work-connect/project-censored-environment-stories.html

[jaksavage]

1. Even here

this story sits at the bottom of the page with little support.

[Sal Minella]

2. Hooray for Ecuador! How come they're so much smarter than we are?

I'm continually baffled at how the "planners" and "experts" can consider the health of the natural world as something separate from (and less important than) human welfare. Maybe this is an artifact of the Dominionist philosophy.

One would think that the fishing boats that dragline the reefs should have some people on board who realize they're killing the golden goose for themselves, even if they can't comprehend what they're doing to the planet. But apparently short-term profit overrides everything else.

[niyad]

3. not surprising that we don't hear the truth about our very survival.

[lonestarnot]

4. San don donia!

[tavalon]

5. Damn, I wish they would leave the Amazon alone

[amborin]

6. hope Peru's peasants win out & deny Garcia's decision to open the rainforest to drilling!

[AdHocSolver]

7. K & R. Capitalism will destroy civilization, if not higher life forms, on planet earth.

The (human) cockroaches that run this planet are working hard to ensure that only the (insect) cockroaches will survive.