September, 18 2009, 01:03pm EDT
New "Pulso Verde" Blog Brings Diverse Environmental Voices to Latino Audience
A new Spanish-language blog - Pulso Verde
- covering a wide range of environmental topics of importance to
Latinos launched today. The blog is a key initiative by La Onda Verde
of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) to highlight diverse
environmental voices within the Latino community.
"This
new forum allows us to present a different perspective on environmental
issues that affect us all," said Adrianna Quintero, director of La Onda Verde
of NRDC.
SAN FRANCISCO
A new Spanish-language blog - Pulso Verde
- covering a wide range of environmental topics of importance to
Latinos launched today. The blog is a key initiative by La Onda Verde
of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) to highlight diverse
environmental voices within the Latino community.
"This
new forum allows us to present a different perspective on environmental
issues that affect us all," said Adrianna Quintero, director of La Onda Verde
of NRDC. "We are fortunate to have the support of world-known
academics, experts in their field and artists such as Cristian de la
Fuente, Beto Cuevas, and Jesse & Joy, who share a real commitment
to improve our planet."
Blogs by Cristian, Beto, and Jesse & Joy will appear regularly on Pulso Verde
along with those of global experts, and NRDC scientists and experts.
Topics will include, global warming, green jobs, protecting the last
wild places in the Americas, oceans protection, and public health,
among others.
Cristian,
the popular show host for "Viva el Sueno" and former participant on
"Dancing with the Stars," has already blogged on the importance of
investment in renewable energy for all workers and for Hispanics in
particular, as we create a clean-energy economy.
Meanwhile
Beto, former lead singer of Chilean rock band La Ley who recently
released the album Miedo Escenico, has written about the importance of
protecting the Chilean Patagonia, one of the last natural wonders
located in the Western Hemisphere. Likewise, Jesse & Joy, the young
Mexican duo who won a Latin Grammy in 2007 and just released their new
album Electric, describe how individuals can combat global warming.
The launch of Pulso Verde coincides with the new redesign of La Onda Verde
Web site, which provides more up to date content and improved
navigation for users and allows people to take action on various
environmental issues through La Onda Verde, twitter: @ laondaverde and Facebook.
The
Natural Resources Defense Council is a national, nonprofit organization
of scientists, lawyers and environmental specialists dedicated to
protecting public health and the environment. Founded in 1970, NRDC has
1.2 million members and online activists, served from offices in New
York, Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Beijing.
Natural Resources Defense Council is a national, nonprofit organization
of scientists, lawyers and environmental specialists dedicated to
protecting public health and the environment. Founded in 1970, NRDC has
1.2 million members and online activists, served from offices in New
York, Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Beijing.
NRDC works to safeguard the earth--its people, its plants and animals, and the natural systems on which all life depends. We combine the power of more than three million members and online activists with the expertise of some 700 scientists, lawyers, and policy advocates across the globe to ensure the rights of all people to the air, the water, and the wild.
(212) 727-2700LATEST NEWS
Amid Spying Fight, House Passes Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act
"As FANFSA and the 702 reauthorization move to the Senate, lawmakers in that chamber need to take a stand for the rights of people in the United States," said one advocate.
Apr 17, 2024
While applauding the U.S. House of Representatives' bipartisan passage of a bill to ensure that "law enforcement and intelligence agencies can't do an end-run around the Constitution by buying information from data brokers" on Wednesday, privacy advocates highlighted that Congress is trying to extend and expand a long-abused government spying program.
The House voted 219-199 for Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act (FANFSA), which won support from 96 Democrats and 123 Republicans, including the lead sponsor, Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio). Named for the constitutional amendment that protects against unreasonable searches and seizures, H.R. 4639 would close what campaigners call the data broker loophole.
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Wednesday's vote followed the House sending the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act to the Senate. H.R. 7888 would reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which allows for warrantless spying on noncitizens abroad but also sweeps up Americans' data.
The House notably included an amendment forcing a wide range of individuals and businesses to cooperate with government spying operations but rejected an amendment that would have added a warrant requirement to the bill, which the Senate could vote on as soon as Thursday.
Noting those decisions on the FISA reauthorization legislation, Ruddock stressed that "today's vote is a victory but follows a recent loss and ongoing threat as that Section 702 bill moves to the Senate this week too."
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Jeramie Scott, senior counsel and director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center's Project on Surveillance Oversight, also praised the House's FANFSA passage on Wednesday.
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Kia Hamadanchy, senior policy counsel at ACLU, similarly said Wednesday that "the bipartisan passage of this bill is a flashing warning sign to the government that if it wants our data, it must get a warrant."
Hamadanchy added that "we hope this vote puts a fire under the Senate to protect their constituents and rein in the government's warrantless surveillance of Americans, once and for all."
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Leaked cables obtained by The Intercept show U.S. pressure on Security Council members including Malta—which currently presides over the body—and Ecuador.
While claiming that President Joe Biden backs "Palestinian aspirations for statehood," one of the cables asserts that "it remains the U.S. view that the most expeditious path toward a political horizon for the Palestinian people is in the context of a normalization agreement between Israel and its neighbors."
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The U.S. argument essentially is that the U.N. should not create an independent Palestinian state by fiat—even though that's precisely how the world body voted in 1947 to establish the modern state of Israel.
The renewed push for Palestine's U.N. membership comes as Israel wages a genocidal war on the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian Authority, which hasn't controlled Gaza for nearly two decades, rejected the Biden administration's requests to hold off on seeking full membership.
"We wanted the U.S. to provide a substantive alternative to U.N. recognition. They didn't," one unnamed Palestinian official toldAxios on Wednesday. "We believe full membership in the U.N. for Palestine is way overdue. We have waited more than 12 years since our initial request."
As The Intercept's Ken Klippenstein and Daniel Boguslaw noted:
Since 2011, the U.N. Security Council has rejected the Palestinian Authority's request for full member status. On April 2, the Palestinian Observer Mission to the U.N. requested that the council once again take up consideration of its membership application. According to the first State Department cable, U.N. meetings since the beginning of April suggest that Algeria, China, Guyana, Mozambique, Russia, Slovenia, Sierra Leone, and Malta support granting Palestine full membership to the U.N. It also says that France, Japan, and Korea are undecided, while the United Kingdom will likely abstain from a vote.
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Belgium—which is seeking economic sanctions against Israel in response to its genocidal war on Gaza—is expected to join Spain's push for Palestinian statehood after the country's European Union presidency expires in June.
Currently, 139 of the U.N.'s 193 member states recognize Palestine as an independent state.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—who has also claimed to support a so-called "two-state solution"—has alternately boasted about thwarting Palestinian statehood.
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PI calls it an "illicit network undermining democracy around the world."
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"After a year of preparation, we finally open the doors to our new research consortium, exposing the global network of reactionary forces that corrode our democracies, destroy our planet, and drive us closer to world war," the group added.
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Yanis Varoufakis, a PI member and secretary-general of the left-wing Democracy in Europe Movement 2025, called the database "a treasure chest of well-researched reports on how the reactionaries of the world unite."
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