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A legacy of toxic pollution lingers in San Francisco’s Hunters Point Shipyard, which was once a booming hub for wartime construction efforts, but now is largely shuttered and represents a constant threat to the health of marginalized communities that live nearby. The U.S. Navy and diverse community groups are at odds over the best way to address the problem.
A succinct listing of candidate positions and quotes on more than two-dozen key policy issues and ballot initiatives.
Environmental and indigenous groups stepped up their attacks against Canadian oil sands development as two U.S. representatives met with Canadian officials in Ottawa to discuss energy policy.
Women in the developing world are at the climate-change frontlines. From Nicaragua to Mozambique (right), women must travel further for water due to drought and ecological decline, competing with wild animals, and disrupting their family’s welfare. Photo: Stig Nygaard
The online dating service eHarmony has launched a separate site for gays and lesbians as part of a settlement in a New Jersey civil rights case filed against it. The Press of Atlantic City reports that eHarmony’s Compatible Partners site went live in April for those seeking same-sex relationships. The launch is part of a settlement of a 2005 New Jersey discrimination complaint filed against eHarmony for catering solely to people looking for partners of the opposite sex. A similar complaint was filed against the company in California in 2007. –Ronnie Lovler/Newsdesk.org
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“N.J. man’s efforts push eHarmony to launch gay site”
The Press of Atlantic City, April 3, 2009
Officials say women in developing countries are taking the brunt of the hardships created by climate change. Speaking at the Aspen Environment Forum in Colorado, government officials from Africa, the Middle East and South America described a variety of problems, reports the Aspen Daily News. In Nicaragua, droughts have forced women, who traditionally gather water and firewood accompanied by their daughters, to travel farther from home, keeping young women from school. Mozambique’s coastline is eroding and turning to desert, sending women farther to find fresh water, sometimes in competition with wild animals such as elephants. Advocates hope renewable energy projects and education will both help improve conditions, the newspaper reports.
A new United Nations atlas reveals that half the world’s 6,700 languages are endangered and could disappear. The 2009 edition of the Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger finds that India has the most endangered languages, with the United States in second place. The BBC reported the 192 indigenous languages in the United States are all considered “unsafe,” such as Navajo, with only 120,000 speakers; “endangered,” with just a handful of speakers; or already extinct. Alaska’s Eyak language became extinct last year when the last native speaker died, while Hawaii’s native language is considered endangered because only 1,000 people speak it, although that may change due to an increase in immersion schools. In Massachusetts, a member of the Wampanoag tribe revived her dead language by studying its grammar, then teaching it to her daughter, who is now the first native speaker in six generations.
Peru, Colombia and Ecuador are holding a second round of free-trade talks with the European Union, after but without the support of neighboring Bolivia. Latin American Press, a nonprofit outlet with a focus on human rights, reports that Bolivia left the talks in November, along with Ecuador, which rejoined negotiations in January. Critics said that E.U. wants patent and intellectual property rules that would favor European pharmaceutical companies, raising prices for drugs and increasing the wait for generic drugs to hit the market. –Julia Hengst/Newsdesk.org
“Trade pact threatens integration”
Latin American Press, April 1, 2009