Top News: The IAEA adds its voice to Greenpeace, calling for an expansion of the evacuation zone near Fukushima; yet the Japanese gov’t decides not to act ‘until necessary’; TEPCO plans to scrap four of the six stricken reactors; the new Facebook Unfriend Coal video gets viral on the Internet.
Greenpeace Radiation monitoring team at Fukushima © Christian Åslund / Greenpeace
#Fukushima: the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has suggested expanding the evacuation zone near the Fukushima plant, just a few days after Greenpeace detected high radiation levels 40km away from the plant. The Japanese government has rejected the advice, saying that they “will continue monitoring the level of radiation with heightened vigilance and intend to take action if necessary." The news is running on Le Figaro, NY Times, Bangkok Times, Der Standard (Austria)The Age (Australia), among others.
#Nuclear: TEPCO has decided to scrap four of the six stricken reactors. The plan was announced yesterday by TEPCO’s chairman, who affirmed “Looking at the situation objectively, the company will have no choice but to shut them down for good.”
#UnfriendCoal: Our new Facebook Unfriend Coal video was released on Tuesday and is currently spreading across the Internet. The video is part of the latest Greenpeace campaign to get Facebook phase-out coal and commit to going green by Earth Day. You can also find it on the Guardian website today.
#Forests: The Institute for Liberty, a Tea Party group, has pushed an agenda nearly identical to that of Asia Pulp and Paper. Coincidence? The New York Times has examined the ties between the institute and the company, and produced an interesting infographic showing how they interrelate.
#SAGE: Greenpeace is described as “a multinational company that makes money out of scaring people” by an Australian GM farmer in The West Australian. This comes after the premier of Western Australia Colin Barnett rejected GM wheat production (although he supports GM cotton and canola). Greenpeace campaigner Laura Kelly was quoted as saying: “Premier Barnett is placing the interests of WA farmers above and beyond those of the hungry foreign chemical companies.”
That’s it for today’s update!
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