All posts filed under: corporations

Sunny Omwenyeke: Western countries must take responsibility!

Published by jonas

Dr. Sunny Omwenyeke in conversation with denkhausbremen about climate change as a reason for flight, his work to empower refugees to fight for their rights and the responsibility of Western countries to work on their colonial history and the damage they have created across Africa. Sunny Omwenyeke is a long-term activist of the refugee movement in Germany and founder of the Bremen Solidarity Center (BreSoC) e.V. (Foto: Ana Rodríguez). denkhausbremen: What does climate justice mean to you? Sunny Omwenyeke: To me, climate justice would be a situation where countries that are most responsible for all the mess in our climate take more responsibility, where they are held accountable. Those are essentially the Western countries that have such a long record of exploiting and devastating many other countries – simply because they want to maintain their standard of living here. These countries are inconsiderate and greedy. If the Global North is serious about addressing climate justice, for me that would mean to pay something back to other countries they have destroyed. Even as we speak, this …

Biomass: EU asks – denkhausbremen replies

Published by michael.gerhardt

Statement on survey by the European Commission for European biomass policy from 2020 The current European biomass policy has serious consequences for the environment. The European energy companies are on a global shopping spree for timber. The electricity suppliers are burning this wood in their power plants and receiving public money according to EU rules. This leads to forest destruction and is harmful for the global climate. denkhausbremen did research on the impact of the EU biomass policy in 2015 in the southern United States and France and is currently working with its partners against the clearcut policy of those power companies ( www.denkhausbremen.de/kahlschlag-fuer-e-on-und-rwe ). Now the EU is revising its biomass strategy after 2020 and has implemented a stakeholder consultation which ends on the 10th of May. This is the statement of denkhausbremen: The current EU Biomass policy is causing the destruction of biodiverse wetland forests in the southern US-states. Research has already documented the chain of custody from clearcuts in the southern US states such as North Carolina to the European power plants. …

Barking up the wrong tree: Energy giants are on a worldwide shopping tour for wood in order to produce ”green” electricity

Published by Peter

Humanity has got an energy problem. Fossil fuels such as oil, gas and coal are finite and burn-ing them causes climate change. Nuclear energy is dangerous and produces radioactive waste. Renewable energies such as sun, wind or biomass are thus to provide us with green energy in the future. That’s old news. Political efforts are made to induce the necessary energy transformation with quotas and sub-sidies. The EU wants biomass to play a major role in the renewable energies for the future. Renewables are expected to account for 20% of energy consumption by 2020, goals for 2030 are negotiated right now. As for the EU, biomass would primarily mean wood. The European hunger for wood has fatal consequences: forests are clear-cut and fertile farmland and precious ecosystems are destroyed for industrial wood plantations. And it’s not a no solution for climate change. Even the US government noted in June this year that energy from wood is by no means climate-neutral. Facing climate change and a new situation for energy policy, the energy giants’ coal-fired power …

In the critical 2017 agricultural report: Clear-cutting for electricity companies

Published by michael.gerhardt

By Peter Gerhardt and Michael Gerhardt Wood has been an important source of energy for humans since time immemorial. On a small scale and at a local level, this can be a meaningful lifestyle of giving to and taking from na-ture. Now corporations like E.ON and RWE have discovered the forest as a source of energy and unpack the chainsaw. As a result, species-rich forest ecosystems are degraded to indus-trial tree monocultures or whole forest areas are cut down. The energy giants are even subsi-dized for this exploitation of nature by public funds because the EU has set up wrong climate protection rules. The corporations’ hunger for wood shows how our growth-oriented economy exhausts the global ecosystems in the long term. The pressure on the forests is increasing – forest areas worldwide are being destroyed for agri-culture, firewood, mining and dams. A look at the expansion plans of the paper industry also shows that this industry will continue to destroy large forest areas. However, now the global battle for a share of wood reaches a …

Unipers wood burning in Provence power station destroys forests!

Published by michael.gerhardt

Press release from Denkhaus Bremen, SOS Foret du Sud, Rettet den Regenwald and the Association of Critical Shareholders: Unipers wood burning in Provence power station destroys forests! (Essen, 8 June 2017) French and German environmentalists criticize the Group’s biomass strategy at the first Shareholders’ Meeting of the E.ON spin-off Uniper, which takes place on Thursday (8 June 17) in Essen. Uniper is currently equipping block 4 of the Provence coal-fired power station in Gardanne, southern France, on wood burning and is now in the trial phase. From the point of view of environmental organizations, forests in France and overseas are at risk. “Combustion of wood for electricity production on an industrial scale puts a considerable strain on the atmosphere by emissions of CO2 and increases the pressure on forests. The most stupid solution to our energy problems is the conversion of ancient coal-fired power plants to wood firing, “says Peter Gerhardt of Denkhaus Bremen. Uniper plans to burn over 800,000 tonnes of wood annually in Gardanne. “The energy giant must immediately stop this madness!” Nicholas …

Bioplastics – Sustainable Alternative or Just Another Eco-Lie?

Published by Peter

From Paula Leutner Plastic has been polluting our oceans for years. From fishing nets to plastic bottles to straws – plastic in all its forms and variations is floating in the waters between Bremerhaven, Hawaii and Hong Kong. In other words: Everywhere. But the image problem of plastic is not only based on its destructive end of life, but also on its origin. Conventional plastic is made from crude oil and is therefore not exactly climate-friendly. Now there are supposed to be new solutions, which the industry is already happily embracing: Bio-plastics that come with a green promise. But what’s really up with this plastic – sustainable alternative or just another organic lie? The term itself already causes some confusion. Because ‘bio’ is not always organic and can mean both that the plastic is made from biological resources or that the end product itself is biodegradable. Numerous companies are already advertising that they offer such bioplastics. Coca Cola is designing the PlantBottle, Pepsi together with Nestlé and Danone the NaturAll Bottle, LEGO wants to convert …