15 February 2010 - Aomori,
Japan — It’s been almost two years since
the wrongful arrest of Junichi and Toru
for their roles in exposing the corruption
and lies woven in the fabric that holds
the whaling industry together. As the trial
for those charges began, it seemed obvious
to all in attendance that the case the prosecution
put together is cut from the same cloth.
The trial opened up
with the prosecution struggling to prove
its own arguments and their witnesses being
forced to agree with the defence on key
points.
Although Japan maintains
that whaling is conducted as "scientific
research" and paid for with Japanese
taxes, the everyday business of killing
and processing whales falls to one commercial
company.
A witness from this
company and from the courier company used
to ferry the embezzled meat around the country
were in court to testify about what it looks
like when whale meat and money change hands.
While the story seemed to change quite a
bit from original claims, one thing was
for sure - it had nothing to do with research.
Not so "official"
business
The head of sales for Kyodo Senpaku – the
company contracted by the government’s Institute
for Cetacean Research, to run the whaling
fleet - admitted under cross examination
that "souvenirs" of whale meat
were given to crew, but the cost was never
accounted for in financial statements, despite
the whaling programme being a government
funded project. This is the same official
that previously made public statements where
he insisted that there was no practice of
giving out souvenir meat. He also admitted
under oath that following the Greenpeace
allegations in 2008, souvenirs are no longer
given to officials.
The prosecution also
called the manager of the Seino Transport
courier company, which shipped the boxes
of embezzled whale meat around Japan in
April 2008 after the fleet returned from
the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. In his
testimony he confirmed that he had paid
the owner of the box about 30,000 yen (US$300)
out of his own pocket, and never registered
this payment. He also admitted that the
owner had told him the box contained food
and not the “cardboard” listed on the contents
sheet.
Whaling on trial
The decision to engage
in this politically motivated prosecution
was made by the previous government in Japan.
The new administration can remedy the shame
of this damning UN opinion by ensuring that
the trial will be fair, adhering to international
legal standards. Further, it should re-examine
the original allegations made by Junichi
and Toru.
Prime Minister Hatoyama
has already shown leadership. In Copenhagen
he stood out with his support for ambitious
action on climate change. Now he has the
opportunity to be seen as a world leader
in human rights, by ensuring that corruption
is put on trial - rather than the honourable
men who exposed it.
+ More
Facebook update: Renewable
energy now
19 February 2010 - International
— Facebook recently announced it will build
a massive data centre in Oregon, U.S., packed
full of the latest energy efficient computers
to serve the hundreds of millions of friends
connecting on their near-addictive social
networking website. But the company plans
to run the place on electricity made by
burning coal--Yes, the dirtiest source of
energy and largest single source of global
warming pollution in the world.
Greening Facebook from
within
Facebook should be run on 100 percent renewable
energy. That clear demand started spreading
on the social network website this week,
and will grow until the company announces
a decision to really go green. The new data
centre won't be ready until 2011, and people
power has moved the company before.
Take action on Facebook
now
Share this link on Facebook with your friends
or
Click here if you use the new Google Buzz
to share!
When Facebook members have spoken strongly
in the past on privacy and other changes
that impact their profile pages, the company
has been forced to change its policies.
In addition to keeping
coal from powering your profile page, big
electricity consumers like Facebook can
also play an important role by using its
influence to demand policies that dramatically
increase the supply of renewable electricity
being put on the grid, so we can all use
renewable energy--and not coal--to power
the internet.
Facebook's relationship
to coal: "It's not complicated"
PacifiCorp is the power company which Facebook
chose to supply their new US$ 180 million
data centre in Prineville, Oregon. According
to PacifiCorp's website, over 83 percent
of the utility's generation capabilities
come from coal, geothermal, and natural
gas resources
Meanwhile Facebook says
that the new building and all the technology
within it will be state of the art, energy
efficient stuff. Saving energy makes good
business sense, and it's good for the environment
too. But data centres still consume massive
amounts of energy to run computers, backup
power, and related cooling equipment. If
Facebook's data centre runs on fossil fuels,
then it's contributing to climate change.
Dump coal, support the
energy revolution
Facebook should change the terms of its
power purchase agreement with PacifiCorp
so that it is powered with renewables before
the Oregon data centre goes online. What's
more, to be a climate leader Facebook should
also push for strong clean energy and climate
policies in the U.S. and globally.
Which side are you on?
Data centres are heavy users of electricity.
It's been a while since Facebook was run
on a small computer in a Harvard University
dorm. As the popularity of facebook.com
continues to grow, so too will Facebook's
need for more data centres.
Companies who run their
data centres on energy fromburning coal
are supporting the biggest source of man
made CO2 emissions in the world. Our activists
will continue to protest against coal-firedpower
plants. But getting companies like Facebook
to switch to renewables is necessary for
the energy revolution too -- reducing demand
for coal, and investing in a green future
instead.
