The shutoff of water to thousands of Detroit residents, the proposed privatization of the water system, and the diversion of the system's revenue to banks are possible, writes Pete Dolak, because water - the most basic human need - has become a means to extract profit from the City's people.
… Detroit: what happens when water is a commodity, not a human right Pete Dolack | 19th August 2013 Comment USA Water Economics Finance … dwb-shu-on-megaphone-cut.jpg The Detroit Water Brigade crew help out. Photo: Meeko A. …
OceanaGold is demanding $300 million in compensation from impoverished El Salvador after a mining permit was refused to safeguard a clean drinking water source that millions of people depend on, writes Pete Dolack. The sum does not even represent losses - but profits the company claims it would have made.
… $300 million attack on El Salvador's water Pete Dolack | 5th October 2014 News … was refused to safeguard a clean drinking water source that millions of people depend … to the right of El Salvador to clean drinking water - and an unappealable World Bank secret …
The latest country to be hooked under 'free trade' agreements is Colombia, writes Pete Dolack, sued for tens of billions of dollars by US and Canadian gold mining companies for valuing its national parks and the high-altitude Andean wetlands that provide 70% of the nation's water above the profits of foreign corporations. Free trade or clean water? You can't have both.
… Colombia: there's no place for clean water under 'free trade' Pete Dolack | 14th … 2016 News Colombia Mining Trade US Canada Water Conservation Corporations … wetlands that provide 70% of the nation's water above the profits of foreign …
Donald Trump's scheme to rebuild US infrastructure could be among the world's greatest ever financial heists, writes Pete Dolack. He has chosen the most expensive, anti-democratic way to do the job, through the mass privatization of priceless public assets - sticking users and taxpayers for exorbitant charges for decades to come, while banks and speculators reap the profits.
… News Finance Politics USA UK Germany France Water goldman-sachs-cut.jpg Donald Trump's … actors into rebuilding Flint, Michigan's water system, for example, is to give them a … private providers (such as building lead-free water pipes in Flint, MI)? "If we assume tax …
Of all the impacts of climate change, one stands out for its inexorable menace, writes Pete Dolack: rising oceans. And it's not just for distant future generations to deal with: new scientific studies show that people alive today may face 6-9 metres of sea level rise flooding well over a million sq.km including many of the world's biggest cities. So where's the emergency response?
… that may have been under-appreciated is meltwater. Melting ice sheets, especially in … effects might not be simply the additional water added to the oceans. In this scenario, the melted freshwater will additionally increase warming, …
In this new age of austerity money is a perpetual struggle for the public sector and ordinary people, writes Pete Dolack. Yet central banks have squandered trillions to boost profits in the financial sector, reward speculation and push up real estate values. In fact, the world is awash with money as never before - our money. Just don't expect to get your hands on it any time soon.
… billion. The foreseeable cost of maintaining water systems in the coming decades in the US is estimated at $1 trillion. The American Water Works Association arrives at this total by assuming each of 240,000 water main breaks per year would require the …
Monsanto has a simple purpose, writes Pete Dolack: to control the world's food supply, monopolizing seeds and agrochemicals to extract profit from every bite of food we eat. Caring nothing for the disease, poverty and destruction that it causes, it has suborned politicians, governments and regulators to its will. But millions are determined to stop it.
… traces in breast milk of feeding mothers, the water supply and even urine of people who have … will accelerate if Monsanto gets its way. Water down laws, then dilute some more 'Free … process of European harmonization has already watered down regulations. In its position …
World Bank projects have left a worldwide trail of evictions, displacements, rapes, murders, forest destruction, greenhouse-gas-belching fossil fuel projects, and destruction of farmland and water sources, writes Pete Dolack. But even as internal reports admit the Bank's wrongdoing, it is asserting its immunity from legal action as terrorised communities seek redress in the courts.
… projects, and destruction of farmland and water sources, writes Pete Dolack. But even as … fossil fuel projects, and destruction of water and food sources has followed the World …
Pollution caused by burning fossil fuels are already causing the premature deaths of 200,000 people a year - in the US alone, writes Pete Dolack. Add up the figures worldwide and it comes to many millions. And that's before we even count the catastrophic long term impacts of global warming. The US response: to loosen anti-pollution regulation and encourage increased oil, coal and gas production.
… air pollution, second-hand smoke, unsafe water, lack of sanitation, and inadequate … of dollars of damages through contaminated water, health problems from the chemicals used …
The renewable power boom is excellent news for people and planet, writes Pete Dolack. But let's not get carried away: much energy that claims to be 'renewable; like biomass and big hydro, is no such thing. And greening our energy is just one of many steps to a sustainable world. The greatest challenges - like tackling the monster of infinite 'growth' - all lie ahead.
… and thorium, which can contaminate air, water, soil and groundwater. Metals such as arsenic, barium, copper, … may be released during mining into the air or water, and can be toxic to human health. …
The leaked chapters of the EU-US TTIP 'free trade' deal reveal a shredding of health, environmental and other protections for consumers and citizens, writes Pete Dolack. It's a wet dream for corporate monopolists and profiteers, and the elite bureaucrats that serve them. But for civil society it represents an irreversible destruction of democracy itself.
… attempt to protect its largest remaining water source from a gold mine. These suits are …
The climate change discourse rarely looks beyond 2100, writes Pete Dolack. Maybe that's because even at current levels of CO2, we are committed to thousands of years of warming and polar ice melt that will raise sea levels by at least six meters. However the implacable imperatives of capitalism mean there's little prospect of change for a long time to come.
… where 375 million people, would go under water , according to Climate Central . The …
The organizers of tomorrow's International Monsanto Tribunal describe it as a 'moral trial', while the company dismisses it as a 'mock trial' and 'stunt'. The truth, writes Pete Dolack, is that it's about much more than this one company. On trial is the entire neoliberal system of 'free market' finance and monopoly capitalism.
… resistant. The US environmental group Food & Water Watch, in its report Monsanto: A …
Thanks to New Zealand, the full text of the Trans Pacific Partnership has been made public. And as Pete Dolack writes, it's a disaster for health, environment, workers and democracy - one that will unfold over years and decades to come, as investors and corporations consolidate their power over elected governments and cement in the global rule of unaccountable capital.
… organisms (GMOs) in your food. Food & Water Watch reports : "The TPP includes a new …
Canada's 'Anti-Terrorism Bill' proposes a massive increase in the power of security services, writes Pete Dolack - and in the crosshairs are campaigners against a tar sands industry that's intent on releasing 240 billion tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere, and those fighting the pipelines needed to get the heavy crude to market. Who are the real 'extremists'?
… industry." Advocating for clean air and water is a crime? The fight against one of …