Worldlog week 14- 2013 - Hoofdinhoud

We’re expanding! My weekly Worldlog is now translated into nine languages, and I’m about to add four more. I’ll keep you abreast of what’s happening with that!

This Wednesday I will present ‘La vérité sur la viande’, the French language version of our book Meat the Truth, Essays on Livestock Production, Sustainability and Climate Change in Paris.

Both the film and book of Meat the Truth underscore the change in thinking about animal protein production. It’s great that Meat the Truth’s message is now also available to a French-speaking audience. It benefits future generations to debate meat consumption as widely as possible in relation to the climate issue. Thus documentary is now available in 13 languages in 16 countries. This is an ideal opportunity to organise a screening in your country and meet like-minded individuals!

At the start of May, our documentary ‘The Hare in the Marathon’ which covers the Party for the Animals’ 10th anniversary will premiere in Istanbul on the request of some Turkish animal lovers! I hope more countries will follow suit, we already have plans to add more languages to the film, which you can watch online now with English subtitles.

Some sobering images of the current situation in Fukushima, Japan. Nuclear power plants embody unnecessary risk, a lesson that Japan has learned the hard way. It is time to transition to a truly sustainable source of energy based on wind and solar energy!

Last week we wrote a letter to Janez Potoènik - the European Commissioner for the Environment, calling for him to take a critical look at Dutch plans to gas geese around Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. The European Biocides directive prohibits geese gassing, the only exception being if they cause an unforeseen danger and all the alternatives are inadequate to address that situation. While experts have argued for years to change the lay of the land around Schiphol Airport - last year 5,054 geese from the surrounding areas were gassed without this having an appreciable effect on airport safety.

We believe that human and animal safety is of the utmost importance, but catching and killing geese is counterproductive. The geese will continue to come as long as there is attractive agriculture between the airport’s take-off and landing strips. Each year, thousands of geese around Schiphol Airport are culled without it affecting total geese numbers. Gassing and shooting geese is like trying to mop while the tap is running for as long as the reason for their presence isn’t removed.

On Tuesday 26 March there was a debate in the House on the crisis in Cyprus. This is a small excerpt from my contribution:

If we set out the guarantees to European support funds, the IMF, and to Greece then it adds up to more than 150 billion Euros, or approximately a quarter of our Gross National Product. Voters would have to have a lot of confidence in their parliamentarians in order to lay out so much money. And there’s the rub - the citizens no longer have that trust. They can see that the Euro did not turn out to bring everyone together, instead it divides the peoples of Europe. They are no closer to the great ideal of work and prosperity for all, instead they are farther from it.

Our party is also thinking up solutions to unemployment and the economic crisis. Go to http://vimeo.com/30899071 for our vision. We, for example, have chosen a different course to the cabinet when it comes to the labour market. Many people find themselves in an uncertain situation and are asking themselves if they’ll ever get a job or a permanent contract. We want to give the labour market an advantage by greening the tax system. This will allow lower taxes on labour, so it will be easier for businesses to hire people and the Netherlands can then both keep and create jobs.

Click here for a fantastic photo compilation of an animal facing the threat of extinction: the polar bear.

And this is how Bill Gates sees the future of our food.

Have a great week! Marianne