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NORTH COAST TIMES E A G L E , MARPRIL2001
We urge the UN and governments to create rural and
urban training centers of excellence, North and South, vtfiich
will serve to disseminate environmentally fnendly technologies
to women
Realizing that women's purchasing power is a powerful
tool for holding the business community accountable for the
environmentally friendly quality of their products, and knowing
that woman can organize swiftly to boycott products or
businesses:
\Ne will boycott industries whose practices or products
anywhere in the world are harmful to the environment or to
health
We will promote recycling, reduce consumption of all
forms and purchase only ecologically friendly products.
We will engage in campaigns supporting investment in
environmentally sound and productive activities.
We will reduce per capita energy use by promoting
energy efficient technologies and research, development and
funding of alternative energy sources.
Realizing that there may be an attempt to create new
institutions to manage the world's ecosystems based on the
current economic growth model, and believing that those
institutions might not have as primary objective the long-term
sustainability of the Earth's species and ecosystems: knowing
that new institutions would be costly and that funds would be
better spent in repairing damaged ecosystems and providing
sustenance to those who live in them:
\Ne call for the creation of a permanent United Nations
environmental commission to serve as omsbudsperson, receive
individual complaints, monitor compliance and enforce
principles of an international code of environmental ethics.
We urge that all states and corporations that produce
toxic chemical agents be required to dispose of their toxic
wastes within their own borders.
THE ART OF THE THE BOOK
Concerned by the deterioration of habitats and eco
systems that are home to billions of species with which we
share the Earth, and realizing the tragic loss of species upon
which our interdependent ecosystem depends: recognizing the
treasure of plant and animal knowledge which is tended and
passed on by the indigenous peoples of the world: knowing the
attempt of commercial interests of the North to control the
natural heritage of species of the South through gene banks:
aware that genetically engineered organisms released into the
environment pose a threat to bio-diversity:
\Ne call for immediate and direct regulation of research
and development in biotechnology
We recommend that the testing and release of organ
isms be done only in the country of origin and that biotechnology
products which are not yet approved or which are restricted in
their country of origin be prohibited from sale elsewhere.
We recommend that there be no patenting of life forms
to protect against the commercial exploitation of the genetic
resources of the South
We will work for a ban on bovine growth hormone and a
boycott of milk products with that hormone.
We recommend that new technologies be approved not
only on the basis of efficacy and safety but also their social and
economic impacts.
We demand that the risks of biotechnology be widely
available in clear, layperson's language
We will support indigenous people in their efforts to
protect their natural environment
Believing it is a basic human right to have access to
unbiased information about the quality of the environment in
which we live, and recognizing the risk that the media may
become dominated by forces which perpetuate a world view that
ignores cultural diversity and integrity: believing that only through
wide dissemination of information on environmental and develop
mental issues will we be able to confront the challenges of
environmental decline: aware that information concerning the
environmental and health impact of military and industrial
byproducts are often classified as secret for national security
or proprietary reasons:
\Ne demand that the UN monitor all activities of govern
ments that threaten the environment, including space and ocean
probing, and make information about such activities known to
the world community
We will work to create and strengthen formal and
informal information systems and exchanges that adhere to
COLUMBIA RIVER
MARITIME MUSEUM
1792 MARINI DRIVI, ASTORIA, ORIGON
(S03) 325-2323
the principles of openness and inclusiveness, giving voice to
the majority of citizens, and reporting on violations of human
and environmental nghts.
We recommend that all countries offer environmental
education at the primary and secondary levels, including
ecology, consumer education and permaculture.
We will promote environmental ethics education in our
schools and in informal learning settings with the purpose of
promoting harmony between all living systems and solidarity
among peoples.
We will strongly support the establishment of a non
governmental organization whose mandate and operation on
environmental emergencies and environmental rights would be
similar to those of Amnesty International
Knowing that military expenditures, the arms trade and
armed conflict deprive billions of human beings of basic security
and well-being, and realizing the disastrous environmental
impact of all military activity, including research, development,
production of weaponry, testing, maneuvers, presence of military
bases, disposal of toxic materials, transport and resource use:
aware that research on and use of military weaponry, including
chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, contributes signifi
cantly to environmental degradation, genetic mutation, illness
and death: recognizing that militarism often leads to the
occupation of lands and the denial of human and environmental
rights:
\Ne demand nuclear weapons be dismantled and
destroyed, and that nuclear testing cease immediately.
We demand that space activities and supersonic flight
which threatens the ozone layer or releases carbon dioxide
cease
We urge an immediate 50% reduction in military
spending
We demand creation of national civilian commissions
with 50% membership of women which would open to public
scrutiny all military activities, expenditures, and research and
development
We demand that national armies be converted into
environmental protection corps which would monitor and repair
damage to natural systems, including clean up of the military
bases, and be available to assist citizens in times of natural and
man-made disasters
We condemn governments that turn their armies against
their citizens, leading millions of individuals to become refugees
and displaced persons
We will educate our daughters and sons to shun military
service of governments which use military power to exploit the
resources and people of other nations
Believing that science and technology should be at the
service of the many rather than for the profit of the few. and
observing that, on the contrary, it is used to "harness" nature,
contributing to the degradation of ecosystems for short-term
profit witnessing the disempowerment of women through lack
of access to appropriate and sustainable technology and the
disregard for women's experiential knowledge because it is not
considered 'scientific': aware that all too often women have been
the victims of the misuse of scientific discoveries and inappro
priate technologies
We urge the marriage of ethical values with scientific
investigation and use. and the development of criteria for all
technologies concerning their appropriateness for both women
and the environment
We demand that all technology transfer should be
appropnate and sustainable with special attention paid to long
term costs and benefits for people and the environment
We will urge support and promote communications
strategies for disseminating information on appropnate and
inappropriate technologies to women worldwide
We demand resources be made available for research
and development of appropnate technologies and training for
vwmen
We know that the major causes of environmental
degradation are economic systems that exploit and misuse
nature and people, pollutants, and the waste of industrial
and military technologies. We are outraged by the suggestion
that women's fertility rates (euphemistically called population
pressures) are to blame Unchallenged, this analysis lays the
groundwork for the reemergence of top-down, demographically
driven population policies and programs that are deeply disre
spectful of the basic human rights of women as guaranteed in
the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
Against Women Also, knowing the number of people plus
their consumption of resources plus their waste determines
their environmental impact, we recognize that a person in the
industrialized world has far greater impact than a person living
in a less wealthy nation. Aware that the right to reproductive
health and choice is a basic human right of all individuals, we
point out that the World Fertility Survey estimates that there are
500-million couples who wish to plan their family and have no
access to the means to do so Fearful of the threat to women's
lives by the HIV pandemic, and recognizing that women's ability
to protect themselves from sexually transmitted diseases and
when-and-ifto have children is prerequisite for women's health,
self-determination and empowerment:
We condemn any attempt to deprive women of repro
ductive freedom or the knowledge to exercise that freedom.
We demand woman-centered, woman-managed
comprehensive reproductive health care and family planning,
including the right to prenatal care, safe and legal voluntary
contraceptives and abortion
We urge governments, multilateral and donor agencies
to increase investments in comprehensive reproductive health
services and to include men as beneficianes of family planning
and education
We demand that all governments systematically alert
their citizens to the danger of AIDS and provide them with the
information on how to avoid contamination.
Realizing that women and children are particularly
vulnerable to cancer causing toxic chemicals, radiation and
nuclear wastes
\Ne demand that research be undertaken on women's
and children's susceptibility to cancer causing agents and that
remedial action be taken to eliminate such agents from all
environments.
We ask the World Health Organization, International
Labor Organization, the Food & Agricultural Organization,
national governments, public health groups, and corporations
increase efforts to eliminate environmental occupational hazards
in factones, offices, and on the land