Brazilian Environment Minister Marina Silva resigned Tuesday after six years in office, leading a Greenpeace campaigner to lament that "Brazil is losing the only voice in the government that spoke out for the environment." Silva's policies prioritized environmental protection, particularly for the Amazon; while her policies landed her a spot as one of Grist's fave green politicians, they made her unpopular with developers, her government peers, and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. While the environment minister declined to give an official reason for her departure, Greenpeace's Sergio Leitao postulates that "the pressure on her for taking the measures she took against deforestation has become unbearable."
source: Associated Press, Reuters, Brasilia Tempo Real
see also, in Grist:Silva spoke out against Brazil’s legalization of biotech soy
EU pushes China further after pledge to slow carbon intensity
Copenhagen climate summit (part 1): the expectations
Obama headed to Copenhagen, sets the bar for success
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Wolverine Posted 9:42 am
13 May 2008
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randino Posted 12:10 am
14 May 2008
In Cleveland, city hall declares itself for the Kyoto Protocols, announces bold new initiatives for sustainability and then buys into a horrific coal power project in SE Ohio. In our Senate delegation, Sherrod Brown, whose first act of activism was to organize Earth Day in his home town as a teenager, has now joined the carbon crowd and has joined environmental criminal George Voinovich in voting against Warner Lieberman. No great bill, but something.
Environmentalists have to stop being a bunch of chumps, suckers and vestal virgins in working with politicians. We need to put down our Audubon field guides, and crack the books on politics and history. Then we have to buy a pair of brass knuckles and learn to play the game, just like the pols do. Power is the ability to reward or punish someone. We need to learn how to use it.
Randy Cunningham
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usandthem Posted 1:19 pm
14 May 2008
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Tasermons Partner Posted 1:42 pm
14 May 2008
Ain't happenin', bud.
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Pathos Posted 2:08 pm
14 May 2008
There was no official reason given, which means it could be anything from psychological breakdown to a mildly embarrassing health problem she doesn't want to see in headlines. But if it's anything shady, it's far more likely she was somehow quietly forced to leave office than that she was bribed into it.
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