Environment

Vietnam Protests: Week 3

A priest and his flock protest
Environment 
Phillip Charlier 10 Comments , , , ,

People rallied in various locations around Vietnam today, Sunday, May 15, in smaller numbers than previous weeks as hundreds of people are under virtual house arrest. One of the largest rallies was in Nghệ An Province on Vietnam’s north-central coast. The central coast has been effected by a massive fish kill which people believe was caused by toxic pollution from a steel mill in Ha Tinh Province. Police blocked streets and gathered in locations likely to draw protesters while others

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Vietnam May 8 Protest Pictorial

A woman is treated after being injured by police in Vietnam May 8, 2016
    Environment 
    Phillip Charlier 1 Comment , ,

    Pictures from today’s protests in Vietnam against the mass industrial poisoning of the ocean, and the government’s lack of action or transparency over the environmental disaster. The corporate media is understating both the size and extent of the protest, as well as the violence meted out by the government. Reuters, for example is reporting that: A group of protesters sat on the bank of a big lake in Hanoi before police shepherded them on to a waiting bus, Reuters witnesses

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    Vietnam Protests: Week 2

    Protesters march in Vietnam May 8, 2016
    Environment 
    Phillip Charlier 0 Comment , , ,

    Citizens in Vietnam are protesting in Saigon, Hanoi and other cities for the second Sunday over a marine environmental disaster in the central provinces. Scuffles again broke out with police according to reports on Twitter and other social media sites. Dozens of people have been detained after a sit in in Hanoi. Protests last Sunday May 1 drew thousands of people across the country who were angered after a massive fish-kill covering hundreds of kilometers of coastline, which citizens blame

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    Mass Protests in Vietnam as Citizens Choose Fish over Steel

    protesters hold banners condemning Formosa Plastics Group
    Environment 
    Phillip Charlier 0 Comment , , ,

    Thousands of people have gathered in various locations throughout Vietnam to protest pollution that is believed responsible for the death of fish and other marine life over a stretch of coastline spanning more than 200 kilometers. Protesters held up signs that read “We love fish” and “We need clean oceans”. Up to 5000 gathered in Hanoi according to one report, but the number has been disputed, and around 2000 in Saigon, while smaller groups held protests at the Formosa steel

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    Vietnam Activists Call for Protests over Fishkill: Obama Petitioned

    Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Vo Tuan Nhan speaks during a press briefing over an environmental crisis concerning mass fish deaths in central Vietnam on April 27, 2016.
    Environment 
    Phillip Charlier 4 Comments , , ,

    Environmental and social activists in Vietnam are calling for protests May 1 after a massive fish-kill, and the government’s failure to act against industrial giant Formosa Plastics Group. While the Vietnam government claimed Wednesday that they have no proof the environmental disaster was linked to the Formosa Group’s steel mill in Ha Tinh Province, they have called for the company to dig up an illegal pipeline that citizens believe discharged toxic chemicals into the ocean. The government has also sent

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    Pingtung Wandan Mud Volcano Erupts

    mud flowing from holes in a rice paddy in Pingtung Wandun township
    Environment 
    Phillip Charlier 0 Comment ,

    A mud volcano erupted in Pingtung County this morning. Around 9 a.m. this morning mud began flowing from 5 holes that appeared in rice paddies about 50 meters west of Huang Yuan Holy Temple in Wandan township. A farmer discovered the mudflow in his rice field this morning. The area is the site of periodic eruptions, but the exact site of the eruptions varies from year to year. From 2013 until last year, the periodic eruptions occurred further east at

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    Taiwan Company Under Fire for Fish Kill in Vietnam

    A Vietnamese villager shows dead fish washed up on the beach
    Environment 
    Phillip Charlier 0 Comment , ,

    officials could not have anticipated the unprecedented scale of the disaster. ~deputy prime minister, Trinh Dinh Dung A Taiwanese-owned steel mill in Vietnam’s Ha Tinh Province is being blamed for a marine ecological disaster after tonnes of dead fish washed up near a waste-water pipeline that extends 1.5 kilometers into the sea. Vietnam’s normally staid state-media is on the attack (The Nation). Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Corporation operates as a subsidiary of Formosa Plastics Corporation (Bloomberg). According to media reports

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    The Sacred Ibis Runs Rampant in Taiwan

    Sacred Ibis grazing in Taiwan
    Environment 
    Phillip Charlier 2 Comments ,

    The African Sacred Ibis (Threskiornis aethiopicus), a bird revered in ancient Egypt, and associated with the god Thoth, is posing an environmental threat in Taiwan. Members of the species escaped from a zoo 20 years ago and now number an estimated 1000 individuals, of whom around 500 inhabit a wetland in Changhua County. A group dedicated to the conservation of wild birds in Taiwan will join local farmers to help reduce numbers of the invasive species starting in May 2016.

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    Marine Volunteers Celebrate 200th Clean-up Operation

    A volunteer extracts a tangled mass of fishing line from a reef in southern Taiwan
    Environment 
    Phillip Charlier 0 Comment , , , ,

    A team of scuba divers who started efforts to clean up the marine environment around XiaoLiuqiu Island six years ago, celebrated their 200th expedition with an exhibition to draw attention to the problem of discarded waste in the ocean. Increasing numbers of green sea turtles returning to Xiaoliuqiu to breed, has made them feel their efforts have not been in vain. Yesterday, April 19, the team launched an exhibition that includes photographs of their underwater endeavors, and displays of various

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    Three Dead Dolphins Washed Up on Taiwan’s East Coast

    Dolphins washed up on a beach on the East coast of Taiwan in 2016
    Environment 
    Phillip Charlier 0 Comment , ,

    Three dead dolphins were found washed up on the shore near Fengbin Township in Hualian County yesterday, April 18, 2016. Coast Guard personnel brought the carcasses onto the beach and contacted the Taiwan Cetacean Society, who dissected the animals took samples back to their lab to attempt to identify the cause of the deaths. Reporters asked whether recent earthquake activity may be a contributing factor, but the marine biologists were not willing to speculate. Coast Guard personnel helped bury the

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