As world leaders head to Rio de Janeiro for the UN Summit on Sustainable Development, environmental and poverty groups are denouncing the last-minute text agreed on by dignitaries as “pathetic,” (Greenpeace), a “damp squib” (Friends of the Earth), “a dead end” (Oxfam), and, if nothing changes, “a colossal waste of time” (WWF). “We were promised the ‘future we want’ but are now being presented with a ‘common vision’ of a polluter’s charter that will cook the planet, empty the oceans and wreck the rain forests,“ the head of Greenpeace, Kumi Naidoo, said. “This is not a foundation on which to grow economies or pull people out of poverty, it’s the last will and testament of a destructive twentieth century development model.”

See the article here:
Will UN Summit on Sustainable Development in Rio make anyone happy?

More on SKCEA.org:

• Waterlogged Thailand will struggle to prevent future floods
  As waterlogged Thailand struggles to contain the worst floods in decades, it faces a simple truth: not a whole lot can be done to avoid a repeat disaster in the short term even with a new multi-billion dollar water-management policy. City dwellers and farmers displaced since the ...
• State Parks Get the Sharp End of the Budget Stick
  State parks attract 700 million visitors and contribute $20 billion to local economies. But they're being shuttered as state's tighten their budgets....
• Fast food chains give up ‘pink slime’ meat product
  by Sarah Laskow. McDonald's, Taco Bell, and Burger King just stopped using a product popularly known as " pink slime " in their burger meat. The "slime" comes from the tiny bits of beef in leftover fatty trimming. Those bits are doused with ammonia in order to kill E. coli a...
• "Get to Know" Contest for Youth Open until November 30th
  Scientists have so far identified over 2 million species on planet Earth – yet American youth are less familiar than ever with plants and animals living in their own "backyard". To reverse this trend, the Get to Know Contest is challenging young Americans (age 5-18) to get outsid...
• Senate Dems plan last-minute push on climate and energy bill
  by Jonathan Hiskes. Exciting news from Senate Democrats today: They're going to try one more time for a climate bill. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) says he's making one last push to put a cap on greenhouse gas emissions. He'll do it by combining a cap with offshore drillin...