Although we all believe that when we shop for a 300 Euro Northface jacket or new ski trousers for another 200 Euros we are not buying only environmental friendly produced clothes but also clothes that have been produced in a "healthy" way in third world countries. However, as the NGO Christian Initiative Romero (CIR) found out this is not the case. Many companies do not pay their employees accordingly. As such, it so happens that the employment cost make up less than 0,5%.

http://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/service/0,1518,705681,00.html

In one of the November editions of the Economist one can find a very interesting article about Monsanto. This compnay is famous for giving farmers the opportunity to produce gene-manipulated foods. This company is growing day by day due to acquisitions of other companies. At the moment it is working on drought tolerant products. This means that a plant can survive without water for a much longer period of time.

I personally find these recent developments very scary. Especially due to the fact that consumers don't know how their health may be affected in later years.

For the full article see:

http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14904184

28.7.2009 - The European Union needs to reconcile its growth and jobs objectives with long-term environmental goals, says the European Commission in a report taking stock of the bloc’s decade-old sustainable development strategy.

Global demand for natural resources is growing fast, European fish stocks are depleting and forests and soils are increasingly challenged by climate change, says the report, published on 24 July.

The EU executive estimates the annual loss of ecosystem services equivalent to €50 billion and the cumulated welfare losses are estimated equivalent to 7% of GDP by 2050.

The report launches a reflection on how the EU Sustainable Development Strategy (SDS) should evolve in the future and how it could be better aligned with other cross-cutting EU strategies.

Link with background information, report download, etc: http://www.euractiv.com/en/opinion/eu-launches-reflection-future-green-policies/article-184400
------
28.7.2009 - Die Europäische Union muss ihre Wachstums- und Beschäftigungsziele mit ihren langfristigen umweltpolitischen Zielen in Einklang bringen sagt die Europäische Kommission in einem Bericht, in dem sie eine Bestandsaufnahme der zehn Jahre alten Nachhaltigkeitsbilanz vornimmt.

Die weltweite Nachfrage nach natürlichen Ressourcen wächst schnell, europäische Fischbestände werden weiter dezimiert und Wälder und Böden werden zunehmend vom Klimawandel herausgefordert, sagt ein Bericht, der am 24. Juli 2009 veröffentlich wurde.

Die EU-Kommission schätzt die jährlichen Verluste des Ökosystems als equivalent ein zu 50 Milliarden Euro und die kumulierten Wohlfahrtsverluste werden auf gleich bedeutend mit 7 Prozent des BIPs im Jahr 2050 geschätzt.

Der Bericht beginnt eine Reflektion darüber, wie die EU-Nachhaltigkeitsstrategie (NS) sich in der Zukunft entwickeln sollte und wie sie besser mit den übergreifenden EU-Strategien abgestimmt werden kann.