Western Climate Initiative Under Attack, As It Should Be

Introducing the “Western Business Roundtable” – a new group with membership including Peabody Coal, Shell Oil, and Western Fuels Association. And guess what? This group is about to release an “economic analysis” that will trash the recommendations of the WCI. Wonders never cease.

Prometheus » Blog Archive » A Department of Innovation?

This week I’ve seen a couple of reports about a call for a Department of Innovation by University of California, Davis sociologist Fred Block. In a Washington briefing earlier this week, he released a white paper (which is mysteriously not available online, but probably informed by this report issued during the summer) which described several recommendations for the Obama Administration on innovation. Among the recommendations is a call for a cabinet-level Department of Innovation. This is yet another example of the science and technology policy communities’ nearly pathological obsession with the U.S. cabinet. I’m ready to group that particular fascination with the perpetuation of the linear model and the overemphasis on the budget as some of the biggest self-defeating aphorisms in public policy.

Ikea under fire for selling reindeer meat

Ikea has been accused of condoning cruelty to animals by selling salami made from Santa's four-legged sleigh-pullers, reindeer.

Unlike a traditional reindeer hunt, modern ranchers buzz over the animals in helicopters, herd them with snowmobiles and truck them hundreds of miles, causing them mental and physical stress.

Around 70 per cent of Swedish reindeer slaughtered are calves, which means they die without seeing snow, claims the animal welfare group Viva!.

Ikea sells 130g of reindeer salami for £1.75 and 100g of reindeer slices for £2.25 in its Swedish food hall, which features other national dishes such as rye bread, meatballs, and almond cake.

Viva!, a vegetarian campaign group based in Bristol, said: "We are calling on the company to withdraw sales of the meat, due to the cruel exploitation these wild animals suffer at the hands of hunters."

Viva! has already persuaded supermarkets not to stock kangaroo and other exotic meats which can be reared and killed in ways that would be illegal in the UK. [Via Jennifer Marohasy]