Xmas ca rds , gam es, clothes, jew elleryandmore•Hundredsof fair t rade, organic and recy cle d g ifts

Inspiring books, fantastic offers

CATALOGUE 2 008

LOCALFAI RTR ADEOR GAN ICL OCALORG ANICL OCAL

New catalogue out Now! Come to the New Internationalist shop: www.newint.org/shop/uk New Internationalist SEPTEMBER Issue 415 Plastic From this month’s editor

Contents

I don’t know about you but I’m both an inveterate label reader and a sceptic – have been for years. Cans, boxes, bottles: you name it, I read it. It’s a bit of an in-joke at our family dinner table. There’s Dad reading the label on the pickle jar again. Maybe it comes from growing up when consumerism was still in its infancy and the wonders of modern science were accepted without question. ‘Better living through chemistry’ was more than an advertising slogan back then – it was, in those innocent times, a declaration of faith in modernity. Then came DDT, asbestos, agent orange and horrors of Love Canal. Suddenly, corporate chemistry didn’t look so good anymore. Today it’s more of the same. The toxic substances in your sunscreen, shower curtains, plastic bottles and cleaning products may be killing you. Chemical companies are literally getting

away with murder. Profits trump human health – the industry continues to peddle poisons with little accountability while resisting any attempts to regulate their trade. So I read labels, recycle like crazy, shun food additives and try to limit my intake of hazardous chemicals. But it’s not enough. As citizens we have the right to know what poisons are out there. We need to push our lawmakers to get tough. How can we allow industry to poison people for profit in the 21st century?

Wayne Ellwood for the New Internationalist Co-operative

4 this toxic life They’re in our homes and our workplace, in the air we breathe and in the food we eat. Wayne Ellwood argues that toxic chemicals are changing the nature of nature.

sygma

s

coRBi

cquee/

anneBi

BeRnaRd

8 the polymer revolution A history of plastic.

10 Message in a bottle No matter how you look at it, bottled water is a scam of major proportions. Zoe Cormier confirms that oil and water don’t mix.

d

o

o

W

L

L

e

e

n

Way

12 Plastic is forever – the facts

14 sea of garbage The good ship Alguita sails an ocean choked with plastic. Blog by Anna Cummins.

17 Plastic plants As oil supplies dwindle, the plastic industry is pinning its hopes on biomass. Not a great idea, reasons Jim Thomas.

s

R

e

t

u

e

R

/

e

e

L

n

o

s

a

J

20 Abandon the toxic treadmill! plus campaign action

s

uteR

e

R

/

a

e

H

t

n

u

K

o

s

R

o

H

c

21 sPeCIAL FeAtURe Cambodia: Year Zero on trial What can be wrong with putting five notorious Khmer Rouge leaders on trial? Plenty, argues lawyer Brooks Duncan , as he examines the nature of the long-awaited, and foreign-funded, trials currently underway. They are, he says, seeking to ‘rewrite history’ and ‘to criminalize ideas’ rather than to punish the wrong-doers. He puts forward his controversial case in this month’s special feature.

Regular Features 2 Letters Technofix debate disappointment; Ecuador’s political éélite won’t save Yasuníí; how we must pull the plug on Mugabe with total sanctions. PLUS: Maria Golia on conflicting loves in Cairo

25 Currents A special on coal – including the ‘clean coal’ con, windpower in China, success in Bangladesh and activism everywhere.

28 Big Bad World Polyp’s peak oil fun ride PLUS: NI Prize Crossword

29 Making Waves Senegal’s beacon of good music and positive energy Youssou N’Dour talks to Ed Stocker

30 Mixed media Chinese Mongolian ‘Bjöörk’ steps into Tibet controversy; the Garifuna Women’s Project from Central America; a film about the Pope’s toilet; and superstar philosopher Slavoj Zˇizˇek writes in defence of lost causes.

32 Southern Exposure Earthworks 2008: highlighting cartoonists from the global South taking part in the Biennial Ken Sprague competition. 34 Essay Things to do before I retire. . . humble thoughts from the diary of GW Bush, as revealed by Stefan Simanowitz

36 Country Profile: Botswana

Front cover: Andrew Kokotka. Magazine design: Andrew Kokotka. All monetary values are expressed in US dollars unless otherwise noted.