Tampa FL – Over 200 people gathered in downtown Tampa’s Lykes Gaslight Park, May 23, to rally against Monsanto and march in support of fair labeling practices. Protesters held signs saying “Hell no GMOs,” “We are not a science experiment,” and “Stop eating cancer.” The crowd chanted, “Wendy’s and Micky D’s, stop using GMOs please.”

Miami, FL – Miami joined people around the world on Sept. 21 in the Peoples Climate March, demanding action from a UN special summit on climate change. The largest march was held in New York City, where the summit will take place on Sept. 23. In countries across the globe, hundreds of thousands of people joined together to demand action, not just words from politicians.

_Ordered to pay mining company’s court costs _

Duluth, MN – Laura Gauger, originally a farm girl from Wisconsin, has been saddled with a big bill from a multinational mining corporation. Gauger, now of Duluth, Minnesota, is a citizen plaintiff in a Clean Water Act lawsuit against Rio Tinto of London. The case centered on illegal discharges of pollutants into a stream at Rio Tinto’s Flambeau Mine near Ladysmith, Wisconsin. Gauger and her co‐plaintiffs won the case in U.S. District Court and exposed the pollution from the metallic sulfide mine. The Court of Appeals, however, reversed the decision late in 2013 and denied a petition for rehearing. Now the court has ordered the plaintiffs, including Gauger as an individual, to pay Rio Tinto’s court costs, totaling over $60,000.

Savannah, GA – About 100 people marched from Johnson Square after a large rally against the Monsanto Corporation, a bio-technical and chemical giant. Monsanto plays a major role in industrialized agriculture. Marchers voiced concern or opposition to Monsanto’s genetically modified crops, unfair labor practices and poor treatment of workers. Today, genetically engineered crops account for 93% of all U.S. soybeans and about 90% of corn.

San José, CA – March 11 marks the third anniversary of the tsunami that overwhelmed the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan. The power plant’s owner, Tokyo Electric Power Company or TEPCO, says that it will take at least six more years to begin to remove the melted and radioactive uranium fuel, and even worse, that they don’t know how they are going to do it. The cleanup could go another 10 or 20 years and cost $50 billion or more.

Salt Lake City, UT – As many as 5000 Utahans rallied at the State Capitol, demanding cleaner air with no more excuses. Every winter, pollution from oil refineries, Hill Air Force Base incinerators and Kennecott mines gets trapped low near the valley floors, creating toxic air and breathing troubles for the people. With what is known as ‘the inversion,’ Utah competes for the worst air in the country at this time of year.

Minneapolis, MN – After a spirited protest downtown, Indigenous rights leaders, including Nina Wilson, a founder of Idle No More, gathered here at the American Indian Center on Franklin Avenue, March 21, for a wrap-up of the day’s activities and to prepare for the next event. On March 22, Wilson and others will be present at the Environmental & Treaty Rights Symposium, also to be held at the American Indian Center.

Protesters demand President Obama stop the Keystone XL pipeline

Washington, DC – According to protest organizers, more than 50,000 people joined the massive “Forward on Climate” rally here Feb. 17. Organized by 350.org, the Sierra Club, Hip Hop Caucus and the Natural Resources Defense Council, the rally was the largest protest in U.S. history addressing the issue of climate change. Many participants were students.

A nuclear catastrophe is unfolding in Japan. The information as of 2:00 p.m., March 16, is that two nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan have cracks in the shell designed to contain the radiation inside. There have been partial meltdowns of nuclear fuel in three reactors. The fuel in an unprotected storage pool has caught fire twice and the crisis is nowhere near over.

As of 4:00 pm, March 15, a major nuclear disaster is underway in Japan. In the wake of Friday’s devastating earthquake, a fire in a cooling pond for spent fuel rods and three major explosions have hit the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, located on the country's east coast. There are widespread reports of elevated radiation levels and many residents have fled the area.