Global Environmental Society

It was with sadness that we noted the passing of Kenyan environmentalist Wangari Maathai on 25 September of this year.

Maathai was a towering figure in the African political and environmental landscape, a tireless campaigner for the emancipation of women and the natural world. The list of awards she received for her work would double the length of this article. Most notably, she received the Nobel peace prize in 2004 for her contribution to "sustainable development, democracy and peace".

2008 marks the 20th anniversary of the assassination of Brazilian activist Chico Mendes by embittered cattle ranchers. It also marks the beginning of a new initiative by the Brazilian government which places the stamp of official approval on the cause for which he spent, and lost, his life.

The Acre state news agency has announced the establishment of a new factory in Xapuri, which will manufacture condoms under the brand name Natex. They will be made from rubber tapped from indigenous trees of the Amazonian rainforest - a traditional craft which has been under threat for decades due to the expansion of cattle ranching in Brazil which has lead to the clearance of large areas of the rain forest.

For months now his book "An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It" has been on my nightstand. For months now we have been trying to contact Al Gore in order to secure an introduction for our journal. After all, the former US-Vice President is the climate-guru par excellence. Without his book and his film the idea for this magazine would probably still be slumbering away in a desk drawer. We would have flown to Nashville for a chance to interview Al Gore. Luckily we didn't, for we have since come to know the real Al Gore - greedy, avaricious and up to all dodges.