[an error occurred while processing this directive] Goldman Fund grants $150,000 for Corporate Social Responsibility The Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund has made a one-year grant of $150,000 to the California Global Corporate Accountability Project (CAP). A collaboration between the
Nautilus Institute and the
Natural Heritage Institute, CAP seeks to improve the environmental
and human rights performance of U.S. companies in their global operations.
The grant supports training on corporate social responsibility for journalists,
as well as advocacy for reform of disclosure rules, such as international
"Right to Know" legislation. The CAP project will also work to develop
more robust approaches toward social, human rights, and environmental
screens for institutional investors.
U.S.-China relations subject of new report The Globalization and Governance Program recently released a report [204K, requires Acrobat Reader] titled "What Road Ahead? Scenarios for the Future of U.S.-China Relations." Generated via a highly interactive collaboration between Chinese and American analysts, the four distinctly different scenarios point toward the need for a consistent and constructive US policy towards China. The project was funded by the
Ford Foundation
and the Rockefeller Brothers
Fund.
Missile defense plans out of step, Huntley argues in papers, talk The Bush Administration's pursuit of theater and strategic missile defenses evinces a strategic vision that may not conform to post-Cold War realities, Peace and Security Program Director Wade Huntley argued in a paper, "Missile Proliferation in East Asia," presented at the Workshop on the United States and Asian Security convened by the Peace Studies Program at Cornell University March 10-11, 2001. The paper expands on points in the recent Foreign Policy in Focus article, "Missile Defense and China." Wade underscored the need for a U.S. world role less reliant on provocative military postures in his keynote address to the Workshop on Moving Beyond Missile Defense co-sponsored by the International Network of Engineers and Scientists Against Proliferation and the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation in Santa Barbara, California, March 19-21, 2001. This workshop developed preliminary findings and constituted an International Study Group to explore alternatives to missile defenses in regional meetings in Northeast Asia, Europe, South Asia and the Middle East. New photographs of the recent visit to Berkeley by a North Korean energy delegation are now available in the DPRK wind power photo gallery.
Specialists advance strategies for regional security cooperation Specialists from China, Japan, South Korea, Russia, and the United States engaged in an open and candid exchange of views on regional security issues at the second East Asia Regional Security Futures Collaborative Workshop co-sponsored by the Nautilus Institute and the Center for American Studies at China's Fudan University. At the March 3-4 workshop, participants discussed implications of the new Bush administration, Korean Peninsula rapprochement, US-China relations, missile defense, and prospects for arms control and disarmament. The workshop was designed to improve regional peace and security through reduced reliance on threats to use nuclear weapons. Funding was provided by Fudan University and by the Nautilus Institute, supported by grants from the Ford Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, the Ploughshares Fund, and the Prospect Hill Foundation. The project's first meeting was held in Shanghai May 29-30, 1999.
Report: Lack of data hampers study of occupational risk in Thai high-tech sector Lack of publicly available medical data makes it hard to evaluate occupational risk in Thailand's high-tech sector, concludes a report just released by the California Global Corporate Accountability Project. Written by Tira Foran, Corporate Social Responsibility at Nine Multinational Electronic Firms in Thailand [154K, requires Acrobat Reader] examines regulatory and voluntary measures to improve environmental management and reduce occupational risk. The study calls for greater corporate disclosure to help regulators, non-governmental organizations, and the public know whether the voluntary measures are actually working. The report is one of four high-tech field investigations conducted for CAP. Kristin Burgess rejoins Nautilus team Nautilus is pleased to welcome back Kristin Burgess to its team. Kristin left the Institute in September 2000 to work with the City of Berkeley on a policy project related to domestic-partner benefits. The project was completed in January, resulting in the creation and adoption of an Equal Benefits Ordinance for the City of Berkeley. The ordinance will require City Contractors to extend the same employee benefits offered to married employees to employees with domestic partners. Kristin returns to Nautilus as the Executive Assistant to Peter Hayes. DPRK Energy Delegation Concludes Nautilus-Hosted U.S. Visit A five-person delegation of North Korean engineers on March 17, 2001 completed a three-week visit to the United States to study renewable energy issues at the invitation of the Nautilus Institute. "Exchanges like this are essential to promoting peace and sustainable development on the Korean Peninsula," said Nautilus Executive Director Peter Hayes. The visit was the third such training mission to the U.S. hosted by Nautilus. Previous energy delegations visited in April-May 1999 and December 1997. Nautilus has sent three delegations of American engineers to the DPRK since 1998 to install seven electric-generating wind turbines and a water-lifting windmill. Time to revise DPRK framework, Hayes says on National Public Radio It is timely to discuss revising obsolete aspects of the US-DPRK Agreed Framework, such as substituting less expensive and more useful energy assistance to North Korea in place of the heavy fuel oil called for in the Framework, Nautilus Executive Director Peter Hayes said on National Public Radio March 13. In an interview with reporter Vicky O'Hara on Morning Edition, Hayes suggested that in particular, the United States could address some of the problems with the DPRK's ailing electric power grid. Hayes was commenting on the Bush administration's re-evaluation of the Agreed Framework. Hear the interview... (Requires RealPlayer)
Eighteen Chinese, Japanese,
North and South Korean, and Russian energy experts completed a trip
on Pegasus in stormy weather on March 1, 2001. The experts were hosted
by the Pegasus on two separate voyages. They were rotated around the
deck stations, and some were put at the helm and lookout positions.
Thanks to all the crew who made
these voyages the high point of our visitors' trip to the Bay Area,
and to all those who offered but couldn't join us due to lack of space.
Researchers advance work on Asia energy-future scenarios
Ten senior energy researchers from
Northeast Asia discussed developing alternative national energy paths at
the East Asia Energy Futures Project's
second workshop from February 24 to March 2, 2001. The participants will
continue working on collaborative energy scenarios and will exchange national
energy data.
Participants also discussed using LEAP
(the Long-range Energy Alternatives Planning
System) as a methodology for illustrating their feasibility and potential.
At an accompanying workshop, Dr. David
Von Hippel, Nautilus research associate, provided intensive hands-on
training on using LEAP 2000 software, with off-site assistance from Charlie
Heaps of the Stockholm Environmental
Institute.
Participants tentatively decided to hold a third meeting in autumn 2001
to present initial research results, including national energy data sets.
Nuclear
weapons still being modernized, Despite pledges for nuclear disarmament, the U.S. military is extensively modernizing its atomic weaponry, according to a survey co-authored by Nautilus Security Program Officer Hans M. Kristensen in the March-April 2001 Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. The Bulletin's Nuclear Notebook series is one of the most widely used sources for unofficial estimates of the status and development of nuclear weapons worldwide. The March-April 2001 issue reviews U.S. nuclear forces and shows that modernization is underway on virtually all major nuclear weapon systems despite pledges for nuclear disarmament. This includes development of a new strategic bomber, a new version of the Trident II sea-launched ballistic missile, and a future nuclear role for the multi-billion dollar Joint Strike Fighter currently under development. The Nuclear Notebook also discloses that although the B-1B bomber is widely reported to have been converted to a "conventional-only" role, a secret stock of nuclear bombs for the aircraft is held in reserve under a "Nuclear Re-Role Plan."
Dead fish, polluted fields, and chemicals spilled into drinking supplies are part of the legacy of rapid growth of the high tech industry in Taiwan, according to a new report by the California Global Corporate Accountability Project (CAP). The report, "A Study of the Environmental and Social Aspects of Taiwanese and U.S. Companies in the Hsinchu Science-Based Industrial Park," was produced by the Taiwan Environmental Action Network under the direction of Dr. Shenglin Chang. Poor environmental management stems largely from the fact that to promote global competitiveness, Hsinchu companies are insulated from local environmental laws, according to the study. Based on extensive field research and interviews, the report recommends a new model of business-government-community partnership to improve environmental performance. The report is one of four high-tech field investigations conducted for CAP. W. Alton Jones Foundation Grants Nautilus Institute $1.1 million The W. Alton Jones Foundation's Secure World Program announced on Feb. 23, 2001 that it has granted $1.1 million to the Nautilus Institute. The two-year grant continues and expands the Foundation's support for the Institute's cooperative engagement work with the DPRK (North Korea) on renewable energy, its East Asian Energy Futures program, and outreach and media work to reduce the danger of nuclear war and global insecurity. Atkinson Foundation Supports Pegasus Project The Myrtle L. Atkinson Foundation on Feb. 21, 2001 granted $2,500 to support the Pegasus Project in its work with teenage youth-at-risk. The Pegasus Project works with local students in local schools as well as youth in at-risk programs.
Nautilus adopts new mission statement The Nautilus Institute's Board of Directors adopted a new mission for the organization on Feb. 5, 2001 The new mission is "to solve interrelated critical global problems
by improving the processes and outcomes of global governance."
Nautilus Institute has selected three global threats that exemplify
the general challenge to global governance in an era of global transformation,
and has developed broad policy goals with respect to each:
The John Merck Fund recently granted $57,000 to support the Institute's work to reduce the danger of nuclear war and global insecurity. The Fund particularly supported the publicity and outreach component of the Northeast Asia Peace and Security Network (NAPSNET). Nautilus is pleased to welcome Danna West as our new Administrative Assistant. Danna started working in the non-profit sector at the Humane Society of Boulder Valley during her years at the University of Colorado-Boulder, where she received her Bachelor's degree in Asian Studies and Humanities. She also participated in a number of grassroots environmental actions and programs, and spent a semester at the University of Khon Kaen, Thailand studying environmental and sociological issues facing the Thai agricultural sector. After graduation, Danna went to India to work at Mother Theresa's Home for the Destitute and Dying in Calcutta, Nepali Girl's Social Services in Darjeeling, and the Baba Hari Dass orphanage. She returned to the Bay Area in August 2000, and obtained her Master's of Chinese and Asian Pacific Studies at the University of San Francisco. Danna started with Nautilus on February 1, 2001. Pegasus Crew Conducts Flare-Firing Exercise Pegasus captains and crew conducted a flare training exercise at the US Coast Guard base on Yerba Buena Island on February 10, 2001. The crew fired hand-held, pistol, and parachute flares into the air to gain first-hand experience using this safety equipment. A Coast Guard specialist provided training and safety tips. The Pegasus crew decided that the Paine-Wessex parachute flares were by far the best for use in an emergency. These units shot up 1,000 feet before exploding, then floating down on tiny parachutes. Pegasus crew for this session included Bill Proctor, Inka Petersen, Christine Albertsen, Paul Kassatkin, Jeanne Moje, Paul Marbury, and Peter Hayes. Mark Caplin and Scott Seidman met the group at the Coast Guard base and participated in the flare exercise. US-DPRK Agreed Framework has problems but mustn't be abandoned, Nautilus argues The 1994 US-DPRK Agreed Framework is the underpinning of current US policy toward North Korea (DPRK) and must not be abandoned, a new Nautilus paper argues. The paper, co-written by David Von Hippel, Peter Hayes, Timothy Savage, and Masami Nakata, examines problems for implementing the agreement given the perilous state of the DPRK electrical grid. Although the authors argue that without extensive upgrading of the grid the country will be unable to safely operate the light-water reactors being supplied under the Framework, they say replacing one of the reactors with a thermal power plant, as some have suggested, is an equally impractical solution. Instead, the United States could offer infrastructure assistance to the DPRK in exchange for changes in heavy fuel oil deliveries. The US could explore with the DPRK alternative services -- grid refurbishment, power plant and boiler rehabilitation, fuel supply infrastructure rebuilding, and alternative electricity sources and energy-efficiency improvements -- that could be provided with a portion of the funds now earmarked for fuel-oil purchases. Read the Paper (Acrobat Reader required) ... The Nautilus Institute's East Asia Energy Futures (EAEF) project will hold its second conference Feb. 24-25, 2001, followed by a five-day training workshop on using the LEAP 2000 (Long-range Energy Alternatives Planning) software system. Building toward the EAEF goal to produce a set of regional energy scenarios, 10 energy researchers from China, Japan, Far East Russia, and South Korea will gather in Berkeley, CA, to discuss how to elaborate a common "framework" and a set of "tools" that each participating country team will use to create and evaluate alternative energy pathways for that country. Following the framework meeting, researchers and graduate students will participate in the LEAP 2000 training workshop. For more information, please contact Nautilus Energy Program Officer Masami Nakata. The Globalization & Governance Program is pleased to welcome a new intern, Cai Dapeng. Cai is a Chinese Ph.D. student at Nagoya University in Japan, where he is studying international economic policy. He has taught at the Henan Institute of Finance & Economics, and has written on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) risks in China. While at Nautilus for six weeks, Cai will be researching China's accession into the World Trade Organization for the Investment Rules Project. Cai comes to Nautilus from Japan-US Community Education & Exchange (JUCEE), an international exchange program designed to strengthen the nascent Japanese non-governmental (nonprofit) sector by exposing participants to the US nonprofit organizations and individuals. Berkeley Boosters complete after-school voyage A group of Berkeley Boosters from Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School completed an after-school voyage aboard the Pegasus on Feb. 9, 2001. All members of the group -- and especially Cesar and Melissa -- plucked up enough courage to ride on the bucking bowsprit in a strong southerly wind blowing during a short break in the winter storms pounding the Bay Area. The kids were stoked, and at the debriefing they vowed to return soon. Pegasus crew included Jim Gaebe, Paul Marbury, Bill Proctor, Jeanne Moje, Peter Hayes, Inka Petersen, and Bill Gunn. Jane Wales joins Nautilus Board of Directors
Jane Wales has joined the Nautilus Board of Directors, the organization
announced Feb. 9, 2001.
"The Board and staff at Nautilus are very fortunate to have Jane join
us at this crucial time in the Institute's history," said Executive Director
Peter Hayes.
"Jane's background in security issues as well as her knowledge of the
whole field of foreign policy will be a major asset to the Board in refining
and implementing the Institute's mission," he added.
"We also look forward to developing complementary activities with the
World Affairs Council
in San Francisco, of which Jane is currently the President and CEO."
Ms. Wales is a former Associate Director of the White House Office of
Science and Technology Policy and Senior Director of the National Security
Council. She recently authored "Advancing Stability in an Era of Change,"
a report [397K,
requires Acrobat Reader] for the Rockefeller
Brothers Fund.
Nautilus Institute is pleased to welcome its new bookkeeper, Bud Simpson. Prior to joining Nautilus, Bud worked at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center as a financial analyst. He has also worked on economic development projects in the Middle East and Central America. Bud received his B.S. and M.B.A. degrees from the University of California, Berkeley. Bud joined the Nautilus Institute in January, 2001. The Agreed Framework should be revised to reduce its emphasis on heavy fuel oil transfer from the United States to North Korea, Nautilus Executive Director Peter Hayes said at a workshop on Verification and Challenges of the US-DPRK Agreed Framework on January 31, 2001. "The US-DPRK Agreed Framework should be updated to consider substituting energy efficiency, electric grid refurbishment, or coal for the heavy fuel oil currently provided to the DPRK by the United States," Hayes suggested. "The light water reactor transfer should continue on a realistic schedule, but it is clear that grid interconnection between the DPRK and the ROK, China, and Russia will be necessary before the reactors could be safely turned on." The workshop was convened by the Center for Global Security Research at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, and the Center for International Security and Arms Control at Stanford University. Dr. Hayes also addressed how the DPRK electric grid affects the implementation of the light water reactor transfer facilitated by KEDO, the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization.
global action on children's environmental health
Widespread exposure to toxic chemicals is affecting brain development and making children more susceptible to infectious and microbial disease in the Philippines, said Dr. Irma Makalinao in an Experts Panel on Children's Environmental Health at the United Nations in New York on Jan. 30. The Panel is part of a collaboration between the Nautilus Institute and the Natural Heritage Institute to advance a Global Framework for Children's Environmental Health. The project received a $20,000 seed grant from the Jennifer Altman Foundation in December, 2000. The Compton Foundation has granted $90,000 to support the Nautilus Institute's work on renewable energy in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The funds will be used to introduce renewable-energy technologies such as water-lifting windmills and water purification into North Korea, and to deliver significant and tangible improvements in the living conditions of North Korean rural citizens. The objective is to build confidence and trust between the DPRK and the United States at both governmental and non-governmental levels. The Institute has argued in a previously published analysis that supplying renewable energy sources to lift water is the key to agricultural food production and to avoiding waterborne diseases. At the same time, the work serves as a "demonstration project" of U.S.-DPRK constructive engagement. The pursuit of an aggressive theater missile defense system in East Asia could lead to new U.S.-China military tensions and preempt important proposals for the establishment of new common security regimes in the Asia-Pacific region, two Nautilus experts argue in a newly published paper. Nautilus Security Program Director Wade Huntley and Program Assistant Robert Brown make the assertion in a new Foreign Policy in Focus brief, "Missile Defense and U.S.-China Relations," published in the current issue of The Progressive Response (Vol. 5 No. 4). Wade and Robert discuss two foreign policy issues that will spark major foreign policy debates inside the new administration: its proposed national missile defense and its China policy. The essay will also be republished at Asia Times Online.
Zarsky tells Asia-Pacific Forum A business-management model based on "corporate social responsibility" is spreading in Asia, Lyuba Zarsky, Director of the Nautilus Globalization and Governance Program, told some 60 business leaders and analysts on Jan. 17. Zarsky spoke at the Asia Pacific Executive Forum in Honolulu. Organized by the East-West Center, the two-day Forum charted key economic, political, market, and security trends important to business in Asia. Zarsky outlined the "corporate social responsibility" model and described the forces driving the adoption of the model in Asia, including Asian non-governmental organizations and consumers, as well as U.S. and European multinational corporations. She drew from field investigations of the California Global Corporate Accountability Project, a joint project of the Nautilus Institute, the Natural Heritage Institute, and Human Rights Advocates. Timothy Savage, Nautilus Security Program Officer for Northeast Asia, attended and spoke at a conference on "The Evolution of the Korean Issue Since the Cold War" hosted by the Center for Korean Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai, China Jan. 13-14. Tim presented a paper, co-written with Security Program Director Wade Huntley, entitled, "Potholes on the Road to Peace: The International Dimensions of Korean Reconciliation." The conference papers will be published later this year by Koguryo Publishing House in Seoul, Republic of Korea. Prior to the conference, which was co-sponsored by the Asia Foundation and the Japan Foundation, Tim attended a meeting of the Shanghai Rotary Club about the Nautilus Institute's DPRK Rural Wind Energy Project. On January 15-20, Tim traveled to Hong Kong to take part in the annual conference of the Pacific Neighborhood Consortium and the Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative, where he introduced participants to the Nautilus Institute's Northeast Asia Peace and Security Network (NAPSNet). The East Asian Energy Futures Project of the Nautilus Institute's Energy, Security & Environment Program has posted the papers of Professors Wang Qingyi and Xie Shaoxiong on the Energy Futures main page. Professor Wang is the Deputy President of the China Energy Research Society. His paper (124K, requires Acrobat Reader), "Coal Industry in China: Evolvement and Prospects," describes the current and future reforms of the Chinese Coal Industry. Professor Xie is a senior advisor of the State Power Corporation in China. Xie's paper (60K, requires Acrobat Reader), "Review of Assumptions as to Changes in the Electricity Generation Sector in Nautilus Institute's Clean Coal Scenarios Report," reviews the changes in the electricity generation sector and their impact on the Chinese environment proposed in David Von Hippel's Clean Coal Scenarios Paper. The Wallace Global Fund has announced a grant of $100,000 for a collaborative project on investment rules entitled "International Investment Rules: Building a Global Coalition for a 'Sustainable Development' Framework." Spearheaded by Lyuba Zarsky, Director of the Globalization and Governance Program, the project aims to produce a draft framework for a set of global 'Sustainable Development Investment Rules'--and to stimulate a global coalition to press for its implementation. Project partners include the International Institute for Sustainable Development,Fundacion ECOS Uruguay, and the Singapore Institute for International Affairs.
On a blusterly, freezing cold northerly wind, the Pegasus Project conducted a day long crew training voyage on January 15. The crew practiced using a spring line to swing the bow of the boat against the wind upon departure from the dock as well as reducing the sail area in strong winds--a procedure known as slab reefing.
The voyage included three no-notice emergency recovery exercises for a person-overboard for the three crew in training--Christine Albertsen, Khadija Pierce, and Inka Petersen. Captains Peter Hayes and Bill Proctor directed the training. The first school voyage in 2001 will be February 9th. The new Pegasus schedule will be posted shortly.
Nautilus Institute this month
received funds from a U.S. Department
of Energy grant approved late last year, to continue the regional
collaboration on energy security begun in 2000 and to expand this work
to consideration of regional grid integration in Northeast Asia. The
$500,000 grant will support regional training sessions in analytical
software for long range energy planning, It will also support regional
workshops on energy security (in California in February) and grid integration
(in China in April). Pegasus
crew trains for safety
The crew exercised retrieving "Bob," an adult-sized safety mannequin dressed
in a lifejacket. The crew retrieved Bob from his fall overboard by stopping
Pegasus by a maneuver known as "heaving to" -- when the sails are used
to stall the vessel. In addition, they practiced returning to a person
overboard in the water.
This crew training is in preparation for a busy schedule of spring
voyages with school students with the Shorebird
Nature Center and after-school voyages with the Berkeley
Boosters.
The procedures for retrieving a person-overboard are described in the
Pegasus crew training manual. A PDF (Adobe Acrobat Reader) version of
this manual was posted by crew member Christine
Albertsen, and may now be viewed online.
The crew participating were Bill Proctor, Peter
Hayes, Mark Caplin, Marena Drlik,
Jeannie Moje, Richard Kambak, Bill Gann, Christine Albertsen, and Leif
Brottem. Dr. Hayes outlined the relationship between geopolitical shifts with the end of the Cold War and the DPRK's external situation. Dr. Williams focused on the linkage between energy shortages and the famine in the DPRK.
Information Technology and International Security The Rockefeller Foundation has provided the Nautilus Institute with a $500,000 grant to fund a five-year fellowship on the uses of information and communication technology to reduce the dangers of nuclear war.
The grant will support a scholar to develop Internet-based communication systems at Nautilus Institute as part of its overall mission and strategy. The grant includes resources to enable the Fellow to travel and to implement hardware and software innovations needed to support global peace and security programs.
The fellowship will be announced shortly on the Nautilus Web site, at which time applications will be accepted immediately.
"As California struggles with an energy crisis, your efforts to harness nature itself with wind turbines and windmills takes on increased meaning. The graceful towers and tall turbines that you have built in North Korea are providing water and electricity... The Foundation makes the award backed by a $500 check to encourage "individual dedication and commitment by recognizing the achievement of people who have initiated social change." [an error occurred while processing this directive]
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