tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30239010513499712532024-03-05T01:52:11.855-08:00SustainabilitySustainability equates to a sustainable global society founded on respect for nature, universal human rights, economic justice, and a culture of peace.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00568422578494853037noreply@blogger.comBlogger362125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3023901051349971253.post-86125875459776646962017-03-04T06:58:00.002-08:002017-03-04T07:01:32.659-08:00Here, Everyone Can Be a Scientist.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx3oHx35GGYsrLa3aHc1eKGbKXFV7WFdHIMY2TpXRhXqUf9sNub_ELj5p85ujg8nm8atPR06lOZZyd6-awXUQygPnXvIevHgY1dvwJexEqi9VNkYaEbFgzaRhPD2SZ8eOzjfP9j3DWTpZB/?imgmax=9999" width="508" style="max-width: 100%;"></div><p dir="auto"><br>At Counter Culture Labs in Oakland, California, pipettes, microscopes, and petri dishes cover lab tables, while the lab’s latest, crowdfunded acquisition sits nearby: an ultra-cold freezer for storing enzymes and DNA. The lab provides a place for open science, where anyone can do research and research results are free, says Maureen Muldavin, a board member of the nonprofit public biology lab. Established in 2013, the lab hosts projects that range from making “bioart” inspired by colorful bacteria to reverse-engineering insulin. “We’re trying to do the research to make it easier for someone to produce a generic version [of insulin], so it’s not available through just a few pharmaceutical companies,” says Muldavin.</p><p>The equipment is professional, but the lab’s participants don’t have to be. Participants include people without science backgrounds as well as those with Ph.D.s. Crowdsourcing buys the equipment, and peer-to-peer education teaches people the skills to use it. Some are looking to learn skills for a new career, others to conduct research outside their home institution. Many are just curious about science. “Usually, it’s scientists who decide what to research,” says Muldavin. “Here, everyone can be a scientist.”</p><p><a href="http://bit.ly/2mn63kV" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/2mn63kV</a><br></p>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00568422578494853037noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3023901051349971253.post-86022177001769603702015-07-07T15:20:00.000-07:002015-07-07T15:22:40.741-07:00Light Up A Life For A Better Nepal<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ySyR4YKhU5o/VZxQwxUEdqI/AAAAAAAAdJs/1CSlw19G8jA/s1972/Photo%25252020150707172040817.jpg" target="_blank" style=" " title=""><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ySyR4YKhU5o/VZxQwxUEdqI/AAAAAAAAdJs/1CSlw19G8jA/s300/Photo%25252020150707172040817.jpg" id="blogsy-1436307655876.7996" class="aligncenter" width="506" height="371" alt=""></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">https://life.indiegogo.com/fundraisers/1334331</td></tr></tbody></table><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><div class="pc-linedTop hidden-xs" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); -webkit-box-shadow: rgb(221, 221, 221) 1px 1px 2px; box-shadow: rgb(221, 221, 221) 1px 1px 2px; padding: 15px; margin-top: 25px;"><h2 class="pc-story-title" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 5px; cursor: default;"><font size="4"><span style="line-height: 23.399999618530273px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The Story</span></font></h2><div pc-story="" truncation-length="1000" class="ng-isolate-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="pc-story-body ng-binding" ng-bind-html="campaignStoryHtml" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 5px; word-wrap: break-word;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">PROVIDING LIGHTING AT VILLAGES IN NEPAL IS OF CRITICAL IMPORTANCE :<br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;">On the day of the earthquake, I was giving a lecture to Indigenous women leaders in Sindhupalchok, when the earthquake suddenly struck. Houses fell apart in front of my eyes. Tears came to my eyes, knowing that there must be loss of life. However, the participants and I were all fortunately safe. <br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;">Two days later I started a relief effort, which is on going. I discovered villagers without access to electricity. I am trained as a climate activists, and so I decided to deliver solar lamps to these village people, to help raise awareness of the ill-effects of using kerosene lamps - a dream that is coming true, as in short period of time, with the support of my fellow climate mentors from India, we are effectively carrying out this relief effort. <br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;">Climate change is one of the most important global challenges facing the world. Light Up a Life for a Better Nepal aims to bring solar power to hundreds of houses across the region who have no access to electricity. A new light always brings a smile to the faces of these needy rural people. <br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;">As an enthusiastic Climate Activist, as well as someone who comes from these villages, I am very ready to spring into action, along with our local teams, delivering these simple, yet very necessary solar powered lights. These solar devices will also meet the mobile charging facility for the rural effected communities.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;">NO ELECTRICAL SERVICE REACHES MANY POOR RURAL PEOPLE.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;">Prior to the quake, Nepal did not have a stable grid. Nearly a quarter of people lived without access to electricity and many more endured up to 16 hours a day of blackouts – in Nepal, there is simply not enough power to go around.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;">YOU AND I, AND OUR TEAM OF LOCAL PEOPLE CAN LIGHT UP THE LIVES OF FAMILIES STRUGGLING TO SURVIVE.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;">While other groups are addressing needs such as food, shelter, water, medicine, Solar Nepal will make our modest contribution by lighting up small villages, home to home, village to village.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;">Nobody wants to be left in the dark. You may remember how scary a black out was when you were a young person. Psychologically, these people have lost a sense of security, as they’re now trying to get back on their feet in the dark, some even with missing family members.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;">Furthermore, it is very difficult for aid groups to work without light already at the site. Aid workers would benefit if these solar light device, which also charge mobile phone were in place as they carry out their work.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;">In the midst of this disorder, a mother’s first instinct is to reach out to her loved ones, to check if they are okay, and let them know you are okay. And when you reach for your mobile phone, and it's dead and there is no place to charge it - these solar devices will change that.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;">PLAYING A SMALL, BUT SIGNIFICANT PART IN MOVING TOWARDS A SOLAR POWERED FUTURE<br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;">And in the long term, illuminating homes, schools, monasteries, etc. via solar power would make a significant positive impact. This is my dream. Our effort serves as also as an introduction to this lofty, yet certainly achievable goal.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;">Kerosene and candles can be a real fire danger. Diesel generators can also be dangerous if used improperly, and are loud, have fumes and require a steady supply of fuel to keep running, which is yet another burden in our post-disaster areas.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;">It is clear, solar power can provide an alternative - or at least complement conventional power sources. Nepal needs to become familiar with solar power now.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;">Climate change looms large for those of us working as Climate Activists, and here our modest aim of providing these lights, may also have a major impact if these village people see that solar is truly a viable solution after disasters.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;">YOUR DONATION BIG OR SMALL WILL HELP<br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;">Your generous donation will not only satisfy the basic need of having a light in a home, but will also let these good people know the world cares. We have an ambitious vision to deliver these solar devices to far-flung villages, and to villages that are isolated and have no means of accessing relief funds. You can help light up the lives of the entire population of the region.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;">All of the donationswe need to add 5% for transportation, and so your donation money goes a long way.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;">Please help in any way possible, so that we can assist those in immediate need. We really need your help. <br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;">On our side, we will carry out Operation light up a life for better Nepal swiftly and with ease, because we are local people who know the region like the back of our hand. <a href="https://life.indiegogo.com/fundraisers/1334331" target="_self" title="">More</a><br style="box-sizing: border-box;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;">THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONCERN AND DONATION!</span></p></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">https://life.indiegogo.com/fundraisers/1334331</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><div class="pc-social-belowStory hidden-xs" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 35px;"><a href="" class="pc-social pc-social-wide pc-social-hasNumber pc-social-fbShare pc-social-belowStory-button ng-isolate-scope" pc-fb-share="" event-on="click" event-name="click_fb_share" event-page-location="below_story" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; border-top-left-radius: 2px; border-top-right-radius: 2px; border-bottom-right-radius: 2px; border-bottom-left-radius: 2px; padding: 0px 40px 0px 0px; min-width: 140px; position: relative; text-align: center; display: inline-block; width: 150px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><font color="#000000"><div ng-click="shareFacebook()" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></div></font></a></div></div><div class="separator" style="text-align: left; clear: both;" caption="https://life.indiegogo.com/fundraisers/1334331"><h2 class="pc-story-title" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 5px; cursor: default;"><br></h2><h2 class="pc-story-title" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 5px; cursor: default;"><div pc-story="" truncation-length="1000" class="ng-isolate-scope" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: normal;"></div></h2></div><p> </p><p> </p><div style="text-align: right; font-size: small; clear: both;" id="blogsy_footer"><a href="http://blogsyapp.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://blogsyapp.com/images/blogsy_footer_icon.png" alt="© " style="vertical-align: middle; margin-right: 5px;" width="20" height="20" />© </a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00568422578494853037noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3023901051349971253.post-77506270895633171592015-06-21T06:32:00.000-07:002015-06-21T06:36:13.729-07:005 Radical Takeaways from the Pope’s Letter on Climate <p><strong>Pope Francis recognizes that there’s no way to stop climate change without confronting the way the world does business. That’s huge.</strong><br></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-i_-cMr0xiO4/VYa80tVZ2lI/AAAAAAAAdFM/qxWLwhLeKyw/s300/Photo%25252020150621083158814.jpg" target="_blank" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-i_-cMr0xiO4/VYa80tVZ2lI/AAAAAAAAdFM/qxWLwhLeKyw/s300/Photo%25252020150621083158814.jpg" id="blogsy-1434893524464.6057" class="alignright" width="300" height="200" alt=""></a></div><p>Pope Francis just released an "encyclical," a letter meant to serve as a guide to understanding our personal relationship to some of the most complex issues of the day through religious doctrine. This particular encyclical is on climate change and is addressed not just to the globe’s 1.2 billion Catholics, but to everyone of any — or no — faith. In it, Pope Francis boldly challenges us all to take an honest look inside our hearts and question the foundations of a society that’s created wealth for some at the expense of others and "our common home"— the planet earth.</p><p>Here are five key quotes from the encyclical that will shake up the global climate debate.</p><p><strong>1. Climate change and inequality are inextricably linked.</strong></p><p>"We have to realize that a true ecological approach always becomes a social approach; it must integrate questions of justice in debates on the environment, so as to hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor." It’s not hard to see how climate change hits people living in poverty first and worst, and inevitably widens the gulf between rich and poor. After extreme weather washes away their homes or drought kills their crops, those living in poverty have a harder time bouncing back than those with savings accounts and sturdier houses. But what’s really radical is how the Pope names inequality itself as an impediment to solving a looming planetary and human rights crisis. The encyclical calls out "masters of power and money" to stop masking the symptoms and address climate change in service of the common good.</p><blockquote><p><strong><font color="#65659d">Pope Francis boldly challenges us all to take an honest look inside our hearts and question the foundations of a society that’s created wealth for some at the expense of others and "our common home"— the planet earth.</font></strong></p></blockquote><p><strong>2. The global economy must protect the Earth, our common home.</strong></p><p>"The economy accepts every advance in technology with a view to profit, without concern for its potentially negative impact on human beings." Today’s global economy profits at the environment’s expense. And the pursuit of growth is fueling environmental degradation, natural disasters, and financial crises. Pope Francis envisions a people-and-planet-first economy more in harmony with the environment that would prevent imbalances of wealth and power and foster peace among nations.</p><p><strong>3. Everyone must divest from fossil fuels and invest in the future.</strong></p><p>"We know that technology based on the use of highly polluting fossil fuels… needs to be progressively replaced without delay." Pope Francis is crystal clear that the current development model based on the intensive use of coal, oil, and even natural gas has to go. In its place we need renewable energy options and new modes of production and consumption that combat global warming. This is precisely what a growing movement of students, faith communities, socially responsible investors and everyday citizens are calling on individuals and private and public institutions to do: Divest their money from fossil fuels and invest it in climate solutions like wind, solar, and energy efficiency.</p><p><strong>4. It’s time for powerful nations to pay their fair share.</strong></p><p>"A true ‘ecological debt’ exists, particularly between the global north and south. … In different ways, developing countries, where the most important reserves of the biosphere are found, continue to fuel the development of richer countries at the cost of their own present and future." Countries in the global North have benefitted from fossil fuel-driven industrialization, while developing countries bear the brunt of the related greenhouse gas emissions. So while everyone must act to avoid climate disruption, rich countries have a greater responsibility. For starters, they must make rapid, deep cuts in carbon emissions. And they have to keep their promise to finance the cost for poorer countries to build climate resilience and transition to renewable energy through the Green Climate Fund.</p><p><strong>5. There’s no easy way out of this.</strong></p><p>"Obstructionist attitudes, even on the part of believers, can range from denial of the problem to indifference, nonchalant resignation, or blind confidence in technical solutions." There’s only one way to meet the climate challenge: Extinguish the "dig, burn, dump economy." And markets and technology can’t be relied on to do the job. Gimmicks like trading carbon credits as a financial commodity or burning coal in "cleaner" power plants are distractions from the only real solution: Stop digging up and drilling — then burning — oil, gas, and coal.</p><p>Pope Francis is calling for solutions to climate change that is rooted in our "deepest convictions about love, justice, and peace." His letter to the world illuminates a radical, compassionate path that shows what it truly means to have faith in humanity. <a href="http://www.juancole.com/2015/06/radical-takeaways-climate.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook" target="_self" title="">More</a></p><p> </p><p> </p><div style="text-align: right; font-size: small; clear: both;" id="blogsy_footer"><a href="http://blogsyapp.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://blogsyapp.com/images/blogsy_footer_icon.png" alt="© " style="vertical-align: middle; margin-right: 5px;" width="20" height="20" />© </a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00568422578494853037noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3023901051349971253.post-49586320249451965282015-01-17T10:58:00.000-08:002015-01-17T12:02:26.048-08:00That Was Easy: In Just 60 Years, Neoliberal Capitalism Has Nearly Broken Planet Earth<p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><strong>A pair of new studies show how various forms of human activity, driven by a flawed economic system and vast consumption, is laying waste to Earth's natural systems</strong></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPddjn1aTyVA0ZZM8tzI_hLiVd4AhsgmED1svqdFMjlWs86-JBkU03LbcA8XhlzzAFIjcoyiGu6IncB4HCGeQTn9lh-ZWRFxoH-3Bc4bVNVvlgcCuDpVaFZnHW43lDpCzIUT34XfLow-Q/s955/Photo%25252020150117135659131.jpg" target="_blank" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPddjn1aTyVA0ZZM8tzI_hLiVd4AhsgmED1svqdFMjlWs86-JBkU03LbcA8XhlzzAFIjcoyiGu6IncB4HCGeQTn9lh-ZWRFxoH-3Bc4bVNVvlgcCuDpVaFZnHW43lDpCzIUT34XfLow-Q/s300/Photo%25252020150117135659131.jpg" id="blogsy-1421524921304.0415" class="alignright" alt="" width="300" height="157"></a></div><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The conclusion that the world's dominant economic model—a globalized form of neoliberal capitalism, largely based on international trade and fueled by extracting and consuming natural resources—is the driving force behind planetary destruction will not come as a shock, but the model's detailed description of how this has worked since the middle of the 20th century makes a more substantial case than many previous attempts. (Photo: NASA)</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Humanity's rapacious growth and accelerated energy needs over the last generation—particularly fed by an economic system that demands increasing levels of consumption and inputs of natural resources—are fast driving planetary systems towards their breaking point, according to a new pair of related studies.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><strong><font color="#808080">"It is difficult to overestimate the scale and speed of change. In a single lifetime humanity has become a geological force at the planetary-scale." —Prof. Will Steffen</font></strong></span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Prepared by researchers at the Stockholm Resilience Centre, the first study looks specifically at how "four of nine planetary boundaries have now been crossed as a result of human activity." Published in the journal <em>Nature</em> on Thursday, the 18 researchers involved with compiling evidence for the report—titled '<em><a href="http://www.stockholmresilience.org/21/research/research-news/1-15-2015-planetary-boundaries-2.0---new-and-improved.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: 700 !important;">Planetary Boundaries 2.0</span></a></em>'—found that when it comes to climate change, species extinction and biodiversity loss, deforestation and other land-system changes, and altered biogeochemical cycles (such as changes to how key organic compounds like phosphorus and nitrogen are operating in the environment), the degradation that has already take place is driving the Earth System, as a whole, into a new state of imbalance.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Transgressing a boundary increases the risk that human activities could inadvertently drive the Earth System into a much less hospitable state, damaging efforts to reduce poverty and leading to a deterioration of human well-being in many parts of the world, including wealthy countries," said Professor Will Steffen, a researcher at the Centre and the Australian National University, Canberra, who was lead author for both studies.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In addition to the four boundaries that have already been crossed, the study looked five other ways in which the planetary systems are under assault by human activity. They include: stratospheric ozone depletion; ocean acidification; freshwater use; atmospheric aerosol loading (microscopic particles in the atmosphere that affect climate and living organisms); and the introduction of novel entities into ecosystems (e.g. organic pollutants, radioactive materials, nanomaterials, and micro-plastics).</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"I don't think we've broken the planet but we are creating a much more difficult world," Sarah Cornell, another report author, told <em>Reuters</em>.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In this interview with <em>Wired</em> last year, Johan Rockström, executive director of the Stockholm Resilience Centre, described the idea about planetary boundaries in details:</span></p><figure style="text-align: center; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"></figure><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Related to the findings of the first study, the second report examines what it calls the "Great Acceleration" and is an assessment of the speed and influence that specific factors have had in damaging the planetary systems described in <em>Planetary Boundaries 2.0</em>. Using a series of indicators, the study compares the relationship, over time, between 12 'socio-economic factors'—including economic growth (GDP); population; foreign direct investment; energy consumption; and water use—on one side with 12 'Earth system trends'—like the carbon cycle; the nitrogen cycle and biodiversity—on the other.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Using what it calls a "planetary dashboard," the research charts the spread and speed of human activity from the start of the industrial revolution in 1750 to 2010, and the subsequent changes in the Earth System – e.g. greenhouse gas levels, ocean acidification, deforestation and biodiversity deterioration. The analysis found that increased human activity—and "predominantly the global economic system"—has unseated all other factors as the primary driver of change in the Earth System, which the report describes as "the sum of our planet's interacting physical, chemical, biological and human processes." The most striking, i.e. "accelerated," changes to that system have occurred in the last sixty years.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"It’s clear the economic system is driving us towards an unsustainable future and people of my daughter’s generation will find it increasingly hard to survive. History has shown that civilisations have risen, stuck to their core values and then collapsed because they didn’t change. That’s where we are today." —Prof. Will Steffen"It is difficult to overestimate the scale and speed of change. In a single lifetime humanity has become a geological force at the planetary-scale," said Steffen, who also led the Acceleration study.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The conclusion that the world's dominant economic model—a globalized form of neoliberal capitalism, largely based on international trade and fueled by extracting and consuming natural resources—is the driving force behind planetary destruction will not come as a shock, but the model's detailed description of how this has worked since the middle of the 20th century makes a more substantial case than many previous attempts.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"When we first aggregated these datasets, we expected to see major changes but what surprised us was the timing. Almost all graphs show the same pattern. The most dramatic shifts have occurred since 1950. We can say that around 1950 was the start of the Great Acceleration," says Steffen. "After 1950 we can see that major Earth System changes became directly linked to changes largely related to the global economic system. This is a new phenomenon and indicates that humanity has a new responsibility at a global level for the planet."</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The paper makes a point to acknowledge that consumption patterns and the rise of what has become known as the Anthropocene Era does not fall equally on the human population and its examination of the economic system which is underpinning planetary destruction is one rife with inequality, in which certain populations consume at vastly higher levels than others.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">According to the report, "The new study also concludes that the bulk of economic activity, and so too, for now, the lion's share of consumption, remain largely within the OECD countries, which in 2010 accounted for about 74% of global GDP but only 18% of the global population. This points to the profound scale of global inequality, which distorts the distribution of the benefits of the Great Acceleration and confounds international efforts, for example climate agreements, to deal with its impacts on the Earth System."</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">A worrying trend, notes the paper, is how a growing global middle class—exemplified by those in the BRICS nations of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa—is an increasing threat to the planet as the consumer mindset established in the OECD nations, particularly the U.S., spreads.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In an i<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jan/15/rate-of-environmental-degradation-puts-life-on-earth-at-risk-say-scientists" style="text-decoration: none;">nterview</a> with the <em>Guardian</em>, Steffen spoke clearly about the overall impacts of the two new studies as he sounded the alarm over humanity's trajectory. "People say the world is robust and that’s true, there will be life on Earth, but the Earth won’t be robust for us," he said. "Some people say we can adapt due to technology, but that’s a belief system, it’s not based on fact. There is no convincing evidence that a large mammal, with a core body temperature of 37C, will be able to evolve that quickly. Insects can, but humans can’t and that’s a problem."</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"It’s clear the economic system is driving us towards an unsustainable future and people of my daughter’s generation will find it increasingly hard to survive. History has shown that civilisations have risen, stuck to their core values and then collapsed because they didn’t change. That’s where we are today."</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">What increasing amounts of strong evidence shows, he said, is that that there "tipping points" that the human race should simply not "want to cross." <a href="http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/01/16/was-easy-just-60-years-neoliberal-capitalism-has-nearly-broken-planet-earth">More</a></span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><em><font size="1">This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License</font></em></span></p><p> </p><div style="text-align: right; font-size: small; clear: both;" id="blogsy_footer"><a href="http://blogsyapp.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://blogsyapp.com/images/blogsy_footer_icon.png" alt="© " style="vertical-align: middle; margin-right: 5px;" width="20" height="20" />© </a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00568422578494853037noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3023901051349971253.post-80704355699847153802015-01-01T12:41:00.000-08:002015-01-01T12:42:24.644-08:00Behind the veil of the Islamic State is a war for water<p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><strong>A little known fact of the war in Syria is that it started at the end of the worst drought in Syrian history, a biblical drought which forced over 1 million farmers into the cities.</strong></span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5G5jg5l2E8" style="text-decoration: none;">Pulitzer Prize-winner Thomas L. Friedman interviewed Syrian refugees</a> and farmers in Syria about the link between this drought and the start of the civil war. He comes to the conclusion that the drought certainly played some role and was probably a key tipping point for a bad situation to turn into a full scale war. In the documentary “<a href="http://yearsoflivingdangerously.com/" style="text-decoration: none;">Years of living dangerously</a>” we see how wiki-leaked diplomatic cables and high level US officials such as Condoleezza Rice acknowledge this link.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-EjmQZ5tTKDM/VKWw-OsWh2I/AAAAAAAAAlA/-3IHbRmJTjk/s581/Photo%25252020150101154120327.jpg" target="_blank" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-EjmQZ5tTKDM/VKWw-OsWh2I/AAAAAAAAAlA/-3IHbRmJTjk/s300/Photo%25252020150101154120327.jpg" id="blogsy-1420144902833.7236" class="alignright" alt="" width="300" height="240"></a></div><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But there’s a lot more happening to explain why behind the veil of a quest for an Islamic State (IS), there’s also a war for water in Syria and Iraq. Making the plight of citizens worse is the continued targeting of water supply networks by both regime and opposition forces, which have attacked strategic lifelines, such as water channels, to gain control of territory and to punish and put pressure on their opponents.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Opening the flood gates …</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The Islamic State’s quest for hydrological control began in Syria, when it captured the Tabqa Dam in 2013. Rebel-held areas had been systematically denied electricity by President <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/a/bashar_al_assad/index.html?inline=nyt-per" style="text-decoration: none;">Bashar al-Assad</a>’s forces in their effort to turn the population against the insurgency. The Tabqa Dam was built more than 40 years ago with Russian help and aimed to make Syria self-sufficient in energy production. Behind the dam is Lake Assad, which provides millions of Syrians with drinking water and is a vital irrigation source for farms. After the capture of the dam, IS opened the flood-gates to get maximum electricity supply for the areas they control and win favour with the local population. As a result, the lake dropped six metres, to a record low in May, which <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/12/world/middleeast/syrian-insurgents-claim-to-control-large-hydropower-dam.html?_r=0" style="text-decoration: none;">worsened the plight of millions of already destitute Syrians as severe water cuts began to hit Aleppo province</a>.</span></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-QqIPSk4U6gs/VKWxBPq4uzI/AAAAAAAAAlI/qBro_EI0NMY/s915/Photo%25252020150101154120419.jpg" target="_blank" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-QqIPSk4U6gs/VKWxBPq4uzI/AAAAAAAAAlI/qBro_EI0NMY/s300/Photo%25252020150101154120419.jpg" id="blogsy-1420144902884.3516" class="alignleft" width="300" height="200" alt=""></a></div><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Conflict over the water flowing though the Euphrates and Tigris is of course nothing new and predates religious wars. They were the first rivers to be used for large scale irrigation, in the region once known as the Fertile Crescent. Somewhere between 1720 and 1684 BC, a grandson of Hammurabi dammed the Tigris <a href="http://www2.worldwater.org/conflict/list/" style="text-decoration: none;">to prevent the retreat of rebels led by Iluma-Ilum, who declared the independence of Babylon</a>. The Euphrates was already used as a weapon somewhere around 2500 BC, in another fight for Babylon, when <a href="http://www2.worldwater.org/conflict/list/" style="text-decoration: none;">the king of Umma cut the banks of irrigation canals alongside the Euphrates</a> dug by his neighbor, the king of Girsu.</span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The Euphrates and Tigris are the two major and longest rivers in the Middle East. They both originate in Turkey. The Euphrates flows through Syria and Iraq to reach the Persian Gulf while the Tigris flows through Kurdish territory, meeting up with the Euphrates in the Southern Mesopotamian Marshes of Iraq. There are currently at least 46 dams in the Tigris-Euphrates basin, with at least 8 more planned or under construction. These dams have become key pieces of geo-political control in the region.</span></span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">… and shutting down the flows</span></span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">While one act of war is opening the flood gates, another is closing them. In 1974, <a href="http://www2.worldwater.org/conflict/list/" style="text-decoration: none;">Iraq threatened to bomb the same Tabqa Dam in Syria</a>, alleging that the dam had reduced the flow of Euphrates River water to Iraq. But between then and now, Turkey, through its position upstream, has taken over as the most powerful regional commander of water, by completing the giant <a href="http://www.ejatlas.org/conflict/southeastern-anatolia-project-gap-turkey" style="text-decoration: none;">Ataturk Dam</a>. In 1990 Syria and Iraq protested that Turkey now has a weapon of war: by closing the gates they could leave them dry. They had good reason to protest. In mid-1990 Turkish president Turgut Özal threatened to restrict water flow to Syria to force it to withdraw support for Kurdish rebels operating in southern Turkey.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In April 2014, the Islamic State blamed the low water levels in Lake Assad to Turkey’s closure of the Ataturk Dam. <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/07/water-war-syria-euphrates-2014757640320663.html" style="text-decoration: none;">Sources found by Al Jazeera</a> said that these claims are disputed. But even if the allegations are only partly true: they were used by the Islamic State to issue<a href="http://rt.com/news/179352-euphrates-is-militants-turkey/" style="text-decoration: none;"> threats to ‘liberate Istanbul’</a>, if that was necessary. So while Turkey, IS and Assad fight over water, millions of ordinary Syrians and Iraqi’s see their water levels drop dramatically. Not just by a new drought, with rainfall down by 50-85 percent since October 2013, but mostly due to a power struggle.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Tensions over water control in the region are set to heat up further if Turkey completes the <a href="http://ejatlas.org/conflict/ilisu-dam-project-turkey" style="text-decoration: none;">Ilisu Dam</a> on the Tigris River near the border of Syria. The Ilisu Dam will generate 1,200 MW and is part of the vast and ambitious Southeastern Anatolia Project, known as GAP after its Turkish title (Guneydogu Anadolu Projesi): a network comprising 22 dams and 19 power plants. The Ilisu reservoir will flood 52 villages and 15 towns, including <a href="http://www.hasankeyfmatters.com/p/about.html" style="text-decoration: none;">Hasankeyf</a>, a Kurdish town of 5,500 people, which is the only town in Anatolia that has survived since the Middle Ages and is under archaeological protection. It will displace approximately 16,000 people in the troubled Kurdish region.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The World Bank (WB), the British construction company Balfour Beatty and the Italian company Impreglio have all withdrawn from the problematic project. So have international funds and export credit from <a href="http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/english/domestic/12022266.asp" style="text-decoration: none;">Austria, Germany and Switzerland</a>. However, the project is currently funded by Turkish banks. Iraq and also Syria will be the most heavily impacted if the dam and others go through, with the most extreme projections holding that, owing to a combination of climate change and upstream dam activity, the <a href="http://www.google.be/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCEQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.geopoliticalmonitor.com%2Fthree-international-water-conflicts-watch%2F&ei=kbEOVLSJBq6v7AbIsoHQAw&usg=AFQjCNFQZZLIhoP5lheWr5_Cw91zEzVmiA&sig2=rr8" style="text-decoration: none;">Tigris and Euphrates rivers won’t have sufficient flow to reach the sea by as early as 2040</a>.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">If you live in Syria or Iraq and the water irrigating your field stops coming you might join the ranks of any army promising to attack those who kept the water for themselves – no matter if they tell you the truth or not. As is often the case in conflicts or epidemics it is not the facts themselves that count most but what people believe to be the facts. Those who can convince it’s the enemies fault that there’s not enough water will have the key to where the hearts and minds of the people will go to – no matter what the facts are.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The US finally finds a Weapon of Mass Destruction in Iraq</span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The Tabqa Dam is not the only dam attacked by IS. They are also trying to take the Haditha Dam, the second-largest in Iraq, raising the possibility of catastrophic damage and flooding. On Sunday, <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/09/us-launches-strikes-around-iraq-haditha-dam-20149765826257528.html" style="text-decoration: none;">the US was bombing IS positions close to the dam</a>. The IS militants are also fighting for control of the Euphrates River Dam, about 120 miles northwest of Baghdad and government forces were fighting to halt their advance. Insurgents from IS seized the Falluja Dam in Iraq in February and closed the floodgates to cause upstream flooding and to cut downstream water supply. Some 40.000 people were displaced just to flood the area around the city of Falluja to force government troops to retreat and lift a siege, while cutting water supplies and hydroelectricity generation for other parts of the country. All that was peanuts compared to what IS did next.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><a href="x-apple-data-detectors://0" x-apple-data-detectors="true" x-apple-data-detectors-type="calendar-event" x-apple-data-detectors-result="0">On August 7</a> IS captured the 1GW Mosul Dam on the Tigris – sending shock waves through Bagdad, Kuwait and the US. Whoever controls the Mosul Dam, the largest in Iraq, controls most of the country’s water and power resources. Located on the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tigris_River" style="text-decoration: none;">Tigris River</a> upstream of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosul" style="text-decoration: none;">Mosul</a>, the dam, 3.6 km long and with 320 MW of capacity daily, formerly known as the Saddam dam, was built beginning in 1980 at a cost of 1.5$ billion USD, to bolster the regime during the Iran-Iraq war by a German-Italian consortium that was led by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hochtief" style="text-decoration: none;">Hochtief Aktiengesellschaft</a>. Its construction submerged many archaeological sites in the region yet more troubling is that because the dam was constructed on a foundation of soluble <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gypsum" style="text-decoration: none;">gypsum</a>, it requires continuous grouting of the dam’s foundation to promote stability. Due to the engineering problems it presents it has been described recently by US engineers as “the most dangerous dam in the world.” And that was <em>before</em> the “most dangerous terror group ever” captured it.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">A senior U.S. administration official said that “The failure of the Mosul Dam could threaten the lives of large numbers of civilians, threaten U.S. personnel and facilities – including the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad – and prevent the Iraqi government from providing critical services to the Iraqi populace,” (Source: <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/18/us-iraq-security-idUSKBN0GH0JL20140818" style="text-decoration: none;">Reuters</a>). A 2006 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers report obtained by the Washington Post said the dam, which blocks the Tigris and holds 12 billion cubic meters of water, could flood two cities killing over a half a million people if it were destroyed or collapsed. The tsunami going to Mosul, a city of 1.7 million people, can be 20m high if the dam breaks with a full reservoir.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But even without a catastrophic failure, the dam is already at the epicenter of the war. Soon after the Islamic State captured the Mosul Dam they <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/11040162/Kurdish-forces-on-brink-of-recapturing-Iraqs-biggest-dam-from-Islamic-State.html" style="text-decoration: none;">cut supplies to some villages in the north of the country that have not joined their cause.</a> Recapturing this instrument of war was a sufficient reason for US forced to deploy air power to support Kurdish forces to recapture the dam. Saving the Yazidis from their mountain captured most media attention, but a key reason for the US to bomb Iraqi soil for the first time since 2011 was the fact that IS took the Mosul Dam. After bombing IS positions for several days, freshly re-equipped Kurdish fighters recently regained control of the dam.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Mega Dams & Water Management Practices</span><br></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The importance of hydro-infrastructure in these battles and how it can be wielded firstly underlines the need for a serious re-appraisal of water management practices. Big dams (with funding from Multilateral agencies such as the WB, national and regional development banks, private equity and pension funds as well as from the Clean Development Mechanism, etc.) cause large scale displacement of populations, are ecologically destructive, wash away any other source of livelihood, and often saddle countries with debt while performing well below planned outputs as regards electricity generation. Moreover, compounded by climate change, contemporary ecological crises are leading to ever more conflict over trans-boundary water rights, such as for example between <a href="http://prn.fm/cam-mcgrath-nile-river-dam-threatens-war-between-egypt-and-ethiopia/" style="text-decoration: none;">Ethiopia and Egypt</a><a href="http://prn.fm/cam-mcgrath-nile-river-dam-threatens-war-between-egypt-and-ethiopia/" style="text-decoration: none;">, which are</a><a href="http://prn.fm/cam-mcgrath-nile-river-dam-threatens-war-between-egypt-and-ethiopia/" style="text-decoration: none;"> also on the verge of war</a> over the construction of the Grand Renaissance and <a href="http://ejatlas.org/conflict/gibe-3-dam-ethiopia" style="text-decoration: none;">Gibe 3</a> dams, which would become Africa’s tallest. The world’s Big Dam Fan Club should take note of what has just happened in Syria and Iraq and realise that once disaster hits, hatred will not go to any God but to those who constructed the weapon of mass destruction. Water, rather than oil, is shaping up to be the key strategic resource in the region. <a href="http://www.ejolt.org/2014/09/behind-the-veil-of-the-islamic-state-is-a-war-for-water/">More</a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span></span></span></p><p> </p><div style="text-align: right; font-size: small; clear: both;" id="blogsy_footer"><a href="http://blogsyapp.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://blogsyapp.com/images/blogsy_footer_icon.png" alt="© 2014" style="vertical-align: middle; margin-right: 5px;" width="20" height="20" />© 2014</a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00568422578494853037noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3023901051349971253.post-23105156004632528872014-12-21T08:03:00.001-08:002014-12-21T08:03:46.534-08:00Dystopian Fiction’s Popularity Is a Warning Sign for the Future <p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><strong>Dystopian fiction is hot right now, with countless books and movies featuring decadent oligarchs, brutal police states, ecological collapse, and ordinary citizens biting and clawing just to survive. For bestselling author <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naomi_Klein" style="text-decoration: none;">Naomi Klein</a>, all this gloom is a worrying sign.</strong></span><br></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-ReYnURer7Kc/VJbvOuSEexI/AAAAAAAAAiw/rXJElcS5REI/s660/Photo%25252020141221110303877.jpg" target="_blank" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-ReYnURer7Kc/VJbvOuSEexI/AAAAAAAAAiw/rXJElcS5REI/s300/Photo%25252020141221110303877.jpg" id="blogsy-1419177787587.3857" class="alignright" width="300" height="225" alt=""></a></div><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“I think what these films tell us is that we’re taking a future of environmental catastrophe for granted,” Klein says in Episode 129 of the <a href="http://www.geeksguideshow.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><em>Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy</em></a> podcast. “And that’s the hardest part of my work, actually convincing people that we’re capable of something other than this brutal response to disaster.”</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Her new book, <a href="http://thischangeseverything.org/" style="text-decoration: none;"><em>This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate</em></a>, argues that only dramatic policy shifts can avert climate catastrophe, and that ordinary people need to speak up and demand emissions caps, public transportation, and a transition to renewable energy. That’s a hard sell politically, which is why dubious measures like geoengineering and cap-and-trade have been proposed instead.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“It seems easier, more realistic, to dim the sun than to put up solar panels on every home in the United States,” says Klein. “And that says a lot about us, and what we think is possible, and what we think is realistic.”</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But things are starting to change, with indigenous groups winning lawsuits to block drilling on their land, local communities coming together to ban fracking and establish solar energy grids, and a growing divestment campaign seeking to shame and isolate the fossil fuel industry. Many of these movements are being led by young activists like Anjali Appadurai, who gave a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ko3e6G_7GY4" style="text-decoration: none;">speech in 2010</a> pointing out that the United Nations has been fruitlessly debating climate change action since before she was born. </span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“Young people have a critical role to play because they’ll be dealing with the worst impacts of climate change,” says Klein. “And when young people find their moral voice in this crisis, it’s transformative.”</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Listen to our complete interview with Naomi Klein in Episode 129 of the <em>Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy</em> podcast (above), and check out some highlights from the discussion below.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Naomi Klein on how the wealthy are preparing for climate change:</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“There are a lot of examples of ways that companies are preparing. The most insidious is the way that oil companies—who have been funding climate change denial—are simultaneously exploring all the wonderful extraction opportunities there are because the arctic ice is melting, so they obviously know it’s happening. … After <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Sandy" style="text-decoration: none;">Superstorm Sandy</a>, there was a big uptick in the way that luxury developers in New York and elsewhere started to market themselves as being ‘disaster proof’—having their own generators, having their own ‘moats’ in a way, having their own storm barriers, and basically saying, ‘When the apocalypse comes, you’ll be safe.’ … In the aftermath of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Katrina" style="text-decoration: none;">Hurricane Katrina</a>, there was a company that was launched in Florida called HelpJet. … HelpJet was a private disaster rescue operation that literally had the slogan, ‘We’ll turn your disaster into a luxury vacation.’”</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Naomi Klein on geoengineering:</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“In general the geoengineering world is populated by very overconfident, overwhelmingly male figures who don’t make me feel at all reassured that they have learned the lessons of large-scale technological failure. When I went to this one conference that was hosted by the Royal Society in England, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukushima_Daiichi_nuclear_disaster" style="text-decoration: none;">Fukushima disaster</a> had just started, and in fact a photographer I was working with—a videographer—had just come back from Fukushima and was completely shell-shocked. And I was surprised it didn’t come up the whole time we were meeting, because it seemed relevant to me. Yeah, we humans screw up. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepwater_Horizon_oil_spill" style="text-decoration: none;">BP</a> had been two years earlier. I have been profoundly shaped as a journalist by covering the BP disaster, the derivatives failure, seeing what’s happened in Fukushima. I’m sorry, but I think the smartest guys in the room screw up a lot. And the kind of hubris that I’ve seen expressed from the ‘geo-clique,’ as they’ve been called, makes me not want to scale up the risks that we’re taking.”</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Naomi Klein on our relationship with nature:</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“If you go back and look at the way fossil fuels were marketed in the 1700s, when coal was first commercialized with the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watt_steam_engine" style="text-decoration: none;">Watt steam engine</a>, the great promise of coal was that it liberated humans from nature, that you no longer had to worry about when the wind blew to sail your ship, and you no longer had to build your factory next to a waterfall or rushing rapids in order to power your water wheel. You were in charge, that was the promise of coal. It was the promise of man transcending the natural world. And that was, it turns out, a lie. We never transcended nature, and that I think is what is so challenging about climate change, not just to capitalism but to our core civilizational myth. Because this is nature going, ‘You thought you were in charge? Actually all that coal you’ve been burning all these years has been building up in the atmosphere and trapping heat, and now comes the response.’ … Renewable energy puts us back in dialog with nature. We have to think about when the wind blows, we have to think about where the sun shines, we cannot pretend that place and space don’t matter. We are back in the world.”</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Naomi Klein on science fiction:</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“This boom in cli-fi literature is exciting, but I think it can become dangerous if it isn’t seen as a warning, but just seen as inevitable. I think <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Atwood" style="text-decoration: none;">Margaret Atwood</a>—not to be too Canadian about it—but I think Margaret Atwood’s <em>In the Year of the Flood</em> and that whole trilogy, that whole climate trilogy, is an example of the kind of narrative that really does serve as clarion warning, as opposed to just sort of hopeless ‘we’re on this road, we can’t get off.’ And it’s hard to define what makes something more of a warning than just affirming that sense of the inevitable. I loved <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ursula_K._Le_Guin" style="text-decoration: none;">Ursula Le Guin</a>‘s acceptance speech at the Booker awards this year. I’m a huge Ursula Le Guin fan, and I think she’s one of the few science fiction writers that has pulled off utopian fiction well. She’s done both. But when she accepted the award she sort of accepted on behalf of the genre, and talked about how important it is to have and nurture voices from people who can imagine different worlds.”</span></p><p> </p><div style="text-align: right; font-size: small; clear: both;" id="blogsy_footer"><a href="http://blogsyapp.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://blogsyapp.com/images/blogsy_footer_icon.png" alt="© 2014" style="vertical-align: middle; margin-right: 5px;" width="20" height="20" />© 2014</a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00568422578494853037noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3023901051349971253.post-79845787091449067752014-12-19T00:08:00.000-08:002014-12-19T16:32:05.942-08:00The Age Of Fossil Fuels Is Over<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://nicholasrobsondotnet.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/wpid-photo-20141219080816453.jpg" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title=""><img src="http://nicholasrobsondotnet.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/wpid-photo-20141219080816453.jpg?w=300" id="blogsy-1419035460693.3296" class="aligncenter" width="506" height="338" alt=""></a></div><p> </p><div style="text-align: right; font-size: small; clear: both;" id="blogsy_footer"><a href="http://blogsyapp.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://blogsyapp.com/images/blogsy_footer_icon.png" alt="© 2014" style="vertical-align: middle; margin-right: 5px;" width="20" height="20" />© 2014</a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00568422578494853037noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3023901051349971253.post-4439815905807219162014-12-07T12:56:00.000-08:002014-12-07T12:58:59.889-08:00Announcing “Disastersand Ecosystems: Resilience in a Changing Climate”<p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><strong>Announcing “Disastersand Ecosystems: Resilience in a Changing Climate”, a new Massive Open OnlineCourse (MOOC) to be launched <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://2" x-apple-data-detectors="true" x-apple-data-detectors-type="calendar-event" x-apple-data-detectors-result="2">on 12 January, 2015</a></strong><br></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-V6WV44qsgbw/VIS-7bL0bGI/AAAAAAAAAhw/kk2DBnCSCvQ/s727/Photo%25252020141207155606.jpg" target="_blank" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-V6WV44qsgbw/VIS-7bL0bGI/AAAAAAAAAhw/kk2DBnCSCvQ/s180/Photo%25252020141207155606.jpg" id="blogsy-1417985841575.72" class="alignright" width="180" height="238" alt=""></a></div><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">What we all know is that disasters are increasing worldwide. Population growth,environmental degradation and climate change will likely exacerbate disasterimpacts in many regions of the world. What role do ecosystems play in reducingdisaster risks and adapting to climate change? This is the topic of an exciting new Massive Open Online Course thatwill go live in January 2015. It was developedjointly by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the Center for NaturalResources and Development (CNRD) and the Cologne University of Applied Sciences(CUAS), Germany. This is UNEP’s first MOOC, developed through its engagement with universities worldwide including the Global Universities Partnership on Environment for Sustainability (GUPES).</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The MOOC covers a broad range of topics from disastermanagement, climate change, ecosystem management and community resilience. Howthese issues are linked and how well-managed ecosystems enhance resilience to naturaldisasters and climate change impacts are the core theme of the course.<br>The MOOC is designed at two levels: the leadership track, with the first 6 units providing generalintroduction to the fundamental concepts, which is suitable for people from allbackgrounds who wish to have a basic undertaking of the topic. The second level, or expert track comprises 15 units with more in depth learning on thevarious tools of ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction and climate changeadaptation.<br>The course is delivered by both scientists and practitioners.In addition there are guest lectures from global leaders and experts, such as Achim Steiner, the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme, Julia Marton-Lefèvre, former Director General of the International Union for the Conservationof Nature (IUCN), Rajendra Pachauri of Teri University and Margareta Wahlströmof the UN International Strategy on Disaster Reduction (UNISDR).</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Students will have the opportunity to enhance their knowledgethrough quizzes, real life and fictitious problem-solving exercises, additionalreading materials, videos and a discussion forum. An Expert-of-the-Week will be available torespond to questions and interact with students. Students will receive weeklynewsletters with up-to-date news on ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction andadaptation.<br>The course is invaluable for universities around the world,where faculty members can use it to update their curriculum and use thelectures and teaching materials for blended learning for their own courses. Atthe same time, the MOOC format also allows those currently outside theuniversity system to learn about the new developments in the area of disastersand climate change, without having to enroll in a university or pay for anonline course. Those who successfully complete the course will be provided witha course certificate.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Visit: <a href="http://www.themooc.net/" x-apple-data-detectors="true" x-apple-data-detectors-type="link" x-apple-data-detectors-result="4">www.themooc.net</a><<a href="http://www.themooc.net/" x-apple-data-detectors="true" x-apple-data-detectors-type="link" x-apple-data-detectors-result="5">http://www.themooc.net/</a>>, or enroll directly at:<br><a href="https://iversity.org/en/courses/disasters-and-ecosystems-resilience-in-a-changing-climate" x-apple-data-detectors="true" x-apple-data-detectors-type="link" x-apple-data-detectors-result="6">https://iversity.org/en/courses/disasters-and-ecosystems-resilience-in-a-changing-climate</a></span><br></p><p> </p><div style="text-align: right; font-size: small; clear: both;" id="blogsy_footer"><a href="http://blogsyapp.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://blogsyapp.com/images/blogsy_footer_icon.png" alt="© 2014" style="vertical-align: middle; margin-right: 5px;" width="20" height="20" />© 2014</a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00568422578494853037noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3023901051349971253.post-54182480471813535002014-11-28T07:17:00.001-08:002014-11-28T07:17:08.958-08:00Laying the Foundations of a World Citizens Movement<p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><strong>How can civil society organizations (CSOs) build a broad movement that draws in, represents and mobilises the citizenry, and how can they effect fundamental, systemic transformation, rather than trading in incremental change? </strong></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/--VfvVtqCWts/VHiR4y2AZBI/AAAAAAAAAf0/MQZ5pmtULuQ/s1291/Photo%25252020141128101632.jpg" target="_blank" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/--VfvVtqCWts/VHiR4y2AZBI/AAAAAAAAAf0/MQZ5pmtULuQ/s300/Photo%25252020141128101632.jpg" id="blogsy-1417187826823.5264" class="alignright" width="300" height="175" alt=""></a></div><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - Has organised civil society, bound up in internal bureaucracy, in slow, tired processes and donor accountability, become simply another layer of a global system that perpetuates injustice and inequality?</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">How can civil society organizations (CSOs) build a broad movement that draws in, represents and mobilises the citizenry, and how can they effect fundamental, systemic transformation, rather than trading in incremental change?</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">This kind of introspective reflection was at the heart of a process of engagement among CSOs from around the world that gathered in Johannesburg from Nov. 19 to 21 for the “Toward a World Citizens Movement: Learning from the Grassroots” conference.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Organised by DEEEP, a project within the European civil society umbrella organisation CONCORD which builds capacity among CSOs and carries out advocacy around global citizenship and global citizenship education, the conference brought together 200 participants.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“It is important that people understand the inter-linkages at the global level; that they understand that they are part of the system and can act, based on their rights, to influence the system in order to bring about change and make life better – so it’s no longer someone else deciding things on behalf of the citizens” <br>– Rilli Lappalainen, Secretary-General of the Finnish NGDO PlatformKey partners were CIVICUS (the World Alliance for Citizen Participation, which is one of the largest and most diverse global civil society networks) and GCAP (Global Call to Action Against Poverty).</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-BL5zp-f7cVc/VHiR8XwLWtI/AAAAAAAAAf8/tQazqy2Hyxw/s1220/Photo%25252020141128101632.jpg" target="_blank" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-BL5zp-f7cVc/VHiR8XwLWtI/AAAAAAAAAf8/tQazqy2Hyxw/s300/Photo%25252020141128101632.jpg" id="blogsy-1417187826770.2925" class="alignleft" width="300" height="113" alt=""></a></div><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The three-day gathering was part of a larger series of conferences and activities that were arranged to coincide during the 2014 International Civil Society Week organised by CIVICUS, which closed Nov. 24.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Global citizenship is a concept that is gaining currency within the United Nations system, to the delight of people like Rilli Lappalainen, Secretary-General of the Finnish NGDO Platform and a key advocate for global citizenship education.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">At the heart of this concept is people’s empowerment, explains Lappalainen. “It is important that people understand the inter-linkages at the global level; that they understand that they are part of the system and can act, based on their rights, to influence the system in order to bring about change and make life better – so it’s no longer someone else deciding things on behalf of the citizens.”</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The process of introspection around building an effective civil society movement that can lead to such change began a year ago at the first Global Conference, also held in Johannesburg.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The discourse there highlighted the need for new ways of thinking and working – for the humility to linger in the uncomfortable spaces of not knowing, for processes of mutual learning, sharing and questioning.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">This new spirit of inquiry and engagement, very much evident in the creative, interactive format of this year’s conference, is encapsulated in an aphorism introduced by thought-leader Bayo Akomolafe from Nigeria: “The time is very urgent – let us slow down”.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Akomolafe’s keynote address explored the need for a shift in process: “We are realising our theories of change need to change,” he said. “We must slow down today because running faster in a dark maze will not help us find our way out.”</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“We must slow down today,” he continued, “because if we have to travel far, we must find comfort in each other – in all the glorious ambiguity that being in community brings … We must slow down because that is the only way we will see … the contours of new possibilities urgently seeking to open to us.”</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">A key opportunity for mutual learning and questioning was provided on the second day by a panel on ‘Challenging World Views’.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Prof Rob O’Donoghue from the Environmental Learning Research Centre at South Africa’s Rhodes University explored the philosophy of <em>ubuntu</em>, Brazilian activist and community organiser Eduardo Rombauer spoke about the principles of horizontal organising, and Hiro Sakurai, representative of the Buddhist network Soka Gakkai International (SGI) to the United Nations in New York, discussed the network’s core philosophy of <em>soka</em>, or value creation.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">A female activist from Bhutan who was to join the panel was unable to do so because of difficulties in acquiring a visa – a situation that highlighted a troubling observation made by Danny Sriskandarajah, head of CIVICUS, about the ways in which the space for CSOs to work is being shrunk around the world.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The absence of women on the panel was noted as problematic. How is it possible to effectively question a global system that is so deeply patriarchal without the voices of women, asked a male participant. This prompted the spontaneous inclusion of a female member of the audience.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In the spirit of embracing not-knowing, the panellists were asked to pose the questions they think we should be asking. How do we understand and access our power? How do we foster people’s engagement and break out of our own particular interests to engage in more systems-based thinking? How can multiple worldviews meet and share a moral compass<em>?</em></span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><em>Ubuntu</em> philosophy, explained O’Donoghue, can be defined by the statement: “A person is a person through other people.”</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The implications of this perspective for the issues at hand are that answers to the problems affecting people on the margins cannot be pre-defined from the outside, but must be worked out through solidarity and through a process of struggle. You cannot come with answers; you can only come into the company of others and share the problems, so that solutions begin to emerge from the margins.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The core perspective of <em>soka</em> philosophy is that each person has the innate ability to create value – to create a positive change – in whatever circumstances they find themselves. Millions of people, Sakurai pointed out, are proving the validity of this idea in their own contexts. This is the essence of the Soka movement.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">His point was echoed the following evening in the address of Graca Machel, wife of the late Nelson Mandela, at a CIVICUS reception, in which she spoke of the profound challenges confronting civil society as poverty and inequality deepen and global leaders seem increasingly dismissive of the voices of the people.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Then, toward the end of her speech, she softly recalled “my friend Madiba” (Mandela’s clan name) in the final years of his life, and his consistent message at that time that things are now in our hands.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">What he showed us by his example, she said, is that each person has immense resources of good within them. Our task is to draw these out each day and exercise them in the world, wherever we are and in whatever ways we can.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Those listening to Machel saw Mandela’s message as a sign of encouragement in their efforts to create the World Citizens Movement of tomorrow. <a href="http://commondreams.org/news/2014/11/26/laying-foundations-world-citizens-movement">More</a></span></p><figure style="text-align: center; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><font color="#000000"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><a href="http://www.commondreams.org/views/2014/11/28/black-friday-americans-confront-walmart-1-pay-employees-living-wage" style="text-decoration: none;"></a></span></font></figure><h3 style="color: rgb(38, 37, 35); font-family: 'Lyon Text'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 28px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.301961); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.235294); -webkit-text-size-adjust: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><br></h3><p> </p><div style="text-align: right; font-size: small; clear: both;" id="blogsy_footer"><a href="http://blogsyapp.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://blogsyapp.com/images/blogsy_footer_icon.png" alt="© 2014" style="vertical-align: middle; margin-right: 5px;" width="20" height="20" />© 2014</a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00568422578494853037noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3023901051349971253.post-60330379289484494892014-11-19T07:39:00.000-08:002014-11-19T07:42:10.692-08:00Secrets: shining a light on hidden power<p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><strong>The truth can be a slippery thing. We each have a version but it slips and slides about in our minds as we deal with the constant flood of information coming at us from all sides, not to mention trying to balance this expert view against that, between what we know, what we think we know, and what we suspect.</strong></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-bNfE0UcJVfA/VGy5qID85rI/AAAAAAAAAdI/PqphIjH-MVY/s413/Photo%25252020141119103914.jpg" target="_blank" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-bNfE0UcJVfA/VGy5qID85rI/AAAAAAAAAdI/PqphIjH-MVY/s300/Photo%25252020141119103914.jpg" id="blogsy-1416411561825.2917" class="alignright" width="300" height="400" alt=""></a></div><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">We are all at the mercy of cognitive biases and layers of assumptions and associations built up over our lifetimes. And so we need reference points to help mark the key geographical features of our worldview. And, sometimes, we need some of those reference points visible in our world, amongst our tribes of friends, colleagues, allies and families. It’s very difficult for most of us to make our way in the world and act with the determination we often crave without some acknowledgement that we’re not the only ones seeing the world as we do. The bigger the thought, the less pleasant it is to assimilate, and the further out from the mainstream it lives, the more important that acknowledgment can be.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The 1%-99% Occupy meme was one of those markers. The reason it travelled so far and fast wasn’t because it told people something altogether new, but rather that it capped off and gave voice to thoughts they already had. It didn’t teach as much as it validated and articulated.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">At<a href="http://www.therules.org/" style="text-decoration: none;"> /The Rules</a>, we think its time for a new marker; one that grows very much from the 1%-99% meme, and, hopefully, adds something important. And it’s that we now all live on a <span style="font-weight: 700 !important;"><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/ChangeTheRules/one-party-planet" style="text-decoration: none;">One Party Planet</a></span>.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">This is a provocative claim, pregnant with meaning and implication. If it’s true in the way we believe it to be, it means there is an identifiable form of totalitarianism casting a shadow over the entire human race. It means that there is a force so broad, so enmeshed within the logic of modern global power, that the solutions we all work toward in the specific struggles we care most about – be that rampant inequalities in income and opportunity, widespread poverty, or climate change - are all facing it. Not a force that lives in any single person, organization or structure, but that is ephemeral in the way that all ideology is ephemeral. It transcends and thereby unites the leadership of the vast majority of political parties, governments and corporations that have any proximity to global power. But for all this, it is also specific, definable, and visible through the right lenses. Which means it can be challenged.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">It’s got many names but we call it Neoliberalism, because that fits it well enough and is very common, recognizable currency. It’s not primarily an economic agenda; it’s a moral philosophy. As Margaret Thatcher, one of its seminal champions herself said, “economics are the method, the object is to change the heart and soul”.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">It is defined by a circular and hermetically sealed logic, in three parts. Firstly, that survival of the fittest through eternal competition between self-interested parties is, practically speaking, the only law upon which human society can realistically be ordered; secondly, that, in the moral hierarchy, financial wealth equates with life success which equates with virtue; and thirdly that man [sic] is, if not an island, then, at most, a part of an archipelago of islands of shared interests, answerable only to himself, his peers and, possibly, his God, in that order. To see only the familiar economics – i.e. belief in small government, low taxes, the sanctity of private property and private industries, and 'free' markets, particularly in labor, all of which feed, above all else, the double-headed hydra of profit and economic growth – and not connect it back to the moral philosophy is to miss the point.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">To back up this provocative claim, we have released a pamphlet today called, <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/ChangeTheRules/one-party-planet" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: 700 !important;"><em style="font-weight: 700 !important;">The One Party Planet</em></span></a>. We start it by looking inwards, at our cognitive capacities. The world we see around us today is a reflection of human consciousness; we long since passed the point where we could say, "it wasn't us." So whatever challenges we face—climate change, rampant inequality, endless violent conflict or vast impoverishment—are challenges, first and foremost, of and for the human mind. It helps, therefore, to spend a small amount of time reflecting on what we know about its character in a section called, <em>How True is True?</em></span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Then we turn to what might be more familiar territory: power theories, processes and players. This breaks into six parts; <em>The Neoliberal Heart and Soul</em>, <em>Fashions in Global Power</em>, <em>Financial Might</em>, <em>Concentration of Corporate Power</em>, <em>Active Political Projects</em>, and <em>In their Own Words</em>. And finally, a few thoughts on the system's internal logic; that alignment of forces that mean none of this was really planned and no one is actually to blame. We conclude with the most human considerations in <em>Facing Ourselves</em>, and <em>Where Hope Lies</em>.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">We have written it as a <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/ChangeTheRules/one-party-planet" style="text-decoration: none;">political pamphlet</a> to honor all those that were written against the wishes of the ruling elite in the past, and that played some part in monumental change, from the English Civil War to the Abolition of Slavery. We’d like help spreading it around, translating it, and building on it. If it’s wrong in important ways, we want to know how. If there more that should be said, we want to help people say it. You can comment on our <a href="https://www.facebook.com/therules.org" style="text-decoration: none;">facebook page</a>, or write to <a href="mailto:pamphlets@therules.org" style="text-decoration: none;">pamphlets@therules.org</a>. <a href="http://www.commondreams.org/views/2014/11/18/do-we-live-one-party-planet" target="_self" title="">More</a></span></p><p> </p><div style="text-align: right; font-size: small; clear: both;" id="blogsy_footer"><a href="http://blogsyapp.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://blogsyapp.com/images/blogsy_footer_icon.png" alt="© 2014" style="vertical-align: middle; margin-right: 5px;" width="20" height="20" />© 2014</a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00568422578494853037noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3023901051349971253.post-90540479467272341562014-11-15T14:39:00.001-08:002014-11-15T14:39:44.611-08:00Naomi Klein’s ‘This Changes Everything’
<p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><strong>"Every inhabitant of this planet must contemplate the day when this planet may no longer be habitable." Thus spoke President Kennedy in a 1961 address to the United Nations.</strong></span></p>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Naomi Klein</td></tr>
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<p><span style="line-height: 1.3em; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The threat he warned of was not climate chaos — barely a blip on anybody’s radar at the time — but the hydrogen bomb. The nuclear threat had a volatile urgency and visual clarity that the sprawling, hydra-headed menace of today’s climate calamity cannot match. How can we rouse citizens and governments to act for concerted change? Will it take, as Naomi Klein insists, nothing less than a Marshall Plan for Earth?</span></p>
<p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate" is a book of such ambition and consequence that it is almost unreviewable. Klein’s fans will recognize her method from her prior books, "No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies" (1999) and "The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism" (2007), which, with her latest, form an antiglobalization trilogy. Her strategy is to take a scourge — brand-driven hyperconsumption, corporate exploitation of disaster-struck communities, or "the fiction of perpetual growth on a finite planet" — trace its origins, then chart a course of liberation. In each book she arrives at some semihopeful place, where activists are reaffirming embattled civic values.</span></p>
<p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">To call "This Changes Everything" environmental is to limit Klein’s considerable agenda.<i style="color: rgb(255, 15, 0);"> "There is still time to avoid catastrophic warming," she contends, "but not within the rules of capitalism as they are currently constructed. Which is surely the best argument there has ever been for changing those rules." On the green left, many share Klein’s sentiments. George Monbiot, a columnist for The Guardian, recently lamented that even though "the claims of market fundamentalism have been disproven as dramatically as those of state communism, somehow this zombie ideology staggers on." Klein, Monbiot and Bill McKibben all insist that we cannot avert the ecological disaster that confronts us without loosening the grip of that superannuated zombie ideology.</i></span></p>
<p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">That philosophy — neoliberalism — promotes a high-consumption, carbon-hungry system. Neoliberalism has encouraged mega-mergers, trade agreements hostile to environmental and labor regulations, and global hypermobility, enabling a corporation like Exxon to make, as McKibben has noted, "more money last year than any company in the history of money." Their outsize power mangles the democratic process. Yet the carbon giants continue to reap $600 billion in annual subsidies from public coffers, not to speak of a greater subsidy: the right, in Klein’s words, to treat the atmosphere as a "waste dump."</span></p>
<p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">So much for the invisible hand. As the science fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson observed, when it comes to the environment, the invisible hand never picks up the check.</span></p>
<p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Klein diagnoses impressively what hasn’t worked. No more claptrap about fracked gas as a bridge to renewables. Enough already of the international summit meetings that produce sirocco-quality hot air, and nonbinding agreements that bind us all to more emissions. Klein dismantles the boondoggle that is cap and trade. She skewers grandiose command-and-control schemes to re-engineer the planet’s climate. No point, when a hubristic mind-set has gotten us into this mess, to pile on further hubris. She reserves a special scorn for the partnerships between Big Green organizations and Immense Carbon, peddled as win-win for everyone, but which haven’t slowed emissions. Such partnerships remind us that when the lamb and the lion lie down together, only one of them gets eaten.</span></p>
<p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><em><font color="#ff0f00">In democracies driven by lobbyists, donors and plutocrats, the giant polluters are going to win while the rest of us, in various degrees of passivity and complicity, will watch the planet die.</font></em> "Any attempt to rise to the climate challenge will be fruitless unless it is understood as part of a much broader battle of worldviews," Klein writes. "Our economic system and our planetary system are now at war."</span></p>
<p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Klein reminds us that neoliberalism was once an upstart counterrevolution. Through an epic case of bad timing, the Reagan-Thatcher revolution, the rise of the anti-regulatory World Trade Organization, and the cult of privatizing and globalizing everything coincided with the rising public authority of climate science. <font color="#ff0f00">In 1988, James Hansen, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute, delivered historic testimony at Congressional hearings, declaring that the science was 99 percent unequivocal:</font> The world was warming and we needed to act collectively to reduce emissions. Just one year earlier, Margaret Thatcher famously declared: "There is no such thing as society. There are individual men and women and there are families." In the battle since, between a collective strategy for forging an inhabitable long-term future and the antisocial, hyper-corporatized, hyper-carbonized pursuit of short-term growth at any cost, well, there has been only one clear winner.</span></p>
<p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But counterrevolutions are reversible. Klein devotes much of her book to propitious signs that this can happen — indeed <em>is</em> happening. The global climate justice movement is spreading. Since the mid-1990s, environmental protests have been growing in China at 29 percent per year. Where national leaders have faltered, local governments are forging ahead. Hundreds of German cities and towns have voted to buy back their energy grids from corporations. About two-thirds of Britons favor renationalizing energy and rail.</span></p>
<p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The divestment movement against Big Carbon is gathering force. While it will never bankrupt the mega-corporations, it can reveal unethical practices while triggering a debate about values that recognizes that such practices are nested in economic systems that encourage, inhibit or even prohibit them.</span></p>
<p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The voices Klein gathers from across the world achieve a choral force. We hear a Montana goat rancher describe how an improbable alliance against Big Coal between local Native American tribes and settler descendants awakened in the latter a different worldview of time and change and possibility. We hear participants in Idle No More, the First Nations movement that has swept across Canada and beyond, contrast the "extractivist mind-set" with systems "designed to promote more life."</span></p>
<p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">One quibble: What’s with the subtitle? "Capitalism vs. the Climate" sounds like a P.R. person’s idea of a marquee cage fight, but it belies the sophistication and hopefulness of Klein’s argument. As is sometimes said, it is easier to imagine the end of the world than to imagine the end of capitalism. Klein’s adversary is neoliberalism — the extreme capitalism that has birthed our era of extreme extraction. Klein is smart and pragmatic enough to shun the never-never land of capitalism’s global overthrow. What she does, brilliantly, is provide a historically refined exposé of "capitalism’s drift toward monopoly," of "corporate interests intent on capturing and radically shrinking the public sphere," and of "the disaster capitalists who use crises to end-run around democracy."</span></p>
<p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">To change economic norms and ethical perceptions in tandem is even more formidable than the technological battle to adapt to the heavy weather coming down the tubes. Yet "This Changes Everything" is, improbably, Klein’s most optimistic book. She braids together the science, psychology, geopolitics, economics, ethics and activism that shape the climate question. The result is the most momentous and contentious environmental book since "Silent Spring." <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/ads/pickle/eval_banner.html?campaignId=431&capLength=24">More</a></span></p>
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<div style="text-align: right; font-size: small; clear: both;" id="blogsy_footer"><a href="http://blogsyapp.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://blogsyapp.com/images/blogsy_footer_icon.png" alt="© 2014" style="vertical-align: middle; margin-right: 5px;" width="20" height="20" />© 2014</a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00568422578494853037noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3023901051349971253.post-10864759942346597602014-11-09T14:58:00.001-08:002014-11-09T14:58:02.560-08:00'Forest Man’ From Kerala, India
<p><b style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;">Almost 40 years ago, Abdul Kareem bought five acres of land in what was then a sparsely inhabited area in Kasargod district in Malabar, northern Kerala. As a travel agent his job involved travelling around five days a week. He thought he would use the land <span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><strong>as a get-away to relax once in a while when he managed to get time off from his hectic work</strong></span></b></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><b style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><b style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><b style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-kb2ODOCTE5E/VF_xdiLSQrI/AAAAAAAAAaQ/g0kfNYhSdwA/s1169/Photo%25252020141109175754.jpg" target="_blank" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-kb2ODOCTE5E/VF_xdiLSQrI/AAAAAAAAAaQ/g0kfNYhSdwA/s300/Photo%25252020141109175754.jpg" id="blogsy-1415573880430.2715" class="alignright" width="300" height="200" alt=""></a></b></b></b></div>
<p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="line-height: 1.3em; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-align: right;">Shortly after, he bought some more land, and in just a few years, his 30-odd acres were transformed into a thick, vibrant forest, making Abdul Kareem one of the few people in India to have actually created a forest—and that too almost single-handedly!</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Abdul Kareem hadn’t bought the land in order to conserve the environment or do something about global warming, but in a while, as his forest grew, he turned into a passionate Nature lover, with his efforts bringing him numerous awards and much appreciation. ‘Caring for Nature is one major mission of my life,’ this enthusiastic, cheerful 68 year-old man says.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Abdul Kareem was born in a village near the sea. ‘There was no forest there, but you could see hills and jungles far away in the distance. As a child, I would fantasize about forests—they seemed so enchanting! Even then I loved plants, and I planted many saplings around my home.’ he says.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">When Abdul Kareem bought the land, much of it was bare. The thick layer of laterite rock that covered much of the area did not allow for much vegetation to survive. But that did not deter this intrepid man. When he planted a hundred saplings, hoping to green the land, and only one survived (the rest wilted away in the heat), he did not give up. ‘I didn’t lose hope. I was inspired by the one sapling that survived!’ he relates. The next year he planted 500 saplings, and they all flourished!</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Abdul Kareem lovingly tended to the saplings for a year, and after that they took care of themselves, with no human interference—not even needing to be watered or fertilized by human hands. ‘I let the forest grow naturally,’ he says. In a few years, the land was bursting with greenery, a dense forest hosting almost 300 plant species. Birds attracted by the foliage did their bit to help the forest grow by dropping seeds that they had picked up elsewhere.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Trudging along a mud-path that snakes its way through the forest, for a moment you might think you are in the middle of a wild life sanctuary, so dense is it! Abdul Kareem identifies certain plants as we move ahead. ‘This is an orchid!’ he says with childlike enthusiasm, ‘and that’s a shampoo tree! You can make shampoo out of it! Can you imagine! And that, there, is a medicinal plant!’</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The hills around the forest were probably once under thick forest cover and home to numerous wild animals. Now, almost all the land is under cultivation—mainly cash crops like rubber—and the wildlife has probably almost completely disappeared. Abdul Kareem’s forest, however, attracts several species: wild boars, jackals, and, of course, snakes, butterflies, various insects and numerous birds, including peacocks.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">We walk up to a little pond, and Abdul Kareem insists that I sample the water. ‘Natural water!’ he says gleefully. When I hesitate, he insists, ‘It’s very, very clean!’ He explains how by allowing the land to regenerate and turn into a forest, the water table in the area, which had sunk very low, has risen considerably. The temperature in and around the forest, he adds, is substantially less than elsewhere in the area. ‘See how even a little forest can make a difference to global warming!’ he exclaims.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">As we head to the simple little cottage in the middle of the forest where he and his wife live, I ask Abdul Kareem if he makes any money out of the forest. ‘None at all. Earning from it is not my intention,’ he replies. ‘I don’t sell anything that comes from the forest.’</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">This large-hearted man allows his neighbours to draw water from the wells and ponds in the forest free of cost. For people who might want to pluck a few leaves or fruits of the medicinal plants that the forest abounds in he doesn’t charge anything.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">‘A man from a top hotel chain once approached me. He wanted to buy the land to convert it into a hotel or an ayurvedic resort. He would have offered a huge sum of money, and even said I could remain here, in a small portion of the land, but I declined,’ Abdul Kareem says. ‘Even if you offer to let me stay in the White House, I’d rather stay in my forest! Almost all my children live in the Gulf, and although I occasionally visit them, I can’t get to stay there more than just a few days. After that, I pine to rush back to the forest!’</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Land prices in the area have soared in recent years, and the cost of Abdul Kareem’s 32 acres of forest land must run into several crores of rupees now. Yet, the man is happy not earning any money from the forest, living in his simple home and making a living as a small travel agent and managing a petrol pump.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Truly amazing, isn’t it?</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">After taking me around the forest, Abdul Kareem says, ‘Spend the night here if you like. There’s a room here where you can stay. You can learn even more.’</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The offer does seem tempting. For a moment, I imagine sitting in the verandah as the sun goes down, listening to frogs croaking and crickets chirping, and maybe even spotting a jackal on the prowl and then waking up to the plaintive cry of a peacock. But the auto-rickshaw I came in is waiting, and so I give Abdul Kareem a parting hug.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">‘Your forest is truly amazing, and so are you!’ I say. <a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/shah091114.htm">More</a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p><b style="line-height: 1.3em; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><b style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"><b style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: 1.3em;"> </b></b></b></p>
<p> </p>
<div style="text-align: right; font-size: small; clear: both;" id="blogsy_footer"><a href="http://blogsyapp.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://blogsyapp.com/images/blogsy_footer_icon.png" alt="© 2014" style="vertical-align: middle; margin-right: 5px;" width="20" height="20" />© 2014</a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00568422578494853037noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3023901051349971253.post-39232388312655823672014-11-07T10:04:00.000-08:002014-11-07T10:08:29.889-08:00The Man Who Creates Artificial Glaciers To Meet The Water Needs Of Ladakh<p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><strong>Ladakh’s beautiful mountains might be a paradise for tourists, but ask the locals who have to struggle to meet their basic water needs every year. Chewang Norphel put his engineering skills to a better use and created artificial glaciers to provide water in this cold and dry mountainous region. Know more about his remarkably innovative technology and how it works.</strong></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-o47pfmU96L8/VF0JlGgG6oI/AAAAAAAAAYQ/zHFLoVIP6Pw/s991/Photo%25252020141107130402.jpg" target="_blank" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-o47pfmU96L8/VF0JlGgG6oI/AAAAAAAAAYQ/zHFLoVIP6Pw/s300/Photo%25252020141107130402.jpg" id="blogsy-1415383516066.8215" class="alignright" alt="" width="300" height="208"></a></div><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Chewang Norphel, a 79-year old retired civil engineer, has always been a solution provider. The story goes back to 1966 when he was posted in Zanskar, one of the most backward and remote areas in Ladakh, as Sub Divisional Officer. He, along with his team, had to construct school buildings, bridges, canals, roads etc. in that area. The task was very difficult to execute due to lack of skilled labour.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">So he started doing the masonry work himself and trained a few villagers to help him. After some years, when he went back to that village, he found out that the villagers he had trained had become perfect <em>mistry</em> and were earning handsome salaries.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Today, he is called the “<span style="font-weight: 700 !important;"><em style="font-weight: 700 !important;">Ice Man of India”</em></span> and has created 10 artificial glaciers in Ladakh to help people deal with water scarcity in this cold, mountainous region.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Ladakh, a beautiful location with magnificent scenery around and exquisite beauty, takes everyone’s breath away. But, it is not the same with the people of Ladakh as the cold, dry and infertile land makes their lives harder than we could imagine.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Fortunately, the situation is slowly changing as Ladakh now has artificial glaciers to meet their needs and people have Norphel to thank for his amazing contribution.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Born in 1936, Norphel comes from a farming background and has served in the government service for more than 36 years before he had to take an early retirement due to his bad health. Being at home was not something Norphel enjoyed doing, and at the same time, the poor living conditions in Ladakh constantly troubled him. He thought of putting his engineering skills to a better use.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><em>“Almost all the villages in Ladakh have roads, culverts, bridges, buildings or irrigation systems made by me,”</em>says Norphel. But his biggest contribution came in the form of artificial glaciers.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Being a cold mountain desert, Ladakh sees a low average rainfall of 50 mm annually making people dependent upon glaciers as their primary water source.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">80 percent of the population depends on farming, and their main source of irrigation water is the water that comes from the melting of snow and glaciers. Because of global warming, the glaciers are receding quickly and as a result, farmers face a lot of difficulty in getting adequate water. On the other hand, a lot of water gets wasted during the winter months as, due to the severe cold climate, farmers cannot grow any crops in that season.</span></p><blockquote><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“So I thought that if we could conserve this water in the form of ice, it can be of help to farmers to some extent during the irrigation period, particularly during the sowing season. The artificial glaciers, being quite close to the villages, melt earlier than the natural glaciers. Also, getting water during the sowing period is the most crucial concern of the farmers because the natural glaciers start melting in the month of June and sowing starts in April and May,” he says.</span></p></blockquote><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The idea first came to him when he saw water dripping from a tap which was kept open so as to avoid the water from freezing in winter and bursting the tap. The water gradually froze into the shape of an ice sheet as it came in touch with the ground and made a pool.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">It struck him that the water that melts from natural glaciers due to high temperatures in summer goes to waste as it flows into the river. Instead, if this water can be stored in summer and autumn so that it can form a glacier in winter, then this artificial glacier would melt in spring and provide water to the villagers at the right time.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">It was now time for action, and he put all his engineering knowledge, field experience and passion to work. He started his first experiment in Phutse village. He made canals to divert the water from the main stream to small catchment areas located four kms away from the village. He also created a shaded area to keep the water frozen in winters.</span></p><blockquote><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">And, as these glaciers are located at a lower altitude of 13,000 feet as compared to the original glaciers which are located at 18,000 feet, they start melting earlier than the mainstream ones and provide water to the villagers when they need it the most in April.</span></p><blockquote><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“The main technique used to create artificial glaciers is to control the velocity of water as much as possible. The region is a hilly area and that is why the gradient of streams is very steep. As a result, in the main streams the water usually does not freeze. So what we have done is we have diverted the water to a shadow area by constructing a diversion channel with a mild grade. When it reaches the site, the water is released downward of the hill, distributing it in a small quantity so that the velocity can be minimized, and side by side we have constructed ice retaining walls in series to store the frozen water. This is the entire methodology of the artificial glacier,” he explains.</span></p></blockquote><figure style="text-align: center; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><a href="http://www.thebetterindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/artificial-glacier1.jpg" style="text-decoration: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><font color="#000000"><img src="ipoffline:///http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thebetterindia.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F11%2Fartificial-glacier1.jpg" id="blogsy-1415383516108.3494" class="big" alt="Retaining walls for artificial glacier" width="506" height="266"></font></a><figcaption style="text-align: start; opacity: 0.75;"><br></figcaption></figure><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">His first project cost him Rs.90,000. The width of the glacier ranges generally from 50 to 200 feet and the depth from 2 to 7 feet. This low cost model used only locally sourced material and help from the local community. Norphel has successfully built 10 glaciers so far. The smallest one is 500 feet long in Umla and the largest is 2 km long in Phutse.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">His efforts have increased the agricultural production, thereby increasing the income of the locals. This has also reduced the migration to cities. His simple technique has brought water closer to the villages, and most importantly, made it available when the villagers need it the most.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In the future, he wants to continue making the glaciers and plans to build in other areas like Lahol, Spiti, Zangskar, etc. The only thing that comes as a challenge is lack of adequate funds.</span></p><figure style="text-align: center; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"></figure><blockquote><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“As you sow, so you reap. There is no doubt that if one has strong determination and dedication, there is nothing impossible in the world. That is what I believe,” Norphel says.</span></p></blockquote><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">His simple idea has received acclaim across the globe and he has proved that if man is the one responsible for disturbing nature, he also has the capacity to save it. You just need the right intention to do so. <a href="http://www.thebetterindia.com/14672/man-creates-artificial-glaciers-chewang-norphel-ladakh/">More</a></span></p><p> </p></blockquote><p> </p><p> </p><div style="text-align: right; font-size: small; clear: both;" id="blogsy_footer"><a href="http://blogsyapp.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://blogsyapp.com/images/blogsy_footer_icon.png" alt="© 2014" style="vertical-align: middle; margin-right: 5px;" width="20" height="20" />© 2014</a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00568422578494853037noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3023901051349971253.post-36599167176214639142014-11-06T17:00:00.000-08:002014-11-06T17:01:26.613-08:00AGWA Launches Toolkit for Climate Change Adaptation in Water Resources Management<hr><p style="margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><strong>4 September 2014: The Alliance for Global Water Adaptation (AGWA) and partners have launched a manual for dealing with uncertainty under climate change by applying climate-informed decision-making to water resource management, project design and risk evaluation. </strong></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-CtFQWzKhNf8/VFwZqsYbKVI/AAAAAAAAAYA/s6Eho7EAxTk/s1383/Photo%25252020141106200023.jpg" target="_blank" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-CtFQWzKhNf8/VFwZqsYbKVI/AAAAAAAAAYA/s6Eho7EAxTk/s300/Photo%25252020141106200023.jpg" id="blogsy-1415322028822.089" class="alignright" width="300" height="82" alt=""></a></div><p style="margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><strong><br></strong></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The manual was launched in a seminar held during World Water Week, on 4 September.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">‘Beyond Downscaling: A Bottom-Up Approach to Climate Adaptation for Water Resources Management' is the result of two years' work by AGWA, the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), US Army Corps of Engineers, University of Massachusetts and RTI International, among others.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">It provides practical guidelines for practitioners and project coordinators for risk-based decision making and adaptation of water systems by using a bottom-up approach. The book aims to “provide an alternative approach contributing to improvement in the quality and effectiveness of water resources management planning and project design under climate variability and change uncertainty.”</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The manual covers: AGWA's approach to sustainable water management; climate change impacts on water resources; mainstreaming adaptation into water resources management; key tools for supporting climate risk assessment; and approaches to identifying adaptation strategies for water projects. It also makes the case for moving beyond down-scaling global climate models, to a bottom-up approach to climate adaptation in the water sector, and presents a framework for an AGWA-supported adaptation approach.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The approach supported by AGWA, <span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">inter alia: recognizes the need to integrate climate adaptation into existing decision-making processes; advocates for bottom-up approaches to vulnerability assessment; supports the use of “systematic decision trees based on existing water resources management approaches”; stresses the importance of creating flexible decision pathways; and emphasizes the integration of flexible governance mechanisms into water resources management.</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></span></span></span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Speaking at the launch, Marcus Wijnen, Senior Water Resources Management Specialist, World Bank, noted that the book is “work in progress,” and invited stakeholders to provide feedback. <a href="http://water-l.iisd.org/news/agwa-launches-toolkit-for-climate-change-adaptation-in-water-resources-management/" target="_self" title="">More</a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></em></em></em></em></em></em></em></em></em></em></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The 2014 World Water Week took place from 31 August-5 September, in Stockholm, Sweden. [<a href="http://alliance4water.org/Beyond/beyond.html" target="_blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none !important;">AGWA Publication Webpage</a>] [Publication: <a href="http://alliance4water.org/resources/AGWA_Beyond_Downscaling.pdf" target="_blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none !important;">Beyond Downscaling: A Bottom-up Approach to Climate Adaptation for Water Resources Management</a>] [<a href="http://siwi-videohub.creo.tv/world-water-week/2014-water-and-energy/climate-informed_decision_support_tools_for_sustainable_water_management/" target="_blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none !important;">Video of Launch</a>]</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></em></em></em></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </em></em></em></em></em></em></p><hr><i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p></em></em></em></em></em></em></em></em></em></em></em></em></em></em></em></em><div style="text-align: right; font-size: small; clear: both;" id="blogsy_footer"><a href="http://blogsyapp.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://blogsyapp.com/images/blogsy_footer_icon.png" alt="© 2014" style="vertical-align: middle; margin-right: 5px;" width="20" height="20" />© 2014</a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00568422578494853037noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3023901051349971253.post-60436497402490478272014-11-02T16:51:00.001-08:002014-11-02T16:51:36.272-08:00The Future Corporation - Paul Polak
<div class="separator" style="text-align: center;"><iframe title="YouTube video player" class="youtube-player" type="text/html" width="506" height="308" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ezVxt7TkyeM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div>
<p>TEDxMileh-ligh - Paul Polak - The Future Corporation </p>
<p>Uploaded on May 26, 201 1 • What is the future of the corporation? Paul Polak's vision will likely transform your view of what's possible through capitalism and may change the way current organizations view their business models. His talk details the tremendous shared value that lies within product and system designs for the bottom 90% of the income pyramid. </p>
<p>In the spirit of "ideas worth spreading," TED has created TEDx. TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. Our event is called TEDxMileHigh, where x = independently organized TED event. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x=independently organized </p>
<p>TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events, including ours, are self-organized.</p>
<div style="text-align: right; font-size: small; clear: both;" id="blogsy_footer"><a href="http://blogsyapp.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://blogsyapp.com/images/blogsy_footer_icon.png" alt="© 2014" style="vertical-align: middle; margin-right: 5px;" width="20" height="20" />© 2014</a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00568422578494853037noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3023901051349971253.post-72842250455312401172014-09-06T11:40:00.000-07:002014-09-06T11:41:25.998-07:00ISIS and Our Times - Noam Chomsky<p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><strong>It is not pleasant to contemplate the thoughts that must be passing through the mind of the Owl of Minerva as the dusk falls and she undertakes the task of interpreting the era of human civilization, which may now be approaching its inglorious end.</strong></span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-DnqDKfngFzA/VAtVHWhCPWI/AAAAAAAAWeg/R5nso9M9LoE/s640/Photo%25252020140906134018.jpg" target="_blank" style="clear: right; float: right; "><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-DnqDKfngFzA/VAtVHWhCPWI/AAAAAAAAWeg/R5nso9M9LoE/s300/Photo%25252020140906134018.jpg" id="blogsy-1410028830740.9502" class="alignright" width="300" height="200" alt=""></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bajid Kandala refugee cam, Iraq</td></tr></tbody></table><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The era opened almost 10,000 years ago in the Fertile Crescent, stretching from the lands of the Tigris and Euphrates, through Phoenicia on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean to the Nile Valley, and from there to Greece and beyond. What is happening in this region provides painful lessons on the depths to which the species can descend.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The land of the Tigris and Euphrates has been the scene of unspeakable horrors in recent years. The George W. Bush-Tony Blair aggression in 2003, which many Iraqis compared to the Mongol invasions of the 13th century, was yet another lethal blow. It destroyed much of what survived the Bill Clinton-driven UN sanctions on Iraq, condemned as "genocidal" by the distinguished diplomats Denis Halliday and Hans von Sponeck, who administered them before resigning in protest. Halliday and von Sponeck's devastating reports received the usual treatment accorded to unwanted facts.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">One dreadful consequence of the US-UK invasion is depicted in a New York Times "visual guide to the crisis in Iraq and Syria": the radical change of Baghdad from mixed neighborhoods in 2003 to today's sectarian enclaves trapped in bitter hatred. The conflicts ignited by the invasion have spread beyond and are now tearing the entire region to shreds.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Much of the Tigris-Euphrates area is in the hands of ISIS and its self-proclaimed Islamic State, a grim caricature of the extremist form of radical Islam that has its home in Saudi Arabia. Patrick Cockburn, a Middle East correspondent for The Independent and one of the best-informed analysts of ISIS, describes it as "a very horrible, in many ways fascist organization, very sectarian, kills anybody who doesn't believe in their particular rigorous brand of Islam."</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Cockburn also points out the contradiction in the Western reaction to the emergence of ISIS: efforts to stem its advance in Iraq along with others to undermine the group's major opponent in Syria, the brutal Bashar Assad regime. Meanwhile a major barrier to the spread of the ISIS plague to Lebanon is Hezbollah, a hated enemy of the US and its Israeli ally. And to complicate the situation further, the US and Iran now share a justified concern about the rise of the Islamic State, as do others in this highly conflicted region.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Egypt has plunged into some of its darkest days under a military dictatorship that continues to receive US support. Egypt's fate was not written in the stars. For centuries, alternative paths have been quite feasible, and not infrequently, a heavy imperial hand has barred the way.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">After the renewed horrors of the past few weeks it should be unnecessary to comment on what emanates from Jerusalem, in remote history considered a moral center.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Eighty years ago, Martin Heidegger extolled Nazi Germany as providing the best hope for rescuing the glorious civilization of the Greeks from the barbarians of the East and West. Today, German bankers are crushing Greece under an economic regime designed to maintain their wealth and power.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The likely end of the era of civilization is foreshadowed in a new draft report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the generally conservative monitor of what is happening to the physical world.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The report concludes that increasing greenhouse gas emissions risk "severe, pervasive and irreversible impacts for people and ecosystems" over the coming decades. The world is nearing the temperature when loss of the vast ice sheet over Greenland will be unstoppable. Along with melting Antarctic ice, that could raise sea levels to inundate major cities as well as coastal plains.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The era of civilization coincides closely with the geological epoch of the Holocene, beginning over 11,000 years ago. The previous Pleistocene epoch lasted 2.5 million years. Scientists now suggest that a new epoch began about 250 years ago, the Anthropocene, the period when human activity has had a dramatic impact on the physical world. The rate of change of geological epochs is hard to ignore.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">One index of human impact is the extinction of species, now estimated to be at about the same rate as it was 65 million years ago when an asteroid hit the Earth. That is the presumed cause for the ending of the age of the dinosaurs, which opened the way for small mammals to proliferate, and ultimately modern humans. Today, it is humans who are the asteroid, condemning much of life to extinction.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The IPCC report reaffirms that the "vast majority" of known fuel reserves must be left in the ground to avert intolerable risks to future generations. Meanwhile the major energy corporations make no secret of their goal of exploiting these reserves and discovering new ones.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">A day before its summary of the IPCC conclusions, The New York Times reported that huge Midwestern grain stocks are rotting so that the products of the North Dakota oil boom can be shipped by rail to Asia and Europe.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">One of the most feared consequences of anthropogenic global warming is the thawing of permafrost regions. A study in Science magazine warns that "even slightly warmer temperatures [less than anticipated in coming years] could start melting permafrost, which in turn threatens to trigger the release of huge amounts of greenhouse gases trapped in ice," with possible "fatal consequences" for the global climate.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Arundhati Roy suggests that the "most appropriate metaphor for the insanity of our times" is the Siachen Glacier, where Indian and Pakistani soldiers have killed each other on the highest battlefield in the world. The glacier is now melting and revealing "thousands of empty artillery shells, empty fuel drums, ice axes, old boots, tents and every other kind of waste that thousands of warring human beings generate" in meaningless conflict. And as the glaciers melt, India and Pakistan face indescribable disaster.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Sad species. Poor Owl.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><em>© 2014 Noam Chomsky</em><br><em>Distributed by The New York Times Syndicate</em></span></p><p><em><br></em></p><p> </p><div style="text-align: right; font-size: small; clear: both;" id="blogsy_footer"><a href="http://blogsyapp.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://blogsyapp.com/images/blogsy_footer_icon.png" alt="© 2014" style="vertical-align: middle; margin-right: 5px;" width="20" height="20" />© 2014</a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00568422578494853037noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3023901051349971253.post-9675103031842887242014-09-03T11:41:00.001-07:002014-09-03T11:41:50.032-07:005 Crucial Lessons for the Left From Naomi Klein’s New Book<p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><strong>In her previous books <em><a href="http://www.powells.com/partner/36495/biblio/9780312427993?p_ti" style="text-decoration: none;">The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism</a></em> (2007) and <em><a href="http://www.powells.com/partner/36495/biblio/9780312421434?p_ti" style="text-decoration: none;">NO LOGO: No Space, No Choice, No Jobs</a></em> (2000), Canadian author and activist Naomi Klein took on topics like neoliberal “shock therapy,” consumerism, globalization and “disaster capitalism,” extensively documenting the forces behind the dramatic rise in economic inequality and environmental degradation over the past 50 years. </strong></span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-JaxP3umTY30/VAdg5xJ2IPI/AAAAAAAAWbU/PUOf_P6bOvo/s805/Photo%25252020140903134128.jpg" target="_blank" style="clear: right; float: right; "><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-JaxP3umTY30/VAdg5xJ2IPI/AAAAAAAAWbU/PUOf_P6bOvo/s300/Photo%25252020140903134128.jpg" id="blogsy-1409769708853.7332" class="alignright" width="300" height="239" alt=""></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Naomi Klein</td></tr></tbody></table><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But in her new book, <em><a href="http://www.powells.com/partner/36495/biblio/9781451697384?p_ti" style="text-decoration: none;">This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate</a></em> (due in stores <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://0" x-apple-data-detectors="true" x-apple-data-detectors-type="calendar-event" x-apple-data-detectors-result="0">September 16</a>), Klein casts her gaze toward the future, arguing that the dangers of climate change demand radical action now to ward off catastrophe. She certainly isn’t alone in pointing out the urgency of the threat, but what sets Klein apart is her argument that it is capitalism—not carbon—that is at the root of climate change, inexorably driving us toward an environmental Armageddon in the pursuit of profit. <em>This Changes Everything</em> is well worth a read (or two) in full, but we’ve distilled some of its key points here.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 700 !important; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">1. Band-Aid solutions don’t work.</span></p><p><em style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“Only mass social movements can save us now. Because we know where the current system, left unchecked, is headed.”</em></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Much of the conversation surrounding climate change focuses on what Klein dismisses as “Band-Aid solutions”: profit-friendly fixes like whizz-bang technological innovations, cap-and-trade schemes and supposedly “clean” alternatives like natural gas. To Klein, such strategies are too little, too late. In her drawn-out critique of corporate involvement in climate change prevention, she demonstrates how profitable “solutions” put forward by many think-tanks (and their corporate backers) actually end up making the problem worse. For instance, Klein argues that carbon trading programs create perverse incentives, allowing manufacturers to produce more harmful greenhouse gases, just to be paid to reduce them. In the process, carbon trading schemes have helped corporations make billions—allowing them to directly profit off the degradation of the planet. Instead, Klein argues, we need to break free of market fundamentalism and implement long-term planning, strict regulation of business, more taxation, more government spending and reversals of privatization to return key infrastructure to public control. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 700 !important; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">2. We need to fix ourselves, not fix the world.</span></p><p><em style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“The earth is not our prisoner, our patient, our machine, or, indeed, our monster. It is our entire world. And the solution to global warming is not to fix the world, it is to fix ourselves.”</em></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Klein devotes a full chapter of the book to geoengineering: the field of research, championed by a niche group of scientists, funders and media figures, that aims to fight global warming by altering the earth itself—say, by covering deserts with reflective material to send sunlight back to space or even dimming the sun to decrease the amount of heat reaching the planet. However, politicians and much of the global public have raised environmental, health and ethical concerns regarding these proposed science experiments with the planet, and Klein warns of the unknown consequences of creating “a Frankenstein’s world,” with multiple countries launching projects simultaneously. Instead of restoring an environmental equilibrium, Klein argues these “techno-fixes” will only further upset the earth’s balance, each one creating a host of new problems, requiring an endless chain of further “fixes.” She writes, “The earth—our life support system—would itself be put on life support, hooked up to machines 24/7 to prevent it from going full-tilt monster on us.”</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 700 !important; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">3. We can’t rely on “well-intentioned” corporate funding.</span></p><p><em style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“A great many progressives have opted out of the climate change debate in part because they thought that the Big Green groups, flush with philanthropic dollars, had this issue covered. That, it turns out, was a grave mistake.”</em></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Klein strongly critiques partnerships between corporations and major environmental groups, along with attempts by “green billionaires” such as Bill Gates and Virgin Group’s Richard Branson to use capitalism to fighting global warming. When capitalism itself is a principal cause of climate change, Klein argues, it doesn’t make sense to expect corporations and billionaires to put the planet before profit. For example, though the Gates Foundation funds many major environmental groups dedicated to combating climate change, as of December 2013, it had at least $1.2 billion invested in BP and ExxonMobil. In addition, when Big Greens become dependent on corporate funding, they start to push a corporate agenda. For instance, organizations such as the Nature Conservancy and the Environmental Defense Fund, which have taken millions of dollars from pro-fracking corporate funders, such as Shell, Chevron and JP Morgan, are pitching natural gas as a cleaner alternative to oil and coal.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 700 !important; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">4. We need divestment, and reinvestment.</span></p><p><em style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“The main power of divestment is not that it financially harms Shell and Chevron in the short term but that it erodes the social license of fossil fuel companies and builds pressure on politicians to introduce across-the-board emission reductions.”</em></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Critics of the carbon divestment movement often claim that divestment will have minimal impact on polluters’ bottom lines. But Klein argues that this line of reasoning misses the point, quoting Canadian divestment activist Cameron Fenton's argument that “No one is thinking we’re going to bankrupt fossil fuel companies. But what we can do is bankrupt their reputations and take away their political power.” More importantly, divestment opens the door for reinvestment. A few million dollars out of the hands of ExxonMobil or BP frees up money that can now be spent developing green infrastructure or empowering communities to localize their economies. And some colleges, charities, pension funds and municipalities have already got the message: Klein reports that 13 U.S. colleges and universities, 25 North American cities, around 40 religious institutions and several major foundations have all made commitments to divest their endowments from fossil fuel stocks and bonds.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 700 !important; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">5. Confronting climate change is an opportunity to address other social, economic and political issues.</span></p><p><em style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“When climate change deniers claim that global warming is a plot to redistribute wealth, it's not (only) because they are paranoid. It's also because they are paying attention.”</em></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In <em>The Shock Doctrine</em>, Klein explained how corporations have exploited crises around the world for profit. In <em>This Changes Everything</em>, she argues that the climate change crisis can serve as a wake-up call for widespread democratic action. For instance, when a 2007 tornado destroyed most of Greensburg, Kansas, the town rejected top-down approaches to recovery in favor of community-based rebuilding efforts that increased democratic participation and created new, environmentally-friendly public buildings. Today, Greensburg is one of the greenest towns in the United States. To Klein, this example illustrates how people can use climate change to come together to build a greener society. It also can, and indeed must, spur a radical transformation of our economy: less consumption, less international trade (part of relocalizing our economies) and less private investment, and a lot more government spending to create the infrastructure we need for a green economy. “Implicit in all of this,” Klein writes, “is a great deal more redistribution, so that more of us can live comfortably within the planet’s capacity.” <a href="http://inthesetimes.com/article/17079/this_changes_everything_naomi_klein_lessons">More</a></span></p><p> </p><div style="text-align: right; font-size: small; clear: both;" id="blogsy_footer"><a href="http://blogsyapp.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://blogsyapp.com/images/blogsy_footer_icon.png" alt="© 2014" style="vertical-align: middle; margin-right: 5px;" width="20" height="20" />© 2014</a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00568422578494853037noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3023901051349971253.post-29041184540894682452014-07-31T09:00:00.001-07:002014-07-31T09:00:54.736-07:00The Sunswift eVe solar-powered car broke a 26-year-old land speed record for electric vehicles<div class="separator" style="text-align: center;"><iframe title="YouTube video player" class="youtube-player" type="text/html" width="506" height="308" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/1bUd-5wqncI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The Sunswift eVe solar-powered car broke a 26-year-old land speed record for electric vehicles on Wednesday at the Australian Automotive Research Center in Victoria. While the record still has to be ratified by the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile, it would make eVe the fastest electric car to ever compete a 500 km set distance course by a significant margin, Gizmodo <a href="http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2014/07/unsws-sunswift-solar-car-smashes-world-land-speed-record/" style="text-decoration: none;">reported</a>. The previous record, set in 1988, was an average speed of 73 kilometers per hour; the Sunswift eVe reached 100 km per hour average over the 500 km course.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Sunswift eVe, designed and built by students at the University of New South Wales, seeks to overcome the traditional obstacles that have impeded solar-powered cars, namely, offering both speed and range in the same vehicle.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“There are many solar cars out there with a long range, and many other solar cars capable of even higher speeds,” Rob Ireland, business team leader at Sunswift, <a href="http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/sunswift-eve-worlds-first-practical-solar-powered-car-1457819" style="text-decoration: none;">told</a> International Business Times. “However, we’re trying to do something ground-breaking and overcome both.”</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The zero-emission solar and battery storage electric vehicle is capable of covering 800 km on a single charge and has a top speed of 140 km per hour (87 miles per hour). The car’s solar panels have an 800-watt output and when the sun isn’t shining, eVe relies on its battery pack, reducing drivers’ range anxiety. The car’s motor, “supplied by Australian national science agency CSIRO, operates at 97 percent efficiency, meaning eVe consumes as much power as a kitchen toaster,” according to IB Times.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">For Wednesday’s record attempt, the solar panels on the roof and hood were used to charge the battery, but were covered for the actual run, as the attempt had to be completed on a single charge.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">While the Sunswift eVe is not fully road legal, the team believes that isn’t far out of reach, <a href="http://reneweconomy.com.au/2014/unsw-students-take-on-electric-car-range-world-record-35927" style="text-decoration: none;">telling Renew Economy</a> they hope to have the vehicle on Australian roads within the year as “a symbol for a new era of sustainable driving.” And Ireland said the practicality of the two-seat, four-wheel car is unmatched among solar-powered vehicles.</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In the run-up to their attempt at the land speed record, project director and third-year engineering student Hayden Smith explained to Renew Economy why it was so significant. “Five hundred kilometers is pretty much as far as a normal person would want to drive in a single day,” Smith said. “It’s another demonstration that one day you could be driving our car.” <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/07/24/3463899/solar-car-speed-record/" target="_self" title="">More</a></span></p><p> </p><div style="text-align: right; font-size: small; clear: both;" id="blogsy_footer"><a href="http://blogsyapp.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://blogsyapp.com/images/blogsy_footer_icon.png" alt="© 2014" style="vertical-align: middle; margin-right: 5px;" width="20" height="20" />© 2014</a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00568422578494853037noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3023901051349971253.post-82719834561259088462014-05-28T18:15:00.000-07:002014-05-28T18:20:13.805-07:00Permaculture PDC in Palestine in September
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjesVPd1ZJWyIDbEa9gv80BlgxrstT8j2b9aWFGtcs1cSetL8skvNZx-dcfDNhuqodhmEXU0jBejg9kSfgrtwd9KZfrqAU7e0XNPGsOU9_zdZyaRok2Cs1S9uG18zKlvP-ZR0sOkmVvPus/s2048/Photo%25252020140528201453.jpg" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title=""><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjesVPd1ZJWyIDbEa9gv80BlgxrstT8j2b9aWFGtcs1cSetL8skvNZx-dcfDNhuqodhmEXU0jBejg9kSfgrtwd9KZfrqAU7e0XNPGsOU9_zdZyaRok2Cs1S9uG18zKlvP-ZR0sOkmVvPus/s300/Photo%25252020140528201453.jpg" id="blogsy-1401326148627.282" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="506" height="379"></a></div>
<header class="entry-header"><h1 class="entry-title" style="border-width: 0px 0px 0px 5px; border-left-style: solid; border-left-color: rgb(233, 79, 29); font-style: inherit; outline: 0px; padding-right: 30px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 25px; vertical-align: baseline; clear: both;"><font size="4"><span style="line-height: 23px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Marda Permaculture Certification Course, Register Now!</span></font></h1>
<p><font size="4"><span style="line-height: 23px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></font></p>
<p class="entry-meta" style="border: 0px; margin-right: 30px; margin-left: 30px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; clear: both;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 1.3em; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Join us in SEPTEMBER for an exquisite opportunity to learn about permaculture principles and techniques whilst experiencing the culture, food and traditions of beautiful Palestine! And much more!</span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 1.3em;"> </span><span style="font-style: inherit; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 1.3em;">Check out:</span><span style="font-style: inherit; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 1.3em;"> </span><a title="Permaculture Design Course, 25 September – 10 October 2014" href="http://mardafarm.com/permaculture-design-course-25-september-10-october-2014/" style="font-style: inherit; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 1.3em; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">Permaculture Design Course, 25 September – 10 October 2014</a><br></p></header><p> </p>
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<div style="text-align: right; font-size: small; clear: both;" id="blogsy_footer"><a href="http://blogsyapp.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://blogsyapp.com/images/blogsy_footer_icon.png" alt="© 2014" style="vertical-align: middle; margin-right: 5px;" width="20" height="20" />© 2014</a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00568422578494853037noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3023901051349971253.post-20699737225582654292014-05-12T17:38:00.001-07:002014-05-12T17:38:12.978-07:00Architecture for the 21st Century with Michael Reynolds<div class="separator" style="text-align: center;"><iframe title="YouTube video player" class="youtube-player" type="text/html" width="506" height="308" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/G7h1eRiJwow" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div><p nodeindex="119" style="text-align: start; margin-bottom: 1em; -webkit-hyphens: auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">What do beer cans, car tires and water bottles have in common?</span></p><p nodeindex="120" style="text-align: start; margin-bottom: 1em; -webkit-hyphens: auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Not much unless you're renegade architect Michael Reynolds, in which case they are tools of choice for producing thermal mass and energy-independent housing. For 30 years New Mexico-based Reynolds and his green disciples have devoted their time to advancing the art of "Earthship Biotecture" by building self-sufficient, off-the-grid communities where design and function converge in eco-harmony.</span></p><p nodeindex="121" style="text-align: start; margin-bottom: 1em; -webkit-hyphens: auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">However, these experimental structures that defy state standards create conflict between Reynolds and the authorities, who are backed by big business. Frustrated by antiquated legislation, Reynolds lobbies for the right to create a sustainable living test site. While politicians hum and ha, Mother Nature strikes, leaving communities devastated by tsunamis and hurricanes. Reynolds and his crew seize the opportunity to lend their pioneering skills to those who need it most.</span></p><hr nodeindex="170" style="margin: 1em 146px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; height: 1px;"><div style="text-align: start;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Shot over three years and in four countries, Garbage Warrior is a timely portrait of a determined visionary, a hero of the 21st century... </span></div><p style="text-align: start;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span></p><p> </p><div style="text-align: right; font-size: small; clear: both;" id="blogsy_footer"><a href="http://blogsyapp.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://blogsyapp.com/images/blogsy_footer_icon.png" alt="© 2014" style="vertical-align: middle; margin-right: 5px;" width="20" height="20" />© 2014</a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00568422578494853037noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3023901051349971253.post-75246390763928842042014-04-17T12:32:00.001-07:002014-04-17T12:32:27.592-07:00Mushroom Hunter and Mycotechnologist Extraordinaire <p><strong><font size="4"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: normal;">Ken Miller received a national award for his <a href="http://www.caymaninstitute.org.ky/pdf/Mushroom-Manifesto.pdf" target="_self" title="">article</a> on </span></font><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Helvetica; line-height: normal;">Paul Stamets</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Helvetica; line-height: normal;"> </span><span style="font-size: large; font-family: Helvetica; line-height: normal;">which was featured in Discover Magazine.</span></strong><span style="font-size: large; font-family: Helvetica; line-height: normal;"> </span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-sKnqgSzLBVk/U1AsRuBTXyI/AAAAAAAATTo/EYEWUeHgIGs/s1343/Photo%25252020140417143219.jpg" target="_blank" style="clear: right; float: right; "><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-sKnqgSzLBVk/U1AsRuBTXyI/AAAAAAAATTo/EYEWUeHgIGs/s300/Photo%25252020140417143219.jpg" id="blogsy-1397763147185.317" class="alignright" width="300" height="285" alt=""></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Paul Stamets</td></tr></tbody></table><p style="margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"> </p><p style="margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><font size="4">For Paul Stamets, the phrase mushroom hunt does not denote a leisurely stroll with a napkin-lined basket. This morning, a half-dozen of us are struggling to keep up with the mycologist as he charges through a fir-and-alder forest on Cartes Island, British Columbia. It s raining steadily, and the moss beneath our feet is slick, but Stamets, 57, barrels across it like a grizzly bear heading for a stump full of honey. He vaults over fallen trees, scrambles up muddy ravines, plows through shin-deep </font><span style="font-size: large;">puddles in his rubber boots. He never slows down, but he halts abruptly whenever a specimen demands his attention.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><font size="4">This outing is part of a workshop on the fungi commonly known as mushrooms — a class of organisms whose cell walls are stiffened by a molecule called chitin instead of the cellulose found in plants, and whose most ardent scientific evangelist is the man ahead of us. Stamets is trying to find a patch of chanterelles, a variety known for its exquisite flavor. But the species that stop him in his tracks, and bring a look of bliss to his bushy-bearded face, possess qualities far beyond the culinary. </font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><font size="4"><br></font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><font size="4">He points to a clutch of plump oyster mushrooms halfway up an alder trunk. These could clean up oil spills all over the planet, he says. He ducks beneath a rotting log, where a rare, beehive-like Agarikon </font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><font size="4">dangles. This could provide a defense against weaponized smallpox. <a href="http://www.caymaninstitute.org.ky/pdf/Mushroom-Manifesto.pdf" target="_self" title="">Read PDF</a></font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 13.8px;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span><br></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 13.8px;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><p> </p><div style="text-align: right; font-size: small; clear: both;" id="blogsy_footer"><a href="http://blogsyapp.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://blogsyapp.com/images/blogsy_footer_icon.png" alt="© 2014" style="vertical-align: middle; margin-right: 5px;" width="20" height="20" />© 2014</a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00568422578494853037noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3023901051349971253.post-23650588814312013572014-04-12T11:18:00.000-07:002014-04-12T11:24:44.639-07:00Volcanism, Climate and Food Security<p nodeindex="84" style="text-align: start; margin-bottom: 1em; -webkit-hyphens: auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><strong>Most have heard of the Battle of Waterloo, but who has heard of the volcano called Tambora? No school textbook I’ve seen mentions that only two months before <a href="http://history.com/napoleonic-wars" nodeindex="167" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">Napoleon’s final defeat</a> in Belgium <a href="x-apple-data-detectors://0" x-apple-data-detectors="true" x-apple-data-detectors-type="calendar-event" x-apple-data-detectors-result="0">on June 18</a>, 1815, the faraway Indonesian island of Sumbawa was the site of the most devastating volcanic eruption on Earth in thousands of years.</strong></span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx-Ef3ndf2J28CixNcdMlzJoBsgG0a_H4ZRdtGtqQIYYZfAYyy1LTtoV1qgwMIrykzDkkE46H0eNQoAkG3n51zLs6I_KlSNTjFP04NUW510gY4Fm5XQQjMSGeHzzp4TAd2TgCywvupY9gl/s900/Photo%25252020140412131817.jpg" target="_blank" style="clear: right; float: right; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx-Ef3ndf2J28CixNcdMlzJoBsgG0a_H4ZRdtGtqQIYYZfAYyy1LTtoV1qgwMIrykzDkkE46H0eNQoAkG3n51zLs6I_KlSNTjFP04NUW510gY4Fm5XQQjMSGeHzzp4TAd2TgCywvupY9gl/s300/Photo%25252020140412131817.jpg" id="blogsy-1397326981946.573" class="alignright" alt="" width="300" height="200"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mt. Tambora</td></tr></tbody></table><p nodeindex="105" style="text-align: start; margin-bottom: 1em; -webkit-hyphens: auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The death toll claimed around 100,000 people, from the thick pyroclastic flows of lava, from the tsunami that struck nearby coasts, and from the thick ash that blanketed South-East Asia’s farmlands, destroyed crops and plunged it into darkness for a week. Both events – Napoleon’s defeat and the eruption – had monumental impacts on human history. But while a library of scholarship has been devoted to Napoleon’s undoing at Waterloo, the scattered writings on Tambora would scarcely fill your in-tray.</span></p><p nodeindex="106" style="text-align: start; margin-bottom: 1em; -webkit-hyphens: auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">This extraordinary geological event took place 199 years ago this week, and on the cusp of its bicentenary Tambora is finally getting its due. With the help of modern scientific instruments and old-fashioned archival detective work, the Tambora 1815 eruption can be conclusively placed among the <a href="http://press.princeton.edu/titles/10195.html" nodeindex="168" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">greatest environmental disasters</a> ever to befall mankind. The floods, droughts, starvation, and disease in the three years following the eruption stem from the volcano’s effects on weather systems, so Tambora stands today as a harrowing case study of what the human costs and global reach might be from runaway climate change.</span></p><p nodeindex="107" style="text-align: start; margin-bottom: 1em; -webkit-hyphens: auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Tambora’s greatest claim to infamy lies not in the impact it had on what was then the <a href="http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/174553/Dutch-East-Indies" nodeindex="169" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">Dutch East Indies</a> (which were terrible enough), but its indirect effects on the disease ecology of the Bay of Bengal. The enormous cloud of sulfate gases Tambora ejected into the atmosphere slowed the development of the Indian monsoon, the world’s largest weather system, for the following two years.</span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Dr96bXxrl0s/U0mDejKAcdI/AAAAAAAATF8/igBXAbJo9bU/s668/Photo%25252020140412131817.jpg" target="_blank" style="clear: left; float: left; "><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Dr96bXxrl0s/U0mDejKAcdI/AAAAAAAATF8/igBXAbJo9bU/s300/Photo%25252020140412131817.jpg" id="blogsy-1397326981955.1714" class="alignleft" alt="" width="300" height="134"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tambora's eruption was heard 2,oookm <br>away in Sumatra, and ash fell metres deep</td></tr></tbody></table><p nodeindex="108" style="text-align: start; margin-bottom: 1em; -webkit-hyphens: auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Drought brought on by the eruption devastated crop yields across the Indian sub-continent, but more disastrously gave rise to a new and deadly strain of cholera. Cholera had always been endemic to Bengal, but the bizarre weather of 1816-17 triggered by Tambora’s eruption – first drought, then late, unseasonal flooding – altered the microbial ecology of the Bay of Bengal. The cholera bacterium, which has an unusually adaptive genetic structure highly sensitive to changes in its aquatic environment, mutated into a new strain. This met with no resistance among the local population, and it spread across Asia and <a href="http://ocp.hul.harvard.edu/contagion/cholera.html" nodeindex="170" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">eventually the globe</a>. By century’s end, the <a href="https://archive.org/details/asiaticorbengalc00pete" nodeindex="171" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">death toll from Bengal cholera</a> stood in the tens of millions.</span></p><p nodeindex="109" style="text-align: start; margin-bottom: 1em; -webkit-hyphens: auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Just as the biological disaster known as the Black Death defined the 14th century in Europe and the Near East, so cholera shaped the nineteenth century like no other calamity. Much of our medical science, and our modern public health institutions, originate in the <a href="http://www.choleraandthethames.co.uk/cholera-in-london/cholera-in-soho/" nodeindex="172" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">Victorian-era battle against cholera</a>. But only now, thanks to renewed scientific interest in the relation between <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2744514/" nodeindex="173" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">cholera and climate change</a>, can we make the connection between the worldwide cholera epidemic originating in 1817 and Tambora’s eruption thousands of miles away.</span></p><p nodeindex="111" style="text-align: start; margin-bottom: 1em; -webkit-hyphens: auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Tambora’s ripple effects were felt across the globe. In southwest China, the outlying mountainous province of Yunnan suffered terribly from the cold volcanic weather, losing crop after crop of rice to bitter winds and flooding rains. The situation was so extreme that desperate Yunnanese resorted to eating white clay, while parents sold their children in the town markets, or killed them out of mercy.</span></p><p nodeindex="112" style="text-align: start; margin-bottom: 1em; -webkit-hyphens: auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In the aftermath of this three-year famine, Yunnan farmers turned to a more reliable cash crop – opium – to ensure their families’ survival against future disasters. Within a few decades, opium was being grown all across Yunnan, while opium processing technology and expertise drifted south into the remote mountains of modern-day Burma and Laos. The “<a href="http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/frontpage/2013/December/golden-triangle-opium-production-rises-22-per-cent-in-2013-says-unodc.html" nodeindex="179" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">golden triangle</a>” of international opium production was born.</span></p><p nodeindex="113" style="text-align: start; margin-bottom: 1em; -webkit-hyphens: auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">If the Tambora disaster persists in cultural memory at all, it is as the “Year Without a Summer,” 1816, the most notorious and best chronicled extreme weather event of that century. Snowstorms swept the east coast in June, ensuring the shortest growing season on record. Crowds of desperate and hungry rural folk from Maine and Vermont fled snowfalls of <a href="http://www.celebrateboston.com/disasters/year-without-a-summer.htm" nodeindex="180" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">up to 18 inches</a> to the western frontier, which had been spared the worst of Tambora’s weather.</span></p><p nodeindex="114" style="text-align: start; margin-bottom: 1em; -webkit-hyphens: auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Here grain harvests were fetching sky-high prices on the famine-struck Atlantic market, but after the boom came a shattering bust – the so-called <a href="https://mises.org/Rothbard/panic1819.pdf" nodeindex="181" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">Panic of 1819</a> – which triggered the first sustained economic depression in US history. East coast speculators had invested hugely in western agriculture post-1816, only to lose their shirts when the similarly-affected European grain markets returned to normal in 1819, and commodity prices plummeted. “Never were such hard times,” wrote Thomas Jefferson of ordinary Americans who, across the country, found themselves “in a condition of unparalleled distress,” persisting well into the 1820s.</span></p><p nodeindex="115" style="text-align: start; margin-bottom: 1em; -webkit-hyphens: auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">As it turns out, however, the indirect ripple effects of Tambora – what climate scientists call “<a href="http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/data/teledoc/teleintro.shtml" nodeindex="182" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">teleconnections</a>” – were even more historically significant. Cholera, opium, and the Panic of 1819 are three examples; another is Arctic exploration.</span></p><p nodeindex="116" style="text-align: start; margin-bottom: 1em; -webkit-hyphens: auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">One of the paradoxical effects of a major tropical eruption is that while the planet in general is cooled by the blanket of volcanic dust that drifts from the equator to the poles, the Arctic itself is drastically warmed owing to changes in wind circulation and north Atlantic ocean currents. This anomaly was only discovered after the 1991 eruption of <a href="http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/1997/fs113-97/" nodeindex="183" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">Mount Pinatubo</a> in the tropical Philippines, the first observed with the benefit of modern climatological instruments.</span></p><p nodeindex="117" style="text-align: start; margin-bottom: 1em; -webkit-hyphens: auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In 1817 and 1818, the British Admiralty began to receive exciting reports from whaling captains of a remarkable loss of sea ice in around Greenland. Huge icebergs from a broken icepack were spotted floating as far south as Ireland and New York. The prospect of a northwest passage for shipping to the East – a holy grail England had sought since Elizabethan times – beckoned once more. With a generation’s naval captains still hungry for glory but now languishing onshore after the defeat of Napoleon, the Admiralty launched an expensive and ultimately disastrous 50-year-long campaign to chart the elusive northwest passage.</span></p><p nodeindex="118" style="text-align: start; margin-bottom: 1em; -webkit-hyphens: auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The British could not have known then, of course, that Tambora had caused the Arctic to melt, and that the climatic impacts of a tropical eruption persist for no longer than three years. The Arctic refroze just in time for the arrival of Britain’s <a href="http://www.rmg.co.uk/explore/sea-and-ships/in-depth/north-west-passage/exploration-adventure-and-tragedy/john-ross-first-expedition-1818" nodeindex="184" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">first polar expedition</a> under Captain John Ross in 1818. Years of fruitless, icebound sallies into the polar seas culminated in the tragic <a href="http://www.rmg.co.uk/explore/sea-and-ships/in-depth/franklins-last-expedition" nodeindex="185" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">Franklin expedition</a> of the 1840s, when all hands were lost, and the heroic age of British Arctic exploration came to an end.</span></p><p nodeindex="119" style="text-align: start; margin-bottom: 1em; -webkit-hyphens: auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">It is time to recognise Tambora as the Napoleon of eruptions. The implications – for historians – of a revised, volcanic nineteenth century are immense. As with the global cholera epidemic, and the growth of a Chinese opium empire, Victorian-era polar exploration might not have happened at all, or would have evolved in an entirely different direction, had it not been for Tambora’s climate-wrecking detonation in 1815.</span></p><p nodeindex="120" style="text-align: start; margin-bottom: 1em; -webkit-hyphens: auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">For two long centuries, the connections between this major volcanic disaster and human history have been obscured by two factors: the limitations of scientific knowledge, and by our narrow, anthropocentric vision that seeks out only human causes for human events, neglecting the influence of environmental change. Now, in the 21st century, as we begin to appreciate more profoundly the interdependence of human and natural systems, the lesson of a 200-year-old climate emergency may finally be learned: a changing climate changes everything. <a href="http://www.realclearscience.com/articles/2014/04/10/volcanic_eruption_that_changed_world_history_108590.html">More</a></span></p><p><em>How would the modern world survive an eruption of this magnitude? Given the relativly low global grain reserves how would we feed affected populations? Editor</em></p><p> </p><div style="text-align: right; font-size: small; clear: both;" id="blogsy_footer"><a href="http://blogsyapp.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://blogsyapp.com/images/blogsy_footer_icon.png" alt="© 2014" style="vertical-align: middle; margin-right: 5px;" width="20" height="20" />© 2014</a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00568422578494853037noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3023901051349971253.post-88912463388324216272014-04-11T11:24:00.001-07:002014-04-11T11:24:11.727-07:00The Ohio State University presents Jeffrey Sachs <div class="separator" style="text-align: center;"><iframe title="YouTube video player" class="youtube-player" type="text/html" width="506" height="308" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/SrqusFnhYBY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div><p style="margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 13.8px;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">On April 4, 2014, Jeffrey Sachs spoke at Ohio State University on "<strong>The Age of Sustainable Development</strong>." Professor Sachs's lecture was both the Keynote Address for the COMPAS Program's Spring Conference and the inaugural Provost's Discovery Themes Lecture. Introductory comments are presented by Michael </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Neblo ofOSU's Political Science Department, Executive Dean and Vice Provost, David Manderscheid, and Executive Vice President and Provost, Joseph Steinmetz. After his lecture, Professor Sachs was joined on stage by Professors Elena Irwin and lan Sheldon, both of Ohio State's Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics Department for a discussion that was moderated by Michael Neblo.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 13.8px;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span><br></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Links: </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">OSU COMPAS Program: <a href="http://compas.osu.edu" x-apple-data-detectors="true" x-apple-data-detectors-type="link" x-apple-data-detectors-result="2">http://compas.osu.edu</a> </span></p><p>
</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0px; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">OSU Discovery Themes Initiative: <a href="http://discovery.osu.edu" x-apple-data-detectors="true" x-apple-data-detectors-type="link" x-apple-data-detectors-result="3">http://discovery.osu.edu</a></span></p><div style="text-align: right; font-size: small; clear: both;" id="blogsy_footer"><a href="http://blogsyapp.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://blogsyapp.com/images/blogsy_footer_icon.png" alt="© 2014" style="vertical-align: middle; margin-right: 5px;" width="20" height="20" />© 2014</a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00568422578494853037noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3023901051349971253.post-18034210740668244462014-04-11T08:55:00.000-07:002014-04-11T08:56:14.916-07:00Water Crisis: 2020 Statement by Mikhail Gorbachev on 20th Anniversary of Green Cross<p nodeindex="146" style="text-align: start; margin-bottom: 1em; -webkit-hyphens: auto;"><strong nodeindex="252" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Water crisis – clear and present danger</strong></p><p nodeindex="147" style="text-align: start; margin-bottom: 1em; -webkit-hyphens: auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><strong>We live in urgent times. The sum of the concurrent crises that have been engulfing everything from climate to energy, to the economy, is creating a spiral of need for change. But the water crisis sticks out of this list in terms of being an explicitly clear and present danger with deadly implications.</strong></span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-wvCyr21WQRQ/U0gQWyULIFI/AAAAAAAATCI/KR-wCY8ftSg/s300/Photo%25252020140411105505.jpg" target="_blank" style="clear: right; float: right; "><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-wvCyr21WQRQ/U0gQWyULIFI/AAAAAAAATCI/KR-wCY8ftSg/s300/Photo%25252020140411105505.jpg" id="blogsy-1397231710766.4724" class="alignright" width="250" height="300" alt=""></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mikhail Gorbachev</td></tr></tbody></table><p nodeindex="148" style="text-align: start; margin-bottom: 1em; -webkit-hyphens: auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The mounting water crisis and its geography make it clear that without resolute counteraction, it will overstretch many societies’ adaptive capacities within the coming decades. This could result in massive migration, severe socio-economic stress, destabilization and violence, jeopardizing national and international security to a new degree.</span></p><p nodeindex="149" style="text-align: start; margin-bottom: 1em; -webkit-hyphens: auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">By 2025, a predicted 1.8 billion people will live in regions suffering from absolute water scarcity. Two-thirds of the world population could be under hydric stress conditions. Demand for water will rise: water withdrawals in developing countries will increase by 50%, and 18% in developed countries by 2025.</span></p><p nodeindex="150" style="text-align: start; margin-bottom: 1em; -webkit-hyphens: auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Despite these demands, what state is the world’s water in? Despite the fact that we use slightly more than half the world’s (54%) accessible water, more than 50% of the 3.5 billion people living in urban circumstances around the world already do not have access to adequate water and sanitation.</span></p><p nodeindex="151" style="text-align: start; margin-bottom: 1em; -webkit-hyphens: auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But the really bad news is that the water use is growing even faster than the population: the 20th century water consumption grew twice as fast as the world population. As a result, a third of the world's population lives in water-stressed countries now. By 2025, this is expected to rise to two-thirds.</span></p><p nodeindex="152" style="text-align: start; margin-bottom: 1em; -webkit-hyphens: auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In addition to unsustainable water use we are polluting our lakes, rivers and streams to death. Most wastewater (about 80%) from residential and industrial sources enters the environment untreated.</span></p><p nodeindex="153" style="text-align: start; margin-bottom: 1em; -webkit-hyphens: auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The growing human need for water, to sustain life and wellbeing, plus the pressures on the resource itself, from mismanagement, pollution and a general lack of foresight, make for the most telling case for improved global water conservation and consumption.</span></p><p nodeindex="154" style="text-align: start; margin-bottom: 1em; -webkit-hyphens: auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But too little is being done on these fronts. We have been waiting since 1997 for just 35 countries to sign the UN Watercourses Convention, to promote the management and sharing of the world’s 276 cross-border rivers and connected underground water sources, and we are still a handful short.</span></p><p nodeindex="155" style="text-align: start; margin-bottom: 1em; -webkit-hyphens: auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The lack of a global framework to manage water sources that cross national borders endangers the world in many ways, not least of all in terms of the risk of conflict between countries over who controls the same river that runs through their respective frontiers.</span></p><p style="text-align: start;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Then there is the Right to Water and Sanitation, which Green Cross was a loud advocate of before it finally came into being in 2010. While this recognition itself, that access to safe drinking water and sanitation are basic human rights, is a success, what must be happening at breakneck speed now is the realization of this right. This means creation of national legislation enshrining the right (alongside education, health and others) and investing in the infrastructure needed to make safe water and sanitation services available to all. </span></p><p style="text-align: start;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Despite UN adoption of this vital principle, the deficit of fresh water is becoming increasingly severe and large-scale – whereas, unlike other resources, there is no substitute for water.</span></p><p nodeindex="157" style="text-align: start; margin-bottom: 1em; -webkit-hyphens: auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">While the Millennium Development Goal for access to drinking water and sanitation was announced met in 2012, almost 800 million people still have no access to safe water today, and three times that number lack adequate sanitation. Thousands of children die daily in the developing world due to related waterborne diseases.</span></p><p nodeindex="158" style="text-align: start; margin-bottom: 1em; -webkit-hyphens: auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The scale and global nature of the water crisis demand stronger statesmanship, vision and international action. To master the water crisis, we must address its effects and causes. The economic, social, water and environmental aspects must be properly coordinated in any response.</span></p><p nodeindex="159" style="text-align: start; margin-bottom: 1em; -webkit-hyphens: auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">A comprehensive “water goal” must be injected into the post-2015 development agenda, linking development and environment in analyses and in governance policies. Such a goal would address the three interdependent dimensions of water: water, sanitation and hygiene; water management; and wastewater management and water quality.</span></p><p style="text-align: start;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">This goal must be based on principles of equity, solidarity, recognition of limits of planet and rights approach, coupled with effective means to check and demand the accountability of all stakeholders.</span></p><p style="text-align: start;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span></p><p style="text-align: start;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">We live in volatile and transformative times, faced with the awe-inspiring global challenge of climate change, the devastation of civil wars, and the hope-crushing scourge of extreme poverty. But one thing is constant: our need for water. Whole regions are languishing in poverty and conflict, effectively held hostage by their hydrology: we must break this cycle and give people a chance for their future. Benjamin Franklin said that "when the well's dry, we know the worth of water." The alarm clock has been ringing on deaf ears for far too long, it is time to wake-up before it is too late, before the wells of the world have run dry. <a href="http://www.gcint.org/green-cross-20th-anniversary-2020-statement-mikhail-gorbachev">More</a></span></p><p> </p><div style="text-align: right; font-size: small; clear: both;" id="blogsy_footer"><a href="http://blogsyapp.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://blogsyapp.com/images/blogsy_footer_icon.png" alt="© 2014" style="vertical-align: middle; margin-right: 5px;" width="20" height="20" />© 2014</a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00568422578494853037noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3023901051349971253.post-54587017920281179292014-04-09T18:38:00.000-07:002014-04-09T18:39:53.348-07:00 'This Is Not Over': Gulf Life Still Reeling From Toxic BP Spill <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQYYP5RnVaKDhde2DCmcjGR3GFiUaFuXo_pFpjXTLnCmBJBa045CPg4OzaBGHOudrB7Xtnua7nspopwyHgkbcNQIvaQyoqDJiMxc3_5JEY3OTIKC6w3OrRsM1pL8xYN3YeCDlMNiV_YJqi/s540/Photo%25252020140409203758.jpg" target="_blank" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title=""><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQYYP5RnVaKDhde2DCmcjGR3GFiUaFuXo_pFpjXTLnCmBJBa045CPg4OzaBGHOudrB7Xtnua7nspopwyHgkbcNQIvaQyoqDJiMxc3_5JEY3OTIKC6w3OrRsM1pL8xYN3YeCDlMNiV_YJqi/s506/Photo%25252020140409203758.jpg" id="blogsy-1397093955532.3276" class="aligncenter" alt="" width="506" height="320"></a></div><h3 class="subtitle" style="margin-top: 9.1px; margin-bottom: 9.1px; padding-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4"><span style="line-height: 23px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Report on four year anniversary of worst oil disaster in US history details fourteen ailing species, and raises the question of </span></font></h3><h3 class="subtitle" style="text-align: center; margin-top: 9.1px; margin-bottom: 9.1px; padding-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4"><span style="line-height: 23px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"What should be the legal liability for polluting the Global Commons'?</span></font></h3><p><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 1.3em;"><br></span></p><p><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 1.3em;">Nearly four years after BP's Deepwater Horizon oil catastrophe, plants, animals, and fish in the Gulf of Mexico are still reeling from the toxic spill,</span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 1.3em;"> </span><a href="http://www.nwf.org/News-and-Magazines/Media-Center/Reports/Archive/2014/04-07-14-Gulf-Report-2014.aspx" nodeindex="209" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">according to a report</a><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 1.3em;"> </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 1.3em;">released Tuesday by the National Wildlife Federation.</span><br></p><p nodeindex="159" style="text-align: start; margin-bottom: 1em; -webkit-hyphens: auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The report, which arrives just ahead of the disaster's anniversary, examined 14 species of wildlife in the Gulf and found ongoing impacts of the disaster that could last for decades.</span></p><p nodeindex="160" style="text-align: start; margin-bottom: 1em; -webkit-hyphens: auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Four years later, wildlife in the Gulf are still feeling the impacts of the spill," <a href="http://www.nwf.org/News-and-Magazines/Media-Center/News-by-Topic/Wildlife/2014/04-08-14-Report-Four-Years-after-BP-Oil-Spill-Wildlife-Still-Struggling.aspx" nodeindex="210" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">said Doug Inkley</a>, senior scientist for the National Wildlife Federation. "Bottlenose dolphins in oiled areas are still sick and dying and the evidence is stronger than ever that these deaths are connected to the Deepwater Horizon. The science is telling us that this is not over."</span></p><p nodeindex="161" style="text-align: start; margin-bottom: 1em; -webkit-hyphens: auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">According to the findings, in 2013 dolphins were dying at three times normal rates, with many suffering from "unusual lung damage" and immune system problems.</span></p><p nodeindex="162" style="text-align: start; margin-bottom: 1em; -webkit-hyphens: auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In addition to the ongoing plight of dolphins in Gulf waters, the researchers found that every year for the past three years roughly five hundred dead sea turtles are found near the spill, "a dramatic increase over normal rates." These sea turtles only recently recovered from near extinction—a recovery that has now been drastically threatened by the spill.</span></p><p nodeindex="163" style="text-align: start; margin-bottom: 1em; -webkit-hyphens: auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"The Kemp’s ridley sea turtle has long been the poster child for the possibilities of restoration in the Gulf," said Pamela Plotkin, associate research professor of oceanography at Texas A&M University and director of Texas Sea Grant. "Once close to extinction, it has rebounded dramatically over the past thirty years. But four years ago, the numbers of Kemp’s ridley appear to have flat-lined. We need to monitor this species carefully, as the next few years will be critical."</span></p><p nodeindex="164" style="text-align: start; margin-bottom: 1em; -webkit-hyphens: auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">According to the report, sperm whales in the area are showing higher levels of "DNA-damaging metals" than others in other parts of the world—"metals that were present in oil from BP’s well."</span></p><p nodeindex="165" style="text-align: start; margin-bottom: 1em; -webkit-hyphens: auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In addition, deep sea coral colonies, which "provide a foundation for a diverse assortment of marine life," within seven miles from the site of the spill, were still "heavily impacted."</span></p><p nodeindex="166" style="text-align: start; margin-bottom: 1em; -webkit-hyphens: auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Other findings, as stated by the group, include:</span></p><ul nodeindex="168" style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 2em; padding-left: 0px;"><li nodeindex="167" style="margin-bottom: 0.4em; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Oyster reproduction remained low over large areas of the northern Gulf at least through the fall of 2012.</span></li><li nodeindex="169" style="margin-bottom: 0.4em; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">A chemical in oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill has been shown to cause irregular heartbeats in bluefin and yellowfin tuna that can lead to heart attacks, or even death.</span></li><li nodeindex="170" style="margin-bottom: 0.4em; padding-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Loons that winter on the Louisiana coast have increasing concentrations of toxic oil compounds in their blood.</span></li></ul><p nodeindex="171" style="text-align: start; margin-bottom: 1em; -webkit-hyphens: auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Despite what BP would have you believe, the impacts of the disaster are ongoing," said Sara Gonzalez-Rothi, the National Wildlife Federation’s senior policy specialist for Gulf and coastal restoration. "Last year, nearly five million pounds of oiled material from the disaster were removed from Louisiana’s coast. And that’s just what we’ve seen. An unknown amount of oil remains deep in the Gulf."</span></p><p nodeindex="172" style="text-align: start; margin-bottom: 1em; -webkit-hyphens: auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The Gulf oil disaster—which is the worst in U.S. history—"will likely unfold for years or even decades," NWF writes. "It is essential that careful monitoring of the Gulf ecosystem continue and that mitigation of damages and restoration of degraded and weakened ecosystems begin as soon as possible."</span></p><p nodeindex="173" style="text-align: start; margin-bottom: 1em; -webkit-hyphens: auto;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Despite the ongoing travesty the Environmental Protection Agency <a href="http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2014/03/15" nodeindex="211" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">announced last month</a> that it removed its ban on BP contracts in the U.S. and new drilling leases, including in the Gulf of Mexico.</span></p><p nodeindex="174" style="text-align: start; margin-bottom: 1em; -webkit-hyphens: auto;"><font color="#000000"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><a href="http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2014/03/21-3" nodeindex="212" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">Shortly after</a>, the oil giant won bids to start new drilling operations in two dozen separate locations, a total pricetag of $54 million.</span></font></p><p style="text-align: start;"><span style="text-align: justify; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">______________________</span> </p><p style="text-align: start;"><em>Given that the oceans are one continous body of water that encircle the globe, and furthermore that ocean currents will eventually spread the pollutants mentioned above around the world, affecting all inhabitants of the planet, I would argue that all States / countries would be justified in suing BP. Until we can implement Ecocide as the Fifth Crime Against Peace under the Treaty of Rome this may be the only way to stop the destruction of the ecosystem that all living things on Earth are dependant of for their survival. Editor</em></p><p> </p><div style="text-align: right; font-size: small; clear: both;" id="blogsy_footer"><a href="http://blogsyapp.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://blogsyapp.com/images/blogsy_footer_icon.png" alt="© 2014" style="vertical-align: middle; margin-right: 5px;" width="20" height="20" />© 2014</a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00568422578494853037noreply@blogger.com