Sunday, August 16, 2009

Phosphorus, Nitrogen Levels Spike in Lake Winnipeg After Massive Spring Flood

By: Chinta Puxley, THE CANADIAN PRESS - 16/08/2009

WINNIPEG - The massive spring flood in Manitoba that transformed the Red River into a lake and caused at least $40 million in property damage has also taken a toll .....


Satellite image courtesy of Greg McCullough

Canada Loses out as U.S. Ups "Green" Ante

By Nicole Mordant - VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters)
The Obama administration's titanic $60 billion spending plan for the U.S. clean energy sector is luring investors away from "green" businesses in Canada...
Courtesy of photosearch.com

Friday, August 14, 2009

The CAFO Syndrome

An interview with Mia MacDonald on China’s
growing appetite for Western-style meat Posted
on 17 Feb 2009 - by Anna Lappe - Grist
====
Across the planet, old ways of farming are giving way to the environmentally devastating factory farms we’ve pioneered in the West...

Photo by Kichiro Sato

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Climate Change Seen as Threat to U.S. Security

By JOHN M. BRODER - The New York Times - August 8, 2009

WASHINGTON — The changing global climate will pose profound strategic challenges to the United States in coming decades, raising the prospect of military intervention...

Attack Against Offices of Vía Campesina

Editor's note - It's worth noting that Canada has actually been making excuses for this stinking coup! Please express your solidarity with "Via Camp!" l.p.
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Action Alert from the Vía Campesina in Tegucigalpa, Honduras - August 12th 2009
Last night at 11:23 pm, during curfew which began at 10pm, unknown individuals driving a cream colour Toyota, fired bullets at the office of Vía Campesina in Tegucigalpa, Honduras which is coordinated by Rafael Alegría.
Above, the kind of people ViaCamp
represents - women working in the field
with a child! Obviously a subversive
organization deserving of being shot at!

The act was a clear attack against our social organizations and leaders who are part of the National Front Against the coup.
In addition to the recent attack on Vía Campesina, a bomb capable
of killing 15 people went off in the building of the Beverage Workers Union (STIBYS, by its Spanish initials) on July 26th 2009. Both organizations are part of the National Front Against the Coup. We condemn this incident given that the activities of Vía Campesina and the National Front Against the Coup are completely peaceful. It is important to mention that during curfew only police are permitted to be in the street. Vía Campesina of Honduras calls for support from national and international human rights organizations to remain attentive and to continue following attacks taking place not only against these organizations and their leadership, but also against the human rights of the entire Honduran people and all those who have been protesting in the streets against the coup for the last 46 days.

Rafael Alegría comments,
“People's rights are being violated and it's a truly unfortunate situation at the moment. People have been wounded, jailed and killed.” According to a preliminary report from lawyers assisting the National Front Against the Coup today, hundreds of people were wounded and more than forty people detained following violence occurring after a peaceful mass mobilization in the capital city on Tuesday. The group of lawyers is seeking the liberation of those arrested through Habeas Corpus. The leadership of the Front insists that the disturbances were carried out by people who were not part of the protest, but rather infiltrators interested in provoking confrontations and disparaging the peaceful protests that the Front has been mobilizing. The people detained are accused of rebellion, terrorism and treason among other crimes. Alegría emphasizes that “The National Front Against the Coup is not responsible for these incidents. On principle the front supports peaceful marches, peaceful demands and peaceful mobilization. At no point do we use or call for violent acts. It appears that these incidents are the responsibility of groups interested in ruining the social mobilization and they have taken it upon themselves to provoke this situation for which we categorically deny any responsibility.” Given what has taken place in the last 24 hours, Vía Campesina of Honduras calls out to the entire Vía Campesina network, social movements, as well as national and international human rights organizations to send messages or delegations in solidarity with the resistance against the coup and for the defence of human rights in Honduras, and to assist in bringing about an end to so much injustice and violence against the Honduran people. Please send complaints and messages of solidarity to the following addresses:

State Secretary of Public Security
Coronel Jorge Rodas Gamero
Fax: (504) 237-9070/ 220-55-47
E-mail: sseg.06@hotmail.com

Special Prosecutor for Human Rights in the Attorney General's Office
Lcda. Sandra Ponce
Fiscal Especial de Derechos Humanos
Tegucigalpa, Honduras
Fax: (504) 221-3656
E-mail: ponce10s@yahoo.com.ar

Committee for the Defense of Human Rights (CODEH)
President Andrés Pavón
E-mail: andres@codeh.hn, codeh@codeh.hn

The Committee of Relatives of People Detained-Disappeared in Honduras
(COFADEH)
Coordinadora Bertha Oliva
E-mail: mail@cofadeh.org

Vía Campesina of Honduras
E-mail: laviacampesina@cablecolor.hn

Comunicaciones Via Campesina en Honduras
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International Operational Secretariat
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
La Via Campesina - International Secretariat:
Jln. Mampang Prapatan XIV No. 5 Jakarta Selatan, Jakarta 12790 Indonesia
Phone : +62-21-7991890, Fax : +62-21-7993426
E-mail: viacampesina@viacampesina.org, Website: http://www.viacampesina.org

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

The Meat of the Problem

By Ezra Klein - Washington Post - Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Photo by l.p.
It's not simply that meat is a contributor to global warming; it's that it is a huge contributor. Larger, by a significant margin, than the global transportation sector.

Why Corporations, Emerging Powers and Petro-States Are Snapping Up Huge Chunks of Farmland in the Developing World

By Scott Thill, AlterNet. Posted August 11, 2009.

In the past six months, big players in the global economy have grabbed 50 million acres of arable land, from Africa to Southeast Asia.
Click headline for more.

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