Home/Posts Tagged ‘amazon’
Posts Tagged ‘amazon’
Climate Change, Videos & Documentaries, Aug 29th, 2012,
Remember climate change? Yeah, it didn’t go away. In fact it’s worse than ever. However, the media (and therefore the public) have largely lost interest. No more Amazon? More extreme floods and droughts? Bo-ring! The Right in the US and Europe have succeeded in sewing enough doubt as to the reality of climate change that many people are just “confused” or “skeptical” so no large countries are really doing anything significant. The more sane elements in the governments of these nations still try to make money out of any “solution” to climate change. The free market will solve everything, apparently….
Tags: amazon, arctic, Climate change, global warming
Climate Change, Conservation, Politics, May 13th, 2012,
Join Brazilian environmental and human rights organizations, along with the WWF and Greenpeace to stop Brazil’s new ‘forest code’. Sign this petition to urge Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff to veto the proposed law that would open up new areas to deforestation and provide amnesty to landowners who have previously cleared forestland illegally. This new law could result in the destruction of an area of Amazon rainforest equivalent to the size of France and the UK put together. Patrick Cunningham of the Indigenous People’s Cultural Support Trust is quoted in the Guardian: The changes will overturn a law which even Brazil’s…
Tags: amazon, Brazil, Dilma Rousseff, Forest code, petition, veto
Pollution, Videos & Documentaries, ,
Gold rushes in developing countries mean riches for a few and crumbs, death and ecocide for the poor and the environment. But never mind all that, there’s money to be made. Gold in Peru is booming. According to Australia’s 9MSN, Gold is now Peru’s number one export, with countries like Switzerland, Canada and the US as major buyers. The article also briefly mentions the conflicts and environmental damage caused by Peru’s goldmines without going into any detail. Here are some details: Gold mining is destroying the Peruvian Amazon rainforest through deforestation, digging, and mercury, oil and hydrocarbon contamination, which is…
Tags: amazon, gold, gold rush, mercury, mining, Peru
Climate Change, Conservation, Politics, Apr 19th, 2012,
Brazil’s controversial Belo Monte Dam project is set to be the 3rd largest dam in the world and is expected to displace roughly 20,000 people and submerge some 4,000 sq km (1,550 sq mi). Located in the Amazon rainforest in the state of Pará, the dam is being built on the Xingu River, which many people depend on for their livelihoods. But it’s not just locals, indigenous groups or environmentalists who should be concerned. The Amazon is the “lungs of the Earth”, meaning that we all benefit from and/or depend on the oxygen the dense rainforest provides, not to mention…
Tags: amazon, Belo Monte, Brazil, dam
Videos & Documentaries, Weird Stuff, Jan 13th, 2012,
Creating awareness among the people of nation has become the most necessary task these days. The awareness can be about diseases, environment, human beings etc. But the environment is what the focus is kept on and people have tried their best possible ways in creating the awareness among public regarding the environmental issues. The movies are one of the best sources of creating awareness among people and have come out to be a really good source of delivering strong environmental message. The movies thus are nowadays focused mainly on environmental issues and there were few classic movies which perfectly delivered…
Tags: amazon, arctic tale, environmental films, march of the penguins, the lorax, under the sea 3D
Climate Change, Conservation, Politics, Jan 2nd, 2012,
A combination of individuals and corporations, along with local, regional and national governments, has raised enough cash to temporarily halt the drilling of oil from the Yasuní National Park in Ecuador. The collection of money is being facilitated by the UN Development Group in a ‘crowdfunding’ project called the Ecuador Yasuní ITT Trust Fund. So far $116m (€89.5m) has been raised to help preserve this 722 square mile area of Amazonian rainforest. From the Guardian: The park, which is home to two tribes of uncontacted Indians, is thought to have more mammal, bird, amphibian and plant species than any other…
Tags: amazon, Ecuador, rainforest, Yasuni
Conservation, Politics, Sep 29th, 2011,
Today on Facebook, I’ve noticed a lot of posts with the picture of Chief Raoni, an indigenous Brazilian tribal leader, apparently crying after being informed of a decision by Brazil’s president Dilma Rousseff to allow the construction of a massive hydroelectric dam in the Amazon rain forest. The Belo Monte hydroelectric dam would be the 3rd largest hydroelectric project of its kind in the world. Though touted – and not without reason – as a ‘green’ energy project (and big money maker), the environmental and human costs of the dam’s production would be significant. To construct the plant on the…
Tags: amazon, Belo Monte, Brazil, dam, hydroelectric, indigenous, Raoni, river, Xingu
Conservation, Politics, Sep 27th, 2011,
Plans for a proposed highway that would cut through Bolivia’s Amazon rain forest, linking Brazil to ports in Chile and Peru, have been put on hold following protests by activists and allegations of excessive police force. Indigenous and environmentalist activists are staunchly opposed to the highway’s construction, which is being financed by Brazil and would run through preserved Amazon forest. The rainforest is home to some 15 thousand indigenous Bolivians. About 1,000 protesters were staging a 500km march on the main city La Paz when they were stopped by riot police on Sunday in the Yucumo region. –BBC News The…
Tags: amazon, Bolivia, Brazil, highway, La Paz, Morales, protest, rain forest
Climate Change, Conservation, Politics, Jul 18th, 2011,
Around 35% of Ecuador’s residents live below the poverty line. The economy of this South American nation depends overwhelmingly on its natural resources and agriculture. Half of the area of Ecuador is covered by the Amazon rainforest. The Ecuadoran Amazon is one of the richest, most bio-diverse place on the planet and the “lungs of the Earth”, supplying crucial oxygen and taking in vast amounts of CO2. However, beneath this extremely important carbon sink and treasure of natural life that the entire world benefits from is a huge amount of oil – $7bn worth. From a piece by Johann Hari:…
Tags: amazon, Ecuador, oil, rainforest
Climate Change, Nature, Politics, Videos & Documentaries, Jun 23rd, 2011,
Here’s a trio of environmentally-themed videos to get you through the rough midsummer days and nights, take your mind off government austerity measures and remind you of the wondrous complexity of our natural planet. We’ll start off light-hearted and work our way towards more serious issues. First up we’ve got an Antarctic penguin that got lost and swam around 2,000 miles / 3,000 km off course to end up on a beach in New Zealand. (If video won’t play go here) Next we head to Brazil, where evidence of another isolated Amazonian tribe has been found near the borders…
Tags: Al Gore, amazon, climate policy, Obama, penguin, tribe, video
Conservation, Politics, May 19th, 2011,
Half of the Earth’s forests have already been cleared or degraded. A lot of this former forestland is used for growing food, but much is unused or underused. All the while more deforestation is taking place in order to feed a growing global population and to increase economic development. A new study argues that these degraded forests could be either reforested or put to productive use, instead of cutting down more virgin forest. In Brazil, reports show that deforestation rose immensely in recent months, in sharp contrast to government studies released last December claiming that Amazon deforestation had fallen to…
Tags: amazon, Brazil, deforestation, development, food prices, Indonesia, population, soy
Pollution, Feb 15th, 2011,
An Ecuadoran court has found oil giant Chevron guilty of contaminating the South American country’s Amazon basin. A judge in an Ecuadoran court levied a fine of $8bn (€6bn) against Chevron for deaths, illnesses and monetary losses sustained by the local inhabitants of the rainforest from spills of toxic waste and crude oil. The spills are estimated by a Swedish University study to total 30bn gallons (113bn liters). This amount dwarfs the 205m gallons spilt by BP in the Gulf of Mexico. Though the suit is being touted as a hard fought victory for the indigenous people of Ecuador, the…
Tags: amazon, Chevron, court, Ecuador, Ecuadoran, oil, Pollution, rainforest, spill, TOXIC
Nature, Politics, Jan 31st, 2011,
Peruvian loggers who are illegally stripping the Amazon of timber are a threat to an isolated tribe living in a Brazilian part of the rainforest near the border with Peru. Brazil’s government is pressuring Peru to prevent the loggers, but so far nothing significant has been done to stop their advancement into the uncontacted indigenous tribe’s territory. Brazilian Indian leader Davi Kopenawa Yanomami: The place where the Indians live, fish, hunt and plant must be protected. That is why it is useful to show pictures of the uncontacted Indians for the whole world to know that they are there in…
Tags: amazon, Brazil, illegal logging, indigenous, isolated tribe, loggers, Peru, rainforest, survival international, uncontacted tribe
Climate Change, Green living, Science & Technology, Sep 14th, 2010,
Biochar is charcoal produced from burning biomass – basically, any plant or animal waste – in very low oxygen conditions. Pre Colombian Amazonian cultures did this by smoldering agricultural waste in soil pits and then using the resultant biochar for fuel and fertilizer. When biochar is produced it captures carbon rather than releasing it into the atmosphere. It therefore has great potential as a way of revolutionizing the way we dispose of waste. Researchers at Cornell University have estimated that if biochar technology were applied to waste management all around the world it could reduce global carbon emissions by 1.8…
Tags: amazon, biochar, charcoal, Climate change, mitigation, SOIL, waste
Climate Change, Conservation, Jul 23rd, 2010,
Much of the feed for British livestock comes from soybeans imported from South America – mainly Brazil and Argentina. According to an article in the Telegraph, 350,000 hectares of rainforest is being cut down to grow soy for UK animal feed. Environmental group Friends of the Earth (FoE) has published a report entitled ‘Pastures New’ detailing how the British meat and dairy industry indirectly causes rainforest destruction in South America. The report incorporates new research by the Royal Agricultural College stating that only 8% of the UK’s agricultural land is used to grow animal feed. FOE urged the government to…
Tags: amazon, animal, beans, Brazil, British, dairy, deforestation, Earth, farmers, feed, FoE, Friends, meat, rainforest, South America, soy, UK
Climate Change, Conservation, Politics, Jul 6th, 2010,
A proposed reevaluation of forestry codes in Brazilian law could have catastrophic consequences for the Amazon rainforest. The issue of keeping Brazil’s strict forestry laws intact or legally opening up more forest for economic development pits environmentalists against Ruralistas, who claim that current laws are stifling economic growth and keeping peasants in poverty. So why is this important? Brazil is a powerhouse for agricultural and commodity exports. However, it is also home to some of the world’s richest areas of biodiversity. Brazil’s future depends on the balancing of these two interests. Environmental legislation is therefore as important to Brazilian development…
Tags: amazon, Brazil, Brazilian, deforestation, Europe, forest, forestry, law, laws, rainforest, rules
Climate Change, Pollution, Jun 26th, 2010,
It was only a matter of time before oil started raining down from the sky. It’s just ironic that it’s happening after we’ve past peak oil. It’s as if God is saying, ‘you want it that bad? Here, have some!’ I’m just waiting for someone to call it a renewable natural resource – after all, it’s plant-based and falling from the sky. Geo-engineering has unintentionally made this possible. In all seriousness, the whole ‘it’s raining oil in Louisiana’ scare comes from a shaky YouTube video in which it appears to be raining oil on a Louisiana street, but it could…
Tags: amazon, BP, Corexit 9500, dispersant, Ecuador, EPA, evaporate, Hari, Johann, Louisiana, oil, rain, raining, TOXIC
Climate Change, Nature, Wildlife & Flora, Jun 23rd, 2010,
In January of 2007, in an article entitled ‘UN climate panel shamed by bogus rainforest claim’, the London Sunday Times blasted an IPCC report that referenced a WWF report on Amazon rainforests. The Times article characterized the referenced report – which claims that up to 40% of the Amazon is at risk due to climate change – as inaccurate, unsubstantiated and the work of activists rather than scientists. From the Green blog in the New York Times: The London newspaper The Sunday Times described the authors of the W.W.F. report as “green campaigners” with “little scientific expertise” in an article…
Tags: amazon, apology, article, bogus, Climate change, IPCC, Lewis, rainforest, report, science, scientific, Sunday Times, WWF
Nature, Politics, Wildlife & Flora, Apr 19th, 2010,
Plans for the construction of a massive hydroelectric dam in the Brazilian Amazon have experienced some recent setbacks in the form of back and forth legal action as well as controversy over indigenous rights and environmental issues. As of Friday, however, bids for construction contracts are again set to move forward on the previously planned date of April 20th. The Belo Monte dam project, set to be located on the Amazon’s Xingu River, will be the world’s third largest hydroelectric plant of its kind. It is part of a Brazilian government initiative to fuel economic expansion and recovery while mitigating…
Tags: amazon, Avatar, Belo Monte, Brazil, Brazilian, Cameron, dam, energy, government, hydroelectric, indigenous, James, native, project, river, Xingu
Climate Change, Mar 6th, 2010,
According to an NTDTV report, recent floods have stranded some 40,000 families in the Amazon region of Bolivia. The Bolivian Amazon is home to many indigenous tribes and poor farmers. The floods have damaged or in some cases wiped out crop yields and killed tens of thousands of cattle. After months with no aid, the UN’s World Food Program and the Bolivian Army are finally getting through with much needed help. The rainy season has been particularly intense and resulted in flooding in this area of Bolivia almost every year since 2005. Many environmentalists blame deforestation for the devastation. –NTDTV…
Tags: amazon, Bolivia, floods, NTDTV
