Home/Posts Tagged ‘Bolivia’
Posts Tagged ‘Bolivia’
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, Politics, Jun 20th, 2011,
I recently read Paolo Bacigalupi’s award winning “biopunk” science fiction novel The Windup Girl, set in a future Thailand where nationalist politics intertwine with genetic engineering and energy scarcity. In Bangkok’s bleak dystopian landscape, corporations control food supplies via copyrighted “gene hacked” produce, always threatened or bolstered by engineered plagues which threaten plants, animals and humans. Climate change is also ravaging the planet, fuel is scarce and methane strictly rationed. Bacigalupi’s vision lies firmly within the genre of speculative fiction, but the relationship between issues such as food security due to market speculation and genetic engineering, climate change, peak oil…
Tags: Bolivia, food security, Morales, Paolo Bacigalupi, seeds, Windup Girl
Climate Change, Green living, Politics, Science & Technology, Dec 23rd, 2010,
Just recently, during the latest climate talks in Cancun, Bolivia took a stand and accused the developed nations of genocide for the country’s 300.000 yearly deaths as a result of droughts, floods, desertification, storms and rising sea levels caused by greenhouse gas emissions since the Industrial Revolution. Bolivia is paying a high toll for worldwide climate change. Fresh water supplies are shrinking as glaciers are melting while flooding and storms leave thousands of people homeless and with no access to basic subsistence needs. In Cancun, President Evo Morales accused other nations of a lack of ambition in the light of…
Tags: Bolivia, Climate change, electric cars, Evo Morales, lithium, lithium-ion batteries, oil dependence
Climate Change, Conservation, Nature, Weird Stuff, Wildlife & Flora, Sep 17th, 2010,
Today’s Creature Feature can be found high in the Andes Mountains of Bolivia and Peru. It is the largest of the Puya species and also the largest Bromeliad. The Queen of the Andes plant can grow up to 32.8 feet (10 m) tall and has more than three thousand flowers and between 6 and 12 million seeds on a single plant! It is a Critically Endangered species, with populations on the decline and they are a very isolated and scattered species. Outside of its native habitat, you won’t find many of these plants, except maybe a few dozen in botanical…
Tags: Andes Mountains, Bolivia, Creature Feature, critically endangered species, flower, largest Bromeliad, Peru, Queen of the Andes
Climate Change, Nature, Videos & Documentaries, Wildlife & Flora, Aug 27th, 2010,
Two freshwater dolphins were recently rescued from a Bolivian river after being trapped there for months due to low water levels. The smallish dolphins weigh between 30 and 40 kilos (66-88 pounds) each and were among a group of nine river dolphins which have been stranded in a Rio Grande tributary for over a month. The rescue operation is ongoing. From an Associated Press report: The two dolphins were caught in nets and brought to shore. They were put in padded, water-filled aluminum containers and driven on all-terrain vehicles about two miles downstream, where they were put in a pen…
Tags: Bolivia, Climate change, cute, dolphins, drought, freshwater, rescue, river, video
Climate Change, Nature, Aug 23rd, 2010,
Moscow and other parts of Russia recently experienced welcome relief in the form of cool rains after a summer dominated by deadly record temperatures and wildfires. Turkey and Greece, however, are in the midst of their own heat wave, which is resulting in forest fires causing evacuations in both countries. Strong winds are now buffeting Turkey and Greece after a two week heatwave during which temperatures topped 39 Celsius. –Euronews For more on the story, including a short video report go to the following article from Euronews: Forest fires hit Turkey and Greece after heatwave Meanwhile, on the other side…
Tags: Bolivia, fires, forest, Greece, heat, turkey, wave, wildfires, winds
Videos & Documentaries, Aug 9th, 2010,
Lithium-ion batteries are being touted by US President Barack Obama as the most efficient way to electrify motor vehicles. A mass shift from fossil fuel and conventional combustion engines towards battery-powered electric cars may also receive a boost due to the unfortunate recent events in the Gulf of Mexico. From an article on stockhouse.com: In 2009, alone, the U.S. federal government granted over US$25 billion in loans to automobile and battery makers. Such initiatives promise to help President Obama accomplish his well-publicized mandate to usher-in one million electric vehicles in the U.S. by 2015. A move away from fossil fuels…
Tags: batteries, Bolivia, cars, Chile, electric, lithium, Obama, President, US, vehicles
Climate Change, Politics, Apr 26th, 2010,
In terms of development and environment, global capitalism can be compared to a dinner where a rich few eat all the food and leave the bill with their poor, unwilling hosts after tossing a stingy tip and some dinner notes onto the table. The colonized, indigenous and poorest peoples of the world are the ones who suffer most from climate change, do the least to cause it and hold the least power to stop it. The UNFCCC in Copenhagen last December may have called attention to the lower tier of the developing world, but it did not give them much…
Tags: alternative, Bolivia, climate, Climate change, conference, copenhagen, Earth, environment, environmental, Evo, Guardian, indigenous, Morales, poor, President, talks, WPCCC
Climate Change, Politics, Apr 22nd, 2010,
Bolivia has been hosting an international summit, named the World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth, in the city of Cochabamba. The talks began on the 19th and finish today. From a report by the Environmental News Service: More than 20,000 indigenous, environmental and civil society delegates from 129 countries were in attendance as President Morales welcomed them to the conference at a soccer stadium in the village of Tiquipaya on the outskirts of the city of Cochabamba. The tone in Bolivia is decidedly political, with an emphasis on nature, poor and indigenous peoples and…
Tags: Bolivia, Bolivian, capitalism, climate, Climate change, Cochabamba, conference, environmental, Guardian, indigenous, justice, mine, Morales, people, President, rights, talks, water
Climate Change, Politics, Apr 16th, 2010,
The World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth begins on Monday, April 19th in Cochabamba, Bolivia. The summit, which is not under the auspices of the UN, is seen as the alternative to Copenhagen, with more of a focus on poor peoples, social justice and environmental activism. In addition to scientists, representatives of indigenous peoples, NGOs and government officials, the conference will welcome prominent authors, academic luminaries and Hollywood celebrities. The final group an obvious and understandable strategy to garner valuable publicity for issues that were buried during Copenhagen. Big names expected at the Bolivia…
Tags: alternative, Bolivia, climate, Climate change, conference, copenhagen, Earth, environmental, Evo, Hollywood, Morales, mother, poor, President, summit
Climate Change, Politics, Apr 12th, 2010,
The first UN climate talks since Copenhagen ended in Bonn, Germany, much as expected – with little concrete progress. The cleavage between industrialized and developing countries that characterized the Copenhagen conference is likely to continue through the next major climate talks in Cancun, Mexico at the end of the year. This rich poor divide provided the fireworks for the meetings in Bonn, which ultimately ended in an agreement to intensify negotiations before Mexico. From an article in the Guardian: In what was interpreted as a major rebuff to the US, Russia and Japan, the G77 (plus China) group of 130…
Tags: accord, ALBA, binding, Bolivia, Bonn, Cancun, China, climate, copenhagen, countries, deal, developing, japan, kyoto, Mexico, nations, talks, UN, US
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
Climate Change, Politics, Jan 14th, 2010,
The major developing nations of China, India, Brazil and South Africa will meet on January 24th in New Delhi to hash out a common position on emission reductions and climate aid. It is believed that once such an agreement is reached the block of powerful developing countries will then attempt to convince other nations to sign on to the Copenhagen accord, according to an article published in the Guardian. ‘Countries have until January 31 to sign up to the accord and provide the UN with information on the specific commitments and actions they plan to take to reduce emissions. But…
Tags: Bolivia, Brazil, China, Climate change, copenhagen, countries, developing, Evo Morales, Guardian, India, nations, New Delhi, South Africa
Climate Change, Science & Technology, Nov 28th, 2009,
CNN’s Going Green reports that the inequalities of gender in many developing societies are intensified by the increased hardships brought on by the changing climate. It is the developing world that contributes less to global emissions, benefits less from them and suffers more because of them. Within these poorer nations, it is women more than men – especially older women – who bear the brunt of climate change. Young people – chiefly young men – are far more likely to leave their home villages. They often go to the cities for jobs while their mothers and grandmothers stay behind and…
Tags: Bolivia, Climate change, CNN, gender, UNFPA
