Brazil politicians sell out Amazon

BRAZIL
Politicians Out of Sync with Public Sentiment on the Environment
By Mario Osava*

Trans-Amazonian Highway outside Altamira in the northern Brazilian state of Pará.

Credit:Mario Osava/IPS with thanks

BRASILIA, Jun 29, 2011 (Tierramérica) – The environmental movement continues to gain credibility and support as scientific findings confirm its warnings and natural disasters become increasingly frequent. Yet this growing awareness has yet to reach political decision makers in countries like Brazil, much to the frustration of environmentalists.

A prime example is the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of Congress, where an overwhelming majority voted in favor of changes to the 1965 Forest Code that threaten to further accelerate deforestation.

The final tally was 410 votes in favor, a mere 63 against and one abstention, after months of heated debate over reforms that could lead to the devastation of the Amazon rainforest, environmental disasters, and future losses even for the farmers who will benefit from the reforms in the short term.

The results oa survey, published Jun. 10, showed that of the 1,286 people interviewed, 85 percent said that protecting forests and rivers is a priority, even if it affects agricultural production, while only 10 percent supported the opposite view, despite the fact that Brazil is a major agricultural power

READ MUCH MORE HERE http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=56289

a well written article but it fails to mention that top Brazilian politicians are being moved sideways after they suddenly ‘came into’ vast wealth. Plus that most land in the country is still owned by a tiny corrupt extreme right oligarchy, well capable of BUYING A PARLIAMENT!

Permaculture in Zimbabwe

Harvesting Water for Food Security By Busani Bafana

Caroline Ndlovu is one of over 100 smallholder farmers practising the water harvesting technique of using earth dams.GWANDA, Zimbabwe, Jun 28, 2011 (IPS) –

Earth mounds running across her field hold back the water that Caroline Ndlovu uses to grow maize, pumpkins, beans and watermelons long after the short rainy season in this arid part of Zimbabwe. Ndlovu, a mother of three who trains other farmers, is one of over 100 smallholder farmers practising the water harvesting technique of using earth dams. The water collected in the field allows farmers to increase their crop yields, which ordinarily are poor in this region.

The secret to water harvesting is hard work and a passion for farming, Ndlovu revealed. “I work hard and put to practise the skills I have learnt on pegging and digging the contours in the most suitable location to ensure that they hold the water after the rains,” said Ndlovu.

Farmers have faced the challenge of not having the tools to dig the contours as well as not having the labour involved in making the contours. So communities in Sizhulube village work together to dig the contours. While older or disabled members look after the children and help prepare food.

READ ON here

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Adventure/Thriller.. Maxie rebels and runs away, with anarcha feminists, squatters and gays.. Capitalism goes bottoms up. The climate is revolting.. our heroes live the social and permaculture revolution, and the dawn of a money-free world….The E Book will come out on Mayday…. as a FREE download

Greg’s CO2-free ammonia cars..30 years waiting

Here´s Greg Vezina of Hydrofuel Inc. with his Ammonia Car… still waiting after 30 years!

Despite being CO2-free (even carbon negative according to Greg) and cheaper than petrol and finally gaining mass publicity the conversion kits still haven’t been mass produced. Car and oil corporations are still completely ignoring Ammonia fuel (Green Gas NH3).

Adapting transport to NH3, which is readily available would save hundreds of thousands of unnecessary deaths a year through lung and cardiovascular diseases. The deliberate suppression of the simple (but not yet DIY) technology is a crime against humanity.

http://youtu.be/B6HzP84KhoY

CO2-free Car and Jet Fuel ALREADY EXISTS!

MORE PHOTOS AND INFO https://thefreeonline.wordpress.com/2011/06/22/green-gas-still-ignored-in-rush-for-profits/

BIG OIL BARS CO2-free GREEN GAS SCANDAL https://thefreeonline.wordpress.com/2011/06/24/co2-free-fuel-barred-by-big-oil-green-gas-nh3/

See all NH3 posts HERE https://thefreeonline.wordpress.com/category/ammonia-nh3-co2-free-fuel/

Record Climate change fires close ‘MAD’ H Bomb Base

Doug Tucker, Los Alamos fire chief: “We’re doing our best to keep it off the lab”

One of the top nuclear weapons research facilities in the US will remain closed until Thursday as fire fighters battle a wildfire raging at its boundary.Only “essential-duties” staff at Los Alamos National Laboratory will be permitted on site on Wednesday.Officials at the New Mexico facility have said they detected “no off-site releases of contamination”.The town outside the laboratory in the state of New Mexico was evacuated on Monday as the fire raged nearby.Officials said the nuclear facilities faced “no immediate threat” but warned of damage to houses.The lab, opened during World War II, led the development of the atomic bomb.

By late Monday, the Las Conchas fire had grown to 68 sq miles (176 sq km), burning through forests, canyons, and mesas, fuelled by dry timber and powered by strong winds.Authorities warned it could triple in size in the coming days, the Albuquerque Journal reported.The fire had reached the lab’s southwestern boundary and leapt a state road onto the land, burning roughly an acre, state fire officials said.

“No facilities face immediate threat, and all nuclear and hazardous materials are accounted for and protected,” officials said in a statement.

Residents of Los Alamos, New Mexico, evacuate on Monday

Officials described the evacuation of the town of Los Alamos as orderly and calm

The lab employs about 11,800 people, and about 12,000 people live in the town of Los Alamos.

“That’s the biggest threat we have right now to homes in the community,” Deputy Los Alamos County Fire Chief Mike Thompson told the Associated Press.

The southwestern US has been stricken by giant wildfires this year, with millions of acres scorched in New Mexico, Arizona and Texas.

To the west of New Mexico, the largest wildfire in the history of the state of Arizona has been burning for nearly a month.

Indignados evitan desahucio en Madrid

Un grupo de casi medio centenar de ‘indignados’ consiguieron este martes aplazar por dos días la orden de desahucio de una inquilina que adeuda once meses al propietario de la vivienda impidiendo el acceso a las dos secretarias judiciales que acudieron a la casa para hacer efectivo el abandono del piso.

http://www.noticanarias.com/?p=15982

NIGERIA: Daily disasters dwarf Gulf oil spill.

NIGERIA: Nigeria’s agony dwarfs the Gulf oil spill. The US and Europe ignore it

by John Vidal, The Guardian (UK)
May 30th, 2010

The Deepwater Horizon disaster caused headlines around the world, yet the people who live in the Niger delta have had to live with environmental catastrophes for decades.

A ruptured pipeline burns in a Lagos suburb after an explosion in 2008 which killed at least 100 people. Photograph: George Esiri/Reuters

We reached the edge of the oil spill near the Nigerian village of Otuegwe after a long hike through cassava plantations. Ahead of us lay swamp. We waded into the warm tropical water and began swimming, cameras and notebooks held above our heads. We could smell the oil long before we saw it – the stench of garage forecourts and rotting vegetation hanging thickly in the air.

The farther we travelled, the more nauseous it became. Soon we were swimming in pools of light Nigerian crude, the best-quality oil in the world. One of the many hundreds of 40-year-old pipelines that crisscross the Niger delta had corroded and spewed oil for several months.

Forest and farmland were now covered in a sheen of greasy oil. Drinking wells were polluted and people were distraught. No one knew how much oil had leaked. “We lost our nets, huts and fishing pots,” said Chief Promise, village leader of Otuegwe and our guide. “This is where we fished and farmed. We have lost our forest. We told Shell of the spill within days, but they did nothing for six months.”

That was the Niger delta a few years ago, where, according to Nigerian academics, writers and environment groups, oil companies have acted with such impunity and recklessness that much of the region h Burning pipeline, Lagos as been devastated by leaks.

In fact, more oil is spilled from the delta’s network of terminals, pipes, pumping stations and oil platforms every year than has been lost in the Gulf of Mexico, the site of a major ecological catastrophe caused by oil that has poured from a leak triggered by the explosion that wrecked BP‘s Deepwater Horizon rig last month.