Category: ecology

Wolves returning to Catalonia after 80 years

The return of the wolf in Catalonia, excellent news that the government should strengthen
the wolf

 en catalá  sota    The appearance of wolves in the counties of Cerdanya and Ripollès is good news for biodiversity in Catalonia. The wolf, like all predators, is a ey element in the operation and restoration o biodiversity.

see alsp)o: ‘Live Wolf Protected Wolf’ yell 10,000 in Madrid.. ‘Lobo vivo, lobo protegido

The wolf is back, and has even been spotted in Valles Oriental County, just 50 kms from Barcelona!( see map)

Until the nineteenth century, the wolf was distribute in most of the Catalan region, the last one was reortedly killed in 1929. Last year remote cameras were installed in the Ripolles County with 6 sightings and 3 in Cerdanya.  It is hoped that stable breeding packs will become established and pass the threshold of no return to boost Catalan biodiversity.
Continue reading “Wolves returning to Catalonia after 80 years”

Will Monsanto’s Cancer Chemicals be approved? Glyphosate banned in 50 Spanish Cities

Monsanto Causes CancerCorporate Looting  vs  Public Health

Demonstrators protest Monsanto Co. in Paris on May 23. The company says it will appeal a ruling by a French court that its herbicide Lasso poisoned a French farmer. (Mal Langsdon/Reuters)
Demonstrators protest Monsanto Co. in Paris last year
Last year the World Health Organisation finally labelled the biggest selling weedkiller Roundup as ‘probably cancer causing’. This after decades of sellout to Monsanto’s tame scientists and the incalculable suffering of millions of people. (The word ‘probably’ is just to defend against the lobby’s legal machine, there are thousands of documented deaths).
Nowadays Roundup is everywhere, cumulative and persistent, in your food, in parks, crops, picnic spots, roadsides… By chance its authorization in the EU has just come up for renewal and all hell has broken loose as Monsanto tries everything to covertly bribe or threaten officials (ie. lobbying) and citizens and victims campaign try to ban it.

The owners of this US corporation have made countless billions and continue selling a product they KNEW FROM THE BEGINNING causes cancer and all kinds of deformations Continue reading “Will Monsanto’s Cancer Chemicals be approved? Glyphosate banned in 50 Spanish Cities”

Eureka! and Oh Shit! moments as Microbe Science takes off

Climate Change is Putting World’s Microbiomes at Risk?

Researchers are only beginning to understand the complexities of the microbes in the earth’s soil and the role they play in fostering healthy ecosystems. Now, climate change is threatening to disrupt these microbes and the key functions they provide.

by jim robbins.   from   Environment 360 with thanks

The spores of an opportunistic soil fungus, Penicillium sp. View gallery.  Photo: PNNL

In 1994, scientists at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory moved soil from moist, high-altitude sites to warmer and drier places lower in altitude, and vice versa. In 2011, they returned to the sites and looked again at the soil microbes and found that they had done little to adapt functionally to their new home. That’s a bad sign, experts say, for a world convulsed by a changing climate. Continue reading “Eureka! and Oh Shit! moments as Microbe Science takes off”

Bees in Europe recover after pesticides restricted

Bee populations in Europe see improvement after three toxic neonicotinoid herbicides are partly banned from their environment

by: L.J. Devon, Staff Writerpesticides

Some resurgence in honey bees

After banning the herbicides clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam, three years ago, Europe is already beginning to see a resurgence in bee populations. All three of these herbicides are still being used in the USA, where honeybee populations continue to rapidly decline.

If the rest of the world doesn’t begin cutting back on herbicide use significantly, as Europe has already started to do, then pollination of important vegetable and herb crops will likely diminish by 33 percent or more in the coming decade.iunsecticide

This will directly influence agricultural economy, limiting the availability of a large assortment of healthy crops that were once made readily available through the tedious work of natural pollinators.

Nature’s best pest control mechanisms already coexist in the environment. By continuing to take wide scale chemical approaches to the annihilation of pests, we throw off the intricate balance that is needed to sustain healthy ecosystems for future agricultural abundance. Continue reading “Bees in Europe recover after pesticides restricted”

‘Live Wolf Protected Wolf’ yell 10,000 in Madrid ‘Lobo vivo, lobo protegido

sale en español + el video más abajo
save the wolf

There are over a million licensed hunters in Spain.. and most of them would love to shoot a wolf. But last week over 10,000 people marched in Madrid demanding more protection for wolves, the biggest ever demo in favour of one species and the environment..

Existing law gives minimal protection and compensation for losses of livestock.

In the last decades millions have abandoned rural life in Spain,  forest and wildlife have recovered and the wolf has increased its territory somewhat, despite continual repression.

The wolf is a ‘top predator’ and a key factor in the ecological chain built up over millions of years. Studies in the US show that reintroducing wolves completely transformed the habitats. eg. they controlled the plague of deer which had destroyed tree shoots, leading to forest regeneration, leading to stabilising watersheds leading to beaver dams, leading to fish revival leading to….etc..  (see video)

How Wolves Change Rivers:  For more from George Monbiot, visit http://www.monbiot.com/ and for more on “rewilding” visit http://bit.ly/1hKGemK and/or check out George Monbiot’s book Feral: rewilding the land, the sea and human life: http://amzn.to/1fjgirx Watch the full TED talk, here: http://bit.ly/N3m62h Continue reading “‘Live Wolf Protected Wolf’ yell 10,000 in Madrid ‘Lobo vivo, lobo protegido”

Bangladeshis’ 400km march STOP COAL NOW

Activists moving from Dhaka to world’s largest mangrove forest say coal plant construction threatens environment.
The Sundarbans are home to the the largest reserves for the Bengal Tiger
The Sundarbans are home to the the largest reserves for the Bengal Tiger
Hundreds of protesters have embarked on a march from the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka to the world’s largest mangrove forest region in the south, to demonstrate against government plans to build huge coal power plants near the forests.
Protesters demand the cancellation of a proposed coal-based power plant at Rampal in Bagerhat and ship-breaking yards at Patharghata in Barguna
Protesters demand the cancellation of a proposed coal-based power plant at Rampal in Bagerhat and ship-breaking yards at Patharghata in Barguna

Activists taking part in the 400km “march”, taking off on a bus convoy on Thursday, fear that pollution from the two proposed coal plants will lead to the destruction of the heavily biodiverse Sundarbans that is both a UNESCO World Heritage site and Samarco-protected wetland.

Indian coal power plants kill 120,000 people a year,
Indian coal power plants kill 120,000 people a year,-Guardian

The 10,000 sq km forest region, most of which is situated in Bangladesh with a small part in neighbouring India, is home to numerous endangered species, including the Royal Bengal tigers, the estuarine crocodile, and the South Asian river dolphin.

 

Stop coal-based Rampal power plant and save Sundarban.   PETITION
Sundarban is the world’s largest mangrove forest and a UNESCO world’s heritage site. This proposed power plant is going to be built within 14 km of the forest, more precisely just 9km away from many reserved sections…

Berta Cáceres . contrainfos video homage. Fight with Joy

FIGHT WITH JOY: REMEMBERING BERTHA CÁCERES

by

Bertha Cáceres addresses a massive demonstration in Tegucigalpa on July 4, 2009, six days after the coup d'état in Honduras. Edited photo by Sandra Cuffe

Bertha Cáceres addresses a massive demonstration in Tegucigalpa on July 4, 2009, six days after the coup d’état in Honduras. Edited photo by Sandra Cuff

Laughter filled the little room and floated out into the dirt courtyard of the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH) office. Bertha Isabel Cáceres Flores and another longtime COPINH organizer were regaling me with tales of all the pranks he had pulled on her over the years.

One time he slipped an empty crab shell left over from someone’s soup into the front pocket of her laptop case for her to find when she reached in to get the mouse. That particular prank didn’t turn out as intended, which somehow made it that much more hilarious. She didn’t use the mouse anytime soon, and ended up wondering where the funky smell was coming from. Another time, when they were hiking in the mountains to get to a community affiliated with COPINH, he carefully slipped rocks into her backpack one by one along the way until she finally realized that it wasn’t just a sensation. Her backpack really was heavier.

video by Contrainfos group ”in homage to Berta we must save the rivers”

When I heard that Bertha had been killed, that laughter-filled conversation was the first memory to come rushing back. It was followed by other memories from a decade ago, during the four and a half years I lived in Bertha’s hometown of La Esperanza, Intibucá.

Continue reading “Berta Cáceres . contrainfos video homage. Fight with Joy”