David McNeill, Irish Times. Protests against the U.S. base in Okinawa by workers, students and environmentalists have brought Tokyo and Washington to agree to withdraw about half the US troops from the island of Okinawa, amid a major realignment of U.S. military forces in the Pacific.
Poor Little Rich Haiti to Be Fleeced of Copper-Silver-Gold Via Caracol Deep-Water Port (UPDATED)
By Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. Plans are under way for Canadian corporations to mine Haiti’s northeast area near Caracol, which has been discovered to contain a wealth of silver and gold, in addition to copper. As in the Dominican Republic’s Pueblo Viejo project, construction of the mines will involve dynamiting of mountains, and the ore will be extracted by an opencast (or open-pit) mining process that contaminates large volumes of water with cyanide. In addition a deep-water port is slated for construction in Caracol. UPDATES: May 7 (Le Matin) Martelly formally announces construction of a “modern port” in Fort Liberte, near Caracol.
By Frederic Back, You Tube | Based on Jean Giono’s short story “The Man Who Planted Trees.” Director Frédéric Back’s marvellous interpretation of Giono’s allegory won an Oscar for short animation. The story is a tribute to hard work and patience. (English | French | Portuguese | Spanish, 30 min.)
By Marianela Jarroud, IPS, Tierramerica | Haiti Chery. Plans to build a massive power plant complex, called the Castilla Thermoelectric Project, near an area of rich marine biodiversity has sparked fierce opposition from the small northern Chilean farming town of Totoral, which has now scored its first victory in court. Behind the Castilla project is the energy company MPX, a subsidiary of the EPX Group owned by Brazilian billionaire Eike Batista, the seventh wealthiest man in the world according to Forbes magazine.
By Dady Chery, Haiti Chery | Julia Whitty, Mother Jones. An article by Paul Durak and colleagues in the Journal Science represents yet more confirmation that the effects of global warming are stronger than anticipated from scientific models. An intensification of water evaporation and precipitation over the Earth implies severe consequences for living things, including famines, floods, droughts, and general climate instability.
By Staff, SPX via Terra Daily | Staff, Wildlife Conservation Society. The Government of Bangladesh recently declared three new wildlife sanctuaries for endangered freshwater dolphins in the world’s largest mangrove ecosystem – the Sundarbans. In 2009 these areas were discovered to harbor thousands of freshwater dolphins, when only a few hundreds were thought to remain in the entire world.The sanctuaries will protect the last two remaining species of freshwater dolphins in Asia: the Ganges River dolphin and the Irrawaddy dolphin.
By Susan Arterian Changs, YES! In the heart of inner Cleveland, Ohio, and abandoned by the global economy, the Evergreen Cooperative has emerged as one of the most promising models of locally based wealth-building in the U.S. The Evergreen Cooperative Laundry, the Ohio Cooperative Solar (OCS), the not-for-profit community newspaper Neighborhood Voice, and the urban farm Green City Growers are successful parts of this growing business.
By Staff, Al Jazeera | You Tube. Distinguished by its paler spots, the West African giraffe once roamed Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Benin, until drought and hunting decimated their numbers to only 50 in 1996. Helped by eco-tourism, the wild populations of this giraffe grew to some 175 individuals in 2007, 250 in 2010, and 310 in 2012, according to the Nigerian government’s counts.
By Staff, The New Times | Paul Kagame et Kanayo F. Nwanze, Project Syndicate, with French translation by Michelle Flamand for Le Matin. “If the world is to meet the twin objectives of feeding the growing population and protecting the environment we will have to do what we know works… and that is: targeted support and investment in smallholder farming to raise agricultural productivity, contribute to food security and reduce poverty, while protecting our planet.” – Paul Kagame (English | French)
By Ben Block, Worldwatch Institute | Andrew Kalinchuk, Green Home Authority | You Tube | Haiti Chery. Grassroots campaigns, often inspired by the expanding movement to buy locally produced food, are leading United States municipalities to allow limited numbers of hens within city limits. You get fresh eggs pretty much on demand and know the chicks are raised in a supportive and loving environment.
Poison Seeds, Herbicides, Pushed Again on Haitian Farmers in Spring 2012
By Edner Son Décime, AlterPresse | Benjamin Fernandez, Le Monde Diplomatique | Marie-Monique Robin, YouTube | Translation and editorial comment by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. Unwanted Monsanto hybrid and genetically modified (GMO) seeds are once again being pushed as aid on Haitian farmers. Together with expensive fertilizers, and harmful pesticides and herbicides, these seeds that cannot reproduce themselves are not genuine aid but a project to convert Haitian farmers from producers into helpers. UPDATE on April 3rd, full-length documentary video “The world according to Monsanto.” (English | French)
By Andrew Nikiforuk, The Tyee. Hydraulic fracturing was identified by the U.S. as an earthquake trigger as early as 1990, and scientists have long known that injection of fluid where the Earth’s crust lies closest to faults and fractures can cause earthquakes.
By Vaclav Havel, in: The Natural World as Political Problem – Essays on Modern Man (Prague: Edice Expedice, Vol. 188, Feb 1984) | translated by Erazim Kohák and Roger Scruton (Salisbury Rev, No. 2, Jan 1985). “If a medieval man were to see something like that [huge somestack] suddenly on the horizon — say, while out hunting — he would probably think it the work of the Devil and would fall on his knees and pray that he and his kin be saved.” – Vaclav Havel: Czech playwright, essayist, poet, dissident and statesman.
Caracol Free-Trade Zone Jeopardizes Natural and Cultural Heritage
By Rachelle Charlier Doucet, AlterPresse | Translation and editorial comment by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. A massive industrial park is scheduled to open in the Caracol Bay area of Haiti at the end of March 2012, although no plan is in place to mitigate the park’s impact on a region that has been proposed as a World Heritage Site for its ecological, historical, and archaeological importance. The park’s manufacturing and textile dyeing alone will require pumping 6,000 cubic meters of water daily from the groundwater and ejecting toxic wastewater into the Trou du Nord River and, ultimately, Caracol Bay. Electricity will be produced from oil, resulting in heavy and toxic wastes. Construction of 5,000 homes for a predicted migration of 30,000 to 300,000 people is expected to result in bantustanization of the area and neighboring communities. (English | French)