jueves, mayo 31, 2007

Union of Concerned Scientists to Congress: Politics Trumps Science at U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

WASHINGTON (May 8, 2007)—The title of the May 9 House Resources Committee hearing poses a question: "Endangered Species Act Implementation: Science or Politics?"
The unfortunate answer is all too often "politics," according to the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS).
The hearing comes on the heels of a scathing Department of Interior Inspector General report that chastised former Deputy Assistant Secretary Julie MacDonald for distorting U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) scientific documents to prevent the protection of several highly imperiled species. Just last week, MacDonald resigned her post.
Francesca Grifo, director of the UCS Scientific Integrity Program, is quick to point out that MacDonald's case is just one of many. The misuse of science at Interior has been reported on issues as diverse as mountaintop removal mining, cattle grazing, and the protection of trumpeter swans.
"While we welcome Ms. MacDonald's resignation," said Grifo, "Interference at Interior predates her arrival. Secretary Dirk Kempthorne must send a clear message to all Interior political appointees that substituting opinions for fact is unacceptable."
Grifo will provide compelling evidence to the committee that political interference in science has become epidemic—not only at FWS, but at agencies throughout the federal government. In a 2005 survey of FWS scientists, 84 scientists reported having been directed to inappropriately exclude or alter technical information from FWS scientific documents. Furthermore, 303 scientists, or two thirds of those who responded to the survey, knew of cases where Interior Department political appointees had interfered with scientific determinations.
"This is not business as usual. When hundreds of federal scientists report political interference in their work, our nation's biological diversity is at risk," said Grifo. "Political meddling in endangered species science must be driven to extinction."
Grifo also deplored the fact that political appointees are making Endangered Species Act decisions "behind closed doors." She will urge Congress and the Interior Department to take concrete steps to open the Endangered Species Act decisionmaking process to more scrutiny. "Increasing openness in the decisionmaking process would allow us to hold policymakers accountable for their actions," she said.
UCS also called for FWS to review all Bush administration Endangered Species Act decisions to ensure that the science behind those decisions was not altered or distorted. "At the very least, Secretary Kempthorne should require an immediate reevaluation of decisions where political interference has been documented," said Grifo.
The hearing will start at 10 am in room 1324 of the Longworth House Office Building and will be available live on the committee's Web site.
Grifo's written testimony will be available May 9, at 10 am.

http://www.ucsusa.org/news/press_release/union-of-concerned-scientists-0026.html

Etiquetas:

"NO" DEL TRIBUNAL SUPREMO AL DOS MARES MARRIOTT RESORT

jueves, 31 de mayo de 2007

San Juan – El Tribunal Supremo de Puerto Rico revocó la aprobación de la Declaración de Impacto Ambiental Final (DIA-F) para el proyecto residencial-turístico Dos Mares Marriott Resort, propuesto en el área del Corredor Ecológico del Noreste (CEN). El documento ambiental, el cual había sido aprobado por la Junta de Calidad Ambiental (JCA) en octubre de 2004, había sido impugnado por organizaciones e individuos pertenecientes a la Coalición Pro Corredor Ecológico del Noreste, quienes favorecen el desarrollo ecoturístico del Corredor junto a su designación como una reserva natural.

La sentencia, notificada en esta semana, concluye que “la JCA, al aprobar la declaración de impacto ambiental final para el proyecto impugnado, obvió serios señalamientos de carácter ambiental que requerían medidas correctivas de parte de los proponentes del proyecto conforme las exigencias legales y reglamentarias aplicables ... El efecto acumulativo de las deficiencias, carencias u omisiones de la DIA-F es altamente preocupante, por lo que no podemos avalar las determinaciones de los entes administrativos que han intervenido en este proceso.”

Con esta decisión el Tribunal acogió los planteamientos levantados por la Coalición y expertos en cuanto a que la aprobación de la DIA-F era ilegal, ya que no consideraba adecuadamente los impactos acumulativos del proyecto Dos Mares Marriott Resort sobre el servicio de agua potable en las comunidades de la región este de la Isla, así como aquellos relacionados a la flora y la fauna, tránsito vehicular, fragmentación y los cambios de zonificación propuestos por otros proyectos en la región bajo el ámbito del Reglamento de Zonificación Especial de El Yunque.

La DIA aprobada “no sopesó adecuadamente el impacto sobre la infraestructura existente, específicamente sobre la disponibilidad de agua potable en esa región, problema éste de todos conocidos ... Por otro lado, la evaluación del impacto del proyecto sobre las especies en peligro de extinción es por demás insuficiente y superficial.” En la sentencia se indica además que “este somero catálogo de algunas de las deficiencias de la DIA aprobada por la JCA pone de manifiesto la necesidad de que esta entidad revise su determinación original.”

En su dictamen, el Honorable Tribunal añadió que “lo cierto es que para muchos, protección del medio ambiente y desarrollo y crecimiento económico no son más que una antinomia. Ello no tiene que ser así ... No hay que sacrificar el crecimiento en aras de la conservación, como tampoco promover la depredación de los recursos naturales en un culto desenfrenado hacia el desarrollo.”

Al presente, el Senado de Puerto Rico tiene ante su consideración el Proyecto de la Cámara de Representantes 2105 (P. de la C. 2105) el cual promueve el desarrollo ecoturístico del Corredor junto a su designación como reserva natural. Este proyecto de ley fue aprobado por la Cámara de Representantes tras recibir el endoso de numerosas agencias federales, estatales, entidades profesionales y organizaciones conservacionistas locales e internacionales. Sin embargo, la medida legislativa ha confrontado resistencia por parte de los senadores Kenneth McClintock, Jorge De Castro Font y Carlos Díaz. Este último, y quién preside la Comisión a cargo de evaluar el P. de la C. 2105, había declarado recientemente que “yo soy pro desarrollo, no necesariamente soy pro ambiente” para justificar así su oposición a la medida.

Contactos: Luis Jorge Rivera Herrera (IDS): (787) 460-8315

Lcdo. Pedro Saadé Llorens: (787) 397-9993

Etiquetas: ,

martes, mayo 29, 2007

V Encuentro de Intelectuales y Artistas en Defensa de la Humanidad
Cochabamba, Bolivia, 22 y 23 de mayo de 2007-05-27


DECLARACIÓN DE COCHABAMBA


En la transición desde las resistencias frente al neoliberalismo a las
ofensivas contra ese modelo, el papel de los medios es trascendental.
Por ello, hoy más que nunca nos manifestamos contra el poder sin
control, no democrático e impune de los grandes medios de comunicación
que intentan imponer su visión de la realidad y sus valores. Estos
oligopolios sirven a intereses económicos y políticos de accionistas,
financieros y anunciantes.

Sin embargo, las transnacionales mediáticas están perdiendo credibilidad
y se ha echado por tierra el mito de la invulnerabilidad de los medios.
En América Latina, hay dos polos equidistantes: por un lado, el refuerzo
de la soberanía, y por otro, la renuncia al espacio público. Por
ejemplo, mientras México está renunciando a ese ámbito para entregarlo
a
perpetuidad a dos consorcios mediáticos, en Venezuela se está recobrando
una concesión que imponía la dictadura de la palabra y la imagen únicas
(RCTV). Como dijo el Presidente Hugo Chávez, no estamos luchando contra
la libertad de prensa, estamos restableciendo esa libertad.

La red de redes En Defensa de la Humanidad se pronuncia por asegurar el
derecho a la información y la comunicación como un derecho humano
fundamental. Para ello, es de primer orden demostrar la ilegitimidad del
sistema actual donde los medios están al servicio de los poderosos. Hay
que recordar que se ha producido una enorme concentración
antidemocrática y es abrumador el control del capital financiero sobre
los grandes medios.

Debemos identificar quiénes son los aliados de los pueblos en los medios
y quiénes son sus enemigos. Denunciamos a los mercenarios intelectuales
que alquilan su pensamiento a las grandes transnacionales. Denunciamos a
instituciones y grupos de comunicación que en nombre de un distorsionado
concepto de la libertad de expresión sirven a estructuras económicas e
imperialistas, como Reporteros Sin Fronteras y la Sociedad
Interamericana de Prensa. Asimismo, condenamos el asesinato, la
persecución y la exclusión en los medios de comunicación, de
periodistas
y comunicadores sociales que han hecho y hacen de su ejercicio una
tradición de lucha por los mejores intereses de sus pueblos.

Para enfrentar al sistema dominante, contamos con los medios
alternativos y la posibilidad real de fortalecer la voz de los pueblos
en los medios tradicionales. Lo alternativo no está reñido con la
excelencia. Es vital no enajenarnos de la veracidad, el rigor y la
profesionalidad, y evitar reproducir formatos alienantes, conceptos y
prácticas clasistas, sexistas y racistas de las transnacionales de la
información.

Los estados tienen el deber de garantizar el derecho a la información y
la democratización de los medios y el acceso a todos los sectores
sociales. Esa garantía se logra mediante el uso público del espacio
radioeléctrico y la propiedad social de los medios.

Una verdadera comunicación con el pueblo en la pluralidad de sus
aspiraciones es realmente necesaria, lo que de hecho no fue el modelo en
lo que se llamó en el pasado "socialismo real". Reconocemos que la
neutralidad y la imparcialidad no existen: toda información tiene una
intencionalidad oculta o manifiesta.

La palabra socialismo tiene múltiples interpretaciones, y por eso genera
resistencia en parte de la opinión pública. Legitimarla supone rescatar
sus tradiciones en la lucha por la justicia social, la paz y la
felicidad de los pueblos. Debemos insistir más en el contenido que en el
vocablo. De manera estratégica hay que combatir y seguir deslegitimando
al capitalismo, e identificar desde los problemas del medioambiente
hasta la destrucción social.

La red de redes En Defensa de la Humanidad destaca los valores centrales
del socialismo de nuestros días: el uso sustentable de los recursos
naturales y el control público de los que no son renovables; la
satisfacción de las necesidades de la gente por encima de los criterios
de mercado; la defensa de la democracia en todas las relaciones
colectivas y de género, y también, la interculturalidad, la posibilidad
de acceso a todos los saberes, filosofías y religiones.

Reconocemos el papel trascendente de los pueblos originarios en los
procesos revolucionarios de nuestro tiempo y su aporte a la práctica de
una democracia participativa que concibe el gobierno como servicio, que
manda obedeciendo en la solidaridad y el sentido colectivo de sus
instituciones. Valoramos que se deben defender y promover los medios
propios de las comunidades.

Nos solidarizamos con las resistencias de los pueblos contra la
ocupación en Iraq, Afganistán, y contra las intervenciones en el Medio
Oriente, y sumamos nuestros esfuerzos para que los procesos
revolucionarios que en el mundo se dan, sigan avanzando y debilitando el
poder imperial.

Condenamos el doble rasero del gobierno de Washington, la Unión Europa y
los emporios mediáticos, que promueven la doctrina del buen y el mal
terrorista, como se verifica en los casos de Luis Posada Carriles y los
detenidos fuera de todo marco legal en Guantámano y cárceles secretas
que el imperio mantiene en el mundo.

Apoyamos los procesos revolucionarios en América Latina y la presencia
de la voz legítima de los pueblos en las asambleas constituyentes. En
particular, apoyamos los procesos de cambio que están teniendo lugar en
Bolivia, que han permitido que los pueblos acrecienten su protagonismo.
Reivindicamos el trascendente papel de los pueblos originarios, de las
mujeres y de la juventud en las luchas de hoy.

La Red de Redes en Defensa de la Humanidad debe ampliarse y
fortalecerse; debe promover estructuras de traducción para que las
lenguas no sean barreras entre los pueblos; estimular procesos legales
en contra de los medios de comunicación que violan el derecho legítimo a
la información. ¡Nuestra lucha es por la verdad y por la justicia!


Cochabamba, Bolivia, 23 de mayo de 2007

lunes, mayo 28, 2007


You are here : Hogar



Próximas Actividades

30AñOS.jpg

3Colorweb.jpg

Etiquetas:

Syngenta Threatens to Violently Expel the Family Farmers of the Via Campesina from the Free Land encampment: Act Now!

The multinational Syngenta Seeds is pressuring the Governor of the State of Paraná to expel the family farmers of the Via Campesina currently residing on the Free Land encampment with police force.
The 120 families occupied the área more than a year ago, in protest to the environmental crime committed by Syngenta. The multinational illegally cultivated genetically-modified soy and corn at the site, within the protective zoner of the Iguaçu National Park. The family farmers demanded that Syngenta pay the fine of US$ 465,000, imposed on the corporation by the IBAMA, the federal environmental agency. In November of 2006, the Governor of Paraná expropriated Syngenta´s site, and planned to turn the area into an agroecological research center.

Syngenta has still not paid the fine that IBAMA has demanded to the Brazilian public coffers. It has used its legal resources to suspend the Governor´s decree to expropriate the site and is now pressuring the State Governor Requião to expel, with police force, the family farmers from the land.

Today the Free Land Encampment has communal gardens that produce rice, beans, sweet potatoes, corn, manioc, chicken, and milk. The families living at Free Land are entirely self sufficient for food.

More than 300 organizations throughout the world have already shown their support to the occupation of Syngenta Seeds by the Via Campesina.
Show your Support!

1. Mail the letter to the Governor of Paraná (ATTACHMENTS) in support of the expropriation of the experimental site.
E-mails Governo of Paraná:
Fax: +55 41 3254 42 99 ou 55 41 3252 85 39 ou 55 41 3252 88 98

2. Mail letter to Syngenta Seeds (ATTACHMENTS) demanding that it cease its pressure to expel the 120 families that occupy the experimental site.
e-mails Syngenta:

ACT NOW!!!

MANIFESTE-SE!!!

MANIFIESTESE!!!



----


Letter to the Governor of the State of Paraná

Your Excellent Governor Roberto Requião:
We support your initiative to expropriate Syngenta´s illegal experimental site in Brazil in order to turn it into a school for agroecology. We stand with Your Excellency in solidarity in the face of the pressure the multinational is exerting against the Government of Paraná.
The environmental crime committed by Syngenta in Brazil was a demonstration of the total irresponsibility with which which the multinationals of Biotechnology have treated the environment and the health of the population, in addition to breaking the norms of biosecurity.

Thus, we ask Your Excellency to continue to take all of the necessary measures in order to maintain the expropriation of the experimental site, as well as to permit the family farmers of the Via Campesina to remain there.

Sincerely,

(Name/Organization)



----



Letter to Syngenta

To Syngenta Seeds

We have followed closely the situation of the ilegal experimental site that Syngenta maintains in Brazil, which was occupied by the Via Campesina more than one year ago.

It is an embarrasment that Syngenta has still not paid the fine levied upon it by IBAMA, and, additionally, is pressuring the Governor of the State of Paraná to send the military police to violently expel the 120 families that are occupying the area. This will create a situation that will put the children and elderly people who reside there at risk.

As citizens, we demand that Syngenta recognize its wrongdoing, pay the fine to the Government of Brazil, and permit the State of Paraná to expropriate the area in order to transform it into a School for Agroecology.

Sincerely,

(Name/Organization)

Etiquetas: , ,

viernes, mayo 25, 2007

HOLD FOR RELEASE
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
6:00 PM EDT, 2200 GMT

Contact:
Darcey Rakestraw
(+1 202) 452.1992 x517; drakestraw@worldwatch.org

Julia Tier
(+1 202) 452-1992 x594; jtier@worldwatch.org


Solar Power Set to Shine Brightly


WASHINGTON, D.C.- The solar industry is poised for a rapid decline in costs that will make it a mainstream power option in the next few years, according to a new assessment by the Worldwatch Institute in Washington, D.C., and the Prometheus Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Global production of solar photovoltaic (PV) cells, which turn sunlight directly into electricity, has risen sixfold since 2000 and grew 41 percent in 2006 alone. Although grid-connected solar capacity still provides less than 1 percent of the world's electricity, it increased nearly 50 percent in 2006, to 5,000 megawatts, propelled by booming markets in Germany and Japan. Spain is likely to join the big leagues in 2007, and the United States soon thereafter.

This growth, while dramatic, has been constrained by a shortage of manufacturing capacity for purified polysilicon, the same material that goes into semiconductor chips. But the situation will be reversed in the next two years as more than a dozen companies in Europe, China, Japan, and the United States bring on unprecedented levels of production capacity. In 2006, for the first time, more than half the world's polysilicon was used to produce solar PV cells. Combined with technology advances, the increase in polysilicon supply will bring costs down rapidly-by more than 40 percent in the next three years, according to Prometheus estimates.

"Solar energy is the world's most plentiful energy resource, and the challenge has been tapping it cost-effectively and efficiently," says Janet Sawin, a senior researcher at Worldwatch, who authored the update. "We are now seeing two major trends that will accelerate the growth of PV: the development of advanced technologies, and the emergence of China as a low-cost producer."

The biggest surprise in 2006 was the dramatic growth in PV production in China. Last year, China passed the United States, which first developed modern solar cell technology at Bell Labs in New Jersey in the 1950s, to become the world's third largest producer of the cells-trailing only Germany and Japan.

China's leading PV manufacturer, Suntech Power, climbed from the world's eighth largest producer in 2005 to fourth in 2006, and PVs have made the company's CEO one of his nation's wealthiest citizens. Experts believe that China, with its growing need for energy, large work force, and strong industrial base, could drive dramatic reductions in PV prices in the next few years, helping to make solar competitive with conventional power even without subsidies.

"To say that Chinese PV producers plan to expand production rapidly in the year ahead would be an understatement," says Travis Bradford, President of the Prometheus Institute. "They have raised billions from international IPOs to build capacity and increase scale with the goal of driving down costs. Four Chinese IPOs are expected to come to market this month alone."

In the meantime, supply shortages have led manufacturers to find ways to use polysilicon more efficiently, and have accelerated the introduction of new technologies that do not rely on purified silicon and are inherently less expensive to manufacture. So-called thin film cells can
be made from amorphous silicon and other low-cost materials, and companies developing these technologies have recently become the darlings of Silicon Valley venture capitalists.

Although in the past, thin film cells have not been efficient enough to compete with conventional cells, today over a dozen companies-including Miasole, Nanosolar, and Ovonics-are competing to scale up production of low-cost solar modules that can be churned out like rolls of plastic.

"The conventional energy industry will be surprised by how quickly solar PV becomes mainstream-cheap enough to provide carbon-free electricity on rooftops, while also meeting the energy needs of hundreds of millions of poor people who currently lack electricity," Sawin says.

- END -


Note to Editors:

To obtain the full Vital Signs Update, or to interview the author,
contact Darcey Rakestraw at drakestraw@worldwatch.org or 202-452-1992 x
517.

Worldwatch E-mail list: If you would like to receive Worldwatch press
advisories regularly or wish to be removed from this mailing list,
please send your request to Darcey Rakestraw at
drakestraw@worldwatch.org or call 202.452.1992 x517.

About the Worldwatch Institute: The Worldwatch Institute is an
independent research organization based
in Washington, DC. Through accessible, fact-based analysis of critical
global issues, Worldwatch helps to inform people around the world about
the complex interactions among people, nature, and economies. For more
information, visit www.worldwatch.org.

Darcey Rakestraw

Communications Manager, Worldwatch Institute

1776 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Suite 800

Washington, DC 20036

phone: 202-452-1992 x 517

cel: 202-210-0152

fax: 202-296-7365

drakestraw@worldwatch.org

Uhuru Productions presents: The Global Commons

If you came to the Rio Summit last year or if you’re coming to the next iCommons Summit in Dubrovnik, or if you want to watch a great film about Creative Commons, iCommons and the Global Commons movement, watch this great film by Rehad Desai from Uhuru Productions.

Etiquetas:

martes, mayo 22, 2007

iCommons

Telling stories, the location-based digital way

What are the stories that lie beneath such city scenes? by Joe Lemonade, CC BY-NC 2.0Location-based digital storytelling overlays a physical landscape with a digital one in a way that enhances the experience of the physical with additional sights, sounds and stories. Think of a Google Map of your home town with your grandmother’s stories pinned to it here and there: to the open field where once a flea market bustled on Saturday mornings, or the old movie theatre where she once romanced.

This exciting and engaging form of merging physical and digital worlds is by no means new, but is becoming increasingly popular thanks to technological advances – making locative media devices, such as mobile phones and GPS-devices, cheaper and more pervasive – and the emergence of a range of new Web 2.0 services. In this article we will explore a few interesting location-based digital storytelling projects, and then look at tools that you can use to create your own mapped stories.

Imagine walking through a few city blocks that seem quite drab, the very ordinary sight of warehouses converted into offices and artist studios, no doubt colorful on the inside but not much to look at from the street. By just walking around you have no sense of the history of the place, the stories that lie beneath the surface. Scape the Hood is a location-based digital storytelling project that changes that: with a GPS-enabled HP iPAQ Pocket PC running location-based software developed by HP Labs, you can walk around the neighborhood and learn about its history and culture. As you move around, the pocket PC loads appropriate images and audio pieces. Now, knowing that a mural was inspired by the memories of the death of the artist’s mother or that the one converted warehouse was actually a canning plant transformed by artists into one of America’s first live/work spaces, suddenly gives new meaning to the few blocks of SOMA, San Francisco, that surround KQEDs Digital Storytelling Initiative, a partner of this project. You can hear the gurgle of a creek that ran where a street now lies, listen to the sound of trains that once carried corn oil to a mayonnaise factory that has since become a Starbucks coffee shop and also see images from this bygone era. What’s more, you can select sounds and descriptions from different eras to experience what life was like on a particular corner at a particular time. Abbe Donne, executive producer of the project describes this as “narrative archeology” because it “peels back the layers of the neighbourhood” which aren’t obvious from the streets.

Scape the Hood is a textbook example of location-based digital storytelling. The Mobile Bristol Centre, collaborators on the project, imagine a “digital canvas” painted over a physical environment where your presence and actions trigger the digital media experiences that augment the ambiance of the space. But not all location-based projects are context-aware in terms of a person’s physical movement through a space. Many cases allow virtual armchair travel. Third Ward, Houston, is a place and a collection of stories. The residents of this historically black community, which is now being gentrified and redeveloped, are trying to deal with the concomitant threat to their identity. The stories, mapped to specific locations in the area, are told by residents as they remember life in the neighborhood. America’s Highway: Oral Histories of Route 66 is the result of a university assignment to capture the history of one of America’s great, but now decommissioned, highways. In the summer of 2002, students Jay Crim and Shekar Davarya drove across the country on Route 66, interviewing people who lived, worked or traveled on the road. The result of that summer is part history lesson, part travel guide for those exploring Route 66 today. Both of these sites use text, audio and video to present their digital stories.

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has teamed up with Google Earth to raise awareness about the ongoing genocide in Darfur, Sudan. In the Google Earth application, users see the Darfur region covered with flame-shaped icons donating burned villages, with links to images of burnt-out huts, tented camps that house displaced refugees, and photographic diaries of people who have lost family members and homes to the violence. The effort aims to create a “community of conscience” among Internet users.

Two great examples of projects that allow both context-aware discovery and virtual travel are [murmur] and Organic City. [murmur] is an “archival audio project that collects and curates stories set in specific locations,” that started in Toronto in 2003 and now includes Vancouver, Montréal, Edinburgh and San Jose. Walking around these locations, armed with a mobile phone, you come across [murmur] signs (of a green ear) that display a telephone number and location code to call in order to listen to stories submitted by regular citizens of the neighborhood. Currently the [murmur] team will interview storytellers to capture the content, but they are exploring the option of anyone submitting their story for a particular place. You can also take walking audio tours from your web-enabled PC, For example, explore Spadina Avenue in Toronto. But says Shawn Micallef, co-creator of [murmur], “you’ll be missing out on half the fun.”

Screen shot example of a map, telling a digital story. www.storytelling.org/thirdwardOrganic City is a community storytelling project that allows users to author and access stories related to the city of Oakland, California. The website is the hub for anyone to tell and find stories in text, audio and video formats. By creating a platform that can be populated by anyone, creators Seamus Byrne and Sarah Mattern have enabled the organic growth of the Oakland community’s collective memory. An interesting result of this type of platform, where information from various sources is layered over common, public spaces, is that the resulting stories are not the usual linear narratives, but rather non-linear threads that can be joined together in many different ways, collectively making up the whole story about, for example, a street corner.

That’s cool, but how can I do this too?

Thanks to Web 2.0 mash-ups that facilitate user-generated content, a number of mapping services make it easy to create your own place-based digital story. Google Maps recently launched My Maps, which lets you create and share personalized, annotated maps. All you need to do is create a Google account and you can begin mapping. By using different colored and shaped pins, you can communicate the aspect of time over the space, like the World of Hello World. Microsoft’s Live Search is a similar service.

In Flickr, the super cool image hosting site, it’s possible to add geographic information or “geotags” to photos, in other words to tell Flickr exactly where they were taken using latitudinal and longitudinal co-ordinates. The good news is that you don’t need a GPS or know-how to tell your location by looking at the sun to join in the fun. See the Flickr tutorial on how to geotag your photos and then use Trippermap to put a flash-based world map on your own website with those geotagged images pinned to it too. Trippermap’s Geotagger also allows you to easily add geotags to your Flickr photos using Google Earth. One other cool thing to do with Flickr is to add notes to a photo, for example Toronto, 1970s to 1990s.

MapBuilder is similar to Google’s My Maps. Community Walk and Wayfaring are similar services to MapBuilder, but they also allow paths to be drawn between locations. The downside of Community Walk is lots of Google Ads, while the upside of Wayfaring is that it lets you track who is interested in your maps and paths.

Joe Lambert, storyteller extraordinaire and Executive Director of the Center for Digital Storytelling, which has created StoryMapping, describes this work as a call to action. “We can now create maps that share stories about the places that matter to us, and place our life stories in countless geographic contexts.” Exactly where this is all headed, and for what, we have yet to find out. All we know is that the tools are there for us to create new experiences by blending the digital with the physical, be it for personal, educational, commercial, social change or other purposes. So, what are you waiting for?

Further links

  • StoryMapping. Interviews with the creators of [murmur], Organic City and Scape the Hood can be downloaded from the StoryMapping podcasts page.
  • The Mobile Art and Locative Media page provides an extensive list of mobile and locative art projects, including place-based storytelling.
  • Geobloggers: a blog about “maps for people, locations, stories and stuff … and sometimes flickr gossip.”

Pictures: What are the stories that lie beneath such city scenes? by Joe Lemonade, CC BY-NC 2.0
Screenshot example of a map with a digital story, www.storymapping.org/thirdward.html, CC BY-NC-ND 3.0


Etiquetas:

miércoles, mayo 16, 2007

Nuestro repudio a la visita de Al Gore

El ex vicepresidente norteamericano Al Gore participó en el cierre del 1° Congreso Americano de Biocombustibles realizado en Buenos Aires el 11 de mayo 2007.

El encuentro contó con la presencia de políticos y representantes de empresas corporativas que debieron pagar 500 U$S por persona. Según el diario lobbista de los agrocombustibles, el Clarín de Argentina: “Es por cierto vox populi que el ex vicepresidente cobra 170.000 dólares por cada conferencia”.

Los principales patrocinadores del evento fueron Repsol YPF y la tristemente celebre provincia de Santiago del Estero, provincia en la que para plantar soja transgénica, se deforesta y se reprime a las poblaciones rurales.

La sola participación de Al Gore en este encuentro ha servido como hecho mediático y propagandístico en favor de la industria de los agrocombustibles.

En el mes de Marzo de este año junto con miembros de varias organizaciones de la sociedad civil Europea y Latino Americana escribimos a la oficina de Al Gore solicitando una entrevista. Le anticipábamos nuestra intención de plantearle nuestras preocupaciones por la arremetida de las políticas públicas que promocionan los agrocombustibles sin tener en cuenta, entre otros el severo impacto negativo de la agricultura intensiva para la producción de Biocombustibles… no tuvimos respuesta.

Los aceites de palma y de soja son los principales insumos para la producción de biodiesel que a partir del 2010 aumentarán la demanda en forma exponencial en Europa y Estados Unidos. Ello aumentará la severidad de los impactos negativos con resultados irreversibles.

Hace dos semanas volvimos a escribir a la oficina de Al Gore recordándole que queríamos tener una audiencia con él, pero este último pedido tampoco tuvo respuesta.

En la conferencia de Buenos Aires Al Gore como muchos otros, pide recaudos para la producción de agrocombustibles, pero concluye con ligereza, en que la producción de los agrocarburantes "puede ser la solución a la crisis climática, sin producir daños al medio ambiente”. En su discurso no está planteado el uso de agrotóxicos en los plantíos de palma y de soja así como tampoco las enormes cantidades de fertilizantes nitrogenados que son parte del paquete tecnológico empleado.

Al Gore no cuestiona en absoluto las semillas transgénicas. Y a nuestro entender sus propuestas de reducción de consumo tanto en su país, como para los otros países que también consumen la absoluta mayor parte de energia del mundo, como los europeos, no son serias ni tienen en cuenta la urgencia de cambiar sus estilos de vida radicalmente, antes de que la misma naturaleza con el Cambio Climático los fuerce a hacerlo definitivamente.

Al Gore tampoco tiene en cuenta la realidad que muestra que la actual producción de los monocultivos de materia prima para agrocombustibles ya están precipitando la desertificación de las mejores tierras del planeta. Que esta producción, ahora mismo, antes de la entrada en vigor de las metas propuestas por los países que van a ser los consumidores masivos de los agrocombustibles, ya están expulsando a las poblaciones campesinas e indígenas de sus lugares dejando así las producciones de subsistencia y provisión local, sea por medio de las fumigaciones o directamente a manos de fuerzas policiales, militares o paramilitares locales.

Que con la producción que ya existe de estos cultivos, para abastecer con forrajes a la producción masificada de animales, se ha deforestado masivamente bosques nativos de todo el mundo, se ha incrementado la incidencia de enfermedades zoonóticas y las producidas por las fumigaciones en los monocultivos.

Ahora con la propaganda de los agrocombustibles, a la cual Al Gore favorece con su discurso y su presencia, todo lo denunciado anteriormente está aumentando a un ritmo escalofriante e insano, con consecuencias catastróficas totalmente predecibles.

Por todas estas Razones el Grupo de Reflexión Rural, junto con otros grupos locales, decidimos fijar nuestra posición frente al Hotel donde la conferencia tuvo lugar. Desplegamos un cartel de 8 metros de largo, donde se lee “Paren de Fumigar” La Agencia Argentina de Noticias y Associated Press, interpretaron por ignorancia o por conveniencia, que nuestra pancarta” estaba denunciando las fumigaciones sobre los plantíos de coca en Colombia.

La realidad es que esa pancarta hace referencia específica a nuestra campaña en Argentina contra las fumigaciones criminales sobre poblaciones rurales y periurbanas en todo el país. También las noticias decían que vivamos a Fidel Castro y Hugo Chávez, líderes que están preocupados por la falta de soja y maíz que ocasionarán los agrocombustibles. Lo cierto es que ninguno de los grupos presentes frente al Hotel mencionaron siquiera a los dirigentes latino americanos pero sí coincidimos en expresar que la soja mata, tanto como por el uso y abuso de agrotóxicos y cuanto porque ha reemplazado a la producción de alimentos para los argentinos y los paraguayos, destruyendo nuestra Soberanía Alimentaria.

Si realmente a Al Gore le preocupa el medio ambiente, deberia ser serio y trabajar por una moratoria en las propuestas de utlilizar agrocombustibles como reemplazo de los combustibles fósiles. Debería oír las voces de las víctimas del modelo de produccion de agrocombustibles en los países productores de materias primas. Al Gore debería ser un poco realista, releer la carta que le enviamos y darse cuenta que no hay forma de hacer agrocombustibles “sustentables ni responsables” para mantener el nivel de despilfarro energético de los paises “desarrollados”.

Tememos que con las campañas que se impulsan a favor de alimentar motores desde nuestra agricultura, aumente la pobreza y el hambre, se acreciente la crisis ambiental y se profundice el modelo de la dependencia argentina. En el plano internacional esa campaña a la que casi toda la dirigencia política se presta con irresponsabilidad o con complicidad, conlleva un proceso de avance del Capitalismo Globalizado en el que las empresas cerealeras y biotecnológicas, las automotrices y las petroleras, se aúnan para reconfigurar el planeta a su arbitrio y convertir el cambio climático y las catástrofes ecológicas anunciadas en un nuevo y formidable negocio a la vez que en medio para la apropiación del poder total.

NO LO PERMITAMOS! LUCHEMOS POR NUESTRA SOBERANIA ALIMENTARIA

Grupo de Reflexión de Rural

Argentina

15 de mayo de 2007

Etiquetas: , , ,

martes, mayo 15, 2007

Goodbye Houston: An Alternative Annual Report on Halliburton

Contact: Pratap Chatterjee, (510) 759-8970
Charlie Cray, (202) 497 3673

May 15th, 2007


Goodbye Houston report

Download 2007 Alternative Annual Report

Houston, May 15, 2007: CorpWatch and its partners today released an alternative annual report on Halliburton titled: "Goodbye Houston" The new report was prepared in association with Halliburton Watch and the Oil & Gas Accountability Project.

The new report (the fourth in the series) is being issued on the eve of Halliburton 's annual general meeting in Woodlands, Texas, on Wednesday, May 16th, 2007. An in-depth, hard-hitting report, "Goodbye Houston," provides a detailed look at Halliburton 's military and energy operations around the world as well as its political connections. It includes a series of recommendations for the company and its shareholders as well as for the United States policymakers.

Halliburton is one of the 10 largest contractors to the U.S. military. It has earned over $20 billion from the U.S.military in war-related contracts in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion. This cash bonanza may well be over because of the cancelation of its two most lucrative contracts: oil infrastructure reconstruction and military base support.

"With the loss of its two biggest taxpayer-funded contracts in Iraq, Halliburton has decided that its future lies outside the United States. The company decision to move its headquarters to Dubai could spell a major financial loss to the U.S. Treasury," says Pratap Chatterjee, co-director of CorpWatch.

"Given the multiple ongoing investigations into Halliburton 's alleged wrongdoing, policymakers should closely scrutinize Halliburton 's latest move, and whether it will allow the company to further elude accountability,” said Charlie Cray, co-director of Halliburton Watch and director of the Center for Corporate Policy. “Moreover, this underscores the need for Congress to bar companies that have broken the law, or avoided paying taxes, from receiving federal contracts.”

"Goodbye Houston" also documents

* how Halliburton may have broken the law by employing private security guards like Blackwater and Triple Canopy; the Triple Canopy guards have been alleged to have shot at unarmed Iraqis for sport

* Halliburton truck drivers allege the company failed to adequately protect them in Iraq

* new military audits which show deliberate concealment of high overheads

* new lawsuits allege that company management in Iraq and Kuwait knowingly wasted millions of dollars of taxpayers dollars

Today as the military slows its purchases of Halliburton services in Iraq, the company is diversifying into such profitable areas the provision of direct services to the oil and gas industry abroad.

* Halliburton has finally admitted that its executives may have been involved in bribery and political meddling Nigeria

* Halliburton 's hydraulic fracturing operations in the United States have continued to have disastrous impacts on the environment, including community water supplies

* Halliburton has been accused of substandard work on offshore operations in Brazil, and is under investigation for no-bid contracts in Algeria

Download 2007 Alternative Annual Report

Etiquetas:

lunes, mayo 14, 2007

AUMENTA EL RECLAMO AL SENADO POR EL CORREDOR ECOLOGICO DEL NORESTE

lunes, 14 de mayo de 2007

San Juan – Organizaciones e individuos pertenecientes a la Coalición Pro Corredor Ecológico del Noreste (“CEN”) acudieron al Senado de Puerto Rico para hacer entrega de más de 4,000 firmas solicitando la aprobación del Proyecto de la Cámara de Representantes 2105 (P. de la C. 2105). Este proyecto de ley promueve el desarrollo ecoturístico del Corredor junto a su designación como reserva natural.

“El Senador McClintock ha indicado públicamente que dará prioridad en su agenda a aquellos asuntos que tengan que ver con la protección del medio ambiente y el desarrollo sostenible, por lo que solicitamos haga honor a este compromiso y asuma su liderazgo como Presidente del Senado, permitiendo la aprobación del P. de la C. 2105 durante la presente sesión legislativa” señaló Angel Berríos, residente de Luquillo y miembro de la Coalición.

Según informó, las miles de solicitudes firmadas van dirigidas al Presidente del Senado, y a los senadores Carlos Díaz y Jorge De Castro Font, quienes presiden la Comisión de Comercio, Turismo, Urbanismo e Infraestructura a cargo de evaluar el proyecto de ley, y la Comisión de Reglas y Calendarios, respectivamente. Esta última es la encargada de fijar la fecha para la celebración de vistas legislativas. Los tres senadores han levantado objeciones para que el proyecto de ley sea considerado en lo que resta del cuatrenio.

Luis Jorge Rivera Herrera, científico ambiental de Iniciativa para un Desarrollo Sustentable (IDS) y perteneciente a la Coalición, indicó por su parte que el P. de la C. 2105 es cónsono con los reclamos que han hecho recientemente miembros de la comunidad científica y académica de Puerto Rico en relación al cambio climático, urgiendo a la adopción de medidas preventivas dirigidas a la conservación de terrenos de reconocido valor ecológico, así como a evitar la construcción en áreas susceptibles a amenazas naturales.

“El Corredor ha sido identificado por agencias federales y estatales como un área con prioridad de conservación y crítica para la vida silvestre en Puerto Rico, incluyendo la designación de una parte considerable de sus terrenos como barreras costaneras, debido precisamente a su alto grado de inundabilidad.”

El P. de la C. 2105 ya fue aprobado por la Cámara de Representantes el pasado mes de noviembre, luego de recibir el endoso de diversas organizaciones como el Servicio Forestal Federal, el Departamento de Recursos Naturales y Ambientales, el Programa Sea Grant de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, la Sociedad Puertorriqueña de Planificación, la Asociación de Comerciantes y Profesionales de Fajardo, entre otras.

El proyecto de ley ha recibido también el apoyo público de personalidades como el actor Benicio del Toro, los cantantes Andy Montañez y Modesto Cepeda, el abogado Robert F. Kennedy, hijo, el geomorfólogo José Molineli Freytes y entidades como la Diócesis de Caguas de la Iglesia Católica, y la Iglesia Evangélica Unida de Puerto Rico.

El área del Corredor se encuentra amenazada al presente por la propuesta construcción de los proyectos Dos Mares Marriott Resort y San Miguel Four Seasons Resort. Estos proyectos, según han denunciado expertos, agencias y miembros de la Coalición, destruirían la integridad ecológica del CEN, afectando así a numerosas especies en peligro de extinción, privatizarían terrenos públicos, limitarían el acceso público a las playas de esta zona y empeorarían gravemente el servicio de agua potable en la región noreste de la Isla.

Contactos:

Camilla Feibelman, Sierra Club: (787) 688-6214

Luis Jorge Rivera Herrera, IDS: (787) 460-8315

Etiquetas: ,

U.S. SPACE FIRST STRIKE PROGRAM WELL UNDERWAY

In the House of Representatives last week Democratic Party Congress members lead the way to approve money for Star Wars research and development programs in the fiscal year 2008 budget.

Rejecting the recommendations of a sub-committee, Representatives Ellen Tauscher (D-CA) and John Larson (D-CT) restored $150 million to Pentagon boost phase missile defense programs, $48 million for future missile defense systems, including space sensors, $12 million more for sea-based sensors and language to allow $160 million for a highly controversial European missile defense site.

Joyfully cheering these moves to ensure continuation of space weapons research and development programs, a pro-space warfare organization called Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance (MDAA) reported in an email that, "This shift of priorities from last week's initial Strategic Subcommittee's markup shows a bipartisan movement accepted by a Democratic Majority to put forward systems to address future threats and to continue to invest into our countries most advanced boost phase missile defense system, the Air Borne Laser. "

The MDAA is a very active proponent of space weapons technology development and is led by Riki Ellison, a former professional football player with the San Francisco 49ers. Ellison is particularly excited about the development of sea-based Aegis destroyers mounted with theatre missile defense systems that will be deployed in the Asian-Pacific region to surround China.

The Pentagon recently announced they would soon begin to build a missile defense base on Guam, a U.S. military colony now undergoing major expansion with new runways for advanced bombers, new deployments of cruise missiles, and 8,000 new troops relocated from Japan. Activists in Guam have been undertaking major organizing efforts to get the U.S. out of their nation - the U.S. military now controls more than 1/3 of the island.

Activists in Poland and the Czech Republic have also been very busy of late protesting the U.S. plan to put 10 missile defense interceptors in Poland and a new Star Wars radar facility in the Czech Republic. The Pentagon is saying these facilities would be used to protect Europe and the U.S. from a nuclear attack by Iran - which has no nuclear weapons today. But the truth is these bases, along with others planned in Georgia and Azerbaijan, will be used to tighten the military noose around Russia's neck as NATO and the U.S. military surround her.

Following an International Conference against the Militarization of Europe last week in Prague, a statement was released by the participants. It said, in part, that "We voice our protest against the plans of the Bush administration to install a 'national missile defense system' for the U.S. on the territory of the Czech Republic and Poland . Most people in the Czech Republic and Poland, as well as in the rest of Europe, reject plans to host this system. We reject the official reasons given for the NMD project as mere pretexts."

"The realisation of the U.S. plan will not lead to enhanced security. On the contrary - it will lead to new dangers and insecurities."

"Although it is described as 'defensive', in reality it will allow the United States to attack other countries without fear of retaliation. It will also put 'host' countries on the front line in future U.S. wars."

Disguised as "missile defense" the Pentagon's Star Wars program is all about offense and global control and domination. The planned deployments in Europe are just one more piece in the military space architecture that would give the U.S. "full spectrum dominance." Last October the Bush administration released its new National Space Policy that essentially gave the Pentagon a green light to move ahead with deployments of space war-fighting technologies.

The Air Force Space Command's Strategic Master Plan: FY06 and Beyond says, "Air Force Space Command will deploy a new generation of responsive space access, prompt global strike, and space superiority capabilities.....Our vision calls for prompt global strike space systems with the capability to directly apply force from or through space against terrestrial targets."

Russia and China understand that they are now viewed as the "enemy". A recent poll showed that 74% of the people in Russia have a "negative view of the U.S. missile defense system." On May 9 Russian President Vladimir Putin made a statement at a Victory Day parade on Red Square that left little doubt he was criticizing the United States for ''disrespect for human life, claims to global exclusiveness and dictate, just as it was in the time of the Third Reich.''

Following Putin's speech Sergei Markov, of the Moscow-based Institute for Political Research, expanded on the theme when he said, ''After the Cold War ended, the United States has initiated a new arms race,'' fueling nuclear ambitions of many nations worldwide.

''If a nation doesn't have nuclear weapons, it risks being bombed like Yugoslavia or Iraq,'' he said. ''And if it does have nuclear weapons like North Korea, it faces no such threat.''

Russia knows that U.S. deployments of missile defense systems are not intended to knock out Iranian nukes. Instead they are part of a U.S. first strike system now under development that is being supported by both Republican and Democrat party members of Congress.

In a recent article Conn Hallinan, an analyst for Foreign Policy in Focus, writes "Anti-ballistic missile systems (ABM) have a dark secret: They are not supposed to stop all-out missile attacks, just mop up the few retaliatory enemy missiles that manage to survive a first strike. First strikes - called 'counterpoint' attacks in bloodless vocabulary of nuclear war - are a central component in U.S. nuclear doctrine."

"If you are sitting in Moscow or Beijing and adding up the ABMs, the new warheads, and the growing ring of bases on your borders, you have little choice but to react. Imagine the U.S. response if the Russians and the Chinese were to deploy similar systems in Canada, Mexico and Cuba."

A new arms race is well underway with the U.S., once again, leading the pack. The aggressive first strike space domination program stands to benefit the weapons industry and global corporations who are now moving to extract diminishing supplies of oil and other precious resources around the world. The cost will be further expansion of a militarized society in the U.S., cutbacks in social spending worldwide, and more instability for the people of the world.

One key way to prevent this new arms race is to call upon the U.S. Congress to convert the growing military industrial complex to peaceful and environmentally sustainable production.

Republicans and Democrats now support the expansion of the U.S. military empire. Both parties must be challenged to give up dreams of American exceptionalism and global dominance. In order to make this happen the peace movement worldwide must challenge the growing corporate domination of our governments.

--
Bruce K. Gagnon
Coordinator
Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space
PO Box 652
Brunswick, ME 04011
(207) 443-9502
http://www.space4peace.org
globalnet@mindspring.com
http://space4peace.blogspot.com (our blog)

Etiquetas: ,