tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-42563352594359535062024-03-12T16:55:40.943-07:00Vortex-Ecokansekihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11418207668038332567noreply@blogger.comBlogger26125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4256335259435953506.post-19855017909671722842011-04-06T07:06:00.000-07:002011-04-06T07:06:45.379-07:00Na Floresta Brazil 2011<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">I know I have kind of lacked these days keeping up the blog. During the winter I spend two months visiting an eco-community way outback in Brazil -- double click some of the photos.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-w1HsN2Za0iI/TZpxBLks3GI/AAAAAAAAALM/m7hRyAWDZ6M/s1600/matutu2011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-w1HsN2Za0iI/TZpxBLks3GI/AAAAAAAAALM/m7hRyAWDZ6M/s320/matutu2011.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">mata atlantica</div></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GfHrUnHcKHY/TZpxXxOW16I/AAAAAAAAALQ/o7Mtsspi-S0/s1600/IMG_5705matutu+2011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GfHrUnHcKHY/TZpxXxOW16I/AAAAAAAAALQ/o7Mtsspi-S0/s320/IMG_5705matutu+2011.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">termite shaped h o r n o</div></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NgaX6G39H6w/TZpx9Au1x3I/AAAAAAAAALY/BoRUDz_HAHs/s1600/IMG_5567+matutu+2011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NgaX6G39H6w/TZpx9Au1x3I/AAAAAAAAALY/BoRUDz_HAHs/s320/IMG_5567+matutu+2011.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">together inoculating mushroom cultures : shitake &amp; oyster</div></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-43ScvCvcPSk/TZpxloCtvHI/AAAAAAAAALU/alpB-s_UXnw/s1600/IMG_5274+baking+in+brazil.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-43ScvCvcPSk/TZpxloCtvHI/AAAAAAAAALU/alpB-s_UXnw/s320/IMG_5274+baking+in+brazil.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">baking in sao paulo with claudio lorenzo at his masaria</div></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Y4hULTuW-m4/TZpyghhkZPI/AAAAAAAAALc/i2MubFIXaio/s1600/IMG_5493matutu+2011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Y4hULTuW-m4/TZpyghhkZPI/AAAAAAAAALc/i2MubFIXaio/s320/IMG_5493matutu+2011.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">before the rains came in from the amazon</div></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OsSuMI4SQ8g/TZpynVbW5hI/AAAAAAAAALg/RK_LBhrkzvI/s1600/IMG_5592matutu+2011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OsSuMI4SQ8g/TZpynVbW5hI/AAAAAAAAALg/RK_LBhrkzvI/s320/IMG_5592matutu+2011.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">horse finds shelter from the rain in the daime temple</div></td></tr>
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</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> Brazil exudes a kind of self-confidence these days, and people love ex president Lula. Why ?</div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Whereas in the USA, within the last eight years, 20 million people sank into abject poverty and the middle class is destroyed, and the "Uber class" has become even smaller and wealthier, in Brazil it can be argued that Lula is the most responsible person for lifting 20 million Brazileiros out of poverty --also within the last eight years.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><i>What a difference a mind makes....One Mind makes the difference....</i></div></div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ojnbFxUNvMI/TZp2zuZFttI/AAAAAAAAAMA/XBtO74Aypc4/s1600/matutu2011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ojnbFxUNvMI/TZp2zuZFttI/AAAAAAAAAMA/XBtO74Aypc4/s320/matutu2011.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">a new dawn in brazil</div></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0PALRZM354k/TZp2TYIjYiI/AAAAAAAAALk/ixJ7mVOZanw/s1600/IMG_5651matutu+2011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0PALRZM354k/TZp2TYIjYiI/AAAAAAAAALk/ixJ7mVOZanw/s320/IMG_5651matutu+2011.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">the auracaria that towers now....</div></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hwg6o6I46Os/TZp2VZTIvdI/AAAAAAAAALo/0ZRZNh9IUnw/s1600/IMG_5743matutu+2011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hwg6o6I46Os/TZp2VZTIvdI/AAAAAAAAALo/0ZRZNh9IUnw/s320/IMG_5743matutu+2011.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">was planted by the green man</div></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7kfihFsdm-M/TZp2WHJSfuI/AAAAAAAAALs/zkGFsI7RrTg/s1600/IMG_5923matut2011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7kfihFsdm-M/TZp2WHJSfuI/AAAAAAAAALs/zkGFsI7RrTg/s320/IMG_5923matut2011.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="240" /></a></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">creation: the oneness of water and spirit</div></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yCg8ixv6B4Y/TZp2aFSu_vI/AAAAAAAAAL0/XbTDvt15HHg/s1600/IMG_5988matutu+2011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yCg8ixv6B4Y/TZp2aFSu_vI/AAAAAAAAAL0/XbTDvt15HHg/s320/IMG_5988matutu+2011.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">the amazon rains have arrived...for days on end....</div></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-naYdjxmQVxM/TZp2oKFILkI/AAAAAAAAAL4/C_bARATq8Lg/s1600/IMG_6018matutu+2011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-naYdjxmQVxM/TZp2oKFILkI/AAAAAAAAAL4/C_bARATq8Lg/s320/IMG_6018matutu+2011.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">...ermaos...na floresta....</div></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1OCUi91up1g/TZp2WezSYcI/AAAAAAAAALw/ZImiy4SKlhI/s1600/IMG_5930matutu+2011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1OCUi91up1g/TZp2WezSYcI/AAAAAAAAALw/ZImiy4SKlhI/s320/IMG_5930matutu+2011.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">the night twilights...</div></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2wOc0GroCp8/TZp2t-NQhUI/AAAAAAAAAL8/MtZOUq29crM/s1600/IMG_6176matutu+2011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2wOc0GroCp8/TZp2t-NQhUI/AAAAAAAAAL8/MtZOUq29crM/s320/IMG_6176matutu+2011.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="320" /></a></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">and full moon nestles in auracaria tree</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">.....how blessed are we....</div></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> After coming back from Brazil, I noticed that the world had changed at jaw breaking speed. Everything is different now. I have found it hard to say anything about such a fluid situation, language falls short when events are moving so fast.... <i>as if the Entity at the End of Time is casting its shadows back in time.....</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">In the coming entires I will examine some of the profound developments in the Middle East and also in the Nuclear arena.</div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Things are shifting, we have to procure courage, and realize that there is a 'martial advantage' in <i>reading the signs</i>.</div></div><div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
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</div></div>kansekihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11418207668038332567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4256335259435953506.post-71049327934193389712010-04-13T10:27:00.000-07:002010-06-21T10:41:39.110-07:00Araucaria in Brazil: Ancient Trees for the Future<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/S8ShHtYnEkI/AAAAAAAAAZU/KqWCc0SmcIo/s1600/araucariafield.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/S8ShHtYnEkI/AAAAAAAAAZU/KqWCc0SmcIo/s640/araucariafield.jpg" width="360" /></a></div>Once, some 150 to 200 million years ago, Brazil was covered in Araucaria forests, and now only 2 % is left. Yet in the South of Brazil the Araucaria tree is playing a new role in reforestation of what was until recently pastureland mainly for cows. Along the roads, the Araucaria tree is being used as a soil stabilizer and as scout for newly colonizing forest vegetation and birds. It is fascinating that one of the older species of trees is now being used in these new strategies of '<a href="http://vortex.ecoversity.org/2009/04/brazil-agro-ecologia-de-montanha.html">Agro-ecologia de Montanha</a>'.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/S8SqXiMy4pI/AAAAAAAAAZk/xlFr4OV14vc/s1600/araucaria+petrified+cone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/S8SqXiMy4pI/AAAAAAAAAZk/xlFr4OV14vc/s320/araucaria+petrified+cone.jpg" /></a></div> <i>petrified Araucaria cones from a long long time ago</i><br /><br />You can see that this tree wanted to develop defenses against large herbivores such as the Argentino-Saurus living in the neighborhood and probably devouring everything in its way to sustain its 80 to 100 ton body. This is a nice example of what the Buddhist call "interdependent co-arising".<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/S8SXD8ruUEI/AAAAAAAAAY8/Rx5AI98EOOU/s1600/argentinosaurus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="130" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/S8SXD8ruUEI/AAAAAAAAAY8/Rx5AI98EOOU/s400/argentinosaurus.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/S8Sd3YV4GgI/AAAAAAAAAZE/-8Ot4WS_RjE/s1600/araucaria+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="128" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/S8Sd3YV4GgI/AAAAAAAAAZE/-8Ot4WS_RjE/s200/araucaria+2.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/S8SeZND-2XI/AAAAAAAAAZM/QrLMCwrMOLI/s1600/araucariastem.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/S8SeZND-2XI/AAAAAAAAAZM/QrLMCwrMOLI/s200/araucariastem.jpg" width="112" /></a>Not only are the 'leaves' sharp, the the actual trunk has also developed woody spikes to deter any easy munching. This is perhaps the reason why the tree is also known as the Monkey Puzzle tree -- even monkeys will have a hard time to scale this tree. Yet despite its obvious aggressive resistance to obliteration, this holdover from Jurassic times, is actually really generous.<br />Through its cones the Araucaria produces copious amounts of 'pinhao', kind of an edible pinion nut but about 5 times as big. This delicious and protein rich nut provides ample nutrition for animals and humans alike. If planted correctly ('up') with fresh pinhao, it will grow rapidly and is tolerant to high moisture conditions. This combo of aggressive defense and generousity has proven to be a worthy survival strategy for the Araucaria species --it is still around while the dinosaurs are long gone.<br />Within 20 years it will grow into a large tree, inviting so many other species to also colonize and inhabit a new area. Biodiversity is the key to survival.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/S8SlrBUUTJI/AAAAAAAAAZc/9EoehnmNrtQ/s1600/araucariapinion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="470" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/S8SlrBUUTJI/AAAAAAAAAZc/9EoehnmNrtQ/s640/araucariapinion.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>kansekihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11418207668038332567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4256335259435953506.post-37120998794360625492010-03-22T07:54:00.000-07:002010-06-21T10:41:39.114-07:00Dear Readers,<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_DaDyAZa_tas/S6eCqgb9fpI/AAAAAAAAABY/GBIHBzPBsss/s1600-h/Photo+1.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5451469540728602258" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_DaDyAZa_tas/S6eCqgb9fpI/AAAAAAAAABY/GBIHBzPBsss/s320/Photo+1.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 240px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a>Thank you for taking note of my writing. I cannot tell you what immeasurable pleasure it is to know that so many of you from all over the world are reading my work.</span><br /><div>Today I am off to Brazil, and I will document as much as possible --I am bringing my camera. I hope to publish some from there as well. Please also see <a href="http://kanseki-vortex.blogspot.com/">Vortex Politico</a> forthe most complete update (also my political entries) at all times. There is a link to that in the right hand column on this page or you can click <a href="http://kanseki-vortex.blogspot.com/">here.</a></div><div>To stay in close touch please consider being a follower of both blogs, you will be notified of new entries.</div><div><br /></div><div>Salut,</div><div>Willem Malten</div><div><br /><div><br /></div><div></div></div>kansekihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11418207668038332567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4256335259435953506.post-15829585674620325652010-03-21T13:41:00.000-07:002011-04-11T21:29:57.134-07:00The New Tower of Babel (under construction)<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica, serif; font-size: 16px;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_DaDyAZa_tas/S6W9gdvxSqI/AAAAAAAAAAw/5HrYVMeU7QA/s1600-h/labuilding.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5450971289440307874" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_DaDyAZa_tas/S6W9gdvxSqI/AAAAAAAAAAw/5HrYVMeU7QA/s320/labuilding.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 206px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a></span><br /><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica;"><blockquote type="cite"><div style="-webkit-line-break: after-white-space; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; word-wrap: break-word;"><div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">There is a new monument being built in New Mexico that will be on par with the Taj Mahal, as the spokeswoman of NM senator Jeff Bingaman announced. It is called the CMRR and it will be coming to our neighborhood soon in so many ways...</div><div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">This project, gone largely unnoticed by the public and national media, would require 24.000 cement trucks to careen up “the hill” (Los Alamos) to dump their precious and carbon intensive rare cement earth mixtures to erect a very specialized edifice of worship, able to withstand a magnitude 7 earthquake right under its footings. <i>Or an incoming missile for that matter.</i></span></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Though its secretive mission seems to be a mystery to all, yet in a kind of religious frenzy no talent nor sacrifice will be spared for its creation. The initial costs were estimated to be about 600 million, but that was just a start. After consultation with the ‘higher priesthood’ in Washington in concert with their corporate sponsors (Bechtel in particular) cost estimates have skyrocketed to about 4.5 billion going on 5 billion, outdating all previous NEPA studies and Environmental Impact Statements, -- and yet those costs may still just be a<i> start.</i> As of now that one LANL (Los Alamos National Laboratory) assembly is estimated to cost about 6 times the Golden Gate Bridge. Completion date is projected somewhere deep into the future -- opening not before 2022.</span></div></div></div></div></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><div style="-webkit-line-break: after-white-space; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; word-wrap: break-word;"><div><div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">The exact role CMRR may play is veiled in the fog of Kafka-esque political maneuvering -- to hide its true purpose to commoners and nations alike. <i>After all, it is meant to only serve a small elite of insiders, who can truly fathom the essence of its nihilistic Thanatos worship, and control its bitter fruits.</i></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Once completed, the new building with the acronym CMRR (</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; text-decoration: underline;">Chemistry Metallurgy Research Replacement )</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> will be a blunt boxed monstrosity devoid of any imagination. Though, as I mentioned, compared by the spokeswoman of senator Jeff Bingaman to the Taj Mahal, it will actually be a basic bunker about 10 times the size of a large supermarket or 270.000 sq. feet. Mostly this space is taken up by large vaults, utilities ( no less than 71.500 sq. feet of <i>utilities</i>) and walls, but there remains a small inner sanctum for the priesthood of nuclear weapon development. About 8% of the total foot print or 22.500 sq. feet will be dedicated to highly secretive plutonium laboratories.</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div></div></div></div></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><div style="-webkit-line-break: after-white-space; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; word-wrap: break-word;"><div><div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 14px;">This stark isolation is meant to provide a conducive environment for a new generation of <i>weaponeers</i>, who are encouraged to do their black magic, and visualize new strategic uses for new designer nuclear weapons..... smaller, with multiple warheads and more accurate targeting, new delivery systems, deeper penetrating, etc., etc..</div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">The CMRR is rapidly becoming </span><span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Futura; letter-spacing: 0px;"><i>the</i></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> bargaining chip for signing on to the CTBT (Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty). <i>What a terrible price to pay for a largely symbolic treaty, that already has been signed and endorsed by the chief executive branch (Clinton).</i></span></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Obama’s solemn declarations about a nuclear free world in Prague will soon begin to sound hollow. This late spring, during a fresh round of the NPT (Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty) hearings at the UN in New York, representatives from all over will start hearing about the newly planned CMRR, <i>the largest new investment in nuclear weapons worldwide</i>. American citizens too will start to question how come, in this time of restraint for most ordinary citizens, this time of pressing priorities of job creation, global warming and green conversion, etc. etc.....how come, the Nuclear Weapon Laboratory (LANL) can count on a 22 % budget increase, primarily to fund the CMRR ? <i>What is the logic?</i></span></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 14px;">Regardless the possibility of scaling down the quantities of weapons in the arsenal and regardless of the possible signing of the CTBT, the message that America sends with the construction of the CMRR is clear: the CMRR allows the production of new types of nuclear weapons through pit production of 80 up to a maximum capacity 200 per year<i>. That is a clear message. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">The go-ahead of the CMRR building sends a strong signal about the depth of commitment the USA will have to a nuclear weapon future, where nuclear weapons will still be the very spear point of global super power. This is exactly what CMRR is intended to do militarily: <i>spread fear and thus destabilize</i>.</span></i></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Locally for New Mexico, the enlarged and ever increasing scope and costs of the CMRR project requires a whole new NEPA study and environmental impact statement. New elements in the design have come forward that will impact the whole region, and haven’t been examined properly or not at all. The climatological impact of CMRR will likely involve certain environmental laws that prohibit its progress.</span></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Any political and diplomatic advantage that may come from building <i>down</i> the nuclear arsenal to let’s say 311 nuclear warheads, as was recently proposed by some prominent US Air-force strategists would dissipate in light of the very existence and capacity of the CMRR facility. Building the CMRR would not just damage the reputation of Obama, it would damage the credibility of the US and its role in the world. Perhaps most importantly, it would damage a growing military chorus that wants to adopt a strategy of increased security through non-proliferation, and a de-emphasis of the role of nuclear weapons. CMRR is the opposite of that approach. It is the incarnation of everything that is wrong with continued proliferation and the societal detriment and sacrifice that it brings. <i>This will be a church to the “Idol </i>of <i>Hubris".</i></span></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><i>There is a whole host of questions surrounding the CMRR project, but most importantly, its mission itself needs to be clarified.</i></span></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><i>The tower of Babel, was never completed because the builders became so confused about its purpose that they could no longer understand each other. They became scattered all over.</i></span></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><i>That, I predict to you, is the most likely fate of the CMRR. It will never be completed......</i></span></div></div></div></div></blockquote><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br /></div></span></div>kansekihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11418207668038332567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4256335259435953506.post-23492778247551697902010-02-24T22:41:00.000-08:002010-06-21T10:41:39.125-07:00Silence in the SnowI was standing on the roof of my bakery in Santa Fe as I saw a man approaching in the snow, dressed in a long black robe, a little black cap with a red cross embroidered on it. Long white beard, old, but obviously full of live/light. After I had descended from a narrow and long ladder, I learned that his name was Father Elias, living as a hermit of a Greek Orthodox Monastery in Northern New Mexico, south of Abiquiu lake.<br /><br />He was collecting some of the day old Cloud Cliff bread, <i>even monks go hungry these days</i>...I gave him what was on hand, and then he asked me for a little bit of the sourdough 'mama' culture from which all the Cloud Cliff artisano nativo breads come forth. The sourdough culture is about 35 years old now, and it goes back to my own days living as a lay monk in the Tassajara Zen Monastery, the place where I started to understand bread baking. Without further thinking I gave him some of the sticky and moist live mother dough.<br /><br />A few days later I started to worry. In a way, a 'self-made' healthy sourdough culture consisting of at least 5 different micro-organisms (some say it is more like a hundred or so), that lives on for many years (as long as it is nourished properly) is the most prized possession for a baker. Inadvertent destruction of the culture is nothing less than a disaster.<br /><br />I wanted to make sure that my brief instructions for the care of the mother dough, the <i>'Levain', en francais, </i>were clear enough, so I tried to call Father Elias, and when that was unsuccessful, I impulsively announced that I would make the trip up North and bring some supplies for baking bread, in particular rye, and of course, <i>inspect the mother dough</i>.<br /><br />Shortly after I arrived at the tiny Greek Orthodox chapel --about 2 hours north of Santa Fe in an intimate New Mexican valley with a year round river, Indian ruins, cattle and forests -- it began snowing..... <i>hard</i>.<br />Meanwhile in the comfortable guest kitchen, Father Elias and Father Cristian, and myself were addressing the fine points of bread baking. In a glass jar, the sourdough mama seemed happy, bubbly and very alive. I had been worried for nothing.<br /><br />My car couldn't make it out somehow -- it just went up a little ways on this frozen incline and then it would slide backwards, towards the monastery entrance. There were a few other distractions that I won't go into here, but to make a long story short.... I got stuck two days.<br /><br />Over time I gathered all kinds of excuses.... to see some beautiful Greek Orthodox Icons and to find silence in the snow.<br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/L9xNk_fxztg&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/L9xNk_fxztg&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>kansekihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11418207668038332567noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4256335259435953506.post-20654497415740549632010-02-06T11:55:00.000-08:002011-04-11T21:29:57.141-07:00<a name='more'></a>kansekihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11418207668038332567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4256335259435953506.post-41638326710414585892010-01-28T07:36:00.000-08:002010-06-21T10:41:39.133-07:00Coral: Bones of the OceanStay Posted, I will do some entries about my experiences on the Heraclitus Explorer Ship in the Carribean soon.<br /><br />I found some coral on an island beach (Mustique) and was fascinated by its structures. I took a series of photographs of the inner stuctures of coral with up to 200 times magnification. Corals are the bones of the ocean: they give shape to habitat for so many diverse species.....like trees...<br /><br />Oh Oh, a lot of <span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgellons">Morgellons</a> </span>here --whatever they may be... look for them on the close ups: they look like hairs, long fibrous strands of filament, sometimes black, sometimes white, or even rust colored. It is very unlikely that my samples here were contaminated by hairs --so what are they?</span><br /><span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">I found these filaments as well in the closeups of my mycelium and mushroom footage. Any ideas ? </span><br /><span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">Let me know.</span><br /><span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"></span><br /><h1 class="firstHeading" id="firstHeading" style="-webkit-background-clip: initial; -webkit-background-origin: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: black; font-size: 24px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0.5em;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;">I used a rare track by Madredeus --enjoy!</span></h1><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/1RhUjbbf7ws&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/1RhUjbbf7ws&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>kansekihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11418207668038332567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4256335259435953506.post-25952730955869443042010-01-26T23:09:00.000-08:002010-06-21T10:41:39.137-07:00Haiti on my Mind 2: The Future<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times Roman', serif;">--Re-establish <b>flour mill</b> in Haiti, owned by the people of Haiti (state)</span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times Roman', serif;">--Establish local <b>state bank</b> (how ? all salaries first go into this bank) </span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times Roman', serif;">--Re-institute <b>grain and rice growing and re-invest in rural infrastructure</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times Roman', serif;">--Study local and other Carribean island traditions. attain <b>food self sufficiency</b> within 5 years</span><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">--Re-vitalize <b>local grain production,</b> and bakery/tortilla processing locations, at least one per 75.000 people<br />--Impose <b>tarrifs on imported foods</b> which will provide the taxbase and stimulus for local growing.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">--Start <b>re-forestation</b> programs, establish <b>water catchments</b> and 'condense rain' curtains in the mountainous areas. Employment/school tree planting programs.<br /><i> <span style="font-style: normal;">--Form <b>alliances</b> on healthcare and energy with immediate neighbors, </span></i><br /><i><span style="font-style: normal;">including Cuba (doctors) and Venezuela (cheap energy).</span></i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">--<b>Architecture</b>: forget about concrete, whether imported or local, from now on, start growing building materials. Bamboo is relatively quick.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">--Introduce technologies for <b>solar cooking</b> and <b>pv </b>decentralized energy production.<br />--Establish a government of the people, for the people, by the people</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Pressure other governments, the French and US in particular, for some kind of historical reparations that can then be used in large scale environmental improvement and economic self sustainability. Resist further economic colonization.</span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/S2BlQSe7X7I/AAAAAAAAAYA/6y_oariejwQ/s1600-h/haiti.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="260" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/S2BlQSe7X7I/AAAAAAAAAYA/6y_oariejwQ/s400/haiti.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Of course nothing can happen until the immediate suffering is alleviated. Our thoughts are with the doctors, the nurses, the Hatian people..... and all the ones that are distributing food and hauling water.....hats off.....</div>kansekihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11418207668038332567noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4256335259435953506.post-5261777214750503602010-01-26T22:47:00.000-08:002010-06-21T10:41:39.140-07:00Haiti on my Mind<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 21px;"><i><span style="color: white;">"It's not culture or curse, but a difficult history of occupation </span></i></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 21px;"><i><span style="color: white;">and environmental degradation that explain the country's woes".</span></i></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/S1_fp13enFI/AAAAAAAAAXo/FMPhyjKEfh0/s1600-h/mudcakes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/S1_fp13enFI/AAAAAAAAAXo/FMPhyjKEfh0/s400/mudcakes.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: italic; line-height: 21px;"><span style="color: white;">woman 'baking' mud cookies to still the sense of hunger...this practice has been happening for a long time already</span></span><br /><span style="color: #393733; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 21px;"><i><br /></i></span></span></div>Haiti is on my mind.....in so many ways it is a test for our civilization. Are we still able to <i>'put things back together?'</i><br />The history of colonial dominance shows itself now even in the approach to so-called assistance. Never looked assistance so much like an <a href="http://www.democracynow.org/2010/1/22/security_red_zones_in_haiti_preventing">invasion with soldiers</a>.... carrying the guns but unable to "<i>deliver the gauze</i>", as one Haitian doctor said.<br />The desperate but non-violent Haitians are being thrown bread from helicopters. They feel humiliated once more. Many are going hungry now. No search and rescue equipment was delivered to the communities, let alone doctors, anesthesia and such. Bare hands are not enough to remove tons of concrete, bare hands are not enough to amputate limbs. The stench of death must be unbearable by now.<br /><br />Once the dust of the concrete settles, which may take a long time, it will be time to take a hard look at Haiti's history, and try to understand how it became so vulnerable and so poor starting with the land itself: when you look up Haiti and the Dominican Republic on Google Earth, the first thing that strikes you is the border: On the West side, Haiti is brown mostly(=desertification) while the East of the island the Dominican republic is green (=trees). Why is this ?<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/S1zfQALC6OI/AAAAAAAAAXQ/bSUBHKDkW1U/s1600-h/kim_ives.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/S1zfQALC6OI/AAAAAAAAAXQ/bSUBHKDkW1U/s320/kim_ives.jpg" /></a></div><span style="color: #393733; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/ives11242006.html">Kim Ives</a>,</span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white;"> who writes for Haiti Liberte, sums up Haiti's history with brevety and insight: </span></span><br /><span style="color: white;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><i><span style="color: white;">"We can say, first of all, there was the case of the two coups d’états held in the space of thirteen years, in ’91 and 2004, which were backed by the United States. They put in their own client regimes, which the Haitian people chased out of power. But these coups d’états and subsequent occupations, foreign military occupations, in a country whose constitution forbids that, were fundamentally destructive, not just to the national government and its national programs, but also to the local governments or the parliaments, the mayors’ offices and also the local assemblies, which would elect a permanent electoral council. That permanent electoral council has never been made—it’s a provisional—and hence Préval, and just before the earthquake, was running roughshod over popular democracy by putting his own electoral council in place, provisional, and they were bringing him and his party to domination of the political scene.<br />And Aristide, in both cases, was taken from Haiti, essentially by US forces, both times. The first time he ended up spending it in Washington, but now he’s presently in South Africa, where he’s been for these past six years.<br /><br />But along with this political—these political earthquakes carried out by Washington were the economic earthquakes, the US policy that they wanted to see in place, because Aristide’s government had a fundamentally nationalist orientation, which was looking to build the national self-sufficiency of the country, but Washington would have none of it. They wanted the nine principal state publicly owned industries privatized, to be sold to US and foreign investors.<br /><br />So, about twelve years ago under the first administration of René Préval, they privatized the Minoterie d’Haiti and Ciment d’Haiti, the flour mill, the state flour mill, and the state cement company. Now, for flour, obviously, you have a hungry, needy population. You can imagine if the state had a robust flour mill where it could distribute flour to the people so they could have bread. That was sold to a company of which Henry Kissinger was a board member. And very quickly, that flour mill was closed. Haiti now has no flour mill, not private or public." </span> </i> </span><br /><span style="color: #393733; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><i><br /></i></span></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/S1_hW3hh-II/AAAAAAAAAXw/aIcKRUluQ5o/s1600-h/mill.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/S1_hW3hh-II/AAAAAAAAAXw/aIcKRUluQ5o/s320/mill.jpg" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;">Closing the local flour mill...?? As a baker I am of course appalled....but...what a masterful capitalist move --truly worthy of Kissinger's international insight and statesmanship. Of course it forced the Haitians to buy flour from overseas (</span><i><span style="color: white;">guess where & from whom</span></i><span style="color: white;">?) and destroyed the local market for grains and farming. </span><i><span style="color: white;">This story is happening all over the world now and it is leading to hunger and unbearable conditions.<span style="color: #393733; font-style: normal;"><span style="color: white;"> Then when globalization has taken foothold and infected the nation, food-prices go up and the countries such as Haiti have become totally dependent and thus vulnerable to further disempowerment. Even leading to </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnklOtfJRSE"><span style="color: orange;">slavery</span></a><span style="color: white;"> conditions.</span></span></span></i></span><br /><span style="color: #393733; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"></span><br /><span style="color: #393733; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"></span><br /><span style="color: #393733; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"></span><br /><span style="color: #393733; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="color: white;">The empire behaves most despicable in the face of the powerless. I guess that is the worst consequence of a culture of torture, war and meaningless violence. A culture of torture and violent mind programming disables people (and possibly whole new generations) to respond in an appropriate manner to emergencies. People call for bread --governments will deliver bullets --it is that dysfunctional.</span><br /><span style="color: white;"><br /></span><br /><span style="color: white;">Just as happens elsewhere, the Haitian peasant majority was the first casualty of globalization.</span></div></span><br /> The heart of the problem of course is a type of 'agricultural' shock doctrine (to apply Naomi Klein's thoughts): First one undermines the rural economy, by offering cheap imports of large quantities of staples. Then, as the local economy weakens, try to destroy local infrastructure and resources, such as mills, bakeries, storehouses, etc. Give emergency handouts of food aid, so that local farming looses incentive......etc. Such destruction of a vital agricultural community and economy, also leads to a movement of populations to the cities ("<i>where the food is</i>") for work --of course leading to cheap labor conditions.<br />Now when you look at what Bill Moyers says the whole economic picture becomes clear:<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/S1_kxD-4jyI/AAAAAAAAAX4/uGxfjlLgleQ/s1600-h/images-4.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/S1_kxD-4jyI/AAAAAAAAAX4/uGxfjlLgleQ/s320/images-4.jpeg" /></a></div>Every<span style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;"> president from Ronald Reagan forward has embraced the corporate search for cheap labor. That has meant rewards for Haiti's upper class while ordinary people were pushed further and further into squalor. Haitian contractors producing Mickey Mouse and Pocahontas pajamas for American companies under license with the Walt Disney Company paid their sweat shop workers as little as one dollar a day, while women sewing dresses for K-Mart earned eleven cents an hour. A report by the National Labor Committee found Haitian women who had worked 50 days straight, up to 70 hours a week, without a day off. If that doesn't impact the tradition of child rearing and lead to social distrust, I don't know what will.</span><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">for more: <a href="http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/01222010/watch3.html">http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/01222010/watch3.html</a></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is what happened to <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttqexOlqhWM">Haiti</a>. Plus the wrath of nature in the form of 4 mayor Hurricanes.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We need to stay involved with the fate of the Haitian people. This earthquake may provide new opportunities for corporate colonialism --<i>w</i><i>e need to help our Haitian brothers and sisters to resist</i>. </span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The shock policies are similar all over the world: corporatize food production, start increasing prices by introducing scarcity and privatize water. I<i>t is happening in your community too.</i></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The kind of massing of poor people in this case to Port-au-Prince, with disregard of their self sufficiency and food security, an urban/rural nexus imbalance, and a warehousing the Haitian people in shoddy concrete (imported by now as well) construction, have sadly contributed to the enormous losses of live and tragic injuries. Many urban <a href="http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=AlJazeeraEnglish#p/u/47/hizPjsM8Iww">Haitians now are returning</a> to a totally impoverished country side: even though there is hardly any food left there either, it is better there than trying to stick it out in the capital Port-au-Prince, where the most basic conditions for survival are now collapsing.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Even now people are dying from <a href="http://www.democracynow.org/2010/1/22/t_trembl_journey_to_the_epicenter">hunger or infections</a> associated with gangrene, a poisoning of a patient through the lack antibiotic or surgical treatment of crushed bones. I hear that more than 7 thousand American Nurses have signed up to volunteer in Haiti, yet the <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_14199900?nclick_check=1">National Nurses United</a>, a national union, has not been able to get through to the White House in order to prioritize them and arrange (likely military) transportation. What is wrong with this picture ? <span style="font-size: small;">(listen to </span><a href="http://www.democracynow.org/2010/1/26/michael_moore_on_haiti_the_supreme"><span style="font-size: small;">Michael Moore</span></a><span style="font-size: small;">)</span><span style="font-family: Times, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>To all of you who are out there on the line trying to make a real difference in Haiti. </i></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>History is about people like you and the people you are serving.</i></span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Times, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: italic;">As usual the best quick current education on Haiti comes from Amy Goodman and Democracy Now. Here are some links</span></div></div><span style="font-family: Times, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i></i></span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i></i></span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i></i></span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i></i></span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i></i></span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i></i></span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">On the situation, militarization, realities and history of Haiti: <a href="http://www.democracynow.org/2010/1/20/journalist_kim_ives_on_how_decades">http://www.democracynow.org/2010/1/20/journalist_kim_ives_on_how_decades</a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.democracynow.org/2010/1/22/security_red_zones_in_haiti_preventing">http://www.democracynow.org/2010/1/22/security_red_zones_in_haiti_preventing</a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.democracynow.org/2010/1/22/t_trembl_journey_to_the_epicenter">http://www.democracynow.org/2010/1/22/t_trembl_journey_to_the_epicenter</a></div></i></span>kansekihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11418207668038332567noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4256335259435953506.post-62045755966903671662009-12-20T17:58:00.000-08:002010-06-21T10:41:39.144-07:00Xmas 2009: We are cut from one SpiritI am sitting at the edge of Junin Pablo, a small tribal Shipibo village, 700 souls, way deep into the rainforest of Peru. There are no roads leading to Junin Pablo, everything travels by boat or an occasional missionary water plane. It is hot and humid, and it is easy to fall into a reverie listening to all the exotic sounds and bird cries.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/Sy6UXgChTVI/AAAAAAAAAWw/8R1nTf6-C5E/s1600-h/DSC00252.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/Sy6UXgChTVI/AAAAAAAAAWw/8R1nTf6-C5E/s320/DSC00252.JPG" /></a><br /></div>Some Shipibo children enter my slow day dream, their voices quiet and curious. They look with large questioning and loving eyes, they touch with small and shy chuckles.....<i>my blond hair is still a novelty</i>.<br /><br />They don't even fathom how they are bestowing gift upon gift so freely, every smile penetrating into the convoluted web of damaged relationships that is <i>me</i>, and slowly putting me back together, healing me inside. Forced to understand my humanity <i>in their light</i>, despite of being white, despite being born into privilege compared to them, <i>suddenly</i> I realize that my wholeness depends upon my capacity to identify with them --not just in <i>this</i> moment, but in one's actions, in one's practice. Compassion, equality, communion, even enlightenment, they are just words, unless they are practiced -- they require bringing awareness to our way of live, our investments, our consumption, our (political) choices--<i>our every move, </i>and understand our impact on the global system.<br /><br />If you are a buddhist, or if you want to walk any spiritual path for that matter, <i>now</i> is the time to realize that the children of the 3rd world, the poorest of the poor, are our teachers, and <i>'letting go'</i> must be our path. As my dharma brother Baker Roshi once said in a lucid moment:"....<i>detachment is our biggest gift</i>....". We have to let go of what we are supposed to be (<i>our families expectations and the endless barrage of media imagery and propaganda telling us who we are supposed to be)</i>, to become <i>who we are</i>. We are not the selfish, diminished, damaged charicatures that inhabit the census of capitalist' relations and the scorecard of rich versus poor. We are far more than that --we are equal humans beings, born naked on this earth, and paradoxically, we need each other to fully manifest ourselves. We are cut from one spirit and we breath the same air.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/Sy6W30EFHAI/AAAAAAAAAW4/CgnicxlbEwY/s1600-h/junin+pablo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/Sy6W30EFHAI/AAAAAAAAAW4/CgnicxlbEwY/s320/junin+pablo.jpg" /></a><br /></div>My attention turns back to the children. They embark a hollowed out tree trunk to go fishing in their still pristine lake, a far branch of what eventually becomes the great Amazon. In the current scheme of things:<br /><br /><i>At best their land will be monetized as a carbon off-set (so that someone else can pollute elsewhere) - at worst their lake will become another oil well. In either case they may have to move. This is the reality of one dimensional Capitalism.</i><br /><i><br /></i><br />These Shipibo children don't know that their fate is decided in Washington and in Wallstreet and in the offices of Climate Negotiations on Cap and Trade, such as just happened in Copenhagen. Their fate depends on how we in the developed world see ourselves....our willingness to share the earth's abundance realistically. That was really what was on the table in Copenhagen. We need to evaluate what these children are offering us, <i>without exacting a price, fiscally or in climate debt. </i>I am not talking just in economic terms here: They are the link to our original humanity, our authentic being, they are the caretakers of the forest, <i>the garden</i>. Tell me, at this point: what is that worth ?<br /><br />And there is one more thing I want to say. People in the developed world often think that ultimately our problem is one of overpopulation --and<i> who can't agree that there are too many of us</i> ? Yet I would like to bring some sophistication to this notion.<br />As I mentioned before, Junin Pablo, the village deep in the Peruvian Amazon counts about 700 Shipibo and probably over 40% of those are children, at least 300 or so. The Shaman himself has at least 7 we know of. The Shipibo still enjoy making children (and no condoms around) and see children as the ultimate gift of Patcha Mama, the <i>green, breathing & damp, pulsating and undulating, the hot moist 'Ronin Dragone', the magical snake singing everything into existence.</i><br /><br />That is Great ! But looking at that a little longer we sober Dutch folk say:"WAIT ....that is too many children --that is bad for the future of our planet.." And that is true too.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/Sy7IWCscVkI/AAAAAAAAAXI/xKsjOsrRcfQ/s1600-h/IMG_0703.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/Sy7IWCscVkI/AAAAAAAAAXI/xKsjOsrRcfQ/s320/IMG_0703.JPG" /></a><br /></div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/Sy7HCvw73hI/AAAAAAAAAXA/4MI1sUTLXDs/s1600-h/katya.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/Sy7HCvw73hI/AAAAAAAAAXA/4MI1sUTLXDs/s200/katya.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <i> Katya in the rain forest</i><br /><br /><i>Bon visiting her chinese friend Bobo with Bobo's</i><br /><i>Dutch mother Suzan in Amsterdam</i><br /><br />I think back of that moment in the forest, closing in on the faces of the Shipibo jungle children and then my own <i>one</i> daughter comes into focus. See how responsible ? -- I don't have 7 children --only one. She just turned 16 now.<br />Like all other parents we have tried to give our child the best. In her case that means that she has attended private and special education and has already travelled in Asia, Europe, Mexico and within the US itself with extensive stays in the Netherlands, in Bali, in France, Italy, Nepal, Mexico, Japan, New York, California, etc. All meant to give her a <i>global awareness</i>.<br /><br />Then there is an even more sobering thought: my own one daughter whom I love and adore, already used up more resources, more 'carbon credits' --then all the children in that Shipibo village Junin Pablo will most likely use over their whole live times combined. <i>And I am not even talking about myself and my carbon footprint....</i><br /><br />What I am trying to get at here, is that it is not just a question of climate change or overpopulation or carbon. What humanity is facing is a question of justice and equality and <i>solidarity</i>. That involves all of us. It actually does....question the American way of live... and that should be on the table....<br /><br />This is my Xmas message 2009 and my wish for 2010: <i> Happiness to all</i>,<br />Willem Malten<br /><br />Here are some videos with the Shipibo kids. In the first clip you'll see their Junin Pablo school with shaman Pancho Mahua thinking aloud about the role of Shipibo traditions and language in modern education and in the second one, our young friends go fishing in their abundant lake.<br />By the way --if you double click the pictures above (or anywhere in the vortex blog) they will enlarge. <i>Enjoy</i>.<br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/SduZmYvy900&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/SduZmYvy900&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/bSKghFvcWF0&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/bSKghFvcWF0&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>kansekihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11418207668038332567noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4256335259435953506.post-79905423679398738512009-12-11T23:39:00.000-08:002010-06-21T10:41:39.148-07:00Copenhagen: Great Danger/The Plan....<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A very dangerous gordian knot</span><span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> of illusions, expectations and emergencies</span><span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; white-space: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> is quickly <span style="font-family: Times;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">developing in Copenhagen. It is becoming clear that the developed nations are not willing to commit to what is needed both in ecological terms and in terms of global justice and equality. The Americans are willing to commit to a 17 % reduction over the 2005 levels. It is like a bad joke, or worse a slap in the face of the vulnerable. They are the politics of genocide by starvation.</span></span></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; white-space: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-family: Times;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">On the other hand there are the poorer nations and their representatives who think this may be their moment, now or never. They think </span><i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">the rich are still rich and Obama is a cool guy</span></i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">, and they are willing to fight for a real commitment. But the cards are stacked against them. Increasingly they have only a few tools left: civil unrest and demonstrations is one of them as evidenced in Copenhagen, but also in the more spontaneous and unpredictable food riots that have happened in the last few years. </span></span></span></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />Once more some of the developed nations made a secret attempt to circumvent the international forum of Copenhagen (and the Kyoto Protocol). A memo was leaked out that indicates that the US, Great Britain, Denmark and others, agreed on (weak) emission standards for themselves, and make a 'grand' gesture of $10 billion dollar pe<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">r year in wealth transference to make up for the climate harm done mainly to developing poor nations. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The implication in this leaked <a href="http://www.democracynow.org/2009/12/9/this_text_is_an_extremely_dangerous">memo</a> is that inequality will be institutionalized, with people in the developed nations being able to consume twice as much energy than people in the developing nations, with poor nations expected to make the sacrifice.....this is a question of </span><i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">power</span></i><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. Obama will try spin this laughable farce as a victory when he finally arrives in Copenhagen......this is plan B......</span><br /><br />The expectations of the developing countries and continents are so much higher. Why ? Because they have to deal with the immediacy of the global climate crisis and poverty all at the same time. Crisis are everywhere you look: Sub-sahara, Maldives, Philippines, Mekong Delta, Syria, the Amazon, <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/34416307#34417933">Bangla Desh</a>, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=AlJazeeraEnglish#p/u/3/3NevSJvphZw">Borneo</a> -- one way or another all these areas and so many others are suffering from Global Weir-ding.... The Erratic Times.....Or as Vandana Shiva calls it "<i><b>Climate Instability</b></i>". Millions are on the run from hunger and desperation.<br /><br />Unfortunately these emergencies are rarely seen and remain unacknowledged in the American Media and politics. Any deeper analysis of the 'Gestalt' of climate change -- <a href="http://vortex.ecoversity.org/2009/10/droughts-and-floods-face-of-climate.html">droughts followed by floods</a>-- is simply missing. People in America have to start speaking louder in solidarity with the poor and alleviate poverty and hunger.<br /><br />What perhaps a lot of the delegates from the developing nations in Copenhagen don't realize is that Poverty and hunger are not just their fate. In the USA which still calls itself the richest nation on earth, there is a growing gap between "haves" and "have-nots". The "North and South" divide is happening within America itself, with fifty million people suffering from hunger at times here, including 18 million children.<br /><br />Meanwhile the government is financing it deficits and its bank buddies by printing money, some of it reluctantly underwritten by China....I say to the delegates in Copenhagen: you can do that yourself --print money all you want! I don't want sound cynical, what I mean is this: Don't count on America to make any significant contribution --the value of money either comes from gold, from real economic activity or.....from <i>military power</i>. America is a military power financed by borrowed foreign money and an absolute need to control resources for its insatiable appetite --the spiral of debt and military aggression is rooted here. The US feels vulnerable because it is.....It realizes, perhaps more than the rest of the world, that it has become what Mao called <i>a paper tiger,</i> more than ever before.<br /><br />My recommendation is this: If the developing nations want a change in attitudes, they should strategize as an economic force. Hire a guy like <a href="http://maxkeiser.com/">Max Keiser</a>, economist extraordinaire with lots of experience in Wallstreet itself, as consultant and get to work. The developed world needs the poor for all kinds of reasons I don't want to go into here. But trust me --in this situation there is all kinds of leverage ! It is like a house of cards. How did Jesus say it again about the <i>"first"</i> and the <i>"last"</i> ?<br /><br />For now, with the economy in shambles, Obama has put all his eggs in the basket of military power and Wallstreet War profiteers, and goes all the way to Oslo to pontificate <i>not</i> about peace --but about <i>just war</i>. To my ears, Obama's words never sounded more hollow or Orwellian, and I hope that, after study of the facts, the Nobel committee will see the gravity of devaluating the Nobel Peace price by prematurely awarding it to Obama, and call him loudly on his mistakes and if necessary, take away his price. Things of that magnitude, The Nobel Peace Price, have to have meaning....<br /><br />It is no wonder that Cap and Trade is the preferred option for the developed world. Cap and trade monetizes the Climate, and capital interests will see opportunities to make money --but this model doesn't do anything for the understanding of the real issues here.....the fulcrum of pollution, consumption, inequality and their relationship to environmental degradation (and vice versa). Climate change and it devastating economic impact, already is the primal cause of conflict. Access to water is in dispute everywhere --most likely even in your own city or state, and certainly between nations. To think that one can just walk away from Copenhagen without taking responsibility for the ensuing unravelling of civilization is naive.<br /><br />The delegates of the developing nations want results: commitments on "climate debt", commitments on reparations and the financing of a green leap frog development program that puts developing nations on the very vanguard of new green technologies. Ten billion will not do that:"<i>it will not be enough to pay for the coffins that will be necessary"</i>, as one of the African delegates remarked. They had been thinking that minimally 195 billion per year will do the trick. A sum like that could actually easily be raised in a very simple and effective manner, and here is the <i>idea</i>:<br /><b><br /></b><br /><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><b>Tax Carbon (gaz, coal, oil) at every stage it changes hands. And tax the oil companies and end-consumer most. Put these funds coming mainly from the consuming nations -- the rich-- into an internationally administrated fund dominated by the interests of developing nations. The fund will provide for an equitable transference of wealth through restauration, conservation, and reparation of the natural world and the human habitat within it. It will address the needs of the many --not the few. </b></span></span><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;"></span>(<i>I don't know who could run such a fund, I would like to think it is the UN</i>).<br /><br />Technologies, and leap frog development into a green transformation of energy and sustainable agriculture practices, water management, etc., employing many -- they all need to come from this fund. The management of this huge fund will aspire to the values of equality and justice throughout, and its sole task is to make immediate investments on the local level in local communities --globally. The fund will dedicate its work to the 7 generations to come.<br /><br />The responsibilities here would be awesome. We will be forced to widen our focus and invite religious principles here to avoid widespread conflict and lift the whole impasse out of its confinements. True religious leaders of all kinds should have a role in the vision of a <i>good live</i> for all and keep the discussions on track by infusing it with a spiritual calling. The<a href="http://www.patriarchate.org/multimedia/video/green-patriarch"> Green patriarch</a> for example has defined certain acts against nature <i>a sin</i>...... Now that is a <i>new beginning</i>..... A glimpse of a Post Capitalist World.<br /><br />The model of directly taxing carbon at every transaction, could take away all the hocus pocus that will be allowed in the Cap and Trade model. It will cut the Gordian knot. <a href="http://vortex.ecoversity.org/2009/01/post-capitalism-thinking-green-taxing.html">Carbon Tax</a> is simple, it is verifiable, and with enough awareness raised around the globe it is do-able.....Politically Attainable --<i> if there is enough populist pressure.</i><br /><br />Lets face it: green transformation will not come as long as a carbon based economy is perceived to be "the cheaper way to go" by the people on top of the hill. It is <i>not.</i> In so many ways Copenhagen is about the true costs that have been incurred due to the Climate Instability this carbon economy has wrought. Now it is obvious that if one calculates the true ongoing costs, a green economy would be much cheaper and the developing nations should <i>hop to it</i>, enabled by such a fund.<br /><br />Power versus the Masses are on a collision course here.....<i>great danger</i>....<i>great opportunity</i>.....<br /><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><br /></span></span><br /><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; white-space: pre;"><span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; white-space: normal;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-family: Times;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Here are some of the links to the great Copenhagen coverage of the issues and demonstrations done by Amy Goodman and her crew of Democracy now. <span style="color: black; font-family: Georgia, Times, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica; line-height: 21px;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: cyan;">Author & Journalist Naomi Klein: </span></span><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: cyan;"><a href="http://www.democracynow.org/2009/12/11/klein">Fate of Planet Rests on Mass Movement for Climate Justice: </a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://www.democracynow.org/2009/12/14/indian_environmentalist_vandana_shiva_it_is"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: cyan;">Vandana Shiva speaks out in Copenhagen</span></span></a><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: cyan;"> </span></span></span><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: cyan;"><a href="http://www.democracynow.org/2009/12/14/using_controversial_law_danish_police_preemptively">On the protests and arrests in Copenhagen </a></span></span></span><br /><span style="color: cyan; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://www.democracynow.org/2009/12/15/cap_trade_a_critical_look_at">On Cap and Trade versus Carbon Tax</a></span><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 11px;"><br /></span></span><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 11px;"><br /></span></span><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: 11px;"><br /></span></span><br /></div>kansekihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11418207668038332567noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4256335259435953506.post-41002469966664587702009-11-29T23:40:00.000-08:002010-06-21T10:41:39.154-07:00Genesis of the Wheat Project<i><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/MdjYPfZoLRg&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/MdjYPfZoLRg&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object></i><br /><i>OOh....we still look so fresh here in 1998.</i><br /><br />This was the action strategy that laid the foundation of the Northern New Mexico Organic Wheat Project (and can be used elsewhere):<br /><br />-Call for action in agricultural publications: are there market opportunities to grow high quality organic grains in a decentralized manner?<br /><br />-Establishment of an ad hoc committee of farmers and processors and interested parties<br /><br />-Investigation of regional farming traditions of wheat<br /><br />-Selection of wheat seeds for planting based on a series of criteria<br /><br />-2 growing seasons for testing varieties for growing and processing qualities: do the 'bake tests' and analyse varieties for protein content<br /><br />-re-establish regional food infrastructure including machines, storage, processing<br /><br />-Promotion of regional brand name: Nativo<br /><br />-Direct marketing through farmers markets<br /><br />-Growing for diversity: establishing organic high altitude seed varieties<br /><br />-Establish a confederation of farmers, processors and consumers that control Nativo grains and all its derivative products (such as organic straw bales, flour, bread, animal feed)<br /><br />-Formulate Common Goals and Values:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><i>-food security through genetic diversity and a healthy eco-system-</i><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>-bio-regional organic farming an a locally based economy-</i><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>-meaningful work and micro-enterprise opportunities-</i><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>-open space and restoration of fertile farmlands-</i><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>-a storehouse of agricultural information and knowledge-</i><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>-cultural integration through collaboration and </i><br /><i>the achievement of common goals-</i><br /><i><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span> </i><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="background-color: black;">Challenge for the Wheat Project (then as now) is to re-conceptualize the role of farming in our lives......to understand food not as a commodity traded on the cheap, but rather as the very source of nutrition and health....as </span></b><i><b><span style="background-color: black;">the </span></b></i><b><span style="background-color: black;">integrating force of vital communities.....</span></b><br /></div></div>kansekihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11418207668038332567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4256335259435953506.post-66358724565183247272009-11-29T14:46:00.000-08:002010-06-21T10:41:39.159-07:00Obama goes to Copenhagen: What does it mean ?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/SxNXOixXCcI/AAAAAAAAAWI/V-q0yZGbENE/s1600/Corals-at-the-Great-Barri-001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/SxNYPwNL3FI/AAAAAAAAAWQ/jaZu_uqPAL4/s1600/images-5.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/SxNYPwNL3FI/AAAAAAAAAWQ/jaZu_uqPAL4/s320/images-5.jpeg" /></a><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/SxNXOixXCcI/AAAAAAAAAWI/V-q0yZGbENE/s320/Corals-at-the-Great-Barri-001.jpg" /><br /></div>Obviously there are enormous amounts of seemingly divergent issues at stake in Copenhagen --with climate change as their common denominator. These emergencies somehow need to be translated into action plans, new regulations, and long term monitary commitments to dollars and cents by the developed rich countries. Quite complex a process for it assumes that we will have the wisdom to compare justly apples and pears --<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60jof35WuAo">bleaching of coral reefs</a> with <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2zD19tx6fI">Sub-Sahara food crisis</a> or receding <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdrdQNYqkTQ">glaciers</a> -- and weigh our choices from the point of view of Being One -- One apelike family that has gotten itself into a lot of trouble and now needs to find a way out. We will need to go way beyond the idea of nationalities (<i>and.... by the way: that is not necessarily an argument for global governance and the spector of its repressive tools that are exercised by the very few --I want to get back to this later).</i><br /><br />At this point in time, the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUtG_qfP2wc">path of survival</a> for humanity is dependent upon how deeply we can identify with each other. We need to realize that we are on one cosmic boat charting the unknown.....<i>together</i>.<br /><br />In a way we all know this --what most of us don't understand is why our reality is so divergent with our ideals and common humanity. How come the US until shortly thought it was normal to use 25% of the world's resources, and yet refused to play a <a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/economy/story/79281.html">contructive role</a> in any type of climate regulation ?<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: auto;"><br /></div>It should be clear to everyone that this is ultimately a reflection of ruthless (super)power --to quote <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUxcOqWMviw">Mao</a>, <i>Political power</i><i> grows out of the barrell of a gun.</i><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/SxNY4B8UyEI/AAAAAAAAAWY/G86QM9CRaGc/s1600/images-3.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/SxNY4B8UyEI/AAAAAAAAAWY/G86QM9CRaGc/s320/images-3.jpeg" /></a><br /></div>The capitalist economic model acquired a new levels of predatory ruthlessnesss after it wed to the <a href="ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GUdYeQzp3U">Rand corporation game theory model</a>, which has now infected Wallstreet, the military and (sadly to say) also our education and higher learning, and holds that billions of selfish acting people somehow can create some kind of self perpetuating (if unjust) equilibrium for all. Now, faced with its logical end point, a kind of predatory capitalism based on control of the markets and money supply, is ruthlessly grabbing power and looks for new opportunities for inflated bubbles and frauds, while meanwhile busily unloading the previous punctured frauds on to the sleeping populous by way of a corrupt congress, and weak presidency. It really is kind of a fascism, at least in the sense of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lICQ1fZTM4o">Mussolini fascism</a>, where corporate interests merge with the state while the population is marginalized into economic pions or worse: cannon fodder for the endless empire fights to control resources. How else can one explain that a<span style="font-style: italic;">lmost without a whimper 50 million people in the United States itself will suffer from food insecurity this year, including one in four children. And the strangest thing is.... that there is no outcry, no credible plan, no outstretched hand.....Food insecurity? We should really call it for what it is....Hunger. "Hunger" is a visceral word and using that we connect with the people that suffer from it. Humans know about hunger in their genes, while food insecurity is just some concept dreamt up by some bureaucrat somewhere to obscure the reality....</span><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><i></i><br /></div><br />I am sorry --I wish I wouldn't have to say this, and history may very well prove me wrong. I hope so. <i>But I say this to my brothers and sisters in many countries all over the world --cause I know that you, like many of us here, projected your highest hopes and aspirations on an Obama presidency.</i> So, since I know that many of you have limited access to the media, it is easy to get stuck with your highest ideals pinned on Obama. <i>I have to caution you here</i>.<br /><br />The political legacy of the Obama administration so far is dismal and doesn't strike me as any "<i>change"</i> at all. And I don't say that as a conservative or a liberal, since I am neither. There is a change of the guard in Washington from the massive influence of oil and the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3p1l__AaG0">Haliburton</a> and Bechtel 'construction' companies under Bush, towards that of the financial and pharmaceutical sector under Obama: <i>apparently it is 'their turn' to rape and pillage. </i>These sort of tips of the corrupt government-corporate iceberg float on top of the constant drone of a hypnotized media-nized society, an 'underwater' militarized, nuclearized, security state that demands all resources to its disposal and forces its citizens into terrible debt in order to fight wars that are largely (but secretly) fought to secure economic gain (i.e the control of the Iraqi war-fields as real motivation to declare Iraq war, --still in progress, by the way) and force further monopolization of the money supply. The fact that most of the wars have gone badly, doesn't mean that not enormous sums of money are being made, in all kinds of ways that perpetuate the wars.<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfkND86YED0"> </a>(<a href="http://www.democracynow.org/2009/11/12/taliban">Karzai brothers link: how we fund Taliban)</a>. That is the problem with corruption and the privatization of the war. What people are talking about in congress and the media is the 'militairy' involvement in the war, but what is largely unseen is the commitment the US government has made to private security companies such as Blackwater. Privatizing wars with corporate armies to hide them from the public eye, will very much complicate solutions to these wars, for throughout history mercenaries have always been the conduits of corruption on all levels (<i>incl</i><i>uding a <a href="http://www.truthout.org/1129093">corruption of ethics</a></i>).<br /><i><br /></i><br /><i><span style="font-style: normal;">The relationship between paper tiger <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSwWy4E6I04">Goldman Sachs and the Obama administration</a> is way too cosy, and I wouldn't be surprised that whenever the scales swing back to an empowerment of democracy, that heads may roll in the courts. It is amazing to see that the people who engineered the deregulation under Clinton, that lead to enormous fraudulent privately held wealth and a decapitation of the middle class, are in total control of the bailout and the financial future of America. Again, it is unfortunate to say.... but what that indicates is a weak presidency. Putin would have gone in with his gang and arrested them, and drawn power to the state, but not in this day and age in America. Clinton was a con who needed to be loved by all means. Obama, for whatever reason takes it one step further. Obama has a deep psychological need to be loved by his </span>enemies<span style="font-style: normal;"> and childishly he thinks that somehow it will give him power over them and he will master them. Other than clear betrayal, that is the only clear explanation of why Obama sold out the promise of 'Change' to vultures like <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5KrJE4X7A4">Geithner, Bernanke, Summers, </a> and why he has staffed his administration with people that work for the nuclear lobby, for <a href="http://www.democracynow.org/2009/11/17/obama_nominates_pesticide_executive_to_be">genetic modification, for chemical farming</a>, against organics (etc.etc.). </span></i><br /><br /><i><span style="font-style: normal;">Apparently Obama is not just beholden to the Wallstreet Banks. Somehow touched by the poison of corruption and co-dependency, a robust public option <a href="http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-Devastating-Consequenc-by-shamus-cooke-091126-482.html">health care bill morphed into health insurance</a> reform that forces people under penalties by the IRS to sign up yearly for one private insurance or another. So here you got it: the corporate interests, such as insurance and pharma that wrote the law in concert with the Obama administration and congress, can now make use of the tools of government (the IRS in this case) to enforce 'toll' to themselves. Really....I am not kidding... </span>that is an indication of fascism. </i><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">And meanwhile the US two largely privatized wars keep going on or are expanding, in many ways only visible to the americans by the human wreckage that is returning home from the war or the desperate atrocities that happen here such as the killings at Fort Hood or an epidemic of suicides and spousal abuse that tear the seams of civilization. </span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/SxQhpLWRXkI/AAAAAAAAAWg/fYPr--7tXn0/s1600/images-6.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/SxQhpLWRXkI/AAAAAAAAAWg/fYPr--7tXn0/s320/images-6.jpeg" /></a><br /></div>So.... you can see.... that I am not happy with Obama, and please don't think that it will be a victory when Obama attends Copenhagen. What that really means is that the definition of success in Copenhagen will be watered down to such an extend that Obama will be able to claim victory with almost no commitments to CO2 reductions by the US on the table. Watch out for that. It is like getting the nobel price for peace and meanwhile sending in more troops. <i>It is the one dimensional man needed to sell the plan.</i><br />Obama will try to direct money to <a href="http://www.truthout.org/1129091">nuclear</a> energy interests instead of alternative energy, and he will commit to the Cap and Trade model, since this gives plenty of opportunity for Wallstreet to make hay out of monetizing these models, and weave them into endless webs of derivative value (<i>of real trees...</i>) that can then mysteriously be traded and will form the basis of the next speculative bubble being perpetuated on an exhausted world.kansekihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11418207668038332567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4256335259435953506.post-36643420403918870072009-11-16T13:42:00.000-08:002010-06-21T10:41:39.167-07:00Copenhagen: Who will speak for the Poor ?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/SwHbBNdJuBI/AAAAAAAAAV4/4BMDgAcBIVQ/s1600/consumption-inequality-2005-pie.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/SwHbBNdJuBI/AAAAAAAAAV4/4BMDgAcBIVQ/s320/consumption-inequality-2005-pie.png" /></a><br /></div>Copenhagen will have to address one really pressing issue and that is that of <i><span style="color: red;"><a href="http://www.globalissues.org/article/26/poverty-facts-and-stats">inequality</a>: </span><span style="font-style: normal;">inequality</span></i> between rich and poor, between North and South. It is sad that the current inequity between the rich and the destitute is much greater than ever in history. It is the divergence between the Pharaoh and his Slaves by a factor of a million or so. And...it is <i>shameful</i>. This is 2009, there are more than 6.25 billion of us, we need to find a moment of diplomatic enlightenment and throw off our chains to a system that has bred poverty and despair for the vast majority of humans living today. We have to go deeper. <a href="http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/carbonwatch/moneytree/">Cap and trade is not good enough (at all).</a><br /><br />Nations and people often mention the ones that live on 2 dollars a day --realizing the abject poverty that this must bring is clear to everyone else. According to the 'stats' that includes actually 2.6 billion people of which 1.4 billion only have 1.25 or less per day. But how about $10 dollars a day ? Did you realize that 80% of the world population, or 5.15 billion humans live of $10 or less per day ? What many in the west don't fathom is that these people are not just sitting around being hungry.... most of them actually put in an over stressed and overstretched workday for that. Cash payment at the end of the day is often not a given --regardless of the effort made. This has to do with a global system that devours resources while disowning whole communities and any sense of <i>commons</i>.<br /><br />The lives of the poor are more vulnerable to decease and hunger, and are often cut short due to violence and abuse of the people and land resources by corporate powers. The exposure to toxins that many indigenous communities all over the world have to endure because of toxic dumping, nuclear experiments, military occupations, petrochemical contamination, drug wars and mining, <i>is criminal</i>. Yet these same communities have no access to media or money or courts to counter their abusers, and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tt03zei2iRI&NR=1">victories are at best temporary</a> -- like the one in Peru's latest confrontations between the (oil interests serving) army and several indigenous tribes. All the cards are stacked against them.<br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/zziNF0IYSgI&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/zziNF0IYSgI&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />This constant conflict and need to repress is the actual face of inequality, and given the path that we are on, this face will start to distort and contort more and more deamonically. A lot of different capital entities (from drugs to mining) and corporations have interest in destabilization of a strong civil society (<a href="http://www.scottlondon.com/reviews/kaplan.html">as Robert Kaplan laid out in his book: The Ends of the World ). </a> Even societies like the US itself are not immune: it is destabalizing under the weight of militarism and excessively self serving corporate entities. The US government is arguably fully corrupted by money interests, think healthcare, energy ( think oil), military, and above all Wallstreet, and whereas these entities should be governed by law and regulation --in fact it's the corporations that dictate the laws and demand 'toll' --utterly destroying the middle class in its way. This too is a recipe for undermining democracy and semblance of a civil society. Tensions due to unequality are also rising here. Within this context of corruption and paper money deals, cap and trade is asking for <a href="http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/carbonwatch/moneytree/">ecological disaster and further disempowerment of common people</a>.<br /><br />It is high time that we wake up to the ethical dimensions of inequality and the injustices it brings. Why not let ethics be a guiding principle in 'making the deals', rather than the <a href="http://www.lasg.org/">brute power</a> underlying international relationships now ? Who will step forward to lead the world leaders into a whole new '<i>Gestalt of Politics'</i> -- will it be <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbe3DMIbI9o">Obama</a> (or is he bought and sold? --let's root for <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1vUBYr0-LE&feature=player_embedded">Michelle</a>!) ? Will it be the young smart <a href="http://www.blogger.com/">M</a><a href="http://russiatoday.com/Top_News/2009-11-07/berlin-wall-medvedev-spiegel.html">edvedev</a> ? How about maverick <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uxb0JHqzlA">Sarkozy</a> ( let's root for <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5E_Z1FUZpH4">Carla Bruni</a>), Or president <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfHqJCuakcA">Hu</a> Jintao (or is it <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRTTH5HW6GQ">Who</a> ?) ? Or will it be you and me ? Someone will need to address the real issues head on in Copenhagen and speak truth and speak for the poor. The poverty I am speaking of here knows no boundaries and recognizes no nationalities: it is the same in the Laguna pueblo in New Mexico as it is in the sub Sahara or the Amazonian rainforest. It is about people that are going hungry and have lost control over their futures.<br /><br />In the coming entries I intent to look at what is at stake in Copenhagen in particular cap and trade. Here I like to introduce you to some of the people I met in the makeshift harbour of Pucallpa, on the muddy banks of the Ucayali river in the Amazonian Rainforest of Peru. They haul the resources out of the jungle like you'll see here, day after day.... the wood, the food: <i>they are the ones that live on a few dollars or less per day</i>.<br />Warning: this is considered to be a 'bad place' but don't feel scared:<br /><i> ........try to find yourselves</i>.......<br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/JUND2ch7dIk&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/JUND2ch7dIk&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>kansekihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11418207668038332567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4256335259435953506.post-77742894147519924282009-11-12T13:17:00.000-08:002010-06-21T10:41:39.171-07:00Decentralized Food Solutions: Northern New Mexico Organic Wheat Project<object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/rVHHjzkafzs&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/rVHHjzkafzs&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br />The Northern New Mexico Organic Wheat Project is a loose confederation of family farmers and local processors. There is no formal structure or incorporation thus far. Ultimately through the 'Nativo' brand name, it aims to localize production and market for high quality organic grains in particular wheat, but also spelt, rye, and barley and the processed foods such as bread that come from it.<br /><br />New Mexico once had a culture of wheat production and diversity: in 1880 NM was 'best of fair' in Chicago for its quality and diversity (over 250 different varieties) in its wheat exhibit. Yet by the end of WW-2 (1945) hardly any of that agri-<i>culture</i> was left. By the beginning of the 90-ties only Scout 66 was grown in remote areas of Eastern NM, mainly for cow and animal fodder.<br /><br />After examining the market, in 1993 a group of family farmers started to grow high quality organic grains and mill them locally, as a strategy for rural subsistence and maintaining water rights by keeping the land under cultivation. Cloud Cliff, a locally owned medium size bakery in Santa Fe, was mostly the designation of the milled flour and grain, where the wheat was processed into Nativo Bread. <i>Sin Brokerage !!</i><br /><br />They were way ahead of the curve --and because of it, production and participation have fluctuated over the years. Yet in the economic crisis of the last years (and don't forget the foodcrisis that doubled prices for wheat) there are renewed efforts under way to integrate organic grain production and markets in New Mexico, also for other derivative items such as mushrooms (grown on straw), organic seed diversity, strawbales for building materials, eggs, chickens, etc.<br /><br /><i>It is a nice idea (for an intern ?) to document the history of the Wheat Project some time -- but that is not what I wanted to do in this space (right now).</i><br />Let's instead analyze some numbers of the NNM Organic Wheat Project in the light of world food production and growing shortages. What does a decentralized solution look like ? Through both videos (embedded on this page) you can get a good sense of the scale of the project. Watch them now and then try to visualize them while reading the rest of this writing.<br /><br /><i>Real roughly, on the back of a napkin, let me have a shot at it here:</i><br /><br /><span style="color: red;">Northern New Mexico Organic Wheat Project:</span><br />Farmers: 8 Bakers: 5<br /><br />Land under cultivation (fluctuating): 80-220 acres (thus far: dry land/flood irrigation)<br /><br />Production of wheat in pounds 1995-2008: fluctuating 120,000 to 250,000 #.<br /><br />Maximum possible production on acreage: 400,000 #<br /><br />Yearly capacity of Cloud Cliff: 400.000# flour or 350,000 loaves of bread or about 1000 per day<br /><br />Market served: 70.000-100.000 people (which is more or less the population of larger Santa Fe)<br /><br />Investment: close to 1 million $ (that includes buildings, storage and equipment, also combine,etc.)<br /><br /><span style="color: red;">World's growing food needs:</span><br />world population: 6250.000.000<br />yearly increase: 80,000,000 + people (1.3% per yr. -- slowing some now)<br />Hungry people estimate: 1.2 billion<br />increase in malnourished people since 2006: 400+ million<br /><br />Amount of new Wheat (Grain) Projects and Cloud Cliff' sized decentralized processing plants needed to keep up with the growth in world population ( of 80 million/yr): 800 per year<br /><br />Investment needed for establishment of similar projects to maintain food security: 800 million per year<br /><br />Amount of new acreage per year needed to be put under cultivation to keep up solely with the growth of population: 192,000 acres of irrigated land or about 1600 new "Center Pivot Crop Cicles"(120 acres ea)<br /><br />Minimal new acreage needed per person (for grains only): .0024 acres (<i>this number seems too low</i>)<br /><br />Employment growth per year, to man projects: 10400<br /><br /><span style="color: red;">Now let's address the immediate needs of the 1.2 billion that are going hungry:</span><br />Amount of new decentralized Wheat (Grain) Projects and Cloud Cliff' sized processing plants needed immediately to feed the hungry: 12000<br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Investment required immediately by international community in farming and food production: 12 billion<br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Minimal Amount of new acreage needed for grain cultivation to alleviate existing hunger: 2.9 million, say 3 million acres or about 24000 new "Center Pivot Crop Cicles"(120 acres ea)<br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Employment created: 156,000 people<br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">This is something to chew on. I have no idea how my numbers compare with any official projections. For once I didn't look at them --this time I wanted to start from what I know and then '<i>project out' </i>to come up with acreage, etc. They are 'wet' numbers... <i>If anything my numbers on needs, on acreage, yield and investments may be wildly optimistic: but may be they help provide a measure of scale. </i><br /><br />The above exercise was mainly meant to get decentralized solutions to our world food challenges into focus by highlighting a small local initiative: The Northern New Mexico Organic Wheat Project.<br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><i><br /></i><br /><i>We need to resist food monopolies by creating local alternatives. Your engagement is Key.....</i><br /></div><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZY2YrzQm0GE&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZY2YrzQm0GE&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>kansekihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11418207668038332567noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4256335259435953506.post-46584707112920025602009-11-04T18:50:00.000-08:002010-06-21T10:41:39.173-07:00Harvest Time for Northern New Mexico's Organic Wheat<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/SvI3k9zXS6I/AAAAAAAAAUo/d75VIJeOqqE/s1600-h/IMG_1370.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/SvI3k9zXS6I/AAAAAAAAAUo/d75VIJeOqqE/s320/IMG_1370.jpg" /></a><br /></div><br />For awhile it was too wet (snow), too cold and too muddy to harvest the local wheat grown in Sunshine Valley, Northern New Mexico -- a stone's throw away from the Colorado border. However last week there was a break in the weather delivering a glorious Indian summer: the fields dried up nicely and the wheat harvest was set in motion. Though farmed as dry land wheat, the wheat kernels looked healthy and plum. <br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/SvI34ShCvGI/AAAAAAAAAU4/m8MpBejNhVY/s1600-h/IMG_1393.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/SvI34ShCvGI/AAAAAAAAAU4/m8MpBejNhVY/s200/IMG_1393.jpg" /></a><br /><br />In the coming weeks I would like to explore the whole scope of the wheat project as an example of a grassroots initiative that brings economic development to one of the poorest counties in the USA. Real briefly, the Northern New Mexico Organic Wheat Project is based on the idea that food security comes from a regionalization of food production and markets. Not just that.... true food security also has to do with bio-diversity, seed saving and perhaps most of all healthy communities.<br /><br />Anyhow...here are some of the 'pics' for now...<br /><i>click on picture to enlarge.... enjoy!!</i><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/SvI3zfO4ZpI/AAAAAAAAAUw/E0gTm0Ht8B8/s1600-h/IMG_1385.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/SvI3zfO4ZpI/AAAAAAAAAUw/E0gTm0Ht8B8/s200/IMG_1385.jpg" /></a><br /></div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/SvI4BwswPxI/AAAAAAAAAVA/85q0FO_51to/s1600-h/IMG_1408.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/SvI4BwswPxI/AAAAAAAAAVA/85q0FO_51to/s200/IMG_1408.jpg" /></a><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/SvI4IuSTHvI/AAAAAAAAAVI/c2G6Yo_MqQo/s1600-h/IMG_1412.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/SvI4IuSTHvI/AAAAAAAAAVI/c2G6Yo_MqQo/s320/IMG_1412.jpg" /></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/SvI4M8JQOlI/AAAAAAAAAVQ/epqgToIp08s/s1600-h/IMG_1488.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/SvI4M8JQOlI/AAAAAAAAAVQ/epqgToIp08s/s200/IMG_1488.jpg" /></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/SvI4QsX86LI/AAAAAAAAAVY/-7qjmMEAFzk/s1600-h/IMG_1492.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/SvI4QsX86LI/AAAAAAAAAVY/-7qjmMEAFzk/s200/IMG_1492.jpg" /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/SvI4Xqt3T6I/AAAAAAAAAVg/jo3Cm-FwY70/s1600-h/IMG_1508.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/SvI4Xqt3T6I/AAAAAAAAAVg/jo3Cm-FwY70/s200/IMG_1508.jpg" /></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/SvI4jOLq3yI/AAAAAAAAAVo/YSXKvHNJPK4/s1600-h/IMG_1515.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/SvI4jOLq3yI/AAAAAAAAAVo/YSXKvHNJPK4/s200/IMG_1515.jpg" /></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/SvI4qSAayfI/AAAAAAAAAVw/MCyEqKbmSnw/s1600-h/IMG_1520.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/SvI4qSAayfI/AAAAAAAAAVw/MCyEqKbmSnw/s320/IMG_1520.jpg" /></a><br /></div>kansekihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11418207668038332567noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4256335259435953506.post-63513474108066389872009-10-28T01:27:00.000-07:002010-06-21T10:41:39.178-07:00The Paradox of the Economic CrisisThe economy has definitely slowed, and everyone is feeling it. I am thinking about all those Americans that are laid off, or worse: those that are on their last unemployment check or beyond. But not just them. What about the millions that are now homeless due to flooding in India and now Vietnam, the Philippines, Maldives.....all over it seems. What is their future going to be like? How will they economically survive? How does the global financial crisis impact their lives on top of the physical emergency they find themselves in ?<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/SueNKgD5KRI/AAAAAAAAATY/TBqJ017lU0s/s1600-h/GDP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/SueNKgD5KRI/AAAAAAAAATY/TBqJ017lU0s/s320/GDP.jpg" /></a><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>The world's GDP was coasting along till recently at the growth rate of about 3.5% per year. And every year CO2 emissions have increased: from about 18.500 million metric tons in 1990 to about 26.000 million metric tons per year in 2006 --a stunning 71% increase of CO2 emissions or also an increase of around 3.5% per year. In our economy growth in world GDP has meant growth in CO2 emissions as well.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/SueNTPqwhBI/AAAAAAAAATg/zFScVhbIIaw/s1600-h/co2_country_area_2030-max.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/SueNTPqwhBI/AAAAAAAAATg/zFScVhbIIaw/s320/co2_country_area_2030-max.jpg" /></a><br /></div><br /> During this time only a few economists have fretted about the price that will be exacted to the natural world -- a price that has never been part of the profit driven equations. Or maybe we should ask that question the other way around: what is the price in ecological damage that will be exacted by the natural world, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia_hypothesis">Gaia</a> if you like, as response to the manifestations of greed and senseless consumption? After all the natural resources and processes that create real wealth and allow higher levels of development are usually not extractive --<i>they follow an economy of generosity</i>-- and thus defy any quantitative equivalency in most economic models and thinking. In other words the resources that nature provides, such as clean air and rain, ecological abundance, diversity, have yet to be duly calculated as real costs and benefits in prevalent economic models.<br /><br />But even if you did bring those type of factors provided by nature into account --they wouldn't be able to count for the costs of natural disasters. Capitalism in the late 20th and beginning 21st century is coming to its logical conclusion within the context of resource depletion and extreme inequality, perhaps most grotesquely so in the US. Unregulated capitalism has not only been a financial disaster, it has brought ecological disaster and lately it has ruined the very pillars of democracy.<br />Global 'Weir-ding' (global warming gives the wrong impression to the masses), the melting of the 3 poles (including the Himalayas), the agricultural collapse, the drying of the Amazon, the depletion of the oceans, etc. -- they all have to do with an extractive greed driven model that monopolizes wealth and marginalizes most people in the world. The limitations of this model come into stark view when resources such as oil and food are getting scarce and inequality reaches its peak. It is now when the whole system breaks apart --it is so deeply unsustainable.<br /><br />I am re-reading my own gloomy writing so far and was wondering where I might find a ray of hope --and <i>that is where the paradox of the economy comes in.</i><br />Despite the best efforts of informed minds such as Al Gore and Lester Brown, the the vast majority of the body of politics, hasn't been able to hear the 'inconvenient truth' --let alone act on it with urgency. America, still consuming more than 20% of the worlds resources, curiously exempted itself from Kyoto, the urge to develop China has polluted vast ecological resources, hundreds of coal plants are still being built, and most politicians have never seen a dollar they don't like (and have thus sold their souls to the vested (corporate) interests and destroyed democracy). Next year, 2010 China's CO2 emissions will start to exceed those of the US. Things have been stuck.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/Suh1i6rP8_I/AAAAAAAAAT4/eWK-hoQptQY/s1600-h/keelingcurve.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/Suh1i6rP8_I/AAAAAAAAAT4/eWK-hoQptQY/s320/keelingcurve.jpg" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> Until now: the time of the worldwide economic crisis: long simmering, but showing itself starting in 2007, growing into 2009 and probably reaching its low point in my estimate not until 2011 or 2012 --<i>if at all</i>. In 2008 the worlds GDP dropped by almost 3% and, in its footsteps so did CO2 emissions. Optimistically stated: since we assumed an increase of about 3% and we actually got about a 3 % decrease, CO2 emissions have dropped 6% in one year compared to what was expected. Say the crisis lasts another 3 years or so, and economic activity recedes accordingly, we can expect a drop of let's say another 10% to 15% or so in CO2 emissions. I just found some graphs from <a href="http://www.earth-policy.org/index.php?/plan_b_updates/2009/update83">Lester Brown</a> and his Earth Policy institute that thinks that emissions have dropped since 2007 by a whopping 9%. That is very significant.<br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Here is the graph for the US--look at the funny tail at the end -- brings us back to the CO2 emissions in the mid 90-ties:<br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/Suui6WTDEYI/AAAAAAAAAUY/ARUhubjB9A0/s1600-h/CO2+USA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/Suui6WTDEYI/AAAAAAAAAUY/ARUhubjB9A0/s400/CO2+USA.jpg" /></a><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">As a consequence in the last year many plans for new coal plants have been shelved --<i>there may not be any demand</i>. Nobody is consuming in quite the same way any longer since people's budgets are limited and debt is seen in a different light: debt has become real since the days of easy credit based on housing hilarity are over for good.The recession succeeds where the politicians failed: a much needed drop in CO2 emissions. Clearly nature itself could be one of the 'winners' and CO2 may be brought back in line from about 390 ppm to the desirable 350 ppm by say 2040 (optimistically), not though the success of politicians, but through their failure.<br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/Suh2VGBC6bI/AAAAAAAAAUA/oAJE4yStCrA/s1600-h/FailingPoliticians280.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/Suh2VGBC6bI/AAAAAAAAAUA/oAJE4yStCrA/s320/FailingPoliticians280.jpg" /></a><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: auto;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: auto;">I point this 'positive side effect' of the recession out --reduced CO2-- not to make light of human suffering during this transition when we see the end of capitalism in sight. Budgets are constrained due to lack of currency <a href="http://vortex.ecoversity.org/2009/10/jesus-words-on-camels-and-being-rich.html">flow</a> throughout the system, any credit is sucked into the hole of credit default swaps, while food reserves in storehouses have been strained to the max. In the resulting smaller and larger 'resource wars' there is very little consideration for the population itself -- in fact many warlords feed on chaos and anomy--with failed states on the rise: think of Iraq or the Horn of Africa or Sub-Sahara or Afghanistan, some say even the US itself (and the list goes on and on) with countless dispossessed people on the run and war and violence becoming a way of live. Top that scenario off with Global 'Weir-ding' and its endless parade of droughts and floods and suddenly there are a lot of people driven out of their houses and off the land...... a <a href="http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/climate-refugee-1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://science.howstuffworks.com/climate-refugee.htm/printable&usg=__TgW1nEPZ4B5EtnzsV9f4e17htTc=&h=300&w=400&sz=54&hl=en&start=5&sig2=ti7zJz23j_dQUZPx4xZl_A&um=1&tbnid=160qNItPVwkg3M:&tbnh=93&tbnw=124&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dclimate%2Brefugees%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dsafari%26rls%3Den%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1&ei=4nboStWzCpvotQOapt2eBQ">flood of refugees</a>, perhaps over a billion, is on its way.<br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: auto;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/Suh5QheFPZI/AAAAAAAAAUI/eCVdFtHbIKM/s1600-h/refugees-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/Suh5QheFPZI/AAAAAAAAAUI/eCVdFtHbIKM/s320/refugees-1.jpg" /></a><br /></div>from climate.....<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/Suhy2rniqXI/AAAAAAAAATw/WuVKNW0ILCA/s1600-h/refugees.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/Suhy2rniqXI/AAAAAAAAATw/WuVKNW0ILCA/s320/refugees.jpg" /></a>or war....<br /></div><br />Thus for the poorest and totally exposed and vulnerable, the capitalist crisis means: less help in an already desperate situation. Often times it means hunger and demise. A shocking 16.000 children per day die from starvation. That is 11 children per minute. That is right now.....and now......now again.....<br />Yet food aid has dropped dramatically: the US has pledged 800 million less to food aid in 2009. Rich Saudi Arabia went down from 500 million in 2008, to 10 million so far in 2009, the EU dropped its contribution by 130 million, etc.<br />Josette Sheeran, head of the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgJShyB0sxA">UN World Food Programme (WFP)</a> warned that the result of these drops in funding may well be the "<i>loss of a generation of children to malnutrition, food riots and political destabilization".</i><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/Suh8aoyHZII/AAAAAAAAAUQ/NOgSNocZMfA/s1600-h/images-2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/Suh8aoyHZII/AAAAAAAAAUQ/NOgSNocZMfA/s320/images-2.jpeg" /></a><br /></div><br />What all of this points out is that conventional economic thinking has missed the boat completely on understanding the roots of the recession and thus failed to sound the alarm. Now the economic models and teaching should be overhauled and revolutionized to start actively creating survival models that are in tune with the planet we live on and who <i>(and how many)</i> we are as humans.<br />For models of economic sustainability in a post capitalist world, we need to be inspired by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia_hypothesis">Gaia</a> and its regenerative power more deeply, and start mimicking its intricate and inclusive <i>'economy of generosity"</i> --if we want to survive as a human family.kansekihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11418207668038332567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4256335259435953506.post-12497827140022528262009-10-19T23:41:00.000-07:002010-06-21T10:41:39.182-07:00Update: Ecoversity's Garden 2009<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/St1W-PsqO1I/AAAAAAAAATA/oL-BQktwFKI/s1600-h/IMG_3488.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/St1W-PsqO1I/AAAAAAAAATA/oL-BQktwFKI/s400/IMG_3488.JPG" /></a><br /></div><br />At Ecoversity this year we started an experiment in gardening a plot that according to the 'old timer' neighbors has not been in cultivation for certainly more than 80 years. Yet, standing in the 3 acre field one can one can detect remnants of farming. It is shaped as a fairly flat terrace, and on one side one can see the now dry acequia earthworks running along the field, while on the other side it is bordered by an arroyo.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/St1O7XQPS5I/AAAAAAAAAS4/5sbGWLZdO_4/s1600-h/IMG_3528.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/St1O7XQPS5I/AAAAAAAAAS4/5sbGWLZdO_4/s320/IMG_3528.JPG" /></a><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/St1XeTDN27I/AAAAAAAAATI/WENx4HR6OWc/s1600-h/IMG_3502.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/St1XeTDN27I/AAAAAAAAATI/WENx4HR6OWc/s200/IMG_3502.JPG" /></a><br /></div> The fall before, in October 2008, we had a couple of mules disk the field and Leonardo, Alexandria, Bon and a bunch of other children had spread winter wheat and winter rye seeds. This attracted flocks of birds over the winter, but surprisingly enough in the spring what was left did come up and covered most of the field beautifully.<br /><br />Regardless of what the benefits of the cover crop may have been, the soil tests conducted earlier this year 'in house' by Peter Prandoni were brutal: barely any nutrients in a very alkaline soil without much structure. Really poor soil, very similar to so many places in New Mexico (and over the world). Together with our interns Maribou Latour and Michael Meade we decided on a multi prong strategy to remediate the soil conditions and then implemented them.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/St1Bhk5kjhI/AAAAAAAAASo/J-MAXcL3A3U/s1600-h/IMG_4526.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/St1Bhk5kjhI/AAAAAAAAASo/J-MAXcL3A3U/s320/IMG_4526.JPG" /></a><br /></div>-enclosed a 30 by 45 feet area with strawbales<br />-inoculated these strawbales with oyster mushroom mycelium<br />-added about 25 cubic feet of peat to area<br />-double dig one side of garden<br />-11 wheelbarrows of coffee compost<br />-worms<br />-inoculated sawdust for mulching with shitake mushrooms<br />-kept ground covered with straw and agricultural cloth after deep watering.<br /><br />We did make some mistakes: We added some (though little) sulphur salts to the ground in order to get the ph more acidic. That was before Michael Melendrez instructed us on the drawbacks of adding any salts, and so I wouldn't do it again. Like Melendrez says: the whole idea behind long term soil remediation is to create conditions for humus generation. Anyway --look at the interview with Melendrez if you are interested in this humus subject here: <a href="http://ecoversity.org/tv/tv-melendrez-interview.html">the secret to the terrestrial biosphere</a>.<br /><br />Maribou and I visited the 'free seed day' at the Seeds of Change ranch close to Espanola to pick up a good quantity of seeds of lettuces, radishes, corns, sunflowers, tomatoes, cucumbers, bush and Lima beans and squash and a bunch of different flower seeds as well. What a great free initiative of this growing company <a href="http://www.seedsofchange.com/">Seeds of Change</a> under the leadership of Marc Cool (....how cool is that ?).<br /><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/St0jQdU8tsI/AAAAAAAAASQ/jNh-FoZBdAA/s1600-h/IMG_1245.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/St0jQdU8tsI/AAAAAAAAASQ/jNh-FoZBdAA/s320/IMG_1245.JPG" /></a>Peter Prandoni instructed us how to plant potatoes (plenty of straw and mulch in layers). We also tried some areas the Fukuoka way, which means no digging, just barely rake in some seeds, with mixed results (probably this takes a multi-year approach). Due to limited availability and also limited volunteer time, we watered sparingly, though for awhile intern Michael Meade was really keeping up with the garden. Luckily we had some good rains at crucial moments, and the plants did ok. We had a very good crop of tomatoes (probably a little over 150 pounds), potatoes (also over 100 pounds), a little bit of this and that (like squash, eggplant, chicory, etc.), and enough lima beans to collect seeds for the next year.<br /><br />Though I didn't see any oyster mushrooms growing, the mycelium did inoculate the straw bales fully, and now we can use those for mulching next year. The best result really was how the soil had changed within one year. Be nice to do another soil test now. Upon inspection the soil had structure, held moisture and there was a good extend of mycelium penetration and worms. Clearly with communal effort, and grace, we can do much more next year building upon the experience we gained from the growing season this year.kansekihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11418207668038332567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4256335259435953506.post-9152880293446339092009-10-16T23:05:00.000-07:002010-06-21T10:41:39.186-07:00Economic Rave: Jesus on Being Rich<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/StlkgMDSZhI/AAAAAAAAAR4/LwoTgxnGj8s/s1600-h/camel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/StlkgMDSZhI/AAAAAAAAAR4/LwoTgxnGj8s/s320/camel.jpg" /></a><br /></div>I haven't read it yet but in his new book <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/33019473">Ralph Nader</a> makes real life people like Yoko Ono and Warren Buffett spend their capital on righteous action such as rebuilding after Katrina (something our government has apparently been totally incapable of doing), and thus save the world. Whether or not the superrich have anything like this in mind, it is becoming increasingly clear that in our current circumstances the rich have a very special role to play.<br /><br />To encourage you superrich humans among us, to not just think about capital creation but about saving the world, I would like to help set some things straight that were said some time in the past by you know who.<br /><br />Recently someone told me: "water is the currency of nature". Maybe we can extend that thought somehow: "Currency (money) is the water of human society.....it needs to flow". When money accumulates in the hands of a few masters, way beyond their ability to consume it or use it productively (like a good calvinist capitalist would), it gets stale and stagnant and finally toxic. It is at that point of unreality, that investments in paper derivatives upon paper derivatives start sounding like a rational investment...<i>a good idea</i>.... Because so many really rich talk themselves and each other into this delusional condition of market hypnosis, similar to a ponzi scheme, for awhile it seems to work flawlessly. Until the house of cards came tumbling down.<br /><br />Lucky for the superrich, Obama and his team of Goldman Sachs alumni, were able to stave off the crisis (by a hair we are told) by bailouts to the bankers paid in taxes of commoners. People that are in the 'know' such as <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFMgwL-Tq4s">Max Keiser </a>have assured me that this scheme amounts to the largest transfer of wealth in history.<br /><br />Certainly even in the last half a year most of us must admit that life has become a lot <i>tougher</i>.....<span style="font-style: italic;">Meanwhile the money is still stuck... It doesn't flow..... too big to fail ??--wait for the next round then...</span><br /><i>There is no credit to do anything with.... No investments..... No currency..... No flow.... </i><br /><i>What if finally China calls it bluff..... Since the US has overplayed its hand so grotesquely, the only thing Obama can do is fold: End of Empire...... <a href="http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2007/poy/putin/vladimir_putin_01.jpg">Putin</a> thumbs his nose....squinces his eyes and lets out a cramped smile....he knows: there is no coin without an army, no army without a coin.....Russia is in the right spot whoever gets the prize.... <a href="http://visualrian.com/storage/PreviewWM/4049/61/404961.jpg">Medvedev</a> is meanwhile cousying up with the Dutch queen Beatrix while behind her back <a href="http://www.overclockers.com.ua/news/other/104250-Merkel-Medvedev.jpg">Merkel</a> winks her eye at him..... It is about oil, guys: ....pipelines.... flow....Putin invites Shell back in Sakhalin Russia....China making largest oil deals in Iran..... an Arabian dinar.... Once these deals are made in gold backed currencies the value of the dollar collapses.... inflation starts.... gold and oil sky rocket even after desperate bank interventions and draconian tax policies fail to put a back stop to the dollar...... Stores are empty, food is unavailable..... Obama's cabinet threatens to be reduced to a debating club in Washington.....The bill comes due: China takes what it can get in natural resources and president <a href="http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/OEDIZQrabYK/Russian+President+Visits+China">Hu Jintao </a>demands direct taxes to Beijing while american workers are organized in Maoist style collectives...... This is a financial war.... not a shot is being fired but some nemesis is brought to its knees.... leaving heaps of scrap metal behind in faraway desert sands.....and endless papers blowing through an empty wall street...</i><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wait wait...Sorry, I am sorry... just waking up from a nightmare....some weird rave coming through --discard all that. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It just points to one thing: It is time the rich leverage their money towards a more equitable green society and make it roll. I know that a lot of the rich feel reluctant to undertake such an endeavor. And some of you may have been discouraged by the supposed words of the savior himself. Here I feel privileged: I may be able to help set the record straight. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/Stp4lxikj3I/AAAAAAAAASI/LdBDn0NJYWM/s1600-h/bon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/Stp4lxikj3I/AAAAAAAAASI/LdBDn0NJYWM/s200/bon.jpg" /></a><br /></div><span style="font-family: Times, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As an aside here I will confess to you that I am not at all bible steady myself nor would I call myself even a christian (<i>though I love Jesus</i>), or particularly knowledgeable in the area of religion. For me to say anything at all I have to defer fully to my trust in the knowledge of my mother Bon Malten (1991+), who was by far the most well read person I have met, and though deeply humanist, had a particular interest in the teachings of the bible. Anyhow, she assured me that there is a widespread misunderstanding over what Jesus said about the rich.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The comment of Jesus on the rich that is repeated in every bible is this:</span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">..<i>.."It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God..."</i></span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was Bon's believe that Jesus <b>never said that</b>. After study ("<i>Look at a camel, now think of a needle...</i> --<i>Jesus never said absurd things!"</i>) she came to the conclusion that this comment was translated in the wrong manner. According to her what Jesus actually said was this:</span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/StlVebhNasI/AAAAAAAAARo/bPcX7ClZNm4/s1600-h/camelhair.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/StlVebhNasI/AAAAAAAAARo/bPcX7ClZNm4/s320/camelhair.jpg" /></a><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/StlWiXsx20I/AAAAAAAAARw/PcGteikMhAA/s1600-h/needle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/StlWiXsx20I/AAAAAAAAARw/PcGteikMhAA/s320/needle.jpg" /></a><br /></div><span style="font-family: Times, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: italic;">...."It is easier for a <b>camel-hair</b> to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God..." </span><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span><br /><span style="font-family: Times, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In other words: <i>It is hard but it can be done</i></span><br /></div>kansekihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11418207668038332567noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4256335259435953506.post-53933549331680975372009-10-15T20:34:00.000-07:002010-06-21T10:41:39.189-07:00Droughts and Floods: the Face of Climate ChangeIndia is experiencing a severe drought (see <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfKi47Vfriw&feature">Vandana Shiva</a>). And if that is not enough, at the time of this writing India is hit by the worst flooding in many years, leaving millions of people homeless.<br /><br />"Rice and other crops in an area of 260 000 hectares have been destroyed, The floods came at a critical time when many farmers had sowed their winter crops and much of this has been washed away or damaged." state Agriculture Minister N Raghuveera Rao said. Worst timing. The government has not announced plans to help residents deal with food shortages.<br />There were concerns among aid workers that the damage would likely set off a wave of migration to nearby towns and cities .....<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/StfmlzZWzjI/AAAAAAAAARY/embg7Wv57Xs/s1600-h/flooding+in+india.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/StfmlzZWzjI/AAAAAAAAARY/embg7Wv57Xs/s400/flooding+in+india.jpg" /></a><br /></div><br />Droughts and floods have become the demonic face of climate change for so many people, leaving behind a trail of death and destruction. Though they seem contradictory phenomena, they are actually two sides of the same coin.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/Std2woGdpbI/AAAAAAAAARA/5u4d0odKq1A/s1600-h/drought.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/Std2woGdpbI/AAAAAAAAARA/5u4d0odKq1A/s200/drought.jpg" /></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/Std3kqQJdHI/AAAAAAAAARI/TA03JG65qdM/s1600-h/flooding.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/Std3kqQJdHI/AAAAAAAAARI/TA03JG65qdM/s320/flooding.jpg" /></a><br /></div><br />Indian government data show that water levels in the 80 some mayor reservoirs are holding less than 40% capacity. India has seen the scantiest monsoon season in 7 years, until now when a sudden abundance of late rainfall has resulted in flooding of large areas.<br />Since the monsoon rains account for more that 75% of India's annual rainfall, this is a source of serious concern. Fluctuations in the monsoon, the timing and the amount have large consequences. Farming is severely affected by this lack of rain: 60% of Indian farmers have no irrigation systems. The monsoon rains are essential to the harvest of rice, soy, sugarcane and cotton. Deepening the problem of lack of water is the use of hybrid seeds, some of which are real water guzzlers.<br /><br />The official prognoses is that there will be a shortfall of about 10 % of rice compared to 2008. The sudden current flooding will certainly make these numbers a lot worse. Food prices are sharply rising and the government has promised to open its storehouses in order to prevent social unrest and to compensate farmers. However for many farmers the situation is already dire. Andhra Pardesh saw a surge of farmer suicides (at least 20 at latest count), and some have tried to sell their wives and daughters in desperation.<br /><br />Through special satellite images made over the 2002-2008 period, NASA detected an average drop in groundwater levels of about 4 centimeters per year which may not sound like a lot --but added up represents the loss of about 110 cubic kilometers of groundwater lost during that period. Some estimates are actually a lot higher and have predicted a loss of about 54 cubic kilometers of groundwater lost <i>yearly</i> in the Indo-Ganenic plains, the worlds most densely populated and heavily irrigated region. Studies have indicated that the depletion rate is accelerating in the last decade by up to 70 %.<br /><br />Urbanization and industrialization take their increasing share of groundwater withdrawal, but estimates are that over 90% of aquifer depletion comes from larger farming operations mainly of rice, wheat and barley. India's soviet style planners egged on by the promise of a Green Revolution, have not given up on large, prestigious irrigation projects (usually involving big dams) serving hybrid seeds, despite their dismal consequences. All kinds of hybrid crop varieties that require large quantities of water, such as rice, sorghum, maize, cotton and vegetables, are still being promoted in the arid regions.<br /><br />Due to deforestation higher up, the thinning in the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6YW8e6TM5Q&feature">icecap on the Himalayas</a> (also due to climate change), and the decreased water absorption capacity of the earth that comes with industrial agriculture, monsoon rainfalls all to often result in sudden flooding in the valleys downstream without necessarily replenishing the aquifers themselves. Once the waters recede, they leave depleted soil and human devastation in their wake, increasing the risk of a repeat scenario in the following years. Continued fertility is at stake here.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/StfRNVlo1FI/AAAAAAAAARQ/3YT-I94oCM4/s1600-h/rajendra.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/StfRNVlo1FI/AAAAAAAAARQ/3YT-I94oCM4/s320/rajendra.jpg" /></a><br /></div>One very significant effort in this regard is the work of Rajendra Singh, an expert on traditional water systems.<br />Rajendra understood that the secret to remediation of desertification is two fold:<br /><br />-increase the aquifer levels underground<br />-plant appropriate trees at the edge of the desert for water containment and soil generation<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Rajendra taught the farmers of the desert state Rajastan how to catch water in their <i>johads</i>, a system of rivulets and arroyos channelled into large and deep (up to 100 meters) underground water-storage areas that seep into the ground and recharge the aquifer underneath the desert. Participation in the program was successful enough to recharge several dry riverbeds into lively rivers and many wells. Where-as this year other areas in India were too dry to farm due to the lack of a monsoon spell, in Rajastan the effects have been relatively mild. Due to the communal effort and the insight of dr. Rajendra Singh the farmers of the Alwar district have to fear less for a bad harvests. Says Rajendra: <i>"Unless you catch water it disappears quickly. Eighty percent of India's rainfall is just run off. Here too we have noticed too a decrease in rainfall, but through our johads we have saved enough water to bridge this spell of drought"</i>.<br /><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/Stf0RperiTI/AAAAAAAAARg/ayziEBq9Ch0/s1600-h/new+mexico.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/Stf0RperiTI/AAAAAAAAARg/ayziEBq9Ch0/s400/new+mexico.jpg" /></a><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/Stf0RperiTI/AAAAAAAAARg/ayziEBq9Ch0/s1600-h/new+mexico.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a>new mexico...can u c the desert....?<br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Living in the desert of New Mexico I can see benefits of application of the principles of dr. Singh here. After all we have a few mountain ranges catching a fair amount of water during our monsoon, usually from the beginning of July through August. We have been blessed with relatively good years of precipitation, but we have totally neglected the longer term outlook for New Mexico. Desertification in in the cards for this area also due to increased evaporation (climate warming) and it feels that New Mexico already takes part in one continuous low level dust storm that clouds the once clear mountains.<br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/Stpmr9MlSMI/AAAAAAAAASA/TRPk4-EkruM/s1600-h/guadelupe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/Stpmr9MlSMI/AAAAAAAAASA/TRPk4-EkruM/s320/guadelupe.jpg" /></a><br /></div>No large scale efforts are undertaken to head off disaster here. A serious communal effort to create some kinds of <i>johads</i> --let's call them 'recharge wells'-- along the feet of the mountains here would do the same thing: it would stabilize the march of desert lands, decrease the threat of flooding, increase fertility, minimize the effects of rainfall fluctuations, create jobs and realization of bioregional goals. It would establish a beautiful green mantle for the in New Mexico beloved Lady of Guadelupe.<br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Of course in our case here in New Mexico, we have our particular circumstances, such as making sure that nuclear contaminated run-off doesn't foul up the underground water supplies.... but we can figure those things out locally and share the information for similar efforts elsewhere. In order to cope with the local effects of climate change we should promote the idea of a 'global-local response movement', that shares its intent and experience through world wide networks.<br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Global systemic solutions to water management are few since the issues involved are so large and so many national and corporate interests are at stake here, that it is hard to come up with any agreements let alone any practical measures to be implemented. However, it is becoming crystal clear, rapidly, that all countries and regions have to start focussing on long term solutions to the flooding-desertification complex, the loss of fertile soil <i>and</i> the related food crisis.<br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br /></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/33327619#33291266">Prevention of hunger should become the organizing principle behind international cooperation and formulation of common goals.</a><br /><br /><br /><br />also: see <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BL_gwfJvGuw">flooding in Mekong Vietnam</a> here. and <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/34222628#34222628">Mount Everest</a> here<br /> a new one on the present and future of the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=AlJazeeraEnglish#p/u/1241/NRFCz7AupOk">Ganges</a><br /> Drought in <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJL5PPHZS2A&feature=sdig&et=1260525232.41">Syria</a> here<br /></div>kansekihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11418207668038332567noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4256335259435953506.post-57829303475525189852009-09-26T20:28:00.000-07:002010-06-21T10:41:39.191-07:00My Father's Words<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/Ss_cmKq74rI/AAAAAAAAAQ4/0cwHRvtO5Tw/s1600-h/IMG_0672.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/Ss_cmKq74rI/AAAAAAAAAQ4/0cwHRvtO5Tw/s320/IMG_0672.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5390769827243352754" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:medium;"><i><div><br /></div>"....het zit er weer op.....<br />het is mooi geweest...."<br /><br />"....done again.....<br />walked in beauty...."</i><br /><br /><br />Klaus Malten<br />August 1, 1920 - September 19, 2009<br /></span>kansekihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11418207668038332567noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4256335259435953506.post-78118263077039293712009-09-14T14:18:00.000-07:002010-06-21T10:41:39.193-07:00Bija: the Seeds of Freedom<div style="text-align: center;"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 111px; height: 111px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/SrGFvqLa37I/AAAAAAAAAQY/pmePLZTTp_c/s200/images.jpeg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5382230083506986930" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Many of you already know the name Vandana Shiva. She is a tireless activist, writer and educator, born in Dehradun, close to the Himalayas.</div><div><br /></div><div>Vandana's influence on 'green thinking' now reaches all over the world, but she still draws her inspiration from that inexhaustible well... Mother India. Her thought comes from long tradition of village democracy, 'small is beautiful', and Vedic heritage, walking in the footsteps of Ghandi, Schumacher and so many others, believing in the empowerment of people through appropriate technology, bio diversity and seed sovereignty, equality and justice.<div><br />Core of her understanding is the integrity of the seed or "Bija". In Sanskrite <span style="font-style:italic;">Bija</span> means: <span style="font-style:italic;">that from which live arises forever ..."the very meaning of Bija (or seed) is the holder of perennial evolution". </span><div><i><br /></i></div><div><span>Once we understand the core role of Bija-Seed deeply in evolution and its inter</span></div><div><span>weaving with human history, we can suddenly gain clarity on the issues of breeding, sustainability, bio--diversity and the whole social and ecological fabric that is assumed and implied in seed sovereignty. Breeding of seed varieties assumes a collective of keen minds, carefully observing the interchange of seeds, soil conditions and water and drawing subtle conclusions about the fertility and other characteristics of seed varieties. That is the way to start coping with larger factors such as climate change and the challenge it poses to world food security.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Qs2cx3Cvb-E/SrG89R9cdZI/AAAAAAAAAQo/LQkg_SJKxyU/s320/20090912_214259505.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5382290790663615890" /></div><div><br /></div><div>The networks of ecological interdependency are not random, and not to be frivolously messed with for instance through genetic manipulation. GM crops destroy bio-diversity, and then monopolize the seed stock and the availability of real food . The large seed corporations have not come up with any new seed varieties to cope with climate change. The Green Revolution people have come up with some 8000 new hybrid varieties which are highly dependent on chemical inputs and create monocultures. Yet it is the small farmers that have made the greatest contribution to seeds and seed varieties of all: during the same time they have at least 105 whole new crop species and some 1.9 million new plant varieties. </div><div><i>Who are you gonna trust??</i></div><div><br /></div><div>To satisfy an inexhaustable greed, global corporations such as Monsanto seek world domination through domination of the food supply. These predators of bio-diversity use the tools of patenting, genetic manipulation and the establishments of monopolies of chemically responsive seeds and often infertile hybrids. Both the prices for seed and agricultural chemicals (let alone fuel for transportation) have skyrocketed opening a specter of global food emergency and hunger.</div><div><br /></div><div>Genetic modification is not only (intentionally?) fouling up the nest of genetic integrity of organic seeds --its second generation of growth is totally unpredictable and thus unreliable for farming and food supply. Product and process patents can now be granted for seeds, plants, animals, microorganisms, cells and genetically modified organisms through the trade laws that are consistent with the WTO prescriptions. Seems like a remote concern? Consider this: these patents applied to seed, plant and genetic material may become a matter of life and death for millions of people in India and many more all over the world. Vandana Shiva explains how the suicides by over 200.000 farmers to date has directly to do with this monstrous domination ideology that is being acted out on top of the heads of farmers in India: these suicides were the result of indebtedness because of the higher and higher costs of seeds and other inputs.</div><div><br /></div><div>The other result of globalization of the food supply has been the commodification of food. Food is now traded world wide as a commodity, and there is ever increasing speculation in commodity backed obligations which are then leveraged after that --totally removed from the agriculture or food itself, let alone the people that actually work the land. Companies don't grow food now --they grow <i>bio-mass</i>. Whether that ends up as fodder for the masses or bio fuels is of no concern. Only 5 companies woldwide own a majority of the seeds and thus have interest in creating scarecity in order to drive prices up. We have seen very large price fluctuations of grains for instance, mostly on the up side, that has made it clear that the food market is subject to massive market manipulation. The acreage equivalent to half of all the agricultural land of the whole of Europe, was bought up by national and corporate interests in the last 8 months or so --driving the people off the land.<br /><br />Devinder Sharma, analyst with the Forum for Biotechnology and Food Security in India, predicted civil unrest. </div><div> "Outsourcing food production will ensure food security for investing countries but would leave behind a trail of hunger, starvation and food scarcities for local populations," he said. "The environmental tab of highly intensive farming – devastated soils, dry aquifer, and ruined ecology from chemical infestation – will be left for the host country to pick up." </div><div>The only winners of these devious games are the Monsantos an their ilk, while people that live on the land and are growing the food are going hungry today. </div><div><br /></div><div>Let there be no doubt: there is a large increase in the legions that are going hungry worldwide -now over a billion. People, some estimate as many as 600 million of them, are forced from rural areas into the cities because <i>"that is where the food is" </i>- a recipe for disaster and anomy. The food riots of the last few years my only be a taste of what is to come. Over 11 % of Americans, some 32 million people are on food stamps, going up at the rate of 17% per year. These symptoms of scarcity are the direct result of these agricultural policies and the revolving door between regulators, industry and wallstreet.</div><div><br /></div><div>The food crisis of today forces us to make a choice between reliance on a few large corporations and their masters, and the carefully laid case for the model of Bija: Seed Souvereignty. Vandana Shiva and her the <a href="http://www.navdanya.org/">Navdanya</a> team are giving us a path to cope with the crisis. They have started the establishment of bio-regional seed banks and they are calling upon us to do the same and to get informed about the issues. Support in whatever way you can:</div><div><br /></div><div>-no patenting of seeds</div><div><br /></div><div>-no gm foods (and insist on labeling of gm foods and then boycott them)</div><div><br /></div><div>-promote organics: restore soil, bio-diversity, reject chemicals, restore vitality of local market</div><div><br /></div><div>-fight WTO rules on intellectual property on plants and seeds and genetic material</div><div><br /></div><div>-organize regional seed exchanges and resist bio-piracy</div><div><br /></div><div>-defend the integrity of seeds through understanding "<i>Bija Swaraj</i>" meaning <i>Seed sovereignty</i> which is Self governance</div><div><br /></div><div>-buy from your local farmers and eat less meat</div><div><br /></div><div>Enjoy Vandana Shiva speaking herself:<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/UfKi47Vfriw&hl=en&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/UfKi47Vfriw&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie"><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/zGX7xZ-AOM0&hl=en&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/zGX7xZ-AOM0&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/s2hqjNTCkxs&hl=en&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/s2hqjNTCkxs&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/HYNTjFhR_-4&hl=en&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/HYNTjFhR_-4&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><br /><br /></object></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div></div>kansekihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11418207668038332567noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4256335259435953506.post-59630387301799124132009-09-01T17:27:00.000-07:002010-06-21T10:41:39.196-07:00Pat Mooney on the Food Crisis and Climate ChangeJust now, August 2009, I had the pleasure to film Pat Mooney, a Canadian authority on agricultural biodiversity and different food and related technology and economic issues. He opened my eyes to the extreme food situation that is emerging and the role of small farmers versus giant food corporations. How does climate change affect food security ? Did you know that the plan is to move hundreds of millions of peasants to the cities ? Who is really contributing to bio-diversity and new seeds ? How come huge investments are being made in bio-mass production and synthetic biology...and who is doing it ? What is the plan to survive the coming years ?<div><br /><i>Just to reiterate some of the numbers that Pat Mooney mentioned (so you have them handy):<br /></i><br />-450 million farmers in the world --of which there are...<div><br />-383 million small farmers</div><div><br />-1.2 billion people are hungry in the world --of which about...</div><div><br />-700 million live in rural areas</div><div><br />-100 million are fed by world food programs (UN)</div><div><br />-600 million hungry are fed by small farmers</div><div><br />-150.000 patented varieties of seeds (including many roses, chrysanthiums and decorative varieties)</div><div><br />-8000 varieties (hybrids) were introduced by green revolution people (last 50 years)</div><div><br />-1.9 million plant varieties were introduced by small breeders/farmers (non patented) during same time of which there are...</div><div><br /></div><div>-105 new crop species (some say up to a 1000) new crop species (non patented) introduced by small breeder/farmers</div><div><br />-0 new species were bred by mayor seed companies who mainly concentrate their research money on genetically modifying....</div><div><br />-4 main crops: corn, cotton, soy and rice</div><div><br />-67 % of all seeds are controlled by top 10 seed companies<br /><br />Please listen to Pat Mooney -- a sane voice on our emerging food crisis.<br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/9_sRszCaDzs&hl=en&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/9_sRszCaDzs&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/19t1sYOBybs&hl=en&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/19t1sYOBybs&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/H0Amz2hz0Ek&hl=en&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/H0Amz2hz0Ek&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object></div></div>kansekihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11418207668038332567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4256335259435953506.post-62137304003639582742009-08-25T23:00:00.000-07:002010-06-21T10:41:39.198-07:00Greenhouse Energy: climate neutral horticultureWhile in the Netherlands I visited one of the most advanced greenhouse research centers in the world, in Bleiswijk, the Netherlands. It is managed by the university of Wageningen and it comprises of a series of different experimental set- ups for large scale greenhouses. Marcel Raaphorst a research associate was kind enough to take me along with my camera.<div><br /></div><div>A lot of people in the netherlands eat daily virtually their whole diet from produce grown in large greenhouses. After serving all of the supermarkets (and markets) of the netherlands still 80% of the greenhouse produced food is exported to the EU, and the rest of the world. But the success of Greenhouses always had an incredibly high energy cost and took a good portion of natural gas found under the Northsea.</div><div><br /></div><div>That energy use may become less if greenhouse techniques are adopted, such as I filmed here. The solutions that are shown here for climate neutral techniques of heating and cooling are in a way very technical and I believe that the scope of the research should be expanded. Climate neutrality should not just apply to the energy household of the greenhouse itself . Climate neutrality as a principle should just as much apply to issues of nutrient dependency, pest control, irrigation, composting, and crop management. </div><div><br /></div><div>I think that there are a lot of questions here which I would like to address over time. But meanwhile I would like to also present it as is: the world's most in depth research into the energy possibilities of greenhouses. It is amazing....</div><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/58CxMNc8CQ0&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/58CxMNc8CQ0&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/dNuhIetTe_E&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/dNuhIetTe_E&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>kansekihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11418207668038332567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4256335259435953506.post-78058923049644896742009-08-13T07:33:00.000-07:002010-06-21T10:41:39.200-07:00Hiroshima part 4: aftermath stories and the mirror<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p><object height="350" width="425"><param value="http://youtube.com/v/dyxECoBweYI" name="movie"><embed height="350" width="425" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://youtube.com/v/dyxECoBweYI"></embed></object></p><p>The mirror and the face of suffering and resurrection. Shigeko discovers a very profound mission: survival and witness of the atrocity that happened on August 6, 1945 in Hiroshima. "No more Hiroshimas" is up to you and I now -- <a href="http://www.lasg.org/">http://www.lasg.org/</a></p></div>kansekihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11418207668038332567noreply@blogger.com0