ecominded_poc

Source: evidence that humans had farms 30,000 years earlier than previously thought (@ arstechnica)

More: Amazon forest is the result of an 8,000 year experiment (@ arstechnica).

Evidence that humans had farms 30,000 years earlier than previously thought

Dramatic new hypothesis could change the way we understand human history.

by Annalee Newitz - 8/3/2017

It's an idea that could transform our understanding of how humans went from small bands of hunter-gatherers to farmers and urbanites. Until recently, anthropologists believed cities and farms emerged about 9,000 years ago in the Mediterranean and Middle East. But now a team of interdisciplinary researchers has gathered evidence showing how civilization as we know it may have emerged at the equator, in tropical forests. Not only that, but people started farming about 30,000 years earlier than we thought.

( Full text of article for archiving purposes. )

spiralsheep

[ Source @ BBC News online: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-40584139 ]

Record number of environmental activists killed around the world

By Matt McGrath, Environment correspondent

Growing competition for land and natural resources saw a record number of environmental activists killed in 2016, says Global Witness. The green group's report details at least 200 murders across 24 countries, up significantly from 2015. Disputes over mining were the cause of the greatest number of killings, followed by logging and agribusiness. Brazil saw the most deaths overall, but there were big increases in Colombia and India.

Global Witness has been publishing annual reports on the threats to activists since 2012, although it has data going back to 2002. The organisation compiles its analysis from media sources, information from other non-governmental organisations and from the UN. It also verifies the data with monitoring groups in priority countries, such as Brazil, Colombia, Honduras and the Philippines.

Some 60% of the killings last year took place in Latin America, with a significant number of victims from indigenous communities. According to those who compiled the report, those doing the killing have become bolder in recent years.

"We've always thought of these cases taking place in remote isolated areas but we are seeing attacks becoming more brazen, and that's because so few of these cases result in successful prosecutions," said Billy Kyte from Global Witness. "Indigenous people are massively over represented in the figures and that's because many of their lands overlap with lands rich in minerals and timber and also because they have less access to justice or communications."

Disputes about mining resulted in 33 murders, while those linked to logging increased from 15 to 23 in a year. A similar number were linked to agribusiness projects.

( Full text of article for archiving purposes. )

spiralsheep

While I have concerns about the Whitley Awards (and their sponsors) they are at least giving lip-service to community involvement in managing sustainable habitats for wildlife and local people.

the_future_modernes

COLOMBIA:Food Prices Rise after Record Rains

BOGOTA, Jan 26, 2011 (IPS) - Food prices are set to rise in Colombia, due to the combined effects of soaring international prices and local crop losses after nine months of devastating rains. The government expects food prices to rise three percent in February, while independent analysts forecast an increase twice as high.MORE

FOOD:The Rats Have It

BANGKOK, Jan 18, 2011 (IPS) - While floods and droughts are often highlighted in the media for devastating the world’s rice production, a lesser-known culprit has been able to scurry away without being fingered for causing damage - rats.

The rodents reportedly devour "millions of tons of rice each year" in pre- harvest losses across Asia. MORE

SRI LANKA:Extreme Weather Changes Could Follow Floods

COLOMBO, Jan 18, 2011 (IPS) - Weather experts warned Sri Lankan to be prepared for extreme weather changes with hardly any notice following devastating floods here that have affected over one million people.

"Global weather patterns are changing, we should be prepared for extreme changes," Gunavi Samarasinghe, the head of Meteorological Department, said as the country battled floods in the east as temperatures island-wide dropped to sixty year lows.
MORE

GUATEMALA:High Staple Food Prices Drive Up Hunger

GUATEMALA CITY, Jan 25, 2011 (IPS) - The rise in prices of corn, beans and other staple foods, driven up by damages to crops caused by extreme weather events, is making it even harder for the poor to afford a basic diet in Guatemala, which has the highest rate of child malnutrition in Latin America.

And although the government of social democratic President Álvaro Colom recently decreed a new rise in the minimum wage despite resistance from businesses, which threatened to lay off thousands of workers, the minimum wage still falls short of covering the cost of the basic basket of goods and services. MORE

Mexico Tempted to Shift From Tortillas to Ethanol

MEXICO CITY, Jan 22, 2011 (Tierramérica) - Farmers' protests and the rise in corn tortilla prices in late December put temporary brakes on the Mexican Senate, which was preparing to lift the national ban on utilising maize to make fuel alcohol, or ethanol.

The policy shift is included in the bio-energy bill that former senator Mario López Valdez had pushed for two years. He is now governor of the northwestern state of Sinaloa. The bill was approved in committee by all political parties and presented to the Senate on Dec.9.

The non-governmental campaign "Sin Maíz No Hay País" (roughly, "without maize, there is no Mexico") issued an alert against the legislation, which ultimately was put on hold, while in the last days of 2010 the price of the corn tortilla -- a staple in the Mexican diet -- shot up 50 percent.
MORE

MORE HERE

the_future_modernes

Gasping for Air in La Oraya 2006 article

LA OROYA, Peru, Dec 12, 2006 (IPS) - A grey blanket of smog hangs over the mining town of La Oroya high up in the Andes in Peru, where several generations have suffered the effects of the lead dust and toxic fumes spewed out by a giant smelting complex.

A look around, and a few deep breaths, are all that is needed to understand that something is wrong in this town of 35,000 people in the central Peruvian region of Junín, where humble adobe and brick houses are surrounded by bleak hills in shades of grey - the vegetation has been destroyed by acid rain - and the dense air stings the eyes and throat.

The cause of the smog stands out like a sore thumb in the middle of the town: the smokestack of the multimetal smelter and refinery complex that spits out clouds of black smoke, and has been doing so for over 80 years.

Luis Saldarriaga, the head of oversight of the mining industry in the Ministry of Energy and Mines, tells IPS that 1.5 tons of lead and 810 tons of sulphur dioxide are emitted daily by the smelting complex administered since 1997 by the U.S. company Doe Run.

The factory's emissions of sulphur dioxide - which can cause respiratory problems like bronchitis and are the main cause of acid rain - are four times the acceptable limit of 175 metric tons a day, as set by Peruvian law. MORE

Company offers band-aid solutions to polluted town 2006 article

Pollution Emergency Plan Instead of Real Action for La Oroya 2007 article

US-Owned Smelter Fined for Pollution2008 article

In search of less toxic mining 2008 article

Bailout of Mining Co. Eclipses Environmental Disaster2009 article US compnay fucks up the environment, Peruvian gov't gives them more time to clean up and banks give them money!! What the hell happened to their profits!!!!???

Adios Doe Run 2010 article

Doe Run's Latest Move

LIMA, Jan 15, 2011 (IPS) - The U.S. mining and metallurgical company Doe Run has once again challenged the Peruvian government. The Renco Group, of which it is a subsidiary, notified the government of its plans to start an international arbitration process, invoking the free trade agreement between this South American country and the United States.

The U.S.-based holding company said the arbitration will be filed in 90 days if no agreement is reached. What is behind this ultimatum?

In ads published Jan. 5 in newspapers in Lima, the Renco Group said it was turning to the mechanisms provided for by the trade promotion agreement because it had received "unfair treatment" at the hands of the Peruvian government and had not been given "protection and security" as an investor, as required by the treaty.

Doe Run began to run the large multi-metal smelter in the central Peruvian highlands city of La Oroya, known as one of the most polluted places on earth, after the plant was privatised and acquired by the Missouri-based firm in 1997.MORE

Which isn't to say that Peruvian companies have not been pulling shenanigans and fuckery on their own ppl., especially the indigenous tribes who can be easily bullied.

la_vie_noire

African Huts Far From the Grid Glow With Renewable Power

Although dwarfed by the big renewable energy projects that many industrialized countries are embracing to rein in greenhouse gas emissions, these tiny systems are playing an epic, transformative role.

Since Ms. Ruto hooked up the system, her teenagers’ grades have improved because they have light for studying. The toddlers no longer risk burns from the smoky kerosene lamp. And each month, she saves $15 in kerosene and battery costs — and the $20 she used to spend on travel.

In fact, neighbors now pay her 20 cents to charge their phones, although that business may soon evaporate: 63 families in Kiptusuri have recently installed their own solar power systems.

[...]

With the advent of cheap solar panels and high-efficiency LED lights, which can light a room with just 4 watts of power instead of 60, these small solar systems now deliver useful electricity at a price that even the poor can afford, he noted. “You’re seeing herders in Inner Mongolia with solar cells on top of their yurts,” Mr. Younger said.

In Africa, nascent markets for the systems have sprung up in Ethiopia, Uganda, Malawi and Ghana as well as in Kenya, said Francis Hillman, an energy entrepreneur who recently shifted his Eritrea-based business, Phaesun Asmara, from large solar projects financed by nongovernmental organizations to a greater emphasis on tiny rooftop systems.

In addition to these small solar projects, renewable energy technologies designed for the poor include simple subterranean biogas chambers that make fuel and electricity from the manure of a few cows, and “mini” hydroelectric dams that can harness the power of a local river for an entire village.

Yet while these off-grid systems have proved their worth, the lack of an effective distribution network or a reliable way of financing the start-up costs has prevented them from becoming more widespread.

the_future_modernes

ETA: Tell us in comments the books that you feel would blow our minds!!!

Alternet has 28 books that they aver will change the way you see the world, environmentally, at least. Most of which seem to be written economically privileged cis het white men. There is 1 possibly two white women in the bunch. And thats it. Fuck this shit. Honestly? The only book I want to read out of that bunch is the book about the Gaviotas community in Colombia. Here are a couple of articles and a book review: Gaviotas, Gaviotas: Village of Hope, Alan Weisman: Gaviotas: A Village to Reinvent the World.

But seriously. Where is Vandana Shiva, for instance? The woman is famous and prolific, and is a wellknown activist against food monoculture and various other environmental ills, so why the black out? Why are there no books about the environmental justice movement?

Repost from ecominded poc lj version: None of these resources have mind changing abilities?

Articles:

A Selection of African-American Environmental Heroes

Indigenous Environmental Justice Issues Enter the Global Ring

Books:

African American Environmental Thought: Foundations To Love the Wind and the Rain:

African Americans and Environmental History

The Quest for Environmental Justice: Human Rights and the Politics of Pollution

New Perspectives on Environmental Justice: Gender, Sexuality, and Activism

All Our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life

Ecocide of Native America: Environmental Destruction of Indian Lands and Peoples

The Quest for Environmental Justice: Human Rights and the Politics of Pollution

Confronting Environmental Racism: Voices From the Grassroots

Just Transportation: Dismantling Race and Class Barriers to Mobility

How about the The Revolution will not be funded: Beyond the Non profit Induatrial Complex? That sure as hell blew my mind?

!Cochabamba!: Water War in Bolivia

How about Sistah Vegan, a look at how veganism can be considered in light of class and race? Then again, that might expose issues that could be just a little too uncomfortable for some!

Or Dam Nation Which sure as hell ripped my beliefs about dams and waterways and how waste is dealt with completely to bits.

And this stuff is just what came into my mind, you know? Its US-centric, I haven't read all of the stuff here unfortunately and I haven't been keeping up with enviro books so I am sure I missed a ton. But my argument is this, can we PLEASE stop having the enviro movement pretend that its only readers are middle to upper class white people? Cause they are actually the damn minority on this planet, and other stories need to be told, thank you very much!

the_future_modernes

For those of you who are joining us from direct from dreamwidth, this was an LJ comm first. So here are a couple of links you might like to get a flavor of what we're about

Inspiring POC

Indigenous Environmental Issues

See also non Lj links like:Survival Int'l: the Movement for Tribal People

Raj Patel.org Famous author and blogger who always has something good to talk about.

Vegans of Color

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Equatorial people began sustainable farming 45,000 years ago

Record number of environmental activists killed around the world

Whitley Awards 2013, read with hope and a pinch of salt

Food issues:

The saga of Peru and US mining company Doe Run: In short, never agree to arbitration, F free trade

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xposted to journal: Intersectionality, get you some!!!

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