Culture and Coexistence into the Great Unknown
Ellen Brown writes on how the Detroit bankruptcy seeks to sacrifice pensioners to pay off the big banks, appearing like the “bail-in” template pushed upon Cyprus which restructured their insolvent banks using depositors funds while sparing those from other banks and governments. Stephen Colbert sums up the situation with some levity as Detroit fights its way back to solvency.
Biodiesel, a cleaner renewable alternative to fossil diesel, can be made from any vegetable oil, but best using waste cooking oil. It’s use is growing across the US in 5 to 20 percent blends.
As we walked, I pondered all of the battlefields that the emerging international movement to stop the tar sands and its associated infrastructure of pipelines, refineries, and shipping lanes is engaged with. I was overcome by the magnitude of our undertaking, picking a fight with the most inhumane and wealthiest corporations on the planet.
Every day, more and more tourists arrive in Iquitos, Peru, seeking spiritual enlightenment or a psychedelic experience first made popular by William Burroughs and the Beatniks in the 1960s. Unfortunately, some well-paid “shamans” lack the experience or understanding of the powerful and sacred botanical brews used for thousands of years for healing and divination. And the gringos-on-holiday often get over their heads in the wilds of the Amazon.
Rob Stewart’s beautifully shot documentary “Sharkwater,” set in the Galapagos and Isla del Coco of the Pacific Ocean, refutes those who vilify the shark as a killer of humans, insisting they do not wish to eat us. He also films Sea Shepherd Captain Paul Watson’s attack on the Costa Rican shark fin poachers, which has led to international charges for the famous defender of the sea.
The murder of 26-year-old sea turtle conservationist Jairo Mora in late May exposed cracks in Costa Rica’s international environmental image, and proved that protecting nature sometimes has a terrible cost. Official corruption, lax regulations, and drug trafficking threaten the environmental bounty of Central America’s most visited country.
While the Great Pacific Garbage Patch continues to grow, a paper by researchers at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute shows that trash is accumulating in the deep sea, particularly in Monterey Canyon, off the coast of California. This causes dire impacts to the marine ecosystem and humans who thrive from it.