Culture and Coexistence into the Great Unknown
Ecuador abandons a plan to preserve the most biodiverse region on Earth from oil exploitation, putting Yasuni national park at the frontline of a global battle between living systems and fossil fuels. Unable to raise sufficient financing, President Correa plans to move forward with oil drilling in this wild Amazonian region, putting wildlife and willfully uncontacted tribes at risk.
“Beasts,” a hard-knock ecological fairy tale about the disappearing Louisiana bayou cultures and coastline, highlights the fragility of the region’s hurricane defenses and the resulting devastation of communities living on the flooding margins.
Extreme weather events, drought, wildfire, torrential rains, tornadoes, hurricanes, attributable to human-caused global warming, are costing society and insurers bilions of dollars worldwide. Mark Reynolds from Citizens Climate Lobby argues it is time for a carbon fee and dividend to even the market for fossil fuels and encourage clean renewable energy alternatives.
The Earth has a voice. And the fact that any native people have survived on the planet should be a clue that there’s a way that does not include money and politics. We have survived by our relationship with natural force. Water is sacred. Air is sacred. If the tar sands isn’t stopped, we are going to have a whole new set of problems.
A US-taxpayer-funded war on drugs in Central America is expanding with “Counter Terror Squads,” targeting indigenous people, citizen activists, and even independent journalists. It must be stopped.
As the Tar Sands Oil Mining and the associated Keystone XL and Northern Gateway Pipelines push forward, education and collaboration are necessary to stop these destructive projects and demand a sustainable and clean energy policy today.
President Obama: We citizens for Tar Sands Action in Los Angeles laud your decision to send the Keystone XL Pipeline back to the State Department for re-review. Yet, ensuring climate stability, protecting land and water resources, and launching an alternative clean energy economy will take much more work.