Massive companies are rushing to mine the fragile ocean floor. But the twenty-four people who make the rules are meeting this week, and we can stop this plunder if we back scientists’ warnings with a massive wake-up call. For years they’ve poisoned rivers, devastated forests and displaced communities, and now massive companies are rushing to dig up the seabed for precious … [Read more...]
New reserve possible game-changer for the Amazon
An ambitious project is underway to create the largest environmental reserve in the world, protecting 135 million hectares of Amazon forest. That’s more than twice the size of France! But it won’t happen unless Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela’s leaders know the public wants it. That’s where we come in. Colombia has just said it is on board. Now, if we create a huge global … [Read more...]
First ever climate summit in heart of the planet
This year’s U.N. Climate Change Conference in Peru marks the first time the talks have been held in an Amazon country. More than 70 percent of Peru’s national territory is within the Amazon Basin. The founder and executive director of Amazon Watch, Atossa Soltani, talks about the significance of the U.N. climate summit taking place in Peru amidst long-term threats to the … [Read more...]
Recognizing World Fish Migration Day in the Amazon’s waters
The Amazon basin—with its vast rainforests and river systems—is the most bio-diverse place on earth and, not surprisingly, a region rich in discovery. Newly described plant and animal species are a frequent occurrence. The recent video documentation of a newly discovered fish migration is a much rarer event and particularly noteworthy this weekend as we celebrate World Fish … [Read more...]
Amazon at higher risk of tree loss
Researchers say the southern part of the Amazon rainforest is at a far higher risk of dieback than the models used in the most recent report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The research team, led by Professor Rong Fu of the University of Texas, say that this is because the forest is drying out much quicker than projected. If the damage is severe … [Read more...]
Help defend the brave indigenous folk of the Amazon
"We have come here to tell the government and companies that these lands are not for sale."– Jaime Vargas, President of the Achuar Nationality of Ecuador. Jaime and Narcisa traveled from the Ecuadorian Amazon to Houston recently on a mission… to challenge the Ecuadorian government face-to-face during its 11th Round oil concessions promotional roadshow at the North America … [Read more...]
Gathering Shamans to save the land
The Amazon Conservation Team has achieved success by abandoning conventional land protection practices and following the guidance of shamans. I met Liliana Madrigal and her husband, Dr. Mark Plotkin, at an environmental grant makers’ conference in 2001. With my background in anthropology and my work with an environmental foundation, I had been interested in the Amazon … [Read more...]
Let’s clean up the net
Every day, tonnes of asthma-inducing, climate destroying coal pollution is thrown in the air to keep the internet humming. Tech-giants like Microsoft, Amazon and Apple use coal to power the cloud, which stores our data. Millions of people across the world got Facebook off coal. Now the CEOs of these companies need our help. In the next 48 hours we need to send 100,000 … [Read more...]
Greenpeace Paulo Adario honoured as UN’s Forest Hero
Greenpeace Brazil’s Amazon Campaign Director Paulo Adario was recently honoured by the United Nations as a 'Forest Hero' at a ceremony in New York in celebration of his work in defense of the Amazon Rainforest. Adario received the Forest Hero award from the UN on the 9th of February in recognition and celebration of the unsung heroes fighting destruction of the world’s … [Read more...]
The world’s scientists’ climate change observations
As the UN’s climate change conference begins in Durban, Survival calls for the ecological knowledge and insights of tribal peoples to be heeded in global decisions concerning climate change. From the Amazon to the Arctic, tribal peoples typically have the smallest ecological footprints, having practiced sustainable ways of life for thousands of years, but they are also more … [Read more...]
The Crying Forest
Al Jazeera correspondent Gabriel Elizondo paints a shocking portrait of life in the Brazilian Amazon, where at least 212 environmental activists have been murdered since 1996, an average of 12 a year. He pieces together the last six months of the life of activist Ze Claudio Ribiero and his wife Maria. During a prophetic TED talk in November 2010, Ze Claudio correctly … [Read more...]
Uncontacted tribes at risk of huge population loss
Survival International has warned on the eve of World Health Day (April 7) that uncontacted tribes face massive population loss if their land is not protected. Tribes like the Amazon Indians shown in the incredible aerial footage released by Survival this year are likely to lose more than half their population if outsiders invade their land. Around 100 tribes worldwide … [Read more...]
Top 50 Sustainability Books
Green Drinks Cape Town shares their top 50 sustainability books: 1 A Sand County Almanac Aldo Leopold (1949) 2 Silent Spring Rachel Carson (1962) 3 Unsafe At Any Speed Ralph Nader (1965) 4 The Population Bomb Paul L. Ehrlich (1968) 5 Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth R. Buckminster Fuller (1969) 6 The Limits to Growth Donella H. Meadows, … [Read more...]
