Dharma and Ecology of Hindu Communities

Sustenance and Sustainability

Posted 07 July 2011, by Pankaj Jain (University of North Texas, USA), Ashgate Publishing, ashgate.com

In Indic religious traditions, a number of rituals and myths exist in which the environment is revered. Despite this nature worship in India, its natural resources are under heavy pressure with its growing economy and exploding population. This has led several scholars to raise questions about the role religious communities can play in environmentalism. Does nature worship inspire Hindus to act in an environmentally conscious way? This book explores the above questions with three communities, the Swadhyaya movement, the Bishnoi, and the Bhil communities. Presenting the texts of Bishnois, their environmental history, and their contemporary activism; investigating the Swadhyaya movement from an ecological perspective; and exploring the Bhil communities and their Sacred Groves, this book applies a non-Western hermeneutical model to interpret the religious traditions of Indic communities. With a foreword by Roger S Gottlieb.

Contents: Foreword; Introduction; Theoretical propositions for Indic traditions and ecology; The Swadhyaya movement; The Bishnoi community; Sacred groves of Bhils; Modern organizations adapting to ecology; Dharma as religious and environmental ethos; Conclusions; Appendices; Bibliography; Index.

About the Author: Pankaj is the author of Dharma and Ecology of Hindu Communities: Sustenance and Sustainability (May 2011) and has also published articles in journals such as Religious Studies Review, Worldviews, Religion Compass, Journal of Vaishnava Studies, Union Seminary Quarterly Review, and the Journal of Visual Anthropology. He also contributes to the Washington Post’s forum On Faith and e-zine Patheos.com. His research and teaching interests include Hinduism, Jainism, environmental ethics, Indian films, Sanskrit, and Hindi/Urdu languages and literatures. Before joining UNT, he taught at North Carolina State University, Rutgers, Kean, and New Jersey City University. Interested in connecting ancient practices with contemporary issues, he is exploring the connections between religious traditions and sustainability in Hindu and Jain communities in the North Texas area. He serves as a research affiliate with Harvard University’s Pluralism Project and as scholar-in-residence with GreenFaith. He is also a Roving Professor at the Center for the Study of Interdisciplinarity at UNT.

Reviews: ‘This new book by Pankaj Jain is a major contribution to the growing literature on issues related to religion and ecology in India. His thoughtful treatment of three different groups — the Bishnoi, Bhil, and Swadhyaya Movement — helps us understand how the religious actions and beliefs of certain communities can contribute to environmental protection without ever calling it that. The book is rich in detail and places before the reader materials that will prove useful in reflecting further on the particular nature of cultural resources available in India today for resisting environmental degradation.’
David Haberman, Indiana University, USA

‘Pankaj Jain describes the spiritual movements in India, the Swadhyaya of Gujarat and Maharashtra and the Bishnoi of Rajasthan, that have environmentally friendly teachings. Significantly, neither is self-consciously “environmentalist”; the care for trees, animals, and the cosmos is part of a wider concern for moral treatment of all beings. Yet they have done wonders for the environment. Over 300 Bishnoi women were martyred trying to protect trees in the 18th century. Dr. Jain has done serious studies of these two groups, and reports insightfully and in detail on their lives and theologies. He provides an extremely important new account of groups whose religious beliefs need to be considered very seriously in today’s environmentally-challenged world.’
Gene Anderson, University of California, Riverside, USA

‘Pankaj Jain has brought to light little-known aspects of how diverse traditional communities in India sustain and maintain a lifestyle attuned to the rhythms of nature. By illuminating the tree planting initiatives of the Swadhyayis, the animal protection activism of the Bishnois, and the simple lifestyle of the Bhils, Jain advances our knowledge of environment in India without sentimentalizing or idealizing practical realities. His translation of the core texts of the Bishnois makes an important contribution to the field. This book breaks new ground!’
Christopher Key Chapple, Loyola Marymount University, USA

‘This book makes a significant contribution to the growing field of religion and ecology. Based on prodigious field work for which Pankaj Jain is eminently qualified, it will be a valuable resource for the understanding of the religious world view of the three significant Hindu communities and the implications of their beliefs and practices for the care of nature. Dharma and Ecology of Hindu Communities: Sustenance and Sustainability is a “must read” for university courses treating the relationship between religion and nature and for anyone concerned with the state of India’s environment.’

George A. James, University of North Texas, USA

This title is also available as an ebook, ISBN 978-1-4094-0592-4
The author has set up a Facebook page to support Dharma and Ecology of Hindu Communities
Extracts from this title are available to view:

Full contents list

Introduction

Index

• Imprint: Ashgate
• Illustrations: Includes 10 b&w illustrations
• Published: May 2011
• Format: 234 x 156 mm
• Extent: 228 pages
• Binding: Hardback
• ISBN: 978-1-4094-0591-7
• Price :  $89.95 » Website price: $80.96
• BL Reference: 294.5’177-dc22
• LoC Control No: 2010046208

http://www.ashgate.com/default.aspx?page=637&calctitle=1&pageSubject=425&title_id=9865&edition_id=13134&lang=cy-gb

Nairobi’s Dilemma – Growing a Metropolis While Guarding Threatened Ecosystem

Posted 06 July 2011, by Kari Mutu, AllAfrica, allafrica.com

In the open grasslands past Athi River, it’s not unusual to spot a Kori Bustard, a bird about the size of turkey, ambling along the ground with much poise and dignity – except during the brief mating season.

Dignity aside, the puffed-up male dashes madly after his intended, oblivious of the loud rumbling from a nearby cement factory that roils 24 hours a day. The bustards flit unashamedly past sombre wildebeest before traversing the driveway of an extensive, private ranch.

Local school children walking home carrying plastic water jerricans barely give the birds a second glance. The feathered lovers eventually disappear down a tree-lined water hole to share a drink with Maasai cattle.

Welcome to the plains of Athi-Kapiti-Kaputei. A century ago, the area teamed with more wildlife (in numbers and variety) than the Maasai Mara and was often the battle ground between Maasai and Kamba warriors. Then, Nairobi was hardly more than a swampy, mosquito-infested train depot en route to the ‘Pearl of Africa’, Uganda.

One hundred years later and Nairobi – indeed Kenya – is the economic powerhouse of East Africa. The city is bursting at the seams with almost four million people.

Kitengela and Ongata, once considered rural areas, are now part of Nairobi in all but name. Now it’s the turn of Athi-Kapiti and the signs are all there.

Grazing cattle and wildebeest, new factories belching dust and din, small-holder farms adjacent to thousand-acre ranches, mud-walled houses neighbouring gated residential estates, cheetahs hunting besides a Chinese-refurbished highway. One phrase describes this hodgepodge growth – unplanned development.

Kenya urgently needs to implement sustainable urban environmental plans to support a growing economy and population while ensuring the preservation and best utilisation of natural ecosystems. Otherwise, ever more Kenyans will be living in low-quality housing situated in overcrowded, crime-ridden, environmentally degraded, municipalities with poor or non-existent infrastructure.

As the city creeps ever closer, Athi-Kapiti’s landowners, ranchers and impoverished pastoralists are under immense pressure to sell to developers offering sweet prices. But hardly has the ink dried and the grasslands are subdivided and resold.

It begs the question of what regulations are in place for the inevitable urbanisation. West of the railway track, miles of barbed wire already criss-cross the savannah, demarcating hundreds of smallholder plots.

Will the whims of individual owners prevail, giving rise to multi-storeyed flats next to a school without playground, opposite polluting factories beside a nyama choma bar that opens onto a makeshift bus stage?

A resident of the area points out to me recently a parcel of grassland supposedly earmarked for developing low-cost, subsidised housing for Nairobi’s slum residents. It’s a laudable effort.

However, many slum tenants walk to work daily, unable to afford public transportation. It’s a 50-km hike to the Athi Plains. Do the plans for subsidised housing cater for affordable mass transportation to the city?

The Ministry of Environment’s ‘National Climate Change Response Strategy’ (NCCRS) of April 2010 calls for the promotion of low-cost mass public transport models. India, Columbia and South Africa, countries with large, low-income populations, have successfully introduced mass city transport through buses or light rail.

Thailand has recently approved Public-Private-Partnership whereby private developers tender for lucrative light-rail contracts in Bangkok city, but the government subsidises the fares to keep transportation affordable for low-income commuters.

The average Kenyan would benefit greatly from a properly managed mass transport system through safer, low-cost travel and reduced commuting time on less congested roads. Furthermore, environmental preservation would be achieved from decreased vehicle emissions that are so damaging to climate systems.

On the other end of the development spectrum, the Athi-Kapiti is ideally suited to up-market estates. South Africa has successfully developed ‘wildlife residential estates’ which comprise high-end housing, golf courses and recreational facilities alongside untouched wilderness.

The developments respect the wildlife and ecosystems while giving residents exclusive living quarters in serene environments, within easy access of a major metropolis. Nairobi, through Athi-Kapiti, is ideal for similar property investments.

But the rich biodiversity of the plains needs to be actively managed for its long term survival. The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) administers the national parks. Yet over 75% of wildlife lives in non-gazetted areas such as the Athi-Kitengela-Kaputei plains that are listed by KWS as an endangered ecosystem.

Wildlife, to some, is a non-issue as it cannot be raised, hunted or culled for revenue. However, tourism, Kenya’s third largest foreign exchange earner, still heavily relies on wilderness attractions. Vision 2030 acknowledges that ‘continued reduction in wildlife and critical habitats can undermine sustained growth in the tourism sector and reduce competitiveness with other countries.’

Just as human populations have their patterns of living and labouring, so does wildlife. Africa’s large herbivores migrate long distances in search of rain-induced pastures. Wildebeest and antelope travel from as far as the Tanzanian borders to calve in Athi-Kapiti.

Knock out the latter ecology and what becomes of herbivores in Amboseli and Chuylu, the carnivores that feed on them and all those tourism jobs and dollars? Establishing a community-managed wildlife sanctuary seems a necessity rather than a ‘perhaps’.

The NCCRS dossier urges wildlife and tourism intervention by ‘creating community wildlife conservancies to help in the conservation of wildlife.’

To this end, Athi-Kapiti landowners and private enterprises are already deliberating ways of collaborating to form a community wildlife conservancy. Ideas include setting up wildlife research centres for species such as cheetah and wild dog, as well as environmental education institutions for local and international students. Additionally, ways are being explored to construct buildings using sustainable, low-cost solar electrification.

As an example, the new UN office block in Nairobi is completely powered by solar panels, independent of the national grid. This is welcome news for fast developing economy with expensive hydro-electricity, increasingly inconsistent weather patterns and continued destruction of water catchment areas. Similar solar technology can be adapted for residential and commercial developments.

Located just 30 minutes from the airport, Athi-Kapiti’s would be convenient for the traveller wishing to avoid the busy city, for conference tourism, or city residents looking for a quick weekend getaway. Opportunity exists for controlled tourism development in terms of eco-friendly hotels that maintain the ecology’s balance while bringing jobs and revenue to the locals.

Kenya has many commendable urban development dossiers that are facing fast- approaching deadlines with little to show for them on the ground. Kenya’s enterprising, hard-working people and its pristine wildernesses deserve a far better future than the current approach of come-what-may.

Last thing we need is for the ‘powers that be’ waking up five years hence and hurriedly re-charting an Athi landscape that’s dense with human populations and vibrant (albeit unplanned) industries. Now is the time for action.

Taking cue from the mating dance of the Kori bustard, sometimes nature gives us just a small window of opportunity to secure the wellbeing of future generations. Now is the time for Kenya to waltz into sustainable urban development.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201107070218.html

Women greening the environment in Nangarhar

 

 

Posted 28 June 2011, by Staff, UNAMA (United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan), unama.unmissions,org

28 June 2011 – Until recently the barren desert land in parts of Nangarhar province was littered with unexploded ordinances. Now, however, the township is thriving. Trees are part of this success story.

Beginning five years ago, the WFP began to provide food assistance to 100 returnee women who planted tree saplings. The women since produced about 2,000 saplings in their courtyards.

In other provinces, UN-Habitat worked with 657 women in 12 pilot nurseries who would not have had sufficient land for cultivating commercial crops. Last year the women grew 150,000 saplings. Nursery growers received marketing assistance and subsequently each woman earned USD $79.

Horticulture, fruits and nuts are generally grown by women, who also raise small livestock and do the cooking. As such, access to clean water affects women first. The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) supports the Afghan National Environment Protection Agency (NEPA) in giving women opportunities to influence decisions related to water supply and management.

By UNAMA Jalalabad

 

http://unama.unmissions.org/Default.aspx?tabid=1741&ctl=Details&mid=1882&ItemID=14248

Farming the Cities, Feeding an Urban Future – Worldwatch Institute

 

Worldwatch’s Nourishing the Planet team emphasizes urban agriculture as a means of increasing food security, empowering women, and protecting the environment.

 

Posted 07 July 2011, by Michael Levenston, City Farmer News, cityfarmer.info

Cuban urban farmer

Press Release
The Worldwatch Institute
June 16, 2011

Washington, D.C.-As people move from rural to urban settings in search of economic opportunities, urban agriculture is becoming an important provider of both food and employment, according to researchers with the Worldwatch Institute. “Urban agriculture is providing food, jobs, and hope in Nairobi, Kampala, Dakar, and other cities across sub-Saharan Africa,” said Danielle Nierenberg, co-director of the Institute’s Nourishing the Planet project. “In some cases, urban farmers are providing important inputs, such as seed, to rural farmers, dispelling the myth that urban agriculture helps feed the poor and hungry only in cities.”

 

The United Nations projects that up to 65 percent of the world’s population will live in cities by 2050, up from around 50 percent today. The rate of urban migration is particularly high in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, where inadequate urban infrastructure struggles to keep up with the large influx of people. “Although most of the world’s poor and hungry remain in rural areas, hunger is migrating with people into urban areas,” said Brian Halweil, co-director of the Nourishing the Planet project.

Currently, an estimated 800 million people worldwide are engaged in urban agriculture, producing 15-20 percent of the world’s food. However, this activity occurs mainly in Asia, making it critical to place more worldwide emphasis on this vital sector. In Africa, 14 million people migrate from rural to urban areas each year, and studies suggest that an estimated 35-40 million Africans living in cities will need to depend on urban agriculture to meet their food requirements in the future.

“Urban agriculture is an important aspect of the development movement as it has the potential to address some of our most pressing challenges, including food insecurity, income generation, waste disposal, gender inequality, and urban insecurity” said Nancy Karanja, a Professor at the University of Nairobi, Kenya, and a State of the World 2011 contributing author.

Organizations such as Urban Harvest and others are working across the African continent to enhance urban agricultural efforts. In sub-Saharan Africa, the Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization (ECHO), a Florida-based organization, has helped farmers build gardens using old tires and other “trash” to create plant beds. And the group Harvest of Hope has helped organize urban Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs in Cape Town, South Africa, purchasing excess produce from city gardens and redistributing it in schools in the area.

“These projects are not only helping to provide fresh sources of food for city dwellers, but also providing a source of income, a tool to empower women, and a means of protecting the environment, among other benefits,” said Mary Njenga, researcher at the University of Nairobi and the World Agroforestry Centre.

According to Nourishing the Planet, urban agriculture provides three important advantages that are evident in successful projects across the African continent:

· Close to home (and market). Produce from urban farms and gardens does not need to travel as far as produce grown in rural areas to reach the dining table, which helps to reduce production costs, post-harvest waste, and greenhouse gas emissions. This is also helpful in situations when supply chains from rural areas have been interrupted and cities are unable to receive food imports.

· Empowering women and building communities. In Kibera, the largest slum in Nairobi, Kenya, Urban Harvest has helped women build “vertical farms” simply by using sacks of soil in which to grow vegetables. Using these gardening activities, the women share business ideas and technical know-how, empowering each other. The community gardens also act as a forum where community members can exchange ideas and discuss community issues and problems.

· Improving urban environments. Faced with limited resources, urban farmers are adept at utilizing urban waste streams to strengthen their soil and grow their crops. Garbage is used as compost or fodder for livestock, and nutrient-rich waste water is used for irrigation. By re-using these waste products, urban farms help to reduce the amount of refuse clogging landfills as well as the amount of water used in cities. Community gardens also provide an aesthetically pleasing space and help improve the air quality in urban areas.

Nourishing the Planet (www.NourishingthePlanet.org) is a two-year evaluation of environmentally sustainable agricultural innovations to alleviate hunger. Worldwatch researchers traveled to 25 countries across sub-Saharan Africa to meet with more than 350 farmers groups, NGOs, government agencies, and scientists, highlighting small-scale urban agricultural efforts that are helping to improve peoples’ livelihoods by providing them with food and income. The findings are documented in the recently released report, State of the World 2011: Innovations that Nourish the Planet.

State of the World 2011 is accompanied by informational materials including briefing documents, summaries, an innovations database, videos, and podcasts, all available at http://www.NourishingthePlanet.org. The project’s findings are being disseminated to a wide range of agricultural stakeholders, including government ministries, agricultural policymakers, and farmer and community networks, as well as the increasingly influential nongovernmental environmental and development communities.

Link: http://blogs.worldwatch.org/nourishingtheplanet/farming-the-cities-feeding-an-urban-future-urban-agriculture-urban-farm-press-release/#more-11549

http://www.cityfarmer.info/2011/06/16/farming-the-cities-feeding-an-urban-future-worldwatch-institute/

Climate change lessons for KZN

 

 

Posted 07 July 2011, by Kemantha Govender (Compiled by the Government Communication and Information System), BuaNews, buanews.gov.za

 

Durban – KwaZulu-Natal is getting lessons on climate change ahead of the all-important United Nations conference on the pressing subject matter later this year.

KZN MEC for Agriculture, Environmental Affairs and Rural Development, Lydia Johnson, took to the streets of Ntuzuma township in an awareness drive about climate change. The province has been affected by disasters such as drought, floods and lightning in the past few years.

Women-led environment co-operatives, Ntuzuma and Bhukula Mfazi, joined Johnson to educate locals about climate change and sound environmental management and the creation of environmental sustainable livelihoods.

“Our objective is not to speak just about the upcoming conference but rather what people can do right here in their communities in order to avoid hazardous climate disasters. Impacts of climate change are global phenomena, which can only be managed through concerted and structured efforts at local levels,” said Johnson.

She explained that communities can suffer from the effects of climate change, such as the impact it has on agricultural food production.

“We are here to seek your involvement in programmes and activities that do not only curb the effects of climate change, but enhance food security and environmental management.

“One good example of that is the food security campaign that we have in this province, the One Home One Garden, One Indigenous tree and One fruit tree campaign. What this campaign conveys to us is very practical, even for urban settlements like our townships.

“If all households here in Ntuzuma can have food gardens to fight hunger and malnutrition at a household level, have trees to serve as windbreakers, which can assist you as a community. Although it will not render you immune to disastrous weather patterns of climate change but it will assist you somewhat in minimising the effects,” said Johnson.

Environmental activists from the two co-operatives shared information on the importance of taking good care of the environment.

The co-operatives are involved in initiatives like removing alien plants and rehabilitating local streams.

They encouraged other women to follow suit and start playing a vital role in sound environmental management.

Johnson will be visiting other communities across the province as preparations for the UN conference gain momentum. – BuaNews

 

http://www.buanews.gov.za/news/11/11070708551001

47 Groups Call on Cuomo for Statewide Fracking Ban

Broad-Based Coalition Denounces DEC Fracking Plan, Demands Protection for all New Yorkers From Fracking

Posted 07 July 2011, by Staff, NorthCentralPA.com (Kolb Net Works), northcentralpa.com

Albany, N.Y.— Following Governor Andrew Cuomo’s decision to allow the process of hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) across 85 percent of New York’s Marcellus Shale, a coalition of 47 consumer, faith, food, environmental and multi-issue advocacy organizations today called for a statewide ban on fracking. The coalition includes several national and state organizations including Food & Water Watch, Frack Action, Democracy for America, Friends of the Earth, Credo Action, Center for Heath Environment and Justice, Catskill Mountainkeeper and Citizen Action New York.

Last week, the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) released its recommendations on fracking, allowing the practice in most areas of the state outside of the New York City and Syracuse watersheds. The DEC’s plan, which informed Governor Cuomo’s decision, leaves many New Yorkers without equal protection from the environmental and public health risks associated with fracking, and still exposes New York City and Syracuse residents to many impacts of shale gas drilling, including toxic air emissions.

“The DEC’s recommendations on fracking will turn many areas of New York into sacrifice zones, allowing this toxic, polluting practice at the detriment of public health, the environment and rural economies,” said Food & Water Watch Executive Director Wenonah Hauter. “We urge Governor Cuomo to protect New York and its residents over the special interests of the oil and gas industry by banning hydraulic fracturing in New York State.”

Under the DEC’s plan, thousands of new wells will be drilled across New York, using billions of gallons of fresh water, and industrializing rural communities across the state. Opponents of fracking fear that allowing the practice to flourish in some areas will breed catastrophic accidents that could affect all New York residents.

“Has governor Cuomo been hoodwinked by industry into thinking this is safe? The fact remains that New York needs to have some serious fundamental questions answered about the dangers of hydro- fracturing, not just carve out some special places to placate New York City,” said Wes Gillingham, Program Director, Catskill Mountainkeeper.

“Governor Cuomo got it wrong when he said fracking can be done safely,” said Claire Sandberg, Executive Director of Frack Action. “Not only does this practice carry an unacceptable level of risk, but there is no rationale for drilling when we know that the promises of limitless energy and continuous economic growth are not borne out by the facts.”

The coalition also presented Governor Cuomo with a letter signed by 47 organizations urging him to ban fracking in New York.

“By banning fracking in the New York City and Syracuse watersheds, the Cuomo administration is clearly demonstrating awareness about the potential for serious hazard to the citizens of those municipalities,” said David Braun, co-founder of United for Action. “ It is unacceptable however, that they create a double standard and leave the rest of the good citizens of New York state completely vulnerable to serious toxic threat, and protect only a portion of the population.  Why are upstate citizens any less important?”

“Fracked natural gas is a dirty fuel that will make global warming worse,” said Alex Moore, dirty fuels campaigner, Friends of the Earth. “Governor Cuomo should put clean water and a safe environment ahead of gas company profits.”

This opposition to fracking heats up here as other states have passed legislation banning the practice. Last week, the New Jersey State legislature sent Governor Chris Christie a bill that would ban fracking in the state, and North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue recently vetoed a bill that would have allowed fracking. To date, more than 60 municipalities in the United States have passed measures against fracking.

“It’s clear that New Yorkers strongly oppose fracking, and want all of their water protected from it. Nearly 20,000 New Yorkers signed our petition to Governor Cuomo in just the first 24 hours,” said Elijah Zarlin, Campaign Manager, CREDO Action. “It would be outrageous for Governor Cuomo to allow fracking in New York.”

A recent investigative series by The New York Times found that the natural gas industry has exaggerated the economic benefits of fracking, while downplaying its risks to public health and the environment.

“It’s wrong and unfair for the Cuomo administration to lift the ban on fracking, as it is a technology that has proven to destroy land, water, public health and economic growth,” said Lois Marie Gibbs, executive director of the Center for Health, Environment & Justice.  “It is especially despicable to provide an exception for the Syracuse and New York City watersheds, while opening up the rest of the state to hazardous drilling.  If it’s too dangerous for these urban areas, then it is too dangerous for all of New York. People across the state deserve equal protection.  Governor Cuomo, don’t frack New York!”

Opponents of fracking worry that Cuomo’s support of the practice in some areas of New York signals a deference to industry. Thousands of New Yorkers have called Governor Cuomo’s offices asking him to ban fracking and hundreds of concerned citizens have flooded his Facebook page, asking him to assert real leadership by banning fracking in New York.

Groups urging Governor Cuomo to ban fracking in New York include:
Food & Water Watch; Frack Action; CREDO Action; Center for Health, Environment & Justice; Citizen Action of New York; Friends of the Earth; Democracy for America; NYH20; Damascus Citizens for Sustainability; United for Action; WBAI-FM, NYC; New York Residents Against Drilling; WaterDefense; FarmHearts; Chenango Delaware Otsego Gas Drilling Opposition Group; Gas Drilling Awareness Coalition; Brooklyn Food Coalition; “Gasland”; Sane Energy Project; NY Permaculture Exchange; WNY Drilling Defense; No Frack NY; The Village Independent Democrats; Advocates for Morris; New Yorkers for Clean Water Inc.; NO Gas Pipeline; FrackAlert, Inc.; the Community Church of New York, Unitarian Universalist; Action for Justice Committee, the Community Church of New York, Unitarian Universalist; Westchester for Change; Democracy for New York City; People for a Healthy Environment; New York Yearly Meeting, Religious Society of Friends; Environmental Task Force; Hopewell Junction Citizens for Clean Water; Empire State Consumer Project; Slow Food New York City; STARK and Dryden Resource Awareness Coalition; Hudson River Sloop, Clearwater Inc.; Earth Day Network New York; Chenango Community Action for Renewable Energy; Gas Drilling Awareness for Cortland County; NYC Network; Huntington BC Action Coalition; Coalition to Protect New York; Moving in Congregations, Acting in Hope; Clean Water New York; Gray Panthers, NYC Network.
Contact: Kate Fried, Food & Water Watch, (202) 683-2500, kfried(at)fwwatch.org.

Frack Action is engaged in a long-term campaign to protect our water, air and public health from the dangerous practice of hydraulic fracturing. By raising awareness and empowering the public to organize in defense of their communities, we seek to expose the false claims of the gas industry and mobilize a citizen movement to protect our health and our future.

NYH2O, Inc. is a nonprofit advocacy group based in New York City that is dedicated to protecting New York’s water resources from the threat posed by the gas extraction industry. The industry has targeted the Southern Tier of New York State, including New York City’s Catskill-Delaware Watershed that provides pristine, unfiltered water to 9 million New York residents. NYH2O seeks to educate the public concerning the health, environmental and economic impacts of gas drilling as experienced by communities across the country where this intensive, industrial activity has taken place. NYH2O will support legislation that safeguards the public from the risk to water resources and air quality that ultimately threatens the health of our community.

Protecting the watersheds for all citizens. Damascus Citizens for Sustainability is collaborating with universities, national, regional, and local organizations, business and community leaders, elected officials, farmers, artists, and citizens to preserve and protect clean air, land, and pure water as a civil right, and basic human right.

Catskill Mountainkeeper is a community based environmental advocacy organization, dedicated to creating a flourishing sustainable economy in the Catskills and preserving and protecting the area’s long- term health. We address issues of water integrity for the Delaware and Susquehanna River Systems, the defense of the vast woodlands that encompass the Catskill Forest Preserve and the New York City Watershed as well as farmland protection. We promote “smart” development that balances the economic needs and concerns of the Catskill regions’ citizens and the protection of our abundant but exceedingly vulnerable natural resources.

http://www.northcentralpa.com/feeditem/2011-07-07_47-groups-call-cuomo-statewide-fracking-ban%E2%80%A8%E2%80%A8

Women around the world unite vs landgrabbing

 

Posted 07 July 2011, by Carmela LaPeña, GMA News, gmanews.com

Over 100 women from seven continents joined the International Womens Alliance (IWA) which focused on landlessness and widespread land grabbing.

The women gathered on July 5 and 6 in Quezon City to discuss the 2011 World Bank report on Agriculture and Rural Development which noted that 75% of the world’s poor live in rural areas and are mostly involved in agriculture.

“The First General Assembly of the International Womens Alliance aims to further strengthen the collective voice and actions of women’s rights activists because the gains of the global women’s movement over one century have slowly been reversing in this current decade,” said Marie Boti, an award-winning filmmaker and member of Montreal-based organization Women of Diverse Origins.

The World Bank report shows a 12-fold increase in the amount of agricultural land acquired by foreign investors worldwide.

The report said large-scale foreign land acquisitions are widespread in poor and underdeveloped countries.

This negatively affects the residents’ rights and welfare, the host countries’ food security, and the environment, the report added.

Philippine situation

Meanwhile, Gabriela President Liza Maza noted that peasant workers in the Philippines also become victims of landgrabbing and killings.

“The worldwide experience of land-grabbing in the guise of national development is not alien to Filipino women farmers,” Maza said.

She cited the case of the peasants of Bukidnon Farms Incorporated, who have been asserting their rights over the 2,995 hectares Bukidnon Farms Incorporated (BFI) in Don Carlos, an alleged ill-gotten property of the Marcoses.

The Gabriela Women’s Party also condemned the Supreme Court’s recent decision on Hacienda Luisita, calling it a judicial massacre of the peasants.

“The decision is a full scale betrayal of the peasant class in the same intensity as the Mendiola and Hacienda Luisita massacres,” said GWP Representative Emmi De Jesus.

“This referendum is no different from the referendums in 1989 and 2010 which favored the Cojuangcos and the Aquinos,” Representative Luz Ilagan.

“The Supreme Court taught the farmers a valuable lesson – that the institution which they expect to be the final interpreter of the law betrayed them and buried the last naiil in the coffin containing their dream for genuine land reform,” she added.

“For as long as land grabbing pushed by neoliberal policies continues to threaten food sovereignty, women all over the world through the International Women’s Alliance will continue to strengthen their ranks and struggle to protect people’s rigjts to land and livelihood,” Maza said.

“The collective voice of women will continue to expose imperialist plunder and forward the global women’s movement to ensure that the inherent rights of the people are respected and the voice of the marginalized heard,” she added.

Women’s concerns

Monika Gartner of the Women’s Political Caucus some of the primary concerns of women:

• the dismantling of social benefits and the defense of jobs;
• the struggle against sexism;
• oppression of the migrant women;
• the protest against wars of aggression; and
• the preservation of the natural environment.

  “Militant women in Germany feel it’s their responsiblity to unite with the militant women in the world,” Gartner said.

  Women Fightback Network’s Monica Gail Moorehead said it’s very important to have the struggle represented in an alliance.

  “It’s a myth that somehow what’s going on with the budget cuts and attacks on unions, on health care, on housing, don’t apply to poor working women in the US,” said Moorehead.

  Need to form an alliance
  
  Kelti Cameron of the Ontario Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines said it is an important time to build an alliance of women.

  Boti said the women’s struggle is a continuation of a process that began years ago.

  “We’re fundamentally against war and against imperialist aggression…we’re very alarmed by the intervention of the US in the Spratly Islands…instead of peace, they’re courting war. We encourage the states involved to sit down and negotiate peacefully,” said Boti.

  Gartner responded by saying “I’m really looking forward to this collaboration, we will surely grow in numbers,” said Gartner.

  Moorehead said people in the United States are being inspired by what is going on around the world.

  “In Egypt, they showed they could win. People are saying ‘enough is enough.’ There has been more and more resistance, no business as usual. Women are playing a pivotal role in these kinds of militant struggles. And this is building the consciousness that is so badly needed,” she said.

  “We hope that more and more stories get picked up. That is our role as IWA also, to reach out to all oppressed classes,” said Azra Sayeed of the Asia Pacific Forum on Women Law and Development. – VVP, GMA News

http://www.gmanews.tv/story/225602/nation/women-around-the-world-unite-vs-landgrabbing

On Dangerous Disconnect Between Economics and Ecology

On Dangerous Disconnect Between Economics and Ecology

Posted 07 July 2011, by Staff, Naked Capitalism (Aurora Advisors Incorporated), nakedcapitalism.com

William Rees is one of the pioneers of ecological economics and is the originator and co-developer of ‘ecological footprint analysis’. This video contains some basic facts about current consumption levels in advanced economies that are attention-grabbing. I’d normally say “Enjoy” but this is not that sort of video.

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/07/on-dangerous-disconnect-between-economics-and-ecology.html

For the Record… Declaration of Cultural Revolutionaries

For the Record… Declaration of Cultural Revolutionaries

Posted 06 July 2011, by Tim King, Salem News, salem-news.com

(SALEM, Ore.) – The world is ever evolving, but the highly unnatural militant direction man has chosen is wrong so often that there are few examples of it being right. The greed of man that has led to so much contamination and desecration of Mother Earth is not always monetary; sometimes it is based on jealousy, sometimes it is racism, sometimes it is religion, sometimes it is a combination of all of these and more. The one word that always is present is control.

People actually have the ability to live without being overly restricted, however businesses and corporations; drug manufacturers, insurance; these are the areas where regulation is paramount.

In my opinion, a combination of political ideals could easily produce a peaceful society. However stereotypes and fears will keep that day from dawning soon or easily. Still, if we don’t reach for it in our own individual ways, we surely will never find it.

The first step on the road to a peaceful earth, is for all governments to accept the diversity of their populations and never enforce laws or rules based on religion or any racial barriers or gender. Regulating by skin color or faith is a type of politics known as ‘apartheid’ which was made famous by South Africa where laws allowed racial discrimination of Blacks until very recent years.

I think you get the idea. There are so many more writers than I am not mentioning; just remember that Salem-News.com believes in Truth, Justice and Peace.

DECLARATION OF CULTURAL REVOLUTIONARIES Cultural revolutionaries… _live, act, work with and not against nature _know that life is too complex to understand it intellectually _build and support local, self-governed economies _value and safe-guard diversity of all kind _value interdependence, since they know that nothing is separate _regard themselves as equal to all life forms _protect and support life _love and support children unconditionally _work on themselves towards greater awareness _know about ecological principles and integrate them into their lives _see music and dance as an integral part of their expression and communication _live on an animate earth and regard it as sacred _know how to grow their own food _appreciate their sensory awareness _celebrate life _cooperate _make the shift from thinking ‘either, or’ to thinking ‘as well, as’ _share their knowledge _understand and integrate process as a way of being _are not identified with their body, thoughts or emotions _see the mind as a tool _realize that there is no right or wrong _are not identified with any social tag, their past or their future _are aware that the very essence of who they are is life itself _take responsibility for their emotions _are aware of and value their relationships to their living and seemingly non-living surroundings _value and integrate the wisdom of women _value and integrate the wisdom of indigenous cultures _value generalist knowledge _are aware of change as one of the core principles of evolution _work towards diversification and decentralization _engage in and create bonds to the place where they live _turn from dependent consumers to responsible producers _are looking for ways so that their interests and talents may unfold _have the courage to resist and disobey laws that render self-rule, self-provisioning, and self-sustenance illegal _are informed about the current money system and identify it as a contemporary form of enslavement _identify and boycott biological, cultural, social and philosophical monocultures _boycott monopolies of any kind _question everyone who promotes one solution _value environmental and human ethics over profit maximization _boycott corporations and banks operating for profit maximization _reclaim land and forests as common good _reclaim water as common good _reclaim biodiversity and knowledge as common good _are aware that they participate in the process of co-creation at all time _allow life to unfold through them Berlin, 03/2009 www.passiveactivism.net Find this document in any language here: http://culturalrevolutionaries.org/

I am highly impressed with the people on our team. They’re movers and shakers and their actions make a difference in the world. I am humbled by…

• Ken O’Keefe and his amazing work in Gaza,
• Robert ‘Tosh’ Plumlee for his groundbreaking work on the Mexican border,
• Marianne Skolek’s exposure of the dark path Purdue Pharma slithers down in its deceptive pushing of dangerous deadly drugs and pill mills,
• Dr. Phil Leveque for his brave confrontation of the idiocy of laws against medical cannabis, and the poor methods the VA employs in dealing with rampant PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder),
• Eileen Fleming for being the only western reporter to interview Israeli Whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu several times,
• Dave MacMillan and the search for missing journalists in Cambodia,
• Bob O’Dowd and Roger Butow for plowing through the walls of secrets surrounding the toxic contamination of our old Marine Corps base, MCAS El Toro in California,
• Dexter Phoenix and Belen Fernandez for their documentation of the terrible war between Israel and Lebanon,
• Alysha Atma, Jennifer Fierberg, and Kiflu Hussein for their brave exposure of corruption, torture, Murder and Sex Abuse on the African Continent.
• Dr. Franklin Lamb’s years at the Shabra Shatilla Refugee Camp in Lebanon,
• Daniel Johnson, Jerry West and Diana Walsh for their honest appraisals of U.S. and world politics from neighboring Canada.
• Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh in West Bank who keeps getting arrested at non-violent peace protests by Israeli soldiers,
• Dr. Alan Sabrosky, Jeff Gates, Gilad Atzmon, M. Dennis Paul, Gordon Duff; always revealing new views and interpretations of the crisis in Palestine and the Middle east,
• Hank Ruark and Edsel Chromie and Ken Ramey and others who take on politics, science and religion in ways that open minds,
• Chuck Palazzo in Vietnam and April Scott in Oregon; who bring us the latest on genetically modified food and Agent Orange contamination.

We believe International Law trumps the will and determination of any nation, including the United States, when there are suspicions of war crimes and crimes against the condition of this planet. We believe human life is valuable right across the board, that the needs of children and education are overlooked and squandered, and that the U.S. and western military industrial complex is a menace and a hazard to the future of all.

Because our writers all go against the grain of acceptable societal norms; critical of each and every thing wrong and unjust, we are viewed with fear and loathing by some, appreciation by many, and in between we are watching a slowly changing wave of apprehension dissipate as our ideas and points come to be accepted by broad numbers.

The challenges are myriad, exactly where a person’s onramp toward activism is, only they know. It can begin small, though some people dive in with both feet and never stop. It is about being selfless and courageous, dedicating time toward helping other human beings, having the courage to write articles and protest and go to the places where the unjust circumstances are taking place. There is a big team in the world of humanitarians and a place for every person who wants to be involved.

Tim King: Salem-News.com Editor and Writer

Tim King is a former U.S. Marine with twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. In addition to his role as a war correspondent, this Los Angeles native serves as Salem-News.com’s Executive News Editor. Tim spent the winter of 2006/07 covering the war in Afghanistan, and he was in Iraq over the summer of 2008, reporting from the war while embedded with both the U.S. Army and the Marines.

Tim holds awards for reporting, photography, writing and editing, including the Silver Spoke Award by the National Coalition of Motorcyclists (2011), Excellence in Journalism Award by the Oregon Confederation of Motorcycle Clubs (2010), Oregon AP Award for Spot News Photographer of the Year (2004), First-place Electronic Media Award in Spot News, Las Vegas, (1998), Oregon AP Cooperation Award (1991); and several others including the 2005 Red Cross Good Neighborhood Award for reporting. Tim has several years of experience in network affiliate news TV stations, having worked as a reporter and photographer at NBC, ABC and FOX stations in Arizona, Nevada and Oregon. Tim was a member of the National Press Photographer’s Association for several years and is a current member of the Orange County Press Club.

Serving the community in very real terms, Salem-News.com is the nation’s only truly independent high traffic news Website. As News Editor, Tim among other things, is responsible for publishing the original content of 93 Salem-News.com writers in more that 20 countries. He reminds viewers that emails are easily missed and urges those trying to reach him, to please send a second email if the first goes unanswered. You can write to Tim at this address: newsroom@salem-news.com. Another way to reach Tim is by leaving a comment on any Salem-News.com story, specify ‘message to Tim’

http://www.salem-news.com/articles/july062011/cultural-revolution.php