Month/year | Theme and Author | Read contents |
February 3, 2008 | A truthful democracy for the people of the North American continent by Germain Dufour President Earth Government Key words:Free Trade Agreement (FTA), the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), and the Global Government of North America (GGNA). Ever wonder why Canadians and Mexicans were never asked in a referendum the kind of relationship we want to have with Americans and the White House? Ever wonder why Canadians and Mexicans dont have a veto power on the White House's policies and legislation, and yet we feed Americans with our resources? How is that possible? What does that do to the world, to all life on Earth, and to the next generations? As of January 30, 2008, the total U.S. federal debt held by the public was roughly $5.1 trillion and the annual deficit roughly $400 billion. They paid very little for our resources and with money they borrowed every year from China. Americans buy our ' home grown corporations ' with money they dont own. When they have not borrowed the money, they have invaded other nations and taken their resources. Blood resources. Blood money. How can we trust a partner that is basically bankrupted morally and economically? How can we let our governments be dealing with the White House on an agreement such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)? |
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February 8, 2008 | Canadian society: a vibrant, modern, symbiosis global society by Germain Dufour Spiritual Leader of the Global Community Prophete of God Key words: Canadian multiculturalism, diversity, the Canadian experience, immigration, symbiosis global society, symbiotical relationship, global ministries
Canadian society today includes a vast diversity of cultural heritages and racial groups. This multicultural diversity is a result of centuries of immigration. Truly, the struggle for the making of Canadian multiculturalism is the Canadian experience and the Canadian identity. Canadian multiculturalism is a symbiotical relationship between Canada, the Canadian people, and the world. |
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February 6, 2008 | The Soul of all Life, the Soul of Humanity, is the unifying religion of a modern symbiosis society, that of the global civilization of the 3 rd Millennium
by Soul of all Life and by Germain Dufour Spiritual Leader of the Global Community Prophete of God
The teaching of the Soul
The fundamental criteria of a global symbiotical relationship Guiding Souls and God want to help us manage Earth Guiding Souls to serve God is a part of a new unifying religion of a modern symbiosis global society The Divine Plan and the higher purpose of humanity The Global Community teaching Global Law |
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December 10, 2007 | Ritual Gloating Postmortems - The Corporate Media v. Hugo Chavez by Stephen Lendman, Countercurrents.org, Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net Dateline December 3, 2007 - the corporate media is euphoric after Venezuelans narrowly defeated Hugo Chavez's
constitutional reform referendum the previous day. The outcome defied pre-election independent poll predictions and was a cliffhanger to the end. Chavez is resilient and will rebound from one electoral setback. Don't ever count him out or underestimate his influence. A historic transformation is underway in Latin America following more than a quarter century of neoliberal rule. The referendum and its outcome while important today is merely an episode in the struggle between authoritarian imperial centered capitalism (Chavez opposes) and democratic workers centered socialism. |
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December 8, 2007 | Peak Oil And The Vision In The Mirror by Aaron Wissner, Countercurrents.org, LiVEJOURNAL Aaron Wissner, Organizer, Local Future Network What happens when the energy supply stops growing, but the population continues to grow?
More importantly, what happens when the energy supply begins to decline, as population continues to grow? Peak oil is not simply an issue of learning to conserve or finding ways to do more with less. It isn't simply about the possibility of economic collapse, war, starvation or global pandemic. It isn't just about changing our behaviors or our beliefs. It is about turning ourselves inside-out, and not only surviving the transformation, but also being and living equal and in harmony with all the rest. |
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December 7, 2007 | Forests Could Cool or Cook The Planet by Stephen Leahy , Countercurrents.org, BROOKLIN, Canada, Dec 7 (IPS) - A two-degree Celsius rise in global temperatures could flip the Amazon forest
from being the Earth's vital air conditioner to a flamethrower that cooks the planet, warns a new report released at the climate talks in Bali, Indonesia Friday. The trees of the Amazon contain at least 100 billion tonnes of carbon -- 15 years worth of global emissions from all sources, he said. "It's not only essential for cooling the world's temperature but also such a large source of freshwater that it may be enough to influence some of the great ocean currents." It is in everyone's interest to keep the Amazon intact, but deforestation continues apace, driven by expanding cattle ranching, soy farming, conversion into sugar cane for biofuel and logging. This assault is drying out the forest, making it more vulnerable to burning. Rising global temperatures are also increasing evaporation rates, drying the forest further. |
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November 29, 2007 | Labor Goes to Bali: Unions Ready to Take on Global Warming by Brendan Smith and Jeremy Brecher and Tim Costello, Global Labor Strategies AlterNet, The Mix is the Message, ForeignPolicy The devastating realities of climate change, and the scientific consensus around its cause and cure, are shifting the global political climate. Some people might say you are anti-business. Is that the case? This week trade unionists from around the world will travel to Bali for the December 3rd launch of negotiations for a successor to the Kyoto Protocol limiting greenhouse gasses. It will include delegates from such U.S unions as the Electrical Workers (IUE), Mine Workers, Service Employees, Boilermakers, Steelworkers, Communication Workers, Transport Workers (TWU), and UNITE HERE garment and textile workers. It will also include the AFL-CIO Industrial Union Council as well as such labor-oriented groups as the Blue-Green Alliance, the Cornell Global Labor Institute, and the Labor Research Association. The Kyoto Protocol was signed by 172 countries - not including the U.S. The AFL-CIO, which then represented the great majority of all U.S. unions, opposed the Kyoto protocol. What will be the stance of American labor toward an even stronger version for the future? As trade unionists, we are confident that Bali will mark the beginning of a new and more ambitious process of social change, where our collective hearts and minds must aspire to save our planet, on the basis of solidarity and mutual respect. |
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December 10, 2007 | Wars and Climate Change: National Interests Verses Global Emergency Letter sent by Abdul Basit to the Global Community This is an appeal to World Leaders and Scientific Community, who have gathered in Bali, Indonesia for the United Nations Climate Change Conference.
I remind the world leaders and researchers, who are attending the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali, that they have a huge responsibility on their shoulders. The decisions of
this conference will not only decide the future of existence of humankind, but also for preserving all the past cultures and contributions humanity has offered throughout its thousands of years history of
existence on this beautiful planet.
basit72@gmail.comSo, on behalf of the human race, I appeal to the world leaders to set aside their narrow national interests and play the historical and highly moral responsibility in saving this planet and its inhabitants. The very future for all of life, human and otherwise, depends on their meeting this obligation with nothing short of total resolve! |
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December 1, 2007 |
LA TERRE….ET LE SIECLE A VENIR GROUND….AND THE CENTURY TO COME Poeme sent by Guy CREQUIE to the Global Community guy.crequie@wanadoo.fr |
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November 27, 2007 | UNDP wants climate justice through trade
by ASHOK B SHARMA published by Indian Society For Sustainable Agriculture and by Indian Express Newspapers (Mumbai) Ltd. The UN Development Programme (UNDP) for the first time in its human development report has analysed the impact of climate
change. The Human Development Report 2007-08 – Fighting climate change : Human solidarity in a divided world is released at a time when the climate change agenda is
slowly gaining its entry in the WTO negotiations and the discussions on the review of the work under Kyoto Protocol is slated to take place in Bali in Indonesia in
December, this year.
The report documented the impact of climate change across the world also projected the likely scenario for the future. Making out a case for alternative sources of
energy and fuels like bio-fuels, the UNDP report said that global trade has a major role to play. It said : International trade could play a much larger role in the expanding Markets for alternative fuels. Brazil is more efficient than either the European Union or the United States in producing ethanol, Moreover, sugar-based ethanol is more efficient in cutting carbon emissions. The problem is that imports of Brazilian ethanol are restricted by high import tariffs. Removing these tariffs would generate gains not just for Brazil, but for climate change mitigation.Negotiations on emissions limits for the post-2012 Kyoto Protocol commitment period can – and must – frame the global carbon budget. Saying so it noted most developed countries like Canada fell short of the targets. Though the European Union and UK have both embraced their targets, they are likely to fall far short of the goals set unless they move rapidly to put climate mitigation at the center of energy policy reform. Two major OECD countries like US and Australia are not bound by Kyoto Protocol. The report suggested two ways to mitigate climate change, one is to directly tax carbon dioxide emission and the other is cap-and-trade. Under cap-and-trade system, the government sets an overall emissions cap and issues tradable allowances that grant business the right to emit a set amount. Those who can reduce emissions more cheaply are able to sell allowances. One potential disadvantage of cap-and-trade is energy price instability while the potential advantage is environmental certainty, it noted. While the transition to climate protecting energy and life styles will have short-term costs, there may be economic benefits beyond what what is to be achieved by stabilizing temperatures. These benefits are likely to be realized through Keynesian and Schumpeterian mechanisms with new incentives for massive investment stimulating overall demand and creative destruction leading to innovation and productivity jumps in a wide array of sectors, the foreward to the report said. While government leadership is going to be essential in correcting the huge externality that is climate change, Markets and prices will have to be put to work so that private sector decisions can lead more naturally to optimal investment and production decisions. | Read |
November 11, 2007 | Deal climate injustice at home: Greenpeace India by ASHOK B SHARMA published by Indian Society For Sustainable Agriculture and by Indian Express Newspapers (Mumbai) Ltd. More than 800 million poor people in India are bearing the burnt of climate change. This is partly due to the emissions caused by
the few privileged rich people in the country, said a report released by Greenpeace India Society. The report on climate injustice entitled `Hiding Behind the Poor’
urged the government to apply the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities” in the country to deal with the situation arising out of climate change.
The study authored by G Ananathpadmanabhan, K Srinivas and Vinuta Gopal, however advocated India’s right to seek common but differentiated responsibilities at the global level.
Referring to the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, it said that India claims its right to development and thus its right to consume more energy from
fossil fuels, asking developed nations to create the carbon space. Implicit in this is the notion that the developed countries need to decrease their carbon dioxide emissions
drastically so that developing countries can still increase theirs without pushing the planet in the direction of climate change.”
However, the study pointed out that over the last few decades, emissions of rapidly developing countries like India and China have surged. In fact, rankings by the WRI of
top GHG emitters has US on top and developing countries such as China and India are ranked at No 2 and 5 respectively, making them amongst the world’s biggest emitters.
The Greepeace India made an urgent plea to the government to consider the situation especially when the next round of negotiations for the second phase of Kyoto Protocol
is scheduled to take place in Bali in Indonesia in December, this year.
The Greenpeace India report further said that India was faced with two sharply contradictory realities. On the one hand there was a rapidly growing rich consumer class
which has made the country the 12.
The largest luxury market in the world and on the other hand India has become the home to more than 800 million poor people on the planet who are extremely vulnerable to
the impacts of climate change. India’s per capita carbon dioxide emission has averaged to 1.67 tonne.
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November 11, 2007 | Global warming speeds up: IPCC by ASHOK B SHARMA published by Indian Society For Sustainable Agriculture and by Indian Express Newspapers (Mumbai) Ltd. The UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon urged the national governments to do more to arrest the climate change. The report also offered blueprints to avert the worst
catastrophes, he said and added that climate change imperils the most precious treasures of our planet.
Ki-moon said that the report would be placed before the forthcoming UN framework on climate change meeting in Bali in Indonesia to review the progress made under the
Kyoto Protocol. The report noted that observational evidence from all continents and most oceans showed that many natural systems were being affected by regional climate changes,
particularly rise in temperatures. Global atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide have increased markedly as a result of the human
activities since 1750 and now far exceed pre-industrial value determined from ice cores spanning many thousands of years.
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November 11, 2007 | New hygiene norms for food items soon by ASHOK B SHARMA published by Indian Society For Sustainable Agriculture and by Indian Express Newspapers (Mumbai) Ltd. The 39th CCFH also decided to work on proposed guidelines for control of Campylobacter and Salmonella spp in broiler (young birds), chicken meat, meat carcass, and portions.
Poultry, egg and egg products, fresh fruits, and vegetable will soon be subjected to new hygienic standards in global trade. Based on the recommendations of an ad hoc
panel chaired by India, the 39th session of the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene (CCFH), which concluded in New Delhi early this month, agreed to take up the new work on
the code of hygienic practices for fresh fruits and vegetables. The Codex Committee agreed that the US should take the initiative and set up an electronic working group
for receiving comments and suggestions. The electronic working group would be open to all interested parties.
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November 11, 2007 | Bunker Fuel in the Bay by Danielle Fugere , Friends of the Earth foe@foe.org On November 7, a container ship crashed into the San
Francisco Bay Bridge and spilled an estimated 58,000
gallons of bunker fuel -- a tragedy of immense proportions that
creates both immediate and long-term threats to marine life in
and around the bay. Today, Friends of the Earth is calling on Congress to ban the use of this dirty fuel forever. Will you join our call?
Bunker fuel literally comes from the bottom of the barrel. It is the asphalt-like gunk that's left over after crude oil is refined into gasoline for cars and is especially damaging when spilled in accidents.* Even when used as intended, though -- to power cruise and cargo ships -- it is extremely harmful. Indeed, a study released just last week found that more than 60,000 people died from shipping emissions in 2002, due in large part to the use of bunker fuel, which is more than 1,000 times dirtier than the highway diesel used by trucks and buses. Its reliance on this dirty fuel is also a key reason that the shipping industry is a major global warming polluter. Friends of the Earth's Clean Vessels Campaign has been leading the fight against shipping pollution for years, at the local level, nationally, and in the international arena, and phasing out the use of bunker fuel has been one of our key aims. Now, this dirty fuel has led to a disaster in the San Francisco Bay. Let's ensure that this tragedy isn't repeated and phase out this dirty fuel forever. Please sign our petition calling for an end to bunker fuel use today. The petition can be found at: http://action.foe.org/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=816 |
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November 19, 2007 | Globalisation Or Militarist Imperialism? India Must Choose: the Indo-US nuclear deal by Rohini Hensman, Countercurrents.org, If India wishes to be a respected member of
the international community, it would need to uphold
international law. This would entail working with
other countries to outlaw weapons of mass destruction
(chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, including
Depleted Uranium weapons), as well as weapons that
target civilians, such as land mines and cluster
bombs, all of which violate international law by
failing to confine their effects to military targets.
Obviously this would imply halting the nuclear
weaponisation programme in India. It is easy to understand why the current US administration is so desperate to seal a strategic alliance with India, at a time when Pakistan, its traditional ally in South Asia, appears to be faltering. For India, however, the deal would be a disaster. Backing out of it under pressure from public opinion may be embarrassing, but not shameful; on the contrary, it is the only democratic option. Going through with it, on the other hand, would be detrimental to India in the multifarious ways outlined above. Clearly, the democratic option is both the wisest and the only honourable one. |
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November 6, 2007 | How to Hold Corporations Accountable
by Kevin Danaher, Shannon Biggs and Jason Mark AlterNet, The Mix is the Message, Environment When the system doesn't allow people to protect themselves from corporate harm to their communities, it is time to change the system. Can you tell us about "democracy"? It's a word used by everyone and can mean so many things. Some people might say you are anti-business. Is that the case? Many people in this country don't understand that corporations have personhood rights. Why does this come as such a surprise to some people? Speak about the regulatory system. It's supposed to keep corporations from doing harm, but everywhere you look -- the water, the land, the air -- everything is polluted. Some believe that laws such as anti-corporate personhood ordinances are a waste of time because they will be challenged and shot down, so why bother? What is the logic behind civil disobedience to the law? Do you believe it's possible to change the role of corporations in our society? |
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November 2, 2007 |
Eco-Humanism and Popular System Dynamics as Preconditions for Sustainable Development Luis T. Gutierrez, Editor of the Solidarity & Sustainability, Non-Violence homepage says the following about the book. The invited article this month is contributed by Leslaw Michnowski, a member of the Committee for
Futures Studies "Poland 2000 Plus," Polish Academy of Sciences. In this paper, which is a synopsis of his recently
published book on his vision for a sustainable development process "with a human face," he identifies the ingredients
that will be required to assure a future for humanity and the human habitat. The reader is warned that this paper is not
intended for casual, easy reading. Michnowski's intent is to define the information/knowledge infrastructure that will
be required, the technologies to be used, and the principles of solidarity and social justice to be adhered to, in order to
face the inevitable global crises now emerging as a consequence of the pervasive human misbehavior, socially and
environmentally, triggered by (most recently) the industrial revolution. The reader will notice the congruence between
this article and some of the issues and concerns discussed in page 1. The vision presented here is one that shows the
need for a global transition toward a new order of things, one in which technology and other resources are used to
balance individual interests with the common good. It is shown that it is a feasible vision, one that can be achieved if
the humans who populate the planet make a decision to overcome obsolete mindsets that seek the accumulation of
wealth and power as the only path to "happiness." The impending global crisis may trigger a sequence of events that
forces making such decisions in the midst of turmoil and much suffering. Let us pray and work for a transition from
homo economicus to homo solidarius. It may be painful, but it can be peaceful. This is the path of truth, freedom, and
care; the path toward a better world for our children and grandchildren. This is the only path of sure hope. ( A review of VISION OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT SOCIETY – FUTURE OF THE WORLD FROM CYBERNETICIST PERSPECTIVE ) by Leslaw Michnowski Manage the Sustainable Development Global Information Society website. http://www.psl.org.pl/kte kte@psl.org.pl elmamba@poczta.onet.pl leslaw.michnowski@neostrada.pl Committee for Futures Studies "Poland 2000 Plus", Polish Academy of Sciences This article is an overview of a book by the author: "VISION OF A SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT SOCIETY – THE FUTURE OF THE WORLD FROM THE CYBERNETICIST PERSPECTIVE” (in Polish), published by Polish Academy of Sciences, Committee for Futures Studies "Poland 2000 Plus", Warsaw, Poland, 2006. This book contains his conclusions from many years of research on the current global crisis. This definitive work is based on the author’s System of Life evidence-based model that couples the realities of globalization and information technology with the urgent need to identify and analyze the conditions for transitioning the worldwide human community toward a new worldwide civilization that uses information and knowledge for sustainable development and, in particular, sustainable human development. |
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October 31, 2007 | 11 Solutions to Halting the Environmental Crisis
by Yifat Susskind, AlterNet, The Mix is the Message, Environment Here are 11 solutions already being put into practice by innovative communities around the world.
You probably don't need to be told that the threat of climate change is real. If you're concerned about the issue, it's fairly easy to conjure the apocalyptic scenes of widespread drought, frequent deadly storms, mass hunger, and wars over natural resources like oil and water. Much harder to come by are examples of positive actions that can avert these disasters and ease the crisis in places where they are already in play. So let's skip the litany of catastrophes that await if global warming is not controlled. Instead, why not focus on some solutions? None are perfect or complete, but each offers a model of positive change that is more than theoretically possible -- it is already happening.
Many of these examples are small-scale and local. That's instructive because our best hope for sustainability -- in agriculture, industry, energy, community design, and government -- may lie in local, small-scale models like some of those presented here. It may seem as though large-scale problems require large-scale solutions. But most big institutions and processes are driven by the very people and ideas that have generated our global crisis. It's in the local and the small that the majority of people can exercise agency and decision-making power.
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October 28, 2007 | Uncommon Grace: Biology And Economic Theory by Charles Sullivan, csullivan@phreego.com Countercurrents.org In a society that holds sacred the private ownership of property and economic self interest, it may seem strange that neither my wife nor I consider
ourselves property owners. At best, we are squatters or temporary guardians of something that has inherent value; an evolving biological entity that exists far beyond
the realm of economic self interest and monetary valuation systems. In an ownership society, the land is valued not as an evolved living biological entity with inherent value and rights, including the fulfillment of its own evolutionary destiny, but as a commodity — a natural resource. Ecological integrity is the foundation of planetary health. It is the organizing principle of life. Undermining that integrity for short term profits is to limit all future options in perpetuity, the ultimate incarnation of insensate greed and selfishness. Like all economic systems that are not based upon real science, or an appropriate land ethic, the concept of property rights and private ownership are misguided and ultimately self-destructive constructs. The public welfare and the ecological integrity of the earth exceed all economic self interests in importance. Economics are based upon self-serving, false premises, whereas ecology is real. The most precious things in life are those that cannot be commodified, and hence, owned. |
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October 12, 2007 | Surviving The Century by Chris Goodall, Countercurrents.org, Nature.com Surviving the Century: Facing Climate Chaos and Other Global Challenges. climate change is not a technical or scientific problem. The main impediment to tackling global warming is that many of the powerful institutions of the world, whether it be the World Trade Organization, BP or the investment banks that control the world's allocation of capital are resistant to radically changing the way we operate the world economy. The poor, whose share of world income is certainly not growing, are unable to successfully demand that policies be developed to protect them from climate change or from other environmental or economic disasters. The most productive and efficient economies, judged in the conventional sense, are often the most wasteful and destructive. |
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October 11, 2007 | Our Drinkable Water Supply Is Vanishing
by Tara Lohan, AlterNet, The Mix is the Message, Environment We are faced with thoughtless development that paves flood plains and destroys wetlands; dams that displace native people and scar watersheds; unchecked industrial growth that pollutes water sources; and rising rates of consumption that nature can't match. Increasingly, we are also threatened by the wave of privatization that is sweeping across the world, turning water from a precious public resource into a commodity for economic gain.
The problems extend from the global north to the south and are as pervasive as water itself. Equally encompassing are the politics of water. Discussions about our water crisis include issues like poverty, trade, community and privatization. In talking about water, we must also talk about indigenous rights, environmental justice, education, corporate accountability, and democracy. In this mix of terms are not only the causes of our crisis but also the solutions.
It ultimately comes down to an issue of democracy. "We came to see that the conflicts over water are really about fundamental questions of democracy itself: Who will make the decisions that affect our future, and who will be excluded? |
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October 7, 2007 | Climate Change And Entire Landscapes On The Move by Stephen Leahy, Countercurrents.org BROOKLIN, Canada, Inter Press Service The hot breath of global warming has now touched some of the coldest northern regions of world, turning the frozen landscape into mush as temperatures soar 15 degrees C. above normal.
Entire hillsides, sometimes more than a kilometre long, simply let go and slid like a vast green carpet into valleys and rivers on Melville Island in Canada’s northwest Arctic region of Nunavut this summer, says Scott Lamoureux of Queens University in Canada and leader of one the of International Polar Year projects.
The entire landscape is on the move, it was very difficult to find any slopes that were unaltered, said Lamoureux, who led a scientific expedition to the remote and uninhabited island.
The topography and ecology of Melville Island is rapidly being rearranged by climate change.
Burning such fossil fuels is the major reason why the Arctic is losing ice. Scientists and native people note that it would be more than ironic should those emissions facilitate the extraction of even more fossil fuels with which to further warm our overheating global greenhouse. |
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October 5, 2007 | Economic Sharing: A Shift In Global Values by Rajesh Makwana, Countercurrents.org Rajesh Makwana is the Director of Share The World's Resources (STWR), an NGO campaigning for global economic and social justice. He can be contacted at rajesh@stwr.net A growing body of progressives within the global justice movement, including environmentalists, economists and policy makers, broadly agree that a significant overhaul of the world’s economic and political systems is long overdue, and that without significant restructuring our most pressing problems will never be tackled.
It is time for a significant re-evaluation of global economic and political values and the creation of an economy that serves the needs of the global community as a whole, within our environmental limitations.
In order to consider how the ownership and management of key resources could be organized, it is useful to group them according to type. There are three general categories:
-Naturally occurring resources – e.g. land, water, oil, gas and mineral ores -Produced goods – e.g. agricultural produce, medicines, building materials and machinery -Services – e.g. utilities, healthcare and education |
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October 6, 2007 | Big Banks Are Selling Us Out on Climate Change
by Tara Lohan, AlterNet, The Mix is the Message, Environment Whether we avert catastrophe with climate change may actually be decided by Citibank and Bank of America.
Citi has been busy funding dirty energy. Last year they gave 200 times more money for dirty energy than for clean. In the process they've helped underwrite some of the world's worst environmental and human rights offenders.
In 2006 they gave $4 billion to Peabody Energy, the world's largest coal mining company, which has been ravaging Dine and Hopi lands for 40 years, taking 2.5 million gallons of water out of their desert watershed each day and leaving behind a trail of toxic waste.
The disastrous Peabody Energy got $4 billion last year from BOA, which should help them on their way to building new plants in New Mexico, Illinois and Kentucky.
The banks are helping coal to take the wealth from us, to steal us blind and leave us in poverty, and leave us in poison. If those banks took the $141 billion they plan to spend on building new coal plants, and instead invested it in energy efficient measures, they could reduce electricity demand by 19 percent by 2025.
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October 22, 2007 | Investigative report concerning the Northwest Passage, Canadian territory of Nunavut , and Canada Sovereignty by Germain Dufour, Spiritual Leader of the Global Community
The creation of Nunavut was the outcome of the largest aboriginal land claims agreement between the Canadian government and the
native Inuit people. The Inuit is one of the first indigenous peoples in the Americas to achieve self-government. They have the right to participate in decisions regarding the land and water resources, and
rights to harvest wildlife on their lands.
Conservation, restoration, and management of the Earth resources
is about asking ourselves the question of "Who owns the Earth?"
The Global Community has proposed a democracy for the people based on the fact that land, the air, water, oil, minerals, and all other natural resources
rightly belong to the Global Community along with the local communities where those resources are found. The Earth is the birthright of all life.
To gain control of the Northwest Passage, Canada would have to show strong Earth management initiatives and the protection of its environment.
Without the fulfillment of the Global Community criteria for sovereignty no one can claim ownership - sovereignty - of both Nunavut and the Northwest Passage.
In Nunavut there is also a vast array of different life-form communities such as the polar bears, caribou, Arctic foxes, seals, beluga whales, northern fulmars, and those communities of organisms that inhabit the sea
floor like brittle stars, worms, zooplankton, microalgae, bivalves and some of the lesser known sea spiders.
And there are many more. Everyone of those global communities have an Earth right of ownership
of the North and of all its natural resources. It is their birthright. They dont express themselves in English, but we understand them. Human beings have a moral
obligation to protect and conserve the biodiversity of life on Earth.
Fot the protection of those global communities we will need to create a biodiversity zone in the North by way of Earth rights and taxation of natural resources.
We are all members of the Global Community. We all have the duty to protect the rights and welfare of all species and all people.
This letter may be a starting place for a group global discussion and roundtable on the issues of Canada sovereignty in the Nunavut and the control of the Northwest Passage. If you wish to send a reply I will post it on the Global Community website at http://globalcommunitywebnet.com/EmailDiscussions/ and http://globalcommunitywebnet.com/GPA/2008discussionroundtables.htm For now I started the process by researching and writing a paper concerned with the issues, and you will find the paper at http://globalcommunitywebnet.com/GIMProceedings/gimLetterNP.htm |
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September 16, 2007 | SCALE OF CONFLICTS BETWEEN FIRMS, COMMUNITIES, NEW SOCIAL MOVEMENTS AND THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT , by Jose G. Vargas-Hernández,
Global Environment Minister,
Global file,
jgvh0811@yahoo.com, jvargas08@berkeley.ed
Research Professor, Mexico The role of the nation-state is to regulate conflicts between the essential elements, the nation-state, capitalists (firms), laborers and consumers, binding together disparate and conflicting interests. This paper is aimed to review the different levels of scale of conflicts between firms, communities, New Social Movements and the role of government. |
Read or Download full WORD document of Research Paper by author |
September 12, 2007 | The End Of The World? by William M. H. Kötke , Countercurrents.org William H. Kötke author ofGarden Planet: The Present Phase Change of the Human Species. See at: www.gardenplanetbook.com and THE FINAL EMPIRE an underground classic book available for free download at: http://www.Rainbowbody.net/Finalempire . We are all looking at the end of the world as we know it. Our
attention is focused on the holes in the ozone layer, planet warming,
peak oil, the spread of DU weapons, the collapse of the house of credit
cards, and the prospect of the planetary financial elite quickly
establishing fascist control of the planet. Below this threshold of
conscious awareness our biological survival systems are rapidly
eroding. At this point some twenty percent of the planet’s soils erode
each twenty-five year period. Each year at least two hundred thousand
acres of irrigated crop-lands go out of production because of
salinization or water-logging and experts say that sixty to eighty percent
of all irrigated acreage is due to follow the eight to ten million acres that
have historically gone into ruination from irrigation. The total drylands of
the planet are 7.9 billion acres of which 61% are desertified, that is,
driven by human abuse toward uselessness. Globally, 23% of all arable
crop lands have been lost since 1945 through human use and experts
say that all arable land on the planet will be ruined in 200 years.
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September 9, 2007 | Because humanity has developed jurisprudence systems by which various entities claim legal title to selected segments of the earth, the earth is owned by those entities, by John R. Ewbank, johnewb@comcast.net john.1916@yahoo.com hmrl@libertynet.org , (part of our group discussion by email) Because humanity has developed jurisprudence systems by which various entities claim legal title to selected segments of the earth, the earth is owned by those entities having, under the local jurisprudence, the legal title to various areas. All systems invonving confiscation of such veted property rights can be attacked as "thievery".Rights of eminent domain have permitted government intervention for better use of land, and this involves use not merely for government fbut also for rr and utilities,and other public interests. However, those asserting common ownership and or confiscation must be classified by at least some analysts as thieves. |
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September 17, 2007 | World - Grid Type, Continuously Under-development - System Dynamics. Why do we need it? , by Leslaw Michnowski,
Manage the Sustainable Development Global Information Society website.
kte@psl.org.pl, elmamba@poczta.onet.pl
Committee for Futures Studies "Poland 2000 Plus", Polish Academy of Sciences, The main goal of the United Nations is realization of sustainable development world society vision. Such society would need to integrate social development with economic development and environmental protection. For this end it is necessary to enable sustained economic growth, internalizing externalities and DECOUPLING the range of economic growth from the range of deficit natural resources depletion growth and degradation of environment. It is necessary also to COUPLE economic growth with popular life-quality growth. To achieve sustainable development OF THE WORLD SOCIETY we have to build, a commonly accessible WORLDWIDE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT INFORMATION (SYSTEM DYNAMICS) SYSTEM for: - dynamic monitoring, - long range forecasting, and - measurable evaluation, of policy, economy, work, and other changes effects in life-conditions of human beings and nature in general. I propose a research program aimed at describing conditions of creation such big, grid, multi stage built, information system. |
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September 12, 2007 | What Is Being Stolen From Us All by Jeff Berg Countercurrents.org Once again, this time in Iraq, we see the natural resource wealth of an
entire nation enriching none but a criminal class and megacorporations. I
will assume a distinction. Once again this is only able to take place as a
result of the planned aggression and full cooperation of a government &
military that acts as if it is a wholly owned subsidiary of a monied elite.
Much the same thing is being done here in Canada but "thanks" to the
connivance of significant elements of our corporate and government
elite it is being achieved without the need for military force.
It should be noted however that to some in the corporate class the
missing military element is a major mistake even in Canada as it
seriously erodes the huge profit margins possible in war zones and
markedly reduces the amount of money that can be transferred from
citizens to shareholders in times of military conflict. (The quintessential
double dip) Admittedly this is a minority opinion but as Iraq will not be
the last to prove not an uninfluential one. Evidence of this influence here
in Canada can be seen by the massive increase in expenditures for our
military and security industrial complexes over the last few years.
NB. Before the Harper government's commitment to a $13 billion
increase in military spending Canada’s military spending was the 7th
highest in absolute terms in the OECD and 12th overall in the world.
If you are skeptical of the claim that Canadians are being all but
completely shut out of the benefits of their resource wealth go to the
Parkland Institute site and discover for yourself the pitiful fraction the
Albertan people receive of their resource wealth compared to the
people of Norway.
http://www.ualberta.ca/PARKLAND/
For we the Canadian people the situation is an even crueler joke as we
receive even less benefit while at the same time bearing more of the
brunt of the economic problems associated with being a resource
dollar. Aka. Dutch Disease
http://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/dutchdisease.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_disease
And it is all Canadians and especially Albertans and even the rest of the
world that are at the same time forced to pick up the massive
environmental tab even as the profits flee the province and the country.
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September 8, 2007 | Climate Change Solutions: Beyond Science And Above Confines , by Abdul Basit, Basit72@gmail.com,
Countercurrents.org Along with scientific research, we require political, religious, ideological, cultural, philosophical, economic, social and intellectual coordination. Secondly, since human factor is the main reason for climate change, the transformation in the method of lifestyle and concepts of economic development required is much beyond the scope of science. Most solutions provided by scientific research are very limited in scope such as to fill up our automobile tanks with bio fuels instead of fossil fuels. Such solutions will only aggravate the crises and create new problems. What we need is a total transformation from what we have hitherto followed. This transformation requires the change of the basic concept of materialistic way of life and pursuit of wealth. This can only be achieved by cultivating moral and spiritual values among the society and by replacing materialistic pursuits with holistic and simple way of life. |
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September 6, 2007 | Earth Meanders: Now Is Time for Non-Violent Earth Revolution by Dr. Glen Barry, Earth Meanders Now Is Time for Non-Violent Earth Revolution. That begins by stopping ancient forest logging, ending burning of coal and restraining growth in aviation. Insightful original Earth essays placing environmental sustainability within the context of other contemporary issues including peace and freedom. Thought-provoking, raw and frequently outrageous - but always Bright Green. These are the personal writings of Dr. Glen Barry. | Read Read |
August 5, 2007 | Who should own the Earth ?, by Norman Kurland thirdway@cesj.org
Email discussion with Norman Kurland and Garry Davis of the Global Justice Movement, and with John Watkins of the Alliance for Human Empowerment |
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Report 1 |
Letter 1 |
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