Drought Spreads Worldwide

Stories of drought are mostly localized to the affected country. However, this is a global problem...take a look at these news headlines gathered from around the world...all within the last couple of months.

Decade of Drought: A Global Tour of Seven Recent Water Crises

Drought Persists in 13 Provinces:  Bangkok Post

Vancouver Island Fishing Banned as Drought Hits Level 4 : CBC

North Korea Hit Hard by Drought: Korea Times

Dried Up California Lake Shuts as Summer Kicks in: NBC Photos

Puerto Rico, Grappling With Potentially Historic Drought: IBT

Dramatic Photos Show Brazil's Crippling Drought

Global Threats

 

Various countries are surveyed to find out what they believe is the biggest Global Threat..;.

http://www.pewglobal.org/2013/06/24/climate-change-and-financial-instability-seen-as-top-global-threats/

The Growing Importance of the Arctic Council

 

See full Size Image Here.

According to the United States' National Snow and Ice Data Center, the amount of Arctic ice (usually at a minimum during September) was 3.61 million square kilometers (1.39 million square miles) in September 2012 -- close to 49 percent lower than the average amount of ice seen between 1979 and 2000. The melting of the ice facilitates natural resource exploration in the high north. U.S. Geological Survey estimates from 2008 suggest that 13 percent of the world's undiscovered oil and 30 percent of undiscovered natural gas reserves are located in the Arctic Circle.

Moreover, the retreating and thinning of the ice opens up new trade routes. In 2012, 46 ships transporting a total of 1.3 million tons reportedly used the Northern Sea Route, which runs along the northern coast of Russia; this represents a considerable increase from 2011, when 34 ships transported approximately 820,000 tons.

Read more: The Growing Importance of the Arctic Council | Stratfor

http://www.stratfor.com/analysis/growing-importance-arctic-council

French Oil Company Warns Against Drilling in the Arctic...

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2012/09/26/total-arctic-drilling.html

Three Videos to Warm the Soul VIII

Simplicity is not always bad....Watch in full screen HD...beautiful...

 The Golden Sea--Bali

https://vimeo.com/58413545

Baja California

https://vimeo.com/45652953


El Salvador

https://vimeo.com/49341030

See more amazing videos here...
http://ajarnmike.blogspot.ca/2013/06/three-videos-to-warm-soul-vii.html

National Geographic: America Before Columbus

Fascinating documentary...

History books traditionally depict the pre-Columbus Americas as a pristine wilderness where small native villages lived in harmony with nature. But scientific evidence tells a very different story: When Columbus stepped ashore in 1492, millions of people were already living there.

America wasn't exactly a "New World," but a very old one whose inhabitants had built a vast infrastructure of cities, orchards, canals and causeways. But after Columbus set foot in the Americas, an endless wave of explorers, conquistadors and settlers arrived, and with each of their ships came a Noah's Ark of plants, animals—and disease. In the first 100 years of contact, entire civilizations were wiped out and the landscape was changed forever. 

WATCH FULL DOCUMENTARY HERE...
http://www.fulldocumentary.net/history/default.asp?action=listing&id=1730 

ALSO SEE MORE PORTRAITS OF NATIVE AMERICANS HERE...
http://ajarnmike.blogspot.ca/2011/03/americas-first-people.html 

Lastly, this is a great article from the Atlantic Monthly...
http://ajarnmike.blogspot.ca/2010/06/1491-americas-before-columbus.html

Avatar in Alaska

 Here we go again, environmentalists and Native Americans versus profit-hungry mining corporations...Very informative and beautifully-shot documentary...

Watch full documentary here...
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/alaska-gold/

Our Incredible Planet

A collection of fabulous wallpapers from National Geographic...

(Click to enlarge)

Antarctic feeling in the Weddell Sea in January 2007.

In a bone-cold evening in Akihabara (Electric Town), Tokyo.

The broken wall in the foreground is a good representation of the destruction the 2008 winter storms left in California.

This photo shows a woman crossing the Hussaini Bridge with the Passu Cathedrals in the background in Pakistan.

Bali, Indonesia

An 18-wheeler out running a storm in South Dakota.

 

Frozen clothes peg, USA.

 In the Signature Lounge, at dusk, New York.

I made this image during a 4-day snowshoe trip around Oregon's Crater Lake. These clouds drifted in ahead of a winter storm that arrived the next day. As sunset neared, the approaching storm was still well offshore, allowing for this brilliant display of light as the sun dropped below the horizon.

Brooklyn Bridge, New York.

This photograph was taken at Bryce Canyon with the very first light of the sun from Sunrise Point. It reminded me of the famous suite by Edvard Grieg - 'Peer Gynt', its first part - 'Morning Mood'.

Island of Burano, Italy, by night. 

This photo was taken just after sunrise as large storm swell approached southern California. Oceanside, California.

Pilgrim in her room, O Cebreiro, Saint James Way, Camino de Santiago.

Taken from the Prairie Wind Overlook in Badlands National Park, South Dakota.  The mirrored symmetry with the clouds and light really caught my eye.  The only thing you could hear was the wind rustling through the grass.

This is a 17-minute exposure of Yosemite Valley in late November of 2006. The moon illuminated the scene. 

See these and more amazing National Geographic wallpapers here...

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/myshot/categories/wallpaper

Another World, Another Planet: Alaska's North

 

Seeking a pristine land untouched by humanity, Sebastião Salgado photographed the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in northeastern Alaska.

See more of his work here...

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2011/06/12/magazine/alaska-sebastiao-salgado.html

 

The Joy of Stats

Here's a great documentary from my friend Erik, called the Joy of Stats with Hans Rosling, (you may remember him from Ted Talks)  He says there's nothing boring about stats and goes on to prove it...for instance, if you ask men if they are better drivers than women, they will habitually respond "yes," however, stats prove women are in fact better drivers as they have less accidents.  Many more cool revelations in this documentary, check it out...

http://www.gapminder.org/videos/the-joy-of-stats/

The Coming Storm

A fascinating look into the future of our world...

The people of Bangladesh have much to teach us about how a crowded planet can best adapt to rising sea levels. For them, that future is now.

We may be seven billion specks on the surface of Earth, but when you're in Bangladesh, it sometimes feels as if half the human race were crammed into a space the size of Louisiana. Dhaka, its capital, is so crowded that every park and footpath has been colonized by the homeless. To stroll here in the mists of early morning is to navigate an obstacle course of makeshift beds and sleeping children.

Later the city's steamy roads and alleyways clog with the chaos of some 15 million people, most of them stuck in traffic. Amid this clatter and hubbub moves a small army of Bengali beggars, vegetable sellers, popcorn vendors, rickshaw drivers, and trinket salesmen, all surging through the city like particles in a flash flood. The countryside beyond is a vast watery floodplain with intermittent stretches of land that are lush, green, flat as a parking lot—and wall-to-wall with human beings. In places you might expect to find solitude, there is none. There are no lonesome highways in Bangladesh...

 Read full article here:

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/05/bangladesh/belt-text

Photo Gallery of Bangladesh...
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/05/bangladesh/bendiksen-photography

Avatar in Mexico--Canadian Mining Corporations Destroy Sacred Lands and Exploit Locals

If you think the movie Avatar was far-fetched, think again... Canadian companies are plundering Mexico's vast mineral resources while polluting the environment and destroying the sacred sites of Mexico's Indigeneous people.

     For more than 1,000 years, the Wixárika (we-SHA-re-ka) people have made pilgrimages from their ceremonial centers in the Sierra Madre mountains across the Chihuahua desert to Leunar, the sacred mountain where the sun first rose.  The Wixárika pilgrims traverse over 300 miles to reach Leunar, stopping to give offerings and prayers at dozens of sacred places along the way – the natural temples of a deeply spiritual people. They undertake their journey, which they call their "essence," to retrace the steps of creation, repeating the prayers of their ancestors in order to maintain the earth's equilibrium and keep their culture alive.
The Wixárika people's pilgrimage route and its destination are protected by state and federal law as well as international accords, but that hasn't stopped a Canadian mining company, First Majestic Silver Corporation, from purchasing concessions to exploit the rich veins of silver that lie beneath the surface. In September, Wixárika communities issued a proclamation to stop the mine from desecrating their most sacred sites and endangering the fragile semi-desert ecosystem. In the US, the human rights organization Cultural Survival has launched a...

Read more here...


http://www.care2.com/causes/human-rights/blog/mining-in-mexicos-sacred-sites/


Also Another Great Article here...

Most Canadians would probably be surprised to hear that, in academic and civil society circles, Canadian mining has come to epitomize rapacious capitalism and imperialism. Canadian companies dominate the mining sector in Latin America, with interests in over 12,000 properties. In 2010 alone, at least five social activists were murdered for protesting against Canadian mining activities, including Abarca Roblero, who opposed Blackfire’s operations in the Mexican state of Chiapas.
First Majestic Silver is contributing to this notorious reputation.  It is currently seeking local support and ways to convince government officials to grant permission for mineral extraction in Wirikuta. As part of this effort, company representatives have opened a...
Read more here...

http://upsidedownworld.org/main/mexico-archives-79/2981-sacred-indigenous-site-in-mexico-threatened-by-canadian-mining-company 

Finally, this was a Wonderful documentary entitled..."Paradise Lost" about Canadian mining operations and how they are affecting the Indigenous people in Guatemala as well...

http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/WFive/20100415/w5_paradise_lost_100415/ 

More resources here...

http://www.miningwatch.ca/en/category/4315/4318/4321/4324/4498/4700

Non-exhaustive list of Canadian mining corporations operating in Mexico as of this writing (Many of these companies operate through subsidiaries.)

Alamos Gold (Toronto): Sonora
Aquiline Resources (Vancouver): Sonora
Aurcana Corporation (Vancouver): Queretaro
Avino Silver and Gold Mines Ltd. (Vancouver): Durango
Baja Mining Corp. (Vancouver): Baja Peninsula
Bralorne Gold Mines Ltd. (Vancouver): Durango
Canasil (Vancouver): Durango, Sinaloa, Zacatecas
Canplats Resources Corporation (Vancouver): Durango, Chihuahua
Capstone Gold Corp. (Vancouver): Zacatecas
Cardero Resource Group (Vancouver): Baja California,
CDG Investments Inc. (Calgary): Sinaloa
Chesapeake (Vancouver): Oaxaca, Sonora, Durango, Sinaloa, Chihuahua
Columbia Metals Corporation Ltd. (Toronto): Sonora
Comaplex Minerals Corp. (Calgary): Mexico State
Coniagas Resources (Toronto): Zacatecas
Continuum Resources Ltd. (Vancouver): Oaxaca
Copper Ridge Explorations Inc. (Vancouver): Sonora
Corex Gold Corporation (Vancouver): Zacatecas
Cream Minerals Ltd. (Vancouver): Nayarit
Diadem Resources (Toronto): Zacatecas
ECU Silver Mining (Rouyn-Noranda): Durango
Endeavour Silver (Vancouver): Durango
Energold Drilling Corp [Impact Silver Corp.] (Vancouver): Mexico State
Evolving Gold Corp. (Vancouver): currently exploring acquisitions in Mexico
Esperanza Silver Corp. (Vancouver): Morelos
Excellon Resources (Toronto): Durango
Exmin Resources Inc. (Vancouver): Chihuahua
Dundarave Resources Inc. (Vancouver): Chihuahua
Farallon Resources Ltd. [Hunter Dickinson] (Vancouver): Guerrero
Firesteel Resources (Vancouver): Durango
First Majestic Silver Corp. (Vancouver): Jalisco, Coahuila, Durango, Zacatecas
Fording Canadian Coal Trust [NYCO] (Calgary): Sonora
Formation Capital Corporation (Vancouver): Tamaulipas
Fronteer Development Group (Vancouver): Jalisco, Chiapas
Frontera Copper Corporation (Toronto): Sonora
Gammon Lake Resources (Halifax): Chihuahua, Guanajuato
Genco Resources (Vancouver): Mexico State
Goldcorp Inc. (Vancouver): Sinaloa, Durango, Chihuahua, Guerrero, Zacatecas
Gold-Ore Resources Ltd. (Vancouver): Sinaloa
Golden Goliath Resources (Vancouver): Chihuahua
Grandcru Resources (Vancouver): Sinaloa
Grayd Resource Corporation (Vancouver): Sonora
Great Panther Resources Ltd. (Vancouver): Durango, Guanajuato, Chihuahua
Grid Capital Corporation (Vancouver): Chihuahua
Hawkeye Gold and Diamonds (Vancouver): Nayarit
Horseshoe Gold Mining (Vancouver): Oaxaca
Iamgold Corporation (Toronto): (royalties) Chihuahua
Iciena Ventures (Vancouver): Sonora
Impact Silver Corp. (Vancouver): Zacatecas
International Croesus Ltd. (Vancouver): Jalisco
Intrepid Mines (Toronto): Sonora
Kimber Resources (Vancouver): Chihuahua
Linear Gold Corp (Halifax): Chiapas, Oaxaca
Macmillan Gold (Toronto): Durango, Sinaloa, Zacatecas, Jalisco, Nayarit
MAG Silver Corp (Vancouver): Chihuahua, Zacatecas, Durango
Minefinders (Vancouver): Chihuahua, Sonora
Morgain Minerals Inc. (Vancouver): Durango, Sonora
Metallica Resources Inc. (Toronto): San Luis Potosi
Mexoro Minerals Ltd. (Vancouver): Chihuahua
Northair Group (Vancouver): Durango, Sinaloa
Northwestern Mineral Ventures (Toronto): Durango
Oromex Resources (Vancouver): Durango
Orko Silver Corp. (Vancouver): Durango
Pacific Comox Resources (Toronto): Sonora
Palmarejo Silver and Gold (Longueuil): Chihuahua
Pan American Silver (Vancouver): Sonora
Pinnacle Mines Ltd. (Vancouver): Mexico State, Oaxaca
Quaterra (Vancouver): Durango, Zacatecas
Rome Resources Ltd. (Vancouver): Sonora
Ross River Minerals (Vancouver): Sinaloa
Roxwell Gold Mines (Vancouver): Sinaloa
Santoy Resources Ltd. (Vancouver): Sinaloa
Scorpio Mining Corporation (Vancouver): Sinaloa
Silver Crest Mines (Vancouver): Sonora
Silver Standard Resources (Vancouver): Durango, Mexico
Soho Resources Group (Vancouver): Durango
Sonora Gold Corp (Vancouver): Sonora
Sparton Resources (Toronto): Sinaloa, Sonora
Starcore International Ventures (Vancouver): Puebla
Stingray Resources (Toronto): Chihuahua
Southern Silver Exploration (Vancouver): Jalisco, Chihuahua
Stroud Resources (Toronto): Chihuahua
Teck Cominco Ltd. (Vancouver): Guerrero
Terra Novo Gold Corp. (Vancouver): Michoacan
Tumi Resources (Vancouver): Chihuahua, Sonora
Tyler Resources (Calgary): Chihuahua
UC Resources (Vancouver): Durango, Nayarit
Valdez Gold (Toronto): Chihuahua
War Eagle Mining Company (Vancouver): Chihuahua
West Timmins Mining Corp. (Vancouver): Sinaloa, Chihuahua
Zaruma Resources Inc. (Toronto): Sonora

Astonishing New Photos of Hidden Tribe in the Amazon

Hidden Tribes of the World
There are around 100 uncontacted tribes in the world, Survival International estimates, of which more than half are in the Brazilian and Peruvian Amazon.
The Brazilian government believes there are around 40 uncontacted tribes within its borders. Another 15 are thought to live in Peru, with a handful of others in Bolivia, Paraguay, Ecuador and Colombia. There are further tribes in western Papua, part of Indonesia and north Sentinel Island, in the Bay of Bengal.
David Hill, a Peruvian expert at Survival International, said the main threats to uncontacted tribes are oil exploration and logging.
However, the Brazilian government has now released NEW photos of an Uncontacted tribe in the Amazon. They show a thriving, healthy community with machetes, baskets full of manioc and papaya from their gardens.

See the amazing photos here...
http://www.uncontactedtribes.org/brazilphotos

The tribe, which lives near the Peruvian border, is said to be in grave danger from illegal loggers known to be close to its territory. If contact is made, it is likely to result in deaths and the possible extinction of the group.Indian leaders and forest protection groups today appealed to the Peruvian government which has been reluctant to stop the loggers' invasion of their territory. "We are deeply troubled by....

Read more here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jan/31/amazonian-tribe-brazil-peru

Jungle Law

An inspiring story of an Ecuadorean peasant-turned lawyer-who took on Big Oil.

In 1972, crude oil began to flow from Texaco’s wells in the area around Lago Agrio (“sour lake”), in the Ecuadorean Amazon. Born that same year, Pablo Fajardo is now the lead attorney in an epic lawsuit (among the largest environmental suits in history) against Chevron, which acquired Texaco in 2001. Reporting on an emotional battle in a makeshift jungle courtroom, the author investigates how many hundreds of square miles of surrounding rain forest became a toxic-waste dump.

Read more: http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/05/texaco200705?currentPage=all

Watch an excellent documentary about the whole situation:
CRUDE a film by Joel Berlinger

http://xtshare.com/toshare.php?Id=26918

BP's Sordid History

1. How British (Really) is BP?
Certainly to anyone knowledgeable about its past operations in the Middle East, Central Asia, Africa and the Americas, BP is as British as warm beer.

Nor is there anything new about complaints that BP is secretive in its operations and given to doubletalk in responding to valid criticisms in host countries. This is certainly not the whole story, but these very negatives are deeply embedded in its corporate DNA.

Read a short history of BP here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/17/opinion/17iht-edmeyer.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt

2. BP`S Caspian Disaster---2003

The tale of how Britain gained full access to Azeri oil is a sordid one. There are several reports of how BP executives working for Lord Browne spent millions of pounds on champagne-fuelled sex parties to help secure lucrative international oil contracts. The company also worked with MI6 to help bring about changes in foreign governments, according to an astonishing account of life inside the oil giant. Les Abrahams, who led BP’s successful bid for a multi-million-pound deal with one of the former Soviet republics, today claims that Browne - who was forced to resign as chief executive recently after the collapse of legal proceedings against The Mail on Sunday - presided over an “anything goes” regime of sexual license, spying and financial sweeteners. Read More
http://www.iranian.com/main/blog/jalilbahar/bps-caspian-disaster



3. BP Under Criminal Investigation for Alaskan Oil Spill ----2006
The oil giant BP is under criminal investigation in the US for a big oil spill in Alaska in March that has raised fresh questions about the company's safety record.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2006/jun/08/oilandpetrol.news

4. Lockerbie bomber 'set free for oil'---2009
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6814939.ece

5. Out-of-Sight, Out-of-Mind
"...a fundamental question lingers like the petrochemical smell over the gulf: Is Corexit doing more harm than good? Dispersants, all agree, do not lessen the amount of oil in the environment. Rather, they break it into tiny drops that have different, but not necessarily less toxic properties.

"[Dispersants] make the oil more soluble in water, so it won't just sit on the surface," Jackie Savitz, senior scientist with Oceana told CNN. "Whether that's good or bad depends on whether you're a fish or a seabird."

But whether or not the dispersants work as promised, they are effective in other ways, critics charge. By breaking the peanut-butter thick sludge into tiny droplets, Nalco's Corexit has made the oil less visible, thereby disguising the full environmental impact of the spill, and helping BP limit its legal and financial liability."
Read more here:

http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=15609

6. BP oil spill: company accused of 'buying academic silence' in new legal row

BP has been accused of “buying” the silence of some of the world’s leading scientists and academics to help build its legal defence against litigation after the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/energy/oil/7906157/BP-oil-spill-company-accused-of-buying-academic-silence-in-new-legal-row.html

7. BP admits it 'Photoshopped' official images as oil spill 'cut and paste' row escalates

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/energy/oil/7904221/BP-admits-it-Photoshopped-official-images-as-oil-spill-cut-and-paste-row-escalates.html


here's the latest...

8. BP's Lockerbie Controversy

July 16, 2010

BP admits it pressured the British government to speed up the release of prisoners in order to protect its drilling deal with Libya.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6685886n

The Cove

Academy Award Winner for Best Documentary of 2009, THE COVE follows an elite team of activists, filmmakers and freedivers as they embark on a covert mission to penetrate a remote and hidden cove in Taiji, Japan, shining a light on a dark and deadly secret. Utilizing state-of-the-art techniques, including hidden microphones and cameras in fake rocks, the team uncovers how this small seaside village serves as a horrifying microcosm of massive ecological crimes happening worldwide. The result is a provocative mix of investigative journalism, eco-adventure and arresting imagery, adding up to an unforgettable story that has inspired audiences worldwide to action.

Watch the documentary here:
http://www.canada.com/onlinetv/documentary/the-passionate-eye/video.html


Official movie site:
http://www.thecovemovie.com/

BP Denies Existence of Oil Plumes

I think BP's denial of these oil plumes is sick; however, you can judge for yourself...
Video of the spill and BP's Denial of plumes:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/09/underwater-plumes-doug-su_n_605613.html

and...

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/vp/37580832#37580832

Give the image makers at BP credit for knowing how to stick to a story. If you had (a) been spilling oil into the Gulf of Mexico at a rate of up to 25,000 bbls. per day since April 20, and (b) been spraying dispersants on it to keep much of it from floating to the surface, you'd find it hard to say "who me?" if scientists began finding huge plumes of oil drifting in underwater currents.

But that's been BP's position. Not only has the oil giant not been willing to take the blame for the toxic clouds below the waves, it's denied they even exist. Today, however, scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced that they had found the smoking gun that most everyone else believed was there in the first place.

Read more:
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1995234,00.html

Photo Essay, "Victims of the BP Oil Spill"
http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1994377,00.html

US Sets Deadline over BP Oil Spill...
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/06/201069154326806785.html

Experts Double Estimated Rate of Spill in Gulf

A government panel on Thursday essentially doubled its estimate of how much oil has been spewing from the out-of-control BP well, with the new calculation suggesting that an amount equivalent to the Exxon Valdez disaster could be flowing into the Gulf of Mexico every 8 to 10 days.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/11/us/11spill.html?ref=global-home

Negotiators at Climate Talks Face Deep Set of Fault Lines

Divisions that will make an agreement difficult include rich versus poor nations, carbon taxers versus carbon traders, and areas of Europe versus others.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/06/weekinreview/06zeller.html?ref=global-home