Huila Community of Colombia Continues to Defend the Earth from Mega-Development

From UpsideDownWorld.org, by Polinizaciones

The New Year in Huila started as 2012 finished, with the National Authority of Environmental Licenses’ (ANLA) refusal  to hold the energy company Enel-Endesa-Emgesa accountable for failing to comply with the environmental license for the Quimbo Hydroelectric Project.

The Comptroller’s Office has continually studied the information put forth by Association of Affected Peoples of the Quimbo Hydroelectric Project (Asoquimbo), and has backed the local communities’ demands that the environmental license be respected in regards to resettlement, compensations and environmental mitigation.  Meanwhile in Huila, local media have falsely reported that nothing is wrong in the region and have irresponsibly reduced their reporting to nothing more than public relations on behalf of the company’s image.

Nonetheless, throughout Huila, the resistance has not only manifested from the communities affected by the Quimbo Dam, but also from the communities in Gigante and Garzón affected by petroleum company Emerald Energy, as well as communities in southern and central Huila resisting the Master Advantage Plan of the Magdalena River which would hand over the country´s largest and most important river in concession to the state-owned company HydroChina. In addition to the invasion of extractive industries to Huila, the regions large amount of coffee growers have been impacted by the falling price in coffee which has progressively gotten worse since the signing of the US free trade agreement. As a result, Huila and all of Colombia’s coffee growers have also started pressuring the Colombian State that has resulted injuries in recent days as coffee growers have had clashes with the riot police (ESMAD).

EcoSexuals of the World Unite! Stop MTR!

Filmmakers Beth Stephens and Annie Sprinkle.

by Russ McSpadden

The film Goodbye Gauley Mountain weaves together the topics of sex, class, hillbillyism, queerness, capitalism and nature into a epic tale that will make you proud to be called a dirty environmentalist. This is, without compare, the sexiest nature documentary and one of the most profound films to deal with the beauty and tragedy of the Appalachian Mountains in the age of King Coal. It’ll make you fighting mad, then you’ll laugh, then you’ll get turned on. Hopefully you’ll fall wildly in love and get out there and defend your Lover Earth with a lust befitting the world’s most ancient and biodiversely kinky mountains.

Over the last several months I’ve interviewed Beth Stephens and Annie Sprinkle about their film, art and activism. The full interview will appear in the next Earth First! Journal but you’ll find a sneak peak below as well.

Goodbye Gauley Mountain: An Ecosexual Love Story is currently in post production but there are several pre-screenings in the works including one on March 30th in San Fran. You can check here for event details and future showings: http://goodbyegauleymountain.org/screenings/

 

Fracking debate heating up in New Zealand

Heated debate over fracking, the mining process which could be used to extract gas in western Southland, is raging in the gas heartland of Taranaki.

A protest group, Climate Justice Taranaki, has called for a ban or moratorium on the practice, which it believes threatens aquifiers with toxic chemicals.

The issue has become an environmental flashpoint across the globe, but Taranaki is the first New Zealand region where there have been anti-fracking protests.

“What we are seeing, especially in the United States and Australia, is groundwater aquifiers being depleted and poisoned by toxic chemicals,” Climate Justice spokeswoman Emily Bailey said. “The resource companies don’t seem to be telling us what’s going on.”

Fracking is conventionally used to improve the flow of oil and gas wells by injecting a water-chemical mix into a well and subjecting it to high pressure, which forces the rock surrounding the well to crack open, releasing more oil and gas. In Southland, it could be used to extract shale gas from potentially huge deposits recently discovered under the Waiau Basin.

Anti-frackers believe the practice uses toxic chemicals which can permeate underground aquifiers and contaminate water.

The panic over fracking for shale gas was ignited by a provocative film, Gasland by Josh Fox, which claimed to expose the huge environmental damage caused by fracking in parts of the United States.

Article by Alex Fensome. For more information and full article go to source of cross-posting here

For more recent articles on the anti-fracking movement in New Zealand visit here, here and here

Biggest Financers of Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining Exposed

Cross Posted from Treehugger.com Image: Jake McClendon via flickr

PNC, Citi, and UBS are the top three financial enablers of mountaintop removal coal mining, according to a new report by Rainforest Action Network and the Sierra Club that ranks ten of the world’s largest banks.

These ten banks have provided more than $2.5 billion (in 16 loans and bond underwriting deals) to mountaintop removal companies since January 2010, according to the report.

The groups behind the report say that five banks have issued new policies on mountaintop removal since last year’s report card: Chase, Wells Fargo, PNC, UBS, and Credit Suisse.

Credit Suisse had the best record this year: “The bank has no exposure to coal-mining companies that practice mountaintop removal extraction,” writes RAN.

They had this to say about the worst-performing banks:

Citi–despite announcing a public policy on MTR extraction in 2009, the bank has since doubled its exposure to the sector. UBS–immediately after announcing a policy stating that it “needs to be satisfied that the client is committed to reduce over time its exposure to this form of mining,” the bank acted as an advisor on the Massey-Alpha combination deal. That deal created the largest single mountain top removal company in the country, responsible for fully 25% of coal production from MTR mines.

“Mountaintop removal coal mining has no place in a clean energy economy, and the banks that finance this destructive practice deserve our scrutiny,” said Mary Anne Hitt of the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign. “Those who fund mountaintop removal coal mining are lighting the fuse that leads to the devastation of communities, waterways and landscapes across Appalachia.”

Wikileaks: Big Coal, Obama and Bagledesh Open Pit Mine

When thousands of Bangladeshi take to the streets again on March 28th as part of a decade-long battle to halt a devastating British-owned open-pit coal mine, the world will not only be watching whether Bangladesh’s government will honor a coal ban agreement from 2006 or resort to violence.

In light of disturbing WikiLeaks cables, American and worldwide human rights and environmental organizations will also be questioning why the Obama administration is covertly pushing for Bangladesh to reverse course and acquiesce to an internationally condemned massive open-pit mine that will displace an estimated 100,000-200,000 villagers and ravage desperately needed farm land and water resources.

Read the rest here!

Watch the video: