The worlds population of fireflies is steadily and unfortunately dwindling. Due to invasive light pollution, the twinkling little summer insects are finding it difficult to locate one another and mate. Bioluminescence is one of the more magical things in nature and observing it often is somewhat of a treat. Fireflies probably aren't too important on the global-ecosystem scale, but a certain melancholy accompanies the idea of a summer without light-bugs flickering through warm, dim country evenings.
Last night I had the pleasure of meeting Marcos Neto, director of CARE's climate change work across the globe. In a talk that Marcos gave to the local CARE office in New York, he hipped us to a new study recently released by Colombia University, CARE and the UN. The study, timed to arrive in correspondence with the climate change talks in Bonn, Germany -- is an unprecedente examination into the effect that climate change will have in relation to the people now being called "climate change refugees" (though refugee is a contested term due to the rights "refugees" are granted by the U.N.).
"If climate change is not the underlying cause of poverty right now," Marcos told us last night. "It will be in the future." According to the recent CARE report, at least 200 million people will be displaced by environmental pressures by 2050 (and some estimates are as high as 700 million people). More on the new report from the AP here:
The report said 40 island states could disappear, in whole or in
part, if seas rise by two meters (six feet). The Maldives, a chain of
1,200 atolls in the Indian Ocean has a plan to abandon some islands and
build defenses on others, and has raised the possibility of moving the
entire population of 300,000 to another country. Melting glaciers
in the Himalayas threaten repeated flooding in the Ganges, Mekong,
Yangtze and Yellow river basins, which support 1.4 billion people, or
nearly one-fourth of humanity, in India, southeast Asia and China.
After the floods will come drought when seasonal glacier runoff no
longer feeds the rivers, it said. In Mexico and Central America drought and hurricanes have led to migrations since the 1980s and they will get worse, it said. Homes
are not always abandoned forever, the researchers said. "Disasters
contribute to short-term migration," especially in countries that
failed to take precautions or lack adequate responses, said Charles
Ehrhart of CARE.
Most migration will be internal, from the country to the city, it said.
If you're interested to read more of the actual report, email me at Green Owl below. I'll be reading it tonight and will report back soon.
Where does one draw the line in terms of DIY ethic? Why buy
a prefabricated, mass-produced Black Flag, Minor Threat, Kuro, etc. shirt from
a retailer when you can get a custom, one of a kind shir,t from someone who
actually cares, or you make one yourself. Sam Ryser, a Brooklyn native,
makes his own shirts for the bands he loves -- and he makes them well. For more info contact Sam Ryser.
A newly amended media law in Sudan instated a press council to oversee the country's journalism. The Journalism and Press Publications Bill 2009 gives the press a little more freedom, but still allows the government to censor the media in times of national crisis. Newspapers and media organizations in Sudan often complained that their government has censored articles or stopped their operations for weeks at a time.
The press council put in place by this newly passed bill has the power to suspend newspapers for up to three days and implement registration requirements for journalists, printers, and distributors.
One Sudanese editor simply thinks that "it will be like the law we have now". Instead of granting journalists with new freedoms, which was the original intent behind the bill, the law simply re-oganizes the old system - the government is still able to censor and influence the media, just through different means. Human Rights Watch emphasizes that, "without its reform the new act is not going to be enough to ensure freedom of the press".
London's HIGHLIFE enters the hipster Africa arena with fingerpickin, fingerlickin flying colors. Helpin them craft that new London-Africa thing (think RadioClit, think Damon), HIGHLIFE includes members of Gang Gang Dance and White Magic. Check the sound here. Wait, oh shit, this has nothing to do with Africa, or wait... Story via Robinson + GVSBEAR.
The streets of Thailand's capital are currently surging with a tsunami of dogs. Experts say that up to 300,000 strays currently roam the dark and vice filled streets of Bangkok. Possibly attracted by the tasty food or new political regime, the dogs utilize Thailand's shoddy public infrastructure and reproduce like its 1999.
The strays are considered a nuisance as they can cause car accidents or hurt people and, once they die, become an unsightly, putrid lump in the already messy streets. One current method of handling this strange predicament is to round up packs of dogs and take them to Buddhist monks, who welcome the homeless canine masses. This may work for a little while but, with the dog population growing faster than bamboo, a permanent solution is needed as soon as possible.
There is one, non-government organization going from neighborhood to neighborhood and sterilizing packs of dogs. Of course, they do not have nearly enough supplies or manpower to contain the problem on their own. It's fairly ridiculous that, on top of systemic, globally relevant economic and social problems, the people of Bangkok now have to deal with this weirdly frustrating animal control issue. Posted by Henry Harper henry@greenowl.com
A Chinese-owned company is using explosives in order to excavate a quarry in Kenya's Amboseli National Park. This has drawn the attention of conservationists, who are primarily concerned with the fact that the loud explosions, along with the giant quarry itself, could disrupt elephant migration patterns. Elephants, usually, use established and protected corridors to move safely from one nature preserve to another during their migration. It is possible, however, that the explosions will keep elephants and other animals from safely entering the national park.
It seems sort of counterintuitive that the Kenyan government would even allow explosives into a national park - few things pose more of a potential for wildlife wreckage than earth-shattering detonations.
Sinohydro, the company excavating the quarry, has argued that it will only blast in the day and, since most animals use the corridor at night, will not extensively interfere with traveling wildlife. Due to large amounts of attention from the press and conservation organizations, the excavation has been temporarily suspended. Sinohydro has said that it is shopping for an alternative site. Conservationists, however, refute that this statement was only to made to get out of the spotlight, and that Sinohydro will, as soon as possible, continue their operation as planned.
I usually associate scallop shells with the beach, sailboats, and other pleasant things. If you were to ask an impoverished person living in the Niger Delta, however, what a scallop shell reminded them of, they might give you a different answer. They might say that a scallop shell represents something dead - an exoskeleton that long ago lost all all traces of vitality. In any case, their answer would almost certainly be negatively inclined due to the fact that, in the Niger Delta, a scallop shell is quickly and universally recognized as the logo for Royal Dutch Shell, a foreign company that has instigated much havoc along the Nigerian coastline.
Most obnoxiously pressing is the notion that the Shell came to Nigeria with the explicit intent of shamelessly extracting oil. They run pipelines through mangrove forests and small communities - essentially showing locals the resource that they are in the process of taking while at the same time leaking oil into the mangroves, polluting the area and wrecking fishing. These audacious moves sparked a conflict that has now persisted for almost two decades.
On Monday, however, Shell agreed to pay a $15.5 million dollar settlement in a case regarding human rights abuses. This figure is considerably large given the fact that the company has constantly maintained that it did nothing wrong. This settlement ends a legal that began after the Nigerian activist Ken Saro-Wiwa died in 1995. Mr Saro-Wiwa, who was hanged by the country's military regime, was Shell's most outspoken critic at the time. He specifically condemned Shell's environmental negligence in the oil-rich delta.
In the case, ten plaintiffs accused Shell of seeking the help of the former Nigerian regime in order to silence Mr. Saro-Wiwa, and of employing abusive soldiers. The $15.5 million dollar settlement is considered a sizeable victory for Nigerians in the fight against Shell. Some of the money will go to the Saro-Wiwa family and the rest will go to a social and educational trust fund.
In this instance, a courtroom setting contained the struggle between Nigerian locals and oil companies. In the Delta, however, a violent vigilante war continues to rage. The fighting between militia groups, hired soldiers, and Shell employees frequently escalates to deadly levels. Innocent people with no connection to Shell, or the militia groups, are often dragged into the struggle and pain of this bitter and perpetual conflict.
El Nino, still a growing problem in Ecuador and throughout Latin America
Kofi Anan's Global Humanitarian Forum released a study this week that attributes 300,000 deaths a year to climate change. It's the same story we've heard before: the face of climate change is the world's poor; those most affected by pollution are those least responsible for causing it.
According to CNN, "Of the 300,000 lives being lost each year due to climate change, the report finds nine out of 10 are related to "gradual environmental degradation," and that deaths caused by climate-related malnutrition, diarrhea and malaria outnumber direct fatalities from weather-related disasters. "
This report comes just six months before the Global Climate Change summit in Copenhagen. Our hope is that more studies like this will spur the US to embrace a rigorous and robust global climate change strategy in December.
We really need people like Jesse Ventura back in the game. With Obama not pulling the troops out, not closing Gitmo and not abolishing the Patriot Act i'm starting to wonder when the hell all this change we've been hearing about is actually gonna happen. 2 party system = bureaucratic trafficjam. It's like the cell phone market, when it was bubblin' there were tons of cell phones, now we've got the blackberry and the iphone....oh yeah and the sidekick....Jesse Ventura the sidekick of American Politics???
This week's Mugshot Monday lands on artist and producer, Logic (aka Lamont Coleman). Logic is Green Owl fam; he’s also a highly-regarded member of Wyclef’s Refugee camp. As the producer of Sweetest Girl by
Wyclef Jean (ftr. Akon and Lil Wayne), Logic is a culture creator; he
knows
what it’s like to be at the hub of popular music. When Logic is outside the studio, he often stops by our Green Owl office on 6th
Ave.
Three ingredients for a song that reaches the masses. First,
the beat and arrangement has to be right.
Second, strong-lyrics and a good melody. Third element is mass marketing – even if people don’t like it, if you
play it enough, they’ll like it.
What inspires you about Green Owl? So many things. The
vision and the fact that it’s created “by artists for artists.” And just the people at Green Owl – everybody’s
cool, open-minded, conscious and ready for something different.
How does your homestate of Indiana play into your sound? Indiana
is very influenced by the south – that hip hop drum-style is second nature to
me. I can make a “south beat” so quick
and easy that sometimes it’s not even fun.
I lived that. I embodied
that. That’s what it’s in me.
Where will hip-hop be in 2010? In the grave! (laughs).
I think people need to let hip-hop evolve. Sonically everything is
going overseas; dont fight the flow, embrace what doesn’t originate in
the US.
If it’s from Africa, if it’s from London
-- of course, we’ll put our spin on it -- but in 2010 it’s still going
to be
about expanding beyond yourself and creating that global perspective.
Like when I was in Germany, those kids had no idea
what I was saying to them. But they
loved me.
What’s the closest thing to music that isn’t music? SILENCE.
What’s the effect of Michael Jackson on you? Well he’s from Indiana,
so he did a lot for me. One of the first
songs I ever learned was, Bad. My dad taught it to me. Mike really inspired me. I had the clothes; I had the glove.
What do you seek out in other artists? You might meet someone and they sound great, but then you go
around the block and there are 10 dudes who can rap the same stuff. So
that’s why I look for something special, something scarce. I look for something
that’s real. I have to have that kind of
musical-spiritual experience.
Tell us about the craft of production. My song, Sweestest
Girl was 3-years-old before it even came out. Producers and writers, we’re ahead of the
game. We can provide what people will
choose from in the future. You don’t know what you like until you hear it. In the music world, there aren’t as many
movers and shakers as you might think.
Your long-term vision? I just want to have a
significant musical contribution and not just make people dance, but use my successs to help people.
The problem of fighting insurgents in Iraqi cities has recently been complicated even further by the increasing presence of child soldiers. Likely with brainwashing and promises of martyrdom, fighters recruit children to transport weapons and carry out suicide attacks. In the past few weeks, a number of children between 14 and 16 attempted to attack US forces with grenades and on May 12th, a 14 year old boy drove a vehicle used in a suicide car bombing that killed 5 Iraqi policemen. Younger children are recruited to fight because they draw less attention and scrutiny from US soldiers, and also because their young minds are easily influenced and filled with ideas of desperation and hatred.
The role and inclusion of younger people on the battlefield in Iraq stacks up slightly differently when compared to the problem of child soldiers in Africa. In Uganda, for example, children make up almost 90% of the Resistance Army's fighting force. This massive percentage is far higher than that in Iraq. Also, while the young insurgents in Iraq are used to stealthily conduct operations, child soldiers in Africa fight and kill with a loud and unrestrained arrogance - a horrific spectacle that captures a lot of attention.
