Undisciplined environments

http://www.politicalecology.eu/news/item/entitleconference

Entitle Conference: Undisciplined Environments

Call for papers

UNDISCIPLINED ENVIRONMENTS

International Conference of the European Network of Political Ecology (ENTITLE)

Stockholm, 20-23 of March 2016

Power and conflict are at the core of socio-environmental change, but existing knowledge and higher education structures are ill-equipped to address them. Most of socially-relevant environmental research takes place within isolated disciplinary silos and has a disciplinary orientation. Questions are framed in relation to scholarly traditions, not in terms of the structure of the problems and the conflicts at hand, which transcend conventional departmentalization. However, as we live in undisciplined environments, we need undisciplined thinking.

To discuss the possibilities for an undisciplinary political ecology, the European Network ‘Entitle’ – an FP7 ‘Marie Curie’ action n.289374 – launches the International Conference UNDISCIPLINED ENVIRONMENTS, co-organized by the Center for Social Studies of the University of Coimbra and the Environmental Humanities Laboratory of the KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm.

Cuidemos nuestra casa

Programa de TV referido al tema de agrotóxicos, producido con el apoyo del INCAA, UNSAM, Ministerio de Planificación Y Presidencia de la Nación Argentina.

"Argentina, es un país históricamente agropecuario, acá en Buenos Aires, es una zona urbana y a pesar de ser una zona urbana tenemos un montón de campos que se utilizan para la actividad agropecuaria. Debido a la actividad agropecuaria, también decimos que son campos fumigados, y por añadidura pueblos fumigados"

My Telesur article about climate-smart agriculture

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/bloggers/Climate-Smart-Agriculture-Is-a-Corporate-Deception-20150602-0001.html

'Climate-Smart' Agriculture Is a Corporate Deception

Climate-smart farming was condemned as “a deceptive and deeply contradictory initiative” in September 2014.

TELESURTV.NET|DE TELESUR / CARMELO RUIZ

Congreso de economía ecológica

NPR:Urban Food Forests Make Fruit Free For The Picking

http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/05/21/408293431/urban-food-forests-make-fruit-free-for-the-picking

Urban orchards are dropping everything from apples to persimmons to avocados onSeattle, Bloomington, Ind., Boston, Toronto, San Francisco, Los Angeles and other North American cities. Groups like the Portland Fruit Tree Project advocate for public access to existing fruit trees so that people can glean crops that would otherwise go uneaten — an idea some are calling radical. Other groups are more interested in planting new groves of fruit trees on previously fallow city land.

Fruit trees produce food, but also provide shade, keep greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere, improve water quality and may evendeter crime. Advocates say they also have a longer lasting impact on communities than vegetable beds.

Institute for Social Ecology web site gets makeover

http://social-ecology.org/

Social Ecology n.1: a coherent radical critique of current social, political, and anti-ecological trends. 2: a reconstructive, ecological, communitarian, and ethical approach to society.

Social Ecology advocates a reconstructive and transformative outlook on social and environmental issues, and promotes a directly democratic, confederal politics. Social Ecology envisions a moral economy that moves beyond scarcity and hierarchy, toward a world that reharmonizes human communities with the natural world, while celebrating diversity, creativity and freedom.

Historically, the Institute for Social Ecology has been a pioneer in the exploration of ecological approaches to food production, alternative technologies, and urban design, and has played an essential, catalytic role in movements to challenge nuclear power, global injustices and unsustainable biotechnologies, while building participatory, community-based alternatives. The Institute strives to be an agent of social transformation, demonstrating the skills, ideas and relationships that can nurture vibrant, self-governed, healthy communities.

Solsticio en Cochasquí

Judd Apatow on NPR

npr:

nprfreshair:

Judd Apatow: A Comedy-Obsessed Kid Becomes ‘Champion Of The Goofball’

On why he stopped doing stand-up

“One of the main reasons I stopped doing stand-up, I realized later, was I auditioned for something for Jim Henson and Jim Henson didn’t want to hire me and I hear from the casting director, “He’d like to buy your ideas, but he doesn’t want you to appear in the show. He thinks you lack warmth.” And I was like, “Jim Henson thinks I lack warmth? That’s like Mr. Rogers telling you [that] you don’t deserve love! He taught me to read!”

Years later I thought, “I can’t imagine he actually told somebody to call me and tell me I lack warmth,” so probably it’s just a mean casting director, but at the time it really took the wind out of my sails. It made me think, “Oh yes, the instinct you have to not perform has now been confirmed by Kermit the Frog.”

Great interview for any comedy nerd. -Emily

Mañana en Quito

Esta noche en Casa Aboy

A prosperous way down

http://prosperouswaydown.com/

We are a group of advocates for a prosperous way down. Our website evolved out of discussions from a pre-conference session on the Prosperous Way Down (organized by Dr. Tom Abel) that occurred in conjunction with the 7th Emergy Conference in January 2012.

The springboard for this site is A Prosperous Way Down,  drafted in the mid 1980s by Howard T. and Elisabeth C. Odum, and published in 2001. Many of the energetic diagrams for the website are extracted from Mark T. Brown’s Emergy Powerpoints, which explain the meaning of energy diagrams and the method for Emergy Accounting and Synthesis.  

Joan Martínez Alier: Algunas relaciones entre la Economía Ecológica y la Ecología Política

http://www.vocesenelfenix.com/content/algunas-relaciones-entre-la-econom%C3%ADa-ecol%C3%B3gica-y-la-ecolog%C3%ADa-pol%C3%ADtica

El objetivo de la Ecología Política, como campo de estudio, es analizar los conflictos socioambientales y cómo el poder político incide en ellos. Ante un escenario en el cual el extractivismo está puesto en discusión por los daños ambientales y sociales que genera, y por la casi nula capacidad de generar un desarrollo sustentable, las acciones del ecologismo popular o ecologismo de los pobres e indígenas son más eficaces para conseguir una economía menos insostenible y más ecológica.

Richard Heinberg: Renewable Energy Will Not Support Economic Growth

http://www.commondreams.org/views/2015/06/07/renewable-energy-will-not-support-economic-growth

(Image: Shutterstock)

"The world needs to end its dependence on fossil fuels as quickly as possible. That’s the only sane response to climate change, and to the economic dilemma of declining oil, coal, and gas resource quality and increasing extraction costs. The nuclear industry is on life support in most countries, so the future appears to lie mostly with solar and wind power. But can we transition to these renewable energy sources and continue using energy the way we do today? And can we maintain our growth-based consumer economy?

The answer to both questions is, probably not."

6 key points about the opposition protests in Ecuador

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/analysis/6-Key-Points-About-the-Opposition-Protests-in-Ecuador-20150613-0012.html

EXCERPT:

The Citizens’ Revolution commands broad support from a cross-section of Ecuadorean society, including support from the middle-classes, however there is great resentment from the wealthy upper classes who begrudge the fact that, after previously ruling the country for so long, they no longer wield the same political power. This is despite the fact that Ecuador is one of the best performing economies in the region

The Wealth Redistribution Law, which prompted this latest round of protests is a measure specifically designed to target the wealthiest in the country, affecting a mere 2 percent of the population. The law provides a progressive taxation schedule, meaning those inheriting more will pay more. Only three out of every 100,000 Ecuadoreans will ever receive an inheritance greater than US$50,000. 

Those calling on people to protest are looking to protect their own interests. Unlike other opposition demonstrations in Ecuador, the class character is clear. Those protesting are among the wealthiest in the country who want to keep their economic power and perpetuate the inter-generational transfer of wealth. In Ecuador 2 percent of the population controls 90 percent of big business, giving them a disproportionate amount of wealth and influence.

Presentando mi libro en Ecuador, foto por Arturo Nickel

En entrevista para la televisión ecuatoriana. Foto tomada en la inauguración del AlmaZen de la Red de Guardianes de Semillas de Ecuador, Quito, 28 de mayo 2015.

Puerto Rico: SIEMBRA PARA TODOS

Mañana en Quito

Los Sin Tierra

https://vimeo.com/10236392

Los Sin Tierra, por los caminos de América from Anticapitalista on Vimeo.

¿Quién mató a Tendetza?

Was this indigenous leader killed because he fought to save Ecuador's land? 

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/02/ecuador-murder-jose-tendetza-el-mirador-mine-project

José Isidro Tendetza Antún’s battered body was found in an unmarked grave and loved ones blame his death on his opposition to $1.4bn Chinese-backed mine

Congreso de agroecología

Acción Ecológica comenta sobre la encíclica papal acerca del cambio climático

http://www.accionecologica.org/editoriales/1801-la-enciclica-papal-sobre-cambio-climatico-y-medio-ambiente

No es posible pretender mostrar un rostro ambientalista afuera mientras adentro se aplican políticas contrarias a la naturaleza y desprecio para quienes la defienden. El avance de la frontera petrolera en el Yasuní, la apertura del país a la minería industrial, la expansión de los monocultivos para  agroexportación, entre otras, son actividades con alto impacto socioambiental y en el clima. Además, son actividades que al provocan daños irreversibles en las bases de sustento de las comunidades campesinas y pueblos indígenas, traen consigo más empobrecimiento y por lo tanto, no resuelven la pobreza, argumento con el que la propaganda oficial pretende justificar dichas políticas extractivistas.

Etiquetado de transgénicos, Vermont a la vanguardia

http://www.agenciaecologista.info/editoriales/782-etiquetado-de-transgenicos-vermont-a-la-vanguardia

Escrito por Carmelo Ruiz Marrero

Miércoles 20 de Mayo de 2015 22:01

19 de mayo 2015 En Estados Unidos se ha desatado una gran lucha en torno al etiquetado de alimentos transgénicos. Esta lucha se ha dado a nivel estatal y nacional, en referendos al igual que en los ámbitos legislativo y judicial. De los 50 estados del país el que más se ha distinguido en afirmar el derecho del consumidor a estar informado es seguramente Vermont. En abril de 2014 el senado de Vermont aprobó- por un abrumador margen de 28 a 2- la ley 112, la primera legislación a nivel nacional que requiere del etiquetado de todo alimento con contenido transgénico- la cámara baja había aprobado legislación de etiquetado el año anterior. El gobernador del estado, Peter Shumlin, firmó la ley el 8 de mayo de 2014. Los estados de Connecticut y Maine ya han aprobado legislación en pro del etiquetado, pero con cláusulas al efecto de que el etiquetado entraría en efecto sólo cuando otros estados hayan aprobado legislación similar. La ley 112 de Vermont no contiene tal condicionalidad. Es necesario subrayar que esta victoria fue posible gracias al trabajo de base de Vermont Right to Know GMO, coalición multisectorial dirigida por la finca orgánica Cedar Circle, la asociación de productores orgánicos NOFA-VT, y las organizaciones Rural Vermont y Vermont Public Interest Research Group (VPIRG). (1)  La industria alimentaria, representada por el poderoso gremio detallista Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA), demandó a Vermont, alegando que la ley 112 viola la constitución nacional, particularmente la primera enmienda y la cláusula de comercio interestatal. (2) La GMA, que representa a más de 300 corporaciones que venden productos de supermercado, ha movilizado millones de dólares para financiar campañas de cabildeo y publicidad en contra del etiquetado de transgénicos, y en 2014 demandó a la isla hawaiana de Maui después que sus ciudadanos votaran en un referendo a favor de prohibir el cultivo de transgénicos. (3) Pero la industria sufrió un duro revés en abril de 2015 cuando la juez Christina Reiss desestimó el caso presentado por la GMA contra Vermont, y en su decisión de 84 páginas despachó como inválidos sus argumentos legales y constitucionales. “Los gigantes de los alimentos transgénicos no están acostumbrados a perder, pero acaban de recibir una patada en el trasero de parte del estado de Vermont,” comentó Paul Burns, de VPIRG. “Esta decisión judicial aporta un apoyo poderoso a la idea de que los ciudadanos de Vermont tienen un interés legítimo y sustantivo en saber si su comida ha sido genéticamente alterada.” (4) La defensa en este caso fue asumida por la Clínica de Derecho Ambiental de la Escuela de Derecho de Vermont, con la asistencia de VPIRG y el Center for Food Safety (CFS) como amigos de la corte. “Esta importante decisión afirma la constitucionalidad del etiquetado de alimentos genéticamente alterados, al igual que los derechos de los ciudadanos de Vermont y Estados Unidos”, declaró el abogado George Kimbrell, del CFS. “Los estadounidenses exigen saber si su comida es producida mediante ingeniería genética por razones de salud, ambientales y muchas otras. Esta decisión es crucial para proteger esos derechos.” (5) La ley entrará en efecto el 1 de julio de 2016. Ruiz Marrero es periodista puertorriqueño residente en Ecuador. Es director del Blog de Bioseguridad y autor de El Gran Juego de Ajedrez Botánico: Escritos sobre Biotecnología y Agroecología (Editorial Tiempo Nuevo, 2015). http://www.vtrighttoknowgmos.org/big-win-right-know/ http://www.reformer.com/state/ci_25951449/vermont-sued-over-gmo-law http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Grocery_Manufacturers_Association 4-5) http://www.vpirg.org/news/vermont-wins-round-one-of-gmo-labeling-lawsuit/?cpg=vt-label-gmos

Documental el 8 de junio

The dark net

View high resolution 

nprfreshair:

Infiltrating ‘The Dark Net’, Where Criminals, Trolls And Extremists Reign

There’s a side to the Internet most people have never visited. Tor Hidden Services, or the Tor Network, is an encrypted, hidden network of about 50,000 websites that can’t be accessed with a traditional browser like Chrome or Firefox. Its users include criminals, trolls and extremists.

Author Jamie Bartlett, who chronicles the secret corners of the Internet in his book The Dark Net, likens it to the “wild West.”

How Dark Net marketplaces work:

“When you go onto this site, you use your encrypted browser — the tor browser — you have your Bitcoin, which is a crypto-currency that allows you to transact with people; it’s sort of a form of digital cash that keeps your identity secret. So you have this clever encryption system but it’s so familiar when you arrive. You get online, you log onto the site, and you are presented with what essentially looks like an eBay for drugs — so thousands of products from hundreds of different vendors based all around the world, and all those trappings of an e-commerce site. You have your special offers. You have your product descriptions. You have your — crucially your — user reviews of each product that’s on offer… You scroll through the different options available to you. You contact the vendor, if you so wish. You place an order. You pay with your crypto-currency. You put your address in, and you wait for your product to arrive in the post. It really is that simple.”

Jueves veganos en Quito

Against the imperial "we"

Most “anti-war” folks in the US (like nearly everyone else) are in the dangerous habit of referring to the government with the pronoun “we.” This rhetorical convention fosters the illusion that “we” commoners have any voice in Washington’s foreign policy (beyond assenting with our silence or, optimistically, restraining somewhat through protest). It betrays more naiveté than cynicism about the nature of power in this country. There is no area where the US behaves more like an empire and less like a democracy than in waging war. Even Congress is rarely consulted—much less its lowly constituents.

This pronoun also burdens the question of US military involvements with a personal sense of (for the anti-war crowd) guilt or (for their jingo opposites) pride, barring a more distanced and objective view. For both the peaceniks and the jingos, use of “we” constitutes an imperial narcissism—an identification with the empire that makes the question about “us.”

- Bill Weinberg
http://ww4report.com/node/14085