Forests are as essential to our existence as water. In fact even water wouldn’t exist in its purest form if it weren’t to some extent for vegetation. Unfortunately for the planet and forests, over the past 60 years, Humans have developed a constant and devastating lifestyle that will eventually need more resources than those our planet is able to provide. We are living as if there were three or four planets available, and If you think about it, in some way or another every item you see around you has been the result of some deforestation somewhere. Deforestation is a real problem that is only going to get worse. To raise awareness about this issue globally, 2011 has been designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Forests, a worldwide project to highlight the fragile state of the worlds forests and to promote action to save what is left of our natural world.
“Without our forests we would simply not exist…The destruction of forests will continue as long as we fail to understand that living trees are worth more than felled trees, that animals are essential to the equilibrium of forests, that the time scale of forests covers centuries and millenniums, not years or even decades. The future of Earth and the human race depends upon our forests. And the protection of forests depends upon us.” – Yann Arthus-Bertrand
Yann Arthus-Bertrand is a world-famous French photographer, filmmaker and environmentalist who has always had a passion for nature. To celebrate 2011 as the International Year of Forests, the United Nations approached the photographer and asked him to produce the official film for the International Year of Forests campaign.
Mostly shot from the air, it follows the continuing theme of the critically acclaimed first film HOME which was eventually seen by 400 million people, the photographer began producing this environmentally conscious short 7-minute film on forests and the ailing relationship with have with our planet’s forests. The short film is made up of aerial images from Home and the Earth from Above television programmes.
By safe I mean, avoiding the endangered species on your plate of food. When faced with a succulent menu, whether it is at a gorgeous ‘Michelin’ starred seafood restaurant or a local fish and chip bar, how do you know your choice is not contributing to the global ocean crisis? Which fish are safe to eat these days?
In an age of over-fishing and crashing marine stocks, it’s difficult to keep track of which fish are ethically kosher. Here the fine folks at ‘Information Is Beautiful’ have pooled and visualized the latest consensus and data from the Marine Conservation Society (PDF), Greenpeace and the SeaFood Watch to create a simple graph to help you with choosing a sustainable species from the menu.
Click on the image to enlarge
As ever, it’s a pretty grim picture but there are some pleasant surprises. For example, two species of pole caught Tuna seem to be safe. Also, who knew that mussels, clams and oysters are all good to eat? Hopefully this visual snapshot will help you enjoy a cleaner conscience and a slap-up dinner of ocean-friendly fish’n'chips.
This is the focus of this short film from Survival International which shows the predicament of Brazil’s isolated Zo’é tribe
After a devastating first contact in the 1980s, the Zo’é have bounced back. Today there are only about 250 left and the Brazilian government has gone to extraordinary lengths to protect them from disease, but do the Zo’é now live in a bubble, separate from the rest of society? Can this be considered as neglect?
Survival International researcher Fiona Watson travels to meet these amazing people.
Peruvian Indians have been forced to set up a guard post to protect an uncontacted Indians’reserve, after the authorities ignored their repeated pleas for action.
The Isconahua reserve on the Peru-Brazil border was set up with the support of Peru’s Amazon Indian organization,AIDESEP, to protect uncontacted Isconahua Indians living in its forests.
But the reserve has been invaded by illegal loggers, and numerous appeals to the authorities have gone unanswered.
Now local indigenous organizations ORAU and FECONAU have united to create a guard post to protect the reserve themselves. Illegal logging is rampant in Peru and poses a serious threat to the survival of the country’s estimated 15 uncontacted groups. Aerial flights over the Amazon have documented illegal logging camps that are forcing the Indians to flee into unknown territories.
Survival has collected nearly 100,000 signatures asking President Alan García to put a stop to the logging and safeguard tribal lands.
This week, ORAU released a statement urging the government’s Indian Affairs Department INDEPA to join their efforts to protect the reserves.
Survival’s Director, Stephen Corry, said today, ‘That local indigenous organizations have to protect isolated Indians’ reserves is a devastating criticism of the government’s inaction. Standing by and ignoring the problem seems to be the government’s preferred tactic.’
Biomimicry is a term that is getting passed around more and more in the field of sustainable architecture and urbanism these days. Learning from nature we can potentially build sustainable buildings that are not only good for us but good for the planet. It can also teach us about regeneration and cleansing of your surroundings through simple organic methods. Oysters for example can be used to biologically treat polluted water and purify thousands of polluted urban rivers worldwide without the need to use costly and carbon hungry purification methods.
One Oyster can clean up 50 Gallons of water a day
Architect Kate Orff sees the oyster as an agent of urban change. Bundled into beds and sunk into city rivers, oysters slurp up pollution and make legendarily dirty waters clean — thus driving even more innovation in “oyster-tecture.” Orff shares her vision for an urban landscape that links nature and humanity for mutual benefit.
Peruvian artist highlights the frailty and beauty of the Amazon in his latest individual exhibition.
Alejandro Jaime has been at the forefront of ecologically conscious land art in Latin America for almost a decade. His art stretches across every corner of Peru and his art has always been deeply married to the inner force of this planet. His work is constantly channelling the voice of an ailing environment. His travels through deepest and darkest Peruvian territories cry ailing laments of the devastation that these natural wonders have suffered for so long at the expense of progress and modernity.
‘Huallaga,’ his latest individual exhibit is the result of his travels up and down the Huallaga River which is at the very heart of the Northern Peruvian Amazon, land that has for years been struck with war, terrorism, drug trafficking, deforestation and contamination.
Our oceans are an absolute marvel, but they are also in a deep, deep crisis.
If we don’t act fast, our oceans will continue to deteriorate and vital food sources and essential functions provided to our planet and its people by the oceans could be lost forever. Since healthy oceans underpin our very survival, Greenpeace has released an “Emergency Oceans Rescue Plan” aimed at world leaders, which sets out the best way to save our oceans- something that can and should be done at the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) which takes place later this month in Japan.
Many buildings today claim to be environmentally-this and eco-that, but almost all of them fail to evoke the kind of fresh and inspirational moment we actually get from looking at a foggy forest at dawn or by looking up at some imposing cliffs.
‘Green’ Architecture as it is known today can take many forms. From simple utilitarian buildings that do amazing things for the environment to hi-tech buildings all extruded with the proverbial label of sustainability. The problem is that even if you disguise your building with a green roof, it will never live up to the wonderful captivating looks of nature no matter how much CO2 your building pumps into the air.
Can Architecture actually live up to the sexy looks of nature?
There is a new hotel in Sweden that may live up to the challenge. Not only that, it seems to completely erase the line between built and natural environments. The Treehotel, located in the boreal forests near the village of Harads in northern Sweden, offers six stunning guest rooms in sensitive pods built as luxurious tree pods.
The idea that inspired the owners came from a sleeper 2008 Swedish documentary called “Tradalskaren” (The Tree Lover) that tells the story of three men who build a tree house near Harads in an attempt to rediscover their rural roots after years of living in a city. The Lindvalls, who already owned and ran a nearby guesthouse, saw the chance to create a different kind of holiday experience.
Why? »More and more people in World these days are seeing the effects of the ever-increasing water crisis. Water seems more polluted than ever and it is becoming more and more scarce. Even Britain, one of the wettest countries in Europe, had to endure a noticeable drought this year (…there was a drought in Scotland as well!). In the West, we take water for granted. Most people don’t actually think about the supply of water. Water is easy to ignore provided you can still turn on a tap and water comes out! We still have the same amount of water in our ecosystem but the supply of freshwater faces a three-pronged attack from population growth, climate change and industrialisation. As it currently stands, there’s not enough water to go around. It is only going to get worst unless we do something about it and we need to start locally in our homes. We need to change our attitudes towards water use and we need to do it fast. Can we afford to keep wasting clean potable water on our gardens? Read the full story
Marc J. Dourojeanni is the leading Amazon expert in the world and has been at the forefront of academic and field reasearch in the Amazon for decades. He’s published several Books, some 360 scientific papers and has written extensively for newspapers, magazines and websites. His work expands from academic research projects to environmental reports and actively does teaching on a number of governmental and non governmental agencies. He has been Vice-President and Deputy Chairman of the World Commission on National Parks and Protected Areas (WCPA) and has been a member of several IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) commissions and working groups. It is fair to say he should be considered environmental ‘royalty’… Find out more about him here.
Recently we caught up with him and asked 7 key questions about the Amazon, its main threats and what we can all do to help protect it.
Environmental Education (or EE from now on) is probably the single most important form of prevention that we, as society, have at our disposal to minimize or, if too late as some scientists say, prepare for future climate extremes, loss of ecosystems, wars for resources, etcetera. But, is it working? My sincere opinion, and it’s just that, is a big, fat, rotund no.
Peru’s Northern Amazon: Blighted By The Toxic Legacy of Oil Contamination
The Achuar indigenous people live on the remote headwaters of the Amazon Rainforest on the Pastaza, Morona and Corrientes rivers, on both sides of the Peru-Ecuador border. On the Corrientes river in Peru, the Achuar have suffered devastating environmental and health impacts from 35 years of oil drilling in Block 1-AB.
Years of oil production in Peru’s northern Amazon has left indigenous people suffering malnutrition, sickness and social disruption. Since 1971, Los-Angles-based Occidental Petroleum, using practices outlawed in the U.S., pumped an average of 850,000 barrels a day of salty formation water and other toxic waste waters into local rivers with appalling consequences for local communities despite many legal efforts and court battles which has seen the powerful Oxy continue its destruction of this incredible nature paradise.
Dengue, mining, the interoceanic highway and global warming
By Augusto Mulanovich
Translated by Miguel Pretel
In 1992 I stood for the first time in Puerto Maldonado, capital of the Madre de Dios region in Peru. There, I found a city where the inhabitants dedicate their lives to collecting chestnuts, artisan fishing, selective extraction of woods, agriculture, cattle farming, gold extraction and a very small percentage dedicated themselves to eco-tourism. At that time, the effects of the eco-disaster at Huaypetue were still to be felt, the price of gold was less attractive and the mercury contamination levels weren’t as high as the dangerous levels of today.
Today, all carnivorous fish, those for human consumption such as large catfish (bagres, zungaro, mota, doncella), and some others with great potential for the sport fishing industry like the ‘toothy’ “chambira,” are contaminated with dangerous concentrations of mercury higher than those recommended by the World Health Organization.
The license to begin construction on the disastrous Belo Monte Dam in the Brazilian Amazon could be issued as early as the week of November 15. Please take a stand for the thousands of people whose communities will be sacrificed for the profit of mining, construction, and energy companies. Let the Brazilian Embassies and Consulates around the world know that you are in solidarity with the Brazilian people fighting to save their communities and cultures from destruction. Here’s what you can do:
You might think the headline sounds crazy, but that is exactly what two dutch men have set out to do. On July 4, 2010, Joost Notenboom & Michiel Roodenburg, have begun an 18 month bicycle journey from Deadhorse in northern Alaska to the most southern tip of Argentina at Ushuaia. Their mission is to take one bottle of icy Alaskan water from the Beaufort Sea down to the seas around Tierra del Fuego in a symbolic effort to complete the natural water cycle and raise awareness for the global water crisis that is leaving over 1 billion people around the world without access to safe and clean drinking water. Read the full story
Deforestation in Paraguay is forcing the people of the Ayoreo tribe to leave land they have occupied for generations. Recent satellite imagery confirmed that about one million hectares, or nearly 10%, of the virgin, dry forest in northern Paraguay has been cleared in just four years by ranchers using fire, chains and bulldozers to open up land. By comparison, Brazil claims to have nearly halted its deforestation of the Amazon. Read the full story
A DECADE OF DISCOVERY 2,700 scientists
80+ nations
540 expeditions
US$ 650 million
2,600+ scientific publications
6,000+ potential new species
28 million distribution records and counting
These numbers only begin to describe the scope of the Census of Marine Life, a 10-year international effort undertaken to assess the diversity (how many different kinds), distribution (where they live), and abundance (how many) of marine life—a task never before attempted on this scale. The Census stimulated the discipline of marine science by tackling these issues globally, and engaging some 2,700 scientists from around the globe, who participated in 540 expeditions and countless hours of land-based research. The stunning and sometimes overwhelming scientific results were reported on October 4, 2010. Read the full story
[ Disaster ] Plans to build a highway through Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park will destroy one of the world’s last great wildlife sanctuaries, a group of conservation experts has warned. The scientific journal ‘Nature’ published an article which gathers statements from 27 scientists who are asking for a re-think of the new 50 kilometer (31 mile) road that will bisect the national park causing major disruption for thousands of wildebeests and which they say will cause “environmental disaster.” Read the full story
The Success is from the Reserva Ecologica De Guapi Assu (REGUA), Brazil, a small nature reserve not farm from Rio de Janeiro. A report suggests that as many as 60’000 trees have been planted to help pump CO2 from the atmosphere.
Ecuador Signs Historic Deal To Keep Oil in the Soil and CO2 out of the Atmosphere
Ecuador have signed and agreement with the United Nations Development Fund (UNDP) that will open an international trust fund to receive donations supporting the government’s proposal to keep some 900 million barrels of oil in the ground. The heavy crude is found in three oil reserves beneath the fragile Yasuni National Park – the Ishpingo, Tambococha, and Tiputini (ITT).
Fermín Beltrán has worked in Architecture for many years gaining a wide range of real-world design and construction experience. He is fascinated by finding alternatives methods of creating modern architecture in ways that are sustainable, elegant, comfortable and functional.
He has vast experience designing and constructing a wide array of buildings ranging from state-of-the-art music halls to social housing and even small holdings in South America. He is currently completing a Masters in Advanced Sustainability at the University of Dundee in Scotland
Mostly shot from the air, it follows the continuing theme of the critically acclaimed first film HOME which was eventually seen by 400 million people, the photographer began producing this environmentally conscious short 7-minute film on forests and the ailing relationship with have with our planet’s forests. The short film is made up of aerial images from Home and the Earth from Above television programmes.
, some 360 scientific papers and has written extensively for newspapers, magazines and websites. His work expands from academic research projects to environmental reports and actively does teaching on a number of governmental and non governmental agencies. He has been Vice-President and Deputy Chairman of the 
