Sovereignty and the Citizen Ship

Protecting Whales from Dangerous Sonar

--Natural Resources Defense Council

[Check out the short video on cite about sonar's effects. --QR/RRE]

"Even as evidence of its threat to marine life continues to mount, the use of deadly military sonar in the world's oceans is spreading.

The use of the biggest gun in the U.S. Navy's active-sonar arsenal, a low-frequency system known as SURTASS LFA, was restricted in a 2003 agreement with an NRDC-led coalition of wildlife advocates. But the fight is hardly over; the Bush administration is now appealing the legal victory that compelled the Navy into compromise. Meanwhile, other nations are developing LFA-type systems of their own. And sonar testing in coastal waters -- using the same mid-frequency systems that have been implicated in numerous strandings of whales -- is actually on the rise, putting more and more marine mammals and fisheries at risk..." ---NRDC; read more on cite

THE ASILOMAR DECLARATION FOR SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE

THE ASILOMAR DECLARATION FOR SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE

"...The present system for American agriculture cannot long endure. Our farms have succeeded in producing abundant food and fiber. But the costs and fragility of that success are becoming each day more evident.

Sustainable alternatives already prove their value. Not only are they more efficient in their use of energy, biological sources of fertility and pest management, they also enhance rural communities and encourage families to remain on the land. We commit ourselves to hastening the broad adoption of an agriculture that is environmentally sound, economically viable, fair, and humane.

A sustainable agriculture will require and support a sustainable society. Our challenge is to meet human needs without denying our descendents' birthright to the natural inheritance of this planet. We must revere the earth, sustaining and regenerating both nature and our communities. People are apart of mature, not separate from it. Sustainable agriculture is as attainable as it is necessary. Though we recognize difficulties in this transformation, we can state with confidence that in every region there are fare families profitably growing healthy food through a practical partnership with nature.

"A sustainable agriculture that provides nourishing food, protects those who work the land, helps stabilize the earth's climate, and safeguards soil and water depends on our ability to meet a number of challenges. We must address these challenges without delay. ..." --the Asilomar Declaration; read more on cite

People’s Food Sovereignty is a Right

WTO Out of Food and Agriculture

"...In order to guarantee the independence and food sovereignty of all of the world’s peoples, it is essential that food is produced though diversified, community based production systems. Food sovereignty is the right of peoples to define their own food and agriculture; to protect and regulate domestic agricultural production and trade in
order to achieve sustainable development objectives; to determine the extent to which they want to be self reliant; to restrict the dumping of products in their markets, and; to provide local fisheries-based communities the priority in managing the use of and
the rights to aquatic resources. Food sovereignty does not negate trade, but rather, it promotes the formulation of trade policies and practices that serve the rights of peoples to safe, healthy and ecologically sustainable production.

"Governments must uphold the rights of all peoples to food sovereignty and security, and adopt and implement policies that promote sustainable, family-based production rather than industry- led, high- input and export oriented production. .." --Multiple Signers; Public Citizen Site; read more on cite

A Bioregional Perspective

- on Planning and Regional Economics" --by Joel Russ

"BIOREGIONALISM IS A TERM THAT REFERS to a perspective or set of conceptual tools...The movement has roots in the environmentalism of the '60s and later. In the mid '70s, Nova Scotia's Institute for Bioregional Research was among the early and influential organizations. Bioregionalism continues to draw sustenance in the contemporary soil of the so-called "new conservation." Today, bioregional organizations and projects function in North, Central, and South America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and the Hawaiian Islands.

"It can be argued that bioregionalism represents a major step beyond environmental localism, in the sense that while it is a stewardship philosophy, its focus isn't restricted to the immediate neighbourhood or community. There is practical significance to the fact that problems occurring at one place (say, a specific watershed) in a large region may have further ramifications in one or more other parts (i.e., "downstream effects").

...A bioregion is a naturally defined region (e.g. defined by physiography, stream flows, weather, or floral and faunal communities), and in this sense has a similarity to the biologist's biome or biogeoclimatic zone, or the geographer's drainage basin. However, unlike field biologists, who may focus on a given area in its function as habitat for certain animals, bioregionalists never lose sight of the fact that people live in and interact with the region.

"Hence, usually "bioregion" refers to an area in which people draw some necessities of life (water, crops grown in the soil, trees for building or other uses, various raw materials for manufacturing, etc.). Otherwise, terms like biome would be equally useful. Many bioregionalists would maintain that, however much the movement is informed by natural and social sciences, the term bioregion is meant to remain primarily a layman's term. Bioregionalists may appreciate specialists, may in fact sometimes be specialists themselves, but bioregionalism is intended to be for everybody. ..." --Joell Russ, Trumpeter 1995; read more on cite

Traditional Ecological Knowledge

"Giving Traditional Ecological Knowledge Its Rightful Place in Environmental Impact Assessment"
by John Sallenave

"...In essence, EIAs are reductionist in their approach, breaking down each study into various biophysical components, which are then measured and evaluated independently from one another and from the human components. This process of compartmentalizing biophysical components is inconsistent with the aboriginal view of the world, which sees all aspects of the environment as equally important. In aboriginal peoples' "holistic" view, biophysical components can be separated neither from each other nor from the human components—the social, cultural, spiritual, and economic aspects of the environment. One significant reason that monitoring systems such as the EMP have not been successful is that they have not incorporated a "human ecology" factor.

"If social and environmental impacts are to be linked, aboriginal communities and their traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) must be part of the environmental assessment process. One of the most difficult tasks in achieving this integration will be to create a framework for research and planning that views science and TEK as complementary—not competing—forms of knowledge. By undertaking co-operative field research and by allowing for varying perspectives and views, researchers will discover the commonalities between TEK and science. ..." --John Salave, Canadian Arctic Resources Committee; read on cite

No Surplus Rivers

RIVER LINKING PROJECT AN ENVIRONMENTAL NIGHTMARE
--Avinash Kalla

"Water scarcity in India is just not confined to the stand-off between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu over Cauvery waters or Goa and Karnataka over the Mandel-Mandovi basin or even between Punjab and Haryana over the Yamuna-Sutlej Link. Social scientists say these are gentle disputes compared to the doomsday scenario looming over India. They say the days of easy water are over and if the issue of scarcity of the planet's most essential natural resource is not addressed on a war footing every summer will see severe conflicts over water not just between states but individuals as well.

"The unsustainable equation for the future is staring us starkly in the face: freshwater supply is dwindling at an alarming rate even as the demand for water grows manifold. "Of all the social and natural crises we face, water crisis lies at the heart of our survival," says Kochiro Matsuura, director-general of UNESCO.

"In such a doomsday scenario will the much-hyped River-linking Project (RLP) work? The project proposes to link 14 Himalayan rivers in the north and 16 peninsular rivers in south. The benefits of such a scheme are obvious - it would add 35-37 million hectares of irrigated land, generate 34,000 million kilowatts of electricity and increase navigational efficiency apart from controlling floods and eliminating chances of drought.

"Though votaries of the river linking project say channeling the surplus water to underfed areas will solve the perennial problem of floods and droughts and bring a boom in employment but there's another side to the coin which spoils the rosy picture. A number of leading environmentalists are of the opinion that the project could be an ecological disaster. ..." --Avanish Kalla, cited on Awakened Woman; read more on cite

Big Dead Place

This site is dedicated to Antarctica and to thinking about Antarctica.

"The site is edited by F. Scott Robert, a pseudonym for an enthusiastic lackey at an Antarctic station who enjoys his or her job and has an excellent work record. Considering the National Science Foundation's record of irritable reactions when its tidy iceberg yarns are marred by unauthorized observations, using a pseudonym is a thin but reasonable precaution when one enjoys the mesmerizing activities of The Program, but feels incapable of showering the great Antarctic circus with the unqualified praise of the professional journalists, who wriggle to Antarctica to spawn omissions.

"We welcome submissions and we respect anonymity if you prefer. ..." --F. Scott Robert, Big Dead Place; read more on cite

The Right to Water

Access to Adequate Clean Water is a Human Right

"Water is a basic element of all life. Over 70 percent of the human body is made up of water. While a human being may survive without food for several days, water deprivation can kill a person within a matter of hours. Water is also a requirement for the most basic activities vital to sustaining human life, including agriculture, cooking, and sanitation. Yet while water sustains life, it can also bring death if contaminated. Some of the deadliest diseases, which kill millions around the world each year, are carried in unclean water. Access to adequate amounts of clean water, for both consumption and sanitation, is a prerequisite for a healthy life. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights declares, “all human beings have the right to life”; this includes the right to water.

"Although the international community recognized the right to water, as a component of the right to life, over fifty years ago, millions around the world are still denied access to adequate amounts of clean water. Violations of the right to water come in many forms: industrial pollution of water sources, failure to provide purification and sanitation for the urban poor, pricing of water delivery beyond the reach of the rural poor. In arid regions, states have regulated access to water as a way of controlling marginalized groups. ..." --The Center for Economic and Social Rights; read more on cite

Eijido Cebadillas and the Wildlands Project

--The Wildlands Project;

"Mexico’s northern Sierra Madre mountains are critical habitat to a number of imperiled species, including the remarkable thick-billed parrot. Once ranging north into the mountains of Arizona and New Mexico, this stunning green-and-red bird is now limited to the Sierra Madre Occidental, where perhaps only 1,500 breeding pairs remain. The thick-billed parrot eats pine nuts, and usually nests in the cavities of old-growth trees—which are also disappearing rapidly from Mexico and throughout the world.

"In 2000, a landmark conservation initiative spearheaded by the Wildlands Project, Naturalia, and Pronatura, Mexico’s largest conservation group, protected 6,000 acres of the thick-billed parrot’s mature forest habitat. Residents of Ejido Cebadillas—the private land cooperative that owns the forest—agreed to defer logging for at least 15 years. In exchange, conservation groups will compensate members of the ejido for some of their lost revenue while helping to foster sustainable community development. Conservationists will also help design a sustainable forestry program on the remaining Ejido Cebadillas land holdings, and will assist community members in developing parrot-based ecotourism. ..." --The Wildlands Project; read more on cite

A Citizens' Alternative to Deep Integration

--Maude Barlow

"As Canadians prepare for a likely spring election, we should be concerned about a constellation of forces coming together to challenge Canadian sovereignty and values in an unprecedented way.

"Not since 1984, when newly elected Prime Minister Brian Mulroney announced to an elite business audience in New York City that Canada was “open for business,” have we seen the groundwork being laid for such major structural changes in Canada’s relations with the United States.

"The same economic and political elite that advanced the Canada-U.S. free trade agenda 20 years ago is now pushing an even more dangerous agenda. The C.D. Howe Institute calls it a “Big Idea.” The Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE) calls it the “North American Security and Prosperity Initiative.”

"The new deal envisaged by these powerful right-wing think tanks and lobby groups, and supported by various newspaper editorial boards and members of the Liberal and Conservative parties, including Mulroney, would include a greater integration of the Canadian Armed Forces into U.S. military strategies, new security measures in Canada akin to those implemented by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and an iron-clad guarantee of an increasing supply of Canadian energy resources to the United States. ..." --Maude Barlow, Council of Canadians; read more on cite (pdf)