GlobalPost: Wayuu mine salt the traditional way

 

Photo Credit: Mon4ch0

On Colombia's Caribbean coast, the indigenous Wayuu people mine salt in the same way they have for centuries. It's causing some conflict with the government, which wants more industrial mining operations. Check out Nadja Drost's story with a great accompanying slideshow.

Indigenous killed, wounded by Colombian military and FARC

 

Photo Credit: rojo en los ojos

Via WW4 Report:

The Colombian Air Force denied Jan. 31 that its planes had bombed the indigenous Embera Katío community of Alto Guayabal in the Urabá region early that morning, leaving four wounded. But the following day, the army's Seventh Division issued a statement taking responsibility for the air-strike, saying they took place in operations against the FARC rebels. Calling the casualties "lamentable," the statement said two of the injured were evacuated to Medellín. The Indigenous Organization of Antioquia (OIA) said one of the casualties was an infant. Indigenous leader William Carupia accused the army of "indiscriminately bombing the communities." (El Tiempo, Bogotá, Feb. 2; El Colombiano, Medellín, RNV, Venezuela, AFP, Feb. 1) Last year the FARC was accused of assassinating Embera residents in the region.

On Feb. 1, one civilian was killed and three injured at the Nasa community of Los Robles, Cauca department, when a gun battle broke out between the military and FARC guerrillas. The four indigenous woodcutters were traveling on a mountain road when soldiers used their truck to hide from FARC gunfire. The guerillas then attacked the truck "indiscriminately with mortar bombs," local indigenous authorities said. The dead man was identified as Ramon Iterera, 41.

Said the Association of Northern Cauca Indigenous Governors (ACIN): "In these conflicts human rights are not respected, no armed person should hide amongst civilians, in order not to put them at risk. In this case both the army and the guerrillas are culpable for the lamentable occurrence." (Colombia Reports, Jan. 28; EFE, Jan. 27)

Paramilitaries 2.0

"The situation in Colombia is quite sinister. There is an appearance of normalcy ... It appears to be a situation where the rule of law has replaced the rule of these armed militias. But if you look under the surface, you find that there are all these strange tentacles and networks and links between shadowy groups. They know exactly how to issue a threat or to execute a threat and keep the population in line that way." -Stephen Ferry, photographer

From yesterday's Human Rights Watch report:

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Preliminarios

 

 

 

 

My dad is a poet

That's your glass of wine,
This is mine.
This is the dip
And this is the chip.

-Pete, 12/24/09

XO-bama (clean cars edition)

Just one of the many ways Obama is already walking the walk...

The President directed his EPA to immediately review the Bush Administration's denial of the right of California and other states to set global warming pollution standards for new cars. He also directed the Department of Transportation to set higher national fuel efficiency standards.

What will that mean in the real world? If Obama's EPA, as expected, approves the California program, new cars sold in that state and at least 13 others will have to reduce their global warming pollution by 30 percent between 2009 and 2016. And the Department of Transportation will require more efficient new cars to be on the road starting in 2010, and set a course for the average new car to achieve maximum feasible fuel efficiency by 2020.

Simply put, President Obama is not just stepping up to the threat of climate chaos. His call for a fleet of cleaner cars will help reduce our dangerous dependence on oil and push automakers to make the cars that the world wants and needs in the 21st century.

(via NRDC)

Pgh environmental news roundup

Unhappy hunting: Game disappearing with its habitat.

Hunters get metaphysical: "The question I get a lot is, if a rabbit is out there but a hunter doesn't have access to it, does it really exist? I think, for a lot of people, the answer is no," DuBrock said.

Drilling for natural gas sucks... water

Erie Fish and Boat commissioner Sam Concilla: "We're never going to be able to bring back the resource once they're done with it. Never."

Drought watch: We need WVa water!

If northern West Virginia doesn't get some steady rain soon, Western Pennsylvania could end up in a drought emergency for the first time since 2002, state and federal officials said Friday.