MIKE DAVIS

PLANET OF SLUMS

Sometime in the next year, a woman will give birth in the Lagos slum of Ajegunle, a young man will flee his village in west Java for the bright lights of Jakarta, or a farmer will move his impoverished family into one of Lima’s innumerable pueblos jovenes. The exact event is unimportant and it will pass entirely unnoticed. Nonetheless it will constitute a watershed in human history. For the first time the urban population of the earth will outnumber the rural. Indeed, given the imprecisions of Third World censuses, this epochal transition may already have occurred.

Read the rest at
New Left Review

British Study Covering Last 40 Years Points to Worldwide Mass Extinction of Wildlife and Plants
Tim Radford, The Guardian, Friday March 19, 2004


  Scientists have produced the first comprehensive evidence that the diversity of butterflies, birds and plants is in decline in the UK. They say their research supports the argument that mass extinction threatens life on Earth.

In the past 20 years, according to a study in the US journal Science today, about 70% of all butterfly species in Britain have shown signs of decline. About 28% of plant species and 54% of bird species also declined in areas studied over long periods. The finding comes from government-funded scientists using data painstakingly amassed over the past 40 years by 20,000 skilled naturalists.

From Socialism and Democracy

Joel Kovel, THE ENEMY OF NATURE: THE END OF CAPITALISM OR THE END OF THE WORLD? (London: Zed Books, 2002).

Reviewed by Laurie A. Gates

“Truth is stranger than fiction,” it is said, and lest one be put off by the apocalyptic title, it accurately represents the main point ofJoel Kovel’s latest book. Rather than offeringfire-and-brimstone catastrophism, Kovel detailswith great sobriety the matter-of-fact implications of capitalism for nature and humanity. Also outside the realm of fantasy, he speaks of ecosocialist alternatives as real and fundamental transformations that must occur, and suggests actions to be taken today, by all people, to realize ecosocialism in the future. One thing this requires is the healing of divisions. This book contributes to that end by linking the fight against capitalism with the struggle to preserve the environment.

rob eshelman writes:

"Pentagon Tells Bush: Climate Change Will Destroy Us"

Mark Townsend and Paul Harris, London Observer

-- Secret report warns of rioting and nuclear war

-- Britain will be 'Siberian' in less than 20 years

-- Threat to the world is greater than terrorism

Climate change over the next 20 years could result in a global catastrophe costing millions of lives in wars and natural disasters.

A secret report, suppressed by US defence chiefs and obtained by The Observer, warns that major European cities will be sunk beneath rising seas as Britain is plunged into a 'Siberian' climate by 2020. Nuclear conflict, mega-droughts, famine and widespread rioting will erupt across the world.

nolympics writes:

This from AFP; readers will remember the German greens' u-turn on nuclear power a couple of years ago, accepting that it too is here to stay.

"German Greens Roll Over on GM Food"

BERLIN: Germany is drawing up a law to regulate cultivation of bio-engineered crops, Consumer Minister Renate Kuenast said, admitting that the controversial technology was here to stay.

Kuenast, a member of the pro-enviromentalist Greens party, said the government saw no consumer health risks in genetically modified (GM) foods.

"With or without a law, bio-technology is on the market," she told a press conference.

The law would effectively put into action existing EU directives on exactly what can be grown, where and under what conditions, and on labelling.

Germany, where the pro-environmentalist Greens are a part of the governing coalition, has long been seen as among the countries most sceptical about the technology.

Kuenast said the law would set clear rules and responsibilities on growing bio-crops and offer protection to those farmers whose non-GM produce might be affected by accidental contamination.

Clear labelling would also increase consumer choice by informing them about exactly what they were buying.

She said the bill, to be approved by the cabinet in February, was "a great success for consumers and farmers" after months of negotiations.

Kuenast said ground rules were needed for the cultivation of GM crops in Germany because of the growing use of bio-technology worldwide. She warned of a danger of "creeping infiltration" of such foodstuffs into the country without any labelling if no action is taken.

The law stipulates that farmers growing GM crops must protect neighbouring farmers growing non-GM produce, such as by erecting hedge barriers to prevent cross-pollination.

Compensation would be paid in case of accidental contamination.

Local registers would list all bio-crop producers, who would not be allowed to plant the seeds in or near ecologically sensitive areas.

"The law is a breakthrough. Personally I'm very pleased with this success. For the first time, it will give consumers freedom of choice and farmers will have safe guidelines," she told Monday's issue of the Berliner Zeitung daily.

The European Commission is expected later this year to lift a four-year ban on the import of GM sweet corn, seen as a test case that could pave the way for the authorisation of new GM produce.

Opponents of GM technology say it is being pushed by big corporations with little knowledge about the long-term impact on health and the environment.

Advocates argue that the novel crops could greatly increase yields and help alleviate global hunger, particularly if GM strains could be developed to cope with climate change.

hydrarchist writes: This from Mute Magazine.

by Sebastian Hacher

Patagonia has a long history of colonial oppression. But the corporate conquistadors behind the current round of evictions are more renowned for their interest in worthy causes than their cut-throat approach to real estate, reports Sebastian Hacher

In the extreme south of Argentina lies Patagonia, a region which encompasses every imaginable climate and terrain from turquoise rivers and lakes to desert and glaciers. Below the 'Cordillera', the pristine snow capped mountain range of the southern Andes which separates Argentina and Chile, lies the flat and fertile expanse of the pampas on which sheep and cattle graze.

Anonymous Comrade submits:

"Busting up Biotech:

Mass Resistance in Sacramento to the Corporate Take-Over of Food"

Patrick Reinsborough, smartMeme project

From June 20-25, 2003 Sacramento became an unlikely frontline in the
ongoing clash
between the Bush administration's imperial agenda and the
diverse movements
demanding democracy, justice and ecological sanity. The
occasion was the
U.S. government sponsored Ministerial Conference and Expo on
Agricultural
Science and Technology, which was supposed to be another
opportunity for the
Bush administration to quietly push its corporate agenda in the
lead up to
the September World Trade Organization meeting in Cancun.

Take Back the Black and Green!

Ecological Anarchy at the Brink of the Future



For far too long the anti-authoritarian ecology movement has been limited

to two snobbishly opposed groups: so called Green Anarchy, influenced by

Deep Ecology and Zerzan primitivism, and Social Ecology, influenced by

biological science and classical radical left thought. These camps have

battled back and forth in public and publication for so long one can't

help but feel that the argument has become more one of childish pride than

intellectual curiosity or political action. Both groups seem now hackneyed

and are met, more often than not, with little but yawns and eye rolling.

The irrationality and churlishness of one bounces off of the dogmatism and

polemic of the other, catching in the middle those of us for whom the

matter is not so black and white (or green...). For those of us who see

advantages in both systems, who also see problems in both, there seems

little room for middle ground, and scorn on either side. For those of us

who wish to act, and who wish to move on, it is clear that this stubborn

bickering has gone on far too long. It is clear that we must synthesize

and erase, pick and choose, and advance our critique of this civilization

which stands so at odds with health, freedom, ecology and life in general.

With every condo built, every stomach left unfed, and every dollar spent,

the need for a cogent and rational ecological anarchy becomes more

immediate.



For more information write the 400th Generation Collective:

twelvethousandyears@riseup.net

nolympics submits

And they would not have been far wrong - for scientists now believe global warming is melting the Alps, threatening widespread devastation over the next two decades.



The great mountain range's icy crust of permafrost, which holds its stone pillars and rockfaces together, and into which its cable car stations and pylons are rooted, is disappearing. Already several recent Alpine disasters, including the avalanches which killed more than 50 people at the Austrian resort of Galtur four years ago, are being blamed on the melting of permafrost.



And in future, things are likely to get much worse - as scientists will point out tomorrow at the opening, in Zurich, of the International Permafrost Association conference. Held every four years, the meeting provides climatologists, civil engineers, and geologists with a chance to exchange research data about the icy layers that coat the ground in the world's coldest regions. Rarely has a scientific meeting been so timely.


 

the rest

Anonymous comrade submits:

Eyfa and Green dossier organize and invite you
to the Ecotopia 2003 (sustainable community) in
Ukrania, from 20 of Agost to 3 of September.
With the option to come in a bike tour from
Poland.

EYFA (European Youth Forest Action) and Green Dossier Ukraine want to
invite you to Ecotopia 2003 in Ukraine. It will be located in the Carpantian
Mountains, in Ivano-Frankivsk region, from the 20th August to the 3rd
September with Green Dossier Ukrainian group as host organisation.
Ecotopia is the biggest international camp in Europe involved in
environmental and social issues. The EYFA network has organised Ecotopia
since 13 years ago, moving from one country to another in both Eastern and
Western Europe. It is a place to exchange experiences, spread information
and enrich one's knowledge about environmental issues through workshops,
debates and art. Ecotopia also attempts to be a functional model of self-
sustainable community, non-pollutive, based on consensus decision-making
process, egalitarian and just.