Posts
500
more dead sea lions; Fukushima radiation continues to spread across
ocean
6
December,
2014
Another
mysterious wave of dead sea animals has washed ashore in Peru, the
possible consequence of ongoing radiation releases from the Fukushima
Daiichi nuclear facility in Japan. BBC News reports that 500 dead sea
lions were recently discovered on Peru's northern coastline, some 250
miles north of the capital city of Lima, with no obvious explanation
as to why this occurred.
The
latest of several mass die-offs in recent years, the rotting corpses
were found on Anconcillo Beach, located in Peru's Ancash region. Both
young and old sea lions were found at the site, which the local
governor blamed on fishermen who may have poisoned them while they
searched for food at the shoreline. Others like the environmental
group Orca, however, say oil exploration is probably the cause.
As
investigations continue, a definitive cause of the deaths has yet to
be determined. The Maritime Institute (Imarpe), in a government
report, denied that oil exploration had anything to do with the
deaths. Meanwhile, Peruvian police are reportedly looking into other
possible causes of the deaths, including entanglement in fishing nets
or the accidental ingestion of plastic.
Kiribati:
The world's next Atlantis? more dead sea lions; Fukushima radiation
continues to spread across ocean
5
December,
2014
The
Pacific Island nation of Kiribati may be the first country to
disappear under the rising sea levels of climate change. Its people
fear their homeland may become the world's next Atlantis.
As
our boat nears the shore, the dark shadows beneath the sea sharpen
into focus. Chiseled coral stones, organized neatly into rows,
glisten from the reef of this shallow cove.
We
are drifting over the foundations of the surrendered neighborhoods of
Tebunginako. The village was once home to more than 200 households,
but today, it lies beneath several meters of turquoise water.
"We
used to swim out there to see the ships when we were boys. They'd tie
them up to the coconut trees just over here," explains the
Mayor, pointing enthusiastically as we coast over the remains of his
town. Locals say Tebunginako was once the island's main harbor --
before the rising sea swallowed its coast.
Climate
change hot topic at G20 summit Obama: $3 billion to fight climate
change White House, China agree on climate change
Now
stumps of dead coconut trees line the lagoon, their tips peaking out
from the water like little grave stones of a civilization lost.
The
extreme coastal erosion of Tebunginako is becoming increasingly
common in Kiribati, a South Pacific nation of 33 islands strung along
the equator.
The
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has identified Kiribati as
one of the six Pacific Island countries most threatened by rising
sea-levels. The report claims that, due to coastal erosion and
freshwater contamination, Kiribati could become uninhabitable as
early as 2050.
"Right
now we're experiencing total inundation of areas that previously were
not vulnerable to normal tides," says Andrew Teem, Kiribati's
Senior Adviser on Climate Change. "We're getting something
called King Tides -- extremely high tides. These were non-existent
when I was a boy."
A
large number of Kiribati's citizens are already internally displaced
from climate-related disasters, and many have fled to the capitol
island, South Tarawa.
Today,
half of Kiribati's population crowds onto South Tarawa's tiny
crescent of land, making it one of the most densely populated areas
on earth, mirroring the population density of Tokyo or London. Unless
birthrates or internal displacement are curbed, the population of
South Tarawa is expected to double by 2030.
"Like
any developing island state, our population is quite young and
developing at a very high rate, which already strains our fresh water
supply," Teem explains. "Climate change and the rising sea
exacerbate a problem we already have with regards to our water reяources."
This
week, representatives from 190 countries will gather in Lima, Peru
for the twentieth session of the U.N. Climate Change Conference. The
Lima conference will lay the groundwork for a climate treaty at the
end of 2015, for implementation by 2020.
But
for low-lying island nations like Kiribati, these commitments may not
materialize soon enough. For communities like Tebunginako, these
treaties are already long overdue.
"Climate
change has major implications for our people today, not in the future
like some other countries," explains Teem.
Emma
Thompson takes on climate change U.N. tackles climate change Farming
in an ocean under threat
Kiribati's
government has pursued various adaptation initiatives over the last
decade. These efforts range from employment-related migration
programs with Australia and New Zealand to the exploration of
man-made floating islands. This year, Kiribati finalized a purchase
of a plot of land in Fiji that it hopes to use in the future.
But
the people of Kiribati are unwilling to abandon their homes without a
fight.
In
addition to their local efforts, they are challenging the root of the
problem, global carbon-emissions, at the international level. The
government of Kiribati, along with a coalition of other small island
states, has been lobbying for binding carbon-emissions treaties. They
have also supported the concept of "climate change reparations,"
or compensation to non-industrialized developing countries for the
climate-related damages caused by the industrialized powers.
In
the past month, breakthroughs were made on both fronts. The United
States and China -- the world's largest emitters of carbon --
announced plans to cut emissions over the next two decades. At the
recent G20 conference, several nations joined President Obama in
committing billions of dollars to the United Nation's Green Climate
Fund, which will support developing nations in combating the effects
of climate change.
While
the government of Kiribati welcomed this news, the measures are only
a first step towards addressing their national needs. Environmental
groups have criticized the developments, calling the measures "a
drop in the ocean."
"Climate
change is something we were not responsible for. If we were
responsible for this fate, that would be a different story all
together," responds Teem, on the issues of climate change
reparations and carbon emission cut.
"We
are very simple people with very simple needs, but we do not want to
be faced with something that is not entirely of our own doing."
As
the sun sets in Tebunginako, the Mayor guides us to the shore of the
town's two remaining structures, a Church and a traditional community
center, known as a maneaba. The tall structures jet out defiantly
from the middle of the lagoon, fortified only by leaking sandbags and
battered seawalls.
"We
struggle to maintain them as a remembrance of Tebunginako,"
explains the Mayor. "These places are important to our people
because of their religion and because it was the last place they were
all together."
When
asked about his people's future, he clings to their past.
"We
are very scared, and we need help," he shrugs. "We believe
in our government and their strong voice to the world, but we are
still waiting for the world to reply."
"We
used to swim out there as children," he repeats quietly, his
gaze shifting blankly to the ocean. "And tie the boats to the
coconut trees..."
Congress
gives Native American lands to foreign mining company with new NDAA
5
September,
2014
Congress
is poised to give a foreign mining company 2,400 acres of national
forest in Arizona that is cherished ancestral homeland to Apache
natives. Controversially, the measure is attached to annual
legislation that funds the US Defense Department.
This
week, the House and Senate Armed Services Committees quietly attached
a provision to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that
would mandate the handover of a large tract of Tonto National Forest
to Resolution Copper, a subsidiary of the Australian-English mining
company Rio Tinto, which co-owns with Iran a uranium mine in Africa
and which is 10-percent-owned by China.
The “Carl
Levin and Howard P. ‘Buck’ McKeon National Defense Authorization
Act for Fiscal Year 2015”-
named after the retiring chairmen of the Senate and House Armed
Services panels - includes the giveaway of Apache burial, medicinal,
and ceremonial grounds currently within the bounds of Tonto. News of
the land provision was kept under wraps until late Tuesday, when the
bill was
finally posted online.
The
land proposed to be given to Resolution Copper, in exchange for other
lands, includes prime territory Apaches have used for centuries to
gather medicinal plants and acorns, and it is near a spot known as
Apache Leap, a summit that Apaches jumped from to avoid being killed
by settlers in the late 19th century.
Lands
included in the plan will stop 1,500 feet short of Apache Leap and
will not initially include an area known as Oak Flats, though, when
it comes to the oaks, contradictory legal parameters are but a minor
hurdle for a company like Resolution Copper to eventually drill
there.
The
House may vote on the NDAA as soon as this week with rules included
that would bar the Senate from amending the legislation. On Wednesday
night, a last-minute effort to strip the land provision from the NDAA
failed in the House Rules Committee, which voted to give one hour for
debate over the NDAA in the House.
Terry
Rambler, chairman of the San Carlos Apache Tribe, told The
Huffington Post he was saddened by news of the proposal, yet not all
that surprised.
Senator John McCain.(Reuters / Joshua
Roberts )
“Of
all people, Apaches and Indians should understand, because we’ve
gone through this so many times in our history,” Rambler
said.
“The
first thing I thought about was not really today, but 50 years from
now, probably after my time, if this land exchange bill goes through,
the effects that my children and children’s children will be
dealing with,” Rambler dded.
“Since
time immemorial people have gone there. That’s part of our
ancestral homeland," Rambler
said."We’ve
had dancers in that area forever - sunrise dancers - and
coming-of-age ceremonies for our young girls that become women.
They’ll seal that off. They’ll seal us off from the acorn
grounds, and the medicinal plants in the area, and our prayer areas.”
Arizona
Sen. John McCain was instrumental in adding to the NDAA the land deal
that had been pursued by Rio Tinto for a decade, according to HuffPo.
Some in Congress were reportedly concerned with the deal, but it
ultimately materialized thanks to economic assurances. Rio Tinto
claims mining in Tonto will generate $61 billion in economic activity
and 3,700 direct and indirect jobs over 40 years.
Rambler
said whether Rio Tinto’s economic assertions are true or not, it
may not matter.
“It
seems like us Apaches and other Indians care more about what this
type of action does to the environment and the effects it leaves
behind for us, while others tend to think more about today and the
promise of jobs, but not necessarily what our creator God gave to
us,” he
said.
Rambler
said he was particularly concerned with long-term ramifications,
including the company’s intent to use “block
cave” mining,
which means digging under the ore, causing it to collapse.
“What
those mountains mean to us is that when the rain and the snow comes,
it distributes it to us,”Rambler
said. “It
replenishes our aquifers to give us life.”
Resolution
Copper has said its mining plan for the area has been filed with the
National Forest Service and that it will comply with the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) that supposedly protects federal
lands.
But
Rambler said NEPA is no match for Resolution Copper’s intent.
“This
is what will happen - the law in one area says there will be
consultation, but the law in another area of the bill says the land
exchange will happen within one year of enactment of this
bill,” Rambler
said. “So
no matter what we’re doing within that one year, the consultation
part won’t mean anything after one year. Because then it’s really
theirs after that.”
Basically,
NEPA will only protect lands that remain in federal hands. The rest
is fair game, according to federal law.
“We
would only have to do NEPA on any activity that would take place on
remaining federal land,” said
Arizona Bureau of Land Management official Carrie Templin.
The
2015 NDAA contains other land deals, including one that would subject
70,000 acres of Tongass National Forest in Alaska to logging and
another provision that would give 1,600 acres from the Hanford
Nuclear Reservation in Washington State for purposes of industrial
development, a plan that has spurred tribal protest.
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