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Trailer to John Muir in the New World (video)April 10th, 2011
Watch the full episode. See more American Masters. Trailer of PBS American Masters’ episode John Muir in the New World. In honor of upcoming Earth Day (April 22nd) and John Muir Day (April 20th) PBS has produced a new episode of American Masters celebrating renowned conservationist, John Muir. The episode airs Monday, April 18 at 9 pm (ET) on PBS in US. Celebrating ten years of the Great Bear Rainforest (video)April 6th, 2011Video by Greenpeace chronicling the fight to save the Great Bear Rainforest. According to the description, the fight to save the Great Bear Rainforest should inspire work to save forests around the world: “The Great Bear Rainforest campaign demonstrates that out of conflict and peaceful resistance, it is possible to work towards solutions. It inspires our work in the Amazon, the Congo and Indonesia today.” Trailer: When Two World’s Collide (video)April 5th, 2011
When Two Worlds Collide (trailer) from Yachaywasi Films on Vimeo. The film follows the struggle of indigenous people to save their Amazonian home from the Peruvian government and industrial corporations, especially focusing on the role of Alberto Pizango, hero and leader to indigenous people, who was arrested last year in Peru for sedition and rebellion. According to the film’s website: “The hazardous journey of an Amazonian leader confronting rules of the globalization game created by developed countries in order to protect corporate interests. With the rainforest in jeopardy, this apocalyptic story presents two colliding visions that shape the climate future of our world.” For more information see the film’s website: When Two World’s Collide” The film is currently listed as ‘in production’. Green dams in the Amazon? (video)April 3rd, 2011Video looks at how to save the Amazon in midst of rising pressure to build massive hydroelectric power in the region. WWF (with aid from Nature Conservancy) looks at what rivers must be preserved from hydroelectric power in order to keep the Amazon ecosystem thriving using ecosystem-wide modeling. For more information on dam projects in the Amazon: Bill Clinton takes on Brazil’s megadams, James Cameron backs tribal groups (03/28/2011) Former US President, Bill Clinton, spoke out against Brazil’s megadams at the 2nd World Sustainability Forum, which was also attended by former California governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and film director, James Cameron, who has been an outspoken critic of the most famous of the controversial dams, the Belo Monte on the Xingu River.
World’s most controversial dam, Brazil’s Belo Monte, back on (03/06/2011) A recent injunction against controversial dam, Belo Monte, in Brazil has been overturned, allowing the first phase of construction to go ahead. The ruling by a higher court argued that not all environmental conditions must be met on the dam in order for construction to start. Indigenous leaders take fight over Amazon dams to Europe (03/02/2011) Three indigenous Amazonian leaders spent this week touring Europe to raise awareness about the threat that a number of proposed monster dams pose to their people and the Amazon forest. Culminating in a press conference and protests in London, the international trip hopes to build pressure to stop three current hydroelectric projects, one in Peru, including six dams, and two in Brazil, the Madeira basin industrial complex and the massive Belo Monte dam. The indigenous leaders made the trip with the NGO Rainforest Foundation UK, including support from Amazon Watch, International Rivers, and Rainforest Concern.
Rivers worldwide in peril: society treats symptoms, ignores causes (09/29/2010) Dams, agricultural runoff, pesticides, sewage, mercury pollution from coal plants, invasive species, overconsumption, irrigation, erosion from deforestation, wetland destruction, overfishing, aquaculture: it’s clear that the world’s rivers are facing a barrage of unprecedented impacts from humans, but just how bad is the situation? A new global analysis of the world’s rivers is not comforting: the comprehensive report, published in Nature, finds that our waterways are in a deep crisis which bridges the gap between developing nations and the wealthy west. According to the study, while societies spend billions treating the symptoms of widespread river degradation, they are still failing to address the causes, imperiling both human populations and freshwater biodiversity. Photos: illegal logging in BorneoMarch 30th, 2011
Trailer for Oka! Amerikee, eco-drama set in the Congo rainforestMarch 15th, 2011Filmed in the Congo rainforest of the Central African Republic (CAR), a region rarely explored in film, the movie tells the story of an American ethnomusicologist living with the indigenous Bayaka people, also known as the pygmies, as loggers invade their land. According to the film’s website: “The movie is partly based on the life’s work of Louis Sarno, who has lived with and recorded the music of the Central African pygmies for over 20 years. The pygmies of the Central African Republic are Bayaka, an indigenous group who live also in the Congo. They are severely economically and socially marginalized, maintaining a tenuous balance between their traditional forest lifestyle and their increasing assimilation into Central African society. Oka! Amerikee offers a unique glimpse into the music, humor, and spirit of the Bayaka people.” Oka! Amerikee will have its Washington D.C. premiere at the Environmental Film Festival on March 15th, 2011. It will show at the E Street Cinema at 7 PM. Tickets are $10 and can be bought at the theater box office starting February 28th. Director Lavinia Currier is most well-known for another film that dwells on the relationship between humans and nature: Passion in the Desert. For more information see the film’s website: Oka! Amerikee Photos: some of our best rainforest shotsMarch 8th, 2011
More photos of rainforests. Volunteer opportunity in the Peruvian AmazonMarch 6th, 2011
Chanti waterfall. Photo courtesy of: The Amazon Waterfalls Association. Have you ever dreamed of visiting the Amazon? How about touring little-seen jungle waterfalls—one of which is three times taller than the Eiffel Tower and 17 times taller than Niagara Falls? The Amazon Waterfalls Association is looking for a few good volunteers to help develop walking paths passing by a series of astounding waterfalls in Peru. “The trek follows a fairly level ledge through an uncut Amazon forest with cliffs soaring above and below 300 meters. The zone has few pests, mosquitoes, or poisonous creatures. Virtually no unusual diseases exist at this altitude,” according to the site, which adds that “archaeological ruins are ubiquitous, both well known and recently unfolding discoveries. It is blessed with rare plants such as orchids, bromeliads, prehistoric fossils, caves, monkeys, etc.” And for birders? “There are more spectacular species of birds than in both Europe and North America combined,” reads the website. For more information: To contact: adventure@amazonwaterfalls.org
Activism: oil in Virunga National ParkMarch 1st, 2011Note: mongabay.com does not endorse the action below, but believes its readers may be interested in taking action or discussing the issue in comments.
The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is currently considering allowing oil companies SOCO and Dominion into Virunga National Park for drilling. Home to a quarter of the world’s mountain gorillas, as well as chimpanzees, hippos, lions, forest elephants, and rare birds Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is one of Africa’s most biodiverse parks and is classified by the UN as a World Heritage Site. Conservation organizations and the UN have come out against the plans to open a portion of the park to drilling. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has started a petition against the mine: Urgent: help stop oil exploration inside one of Africa’s most iconic national parks. To read more about the prospect of drilling in Virunga National Park: Oil company charged after allegedly forcing entry into Virunga National Park (02/21/2011) The Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) national parks authority, ICCN, has filed a suit against oil company, SOCO International, for allegedly forcing entry into Virunga National Park. The legal row comes amid revelations that two oil companies, SOCO and Dominion Petroleum, are exploring the park for oil. UN and conservation organizations condemn big oil’s plan to drill in Virunga National Park (01/20/2011) WWF, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and the UN have all recently expressed concerns about two oil companies’ plan to explore for oil in Africa’s oldest and famed Virunga National Park. Home to a quarter of the world’s mountain gorillas, as well as chimpanzees, hippos, lions, forest elephants, and rare birds Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is one of Africa’s most biodiverse parks and is classified by the UN as a World Heritage Site. But according to WWF plans by oil companies SOCO International and Dominion Petroleum could jeopardize not only the wildlife and ecosystems, but also local people. Activism: titanium mine approved in CambodiaFebruary 17th, 2011Note: mongabay.com does not endorse the action below, but believes its readers may be interested in taking action or discussing the issue in comments.
Cambodia has approved a controversial titanium mine in the heart of the Cardamom Mountain forests. Home to many endangered species, critics say the open-pit mine will pollute waterways, destroy over 20,000 hectares of forest, threaten biodiversity, and cut through a migration route for the largest population of Asian elephants in Cambodia. Locals are largely opposed to the mine as they have spent years building up infrastructure for eco-tourism. German NGO Rainforest Rescue has started a petition against the mine: Save Cambodia’s Elephant from New Titanium Mine. To read more about the mine: Cambodia approves titanium mine in world’s ‘most threatened forest’ (02/15/2011) The Cambodian government has approved a mine that environmentalists and locals fear will harm wildlife, pollute rivers, and put an end to a burgeoning ecotourism in one of the last pristine areas of what Conservation International (CI) recently dubbed ‘the world’s most threatened forest’. Prime Minister, Hun Sen, approved the mine concession to the United Khmer Group, granting them 20,400 hectares for strip mining in Cambodia’s Cardamom Mountains. The biodiverse, relatively intact forests of the Cardamom Mountains are a part of the Indo-Burma forest hotspot of Southeast Asia, which CI put at the top of their list of the world’s most threatened forests. With only 5% of habitat remaining, the forest was found to be more imperiled than the Amazon, the Congo, and even the forests of Indonesia and Malaysia. Secret titanium mine threatens Cambodia’s most untouched forest (09/01/2010) Although the mining consortium, United Khmer Group, has been drawing up plans to build a massive titanium mine in a Cambodian protected forest for three years, the development did not become public knowledge until rural villagers came face-to-face with bulldozers and trucks building access roads. Reaction against the secret mine was swift as environmentalists feared for the impacts on wildlife and the rivers, local villagers saw a looming threat to their burgeoning eco-tourism trade, and Cambodian newspapers began to question statements by the mining corporation. While the government has suspended the roadwork to look more closely at the mining plans, Cambodians wait in uncertainty over the fate of one of most isolated and intact ecosystems in Southeast Asia: the Cardamom Mountains. |
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