By Enrique Gili
SAN DIEGO, California, Jul 15 2011 (IPS)

Miles away from the briny business of tuna harvesting, delegates from around the world gathered in San Diego, California for three days in mid-July to discuss the future of the fishing industry.

Tuna poaching is an estimated nine-billion-dollar a year enterprise. Credit: NOAA

Although Kobe decisions are non-binding, they will play a role in future negotiations used to govern 90 percent of the global tuna fishery.

Poaching on the part of so-called IUUs – illegal, underreported, unlicensed – vessels is of great concern to fishery managers due to the unrelenting pressure placed on fish species and to fishing communities economically impacted by overfishing.

According to officials from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), tuna poaching is an estimated nine-billion- dollar a year enterprise, undermining any efforts to manage tuna fisheries effectively. 


Getting an accurate count is tricky because ocean-going fish such as bluefin tuna, billfish and sharks may spawn in Fiji, mature in Hawaii and swim to California chasing prey fish on the prevailing ocean currents, only to reappear in nets of fisherman off Ecuador.

Collecting such data is key to fisheries managers tasked with setting the quota for the number of fish that can be caught each year.

“We are trying to sustainably manage these species and in order to do that we must accurately gather data, analyse that information and make informed decisions based on the evidence on what the science tells us,” Russell Smith, a spokesperson for the NOAA, told IPS.

Among the ideas suggested is greater transparency. The U.S. delegation is calling for the creation of a global registry of fishing boats and IUUs akin to the VIN numbers currently used to track and register the sale of vehicles from state to state, and sharing that global registry among agencies tasked with regulating tuna fisheries.

In theory, the scheme should make it easier to identify and isolate vessels operating outside the law, giving port and fishery officials greater leverage against poachers intent on catching fish illegally. Until now, IUUs vessels could fly flags of convenience, change their names, swap crews and continue to operate despite numerous violations for overfishing.

Dr. Rebecca Lent, the NOAA director of international affairs, believes better tracking techniques would deter these ocean-going scofflaws. “We have to take a global approach to tracking fishing boats, fishing activities and to the product itself,” she told IPS.

Historically, the west coast city of San Diego was the epicentre of the U.S. Pacific tuna fleet, until environmental concerns over too many boats chasing too few fish caused the industry to recede during the 1980s. The city is still home to the corporate headquarters of Chicken of the Sea and Bumble Bee tuna companies. Commercial fishermen based in San Diego still ply their trade in the waters off Alaska and the South Pacific.

Although the overall health of the Pacific’s tuna fishery seems to be vibrant, the prognosis for tuna globally is grim. According to a recent report by the IUCN (the International Union for Conservation of Nature), five of the eight species of tuna are threatened with extinction. Most at risk are Atlantic bluefin and the Southern bluefin in tuna fisheries near Australia. 



The decline is widely attributed to overfishing. Up to 90 percent of the large open-water fish have been removed from the ocean over the last 50 years by industrial fishing, and scientists warn those losses could lead to irreversible harm to ocean ecosystems if swift action is not taken.

Days prior to the conference, the article, “Double Jeopardy for High Value Tuna and Billfish”, was published in the peer-reviewed journal Science. The study revealed that seven of the 61 species surveyed, including tuna, billfish and mackerel, were under threat of extinction. According to published accounts, there has been too little concern over the exploitation of tuna, due to the high value of the fish stocks, exacerbated by the lack of oversight in regulating the multinational tuna fleet.

“The true value of Kobe will be on following through,” said Gerry Leape, the chief delegate from the Pew Trust, a Washington-based nonprofit organisation favouring science-backed policy decisions.

Cross-listing boats to prevent countries from providing safe harbor to IUU vessels would be a step in the right direction, he told IPS.

Excerpt:

By Enrique Gili
SAN DIEGO, California, Feb 28 2011 (IPS)

Wildebeests have the Serengeti, and tiny krill the sea ice. But in the upside-down world of the Antarctic Peninsula, one of the biggest shows on earth would pass unheeded except for the work of a band of polar scientists seeking clues to what changes in temperatures and sea ice levels mean to wildlife.

Much of the action takes place on the margins of the continent, where the effects of rising temperatures on the advance and retreat of sea ice are becoming more pronounced and coming at a rate faster than previously anticipated – in a region of the world once considered far too immense for humans to change. The Antarctic Peninsula is thawing out.

Dr. Maria Vernet, a research biologist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, has built a career in Antarctica, returning to the Palmer Research Station since 1988. As part of the Long-Term Ecological Research programme, she and a multidisciplinary team of scientists is unlocking the mysteries of the polar ecosystems.

Her focus as of late has been krill-algae interactions. Tiny shrimp-like crustaceans, krill reach maturity in a temporary zone at various times part water, part ice and part slush, which demarcates the watery realm between the permanent ice shelf and the open ocean. It is thought to be the cradle of Antarctica’s food chain.

Krill are a key food source for predators. Their abundance or lack of it trickles up and down the food chain. “Everyone eats the krill – the fish, the whales, the penguins,” Vernet told IPS.

Young krill require sea ice in order to thrive. The larvae gather in the sea ice to eat algae accumulating in the crevices and to evade predators. “If you don’t have any ice, you don’t have any growth,” she said.

The Antarctic Peninsula is thought to have had better sea ice years with greater consistency in the prior decades. Since 1950, sea ice cover has dropped by 40 percent, and the average annual period of ice cover has shrunk by 90 days. “Good” ice years are occurring with less frequency.

“Timing is everything,” said Vernet, although factors such as prevailing winds, sunlight and ocean currents also have an important role to play in the formation of sea ice. Winter temperatures on the Antarctic Peninsula have increased five degrees C. over the past 70 years, much higher than other regions on the continent where temperatures have remained stable.

The loss of sea ice along the western edge of the peninsula can be correlated to a decline in krill and algae, which is the basis of the food chain. Whether the loss of sea ice can be attributed to natural seasonal variations or blamed on human-induced climate change is unclear. However, a warming trend is underway, said Vernet.

Different regions are responding differently to warming temperatures. Studies suggest that the declining sea ice is resulting in greater ocean mixing – a complex set of interactions ranging from prevailing winds and the tides down to the molecular level that affects salinity and the regulation of water temperature.

One hypothesis is that without sea ice, algae drifts further the down the water column into darker water, reducing the ability to photosynthesise.

Another factor in the equation – the increased intensity of polar winds – is changing the seasonal cycle of sea ice. The sea ice is arriving late in the winter season and retreating earlier.

“The observation is that with global warming those winds have increased. The wind has changed the seasonality of the sea ice,” said Dr. Sharon Stammerjohn, a sea ice specialist at the University of California at Santa Cruz.

Data shows that huge green-hued algae blooms are no longer appearing on satellite images off the western peninsula. Images from the last 30 years reveal an 89 percent decline in phytoplankton in the northern part of the peninsula, but a 66 percent increase in the south. There was a 12 percent decline in phytoplankton, a trend that concerns scientists.

The shortfalls have impacts up and down the food system from penguins that feast on krill to whales that subsist on plankton. Activists also contend that the increasing commercial exploitation of krill is impacting the ecosystem. Krill are harvested to produce feedstock for aquaculture and marketed as Omega 3s in popular diet supplements.

This, along with declining sea ice, threatens Antarctic regions where commercial fishing overlaps with the feeding grounds of seal, penguins, and whales.

“We don’t live in the Antarctic, but it’s a harbinger of climate change everywhere,” Stammerjohn told IPS.

Excerpt:

By Enrique Gili
SAN DIEGO, California, Jan 11 2011 (IPS)

It’s hardly news that the U.S. love affair with electronic gadgets has a dark side. The global toll on natural resources and the potential health and environmental hazards are staggering.

A mobile e-waste recycling station. Credit: Courtesy of ecoATM

After a successful 12-month trial run in San Diego’s shopping centres and other test sites in the U.S., the eponymous ecoATM kiosks are poised to become as much a part of the retail landscape as coin-exchange machines did in the 1990s.

“It’s just the tip of the iceberg,” said Mark Bowles, the co-founder of ecoATM, speaking of the challenges and opportunities cell phones present to recyclers.

The kiosks work like an ATM in reverse. The machine scans and IDs the phones after they have been placed in a tray, looking for broken keys and cracked faces. After calculating the value of the phone, it makes the consumer an offer on the spot.

“People like the objectivity. There’s no haggling,” Bowles told IPS.

According to Bowles, the average household has five to six outmoded cell phones tucked away, worth an estimated 12.2 billion dollars in recyclable materials – meaning there’s a treasure trove of phones to be found scattered around the house. A newer iPhone might fetch three figures dollar-wise, whereas a disposable phone is barely worth the cost of recycling.

“People want do the right thing,” said Bowles. “We incentivise it.”

Seventy-five percent of the cell phones are destined for resellers who find a second life for them. The rest become industrial feedstock for the next generation of electronic devices.

ReCellular processes 400,000 used cell phones per month. Scores of smaller companies are refurbishing cell phones for reuse in U.S. markets and overseas.

“The value of these phones is shocking when you begin to think about it,” said Mark Newman, ReCellular’s marketing director.

The need to recycle is twofold. First, cell phones are resource-intensive. The raw materials are often extracted in places at a far remove from the rule of law, taking a heavy toll on political and biological hotspots. A single cell phone battery, for example, requires 3.2 tonnes of cobalt ore.

Recently published accounts on the Wikileaks website unveiled the more unsavory aspects of the mining trade, enumerating a long list of facilities that the State Department believed vital to U.S. economic and security interests. Among them was a cobalt mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Human rights activists contend that mining operations, both legal and illicit, have destabilised the DR Congo, as political factions engage in internecine turf wars for control over mineral-rich regions in central Africa. They say the wealth generated from rare metals and so-called blood diamonds is one of the primary drivers for the corruption and violence roiling the region.

According to a 2008 report by DanWatch, a corporate watchdog group based in Denmark, mobile phones accounted for 20 percent of cobalt consumption. DR Congo accounted for 40 percent of the world’s total cobalt production in 2008.

Secondly, in coming years, landfills in the U.S. can expect to receive a tidal wave of e-waste, as the number of obsolete cell phones grows and piles of PCs loom larger. Cell phones have an average lifespan of 18 months and that window seems to be shrinking, as the gap between a product’s novelty and obsolescence shorten.

There are an estimated 130 to 150 million cell phones retired each year, generating 64,000 tonnes of recyclable materials.

Regulation is scant. Twenty-four U.S. states have outlawed the improper disposal of e-waste in landfills, leaving a patchwork of inconsistent guidelines and regulations in the remaining states. According to survey data, less than one percent of cell phones are recycled.

“Whatever the percentages are, they’re way too low,” said Newman.

Although discarded cell phones represent a small percentage of the overall volume of e-waste in landfills, they can pose an environmental and health hazard due to the presence of high levels lead, cadmium, copper, and other hazardous materials. These metals comprise the guts of cell phones, and when tossed into landfills, they can leach into the soil as the phones deteriorate.

Worldwide, the U.N. reports e-waste is expected to grow exponentially in developing countries as the use of PCs and cell phones continues to rise. According to the report, China discarded 2.3 million tonnes of e-waste each year, second only to the United States in 2010.

In China, cell phone e-waste is expected to increase seven- fold from 2007 levels by 2020, and 18-fold in India.

Heidi Sanborn, executive director of the California Product Stewardship Council, is adamant about the lack of leadership cell phone companies have demonstrated thus far.

“They’ve privatised the benefit and socialised the costs,” she told IPS.

This leaves the market wide open for green entrepreneurs – and shady operators working in the murky recesses of the global economy.

Excerpt:

By Enrique Gili
SAN DIEGO, California, Apr 29 2010 (IPS)

It’s the world’s worst-kept secret: bees are in a state of crisis. One of nature’s most benign pollinators is dying in record numbers, much to the alarm of beekeepers and gardeners.

Sunflowers are "wildly attractive to bees", explains biologist Gretchen Lebuhn. Credit: Enrique Gili/IPS

In 2006, commercial beekeepers discovered their hives were languishing. They reported that up to 50 to 60 percent of their honeybees had died, or that worker bees had flown off, leaving larvae stranded.

Although the cause of CCD remains unclear, there’s evidence to suggest the bees are falling victim to the vicissitudes of modern life, including a debilitating combination of environmental stress and noxious chemicals that are interfering with the orderly life of the hive.

Despite their pastoral image, the burden placed on domesticated honeybees is a heavy one. Bred for their non-aggressive demeanour and ample honey production, they’re expected to help propagate tens upon of thousands of acres of flower-pollinated crops on farms throughout the United States and Europe.

Trucked from state to state, they’ve become the troubled rock stars of the pollinating world. Led on marathon road trips, they float from one farm to the next, often under the influence of toxic chemicals they’ve unwittingly ingested.

Although domesticated honeybees are media darlings, not much is known about their native counterparts or feral honeybees that have colonised cities and suburban areas.

The Great Sunflower Project was born out of Lebuhn’s frustration with the absence of bees visiting her own backyard in the suburbs of San Francisco. She envisioned the project as a way to improve her garden’s health and to advance science. “I was shocked at the number of people that wanted to get involved,” she said in an interview.

The premise is simple. Lebuhn sends seed packets of Lemon Queen sunflowers to people that wish to plant them in their yards. This hardy plant grows extensively throughout North America and, most importantly, is “wildly attractive to bees”, she said.

Once the flower blooms, the volunteers report back what they observe, taking the pulse of their garden’s bee activity twice over the course of the growing season.

In 2009, 55,000 volunteers from all 50 U.S. states and Canada’s provinces signed up to participate. Even more volunteers are expected to join this year.

There are an estimated 1,500 native bee species in California, with perhaps 2,500 more bee species distributed across the continent, ranging in size from several millimetres to the massive bumblebee.

The goal is develop a census of bee life by mapping the range and diversity of native bee populations throughout the United States and Canada, which according to Lebuhn would be an impossible task without the aid of citizen scientists.

She welcomes the wealth of data that the volunteers can provide. In order to discover bees’ favourite haunts and habitats, a lot of eyeballs are needed. On the downside, “People are afraid to report when they don’t see any bees,” said Lebuhn. “Volunteers feel they have failed, without understanding that in science a zero can be important.”

Ecologists and agricultural economists estimate the value of wild pollinators in the U.S. to be four to six billion dollars per year. Domesticated bees pollinate an additional 18 billion dollars in crops annually.

Yields increase when bees visit plants more often, providing an invaluable environmental service to farmers as well as gardeners that would be difficult if not impossible to duplicate should bee populations continue to decline.

Ultimately, the data collected from the Great Sunflower Project could be used to develop effective strategies to preserve native bee populations and to encourage the propagation of pollinating plants beneficial to bees.

Bee collapses have occurred in prior decades and the causes have been just as perplexing. Filling such gaps in knowledge is important, said Victoria Wojcik, an ecologist for the Pollinator Partnership, a non-profit advocacy group based in San Francisco. “No one has been keeping very good tabs on them,” she said, referring to native bees.

Even without CCD, bee populations have been declining since the 1970s. Bees face threats from multiple sources, like increased urban density and the fragmenting of rural land. Parasitic mites have decimated hives, and given the number of pesticides currently in use, it’s difficult to track down one culprit.

In 2008, the U.S. Congress revised the Farm Bill with provisions to improve bee pollinator habitats, with several million dollars in research grants set aside to further study bee colony collapse. The bill also opened the door to alternative farming practices such as integrated pest management, which rely less on chemicals.

Rather than wait, some gardeners are taking immediate action, planting native plants and fruit trees that bees find attractive. They are all too aware that when gardens fall silent, it’s an ominous sign.

*This story is part of a series of features on biodiversity by IPS, CGIAR/Biodiversity International, IFEJ and UNEP/CBD, members of Communicators for Sustainable Development (http://www.complusalliance.org).

Excerpt:

Over the past two decades, Ricardo Dominguez has made a career for himself tweaking the sensibilities of government officials and developing software tools meant to disrupt the status quo.

Walt Staton, a volunteer with No More Deaths, was convicted in 2009 for “knowingly littering” a national refuge by leaving water for border crossers. Credit: Nick Oza/IPS

Presently, he leads a team at the University of California at San Diego that is designing a mobile application to assist migrants attempting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border.

In the future, low-cost cell phones could be placed in the hands of migrants crossing the border illegally. This summer, Dominguez hopes to distribute the phone to church groups and activists working with migrants along the border.

The wayfinding device is called the Transborder Immigrant Tool. It is an application specifically designed for migrants attempting to make the dangerous journey north into the United States.

Commonly referred to as apps, mobile applications are becoming ubiquitous as cell phones become feature-rich information managers, bundling text messaging, GPS, and digital cameras into one neat handheld device. Once the domain of business professionals, the gee-whiz gadgets are being used in new and unexpected ways.

Dominguez says the primary use of the GPS/phone device “is to offer people making the crossing a way not to die.” He calculates that the wayfinding tool increases the likelihood of survival by two percent for migrants who find themselves lost in a desert renowned for its treacherous terrain.

Development of the tool is currently underway at CalLit2Lab, a multidisciplinary think tank that encourages technological experimentation. Dominguez, a visual artist, calls himself an “artivist” – part artist, part political activist – in the tradition of the Dadaist art movement that challenged conventional notions about the function of art and its process.

In the late 1990s, Dominguez co-founded the Electronic Disturbance Theatre, a group of like-minded political activists that staged electronic sit-ins against the U.S. and Mexican governments for their alleged persecution of the Zapatistas and indigenous people of Chiapas.

Dominguez wants to distribute the device as the temperature climbs into the triple digits. The purpose is to provide real-time information on the location of water caches, stashed in way stations positioned along remote desert tracks. The device would also transmit poems meant to provide comfort and encouragement to migrants.

“The phone is like a virtual Statue of Liberty,” said Dominguez.

Each year, legions of migrants attempt to thread their way through the rugged terrain separating San Diego and Imperial County from Mexico’s northern frontier. They risk blistering daytime temperatures and bone-chilling nights, with no potable water within easy walking distance.

As the principal investigator, Dominguez and his colleagues are field-testing the app in San Diego County where the border fence extends 22 kilometres inland from the Pacific Ocean, traversing rugged mountain terrain.

According to Dominguez, the wayfinding device was inspired by the nonfiction title, “The Devils Highway,” a graphic account of lost migrants facing death from dehydration in the Sonora desert in 2001. Historically, the “El Camino del Diablo” was a desert route that linked Mexico’s northern frontier with modern-day Arizona.

Issuing the phone could result in prosecution under federal law for “aiding and abetting” border crossers attempting to enter the United States in violation of USC section 1825, which refers “to encouraging or inducing unauthorised aliens to enter the United States, and engaging in a conspiracy or aiding and abetting any of the preceding acts.”

Mark Rasch, a former Justice Department lawyer and security expert, observed, “It would be like you telling me that you were going to cross the border illegally, and I provided you with water and a flashlight, or more aptly, a map with a red line drawn in it.”

Months prior to deployment, the GPS phone is already proving divisive. It has become the focus of heated debate among people already angry over border policy matters that pit law-and-order types against academics and human rights activists.

One person’s right to academic free expression is another’s unlawful activity. Forums on the OC Register, Boing Boing, and Vice web sites are spiked with acid-tongued commentary. Attitudes towards the device have become as much a part of the story as the story itself.

“We’ve received death threats,” said Amy Sara Carroll, a professor from Michigan University who is currently visiting UC San Diego.

Such sentiments reflect the pitiless nature of the border. Conditions along the U.S.-Mexico border have deteriorated in recent years, as drug-fueled gun violence in cities such as Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez have spiraled out of control, affecting border towns in the U.S. southwest.

Security and surveillance operations meant to curtail illegal activity along the border have forced traffickers and migrants deeper into the desert and away from U.S. population centres such as San Diego (California), Tucson (Arizona), and Las Cruces (New Mexico), with deadly consequences.

A report released by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) estimated that in the 15 years since the launch of Operation Gate Keeper, in 1994, between 5,000 and 6,000 migrants have died attempting to cross the border. Human rights activists decry the economic conditions that lead migrants to take such dangerous risks.

“If it saves one life, it will be worth it,” wrote Enrique Morones, founder of the Border Angels, a San Diego- based advocacy group that places water caches and supplies in remote desert regions.

Daryl Reed, a spokesperson for the U.S. Border Patrol, almost seemed resigned. He noted that traffickers have used cell phones for years as a way to monitor the movements of law enforcement officers.

However, he expressed concern that the wayfinding tool might provide a false sense of security, leading to additional loss of life. “Not everyone is able to make that trek,” he said.

By Enrique Gili
COPENHAGEN, Dec 12 2009 (IPS)

As delegates deliberate over the extent carbon emissions will be curbed in the closing days of the U.N. summit here, the environmental ramifications of that agreement are likely to be felt in places far removed from the negotiating table, particularly among indigenous people on the front lines of climate change.

Poster from Conversations with the Earth - Indigenous Voices on Climate Change multi-media exhibit in Copenhagen. Credit: Stephen Leahy/TerraViva

Indigenous Voices premiered at the Danish National Museum on Dec. 9 to a small audience, largely composed of delegates and NGO workers, who mingled with filmmakers and native storytellers.

Human beings have adapted to climate change since the dawn of time, crossing frozen land bridges and African grasslands in search of game.

But instead of temperatures rising slowly over the course of millennia, the temperature of Earth’s atmosphere is now expected to rise rapidly 1.4 to 6.0 degrees C. by the end of the 21st century.

According to climate model predictions from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a leading scientific authority, this range represents the difference between mild climate disruption and near total failure of Earth’s natural systems.

“Things are happening fast and they are happening now,” said Ulf Dahre, director of the ethnographic collection at the Danish museum, on hand to watch the first installment of the Dec. 9-13 festival.

The films showcase stories from around the world through the eyes of people living in the world’s remaining rainforests and remote mountain highlands.

“Indigenous people are on the front lines of climate change,” said Citt Williams, a film producer who, in collaboration with the Tokyo-based United Nations University, scoured the globe to illustrate the problems native people face.

“These are participatory films, I would say,” Williams noted, speaking of the short films she shot and edited over the course of the past year in close collaboration with the indigenous people profiled.

In total, 22 films will be screened over five days, revealing the vast complexity of problems faced by local communities, from desertification in the Sahel to small islands submerged by rising seas.

Deforestation and regional conflicts between indigenous cultures and mining companies are now becoming a global concern as the linkages between habitat destruction and climate change become ever clearer.

According to the IPCC’s latest findings, deforestation for agricultural production accounts for 25 percent of heat-trapping emissions, while transport and industry account for 14 percent each.

Marilyn Wallace, a land conservation coordinator from New Queensland, Australia and a member of the Kuku Nyungkal clan, said she and her band were given a new beginning after being granted autonomy over their homelands. She urged the official delegates to take the time to “stop, look, listen and learn”.

Wallace and 14 other forest rangers manage their homelands in collaboration with Australian resource officials. The team is in the process of conducting a biological inventory of their range, incorporating traditional knowledge with cutting edge GIS digital mapping systems.

“We are preserving the wisdom of the elders with modern technology,” she said, a reminder that native people are not just victims of climate change but key players in the protection and preservation of ecosystems.

In keeping with the digital meme, many of the short documentaries can be downloaded and viewed on the OurWorld 2.0 website, further narrowing the distance between Copenhagen and the rainforest.

Excerpt:

By Enrique Gili
COPENHAGEN, Dec 8 2009 (IPS)

Two blocks from the Metro station on the busy M-1 Line, the first indication that pedestrians are slipping into the space-time continuum known as the “Free City” is the ubiquitous graffiti and occasional “boom!” of small explosive devices like M-80s echoing through the cobbled streets.

Indigenous leader Angélica Sarzuri from the Bolivian highlands speaks at Climate Bottom. Credit: Matthew McDermott

Located on 85 acres on the grounds of a decommissioned military base is the alternative community of Christiania, where the sentiments of the 1960s still prevail, and the police tread lightly for fear of setting off the street battles that periodically rock the area.

For the next two weeks at least, Christiania has become the gravitational centre for radicals and environmental activists who have descended on Copenhagen to make their presence felt at the Dec. 7-18 U.N. Conference on Climate Change.

They are focused on a broad spectrum of social issues, ranging from indigenous rights to illegal mining.

In another part of the city, official delegates are negotiating future caps on carbon emissions behind the fenced perimetre of the Bella Centre, guarded by a cadre of polite but firm Danish police officers.

So, many of these activists will instead gather at the parallel Climate Bottom meeting in an improvised space consisting of a large circus tent located on the grounds of an eco-village.

The event was organised by Christiania community members eager to capitalise on the confluence of policymakers and stakeholders present for the COP 15 here.

Residents of Christiania note that it is not just Native people facing the prospect of being uprooted, sharing the common bond of having to adapt and change to new realities. Whether it’s a local municipality acquiescing to real estate developers, or the ever-present danger of losing one’s home to drought and wildfire, climbing temperatures linked to global warming are starting to affect nearly everyone on the planet.

“Christiania is being threatened by the local government because of our land,” said Doris Kruckenberg, a coordinator for the day’s discussion on North-South development issues.

Change was in the air as the sweet smell of marijuana wafted through the tent. Dreadlocked 20-somethings and bored-acting high school students gathered to listen to the presentations of activists about the plight of developing countries faced with the prospect of climate change.

Roberto Perez, a biologist and agronomist for the Cuba-based advocacy group Conservation for Nature, observed that tropical storms are raging through the Caribbean at unprecedented levels of intensity, compounding the misery of already poor island nations caught in the path of seasonal hurricanes.

“Climate change is a fact. We are already suffering,” he said.

It was a sentiment shared by many of the speakers attending the conference on a chilly and wet afternoon. Parts of the planet are getter hotter and wetter, while others are experiencing unprecedented drought. Glaciers are melting in the Andean range, and in Bangladesh, floods are sweeping valuable cropland into the sea.

According to the International Organisation for Migration, there will be 200 million displaced people roaming the planet by 2050 as a consequence of climate change.

Although no climate model is 100-percent uncertain, evidence of disruption can be found in Micronesia and Asia as peasant farmers and fishing communities find themselves forced to abandon their villages.

“It’s important that the people being devastated by climate change get to this event,” said Christian Fris Bach, a coordinator of food relief efforts and international director for DanChurchAid.

Not all voices speak in unison as to what needs to be done or how to proceed. Tove Pederson, a spokesperson for Greenland’s climate delegation, contends that global warming presents a challenge and an opportunity to a nation covered in glaciers.

Retreating ice could expose vast deposits of previously inaccessible oil and mineral resources, potentially presenting a financial windfall for Greenland’s tiny native population, which depends on subsistence hunting and the odd tourist for their incomes.

“We have to live in this world. We can’t just sit down and cry and be paralysed by the fact the climate is changing. We have to face the challenges and take advantage of the new opportunities that arise,” said Pederson.

Attendees called for pushing past the boundaries that limit the parameters of the COP 15 to matters far more spiritual in nature.

Closing sessions featured calls to prayer and songs to the land, sea, and air, all common deities among traditional cultures around the world.

(* This story appears in the IPS TerraViva online daily published for the CoP 15 at Copenhagen.)

Excerpt:

By Enrique Gili
SAN DIEGO, California, Nov 19 2009 (IPS)

Stephen Mayfield, the recently appointed director of the University of California at San Diego's Algae Biotechnology lab, is taking on a Texas-sized challenge – giving birth to a nascent alternative energy industry.

Algae wallops its biofuel rivals, yielding 50 to 70 times more gallons of fuel per acre than corn ethanol. Credit: Jonathan Eng/IPS

After years of inactivity in the biofuels sector, the race is on to produce "green crude". To achieve this goal, a handful of scientists and venture capitalists are willing to gamble on the next big thing, believing a bright green future lies in pond scum.

An idea that would have seemed ludicrous a decade ago is gaining credence, as it becomes ever clearer that alternative fuel sources will be needed to mitigate the effects of global warming and to meet future energy needs.

In 2008, the United States consumed 140 billion gallons of transportation fuel. Worldwide, that figure was more than 320 billion gallons.

Mayfield envisions a day when algae are produced on a vast scale both in the United States and overseas. "All the oil guys know we're out of oil," he told IPS.

While the ability of oil-producing countries to meet future energy demands is subject to dispute, energy experts acknowledge there are several factors driving a renewed interest in alternative fuel. A broad consensus exists among scientists, corporations, and policy makers that conflict, climate change, and politics are a volatile mix.

"We're not in Iraq because al Qaeda was there, we're in Iraq because the oil is there," said Mayfield.

He explained that he and his colleagues realised they had to get their "butts in gear" when the price of gas rose to four dollars a gallon in the United States, coinciding with dire news from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that curbing carbon dioxide (CO2) was imperative to prevent an economic and environmental collapse.

Not wanting to waste a good energy crisis, the San Diego Center for Algae Biotechnology was launched in 2008. The lab is designed to unlock the algae's industry potential under the aegis of the Scripps Oceanographic Institute, the Salk Institute and UC San Diego.

Mayfield was still in the process of unpacking boxes as he explained the lab's premise. "The oil that comes out of algae is very similar to the crude oil that you pump out of the ground," he said.

San Diego academics are no strangers to the business sector. Mayfield, along with other UC San Diego colleagues, entered the biofuels industry several years ago. He is one of the founding members of Sapphire Energy, a company with 100 million dollars in funds from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and investment partners.

Clustered around the university are 15 start-up companies pursuing similar goals. "We need [to be] all in. The world will consume as much energy as we ever make," said Mayfield.

Graphing the correlation between GDP and energy consumption, he illustrated the rising demand for fuel as economies grow. "The competition for energy is insatiable," he said.

Algae attract research dollars for several reasons. Fast-growing and ubiquitous, these single-celled organisms convert sunshine into lipids, which in turn can be converted into transportation fuels without much modification. Algae wallops other biofuel rivals, yielding1,500 gallons of fuel per acre – 50 to 70 times more than corn ethanol.

Adding to the appeal, algae favours murky, even saline water, and arid climate conditions. This potentially opens up deserts and other marginal lands deemed unsuitable for food production as locations for algae feedstock plants.

Moreover, algae absorb carbon during photosynthesis, compensating for the CO2 released during fuel consumption. Preliminary studies suggest algae-based fuels produce 60 percent less CO2 compared to petroleum, over the lifecycle of both products.

The downside is the cost. The oil and gas industry possess a considerable advantage in terms of economies of scale, when it comes to the discovery, production and delivery of transportation fuel to global energy markets. Pumping oil out of the ground is still cheap when compared to reinventing a business model premised on algae.

The United States has been down this road before. The U.S. government financed algae research from 1978 to 1996 with mixed results. The Department of Energy (DOE) ultimately determined algae couldn't be produced in sufficient quantities, at a price low enough to compete with petroleum.

According the Al Darzins, a principal group manager at the DOE's National Renewable Energy Lab, the cut in funding had more to with the near record low price of crude than the viability of algae.

"If you could produce a barrel of algae oil during that period, it would have been in the 60- to 80-dollar range. Of course, that couldn't compete with a 20-dollar petroleum oil barrel," he said.

However, due to warnings about global warming, and worries over energy security, algae is now getting a second look. Clean energy proponents claim that within five to 10 years, the technology will exist to produce algae-based fuels in large quantities.

The National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) re-established its algae research programme in 2006. Presently, there are about 150 companies around the world addressing the algae question.

"I'm optimistic that this could be a game changer. But I'm also realistic in the fact that there are a lot of challenges on the engineering and the biology side we have to solve," Darzins told IPS.

California's carbon strategy is perhaps a precursor to the Copenhagen Climate Summit next month. There's a statewide mandate to cut CO2 emissions, improve gas mileage, and encourage green-tech projects. State law requires investor-owned utilities to procure 20 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2010. That number is set to increase to 33 percent by 2020.

Meeting those goals has spurred development and investment in achieving clean technologies. In San Diego, there are 153 companies focusing on every aspect of the renewable energy sector, from building electric cars to making affordable residential solar panels.

When politicos gather in Copenhagen, they'll be looking for ways to ease the pain of transitioning to a low-carbon economy. Investigating technologies that can pave the way to a greener future should be one of them.

*This story is part of a series of features on sustainable development by IPS and IFEJ – International Federation of Environmental Journalists for Communicators for Sustainable Development (www.complusalliance.org).

Excerpt:

By Enrique Gili
SAN DIEGO, California, Aug 11 2009 (IPS)

Juxtapose the word urban in front of farm and there’s bound to be a lot of head scratching. But in cities around the U.S. small-scale farms and garden plots are coming to life in unlikely places. Abandoned city lots, and neglected yards are being converted into vegetable gardens – as basic food literacy becomes part of the vocabulary of city dwellers.

Due to a faltering economy and numerous food scares, many U.S. households are asking two basic questions: ‘Where does my food come from?’ Followed by, ‘How do we pay for it?’

The recently established New Roots farm located in San Diego is part of an unusual experiment among food activists to bring sustainable agriculture within city limits. Under the aegis of the International Rescue Committee (IRC), a non-profit organisation working with refugees worldwide, the immigrant community of City Heights has started an "urban farm" for local residents.

Open since mid-July, the New Roots Community Farm – as the property has come to be called – is a raw patch of land located on 2.2 acres of city property with the potential to supplement the diets of hundreds if not thousands of low-income individuals living in greater San Diego.

The so-called farm opened after nearly four years of negotiations with local and federal agencies. "It took us a long time to get access to this land," mentions Amy Lint, IRC food security coordinator, when speaking of the effort to obtain and secure the proper permits from city planners.

The founders are hoping the new farm can serve as an example of what can be done in an urban setting, since even small plots of land can be surprisingly productive in the hands of experienced growers.

Many participants are recipients of some form of federal assistance intended for families living below or slightly above the poverty level. "People aren’t eating three meals a day here," says Lint.

According to Lint, the IRC sees the farm as an opportunity to enable newcomers to survive and thrive. The farms are helping refugees to integrate into mainstream society and improve nutrition. They are also providing the employment opportunities.

The best way to help New Farms’ members Lint contends is to help them to grow food for themselves.

Many of the members have fled political hotspots – they were driven out of their homelands during periods of civil war and extreme violence.

In some ways, the farm is a microcosm of a world the members have left behind. Members are Burmese, Cambodian, Guatemalan, and Somali-Bantu, among others.

A majority of New Roots members belong to marginalised ethnic groups that lived in rural societies based on clan and family affiliations. "We’re farmers," explains Hamadi Jumale, a mental-healthcare case manager and spokesperson for the Bantu-Somali Community Organisation in San Diego.

Bilali Muya, New Roots farm manager and community advocate, offered a brief glimpse into his personal history. Muya’s world collapsed when civil war broke out in Somalia in 1991. He fled across the border into Kenya, where he eventually reunited with his parents, then he made his way to a refugee camp that brought him to America.

The journey is still fresh in his memory. "We weren’t rich, we weren’t educated, so why did they want to kill us?" he asked when speaking of the politically dominant Somali clans that victimised Bantu-Somali villages.

Prior to the civil war the Somali-Bantu formed the backbone of Somalia’s agricultural region producing crops in the Juba Valley. Imported to work as slaves in the 18th Century their presence in Somalia was a lasting legacy of the Arab slave trade that marked them as cultural and ethnic outsiders.

After nearly a decade of fighting, the U.S. State Department recognised the plight of the Somali-Bantu, according them refugee status. In 1999 U.N. officials began arranging for their transport from refugee camps in Kenya to the U.S. where approximately 12,000 of them have resettled.

On a late summer afternoon, the sun ebbed over an arid low-rise landscape that hardly evoked the countryside – in a part of town the tourist bureau avoids to mention. Planes flew overhead amid the hum of commuter traffic filling the air with white noise.

The farm is still a work in progress. Eighty10-foot by 20-foot plots have been allocated to four immigrant groups, with the remainder to be distributed among local residents. Presently, the garden plots are in the care of friends and family who do what needs to be done in order to make the soil productive. Much of the field remains to be cleared of rocks. Still there are promising signs of life, as new vegetation emerges on what at first appeared to be wasteland.

The soft-spoken Muya articulated what the Somali-Bantu hoped to accomplish in City Heights: the farm he believes gives the group a focus regardless of their circumstances. The farm links the 400 Somali-Bantu families living in San Diego to their agricultural past and provides them hope for the future. "We are here to build our lives and the lives of our children," he says. With that, Muya slipped off to the hospital to attend to his wife and newborn child.

Although New Roots is a small part of the overall farming equation, the personal stories of the people involved in the food movement, like the Bantu-Somali, have energised food advocates to take action. Advocates have proposed sweeping reforms in the way food is grown and distributed, ranging from tax credits for reducing carbon emissions to various farm-to-table initiatives that provide low-income families with better access to fresh produce.

The federal government is already tinkering around the edges of the food system. According to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) statistics as of 2008, 753 farmers’ markets nationwide accepted food stamps, a 34 percent increase over the prior year. While the percentage of redemptions are very small when compared to the amount of revenues actually generated at farmers’ markets. It has increased from about 1 million dollars in 2007 to 2.7 million dollars in 2008.

In terms of actual policy reform, it also helps to have an advocate for sustainable agriculture living at the White House. Food activists were euphoric when first lady Michelle Obama broke ground on her organic garden in Mar. 2009. "We know what we are doing is being supported at the very highest levels," says University of California at Davis Food Systems Expert Gail Feenstra.

Excerpt:

By Enrique Gili
BAJA, May 18 2009 (IPS)

Driving through Tijuana and long stretches of northern Baja, conservationist Zach Plopper loves his job but hates the commute.

Zach Plopper confers with Wildcoast's wildlands conservation programme manager Saul Alarcon Farfan over plotting points of interest on their tablet PC. Credit: Jonathan Eng/IPS

Plopper’s work involves multi-day expeditions mapping Baja’s as yet undeveloped mid coastline that take him from his headquarters in Imperial Beach, California through Tijuana’s gritty slums to the relative tranquility of fishing villages several hundred kilometres to the south.

In doing so, he passes from one "hotspot" to another, transitioning from an embattled city at the centre of Mexico’s drug war to Baja’s renowned ecosystem. Offering a roadside view of a region in trouble, he explains, "In Baja you never know what’s coming down the road."

Baja, Mexico’s 1,300-kilometre-plus peninsula is home to wintering gray whales, productive fishing grounds and breathtaking desert landscapes. It is also contested territory in a drug war that has taken the lives of thousands of people in Mexico, affecting many aspects of daily life such as where and when to travel.

Venturing south from California involves a draining commute that entails skirting a Mexican city under siege, passing abandoned cars and squatter camps in the presence of security forces, all within several minutes driving distance of the U.S.-Mexico border.

According to Plopper, the rules of the road when traveling in Baja are simple. Never drive at night, use the toll road whenever possible, and make sure WildCoast staff are informed of your whereabouts.

"It’s the Wild West," says Plopper, fretting over the boom and bust mentality and sense of lawlessness pervading the border region. "You’re never quite sure who you’re dealing with."

Neither do the federales. At designated checkpoints, soldiers armed with assault weapons make mandatory stops of northbound drivers. An armoured pursuit vehicle ensures they comply. Faces covered, a squad of nameless soldiers bearing no battalion insignias or ID ask drivers questions.

Traveling through Baja, it’s not uncommon to come across uniformed young men with blank stares. Sent on a mission to interdict the drug trade, the frequency of their stops has increased in recent years due to heightened security. "I’ve never had a problem with the federales," notes Plopper.

On the western fringe of the continent, WildCoast operates in the regional centre of a contested drug trafficking corridor. A river of drugs flows north across the 3,200-kilometre U.S.-Mexico land border, with an estimated 290 metric tonnes of cocaine smuggled each year into the United States, home to one of the largest drug markets in the world.

In 2007, Mexico’s then newly elected president, Felipe Calderon, vowed to wrest control of the border states from the powerful drug cartels destabilising the region.

In a public display of force, Calderon put soldiers onto the streets of border cities of Juarez and Tijuana, taking administrative control over police departments long thought to be compromised by drug traffickers. Thousands of additional troops and federal police officers were deployed elsewhere throughout the country.

The killings only intensified, as drug cartels fought amongst themselves for access to U.S. markets, and fighting with security forces escalated. According to reported accounts, the ensuing conflict has claimed an estimated 7,000 lives.

Given the cloak of secrecy under which security forces operate, the resulting bloodshed and mayhem has weaved its way into hair-raising accounts passed from one traveler to the next. The chaos ranges from daytime massacres of suspected drug rivals to drug-related reprisals targeting officers.

Conservation work often takes place in rough, remote and isolated locations. According to a new study published in the journal Conservation Biology, 80 percent of global conflicts occurring over the past 50 years have been in the world’s most biologically rich and endangered places.

Dr. Thor Hanson, a conservation biologist who co-authored the report along with members of Conservation International’s staff, asserts that poverty and conflict go hand in hand. Biological "hotspots" also happen to be home to 1.2 billion of the world’s poorest people.

The study notes that territory extending from Mexico almost to the tip of Latin America has been marred by similar violence, offering a who’s who of dirty wars and guerrilla insurgencies. Mexico’s current crisis is not without historical precedent when compared to Colombia’s vertiginous, verdant interior that has been both politically hot and biologically diverse.

Dr. Hanson is part of an emerging field of study called "warfare ecology" studying the net effects of conflict on ecosystems. Working in Uganda with mountain gorillas, he saw firsthand how "fragile conservation efforts can be in the face of political instability".

Although correlation does not equate with causation, the phenomena is worth investigating. In preserving biological diversity around the world, conservationists are going to have to consider the context in which they operate, he surmised.

Based on Hanson’s benchmark of one thousand deaths per year, Mexico meets the criteria of a regional conflict. But the drug war is less incendiary than ethnic hatred, or as prosaic as a territorial dispute.

Paradoxically, Tijuana’s close proximity to the U.S. border has made it a popular stomping ground and jumping off point for all manner of illicit thrills that in recent years have become increasingly lucrative and more dangerous.

According to a U.S. Government Accountability Office report published in 2007, drug cartels net as much as 23 billion dollars in revenue each year, a figure comparable to the profits enjoyed by the largest Fortune 500 companies.

The turbulence of Tijuana ripples throughout Baja. Adventurous naturalists and avid surfers no longer come here. Presiding over half-constructed villas and real-estate development deals gone sour, even a 75-foot Jesus statue looks lonely.

Driving along a deserted highway, Plopper laments the losses he’s witnessed. "First came the Spanish missionaries, then the miners, and now the land speculators, they all went bust," says Plopper.

Most Mexican residents and activists invested in preserving Mexico’s rich natural heritage hope the cartels meet with similar success.

*This story is part of a series of features on sustainable development by IPS and IFEJ – International Federation of Environmental Journalists ­- for Communicators for Sustainable Development (www.complusalliance.org ).

Excerpt:

By Enrique Gili
SAN DIEGO, California, Mar 22 2009 (IPS)

The San Diego Latino Film Festival is perhaps the biggest little film festival most people outside of Southern California have never heard of.

Diego Luna (left) and Gael Garcia Bernal in "Rudo y Cursi". Credit: Courtesy of the San Diego Latino Film Festival

Nonetheless, the festival attracts a diverse crowd eager to create their own space in modern cinema. An estimated 20,000-plus people attend the festival over the course of a two-week period from Mar. 12 through Mar. 22.

Now in its 16th season, the festival is the brainchild of Ethan Van Thillo, executive director of the Media Arts Centre San Diego, a city-wide nonprofit organisation dedicated to promoting technical skills and media literacy in underserved communities.

The festival began modestly, showing student films in improvised spaces and later growing into its present format located in a multiplex movie theatre near downtown San Diego. This year, the festival screened 173 entrants, including feature-length films, shorts, and documentaries, from as far afield as Argentina and nearby as Tijuana, Mexico.

Sales are brisk at the box office, attracting a large crowd waiting in eager anticipation to see movies ranging in spectrum from light comedic fare to prison dramas. “We have to offer something for everyone,” Van Thillo said.

“We’ve seen a lot of great work come out of film schools in Mexico, Argentina and Spain,” he explained, observing the career arc of directors who have presented at the festival in prior years and are now returning to the festival with feature-length projects.

He’s showcased the early films of Alfonso Cuaron (Y Tu Mama Tambien) and Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth), among others. Both Mexican-born filmmakers have matured into movie-making powerhouses working in their native country and abroad.

This year, Carlos Cuaron, Alfonso’s bother and co-writer of “Y Tu Mama Tambien”, has returned with “Rudo y Cursi” in the hopes of having similar success.

Standouts include Sundance favourite “Sin Nombre”, a border thriller, and “The Garden”, an award-winning documentary set in Los Angeles that follows a Mexican-American community’s effort to protect an urban farm from development.

The San Diego Latino film festival, the second largest in the country, has become an essential stopping point for Hispanic filmmakers seeking welcoming audiences.

“I got the film bug early,” said film director Javier Chapa, a fifth generation Texan of Mexican-American ancestry, who was accompanied by his multicultural cast and crew to screen the premier of “Pepe & Santos Vs. the United States”, a light-hearted comedy set in Brownsville, Texas about the misadventures of day labourers in their efforts to own a house.

Making the movie, Chapa had an epiphany. “I thought, why don’t we celebrate Hispanic culture through comedy?” he said. “Pepe & Santos” combines elements of a Capra-esque fable mixed with the socially conscious “El Norte.”

The film played to a predominantly Hispanic crowd grown accustomed to seeing negative portrayals of the immigrant experience. In the question-and-answer session that followed, more than one viewer felt compelled to thank Chapa for making a movie they and “our children could watch.”

In 50 years’ time, media anthropologists wishing to study the demographic shift currently taking place across the United States might look to Latino film festivals popping up around the United States. They can be found not just in warm-blooded cities such as Miami, Phoenix and Los Angeles, but urban outposts like Chicago and San Francisco.

As Hispanics emerge from their ethnic enclaves in search of greater job and economic opportunities, they are bringing their culture with them. In doing so, they are shaping the lucha libre that is U.S. pop culture.

At the film festival, the two cultures intertwine. Film geeks mingle with middle-class Hispanic families. Spanish freely mixes with English, often in tandem. The films are as diverse as the populations they portray.

According to the U.S. Census, Hispanics are 15 percent of the U.S. population. By 2050, they will make up one-third. In border states, Hispanics already belong to a minority- majority population that includes Asians and African-Americans.

Van Thillo calculates that 80 percent of the audience is Hispanic, but increasingly, non-Latinos are discovering Spanish-language films. “There’s been an explosion of interest in all things Latino,” he said.

Spanish-language films are often lost in translation in U.S. markets, paling in comparison in terms of box office receipts – no matter how favourably reviewed or well-attended.

However, last year, “La Misma Luna” broke box office records for a Spanish-language film, earning 2.5 million dollars on its opening weekend – numbers that can make a studio executive think twice when searching for profitable film projects.

In general, success still remains elusive for Latino filmmakers working in either language. “The potential of Latino cinema is to be international,” Van Thillo said.

Excerpt:

By Enrique Gili
SAN DIEGO, California, Feb 14 2009 (IPS)

Inside the confines of a modest 275-square-metre office space in this southern California city, the human imagination is running wild.

T-shirt designer Eric Bidwell fights the power. Credit: Enrique Gili/IPS

It is the first "Fab Lab" on the U.S. West Coast, run by the nonprofit organisation Heads on Fire.

In a room filled with computers and table-sized tech, visitors are busy exploring the boundaries between digital domains and the real world, making use of equipment that puts technology on a personal scale.

Heads on Fire is immersed in the process of bridging digital divide between the haves and the have-nots. Operating under the auspices of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Fab Labs might just help transform rural economies and disenfranchised communities in the years to come.

"We're putting powerful tools into the hands of the powerless," says executive director Xavier Leonard.

Leonard, along with programme manager Katie Rast, is the driving force behind the nonprofit. Fresh from the dot-com revolution, the well-traveled Leonard – who spent time overseas developing community-based technology programmes – founded Heads on Fire with the idea of putting technology into average people's hands.

Heads on Fire launched in 2002, working with schools in underserved communities, introducing technology and multimedia art to kids who otherwise wouldn't get the chance. The ethnically diverse City Heights community in San Diego is home to immigrants living at or near the poverty level in a city renowned for world-class research labs and broadband connectivity.

In 2007, the organisation changed direction when it was selected by MIT to establish and operate a Fab Lab in San Diego. It is part of an education and outreach programme that puts cutting-edge tools into the hands of technophiles and the merely curious, intended to transform passive consumers into innovators.

Now, Heads on Fire is a place "where we encourage people to come and experiment with stuff", Rast explained.

Thanks to a 12.5-million-dollar grant from MIT, Fab Labs have been popping up like mushrooms after a spring rain. Heads on Fire is part of a global network of 30 Fab Labs currently dotting the globe.

The idea is to empower people through creativity and innovation. In the spirit of collaboration and community, experimental fabbers with modest technical expertise can exchange ideas with counterparts at other Fab Labs around the world, swapping design blueprints via the Internet or going to a Fab Lab website that offers fresh project ideas.

The Waag Fab Lab in Amsterdam provides an overview of personal fabrication projects currently underway in northern Europe and elsewhere. The documentation is meant to be used as a source of inspiration and a starting point for new projects.

The enterprise is part of MIT's Centre for Bits and Atoms' firm belief in the empowering idea of personal fabrication. That is, giving individuals the ability to create technology that improves the quality of their lives, which in turn solves local problems at the grassroots level.

Fab Labs is short for Fabrication Laboratories. They combine off-the-shelf, 2D and 3D fabrication and electronics tools with open source software that can make almost anything ranging from intricate circuit boards to pre-fabricated emergency housing. After six years of experimentation, Fab Labs are yielding interesting results.

Projects include work on thin-client computers and wireless antennae for network access, analytical instrumentation for healthcare and agriculture, solar-powered turbines for energy, and locally responsive low-cost housing.

In rural communities in India, for example, students have designed sensors to measure the fat content of milk. The Sami, the nomadic herders of Finland, have built wireless networks to track their reindeer in the sub-zero wilderness far above the Arctic Circle.

At a TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) conference in 2006, MIT professor Neil Gershenfeld explained the genesis of Fab Labs. He began teaching a class called "How to Make (Almost) Anything" in order introduce students to the fabrication machines that he and his peers used during their research.

Over time, he discovered that his students were less interested in esoteric research projects than in making practical things. Although Gershenfeld marveled at the ingenuity of his students, he began to wonder how fabrication tools could be applied beyond the cult of lab-coated technologists roaming MIT's halls.

Explaining that when the federal government gives you millions of dollars, it expects something back, he decided to apply funds earmarked for outreach campaigns to deploy Fab Labs far away from technology and design centres like Boston, and out of the hands of the usual suspects.

According to Gershefeld, the Fab Lab phenomenon subsequently "exploded around the world", spreading from inner-city Boston to West Africa.

"A kid in rural India needs to measure and modify the world, not just get information on the screen," he said via telecast.

"The message coming from the Fab Labs is that the other five billion people on the planet are a source of innovation," he continued. "The killer app for personal fabrication in the developed world is technology for a market of one. And the killer app for the rest the planet is the instrumentation and fabrication device – people locally developing solutions to local problems."

Meanwhile, however, some express misgivings about the longevity of Fab Labs. Each lab requires 50,000 to 75,000 dollars of equipment to launch, which MIT provides. But after a year or so, each Fab Lab is expected to operate independently.

Heads on Fire's next great challenge will be to raise funds in the coming year – at a time when the financial health of philanthropic organisations and taxpayer-funded programmes is in doubt.

Much of the time Leonard and Rast dedicate to the nonprofit currently goes uncompensated. They hope their circumstances will change as they solidify partnerships with local nonprofits and small businesses.

The irrepressible Rast seems unfazed. "I'm overjoyed at seeing the lights come on," she said. "The people that come through the lab and what they create are unique."

*This story is part of a series of features on sustainable development by IPS and IFEJ – International Federation of Environmental Journalists­ for Communicators for Sustainable Development (www.complusalliance.org).

Excerpt:

By Enrique Gili
SAN DIEGO, California, Nov 19 2008 (IPS)

Another chapter in U.S.-Mexico border relations is about to close. In the waning days of the George W. Bush administration, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is completing construction of a 22-kilometre triple fence along the San Diego-Tijuana border.

It is being done over the objections of environmental activists living near the border, who are worried both about the toll on wildlife and those seeking entry into the United States. A patch of green encircled by two cities, the Tijuana estuary lacks the grandeur of a mountain range but to biologists and conservationists it’s an invaluable piece of real estate.

Created in 1981, the Tijuana River Research Reserve is an island of relative calm at the centre of a political maelstrom that pits conservations against advocates that promote tighter border controls.

Nesting amid coastal sage and tall grass, 400 species of birds inhabit the wetlands. Thousands more birds return each year to one of the last vestiges of salt marsh existing in Southern California, where 90 percent have been lost to development.

“The estuary is one of the few remaining in Southern California without heavy human intrusion,” said Mike McCoy, president of the South West Wetlands Interpretive Association.

However, the estuary has been part of contested territory for generations. The land was granted to the United States after the Treaty of Hidalgo in 1848, which ceded much of what is now southwest Arizona, Texas, New Mexico and California to the United States in the aftermath of the U.S-Mexican War.

The estuary has also been labeled a haven for drug-running and illegal border crossings, according to border officials, making it a flash point for U.S. immigration policy and government agencies entrusted with protecting rare and endangered species living in the estuary.

The nearby Otay Mesa border crossing is the most active border crossing in the world. On average, more than 31 billion dollars worth of products cross through the checkpoint each day, nearly all of it related to the regional maquiladora/manufacturing and agricultural industries. Others seek entry through different methods.

“The immigration problem is overblown,” remarked a docent on a recent trip to the Tijuana River Research Reserve. The border, however, does have a dark side.

According to U.S. border officials, the region is a magnet for illegal activity – 162,000 arrests have been made, and 49,000 pounds of marijuana and 699 pounds of cocaine intercepted since November 2007. Drug cartels waging war on the streets of Tijuana also add an element of fear and apprehension.

Here the border is tangible. After 3,200 kilometres, the line tumbles into the Pacific Ocean, and a steel fence divides the United States from Mexico.

During the 1980s, the estuary was in danger of being overrun. Social trails scarred the land. Migrants seeking entry into the United States used the estuary as a crossing point, prompting local politicos to take action.

Also known as Operation Gatekeeper, the 60-million-dollar construction project comprises the western portion of the San Diego Border Infrastructure System. A federally funded programme put in place by Rep. Duncan Hunter of California, it dates back to 1996.

In the coming weeks, two fences will flank the existing one, leaving a gap wide enough to provide access to patrol vehicles, along the westernmost 5.6 kilometres of the U.S.-Mexico border. It will enable agents to monitor a border that marches across the edge of Tijuana’s city limits, stretching into the arroyos and mesas beyond.

The plan calls for infilling Smugglers Gulch, a steep canyon through which contraband and people pass. It requires the movement of 2 million cubic yards of earth and calls for building a culvert to divert rainfall that flows down denuded hillsides during storms.

According to local legend, Smugglers Gulch earned its reputation during the Prohibition era of the 1920s and early 1930s, when Tijuana became a destination for U.S. servicemen and thrill seekers. In Mexico, it is known as Canon de Matador, or Slaughter House Canyon, supposedly because goats were slaughtered in the area.

The tops of mesas will be graded down and sections of canyons filled to accommodate an extensive defensive infrastructure that in all likelihood will add to the menace that pervades the border.

According to environmentalists, 100 acres of existing habitat will be compromised within the estuary, placing additional stress on the remaining habitat. “The long-term consequences are unknown,” said David Massey, director of education at the San Diego Natural History, when speaking of the triple border fence.

The initial plan met with fierce opposition from environmental groups, who cite concerns that fill from Smugglers Gulch would ultimately choke the wetlands with sedimentation. This would violate federal laws that set aside the estuary as a wildlife refuge and water quality standards. The coastal commission agreed that the project would cause environmental harm and blocked construction.

In September 2005, Michael Chertoff, secretary of Homeland Security, trumped all legal challengers by citing the National ID Act, giving him the authority to waive any regulation that impeded construction of the fence in the name of national security.

A local federal district court judge then dismissed all cases that impeded the construction of the fence on the grounds that the intent of Congress was clear in terms of completing its construction.

Construction will move along as the DHS attempts to meet its stated goal of building 225 miles of pedestrian fencing and 362 kilometres of vehicle barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border – plans likely to meet with additional legal challenges in the months and years to come as advocates on both sides of the fence continue to debate border policy over a landscape where cowboys and coyotes fear to go.

Excerpt:

By Enrique Gili
SAN DIEGO, California, Oct 15 2008 (IPS)

In their latest documentary “Soldiers of Conscience”, husband and wife filmmakers Catherine Ryan and Gary Weimberg probe the nature of war and the human condition, asking the question: when is killing in combat permissible?

Catherine Ryan Credit:

The soldiers – Camilo Mejia, Kevin Benderman, Joshua Casteel and Aidan Delgado – share little in common and come from diverse backgrounds. However, each felt compelled to join the armed forces out of a sense of duty and patriotism.

When confronted with the realities of serving in Iraq, however, their attitudes towards military service shifted from idealism to profound soul-searching, leading each of them to seek status as conscientious objectors.

Delgado, a Buddhist, finds the random violence inflicted on civilians to be abhorrent and is unable to use “weapons that roast people”. Casteel, an evangelical Christian, interrogates an imprisoned jihadist who challenges his religious faith. Both are eventually granted honourable discharges for their refusal to fight in Iraq.

Mejia and Benderman share harder fates, serving prison sentences after failing to report for duty. Mejia feels liberated when he’s no longer faced with taking human lives. Benderman asks the question, “When is enough, enough?”

The film opens with the revelation that an estimated 75 percent of U.S. soldiers refrained from killing the enemy during World War Two. So strong was the taboo against taking human lives that the majority of infantrymen froze under fire with the enemy in their sights.

“Will I be able to kill another human in combat?” is the moral dilemma facing soldiers serving not just in Iraq but throughout history. Many seem to be haunted by their decision.

“Will I ever like myself again?” writes one soldier.

IPS correspondent Enrique Gili spoke to Catherine Ryan from her production studio in Berkeley, California. “Soldiers of Conscience” airs in the United States on the public television channel PBS on Thursday, Oct. 16. Excerpts from the interview follow.

IPS: What was the initial motivation for this film? CR: We make films about social issues. So we wanted to make a film from a perspective that has not been done over and over again. We decided we wanted to understand some aspect of the Iraq War. Not from the viewpoint of generals, presidents and politicians but from the very intimate experience of individual soldiers.

IPS: How did you find your subjects? CR: We have subjects that are sincere war fighters and conscientious objectors. The objectors were pretty easy to find, they’ve been very motivated to talk.

We were granted permission. People inside the service know it’s critical. I think there is an openness and willingness among people that work with and care about soldiers to want to explore this issue. How does killing impact individual soldiers?

IPS: During the process of making the film, did you ever consider what it would take for you to kill someone and under what circumstances? CR: Of course, it’s still an ongoing investigation for me. I’ve come to understand both sides of the question. I don’t know what I would do under the circumstances. Our hope with this film is to make all of us ask questions.

IPS: Seeking conscientious objector status is a basic right stemming as far back as the U.S. colonial era. What are the origins? CR: That was why people came here. A lot of people that first came here were pacifists who were fleeing Europe in order not to serve in the wars of the kingdom. It’s an old tradition in this country.

IPS: What are the criteria? CR: Religious reasons for conscientious objection have the most clarity. When soldiers start speaking from a humanistic perspective, [i.e.] war is wrong, they have a much tougher time.

IPS: Do you have any sense of how many are applying now? CR: The Army is not releasing those numbers. By the end of the Vietnam War 170,000 had applied. . IPS: Major Peter Kilner, the West Point Military Academy instructor, spoke with a great deal of clarity of his own. CR: We really wanted to find a guy who could speak very well from the perspective of why we must obey duty in times of war. So that people could hear the things they already believe and then take in some of the perspectives of the conscientious objectors, which is not stuff that we commonly agree upon.

Our hope was that in keeping everybody in the discussion that we could keep everybody in the discussion – not to have people turn off the show because it’s either anti-war or pro-military.

IPS: All the conscientious objectors profiled have book deals. Is that a coincidence? CR: I think a huge part of it is the process that one has to go through to become a conscientious objector requires deep reflection and study. If you’re going to try to explain yourself from inside of the military system, you have to be very good. The process is like an intensive orals exam – sitting across from your commander in a room for three hours, and their job is come up with false points in your argument. That takes a lot of preparation.

And then their lives as conscientious objectors. You have to be very clear about what you think and be able talk about it in ways that people can understand, in order not to be an outcast in the world.

Excerpt:

By Enrique Gili
SAN DIEGO, California, Oct 9 2008 (IPS)

A decade ago, few could envision that making a charitable donation would be as simple as a mouse click.

"Peer-to-peer philanthropy" mixes Web 2.0 technology with compassion to make the act of giving online easy, enabling nonprofit organisations to experiment with citizen-led donor programmes and in the process create a new breed of philanthropist.

Among them is Keith Taylor, whose mission is to bring philanthropy to the masses. In 2002, he had an epiphany of sorts, after with his own brush with poverty. As a cash-strapped graduate student shuttling between part-time teaching jobs, his own personal finances were precarious. Friends helped him weather a financial crisis.

"I realised the people who had helped me were not wealthy, but kind," Taylor said.

To express his gratitude he built a simple homepage with the expectation that a few browsers might stumble upon his offer to help anyone in need of covering a one-time expense. Instead, he received a flood of responses, many from people who themselves wanted to help others, pledging to make cash donations of their own.

And so the impetus for Modest Needs was born. "It wasn't about money but doing the best with what you had," said Taylor.

The nonprofit organisation is designed to help the working poor during unexpected financial emergencies, saving people from falling into a downward spiral of poverty. It is especially geared toward the growing segment of the population squeezed by credit card debt and the mortgage crunch.

Modest Needs matches small charitable donations from people able to give with requests for assistance.

The site has the look and feel of a community bulletin board that reflects its back-to-basics approach to charity. "The entire point of Modest Needs was to create a community for people that didn't have a community of their own," said Taylor.

Donors get to rank requests in terms of their urgency, directing money where it's needed most. Even small amounts can make a difference in the lives of cash-strapped recipients. Judging from the outpouring of testimonials, its value often exceeds the cost of the gift itself.

The requests can be as heartrending as they are mundane – appeals to meet ordinary expenses such as medical bills, fixing a car, or paying rent are typical.

Responses from recipients are heartfelt: "I sincerely thank all of you who helped me with my daughter's daycare bill. I almost can't believe the generosity. When I received the email saying my grant had been funded it brought tears to my eyes, " reads one post from the registered user koreenharper.

Along with the applicant's request for assistance, the site notes whether they are above or below the poverty line, and if they qualify for other types of financial support.

Taylor believes the strength of Modest Needs lies in its ability to respond quickly to the needs of donors and beneficiaries, unlike the endless forms and red tape often involved in state-funded assistance. "The beauty of an organisation like this is that it can be fluid and organic," he said.

A staff of eight administers this programme that would have been impossible to run without the benefit of online billing systems created during the dot-com era. Paperwork can be processed within hours or days, rather than weeks.

In 2007, staffers funded 1,582 of 2,962 applicants, after receiving 16,000 requests for assistance, dispersing 884,990 dollars in the process. The Herb Albert Foundation has also pledged to match any donation, giving 1.4 million thus far.

They receive up to 2,000 requests per month, a number which is expected to rise in the current financial crisis. Modest Needs plans to give away 2.0 million dollars by year's end. According to Taylor, the end-of-year holidays are the busiest season.

Technology is also changing the way people give, proving to be a boon for philanthropic web sites that have emerged in recent years. Kiva, GlobalGiving and Modest Needs, to name a few, are reaping the benefits of social networking tools that provide mainstream access to thousands of projects in need of funding around the world.

United Nations studies indicate that seemingly intractable public health and poverty problems could be resolved if adequate funds were properly applied. With governments failing to meet their financial obligations, citizen philanthropists are getting involved.

In doing so, organisations are reaching out to a new demographic that has been largely ignored – average people who hold down day jobs. Philanthropy used to be the exclusive domain of the well heeled and affluent. The goal was to become filthy rich first, and then give.

Philanthropy today is becoming more open and democratic, said Peter Deitz, the founder of Social Actions, a non-profit initiative that chronicles the changes taking place within the philanthropic world.

He calls the phenomenon "Philanthropy 2.0". "The Internet is breaking down barriers, allowing anyone to come into this space as a donor and a receiver," he said. This enables information to flow both ways, from the bottom up and top down.

In an ideal world, reaching out to the multitudes wouldn't have a downside. But anyone who's had online encounters with nefarious scammers promising untold riches knows otherwise.

As a precaution, Modest Needs requires applicants to submit a bill, proof of identification and an address. If approved, bills are paid directly to the creditor within 7-10 days. Recipient awards range from 300 to 1,000 dollars.

The criteria are stringent. However, Modest Needs insists on making grants to people in need of a short-term solution but who are not otherwise down and out. "At some point in time, most of us have needed a little help," said Taylor.

In reality, Modest Needs isn't in the business of making grand gestures but strives to provide a platform and give voice to people whose names won't appear in the society column – making giving a true act of compassion.

Excerpt:

By Enrique Gili
SAN DIEGO, California, Aug 25 2008 (IPS)

Pulled-together socialites and not-so-sloppy artists recently gathered for an atypical art exhibition in San Diego that combines art with wilderness conservation, using contemporary art to investigate vanishing worlds and the people that inhabit them.

Giacomo Castagnola's sustainable designs use egg crates and recycled paper. Credit: Enrique Gili/IPS

The exhibition "Human/Nature: Artists Respond to a Changing World" is the six-year culmination of a multi-continent art project that sent eight mid-career artists on two mini-residencies to UNESCO World Heritage sites around the world, with instructions to create new works of art inspired by the people and the landscapes they encountered.

The spectrum of the heritage sites selected was as diverse as the artists represented. Most live and work in the United States but come from culturally distinct backgrounds, with artists hailing from as close as Baja, Mexico and from as far away as China.

Their task was to capture through mixed media – film, photography and sculpture – a fast-changing landscape that Westerners seldom get to see or experience firsthand, ranging from Brazil's coastal rainforest to alpine peaks.

As the paint dried and assistants scrambled to make last-minute adjustments, curators shepherded patrons from room to room, commenting on the creative process to a curious and sometimes perplexed crowd of onlookers.

So can art promote conservation, without preaching?

"I think it's about opening your mind to what's going on in the world. What I like about the show is that it's not didactic. The artists are not telling you what to think. It's more poetic than that," said senior curator Stephanie Hanor of the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (MACSD).

Inside the art world, the term conservation is generally synonymous with preserving mouldy Old Masters – not dodging aggravated wildlife captured on film in the name of preservation and enlightenment.

The co-founders of the exhibit, Brett Jenks, executive director of the conservation group Rare, and MCASD president Hugh Davies, wanted to alter that perception. At the time of the project's inception, the term global warming was a mere blip on the media horizon. Now environmental considerations are entering all aspects of U.S. life, from pumping gas to the high-brow aspirations of the art world.

The challenge was to select artists capable meeting the task of conveying the ephemera of a fleeting natural world into a museum setting. "We picked artists who have a history of research, who have a history working offsite, whose studio practice is really about engaging [the audience] in that way," said Hanor.

Fortunately for the wildlife, the tactics of conservation-minded artists have changed. The renowned 19th century painter John James Audubon, widely credited with creating the conservation movement, was often portrayed with gun in hand. In the field, Audubon shot and killed hundreds of birds prior to illustrating them in vivid detail.

Today's commissioned artists take a kinder, gentler approach towards their art and their elusive subjects. Mark Dion, for example, explores the boundaries of taxonomy, natural history and science, often challenging and collaborating with experts in the field. Taking a clue from the Sierra Club, he intends to lead a natural history tour of the Tijuana River Preserve in tandem with experienced naturalists.

Inspired by a childhood fascination with Komodo dragons, Dion ventured to Indonesia's Komodo National Park in 2005. He returned two years later. Deeply impressed with the commitment of impoverished park rangers there, Dion decided to create functional art on their behalf, designing an Indonesian-inspired pushcart used by park rangers to haul essential equipment to and from remote work sites.

The Peruvian Tijuana-based architect Giacomo Castagnola designed two rooms where patrons can learn more about sustainable design. The furniture used in the exhibitions lounge was composed of egg crates and recycled paper. "It's about creating a space that's sustainable," he said.

The knowledge that many of these sites are threatened weighs on the minds of patrons. "Many of these parks exist on paper," said the Jenks of the group Rare, which focuses on the underlying reasons for species loss and human factors.

According to UNESCO, 30 of the over 800 World Heritage sites listed are endangered, due to multiple threats ranging from armed conflict to encroaching human habitation.

Marco Ramirez "Erre", a Tijuana-based artist with a background in construction and conceptual art, observed those threats firsthand. He visited the Three Parallel Rivers, a preserve in the southwest region of Yunnan Province in China. The mountainous ecosystem, which borders Tibet, is home to the giant panda. Rugged terrain, 5,000-metre peaks, deep gorges and untamed rivers ensured the region's isolation for millennia.

The biologically rich 1.7-million-hectare preserve is currently under threat from resource exploitation and breakneck commercial development resulting from China's rapid economic boom, which has led to environmental degradation.

Impressed with local building techniques, Erre's installation paid homage to the self-sufficient inhabitants of this once isolated region and to a disappearing way of life, recreating a 20-foot Tibetan-style wall embedded with television panels that depict changes in the built environment and how people live.

The influx of tourism and subsequent industry, he feared, would lead to the Three Parallel Rivers ultimate demise. The artist lamented: "If you really want to preserve a place, don't go there."

Excerpt:

By Enrique Gili
SAN DIEGO, California, Jul 28 2008 (IPS)

Few events elicit the passion evident at the International Comic Con convention, as fanboys and gals descended upon San Diego over the weekend, braving long lines to marvel at the latest creations of their long-standing heroes.

Democratic supporter Jack Robertson stands next to a cardboard cutout of Barack Obama at Comic Con. Credit: Enrique Gili/IPS

Also on the scene were a handful of Democratic activists making a valiant attempt to capture the attention of fans in the throes of Con fever, as both parties try to woo undecided and younger voters leading up to November's presidential election.

"This is right up my alley," said Jack Robertson, a retired toy store owner, speaking of the buzz generated at the Con. A lifelong Democrat and avowed Barack Obama supporter, Robertson is willing to endure long hours under the glare of intense sun to register new voters in the quest to deliver the White House to Obama.

Intent on expanding the Democratic Party's base, he believes registering to vote is much like impulse shopping – something done on the spur of moment but with long-term consequences. "It's all about getting their attention," he said, while competing to be heard over the din of the crowd.

Although he expected to register hundreds of voters over the course of three days, he had his work cut out for him. In the span of time it takes to register a single voter, hundreds more people strolled past.

At the Con, however, it takes more than a presidential election to sway geeks and fans from their appointed rounds. Inside the convention centre, piles of swag ("Stuff We All Get") awaited them. Weighed down with bags of free goodies, fans seemed to be far more focused on the latest merchandise than retail politics.

What began as a modest gathering for comic book enthusiasts 39 years ago has morphed into a media juggernaut. In the year of the Hollywood blockbusters "The Hulk" and "Iron Man", comic books and the people who love them have become a very big business. The comic-book inspired Batman movie "Dark Knight" raked in 155 million dollars over the weekend, smashing a prior box office record set by "Spiderman".

Sensing a shift in popular taste, the entertainment industry has adopted the Con as their preferred stomping grounds. Geek chic has given way to more mainstream consumers. "This is not a flash in the pan," Stan Lee, co-creator of the Marvel universe and industry legend, told a rapt audience on Thursday.

The Con continues to draw increasingly large numbers of mixed crowds willing to spend a lot of time and money in order to catch a glimpse of the next big thing on the horizon. During the course of the four-day Jul. 24-27 event, there was programming to suit everyone's taste and lifestyle.

Panel discussions on the Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay and Transgender community and the contributions of Black artists spotlighted emerging talent. Entire families attended; conversations were held simultaneously in Spanish, English and geek. It's the sort of inclusive big tent approach that has become the hallmark strategy to the Democratic Party for winning elections.

The blogospshere had been abuzz with speculation that Obama might attend this year's convention (he didn't), but his presence at the Con would likely have been met with a collective question mark. As passionate as fans are about the making of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy or the directorial debut of Frank Miller, thoughts about the upcoming election are on the back burner.

Rumours of his attendance elicited responses on Internet bulletin boards such as "must everything be politicised" to mockery. Like much of the entertainment it seeks promote, the Con creates it own self- sustaining feedback loop independent from mainstream media – one that political candidates and grassroots activists have sought to emulate.

"It's fun, it's entertainment, actually it goes a little beyond in that it's one massive pop culture fest," said Christopher Lawrence, the youthful-looking president of Stranger Entertainment, who had dressed as Star Wars' Anakin Skywalker shortly before the character turns to the "dark side".

Lawrence and hundreds more like him have embraced a lifestyle where, in a "galaxy far away", rebel leaders have banded together to resist the forces of the empire. However, any analogies to the current to state of political affairs begin and end there. On the convention floor, there's not much room for the discussion of political agendas.

"Most recently the big argument was can a light sabre cut Superman?… That's never been resolved. The answer revolves around whether the light sabre has a kryptonite crystal in it, or whether or not Superman is close to a yellow sun or not," quipped Dave Filoni, supervising director of the animated movie "Clone Wars".

The mindset of fanboys and fangirls might be hard to change. But not everyone at the Con was quite so flippant. Allison Parkin, 22, has supported Obama's bid for the Oval Office since prior to the Iowa Caucus.

"Everybody in my age group really strongly supports him," she said, lamenting that "younger people really need to be paying more attention".

"Not enough people under 30 vote, which is really sad because the decisions affect our lives more so than our parents or our grandparents," she said.

At least at Comic Con, loyal fans can expect a sequel. The same can't be said of presidential politics.

Excerpt:

By Enrique Gili
SAN DIEGO, California, Jul 8 2008 (IPS)

David Aabo is en route from Peru to New York City after having spent much of the last few years in the South American country investigating opportunities for development that might help local entrepreneurs build a sustainable regional economy.

Like many dedicated surfers, Aabo views the world through the prism of a surfboard stoked on visions of exotic destinations and epic waves. So single-minded, this breed has sometimes derisively been dubbed "surf colonialists" – following an all too familiar pattern of discovering a wave, declaring ownership and moving on, bringing waves of tourists behind them.

During his own travels as a U.S. Peace Corps worker, Aabo observed surfers passing through the fishing town of Lobitos in northern Peru without contributing much to the local economy other than to stop for gas and perhaps buy lunch. Aabo had an epiphany: Why not create a surf camp for surfers with a conscience?

He believes he can recruit them to improve living conditions in the hardscrabble town 17 hours driving distance from the capital city of Lima.

Surfers are often jaded by more conventional modes of travel and too restless remain idle for very long. "I think surfers will get involved for a variety of reasons. They've already been on that trip where they sit by the pool and sip margaritas," he says.

Along with co-founders Daniela Amico and Jim Clark, Aabo launched Waves for Development, a non-profit organisation designed to combine the best elements of surf travel with volunteer service.

In February, Waves for Development launched the first of what they hope to be many surf and volunteer service opportunities for the global traveler – a pilot programme that brought together 38 local Lobitos youth and 12 international volunteers to "build personal and social skills and learn the value of environmental conservation while sharing the surf experience".

Even providing a service as basic as swimming lessons can make a huge difference in the lives of Lobitos residents. The ocean has been off-limits to generations of local fisherman wary of the hazards the Pacific Ocean presents. But this is an ideal teaching opportunity for surfers accustomed to reading the water for hidden dangers.

Their goal is to teach English to students and to produce a generation of Peruvian surfers capable of looking out for themselves both inside and outside of the water. And, in the future, enabling local residents to better control the destiny of their town.

Despite the lack of infrastructure, and frequent power outages, surfers keep coming to Lobitos lured by the promise of riding world-class waves. "It's a rough place to live," says Aabo.

He's hoping to tap into their enthusiasm to promote the town's renewable natural resource – waves, and lots of them. The fishing village is part of Peru's 2,000-kilometre coastline, where pristine beaches remain unclaimed and often empty.

Aabo believes that it in order for the programme to work there has to be an element of reciprocity. "We don't want to be paternalistic. You have to give in order to gain. You give some of your time and give your energy and you gain the use of a surfboard," he says.

This isn't charity work per se so much as an opportunity to participate in Peru's bustling tourism economy. In recent years, tour operators have made concerted efforts to promote Peru's rich biological diversity and cultural legacy of empire and conquest to adventure travelers.

In doing so, Waves for Development is part of a trend towards "voluntourism" that combines travel and volunteering at the destination visited. The phenomenon has become increasingly popular, especially among Gen Y college students and Baby Boomers as they near retirement age. More and more people are dedicating at least part of their vacations to environmental restoration projects or making much-need repairs to ramshackle houses.

Call it the Al Gore Factor, the [Hurricane] Katrina Effect, or the impulse to have an authentic experience not listed in brochure catalogues, it's an aspect of travel that's being seriously addressed at universities and extension programmes such as the Centre for Global Volunteer Service at UC San Diego.

According to a UCSD study, 40 percent of U.S. citizens say they're willing to spend several weeks on vacations that involve volunteer service, with another 13 percent desiring to spend an entire year.

UCSD's study indicated people want to reclaim their travel experience, connect with other people, and not seal themselves off in a bubble of luxury. More than 84 percent stated that helping school children, families and people in poverty were their top interest.

"People are interested at all life stages, there quite a bit of interest from early on to retirement age," says Bob Benson, director for the Centre for Global Volunteer Service.

Voluntourism isn't for everyone. Problems can arise when vacationers' expectations clash with reality. For example, living as the locals do, even for a brief period of time, might involve eating rice and beans three times a day, no flush toilets, or preparing meals that would send an animal rights activist reeling.

However, voluntourism is catching on among high-minded and well-meaning travelers. Word over the wireless coconut is that Waves for Development has the potential to become a highly sought-after programme that the surf community would be wise to invest their time and effort into.

Feedback has been very positive thus far. Global Surf Industries, a major board distributor, has donated 400 surfboards to the Peruvian project. Meanwhile, Aabo and his colleagues are fielding calls from far-flung corners of the surf world inquiring about volunteer opportunities and thinking about establishing surf camps elsewhere in Latin America and Asia.

The impulse is simple: "To surf and do good," says Aabo.

Excerpt:

By Enrique Gili
SAN DIEGO, California, Jun 12 2008 (IPS)

A sinuous coil of murky water winds through the Tijuana River Valley. On each side of the U.S.-Mexican border, residents eye each other warily, caught in the cross-currents of political intrigue and economic polices that make the floodplain seem almost orderly by comparison.

Volunteers Aritz Aduriz and Igor Gabilondo dispose of an old tire. Credit: Alfonso Lopez

However, there's one aspect of border life everyone can agree upon. The region is inundated with trash, the waste of two large cities, illegal dumping and maquiladoras, and is the victim of neglect. Much of the 2,700-square-kilometre watershed is located in Mexico but the terminus is an estuary and Imperial Beach, San Diego, the last and southernmost beach town in California.

At the urging of Benjamin McCue, programme manager for WildCoast, a bi-national wildlife conservation and water quality advocacy group focused on Baja, California, 200 volunteers armed with plastics bags, rakes and shovels recently attempted the seemingly impossible – to clean-up a tiny sliver of the valley set aside as a nature preserve, known as the Tijuana River Open Space Reserve.

"Cross-border pollution is the number one border threat," said McCue. "The threat is not what comes over the fence, it's what comes under it. Pollution affects the health of everyone."

Pollution doesn't respect the border. Each time it rains, a portion of Tijuana's waste flows through the estuary and into the Pacific Ocean, shutting down local beaches for days at a time and affecting the quality of life for residents. Local residents are seeking common ground to combat the problem.

"To comprehensively deal with the Tijuana River, we need to involve everyone impacted from ranchers to surfers to border patrol agents," said Paloma Aguirre, president of the Tijuana River Citizens Council.

Postcard pretty wetlands hide hidden trash. Beneath beds of wildflowers and lush vegetation, the preserve is a catchall for all manner of debris, tires, bottles, and plastic. By mid-morning, volunteers have accumulated enough garbage to fill a shipping container to haul to the municipal dump.

Even as clean-up efforts get underway, certain border realities are difficult to ignore or downplay. Border patrol agents are actively pursuing migrants hiding in the vegetation, leading more than one volunteer to quip it's doubtful "illegals" are slipping across the border to pick up trash.

The magnitude and scope of the pollution problem largely depends on whom you ask.

"I think the perception of industrial pollution is higher than it actually is, not to say there isn't a problem," said Dr. Richard Gersberg, a public health professor at San Diego State University. "It's not like we have major, heavy industry."

Discussions on the root causes of pollution in the valley often lead to debates over who benefits from free trade on the border. Maquiladoras – factories that make goods exclusively for export – form the backbone of Tijuana's economy. Trade agreements like NAFTA have made the city an ideal location for multinational corporations to set up shop, although labour activists have long complained that the conditions at many plants are exploitive and even abusive.

Lured by the promise of jobs, an estimated 50,000 new arrivals settle here each year. Unincorporated colonias then arise to accommodate the influx of people. With nearly 1.5 million people living in the vicinity and a growth rate of 4.5 percent, Tijuana's infrastructure is overburdened. Hundreds of thousands of people in the city are not hooked up to the municipal sewage system, forcing the city to play catch-up.

Twenty-five million gallons of Tijuana's sewage is processed each day, an impressive number except for the fact that only 36 percent of the city has adequate sanitation.

However, the city has made significant strides in meeting the needs of previously underserved communities. Since 2001, 200,000 households have been added to the public utility system. But with hundreds of thousands more residents living off the grid, raw untreated sewage presents an ongoing problem.

It's the kind of scenario San Diego city councilman Ben Hueso finds daunting. "If you think of thousands of homes that aren't plugged into the sewage system, you can imagine them collectively flushing their toilets at the same time [and] what that would cause in terms of run-off," he said.

Much of the overflow winds up in his district, significantly impacting the economy of San Diego's Southbay region. Plumes of raw sewage entering the Pacific Ocean mean beach closures for seaside towns that rely on tourism.

Hueso also acknowledges an unwillingness – some might say an intransigence – on the part of U.S. authorities towards their neighbours. "No one wants to talk about investing money in Mexico when there are so many unmet needs here. That's a political hot potato," he said.

But if you ask the volunteers of WildCoast, they might say that sometimes, doing the right thing means leading by example even if the outcome is far from certain.

Excerpt:

By Enrique Gili
SAN DIEGO, California, Apr 22 2008 (IPS)

As Earth Day celebrations kicked off around the world last weekend, the event has evolved from teach-ins on park lawns into a multi-day media extravaganza replete with corporate sponsorship.

A hanging wall garden in Havana, Cuba, where residents grow much of their own produce. Credit: Zorilla

But as the recent three-year International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) report on food security indicates, if anything, the livelihoods of farmers in both North and South are becoming more and more precarious.

Confronted with rising food and fuel prices and an unpredictable climate, the substance of sustainability will be sorely tested in coming decades if the findings of the IAASTD bear out.

The report highlights the need for a radical transformation of the global food network, which will have to feed an estimated additional three billion people by 2050.

"This report is a wake-up call for governments and international agencies," said Dr. Marcia Ishii-Eiteman, a senior scientist at the Pesticide Action Network and one of the lead authors of the IAASTD report.

"The survival of the planet&#39s food systems demands global action to support agro-ecological farming and fair and equitable trade," she told IPS.

The report calls for a back-to-basics approach that rings true for food advocates, many NGOs, and scientists working on the front lines of food security issues. And while the prevailing model of big, input-intensive agribusiness won&#39t be disappearing soon, there are many innovative projects currently underway to change the way the world feeds itself.

Development in Gardening (DIG): Hospital food has never been famous for its high quality, but the situation at one West African facility was especially bad. Peace Corps activist and health-care worker Steve Bollinger worried that inadequate nutrition was further weakening his patients living with HIV and AIDS. So he and colleague Sarah Koch came up with the idea of DIG, which teaches patients basic gardening skills and how prepare their own meals. They started three kitchen gardens at medical facilities in Senegal, and each lot now produces up to 600 pounds of food per month.

They&#39ve also trained dozens more Senegalese urbanites on how to set up home gardens, a skill that&#39s been lost among city transplants with very little connection to rural life. Home gardens are not only a source of sustenance but provide much-needed income for households often surviving on less than one dollar per day. DIG has plans to expand to orphanages in South Africa and perhaps even Asia.

Tilapia in Brooklyn: As worldwide demand for fish increases, aquaculture is booming. Unconcerned that he lived in the middle of a bustling metropolis, Dr. Martin Schreibman decided to cultivate tilapia, a hardy breed of fish, on the campus of Brooklyn College in New York. He&#39s been doing so for years. Schriebman envisions tilapia as an engine of economic development for regional markets – taking abandoned warehouses, for example, and converting them into urban fish farms.

The advantages of harvesting tilapia are obvious. They are fast-growing, disease-resistant and require very little space to thrive. They&#39re not flesh-eaters, eliminating the criticism of feeding fish pellets to fish, as is often done with farmed salmon. Raising tilapia in tanks also eliminates the contamination associated with penning fish in open water, as fish excretions drift into adjacent areas.

Cheap overseas production has so far hindered the widespread adoption of Schriebman&#39s tilapia project – but he has proven that fish farming can be sustainable in urban areas.

Organoponicos: In 1989, a then four-decades-long U.S. embargo and the collapse of the Soviet Union left Cuba&#39s economy in shambles. Staples like eggs, meat and vegetables became scarce. Moreover, Cuba lacked the cash to import fossil fuels, fertilisers, and pesticides, needed to operate modern farms.

Instead of starving, Cubans began urban farming, stitching together a food system from the nation&#39s decaying infrastructure that wasn&#39t dependant on fossil fuel or crop subsidies.

Today, Cuba is dotted with thousands of organoponicos, urban allotments that produce healthy food at a low cost. Much of Havana feeds itself on locally grown produce. In the process, Cuba has reinvented back-to-basics farming techniques relying on compost, natural pesticides and beneficial insects, producing solid harvests year after year.

Smart Breeding: After decades of research, scientists are discovering plants that have long dormant traits for resistance to disease, drought and blight. Without relying on genetic modifications, it is possible to turn these traits on and off.

Farmers have been tinkering with plants for thousands of years to produce desirable results. It has brought us staples like corn, apples and tomatoes. A better understanding of a plant&#39s genome can speed up the entire process. The technique was first introduced by Nadem Kedar, who cross-bred beefsteak tomatoes that would ripen on the vine and remain firm in transit.

It doesn&#39t stop with tomatoes. Commercial applications hold the promise of applying smart breeding to crops that can withstand extended dry spells and hot, arid conditions. Scientists are looking for ways to produce resilient crops in a manner that pleases both agronomists and food activists.

"Clearly significant gains have been made in terms of productivity," noted Greg Jaffe, director for biotechnology policy at the Centre for Science in the Public Interest and a co-author of the IAASTD report.

"But industrial farming has an enormous environmental footprint. In order to feed current and future generations it has to become more sustainable," he told IPS.

If the benefits of agricultural technology and trade continue to be distributed unevenly between the North and South, much of what has been preserved in terms of biodiversity and open space will be lost as a hungry planet attempts to feed itself – giving Earth Day revelers something to think about.

Excerpt:

By Enrique Gili
SAN DIEGO, California, Jan 14 2008 (IPS)

Environmentally-friendly buildings have evolved from hippy habitats to office towers and shopping centres, becoming a far more commonplace presence in city skylines and communities throughout the United States, as well as overseas.

492-watt solar array being installed on a barn in California. Credit: wdr3

"It&#39s definitely a growing trend. We have more work than we can handle," said Caroline E. Fluhrer, an engineer at the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), based in Boulder, Colorado.

RMI, a consulting and environmental design firm, has observed the change in perceptions firsthand as their roster of clients grows to include corporate titans such as Wal-Mart and even the White House. "People are starting to realise that green building is just good business," Fluher said.

She noted that there is empirical data verifying the overall benefits of sustainable building. "It&#39s no longer just hearsay – there&#39s hard evidence you do realise significant energy and water savings," she said.

The soft benefits of natural lighting and improved ventilation are also gaining credence among advocates who cite reduced absenteeism and better health for building occupants.

Much of that evidence has been gathered by the U.S. Department of Energy in case studies involving the past two decades of green-build projects. According to the DOE, high-performance buildings that incorporate green design principles are worth the initial upfront investment.

Although up to 10 percent more expensive during initial the phase of construction, green buildings are cost-effective in the long run, cutting energy expenses up to 50 percent over the lifetime of the building. The potential for energy savings is even greater for residential properties, providing powerful incentives for owners and developers to consider green options.

For the average wage earner managing a home mortgage, energy conservation isn&#39t a partisan issue. Nationwide, the average home uses 1,400 dollars of energy and emits 4.0 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, accounting for up to 20 percent of greenhouse gases annually.

Recent studies indicate that 60 percent of the U.S. public consider themselves to be environmentalists, and when surveyed 40 percent of homeowners state they plan on incorporating green elements in home improvement projects, running the gamut from using low VOC (volatile organic compounds) emitting paints to retrofitting their homes with solar panels.

So far, government agencies have refrained from defining what an eco-friendly or green building is. That task has fallen to the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), a non-profit organisation founded in 1993 that has grown to include 12,000 members.

Over time, the USGBC developed the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), a widely accepted standard for green building certification. LEED-certified buildings incorporate three if not all of these elements – fuel efficiency, water conservation, proper ventilation, and resource conservation and site management.

"People are looking for ways to turn the clock back on global warming. Green buildings are a demonstrable aspect of that, especially as gas prices continue to go up," said Ashley Katz, a spokesperson for the USGBC.

According to Katz, as of 2007, just 2 percent of homes were green. The value of this marketplace is approximately 7.8 billion dollars. However, growth is expected in coming years. Given forecasts of the overall housing trends, this segment of the housing market is expected to increase to 10 percent by 2010.

"They&#39re really popping up all over the place," said Katz. Grand Rapids, Michigan, for example, has one of the highest numbers of certified projects in the country. Currently, there are 400 LEED certified homes with 10,000 more in the pipeline.

In California, LEED principles are in the process of being codified, and the construction of state government-owned buildings must adhere to green guidelines. Seventy-two cities nationwide are following suit.

Awareness of the global impact of green homes reached a tipping point in 2007 when the normally staid National Association of Homebuilders gushed on their web site that sustainable building is "exploding", and that more than half of their members – who build 80 percent of the homes in the U.S. – will be incorporating green elements in upcoming projects.

Having said that, perhaps the greenest buildings of all will be the projects not under construction. According to the U.S. Census, housing starts for single family homes fell 24 percent over the past year and will continue to decline in coming months, slowing the pace of urban sprawl and reducing the rate of carbon emissions as the transport of labour and materials to and from work sites slows to a crawl.

In fact, while the housing market is slow, green building is one segment of the industry where demand is outstripping supply as homeowners and builders, whether driven by sentiment or pragmatism, seek earth-friendly alternatives to traditional housing construction.

Excerpt:

By Enrique Gili
POWAY, California, Oct 26 2007 (IPS)

Mary Jane Jagodzinzki nervously anticipated the arrival of a busload of building professionals. As it turned out, she needn&#39t have been too concerned.

Solara green housing project in Poway, California. Credit: Enrique Gili/IPS

Energy experts tout Solara as being the largest energy efficient – and affordable – housing project in southern California, if not the United States. The apartment complex represents the merger of two building trends: the desire to design eco-friendly homes, and states creating financial incentives for energy conservation.

In the United States, the average home emits about four metric tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent per person per year – about 17 percent of all U.S. emissions – according to research by the Environmental Protection Agency. "It&#39s not just a matter of engineering, it&#39s a sustainability issue," said Jagodzinski, senior project manager for Community Housing Works (CHW), a nonprofit organisation dedicated to providing affordable housing for low-income families.

Developers face numerous challenges integrating current green technology with the long-term needs of the residents and community. At Solara, the premises are eco-friendly inside and out. Photovoltaic solar panels affixed to the building&#39s rooftops and carports generate 141 kilowatts of power, enough electricity to meet each unit&#39s energy needs.

Ample natural light floods the walkways. Energy efficient appliances, tank-less water heaters and other eco-friendly amenities drastically reduce the apartment complex&#39s carbon footprint.

The 56 units, located on 2.5 acres, give a whole new meaning to the term "low-income housing". The project is no drab concrete tower reminiscent of the fortress-like public housing projects erected during the 1960s. Instead, Solara is a site acclaimed urban planner Jane Jacobs might have been proud of.

Residents live within close walking distance of Poway&#39s shopping district. The cluster of buildings is edged with an edible landscape composed of sage, wildflowers and lemon trees. Many of the two-story units also share a 129-metre boundary with a creek bed and a public park, creating a green space that links the bucolic with the commercial.

Aside from eye-pleasing architecture, Solara&#39s low-impact design also serves the needs of the tenants. Utility bills are non-existent, relieving low-income families of energy bills that can crunch a tight budget.

Given Community Housing Works&#39 mandate to improve the quality of life for low-income households, Solara also comes with an element of social engineering some might call indoctrination. To keep the premises green, the maintenance staff and residents are briefed on maintaining the property consistent with an eco-friendly ethos. Cultural enrichment programmes conducted in English and Spanish instruct children on ways to help heal the planet.

Envious neighbors won&#39t be able to move in anytime soon. Solara&#39s apartments were fully leased within days of becoming available. There are 400 prospective tenants currently on the waiting list. In addition, every applicant is means tested in order to qualify for housing; their incomes must not fall below 30 percent or exceed 60 percent of the region&#39s median household income.

San Diego&#39s housing market is expensive by any standard, having a cascading affect on local residents. Soaring housing costs coupled with low wages puts home ownership out of reach for many people, placing a premium on apartments that families can afford to live in.

U.S. Census data indicate the median monthly housing costs for mortgaged owners was 2,243 dollars, and renters pay 1,154 dollars per month. While the median cost of renting a home increased nationwide by 6.7 percent from 2000 to 2005, San Diego&#39s shot up 27.2 percent, among the highest increases in the country. The average rent in the area is now 1,237 dollars.

While Solara does not offer tenants the option of buying the units outright, rents are much less than on the open market, ranging from 557 dollars for a one-bedroom to 807 dollars for a 304-square-metre three-bedroom, two-bath apartment.

Community Housing Works&#39 own lack of expertise in green building construction didn&#39t prevent them from moving forward. Instead, they hired U.S. Global Green, a Santa Monica nonprofit organisation focused on global warming and nuclear non-proliferation, to provide technical assistance. Global Green helped them keep costs down and obtain the best available technology.

According to Walker Wells, a programme manager for Global Green, they "tried to define what the future might look like", assisting in the design of a building that&#39s very much on the cutting edge without looking as though it belongs on the set of a sci-fi movie, he said.

According to their calculations, Solara&#39s carbon footprint is 95 percent, or 1,880 tonnes, less than a similarly sized, conventionally powered development, equivalent to removing more than 300 cars a year, or planting more than 5,400 trees.

That said, "Going green added 2 percent to Solara&#39s overall budget," Jagodzinski said. And according to her calculations, CHW can expect to recoup the extra expenses in four to seven years, thanks in part to energy savings and subsidies that offset the cost of construction.

Apparently, building it green and affordable has had its advantages. The California Energy Commission, for example, paid for much of the 1.1 million dollars associated with the installation of Solara&#39s photovoltaic solar panels, and an additional 12 million in tax credits and subsidies made completion of the 16-million-dollar project possible.

It&#39s Wells hope that Solara becomes a catalyst for what the future of public housing looks like. Global Green has consulted on 15 similar projects slated for construction or near completion in California. So far, they&#39ve partnered with developers in 20 states to build 8,500 hundred eco-friendly homes for low-income families, as part of a 555 million dollar initiative.

According to the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, there are currently 1.2 million households living in publically-subsidised apartments around the country.

If advocates for low-income housing have their way, green buildings won&#39t just be a novelty for well-heeled and affluent homeowners but a ubiquitous part of the landscape.

(*This story is part of a series of features on sustainable development by IPS and IFEJ – International Federation of Environmental Journalists.)

Excerpt:

By Enrique Gili
SAN DIEGO, California, Oct 4 2007 (IPS)

The scent of portobello mushrooms wafts through the air as two of the three co-owners of Roots prep for their morning customers.

A customer waits for her food at the organic Roots restaurant. Credit: Enrique Gili

At 27 square metres, Roots is a tiny eatery with a big message, one of the few likely to have a web site with a mission statement: "Being community focused, cultivating peace, activism, social responsibility and sustainable practices."

Five percent of the business&#39s profits are also donated to humanitarian and environmental organisations.

The co-owners all walk or commute via bicycles, and expect that most of their customers live within walking distance. Eating light has a whole new connotation for them. It&#39s food that&#39s less travelled that really matters.

Studies indicate that in general, food is traveling farther afield, taking the local farmer out of the equation. In the United States, fresh produce often travels 2,400 kilometres from farm to plate – about 25 percent further than 1980 – according to the Worldwatch Institute.

The proprietors are hoping to capitalise on the latest food trend among eco-conscious consumers to lead carbon-light lifestyles. Sourcing produce from local growers achieves several lofty goals for avowed environmentalists: reducing land miles from farm to plate, supporting local farmers and cutting dependency on fossil fuels, just to name a few.

A practicing vegetarian, Weightman boomeranged from the East Coast after working on a family farm in Pennsylvania for three years. Opening an eatery was second nature for Weightman, who&#39s putting into practice her professional background as a registered dietician with a master&#39s degree in public health. "Working on a farm gave the missing piece of my food background," she told IPS.

Ideals aside, they have more on their agenda than tossing a few salads. Amid E. coli food scares and the obesity epidemic, people are paying more attention to how food is grown and produced. Tapping into the trend of supporting local food movements is one way to make a difference – and run a successful business.

"We&#39re trying to keep things as close to the community as possible and we&#39re seeing a lot of benefits from that," said co-owner Jaime Reed.

The area&#39s longstanding tradition of supporting local farmers and organic produce makes all the difference to Roots. The community supports a weekly farmer&#39s market and a food cooperative. Residents make the connection between wellness and farmers who embrace sustainable practices. Plus they support the idea of preserving open space throughout the region.

While the definition of sustainable agriculture is somewhat fuzzy, basic components include satisfying human needs, and making the most efficient use of natural resources without degrading the land.

With the exception of a few stock items, Roots relies on produce sourced directly from farmers living within a few hours driving distance in surrounding San Diego, Riverside and Orange Counties. The high concentration of farms makes this possible. San Diego is the sixth largest city in the country and has the highest percentage of organic farms in the United States – the vestige of a longstanding farming tradition that predates the advent of the tourism and bio-tech industries in the region.

San Diego&#39s Mediterranean-like climate makes it an ideal place to grow agricultural crops and livestock products. More than 2.6 million people live in San Diego County, and more than 6,000 farmers call it home and make their living on 6,565 small family farms, 65 percent of which are nine or fewer acres in size, according to data from the San Diego Farm Bureau.

The high cost of water (more than 600 dollars/acre foot) and land make farming here expensive and encourage growers to raise products with a high dollar value per acre.

The aptly named Robert Farmer of Moceri Produce relishes his job connecting farmers with chefs and providing a platform for locally grown fruits and vegetables. "I&#39m trying to make it easy for everybody," he said.

A founding member of the Tierra Miguel Foundation, a community supported farm, he&#39s spent the last spent 12 years refining the process of getting fresh produce into the hands of chefs as quickly as possible.

Farmer credits the publication of Mark Pollan&#39s widely-acclaimed book "The Omnivore&#39s Dilemma" in 2006 for changing diners&#39 perceptions about how food is procured and produced. The book has sparked a grassroots taste bud revolution, he contends, causing a chain reaction. Chefs are seeking out local farmers in order to create distinct regional cuisines. The upscale organic supermarket chain Whole Foods has opened its aisles to regional small-scale farmers. People are asking questions, he says.

In response to increased consumer interest, Farmer created the Locals Only programme in July, which ships boxes of produce straight to buyers in San Diego, Orange and Los Angeles Counties. Roughly 80 percent of the farmers he represents use organic practices.

As an advocate of sustainable farming practices, he believes the benefits are both commercial and pragmatic. Using less synthetic chemicals saves farmers money in the long run and certified organic crops receive top prices at market, he asserts. Other farmers fail to see the wisdom of living in close proximity to fields regularly sprayed with potentially harmful chemicals.

According to food analyst Gail Feenstra of the University of California at Davis-based Centre for Sustainable Agriculture, building an alternative food distribution network is essential for the survival of small- and mid-sized farmers.

The statistics are grim. Farms have been in the decline since the 1950s. Food is produced and packaged in such a manner that farmers receive an increasingly smaller percentage of the consumer&#39s dollar. Secondly, agricultural conglomerates control an ever larger segment of the market. Supermarkets, for example, carry more than 30,000 products, but typically, half of the items come from just 10 multinational corporations.

Current farm economics have encouraged "making food as cheap as possible for the most number of people, [and] we&#39re beginning to see the cost of that now terms of health, taste and the environment," Feenstra said.

In response to consumers&#39 concerns, a nascent alternative food distribution network is emerging in California supported by farmers, food activists and entrepreneurs. Local is the new organic.

(*This story is part of a series of features on sustainable development by IPS and IFEJ – International Federation of Environmental Journalists.)

Excerpt:

By Enrique Gili
SAN DIEGO, Jul 5 2007 (IPS)

An industrial park seems an unlikely location to find a native plant garden.

Green Roof System in Toronto, Canada Credit: greenroofs.org

As the founder and president of Good Earth Plant Co., a container plant and design firm, Mumford combines business acumen with the enthusiasm of an amateur naturalist. He wants to turn neglected urban landscapes into green space for workers and wildlife, beginning with his own commercial property in the gritty neighbourhood of Kearny Mesa, San Diego.

According to Mumford, there&#39s 500 million square feet of available commercial and industrial space in San Diego alone. Add to that number the millions of underutilised roofs in hundreds of large to mid-sized cities and you might have enough acreage to seed all the cornfields in Iowa.

Part of the recent trend towards erecting eco-friendly buildings, green roofs are popping up like mushrooms after a spring rain in metropolitan areas throughout the United States and Canada. They are perceived as one solution to soaring energy bills and the need for more green urban space among concrete canyons.

For example, Environment Canada found that a typical one-storey building with a grass roof and 10 centimetres of growing medium would cut summer cooling needs by 25 percent. Other studies have found that a 15-centimetre green roof reduced heat gains by 95 percent and heat losses by 26 percent compared to a traditional roof.

"All of a sudden the environment is part of the mainstream conversation," Mumford says.

A modest 1,800-square-foot building is the first of three structures on Mumford&#39s sprawling property slated for renovation – an undertaking that he&#39s not taking lightly since the project is entirely self-financed. "Through my ass and through my cash," Mumford explains bluntly.

He&#39s calculated the green roof cost to be approximately twice that of tried and true methods of roof construction. But the payoff, he believes, will come in the form of a myriad of environmental and cost-saving benefits.

Inside his office, Mumford has already noticed a marked difference. The drone of single-engine planes taking off from a nearby airfield has been muffled. His expects to save 20 to 25 percent on his utility bills, which over time will help offset the added cost of construction. And rather than redoing his roof every 10 to 20 years, he believes his green roof can last up to 60 years if installed and maintained properly.

Like most fast-growing cities, San Diego replaced its native landscape with black asphalt and gray concrete, leading to an urban weather phenomena know as the heat island effect. A hardscape devoid of vegetation creates its own climate, raising the temperature by 2 to 10 degrees C. in cities compared to surrounding rural areas. That combined with global warming presents a challenge to making cities amenable to humans.

Green roofs are still few and far between in southern California because of the unique challenges they present to landscape professionals. During mid-summer, the surface temperature on Mumford&#39s roof is 170 degrees, rivaling the nearby Anza Borrego desert in terms of heat intensity.

"I couldn&#39t have found a harder project to experiment with," he concedes, listing the soil requirements native plants need to grow and thrive on a small plot of land that&#39s essentially one gigantic flowerpot. "It&#39s hot, windy and dry."

Not content with cacti, he&#39s planted a variety of drought-tolerant native plants noted for their hardiness and low maintenance requirements.

Resembling a raised garden bed, the green roof is a multi-layered polymer membrane overlaid with a plant growing medium used to provide nutrients and retain moisture. The design challenge is to prevent leakage and yet remain lightweight.

Green roofs are not new. Germany began subsidising their construction during the 1960s in order to prevent storm water runoff. Since then, they have morphed from being architectural oddities to comprising 12 percent of the flat roofs in German skylines.

Forward-thinking mayors and planners in the United States are also reimagining what sustainable cities might look like. Portland, Chicago and San Francisco continue to sprout green roofs that keep getting larger in scale and complexity.

The trend has culminated in the construction of a massive green roof resembling a living ecosystem atop the California Academy of Science in San Francisco. The building housing the Academy&#39s natural history collection is making way for a 197,000-square- foot green roof carpeted with plants native to California.

Steven Peck, founder of the nonprofit organisation Green Roofs for Healthy Cities, takes a professional interest in green roofs, studying many of the large-scale projects built in the United States and overseas. He is harvesting data to produce a soon to released cost-benefit analysis.

An economist by trade, Peck understands the difference between what&#39s possible and what&#39s feasible from a public policy standpoint. Without a regulatory scheme that provides incentives to build sustainable cities, green roofs won&#39t have much of a foundation, he says.

Green roofs also have to overcome resistance from real estate developers reluctant to place additional load-bearing structures on roofs, citing fears of flooding and the added costs of construction.

Peck noted that the implementation of green roofs in North America is just beginning to take off. So far, the U.S. and Canada have completed 3 million square feet, versus the 3 billion already installed by German contractors.

Having said that, North America is undergoing a green roof construction boom, with continued demand expected to grow in the double digits well into the next decade

"There&#39s not enough expertise to meet the needs of the market," Peck says. And that has to be good for butterflies and businessmen.

(*This story is part of a series of features on sustainable development by IPS and IFEJ – International Federation of Environmental Journalists.)

Excerpt:

By Enrique Gili
SAN DIEGO, United States, May 18 2007 (IPS)

Southern California has a vast array of transplants lured by the moderate climate and endless days of sunshine, and perhaps none are more exotic than the urban parrots that have come to colonise bedroom communities ringing major cities like San Diego and Los Angeles.

Parrot populations are surging in cities worldwide even as their habitats are fast disappearing in the wild.

Each morning, residents of Ocean Beach, San Diego get an eyeful and earful as small groups of parrots pass through, behaving like rowdy fraternity boys on a pub crawl. They’re seldom alone and almost never quiet. The parrots fly from tree to tree foraging for food, their distinctive squawks echoing through the neighbourhood.

These social birds have found a second home among the swaying palms and towering eucalyptus trees of suburbia, thousands of miles from their native habitats in Central and South America.

Part urban legend, part cautionary fable, the parrots appear to be thriving – and attracting bird lovers and maverick biologists who see a role for urban birds in restoring dwindling parrot populations in Latin America.

Avid parrot enthusiasts Roelant Jonker and Grace Innemee flew here from the Netherlands specifically to photograph and document the exploits of parrots living among urban dwellers. Together they run cityparrots.org, a non-profit organisation focused on the conservation and emancipation of parrots living both in the wild and metropolitan areas.

“It’s never a boring moment, there’s much to learn integrated with so many disciplines,” Junker told IPS.

Their focus, however, is on the urban parrot phenomena. “As cities grow, forests shrink,” said Inemee. They believe city landscapes present a unique opportunity to study parrots and conservation since parrots and various parakeets roam freely in San Francisco, London, New York City, Los Angeles and other places where humans and birds interact, making research easier.

They also prefer city parrots for personal reasons. The Netherlands is home to a pair of spectacular scarlet macaws seldom seen outside the confines of a wilderness preserve. Parrots, they argue, are difficult to study in their native habitats amid the light and shadow of dense forest canopies and often in dangerous and unstable regions of the world.

“We’re traveling all over the world to see parrots,” said Inamme.

These charming monomaniacs are here to attend a conference on parrot conservation in Los Angeles in the hope of getting a pilot programme funded. Their goal is to build urban aviaries in Latin American countries where parrots are currently endangered.

This project occupies a niche otherwise ignored by members the wildlife conservation community, which Jonker contends focuses almost exclusively on preserving species in their native habitats.

To bird purists, the presence of parrots in cities is somewhat frowned upon because they’re perceived to be displacing native species. In Southern California, immigrants from around the world have brought their pets and plants with them, changing the landscape irrevocably.

If not for this human tinkering, parrots couldn’t survive in San Diego. Parrots tend to favour older, more established neighbourhoods with ample green space, choosing tall, mature non-native trees that provide room for nesting and roosting. At dawn, they take off from large roosting trees to forage for non-native figs, dates and avocados. The parrots fan out over a several-mile radius to alight on imported trees planted by local residents.

Residents of Ocean Beach believe the parrots arrived 25 years ago after a pet store burned down, and they never left. The seaside community is now home to a flock of 100 naturalised parrots composed of red-headed conures and stubby-winged amazons.

Jonker is quick to point out that these parrots were never really tame to begin with. Unlike dogs, which have lived with humans for millennia, parrots remain wild for generations even if bred in captivity “They’ll take wing when given the first opportunity to do so,” Jonker said.

In ones, twos, and threes, escaped parrots find each other, relying on the instinctive traits the species has acquired over millennia in the rainforests of Central and South America.

The true origins of San Diego’s city parrots are unknown. More likely than not, they escaped from pet stores, pet owners and even during transport in previous decades when importing wild birds to the United States was part of the legal parrot trade.

Their cosmopolitism, however, is not to be over-romanticised. Successful parrot colonies here represent a terrible loss of wildlife in Central and South America. Trafficking in birds – whether legal or illegal – came at a tremendous price. Between 1982 and 1988, 1.5 million captured wild birds entered the U.S. market, and millions more likely died in transit before the trade was banned in 1992.

According to the World Wildlife Fund, 94 of the 330 parrot species in existence are threatened with extinction, mainly due to habitat loss to and commercial exploitation, making them some of the rarest birds on earth.

Fortunately, the pace of exploitation might be coming to a halt. In October 2006, the EU placed a ban on the wild bird trade amid concerns over the spread of avian flu, preventing perhaps tens upon thousands of wild birds from being captured.

Excerpt:

By Enrique Gili
SAN DIEGO, United States, Apr 19 2007 (IPS)

Behind the double security doors at the California Western School of Law campus is a small, unconventional legal practice embedded inside the academic institution.

Decorating the walls of the Innocence Project are framed newspaper articles of headline-making cases of former clients. Those behind the project – lawyers and law students – have won freedom and exoneration for clients who have spent years behind bars convicted of murder.

The ticket to freedom is often DNA evidence that proves the client did not commit the crime for which he or she was convicted.

DNA is genetic material unique to each individual, and is found in blood, hair and tissue. This “invisible” evidence can be left behind at a crime scene, often unbeknownst to perpetrator.

Since 1989, 14 convicted murderers in the United States owe their freedom – and, in death penalty cases, their lives – to the role DNA played in overturning their sentences. Some of these cases were due to the successful work of the Innocence Project, founded by Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld, pioneers in the use of DNA evidence in criminal cases.

Nearly 200 U.S. convictions for other crimes have been overturned using DNA evidence. The average amount of time the exonerated spent in prison was 12 years. They come from 31 of the 50 U.S. states.

“We’re not fooling anyone when we say, for the most part, the criminal justice system gets it right,” Jeff Chinn, assistant director of the California Innocence Project, told IPS, noting that the system is not infallible and mistakes occur on a regular basis.

He cited faulty eyewitness accounts as one of the principle grounds for overturning prison sentences. The Innocence Project has identified false confessions and dishonest officials as other sources of unjust convictions.

Chinn, a practicing attorney, is responsible for selecting the local cases where miscarriages of justice appear to have taken place. They involve inmates who have exhausted all other avenues of defence in a criminal justice system that has left them financially drained.

The Innocence Project at California Western School of Law has a staff of four full-time attorneys. Chinn divides the caseload between them and 12 students chosen by competition. Currently they are working on more than 50 cases.

Some 25 other university law schools across the United States have similar legal offices belonging to the Innocence Project network.

Chinn estimates that between three and four percent of the U.S. prison population may actually be innocent of the crimes for which they were convicted. In California alone, the numbers of innocent inmates could be thousands, and nationally the figure could be tens of thousands.

There are now 2.1 million men and women prison inmates in the United States, according to the Justice Department. California’s prison population totals about 170,000.

Texas – the state responsible for 40 percent of U.S. executions over the last 10 years – has seen some of the most sensational cases of overturned convictions. Over the past five years, 13 inmates there have been exonerated, according to Chinn.

In the U.S., 37 of the 50 states have capital punishment laws on the books. Also, the federal government can impose the death penalty for certain crimes.

“Each wrongful conviction shows that the justice system is flawed,” he said, noting that in such a system there is always the risk that wrongfully-convicted people might be executed.

Elsewhere in the country, the meticulous work of the Innocence Project activists, especially their success in using DNA evidence to overturn convictions, has given a boost to the campaign for the abolition of the death penalty.

So far Texas has turned a blind eye to the evidence. Twelve of the 13 executions in the United States this year have been carried out in that southern state.

But there are signs of change. On Apr. 15, The Dallas Morning News, the state’s highest-circulation newspaper, called for an end to the death penalty, reversing a 100-year-old stance.

“This (editorial) board has lost confidence that the state of Texas can guarantee that every inmate it executes is truly guilty of murder. We do not believe that any legal system devised by inherently flawed human beings can determine with moral certainty the guilt of every defendant convicted of murder,” it wrote, citing the 13 cases of people exonerated in the state for crimes they did not commit.

“Exonerations keep coming, and the doubts keep piling up,” but the politicians do not react.

The newspaper concluded: “The state cannot impose death – an irrevocable sentence – with absolute certainty in all cases. Therefore the state should not impose it at all.”

On the following day, citing specifically the DNA exonerations, the newspaper called for the death penalty in Texas to be replaced by life imprisonment without parole. “It is harsh. It is just. And it is final without being irreversible,” it said.

Back on the California Western campus, second-year student Taren Kern is working on a case she has been assigned by the Innocence Project. Old-fashioned leg-work and latest advances in forensic science and DNA are at hand to help her overturn convictions.

Each student working on the Innocence Project must be prepared to spend 20 hours a week re-investigating closed criminal cases. They are working on appellate cases that can drag on well beyond their day of graduation.

Over the summer, Kern will switch camps and spend time gaining experience in a state prosecutor’s office. “Even though I might want to be a prosecutor, this experience at the Innocence Project has opened my eyes,” she told IPS. “I would honestly try as hard as possible to look at all the facts.”

It is this facing of facts – the ever-growing number of convictions overturned by the painstaking, meticulous work of a non-profit law organisation – that is playing a role in an awakening in the United States to the fact that mistakes can be made and innocent people may have be sent to the death chambers.

Excerpt:

By Enrique Gili
SAN DIEGO, United States, Apr 13 2007 (IPS)

A low-rise bungalow on a busy street here serves as the world headquarters and nerve centre for Whale Tails, a tortilla chip company dedicated to making healthier snack food – and healing the planet.

At the door stand a woman with a silver mane of wild hair and man with an infectious grin. They are eco-entrepreneurs Ric and Terry Kraszewski, a husband and wife team who are out to change consumers’ opinions about snack food.

The Kraszewskis are part of a growing trend among businesses looking far beyond the bottom line to embrace principles that are economically and environmentally sustainable. Embedded in their value system is the belief that the private sector can bring about positive environmental or social change through leveraging resources.

“It’s a great time to be an entrepreneur in America,” said Ric Kraszewski, who was raised on the counter-cultural ideals of the 1960s. For the couple, both lifelong water lovers who have lived near the Pacific Ocean for 30 years, it seemed only fitting to tie their enterprise to marine conservation.

A day of surf exploration 17 years ago led to the genesis of Whale Tails. Coming down with a case of the munchies, he along with Rick Grant, Whale Tails third co-founder, had a guacamole-induced insight. Why not create a whale-shaped tortilla chip made wholly from organic, non-genetically modified ingredients?

These days, the Kraszewskis have a lot to smile about. After finally securing a trademark on the name in 2005, they launched a niche product that’s steadily gaining traction on the shelves of whole food stores throughout the region and Pacific Northwest.

The Kraszewskis demonstrate the attributes of successful entrepreneurs – total faith in their product and an obsession with detail. At times, jargon like “market penetration” passes Ric’s lips, but for the most part the discussion flows over the trials and travails of launching a small business.

Having perfected the formula for their tortilla chips, they’re now in the process of refining the packaging. Consumers, if they take the time to read the bag between nibbles, ingest inspirational copy with phrases such as, “Whale Tails tortilla chips is dedicated to whales and people like you who want to make a difference.”

Ultimately, they’d like to have a biodegradable bag that forces leviathans in the food and beverage industry to take notice. Getting the 20-billion-dollar a year U.S. snack industry to follow their lead in making a more eco-friendly product would be considered a significant accomplishment. “If it encourages them to make a difference, that would be awesome,” Terry said.

Hundreds of like-minded businesses seem to agree. Membership in “One Percent for the Planet”, a non-profit organisation that matches businesses with environmental groups, is soaring of late.

A network of businesses have joined the alliance “to do the right thing” of putting the environment before profit, as their charter simply puts it. Members agree to donate one percent of their earnings to pre-approved environmental organisations.

“We’re helping them become a powerful force for social change,” says the group’s executive director, Terry Kellogg. The four-year old organisation began slowly, and then suddenly took off. As of this year, One Percent has grown to nearly 500 members, with more businesses joining each day, many of them in the past year and a half.

Kellogg attributes the uptick to the “Bush Effect.” Since President George W. Bush has taken office, news about the environment has gone from bad to worse, he says, spurring the private sector and consumers to take action.

Collectively these businesses and the consumers they serve are known as the LOHAS (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability), a fast growing demographic willing to spend money aligned with their progressive values. According to the publishers of the trade publication LOHAS Journal, the marketplace for these goods and services has undergone double-digit growth in the past few years, and is now ringing up 230 billion dollars in sales annually.

Members offer a myriad of services in many sectors of industry, from organic food to renewable energy.

Still, the size and scope of this market can be misleading. Organic food, for example, accounts for just 2.5 percent of food sales, and .02 percent of the land in the U.S. currently under cultivation. Much of the organic produce needs to be imported or trucked over great distances from farm to plate, leaving a wide gap between what consumers expect and what’s readily available.

But the Kraszewskis view this growing market as a huge opportunity with a tremendous upside. Their tiny chip company has projected sales in the three- to five-million-dollar range over the next few years, of which they have earmarked 10 percent for environmental research, education and preservation.

An informal board composed of marine scientists and non-profit staff members are advising the company. Approximately three to four cents from every bag sold of Whale Tails chips are donated to whale research and marine conservation.

The first such beneficiary was Julio Solis, founder of the recently established Magdalena Bay Keepers, a group based in Baja, Mexico that helps protect Pacific Gray Whales in their breeding grounds. The donation has allowed the Baja Bay Keepers to maintain and fuel their patrol boat, Ric explains, keeping afloat the dreams a small team of environmentalists in real need of money and resources.

Excerpt:

By Enrique Gili
SAN DIEGO, United States, Mar 27 2007 (IPS)

Sandalistas are on the march here to create a homegrown organic food movement, encouraging gardeners to tear up their lawns for healthier, more natural alternatives.

Paul Maschka opens an African horned melon to reveal its psychedelic contents. Credit: IPS/Lance Drill

About 400 people attended a recent conference titled “Cultivating Justice” under the aegis of “Food Not Lawns”, a grassroots organisation that combines gardening with political action. On a sunny Saturday, the guerilla gardening wing of the social justice movement broke bread with foodies to network and share information with other like-minded people who are concerned not just with what people eat, but how they go about procuring food.

The participants belong a growing demographic of Californians dubbed “cultural creatives” who are focused on putting progressive ideals into action not only through social change but by dedicating themselves to healing the planet. Many believe the road to ecological restoration begins with changing their own personal habits.

“People are hungry for information,” said Kate Hughes, one of the event organisers. With workshops on a wide range of topics, the well-attended conference attracted a broad cross-section of San Diego county residents from back-to-the-land hippie types to young campus activists who see a connection between U.S. oil dependence and factory farming.

The San Diego chapter of Food Not Lawns is an offshoot of similar groups based in Northern California and the Pacific Northwest, a region that is home to much of the organic foods movement gaining popularity around the U.S.

Paul Maschka is a local gardening guru, having spent much of his adult life working as a horticulturalist caring for and cultivating thousands of varieties of plants for the San Diego Zoo. The self-styled “dirt cheap gardener” is an enthusiastic proponent of locally raised produce, and grows a wide variety of edible plants in his own backyard, ranging from artichokes to sunflowers.

Maschka’s lecture on organic gardening included a heavy dose of social commentary. “Organic gardening techniques and methods are not taught in Southern California,” he said. To obtain first-hand knowledge, he has sought guidance at demonstration gardens in Santa Cruz and San Louis Obispo, where organic farming practices are far more prevalent.

According to Maschka, the average lawn is a flat, featureless, artificially maintained environment heavily dependent on synthetic chemicals. The chemicals used in lawn care also have a seedy history. Pesticides, for example, are little more than nerve agents derived from stockpiled toxins developed during World War Two, he says.

Lawns are holdovers dating from the Middle Ages when the French aristocracy began converting otherwise productive fields into pleasure grounds, he says. In gardening-mad England, later generations of the bourgeoisie displayed their newfound wealth in similar fashion, planting rose beds and establishing luxuriant green lawns.

This historical trend would have far-reaching repercussions for middle-class home owners in the 21St century who are willing to spend hundreds of dollars every year on the upkeep and maintenance of their lawns. According to a 2002 economic impact study published by the University of Florida, the lawn care and turf industry generated a staggering 57 billion dollars annually and employed 800,000-plus people.

Using satellite and aerial imagery, research scientists from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration have calculated that approximately 162,000 square kilometres of the United States is covered in turf – an area roughly three times larger than any irrigated crop currently under cultivation. And lawns are thirsty, consuming approximately 270 billion gallons of water a week in the U.S. – enough to irrigate 327,000 square kilometres of organic vegetables.

For Maschka, lawns represent a paradox, having the outward appearance of vitality when in fact most of the microorganisms that support plant growth have been killed off. Lawns are fed something on the order of 10 times more pesticides and herbicides than commercial crops, he adds.

“Things have got to change,” agreed Issa Esperanza. The daughter of missionary parents, she grew up running wild in Latin America, climbing trees and harvesting her own fruits and vegetables. Upon returning to the United States, she was shocked to discover the lack of fresh produce. She now has come to rely upon her green-thumbed friends and local farmers’ markets to obtain her greens.

That it doesn’t have to be this way was a sentiment echoed throughout the day. Chef Ron Oliver is a bona fide foodie. As chef de cuisine at the Marine Room, one of San Diego’s preeminent dining establishments, his business is based on pleasing people. The restaurant relies heavily on locally grown produce and the organic output of the 40-acre Blue Sky Ranch, where food and New Age mysticism go hand-in-hand.

“We’re lucky,” Oliver said. At Blue Sky, full-time residents and volunteers consider themselves to be caretakers of the land. Fruits and vegetables are grown according to the season and without the use of synthetic chemicals for the benefit of the Blue Sky community and paying clients.

Oliver says he had own “whole foods” epiphany when his own children reached school age. School lunch programmes follow strict federal guidelines based on caloric intake rather than nutritional value, he says. He decided to participate in the conference to enlist the support of other like-minded people in the hope of building a kitchen garden for the Chula Vista elementary school, where his kids aged 8 and 10 attend.

“If anything, gardening will teach them patience,” he says.

Oliver sees a close connection between the ideals of Jeffersonian democracy and nutrition. He believes people vote with their forks, and if given the opportunity, they would prefer organic. “We’re empowering the companies damaging the planet,” he lamented.

(*This story is part of a series of features on sustainable development by IPS and IFEJ – International Federation of Environmental Journalists.)

Excerpt:

Grass lawns in the United States cover nearly three times more area than any irrigated crop, and consume billions of liters of water per week, say environmentalists.

U.S. organic horticulturists encourage planting fruits and vegetables in the yard. - Photo Stock

In doing so, they're advocating the re-greening of the urban landscape for the sake of food security and social justice.

About 400 people attended a recent conference titled “Cultivating Justice” under the aegis of “Food Not Lawns”, a grassroots organization that combines gardening with political action. On a sunny Saturday, the guerilla gardening wing of the social justice movement broke bread with foodies to network and share information with other like-minded people who are concerned not just with what people eat, but how they go about procuring food.

The participants belong a growing demographic of Californians dubbed “cultural creatives” who are focused on putting progressive ideals into action not only through social change but by dedicating themselves to healing the planet. Many believe the road to ecological restoration begins with changing their own personal habits.

“People are hungry for information,” said Kate Hughes, one of the event organizers. With workshops on a wide range of topics, the well-attended conference attracted a broad cross-section of San Diego county residents, from back-to-the-land hippie types to young campus activists who see a connection between U.S. oil dependence and factory farming.

The San Diego chapter of Food Not Lawns is an offshoot of similar groups based in Northern California and the Pacific Northwest, a region that is home to much of the organic foods movement gaining popularity around the U.S.

Paul Maschka is a local gardening guru, having spent much of his adult life working as a horticulturalist caring for and cultivating thousands of varieties of plants for the San Diego Zoo. The self-styled “dirt cheap gardener” is an enthusiastic proponent of locally raised produce, and grows a wide variety of edible plants in his own backyard, ranging from artichokes to sunflowers.

Maschka's lecture on organic gardening included a heavy dose of social commentary. “Organic gardening techniques and methods are not taught in Southern California,” he said. To obtain first-hand knowledge, he has sought guidance at demonstration gardens in Santa Cruz and San Louis Obispo, where organic farming practices are far more prevalent.

According to Maschka, the average lawn is a flat, featureless, artificially maintained environment heavily dependent on synthetic chemicals. The chemicals used in lawn care also have a seedy history. Pesticides, for example, are little more than nerve agents derived from stockpiled toxins developed during World War II, he says.

Lawns are holdovers dating from the Middle Ages when the French aristocracy began converting otherwise productive fields into pleasure grounds, he says. In gardening-mad England, later generations of the bourgeoisie displayed their newfound wealth in similar fashion, planting rose beds and establishing luxuriant green lawns.

This historical trend would have far-reaching repercussions for middle-class home owners in the 21st century who are willing to spend hundreds of dollars every year on the upkeep and maintenance of their lawns. According to a 2002 economic impact study published by the University of Florida, the lawn care and turf industry generated a staggering 57 billion dollars annually and employed 800,000-plus people.

Using satellite and aerial imagery, research scientists from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration have calculated that approximately 162,000 square kilometers of the United States is covered in turf — an area roughly three times larger than any irrigated crop currently under cultivation. And lawns are thirsty, consuming approximately 270 billion gallons of water a week in the United States — enough to irrigate 327,000 square kilometers of organic vegetables.

For Maschka, lawns represent a paradox, having the outward appearance of vitality when in fact most of the microorganisms that support plant growth have been killed off. Lawns are fed something on the order of 10 times more pesticides and herbicides than commercial crops, he adds.

“Things have got to change,” agreed Issa Esperanza. The daughter of missionary parents, she grew up running wild in Latin America, climbing trees and harvesting her own fruits and vegetables. Upon returning to the United States, she was shocked to discover the lack of fresh produce. She now has come to rely upon her green-thumbed friends and local farmers markets to obtain her greens.

That it doesn't have to be this way was a sentiment echoed throughout the day. Chef Ron Oliver is a bona fide foodie. As chef de cuisine at the Marine Room, one of San Diego's preeminent dining establishments, his business is based on pleasing people. The restaurant relies heavily on locally grown produce and the organic output of the 40-acre Blue Sky Ranch, where food and New Age mysticism go hand in hand.

“We're lucky,” Oliver said. At Blue Sky, full-time residents and volunteers consider themselves to be caretakers of the land. Fruits and vegetables are grown according to the season and without the use of synthetic chemicals for the benefit of the Blue Sky community and paying clients.

Oliver says he had own “whole foods” epiphany when his own children reached school age. School lunch programs follow strict federal guidelines based on caloric intake rather than nutritional value, he says. He decided to participate in the conference to enlist the support of other like-minded people in the hope of building a kitchen garden for the Chula Vista elementary school, where his kids aged eight and 10 attend.

“If anything, gardening will teach them patience,” he says.

Oliver sees a close connection between the ideals of Jeffersonian democracy and nutrition. He believes people vote with their forks, and if given the opportunity, they would prefer organic. “We're empowering the companies damaging the planet,” he lamented.

By Enrique Gili
SAN DIEGO, California, Feb 9 2007 (IPS)

A new breed of prospector is hunting for buried treasure on the sea floor, this time looking for breakthrough drugs derived from the natural heritage of the world’s oceans.

Scientists at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography believe that this vast and unexplored region may hold medical treatments for a host of ailments, from infectious diseases to cancer.

From his seaside corner office overlooking the Pacific Ocean, Dr. William Fenical, director of the Scripps Centre for Marine Biotechnology, presides over a research facility that has discovered more microorganisms in a single teaspoon of ocean water than there are trees in an entire rainforest.

He believes they have the potential to save the lives of millions of people. While most people don’t usually associate medical benefits with poisonous snails (anaesthetics) or prickly horseshoe crabs (insulin), traditional medicine has long recognised the healing power of naturally occurring substances found in the world’s ecosystems.

For example, the discovery of penicillin on slime molds augured a medical revolution with the development of antibiotics, saving countless lives since the mid-1940s.

Indeed, as many as half of all new medicines developed are not synthetically generated in laboratories, but are instead derived from naturally occurring compounds discovered in the wild. Currently there are 120 drugs on the market derived from chemical compounds found in nature. And herein lies the problem. Scientists for decades have relied upon a narrow band of terrestrial life when three-quarters of the earth’s surface is covered in water. And as habitats are lost to the buzz of chainsaws, so do opportunities for new drug discoveries diminish.

Scripps scientists are now turning to the sea for chemically active compounds. “The ocean represents a major frontier for biomedical research. The vast numbers of genetically diverse organisms found in the sea provide an almost unlimited potential for new drug discoveries,” Dr. Fenical told IPS.

Of the 37 diverse phyla of life, only 17 occur on land, yet 34 of the 37 also occur in the ocean and the largest proportion of biodiversity exists in the ocean. There are an estimated 10 million unique organisms – animal, plant and bacteria – living in the sea, and there can be as many as one thousand plant and animal species occupying one cubic yard of water.

During the past 20 years, approximately 12,000 novel compounds have been isolated from marine organisms for a variety of commercial applications from superglues to cosmetics. The diversity of bioactive compounds found in the marine environment is due in part to the elaborate defences and extreme competition among organisms for space and resources.

In recent years, Dr. Fenical and his team of scientists have been exploring the ocean floor, looking for bioactive compounds in U.S. territorial water and investigating natural resources no one has yet to claim or fight over.

Equipped with glorified spring-loaded ice cream scoopers, they harvest nutrient-rich ooze from the primordial ocean bottom, searching for microscopic organisms containing chemical compounds that form the building blocks of drug science research in laboratories.

Ten years of painstaking field research is beginning to yield results. After accumulating a treasure trove of microbes, Scripps’ scientists have identified two cancer-fighting compounds that are in various stages of clinical trials. As of 2006, 30 similar molecules derived from marine sources are in clinical development.

So far, their discoveries haven’t sparked a liquid gold rush. Finding a treatment for disease amid millions of organisms is comparable to extracting a gold nugget from a mountain of rubble. Thousands of hours of lab work might yield one chemical compound with medicinal properties.

Placed in Petri dishes, the specimens are mixed with minute amounts of disease-causing biological agents. The reaction is monitored and analysed, and the results tabulated by research scientists. The system quickly weeds out failures, enabling them to focus only on chemically-active compounds, with minimal human intervention.

This pharmacological version of the “back to nature” movement marks a shift in thinking. During the 1980s, many researchers thought new drugs would come primarily from the biotech field and from labs specialising in designer molecules. But so far, efforts to genetically engineer or synthesise wonder drugs have not yielded the desired results.

“Drug companies have given up on making new drug discoveries for drug development,” said Dr. Fenical.

Although Fenical trolls for microbes in U.S. territorial waters, other researchers have come under fire from developing countries for exploiting natural resources while conferring little or no economic benefit to them.

If organisms are harvested from the seabed in regions beyond national jurisdiction, a legal debate arises. Proponents argue that deepsea genetic material is part of the “common heritage of humankind,” and thus should be subject to a profit-sharing scheme, similar to a law of the sea treaty that was established to split revenues generated from deep-sea mining.

“The IUCN (World Conservation Union) would like to see a practical solution that encourages research and innovation, but recognises on equitable principles that there should be some form of benefit sharing,” said Kristina Gjerde, a high seas policy advisor for the IUCN, the world’s largest conservation network, uniting 111 government agencies, more than 800 non-governmental organisations and some 10,000 scientists and experts from 181 countries.

Dr. Fenical rebuffs the argument that Scripps somehow profits directly from its drug research. “I earn 90,000 dollars a year,” he said, pointing to a spare part scavenged from a desktop computer by way of example of the institution’s frugality.

The Scripps Institution was founded in 1903 as an independent biological research laboratory, and became part of the University of California in 1912. All told, the campus runs 200 hundred research programmes with 1,600 hundred people, and has not grown measurably in size since the early 1900s.

Regardless of who benefits, he sees a vast untapped medical potential for marine microbes, envisioning new opportunities for exploring the genetic diversity of marine life through DNA sequencing that could eventually lead to unprecedented discoveries of new classes of drugs essential to the fight against cancer.

Excerpt:

By Enrique Gili
SAN DIEGO, California, Nov 8 2006 (IPS)

In a conservative industry focused on the bottom line, Patti Mason doesn’t sound like your ordinary bank president. The former airline accountant turned banker is animated while discussing the merits of commerce as a form of economic empowerment.

Reviewing the narrow range of options available to creditors and lenders, she sees a clear need for combining business acumen with a social conscience.

“We’re mixing business with compassion,” she told IPS.

Mason heads Accion San Diego, a non-profit organisation in the U.S. state of California dedicated to providing micro-loans to small businesses and entrepreneurs, who are often on the margins of the business community.

Accion is a licensee of Accion International, founded in 1961 to lift denizens of Brazil’s slums out of poverty. Accion International currently operates in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and parts of sub-Saharan Africa, with eight affiliated offices in the United States.

Peering across a desk crowded with paper, Mason says her job is not much different from her colleagues in more traditional settings. Day-to-day she supervises a staff of eight loan officers and assistants who administer to a steady stream of paperwork from people seeking bank loans.

Accion also provides technical assistance to 350 clients throughout San Diego, Orange and Riverside counties, who would be otherwise cut off from the lending process.

Mason readily admits that in order to be effective, Accion examines each loan carefully. However, rather than turn people away, her staff reviews applications taking a number of factors into consideration beyond the balance sheet, often basing lending decisions on a combination of commercial instincts and business experience.

Mason is analytical without being hard-hearted. “We have 1.7 million dollars on the street,” she said. The money isn’t charity – Accion expects to be repaid, Mason insists.

In the past decade, Accion partners have disbursed 9.4 billion dollars in loans to nearly four million borrowers in Latin America, Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, with an impressive repayment rate of 97 percent.

The San Diego affiliate has achieved similar results, with a delinquency and default rate of just five percent. It has received a four-star rating from Charity Navigator, a national watchdog organisation that evaluates non-profits, for sound fiscal management.

Accion is often the bank of last resort for entrepreneurs who have been denied loans for a variety of reasons elsewhere. Some have a poor or non-existent credit history. Others are simply low-income households, minorities and recent immigrants with no or prior bad experiences with poorly regulated banks in developing countries.

Many banks simply can’t be bothered with the types of loans these borrowers require. The overhead needed to service micro-loans and the profits to be made from them do not make economic sense.

Accion has a cap of 35,000 dollars but many loans are for much smaller amounts, often in the low thousands. The idea is to help turn an idea into a business or spur the growth of existing ones. Much of the money goes to service-oriented businesses with low overhead.

Loans are often made to highly motivated entrepreneurs, like house cleaners, landscapers, seamstresses and shop owners who are simply trying to support their families. Accion approves 90 percent of these loans, said Mason.

One client is the husband and wife team of Jesse and Tess Brown. In order to get a fresh start, the long-term New York residents relocated to San Diego. Balking at the low-wage jobs available in San Diego’s food and hospitality industry, the experienced restaurant professionals started a catering business from their apartment. A subsequent bad restaurant deal proved to be fiasco.

They faced a predicament common to most start-ups. Without an established track record or tangible assets, the Browns struggled to secure financing that would enable them to expand their business beyond the kitchen table. In need of capital, they turned to Accion after other banks denied their loan applications.

Although the bid to salvage the restaurant failed, their catering service continues to do well. They also opened a high-end chocolate shop that serves double duty as a meeting place for new catering clients and for walk-in customers with a sweet tooth.

Jesse Brown admits he’ll have to make a lot of chocolate before the ritzy retail space turns a profit. But he doesn’t regret the decision to become self-employed. “For myself, I’d go to almost any length to continue doing it,” he said.

The goal at Accion is to put businesses like the Browns’ on the path towards viability. Instead of treating cash-strapped entrepreneurs like credit pariahs, Accion envisions business ventures with employees and assets.

“We’re looking to build a long-term relationship with Accion,” said Brown. So far they’ve borrowed 10,000 dollars and have partially repaid the loans that enabled them to cover their expenses.

Still, it’s a small amount compared to what they need to expand their enterprise. Brown points in frustration to his two stirring machines. “People have approached me with orders in the magnitude of the tens of thousands, [but] our business has nowhere near that capacity,” he said.

Designed to combat poverty in developing countries, micro-lending is gaining greater awareness in the United States, especially among high-tech mandarins willing to do something altruistic with their wealth in a manner that favours giving a hand-up rather than a handout.

For example, the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation recently awarded 5.8 million dollars to Accion International for projects in India and Africa, the largest such grant in Accion’s 45-year history.

On Nov. 12, 2,000 delegates from 100 countries will gather in Halifax, Canada to discuss the future of micro-financing in the developing world, with the stated goal of lifting 175 million of the world’s poorest families out of grinding poverty by 2015.

This year, Muhammad Yunus and his Grameen Bank were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for pioneering micro-lending programmes that have been emulated worldwide.

Translating those achievements to U.S. markets is like “comparing apples to oranges”, said Mason. But she acknowledges there is something universal in their goals: “We’re making a difference for people who don’t have money.”

Excerpt:

By Enrique Gili
SAN DIEGO, California, Oct 16 2006 (IPS)

Oregon’s spectacular coastline could become the United States’ centre for wave energy development in coming years, with plans underway to install power buoys in locations with enough potential to meet the state’s future energy needs.

Electrical engineers at Oregon State University are developing electricity-generating buoys they believe will be a key component for clean, green wave power. Their objective is to convert the Pacific Ocean’s heavy rolling swell into a renewable energy resource., relying on buoys to harness the near constant rise and fall of waves to produce electricity.

“Waves generate energy through motion,” said Dr. Annette von Jouanne, an electrical engineering professor at Oregon State University (OSU).

The OSU project is part of a renewed global effort to investigate wave and tidal power as a potential source of alternative energy, she noted.

“Oregon is an ideal location,” von Jouanne added in an interview.

Along Oregon’s 460 kilometres of open coastline, waves average 1.5 metres high during the summer months and 3.5 metres during the winter.

To achieve their goals, von Jouanne and her colleagues at OSU have designed several types of power buoys, including oscillating linear generators they refer to as “direct drive” technology.

“The devices directly convert the linear motion of the wave into electrical energy without any hydraulic or pneumatic stages,” von Jouanne said.

The upshot is a submersible buoy that can produce electricity without the risk of corrosive salt water wreaking havoc on its internal parts, and which is capable of withstanding the constant wear and tear of moving water that causes most machines to break down.

The buoy is composed of copper wire sheathed around a magnetic shaft made from high-density, rare earth materials, housed in a watertight chamber that forms an impermeable barrier. Tethered to the ocean floor with a heavy cable, the shaft remains fixed in place as the outer section bobs up and down in the water. That motion, coupled with a magnet moving through the center of a copper coil, generates electricity.

Today, wave energy is undergoing a revival not seen since the OPEC energy crisis of the 1970s. At that time, ocean energy enjoyed a brief period of notoriety, as oil supplies slumped and the price of crude skyrocketed. However, interest waned as prices for fossil fuels dropped and incentives to develop alternative energy supplies evaporated.

“Wave energy is still in its infancy,” said Justin Klure, a senior energy advisor for Oregon State. In order for ocean energy resources to be viable, advances need to be made in the technology and wave energy must be made affordable to consumers, he said.

Nevertheless, Oregon is committed to developing renewable energy resources in order to cut overall greenhouse gas emissions and reduce the state’s dependency on hydropower and fossil fuels. In the long term, 25 percent of Oregon’s energy supply will come from wave, solar, and wind power, Klure said.

These efforts reflect renewed interest in the United States and elsewhere to use wave and tidal power to reduce fossil fuel dependency and to develop alternative sources of energy. Energy experts claim that harnessing just 0.2 percent of the ocean’s untapped energy would meet the entire planet’s power needs.

Currently several energy projects are underway to test the feasibility of wave and power in Hawaii, Portugal and England. Klure compares wave power favourably to wind technology when that industry was in its earliest stages of development 15 years ago. When specialists began advocating the use of wind power for large-scale energy projects, modern-day wind farms were a promising though untested technology.

Initially, wind turbines were expensive to produce and unwieldy. Over time, their fabrication, design and efficiency improved dramatically.

With the development of von Jouanne’s prototypes and plans for a wave farm near Gardiner, Oregon hopes to become the epicentre for a new industry focusing on wave technology. Not only will Oregon become less dependent on fossil fuel and hydropower, but in the process become the “Boeing” corporation of wave energy technology, bringing investment and jobs to the region, said Klure.

Western Oregon’s paucity of sunshine also makes wave technology appealing to state regulators. Water is 800 more times dense than air so the amount of energy extractable from ocean power is exponentially that much greater. Also, when compared to wind and solar power, waves are more consistent. Incoming swell can be predicted with 80 percent accuracy and is virtually constant.

A buoy measuring three metres high, bobbing up and down in the ocean, could produce 250 kilowatts per unit – meaning a modest-sized network of about 200 buoys could illuminate the downtown business district of Portland.

Theoretically, a grid of wave farms established along Oregon’s shoreline could produce most if not all of the state’s energy needs. However, the state’s renewable energy objectives are far more modest, with an overall goal to produce 500 megawatts of wave power within 20 years.

However, plans for wave power remain just that. Before wave farms are fully implemented, renewable energy has to be balanced with concerns over the impact on marine resources and the effect on tourism and the recreation industry.

Power buoys could pose their own unforeseen threat to wildlife. If those concerns are dealt with, Oregon’s clean green wave power could lead the nation in developing renewable energy resources.

(*This story is part of a series of features on sustainable development by IPS and IFEJ – International Federation of Environmental Journalists.)

Excerpt: