Ecobreves – CHILE: Environmentalists on War Footing

More than 70 national and foreign organizations together issued a public statement in opposition to the proliferation of open-pit coal mining projects in Chile, citing their disastrous environmental consequences.

EUROPE-LATIN AMERICA: CLOSE IN TRADE, WORLDS APART IN NEWS COVERAGE

While a considerable portion of economic and trade data shows that relations between Europe and Latin America are positive, reinforcing their historic cultural closeness, for some time now news about Latin America has been a low priority for the European media, which is effecting the thinking of the leaders and citizens of the old continent and pushing Latin America in a direction that runs contratry to European interests.

ADVICE FOR BILL GATES, WARREN BUFFET ON GIVING MONEY

I join with many in applauding the leadership of Microsoft's Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett in challenging their fellow philanthropists to pledge 50% or more of their fortunes to charity in their lifetimes. In their secret "first supper" in May 2009, they invited David Rockefeller to co-host a group of billionaire peers, George Soros, Ted Turner, Oprah Winfrey, Michael Bloomberg, Peter Peterson, Julian Robertson, Charles Feeney, California couples Eli and Edythe Broad, John and Tashia Morgridge and David Rockefeller, Jr. The Gates and Buffett are already on the right track with the focus of their grants in Africa and other developing countries and on education. They can help steer their billionaire friends to go beyond funding "vanity" buildings at elite western universities. This type of self-serving philanthropy is embarrassingly passé. Also passé is coziness with existing elites who made their fortunes from the legacy companies and technologies of the fossilized sectors: coal, oil, petrochemicals, steel, gas-guzzling autos, massive-scaled industrial agriculture, big pharmaceuticals, all still subsidized as is nuclear power. Bill Gates can drop the self-serving American Energy Innovation Council lobbying the US Congress for $16 billion of additional subsidies for unnecessary research on "clean coal," carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) and more nuclear power. US Energy Secretary Steven Chu, a Nobelist physicist, must know that such "investments" are misguided and waste more taxpayers' money. Coal can now be phased out with abundant US natural gas and combinations of wind and solar installations. Nuclear energy, heavily subsidized since its inception, is still the most inefficient, expensive and hazardous way that humans have ever devised to boil water (what all power stations do to drive their turbines). Special interest pleaders, like the American Energy Innovations Council that recruited Bill Gates, are part of the incumbent industries lobbying to prevent the great transition from the fossil-fueled Industrial Era to the information-rich, cleaner, greener Solar Age.

Conservation Can Be a Weapon Against Poverty

In the Sierra Gorda, in central Mexico, a new approach is being tested for protecting the environment in a way that also ends poverty.

Nature vs. Nurture in Forest Recovery

Some experts disagree with the German government's plan to extend virgin natural areas, saying it will open the way for pests. Supporters say it will help protect biodiversity.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Self-Sufficient Streetlights

A self-sufficient streetlight created by engineer Fernando Ximenes, of the northeastern Brazilian state of Ceará, could save up to 21,000 reais (11,280 dollars) per kilometer of public lighting.

Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: Referendum on Agro-Chemical Plant

Residents of Casilda, in the eastern Argentine province of Santa Fe, will gather at the voting booths in July to vote on whether an agro-chemical factory can be built in their town.

Ecobreves – MEXICO: Wanted: Plan to Fight BP Oil Spill

Mexican environmentalists are demanding that the Felipe Calderón administration do something to prevent the massive oil spill off the U.S. coast in the Gulf of Mexico from reaching this country's coast.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Communities Take Over Forest Management

Two communities in the west-central Honduran region of Orica will be in charge of control and management of 496,000 hectares of forest as part of the benefits granted under the March 2008 Forestry Law.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Logging Town Halts Deforestation

The Green Municipality program in the district of Paragominas, in the northern Brazilian state of Pará, is held up as an example for having dramatically reduced deforestation, planting 50 million trees and standardizing rural properties -- which means better environmental regulation.

Ecobreves – CUBA: Quake Alert Continues

Cuba has beefed up its system of prevention for dealing with a major earthquake disaster after the series of temblors that followed the tragic January quake in nearby Haiti.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Agatha Cost 72 Million Dollars

Tropical storm Agatha left a wake of destruction in her path across Honduras three weeks ago, causing 72 million dollars in losses in farming and road infrastructure, say officials.

Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: Yellow Butterflies Return to Caracas

The yellow butterflies have returned, after a harsh dry season, as the rainy months begin in the valley where Caracas is located. These insects have been absent for nearly three decades as a result of urban sprawl.

Natural Heritage of the Honduran Caribbean on a Tightrope

The great biodiversity of a protected area on the Honduran Caribbean coast is at risk, despite the efforts of a handful of residents and local institutions.

Río de la Plata Under Land-Based Attack

The waters of the Río de la Plata (River Plate) estuary flowing into the Atlantic Ocean suffer the effects of poor management along the Uruguayan coast, though there are some signs of improvement.

A MORE BALANCED AND INCLUSIVE GLOBAL ECONOMY

This time last year, the global economy had reached the nadir of the financial and economic crisis. Since then, a succession of optimistic commentators, media reporters, economists and others has been pointing to the strength of the recovery: the resurgence in stock markets, the restoration of bank balances, and the reversals in growth rates. At the same time, data have emerged describing the full impact and cost of the crisis, particularly for developing countries, including an increase in unemployment, an additional 53 million people falling below the poverty line and over 100 million more going hungry.

GULF COAST: THE HUMAN COST OF BP TOXIC TSUNAMI

When Gulf Coast resident Louise Bosarge heard President Obama refer to her community as "resilient," her response was poetic: "We bounce back. We always bounce back. Bouncing hurts."

“Pause” Farm Expansion in Gran Chaco, Say Activists

Paraguayan authorities admit they are powerless to stop the advance of ranching and soy farming into the forests of the Gran Chaco, which his home to more than half of the country's indigenous peoples.

“Sustainability Is Paramount for Latin American Development”

A strategic plan with a new vision is needed to stop the dramatic loss of biodiversity, which is especially high in Latin America, says Margarita Astrálaga, UNEP regional director, in this Tierramérica interview.

How to Hurricane-Proof a Caribbean Island

The community on Cuba's Isla de la Juventud is preparing for another hurricane season, one that could be more intense than ever.

Ecobreves – MEXICO: United Against GM Maize

Farmers organizations and academics from three public universities in Mexico created an alliance to promote native maize and to reject the introduction of genetically modified varieties of this crop.