Ecobreves – MEXICO: Criticism for Website on Air Quality

The launch of a webpage (http://proyectos.aequum.org/proaire/) to collect citizen proposal to improve air quality in the Mexico City metropolitan area has left some environmentalists doubtful.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Environmental Law Reform Begins

Honduran ecologists, archeologists and architects are debating in Parliament the reforms to the General Law on Environment, dating back to 1993, in order to adapt it to the new realities of climate change, deforestation and housing construction.

RESPONSIBILITY IN THE AGE OF CATASTROPHE

Even Pangloss from Voltaire's Candide, with his incurable optimism, would find today's world hard going. Nature and humanity have let loose their respective demons and no one can rein them in. In many areas, the earth has battered us repeatedly with cyclones, tidal waves, earthquakes, floods, and most recently the eruption of a volcano in Iceland that shut down airports across northern and central Europe. It is a sad and unprecedented spectacle.

GARZON, JUSTICE, AND MEMORY

"For the dead man here abandoned, build him a tomb." Sophocles, Antigone (442 A.D.)

We Can Live Without Oil, But Not Without Flora and Fauna

The latest global study on biodiversity outlines what could be "the sixth great extinction event of life on Earth" and predicts the tipping point of the Amazon rainforest's transformation into savanna.

Forced Eviction from Rio's Slums Echoes Dark Past

The tragic landslides this year in the steep hills of Rio de Janeiro brought to light an official plan to relocated impoverished neighborhoods - a move that experts criticize for failing to consult the residents affected, and for being authoritarian and ineffective.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: When the Internet Saves Energy

A new Internet-based control system developed in Brazil allows greater energy efficiency in public buildings, homes and machinery.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Food Aid Arrives

The drought that affects some 150,000 people in six of the 18 departments in Honduras has led to stepping up aid with the support of the World Food Program, Lisandro Rosales, coordinator of the government's Permanent Contingency Committee, told Tierramérica.

Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: Seeds to Restore Burned Forests

A government program for tree seedbeds, with community participation, began last week in Mochima National Park and the coast and islets of northern Venezuela.

Ecobreves – CUBA: Simple Device to Economize Electricity

Cuba has begun producing devices made from clay to be placed in household electric ovens to help save energy, company officials from the factory in the coastal municipality of Gibara told Tierramérica.

EUROPE AT 60, IN CRISIS

On Sunday May 9, the European Union (EU) turns 60. Decades ago, to become a sexagenarian meant to cross the line towards old age. Today it is simply to start a third act of a professional and personal life, in which one cannot afford to make a fool of one's self. At 60, one has to be serious and responsible. The EU has to honour its birthday.

NOW A GLOBAL PLAYER, THE SOUTH MUST DEVELOP ITS MEDIA

There is a striking asymmetry between the new political and economic world order that has been emerging from the South over the last five years and the relative immobility of the international system of information, which only partially reflects the major transformations of our age.

SOVEREIGN GOVERNMENTS VS. LORDS OF FINANCE

If governments don't work together and face down the bankers who operate the global casino, the dominoes will start falling, one by one.

Big Southern Eye in Search of Extraterrestrial Life

Chilean scientists are touting the benefits of the European Southern Observatory's choice of this country for a site to scan the far reaches of the universe.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Mining Co. Sued for Polluting

The Honduran Environmental Prosecutor Aldo Santos reported that the mining company Entremares, subsidiary of the Canadian consortium Glamis Gold, will be charged with polluting the central valley of Siria and of hiding information from the authorities.

Ecobreves – MEXICO: Incentives to Modernize Public Transport

A loan from the World Bank will allow Mexico to plan public passenger transportation and promote it as an alternative to the traffic jams of individual cars that are a problem in at least 40 cities in this country with a population of more than 500,000.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Freshwater for the World

The Amazonas Aquifer, the largest known in the world, is a strategic reserve of potable water, say Brazilian authorities.

Colombian Forest Project Reaps Credits… and Criticism

A program to plant trees in Colombia's coffee-growing basin is facing criticism from environmentalists, though it was just certified by the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto climate treaty.

Saving the Condor – A Mission Possible

The condor appears on Ecuador's national coat of arms and is in danger of extinction. But efforts at nurseries and conservation at different sites across the country intend to reverse the giant bird's endangered status.

WASHINGTON AND EU-LATIN AMERICAN RELATIONS

Washington seems rather uninterested or at least unconcerned with what Europe, collectively as the European Union or country by country, could do in its relations with the rest of the Americas. In reality, this attitude is a reflection of a drop in US interest in what lies to its south as a result of the urgency of action in other areas, like the Middle East and China, and terrorism in general.

AN URBAN LEGEND ABOUT INTERNATIONAL TRADE

Economists have long analysed trade, why nations need it to prosper, and what governments do to reap the gains while managing the costs. But if the economics of trade policy are clear, the politics of trade are highly complex. Trade policy, like so many other areas of policy, has ramifications on how resources are distributed, and this inevitably creates competing interest groups within society.