Ecobreves – CHILE: Mining Project Has Town on Alert

The Chilean town of Tierra Amarilla, 805 km north of Santiago, has filed numerous observations about the Caserones copper mining project, of the Japanese firm Lumina Copper, as part of the environmental impact assessment process.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Peasants Join the Biodiesel Market

Peasant farmers of the Salamá cooperative in the northern Honduran region of Tocoa have achieved a three-year dream: their own biodiesel production plant to supply the local market.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Supermarkets Promote Eco-Friendly Shopping Bags

The Brazilian supermarket chains Bompreço, Hiper Bompreço and TodoDia, concentrated in the nine states of the country's Northeast region, have begun discount programs in their 131 stores for shoppers with reusable or returnable bags.

Hints of Sustainability at Cancún Resorts

Cancún, a resort destination in Mexico, began to lose tourists who were demanding a more natural vacation. As a result, several companies have set out on the path towards a more sustainable hotel industry.

Can Ecotourism Be More Than an Illusion?

Tourism has a paradox at its core: it has revealed natural wonders that humanity realizes it cannot allow to disappear, but at the same time humanity has put those very natural wonders in danger, say experts.

MISGUIDED PHILANTHROPY CANNOT FEED AFRICA

The biotech industry is using the increase in global hunger as a tool to win support for GM crops. Its tactics of "poor washing" (we must accept genetic engineering to increase production and improve livelihoods of farmers) and "green washing" (biotech is environmentally friendly and will help counter climate change) have won favor with the misguided philanthropic community as well.

LATIN AMERICA: LEFT OF THE WORLD

The victory of Mauricio Funes, El Salvador's president elect and candidate of the Farabundo Marti Front for National Liberation (FMLN), completes a striking movement to the left in Latin American politics. The configuration of the continent had steadily shifted since the time the majority of countries emerged from military dictatorships and elected centrist or conservative governments. Today, with the exception of Mexico and Colombia on one side and Cuba on the other, the continent is governed by either the moderate left with social democratic leanings or by neo-populists. And then there is the Dominican Republic, which is governed by liberals with social concerns.

AFRICA COULD LOSE BIG IN ECONOMIC PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENTS WITH EU

Given the way the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) negotiations have been based on the requirement for reciprocal market opening with the European Union (EU), they are likely to bring more losses than gains for Africa and make the path to development even more difficult than it already is. For this reason, the South Centre recommends an alternative approach.

Making Eco-History in a Brazilian Beach Town

Waste composting has opened a new path for a southern Brazilian beach destination towards its goal of becoming a "sustainable city".

Nobody Is Predicting Cleaner Air for Santiago

Santiago prepares for a winter predicted to be at least as harsh as last year in terms of air pollution.

Ecobreves – MEXICO: Eco-Friendly Refrigerants – Finally

Propane and butane gas-powered refrigerators, which contribute very little to climate change and don't harm the ozone layer like traditional refrigerators, will hit the market in Mexico this month.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Paper from Recycled Plastic

Researchers at the Federal University of São Carlos (230 kilometers from São Paulo) have created a synthetic paper, made from recycled plastic, that is useful for products that need resistance and durability, such as sign banners, packaging material and school books.

Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: Nature Preserve Left Unprotected

An environmental group in Argentina is calling for the protection of a nature preserve near the city of Mar del Plata, a popular tourist destination in the province of Buenos Aires, where biodiversity is under threat.

LIBERATION THEOLOGY IS MORE VALID, AND MORE NEEDED, THAN EVER

Since its beginnings in the 1960s, Liberation Theology has adopted a global perspective, focusing on the conditions of the poor and oppressed throughout the world, victims of a system that thrives off the exploitation of labour and the plundering of nature. The system exploits the working class and the weakest nations. It also represses those who oppress and thus violate their own humanitarian impulses. In a word, everyone must be freed from this system that has continued for almost three centuries and has been imposed across the planet.

THE NEW FINANCIERS

In today's global financial crisis, the question inevitably arises, Who will the new financiers be?

Brazil's Concrete Jungle

Rio de Janeiro is being populated with yacaré caimans, capybaras, boa constrictors, monkeys, and other wild animals. Could the jungle be sprouting back up again through the concrete?

Ambitious Polar Satellite Still in Planning Stage

If everything goes according to plan, in November the European Space Agency will launch CryoSat-2, in what will be the second attempt to put a polar satellite in orbit to explore the state of the earth’s cryosphere.

Ecobreves – CUBA: Transgenic Crop Production Begins

Cuba has started planting transgenic corn as part of a field trial to obtain seeds to be used in food production.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Environmental Services to Prevent Amazon Logging

Investing in environmental services would stave off deforestation in 13 million hectares of Brazil’s Amazonia at least until 2016, according to a book presented by the Ministry of Environmental Affairs, which sets criteria for calculating compensations.

Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: The 10 Commandments of Energy Efficiency

The environmental organization Vitalis called on Venezuelans to adopt an “Energy Efficiency Decalogue” to help mitigate global warming.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Risk Management Act to Be Debated

The Honduran Congress is set to discuss a risk management bill that will replace the current three-decade-old regulations on the subject.