Stories about Environment from April, 2011
India: Kerala’s Debate On Endosulfan
As the debate on the pesticide EndoSulfan is gaining momentum in the Stockholm Convention in Geneva; Kerala, the southern state of India is up in arms online and on the streets for pressurizing the Indian Government to favor the ban.
Barbados: Barrow's Beach
Mullins Bay Blog wonders how one of the country's national heroes “would…have graded his heirs and successors, …who sat idly by and did nothing as the sand disappeared and coconut trees were unearthed and toppled at Kings Beach.”
Colombia on Red Alert After Heavy Rains
Colombia is on red alert due to heavy rains. Residents of 28 departments suffer extreme hardship: flooding, landslides and sudden increase in rivers and streams have left more than three million five hundred thousand victims.
China: Farmer Hangs Himself in Desperation
Olivia from ChinaHush reports on the vulnerable situation Chinese farmers are facing in the market. A recent incident has been the suicide of a 39 year-old farmer, Han Jin.
Bahamas: Shark Tales
Bahama Pundit‘s Larry Smith shares some good and bad news about sharks.
Russia: New round in the TNK-BP row
Streetwise Professor points to the parallel buyout of a partner in TNK-BP oil company by the Russian state oil company Rosneft and British Petroleum, with the abolition of a tax release, possibly resulting in decreased company value for the upcoming sale.
Ukraine: Memories and Photos of Chernobyl in August 1986
Aleksandr Strannik (LJ user av-strannik) arrived at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in mid-August of 1986, some four months after the April 26 blast at Reactor #4, to assist in the clean-up effort. Twenty-five years later, he is sharing some of his memories and photos from that time.
Malaysia: Solar energy program
Gan Pei Ling writes about the prospects of the solar energy program in Malaysia.
Ukraine: Stories From the Charity Walk to Chornobyl
Liudmyla Bulychova guestblogs at UK Ambassador Leigh Turner's blog about Charity Walk to Chornobyl, which was held on April 22-23. More stories [en, fr] and photos – here.
Ukraine: “Twenty-five years ago – Chornobyl – Where were you?”
uaMuzik and Nash Holos blog about the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl catastrophe.
Colombia's Harsh Winter
Global Voices author Lully Posada writes in equinoXio [es] about winter in Colombia and the strong rains that have left more than 3 million victims.
Madagascar: Here We Go Again with Land Grabbing, minus the Outrage
Tananews reports that the government of Madagascar leases out land for 50 or more years at prices as low as $15 per acre a year (fr) to Indian farmers (via the IndiaTimes). The blog wonders why such stories fail to stir up the same outrage at the national and international...
Peru: Hydroelectric Projects in the Amazon Under Discussion Again
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) requested the suspension of Brazil's Belo Monte hydroelectric dam, reopening the debate in Peru on similar projects and their impact on the Peruvian Amazon communities. In Peru, the most publicized hydroelectric megaprojects are the Inambari and Pakitzapango centrals, included in the Peru-Brazil Energy Agreement signed last year.
China: The Rich Are Fleeing
A new survey conducted in part with one of China's biggest banks suggests that large numbers of wealthy Chinese have over the past two years begun moving their assets overseas, and gaining foreign citizenship in the process. If China is so bad, some wonder, now having lost all this capital and talent, is it about to get even worse?
Trinidad & Tobago: Destroying Food
B.C. Pires blogs about “the Housing Development Corporation’s bulldozing of several acres of crops ready for harvest in Trinidad.”
Russia: Eco-bloggers and Journalists Learn to Solve Environmental Problems
The first international forum of eco-bloggers and journalists took place in Moscow on April 18-19. The forum aimed to create an international community of people writing about environmental issues and deploy the power of new media to help overcome the challenges in the field.
Mexico: Northern States Hit by Wildfires
Alejandro Ortiz Sotomayor in Vivir México [es] shares a photo by Jorge Alberto Mendoza Mariscal which shows the work of Mexican firefighters as they try to control a “Spring” wildfire in northern Mexico.
Peru: Analyzing Alternative Energy Sources
In Grupo Futuro Perú [es], Araceli Pinto Corrales looks at Peru's “energy future” and discusses wind energy and biofuels as options to meet Peru's growing energy needs.
Bangladesh: Rolling Blackouts and Life
Aminul Islam Sajib describes how the energy crisis and the load-shedding (rolling blackouts) are affecting the lives of ordinary Bangladeshis in the scorching heat of summer.
Belarus, Ukraine: “Chernobyl: The First Month”
At OpenDemocracy.net, Barys Piatrovich, a Belarusian writer and journalist, recalls the first month after the Chernobyl catastrophe of April 26, 1986: “It was difficult for me to write this text. I've been working up to it for over twenty years. More than once I have started to write but given...
Arab World: On Revolutions and Capitalism
For days, my tweeps have been retweeting thought nuggets from the Twitter account @_Capitalism_. Here, I will select a handful of reactions to the on-going Arab revolutions.
