Can we get countries to trade short-term development for long-term sustainability? This will be a crucial question in the next 20 years of politics. If the answer is ‘no’, we are in for some significant trouble. This very question is being directly asked over the past few months with the Xayaburi dam controversy along the … Continue reading »
Posted in July 2012 …
Elephant Killing on the Rise, how will CITES respond?
The Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES) has been active in managing ivory from elephants and rhinos since the mid-1980s. It has been a contentious debate at times which has resulted in a developed system for monitoring illegal trade, some positive conservation in South Africa and Zimbabwe (and others, but not all), and … Continue reading »
Violence around anti-mining protests leaves 3 dead in Peru
As I wrote a few days ago, anti-mining protests in Peru have become deadly and involve large amounts of state repression throughout the month of June. They have continued into July with protests yesterday causing three protester deaths and the government declared a state of emergency in three provinces. Protests happened in Cajamarca where the … Continue reading »
Is International Climate Change Gridlock a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy?
“The parable tells us that public definitions of a situation (prophecies or predictions) become an integral part of the situation and thus affect subsequent developments. This is particular to human affairs. It is not found in the world of nature. Predictions of of the return of Halley’s comet do not influence its orbit. But the … Continue reading »
Photo 7- The June U.S. Heatwave Was Not an Average Heatwave
A very simple map capturing the heatwave that was prominent in the United States over the past few weeks. Remember ‘red’ denotes hotter temperatures than average, not some idea of ‘hot’. So, the fact that Colorado is engulfed in red is not simply saying that Colorado was ‘hot’ in June, but that it was significantly … Continue reading »
