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stellanix · 1 month

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something i saw once that has stuck with me ever since was a comment on a post about some scientific discovery made by the mars rover perseverance that said "why are we wasting time looking at rocks when we should be preparing for colonization?

another comment was on a post about the environmental issues surrounding the spacex launch site in southern texas, which said "human expansion to mars delayed to protect some turtles"

and comments like these perplexed me. space is a subject of science, and people interested in space are always talking about the wonders of the unknown, and how many fascinating and beautiful things are out there. so how could people interested in space be so fundamentally uncaring and incurious not only about the places they're supposedly interested in, but about nature in general?

it's not just random people in twitter replies who are like this. elon musk once posted this picture:

thing is, that's not mars, that's the moon during a lunar eclipse (when sunlight tinted red after passing through earth's atmosphere lights up the moon in earth's shadow). you'd think that someone known for wanting to bring people, himself included, to mars would care enough about mars to at least know what it looks like, but apparently not

he also rather infamously says he wants to nuke the ice caps of mars to warm the planet up. the ice caps of mars look like this, by the way (image credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin/Aster Cowart):

they are beautiful places, that hold an irreplaceable scientific record of the geologically recent martian climate, and are shaped by unique processes. there's no other place quite like them in our solar system. but elon musk thinks we should nuke them. again, no care, no curiosity

nothing has made me feel jaded and cynical about the entire enterprise of spaceflight quite like learning that the people ultimately in charge of it and funding it don't give a shit about space. it's not just elon musk. space nerds love quoting kennedy's "we choose to go the moon" speech as inspiration, but kennedy is also on record saying "I'm not that interested in space" in a conversation where he was arguing to the nasa administrator that they should prioritize beating the soviets to the moon over space science. no curiosity, only a desire for geopolitical showmanship and maintaining hegemony. it's the same thing when many modern politicians only seem to care about space exploration as a way of keeping a technological lead over china

this leaves the people who do genuinely love and care about space in an awkward position. they basically have two choices: A) become jaded and give up on space exploration, or at least parts of it (abandoning human spaceflight but maintaining interest in robotic science missions, for example) or B) give in. work with military contractors. spout the jingoistic rhetoric that the politicians writing the checks want to hear, even if you don't believe it. go along with the colonialist ideology, the hypercapitalism, and the extractivism. sell your soul for pictures of mars and let your passions be exploited for the ends of powerful people who don't care

the sad reality is that our society only values those things deemed useful or profitable. we hear it all the time. the idea that schools should only teach things useful for jobs, that people who try to make a living in fields like art, the humanities, or philosophy are all getting useless degrees and will inevitably end up stuck working retail, and of course, the idea that space exploration is a waste of time and money

space nerds are often deeply insecure about their greatest passion, because it's true, space exploration offers no immediate practical benefit. but they still love space and want to explore it

so they believe the lies. they repeat the colonialist ideology. they say there's money in mining asteroids, that we can terraform planets and let number go up forever. they let themselves be exploited by companies and governments that see everything in the universe and all the people in it as things to be used, and that will ultimately chew them up and spit them out if it's expedient to do so. and those who reject the ideology and keep their love for the cosmos pure often find themselves with no place in the project of space exploration

i don't know how to fix this, but i do hope that i will live to see the day when our curiosity and interest and love for the wider universe is valued for its own sake, and no longer shackled by colonialism, capitalism, and political ambitions

#space

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warcrimesimulator · 3 months

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13th standard issue of Soviet Union. 7th issue. Environmental protection. Sable in cedar.

#stamps #sable #marten #mustelids #oP

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dailyanarchistposts · 1 month

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Chapter 4. Environment

No philosophy or movement for liberation can ignore the connection between human exploitation of the environment and our exploitation of one another, nor can it ignore the suicidal ramifications of industrial society. A free society must forge a respectful and sustainable relationship with its bioregion, on the understanding that humans depend on the health of the entire planet.

What’s to stop someone from destroying the environment?

Some people oppose capitalism on environmental grounds, but think some sort of state is necessary to prevent ecocide. But the state is itself a tool for the exploitation of nature. Socialist states such as the Soviet Union and People’s Republic of China have been among the most ecocidal regimes imaginable. That these two societies never escaped the dynamics of capitalism is itself a feature of the state structure — it necessitates hierarchical, exploitative economic relationships of control and command, and once you start playing that game nothing beats capitalism. However the state does present the possibility of forcibly changing people’s behavior on a massive scale, and this power is attractive to some environmentalists. There have been a few states in world history that enforced protective measures domestically, when saving the environment coincided with their strategic interests. One of the foremost is Japan, which halted and reversed deforestation in the archipelago around the Meiji period. But in this case and other cases, domestic environmental protections enforced by the state were coupled with greater exploitation abroad. Japanese society consumed increasing amounts of imported wood, fueling deforestation in other countries and providing an incentive for the development of an imperial military to secure these vital resources. This led not only to environmental devastation but also to warfare and genocide. Similarly in Western Europe, statist environmental protections came at the expense of colonial exploitation, which also resulted in genocide.

In smaller-scale societies, the existence of an elite tends to fuel environmental exploitation. The renowned social collapse on Easter Island was caused in large part by the elite, who compelled the society to build statues in their honor. This statue-building complex deforested the island, as large numbers of logs were needed for scaffolding and transportation of the statues, and farmland to feed the laborers came at the expense of more forests. Without forests, soil fertility plummeted, and without food the human population plunged as well. But they didn’t just starve or decrease their birth rate — the clan elites warred with one another, knocking down rival statues and carrying out raids that culminated in cannibalism, until nearly the entire society died off.[62]

A decentralized, communal society with a commonly held ecological ethos is the best equipped to prevent environmental destruction. In economies that value local self-sufficiency over trade and production, communities have to deal with the environmental consequences of their own economic behaviors. They cannot pay others to take their garbage or starve so they can have an abundance.

Local control of resources also discourages overpopulation. Studies have shown that when the members of a society can directly see how having too many children will diminish the resources available for everyone, they keep their families within a sustainable limit. But when these localized societies are incorporated into a globalized economy in which most resources and wastes are imported and exported, and scarcity results from seemingly arbitrary price fluctuations rather than the depletion of local resources, populations climb unsustainably, even if more effective forms of contraception are also available.[63] In Seeing Like a State, James Scott explains how governments enforce “legibility” — a uniformity that enables comprehension from above, in order to control and track subjects. As a result, such societies lose the local knowledge necessary to understand problems and situations.

Capitalism, Christianity, and Western science all share a certain mythology regarding nature, which encourages exploitation and contempt, and views the natural world as dead, mechanical, and existing to satisfy human consumption. This megalomania masquerading as Reason or Divine Truth has revealed itself beyond all doubt to be suicidal. What is needed instead is a culture that respects the natural world as a living, interconnected thing, and understands our place within it. Bruce Stewart, a Maori writer and activist, told an interviewer, pointing to a flowering vine he had planted by his house,

This vine no longer has a name. Our Maori name has been lost, so we’ll have to find another. Only one of this plant remained in the world, living on a goat-infested island. The plant could go any day. So I got a seed and planted it here. The vine has grown, and although it normally takes twenty years to bloom, this one is blooming after seven. ...If we are to survive, each of us must become kaitiaki, which to me is the most important concept in my own Maori culture. We must become caretakers, guardians, trustees, nurturers. In the old days each whanau, or family, used to look after a specific piece of terrain. One family might look after a river from a certain rock down to the next bend. And they were the kaitiaki of the birds and fish and plants. They knew when it was time to take them to eat, and when it was not. When the birds needed to be protected, the people put a rahui on them, which means the birds were temporarily sacred. And some birds were permanently tapu, which means they were full-time protected. This protection was so strong that people would die if they broke it. It’s that simple. It needed no policing. In their eagerness to unsavage my ancestors Christian missionaries killed the concept of tapu along with many others. [64]

Tikopia, a Pacific island settled by Polynesian people, provides a good example of a decentralized, anarchic society that has successfully dealt with life-and-death environmental problems. The island is only 1.8 square miles in area and supports 1,200 inhabitants — that is, 800 people per square mile of farmland. The community has existed sustainably for 3,000 years. Tikopia is covered in multi-storied orchard-gardens that mimic the natural rainforests. At first sight, most of the island appears to be covered in forest, though true rainforests only remain on a few steep parts of the island. Tikopia is small enough that all its inhabitants can become familiar with their entire ecosystem. It is also isolated, so for a long time they could not import resources or export the consequences of their lifestyle. Each of the four clans have chiefs, though these have no coercive powers and play a ceremonial role as the custodians of tradition. Tikopia is among the least socially stratified of the Polynesian islands; for example, the chiefs still have to work and produce their own food. Population control is a common value, and parents feel it is immoral to have more than a certain number of children. In one striking example of the power of these collectively held and reinforced values, around the year 1600 the islanders reached a collective decision to end pig-breeding. They slaughtered all the pigs on the island, even though pig meat was a highly valued food source, because keeping pigs was a major strain on the environment. [65] In a more stratified, hierarchical society, this might have been impossible, because the elite would typically force poorer people to suffer the consequences of their lifestyles rather than give up an esteemed luxury product [66].

Before colonization and the disastrous arrival of missionaries, population control methods on Tikopia included natural contraception, abortion, and abstinence for younger people — though this was a compassionate celibacy that amounted to a prohibition on reproduction rather than on sex. Tikopians also used other forms of population control, such as infanticide, that many people in other societies would find impermissible, but Tikopia can still provide us with a perfectly valid example because with the effectiveness of modern contraception and abortion techniques, no other methods are necessary for a decentralized approach to population control. The most important feature of the Tikopian example is their ethos: their recognition that they lived on an island and resources were limited, so that increasing their population was tantamount to suicide. Other Polynesian island societies ignored that fact and subsequently died off. The planet Earth, in this sense, is also an island; accordingly, we need to develop both global consciousness and localized economies, so we can avoid exceeding the capacity of the land and stay aware of the other living things with whom we share this island.

Today most of the world is not organized into communities that are structured to be sensitive to the limits of the local environment, but it is possible to recreate such communities. There is a growing movement of ecologically sustainable communities, or “ecovillages,” organized on horizontal, non-hierarchical lines, in which groups of people ranging from a dozen to several hundred come together to create anarchic societies with organic, sustainable designs. The construction of these villages maximizes resource efficiency and ecological sustainability, and also cultivates sensitivity to the local environment on a cultural and spiritual level. These ecovillages are at the forefront of developing sustainable technologies. Any alternative community can degenerate into yuppie escapism, and ecovillages are vulnerable to this, but a leading part of the ecovillage movement seeks to develop and spread innovations that are relevant to the world at large rather than to close itself off from the world. To help proliferate ecovillages and adapt them to all regions of the globe, and to facilitate coordination between existing ecovillages, 400 delegates from 40 countries met in Findhorn, Scotland, in 1995 and established the Global Ecovillage Network.

Each ecovillage is a little different, but a few examples can provide an idea of their diversity. The Farm, in rural Tennessee, has 350 residents. Established in 1971, it contains mulch gardens, solar-heated showers, a sustainable shiitake mushroom business, straw bale houses, and a center for training people from around the world to build their own ecovillages. Old Bassaisa, in Egypt, contains a few hundred residents and has existed for thousands of years. The residents have perfected an ecological and sustainable village design from traditional methods. Old Bassaisa now contains a Future Studies center, and they are developing new sustainable technologies like a methane gas producing unit that extracts gases from cow manure to save themselves from having to use scarce firewood. They use the leftover slurry as fertilizer for their fields. Ecotop, near Dusseldorf in Germany, is an entire suburb with hundreds of residents living in several four-story apartment buildings and a few detached homes. The architecture fosters a sense of community and freedom, with a number of communal and private spaces. Between the buildings, in a sort of village center, is a multi-use courtyard/playground /pedestrian zone, as well as community gardens and an abundance of plants and trees. The buildings, which have a completely modern, urban aesthetic, were constructed with natural materials and designed with passive heating and cooling and biological on-site wastewater treatment.

Earthhaven, with about 60 residents, was founded in 1995 in North Carolina by permaculture designers. It is composed of several neighborhood clusters set in the steep Appalachian hills. Most of the land is covered in forest, but the residents recently made the difficult decision to clear some of the forest for gardens so they could come closer to food self-sufficiency rather than exporting the costs of their lifestyle by purchasing food from elsewhere. They talked about it a long time, prepared themselves spiritually, and attempted to clear the land in a respectful way. This sort of attitude, which capitalist ideology would dismiss as sentimental and inefficient, is exactly what could prevent destruction of the environment in an anarchist society.

Also necessary are fierceness and the willingness to take direct action to defend the environment. On the isthmus of Tehuantepec, in Oaxaca, Mexico, anarchist and anti-authoritarian indigenous people have shown exactly these qualities in protecting the land against a series of threats. Organizations such as the Union of Indigenous Communities of the Northern Zone of the Isthmus, UCIZONI, which includes one hundred communities in Oaxaca and Veracruz, and later the anarchist/Magonista group CIPO-RFM, have fought against the environmentally devastating construction of wind farms, shrimp farms, eucalyptus plantations, and the expropriation of land by the lumber industry. They have also reduced economic pressures to exploit the environment by setting up corn and coffee cooperatives and building schools and clinics. Meanwhile, they have created a network of autonomous community radio stations to educate people about dangers to the environment and inform the surrounding communities about new industrial projects that would destroy more land. In 2001, the indigenous communities defeated the construction of a highway that was part of Plan Puebla Panama, a neoliberal megaproject intended to connect North and South America with transportation infrastructure designed to increase the flow of commodities. During the Zapatista rebellion of 1994, they shut down transportation lines to slow down the movement of troops, and they also blocked highways and shut down government offices to support the 2006 rebellion throughout Oaxaca.

In 1998, the Minnesota Department of Transportation wanted to reroute a highway through a park in Minneapolis along the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers. The proposed reroute would destroy an area that contained old trees, a precious oak savanna ecosystem, an ancient freshwater spring, and sites sacred to Native Americans — a vital wild space in the middle of the city that also served as a refuge for many neighbors. Indigenous activists with the American Indian Movement and the Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Community came together to work in coalition with white residents, environmentalists from Earth First!, and anarchists from all over the country to help stop the construction. The result was the Minnehaha Free State, an autonomous zone that became the first and longest-lasting urban anti-road occupation in US history. For a year and a half, hundreds of people occupied the land to prevent the Department of Transportation from cutting down the trees and building the highway, and thousands more supported and visited the Free State. The occupation empowered countless participants, reconnected many Dakota people with their heritage, won the support of many neighbors, created a yearlong autonomous zone and self-organizing community, and significantly delayed the destruction of the area — buying time during which many people were able to discover and enjoy the space in an intimate and spiritual way.

To crush the occupation, the state was forced to resort to a variety of repressive tactics. The people at the encampment were subjected to harassment, surveillance, and infiltration. An army of police officers raided and destroyed the camps repeatedly; tortured, hospitalized, and almost killed people; and carried out over a hundred arrests. In the end, the state cut down the trees and built the highway, but the protestors did manage to save Coldwater Spring, which is a sacred site to the area’s indigenous peoples and an important part of the local watershed. The Native participants declared an important spiritual victory.

People throughout Minneapolis who had initially supported the destructive project because of its supposed benefits to the transportation system were won over by the resistance to save the park, and came to oppose the highway. If the decision had been up to them, the highway would not have been built. The Free State created and nurtured coalitions and community bonds that last to this day, shaping new generations of radical community and inspiring similar efforts around the world.

Outside Edinburgh, Scotland, eco-anarchists have had even more success saving a forest. The Bilston Glen anti-roads camp has existed for over seven years as of this writing, drawing the participation of hundreds of people and stopping the construction of a bypass desired by large biotech facilities in the area. To allow people to live there permanently with a lower impact on the forest, and to make it harder for police to evict them, the activists have built houses up in the trees which people occupy year round. The village is certainly low technology, but it is also low impact, and some of the houses are clearly works of love, comfortable enough to be considered permanent homes. The dozen or so inhabitants have also been tending the forest, removing invasive species and encouraging the growth of native species. The Bilston Glen tree village is just one in a long line of anti-road occupations and ecological direct actions in the UK that create a collective force that makes the state think twice about building new roads or evicting protestors. The village also crosses the line between simply opposing government policy and creating new social relations with the environment: in the course of defending it, dozens of people have made the forest their home, and hundreds more people have personally seen the importance of relating with nature in a respectful way and defending it from Western civilization.

#environmentalism #environment #solarpunk #anti colonialism #anarchism #daily posts #communism #anti capitalist #anti capitalism #late stage capitalism #anarchy #anarchists #libraries #leftism #social issues #economy #economics #climate change #anarchy works

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collapsedsquid · 1 year

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The end of colonial empires in the 1960s and the end of Stalinist (“state socialist,” “state capitalist,” “bureaucratic collectivist”) systems in the 1990s has triggered a process never encountered since the Mongolian invasions in the thirteenth century: a comprehensive and apparently irreversible collapse of established statehood as such. While the bien-pensant Western press daily bemoans perceived threats of dictatorship in far-away places, it usually ignores the reality behind the tough talk of powerless leaders, namely that nobody is prepared to obey them. The old, creaking, and unpopular nation-state—the only institution to date that had been able to grant civil rights, a modicum of social assistance, and some protection from the exactions of privateer gangs and rapacious, irresponsible business elites—ceased to exist or never even emerged in the majority of the poorest areas of the world. In most parts of sub-Saharan Africa and of the former Soviet Union not only the refugees, but the whole population could be considered stateless. The way back, after decades of demented industrialization (see the horrific story of the hydroelectric plants everywhere in the Third World and the former Eastern bloc), to a subsistence economy and “natural” barter exchanges in the midst of environmental devastation, where banditry seems to have become the only efficient method of social organization, leads exactly nowhere. People in Africa and ex-Soviet Eurasia are dying not by a surfeit of the state, but by the absence of it.

Traditionally, liberation struggles of any sort have been directed against entrenched privilege. Equality came at the expense of ruling groups: secularism reduced the power of the Princes of the Church, social legislation dented the profits of the “moneyed interest,” universal franchise abolished the traditional political class of landed aristocracy and the noblesse de robe the triumph of commercial pop culture smashed the ideological prerogatives of the progressive intelligentsia, horizontal mobility and suburban sprawl ended the rule of party politics on the local level, contraception and consumerist hedonism dissolved patriarchal rule in the family—something lost, something gained. Every step toward greater freedom curtailed somebody’s privileges (quite apart from the pain of change). It was conceivable to imagine the liberation of outlawed and downtrodden lower classes through economic, political, and moral crusades: there was, crudely speaking, somebody to take ill-gotten gains from. And those gains could be redistributed to more meritorious sections of the population, offering in exchange greater social concord, political tranquility, and safety to unpopular, privileged elites, thereby reducing class animosity. But let us not forget though that the social-democratic bargain has been struck as a result of centuries of conflict and painful renunciations by the traditional ruling strata. Such a liberation struggle, violent or peaceful, is not possible for the new wretched of the earth.

Nobody exploits them. There is no extra profit and surplus value to be appropriated. There is no social power to be monopolized. There is no culture to be dominated. The poor people of the new stateless societies—from the “homogeneous” viewpoint—are totally superfluous. They are not exploited, but neglected. There is no overtaxation, since there are no revenues. Privileges cannot be redistributed toward a greater equality since there are no privileges, except the temporary ones to be had, occasionally, at gunpoint.

Famished populations have no way out from their barely human condition but to leave. The so-called center, far from exploiting this periphery of the periphery, is merely trying to keep out the foreign and usually colored destitutes (the phenomenon is euphemistically called “demographic pressure”) and set up awesome barriers at the frontiers of rich countries, while our international financial bureaucracy counsels further deregulation, liberalization, less state and less government to nations that do not have any, and are perishing in consequence. “Humanitarian wars” are fought in order to prevent masses of refugees from flowing in and cluttering up the Western welfare systems that are in decomposition anyway.

Citizenship in a functional nation-state is the one safe meal ticket in the contemporary world. But such citizenship is now a privilege of the very few. The Enlightenment assimilation of citizenship to the necessary and “natural” political condition of all human beings has been reversed. Citizenship was once upon a time a privilege within nations. It is now a privilege to most persons in some nations. Citizenship is today the very exceptional privilege of the inhabitants of flourishing capitalist nation-states, while the majority of the world’s population cannot even begin to aspire to the civic condition, and has also lost the relative security of pre-state (tribe, kinship) protection.

The scission of citizenship and sub-political humanity is now complete, the work of Enlightenment irretrievably lost. Post-fascism does not need to put non-citizens into freight trains to take them into death; instead, it need only prevent the new non-citizens from boarding any trains that might take them into the happy world of overflowing rubbish bins that could feed them. Post-fascist movements everywhere, but especially in Europe, are anti-immigration movements, grounded in the “homogeneous” world-view of productive usefulness. They are not simply protecting racial and class privileges within the nation-state (although they are doing that, too) but protecting universal citizenship within the rich nation-state against the virtual-universal citizenship of all human beings, regardless of geography, language, race, denomination, and habits. The current notion of “human rights” might defend people from the lawlessness of tyrants, but it is no defense against the lawlessness of no rule.

#posted this before but deserves reposting

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mariacallous · 11 months

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The rupture of a major dam in southern Ukraine has displaced the Dnipro River, killed an unknown number of people, and left many Ukrainians homeless. Who destroyed the dam and why is still not fully clear, although growing evidence points to deliberate Russian action. As the shockwaves of Tuesday’s Nova Kakhovka explosion wane, Ukraine is left reckoning with the damage—and trying to find words for the crime.

“Brutal ecocide,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky tweeted on Tuesday in reference to the explosion, also calling it an act of “Russian aggression,” a “war crime,” and “an act of terrorism.” Ukraine’s prosecutor’s office has launched an ecocide probe into the effects of the dam’s destruction, and climate activist Greta Thunberg is using the same term to describe the event. This is not the first time Ukrainians have used the term to describe Russian actions: Ecocide gained traction earlier this year when Ukraine hosted a panel on “prosecuting environmental war crimes” at the United for Justice conference in March.

But what does ecocide mean? A combination of “ecology” and “genocide,” the term packs a punch. By using it to call attention to wartime environmental devastation, Ukrainians are reviving a rhetorical strategy that was birthed in opposition to the Vietnam War. It has, however, no widely accepted legal meaning—although some advocates aspire to make it otherwise.

American bioethicist Arthur Galston coined the term in a 1970 plea to end the use of Agent Orange, an herbicide used by U.S. troops in Vietnam to eliminate forest cover and crops, on the grounds that it was causing widespread environmental destruction—or ecocide. In 1971, Foreign Affairs ran a piece under the title “Ecocide and the Geneva Protocol” weighing the strategic advantages of Agent Orange against its devastating environmental impact, framed as a contribution to the debate on whether the United States should ratify measures banning biochemical weapons.

“Ecocide is the willful destruction of ecology—of the environment—as a weapon of war,” said David Zierler, a historian of science and author of The Invention of Ecocide: Agent Orange, Vietnam, and the Scientists Who Changed the Way We Think About the Environment (University of Georgia Press, 2011).

Outside of a wartime context, the term is popular within the environmental movement as a tool for prosecuting corporate oil spillers and other actors who cause widespread environmental destruction. Domestic laws aimed at protecting the environment are not new, and some post-Soviet states—with histories of government-led ecological destruction—have them, though they don’t always use that term.

While ecocide laws are rare, it’s possible that it could eventually have international legal force within the specific context of war. By citing it in the same beat as “war crime” and “aggression,” Zelensky’s tweet tied the term to a conceptually and legally complex framework and showcased his high hopes that this word might become a tool for justice.

As it is used today, ecocide should not be confused with the perhaps more familiar notion of scorched-earth campaigns, which are already punishable under international law. From Roman legions “salting the earth” to destroy Carthaginian power to Iraqi soldiers spilling Kuwaiti oil into the Persian Gulf during the Gulf War, intentionally destroying the environment is a tried-and-true military tactic.

It is also liable to prosecution under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), the document that lays out the definition and prosecution guardrails for crimes that can be tried under international law, including genocide, crimes against humanity, the crime of aggression, and war crimes.

Although these laws have only been in effect since 2002, Marwa Daoudy, an associate professor of international relations at Georgetown University, traces the rising awareness of environmental destruction to Iraq’s actions during the Gulf War. “Since then, there’s been a realization that these acts should not be adopted by states in situations of warfare,” she said. “So this is why it’s seen as a turning point.”

Since disproportionate attack is a type of war crime and environmental damage is a type of disproportionate attack, wartime environmental damage brought on by armed forces can be prosecuted under the Rome Statute. There is even a clause that explicitly refers to it: Article 8, Section 2, point b (iv), which mentions “launching an attack in the knowledge that such attack will cause incidental loss of life or injury to civilians or damage to civilian objects or widespread, long-term and severe damage to the natural environment which would be clearly excessive in relation to the concrete and direct overall military advantage anticipated.”

Much of the environmental destruction carried out by Russian forces in Ukraine, including the destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam, can be prosecuted by Article 8, according to two war crimes experts consulted by Foreign Policy.

“That’s the definition at the moment, which I would have thought is capable of being levied at Russian military commanders,” said Geoffrey Robertson, a former United Nations war crimes judge. “It’s there already.”

“Suggesting that attacks which cause huge damage to the environment is a war crime is obviously an important message to be sending as the prosecutor,” said Andrew Clapham, a former special representative of the U.N. secretary-general in Iraq and the author of War (Oxford University Press, 2021) and Human Rights: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2007).

So what’s the legal need for letting ecocide be its own separate crime under international law?

Article 8 requires the prosecution to prove “a lot of things,” Robertson said. If it becomes too hard to prove the case, some might come to say that that definition is not sufficient, which could suggest the need for a new concept.

Efforts to recognize ecocide as a crime under the Rome Statute are being led by the Stop Ecocide Foundation, an organization founded in 2019 that proposed to expand the statute to include ecocide. Its proposal would eliminate the need to prove a guilty mind among perpetrators, allowing cases of negligent environmental destruction to be prosecuted as ecocide.

Amending the Rome Statute would require the approval of two-thirds of the members of the ICC during an assembly meeting. While the cogs of international law reform churn slowly, national laws are moving faster, and the popularity of the term is spreading.

Outside of wartime, ecocide as such is already a crime under both Russian and Ukrainian law. The Ukrainian prosecutor-general has the power to prosecute Russian leaders if they were to be captured and proved responsible for the collapse of the dam, said legal expert Kate Mackintosh, a member of the Stop Ecocide Foundation’s independent expert panel. Kyiv defines ecocide as the “mass destruction of flora and fauna, poisoning of air or water resources, and also any other actions that may cause an environmental disaster.”

The war in Ukraine has brought global awareness to wartime environmental destruction and has since spurred government bodies to support the recognition of ecocide as a criminal offense under law, and some lawyers are confident that increased public discourse can lead to the inclusion of ecocide in governments’ national laws around the world.

“I think it’s just a matter of time before it gets accepted as an international crime, and this Ukraine situation is getting the word out there and having people talk about it, which is very important for the public consciousness,” Mackintosh said.

In March, the European Parliament proposed including ecocide as an environmental crime—though not a war crime, which only the ICC has the jurisdiction to do—under EU law.

The consequences of the dam’s destruction have already been devastating. Floodwaters submerged city blocks in Kherson; aid workers used boats to evacuate people from their houses; sewage spilled into streets lining the Dnipro, whose banks rose and washed away rich topsoil from farmland in the region. In the long term, this is particularly consequential for a country where agriculture, before the war, provided 14 percent of jobs and 41 percent of exports. The World Bank has announced that it will assess the damage, which will likely inflate its existing estimate of $411 billion to rebuild Ukraine’s economy.

Other long-term consequences, both on people and wildlife, will be difficult to measure. “We have different, let’s say, forecasts for the consequences for the environment. … We can separate [the impacts] into two zones,” said Iryna Nikolaieva, an environmental consultant at the Dutch conflict research organization PAX for Peace. Upstream, the sudden drainage of the reservoir could rapidly change the ecosystem in a process of desertification. Downstream, alongside the damage to settlements and agriculture, the floodwaters could destabilize ecosystems and jeopardize nature reserves.

Ukraine’s environment and the people who live in it will be changed by the destruction of the Kakhovka dam for years to come. It’s the likelihood that locals were deliberately targeted, and the apparent intention to cause long-lasting harm, though, that makes Zierler, the historian of science, say this is a unique moment. “I would make the case that the destruction of the dam in Ukraine is probably the most compelling instance of ecocide since the Vietnam War,” he said.

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ffloorageorge · 6 months

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Bangladesh hosted the Asia Cup Cricket Tournament in 2000, 2012, 2014 and 2016. There is some environmental protection in law, but it has not been a government priority. Effective tax rates were higher in Britain than France in the years before the French Revolution, twice in per capita income comparison, but they were mostly placed on international trade. In 1901, the Division of Scientific Research was formed, which included the Hygienic Laboratory as well as other research offices of the Marine Hospital Service. The newly founded Peruvian Congress named Bolivar dictator of Peru, giving him the power to organize the military. This, and an ensuing ground invasion, killed nearly every human in the facility, including their father and sister. Some linguists have encouraged the creation of neologisms to decrease the instances of confusion caused by puns. For a while after this, some koi farmers in neighboring states stopped importing fish for fear of infecting their own stocks. Conditions for workers were often poor and exploitative, and local islanders often violently attacked any Europeans who appeared on their island. In 1547, New Granada became a separate captaincy-general within the viceroyalty, with its capital at Santa Fe de Bogota. Because the method relies on antigen rather than viable bacteria, the results are not disrupted by prior antibiotic use. Sir Kay briefly appears in the season 5 opener of Once Upon a Time, where he betrays Arthur and attempts to pull Excalibur out of the stone to rule Camelot for himself. Following the end of the Cold War, defence policy has a stated assumption that the most demanding operations will be undertaken as part of a coalition. Group 1 faxes take six minutes to transmit a single page, with a vertical resolution of 96 scan lines per inch. An additional, more lasting punitive measure taken by the Romans involved expunging Judaea from the provincial name, changing it from Provincia Judaea to Provincia Syria Palestina. Without many refinements, it is best described as rustic, though many holidays are still celebrated with special foods. Many migrant workers racked up debt and depended on the help of charities. The library system also houses original and microfilm collections of Virgin Islands Archives, records, newspapers and other materials. A rapid appraisal survey of Kuy dialects spoken in Cambodia. According to the Black Tie Guide, the peaked lapel and shawl collar are equally authentic and correct, with the latter being slightly less formal. With Salazar gone, Carrera reinstated Rivera Paz as head of state. In 1989, Babangida started making plans for the transition to the Third Nigerian Republic. The Garhajis also have a significant presence in the western and central areas of Sanaag region as well, including the regional capital Erigavo as well as Maydh. Soviet Russia adopted a red flag following the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917. Initially, each conference was numbered after the release, and not regular held. Modern surveys in Europe and the United States show red is also the color most commonly associated with heat, activity, passion, sexuality, anger, love, and joy. God is often believed to be the cause of all things and so is seen as the creator and sustainer and the ruler of the universe. Both teams set out to confirm their results by these methods. This was chased away in November by a visit from four British warships, but later returned.

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richardnixonlibrary · 2 years

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#Nixon50 #OTD 5/23/1972 President Nixon and Nikolai Podgorny, Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, signed U.S.-U.S.S.R. agreements of cooperation in the fields of environmental protection, medical science, and public health. (Image: WHPO-9150-12A and 9165-20)

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hbar-hbar · 1 month

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the Marxist.

VI :

the Marxist:

First We eat–We survive–, then We talk about ideas:

Ideas emerge firstly to improve the materialistic being, then the ideological follows.

{Marxism: Historical Materialism}

We are social beings:

To get our energy–our food, We must hunt, search, gather, protect… –together.

We must also share our food.

{Marxism: Primitive Communism}

How do We share?–Who gets more, who gets less?

If all is divided equally, there are no categories–no classes.

If any differences exist, classes emerge.

{Marxism: Class theory}

Difference in classes creates a hierarchy in a society:

How much energy you have, –resources you own = Your worth in the society.

Discontentment and hostility arises within the lower classes.

Such is the emergence of history: a struggle for power –for becoming higher class.

{Marxism: Class Struggle}

Material control, then Ideological:

The upper class, with more resources thereby more materialistic control,

proceeds to own, control, and distribute, the ideological:

How much energy you have, –resources you own = Influence on the social order.

Emerges the class relationships and creates society’s structure.

All ideological aspects of the society follow from the created structure,

and serve to reinforce the foundational structure of the society.

{Marxism: Base & Superstructure}

Historical systems: Slavery - Feudalism - Capitalism - Socialism - Communism:

Notice the increasing freedom of the lower class, and the minimizing gap between the rich and poor.

{Marxism: Mode of Production}

Specifically in Capitalist system:

The emerging technology gave rise to a new type of society where two classes remain: via compound interest, a minority elite class who own and operate the necessary resources for society’s survival emerge,

And a lower class who supply a piece of value for producing the energy that will be operated by one, or few, individuals without the lower class’s input on how to divide and use the resources.

{Marxism: Bourgeoisie & Proletariat}

Historic Evidence, Examples:

Antitrust Laws [Government acting in favor of the People].

Corporate Personhood [Government acting in favor of the Corporations].

Child Labor laws [Gov. acting in favor of the People, social-awareness]

Environmental Protection Laws :

[Gov. may/may-not be acting in public, corporate benefit, or own interest]

Free Healthcare:

[Gov. acting in favor of the people, public health]

Bank Bailouts

Minimum Wage Laws

Government surveillance capabilities

Etc.

Modern Evidence, Examples:

Corporations 4-day/reduced work-week:

[Overworking = No longer Efficient for production].

Internet, Social Media, Data-protection, Privacy Laws for safety and security.

Decentralization

Universal Basic Income

Note, a more complex system is involved–the role of bureaucracy, and government can be heavily intertwined in the power-struggle and driven by financial gain which may mutually aid both parties, and/or aid but one, or aid its own self (political members– government), as is likely with the case of Environmental Protection Laws.

We currently stand in the transition towards a socialist society which will evolve through several possible-routes:

through democratic government,

through vanguard-party (= totalitarian society = anti-socialist = Soviet Union)

through decentralization,

through corporate-democratization,

through technological/digital democratization,

through social-movements and/or other ideas (eco-economics).

Conclusion:

With the help of technology:

Along with the continued class struggle,

Just as Our societies achieved a political democracy,

They may achieve an economic democracy:

Where the Majority of People can agree on how the energy they produce is used

{Marxism: Socialism}

With the help of technology:

We no longer care about producing, as enough wealth has been created:

We shift Our focus and efforts on the next problem: Social issues.

It then becomes more economically convenient to maintain social equilibrium,

And Our social thinking evolves to be more collective in nature,

As it is Our social nature that is a central principle of Our species and its survival. Therefore–central to Our wellbeing.

It becomes more economically efficient for an economic democracy:

–such that every citizen may have enough to live a comfortable life:

feeling secure,

cared for,

and happy.

And thereby, this citizen will be eager to make a contribution to a society that raised them

happy, and with love.

From each according to his ability, To each according to his needs

With the help of science, technology, and economics,

A global community, as is already emerging, will be created.

And civilization has transitioned into a period of communism.

With love,

hbar.

hbar.blog

#philosophy #thoughts #economy #marxism #socialism

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brookstonalmanac · 2 months

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Events 2.23 (after 1940)

1941 – Plutonium is first produced and isolated by Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg. 1942 – World War II: Japanese submarines fire artillery shells at the coastline near Santa Barbara, California. 1943 – The Cavan Orphanage fire kills thirty-five girls and an elderly cook. 1943 – Greek Resistance: The United Panhellenic Organization of Youth is founded in Greece. 1944 – The Soviet Union begins the forced deportation of the Chechen and Ingush people from the North Caucasus to Central Asia. 1945 – World War II: During the Battle of Iwo Jima, a group of United States Marines reach the top of Mount Suribachi on the island and are photographed raising the American flag. 1945 – World War II: The 11th Airborne Division, with Filipino guerrillas, free all 2,147 captives of the Los Baños internment camp, in what General Colin Powell later would refer to as "the textbook airborne operation for all ages and all armies." 1945 – World War II: The capital of the Philippines, Manila, is liberated by combined Filipino and American forces. 1945 – World War II: Capitulation of German garrison in Poznań. The city is liberated by Soviet and Polish forces. 1945 – World War II: The German town of Pforzheim is annihilated in a raid by 379 British bombers. 1945 – American Airlines Flight 009 crashes near Rural Retreat, Virginia, killing 17. 1947 – International Organization for Standardization is founded. 1954 – The first mass inoculation of children against polio with the Salk vaccine begins in Pittsburgh. 1958 – Five-time Argentine Formula One champion Juan Manuel Fangio is kidnapped by rebels involved in the Cuban Revolution, on the eve of the Cuban Grand Prix. He was released the following day after the race. 1966 – In Syria, Ba'ath Party member Salah Jadid leads an intra-party military coup that replaces the previous government of General Amin al-Hafiz, also a Baathist. 1971 – Operation Lam Son 719: South Vietnamese General Do Cao Tri was killed in a helicopter crash en route to taking control of the faltering campaign. 1974 – The Symbionese Liberation Army demands $4 million more to release kidnap victim Patty Hearst. 1980 – Iran hostage crisis: Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini states that Iran's parliament will decide the fate of the American embassy hostages. 1981 – In Spain, Antonio Tejero attempts a coup d'état by capturing the Spanish Congress of Deputies. 1983 – The United States Environmental Protection Agency announces its intent to buy out and evacuate the dioxin-contaminated community of Times Beach, Missouri. 1987 – Supernova 1987a is seen in the Large Magellanic Cloud. 1988 – Saddam Hussein begins the Anfal genocide against Kurds and Assyrians in northern Iraq. 1991 – In Thailand, General Sunthorn Kongsompong leads a bloodless coup d'état, deposing Prime Minister Chatichai Choonhavan. 1998 – In the United States, tornadoes in central Florida destroy or damage 2,600 structures and kill 42 people. 1999 – Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Öcalan is charged with treason in Ankara, Turkey. 1999 – An avalanche buries the town of Galtür, Austria, killing 31. 2007 – A train derails on an evening express service near Grayrigg, Cumbria, England, killing one person and injuring 88. This results in hundreds of points being checked over the UK after a few similar accidents. 2008 – A United States Air Force B-2 Spirit bomber crashes on Guam, marking the first operational loss of a B-2. 2010 – Unknown criminals pour more than 2+1⁄2 million liters of diesel oil and other hydrocarbons into the river Lambro, in northern Italy, sparking an environmental disaster. 2012 – A series of attacks across Iraq leave at least 83 killed and more than 250 injured. 2017 – The Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army captures Al-Bab from ISIL. 2019 – Atlas Air Flight 3591, a Boeing 767 freighter, crashes into Trinity Bay near Anahuac, Texas, killing all three people on board.

#Events

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dan6085 · 5 months

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Ronald Reagan History Timeline:

1911: Ronald Wilson Reagan is born on February 6 in Tampico, Illinois.

1932: Graduates from Eureka College.

1937: Reagan begins his career as a radio sports announcer.

1940s-1950s: Reagan works in Hollywood, becoming a successful actor.

1966: Reagan is elected Governor of California.

1980: Reagan wins the U.S. presidential election, becoming the 40th President.

1981: Survives an assassination attempt on March 30.

1981-1989: Implements Reaganomics, a conservative economic policy.

1983: Proposes the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI).

1985: Begins talks with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, contributing to the end of the Cold War.

1986: The Iran-Contra scandal unfolds, involving arms sales to Iran.

1987: Delivers the famous "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" speech in West Berlin.

1989: Leaves office after two terms; succeeded by George H.W. Bush.

2004: Reagan passes away on June 5 at the age of 93.

Ronald Reagan is remembered as a charismatic leader, staunch conservative, and a key figure in ending the Cold War.

20 Accomplishments:

1. **Economic Recovery:** Implemented Reaganomics, leading to reduced inflation and a revitalized economy.

2. **Tax Cuts:** Enacted significant tax cuts in 1981, stimulating economic growth.

3. **Job Growth:** Created millions of jobs during his presidency.

4. **Ending the Cold War:** Engaged in diplomatic talks with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, contributing to the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War.

5. **Reagan Doctrine:** Implemented a policy supporting anti-communist movements globally.

6. **Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI):** Proposed a missile defense system to protect against nuclear threats.

7. **Conservative Judicial Appointments:** Appointed conservative judges, including three Supreme Court justices.

8. **Reduced Government Regulations:** Advocated for and implemented a reduction in government regulations.

9. **Reagan's Tax Reform Act of 1986:** Simplified the tax code, eliminating many deductions and lowering rates.

10. **Education Reform:** Advocated for increased local control of education and supported the Department of Education.

11. **War on Drugs:** Implemented policies to combat drug abuse and trafficking.

12. **Strong National Defense:** Increased defense spending, strengthening the U.S. military.

13. **Environmental Conservation:** Signed laws supporting environmental conservation efforts.

14. **Improved U.S.-China Relations:** Fostered improved diplomatic relations with China.

15. **Grenada Invasion:** Ordered the invasion of Grenada in 1983, restoring stability and democracy.

16. **Family Support Act:** Signed into law in 1988 to address welfare reform and support families.

17. **Recovery from Recession:** Successfully navigated the 1981-1982 recession.

18. **Promotion of Space Exploration:** Supported NASA programs, including the Space Shuttle program.

19. **Strong Public Image:** Maintained high public approval ratings during much of his presidency.

20. **Faith in American Exceptionalism:** Emphasized American exceptionalism and a positive vision for the nation's future.

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thxnews · 5 months

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UK Stands Strong: Grain from Ukraine

Standing Strong: UK's Solidarity with Ukraine

Environment Secretary Steve Barclay addressed the international community at the Kyiv International Summit, announcing a robust package of support for Ukraine in the face of Russia's unprovoked assault. In a video address, Barclay reaffirmed the UK's commitment to President Zelenskyy's Grain from Ukraine initiative, allocating an additional £3 million to facilitate Ukrainian grain shipments to Nigeria in 2024 through the World Food Programme. This contribution follows a previous £5 million from the UK in 2022, which played a crucial role in delivering lifesaving grain to Kenya. Remembering Holodomor Memorial Day The announcement coincided with Ukraine marking Holodomor Memorial Day, commemorating the devastating famine caused by the Soviet government in 1932-33. Environment Secretary Barclay emphasized the UK's solidarity with Ukraine during this poignant day, highlighting the historical significance of supporting initiatives like Grain from Ukraine.

Resilience Amidst Destruction: Ukraine's Response to Russia's Attacks

After Russia dismantled the Black Sea Grain Initiative, destroying over 280,000 tonnes of grain in a month, Ukraine faced an unprecedented challenge. This destruction could have fed over 1.25 million people for a year. Despite relentless attacks on ports and grain infrastructure, the Grain from Ukraine initiative ensures that Ukrainian grain reaches those in need. It not only protects global food security but also keeps prices down and fortifies markets against external threats. Environment Secretary Steve Barclay reiterated the UK's commitment to supporting Ukraine, stating, "From our government to our farmers, our solidarity with the people of Ukraine remains cast iron. The UK is committed to ensuring Ukraine can continue to export grain to those most in need." Beyond Grain: UK's Expertise and Grain Verification Scheme Barclay also highlighted the UK's dedication to assisting Ukraine in recovering from the destruction of the Nova Kakhovka Dam and the overall impact of the conflict. Barclay proudly announced the UK and Defra are sharing expertise for the recovery of Ukraine's farmland and nature. In updating the conference on the Grain Verification Scheme, supported with £2 million in UK funding, Barclay outlined how cutting-edge science will trace the origins of grain. This initiative aids Ukraine's efforts to prevent the theft of grain from occupied regions, with further details on the scheme to be revealed early next year.

Environmental Devastation: UK's Support for Ukraine's Recovery

Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine has not only resulted in human suffering but also had a disastrous impact on Ukraine's natural environment. Barclay emphasized the UK's commitment to restoring contaminated agricultural land and nature in Ukraine, particularly those affected by flooding and conflict. The Environment Agency provided £16 million of flood equipment, including pumps and temporary barriers, following the destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam.

Expanding Humanitarian Reach: Grain from Ukraine Programme

As part of the Grain from Ukraine programme, Ukraine has sent 170 thousand tonnes of grain to countries experiencing significant food insecurity, including Ethiopia, Somalia, and Yemen. The UK pledged a further £3 million, previously announced by the Prime Minister at the G20 Summit, to fund a shipment of Ukrainian grain to Nigeria. The programme aims to expand to other countries in need. Global Collaboration at Kyiv International Summit The Kyiv International Summit: Grain from Ukraine brought together more than 60 leaders from countries and organizations. Discussions covered strengthening Ukraine's humanitarian role in global food security, expanding funding and recipient countries for the Grain from Ukraine initiative, encouraging business involvement, and coordinating efforts to end blockages and attacks on Black Sea ports by Russia. In conclusion, the UK's increased support for Ukraine demonstrates a commitment to humanitarian efforts and global stability, particularly in the face of challenges posed by Russia's actions. The Kyiv International Summit marked a significant step in fostering international collaboration to address the pressing issues impacting Ukraine and its people. Sources: THX News, Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs & The Rt Hon Steve Barclay MP. Read the full article

#BlackSeaPortsAttacks #EnvironmentalRecoveryUkraine #Globalfoodsecurity #GrainfromUkraine #GrainVerificationScheme #HolodomorMemorialDay #KyivSummitHighlights #NovaKakhovkadam #SteveBarclayInitiative #UKGrainSupport #Ukrainesolidarity

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iilssnet · 7 months

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Analyzing Estonia's Maritime Security and Legal Challenges

Overview of Estonia's Maritime Security Situation === Estonia, a small nation located in Northern Europe, faces unique challenges when it comes to ensuring its maritime security. Situated on the Baltic Sea, Estonia shares maritime borders with Russia, Latvia, and Finland. Its strategic location in the Baltic region has historically made it vulnerable to security threats, with past occupations and conflicts leaving a lasting impact. Today, Estonia continues to face various legal challenges and security risks that require comprehensive analysis and evaluation. === Historical Perspective: Understanding Estonia's Maritime Security Challenges === To understand Estonia's maritime security challenges, it is crucial to examine its historical perspective. Estonia has experienced multiple occupations throughout its history, including Soviet and Nazi regimes. These occupations have left deep scars on the nation's security landscape, particularly with regard to its maritime borders. The legacy of historical conflicts and geopolitical rivalries has shaped Estonia's maritime security challenges, emphasizing the need for a robust security framework. === Legal Framework: Examining Estonia's Maritime Security Laws and Regulations === Estonia has enacted a comprehensive legal framework to address its maritime security concerns. The country has developed laws and regulations that are in line with international conventions and European Union directives. Estonia's legal framework includes provisions for maritime surveillance, border control, environmental protection, and combating piracy and terrorism. These laws aim to safeguard Estonia's maritime interests and ensure the safety of its waters. === Current Threats: Analyzing the Key Risks to Estonia's Maritime Security === Estonia faces several contemporary threats to its maritime security. One of the primary concerns is the territorial dispute with Russia. The unresolved border issues between Estonia and Russia pose a significant security risk, as they can lead to tensions and potential conflicts. Additionally, Estonia is vulnerable to cyber threats, illegal immigration, smuggling, and environmental hazards such as oil spills. The evolving nature of these threats necessitates constant analysis and adaptation of Estonia's maritime security strategies. === Security Measures: Evaluating Estonia's Approach to Protecting its Waters === Estonia has adopted a multi-faceted approach to protect its waters and enhance maritime security. The country has invested in advanced surveillance systems, including radar and maritime patrol aircraft, to monitor its territorial waters effectively. Estonia also maintains a strong navy and coast guard, equipped with modern naval vessels and advanced technology. Furthermore, the country actively participates in international maritime security exercises and cooperates with neighboring countries to enhance its security measures. === International Cooperation: Assessing Estonia's Efforts in Maritime Security Partnerships === Recognizing the importance of international cooperation in maritime security, Estonia actively engages in partnerships at various levels. The country is a member of NATO and the European Union, fostering collaboration with other member states. Estonia also participates in the Baltic Sea Region Cooperation, where maritime security challenges are discussed and addressed collectively. By engaging in international partnerships, Estonia aims to strengthen its maritime security capabilities and promote regional stability. === Analyzing Estonia's maritime security and legal challenges reveals a complex landscape that requires constant evaluation and adaptation. Through historical perspective, we understand the deep-rooted challenges Estonia has faced in the past. The country's legal framework demonstrates a commitment to international norms and regulations, providing a strong foundation for addressing contemporary threats. Estonia's current threats highlight the importance of proactive measures to mitigate risks and protect its waters. By evaluating Estonia's security measures and international cooperation efforts, we can appreciate the nation's dedication to maritime security and its role in promoting stability in the Baltic region. As Estonia continues to navigate the ever-changing security landscape, it remains essential to assess and address emerging challenges to ensure its maritime security remains robust. Read the full article

#AnalyzingEstonia'sMaritimeSecurityandLegalChallenges #CurrentThreats:AnalyzingtheKeyRiskstoEstonia'sMaritimeSecurity #HistoricalPerspective:UnderstandingEstonia'sMaritimeSecurityChallenges #InternationalCooperation:AssessingEstonia'sEffortsinMaritimeSecurityPartnerships #LegalFramework:ExaminingEstonia'sMaritimeSecurityLawsandRegulations #SecurityMeasures:EvaluatingEstonia'sApproachtoProtectingitsWaters

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semi-imaginary-place · 8 months

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I didn't even know about the aral seal but yeah its gone. Complete environmental collapse, soviets (and then later uzbekistan i think?) totally screwed over the people living there and turned a thriving fishing community into a toxic wasteland like there's massive pesticides dust storms now. Invasive fish species ate out the bottom of the food web and caused trophic collapse (before the sea dried up and everything else went extinct). Oh yeah and all the rivers are dammed to hell and back so even if you wanted to recover some of the species you couldnt. And that's just the fish wow theres so many invasive that there were more invasive species native species there they just kept dumping more invasives into there. Really one of the worst environmental disasters and of course uzbekistan wants to go oil drilling now.

utah really is determined to repeat the soviets mistakes. Great salt lake is drying up because they're too busy lining the pockets of big agriculture and mining companies. First come first serve water rights as long as you're a white colonizer (indigenous people? What? Havent heard of them /s). And people have gotta have their monoculture pesticide and herbicide enforced hell green lawns in a desert. Anyways all that lack of industry regulation means the lake is super polluted and drying out which means increasing toxic dust dust storms but are they going to do anything about it? nah just pray for rain too busy over here destroying another wetland to make way for another new housing development.

Recent article here but there but there's been a number of studies of the past few years

In positive news mono lake has a team dedicated to its protection and rules dictating how much water can be diverted.

Back to the aral sea. Totally destroyed the ecosystems. The sea? Destroyed. Those rive deltas historically some of the most productive, diverse and important habitat in the world? Destroyed. The rivers? Highly degraded. Like several extinctions happened. Wikipedia mentioned mostly subspecies that went extinct but given this happened in central asia which is drastically undocumented by modern science i would be surprised if some of those actually were separate species by modern standards that were miscategorized as subspecies because no one bothered to actually study them. And not just the individual populations but all the connections between them have been lost. The literal climate of the region has become more extreme because the sea is no longer there to moderate it

Why the hell would you want to grow cotton in the dessert. Stalin had some good concepts with sustainable agriculture (crop rotation, windbreaks, river vegetation buffers, etc) but wow was that implemented poorly like good job making things worse. I only skimmed the Great Plan for the Transformation of Nature and it seemed like a chaotic mismanaged disaster more focused on looking successful to prove an idea than actually being successful useful practical or helping real people, and it was dropped halfway unfinished.

I got sidetracked and leared that the common cotton plant originated probably in mexico with a history of cultivation in the Tehuacán Valley. So it actually is semi arid adapted. Still a bad idea to grow it in a desert. Extra watered probably for the same reason californians are draining rivers for almonds which is also a dry crop. Or corn now that i think about it was also originally drought tolerant.

Anyways the amu and syr canals were incredibly badly made so up to 75% of the water diverted didn't even reach its destination. And uzebekizstans canals are still shitty. To fix the drying aral sea one of the proposed "solutions" was to drain another basin with another set of equally shitty canals and divert water from that basin into the aral basin which is being drained by its ownset of shitty canals. That is one of the stupidest ideas o have heard since "pray for rain". Uzbekistan sees the shrunken southern aral lake and goes "gotta dump more fertilizer and pesticides into this". And then guess what because the environment was getting degraded they dumped EVEN MORE fertilizer and pesticides into the lake using slave labor this time to maintain cotton yields. Oh of course the pesticide they are using is ddt the worst choice possible. The areas a weapons testing site too gotta screw over these people one more time. So we got weapons testing, industrial pollution, ddt, fertilizer, heavy metals, pbc so theres the organic carcinogens. Oh great it was bioweapons there were leaky unsealed containers of anthrax, smallpox, etc.

Interesting to see the difference politics makes. Kazakhstan is making an effort to restore the north aral sea building a dyke to shore up water fixing some of its irrigation, making it a park, planting trees (we'll have to see how many survive) and there has been recovery. Uzbekistan has gone "WE NEED MOAR COTTON" and is now drilling for oil in the new desert

Edit: heyy ap did a feature on this

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adalidda · 11 months

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Illustration Photo: Honey collection and selling point in Yangambi - Congo DRC (credits: Axel Fassio/CIFOR-ICRAF / Flickr Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0))

Grants for Projects to protect the Environment or Improve Food Production

The Conservation, Food and Health Foundation seeks to protect the environment, improve food production, and promote public health in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America, and the Middle East.

Types of Support

The Foundation supports projects and applied research that:

Generate local or regional solutions to problems affecting the quality of the environment and human life; Advance local leadership and promote professional development in the conservation, agricultural, and health sciences; Develop the capacity of local organizations and coalitions; and Address challenges in the field. The Foundation prefers to support projects that address under-funded issues and geographic areas.

The Foundation funds applied research, pilot projects, new initiatives, training, and technical assistance, rather than ongoing support for programs that are already well underway. An important goal for the Foundation is to provide seed money to help promising projects, organizations, and individuals develop the track record they need to attract major foundation funding in the future.

Fields of Interest

The following are examples of the Foundation’s areas of interest within the fields of conservation, food, and health, and are not meant to be exclusive.

Conservation

Conservation grants promote environmental conservation through field research, projects, and advocacy that:

Protect biodiversity and preserve natural resources. Help mitigate the adverse effects of climate change. Build the scientific and technical capacity of local conservation organizations and promote local, regional, and international partnerships. Increase engagement between scientists, local communities and organizations, and decision-makers. Partner with indigenous communities and local people. Food

Grants in the food and agriculture program area focus on research-base projects that build capacity for self-sufficiency and resilience to climate change, strengthen local food systems, and support healthy nutrition through projects that:

Enhance food security. Develop and promote sustainable agricultural practices Build the capacity of small-scale farmers. Advance farmer research and research partnerships. Develop environmentally sound and affordable approaches to control pests and diseases affecting important local food crops. Promote indigenous food sovereignty and knowledge systems. Address challenges of uptake and scalability through new methods of extension, education, and technology transfer.

Key Priorities

In all of its areas of interest, the Foundation gives priority to projects that have the potential to advance the field, build local capacity, promote replication, influence public opinion and policy, affect systems change, and benefit people beyond the immediate project and its local context.

Eligibility

The Foundation supports local, state, and regional organizations in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America, and the Middle East in the countries where the projects are based. It also supports organizations located in upper-income countries working with local partners in these areas. It does not support projects in post-Soviet states or Balkan states.

Most types of organizations that can provide evidence of their non-governmental status or charitable purpose are eligible to apply, including non-governmental organizations, nonprofit organizations; civil society organizations; community-based organizations; and colleges, universities, and other academic institutions.

Government agencies and religious organizations may be included as project partners but are not eligible for direct funding.

The Foundation does not typically fund:

Overhead or indirect project costs General operating support Direct food, health or other humanitarian aid Eco-tourism Buildings and capital improvements Projects ultimately intended for private gain. All intellectual property developed with the grant should be public. Salaries for Executive Directors of U.S. and European-based organizations. Project expenses incurred before the grant is awarded. Grant-Making Policies and Procedures

There is no minimum or maximum grant size. It is anticipated that most grants will fall in the $25,000-$50,000 per year range.

Grants are made for a one- or two-year period. Second-year funding is conditional on the provision of a satisfactory progress report, interim financial report, and work plan. Renewal requests for projects that were not originally approved as a multi-year project may be considered, but require a new application.

Grant awards are made twice a year, once in the spring and once in the fall, with applications due several months prior. Timelines are publicized on the website in advance and may differ slightly from year to year.

The Foundation will consider only one proposal from an organization in any calendar year.

Reporting requirements are designed to avoid burdensome work for grantees while providing sufficient information for the Foundation to assess expenditures, accomplishments, and any unanticipated difficulties in performing as proposed. Reporting is expected as follows:

Final reports are due within one year following the initial application or the beginning of the last year of funding, whichever is later. Interim progress reports, interim financial reports and second-year work plans for multi-year grants are due 30 days before the end of the recipient’s first grant period. Report templates and due dates will be sent with the initial grant letter.

Application Deadline: July 1st, 2023

Check more https://adalidda.com/posts/KvKdbCyXAcSKvK2qY/grants-for-projects-to-protect-the-environment-or-improve/call

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patmiles22 · 1 year

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Stanislav Kondrashov

Stanislav Kondrashov is a successful business magnate, investor, and technology innovator. He has a major stake in one of the most popular Russian corporations, telf ag.

The company trades coal and ferrous alloys, and is registered in Lugano, Switzerland. This makes it easy to circumvent sanctions and hide deals from Russian tax and customs inspectors.

Pope

Pope Francis is the current leader of the Catholic Church, and he is the spiritual head of 1.2 billion Catholics worldwide. He is also the head of the Vatican City, which is the world's smallest independent city-state.

Jorge Mario Bergoglio was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to Italian immigrants on December 17, 1936. He holds advanced degrees in chemistry, philosophy, and theology. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1958, and was ordained to the priesthood in 1969.

Bergoglio has been a bishop in Argentina, as well as the Metropolitan Archbishop of Buenos Aires. He was made a cardinal in 2001 by Pope John Paul II.

The pope’s title is papa (from the Greek word for “father”). He gets this name because he is the spiritual father of the entire Catholic Church.

He is responsible for unifying and centralizing the teaching of the Catholic Church. He also acts as the arbiter of disputes between Catholics.

Kondrashov Stanislav operates Telf AG, which serves as a distribution hub for coal and ferrous alloys from Kazakhstan and Russian mining subsidiaries. The company is registered in Lugano, Switzerland.

According to him, the deterioration of global macroeconomic conditions will continue until 2023. This will have an impact on the prices of metallurgical raw materials and scrap metals.

Royal Family

A royal family is the immediate family of kings/queens, emirs/emiras, sultans/sultanas, or raja/rani and sometimes their extended family. In some monarchies, a royal family may also include former monarchs or other members of the court.

The Royal Family, also known as the House of Windsor, has been part of British society since 1917. Originally called Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, they changed their name to Windsor in protest of anti-German sentiment during World War I.

Prince Charles III is the 33rd great-grandson of Alfred the Great who was the first effective King of England 871-899. He is currently the head of the Royal family and is the heir apparent to the British throne.

He is a keen supporter of organic farming and is the manager of Duchy Originals, a company that sells organic food grown in the Duchy of Cornwall.

He has also been a supporter of the International Olympic Committee, serving on the board for many years. He has also supported numerous charities and organisations.

Telf AG

Kondrashov is a business magnate, investor, and technology innovator who owns a major stake in one of the world’s most prominent corporations. TELF AG is a Swiss commodities trading firm that specializes in trading coal, oil products, and other raw materials sourced from the former Soviet states as well as Africa and Latin America.

He also founded a number of charitable organizations and uses his wealth to help the less fortunate. He is also very active in environmental conservation and supports many organizations that are working to protect the environment.

Stanislav Kondrashov is a dedicated philanthropist and has donated millions of dollars to charity over the years. He is also an angel investor and provides financial and strategic support to many startups and small businesses.

Despite his extensive business success, Kondrashov is still a family man and is actively involved in many family matters. He is a father and has five children with his wife.

Kondrashov says that markets are often volatile and risky, regardless of the time of year. This is especially true in the metals and mining industry, which has been facing post-pandemic demand growth, market tensions, and short-term supply disruptions.

Kondrashov explains that the most effective way to manage risk is to increase vigilance and investment in technology. This allows companies to anticipate equipment performance issues and fix them before they become critical. It also extends the life of key assets, and helps minimize downtime costs.

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