Writer Wendy Barnaby has written an essay for academic journal Nature in stead of a book for her publisher as the conclusion on “water wars” wouldn’t sell. Some facts… There are 263 cross-boundary waterways in the world. Between 1948 and 1999, cooperation over water, including the signing of treaties, far outweighed conflict over water and…
Month: March 2009
Chilean town withers in free market for water
Quillagua is among many small towns that are being swallowed up in the country’s intensifying water wars. Nowhere is the system for buying and selling water more permissive than here in Chile […] Some economists have hailed Chile’s water rights trading system, which was established in 1981 during the military dictatorship, as a model of…
Killing for Coal: The Ludlow Massacre and more
Coal’s been generating controversy for about as long as it’s been generating energy. On April 20th 1914, coal was at the epicenter of the bloodiest battle in US labor history. It’s called the Ludlow Massacre, after the mining town in Southern Colorado where coal miners went on strike demanding better conditions. The Colorado National Guard…
Video: Israeli Military Shooting Gaza Farmers
18th February 2009 Israeli forces shot a twenty year-old Palestinian farmer as he worked his land in the village of Al-Faraheen, east of Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip.
US Army captain: “eco-friendly practices need to be applied”
On military bases in Iraq, plastic, paper, aerosol cans, Styrofoam plates, food waste, batteries, digital equipment and hygiene products fall under one category: waste. It is simply dumped at the edge of the base, then burned at night, irritating soldiers’ lungs. Untreated wastewater is also haphazardly disposed of and gradually finds its way into Iraq’s…