This is what makes environmental campaigning all worthwhile – the planned mining on the sacred Indian Mountain the tribal land of the Dongria Kondh has been stopped, afte four years of protests by locals and environmental organisations.
Controversial plans to develop a bauxite mine on sacred tribal land in India have been cancelled by India’s environment ministry. The Dongria Kondh’s – an indigenous tribe who have lived since time immemorial around the mountain Niyamgiri in the Indian state of Orissa – demands have been met, and the area will remain wild, lush and sacred. Multi-national company Vedanta’s existing aluminum refinery in the area had polluted local rivers, damaged crops and disrupted the lives of the local tribe; and will now not be able to expand six-fold. This is a Dongria Kondh victory first and foremost.
The project has been delayed by four years because of the Dongria Kondh’s intense opposition locally – including the brandishing of bows and arrows – as well as from environmental and tribal rights group. Globally, a loosely coordinated campaign sought to persuade multi-national Vedanta’s shareholders and financiers to distance themselves from the company. This is their magnificent victory as well – for Survival International and Amnesty International, various celebrity activists such as Bianca Jagger and Michael Palin, and numerous other loosely affiliated affinity campaigns, including most recently from Ecological Internet working with the Rainforest Information Centre.
“Yet again global people power has come to the aid of small, intact communities battling the ecosystem destroying economic growth machine. The Dongria Kondh’s amazing efforts should be placed in the context of a global people’s power movement to protect and restore ecosystems, and wrest control of land from industrial and speculative capitalism,” asserts Dr. Glen Barry, Ecological Internet’s President.
Lewis Gordon Pugh is probably best known for becoming the first person to undertake a long distance swim across the Geographic North Pole in 2007 and has come to be known as “the Human Polar Bear”.
He studied law at the University of Cape Town and Cambridge University and then worked as a maritime lawyer in London. He always wanted to be a pioneer swimmer and to swim where no-one else had swum before, inspired by explorers such as Roald Amundsen, Robert Scott, and Edmund Hillary
He has pioneered more swims around famous landmarks than any other swimmer and is the only person to have completed a long distance swim in every ocean in the world.
He is a passionate environmental campaigner who has used his pioneering adventures to draw attention to issues such as climate change and pollution, and now spends his time public speaking and campagning to world leaders to protect the environment.
On May 22nd 2010 he swam 1 km across a glacial lake on Mt Everest, with a water temperature of 2 degrees, an altitude of 5,300m and the fact that fresh water is less buoyant than salt water made it one of the most difficult swims he has ever undetaken.
Lake Imja was first seen in 1958 and is now nealy 2km long due to the melting Imja Glacier.
“These glaciers are not just ice. They are a lifeline. They provide a constant water supply to some 2 billion people – nearly a third of the world’s population. The peoples of India, China, Pakistan, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Nepal, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Bhutan depend on the melt water from the Himalayan and Hindu Kush glaciers. But they are melting due to climate change. And without a regular supply of water, there is a real risk of instability in the region.
This is a plea to every nation, to do everything it can, to put a stop to climate change. We live in a global environment. What happens in one part of the world will impact every other part. And when it comes to cutting carbon emissions, we must stop arguing about whether China, the USA or the EU should act first. Given the urgency of the situation every country needs to put in place every solution at its disposal. There is no time for delay.”
– Lewis Pugh –
“We stand at a critical point in the history of the planet and the steps which we take over the next few years will determine the future of the natural world and the sustainability of mankind.”
– Lewis Pugh –
“Conservation of the environment is no longer their problem or my problem but our problem”
– Lewis Pugh –
“Bodies heal themselves. What matters most is the state of your spirit.”
– Lewis Pugh –
Vedanta Resources, a British mining company, is set to destroy the forests, wildlife and way of life of the Dongria Kondh people. The Dongria Kondh have been struggling with all their might to protect their mountain but are being overpowered by the financial and political might of this multi-billion dollar company.
They have been protesting locally for years, and have appealed for international support for their campaign to keep their sacred Niyamgiri Mountain ecologically and culturally intact.
Follow the link below for updated information and for a chance to make a difference.
It is time for all our voices to be heard.
Don’t let them steal Our Earth.
Gardenia (Cape Jasmine) – Better than Barbituates …
It’s official – if you take medication to calm you, relieve anxiety and tension or help you sleep, it would be just as effective (and a lot healthier) to throw away those tablets and buy some flowers.
Researchers from Ruhr University Bochum led by Prof. Dr.Hanns Hatt in collaboration with Dr. Olga Sergeeva and Prof. Helmut Hass from the Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf, have discovered that the scent from the Gardenia “Gardenia jasminoides” has the ability to soothe, relieve anxiety and to promote sleep, with the same effectiveness as commonly prescribed medication (barbituates or propofol)
Newspapers and online articles have been covering this story over the past few days but because of a translation problem from the German universities which ran the scientific investigation the qualities are being ascribed to Jasmine, but are correctly referring to the flower “Gardenia jasminoides” which is known also as Cape Jasmine but is actually Gardenia rather than Jasmine.
The report appears in the online issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
The researchers have been granted a patent for their discovery.
GABA Gardenia – Nature’s Own Healthy Barbituate
Sleeping pills, sedatives and relaxants are the most frequently prescribed psychotropic drugs with mild dosage having a calming effect and heavier dosage a hypnotic effect.
This class of substance includes alcohol, barbituates and opiates and are prescribed for anxiety and stress-related issues as well as being used as anaesthetics. They do have many side effects such as dizziness, hypertension, muscle weaknessand impaired coordination) and are potentially addictive.
These kinds of drugs (Benzodiazepines, barbituates and anaesthetics) work via adhesion on the site of receptors on the contact-points (synapses) of nerve cells by increasing the effect of GABA (gamma-amniobutyric acid)
The research included testing hundreds of fragrances to explore their effect on GABA receptors, and discovered that the two fragrances vertacetal-coeur (VC) from Gardenia (Gardenia jasminoides), and the chemical variation (PI24513) had the strongest effect – increasing the GABA effect more than five times, thus equaling the strength of known prescription drugs.
The usual United States response will be a potential availability in ten years and the DEA will make jasmine illegal and jail people for possessing it. The creation of another banned substance will increase court backlogs, burden the already overloaded penal system, and create a whole new “flower underworld.” That is how it is done in the United States.”
A few weeks ago many of us would have responded to the word “Vuvuzela” with “Vuvu WHO?” but with the 2010 World Cup Coverage all that has changed. The unmistakeable VuVu sound has been floating out of television screens across the world as people tune in to watch the first ever Football World Cup to be hosted on African soil.
TheOnion.com has good tongue-in-cheek coverage of the Vuvuzela, running the headline:
South African Vuvuzela Philharmonic Angered By Soccer Games Breaking Out During Concerts
JOHANNESBURG—Members of the South Africa Vuvuzela Philharmonic Orchestra, widely considered to be among the best large-scale monotonic wind instrument ensembles in the world, told reporters Friday they were furious over the recent outbreaks of international soccer matches during their traditional outdoor concerts.
“I cannot imagine what is getting into these football teams that they would suddenly begin full-scale international competition just when we are beginning our 2010 concert series … More…
Vu to You Too? What exactly is the Vuvuzela?
The vuvuzela (voo-vu-zay-la) is a plastic blowing horn usually about 2ft long that has become the instantly recognisable background noise of south african football matches. It produces a loud monotone sound that has whipped up health and safety concerns over whether the combined decibels at a game will cause permanent hearing damage. Opponents also complain that the sound makes it almost impossible for the players or referees to communicate in any verbal form. It also makes the job of the sports commentators a lot more complicated.
The name vuvuzela means to make a “vuvu” noise in Zulu – based on the “voo voo” sound the horn makes.
Similar plastic trumpets have been used in stadiums in Mexico since the 1970s and were used in Argentina as early as 1978 at the FIFA world cup that was held there that year.
Bicycle Horn – was this the invention of the Vuvuzela?
Earlier versions of the trumpets were made of tin and a well-known fan of the South African Kaiser Chiefs Football Club – Freddie “Saddam” Maake claims to have invented the vuvusela in 1965 by adapting an aluminium bicycle horn – removing the rubber sqeezer so he could blow it using his mouth. He has photographs of himself in the 1970s and 80s at local South African games as well as at international games in 1992 and 96 and at the 1996 World Cup in France, holding the aluminium vuvuzela.
He claims that becuse the aluminium version was banned by the authorities because it was apparently a “dangerous weapon”, he then went out and found someone to manufacture a plastic version.
2010 FIFA World Cup – Giant Vuvuzela
The largest working vuvuzela in the world was created as part of the Korean car manufacturer’s 2010 World Cup marketing campaign. The 114 footlong instrument was created on an unfinished flyover road in Cape Town and was supposed to have been blown at the beginning of each World Cup match – powered by several air horns attached to the mouthpiece.
An ongoing dispute with the city authorities regarding the noise levels it would make mean it has remained silent so far throughout the games.
The Florida Marlins baseball team handed out free horns to the first 15,000 fans through the gate for their game with the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday (June 20th 2010). More…
Vuvu Banned
The controversy over the Vuvuzela during the 2010 World Cup has led to the instruments being banned from numerous stadiums and events including baseball games at Yankee Stadium, tennis matches at Wimbledon, the Melbourne Cricket Ground and the Cardiff City, Millennium and SWALEC Stadiums.
