All posts by nedhamson

Activist, writer, researcher, addicted to sharing information and facts.

A look at violence and conflict over Indigenous lands in nine Latin American countries

Threats are a part of everyday life for Indigenous leaders in Latin America. They are part of a growing wave of violence that has, in recent years, left a shocking number of bodies in its wake: between 2012 and 2020, 363 male and female activists from Indigenous communities were murdered.

“In all our reports, Indigenous people make up, on average, one third of the total number of murdered environmental defenders on a global scale, a tremendously high figure considering only 4% of the world’s population are Indigenous peoples,” says Marina Comandulli, a campaign officer for Global Witness, a human rights non-governmental organization.

The most critical situation is in Colombia, where 117 Indigenous people have been murdered in the aforementioned period – the highest figure on the South American continent.

 

Source: A look at violence and conflict over Indigenous lands in nine Latin American countries

Opinion | What a Dying Lake Says About the Future – The New York Times

Finally, we aren’t talking about a global problem. True, global climate change has contributed to reduced snowpack, which is one reason the Great Salt Lake has shrunk. But a large part of the problem is local water consumption; if that consumption could be curbed, Utah needn’t worry that its efforts would be negated by the Chinese or whatever.

So this should be easy: A threatened region should be accepting modest sacrifices, some barely more than inconveniences, to avert a disaster just around the corner. But it doesn’t seem to be happening.

And if we can’t save the Great Salt Lake, what chance do we have of saving the planet?

The Supreme Court saved a man from execution in 2020. It just took that back in Andrus v. Texas. – Vox (Me: GOPDeathCult infects Supreme Court of United States)

Two years ago, the Supreme Court determined that Terence Andrus, a death row inmate in Texas, received unconstitutionally ineffective legal counsel at his murder trial. On Monday, the Court effectively disregarded this decision — permitting a Texas court that openly defied the Supreme Court’s 2020 opinion to reinstate Andrus’s death sentence.

Though the justices who voted to let Andrus’s death sentence stand in this new decision did not explain themselves, it is notable that the Court reversed course after two justices in the 2020 majority — Justices Anthony Kennedy and Ruth Bader Ginsburg — were replaced by very conservative Trump appointees.

The most likely explanation for the Court’s change of heart in this case, in other words, isn’t that the law cuts against Andrus in 2022 any more than it did in 2020. It’s just that conservative Republicans control more seats on the Supreme Court.

 

Source: The Supreme Court saved a man from execution in 2020. It just took that back in Andrus v. Texas. – Vox

Sharp rise in COVID-19 cases in Israel may be caused by BA.5 variant – The Jerusalem Post

Time to mask up?

The Health Ministry issued a statement on Monday afternoon recommending that people once again begin wearing masks in enclosed spaces for the first time since the requirement was removed in April.

“In recent days, there has been an extremely sharp increase in the number of verified COVID-19 cases in Israel, and with this, there has also been a jump in serious illnesses,” read the statement.

Stressing the importance of maintaining both day-to-day routines and public health, the statement continued: “In a situation where the economy is completely open, routine is maintained and there are no restrictions, the personal responsibility to protect each and every one of us arises. Therefore, we ask you to make sure to wear a mask in closed spaces, not because it is obligatory but because it is an act of solidarity and caring for others.”

“We ask you to make sure to wear a mask in closed spaces, not because it is obligatory – but because it is an act of solidarity and caring for others.”

Health Ministry

The Health Ministry also stressed the importance of following scientific evidence regarding the use of face masks in preventing the spread of infection. It said in a statement, “Although there are those who consistently try to sow doubts about the effectiveness of masks, the scientific information about their effectiveness in preventing infection and infecting others with the virus is well-founded and solid.”

Source: Sharp rise in COVID-19 cases in Israel may be caused by BA.5 variant – The Jerusalem Post

After More Than a Decade of Drought, Chile’s Peñuelas Lake Has Nearly Vanished – Yale E360

A false-color image of the Peñuelas reservoir in 2016 (left) and 2022 (right).

A once-sprawling lake, the Peñuelas reservoir in central Chile has all but disappeared, desiccated by a 13-year drought. The resulting water shortage has fueled tensions over supplies needed for farming and lithium mining, and spurred the Chilean capital of Santiago to prepare for rationing.

The ongoing drought is the most intense and long-lasting in at least 400 years, rendering the lake bed dried and cracked, dotted with the skeletons of decaying fish, Reuters reported. The Peñuelas’ drying has been partially caused by higher temperatures and a reduction in rainfall. At the same time, snow in the Andes is melting faster or turning directly to water vapor, leaving mountain-fed streams at a trickle in the summer.

The reservoir, near the city of Valparaiso, once held enough water to fill 38,000 Olympic-size swimming pools. It now has enough for just two.

“Basically what we have is just a puddle,” Jose Luis Murillo, general manager of ESVAL, the firm supplying water to Valparaiso, told Reuters. “This is especially significant if you think that several decades ago the Peñuelas reservoir was the only source of water for all greater Valparaiso.”

The thinning of the ozone layer over Antarctica is shifting weather patterns, drawing storms away from the Chilean coast. As the ozone layer heals, “one can expect a lessening of the summer drying in southern Chile,” a 2018 study suggested. But with rising temperatures permanently altering the climate, a 2019 study anticipates “only a partial recovery of central Chile precipitation in the decades to come.”

Miguel Lagos, a Chilean water specialist, told Reuters, “What we call a drought today will become normal.”

Source: After More Than a Decade of Drought, Chile’s Peñuelas Lake Has Nearly Vanished – Yale E360