Loss of linguistic diversity may lead to disappearance of age-old remedies unknown to science, study warns
The areas with languages most at risk were in north-west Amazonia, where 100% of this unique knowledge was supported by threatened languages, and in North America, where the figure was 86%. In New Guinea 31% of languages were at risk. The anticipated loss of linguistic diversity would “substantially compromise humanity’s capacity for medicinal discovery”, according to the paper, published in PNAS.
Showing posts with label CONSERVATION. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CONSERVATION. Show all posts
07/07/2021
Climate Change and the Time of Transition
In this quote below, Gurdjieff talked about climate change (literally using the same words) almost a century ago, taking a look at the issue from the perspective of cycles, esotericism, and the pursuit of higher Knowledge:
“There are periods in the life of humanity, which generally coincide with the beginning of the fall of cultures and civilizations, when the masses irretrievably lose their reason and begin to destroy everything that has been created by centuries and millenniums of culture.Such periods of mass madness, often coinciding with geological cataclysms, climatic changes, and similar phenomena of a planetary character, release a very great quantity of the matter of knowledge. This, in its turn, necessitates the work of collecting this matter of knowledge which would otherwise be lost. Thus the work of collecting scattered matter of knowledge frequently coincides with the beginning of the destruction and fall of cultures and civilizations.
This aspect of the question is clear. The crowd neither wants nor seeks knowledge, and the leaders of the crowd, in their own interests, try to strengthen its fear and dislike of everything new and unknown. The slavery in which mankind lives is based upon this fear. It is even difficult to imagine all the horror of this slavery. We do not understand what people are losing.
But in order to understand the cause of this slavery it is enough to see how people live, what constitutes the aim of their existence, the object of their desires, passions, and aspirations, of what they think, of what they talk, what they serve and what they worship….”
- Gurdjieff
More in this article 👇
https://veilofreality.com/2017/09/09/climate-change-and-the-time-of-transition/
25/03/2021
What about the mushrooms we don’t notice? And how many of them are endangered?
For almost a decade, one lone mushroom was classified as an endangered species, and scientists say more could be in trouble.
When Italian botanist Giuseppe Inzenga first tasted the white ferula mushroom in 1863, he described it as one of the tastiest he had ever had.
Found primarily in Sicily’s Madonie mountain range growing in limestone and at elevations of over 1,000 feet, the prized mushroom is sold for around 50 euros for two pounds.
“This mushroom is really delicious. You can eat it raw and also cooked,” says Giuseppe Venturella, a mycologist at the University of Palermo in Sicily. He compares it to a porcini, notes that it’s rich in B vitamins, and says the best way to experience the taste is eating it raw, with a little olive oil and parmesan cheese.
Picking the mushroom is off limits in protected areas inside the Madonie National Park region, but foragers can pluck mature mushrooms, indicated by a cap with sides growing longer than three centimeters, in surrounding regions. Unlike most mushroom species, the white ferula fruits in spring, with its season lasting from April to late May.
The white ferula was the first mushroom to be recognized for the impact humans were having on its survival, and from 2006 to 2015 it was the only one of its kind to be globally recognized as endangered.
“It was so beloved by people in [Sicily] that when the numbers began to decline, it was part of popular conversation,” says Nicholas Money, a mycologist at Miami University in Ohio.
But what about the mushrooms we don’t notice? And how many of them are endangered?
“We think the true biodiversity of fungi is somewhere between one million and six million species,” says Anne Pringle, a University of Wisconsin-Madison mycologist—as fungus experts are called—and a National Geographic explorer. Yet despite their global prevalence, fungi have historically been left out of conservation initiatives.
So how do we conserve organisms we can’t see and don’t understand? And why should we try?
“Life on the planet wouldn’t exist without fungi as we know it,” says Greg Mueller, a mushroom conservation expert and the chief scientist at the Chicago Botanic Garden.
Conserving them, Money says, “is an urgent concern because of their relationship with forests and trees. You can’t have the trees without the fungi…. We cannot survive without them. In terms of the health of the planet, they’re incredibly important.”
27/02/2021
Decalcify your pineal gland - The average person by the time they are in their mid-thirties has a pineal gland that is more like a small, hard, fluoride-based pebble
In most populated environments we are bombarded with different toxic stressors -- biologically, chemically, environmentally, nutritionally, physically, physiologically and spiritually. Although fluoride has become the most popular showning the most evidence on damaging the pineal gland, all heavy metals collaborate in blocking the pineal and other internal organs.
THE PINEAL GLAND
The size of only a grain of rice, this tiny gland is an essential player as to how we perceive reality, make decisions, perform and how we sleep. A healthy-functioning pineal is essential for psychological development, peak performance, and spiritual awakening.
“Unlike most of our brain, the blood-brain barrier doesn’t isolate the pineal from the rest of our body. Instead, the pineal gets a tremendous amount of blood flow, second only to the kidneys. Surrounded by and immersed in cerebrospinal fluid, this gland camps out in a tiny cave-like area behind and above the pituitary gland.” - Pub Med
The pineal gland secretes melatonin (through the conversion of serotonin), which activates the pituitary gland to release MSH — the melanocyte stimulating hormone that produces melanin.
In a study done by British scientist Jennifer Luke back in the 1990s, she discovered high concentrations of fluoride in the pineal gland on her subjects.
THE DAMAGING EFFECTS OF FLUORIDE, ANTIBIOTICS AND HEAVY METALS
Fluoride, is found in most municipal water around the world, along with many more pesticides and chemicals. In this study here you find how there are a load of pharmaceuticals and toxins within our water supply, deliberately added, as well as due to poor waste water management and lack of proper filtration. To read more about the truth on tap water, and whats added depending amongst regions in the US, here's a good article.
Pesticides and heavy metals within water accumulates in the pineal more than any other part of the body. This accumulation of fluoride forms phosphate crystals, creating a hard shell around the pineal called calcification. See image above.
SCIENTIFIC STUDIES ON PINEAL CALCIFICATION
Studies show that pineal gland calcification:
• Lowers productions of melatonin
• Impairs the sleep-wake cycle
• Disrupts the regulation of the circadian rhythm
Fluoridated water is believed to be one of the chief causes of calcification in the pineal gland. Evidence suggests that children reach puberty earlier now as a consequence of fluoridated water. And, fluoride exposure in animal studies has found to decrease melatonin significantly.
According to a scientific study on the effect of fluoride on the pineal, the average person by the time they are in their mid-thirties has a pineal gland that is more like a small, hard, fluoride-based pebble.
Simply put, when our pineal gland is calcified, we’re out of balance with our basic biological functioning. On another note, ancient traditions knew of the pineal gland and enshrouded its mysteries in their lore. They knew that it played a key role with our intuition, and spiritual development. With an increasingly toxic world, we must be aware to keep it active and healthy, to further unlock our potential.
25/02/2021
Our Environment Is Collapsing Just As Severely As Our Society
I read somewhere that to really understand something is to be liberated from it. Yet, how can we liberate ourselves from our vain attempt at global progress which has, in all intents and purposes, destroyed the very place in which we live? Our world is collapsing, an implosion on a scale unimaginable just a few years ago.
As a species, we have accomplished incredible achievements in medicine, science, physics, technology and art. Men have walked on the moon and our scientists have sent spaceships to every planet in our Solar System. We seem to be capable of doing anything we want but two problems have dogged us for thousands of years: accomplishing peace and eradicating poverty.
After a history stretching back 6,000 years we have had true “eureka” moments of invention and creativity, promising a quantum leap in our development as a species, however, our environment is collapsing as is our society. Our resources are dwindling at an alarming rate. Animals, plants, fossil fuels, minerals, water, air and soil are all diminishing at an unsustainable speed while our population is increasing at a similar rate our ability to produce food is decreasing. We have a situation where nearly 8 billion people are trapped on a dying planet. Millions around the world are losing their jobs due to a pandemic and more than 50% of people who do keep their jobs in the near future, truck drivers, taxi drivers, delivery people, factory workers, receptionists, telephone help-line workers and many others will lose their jobs to artificial intelligence, (AI).
Billions of animals have been lost this year due to wildfires, drought, heat, cold, floods, disease, neglect, over-farming and natural disasters. Many billions of birds are dying around the world. Billions of fish have been overfarmed and are not being replenished which is causing a knock-on effect in our oceans causing other fish and mammals and sea birds to die of starvation.
Crops are failing on a Biblical scale around the world for the same reasons mentioned above plus, soil erosion. Farms are going bust due to Covid-19. To make matters worse, we are beginning to see huge populated areas of the world which are becoming impossible to live in, areas which for years have been heavily populated and teeming with life and vegetation. But now, for certain parts of the year at the very least, have become "unlivable," due mainly to extreme weather events such as wildfires, droughts, flooding hurricanes etc and it’s getting worse.
The population of mammals, birds, fish, amphibians, reptiles, insects, bees and butterflies have seen an incredible decline of almost 70% since 1970. Just stop here and wonder! Can you imagine if 70% of humans had died since 1970 with the rate increasing? Well that is about to happen to mankind and we can’t stop it and it will happen much quicker than 50 years too. Why? Because it is too late to stop the decline, we have left it too long. Hard to get your head around it, isn't it?
The Coronavirus has hit the world hard, yet, somehow, it hit the West even harder. The virus has laid the seed for a new pandemic, one which has already taken root and is quickly spreading its tentacles around the world. This new pandemic did not start in China, this pandemic started in the West, in America of all places. The new pandemic is called civil disorder and we are seeing this new pandemic spread faster than Covid-19 because people have had enough, a deep division has developed, democracy is crumbling, the left hate the right and the right hate the left, the West is on the verge of collapse.
An old friend of mine said recently, "leaders and politicians cannot fix a spiritual problem with politics.” Indeed, dark forces appear to be at work, infecting leaders and people alike, hate, anger and confusion are on an unprecedented level and rising. Violence and hatred are spewing forth from people who have been dumbed down for years, a wave of silent pent-up anger boiling up inside people and Covid-19 has brought this terrible darkness to the surface and all the time, our environment collapses just as quickly as our society. As Stephen King once wrote, “it is a done bun, can’t be undone.”
Poverty and food insecurity will hit next, millions of jobs will have gone and the hard-working people of our society, the honest people, will soon find themselves homeless and out on the streets, a “useless society.” They are the victims of Western democracy and plutocracy. Incredibly, 1% of the world's population owns more than half of the money in the world. Governments and politicians are busy lining their own pockets, banks are grossly fraudulent. Yet our banking system, fat and bloated from an 8.5 trillion-dollar bailout in 2008, paid by the very people who now need their help are sharpening their knives ready to carve up more prophets when thousands, maybe millions of people are evicted from properties which have fallen behind in payments. I read somewhere, the banks want to introduce a tax for the privilege of people working from home? Tech giants have become more powerful than governments, some of these tech leaders have a Messiah complex and are driven to changing the world with dark and dangerous ideas. If Democracy is killing the poor, well, State socialism is protecting the rich. While there should be enough for everyone, the rich are being fattened up by the undernourished. For the few, plundering the poor has become a way of life.
George Orwell once wrote:
"The further a society drifts from the truth the more it will hate those who speak it." This is what is happening here in the West. The rich and the poor have become different species. "We the people," are being plundered while the ruling elite has become the plunderers.
This inequality is best seen in a divided United States of America. Billionaires and millionaires populate cities while poor, uneducated people roam the streets in abject poverty, homeless and often shoeless, their only interest in life is to find their next high or their next drink. An obesity pandemic has hit the poverty-ridden lower class, blissfully unaware or even unable to change a lifestyle which is an early death certificate for many.
Tent cities are popping up all over the US. Many hard-working people are now living in a tent or their automobile because property and housing are now only affordable to the rich and the middle-classes.
In the beginning, it was hard for us Europeans to understand what was happening to the United States of America in 2020, however, the same problems have arrived here in our own European society. American appears to be on the verge of collapse, Europe is not too far behind. The endless videos of unrest in America's cities have become very disturbing to see, however, recent trouble in European cities tells us the problem is ingrained over here too. Tolerance appears to have become a thing of the past, almost overnight, gone forever and replaced by hate along with anger and rage.
The number of Americans who say they can’t afford enough food for themselves or their children, never mind health insurance is growing and it is likely to increase as fast as the pandemic as some government benefits expire. Advocates and experts warn that an unprecedented crush of evictions is coming, threatening millions of Americans with homelessness as the pandemic continues to spread, how far behind is Europe, time will tell.
As a species, we have accomplished incredible achievements in medicine, science, physics, technology and art. Men have walked on the moon and our scientists have sent spaceships to every planet in our Solar System. We seem to be capable of doing anything we want but two problems have dogged us for thousands of years: accomplishing peace and eradicating poverty.
After a history stretching back 6,000 years we have had true “eureka” moments of invention and creativity, promising a quantum leap in our development as a species, however, our environment is collapsing as is our society. Our resources are dwindling at an alarming rate. Animals, plants, fossil fuels, minerals, water, air and soil are all diminishing at an unsustainable speed while our population is increasing at a similar rate our ability to produce food is decreasing. We have a situation where nearly 8 billion people are trapped on a dying planet. Millions around the world are losing their jobs due to a pandemic and more than 50% of people who do keep their jobs in the near future, truck drivers, taxi drivers, delivery people, factory workers, receptionists, telephone help-line workers and many others will lose their jobs to artificial intelligence, (AI).
Billions of animals have been lost this year due to wildfires, drought, heat, cold, floods, disease, neglect, over-farming and natural disasters. Many billions of birds are dying around the world. Billions of fish have been overfarmed and are not being replenished which is causing a knock-on effect in our oceans causing other fish and mammals and sea birds to die of starvation.
Crops are failing on a Biblical scale around the world for the same reasons mentioned above plus, soil erosion. Farms are going bust due to Covid-19. To make matters worse, we are beginning to see huge populated areas of the world which are becoming impossible to live in, areas which for years have been heavily populated and teeming with life and vegetation. But now, for certain parts of the year at the very least, have become "unlivable," due mainly to extreme weather events such as wildfires, droughts, flooding hurricanes etc and it’s getting worse.
The population of mammals, birds, fish, amphibians, reptiles, insects, bees and butterflies have seen an incredible decline of almost 70% since 1970. Just stop here and wonder! Can you imagine if 70% of humans had died since 1970 with the rate increasing? Well that is about to happen to mankind and we can’t stop it and it will happen much quicker than 50 years too. Why? Because it is too late to stop the decline, we have left it too long. Hard to get your head around it, isn't it?
The Coronavirus has hit the world hard, yet, somehow, it hit the West even harder. The virus has laid the seed for a new pandemic, one which has already taken root and is quickly spreading its tentacles around the world. This new pandemic did not start in China, this pandemic started in the West, in America of all places. The new pandemic is called civil disorder and we are seeing this new pandemic spread faster than Covid-19 because people have had enough, a deep division has developed, democracy is crumbling, the left hate the right and the right hate the left, the West is on the verge of collapse.
An old friend of mine said recently, "leaders and politicians cannot fix a spiritual problem with politics.” Indeed, dark forces appear to be at work, infecting leaders and people alike, hate, anger and confusion are on an unprecedented level and rising. Violence and hatred are spewing forth from people who have been dumbed down for years, a wave of silent pent-up anger boiling up inside people and Covid-19 has brought this terrible darkness to the surface and all the time, our environment collapses just as quickly as our society. As Stephen King once wrote, “it is a done bun, can’t be undone.”
Poverty and food insecurity will hit next, millions of jobs will have gone and the hard-working people of our society, the honest people, will soon find themselves homeless and out on the streets, a “useless society.” They are the victims of Western democracy and plutocracy. Incredibly, 1% of the world's population owns more than half of the money in the world. Governments and politicians are busy lining their own pockets, banks are grossly fraudulent. Yet our banking system, fat and bloated from an 8.5 trillion-dollar bailout in 2008, paid by the very people who now need their help are sharpening their knives ready to carve up more prophets when thousands, maybe millions of people are evicted from properties which have fallen behind in payments. I read somewhere, the banks want to introduce a tax for the privilege of people working from home? Tech giants have become more powerful than governments, some of these tech leaders have a Messiah complex and are driven to changing the world with dark and dangerous ideas. If Democracy is killing the poor, well, State socialism is protecting the rich. While there should be enough for everyone, the rich are being fattened up by the undernourished. For the few, plundering the poor has become a way of life.
George Orwell once wrote:
"The further a society drifts from the truth the more it will hate those who speak it." This is what is happening here in the West. The rich and the poor have become different species. "We the people," are being plundered while the ruling elite has become the plunderers.
This inequality is best seen in a divided United States of America. Billionaires and millionaires populate cities while poor, uneducated people roam the streets in abject poverty, homeless and often shoeless, their only interest in life is to find their next high or their next drink. An obesity pandemic has hit the poverty-ridden lower class, blissfully unaware or even unable to change a lifestyle which is an early death certificate for many.
Tent cities are popping up all over the US. Many hard-working people are now living in a tent or their automobile because property and housing are now only affordable to the rich and the middle-classes.
In the beginning, it was hard for us Europeans to understand what was happening to the United States of America in 2020, however, the same problems have arrived here in our own European society. American appears to be on the verge of collapse, Europe is not too far behind. The endless videos of unrest in America's cities have become very disturbing to see, however, recent trouble in European cities tells us the problem is ingrained over here too. Tolerance appears to have become a thing of the past, almost overnight, gone forever and replaced by hate along with anger and rage.
The number of Americans who say they can’t afford enough food for themselves or their children, never mind health insurance is growing and it is likely to increase as fast as the pandemic as some government benefits expire. Advocates and experts warn that an unprecedented crush of evictions is coming, threatening millions of Americans with homelessness as the pandemic continues to spread, how far behind is Europe, time will tell.
17/11/2020
Indigenous Colombians mount a spiritual defense of the Amazon
MOCOA, Colombia — The Union of Traditional Yage Medics of the Colombian Amazon (UMIYAC) brings together five ethnic groups — the Cofán, Inga, Siona, Coreguaje, and KamĂ«ntsá — who practice spiritual ceremonies for individual and community healing based on ayahuasca, or yagĂ©. But that’s not all that these communities have in common.
All five of these Indigenous groups are also classified by Colombia’s Constitutional Court as being at “risk of physical and cultural extermination.”
“Our strategy has to do with revitalizing and strengthening our spiritual connection with Mother Earth,” said Miguel Evanjuanjoy, advocacy and project manager of UMIYAC, in a video interview with Mongabay in October. He was speaking from his community of Yunguillo, in the department of Putumayo. “As stewards of the Amazon rainforest, we care for the land because it is she who nourishes us spiritually and through her sacred products.”
Spread across the Putumayo, Caquetà and Cauca regions of southern Colombia, with a small crossover into Ecuador, the 22 territories represented by UMIYAC are on the front line of the battle to protect the Amazon. A 2018 study conducted by the University of the Andes in Bogotá, for example, shows the annual deforestation rate in Caquetà alone is 0.77%, the highest in Colombia and nearly twice the rate for tropical South America as a whole.
Full article: https://news.mongabay.com/2020/11/indigenous-colombians-mount-a-spiritual-defense-of-the-amazon/
The ceremonial use of yagĂ© opens participants up to ancestral knowledge, particularly the “natural laws” established by the ancestors that allow communities to “live in peace and harmony with other beings in nature,” Evanjuanjoy said.“The sacred plant of yagĂ© is a spiritual nourishment for people,” Evanjuanjoy said. “Through this plant, our grandmothers and traditional healers receive the wisdom to heal the diseases that affect the individual, the community, and the territory.
“It is the light, the path, the guide, and the primary tool to continue defending our territories and to continue the struggle for the survival of our culture.”
UMIYAC is an alliance comprised of spiritual leaders from five different Amazonian ethnic groups deemed to be in danger of extinction.
The ancestral lands of these five groups are located near deforestation hotspots in the Colombian Amazon, making them the front-line defense for the rainforest.
Presided over by spiritual leaders, the traditional yagé ceremonies that tie these ethnic groups together reinforce the spiritual wisdom needed to retain their territories and autonomy.
16/10/2020
40% of world’s plant species at risk of extinction
Two in five of the world’s plant species are at risk of extinction as a result of the destruction of the natural world, according to an international report.
Plants and fungi underpin life on Earth, but the scientists said they were now in a race against time to find and identify species before they were lost.
These unknown species, and many already recorded, were an untapped “treasure chest” of food, medicines and biofuels that could tackle many of humanity’s greatest challenges, they said, potentially including treatments for coronavirus and other pandemic microbes.
More than 4,000 species of plants and fungi were discovered in 2019. These included six species of Allium in Europe and China, the same group as onions and garlic, 10 relatives of spinach in California and two wild relatives of cassava, which could help future-proof the staple crop eaten by 800 million people against the climate crisis.
New medical plants included a sea holly species in Texas, whose relatives can treat inflammation, a species of antimalarial Artemisa in Tibet and three varieties of evening primrose.
Plants and fungi underpin life on Earth, but the scientists said they were now in a race against time to find and identify species before they were lost.
These unknown species, and many already recorded, were an untapped “treasure chest” of food, medicines and biofuels that could tackle many of humanity’s greatest challenges, they said, potentially including treatments for coronavirus and other pandemic microbes.
More than 4,000 species of plants and fungi were discovered in 2019. These included six species of Allium in Europe and China, the same group as onions and garlic, 10 relatives of spinach in California and two wild relatives of cassava, which could help future-proof the staple crop eaten by 800 million people against the climate crisis.
New medical plants included a sea holly species in Texas, whose relatives can treat inflammation, a species of antimalarial Artemisa in Tibet and three varieties of evening primrose.
31/07/2020
Many freshwater fish species have declined by 76 percent in less than 50 years
Many freshwater fish species have declined by 76 percent in less than 50 years -- Earth Changes
Migratory freshwater fish are among the most threatened animals on the planet, a new report by a coalition of environmental organisations shows.
The global assessment, described as the first of its kind, found that populations of migratory freshwater fish have declined by 76 percent between 1970 and 2016—a higher rate of decline than both marine and terrestrial migratory species.
"We think migratory freshwater fish might be in even greater peril" than the dramatic drop the report indicates, says the report's lead author, Stefanie Deinet of the Zoological Society of London (ZSL). "Adding currently missing information from tropical regions where threats of habitat loss and degradation, overexploitation, and climate change have been increasing, will surely bend the curve of loss downwards."
Migratory freshwater fish are among the most threatened animals on the planet, a new report by a coalition of environmental organisations shows.
The global assessment, described as the first of its kind, found that populations of migratory freshwater fish have declined by 76 percent between 1970 and 2016—a higher rate of decline than both marine and terrestrial migratory species.
"We think migratory freshwater fish might be in even greater peril" than the dramatic drop the report indicates, says the report's lead author, Stefanie Deinet of the Zoological Society of London (ZSL). "Adding currently missing information from tropical regions where threats of habitat loss and degradation, overexploitation, and climate change have been increasing, will surely bend the curve of loss downwards."
29/07/2020
Nature conservation is "New Colonialism"
Nature conservation is "New Colonialism" - Africa "A place for white elitists to enjoy"
The ugly face of environmentalism exposed...
"Nature conservation is the new colonialism," Kenyan ecologist Mordecai Ogada told German magazine GEO.
A Kenyan biologist thinks white Europeans and Americans are using "nature conservation" for "self promotion" and have created nothing but failure in Africa.
He accuses NGOs and nature conservation organizations of creating a "permanent crisis" to justify their work and transform Africa into a place for white people to enjoy.
Dr. Ogada, who is author of The Big Conservation Lie, called nature conservation in the GEO interview "elitist, violent and often racist" and that it is a "right-wing agenda enforced with money from the left".
Instrument of power over Africa
He also refers to nature conservation scientists as "prostitutes" and NGOs as "pirates".
"Environmental protection in Africa is above all a mendacious instrument of power for him," commented GEO.
In his book, Ogada, who has worked as a biologist for NGOs for more than 18 years, compared nature conservation in Africa to apartheid because "projects are run by whites" who make all the decisions and use black researchers as window dressing, adding: "you suddenly realize that decisions are forced on you by people who are less qualified and often white."
Rules of colonial times
Dr. Ogada told GEO: "Nature conservation in Africa still follows the rules of colonial times: keep black people away from nature so that white people can enjoy it."
"White saviors" and nature conservation above all
In Kenya, because of the religious nature conservation fervor by elitists, no crime is as grave as poaching and it is the only one that leads to an immediate death penalty."
"In Kenya, we arrest robbers, kidnappers, murderers and bring them to justice. But we shoot poachers. Sometimes it happens to someone who is just walking through a protected area," he told GEO. "Nature conservation organizations spend millions to bring their romantic message to the people: the story of white saviors who save the wildlife in Africa - from the Africans."
Six gorillas more important than hundreds of Africans
Ogada also illustrates how western values are gravely out of whack, using the example of six poached gorillas at Virunga that made western headlines but not widescale killing and raping of women and children: "But the worst thing about it was that at the same time Virunga was considered one of the world's worst rape scenes. Hundreds of women were raped every day, children were killed. And none of it made the news. Just the six dead gorillas. And that is so fundamentally wrong."
NGOs in it for money, power..."no angels"
The ugly face of environmentalism exposed...
"Nature conservation is the new colonialism," Kenyan ecologist Mordecai Ogada told German magazine GEO.
A Kenyan biologist thinks white Europeans and Americans are using "nature conservation" for "self promotion" and have created nothing but failure in Africa.
He accuses NGOs and nature conservation organizations of creating a "permanent crisis" to justify their work and transform Africa into a place for white people to enjoy.
Dr. Ogada, who is author of The Big Conservation Lie, called nature conservation in the GEO interview "elitist, violent and often racist" and that it is a "right-wing agenda enforced with money from the left".
Instrument of power over Africa
He also refers to nature conservation scientists as "prostitutes" and NGOs as "pirates".
"Environmental protection in Africa is above all a mendacious instrument of power for him," commented GEO.
In his book, Ogada, who has worked as a biologist for NGOs for more than 18 years, compared nature conservation in Africa to apartheid because "projects are run by whites" who make all the decisions and use black researchers as window dressing, adding: "you suddenly realize that decisions are forced on you by people who are less qualified and often white."
Rules of colonial times
Dr. Ogada told GEO: "Nature conservation in Africa still follows the rules of colonial times: keep black people away from nature so that white people can enjoy it."
"White saviors" and nature conservation above all
In Kenya, because of the religious nature conservation fervor by elitists, no crime is as grave as poaching and it is the only one that leads to an immediate death penalty."
"In Kenya, we arrest robbers, kidnappers, murderers and bring them to justice. But we shoot poachers. Sometimes it happens to someone who is just walking through a protected area," he told GEO. "Nature conservation organizations spend millions to bring their romantic message to the people: the story of white saviors who save the wildlife in Africa - from the Africans."
Six gorillas more important than hundreds of Africans
Ogada also illustrates how western values are gravely out of whack, using the example of six poached gorillas at Virunga that made western headlines but not widescale killing and raping of women and children: "But the worst thing about it was that at the same time Virunga was considered one of the world's worst rape scenes. Hundreds of women were raped every day, children were killed. And none of it made the news. Just the six dead gorillas. And that is so fundamentally wrong."
NGOs in it for money, power..."no angels"
Ogada also doubts that the millions of dollars protect animals at all: "No. That money makes some people very rich. These organizations pay high salaries. They buy guns, ammunition, helicopters. They build up a kind of parallel government, including security agencies."
Dr. Ogada claims big nature conservation organisations create crisis to justify their work. "Nature conservation is the only area where we reward failure. They have done nothing or the wrong thing for 40 years." He tells GEO: "Nature conservation is a business. And environmentalists are no angels."
Goodall, Fossey: In it for "self-promotion"
Dr. Ogada claims big nature conservation organisations create crisis to justify their work. "Nature conservation is the only area where we reward failure. They have done nothing or the wrong thing for 40 years." He tells GEO: "Nature conservation is a business. And environmentalists are no angels."
Goodall, Fossey: In it for "self-promotion"
02/07/2020
Mushrooms are healing the earth, starting with Colorado’s forests
https://theknow.denverpost.com/2020/06/11/fungal-degredation-colorado/240382/
Through it all, one fact remains clear to Ravage, Wilson and other fungi fans: Mushrooms are one of our biggest allies if we hope to have any chance of healing the earth.
“We all know that woody debris can be decomposed by lots of different organisms,” Wilson said, “but there are no organisms on the planet that do it with the level of effectiveness and efficiency of fungi.”
Through it all, one fact remains clear to Ravage, Wilson and other fungi fans: Mushrooms are one of our biggest allies if we hope to have any chance of healing the earth.
“We all know that woody debris can be decomposed by lots of different organisms,” Wilson said, “but there are no organisms on the planet that do it with the level of effectiveness and efficiency of fungi.”
How one teaspoon of Amazon soil teems with fungal life
A teaspoon of soil from the Amazon contains as many as 1,800 microscopic life forms, of which 400 are fungi.
Largely invisible and hidden underground, the "dark matter" of life on Earth has "amazing properties", which we're just starting to explore, say scientists.
The vast majority of the estimated 3.8 million fungi in the world have yet to be formally classified.
Yet, fungi are surprisingly abundant in soil from Brazil's Amazon rainforest.
To help protect the Amazon rainforest, which is being lost at an ever-faster rate, it is essential to understand the role of fungi, said a team of researchers led by Prof Alexandre Antonelli, director of science at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
"Take a teaspoon of soil and you will find hundreds or thousands of species," he said. "Fungi are the next frontier of biodiversity science."
Largely invisible and hidden underground, the "dark matter" of life on Earth has "amazing properties", which we're just starting to explore, say scientists.
The vast majority of the estimated 3.8 million fungi in the world have yet to be formally classified.
Yet, fungi are surprisingly abundant in soil from Brazil's Amazon rainforest.
To help protect the Amazon rainforest, which is being lost at an ever-faster rate, it is essential to understand the role of fungi, said a team of researchers led by Prof Alexandre Antonelli, director of science at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
"Take a teaspoon of soil and you will find hundreds or thousands of species," he said. "Fungi are the next frontier of biodiversity science."
03/06/2020
Study suggests hundreds of land species near extinction
Study suggests hundreds of land species near extinction
"The ongoing sixth mass extinction may be the most serious environmental threat to the persistence of civilisation, because it is irreversible.
Thousands of populations of critically endangered vertebrate animal species have been lost in a century, indicating that the sixth mass extinction is human caused and accelerating. The acceleration of the extinction crisis is certain because of the still fast growth in human numbers and consumption rates.
In addition, species are links in ecosystems, and, as they fall out, the species they interact with are likely to go also. In the regions where disappearing species are concentrated, regional biodiversity collapses are likely occurring. Our results re-emphasise the extreme urgency of taking massive global actions to save humanity's crucial life-support systems."
"The ongoing sixth mass extinction may be the most serious environmental threat to the persistence of civilisation, because it is irreversible.
Thousands of populations of critically endangered vertebrate animal species have been lost in a century, indicating that the sixth mass extinction is human caused and accelerating. The acceleration of the extinction crisis is certain because of the still fast growth in human numbers and consumption rates.
In addition, species are links in ecosystems, and, as they fall out, the species they interact with are likely to go also. In the regions where disappearing species are concentrated, regional biodiversity collapses are likely occurring. Our results re-emphasise the extreme urgency of taking massive global actions to save humanity's crucial life-support systems."
15/05/2020
26/01/2020
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