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[The Bolivarian trend continues to spread in Latin America, as Bolivians receive part of what they earned in recent years of demonstrations, boycotts, persecution and hardship. Corporate efforts to privatize water and gas have been successfully resisted, and now there is a chief executive who values human life above power and luxury. FTW wishes President Morales all the best for his term.
Bolivia now is better equipped to face its greatest challenge, coming attempts by the US, the World Bank and the IMF to pry Bolivia’s substantial natural gas reserves from control of the Bolivian people. FTW is betting on Bolivia. – JAH]
LatAm Hails Bolivia Evo Morales’ Victory
December 19, 2005
Prensa Latina
Latin American News Agency
http://www.plenglish.com/article.asp?ID=%7BC849C70E-94C4-43D7-837D-088234169B03%7D)&language=EN
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
Quito, Dec 19 (Prensa Latina) Latin American nations have hailed Monday the landslide victory in Bolivia of left-wing lawmaker Evo Morales, leader of the Movement toward Socialism (MAS), in the Sunday presidential elections.
Ecuadorian newspapers and news websites, as well as TV and radio news shows have highlighted the victory by the land and union leader, who according to preliminary reports got more than 50 percent of votes.
Chilean mass media also headlined Morales´ triumph and his first statements after his lead was made public. They also highlighted the joy of most Bolivians and the demonstration of support and sympathy the indigenous leader received when he came to his humble hometown to vote.
Meanwhile, in Puerto Rican newspapers have given broad coverage to Morales´ electoral victory over rightist ex President Jorge Quiroga and how this triumph will mark the beginning of new times in Bolivia.
In Nicaragua, the media echoed today the Bolivian leader’s convincing victory during the presidential balloting held in Bolivia.
For his part, Venezuela’s president Hugo Chavez commented Morales’s win increases the chances for a stronger South American integration process, while the director of the Commission of MERCOSUR Representatives, Argentinian Carlos "Chacho" Alvarez, talked about inviting Bolivia to join the bloc as a full member.
Press and media in Nicaragua, Panama and other Latin American countries have also given coverage to Evo Morales´ victory.
Politics or Not, Bronx Warmly Receives Venezuelan Heating Oil
December 9th, 2005
By Michelle Garcia / Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005
/12/07/AR2005120702245.html
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
NEW YORK -- A green Citgo tanker truck chugged up a hill with a grim view of tenement buildings, elevated subways and treeless sidewalks to deliver Venezuelan heating oil, a "humanitarian" gift from Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
Moments before the orange-gloved worker snaked the hose to a Bronx tenement, Eartha Ferguson, a manager and resident of a low-income building, said: "I call it a gift of survival. It comes at a good time, a very needed time."
Chavez’s gift, which arrived on Tuesday and is being distributed this week, may be nothing more than a chance to tweak the nose of the Bush administration, which has long opposed the South American leader. But few residents in the South Bronx, where 41 percent live on incomes below the federal poverty line, are inclined to worry about international politics.
Citgo Petroleum Corp., which is controlled by the Venezuelan government, signed a deal with three Bronx housing nonprofits to sell 5 million gallons of heating oil at 45 percent below the market rate, an estimated savings of $4 million. The discounted oil will heat 75 Bronx apartment buildings, housing 8,000 low-income working poor and elderly tenants.
Officials with Mount Hope Housing Co., Fordham Bedford Housing Corp. and VIP Community Services -- which have organized tenants and rehabilitated low-income apartments for several decades -- say savings from the cheap oil will allow them to reduce rents temporarily and invest in neighborhood social programs.
"A lot of families are struggling," said Lenice Footman, who hopes her $600 monthly rent will be reduced. Neighbor Dionne Morales agreed, saying she is overlooking the criticism directed at Chavez. "If he can give oil to my country and help the lives of my community, I’m impressed," she said.
Chavez has sold the discounted oil in two U.S. markets, New York and Massachusetts. Citizens Energy Corp., a Boston-based nonprofit cooperative, bought 12 million gallons at a steep discount after U.S. oil companies ignored its written plea for help. Similar oil deals are in the works for other parts of New York and some New England states.
Americans face record prices for heating oil this winter, with a gallon selling for $2.41 -- a 38 percent increase from this time last year. Congress declined to provide additional funding for the federal Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, and Citizens Energy and other housing advocates expect that families, especially in the Northeast, will exhaust their benefits by Christmas.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said in a recent briefing that the Bush administration expects the recently passed energy bill and efforts to expand capacity to help address the shortfall. "All of us have a role to do to help address high energy prices," he said. "And we are taking action to do so."
But on the second snow day in the Bronx, where scrawled graffiti warns pedestrians of rats, fleas and maggots, it did not escape the notice of tenants that a foreign government stepped in after Congress did not.
"The government should have done it," said Shirley Manuel, 52, a tenants’ rights activist, wrapped up tightly in her wheelchair. "This is their country, this is their people -- they should be taking care of their own."
Rep. Jose E. Serrano (D-N.Y.), who brokered the oil deal, brushed aside suggestions that Chavez was playing petro politics.
"To those who say this is to score political points," he told a shivering crowd when the first oil arrived, "I invite any American corporation that wants to score points with my community to start this afternoon."
But, in fact, politics is very much part of this deal. The Bush administration has made no secret of its dislike for Chavez and his populist, left-wing politics, nor of its desire to see him turned out of office. Chavez, in turn, was a featured speaker at a demonstration in Argentina this year, in which he denounced President Bush’s policies in Latin America.
Last week, Citgo bought full-page ads in The Washington Post and the New York Times, lauding Venezuela’s role in heating the homes of the nation’s poor. El Diario/La Prensa, New York’s major Spanish-language newspaper, published a front-page photo of Chavez wearing a Santa Claus hat above the words, a "Gift from Chavez to the Bronx."
In September, Chavez traveled to the Bronx and spent several hours with 17 community groups. Flanked by Serrano and Jesse L. Jackson, Chavez proposed selling heating oil at below market rates and laid out plans to invest some of Venezuela’s oil revenue in health and environmental programs in the Bronx.
"I fell in love with the Bronx and New York," Chavez said that day. "I have met the soul of the American people."
Farmers dig deep to save money on fuel
9news.com
12-10-05
http://www.9news.com/acm_news.aspx?OSGNAME=KUSA&IKOBJECTID=
17355f70-0abe-421a-0043-635b14a06841&TEMPLATEID=0c76dce6-ac1f
-02d8-0047-c589c01ca7bf
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
If you think it's expensive to fill up the family minivan, consider the plight of farmers. A tractor uses up to ten gallons of diesel every hour and often runs from dawn to dusk.
In a farm field near Longmont, a tractor pulls a contraption called a "Strip Tiller" through the stubble of last year's corn crop. Three generations of farmers watch the demonstration, organized by the Longmont Conservation District.
"I just think it's a good opportunity to see if it works, and see if we can save some money," says Mike Litzenberger, a local farmer.
The machine cuts a foot-deep groove into the soil where sugar beets will be planted next spring.
This method requires only two trips across the field, instead of the six or seven required by conventional farming techniques. This can save a typical farmer thousands of dollars in fuel costs.
"It's about doubled in the last year or so. It should be a tremendous savings in fuel," Longmont Conservation District's Bill Haselbush says.
The main reason the Soil Conservation Service is promoting the idea, however, is to reduce soil erosion. Instead of turning the soil over with a plow and discing it until it's practically powder, this method leaves stubble in the field and that should help hold the soil in place.
"A lot of times in the spring you'll see topsoil blowing. With this strip till machine it should eliminate that," Haselbush adds.
They hope this tilling technique will also conserve water used for irrigation.
Tim Carney, also of the Longmont Conservation District, says "By having crop residue on the surface that acts as a mulch, it may help reduce the need for that first irrigation in the spring. And there's less potential for soil erosion as well."
The real test, however, comes next fall when the crop is harvested. Farmers will weigh the harvest from these test plots and see how it measures up to conventional farming.
The Soil Conservation District is testing the low-till technique on eight farms in northern Colorado. The demonstration will last two years.
[Contrast this growing reality of what FTW has previously reported in stories articles like “Eating Fossil Fuels” with the hucksterism being offered by advocates of ethanol and the use of non-edible plant waste to make fuels. All plant material that is not eaten must be returned to the soil to enrich it. Every bit of plant material comprises nutrients taken from the soil. Not replacing that energy only exacerbates the damage being done to rapidly eroding topsoil which we described two years ago as “little more than a sponge onto which we pour chemicals derived from oil and gas.” Unless some kind of intelligent debate is engaged, the crisis which is just beginning will be what fundamentalist Christians are praying for, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse”. It does not have to be that way, or that bad. – MCR]
Food crisis feared as fertile land runs out
· Maps show 40% of Earth's land is used for agriculture
· Growing human 'footprint' a risk to the environment
Kate Ravilious in San Francisco
Tuesday December 6, 2005
http://www.guardian.co.uk/food/Story/0,,1659112,00.html
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
New maps show that the Earth is rapidly running out of fertile land and that food production will soon be unable to keep up with the world's burgeoning population. The maps reveal that more than one third of the world's land is being used to grow crops or graze cattle.
Scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison combined satellite land cover images with agricultural census data from every country in the world to create detailed maps of global land use. Each grid square was 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) across and showed the most prevalent land use in that square, such as forest, grassland or ice.
"In the act of making these maps we are asking: where is the human footprint on the Earth?" said Amato Evan, a member of the University of Wisconsin-Madison research team presenting its results this week at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco.
The current map shows a snapshot of global land use for the year 2000, but the scientists also have land use data going back to 1700, showing how things have changed.
"The maps show, very strikingly, that a large part of our planet (roughly 40%) is being used for either growing crops or grazing cattle," said Dr Navin Ramankutty, a member of the Wisconsin-Madison team. By comparison, only 7% of the world's land was being used for agriculture in 1700.
The Amazon basin has seen some of the greatest changes in recent times, with huge swaths of the rainforest being felled to grow soya beans.
"One of the major changes we see is the fast expansion of soybeans in Brazil and Argentina, grown for export to China and the EU," said Dr Ramankutty.
This agricultural expansion has come at the expense of tropical forests in both countries.
Meanwhile, intensive farming practices mean that cropland areas have decreased slightly in the US and Europe and the land is being gobbled up by urbanisation.
The research indicates that there is now little room for further agricultural expansion.
"Except for Latin America and Africa, all the places in the world where we could grow crops are already being cultivated. The remaining places are either too cold or too dry to grow crops," said Dr Ramankutty.
By continuing to monitor changes in land use the scientists hope that they will be able to highlight problems and help find solutions.
"The real question is, how can we continue to produce food from the land while preventing negative environmental consequences such as deforestation, water pollution and soil erosion?" said Dr Ramankutty.
The next phase of the project is to build an internet-based databank - called the Earth Collaboratory - that would draw on the knowledge of scientists around the world, local environmentalists and members of the general public.
Jonathan Foley, director of the Wisconsin-Madison research team, said: "[The Collaboratory] will truly be a brave new experiment that effectively bridges science, decision-making and real-world environmental practice - collectively envisioning a new way to live sustainably."
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005
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LatAm Hails Bolivia Evo Morales' Victory