Chris Shaw has prepared a letter to President Vicente Fox of Mexico, expressing our concern over recent confirmation of a dam plan. It is still being edited, but the current text can be found below.
We are still collecting signatures, with 20 or so confirmed at the moment.
****************************************
Estimado Presidente Fox :
Recently the New York Times reported your office's confirmation that
plans are under way for a hydroelectric dam of either132 or 330 feet on
the Usumacinta River, at Boca de Cerro, near Tenosique, Tabasco, that would
provide two percent of the nation's electrical needs. We
recognize the need for increased electrical capacity in the region, for both
household and industrial power, and as a requirement for sustained economic
growth. Yet we reject the premise that this goal requires
the destruction of the region's premiere natural and scenic wonder, one of
the world's richest ecological and historical resources, and the largest
wild river in Central America: the Usumacinta.
In the first millennium, the Usumacinta nurtured one of the world's
greatest civilizations, the Classical Maya. Their commerce and their
industry depended on it; their spectacular abandoned cities lie everywhere
in the watershed and along its shores. Inscriptions and art work found there
in the last century have provided breakthroughs in understanding that have
come to light only in the last twenty-five years.
Today, the river drains one of the most vital and interesting bio-cultural
regions on the planet: the Selva Lacandona, the Selva Maya, and the Maya
highlands of Chiapas and Guatemala, a place of mountains and canyons, of
great forests, ecological
richness and cultural importance, that has undergone enormous change and
trial in the
last forty years. Much has happened geographically, environmentally, and
historically to contribute to its underdevelopment and poverty. Now its
upheavals have subsided. Its
people, inherently energetic economically, remain unable to
overcome low agricultural prices, loss of manufacturing jobs overseas, and
depressed currency rates. Nevertheless, a rebirth of the region's full range
of cultural and economic expression appears at hand. .
Yet government and the public must avoid the mistakes of the past, and,
following the example of history, make wise choices that will allow for the
best development for the region's long term well-being.
Ecologically, the Usumacinta is unparalleled in aquatic, terrestrial and
avian life. It pours an enormous volume of water annually into the southern
Gulf of Mexico, providing life-giving fresh water to Mexico's largest
fishing fleet. Its delta comprises some of the richest and most diverse
wetlands south of the Everglades, the centlas, home to endangered manatees
and crocodiles. The upper Usumacinta's one-of-a-kind aquatic ecosystem also
supports endangered crocodiles and turtles making strong comebacks after
depletion by overhunting, as well dozens of endemic fish and amphibians.
Its forests harbor jaguars, guacamayas, and a profusion of further
biological wealth. Yet it has been studied hardly at all.
A dam at Boca de Cerro would deprive the centlas of the
precious floods that renew them every year and speed a decline already
begun by oil development and deforestation in the watershed of the upper Rio
Candelaria. Furthermore, the river's tributaries carry huge loads of silt
from eroded agricultural highlands that would fill reservoirs, reducing
water volume through turbines and degrading or ruining the turbines
themselves.
In the 1980s, the report that outlined the first
ambitious hydro program for the watershed said porous limestone around Boca
de Cerro was too weak to anchor massive dams,
especially in the case of earthquake or hurricane, both common in the
region, and would promote power loss through leakage. Large reservoirs also
lose power through evaporation, and create
greenhouse gases that promote global warming. Such
problems have bedeviled existing dams in Oaxaca and Chiapas, and in the
Guatemalan highlands on the upper Rio Chixoy. For these reason and others,
alternate decentralized sources must be considered as part of any large
scale strategy for energy generation in the region.
The CFE's hydro commissioner, Julio Acosta Rodriguez, suggests
that while the river's best known archaeological sites of Piedras Negras and
Yaxchilan will
remain safe (for now), dozens of
lesser-known sites will be inundated or relocated. INAH has cooperated with
the CFE to identify these sites for relocation. At Abu Simbel on the
Nile, in the 1960s, relocation proved an expensive and disastrous
undertaking. Disconnected from their geography such monuments lose
any significant meaning and research value.
The current proposal reflects the frustration of two previously unsuccessful
dam proposals on the Usumacinta and its tributaries, and the slowness of
development in southern Mexico and Guatemala.
Something must be done, everyone believes, and the Usumacinta has enormous
hydroelectric potential. But those
proposals were defeated for important economic, cultural and
environmental reasons. The reasons haven't changed, and to date no
environmental, cultural, economic, or archaeological impact studies have
been released, nor, as far as we know, conducted.
***
Therefore, we resolve that whereas the Usumacinta represents an unparalleled
regional and international resource, and its watershed a unique biological
and cultural enclave, its channel should remain free-flowing and devoid of
bank-to-bank
dam structures or locks. NO habitat, agricultural land or archaeological
sites should be drowned or otherwise lost or compromised.
Plans, blueprints, locations, for any and all potential and future dams must
be published on the Internet immediately, their web addresses made known,
and they must be updated whenever they change. The process must be kept
transparent and open to public scrutiny.
Mexico, Guatemala, and the international community must
provide funds for new and comprehensive aquatic, geological, and biological,
and archaeological studies,
to determine wildlife populations, the number and location of archaeological
sites, the location and needs of human communities, and other necessary
information, to determine the effects of
dams on those systems at each and every dam site proposed going back to
the1980s. Timelines must be established and the results made public.
The two nations must cooperate in developing household
and industrial solar, geothermal and other alternate forms of energy
generation in the watershed, including small, efficient, high-technology
hydro where appropriate. This should become a priority of both nations.
Funding should come from public and private sources in both nations and
beyond, and an ambitious timetable
should be established for its completion.
Planning must begin immediately for the establishment by
2006 of a binational riparian corridor to protect and preserve the
Usumacinta in
perpetuity, stretching from the tributaries to Boca de Cerro, and linking
with the Sierra Lacandon National Park, Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve, and
the Maya
Biosphere Reserve. It should include networks of land and water
trails, campsites, low-impact interior lodges, year round jobs with benefits
for local residents as managers, scientists, guides, scholars,
artists-in-residence, maintenance workers, and guards, with user fees and
incentives to local communities. All existing legal
uses would be allowed, though better regulated and including the promotion
of low-impact organic agriculture. Internationally recognized models
exist at Lake Miramar, in Chiapas, at Uaxactun, in Peten, and in
the conservation protocols developed in the last twenty years by various
ngos working with local organizations. This is not the "environmental
Disneyland" the Zapatistas refer to, but one of the greatest opportunities
for rational community development in the region's history.
To foster the resumption of thriving, viable and profitable recreational
use, the two nations must immediately establish local law enforcement
patrols in the river corridor, to protect private,
commercial, and other legal navigation of the Usumcinta.
In the Times, Senor Acosta suggested that he wants to "help the region, not
hurt it." We believe the best way for this to happen is to make the
Usumacinta corridor and watershed the wisest model for humans, nature, and
appropriate
development on the planet. The sacrifice would be small, the rewards long
lasting, the gratitude of future generations inestimable.
The Usumacinta's natural, cultural, and archaeological importance make it
unique in the world. We believe this is not the time to rely on
old-model development schemes, but to seek solutions offered by new
economic and technological models. The Usumacinta is more than just the
water in its channel. It is the lifeblood of Mesoamerica, and one of the
birthplaces of culture and meaning in the western hemisphere.
It is also a resource that any tourist board in the U.S. or Canada would
envy. At our current level of knowledge a dam could unwittingly drown the
equivalent of Pacal's Tomb at Palenque, or
Tutuankhamen's tomb, forever. Neither nation's patrimonial heritage is so
intact or
complete as to allow such a loss for 500 megawatts, or two percent, of
Mexico's energy needs.
Very truly yours,
NO MAS PRESAS, (o rios mayas)
Christopher Shaw, writer
David Pentecost, filmmaker
Roan Balas McNab
Ronald L. Canter, FAA Cartographer
The secret service is driving around with Pringles can antennas, looking for open nodes.
Yahoo! News - Agency Probes D.C. Wireless Network
See also my earlier post on driving around Manhattan looking for networks.
This week news of the Usumacinta plans first became public, and reaction on the Guatemala side was immediate. I have an excerpt from one of Carla Molina's emails that describes some of this. (click More below).
After last week's media coverage in Guatemala and the Ministry of Energy
& Mines subsequent denials about any project on the Usumacinta or as
part of the Plan Puebla Panama there have been several articles on the
Guatemalan press. First, it was that the Minister would request
information to the Mexican authorities if there were any such plans.
Finally, in the past couple days we have finally seen the information we
have all known for months on the local newspapers, where the Bocas del
Cerro project is mentioned and also where the CFE (Comision Federal de
Electrificacion) finally admits that they are conducting studies to do
this entirely on the Mexican side with no energy going to Guatemala
unless an agreement to sell us energy is signed. I would honestly like
to commend our local press for waking up and even the minister for
beginning to ask the right questions. (It was high time.)
Additionally, in the Peten region there are several organized groups,
one of which is called PETENEROS CONTRA LAS REPRESAS. They are being
taken very seriously, as the minister Archila went to meet with them
this week, promised that he would get to the bottom of this and meet
with them again next October 11th.
I guess I should have done this Google search a long time ago. Here's what gomaya means in Pali, the language that the Buddha used.
pali-english e, g, gh, ~n, h, i and ii
gomaya nt. cow-dung.
The U.S. secretaries of commerce and energy sent a letter to the White House on Sept. 9, detailing actions taken to address global climate change.
"High priority technologies that are now being pursued include hydrogen-based energy systems, biofuels, low-speed wind turbines, fuel cells for transportation, zero net energy buildings, carbon dioxide capture and geologic sequestration, and forest and agricultural land management. "
Chris sent this link to an article in Prensa Libre
Peteneros rechazan proyecto hidroeléctrico
There's a lot going on behind the scenes today regarding the Maya dams initiative, but my only posts to this weblog are tech ones. To make it a clean sweep, here's a find. Anyone who was intrigued by my post on the browser Mozilla might like this link, which I found on scottandrew.com. It's the entire text of the O'Reilly book, "Creating Apllications with Mozilla".
It's legit, not a copyright infringement - provided free online under the Open Public License.
Encouraging words from Marc Canter and Doc Searls got me started on this weblog path. Now Marc has a blog that keeps stirring it all up. He's a former lower eastsider who launched multimedia, started Macromind (now Macromedia) and is still pointing the way.
If we all had broadband, his site would load faster. But it's worth the wait for the grade school pictures navigation bar. Creative ego...
The Times has an article on weblogs and journalists:
Reporters Find New Outlet, and Concerns, in Web Logs
(free registration required)
Here's a report on something I've been dodging for a couple of months - how exactly I'm going to pay for the free wireless broadband I want to give away to the neighborhood when The Building is built. Got to get some hard numbers soon, for the business plan. Non-profits have business plans? Yep.
BW Online | September 17, 2002 | Footing the Bill for Free Wi-Fi
Plus we've got a hundred donated PC's we've got to give away. No room to store them. That'll be easy.
Alonso Mendez has sent an article by John Ross, by way of Bruce Ferguson at Ecosur. Ross has been reporting on Chiapas for many years, and in the face of recent reports of "paramilitary" incidents, offers an unusually close look at recent disputes as personal rather than political incidents. The entire text of the Ross story can be read by clicking "More" below.
Here's the tag to the article, by way of explanation:
John Ross, whose "War Against Oblivion" covers seven years of Indian
uprising in Chiapas, has written this piece to temper the alarm
generated by national and international support groups who claim the
EZLN is under paramilitary siege, a conclusion that leads to a
dangerously skewed analysis of the actual political dynamic in Chiapas
and Mexico today.
FROM: JOHN ROSS
johnross@igc.org
Big Trouble in Indian Country - 1 of 2
WHO IS KILLING THE ZAPATISTAS OF CHIAPAS? SOME SAY PARAMILITARIES, SOME SAY THE SAME OLD PRI
MEXICO CITY (Sept. 11th) - Who is killing the Zapatistas of Chiapas?
In the past month (August), four members of the civilian support base of
the Zapatista Army of National Liberation have been killed in renewed
conflict deep inside the rebels' Lacandon jungle zone of influence. The
Zapatistas and their supporters blame the killings on a rejuvenated
paramilitary presence and have mounted a national and international
campaign against the Mexican government of Vicente Fox and Chiapas state
governor Pablo Salazar. For its part, the Salazar administration claims
that it has dismantled the paramilitary apparatus that flourished in the
state when the long-ruling (71 years) Institutional Revolutionary Party
(PRI) ruled Chiapas and that the killing is being done by disgruntled
PRIistas seeking to undermine Salazar, that southern-most state's first
non-PRI governor.
The paramilitary phenomenon is a long-standing one in Chiapas. Soon
after the Zapatistas' surprise January 1st 1994 uprising, a group of
generals at the Rancho Nuevo military base just outside San Cristobal de
las Casas circulated a Chiapas Strategy Plan, designed to create and arm
civilian counter-insurgency units in the 38 municipalities in which the
rebels had influence.
The bitter fruit of the Chiapas Strategy Plan was plucked at
Christmastime 1997 when members of a paramilitary death squad thought to
be named Mascara Roja ("Red Mask") slaughtered 46 Tzotzil Indian allies
of the Zapatistas, "Las Abejas' or 'The Bees', in the highlands at
Acteal.
At the peak of their power, 11 distinct paramilitary formations were
calculated to be active in Chiapas. The so-called 'Development, Peace
&Justice' group, backed up by the commanding officer of the 31st Military
Region, General Mario Rennin Castillo, a counterinsurgency expert
trained at the Fort Bragg North Carolina Center for Special Forces,
conduted a reign of terror in the north of the state, where human rights
groups charge the paramilitary formation with more than 60 murders. Led
by PRI state legislator Samuel Sanchez, 'Peace and Justice' drove
Zapatista supporters off their land. closed down Catholic churches in
the region, and is thought to have organized a failed assassination
attempt on San Cristobal bishop emeritus Samuel Ruiz and his
then-coadjutor Raul Vera in 1997.
Sanchez eventually went to jail and was released by the new governor
Salazar after agreeing to lay down his arms. But some 'Peace and
Justice' stalwarts resisted pacification and the paramilitary split into
three warring factions. The leader of the most violent branch, Diego
Vazquez, was jailed last spring after he refused to abide by a
non-aggression pact arranged by the diocese in the north of the
Chiapas.
In a recent interview with this reporter, Salazar's Indian Affairs
Secretary Porfirio Encino, insisted that no paramilitary group was now
active in the state, a position that was ratified by Chiapas Government
Secretary Emilio Zabadua at a Geneva Human Rights conference in August -
the affirmation is rejected by the Zapatistas and their supporters.
The problem may well be one of definitions. There is no Mexican law
that defines and sanctions a paramilitary formation. The strictest
definition would be a group that is armed and trained by the military to
carry out a military strategy, such as low intensity warfare, with the
approval of the Mexican government - but few paramilitary groups
actually fit this profile. Mascara Roja, responsible for the massacre
at Acteal, for example, bought its weaponry on the black market and was
trained by a Tzotzil Indian who had once been a low-ranking member of
the military.
A looser definition of a paramilitary group might be an armed formation
with military characteristics such as uniforms, a description that would
fit the Zapatista Army of National Liberation.
An examination of five separate incidents of violence against Zapatista
civil bases in the Lacandon jungle between July 31st and August 31st
tends to debunk the hypothesis that paramilitary bands armed by the
Mexican military and supported by the government of Vicente Fox, are
responsible for the skein of killings.
All of the incidents took place far away from public view with no
neutral observers to challenge partisan interpretations of the events.
All the killings seem to be more about cows and corn and timber poaching
than ideology. In three of the killings, the aggressors are Indians and
in all five of the incidents, the perpetrators were PRIistas, mostly
with limited fire power (they sometimes used stones.)
--- On July 31st, a group of PRI Indian farmers in communities just
outside the Montes Azules biosphere reserve in an area the Zapatistas
designate as an autonomous municipality named for the old anarchist
Ricardo Flores Magon, rampaged through the Zapatista hamlet of La
Culebra, injuring seven. The mob was led by Pedro Chulin, a member of
the PRI delegation in the state congress and the head of that body's
Indian Affairs Commission. Chulin is also the founder and leader of the
Organization for the Defense of the Rights of the Indians and the
Farmers (OPDDIC) which the EZLN considers to be a paramilitary formation
- the OPDDIC's base community San Antonio Escobar is a few miles down
the road from a military installation. But there is no other evidence
that the Indian farmers who attacked the Zapatistas were either armed
and trained by the military, or carried out a specific military strategy
ordered by President Vicente Fox, both conditions for defining the
OPDDIC as a genuine paramilitary organization.
--- The next incident occurs on August 7th at a ranch named August 6th
in the autonomous municipality of November 17th, when a Zapatista civil
supporter Jose Lopez Santiz is murdered under mysterious circumstances.
The details have not gotten less confusing as the case has progressed.
Lopez Santiz's murderers are thought to be led by a local rancher,
Baltazar Alonso, from the nearby mestizo town of Altamirano - but slow
action by the police there allowed the alleged gunmen to escape and they
are still on the lam. The killing does not seem to be a political one -
the victim and his presumed assassin knew each other and drink and bad
debt seem to be involved. Nonetheless, the rebels see the hand of
paramilitaries in the Lopez Santiz murder and blame Governor Salazar
and the 'mal gobierno' (bad government) of Vicente Fox, for failing to
crack down on armed groups.
A few days after the killing, Zapatistas marched through Altamirano
behind a large banner charging that "Pablo Salazar is directly
responsible for the counter-insurgency." Salazar, an ex-PRI senator who
headed up the legislative commission that wrote an Indian Rights law
favored by the EZLN, had arrived in Altamirano to try and 'dialogue'
with the rebels. Hermann Bellinghausen, chronicler of the Zapatista
rebellion who files for the left daily La Jornada, and who often
compares this long-smoldering conflict to the Macondo of Gabriel Garcia
Marquez's magic realism classic "One Hundred Years of Solitude",
captured the following colloquy for posterity:
Pablo: "Hola, I'm your governor."
Masked Zapatista: "Can you prove that you're the governor?"
Salazar, who looks a little like the U.S. social commentator Michael
Moore, takes off his baseball hat. "Do you recognize me now"
Masked Zapatista: "Is your name Pablo Salazar?"
Pablo: "That's my name but I don't have any picture identification
with me today."
Masked Zapatista: "There's no problem. We just want to tell you what
we want." The Zapatistas explained that they were looking for Baltazar
Alonso, the accused killer, to ask for money to support Lopez Santiz's
widow, a community custom. The two sides parted amicably.
--- The third incident of supposed paramilitary violence against the
EZLN unfolds August 21st. Spurred on by Chulin, a band of PRIistas
launch a stone-throwing assault on a Zapatista roadblock at Quixmil,
just outside the Montes Azules reserve. The Zapatistas are masked and
armed only with sticks. The rebels explain they have set up the
roadblock to stop clandestine shipments of precious hardwoods to the
county seat at Ocosingo. They also are looking for stolen cars and bar
beer trucks from entering the zone - the EZLN prohibits alcohol
consumption in their communities. The PRIistas claim the Zapatistas are
charging a 'tax' of $150 USD to let the poached timber proceed to
Ocosingo. One person is shot and six injured in the ensuing melee which
Bellinghausen, whose headline writers are often given to hyperbole,
calls the "biggest paramilitary attack sine Acteal."
--- PARAMILITARIES EXECUTE TWO ZAPATISTAS was the frontpage Jornada
headline when, on August 25th, two officials of the San Manuel autonomia
were fatally wounded in a shoot-out whose origins are cloudy at best.
Other state and national media were more circumspect, describing the
gunfire as erupting between family members during a heated discussion
over a bride price. The facts substantiate that the Zapatistas Jacinto
Hernandez and Lorenzo Martinez came to the school house in Amaytik to
settle a dispute involving a Zapatista girl who had eloped with a
non-Zapatista youth - her family was demanding a high dowry in
accordance with Indian uses and customs. Although the selling of women
into marriage is prohibited by the EZLN's own Revolutionary Law of
Women, the two officials had been called in to mete out justice.
Apparently, all sides arrived at the session armed.
When Bellinghausen reported the incident as yet one more instance of
paramilitary vengeance against the Zapatistas, Governor Salazar grew
choleric and took out full-page newspaper ads blasting the Jornada
reporter: "it is irresponsibly simplistic to reduce every act of common
delinquency to one of paramilitaries vs. Zapatistas."
--- The final incident in this skein of blood took place August 23rd
(but was not reported until the 26th) at K'an A'kil in the autonomous
municipality of Olga y Isabel near Chilon in the north state where the
rebels have been blocking a Pablo-sponsored road-building project, and
bears more resemblance to a paramilitary killing than its predecessors.
Antonio Mejia, a local Zapatista leader, is gunned down and his ears
taken as trophies by the "Aguilares", a family of ex-military men with
reported ties to the PRI - all the gunmen are still at large.
Curiously, the Aguilares do not appear on a list of paramilitary groups
that has long circulated in Chiapas.
According to Enlace Civil, a non-government organization that
distributes complaints or "denuncias" issued by the autonomous
municipalities, 92 incidents were reported between January and July
2002, most of them catalogued as "intimidation" by either
paramilitaries or PRIistas, although the distinction between the two is
not always clear.
There is little question that Chulin and the PRI are inciting Indian on
Indian violence in an effort to destabilize the Salazar administration
and take Chiapas back by hook or by crook. Chulin's agitation has found
sympathetic ears in non-Zapatista jungle communities devastated by the
collapse of the international coffee price and the PRI's limited
abilities to provide agricultural subsidies in exchange for votes since
the party lost the state house. On the other hand, Zapatista communities
are doing a better job of surviving the coffee crisis because they are
ideologically unified and have consistent support from national and
international non-government organizations.
A leaflet attributed to Chulin and widely distributed in the jungle, is
a measure of PRI disintegration. The screed blasts the Zapatistas,
Vicente Fox, Salazar, and even the military whose members are described
as "bloodsuckers only interested in their paychecks", not exactly a
typical paramilitary sentiment. Even though the PRIistas appeal to the
Indians of the jungle to "stand up like men" to the hated Zapatistas'
roadblocks, the leaflet also borrows a page from the EZLN playbook by
lambasting Fox's grandiose development scheme, the Puebla to Panama
Plan, as opening up the Lacandon jungle to transnational exploitation.
Despite the PRI offensive in their bailiwick, the EZLN's top command
has remained silent for the past 17 months, apparently awaiting a
Mexican Supreme Court decision on the Indian Rights law for which they
have battled many years. The court's surprise opinion that it has no
competency in the matter handed down this past Friday (September 6th) is
certain to ratchet up violence between Zapatistas and PRIistas in this
already tense zone .
***************************************
What we've suspected has been confirmed by Tim Weiner in the New York Times. Now the battle begins.
Mexico Weighs Electricity Against History
As we start to get serious about the green elements of the community center we are building, I'll be posting more links to the best sources of information. The Rocky Mountain Institute created by Amory Lovins is one of the best for energy efficiency. Check out their library of downloadable pdf files.
12 years ago, my pals and I produced a segment on RMI for Earth Journal, one of the best experiences we've all had in television. Time to get that old hopefulness and idealism cranking again!
BBC has a news story on MIT's decision to provide its courseware for free on the internet. It includes links to MIT's site.
BBC NEWS | Technology | Learn for free online
The headline is histrionic, but the fact that it's in the LA times (registration required) on the day before a big DigitalHollywood conference is significant.
The Cultural Anarchist vs. the Hollywood Police State
Thanks to Doc for this and other great links to Lessig and the copyright debate.
There's a good overview on PPP, including dams and energy, at CorpWatch.org.
PPP: Plan Puebla Panama, or Private Plans for Profit?
The NewsMexico.com site has an article about a new home for the Pellizzi collection of Maya textiles that our friend Chip Morris started assembling over 25 years ago.
Chiapas museum to display pre-Columbian Mayan textiles
It's great that the collection finally has a home, but I'll have to ask Chip for more of the story. I think there are factual and copy editing mistakes in this article. The weaving cooperative mentioned (which Chip helped organize) is called Sna Jolobil, house of the weaver, not San Jolobil. And the headline refers to pre-Columbian Mayan textiles. While some designs are that old, to my knowledge there are no surviving textiles from that period, although paintings, carvings and clay impressions do exist. Is that right, Chip?
UPDATE 9/23 Chip has added a comment:
There are surviving pre-columbian maya textiles but none in the Pellizzi Collection. The Museum project is stalled and the collection is now being housed in Funerales del Centro.
Alright, I'm getting a little crazy here, but these Mexican movie posters are great, admit it!
(click on thumbnail for larger image)
There's an interesting interview with Howard Rheingold on PopTech, The Blog.
Rheingold will be out promoting his book on Smart Mobs this fall, and this interview has great insights into the intersection of community and technology at the moment. His remarks remind me of all the reasons I love the web, why I started this weblog and why I am tired of the TV business (though it still pays the bills).
Susan Prins is arguably the more graceful partner of Alonso Mendez. She is a dancer and artist who lives at Panchan in Palenque. Sue sent a link to a New York Times article on dance and technology.
Linking to Dance's Future in a 21st-Century Workshop
Someday we'll create our own combination of movement and technology, while the howler monkeys sing the score.
It's front page in the NY Times,
Maya Carvings Tell of 2 Superpowers (registration required).
There's also a good article in Newsday, with a graphic and photos of archaeologist-epigraphers, Federico Fahsen and Arthur Demarest.
Newsday.com - Stairway Leads To Mayan History
For Blair, who is struggling with the Quicktime Broadcaster software to launch a school internet radio station, here's a link I found on Doc's site to the new government regulations:
Webcasting Notice and Recordkeeping
Do they apply to an educational station? I don't know, but I'd better find out before I try to do the same thing in our neighborhood.
BBC News online has an article describing the work of David Hodell at the University of Florida. He has found a correlation between drought cycles and a 208 year cycle of brightening and dimming of the sun. This could be another factor in the so-called Maya collapse.
BBC News | SCI/TECH | Sun key to Mayan misery?
We are moving towards a hydrogen economy, with or without popularizers like Jeremy Rifkin.
San Mateo and Santa Clara counties in California have begun a test of 3 buses powered by hydrogen fuel cells.
There may be fuel cell powered cars and SUVs in our future. But can't car makers improve the gas efficiency of today's cars?
"The Big Three have often used future vehicles as an excuse not to produce current innovations - it's the Wimpy approach, the 'I will gladly pay you Tuesday, but don't make us do anything today to increase fuel efficiency and in 10 to 20 years we will produce a much more efficient car,"' said Daniel Becker, director of the Sierra Club's global warming and energy program.
But there are some hopeful signs.
Big business and Greenpeace urge action on climate change
In Egypt, in a live TV trasmission for Fox and National Geographic, a cable controlled robot passed into a "secret chamber".
Pyramid Rover finds ... another door
What happens to the producers of these shows after the letdown? I think I'll make sure I know what's coming if I try that trick.
So I posted my doom and gloom entry yesterday, then went up on the roof of our Adirondack shack with my oldest son, Mick. We got half of the corrugated metal roofing finished before the rain blew in again. Now I feel a little better about the world. Thanks, Mick.
"When the rain comes, they run and hide their heads..." The Beatles
This link is making the rounds of the weblogs. An article from the Sunday Herald headlined Bush planned Iraq 'regime change' before becoming President, but it's much more: a plan drawn up by Cheney, Rumsfeld, Jeb Bush and others in 2000, for global domination (that phrase sounds like paranoia but it's accurate). It urges American use of biological weapons: "advanced forms of biological warfare that can 'target' specific genotypes may transform biological warfare from the realm of terror to a politically useful tool".
Yes, Saddam's bad. Are we the baddest?
I wanted to believe we were a force for good, I really did. Is it too late for the hydrogen economy?
More on Larry Lessig later, but here's a link to the most important defender of an open internet's "last" presentation on "the current state of intellectual property and its ramifications on creativity and culture".
As a former employee of ABC/Disney (I still get annual free tickets to Disneyworld from Michael Eisner) I'm enjoying the debate that Walt helped initiate with his copyrights on the stories he plundered from the Creative Commons.
Lessig's all over the weblog world but I got the links from, of course, Doc Searls .
Computer archaeologists at Microsoft have dug up the first use of emoticons, those little faces some folks use to make sure people know when they are joking;-)
Thanks to Slashdot, Boing Boing, others
Again, Sam Churchill comes through, this time with an overview and a good collection of links on securing wireless networks:
DailyWireless - 802.1x Security Holes
It's timely for me. I've started "wardriving" when riding around Manhattan. iBook, Airport card, MacStumbler. I pick up 3 or 4 nodes per block, some of them open to the public as part of NYCwireless, others just open. A node at every Starbucks, clearly, but also a number of them labeled "Bagels".
The last photos of Bill Biggart, 9/11/2001.
Thanks to Doc Searls.
The team working on Temple XXI has found what appears to be a new throne, with glyphs referring to Akal Mo Nab, as on the throne in Temple XIX. I'll publish more details when I get the okay from the folks down there.
Meanwhile, you can see Temple XXI's location, in the center of this map of the Cross Group. The map is the work of Ed Barnhart and his mapping team, working on a 3-year FAMSI project.
I'm starting to plan the internet connections (physical wires, boxes, servers) for the girls club building. Multiple tenants, all with internet bandwidth needs. Pretty simple in our case, especially compared to The Pittock Internet Exchange in Portland, Oregon, a massive switchboard between carriers of all kinds.
Thanks to the DailyWireless for a link to this "guided tour".
Bored with the internet? Download a new web browser, Mozilla. Try tabbed browsing. It's great, really. And read the Salon magazine article on the browser wars.
Ron Canter sent an addition to his draft paper on river navigability. I'll post this here (with additional links to each article) and I'll update the earlier entry. Ron writes:
Any bibliography on the Usu' wouldn't be complete without Stephen Houston and Hector Escobedo's FAMSI articles on the Piedras Negras Project. They cover the ups and downs of all the region along the Usu' gorges from Pomona to Yaxchilan. My apologies for the oversight.
Ron
In the Land of the Turtle Lords, Stephen Houston, 2000. FAMSI Report
Among the River Kings, Stephen Houston, 1999. FAMSI Report
Between the Mountains and the Sea, Stephen Houston, 1998. FAMSI Report
The Piedras Negras Project, Stephen Houston and Hector Escobedo, 1997.
FAMSI Report
I keep harping on this. How bad is it? The US has fallen out of the top 10 in broadband internet connections to households. Sam Churchill tells the story in his DailyWireless - Global Broadband Penetration.
Here's a link from Reuters AlertNet about the murder of an anthropologist in Guatemala. The trial started last week.
Reuters AlertNet - Guatemalan officers go on trial in 1990 murder
Glad I'm not a news site. Now there's one-stop news shopping: Google News.
Alright, I hate the word blog. Sound like stomping through mud instead of zipping stuff onto the web and out to whoever wants it.
For my wife's cousin Michael who listened to my weblog rant this weekend, here's a link to a Weblog Tool Feature Comparison Table.
I've changed the right column on this weblog.
Under "Entries by topic", you can now choose either the entire topic archive, by clicking the topic name, which has an asterisk beside it (*Cacao, *Watery Way) or you can click on any individual entry in a topic.
Previously, you could only choose the topic, which meant loading all the entries in the the topic. Especially in Watery Way, where I have all the dam entries, this has been getting slower and more unwieldy as the topic expanded.
The obscure, allusive topic names haven't changed.
Will I ever do this myself? Doubtful, as long as my pal Jason is running the server for me. But nice to think I could, thanks to O'Reilly Network: Setting up a Site Server with Jaguar.
Thanks to Patrick Nielsen Hayden's weblog, Electrolite, for a quotation that's bounced around in my head in corrupted form for years:
"For every complex question, there's a simple answer. And it's wrong."(--H. L. Mencken)
And another that's just a pleasure, from a good old Southern girl:
"The prophet Amos said, 'Let justice roll down like mighty waters'--but then some politician has to get into the sewer system and figure out how to make it work."
(--Molly Ivins)
If you just want to follow the information we're digging up about possible dam construction on the Maya watersheds, you can go to a new weblog that will hold the latest posts on that subject: USUMACINTA.
All the entries there will still be here at the Glyph, but you won't have to wade through all the other topics.
From Scriptygoddess, a site I've consulted since I started with this weblog business, a site to keep the techies from snowing you with jargon:
Webopedia: Online Dictionary for Computer and Internet Terms
Here's a little help Getting Started with HTML and Learning Cascading Style Sheets.
And don't forget the tool that made this weblog, Movable Type.
There's a weblog archive of one person's Jaguar (Mac OS X 10.2) experiences and tips at raelity bytes.
And a large OS X section at the O'Reilly publishers website, the MacDevCenter.
Ron Canter has tried to get some information on the location, size, and impact of the proposed dam. Here's Ron:
The emails are flying thick and fast so I thought I'd toss one in.
As best I can tell from maps, a dam in the Boca del Cerro gap would be in Tabasco at the east end and Chiapas (barely) at the west end. Since the mountains end here, it is the last practical dam site. In the coastal plain downstream there are no hills to put a dam between. Any dam at Boca del Cerro will flood far into Chiapas, both upstream and up side valleys to the west. They would have to get Chiapas's OK to build. (MORE below)
I've tried to get some better figures on a possible dam but there's
not much to get. Conagua's website http://www.cna.gob.mx is extensive,
but doesn't have any real data on anything. It goes on about
conceptualizations and action plans, but the only thing of interest was a
link to "Agua Para las Americas en el Siglo"
http://sgp.cna.gob.mx/financiamiento/evento_2002/index_aa2.htm . This
"Water for the Americas in XXI Cen" forum will be in Mexico City Oct 8
through 11. Might be someone with answers at it, but its $2000 pesos a
head.
The CFE website http://www.cfe.gob.mx has a section on future
projects, which includes a map showing three hydros in Chiapas and one
combined cycle plant in Tabasco. Unfortunately the map is very
generalized, with little tailfin symbols for hydros only roughly located.
The one most likely to be Boca del Cerro is slated to be finished by 2011,
a time frame that allows working out any differences with Chiapas over
taxes. Its capacity is to be 3,978 Mw, of a total 28,862 Mw increase
planned for all of Mexico. In other words CFE hopes that the Usu' will
supply 1/7 of all the increase in electric generation for Mexico in the
next 10 years. CFE and Conagua may not give up right away on this.
Comparing Hector Perez Ruiz's figure for area drowned, 302 mil
hectares, to that in the Tercier Milenio proposal, 725 mil hectares from a
130 m dam, suggests that the actual dam planned is between 50 and 60 m
high. Any dam over 15 meters (50 feet) is classified as "High" by the
World Bank, so the Boca del Cerro Dam would definitely be a high dam.
My take on all this is that Chris is on target. The Usu' needs some
real protected status or the dam will just keep resurfacing.
Sorry for the detour from the Maya dams effort. This is a note to myself and others considering Apple's new operating system. It's a detailed guide to installing Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar.
Here's a story out on the EFE wire (a Spanish news service). The story
appeared today on www.thenewsmexico.com, where I also work. Best regards,
Janet Schwartz
No new dams without rate reductions, Chiapas governor says
EFE - 9/5/2002
TUXTLA GUTIERREZ, Chiapas - The government of the southern state of Chiapas
plans to fight construction of three new hydroelectric power plants,
officials said.
Chiapas Governor Pablo Salazar Menduguchia said Tuesday the state would
oppose the project as long as the federal government and the Federal
Electricity Commission (CFE) refused to cut electric rates.
Chiapas is one of Mexico's largest power producers, but also one of the
regions with the highest electricity fees.
Thousands of hectares of land were flooded and dozens of communities were
wiped out during construction of the La Angostura, Chicoasen, Malpaso and
Peñitas dams, all part of the El Grijalva energy complex.
Construction of the new dams was part of electricity industry reform
legislation promoted by the administration of President Vicente Fox.
Salazar criticized the Fox administration for failing to consult him on the
construction of three more dams on the Usumacinta River, along the
Guatemalan border, and the CFE for attempting to justify the project as an
expansion of service and infrastructure.
He also criticized the Fox administration for making important decisions
without consulting governors of states directly affected by those
decisions.
© Copyright 2002 EFE
Ari Hershowitz, of the Natural Resources Defense Council, has experience in fighting dams, and offers his support:
"NRDC has been working with groups in Belize to stop the Chalillo dam, as part of our BioGems project, to protect important threatened natural areas in the Americas. We worked with some groups in Guatemala to stop expansion of Anadarko's (at the time, owner of Basic Resources) oil exploration in the Maya Biosphere Reserve. (see NRDC BioGems - Save Endangered Wild Places).
We have put the Maya Biosphere Reserve on our "watchlist" for potential
threats, such as the roads and dams which are part of PPP. In the next
few months, we would like to meet with groups and communities in Mexico,
Guatemala and Belize to determine what the most pressing threats are and
see how we can help local groups mount an effective international
campaign to protect the area."
Carla Molina, a specialist in ecotourism in Guatemala, has been working in parallel with us on the dam issues. She writes:
"Chris Shaw made a comment about the Johannesburg Summit for
Sustainable Development. I would like mention that one of the
representatives who assisted officially to represent Guatemala was no
less than the Minister of Energy & Mines himself, Mr. Raul Archila, who
is also the National Commissioner for the PPP or Plan Puebla Panama...
Mr. Archila has expressed interest in meeting us about including
ecotourism as part of the PPP, which is perhaps a way in which we are
supposed to focus on that and stay off the subject of hydroelectric
dams. I am not sure...
"Further comments on Mr. Archila, are that he has appeared on the
Guatemalan press repeatedly denying any construction plans on the
Usumacinta, in spite of all the documentation that is easily accessible
through your website and other sources. Denials have also come from the
local BID officials. Please keep in mind that BID (Banco Interamericano
de Desarrollo) or IADB in English... (Interamerican Development Bank)
have also appeared on the papers saying that the IADB is not funding
such project, as rumoured in the Guatemalan press."
Carla sent us a draft copy of the Plan-Puebla Panama tourism program, which she got from the BID/MUNDO MAYA office in Guatemala. She stresses that it is only a draft.
You can read the entire document by clicking MORE below.
Organización mundo maya
secretaría técnica permanente
PLAN PUEBLA-PANAMA
PROGRAMA DE TURISMO
DOCUMENTO PARA DISCUSIÓN
preparado por
Miguel Angel Correal Secretario Técnico
Andrés Navia Gerente de Proyectos
MAYO 2002
CONTENIDO
1 Antecedentes y Justificación
2 Criterios para la formulación de un Programa
3 El PROGRAMA
PLAN PUEBLA-PANAMA
PROGRAMA DE TURISMO
PERFIL
Antecedentes y Justificación
Centroamérica y México han iniciado esfuerzos de integración regional en diferentes sectores, específicamente se puede citar a la Organización Mundo Maya –OMM- que vincula a 5 países que buscan mejorar el sector turismo de cultura y naturaleza con el consiguiente impacto positivo en las economías y comunidades locales.
Si bien las experiencias de integración en Centroamérica son incipientes o han tenido obstáculos dadas las diferencias en los niveles de desarrollo y condiciones geopolíticas entre los países, la experiencia de la OMM es aplicable para la creación de espacios de interlocución y estrategias de integración regional que llevan a la práctica proyectos concretos .
A través de esta experiencia comienza a surgir la conciencia generalizada de reinvidicar el patrimonio cultural y las riquezas naturales dentro de las agendas nacionales de turismo, en una sana competencia basada en el manejo del mercado y no en un concepto absoluto de soberanía.
La OMM ha propiciado el diálogo sobre las ventajas comparativas, por ejemplo de México frente a sus vecinos, planteando respuestas bajo un modelo de integración regional y no del proteccionismo que daría el manejo o restricción de fronteras .
Los resultados positivos de estas experiencias permiten recomendar el desarrollo de modelos similares en la región centroamericana.
Para lograr lo anterior se requiere reconocer varias premisas que hacen viable la iniciativa de instaurar modelos que promuevan el desarrollo turístico por subregiones:
Territoriales y Sociales
La existencia de áreas protegidas y ecosistemas interconectados biológica y funcionalmente, constituyen el patrimonio de destinos turísticos, que ameritan esfuerzos conjuntos para conservarlos y aprovecharlos en forma sostenible.
La conexión existente de las áreas naturales con potencial turístico y el servicio que prestan para el aprovechamiento y proyección hacia otros destinos como playa, sitios de interés, compras, etc.
La presencia de comunidades rurales e indígenas en todos los países, que evidencian gran diversidad cultural. Desde grupos y comunidades diferenciados política y administrativamente con identidades culturales muy definidas, en lucha por posicionarse, como en Panamá y Nicaragua, hasta la presencia diseminada y entremezclada, pero conservando su identidad cultural como en Guatemala y México. Todas con potencial para convertirse en atractivos.
El factor común de la pobreza y las deficiencias de niveles de desarrollo, comprometen al sector turismo a presentar soluciones que se integren y dinamicen las demás estrategias de desarrollo locales.
Las tendencias modernas del turismo hacen énfasis hoy en la demanda por la aventura, cultura y naturaleza, condiciones contrapuestas a las viejas concepciones de que la infraestructura física, especialmente la construcción de hoteles y la promoción exclusivamente, son las fuentes para fortalecer este sector .
Políticas y Económicas
La necesidad de lograr espacios de integración regional frente a las nuevas tendencias globales del comercio y de las economías
El aprovechamiento de estrategias supranacionales para la resolución de conflictos entre países.
La necesidad de posicionar internacionalmente productos y servicios que den identidad a la región y fortalezcan las economías
La tendencia a diversificar los rubros de las economías nacionales en virtud de las limitaciones de la región en materia de manufacturas y recursos energéticos.
La presencia de pequeños productores y comunidades que demandan incentivos a la microempresa en actividades directas y conexas con el turismo.
La necesidad de democratizar el acceso a los servicios de los recursos naturales y atractivos turísticos a través la participación de la comunidad.
La remanencia de condiciones de posconflicto que persisten en algunos países de la región que afectan los avances hacia el desarrollo integral del turismo en lo que respecta a seguridad ciudadana, derechos humanos y procesos de democratización.
Institucionales
Las permanentes solicitudes e iniciativas del sector privado para que los gobiernos regulen, planifiquen e incentiven el turismo sostenible.
La debilidad de las agencias gubernamentales para planificar el territorio si se tiene en cuenta que las iniciativas de turismo sostenible se basan en el patrimonio natural y sobre las características de la cultura viva o patrimonio social.
La deficiente coordinación entre las agencias sectoriales relacionadas con el turismo, especialmente las encargadas del medio ambiente, recursos arqueológicos, áreas protegidas y políticas económicas.
Criterios para la formulación de un Programa
Los anteriores aspectos políticos, sociales e institucionales unidos al atractivo de la región, justifican el desarrollo de un Programa de inversiones que desarrollen el turismo sostenible en centroamérica y contribuya a mejorar la capacidad de regulación y planificación de las agencias del sector. Las características de la región permiten identificar los criterios en los que se fundamenta el Programa:
Integración regional
Preservación del patrimonio natural, cultural y social.
Participación de las comunidades y sociedad civil
Incentivos y fomento a la inversión y participación del sector privado
El PROGRAMA
OBJETIVO
El proyecto tiene por objeto promover, el desarrollo del turismo, la naturaleza y cultura de los países centroamericanos y el sur de México a través del concurso del sector Público y Privado. El contexto en que se realizará aprovecha los ecosistemas interconectados, el potencial cultural y antropológico tanto histórico como vivo y las posibilidades de conexiones hacia numerosos destinos que satisfacen diversos intereses en el mundo.
Objetivos Específicos:
Fortalecer las instituciones que menejan y regulan el sector en la región
Adecuar las legislaciones de manera que permitan la modernización, democratización y manejo ambiental de la industria turística.
Establecer un sistema turístico de información que permita planificar, evaluar y regular el sector.
Integrar el turismo a las demás estrategias del Plan Puebla Panamá en materia de infraestructura y desarrollo social.
Desarrollar proyectos turísticos que generen beneficios económicos, maximicen la facilitación de servicios a los turistas, preserven y mantengan las características sociales y culturales de cada país o subregión. Los proyectos promoverán el patrimonio natural y cultural de las comunidades, con énfasis en la arqueología, arquitectura, el arte visual, artesanías, danzas, música, literatura, etnoturismo y agroturismo.
Contribuir con la estrategia ambiental de la región para preservar el patrimonio natural y cultural de Centroamérica.
Facilitar y promocionar la participación del sector privado como dinamizador de nuevas inversiones.
Descripción
Para el logro de los objetivos se ha diseñado un programa con 5 componentes:
Fortalecimiento Institucional y Formulación del Plan Maestro
Facilitación Turística
Infraestructura Turística
Aprovechamiento sostenible del Patrimonio Natural y Cultural
Participación de las Comunidades y del Sector Privado
Fortalecimiento Institucional y Formulación del Plan Maestro
Este componente busca mejorar la gestión de las agencias encargadas directamente del turismo y de las que deben coordinar acciones complementarias como las del sector ambiental y recursos arqueológicos . Se desarrollará una estrategia por país para facilitar la adopción de tecnologías que permitan planificar le territorio para el uso del turismo bajo la perspectiva del manejo sostenible y el ordenamiento territorial en consonancia con los demás sectores de las economías nacionales.
Se apoyará la conformación de bases de datos que integren las cuentas satélites en las instituciones, de manera que la alimentación e intercambio de información entre países permitan el seguimiento, regulación y continua modernización de procesos y estándares que garanticen la calidad de los destinos y de las actividades de turismo. Todo lo anterior debe conducir a la formulación de estrategias similares a las aplicadas por la OMM en el sentido de conceptualizar, estudiar y poner en marcha circuitos de integración regional .
En el primer año de proyecto se deberá contar con un plan maestro indicativo por país que integrado, conforme el plan maestro centroamericano para el turismo.
Facilitación Turística
Busca la integración de los países centroamericanos a través de la facilitación migratoria y el mejoramiento de la seguridad turística en los principales cruces fronterizos. El componente desarrollará proyectos tecnológicos y normativos tendientes a eliminar obstáculos y facilitar procesos al movimiento de turistas de cualquier nacionalidad en Centroamérica y el sur de México.
Infraestructura Turística
El componente está orientado al diseño y ejecución de obras de infraestructura que apoyen el turismo. Estará condicionado al beneficio de las comunidades locales, ya sea para incentivar su participación en actividades directas al turismo o su participación en actividades complementarias, que en todo caso contribuyan a consolidar el tejido social en las zonas turísticas.
En este componente se podrán desarrollar vías, hoteles, museos, centros de visitantes, acueductos, proyectos energéticos locales, proyectos de adecuación para la producción agropecuaria, infraestructura requerida por microempresas o comunidades organizadas que operen servicios turísticos, (como restaurantes, lavanderías, comunicaciones, transporte, infraestructura para programas de turismo de aventura, etc.).
El componente será desarrollado y estandarizado en su totalidad bajo el concepto de bajo impacto ambiental y respeto por las tradiciones y culturas vivas.
Aprovechamiento Sostenible del Patrimonio Natural y Cultural
Bajo este componente se desarrollarán actividades para aprovechar el potencial de atractivo del patrimonio cultural y natural . El desarrollo de proyectos tendrá como premisa las restricciones y condicionamientos que la conservación y preservación de estos recursos impongan.
Se apoyarán proyectos de restauración y rescate arqueológico, manejo de áreas con categorías de manejo especial para el turismo, aprovechamiento de otros elementos del patrimonio cultural que sean atractivos, en los que se incluyen expresiones orales, coreográficas, artísticas, rescate de la memoria viva, vinculación de territorios indígenas a formas empresariales concertadas.
Participación de las Comunidades y del Sector Privado
Este componente será aplicable a los 4 anteriores, busca maximizar el protagonismo de las comunidades locales en todas las actividades del turismo, incluye 3 subcomponentes:
Promoción y apoyo a las microempresas y empresas comunitarias
Capacitación de comunidades en temas relacionados con turismo y en particular en lo relacionado con la actividad microempresarial.
Capacitación de profesionales y técnicos
Se incluye como parte de este componente la promoción y la concertación con el sector privado a fin de fomentar, regular y hacerlo partícipe en las inversiones y ejecución que implique la puesta en marcha del proyecto PPP para turismo.
Here is a similar story as government press release published today en La
Jornada...... Best regards to all. Janet
Estados
Resolver temas pendientes en Chiapas, como el de las tarifas eléctricas,
prioridad, afirma
Se opone Salazar Mendiguchía a que se construyan tres presas
hidroeléctricas sobre el cauce del río Usumacinta
ANGELES MARISCAL CORRESPONSAL
Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chis., 3 de septiembre. El gobernador Pablo Salazar
Mendiguchía expresó ante 50 alcaldes y Cristóbal Jaime Jáquez, director
general de la Comisión Nacional del Agua (Conagua), su desacuerdo con que
se construyan tres presas hidroeléctricas sobre el cauce del río
Usumacinta, previstas en el marco de la propuesta de reforma eléctrica del
gobierno federal.
Salazar Mendiguchía, reunido este martes con el funcionario y los ediles,
dijo que primero deben resolverse "asuntos pendientes con la sociedad
chiapaneca, como el de las tarifas justas en el consumo de energía
eléctrica", de lo contrario no aceptará se construya en la entidad alguna
hidroeléctrica.
El mandatario sostuvo que durante una reunión de trabajo realizada "en días
pasados", donde se le planteó el proyecto, hizo saber de su posición al
titular de la Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE), Alfredo Elías Ayub, a
quien dijo que las presas anteriormente realizadas en la entidad "inundaron
miles de hectáreas de las mejores tierras que tiene Chiapas y todavía no
terminan de pagar indemnizaciones a algunos campesinos". Agregó que
cualquier determinación que involucre a los ciudadanos del estado será
consensuada con éstos y debe obtener el respaldo de todos los presidentes
municipales.
Igualmente acotó que existen comunidades asentadas en torno de presas
hidroeléctricas que no están electrificadas, "y de pilón en Chiapas se
pagan tarifas eléctricas más caras que otros estados que no producen
energía eléctrica".
Por su parte, el Centro de Investigaciones Económicas y Políticas de Acción
Ciudadana (Ciepac) dio a conocer en un comunicado que en territorio de los
municipios de Ocosingo, Las Margaritas, Margarita Tenejapa y La Trinitaria,
se realizan estudios de factibilidad para la construcción de las citadas
tres presas hidroeléctricas, sin la autorización de las casi 20 comunidades
involucradas.
El Ciepac sostuvo que la construcción de una nueva red hidroeléctrica
inundaría un área de entre 10 y 12 mil kilómetros cuadrados, donde habitan
unas 50 mil personas.
Thanks to Chris for his response to Pablo's release:
Yeah, Tabasco is still in play. We can’t just say it's okay to flood all those small-time sites in Tabasco as long as Yaxchilan and PN are saved. Do we know everything we need to know about them? Will the "low dams" down there block navigation and the upstream-and-downstream movement of aquatic life? Will they subject their reservoirs to siltation? How will they affect the centlas? and what about the undiscovered or forgotten sites?
It sounds to me like Boca de Cerro would still back up into Chiapas, flood San Jose Canyon, and destroy Budsilha Falls and most of the Chocolha. (As well as El Porvenir?) All these places are downstream from Piedras Negras, but in river terms they’re the main events.
[ Click MORE below]
Salazar is great, and all his points are important
politically, though temporary. We still need details,
many of which I'm beginning to believe don't exist:
where are the dams planned, what are their exact
specs, who will build them (canadian firms?), and will
they serve the stated needs? And where the hell are
the impact studies?
Any extended argument against big hydro, Salazar or no
(and he could disappear in a few years), still demands
looking at the watershed comprehensively and making
recommendations for alternate power sources. The
recent sustainability conference in South Africa
called for an increase of 13 to 15 percent for
alternative energy use worldwide. We need to find out
what Mexico’s percentage is, Guatemala’s, etc.
And how do we get the world to take the Usumacinta off
its drawing board and end the inevitable call for new
dams in the future. When so many places are in
trouble, what makes the Usumacinta so special, why
does it deserve special consideration? The
environmental ngos have their own priorities and
long-term plans: their political capital is spread
thin. But if we make a clear enough, well-balanced and
clearly knowledgeable argument, they may come on
board.
I’d like to propose a few ideas to shoot for:
– no net loss of land, habitat, or archaeological
resources to flooding or construction.
– development of the obvious alternative energy
sources for the growth of sustainable local and
regional economies in the region: micro hydro in the
tributaries (and at points in the corridor with
existing road access?), solar, small wind etc.
– the establishment of a “protected”
corridor–including all current legal uses, better
regulated–along both shores and inland between agreed
upon points somewhere between Altar and Tenosique, at
least from Corozal to Boca de Cerro, and the
development of comprehensive system of trails, camp
sites, low-impact interior lodges etc; archaeology
tours, river trips, birding, to provide full-time year
round jobs with benefits, such as guiding,
maintenance, protection.
Before anything can happen the river needs to be made
safe again, as soon as possible. We need to start
pumping people down it. This is all happening in the
darkness cast by the bandits and the Mathews attack.
It’s time to turn that around.
It would take stable governments and economies, and
real money. But I’ve heard all the reasons why such an
idea is unworkable pipe dream, and I think they’re
wrong.
Best, Shaw
ps, while we're at it let's call for some aquatic studies, like goldman's
survey.
I was a nut about this stuff a few years ago (just ask my oldest son, now a microbiologist) but it seems to be moving out of the gee-whiz stage into practical applications. Not yet the world-changing and possibly dangerous force that it may become, nanotechnology gets a lucid and still astonishing treatment by Paul Preuss in the Berkeley Lab Research Review Fall 2001.
Here's news from Chiapas, via Janet Schwartz, reporter and photographer:
Dear Dave/Chris/Alfonso/All:
Looks like Pablo Salazar settled the issue with this press bulletin, at least for awhile.
Oh by the way, I guess we should still look out for one damn to be built in Tabasco !!! But I imagine they'd have to get permission for that from Chiapas since it would more affect us than them ! Janet
Comunicado de prensa
03 de septiembre de 2002
No. 2150/ Año 2
"No Más Presas Hidroeléctricas en Chiapas": Pablo Salazar
a.. Existen pendientes que no se han cumplido con la sociedad chiapaneca
b.. Firma Convenios de Colaboración para Promoción de Decretos de
Condonación de Contribuciones con CNA
c.. Retribuyen a 17 municipios casi 2 millones de pesos
Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas.- El Gobierno del Estado de Chiapas no permitirá
que la Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE) construya una presa
hidroeléctrica más hasta que no se resuelvan los grandes temas pendientes
con los chiapanecos, entre ellos las tarifas justas que se han reclamado
históricamente, afirmó el gobernador Pablo Salazar Mendiguchía en un
encuentro con alcaldes y el gerente general de la Comisión Nacional del
Agua (CNA), Cristóbal Jaime Jáquez.
El mandatario chiapaneco estableció que la postura del Gobierno del Estado,
frente a las pretensiones de la paraestatal de ampliar su cobertura, es que
en Chiapas no se permitirá la construcción de una presa más, hasta que no
se resuelvan los problemas ancestrales que datan desde la construcción de
las centrales hidroeléctricas.
El Gobernador Pablo Salazar explicó que en la Reforma Eléctrica, propuesta
por el gobierno federal, la CFE pretende ampliar su cobertura y para ello
construiría tres presas hidroeléctricas más en territorio chiapaneco, algo
que no se permitirá.
El mandatario dijo que construir más presas hidroeléctricas, en
consideración del potencial acuífero de la entidad, no resuelve los
problemas que demanda la sociedad.
"La posición nuestra es que en Chiapas no permitiremos que se construya una
presa hidroeléctrica más hasta que no resolvamos temas que están pendientes
como el de las tarifas justas, porque ese es un reclamo de hace muchos años
de la sociedad", expresó el gobernador y, con aplausos, los alcaldes se
sumaron a la determinación oficial.
Pablo Salazar informó que, en una reunión con el presidente Vicente Fox, el
gobierno de Chiapas formalizó esta posición: "Le dijimos al Director de la
Comisión Federal de Electricidad que las presas inundaron miles de
hectáreas de nuestras mejores tierras, que perdimos producción, que el
proceso indemnizatorio fue tortuoso y que firmaron compromisos que hasta
hoy no han sido cumplidos", abundó.
"La posición del Gobierno del Estado es clara: no vamos a permitir una
presa más hasta que no resolvamos las asignaturas pendientes que tiene CFE
con nosotros", afirmó. El Ejecutivo precisó que la oposición oficial a las
presas no está relacionada con la reforma constitucional.
En la reunión de evaluación de los avances de los programas y del proceso
de federalización del sector hidráulico en Chiapas, el jefe del Ejecutivo
explicó que en cuestiones de agua, el gobierno tiene definida una política
institucional de desarrollo sustentable y sobre todo, una política de
preservación, conservación y uso racional del vital líquido.
Refirió que en año y medio de gobierno, a los diversos programas relativos
al agua, en Chiapas se han destinado más de 200 millones de pesos que
acreditan la importancia que se le da al tema y que contrastan con los casi
10 millones que se invertían en el 2000.
"Nuestra principal riqueza natural y atractivo como estado, hoy, sigue
siendo el potencial que tenemos en el agua", indicó Salazar Mendiguchía.
Sin embargo, aclaró que el agua es una de las principales potencialidades
de Chiapas, uno de los atractivos que ofrece "siempre y cuando tengamos una
política de Estado que nos permita preservar y aprovechar bien esta
riqueza".
Pablo Salazar Mendiguchía aclaró ante el titular de CNA, que el gobierno de
Chiapas no está de acuerdo con la disminución del gasto federal en el
sector hidráulico, porque para este año se han perdido 41 millones de pesos
y no hay justificación alguna.
Finalmente, el Ejecutivo solicitó al gerente general de la CNA la supresión
de la veda sobre los sistemas de riego del bajo Río Grijalva que datan de
1957, que no existe y que encarece el agua. Asimismo pidió la revisión de
la clasificación a la zona de disponibilidad de los municipios de Chiapas.
Sam Churchill at the DailyWireless maintains a steady stream of great links on wireless internet developments. We share the same goal - free community wireless broadband, Sam in Portland, Oregon, me in the lower eastside of Manhattan.
Once we set up free access points, we need hundreds of cheap computers. Less than the cost of a year of DSL, a Wi-Fi ready PC for $500.
Thanks to Cary Doctorow for links to the winners of this year's Hugo awards. The stories are available for free reading online.
The Dog Said Bow-Wow by Michael Swanwick, Best Short Story
Hell is the Absence of God by Ted Chiang, Best Novelette
And for Best Novella:
Fast Times and Fairmont High by Vernor Vinge
You can find links to all the finalists here.
A World Resources Institute program, Digital Dividend, is helping to install pedal powered wireless internet centers in Laotian villages. Wireless links are relayed to a microwave tower on the ridge above the village.
via Slashdot
There are two conferences I hope to attend this fall, as I prepare a technology and energy plan for the community center we are building in the neighborhood:
The Green Building International Conference and Expo in Austin, Texas.
And the Conference on Stationary Fuel Cells in Boston.
Joann Andrews passed along a scan of a Reforma article from August 9th. It contains assurances from the INAH director of the Registry of Public Monuments (Francisco Sanchez Nava), that Yaxchilan and Piedras Negras would not be affected by the proposed dam.
It also listed the sites that would be flooded:
In Tabasco: Cortijo el Nuevo, Agua Sucia, Redencion del Campesino Numero Uno, Redencion del Campesino Numero Dos, Camino a San Marcos, La Parcela, El Mangal, El Camino, Francisco Ortiz y Dona Salud.
In Chiapas: Chinikiha, La Reforma, Chancala, Santa Margarita, El Chile, Cueva San Pablo, and El Cayo.
If I can find a link to this article I'll post it. If anyone has a map that shows all of these sites, let me know.