How did I know that I'd read the words "Indiana Jones" by the end of this story? Even in denial.
Archaeologist's Partnership With Maya Villagers Pays Off in Looters' Conviction
Things are heating up in the delta of the Usumacinta - the Pantanos de Centla - as campesinos and fishermen block a road to prevent drilling by Pemex that may contaminate aquifers and ruin their livelihood.
PRD bloquea apertura de 100 pozos de Pemex | 2004-06-30 | La Crónica de Hoy
Proceso - Bloquean acceso a instalaciones de Pemex en Tabasco
"As the emergency situation in Chiapas no longer prevails, the ICRC is today bringing to an end the humanitarian activities it has been conducting there for the past ten years in aid of displaced persons and residents. "
Mexico: ICRC phases out humanitarian aid in Chiapas
The Institute of the Americas has made available all the presentations from the first annual Latin American Sustainable Development Conference that I attended 2 weeks ago.
Index of ftp://132.239.192.94/SusDev/2004 Conference/presentations
My presentation can be found here:
The Usumacinta Project (pdf)
Jonathan Schwartz has posted a collection of links to articles about the 50th anniversary of the CIA coup in Guatemala.
A Tiny Revolution: More Horrible Anniversary
In a triumph of Gandhian tactics and smart mob performance, Rev. Billy (minister for both the Church of Stop Shopping and The Church of the United States Constitution) and friends appeared in a CBS News story last Saturday.
They walked around at Ground Zero, reciting selections of the Constitution to other friends over their cell phones. It was a protest against the prohibition of protest at the Republican convention.
The Realmedia clip is off the news page by now, but it can be downloaded from this CBS link:
The least hard-hitting story to come out of Chiapas in 10 years. Sacred Coke. Won the cola wars.
I guess I'm aiming too high with threats to culture, Plan Puebla Panama, sustainability. Good night.
One of the joys of being at home in New York - padding out to the front door of the building and getting the New York Times, then waking up to it over coffee. This weblog commentary on the Times will have to be my next must-read, over a second cup. Smart and ferocious.
A long overdue thanks to Tammy Ridenour, who outfitted our raft trip on the Usumacinta and cheerfully guided us through rapids, eddies, ruins, and waterfalls. She and her crew - Fred, Beto, Sidney - were great company and tireless in every situation.
Some recent posts (by Britt Blaser and others) may have drawn new folks to this weblog. Welcome!
If you're interested in technology, wireless, Mac OS X, check the "Net" category in the archives (right column). If it's the Usumacinta River campaign, check "Watery Way". Other Maya-related posts are in "Glyph" or "Jungle".
And sorry about the no comments status on newer posts - the spam has hit here as everywhere, and I haven't gotten around to any good solution. I've got a gmail.com account going at Google if you want to drop me a line. Send it to dave.pentecost at the gmail domain.
What am I looking for? A way to keep doing what I'm doing without going back to the TV networks for work. Do you have an interesting documentary production with any reasonable budget for editing? A sustainable development project that needs documentation? If you've got any tips on funding (either in the Maya region or in urban wireless networks), please pass them on. Thanks!
And apart from work, I welcome your brainstorms.
This goes into my "Underworld" category.
A Flash version of an Alice in Wonderland pop-up book by J. Otto Seibold. By way of Boing Boing.
Nicely annotated (wikified as they say) version of Cory Doctorow's talk at Microsoft regarding copyright, technology and DRM.
(Thanks to Joi Ito )
Thanks to Craig Johnson for these links. The first, a report from the WWF on the top 21 endangered rivers, all with more than 5 dams planned for them. The Usumacinta is not on the list, but the case is made again against dams.
Rivers at Risk - Dams and the future of freshwater ecosystems (pdf)
The second report is very timely, as we turn our focus on the economics and financing of dams.
DamRight! An Investor's guide to Dams (pdf)
(This report draws heavily from the World Commission on Dams Report of 2000, which I posted here.)
And here's the main page for WWF's dams initiative. Great information.
Dam Right! WWF's 2003-2004 Dams Initiative
Thanks to Alfonso Morales for this article. The failure of reforestation projects in Chiapas has led to the loss of topsoil and the silting up of hydroelectric dams. A similar fate awaits any dam built on the Usumacinta.
(this is a direct link, at least for now: Cuarto Poder )
CHIAPAS Reforestación, un tema olvidado.
Se azolva presa de paraestatal
Marco González CP. Ante el azolve de las
hidroeléctricas en Chiapas se reduce su vida útil. La
erosión provocada por las lluvias, arrastra hasta 90
toneladas de tierra por hectárea. Éste, es uno de los
daños de la deforestación. Aun así quienes utilizan
estos embalses, poco o nada hacen para evitar el daño.
A fin de mantener la utilidad de algunas de estas
presas, se ha incrementado el alto de sus cortinas,
señalan técnicos extranjeros consultados y que
solicitaron el anonimato. Sin embargo, para gente como
el doctor Vicente Martínez Vázquez, cuando mucho le
quedan 30 años de vida a algunas hidroeléctricas, por
la acelerada deforestación y el proceso de
desertización en la zona Frailesca de Chiapas.
Durante la Primer Conferencia Regional de Geografía de
Chiapas, en mayo de 1972, Conrado Zárate, auxiliar de
la Oficina Coordinadora de Obras y Proyectos
Hidroeléctricos de La Angostura de Comisión Federal de
Electricidad (CFE), se comprometió – a nombre de la
paraestatal - a reforestar las áreas circundantes al
embalse con programas frutícolas y silvícolas. Hasta
la fecha, todo quedó en promesa.
El programa frutícola que presentó el funcionario de
la CFE, era el siguiente: se sembrarían árboles de
tamarindo, guanábana, mango, aguacate, coso, tanto en
las parcelas de los ejidatarios como en las zonas
estratégicas a fin de combatir la erosión hídrica.
En cuanto al programa de reforestación, se dijo – en
aquel entonces – que se están utilizando cedros y
caobas. De haberse cumplido, ahora, serían enormes
plantaciones que generarían miles de millones de pesos
y empleos para la gente de la depresión central. Todo
quedó en el papel.
Dentro de algunos años, cuando quede azolvada
completamente la presa de La Angostura, esas 60 mil
hectáreas, se convertirá en el paraíso para los
cultivos de temporal, porque tendrá una capa de más de
150 metros de profundidad de un excelente humus y
humedad, ha señalado en diversos foros el doctor
Martínez Vázquez.
Nadie ha detenido la deforestación ni tampoco se han
hecho buenos esfuerzos para fomentar la reforestación
en la zona aledaña al embalse o en las partes altas de
la Sierra Madre de Chiapas, añade, el también premio
Chiapas.
En las últimas décadas se ha invertido más en papel de
los discursos para justificar los programas de
reforestación de la zona aledaña a la cuenca del Río
Grijalva, que en los árboles que se debieron de haber
sembrado, y que hoy estarían haciendo un valioso
aporte ecológico y económico para la gente de la
región, dijo.
Si bien los hubiera no existen, decía Martínez
Vázquez, la gente debe exigir que se cumplan los
compromisos.
Por falta de una adecuada política de reforestación,
las mejores tierras de Chiapas se encuentran en
Tabasco, señalaba el extinto doctor Miguel Álvarez del
Toro, premio Paul Gety (símil del Nobel en Ecología).
Cuando se azolve por completo el embalse de La
Angostura, la tierra de cultivo tendrá una profundidad
de más de 150 metros y no tarda, apunta el doctor
Martínez Vázquez.
An excellent and disturbing article in Progreso on the continued push for the Plan Puebla Panama. It highlights efforts to minimize opposition to the plan by civil society, using 3% of the budget to fund sustainable development initiatives.
Proceso.com.mx - Exclusiva:Plan Puebla Panamá: nuevos coqueteos
Y frente a las insistentes versiones de que hay proyectos ocultos en el PPP, como algunas hidroeléctricas en el área del Río Usumacinta, Rodas asegura que esos proyectos están desechados desde hace 20 años por sus costos ecológicos, su inviabilidad financiera y porque de realizarse inundarían grandes cantidades de terrenos, entre ellos, una proporción importante de Petén “Ese proyecto al que hacen referencia los ambientalistas está técnica y políticamente descartado. Los habitantes del Peten pueden estar tranquilos”, asegura Taylor.
Pero el debate de las hidroélectricas sigue ahí. Trópico Verde sostiene que desde que salieron a la luz las primeras voces críticas, han desaparecido gradualmente los proyectos más conflictivos, incluidos los de las presas hidroeléctricas en el Río Usumacinta, uno de los pilares del PPP, según documentos del gobierno mexicano.
“Es absurdo negar que el proyecto de una hidroeléctrica en Petén existe. Un frente de oposición formado por comunitarios que viven en las riveras del Usumacinta, con organizaciones locales, nacionales e internacionales ha ido ganando apoyo”, dice Carlos Albacete, quien llama a estas represas “los hijos no reconocidos del Plan Puebla Panamá”.
Here's a news story about efforts to protect the mouth of the Grijalva-Usumacinta river delta.
Proceso.com.mx - Exclusiva:Pemex, la depredación en Laguna de Términos
An archived version of the Tim Weiner New York Times article on the Baca del Cerro dam plan, September 22, 2002.
En;NYT.com,Mexico weighs electricity against history,Sep 23
Reports on trade, PPP, environment issues
Americas Program | Index | Issue: Trade, Environment, Integration & Development
I'm shocked.
Boston.com / News / Nation / Correcting data, US says terrorism incidents increased in '03
WASHINGTON -- The State Department acknowledged yesterday it was wrong to report that terrorism declined worldwide last year, a finding that was used to boost one of President Bush's top foreign policy claims, success in countering terror.
Below Boca del Cerro, where the Usumacinta widens and meanders to the Gulf, there's a growing pollution problem. If a dam were to be built, and the natural flood pulse stopped, would the pollution buildup be even worse?
As a recovering drummer I may have to get this.
iDrum - The Drum Machine for Mac OS X
Apple announced it today. It's a mini-Airport (10 users). It's a bridge to extend the Airport's range. It's a wireless USB printer connection. It's tiny.
And it has audio out. It's a wireless link between iTunes on your laptop and your stereo system or speakers. $129
Ron Canter has provided a preliminary report on the Usumacinta study we did at the end of March of this year. It is in Microsoft Word format.
Usumacinta Canyons and Rapids
Download file
Reubicarán campamentos ilegales en Chiapas
This website, Sponsored by NASA, USAID, World Bank, and CCAD in El Salvador, will provide a variety of satellite images of the region. It already has some impressive views and fly-throughs.
SIAM-SERVIR The Central American Monitoring and Visualization System
Two years ago, the staff of EcoMaya and ProPeten took me out to see the community forestry operations of the town of Carmelita, Guatemala. This village had been an airstrip center of the chicle trade until that market decreased. Now it could either gain or lose by the plans for El Mirador, since it is now the base for horseback trips into the site, the only way other than helicopter to reach it.
This is a review of the creation of the Carmelita community forestry concessions.
I only spent one afternoon in Uaxactun this spring, on my way back to Flores. But many of the workers on the dig in March came from this village, north of Tikal, a gateway into the northeast corner of the Peten. This is one traveler's protrait of the village and its efforts to conserve traditional forest products - xate, chicle, pimienta, lumber.
Terrain.org - Seeing the Forest, Not Just the Trees: A Guatemalan Village and Conservation
I've just found an excellent collection of maps, online at the CIEPAC site.
CIEPAC, A.C. : Indice de Mapas de Chiapas
Chris Shaw sent this press release he had received. It's far from the Usu, but it's another sign that hydroelectric power is not without drawbacks as a "clean" energy source.
Bad news for Hydro-Quebec
New York no longer considers large hydropower a clean energy
The State of New York no longer considers large-scale hydroelectricity as a green and renewable energy and excludes it from its list of main tier eligible generation sources. This official recommendation was made public today by Administrative Law Judge Eleanor Stein, President of the Commission regarding a Retail Renewable Portfolio Standard of the New York State Public Service Commission. The consultation process spanned over 16 months and mobilized more than 150 private, public and individual organisations.
The State legislation requires that 17% of the public supply of energy come from
clean and renewable sources. Judge Stein's decision renders unacceptable new
hydropower plants with reservoirs and those producing more that 30 MW. Only
hydropower from small run-of-river power plants will be eligible. Fourteen American
States have adopted a similar legislation and their number is growing every year.
The State of New York wants to raise from 17 to 25% over ten years the proportion of
renewable energy bought from its suppliers. It also incites consumers to choose
green energies in order to fulfill their energy needs. On-going media campaigns
explain the advantages of consuming energy in an environment-friendly way. Quebec's
hydroelectricity no longer meets these standards.
Thus, as hydropower is phasing out on American markets, Hydro-Quebec gets a new and
strong incentive to end its devastating hydroelectric development in James Bay /
Northern Quebec and to turn towards acceptable energy sources, such as wind power.
Rupert Reverence, a group of Cree and Quebec citizens dedicated to the protection of
Northern Quebec rivers, took part in this commission by tabling, on September 26,
2004, a statement regarding the environmental, social and ethical impacts of large
hydroelectric projects in James Bay. Co-President Jacqueline Leroux is highly
pleased with Judge Stein's recommendation. "With this decision, New Yorkers show
their support for the protection of Northern Quebec rivers. Their environmental
conscience will help Quebec attain its Kyoto commitments through the abandonment of
polluting industries such as hydroelectricity and fossil fuel. Now that important
clients are in turn asking for it, maybe Hydro-Quebec will listen."
Rupert Reverence is a non-profit organization founded in October 2001 by Crees and
Quebecers involved in their environment and deeply convinced that there is much more
to lose than to gain by new hydroelectric development in the Eeyou Istchee / James
Bay / Nunavik territory. Well established in its information role, Rupert Reverence
supports the protection of virgin rivers of Northern Quebec, in the name of the
Nations present on the territory, in order to preserve wildlife habitats, ecosystems
balance, ancestral sites and ethnotouristic potential harboured by the great rivers
of Northern Quebec.
For information:
Jacqueline Leroux, Co-President (418) 748-7317 or Eric Gagnon (514) 708-5899
http://www.dps.state.ny.us/03e0188.htm et
www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/renewable_energy
http://www.dps.state.ny.us/rps/03e0188_030926_comments/Rupert_comments.pdf and
Google search: rps state
Eric Gagnon
Rupert Reverence
Southern Quebec
(514) 708-5899
Northern-Quebec (Head office)
(418) 748-7317
199 Laframboise
Chibougamau G8P 2S3
Here's a new weblog covering wireless and spectrum issues.
Does this mean we get a Ukrainian restaurant in San Cristobal?
El Universal Online - Promocionarán Rusia y Ucrania turismo en Chiapas
One Mexican energy secretary out, a new one in. No new push for private investment, in an Usumacinta dam and elsewhere?
Forbes.com: Mexico energy reform in limbo after resignation
HoustonChronicle.com - Fox's choice for energy post may lack clout for reforms