The Mapuche are an indigenous people living in central Chile. Their cultural center is the town of Temuco. This film was voted the People’s Choice on Culture Unplugged. To view the
Voice of the Mapuche People
Archive for the ‘Environment’ Category
Spirit of the Mapuche People
30/08/2011Asylum in Czech Republic on Ecological Grounds
30/08/2011A true story, this short documentary from Culture Unplugged is about a Danish citizen who seeks asylum in the Czech Republic. I include it here to stimulate self-assessment of your assumptions. Tell us what you think.
Brian Kulkaer Larsen of Copenhagen
Gold’s Glitter in Peru
15/08/2011The surge in the price of gold brings wealth and unrest to Peru.
From Reuters: Katharine Jackson reports
Click Image to see Reuters Video
Also see our earlier post on Barrack Mines in Huaraz, Peru.
Three Good Websites
14/08/2011
From Mountain Cams worldwide and Avalanche Forecasting to Sending Money, here are a few sites I’ve come across lately
While it’s a bit too focused on the frontcountry scene, the worldwide reports and list of snowcams can’t be beat. Check out MountainWatch.com for snow conditions, news and forecasts.
Avalanche.org
Avalanche.org is what your really want to get access to local avi conditions worldwide. With a click, you can jump from North America to New Zealand and zero in on your region before you head out.
Xoom.com
On a completely different note, I just stumbled upon what appears like a good site for transferring money. MoneyGram only works if you’re in the U.S and God bless Western Union for being around longer than Greyhound, but their online system has never worked for me, and by god, they’re expensive. So check out Xoom.com, it’s who I’ll be using the next time I need to send some funds across the ocean blue.
Peru: Social Conflicts & Environment Linked
03/08/2011
Peru's Enviro Minsiter Sr. Giesecke
Environment Minister says tackling social conflicts is “urgent”.
From Andean AirMail & Peruvian Times
Peru’s Environment Minister Ricardo Giesecke said Monday that tackling social conflicts in the country will be an “urgent” task in his portfolio, state news agency Andina reported. Social conflicts sky-rocketed during the Alan Garcia’s administration.
When Garcia took office in 2006, Peru’s ombudsman – the Defensoria del Pueblo – reported about 80 social conflicts in the country. Towards the end of his term, which wrapped up last Thursday, there were over 200 social conflicts, of which an overwhelming number are related to socio-environmental issues in the extractive industries.
In addition to delaying projects and investments, the conflicts have cost numerous lives and cost millions of dollars in collateral damage Read the rest of this story…
Limiting Machu Picchu Visits?
01/08/2011
Machu Picchu ©Mtnspirit.org
Peru Gov’t looks to increase visitor limit to Machu Picchu
From: Andean Air Mail & PERUVIAN TIMES
Peru’s Ministry of Tourism and Foreign Trade said Tuesday that a recent study supports more than doubling the number of visitors to Machu Picchu, the ancient Inca citadel perched on a mountain top in Cusco region.
Currently, the daily limit on tourists that can enter the Machu Picchu site is set at 2,200. According to state news agency Andina, the ministry’s study suggests the citadel can withstand 5,479 visitors a day. This would allow Machu Picchu, a World Heritage Site, to receive approximately 2 million tourists a year.
The study is in direct contrast to the opinion of UNESCO, read the rest of this story..
Winter Scenes in Southern New Zealand
30/07/2011I shot most of these images within the last few days, the panorama was shot this afternoon.
Images ©Mountain Spirit Institute
Early Morning Light on Lake Wakatipu Mountains
Early Morning Light Above Queenstown, NZ
AlpenGlow on Lake Wakatipu, NZ
Clouc over the Southern Remarkables, this afternoon.
Light touching the peaks east of Lake Wakatipu
Alpenglow on high peaks, South of Queenstown, NZ
Panorama from Kingston, NZ, taken this afternoon
Super Full Moon
18/07/2011
Nasa - Super Perigee Moon
March 16, 2011: Mark your calendar. On March 19th, a full Moon of rare size and beauty will rise in the east at sunset. It’s a super “perigee moon”–the biggest in almost 20 years.
“The last full Moon so big and close to Earth occurred in March of 1993,” says Geoff Chester of the US Naval Observatory in Washington DC. “I’d say it’s worth a look.”
Full Moons vary in size because of the oval shape of the Moon’s orbit. It is an ellipse with one side (perigee) about 50,000 km closer to Earth than the other (apogee): diagram. Nearby perigee moons are about 14% bigger and 30% brighter than lesser moons that occur on the apogee side of the Moon’s orbit. Read the rest of this story…
“Voluntourism”
04/07/2011Voluntourism Emerging as Fast Growing Niche for Outdoor Specialty Retailers
From: The Global Ripple
Clothes that can be worn a long time, not show dirt or stink, and be washed by hand: Rain gear. Sturdy, waterproof walking shoes suitable for mud. Duct tape. Bug repellent. Compact water filter. Headlamp. Pocket knife. Money pouch. Sun block. One-liter, reusable water bottle. Day pack…
These items could easily have been excerpted from a gear list provided by an outfitter, the National Outdoor Leadership School or a chapter of the Youth Conservation Corps, but they were not. They were found instead on gear lists published by — or on behalf of — the American Hiking Society (AHS), the Conservation Volunteers International Program (CVIP) and Wilderness Volunteers, which are among the growing number of non-profit conservation groups partnering with tour operators to fuel rapidly growing demand for voluntourism. Read the rest of this story..
Corn & The Advantage of Backwardness
02/07/2011Machu Picchu, Maize and the Advantage of Backwardness
June 30, 2011 by Andean Air Mail & PERUVIAN TIMES
By Nicholas Asheshov
Special for the Machu Picchu Centennial –
Maize
Machu Picchu and the Inca Empire were the creation of an import from Central America, maize, and a dramatic climate shift that turned the Andean highlands from inhospitable wet-and-cold to pleasant, as it is today, dry-and-warm.
For more than half a millenium before this shift the high Andes had been miserable. With the new dry-and-warm, starting around 1000 AD, a backwoods tribe, the Incas, put together the new climate and technology breakthroughs and by 1500AD had produced the world’s most go-ahead empire, heavily populated and larger, richer, healthier and better organized than Ming Dynasty China and the Ottoman Empire, its nearest contemporaries. Read the rest of this story…
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