On the Roof of Peru, Omens in the Ice

[Judi Lynn]

On the Roof of Peru, Omens in the Ice
Retreat of Once-Mighty Glacier Signals Water Crisis, Mirroring Worldwide Trend

By Doug Struck
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, July 29, 2006; Page A01

QUELCCAYA GLACIER, Peru -- In the thin, cold air here atop the Andes mountains, the blue ice that has claimed these peaks for thousands of years and loyally fed the streams below is now disappearing rapidly.

Mountain glaciers such as this are in retreat around the Earth, taking with them vast stores of water that grow crops, generate electricity and sustain cities and rural areas.

decades they have noticed a dramatic decrease in the amount of ice and snow on their mountaintops. The steady supply of water they need to grow crops has become erratic.

"There is less water now. If there is no water, this land becomes a desert," said Benedicto Loayza, a 52-year-old farmer, standing under pear trees fed by channels dug on the mountain centuries ago to collect runoff.
(snip/...)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/28/AR2006072801994.html

[opihimoimoi]

1. Natures revenge for all them roofs, roads, parking lots, highways

airports, swimming pools, Malls, housing projects, churches, schools, gubermint buildings, etc

We are covering the land with Human Shit...taking away grass, trees, and brush. We cut down Jungles, forests, and anything in our way.

Thus we add the worst thing...CO2 is ket loose in our atmosphere while we kill the CO2 eating plants///

Of course the weather gonna get hotter...we are so dumb and don't ...we are killing our Planet and the guys in charge are so dumb, they cannot even comprehend the consequences much less solve it.

[Robbien]

2. If the Amazon is going to be gone in a year as some say

Peru glaciers are in even more trouble. The Amazon forest is a sizeable hunk of land which has been a good link in the chain in keeping the planet a bit cooler and moister.

[opihimoimoi]

3. Exactly...Humanity is not learning fast enough: GLOBAL SUSTAINABILITY 247

Our World Leaders should be taught the skills of Peace and Sustaining a Healthy PLANET.

You would think?

[reprobate]

9. Sorry, but corporate CEOs can only absorb profitability knowledge.

Anything that limits profits is evil and to be opposed by all right thinking corporate shills.

[NMDemDist2]

11. not to mention the Amazon rain forest is a MAJOR oxygen producer

no oxygen = no life

[Solon]

13. Actually it should read...

Less oxygen = no HUMAN LIFE. Many animals, particularly cold blooded animals like reptiles and amphibians, in addition to fish and such will probably survive just fine in an enviroment of less oxygen, insects will thrive, as always, mammals and birds will suffer the biggest losses, though birds may be better adapted than mammals to deal with such a change. Smaller mammals, mostly rodents, are probably the ones most likely to survive.

[NMDemDist2]

14. true n/t

[pitohui]

12. like peru has so many roads?

how do you figure? i don't think peru is known for its great roads, abundant public parking, or well air-conditioned shopping malls

sounds to me like a case of the innocent being punished for something they didn't do and saw no benefit from

[opihimoimoi]

15. I'm Sorry....I wasn't speaking about Peru but the Whole world

Add up the millions of acres of roofs, buildings, highways...etc etc where grass trees, brush USED to grow....except for the desert areas...

1 % ?

2% ? for the land mass....

Would that be the % in CO2 increased?

add the tons of CO2 released by humans and we have a problem of too much CO2

[longship]

4. This is very worrisome.

Ice all over the planet is melting. There are probably no weather models which are able to predict what will happen next. This is a global effect which is happening everywhere, at nearly all latitudes.

Idiocy! When will it end?

We need a change. We need it now. We have to accomplish our goals for November.
There's no time left. We need the House and the Senate. We need them now.

[ixion]

6. When will it end?

when Mother Earth finally decides once and for all to send Humanity to Kingdom Come.

Because I don't think humans are smart enough, collectively speaking, to do something about it beforehand.

[ShockediSay]

5. Bushco says no scientific evidence.

[psychopomp]

8. Yup

[rodeodance]

7. "We're like firefighters. We only move when there is a fire,"

....Politicians find the scientists' broader warnings easy to ignore amid the more immediate water problems posed by burgeoning populations, increased agricultural development and contamination of water sources by mines. Some authorities acknowledge the looming crisis; others deny it.

At the local power company in Cuzco, "we are conscious that it will affect us a lot," said Mario Ortiz, a top director. But Ortiz acknowledged the company does not really know how much of its main source, the Vilcanota River, originates from glaciers. What would it mean in the dry season if the glacier is not there? Ortiz simply looks down at his desk and shakes his head.

"We're like firefighters. We only move when there is a fire," he said sadly.

[YankeyMCC]

10. This is the repuke approach to the world

spend spend spend...don't save for your future because that'll just slow down immediate growth...this is their approach to the economy and it's just a simptom of how they view the world...and unfortunately it's a view shared worldwide by opportunities and unscrupulous business people and forced on poorer people of the world in order for them to survive in the here and now...so like American's not saving money for the future the world is using up or "spending" existing natural resources.

[krkaufman]

16. "hoping it's a blip"

quote from the article...

"The historical data is not particularly useful in projecting anymore. We are hoping it's a blip."

Wouldn't it be nice.

[BeHereNow]

17. If you have not seen it, you MUST watch the Kogi Indian documentary-

They warned us of this back in the 1980's.

http://www.labyrinthina.com/kogi.htm
"8 years ago I saw an amazing video called "From the Heart of the World, The Elder Brothers Warning." It was about a unique indigenous community that lived in Northern Colombia who say they are keeping the world in balance. I was so impressed with these people because they are still living with the same spiritual values and traditions of their ancestors. But the ecological warning the Kogi shared touched a nerve and made me realize they may be right."

"The Mamas are worried that the "Younger Brother" has not heeded the first warning. If the Sierra Nevada or the Mother dies, the world will also die."

You can obtain a copy of the documentary by donating to the Kogi trust.
http://www.tairona.org

It is a MUST see documentary.

BHN

[ellie]

18. Thanks for the info.

I've just ordered the video. I found very little tangible info available on the Kogi tribe, and before your post had no idea of their existence. No doubt their message is strong which would exlain its degree of relevence in america.

[BeHereNow]

19. Ya got that straight sistah!

The video DISAPPEARED from America,
gee I wonder why...

I first stumbled across it in 1991 on a public broadcasting channel.
It haunted me for years.
I looked high and low for it but could not find it anywhere-
When I got hooked up to the Internet, I went on a search,
even though I could'nt recall the name of the tribe or the
documentary...I finally found it though and
I make EVERY person I know watch it.
Enjoy it and know your donation
is going to a really good cause.
BTW- Dyncorp recently sprayed the land they
were developing.
EVIL fuckers- all of the Bush KKKabal.
BHN

http://www.labyrinthina.com/kogi.htm
"Open letter to the pResident of the United States:
COLOMBIA -- About fumigations in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta.
 
I work for a French NGO , "Tchendukua" whose goal is to recuperate land for the Kogi Indians living in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in Colombia.
 
In 2000 we bought, La Luna, a land, with access to the sea, It was the first time since the Spanish invasion, the Kogis had a low land. They where so happy, full of hope.
 
At the end of June 2004, La Luna became an " Indigenous Reserve" , a protected area...
 
The Sierra is also one of the UNESCO's "Biosphere Reserves".
 
Fifteen days later, on July 17th, a plane from Dyncorp passed only once to fumigate La Luna. That was enough to provoke a complete disaster. Some days ago, I saw the rushes of a second movie we have made on the Kogis.
 
Now, La Luna is like some places in Asia after the tsunami... I could not believe it.
 
The Kogis took five years to regenerate the soil, now they will have to wait, at least, five more years to replant. Everything is contaminated and the streams are dry because there are no more trees to retain water. What are they going to eat? What are they going to drink? Where to go? Tchendukua's director in Santa Marta organized some time ago with the Kogis and the farmers around, the eradication of coca by hand. There was no coca in La Luna.
 
It is impossible that your sophisticated planes are unable to detect Indians villages.
 
In the movie there is a scene with a Kogi shaman sitting in front of his house, in the middle of the devastation. He is crying.
 
This image is unbearable and it will remain in my memory forever. Yes, Mr. Bush, an image can turn people really angry.
 
Remember the picture of Nick Ut showing a little girl naked, burned by US Napalm, running on a road in Vietnam. This image had an incredible impact in America.
 
Condolezza Rice wants Colombia to change its laws and spray in National Parks such as La Macarena, El Catatumbo, La Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, etc...
 
To achieve that dirty job, a new aerial base for fumigation planes will be build, $125 million US.
 
The fumigation of La Luna on July 17th 2004 was completely illegal.
 
In the Sierra, Kogis, Arsarios-Wiwas, Kankuamos and Arhuacos are starting to have health problems , especially children (see notes-page 14).
 
In Vietnam, after 45 years, Agent Orange is still active. The new poisoned cocktail is called Agent Green. If you take the ingredients one by one, it doesn't seem so dangerous. If you mix them, highly concentrated, it is a terrible weapon. The mixture is made with Monsanto Round Up Ultra, Cosmoflux 411F (illegal in the US), POEA and the fungus fusarium oxysporum EN-4.
 
Dr David Sands, an American scientist who made some researches on EN-4 admits (interview with the BBC-2000) that you can call it a Green Warfare or a Biological Warfare.
 
When you had a few cases of Anthrax in your country it was immediately called a terrorist biological attack...
 
The Dutch government donated 500.000 euros for the eradication of coca by hand in the Amazonas and the Sierra. A part of this donation is dedicated for substitution cultures and social development.
 
The Netherlands asked the parks director, Julia Miranda, to confirm whether the decision to fumigate on the protected aeras was definitive, because if it were so, "it could be motive to request the suspension of activities financed by his Embassy".
 
Mr. Bush, you and your government, you will be responsible for the genocide or ethnocide (see notes-page 10)) of the most ancient and sophisticated precolombian cultures in Colombia.
 
The proper name for this worthless so-called drugwar is BIOLOGICAL and CHEMICAL WARFARE.
 
Before writing this, I've asked to a Dr in Molecular Biology if I could use those words, the answer was yes.
 
Mr. Bush, will you dare to say that you are doing this "In the Name of God"?
 
Where are the courageous American scientists who helped to stop the fumigations with Agent Orange in Vietnam in 1971?
 
REQUIEM FOR THE SIERRA NEVADA DE SANTA MARTA... AND MANY OTHER PLACES!
 
Paquita
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