Environment Topics

Democracy Now! stories, posts and pages that relate to Environment

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  • Salinas_web

    Ex-Leader of Bolivia Peasant Workers near San Cristóbal Mine Says Company Lied About Water Pollution, Demands Pay for Vast Water Usage

    The Regional Federation of Peasant Workers of the South Altiplano (FRUCTAS) is a grassroots organization of community members from Nor Lípez province of the central Potosí region of Bolivia. They are in the midst of a struggle against the Japanese trading giant Sumitomo Corporation, which owns the massive San Cristóbal mine. We speak with Francisco Quisbert Salinas, the ex-leader of FRUCTAS. [includes rush transcript]
    Apr 22, 2010 | Story
  • Barlow_web

    From Melting Glaciers to Structural Adjustment: Maude Barlow on the Need for Water Justice

    In the Andean highlands of South America, climate change isn’t just an abstract threat. In Bolivia, glaciers are melting at what experts say is an alarming rate as a result of rising global temperatures. We speak with Maude Barlow, head of the Council of Canadians, about the melting glaciers, climate change and water. [includes rush transcript]
    Apr 22, 2010 | Story
  • Mother_earth2_web

    Bolivia Climate Conference Moves to Establish Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth

    One of the key initiatives of the climate conference in Bolivia is to come out with a Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth. We speak with South African environmental lawyer Cormac Cullinan, the co-president of the Rights of Mother Earth Working Group at the summit. He arrived at the climate change conference with a draft Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth that formed the basis of the discussion. [includes rush transcript]
    Apr 22, 2010 | Story

  • "Cochabamba, the Water Wars and Climate Change." By Amy Goodman

    Thousands of climate justice activists have arrived here in Bolivia for the World Peoples’ Summit on Climate Change and Rights of Mother Earth. Bolivian President Evo Morales called for the gathering to give the poor and the Global South an opportunity to respond to the failed climate talks in Copenhagen. Ten years ago this month, the host city for the summit, Cochabamba, was at the center of an epic fight over the most vital of natural resources:...
    Apr 21, 2010 | Columns & Articles
  • Panflute_web

    Evo Morales Opens Climate Change Conference in Tiquipaya

    As the peoples’ climate change talks here move into their third day, thousands of participants from across Latin America and around the world are streaming into this small Bolivian town to discuss how to slow the impact of global warming. Anjali Kamat and Rick Rowley file this report on Tuesday’s opening ceremony. [includes rush transcript]
    Apr 21, 2010 | Story
  • Bassey_web

    "The Most Important Event in the Struggle Against Climate Change" - Nigerian Environmentalist Nnimmo Bassey on Bolivia Climate Conference

    Among those who spoke at the inauguration ceremony for the World Peoples’ Climate Conference was Nnimmo Bassey, the prominent Nigerian environmentalist and chair of Friends of the Earth International. By contrast, at the UN climate summit in Copenhagen in December, his group, along with several other mainstream environmental organizations, was barred from the talks. "Here you get a real sense that government wants to speak to people,"...
    Apr 21, 2010 | Story
  • Desousa2

    "The World Is Changing in a More Progressive Way, and It's Taking Place Here" - Boaventura de Sousa Santos on Bolivia Climate Summit

    Among the thousands of participants at the World Peoples’ Climate Conference in Cochabamba is Boaventura de Sousa Santos, an internationally respected scholar and one of the leading organizers of the World Social Forum. He is a professor of sociology at the University of Coimbra in Portugal and a distinguished legal scholar at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. [includes rush transcript]
    Apr 21, 2010 | Story
  • Navarro_web

    Why Is the US Cutting Off Climate Aid to the Poorest Country in South America? - Bolivian Climate Negotiator Angélica Navarro

    The Obama administration has confirmed it’s denying climate aid to at least two countries that refused to sign onto last year’s Copenhagen environmental accord. The State Department has canceled funding of $3 million to Bolivia and $2.5 million to Ecuador. The funding was canceled at a time when Bolivia is losing its glaciers and suffering mass drought due to climate change. Bolivia’s lead climate negotiator Angélica Navarro calls on...
    Apr 21, 2010 | Story
  • Indigenousgroup_web

    Bolivian Indigenous Activists Call for End to Polluting Extractive Industries Inside Bolivia

    As the World Peoples’ Summit on Climate Change gets underway in Tiquipaya, an estimated 700 indigenous activists are continuing their occupation of a mining firm in the southeastern Bolivian province of Potosi. The Qulla people have blocked access to a key railway line from the San Cristóbal silver-zinc-lead mine owned by Japan’s Sumitomo Corporation. They say Sumitomo is contaminating their land and water with mine waste. We speak...
    Apr 21, 2010 | Story
  • Lithiumweb

    As Protests Mount Against San Cristóbal Silver Mine, Bolivia Looks to Extract Massive Lithium Reserves, But at What Cost?

    We look at why Bolivian miners have staged a major protest at the San Cristóbal mine, one of the world’s largest silver mines. We speak to journalist Jean Friedman-Rudovsky about the protest and about lithium, one of the most important new energy sources. Bolivia’s lithium reserves are estimated to be the largest in the world. [includes rush transcript]
    Apr 20, 2010 | Story