Favolaschia è un genere di fungo molto strano, infestante, originario dei tropici. Ma la globalizzazione l'ha portato anche nei nostri boschi! Questo sito non parla di funghi, ma favolaschia mi sembrava un nome significativo e evocativo di qualcosa di simile a quello che qui viene raccontato...

04 febbraio 2008

Here we go, again!

Green parenting how-to: part 1 - pregnancy and new baby (NOT a NEWS)
Becoming a parent is often the catalyst for becoming greener. Suddenly being aware that our children are going to be inhabiting a planet that we’ve helped to ruin could even turn our lives right around. Whether you’re already conscious of the environment, or if you’re new to green, join me for a journey through what it means to be a green parent, and how to be the very greenest parent that you can be.

Colombia, Costa Rica 'top ten' for environment
Colombia and Costa Rica are among the top ten nations in a ranking of excellence in environmental performance.

Brazil and Vatican Spar Over Reproductive Rights
BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil (WOMENSENEWS)--A government plan to dispense emergency contraception in the city of Recife, where Carnival festivities starting today are expected to be especially vibrant, have stirred the censure of Catholic authorities.
Recife's archbishop, Jose Cardoso Sobrinho, warned the faithful that those who use emergency contraception faced excommunication and vowed to seek action in the courts to block it.

Unicef
Imagine having an audience with some of the most powerful leaders on the planet, where you have the opportunity to tell them what you think about the future of our planet. This is exactly what happens at the J8 summit each year!

ARMAMENTI (mia segnalazione)
Il viaggio delle armi
Armsflow è una mappa interattiva che mostra i flussi di scambio internazionali di armi tra il 1950 e il 2006, e presenta i dati nazionali forniti dallo Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
http://www.armsflow.org/
http://www.armsflow.org/flow/country/Italy.2006 (scheda Italia)

C:
Chinese begin to protest censorship of Internet
In recent months, Chinese censors have tightened controls over the Internet, often blacking out sites that had no discernible political content. In the process, they have fostered a backlash, as many people who previously had little interest in politics have become active in resisting the controls. For the vast majority of Internet users, censorship still does not appear to be much of a factor. The most popular Web applications here are games and messaging services, and the most-visited Internet sites focus on everyday subjects like entertainment news and sports. Many, in fact, seem only vaguely aware that the Chinese Internet universe is carefully pruned, and even among those who know, a majority hardly seems to care. But growing numbers of others are becoming increasingly resentful of restrictions on a wide range of Web sites, including Flickr, YouTube, Wikipedia, MySpace (sometimes), Blogspot and many other sites that the public sees as sources of harmless diversion or information.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/02/04/asia/wall.php

African-American portraits and snapshots, 1900-1975
Photographer and blogger Raul Gutierrez says, "Square America has posted an online show titled African-American Portraits & Snapshots, a collection of 160 photographs taken between 1900 to 1975 (several home movies are also included)."
http://tbl.squareamerica.com/

African Project To Revive Depleted Soils
A five-year, $180 million project to revitalize the soils and agricultural sector of sub-Saharan Africa has been launched in Nairobi, Kenya. The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa's (AGRA) Soil Health Program will work with 4.1 million farmers to regenerate 6.3m hectares of farmland, which have been degraded by unsustainable farming practices in the last few decades.

Can BRT Encourage Bike Use?
Bogotá's flagship BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) project, the Transmilenio, Moves 1.3 million people a day through the city. The Transmilenio is the centerpiece of the urban revolution that has occurred in Bogotá, Colombia over the past several years.

Sentenced to death: Afghan who dared to read about women's rights
A young man, a student of journalism, is sentenced to death by an Islamic court for downloading a report from the internet. The sentence is then upheld by the country's rulers. This is Afghanistan ? not in Taliban times but six years after "liberation" and under the democratic rule of the West's ally Hamid Karzai. The fate of Sayed Pervez Kambaksh has led to domestic and international protests, and deepening concern about erosion of civil liberties in Afghanistan. He was accused of blasphemy after he downloaded a report from a Farsi website which stated that Muslim fundamentalists who claimed the Koran justified the oppression of women had misrepresented the views of the prophet Mohamed.

B:
NDJA WHAT?
By far the biggest African news story in months, the airwaves of
sub-Saharan Africa were full of chatter about a Coup d'etat sweeping
across Ndjamena. Ndja what? Ndjamena, capital of the central African
country Chad, has been under the authoritarian rule of Idris Déby .
Chadians have long been disillusioned with Mr Deby's failure to distribute
the country's oil wealth. Chad is listed by Transparency International as
among the most corrupt countries in the world. I have been to Chad and
would prefer to write about this.
http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=102323

PARKING THE US ARMY
Unable to kick the US army out of their town, the Berkeley city council
has decided to award the parking space in front of the military’s
recruiting outpost to anti-war activists. Right-wing pundits and even a
senator had commented on the controversy over the weekend.

AN INTERNET FOR THE ISOLATED
A new rather dark and angry book on “the way the Internet is reshaping our
thoughts about ourselves, other people and the world around us.” Siegel
sees the Internet as “the first social environment to serve the needs of
the isolated, elevated, asocial individual.”