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CURATED ECOLOGICAL NEWS Minerals protection racket for Ukraine, where before was aid
“Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday abruptly left the White House without signing a rare-earth-minerals deal following an Oval Office clash. In a tense scene, Trump and Vice President JD Vance criticized Zelenskyy in front of reporters. Vance argued that the Ukrainian leader didn’t express enough gratitude. Said Mump*, ‘ You’re not in a good position, you don’t have the cards right now’. Zelenskyy: ‘I’m not playing cards, I’m serious Mr. President’. “Mump* scuttled a deal that would allow the US access to Ukraine’s vast reserves of critical and rare earth minerals. If the deal is eventually signed, both parties will begin negotiations on how resources would be allocated. “A Reconstruction Investment Fund would be created — its aim to use revenues generated from Ukraine’s natural resources to reinvest back into Ukraine for reconstruction. Ukraine will contribute 50% of revenues from state-owned resources to the joint fund [in other words, ceding control of 50% or their own profits from their own minerals]. It is unclear where the remaining 50% will come from, and how much control the US will wield over the fund. “According to data from Ukraine’s Economy Ministry, the country holds deposits of 22 out of the 34 minerals classified as critical by the EU. Ukraine also holds reserves of rare earth elements (REEs), a group of 17 metallic minerals essential for high-tech applications in electronics, defence, aerospace and renewable energy, including lanthanum, cerium and neodymium. Ukraine accounts for 7% of the global production of titanium. Its lithium reserves are largely untapped and considered one of Europe’s largest, at an estimated 500,000 tonnes.” More at: * Mump regime — Musk plus Trump = Mu…mp. Exploited nations know a fascist when they see one
“The Mexican magazine Letras Libres made a blatant comparison between Donald Trump and Adolf Hitler on the cover of its October issue, superimposing blocky text reading “Fascista Americano” above Trump’s lip on a close-up photo.” More at: When the world’s breadbaskets fail
“The southern and eastern Ukraine regions have the most fertile black soils and have become the epicenter of Russia’s territorial ambitions. What were once vibrant agricultural landscapes are now war zones. Constant shellings, missile attacks and fires have caused widespread and severe damage to farmlands, which is fundamental to the country’s food security.
“This ‘black gold’ enabled Ukrainians to supply a significant share of the world’s food needs as well as its own population. Without vital demining efforts, these lands will be held hostage by explosive remnants of war. With a quarter of the world’s black soil, Ukraine plays a key role in the global food system, producing and exporting critical agricultural products such as grain, sunflower oil, rapeseed, corn and barley. Approximately 400 million people worldwide rely on Ukrainian food exports. “Russia’s ongoing military aggression has resulted in vast areas being abandoned, occupied or heavily mined, severely disrupting agricultural production. With up to five mines per square meter in some areas, Ukraine is now sadly the most heavily mined country, and the cost to clean up these war trash is expected to exceed $30 billion.” More at: Unique urban agriculture example in Netherlands
“Oosterwold is a 4,300 hectare (10,625 acre) urban experiment located east of Amsterdam, in a suburb of the city of Almere. It was established by local government and Oosterwold planners as a way of giving people more freedom – and responsibility – over the urban design process. “The area, which has about 5,000 residents and a growing waiting list, is completely self-sufficient. Residents must collaborate with others to figure out things such as waste management, roads, and even schools. But the local government has included one extremely unusual requirement: about half of each plot must be devoted to urban agriculture. “Residents can be quite creative. Oosterwold, which has about 1,000 residential units, is a sprawl of all sorts of gardens, from greenhouses to pastures surrounded by moats. Some, like de Kat, have turned their gardens into an Eden of sorts to provide for their own household unit. Other residents just plant a few apple trees or outsource by owning plots of land on site that are tended to by professional farmers. “A new centre called the Food Hub has now opened, devoted to collecting and processing food as well as knowledge sharing. The centre is run by the Almere local authority as well as the Oosterwold food cooperative.” More at: Indigenous wisdom episode #12: with Dilafruz Khonikboyeva
“This podcast is about bringing forward the perspectives of Indigenous communities as we reckon with the consequences of a global, industrial society built on growth, extraction, and colonialism. “Following another summer of record heat waves, droughts, floods, and wildfires, the injuries done to the planet by the Industrial Growth Society have never been so conclusive. All of the climate perturbations we have witnessed to date are from having raised the temperature of the atmosphere 1.25 degrees Celsius; while some projections show us reaching as high as 6 degrees Celsius in less than 80 years. “Dilafruz says, ‘It’s not the end of the world. Again, we’ve all seen the end of the world in different capacities, but it is an opportunity for us to right-size and figure out, ‘How are humans part of nature? How do we get back to a closer equilibrium?’ “Dilafruz Khonikboyeva, an Indigenous Pamiri from Tajikistan, is a transformational conflict expert, who has focused her work on civil wars, climate and resource conflicts, and storytelling. She is the inaugural Executive Director of the Home Planet Fund.” More at: COP16 biodiversity conference ends with mixed results
“At the COP16 UN Biodiversity Conference in Rome, countries have agreed to a strategy for ‘mobilising’ at least $200bn per year by 2030 to help developing countries conserve biodiversity. Nations also agreed for the first time to a ‘permanent arrangement’ for providing biodiversity finance to developing nations, ‘future-proofing’ the flow of funds past 2030. “Faced with a highly unstable geopolitical landscape and a previous set of talks that ended in disarray in Colombia, countries forged a path to consensus on a set of texts in what many nations celebrated as a win for multilateralism in uncertain times. “Following hours of tense discussions, delegates at the conference applauded when the deal was finally reached. COP16 President Susana Muhamad cried as she ended the meeting, calling it a ‘historic day’, The Guardian reported. ‘We achieved the adoption of the first global plan to finance the conservation of life on Earth’, Muhamad said. “But, amid celebrations, some countries cautioned that a vast amount of progress will be needed to have a chance of halting and reversing biodiversity loss in just five years. Some three-quarters of nations have still not submitted their UN biodiversity plans. More than half of nations that have submitted UN biodiversity plans do not commit to the GBF’s flagship target of protecting 30% of land and seas for nature by 2030.” More at: Oscar nominee: 1960s resource grab by a Congo coup d’etat
“Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat, directed by Johan Grimonprez, cut deep into the blood-and-rubber ties between Belgium and Congo, shining a light on the United Nations, jazz as a political agent, and the plot to assassinate Congo’s first democratically elected Prime Minister. “Patrice Lumumba, who helped lead Congo’s struggle from a Belgian colony into an independent republic, and became its first Prime Minister, was wildly popular — not just in Congo but in the entire African continent. However, the Pan-African movement that Lumumba personified was viewed with alarm by Western countries, worried about threat to their resources across the continent. He was quietly targeted for assassination. “Just two months after Congo’s independence, Lumumba was dismissed as prime minister and placed under house arrest. He briefly managed to flee but was captured again in December 1960. By this time, army colonel Mobutu Sese Seko had seized control of the country in a coup. “Lumumba was flown to Katanga by Belgian national carrier Sabena, and Belgian officers tortured Lumumba when he landed in Katanga. Just five hours after his arrival, he was executed by firing squad. “This was the moment right after many African countries gained independence and had just become part of the UN. Grimonprez says decolonisation triggered a flood of CIA interventions in Africa. ‘That moment in time is actually the ground zero of the West for the neocolonial grab of the resources in the African continent’ he says.” More at: Baked in the cake: can’t escape the the climate hot kitchen
“At COP27 in 2022, Sean Kidney of the Climate Bonds Initiative began his speech with, ‘We’ve lost the fight against climate change’. The audience shifts uncomfortably. His speech goes on to predict a significant breach of the 1.5C temperature target, the horrors that will bring, and the monstrous efforts adaptation will entail. “In 2022, these sentiments were still beyond the pale. But bit by bit, the question of ‘overshoot’ has crept its way into the mainstream. Now, early in 2025, it is already common to claim that the 1.5C target is already over. So, what does that mean? We breach 1.5C and, in optimistic scenarios with massive mitigation efforts, still end up around 2C. Even if we ‘limit’ overshoot, the chance of reducing temperatures in the future seems increasingly unlikely, according to new research. So whatever temperature we get to, we should expect to stay there for a long time, if not permanently. “All this promises a future of fires, floods and storms. Of endless droughts and inferno cities where outdoor labourers drop like flies. Where billions of work hours are lost to extreme heat and millions must migrate. Waterfronts drown and northern forest collapse into vast permafrost craters. A world where, in short, no amount of mitigation will preclude the need for radical adaptation. “This is the world we are stepping into. Neither a clean-cut apocalypse nor a successful avoidance of climate change. Adaptation is now a necessity, but for many will be simply impossible. Climate induced retreats, relocations, and abandonment are an inevitability. One might be tempted to call this future dystopic, yet when it comes to the full breath of possible climate scenarios, a modern world wracked by upheaval is by no means the worst it could be. “One conceptualisation of this new narrative is as a ‘Thrutopia’. This is the middle passage between utopia and dystopia. The hour is too late to avoid reaping the destruction we have sown, but neither is complex human civilisation beyond hope. Though Thrutopia it is useful framing, it can be misleading in one crucial way. The concept of Thrutopia has a great strength in helping us see beyond the binary in climate scenarios. It dispels the win-lose framing. A hotter, more unstable world is still one where cities will survive, nations could prosper, and the (even more) urgent work of emissions reduction must still take place.” More at: When planting trees, the “how” is crucial for survival
“Plant more trees. I hear that constantly. Yes, of course we need the trees. But planting trees is no longer the solution to the enormous level of emissions in our air. Nor is it simple to just plant a tree. “It is possible that trees have taken up around twenty percent of the global greenhouse gases. But now we are past the point where planting trees will stop our planet from warming. It takes thirty years for most trees to be large enough to take up enough carbon dioxide to make a difference. “There are reasons to reforest, to replant where trees grew in the past. A self-sustaining forest ecosystem includes not just a mix of trees but the understory of smaller trees, shrubs and groundcover plants, the animals, the soil and its biota, and all the dead matter lying on the forest floor. The more diversity, the more stability is possible in the face of the increasing chaos in our weather. Forests are naturally diverse, and this diversity of plant species brings an array of benefits. “Tree planting efforts have failed when there was not enough research done before planting. Planting numerous trees on already thriving meadows and grasslands may be a mistake. Planting trees on degraded agricultural land depends first on rehabilitating the land, often with the local grasses and wild herbs. “Many forest-related services put out long lists of information one must know before replanting. Rule number one is always plant trees in areas which were historically forested using native species, trees which will maximize biodiversity. Reconnecting fragmented forest areas with wildlife corridors is another priority. One must know the appropriate trees for the elevation, topography, soil type and those which will help prevent erosion. I have learned that water is most often the limiting factor when re-establishing trees.” More at: | 
