BBC World Service – Newshour, Greece and Turkey battle deadly fires

Evacuations are underway as fire fighters struggle to cope with the situation. People on the Greek island of Evia were forced to flee by boat as wildfire spread rapidly, destroying homes in its wake.

(Image: A woman carries clothes outside of a burnt house after a wildfire in the area of Varybobi, northeastern suburb of Athens, Greece, 04 August 2021. Credit EPA/Panagiotou)

Part 1 – African Food Crises and the Unraveling of the Global Food System – The Tigray Catastrophe | EV & N 400 | CCTV

http://ecoethics.net/2014-ENVRE120/20210808-EV&N-400-Link.html

https://www.cctvcambridge.org/node/795849

The unfolding tragedies of famine, warfare and migrant refugees in Tigray in recent months are dramatic. There are many reasons that contribute to the repeated syndromes reflected in these tragedies, but over the long-run and on a large scale these food crises underscore the historical failure of colonial extractive agriculture and the exploitative nature of current petro-dependent models or “modern” agriculture, largely promoted by billionaire agribusiness firms whose origin and focus upon profit is directed from outside the African continent.

See:

• Part 2 – African Food Crises and the Unraveling of the Global Food System – Extractive Agribusiness

See related:

• Jeffrey Sachs on why we need to tax billionaires
• Jeffrey Sachs’ speech at the UN Food Systems Pre-Summit (full speech)
• The “Green Revolution:” Its Essence, Achievements & Aftermath
• Some Troubling Chapters in The Political Ecology & History of West African Agriculture
• A New ‘Scramble for Africa:’ The Resistance to Corporate ‘Landgrabbing’ & the AGRA ‘Meta-Narrative’ – Part 6
• After the “Green Revolution” Who “Owns” Global Agriculture? The Fatal Mistake of Misplaced Metaphors in Our Globalized Agro-ecosystem – Part 7
• Reversing the AGRA “meta-narrative” about Africa and the ‘Green Revolution’ – A conversation…
• Failing Africa’s Farmers: An Impact Assessment of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, Timothy A. Wise
• Beyond the ‘Green Revolution:’ The Current Paradigm Shift in Global Agricultural Science
• Soils, Agriculture, Carbon Sequestration and Human Survival
• The mistake of petro-intensive agriculture
• “No Soil. No Growing Seasons. Just Add Water and Technology:” The Recent Evolution & Tragic Trajectory of the World Food System
• The Vulnerability of the Global Food System and the Strategies Needed for a Sustainable “Recovery”
  and
• Debt Imperialism in America & Africa: Some Historical Notes on the Rise & Fall of the American Empire on “Independence Day”- 4 July 2021 | # 397 | CCTV
  
  

Food-matters,

Trump’s ‘Attempted Coup’: Bombshell Evidence Reveals How Close Trump Came To Overthr owing Democracy

MSNBCAug 4, 2021
New evidence confirms Trump pressed the DOJ to overturn the 2020 election, prompting many to call his efforts a “coup attempt.” Emails show DOJ officials rejected their own colleague’s request to intervene in Georgia’s election certification, according to ABC News. MSNBC’s Chief Legal Correspondent Ari Melber breaks down the evidence revealing how deep this pressure went and what to expect as the investigation unfolds.

Steven Donziger, Lawyer Who Sued Chevron over Amazon Oil Spills, Marks 2 Years Under House Arrest

Democracy Now!Aug 6, 2021
Protests across the United States are calling for the immediate release of environmental and human rights lawyer Steven Donziger, who has been held under house arrest in New York for two years after being targeted by the oil giant Chevron. Donziger sued the oil giant in Ecuador on behalf of 30,000 Amazonian Indigenous people for dumping 16 billion gallons of oil into their ancestral lands. Ecuador’s Supreme Court ordered Chevron to pay $18 billion a decade ago, a major victory for the environment and corporate accountability. But Chevron refused to pay or clean up the land, and instead launched a legal attack targeting Donziger in the United States. A federal judge in July found Donziger guilty of six counts of criminal contempt of court after he refused to turn over his computer and cellphone. In an unusual legal twist, the judge appointed a private law firm with ties to Chevron to prosecute Donziger, after federal prosecutors declined to bring charges. “This is a broader threat to our society,” says Donziger. “We cannot allow in any rule-of-law country, or any country, private prosecutions run by corporations.”

Richard Trumka: Union Leaders Reflect on Death of AFL-CIO Head & Labor Movement Challenges Ahead

Democracy Now!Aug 6, 2021
Richard Trumka, the longtime president of the AFL-CIO and one of the most powerful labor leaders in the United States, has died of a heart attack at the age of 72. Trumka’s death has prompted an outpouring of tributes from fellow labor figures, activists and lawmakers, including President Joe Biden. Trumka was a third-generation coal miner from Pennsylvania who, at the age of 33, became the youngest president of the United Mine Workers of America. He continued climbing through the ranks of organized labor for the rest of his life, fighting campaigns against apartheid in South Africa, racism within the labor movement and anti-union rules across the United States. He was elected president of the AFL-CIO, the country’s largest labor federation, in 2009. “We were broken by the news,” says Arlene Holt Baker, former executive vice president for the AFL-CIO and friend of Trumka’s. “He’s the brother in our movement who fought in so many ways for what was right.” We also speak with veteran labor organizer José La Luz, who says Trumka’s main challenge was fighting the erosion of worker power. “What we have witnessed in the past few decades is a massive distribution of wealth from the bottom to the top,” says La Luz. “This remains a fundamental challenge for whoever is going to take up the mantle.”

Sugar: The Bitter Truth

University of California Television (UCTV)– Jul 30, 2009

(1:06 – Start of Presentation) Robert H. Lustig, MD, UCSF Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology, explores the damage caused by sugary foods. He argues that fructose (too much) and fiber (not enough) appear to be cornerstones of the obesity epidemic through their effects on insulin. Recorded on 05/26/2009. [7/2009] [Show ID: 16717]

Food-matters,

African Faith Leaders Call on Gates Foundation to Drop African Green Revolution

By Cecelia Heffron, IATP, Food Tank, August 4, 2021

On August 3, 2021, an alliance of African faith leaders delivered a powerful message to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: Stop promoting failing and harmful high-input Green Revolution programs, such as the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA).

At a virtual press conference, the Southern African Faith Communities’ Environment Institute (SAFCEI) released its public letter to the Gates Foundation, which it sent two months ago with 500 signatures from African faith and farming communities. They have received neither an acknowledgment nor a response from the Foundation.

“Faith leaders are witnessing the negative impact of industrialized farming to the land and in their communities and have come together in this letter to say to the Gates Foundation: please re-think your approach to farming in Africa,” says SAFCEI Executive Director Francesca de Gasparis. Farmers and faith leaders speaking at the press conference urged donors to shift their funding to more effective and sustainable approaches such as agroecology.

…(read more).

See related:

• African Food Crises and the Unraveling of the Global Food System – Part 1 – The Tigray Catastrophe
• The “Green Revolution:” Its Essence, Achievements & Aftermath
• Some Troubling Chapters in The Political Ecology & History of West African Agriculture

Food-matters,