How to See Palestine Whole

Louis Haghe after a drawing by David Roberts, “Gaza”(1839) lithograph, From The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt, & Nubia vol. 2, (1843) pl. 15; Royal Subscription edition (image courtesy Library of Congress Digital Collections)

To observe that images distort reality is nothing new. (John Berger and his collaborators reminded us of this in Ways of Seeing nearly 50 years ago.) What is more interesting and important is to see how and why this is done in European and, eventually, American images of Palestine.

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Illegal Gold Miners? Amazon Rainforest?

“A large part of the gold that’s commercialized in the world comes stained by blood and human rights abuses,” said Julián Bernardo González, vice president of sustainability for Continental Gold, a Canadian mining company with operations in Colombia that holds legal titles and pays taxes, unlike many smaller mining operations.

A map compiled by environmental group Amazon Geo-Referenced Socio-Environmental Information Network shows 2,312 illegal mining sites in 245 areas across six countries, which the group called an “epidemic.”

In Latin America, criminals see mining and trading precious metals as a lucrative growth business, carefully hidden from U.S. consumers who flaunt gold around their necks and fingers but have no idea where it comes from — or who gets hurt. The narcos know their market is strong: America’s addiction to the metal burns as insatiably as its craving for cocaine. NTR, for instance, was the subsidiary of a major U.S. gold refinery that supplied Apple and 67 other Fortune 500 companies, as well as Tiffany & Co., according to a Miami Herald analysis of corporate disclosures.

READ: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article194187699.html#storylink=cpy

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Power Struggle (the film)

David and Goliath battles always need to be documented so people understand the power they have to achieve a desired result even against ridiculous odds. POWER STRUGGLE documents the acts of ordinary people, many of them senior women, who brought down the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant by focusing their energies, intellects and actions in a unified way. Infuriating, deeply moving, and ultimately uplifting, POWER STRUGGLE provides an important record of what it takes to successfully battle a nuclear reactor into shutdown.” — Libbe HaLevy, Producer/Host, NUCLEAR HOTSEAT Democracy prevails when a nuclear engineer turned whistle-blower, a 93-year old grandmother, and a scrappy new governor join forces with a dedicated array of citizen activists to accomplish a rare grassroots environmental victory in closing an aging nuclear reactor in Vermont.

Filmed over five years, this 86-minute feature-length documentary chronicles the heated political battle to close the aging Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant, located on the banks of the Connecticut River in southern Vermont.

POWER STRUGGLE follows the unfolding drama as citizen activists and elected officials – alarmed at increasing safety violations—took on the federal government and one of the biggest nuclear power companies in America to call for closure of the reactor when its original 40-year license expires. The film captures perspectives on all sides of the controversy, including from local residents both for and against nuclear power, elected officials (including U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders and Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin), nuclear engineer Arnie Gundersen, a Vermont Yankee spokesperson, and federal nuclear regulators. 

A timely, inspiring story of democracy in action; about whether citizens’ voices will be heard against big moneyed interests, and what people are doing locally right now to make a difference for a sustainable energy future.

POWER STRUGGLE is also a warning about the toxic legacy of high-level radioactive waste that will remain at every nuclear power plant around the world indefinitely into the future.

Directed and produced by Robbie Leppzer and Turning Tide Productions based in Wendell, MA, in association with NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation). ​ Original music composed and performed by John Sheldon. Running Time: 86 minutes.
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Rebel Geeks - The Critical Engineers

We need more of these guys.

Nursery Rhymes

“Nursery Rhymes” by Goono

A brilliant and unexpectedly moving short from director Tom Noakes and writer-producer Will Goodfellow of Sydney-based studio Goono.

Fleeing Change: Relocating the Village of Newtok, Alaska

The Strange Sound of Happiness

At age 40, after years of drifting, Diego returns to Sicily, his dreams of becoming a musician dashed.
But then he discovers the mouth harp, which captivates him and propels him on a journey from the torrid coasts of Sicily to the frozen flatlands of Yakutia in Siberia, where he becomes part of a prophecy from a century ago.
The “sound of happiness” is at last there.

Byfusion machine + Plastic Bricks

and, when all is said and tried, and plastic ‘needs’ to be discarded send it to a ‘brick maker’.

Introducing Peter Lewis from Dunedin, New Zealand.

‘Peter Lewis spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to patent plastic blocks in August 2002, and millions since then to develop industrial scale equipment. The Byfusion machine required to make the bricks is manufactured in New Zealand and can be exported in shipping containers. Their mass production techniques are appropriate for many areas of the world, including turning the massive plastic garbage patches in the oceans into useful products. 

See Great Pacific Garbage Patch for details on the extent of the problem. ‘ excerpt from article Recycled Plastic Block Houses  (http://www.motherearthnews.com)

‘These rock-hard bricks could be used for garden retaining or landscaping walls, and had other potential uses including shock absorbers behind crash barriers’. Read Peter’s full story from the Otago times 2010 article – by clicking on the image below.

Harvey Lacey a Texan man who evolved Peter’s idea further over the last few years, first by enlisting Peter’s help, machines and knowledge set up his own operation based in Texas, USA.

ScienceCasts: The Sound of Earthsong