Apples and Googles Beware: A Labor Uprising Is Brewing In Inequality Valley

<div> <div> <div> <div> <div> <div> <h2>Apples and Googles Beware: A Labor Uprising Is Brewing In Inequality Valley</h2> <span>Apples and Googles Beware: A Labor Uprising Is Brewing In Inequality Valley</span> <div> <div>This article originally appeared on <span><a href="http://www.inthesetimes.com/" rel="nofollow">In These Times</a></span></div> </div> <a href="http://www.occupy.com/sites/default/files/field/image/86852732.jpg?itok=7QkU2STk" rel="nofollow"><img src="http://www.occupy.com/sites/default/files/styles/slide_narrow/public/field/image/86852732.jpg?itok=7QkU2STk" /></a> <div> <p>Gabriel Cárdenas, 27, works in the warehouses of Google Express—Google’s same-day and overnight online shopping and delivery service—loading and unloading trucks. The sometimes suffocatingly hot warehouse in Palo Alto, Calif., is a far cry from the beautifully appointed Google campus in nearby Mountain View, with its radiant cooling system.</p> <p>But Cárdenas doesn’t work for Google. He works for Adecco, a staffing company that provides contract labor to Google and other tech firms. He’s part of the teeming support workforce of janitors, bus drivers, food service workers, security guards and other low-paid workers who keep Silicon Valley running. Though they report to work every day alongside coders, developers and other mid-level staff, they are cut out of the famously high salaries and benefits of the tech elite. The wage differential is about much more than a difference in skill sets or qualifications. Relying on outside staffing firms saves tech companies money, as they don’t need to give sub-contracted workers access to the same benefits (such as health care and paid leave) that direct employees receive. Staffing agencies offer low bids and make workers pay the price in limited—or nonexistent—benefits.</p> <p>Employees of staffing companies are starting to revolt, however, ushering in what may be a new era of higher labor standards in the famous tech hub. These workers are organizing, voting for union membership and the power of collective bargaining, and publicly exposing their working conditions—namechecking the companies that contract their services—in the hopes of stirring up popular support. “Adecco” may not mean anything to the average consumer, but “Google” certainly does—and many Google customers care about corporate accountability. If workers succeed, they could have a huge influence on newer tech hubs like New York and Chicago.</p> <p><strong>Valley of Plenty, For a Few</strong></p> <p>Silicon Valley stretches across 1,854 square miles of former fruit trees and includes some of the most highly valued land—and companies—in the United States. Apple is worth $1 trillion; Google $383 billion; Facebook $250 billion. Tech professionals at such companies make a mean annual wage of $112,610, according to a 2014 survey by technology-career website Dice.com.</p> <p>Support workers say they want the slice they’ve earned of this highly profitable pie. Cárdenas got the idea to organize his coworkers during a fall 2014 sociology course at Evergreen Valley College in San Jose, where he is earning his associate degree. Describing labor confrontations with employers, instructor Frank Espinoza told Cárdenas, “When you go up against a Goliath like that, you’ve got to have a lot of Davids.”</p> <p>The message that workers have tremendous power in numbers had a profound influence on Cárdenas. He began talking to fellow Adecco employees at Google Express about whether they needed a union. There were numerous labor issues at the warehouse: a two-year limit on employment; dangerous working conditions, like cracked floors and damaged electrical systems; the stifling heat; low hourly wages of $13 to $14.</p> <p>Adecco responded to the rumblings in the workforce with a combination of pacification—ventilation was improved, Cárdenas says—and union-busting. Teamsters Vice President Rome Aloise tells In These Times that the company brought in Jackson Lewis, the notorious anti-union law firm, and used “every trick in the book to scare and intimidate the workers.”</p> <p>Cárdenas and Aloise say lawyers walked the floor and managers pulled workers aside or held lengthy “captive audience” meetings to preach the pitfalls of unionization. Ironically, Adecco also suspended Cárdenas for a day and a half on charges that he was bullying coworkers in the course of his labor organizing, which he denies. (Aloise tells In These Times that the Teamsters will be filing an NLRB complaint on behalf of Cárdenas, along with two employees who believe their firings were retaliatory.)</p> <p>Asked for comment on workers’ claims of labor problems and union-busting, an Adecco spokesperson said, “There have been a number of false claims made throughout this election process; we're not able to comment on active legal matters but objections were filed with the NLRB around the election process. … We will fully cooperate with the NLRB’s investigation and the upcoming hearing.” She added that the company is “supportive of any direction freely chosen by our associates” but “believe[s] that our associates are better off directly dealing with us as their employer rather than involving a union.”</p> <p>Apparently, workers didn’t share that belief. Adecco employees voted on August 21 to join the Teamsters, yet another milestone in what might be considered tech’s comeuppance—the moment when labor organizing spread like wildfire across Silicon Valley.</p> <p>The first major stirrings began in May 2014, when venerable civil rights organizer Jesse Jackson launched a campaign focusing on racial and class disparities in the Valley with a bang, rallying for better working conditions for security guards at the offices of semiconductor manufacturer Broadcom. In September 2014, security guards mobbed an Apple store to chant, “Apple, Apple, you’re no good, treat your workers like you should.” Unite Here protesters gathered at Intel's Santa Clara offices in November 2014 to hold the firm accountable for unfair treatment of food service workers employed by a catering company. In a December 2014 protest, Jackson led a crowd of security guards and food service workers—the majority of whom, like other contract workers, were people of color—in a rally at Apple’s Bay Area campus in an “Apple dodges taxes, we pay the price” chant.</p> <p>The Teamsters have seen four union victories in 2015: the warehouse workers at Google Express, waste disposal workers at Genentech, and workers at two transportation companies that collectively serve Apple, Genentech, Yahoo, eBay, Zynga, Evernote and Amtrak. These are the drivers of the infamous symbols of Silicon Valley’s burgeoning class war: the elite private buses from San Francisco and environs to Silicon Valley. (In recent years, the buses, which are exclusive to tech employees, have attracted considerable contro- versy over their use of city bus stops.) According to Aloise, the new contracts cover more than 200 drivers and guarantee wages of roughly $60,000 and affordable health insurance.</p> <p>In addition to the Teamsters and Unite Here, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) has begun organizing workers with the help of the South Bay AFL-CIO Labor Council. SEIU campaigns are underway at two of the largest Silicon Valley security staffing companies, Universal Protection Service and Security Industry Specialists.</p> <p>Norman Meeks is a Universal Protection Service guard who is working with SEIU to organize his coworkers. Guards, he says, make $10 to $12 an hour with no benefits, except an option to buy into an expensive health insurance plan. Like the other workers keeping Silicon Valley afloat, they earn these near-minimum wages while working in the third-most expensive location in the country.</p> <p><strong>A Tale of Two Valleys</strong></p> <p>Housing costs are shooting up in the Bay Area; San Jose’s rents, for example, rose 12 percent in 2014 alone. Even far-flung and once-affordable regions of the Bay Area, like Richmond and Walnut Creek, are growing too expensive for many working-class people. Plan Bay Area, a regional development plan, found that Silicon Valley janitors earn an average of $25,000 a year and spend more than half on housing and transit. Unionizing and negotiating for better pay, Aloise says, may enable some workers to afford to live in Silicon Valley and build lives in the communities where they work.</p> <p>Silicon Valley’s income gap also falls along stark racial lines, which is one reason Jesse Jackson has become involved in labor organizing there. Derecka Mehrens of community-labor coalition Working Partnerships USA describes the situation as one of “occupational segregation.”</p> <p>Black and Latino workers are heavily underrepresented among programmers and other top-paid tech personnel, and they’re heavily overrepresented on the flip side of the coin: that is, the people who drive these staffers to work, clean up after them, feed them in lavish corporate cafeterias, and keep them safe. White and Asian workers account for 21 percent of janitorial staff in Silicon Valley, but 91 percent of personnel at Google, according to statistics the company released in 2014—a good barometer for the industry as a whole, as many tech firms are reluctant to disclose diversity data.</p> <p>The tech industry defends itself by arguing that it needs to attract skilled coders. With an abundance of jobs to choose from, programmers are enticed by companies with the best packages, including famous perks like Google’s in-house massage therapists.</p> <p>But notably, the programming labor force is starting to grow, thanks to numerous tech training programs and the foreign workers brought in on H-1B visas (who are often under-paid and housed in cramped company quarters while they churn out code). Already, software engineers write the bulk of new code, while a large pool of programmers act more like assembly line workers, snapping together lines of pre-existing code. Wages in some sectors of software development are starting to fall as a result of a flooded labor market and a trend of hiring fresh, younger workers who cost less than their experienced counterparts. The infamous brogrammers of Silicon Valley, in other words, may want to consider whether they should be look- ing into union petitions of their own.</p> <p><strong>Real Employees, Please Stand Up</strong></p> <p>Seeing the writing on the wall, some high-profile tech companies are taking steps to improve standards for the workers they hire through staffing agencies. In May, perhaps feeling the heat from the Fight for 15 movement, Facebook announced that it would be mandating a $15 minimum wage and various benefits at contractors and vendors that perform “a substantial amount of work” for Facebook. Other companies are bringing formerly sub-contracted employees in-house, as Google did in October 2014 with its security services and Apple did in March 2015 with its security guards.</p> <p>But relying on tech firms to voluntarily promote better working conditions is unwise, says Derecka Mehrens of Working Partnerships USA. Once support workers are moved in-house, tech companies aren’t obliged to meet the terms of the union contracts negotiated with staffing firms, and it’s vanishingly rare for tech firms themselves to be unionized.</p> <p>Labor lawyer Moshe Marvit also notes that voluntary initiatives like Facebook’s don’t include an oversight mechanism. Indeed, Facebook has yet to give details on whether it has implemented its plan. Unions provide more surety; workers have a contract and a system for reporting violations and filing grievances.</p> <p>An NLRB ruling in late August may introduce such oversight mechanisms, whether tech firms like it or not. In Browning-Ferris, the NLRB clarified its standard for whether two companies constitute “joint employers.” Previously, staffing firms and their clients were only considered joint employers if clients exercised a degree of control over workers, such as requiring background checks or setting hours. Now, the NLRB says, if a client could theoretically exercise control—even if it doesn’t—it’s considered a joint employer.</p> <p>Marvit believes this ruling could have a huge impact on Silicon Valley. Now, companies cannot look the other way on wages and working conditions, and when subcontracted workers unionize, staffing agencies and the firms that use them both have to come to the bargaining table.</p> <p>As union campaigns proliferate, the warehouses, breakrooms and cleaning closets of Silicon Valley could be the breeding grounds for something larger. Silicon Valley is the standard-setter in one of the few booming sectors of the economy. The region is a test case for how profits are shared in the 21st century. Will a hugely lucrative industry distribute the wealth to the many who make its success possible, from star visionaries to janitors, or will it continue to concentrate its profits in the hands of the few?</p> <p><a href="http://inthesetimes.com/article/18367/silicon-valleys-labor-uprising" rel="nofollow">Originally published by In These Times</a></p> </div> </div> <div> <div> <div> <div> <div> <div> <div> <p>An indigenous community called the Ka'apor in northern Brazil is fighting to achieve what the government has long failed to do: halt illegal logging in their corner of the Amazon.</p> </div> </div> <div> <div> <p>Creative policies and innovative financing are helping cities overcome barriers to climate action – with huge returns on low-carbon investments already evident from Johannesburg to Copenhagen to Singapore.</p> </div> </div> <div> <div> <p>This is not merely a crisis of Greece, or a crisis of debt — it's a crisis in the structure of the eurozone itself, where national governments can't implement monetary policy to support their fiscal policies.</p> </div> </div> <div> <div> <p>The UC system has sold off its endowment and pension fund holdings in coal and oil sands companies, a $200-million move that officials said Wednesday was in response to both environmental concerns and rising financial risk in those industries.</p> </div> </div> </div> <div> <div> <div> <div><span><em>6 days 4 hours</em> ago</span></div> </div> <div> <div> <p>The U.K. government this week is once again inviting tyrants and human rights abusers to buy weapons and torture equipment – and facing a loud coalition of activists.</p> </div> <div><span><em>4 days 5 hours</em> ago</span></div> </div> <div> <div> <p>This week, give cars a well-deserved middle finger, talk Syria, and celebrate the Iran deal.</p> </div> <div><span><em>5 days 50 min</em> ago</span></div> </div> <div> <div> <p>Federal law enforcement officials will be routinely required to get a search warrant before using secretive and intrusive cellphone-tracking technology under a new DOJ policy announced last week.</p> </div> <div><span><em>6 days 4 hours</em> ago</span></div> </div> <div> <div> <p>Tell yourself it's easy to fix – and that you're not responsible for it. Then ask yourself these three questions.</p> </div> <div><span><em>6 days 4 hours</em> ago</span></div> </div> </div> </div> <div> <div> <div> <p>Despite his soaring rhetoric, the closer we get to the end of President Obama's presidency, the more obvious it is that a dangerous duality has ruled his policy circles – one favoring short-term interests over the very fate of the planet.</p> </div> </div> <div> <div> <p>This week, grab your bicycle and give cars a well-deserved middle finger in a worldwide initiative to cut emissions, get outside, move your ass and interact with your city and people.</p> </div> </div> <div> <div> <p>Braving cancelled trains, police truncheons and torrential rain, record numbers of refugees continued to struggle through Europe as the continent remained bitterly divided over how to respond to its biggest migration crisis since the second world war.</p> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div> <div><img src="http://www.occupy.com/article/apples-and-googles-beware-labor-uprising-brewing-inequality-valley" /></div> </div> <p>_{<i>-- Delivered by <a href="http://feed43.com/">Feed43</a> service</i>}</p>

armageddon news revolution Apples and Googles Beware: A Labor Uprising Is Brewing In Inequality Valley

Apples and Googles Beware: A Labor Uprising Is Brewing In Inequality Valley Apples and Googles Beware: A Labor Uprising Is Brewing In...

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The Amazon Tribe Protecting the Forest with Bows, Arrows, GPS and Camera Traps

<div> <div> <div> <div> <div> <div> <h2>The Amazon Tribe Protecting the Forest with Bows, Arrows, GPS and Camera Traps</h2> <span>The Amazon Tribe Protecting the Forest with Bows, Arrows, GPS and Camera Traps</span> <div> <div>This article originally appeared on <span><a href="http://www.guardiannews.com/" rel="nofollow">The Guardian</a></span></div> </div> <a href="http://www.occupy.com/sites/default/files/field/image/5760.jpg?itok=6nktEvxR" rel="nofollow"><img src="http://www.occupy.com/sites/default/files/styles/slide_narrow/public/field/image/5760.jpg?itok=6nktEvxR" /></a> <div> <p>With bows, arrows, GPS trackers and camera traps, an indigenous community in northern Brazil is fighting to achieve what the government has long failed to do: halt illegal logging in their corner of the Amazon.</p> <p>The Ka’apor – a tribe of about 2,200 people in Maranhão state – have organized a militia of “forest guardians” who follow a strategy of nature conservation through aggressive confrontation.</p> <p>Logging trucks and tractors that encroach upon their territory – the 530,000-hectare Alto Turiaçu Indigenous Land – are intercepted and burned. Drivers and chainsaw operators are warned never to return. Those that fail to heed the advice are stripped and beaten.</p> <p>It is dangerous work. Since the tribe decided to manage their own protection in 2011, they say the theft of timber has been reduced, but four Ka’apor have been murdered and more than a dozen others have received death threats.</p> <p>Now the Ka’apor are seeking support through NGOs and the media. Earlier this month, the Guardian was among a first group of foreign journalists and Greenpeace activists who were invited to see how they live and operate.</p> <p>Reaching their land was a long haul. After flying to São Luis, the capital of Maranhão state, it took more than eight hours to drive along a potholed highway flanked by cattle farms and palm plantations before turning off on to a bumpy dirt track through tracts of deforested land, until a dense thicket of jungle marked the limit of Ka’apor territory.</p> <p>The path was so close to the foliage here that branches constantly scratched and scraped the sides of our 4x4 until finally, just a few minutes before midnight, we emerged into a clearing bathed in moonlight.</p> <p>This was Jaxipuxirenda, one of eight former logging camps that have been taken over by the Ka’apor and settled by a handful of families so the timber thieves cannot return. It was very simple; six thatched roofs under which families slept in hammocks.</p> <p>Living in such outposts is a sacrifice. Longer-established villages have electricity, health centers, football pitches and satellite dishes. Jaxipuxirenda is bereft of such creature comforts.</p> <p>But it is a key part of a drive to regain territory, independence and respect – all of which have been steadily eroded by loggers for more than two decades. Alto Turiaçu, which covers an area equal to Delaware or three times that of Greater London, is a vulnerable and lucrative target. Although 8% has already been cleared, the indigenous land contains about half of the Amazon forest left in Maranhão state. This includes much sought-after trees, like ipê (Brazilian walnut), which can fetch almost £1,000 ($1,500) per cubic meter after processing and export.</p> <p>The Ka’apor asked the government to protect their borders, which were recognized in 1982. Last year, a federal court ordered the authorities to set up security posts. But nothing has been done, prompting the community to organize self-defence missions.</p> <p>In the morning, one of the forest guardians, Tidiun Ka’apor (who, like all of the leaders of the group, asked to have his name changed to avoid being targeted by loggers) explains what happens when they encounter loggers.</p> <p>“Sometimes, it’s like a film. They fight us with machetes, but we always drive them off,” he says. “We tell them, ‘We’re not like you. We don’t steal your cows so don’t steal our trees.”</p> <p>The main weapons used by the Ka’apor are bows and arrows and borduna – a heavy sword-shaped baton. One of the group also owns a rusty old rifle. Mostly though, they depend on greater numbers.</p> <p>Tidiun Ka’apor takes us to a charred truck and tractor that the group burned in a confrontation a little over a week earlier and uses the ashes to paint his face. “This gives us strength,” one of his associates says. The Ka’apor are thought to have set fire to about a dozen loggers’ vehicles. Further along the road, they build a pyre of planks seized inside their land, douse it with gasoline and then watch it burn.</p> <p>Another of the group’s leaders Miraté Ka’apor says the use of violence – which has resulted in some broken bones but no deaths among the loggers – is justified. “The loggers come here to steal from us. So, they deserve what they get. We have to make them feel our loss – the loss of our timber, the destruction of our forest.”</p> <p>Compared with the past, he said the missions were effective. “Our struggle is having results because the loggers respect us now.”</p> <p>But the loggers also appear to be responding with lethal force. On 26 April, a former chieftain, Eusébio Ka’apor was murdered by gunmen on his way back from a visit to his brother. Like most killings of indigenous people and environmental activists in Brazil, the crime has not been solved, but the dead man’s son has little doubt who is responsible and what they were trying to achieve.</p> <p>“He was a target because [the loggers] thought he was the main leader of the group,” said Iraun Ka’apor. “They thought the Ka’apor would stop if they killed him. But we will continue with our work of protection. I’m not afraid. This is my home, my land, my forest.”</p> <p>Ten days before we arrived, Iraun received a death threat and was told that the bullet that killed his father had been meant for him.</p> <p>The authorities in Maranhão – the poorest state in Brazil – warn the Ka’apor that although they are within their rights to protect their land, it is ultimately up to the state to resolve disputes over territory.</p> <p>“The involvement of the Ka’apor in the defence of their territory against the loggers should be understood as legitimate defence, since the action of the loggers puts their survival at risk,” said Alexandre Silva Saraiva, regional superintendent of the federal police. “But the presence of the state is the only way to diminish the agrarian conflicts and reduce homicides.”</p> <p>Inside Alto Turiaçu, people are skeptical that the police and government are willing to look after indigenous interests. Last year 70 Indians were murdered in Brazil, a 32% increase on 2013, according to the Missionary Indigenous Council. In many cases the killings were related to land disputes with loggers or ranchers. In their community gathering, many Ka’apor expressed the belief that the authorities were colluding in the sell-off of the forest.</p> <p>“We are very concerned,” Miraté says. “Even the local authorities are involved. They grant licenses to the sawmills and that encourages the loggers. The way the brancos [white or non-indigenous people] are organized also promotes death. They make a profit from this.”</p> <p>Government officials prefer to focus on the positives: the slowdown in Amazonian deforestation rates over the past 10 years (though in Maranhão’s case this is largely because there is so little forest left) and the progress made in bringing culprits to justice. This year, prosecutors in neighboring Pará state have broken up an illegal land-clearance ring and arrested corrupt officials in timber-laundering syndicates that supply fake certification to loggers. Elsewhere, satellite monitoring has helped to identify which landowners are tearing down or burning the most trees, though this approach is of less use when it comes to the steady degrading of the forests by invasive loggers.</p> <p>Pedro Leão, superintendent for Ibama (Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources) insists his agency is already combating the criminal organizations behind illegal logging and cautions that it is “extremely risky” for the Ka’apor to do the same. He said he hoped Ibama could make greater strides in the future by focusing on sawmills and possibly using GPS trackers.</p> <p>These are already areas where the Ka’apor are active. During this month’s visit, Greenpeace – which also helped the Guardian to reach the area – provided the community with 11 camera traps, 11 GPS trackers and two computers, worth a total of 20,000 reais (£3,480/$5,260).</p> <p>Marina Lacorte, a forest campaigner with Greenpeace Brazil, said the devices – which are usually used to capture wild animals on film – were intended to enhance the Ka’apor’s success in diminishing illegal logging. “With the cameras, we hope to prove that at a certain time and date in a certain place, the trucks arrived empty and left with timber. We hope the devices can produce more evidence to persuade the authorities to do something to stop the logging and the conflict and the murder.”</p> <p>For many conservationists, the significance of the Ka’apor’s actions goes beyond their particular case and puts them on the frontline of the battle against climate change. Brazil, like other Amazonian countries, has struggled to tackle deforestation partly because environmental authorities are constantly outnumbered and outgunned by loggers, ranchers and farmers.</p> <p>Ibama – the main agency dedicated to protecting the forest – has about 1,500 rangers to monitor the Brazilian Amazon, an area that is more than half the size of the US. Many of them have mixed feelings about land clearance. Some are even in the pay of loggers, as recent scandals have revealed.</p> <p>By contrast, indigenous groups like the Ka’apor have the incentive and the manpower on the ground to resist the decimation of their forests. For them, this is not just a job, but a matter of identity and survival. The benefits can be global. In a recent report, the World Resources Institute noted that when indigenous people have weak legal rights, their forests tend to become the source of carbon dioxide emissions, while those in a strong position are more likely to maintain or even improve their forests’ carbon storage. Underlining this, a research paper published last month in Science, notes that forest dwellers are the best defence against logging and land clearance.</p> <p>The danger is that such groups might become involved in a proxy war against emissions without the technology, the firepower or the legal authority to overcome more powerful opponents. But Miraté said the community would pick and choose how and when to get involved.</p> <p>“It’s not that we don’t understand technology. We can drive cars and motorbikes and we can use computers. But we want to do things our way, the Ka’apor way,” he said.</p> <p>The loggers are not the only threat to the tribe’s survival. Previous battles with the authorities and the spread of diseases brought in by outsiders reduced the population – which once stood at several thousand – to little more than 500 at the low point in 1982. The community has since rebounded – largely thanks to the recognition of its territory – and it continues to assert its cultural identity on a variety of fronts.</p> <p>While many other indigenous groups are plagued by alcoholism, the Ka’apor recently introduced a ban on consumption of beer and spirits (as well as visits by Christian evangelists and political campaigners). If a member violates the rule once, he gets a warning; twice, he must face a full meeting of the tribe; three times and he is sentenced to work in the nearby town. In their relations with the government, the tribe insisted last year on being represented by a member of their own community rather than a bureaucrat from Funai (the National Indian Foundation). They have also moved away from what they say is a Funai-led system of having a single village chief and instead reverted towards collective leadership.</p> <p>In education, they have ensured that their children are taught entirely in Ka’apor rather than Portuguese until the age of 10. Most creatively, they also recently codified their own calendar, which prioritizes planting, harvesting and mating seasons, as an alternative to the solar-based Gregorian system. While they occasionally shop for rice, the Ka’apor says they are largely self-sufficient with crops of manioc, bananas, pumpkin and watermelon. They also raise chickens, and hunt wild boar, deer, capybara and parrots – though only in certain seasons to ensure wild populations remain strong.</p> <p>But Miraté fears the authorities in Brasília are more concerned about the country’s non-indigenous population and the pressure of a global economy.</p> <p>“We believe that what the Brazilian government is doing now is wrong. They are following a policy to finish off the indigenous people,” he warns. But “we want to do things our own way, to respect our own culture. That’s the only way to survive.”</p> <p><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/sep/09/amazon-tribe-protecting-forest-bows-arrows-gps-camera-traps" rel="nofollow">Originally published by The Guardian</a></p> </div> </div> <div> <div> <div> <div> <div> <div> <div> <p>An indigenous community called the Ka'apor in northern Brazil is fighting to achieve what the government has long failed to do: halt illegal logging in their corner of the Amazon.</p> </div> </div> <div> <div> <p>Creative policies and innovative financing are helping cities overcome barriers to climate action – with huge returns on low-carbon investments already evident from Johannesburg to Copenhagen to Singapore.</p> </div> </div> <div> <div> <p>This is not merely a crisis of Greece, or a crisis of debt — it's a crisis in the structure of the eurozone itself, where national governments can't implement monetary policy to support their fiscal policies.</p> </div> </div> <div> <div> <p>The UC system has sold off its endowment and pension fund holdings in coal and oil sands companies, a $200-million move that officials said Wednesday was in response to both environmental concerns and rising financial risk in those industries.</p> </div> </div> </div> <div> <div> <div> <div><span><em>6 days 4 hours</em> ago</span></div> </div> <div> <div> <p>The U.K. government this week is once again inviting tyrants and human rights abusers to buy weapons and torture equipment – and facing a loud coalition of activists.</p> </div> <div><span><em>4 days 5 hours</em> ago</span></div> </div> <div> <div> <p>This week, give cars a well-deserved middle finger, talk Syria, and celebrate the Iran deal.</p> </div> <div><span><em>5 days 9 min</em> ago</span></div> </div> <div> <div> <p>Federal law enforcement officials will be routinely required to get a search warrant before using secretive and intrusive cellphone-tracking technology under a new DOJ policy announced last week.</p> </div> <div><span><em>6 days 4 hours</em> ago</span></div> </div> <div> <div> <p>Tell yourself it's easy to fix – and that you're not responsible for it. Then ask yourself these three questions.</p> </div> <div><span><em>6 days 4 hours</em> ago</span></div> </div> </div> </div> <div> <div> <div> <p>Federal law enforcement officials will be routinely required to get a search warrant before using secretive and intrusive cellphone-tracking technology under a new DOJ policy announced last week.</p> </div> </div> <div> <div> <p>Jeremy Corbyn’s fairer rent price policy, which puts controls on the cost of rent to prevent small businesses being priced out of the soaring market, is one of many incentives for entrepreneurs and small business owners to back him and his party.</p> </div> </div> <div> <div> <p>This week, give cars a well-deserved middle finger, talk Syria, and celebrate the Iran deal.</p> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div> <div><img src="http://www.occupy.com/article/amazon-tribe-protecting-forest-bows-arrows-gps-and-camera-traps" /></div> </div> <div>ShareThis Copy and Paste</div> <p>_{<i>-- Delivered by <a href="http://feed43.com/">Feed43</a> service</i>}</p>

armageddon news revolution The Amazon Tribe Protecting the Forest with Bows, Arrows, GPS and Camera Traps

The Amazon Tribe Protecting the Forest with Bows, Arrows, GPS and Camera Traps The Amazon Tribe Protecting the Forest with Bows, Arro...

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New Study Shows Low-Carbon Cities To Generate $17 Trillion By 2050

<div> <div> <div> <div> <div> <div> <h2>New Study Shows Low-Carbon Cities To Generate $17 Trillion By 2050</h2> <span>New Study Shows Low-Carbon Cities To Generate $17 Trillion By 2050</span> <div> <div>This article originally appeared on <span>GreenBiz</span></div> </div> <a href="http://www.occupy.com/sites/default/files/field/image/kostka.jpg?itok=BqAYZ-sh" rel="nofollow"><img src="http://www.occupy.com/sites/default/files/styles/slide_narrow/public/field/image/kostka.jpg?itok=BqAYZ-sh" /></a> <div> <p>The disparate efforts of cities around the world to take climate action were amplified on the international stage late last year when more than 2,000 municipalities around the world signed the Compact of Mayors, which focuses on scaling up climate resilience efforts, energy efficiency programs, resilient financing mechanisms and public carbon emissions reporting.</p> <p>Pursuing such low-carbon policies actually could have a hefty payback, according to <a href="http://2015.newclimateeconomy.report/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/NCE2015_workingpaper_cities_final_web.pdf" rel="nofollow">new research</a> from the New Climate Economy. Investing in public and low emission transportation, building efficiency and waste management in cities could generate savings with a current value of $17 trillion by 2050.</p> <p>These low-carbon investments also could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 3.7 gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalent (Gt CO2e) per year by 2030 — more than the current annual emissions of India.</p> <p><strong>To Reform a "Carbon Culprit"</strong></p> <p>Cities are the world’s largest carbon culprits: despite covering only 2 percent of the world’s land area, they account for a whopping 70 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to UN-HABITAT. More than half of the world’s population already lives in cities, which is fast approaching 60 percent by 2030.</p> <p>As many cities’ populations swell, sustainability and resilience challenges multiply — including energy, water and waste issues, along with rising economic inequality.</p> <p>Properly addressing these problems isn’t easy, or cheap. That’s why many cities have decided to get “smarter” by leveraging Big Data to make better use of limited resources, as well as forming public-private partnerships to unleash business innovation to solve public problems.</p> <p>In fact, businesses and cities are becoming “increasingly significant” actors in the fight against climate change and are set to contribute national-scale emissions cuts, said the United Nations.</p> <p><strong>How to Pay for Climate Action</strong></p> <p>Even with the promise of a future payoff for sustainability investments, many cities still may lack the upfront capital to cover initial costs. But creative policy instruments and innovative financing can help cities overcome barriers to action, the New Climate Economy report said.</p> <p>For every dollar invested in improving the creditworthiness of cities, for example, more than $100 can be leveraged through private finance for low-carbon urban infrastructure. And every $1 million invested in project preparation could yield $20 million to $50 million in capital support for successful projects.</p> <p>The report highlights how cities around the world already see economic returns from investments in transportation, building efficiency and waste.</p> <p><strong>Bus Rapid Transit in Johannesburg</strong></p> <p>For years, commuting between Soweto Township and the Central Business District of Johannesburg, South Africa, meant being stuffed in 16-person carbon-spewing minibus taxis, which rarely were on time. Recognizing the success of bus rapid transit systems pioneered in Curitiba, Brazil, and Bogotá, Colombia, Johannesburg decided to build the Rea Vaya, Africa’s first bus rapid transit system. The name means “we are going” in South African slang.</p> <p>BRTs are particularly attractive to cities in the global South due to the relatively low investment needs, which average around $10 million — less than half the cost of light rail transit or a tenth of metro rail transit.</p> <p>And there was a profound payoff for Johannesburg — the economic returns of Rea Vaya in its first phase were close to $900 million, the report said. The city paid for the project through a Green Bond.</p> <p><strong>Bicycle "Super Highways" in Copenhagen</strong></p> <p>Similar to bus rapid transit, cycling has multiple benefits for cities: It costs far less than motorized travel, both for the public and in terms of infrastructure investment needed.</p> <p>Recognizing this, the city of Copenhagen, Denmark is planning to build a series of “Cycle Super Highways,” which should generate significant healthcare savings from increased physical activity, reduced air pollution levels and reduced road fatalities. Cycling also is an equitable transport mode, the report noted, that can enhance mobility for the urban poor and increase interaction among nearly all groups.</p> <p>The highways are estimated to have an internal rate of return on investment of 19 percent annually.</p> <p><strong>"Green Mark" Buildings in Singapore</strong></p> <p>In skyscraper-studded Singapore, buildings are a huge source of carbon emissions and energy costs. To help reduce these environmental and economic impacts, the city-state launched a green building rating scheme called the “Green Mark” program. Developed by the Building and Construction Authority specifically for the tropics and sub-tropics, the program is intended to promote sustainability in the built environment and raise environmental awareness among stakeholders.</p> <p>Singapore’s “Green Mark” program aims to cover 80 percent of its buildings by 2030, and could see a reduction in building electricity use of 22 percent as well as a net economic savings of over $400 million.</p> <p><strong>Low-Carbon Policies Needed on a Global Scale</strong></p> <p>The report didn’t develop investment costs or energy savings for recycling, but research suggests that recycling in certain circumstances can generate net economic returns. Also, cities may be able to find economic savings by generating electricity from landfill gas, the report said.</p> <p>With complementary national policies such as support for low-carbon innovation, reduced fossil fuel subsidies and carbon pricing, the savings from low-carbon investments could be as high as $22 trillion, the report said. It recommends that the international community should develop an integrated package of $1 billion or more over five years to help accelerate and scale up low-carbon urban strategies in at least the world’s largest 500 cities.</p> <p>The alternative to investing in this low-carbon infrastructure is locking the world into a high-carbon path that scientists say will lead to catastrophic global environmental impacts.</p> <p>When it comes to investing in a sustainable and resilient future, cities have everything to gain, and everything to lose.</p> <p><a href="http://www.greenbiz.com/article/low-carbon-cities-are-17-trillion-opportunity" rel="nofollow">Originally published by Greenbiz</a></p> </div> </div> <div> <div> <div> <div> <div> <div> <div> <p>An indigenous community called the Ka'apor in northern Brazil is fighting to achieve what the government has long failed to do: halt illegal logging in their corner of the Amazon.</p> </div> </div> <div> <div> <p>Creative policies and innovative financing are helping cities overcome barriers to climate action – with huge returns on low-carbon investments already evident from Johannesburg to Copenhagen to Singapore.</p> </div> </div> <div> <div> <p>This is not merely a crisis of Greece, or a crisis of debt — it's a crisis in the structure of the eurozone itself, where national governments can't implement monetary policy to support their fiscal policies.</p> </div> </div> <div> <div> <p>The UC system has sold off its endowment and pension fund holdings in coal and oil sands companies, a $200-million move that officials said Wednesday was in response to both environmental concerns and rising financial risk in those industries.</p> </div> </div> </div> <div> <div> <div> <div><span><em>6 days 4 hours</em> ago</span></div> </div> <div> <div> <p>The U.K. government this week is once again inviting tyrants and human rights abusers to buy weapons and torture equipment – and facing a loud coalition of activists.</p> </div> <div><span><em>4 days 5 hours</em> ago</span></div> </div> <div> <div> <p>This week, give cars a well-deserved middle finger, talk Syria, and celebrate the Iran deal.</p> </div> <div><span><em>5 days 53 min</em> ago</span></div> </div> <div> <div> <p>Federal law enforcement officials will be routinely required to get a search warrant before using secretive and intrusive cellphone-tracking technology under a new DOJ policy announced last week.</p> </div> <div><span><em>6 days 4 hours</em> ago</span></div> </div> <div> <div> <p>Tell yourself it's easy to fix – and that you're not responsible for it. Then ask yourself these three questions.</p> </div> <div><span><em>6 days 4 hours</em> ago</span></div> </div> </div> </div> <div> <div> <div> <p>If it wasn’t clear before, it seems quite evident that the tide is turning: big biotech companies are losing influence by the day, and the addition of two more European countries banning GMOs is evidence of that.</p> </div> </div> <div> <div> <p>The settlement could play a role in whether a judge decides to move the trials for the six officers charged in Gray’s death out of Baltimore – a move their defense attorneys say is necessary if the officers are to receive a fair trial.</p> </div> </div> <div> <div> <p>Federal law enforcement officials will be routinely required to get a search warrant before using secretive and intrusive cellphone-tracking technology under a new DOJ policy announced last week.</p> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div> <div><img src="http://www.occupy.com/article/new-study-shows-low-carbon-cities-generate-17-trillion-2050" /></div> </div> <p>_{<i>-- Delivered by <a href="http://feed43.com/">Feed43</a> service</i>}</p>

armageddon news revolution New Study Shows Low-Carbon Cities To Generate $17 Trillion By 2050

New Study Shows Low-Carbon Cities To Generate $17 Trillion By 2050 New Study Shows Low-Carbon Cities To Generate $17 Trillion By 2050...

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Crisis As Opportunity: What is Germany’s Plan for Europe?

<div> <div> <div> <div> <div> <div> <h2>Crisis As Opportunity: What is Germany’s Plan for Europe?</h2> <span>Crisis As Opportunity: What is Germany’s Plan for Europe?</span> <a href="http://www.occupy.com/sites/default/files/field/image/screen-shot-2015-07-14-at-09.14.46.jpg?itok=U2PLDEeX" rel="nofollow"><img src="http://www.occupy.com/sites/default/files/styles/slide_narrow/public/field/image/screen-shot-2015-07-14-at-09.14.46.jpg?itok=U2PLDEeX" /></a> <div> <p>For anyone who has followed events in Greece and the eurozone over the past five years, it's no surprise to hear that Germany is not simply Europe’s largest economy, but also the most politically powerful nation on the continent. According to the publication <a href="http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/merkel-wants-to-reform-eu-with-more-powers-for-brussels-a-928988.html" rel="nofollow">Der Spiegel</a>, Germany has become “the undisputed dominant power in Europe.”</p> <p>From the outset of Europe’s debt crisis in 2010, it was Germany that largely defined the parameters of the debate, and made the major decisions about how to resolve it. For the Germans, the strategy, or "solution," has long been to use the crisis to their advantage, not to end it outright. As German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble <a href="http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/473f53da-0310-11e1-899a-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3eCRxDsKI" rel="nofollow">explained</a> back in 2011, “crises are also opportunities” that can allow Europe’s powerful nations and institutions to “get things done that we could not do without the crisis.”</p> <p>But what exactly are they trying to do? That answer lies in a broader understanding of the crisis itself. This is not merely a crisis of Greece, or a crisis of debt, but a crisis in the institutional structure – or architecture – of the eurozone itself. There exists a monetary union of 19 nations that use the euro as a single currency, managed by the European Central Bank (ECB), but there exists no fiscal counterpart.</p> <p>Monetary policy – with its focus on inflation, interest rates and exchange rates – has been taken out of the control of elected leaders and placed in the hands of unelected technocrats at the ECB’s headquarters in Frankfurt. Yet fiscal policy – the spending policies and priorities of national governments – has no parallel union or institutions. Thus, a structural conflict persists: national governments cannot implement or influence monetary policy to support their fiscal policies, while central bankers cannot act with the confidence that national governments will implement the "correct" fiscal policies that support their monetary policies. So the eurozone reflects a conflict between democracy on the one hand, and technocracy on the other.</p> <p>For Germany, the course of action was clear: what Europe needed was further integration under the supranational rule of unelected technocrats. As Finance Minister Schauble <a href="http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/2a205b88-2d41-11df-9c5b-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3e1tnmKaF" rel="nofollow">wrote</a> in 2010, “from Germany’s perspective, European integration, monetary union and the euro are the only choice.” But this means that a deeper union would have to be sought in the fiscal and political arenas. The financial and debt crises, <a href="http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/473f53da-0310-11e1-899a-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3eCRxDsKI" rel="nofollow">explained</a> Schauble, were effective in terms of providing the needed pressure upon individual member nations of the eurozone, forcing them to accept the necessity of a European “fiscal union.”</p> <p>In January of 2012, Chancellor Merkel <a href="http://www.euractiv.com/future-eu/merkel-vision-political-union-news-510395" rel="nofollow">laid out</a> her plan for Europe, explaining: “My vision is political union... In the course of a long process, we will transfer more powers to the [European] Commission, which will then work as a European government,” and ultimately give Europe’s unelected institutions “more control rights and give them more teeth.” For his part, Jean-Claude Juncker – the then-Prime Minister and former Finance Minister of Luxembourg, as well as the President of the Eurogroup of finance ministers (and current President of the European Commission) <a href="http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/more-teeth-for-brussels-plans-for-european-economic-government-gain-steam-a-680955.html" rel="nofollow">explained</a>, “We need a European economic government in the sense of strengthened coordination of economic policy within the euro zone.”</p> <p>In his final months as president of the European Central Bank in 2011, Jean-Claude Trichet <a href="http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/e0bd4e7a-8d15-11e0-815d-00144feab49a.html#axzz3ela2VCMX" rel="nofollow">suggested</a> that in the “union of tomorrow... would it be too bold, in the economic field, with a single market, a single currency and a single central bank, to envisage a ministry of finance of the union?” Indeed, such an idea has been endorsed by Wolfgang Schauble, who <a href="http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/finance-minister-schaeuble-euro-crisis-means-eu-structures-must-change-a-840640-2.html" rel="nofollow">explained</a> in an interview: “In an optimal scenario, there would be a European finance minister, who would have a veto against national budgets and would have to approve levels of new borrowing... Those who want a strong Europe,” he said, will “have to be willing to surrender decisions to Brussels.”</p> <p>In June of 2012, a report was prepared by Europe’s top technocrats outlining plans for the establishment of a fiscal union, outlined by Herman Van Rompuy (President of the European Council), José Manuel Barroso (President of the European Commission), Jean-Claude Juncker (President of the Eurogroup), and Mario Draghi (President of the ECB). Their plan <a href="http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/0da7179e-bee4-11e1-bebe-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3ela2VCMX" rel="nofollow">envisioned</a> a fiscal union in which Brussels would be given “more powers to serve like a finance ministry” for the eurozone as a whole.</p> <p>However, the process of deepening a fiscal and political union for Europe isn't seen as the end objective, but rather a means to an end. The end objective is much larger, and has to do with securing and strengthening Europe’s place as a central economic and political power in an increasingly globalized world. The catchword for this objective is “competitiveness.”</p> <p>As Angela Merkel said in a 2012 interview, “If Europe today accounts for just over 7 per cent of the world’s population, produces around 25 per cent of global GDP and has to finance 50 per cent of global social spending, then it’s obvious that it will have to work very hard to maintain its prosperity and way of life.” Merkel <a href="http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/8cc0f584-45fa-11e2-b7ba-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3kbsNtexV" rel="nofollow">explained</a> that the European model for social capitalism was no longer viable, because “other models have long since emerged: China, India, Japan, Brazil, and they will be joined by other countries that are working hard and proving to be innovative.”</p> <p>The idea strikes at the heart of Germany's and Europe’s place in the global economy. At the end of World War II, the United States had 5% of the world's population and owned roughly 50% of global wealth. In the post-War period, the U.S. rebuilt its wartime enemies, Germany and Japan, into powerful economic locomotives designed to be the engines of growth for their regions (Europe and East Asia) and to act as counterweights to the spread of Communism and the influence of the Soviet Union and China. The German and Japanese economies grew rapidly, so much so that they quickly became America’s chief economic competitors. But the system broke down in the late 1960s and early 1970s, culminating in the end of the Bretton Woods monetary order in 1971.</p> <p>Thus began a great period of monetary and financial instability, as well as transformation. This was the birth of the globalized era, marked by increased economic cooperation between the industrial powers of the world that were attempting to maintain their influence in the midst of profound geopolitical and economic changes.</p> <p>The number of new nations that formed and began to establish their own economies rapidly accelerated in the post-War period. By <a href="http://www.un.org/en/members/growth.shtml" rel="nofollow">UN measure</a>, in 1945 there were 51 members of the United Nations. By 1971 the number had risen to 132 member nations, and today there are 193. Similarly, when the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was established in the post-War era, it <a href="https://www.imf.org/external/np/sec/memdir/memdate.htm" rel="nofollow">began</a> with a membership of 29 nations. Its membership surged by almost 100 additional nations by the end of 1971, and stands at 188 nations today.</p> <p>In 1975, the rich industrial nations formed what would later be known as the Group of Seven (G-7), consisting of the United States, West Germany, Japan, France, the United Kingdom, Italy and Canada. At the start of the first Summit meeting in 1975 (from which Canada was excluded until the next meeting, in 1976), U.S. President Gerald Ford <a href="http://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v31/d122" rel="nofollow">told</a>other leaders that “in this meeting we have the opportunity to help shape the future of the world economy.”</p> <p>At that summit, German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt <a href="http://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v31/d123" rel="nofollow">laid out</a> his belief that many industries in the West would ultimately have to de-industrialize and fade away in the face of growing competition from cheaper markets elsewhere. He referred specifically to the textiles industry in Germany and other parts of the continent noting that “given the high level of wages in Europe, I cannot help but believe that in the long run textile industries here will have to vanish.” The problem, he said, was that “wages in East Asia are very low compared with ours,” and thus while Italy's and France’s high-fashion industries would likely survive, the German textile industry “will vanish in ten or twelve years... it will happen.”</p> <p>In the four decades since the first summit meeting of the G-7, the world has indeed changed in the face of globalization, particularly in regards to the rapid growth of the emerging market economies. The competition for a strong place in the global economy (and thus, for global political power) has become more dynamic and complex. Germany and Europe must compete not simply with the U.S. and Japan but with China, India, Brazil, South Africa, Turkey and others. While still a member of the G-7, Germany is also a member of the G20, one of the top shareholders in the IMF, and is the most influential nation in all of Europe’s major institutions. This gives the country a special role in shaping the future course of Europe.</p> <p>As Japanese Prime Minister Takeo Miki <a href="https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v31/d148" rel="nofollow">explained</a> at the 1976 summit meeting of the Group of Seven: “The GNPs [gross national products] of the countries represented here represent 60% of world GNP, and these countries account for one-half of all world trade.” As of 2015, however, the G-7 <a href="http://www.dw.com/en/the-b7-sales-pitch-for-the-g7/a-18466190" rel="nofollow">accounted for</a> roughly 46% of global GDP and only 35% of global trade. In 2013, according to data from the IMF, the combined GDP of the developing and emerging market economies <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/28/gdp-poor-countries_n_3830396.html" rel="nofollow">surpassed</a> that of the industrialized economies for the first time.</p> <p>In 2013, The Economist <a href="http://www.economist.com/news/special-report/21579144-germanys-vision-europe-all-about-making-continent-more-competitive-merkel" rel="nofollow">summed up</a> Germany's plan for Europe: “If the region is to prosper in competition with emerging countries, it cannot continue to be so generous.” The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, “wants to introduce more such [fiscal] rules to force Europe’s economies to become more competitive,” it stated. But these policies and priorities were to be defined by Europe’s strongest economy, so "in short, the rest of Europe needs to become more like Germany.”</p> <p>It is important to question, however, what exactly is a “competitive” economy in the globalized world? For Germany and Europe, it means that wages must go down, social services and worker protections must be increasingly dismantled, and markets must be increasingly deregulated and liberalized. It is, in effect, a race to the bottom as emerging economies like China and India engage in a race to the top. And for Germany, this also means that Europe must be increasingly united and centralized, for only as an integrated economy can Europe compete with the massive economic potential of nations like China.</p> <p>While this scenario may be the pragmatic reality of creating competitive economies in the globalized era, it also happens to be immensely threatening to the standard of living for Europeans – and emblematic of the way the market economy is held in much higher esteem, in our present society, than any notion of liberal democracy. Germany’s plan for Europe may make economic sense, to a degree. But it also marks a further transition into transnational, technocratic tyranny at the expense of democracy – where increased poverty, unemployment, social instability and economically depressive policies are the cost of Europe achieving a more "sustainable" and "competitive" position.</p> <p>In other words: If you want to know Germany’s plan for Europe, start by looking at Greece.</p> </div> </div> <div> <div> <div> <div> <div> <div> <div> <p>An indigenous community called the Ka'apor in northern Brazil is fighting to achieve what the government has long failed to do: halt illegal logging in their corner of the Amazon.</p> </div> </div> <div> <div> <p>Creative policies and innovative financing are helping cities overcome barriers to climate action – with huge returns on low-carbon investments already evident from Johannesburg to Copenhagen to Singapore.</p> </div> </div> <div> <div> <p>This is not merely a crisis of Greece, or a crisis of debt — it's a crisis in the structure of the eurozone itself, where national governments can't implement monetary policy to support their fiscal policies.</p> </div> </div> <div> <div> <p>The UC system has sold off its endowment and pension fund holdings in coal and oil sands companies, a $200-million move that officials said Wednesday was in response to both environmental concerns and rising financial risk in those industries.</p> </div> </div> </div> <div> <div> <div> <div><span><em>6 days 4 hours</em> ago</span></div> </div> <div> <div> <p>The U.K. government this week is once again inviting tyrants and human rights abusers to buy weapons and torture equipment – and facing a loud coalition of activists.</p> </div> <div><span><em>4 days 5 hours</em> ago</span></div> </div> <div> <div> <p>This week, give cars a well-deserved middle finger, talk Syria, and celebrate the Iran deal.</p> </div> <div><span><em>5 days 19 min</em> ago</span></div> </div> <div> <div> <p>Federal law enforcement officials will be routinely required to get a search warrant before using secretive and intrusive cellphone-tracking technology under a new DOJ policy announced last week.</p> </div> <div><span><em>6 days 4 hours</em> ago</span></div> </div> <div> <div> <p>Tell yourself it's easy to fix – and that you're not responsible for it. Then ask yourself these three questions.</p> </div> <div><span><em>6 days 4 hours</em> ago</span></div> </div> </div> </div> <div> <div> <div> <p>Federal law enforcement officials will be routinely required to get a search warrant before using secretive and intrusive cellphone-tracking technology under a new DOJ policy announced last week.</p> </div> </div> <div> <div> <p>"We need a government that is not captured by the tiniest fraction of the 1 percent."</p> </div> </div> <div> <div> <p>Tell yourself it's easy to fix – and that you're not responsible for it. Then ask yourself these three questions.</p> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div> <div><img src="http://www.occupy.com/article/crisis-opportunity-what-germany%E2%80%99s-plan-europe" /></div> </div> <div>ShareThis Copy and Paste</div> <p>_{<i>-- Delivered by <a href="http://feed43.com/">Feed43</a> service</i>}</p>

armageddon news revolution Crisis As Opportunity: What is Germany’s Plan for Europe?

Crisis As Opportunity: What is Germany’s Plan for Europe? Crisis As Opportunity: What is Germany’s Plan for Europe? For anyone who...

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America Is NOT The Only Nation In Need Of Repentance So STOP Proclaiming Judgments On America

<img alt="qirrd00z-copy" class="attachment-large wp-post-image" height="300" src="http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/qirrd00z-copy.jpg" width="400" /> <p style="float: right; margin: 0 0 10px 15px; width:240px; height: auto;"><img src="http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/qirrd00z-copy.jpg" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;" width="240" /></p> <div class="pf-content"> <p><strong>By Trevor</strong></p> <p><strong>I am tired of the so many self-loathing Christians in America who are ready for God to rain down judgement on America. So much have been made how America is an “evil nation” because “it abort babies daily,” have “enacted same-sex marriage” which was through a judicial decision. This alone demonstrates the ignorance of Americans who don’t understand how the law work. I am tired of images with flag desecrations and nukes bombing New York city. I am tired of all these false prophets of doom and gloom.</strong></p> <p><a href="http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/qirrd00z-copy.jpg"><img alt="qirrd00z-copy" class="aligncenter wp-image-85400" height="464" src="http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/qirrd00z-copy.jpg" width="619" /></a></p> <p>Its September 14th, the infamous Elul 29th has come and gone, that including a few blood-moons, and all what happened was that the stock market dipped a little. As it turns out, the blessings and the curses are not measured by the Dow Jones and the financial astrologists date-setting failed. Nothing happened to America. And while abortion and homosexual evils (an agenda forced by few) continue to try and destroy what is holy, the saints (and there are many) still fight back and the ancient struggles between the <em>sons of God</em> and the <em>sons of Belial</em> continues, as it was from New Testament times until the end, when the victory is Christ’s.</p> <p>Therefore, it is time we stop thinking how we are on the losing side and start thinking we are on the side of Victory In Christ!</p> <div id="attachment_85404" style="width: 636px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/statueOfLiberty_1399689c.jpg"><img alt="This is an American flag on a flagpole waving in the wind set against a blue sky. The top half of the Statue of Liberty is digitally composited onto the right side of the flag with the torch coming up in the blue sky. This is a digitally created image." class=" wp-image-85404" height="392" src="http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/statueOfLiberty_1399689c.jpg" width="626" /></a> <p class="wp-caption-text">The American flag is still waving in the wind set against a blue sky. The Statue of Liberty is there with the torch coming up in the blue sky. </p> </div> <p>Indeed, since the infamous <i>Roe v Wade</i> decision have legalize abortion in America, it would seem that society as whole have been put on a steep slope into decay.  Yet, some Christians act like abortion is a new fad that were popularized during the decision that was just mentioned. These forget that there is nothing new under the sun. Such practices is a fact of history since ancient Israel who were told by God, “You shall not give any of your offspring to offer them to Molech, nor shall you profane the name of your God; I am the Lord,” Leviticus <span class="aBn" tabindex="0" data-term="goog_1466449517"><span class="aQJ">18:21</span></span>, NASB.</p> <p>While pursuing this law, the common agreement is offering children to the idol of Molech included burning children to death, and other suggest it is also allegorical interpretation meant to be part of a purifying ceremony.  In either case, for God to make it clear that parents are not to offer children to idols and with a high penalty, it is no wonder the Lord have a special affection for children.</p> <p>We know the famous story of the Lord rebuking the disciples for rebuking the parents, “And they were bringing children to Him so that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant and said to them, “Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it <i>at all</i>.” And He took them in His arms and <i>began</i> blessing them, laying His hands on them,” Mark 10:13-16, NASB.</p> <p>America is <b>not</b> the only nation to abort babies daily.  In the screen shot below, the global maps that shows abortion by nations are demonstrated:</p> <div style="width: 810px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img alt="" height="480" src="http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/policy/abortion/worldab2.gif" width="800" /> <p class="wp-caption-text">Abortion percentage, worldwide–by subregion, where available, or by country, most recent data. (Note: region-level data is often incomplete.) Maps of percentage of Pregnancies Aborted Worldwide–by Country compiled by Wm. </p> </div> <p><img alt="" src="http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/policy/abortion/worldab1.gif" /></p> <div>Where are the condemnation for Russia or China which has the highest abortion rate than the United States?  Where are the condemnation for Europe?  Why is it always America that gets the brunt of condemnation while other nations skate by?  God is not impartial in His judgement, so by the logic of those ‘gloom-and-doom’ prophets who condemn America, the entire northern hemisphere of the world should be obliterated off the map of the world.</div> <div><img alt="" border="0" class="aligncenter" height="494" src="https://www.guttmacher.org/graphics/2012/01/17/AWW-table.gif" width="490" /></div> <div> <p>Next, the biggest criticism of same-sex recognition is deserving of God’s judgement on America.  Again, a look at the map shows that America is not alone in recognizing same-sex marriage.</p> <div class="article-text"> <div class="article-injected-body ng-scope"> <p><em><a href="http://blogs-images.forbes.com/niallmccarthy/files/2015/06/20150629_Gay_Marriage_Fo.jpg"><img alt="The Countries Where Gay Marriage Is Legal " class="wp-image-2470 aligncenter" height="625" src="http://blogs-images.forbes.com/niallmccarthy/files/2015/06/20150629_Gay_Marriage_Fo.jpg" width="876" /></a></em></p> <div> <p>In the screenshot, it shows that The Netherlands were the first to recognize (2000), so where is the condemnation of that nation?  Again, why is it <em>America alone</em> that deserve all of God’s fierce judgement?  Why not include the nation to the north, <em>Canada</em>, or <em>Western Europe</em>?  Again, by the same logic, God should obliterate the northern hemisphere of the world.</p> </div> <div> <p>Christians who are so eager for God to rain judgement are ignorant of God’s heart.  In their condemnation, they do not realize that God is ever merciful, for Peter say, “The Lord is not slack concerning <i>His</i> promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us,not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance,” 2 Peter 3:9.  Through the prophet Jeremiah, God said, “But let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I<i>am</i> the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,” says the Lord,” Jeremiah <span class="aBn" tabindex="0" data-term="goog_1466449518"><span class="aQJ">9:23</span></span>.</p> </div> <div> <p>In the comment section, there have been calls for God to send the flood to wipe out the West, literally asking God to destroy Christians along with the unrighteous, and not knowing that God <u><b>is not a covenant breaker</b></u>! To Noah, God established an unilateral covenant:</p> <blockquote> <p>“Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying, “Now behold, I Myself do establish My covenant with you, and with your descendants after you; and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you; of all that comes out of the ark, even every beast of the earth. I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood, neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth.”God said, “This is the sign of the covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all successive generations; I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth. It shall come about, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow will be seen in the cloud, and I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the cloud, then I will look upon it, to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” And God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth,” Genesais 9:8-17</p> </blockquote> </div> <div> <p>The last judge of Israel, Samuel, made this declaration, “Also the Glory of Israel will not lie or change His mind; for He is not a man that He should change His mind,” 1 Samuel <span class="aBn" tabindex="0" data-term="goog_1466449519"><span class="aQJ">15:29</span></span>.</p> </div> <div> <p>When God makes His covenant, it is eternally binding, and for some people to hope and pray that God would destroy the West to “put them out of their misery” is to demonstrate the true content of their own heart.  In this way, it is similar to the ending of Jonah’s story regarding the repentance and conversion of Nineveh.  From the final third chapter to the fourth chapter of Jonah:</p> </div> <blockquote> <div> <p>When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">calamity which He had declared</span> He <span style="text-decoration: underline;">would bring upon them</span>. And He did not do <i>it</i>. But it greatly displeased Jonah and he became angry. He prayed to the Lord and said, “Please Lord, was not this what I said while I was still in my <i>own</i> country? Therefore in order to forestall this I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious and <span style="text-decoration: underline;">compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness</span>, and one who relents concerning calamity. Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for death is better to me than life.” The Lord said, “Do you <span style="text-decoration: underline;">have good reason to be angry</span>?”Then Jonah went out from the city and sat east of it. There he made a shelter for himself and sat under it in the shade until he could see what would happen in the city.So the Lord God appointed a plant and it grew up over Jonah to be a shade over his head to deliver him from his discomfort. And Jonah was extremely happy about the plant. But God appointed a worm when dawn came the next day and it attacked the plant and it withered. When the sun came up God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on Jonah’s head so that he became faint and begged with <i>all</i> his soul to die, saying, “Death is better to me than life.”Then God said to Jonah, “Do you have good reason to be angry about the plant?” And he said, “I have good reason to be angry, even to death.” Then the Lord said, “You <span style="text-decoration: underline;">had compassion on the plant</span> for which you did not work and <i>which</i> you did not cause to grow, which came up overnight and perished overnight. Should <span style="text-decoration: underline;">I not have compassion on Nineveh</span>, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know <i>the difference</i> between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?” Jonah 3:10-4:1-11, NASB</p> </div> </blockquote> <div> <p>The dramatic response by Nineveh to Jonah’s preaching caused them to call for a fasting and repentance, in sincerity, and God clearly can see the hearts of the people better than an embittered prophet, to which the Lord demonstrated in the plant He sent for Jonah.</p> <p>Some will object there is a contradiction between the passage from Samuel and Jonah, to which the question need to be asked, why are you looking for contradiction?  Is it better to examine the wicked deed of your own heart and confess them before the Lord, or to seek for contradiction and rebuke the Lord?</p> </div> <div> <p>It’s better to ask, as the Psalm say, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way,” Psalm 139:23-24.</p> </div> <div> <p>Make no mistake, the day of reckoning is coming when every thoughts and hidden deeds will be exposed by the Lord, and it will be done on the Lord’s own time.</p> </div> <div> <p>Finally, to those who are seeking for a “secret” rapture to occur on <span class="aBn" tabindex="0" data-term="goog_1466449520"><span class="aQJ">September 23-24</span></span> based on a self-appointed prophetess and based on the notion that it would happen on the Day of Atonement, you are setting yourself up for a colossal disappointment.  It is incredulous that Christians, specifically those in America, have been taught there would be a rapture to snatch Christians out of the world before the Great Tribulation hit the shores of America.  Jesus has fulfilled the requirement of Atonement as prescribed in the Law of Moses (see Leviticus 16).  Equally incredulous are also those who have not learned from the failure of past claim of date when the Lord would return.  Here are the <a href="http://xn--source:http:-dma//www.livescience.com/7926-10-failed-doomsday-predictions.html">list</a> of the failed date of the Lord’s return:</p> </div> <div>1) The Prophet Hen of Leeds, 1806.</div> <div>2) The Millerities, April 23, 1843</div> <div>3) Mormon Armageddon, 1891</div> <div>4) Halley’s Comet, 1910</div> <div>5) Pat Robertson, 1982</div> <div>6) Heaven’s Gate, 1997</div> <div>7) Nostradamus, August 1999</div> <div>8) Y2K, January 1, 2000</div> <div>9) May 5, 2000</div> <div>10) God’s Church Ministry, Fall 2008</div> <div>11) Harold Camping, 2012</div> <div>Jesus made it quite clear that <u><b>nobody knows the exact hour or day of His return except the Father!</b></u> (Matthew 24:36, Mark <span class="aBn" tabindex="0" data-term="goog_1466449521"><span class="aQJ">13:32</span></span>).  Anytime someone make the claim to know the hour or the date, or even set possible time (while claiming they are not) RUN!</div> <div><a href="http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/jesus-christ-died-death-cross-eclipse-red-blood-moon-NASA-data-snapsheet-lunar-eclipse-Mark-Biltz-John-Hagee-FOUR-BLOOD-MOONS-23-september-2015-second-coming-prediction.jpg"><img alt="jesus-christ-died-death-cross-eclipse-red-blood-moon-NASA-data-snapsheet-lunar-eclipse-Mark-Biltz-John-Hagee-FOUR-BLOOD-MOONS-23-september-2015-second-coming-prediction" class="aligncenter wp-image-85402" height="548" src="http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/jesus-christ-died-death-cross-eclipse-red-blood-moon-NASA-data-snapsheet-lunar-eclipse-Mark-Biltz-John-Hagee-FOUR-BLOOD-MOONS-23-september-2015-second-coming-prediction.jpg" width="460" /></a></div> <div>It was John Darby who <a href="http://www.bible.ca/rapture.htm">invented</a> the idea of a pre tribulation rapture back in 1830.  From the ancient Church Fathers, it was taught that the Church as whole will endure the <em>Great Tribulation</em>, and here are selective readings by the Church Fathers:</div> <div> <blockquote> <h5><span class="s9">Didache (AD 100)</span> “then shall appear the world-deceiver as Son of God, and shall do signs and wonders, and the earth shall be delivered into his hands, …but they that endure in their faith shall be saved from under the curse itself. And then shall appear the signs of the truth; first, the sign of an out-spreading in heaven; then the sign of the sound of the trumpet; and the third, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the resurrection of the dead</span>; yet not of all, but as it is said: The Lord shall come and <span style="text-decoration: underline;">all His saints with Him</span>. Then shall the world see the Lord coming upon the clouds of heaven.” (Didache – Chapter 16)</h5> <h5><span class="s9">Justin Martyr (AD 100-168)</span> “O unreasoning men! understanding not what has been proved by all these passages, that two advents of Christ have been announced: the one, in which He is set forth as suffering, inglorious, dishonoured, and crucified; but the other, in which <span style="text-decoration: underline;">He shall come from heaven with glory</span>, when the man of apostasy, who speaks strange things against the Most High, shall venture to do unlawful deeds on the earth <span style="text-decoration: underline;">against us the Christians</span>, who, having learned the true worship of God from the law, and the word which went forth from Jerusalem by means of the apostles of Jesus, have <span style="text-decoration: underline;">fled for safety</span> to <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the God of Jacob</span> and <span style="text-decoration: underline;">God of Israel</span>;” (First Apology of Justin, Chapter 110)</h5> <h5><span class="s9">Irenaeus (AD 140-202)</span> “he who is to come shall slay three, and subject the remainder to his power, and that he shall be himself the eighth among them. And they shall <span style="text-decoration: underline;">lay Babylon waste</span>, and <span style="text-decoration: underline;">burn her with fire</span>, and shall give their kingdom to the beast, and put the Church to flight. After that they shall be destroyed by the coming of our Lord.” (Against Heresies V, XXVI, 1)</h5> <h5><span class="s9">Tertullian (AD 150-220)</span> “that the city of fornication may <span style="text-decoration: underline;">receive from the ten kings</span> its <span style="text-decoration: underline;">deserved doom</span>, Revelation xviii and that the beast Antichrist with his false prophet may wage war on the Church of God; (On the Resurrection of the Flesh, Chapter 25)</h5> <h5><span class="s9">Hippolytus (AD 160-240)</span> “That refers to the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">one thousand two hundred and threescore days</span> (the half of the week) during which the tyrant is to <span style="text-decoration: underline;">reign and persecute the Church</span>, which flees from city to city, and seeks concealment in the wilderness among the mountains,” (Treatise on Christ and Antichrist, 61)</h5> <h5><span class="s9">Cyprian (AD 200-258)</span> “For you ought to know and to believe, and hold it for certain, that the day of affliction has begun to hang over our heads, and the end of the world and the time of Antichrist to draw near, so that we must all stand prepared for the battle … “The time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service…” Nor let any one wonder that we are harassed with increasing afflictions, when the Lord before predicted that these things would happen in the last times,” (Epistles of Cyprian, LV, 1,2)<br /> Nor let any one of you, beloved brethren, be so terrified by the fear of future persecution, or the coming of the threatening Antichrist, as not to be found armed for all things by the evangelical exhortations and precepts, and by the heavenly warnings. Antichrist is coming… but immediately the Lord follows to avenge our sufferings and our wounds. (Epistles of Cyprian, LIII, p.722)</h5> <h5><span class="s9">Victorinus (AD 269-271)</span> “He shall cause also that a <span style="text-decoration: underline;">golden image of Antichrist</span> shall be placed in the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">temple at Jerusalem</span>, and that the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">apostate angel</span> should enter, and thence utter voices and oracles… The Lord, admonishing His churches concerning the last times and their dangers, … <span style="text-decoration: underline;">three years and six months</span>, in which with all his power the devil will avenge himself under <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Antichrist against the Church</span>.”   (Commentary on the Apocalypse, 20:1-3)</h5> </blockquote> </div> <div> <p>The idea that God would miraculously snatch out the Christians, especially by those in the West, is silly. The idea that Obama winning and Iran gaining nuclear armaments is doom for America and Israel is biblically baseless. Even the ancient fathers of the Church proclaimed that such judgments will be on biblical Babylon which the Bible clearly states is “Kedar” “Dedan” and Arabia and Isaiah clearly declared <a href="http://shoebat.com/2013/05/31/mystery-babylon-is-mecca-not-vatican/">will be carried by the beast of Iran</a>.</p> <p>As these great men of faith taught, the Church will continue to suffer till when Christ comes. The Christians in the Middle East are suffering daily, have fled for their lives, some have been forcibly converted to Islam, some have been beheaded for refusing to convert to Islam, women and children sold into sex slavery, and western nations are the one refusing to grant them entry to protect them!  Those Christians, whether they are Catholic, Orthodox, or Protestants, are the living epistle that Paul the apostle spoke of (2 Corinthians 3:2) and they put the Western Christians to shame for their faith.  Why didn’t God snatch those Christians from the Islamic menace before it happened?  Was God mistaken or was man mistaken?  If those Christians are suffering right now, then the Western Christians will suffer as well.</p> </div> <div> <p>Romans 5 put the pre tribulation rapture in the trash bin, for it is written:</p> <blockquote> <p>“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. <u>And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope;and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us</u>,” Romans 5:1-5.</p> </blockquote> </div> <div dir="ltr">We need to be eagerly looking for the Glorious Appearing of Our God and Savior, Jesus Christ (Titus<span class="aBn" tabindex="0" data-term="goog_1466449522"><span class="aQJ">2:13</span></span>), and for those who longingly await for the Appearing, there is a crown that await (2 Timothy 4:8).</div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <p>_{<i>-- Delivered by <a href="http://feed43.com/">Feed43</a> service</i>}</p>

anonymous armageddon isis islam war America Is NOT The Only Nation In Need Of Repentance So STOP Proclaiming Judgments On America

By Trevor I am tired of the so many self-loathing Christians in America who are ready for God to rain down judgement on America. So much...

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One Of The Most Thought Provoking Art Installations Seen At Burning Man This Year…

<p><a href="http://cdn9.trueactivist.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/burning1-728x400.jpg"><img alt="burning1-728x400" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-40402" height="400" src="http://cdn9.trueactivist.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/burning1-728x400.jpg" width="728" /></a></p> <p>The Burning Man Festival in Nevada has come to be known as a mecca for artist of all types, who come out to the desert once a year to express themselves in their own unique way. Thousands of dancers, painters, musicians and other creative people turned the desert into a massive art project for a week, and afterwards some of the most popular pieces were posted to social media and shared all over the world.</p> <p>One art installation in particular, captured the hearts of millions because it touched on a very deep concept that everyone could relate to. The piece was called LOVE, by Ukraine artist Alexandr Milov, and showed a wire frame of two adults sitting back to back, with their heads in their hands in disagreement with one another, while their inner children lit up inside of them reaching out to connect with the other person.</p> <p>The <a href="https://www.facebook.com/freeandequal/photos/a.10151488704213868.585115.45413563867/10154427224043868/?type=1&theater&__mref=message" target="_blank">Free And Equal Facebook</a> page was one of the first to share this piece before it went viral. They attached the following message to their post:</p> <blockquote readability="10.553752535497"> <p>One of the most powerful art pieces at <a data-ft="{"tn":"*N","type":104}" href="https://www.facebook.com/topic/Burning-Man/109240229101530?source=whr&story_id=419495591572709"><span>‪#‎</span><span>burningman‬</span></a> this year: the sculpture of two adults fighting, backs to one another…yet the inner child in them both just wants to connect and love one another. Age has so many beautiful gifts, but one that I could live without is the pride and resentment we hold onto when we are in conflict with others. The forgiving, open and free spirit of children IS OUR TRUE NATURE; and I know I’ll be remembering this next time I’m feeling stubborn.</p> </blockquote> <p>In many cases, art can show us concepts that are hard to put into words, and this piece is a prime example of how very deep ideas can be conveyed without speaking.</p> <p>h/t <a href="http://www.collective-evolution.com/2015/09/12/one-of-the-most-powerful-art-pieces-at-burning-man-this-year/" target="_blank">Collective Evolution</a></p> <hr /> <p><a href="https://www.facebook.com/jgvibes" target="_blank">John Vibes</a> writes for True Activist and is an author, researcher and investigative journalist who takes a special interest in the counter culture and the drug war.</p> <p>_{<i>-- Delivered by <a href="http://feed43.com/">Feed43</a> service</i>}</p>

activism knowledge news One Of The Most Thought Provoking Art Installations Seen At Burning Man This Year…

The Burning Man Festival in Nevada has come to be known as a mecca for artist of all types, who come out to the desert once a year to expre...

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