Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Photo NASA Earth Observatory ~ Athabasca (Alberta) Oil Sands growth 1984 to 2011




The Beaver Lake Cree, a small, impoverished band of 900 people in eastern Alberta, are suing the Canadian federal and Alberta provincial governments to protect the land. They claim that Alberta's tar sands developments are obliterating their traditional hunting and fishing lands in Alberta. The animals, fish, plants and medicine that sustain the Beaver Lake Cree are being destroyed. In Canada, the rights of Indigenous people are constitutionally protected. The Beaver Lake Cree’s Statement of Claim cites more than 17,000 infringements on their treaty rights and in the course of doing so names every major oil company in the world.
Investment in the bituminous sands in northern Alberta – the world’s last great oil field – totals approximately $200 billion. No assessment of the cumulative environmental or cultural damage has been done. It has been argued that this project – unhindered – will destroy a large part of the great boreal forest of North America, will escalate global warming, and will destroy an indigenous way of life. The Alberta government continues to approve projects, such that production of dirty oil will increase from the current 1.3 million barrels per day to 3 million barrels per day.

Already vast expanses of the boreal forest have been cut down – causing significant damage to the environment and to the earth’s well-being. The forest is home to a long list of animals, from black bears, caribou, marten, moose. As the forest is eroded to make way for open mines and in-situ mines, the ‘great lung’ of North America with its rich carbon-storing peat and soil, is disappearing. In its place, rapid growth of carbon emissions threatens to increase the earth’s temperature. Meanwhile, oil sands extraction pollutes the earth with its tailings ponds, pollutes the air with its emissions, and pollutes the water using two to four barrels of water to produce just one barrel of bitumen and creating vast lakes of chemicals that leach into local watersheds.




Thursday, December 15, 2011

Peace Video Tour of the University For Peace, Universidad para la Paz Costa Rica





Video Tour ~ headquartered in Costa Rica, the United Nations-mandated University for Peace was established in December 1980 as a Treaty Organization by the UN General Assembly. As determined in the Charter of the University, the mission of the University for Peace is: “to provide humanity with an international institution of higher education for peace with the aim of promoting among all human beings the spirit of understanding, tolerance and peaceful coexistence, to stimulate cooperation among peoples and to help lessen obstacles and threats to world peace and progress, in keeping with the noble aspirations proclaimed in the Charter of the United Nations.” Video explaining charter click here

To ensure academic freedom, the University was established under its own Charter, approved by the General Assembly. UPEACE is not subject to UN regulations and is directed by its own Council of renowned personalities with expertise in peace and security matters. This has allowed the University to move rapidly and to innovate, focusing its new, rigorous academic programme on the fundamental causes of conflict through a multidisciplinary, multicultural-oriented approach.

The wider mission of the University should be seen in the context of the worldwide peace and security objectives of the United Nations. The central importance of education, training and research in all their aspects to build the foundations of peace and progress and to reduce the prejudice and hatred on which violence, conflict and terrorism are based is increasingly recognized. The Charter of the University calls for UPEACE “to contribute to the great universal task of educating for peace by engaging in teaching, research, post-graduate training and dissemination of knowledge fundamental to the full development of the human person and societies through the interdisciplinary study of all matters related to peace”.

Funding of UPEACE programmes comes from the support of a number of donor governments, foundations and institutions who believe in the mission of the University. Fundraising for an endowment fund is in progress.

The vision of UPEACE is to become a network of collaborating UPEACE centres and activities in different regions, guided from its headquarters in Costa Rica and cooperating with a large number of universities, NGOs and other partners on education and research for peace.



Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Video "Standing on Sacred Ground"






Films and Videos and Blog of photos, behind-the-scenes videos from our shoots and field reports from Producer/Director Christopher (Toby) McLeod. Learn about the peoples of these remarkable places and the battles they are fighting to preserve their lands, waters and ancient ways of life.

After thousands of hours of filming and editing, our final four-part documentary series is emerging, as has a new title that more powerfully reflects the message of the films. In changing the series title from Losing Sacred Ground to Standing on Sacred Ground, we honor the growing international community of sacred site protection advocates, through whom renewed reverence is emerging for sacred landscapes all over the Earth.

Our working title, Losing Sacred Ground, conveyed real urgency, but as we work on the stories, what has come to the forefront is not fear and loss, but determined resistance rooted in sacred places. It is a message of hope and healing. We think this new title conveys the incredible commitment and creativity demonstrated by indigenous communities and their supporters around the world.




To learn more about our work pleae check out our  2011 annual report, and a wonderful letter of support from Bill McKibben. And if you would like to join our community of sacred land defenders, please make a tax-deductible year-end donation to help us complete the series and meet our deadline of releasing the film series in 2012. Thanks again for your support!

A 2005 report by the World Wide Fund for Nature and the Alliance of Religions and Conservation, titled “Beyond Belief,” concluded: “Sacred sites are the oldest method of habitat protection on the planet.” Yet these biological and cultural treasures are under assault — as are the people who have been safeguarding them for millennia. Building on the success of our award-winning PBS documentary, the Sacred Land Film Project (SLFP) is producing a four-part film series for public television titled Standing on Sacred Ground. The series will expose corporate and environmental assaults on indigenous peoples’ sacred landscapes and promote strategies to protect the ecological integrity of these endangered places.

The film will tell eight distinct stories from the viewpoints of diverse indigenous communities — stories that evoke ancient and contemporary spiritual connections to earth, while exploring how the health of our global environment can be sustained through respectful understanding of the sacred lands and traditions of these native peoples.

In making Standing on Sacred Ground, SLFP has filmed cultural landscapes on five continents: the Altai Republic of Russia, Aboriginal Australia, the Andes of Peru, the Rift Valley in Ethiopia, Papua New Guinea, native lands in northern California, the sacred Hawaiian island of Kahoʻolawe, and the oil sand rich boreal forest of Canada.

Now in its fourth year of production, editing is fully underway and the series will be completed in 2012. These documentaries would not be possible without the unique relationships and trust built over decades by the Sacred Land Film Project with native people around the world.







Sunday, December 4, 2011

Music Videos of Golden Age for Peruano Rock : Peru's Retro Classic Rock Music Stars (1950's, 60's 70's)




Videos of retro classic rock music stars of Peru's Golden Age of Rock. Nuevos videos, fotos y artículos sobre la época de oro del rock Peruano.

Video of Rock Peruano (Rollos)

Images - Imagenes
Gallery of images for the Peruvian rock groups of the major epoque of the 60's and 70s.
Estas son galerías de imágenes de los grupos más destacados de la mejor epoca del rock peruano: la década de los 60s y comienzos de los 70s. Este blog debe tomarse como un anexo complementario del blog principal.


Principle blog site for Peruano Rock 1957 - 1972
Words from the blogger Heduardo in San Bartolo, Lima, Peru. Hola, este es un blog dedicado al rock peruano desde el año 1957 hasta mediados de los años setenta. Inicialmente este blog tenía su soporte en los archivos musicales (mp3) que me había tomado el trabajo de subir a IMEEM, en base a los cuales había elaborado Play List de muchos grupos peruanos de los sesentas y comienzos de los setentas. La idea era escribir lo menos posible y compartir con ustedes lo más importante de esos grupos, su música. Como muchos saben, My Space compró IMEEM para luego liquidarlo y todos los mp3 que yo había subido se fueron al diablo. Este fue un trauma para mi, del cual hasta hoy me cuesta recuperarme, pues el sitio que tenía en IMEEM ya había interesado a muchos jóvenes y recibía muchas visitas. Ahora me he propuesto subir todos esos archivos musicales a You Tube para luego ponerlos aquí.

Habrán notado que la intención de este blog es tener buenos anexos de textos (escritos por los que saben), imágenes y ahora videos con la música que estoy subiendo a You Tube. Aparentemente el blog no tiene nuevas entradas pero debo decirles que constantemente lo estoy actualizando con nuevos videos, fotos y artículos sobre la época de oro del rock peruano. Todo lo que encuentro lo subo aquí.

Veo con alegría que otros blogs sobre la primera etapa de nuestro rock están apareciendo, muchos de ellos hechos por jóvenes como ustedes. Esa es la máxima recompensa que puede recibir un tío viejo en años pero mentalmente joven como ustedes. Esta es la música que escucharon sus padres, por lo tanto esta música está en el ADN de ustedes, los hijos. Esta Historia es tu Historia. Estamos en contacto.

Videos Saicos Forever
Just click and watch, self explanatory.




Friday, December 2, 2011

Film Trailer ~ Crazy Wisdom - Documentary on Chogyam Trungpa the brilliant bad boy of Tibetan Buddhism. Dharma is trusting who you are.


"Dharma is trusting who you are."
"Enlightenment is better than Disneyland,"

Film Trailer ~ Crazy Wisdom I really enjoyed seeing this film. When I met the director of the film, Johanna Demetrakas, she told me that Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche spent that last few years of his life living in an isolated place in Nova Scotia. As it turns out it was the village of my ancestors, and he left the planet on my birthday. Life is an interesting dance of connectivity.

Arriving in the U.S. in 1970 Chogyam Trungpa said to his students: "Take me to your poets."

Buddhism permeates popular culture worldwide - we speak casually of good parking karma. Samsara is a perfume, Nirvana and is a rock band. A recent survey by Germany's Der Spiegel revealed that Germans like the Dalai Lama more than their native-born Pope Benedict XVI; the biggest Buddhist monastery outside of Asia is in France, and Tibetan Buddhism is doubling its numbers faster than any other religion in Australia and the U.S.A. How did this happen?

Crazy Wisdom explores this through the story of Chogyam Trungpa, the brilliant "bad boy of Buddhism," who was pivotal in bringing Tibetan Buddhism to the West. Trungpa shattered our preconceived notions about how an enlightened teacher should behave. Born in Tibet, recognized as an exceptional reincarnate lama and trained in the rigorous monastic tradition, Trungpa fled his homeland during the Chinese Communist invasion. In Britain, realizing a cultural gap prevented his students from any deep understanding of Buddhism, he renounced his vows, eloped with a sixteen year-old, and lived as a westerner. In the U.S., he openly drank alcohol and had intimate relations with students. Was this crazy wisdom?

Trungpa landed in the U.S. in 1970 and legend has it that he said to his students: "Take me to your poets."

He drew a following of the country's prominent avant-garde artists, spiritual teachers, and intellectuals - including R.D. Laing, John Cage, Ram Dass, Pema Chodron and Allen Ginsberg considered Trungpa his guru; Catholic priest Thomas Merton wanted to write a book with him; music icon Joni Mitchell wrote a song about him. Trungpa became renowned for translating ancient Buddhist concepts into language and ideas that Westerners could understand. Humor was always a part of his teaching - "Enlightenment is better than Disneyland," he quipped, and he warned of the dangers of the "Western spiritual supermarket." Trungpa's work contributed to a radical cultural shift that brought Tibetan Buddhism to hungry Western audiences, disillusioned with the violence and materialism in their own world. How did Americans, dedicated to the relentless pursuit of success, come to embrace the philosophy of a teacher who taught them to meditate for hours at a time without expecting anything in return?

Initially judged harshly by the Tibetan establishment, Trungpa's teachings are now recognized by western philosophers and spiritual leaders, including the Dalai Lama, as authentic and profound. Today, twenty years after his death, Trungpa's books have been translated into thirty-one languages and sell worldwide in millions.  His organization thrives in thirty countries and five continents. Yet Trungpa's name still evokes admiration and outrage. What made him tick, and just what is crazy wisdom anyway?

Director Johanna Demetrakas uses archival footage, animation, interviews, and original imagery to build a film that mirrors Trungpa's challenging energy and invites viewers to go beyond fixed ideas about our teachers and leaders. With unprecedented access to Trungpa's inner circle and exclusive never-before-seen archival material, Crazy Wisdom looks at the man and the myths about him, and attempts to set the record straight.