Unusual Global Eco-Alliances That You Should Know About!

Even though we are all citizens of the same world, it may not be so obvious to most of us of the ‘names’ of certain orgnizations that have coalesced together in recent years to tackle the problem of protecting our planet – specifically the continual global assault on our environmental resources and the health of all of its inhabitants. Call it “planetary justice” if you like, but behind the scenes these six organizations are transforming the way we live and look at this world as human beings whilst building a more sustainable greener planet. There is much to do to preserve just our own local communities and societal heritage here at home but we at Cherltons Green Guide cannot but help to give a high approbation to these wonderfully inspiring multi-dimensional, interdisciplinary “eco-global alliances”. They are as follows:

1. The Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves – http://www.cleancookstoves.org/ Being an American, I take for granted my quiet GE electric cooktop stove.  But did you know that 40% of the world’s population in parts of Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean still cook over open fires and on rudimentary cookstoves? – And they are using dung, brush, charcoal, and crop residues as their cooking fuel?  The shocking truth is that the smoke from these solid fuels causes a wide range of illnesses from respiratory infections to cardiovascular disease, from lung cancer to child pneumonia, from increased cataracts to low birth-weights.  Another words four million people die each year from household cooking smoke each year.  Hence, the goal of this organization is “to foster the adoption of clean cookstoves and fuels in 100 million households by 2020.

2. Eco Health Alliance – http://www.ecohealthalliance.org/ Being a Texan, I am all too familiar with the recent outbreaks of the West Nile virus being reported in the media in this part of the country, but did you know that 60-75% of emerging infectious diseases that affect humans originate in animals? And that two thirds of these animals are wild animals? Hence, the goal of this global, non-profit organization is to prevent the transmission of these EID’s (Emerging Infectious Diseases) from becoming pandemic. And at the same time, this organization is determined to protect the delicate ecosystems of endangered wildlife species as the link between these two goals is interrelated and can affect both human health as well as global biodiversity.

3. Global Climate Change Alliance – http://www.gcca.eu Living in Texas, I am very aware that 94% of the state is abnormally dry. But did you know that weird weather patterns are also adversely hitting the ‘Least Developed Countries’ (LDC’s) such as Cambodia, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Mozambique, Rwanda, Guyana, and the ‘Small Island Developing States’ such as the Solomon Islands, Seychelles, Maldives, and Jamaica? Even though these countries have contributed the least to green house gas emissions? Hence, the goal of this European Union-sponsored organization is to both provide informational exchange and technical and financial support to developing countries on ways to build and integrate a “climate-resilient low-carbon economy”, to incorporate “disaster risk reduction strategies” and to support investments in renewable energies and land resource protection and adaption programs.

4. Trusted Adventures Alliance – http://www.trustedadventures.com/about-us.php Being an experienced world traveler in search of unique one-of-a-kind travel adventures whose touring itineraries typically combine eco-sports such as hiking, biking, walking, rafting and kayaking with cultural anthropological immersions into traditional indigenous communities, I have found it best to partner up with tour operating companies that are internationally known for their responsible travel practices, exceptional guest services, and uncompromising quality. Such is the case with these nine independently operating travel companies –Austin-Lehman Adventures, Wildland Adventures, ROW Adventures, The Wayfarers, Myths and Mountains, American Safari Cruises, Western River Expeditions, Ciclismo Classico, and Great Alaska International Adventure Vacations – all of whom have joined together to “provide authentic, transformational travel experiences” for individuals, families, and groups with the aim of “preserving our planet and its cultural heritage”. To ensure sustainable travel experiences for the future and promote existing local economies, this organization has also been active in funding conservation programs, libraries, and “cleaner” motorized boats – again with the aim of protecting natural resources and world communal heritage throughout the Americas, Europe, Asia, Australia and Africa.

5. Global Human Ecodynamics Alliance – http://www.gheahome.org Being a cultural anthropologist myself by training, I am fascinated by the field of “Human Ecodynamics” which looks at “the past and present global interactions of humans and the natural world, using fields of inquiry and methods of investigation from anthropology, archaeology, sociology, geosciences, climatology, biological sciences, art, history, and political science.” Hence the goal of this organization is to foster – “working groups” – interested researchers from an array of backgrounds and studies who voluntarily collaborate with each other around a particular project and a common purpose – the biological and sociological interactions of humans and their ecosystems over space and time. Two such collective examples of these working groups now under discussion are: 1) “the issue of coastal erosion as it affects human communities past and present” and 2) “global climate change and the attendant serious threats to the global archaeological record”.

6. Global Green Grants Fund – http://www.greengrants.org/ Like most Americans, I do my bit everyday in giving to charities that support animal rights and promote land and ocean conservation efforts right here in the USA – but this association of “changemakers” does a great deal more! It is a public charity that funds eco-related projects primarily in the developing world and emerging economies – projects that address “toxic contamination, destruction of natural resources, disappearance of water, food, and work and displacement from traditional lands”. Their mission in essence is “to mobilize resources for global environmental sustainability and social justice” and since 1993 they have been doing just that – making nearly 6,000 grants to youth groups, tribal councils, and non-governmental organizations who are in need of basic educational resources and infrastructure and “green” leadership.

25 Years Since Chernobyl: Europe’s Radioactive Wild Boars, Reindeer, Mushrooms, Lichen, & Truffles to Name Just a Few

On the evening of April 26,1989 at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant located in the Republic of the Ukraine, a devastating accident occurred – the equivalent in toxicity of 400 Hiroshima bombs. Radioactive isotopes, plutonium, strontium-90, iodine-131 and caesium-137, were suddenly released into the air from the melt down of Reactor Number Four. Carried by the winds and deposited by spring rains, much of the caesium-137 travelled westward over southern Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria, and onto southern Germany and northward to the upper reaches of Scandinavia and across to the north-western sheep farming regions of the United Kingdom.

And today, 25 years later – radioactive levels are still at a high in these particular regions of Europe’s wild plant and game reserves. Today thousands of wild boars shot by Bavarian hunters are still excessively radioactive – unfit for human consumption – only to be thrown by the wayside and set fire to in the hopes of reducing radioactive contamination elsewhere in the forests for wild boars feed on mushroom and truffles which concentrate radioactivity.

And in the Lapland regions of Norway, Sweden, and Finland, the indigenous Sami people have had to cope with contaminated reindeer meat as well – for reindeer eat lichen which is very sensitive to radioactivity – storing it like a sponge – much the way truffles and mushrooms do. And in parts of Wales, hundreds of Welsh farmers are still living with rigorous safety test restrictions on their sheep herds who graze on radioactive soil. Indeed, there are estimates that it will take a 100 years before the total radioactive levels in the whole of Europe go down to pre-catastrophic levels.

In the meantime, there are certain natural foods and flavorings that do help detoxify radioactive build-up in the human body – in addition to iodine and spirulina supplements – the best foods are seaweed, kelp, miso, brown rice, garlic, ginger, onions, broccoli, beets, olive oil, green and black tea, rosemary, leafy greens, apples, citrus fruits, pumpkins, alfalfa sprouts and bee pollen.

As for our favorite pets, studies have shown that aloe vera reduces radiation sickness in animals and is an effective topical treatment for animal radiation burns.

But for now, the verdict is still out regarding the long-term effects of radiation exposure on humans and animals – indeed the focus for the next few years will be developing new types of technology that will be able to quickly assess the amount of radiation thousands of sufferers will have contracted after a radiological disaster. For no two radiation victims are exactly alike.