4591-ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? | View Thread

The low boreal forest that spans the border between Alaska and Canada is the home of the Gwich’in people. There are some 6,000 Gwich’in, hunting and raising their children in villages at the edge of the Arctic Circle. They’ve been there for thousands of years, following the caribou, which provide a majority of their diet, even today.

Bernadette Demientieff, executive director of the Gwich’in steering committee, fears that the herd, and the culture that depends on them, will not survive if oil drilling is allowed on caribou calving grounds.

Since the early 1990s, big oil companies have pushed to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling and today the industry is closer than ever to achieving that goal. In some ways, this struggle to protect ANWR is similar to the fight over the Dakota Access Pipeline at Standing Rock, but with arguably higher stakes. If companies extract oil from the Refuge it could devastate the Gwich’in people, Demientieff said.

Anote’s Ark

If you type “Kiribati” into Google Maps, it takes a while and requires multiple zooms to find it. That exercise is somewhat symbolic because the tiny Pacific island is literally trying to keep itself on the map. Rising sea levels are quickly drowning the home to almost 115,000 people.

Anote’s Ark follows Kiribati’s former president, Anote Tong, and his frantic attempt to save the land for his people. A perfect example of how poorer nations are more likely to feel the brunt of climate change and extreme weather, the film effectively illustrates the heartbreak of losing one’s home to the ocean — as well as the staggering challenge of relocating an entire country’s population.

While the film is a powerful portrayal of how climate change is impacting communities right now, its various storylines don’t quite connect. The documentary also leaves viewers fairly hopeless — which is true of most films dealing with climate change. But for us at Grist, we’re all about holding out hope.

The Human Element

Tangier Island, off the coast of Virginia, is drowning amid rising sea levels. A school in Denver caters exclusively to students with health issues, specifically asthma caused by air pollution. These are two of the examples of how climate change is already impacting Americans that form the theme of James Balog’s (Chasing Ice) latest work, The Human Element.

Balog uses the four elements — air, earth, fire, and water — to frame how we look at the impact of humans on our climate. In addition to the plight of Tangier and the air pollution in the Mile High city, he follows forest firefighters in California and takes a trip back to the coal mines in Pennsylvania that killed his grandfather.

The dramatic realities of climate change are, well, very scary and honestly depressing. And The Human Element does an excellent job making that abundantly clear. It grounds our understanding of warming in real-world, close-to-home examples that don’t sugarcoat the present or the future. Sure it relies on some heavy-handed scare tactics; but upon reflection, that might be exactly what we need to get our asses into gear.

Brothers of Climbing

“If you don’t see any black people or any people of color climbing, you’re not going to think you can do it,” Brothers of Climbing cofounder Mikhail Martin says in this seven-minute minidoc. The organization seeks to reach underrepresented groups and inspire them to take up outdoor activities, starting with climbing.

The short film, presented by REI Co-op, traces the history of the organization, which started with a group of black friends at a New York City gym — not exactly climbing country. It follows the Brothers of Climbing’s trip to the mountains of Chattanooga, Tennessee, where they encounter disbelief from others that they are actually rock climbers.

The film is pretty inspiring, and it’s on YouTube, so you don’t even have to travel all the way to Telluride.

Silas

Silas Siakor is one of those people whose accomplishments, numerous accolades, and genuine humanity makes you feel like you’ve accomplished absolutely nothing in your life. An activist first and foremost, Silas fights relentlessly to hold the government of Liberia accountable for decades of corruption and environmental destruction. The West African country was once rich with forests, but international companies have demolished one-third of its timber for palm oil plantations, grabbing land from far-flung communities with the blessings of Liberian officials.

The film offers a genuine tale of human strength and resilience in a country still recovering from a 25-year civil war. Its intimate scenes of vulnerability leave the viewer invested in Silas’ mission, while its clips of international leaders heaping praise on former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf leave the viewer awestruck at the outside world’s relatively rosy picture of a Liberian government stained with corruption.

Blue Heart

Hot dam! That’s the crux of Blue Heart, a film about Balkan battles over hydropower. The story centers around activists in three countries fighting a handful of the roughly 3,000 proposed dams in the region.

Blue Heart, produced by the outdoor clothing company Patagonia, captures the struggle between environmental activists and energy developers in Albania, Macedonia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. In one story, a group of 55 women blocking a construction project on the Kruščica River are violently removed by police — a scene which bears striking resemblance to recent pipeline fights in the United States.

Here’s the thing: If the world wants to transition away from fossil fuels, hydropower will likely play a role. But hydropower’s reliable renewable energy comes at the expense of river ecosystems and the surrounding communities. The film barely scratches the surface of this conflict between fighting climate change and protecting natural world, instead only focusing on the corporate-greed aspect of dam projects. But at its best, Blue Heart tells a classic underdog story of ordinary people fighting back against energy projects that disrupt and endanger communities — a struggle that’s playing out worldwide.

(GRIST)

Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 6/1/2018 6:15:10 PM
	U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service DAPL 2? At the edge of the Arctic Circle, oil drilling threatens the indigenous Gwich’in By Nathanael Johnson on May 30, 2018 The low boreal forest that spans the border between Alaska and Canada is the home of the Gwich’in people. There are some 6,000 Gwich’in, hunting and raising their children in villages at the edge of the Arctic Circle. They’ve been there for thousands of years, following the caribou, which provide a majority of their diet, even today. Bernadette Demientieff, executive director of the Gwich’in steering committee, fears that the herd, and the culture that depends on them, will not survive if oil drilling is allowed on caribou calving grounds. Since the early 1990s, big oil companies have pushed to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling and today the industry is closer than ever to achieving that goal. In some ways, this struggle to protect ANWR is similar to the fight over the Dakota Access Pipeline at Standing Rock, but with arguably higher stakes. If companies extract oil from the Refuge it could devastate the Gwich’in people, Demientieff said. “A lot of people may call us activists or environmentalists, but we are just trying to protect our way of life,” she said when we met in Oakland, California. Q. Why is oil drilling such a threat to your people? Bernadette Demientieff Nathanael Johnson / Grist A. My main purpose is to protect the calving grounds of the Porcupine Caribou herd. The Gwich’in people migrated with the herd. For over 40,000 years we’ve had a cultural and spiritual connection to them. But our trail never went into the calving ground where they want to drill. Even when my people were starving we never went there. We call it “Iizhik Gwats’an Gwandaii Goodlit” and that’s The Sacred Place Where Life Begins. Caribou go there because mosquitoes and bugs can kill a newborn, and this is a place where the wind from the sea blows the mosquitoes away. If we disturb this area, I think we are going to wipe them out. Q. How important are caribou to the Gwich’in? A. All our stories, songs, and dances are focused on the herd. We don’t worship them or anything, but we honor them. It’s been passed down from generation to generation that we would take care of them and they would take care of us. One of my respected elders said, “What befalls the caribou befalls the Gwich’in.” We provide for our community by hunting. They really struggle when they don’t get the caribou. In Arctic Village, a can of coffee is $20. Three bananas is $12. A carton of juice is $18. We can’t afford to live off that kind of food, and it’s not healthy for us to eat. Q. People who read this are aware that there has been a fight for decades over drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. What’s happening right now? A. They hadn’t been able to pass other attempts to open the Refuge before, except in 2005, and then [President Bill] Clinton vetoed it. But this time they snuck it into the tax bill [which passed and President Donald Trump signed in December]. Now they are rushing to sell oil leases — something that usually takes four to five years they are trying to do in one. They are cutting corners. We have a government that’s bullying people, and we aren’t going to allow it. You can’t just come into someone’s homeland and start destroying things. Q. The oil industry has argued that they can drill laterally from a relatively small area, instead of drilling lots of wells straight down. Can you respond to that? A. Look at the Arctic Slope [just to the west, around Prudhoe Bay]. They said that there, too, and it looks like an industrial area. I don’t believe anything they say anymore. My elders tell me they made promises in the 1970s about how they were going to have jobs for our people, and that never happened. And frankly, we don’t want it. I mean, I like money, but not if it’s gonna hurt the future generations. Q. There are several tribes and various environmental groups fighting alongside you. This reminds me of the Dakota Access Pipeline. Could this become a similar polestar that brings disparate groups together? A. Actually the veterans who were at Standing Rock reached out to us. All over the world, indigenous people are trying to stand up for Mother Earth; they are trying to stand up for things that are important to everyone on this planet. And none of us is asking for anything. We’re not asking for money, we’re not asking for schools or buildings, we’re asking to be left alone to continue to live as we always have, in connection to healthy land, healthy animals, and clean water. It’s frustrating that it’s 2018 and we are still fighting for our human rights. It’s embarrassing to this country. Q. We’d like to think we’ve progressed since the federal government used to push Native Americans off their land. A. It’s still happening. They are still doing it. They don’t think they are doing wrong. I think they will never understand until it happens to them. We’re encouraging everyone to comment on this at the Department of the Interiorbefore June 19, and maybe check out our website. It’s a really rough time for my people right now. Q. How so? A. I represent the Gwich’in in Canada and Alaska, and I see my people. They are frustrated they are angry, they are scared. We’ve held this off for a long time. I have faith we are going to stop it. I’m from Fort Yukon. There was a polar bear outside of my community — that’s totally outside their habitat. We had 17 bear attacks last year alone. Bears were trying to push in doors, crawl in people’s windows. I don’t know what that’s about, but it’s insane. One of our elders said we need to start being careful of our animals because the climate is changing and so will our animals. You know, we have prophecies that these days were coming. It’s scary. Q. What’s the prophecy? A. Things will get harder and harder. Food will become scarce. When the day comes, they tell us, we will have to help the people who did this to us. Q. What made you, personally, take on this cause? A. Myself, I lost my identity after high school. I struggled with drugs and alcohol, just like my people have done for a long time, and it’s because of the Western way of living being shoved in our faces. We’re being whiplashed into a different life, and it’s hard to adjust. In 2014, I went up to my ancestral homeland, and I don’t know what came over me but I just started crying. I can still picture it in my head right now. You could just see the mountains everywhere, and you could see Arctic Village way down there, and lakes and lakes and lakes, and I understood why my ancestors returned every year. Right then and there I asked creator for forgiveness. I’m here now to share in my responsibility as a Gwich’in. (GRIST)
	"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)
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Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 6/2/2018 9:53:02 AM
	RT EXCLUSIVE ‘We were close to direct conflict between Russia & US inside Syria’ – Bashar Assad Published time: 31 May, 2018 05:28 Edited time: 31 May, 2018 09:28 Syrian President Bashar Assad says Moscow deterred the West from launching a devastating country-wide air strike last month, and believes that Damascus has nearly won the seven-year war, despite continued US “interference.” “With every move forward for the Syrian Army, and for the political process, and for the whole situation, our enemies and our opponents, mainly the West led by the United States and their puppets in Europe and in our region, they try to make it farther – either by supporting more terrorism, bringing more terrorists to Syria, or by hindering the political process,” Assad told RT correspondent Murad Gazdiev, during a sit-down interview in Damascus, noting that without outside funding his opponents inside the country could be subdued “within a year.” After having to switch its support between the various anti-Assad factions, and the recapture of the key cities of Aleppo and Deir ez-Zor by government forces over the past two years, Washington, the Syrian leader believes, is “losing its cards” and can be brought to the negotiating table. Read more No answer to ‘Animal Assad’: Syrian leader tells RT he does not have insulting nickname for Trump “Our challenge is how can we close this gap between their plans and our plans,” Assad said. ‘World didn’t buy US chemical weapons story’ The Syrian leader believes, however, that the closer the deadly conflict comes to an end, the more desperate his opponents’ measures become. He cited the alleged Douma chemical weapon attack (“Is it in our interest? Why, and why now?” he asks) as a last-ditch Western attempt to sway international opinion – one that failed. “They told a story, they told a lie, and the public opinion around the world and in the West didn’t buy their story, but they couldn’t withdraw. So, they had to do something, even on a smaller scale,” Assad said, referring to the joint airstrikes against purported Syrian chemical weapons facilities, carried out on April 14 by the US, UK, and France. Assad says Moscow also played a role in restraining Washington’s influence and meddling in the region, both generally since its invitation to aid Damascus in September 2015, and in this particular incident. ‘Russia deterred larger-scale attack on Syria’ “The Russians announced publicly that they are going to destroy the bases that are going to be used to launch missiles, and our information – we don’t have evidence, we only have information, and that information is credible information – that they were thinking about a comprehensive attack all over Syria, and that’s why the threat pushed the West to make it on a much smaller scale,” the Syrian president said. RT ✔@RT_com Russian electronic warfare firm to upgrade products after studying US #Tomahawks downed in #Syria https://on.rt.com/96bt 2:41 PM - May 29, 2018 Russian electronic warfare firm to upgrade products after studying US Tomahawks downed in Syria —... A Russian military contractor, specializing in electronic warfare, will use information gained from dissecting a US Tomahawk cruise missile, used during an attack on Syria, to boost the capabilities... rt.com 103 81 people are talking about this Twitter Ads info and privacy With Western ‘advisers’ deployed alongside their proxy forces in Syria, Assad also thanked Russia for not triggering face-to-face confrontation with the US, which is operating in close proximity both in the air and on the ground. “We were close to have direct conflict between the Russian forces and the American forces, and fortunately, it has been avoided, not by the wisdom of the American leadership, but by the wisdom of the Russian leadership,” Assad told Gazdiev. “We need the Russian support, but we need at the same time to avoid the American foolishness in order to be able to stabilize our country.” ‘Either you have a country or you don’t have a country’ Despite praising the diplomatic efforts of the Astana peace process, and emphasizing the government’s own drive to win the hearts and minds by restoring order in liberated areas, and initiating a process of reconciliation, Assad says there are still some victories that will have to be won on the battlefield. RT ✔@RT_com Militants linked to ISIS feeling increasingly comfortable in refugee camp located near US military base - Lavrov https://on.rt.com/969d 8:35 AM - May 28, 2018 ISIS-linked militants show up in Syrian refugee camp under US control – Lavrov — RT World News Militants linked with the terrorist group Islamic State are feeling increasingly comfortable in a refugee camp located near a US military base in southern Syria, the Russian foreign minister said. rt.com 82 105 people are talking about this Twitter Ads info and privacy “Factions like Al-Qaeda, like ISIS, like Al-Nusra, and the like-minded groups, they’re not ready for any dialogue, they don't have any political plan; they only have this dark ideological plan, which is to be like any Al-Qaeda-controlled area anywhere in this world. So, the only option to deal with those factions is force,” Assad said, emphasizing that there is no stepping back now. “The more escalation we have, the more determined we’ll be to solve the problem, because you don’t have any other choice; either you have a country or you don’t have a country,” the Syrian president told RT. (RT)
	"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)
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At the edge of the Arctic Circle, oil drilling threatens the indigenous Gwich’in

New documentaries bring climate change to the big screen

Anote’s Ark

The Human Element

Brothers of Climbing

Silas

Blue Heart

RT EXCLUSIVE

‘We were close to direct conflict between Russia & US inside Syria’ – Bashar Assad

‘World didn’t buy US chemical weapons story’

‘Russia deterred larger-scale attack on Syria’

Russian electronic warfare firm to upgrade products after studying US Tomahawks downed in Syria —...

‘Either you have a country or you don’t have a country’

ISIS-linked militants show up in Syrian refugee camp under US control – Lavrov — RT World News

New Assad Interview – Syria Will Be Liberated With Or Without Americans

Lavrov meets Kim in Pyongyang, gifts him ‘box for secrets’ (PHOTO, VIDEO)

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