Showing posts with label resilience. Show all posts
Showing posts with label resilience. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
Vote by March 15th for sustainable Tokyo-based solar-sail cargo ship Greenheart - nominated for Royal Dutch Society of Engineers Prize
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| Your vote for Greenheart counts- Even in Dutch! |
Creating the world’s first solar-sail cargo ship tailored to fit the needs of marginalized coastal communities is an idea that has propelled a small Tokyo-based international team closer to winning a major engineering prize far from home shore.
International NGO Greenheart Project is but one of 10 nominees for the Vernufteling Prize, to be awarded by the Koninklijk Instituut Van Ingenieurs (the Royal Dutch Society of Engineers), De Ingenieur and Technish Weeblad magazines, and a Dutch association of consulting engineers, NLingenieurs. The finalists were chosen from a field of more than forty submissions based on four criteria: innovation, economic worth, technological advancement, and social value.
The Vernufteling Prize is awarded annually to the initiative that is developing an imaginative project that promises to have a significant social and economic impact. Competitors were asked to respond to the challenge of creating ideas that both embody the social importance of innovative technology. The competition also seeks to make the important work of engineers more visible and widely recognized.
In line with the Dutch word Vernufteling, a portmanteau of inventor, engineer and a lot of creativity, entrants are encouraged to utilize a combination of new and existing technologies to solve real world problems. The winning project also must show potential to attract young people to technical studies and inspire them.
Over the past eight years, 83 engineering firms have submitted a total of 376 ideas, projects and innovative solutions to the Vernufteling Prize. In 2013 Arcadis took home the award for their innovative Winterhard Wissel which keeps railways free from snow and ice in the winter.
As Gert Schouwstra, a Dutch consultant at AA-Planadvies, who nominated Greenheart Project explained, “This project can really work. This year, we shall see how Greenheart will prove itself.”
Greenheart ships are customizable to meet the needs of the end user, whether they be used for fishing, fisheries monitoring, , ecotourism, cargo or passenger transport.
A unique feature is an open source platform which ensures that the end-users can have a say in how future ships are built without the financial and technical burdens of paying for patent rights.
Intentionally designed to be small scale at 32 meters in length and 220 tons, the vessels are designed to be easy to repair and service while maintaining the elegance of a yacht. Through its foldable mast/crane the ship can be maneuvered under bridges allowing greater upstream access, and lift items large and small on and off of shore, whether cargo, a haul of fish or even floating debris such as nets during an environmental cleanup mission.
Greenheart class ships promise to play a hefty role in restoring economic and ecological balance to transport in vulnerable and remote coastal communities, while setting an example that vessels powered by renewable energies are a practical alternative to fossil-fuel based fleets.
Voting by the general public is open from February 25th to March 15th through the Van Dag de Ingenieur (Day of the Engineer) website. After tallying up the votes, the Vernufteling prize winner will be announced on March19, 2014 at High Tech Campus Eindhoven.
To vote for Greenheart...
1. Go to this site: http://www.dagvandeingenieur.nl/vernufteling/publieksverkiezing-2014/
2. Choose "AA Planadvies-Groen vrachtschip voor eilandengroep" from the pull down menu at the top of the page
3. Put in your name and email address
4. Click Stemmen (Vote).
*No need to check any of the boxes there (The page is in Dutch and English)
The Vernufteling Prize is awarded annually to the initiative that is developing an imaginative project that promises to have a significant social and economic impact. If we win it will give us the wide public exposure that will propel us to finishing the construction of the boat and getting more people interested in joining us in changing the paradigm of shipping and waterway transport.
Drawing upon, and endeavoring to be compatible with, the rich sailing traditions of coastal communities, Greenheart is working to radically amplify access to the oceanic commons and distant markets, while interacting with the environment in a more equitable and just manner. Greenheart is intentionally open source small-scaled, durable, adaptable, affordable, energy-efficient, solar/sail cargo ship that is easy to service and repair. It expects to rearrange the balance of opportunities among rich and poor by making safe, long distance sea travel accessible to marginalized and excluded sectors of the world population.
ABOUT GREENHEART PROJECT
The Greenheart Project is an international non-profit organization founded in Tokyo, Japan with offices in Europe and Japan, preparing to build the world’s first fuel-free, container-ready commercial vessel. The small sail-solar ship is specially designed for use by communities in marginalized coastal communities and can serve as a mobile solar power station. It will be built in Chittagong, Bangladesh and launched as early as this year.
To learn more about Greenheart Project visit: www.greenheartproject.org
Pat Utley, Greenheart Director
patutley@greenheartproject.org
P: +81-3-5606-9310
Friday, November 15, 2013
Beautiful Energy - 1st Anniversary Celebration - Tokyo - Nov. 30, 2013
(Photo: Beautiful Energy)
Via Jacinta Hin and Natsu no Color of Tokyo-based Beautiful Energy/The Stand for a Nuclear-Free World.
Beautiful Energy is... born out of the weekly Friday anti-nuclear demonstrations in Tokyo in front of and around the prime minister's residence and Parliament. Through inspired, peaceful action we stand for a nuclear-free world that thrives on renewable energy.This group of visionary citizen activists in Tokyo radiate positive (and beautiful) emotional, ethical energy and holistic vision. They're engaged in outreach and support for Fukushima nuclear refugees, (including bringing hot meals to elder refugees living in a shelter). Sharing their kind of healing, constructive worldview is a first step in our collective transition from toxic to nontoxic, renewable energy production and use.
Our current, ongoing project is Candles for Peace. Every Friday, from 6-8pm Japan time, we gather in front of parliament in kokkai gijido, joining the weekly anti-nuclear protest, and create a beautiful display of candlelight to symbolize our intentions...
In November it will be one year since we lighted our Beautiful Energy candles for the first time. Time for a little celebration!
You are invited to our anniversary party in Tokyo on November 30. Join us for an intimate evening with live music, delicious graceful vegan foods and of course candles!
Date: November 30 (Saturday), from 19.00 – 22.30pm
Place: Bar GariGari (Tokyo, Setagaya-ku, Daizawa 2-45-9, .. Building B1 /
http://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1318/A131801/13126176/dtlmap/ / opposite Ikenoue Station, Inokashira-line (2 stops from Shibuya)
Charge: 2,000 yen (inclusive vegan buffet foods, music charge and charity donation).
* Vegan foods provided by our Friday neighbors Yuko Ogura and Yayoi Ito of Guerilla Café
* Drinks are not included. Please order at least one drink at the bar
* 500 yen will go to Share Your Christmas (SYC). SYC collects and brings Christmas presents from around the world to people in Tohoku affected by the 3/11 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster (https://www.facebook.com/shareyourchristmaswithtohoku)
Please bring your own chopsticks, so we may reduce waste and spread eco-energy!
19:00 Start
19:20 Anniversary Speech
19:30 Special Message from people from all over the world♪
19:45 Music time: nuclear-free world songs by Natsu, Chris and other Beautiful Energizers! (details to follow)
20:30 Enjoy conversation with each other!
22:30 End
Kindly let us know no later than November 20 if you plan to attend (and sooner if you can).
Thursday, October 24, 2013
Singer & Organic Farmer Yae: "That's what I want to prove by living this way, to show how important it is to live in a system that is sustainable and not simply going on exploiting and harming the land..."
There's certainly something in this soil that protects us. That's what I want to prove by living this way, to show how impt is is to live in a system that is sustainable and not simply going on exploiting and harming the land...(Many more video interviews by Keiko Courdy at the AU-DELA DU NUAGE °Yonaoshi 3.11 website).
We need to share ideas and build a future together...
All this didn't begin with 11 March 2011.
For many years, we've been subjected to many forms of contamination without even realizing it.
An yet, we're still alive. It's still a mystery, the life force, the power of life. It has so much undiscovered potential.
In the next five or ten years, we still don't really have any idea what diseases or physical changes we might see in children. Perhaps some incurable disease.
But at this stage, we don't know anything yet. We will think about what needs to be done when such things do happen. Together with the parents of the little children, we'll be looking for solutions.
People are quick to forget. With the passage of time, we forget the past and look towards the future without learning from our mistakes.
In Japan in particular we have allowed things to happen during and after the war as if we didn't learn from our mistakes. We haven't learned from our mistakes. It's as if we were made to forget.
Today, we should teach the true history of Japan, the things we have done for the sake of the children, as well as for people like me so that we can reflect together on how we should behave in the future.
Iitate mura is a wonderful village, so very beautiful...The people tried to be self-sufficient in energy production....But from one day to the next, it has become a radiation hotspot, with high levels or radioactivity. Despite this, people in the village yearn to return to their homes.
I read in a magazine about a 102-year-old gentleman who committed suicide in one of the temporary shelters....If ever he'd remain behind in the contaminated area, he would probably have been irradiated, but he certainly wouldn't have died immediately. He had lived for 102 years but ended up taking his own life.
My father used to say: "If you don't take pleasure in life, then you're not really living...
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http://www.yonaoshi311.com
Singer and farmer, Yae is the daughter of the famous singer and anti-nuclear activist Tokiko Kato. Yae has written a song for UNESCO, dedicated to the children who were affected by the triple disaster of 11 March. She herself chose a different lifestyle when leaving Tokyo to live in the area referred to by her father as « the kingdom of nature of Kamogawa ».
We are in Chiba, two hours from Tokyo by train, where the land has also been affected by radiation. They can still plant the rice, and people come from Tokyo at each season to help and learn rice planting.
Some background on Yae, Tokiko Kato, and the late Toshio Fujimoto:
"Soil and Peace Festival 2011 – it would never be the same again" (Keibo Shinichi Oiwa Tsuji, Slow Japan blog, Nov. 24, 2011)
"Hands-on farm training new path for city slickers" (Hayato Ishii, JT, Jan. 11, 2006)
"POWER TO THE PEOPLE: Tokiko Kato gives voice to anti-nuclear power movement" (Louis Templado, Asahi, Jan. 15, 2012)
Sunday, August 25, 2013
Barefoot Gen anime film online in Japan through Aug. 31; debate continues over ban of anti-war manga series in Matsue
The energetic public debate over the decision by Matsue (Shimane Prefecture) Board of Education to ban the manga series "Barefoot Gen reflects the vibrancy of anti-war attitudes in Japan, a widespread desire of the majority of Japanese citizens to admit and atone for Japanese Imperial wartime atrocities, and to witness for the abolition of uranium and nuclear weapons.
The series depicts realistic images of the entire Pacific War, including Japanese Imperial beheadings and rapes of Chinese people, as well as the US nuclear bombings of Japanese civilians and other wartime suffering.
The controversy has generated an outpouring of support and renewed interest in "Barefoot Gen" whose author passed away in December of last year. Our friends at New York Peace Film Festival report that the anime film adaptation of the manga series, Barefoot Gen, is available to watch online in Japan until Aug. 31.
Link: http://gyao.yahoo.co.jp/player/00592/v12021/v1000000000000000721/
Synopsis: Barefoot Gen a 1983 war drama based on Keiji Nakazawa's manga series. Director Mori Masaki depicts the final days of the Pacific War and the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima from the point of view of a child, Gen Nakaoka, who is caught in the explosion's aftermath. The film begins and ends with boat symbolism reminiscent of Toro Nagasahi (ceremony during which lit paper lanterns are released on a river to remember the dead).
The story is set during the final days of the Second World War. Gen's malnourished family struggle survive in Hiroshima. The family wonders why their city has been spared from US napalm (jellied gasoline) firebombings that have destroyed most of Japan's other cities. They sense something is wrong even though they could never imagine that Hiroshima had been chosen as a "pristine" target to test one of the two new American nuclear bombs.
On the morning of August 6, Gen, after promising his brother he will take him to the river to play with a toy boat, makes his way to school. Overhead, he notices a single B-29 bomber. At home, his family watch as a large number of ants ominously enter their home. Gen drops a pebble he is playing with, and, as he bends to pick it up, a flash of white light erupts in the sky. The eyes of people around him begin to melt. At home, Gen's house collapses, burying his family alive. Gen escaped injury from the flash because he was bent downward in front of a stone wall, but he is also buried under rubble.
The nuclear blast vaporizes people and destroys most of the buildings throughout Hiroshima. Burned and mutilated people wander through streets looking for water and help. After digging out of the rubble, Gen returns home to find his mother has survived, but his father, sister and little brother are trapped under the ruins of their house. As a firestorm approaches, Gen's father tells Gen they must leave to protect his mother and her unborn child. As they obey Gen's father and leave, they hear their family's screams as they burn to death.
His mother gives birth to a baby girl they name Tomoko; Gen searches for food and help but finds neither in a city filled only with the dead and injured. He finds a mother with a dead baby who shares her breast milk with Gen's infant sister. People start to show signs of radiation illness: defecating and vomiting blood; losing hair.
After days of searching for food, Gen finds some rice and vegetables in a storehouse. On August 16, they dig up the skulls of their dead family at their burned home. They're told Tokyo has finally surrendered. But peace has come too late for them (and many millions of other people throughout the Asia-Pacific, as well as Okinawa and the rest of mainland Japan). They take in an orphaned child, Ryuta, whom they meet when he tries to steal their food.
To earn money to buy milk for Tomoko, Gen and Ryuta take a job, caring for a dying, embittered man who, in the end, expresses gratitude for their care. But, of course, Gen's infant sister dies anyway: the odds are stacked against survival in Hiroshima.
As grass and plants start to recover, so does Gen; his hair grows back. Gen recalls his father's advice: no matter how beaten down, never give up. He decides to fulfill his promise to his brother and builds another boat. Two weeks after the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima, Gen, his mother, and Ryuta go to the river, where they light a candle on top of the boat and release it in the water. They pray as the boat sails away.
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"‘Barefoot Gen’ pulled as anti-war images strike too close to home?" (Jun Hongo, JT, Aug. 21, 2013)
"Board’s request to restrict ‘Barefoot Gen’ assailed" (Aug. 22, 2013, Kyodo, JT)
Saturday, August 10, 2013
Global Agent Orange Awareness Day
Agent Orange survivor Phuong folding paper cranes with Toshiko Tanaka,
atomic bomb survivor from Hiroshima. Photo courtesy of Lee, Jung Yong.
Related blog:" Peace Boat's 63rd Voyage:
Via Rose Welsch of Peace Boat, Global Article 9, and US for Okinawa:
August 10th marks the day in 1961 when the U.S. began aerial spraying of toxic herbicides over Vietnam.
Tainted with dioxin, Agent Orange not only sickened Vietnamese people, it also poisoned U.S. service members who were exposed to it. Its effects did not stop when the war ended--second and even third generations of survivors have experienced a wide range of effects, such as birth defects and cancer.
In total, more than 3 million people have been affected by it and related chemicals. Unknown to many, Canadians become some of the first victims of these toxic chemicals when they were sprayed and tested at a large base called Gagetown before being used in Vietnam. Moreover, because U.S. military bases in Okinawa, Korea and Guam were used during the war in Vietnam, people were also exposed to Agent Orange in these places. Laos was also sprayed with Agent Orange, and Cambodia was affected by it when the spraying drifted from Vietnam over its border.
On this day, we also call for individuals, civil society, and governments to work together to create a culture of peace around the world to prevent similar tragedies from being repeated.
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
Peace March: "No More Hiroshima. No More Nagasaki. No More Fukushima. No More Hibakusha."
Last Day of the Peace March - Arrival in Hiroshima on August 4, 2013
Her insightful, lively, soulful "Peace March Journal" is filled with great photos and video clips. A wonderful introduction to Gensuikyo (The Japan Council against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs), the history of the Peace March, the old Tokaido Highway (Edo-era road that connects Tokyo with Kyoto), Japan's diverse local cultures of towns and regions, and some of many Japanese people who want to atone for the destruction and suffering caused by Japan during the Pacific War, maintain the Japanese Peace Constitution, and deepen efforts for a nuclear-free, war-free world:
The Peace Marchers have arrived in Hiroshima Peace Park this August 4!More excerpts:
The Peace March is an annual march in Japan since 1958. Every May 6 to August 4, the Peace Marchers call for peace and nuclear weapons abolition in the streets of Japan.
So What is the Peace March?
In 1958, a monk from Hiroshima decided to walk from Hiroshima all the way to Tokyo to attend the World Conference. Back then, the World Conference was usually held in Tokyo. He started alone and eventually many people joined as he passed through different cities, wards and prefectures along the way...From then on, the Peace March was held every year. There has never been a gap year. Ever.
There had been some revisions from 1958. The World Conference is now held annually at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. At present, there are several courses of the Peace March. The quite popular one is the Tokyo Hiroshima Course. There is also a course starting from up north in Hokkaido all the way to Tokyo. Another one is from Okinawa to Nagasaki...
As you can see from the schedule and the courses, the Peace March is a daily demonstration on the streets almost all over Japan to campaign for the end of nuclear weapons and for a real lasting peace around the world...From what I saw so far as today, the Peace March is a strong and creative symbol of the Japanese people’s perservering, unrelenting and patient struggle to make sure that the wrongs made from their past would not be repeated in their country and anywhere else in the world.
Day 49 - June 23, 2013, Mukou City, Nagaoka-kyo City, Hachiman City
Today’s course passed through Mukou City, Nagaokakyo City, Oyamazaki Town and finished at Hachiman City Hall. ...
I would like to share that the Hokkaido-Tokyo Course of Prace March is currently in Fukushima...Many of its constituents still have not recovered and many of them are still in fear of exposure to radiation.
The bigger challenge is that the government is not giving the nation a real picture of the damage in Fukushima. The residents have monitored radiation levels in their areas and saw alarming results in contrast to what is actually published. The victims of radiation in Fukushima are beginning to be the new batch of hibakushas. Many members of the peace movement in Japan, especially the Hibakushas from Hiroshima and Nagasaki, are expressing their support to victims in Fukushima. This is why our popular plea in the Peace March and World Conference has been revised to this:
No More Hiroshima.
No More Nagasaki.
No More Fukushima.
No More Hibakusha.
Day 33, June 7: Iwakura, Ichinomiya and Konan City, Aichi Prefecture
The deputy mayor [Toshiyuki Akahori] shared with us the several peace activities of Iwakura City... Iwakura City’s Peace Declaration was signed on 1985 and they have always been a nuclear-free zone...The city hall currently employs solar power, energy recycling, and water saving methods.
Day 21, May 26: Fujieda City Hall to Kanaya Local Community Center
...On July 26 1945, several days before the atomic bombing in Hiroshima, sample bombs equivalent to that of Fatman (the atomic bomb dropped in Hiroshima) were dropped by US in Shimada city...It should also be noted that carpet bombs and these test bombs sprayed over many parts of Japan also heavily devastated the nation...
Day 34, June 8: Komaki City and Kasugai City, Aichi Prefecture
...Mizuno san is a hibakusha...Despite what she has gone through from the past, she is now very healthy and active in Aichi Prefecture’s Peace Movement. She is now 90-years-old but looks way younger...
Before the party ended, Mizuno san shared her insights. She said that the Hibakushas fought very hard for.. compensation by the government...
She also shared her compassion for the victims in Fukushima. They are also considered hibakusha, but the government has not yet considered them official hibakushas so they cannot claim free medical support. The voice of victims in Fukushima is one of the latest issues supported by the Japanese peace movement...
Day 44, June 18: Omi Hachiman City
Japan Gensuikyo launched its worldwide signature campaign several years ago to show to the world leaders and everyone that many people want a nuclear free world... From what I remember, they have collected around 2 million signatures already and are aiming for more...
Wherever you are, you can join the signature campaign by visiting the Japan Gensuikyo website: www.antiatom.org...
Sunday, June 23, 2013
Power of Okinawa: Irei no Hi 2013
Via The Power of Okinawa's great blog on Okinawan music and culture:
Today is Irei no hi – the day when the end of the Battle of Okinawa is commemorated throughout the Ryukyu Islands. As usual the biggest ceremony was held at lunchtime at Okinawa Peace Memorial Park in Mabuni, Itoman and I was there along with many others. It always seems to be a scorching hot day on the 23rd June and this was no exception as people gathered in the park under a blazing sun and in a temperature hovering around 32 degrees...
Masaharu Kina, the Speaker of the Okinawa Prefectural Assembly, made the most pertinent speech in which he noted that there are now 241,227 names on the Cornerstone of Peace (where the names of all those killed in the fighting are inscribed) following the addition of another 62 names this year. He also pointed out that this is a day when all Japanese should think about war even though Irei no hi is still a designated public holiday in Okinawa only. He went on:
"One of the lessons we learned from the sacrifices of countless irreplaceable lives during the war is that a people with no voice will perish. In light of our past being trifled with by national policies, and the currently unchanged situation of Okinawa, the people of Okinawa have held numerous rallies to demand the reduction and realignment of the U.S. military bases and alleviation of our burden. We have voiced our requests.
“Prompted by countless unreasonable actions against Okinawa, we, the people of Okinawa, are about to reach the limit of our patience. The non-partisan petition handed to Prime Minister Abe this January reflects our earnest collective will not to tolerate any more base burdens and to live peaceful lives.
“Under the circumstances we are here with solemnity on this day, which marks the anniversary of the end of the Battle of Okinawa. This is the day to inscribe indelibly into our hearts that such a miserable war should never happen again and to hope for a peaceful bright future.”
Sunday, August 12, 2012
Masako Sakata explores the legacies of Agent Orange: Living the Silent Spring
Masako Sakata: "Agent Orange is an indictment of US foreign policy and corporate greed,
as well as being a celebration of love’s ability to face enormous adversity."
Following the death of her husband, photographer Greg Davis, from liver cancer at age 54, Masako Sakata studied videography, aiming to produce an investigative documentary about the toxic chemical. She suspected that exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam during the 1970's caused her husband's illness.
In her first documentary, Agent Orange: A Personal Requiem, Sakata focused on the "forgotten victims of Agent Orange" and showed "how the toxic chemical erodes the human body from generation to generation, and how the Vietnamese have struggled, both in desperation and with affection, to support the victims."
Her 2011 film, Living the Silent Spring, follows the journey of an American second generation victim of Agent Orange, Heather Bowser, as she travels to Vietnam, and explores the lives of other American victims.
From August 10, 1961 to 1971, the US military sprayed 20 million gallons (80 million liters) of Agent Orange and related chemical weapons throughout Vietnam (and Laos and Cambodia) during its war in southeast Asia. The environmental warfare campaign, called "Operation Ranch Hand," destroyed 500,000 acres of farmland and 5 million acres of forest in Vietnam alone.
The destruction of farmland resulted in widespread famine and the starvation of hundreds of thousands of people. Agent Orange also contaminated the watershed as well as vegetation and soil. Dioxin, a carcinogenic toxin in the herbicide accumulated at the bottom of lakes and rivers, thereby entering the Vietnamese food supply through fish as well as through food crops.
Different sources estimate that between three and five million Vietnamese people suffer from diseases and disorders caused by Agent Orange. This includes 500,000 second and third generation children born with birth defects. Thousands of US soldiers and their children have also endured disorders caused by the toxin.
Attempts were made during the Vietnam War to stop the US use of Agent Orange. In 1966, Hungary introduced a resolution to the United Nations charging that the U.S. was violating the 1925 Geneva Protocol, which regulates the use of chemical and biological weapons, by using Agent Orange and tear gas in Vietnam. Washington denied the charge on the grounds that only anti-personnel weapons are covered by the protocol.
In 1991, after much lobbying by Vietnam War veterans and their families, Congress authorized some assistance to Americans exposed to Agent Orange during the Vietnam War.
In 2004, the Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin sued Dow Chemical and other manufacturers. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case in 2009, accepting a federal appeals court 2003 ruling in New York that dismissed the case on the "government contractor defense," which protects military contractors from legal liability.
Over the past five years, despite Washington's claim that the link between dioxin exposure and disease is "uncertain," Congress appropriated about $49 million for environmental remediation and about $11 million to help people living with disabilities in Vietnam regardless of cause.
Last week, Washington announced it had awarded contracts to two U.S. companies to decontaminate Da Nang, a dioxin "hot spot" (former air base where American soldiers mixed, stored and loaded Agent Orange onto planes and helicopters). Some Vietnamese commentators have said this is "...too little...too late." Some children of American Vietnam vets have taken an even stronger view, commenting that this is a "classic example" of U.S. military industrial pattern of profiting from a U.S.-created cycle destruction and "reconstruction," as in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Astonishingly, Hanoi has welcomed Dow and Monsanto, the two largest manufacturers of Agent Orange, to do business in Vietnam. Both companies profited from the production of the chemical weapon, yet have not have assisted in decontamination or compensated victims. In February, Monsanto announced it plans to introduce GMO crops (seeds are manufactured to be used with Round-Up, a toxic herbicide, or 2-4,D, a component of Agent Orange) into Vietnam.
However in May of this year, the Vietnamese government revealed profound domestic tensions towards these companies when it called for Dow (a multi-million dollar Olympics sponsor) to quit the games because of its participation in the production of Agent Orange. Thanh Nien News, a newspaper published in Ho Chi Minh City, quoted Lieutenant General Nguyen Van Rinh, former deputy defense minister, chairman of the Vietnam Association of Victims of Agent Orange, and a sitting legislator: “My ultimate goal is to push the government to get both Dow and Monsanto out of Vietnam.”
Between 1,000,000 and 2,500,000 Vietnamese and over 58,000 Americans died in the Vietnam War.
Roger Pulvers' "Remembering Victims of Agent Orange in the Shadow of 9/11," published on September 4, 2011 at The Asia-Pacific Journal, and introduced by filmmaker John Junkerman (who edited Living in the Silent Spring) provides deep, sensitive contexts to the film:
I worked as the editor of the film, Living the Silent Spring, which Pulvers discusses in his essay. The film’s director, Masako Sakata, had been struck by the fact that Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring appeared at virtually the same time that the US military began spraying Agent Orange in Vietnam. Though Carson died soon after her book came out, her outrage at the irresponsible use of potent chemicals and her pleas for environmental and biological wisdom seemed to be a warning that went unheeded about the dangers of Agent Orange.We were in the studio editing the film on March 11, when the massive earthquake and tsunami struck Japan. As the extent of the Fukushima nuclear disaster became known, and it became clear that the area around the plant would be contaminated with radiation for many decades to come, Carson’s description of chemicals as the “sinister partners of radiation”—and the film we were working on—took on a new resonance...Living the Silent Spring takes up the Agent Orange story from both sides. Sakata returns to some of the villages she visited for her earlier film so that we may see how the children genetically maimed by their parents’ exposure to Agent Orange have fared. But this time she also introduces us to a number of Americans who have equally suffered — bringing home the message that, in war, we are all victims.
Saturday, July 7, 2012
no nukes more heart - NO NUKES! ALL STAR DEMO 5 - Shibuya - 7.7.12
NO NUKES! ALL STAR DEMO 5: Shibuya, Tokyo on 7.7.12...
9.19脱原発デモ『NO NUKES! ALL ST☆R DEMO 2011』
Check out some of the music at the website, including "Wonderful World"...
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Cornerstone of Peace & the "Okinawan Heart"
Today marks the 67th anniversary of the Battle of Okinawa, the only land battle on Japanese soil. Okinawans commemorated the lives of those who died during the Battle of Okinawa, and prayed for peace for Okinawa and the world.
After the battle's end, instead of bringing peace and democracy to Okinawa, the U.S. government positioned Okinawa as its military "Cornerstone of the Pacific." Soldiers seized ancestral farmland and homes ("by bayonets and bulldozers") from war survivors to make way for US military bases on 20% of the island's land mass. After fifty years of enduring the US expropriation of their land for war (Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq) training, Okinawans countered this unwelcome militarist moniker with their pacifist self-definition when they named a memorial erected on Mabuni Hill in Itoman the "Cornerstone of Peace" ( (平和の礎 Heiwa no Ishiji).
The massive monument was dedicated on June 23, 1995 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the end of the Pacific War and the Battle of Okinawa. Its purpose: (1) Remember those lost in the war, and pray for peace; (2) Pass on the lessons of war; and (3) Serve as a place for meditation and learning. Mabuni Hill was the site of the Japanese military headquarters and scene of heavy fighting in late June 1945, towards the end of the Battle of Okinawa. The names of over two hundred and forty thousand people, including Imperial Japanese and American soldiers, as well as over 100,000 innocent Okinawan civilians, who lost their lives are inscribed on the memorial:
It conveys to the Japanese as well as people of the world, the "spirit of peace" which has developed through Okinawa's history and culture. The names of all those who lost their lives in the Battle of Okinawa- regardless of their nationality or whether they ware of military or civilian status- are inscribed on "The Cornerstone of Peace," serving as a prayer for eternal world peace.
In late March 1945, a fierce battle such as has rarely been seen in history took place on these islands. The "Typhoon of Steel" that lasted for ninety days disfigured mountains, destroyed much of the cultural legacy, and claimed the precious lives of upward of 200,000 people. The Battle of Okinawa was the only ground fighting fought on Japanese soil and was also the largest-scale campaign of the Asia-Pacific War. Even countless Okinawan civilians were fully mobilized.A significant aspect of the Battle of Okinawa was the great loss of civilian life. At more than 100,000 civilian losses far outnumbered the military death toll. Some were blown apart by shells, some finding themselves in a hopeless situation were driven to suicide, some died of starvation, some succumbed to malaria, while other fell victim to the retreating Japanese troops. Under the most desperate and unimaginable circumstances, Okinawans directly experienced the absurdity of war and atrocities it inevitably brings about.This war experience is at the very core of what is popularly called the "Okinawan Heart," a resilient yet strong attitude to life that Okinawan people developed as they struggled against the pressures of many years of U. S. military control.The "Okinawan Heart" is a human response that respects personal dignity above all else, rejects any acts related to war, and truly cherishes culture, which is a supreme expression of humanity. In order that we may mourn for those who perished during the war, pass on to future generations the historic lessons of the Battle of Okinawa, convey our message to the peoples of the world and thereby established, displaying the whole range of the individual war experiences of the people in this prefecture, the Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Japanese Farmers: “We will continue farming on Japanese soil!”
(2011 Peace Walk from Tokyo to Hiroshima: "Every year, NOUMINREN participates in Peace Walk that starts from Tokyo to Hiroshima. This year‘s walk was very special. In the opening ceremony, Fukushima NOUMINREN member, Hiroshi Miura, spoke. He said, 'My rice fields are 11 km away from the power plants, so I won’t be able to grow rice in my fields anymore in my life. This accident proved that nuclear power plants and human beings cannot coexist. I am committed to continue life-growing farming in a new place and continue making efforts to eliminate the nuclear power plants one by one!' He joined the march and called for abolition of nuclear arsenals and the change in energy policy. Photo: NOUMINREN) Nouminren (Japan Family Farmer Movement), represents one of thousands of NGOs in Japanese civil society committed to the visionary integration of the best of traditional and postwar Japanese values: simplicity, sustainable agriculture, preservation of local culture and communities, democratic society, constitutional (Article 9) commitment to nonviolent solutions to international conflict, gender equality, human rights, nuclear weapons and energy abolition, environmental protection, and social justice.
Under siege by the nuclear fallout of 3/11 and the threat of the possible TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership "free trade") agreement that would allow heavily subsidized, factory-farmed, genetically engineered, chemically (toxic herbicides and pesticides) treated, cheap foreign food products to flood Japanese markets, thereby threatening the position of high-quality, labor-intensive, organic, locally grown, therefore more expensive Japanese heirloom food products), Nouminren issued this statement via Via Campesina:
“We will continue farming on Japanese soil!”
Tuesday, 28 February 2012
NOUMINREN Youth held its 20th conference in Tokyo on February 11th and 12th this year. Approximately 100 people participated in the conference (the largest ever). For NOUMINREN, this conference was probably its most important in last 20 years as it was the first conference after 3.11 earthquake, tsunami and the nuclear plant accidents. All participants were eager to share and reflect on what they underwent after 3.11 and to use these understandings to overcome their concerns.
On the first day, a forum was held to discuss the issue, "Why we must continue farming on Japanese soil: Understanding how nuclear power plants and the Trans-Pacific Partnership might to destroy us."
In this forum, five panelists (three farmers, one food researcher, and one local community activist) presented their commitment to protect agriculture and food sovereignty of Japan.
The first panelist, Souhei Miura, reported that after the disaster and nuclear power plant accident, he evacuated to Chiba prefecture. However, he decided to go back to Fukushima to farm again. He said, “It is possible to produce safe food in Fukushima if we continue doing the checkups. Nuclear power plant accidents can happen anywhere in the world today, so why don’t I stay and farm in Fukushima, the prefecture I love the most.” This commitment moved many in the audience.
The second panelist, Sumito Hatta, the Director in Chief of the NOUMINREN Food Research Laboratory, discussed its role. He explained that the laboratory’s role is to use scientific methods to enhance the safety of agricultural products and to strengthen the fiduciary relation between producers and consumers. “This is how we can contribute to Japanese agriculture,” Sumito Hatta said.
He also stated that TPP is trying to deregulate the mandatory labeling rule for GM food. “We want to make a new project checking up GM food and the GM rape seeds that falls from shipping trucks. He also explained about the role of the radioactive detector purchased with donations from the people from Japan and the world. He emphasized the importance of sharing all data with everyone who needs it.
The third panelist, Noriyuki Takahashi, a young farmer from Wakayama prefecture, explained why he was such a strong supporter of making soil. He explained that because he wanted to produce delicious and safe crops, he realized the importance of making soil and bokashi (organic fermented fertilizer). He also described how he uses the dumped food from supermarkets to make fertilizer. In concluding, Noriyuki Takahashi stated that “Friendship between living things and soil is important. I am pursuing the farming technique that makes not only human, but every living thing happy.”
The fourth panelist, Ken Aizawa, a farmer from a heavy-snowy mountainous area of Niigata prefecture explained how much he enjoyed farming in such difficult conditions. He said that it takes 2 to 3 times more effort to do weeding on his farm and the results from harvesting are also low. However as Ken Aizawa also pointed out, in such mountainous areas, people are very bonded and he wants the bond to continue. He concluded that consumers buying domestic products will unite cities and rural areas.
The fifth panelist, Shinya Takeda, a staff member of international bureau of NOUMINREN and an organizer of Toke Saturday Market (street artist market) in Chiba prefecture explained why consumers should take a strong interest in agriculture He said there were three main reasons why consumers should support the farmers: (1) because food is essential for humans, (2) because local agriculture is essential for the economy of rural areas, and (3) because sustainable agriculture is essential for keeping the beauty and value of the rural landscape and stopping climate change. He concluded that farming is the most basic human activity, and therefore, “We, both producers and consumers should always respect it”.
After the presentations, the conference participants were divided into 10 groups and had 90-minute group discussion. The members of the groups were a mix of farmers, distributors, consumers, and NOUMINREN secretariats.
Each had a different story to share about the threat of TPP and radioactivity to our food safety.
One of the farmers said that since the accident, he has had a hard time to confidently tell the consumers that his crops are safe to eat, and so he has lost his motivation to grow. A shiitake mushroom farmer from Tako, Chiba prefecture, also shared that he is worried that radiation may be detected in his mushrooms that he planted after the accident. He explained that the direct sale to shops in his town dropped by one-third. A rice farmer from Ibaragi prefecture said that although he grows rice, he is hesitant to give the rice to his newborn baby. A vegetable farmer in Fukushima said that he feels relieved being outside of Fukushima because he does not have to hear all the discussions about radioactivity on the radio.
All the stories were something that would never have been expected when last year’s conference was held. All participants realized that they went through a really tough situation and are still facing it.
In the reception following the panel discussion, the participants talked about their concerns to continue farming and their future dreams. By talking to the people in the same generation, the participants’ dreams prevailed over their concerns and made the conference very happy and energetic to the end, and actually becoming stronger after the conference.
Earthquake, tsunami, typhoon, and radioactive crisis have hit us, and sooner or later a volcano will erupt as some of the scholars predict. But we, the NOUMINREN youth, will continue farming on Japanese soil.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom
via Tsunami Blossom on Vimeo.
Survivors in the areas hardest hit by Japan's recent tsunami find the courage to revive and rebuild as cherry blossom season begins.
A stunning visual poem about the ephemeral nature of life and the healing power of Japan's most beloved flower.
Directed by Academy Award Nominated filmmaker Lucy Walker (Waste Land), featuring photography by Aaron Phillips and music by Moby.
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Velcrow Ripper charts "humanity's immune response to a planet in crisis" in Fierce Light & Evolve Love
Here's a recent interview from his latest website, Occupy Love
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ALIVE MIND: Occupy Love is the third film of the “Fierce Love Project.” It comes after Sacred Scared (Special Jury Prize of the Toronto Film Festival), an uplifting pilgrimage through war-torn places around the world, followed by Fierce Light, a film about bringing together spirituality, and activism. Is there a logical progression to these films? How would you relate Fierce Light to Sacred Scared and Occupy Love?Read the interview and see videos (including Summer of Change: Occupy Wall Street at Occupy Love: Global Revolution of the Heart.
VELCROW RIPPER: Indeed there is - the films are about about the “Heart of the Times” of this unique period in human history, from the millennium to 2012. It is a time of enormous crisis, and enormous possibility. The overall theme is, how can the global crises that we are facing lead to the evolution of humanity?
Scared Sacred takes us on a journey to ground zero’s of the world – places like New York City during 9.11, Afghanistan, Hiroshima, Bosnia, Cambodia, Israel and Palestine. In each of those places, I discovered some of the most remarkable individuals I have ever met. I found that there were two things that the survivors all had in common, that helped them get through the crises they faced with their spirits transformed, not crushed: having a source of meaning, which was different for each of them, and taking action.
This lead to the second film, Fierce Light: When Spirit Meets Action, which explores the relationship between spirituality, and activism. There has long been an artificial divide between these two important aspects of human society, and this film explores the power that is released when the two come together.
In Occupy Love I ask the question: how is the economic and ecological crises we are facing a great love story? I have gone beyond the word “spiritual” to the deeper, and more universal word, “Love.” The last lines of “Fierce Light” are, “Another world is here, right now: listen.” On the sound track you can hear the rumblings of a volcano, the sleeping woman – who is now wide awake.
Occupy Love explores this awakening, this revelation of our shared heart, and our shared oppression, and the process of working together to transform the bankrupt system of today into a world that works for all life. The Occupy movement, and the related movements that are erupting around the world, from the Arab Spring, to the European Summer, are all a part of this awakening.
I recently showed Fierce Light at Occupy London and people were really struck by how the movie predicted the arising of Occupy. The films truly have their finger on the pulse of the times. In fact, Fierce Light was a little ahead of it’s time...
ALIVE MIND Commenting on the protest that spurred in Quebec City in 2004 against the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas, you are asking “What would I do if I did not have a camera in my hands? Would I want to pick up a rock and throw it right back at these dehumanized Plexiglass faces?” What stance do you adopt when you shoot in the midst of demonstrations? Does being an engaged filmmaker mean taking a step back from neutrality in those situations?
VELCROW RIPPER I don’t believe in neutrality. That comment, which was a rhetorical question, was answered by the film: I would do what Carly Stasko does at that moment – she dances.
My response to repression, violence and corporate dominance is to be as contrasting to that as possible – liberated, non-violent, and creative. That is the way to transform violence, not by speaking it’s language back at it...
ALIVE MIND On Sept 17, 2011, at Zuccotti Park, the epicenter of Occupy Wall Street, you’ve asked a giant FDR dime, “How could the global crisis we are facing become a love story?’ You made a short-film out of it, entitled Summer of Change: Occupy Wall Street.
Have you been personally involved in the movement since then? What are your future plans?
VELCROW RIPPER I have fallen in love with the Occupy Movement. I was at Occupy Wall Street since day one, travelled to Occupy Oakland for their epic general strike and just returned from Spain, where I was filming with the Indignados, Egypt, where I was covering Tahrir Square and the Egyptian Revolution, and Occupy London. I was looking at the roots of the movement, tracing it back from the European summer, to the Arab Spring, and looking at where the movement has evolved. The film is now called “Occupy Love.” The original project, Evolve Love, may come out after, or will be integrated into this movie.
Two years ago I asked writer Naomi Klein, “How could the crisis we are facing on the planet become a love story?” And she laughed, and said that her and I do the opposite – she points out how bad things are and I look for the love. Last week I saw her at an action and she gave me a big hug and said, “History has re-arranged itself to prove your thesis.”
The Occupy Movement, and the much bigger, and deeper global spirit of transformation from which it arises, is the love story I have been looking for, all my life. In Fierce Light I reference Paul Hawken, who in his book Blessed Unrest, talks about a global movement of movements that is emerging all over the world, what he calls “humanity's immune response to a planet in crisis," the largest movement in history. And the remarkable thing about that movement is that it is self organizing, and it didn’t even know that it existed. The Arab Spring, The European Summer, and now the Occupy Movement, is that movement standing up, looking around, and discovering itself.
And right now, this is the greatest love story on earth. This movement is rooted in interdependence, and is the opposite of the selfish, lifeless, dog eat dog-eat-dog world promoted through the vast capital of the corporations. We need to do everything we can to nurture this evolving movement, our ever-evolving global society, and keep it moving always in the direction of love, in the direction of life. Love is the movement. We are the 100%
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Japan's 99%: 11,668,809 (so far) Signatures Against Joining TTP "Free Trade" Agreement (a preventable "Fourth Disaster" that would destroy Japan)
Many thanks to Martin Frid at Kurushii for a sensitive compilation/analysis of the Japanese citizenry's decision on the radically neoliberal Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) "free trade" agreement:
Shisaku has more updates on TPP and lively, great analysis with an emphasis on political actors.
Read the rest of this excellent post with links here.
Japanese farmers protest the TPP. (Photo: NHK World)
You may not know it, but Japanese people are very vocal and very outspoken. They protest a lot! Foreign media usually does not bother to cover activism in this part of the world. The current protests here in Japan against the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a case in point.
Over 11 million Japanese people have signed a petition against TPP. They realize that "free" trade is nothing but a massive assault that will force impossible conditions on their livelihoods. What is so "free" about that?
It could be called the fourth disaster to strike in 2011, after the March 11 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster in Fukushima.
Joining TPP negotiations to eliminate 90% of agricultural tariffs would make it impossible to live in rural Japan.
TPP might lead to a lowering of Japan's food self-sufficiency from around 40% to 13%.
Asking Japan to import 87% of its food? That would essentially kill one of the best reasons this country has for attracting tourists. It would kill a way of life, both for small restaurants that depend on local produce, and for fancy places that assure its customers that they provide the very best. It would make rice farming next to impossible, thus all related farm activities in areas that are known for their delicious rice to collapse. These are not empty words in a country that appreciates its farmers. Consumers here are strong supporters of the agricultural policy that has evolved in spite of external pressure.
I have no idea where all those people in rural areas would move, what they would do, how they are supposed to manage.
Farmers are the backbone of rural Japan, and they contribute to Japan's cuisine, with more Michelin Guide 3 star resturants than France, and a very high level of food safety we all can enjoy - also in the cities.
That is connected to postal services, banking and other services in rural areas. Pensions? Health insurance? Hospitals? Ambulance services?
These are other sectors that are targeted for the direct assault and deregulation by the proposed TPP rules.
But the people here clearly understand the gravity of the situation. Thus, they protest. Wouldn't you??
11,668,809 people (so far, and counting) are against the TPP.
Shisaku has more updates on TPP and lively, great analysis with an emphasis on political actors.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Uncanny Terrain: A documentary about organic farmers facing Japan's nuclear crisis
1.9 million small farms are embedded throughout Japan, forming the soul of the archipelago's traditional culture, rooted in family, community, and heritage. They produce Japan's exquisite, locally grown heirloom foods. Small farms worldwide serve the same deep cultural functions. Japanese small farmers have mutually supportive relationships with their counterparts worldwide, in Europe, the United States, Latin America, Africa, S. Korea, the Philippines and other parts of Asia. The global/local organic farming movement is growing.
The farming region of Tohoku now under seige from the Fukushima disaster is reminiscent of the mountainous region of Appalachia (also under seige by the energy industry: coal companies that blow up mountains, streams, forests using explosives producing more force than the Hiroshima bombs have destroyed numerous small communities and are polluting entire eco-systems). The people of Tohoku, like those in Appalachia, deeply rooted in place and soulful ancestral folk culture, are independent, resilient, and stubborn. They aren't giving up.
Filmmakers Junko Kajino and Ed M. Koziarski have just wrapped up filming for their documentary about Tohoku farmers. In Uncanny Terrain, they explore questions about their future. They conclude that whether the land can be returned to its natural state, “or whether the farmers must abandon their ancestral homesteads, remains to be seen.”
Uncanny Terrain—Organic farmers face Japan's nuclear crisisRead more about Ed and Junko's journey with the farmers and people of Tohoku and see more excerpts from Uncanny Terrain their blog:
The first sprouts are beginning to emerge on Colors of the Seasons Farm, 45 miles from the malfunctioning Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power plant and 20 miles outside the evacuation zone.
28-year-old Masanori Yoshida left his job as a cook at a French restaurant in Tokyo three years ago to work his family’s land with his wife, siblings, parents, and grandmother. They grow natural crops including "firefly rice," so named because the insects, driven near extinction by chemical pesticides and fertilizer, have proliferated as farmers return to the traditional methods practiced by their ancestors.
The Yoshidas’ farm is one of hundreds of organic farms in Tohoku, the earthquake and tsunami-ravaged region of northern Japan that supplies much of the rice and vegetables to Tokyo and across the country. Government warnings have limited the sale of food grown there since high levels of radiation were detected in some spinach, milk and fish from the region.
“We don’t know if our crops will be safe,” Masanori says. “We can’t ignore this issue. But we won’t stop cultivating our land. We farmers need to nurture the environment, nature and culture, and pass them to them to the next generation.”
Noboru Saitou’s Nihonmatsu Farm is famous for cucumbers. He also grows rice, shiitake, garlic chives, bamboo shoots, and flowers. Noboru works closely with the agricultural city of Nihonmatsu, 25 miles from the troubled nuclear reactor, just outside the evacuation zone.
“Today, the ‘problem’ spinach sprouted,” Noboru says. “We were supposed to ship this after it grew, but now we can’t. After spinach is cucumber season, then rice. When the fields are golden we will harvest the rice. That’s the best part of farming. After that we’ll plant canola. Each plant yields a lot. I hope I can continue this year. But now I see how hard it is.”
Hiromasa Kitagawa is the unofficial leader of Mattari Village, an off-the-grid community of homes made from recycled construction lumber, powered by wind, solar and water, heated by wood fire. The people of Mattari share the food they grow.
“We grow vegetables that you can even eat the skin,” Hiromasu says. “We spend our time and passion to go back to the way vegetables are supposed to be grown… We aim for 100% self-sufficiency. Soon we hope to open our community for people to experience the sustainable lifestyle. It’s cold in winter, but spring is so green, autumn’s colors are vivid, the night sky is beautiful, the water is clear.”
After the earthquake, Megumi Kondou was evacuated from her Chitata Farm. Megumi awaits government approval to return to her farm. She may not be able to grow her renowned koshihikari rice this year. Instead she’s considering growing canola, which she believes may help reduce radiation in the soil, and is a potential source of biodiesel.
Farmers and scientists search desperately for ways to continue safely using this rich land, or restore it to its natural state. Whether they can succeed, or whether the farmers must abandon their ancestral homesteads, remains to be seen.
After suffering the world’s only nuclear attacks in World War II, Japan emerged from poverty and devastation and entered into a period of unprecedented technological innovation and economic growth. Can today’s Japanese respond to this catastrophe with new forms of innovation that will allow this nuclear-dependent society to continue providing healthy food to its people, and live in better harmony with the natural world?
The Project
Filmmakers Junko Kajino and Ed M. Koziarski are embarking on the new documentary Uncanny Terrain, to follow the organic farmers of Tohoku as they contend with the threat that nuclear fallout from the Fukushima Power Plant poses to their land and their livelihood.
From spring planting season, we will document the testing of their land and crops for radiation, their efforts to adjust to the changing environment, through the harvest and beyond.
We are seeking financial support to cover our travel and living across Tohoku in the coming months, and for the purchase of highly portable, high quality video equipment to document what we find.
We will build an international online community of people interested in sustainable agriculture and energy and in the future of Japan, through regular video updates and ongoing dialogue around the issues raised in the film. In the end we will have a film intended for international broadcast and distribution, and around the film we will have generated a wealth of new friends, knowledge and media to address these questions in our own communities.
The Filmmakers
Ed and Junko wrote, produced and directed the psychological drama feature film The First Breath of Tengan Rei. Erika Oda of Kore-Eda’s After Life stars as an Okinawan woman who kidnaps the teenage son of a U.S. Marine convicted of raping her when she was a girl. An IFP Independent Film Lab selection, Rei screened theatrically, at educational venues and festivals across the U.S., Japan and in India.
They’re developing the film and graphic novel Hand Head Heart, based on Junko’s experience growing up in a traditional extended family on a cattle farm in central Japan, and learning the sword fighting martial art kendo.
Their short film Homesick Blues, starring pop singer Zoey (now Remah) as an Osaka girl running off to America to sing the blues, won the IFP/Chicago Flyover Zone Film Festival and played the Hawaii and Chicago international film festivals...
Seven months since the beginning of the crisis, Japan stumbles toward recovery. Evacuated communities are being reopened near the nuclear plant, even as many efforts to decontaminate land are proving ineffective. With a number of notable exceptions, testing of rice and vegetables is showing much less contamination than was expected based on results in Chernobyl. Researchers investigate the reasons for these levels, considering the differing composition of Japanese soil, particularly certain minerals and bacteria that may remove radioactive cesium or prevent plants from absorbing it—bacteria that may thrive in organically cultivated land.
But the food testing regime is still sporadic, and no amount of lower test results will be sufficient to convince much of the public that Fukushima food is safe to eat. The organic farmers here toil to repair their land using natural methods (land that many of their families have tilled since before the U.S. was a country), to grow their food as free as possible of radionuclides, and to accurately communicate the condition of their produce to consumers. Constantly exposed to background radiation and inhaled particles in their fields, as well as from food and water, the farmers rank with cleanup workers in the groups at greatest risk of suffering health damage.
We will edit the film in Chicago through the fall and winter, and return to Japan next March to cover how the farmers weathered the seasons and how they fare as they prepare to plant again, a year after the disaster. In the meantime, we still need your support to cover the costs of postproduction...
Uncanny Terrain is a documentary about organic farmers facing Japan’s nuclear crisis, and an online community fostering dialogue on food safety, sustainable agriculture, alternative energy and disaster response. Please keep the conversation going by spreading the word or making a tax-deductible donation.
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Zen priest in Fukushima plants flowers that absorb radiation & accepts radioactive topsoil at temple grounds
"Invisible snow" by Reuters Tokyo Pictures, Aug. 19, 2011
He is the chief monk of Fukushima's 400-year old Joenji Temple and this is a sutra for peace and rebirth, a prayer for the resurrection of an entire community choked in radiation.
KOYU ABE, BUDDHIST MONK (voiceover translation): This radiation is like an invisible snow. It's fallen and brought us a long winter. But eventually the snow will melt and spring will come.
MARK WILLACY: To help his community rid itself of this invisible snow, Monk Abe is allowing people to dump their radioactive topsoil on temple land.
Armed with his four Geiger counters, he shows me just how contaminated this earth is.
The Japanese-made Geiger counter quickly blasts off the scale. The others reveal radiation levels ten times beyond what's considered safe.
KOYU ABE, BUDDHIST MONK (voiceover translation): The radiation level here is so high that some of the Geiger counters can't measure it. But I still accept this contaminated soil.
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Photojournalist Yuriko Nakao of Reuter has reported even more in-depth on Koyu Abe and his community at "Invisible Snow," a sensitive photo blog that includes the above video: As well as engaging in radiation clean-up, residents are planting flowers that absorb nuclear radiation:
Abe described the radiation particles as an “invisible snow”, “A snow you can’t see has covered the area, and has brought a long, long winter to Fukushima,” he said.
Abe’s organization called, “Make a wish upon flowers,” aimed to reduce the volume of radiation in Fukushima by using certain plants’ natural ability to reduce toxic materials in the ground. With his volunteer group, comprised of about 100 members, he planted sunflowers where radiation levels were high.
Abe hoped to lower the level of radiation and through that ease stress and anxiety experienced by the residents. He also strongly believed that his actions will tackle the prevalent sense of stagnation and help cultivate a sense of hope...
What moved me most was to see the residents not give up their hopes and strive to overcome their predicament. The three days that I spent with the monk’s family were very moving. They were like a blessing to me.
The monk also had his motives to tell me his story. He looked into my eyes and said: “Media outlets have the obligation to reveal and bring everything into the light, so that the people can make their decisions.” By making everything clear, the media can help stop the spread of bad rumors and lower the anxiety while speeding up the recovery process, he said.
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On the snowy fringes of Japan's Fukushima city, now notorious as a byword for nuclear crisis, Zen monk Koyu Abe offers prayers for the souls of thousands left dead or missing after the earthquake and tsunami nearly one year ago.
But away from the ceremonial drums and the incense swirling around the Joenji temple altar, Abe has undertaken another task, no less harrowing -- to search out radioactive "hot spots" and clean them up, storing irradiated earth on temple grounds...
"You can't see it. Nothing looks as if it's changed, but really, radiation is floating through the area. It's hard for those hit by the tsunami, but it's hard to live here too."
Last summer, Abe grew and distributed sunflowers and other plants, such as field mustard and amaranthus, in an effort to lighten the impact of the radiation and cheer local residents.
Now he is trading his ceremonial robes for a protective mask, working with volunteers to track down lingering pockets of radiation and cleaning them up...
Abe said he and the other monks are storing the soil on a hill behind the temple as neither the government nor the nuclear plant operator Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) are helping with the clean-up.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Global World Food Sovereignty Day: "From Food Monopolies to Food Commons"
Comprehensive analysis of the engineered global food price hikes, the global food crisis, and how to fix it (agro-ecology, food democracy) at Slow Food International. (The author explains why US Big Ag is pushing so hard to force open markets in Asia (and Africa)): "From Food Monopolies to Food Commons" by Eric Holt-Giménez, Ph.D.:
Calls for food sovereignty, food justice and even “food democracy” are ringing from fields to kitchens around the world. In the face of the recurrent food and diet crises plaguing our planet, farmers, farm and food workers, consumers—politically engaged citizens—are struggling to regain control over their food systems. Why?Read the entire article here.
Because the “solutions” to these crises offered by governments, agri-food monopolies and multilateral institutions—e.g., more “free” trade, genetically engineered crops and the spread of giant retail chains—brought on the crises to begin with. With a billion people “stuffed” and a billion “starved” on the planet, why do the G-8 countries, the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and World Trade Organization continue to prescribe catastrophic solutions to catastrophe?
The answer is simple: the oligopolies dominating our global corporate food regime are also in crisis. The record profits and massive wealth they accumulated during the 2008 and 2011 food price inflation crises must be re-invested in order to maintain a compound rate of growth... Where can they re-invest their vast amounts of accumulated wealth? The monopolies have what is called a crisis of over-accumulation.
Who will solve the crisis of over-accumulation for the monopolies? The poor.
The poor are not getting any richer, but as a group they are growing at the rate of 8% and because they make up nearly half of the world’s population they offer a vast, expanding market opportunity for the agri-food monopolies. With the promise of “saving the world from hunger,” these corporations are now busy leveraging public development funds of northern governments to open new markets in Africa and Asia. Foreign food and development aid—which is fuelled by public money—is being directed to poor countries so that they can buy GM grain, fertilizers, pesticides, and genetic engineered seeds from the northern monopolies.
Many studies and reports have shown that agroecology is the best answer to hunger and climate change in the Global South. Poor countries also have to be allowed to protect their own agriculture. The oligopolies controlling our food systems are not solving the problem of hunger—rather, hunger is being used to solve the problem of over-accumulation for the oligopolies...
Over the last three decades the waves of neoliberal globalization has not only ruined local and regional food systems...
Food sovereignty, food justice and food democracy are movements of people that seek other solutions. They seek to re-open public spaces of decision so that people rather than monopolies decide what we eat, how it is grown, and how the multi-trillion dollar wealth of our world food systems is distributed. How can our movements make sure that our public resources are used for the public good rather than monopoly interests? By re-establishing the public sphere within our food systems—by taking back the “food commons.”
A food commons is not only a physical place where food is produced, processed, sold or consumed; it is also a social space where decisions are made in the interest of the common good. Whenever food activists take back a part of the food system in the interest of the common good, they are constructing a food commons. This is why food sovereignty as an organizing concept and precondition for food justice, food democracy and the right to food is so important: it implies a space that is sovereign to the corporate food regime. It is a space in which people—not corporations—decide...
The social construction of food commons is taking place around the world in the nooks and crannies of the existing corporate food regime. Little by little, the different experiences of community gardens, fair trade, community service agriculture, food policy councils, farmer’s movements and consumer movements are slowly converging in their efforts to build a better food system.
Sunday, September 4, 2011
"The Indigenous Call: Take Back Our Future"
In the video, Gitz Crazyboy, First Nation Dene/Pikini (Blackfoot), Alberta, Canada, describes the threat of the tar sands for generations to come. The video includes images of Native Americans and First Nations arrested at the White House sit-in.
The pipeline would go across the heartland, and the massive Oglalla aquifer, from Canada to Texas, endangering the environment and generations to come. Already the Alberta tar sands are destroying the homeland of First Nations in Alberta.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Martin Frid: Support for Japanese farmers from French Organic Farmers
Wonderful news from Martin Frid in his latest post: "Support For Japan From French Organic Farmers".
Those of us who love and support traditional Japanese culture (rooted in small, organic family farms) are thrilled to hear that the French organic farming movement, Urgenci, is renaming their newsletter "Teikei," (cooperation) as a sign of solidarity with the Japanese Organic Agriculture Association (JOAA):
Most (1.9 million) Japanese farms are very small (less than 5 acres). These farms are based on harmony between humans and nature, highly sensitive to ecological balance of their landscapes (Satoyama).
Those of us who love and support traditional Japanese culture (rooted in small, organic family farms) are thrilled to hear that the French organic farming movement, Urgenci, is renaming their newsletter "Teikei," (cooperation) as a sign of solidarity with the Japanese Organic Agriculture Association (JOAA):
Tei-Kei: Legend has it that the face of the farmer is hiding in the vegetables in the box. The truth is far more prosaic, but none the less elegant. The word teikei 提 携 Is composed of two characters that depict an action : that of an outstretched hand and that of helping each other. This is the term chosen by the Japanese pioneers to designate the first partnerships that were developed between producers and consumers. From the outset, in the 1970s, this new form of direct sales illustrated how to jointly maintain the often fragile balance between farmers and consumers...More at the linked post from Martin, who will be visiting Namyangju City, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea in September with the JOAA for the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) World Congress, the first such event in Asia for the organic movement. IFOAM is the global umbrella organization for the organic movement, uniting more than 750 member organizations in 116 countries.
At a time when Japan is still suffering from the trauma of the nuclear disaster, renaming our newsletter TEIKEI is a legitimate act anchored in our history. It shows that our movements all recognise our family ties with the Japanese movement and is also a symbol of our unconditional solidarity towards the families that are victims of the disaster. It is an important signal that will strengthen a great many actions that are already up and running. The reconstruction projects carried out with such strength by Hiroko Amemiya to help the farmers in the contaminated zones, as well as the testimony by Shimpei and Toshihide in Aubagne. This is the 33rd Urgenci newsletter, the first to be published using our new name, Teikei. A great deal of it is dedicated to them.
Most (1.9 million) Japanese farms are very small (less than 5 acres). These farms are based on harmony between humans and nature, highly sensitive to ecological balance of their landscapes (Satoyama).
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