Tierramérica

Issue of February, 21, 2005



	Current Edition

	Report

	Accents

	Analysis

	Dialogues

	Notable Writings

	Eco-Briefs

	Gallery

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The Toyota Prius is a favorite hybrid car in the United States

Report
Car Industry Challenges California Law
By Katherine Stapp
In 10 years, all new cars in California must emit at least 30 percent less carbon dioxide, says the first law of its kind in the world. But car manufacturers have filed a lawsuit to halt the legislation.

Mapuche children in traditional dress
Credit: COPESA

Accents
Mapuche Culture a Boon to Health and Palate
By Daniela Estrada
Chilean Indians are opening pharmacies and restaurants as a means to disseminate their view of the world... and to create jobs. Most of Chile's 600,000 Mapuches live in poverty.

Analysis
Spain Lags Behind in Kyoto Protocol Compliance
By Tito Drago
Spain is the European nation with the biggest increase in greenhouse gas emissions since 1990. Many companies are expected to turn to Latin America in order to meet their emissions reduction quotas. The energy company Endesa has announced it will invest 3.2 billion dollars in the region.

Accents
Industry's Hidden Environmental Costs
By Mario Osava
Contaminated soil threatens the health of some two million people in Brazil, say authorities. Gas stations are the leading culprits behind this type of pollution in the state of Sao Paulo, the nation's industrial center

Connect Yourself
Violence Against Environmental Activists
By
The assassination on Feb. 12 of Dorothy Stang, a U.S.-born Catholic nun working in the Brazilian Amazon state of Pará, turned international attention to the human rights of environmental activists. Tierramérica offers this guide for navigating the issue on the Internet.

Eco-Briefs

The wax palm
Credit: Juan Manuel Rengifo

COLOMBIA: Holy Week, but No Palm Fronds
Colombia's Environment Ministry and Bogotá's Botanical Garden have launched the ''Reconcile with Nature'' campaign to prevent the use of the fronds of the wax palm (Ceroxylon quindiuense) in the celebrations of Christianity's Holy Week.

MEXICO: 'Export' of Law on Transgenics?
The environmental watchdog group Greenpeace warned that the new Mexican law on biosecurity for genetically modified organisms (GMOs) --opposed by environmentalists, a group of farmers, and scientists -- could be used as a model for similar legislation in Central America.

PERU: Oil Companies Resist Ethanol
Sugarcane growers in Peru are demanding that the government comply with the law on Promotion of Bio-Fuel Market, in effect since Jan. 1, and which obligates petroleum refineries to replace the lead in gasoline with ethanol.

HONDURAS:: $320 Million to Fight Water Shortage
Honduran authorities need 320 million dollars to build a reservoir for potable water in the capital, where tight rationing of water supplies has been in effect because of a dry summer and the climate phenomenon known as El Niño.

GUATEMALA: To Jail for Littering
The municipal government of Quiché, a tourist destination in central Guatemala, will send anyone who dumps trash in the streets to prison for 10 to 60 days.

Lessons From a Unique Decade - José Graziano da Silva *
Rio+20 and Beyond: Together for a Sustainable Future - José Graziano da Silva *
Why Inclusive Green Growth Can Sustain Recent Gains in Latin America - Hasan Tuluy*
The Global Food Crisis and the Latin American Paradox - Pamela Cox