Mexico City subway rate increase enrages commuters

(Sashenka Gutierrez / European Pressphoto Agency / December 15, 2013)

latimes.com: "A recent increase in subway fares in Mexico City has touched off a protest movement of civil disobedience — with infuriated young commuters jumping over turnstiles to make their point — and has ignited a new round of political trouble for the capital's besieged mayor."

Venezuela fuel subsidy terribly misguided, must end, free buses would solve it

Fox News Latino: "Prices at Venezuelan gas pumps have been frozen for almost 20 years with politicians hesitant to repeat the mistake of rising prices in 1989, triggering days of deadly rioting. The late President Hugo Chavez once confessed it pained him to practically give away fuel to luxury car owners, but during 14 years of rule he never dared to touch the gasoline subsidy that consumes upward of $12.5 billion a year in government income."

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People in Mexico City fill the streets to oppose higher #publictransit fares.

tphoto on Twitter #posmesalto #yosoy132

Fight for #freetransit is for economic and ecologic justice

yosoy132 #PosMeSalto #PorElPais

People protest Metro fare hike

The Chinese Have Bought Out Ecuador’s Oil Sector

Peak Oil News: "China’s aggressive quest for foreign oil has reached a new milestone, according to records reviewed by Reuters: near monopoly control of crude exports from an OPEC nation, Ecuador."

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Mexico City Metro ridership up 17% in one year

Increases by 17% the number of Metro users | News | Citizens Network: "According to information from the Metro Public Transport System, the Federal District and the Institute of Geography, UNAM, increased 17 percent in the number of users in just one year, from 4.5 to 5.3 million people daily, causing saturation in at least four lines."

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Must read: Stinging criticism of Jamaica's public transit system

We have been underdeveloped by taxis and minibuses and a febrile JUTC. We can afford a good system and would not need “little, little” systems for schools, nurses, civil servants, airport workers, etc.

Politics underdevelops public transport - Columns - JamaicaObserver.com: " The impact on lifestyle, leisure, workers and students -- three to six hours on the road; no family time, growing alienation; and increasing vulnerability is acute. Roads are default but do not solve our transport woes. Developed nations' inter-generational transport projects give their kids a leg-up. UK commuter standards are high and "just-in-time travel plans" are normal. If the bus is five minutes late, you miss the train at the other end. PJ Patterson left a legacy of high volume roads, but commitment to roads is a boon to car makers and oil sellers."
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/columns/Politics-underdevelops-public-transport_15408457#ixzz2k6rBUsTz

Bogotá Transmilenio BRT depends on 650,000 free bus rides per day and 150 miles of bike lanes

Bus Rapid Transit Policy Center: "As shown above, fares are collected via smart card at the station entrance.  No fare is charged for use of the feeder buses.  Feeder bus operators are compensated through the fares collected at the trunk stations, and up to 20 percent of total fare revenue can be used to support feeder bus operations. "

Costa Rica, already choked by cars, experiencing #climatechange with car system literally falling apart

Heavy rains Tuesday forced MOPT and CONAVI to close the temporary bridges

 facilitating traffic along Route 39. Courtesy of Public Works and Transport Ministry

Circunvalación to close for 2 months, says Costa Rica Transport Ministry / News Briefs / More news / Costa Rica Newspaper, The Tico Times: "Get ready, San José traffic is about to get a lot worse."

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Plan to keep oil in the ground a spectacular failure in Ecuador

Deforestation surges as Ecuador kills Amazon protection plan: "Data released this week by Terra-i, a collaborative mapping initiative, shows that deforestation in Ecuador for the first three months of 2013 was pacing more than 300 percent ahead of last year's rate. The report comes shortly after Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa killed off a proposed plan to prohibit oil drilling in Yasuni National Park in exchange for payments equivalent to half the value of the park's unexploited oil reserves. "

This shows us the impossibility of stopping fossil fuels by addressing the supply side. Reducing demand through degrowth and culture change is the only way.

#Publictransit has reduced traffic injuries and fatalities 40% in Mexico City

Boom and bus: how public transport can curb road deaths as our cities grow | Claudia Adriazola | Global development | theguardian.com: "The magnitude of the challenges that cities face calls for new structural solutions. And some cities are making progress on that front. Embarq is working with officials in more than 50 cities across six countries to redesign streets and public spaces, give people better options for getting around, and improve mass transit systems. In Mexico City, for example, Embarq has supported the construction of almost 620 miles of BRT corridors. These transit systems have cut commuting times by nearly 12m hours annually, reduced traffic-related injuries and fatalities by roughly 40%, and eliminated more than 113,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions a year."

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Fuel price, fertilizer price, exploitation, trade agreements, Colombia farmers strike.

Luis Acosta AFP/Getty Images

As Farmers' Strike Paralyzes Colombia, President Questions Its Existence - ABC News: "For the general public, the president’s account is confounding at best. The situation is far from being under control. Basic food prices have doubled in some towns and cities, and few if any transport trucks or commercial vehicles are running through some of the country’s busiest states. Thousands of tons of produce are rotting or are being thrown away in more than five states since truckers are afraid to drive around the country to deliver their orders.

...All in all, there are four major groups leading the strike: potato growers, coffee planters, and other farmers from the country’s interior; milk and dairy producers; truckers; and small-scale miners. Each group has its own grievances, most of which date back several months."

How environmental market solutions are used to undermine democracy and indigenous rights in Latin America

U.S. Funded Democracy Centre Reveals It’s Real Reason for Supporting the TIPNIS Protest in Bolivia: REDD $$$ | Wrong Kind of Green | the NGOs & conservation groups that are bargaining away our future: "Morales has been a world leader in his vocal opposition to REDD stating that “nature, forests and indigenous peoples are not for sale.” At the opposite end of the spectrum are the foundations (who serve as tax-exempt front groups for corporations and elites) who finance the NGOs who have led the campaign to discredit Morales are most all heavily promoting and investing in REDD. CIDOB is involved in pilot REDD projects funded by the NGO called FAN (Fundación Amigos de la Naturaleza) which is funded by a slew of foreign interest entities/states and corporate NGOs such as USAID, Conservation International, European Union, American Electric Power, BP-Amoco and Dow Chemical‘s partner, The Nature Conservancy. Indeed, when it comes to the world’s most powerful NGOs voicing any dissent to the false solution of REDD, the silence is deafening. (http://www.redd-monitor.org/2011/10/26/manufacturing-consent-on-carbon-trading/)"

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Who will pay the high price of oil?

EITAN ABRAMOVICH/AFP/Getty Images

Truckers, Coffee Workers And Miners Protest Against Low Wages And Government Promises Unfulfilled: "Each group is fighting its own battle, but all of their demands are interconnected: Truckers are protesting low wages and the high prices of gas; coffee workers are demanding relief for their bankrupt industry; and miners are fighting against government interventions.

Santos, in response, said he would not bend to the demands, and he said the country’s budget simply cannot solve all of the countries exigencies."

Cars take up too much space for cities

Metrobus Toluca YA: "El uso del espacio público y diferentes medios de transporte."

Puerto Rico DOT holds textbook swap fair at main train station

DTOP :: ::: "With this event, we again provide an opportunity for parents and students to sell and exchange their books. We want to provide a place where parents can sell to other texts of their children. They will be the ones who negotiate the selling price. Again, this means of mass transportation serves commercial development platform for citizens " , Hernandez Ramos announced by press release."

Free public transport boosting economy in Medellín

The Guardian: " the £4m, six-section moving staircase has just been given a stylish orange roof, allowing people to ride up and down the hill, listening to piped music, in six minutes, rather than climb the equivalent of a 28-storey building, which took half an hour.
..., the escalator, which is free to use, has become the symbol of a rebirth..."

Toluca needs #publictransit

https://www.facebook.com/MetrobusTolucaYA

Although, in 2008, the government of Toluca, has announced intentions to build Metrobus lines, this project did not see the light of the world.

The carrier lobby knows absolute power. It opposes both the restructuring and road order. Imposes hikes rates, which become the highest in the country. It provides lousy service, uncontrollable and harmful to public health and safety. 80% of air pollution is caused by transportation.

Toluca is the second most polluted city, according to studies of PM10 concentration. This causes pulmonary emphysema and other diseases responsible for deaths by pollution.

We demand solution to this problem, because more than 14 000 deaths in Mexico.

THE road realignment is imposed. Let us begin to control a service as essential as public transport. Stop an environmental catastrophe.

https://www.facebook.com/MetrobusTolucaYA

¿Por qué esta crisis no acabará nunca?

Ubunteacher's Blog: "En casi todas las crisis económicas ha tenido algo que ver el petróleo. En un sistema económico “business as usual” es imperativo crecer exponencialmente (la capitalización compuesta así lo exige) y esto implica un crecimiento también exponencial de la producción de energías. No existe ningún producto con tanta densidad energética y tan versátil como el petroleo, la industria y la economía se rige por su abundancia o escasez. Crecer de forma exponencial hasta el infinito en un mundo finito es algo que la razón no puede admitir. Sin embargo hemos vivido derrochando energía hasta el punto en que no nos damos cuenta del absurdo. Hemos aceptado un absurdo como forma de vida. La fecha exacta del cenit del petróleo “Peak Oil” no es lo más importante. El momento en que la demanda supere la producción tampoco. Lo importante es que no se está haciendo nada para prevenir el día en que esto pasará."

Hacer en común | Difundiendo Sustentabilidad

Hacer en común | Difundiendo Sustentabilidad: "Es tan emocionante ser parte de la generación que debe vivir un cambio histórico de esta magnitud que en vez de miedo, hay expectativa.
En el mundo aparecen propuestas como el Transition Movement, eco-barrios, ecoaldeas y otras iniciativas para comenzar gradualmente la independencia al petróleo."

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True cost of #autosprawl - not deducted from profits - Ecuador

Big Oil's Impact in the Rainforest: "Between the late 1960s and the early 1990s the Oriente suffered serious degradation and deforestation from oil spills and clearing for access roads, exploration, and production activities. Green groups allege that Texaco dumped more than 20 billion gallons of toxic drilling by-products into local waterways and spilled some 17 million gallons of crude. A 1992 spill was so large that it caused the Rio Napo to run black for days and forced downstream Peru and Brazil to declare states of emergency for the affected regions. "

In Jalisco, the city can be a beautiful garden

http://www.pdcciudadjardin.org/

Jamaica to spend USD 22M on buses

From the budget: $2 billion to purchase new buses - News - JamaicaObserver.com: "Efforts are being made to improve the public passenger transportation system this financial year, through a $2.2 billion allocation to purchase new buses.
The programme, being implemented by the Ministry of Transport, Works and Housing, will see some $2.19 billion being allocated to the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC)."

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#climatechange slamming Latin America with floods

BBC News - Argentina floods: Dozens dead in La Plata and Buenos Aires: "One of the heaviest storms recorded moved through the province hitting both the capital, Buenos Aires, and the city of La Plata."

Ecuador auctions off Amazon to Chinese oil firms | World news | The Guardian

Ecuador auctions off Amazon to Chinese oil firms | World news | The Guardian: "Ecuador plans to auction off more than three million hectares of pristine Amazonian rainforest to Chinese oil companies, angering indigenous groups and underlining the global environmental toll of China's insatiable thirst for energy."

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Extolled as benefits of walkability - but really they are externalized costs of the private auto

Economic Benefits of Walkability | Ciudades emergentes y sostenibles: "It’s pretty clear from the study that if you can afford to live, work, or own a business in a highly walkable place, that you can reap tremendous benefits. "

Amazon Indians unite against Canadian oil giant - Survival International

Amazon Indians unite against Canadian oil giant - Survival International: "Survival’s Director Stephen Corry said, ‘The Canadian state was founded on the theft of tribal land. When Europeans invaded Canada, they introduced alien diseases, seized control of natural resources, and brought about the extinction of entire peoples. It’s a great irony that a Canadian company today is poised to commit the same crimes against tribes in Peru. Why doesn’t the Peruvian government uphold its own commitments to tribal rights? History tells us that when uncontacted peoples’ land is invaded, death, disease and destruction follow.’"

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Glaciers: Meltwater catastrophes are forming high in the Andes -- 03/14/2013 -- www.eenews.net

Lake Palcacocha, a high Andean lake with a deadly downside. Photo courtesy of Cesar Portocarrero.

Glaciers: Meltwater catastrophes are forming high in the Andes -- 03/14/2013 -- www.eenews.net: "Last month, the Risk Management Office of the Peruvian Municipality of Huaraz sounded the alarm that glacial lake Palcacocha had once again swollen above its record volume of 17 million cubic meters of water (about 612 million cubic feet). At such levels, local authorities feared the lake could suddenly burst and send waves, liquid mud, blocks of ice and chunks of rock roaring down the Santa River valley into the quiet city of Huaraz, population 117,774."

Palm oil plantations eating up old-growth forests

Palm oil company destroys 7,000 ha of Amazon rainforest in Peru: "The report comes a year after a study published in the journal Environmental Research Letters found that 72 percent of oil palm expansion in the Peruvian Amazon since 2000 has come at the expense of forest. "

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Colombia - Only 8 more years of oil

Will Colombia Become Latin America’s Poster Child for Peak Oil: "In a stark interview with RCN Radio, Colombia’s Finance Minister Mauricio Cardenas told his audience that Colombian oil reserves will last only eight more years at the current rate of consumption, adding, “We know that's not much time to sustain a pace of 1 million barrels per day. That's why we need to find reserves quickly.”"

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U.S. Empire cannot keep own citizens warm

Venezuela Donates Free Heating Oil to 100k Needy US Households: "Kennedy thanked CITGO, Venezuela and Chávez for "help[ing] more than 400,000 people stay warm and safe this winter," adding that he has approached numerous major oil-producing nations as well as some of the largest US oil companies and asked them if they were interested in helping the poor heat their homes.

"I don't see Exxon responding," he told the crowd in Baltimore. "I don't see other major oil companies heating the homes of the poor."

"They all said no," Kennedy added, "except for CITGO, President Chávez and the people of Venezuela.""

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BBC News - Massive melting of Andes glaciers

BBC News - Massive melting of Andes glaciers: "The glaciers, which provide fresh water for tens of millions in South America, are retreating at their fastest rate in the past 300 years."

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How Cuba Survived Peak Oil

Big Oil The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil: "Cubans share how they transitioned from a highly mechanized, industrial agricultural system to one using organic methods of farming and local, urban gardens. It is an unusual look into the Cuban culture during this economic crisis, which they call "The Special Period." "

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Ecuadorean tribe will 'die fighting' to defend rainforest | Environment | The Guardian

Ecuadorean tribe will 'die fighting' to defend rainforest | Environment | The Guardian: ""We are now fighting against a signed contract. We must make people realise it is invalid but there is huge concern the oil company will move quickly to clear the land. When that happened elsewhere, they used armed troops, beatings and abductions to remove those who stood in their way.""

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Severe droughts in Amazon linked to climate change, says study - CBS News

Severe droughts in Amazon linked to climate change, says study - CBS News: "The most striking data came from the summer of 2005, when 270,000 square miles of forest experienced a severe drought that caused widespread, observable damage to the canopy. The drought conditions were so severe that the rainforest was unable to fully recover before the next drought struck in 2010."

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Colonialism and the Green Economy: Villagers Defy Pressure to Forfeit Farms for Carbon-Offset

Colonialism and the Green Economy: Villagers Defy Pressure to Forfeit Farms for Carbon-Offset: " communities that have traditionally cared for the land are being faced with forced evictions or economic pressure to convert their lands to biofuel plantations. Chiapas is yet another example of the dangers of putting too much emphasis on forest carbon offsets and biofuels as a means to mitigate climate change."  "

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Indigenous tribe forces oil predators to back off

Ecuadorian tribe gets reprieve from oil intrusion | Environment | guardian.co.uk: "An indigenous community in the Ecuadorian Amazon has won a reprieve after building up an arsenal of spears, blowpipes, machetes and guns to fend off an expected intrusion by the army and a state-run oil company.

The residents of Sani Isla expressed relief that a confrontation with Petroamazonas did not take place on Tuesday as anticipated, but said the firm is still trying to secure exploration rights in their area of pristine rainforest."

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Peru's indigenous people take battle over gas exploration to court | Global development | guardian.co.uk

Peru's indigenous people take battle over gas exploration to court | Global development | guardian.co.uk: "Peru's biggest indigenous federation, the Interethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Rainforest (Aidesep), intends to use the courts to halt the planned $70m (£43m) expansion of the country's largest natural gas reserve further into territory set aside for isolated Amazon tribes."

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