East Africa Climate Change

Liberia’s Private Use Permits and the Destruction of Community-Owned Rainforest Liberia is the most heavily forested country in West Africa and contains the last large areas of relatively intact rainforest in the region. Most of Liberia’s rural communities are also dependent on the forest for food, energy and other basic needs. During the country’s long conflict, timber exports were used to finance arms sales and logging companies committed human rights abuses against those living in the forests. In the nine years since the war, the Liberian Government and its international partners have spent considerable time and money reforming the sector –drafting new laws and negotiating a timber trade agreement with the European Union. However, in the span of only two years, companies have used a legal loophole to secretively parcel out dozens of logging contracts covering a quarter of the country’s land area – roughly 26,000 km2 – once again threatening Liberia’s forests and the people who ...

The Pastor entered his donkey in a race and It won ! The Pastor was so pleased with the donkey that he entered it in the next race, and it won that race, too.* * The local paper read:* *PASTOR' S * ASS OUT FRONT. *  The Bishop was so upset with this kind of publicity that he ordered the Pastor not to enter the donkey in another races.* * The next day the local paper headline read: * *“BISHOP SCRATCHES PASTOR'S ASS!” * *  This was too much for the Bishop, so he ordered the Pastor to get rid of the donkey.* * The Pastor decided to give it to a Nun in a nearby convent. * * The local paper, hearing of the news, posted the following headline the next day:* * NUN HAS BEST ASS IN TOWN! * *  The Bishop shocked. * * He informed the Nun that she would have to get rid of the donkey as soon as possible. * * So she sold it to a local farmer for $10.* * The next day the paper read:* * “NUN SELLS * *ASS FOR $10!”* *  This was too much for the Bishop so he ordered the Nun to buy ba...

East Africa’s iconic mountains are losing their snow By Jason Patinkin -  When Kenyan mountaineer Nikunj Shah first climbed Mount Kenya as an 18-year-old in 1989, he and his friends strapped plastic bags to their boots to keep their feet dry as they crossed a glacier on the way to the 5,199-metre peak.  Since then, Shah has gone up Africa’s second-highest mountain after Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania 52 more times, making him one of the mountain’s most experienced climbers.  Shah — a trustee with the 65-year-old Mountain Club of Kenya — has today better gear for his two annual climbs, but he no longer needs to worry about snow filling his boots.  The glaciers Kenyans have looked at in wonder for millennia are disappearing as a result of climate change.  “In the late 1980s and early 90s, 90 per cent of the walk [above the high camp] was in the snow,” Shah says. “But you don’t walk on snow any more. You use the [rock] ridge.”  The white caps of Moun...

Friends, The movement to divest from fossil fuels is based on a fundamentally moral argument: Investment in the fossil fuel industry is  wrong . Climate change is  unjust . That's why we think Pope Francis just might listen when we say: It's time to divest the Vatican from fossil fuels. With the ear of 1.2 billion Catholics and the respect of Christians and non-Christians alike, Pope Francis is uniquely positioned to add both his voice and the moral power of his office to the divestment movement. This Pope understands the threat of climate change. He understands that if we do nothing, then the impacts of climate change will be horrific, and will fall hardest on the world's most vulnerable people. He gets that humans are responsible for protecting the planet -- and ourselves. Click here to call on Pope Francis to divest the Vatican. Because caring for humanity's future is something we can all believe in. In the past two years, hundreds of universities, ci...

Community oral health workers from Colgate Palmolive examine pupils' teeth for cavities during a free dental check up at a past edition of the Kenya National Music Festival. It has emerged that Colgate Total toothpaste contains triclosan which studies in animals have suggested could harm growth.  IN SUMMARY Colgate Total contains triclosan, now linked to cancer and growth malformations in animals. The US Federal Drug Administration used company-backed evidence to approve it in 1997. The documents were released earlier this year after a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit last year. A chemical that has been linked to cancer cell growth in animals is being used by thousands of Kenyans in toothpaste every day, it has emerged. But the toxicology documents used by the FDA to approve the toothpaste reveal the agency relied upon company-backed science to reach its conclusion, Bloomberg News has reported. The documents were only released early this year after a Freedom of Information Act...

Central banks purchased 118 tones in net gold in Q2 2014, representing a 28% year-over-year increase, according to the World Gold Council .   In May 2014, the  European Central Bank  and other European central banks signed the fourth  Central Bank Gold Agreement (CBGA). The agreement states that the central banks "currently do not have plans to sell significant amounts of gold", and it will last for 5 years starting in the end of September 2014.  Country-wise, Russia saw a major increase in official reserves since February 2014, moving its place up two spots in the ranking. Global official gold holdings totalled 31,812.0 tonnes as of August 2014, according to the latest report from the World Gold Council.  Business Insider identified the ten countries with the largest gold reserves.  1. United States   Official gold holdings: 8,133.5 tonnes  Percentage of foreign reserves in gold: 71.9%  The US had its largest  gold reserves ...