live in hope

the flambo project 2.0

Continuing the Flambo Project, we currently have another 120 young flamboyant (also known as royal poinciana) trees to plant along the main island road here in Roatan's East End communities. This year we want to get the children from the local primary school involved in the project. I'll post reports as the project progresses during the next couple of weeks.

Roatan, Bay Islands of Honduras.

Barack Obama warns against nationalism, says the “world is at a crossroads” in Indonesian speech

Speaking at the Fourth Congress of the Indonesian Diaspora in Jakarta while on vacation with his family, Former President Barack Obama touched on the rising wave of nationalism across the globe, and the dangers of intolerance.

“The world is at a crossroads,” Obama said in the country where he lived for fours years during his childhood. Obama said that the world needed to confront the threats of “discrimination against people based on race or ethnicity or religion.”

“We start seeing a rise in sectarian politics, we start seeing a rise in an aggressive kind of nationalism, we start seeing both in developed and developing countries an increased resentment about minority groups and the bad treatment of people who don’t look like us or practice the same faith as us,” he said.

Obama pointed to the Paris climate agreement as a promising strategy the world was willing to undertake.

“In Paris, we came together around the most ambitious agreement in history to fight climate change,” Obama said. Although President Trump withdrew from the accord, Obama said the agreement “will still give our children a fighting chance.”

- Salon 

obama creates world's largest marine protected area

President Barack Obama on Friday expanded a national monument off the coast of Hawaii, creating a safe zone for tuna, sea turtles and thousands of other species in what will be the world's largest marine protected area. Obama's proclamation quadrupled in size a monument originally created by President George W. Bush in 2006. The Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument will contain some 582,578 square miles, more than twice the size of Texas.

- ABC News

peace in colombia!

"We have won the most beautiful of battles, that of peace for Colombia," rebel negotiator Ivan Marquez told reporters in Havana, where the talks took place. "With this agreement, we can proclaim the end of war with arms and the start of the contest of ideas."

A historic day!

video: madame president

I'm SO happy and grateful for Hillary Rodham Clinton!

I'M 100% WITH HER!

600-mile-long reef discovered at the mouth of the amazon

Oceanographer Patricia Yager has been studying the Amazon River plume—where nearly one-fifth of the world’s river water discharge gushes into the Atlantic Ocean—for the past 15 years. But even with her level of expertise, she was shocked by the discovery of a 600-mile-long reef below the murky waters off Brazil’s northern coastline, stretching from the French Guiana border to Brazil’s Maranhão state. More than 73 species of fish, spiny lobsters, sea stars, 60 species of sponges, and even invertebrate species not yet identified were discovered living along the reef, according to a study published Friday in the journal Science Advances. “‘Astounded’ is really the word,” said Yager, an associate professor of marine sciences at the University of Georgia and coauthor of the study. “It’s so muddy there, you just assume that it all ends up resting on the sea floor. There’s no way coral could survive down there, but it’s there.”

- Yahoo News

Wow! Life is nothing if not tenacious. This gives me hope for our much abused and injured planet.

the flambo project

My attempt to help create some hope in a world gone mad. (Click on the image above to see the full flyer; if it loads in a size (too large or too small) that's difficult to read on your screen, click on the new image once or twice and it will resize to properly fit your screen). This project has been in the works for the last eight months. Tomorrow, 19 November (which happens to be my birthday), it will be launched.

The young, ready-to-transplant Flamboyant trees.

hope: UK establishes new 322,000 square miles marine reserve in the pacific ocean

The UK is to establish the largest, continuous marine reserve in the world, around the Pitcairn Islands. The Pacific zone will cover 834,000 sq km (322,000 sq miles) - more than twice the land area of the British Isles. The intention is to protect the wealth of ocean life from illegal fishing activities. A satellite "watchroom" has been established to monitor vessel activity, and to gather the information needed to prosecute unauthorised trawling.

- BBC

This is awesome news! Kudos to the Brits on this brilliant action to help conserve the wildlife of our oceans!

Other massive marine reserves that have been established and that are mentioned in the article:

• Chagos Islands Marine Protected Area (397,667 square miles, Indian Ocean, UK initiative)
• Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument (490,343 square miles, Pacific Ocean, US initiative)

"the bigots don't win"

This takes courage. These are courageous men. Bravo Dan Savage and Terry Miller!

bravo chile!

Florencio Avalos, the first miner brought to the surface, is hugged by Chilean president Sebastian Piñera as the miner's family looks on. What an wonderful story of human perseverance, ingenuity, and solidarity!

The faces (click image to enlarge). May all 33 miners be rescued safely.

Photos: top - Reuters; bottom: AP.