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Rainforest Information Centre

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24.01.2022 We call it the gum tree, as if it were just a thing Not pulsating, not whispering, not rustling around, not shedding skin, Not perfuming, not drinking, not perspiring, not growing, not trembling, Neither swaying, waving or sheltering Not watching, not listening, not stretching, not changing colour,... Not bleeding, not blooming, not breeding, not singing, not shrieking, Not crying, not sleeping, not grieving, not breathing, not scratched and bleeding from a frightened goanna, Not tolerating raucous mobs of parrots, children Just there, sticking out of the ground, As if we weren't so very blessed to have it there. - ‘Gum Tree', Graham Ballard from Casino, NSW, Koori Mail 501 p.23 Pictured is the Sacred Ancestor Tree, a Directions tree, that Djab Wurrung people would use for guidance. It's a beautiful reflection of a living and breathing culture. But now another victim of the violence of so-called Australia. The violence of this Colony is ongoing and ruthless. It was cut down today. ~ via Argo Theoharis on FB

19.01.2022 The transition to a healed world requires something much deeper than better techniques. More important is to learn to inhabit the source from which indigenous land stewardship practices arise. That source is a way of seeing, conceiving, and relating to nature. It is also a way of understanding ourselves: who we are and why we are here. Fundamentally, the source of wise forest management is to see and know nature as a being, not a thing. That’s the best I can put it, but it is...n’t good enough. The words themselves entrap me in error. Nature is not something separate from ourselves, and not even things are just things. Let me say then that traditional and indigenous cultures live in a world where being is everywhere and in everything, and humans are no more or less sacred than trees, mountains, water, or ants. On the most obvious level, the view of nature-as-thing greatly facilitates the clearcutting, mining, stripping, and profiteering, just as dehumanization of other people allows their exploitation and enslavement. It’s the same basic mindset. But there is another problem too: the mindset of nature-as-thing prevents us from coming into the intimacy of relationship that is necessary to tend, heal, and cocreate with it to mutual benefit. It is like the difference between a doctor who treats you impersonally, as a case, and one who sees you as a full human being. ~ Charles Eisenstein in his most recent essay, World on Fire https://charleseisenstein.org/essays/world-on-fire/

18.01.2022 Some international media on the Los Cedros court case.

18.01.2022 This world, in which we are born and take our being, is alive. It is not our supply house and sewer; it is our larger body. The intelligence that evolved us from stardust and interconnects us with all beings is sufficient for the healing of our Earth community, if we but align with that purpose. Our true nature is far more ancient and encompassing than the separate self defined by habit and society. We are as intrinsic to our living world as the rivers and trees, woven of t...he same intricate flows of matter/energy and mind. Having evolved us into self-reflexive consciousness, the world can now know itself through us, behold its own majesty, tell its own stories and also respond to its own suffering. ~Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone in Active Hope

16.01.2022 CUT DOWN TODAY !!! We are outraged by the cutting down of this sacred Directions Tree by Vic Roads and the Daniel Andrews Government. This tree that has been fiercely protected by the Djab Wurrung embassy and volunteer activists for 2years!!... This is desecration of indigenous cultural heritage. This is cultural genocide in action! It is the deep sickness of the Industrial Growth Culture that prioritises money over everything else. _______________________________________ "The Djab Wurrung call this ancient tree the Directions Tree, which they believe grew from a seed and the placenta of their ancestor many centuries ago. It is a towering yellow-box with a distinctive serpent-like swirl on its trunk These trees have been fiercely guarded by the Djab Wurrung Embassy and hundreds of supporters since mid-2018, with protesters staring down police efforts to carry out eviction orders on many occasions. VicRoads have planned to cut down this and numerous other trees of Aboriginal cultural value to widen a road. Djab Wurrung had applied for protection of the area under the federal Aboriginal heritage act several times. Multi-clan elder Aunty Sandra Onus, who is brought the latest case, said bulldozing trees that her people deemed sacred was akin to Rio Tinto’s destruction of two 46,000-year-old sacred Aboriginal caves in Western Australia. "We’ve shown them a better way to do this and they're not listening to us," Ms Onus said of the government. "They’re being bloody-minded, as far as I’m concerned. ~ words by Sovereign Union _____________________________________ Please help us make a big noise about this abhorrent disgusting behaviour: - Sussan Ley (Minister for Environment): (02) 6277 7920 - VicRoads (Ararat): 13 11 71 or https://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/contact-us/post -Dan Andrews 0396515000 [email protected]

16.01.2022 STARTING TODAY!!! Absolutely essential case for the RIGHTS OF NATURE Monday, October 19th, the highest court in Ecuador's Constitutional Court will begin to hear arguments in the historic case for the Rights of Nature related to the protected Los Cedros Biological Reserve, which is under threat from the Rio Magdalena mining project, run by ENAMI and Cornerstone Resources. Under Ecuador's constitution, nature has rights, protecting it from logging, mining and oil extract...ion. If the Constitutional Court upholds the Rights of Nature, not only will Los Cedros be safe from extractive industry, but so too will Ecuador's 185 other protected areas. Los Cedros Biological Reserve is a remote, pristine, 17,000-acre cloud forest in northwest Ecuador and one of the most biodiverse places on the planet. It's home to thousands of known species and countless yet to be identified. It supports over 200 species at risk of extinction, many of which are endemic to the reserve. A scientists petition to protect the ecologically significant Los Cedros Reserve was signed by over 1200 scientists, including Jane Goodall, EO Wilson, Peter Raven, and Rosemary and Peter Grant. Mining in Protected Forests is a violation of the legal status of declared Protected Areas, the collective rights of indigenous peoples, the Rights of Nature, and the right of communities to prior consultation before potential environmental damages. Please share this post to help raise awareness for Ecuador's forests and also tweet with the tags #JusticiaLosCedros and #SaveLosCedros Thank you to everyone helping to raise awareness of this case and for permission for the music use in this video by Earthphish (www.earthphish.com) Click this link to find out more ways you can help =>> https://linktr.ee/LosCedrosReserve #ProtectOurPlanet #SaveOurPlanet #ProtectBiodiversity #FaceTheClimateEmergency #ALifeOnOurPlanet #BosquesSinMineria #EcuadorMegadiversoNoMegaminero #SaveLosCedrosReserve #LosCedros #RightsOfNature #EcuadorEndangered #savetheforest #ecocidelaw #yestolifenotomining #deepecology #earthprotectors

14.01.2022 A century or more of deforestation and other land abuse has lowered the resistance of forests to fires and created drought conditions that exacerbate them. It’s commonplace to declare that climate change is harming forests, but it may be more accurate to say that harm to forests causes climate change, which then harms forests even more. Forest clearcutting affects climate far beyond the oxidation of stored carbon. Without leaves, leaf litter, and roots to protect it, exposed ...topsoil washes away and the rainwater has no chance to sink into the earth. The resulting floods are inevitably followed by droughts. Why? A healthy forest transpires groundwater, maintaining moist conditions and extending the rainy season. Globally, at least 40% of rainfall originates from plant transpiration; in the Amazon it is 70%. Forests also contribute to local, regional, and global cooling as the transpired water evaporates and rises into the atmosphere. Its latent heat is released when it condenses higher up, some of which radiates out into space. Furthermore, healthy forests emit ice nucleating compounds and particles, increasing cloud cover, creating rain, and reflecting sunlight back into space. Old growth forests perform these functions especially well. ~Charles Eisenstein in his latest essay: https://charleseisenstein.org/essays/world-on-fire/

13.01.2022 "Every tree, every plant, has a spirit. People may say that a plant has no mind. I tell them that a plant is alive and conscious. A plant may not talk, but there is a spirit in it that is conscious, that sees everything, which is the soul of the plant, its essence, what makes it alive. The channels through which water and sap move are the veins of the spirit." "I feel a great sorrow when trees are burned, when the forest is destroyed. I feel sorrow because I know that hu...man beings are doing something very wrong." "When one takes ayahuasca one can sometimes hear how the trees cry when they are going to be cut down. They know beforehand, and they cry. And the spirits have to go to other places, because their physical part, their house, is destroyed." - The late Peruvian curandero Pablo Amaringo [Photo by Lucas Landau taken August 15, 2020 @ the Amazon Rainforest of Brazil, state of Para]

12.01.2022 The most radical thing any of us can do at this time is to be fully present to what is happening in the world. For me, the price of admission into that present was allowing my heart to break. But then I saw how, in the face of overwhelming social and ecological crises, despair transforms into clarity of vision, then into constructive, collaborative action. ~ Dahr Jamail in A Wild Love for The World

11.01.2022 The case to save Los Cedros is helping to shape conversations all around the world about how we treat nature and the environment in a court of law. Nati Greene, one of the people on the legal team for Los Cedros, talks here what "Rights of Nature" actually means. https://www.facebook.com/MarrowOfTheMountain/posts/794928174696200

10.01.2022 As we get closer to the revealing of the Los Cedros hearing date, the international social media campaign is now being stepped up by our allies and partners ... thanking Stop Ecocide International for sharing these great graphics! For all the forests and their rights ...

10.01.2022 Shared on FoE Australia this morning ... "How long before Australia, States and local councils "adopt" Rights of Nature laws? All eyes on Ecuador at the moment, the Los Cedros case could set amazing precedent." #SaveLosCedros #JusticiaLosCedros #RightsOfNature #StopEcocide #ClimateEmergency #EcologicalEmergency #BeyondExtractivism

04.01.2022 Welcome to The Rainforest Information Centre! RIC is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to the protection of Earth's remaining rainforests & experiential Deep Ecology. Join us! Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rainforest_information_centre/... And Twitter: https://twitter.com/rainforestgaia One of our key campaigns is supporting Indigenous and local communities in Ecuador to resist mega-scale gold and copper mining in their territories and in the world's most biodiverse and vulnerable tropical rainforests. For more information about 'Ecuador Endangered' visit RIC's campaign page: https://www.rainforestinformationcentre.org/ecuador_endange The #MelbourneRainforestActionGroup are a team of RIC members devoting their volunteer time to driving this campaign. For current campaign happenings, articles, media releases, reports on mining companies and more, visit https://rainforestactiongroup.org/ In 2020 we are raising money to support Ecuadorians in multiple legal funds to stop mining in their areas. We appreciate anything from $5 upwards! Our crowdfund is here: https://www.fundmyplanet.org//save-ecuadors-forests-from-m There is no room for mining pristine rainforests in a climate and ecological emergency! We have other campaigns and projects happening in NSW, Victoria and India. For more info and regular updates and news, please explore our website: https://www.rainforestinformationcentre.org/ For the Earth! (Photo: Old Growth Gondwanaland forest near logging coupe, takanya / Tarkine, Tasmania)

03.01.2022 Latest article from our colleagues in Melbourne Rainforest Action Group has been published in The Ecologist! (: "Sanctuary of Life in Ecuador" covers the evolution of the recently won court case for the rights of the two endangered frogs in Intag, northwest Ecuador, where mining companies are vying to position themselves ... especially BHP. Planet or profit? Intag is an important frontline right now, where these court decisions could put a limit on the extent to which mining... companies are allowed to destroy other rainforests, over millions of hectares of Ecuador. Given that Ecuador is still the only country in the world with the Rights of Nature in its constitution, these cases also have global implications for our future in a climate/ecological emergency. We need to reach BHP's investors ahead of the upcoming AGMs, so please share if you have the time! And watch the space on https://rainforestactiongroup.org/ for upcoming media releases. https://theecologist.org/2020/sep/25/sanctuary-life-ecuador #rightsofnature #intag #llurimagua #BHP

02.01.2022 The Tropical Andes are 'The Global Epicentre of Biodiversity'; more species are found there than anywhere else on the Earth. The species richness of this extraordinary eco-zone only increases towards the equator. In Ecuador the unique geography has generated our planet's most complex and hyper-biodiverse ecosystems. Despite its small area Ecuador is home to 16% of the world's bird species; 22% of the world's butterfly species, 7% of all amphibian species, 7% of all mammal sp...ecies, 10% of plant species, including 3,500 orchids the most of any country on Earth. Yet Ecuador has experienced among the fastest and most extensive rates of deforestation on the planet. What survives of these exceptionally biodiverse ecosystems exist within Ecuador's network of protected parks and reserves. Today Ecuador’s forests are under threat. In violation of Ecuador's own constitution, the corrupt Correa-Glas government approved hundreds of large mining concessions spanning across parks, reserves and the indigenous territories in Ecuador. 80% of the pristine cloudforest watershed of the Los Cedros Biological Reserve in Northwestern Ecuador was placed into one of these concessions. The Los Cedros forest contains many thousands of species, including the rarest primate on Earth, the Brown-headed Ateles monkey. The Reserve also provides critical habitat for spectacled bears, jaguars and Andean mountain lions. In 2015, researchers discovered a new species of frog living at the reserve with the ability to change the texture of its skin as camouflage, an ability never before seen in a vertebrate species. And new species continue to be discovered at Los Cedros. Please share this post to help raise awareness for Ecuador's forests and for more info visit: https://loscedrosreserve.org/save-los-cedros-campaign/ Photos by: Jaime Culebras Wildlife | Photo Wildlife Tours See more