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Diplomacy Underground: Tunnel Proposed to Grant Bolivia Access to Sea

Bachelet and Morales
In the bloody War of the Pacific in 1879, Chile took away Bolivia's only access to the sea. Over a century later, demands from Bolivia for the recuperation of this land are louder than ever. The most recently proposed solution to this diplomatic crisis seems to be straight out of a science fiction novel: the construction of 150 kilometer tunnel from Bolivia to an artificial island in the Pacific Ocean.

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Where Plastics Go to Kill

It's an oil spill. Only solid, and far more deadly. The average liquid spill of petroleum will kill marine life for a year, maybe 10. But it could take 400 years for that petroleum-based six-pack ring holding your beer to break down. Each year, undegraded plastic chokes to death some 100,000 whales, dolphins, seals, manatees, plus an unknown number of sea turtles and about 2 million birds. And once it has broken down, it becomes deadlier still.

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Indigenous Peoples Outraged at Climate Change and False Solutions

Native Mask (Photo: Langelle)
Anchorage, Alaska--At the first global gathering of Indigenous Peoples on climate change, participants were outraged at the intensifying rate of destruction the climate crisis is having on the Earth and all peoples. Participants reaffirmed that Indigenous Peoples are most impacted by climate change and called for support and funding for Indigenous Peoples to create adaptation and mitigation plans for themselves, based on their own Traditional Knowledge and practices.

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Egypt Has Yet to Feel Impact of Female Genital Mutilation Ban

In the year since Egypt outlawed female genital mutilation the government hasn't prosecuted a single case. "It's no longer on the government's agenda, they've moved on," Seham Abdul Salam, a medical doctor turned anthropologist, said in a recent interview. Nonetheless, some activists say the law is a tool, among others, for gradually dismantling an ancient tradition.