Manuel Sacristán at the Onset of Ecological Marxism after Stalinism

Thirty-one years ago, in 1985, Manuel Sacristán died in Barcelona at the age of 59. After the publication in 2014 of a volume with some of his writings translated into English (Llorente 2014), it is time to help non-Spanish-speaking readers to know more about him. Yet it is not easy to explain to generations born after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 that Manuel Sacristán was a most important Marxist philosopher and at the same time one of the few pioneers introducing political ecology and antinuclear peace movement during the last quarter of the 20th century in Spain. Many people believe that Marxism, environmentalism and pacifism are views that exclude each other. Most of what has been said and done on behalf of Marxism since Stalin took over the leadership of the Communist Party of the USSR in the 1930s, up to its dissolution in 1991, contributes to sustaining this belief. The fast industrialization of the Old Russian Empire undertaken by the Soviet State was nowhere near taking into account ecological sustainability. Its socio-environmental impact turned out to be comparable or even worse than the ones caused by capitalist industrialization

Global impacts of extractive and industrial development projects on Indigenous Peoples' lifeways, lands, and rights

Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2019-000940-MTo what extent do extractive and industrial development pressures affect Indigenous Peoples' lifeways, lands, and rights globally? We analyze 3081 environmental conflicts over development projects to quantify Indigenous Peoples' exposure to 11 reported social-environmental impacts jeopardizing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Indigenous Peoples are affected in at least 34% of all documented environmental conflicts worldwide. More than three-fourths of these conflicts are caused by mining, fossil fuels, dam projects, and the agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and livestock (AFFL) sector. Landscape loss (56% of cases), livelihood loss (52%), and land dispossession (50%) are reported to occur globally most often and are significantly more frequent in the AFFL sector. The resulting burdens jeopardize Indigenous rights and impede the realization of global environmental justice

Conflictos socioambientales en China: casos seleccionados del Atlas de Justicia Ambiental

This article briefly describes and analyses twelve environmental conflicts in China with information transcribed and translated from the EJAtlas that holds approximately one hundred cases for China, a country still under-represented in the EJAtlas. One question we would like to answer is whether the political ecology of China is or is not very different from the political ecology of other subcontinents: India, Europe, and South America. The causes of the conflicts (the increase in the social metabolism, and the problems to manage this growth) are not very different. Nor are the types of conflicts very different (coal-fired power plants, urban waste, pollution from mining, hydroelectric dams, petrochemical industry, nuclear industry, intensive livestock farming, etc.). However, no doubt, China’s political ecology has Chinese characteristics to be further researched as it is being done already.Este artículo describe y analiza brevemente unos doce conflictos ambientales en China, a partir de información transcrita y traducida del Atlas de Justicia Ambiental (EJAtlas), que contiene aproximadamente cien casos de China (un país que está subrepresentado en el EJAtlas). Una pregunta que queremos responder es si la ecología política de China es o no muy diferente de la ecología política de otros subcontinentes como la India, Europa o Sudamérica. Las causas de los conflictos (el aumento del metabolismo social y problemas para gestionarlo) no son muy distintas, tampoco el tipo de conflictos (centrales termoeléctricas, residuos urbanos, contaminación minera, hidroelectricidad, industria petroquímica, industria nuclear, agricultura y ganadería intensivas, etc.). Pero, sin duda, en China la ecología política tiene características chinas, lo que requiere nuevas investigaciones que ya se están llevando a cabo

Calidad de la educación superior y desigualdad en los retornos en el Perú, 2012 (Capítulo)

Capítulo 9 de libro "Productividad en el Perú : medición, determinantes e implicancias". En este estudio se mide la importancia de la calidad de la educación superior en los retornos y/o salarios de los trabajadores peruanos. Se encuentra que los trabajadores egresados de universidades de mayor calidad tienen ingresos salariales que en promedio son 80% mayores que sus contrapartes que asistieron a instituciones de menor calidad en el año 2012. Esta brecha se mantiene independientemente de la carrera que estudiaron

Electric scooter-related injuries : a new epidemic in orthopedics

Background: The use of electric scooters has increased considerably as they are an acces-sible means of transportation. The number of injuries from falls and collisions has risen significantly. Therefore, the aim of the study was to describe demographics injury patterns of electric scooter accidents produced over one year. Methods: A prospective observational study of electric scooter-related injuries presented in the emergency room from May 2019 until May 2020. The inclusion criteria was based on the direct cause of injury produced while an electric scooter was in use. De-mographic data, the use of a helmet or the lack thereof, accident mechanism, injury time, type of injury produced, and the treatment applied were collected. Results: Over the study period, 397 patients were identified with a total of 422 injuries. The mean age was 30.8 years, with 12.6% of patients being minors. The patients mainly presented in evening hours and in summertime at the emergency department. Of the total injuries seen, 46.9% were fractures. Some 25% of the total cases required surgery. Only 19% of the riders wore a helmet at the time of the accident. Most of the fractures were to the upper limbs (62.6%). There was a greater incidence of radius fractures. Conclusion: Injuries incurred while using electric scooters are an emerging phenomenon, despite existing regulations. In this study, most injuries occurred in young men and were due to falls from the vehicle. Nearly half of those injuries were fractures to the upper limbs. Surprisingly, 50% of the fractures required surgery

La roca y las mareas: ensayos sobre economía y ecología

La economía ecológica se define como "un campo de estudio interdisciplinario que se ocupa de las relaciones entre los ecosistemas y los sistemas económicos en el sentido más amplio"

Environmental conflicts and defenders : A global overview

Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2019-000940-MRecent research and policies recognize the importance of environmental defenders for global sustainability and emphasize their need for protection against violence and repression. However, effective support may benefit from a more systematic understanding of the underlying environmental conflicts, as well as from better knowledge on the factors that enable environmental defenders to mobilize successfully. We have created the global Environmental Justice Atlas to address this knowledge gap. Here we present a large-n analysis of 2743 cases that sheds light on the characteristics of environmental conflicts and the environmental defenders involved, as well as on successful mobilization strategies. We find that bottom-up mobilizations for more sustainable and socially just uses of the environment occur worldwide across all income groups, testifying to the global existence of various forms of grassroots environmentalism as a promising force for sustainability. Environmental defenders are frequently members of vulnerable groups who employ largely non-violent protest forms. In 11% of cases globally, they contributed to halt environmentally destructive and socially conflictive projects, defending the environment and livelihoods. Combining strategies of preventive mobilization, protest diversification and litigation can increase this success rate significantly to up to 27%. However, defenders face globally also high rates of criminalization (20% of cases), physical violence (18%), and assassinations (13%), which significantly increase when Indigenous people are involved. Our results call for targeted actions to enhance the conditions enabling successful mobilizations, and for specific support for Indigenous environmental defenders