We will refrain from an endless analysis and discussion of why this book, among zillions, may be of interest to us, but we have highlighted some key phrases that drew our attention. It may be easy to bash the book or to praise it and we may do both in the future, but it may have to be done together with all of you who may have read it. What's the value of us providing with a reason not to read it but remain confident that its criticism is as good as reading it yourselves?
First, the ideas and practical tools contained within it should be
free to whoever may find them useful, and not made falsely scarce by the
mechanisms of the monetary economy.
Second, just as actions display our beliefs more honestly than our
words, the ways in which ideas and practical tools are shared are at
least as important as the words themselves. I wanted the medium to be
fully aligned with the message.
Third, I wanted to release it under a Creative Commons licence
because it felt fraudulent to have my name on the front of this book. As
I said in the acknowledgements page of my last book, what are my words
but “an accumulation of all that has come
Mining
conflicts are increasingly surfacing globally due to complains over
mines and pollution of water, soil and land occupied as well as over
transport and waste disposal. The Skouries forest in Halkidiki has been
at the center of a hot dispute between the mining company, Hellas Gold, a
subsidiary of the Canadian mining giant Eldorado Gold and local
communities. The company claims that an ambitious plan for mining of
gold and copper in the area- including deforestation and open pit mining
with excavation and everyday use of explosives- will benefit the region
through the creation of some 5,000 direct and indirect jobs, while
local residents argue that the planned investment will cause
considerable damage to the environment and livelihoods, resulting to
many more jobs losses in the existing sectors of the local economy
(farming, pasture land, fisheries, beekeeping, food processing and
tourism). The residents’ claims are supported by research conducted by
various independent scientific institutions including the Aristotle
University of Thessaloniki and the Technical Chamber of Macedonia. In
addition to legitimacy questions underpinning the transfer of mining
rights from the Greek state to the aforementioned company [1],
the Environmental Impact Assessment produced by El Dorado has been
found to contain gross methodological discrepancies and whilst the
public consultation process could be at best described as cosmetic [2].
