Australia: A big bush fire due to the dryness due tot he global climate change
FOREWORD
The author, Gerd Michael Müller, born in Zürich in 1962, traveled as a photo-journalist to more than 50 nations and lived in seven countries, including in the underground in South Africa during apartheid. In the 80 years he was a political activist at the youth riots in Zürich. Then he was involved in pioneering Wildlife & eco projects in Southern Africa and humanitarian projects elsewhere in the world. As early as 1993, Müller reported on the global climate change and in 1999 he founded the «Tourism & Environment Forum Switzerland». Through his humanitarian missions he got to know Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama and other figures of light. His book is an exciting mixture of political thriller, crazy social stories and travel reports – the highlights of his adventurous, wild nomadic life for reportage photography .
(please note that translation corrections are still in progress and images will follow soon)
According to the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution, a dramatic insect extinction is occurring with serious consequences for the ecosystem and human societies. Forecasts show that we will lose over a million animal species in the next few years, and many species will be so decimated in their populations that they will no longer matter. With maximum impact on humans: The destruction of the rainforests as well as the loss of biodiversity of the native fauna and flora will lead to an increased incidence of e.g. Lyme disease. It has been proven that with less small mammal biodiversity, there is a higher Borrelia load in the ticks. Due to climate warming with hotter and drier summers, more and more pandemics are emerging in the temperate zones as a result of the loss of biodiversity.
On a 20 percent of the earth’s surface, 80 percent of the biodiversity hot spots of all species are found in the tropics. One of the most comprehensive studies by Anthony Warden of the University of Cambridge, in which around 100 economists worldwide examined how the global economy benefits from nature, found that if 30 percent of the earth’s surface were protected with the most important protected areas, then the benefits of protecting these areas outweigh the costs by a ratio of 1:5. This means that if we invest one euro in protection, we gain four euros in the long term. But it will be a long time before this realization is accepted in the lowlands of the resource-intensive economy. It is simply incomprehensible that, despite all the findings that were already available in the early 1990s, and at the latest in 1997 with the „IPPC“ report, and which proved the lonely callers in the desert right, hardly any effective measures were taken or consistently implemented.
Between 1961 and 1990 alone, temperatures had already risen by two degrees Celsius, while the global average had risen by only 0.6 percent. The predictions at the time for the Alpine region ranged up to five degrees more in the next 30 years. Fittingly for the „Kyoto Summit“ in December 1997, „El-Nino“ swirled through the headlines and with it animals dying of thirst in Australia, fields submerged in mud in Malaysia, forest fires in Indonesia and elsewhere. The warning could not have been clearer enough. As recently as 1992 at the Rio Earth Summit, politicians had promised to protect the climate system for today and future generations. But the development went in the opposite direction. The „Easy Jet Generation“ was just rolling or flying in, everyone was jetting off to London or New York for a few days of shopping, to Ibiza for „raves“ etc. and to Milan to buy a pair of shoes. Suddenly a plane ticket to London cost less than the train ride from Zurich to Bern or Geneva. A catastrophic turn of events that still does not bode well. Air traffic should finally be taxed internationally.
We, the supposedly „clean“ Swiss, and our German neighbors, who are almost on a par with us, are world champions in consumption, waste and CO2 emissions. Switzerland has made it to fourth place on the world ranking list of polluters and CO2 emitters, but we have exported our large footprint abroad. Thus the civilization garbage of our over all mass consuming and resources squandering society from the origin to the destruction is banished from our eyes and our environment. One of the dirtiest industries, the textile industry and other polluting productions have been moved to China, Vietnam and Bangladesh in the last decades. CO-2 emissions are thus largely outsourced to structurally weak or human rights-denying regions. My climate“ compensation certificates and similar instruments have been created to ease our consciences, but not to alleviate the situation.
Our balance sheet is by no means good and clean but simply miserable. It is only now, in November 2020, that the Federal Council has presented the consultation documents for the „Sustainable Development Strategy“ (SDS), and they are once again an indictment of „clean“ Switzerland. The record of showcase Switzerland looks even worse when the economic factors of the largest off-shore financial center are taken into account. At the end of 2019, Swiss banks managed a quarter of the world’s assets. A whopping 3742.7 billion Swiss francs. But the immense assets are hardly invested in sustainable projects. On the contrary. The goldmine and tax haven Switzerland favors and protects hundreds of potent headquarters of multinational corporations and contributes massively to the outflow of private wealth from developing countries and thus to the global redistribution from the bottom to the top. The exploitation and greed knows no limits, not even in times of Covid-19. On the contrary, it favors the global techno-giants and super-rich. And this big shadow falls back on Switzerland. No matter how white we wash the image and how beautiful we tell ourselves or preach to others!
In this country, too, biodiversity, waters, glaciers and air pollutants are in a bad way. The „My-Climate“ CO2 compensation business is pure eyewash and helps no one if we constantly increase our consumption and the waste of resources instead of drastically reducing and do not radically rethink our throwaway society. In accounting terms, more than 30 million tons of CO2 (instead of being emitted on Swiss soil) would have to be saved outside the country’s borders. This will not only cost several billions, but is also economically and ecologically nonsensical. These amounts for the CO2 reductions not achieved domestically will be missed by the economy. The „decarbonization of society“ will not progress one millimeter in this way, the dependency and mess would become bigger and bigger, simply because of the increasing population density. Now the thin protective layer in the atmosphere is not worth a penny in the free market economy, it costs nothing and to pollute it also not.
The mineral resources are exploited mercilessly. The young and the next generation will be stunned to realize that in the consumption frenzy after the oil crisis in 1975 and especially since the beginning of the 1990s, we have burned almost as much gas, coal and oil as in a million years of earth’s history before. And this, although the sun has always sent 10’000 times more energy to the earth’s surface than man needs and mankind is not able to follow politically and even less to act adequately, despite scientific knowledge. The garbage dump of mankind is meanwhile not only visible in the most distant regions and in the oceans, on and under the sea surface equally recognizable. Fortunately, we cannot yet see all the junk in space by eye. And as we know, this is only the tip of the iceberg. Micro-plastics, nanoparticles and pesticide toxins have long since reached groundwater and the food chain, where they cause further damage to health and great suffering.
It is extremely regrettable, but not surprising, that the Swiss population in 2021 has rejected both the drinking water and the pesticide initiatives, as well as the CO2 initiatives. So it may continue to be sprayed for all it’s worth, which makes the farmers happy. Nature-based farmers and organic farmers have also opposed it. All right, the Covid-19 crisis has diminished the appetite for new restrictions and new innovations. But the Swiss economy as a whole got off lightly, except for certain circles such as the tourism, catering and event industries, but they were also well compensated.
The Global climate change will dried out many regions around the globe and leave them with dramatic water-shortage
FOREWORD
The author, Gerd Michael Müller, born in Zürich in 1962, traveled as a photo-journalist to more than 50 nations and lived in seven countries, including in the underground in South Africa during apartheid. In the 80 years he was a political activist at the youth riots in Zürich. Then he was involved in pioneering Wildlife & eco projects in Southern Africa and humanitarian projects elsewhere in the world. As early as 1993, Müller reported on the global climate change and in 1999 he founded the «Tourism & Environment Forum Switzerland». Through his humanitarian missions he got to know Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama and other figures of light. His book is an exciting mixture of political thriller, crazy social stories and travel reports – the highlights of his adventurous, wild nomadic life for reportage photography .
(please note that translation corrections are still in progress and images will follow soon)
According to „Copernicus“, the decade from 2011 to 2020 was globally the hottest year since measurements began. In Europe, too, but especially in the Arctic, record values of up to six degrees above average were recorded in the period from 1981 to 2010. In 2020, the high temperatures are particularly extreme, as they occurred without an El Niño effect in the previous year. 2021 should see another temperature increase as a result of the La Nina effect, and this is despite the fact that we have now had a Covid-19 year of very limited air travel. CO2 increases are also certain to continue. The Arctic will continue to melt and if it comes to the „worst case“ scenario and the Atlantic roll stops moving as it has been, we are looking at dark times.
In view of the unfortunate fact that after more than 30 years of dithering and hesitating, denying and refusing, watching the destruction and looking the overwhelming facts almost inactively in the eye, living in the consciousness and with the bad conscience of doing even more overexploitation than ever before, each of us must now take the reins into our own hands and make substantial contributions. „Reduce to the max“ is the motto. In other words, reduce resource consumption at all levels. We are all in the same boat. Covid has impressively demonstrated this to us. There is no more time to lose. Therefore, it is only right that the climate movement and climate youth overtake or outflank the Greens on the left and demand a much faster and more consistent approach. Covid-19 is costing us trillions. Add a few trillion to transform the economy and we would have gained enormously.
We desperately need to avoid more pandemics, so any investment would be worth it. It is up to each of us to contribute to this, but it can no longer be done without drastic steps on an unprecedented scale. Long-established lifestyles will have to change dramatically. For example, in consumer behavior: less meat consumption, less packaging, less transportation and work, use ecological means of transport and promote bio-diversified, local cultivation everywhere, etc. In agriculture, drastically reduce pesticides and herbicides and create incentives for organic farming and consistently apply water protection. All subsidies for fossil energy production must be discontinued, and in air travel a high fuel tax must be introduced across the board, thus significantly reducing air travel. In the business world, introduce carbon footprint accounting in companies everywhere, promote sustainable building technology in construction, and take charge of the greening of cities. Meadows instead of green spaces, avoid soil sealing and in forestry, cultivate mixed-age and mixed-species forests.
Although 2020 saw a revival of the „Paris Coalition of High Ambition“ at the first virtual United Nations climate change summit, where 75 nations committed to the goal of „net zero“ emissions. Most nations are aiming for the goal by 2050. So far, however, only 75 of 197 nations have submitted new or increased climate targets. But only the UK and the EU have substantially increased their targets. For all other states, the ambitions are low. Far too low for the goals of the Paris climate agreement ever to be achieved. As a result, the „Coalition for Carbon Neutrality“ proclaimed by UN Secretary-General Antonio Gutierrez has a good 65 percent of the world’s CO2 emissions at its disposal, which could still rise if the financial pledges for the green climate fund of 100 billion Swiss francs per year are advanced. The key instrument is the carbon price, which is also recognized by the EU and is to rise steadily until 2030. In 2015, Nobel economics laureate William Nordhaus proposed the creation of a climate club that would draw mutual benefit from the sharing of climate protection and exclude free riders, as this is the only way to get out of the „prisoner’s dilemma.“
The coalition of the willing should concede the greatest possible benefits and advantages for its members. In this way, it would be possible to counteract the problem of benefits without making efforts and contributions of one’s own. The capital market would also be well advised to invest in sustainable and green products and resources and to rapidly phase out coal. For UN Secretary General Guttierez, this is an important step forward, but it is still not enough. We must not forget that the world is still on track for a global temperature rise of more than three degrees, which would be tantamount to a catastrophe, he said. In other words. We are still traveling at 180 kmh in terms of fossil fuel consumption.
A reduction in speed is needed. The Corona pandemic in particular has shown what is possible and can be mobilized in extraordinary situations. Patient Earth is lying in the intensive care unit, gasping for breath. It is high time to act and to implement drastic measures. For the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Current (AMOC) has also dramatically lost strength in recent decades. The ocean current is also known as the Gulf Stream and carries mild temperatures up to the Channel Islands, Ireland and Great Britain, further towards the Netherlands to western Germany and Scandinavia in the higher water levels even in winter. The Gulf Stream system moves almost 20 million cubic meters of water per second, about a hundred times the Amazon current,“ says Stefan Rahmstorf, a researcher from the „Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research“ on the importance of this climate system (PIK). is the initiator and co-author of a study published in spring 2021 in the journal „Nature Geoscience“.
Butterfly Effect: Hedge Funds, the Drivers of Wars and Climate Change
Let’s face it, financial markets are at the center of the economy, determining commodity and food prices around the world and dictating what happens around the globe. Hedge funds are the bane of food and water and commodity capitalism at its purest. Let’s take a closer look: In 2008, food and commodity prices rose sharply even though the world was in recession after the financial crisis. This shows that prices rose due to speculation and not due to increased demand. What started as the flap of a butterfly’s wings on Wall Street in 2010 went on to cause riots, wars and global refugee crises. The flapping of wings was triggered by then President Bill Clinton and National Bank President Alan Greenspan with the Commodity Modernization Act, i.e. the liberalization of markets that had been strictly regulated since the 1930s and limited the number of speculators. But from now on, anyone could speculate in commodities and food without limits.
As a result, the financial markets licked blood and Wall Street and hedge funds dictated events in the most vicious way. In the same year, Russia’s wheat crop was down more than 30 percent due to climate change and drought. Wall-street speculated on a shortage of supply and drove up the price of wheat by 50 percent, which led to the Arab Spring in Tunisia and Egypt because Egypt imported nearly 80 percent of its wheat from Russia. A rapid increase in food prices and a small increase in oil prices inevitably leads to conflicts and armed conflicts, scientists and mathematicians also noted.
Thus, in 2011, wars degenerated in Libya after the fall of Gaddhafi as well as in the Iraq war, both leading oil exporting states, fueling further conflicts in the region and triggering a conflagration that swept the entire Orient. So, too, did the unending war in Syria. This was triggered in turn by hedge funds and speculators on Wall Street and in London. They drove up the oil price massively because they were speculating on export losses. The butterfly’s wings have fluttered here, too, and so the deregulated markets have become an engine of chaos.
This speculation and the developments in the oil states also had even more far-reaching consequences. Due to the enormous rise in the price of petrodollars, Russia and Saudi Arabia, but also Venezuela, came to immense wealth and increased their military budgets and police forces either to suppress revolts at home or for further offensives. Russia in Syria, in Ukraine, and most recently in Crimea. In the case of Saudi Arabia, war came to a head in Yemen and in many other regions in the conflict between Shiites and Sunnis, meanwhile Iran, infiltrated the Middle East in its own way and pumped it full of its crude ideologies, weapons and fighters. The rise in oil prices was also the beginning of doom for Venezuela, which perished from the resource curse. Here, too, the speculators were ultimately the trigger and responsible for the streams of refugees from Latin America to the USA and from Africa and the Orient to Europe.
Airshot of Hardy Reef, Great Barrier Reef, Brisbane, Queensland
FOREWORD
The author, Gerd MichaelMüller, born in Zürich in 1962, traveled as a photo-journalist to more than 50 nations and lived in seven countries, including in the underground in South Africaduring apartheid. In the 80 years he was a political activist at the youth riots in Zürich. Then he was involved in pioneering Wildlife & eco projects in Southern Africa and humanitarian projects elsewhere in the world. As early as 1993, Müller reported on the global climate change and in 1999 he founded the «Tourism & Environment Forum Switzerland». Through his humanitarian missions he got to know Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama and other figures of light. His book is an exciting mixture of political thriller, crazysocial stories and travelreports – the highlights of his adventurous, wild nomadic life for reportage photography.
(please note that translation corrections are still in progress and images will follow soon)
Policy failures: „Chronology of good intentions“ and decades of failure
2021 showed again, the Corona Pandemic is Pipifax in comparison, what rolls on mankind and in the soon 50 year old knowledge about the harmful CO2 emissions for our planet, is merrily continued, more and more thoughtlessly consumed, resources wasted, fauna and flora and the habitat of millions of people destroyed. Already President Nixon warned in the 70s of the dramatic consequences (one of his few rays of hope) and the first „IPPC“ report of 1990 warned of the consequences of our unbridled overexploitation. There is no need to be a crazy doomsday prophet anymore, today’s scientific findings and the knowledge of how lamely we react to the threat allow no other conclusion than that our species has reached the end age. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, there are two horror scenarios: One is a two-meter rise in sea level by the end of the century, depending on how fast the Antarctic ice sheet continues to melt. Another is the collapse of the Atlantic Overcurrent Current (AMOC), which has already weakened. It distributes cold and warm water in the Atlantic and influences, for example, the monsoon in Africa and Asia, which is important for billions of people. The collapse of the Gulf Stream would also have a serious impact on Europe. If emissions remain the same until 2050, the temperature at the end of this century would be 2.1 to 3.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels. If CO2 emissions were to double by mid-century, the temperature could rise by up to 5.7 degrees. And unfortunately, this is how things will continue. After all, the U.S. government’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) calculated in 2019 that CO2 emissions will rise from around 36 billion metric tons a year today to more than 42 billion metric tons by 2050 as a result of the industrialization of many countries, which is only just beginning. China produces the most greenhouse gas, about a quarter of the total, ahead of the U.S. at 18 percent and the EU at 17 percent. The proportion of CO2 emissions that are absorbed in sinks such as forests or oceans and do not remain in the atmosphere is about 44 percent, according to the report.
In 1997 the third report of the „IPPC“-climate council came out and what was outlined and proved there, exceeded all the horror scenarios and the extent of destruction by far that I had already noticed since 1993! The report should change also my activity lastingly. From then on, I refrained from the many air and long-distance trips and concentrated more on local destinations that could be reached by train. In 1999, I founded the „Tourism & Environment Forum Switzerland“ in Samedan together with Gisela Femppel, an editor of the „Südostschweiz“ and with my professional colleague Heinz Schmid, which was also supported by the famous tourism director of St. Moritz, Hansruedi Danuser. The NGO was domiciled at Samedan Airport, because at that time I was living up there in the fantastic Upper Engadin, during the winter of the century and the following two years, because I had moved from Zurich to the Engadin with my girlfriend Eve, an enthusiastic snowboarder, after the separation from the mother of my daughters. In the Engadin high valley I could regularly roam on horseback through the snow-covered forests of the alpine slopes and for the first time in my life also ride through the drifting snow and the untouched white splendor.
For the „Tourismus & Umwelt Forum Schweiz“ (Swiss Tourism & Environment Forum) I created a web portal that linked scientific facts, environmentally relevant NGO projects, responsible authorities such as the „Bundesamt für Umwelt“ (BUWAL), international organizations and critical media reports with sustainable travel offers and tips for environmentally conscious travelers. For three years I served as managing director and president for this environmental organization and set some accents in Graubünden with traveling exhibitions on the topic of „Climate Change in the Alps“ with a „Rail-Expo“ traveling exhibition of the Rhaetian Railway, three rail cars that were stationed in Davos, St. Moritz, Samedan, Pontresina and six other alpine locations in Graubünden and sent out the first warning signals. Members of the „Tourism & Environment Forum“ at that time were the „BUWAL/FLS“, the Swiss National Park, the „Biosphere Reserve Entlebuch“, the „Research Institute for Leisure and Tourism“ of the University of Bern and the „Europa-Institut“ in Basel, but also the newly launched car rental company „Mobility“ and „Toyota“ with the first hybrid vehicle, the „Prius“, along with some transport associations, hotels and media. Three train wagons were stationed at the train stations in six Graubünden locations for 14 days each. In addition, we organized a live concert to kick off each exhibition. The „Tourism & Environment Forum“ was also present at the annual vacation fairs in Zurich and Berne with presentations and exhibitions. Travel more consciously, experience more, destroy less, was the motto for travelers, in order to bring about the necessary CO2 reduction measures and an energy transition at home as well, was the goal.
„This was the first long-term institutional „Corporate Social Responsibility“ commitment of my own press agency in this country! After all, I had already been privately and journalistically involved in a number of wildlife projects and humanitarian missions abroad. At that time, I published numerous environmentally critical publications and commentaries, such as „A Requiem for the Coral Reef“ in the „Mittelland-Zeitung“ or „In the diver’s paradise Maldives, a time bomb is ticking“. In the commentary I wrote the following: „It is not El-Nino who is to blame. It is the human being who progresses too far. Alarm bells are ringing around the globe. Central America has been devastated and set back decades. The coral world in the equatorial belt is threatened or already largely destroyed, the oceans polluted, the animal world wiped out here and there, the Alps built up and spoiled“. In 1997, in response to the IPPC climate report, I wrote in „Südostschweiz“ about climate change in the Alps under the title „Keiner kommt ungeschoren davon – Alpen von der Klimaerwärmung besonders hart betroffen“.
In the magazine „Touring“ and in the „Brückenbauer“, both media with million reader public appeared further critical reports of me, which resounded far beyond Switzerland, since I interviewed the „UNEP“ director Klaus Töpfer, the head of the UN environmental organization as well as with Michael Iwand, at that time director environmental management with „TUI“ (tourism union international) and Iwand Widerpart of the „German environmental assistance“ and the nature protection federation and at the ITB the largest tourism trade fair in Berlin intervened to take the topic on the agenda. Prof. Hansruedi Müller of the „Research Institute for Leisure and Tourism“ (FIF) also pleaded for „more heart-liners than hard-liners“. From this and the following experiences and examples, one can confidently say that the „Corporate Responsibility Initiative“ accepted by the people and the popular majority rejected by the cantons will now also lead to much more paper without effect and will remain toothless. Once again, Switzerland and the corporations that dominate it have failed to live up to their global responsibilities. To our shame and against our belief in progress, we have not come one step further in the last 30 years. On the contrary. The footprint has become larger and we have made it to 4th place of the environmental offenders.
So I addressed this urgent climate appeal to the Swiss politicians and population more than 30 years ago and to the „world public“ at the „ITB“ in Berlin and already stated at that time: „The drastic trail of devastation left by industrialized man and the (un)civilized tourist is mostly carried out on the hump of the 3rd world nations and is becoming more and more dramatic. But we here in the Alps are also particularly affected by climate change. The temperature rise is expected to be much higher than the world average and the glaciers are melting just like the biodiversity. We can no longer stand idly by and watch this happen, I said to myself, and from then on I also gave up a car or a motorcycle and committed myself to the expansion of the rail infrastructure and bicycle paths. Also in my function as president of the Swiss Tourism & Environment Forum. I gave critical speeches about my own travel industry, which was urged to do more for the environment and against the enormous damage caused by air traffic and excessive mass tourism, which won me more enemies than friends. Tourism propagandists were not happy to see the global impact of their business model increasingly criticized. I emphatically challenged the travel agency association to do more than just pay the usual lip service. But what happened was that, in the words of Greta von Thunberg, „When there’s a fire, people often rub up against the fire alarm instead of putting out the fire.“ I too felt like saying „I want you to panic“ inside.
Authorities everywhere were then, as now, in a state of enforcement emergency. Whether it is compliance with the Clean Air Ordinance, noise levels to protect the public, international agreements to reduce CO2 emissions, or the fulfillment of declarations of intent and objectives such as „Agenda 21“, the „Charta of Lanzarote“, or the „Declaration of Crete“, wherever we look, we find that none of the objectives have come close to being met. „The crux is that while the need for environmentally and socially responsible tourism is undisputed, still not much is happening,“ which I criticized harshly in the presentations and reports at the time as president of the „Tourism & Environment Forum.“ The tour operators, above all the three big ones „Kuoni Reisen“, „Hotelplan“ and „Tui Reisen“ hardly cared about water and energy supply and waste management on site, which led to devastating pollution of beaches and seas especially on the Maldives and other islands. An investigation by the „Higher School of Tourism“ (HFT) concluded at the time that the „Declaration of Crete remained a dead paper tiger“! And the greenwashing continued unchanged but inflationary from then on. We have already reached certain climate tipping points in some places around the world, some scientists agree. The precious, vital treasures of our earth are disappearing at the speed of light. Every four seconds, forests the size of a soccer field are cut down around the world – including or primarily for soy or palm oil plantations. The destruction of rainforests by slash-and-burn in the Amazon, Congo, and Indonesia
account for eleven percent of global CO2 emissions! Biodiversity is declining rapidly, with up to 150 plant and animal species disappearing from the earth every day. The more natural habitats shrink, the greater the risk of viruses spreading from animals to humans. Corona is the most recent example. Ebola, dengue, Mers, Sars, Zika, all these viruses have also been proven to be due to climate change and dwindling biodiversity. That’s why we need to be much more determined to protect natural habitats and crack down on wildlife trafficking and wildlife markets.
Brasilien: Candomblé Ritual in Salvador de Bahia | Candomblé spiritual ritual in Salvador de Bahia
FOREWORD
The author, Gerd Michael Müller, born in Zürich in 1962, traveled as a photo-journalist to more than 50 nations and lived in seven countries, including in the underground in South Africa during apartheid. In the 80 years he was a political activist at the youth riots in Zürich. Then he was involved in pioneering Wildlife & eco projects in Southern Africa and humanitarian projects elsewhere in the world. As early as 1993, Müller reported on the global climate change and in 1999 he founded the «Tourism & Environment Forum Switzerland». Through his humanitarian missions he got to know Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama and other figures of light. His book is an exciting mixture of political thriller, crazy social stories and travel reports – the highlights of his adventurous, wild nomadic life for reportage photography .
(please note that translation corrections are still in progress and images will follow soon)
During one of the first of a total of five trips to Brazil, after the Iguacu Falls, Rio de Janeiro, I also discovered Salvador de Bahia, the landing place of the Europeans and the first capital of Brazil. If you want to get to know the exotic facets of Bahian life, get ready for hot come-ons, cool rejections and delicious consolations, at least during Carnival. If you dive into the mystical world of the candoble and let yourself be overwhelmed by the overwhelming spirituality, you will leave the local world and fall into a trance to the point of ecstasy. A trip to Salvador de Bahia is like a departure to new shores. First of all, it is admirable how exhilarated the Baihanos go through life. Remarkable how they express their joy and sorrow.
The mystical world of gods and spiritual source of the Bahanos is reflected in the Candomble, which gave reason for the Christian mission, especially since Bahia was the starting point of the western explorers and conquerors. Not only the bastions along the coast testify to this. The roots of the slave tower are deeply anchored in the local culture. Especially the candomble spirituality, lived out in secret, bears witness to this. When hundreds of gospel singers resound with fervor, not only does the earth tremble, but the air in the far periphery also vibrates, as with an approaching hurricane. The psalm-singing Catholic boys‘ choir next door in the Sao Fransico monastery in the baroque old town district of Pelourinho really sounds rather pitiful.
Rarely does one discover such a playful people that has produced an incredible number of dance and musically gifted people. In Salvador de Bahia, the cradle of carnival and samba, there is no standing still or being stiff as a board. Everything is in flux, everyone is constantly on the move, more or less gracefully. Another Bahian specialty is capoeira, the martial art disguised as dance. Here, too, the graceful flowing movements are recognizable, flowing through the whole life and triggering impulses. But not only in expressing feelings also the body cult is on top of the agenda. In this the Bahianos hardly differ from the Cariocas. There is hardly an Adonis who does not present his athletically steeled body in his skimpy briefs. There is no woman who does not proudly walk around the beach in her Fio dental (tooth thread) bikini, flirting with her grace and freedom of movement. No wonder the church has sent more friars here than anywhere else in the world. In Salvador de Bahia alone, 165 houses of worship have been built.
In 2003, I was stationed in Fortaleza in northeastern Brazil for three months as a resident manager for a Swiss travel company and had a hell of a good time. Few guests, so no stress, a hotel room right on the Beira Mar (that’s like the Copacabana in Rio), and a good vehicle with which I could drive all the way to Jericoacoara to the fantastic sand dunes or south to Moro Branco. I was very attracted to the Brazilian lifestyle, music, language and cultures on previous trips, so I also learned a little Portuguese. Since I spoke Spanish well, it was easy for me to get started and I like the Brazilian dialects better than the harsh Spanish accents. I am also enchanted by the music of many Latin American sounds: from the tango in Argentina to the bossa nova of a Gilberto Gil in Brazil or the folk dance forro, as in Fortaleza, from the salsa and son in Cuba to the merengue in the Dominican Republic, all these musical styles and dance forms appeal to me very much.
In Fortaleza I lived during these three months as a Station Manager at Beira Mar, ideally located also for daily trips to the beautiful city beach Praia do futuro and at night to Praia doIracema at the end of Beira Mar, where the tourist entertainment district with all the nightclubs was located, which was very convenient for the local tourist service. At the end of the three months, I was shipped off to Sinai, but after the six-month assignment in Sharm el Sheikh, I returned to Fortaleza unemployed because the tsunami had hit Asia and as a result all the travel companies needed fewer station managers and tour guides.
When I returned to Fortaleza, I lived for two months in the Serviluz favela with a friend who had a small brick house near Praia do Futuro and I felt quite comfortable there. Soon I knew a lot of people via Heldon and his friend Joaquin, and the neighbors in the favela also knew me, so I could move around freely there day and night. It was a comfortable time, because I had made good foreign exchange deals with the tourists in Sinai and before in Brazil. This was always a tolerable source of side income in this job. In Poland, I almost became a zloty millionaire. Then a friend from Switzerland visited me and we rented a „Highlux“, i.e. an off-roader, to drive up along the Brazilian coast from Fortaleza in the state of Céara via the states of Maranhão and Piaui to Manaus and to complete the return journey inland.
That’s a good 6000 kilometers we planned to cover in 11 days. The off-road driving was more comfortable than driving on the asphalt road, which was completely littered with holes, up to half a meter deep. The asphalt looked like it had been bombed over a wide area! Therefore, I often drove on the scree strip to the right of the roadway. There one comes basically faster ahead and whirled up strongly dust, which is to be seen already from a distance and prevents the accident danger. The journey went via Jericoacoara, with its fantastic dune landscape, which was surpassed in beauty by the crystal clear lakes in the sand dune landscapes in the next state of Maranhao. An extremely fascinating region! The deep blue Atlantic with lonely dream beaches to the left, a gigantic sand dune strip along the coast and inland the esmerad green jungle. The national parks of Jericoacoara and Lençóis Maranhenses on the Atlantic coast are unique biotopes.
I like deserts better than virgin forests. One gets on better. At least in 4×4. But even here, I would have been stranded without the help of the local fishermen, because on this trip numerous rivers had to be crossed. Except for one time it went quite well, but then we came to a river, which was shallow on our side first about 30 meters, then there was a small sand island in front of the place where the river flowed through a narrow, tearing mouth, like in a funnel. You could just make that out from 40 meters away, and it was probably the most dangerous part. „If I couldn’t cross the last ten meters after the tiny river island at full throttle,“ it would look bad, I thought.
And that’s exactly what happened. So I drove with a lot of speed through the 30 meters wide, shallow river towards the island, but got stuck there due to the slope and had too little momentum to cross the current channel with the ripping flow. and came to an abrupt stop with the engine hood stuck in the water at a 45 degree angle to three quarters. After a few hours, a couple of fishermen approached. Only thanks to a boat in the current channel that lifted the car a little and a car that pulled us back from behind with the wire rope over the shallow part of the river, we managed to get out of the river.
Another time, just as I was walking alone in the sweltering midday heat, I got stuck in deep quicksand. It took four hours, many drops of sweat and endless jerks for a few meters further. The sand was scorching hot, I shoveled like a madman for hours and didn’t think I would make it. But finally it worked out. And so the journey continued to Ilha do Maranhão, one of the largest alluvial areas in the world at the foothills of the Amazon. 800,000 buffalo populate the island, which belongs to only a few Hundert landowners who hardly employ any workers.
Where the animals pass in the dry season, a river course emerges in the rainy season. Thus, the fragile ecosystem and the thin layer of humus is destroyed in just a few years. Year after year, huge areas of virgin forest are being appropriated first for cattle breeding and then for intensive agriculture such as soy plantations. In the past 30 years, almost a quarter of the Amazon Delta has been destroyed. Yet the biodiversity here is unparalleled. In the Amazon alone there are over 2000 different fish. For comparison: In the whole of Europe there are just 150 species of fish. The same is true for all animal species, most of them are endemic.
The adventurous journey continued through the state of Piaui and from there we drove on to Manaus. Then again a good 3000 kilometers inland back to Fortaleza, where we visited the Gruta de Ubajara, Brazil’s largest caves with nine chambers and a depth of a good kilometer, at the Ubajara National Park, about 300 km west of Fortaleza. Now we come to the last and most special Brazil tripf Fortaleza.
Endless horizon and dunes of the National park Lencois in Maranhao
Colorful Moro Branco, Praia das Fontes,
The coastal boarder of the states Maranhao and Piau
Two brazilian ladies at the Pelourinho, Salvador de Bahia.
Candomblé performance, Salvador de Bahia
Brasilien: Seilbahn zum Zuckerhut von Rio de Janeiro
Two brazilian ladies in the world heritage Pelourinho in the old city of Salvador de Bahia.
The author, Gerd Michael Müller, born in Zürich in 1962, traveled as a photo-journalist to more than 50 nations and lived in seven countries, including in the underground in South Africa during apartheid. In the 80 years he was a political activist at the youth riots in Zürich. Then he was involved in pioneering Wildlife & eco projects in Southern Africa and humanitarian projects elsewhere in the world. As early as 1993, Müller reported on the global climate change and in 1999 he founded the «Tourism & Environment Forum Switzerland». Through his humanitarian missions he got to know Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama and other figures of light. His book is an exciting mixture of political thriller, crazy social stories and travel reports – the highlights of his adventurous, wild nomadic life for reportage photography .
(please note that translation corrections are still in progress and images will follow soon)
Few countries, like Colombia, are peppered with such imposing scenic diversity and incomparable abundance of natural wonders as the fourth largest country in Latin America. The massless generosity of this paradisiacal gene bank of fauna and flora, spread between the Andes and the Amazon basin, is overwhelming. Unfortunately, when one hears or speaks of Colombia, one usually hears of drugs, murder and corruption. The guerrilla war of the „Farc“ (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia), is one of the longest and bloodiest civil wars apart from the Marxist terror of the „Shining Path“, the „Sender Luminoso“ in Peru. The civil war in Colombia has officially ended but the fundamental problems of the country and the widespread cultivation of cocaine are far from solved. There is no longer an all-powerful Pablo Escobar, but there are more rival drug cartels that make life difficult for the farmers and the population. But for now, let’s take a look at the fascinating and, for most people, unknown, beautiful sides of Colombia.
In Bogota I met my professional colleague, the aviation journalist and military pilot Hans-Jörg Egger. Together we flew from the capital of Colombia in all directions in one week on behalf of Swissair. First to Letica in the border triangle of Brazil, Colombia and Peru in the south of the country in the middle of the Amazon jungle, then to Cartagena in the colonial pearl, with the magnificent colonial style buildings similar to Havana. We continued on to Cali, then the drug stronghold of Pablo Escobar, another destination was Villa Vicencio, also known as a drug transshipment point, and finally we flew up to the Caribbean island of San Andres, which lies off the coast of Nicaragua. Quite an ambitious program in one week. The purpose of the trip: We were to put together a travel itinerary for the annual Swissair VIP shareholders trip and reconnoiter the best places where ancient aircraft types still fly around. It was to be a fantastic vintage aviation trip. Let’s go.
The harbingers of the jungle begin less than 100 kilometers from Bogota, but to get there you have to overcome the grueling pass road of the Sierra Oriental at an altitude of 3700 meters above sea level and then master and survive the winding descent on narrow paths along abyssal canyons down to a hundred meters above sea level. The sun is just sinking on the blood-red horizon above the steaming jungle, where tropical thunderstorms are violently raining down on the esmerald green jungle just before dusk, making the drive on the slippery pass road hell. After seven hours of driving we made it and arrived in Villa Vicencio.
After an interview with the airport director we board the silver fuselage of the DC-6, with which we fly through the lashing rain with loud propeller howling. The pilot’s forehead is also covered with thick beads of water, as it looks to him like difficult flying and landing conditions. Droning, the propeller engines fight against the dense cloud swaths of clouds that are quickly whizzing by. The view from the small round windows sweeps over the green jungle sea in the Amazon basin, the meandering river courses and island dots. Then the descent begins and we set down for landing, whereupon, relieved to have arrived undamaged, we taxi with the old jalopy over the bumpy jungle runway of Leticia in the border triangle.
Rarely do the sunny sides of Colombian life and the splendor of the Andean and jungle state come to light. But anyone who fearlessly confronts the terra incognita in South America’s Garden of Eden, despite poverty and violence, will be magically drawn to Colombia’s magic and the fiery temperament of its people. The north of Colombia is dominated by the eastern, western and central cordilleras. Three massive Andean strands rising to 5000 meters with snow-capped peaks, are the topographic panopticon of the country. They contain fertile valleys with volcanic ash soils on which coffee plantations, vegetable and grain fields and fruit trees flourish, fragrant flowers and spice plants bloom.
In Amazonia, it’s as if time has stood still. Fitzgeraldo’s adventures revive on the mental horizon – thousands of dangers still lurk in the tropical rainforest. The Yaguas Indians are not a threat, although they still blow deadly poisoned arrows from their blowpipes when hunting animals and birds. They never were, on the contrary they are the protectors of the jungle and defend it against the unwanted and destructive intruders. Unfortunately in vain. Visitors, however, after painting their faces with the green color of the Urucu tree, are mostly welcomed in a friendly manner, because they are a promising prey thanks to souvenir purchases.
Danger lurks more in the water and in the air than on the ground. Crocodiles and pirhanas prevent a cooling bath in the Amazon, parasites and malaria mosquitoes can quickly make your life miserable, poisonous spiders and insects can even make it hell, and then there is always a full concert here. Macaw parrots, howler monkeys, vultures, cormorants and ibises are always to be heard, an anaconda, a boa or a jaguar however one gets to see rarely. I was lucky enough to encounter two lazy jaguars that had made themselves comfortable under a shrub in the shade of the sultry heat. Those who set out with Capax under the expert guidance of the „Tarzan of Leticia“ were able to experience a lot and mostly returned from the jungle expedition to civilization unharmed.
Along the Andean foothills, endless savannahs with cattle pastures spread out in the north, turning into desert-like areas like the Guajira Peninsula in the east. White sandy beaches line the coasts of the Caribbean islands of San Andres and Providencia off Nicaragua’s coast. More than 40 nature reserves and national parks covering a total of 10 million hectares, which represent a kind of genetic treasure chest and information bank on the development of our planet, bear witness to Colombia’s immense fauna and flora wealth. The primeval sites of Colombia’s colonial metropolises, the villages of the Yagua Indians near Leticia in the border triangle, the Caribbean flair of the vacation island of San Andres off the coast of Nicaragua and the simple dwellings of the farmers in the magnificent Amazonian refuges slowly come together to form a grandiose microcosm.
Cartagena is one of the most beautiful colonial relics in all of Latin America and the highest of all emotions for historians, architects and the culturally ambitious. It was once the most important port city on the continent for the slave trade and the seat of the then dreaded Inquisition Tribunal. A place of many tragedies and their heroes, of adventurers and their legends, rich in castles, monasteries and museums, all of which are World Heritage Sites.
Overlooked by the Andes, embraced by the jungle and swayed by the Caribbean and Pacific symphony of oceans, the life of Colombians simmers between happiness and despair, anger and impotence, oscillating from exuberant joie de vivre, carried by joyful dance music like the cumbia, to the deepest sadness over the victims of poverty, drug barons, corrupt politicians and tyrants. Colombians live, love and suffer life to the fullest. One is swept along, dives in, perhaps submerges and, with a little luck, emerges more comfortable. Although the tough peace negotiations have led to the disarmament of the „Farc“ and the cessation of their attacks on the military and the civilian population, the amnesty has not brought about any atonement, any admission of guilt, and no coming to terms with the atrocities committed by the guerrillas with regard to the numerous victim families.
On the other hand, the farmers were denied the necessary support for infrastructure (roads, electricity, water) in inaccessible regions, so that in many jungle regions they have no choice but to grow cocaine. In addition, the Colombian government is now clearing more and more virgin forest, not for an agrarian reform that would help the farmers, but solely for the exploitation of the timber industry, which is clogging up the narrow waterways, the only transport routes accessible by boat, with logs, making it impossible to transport other goods such as bananas, vegetables or fruit. Since there are no roads, no electricity and no local administration, the farmers are helplessly at the mercy of the drug cartels. Very few have an alternative to coca cultivation.
At the end of our trip to Colombia, Hans-Jörg and I arrived at the airport in Bogota, as always in the last few days, only shortly before departure. We had gotten used to the fact that 15 minutes was enough to board the plane. This worked well with all Colombian flights, but the upcoming flight to Ecuador, was just a foreign flight. We had not thought about that and that the procedure would take much longer. When we arrived at the counter and learned that boarding was already completed, I showed the check-in counter employees two business cards and said: „Stop the airplaine, now immediately“ and just ran through the gate past the surprised securities out onto the airfield, Hans-Jörg gasped next to me, after all, we both had a lot of camera luggage around and in tow. Without being shot at, we ran towards the plane, which had closed all doors and was taxiing to the runway.
At the same time, however, we saw a stair car racing towards the aircraft and the jet stopped. After a few dozen meters we had made it and were allowed to rush up the stairs, whereupon the boarding door was opened and we could board. „Wow, what awesome action!“ Why did the plane stop, you ask? Well, one business card was that of the Colombian Minister of Aviation and the other, that of the Bogota Airport Director. Both of these people we had interviewed before. And so it happened that for us two Swiss journalists in Colombia, a commercial airliner on an international flight was stopped on the taxiway for departure so that the two VIPs could board.
Someone should try that in Zurich, Frankfurt or London. Since our boarding was already quite spectacular, we were also allowed to take turns in the third pilot seat in the cockpit of this plane and experience the flight to Quito with the pilots. There, for the first time, I became visibly aware of how fast it goes when two commercial airliners race toward each other at 700 kilometers per hour each. I was able to witness this during the spectacular landing approach in Quito, when a plane that had taken off from there was first a small dot that quickly grew larger and closer and seconds later flew very close and very fast past our cockpit. Even more blatant was the flight with the Equadorian military aircraft over the Andes, during which I was quite dazed as a result of the acceleration. I was not as fit as a military pilot after all! Anyway, this was my most spectacular trip as an aviation journalist and I would like to return to Colombia and spend much more time there.
The author, Gerd Michael Müller, born in Zürich in 1962, traveled as a photo-journalist to more than 50 nations and lived in seven countries, including in the underground in South Africa during apartheid. In the 80 years he was a political activist at the youth riots in Zürich. Then he was involved in pioneering Wildlife & eco projects in Southern Africa and humanitarian projects elsewhere in the world. As early as 1993, Müller reported on the global climate change and in 1999 he founded the «Tourism & Environment Forum Switzerland». Through his humanitarian missions he got to know Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama and other figures of light. His book is an exciting mixture of political thriller, crazy social stories and travel reports – the highlights of his adventurous, wild nomadic life for reportage photography .
(please note that translation corrections are still in progress and images will follow soon)
Thanks to the cooperation with the „AOM“, which connected the French Départements d’outre Mèr, i.e. French Guyana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, the South Seas or New Caledonia with Paris, I flew almost once a year to Cuba and was also briefly on Guadeloupe, three weeks in the South Seas, and now flying to French Guiana in the backyard of the Grande Nation, „where the pepper grows,“ where political prisoners have been exiled on an island and the European Space Agency (ESA) has set up shop in Kourou. The most exotic of all EU members is known at best through the movie „Papillon“, as a former penal colony, and so the image of French Guyana is also characterized by diffuse ideas and shimmering legends. Guyana’s reputation as a dangerous country populated with legions of poisonous insects, fearsome tarantulas, deadly snakes, meter-long aligators and piranhas is probably true, but beyond that, the country where Europe runs out and disappears into the green jungle thicket is one of the most stable in the region.
„The most dangerous creature here is man, followed by wasps,“ puts Philippe Gilabert, founder of „CISAME“ (Centre Initiation Survie et Aventure au Millieu Equatorial), an idyllic camp in the middle of green hell after about 60 kilometers of pirogue travel upstream on the banks of the Approuague near the Brazilian border, into perspective. „Humans,“ Gilabert, a former „Legion Etrangere“ paratrooper and terrorism expert, tells us, „are the most harmful creatures to the fragile ecocycle of the primary forest. Then would come the wasps, but they are a threat only to unwary humans, added the then 43-year-old Frenchman, who worked as a paratrooper and terrorism expert, wryly. He and Manoel, a Karipuna jungle Indian must know, because they specialize in bringing the wild jungle closer to as many civilized people as possible (than they actually care to) and offer 10 days of survival training to the toughest. So the civilization-impaired first practice archery, trapping, climbing, canoeing, fishing, making fire and building dwellings before having their own experience of what it’s like to have to survive in the jungle. So the jungle experts show the civilization-weary how to survive in the jungle and nature-lovers what treasures and functions the primary forest has and why it is absolutely necessary to protect it worldwide.
Among the guests of Mirikitares, the camp of the river people, as the Karipunas call this place, are reservists of European and North American armed forces as well as executives of companies who want to get their top shots in shape here. Even ordinary tourists are inspired to fulfill their dream and plunge into a daring jungle adventure. The fact that this is not just a macho world is proven by the growing number of women who come here and can often easily compete with us men in survival training. Either way, everyone gets to know themselves and their limits or abilities. The commitment goes to the substance of the mental and manageable, the survival mode switches on and amazing, existential insights open up to you. You suddenly realize how small and inconspicuous, how vulnerable and alone you are. You go from being the hunter to the hunted. A unique experience.
Having barely escaped the rainforest unscathed, new habitats open up, at least in the imagination, on a galactic trip to the moon, revealed to curious travelers in Kourou, not far from Guyana’s capital Cayenne, at the European Aerospace Center, the „Centre Spacial“ of the (ESA). So it is from here that the journey into space starts. The place itself offers nothing, except for the usual third-world view of the country’s class hierarchy. In the old town live the socially weakest, the Creoles, Indians and white unskilled workers, surrounded by out-of-place concrete buildings for the middle class, and on the beach the magnificent villas of the Europeans, scientists and employees of the space station in nearby Kourou.
After a visit to the European Union Space Station, I take a boat to Devil’s Island, a penal colony made famous by the movie Papillon. The three islands off the coast, Ille Royale, St. Jospeh and Ille Diable, where political prisoners were held for years by France in extreme conditions before ending up under the guillotine. Some, it is said here, would have preferred to be eaten by sharks while fleeing through the sea than to continue to suffer the earthly torment settled here. Guyana’s highlights include the country’s Wild West, especially the picturesque colonial town of St. Laurent-du-Moroni, on the border river with Suriname, which is well worth a visit. The colorful mixture of peoples, including Indians, raven pirogue drivers, bustling Indo-Chinese and Hmongs who came here via France to flee the Pol Pot regime, as well as Haitian cloth merchants, Dominicans and Creoles of all shades, and a few whites, was and still is impressively diverse.
On the last evening before our departure, we, a small group of journalists from Switzerland, trolled late at night through the harbor district of the capital Ceyenne and we were already quite drunk, after the humid happy rounds in some bars. Obviously, we had been observed, because at a rather dark intersection, suddenly from all sides a few sinister figures stepped out of the cracks of the houses quickly towards us. I could just warn my companions with a loud call, then someone coming from behind sprayed tear gas into my eyes, whereupon I could see nothing more and inhaled the irritant gas coughing. I whirled around like a dervish and began to swing my camera equipment around to keep the three attackers at a distance, whom I could see only dimly. Then I broke through on one side and ran up the street until I was out of breath and out of range of the gang. My colleagues were also lucky and managed to fight back and save themselves from the attackers. With this adventure behind us, we left the country the next day and flew back to Switzerland.
On one of the first of a total of five trips to Brazil, after Iguaçu Falls, Rio de Janeiro and Buzios, I also discovered Salvador de Bahia, the landing place of the Europeans and the first capital of Brazil. If you want to experience the exotic facets of Bahian life, be prepared for hot pickup lines, cool rejections and delicious alcoholic consolations, at least during Carnival. If you dive into the mystical world of Candobléein and let yourself be overwhelmed by the overwhelming spirituality, leave the local world and get into a trance to ecstasy. Candomblé is a Brazilian religion that has its roots and cradle in West Africa. The saints Orixá, Nkisi or Vodum are, in contrast to the supreme god Olorun, so to speak „approachable“. Most enslaved Africans came from Nigeria and Benin and were influenced by the Yoruba and Bantu traditions. During a Candomblé rite, a saint can take possession of a person. The roots of the slave tower are deeply rooted in the local culture. However, they are often lived out in secret. But when hundreds of powerful gospel voices resound from full fervor and the percussionists begin with their drum rhythm, then not only the earth trembles, but also the air vibrates in the far periphery, as with a howling hurricane. This makes the psalm-screeching Catholic boys‘ choir in the Sao Fransico monastery in the baroque old town district of Pelourinho sound rather pitiful.
A trip to Salvador de Bahia is therefore like setting out for new shores. First of all, it is admirable how elated the Baihanos go through life. Remarkable how they express their joy and sorrow. The mystical world of gods and the spiritual source of the Bahanos is reflected in Candomblé, which gave reason for the Christian mission, especially since Bahia was the starting point of the western explorers and conquerors. The bastions along the coast are not the only evidence of this. In Salvador de Bahia, the cradle of carnival and samba, there is no standing still and no stiff posturing. Everything is in flux, everyone is constantly on the move, more or less gracefully. It is rare to discover such a playful people, who have produced an unbelievable number of talented dancers and musicians.
Another Bahian specialty is capoeira, the martial art disguised as dance. Here, too, the gracefully flowing movements are recognizable, flowing through their whole lives and triggering impulses. But not only in expressing feelings also the body cult is on top of the agenda, in this the Bahianos hardly differ from the Cariocas. There is hardly an Adonis who does not present his athletically steeled body in his skimpy briefs. There is not a single woman who does not proudly walk on the beach in her „Fio dental“ bikini, flirting with her gracefulness and permissiveness. No wonder the church has sent more friars here than anywhere else in the world. In Salvador de Bahia alone, 165 houses of worship have been built.
In 2003 I was stationed for three months as a resident manager for a Swiss travel company in Fortalezza in the northeast of Brazil and had a truly good time there. Few guests, so almost no stress, a hotel room right on the Beira Mar (that’s like the Copacabana in Rio) furthermore I had a good vehicle with which I could drive to Jericoacoara to the fantastic sand dunes or south to Moro Branco. I was very attracted to the Brazilian lifestyle, music, language and culture on previous trips, which also helped me learn a little Portuguese. Since I spoke passable Spanish, it was easy for me to get into Portuguese and I like the Brazilian dialects better than the harsh Spanish accents. I am also enchanted by the music of many Latin American sounds: from the tango in Argentina to the bossa nova of a Gilberto Gil in Brazil or the folk dance forro, as in Fortalezza, from the salsa and son in Cuba to the merengue in the Dominican Republic.
In Fortaleza, during these three months, I lived as Station Manager at Beira Mar, ideally located for daily trips to the most beautiful city beach, Praia do futuro, and at night to Iracema at the end of Beira Mar, where the tourist entertainment district was located with all the nightclubs, which was very convenient for local tourist services. At the end of the three months I was shipped off to Sinai, but after the six month assignment in Sharm el Sheikh, returned to Fortaleza unemployed because the tsunami had hit Asia and as a result all the tour companies needed fewer Station Managers and Tour Guides.
Upon my return to Fortaleza, I first lived and stayed for two months in the Favela Serviluz with a friend who had a small brick house near Praia do Futuro and felt quite comfortable there. Soon, via Heldon and his friend Joaquin, I knew many people and the neighbors in the favela knew me as well, so I was able to move freely there day and night. It was a comfortable time, because I had made good foreign exchange deals with the tourists in Sinai and before in Brazil. This was always a tolerable source of extra income with these jobs. In Poland, I almost became a zloty millionaire. Then a friend from Switzerland visited me and we rented a „Highlux“, an off-roader, to drive along the Brazilian coast from Fortaleza in the state of Céara via the states of Maranhão and Piaui up to Manaus and then to complete the return journey inland.
That’s a good 6000 kilometers we wanted to cover in 11 days. The off-road driving was more comfortable than driving on the asphalt road, which was completely littered with holes up to half a meter deep. The asphalt looked like it had been bombed over a wide area, which is why I often drove on the scree strip to the right of the road. There one comes in principle faster ahead and whirls up strongly dust, which is to be seen already from a distance and prevents the accident danger. The journey went through Jericoacoara, with its fantastic dune landscape, which was surpassed in beauty by the crystal clear lakes in the sand dunes in the next state of Maranhao. An extremely fascinating region! The deep blue Atlantic with lonely dream beaches to the left, a gigantic sand dune strip along the coast and inland the esmerad green jungle. The national parks of Jericoacoara and Lençóis Maranhenses on the Atlantic coast are unique biotopes worth preserving.
I like deserts better than virgin forests. One gets along better. At least in 4×4. But even here, I would have been stranded without the help of local fishermen, because on this trip numerous rivers had to be crossed. Except for the one time it worked quite well, until we came to a river that was shallow on our side only about 30 meters, then there was a small sand island just before the place where the river flowed through a narrow mouth, like a funnel, much more tearing. You could just make that out from 40 meters away, and it was probably the most dangerous part. „If I couldn’t cross at full throttle the last ten meters after the tiny river island,“ it would look bad, I thought. And that’s exactly what happened. I drove with a lot of speed through the 30 meter wide, shallow river towards the island, but got stuck there due to the incline, had too little momentum to cross the current channel and was soon stuck with the hood at a 45 degree angle to three quarters in the water. After a few hours, a couple of fishermen came along. Only thanks to a boat in the current channel that lifted the car a little and a car that pulled us back from behind with the wire rope over the shallow part of the river, we managed to get out of the river.
Another time, when I was just out on my own in the sweltering midday heat, I got stuck in deep quicksand. I was shoveling like a madman in the scorching hot sand and didn’t think I would make it. It took four hours, many drops of sweat and endless jerks for a few meters further, but finally it worked out. And so the journey continued to Ilha de Maranhão, one of the largest alluvial areas in the world at the foothills of the Amazon. 800,000 buffalo populate the island, which belongs to only a few hundred large landowners who hardly employ any workers. Where the animals traverse in the dry season, a river course emerges in the rainy season. Thus, the fragile ecosystem and the thin layer of humus is destroyed in just a few years. Year after year, huge areas of virgin forest are being appropriated first for cattle breeding and then for intensive agriculture such as soy plantations. In the past 30 years, almost a quarter of the Amazon Delta has been destroyed. This is a catastrophe, because the incomparably high biodiversity is also seriously threatened here. In the Amazon alone there are over 2000 different fish. For comparison: In the whole of Europe there are just 150 species of fish. The same is true for all other animal species, most of which are endemic. The adventurous journey continued through the state of Piaui and from there we drove on to Manaus. Then another good 3000 kilometers inland back to Fortaleza, where we visited the Gruta de Ubajara, Brazil’s largest caves with nine chambers and a depth of a good kilometer, at the Ubajara National Park, about 300 km west of Fortaleza. Now we come to the last and most special of my Brazil trips and my only cruise.
Französisch Guyana: Drei Ara-Papageien auf einem ZweigFrench Guyane: Two monkey’s riding on a TapirThe former political prison on devils islandEin Jaguar der gähntEin Jaguar schaut und fauchtTwo monkey’s riding on a TapirThe headquarter of the 9th Marine-Infanterie-Regiment of France in CayenneThe former prison on the island of devil .Swiss Photojournalist Gerd Müller in French Guyana
Malysia/Borneo: A handicaped young orang utan at the reha station in Sepilok, Sarawak
FOREWORD
The author, Gerd MichaelMüller, born in Zürich in 1962, traveled as a photo-journalist to more than 50 nations and lived in seven countries, including in the underground in South Africaduring apartheid. In the 80 years he was a political activist at the youth riots in Zürich. Then he was involved in pioneering Wildlife & eco projects in Southern Africa and humanitarian projects elsewhere in the world. As early as 1993, Müller reported on the global climate change and in 1999 he founded the «Tourism & Environment Forum Switzerland». Through his humanitarian missions he got to know Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama and other figures of light. His book is an exciting mixture of political thriller, crazysocial stories and travelreports – the highlights of his adventurous, wild nomadic life for reportage photography .
(please note that translation corrections are still in progress and images will follow soon)
In 1996 I made a trip to Malaysia to celebrate 50 years of independence from the British crown and after the state celebration with all Asian heads of state, I first traveled around Malaysia by car for ten days and visited Taman Negara National Park in the rainforest. The country’s fascinating charms range from dreamlike beaches on the islands of Lankawi and Tioman in the north on the Thai border, to cultural strongholds such as Penang or daring climbing tours on Mount Kinabalu, or even the wildlife paradises in the two national parks of Niah and Gunung-Mulu. After the round trip through Malaysia and the side trip to Langkawi I flew to Borneo and landed in Sarawak with the aim to explore the situation of forest clearing for palm oil production, the thereby threatening situation of the head hunters and the destroyed habitat of the Orang Utan.
At Lake Batang Ai in Sarawak on Borneo I started the expedition into the rainforest and hired a guide with a dugout canoe to lead me to the Iban Headhunters living here. After two days‘ travel from Lake Batang Ai, paddling a canoe upstream through a sea of deforested tropical tribes flowing downstream, I ended up in one of these remote longhouse villages. The days of decapitating intruders with the parang, the dreaded long knife, and hanging the grisly trophies in the form of shrunken mini-skulls from the beams of the longhouses are thankfully over. But I have yet to see such shrunken skulls, and I don’t want to end up that way.
The longhouses of the head hunters are built on stilts, up to 100 meters long and have a continuous wide corridor leading to a longitudinal veranda. In the longhouse, one dwelling is then lined up next to the other. So that everyone knows what the other of the clan is doing. Unfortunately, due to my lack of language skills, it was very awkward to have conversations with the headhunters about their traditions and way of life, since no one understood English. Communication was only through sign language, observation and a „low-level“ communication. In the hallway, which is a good five meters wide, talented Iban women sit and weave elaborate bast mats, shape vessels out of clay, or sit at a loom while older men and women supervise the children. In the evenings, the younger men join them, drink their tuak (palm wine) and tell stories about hunting, field work or their work on the plantations.
Unfortunately, after a short time I came down with malaria, which laid me completely flat. Although I had swallowed some „Lariam“ tablets, I still felt very bad. Shaken by fever cramps and checkmate, I lay around for three days like a dead fly in the „longhouse“ of the headhunters, before I could go back by dugout canoe to a jungle camp that had a radio station. There I tried with Switzerland over the radio connection and the telephone handset held elsewhere to the radio, to take up contact with my family. When then at home in Switzerland the tape recorder instead of a connection came, because it was there in the middle of the night, I said only briefly that I wanted to say goodbye, because I would probably not survive the night. After that, I lay down outside under the starry night sky, shaken by more bouts of fever. I wanted to die at least in the open air and not in the tiny, stuffy wooden hut in which I had been quartered.
What happened now was unique and should shake my distinctive sense of reality fundamentally. Whether it was only halucinations or whether I was actually brought back from the ascension, is not clear to me until today. In any case my astral body took off and then I saw purely optically already the stars with comet-like rapid speed coming towards me and felt pulled weightlessly up into the orbit and glided so to speak like the spaceship „Enterprise“ which jetted with light speed through the orbit towards the starry sky. But since the stars cannot come toward me, I realized that I probably took off like an angel and now raced toward the sparkling firmament, unless my fevered brain was doing its antics and hallunzigone vision with me. Either way the journey to the stars was as exciting as it was enlightening. Shortly thereafter, a scream and screech rang in my ears and I heard my daughter and her mother howling in horrified tones, but not understanding any of their words. „What the hell are they doing up here,“ I thought for a moment, and then my little daughter’s voice occupied my mind so much that my light-speed flight to the stars abruptly lost momentum and I completed a loop back to Earth, telling myself that the time to depart had not yet come, since there were two people who needed me. So I swallowed three more „Lariam“ tablets and had now reached the dose for an elephant, as a tropical doctor told me a few days later. But after that it slowly went uphill again.
With the help of the jungle camp residents I got back on my feet after two days, traveled on to Kota Kinabalu to the Orang Utan Rehabilitation Station in Sepilok and arrived just at the right time, because at 11:00 a.m. the feeding of the Orang Utan was taking place from a platform about two kilometers further in the forest interior. Two groups of tourists had already started walking before me on the wooden walkway that leads a good two meters above ground into the rainforest to the large visitor platform and the two feeding places in the trees behind it. As I slowly approach the scene with my telephoto lens and recognize the young orangutans on the feeding areas, as well as the adult orangutan hanging from the wire rope that was stretched between the two feeding areas, I also heard the shouts of individual visitors who wanted to persuade the large orangutan to turn around, as he cheekily stuck his butt out at all of us. The isolated calls bounced off his butt. As a photographer, I was also interested in the fat guy showing us his face. So I emitted a few loud grunts, as I had heard them before, and apparently hit the right note. And lo and behold, in no time the orangutan turned around, showed his smacking face and looked curiously over at us. Perfect: „Ready for the photo shoot?“ Click, click, click.
After that, I watched as the babies got their food and gobbled it down, then abruptly disappeared back into the trees. But I wanted to get back to the rehab station before the others after the feeding, so I made my way back down the dock before the others. As I tried to sneak past a young handicapped orangutan, with a chopped off but already healed arm, lying backwards on the walkway and thus blocking the passage, he grabbed me by the lower leg. What was I supposed to do? When I wanted to gently release his hand that was clutching my leg, he simply grabbed me by the wrist, whereupon we both, the young orangutan and the still feverish and sweaty photographer ran hand in hand through the jungle to the station. That was a wonderful feeling. The orangutan could have taken me right up into the treetops with his buddies. That didn’t work, but I made a damn good appearance in the rehabilitation ward when we arrived there, still hand in hand, like good old friends, to talk to the ward manager.
My report about the „endangered“ apes was well received in the Swiss media and besides seven daily newspapers that printed the report, also the „Brückenbauer“ with a circulation of millions published the story with an appeal for donations, whereupon several tens of thousands of Swiss Francs were donated and benefited the Orang Utan Rehab Station in Sepilok. The apes became known through the Swiss environmental and human rights activist Bruno Manser, who vehemently campaigned for the indigenous people of the rainforest, the former head hunters, and then disappeared without a trace and was possibly murdered by the „timber mafia“, to whom he was a thorn in the flesh.
Bruno Manser from Appenzell lived in Borneo from 1984 to 1990, making records of the fauna and flora of the tropical rainforest and learning the language and culture of the Penan, a nomadic people group on Borneo, and living with them. In 1990 he had to flee to Switzerland after he was expelled by the Malaysian government and declared an „undesirable person“. A bounty of 50000 dollars was also placed on his head. In 1993, Manser participated in a fasting action and. a hunger strike in front of the Federal Parliament in Bern to protest against the import of tropical timber. In 2000, despite an entry ban and a bounty on his head, he traveled from the Indonesian part of Borneo (Kalimantan) across the green border into the Malaysian Sarawak to the Penan and was never seen again. Since then, Bruno Manser has been considered missing and was officially declared dead in 2005.
The orang utan, the „forest man“ in Malay, has been threatened with extinction since the mid-1960s. Despite international species protection agreements, at that time still extremely restrictive trade agreements and the two capture and rehabilitation stations on Semengho in Sarawak and Sepilok in Sabah on the Malaysian island of Borneo, the close relatives of Homo Sapiens are more acutely endangered than ever. Greed for tropical timber and palm oil is destroying their habitat, the primary forest. The destruction of their refuges has left them isolated in small groups. The clear-cutting of the rainforest destroys not only the material but also the spiritual basis of existence of many primitive peoples, because the imagination of the Orang Ulu, Melanau, Kenzah and Kajan tribes assumes that their ancestors live on as birds, insects or animals in their native environment. Thus, with each tree cutting, the cultural heritage is desecrated and mercilessly destroyed. And by far the largest segment of the population in Sarawak, the Bidayuh rice farmers believe in the symbiosis of the human and plant life cycle and believe that after their death, people return to earth as drops of water that fertilize the soil and give life.
Malysia/Borneo: A orang utan baby and his mother at the reha station in Sepilok, SarawakMalysia/Borneo: A handicaped young orang utan at the reha station in Sepilok, SarawakMalaysia: A handicaped young Orang Utan lying on the rainforest wood bridge at the reha center in Sarawak on Borneo IslandMalaysia: A typical Iban Headhunter long house in the rain forest of Sarawak on Borneo IslandMalaysia/Borneo: A Iban Headhunter village in the rain forest near Lake Batang Ai in SarawakMalaysia: The visitor plattform of the orang utan reha station in Sepilok/Sarawak, on Borneo IslandMalaysia/Borneo: A Iban Headhunter showing his hunting experience with his blow tubeMalaysia/Borneo: Iban Headhunter musicians playing in the rain forest of SarawakMalaysia/Borneo: Older Iban Headhunter with tatoo’s at the river sitting in the rain forest of SarawakMalaysia/Borneo: Iban Headhunter ceremony in a typical long house in the rain forest of Sarawak near Lake Batang AiMalaysia: A Iban headhunter woman wearing tradition cloth in Sarawak on Borneo IslandMalaysia/Borneo: Iban Headhunter with kids playing and sitting in front of the long house in the rain forest of SarawakMalaysia: A typical Iban Headhunter long house in the rain forest of Sarawak on Borneo IslandDer Zürcher Fotojournalist Gerd M. Müller in Borneo bei den MenschenaffenMalaysia: A palm oil plantation where the rainforest has been cut downMalaysia/Borneo: Iban Headhunter ceremony in a typical long house in the rain forest of Sarawak near Lake Batang Ai
Auszug aus dem Buch «DAS PENDEL SCHLÄGT ZURÜCK – POLITISCHE & ÖKOLOGISCHE METAMORPHOSEN» des Zürcher Fotojournalisten Gerd M. Müller. Das ganze Manuskript ist als E-Book-Version auf www.self-publishing.com zu finden.
Das Buch des Zürcher Foto-Journalisten Gerd Michael Müller nimmt Sie ab den wilden 80er Das Buch des Zürcher Foto-Journalisten Gerd Michael Müller nimmt Sie ab den wilden 80er Jahren mit auf eine spannende Zeitreise durch 30 Länder und 40 Jahre Zeitgeschichte mit Fokus auf viele politische Vorgänge in Krisenregionen rund um den Globus. Er beleuchtet das Schicksal indigener Völker, zeigt die Zerstörung ihres Lebensraumes auf, rückt ökologische Aspekte und menschenrechtliche Schicksale in den Vordergrund und analysiert scharfsichtig und gut informiert die politischen Transformationsprozesse. Müller prangert den masslosen Konsum und die gnadenlose Ausbeutung der Ressourcen an, zeigt die Auswirkungen wirtschaftlicher, gesellschaftlicher und politischer Prozesse ineinigen Ländern auf und skizziert Ansätze zur Bewältigung des Klimawandels. Pointiert, hintergründig, spannend und erhellend. Eine gelungene Mischung aus globalen Polit-Thrillern, gehobener Reiseliteratur, gespickt mit sozialkritischen und abenteuerlichen Geschichten sowie persönlichen Essays – den Highlights und der Essenz seines abenteuerlich wilden Nomaden-Lebens für die Reportage-Fotografie eben. Es erwartet Sie eine Reise durch die epochale Vergangenheit und metamorphorische Phasen vieler exotischer Länder rund um den Globus. Nach der Lektüre dieses Buchs zählen Sie zu den kulturell, ökologisch sowie politisch versierten Globetrotter.
Bevor wir Kuba mit der MS Bremen vom Amazonas herkommend ansteuerten war ein Zwischenstopp auf Französisch Guyana angesagt. Ich kannte das französische Departement d’outre Mer schon. Dank der Kooperation mit der Fluggesellschaft «AOM», welche die französischen Uebersee-Departements , also Französisch Guyana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, die Südsee oder Neu-Kaledonien mit Paris verband, flog ich fast jährlich einmal nach Kuba und war auch kurz auf Guadeloupe, drei Wochen in der Südsee und besuchte vor Jahren auch die «ESA», die Europäische Raumfahrtstation in Kourou und fuhr hernach mit dem Boot sowohl nach Cayenne als auch auf die Teufelsinsel.
Damals war ich mit einer kleinen Schweizer Journalisten-Truppe hier und nutzte die Zeit nach Ihrer Abreise um in das Survival Camp «CISAME» zu gehen und dort eine Woche den Ueberlebenskampf im Urwald üben. Das Camp hatten Ex-Söldner der Legion etrangère, also der Fremdenlegion gegründet. Zuerst um dort selbst das Überleben im Urwald zu trainieren, dann um Westlern dieses Existenzialisten-Abenteuer anzudienen.
Das exotischste aller EU-Mitglieder ist bestenfalls durch den Film „Papillon“, als einstige Strafkolonie bekannt und so ist das Bild von Französisch Guyana auch von diffusen Vorstellungen und schillernden Legenden geprägt. Guyanas Ruf als gemeingefährliches Land, das mit Heerschaaren von giftigen Insekten, fürchterlichen Vogelspinnen, tödlichen Schlangen, meterlangen Aligatoren und Piranhas bevölkert ist, stimmt wohl, aber darüber hinaus, ist das Land, wo Europa ausläuft, verdampft und im grünen Urwald-Dickicht verschwindet, eines der stabilsten in der Region.
«Das gefährlichste Wesen hier ist der Mensch, gefolgt von den Wespen», relativiert Philippe Gilabert, der Gründer von «CISAME» (Centre Initiation Survie et Aventure au Millieu Equatorial), einem idyllischen Camp inmitten der grünen Hölle nach ungefähr 60 Kilometern Pirogenfahrt flussaufwärts am Ufer des Approuague nahe der brasilianischen Grenze gelegen.
„Die Menschen“, so erzählt der einstige Fallschirmspringer der «Legion Etrangère» und Terrorismusexperte Gilabert, „ist die schädlichste Kreatur für den fragilen Ökokreislauf des Primärwaldes. Dann kämen die Wespen, die aber nur für den unachtsamen Menschen eine Bedrohung seien, fügte der damals 43-jährige Franzose ironisch hinzu. Er und Manoel, ein Karipuna-Urwald-Indio müssen es wissen, denn sie haben sich darauf spezialisiert, möglichst vielen Zivilisierten den wilden Urwald näher zu bringen (als ihnen lieb ist) und den Härtesten ein 10 Tage Survival Training anzubieten. Also übt sich der Zivilisationsgeschädigte erst einmal in Bogenschiessen, Fallen stellen, Klettern, Kanufahren, Fischen, Feuermachen und Behausungen bauen, bevor er seine eigenen Erfahrungen macht, wie es ist, im Urwald überleben zu müssen.
Auszug aus dem Buch «DAS PENDEL SCHLÄGT ZURÜCK – POLITISCHE & ÖKOLOGISCHE METAMORPHOSEN» des Zürcher Fotojournalisten Gerd M. Müller. Das ganze Manuskript ist als E-Book-Version auf www.self-publishing.com zu finden.
Der Zürcher Autor, Gerd Michael Müller (Jg. 62), reiste als Fotojournalist durch mehr als 50 Nationen und lebte in sieben Ländern, darunter auch in Südafrika im Untergrund während der Apartheid. In den 80er Jahren war er Politaktivist bei den Zürcher Jugendunruhen und im «AJZ». Dann engagierte er sich für wegweisende Wildlife & Ökoprojekte im südlichen Afrika und humanitäre Projekte andernorts auf der Welt. Schon 1993 berichtet Müller über den Klimawandel und 1999 gründete er das «Tourismus & Umwelt Forum Schweiz». Durch seine humanitären Einsätze lernte er Nelson Mandela, den Dalai Lama und weitere Lichtgestalten kennen. Sein Buch ist eine spannende Mischung aus gehobener Reiseliteratur, spannendem Politthriller und gespickt mit abgefahrenen Geschichten – den Highlights seines abenteuerlich wilden Nomaden-Lebens für die Reportage-Fotografie.
1996 flog ich das erste Mal nach Indien und zwar nach Kerala an die Südspitze ins Land der aufstrebenden Ayurveda-Resorts und Kliniken. Ich hatte zuvor schon auf Sri Lanka mit der ayurvedischen Medizin hautnahen K1996 flog ich das erste Mal nach Indien und zwar nach Kerala an die Südspitze ins Land der aufstrebenden Ayurveda-Resorts und Kliniken. Ich hatte zuvor schon auf Sri Lanka mit der ayurvedischen Medizin hautnahen Kontakt aufgenommen und eine Pancha Karma Reinigungs-kur gemacht und auf der Tropeninsel sieben der damals Besten Ayurveda-Resorts besucht und sie miteinander verglichen. Es waren dies das «Aida» in Bentota, das «Lanka Princess» in Beruwela, «Lawrence Hill» in Hikkaduwa, das «Paragon» in Unavatuna, das «Surya Lanka» in Matara und das «Vattersgarden» in Kottegoda. Der Bericht darüber hat in diversen Wellness-Magazinen reissenden Absatz gefunden. Die ayurvedische Medizin, die ich hier kennengelernt hatte, faszinierte mich derart, dass ich beschloss nach Kerala zu reisen und dort traf ich auf die südindischen Ayurveda-Pioniere die cgh earth group, die sich mit sehr exklusiven Resorts bereits einen Namen gemacht hat.
Ayurveda-Kräutersauna im Aida Hotel, Bentota, Sri LAnka.
Die ayurvedische Medizin wurde vor über 5000 Jahren von hochbegabten Indern in der Tiefe ihrer Meditation und Spiritualität entdeckt, aber infolge der Kolonialisierung und Berufsverboten der britischen Kolonialregierung über 50 Jahre lang unterbunden, bevor sie in den 90er Jahren ein Revival erlebte. «Dadurch ging viel Wissen verloren», sagt Dr. Jayawardhana von der Universität Colombo. Was vor tausenden von Jahren in Nordindien entwickelt wurde, ist ein ganzheitliches Natursystem, das Körper, Geist und Seele eine Einheit betrachtet, denn ndie Ayurveda-Philosophie geht davon aus, dass alle Materie, so auch der Mensch, auf die fünf Elemente Erde, Wasser, Luft, Feuer und Raum zurückzuführen sind. Aus der Verbindung der fünf Elemente bilden sich drei Grundkonstitutionen, die sogenannten Doshas. Die Elemente Luft und Raum bilden das Vata-Dosha und steht für das Lebensprinzip Bewegung. Es steuert also die Bewegungsabläufe im Körper, die Atmung und das Nervensystem. Die Pitta-Energie ist für alle Reaktionen zuständig, bei denen Wärme entsteht, also für den Verdauungstrakt und die Stoffwechselvorgänge. Die Elemente Erde und Wasser beeinflussen das dritte Dosha, das Kapha. Ihre Energie ist strukturierend, formgebend und verantwortlich für den Zell- und Skelettaufbau, gleichzeitig reguliert sie den Flüssigkeitsausgleich. Und dann gibt es noch die drei Säulen der Gesundheit: Es sind dies «Ahar» (Ernährung), « Nidra» (Schlaf) und « Bramacarya» (Mentale Ethik).
Buddhist monk and ayurvedic doctor showing old sanskrit letters in Galle-City, Sri Lanka
Nun hat jeder Mensch von Geburt an sein individuelles Zusammenspiel der Doshas und diese einzigartige Kombination beeinflusst seine Gesundheit und sein Körperbau als auch die charakterlichen Eigenschaften. Nur wenn sich die Doshas im Gleichgewicht befinden, sind Körper und Seele gesund. Das ist das Ziel einer Ayurveda-Behandlung, gerade im Bereich von chronischen Krankheiten. Wie Migräne oder Neurodermitis kann Ayurveda beträchtliche Erfolge aufweisen. Die Ayurveda-Kur beginnt zumeist mit einer Pulsdiagnose, wobei die Ayurveda Ärztin drei Finger sachte oberhalb der Daumenwurzel auf den Unterarm presst und den Pulsschlag misst. Sie stellt fest, ob er «stark pocht, wie Wellen durch den Körper gleitet, hüpft wie ein Frosch oder wie ein Elefant dahin trottet». So wird die Harmonie der drei Doshas festgestellt.
Ayurveda geht davon aus, dass in der Natur alles wächst, was es braucht um den Menschen gesund zu machen und und zu erhalten. So werden Pflanzen, Mineralien, Aschen, salze, Rinden, Hölzer, Wurzeln und tierische Produkte gekocht und pulverisiert und dann zu Pillen, Salben und Ölen verarbeitet. Das zartgelbe Sesamöl ist die Basis aller Massageöle. Es ist reich an ungesättigten Fettsäuren und macht spröde Haut weich und glatt. Dem Sesamöl mischt der Arzt oder die Arztin andere natürliche Zutaten bei, die spezifisch auf den jeweiligen Dosha-Typ abgestimmt sind. Das Öl kann somit optimal auf die individuelle Konstitution des Menschen einwirken. Keine andere Medizin der Welt weist ein derart allgemeingültiges, tiefgreifendes und ganzheitliches Reinigungssystem auf, wie die ayurvedische Medizin und die Panch Karma Kur insbesondere. Sie ist die Mutter aller Kuren! Während 21 Tagen werden zuerst alle Giftstoffe aus dem Körper ausgeschieden und das Gewebe bis auf die Knochen mit den Heilölen eingerieben. Die passende Kost und die wohltuenden Behandlungen führen dazu, dass man nach der Pancha-Karma Kur vor Vitalität nur so strotzt und sich wie ein neuer Mensch fühlt.
Yoga Training at the Kalari Kovilakom Ayurveda Healing Palace in Kerala, India.
Da sich Ende der 90er Jahre die Wellness und Wellbeing Tourismusindustrie zu etablieren begann, fokussierte ich mich einige Jahre sehr stark auf diesen Tourismuszweig und besuchte weltweit die besten Spa-Resorts, da ich nun über die Kooperation mit den Tageszeitungen hinaus auch viele weitere edle Hochglanzmagazine für Publikationen gesichert hatte und schliesslich für Publikationen wie das «Relax und Style», «World of Wellness» und «Wellness live» nicht nur Reportagen ablieferte, sondern auch Anzeigen generierte und so auch vom Verlagsgeschäft profitierte. Die Ayurvedische Medizin entwickelte sich fortan auch in Europa mit rasanter Geschwindigkeit. Ayurveda-Zentren schossen wie Pilze aus dem Boden, denn die fernöstliche Medizin wollte sich rasch über den Wellnessbereich hinaus auch im medizinischen Sektor etablieren und insbesondere die Ernährungsberatung werde gefragt sein, waren sich die Fachleute damals einig. Du bist, was du isst, hatte Hypokrates einst gesagt und war sozusagen der erste westliche Ayurveda-Botschafter. Immer mehr Menschen drehen das Rad zurück und lassen sich von uralten Heilmethoden überzeugen oder probieren sie zumindest aus. Dass auch Yoga und Meditation ihre Wirkung auf eine gesundes Leben nicht verfehlen hat sich hernach auch in der westlichen Welt zunehmend durchgesetzt. Zumindest Yoga ist zu einem unübersehbaren Trend geworden.
Kalari, die alte Kampfsportart wird auch im Kalari Kovilakom Ayurveda Healing Palast in Kerala von den Therapeuten (und manchmal auch von den Gästen) praktiziert.
In Kerala angekommen, durfte ich das Kronjuwel der «cgh earth group», den alten Maharadscha-Palast «Kalari Kovilakom» besuchen und erlebte einen wahrhaft königlichen Empfang und eines der zwölf Palastgemächer. Die Authentizität der alten Kultur und die Heiligkeit eines Ashrams verliehen diesem Ayurveda-Tempel ein einmaliges Ambiente. Wer hier eintritt, der lässt die alte Welt hinter sich und lebt ein ganz anderes, in sich gekehrtes von der Aussenwelt abgeschnittenes Urerlebnis und eine höchst qualitative Behandlung. Besonders in Deutschland wurde die «Somatheeram» und «Malatheeram» in Chowara bei Trivandrum berühmt. Die beiden Resorts wurden regelmässig vom Department for Tourism als «beste Ayurveda-Resorts» ausgezeichnet und mit dem «Greenleaf-Award» geehrt. Ein weiteres Highlight war die «Duke’s Forest Lodge» inmitten einer Gummiplantage in Anapara. Das Bijoux, das aus fünf grosszügigen Pavillions besteht ist in der prächtigen tropischen Fauna mitten im Wald eingebettet. Ein weiteres Highlight war die «Coconut Lagoon» in Kumarakom, das an einem zauberhaften See in einer prächtigen Gartenanlage liegt und durch die traditionellen Kerala-Häuser besticht. Sowohl das Essen, als auch die Therapeuten waren Spitzenklasse. Ebenfalls ein ganz spannender Ort ist das «Spice Village» in Periyar, das inmitten einer Teeplantage auf rund 1000 Höhenmetern liegt und daher vom Klima sehr angenehm ist. Wer ein internationales Luxushotel mit sehr guter Ayurveda-Abteilung und vielen Spa-Behandlungen sucht, der findet dies im «The Leela Meridien» an der Koralam Beach. Genug des guten Wohlbefindes in Indien, nun werfen wir kurz einen Blick auf die zweite Indien-Reise als Narenda Moodi im Wahlkampfmodus war und eine der professionellsten internationalen Wahlkampagnen (die ich je gesehen/miterlebt habe) und gleichzeitig ein Tourismusförderungsprogramm für den Bundesstaat Gujarat, aus dem Moodi als auch Ghandi stammt.
2013: Augenschein in Gujarat und Treffen mit Narenda Moodi
Press conference with Gujarats Tourism-, Transport-, Chief Minister Nahredra Modi at the Gujarat Travel Mart in Ahmedabad-City
2013 wurde ich im März an der jährlich in Berlin statt findenen Tourismusfachmesse «ITB» in der Halle, wo sich Indien und die indischen Veranstalter präsentierten, auf eine Pressereise nach Gujarat angesprochen und gab den Initiatoren meine Visitenkarte. Schon zwei Monate später flog ich wie Dehli nach Ahmedabad, die Hauptstadt des Bundesstaates Gujarat und traf dort zu meinem Erstaunen auf ca. 150 Journa-listInnen, die aus der ganzen Welt eingeflogen worden waren, um die touristischen Reize Gujarats kennenzulernen und nachdem wir uns in verschiedene Interessengruppen aufgeteilt hatten, wurden wir fünf Tage lang durch die Gegend gekarrt und mit den touristischen Highlights vertraut gemacht. Das war zunächst der Rani ki Vavstepwell bei der Stadt Patan am Ufer des Saraswati Flusses. Die zum Unesco Weltkul-turerbe zählende Tempelanlage wurde im 11. Jahrhundert zu Ehren der Königstochter von Khengara von Saurashtra der Solanki Dynastie gewidmet. Die Tempelanlage war ein riesiger, achtstöckiger Wasserspeicher und enthält über fünfhundert Fresken aus der damaligen und bis heute gültigen Mythologie.
Ein weiteres Highlight war der Hindu Sun Tempel in Modhera, auch diese Tempelanlage liegt am Ufer eines Flusses, dem Pushpavati-River. Die heilige Stätte wurde zwischen 1026 und 1027 v. Chr. Während der Aera von König Bhima I von der Chaulukya Dynasty gebaut. Die Tempelanlage besteht aus drei Komplexen: Dem Shrine Gudhamandapa, der Vereinigungshalle Sabham-andapa und dem Wasserreservoir Kunda. Dann ging die Fahrt im Jeep weiter und führte in ein unwirtliches, staubtrockenes Land zur Rann of Kutch, ein Salzwasser-Marschland an der Grenze zwischen Indien und Pakistan. Die Rann of Kutch ist in zwei Regionen unterteilt: Die Grosse und die Kleine Rann Kutch. Die grosse liegt in Pakistan, die Kleine Rann of Kutch grenzt südöstlich an den grossen Bruder und reicht bis zum Gulf of Kutch. 20,946 km2 der Kleinen Kutch sind geschütztes Gebiet mit einem Wildlife Sanctuary (7506.22 km2), das es seit 1986 gibt und dem – (4953.71 km2), welches schon 1973 etabliert wurde. Am Schluss der Reise verbrachten wir noch eine Nacht im Maharadscha Palast in Poshina und bevor es in die Hauptstadt GujaratsAhmedabad zurück ging, wo ich noch das Ghandi Museum besuchte und dann kam es zur Schlussveranstaltung des Journalisten-Events mit dem Auftritt von Narenda Moodi, von dem bis zur Stunde keiner der Medien-verteterInnen wusste. Erst als einige schwerbewaffnete Soldaten mit Minenspürgeräten und Suchhunden auftauchten, war klar, dass es in Kürze Action gab. Dann fuhr eine kleine Eskorte vor und NarendaMoodi stieg im Beisein des Tourismusministers von Gujarat und einiger anderer Officials auf und machte allen seine Ambitionen auf das indische Präsidentschaftsamt klar, ein Ziel, dass er ja dann auch erreichte und seither Indien mit seinem Hindu-Nationalistischem Kurs spaltet.
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Auszug aus dem Buch «DAS PENDEL SCHLÄGT ZURÜCK – POLITISCHE & ÖKOLOGISCHE METAMORPHOSEN» des Zürcher Fotojournalisten Gerd M. Müller. Die E-Book-Version ist auf www.self-publishing.com zu finden.
VORWORT
Dieses Buch des Zürcher Foto-Journalisten Gerd Michael Müller nimmt Sie ab den wilden 80er Jahren mit auf eine spannende Zeitreise durch 30 Länder und 40 Jahre Zeitgeschichte mit Fokus auf viele politische Hot-Spots und Krisenregionen. Er beleuchtet das Schicksal der indigenen Völker, zeigt die Zerstörung ihres Lebensraumes auf und rückt ökologische Aspekte und menschenrechtliche Schicksale in den Vordergrund. Er prangert den masslosen Konsum und die gnadenlose Ausbeutung der Resourcen an, zeigt die Schmetterlingseffekte der Hedge Funds und Auswirkungen wirtschaftlicher, gesellschaftlicher und politischer Prozesse auf und skizziert Ansätze zur Bewältigung des Klimawandels. Sein Buch ist eine spannende Mischung aus gehobener Reiseliteratur und globalem Polit-Thriller, gespickt mit abenteuerlichen Geschichten – den Highlights seines abenteuerlich wilden Nomaden-Lebens für die Reportage-Fotografie eben.
Die Erde leidet an drei Krankheiten: Artensterben, Klimawandel und Pandemien! Dies ist, als hätte der Patient eine Leberzirrhose, eine Herzschwäche und einen Niereninsuffienz zugleich. Es wird demzufolge zu vielen Komplikationen kommen: Noch mehr Kriege, Krankheiten, Konflikte, Natur-Katastrophen und Bürgerkriege geben, wenn wir das Bevölkerungswachstum nicht in den Griff bekommen. Ernährungsknappheit, Verteilungskämpfe und Migrationsströme sind jetzt schon als Folge davon zu sehen. Wenn wir an unserem Verhalten nichts ändern, ist es sehr wahrscheinlich, dass das Ende der Menschheit naht und unsere Population weitgehend kollabieren wird. Das wird zwar nicht das Ende der Evolution sein, gewiss aber das Ende einer Ära, wie wir sie kennen und lieb(t)en! Und es ist auch nicht ausgeschlossen, dass mit dem grossen Artensterben auch unsere Spezies weitgehend ausgerottet wird und der Mensch zur planetarischen Geschichte wird.
Der Mensch hat auf dem Planet Erde gewütet und wird ihn bald ganz zu Grunde richten. Erst haben wir die pleistozäne Tierwelt in Nordamerika und in Südamerika dann in Australien die grossen Riesenbeuteltiere und -vögel ausgerottet und als der Mensch Polynesien bevölkert hat, sind bis hin zu Neuseeland die grossen Megafaunelemente verschwunden. Wenn diese fehlen, hat das auch Auswirkungen auf die gesamte Fauna und Flora hat. So haben wir in den letzten 10.000 Jahren ungefähr die Hälfte der natürlichen Waldbedeckung der Erde vernichtet und die Biosphäre so weit verändert, dass ganze Tierpopulationen ausgelöscht wurden. Wobei die RotenListen nur einen Bruchteil, kaum zehn Prozent der beschriebenen Arten, geschweige denn aller auf der Erde lebenden Arten, aufweisen.
Das heisst, die 800 Arten, die nachweislich in den vergangenen 500 Jahren ausgestorben sind, stellen nicht die Anzahl der Tiere und der Tierarten dar, die verschwunden sind oder derzeit verschwinden. Wir verlieren in den letzten verbliebenen Primärwäldern viele Arten, lange bevor wir sie überhaupt entdeckt und wissenschaftlich beschrieben haben. Heute wissen wir, dass 78 Prozent der Fluginsekten in 40 Jahren zurückgegangen sind. In naher Zukunft werden wir rund eine Million Tierarten verlieren. Erst haben wir mit der Landwirtschaft und dem Ressourcenabbau die Vegetation und die Tierwelt verändert, dann haben wir in die Geosphäre vergiftet, erst mit FCKW, nun mit Treibhausgasen. Was müssen wir tun, um der Zerstörung unseres Planeten Einhalt zu gebieten? Nun wir müssten eine ganze Reihe von einschneidenden Massnahmen treffen. Die Pandemie gibt uns einen Vorgeschmack dessen, was uns erwartet oder besser gesagt
Ende des Jahres 2020 hätte die Schweiz Bilanz ziehen sollen, wo sie hinsichtlich des Schutzes ihrer biologischen Vielfalt steht, zur Überprüfung der erreichten Zielsetzungen sowohl bei der schweizerischen Biodiversitätsstrategie als auch der weltweiten Biodiversitätskonvention: Da steht: «Der Erhaltungszustand der Populationen von National Prioritären Arten wird bis 2020 verbessert und das Aussterben so weit wie möglich unterbunden.» Doch allein unter den Vögeln sind aber Ende des Jahrzehnts Rebhuhn, Bekassine, Grosser Brachvogel, Rotkopfwürger und Ortolan als Brutvögel ausgestorben oder in winziger Anzahl vorhanden. Die Schweiz ist nur bei einem einzigen Ziel der Biodiversitätsstrategie auf Kurs, und zwar bei der biologischen Vielfalt des Waldes. Bei einem Drittel der Ziele ist das Ergebnis geringer, bei einem Drittel sind keine Fortschritte zu sehen und beim letzten Drittel geht die Entwicklungen in die entgegengesetzte Richtung. Auch bei den («Aichi»- Biodiversitätszielen), die 2010 im Rahmen der Biodiversitätskonvention vereinbart wurden ist das Bild fast deckungsgleich mit der nationalen Strategie: Nur bei einem Fünftel ist die Schweiz auf Kurs. Bei 35 Prozent der Ziele gibt es aber gar keine Fortschritte.
Die Schweizer Flora war eine der reichsten und vielfältigsten Europas. Allerdings gelten über 700 Pflanzenarten als vom Aussterben bedroht. Forschende der «Universität Bern» und das Daten- und Informationszentrum der Schweizer Flora haben die Ergebnissemit der Hilfe von 400 ehrenamtlichen BotanikerInnen analysiert und zwischen 2010 und 2016 über 8000 alt bekannte Fundstellen der 713 seltensten und gefährdetsten Pflanzenarten in der Schweiz besucht und überprüft. Von der «Universität Bern wurde dieser einzigartige Datenschatz nun analysiert und die Ergebnisse in der Fachzeitschrift «Conservation Letters» publiziert. Bei ihrer «Schatzsuche» gingen die BotanikerInnen oft leer aus – 27% der 8024 Populationen konnten nicht wiedergefunden werden. Arten, die von Expertinnen und Experten als am stärksten gefährdet eingestuft werden, verloren gar 40% ihrer Populationen im Vergleich zu den Fundangaben, die aus den letzten 10 – 50 Jahren stammten.
Die Schweizer CO2 Fussabdruck ist der viert höchste auf diesem Planeten. Zeit, diesen drastisch zu verkleinern
Diese Zahlen sind alarmierend und dokumentieren eindrücklich den Rückgang vieler gefährdeter Arten in der Schweiz. Besonders betroffen sind Pflanzen aus sogenannten Ruderalstandorten – Flächen, die unter ständigem menschlichen Einfluss stehen. Zu den betroffenen Pflanzenarten gehören die Randvegetation von landwirtschaftlich genutzten oder besiedelten Flächen. Diese Populationen zeigten mehr als doppelt so grosse Verluste wie Arten aus Wäldern oder alpinen Wiesen. Die Intensivierung der Landwirtschaft mit einem grossen Dünge- und Herbizideinsatz, aber auch der Verlust von Kleinstrukturen wie Steinhaufen und Ackerrandstreifen setzen dieser Artengruppe besonders zu. Ähnlich stark betroffen sind Pflanzenarten der Gewässer, Ufer und Moore. Auch hier sind die Ursachen gemäss den Forschenden hausgemacht: Wasserqualitätsverluste durch Mikroverunreinigungen und die Düngemittelbelastung aus der Landwirtschaft, der Verlust natürlicher Flussdynamiken durch Flussbegradigungen, die Nutzung von Flüssen als Stromlieferant, oder das Trockenlegen von Moorflächen.
In Deutschland wurden im Rahmen des «Jena» Experimentes 80.000 Messungen wurden von interdisziplinär aufgestellten Arbeitsgruppen aus Deutschland, Österreich, der Schweiz und den Niederlanden durchgeführt. Auf mehr als 500 Versuchsparzellen hatten sie unterschiedlich viele Pflanzenarten angesät, von Monokulturen bis zu Mischungen von 60 Arten. Neben Pflanzen wurden auch alle im Ökosystem vorkommenden Organismen untersucht – im Boden und oberhalb davon. Ausserdem die Stoffkreisläufe von Kohlenstoff, Stickstoff und Nitrat und auch der Wasserkreislauf über den gesamten Zeitraum von 15 Jahren hinweg. So konnten die WissenschaftlerInnen belegen, wie sich die Artenvielfalt auf die Kapazität des Bodens, Wasser aufzunehmen, zu speichern oder abzugeben auswirkt. Wie sehr etwa der Stickstoffkreislauf eines Bodens von vielen Faktoren wie der Artenvielfalt, von mikrobiologischen Organismen, dem Wasserkreislauf und der Pflanzeninteraktion abhängt, wurde im Jena Experiment erstmals deutlich.
Artenreichere Wiesen hatten über die gesamte Zeit des „Jena Experiments“ eine höhere Produktivität als artenarme Wiesen. Eine gesteigerte Bewirtschaftungsintensität durch zusätzliche Düngung und eine häufigere Mahd erreichte denselben Effekt: Wenn ein Landwirt bestimmte Arten fördert und düngt, ist er im Durchschnitt betrachtet folglich nicht erfolgreicher als die Natur. Die Energie der Biomasse (Bioenergiegehalt) von artenreichen Wiesen war deutlich höher als der von artenarmen Wiesen, zugleich aber ähnlich hoch wie viele der heute stark subventionierten Arten, etwa von Chinaschilf. Artenreiche Flächen hatten eine bessere Kohlenstoffspeicherung. Die Anzahl von Insekten und anderen Arten war deutlich höher. Wechselwirkungen zwischen Arten wie Bestäubungen fanden häufiger statt. Artenreichere Wiesen transportierten Oberflächenwasser besser in den Boden. Artenreiche Ökosysteme waren stabiler gegenüber Störungen, beispielsweise Dürren oder Überschwemmungen, als artenarme Ökosysteme.
In Frankreich gingen in den letzten 30 Jahren 80 Prozent der Insekten verloren. In der Schweiz sind es etwa 60 Prozent und in Deutschland ist der Artenverlust ebenfalls dramatisch hoch. Angesichts des rasanten Biodiversitätsverlustes und der Verödung der Städte, frage ich mich schon lange, warum nicht all die nutzlosen Rasenflächen vor allen Miet- und Wohnhäusern zu Gärten für geneigte Hobby-Gärtner und Selbstversorger unter den Anwohner/innen umfunktioniert werden und gerade die ärmeren Leute und solche mit Migrationshintergrund und Agrar-Know-how ihre Nahrung teilweise vor dem Haus anbauen könnten. Das würde auch der Armut ein wenig entgegensteuern und vielen Familien das Überleben garantieren sowie sinnstiftend sein. Warum sollten wir alle Lebensmittel aus Afrika, China und Lateinamerika importieren, wenn wir mit lokalem Anbau unsere Städte verschönern, die Biodiversität steigern und dem Klimawandel entgegen wirken könnten. Sobald sich ein Grashalm bemerkbar macht, ist der Rasenroboter schon da. Nutzlose Thuya-Hecken soweit das Auge reicht. Die meisten Menschen wissen nichts mehr mit Natur anzufangen. Wir sollten darüber nachdenken, was unsere Gemeinden eigentlich mit ihren Gemeindeflächen machen. Sie schaffen grosse Anbau-Strukturen, statt die kleinräumige, lokale Bewirtschaftung zu fördern.
Ernährung, Landwirtschaft, Grundwasserschutz und Pestizid-Verbot
Unser aller Kernproblem ist es, dass jedes Jahr 80 Millionen Menschen hinzu kommen dazu und die jetzt erst geboren haben theoretisch eine höhere Lebenserwartung auch in den Entwicklungsländern. Bis Ende des Jahrhunderts werden wir elf Milliarden Menschen sein, die also noch mehr Lebensraum und noch mehr Landwirtschaft für die Nahrungsmittelproduktion brauchen. Durch den Total-Umbau der Erdoberfläche für die Landwirtschaft und Versorgung kommender Generationen, vernichten wir die Schatzkammern der Artenvielfalt auf alle Ewigkeit. Es kann nicht sein, dass wir allein mit der Viehwirtschaft für die Fleischproduktion ganze Artenbestände und wichtige Ökosysteme unwiederbringlich vernichten. Eine vegane Ernährung wird daher zum obersten Credo für die wachsende Weltbevölkerung. Und wie steht es um eine noch wichtigere Ressource, dem Trinkwasser? Durch den Einsatz von Pestiziden vergiften wir unser Trinkwasser, die Flüsse und die Seen – auch in der Schweiz. Es gibt nur eine Lösung: Auf den pestizid intensiven Anbau zu verzichten und zu Mischkulturen zurückzukehren, die sich über Jahrhunderte bewährt und die Biodiversität gefördert haben.
Die Palmölindustrie hat in den letzten 30 Jahren in den indonesischen Provinzen Kalimantan und Sumatra über die Hälfte des Regenwaldes (die Grösse Deutschlands) abgeholzt und fängt nun auch in Papua Neuginea damit an, den Urwald im grossen Stil zu vernichten. Die Holzindustrie freut das ebenso wie die Oligarchie und das Militär. Dabei werden zwangsläufig Kleinbauern enteignet, was in Indonesien ganz legal geht. Auch hat das indonesische Parlament jüngst ein Gesetz verabschiedet, dass die nationalen Umwelt-, Arbeits- und Sozialstandards radikal beschneidet und Null Umweltverträglichkeitsprüfungen vorsieht. Daher ist das fortschrittlich formulierte Abkommen ein weiterer illusionärer Papiertiger, der zur besorgniserregenden Vernichtung von riesigen Regenwald-Gebieten in Brasilien, Indonesien, Malaysien, Papua Neuguinea führt. Mit dem Freihandelsabkommen mit Indonesien würde die Schweiz diesen Zustand legitimieren und die völlig ungenügenden Öko-Labels einmal mehr zum Standard erklären.
Pensionskassen müssten dazu verpflichtet werden, ihre Vorsorgegelder in CO2 neutrale Gebäude-Sanierung zu investieren. Auch für private Eigentümer müssten Anreize und Steuererleichterungen geschaffen werden, wenn sie ihre oelheizungen rausreissen und durch die Energieversorgung durch eine Erdsonde, Solarenergie oder Erdgas ersetzen. Auch sollten wir uns Singapore als Vorbild nehmen und die Gebäude als auch Hochhäuser und Wolkenkratzer vertikal begrünen und die Flachdächer und mit Solarpanels bestücken. In Singapore werden auch auf Wolkenkratzern Bäume und Sträucher angepflanzt. Extra grosse Balkontröge stehen da zur Verfügung und die Bäume können über mehrere Stockwerke hinweg hochwachsen. Ganze Gebäudehüllen werden so begrünt und AnwohnerInnen können wiederum auf ihren Balkonen Kräuter und Gemüse anbauen.
Rohstoffhandel
Gut 500 Firmen mit weit über 10000 Angestellten arbeiten in der Schweiz in der Rohstoffbranche, die durch March Rich ihren ersten berüchtigten Protagonisten, der es zu trauriger oder zweifelhafter Berühmtheit brachte, als er zum ersten mal in den 70er Jahren in die Schlagzeilen geriet. Der in Belgien geborene US Bürger sorgte dafür, dass der Rohstoffhandel in der Schweiz bedeutend wurde. Seine skrupellosen Öldeals mit Südafrika und dem Iran unter Umgehung internationaler Sanktionen verhalfen dem „Vater des Schweizer Erfolgsmodels“ zu immensen Reichtum und brachten ihn auf die Liste der meistgesuchten Verbrecher in den USA, bis Bill Clinton ihn 2001 begnadigte. Wir erinnern uns, dass Bill Clinton und Alan Greenspan auch die Liberaliserung der Nahrungsmittel-Märkte vorantrieben und damit die Hedge-Fond Plage auslöste. Zurück in die Schweiz.
Hier gehörten ChristophBlocher und Martin Ebner zu den skrupellosesten Liberalisierer in den 90er Jahren. Von den «Bloomberg» Journalisten Javier Blas und Jack Farchy wissen wir, dass Ebner zu den Rettern von MarcRichs Imperium gehörten und auch der heutige «Glencore» Ivan Glasberg Chef seine Sporen in Johannesburg in Südafrika abverdiente und viel von seinem Meister bei den illegalen Öl-Deals und der Umgehung von Sanktionen gelernt hat, auch wenn er in der Kohleabteilung tätig war. Tiefe Steuern, die zentrale Lage in Europa, der stabile Schweizer Franken und der Zugang zum internationalen Finanzsystem sowie die schwache Regulierung boten in den letzten Jahrzehnten in der Schweiz einen fruchtbaren Boden für Unternehmen, welche die Ressourcen weltweit ausbeuten.
Aus «Glencores» Umfeld gingen andere erfolgreiche Rohstoffhändler wie «Vitol» hervor, das dem Inselstaat Cuba zu Öl verhalf und dafür den Zucker zu günstigen Preisen abnahm, als Kuba in den 90er Jahren zahlungsunfähig war. Es wurde gemunkelt, dass «Vitol» in Kuba ein Luxushotel finanzierte und betrieb und sich der damalige wie «Vitol»-Chef Ian Taylor ab und zu mit Fidel Castro zu einem Zigarrenschmauch und Cuba libre traf. In den 90er Jahren kamen dann die ehemaligen Sowjetrepubliken zu den neuen Rohstoff-Eldorados hinzu. Die Schweizer Rohstoffhändler kontrollieren fast 80 Prozent des weltweiten Handels und agieren skrupellos. Der Fall «Gunvor» im Kongo, die Machenschaften der «Credit Suisse» in Mocambik sowie die Geldwäscher-Affäre in Bulgarien zeigen exemplarisch die Spitze des Eisbergs der Korruption. Der Bundesrat bestätigte zwar in einem Bericht „das grosse Korruptionsrisiko“, tat aber nichts weiter, um die Bankenaufsicht zu stärken, um die Geldwäscherei einzudämmen. Die Rohstoffhändler «Glencore», «Trafigura», «Vitol», «Mercuria» und «Gunvor» erhielten nach Recherchen von Public Eye von 2013 bis 2019 insgesamt 363,8 Milliarden US-Dollar an Krediten.
Public Eye untersuchte auch die hochrisikoreichen Finanzinstrumente und –praktiken der Rohstoffhändler, die mittlerweile selbst als Banken fungieren, sich aber weitgehend der Finanzkontrolle und der Banken- und Finanzaufsicht «finma» entziehen. «Gunvor» zahlte in den USA 164 Millionen Strafe für die Verfehlungen in Brasilien, Equador und Mexico. Es ist stossend, dass sich grosse Konzerne, Banken und Superreiche immer wieder mit Bussen freikaufen können, derweil andere für viel geringe Taten ins Gefängnis wandern. Beispiele in der Schweiz gibt es genug.
Der Milliardär Urs E. Schwarzenbach hat gemäss Obergerichtsurteil eine ganz erhebliche kriminelle Energie an den Tag gelegt, bei den Tatbeständen Kunstschmuggel und Steuerhinterziehung. Er schuldet allein dem Zürcher Steueramt mehrere Hundert Millionen Franken und lebt nach wie vor nach zahlreichen Bundesgerichtsurteilen unbeschwert und unversehrt in Freiheit. Auch der Unternehmer Remo Stoffel musste keine Gefängnisstrafe absitzen, obschon er die Firmenbilanz um über 100 Millionen frisiert hatte. Ein weiterer Goldküsten-Millionär, der ein marodes Immobilien-Imperium mit Gammelwohnungen zu Wucherpreisen vermietete und wegen gewerbsmässigem Betrug, Wucher, Nötigung und Steuerhinterziehung rechtskräftig verurteilt wurde, musste auch nicht ins Gefängnis. Die Liste der Usupatoren liesse sich beliebig lang fortsetzen. Auch bei der Erb Gruppe und fehlbaren Banken und Finanzinstituten verlief es ähnlich.
Es scheint in der Schweiz zum guten Ton zu gehören, dass reiche Menschen sich an keine Regeln halten müssen und für ihre Delikte nicht inhaftiert werden. Der Kuhhandel hat in der Schweiz eben Tradition, möchte da wohl manch einer salbungsvoller Politiker sagen. Aber auch in Deutschland passiert dasselbe, wenn man auf den Abgasskandal der Deutschen Autobauer schaut. Bisher wurde noch keiner der glorreichen Automanager dafür persönlich gebüsst und belangt und in der Schweiz warten die geprellten Käufer von Stinkautos noch immer auf eine Entschädigung oder Nachrüstung.
Umverteilung und Besteuerung Superreicher sowie Tech-Giganten
Die Schweiz glänzt in vielen Statistiken wie beim Gold- und Geld-Reichtum, beim Glücklich sein, bei den Patenten, beim Receyclen doch die Realität sieht ganz anders aus. Neben den 810‘000 Millionären und einigen Milliardären gibt es in der kleinen Schweiz über 300‘000 Familien, die ihre Krankenkassenprämie nicht bezahlen können, 240‘000 Personen, die für ihre Steuerschulden betrieben wurden und über 400‘000 Menschen, die unter der Armutsgrenze leben. Die Sozialausgaben bei Bund, Kantonen und Gemeinden verdreifachten sich in den letzten 15 Jahren. Dazu kommt, dass ein Prozent die Hälfte des Gesamtvermögens für sich behält. Was heisst das? Das bedeutet das Unternehmen in der freien Marktwirtschaft Arbeitsplätze mit existenzsichernden Löhnen anbieten müssten und über Coperate Governance hinaus eine Wertschöpfung für die Gemeinschaft ausweisen müssten anstatt Dividenden für reiche Aktionäre.
Ferner sollte der Staat vermehrt Anreize für sinnvolle Aufgaben im Sozial- Bildungs-, Gesundheitswesen aber auch im Natur- und Umweltschutz schaffen. Aufgaben gäbe es mit dem Klimawandel zu Hauf. Und statt dass der Staat immer mehr Sozialhilfegeld bezahlt, sollten diese menschliche Ressourcen für den klimaneutralen Umbau unserer Gesellschaft eingesetzt werden. Aus allen Alters- und Bildungsschichten, Kultur- und Sprachräumen. De Facto finden ja nur wenige Arbeitnehmer über 50 Jahre wieder eine Stelle. Warum also sollten sie nicht entsprechend ihren Qualifikationen für soziale Aufgaben und Natur- und Umweltschutzprojekte eingesetzt und entsprechend entschädigt werden. Wir müssen eine permanente Spitex für die Natur einrichten. Und die dazu nötigen Mittel bei den Superreichen eintreiben.
Menschenunwürdige und Dreckschleuder Textilindustrie umkrempeln
Bis in die 80er Jahre gaben die Menschen ihre Kleider über Generationen hinweg an ihre Kinder weiter. Qualitativ hochwertige Textilien wurden über Generationen hinweg getragen. Unvollstellbar heute, wo sich die Frauen BHs und Höschen in 10 Pastellfarben und die passenden Outfits über der Unterwäsche farblich assortiert dazu kaufen. Natürlich müssen auch die Schuhe dazu passen. Schön und gut, nur blenden die Schönheitsköniginnen der heutigen Zeit aus, dass ihre Textilien aus Sklavenarbeit stammen und die übelsten gesundheitlichen Schäden an den Textilarbeiter/innen und an der Umwelt verursachen.
IN EIGENER SACHE: IHR BEITRAG AN HUMANITAERE UND OEKO-PROJEKTE
Geschätzte Leserin, werter Leser
Der Autor unterstützt noch immer zahlreiche Projekte. Infolge der COVID-19 Pandemie ist es aber für den Autor selbst für und zahlreiche Projekte schwieriger geworden. Die Situation hat sich verschärft. Für Ihre Spende, die einem der im Buch genannten Projekte zufliesst, bedanke ich mich. Falls Sie einen Beitrag spenden wollen, melden Sie sich bitte per Mail bei mir gmc1(at) gmx.ch. Vielen Dank im Namen der Empfänger/innen.
