As the sun rises, the bus crosses the River Spree, pulling through the gates of Berlin’s Humboldt University. Hundreds of young adults perch in the stone courtyard, some hanging from the balcony, guarded by marble pillars and neoclassical Roman roof sculptures. Guitars in hand, a chorus of ‘C’s serenade them—Cape Verdeans, Cambodians, Cameroonians, Czechs, Chileans, Colombians, Costa Ricans and Cubans. They greet the tardy Canadians, voices filling the sweltering damp dawn with Cat Stevens’s song Baby, Baby It’s a Wild World--
Read MoreBioethics
CANADA IS THE 41st/50 Needed Ratify the Minamata Convention. Good Job Grassy Narrows First Nation
http://mercuryconvention.org/Home/Video/tabid/3455/Default.aspx
Negotiators will gather in Geneva from 24 to 29 September 2017 to further discuss issues related to the Minamata Convention on Mercury at its first meeting of the Conference of the Parties, contingent to the prior entry into force of the Convention. These discussions build on the previous negotiations.
Initiated in 2009, the development of a global legally binding instrument on mercury was carried out over five sessions of the intergovernmental negotiating committee (INC) held between June 2010 and January 2013 in Stockholm, Chiba, Nairobi, Punta del Este and Geneva, preceded by two Open Ended Working Group meetings.
As a result, the text of the Minamata Convention on Mercury, which was agreed upon at the fifth session of the INC in January 2013, was adopted at the Conference of Plenipotentiaries in Kumamoto, Japan on 10 October 2013 and opened for signature for one year.
Two sessions of the INC have been held since the Conference of Plenipotentiaries in 2013, INC6 from 3 to 7 November 2014 in Bangkok, Thailand and INC7, from 10 to 15 March 2016 at the Dead Sea in Jordan.
Read MoreSeptember Williams Chasing Mercury in the 41 st Open Water Rowing Regatta in Sausalito, CA
So there I am, Chasing Mercury in the Open Water Rowing Regatta #41, and my tenth. That barge in the background was awfully annoying blocking my view to Cone Rock as I aimed for it. It was a gorgeous day. The water was perfect. My adjusted time was 58 minutes on a 5.3 NM course so a little under 10 minutes per English mile. Yep--I was 5 minutes behind the first place rower--but she was 20 years younger than me--and I was proud to be anywhere on the same water with her. When you do things out in the environment it really pushes you to protect it. Everyday I cry for the children who have never known this kind of peace.
Read MoreSeptember Williams' Novel Chasing Mercury, History of the San Francisco Bay, Rowing and Free Grassy
The photo is sunrise on New Year's morning with my daughter Autumn as seen from the Marin Headlands. I remember thinking even those waking up in the horror os Syria or other wars see that sun.
Read MoreSeptember Williams Novel Chasing Mercury meets Micheal Friedman's Album Random Acts Of Tuning-Why Berlin?
You can also follow Michael Friedman on Facebook
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