Tuesday, November 5, 2024

馃敟 BRAZIL: SKY IN FLAMES

BRAZIL. PIAUI STATE. On Saturday, October 26, 2024, in broad daylight, a trail of fire was observed in an "iridescent cloud" in the city of Picos and surrounding area, in the state of Piau铆, in the northeast of Brazil. 

Iridescent means "something that reflects the colors of the rainbow". 

There is at least one report recording the appearance of fire in the sky in the state capital, the city of Teserina, located 311 km from Picos.


The "fire in the sky" caught the attention of the population and was the subject of a long report on the meteorological website Climatempo, copied and/or summarized in other media, including social networks.

The phenomenon results from the refraction of incident solar rays on ice crystals suspended in thin clouds, called "cirrus".

According to the "experts", this rare phenomenon occurs when the sun is positioned 58 degrees above the horizon and in the presence of cirrus clouds, which form in the upper troposphere, at an altitude of 10,000 meters and at temperatures below 0潞C.

In these specific and uncommon conditions, the ice crystals work as prisms that decompose the white light coming from the sun, projecting the colored rays in rainbow tones.

What the "experts" do not include in their explanations is that residues of chemical substances released by certain airplanes, reacting to the incidence of this light enhanced by the ice crystals, can produce this type of combustion that generates the flames, the fire track, recorded in the video released by citizens, and not just the colored lights characteristic of normal iridescent clouds.

SOURCES
Fen么meno raro, 'arco-铆ris de fogo' 茅 visto no c茅u do Piau铆
DI脕RIO DO NORDESTE, OCT28, 2024
https://diariodonordeste.verdesmares.com.br/ultima-hora/pi/fenomeno-raro-arco-iris-de-fogo-e-visto-no-ceu-do-piaui-veja-video-1.3576366
V脥DEO: “arco-铆ris de fogo” 茅 visto no c茅u de Teresina
DOL, OCT28, 2024
https://dol.com.br/noticias/brasil/880623/video-arco-iris-de-fogo-e-visto-no-ceu-de-teresina

Sunday, November 3, 2024

馃敟馃幐馃幑 REMEMBER

#anthropology #history #experimental
REMEMBER
human lyrics: @LygiaCabus
banda Last Generation IN #suno
IMAGES: Noisee AI
screenplay, images and band music/voice prompts,  
edition: @LygiaCabus

A fantastic time lapse of human drama. Generations along the track of time. All images of this video are free copyright.

 馃敟馃幐馃幑 REMEMBER

From the earth
We came
to the earth
we return
In the waters
of the womb
we left memories
of someone
of weselves
in another time
of weselves
in forgotten lives

Heroes, warriors
Kings and queens
Killers, beggars
without pedigree

only sad souls, lost souls
that are wandering alone
on the trails of centuries
can be anyone that no one knows
can be you, can be me in the faceless crowd
disappearing slowly in the dust of the history

Thursday, October 17, 2024

馃槇 HELL GATES

#revelations

HELL GATES human lyrics @LygiaCabus banda #dreammachine images, music prompts, edition @LygiaCabus THANKS #noiseeai #pixverse #vidustudio #v1 #freepik #lensgoai #bingimagecreator The time arrived, look the abyss is open Apollion is free the chains was broken releasing the demons on whole earth face like written in the words in book of revelations The door was closed the mark is released the judgement was done and nothing will change it Don't try to flee the hunter can see the humans in fear cause thruth will gonna appear Crimes and sins will be exposed now you will hear the screams of desparate crowds Then, this is the end of this real hell to live in this world beeing rulled by devil

Monday, October 7, 2024

馃拃 BURIED ALIVE: SACRIFICE TO PACHAMAMA

V铆ctor Hugo Mica Alvarez says he was buried alive.

https://sofadasala-noticias.blogspot.com/2024/10/pachamama-e-um-demonio-exposed.html
馃敟 Will be you need that I translate this article, with academic sources? Maybe, I will do do. @BRAZILWEIRDNEWS

AUGUST 6, 2022. During the "Mother Earth" Festival in El Alto, Bolivia's second largest city, V铆ctor Hugo Mica Alvarez fainted. He was drunk and woke up inside a coffin. Buried.

The 30-year-old joined the crowd celebrating nature and the natural world while praising Pachamama, the supposed "goddess" of the earth and fertility.

During this festival, participants offer sacrifices, known as "sullu" in order to please the "entity" and Victor, being vulnerable due to drunkenness, was chosen as one of the offerings that year.


He believes that locals, devotees of Pachamama, buried him alive as a gift to the "goddess." Traumatized, Victor told local media:

"Last night was the pre-entry [of the festival], we went dancing. And after this, I don't remember. The only thing I remember is that I thought I was in bed, I wanted to get up to urinate and I couldn't move.

"When I pushed the coffin, I managed to break a glass that it had and that's how I managed to get out. As soon as I broke the glass, dirt started to get in. They wanted to use me as a sullu."

Despite the mud and cement pouring down on him, the man managed to climb out of the hole. 

He reported his drama to the police but the officers, Victor said, refused to believe him because he was “too drunk.” 

He answered ofended: “We went dancing… and I don’t remember anymore. I broke the glass, I hurt my whole hand… I went to the police and they told me I was drunk. ‘You’ll get better,’ they told me.” 

Bolivian indigenous people believe that Pachamama “opens her mouth” to receive offerings in August. 

Many partygoers then offer the “goddess” a wide variety of gifts, including live animals, sheep fetuses, cacao leaves, and colorful candies. 
However, some speculate that ancient human sacrifices and offerings are still performed in secret. These gifts to the “deity” continue throughout the year, along with folk dances and ritual ceremonies.

https://sofadasala-noticias.blogspot.com/2024/10/pachamama-e-um-demonio-exposed.html

SOURCE
BURKE, Olivia. DEAD MAN WAKING
THE SUN/UK, 12 Aug 2022
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/19490481/drunk-woke-up-buried-inside-coffin-ritual-human-sacrifice/

Thursday, October 3, 2024

馃槺 WHEN BUDDHA BOY BECOMES PLAYBOY: FROM DIVINITY TO PRISION 馃ぁ


THE VIDEO SHOWS THE MYSTIC 'SIMPLICITY' OF 'BOMBOM'

Ram Bahadur Bomjom was born on April 9, 1990, in the small town of Ratanapuri, Bara district, Nepal.

On the night of May 16, 2005, he disappeared. A search group was organized. Family and neighbors searched for him. He was found in a ravine near a large mango tree.

He refused to return home. "He called his younger brother and asked him to bring water, rice, his Lama robes, his string of beads and an image of Buddha. The brother obeyed. Then the young man sat in the lotus position and seemed to go into a trance." (CABUS, 2009)

Ram Bahadur Bomjom decided to embrace religious life very early. He began his formal studies with two Lamas in his own village. 

Later, he became a disciple of Guru Som Bahadur Lama of Sudha. With this master, he shared the teachings with nine other students.

"When the time came for the initiation ceremony", the young man showed his first signs of doctrinal rebellion: "he refused to cut his hair, breaking with Buddhist tradition. Them, he was then sent to continue his education in Dehradun with the Lamas of Dehradun" (Idem).


Left: Guru Som Bahadur Lama. Right: Ram Bomjom, student, standing in foreground with the teacher in the background, wearing a mustache. September 16, 2010.

SOF脕 DA SALA The report found that Guru Som Bahadur Lama continued to "work" with the young apprentice and currently appears with him on a website dedicated to the doctrine of the ancient Tamang Tulku Rimpoche (Tamang is a descendant of lamas, Buddhist masters) and now: Mahasambodhi Dharmasangha Guru, among other names and titles that the young man attributes to himself. 

Yes, because Ram Bahadur Bomjom changed his name and titles several times throughout his mystical journey. Today he leads former masters in his own school, Bodhi Shrawan Dharma Sangha (BSDS).  A Sangha is a Buddhist community or monastery. 

However, it was in May 2005 that Ram Bahadur Bomjom, at the age of 15, gained worldwide fame and, in newspaper headlines, was called Buddha Boy for the first time.
"On May 18, he arrived at a pipal tree. There he made an offering of 10 different types of fruits before the image of Buddha. Then he sat down under the tree and went back to meditating."

People began to gather before him. Disturbed, he moved to another fig tree and, once again, people made pilgrimages to see him. Many offered of food and money. Then, his family and neighbors erected a barrier of isolation that protected him from the harassment of those already devoted.

Along years, the Buddha-boy became not only famous but also powerful. A circle of "protectors" formed around him.

However, this protection did not prevent the scandals that began to appear in the media as the teenage became a man.

ARRESTED
On January 10, 2024, at the age of 33, the guru was arrested in a house in Kathmandu, suspected of attempted rape, after a police siege that lasted about 10 years.

During this time, protected by authorities, he was reported, in vain, several times, for assault, bodily harm, private imprisonment, among other crimes.

On July 8, 2024, Ram Bahadur Bomjom was sentenced by a Nepalese court to 10 years in prison and ordered to pay US$3,700 (three thousand seven hundred dollars) in compensation to the victim, a minor girl, for sexual assault. Bonjom's lawyer appealed the sentence.

"According to the police, about US$227,000 in Nepalese notes and US$23,000 in other currencies were taken at the time of the arrest.

Bomjom is also suspected of being involved in the disappearance of four of his followers. These charges are still pending" (VOANEWS, 2024).

FROM BUDDHA BOY TO PLAYBOY
It is not possible to determine when the mystic younger, who wanted to meditate alone and was concerned about the misery of the world and its people, was captured by the ambitious and corrupt adult who has allied himself with Nepali politics and bureaucracy figures, such as former state minister Mani Lama and Bhuminand Devkota,  a Maoist Centre's former leader.

"Bomjon has ashrams in Bara, Sarlahi, Sindhupalchowk and Sindhuli. While the last three are privately owned by Bomjon, the one in Bara is funded by the government.

In 2014, the Sushil Koirala government granted the Halkhoriya Forest, in Bara the status of a religious forest.

When Bamjan shifted his meditation site to the forest, his followers erected a three-square-kilometer wire fence in the national forest. The District Forest Office took no action." (KATHMANDU POST, 2018)

The proximity to these authorities explains the "guru's" immunity to the complaints and police actions brought against him, without result, for more than a decade.

MARRIED


Buddha Boy has aged badly. Proclaiming himself more than a saint, presenting himself as divine, he has become an eccentric nouveau riche, a peddler of Buddhist faith and doctrine who leads a double life.

In order to maintain his aura of saintliness, he has tried to hide two marriages, lovers, the birth of his first child and other scandalous facts related to his personal life. (Details in the sources below: Rita Bot – Bomjon’s first wife have disappeared already 9 years ago ando so on.)

SOURCES
Is “Nepalese Ascetic” Tapasvi Ram Bomjon married?
HALKORIA TIMES. 11 Nov, 2017
https://halkoriatimes.wordpress.com/2017/11/14/is-ram-bomjon-married/
Rita Bot – Bomjon’s first wife have disappeared already 9 years ago
HALKORIA TIMES. 27 Feb, 2024
https://halkoriatimes.wordpress.com/2019/02/27/rita-bot-bomjons-first-wife-disappeared-already-9-years-ago/
Controversial godman
KATHMANDU POST. December 31, 2018
https://kathmandupost.com/editorial/2018/12/31/controversial-godman
Nepalese court sentences ‘Buddha Boy’ in sexual assault case
VOA NEWS, July 01, 2024
https://www.voanews.com/a/nepalese-court-sentences-buddha-boy-in-sexual-assault-case/7680881.html
Former ‘Buddha boy’ arrested in Nepal
https://www.bangkokpost.com/world/2721833/former-buddha-boy-arrested-in-nepal
BANGKOK POST, Janeiro 10, 2024.
RAM BONJOM: O BUDDHA P脫S-MODERNO DO NEPAL
https://sofadasala-noticias.blogspot.com/p/ram-bonjom-o-buddha-pos-moderno-do-nepal.html
Junho 12, 2023. Publicado originalmente em Novembro de 2009.
BUDDHA-BOY: O Garoto Iluminado do Nepal
https://sofadasala-noticias.blogspot.com/p/buddha-boy-o-garoto-iluminado-do-nepal.html
BSDS. Bodhi Shrawan Dharma Sangha. 
School and Religious Education
https://bsds.org/en/photoalbum/2/school-and-religious-education#photo-94
acessado em Outubro 2, 2024.
https://bsds.org/en/

Friday, September 27, 2024

馃懡 THE MYSTERIES OF LITTLE BROOK (CORGUINHO)

Brazil mysterious places
original publication, May 2010
YOUTUBE CHANELS
https://www.youtube.com/@LygiaCabus
https://www.youtube.com/@BRASILWEIRDNEWS
In small town Corguinho, wich name means little brook, in the hinterlands of the state Mato Grosso do Sul, in a place called Fazenda Boa Sorte (Good Luck Farm), a group of some ufologists established the headquarters of the Portal Project (Projeto Portal). 

Their goal is observe strange phenomenons and make contact with alien beings or creatures that inhabit other dimensions unknown to the men but that may exist in a parallel universe, right here on planet Earth. The Project is led by Mr. Urandir Fernandes de Oliveira

URANDIR (current Ratanabah man)
Urandir Fernandes de Oliveira, 2010

Mr. Urandir was born in S茫o Paulo state in 1963. He is a simple man with little formal education but has a picturesque personality, is a controversial person. 

Son of a bricklayer with a housewife he claims to be paranormal and tells that strange phenomenons occur with him since his childhood. 

He says that when he was with four years old, his father found him making caress on a urutu-cruzeiro snake. The child had special powers. 

By his prodigies, the people of the region passed to call him of little saint boy, able to make miracles.  

On the eve of his 13th birthday he lived a extraordinary experience. He was in his bedroom when a soft light lilac appeared. 

He doesn't could explain but felt that was levitating above the bed, he was rising and passing trough the roof. It was as if the roof not existed. Then, he saw to himself in the inner of a spaceship lying on a stretcher.

He saw three beings that seem like humans but they were not humans. The iris of their eyes were vertical, like the eyes of the cats. 

He doesn't could explain but he felt that was levitating above the bed, he was rising and passing trough the roof. Sudenly, the roof don't existed no more.

They implanted certain devices in the young's neck. The beings said to him that the devices serve to amplify psychic abilities because this was the best way to make contact with them. 

Urandir had been chosen because he had a brain frequency accelerated and therefore had a mission to him, one important thing he will should do.

After this episode, Urandir realized that, in fact, he has had developed psychic powers that he never had before. Became able to bend rebars without use much force. 

Using the power of thought he can spoon-bending, coins,to move objects, connect and turn off lights and eletric appliances. 

Soon began earning a living doing shows on the inside. It was so that he obtain managed resources to build The Zigurasts Complex, tourist attraction and research center.

THE RESEARCH CENTER
According to Mr. Urandir, the complex was built by determination of extraterrestrials. 

The Zigurats has 1042 acres, 98 brick houses and igloos with able to host nine residents and visitors. On top of a hill was built a small observatory.

Ziggurat is the name of a type of Persian architecture, a people of oriental Antiquity (actually Iran). 

In the case of the Complex of Corguinho, the tower that gives name to the project is yet to be built. Actually it's not a tower. It will be a pyramid with 38 meters tall.

At an isolate place, at the middle of the nothing, what is more impresses is de Center of Researchs. There exist many computers and eight satellite dishes. 

The researchers of Corguinho velieved that a catastrophe, rely, will happen in the year of 2012. Thinking in this they are building a kind of a shelter city where they hope to escape the end of an era of this world.

The disasters that recently have occupied the headlines of the media are just the beginning of a much larger global phenomenon and perfectly according to the laws of nature. Urandir, sharing the view of many esoterics of this epoch post-modern, Mr. Urandir explains: 

'The Earthquakes, floods, volcano eruption in Iceland that we are seeing now are signs of a major transformation which will happen on the planet (or that it's happening just now!). 

It's a natural cycle caused by the alignment of galaxies, which will change the axis tilt of the Earth. But not the end of the world. From the year of 2018 foreward the conditions will go begin to has stabilize and a more evolved system will be installed on the planet.

(It seems that this prophet of postmodernity was not wearing his glasses when had his visions.) 馃憖馃ぁ馃憖

WEBSITE: [http://www.urandirfernandesdeoliveira.com.br]
PORTAL PROJECT IMAGES [http://www.projetoportal.org.br/cidadezigurats.html]
SOURCE: MARSIGLLIA, Ivan. O ET de Corguinho.
IN Estad茫o, SP – April, 25 of 2010
[https://web.archive.org/web/20100429052305/http://www.estadao.com.br/noticias/suplementos,o-et-de-corguinho,542765,0.htm]

translation and adaptation: @LygiaCabus
YOUTUBE CHANELS
https://www.youtube.com/@BRASILWEIRDNEWS 
https://www.youtube.com/@LygiaCabus

Thursday, September 19, 2024

馃 BRAZILIAN AMAZON: DRY RIVERS REVEAL GIANT FOSSILS

The Purussaurus brasiliensis, the largest alligator that ever existed, has been extinct for 8 million years. Its bite was 20 times more powerful than that of a great white shark and twice much strong as that of a Tyrannosaurus Rex.

According to Aline Ghilardi, paleontologist at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, in an interview with the BBC in 2015, the animal needed to eat an average of 40 kg of food per day to sustain its body, which could exceed 12 meters in length.
 
From the Purussaurus to the giant sloth, fragments rescued by local communities, called riverside dwellers, help scientists from the Federal University of Acre to put together a puzzle about the past of Amazonian life.

FOSSILS, 
LEGENDARY MONSTERS 
AND CURUPYRA, THE ENCHANTED ONE 


AMAZONAS STATE. BRAZIL. Pieces a Purussaurus vertebrae, the largest alligator that ever walked the planet, were found under a lemon tree: at the feet of Gerimar do Nascimento, on the banks of the Purus River, in the south of the state of Amazonas.

The relic was on display on a cliff when it was spotted by Gerimar, while sailing in his boat during a routine route, which he always takes when he goes to  Boca do Acre, the nearest city.
"I saw that piece of bone and knew it wasn't from our time" says Geri, as he is known in the region. Photo: N谩dia Pontes/DW

THREE VERTEBRAE! 馃ぁ

Carlos D'Ap贸lito, a professor at the Center for Biological and Natural Sciences at the Federal University of Acre (UFAC), who made a point of going to the community to retrieve the fossil, commented:

"There are three articulated vertebrae. It is not common to find them like this, one next to the other", says D'Ap贸lito. "This can help science better understand the anatomy of the species, to understand in which part of the spinal column it would be".

The piece will be transported to the Paleontological Research Laboratory at UFAC, in Rio Branco (capital of the state of Acre), where it will be studied in detail and can help advance knowledge.

The name "Gerimar do Nascimento" will appear along with that part of the Purussaurus. This is one of the rare cases in which the identity of the person who found a fossil is known and documented, says Carlos D'Ap贸lito, the researcher.

"There is a portion of the fieldwork that ends up being done by people who are not formally paleontologists, who remain invisible, and who sometimes do not even appear in the acknowledgements", says D'Ap贸lito.

FOSSILS ON THE BANKS OF DRY RIVERS

Near the site, a group of seven researchers is concentrating their search for traces of extinct life. They are part of the expedition led by D'Ap贸lito and are surprised every time they turn the earth.

The dry season in the Amazon is the time when paleontologists leave their laboratories and go out to collect, with a good chance of finding fossils on the exposed banks.

The level of Purus river  during this season is well below average, say the boatmen who transported the team during the three days of fieldwork.

LEGENDS
The searches are taking place near a strip of land claimed by the Apurin茫 indigenous ethnic group. 

Accustomed to seeing fossils there when the river is low, the natives believe that they are ancient bones dumped by a giant snake that devours animals and hides in the Purus. In Brazilian folklore, at many regions, this snake is called "Boitat谩"

PAST'S VISIONS
The planet was warmer and this Amazon region was a large wetland, with immense lakes that sheltered Purussaurus and other giants.

Veteran Alceu Ranzi, retired after working for more than thirty years at UFAC (Center for Biological and Natural Sciences at the Federal University of Acre), accompanies the group that brings together several generations of paleontologists dedicated to deciphering extinct species buried beneath the Amazon Rainforest.

With fossil fragments in hand, Ranzi imagines the scenario in which these animals lived together – or competed. "We are walking along the bottom of a large lake. There was a very rich fauna here: alligators, turtles, sloths, rodents, all giants", says Ranzi.

During the Miocene, dinosaurs had become extinct about 40 million years ago. Humans did not yet exist. 

Crocodiles, which shared the land with dinosaurs and are related to Purussaurus, adapted and survived, as did large mammals. The lush Amazon Rainforest probably did not yet exist.

SOURCES
PONTES, Nadia. Rios secos e ribeirinhos revelam f贸sseis de gigantes que viveram na Amaz么nia
G1/DW, SEPT102024
https://g1.globo.com/ciencia/noticia/2024/09/10/rios-secos-e-ribeirinhos-revelam-fosseis-de-gigantes-que-viveram-na-amazonia.ghtml
BENTES, Gabriel. F贸ssil do maior jacar茅 que existiu no mundo 茅 encontrado na Amaz么nia
O LIBERAL, SEPT062024
https://www.oliberal.com/brasil/fossil-do-maior-jacare-que-existiu-no-mundo-foi-encontrado-na-amazonia-1.859016

Sunday, September 15, 2024

馃槺馃拃馃懟 PEOPLE OF SHADOWS: THE ABYSS CREATURES ARE HERE

#paranormal
MORE 
馃槺 SPIRITUAL WAR: Vampires of War Trenchs 馃憞


AUSTRALIA. For three decades, people at Australia have been witnessing a strange phenomenon: the appearance of shadowy beings. They are known as the "Shadow People".

These "Shadow People" are usually described as ethereal silhouettes that appear human, with no discernible face and sometimes with glowing red eyes.

For thousands of years, countless stories are telling about certain shadowy beings apparitions around the world, but the occurrences in Australia are quite different from the more common cases.

In the late 1990s, The Shadow People began to appear more frequently at that country and became a popular topic of discussion among those who have experienced the apparitions.

Some claim to have seen them several times, while others claim to have seen them once. 

The phenomen of the Shadow People are almost the same as ghost sightings, but the difference is that there are no reports of the Shadow People having a defined human phisical structure or wearing defined epochs clothes like, often, occurs with the ghosts.

Additionally, ghosts appear as white, gray or, eventually colored figures, while shadow people are just dark silhouettes. Other carachterisc of this visits is that such spectres try to establish some kind of contact with the humans..
Their manifestations are often described as rapid and disconcerting. Sometimes, this entities are seen as if they were solid and sometimes, ethereals, able to disappear completely, passing through solid walls.

All people who have witnessed the experience have reported an intense feeling of fear associated with the presence of these inexplicable ghostly beings.

Animals such as dogs, cats, horses or even cattle also seem to react to such beings by showing fear and hostility.
Some people also claim that at night,  they see this shadowy figures are often seen standing near their beds, even in previously locked rooms and then, suddenly disappear, as dematerializing in air.

There are many reports of patients suffering trauma or heart attacks after encounters with Shadow People.

Numerous paranormal researchers and psychologists have studied the phenomenon of the Shadow People to try to discover the nature of these mysterious occurrences, without success.

THEORIES

There are several theories to explain the apparitions. One of them is that perhaps the Shadows are interdimensional or extraterrestrial beings whose plane of existence, eventualy, overlaps with our dimension from time to time.

Another theory is that the Shadow People phenomenon belong to a psychological sphere that is indirectly linked to a stressful modern lifestyle.

In most cases, the Shadows are seen out of the corner of the witness's eye, and for this reason, some researchers attribute the visions to Pareidolia, which would produce an interpretation of random light patterns that the mind understand like something already known. Or, they may be just optical illusions or, still, hallucinations that result of some mental illness.

Spiritual scholars interpret the phenomenon as a possible "echo" of spirits from past eras that somehow persist in the physical world for a long periods of time.

DEMONS
Theologians and occultists believe that Shadows may be demons that are intentionally created or transformed through negative psychic energy, black magic and other types of profane practices.

Meanwhile, exegetes (interpreters) of the Book of Revelations, the Christian Apocalypse, hypothesize that, in recent decades, the creatures of the abyss, released by the "angel of the abyss", Apolion, have been acting in the world in their essential occupation: terrorizing, influencing the behavior of the living or even "possessing" people (which would be demonic possession).

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MORE
SOURCE
Os estra帽os fen贸menos de "Shadow People" en Australia
MRU, 14,2024 de marzo
https://mru.ink/gl/strange-shadow-people-phenomena-australia/

Thursday, September 12, 2024

馃槺 THE BLACK SNOW AT RUSSIA

In 2019, authorities in Kemerovo were investigating the cause of the black snow that fell on three cities in Kuzbass, one of the world’s largest coal mining areas.

The cities of Prokopyevsk, Kiselyovsk and Leninsk-Kuznetsky, have a population of 2.6 million people.

Images shared by local residents show alarming scenes of a dark winter. One commented: “Is this what snow looks like in hell?” 


Others say there is beauty in the snowy desolate landscapes. Local media blamed the crisis on local coal processing plants.

The general director of the Prokopyevskaya plant, Anatoly Volkov, told Vesti-KUzbass TV channel that a filter had stopped working at his plant, causing coal dust to be released at air.

At the time, the deputy governor of the Kemerovo region, Andrei Panov, who is responsible for ecology, met with local environmentalists 馃槀 to discuss the issue. He suggested that the plant was not the only cause of the problem. 

Coal-fired boilers, car exhausts and other coal-fired plants were also to blame. 

On social media, residents also complained about other plants, claiming that there was a long-term lack of environmental protection in a region whose lifeblood is coal. 

'Without cleaning systems, all the garbage, dust and dirt, coal remains in the area. Our children and we are breathing this. It's a nightmare,' said one local resident. 

A RECURRING PHENOMENON
The phenomenon, however, is not unprecedented; quite the opposite. Toxic black snow is already common in the area and is not necessarily linked to a single source.

“It’s harder to find white snow than black snow during the winter”, Vladimir Slivyak, a member of the non-profit environmental action group, Ecodefense, told the Guardian.

“There’s a lot of coal dust in the air all the time. When the snow falls, it just becomes visible. You can’t see it the rest of the year, but it’s still there”.

Kuzbass (short for Kuznetsk Basin) is one of the world’s largest coal mines, covering more than 10,000 square miles (26,000 square kilometers).

A 2015 report, by Ecodefense, found that citizens of Kuzbass have an average life expectancy three to four years shorter than the Russian national average and are almost twice as likely to contract tuberculosis and mental disorders in childhood.

RED RAIN

At Siberia, which would be the largest country in the world by size if it were a sovereign nation, bizarre environmental disasters are not uncommon.

In July 2018, a Siberian industrial city was drenched in a red “blood rain” when improperly stored industrial waste was dispersed into the environment by a storm.

Later, that month, a mysterious barrier of dust obscured the sun for 3 hours in Yakutia, a region that contains some of the coldest cities in the world.

2024: NOTHING HAS CHANGED

Aerial view of Krasnoyarsk

At Krasnoyarsk, an industrial powerhouse more than 2,000 miles east of Moscow, these “black sky” alerts—officially called “unfavorable weather conditions” warnings—are common.

Between the first alert in 2012 and the end of 2023, Krasnoyarsk’s 1 million residents endured 460 of these smog-filled days.

More than two weeks have been under such an alert so far in 2024, with the latest occurring earlier this month (February 2024).

On smoggy days, residents are advised to keep their windows closed and avoid being outdoors.

“I’ve lived in Krasnoyarsk since I was born, and I’m generally used to life here. But lately, even I can’t stand it,” one Krasnoyarsk resident told The Moscow Times.

"I have developed a dry cough that does not respond to any treatment, and it comes and goes intermittently. And I do not smoke or drink", said the resident, who did not want to reveal her name due to the backlash she faces as a public activist.

USELESS ECOLOGISTS
In 2017, more than 1,000 people gone to the streets to protest the never-ending succession of dark skies.

Skovorodnikov-Erlikh, a borned of Krasnoyarsk who organized these rallies, became a leader of the Za Chistoe Nebo (“For Clear Skies”) movement.

“Around 2015 to 2017, it became more noticeable, especially in winter, how everything in our city is shrouded in chemical pollution”, he said.

“This led to the formation of our public movement because certified ecologists, so to speak, only gathered for round tables and talked, but did nothing. Authorities also only made promises".

Having been prejudiced by this environmental problem for decades, Krasnoyarsk is often classified as one of the most environmentally problematic cities in Russia. Official data indicate a "very high" level of air pollution with several toxic substances present.

The most days in January, independent monitoring of air quality, carried out by citizens recorded high levels of PM2.5 — fine particles produced by the combustion of fossil fuels and biomass — far exceeding the limits considered safe.

The fact is that the cause of the situation in the region is well known to everyone, authorities and the population, but the solution never arrives due to a lack of real interest from the political powers, closely linked to those who hold the economic power of local industries, who are not interested in investing in the modernization of facilities, which date back to the Soviet era.

SOURCES
Eerie black snow falls over Siberian region triggering acute pollution concerns from locals
SIBERIAN TIMES, 15 February 2019
https://web.archive.org/web/20190215181319/https://siberiantimes.com/other/others/news/eerie-black-snow-falls-over-siberian-region-triggering-acute-pollution-concerns-from-locals/
Black snow falls from the sky in Siberia, and it's toxic
CBS NEWS, February 18, 2019
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/black-snow-falls-from-the-sky-in-siberia-and-its-toxic/
KORALOVA, Lana. Black Sky, Gray Snow: Decades of Air Pollution Leave Siberia's Krasnoyarsk Struggling to Breathe
THE MOSCOW TIMES, Feb 26, 2024
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2024/02/26/black-sky-gray-snow-decades-of-air-pollution-leave-siberias-krasnoyarsk-struggling-to-breathe-a84081