island

It’s called Null Island and it’s a buoy

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If they ask you about The islands you have visited Your answer can vary. You may have visited one, several or none. We will put the last case in serious. Although you think you have not visited an island, the story that comes next will show you that, you may have been in one (many times). His name: Null Island. His paradox: you will only find it on the maps. The island is not island. Actually, under the name of Null Island we are Before a location Cartographic, although not any, since it is zero degrees of latitude and zero degrees in length. In other words, it is about the intersection where the first Earth meridian meets Ecuador. To be more exact, if that is possible, it turns out to be a point in the Gulf of Guinea, a portion of the eastern tropical Atlantic Ocean off the western coast of Africa. The reason for its existence? That to geolocate any point on a map, the premise is that there is a starting point (or 0-0 place) from which to draw the rest of the points. The choice of this specific point on the map has to do with the fact that the intersection between the Zero and Ecuador It is the starting point of World Geodetic System 1984that is, the cartography on which the GPS system is based. Why the Gulf of Guinea. Because it is part of the South Atlantic Ocean, something like the armpit of Africa. It is the mass of water right off the coast where Western Africa curves south to become central Africa. The Gulf is right in the middle of any standard world map, and that is not a coincidence. It is the meeting point for the two geodetic measurement lines, the first meridian and the Ecuador. Or, expressed in length and latitude: 0 ° N, 0 ° E. And that is precisely Null Island, the Perfect anchor for non -geolocalized dataalthough, as you will have imagined, it is not an island as such, it is rather the colloquial name of the intersection of these two main orthodromes. In mathematical code, and by extension also in Geodesia, an ortododrom (or maximum circle) is the longest possible line drawn around a sphere, dividing it in two halves, or hemispheres, perfectly the same. It is a buoy. It is not a joke. Obviously, it is not a real continental mass, but if you literally sail towards the Gulf of Guinea, towards the intersection between the world’s first meridian and Ecuador, You will find a great buoy. That is the closest thing to Null Island that exists on the planet. Null Island (also known as La Boya Station 13010 – Soul) Known as Station 13010 – Soulthe climate monitoring buoy is part of the prediction and research system tied in the Atlantic (pirate) that monitors the tropical Atlantic ocean. Together with 16 other buoys, the floating weather station measures things such as wind speed, air temperature and humidity to help inform meteorological forecasts and climatic models. Therefore, in the real world, Null Island is a buoy, and in the virtual, a hypothetical point where they stalk data points out of place. The origin of the (no) island. Ecuador, equidistant of the poles, gives the northern and south hemispheres. He Greenwich meridianwhich divides the world into eastern and western hemispheres, is a more arbitrary line. His status as the first meridian in the world It was not established until 1884at the International Meridian Conference in Washington DC the French abstained in the final vote because they had campaigned for the Paris meridian. That was the year zero for our point north north, zero east. What happened? Due to its distance, the location remained culturally insignificant until 2011, when it appeared in The map data set of the public domain of Natural Earth as “Null Island”. As they explained then In a statement On the birth or invention of Null: “We have added a country of debugging of errors with an indeterminate sovereignty class called Null Island. It is a fictitious island of a square meter located off the coast of Africa, where Ecuador and the primary meridian cross. Focusing it on latitude 0 and length 0, it is useful to mark geocoding failures that appear as 0.0 in many services.” Why have you been. Because you have surely wrong, and not only one, but many times, looking for the location of a site. Although there is no null island, it is that convenient place name for a frequently used place. Zero-zero reading arises frequently as an error, due to the lack of data or software failures. In the background, something that we use every day is the real person responsible for our visits to Null: the GPS. When we do an erroneous search, we try to reach a place that does not exist or an error of the system occurs, at which time it relocates precisely there, at the zero-zero point, in Null Island. Image | Graham Curran In Xataka | This is the life on the most remote inhabited island: the improbable history of Tristán de Acuña In Xataka | In Japan, an island has just been born suddenly. Of course, we have the video *An earlier version of this article was published in July 2024

Jeff Bezos and his millionaire neighbors live on a luxurious artificial island to which something basic is missing: he has no sewerage

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Indian Creek It is an artificial island on the Miami coast known for its multimillionaire residents and its extraordinary privacy. That has given him the nickname Billionaire Bunker. Figures like Jeff Bezos (Jeff Bezos, in fact, bought three mansions on the island and is building its main residence), Tom Brady, Ivanka Trump and even Julio Iglesias They have bought properties in this exclusive enclave. The island is connected to the continent only by a small bridge guarded by its own police, which makes it one of the most closed and monitored communities in the United States. However, as highlighted in The local pressin this luxurious paradise where most mansions have an average of 10 bathrooms, no one has taken into account How to delete properly the waste they generate. Millionaires in a Ciénaga. By not having sewerage infrastructure given the isolated character of the enclave, Indian Creek’s homes depend on individual septic tanks, located dangerously close to Bay of Biscay. This proximity has turned the graves into a constant source of pollution. According to published The New York Timesa 2018 study already warned of the high pollution indices of these septic tanks due to the sewage leaks To the bay. These leaks not only affect Water health that surround the island, but also to marine ecosystems. Neighbor, do you have a sewer left over? Given this situation, the Indian Creek government raised a possible solution: send its wastewater to the sewerage system of the neighboring town, Surfside, located on the other side of the bridge that communicates them with the mainland. However, Surfside responded in a diplomatic but firm way. Connect to the sewerage system that have paid and maintained their neighbors has a cost: 10 million dollars. For his part, Indian Creek considered the petition as an act of “extortion” and decided to look for alternatives that would not imply paying the neighbors the 10 million dollars hitch rate. The law of the sewer. One of these alternatives is to raise a claim to the government of the state of Florida since there is a state law that would force surfesides to accept the wastewater of its military neighbors to Eliminate septic tanks. According to that law, conveniently approved in June 2025, includes a provision that prohibits municipalities from blocking or charging for certain sewerage connections. According to published he Miami Heraldthis measure would prevent localities such as Surfside to reject projects such as Indian Creek or impose connection tolls to their sewerage lines, although they directly affect their urban infrastructure. If you use our sewers you are one of ours. In response, Surfside authorities raised a legal counterpart: if an acceptable agreement was not reached, they could contemplate the possibility of annexing Indian Creek to their municipality, so that both entities share fiscal and maintenance obligations. According to surfeside leaders, the Urban growth and the environmental pressure generated by Indian Creek justifies a formal solution and a common responsibility. Both populations are communicated by a bridge, so all the traffic and services that the island of the Millionaires needs compulsively passes through the streets of Surfsis. A private pipe. Rejecting the idea of annexation to Surfside, Indian Creek has designed an independent infrastructure project that consists in building its own sewerage system. This plan includes placing an underground pipe that would pass under the streets of Surfsis along one kilometer until reaching the Bay Harbor Islands sewerage network. In this way, the waste would leave the island without formalizing a connection with the system of its immediate neighbor. Stephen J. Helfman, Indian Creek’s lawyer, assured to The New York Times that “the preliminary works and preparation works for the future sewerage line will begin next month.” Meanwhile, the mayor of Surfsis, Charles Burkett, who initially requested the 10 million dollars, was more conciliatory after knowing that the law prevents him from refusing to facilitate the construction of that new sewerage line. “We hope to work with Indian Creek to help them achieve their goals with the least possible impact for our residents,” Burkett said. In Xataka | Billionaires prepare their mansions for apocalypse: luxury bunkers have become a trend Image | Flickr (Smithsonian)

The urban heat island effect

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Summer is here and with him the desire of millions of people to escape the city. The east desire is more than the mere enjoyment of the beach, leisure or rural landscapes, there is also the prevailing need for escape heat. And part of the fault of this lies in the so -called urban heat island effect. What is the urban heat island effect Heat island? The term refers to the fact that cities They tend to accumulate heatwhich implies that the temperature in them is usually higher than in their surroundings. This effect can be felt during the day but it is perhaps at night when the difference between urban temperature and that of its surroundings is greater. The difference can be several degrees. An estimate For example, he calculates that the difference between New York City its surroundings is around the 4th Celsius. A recent study made in five Spanish cities estimated that the average variation in Madrid was 1.3º, but in Valencia reached 4.1. The responsible team came to measure differences of up to 11 between the center and the periphery of the Spanish cities studied. How a heat island occurs The causes of the heat islands There are several and diverse. The construction materials we use tend to absorb energy that they release during the night. This makes night temperatures do not descend in the city as much as in other contexts, thus accumulating heat. The buildings, in addition, block the passage of the air that would drag the heat accumulated in the day to day, while the absence of trees and of phenomena such as the evaporation of soil water contribute to a worst thermoregulation of the system. The other great factor responsible for urban warming is human activity. Many of our activities, from driving to heating a pout generate residual heat. Even when we cool things, for example when we use the air conditioning, the thermal “balance” is positive. What factors aggravate the problem We pointed out before not all cities experience a heat island of the same magnitude. The complexity of the factors that cause this phenomenon is responsible for it. Knowing this, we can list some factors that can influence the degree in which a city stands out from its thermal environment. Among these factors We could find Population density, orientation and structure of its street, characteristics (height, materials) of its urban buildings, vegetation and trees, the passage of rivers, or its location with respect to geographical elements such as the mountains or the coast. Even the color of the buildings, including its roofs, affects the temperature differential. The heat island in the city of Paris. Copernicus Climate Change Service, ECMWF. Consequences of the heat islands The direct consequence of this phenomenon is an increase in temperatures, which in turn affects a multitude of Aspects of everyday life of whom these cities inhabit. Both at night and day. Heat can have consequences on our health and well -being: heat strokes, Difficulty reconciling sleep or to concentrate or an increase in the risk of suffering the effects of certain diseases such as cardiovascular, among other problems. Urban heat can be somewhat positive in winter or certain climates from the energy point of view, but in summer it will imply that we will spend more to cool our homes, work areas and even our refrigerators. A problem that will go to more There are two factors that invite you to think that this phenomenon and its consequences will go worse in the coming years. The first, climate change. Perhaps the phenomenon that we mostly associated with climate change is the increase in the average temperature of the planet. This temperature increase can be added to the increase associated with urban heat island, thus increasing the risks and problems associated with this phenomenon. The second factor to consider are migrations, specifically the rural exodus. A growing proportion of people live in cities, some of them already host dozens of millions of people. The biggest cities They are more susceptible to suffering the problem of urban heat island. In addition, the more people live in them, the more people the impacts of this temperature increase will be vulnerable. How to prevent the heat island effect Urbanization is a process that continues, especially in the “developing” countries, so all we can do is search ways to reduce impact of these heat islands. To do this, understanding its causes and dynamics is essential. The solutions that They have been proposed To avoid heat accumulation in cities are diverse, but the possibility that they can be implemented depends on various factors. For example, in an area still under development, we can encourage architectures that optimize air flow and reduce the presence of materials that capture heat easily. It is also important to leave spaces to non -urbanized areas, natural and seminatural environments such as parks and urban forests. The introduction of trees and other green areas () can also be feasible in already built areas. The mere Presence of trees On an avenue you can significantly reduce the insolation that reaches the ground and thereby prevent it from hot as much as it would happen without the trees. In this sense, even the use of paintings that increase the solar energy reflected again to the atmosphere (if we paint a roof or a white square, for example) it can also become a useful resource. In Xataka | An American city is “terrifying” its streets to combat heat. They have an ally: NASA Image | Fabian Lozano

On the anniversary of the incident on Perejil Island, the tension has returned. So Spain has deployed a war ship

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July 2002. A group of Moroccan soldiers occupies the uninhabited Perejil isletlocated a few meters from the North African coast. That caused an immediate military response from Spain to restore the status quo. The crisisbrief but intense, tense to the fullest relations between the two countries and forced an international mediation that culminated with the demilitarization of the islet and a tacit agreement to keep it free of official presence, even today of the diplomatic fragility in the Strait. In fact, the tension has risen again. A new climb. Yes, the most delicate strip of the Western Mediterranean, the Strait of Gibraltarit is again in the center of a geopolitical pulse between Spain and Morocco, marked by a succession of diplomatic, operational and symbolic gestures that have reactivated old ghosts, especially around the Islet of Perejil. First it was The confidential the one who revealed a “discomfort.” Apparently, the recent participation of Delegate of the Polisario Front In the National Congress of the Popular Party it has served as a trigger for a series of Moroccan measures, which include the sudden closure of commercial customs with Ceuta and Melilla, An official letter of the Istiqlal party demanding the popular leader of his adhesion to the Moroccan Autonomy Plan for the Western Sahara, and The reappearance In Castillejos of the Committee for the Defense of the Causes of the Kingdom, an organization linked to Rabat’s intelligence services and headed by the controversial former senator Yahya Yahya. Return of nationalism. In fact, they counted in an interview In Spanish that with an inflammatory rhetoric and a clear will to provoke, this committee has announced its intention to celebrate a Symbolic meeting in the Islet of Perejil with the explicit objective of claiming the “territorial unity” under the amparo of King Mohamed VI. Although the landing did not occur, the staging was carefully designed: Photographs with the islet in the background, nationalist slogans and direct references to the policy of the Popular Party. The coincidence with the Anniversary of the Occupation Moroccan of 2002 and the issuance of A documentary miniseries On that episode, a production that has not liked in Morocco and tried to censor without success, underline the symbolic load of the gesture and its propaganda dimension. Furor frigate Spain responds. It Europasur counted. In a climate of prudent but firm containment, the General Staff of the Defense has deployed The maritime action ship Fury In the vicinity of Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera and of the island of Alborán, within the framework of routine operations of naval presence and coastal control. The surveillance of the peñones and islets of Spanish sovereignty on the African coast not only responds to reasons of border security and fight against illicit traffic, but also to the need to maintain the Territorial integrity In front of maneuvers that, although covered with theatricality, seek to test Spanish resilience and tighten the diplomatic line. Moroccan strategy No doubt, parallelism with the situation prior to the parsley crisis in 2002 is, at least, disturbing. So, Morocco took advantage of the social seizure In the ejido after a wave of racist violence to rehearse a territorial occupation. Today, episodes such as Pacheco Torre disturbanceswith these clashes between Spanish neighbors and Moroccan citizens, they could be interpreted by Rabat as useful internal cracks to exert pressure. Logic seems to be repeated: use the fragility of the Spanish domestic context to reinforce its thesis About the Western Sahara and his aspirations about Ceuta, Melilla and other territories under Spanish sovereignty. Symbolism and provocation. In short, while the Spanish government maintains its Official adhesion to the Moroccan Autonomy Plan for Sahara, the Popular Party and other political forces are committed to returning to positions closer to the resolutions of the United Nations, feeding a debate that Rabat instrumentalizes To condition alliances and project strength. The recent one Group activation Moroccan nationalists, the mobilization of figures close to power and explicit threats against Spanish political actors seems to be part of a broader strategy of hybrid pressure. Of course, the Moroccan flag does not wave in Perejil, but the only attempt to plant it is enough to remember how fragile that thin line remains between the propaganda gesture and the real diplomatic crisis. Image | EFORGE, General Staff of Defense, Carlosvdehabsburg In Xataka | The Strait of Gibraltar was very different eight million years ago. So different that there were two In Xataka | A 15 kilometers tunnel to join the Strait of Gibraltar: the pioneer and crazy idea raised 100 years ago

Japan believes to have the largest deposit of rare earths hidden on a tiny island. And it is already date to extract them

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The Rare earth They are an element of great economic and geopolitical value and China stands as the greatest power. To its Japanese neighbors He didn’t make any grace have to depend on them and, after an exhaustive search, a year ago they found the treasure: A huge site of rare earths at the bottom of the ocean. Japan has already set date to start extracting them. January 2026. It is the date on which Japan will begin with the first test extraction, according to Nikkei Asia. They expected to start this year, but the delivery of the necessary duct to reach the deposit did not reach last May and delayed the project for a year. The duct, manufactured in the United Kingdom, has cost 12,000 million yen (about 71 million euros) and will allow them to reach a depth of 5,500 meters. The Chikyu. The Japanese Marine-Terrestrial Science and Technology Agency or JAMSTECfor its acronym in English, will use the chiichyu, the name received by the Japanese drilling boat with which these valuable minerals will extract. In 2022 they already did a test at 2,500 meters deep In front of the coast of the Ibaraki Prefecture, but the challenge they face now is to drill more than double deep: 5,500 meters. If they get it, it would be the first time that rare earths are extracted to so much depth. In the first phase, Chikyu will extract 35 tons of mud. It is estimated that a ton of mud contains about 2 kilos of rare earths, so, in the best case, we could be talking about 70 kilos of rare earths. A key discovery. As we said, Japan found the site almost a year ago in front of the island of Minami-Torishima, located about 1,900 kilometers southeast of Tokyo. The site is located in the exclusive economic zone of Japan, so their extraction corresponds to them. Among the minerals it contains, one of the most abundant would be gadolinio, used in the nuclear industry, and the disposium, used mainly in magnets for electric vehicles. It would also be rich in manganese, cobalt and nickel nodules, key components in the creation of batteries. The amount is not clear and is decisive. At first there was talk of a site of 16 million tons, which would place Japan in third place behind China (44 million) and Brazil (21 million). However, a Analysis of the University of Tokyo He pointed to the loot would be much more juicy: 230 million tons. If confirmed, Japan would overcome China and be placed as the largest reserve of rare earths in the world. Independence. Japan’s efforts to find rare earth date back to 2022 and had a clear goal: to be independent. Currently, Japan depends on imports to meet their needs of rare metals, with 60% of them from China. The Japanese government invested 6,000 million yen (about 42 million euros) in the first extractions and have made it a priority since then. Friction. As we said, China currently has the largest reserve of rare earth and that gives it A huge power. Just a few weeks ago something unusual happened: A combat fleet, headed by two Chinese aircraft carriershe entered the Japanese ZEE near the island of Minamitori. Japan He did not confirm If he presented a formal protest and just declared that he had sent “the appropriate message.” It is not the first time that China enters the Japanese area, nor are the friction between the two countries, But it is certainly a somewhat controversial maneuver given the economic importance of the area. Image | TNFSA In Xataka | Yonaguni’s Japanese island was known for its beauty and Bad Bunny. Now it is a military strength because of Taiwan

An influencer wanted to sunbathe in bikini in Dubai. Her husband did the most logical among millionaires, buy an island

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With the heat that We are suffering in Spain, And with the holidays around the cornermore than one sure you want to lie on the beach To sunbathe and do What is most fancy in summer: nothing. However, if you are a woman and live in Dubai, that is a slightly more restricted activity … unless your husband is a millionaire and can buy you an island For you alone. Jamal al Nadak, a magnate of the Arab Emirates, has taken this concept to the next level when bought a private island just so that his wife can sunbathe in a bikini without worrying about other people’s looks. An island only for her Soudi al Nadak26, it is a British influencer that resides in Dubai and has conquered more than 431,000 followers on Instagram and 1.3 million in Tiktok, with a publication that accumulates more than 1.8 million views. In That publicationthe influencer included a video in which he saw her traveling by plane and arriving at a Paradisiaca Isla de Arenas Blancasleafy vegetation and crystalline waters to which he added a phrase: “Pov: you wanted to use a bikini, so your millionaire husband bought you an island.” Although it is defined as “full -time housewife”, the reality is that its day to day is surrounded by luxuries and attentions, while his house is attended by an army of employees. That allows you to dedicate yourself to your image and social networks. “My only rule in life is to always be pretty,” he laughs in one of his videos, while showing exclusive purchases in London or dinners in the most expensive restaurants in Dubai. The idea of ​​buying the island arose when Soudi told her husband her desire to, as a good British, sunbatsomething that Jamal, Muslim practitioner, did not approve in public. However, he decided to look for the most millionaire solution possible: to acquire a private island so that his wife could enjoy the sun with total freedom and privacy. The price of the island amounted to 50 million dollarsa figure that for many is unattainable, but that in the context of Dubai can be seen as One more investment. Touch the image to go to the original message Living in Dubai, the most logical thing would have been to think that the chosen island would be one of the many Artificial islands that are abandoned in the surroundings the city. However, again, the most millionaire solution emerges. The island in question is at some indeterminate point of Asia. Throughout the video, the influencer made sure to keep its exact location for privacy reasons. This detail is not less: the couple seeks to enjoy their fortune without restrictions and Far from the traditional rules of Dubai, where bikini exposure can be a reason for controversy. Beyond that, the influencer counted in the comments that the couple considered the island as A real estate investment More than a while considering. “It was something we were looking for for some time as an investment and my husband wants me to feel safe on a beach, that’s why he bought a,”collected ABC. The new Dubai the old customs Although Dubai is a emirate recognized for his Modernity and Opening to Tourismit continues to maintain many traditional customs. It is allowed to bathe in bikini on the beach, provided be done with discretion and cover once out of the water. This rule is more tolerant of tourists, but socially it is not well seen that local women do it, especially if they are Muslim. For that reason, the influencer made that peculiar request. In Xataka | Larry Page wants to get lost on an island, but it is not decided which. So you bought five Image | SoudiofarabiaPexels (Shukhrat Umarov), Unspash (Andrew Bui)

There is an island that has been prohibiting cars for more than a century and continues to use horses. And it’s doing pretty good

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Before entering the subject, let’s make a game: Open Google Maps, Type “Mackinac Island” And let the search engine transfer you to a small island in Lake Huron, in Michigan, USA. Then approximate and handle Street View to take a virtual walk through its streets. In their wide avenues you will see people walking, people by bicycle and people mounted in carriages thrown by horses, but what you will not find are cars. Very lucky maybe CACES some (few) of those used promptly to provide certain services. After all Mackinac is known worldwide Therefore: have banished motor vehicles and stay, in the middle of 2025, such as the reign of horses. In a Michigan place … Mackinac is a fantastic example of how history is full of ironies. The island known inside and outside the US for its aversion to cars is located in the middle Ford, General Motors either Chrysler. In fact Detroit, the “Motor City” It is located just 400 k, in a straight line. However, despite this influence of the industry 127 years ago the island authorities made a peculiar decision: they prohibited the use of combustion vehicles. Petarders no, thanks. The veto was promulgated the July 6, 1898after the islanders who dedicated themselves to working with calese alerted of the “dangers” and discomfort that the new “carriages without horses.” The legend He says that the trigger (never better) was the firecracker of a vehicle that in 1898 frightened a group of horses. It is also not far -fetched to think that the chauferes They moved to shield your business in the face of engines. A prohibition in DNA. The fact is that the rule set. After a few years It extended To the rest of the island, just 3.8 km2, and with the passing of the decades it became one of Mackinac’s great hallmarks. Little served to mark like Oldsmobile Or Ford became stronger and more only a few kilometers from there, the small island of Lake Huron remained an impregnable redoubt for the thriving automotive industry and thus has continued to be during the twentieth and twenty -first centuries, for pride of local authorities. On their official website they remember that the M-185the road that surrounds the island, is the only US state road in which the use of motor vehicles is not allowed. “Of the more than six million kilometers of public streets in the US, there is a stretch of 13.2 kilometers in Mackinac that stands out for its uniqueness,” They need The authorities. “It could be decided that it is literally one among one million.” There is no car? No. And yes. The authorities do not allow people to use cars as they would do any other part of the US, but that does not mean that there are certain exceptions. Mlive remember That the island has emergency vehicles, police cars, an ambulance released in 2021 and fire trucks. The State Park also has vehicles, although only uses them out of season high and preferably at first or last hour of the day. The island has also turned a blind eye in certain cases. For example, the US secret service put a car in 1975, during a visit by President Gerald R. Ford with his wife. The vehicle was used by agents. Ford opted for a carriage pulled by horses. Another exceptional case was the filming in 1979 of ‘Somowhere in Time’a film starring Chistopher Reeve and Jane Seymour that was shot in Mackinac and had a special permission to use vehicles. And the rest of the time? Simple. People walk, move by bike or ride in carriages thrown by horses, one of the great hallmarks of the island. It is believed that the horses arrived in Mackinac around 1780 by the British, who used them to lift the Strong Michilimackinacand the caleses were popular mostly in the nineteenth century, when the island became popular as a resting place. The first license for a carriage was issued in 1869. The island also has a ferry that allows its 600 inhabitants Move more easily from neighbors Mackinaw City or St. Ignace. “Without horses, this place would not be what it is. It allows you Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. A destination with history. With the passing of the decades Mackinac has achieved more than becoming a small redoubt safe from the traffic and contamination of cars. It has also become a popular destination, especially during The summer months. There, in addition to their horse carriages, coasts and landscape The Anishnaabe culturea group of indigenous peoples from the region of the Great Lakes of North America. Images | Dan Gaken (Flickr), Greg Marks (Flickr), Kate Ter Har (Flickr) and Poissantfamily (Flickr) In Xataka | In the US there is a “colonized” city by the Basques. And it has its own Ikastola, Frontón and Ikurriñas on the street

The Valencian Community has a single inhabited island. And when summer comes tourism is the slightest of its problems

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Tabarca is a special island for many reasons. By its sizejust 1,800 meters long, a few hundred meters wide and an area of 0.3 km2. For its condition of Only inhabited island from the Valencian Community, although its census barely goes from half a hundred of neighbors. And for the particular situation that lives in the tourist stage of the Costa Blanca. Although in summer Tabarca receives thousands of visitors a day, its main problem with tourism is not the massification but The deficiencies suffering from the archipelago and worsens with the arrival of heat. Tabarca is a unique island. And not always for good. In a place in Alicante … Tabarca is a small island on the Alicante coast, located scarce Eight kilometers from the port of Santa Pola. And the “little” is more than justified. The island is around 0.3 km2 and the entire archipelago barely passes from 1,800 m long and 400 wide, which can travel from top to bottom in A small walk. Its size and their population, of just over fifty people (According to the INE There are 34 men and 25 women censored there) they make it an exceptional case. It often presents itself as The only one Populated Island of the Valencian Community and The smallest of the country with permanent population. Its location, beaches and landscapes also make it something else: a busy destination in summer. A figure: 10,000. One thing is the autumn tabarca, winter and the principle of spring and a very different summer tabarca. When the heat arrives, the island becomes a defendant destination. Both in fact that the transfer of bathers and families multiplies exponentially. Some estimates talk that in summer peak days exceed 5,000 visitors. Others raise it to 10,000. It is good for one or another figure, in October that translates into a tourist pressure that far exceeds its register. The figures handled by the local press do not always coincide, but are equally blunt. Some estimates point to more than 150,000 visitors during the summer months or even 230,000 Throughout the year. The influx of tourists also concentrates on a Very concrete season: The drip begins towards Holy Week, with the arrival of retirees of the Imserso, continues among the ends of spring and the beginning of summer with the schoolchildren and intensifies in the warmest months with visitors attracted by the beaches. Is it a problem? The tide of tourists has sneaked into the public debate of Alicante, with Voices in favor to control access to the island and apply “limits to the number of visitors” daily, a measure that already applies in other parts of the country, such as in the CIES, in Galicia. At least a year ago the Almeria City Council It was not shown However, too supportive of afor and restrictions. Others bet on DestationalizeThe demand for the bulk of tourism not to concentrate in the summer months. “The island needs a more balanced approach that considers not only beach tourism, but also ecotourism and cultural tourism, which can help distribute the load of visitors more uniformly during the year,” he said In 2024 Alejandro Triviño, from the University of Alicante, to Information. In his favor Tabarca has more than beaches. It is considered Marine reserve Since 1986 and enjoys an interesting story that links it to Berber pirates and Genoese fishermenin addition to A rich heritage which includes The wall or the Church of San Pedro and San Pablo. Something more than massification. However, the big problem of Tabarca is not the massive influx of visitors, but how they arrive and what they are once land. I explained it yesterday The country in An article Remember that the main challenge of the island in tourism is the deficiencies that it drags, a few deficiencies is that they become even more visible when the heat comes. “The problem is not tourists,” Recognize to the Diario Carmen Martí, president of the neighborhood association. “We need a comprehensive plan that condition the island for inhabitants and visitors.” The reason? In summer Tabarca receives a tide of travelers willing to spend the day on their coasts, but unlike what happens in other Arenales of Alicante, on the island –Martí complaint– They do not have some basic services. “Public toilets, shadow areas, tourist attractions such as the church or the vaults of the wall are closed, the tower is in ruins …” insists The neighborhood leader before adding one more task to the list: regulate displacements and a public transport service. “How 40 years ago”. Martí is not the only one who thinks like that. The owner of one of the island’s restaurants Recognize to The country That Tabarca has gone from being a small community that basically lived from fishing to a hyper tourist destination, but that transformation has not come accompanied by changes that make it more assumed for the locals. “Many people come and we are like 40 years ago,” Reflect. “We need a larger port, to separate the tourist from goods ships and more cultural activity so that the visit is not only sun and beach.” The list of resident requests is wide. They talk about transport, pricing disparity with which visitors are and the cost assumed by those who work on the island, of public services as basic as medical assistance or public spaces (picnic or even shadow areas) in which visitors can protect themselves during the warmer afternoons of the summer. Is it something new? No. It comes a quick search to verify that the complaints of the neighbors are not new. A year ago, during An interview In Onda Cero, Martín explained that the Island supports a tourist pressure similar to that of “any tourist area of ​​the Peninsula”. “The problem is that it is not prepared to welcome with guarantees the numerous visitors who agglomerate mainly during the months of July and August,” warns the representative of the neighbors, who regrets that “the impression that … Read more

An island wants to unite Spain and be the autonomous community number 18. The problem is that it belongs to the USA

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It We count A while ago, in front to secessionismboth in Europe and in other continents we find the face of the other currency: movements that what they are looking for is the union against separation. One of them has sounded again these days. Actually, It is not newbut it always gives speaking in the case of a territory Very particular from the United States … and want to be part of Spain. Union is strength. As we said, this Another face of the currency travels shared historical and historical narratives, from the desire of the Moldavos to return to the body of a Romania with which They share languageculture and past, even, as we will see, in the echoes of Imperial nostalgia of some Puerto Ricans who, in a gesture as unusual as revealing, imagine their future not in the 51st star of the American flag, but as an autonomous community number 18 from Spain. Examples There are moresince Tyrol del Sur has revived in the past old belongings Habsburg-Germanic when dreaming of a Reintegration in Austriawhile The “Great Albania” Ethnic-national ghosts were revived yet lit In the Balkans. He Iberismmore lyrical than political, evoked the peninsular union between Spain and Portugal, sustained more by nostalgic intellectuals than by movements with real citizen traction. In parallel, The “Great Hungary” He kept beating on the margins of Magaria nationalism, especially among the Hungarians who were out of the borders after the TRIANON TREATYand in Valonia, a small game dreams of return to France a strip of the old Napoleonic space. The same end. All these movements, although of little practical viability, reveal that identities not only fragment: sometimes too They seek to reconstituteas if the map of Europe, far from stabilizing, was still an unfinished canvas where some villages aspire to join beyond the borders they have to live. Let’s put as an example the Puerto Rico case. A historical link. Among the embers of a Empire that dissolved More than a century ago, there are still territories and movements that, by conviction or nostalgia, aspire to restore the political ties that one day united them to the Spanish crown. This is the case of Puerto Rico, an archipelago that for more than 400 years was an integral part of the Spanish empire and that, after the effects of the Spanish-American war in 1898, was ceded to the United States. Since then, the island has lived in an ambiguous legal status as Associated free state: It is not an independent nation, but neither a sovereign state within the American Federation. In that institutional limbo the MOVEMENT AWARD MEASURESa group that proposes, in a serious although controversial, that Puerto Rico returns to Spain and becomes its autonomous community number eighteen. In other words, the initiative seeks to activate historical, sentimental and legal springs to reverse the course taken more than a century ago, challenging both the structure of the Spanish State and the constitutional rigidity of the United States. Legal obstacles. Obviously it is not so simple. In fact, the legal reality is relentless against the aspirations of the movement. The United States Constitution prohibits any form of territorial secession that is not mediated by Congress, which annuls the possibility of Puerto Rico abandoning its link with Washington without a highly unlikely legal process. On the other hand, Spain lacks a mechanism in its order that contemplates the Incorporation of a territory foreign as a new autonomous community. Although activists They denounce a blackout Informative that prevents the dissemination of their message within Puerto Rico, they claim to have the 16.3% support of the population (figure not verified by independent studies). There is no game. In addition, and very important, being constituted as a cultural association and not as a political party (a limitation imposed by US legislation on entities with proposals incompatible with their federal system) cannot attend elections or develop institutional political activity. All this gives the movement a more symbolic than pragmatic, more provocative than realizable. Background questions. Be that as it may, and despite the obvious limitations, AWAY MEETING Open a peculiar window on the perception of identity in Puerto Rico. In a territory where there is no Right to vote By the president of the United States, where American citizenship is granted without full representation and where Spanish remains the maternal language of the majority, there are sectors that feel culturally closer to Hispanic Europe than to the Anglo -Saxon universe. The phenomenon, although minority, Old debates revives On decolonization, self -determination and belonging, not only from a legal perspective, but also from an emotional, historical and linguistic. Image | Pexels In Xataka | The ghost of secessionism travels Europe In Xataka | A Caribbean island causes a new exodus of millionaires: Puerto Rico

An old island has been discovered by accident under the sea full of rare land. The problem is that it has no owner

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We are approaching a point where to say that rare earth moves the world in general, no Only the technological oneno longer sounds so hyperbolic. It happens that a single nation has most of the cake right now. We already said it, China has built The most elegant economic power lever in modern history with those desired minerals. Hence, the rest of the nations strive to find the new “gold” where there is a track, however small. An underwater island has emerged as possibility, the problem is for whom. An accidental finding. The story began when an international team of scientists discovered that a part of the known underwater highlands Like Rio Grande Riselocated about 1,200 kilometers from the coast of Brazil, it was actually A tropical island Tens of millions of years ago. Although training was already known by the scientific community as a chain of volcanic mountains submerged from The late cretaceousthe New research revealed that their western part was once above sea levelforming a terrestrial ecosystem that gradually disappeared under the waters due to tectonic activity and the weight of the accumulated volcanic rock. Revelation not only transforms the understanding of the paleoclimatic geography of the region, but also opens the door to a possible International dispute for its valuable mineral resources. The keys of the past. The discovery began in 2018 when British and Brazilian scientists noticed that certain rocks in the marine bed of the Rio Grande Rise They showed an unusual composition, more similar to lava deposits and terrestrial red clay than to marine formations. Published subsequent studies in Scientific Reports They confirmed that this clay (rich in kaolinite, hematite and goetite, typical tropical soil minerals) was not only a rarity in the oceanic background, but an unequivocal evidence that this segment of the high plateau was emerged between 44 and 47 million years agoduring The Eocene. With a very high chemical alteration index (93), these clays reveal an intense subaéreal weathering and a warm and humid climate, with implications that go beyond geology: the island could have been a stop point For migratory birds Between South America and Africa, offering one more piece in the puzzle of the biological exchanges of the past. A mineral treasure. But there is more, of course. Beyond its scientific value, the Rio Grande Rise houses an invaluable economic wealth. Their Ferromanganese scabs contain high levels of Essential metals As cobalt, nickel and lithium, all fundamental for the global energy transition, from batteries for electric vehicles to wind and solar energy storage. However, what attracts the most attention is your rare earth concentrationespecially the ititrium, a whitish and soft metal used in strategic technologies: aerospace alloys, superconductors, industrial lasers, LEDs and precision lenses. In a context where China overwhelmingly dominates the extraction, refined and manufacture of these materials (with Up to 90 % of world production), any new source acquires critical geopolitical importance. It is no accident that the Brazilian interest in this area has intensified after Beijing’s decision to restrict export. The dilemma of sovereignty. And here lies the big problem. The Brazilian government He has shown A clear intention to claim the Rio Grande Rise as part of its continental platform, based on the argument that training He was united to the continent in the past. However, the highlands is 652 nautical miles from the coast, very outside the limit of The 200 established by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea to delimit exclusive economic zones. This raises a challenge legal and diplomatic Complex, in which Brazil will seek to strengthen its exploration rights without violating international agreements. At the same time, warnings arise on the impact that an eventual mining exploitation could have little studied in depth ecosystems. Thus, the tension between the economic use of these resources and the need to preserve marine biodiversity appears as unresolved background dilemma. Global competition. In this way, the ancient island of Rio Grande Risetoday hidden under kilometers of water and centuries of geological oblivion, has reappeared as a Unexpected actor in the race for the strategic resources of the 21st century. Fosilized red soils, formed under disappeared tropical jungles, now lie next to metal scabs coveted by industries around the world. If you want, the finding not only highlights the scientific value of oceanic missions, it also exposes the growing global competition for those critical minerals in so many areas. In that new power map, where the control of raw materials marks the border between technological independence and structural dependence, even a sunk island millions of years ago can tip the balance of the future. Or at least that Think Brazil. Image | Pexels In Xataka | What are the rare earths, the elements that move the technological world and separate China from the West In Xataka | The great promise of Deng Xiaoping: China has waited more than 30 years to control the world economy with rare earths

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