tagged w/ Environmental Issues
-
This, pretty much, tells it like it is with regard to what capitalism is all about and why we need to end it.This, pretty much, tells it like it is with regard to what capitalism is all about and... more
-
-
Even with the unrelenting snow pack, migrating birds returned to The Valley. An early spring delight is the return of the eastern bluebird.
http://www.tastekulcha.com/bluebirds-birds-happiness/Even with the unrelenting snow pack, migrating birds returned to The Valley. An early... more
-
-
Which Republican nominee would you rather live under as President? Think long and hard. Give up? So does everyone else. That's because its no one.
There will be no real challenge from the Right because Obama governs from the Center--a move every great president does. That way, the only detractors he has are those who are counter-productive and unwilling to negotiate. Sure, Obama's poll numbers have gone down. So has everyone's, in every part of the world.
There is of course potential for regime change from the Right, and if there were actually a violent uprising to oust the President, as there are in so many parts of the world these days, you can bet the Right would certainly have the capacity to do it. But the Civil War took away the will for Americans to kill Americans a century and a half ago and those who would be quick to label their neighbors "enemy combatants" are likely to be small and probably labeled as terrorists by all but their closest sympathizers.
Of course the Far-Right hates Obama. Anything Left of them is heresy, and the fact that his middle name is Hussein is just icing on the cake. The Right is one big free-for-all pissing contest: privatization, wars, dismantling safety nets...its one big race to see if anyone really can live without any publicly funded social service.
Yet ultimately, the effect of an empowered Right would allow corporations to have free and total control of world resources, deregulate business, inject evangelical "solutions" into federal government, consolidate wealth at the highest class, diminish government capacity to protect its citizens, maintain the hegemony of the military-industrial complex, remain allied with Israel no matter what, and push a Free Trade agenda with little-to-no environmental consideration...values that have become increasingly unpopular since the arrival of the Tea-Party. What made the Tea-Party so effective was that they swung local elections for the most hard-core Rightist available. That simply will not work in a General Election when they are the least popular group in America.
Let's be honest-- of course government spending needs to decrease. Of course policies should not infringe upon the freedom of individuals. Of course we acknowledge the failings of government, that humans are not infallible or 100% efficient. These are basic truths evident in all human institutions, whether private, public, or something in between. The Left has been saying these things for years. The problem is that Obama has only to appear Left of Far-Right and he will win. It is basic mathematics.
Unfortunately, in pandering to those Right of Center, Obama has all but alienated his own base. Add that to the fact that Republicans are stonewalling him and you have an ineffective leader, regardless of whether it is his "fault." This means that while the Right will be trying to vote him out, those on the Left will be voting for him only because they are worried about who would replace him. YET THAT IS WHAT THE LEFT NEEDS TO CONSIDER. What should replace Obama's 2008-2012 record?
To answer this question, the Left needs to figure out what it really wants, and decide whether they believe Obama can deliver those demands. Obama's weakness is that in catering to the middle, the fringe of both sides are made equally unhappy. Yet while the reactionary fringe Right wants to wholly repeal and cut government capacity, the radical Left is still attempting to implement social change through non-central, fragmented movements. Only when the Left comes together to challenge the so-called free-market capitalist state and demand a clean, sustainable, fair market that protects people against exploitation of any kind, and suspends its vote for anyone but those who support these tenets, Obama will be forced to move to the Left in order to maintain the demographic.
This requires a publicized conversation with thought-leaders on the Left and a debate that challenges Obama for the privilege to represent an equally relevant end of the spectrum. Until there are clear alternatives to Barack Obama from the Left, this election does not represent those Left of Center, who might as well vote for a Nader-like candidate who understands the irrelevance of voting for two different people funded by the same special-interests.
The right to live in America and pay taxes to protect peace, freedom and justice should be a privilege, not a burden. The nation was founded on the ideal of representational government and until the American people are fully represented, they will never be happy. It would be great if everyone could simply choose to opt-in to paying taxes, deciding what it will go to and be the common recipient of everything, but unfortunately, we are not yet empowered to do so.
In the meantime, we can alleviate suffering wherever we find it ourselves, on our own, without relying on the whims of a single other person in whose hands the American Dream is either nourished or goes to die. The nature of institutions is irrelevant, so long as the services provided are unilaterally sound in their commitment to the common good. For the United States government to function successfully, the political spectrum has to be transcended so that the Right and Left work together to ensure their mutual prosperity.
http://dailycaller.com/2011/09/07/kucinich-primary-challenge-would-make-obama-a-better-president/Which Republican nominee would you rather live under as President? Think long and... more
-
-
How long is your daily commute? What forms of transportation do you take on a regular basis? How environmentally conscious is your neighborhood?
These are the questions scientists, engineers and environmentalists are asking of their communities. Urban Mobility examines the ways in which innovators are developing new technologies to not only move people but also bring them closer together.
But what we really want to know from you is, how do you define Urban Mobility?
Be sure to check out current.com/urbanmobility for more news, community discussions and upcoming videos about Urban Mobility. How long is your daily commute? What forms of transportation do you take on a regular... more
-
-
What would you do in the event of a zombie invasion?
A social experiment that asks people to look at their irrational fears juxtaposed to a very real crisis within our environment.What would you do in the event of a zombie invasion?
A social experiment that asks... more
-
-
Please read up on fracking!
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/27/us/27gas.html?_r=1&hp
The link to today's NYT article, "Regulation lax as gas wells' tainted water hits rivers" is a good start with great visual aids.
The Josh Fox documentary(available @Netflix), "Gasland", nominated for an Academy award, is another good place to learn more about fracking.
Cheney made sure that the gas industry is not regulated! No one can even formally complain about it! And guess what company is involved with the drilling!
Our water supplies are in peril anyway - why let corporate gas ruin what we have left?Please read up on fracking!... more
-
-
-
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is engaged in what can only be called an avian holocaust through its Bye Bye Blackbird program that has poisoned tens of millions of birds over the last decade. The USDA even reports the number of birds it has poisoned to death in a PDF document posted on the USDA website.
Anticipating the USDA possibly removing that document, we have posted a copy on NaturalNews servers at: http://www.naturalnews.com/files/US...
The original source URL of this file was: http://www.aphis.usda.gov/wildlife_...
This document shows that, just in 2009, the following bird populations were poisoned and killed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, using taxpayer dollars:
(Listed as "Intentional" and "Killed / Euthanized")
Brown-headed cowbirds: 1,046,109
European Starlings: 1,259,714
Red-winged blackbirds: 965,889
Canadian geese: 24,519
Grackles: 93,210
Pigeons: 96,297
...plus tens of thousands of crows, doves, ducks, falcons, finches, gulls, hawks, herons, owls, ravens, sparrows, swallows, swans, turkeys, vultures and woodpeckers, among other animals.
The chart even shows that the USDA "unintentionally" euthanized one Bald Eagle.
Also murdered in 2009 by the USDA are victims of other species:
27,000 beavers, 1700 bobcats, 81,000 coyotes, 2,000 gray foxes, 336 mountain lions, 1900 woodchucks, 130 porcupines, 12,000 raccoons, 20,000 squirrels, 30,000 wild pigs, 478 wolves.
See the list yourself at: http://www.naturalnews.com/files/US...
The mass-murdering U.S. government that disavows violence?
Keep in mind that murdering animals is an act of violence. Yet in the wake of the recentGiffords shooting, we have U.S. government officials running around screaming about how much they disavow violence, saying things like "violence should never be used to resolve problems."
But their actions say something different: Violence against non-human life forms is not only tolerated and approved by the federal government, but even encouraged. Through these mass killings of birds, cougars, ducks and other animals, the United States federal government is actively engaged in widespread acts of violence against nature, murdering literally millions of animals on an annual basis.
Keep in mind that the numbers shown above are only for 2009. A similar number of animals were killed by the USDA all the other years, too, going all the way back to the 1960's when the "Bye Bye Blackbird" program was first initiated.
By my estimates, the USDA has actively murdered at least 100 million animals in Americaover the last four decades, putting this on the scale of an animal holocaust and a crime against nature.
READ MORE http://globalpoliticalawakening.blogspot.com/2011/01/us-government-commits-avian-holocaust.htmlThe United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is engaged in what can only be... more
-
-
A lead poisoning outbreak that has killed more than 400 children in the rural farmlands of northern Nigeria remains 'a neglected, underfunded emergency,' the U.N. warned Friday, saying many villages remain coated with the deadly metal...
www.indiareport.com/India-usa-uk-news/ap/Health/78198A lead poisoning outbreak that has killed more than 400 children in the rural... more
-
-
Environmental service workers finished picking up the carcasses on Sunday of about 2,000 red-winged blackbirds that fell dead from the sky in a central Arkansas town.Environmental service workers finished picking up the carcasses on Sunday of about... more
-
-
Wow: China's Free Bag Ban Reduced Consumption by 50 Percent
Back in June of 2008, China made it illegal for stores to offer plastic bags for free. They had to charge customers for the bags. Store owners could set their own price for the bags—as long as it wasn't lower than the cost of the bag—and keep the profits themselves.
A student at the University of Gothenburg, Haoran He, recently studied the effect of this law on people's behavior and the results are remarkable.
Consumers in Beijing and Guiyang used an average of 21 new plastic bags weekly before the bag-fee ordinance was passed in June, 2008, and rarely used the same bag twice. But after the law was imposed, consumption dropped 49 percent and nearly half of the bags were re-used. While that represents a significant reduction, researchers say there is much room for improvement, especially when it comes to enforcement. Months after the law was enacted, the researchers say, nearly 60 percent of all plastic bags were still given away free.
So with even with very weak enforcement, China's ban has reduced the number of plastic bags people use by half. After its first year, The Guardian reported the ban had saved the country 40 billion plastic bags. By now the cumulative number of bags saved is probably more like 100 billion, and if the law were enforced well, it'd be a lot higher.Wow: China's Free Bag Ban Reduced Consumption by 50 Percent
Back in June of... more
-
-
Ultra elitist environmental group The Royal Society has published a series of papers to coincide with the latest round of UN climate talks, in which influential scientists suggest that politicians should force the population of the developed world to adhere to a system of rationing in order to stave off rising global temperatures.
The papers suggest that 1930s and 40s style crisis rationing should be implemented by Western governments in order to reduce carbon emissions. Such a move would see “limits on electricity so people are forced to turn the heating down, turn off the lights and replace old electrical goods like huge fridges with more efficient models. Food that has travelled from abroad may be limited and goods that require a lot of energy to manufacture.” the London Telegraph Reports.
“The Second World War and the concept of rationing is something we need to seriously consider if we are to address the scale of the problem we face,” one Royal Society affiliated professor states.
Professor Kevin Anderson, Director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, added that in his view, economic growth in the developed world should be completely halted within the next two decades if the planet is to avoid mass upheaval in the form of rising sea levels, floods, droughts and mass migration.
“I am not saying we have to go back to living in caves,” he said. “Our emissions were a lot less ten years ago and we got by ok then.”
Ironically, Anderson’s point here reveals a fundamental flaw in the theory of anthropogenic warming, namely that CO2 emissions have increased, yet temperature rise is slowing. By all accounts, the warming trend observed predominantly throughout the 1980s and 90s stopped just over a decade ago.
Even the Royal Society itself was forced to admit this fact in a recently published guide, titled ‘Climate change: a summary of the science’ which was altered following multiple complaints from 43 of the Royal Society’s own members that “knowledgeable people” were seeing through brazenly alarmist climate change rhetoric.
The Met office concurs that global warming has been slowing for some time, and the admission was also recently noted by Professor Phil Jones, the figure at the head of the Climategate scandal.
It is hardly surprising to see the Royal Society still pushing a de-industrialization agenda, however, given it’s history and cadre of members and patrons.
The Royal Society, a 350 year old establishment outfit, has traditionally been the most vocal proponent for the hypothesis of AGW.
It was the former president of The Royal Society, Lord May, who made the infamous statement “The debate on climate change is over.”
When he was head of the Society, May told government advisors: “On one hand, you have the entire scientific community and on the other you have a handful of people, half of them crackpots.”
The Royal Society has thrown its full weight behind the global warming movement, lending its absolute support for legislation aimed at reducing carbon emissions by 80%, a process that will devastate the global economy and drastically reduce living standards everywhere.
It has been even more vehement than national governments in its advocacy of the man-made cause of global warming, calling for such drastic CO2 cuts to be made in the short term, not even by the usual target date of 2050.
Not surprising then that The Royal Society was also intimately tied to efforts to Whitewash the Climategate emails scandal.
The society has also conducted extensive research into geoengineering the planet, and continually lobbies the government to divert funding into it. A recently published lengthy UK Government report drew heavily upon the Society’s research and concluded that a global body such as the UN should be appointed to exclusively regulate world wide geoengineering of the planet in order to stave off man made global warming.
This information becomes even more disturbing when you consider the mindset of those who make up the membership of the Society. It is riddled with renowned eco-fascists, open eugenicists and depopulation fanatics.
One notable member is James Lovelock, an eco-fascist who advocates ending democracy and instituting an authoritative elite to oversee global climate management and a radical stemming of the human population in order to combat climate change. He is also a patron of the Optimum Population Trust, a notorious UK-based public policy group that campaigns for a gradual decline in the global human population, which it refers to as “primates” or “animals”, to what it sees as a “sustainable” level.
Lovelock is also an ardent advocate of geoengineering. In 2007 Lovelock proposed laying vast swathes of pipes under the world’s oceans in order to pump water from the bottom of the seas – rich in nutrients, but mostly dead – to the top. The idea being that the action would encourage algae to breed, absorb more carbon and release more dimethyl sulphide into the atmosphere, a chemical known to seed sunlight reflecting clouds. Such methods are also covered in the Commons report.
Another member is Jonathon Porritt, former chair of the UK Sustainable Development Commission, one of former Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s leading green advisers, who has stated that Britain’s population must be cut in half from around 60 million to 30 million if it is to build a sustainable society.
Porritt, also a member of the Optimum Population Trust, a connection that caused raised eyebrows when it was announced that Porritt was to be a part of a forthcoming Royal Society“Objective” Global Population Study.
Also on the Royal Society’s working group for their global population study is another of their patrons, and another OPT member, BBC darling wildlife broadcaster and film-maker Sir David Attenborough. Attenborough has called for a one child policy like that of Communist China to be implemented in Britain. The proposal is one of the OPT’s main initiatives. Again, how is this man’s influence going to result in an “objective” study on population?
Another member of that working group is Cambridge economist Sir Partha Dasgupta, also a fellow of the OPT.
Professor Malcolm Potts, another member of the working group was the first male doctor at the Marie Stopes Abortion Clinic in London, he also advised on the UK’s 1967 Abortion Act.
Marie Stopes was a prominent campaigner for the implementation of eugenicspolicies. In Radiant Motherhood (1920) she called for the “sterilisation of those totally unfit for parenthood [to] be made an immediate possibility, indeed made compulsory.” That group, according to her, included non-whites and the poor.
Stopes, an anti-Semite Nazi sympathizer, campaigned for selective breeding to achieve racial purity, a passion she shared with Adolf Hitler in adoring letters and poems that she sent the leader of the Third Reich.
Stopes also attended the Nazi congress on population science in Berlin in 1935, while calling for the “compulsory sterilization of the diseased, drunkards, or simply those of bad character.” Stopes acted on her appalling theories by concentrating her abortion clinics in poor areas so as to reduce the birth rate of the lower classes.
Stopes left most of her estate to the Eugenics Society, an organization that shared her passion for racial purity and still exists today under the new name The Galton Institute. The society has included members such as Charles Galton Darwin (grandson of the evolutionist), Julian Huxley and Margaret Sanger.
Read More: http://globalpoliticalawakening.blogspot.com/2010/11/ultra-elitist-environmental-group-halt.htmlUltra elitist environmental group The Royal Society has published a series of papers... more
-
-
The top U.S. cities with the worst air pollution.
-
-
Another outcry against the toxic, non biodegradable stuff, killing the poor innocent creatures of the ocean, blah blah blah. All this while sitting comfortably in my warm home, sipping tea to my heart’s content. What could I do while sitting in the confides of my petite abode...
Keep reading at: http://www.forgetthebox.net/mag/green-bean-tuesdays/the-swirling-vortex-of-death.phpAnother outcry against the toxic, non biodegradable stuff, killing the poor innocent... more
-
-
Some very sad news. Tonight the country’s only federal climate change legislation in Parliament, the Climate Change Accountability Act, was defeated in the Senate 43 to 32.
What happened? In an unprecedented move, the Conservatives called for a surprise vote on Bill C-311 in the Senate while many Liberal Senators were missing. While that isn’t a first, the fact that the bill was called for a vote before any debate or consideration could be held is unprecedented. Conservative Senators were ordered not to speak to the bill during the 193 days it was in the Senate, and even the Conservative Speaker of the Senate was told to vote against the bill (when the Speaker’s role is to vote to continue debate in the case of a tie).
Keep reading and find out what you can do...
http://www.forgetthebox.net/mag/green-bean-tuesdays/breaking-eco-news-harper-officially-hates-the-environment.phpSome very sad news. Tonight the country’s only federal climate change... more
-
-
Going vegan isn't THAT hard, especially when you allow for the occasional slip up as I do. But because animal agriculture takes such a toll on our planet, it is a diet that all environmentalists should be taking into consideration. Are any of you thinking about going vegan?Going vegan isn't THAT hard, especially when you allow for the occasional slip up... more
-
-
What kills more than war? Dirty water. What makes up the bulk of the Pacific garbage patch (you know, the one floating in the ocean that it three-times the size of Texas?)? Plastic. What costs, on average, about 200% more than you should be paying? Bottled water. What uses billions of barrels of oil per year? The bottled water industry.
Who is spearheading our advancement into ecological responsibility and better health worldwide? Hopefully you, with the help of Quebec universities.
From October 1-3, the Sierra Youth Coalition held their national conference at Guelph University. In a regional break-out session, all of the Quebec universities present unanimously decided to push for a ban on bottled water on their campuses.
By March 10, 2011, the second annual Bottled Water Free day, the Polaris Institute will be gathering as many pledges as possible from Quebec campuses who have decided that their environment, health and money were worth more than any bottling company could offer them.
To continue reading go to: http://www.forgetthebox.net/mag/green-bean-tuesdays/hell-no-to-bottled-h2o-quebec-universities.php/What kills more than war? Dirty water. What makes up the bulk of the Pacific garbage... more
-
-
Passing Prop. 23 In California Would Send 'Terrible And False' Message To Rest Of Nation, Says EPA Official
As right-wing think tanks continue to claim that California's clean energy legislation is hampering the state's economy, federal EPA Administrator Jared Blumenfeld has come forward to dispel that myth and to protect the environmental regulatory programs the state currently his in place.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/01/passing-prop-23-in-califo_n_702477.html#commentsPassing Prop. 23 In California Would Send 'Terrible And False' Message To... more
-
-
1. 2009 heat
2. Beds are Burning
3. Meltdown 2010
4. Skiing in the desert
5. iPon
6. Obama’s fighting deception
7. Supreme Handout
8. Howard Zinn R.I.P.
9. Anti-Flag
10. Radical sports writer Dave Zirin1. 2009 heat
2. Beds are Burning
3. Meltdown 2010
4. Skiing in the desert
5. iPon... more
-
-
explore.org teams up with HATCH to champion the selfless acts of
others through a short film award at this year’s HATCHfest Bozeman
film festival.
The explore/HATCH Award presented by explore.org will be given to a
filmmaker who best tells the story of a remarkable individual's
actions in response to a devastating environmental event.
Winner of the explore/HATCH award will be flown to HATCHfest Bozeman
September 22-25 and be presented with a Canon HD SLR camera package
from explore.org’s founder, Charles Annenberg Weingarten, and HATCH.
For submission info please click here:
http://explore.org/about/explorehatch_award/explore.org teams up with HATCH to champion the selfless acts of
others through a... more
-
