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There's a lot going on out there in the world of Current.com, so let's take a quick look at some of the recent blog posts from our online producer team:
Current Movies
Over on the Current Movies blog, John Lichman offers up news that Nic Cage has decided to bow out of Green Hornet, and takes a look at the new teaser trailer from Up in the Air. Here's a snippet:
Nicholas Cage leaves The Green Hornet because clearly he's a serious actor. And his soul is still dancing. [Heat Vision]
The teaser for Up in the Air is perfectly fine and the best thing you'll watch today. So, there. [/film]
Check out the full post and watch the Up in the Air trailer over on the current_movies blog.
Current Music
Have you ever wanted to make a music video? Who knows, you could be the next David Fincher, or Spike Jonze, right? Well, here's your chance. Current Music has teamed up with Common, and he's basically letting the Current.com community make the video for his song, "Make my day."
So, you wanna make a music video? Head over to the current_music blog, Shana has all of the details.
Current Green
Leah Lamb offered up a guest blog post from our Sustainable Agriculture group leader, JanForGore. She gives us the details on Biopiracy in the age of climate change and food shortages. Here's a snip:
Biopiracy is the patenting of indigenous bio-diversity related knowledge. For purposes of this writing, the patenting of natural traits found in plants, which is now described as epidemic. While the rewarding of patents should be based on inventiveness and original creativity, it has become a license for corporations to steal such indigenous traits endemic to nature already naturally cultivated by indigenous farmers for centuries. This is done to make fast cash and to take advantage of the climate crisis and food shortages which ironically are also exacerbated through monoculture industrial methods of what I like to call ‘strip farming.’ Such methods have stripped soil nutrients and carbon essential for sustainability of the land and our climate balance.
Check out the full post on the current_green blog.
Current Comedy
Last but not least, current_comedy blog maestro, Josh Heller, went to Burning Man last week and it changed his life (as anyone reading his pseudo-tweets from Black Rock City could tell). The playa spoke, and Josh listened. Now he returns to us a new man, with a new avatar. Take a look.There's a lot going on out there in the world of Current.com, so let's take... more
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Hey folks. So truth be told, I like asking questions, but tomorrow Jill Buck, founder of the Go Green Initiative (a program designed to create a culture of environmental responsibility on school campuses across the nation) will be asking me the questions during her live radio show, "Go Green Radio". (That would be Thursday, October 20th, at 9am-10am PST)
We'll be chatting about the role of the media in the sustainability movement, going green (it is the name of her show and all), and what goes on behind the scenes of Current Green.
You can do something CARAZY and actually call in at 866-472-5788 and ask a question if you so desire, and/or you can listen live at the Voice of America.
Meanwhile...I'll be memorizing my answers.... In all seriousness, hope you can join, it would be fun to have your voices and your thoughts in the conversation!Hey folks. So truth be told, I like asking questions, but tomorrow Jill Buck, founder... more
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It all started when an old friend contacted me via Facebook wondering if I could help him find out how to make his auto salvage business more green. Brilliant question. I haven't a clue. But I know that one of you does know the answer. So in honor of sharing our collective brilliance, every Monday I am going to post one of your questions. I'll put it in all the right places: Current, on the Current Green Facebook page, and even on Twitter. We'll collect the answers, and at the end of the week, we'll feature one of the answers. And over and over and over again. And if it's a hard question that only a specialist can answer, well then, we'll take the question to them!
You can help us decide which questions get asked and which answers get featured by commenting on them. So go ahead. Tell us what questions you want to have answered~ and by all means, tell us when you have the answers! We're going to feature the first "official question" this coming Monday, October 12th. (psst..we'll send a t-shirt to the people whose question and answers we feature each week. It's a small thrill, I know).
So go to www.current.com/mygreenquestion and ask your question today!It all started when an old friend contacted me via Facebook wondering if I could help... more
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It went down like this: last week Pjacobs51 posted an article that was written on Treehugger about the Supreme Court decision that will allow Coeur Alaska Inc to dump coal mining waste, essentially ruling that the Clean Water Act shouldn't prevent mining companies from dumping their toxic waste into lakes, even with the knowledge that doing so will exterminate all life within. You responded with awe, questions, shock, dismay, and a LOT of what WTF?????
Well, given the shocking ruling, we decided to get a bit more info on the matter, and took your questions to Doug Kendall, President of the Constitutional Accountability Center.
Deliatheartist asked: The article in question states this idea is, "less environmentally damaging than other options." What ARE the other options?
Doug Kendall: In this instance, the Army Corps of Engineers (which issued Coeur Alaska the permit to dump the waste) compared dumping the gold mine “slurry” into the lake to dumping it onto nearby wetlands, and determined that the latter would create permanent loss of dozens of acres of wetlands. This was deemed less preferable than dumping the slurry into the lake, which, the Corps determined, could be rehabilitated later. Environmental advocates involved in this case, however, argued that the discharge should have been prohibited outright, because it would have violated an EPA ban on discharging “process wastewater” into navigable waterways such as the lake.
pjacobs51 asked: The defense of this is because it's "the easiest way?"Well it would be easier for me to park in a handicap zone, or take a leak where ever I wanted, or to rob a bank because it's easier than working. Does that make anything legal because it's easier? Is the Supreme Court so supreme it can work it's way around a law called "The Clean Water Act?" Is this blind justice, or Corporate Justice?
Doug Kendall: Please don’t do any of those things – they are bad things to do and given that you don’t have corporate deep pockets, you probably will get caught. This is a case where a wealthy and powerful corporation used a slight ambiguity in the law to get around what was clearly intended to be an absolute prohibition by EPA against the discharge of mine slurry into any water body. Here’s the rub. The Clean Water Act has two different permitting programs: one for pollutants (the NPDES program administered by EPA under Sections 306 and 402 of the Act) one for “fill material” (the dredge and fill program administered by the Army Corps of Engineers under Section 404). The EPA’s program is strict – in fact here, by regulation, EPA prohibits any “discharge of process wastewater” from gold mines like Coeur Alaska’s into waters of the United States – the Corps program is lax.
So Couer Alaska had a bright idea: let’s use pollutants as fill material and argue that we only have to get a permit from the Corps of Engineers. Sadly, both the Bush Administration and a majority of the Supreme Court bought into this argument, even though Justice Ginsburg powerfully explains in dissent why the Clean Water Act’s “text, structure, and purpose all mandate adherence to EPA pollution-control requirements.”
thisismattholt asked: Who owns the lake? Is it already contaminated? Is it an isolated reservoir? How big is it? Is it a natural lake or created by the company?
Doug Kendall: The lake in question is a natural lake, called the Lower Slate Lake. There is no indication that there was any prior contamination and it is uncontested that the slurry would kill all aquatic life in the lake while the mine is in operation. The Lake is located in the Tongass National Forest in southeastern Alaska – the country’s largest national forest – and is therefore controlled by the federal government. It is fairly small and deep, “800 feet at its widest crossing, 2,000 feet at its longest, and 23 acres in area…and 51 feet deep at its maximum” according the opinion. The lake is not naturally isolated: the plan was to damn the lake and divert streams around to prevent the slurry from migrating.
jdamian made the following point: “This sets a precedent for corporations continual rape and destruction of land, air and water...with drastic results.”
Doug Kendall: This case undermines the central vehicle established by the Clean Water Act to prevent pollution of our nation’s waters – the NPDES pollution discharge permitting system. It’s a bad ruling that will encourage other corporations, like Coeur Alaska, to continue to seek less restrictive permits for discharging material into lakes than what the Clean Water Act actually requires. The good news is that the Obama Administration should be able to reverse the practice allowed here pretty easily and, thus, the impact of this particular ruling will hopefully be fairly narrow.
Far more troubling from my perspective is the fact that environmentalists lost all five cases heard by the Supreme Court this term and, in each of these cases, we had won in the court below. Collectively, these deeply divided opinions are very significant and we see the Court chipping away at our most important federal environmental statutes, including the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act, and CERCLA (which addresses the cleanup of sites contaminated by toxic waste).
csmonut made the following point: Gee...does this ruling from the Supreme Court mean that wastewater treatment plants no longer have to abide by the EPAs CWA? Does this mean they can just quit treating the water and send the waste directly into the discharge waters? If the Supreme Court says it's OK to discharge and dump toxic *#@* into the lakes and streams, then it's OK for wastewater treatment plants.
Doug Kendall: The specific ruling in Coeur Alaska is limited to the context where discharge of pollution could also legitimately be called fill activity. Collectively, the Court’s rulings this term and in prior terms have seriously undercut the coverage and force of the Clean Water Act, triggering legislation called the Clean Water Restoration Act, which recently was approved by the Senate’s Committee on Environment and Public Works. Folks concerned with these rulings should consider the need for this legislation.
P.S. We did take the one question that many of you posted, "WTF??" to Doug, but apparently he used his better judgement and answered the more tangible questions. Many thanks to every one who posted questions, and a very special thank you to Doug Kendall and team to make time for this interview during a very busy time in their schedule.
Doug is founder and President of the Constitutional Accountability Center (CAC), a think tank, law firm and action center dedicated to fulfilling the progressive promise of our Constitution‚s text and history. He previously founded and directed Community Rights Counsel (CRC), CAC‚s predecessor organization. Doug has represented state and local government clients in state and federal appellate courts around the country and before the U.S. Supreme Court. He is co-author of three books and lead author of numerous reports and studies. He launched and helped direct (with Earthjustice) the Judging the Environment Project, a comprehensive effort to highlight the environmental stakes in the future of the U.S. Supreme Court and appointments to the federal bench. Doug has appeared on television programs including Nightline, 20/20, World News Tonight, Inside Politics, and Burden of Proof and radio broadcasts such as NPR, CBS News, and the Sam Seder Show. His academic writings have appeared in journals including the Virginia Law Review, the Harvard Environmental Law Review, and the Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics. His commentary has run in The New Republic, Slate and dozens of major papers including The Washington Post, USA Today, and The Los Angeles Times. Doug is a blogger on Huffington Post. Doug received his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Virginia.It went down like this: last week Pjacobs51 posted an article that was written on... more
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Ok folks.
No reason to get up off your couch, just start sharing your ideas. now.
Normally, (in the olden days) I'd keep all of these ideas a secret and never share them with you.
But those aren't the days we're living in, and I'm excited by the idea of sharing what we're thinking with you. So here's the dealio: a little run down of potential segments that could land in a weekly show:
-Whats worth talking about in environmental news (top voted stories in the news)
-Green on a shoestring: cheap tricks (submitted by you)
-Luminaries: rising stars in the eco world
-Green tech innovations
-The Activist 911: what's the latest and how can you participate
-Climate Science 101(in plain english)
-Climate policy updates
-Weird green videos
-Green design (architecture)
-Green trends (fashion)
-Greenwasher of the week
Now, lets play a game. It's called, I can't name potential guests, but you can. I'll name the topics, and you can tell me which topics appeal to you, and even the leaders in the field that you want to hear from.
agriculture issues (GM)
green tech
climate policy
redefining consumerism in the green era
wild crazy people doing funny things that inspire us
climate change and the economy
eco maverick/adventures
Sound interesting? Like a snoozer? Do tell.
Now I know it may seem like I am asking you to do all the work to develop our live streaming show, but I SWEAR, I'm working hard (and not hardly working).
chow for now.
P.S. Apologies if you got annoyed by seeing green 15K times (it's easier to type than environment and sustainability)
Ok folks.
No reason to get up off your couch, just start sharing your ideas. now.... more
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That was my one and only attempt at sports announcing. Don't worry, I'll keep my day job.
Two things:
The page might change: so don't get confused. Voting does not get turned off, but the questions listed above will be the questions asked on Thursday.
There are 5 other questions that are not in this list that were hand selected by Treehugger, Grist, Good Magazine, Huffington Post Green, and Chelsea Green. So surprises await you.
Top 6 questions from the Current Green community:
What's the thing you can really transform?
Less routes and higher fares on MUNI?!?!
Which areas of California are most suitable for wind farms?
What issues arise with sustainability & safety in new energy tech?
What's your take on the proposal to close 220 state parks?
Would you be willing to establish a 5 yr challenge to buy all SF electricity from solar/wind providers? If no, why not?
So see you on Thursday, June 11th, 12PST at www.current.com/green for the live streaming interview with Gavin Newsom.
Related Links:
Gavin Newsom
Environment
Current Green
That was my one and only attempt at sports announcing. Don't worry, I'll... more
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Hello Monday!
As you know, this coming Thursday, Current Green is live streaming our interview with Gavin Newsom about his run for Governor. Why would we bother? I know it may seem a little like naval gazing given that Gavin is the mayor of our hometown, but some might assert that California is defining the forefront of domestic and international environmental policy solutions. So if that's the case: don't you want in?
You only have until 5pm today to post your question!!
Want to know what he is talking about? No pressure, but the future of our conversation depends on you. The interview will be designed by the questions you choose to ask. So you tell us (or rather, Gavin) what topics should be the top priority of the political leaders agenda as it regards to conservation and sustainability policies.
Want to know more about Gavin Newsom and his green platform??
Then, you have until 5pm PST, Tuesday to vote. (If you really believe your question is all that and more: you may want to drop a line to a few friendly people and ask them to vote for your question).
So fire up your webcam and ask your question to Gavin Newsom! RIGHT NOW. Go Go Go! (But not in the comments section silly, on the special page we made where everyone can vote your question up and down.)
Oh, and just in case your question was so hot that no one got it, all is not lost, since the editors of Treehugger, Grist, Huffington Post Green, Good Magazine, and Chelsea Green are going to hand pick the question that most represents their interests.
Hello Monday!
As you know, this coming Thursday, Current Green is live streaming... more
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leahl
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Hey folks,
As you know, San Fran's Mayor, Gavin Newsom is running for Governor, and boy oh boy is he thumping on the green platform. Here's your chance to determine and shape the environmental issues that our political leaders discuss with the media. You can hit play, and listen to me chatter about how it works...or you can just read below.
Here's how it works
1. Submit your questions to Gavin Newsom about his green platform and run for Governor by Monday, 5pm PDT
2. Vote. Often. The six questions that make it to the top of the list are going to be asked by Current Green. Last chance to vote is 5pm PDT, Tuesday.
3. Come back and see what additional 5 questions the editors of Treehugger, Huffington Post Green, Good Magazine, Grist, and Chelsea Green select.
3. Watch and banter during the live stream and chat on Thursday, 12pm PDT, at www.current/green.
P.S. Want more info on Gavin Newsom's platform on the environment? HAVE more info to share? Check it and clip it.Hey folks,
As you know, San Fran's Mayor, Gavin Newsom is running for Governor,... more
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Last week, Stopnoise recommended jefftego for his great and tireless environmental work. Jeff is known for his keen interested and dedication to ocean conservation, without further adieu...Jefftego.
Current Green: What environmental topics are close to your heart?
jefftego: Climate change is probably the issue I think about the most. It absolutely amazes me that with all of the scientific data, climate models and visual evidence it is still an uphill battle to lower GHG emissions and there are skeptics around every corner. And I think this is more true in the US than any other developed country in the world, although I think we are starting to make some progress. Five years ago this issue wasn’t discussed in the public space at all, now it is out there every day. I’ve been fortunate enough to be a volunteer presenter with the Climate Project and I really enjoy spending time reading all I can on the issue and giving climate change presentations to community organizations, businesses and any other group that will listen to me for an hour. I have seen a shift in the people at my presentations over the last two years. There are fewer and fewer skeptics out there. I think instead of coming to my presentations they are posting their opinions on current.com.
Another topic that is close to my heart is the oceans. I’m happy this is starting to get more attention but it is such a tragedy what we are doing to the oceans from pollution, overfishing, factory fish farming, shark finning, noise and sonar pollution, whaling, etc. And this may come back on us faster than climate change. We are killing our oceans in an unbelievably short period of time and our species cannot survive without a healthy ocean ecosystem.
Current Green: What are your go-to environmental websites and blogs?
jefftego: Current is definitely right up there. I really like reading about issues that here that I wasn’t aware of before, even issues that aren’t a passion for me. There is so much diverse information here.
Dot Earth
Environmental News Network
Real Climate
The Daily Climate
Current Green: What's the most recent green thing you learned about that "wowed" you?
jefftego: I am always wowed by people who happily take extraordinary risks to do something for the environment, whether that is direct action or raising awareness. I was just at a Climate Project summit in Nashville and was wowed by one of the speakers there, Roz Savage. I was fortunate enough to meet her and she is incredible inspiring. She is an ocean rower and uses her rowing for environmental education and advocacy. In a few days she will be starting her next journey, rowing solo from Hawaii to Australia. Yes, you read that right. Rowing solo from Hawaii to Australia. She has already gone from Europe to the Caribbean and from Los Angeles to Hawaii. Go read Roz Savage's story, its way inspiring
Current Green: Who do you recommend should be featured next week?
jefftego: julesrs007. She always posts and raises awareness about animal welfare and animal rights. I think this is an issue that doesn’t get enough weight in Western society and I think Gandhi had it right when he said, “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated”. I appreciate that julesrs007 keeps putting this out there.
Current Green: If there was no other sound left in the world other than a jet engine, a dragster, or a sports stadium filled with crying babies, which would you choose to live next to and why?
jefftego: Do I get ear plugs? I don’t know how to answer this. Maybe the babies because you’ve got to think at some point they are going to cry themselves to sleep. Or just grow up and move out.
jefftego speaks....
I wrote about some of this above but I wanted to address the climate skeptic thing again. There is a great video series on YouTube called “The Climate Denial Crock of the Week.” New videos come out every few weeks and each one goes right to the science and debunks a favorite skeptic argument.
If you follow any of my posts on here, you know I am passionate about whales. I have no idea why. This is one of those issues that found me and grabbed me. These are some of the most amazing creatures on the planet and for all we know about them, we still know little. But they have incredible intelligence and very complex social and family bonds. Most types of whales live their entire lives in one family group. They have different dialects in different regions. They are just amazing to me. And it is incredibly sad that we have decimated their numbers. Even though they are starting to come back since the ban on commercial whaling, it will take hundreds or thousands of years for their populations to get to pre-whaling numbers. And I doubt this will happen. There is growing pressure every year from Japan and other countries to lift the ban and resume commercial whaling. There is a great book, “Harpoon, Into The Heart of Whaling” that offers a lot of historical perspective on this issue. Additionally, they face challenges from climate change, shrinking food supply, and water pollution.
I could write about all this stuff hours but I want to end with something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. I think as individuals we are looking for government and industry to do something about climate change and many of our environmental issues. And major action does have to come from them. But as individuals we really hold more cards than we realize in the choices we make. So much of the climate change issue, when push comes to shove, comes down to the fact that we make, consume and throw out too much stuff. I’m not saying we should get rid of modern conveniences, but what we have been doing the last few decades is quite excessive when you step back and think about it. Check out “The Story of Stuff” We are always looking for economic growth – more sales, more production, more processing, more consumption – yet we live in a finite environmental system. How can we sustain economic growth in a finite ecological system? There has to be another way, a better, more sustainable way.Last week, Stopnoise recommended jefftego for his great and tireless environmental... more
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Hey folks!
I'll be blogging from Hawaii next week covering various environmental topics. As always, I want to hear from you about what would be of interest.
I would deeply value and appreciate the following info from you...
1. Links to articles about Hawaii and specifically environmental issues unique to Hawaii
2. Are you interested in a segment dedicated to creating the most minimal carbon footprint as possible?
3. Do you use, or have, a favorite iphone carbon foot print calculator?
Thanks for your feedback! Have a great memorial day!
Oh, and by the way, I will NOT be doing this....
Related Articles:
Land Paddling in Hawaii
Green protest: raft of plastic bottles en route to Hawaii
Blood in the Water (shark diving tours in Hawaii)
Hey folks!
I'll be blogging from Hawaii next week covering various... more
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leahl
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As promised: the links!
Breaking climate policy news reported on Twitter today!
If you're into getting breaking news about the Climate Bill hearing in DC (and snark) from Grist's politica report Kate Sheppard, her twitter handle is @kate_sheppard
The public hearing and rally for the EPA endangerment finding is being live reported by several folks via Twitter today: search: #epacaa and you'll get the latest.
Featured Bloggers this week:
The Activist 911: Han Shan introduces ShellGuilty campaign to end oil giant Shell's gas flaring in Nigeria
Green Winners and Losers: Dave Burdick, Editor, Huffington Post Green
Dispatch from D.C. on House climate bill
As always, your ideas and feedback are welcomed and...needed!
As promised: the links!
Breaking climate policy news reported on Twitter today!... more
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leahl
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So from this day forward, every Friday we will feature a superstar from our Current Green community. We will begin with JanforGore. JanforGore is one of our longest standing members of Current, and has been with us since our current.tv days. I won't speak too much about JanforGore, but I'll mention that she is known for her prolific contribution, strong opinions, and passion for the environment. Most recently, she has dedicated herself to bringing consistent and up-to-date information on sustainable agriculture issues. Below you will find a brief interview, and a commentary from JanforGore.
So without further adieu, Current Green presents: JanforGore as our first featured Current Green Community Super Star!
Current Green: What environmental topics are close to your heart?
JanforGore: The environmental topics close to my heart are anything to do with preserving water as a human right and public trust, for it is the lifeblood of our Earth and us; sustainable agriculture which feeds the soul of our Earth and us; trees which are the lungs and heart of our Earth that give us breath; and climate change which is ravaging all of those things which are so close to my heart and so necessary to our lives. I have dedicated my life for over thirty years to defending and cherishing this planet, and those issues will continue to be what inspires me to continue that fight to preserve the future for ourselves and those to come. Particularly in demanding political action now on climate change that is adequate to meet its threat to our Earth’s sustainability (100% renewable energy in ten years is possible!) That also means politicians realizing that there is no such thing as “clean” coal. I believe it is our duty as human beings to be stewards of this planet and to speak for all other species.
Current Green: What are your go-to environmental websites and blogs?
JanforGore: Terra News, Environmental News Network, Desmogblog, Organic Consumers Association, the WE Campaign, Navdanya, Environmental Health News Archives, Real Climate, Envirospeak.tv, Food and Water Watch, Water Partners International, Institute for Responsible Technology, GRAIN, Tree Nation. All good sites with comprehensive information on every environmental topic that also include ways for citizens to be active in solutions. Oh, and also my blog, Water Is Life. ;-).
Current Green: What's the most recent green thing you learned about that "wowed" you?
JanforGore: That the UN Billion Tree Program had exceeded three billion trees planted worldwide, and has set their goal this year to 9 billion. Tree planting is always a wow for me! That’s why we now need to Plant America, which is an initiative I am sending to President Obama within the next two months. People can read about it here if they are interested in signing the petition.
CurrentGreen: Who, in the Current community, do you ado you admire featured next week?
JanforGore: I would recommend you feature SeaJade, a woman of great talent and environmental passion who cares about the Earth and has a unique way of expressing that passion.
Current Green: Hypothetically speaking, what would you do if you saw someone melting Styrofoam cups with a gasoline soaked torch, then taking those molten balls of Styrofoam, wrapping them in discarded plastic six pack rings, dunking them in oil, then tossing them into the ocean?
JanforGore: Well, “hypothetically speaking,” after I was revived through CPR ;-p, I would proceed to glue styrofoam cups to ‘their’ body, wrap ‘them’ in plastic, dunk ‘them’ in oil, and then proceed to stick that gasoline soaked torch where the sun don’t shine and make it shine.
;-).
JanforGore speaks on sustainable agriculture:
As I stated above, the environmental issues close to my heart include sustainable agriculture which has been greatly destroyed over the last decade due to industrial agriculture, mainly the GMO seeds of chemical turned “bioag” company Monsanto and other companies like them. And this is a clear and present threat to the rich biodiversity of this planet that has sustained all life for centuries.
Saving seeds is the cornerstone of civilization. It is what makes farming and agriculture such a miraculous action, in that from a tiny seed can spring forth hundreds to thousands of varieties of rice, potatoes, peas, corn, etc. that provide the world with sustainable choices. GMOs do not do that. Genetically modified organisms are manmade laboratory organisms that combine genes from different species to be inserted into the genes of plants to produce certain traits these bioag companies merely use to make profit. In the case of Monsanto, its “BT”corn and cotton is a combination of a deadly bacteria forcefully inserted into the gene of the plant’s cell wall in order to invade it or “make it sick” in order to force it to combine with that bacteria in order to make the corn or cotton resistant to their Round Up pesticide which you must purchase with their patented seeds yearly as you are prohibited from saving them. This has led many farmers across America, South America, and Europe into debt, including farmers in India who are reportedly committing suicide due to the high debt they incur to purchase seeds and pesticides from banking loan sharks only to see their crops fail. This is a game of genetic roulette using humans and other species as guinea pigs for profit that we cannot afford to allow to go any further as its process has no set guarantee of these organisms they genetically mutate expressing those desired traits everytime, or not mutating into something harmful to the planet.
Over the last decade since these organisms were let out into our environment this technology has proven to be very destructive to the biodiversity of our planet through transgenic contamination of traditional crops, yields that have not proven to be significant in comparison to organic crops, and current independent testing that has proven it has also been destructive to ecosystems and health as well. Currently, these unregulated GMOs are found in 60-70% of the processed food in America and are unlabelled as to their GMO ingredients due to the FDA giving them the distinction of GRAS (generally regarded as safe) and using the term “principle of substantial equivalence“ as politicaleze to say, we are letting these organisms slip through the cracks to please Monsanto, even though tests coming out now show that BT corn (a registered pesticide) causes adverse behavioral effects in bees, immune system problems, infertility, and cell damage from Round Up pesticides.
The developing world is now also at the mercy of being forced to accept this unproven technology due to the fact that resistance in Europe is so high and American markets have already been saturated. However, countries in the developing world are standing strong on the whole regarding non acceptance of GMOs, and hopefully that will hold. Freedom to speak out is also at stake in this, and environment and democracy go hand in hand as well in leading us to a sustainable future.
Our population is rising, resources are becoming scarcer, and climate change looms large across the globe. Feeding people of the world under these conditions is becoming harder and harder in part due to the fact that sustainable agricultural methods that are endemic to specific parts of the world that farmers know best are disappearing under the shadow of corporate domination from the seed to the plate. This is indeed a dire warning to all of us that if we do not pay more attention to what is most important, we will lose our freedom and control to grow what we want and need in a natural way. A way that brings carbon and nutrients back to the soil instead of depleting them and does not take away our ability to feed the world due to overexposure of our environment to herbicides and pesticides that kill waterways and toxify our food.
We have a fight on our hands to not only preserve our environment but our very way of life. A life made rich by the biodiversity of a beautiful, amazing, natural world.
I’m ready for this fight, and I hope you are too because this is the moral fight of our lives. These are some links that will give you more information about this topic. I thank Current Green for allowing me to share this information with you:
Monsanto now suing seed cleaners
Scientist warning of health hazards of Monsanto's RoundUp receives threats
Evidence mounts on the failures of genetically modified crops
New report finds genetically modified agriculture incurs more costs than benefits
Organic industry moves to protect itself from GMO contamination
Global hunger is a crisis in democracy
Scientist: GM food safety testing is "woefully inadequate"
Flooding Brazil with GMO soya has increased Amazon deforestation
To Neglect Water...Is To Give It to Multi nationals
How Monsanto really makes GMOsSo from this day forward, every Friday we will feature a superstar from our Current... more
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leahl
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Dear world,
It's Earth Day: which means that if you are a green business, organization, activist, blogger, or consumer, than it must be time to launch something. It's sort of built into your DNA. You hear EARTH DAY, and you think: JOIN THE MASSES AND TRY TO GET EVERYONE'S ATTENTION TO MY GREEN PRODUCT when all any green minded person wants to do is put their toes in the sand and look at the sea, or lay on their back at look at clouds and contemplate their relationship to planet earth.
Ahh well: here goes: a list of some cool initiatives launching today:
Green Peace has set a goal of mobilizing 3 million people to join the fight for the climate, to force governments to act against runaway climate change.
To-go ware lunched their new bamboo utencil set. Never throw away another plastic utensil ever again, clip it to your purse and have a conversation starter, and look good while you reduce your impact on the planet. Not a bad deal (but go fast: because the masses will be gathering after they are featured on Oprah later today).
TheFind and GoodGuide are partnering to help shoppers find green products: Over 1 million green products from organic and environmentally-friendly brands and stores can be found on TheFind.com using its new green shopping search. GoodGuide helps consumers make safe, healthy and green choices by allowing them to search or browse over 70,000 food, toys, personal care, and household cleaning products to quickly learn the impacts of their purchases. GoodGuide scientifically rates products, brands, and companies on their health, social and environmental performance.
Honda's "Prius-Killing" Hybrid to Launch Globally Earth Day 2009 (need I say more?)
And a few other things worthy of checking out today:
Get your green on and check out Mother Nature's News round up of green blogs worthy of checking out
The Huffington Post gives some ideas for how to fill your earth-day-evening and even offers a few ideas about how to green your sex life
Not to be missed: Stephen Thomson submitted this mash-up video of Al Gore's call to action on climate change. After all..every day is earth day.
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Oh! And I almost forgot! Current.com/green is launching our blog today! (Hellllooooo blogosphere). We'll be posting the good, the bad and the ugly re: green news and information, and giving up what goes on behind the scenes of Current Green. You'll find everything from the latest breaking news, to weird green videos, to eco tips, luminaries, to thoughtful discussions about the state of the world.
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So Happy Birthday Earth!
Love,
CurrentDear world,
It's Earth Day: which means that if you are a green business,... more
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While still in production on his remake of The Hobbit, Guillermo del Toro has stopped to remind all of us that he really likes vampires. Not "pretty" vampires, as he intones in the video interview, but brutal and harsh ones that scare and don't make millions of dollars like in The Twilight Saga.
Cinematical takes the time to note how wonderful it is to have someone like Del Toro co-authoring The Strain (BOOK ONE OF THREE OMG) with Chuck hogan, but they seem to forget Del Toro already did this story.
It was called Cronos. It also had Ron Perlman. It was an interesting and brutal take on vampirism.
In this new book series, the end of the world is coming and there's going to be a vampire war that all depends on a Holocaust survivor in Spanish Harlem. So not only is Del Toro reminding us he made Cronos, but that he also liked parts of the Underworld series while focusing his real attention on The Hobbit.
UPDATE: We remembered we have Jen Yamato's AIM and she is the head Vamp over at Jen's Twilight Corner. We asked her for her official response to this news that Del Toro has come to take over yet another franchise (see previously: Hellboy, The Hobbit, horror films):
"Well I suppose there's room enough for all kinds of vampires in our hearts and corners. Speaking of corners, have you seen Jen's Twilight Corner on RT?"
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You may be aware that today is the opening of the 7th annual Tribeca Film Festival Earth Day. For all your environmental needs, keep track with Current_Green on Twitter and at Current.com/Green throughout the day. But more importantly, it made us think about our favorite "green" films. So without further ado, we present to you a list of films you should consider while celebrating the opening of the Tribeca Film Festival Earth Day.
Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971)
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Directed by Yoshimitsu Banno, the film is a hodge podge of hippie-dom when Godzilla (everyone's favorite foil for nuclear holocaust) must step up to battle the alien Hedorah who feeds off pollution and gives off all sorts of bad things. This somehow damages everyone's favorite nuclear monster, but the Big Green Guy wins in the end.
Famously, this features the only time when Godzilla actually flies; not to mention psychedelia and an anti-pollution march in the park that gets busted up by the bad guy.
Banno also has the honor of being labeled "the man who ruined Godzilla" by series producer Tomoyuki Tanaka.
WALL-E (2008)
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A wondrous animated joint that takes place in the far-future where humanity has become fat and left Earth to the care of a square little box-bot whose sole purpose is to look cute and lightly bash our brains in using the timed-and-true Pixar motif of metaphor. Wall-E teaches us to care for our planet, our bodies and that even if you're the dumpy-looking thing, you can still score with the sleek and sexy Apple product if you like Hello Dolly.
Spirited Away (2001)
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It is almost impossible to think about environmental causes without Hayao Miyazaki's works, including Princess Mononoke and Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. But his 2001 fantasy tale involving Chichiro, who loses her "name" in order to rescue her parents, takes a Miyazaki staple and "humanizes" the spirits that have been decimated by modernization and pollution.
The Happening (2008)
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The Earth decides to kill everone using wind. So, stop being so dirty. Happy Earth Day.[current 89984532]
You may be aware that today is the opening of the 7th annual... more
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The Rich vs. Poor divide continued in Copenhagen today as delegates from African nations staged a short boycott. The debate is primarily over whether or not to keep the Kyoto treaty, which legally binds developed countries to make emissions cuts but doesn't ask the same of developing countries. Negotiators for developed countries want those same regulations placed on developing countries (with an eye towards China, especially). They're back to negotiating , however, which is a good thing as there are only four days until the bigwigs fly in hoping to sign something.
Over the weekend thousands of protesters took to the streets of Copenhagen and on Saturday more than 900 were arrested. Here's some video from the festivities.
Leah Lamb is still going strong with the live Copenhagen call-in show. Make sure to check that out at 9:15am PST (12:15 pm EST). Here's a clip from Friday's show.
Calling in from Copenhagen: Karl Burkart on the perils of blogging and walk outs
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Week one of the Copenhagen climate conference is coming to a close. What's happened so far? Here's a quick round-up for you. (Climate conference enthusiasts - I'm sure I'm leaving a bit out - feel free to add in the comments.)
We covered the walk-out over the so-called "Danish text". (Despite folks who seemed to think we were censoring "Danish text" by not letting people use it as a tag. Site bug, people! Read all about it in the comments! Tag away!) Walkouts have continued among smaller and developing nations, leading to fears that the conference will produce two rival documents.
Answering calls for developed countries to pony up the cash, the European Union came through with a pledge of over $10 billion (over 7 billion euros), but leaders from developing nations said the figure wasn't high enough.
And what about the US? Well President Obama was busy this week on the other side of the North Sea from Denmark accepting his Nobel Prize. Back home, his loving and supportive nation was doing it's best to constructively add to the conference with the "climategate controversy" (and I was inspired to launch a new series called "-Gates that are not -gates"). And America's official delegation to Copenhagen? Well the Interior Secretary checked out a wind farm. We've got video!
U.S. Visits Danish Wind Farm: Raw Video
Meanwhile Leah Lamb has been crazy-busy over on Current Green with her live daily Copenhagen check-in. (Tune in at 9:15 am PT!) We've also got video of that!
Calling in From Copenhagen: Joshua Kahn Russell (Video)
Leah also weighed in on climate change skeptic Lord Monckton's comparing activists to Hitler Youth. Her take: Totally a publicity stunt.
That's it for today's round-up - we'll be ramping up to even more Copenhagen coverage next week as the negotiations intensify.
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There are few things that make me more catatonically depressed than the partisan shouting match we call news today. I get it, controversial partisan statements mean more viewers which means more money which in turn means more controversial partisan rejoinders. I understand the financial imperative here, I'm no news-biz-hayseed. But I have to say, it sucks and it's dangerous. It sucks because it's boring (blah blah HuffPo blah blah Fox News...everybody just STFU and focus on the news, please). It's dangerous because it distorts anything a few people disagree with into an equal-time-required rancorous partisan debate.
Case in point: Today the Washington Post let Sarah Palin publish an Op-Ed in its newspaper. I'm not going to do them the courtesy of linking to it. (Here's a good point-by-point rejoinder from the Atlantic though.) In it, Ms. Palin calls on Obama to boycott Copenhagen because of the "climategate" leaked emails. Despite plenty of explanations in non-partisan press that the emails, though embarrassing in tone, do not represent any sort of actual shift in the science around climate change - the Post was so click/viewer-hungry as to let this climategate thing roll on in its pages.
Hence our new series:
-Gates that are not -gates!
(Credit due to Josh who coined "FAILs that are not FAILs".)
Now I already missed Kanyegate this year, but I think climategate is a good one to start with. I'm calling it, it's not a -gate!
Why? Let me let Time magazine explain it to you. (I mean c'mon, Time is about the safest down-the-middle reporting you can get.)
4. Do the e-mails weaken the scientific case for global warming? Put it this way: when it comes to climate-science analysis from the representative of the world's biggest oil-producing state [Saudi Arabia], it's wise to be suspicious. In the weeks since the e-mails first became public, many climate scientists and policy experts have looked through them, and they report that the correspondence does not contradict the overwhelming scientific consensus on global warming, which has been decades in the making. "The content of the stolen e-mails has no impact whatsoever on our overall understanding that human activity is driving dangerous levels of global warming," wrote 25 leading U.S. scientists in a letter to Congress on Dec. 4. "The body of evidence that underlies our understanding of human-caused global warming remains robust."
I'm taking a stand. It's not about climate change and it's not about left vs right. It's about -gates. I'm asking my fellow Americans to carefully consider what we grant "-gate" status to. Watergate was a big honkin' controversy that deserved the barrels of ink spilled over its progression. And it was even partisan. It was an IMPORTANT partisan scandal. But not every disagreement that happens across the screens of cable news deserves this holiest of suffixes.
I hate to break it to everyone, but I think Climategate falls short of -gate status.
Okay, rant concluded. Thanks.
PS - If you're going to disagree in the comments, read through the TIME article first.
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That's reportedly the big question at Copenhagen right now. Yesterday there was the leak of the "Danish text" - purportedly an early draft of what could be the final climate agreement at Copenhagen as prepared by unnamed representatives from rich countries. The text was so unacceptable to delegates from developing countries that they took to the streets. (And, they weren't the only ones that were mad: it also cost Leah an interview!) But why?
It comes down to rich vs. poor (developed vs. developing). Big, rich countries like the US emit lots of carbon and, importantly, have done so for a very long time. But, they're also leading the charge into reducing emissions. Less wealthy developing countries, like many of those in the African delegation, are just getting to the point of economic productivity where they're going to start needing more and more electricity. But they're not yet to the point where they have whole industries dedicated to reducing emissions. Additionally, when the climate change s**t hits the climate change fan - developing countries expect they'll be the worse off with the least resources to deal with it.
Back to the "Danish text". What made this so offensive to developing countries was that it treated rich and poor countries equally. Or at least more equally than was palatable. And we're all about equality right? No, not at Copenhagen we're not. A group of 123 developing countries calling themselves the "G77 plus China"(...I don't know how the math works) want developed countries to make bigger cuts in emissions and to pledge a sizable chunk of money to help them out in the aforementioned s**t/fan scenario. How much money? The "Danish text" offered $10 billion. The NYTimes reports the number is probably in the hundreds of billions.
All of this to say - the debate about how to tackle climate change seems to have quickly become about footing the bill.
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Copenhagen kicks off this week and I still can't figure out whether or not it's going to matter. It seems like we're not going to get any sort of binding agreement out of it though their should be a fair amount of attention paid to the climate change issue. We'll be covering Copenhagen here at Current both on the Current Green Blog and here on the Current News Blog. I'll be focusing more on the policy side of things.
So, on that, what do you need to know going into Copenhagen? Here's some background reading for you.
Newsweek offers a good overview on the threat posed by political inaction going into the conference. Power Failure: Politicians are fiddling while the world burns. What's a voter to do? Its author, James Hansen, says even Obama may not be able to bring about the change in climate change policy we're looking for.
Our planet, with its remarkable array of life, is in imminent danger of crashing. Yet our politicians are not dashing forward. They hesitate; they hang back. Therefore it is up to you. As in other struggles for justice against powerful forces, it may be necessary to take to the streets to draw attention to injustice. Civil resistance may be our best hope. It is crucial for all of us, especially young people, to get involved. This will be the most urgent fight of our lives.
The Economist's backgrounder is locked behind a paywall, so I can't link you to that one. I can however offer you their handy chart of how much different countries residents would be willing to pay to fix climate change.
Foreign Policy magazine has a feature called "Who Killed Copenhagen? An FP Whodunit." It features a list of folks who've made the official results of the conference possibly moot, including Harry Reid, Wen Jiabao, and Obama.
Obama's role in delivering the bad news was a sad spectacle, but not really a surprise. It marked the culmination of a year in which climate has all but slipped off the president's agenda. While a host of European leaders, from Gordon Brown to Angela Merkel, have publicly stated their intention to attend Copenhagen and committed to carbon reductions, Obama has stonewalled.
One of my favorite blogs, Crooked Timber, has a more optimistic take, pointing to signs that might mean a possible good outcome from Copenhagen and the year to follow.
# Obama’s commitment to a 17 per cent (rel 2005) target, which essentially puts the Administration’s credibility behind Waxman-Markey
# China’s acceptance of a quantitative emissions target, based on emissions/GDP ratios, but implying a substantial cut relative to business as usual
# The change of government in Japan, from do-little LDP to activist DPJ
# EU consensus on the need for stronger action
# Acceptance of the principle of compensation for developing countries, and acceptance by countries like India that they should take part in a global agreement and argue for compensation
Oh, and what is "Climategate", the conveniently-timed news story eating up the precious oxygen in the news cycle? Newsweek's got that covered too.
Few of us would escape with reputations intact if our e-mail were made public, and the scientists ensnared in "climategate" are no exception. Writing "I've just completed Mike's Nature trick of adding in the real temps to each series for the last 20 years … to hide the decline" makes Phil Jones of the University of East Anglia, who typed that in 1999, look as if he is pulling a fast one to conceal a trend toward global cooling. And when another scientist wrote that "I can't see either of these papers being in the next I.P.C.C. report. Kevin and I will keep them out somehow—even if we have to redefine what the peer-review literature is!" it looks like a blatant attempt to censor opposing views.
That's about all I've got - though if you see any other good ones out there let us know. Leah at Current Green has posted a list of sources to follow during Copenhagen, so make sure to check that out. She'll be doing a fifteen live webcast on Current Green at 9:15 PST every day rounding up what's happening in Denmark.
Oh wait, I lied, one more link. From FP Passport: Copenhagen prostitutes offer freebies to climate change delegates.
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