
Environment & Climate
The Organic Revolution: Change the System, Not the Climate
What if there were an organic technology that could cut greenhouse emissions in half and literally suck down and sequester carbon dioxide in living soil - bringing the total amount of CO2 in the atmosphere down to 350 ppm - the level scientists warn us we must acheive in order to avert a climate catastrophe?
Cook Organic, Not the Planet. Boycott Factory-Farmed Foods.
News
August 11, 2006
Click the highlighted headlines for links to these stories.
Dutch Diplomat Appointed Head of UN Climate Change Convention http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=19472&Cr=climate&Cr1=change . UN News Centre, August 10, 2006. "Yvo de Boer will become the new Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC http://unfccc.int/2860.php ), which is responsible for gathering and sharing information Read more
Dutch Diplomat Appointed Head of UN Climate Change Convention http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=19472&Cr=climate&Cr1=change . UN News Centre, August 10, 2006. "Yvo de Boer will become the new Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC http://unfccc.int/2860.php ), which is responsible for gathering and sharing information Read more
News
August 10, 2006
Washington Consumer Eco-Guide Axed under Industry Pressure Ecology Guide on Household Toxic Disposal and Alternatives Pulled from Publication
WASHINGTON - August 10 - A guide by the Washington Department of Ecology to educate consumers on the safe and proper disposal of hazardous household products was withdrawn from publication a decade ago under industry pressure and never re-issued, according to agency documents released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). As a result, virtually no environmental education materials discussing household products Read more
WASHINGTON - August 10 - A guide by the Washington Department of Ecology to educate consumers on the safe and proper disposal of hazardous household products was withdrawn from publication a decade ago under industry pressure and never re-issued, according to agency documents released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). As a result, virtually no environmental education materials discussing household products Read more
News
August 10, 2006
Nuclear Power in Europe Faces News Problems http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0810/p04s01-woeu.html . By Susan Sachs, The Christian Science Monitor, August 10, 2006. "The extended heat wave in July aggravated drought conditions across much of Europe, lowering water levels in the lakes and rivers that many nuclear plants depend on to cool their reactorsS As a result, utility companies in France, Spain, and Germany were forced to take some plants offline and reduce operations at others. Across Western Europe, nuclear plants also had Read more
News
August 2, 2006
WASHINGTON, Aug. 1 — Unions representing thousands of staff scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency say the agency is bending to political pressure and ignoring sound science in allowing a group of toxic chemicals to be used in agricultural pesticides. Leaders of several federal employee unions say the chemicals pose serious risks for fetuses, pregnant women, young children and the elderly through food and exposure and should not be approved by Thursday, the Congressional deadline for completing an agency review of thousands of substances in pesticides.
“We are concerned Read more
“We are concerned Read more
News
August 9, 2006
Leak is Latest of Alaska's Pipeline Woes http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0809/p02s01-usgn.html
By Brad Knickerbocker,
The Christian Science Monitor,
August 9, 2006.
"Some 500 spills a year occur along the 800-mile, three-decade-old pipeline system and at Prudhoe BayS When oil began flowing south from Alaska's North Slope to the port at Valdez nearly 30 years ago, it was a new era for US energy production and distribution. From the start, it was a technologically daring and politically Read more
By Brad Knickerbocker,
The Christian Science Monitor,
August 9, 2006.
"Some 500 spills a year occur along the 800-mile, three-decade-old pipeline system and at Prudhoe BayS When oil began flowing south from Alaska's North Slope to the port at Valdez nearly 30 years ago, it was a new era for US energy production and distribution. From the start, it was a technologically daring and politically Read more
News
August 8, 2006
Like Mickey said, it's a small world after all, and pollution that gets exported can end up coming back home. Case in point: mercury, a neurotoxin especially dangerous to children and women of childbearing age. The U.S. is cutting down on the use of mercury, and has passed laws to limit mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants. But there's plenty left in the system, and when it's extracted in the recycling process, it's often sold overseas via an almost completely unregulated commodity market. It's used in developing countries in gold mines and chemical plants, then spewed back in the Read more
News
August 5, 2006
After a decade-long review, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has decided to allow continued use of 31 agricultural pesticides, concluding cumulative exposure does not pose a health risk.
Although the potential danger of the chemicals, organophosphates, has been assessed individually over the years - and in some cases their use curtailed - this was the first time the EPA examined the chemicals' risk as a group.
They are used extensively in agriculture to control pests on fruits, vegetables and other crops. They have been targeted by environmentalists who argue Read more
Although the potential danger of the chemicals, organophosphates, has been assessed individually over the years - and in some cases their use curtailed - this was the first time the EPA examined the chemicals' risk as a group.
They are used extensively in agriculture to control pests on fruits, vegetables and other crops. They have been targeted by environmentalists who argue Read more
News
May 1, 2006
Since about the time that the worldwide Kyoto Protocol officially went into effect on Feb. 16th, 2005, there has been a marked upsurge in activism on the climate crisis. This is a very positive development, given that global warming is real, it is having destructive impacts now, as in Hurricane Katrina, and it is accelerating.
A January 29th article on the front page of the Washington Post put it this way:
Now that most scientists agree human activity is causing Earth to warm, the central debate has shifted to whether climate change is progressing so rapidly that, Read more
A January 29th article on the front page of the Washington Post put it this way:
Now that most scientists agree human activity is causing Earth to warm, the central debate has shifted to whether climate change is progressing so rapidly that, Read more
News
August 4, 2006
The U.S. EPA devoted substantial resources to making discretionary rules, many of which are "more congenial to industry,'' instead of fulfilling its legal obligation to curtail toxic air contaminants, a federal judge has ruled.
In the opinion issued Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman in Washington, D.C., sided with the Sierra Club and told the Environmental Protection Agency that he didn't accept the agency's excuse that it missed deadlines for regulating some industries because it was busy taking other actions.
Friedman in March told the EPA to complete Read more
In the opinion issued Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman in Washington, D.C., sided with the Sierra Club and told the Environmental Protection Agency that he didn't accept the agency's excuse that it missed deadlines for regulating some industries because it was busy taking other actions.
Friedman in March told the EPA to complete Read more
News
June 15, 2006
Think pork. Sizzling bacon and breakfast sausage. Juicy chops and ribs and robust holiday hams.
The pork capital of the planet is this tiny town in the Cape Fear River basin, not far from the South Carolina border. Spending a few days in Tar Heel and the surrounding area - dotted with hog farms, cornfields and the occasional Confederate flag - is like stepping back in time. This is a place where progress has slowed to a crawl.
Tar Heel's raison d'etre (and the employment anchor for much of the region) is the mammoth plant of the Smithfield Packing Company, a million- Read more
The pork capital of the planet is this tiny town in the Cape Fear River basin, not far from the South Carolina border. Spending a few days in Tar Heel and the surrounding area - dotted with hog farms, cornfields and the occasional Confederate flag - is like stepping back in time. This is a place where progress has slowed to a crawl.
Tar Heel's raison d'etre (and the employment anchor for much of the region) is the mammoth plant of the Smithfield Packing Company, a million- Read more