Glenn Beck's Crazy Lies About Van Jones

Glenn Beck's Crazy Lies About Van Jones:<

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Glenn Beck spent last week smearing Van Jones with misinformation and outright lies. Here's setting the record straight.

Van has never served time in any prison....

Beck has said repeatedly that Van is some kind of a mysterious "czar," accountable to no one but the President. A simple Internet search shows that this claim is false. A March 10, 2009, press release announced that Van was hired by the Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality - to work on her staff as a "special advisor.

Beck has implied on two occasions that Van Jones and other Obama appointees were not vetted by the FBI. False. I was interviewed in my own office by an FBI agent, dutifully vetting Van. Yet another fabrication on the part of Mr. Beck.

Beck also claims that Van has somehow gained control over $500 million in Green Jobs Act funding and can hand out millions of dollars at his whim. Again, that is patently ridiculous.

The law is clear that the Department of Labor has authority over the program, with normal rules governing the funds.

And there are more claims by Glenn that are refuted. But wait, it's Beck. Do we really expect Glennie to take the time to do research, to stick with facts, to tell only the truth? Can we really expect reality from a man who cries on command for the camera?

Big Oil Gets in on Right-Wing Astroturf Game

Big Oil Gets in on Right-Wing Astroturf Game:

Since Astroturf itself is made up of petroleum, there's a certain poetic symmetry in having Big Oil produce the silliest astroturf campaign yet.

The latest line of astroturf, however, is being peddled by an old flim-flammer: Big Oil. In a series of 20 mass rallies during the August congressional recess, a group called Energy Citizens is purporting to be a rebellion of common folks against Obama's climate change legislation. Who are these rebels? ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and other oil giants.

Energy Citizens was created and funded by the industry's chief lobbying organization, the American Petroleum Institute, which has already spent $3 million this year lobbying to kill the climate-change initiative. "We are about giving citizens a voice," declared a spokeswoman.

Trying to save their own skin in a time when petroleum alternatives should be sought/developed/encouraged.

Trouble with cell phones

New report reveals mobile phone cancer risk

A group of local telecom experts and consumer advocates recently called on the government to take a serious look at the subject and to caution users, especially under-18s, that there could be potential health risks from long-term use.

The move could be too alarming for a country trying to bridge the digital divide.

Despite being a hot topic of debate for more than a decade, globally speaking, the issue of possible health risks caused by microwave radiation from mobile phones and transmitters has yet to be clarified.


For Thailand, Sumeth Vongpanidlerd, a renowned electrical engineer, believes it is better to be safe than sorry.

"Cellphones became widely available only relatively recently, while tumours can take decades to develop," he said.

"Since we cannot live without the technology, do we have to wait for another 10, perhaps 20 years, for the scientific proof before we take action?"

Dr Sumeth is a member of the Telecommunications Consumers Protection Institute, an arm of the National Telecommunications Commission.

Some independent studies have shown that long-term cellphone use, due to exposure to the radiation, increases the risk of brain tumours and damage to DNA cells. The risk is believed to be higher for under-16s as their relatively thin skull allows the radiation to penetrate deeper into the brain. But numerous other studies debunk such results saying there is no real risk from using the technology.

Conflicting reports - more like opposing talking heads. But if there is a chance that it can cause brain cancers - even a slight chance - wouldn't it be wise to get out the word and try to change the product or the use?

Sure this is from Thailand, but this issue has been reported here as well.

I guess you can figure out how I feel based on my post of a few days ago.

Clean Pools, Less Chlorine ... With Moss?

Clean Pools, Less Chlorine ... With Moss?:

"A Minnesota company deploys a species of sphagnum moss to treat bacteria in pools -- greatly reducing the need for chlorine and other chemicals. Are moss-lined diapers next?"

Why not?

“I’ve made a diaper with moss in it,” Dr. Knighton said. “It’s very absorbent. In fact, Native Americans used it as a diaper in papooses. It will absorb all the urine, and we think it will prevent diaper rash.”

Shouldn't we consider old ways rather than just laugh at them? Our grandparents were right about many things. We just forgot so many of their lessons.

Beyond Parabens: 7 Common Cosmetics Ingredients You Need to Avoid

Beyond Parabens: 7 Common Cosmetics Ingredients You Need to Avoid: "
Photo credit: DA Creative Photography

Consumer choice is a powerful thing. Say 'jump or I'll spend my cash somewhere else' and you'll set executives scrambling to use one another as makeshift human trampolines. It's for this reason and this reason alone—at least for the major corporations—that we're seeing such a proliferation of products cheerily proclaiming that they're BPA-free. Well, parabens are the bisphenol-A of the beauty industry, from t...Read the full story on TreeHugger

"

Health or an artificial glow? Which is more impoortant?

The Death of Ted Kennedy

The death of Ted Kennedy made me stop and take a deep breath. His passing made me stop and think. Not because of his Kennedy name. Not because of his liberal stands. Not because of his longevity in the Senate. It was because of the cause of death - glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) IV. GBM has been around my family for quite some time. My sister, father and father-in-law all passed away because of it. So when Ted died, I stopped and looked around. The issue of GBM always is in the background, only coming to the present mind when it hits the news as it did today.

Hereditary? Environmental causes? Should I worry for myself and my children? Who really knows?

But sitting back and taking a deep breath and thinking about my own mortality makes me realize that GBM is one of the "causes" of my search for toxic-free (as toxic free as possible) living arrangements. It is what is in the back of my mind when I grow my garden without chemicals, herbicides or pesticides. It is in the background when I choose green products to clean the house. The possibility that GBM and other diseases/cancers are caused by environmental factors is one of the driving forces in my decisions.

Selfish? Sure, but that is just one of the many reasons I choose to have a greener life. But today it is the foremost reason because GBM has come out of my memory files to remind me of the past.

How To Plant A Fall Garden

How To Plant A Fall Garden:

In most areas of the U.S, August is a great time to get going with pumpkins so that they'll be ready for harvest by Halloween. You can plant your winter greens, collards, kale, broccoli, cabbage, and mustard greens.

Just finished putting in kale, broccoli, brussel sprouts. Previously put in parsnips, jarradale squash, sweet meat squash, butternut squash, rutabagas, purple top turnips, lettuce, beets and carrots. Not one inch of the garden is empty at this moment.

Willie Nelson, Wilco, Neil Young...

Farm Aid's Farm Fresh Pics Photo Contest - Win Front Row Seats :

Farm Aid is running Farm Fresh Pics -- an online photo contest -- that could put you front row and center to performances by Willie Nelson, Jason Mraz, Neil Young, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews, Wilco, Jamey Johnson, and Phosporescent, at Farm Aid 2009 Presented by Horizon Organic. They're looking for photos that show the beauty of the American farm and family, click through for details. ...Read the full story on TreeHugger

Of course, if you win you can always give them to me. I will gladly accept them with gratitude.

Building Slug-Proof Planting Barrels

Building Slug-Proof Planting Barrels:

Living under redwood trees is fantastic, with a few minor exceptions, for die-hard gardeners. My greatest curse-provoker is slug eaten plants. My seedlings hardly have a chance to get started before our slimy natives mow them down. So this project is great to protect food and flower crops from chomp...

Copper tape. This way you can drink the beer instead of wasting the brew on pesky slugs.

How to increase consumer responsibility

How to increase consumer responsibility:

According to Time author Brian Walsh, more than simply a case of penny-wise/pound foolish, the dangerous game of cheap food production is costing us--big time--both morally and from the standpoint of the health and the well being of the planet.

The farming practices employed for growing animals and food crops for the sake of affordable crispy, salty, fatty goodness are becoming hard to reconcile. As a society of consumers we may have lost touch with the great cost of what we consume. Here are some common-sense practices that we can all employ:

1. The first step is becoming informed about what we eat, no, I don’t mean simply reading the nutritional information on the side of a package. Research the food sources that you consume and the companies that produce and package them. Becoming informed about their cruelty free, fair wage and environmental protection practices--if any--and voting with your dollars.
2. Deciding that we can and should delay gratification before we impulse buy. We should employ the courage of our convictions to supply our pantry in a thoughtful healthy-minded way. It is also a good example to set when raising a new generation of consumers that we care about our health and environment.
3. I am not preaching but I practice and suggest practicing being grateful about what and whom we consume. Realizing that some form of life is ending so that we can be nourished and paying tribute to that life is key. Some acknowledgment of this as a daily practice, can be very grounding and liberating.
4. Supporting local organic, sustainable farmers is a key factor in toppling the industrial farming machine. Keeping our eyes fixed on achieving the goals of permaculture and sustainability and not being swayed by or tempted to give in to lethargy, despair and worst of all inaction.
5. Cutting down on our consumption of meat is so important if we care about ourselves and this world, people like Michael Pollan, Eric Schlosser, Mark Bittman and a growing collective of world scientists are not kidding when they say that what we are consuming is killing us and the planet.

Take two or three or even five and call me in the morning! Have a beautiful, sustainable day!

Killer consumption doesn't end with food - it also includes all the products we desire, all the items we use to clean our house, the very clothes we wear...Know the true costr of everything in your home, everything you buy and everything you are thinking of buying.

Is Farming the New American Dream?

Is Farming the New American Dream?:

In this economic climate, why is farming becoming a desirable life for young people who have the luxury of choice?
...here is a growing number of young people opting out of school altogether, or on the flip side, actually up and leaving the corporate world after years to start farms, collectives, co-operatives, and even communes. There are kids quitting their high-level jobs in the city, moving to small-scale farms or homesteads in Vermont, and haying their butts off for no pay other than a roof and food (like my friend who worked at the #1 restaurant in NYC, and now picks squash blossoms in South Royalton, VT). And there are a number of flush youths who are cashing in their trust funds--in some cases--for cows.
Some might say it's a passing trend, like flannel shirts in Williamsburg. Some might say it's because there's a dearth of "real" jobs, and farming is a good interim experience until the economy perks up. But perhaps it's something more profound: you know, a deeper desire to get back to the agrarian life. Or, a more emotional reaction--a re-establishment of home values, a switch in the long-term goals of the entitled, and a deepening need for connection to one's food, and work ethic. Perhaps we're looking at a new world of homesteading, manual labor, and life on the land. A life of farming, in other words.

Digging in the dirt and eating a freshly pulled carrot - a perfect way to connect with the natural world.

Let's hope Cramer is right

Jim Cramer Thinks Food, Inc. Could Inflame The Justice Dept To Take On Monsanto

Last week, Jim Cramer did a fascinating segment on the seed giant and Roundup herbicide producer, Monsanto. He posits that Monsanto could be a prime target for a Justice Department antitrust action for their monopoly on seeds.

Tom Brennan writes on Cramer's segment:
A series of competition-crushing acquisitions made this biotech disguised as an agriculture outfit the market leader in genetically modified US corn, soybean and cotton seeds. And Monsanto maintains strict agreements with its farmer clients that leave them virtually no choice but to feed at the corporate trough. Plus, the company plans to push through a 42% price increase on its new seeds, and there's nothing these farmers can do about it.

Cramer states he thinks "the government is worried about about the family farmer being destroyed by Monsanto's practices" and Monsanto's action of raising seed prices is "begging the Justice Department to go after them [.....] They are tempting the wrath of Obama."

Cramer also says, Monsanto "better hope the guys at [The] Justice [Department] don't go to the movies" and see the documentary Food, Inc. which takes on Monsanto's practices, along with many other aspects of our industrialized food system.

I think we should send DVDes of "Food" to everyone in Congress, Justice and...

Farmer Obama

Setting Up A Farmers Market Outside The White House

One of the things that we're trying to do now is to figure out, can we get a little farmers' market -- outside of the White House -- I'm not going to have all of you all just tromping around inside -- (laughter) -- but right outside the White House -- (laughter) -- so that -- so that we can -- and -- and -- and that is a win-win situation.

It gives suddenly D.C. more access to good, fresh food, but it also is this enormous potential revenue-maker for local farmers in the area. And -- and that -- those kinds of connections can be made all throughout the country, and -- and has to be part of how we think about health.

Farmer's markets in every town - veggie gardens in every yard.

Big Oil Companies Behind "Citizen" Protests Of Climate Bill

Big Oil Companies Behind "Citizen" Protests Of Climate Bill: "

HOUSTON -- Hard on the heels of the health care protests, another citizen movement seems to have sprung up, this one to oppose Washington's attempts to tackle climate change. But behind the scenes, an industry with much at stake -- Big Oil -- is pulling the strings.

More on Energy

It is time for the rest of us to pressure our officials for a sane change to our policies - clean up our planet and start with home!

McKibben and Colbert

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Bill McKibben
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Protests

"We're past the point where you can make the math work one lightbulb at a time."

FDA Might Crack Down on Bisphenol A

FDA Might Crack Down on Bisphenol A

The lumbering Food and Drug Administration is finally showing signs of taking action on bisphenol A, better known as BPA..

Finally. How many have been jeopardized by their slow response?

A Civilizational Tipping Point

A Civilizational Tipping Point

By Lester R. Brown

In recent years there has been a growing concern over thresholds or tipping points in nature. In my latest book Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization, I state that scientists worry about when the shrinking population of an endangered species will fall to a point from which it cannot recover. Marine biologists are concerned about the point where overfishing will trigger the collapse of a fishery.

We know there were social tipping points in earlier civilizations, points at which they were overwhelmed by the forces threatening them. For instance, at some point the irrigation-related salt buildup in their soil overwhelmed the capacity of the Sumerians to deal with it. With the Mayans, there came a time when the effects of cutting too many trees and the associated loss of topsoil were simply more than they could manage.

The social tipping points that lead to decline and collapse when societies are overwhelmed by a single threat or by simultaneous multiple threats are not always easily anticipated. As a general matter, more economically advanced countries can deal with new threats more effectively than developing countries can. For example, while governments of industrial countries have been able to hold HIV infection rates among adults under 1 percent, many developing-country governments have failed to do so and are now struggling with much higher infection rates. This is most evident in some southern African countries, where up to 20 percent or more of adults are infected.

A similar situation exists with population growth. While populations in nearly all industrial countries except the United States have stopped growing, rapid growth continues in nearly all the countries of Africa, the Middle East, and the Indian subcontinent. Nearly all of the 80 million people being added to world population each year are born in countries where natural support systems are already deteriorating in the face of excessive population pressure, in the countries least able to support them. In these countries, the risk of state failure is growing.

Read more of this story »

"

Tipping points reached? I think so.

Word of the day: Kombucha

From Wikipedia:

Kombucha is a fermented tea that is quaffed for medicinal purposes. Kombucha is generally fermented using a visible solid mass of microorganisms called a "kombucha culture".

Kombucha proponents[9] claim many advantages such as better experience with foods that 'stick' going down such as rice or pasta, increased energy, sharper eyesight, and better skin condition.

I have been drinking GT's Kombucha for over two yaers now and love it. Now, thanks to Anais who posted a link to Love Your Mother, I have the recipe to create my own "shroom" from my bottle of GT's Kombucha. "Production" started today. Let's see, we'll have to try: straight. ginger, grape, orange, ginger-mint....

Word of the day: Consumerism

From Wikipedia:

Consumerism is the equation of personal happiness with consumption and the purchase of material possessions. The term is often associated with criticisms of consumption starting with Thorstein Veblen or, more recently by a movement called Enoughism.
Veblen's subject of examination, the newly emergent middle class arising at the turn of the twentieth century, comes to full fruition by the end of the twentieth century through the process of globalization.[1]
In economics, consumerism refers to economic policies placing emphasis on consumption.

Can we achieve a balance with nature when the want for the latest drives so many? Can our land survive the amount of "throw-aways" because of our lust? Do we really need that 200 inch plasma/LED/nuetron-activated TV that has voice activated controls? Do we really need the latest to see the drivel that is on TV today?

Word of the day: Ecotopia

From Wikipedia:

Ecotopia: The Notebooks and Reports of William Weston is the title of a seminal novel by Ernest Callenbach, published in 1975. The society described in the book is one of the first ecological utopias and was influential on the counterculture, and the green movement in the 1970s and thereafter.

The citizens of Ecotopia shared a common aim: they were looking for a balance between themselves and nature. They were “literally sick of bad air, chemicalized food, and lunatic advertising. They turned to politics because it was finally the only route to self-preservation[2].” In the mid-20th century as “firms grew in size and complexity citizens needed to know the market would still serve the interests for those it claimed to exist[3]”. Callenbach’s Ecotopia targets the fact that many people did not feel that the market and the government were serving them in the way they wanted them to. This book was “a protest against consumerism and materialism, among other aspects of American life[4]”.

This word begs the question of the day : Will we ever reach that ecological utopia? Or at least find a balance between nature and our lives?

Whole Foods CEO John Mackey's Utterly Disappointing Worldview

Ethan Nichtern: Whole Foods CEO John Mackey's Utterly Disappointing Worldview:

"There is a Whole Foods across the street from the Interdependence Project in New York's East Village, the Buddhist-inspired nonprofit organization which I direct. Some nights, after teaching or participating in a class on meditation and Buddhist psychology, or after yoga practice, I head there on my way home, to buy convenient, healthy food for one of those 10 pm diners New Yorkers know all too well. Since our organization works directly with issues of responsible consumption and environmental activism, it's always nice to be able to find local and organic produce, even if it traumatizes my slender wallet to shop regularly at 'Whole Paycheck.' Five-dollar pre-washed spinach from the North Fork of Long Island! It's late, I'm exhausted; what could be better?

Of course on the surface, a Buddhist shopping at Whole Foods makes a lot of sense (almost to a degree of neo-hippy caricature). I practice, study and teach a tradition of mental health and wellbeing, a path for people to systematically learn to take care of our own minds and extend that care-taking to others around us. A healthy diet and an interest in eating both local and organic foods are -- for me -- the physical extensions of that mental mindfulness practice.

However, the Buddhist teachings on the truth of interdependence don't allow us to stop at the level of individual health and wellbeing. The more we pay attention to reality, the more we see the total impossibility of taking care of our own bodies and minds without taking care of others. The more we see interdependence -- that our lives do not happen in a vacuum, separate from the lives of others -- the more we realize that our own health is inextricably bound up with the health of others. If you are healthier, then I am healthier, and vice versa. This is true physically, this is true psychologically, and this is true comunally.

A few years ago I wrote a book about updating the Buddhist philosophy of interdependence for the 21st century, called One City: A Declaration of Interdependence. In researching where the term interdependence has surfaced outside of Buddhist thought, I came across Whole Foods' mission statement on their website, which, serendipitously, is also called a 'Declaration of Interdependence.' Read it -- it's uplifting and full of good intentions on taking care of oneself and taking care of each other. An excellent corporate mission statement for sure. At that time, I was heartened by the thought that -- during the dark and separatist cynicism of the Bush era -- interdependence was still making deep inroads into corporate America.

Then this week I read Whole Foods' CEO John Mackey's Wall Street Journal op-ed piece, which struck me as a highly fearful and regressive take on the healthcare debate, which is undoubtedly one of the most interdependently pressing issues of our time. Mr. Mackey's Wall Street Journal piece might alternatively be titled 'A Declaration of I, Me, and Mine.'

The world view on display in that piece of writing is one of selfish individualism, mistrust for the very notion representative government itself, and continued support for a system of profit on anabolic steroids. The piece is also amazingly dismissive of the most interdependently-minded president we've had in a long time, taking the term 'Obamacare' straight from Rush Limbaugh's play book. The cognitive dissonance between the worldview that seems to inform Mr. Mackey's views on healthcare, and the 'Declaration of Interdependence' on his company's website are too much for me to continue to support, at least for now.

As a Buddhist practitioner, I work hard to identify and slowly transform my own internal hypocrisies. Most of them take the following form: I declare good intentions to benefit myself and others. Yet, I fall prey to deep-seeded destructive habits and fearful self-obsessions instead. As a practice, whenever I recognize a destructive habit or a cognitive dissonance, I set an intention to work mindfully and diligently to open myself to a larger, more compassionate and less fixated worldview. This work is slow and difficult, and I look like a hypocrite myself a large percentage of the time. But unless I choose to recognize my own hypocrisies, the work of positive transformation never begins at all. An extension of this practice is to not support the obvious hypocrisies of a friend (and my wallet, at least, has definitely befriended Mr. Mackey for years), especially when the friend is in a position of enormous power and influence.

So until Mr. Mackey learns that truly declaring interdependence means we take care of each other no matter what - a declaration best furthered in the healthcare debate by supporting a single-payer plan, or, at the very least, a strong public option - I am not going to support his cognitive dissonance on interdependence with any more of my hard-earned local-organic-neo-hippie-spinach money.

We are all interdependent. And therefore we must take care of each other and support policies that promote real interdependence. Especially those of us who go so far as to proclaim interdependence as a corporate mission statement.

In the meantime, anybody have a good CSA in Brooklyn?

More on Wall Street Journal

And this just a few days after I gave Mackey a thumbs up for his truth in advertising statements about the junk they sell. Which Mackey will show up today?

"

Crazy Train derailed

ExxonMobil Pleads Guilty To Killing Birds

Exxon Mobil Corp. pleaded guilty to killing migratory birds in five states, and will pay about $7,000 for each bird killed, Justice Department officials said Thursday.

ExxonMobil pleaded guilty to causing the deaths of approximately 85 migratory birds, most of which died after exposure to natural gas well reserve pits and waste water storage facilities. Birds died in Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas between 2004 and 2009.

Wonder if Forbeswill reconsider naming Exxon "green company of the year?" For some reason, I doubt it. The crazy train is derailed but will be uprighted and ready to roll in a few minutes folks.

How Far Does Your Bottle Of Water Travel To Reach You?

How Far Does Your Bottle Of Water Travel To Reach You?: "

We charted the miles per bottle for nine top water brands.

"

My water comes from my tap into my Sigg. How about you?

Riding the crazy train II

ExxonMobil: Green Company of the Year

Purely political: the grand announcement in July that ExxonMobil would put $600 million into algae farms that would turn sunlight into automotive fuel. It takes a leap of faith to think tanks of algae can compete with oil wells, even allowing for the advantage that biofuels would have in a world of carbon permits (or carbon taxes). But the algae project buys ExxonMobil some peace with environmentalists. Since taking the helm in 2006, ExxonMobil boss Rex W. Tillerson has worked hard to soften the company's stance on climate change; he is not as gruff and forceful as his predecessor Lee R. Raymond in dismissing global-warming alarmists.

The engineering solution to the matter of carbon in the atmosphere: Drill for natural gas. Per unit of energy delivered, methane releases 40% to 50% less carbon dioxide than coal and a quarter less than petroleum. Coal fuels half of U.S. power generation. Replacing all of it with methane would cut CO2 emissions by 1 billion tons a year. Could windmills come close to that in reducing greenhouse gases? Not easily. To get the same emissions reduction you would have to replace half of power plant coal with 80,000 giant turbines covering 400,000 acres of ground. "Natural gas is the answer to green-energy low-carbon concerns," says Neil Duffin, president of ExxonMobil's project development company.

I guess Forbes overlooked the oil spills, the perpetuation of a petroleum based life...

Is it April Fools Day?

Slow it down

From Slow Food to Slow Living: The New Green Lifestyle Trend

Slow living is about living purposefully, consciously, thoughtfully. Just here, instead of enjoying the al dente fresh pasta pomodoro (and at the risque of sounding cliche), you are just plain enjoying life. And it's not an original idea: If you do a quick Web search it comes up on the site Slowmovment.com, which defines it in slightly broken English as:Many of us, professionals and regular people, alike are feeling their lives are overly hectic or emotionally out of kilter, and are looking for ways to restore the balance. We are looking to leading a mindful life.

So what makes this green? When you are valuing quality over quantity, enjoying what you have, you are cutting down on the mega climate and landfill offender: consumption.

It's when we get in a hurry that we become wasteful: Say, for example, ordering take-out instead of cooking a fresh healthy meal at home (did you know a non-green lifestyle can actually make you fat?); not allowing enough time for public transportation, forcing the need for a cab; shopping without purpose or preparation (buying a sweater that really shouldn't be allowed in public or household furniture without measuring or taking into account your need); or rushing into decisions that force us to redo, remake, or reorder.

While it's great to have fashionable eco-geared brands in your closet (which fashionista friends will comment on, at a loss when it comes to guessing the label), it's just as great -- and sustainable -- to make a well-thought out decision to invest in quality, built-to-last style that you can wear for decades.

When it comes down to it, taking extra time to make each decision we encounter in life is not just good for the earth, it will also make us all a tad bit saner.

Take it easy, take it slow. Better for you and the planet.

Penn & Teller drop a peg

Penn & Teller claims organic food is “bullshit”, fails to mention that their expert is paid by Monsanto

Penn Jillette and Teller, from the Penn & Teller: Bullshit! TV show, calls in the latest episode organic food for “bullshit” (see video below). Penn and Teller’s main point why organic food is “bullshit” is simply because it “might mean you’re getting your food from giant corporations or China.”

But what Penn and Teller fail to mention is that the so called “Food Policy Analyst Expert”, Alex Avery, is paid by the Hudson Institute. The Hudson Institute is an American conservative, religious and free market think tank. Simply put, they are corporate lobbyists. And the prestigious-sounding Hudson Institute is funded by giant corporations such as Monsanto, the leading producer of genetically engineered (GE) food.

Hey guys, stick to magic and comedy.

Kudos to Mackey for speaking the truth

We sell a bunch of junk, says Whole Foods boss John Mackey

When Whole Foods arrived in the UK two years ago it was hailed as a mecca for those determined to follow a healthy diet. But today the struggling US store's chief executive will probably want to eat his words after admitting that, alongside the organic carrots and bags of granola, the shops "sell a bunch of junk".

The comments came in an interview in which John Mackey was attempting to outline plans for the store to put more emphasis on healthy eating – amid suggestions that it has recently indulged consumer cravings for more indulgent offerings.

He went on to say that Whole Foods was going to launch a healthy eating education initiative to encourage customers and employees to reduce obesity.

But Mackey told the Wall Street Journal: "Basically, we used to think it was enough just to sell healthy food, but we know it is not enough. We sell all kinds of candy. We sell a bunch of junk."

He said the store would now attempt to educate in the ways of healthy eating: "There will be someone in a kiosk to answer questions, they'll have cookbooks and health books, there will be some cooking classes. It will be about how to select food, because people don't know."

Mackey said Whole Foods would attempt to rid its stores of unhealthy food, starting with a campaign to get its employees healthier, and would be going back to its roots in selling healthy food.

"Right now, if you work for the company you get a 20% discount card," Mackey said. "We're going to create incentives for our team members to get healthier."

Mackey said Whole Foods is going back to its roots of selling healthy food.

"Healthy eating went on at Whole Foods from at least about 1980 to 1995. Now we've had a 15 year run for the foodie philosophy. We are launching a reversal now. We will be moving into food as health."

Not too many CEOes would be brave enough to make these statements. A high five to Mackey for seeing the truth, telling the truth and then trying to make a change for the better.

It's all pipes

Brazil Wants Residents to Pee in Shower

New TV ads are encouraging Brazilians to save water - by urinating in the shower.

Brazilian environmental group SOS Mata Atlantica says the campaign, running on several television stations, uses humor to persuade people to reduce flushes.

The group says if a household avoids one flush a day, it can save up to 4,380 liters (1,157 gallons) of water annually.

Why not? I can hear George Costanza now:

It's all pipes! What's the difference?!

Sure the Elaines out there will say:

Different pipes go to different places! You're gonna mix 'em up!

But a little never hurts and if it saves water...Take it a step further and go the Kramer routine - salad making while showering. Just don't mix the three together.

I know what comes out the other end...

Your Crap, Our Compost

Squat and the earth shall grow
.

Poop. 



A generally fecal-phobic society reacts to the thought with a mix of snickering interest and fearful aversion, all dispatched in a single flush. But Nance Klehm, 43-year-old urban forager and grower, transforms human excrement into nutritious soil one bucket at a time. 



Klehm’s Humble Pile, a local do-it-yourself human waste composting project, introduces a backyard alternative to the machine-churning, power-draining waste-processing facilities tucked away in remote locations. 



“I’m not treating it chemically. I trust microorganisms to do it for me,” Klehm says. 



In early 2008, Klehm sent letters and humorous surveys to households in six Chicago neighborhoods, calling on potential participants to help “transform waste into fertility, pollution into resource, and isolation into connection.”


With no need for “Compost 101” instruction, complex machinery, electricity or water, Humble Pile asked its 22 volunteer “nutrient loopers” to opt for dry buckets with snap-on toilet seats when nature calls. 



To the surprise of Lora Lode, whose household participates in Humble Pile, her two teenage children Kira and Charlie were the most eager to take part in the minimalist procedure. The family of four made room for a bucket in the bathroom and for storage drums on the back porch of their Logan Square apartment. “I was interested in this as an experiment,” says Lode, who works with artists to combine art, activism and environmental concerns. Her 19-year-old son Charlie is not put off. “I just think that if I didn’t have a house, this is what I would do,” he says.


In place of the routine flush, Klehm supplies the “nutrient loopers” with sawdust to cover stools after each deposit, both to dispel odor and to facilitate composting.


In the summer of 2008, Klehm personally collected the feces from the Lodes and other households and composted the material in 32-gallon drums, stored at a secret location outside the city so as to avoid prosecution for violating ordinances on waste disposal and storage. 
”As an ecologist, I don’t expect law to keep up with me—it’s more important to get this done,” Klehm says.



Nature doesn’t seem to heed law either: Shit happens, and then goes through a two-year-long natural composting process that burps out nitrate-rich soil that smells like wet basement. The soil will cycle back into Chicago gardens, which include a 5,000-square-foot greenhouse at a homeless shelter and several additional gardens scattered throughout the city. 



“I’m just interested in people understanding that their body is producing soil all the time,” Klehm says, “and there’s no reason not to return it back to earth.”


According to Klehm, the locally produced Humble Pile compost is as nutrient-rich as sludge “fertilizer” from municipal sewage plants. “Good soil is so hard to have in the city. I’m concerned about the state of our soil—they’re affecting our health, they’re depleted, or they’re contaminated or poisonous,” Klehm says. 



Deemed a fertilizer by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the controversial sludge is a concoction of everything that goes down the drain—a heavy-metal laden medley of industrial, pharmaceutical and human waste. (In an attempt at linguistic detoxification, the EPA renamed sewage sludge “biosolids.”)



Klehm’s composting method has another home: an abandoned World War II-era U.S. airbase. In the salt flats along the Nevada and Utah border, Klehm and other artists and researchers of the autonomous living system Clean Livin’ use urine-diverting dry toilets and a combination of composting and dehydration to process their waste for later agricultural use. 



Long before Humble Pile, the waste-to-fertilizer process was discovered inadvertently by our nomadic ancestors, who flung waste onto piles that eventually became fertile soil. Later, the Sumerians and Romans hired delivery boys to carry feces in “honey wagons” to nearby fields for fertilization. The Chinese even commoditized “night soil” from wealthier households as a valuable good—the feces of the rich being more abundant in nutrients due to their better diets. 



But now, just as the Western commode is making its widespread debut in China, Klehm is showing at least two U.S. communities that there may be a better option than the water-hungry modern flush toilet. Producing soil and fertilizer locally helps conserve energy and water, and whereas the composition of municipal sewage sludge is to a large extent a mystery, what goes into Klehm’s buckets are participants’ own work. What’s more, Klehm ensures that her DIY fertilizer is safe by testing it for E. coli bacteria. 



For Klehm, Humble Pile is not a novelty. “I’ve been doing this for four years,” she says. “Other people think it’s crazy. I just accept it as a way of life.” 

Hey why not. I know what I eat, I know what I am producing. Now will the family and neighbors be grossed out?

The Cove

But in a remote, glistening cove, surrounded by barbed wire and “Keep Out” signs, lies a dark reality. It is here, under cover of night, that the fishermen of Taiji, driven by a multi-billion dollar dolphin entertainment industry and an underhanded market for mercury-tainted dolphin meat, engage in an unseen hunt. The nature of what they do is so chilling -- and the consequences are so dangerous to human health -- they will go to great lengths to halt anyone from seeing it.

Whale wars - maybe it should be expanded to Dolphin and Whale Wars.

Avoid all chemicals

Home Pesticides Linked to Childhood Cancer

A new study of children in the Washington, D.C., area and published in the journal Therapeutic Drug Monitoring links one form of childhood cancer to exposure to common organophosphate pesticides used around the home to kill bugs. Children with lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and their mothers were more likely to have higher levels of organophosphates and their metabolites in their urine than healthy pairs, and mothers who reported household use of chemicals were more likely to have children with ALL. There is no evidence that the cancer is caused directly by pesticide exposure -- but it does present the first evidence of a linkage in a non-agricultural setting, according to the study's authors, researchers from the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown University.

Why stop at pesticides. Avoid all chemicals. Look at how you are cleaning your sink. The paint you use. The carpets you walk on.

Do it not only for your child, but for every living thing in your house - even the four-legged variety. Yes for your health too.

Give me your business card...

for my compost pile.

There are 74 other items listed that can be added to your compost pile. From nail clippings to toilet paper rolls to stale cereal. You can even add stale beer - though it never gets stale in my house.

Take a ride on the crazy train

Wonder if Glenn checks under his bed every night. Never know when those monsters will get you.