A New Year View

Alt Writer’s Auld Lang Syne

Hope and happiness are mainstays of new year’s greetings and resolutions. Here is a more, um, nuanced view of times ahead from novelist Douglas Coupland. These are among 45 tips from “A Radical Pessimist’s Guide to the Next 10 Years,” published in the Toronto Globe & Mail:


It’s going to get worse. No silver linings and no lemonade. The elevator only goes down. The bright note is that the elevator will, at some point, stop.


The future isn't going to feel futuristic. It’s simply going to feel weird and out-of-control-ish, the way it does now, because too many things are changing too quickly. The reason the future feels odd is because of its unpredictability. If the future didn’t feel weirdly unexpected, then something would be wrong.


The middle class is over. It’s not coming back. Remember travel agents? Remember how they just kind of vanished one day? That’s where all the other jobs that once made us middle class are going—to that same, magical, class-killing, job-sucking wormhole into which travel-agency jobs vanished, never to return. However, this won’t stop people from self-identifying as middle class, and as the years pass we’ll be entering a replay of the antebellum South, when people defined themselves by the social status of their ancestors three generations back. Enjoy the new monoclass!


Expect less. Not zero, just less.


Enjoy lettuce while you still can. And anything else that arrives in your life from a truck, for that matter. For vegetables, get used to whatever it is they served in railway hotels in the 1890s. Jams. Preserves. Pickled everything.


Even dystopian futuristic writers have their “up” moments, though, and Coupland lets a few rays of techo-optimism shine into his dark world. So we’ll leave you with this brighter prediction:


Something smarter than us is going to emerge. Thank you, algorithms and cloud computing.

And on that note - Happy 2011!

Dig deep into your wallets

Former oil executive: Expect $5 gas in 2012

Tweets are aflutter with something a former oil executive said over the weekend -- gas could reach $5 a gallon by 2012.


In an interview with Platts Energy Weekly, John Hofmeister, ex-head honcho of Shell Oil, said that the moratorium on drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and global demand will lead to a surge in gas prices over the next two years.

I don't think it is the moratorium driving it solely - it is the peak oil situation as well as - of course - PROFITS!
Watch the video - he would love to drill offshore. He blames a moratorium on drilling "politics" - I call it sense.

He's a Survivor?

Ashton Kutcher schools us on the coming apocalypse

In an undeniably kooky interview for the new issue of Men's Fitness, the "Dude, Where's My Car?" star explains his motivation for keeping in shape. It's not to keep himself bankable as a movie star. It's not because Demi likes a man with a little definition. It's so that when our fragile civilization turns into a Michael Bay movie, he will not be the nerdy scientist/rookie cop/loveable old timer with two days till retirement. "All of my physical fitness regimen is completely tailored around the end of day," he explains. "I stay fit for no other reason than to save the people I care about."


But I'm going to say something here I never imagined I'd write. That Ashton Kutcher guy has a point. Even more horrifying, it's the same valid point Sarah Palin occasionally lands on amidst her numerous nuggets of nonsense. We are astonishingly dependent on technology. And technology fails all the freaking time.


The recent havoc wreaked on London's air transportation system after a far-from-snowpocalyptic six inches of the white stuff, the horror show that left 400 passengers stranded for hours on a New York subway and the current nightmare unfolding in Moscow's airport proves that something as simple and uncontrollable as the weather can cause all hell to break loose. And that's just the realm of not even catastrophic acts of nature. Consider a few other possibilities -- say, a mining mishap, an oil spill an earthquake -- and any notions that the works won't get gummed up again soon (and in ways we can't imagine) begin to fade. As Carrie Fisher once chillingly summed it up: "Someone can change the course of history with a box cutter."


But the way many of us who live in the relative comforts of the developed world take for granted that the heat will turn on, the phone signal will be sufficiently strong and that our food will come from the place it always comes from -- the supermarket -- does give pause. I'm not saying we'd all be better off if we learned to chop down trees or wrestle bears, but it sure couldn't hurt to have an emergency supply kit, a degree of physical fitness and some mad first aid skills. Whether the four horsemen show up or not, competence and self-reliance are always empowering. It doesn't have to be all weird and Branch Davidian. It doesn't even have to be the rather paranoid rantings of a handsome actor. But when Kutcher says, "I'm going to be ready to take myself and my family to a safe place where they don’t have to worry," it implies a degree of foresight and protectiveness that's quite admirable -- and exceedingly rare. So while civilization may never need Asthon Kutcher to come to its rescue, his words are a helpful reminder to check the batteries in the flashlights and portable radio. And as a model of disaster preparedness, he may have found his best role yet.

That is the real point - be prepared, learn a skill, stay aware. But I do disagree with the article - I think we all would be better off if we knew how to chop down a tree - SAFELY!

Blame the victim

Monsanto to fight potential lawsuit by organic farmer whose land ruined by GMOsCompose

Australian organic farmer Steve Marsh recently had his organic certification status pulled by the National Association for Sustainable Agriculture, Australia (NASAA) because his organic wheat field was contaminated by a nearby genetically-modified (GM) canola field. And after Marsh threatened to sue the GM farmer for the incident — which has cost Marsh his entire business, by the way — Monsanto, the owner of the GM canola, came out and said it would legally back the GM farmer “in any way [it] could.”

A previous NaturalNews report on the issue explains that GM canola materials blew from a nearby GM field about a mile away and contaminated over 540 acres of Marsh’s organic wheat fields (http://www.naturalnews.com/030686_G…). As a result, Marsh’s fields can no longer be considered organic due to very high standards in the Australian organic industry that hold a “zero tolerance” policy concerning contamination with foreign genetic material.


But rather than work towards prosecuting both the GM farmer and Monsanto for the environmental damage they caused, West Australia Minister for Agriculture and Food, Terry Redman, is instead going after the organic industry, urging it to modify its contamination standards to accommodate Monsanto.

Gee you think Monsanto dangled some bucks in front of Redman?

Your steak on drugs

80% Of All US' Antibiotics Given To Farm Animals

Even for someone who follows sustainable agriculture and animal welfare issues, this is pretty astounding: New analysis by the Center for a Livable Future shows that 80% of all antibiotics sold in the United States go to farm animals (Wired). The last time that stat was calculated, a decade ago by the Union of Concerned Scientists, it stood at 70%.

And you thought your family doctor was to quick with that prescription.
Guess where that antibiotic fed to that chicken or cow goes? That's right - to you whether you need it or not!

We Knew...

We live in a democracy and policies represent our collective will. We cannot blame others. If we allow the planet to pass tipping points...it will be hard to explain our role to our children. We cannot claim...that “we didn’t know.”

- Jim Hansen, Director, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies
....but didn't care or too busy worrying who will win the next "America Idol."

Cheech and Chong had it right!

Did 'Shrooms Send Santa And His Reindeer Flying?

Siberia, both the shamans — and the reindeer — were known to eat these mushrooms. Man and beast alike hallucinated.


You can see the Christmas connections, Pfister said.


"This idea [is] that reindeer go berserk because they're eating Amanita muscaria," Pfister said. "Reindeers flying — are they flying, or are your senses telling you they're flying because you're hallucinating?"


Look at the Christmas decorations here, he said.


"We use — all over the Western world at least — these Christmas ornaments [which] have Amanita muscaria or other mushrooms."


And finally, he said, consider the color schemes.


"So here's a red fungus with white spots. And Santa Claus was dressed in red with white trim."

Cheech and Chong knew this many years ago as shown in "Santa Claus and His Old Lady":

TC: Some magic dust?


CM: Yeah, magic dust, y'know? He used ta give a little bit to da reindeer, a little bit to Santa Claus, a little bit more for Santa Claus, a little bit more...


TC: And this would get the reindeer off, man?


CM: Aw, got 'em off, man? Are you kidding, man? They flew all da way around da world, man!

Polar Bears Endangered

No not those guys who jump into frigid waters.  The REAL polar bears.

W.H.: Polar bears not 'endangered'

The Obama administration is sticking with a George W. Bush-era decision to deny polar bears endangered species status.


In a court filing Wednesday, the Fish and Wildlife Service defended the previous administration’s decision to give the polar bear the less-protective “threatened” species designation, a move that will frustrate environmentalists who hoped for stronger protections under the Endangered Species Act.

Boy this admin has been backing off on a little too much lately. But why back off on this topic?

Listing the polar bear as “endangered” as a result of global warming could open the door to using the Endangered Species Act to regulate greenhouse gases, an outcome the Obama administration has opposed.

Sounds like "wallets" and special interest to me.

We're leading the way

EIA projects climate catastrophe

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) has projected that the United States will lead the world into catastrophic global warming over the next twenty five years. In its 2011 Annual Energy Outlook, the EIA predicts that energy-related CO2 emissions will "grow by 16 percent [PDF] from 2009 to 2035," reaching 6.3 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (or 1.7 GtC)...


Suffice it to say our prospects for avoiding catastrophic loss caused by our damaged atmosphere are not improved by a political system in thrall to fossil fuel polluters. Hope for a sustainable future lies in our nation's ability to overcome the fear of changing our disastrous status quo and conquer the great challenges ahead.

We're leading the way - oops, in this case this is not a good thing.

Terrorist tap water

Hexavalent Chromium Found in Majority of U.S. Tap Water - But Why You Still Shouldn't Drink Bottled Water

Hexavalent chromium, the "Erin Brockovich chemical" widely believed to be a human carcinogen, has been found in the tap water of 31 of the 35 cities tested recently by Environmental Working Group.


That is some scary news. For some context, at least 74 million people are thought to be drinking tap water polluted with "total chromium," according to EWG, yet the EPA has no established legal limit for hexavalent chromium in tap water, and does not require testing by water utilities.


Some might interpret this as reason to head straight for the bottle—that's no better, however, and I thought a recap might be useful of why, exactly, it's not. Some of the top reasons bottled water is still an eco-sin:


The oil
As the Union of Concerned Scientists has reported, "approximately 1.5 million barrels of oil—enough to run 100,000 cars for a whole year—are used to make plastic water bottles, while transporting these bottles burns even more oil."...

Bottled water just doesn't make sense
Every bottled water purchase is essentially a vote for the privatization of the world's water—and against efforts to ensure it is kept part of the commons.


If you are concerned about your tap water, do a little research on water filters—some even filter out chromium. You'll end up with a healthier water that you can verify has been purified, but without paying a corporation to sell it to you, and without all the plastic.

My opinion - if you can't pronounce the stuff in your food or water - it ain't a good thing. But bottled water ain't better. Now beer - okay overlook the water used in brewing.

Dear Santa...

Please don't bring me this present...


Religious Group Puts Out 12 DVD Series on Environmentalists' "Spiritual Deception"

There's only seven days until Christmas and no doubt many out there are looking for a last minute stocking stuffer for your little one. Here's an idea for you. How about "Resisting The Green Dragon," described by its producers as an "explosive new 12-part DVD series" that exposes how radical environmentalists are brainwashing children and putting them on a dangerously wrong "spiritual" path. Order yours today!


From their press release, via Mother Jones:
"One of the greatest threats to society and the church today is the multifaceted environmentalist movement," says Cornwall Alliance founder and national spokesman Dr. E. Calvin Beisner. "There isn't an aspect of life that it doesn't seek to force into its own mold."
"Today's environmentalism isn't a neutral set of ideas that can be tacked onto the Christian faith without theological compromise," Beisner said. "Instead, it promotes its own worldview and its own doctrines of God, creation, humanity, sin, and salvation. And those doctrines aren't Biblical."

Wait, I like Green Dragons.

Solstice events

Solstice-eclipse overlap first in 456 years

This year's winter solstice — an event that will occur next Tuesday — will coincide with a full lunar eclipse in a union that hasn't been seen in 456 years.


The celestial eccentricity holds special significance for spiritualities that tap into the energy of the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year and a time that is associated with the rebirth of the sun.

The year's winter solstice. Celebrated somewhat prematurely on Saturday....



On Tuesday - candles, fire, beer, music....

Evo against the world

Bolivia To Take Dispute Over Climate Negotiations To International Court

In the early hours before an agreement was made in Cancun toward a global deal to combat climate change, one country, Bolivia, repeatedly stood up to voice its opposition to the process. The COP's president, Patricia Espinosa of Mexico, gaveled down Bolivia and a deal was ultimately approved. Now Bolivia plans to take its fight to International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, Netherlands, where it will complain that international law was disobeyed in Cancun.


Bolivia says that its opposition to the agreement is right, and that an agreement cannot be made without "consensus." Over 190 other countries voted for the Cancun Agreements, with Bolivia the lone dissenter. I was in Cancun for my day job and negotiators there said that consensus doesn't mean unanimity.


Bolivia opposes the weak emissions reduction commitments of developed countries and, among other issues, doesn't want forests to be turned into carbon offsets for big polluters to trade in a market. Bolivia also intends to hold another "World People's Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth" in Cochabamba.

All he wants is a stronger and real effort/response. Isn't that what Mother earth deserves?

Kiss our rear bye-bye...

...or at least our lifestyles.

Official Emission Reduction Calculations Only Give 50-50 Chance of Avoiding Climate Catastrophe

With COP16 just ended and some hope of multilateral action on climate revived a new report from Friends of the Earth highlights an important point in all these discussions: Current official calculations on emission reductions only give us a 50% chance of keeping temperature rise below 2°C. That's not what nations have pledged to do mind you, which certainly won't keep temperature rise below that critical threshold. To give us a 70% of chance of avoiding climate catastrophe much deeper cuts are needed.

50-50? Not great betting odds.

Vacation Spot? Are you kidding?

On Our Radar: Chernobyl to Open to Tourists

Ukraine will open the sealed zone around the doomed Chernobyl nuclear reactor to visitors beginning next year, the country’s Emergency Situations Ministry declared. The nuclear reactor exploded nearly 25 years ago, killing dozens and spreading radioactivity across Europe. A spokeswoman for the Ukrainian agency says the tour will be medically safe and will be “positive in conveying very important messages.” [Associated Press]


A new highway from Moscow to St. Petersburg will be built through an ancient oak forest, despite strong opposition from conservationists, a top official states. This year, President Demetri A. Medvedev of Russia ordered a halt to construction, leading environmentalists to believe they had won a rare victory in the country. The latest announcement appears to put the highway back on track, however. [The Guardian]

Sure there is an interest in seeing the effects and devastation experienced there. But I really want to glow with a nice tan rather than radiation burns. No vacation plans to Chernobyl for me.

Peak Oil now Peak Coal

Image via WikipediaDoes China Face a ‘Peak Coal’ Threat?

China’s ravenous appetite for energy puts the country at risk of reaching a point of “peak coal,” when demand for coal will outstrip domestic production capacity, a growing number of experts believe.


China now consumes approximately 47 percent of coal produced globally but by most estimates has just 14 percent of global coal reserves. Meanwhile, demand has risen by about 10 percent per year for the last decade, putting the country on an “unsustainable” path, according to a recent report by C.L.S.A. Asia-Pacific Markets, a Hong Kong-based brokerage firm.


Coal might be abundant globally, but if China cannot substantially raise its domestic production, increasing imports enough to meet demand may be hard to accomplish in the short-term, putting the country in a potential supply bind.

They like us must face the reality of peak energy supplies. Times will change for all.

If he'd only act

How Obama Can Save the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge From the Clutches of the Oil Industry

Environmentalists are ready to defend our country's coastlines and wild places from a new Congress with the same old energy policy: Drill, baby, drill.


Despite the lessons of the BP oil disaster, the Republicans who will soon control a House of Representatives majority haven't changed their energy policy since the last time they were in charge. It hasn't changed for about a century, actually--it's still based on an outdated preference for energy derived from burning oil and coal. And it's still about increasing Big Oil's bottom line. They never seem to learn that we can't drill our way to energy independence.


And these leaders are already setting their sights on a familiar target for Big Oil--the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska.


For decades, we've had to fend off the oil industry's attempts to destroy the Arctic Refuge, one of America's last great wild places. The refuge is truly a national treasure. It's the place where massive caribou herds roam, and where polar bears raise their young. It's home to thousands of birds that we all see each year when they migrate to the lower 48.


That a place as special as the Arctic Refuge is again on the table shows we've taken a significant step back.


What we need now is real leadership from Congress, leadership that will see the potential for U.S. energy independence via clean energy. We need leadership that will encourage the ingenuity of American companies to create more electric vehicles. We need leaders who will inspire the American manufacturing sector to build our clean energy future with wind turbines and solar panels. We need real leadership in Congress to help create jobs and power our nation without increasing our global warming pollution.


Instead, we're already hearing the same tired proposals from oil industry allies. They call for increasing our addiction to fossil fuels, pandering to Big Oil, and denying the existence of climate change.


The GOP ignores many realities. The land, waters, and wildlife of the Arctic Refuge are already under stress from the impacts of climate change, which are being felt in this region more than anywhere else on the planet. Oil and gas development in the Arctic Refuge, the only area on Alaska's North Slope where exploration and development is specifically prohibited by Congress, would add further stress to these unique ecosystems.


With this same outdated energy policy, the Republicans would have us destroy one of our nation's most pristine and sacred wild places for a small amount of oil that could never meet our energy needs.


While the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge may seem millions of miles away from most Americans, the reality is that the Arctic is all around us. Every year, birds that are born on the Coastal Plain of the refuge journey to all 50 states and across six continents before heading back to the Arctic, where the cycle of life begins again.


The refuge's coastal plain also provides a home for numerous mammals, including the Porcupine Caribou Herd, polar bears, grizzly bears, musk oxen, Dall sheep, wolves, and wolverines.


For thousands of years, the Gwich'in people have regarded the coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge as "The Sacred Place Where Life Begins" because it has been the most frequently used birthing and nursery grounds for the migratory Porcupine Caribou Herd. This caribou herd is the foundation for the social, economic, and spiritual fabric of the lives of the Gwich'in people.


Yet despite the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge's sacred and critical importance, the oil industry has been trying to get access to the area for years. Oil drilling would destroy this last wild place forever.


Right now, President Barack Obama can protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from the clutches of the oil industry by designating it a National Monument.

Compromise is not acceptable especially when it concerns Mother Earth. Let us pressure O to never compromise when it comes to our welfare. To steal from Earth First:

Endangered Wolverines

Wolverines Should Be On Endangered List Due To Climate Change, But Will Be Delayed In Backlog With Other Species

The threat of climate change warrants classifying wolverines as threatened or endangered, but other species are in more imminent danger and will delay protection for the small, ferocious mammals, wildlife officials said Monday.


The population of wolverines in the contiguous United States has rebounded to an estimated 250 to 300 since the early 20th century, when predator control in the West nearly wiped them out, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said in its report.


But their resurgence may be short-lived.


Wolverines need adequate spring snow cover to reproduce, but warmer winter temperatures are reducing the snow pack in the West, making climate change the "primary threat to the wolverine population," the report said.

Time to fight back wolverines. Patrick Swayze can't lead, but Charlie Sheen is available.

Modern Life

Laurie David On 'Parker Spitzer': 'Modern Life Is Tearing Us Apart'

In her recent interview on "Parker Spitzer," producer, author, and environmental activist Laurie David discussed her newest book and her fight to raise awareness about global warming.


In David's new book, "The Family Dinner: Great Ways to Connect With Your Kids, One Meal At A Time," she stresses the importance of eating meals together as a family. "Modern life is tearing us apart," David says, imploring that the ritual of sitting down to regular meals can improve a myriad of areas in our lives and relationships. David has dinner with her children every night, noting that the routine it is especially important for families separated by divorce, saying "the conversation is just as important as the food."


In addition to having family dinners every single night, David has many achievements in environmental activism, including producing the 2006 Academy Award winner, "An Inconvenient Truth."


David admits that she is upset by how little progress is being made toward confronting global warming, but realizes that it is not an easy battle. "I just think the forces against change are so strong, so rich, so powerful, so organized, and they're continuing to keep the public confused and misinformed about this issue," she says.


David expresses concern over the growing trend of Republicans who dismiss the scientific evidence of global warming. She says that she doesn't understand "when science became something you believe in," noting that "facts are facts."


However, David remains hopeful that change will come soon. She tells Parker and Spitzer, "Because I'm an environmentalist, I'm an optimist," and hopes that Obama has a strategy just around the corner to propel environmental progress forward.

Modern life, consumerism and lobbyists. That is it in a nutshell.
Optimist? Gee I wish I was like her. But I think we have reached past the tipping point. Life may go on but changes will definitely be felt by all. With the right skills and attitude - survival is possible.

My buddies win!!!

5 Awards For the World's Most Heinous Climate Villains

David and Charles Koch


Misdeeds: Even more evil than their father Fred, who founded the John Birch Society and railed against communist plots while profiting from the oil refineries he built for Stalin. Koch business operations include coal mining, stealing oil from Indian reservations, pipelines and refineries for Canadian Tar Sands oil, and formaldehyde soaked wood from clearcuts. Wherever there's filth and destruction the boys are on it, like hound dogs rolling in bear shit. Between '05 and '08 alone, the Kochs spent $25 million spreading the ludicrous message that our best scientists are ideological fear mongers, who would use "climate change" to usher in World Government.


Corporate Teat: Koch Industries, with $100 billion annual income. Want some stock? Not for sale; it's all theirs, baby.


Most Egregious Lie: "Since we can't control Mother Nature, let's figure out how to get along with her changes." -- a company newsletter.


Comeuppance: Locked in an underwater exhibit as part of a display at the Smithsonian's $15 million David H. Koch Hall of Human Origins, which whitewashes the dangers of climate change, to demonstrate how people will evolve to live in the rising oceans.

Sure there were other award winners but these two are the BEST! Birch society? Hell these guys are giving us Climate Deniers in the Halls of Congress.

Value of a leaked memo

Leaked Memo Sheds Light on Mysterious Bee Die-Offs and Who's to Blame

A new leaked memo from the EPA has the beekeeping world buzzing. Bad puns aside, the failure of the EPA to protect the environment -- in this case, bees -- jeopardizes beekeepers' ability to continue in their work. Beekeeper Tom Theobald, who exposed the leaked memo, says that beekeepers now lose 30 to 40 percent or more of their hives each year, and it takes two years to recover each one. Theobald has been a beekeeper in Boulder County, Colorado for 35 years, but now he says he's not sure he can continue. "I can't afford to subsidize this as a hobby. I'll fold the tent," he says. "Commercial beekeepers will work themselves to death," he continues, noting that it's only the passion and commitment of beekeepers that has staved off a complete collapse of the entire beekeeping industry this long.


The leaked EPA memo, dated November 2, 2010, focuses on Bayer CropScience's request to register (i.e. legalize) its pesticide clothianidin for use on mustard seed and cotton. Clothianidin was first registered in May 2003, but its registration was conditional on safety testing that the EPA said should be completed by December 2004. Only, as the latest memo points out, the study, when it was done (long after 2004), was inadequate in demonstrating that clothianidin does not pose a threat to honeybees. Unfortunately, with the EPA's failure to ensure clothianidin's safety before allowing its use on corn and canola, it fell to beekeepers to discover why their bees were dying, and how the EPA allowed clothianidin on the market.

The value? Truth. Hopefully action.

"Revenge of the Electric Car" Trailer

10,000 Facebook fans did it!!!!

If it were only true

A Koch Industries Climate Change Spoof

Could it be? Has Koch Industries, the giant industrial conglomerate that has long been the target of environmental groups for its broad-based support of climate change skepticism, suddenly changed its tune?


No, although a mysterious press release issued Friday morning might have caused some climate campaigners’ hearts to flutter momentarily.


In the announcement, the company, which has is based in Wichita and has interests in everything from oil refining to carpeting to Dixie paper cups, appears to commit itself to cutting off its financing of groups like Americans for Prosperity, the Fraser Institute, the Foundation for Research on Economics and the Environment and the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, among others.


The reason: the positions of those groups on climate change “could jeopardize America’s continued global competitiveness in the energy and chemical sectors and Koch Industries’ ability to provide high-quality products and services to the American people,” the release says.

Koch Industries on Climate Science

Could you imagine all those who Koch supported this fall if this was true? Their sugar-daddy gone to the good side.

Ecocide

Evo Morales: 'Ecocide' Will Result From Governments Avoiding Strong Emissions Reductions At COP 16 Climate Change Conference

Delegates from almost 200 nations worked Thursday to clear away a host of disputes and to take small steps forward in easing the impact of climate change at a conference whose limited goals drew an accusation of "ecocide" from Bolivia's President Evo Morales.


Once again this year, as it neared its end, the annual negotiations under the U.N. climate treaty will not produce an overarching deal to slash emissions of global warming gases. From the start, the talks focused instead on secondary areas, including setting up a "green fund" to help poorer countries cope with global warming.


But in that and in a half-dozen other areas, as they approached Friday's final gavel, world environment ministers and other delegates still haggled over the wording of texts. Environmentalists accused the U.S. of holding the green fund hostage until it is satisfied on other items.


Bolivia's Morales, addressing the full conference, cited families already being deprived of water because of warming and drought, and islanders facing the loss of homes from seas rising from global warming.


If governments move away from strong, mandatory emissions reductions, "then we will be responsible for `ecocide,' which is equivalent to genocide because this would be an affront to mankind as a whole," he said.

He's living in a dream world. Worried about lives over wallets and profits. That's not how we roll.

30 years later...

...still imagining and dreaming of a saner world, a peaceful world, a greener world.

Thank you Wikileaks

Image via WikipediaWikileaks Reveals Hushed Concern Over Tar Sands Oil in US State Dept.

Not all of the cables aired in the latest Wikileaks focus on the tense, high-stakes diplomacy with China, Afghanistan, or the Middle East, though that stuff certainly grabs the headlines....

The cable makes it clear that both Canada and the United States are aware of the dreadful impact of the Alberta tar sands -- roundly dubbed the 'most destructive project on earth'. Yet, the public statements from both parties differ significantly from the private cables.

This revelation isn't exactly surprising -- the environmental impacts of the tar sands have been made pretty clear over the last few years, and it would be more surprising if the Obama administration wasn't aware of them. But rather, the cable reveals the tight spot the State Dept. has been put in -- and how it's not being entirely candid about the issue.
A year ago, Obama made a semi-admission that tar sands oil posed an environmental problem. And then he fell silent, almost certainly, as the cables reveal, to preserve positive diplomatic ties to Canada -- and the Keystone XL pipeline, which will pump oil from the Alberta tar sands to refineries in Texas, is still moving forward.

The truth is made public - those in power start to panic - hack the site - threaten legal action....
But truth will win out in the end.

Sound advice

From William Howard Kunstler talking about the latest Jobs Picture:

If you want something like gainful employment in the years ahead, don't rely on the corporations, the government, or anyone with a work station equipped cubicle. Start reading up on gardening and harness repair. Learn how to fix a pair of shoes. Volunteer for EMT duty if you're already out of a paycheck, and learn how to comfort people in medical distress. Jobs of the future will be hands-on and direct. I have no idea what medium of exchange you'll get paid with, but a chicken is a good start.

Basic skills, DIY...all useful...all necessary...may need it in the very near future.

Dire but true view

There's No Longer A Happy Ending Where We Prevent Climate Change Anymore

There's no happy ending where we prevent climate change anymore. Now the question is, is it going to a miserable century or an impossible one, and what comes after that. So we work incredibly hard to build a movement that finally, eventually, is able to take advantage of some opening in, political or natural, in order to drive through real change. And god knows if we can do it. But we will definitely keep trying because there are millions of people around the world who are.

Dire, doom and gloom...reality!

If it walks like a...

Minefields or Coalfields: Should Big Coal Change Name For Mountaintop Removal/Strip Mining?

In a new episode of Big Coal Gone Wild last week, coal lobbyists announced their intentions to rebrand mountaintop removal mining as "mountaintop development."


For besieged residents living near mountaintop removal sites in Appalachia -- and in the 20-odd states that allow strip-mining -- this announcement has triggered another name suggestion:


Given that millions of pounds of ammonium nitrate/fuel oil explosives are detonated daily near historic American communities, should Big Coal-controlled areas be renamed as "minefields," and not coalfields.

Call it whatever you want - it still is devastation!

Goodbye Kyoto Protocol

If Cancun Climate Talks Falter, Blame the US

The most recent round of United Nations-led climate change negotiations began this week in Cancun, and although international expectations are muted this year, the stakes are still high. As Mother Jones‘ Kate Sheppard explains,"The 2010 meeting could make or break the future of global negotiations.”


This is the sixteenth Conference of the Parties, convened by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). After the tepid results of last year’s conference in Copenhagen, when a last-minute, backroom deal produced a non-binding accord, participants and observers of the negotiations are beginning to question whether it is the best forum for these sorts of conversations. Central to the progress, or lack thereof, on international climate change policy is the United States’ intransigence. As one of the world most proliferate carbon spewers, it’s essential for the United States to commit to dramatic reductions in its carbon emissions.


But if American negotiators have always been reluctant to make those promises, even if they did this year, their promises would ring empty. The results of the 2010 midterms mean there’s little chance Congress would ratify a treaty. Republicans just eliminated a special House committee on global warming. They certainly aren’t interested in making the sorts of concessions that international negotiators want and need to convince their own governments to move forward.

Those recent election may prove to be the death of us all.

A reason to not diet?

Air Pollution Raises Obesity Risk For Young Animals, Regardless of Diet

Now this research concerns itself with non-human animals (mice specifically), but it does provide interesting insight into the non-diet factors which may be at play in soaring obesity rates and the way environmental pollution influences development: A new study shows that exposure to polluted air early in life, at levels that correspond to the amount of fine particulate pollution found in many US cities, can lead to increased accumulation of abdominal fat and insulin resistance, even if a healthy diet is followed.


That's the world from researchers who exposed three-week old mice to polluted air for six hours a day, five days a week, for 10 weeks--a time period roughly corresponding in humans from being a toddler to adolescent.


The mice exposed to the polluted air had larger and more fat cells in their abdomens and higher blood sugar level than did mice fed exactly the same diet but which breathed clean air.

That explains it. So pop open that can of brew and put some ketchup on those fries - it may not really matter.

Deniers in the House

GOP Kills the House Climate Change Committee

Given the ideologically polarized state of US politics, it should come as no surprise that in the wake of the party's major victory in the midterm elections, the GOP is closing down the committee designed to address climate change. It's not surprising, no -- remember, 50% of the new Congress doesn't believe climate change is real. But it's still distressing. The symbolic implications of the move are hard to ignore: Our federal government is no longer going to concern itself with climate change.

A hardy thanks to all who voted for the "deniers." Their wallets will be fat with oil money, but the air they breath...well we all know the crap we are in for.

Kill those bugs

Methyl Iodide Approved For Use In California

California regulators approved a pesticide Wednesday for use by fruit and vegetable growers despite heavy opposition from environmental and farmworker groups that cited its links to cancer.


The state Department of Pesticide Regulation will register methyl iodide as a substitute for the pesticide methyl bromide, which is being phased out by international treaty because it depletes the Earth's protective ozone layer.


California's $1.6 billion strawberry industry will likely provide the biggest market for the fumigant, followed by the flower industry, which is concentrated in Ventura and San Diego counties.


The department tentatively approved use of methyl iodide in April, even though it is included on California's official list of cancer-causing chemicals.

Need those blemish free fruits so the stores can charge premium prices. Cancer? that is the consumer's problem - I guess. So hopefully the consumer will act.

Stick to religion

Papal Science Advisors Say World's Poor Need GM Crops; Scientists Have Moral Duty to Develop Them

The Vatican's science advisors have come out in support of genetically modified crops, saying that they scientists have both the right and moral duty to produce them to help the world's poor, New Scientist reports. The 40 member group, led by the scientist who developed so-called golden rice which has extra vitamin A, said that there has not been one documented case where GM crops have harmed consumers or the environment....


Quoted in the original, Friends of the Earth is right on when it comments, "We need food and farming policies that put the needs of people before the profits of a handful of GMO companies."


Even if it can be conclusively proven that there is no environmental and health risk from specific GM crops, the inherently unbalanced and inequitable situation created by a small number of multinationals controlling so much of the world's food supply--and putting an end to the age-old and vitally important for sustainable food security practice of seed saving--remains an intractable problem.


It is no true or lasting help to the world's poor to develop GM crops that are drought-tolerant if it just continues to keep them perpetually indebted to corporate overlords.

Wonder how much stock the Vatican owns in Monsanto?