Economic power pigs

Rallying against Koch’s pollutocrat agenda, Van Jones warns of ‘excessive concentrations of economic power’

At an event organized by Common Cause to “Uncloak the Kochs,” Center for American Progress senior fellow Van Jones described the threat that concentration of economic power poses to American liberty, democracy, and justice:




I hear a lot of talk now about liberty. There is a movement in our country that has grown up, the Tea Party movement, that has raised the question of liberty, and I say, “Thank goodness.” I’m glad that someone’s raised the question of liberty. There’s nothing more precious to an African American than liberty and justice for all. I’m glad to hear that somebody’s concerned about liberty.


But I think that what we have to be clear about is liberty always has two threats, there’s always two threats to liberty. One is the excessive concentration of political power — excessive concentration of political authority — the totalitarian threat to liberty. And that is a threat to watch out for. But there is another threat. And it is in our country a graver threat. And it is the threat that comes from excessive concentrations of economic power. Excessive concentrations of economic power in our country pose as big a threat, and frankly a greater threat than any concentration of political power. What we have to remember is that our republic is founded not just on the question of liberty, but also on democracy and justice.


And it is when the predatory, monopolistic dimension of the economic system starts to gain momentum, then the question of justice and democracy has to come forward too. Not just liberty and property rights, but justice and human rights, and democracy, and the people’s rights to be free from economic tyranny and economic domination. We will not live on a national plantation run by the Koch brothers. We’re not going to do that. We refuse to do that.


Sharing Jones’ concern, former Sen. Russ Feingold said recently that “this entire society is being dominated by corporate power in a way that may exceed what happened in the late nineteenth century, early twentieth century. The incredible power these institutions now have over the average person is just overwhelming.”

Russ Feingold and Van Jones in 2012! Now that would be a ticket worth working/voting for.

Grain crops this year?

Beyond Salads: Planting a Garden to Feed a Family

As more and more of us recognize the failings of corporate agriculture and turn to local, small farms, CSAs or our own garden plots to fulfill at least part of our dietary needs, there are a few things we should all be growing to provide ourselves with not only salads, but options for full-blown meals as well.


This argument comes via two gardening gurus I've been following for a while: John Jeavons (author of The Sustainable Vegetable Garden) and Carol Deppe, author of the recent book The Resilient Gardener: Food Production and Self-Reliance in Uncertain Times.) They argue that salads are great, but "calorie crops" are the way to go if the goal is feeding yourself and your family more often from your own garden.


Both Jeavons and Deppe argue, individually, that calorie crops should be the foundation of our gardens. These calorie crops include:


Potatoes


Corn


Beans


Wheat


Winter Squash




Most of us focus on growing salad-type vegetables in our gardens: tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers, radishes. And while Jeavons and Deppe both agree that these crops are worthwhile, they argue that we should perhaps be devoting less space to them and more to the crops listed above.

Grains? I was thinking about oats. How about buckwheat? Anyone have any thoughts or experience?

Get ready guys....

We may have to look into this real soon.

Reindeer Castration Seen As Climate Change Aid

Indigenous Sami peoples in the Arctic may have found a way to help their reindeer herds cope with climate change: more castration.


Research by Sami experts shows that sterilized males can grow larger and so are better at digging for food -- as Arctic temperatures vary more, thawing snow often refreezes to form thick ice over lichen pastures.


Neutered males are more able to break through ice with their hooves or antlers, and seem more willing than other males to move aside and share food with calves that can die of starvation in bad freeze-thaw winters like 2000-01.


"To make herds more resilient in the future, we need to re-learn the traditional knowledge of castration," said professor Svein Mathiesen, coordinator of the University of the Arctic's Institute of Circumpolar Reindeer Husbandry.


More castration "could be useful to adapt to climate change," he told Reuters in the Arctic city of Tromsoe. "These animals are very good diggers for the small calves in the most critical period of the winter." Pasture this year is good.


Castration has traditionally been used by reindeer herders, partly to make wild animals more docile. Herders on the Yamal peninsula in Russia still neuter about half of all males -- usually by biting into the testicles with their teeth.

Ouch!!!

Shame on you USDA

Genetifically Modified Alfalfa Officially On The Way

On Thursday, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that the United State Department of Agriculture (USDA) had approved the unrestricted planting of genetically modified alfalfa sold by Monsanto Co. and Forge Genetics, despite protests from organic groups and public health advocates and comments from nearly 250,000 citizens asking the department to keep this GMO genie in its bottle. With this announcement, the Obama administration showed whose side it is on in the battle between proponents of sustainable, organic agriculture and the big businesses that profit from conventional, chemical agriculture. Big Ag won. It wasn't even close.


"Thousands of people spoke out against this contamination," Fantle said. "They were ignored." If you eat meat or dairy, you indirectly consume alfalfa. It is a leading source of hay for cattle. In terms of acreage, alfalfa is the United States' fourth biggest crop behind corn, soybeans, and wheat. It is also notoriously promiscuous, and its pollen can be carried by bees and other insects for five miles, making it all but certain that the GMO crop, designed to survive applications of Monsanto's Roundup herbicide, will contaminate much of the country's conventional alfalfa. Because GMO products are not allowed in USDA-certified foods, it could become all but impossible to produce organic milk and meat in many areas unless organic farmers switch to less desirable sources of forage.

Big Ag won. Looking up Big Ag in the dictionary - Big Deep Pockets.

Death by Sweet Potatoes

200 Dead Cows Mystery Solved In Wisconsin: Toxic Moldy Potatoes To Blame

Although many of the mass animal deaths reported around the world in the past month remain unexplained, officials have closed the case on the mystery of 200 cows that dropped dead in Wisconsin on January 14. A toxin from moldy sweet potatoes, which were a part of the animals' feed, are to blame for the bovines' seemingly strange demise.


While officials initially believed a virus such as infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR) or bovine virus diarrhea (BVD) could have caused the 200 deaths at a Portage County farm, further testing revealed pneumonia to be the likely culprit, though such widespread cases of pneumonia are rare. The Wausau Daily Herald reports that the cattle's feed was then sent for testing, and the lab results from Friday revealed that a mycotoxin commonly occurring in moldy sweet potatoes, ipomeanol, was found to have triggered the pneumonia that caused the 200 cows to die.


According to AolNews, officials attest that the spoiled potatoes were not in the human food supply chain, and therefore pose no threat to people.


Yahoo News reports that similar cases of decaying sweet potatoes triggering cow deaths have been documented in 2007, 2003 and 2001.

Okay my theories about cows committing suicide to escape our destruction of the environment was wrong.  But do I really believe the glorious sweet potato was the weapon of destruction?

What O'Bama should have said.

The "needed" SOTU address:

In short, we stand at the crossroads of two futures here in the United States and worldwide.  One road leads to increasing disruption and damage, and escalating economic and military insecurity. I would call this the “business as usual” road, except the emissions we’ve already put in the atmosphere guarantee that business as usual no longer is an option, whichever road we take.
The second road takes us to a clean energy economy, to greater economic security, to fewer international tensions and resource conflicts, and to new industries and jobs. It takes us to a new American century of leadership and prosperity, and to a future we will be proud to leave to our children.
We know that all countries, including ours, will have to adapt to the climate disruptions that are inevitable because of greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere. The issue today is whether we will trigger tipping points that  cause climate change to accelerate beyond our control. The second road is still open, if we choose it quickly. And I emphasize again: The choice is not a partisan issue.  As one observer has put it, there is no Right or Left at this crossroads. There is only backward or forward.

Wolves targeted by Congress

Proposed Bill Would Allow Nationwide Elimination of Wolves

In what wildlife conservationists are calling a dangerously unprecedented move, Montana Representative Denny Rehberg introduced two separate bills aimed at removing wolves from the endangered species list. This would enable the wolves to be hunted at will across the country -- and biologists say that it could "set the stage for nationwide wolf eradication."


The Defenders of Wildlife noted that "Together, these bills would allow states to eliminate all wolves in the Northern Rockies, Great Lakes and Southwest, including the 42 Mexican wolves struggling for survival in New Mexico and Arizona." As you're likely aware, there are plenty of farmers, ranchers, and landowners across the Midwest who -- for good reason -- wouldn't hesitate to hunt down or kill the remaining wolves that threaten their livestock and livelihoods. But we're talking about the possible eradication of a species here -- surely these bills are dangerous in their overreach.

You heard it right. You are not dreaming. This guy is really suggesting this.
I think it is time to put human's on the endangered species list. Add more to the list rather than start removing species.
One person who loves this move, I'm sure, is Sarah Palin.

James Howard Kunstler and America's future

James Howard Kunstler: Peak Oil and Our Financial Decline

Kunstler suggests that “cheap abundant energy” has facilitated ever-increasing industrialization for centuries. But now that society is in a period of self-destructive capital accumulation, he expects debt to increase as abundance in energy drops. The tremendous amount of accumulated debt, “a by-product of cheap abundant energy,” will mean that in the future governments will be less able to make investments in socially-beneficial programs.


He also criticizes the US environmental movement for shying away from the problem of energy. The movement is unable to talk about walkable neighborhoods, smaller cities or investing in rail or water transit, an “intellectual failure of the culture to have a coherent conversation from people who ought to be leading” such a conversation.

It's not just CFLes that will help - it is a true shift in priorities.

Raffi for Mother Earth

Raffi on child honouring, the right to a future, and “tweeting while Earth burns”

Are we tweeting while Earth burns? Is climate collapse our new collective Titanic? How do we best describe the survival struggle of 7 billion in a way that connects with the public and with decision makers?


The science on global warming is clear and compelling. Earth is in serious climate crisis. That’s why many writers have recently upgraded climate change to climate collapse, climate catastrophe, the long emergency. To convey the climate threat fully, we need a new Story.


In a well known Greek myth, the very rich King Midas who loves gold above all else, is granted his singular wish that everything he touches turn into gold. The gift becomes a curse when his golden touch kills plants, food, and even his daughter, who is turned into a statue. Bereft and repentant, forsaking greed, the king begs for deliverance. His curse is lifted by a wash in the river. All he holds truly precious is restored.


The modern version of the story is about a gold rush called globalization, a monetized world order that commodifies everything and poisons all that it touches: air, water, soil, whales, indigenous cultures, mothers’ milk, and babies, now born with a body burden of toxic chemicals. Money as symbolic reward for goods and services, when elevated above all else, becomes a curse. The symbol turns tyrant and casts a plague on the living. We’re currently in the atonement chapter of the tragedy, praying we have time to write a happier ending.

Raffi - brings back many memories. Glad to see he is still active.

I want to go outside!

Snow Forecast? Set Up the Patio

IN the cycle of the seasons, now is a time of longing — for backyard sunbathing, for cocktails on the patio, for puttering in the garden, and for the distant time when all those activities will be possible again.


And for those who live in climates where all that is still possible, it is high gloating season, a time to feel superior to those of us who have been slogging through slush, picking our way across the ice, heaving snow with our shovels, condemned to wait out the frigid months inside our four walls.


Then there is another type of person, a rarer breed.


Even in this winter of record-challenging cold, there are those who refuse to cower before the elements and retreat indoors. They never shroud the grill or store the patio furniture. They are exhilarated to relax on the deck in the chill. And they find a special beauty as they gaze at the slate-gray sky on a winter morning.


As the following hardy souls prove, people can diverge sharply in their reasons for indulging in an alfresco way of life. For one man, the spur is football, the chance to prop his TV on a patio wall for his weekly wintertime ritual. Another has created a year-round garden, bountiful not just in summer but in winter, too. For a third, a recent transplant to the city, the goal is to preserve a suburban lifestyle — grilling, hosting parties and even working up plans to build a backyard ice rink.

Now all I have to do to enjoy my backyard and a warming fire in my chiminea is i have to dig through 18 or more inches of snow and ice.
I think I'll have to wait a few weeks.

Quick facts to worry about

Quick Facts About a World on the Edge

We are facing issues of near-overwhelming complexity and unprecedented urgency. Can we think systemically and fashion policies accordingly? Can we change direction before we go over the edge? Here are a few of the many facts from World on the Edge: How to Prevent Environmental and Economic Collapse to consider:

• There will be 219,000 people at the dinner table tonight who were not there last night--many of them with empty plates.
• If the 2010 heat wave centered in Moscow had instead been centered in Chicago, it could easily have reduced the U.S. grain harvest of 400 million tons by 40 percent and food prices would have soared.
• Half the world's people live in countries where water tables are falling as aquifers are being depleted. Since 70 percent of world water use is for irrigation, water shortages translate into food shortages.
• In Sana'a, the capital of Yemen--home to 2 million people--water tables are falling fast. Tap water is available only once every 4 days; in Taiz, a smaller city to the south, it is once every 20 days
• Virtually all of the top 20 countries considered to be "failing states" are depleting their natural assets--forests, grasslands, soils, and aquifers--to sustain their rapidly growing populations.

More to the article but chose these to highlight our next WAR ZONES. The next wars will be fought because of the environment, food and water.

Contract on America

Gingrich Calls for Abolishing the EPA

Newt Gingrich is in Iowa today, visiting the land where politicos go to sow the seeds of presidential ambitions. Speaking at the Renewable Fuels Summit, Gingrich moved from token GOP gripes about regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency to a full-on call for abolishing it entirely.


Via Politico, we learn that Gingrich's proposal is to replace it with the "Environmental Solutions Agency," which "would encourage innovation, incentivize success and emphasize sound science and new technology over bureaucracy, regulation, litigation and restrictions on American energy." The former Speaker of the House also noted that Obama should outline an "all of the above" energy plan in the State of the Union tonight to "truly demonstrate he is serious about governing from the center." In Republican-speak, "all of the above" leans heavily on more oil and gas drilling, which Gingrich has repeatedly touted via the "Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less" campaign promoted by his 527 group, American Solutions for Winning the Future.


Remember, this is the guy who two years ago was sitting on a couch with Nancy Pelosi talking about how we can all join forces to fight climate change. Bemoaning regulations on greenhouse gas emissions is now par for the course for Republicans with political ambitions. But Gingrich's call to abolish the EPA takes it to a new level. The EPA—created by a Republican president, lest we forget—is also responsible for things like, oh, keeping arsenic out of our drinking water, lead out of paints, and carcinogens out of our air.


This surely won't be the last attack on the EPA as Republican candidates start gearing up for 2012. I'm guessing, though, that most Americans actually like clean water and air, so this could be a bit of an overreach.

At first look his "solutions" idea is a good one. But when you step back and think about Newt you realize the solutions will benefit his pals - the oil/gas companies.
His new contract may be a Contract on Mother Earth!

A Dire Future

Steep Oil Prices, Food Shortages Will Likely Spark Deadly Riots This Year

Get ready for a rocky year. From now on, rising prices, powerful storms, severe droughts and floods, and other unexpected events are likely to play havoc with the fabric of global society, producing chaos and political unrest. Start with a simple fact: the prices of basic food staples are already approaching or exceeding their 2008 peaks, that year when deadly riots erupted in dozens of countries around the world.


It’s not surprising then that food and energy experts are beginning to warn that 2011 could be the year of living dangerously -- and so could 2012, 2013, and on into the future. Add to the soaring cost of the grains that keep so many impoverished people alive a comparable rise in oil prices -- again nearing levels not seen since the peak months of 2008 -- and you can already hear the first rumblings about the tenuous economic recovery being in danger of imminent collapse. Think of those rising energy prices as adding further fuel to global discontent.


Already, combined with staggering levels of youth unemployment and a deep mistrust of autocratic, repressive governments, food prices have sparked riots in Algeria and mass protests in Tunisia that, to the surprise of the world, ousted long-time dictator President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali and his corrupt extended family. And many of the social stresses evident in those two countries are present across the Middle East and elsewhere. No one can predict where the next explosion will occur, but with food prices still climbing and other economic pressures mounting, more upheavals appear inevitable. These may be the first resource revolts to catch our attention, but they won’t be the last.


Rising food prices leading to riots, protests, and revolts, mounting oil prices, mammoth worldwide unemployment, and a collapsed recovery -- it looks like the perfect set of preconditions for a global tsunami of instability and turmoil. Events in Algeria and Tunisia give us just an inkling of what this maelstrom might look like, but where and how it will next erupt, and in what form, is anyone’s guess. A single guarantee: we haven’t seen the last of resource revolts which, in the coming years, could reach an intensity we scarcely imagine today.

Is it so "out there" that instability can happen here? Look at the prices lately - and look at our steady wages (if you are lucky enough to have a job).

Crazy train in the UK

Genetically modified crops are the key to human survival, says UK's chief scientist

Moves to block cultivation of genetically modified crops in the developing world can no longer be tolerated on ethical or moral grounds, the government's chief scientist, Sir John Beddington, has warned. He said the world faced "a perfect storm" of issues that could lead to widespread food shortages and public unrest over the next few decades. His warning comes in the wake of food riots in north Africa and rising global concern about mounting food prices.


"A number of very important factors are about to change our world," said Beddington, an expert in population biology. "Its population is rising by six million every month and will reach a total of around 9,000 million by 2050. At the same time, it is estimated that by 2030 more than 60% of the population will be living in cities and will no longer be involved in growing crops or raising domestic animals. And on top of that the world's population is getting more prosperous and able to pay for more food."


Beddington said these factors indicated that the world was going to need 40% more food, 30% more water and 50% more energy by the middle of the century – at a time when climate change was starting to have serious environmental impacts on the planet, flooding coastal plains, spreading deserts and raising temperatures. "We could cut down tropical rain forests and plant crops on the savannahs to grow more food, but that would leave us even more vulnerable to the impact of global warming and climate change. We needed these regions to help absorb carbon dioxide emissions, after all."


Beddington said humanity had to face the fact that every means to improve food production should now be employed, including widespread use of new biotechnological techniques in farming. He stressed that no harm should be inflicted on humans or the environment. His remarks were made in advance of publication tomorrow of a major report, "The Future of Food and Farming

Johnny, but they do inflict harm.
Wonder how much Monsanto is paying Johnny?

More reasons to love Vermont

Vermont Is Gearing Up to Strike a Major Blow to Corporate Personhood

A year ago today, the Supreme Court issued its bizarre Citizens United decision, allowing unlimited corporate spending in elections as a form of “free speech” for the corporate “person.” Justice John Paul Stevens, writing for the dissent, had the task of recalling the majority to planet earth and basic common sense.


"Corporations have no consciences, no beliefs, no feelings, no thoughts, no desires," wrote Stevens. "Corporations help structure and facilitate the activities of human beings, to be sure, and their 'personhood' often serves as a useful legal fiction. But they are not themselves members of 'We the People' by whom and for whom our Constitution was established."


n Vermont, state senator Virginia Lyons earlier today presented an anti-corporate personhood resolution for passage in the Vermont legislature. The resolution, the first of its kind, proposes "an amendment to the United States Constitution ... which provides that corporations are not persons under the laws of the United States." Sources in the state house say it has a good chance of passing. This same body of lawmakers, after all, once voted to impeach George W. Bush, and is known for its anti-corporate legislation. Last year the Vermont senate became the first state legislature to weigh in on the future of a nuclear power plant, voting to shut down a poison-leeching plant run by Entergy Inc. Lyons’ Senate voted 26-4 to do it, demonstrating the level of political will of the state’s politicians to stand up to corporate power.

Three cheers Vermont. As I have always said - if your winters were milder and growing seasons longer - you'd have a new state resident.

Another look at WalMart

Why We Should Question Walmart's Latest PR Blitz

Walmart made big news yesterday with a press conference alongside the First Lady to announce new company commitments. Most of the mainstream media coverage of the Walmart announcement seemed to buy the company PR that it was taking valiant steps to improve the affordability and health qualities of the food it sells. Among these commitments, Walmart said it will be working with food suppliers to reduce sodium, sugars, and trans fat in certain products by 2015; developing its own seal to help consumers identify healthier products; and addressing hunger by opening Walmart stores in the nation's "food deserts."


As far as I'm concerned, as long as the company depresses wages, exploits workers, violates workers rights, and pushes highly processed foods and sodas, Walmart is not only failing to address the problem of food deserts and food insecurity, the company is exacerbating their root causes.

They killed the country store. What more can they kill?

Where to buy seeds?

Keep Monsanto Out of Your Garden this Spring

There are plenty of good reasons to avoid Monsanto: Roundup, genetically-engineered beets, corn, and other crops, the fact that they sue farmers after their seeds (a monopoly of their own) contaminate the farmers' own fields, Agent Orange....we could go on and on.


What some people may not realize is that Monsanto also now owns approximately 40% of the home garden vegetable seed market -- making them the largest seed company in the world.


They bought the seed company Seminis in 2005, as well as several smaller companies. Seminis seeds are carried by many popular garden catalogs, including Burpee, Park Seed, Territorial Seeds, and Johnny's Selected Seeds. You can find more catalogs that sell Seminis seeds by checking out Seminis' website (Am I the only one who finds the "if you've eaten a salad, you've eaten a Seminis product!" statement a little ominous?) Some companies, such as Johnny's, are phasing out Seminis seeds, and, in the meantime, labeling those seeds so consumers can avoid them if they choose to.


If you're trying to avoid giving Monsanto even one red cent of your money, and you're a gardener who plants seeds (or buys vegetable starts) it pays to know which varieties are making money for the company. A complete listing of which vegetable varieties Seminis grows can be found on their website. This list includes popular tomato varieties, such as 'Celebrity,' 'Early Girl,' and 'Better Boy,' as well as a host of other common home vegetable garden varieties.


What Can You Do?


1. Find out if your favorite seed catalog carries Monsanto-owned seeds. If so, they will be able to tell you which varieties they carry, so you can avoid them.


2. Patronize seed and catalog companies that have taken the Safe Seed Pledge that they have tested their stock for GMOs. A list of companies can be found here.


3. Buy, plant, and save seeds from heirloom varieties. Seed Savers Exchange, Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, and Landreth's all specialize in heirlooms. There is a (better) heirloom option for all of the varieties Monsanto owns. It's just a matter of trying them out and finding your favorites -- not a bad way to spend a summer.

Disappointed that Johnny's is listed - though also listed as taking the Safe Seed Pledge.
Here in Connecticut there are several sources I have to consider:

Butterbrooke Farm
78 Barry Rd
Oxford, CT 06478
Tel: 203-888-2000

Comstock Ferre & Co.
263 Main St.
Wethersfield, CT 06109
Tel: 860-571-6950
Fax: 860-571-6595
www.comstockferre.com

John Scheepers Kitchen Garden Seeds
23 Tulip Drive
Bantam, CT 06750
Tel: 860-567-6086
Fax: 860-567-5323
www.kitchengardenseeds.com

New England Seed Company
3580 Main Street, Bldg 10
Hartford, CT 06120
Tel: 800-783-7891 or 860-724-1240
Fax: 860-724-1273
Email: newenglsee@aol.com
www.neseed.com

Select Seeds Company
180 Stickney Hill Road
Union, CT 06076
Tel: 860-684-9310
Fax: 860-684-9224
Email: info@selectseeds.com
www.selectseeds.com

One explanation for the bird-kill...

...or is it?

USDA Acknowledges a Hand in One Mass Bird Death

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) took responsibility for hundreds of dead starlings that were found on the ground and frozen in trees in a Yankton, S.D., park on Monday.


The USDA's Wildlife Services Program, which contracts with farmers for bird control, said it used an avicide poison called DRC-1339 to cull a roost of 5,000 birds that were defecating on a farmer's cattle feed across the state line in Nebraska. But officials said the agency had nothing to do with large and dense recent bird kills in Arkansas and Louisiana.


Nevertheless, the USDA's role in the South Dakota bird deaths puts a focus on a little-known government bird-control program that began in the 1960s under the name of Bye Bye Blackbird, which eventually became part of the USDA and was housed in the late '60s at a NASA facility. In 2009, USDA agents euthanized more than 4 million red-winged blackbirds, starlings, cowbirds, and grackles, primarily using pesticides that the government says are not harmful to pets or humans.

So is this good news or bad? Good news that the birds are not killing themselves to escape the eco-disasters we are creating. Bad news - very bad - that our government has this type of program in place.

Green WalMart?

Walmart Announces Plan to Promote Healthy Foods

With Michelle Obama there to applaud and promote the effort, Walmart announced a plan this morning to bolster healthy foods by reducing the sugar, sodium and fat content in its packaged foods, lowering fruit and vegetable prices, working with suppliers to lower prices of healthier products, and fighting food deserts around the country.

Such mixed emaotions with this one. Sure nice move, but you are still WalMart!

Come on spring

Creating Urban Agriculture, One Roof at a Time

 Traditionally, farmers take it easy in the winter. But urban farmer Ben Flanner has never been so busy. He is trying to get more New York rooftops ready to grow new shingles of Sun Gold tomatoes, salad greens, and carrots before the next season begins.

"We want to see a lot more roofs across the city covered with farms and growing healthy vegetables," said Flanner, head farmer at Brooklyn Grange, New York's biggest rooftop farm located (despite its name) in Long Island City, Queens.

Brooklyn Grange from Damiano Beltrami on Vimeo.
Watching this video makes me very anxious - come on warm weather, melt the snow so I can play in the garden.

First birds, then fish, now...

200 Dead Cows Found In Wisconsin

200 cows were found dead Friday on a farm in Portage County, Wisconsin. The dead cows had to be removed with semi-trucks. The rest of the farm has not been quarantined, as officials say no threat is posed toward humans or other animals, according the The AP.


The owner of the dead cows was working with a local veterinarian, who initially believed a virus such as infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR) or bovine virus diarrhea (BVD) could be the culprit,

Virus? Or maybe they are just trying to escape this planet along with the birds and fish. We should have listened to The Lorax.

The Winner: Fox

No not that Fox, a real fox.
Fox Shoots Hunter With Gun In Belarus

A man in northern Belarus was recently outfoxed...by a fox.


According to Reuters, the hunter approached the fox after wounding it, intent on killing it with the butt of his rifle.


However, the two ended up getting into a tussle, and the fox managed to trigger the rifle, shooting the hunter in the leg.


A prosecutor from the Grodno region said, "The animal fiercely resisted and in the struggle accidentally pulled the trigger with its paw."


The hunter is currently in the hospital with a leg wound, and the fox just happened to escape.

Now that is a story I love. The hunter becomes the prey.

Franken-birds

Scientists Test New Genetically Modified Chicken That Can't Transmit Bird Flu

I remember when the warnings about bird flu first came out. If you found a dead bird in your front yard, you were told to stay clear for fear of the disease spreading. And while the avian flu may currently be overshadowed by such delicious food borne diseases as Mad Cow, salmonella, and e coli, it most certainly remains a threat in the back of many a poultry eater's mind. But recently, British scientists have started testing transgenic cluckers that can't transmit bird flu.


Birds that have the disease can still get sick and die as a result, but even still, the disease won't spread to other birds. While vaccinations have been used to keep the deadly disease at bay, the problem is that while the vaccinated birds may not develop the flu, the virus can still travel from bird to bird and then onto humans in some cases.


According to Popsci,


The chickens were modified to express a piece of RNA that acts as a decoy to a key viral enzyme. The polymerase is tricked into binding to this RNA, rather than binding to the virus‘ genome and helping it replicate. The result is that the virus does not spread to other chickens.


In the US, much of our GMO crops were modified to create resistance, for example, Monsanto's Round Up Ready Seeds. But their resistance comes at a price. The Roundup Ready seeds immunize plants against Roundup, which is a powerful herbicide also made by Monsanto. I wrote over at TreeHugger about how this corners farmers. Farmers can then readily apply Roundup to kill everything but the immunized seeds. Once the seeds are planted, farmers have to come back to Monsanto for more because the powerful herbicide has basically killed everything in its path along with causing soil erosion, nitrate leeching, and water contamination.


That's not to say that the side effects of GMO animals have been determined because we're still quite a ways off, though this isn't the first creation of its kind. Christine over at TreeHugger wrote that Canada has approved limited production of animals dubbed "enviropigs™," pigs that are modified to produce 65 percent less phosphorous in their poop and urine.

Gmo crops, GMO chicken... What's next? Chickie Nobs?

Band of Koch Brothers

Angry Progressive Coalition to Protest Billionaire Gathering Hosted by Koch Brothers, Major Tea Party Funders

Increasingly, Democrats, liberals and progressives are coming to understand that the Koch brothers, a secretive right-wing billionaire family that pours limitless money into virtually every destructive anti-democratic initiative affecting tens of millions of Americans, are "Public Enemy Number One."


The Kochs control the second largest private company in America and are among the richest men in the world. Along with their wealthy allies, they funded the Tea Party to use as a hammer to drive American politics further to the right. Through their various organizations, and often secretly, the Kochs have pumped hundreds of millions of dollars into efforts to deny climate change, undermine financial reform, unleash unlimited corporate money in elections via the Citizens United decision, destroy unions, and make it far more expensive for students to get loans. And recently in California, Koch Industries pumped $1 million into elections last fall to try to roll back the state's global warming law with Prop 23.

Bezt way to deal with them - bring them out of the shadows.

Wisdom from Hannity?

You're right - no chance....

Fearing high gas prices, Sean Hannity proposes re-invading Iraq and Kuwait to “take all their oil”

Friday’s Hannity on Fox News featured a discussion by the Great American Panel about high gas prices, which host Sean Hannity claimed are “now gonna go up to three, four, five dollars a gallon again.” The panel ruefully noted that Arab sheiks possess great amounts of oil, and pointed out a recent statement by Kuwait’s oil minister that he believes the market can withstand $100-per-barrel oil. After noting that Kuwait is a country that “would not exist [but] for us,” Hannity angrily offered his remedy:




HANNITY: There’s two things I said. I say why isn’t Iraq paying us back with oil, and paying every American family and their soldiers that lost loved ones or have injured soldiers — and why didn’t they pay for their own liberation? For the Kuwait oil minister — how short his memory is. You know, we have every right to go in there and frankly take all their oil and make them pay for the liberation, as these sheiks, etcetera etcetera, you know were living in hotels in London and New York, as Trump pointed out, and now they’re gouging us and saying ‘oh of course we can withstand [these prices].’”

Great logic? Sean's response to Peak Oil?

Let it snow - it's winter

Okay climate change deniers - here you go...

An amazing, though clearly little-known, scientific fact: We get more snow storms in warm years!

Scientists have been predicting for decades that increased greenhouse gas emissions would lead to an increase in many kinds of extreme weather events, especially more intense precipitation and more brutual heat waves. So it’s not a big shock that what is likely to be the hottest year on record has witnessed so many blow-out extreme weather events from Nashville to Moscow to Pakistan...


Indeed, “The first nine months of the year have seen the highest number of weather-related events since Munich Re started keeping records,” according to Dr. Peter Hoeppe, Head of the Geo Risks Research Department at Munich Re. He said “that a clear pattern of continuing global warming was contributing to the natural disasters.”


Recently, some December precipitation records have been falling — in Seattle and Portland, Oregon. These weren’t the 1000-year extremes that I typically write about — or the statistical aggregation of U.S. record highs vs. record lows — but I merely point them out because the anti-science crowd, led by discredited former TV weatherman Anthony Watts, persists in shouting about precipitation primarily when it comes down in solid form, even when it isn’t record-breaking. Snowstorms are pretty much all the disinformers have left to shout about now, at least to those who don’t pay close attention to the science.


Since we’re entering the snowy season and can expect a blizzard of disinformation in this area, I’m updating this post from February, “We get more snow storms in warm years!”

Food wars

No not a new Food Network show but real world possibilities.

5 Simple Ways To Prepare For The Coming Food Crisis

Recently there has been an incredible flurry of news reporting about food shortages and the pending global food crisis. Everyone who looks at the indicators would agree that this crisis is only likely to worsen. It is estimated that the Australia floods alone could cause a 30% jump in food prices. Although the average shopper already can feel the food inflation, it is difficult to recognize the severity of the looming food shortages. After all, there are still 15 types of colorfully-boxed Cheerios packing the isles, which gives us the illusion of abundance.


The truth is that we are headed for large food production shortfalls, manipulated or not, while middle-class food demand grows massively in the developing world. For decades the world’s agriculture community produced more than enough food to feed the planet, yet some now believe we are reaching “Peak Food” production levels. In turn, other experts believe the “food bubble” is about to burst, and not even the biotech companies can save us.

The five suggestions:

1. Create a food bank
2. Grow your own
3. Preserve your food
4. Store and save seeds
5. Join or start a coop

It's all about the cash - part 2

The Chamber of Commerce is so extreme they oppose research and development into renewable energy!

Some Pollyannas (climate ostriches?) claim we are moving towards a post-partisan Congress that might embrace massive increases in clean energy R&D. The folks with real money and influence on Capitol Hill, however, know we are moving in the opposite direction. As The Hill reported this week:


Karen Harbert, president of the Chamber’s Institute for 21st Century Energy, in a wide-ranging interview with The Hill late last month said members of Congress should rethink attempts to set aside large amounts of money for the research and development of nascent energy technologies like wind and solar at the expense of conventional forms of energy like oil.


The fact that the public overwhelmingly supports clean energy R&D means nothing to the pollutocrats who run the Chamber. They strongly opposed the climate and clean energy jobs bill, even though the public strongly supported that too (see “Post BP Disaster: Support grows for comprehensive energy bill that makes carbon polluters pay” for a long list of polls”).


The Chamber, of course, ran an unprecedented $75 million campaign to unseat progressives from Congress, in defense of a big-oil agenda.

I guess the6y know where their support will be coming from.

It's all about cash

Big Oil sings the same old song

Big Oil continues to lust after huge profits at the expense of the health and welfare of the American people. This reckless money chase occurs even though the production, combustion, and reliance on oil pollutes the water and air, and forces the United States to rely on oil from some unfriendly regimes.


Case in point: The leader of the American Petroleum Institute rashly advocated a speedy return to expanded offshore oil drilling last week even though the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling (also known as the commission) yesterday issued its recommendations for additional safeguards for future offshore oil production.


Oil prices are steadily climbing toward $100 per barrel and Big Oil’s congressional allies are poised to use this price spike to reanimate the “drill, baby, drill” war cry to justify expanded drilling off our nation’s coasts without implementing safety measures to reduce prospects for another oil disaster.

AEnvironment? safety? Public health? Yeah those are nice to have but first things first - cash in the pockets of the CEOs, stockholders, lobbyists and politicos.

Koch is the joke

Koch Industries Sues Prankster For Saying It Cares About Environment

Last month, an anonymous group pulled a prank on Koch Industries, the company that's notorious for opposing environmental regulations. The group produced a fake press release and website claiming that the company's days of environmental neglect were over, and that Koch was prepared to adopt policies to address climate change. So how did Koch Industries take to being called environmentally friendly? Not well, it turns out -- the company is suing the anonymous pranksters, because their stunt served to "disrupt and harm Plaintiff's business and reputation." I guess the reputation of Koch Industries rests on being perceived as being harmful to the environment ...


The press release that stoked Koch's ire began with the following statement: "Koch Industries remains committed to environmental responsibility and stewardship, announcing today that it will restructure its support for organizations that undertake climate change research and advocacy." Pretty inflammatory stuff.


Of course, everyone immediately recognized that the release was a joke,...

But not the brothers who are suing. Spend your money in court boys, so you'll have less to pay off Congress.

Learn from history

Ancient Mass Extinctions Hint at Possible Ocean Future

In sediment traces and fossil records from one of Earth’s most tumultuous periods, geologists have found a narrative linking mass extinctions with planetary biological and geological change.


After dramatic oceanic extinctions 250 million and 200 million years ago, the global carbon cycle turned chaotic. Earth’s biogeochemistry went boom and bust for millions of years thereafter, as if some regulating mechanism were lost — which is exactly what happened.


“People talk about saving biodiversity, and isn’t it good to have a variety of all these creatures. But the reason it matters is because ecosystem function is itself dependent on diversity in the face of normal environmental changes,” said geologist Jessica Whiteside of Brown University. “Lower diversity too much, and the system will lose its resiliency. It will become a slave to otherwise minor environmental changes.”


Scientists say that another mass extinction is now underway, with extinction rates an order of magnitude higher than normal, both on land and at sea. Studies like Whiteside’s suggest what the extinction’s consequences could be — not just for people, on a scale of decades or centuries, but for how the planet will work, millions of years in the future.

Pole shifts, severe weather, mass bird deaths.... Mother Earth is telling us something.

Pesticides for health

EPA Wades Into Battle Over Hospital Disinfectant

U.S. EPA is interceding in a New Jersey public-health flap that could have national implications, ordering a hospital services company to stop disinfecting its ambulances with finely misted pesticides after a local union complained of workers falling ill.


In an order last Tuesday to Monmouth-Ocean Hospital Services Corp., or MONOC, EPA's Region 2 office in New York forbade the emergency-medicine company from using a "micro-mist" system that sprays "a sub-micron fog" of antimicrobial chemicals inside its ambulances. The EPA action validated complaints from a local union that as many as 100 MONOC paramedics it represents were sickened by on-the-job exposure to the misted pesticides.


"EPA has reason to believe that in distributing the antimicrobial pesticides Sporicidin and Zimek QD to MONOC" -- the company used both chemicals to sanitize vehicles in its 100-strong fleet -- "Zimek and/or its representatives made claims for a use not accepted in connection with the registration of either product," the Region 2 order states.

With names like Sporicidin and Zimek, do I really want to be near those "mists?" Hope I never need an ambulance when I'm down at the shore.

Public interest versus cash in the pocket

Doctors Group Sues USDA For Ignoring Vegetarianism

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine filed suit last week against the US Department of Agriculture and the the Department of Health and Human Services in US District Court for the District of Columbia, alleging the the agencies violated federal law in failing to respond to a PCRM petition advocating a plant-based food pyramid as an alternative to USDA's "MyPyramid" dietary guidelines.


PCRM's nutrition education advisor Susan Levin, quoted in the LA Times:
We are asking the government to protected the average American, not special agribusiness interests. MyPyramid is confusing, and it recommends meat and dairy products despite overwhelming evidence that these foods are unnecessary and unhealthy. Research shows Power Plate is a better choice, and it's simple enough that a child could follow it.


In case you're unfamiliar with it, Power Plate is a dietary recommendation chart developed by PCRM which includes no animal products in it whatsoever. Rather than recommending a hierarchy of foods as do more familiar food pyramid diet charts, Power Plate just recommends eating a variety of what they call The New Four Food Groups daily ("new" since 1991 when PCRM first began the campaign): 3 or more servings of fruits, 2 or more servings of Legumes, 5 or more servings of Whole Grains, and 4 or more servings of Vegetables. Representative sizes of what contribute a serving size in each food group are listed.

Health of citizens versus lobbyist dollars. Got to keep those stockholders happy!

Important Lessons

Lessons on environment as important as the three Rs, says Attenborough

Classes on the environment are just as important as lessons in maths and English for today's children, veteran natural history presenter Sir David Attenborough has told the Guardian.


Attenborough, the voice of television natural history programmes for more than 50 years, said most children now grew up with "very little" direct contact with the natural world and were "estranged" from non-human forms of life.


Many children used to get to know the natural world in the countryside, but now many learn about nature at school,

But don't expect too much from public education. Take your kids out for a hike, let them dig in dirt, help plant a garden, walk in a stream, touch a snake... And forget about scaring them about poison ivy, ticks, mosquitoes...- teach them to exist with rather than fear nature.

Doubletalking our way to death

UK Scientist Suggests Rebranding GM Crops As "Vaccinated" To Win Over Consumers

The latest face-palm absurdity concerning genetically modified crops: One of the UK's top agricultural scientists has floated the idea that GM crops should be rebranded as "vaccinated" or "inoculated" so that the public would embrace them more willingly.

Pollution will become dust. Cancer will become a slight infection. Death will be called a long sleep.

The signs continue...

Mass Animal Deaths Around the World: Dead Birds Fall from Sky, Millions of Fish & Crabs Wash Ashore

As you're likely aware, there's been a pretty bizarre spate of mass animal deaths reported around the world. First, it was the thousands of birds that fell from the sky in Arkansas on New Year's Eve. Some 100,000 fish also washed up on the shores of a river 100 miles away. Birds fell from the sky in Louisiana and Kentucky, too. Two million fish washed up dead in Chesapeake Bay. 50 birds fell from the sky in Sweden. 100 tons of fish washed ashore in Brazil. 40,000 crabs were found dead in England. All of this carnage has left people around the world wondering the same thing: What the hell is going on?


Unfortunately, there's no good answer. The explanations offered up so far run the gamut -- from being dismissed as a series of unrelated, unfortunate coincidences to the suggestion that the deaths are a result of unusually cold weather to full-bore conspiracy theories that claim the US government is behind it all -- but nothing conclusive has been determined.


All in all, these incidents have led to a search for a unified theory that explains the phenomena -- what could be killing all of these animals? The conspiracy theorists that point to the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program, or HAARP (a government research project that investigates the ionosphere that's been blamed for many a mysterious event) as the culprit certainly don't have me convinced. But the patchwork, "great big coincidence" theory leaves something wanting as well.


Though the phenomenon may indeed be partly the result of self-fulfilling prophecy; the Washington Post points out that "when one news report about dead birds becomes big news, a few dead birds anywhere in the world becomes big news." After all, sudden mass animal deaths do occur more often than most of us realize: "About 500 million to 1 billion birds are killed every year and mass deaths have been noted about 16 times in the past 20 years," the PBS NewsHour reports. Even so, there's plenty to chew on here, and you can't blame the conspiracy theorists for tackling this one head on.

Sure, maybe there is some "piling on" by news agencies. But come on. Something is going on.
Not a UFO, wind turbine, fireworks, microburst, etc. But a sign no doubt. A sign that Mother Earth is trying to heal itself.
On the other hand, maybe the religious fanatics were just a little off on their interpretation of the Rapture. Maybe it was not humans, just innocent animals being "saved" before the End Times. We all know that God is an animal lover.

Consumerism is killing us

The Limits of Consumption

The essential promise of a consumer society is that virtually all satisfaction can be purchased. This promise runs so deep in us that we've come to take our identity from our capacity to purchase: I shop, therefore I am. The dependency on shopping is not just about things, it includes the belief that what is fulfilling or needed in life can be bought -- from happiness to healing; from love to laughter; from raising a child to caring for someone.


In our effort to find satisfaction in consumption, we're converted from citizens to consumers. The implications are profound. Consider the impact on just two parts of our lives: the family and the community.


Families have lost much of their function; communities have become incompetent.

Yeah, yeah. we consumers can still change things. Buy that Prius, that CFL bulb, that vacation house, that...Those will solve our problems and bring us together,  right?

The way to the good life is the way of a competent community recognizing its abundance. We see that if we are to be the creators of our future, we must become citizens, not consumers. Consumers are dependent on the creations of the market; and in the end, they produce nothing much but waste. Citizens are those who choose to create the life, the neighborhood, the world from their own gifts and the gifts of others. It is the shift from consumer to citizen that will restore vital functions to the family and the neighborhood and reconstruct the competence of communities -- all of which come under assault in a consumer culture.

First shot heard...

The US House Global Warming Committee is Officially Dead

We knew it was going to happen, and now it has: Republicans have killed the House Select Committee for Energy Independence and Global Warming. They did so as promised, shortly after taking office. The committee was designed specifically to shape policy on global warming and energy issues. Since its creation in 2006, it held 80 hearings and briefings, according to Mother Jones.

Knew it would happen, but so soon?

Sustainable Living

Do We Have to Live Like Peasants to Be Truly Sustainable?

Sustainability, at its core, means living in a way that can continue into perpetuity, without exhausting natural resources like air, water, soil, and biodiversity. And it seems inevitable that living a truly sustainable life is not possible without giving up some conveniences, as the Dervaes family has done. And, if we had to, most of us probably would not mind expending some extra effort to go about our days -- putting on a sweater instead of flipping on the heat, or buying secondhand clothes instead of new. A friend who bikes several miles to work instead of driving tells me his bike rides are actually the highlights of his day!


But in the long term, we might also find we have to give up things we do not want to live without. What seems clear is that we need a societal effort to work toward sustainability together, via more available public transportation and bike trails, stricter regulation of the numerous toxic substances we interact with daily (pesticides, flame retardants, phthalates, and more), and policies to move us toward renewable sources of energy like solar and wind. We can also encourage companies to make products that are intended to be upgraded instead of discarded when newer technology is available. These efforts will make sustainable living easier for all of us.

Why not strive for what Jules and his family has done and is doing?  Sure - work together as a "society" but strive for the most sustainable existence possible at the same time - lead by example.

One of the most famous examples of modern sustainable living is the Dervaes family and their urban homestead in Pasadena, CA. The family of four, Jules and his three grown children, Anais, Jordanne and Justin, grow over 6,000 pounds of produce annually in their tenth of an acre garden (enough to provide for their own needs and sell to local consumers and restaurants). They make their own cleaning products, bath products, candles, and biodiesel, and they conserve energy and water using a number of methods, from line-drying clothes to using a pedal-powered grain mill. And while they use many "old" skills (like sewing and gardening), they don't give up their connection to 21st-century technology (like solar panels and the Internet).


While the list of hand-powered devices on the Dervaes' family Web site looks daunting, Jules feels it is worth it. He calls for a change in perspective, saying, "Doing things manually almost always is slower than employing machines. However, there are many factors to consider, including the hidden and long-term costs, quality and durability."

I'll boo him too

Theater audience boos Tea Party pollutocrat David Koch

David Koch masks his role as one of the top financiers of the Tea Party movement and pro-polluter front groups by loudly tacking his name to more laudable charities, like the New York city ballet. Koch, who has professed his devotion to “The Nutcracker” ballet performance by Alexei Ratmansky, made a matching grant of $2.5 million so that it could go on this season. At a special opening of the performance at the Brooklyn Academy of Music shortly before Christmas, Koch made an appearance to talk about his donation.


...came out on stage to talk about his $2.5m sponsorship of the production. Most people applauded but there were also boos from near where I sat in the balcony, followed by an angry debate in the row in front of me, with one of the booers declaring “he’s an evil man” and a couple next to her telling her to “shut up” and to leave the theatre. [...] Once Mr Koch had left the stage, the booing stopped and the ballet started.”

Why should the protester leave the theater. Let Koch leave the stage, shut up and (okay I am a kind soul) sit down and enjoy the show. See - I wouldn't put him in the stocks right away.

Bravo Andrew

Cuomo Picks ‘Open Space’ Advocate for Environment Chief

Gov. Andrew Cuomo is receiving plaudits from environmental groups for nominating Joseph Martens as the new commissioner of New York State’s Department of Environmental Conservation.


Since 1998, Mr. Martens has served as president of the Open Space Institute, a nonprofit that works largely in the northeastern United States to acquire lands for conservation and sustainable development and farming. Mr. Martens also served as deputy state secretary of energy and the environment from 1992-94, during the gubernatorial administration of Mr. Cuomo’s father, Mario.


The Gannett Web site Pressconnects.com, which focuses on news of interest to the greater Binghamton, N.Y., area, has posted what it describes as a transcript of a speech that Mr. Martens delivered last year at Union College in Schenectady in which he urges the Department of Environmental Conservation to “go slow” on fracking until the E.P.A.’s conclusions are clear.


Mr. Martens is quoted as adding: “If nothing else, it seems to me, the Department should go slow. The tragedy of the Deepwater Horizon operation in the gulf clearly demonstrated that the unexpected can and will happen. It is also clear that the gas industry has not been as candid as it should have been with regards to the potential for problems.”

With this appointment and the low-keyed inauguration - Andy is looking good.

A sign?

4,000 Dead Birds Drop From the Sky

About 10 p.m. Friday, thousands of red-winged blackbirds began falling out of the sky over this town about 35 miles northeast of Little Rock. They landed on roofs, roads, front lawns and backyards, turning the ground nearly black and scaring anyone who happened to be outside.


The cause is still being determined, said Keith Stephens, a spokesman for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. Of the more than 4,000 birds that fell on Beebe, 65 samples have been sent to labs, one in Arkansas, the other in Wisconsin. Some results may be available as soon as Monday, Mr. Stephens said.


For now, state officials are speculating that the birds may have died as a result of stress, startled by fireworks in the area, or perhaps by lightning. But, Mr. Stephens acknowledged that the cause may never be known.


One thing is almost certain: the bird drop is not related to the 83,000 fish that died a few days earlier in the western part of the state, the biggest fish kill in Arkansas that anyone can remember. They were spotted by anglers last week and reported to the Game and Fish Commission, which spent New Year’s Eve measuring and counting dead fish that had spread out for nearly 20 miles.


In that case, the victims were almost all drum, and almost all younger ones. That suggests the culprit was disease, said Mark Oliver, the commission’s chief of fisheries. He said that fish kills were not uncommon, especially in winter when fish are packed more closely, but he did not recall one of this size.


The likelihood of a connection between dead fish in a river on one side of the state and dead birds from the sky in another is pretty much nil (nor is there any connection between these events and the yearlong swarm of mini-earthquakes in the center of the state).


But it is all rather odd.


Becky Short, who also sits on the City Council, said that in addition to the controversial fireworks theory, people have already begun joking about the biblical end times and U.F.O.’s.


Her conclusion was simpler.


“Looks like some sort of phenomenon happened,” she said.

A phenomenon to be sure. Maybe Mother earth is sending a message to us -if we are open to hear the message. Clean up our acts or we may be next!

Meet the new boss

New US Energy Chairman: "I Don't Think We Have to Regulate Carbon"

Fred Upton (R-MI) is the incoming chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee in the US House of Representatives. He used to be concerned about the "serious problem" of global climate change, which he said must "necessitate serious solutions." But that was way back in 2009, back before it became apparent that Tea Party rhetoric was going to dominate the election cycle -- and before it was accepted as conventional wisdom that anyone who uttered the word "regulation" would be dropped from conservative favor like a bag of, um, tea. Now, a whole year later, Upton says that carbon emissions are no big deal, and that, in fact, regulating them would destroy the US economy.


Here's Think Progress:


Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), who will take control of the House Energy and Commerce Committee this week, has dramatically changed his views on regulating carbon emissions over the past several months, evolving from a position that "[c]limate change is a serious problem that necessitates serious solutions" in April 2009 to writing in the Wall Street Journal this week that he opposes any regulation of carbon emissions, and that if the EPA did so, it would be an "unconstitutional power grab that will kill millions of jobs."

So what would make him change and reverse his position? Politics and cash - it is what is killing us all.

What I did on my days off

Getting ready for those first seeds going in.  Planted some leaf lettuce in some pots to just start the mood.  Then hit the books real hard this weekend:  Johnny Seeds and Pinetree Garden Seeds..

So the usual will be ordered next week - lettuce, radish, beets, turnips, parsnips, etc.  This year may even include some grains - oats anyone?