Washing my bones in the Atlantic shore

In between some dried leaves and garbage that came in this afternoon.

Beware the manatee

Tea Party will protect humans from manatees

Florida Tea Party members believe that federal efforts to protect manatees from extinction are part of a United Nations conspiracy to place manatee over man. Freshman Rep. Rich Nugent (R-Fla.) is now standing up for the Tea Partiers against the feared manatee overlords, offering an amendment to the FY 2012 Interior and Environment appropriations bill (HR 2584) that would block the creation of a manatee refuge in Citrus County

Damn herbivore manatees.  Who do they think they are?  Don't they know that humans own the world!?!?

Next Tattoo

From Treehugger.

I always wanted the fisted hand shovel on my upper arm.  But now I want all three!!!

The cruel farm life

A Farm is Not a Peaceful Place

There are times when our life is peaceful. But they are rare. Everyone wants something, or has something to share. The goats want to go for their walk or a hen has just laid an egg. The guardian dog sees a deer or the wild turkey has heard an echo. Our daughter has a question, our intern has a question, someone on the phone has a question, or a stack of emails are yelling in my head with their unanswered questions.


If you get up early enough in the morning, it might be peaceful. You can listen to the sounds of the night and see the silhouette of the mountains in the east. But as soon as you open the barn doors, the animals are aware of your presence and their expectations become your priority.


There are moments when everyone is satisfied, and you can hear yourself think. But it doesn’t last. Even at night, the noise, the fears, the possible suffering- that you are responsible for preventing- creeps in and startles you awake. It might be a dream now, but it could be a reality at any moment.


So many things, so many people, need you. You can’t complain about your boss, you are them. You feel responsible for the life that you have- by association- dragged your loved ones down into.


Everyone thinks you are living “the life”. They philosophize and compare. They don’t understand. They have jobs they can walk away from. They have weekends. They might even have health care and retirement plans. Our retirement plan is to be able to stop before regret dominates.


The farm is noisy, the farm is demanding, the farm is our life, our life is not our own. We love the farm, we hate the farm. We are the farm.

Granted it's demanding - but what isn't.  Granted a garden work is no comparison to farm work.  But I would love to try it - I have the back muscle but not the guts.

Oh Rush

The MAN gives us his take on Global warming.  It's all about the base line.
Words of wisdom from Rush?  Yeah I ddin't think so..

Remember that snowstorm?

Which would you rather have - freezing cold and snow or very single part of your body sweating?
El Nino or Climate Change - we are in for a fun ride.
Okay deniers - line up.  Stories like this are one of the reasons NPR's funding is always in danger from Koch Brthoers' friends.

Bloomberg versus coal

Image via WikipediaMayor Bloomberg Donates $50 Million To Sierra Club for Anti-Coal Campaign

New York's Mayor Michael Bloomberg is giving the Sierra Club a substantial gift -- $50 million to put toward battling coal-fired power plants across the nation.


The Washington Post reports that the donation will be spread out over four years, and will go straight toward the "Beyond Coal" campaign that has "helped block the construction of 153 new coal-fired power plants across the country since 2002."


But this time, instead of blocking construction of new plants, the strategy will be to figure out which are the nations oldest and worst-pollution coal power plants, get them shut down, and replace them with renewable energy.

Mayor Mike wants to keep NY off the "Top 20 States with the most toxic air list."

Bear in mind that this listing factors in toxic air pollution -- from coal and oil-fired power plants primarily -- not dumped waste or contaminated land or such.

Whatever the motivation - NICE!!!

More Cowbell

The boys are back!

Koch brothers declare war on offshore wind

The war over America’s coastal-energy future has officially begun, and the result could determine whether we see wind turbines or catastrophic oil spills along our coastlines in coming years.


The opening salvo came in early July, when everyone’s favorite climate-hating, fossil-fuel-loving industrialist villains, the Koch brothers, released a so-called “cost-benefit analysis” of New Jersey offshore-wind development plans through their front group Americans for Prosperity.


The focus on New Jersey is no big surprise. Fresh off their recent success in manipulating the state’s Republican Gov. Chris Christie into backing out of the Northeastern cap-and-trade system known as RGGI, the brothers grim are honing in on what they see as a weak spot in the clean-energy movement’s eastern front. Hoping to score a knockout blow, the duo have packed their offshore wind "analysis" with distortions.

I realize my favorite brothers are against anything they don't control or can profit from.

Another drink to brew?

YeasTea Recipe

"YeasTea", get it? It's tea fermented by yeast!


Now I am aware that kombucha is also a yeast fermented tea drink too; kombucha is actually what made me think about throwing some yeast into a pitcher of tea to start with. While both drinks do involve yeast and tea, YeasTea differs from kombucha because the kombucha culture is a symbiotic mass of multiple yeast strains and species of acetic acid bacteria, which results in the final drink having little to no alcohol (the bacteria gobble it up) but potentially all sorts of acids, and the YeasTea culture is nothing more than our good friend Saccharomyces cerevisiae , which (despite the fact that I'm using baker's yeast) results in a tea drink that's alcoholic but lacks (for the most part) the same variety of acids found in kombucha.

Sounds like it is worth a try.

Huh?

Head of Brazil's Environmental Protection Agency Says It Is Not His Job to Protect the Environment

As the President of Brazil's environmental protection agency IBAMA, which oversees regulationion in the world's largest rainforest, Curt Trennepohl has a very important position -- the only problem is, he says that protecting the environment isn't part of it. In an interview with Australia's "60 Minutes", when asked if his job was to guard the environment from destructive projects, Trennepohl replied: "No, my job is to minimize the impacts."

I think they need a new leader.

The Avett Brothers on CMT

Tags: CMT Unplugged - Full Show, The Avett Brothers, The Avett Brothers Videos

Battle won...

Tea Party Attempt to Block Incandescent Ban Fails to Get Enough Votes

As I mentioned a couple days ago, Republicans were trying to block a law setting minimum efficiency for lightbulbs, which would have made U.S. citizens waste $12.5 billion in wasted electricity over the next 9 years, or the equivalent of what 33 power stations produce. But it didn't quite turn out the way Michele Bachmann and the Tea Party wanted...


he 2007 law that mandates a minimum level of efficiency about 25% higher for all light bulbs, which would effectively ban the very inefficient 100-watt incandescent bulb, has survived... for now.


But Tuesday night's vote in the House of Representatives failed to muster the two-thirds majority needed under special rules invoked by Republicans to fasttrack the repeal.
The bill did get a 233-193 majority in the House, however, and Joe Barton the Texan Republican behind the measure told US politics website Politico he would try again to get the legislation through - by any means.


"We can put it on an appropriations bill", he said. "We can back it under a rule. I can try and go to some of the Democrats who didn't vote for it and figure out a way to get them to consider voting for it in a different format." (source)

Battle won ....the war continues.

Shutdowns aren't all bad

Image via Wikipedia
MillerCoors Becomes Casualty Of Minnesota Government Shutdown

Miller, Coors and other popular beers may disappear from Minnesota stores and bars within days because brewing giant MillerCoors lacks the proper licenses due to the state's government shutdown.


MillerCoors has 39 "brand label registrations" with the state that expired last month, and the employees who process renewals were laid off when state government shut down July 1 in a budget dispute, Doug Neville, a spokesman for the Department of Public Safety, said Wednesday.


The affected brands include not only the Miller and Coors lines, but a long list of regional and craft beers such as George Killian's and Blue Moon and imports such as Pilsner Urquel and Molson.

Miller and Coors would not be a problem - never drink them anyways.  Blue moon - wonder if they could selectively process those renewals.

Climate Reality Project

Gore is back with The Climate Reality Project.

The Climate Reality Project is bringing the facts about the climate crisis into the mainstream and engaging the public in conversation about how to solve it. We help citizens around the world reject the lies and take meaningful steps to bring about change.

Really need this effort with all the deniers and politicos trying to gut or de-fund the agencies and laws we need.

I'm a criminal - Part II

British Columbia Man Faces Six Months in Jail for Growing Food

Last week Colleen brought us the story of a woman in Michigan who is facing jail time for planting a garden. Sadly, this type of heavy-handed by-the-letter enforcement of bylaws exists at the same time as people embrace urban agriculture as a viable source of high quality nutrition. A man in Lanztville, British Columbia is facing a similar battle with the local government after converting his 2.5 acre "residential" lot from a gravel pit into a thriving organic farm. His refusal to "cease all agricultural activity" could land him six months in jail.


Acting on a single complaint from a disgruntled neighbor the regional district sent a letter to Dirk Becker giving him 14 days to "remove the piles of soil and manure from the property." The quoted bylaw states that property owners will ensure their property doesn't become or remain "unsightly". Specifically this refers to "the accumulation of filth, discarded materials or rubbish, which includes unused or stripped automobiles, trucks, trailers, boats, vessels, machinery, mechanical or metal parts." Admittedly, it can be argued that, to some, a manure pile could be considered "filth". But, considering how Becker regenerated his 2.5 acres

Breaking the law by planting a garden.  Strange but true.  I love breaking the law!

I'm a criminal

Michigan Woman Faces 93 Days in Jail for Planting a Vegetable Garden

It just doesn't get more ridiculous than this.


Julie Bass of Oak Park, Michigan -- a mother of 6, law-abiding citizen, and gardener -- is facing 93 days in jail after being charged with a misdemeanor.


Her crime? Planting a vegetable garden in the front yard.
Bass says that she planted the garden after her front yard was torn up for some sewer repairs. Rather than wasting the opportunity to start with a clean slate by planting a lawn, she decided to really put the area to use, and plant a vegetable garden.


Her garden consists of 5 raised beds, where she grows a mix of squashes, corn, tomatoes, flowers, and other veggies. Bass received a warning from the city telling her to remove the vegetable garden, because it doesn't adhere to city ordinances (more on that later.) When she refused, she was ticketed and charged with a misdemeanor. Her trial, before a jury, is set to begin on July 26th. If she is found guilty, she can be sentenced to up to 93 days in jail.


About the City Ordinance


Supposedly, Bass is in noncompliance with a city ordinance that states that only "suitable" plant material is allowed on the lawn area of residences. When local media asked city planner Kevin Rulkowski what that meant, he said suitable means "common:" lawn, nice shrubs, and flowers.

Boy I would be in a lot of trouble in that town.  Wonder if Casey Anthony's lawyer would be able to get me acquitted.  Might be hard with my fencing, size of garden...

Nature Misses You

WE MISS YOU from fireapple films on Vimeo.
Reacquaint yourself with Mother.

GMO allowed by FDA

Wait, Did the USDA Just Deregulate All New Genetically Modified Crops?

It's a hoary bureaucratic trick, making a controversial announcement on the Friday afternoon before a long weekend, when most people are daydreaming about what beer to buy on the way home from work, or are checking movie times online. But that's precisely what the US Department of Agriculture pulled last Friday.


In an innocuous-sounding press release titled "USDA Responds to Regulation Requests Regarding Kentucky Bluegrass," agency officials announced their decision not to regulate a "Roundup Ready" strain of Kentucky bluegrass—that is, a strain genetically engineered to withstand glyphosate, Monsanto's widely used herbicide, which we know as Roundup. The maker of the novel grass seed, Scotts Miracle Gro, is now free to sell it far and wide. So you'll no doubt be seeing Roundup Ready bluegrass blanketing lawns and golf courses near you—and watching anal neighbors and groundskeepers literally dousing the grass in weed killer without fear of harming a single precious blade.


Which is worrisome enough. But even more worrisome is the way this particular product was approved. According to Doug Gurian-Sherman, senior scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists' Food and Environment Program, the documents released by the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) along with the announcement portend a major change in how the feds will deal with genetically modified crops.


Notably, given the already-lax regulatory regime governing GMOs (genetically modified organisms, click here for a primer), APHIS seems to be ramping down oversight to the point where it is essentially meaningless. The new regime corresponding with the bluegrass announcement would "drastically weaken USDA’s regulation," Gurian-Sherman told me. "This is perhaps the most serious change in US regs for [genetically modified] crops for many years."

First it was soybeans.  Now Kentucky Bluegrass.  Next?  Every single seed/crop known to man.

Another one to NOT VOTE FOR

Pataki Gets Presidential Over Energy

Disappointment with energy and debt policy in the US may prompt a Republican presidential bid from former New York Governor George Pataki.


Pataki told AOL Energy today that he is thinking about running for President, capping a career that has included state governor, state senator, and mayor. Pataki is currently also Counsel at the New York office of law firm Chadbourne and Parke LLP. Even if he doesn't run, Pataki said he will "get actively involved" in the race.


"I think fracking is a tremendous technological breakthrough that we need to encourage obviously you have to surround it with appropriate environmental safeguards," Pataki said, addressing one of the most controversial issues in energy markets today. Access to hundreds of years of clean fuel supply is "an enormous breakthrough for the American economy and the American consumer," he said.


"When the light bulb came along, they didn't ban candles for being unsafe," he said, referring to the federal mandate to replace incandescent light bulbs, which he disapproves of. "Create things that work, and people will be there [to support it]" he said.

Need more reasons to not support him?  I didn't think so.

Not really needed

P-Tree, A Panacea For Public Peeing Problems (For Men, Anyways)

The P-TREES were a great success at the Roskilde festival 2011 in Denmark, with more than 100.000 visitors and many of them using the P-TREE more than ones. For Roskilde AANDEBOOM produced 50 P-TREES in the typical Roskilde Orange color. The P-TREES were placed on 2 different spots near the main stage. By using the P-TREE the festivals problem with public peeing was significant reduced.


The P-TREE is a temporary tree-friendly urinal that can be fixed on every tree using straps and lashings. The P-TREE gives a feeling of freedom. The P-TREE can be hooked up to a central sewerage system or connected to a tank with a pump. Material: rotation molded recycled plastic, stainless steel and straps and lashings.


I am also not sure what proportion of the population is ready to pee in public like this in the daytime, sober. But even if some people use it, the load on the porta-potties will be reduced, benefitting both men and women.

Neat idea and concept for public events.  But in my garden - just give me a bit of privacy.

Though if I can install a "ground" mounted urinal -  with small sidewalls....