Sunday, November 24th, 2013
Stephan: Here we have some good news about bees. Lobby your own representatives and Senators to follow Oregon's lead.
The Oregon Department of Agriculture has restricted the use of two insecticides to help protect pollinators, including honeybees.
The action comes after thousands of bumblebees were killed this summer with a misapplication of insecticides on European linden trees, according to a news release.
Shortly after, the state restricted the use of 18 pesticides that contained dinotefuran while it continued investigating the bumblebee deaths in Wilsonville and Hillsboro.
Beginning in 2014, Oregon will require a state-specific label on dinotefuran and imidacloprid products sold in the state that prohibits their application on linden, basswood or Tilia species.
Dinotefuran, a neonicotinoid insecticide, is the active ingredient in several insecticides, including Venom, Safari 2 G and Safari 20 SG from Valent U.S.A.; and Scorpion 35SL from Gowan Co.
Imidacloprid, also a neonicotinoid, is the active ingredient in Admire Pro from Bayer CropSciences and several other off-patent products.
Apparently, the trees’ natural toxicity combined with the pesticide contributed to the bumblebee deaths.
The state’s temporary restriction on the 18 pesticides will expire in December.
The investigation into the pollinator deaths also is expected to be completed by mid-December.
Applicators testing for their license or seeking re-certification will receive additional education on pollinator protection.
Agriculture department Katy Coba also has sent a letter to the Environmental […]
No Comments
Sunday, November 24th, 2013
SUZANNE GOLDENBERG, US environment correspondent - The Guardian (U.K.)
Stephan: A reader sent me this in response to the piece I ran yesterday on the five largest carbon polluters. It makes the point even stronger. Basically what this is telling us is that 90 corporations in the whole world are responsible for two-thirds of the climate change causing pollution. Think about that for a second: there are seven billion humans and to maintain the profits of a few thousand individuals, the entire planet must suffer.
One has to ask also, why is it I only find these stories in the non-U.S. press
The climate crisis of the 21st century has been caused largely by just 90 companies, which between them produced nearly two-thirds of the greenhouse gas emissions generated since the dawning of the industrial age, new research suggests.
The companies range from investor-owned firms – household names such as Chevron, Exxon and BP – to state-owned and government-run firms.
The analysis, which was welcomed by the former vice-president Al Gore as a ‘crucial step forward’ found that the vast majority of the firms were in the business of producing oil, gas or coal, found the analysis, which has been published in the journal Climatic Change.
‘There are thousands of oil, gas and coal producers in the world,’ climate researcher and author Richard Heede at the Climate Accountability Institute in Colorado said. ‘But the decision makers, the CEOs, or the ministers of coal and oil if you narrow it down to just one person, they could all fit on a Greyhound bus or two.’
Half of the estimated emissions were produced just in the past 25 years – well past the date when governments and corporations became aware that rising greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of coal and oil were causing dangerous climate change.
Many of […]
No Comments
Sunday, November 24th, 2013
CATHERINE KOMP, - Salon/Truth-out
Stephan: This essay by Noam Chomsky hits the target, as anyone who travels outside of the U.S. knows. When you are outside of the country it is easy to see how much everything is motivated by fear, and how often fear is used by politicians, particularly Theocratic Rightist politicians, to manipulate public opinion. Fox News is built on the premise of scaring people.
This is an excerpt from the just released 2nd edition of Noam Chomsky’s ‘Occupy: Class War, Rebellion and Solidarity,
No Comments
Sunday, November 24th, 2013
TRAVIS GETTYS, - The Raw Story
Stephan: A couple of readers, of the Theocratic Right persuasion, wrote to tell me that I am exaggerating when I say that the Theocratic Right is a toxic force in the country, and they there is no war on women. That the Fundamentalists are simply following Bible instruction. Here is further proof of that. My response is the Bible was a series of oral histories from thousands of years ago, when culture was very different, and that the past is not a social model to follow in the 21st century.
Married couples who consider themselves equal partners are violating biblical law, according to the Southern Baptist Convention’s top expert on family concerns.
Russell Moore, president of the denomination’s ethics and liberty commission, said Christians determine the nature of reality through their family relationships, but he warned that marital closeness can undermine biblical teachings.
‘Often, I think, the gospel is obscured because God has designed a picture of the gospel in the one-flesh union of husband and wife, (and) when that is broken down, you have a false gospel that is being preached,
No Comments
Saturday, November 23rd, 2013
KILEY KROH, - Think Progress
Stephan: Here is some excellent news. It is so obvious the direction we should be going.
Iowa’s hugely successful wind industry isn’t just an economic driver, it’s having a major impact on cutting pollution and saving water. Wind energy generation in Iowa avoids more than 8.4 million metric tons of climate-altering carbon pollution - the equivalent of taking 1.7 million cars off the road, according to a new report released by Environment Iowa.
Additionally, the report found that wind energy saves Iowans nearly 3.8 billion gallons of water per year, enough to meet the needs of over 158,000 people. The U.S. National Drought Monitor shows a significant portion of the state is in moderate to severe drought conditions and has been for several months.
The rapid growth of wind energy in Iowa is remarkable; it now provides 13.9 million megawatt-hours (MWh) of electricity, equal to 24.5 percent of the state’s total electricity and the highest percentage nationwide. Further, Environment Iowa predicts that ‘Iowa could be on track to nearly double its wind production in the next five years so that wind could generate as much as 50 percent of all electricity in the state by 2018.
No Comments
