Wednesday, November 26th, 2014
Cynthia Shahan , - CleanTechnica
Stephan: One of my Dutch readers wrote to ask me why I didn't do a story on how big the bicycle industry is. She said she was a bicyclist, and her brother made a good living maintaining bicycles. To be honest I had never looked into it. I assumed a few tens of thousands were involved. When I went looking I was very surprised, as you may be, at how many people are involved in this economic sector in Europe. How many jobs are involved. I think this is excellent news. May it be repeated in the U.S..
Bicycling is splendid for the health. It is emits zero emissions. It increases economic activity and local jobs… particularly in Europe. Employment in Europe’s cycling industry is up and is reportedly outdoing other major industries.
It follows that, as people explore Europe, they do as the natives do — they bicycle. European bicycle tourism has also been growing, and the industry now employs 524,000 people. This, bike manufacturing, bike retail, bike infrastructure, and bike services together provide jobs for 655,000 people.
In the Netherlands, it is commonplace for moms and dads to take their children to school on bicycles. Many also commute to work on bike. The post comes by bicycle. Businesses use bicycles for deliveries. The Netherlands leads the way, along with Copenhagen, Denmark, in all things bicycle, but Europe as a whole is a league (or more) above North America.
The Guardian reports on a comprehensive study, Jobs and job creation in the European cycling sector, on the matter of the European bicycle economy. The study was commissioned by the European Cyclists’ Federation (ECF) and will be published next month. “Some 655,000 people work in the cycling economy – which includes bicycle production, tourism, retail, infrastructure and services – compared to […]
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Tuesday, November 25th, 2014
Stephan: This report describes another aspect of the GMO controversy, not the genetics of the seeds, or the toxins per se, but the sociological impact of the industrial chemical model of agriculture as it plays out in the developing world, particularly India, where small holdings are simply not compatible with these technologies.
Credit: Reuters/Ajay Verma
Monsanto, which has just paid out $2.4 million to US farmers, settling one of many lawsuits it’s been involved in worldwide, is also facing accusations that its seeds are to blame for a spike in suicides by India farmers.
The accusations have not transformed into legal action so far, but criticism of Monsanto has been mounting, blaming the giant company for contributing to over 290,000 suicides by Indian farmers over the last 20 years.
The author of a documentary on Indian farmers’ suicides, Alakananda Nag, who has interviewed dozens of the relatives of those who have taken their lives, links the rise in the suicide rate to the use of GMO seeds. She believes small farms are particularly vulnerable.
“The large farms certainly have the funds to support themselves and get on, but the smaller ones are really ones that suffer the most,” Nag told RT. “Monsanto definitely has a very big hand to play. A few years ago it was illegal to grow GMO crops in India. It’s not like the suicide did not exist back then. It did, but […]
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Tuesday, November 25th, 2014
DIANE CARDWELL, - The New York Times
Stephan: The non carbon energy trend is gathering momentum at a surprising rate, and it is very good news. Here is The New York Times view, which I consider an establishment perspective and all the more surprising for that.
A wind farm in Weatherford, Okla. In a study, the cost of wind power came in as low as 1.4 cents a kilowatt-hour.
For the solar and wind industries in the United States, it has been a long-held dream: to produce energy at a cost equal to conventional sources like coal and natural gas.
That day appears to be dawning.
The cost of providing electricity from wind and solar power plants has plummeted over the last five years, so much so that in some markets renewable generation is now cheaper than coal or natural gas.
Utility executives say the trend has accelerated this year, with several companies signing contracts, known as power purchase agreements, for solar or wind at […]
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Tuesday, November 25th, 2014
David Edwards, - The Raw Story
Stephan: This is a quite extraordinary story. First, who thinks of Utah as a state notable for police violence? Second, who could imagine the scale of it? This report is another in the growing corpus of material concerning the transformation of the American law enforcement from a protect and serve civil model to a militarized model. I do not consider this a life-affirming trend.
Credit: Shutterstock
If you live in Utah, you are more likely to be killed by police than gangs, drug dealers or child abusers.
The Salt Lake Tribune recently reviewed records for 300 violent deaths over a five year period, and found that deaths from police violence were the second most common type of killing after intimate partner violence in Utah.
Records showed that law enforcement officers were responsible for 15 percent of the violent deaths by killing 45 people since 2010.
Officials have found all of the killings to be justified, except the 2012 shooting of 21-year-old Danielle Willard. On Saturday, police responding to a trespassing report in South Jordan shot and killed a man. That incident was still under investigation.
But law enforcement watchdogs warned that the rising numbers of deaths at the hands of police could point to a potential problem with the abuse of lethal force.
“The numbers reflect that there could be an issue, and it’s going to take a deeper understanding of these shootings,” former Utah police Sergeant […]
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Tuesday, November 25th, 2014
Katrin Kuntz, - Der Spiegel (Germany)
Stephan: I found this a very moving story of antipodes: enforced government inflicted death, and an individual choosing to end their own life. It is my personal belief that if you don't have control over your own body you really have no control at all. For that reason I am pro-choice, and pro-assisted suicide. Having had a wife die in the agony of cancer I have direct experience with what the later involves. Although it was never a choice we chose I can understand why some might make choose it. These are powerful issues that get far too little discussion, and even when they do get attention it is usually from a position enmeshed in religion or ideology couched in polemics, rarely involving people actually faced with such decisions.
Belgian palliative doctor Wim Distelmans of Brussels recently generated significant controversy when he organized a trip to Auschwitz for some of the leading practitioners of euthanasia in Belgium. Euthanasia has been legal in the country for the terminally ill since 2002. Last year, 1,807 people received euthanasia, which amounts to two percent of all fatalities in the country.
Credit: Maria Feck/ DER SPIEGEL
A group of Belgium’s leading practitioners of euthanasia recently visited the Auschwitz concentration camp memorial to learn more about death and humanity. The trip proved to be just as controversial for the doctors as it did insightful.
Wim Distelmans is responsible for the deaths of hundreds, if […]
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