Forty million people in seven states depend upon the Colorado River for their water, and their future is doomed unless the allocation and use of that water is restructured, as this article describes. As matters stand corporate agricultural interests, including a massive Saudi Arabian corporate interest which does not benefit those seven states. To quote the report upon which this article is based, “The Almarai Company, a Saudi multinational, owns 10,000 acres of Arizona farmland, cultivating alfalfa to support dairies in Saudi Arabia, which banned alfalfa cultivation in 2018 in order to conserve water. This gross misuse of water has been unfolding for years, with 75 percent of Lake Mead’s decline in the past two decades attributed to cattle feed irrigation.”
A sign on Lake Mead along the Colorado River in Boulder City, Nevada indicates the lake’s water line in 2000 in contrast to 2023 low water levels due to the western drought. Credit: Patrick T. Fallon / AFP / Getty
As the dwindling Colorado River faces a potential “catastrophic collapse” due to the climate-driven loss of trillions of gallons of water, a report published Tuesday shines a spotlight on the dangerous overexploitation of the precious resource by specific sectors of industrial agriculture—and the federal government’s failure to address Big Ag’s abuses.
The Food & Water Watch report—entitledBig Ag Is Draining the Colorado River Dry—focuses on how “alfalfa farms and the aggressive proliferation of megadairies” are “sucking the Colorado dry,” and on “prolonged governmental refusal to rein in the most egregious offenders.”
According to the report, “livestock feed crops remain the largest consumers of water in the Colorado River Basin, accounting for 55% of all water used.” Among these, alfalfa “consumed 2.2 trillion gallons of water across the seven basin states in […]
Here you can see clearly how the Republican Party and its owners, the oligarchs and the corporations they control, are working against leaving the carbon era. As this article describes the highly technical and complicated issue is being reframed for MAGAt world as and emotionally compelling part of the culture war. This is a very nasty trend, and it is blocking the proper response to climate change.
The logo for ExxonMobil appears above a trading post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Credit: AP Photo / Richard Drew
A majority of Americans don’t even know what it means, but ESG has become the latest front in the culture wars. In the last year, conservative activists and lawmakers have gone on the attack against “woke” capitalism — a term coined in 2018 to refer to companies that take a progressive stance on public policy issues. They blame these companies for spending too much time on issues like the environment and diversity and inclusion and not focusing enough on their traditional raison d’être: making money.
ESG refers to an investing approach that takes into account environmental, social and governance issues when choosing which companies to back. Long considered a noncontroversial strategy in the business world, ESG is now under attack by oil and gas industry heavyweights, some conservative activists and right-wing think tanks. The growing anti-ESG movement has pressured top financial firms to back off some of their net-zero commitments and […]
Olivia Giacomo, Social Media Assocciate - Mbghealth
Stephan:
I just ran across this, and am going to try it. The evidence for this effect is supported by other research.
Credit: Bonninstudio / Stocksy
Here at mindbodygreen, we’re always interested in discovering new ways to bolster brain health. Brain teasers? Sign us up. Brain-supporting foods? Yes, please! So when neuroscientist and author ofBiohack Your BrainKristen Willeumier, Ph.D., shared a few daily hacks to keep your brain sharp on the mindbodygreen podcast, we were all ears.
One of her go-to methods? Writing with her nondominant hand. Read on for the benefits of this simple brain exercise.
Why a neuroscientist wants you to write with your nondominant hand.
“Every single day I learn a new word,” says Willeumier. (She uses the Merriam-Webster app.) “And then what I do is I practice writing it with my nondominant hand.” It’s a fun exercise to train your mind and take you out of your comfort zone—which Willeumier notes is stellar for remaining sharp.
Plus, “when you start writing with your nondominant hand, you will start drinking with your nondominant hand, you’ll start brushing your teeth with your nondominant […]
Marlene Sokol, Education Reporter - Tampa Bay Times
Stephan:
First, Anne Frank, now Shakespeare. This is MAGAt world intruding into a child’s education. It is what they want to do to public education. MAGAts are obsessed with anything sexual, and what they want is indoctrination not education. Castrating Shakespeare’s art. It is like something I would write in a satire novel. Red states are doing great damage to education in their states, and this is going to have a generational negative effect on the wellbeing of those populations.
William Shakespeare’s works, a staple of high school English classes for generations, will be covered using only excerpts in Hillsborough County schools this year. Credit: Lefteris Pitarakis / AP
English teachers in Hillsborough County, Florida are preparing lessons for the new school year with only excerpts from William Shakespeare’s works.
Students will be assigned pages from the classics, which might include “Macbeth,” “Hamlet” and the time-honored teen favorite, “Romeo and Juliet.” But if they want to read them in their entirety, they will likely have to do it on their own time.
School district officials said they redesigned their instructional guides for teachers because of revised state teaching standards and a new set of state exams that cover a vast array of books and writing styles.
“It was also in consideration of the law,” said school district spokeswoman Tanya Arja, referring to the newly expanded Parental Rights in Education Act. The measure, promoted and signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, tells schools to steer clear of content and class discussion that is sexual in nature unless it […]
Andrew Carnegie, an immigrant and one of the richest men in American in the early days of the 20th Century thought about how he could Aikido American culture in a wellbeing fostering way. After great thought he settled on endowing and building libraries across America that still exist today. Now the MAGAt Republicans who are frightened of books have something quite different in mind. This and the previous story show you what the MAGAt cohort in our population are doing with public education.
Felix Cook, Jr. Elementary School in Houston. Credit: Google Maps
NPR TRANSCRIPT
Dozens of public schools won’t have traditional libraries when classes start. Teachers and parents criticize reforms turning some libraries into centers for students with disciplinary problems.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
In Houston, Texas, dozens of public schools won’t have librarians and traditional libraries when classes start later this month. It’s part of a controversial reform effort in the state’s largest school district. The new superintendent says schools in working-class areas need good teachers more than they need librarians. But critics are blasting the plan, worried that students won’t have the same access to fully equipped libraries. Houston Public Media’s Dominic Anthony Walsh reports.
DOMINIC ANTHONY WALSH, BYLINE: Mike Miles is an unusual superintendent. He was not hired by the local school board.
Howdy.
MIKE MILES: Hey.
WALSH: Hi. Dominic.
MILES: Dominic, I’m Mike. Nice to meet you.
WALSH: Instead, the Texas Education Agency, which oversees public education in the state, appointed him to lead Houston schools in June. The agency also replaced the entire elected school board with hand-picked managers. This is allowed […]
