Max Ajl at SolveClimate writes:
Organic Farming Yields Far Better Crop Resistance and Resiliance
Organic farming — one way of carrying out agro-ecological farming — has been shown to increase carbon sequestration in soil relative to non-organic methods. Furthermore, extensive research, most recently by agronomist David Pimentel of Cornell, has shown that transitioning to organic and local farming could cut energy inputs into the U.S. food system by 50 percent.
"United States agriculture is driven almost entirely by these non-renewable energy sources. Each person in the country on a per capita consumption basis requires approximately 2,000 liters per year in oil equivalents to supply his/her total food, which accounts for about 19 percent of the total national energy use," Pimentel said.
In addition to cutting fossil fuel use and decreasing carbon emissions, a shift to organic farming and the resultant increases in carbon sequestration will make agriculture more resilient and more resistant to onrushing anthropogenic climate change.
Resistance and resilience are technical terms: as ecologist Alison Power observes, resistance is a system’s ability to not be affected by a "perturbation," such as a sudden drought or hurricane. Resilience is the measure of the agricultural system’s ability to respond to a "perturbation" that does affect it—in other words, how quickly it returns to its former level of functioning, or how close to its former level of functioning it can get to.
There is strong evidence that organic-farming systems, which are usually a mix of diverse-plant communities—the furthest thing from the plains of monocultures that are the mainstay of American agriculture—are both more resistant and more resilient than other types of planting systems.
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The diary rescue begins below and continues in the jump. Inclusion of a particular diary does not necessarily indicate my agreement with it.
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Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse reported on Court Squeezes Senate On Climate Change Legislation: "Today, a federal court issued a 139-page opinion in Connecticut v. American Electric Power (AEP) that may just light a fire under the Senate to enact real climate change legislation to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. During the Bush years, states fed up with no action on climate change filed a lawsuit against power companies based on a theory that carbon dioxide emissions threatened the health of people and natural resources. For years, the power companies have lobbied hard to prevent Congress from regulating GHG, and today that strategy backfired. While AEP whined that Congress and not the courts should ‘address climate issues,’ one reason that the fossil fuel polluters lost is because there is no regulation of GHG that cause climate change. A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit in 2005 on the grounds that the global warming was a political question for Congress or the President rather than the courts. The court reasoned that if the states won the lawsuit, then the ‘courts would have to figure out how to cap emissions, set reduction goals and a schedule for achieving them, and take other steps that would seem to require legislation.’ ... Yesterday, the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated the lawsuit, holding that ‘the federal common law of nuisance governs their claims" because the companies contributions to climate change interfered with a "public right in protecting natural resources.’"
Oke made a point of Calling Them Out On Their Lies- An NRDC Analysis of ACES: "An economic analysis by the NRDC, working with several consultants, put together a study that documents that [the American Clean and Security Energy Act (ACES)] will improve our economic outlook, create jobs, save money, and make us more secure. The four-page summary of the study, ‘A Clean Energy Bargain: More Jobs, Less Global Warming Pollution, and Greater Security for Less Than the Cost of a Postage Stamp a Day,’ can be found here (pdf). The full detailed report ... can be found here (pdf). Key points of the study debunk the talking points thrown out constantly to scare people away from ACES.
wader has posted the Overnight News Digest
From Australia, Unenergy wrote about phenomenal Hail, thunderstorms, dust storms, floods, bushfires, tornado: "I told Graham I'd drive him. So I dropped him off this morning about 10 a.m. Graham has just knocked on my door and told me that the airport cancelled his flight and it is absolute chaos, mayhem there. And why? Because his plane was flying here: Sydneysiders have woken to a red haze unlike anything seen before by residents or weather experts, as the sun struggles to pierce a thick blanket of dust cloaking the city this morning. 'It's just red, red, red as far as you can see,' one caller at the Anzac Bridge told 2GB."
At UN Climate Summit, Obama should address impacts, risks of inaction, according to climate science watch: "White House messaging thus far has framed energy policy reform as a pathway to economic recovery and development, reducing US dependence on foreign oil, and a clean energy future. What has been largely missing is a high-level appeal for action on global climate disruption that also emphasizes the risks of inaction and is couched in the science of climate change. We hope to hear a strong message from the President about the potentially disastrous consequences we face if greenhouse gas emissions continue unabated and if we fail to prepare for changes that are already underway and projected to intensify."
senilebiker discovered that not all Kossacks are ready to take his advice to Junk the SUV - the future is here: "While the Senilebiker was out running a few errands on his trusty steed this morning, he stopped at the local biker treff punkt (watering hole in German), and stumbled across a photoshoot for the RWE electric Smart car. Whipping out his cell phone, he took the picture above. Now it may not be your idea of the perfect car, but when gas runs out, you might be happy to have one of these to get to work or do the shopping. Particularly interesting is that most people would be charging overnight, when electrical demand is low - not so good for solar, but fine for wind generated energy. As a final point, when it pulled out after the shoot, it was virtually silent, only the whisper of the tyres on the tarmac."
roseonpolitics took note of the British prime minister’s Op-Ed in Brown Going Green: "Prime Minister Brown wrote a Op-Ed published in Newsweek. He calls for the upcoming meetings in New York, Pittsburgh, and Copenhagen to focus on developing new technology for the worlds energy needs. ... Creating green technology is a two fold solution to global warming and our current reliance on foreign oil. By being self sufficient organizations like OPEC will not be able to bring the economy down on it's knees like it did in the 1970s. This makes too much sense for so little action to have been taken."
makeourfoodsafe looked at - what else? - The safety of imported food: "It is interesting to read in yesterday's Shanghai Daily that China -- which has experienced its share of domestic food safety calamities in recent years -- has decided to beef up its scrutiny of food imports. It might provide a lesson to us. As the U.S. imports more of its food, the safety of it has become an increasing concern. The melamine contamination of milk powder in China that killed Chinese infants and sickened thousands of others and caused the recall of numerous imported food items here in the U.S. shows how vulnerable we have become in a globalized food market. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has made the assertion that about half of the food borne illness outbreaks in the U.S. in recent years have come from imported food products. According to an August 2009 report issued by USDA's Economic Research Service (ERS), U.S. food imports grew from $41 billion in 1998 to $78 billion in 2007."
Chinese Presdent Hu Jintao’s speech at the United Nations Tuesday prompted wade norris to examine The one good Eco thing about China ...: "At a recent Environmental Law conference where I presented on Environmental Refugees, I got to listen to the National Policy Director of the World Wildlife Fund, (who also was with Obama for America) and got a chance to speak with him later at length. What I took from his conversation was this: If the United States does not come through with some kind of bill by Copenhagen, many other countries would be less likely to commit to decisive action, since the US is the biggest polluter on the planet. Well, I responded, we could get it through the Senate next year, and then... and then he interrupted me to stress that the global political alignments combined with the United States having a Democratic President and a double majority may not occur again any time soon. Remember Kyoto was over 10 years ago - and we did not do our part then. Will it take another 10 years? And will we have the luxury of a double majority and a Democratic president?"
sjtenn inquired Hey Conservatives- - Why Not Conserve stuff?: "For those who are uninitiated, New Urbanism is a movement that promotes creating living environments that promote density over suburban sprawl- - otherwise described as the way humans organized themselves from the dawn of time to about 1946. In order to remain viable, they argue, suburbs must inhale vast resources - - cheap credit and cheap oil. A price shock to either commodity would be devastating, but a shock to both- - as we’ve seen, is catastrophic. This is why more wild animals than people inhabit entire swaths of the suburban moonscape in places like California, Arizona, and Florida. So, bye bye to the master planned Utopias of Shady Acres, Pleasant Oaks, and The Estates of Contentment. ( by the way- - of the dozens of scenarios in which I envision my own death, the most depressing might be keeling over - - face first into the goose shit that covers the asphalt "walking" path around the lake/drainage ditch in one of these subdivisions). They simply are not sustainable.
RLMiller urged Kossacks to join the ongoing DK GreenRoots project on climate change, A Senator For ACES -- Updated: "We target, or adopt, particular Senators. We evaluate their voting records, see what influence if any they have on committees relevant to ACES, who they receive contributions from, public statements about climate change and climate legislation they have made, whether they have aides on their staff with background relevant to the legislation, and any other pertinent points. We want to understand each targeted Senator’s point of view, including reasons to vote for the bill. For example, one Senator might seek to hold down costs, another might want jobs for a home state, and a third might wish to burnish a legacy. When the time comes, we will praise them when they speak in favor of the bill, and we will call them out when their stance wavers."
Deep Harm announced a Major victory for farmers and consumers on GM crops: "In California, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White slapped down U.S. Department of Agriculture officials for illegally giving the green light in 2005 to commercial production of Monsanto's genetically modified (engineered) sugar beets. The court decision is a major victory for consumer and environmental groups and for farmers; especially, organic farmers. ‘The Courts have made it clear that USDA’s job is to protect America’s farmers and consumers, not the interests of Monsanto,’ said Andrew Kimbrell Executive Director of the Center for Food Safety."