Welcome to the eKos Earthship, your one-stop-shop for green diaries and series.
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Tonight's editor: Ellinorianne
All views expressed by today's editor do not necessarily represent those of eKos or eKos listed diarists.
Supreme Court Case a Defeat for Monsanto's Ambitions by Andrew Kimbrell, Executive Director of the Center for Food Safety
This is an important development when it comes to GMO issues, the huge monster of a corporation of Monstanto and the make up of the Supreme Court. Right now, the headlines look rather dreary if you read them, but it's not, and here's why, thanks you Andrew Krimbrell.
The 7-1 decision issued today by the Supreme Court was on the appeal of the Center for Food Safety's (CFS) successful suit, which resulted in a ban on GMO alfalfa. And, while the High Court ruled in favor of Monsanto by reversing an injunction that was part of the lower court's decision, more importantly, it also ruled that the ban on GMO alfalfa remains intact, and that the planting and sale of GMO alfalfa remains illegal.
This point, which seems to be lost in some news reports, is actually a huge victory for the Center for Food Safety and - most importantly - for the farmers and consumers who we represent.
The Supreme Court ruled that an injunction against planting was unnecessary since, under lower courts' rulings, Roundup Ready Alfalfa became a regulated item and illegal to plant. In other words, the injunction was "overkill' because our victory in lower federal court determined that USDA violated the National Environmental Policy Act and other environmental laws when it approved Roundup Ready alfalfa. The court felt that voiding the USDA's decision to make the crop legally available for sale was enough.
A different ruling could have had far-reaching ramifications that might have extended beyond our borders, affecting the health and status of world markets for U.S. alfalfa, and impacting the fastest growing sector of the US agriculture market - organic. But the court clearly saw that, and opted instead to rule very narrowly.
Emphasis mine
So if you hear they won, they didn't. Don't panic. It's not the end of the war, but hell, it's sure a good first win, there will be many more to fight though. MSNBC just put up this headline, Weed killer's fans, critics face off, Roundup questioned after resistant species appear.
Just like superbugs come about from antibiotic abuse, bacteria's evolve, weeds evolve, living things evolve to grow and change so they can survive whatever we throw at them, or actually, whatever we don't kill lives on on to reproduce and pass on those genes that made it easier for them to survive. Oh, it's just how things work.
'Gasland' Documentary Shows Water That Burns, Toxic Effects Of Natural Gas Drilling (VIDEO)
Gasland: Must see Documentary this month on HBO.
MILANVILLE, Pa. (AP)-- What do you do when a gas company offers nearly $100,000 for the right to drill on your land?
If you're Josh Fox, you refuse the money - then make an award-winning documentary portraying the natural gas industry as an environmental menace that ruins water, air and lives.
In "Gasland," premiering Monday at 9 p.m. EDT on HBO, Fox presents a frightening scenario in which tens of thousands of drilling rigs take over the landscape, gas companies exploit legal loopholes to inject toxins into the ground and residents living nearby contract severe, unexplained illnesses.
Gasland is one you don't want to miss, here is the website at HBO. Don't have HBO? Find someone who does and if you do have HBO, offer to have someone over to watch it sometime. I will.
Closed Doors meeting to start of IWC's Annual Meeting
International Whaling Commission thought it might be a good idea to start their negotiations regarding lifting the twenty five year ban on commercial whaling behind closed doors. Unfortunately, a lot of people who have interests in protecting Whales, like the many NGO's that traveled there to try to stop this travesty, have been locked out and are reporting that this is not how you start an International Conference.
"Closed doors" policy at IWC meeting is unacceptable - WWF is a Statement released by the organization today.
"The unprecedented decision to start discussions at this year’s IWC behind closed doors is fundamentally unacceptable. The issues discussed at the IWC are of enormous public interest.
We already had two years of closed doors negotiations leading up to this point, and now is the moment to open up a transparent and honest discussion. This could be the most important meeting for the IWC since the moratorium was agreed to in 1982 and the decision to exclude the civil society and media is a scandal.".
"Governments here are making decisions about a polarizing international issue and this must be done at an open forum."
"Whale watching is an industry that generates more than 2 billion USD per year. Livelihoods of thousands of people around the world depend on whale watching and the decisions made here are critical for them."
The 62 annual meeting of the 88 members of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) opened today to discuss a new proposal put forward by the IWC Chair as currently drafted would allow commercial whaling in the Southern Ocean for the first time in almost 25 years.
The IWC has been at a standstill for several years now with countries whaling outside the IWC’s control. The proposal put forward by the IWC Chair is an attempt to make a deal that will break the deadlock between pro-whaling and pro-conservation nations and reduce the number of whales killed each year. WWF wants to the IWC to reach a fair compromise that will bring whaling back under the full control of the IWC.
However WWF cannot support the proposal put forward by the IWC Chair as long as it allows for whaling in the Southern Ocean, and whaling of threatened species. In addition, the proposal as currently drafted sets quotas based on politics, not science.
And it's not only WWF, but many others are outraged by this turn of events, such as Australia's Environment Minister Peter Garrett. And seventeen US Senators, Republican and Democratic, sent a letter to President Obama last Thursday, asking him to uphold the ban on Commercial whaling.
Transparency: How Much Oil Do We Get From Offshore Drilling?
Ever read Good? It's an understatement, they do Great things and their series on Transparency is quite eye opening, it's how they tackle big issues that many people tend to find rather murky, issues that for some reason seem to be made difficult to understand on purpose. One of those issues tends to be Offshore Drilling and exactly how it affects our oil supply, dependence on foreign oil, etc. Good makes some more Great transparency out of this one.
Basically, total offshore production by the US in the Gulf accounts for about 10% of Global Oil production. That goes on the open market, which is not addressed in graph. It seems the sole purpose of this "transparency" is address the issue of how much we or the world depends on drilling off shore. But I think it misses some important points.
Of course, "Drill, Baby, Drill" missed another factor, which you can get from this graphic as well, higher gas mileage cars, better mass transit, etc. could put a bigger dent in our dependence on foreign oil than drilling deeper and in more treacherous areas in the Gulf.
If it's not by sea, it's by land and it is for reasons that are mind boggling that we find habitat loss and poaching are threatening more and more species. One less rhino, no, three less rhinos and for what?
Population of World's Most Endangered Mammal Shrinks By Three
With only an estimated 50 individuals left in the wild, the Javan rhino is the most endangered mammal in the world. To make matters worse, the small population is highly localized, with most living in a small nation park in Indonesia.
Now, the discovery of three dead rhinos has launched a new effort to preserve this fragile species.
The elusive rhinoceros species is pressured by a variety of threats. Most significant are extensive habitat loss and poaching—the rhino's horn is highly valued on the traditional medicine market. Competition from other species and an ongoing drought—which has dried water sources and depleted grasses essential for their diet—have also become major challenges.
WarrenS made a New Year's Resolution to write a letter advocating climate action every day. The result is over one hundred letters to congresspeople, newspapers, President Obama, and more. Warren has even had letters published in the New York Times and the Boston Globe.
Learn Warren's letter writing technique here. And be sure to steal his stuff!
From his blog:
Month 6, Day 21: Lies and Lying Liars...
Well, this one pretty much wrote itself. BP’s British stockholders are claiming the company misrepresented its safety record to them, thereby artificially inflating the value of its stock (well, duh!)....and they are threatening legal action. IIRC, this is the first time I’ve written to a UK newspaper. It’s a little long, but it has a classical allusion and some rather archly constructed sentences. I forgot to change the spelling of "behavior" before I sent it off. Ah, well.
It comes as no surprise that British Petroleum is accused of misleading its stockholders by misrepresenting its safety record. We already know that BP misrepresented its safety record to the U.S. Government and to the general public. Why should the company’s own investors be treated any differently? Looking at the behavior of oil companies in general (and BP in particular) it is increasingly evident that oil is dirty in more than the physical sense. It appears to engender both corporate and individual behaviour that could accurately be described as sociopathic. BP’s malfeasance is only the most recent and grotesque example; a few moments’ search turns up an appalling roster of inexcusable acts committed by major oil companies, often in parts of the world with inadequate legal and logistical mechanisms for dealing with the consequences of environmental criminality. Even if climate change were not a Damoclean sword over our heads, the unique combination of malignity and incompetence that has characterized Big Oil’s collective actions over the past half a century should be a more than adequate reason for us all to end our dependence on fossil fuels. Why give money to a rude, destructive, irresponsible boor?
WarrenS
Um, porcupine with hiccups. Yes.
And Charlotte loves Hedgehogs, so we did some surfing this weekend for hedgehog videos. It has to be viewed with the really cheesy music because, well, it goes with the images :)
Please go check out EcoJustice tonight, ecojustice: deepwater death counts. boatsie has done her usual amazing job of tying narrative, photos and reality together to create an amazing teaching moment, and not one bit of meta in sight.
Hands Across The Sand: Against offshore drilling, for clean energy
I am going to the event in Dana Point, CA and asked the group for Clean the Oceans for Lily the Gray whale to start one there. See a gap? It's not too late to start your own meet up, imagine if all of us linked hands across the coasts? IMAGINE IT?
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(All times Eastern!)
Today's eKos diaries:
Author | Diary | Time | Tags |
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Crashing Vor | The Invisible Hand Gives Deep Water Drilling the Finger | 06/21/10 12:00AM Eastern | Recommended, Louisiana, NOLA, Gulf Coast, BP |
jmknapp | How thick is the slick? | 06/21/10 08:08AM Eastern | BP, oil, spill, eKos |
Gorette | Bush/Cheney Exec Order 5/01 = Gusher in Gulf | 06/21/10 09:26AM Eastern | Recommended, Gulf Oil Spill, George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, MMS |
the girl | The Black Wave ...and how to stop it. | 06/21/10 10:20AM Eastern | The Black Wave, ekos, Riki Ott, Ultimate Civics, Exxon Valdez |
NRDCActionFund | WH Climate and Clean Energy Meeting Wednesday, Tell Senators to Seize the Moment! | 06/21/10 12:47PM Eastern | Clean energy, climate, Barack Obama, White House, NRDC Action Fund |
Edger | BP Burning Sea Turtles Alive In Attempt To Limit Liability? | 06/21/10 01:48PM Eastern | eKos, BP, British Petroleum, Deepwater Horizon, Gulf of Mexico |
beach babe in fl | Macca's Meatless Monday..Lettuce In | 06/21/10 06:01PM Eastern | eKos, green, meat production, livestock production, climate change |
Yesterday's eKos diaries:
Author | Diary | Time | Tags |
---|
BruceMcF | Sunday Train: Can the US get its Energy Freedom Act Together? | 06/20/10 07:06PM Eastern | Living Energy Independence, HSR, Steel Interstate, transport, learning |
Ellinorianne | BP - Burning Petroleum is now Burning Turtles Alive | 06/20/10 08:13PM Eastern | Recommended, eKos, Kemp's Ridleys Turtles, Environmental, BP |
Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse | Obama nixes quickie MTR permits! | 06/20/10 10:02PM Eastern | climate change news roundup, climate change, environment, ekos, teaching |
Neon Vincent | Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday (Fathers' Day 2010 edition) | 06/20/10 12:15AM Eastern | Overnight News Digest, OND, science, space, environment |
lineatus | Dawn Chorus Birdblog: The Essential Elements (Yosemite) | 06/20/10 09:08AM Eastern | birds, birding, Yosemite, oil spill, ekos |
Crashing Vor | Dear Human Beings | 06/20/10 09:08AM Eastern | oil, life, Deepwater Horizon, eKos, human beings |
Laurence Lewis | Remembering Luke Cole, pioneer of environmental justice law | 06/20/10 01:00PM Eastern | Luke Cole, Ralph Abascal, Angela Harris, environment, environmental justice |
WarrenS | ECSTASY and Music - You Can't Steal A Gift! | 06/20/10 02:05PM Eastern | ECSTASY, eKos, DK Greenroots, music, intellectual property |
murrayewv | Wolf Sushi | 06/20/10 02:14PM Eastern | bluefin, tuna, Deepwater Horizon, Gulf Oil Disaster, dispersant |
wide eyed lib | Free Food: IDing Plants Now to Forage Next Year | 06/20/10 04:17PM Eastern | Foraging, Botany, Survival Skills, Teaching, Summer |
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