Welcome to the eKos Earthship, your one-stop-shop for green diaries and series.
Beneath the fold you will find news and notes, community announcements, and our eco-diary roundup.
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Tonight's editor: ellinorianne
Please remember to rec the BP Catastrophe Liveblog Mothership: 90
And don't forget to check out Ecojustice, tonight's diary is EcoJustice: Coming to Ecuador, with or without Chevron
All views expressed by today's editor do not necessarily represent those of eKos or eKos listed diarists.
A must read piece from the New York Times about the observed devastating climate change realities from the top of the world and what we are facing because of our collectively inability to act.
Disaster at the Top of the World
Climate policy is gridlocked, and there’s virtually no chance of a breakthrough. Many factors have conspired to produce this situation. Human beings are notoriously poor at responding to problems that develop incrementally. And most of us aren’t eager to change our lifestyles by sharply reducing our energy consumption.
But social scientists have identified another major reason: Climate change has become an ideologically polarizing issue. It taps into deep personal identities and causes what Dan Kahan of Yale calls "protective cognition" — we judge things in part on whether we see ourselves as rugged individualists mastering nature or as members of interconnected societies who live in harmony with the environment. Powerful special interests like the coal and oil industries have learned how to halt movement on climate policy by exploiting the fear people feel when their identities are threatened.
Given this reality, we’ll almost certainly need some kind of devastating climate shock to get effective climate policy. That’s the key lesson of the recent financial crisis: when powerful special interests have convinced much of the public that what they’re doing isn’t dangerous, only a disaster that discredits those interests will provide an opportunity for comprehensive policy change like the Dodd-Frank financial regulations.
It's disheartening to think that we would have to wait for something worse than the Gulf oil spill to act but that's what it looks like what is going to happen and there are people thinking about just what we would have to do to respond. Responding to Threat of Climate Change Mega-Catastrophes is a project referenced in the NYT's piece as part of this massive puzzle and it makes me wonder, just how massive does it have to be?
Natural Research Defense Council, "We cannot wait any longer to put our nation on a path to cleaner energy."
Americans support these goals. And we are looking to our Senators to pass legislation that will create jobs and cut pollution.
Comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation must do four things:
Promote investment in energy efficiency as well as wind, solar and other renewable sources of power.
Set a cap on the carbon pollution that is contributing to climate change.
Complement, not discard, existing state and federal efforts to reduce carbon emissions. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency has the authority to regulate carbon pollution under the Clean Air Act. And governments in a number of states have taken action already to protect their citizens from rising levels of carbon. Federal legislation should complement these efforts, not compromise them.
Provide the leadership we need to support international efforts to deal with climate change -- real carbon reductions, preserving forests around the world and aid for the poorest and most vulnerable people on earth in coping with the ravages of climate change.
These are the cornerstones of a successful bill that will make our economy stronger and our country more secure. Oil and coal companies are expected to spend millions lobbying to protect their profits and keep the United States dependent on polluting energy sources. The oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico graphically demonstrates the dangers of our dependence on fossil fuels.
Rising global temperatures, even at the lower end of predicted ranges, could cause extensive melting of sea ice and glaciers, widening desertification, sea level rise and other changes that could be potentially devastating for the United States, our economy and people around the world. This year alone, smokestacks and tailpipes worldwide will pump a record 33 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the air, most from the burning of coal, oil and gas. The United States can't wait any longer to curb emissions, reduce our dependence on oil and develop clean energy technologies.
Factory Farming and the Recall of a Half a Billion Eggs
The latest round of recalls because of a salmonella break out underlines some of the major issues surrounding factory farming. Much of it has to do with the fact that they are not only a breeding ground for terrible conditions which allow for such an outbreak, but that they supply so much food to so many.
Factory Farming and Salmonella
The recalled eggs were all from one farm, Wright County Egg. The owner of the Iowa farm, Jack DeCoster was said to provide "morally repugnant" working conditions and was a "habitual violator" of environmental laws according to prosecutors and regulators in the area.
But this is really no surprise. I've written about factory farming and the unbridled spread of disease before. According to the National Academy of Sciences, roughly 70 percent of the antibiotics and other antimicrobial drugs used in the U.S. are fed to farm animals not only to promote growth but to prevent rampant disease from striking animals that are kept in filthy, stressful environments. In fact, many common bacteria including salmonella and a few other culprits like Campylobacter, Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), and E. coli) have even developed a resistance to these drugs.
Source
When you have local eggs, or even better, your own backyard chickens, you don't have to worry about such issues (and no, chickens are not dirty or loud and many more cities should allow them).
And the media is catching on!
Recalled Eggs List: Blame Factory Farms for Salmonella Outbreak?
Dr. Marion Nestle of the department of nutrition, food studies, and public health at New York University, and the author of "Food Politics" and "What to Eat", is a member of the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production. She toured several factory farms last year.
"It's hard to explain unless you actually see one of these places," she tells CBS News. "Try to imagine an enormous warehouse, as long as two or more city blocks, packed with hundreds of thousands of chickens. And that's 'free range.' Otherwise they are caged six to nine in a cage. If one gets sick, they all get sick."
Federal officials say the current outbreak is likely to grow. That's because illnesses occurring after mid-July may not be reported yet, says Dr. Christopher Braden, an epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
This egg disaster goes hand-in-hand with industrial food production, some experts insist.
Years ago, communities would get eggs from nearby farms, so any outbreaks would be geographically localized, says Dr. William Schaffner, chairman of the department of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn. Today, if there is a problem in some early stage in the distribution chain, it spreads quickly over a very large geographic area and involves a very large number of people, he says.
Please be aware of where your eggs have come from, here is how you can check your eggs to see if they are part of the recall.
And there is an alternative, you can buy from your local farmer's market, and if your city allows, even have your own chickens. Many of our local stores carry eggs that are humanely harvested, not factory farmed and more locally produced.
Brazilian Oil Royalties to Fund Energy, Climate Research
Novel concept, it would mean billions of dollars for research in developed Countries like ours if we promised to make such investments. We should.
Brazil will set aside hundreds of millions in government oil revenue to pay for efforts to reduce carbon emissions and adapt to climate change.
Brazil's national climate fund, signed into law in 2009, will receive $113 million next year, Brazilian officials said, and could eventually spend about $500 million annually, with about half of the cash coming from government royalties on oil production.
Several developing nations, including Indonesia and Bangladesh, have established domestic climate funds, but Brazil's is the first to be financed with oil money. "It's something novel because it sends a price signal by taxing the emitting fuel," says Clifford Polycarp, a policy expert at the World Resources Institute in Washington, D.C., who works on climate financing mechanisms.
India has also started its own fund which will raise a little over five hundred million a year towards a green energy fund from its use of coal.
If Countries like India can do it, why can't we DO MORE?
Rubber Made From Recycled Chewing Gum Could Replace Plastic
It's not news that chewing gum is the scourge of city sidewalks. Nor that it takes a lot of money and energy to clear gum off walkways, shortening the lifespan of the surfaces at the same time. Designer Anna Bullus read the statistics of the gum problem in London -- that the government spends £150 million annually to clean up gum, over 30,000 pieces of which end up stuck to Oxford street alone each day -- and she decided there must be a better way to deal with the problem. So, she headed to the laboratory and came up with a way to transform chewed gum into a useful rubber that can be made into anything from toys to boots. But she's starting out by making chewed gum into discrete but identifiable waste bins for used gum.
Photo from Time Magazine
Help Pakistan
There has been a concerted effort on Daily Kos to bring attention to the disaster in Pakistan. You can find the latest diaries here and here.
Greg (Three Cups of Tea, Stones Into Schools) Mortenson's non-profit (CAI) recommends supporting a local (Pakistani) group to which donations will likely have a large, immediate, and lasting impact-
Human Development Foundation
http://www.hdf.com
(800) 705 1310
From their page about the flooding:
HDF is committed to work towards relief and reconstruction efforts in flood affected HDF program areas including Mardan and Tandoo Muhammad Khan. HDF already has the existing infrastructure and a team of trained employees and volunteers in place. Currently there is need for basic necessities like tents, blankets, cooking sets, utility containers, soap and bedding as well as, basic healthcare.
More details and videos at their site and their YouTube channel.
• • • • • •
Other groups that deserve support as well.
Doctors without Borders (MSF):
DONATE
The Red Cross:
DONATE
OXFAM:
OXFAM's Pakistan page:
With an estimated 6 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, I am concerned that so far the international community hasn’t responded with the speed or on the scale warranted by a disaster of this magnitude.
DONATE
• • • • • •
From the US State dept.
How You Can Help:
Text "SWAT" to 50555; $10 goes to fund for flood victims
(All times Eastern!)
eKos diaries from Monday, August 23, 2010 |
Diary | Author | Time (Eastern) | Tags |
EcoJustice: Coming to Ecuador, with or without Chevron | citisven | 22:00:10 | EcoJustice, Environmental Justice & Human Rights, Lou Dematteis, Ecuador, Amazon |
Tribe, School Show DC Green Energy = Eco/Econ Smart | Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse | 21:00:07 | Recommended, Climate Change News Roundup, environment, climate change, ekos |
Help Me Help Haiti - Please. | environmentalist | 18:06:23 | haiti, volunteer, agroforestry, permaculture, eKos |
Macca's Meatless Monday...My Grill Is Red Hot | beach babe in fl | 18:02:53 | eKos, climate change, meat production, carbon footprint, green |
Cannabis Prohibition: The Past, Present and Future of Fail | xxdr zombiexx | 17:11:34 | Recommended, Cannabis Prohibition, Prop 19, California, Mexican Cartels, Drug War Violence |
Floods in Asia a Result of Climate Change? | akmk | 16:13:53 | fires, floods, Asia, climate change, global warming |
Time to Take On Global Warming Deniers | Steven D | 15:40:14 | eKos, Global Warming, Climate Change, Pakistan, China |
Science Tidbits | possum | 15:24:48 | Science, Teaching, Learning, eKos |
Baobab: Mother of the Sahel | NourishingthePlanet | 13:31:14 | Nourishing the Planet, State of the World, Indigenous Veggie, Baobab, eKos |
Pat Toomey Named to 2010 Dirty Dozen | TonyMassaro | 13:22:29 | ekos, Pat Toomey, joe sestak, environment, climate change |
BP Catastrophe Liveblog Mothership: 90 | Gulf Watchers | 06:00:18 | Recommended, Oilpocalypse, BP, Deepwater Horizon, Gulf of Mexico, LMRP |
Niger Delta: Shell Exxonerated! Bloody Pardoned if you like. | LaFeminista | 01:47:42 | Recommended, Shell, Niger Delta, Oil money, corruption, fantasy |
eKos diaries from Sunday, August 22, 2010 |
Diary | Author | Time (Eastern) | Tags |
Aid Pakistan With Money or Action | Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse | 21:55:44 | Recommended, Pakistan floods, environment, climate change, ekos, Help Pakistan |
Prop 23: California's Future Fights Back Against Oil Money | RLMiller | 20:41:35 | Recommended, California, Proposition 23, Valero Energy, eKos, AB32 |
Sunday Train: Guaranteeing Rural Transport in the face of Peak Oil | BruceMcF | 19:40:03 | ekos, Living Energy Independence, HSR, rail electrification, transport |
An ENERGY Comparison Between Nuclear Plants Now Under Construction, and World Solar PV Production. | NNadir | 14:13:46 | the dead, eKos, science |
Final Update #11: The Week in Editorial Cartoons, Part I - Soup Recipe for Daily Kos Trolls | JekyllnHyde | 14:05:08 | Recommended, The Week in Editorial Cartoons, eKos, British Petroleum, Gulf of Mexico, Climate Change |
An optimistic diary (for once) | Jerome a Paris | 13:50:50 | Recommended, economy, class war, ecology, Not Barack Obama |
Ken Hechler .. a name maybe you've never heard of. | shpilk | 13:06:28 | Ken Hechler, WV-Sen, MTR, energy, ekos |
Animal NUZ #8: Color Comic Strip ONLY(!) on Daily Kos | ericlewis0 | 11:01:07 | Animal Nuz, Tiger, Tigers, Baghdad Zoo, Iraq War |
Dawn Chorus Birdblog: The Virginia Rail And Poetry | Pam LaPier | 08:21:35 | Virginia Rail, Gulf Coast, birds, birding, Dawn Chorus |
BP Catastrophe Liveblog Mothership: 89 | Gulf Watchers | 06:00:05 | Recommended, Oilpocalypse, BP, Deepwater Horizon, Gulf of Mexico, LMRP |
Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday (Woodward Dream Cruise 2010 edition) | Neon Vincent | 00:16:09 | Recommended, Overnight News Digest, OND, science, space |
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