Category Archives: ecology

Earthships in Malawi **edited

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Michael Reynolds’ Earthships has a post up on their project in Malawi.  They are asking for donations for the $50,000 tuition.  I’m a little late to the party, but if you scroll down, you will see a benefit to help–$100 donation for a lunch and 1 beer. 🙂

Please donate if you are able.

I would go in a heartbeat if I could.

I love earthships’ philosophy–use local materials, build with sustainability in mind, and once folks are taught how to build, get out of the way.  I also love the artsy designs–the use of the glass bottles behind Phil Baseheart are awesome!

**edited to correctly identify Phil Baseheart.  Argh…stupid ADD.

All things ALEC

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Center for Media and Democracy has several links up on ALEC:

(most of these are from the week prior to the 40th birthday bash in Chicago)

They long for the bygone era.

ALEC agenda.

More *cough* scholarship funds for those poor, poor legislators…

I, for one, would like to know the reasons that Larry Summers, a hedge fund manager, would be the optimal choice for Federal Reserve.  WTH?

Pissed off at how much you’re taxed….well, how does this grab ya?  You at least expect your taxes to go towards useful things like roads, police, fire, schools….but, no, it is going to subsidize these folks.

This is the latest–the treatment of the protestors by Chicago P.D.  A note in the comments section said that over 900 people were arrested.

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On to other things–

Pandora’s lunchbox. Basically, like Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride tells GAPS patients….nothing processed is good for you–avoid it like the plague.  Try to eat more raw than cooked food.  Cooking destroys the enzymes in food–enzymes are used in all processes in your body.  This includes digestion of proteins and other nutrients so that your body can utilize them.  It won’t do your body any good if it lacks the enzymes to digest the nutrients.

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Lastly, there’s nanotechnology everywhere.  Is anybody regulating it? Well, yes and no.  The FDA is regulating silver nanoparticals, but you know the FDA on the nanotechnology as a whole….throw it out there and hope nobody notices.  Be sure to click on the links for Grist’s take (I knew there was a reason that I felt like I had sludge in my gut after eating M&M’s); also the link for Purdue’s report on the fish; and  the effect on DNA.  Yep.

 

Fukushima gets much worse

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The water is being contaminated...and they have no effing clue how to stop it.  Why is this kind of thing always an after-thought?  Why are companies allowed to build nuclear reactors (or do fracking or deep well oil drilling)  when they haven’t the slightest idea how to deal with emergencies like this?

Tell me, when your aquifer is contaminated with radioactive waste….where do you go for water?  Where?

Folks, if you don’t have clean water to drink, you die.  Three days is the longest one can go without water.  Three days.

Four things you should know about Fukushima.

Being misled by media here.

And here.  See…it’s all in your head.  It’s all in your head.  It’s all in your head.

This one isn’t quite as bad as the rest, but still has false reassurances.

From the last link:

Fukushima isn’t there yet. So far, most of the material in the core, including the longest-lived isotopes, seems to have stayed there. Far less material entered the atmosphere (only 10 percent of what was released by Chernobyl), and most of that drifted over uninhabited areas of the Pacific.

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Aren’t fairy tales nice?  /snark

I would like them to define “uninhabited areas”….because I’m pretty sure if the living beings in the ocean were given a voice, they would be shouting that they’re pretty damn sure they’re living in the radioactive water.  Good Grief, we human beings can be so dense sometimes….

Liberal media, where are you? **edited

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Diane Ravitch has a link up to a daily kos piece on the non-coverage of issues Americans care about…

**edited to add this link.

The Sky is Pink

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…because the oil and gas industry says so…

Clearly, with all the evidence out there, the oil and gas industry has been allowed to get away with so much because Congress is so beholden to them.

Very little is said about solar or wind power when members of Congress are spouting the latest “the American people want…” schtick….and nobody ever proposes that the American public needs to reexamine their own energy usage.

Funny how during WWII, they didn’t have a problem asking folks “Is this trip necessary?” to save gas and keep tires from wearing out.

But now…?

*crickets*

It’s good to know some Americans are taking it upon themselves to reduce their gas usage by riding bikes.  I know that is not always possible especially for disabled folk…but perhaps that problem could be solved if bikes were designed with disabled in mind? Surely some nerdy engineer could figure out how to design a bike that would be safe and easy for not-so-disabled folk?

Anyway, we are part of the problem, too.  But we still need to tax the hell out of the oil and gas industry, for one–they’re less likely to cause trouble in D.C. with $$$ lobbyists if they don’t have wads of cash lying around…

Forty Years of ALEC

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They’re protesting ALEC in Chicago as I type…the tweets are keeping tabs on what is going on.  Badass Teachers Association is there.  Others have reported rough treatment by Chicago Police.

https://twitter.com/aaroncynic/status/365556308516151297/photo/1

Chicago Teachers Union

 

Offshore fracking

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<sigh>  it took a Freedom of Information request by the AP to get this.

I rather doubt that it’s only been twelve times.  And the troubling thing is that the EPA only considers human life valuable:

In a statement to the AP, the EPA defended its oversight of offshore fracking, saying its system ensures the practice does not pollute the environment in a way that would endanger human health.

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…because killing whales and fish isn’t important.  Neither is contaminating the ocean water…oh, wait…the oil companies are putting freshy clean water back into the ocean when they’re done putting nasty chemicals that they won’t name into the ocean floor.  I mean, there is no waaay that the oil companies would lie or minimize their impact.  /snark

 

The history of pipeline spills

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Really hard to deny the massive incidents when you see this.

You can’t even see Indiana from all the “incidents”.  Nor Illinois nor Ohio.  And Texas!  A state that size that is practically obliterated by the dots should be up in arms about this.    Some folks are wisening up, though–unfortunately, it’s after they become sick and unable to put up much of a fight.

I found this timeline on wikipedia.  It’s pretty hard to deny how dirty this business is and how careless they are.  Why should they care?  They have Congress bought off….

Not only that, here are nuclear and radiation accidents…

…makes you feel all warm and cozy, doesn’t it?  No?

Koch cloud over Detroit

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Holy Crap. 

My worst fears that  I blogged about on that pile of pet coke in Detroit…Good God.  And the Koch brothers get away with murder….oh, it doesn’t look like murder because people die more slowly from emphysema, heart disease, and lung disease and God-knows-what-else….but it’s murder just the same.  Just because one doesn’t see blood spurting doesn’t mean the guilty are innocent.  Unconscionable.