A report here on Al Gore speaking out on geoengineering. I totally agree. The Earth is a magnificent living, breathing, organism that can take care of herself quite well, thank you, without any *help* from us.
What we need to do is put on our big adult pants and scale down the polluting. It means stop giving industry the right to pollute what belongs to all of us. Well, that’s not accurate, either, because it doesn’t really *belong* to us, but rather, we are borrowing it while we are here.
It’s not ours to do with as we please, but a gift to be cherished and given back….what a wonderful humble idea…
…meanwhile, that 15 MILLION pounds of toxins into Indiana waterways keeps flashing in my head….
So…the spill in West Virginia in the Elk River has gone into the Ohio River and is headed our way…so I went looking to see how the authorities are dealing with it…
I found that the Cincinnati folk are right on this–
When I looked for Indiana authorities’ action on it…nothing. No surprise there. The Indiana Dept. of Environmental (MIS-) Management allows businesses three years between inspections. West Virginia could happen here. (and probably already has, but without nary a peep from anyone who knows about it.)
But I did find this disturbing report. Indiana is guilty of dumping 15 MILLION pounds of toxins into the waterways. Good Grief!
Here’s yet another disturbing report of BP once again poisoning a body of water from the Whiting, Indiana, refinery…you know, the petcoke we’ve talked about. This time, it’s our wonderful Lake Michigan they’re dumping mercury into….where is the media coverage here? *crickets*
If you don’t think two pounds of mercury sounds like a lot, keep in mind it only take a thermometer of mercury to poison a 20-acre lake.
(Of course, I take exception to this article ignoring amalgams as sources of mercury along with vaccines. And ignoring GMO’s as impacts on the gut, allowing heavy metal poisoning.)
This is a disturbing report on our stupidity and carelessness and its impacting ecology, and specifically the orcas.
Here’s a Puget Sound indigenous group trying to help the orcas.
Of course, thinking of the west coast, my mind wandered towards the impact of Fukushima. A member of the mercury support group has stated that she felt much worse after moving to the west coast. She left after a year.
From the article:
Barrett-Lennard says the southern resident orca pod, which is found in the Salish Sea between Vancouver Island and the B.C. mainland, has lost seven matriarchs over the past two years, and he’s noticed a lack of vocalizations from the normally chatty mammals.
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More here. This is even more sobering in detail. There is an animated video of the radiation trail towards the United States and Canada. Be sure to click on the Laura James video –a picture says a thousand words. It made me nauseous looking at all the dead and dying sea stars.
They also make note that it is happening in Maine and New Jersey, so they question the Fukushima connection…but perhaps the radiation didn’t stop at the West Coast, but has traveled inland, as they say?
They also make note that the moose population is dying off–so much so that Wisconsin called off its moose hunt this past year. The deer population, as I’ve blogged about, is suffering and dying, too. And nobody questions GMO’s and their possible impact on these animals.
Idle No More has a post up on the far-reaching effects of NAFTA. This is especially important because now we have NAFTA on steroids with TPP being fast-tracked through Congress.
Though officials did meet with NGOs opposed to the mine, they accepted Blackfire’s take that protestors were out to squeeze money from the firm, says MiningWatch’s analysis of the emails.
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Of course….because the mining company execs see everything in $$, they think everyone *else* thinks as they do. It is inconceivable to them that there are people who value the environment, their health, their children’s health, the Earth, etc.
Note how the company was unable to substantiate claims against Abarca. It appears he was thrown in jail under false claims.
NAFTA, and I fear TPP, are all about taking power and control away from the local people. It means losing their autonomy to decide what happens in their communities, as the mega million dollar lawsuit illustrates.
These trade agreements are not supportive of the democratic process, rather a dictatorial process. How is this representation of taxpayers?
Gene Logsdon’s book, Holy Shit has now become a textbook. I haven’t read it, but definitely on my list from the great comments here. (still feeling rather puny, so that’s the most comment you’re going to get out of me.)
Dow and Monsanto seem to be in a race to see who can be the most sociopathic. Because only a sociopath can bioengineer corn so that they can poison the earth more, no matter at the cost to the ecology, humans, and animals.
The Center for Food Safety has a petition up to somehow get the spineless FDA to stop this depraved idea. Please sign it–you never know, they just might feel the pressure for once.
Occupy Monsanto has this up on the ongoing efforts to get GMO food labeled. A shareholder has proposed labeling, but the board has rejected that. (no surprise there)
They are having an event this week to bring attention to the FDA ignoring the public’s wishes for labeling.
Here is a good video of Michael Twitty and his efforts to have African cooks recognized for their contributions to culinary endeavors.
I just want to add that women in general have added so much to our culinary endeavors, but that has been under recognized, if at all. Men put on white hats and call themselves “chefs”. Women cook. Get it?
Okay, people, stop your whining about how c-c-c-c-cold it is and the snow…
So…I thought I’d list the benefits of Winter:
–The snow is ESSENTIAL for us not to have a drought. A biology teacher once said that we needed at least two feet of snow each winter to avoid having a drought. With the climate change weird weather, I would up that to three feet of snow. Right now, we’ve almost gotten that, so we’re looking pretty good for next summer.
–The freezing weather kills a lot of bugs.
–Playing in the snow is fun. The beauty is phenomenal.
–After a winter is through, we can appreciate Spring and warmer weather. Would we appreciate it as much if we didn’t have the colder weather?
–Winter isn’t for sissies. Like the butterfly struggling out of its cocoon, the struggle makes one stronger.
–The winter allows the plants to “sleep” and rest. The snow protects the roots from the severe cold. I dislike the “bad” part of this post, because it is always from a human’s perspective, instead of all of nature. The broken branches or dead trees serve as homes to creatures, or as a base for other living plants that use the decaying matter as food.
Here’s a neat video with an amazing dead tree hosting several plants:
And here is a video on life beginning again after a devastating wildfire.
Related to the trees, I found this video on saving acorn seeds for planting:
(As a side note~ I just have to say that I’m digging the hairy arms. I don’t know how it all got started, but men shaving their arms and chests bare is a turn off. )
Also related to winter, I came across this ecotraction substitute to winter salting on roads. Great idea. I heard that they were using beet juice now in salt mixtures for the roads, and at first I thought that was better than the destructive effects of salt, but then I thought…they’re using food when people are hungry…yeah, can’t support that. Beets are especially good for their detoxing effects.
Eagle 
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