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Global warming time bomb trapped in Arctic soil: study
Climate change could release unexpectedly huge stores of carbon dioxide from Arctic soils, which would in turn fuel a vicious circle of global warming, a new study warned Sunday.
And according to one commentary on the research, current models of climate change have not taken this extra source of greenhouse gas into account.
Scientists have long known that organic carbon trapped inside a blanket of frozen permafrost covering one fifth of the world's land mass would, if thawed, release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
But until now they simply did not have a good idea of how much carbon is actually locked inside this Arctic freezer.
To find out, a team of American researchers led by Chien-Lu Ping of the University of Alaska Fairbanks examined a wide range of landscapes across North America.
They took soil samples from 117 sites, each to a depth of at least one metre, in order to provide a full assessment of the region's so-called "carbon pool."
Previous estimates of the Arctic carbon pool relied heavily on a relative handful of measurements conducted outside of the Arctic, and only to a depth of 40 centimetres (15.5 inches).
The study, published in the British journal Nature Geoscience, found that the stock of organic carbon "is considerably higher than previously thought" -- 60 percent more than the previously estimated.
This is roughly equivalent of one sixth of the entire carbon content in the atmosphere.
And that is just for North America. The size and mix of landscapes in the northern reaches of Europe and Russia are about the same, and probably contain a comparable amount of carbon-dioxide producing matter currently held in check only by the cold, the study said.
And the danger of a thaw is real, note climate scientists.
photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/71485028@N00/206612972/
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This has not been taken into account in climate models. Ten years now seems like a long time to wait to do something about climate change. I say, if we count on politicians to see the moral urgency of this in time to act accordingly, we're screwed. Time for them to have their feet held to the fire. Climate change could release unexpectedly huge stores of carbon dioxide from Arctic soils, which would in turn fuel a vicious circle o... more -
New rays of hope for solar power's future
From five miles away, the Nevada Solar One power plant seems a mirage, a silver lake amid waves of 110 degree F. desert heat. Driving nearer, the rippling image morphs into a sea of mirrors angled to the sun.
As the first commercial “concentrating solar power” or CSP plant built in 17 years, Nevada Solar One marks the reemergence and updating of a decades-old technology that could play a large new role in US power production, many observers say.
“Concentrating solar is pretty hot right now,” says Mark Mehos, program manager for CSP at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Co. “Costs look pretty good compared to natural gas [power]. Public policy, climate concern, and new technology are driving it, too.”
Spread in military rows across 300 acres of sun-baked earth, Nevada Solar One’s trough-shaped parabolic mirrors are the core of this CSP plant – also called a “solar thermal” plant. The mirrors focus sunlight onto receiver tubes, heating a fluid that, at 735 degrees F., flows through a heat exchanger to a steam generator that supplies 64 megawatts of electricity to 14,000 Las Vegas homes.
Today the United States has 420 megawatts of solar-thermal capacity across three installations – including Nevada Solar One. That’s just a tiny fraction (less than 1 percent) of US grid capacity. But Nevada Solar One could signal the start of a CSP building boom.
Efforts to generate another 4,500 megawatts of solar thermal power are now in development across California, Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico – all of which have the flat, near-cloudless skies most desirable for solar thermal, the Solar Electric Industries Association reports.
Photovoltaic panels that produce electricity directly from the sun’s rays work well on rooftops, but are still too costly for utility-scale power generation. Solar thermal, however, is nearing the cost of a natural gas-fired turbine power plant – making it a winner with several power companies that have signed long-term contracts to purchase solar-thermal power.
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We all need to demand this now, and we need to tell Congress, especially Senate Republicans who vote down tax incentives for renewable energy that they can no longer get away with continuing to put us at risk for their own profit. Republicans in this country, do you not see what those who claim to support you are doing to the future of your children? This should not be a Democratic or Republican issue, this is a human issue and right now we need new, clean, efficient, safer sources of energy not only to wean us off ALL oil, but to provide a better planet for our children, create jobs, and bring peace. Solar power is our future, and it is wonderful to see these strides taking place now.
The solution comes up every morning. From five miles away, the Nevada Solar One power plant seems a mirage, a silver lake amid waves of 110 degree F. desert heat. Driving ... more -
Cyprus drought at crisis stage
Climate change and a rising population in the region are lending to a drought that is now near crisis stage in Cyprus. I find it very hard to comprehend why so many people do not take this seriously. Water is the mainstay of our lives. Without it we die. The people of Cyprus and actually the entire Mediterranean area are now seeing rising temperatures with less water due to water evaporation. This is now a global crisis that must be addressed along with the climate crisis. We cannot continue to take water for granted and expect it will be there when we need it. For the people of Cyprus as well as people in Australia, Asia, Africa, South America, and now North America, this is just a foretaste of what is to come if we do not get serious about water conservation, more efficient irrigation, and cutting Co2 emissions. Climate change and a rising population in the region are lending to a drought that is now near crisis stage in Cyprus. I find it very ... more
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Palo Alto teen starts climate change nonprofit to spread awareness
A 17-year-old Palo Alto girl has launched what she hopes will become a nationwide youth movement focused on global warming.
This weekend, some 80 teenagers have gathered at Stanford University for a three-day conference that marks the kickoff of Inconvenient Youth, a campaign founded by Castilleja School rising senior Mary Doerr. Each is being trained to lead presentations on climate change based loosely on the one given by Al Gore in his film, "An Inconvenient Truth."
But where Gore sought mainly to educate and warn people of climate change's perils, Doerr says her group emphasizes action. Beyond showing slides, its members will be asked to lobby elected officials, start clubs at their schools, and find ways to cut their own families' greenhouse gas emissions.
The whole enterprise revolves around a Web site that doubles as a resource hub - with tips such as how to set up a slide projector - and a social networking community where members can share ideas and experiences.
"I want to get young people everywhere engaged and active and really questioning," Doerr said. "What right do older generations have to jeopardize our future?"
Doerr admits her goal of starting a youth movement akin to the civil rights movements of the 1960s is ambitious, especially for a girl who plans to take a full course load in her upcoming senior year of high school. But she already has plenty of help.
Other teens, including 19-year-old Miles Alkine of Menlo Park, have joined Inconvenient Youth as officers. Adults, including family friends and mentors, sit on the nonprofit's advisory board.
On Friday, the conference's young attendees got advice on stage poise from an adult speech coach. Thanks to family connections, the public relations firm Burson-Marsteller helped publicize the event pro bono. Attendees were recruited from the Bay Area and beyond through a grapevine of school officials.
"We wanted to kick off in the most effective way possible and unite kids from all over the place," Doerr said. A 17-year-old Palo Alto girl has launched what she hopes will become a nationwide youth movement focused on global warming. ... more -
GM sugarbeets not a sweet proposition, and citizens are fighting back
Never underestimate the power of a few committed people to change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
-- Anthropologist Margaret Mead
Even if you've heard the above quote many times before, the sentiment expressed is so powerful that I think it's worth repeating. All around the world, small groups of people are organizing public support for improved food safety and successfully challenging large corporations to change their behavior.
That's exactly what Flint Michigan residents Kathleen Kirby and Mark Fisher are banking on: their power to influence change. They're participating in a nationwide consumer boycott of Kellogg's Co. instigated by the Organic Consumers Association. By boycotting the world's largest cereal company, they hope to pressure Kellogg's into rejecting the use of sugar from genetically engineered (GE) sugar beets and to spark widespread market rejection in products ranging from cereal to baby food to candy.
As you may know, Roundup Ready sugar beets are genetically altered to resist Monsanto's toxic weed killer, Roundup, and its active ingredient, glyphosate. But here's the scary truth about these beets:
When the USDA first approved GE sugar beets for commercial planting in 1998, the EPA also increased the maximum allowable residues of glyphosate on sugar beet roots from just 0.2 parts per million to 10ppm. That's a staggering 5,000 percent increase of allowable toxins on beet roots. And, it's little surprise that EPA made this policy change at the request of Monsanto.
Sugar beet roots contain sucrose that's extracted, refined, and processed into the sugar used in the foods we eat. What this means is that the more GE ingredients that find their way into our food, the greater the likelihood that we are ingesting more toxic chemicals.
Thankfully, GE sugar beets have never been grown in the U.S. for sale to food manufacturers -- that is, until this year, when Western farmers planted their first crop of Monsanto's Roundup Ready sugar beets. Right now, over half of the sugar used in U.S. processed foods comes from sugar beets, with beet and cane sugars combined in those products. What's most disturbing is that once GE sugar beets hit the market, which could be as early as next year, there will be no way to know if we're eating GE sugar because GE ingredients are not labeled.
Currently, only four major GE crops are sold commercially -- corn, cotton, soy, and canola. Most of these are engineered to withstand repeated, large doses of herbicides. For the most part, these crops and their byproducts are largely fed to animals with the exception of some minor food ingredients and oils. GE beet sugar breaks with this tradition in that it could become the first major GE ingredient added to almost all processed foods on our grocery store shelves.
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Our food supply is systematically being taken over and poisoned by Monsanto.There is no other way to state it now. If sugarbeets are allowed to continue to become a part of our food supply, then you can expect that EVERYTHING you touch will be genetically modified, and it has NOT been proven to be safe for human consumption or our environment. Please, I have been writing on this for months along with others who have been trying to make people understand how URGENT it is that you get involved in pushing state legislatures to require proper labelling of GM sources in foods. Read up on this at the Monsanto tag and take action.
Citizen activism is the only way to make companies like Monsanto back down. Consumers did it regarding POSILAC, and we can do it with this. Current TV is the only place I have been able to get exposure to this so far aside from my own blog, and it is also because of people here voting the information up so more can see it. So thank you to those who fight the good fight here everyday over those who would do anything in their power to keep this down. Never underestimate the power of a few committed people to change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." ... more -
Gore's Plan Gets Another Push During Olympics
Al Gore came to Washington in July to issue a challenge to the country: create a new energy economy that will generate 100 percent of America's electricity from clean sources within 10 years. Now the former vice president’s advocacy group, the Alliance for Climate Protection, has launched a new TV ad to spread the message to Olympics viewers.
The group debuted "Switch" (subscription) on NBC during Monday's coverage of the Games; the spot will continue to air on NBC and USA Network through next week.
As in the group's first TV ad, actor William H. Macy narrates and soothing music creates an upbeat tone to promote the group's message: "Together we can solve the climate crisis." Americans from different walks of life are shown coming together to help each other turn on giant light switches -- one in the desert, one in a field, one at a factory and one in the middle of a city.
Macy lays out some of the vast challenges facing the country: "a weaker economy, soaring gas prices, growing dependence on foreign oil and a worsening climate crisis." But, he says, "there’s a bold new solution for all of these challenges." He presents Gore's plan to create clean electricity as a way to combat both economic and national security threats. "All we need is your help," he says, encouraging viewers to "join the more than one million people who are already demanding we switch on a brighter future."
“The Olympics are a time for all Americans to reflect on our nation’s achievements and what we as a people can do together," Alliance for Climate Protection CEO Cathy Zoi said in a press release announcing the ad. "Choosing the right path and re-powering our nation is something we can do, and something that will benefit us all.”
For all the money the group is pouring into its public outreach effort, however, recent polling data suggests that Americans' attention is not squarely focused on climate change issues. With the election and economic problems occupying the media spotlight, the number of Americans who say they consider global warming an important issue to them personally has fallen 5 percentage points since 2007 to 47 percent. Al Gore came to Washington in July to issue a challenge to the country: create a new energy economy that will generate 100 percent of ... more -
Monsanto to pursue divestiture of POSILAC
Interesting... Is Monsanto feeling the heat from farmers, people in the medical field, consumer groups, and state attorney generals who know this product is dangerous? Or are they simply looking to do this to invest more in their continuing effort to control the entire seed market of the world and the pesticides that are toxifying it? Personally, I think they are feeling some heat regarding the labelling of products, and people are becoming more informed as to what they buy. People are becoming aware and don't want antibiotics and pus in their milk, nor an added injection of IGF-1 everytime they pour a glass of it. Perhaps the next step will be to have it banned altogether as it should be. Interesting... Is Monsanto feeling the heat from farmers, people in the medical field, consumer groups, and state attorney generals wh... more
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A farmer's fight against GMO contamination
A Northern California farmer and dairyman is on a mission to make food safer for all of us. He is Albert Straus and he runs his family creamery, the first organic creamery west of the Mississippi.
The Straus Family Dairy Farm was established up in Tomales Bay in 1941 with just 23 cows! Now there are more than 300. While the family always followed sustainable land practices, Albert began his quest to become certified organic in 1993. It takes a dairy heard one year to become fully certified to produce organic milk and in 1994, the farm became the first certified organic dairy west of the Mississippi River. Also that same year, Straus opened Straus Family Creamery to produce organic milk, yogurt, butter and ice cream under the family name.
Another thing happened on the way to becoming certified organic. Straus came across animal feed that was contaminated with genetically modified organisms, or GMO's.
"GMO contamination of organic feeds could threaten consumers' safety, as well as my dairy's organic certification," said Straus. "Close to 70% of our food supply has it."
Last year, Straus began testing his purchased certified-organic feeds. He found that one out of every three batches of certified organic corn had some contamination from GMOs, ranging from trace levels up to 6 percent contamination.
Straus decided to act, starting a non-GMO program , that requires all feed and ingredient suppliers to submit the results of a strip test analysis prior to shipment of the feed or ingredient.
"I started this program in order to safeguard my livelihood as an organic farmer," said Straus. "Our requirements are causing other companies to sit up and take notice."
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Are companies sending out bands of thugs to deliberately contaminate organic crops? The pervasiveness of it seems to be too coincidental to just be the wind blowing. Good to see farmers standing up to this. A Northern California farmer and dairyman is on a mission to make food safer for all of us. He is Albert Straus and he runs his family... more -
Climate activists occupy proposed site for coal plant in Britain
Climate change activists yesterday occupied the proposed site for Britain's first coal-fired power station in 30 years, claiming the development will cause huge damage to the environment if it goes ahead.
More than 150 protesters descended on the site near the village of Kingsnorth in Kent ahead of next week's Camp for Climate Action, which is expected to attract thousands of environmentalists.
Activist Connor O'Brien said: "The purpose of the climate change camp is to target those businesses and companies who are involved in bringing about destructive climate change. This is the first of six coal-fired power stations being planned in the UK and if they go ahead the impact on the environment will be catastrophic."
The protest started on Sunday when environmentalists gathered at Heathrow airport - the scene of last year's camp - before travelling across London in a "green caravan", stopping off each night to highlight their objections to the proposed power station. The caravan is expected to arrive at Kingsnorth on Sunday along with hundreds of other protesters.
O'Brien said: "We want to make the issue of coal-fired power stations so big and so toxic that they will be widely opposed by the public and it will be impossible for them to go ahead. What we need is properly sustainable solutions."
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Amen. As long as no one gets hurt in these protests, I back them 100%. It is time to fight big coal and its destruction of our environment and humans and other species. If this is the only way to get that noticed, I'm for it. Too bad people in the US on the whole are more distracted by tabloid news than actually getting up and doing something to save this planet and ourselves. I hope we see more of these. Climate change activists yesterday occupied the proposed site for Britain's first coal-fired power station in 30 years, claiming ... more -
California attorney general cracks down on Nestle water bottling plant plans
Attorney General Jerry Brown on Tuesday said he will sue to block a proposed water-bottling operation in Northern California unless its effects on global warming are evaluated.
Nestle Waters North America wants to pump about 200 million gallons of water a year from three natural springs that supply McCloud, about 280 miles north of San Francisco. Brown's office said that's enough to fill 3.1 billion 8-ounce plastic water bottles.
The water would be bottled at a 350,000-square-foot facility on the outskirts of the former lumber town.
The Swiss-based company scaled back its plans in May after years of opposition from environmentalists and a group of McCloud residents. It originally sought to pump more than double the amount of water.
David Palais, Nestle's Northern California natural resource manager, said the company already was planning studies on air and water quality, hazardous materials, traffic conditions and climate change for a new environmental review of the bottling plant.
"We appreciate the attorney general's letter and share his commitment to ensuring that new projects in California do not negatively impact the environment," Palais said in a statement.
He said the company will conduct environmental studies over the next two or three years. Afterward, Siskiyou County will prepare a new environmental impact report for the project.
Brown said the company must put its revisions into a new contract with the town of McCloud. He wants proper study of the environmental consequences of the bottling operation, saying the previous draft review had "serious deficiencies."
He said it failed to include an examination of whether the operation will contribute to global warming through the production of plastic bottles, the operation's electrical demands and the diesel soot and greenhouse gas emissions produced by trucks traveling to and from the plant.
"It takes massive quantities of oil to produce plastic water bottles and to ship them in diesel trucks across the United States," Brown said in a statement. "Nestle will face swift legal challenge if it does not fully evaluate the environmental impact of diverting millions of gallons of spring water from the McCloud River into billions of plastic water bottles."
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This boggles my mind. California is in a drought in most of the state with more wildfires reported this year, and all Nestle can think of is pumping millions of gallons of water from a spring to put it in plastic bottles to make a profit from it? Another company without a moral center! Attorney General Jerry Brown on Tuesday said he will sue to block a proposed water-bottling operation in Northern California unless it... more -
Appalachian residents have found the antidote to coal: Wind
If Senator Barack Obama ever needs a living symbol of change we can believe in, and a hopeful way to transcend the dirty politics of our failed energy policies, he should go and see the future of renewable energy in the Coal River Valley in West Virginia.
Yes, renewable energy in Appalachia.
Something historic is taking place in West Virginia this summer. Faced with an impending proposal to stripmine over 6,600 acres -- nearly 10 square miles -- in the Coal River Valley, including one of the last great mountains in that range, an extraordinary movement of local residents and coal mining families have come up with a counter proposal for an even more effective wind farm.
Mother Jones, the miners' angel, once declared: "Pray for the dead, and fight like hell for the living."
Having witnessed the destruction of over 470 mountains and their adjacent communities in Appalachia, the Coal River Valley citizens are doing just that. On the frontlines of one of the most tragic environmental and human rights scandals in modern American history, the community-wide Coal River wind advocates have devised a blueprint to get beyond the divisive regional politics and break the stranglehold of King Coal on the central Appalachian economies.
The Coal River Wind Project is the first bottom-up community-based full scale assessment to directly counter the nightmare of mountaintop removal with a renewable energy and economy alternative prior to the actual mining.
We have a choice. It is not simply coal or no coal. Jobs or no jobs. The issue is how do we create jobs and clean energy forever, and begin the transition in Appalachia and America away from dirty coal.
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This is so wonderful. To see residents standing up to big coal to truly bring jobs and health to the Appalachians. Wind is the alternate energy source for this area, and I stand with them in getting this done. And if Barack Obama does care for change, he will stop touting "clean coal" and stand by these residents and their initiative to bring real clean energy and jobs to this part of the country that has been so devastated by the toxic legacy coal has left in its wake. If Senator Barack Obama ever needs a living symbol of change we can believe in, and a hopeful way to transcend the dirty politics of o... more -
Al Gore's Challenge To Repower America: Remix
A momentous challenge awaits us as a species. Not unlike birthing this nation, discovering cures for diseases, and overcoming threats to the principles that guide humanity. This will be no small task, and it will be hard... but for me being hard is what makes it worth the journey to accomplish.
A carbon free energy policy in ten years with a national grid is not pie in the sky. Only to those without vision is it so. Only to those who put down ideas out of political spite is it so. Only to those who see it as a threat to their comfortable way of life is it so. Only to the same gatekeepers of the status quo is it so.
To those who do not see limits to what the spirit and imagination can accomplish... it is time.
Our Earth is crying out for help. We are making our own planet uninhabitable by our own actions. It is our moral duty to make amends for it, and by doing so we will not only save her but ourselves.
The future is here and it is us. We're all we've got, and if we do not heed the warnings now we do a great disservice to those coming after us and those here now.
Ten years is not a long time to secure a lifetime of sustainability.
If we can find money for wars, we can find money for peace.
The Arctic won't wait.
And neither can we.
http://www.wecansolveit.org A momentous challenge awaits us as a species. Not unlike birthing this nation, discovering cures for diseases, and overcoming threats ... more -
Majority Won't Buy Genetically Modified Food
According to a recent CBS News/New York Times poll, 53 percent of Americans say they won't buy food that has been genetically modified. But CBS News investigative correspondent Armen Keteyian reports that it's not that easy to avoid. While most packaged and processed foods do contain genetically modified ingredients, the labels don't have to say so.
Robyn O'Brien teaches her kids to keep a close eye on the labels of the foods they eat.
"In terms of labeling," she says, "they're not always comprehensive and thorough."
What concerns parents like O'Brien is not what's listed, but what is not. Particularly foods made with genetically modified organisms - or GMOs.
"My concern as a mother is, are these kids part of a human trial that I didn't know that I had signed them up for," O'Brien says.
Today, more than 90 percent of the U.S. soybean crop is genetically modified - had its DNA altered to increase production and withstand chemical weed killers like roundup. Nearly three-quarters of all corn planted in the U.S. genetically modified.
Experts say that means if it comes in a can or a box and the label lists soybean oil or corn syrup as ingredients, odds are that it contains GMOs. Overall, 65 percent of all products in your local grocery store have DNA-altered ingredients...not that you'd know it by looking.
"The industry that makes genetically modified foods fought so hard to make sure that it wasn't labeled," nutritionist Marion Nestle tells Keteyian.
Nestle, a former FDA advisor, says this was a fight that boiled down to one basic fear.
"They didn't want it labeled because they were terrified that if it were labeled, nobody would buy it."
Robert Brackett is spokesman for the Grocery Manufacturers of America.
"I think that consumers have that information available to them if they want to look for it," says Brackett, "You can find it on websites. You can go directly to the manufacturer."
When pressed by Keteyian to explain his organization's role in providing information to the consumer, Brackett said, "Well, it's our responsibility to make sure that the foods that are put in the grocery store shelves are safe."
The FDA and bio-tech giants like Monsanto say there's no evidence that GMOs are anything but safe, but food safety advocates ask: how would we know, if the food is not labeled?
"Labeling is the only way that health professionals are going to be able to trace if there is a problem," says Andy Kimbrell from the Center for Food Safety. "For example, if you're a mother and you're giving your child soy formula and that child has a toxic or allergic reaction, the only way you'll know if that's a genetically-engineered soy formula is if it's labeled."
The FDA does not require "disclosure of genetic engineering techniques...on the label," calling GMOs the "substantial equivalent" of conventional crops.
Baloney, says Kimbrell.
"There is nothing - nothing, substantially equivalent from a conventional crop to a GMO crop," he says. "And in every cell of these new GMO foods are bacterias we've never seen in food before: viruses, genetic constructs, antibiotic bugs that they put in there, laboratory contructs that they've put into every cell of these foods."
A new CBS News poll found that 87% of consumers would like GMO ingredients to be labeled, just as they are in Europe, Japan and Australia. Yet the U.S. Congress has never even held a vote on the issue, to give shoppers the opportunity to exercise their most basic right - to make a choice. According to a recent CBS News/New York Times poll, 53 percent of Americans say they won't buy food that has been genetically mod... more -
Update on battle to drive Monsanto's bovine growth hormone off the market
The Organic Trade Association last month filed suit against a new milk labeling rule in Ohio that bans statements about production methods, such as "no artificial hormones."
This suit was the latest bid to block the lobbying by Monsanto Corp. advocates, who are seeking to limit milk labels state-by-state. The International Dairy Foods Association filed suit too.
If successful, the label limitations would prevent consumers from choosing milk that is produced without synthetic growth hormones. Monsanto argues that there is no difference between milk produced with the added growth hormones and milk without it. But consumers advocates - and consumers themselves - take a different view. They want choice.
A similar attempt by Pennsylvania to limit the wording of milk labels was overturned by the governor in January, after a letter writing campaign by consumers and advocacy groups.
Indiana also considered similar legislation, but it failed to get traction in the state legislature. A bill in Missouri failed to pass. Kansas considered a law but it didn't make it through the legislature, nor did an attempt in Vermont. A similar campaign in New Jersey has stalled.
Now, Kansas is revisiting the issue and Utah is considering rules similar to Ohio's.
It's all part of a concerted lobbying effort to save synthetic bovine growth hormone (rBGH or rBST), the milk-boosting genetically engineered drug Monsanto sells under the brand name Posilac. Although the hormone was approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration in 1993, it has been on a downward spiral as consumers, retailers, milk processors and dairy farmers avoid it.
In March, Walmart said all of its store-branded milk would come from cows not treated with rBGH. Kraft is introducing an rBGH-free line of cheese. Dean Foods, the largest milk processor in the nation, is moving away from the synthetic hormone. Kroger has banned the hormone from its store brand milk, as has Safeway.
The hormone has been outlawed in the European Union, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. Like all genetically modified food, it is banned in organic agriculture.
Aside from the impact on animal health, such as mastitis (an udder infection) consumer advocates are concerned that the synthetic hormone increases levels of IGF-1, a hormone that in some studies has been linked to increased breast and prostate cancer risk. Monsanto and the FDA say the hormone is safe.
In the US, the American Nurses Association recently voted to help "eliminate the use or rBGH in the US by appealing to those who make purchasing decisions within the institutions where we work."
So if nurses are so concerned, why are states trying to ban a label that would give consumers a way to avoid milk produced with the hormones?
"This is something the Monsanto lobby must do because the market is starting to work against the product," Michael Hansen, a staff scientist at Consumers Union, said.
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Isn't it rich how Monsanto now stoops to actually stating that injecting this hormone into cows helps stop global warming as if they care when they actually push ethanol? And it is so good to see progress being made to get their Posilac garbage out of our milk. A letter writing campaign in Pennsylvania by consumers and advocacy groups helped to overturn their bid. We can do it state by state if we truly do care about what we put into our bodies and about having proper disclosure of that. The Organic Trade Association last month filed suit against a new milk labeling rule in Ohio that bans statements about production met... more -
Campaign for genetically modified free schools
Children face the greatest risk from the potential dangers of GM foods:
Young, fast-developing bodies are influenced most.
Children are more susceptible to allergies.
Children are more susceptible to problems with milk.
Children are more susceptible to nutritional problems.
Children are in danger from antibiotic resistant diseases.
(For more information, watch a preview of Hidden Dangers in Kids' Meals: Genetically Engineered Foods, read a review of Hidden Dangers in Kid's Meals; or read Genetically Engineered Foods Pose Higher Risk for Children or the Spilling the Beans article Another Reason for Schools to Ban Genetically Engineered Foods.)
Schools throughout the UK and parts of Europe banned GM food years ago. In the 1990s, many Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs) in the U.S. rallied against rbGH and more than a hundred school districts banned milk from rbGH-treated cows. Wisconsin dairy farmer John Kinsman describes the method he used to inspire several schools: "I simply talked to parents of small children. Once mothers heard about this, they didn't rest until their school made the commitment."
The emergence of the “healthy school lunch” movement in the U.S. today provides a ready platform to promote GM-free school meals. Parents and schools are already seeking to change kids’ diets in response to the obesity and diabetes epidemics, the proliferation of ADD/ADHD, and the increased understanding of the impact of food and behavior. Several school systems have made sweeping changes to their meal programs, and new parents are consistently the largest group of new buyers of organic food each year.
In addition, the US government has taken steps to upgrade school nutritional standards - the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004, for example, states that all school districts with a federally funded school meals program develop and implement wellness policies that address, among other things, nutrition and nutrition education by the start of the 2006-07 school year.
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Parent Actions
1. Educate yourself, and stay informed.
A good place to start is with this website, as well as the Institute’s publications, and in particular the Hidden Dangers in Kids’ Meals video, which presents a compelling case for the dangers of GM foods to children of all ages. Plus sign up for our newsletter, Spilling the Beans, to stay up-to-date on the issues.
2. Educate your child(ren).
For older children, consider showing them the Hidden Dangers in Kids’ Meals video. We are compiling other material that can be used in the home or school, that describes the issues for various age groups.
3. Make your home GM-free.
Use the Buying Non-GM Shopping List to identify what food items you’re currently buying contain GM ingredients and what items you can purchase to replace them.
4. Speak with other parents.
We recommend sharing the Hidden Dangers in Kids’ Meals video with other parents you know. You can do this one-on-one or invite a group of parents to watch the video and discuss possible follow-up action.
5. Get involved in a local GM-Free Schools campaign.
See Supporting Local GM-Free Schools Campaign Efforts, above.
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There are ways to have the power to choose what you and your children eat. This is just a start. And you can check with your Board of Education before the next school year to find out what they serve children in school on lunch programs. You have the right to know, but you have to get involved. Children face the greatest risk from the potential dangers of GM foods: Young, fast-developing bodies are influenced most. ... more -
Most Solar Integrated Utilities In America Revealed
Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA) has announced Top Ten rankings that reveal which utilities in the United States had the most solar electricity integrated into their energy mix as of the end of 2007. The rankings are based on information provided through a survey of utilities and independent research.
"Based on recent announcements and internal discussions with utilities, SEPA anticipates that utilities will quickly become the largest and one of the most important customers for the solar industry," said Julia Hamm, SEPA executive director.
"Whether solar electric systems are developed by utilities, their customers, or solar companies, the utilities' proactive engagement with emerging solar technologies is important to the solar industry as a whole. This market survey and resulting rankings provide a baseline against which increased utility activity can be measured in the future."
For total solar electric capacity by megawatt (MW), Southern California Edison (CA) takes top honors as the most solar integrated utility with the most overall solar capacity (MW) and solar capacity per customer (MW/customer).
Southern California Edison's long-standing contracts with the SEGS concentrating solar thermal (CST) plants drive its large number of solar megawatts. However, with a number of recent large-scale CST announcements by several other utilities, Southern California Edison's top ranking may no longer hold once these new plants are constructed.
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California-with its long-standing policies for solar market development-represents the majority of the highest rankings, but utilities in Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin also make the top ten in many categories.
Solar markets are expanding rapidly beyond California and when standardized by the number of customers, interesting results will continue to emerge in the coming years. Next year's survey and report will be based on 2008 data and will be published in early 2009. It will no doubt show a reordering of many of these rankings as the solar markets change.
In the last year, U.S. electric utilities' engagement with grid-connected solar electricity increased significantly, with major photovoltaic (PV) and concentrating solar thermal (CST) announcements by utilities, their customers, and third-party solar developers.
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"What has become apparent however is that over the next few years, there will be an unprecedented level of new utility engagement in the solar industry that develops both centralized and distributed systems in new and unique ways. Several U.S. utilities, some of whom aren't in these rankings yet, are positioning themselves to be the solar industries largest and most innovative customers." Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA) has announced Top Ten rankings that reveal which utilities in the United States had the most s... more -
Solar energy education reaches highest demand
Solar Energy International (SEI), the non-profit pioneer in renewable energy and sustainable building programs, reports a booming trend in popularity of its renewable energy courses.
Throughout the company's 18-year history of providing educational programs to consumers and industry experts, the past year has garnered a record number of registrants, resulting in a 14 percent increase in enrollment in SEI's Renewable Energy Education Program (REEP).
Demand is high for renewable energy experts: employers are seeking a workforce skilled in the field, people are eager to be trained to enter the industry and consumers are enthusiastic to learn how to make their homes more green.
In efforts to accommodate the demand, SEI increased this year's course offerings by adding five additional in-person PV (photovoltaic/solar electric) workshops and one additional online PV course compared to 2007.
Despite the increased number of participants as a result of the additional classes, SEI's waiting-lists have hit record highs for the 2008 PV workshops. This year alone, 1,700 people have already signed up for SEI's workshops and online courses.
In total, an anticipated 300 more people will take the company's renewable energy workshops and online courses in 2008 than in 2007, representing a 14 percent spike in enrollment in SEI courses overall.
"From a global perspective, solar energy has been - and continues to be - an important commodity. The increase in demand is reflective of the changing state of the world's energy resources," said Johnny Weiss, executive director of Solar Energy International.
"The world is so eager for trained renewable energy professionals that students often get hired while still completing our programs. This is a very exciting time for the industry and the environment."
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We can do this. Solar Energy International (SEI), the non-profit pioneer in renewable energy and sustainable building programs, reports a booming tren... more -
The great GM crop yield myth exposed
Genetic modification actually cuts the productivity of crops, an authoritative new study shows, undermining repeated claims that a switch to the controversial technology is needed to solve the growing world food crisis.
The study – carried out over the past three years at the University of Kansas in the US grain belt – has found that GM soya produces about 10 per cent less food than its conventional equivalent, contradicting assertions by advocates of the technology that it increases yields.
Professor Barney Gordon, of the university's department of agronomy, said he started the research – reported in the journal Better Crops – because many farmers who had changed over to the GM crop had "noticed that yields are not as high as expected even under optimal conditions". He added: "People were asking the question 'how come I don't get as high a yield as I used to?'"
He grew a Monsanto GM soybean and an almost identical conventional variety in the same field. The modified crop produced only 70 bushels of grain per acre, compared with 77 bushels from the non-GM one.
The GM crop – engineered to resist Monsanto's own weedkiller, Roundup – recovered only when he added extra manganese, leading to suggestions that the modification hindered the crop's take-up of the essential element from the soil. Even with the addition it brought the GM soya's yield to equal that of the conventional one, rather than surpassing it.
The new study confirms earlier research at the University of Nebraska, which found that another Monsanto GM soya produced 6 per cent less than its closest conventional relative, and 11 per cent less than the best non-GM soya available.
The Nebraska study suggested that two factors are at work. First, it takes time to modify a plant and, while this is being done, better conventional ones are being developed. This is acknowledged even by the fervently pro-GM US Department of Agriculture, which has admitted that the time lag could lead to a "decrease" in yields.
But the fact that GM crops did worse than their near-identical non-GM counterparts suggest that a second factor is also at work, and that the very process of modification depresses productivity. The new Kansas study both confirms this and suggests how it is happening.
A similar situation seems to have happened with GM cotton in the US, where the total US crop declined even as GM technology took over.
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GM food is not the answer to world hunger. Addressing the cause of hunger is. This is only a profit making scheme for CEOs like Hugh Grant of Monsanto to make over THREE MILLION dollars a year not even counting the hundreds of thousands of shares he has in the company while people continue to starve in the world.
And our own FDA has helped them put something on the market that goes in our bodies and the bodies of our children that was not scientifically vetted and is not labelled on our food. It is time to expose the corporate frauds that seek to control our food and water and send more poor farmers in this country and in Asia, Africa, and South America into debt. Patenting life is immoral as is deceiving the public about what they are eating and devastating our environment.
We need to boycott Monsanto, Cargill, ADM, and any other multinational in the business of profit over people until they are held accountable for their deceptions. Genetic modification actually cuts the productivity of crops, an authoritative new study shows, undermining repeated claims that a swi... more -
Activists demand Russia ban GM foods
The growth in genetically modified foods has not yet seen large-scale public debate in Russia but a number of people do feel strongly about the issue. Thus, a group of youth activists in the northern city of Murmansk is demanding a ban on GM products.
Consumers have the right to know what they are putting in their bodies and feeding to their children. The growth in genetically modified foods has not yet seen large-scale public debate in Russia but a number of people do feel strongly ... more -
Al Gore's Ten Year Energy Challenge
A momentous challenge calling upon us to have the same spirit that birthed this nation and make no mistake about it, this is just as much an issue of Democracy as it is an economic, environmental, or national security issue. However, as usual, all we see on blogs and in the media by the usuals is bickering about whether climate change is "natural" or not when we already know that most of the effects on our planet we are seeing are a result of human behavior.That has been debated ad nauseum, and is why this country will wind up at the back of the pack when other countries pass us up regarding coming into the 21st Century. We are stuck in first gear still while the rest of the world is in drive.
We have been getting our oil from the Middle East and now will we get our solar panels from there too because we in this country are so myopic and politically polarized to the point that we cannot even concede one damn point? The alternate energy market is just waiting for a boom in this country. Employment in this country would soar and with investment, we would get the economic shot in the arm we need to avoid economic collapse while saving ourselves. Many say (even people in his own party) that Mr. Gore made this proposal at the wrong time with gas prices being so high... to that I say, WHAT?
This was the absolute right time to come out and tell people the truth that they are being lied to and duped by big oil and coal. This was exactly the right time to come out and tell people that they have a CHOICE and that they have the power in this next decade to put those choices into motion. That they have other options for energy that can be cheaper than what they are using now. Of course the oil and coal companies and special interests and their minions are not too happy about that, but I say, screw them. They have done more harm to this planet and economy with their pollution and wars than any alternate energy being instituted could do. It is time for them to see that their way is not the best way for the continued sustainability of this planet and work to make amends for what they have done.
The Earth as it stands now is going through changes in climate that are too exacerbated to just be natural and the cost of ignoring it far exceeds the cost of implementing changes to avoid it. What price do you put on a human life? That has been confirmed by the IPCC, NASA, the National Academy of Sciences, The Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, and thousands of other studies and scientists' reports from around the globe. It is a known fact also that for YEARS scientists in possession of these facts have been gagged by our government to keep quiet about it, because the very thing Mr. Gore stated must be done is something they don't want to do because they believe it will ground their gravy train.
More at the link. A momentous challenge calling upon us to have the same spirit that birthed this nation and make no mistake about it, this is just as m... more
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