Politics Disrupt Change

In Canada two film makers partially backed by the Conservative Fraser Institute exploited a low income family in Indiana. The film makers want the environmental war to be more of an cultural war between the rich elites and the poor working class families of “middle America” like the family in Indiana. Nothing could be further from the truth as we shall see during the next couple of decades. But we must change our coal and oil based economy over to a more environmentally and job friendly economy.

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The film makers tactics are similar to those used by the anti-Obama health care plan zealots. “Anything but the facts”, should be these group’s motto. Since the facts don’t support their position these groups are going to rely on fear and anger to divide our nation. Most liberal groups and Obama himself, as demonstrated in his speech to both houses of Congress, unfortunately cannot either rely on facts or arguments against the distortion of the truth. The representative who yelled “You Lie” became a superstar of the fanatic right.

If we really want change we will just have to do it by ourselves without the strong backing of the US Government. The Senators and Representatives won’t give the citizens of this country the appropriate legislation that will rip our country out of the hands of the current energy giants and health care companies. These legislators get paid by the very companies that refuse to change for the betterment of our society. During his last campaign Senator Max Baucas received more than a million dollars in campaign contributions from heath care companies. How can he write fair and appropriate legislation for the upcoming health care plan.

The cap and trade bill is the most important legislation introduced so far that could change the course of our country’s self destructive path. But to imagine it will pass strong and intact is a fantasy. The same Senators who receive campaign contributions from health care companies also get money from the current coal and oil companies that control our energy production. These legislators only care about their jobs which they can maintain by campaign contributions are not loyal to their actual employers: Us!

For the next couple of decades it will be up us to make the right decisions that create real change for our environment and our economy. We cannot wait for the legislators to cut the oil and coal umbilical cord. They are too afraid to venture out into the real world.

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What else don't we know?

Too many layers of information hiding too many secrets does not benefit us but we still pay for it and seem powerless to change it.

A Bush era email sent by the EPA 2 years ago was just released to the public. For two years only a select group of people were allowed to read it. Did the information contained in this email contain information that could threaten our national security. I don’t think so.

The 2007 EPA document was prepared as part of the Bush administration's response to the Supreme Court's April 2007 decision in Massachusetts v. EPA. The office of Vice President Dick Cheney, the Office of Management and Budget, the Transportation Department, Exxon Mobil Corp. and others in the oil industry didn’t like what it said so it was buried. It concluded that greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles were endangering public welfare and needed to be regulated under the Clean Air Act.

Luckily that information has been know for decades. And we also knew that during the last administration President Bush and Vice President Cheney would do whatever they could to stop any efforts made towards combating global warming so hiding this information didn’t change the course of history.

What if there are other pieces of information we don’t know about that are floating in cyberspace or hidden in some filing cabinet from the last administration or from any other administration that could possibly effect the course our country heads in the future. We have paid for all of this and it directly or indirectly affects our lives so lets see it. What’s with the closed door meeting and the classified documents. Were the Senators in the meetings on health care also discussing national security issues? Or were they discussing which industry or special interest group should benefit the most from treating the sick and injured.

Unfortunately we will never know what actually happened in those meetings even though we paid for the “debates” and the final bill will greatly effect all of our lives. Instead of the networks broadcasting the endless stream of idiotic and demeaning shows filled with slickly produced commercials selling worthless products every evening they could provide some shows with crucially important information that could possibly change our lives for the better.

Entertainment is a needed and soothing relief from the daily grind but is it just another layer of information keeping us from the important truths that will enormously effect our lives now and in the future. How about a sitcom staring Senator X and industry representative Y telling the truth? Now that would be funny and entertaining.

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Apple Leaves US Chamber of Commerce

Apple is the fourth major US corporation who has recently left due to differences regarding policies over climate change.  Pacific Gas and Electricity, PNM Resources and Exelon have all left because they agree with Apple.  

Apple "supports regulating greenhouse gas emissions, and it is frustrating to find the chamber at odds with us in this effort," said Apple vice president Catherine Novelli, on Tuesday.

In response a spokesman for the Chamber said, "The US Chamber of Commerce continues to support strong federal legislation and a binding international agreement to reduce carbon emissions and address climate change."

And he continues,  "While we'll continue to represent the broad majority of our membership on this goal, we recognize that there are some companies who stand to gain more than others with the current options on the table," said chamber spokesman Eric Wohlschlegel.  

The most meaningful word in that first quote is “international”.  What Mr. Wohlschlegel is really saying is that Apple’s products are manufactured overseas where greenhouse regulations are weak and thus overhead expenses are lower.  So the US should still be able to pollute as much as it wants to in order to be competitive.  An extremely anemic and amoral argument at best.  

The US Chamber of Commerce as a representative of the US should become the world’s role model for corporations in combating global warming. It is our responsibility to lead other nations to uphold strict environmental standards, the US needs to take a long terms approach to this issue. 

It is not entirely true for The US Chamber to say our uncompetitiveness and therefore job loss would occur if the US followed stricter environmental rules.  In the far east where most electronics are manufactured the cost of living is much less than it is here in the US and therefore the wages are much lower.  Whether this is appropriate and whether companies like Apple take advantage of this situation has nothing to due with environmental laws and therefore   for this discussion is misleading. 

Discussing health care relative to the cost of manufacturing would be much more appropriate. Specifically the automotive industry in this country demise was in a large part due to the US’s major competitors based in countries where their heath care is for the most part “socialized”.  Just the mention of socialized health care would cause the US Chamber and its members to scream in utter agony.

Not facing the real truths behind US corporations lack of competitiveness in the world market will only prolong the inevitable, we will lose millions of jobs but not because we follow strict environmental standards.  Our inability to face facts and release old false ideals that for years have been upheld by our falsely supported economic system and ridiculously enormous military industrial complex will actually be our demise.

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Ganges River Dolphin

The Ganges River Dolphin may not end up becoming extinct like its cousin the Yangtze River Dolphin.  Maybe humanity has learned a valuable lesson, time will tell.  The Yangtze River dolphin became extinct in 2007 due to agricultural and industrial poisons being dumped into the river. This dolphin earned the distinction of becoming the first aquatic mammal in 50 years to disappear from our planet, let hope the Ganges Dolphin is not the second. 

The Ganges dolphin, a cousin to the more well know saltwater bottle nose species, has a long thin snout, tubby belly and oversized fins. It is almost blind but has excellent sonar and can leap out of the water if in a joyful mood, something not seen lately.   

According to Conservationists at the World Wildlife Fund about 2,000 dolphins have been killed in India due to untreated sewage dumped into the river and being drown in fishing nets.  Near where the dolphins swim the Ganges contains 60,000 fecal coliform bacteria per 100 milliliters which is 120 times greater than the safe bathing limit and astronomically beyond the safe drinking water limit.  The dolphins have not volunteered for the job and are really not being paid much attention to as the canary in the coal mine. This would partially explain why 1,000 children die each day of diarrhea sickness in India. 

In one town on the river a change has been made with wonderful results.  The river is now cleaner next to Raja Karna.  Instead of poisonous chemical fertilizers the farmers are using home made organic compost. They also built a small but successful sewage treatment plant. So due to these simple and easy changes the population of the Ganges River dolphin has more than doubled from 20 to 55.  A miracle, no, just simple common sense and a willingness to take a small step and think out of the box.  

If the rest of the citizens in towns along the Ganges River could emulate the behavior of the farmers in Raja Karna then possibly a unique and as like all organic matter on this planet including humans, irreplaceable species could live for many more generations. No more extinctions. 

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The Real Cost of Going Green

The next extremely important step towards significantly reducing global warming and its effects will soon take place on the floor of the US Senate.  They will debate and then vote on the cap-and-trade climate bill, the Waxman-Markey act.  The House passed the bill late spring and now the senators, some of who still think that global warming is a hoax, will engage in a very contentious debate. 

Unfortunately we had to witness and listen to this summer’s health care embarrassing circus like “debate” performed on the Senate Floor, in town hall meetings and blasted on talk radio.  The President’s speech to both houses of Congress finally cooled off some of the nonfactual hate filled possibly racist rhetoric spewed continually in all possible venues.  For the debate on “greening of America” the confused will switch their fear laden protests of governmental takeover and death panels to horrific job loss and economic collapse.  

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Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck will lead the hysteria despite having lost their war supporting the monopolistic medically ignorant grossly unfair health insurance companies. (Unfortunately I have first hand knowledge of this since my daughter is autistic; would be easier to get paid care if she had  self induced heart problems due to poor eating habits than her externally caused or genetically based neurological disorder.)  

The real facts:  We have a “energy efficiency gap”, the amount of our consumption of fossil fuels does not increase our standard of living.  Some of us see the earth as a giant smorgasbord,  leaving half our uneaten food, energy, on our plate and then throwing it in the landfill.  We need to conserve more which automatically saves us more money.  The Congressional Budget office said this bill will only cost the average family $160 per year in 2020, $.44 per day.  Limbaugh and Beck keep citing a study that put the cost at $1767 per year.  But no amount of searching on the internet can produce that study but it doesn’t exist.  There is not going to be any world and/or US economic collapse, the facts just don’t support that catastrophic kind of thinking. 

When the economic argument proves fruitless the talk will most likely regress to the loss of personal freedom fears heard during the health care debate. I read a comment where one person thought he would be forced to drive a Prius and live in a tiny New York Style apartment, live like the Europeans.  Aside from the fact that if everyone who owns a car did drive one that maintained at least 45 mpg the environmental crisis level would be much lower no one is going to loose their choices of how they want to live.  The environmental costs will just directly be translated into the appropriate and fair economic costs.  Massive fossil fuel producers won’t continue to avoid paying for the environmental damage and for related health care costs due to pollution and pass it on to the consumer.  We will actually obtain more personal freedom from spending our money to better our lives and not the lives of the Board of Directors of XYZ oil company.

If the Waxman-Markey Act does not pass or if the Senate dilutes the final law we will all lose.  No one can hide from air and water pollution or the effects of global warming no matter how high their fence is or how far from the city you live.  We will all suffer. 

Subsidies for Oil & Other Fossil Fuels

President Obama and all of the G20 nations including Russia, India and China agreed to phase out subsidies for oil and other fossil fuel producers. By 2020 the world’s largest and most profitable companies will no longer receive tax payer dollars to help them stay in the black. 11 more years of almost $300 billion per year split among them will no longer be available. $3.3 trillion is all they will get and not a cent more. The American Petroleum Institute is not happy about this and frankly either am I. "The Obama administration and Congress now face many difficult choices if they choose to comply with the G20 commitment to phase-out fossil fuel subsidies," the API said. Yes, the US and the other G20 countries have very difficult choices to make. They will now have to figure out how to spent $300 billion per year in possibly more appropriate places instead of giving it to super profitable companies. Companies who now easily keep us addicted to their environmentally damaging products because of the low prices available due to the subsidies. This situation is analogous to the tobacco companies complaining about cancer warnings they must put on their products. These industries can’t just make money, they need to have their cake and force everyone else to make it for them. “Eliminating such subsidies by 2020 would reduce greenhouse gas emissions blamed for global warming by 10 percent by 2050,” leaders said, citing data from the International Energy Agency and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. As I mentioned above I am also not happy about this, but obviously not for the same reasons. 10% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions is not enough. Somehow these vultures need to be forced to pay all of us back and do it without further economic and environmental damage. During the summer of 2008 when gas prices approached $5 per gallon the CEO of one of the largest Oil and Gas Companies said, “No one is being forced to buy our product”. He forgot to add that when we do purchase his product that we are being forced to pay them double, once at the pump and again when we pay our taxes. After decades of past administrations and congress giving in to these thieves President Obama and the current G20 finally have the fortitude to say no more even though subsidies should have never begun. So I say to the American Petroleum Industry and it’s fellow band of immoral greedy inscrutable miscreants complaining about the phasing out of subsidies, “this is only the beginning of your end”.

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Senate Allows EPA to Buy Polluted Town

We, the US taxpayers, have just bought Treece, KS in the southeast corner of Cherokee County.  It cost around 3 million dollars.  Around 100 people still live there so each of them will get around $30,000.  If each person in the US actually had to pay their fair share right now it would cost each of us about 1 cent.  Since there wouldn’t be enough room for all 300 million of us to live there and since the town is too polluted for anyone to live in we don’t actually have to move.  Lucky us.  

No so lucky for them. Most of them have lead poisoning.  Lots of people in that part of Kansas probably also have lead poisoning.  The vast majority of the lead and zinc mines closed over 30 years ago but the mess they left is still there. In 1983 the area was declared a superfund site.  

115 square miles containing enormous piles of what looks like gravel, except its not.  Its called Chat, mountainous piles of dirt filled with lead, zinc and cadmium particles.  These heavy metals become air born and land in school yards and backyards where kids play.  Kids get the toxic metals on their clothing and hands and it works it way into their bodies: lead poisoning.  

To date about $90 million has been spent to clean up the mess left by the mining companies.  The mining companies that haven’t disappeared and/or closed down and/or are hiding were forced to pay for about 10% of the cost.  It will take another 15 years and $70 million to finish the clean up.  So in total it will take almost 40 years and approximately $160 million dollars to make Cherokee County “safe’ to live in again.  Who would actually want to live there?  No me and I am guessing, but probably not you. 

Please join me in raising our glasses of NON-plastic bottled water in a hopeful toast that our current plan for reducing the causes of and the effects of global warming does not mimic the previous plan used to clean up superfund sites. Because if it does we can kiss our planet goodbye.

Murder Charges for Toxic Dumping

In 2006 Trafigura, an oil-trading company, dumped tons of toxic waste in one of the world's poorest countries, Ivory Coast. (The toxicity of the waste is under dispute not the dumping.)  This month Greenpeace claimed that the dumping caused thousands to became ill and also caused miscarriages, birth defects and death.  One of the world’s most well known environmental organizations wants Dutch courts to bring charges of murder, manslaughter, negligence and conspiracy against Trafigura. 

Trafigura, which last year had sales of $73 Billion, approximated twice the GDP of the Ivory Coast, has already agreed to pay millions to settle a lawsuit brought by 30,000 Abidjan residents who suffered short term illnesses.  But they deny that anyone suffered severe long term illnesses or death due to the dumping.  

The sludge which was dumped at 18 sites around Abidjan, including drains and lagoons, was the by-product of processing “dirty oil” bought at a Mexican refinery.  The processing took place on board an oil tanker off the coast of Abidjan not in the EU because the EU has outlawed this environmentally unsafe practice.  

In 2006, the year that Trafigura used the City of Abidjan in the Ivory Coast as their toilet, its poverty rate was 50%.  The nation ranks 164 out of 177 countries ranked on the United Nations’ Human Development Index.  The UNHDI rates the overall economic health of a country.  Only 13 other countries received a worse rating than the Ivory Coast. 

To admit that I find that it is unbelievable that this horrific crime can occur at the beginning of  21st century would probably put me in the “very naive” category.  Sometimes deviant behavior seems plausible when an individual’s or a group’s life is threatened or when they desperately need food, or medical attention.  But to commit a heinous act simply to add a relatively miniscule amount of profit to your bottom line is truly evil. 

I don’t believe in nor has history shown that an “eye for an eye” prevents any further malevolent acts.  Usually is actually escalates a conflict.  So if the Board of Directors of Trafigura were forced to live out the rest of their lives in one of the lagoons in Abidjan filled with their toxic sludge most likely future atrocities would still occur.  But the rest of us might feel just a bit better. 

We are Frozen in Hatred

"Injecting race into the debate over critical issues facing American families doesn't create jobs, reform our health care system or reduce the growing deficit. It only divides Americans rather than uniting us to find solutions to challenges facing our nation," President Jimmy Carter said yesterday.  Repair and protect our environment should be added to the list of critical issues that won’t be addressed if Americans can’t remove prejudices from their hearts. Absolutely nothing will be accomplished or what is accomplished will be so anemic it will not help anyone.

This statement by President Carter relates to the blog I posted a couple of days ago concerning comments by Stanford Professor Paul Ehrlich.  Professor Ehrlich declared in no uncertain terms that its our behavior not science that is holding us back from restoring our planet.  We all know what is wrong and have the science to prove it but we just can’t seem to change our behavior from self-destructive and selfish to self sustainable and altruistic.  Our egos and self righteousness destroy our ability to provide the common sense solutions to solve the urgently critical problems that face us. 

The United States is now lead by an African American President.  The election was fair and just.  The votes were counted and no one disputes the election. (Some fringe elements pursue the insane notion that he is not a US citizen but to address that is akin to continue to look for WMDs in Iraq).  We cannot allow the citizens of this country who are controlled by “Hate” deny the rest of us our right to a fair chance for excellent health care, a prosperous economy, good green jobs and a healthy environment.  American cannot regress:  A enormous step away from our shameful past of forcing some people to the back of the bus has been accomplished, we can never let it happen again. 

Do the Right Thing for Those Who Follow

"Basically, absolutely nothing is happening," Stanford University ecologist Paul Ehrlich said. "We don't need more scientific evidence that we're screwing ourselves. We need to get beyond the cultural discussions we're having now."

The problem, Ehrlich said, is clearly not a need for more natural science. Rather, it is the need for a better understanding of "human behaviors and how they can be altered to direct humanity toward a sustainable society before it is too late."

“We’re screwing ourselves”, “absolutely nothing is happening”, “direct humanity toward a sustainable society before it is too late." said the 77 year old distinguished professor at one of the most eminent universities in the world.  He has received dozens of ecological and environmental awards. His bibliography spans 30 years and includes sophisticated analysis using all the ecosciences to examine the current state of the world relative to population and ecology. 

Doesn’t really want to make you jump for joy, does it? 

Right to the point. No more debate is needed, we have all the proof we could ever want. The problem is our behavior. We, certainly including me, act like the dogs in Pavlov’s experiment. 

“The phrase "Pavlov's dog" is often used to describe someone who merely reacts to a situation rather than using critical thinking.”  Our use of “critical thinking” has been beaten out of us.  Anyone and everyone who either wants our money, our vote and/or our soul has been after us since the day we were born.  Relentless advertising; first from newspapers, TV, radio and now the net has been used to manipulate us regarding every decision we make. Unfortunately most of the “ends” of our manipulated “means” aren’t beneficial for the environment and thus eventually harmful to us.  

Do we understand why it was so easy to manipulate our behavior toward the “dark side”?  According to Erhlich we don’t have the time to figure out why we went the wrong way.  We need to immediately make a quick u-turn and help “direct humanity toward a sustainable society”.  

Here at the beginning of the second century of the industrial revolution we are now literally facing the cumulative poisons that have been injected into our land, water and air.  Time to push all the self-destructive behaviors out of our souls and   act in favor of those who will inherit this planet.  The benefits our actions will not be felt by us, whether we ever understand why we acted as we did is no longer applicable. As procreative beings we owe to the ones who follow us to do the right thing.

“Roadway” Created in Arctic due to Global Warming

The Northeast passage along Russia’s Arctic coast from North Korea to Siberia is now open.  Calling all pollution spewing, tranquil disrupting, overwhelmingly enormous freighters, your ocean freeway through the previously quiet home of the endangered polar bear is now yours to destroy. Civilization has reached a new level, we all should be so very proud. 

To all the naysayers who believe Global Warming is just a hoax, absolute proof is now just an ocean freighter’s ride away.  "We are seeing an expression of climate change here," said Mark Serreze, director of the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colo. "The Arctic is warming; we're losing the sea ice cover. The more frequent opening of that Northeast Passage is part of the process we're seeing."  Ex-Vice President Cheney now that you are retired, hopefully forever, you might want to take a cruise along the Northeast passage.  Maybe if you see first hand what your environmentally destructive policies have created you might change your mind about the existence of global warming. Though we won’t hold our breath. 

The passage opening up this summer due to global warming could of easily been predicted if the United States took time during the last three years to pay more attention. I guess the past Administration was too busy fighting an “oil war” instead of doing what it could to reduce our use of oil. “For the last few years, including this year, navigator Roald Amundsen's famous Northwest Passage has been navigable. Then in 2007, the more crucial deep water channel called McClure Strait opened up and now the Northeast Passage”, Serreze said. 

Now that President Obama is running the show maybe his legislation will, at the very least, slow down the horrific effects of global warming. We need to do what we can to help speed up the process and keep the naysayers and foot draggers at bay.  The selfish are a tenacious bunch so we have to be even more diligent than them unless we want the entire Arctic to become a “roadway’.

Hunting Polar Bears

This story was found in the folder marked: No Hope for Humanity. 

Polar bears are classified as endangered species.  

Polar bears are being killed due to man-made global warming. Polar bears are being killed due to man-made pesticides.  Polar bears are being killed due to man-made high powered rifles so their heads can be cut off and put over someone’s fireplace.

According to the UN over the last 10 years nearly 9,000 polar bear specimens were exported for commercial purposes. These specimens included 2,849 skins, 108 skulls, and 1,249 claws.  Under Canadian law the hunting of polar bears by tourists and the commercial trading of polar bear parts is legal. 

Endangered species have different classifications and that is why Canada’s polar bear hunting laws and commercial trading of polar bear parts is not illegal.

There are three different classifications: Appendix I, II and III.  Polar bears are classified under appendix II but should be put at appendix I so the senseless and horrific hunting will stop. (Hunting for sustainable subsistence by native peoples of polar bears is not controlled and should not be controlled under these classifications).

Please contact the US Fish and Wildlife Department and tell them to change the classification.  Please tell them that hunting and trading body parts of any animal, let alone an endangered animal, is a bad idea.  For some reason I think they probably already know this but apparently unless they are verbally assaulted with this information they won’t do anything about it.

Only about 25,000 polar bears left: May they procreate to their heart’s content and then die of old age.

Orangutans, 3000 die every year

With only 50, 000 left it’s just 17 year until extinction. They have been around for about 10,000 years and up until about 20 years ago there was approximately 500,000 orangutans living in an area from Southeast Asia to Southern China. “We” directly or indirectly killed off 90% of the population due to, you guessed it, deforestation and other human activities.  Now the remaining population lives in Borneo. 

Orangutans share 96.7% of our genes and are smart enough to use tools and teach learned behaviors to their offspring and other Orangutans.  They are so human like It feels like loosing a member of our immediate family.  Just to give you some specific examples the following are some homo sapiens characteristics that the Orangutans exhibit.  They can make rain hats and leakproof roofs out of a leaf found in their natural habitat.  Two different Orangutans learned 30-40 sign language signs both in captivity and in the open wilderness.  Zoo Atlanta has a touch screen computer monitor where the orangutans play computer games.  And finally a 2008 study showed that orangutans are the first non-human species documented to use 'calculated reciprocity' which involves weighing the costs and benefits of gift exchanges and keeping track of these over time.

But are their lives worth more than deforestation?  We apparently decided they are not.  Logging, mining, settlements and road construction take precedent over these extraordinary animals, second to none to humans in intelligence. Some might argue that in the case of intelligence relative to environmental issues Orangutans might even surpass humans.

Indonesia, which includes Borneo, loses 4.5 million acres of forest every year due to deforestation. The Nature Conservancy is currently working with our Federal Government and local governments in Indonesia to stop illegal logging and protecting Orangutan habitats but the situation is dire. A previously unknown Orangutan nest was discovered that could could possibly add some needed numbers to the dwindling population but they still are a very endangered species.

Carolyn Enquist, a scientist with the Nature Conservancy the excellent conservation organization mentioned above, studies the concept of adaptation for plant and animal populations who are effected by effects of global warming and processes that cause global warming. Unfortunately for some plants and animals global warming has already caused permanent damage, partial and/or complete extinction. Lets hope its not too late to save the remaining Orangutans and possibly help them increase their population.

President Obama Can't Wait for Congress

Too many lobbyists representing hundreds of special interests groups fill the halls of our capital persuading our legislators to act in ways good for them but not for us. The Congress will never really legislate in favor of policies that are 100% environmentally beneficial unless there is something in it that helps with their next reelection.  Global warming is too far advanced for President Obama to diplomatically persuade Congress to act quickly.  He needs to light a bonfire underneath their seats or rush ahead and let them catch up.

Proposing limits for greenhouse gas emissions and ambient air quality standard regulations are two specific examples where the EPA is moving like molasses in wintertime and should be moving like lighting. The problem, as previously stated, lies both with Congress’s special interest saturated legislative behavior and President Obama’s overly diplomatic relationship with Congress.  We deserve action now not after environmental disasters become irreversible.

Regulations limiting, not just proposing, greenhouse gas emissions need to be put into law now. Its not good enough for the EPA to simply declare that greenhouse gas emissions endanger public health and welfare.  Industries that provide energy using “dirty sources” need limitations on the amount of greenhouse gasses they produce.  They need regulations since they will not do this on their own.

In 1997 the EPA created ambient air quality standards for fine particulate matter, soot. Soot causes illnesses costing billions in health care expenditures and approximately 20,000 annual deaths. Its very simple, the less soot, the less illness. Most soot comes from coal fired power plants.  Ambient air quality standards are not good enough, we need regulations to protect us. The EPA is literally giving these plants a license to  murder.  Another frustrating and seemingly malicious facet of this dilemma is allowing more new coal fired plants to be approved under these worthless standards as opposed to having them be approved under strict regulations. It appears as if the EPA is giving these “dirty” plants an unfair advantage over new green clean technology by allowing them to slide in without health protective regulations. 

President Obama shouldn’t let the Congress empowered EPA to work directly against our health and directly for the seemingly impervious lobbyist protected “dirty” energy producers. Clean green technology doesn’t stand a chance if our country continues to be controlled by special interest groups that let the obscenely rich get richer and the rest of us get stuck with higher health care costs and irreversible lung cancer.  We need to make the death of the Bush administration create a environmentally healthy “birth” for us.  

Rainforest Still Disappearing

The rainforest is still disappearing at a an alarming rate despite the massive efforts of many to reduce the rate of deforestation.  In February, 2008, the Brazilian government announced that the rate of deforestation has increased not slowed down. During the last five months of 2007, more than 1,250 sq. miles,(an area equivalent to the size of the state of Rhode Island), was deforested.  

Unfortunately no one involved in the defense of the Amazon can even imagine deforestation being stopped; the only goal is reduce the slaughter of an area with 10% of the world’s carbon stores in our ecosystem.  By continuing to remove the natural fauna one is continuing to release excess carbon into the atmosphere which accelerates global warming. Deforestation of the Amazon is also permanently damaging an area where the the largest collection of living plants and animal species in the world live. To date, at least 40,000 plant species, 3,000 fish, 1,294 birds, 427 mammals, 428 amphibians, and 378 reptiles have been scientifically classified in the region.  The numbers are astounding and they just represent what scientists have named but not what actually exists. 

The main source of deforestation of the Amazon are human settlement and development of the land. 91% of the deforested land is used for cattle grazing and the rest is mostly used for farming.  This occurs despite what environmentalist C.M. Peters stated in 1989, “One hectare in the Peruvian Amazon has been calculated to have a value of $6820 if intact forest is sustainably harvested for fruits, latex, and timber; $1000 if clear-cut for commercial timber (not sustainably harvested); or $148 if used as cattle pasture.” This valuation is in terms of what the worth is for the Peruvian Citizens, not for the corporations like Asia Pulp and Paper who have brutally deforested the land for years. 

Reading through the history of Asia Pulp and Paper is analogous  to reading the criminal history of a brutal and maliciously ambitious drug cartel.  No outside force has been able to stop their continuous onslaught of the world’s most valuable and essential forests.  The company has been involved in illegal logging in Cambodia and Indonesia and hasbroken agreements with 3 major environmental organizations.  

According to the Asia Times Online, “Asia Pulp and Paper's business model is a tactically aggressive one: it turns huge profits by quickly stripping forests bare, exploiting age-old forests and indigenous peoples, and leaving town before the environmental consequences are felt. By the time communities and governments lodge complaints and lawsuits, APP has divested itself of local interests and assets.”

They had agreements with Forest Steward Ship Council, the World Wide Fund for Nature and the Rainforest Alliance.  All agreements were cancelled by the environmental organizations when APP, Asia Pulp and Paper, did not follow through with the original environmental policies stated in the agreements. It appears that APP was just using these organizations to hide behind. They agreed to change it behaviors but its deforestation of restricted lands was discovered and the agreements were dissolved.  Boycotts of APP’s products were called for by various hotel associations.  APP threatened with lawsuits but wasn’t aware of the public support for the boycotts. They were caught red-handed with their entire body in the cookie jar and still tried to weasel out of it.  Even now on the homepage of their website it reads “Care for Tomorrow, we support actions for economic, social and environmental sustainability”.  This situation being similar to members of the last US Administration telling the world that the Iraq war was started to protect our freedom when they originally told us it was to protect us from weapons of mass destruction and terrorism. A bold faced lie. 

Unfortunately in today’s amoral political and economic climate many do not care for the truth even if it causes horrific environmental or other types of damage: If it hurts their pocketbook and popularity they will say anything to protect themselves.  Even though such maliciously powerful and desperate entities are loose in our world trying to deprive us of our environmental freedom we still have a mighty weapon in our possession that can stop them dead in their tracks: our wallets.  If we don’t buy their poison they can’t sell it and if they can’t sell it they will not brutally strip our lands to get it.

African Lion disappearing in Kenya

The most alarming fact of this wildlife population study is that the population decrease is happening just as fast inside the National Parks as outside the National Parks. The wildlife population declined 41% between 1977 t0 1997, and since then the rate of decline has not slowed.  The study was commissioned by the Kenya Wildlife Service, which manages the Kenya National Parks.  The Kenya Wildlife service said the drastic decline could leave Kenya without the African Lion by 2020, the lion being Kenya’s “symbol of national strength”.     

Unfortunately the study has attracted little attention. Kenya is still dealing with the results of the 2007 presidential election.  The conservation community has also been relatively quiet about the study since it’s really not new news since Kenya has always mismanaged it’s wildlife programs.  There also have been other rarely read studies in the African Continent reporting their wildlife population is also on the decline in protected areas. Namibia, Botswana, and South Africa are the exceptions but if the trend continues the wildlife population in Africa will resemble the wildlife population in Europe; mostly invisible. 

Aside from the mismanagement and political problems what else is causing the wildlife population to decrease?  Overpopulation: the African Continent is expected to grow rapidly, it’s population could increase by more than a billion people by 2050.  What to do about overpopulation is such a complex and controversial subject with many religious, race and geopolitical components I would rather not write about it now but just acknowledge it’s specific effect on the wildlife population in Africa.  Part of the proof that overpopulation is one of the causes of wildlife population decline can be drawn from studying wildlife populations in southern Africa, especially Nambia.  It has a low population density and a stable wildlife population. 

One possible solution that has had some minor success in Kenya is community involvement. There has been wildlife population increases at the Shompole conservation area and tourist lodge which is managed by the Masai community.  For this project the Kenyan government relinquished part of control of the area so the community could be directly involved and therefore would be directly rewarded for it’s efforts.  This situation would be analogous to a US community project where the neighborhood works together to keep their business district clean and safe so it will reap the rewards of increased revenue and property values. 

Unfortunately this type of successful community involvement in Kenya relative to safeguarding the wildlife population is rare.  Placed in between a massive population explosion, poorly managed national parks, political unrest and poaching, ultimately the African Lion might only be seen in a zoo.

Beluga Whales dying of cancer

In the St. Lawrence Estuary in Quebec hundreds of Beluga Whales have died of intestinal cancer over the last 30 years.  Aluminum smelters dumped their poison into the Estuary until 2004, then Canada finally shut them down.  5 years latter Cancer is still killing the Whales, “Cancer is the consequence of a lifetime of accumulating mutations,” said Daniel Martineau, a professor of pathology at the University of Montreal., who added that the deadly disease “is exactly what you would expect to find in animals that are eating from these sediments.” 

The poison in the sediments where the whales feed is called POPs.  POPs are a combination of various chemical waste products including PCBs that are a by-product of the manufacturing process of aluminum.  The whales eat mussels that have absorbed the POPs in the sediment and the poison works it way into the Beluga’s intestinal tract after years of eating the mussels.  “Often the POPs interact directly with an animal’s DNA by disrupting its structure and leading to mistakes in replication. These mistakes accumulate over the animal’s lifetime, leading to tumors and, possibly, death. In other cases, the chemicals attach to DNA and turn genes on or off. Pollutants can also contribute to cancers by distracting an animal’s immune system, allowing certain types of viruses to cause tumors.”  Carol Meteyer, a wildlife pathologist with the National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wis.

Here is the really sad part.  “Mothers dump their contaminant loads to their first born pups,” said Gina Ylitalo, a research chemist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Seattle, Washington, who led the study. So that is why it could take another 20 years or so for the cancer to die out.  Unfortunately the cancer just doesn’t disappear after you shut off the poison faucet. 

It is fairly rare for wild animals to be killed by cancer but the case of the Beluga whales in Quebec is not the only incident. Scientists have seen it in California sea lions along the central coast, North Sea flounders and in Ohio’s Black River catfish.  Elevated levels of POPs were found in these mammals and fish; in the case of the sea lions it was 85% higher than in sea lions who did not have cancer.

The cancer found in the Belugas can be looked at as another example of the canary in the coal mines.  Scientists say that the cancer patterns found in the Estuary could reveal cancer patterns found in human populations.  When both people and mammals are living in an area where there is an abundance of cancer causing POPs cancer will most likely show up first in the mammals.  This should set off an alarm for us to quickly move in and hopefully save some lives. Unfortunately not enough people are paying attention to helpless mammals.  Usually people have to start dying in order for someone to pay attention. 

I, obviously, am not saying it’s somehow OK for the mammals to be our canaries in the Estuary. But if in general, “society” was aware that aggressive monitoring of the planet’s animal’s health could possibly help safeguard their own maybe more attention would be paid to their well being.  Sad scenario for sure but at this point we will continue to try for the best but take what we can get. 

More problems for Polar Bears

Not only do they have to worry about their home dissolving right from under their paws but now they have to be careful what they eat. We really stuck it to them.  They have been around for about 200,000 years with virtually no worries and suddenly they have more than their share. Polar bears are the world's largest land predators. They top the food chain in the Arctic and the large males can weigh up to 1500 pounds so they really had no one to fear until global warming and life threatening man made chemicals showed up in their prey.

Due to warmer temperatures caused by global warming the Arctic ice is melting sooner in the spring so the bears are eating different foods. The bears now eat more harbor and harp seals and fewer bearded seals than before.  This shift in diet resulted in higher levels of PCBs and flame retardants in their tissues.  These chemicals have been linked to negative impacts on their reproductive and immune systems.  Also the bears are becoming thinner, have shorter life spans and give birth to less babies due to the shorter hunting season created by a shorter season of winter ice.

I am sure about now you are asking how in the world did flame retardants end up in the tissue of one of the most magnificent creatures on earth.  Flame retardants do just what you think, they make it harder for something to burn. The problems occurs when products sprayed with flame retardants are not properly dealt with after their “useful life“.  Hard to believe but some of the products end up in wastewater treatment plants instead of being reused or properly disposed of.  Wastewater treatment plants dump their “treated” sewage in the ocean and the flame retardants, now on the loose, swim towards the nearest piece of plastic. Flame retardants and other similar dangerous chemicals don’t mix well with water so they are attracted to pieces of plastic. In fact the concentration of these chemicals is a thousand times greater on the plastic in the ocean then in the surrounding water.  Then its up the food chain from the small fish eating these tiny chemical coated pieces of plastics to the polar bear.  It’s amazing what disgusting and disheartening information you can find when you really look for it.

But when can do something right now to slow and stop this process. Reuse everything you possibly can and please, whenever humanly possible, don’t buy plastic products, especially plastic water bottles. 

Do we know why?

Previously I have written about the processes used by specific companies to simultaneously preform a task, i.e. kill weeds, create profits and cause environmental harm.  I have never suggested these specific companies or industries maliciously cause environmental harm only that it is a secondary by-product of their company’s practices. In most cases they are surely aware of causing environmental harm but do not change their practices.

I recently read a letter to the editor in the August 15th-21st 2009 issue of The Economist magazine. This letter profoundly states the case not for examining the tools used which can cause an inhumane outcome but to attempt to understand why people are so easily manipulated into engaging in processes which eventually result in their or someone else’s harm. 

Here is the most relevant portion of the letter written by Dennis Sandole, Institute of Conflict Analysis and Resolution, George Mason University in response to an article about genocide in Rwanda. 

“The deepest conundrum is what makes groups of people, defined by religion, class, race or any other attribute, so vulnerable to political manipulation that they can be easily persuaded to commit diabolical acts against other groups.  Until we solve that core problem, would-be manipulators will always find one medium or another, from the printed word to the latest form of e-communication, to demonize and proscribe the hated “other”.

Now to apply this complex, challenging and important question to the subject of environmental harm.  “Groups of People” from the quote would apply to both the manipulators and the manipulated. People not involved in the production or sale of products harmful to the environment are the manipulated. And so people involved in the sale and production of products harmful to the environments would be the manipulators.  

Why is the possible?  According to Dennis Sandole it is not due the extraordinary communication tools available to the manipulators. It is an “attribute” commonly found in the character of each group of people which allows them to either manipulate or be manipulated. 

I would love to hear your answers to this question as I agreed whole heartly with Mr. Sandole. Many regulations are passed and many warning are given but to date most people seem to maintain their current behavior. In the meantime I can do some research to discover what psychologists and sociologists think of the destructive and self-destructive behavior portrayed by the manipulators and the manipulated. 

For now I will and I hope you will more thoroughly remove yourself from either group.  This should begin to undo the destructive actions of all of our behaviors and hopefully lead to a cleaner and thus less harmful environment.

Frog are great indicators of environmental health

Thanks to a wonderful suggestion from a member of the greenhomexpress facebook fan club, I checked out the site amphibianark.org.  Even if you have ranidaphobia, fear of frogs, you still can certainly appreciate the contribution they make to our ecosystem and as indicators of the planet's environmental health.  

First some fascinating and terrifying frog (amphibian) facts:  50% of the approximately 6000 species are threatened with extinction.  165 species are already extinct.  500 species will become extinct in the near future, too late to save them.  And the really sad news: it appears with current efforts and spending levels only about 50 species can be saved.  So, if we stay on course it should only take us about 100 years to wipe out about 90% of a species that has been around for about 400 million years.  Astonishing!

In the following paragraph I will briefly describe how frogs are vital components of our ecosystem.  Just to be clear, this is for informational purposes only since I personally believe that if something exists on our planet and we did not create it, i.e. build it, pour it out of a test tube, etc, then it belongs here regardless of what we understand about it.  Actually, I will quote  amphibianark.org since they do such a great job of explaining it. “Amphibians feed primarily on insects and other invertebrates. It was estimated that a single population of ~1,000 cricket frogs (Acris crepitans) could consume almost five million invertebrates in one year.  Clearly they serve as significant predators of small invertebrates, as abundant prey for larger predators, and as a vital link in the food web between the two. In areas of the world where amphibians have declined, there has been an increase in invertebrate pests that damage crops and that carry human diseases.”

How we, humans, benefit directly from amphibians:  They provide vital bio-medicines.  Some of the categories of medicines that amphibians have contributed to are analgesics, antibiotics, stimulants for heart attach victims, antidepressants, medicines for stroke, seizure, Alzheimer’s, cancer and HIV infections.

How we should benefit from amphibians: They have been compared to canaries in the coal mines. They have very thin skins and are susceptible to environmental contaminants.  Amphibians might be able to warn us if certain unsafe environmental conditions exist.  Some environmental and scientific organizations do this now, i.e. The Natural Defenses Resource Council, but it is clear that all of us need to pay more attention.  For example, Atrazine can chemically sterilize tadpoles at levels well below the EPA maximum allowable level for drinking water. And Atrazine has been found in more than 1 million American’s drinking water above the maximum amount set by the EPA. So the obvious conclusion is since Atrazine is sterilizing amphibians and it’s in our drinking water, Atrazine might be sterilizing us.  So we should pay very close attention to the amphibian population.

There are many time consuming and expensive processes we can become involved in to help rectify this horrible situation. But, as always, the simplest and quickest involves being extraordinarily environmentally careful when spending your hard earned money. Please make sure you are not allowing your health and the health of your loved ones to be controlled by a company that thinks its expendable.

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