Environment
Environment
Big Oil in the Rocky Mountain State: the Overwhelming Tawdriness of Government in Colorado
Phillip Doe: The stench of corruption and contempt for the people who are in the crosshairs of the urban drillers is so pervasive in this state that many have lost their sense of smell. This is not an unknown phenomenon in nature or social structure. Hydrogen Sulfide is a deadly gas that has an acrid smell as early warning, but as a broad spectrum poison it quickly deadens the senses, including the sense of smell, to mask its deadly potential. Olfactory fatigue its called, making it impossible for many to smell the corruption that is destroying our neighborhoods, our environment and any residual belief in democratic processes...
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Jun 22, 2017, 10:22am
Environment
We Can’t Fight Climate Change if We Keep Lying to Ourselves
Chris Hedges: African-Americans understand, in a way perhaps only the oppressed can grasp, that our character and dignity will be measured by our ability to name and resist the malignant forces that seem to hold us in a death grip. Catastrophic climate change is inevitable. Our technology and science will not save us. The future of humanity is now in peril. At best, we can mitigate the crisis. We cannot avert it. We are fighting for our lives. ... if we fight back, perhaps reconfigure our lives and our society to mitigate the worst savagery, dramatically reduce our carbon footprint and save ourselves from complete annihilation. The power elites will do nothing to save us...
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Jun 19, 2017, 11:38am
Environment
Monsanto's Mess--Four Signs Consumers Are Winning
Katherine Paul: Monsanto is facing down scores of lawsuits by people, or their families, who were diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma after being exposed to Roundup. Those lawsuits have led to revelations about possible collusion between Monsanto employees and former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officials to bury evidence of Roundup’s carcinogenicity. ... Food companies are being sued, too, when product testing reveals that brands labeled “100% Natural” contain glyphosate residues. And the Food & Drug Administration recently announced it will resume testing of consumer foods for glyphosate...
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Jun 16, 2017, 3:50pm
Environment
New Analysis Reveals Another Reason to Halt the Rover Pipeline: It’s a Climate Disaster
As controversy swirls around a string of spills and air and water violations caused by Energy Transfer Partners’ construction of the Rover gas pipeline, a study released today underlines another reason federal regulators should halt the project: It will fuel a massive increase in climate pollution. ... A new analysis by Oil Change International finds that, if the Rover Pipeline is built, it will cause as much greenhouse gas pollution as 42 coal-fired power plants – some 145 million metric tons per year. The study slams the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for using chronically outdated assumptions to sweep this significant climate impact under the rug in its environmental review of the project...
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Jun 8, 2017, 2:59pm
Environment
Bears Ears National Monument Is the Next Standing Rock
Sonali Kolhatkar: Bears Ears is rich with indigenous history, housing countless ancient pueblos, petroglyphs, rock paintings and precious archeological sites where tribal communities conduct ceremonies even today. ... But Obama’s designation of Bears Ears as a national monument was roundly denounced by Utah’s legislators, who have pushed for oil wells to be drilled in the area. ... It is a battle between wealthy industrial interests and preservationists, between fossil fuel extraction and planetary health, between those who seek to use and ravage and those who seek to protect and nurture ... “It seems like there is a huge disconnect in their relationship with Mother Earth,” said Cassandra Begay, a young Native American activist, “in the name of greed, in the name of money, and their special interests.”...
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May 27, 2017, 2:45pm
Environment
Leaked Documents Reveal Counterterrorism Tactics Used at Standing Rock to “Defeat Pipeline Insurgencies”
The Intercept: A shadowy international mercenary and security firm known as TigerSwan targeted the movement opposed to the Dakota Access Pipeline with military-style counterterrorism measures, collaborating closely with police in at least five states, according to internal documents obtained by The Intercept. The documents provide the first detailed picture of how TigerSwan, which originated as a U.S. military and State Department contractor helping to execute the global war on terror, worked at the behest of its client Energy Transfer Partners, the company building the Dakota Access Pipeline, to respond to the indigenous-led movement that sought to stop the project...
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May 27, 2017, 11:45am
Environment
China, India to Reach Climate Goals Years Early, as U.S. Likely to Fall Far Short
Marianne Lavelle: While Trump administration rolls back emission controls, the other top emitters are moving quickly to fight climate change by cutting coal and boosting renewables. ... China is the world's leading carbon polluter and India is the third largest. Together, their reductions are enough to outweigh the effect of Trump's proposed rollback in U.S. climate policy ... China's coal consumption has declined for three consecutive years ... Beijing recently canceled plans for just over 100 new coal-fired power plants, some of which were already under construction. The fast growth of renewable energy—and slowing energy demand—made the new plants unnecessary...
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May 18, 2017, 12:16pm
Environment
U.S. Military World’s Largest Polluter – Hundreds Of Bases Gravely Contaminated
Whitney Webb: Producing more hazardous waste than the five largest U.S. chemical companies combined, the U.S. Department of Defense has left its toxic legacy throughout the world in the form of depleted uranium, oil, jet fuel, pesticides, defoliants like Agent Orange and lead, among others. ... Almost 900 of the nearly 1,200 Superfund sites in the U.S. are abandoned military facilities or sites that otherwise support military needs, not counting the military bases themselves. ... In addition, the U.S., which has conducted more nuclear weapons tests than all other nations combined, is also responsible for the massive amount of radiation that continues to contaminate many islands in the Pacific Ocean... Iraq ... depleted Uranium... etc. etc.
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May 16, 2017, 4:18pm
Environment
Paying for Hanford's toxic legacy
Leela Yellesetty: THE HANFORD Nuclear Site in eastern Washington--once called "the most toxic place in America"--declared an emergency after the partial collapse of a tunnel containing radioactive material on May 9. ... The problem, however, is far from solved. The state issued a legal order on May 10 demanding a longer-term solution ... The site shut down in the 1980s and the Department of Energy (DOE), through a private contractor, Washington River Protection Service (WRPS), is now in charge of "managing a $110 billion cleanup of 56 million gallons of chemical and nuclear waste, stored in 177 underground tanks--a task that's expected to last the next 50 years," according to NBC News. ... One problem, though: The tanks are leaking now...
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May 15, 2017, 11:41am
Environment
Ohio officials: it will take decades for wetlands to recover after major pipeline fluid spill
Samantha Page: The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency has told Energy Transfer Partners — the same company building the Dakota Access Pipeline — that it owes the state $430,000 for “inadvertent” damage to pristine state wetlands. ... ETP said the discharge “is a mixture of naturally occurring bentonite clay and water and is safe for the environment ... And in addition to spilling bentonite, the company has engaged in “impermissible open burning,” and air pollution violation. ... These are exactly the kind of incidents and actions that worry environmentalists who are trying to stop pipelines going through sensitive areas...
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May 11, 2017, 4:25pm
 Environment
Is "More Jobs" Sustainable or Necessary in the Post-Peak Oil World?
Jan Lundberg: "Considering climate destabilization and the potential for greater global devastation from war, the society we need must center on the community's providing essentials from the local ecosystem. For that to work, egalitarian social structures are necessary. They involve a different kind of work -- shall we say, living -- that is tribal or ecovillage living...
Mar 14, 2010, 2:43pm
Environment
Shit Happens
Keith Farnish: "One day the systems will start to fail and the sewage will back up, either because of energy failure or simply that the stressed out system can't cope with the influx of waste...It wasn't that long ago that the most common type of toilet in the USA was the Outhouse.
Oct 27, 2009, 4:59pm
Environment
Wealth is a System of Concentration
Chuck Burr: Wealth is not what we are taught. Wealth is not stuff; it is a fiercely protected system of concentration. Wealth is a verb, not a noun. It is the act of the hoarding, and is a key pillar of our culture...
Our modern Taker system is fiercely protected. You can't end private property by taking the property of the wealthy.
Oct 20, 2009, 3:18pm
Environment
If Money Can't Buy Love, Can It Buy Health Care?
Jan Lundberg: "Injecting self-care and community-care into the current "health care debate" requires redefining the power of the individual and the concept of community. If a maximum of community is desirable, tribal bonding (i.e., organized mutual aid) ought to be considered ideal...
Sep 8, 2009, 4:31pm
Environment
Car-Reduced and Car-Free Pedestrian Habitats
"It will take a long time for the US to embrace pedestrians, bicycling, and electric carts as substitutes for cars in our communities. And yet an inevitable change is coming that will significantly increase environmental quality, and restore real community and economic viability.
Jun 26, 2009, 1:36pm
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