by Ellinorianne
Welcome to the Memorial Day weekend blog-a-thon for Feeding America! This weekend's series is the latest in an on-going community fund-raising project for our nation’s food banks that began in 2008. Since then, thanks to all of you, Daily Kos has provided a quarter-of-a-million meals to hungry Americans. Part of the challenge to feeding so many people is dealing in perishable foods, such as fresh fruits and vegetables and those are so very important to any healthy and well rounded diet, especially in this age of cheap and unhealthy fast food. Alternet had a very good piece to explain exactly Why Salads Are More Expensive Than Hamburgers.
continued at Daily Kos....
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Top Comments 5-29-10 – The 3Rs: Recycle Edition
by carolita
REDUCE REUSE RECYCLE For the next few Saturdays, we are going to look at the 3Rs -- reduce, reuse, recycle -- focusing on simple things we can do in our daily lives to save the planet. Of course, we still have to call and write and march and try to move our congresscritters and business leaders toward a more sane energy policy. But seeing progress through simple acts of conservation can it can be highly motivating and help us keep up the fight. So far we have explored Reduction and Reuse. Tonight we Recycle!
continued at Daily Kos....
REDUCE REUSE RECYCLE For the next few Saturdays, we are going to look at the 3Rs -- reduce, reuse, recycle -- focusing on simple things we can do in our daily lives to save the planet. Of course, we still have to call and write and march and try to move our congresscritters and business leaders toward a more sane energy policy. But seeing progress through simple acts of conservation can it can be highly motivating and help us keep up the fight. So far we have explored Reduction and Reuse. Tonight we Recycle!
continued at Daily Kos....
Boreal Forest dis-Agreement
by meralda
The world's largest conservation agreement was signed May 18, 2010. The Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement was announced by a consortium of 21 major Canadian forest products companies and nine leading environmental organizations (listed at this link). The NYTimes explained: Timber companies and environmentalists unveiled an agreement today that suspends logging and road building on about 70 million acres of Canada's boreal forest for the next three years... In exchange, nine environmental groups have promised to end campaigns urging boycotts of boreal timber products and calling for investors to pull their cash out of companies that sell them. The Boreal Forest is a global ecosystem larger than the Amazon rainforest. Canada's portion is over 1.3 billion acres. In Canada, it is also home to over 600 First Nations communities. And they were not consulted when the agreement was being made.
continued at Daily Kos....
The world's largest conservation agreement was signed May 18, 2010. The Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement was announced by a consortium of 21 major Canadian forest products companies and nine leading environmental organizations (listed at this link). The NYTimes explained: Timber companies and environmentalists unveiled an agreement today that suspends logging and road building on about 70 million acres of Canada's boreal forest for the next three years... In exchange, nine environmental groups have promised to end campaigns urging boycotts of boreal timber products and calling for investors to pull their cash out of companies that sell them. The Boreal Forest is a global ecosystem larger than the Amazon rainforest. Canada's portion is over 1.3 billion acres. In Canada, it is also home to over 600 First Nations communities. And they were not consulted when the agreement was being made.
continued at Daily Kos....
Mr. Abbey Goes to Washington, Cleans Up MMS. Or Not.
by RLMiller
Last week President Obama announced that the Minerals Management Service would be split into three parts, informally titled Money, Safety, and Giving Away The Store. Elizabeth Birnbaum has resigned as head of the MMS, and Mr. Abbey has been nominated to serve as acting head. The plan doesn't go far enough to satisfy Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), who believes that it's time to abolish MMS and start anew. Nor does it please Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, which has scathing comments about Ken Salazar's "erratic leadership" and wants to see MMS' environmental and safety functions transferred outside the Interior Department entirely. But is Mr. Abbey a good choice to clean up the MMesS?
continued at Daily Kos....
Last week President Obama announced that the Minerals Management Service would be split into three parts, informally titled Money, Safety, and Giving Away The Store. Elizabeth Birnbaum has resigned as head of the MMS, and Mr. Abbey has been nominated to serve as acting head. The plan doesn't go far enough to satisfy Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), who believes that it's time to abolish MMS and start anew. Nor does it please Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, which has scathing comments about Ken Salazar's "erratic leadership" and wants to see MMS' environmental and safety functions transferred outside the Interior Department entirely. But is Mr. Abbey a good choice to clean up the MMesS?
continued at Daily Kos....
Oil offshore Texas & on Florida Shelf - EPA's Big Error
by FishOutofWater
Today's Terra Imagery from NASA shows a sheen of oil offshore of Port Arthur, near Beaumont Texas.Oil may begin coming onshore on Texas beaches. There's a strong liklihood that black area is weathered oil below the water's surface coming ashore on barrier islands southwest of Galveston, Texas. And to the east in deep and shallow water a toxic mass of oil in the water column threatens to poison and smother the corals and fisheries of the west Florida shelf. PDF
continued at Daily Kos....
Today's Terra Imagery from NASA shows a sheen of oil offshore of Port Arthur, near Beaumont Texas.Oil may begin coming onshore on Texas beaches. There's a strong liklihood that black area is weathered oil below the water's surface coming ashore on barrier islands southwest of Galveston, Texas. And to the east in deep and shallow water a toxic mass of oil in the water column threatens to poison and smother the corals and fisheries of the west Florida shelf. PDF
continued at Daily Kos....
BP still working -- to avoid liability. Now it's sick workers.
by 8ackgr0und N015e
As I pointed out before, BP has been working hard to keep down the estimated size of the spill to minimize their liability. You might say that one datapoint doesn't make a pattern. Well, here's a second one. Fishermen working to clean the spill are starting to show up in local hospitals with respiratory complaints. Why? BP is not providing them with respirators. According to Clint Guidry, president of the Louisiana Shrimp Association (interviewed on Democracy Now): It is a question of liability. The minute BP declares that there is a respiratory danger on the situation is the day that they let the door open for liability suits down the line. If they could have gotten away with covering this up, like they did in Alaska Valdez situation, like Exxon, they would not have to pay a penny for any kind of health-related claims.... Don't tell me "no one could have predicted this."
continued at Daily Kos....
As I pointed out before, BP has been working hard to keep down the estimated size of the spill to minimize their liability. You might say that one datapoint doesn't make a pattern. Well, here's a second one. Fishermen working to clean the spill are starting to show up in local hospitals with respiratory complaints. Why? BP is not providing them with respirators. According to Clint Guidry, president of the Louisiana Shrimp Association (interviewed on Democracy Now): It is a question of liability. The minute BP declares that there is a respiratory danger on the situation is the day that they let the door open for liability suits down the line. If they could have gotten away with covering this up, like they did in Alaska Valdez situation, like Exxon, they would not have to pay a penny for any kind of health-related claims.... Don't tell me "no one could have predicted this."
continued at Daily Kos....
Save the Bronx Zoo Today
by Eddie C
What a difference a year makes. About a year ago in my extremely popular The Animals are Getting the Pink Slip (A Bronx Zoo photo and action diary) this is what big sister Moxie looked like; Yesterday I took my camera to see the three new lion cubs at the Bronx Zoo. The diary is called Friday Evening Photo Blogging: Lion Cubs Today! I can hardly tell Moxie and her mama Sukari apart but I got some great photos of Moxie playing loving sister to three 25 pound cubs. Now the stars of the zoo are Nala, Adamma and Shani; What hasn't changed is that both Bloomberg and Paterson are still screwing the zoo and many cultural institutions. This year much harder than last. See below for what actions we the people have left.
continued at Daily Kos....
What a difference a year makes. About a year ago in my extremely popular The Animals are Getting the Pink Slip (A Bronx Zoo photo and action diary) this is what big sister Moxie looked like; Yesterday I took my camera to see the three new lion cubs at the Bronx Zoo. The diary is called Friday Evening Photo Blogging: Lion Cubs Today! I can hardly tell Moxie and her mama Sukari apart but I got some great photos of Moxie playing loving sister to three 25 pound cubs. Now the stars of the zoo are Nala, Adamma and Shani; What hasn't changed is that both Bloomberg and Paterson are still screwing the zoo and many cultural institutions. This year much harder than last. See below for what actions we the people have left.
continued at Daily Kos....
Action: PROTEST IN NEW ORLEANS.....
by eb23
Hey you all, gonna be a quick diary. This is what we might be doing tomorrow: Uploaded with ImageShack.us follow me below the fold......
continued at Daily Kos....
Hey you all, gonna be a quick diary. This is what we might be doing tomorrow: Uploaded with ImageShack.us follow me below the fold......
continued at Daily Kos....
Feeding America #2: Urban Farms & Fisheries
by Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse
Millions of Americans need more nutritious and affordable food that can address problems of hunger, malnutrition, obesity and poverty. Yet, critics whine that our food stamp program for 40 million people that now costs $73 billion a year is "part of a long-term expansion in welfare and related programs." Chris Edwards from libertarian Cato institute says that "some government figures show that only 10 million people have a serious problem with hunger," yet the "number of people on food stamps is four times higher than the number of people with a serious hunger problem."
continued at Daily Kos....
Millions of Americans need more nutritious and affordable food that can address problems of hunger, malnutrition, obesity and poverty. Yet, critics whine that our food stamp program for 40 million people that now costs $73 billion a year is "part of a long-term expansion in welfare and related programs." Chris Edwards from libertarian Cato institute says that "some government figures show that only 10 million people have a serious problem with hunger," yet the "number of people on food stamps is four times higher than the number of people with a serious hunger problem."
continued at Daily Kos....
Create WPA-Style Gulf Cleanup Army
by Kalkaino
It's just an idea, but it's got real possibilities. Why not create a WPA-style army to clean up the Gulf of Mexico beaches and marshlands? There are millions of able-bodied folks crying for work, and years' worth of work that will basically need to get done by hand, with shovels, bags, wheelbarrows et cetera. This is work that can't be outsourced to Inda. It'll be hot, hard, buggy, smelly work so even if we pay a real wage, (like, say $20 an hour) nobody will be said to be getting a handout. I envision a real corps, with barracks or trailer camp bases being thrown up quickly. Recruits, should be by quota drawn from all over America (with some allowance for relief of those directly affected, fishermen etc) to maximize support for the program.
continued at Daily Kos....
It's just an idea, but it's got real possibilities. Why not create a WPA-style army to clean up the Gulf of Mexico beaches and marshlands? There are millions of able-bodied folks crying for work, and years' worth of work that will basically need to get done by hand, with shovels, bags, wheelbarrows et cetera. This is work that can't be outsourced to Inda. It'll be hot, hard, buggy, smelly work so even if we pay a real wage, (like, say $20 an hour) nobody will be said to be getting a handout. I envision a real corps, with barracks or trailer camp bases being thrown up quickly. Recruits, should be by quota drawn from all over America (with some allowance for relief of those directly affected, fishermen etc) to maximize support for the program.
continued at Daily Kos....
Robot Subs Seek Oil off Florida Coast
by bob zimway
The appalling lack of data on the size, location, and characteristics of the infamous oil plumes in the Gulf led me to explore the efforts of a marine sciences org named Mote Marine that's conducting data collection of oil off the Florida coast.
continued at Daily Kos....
The appalling lack of data on the size, location, and characteristics of the infamous oil plumes in the Gulf led me to explore the efforts of a marine sciences org named Mote Marine that's conducting data collection of oil off the Florida coast.
continued at Daily Kos....
Killer Rigs: There's More Death in Offshore Drilling Than Meets the Eye
by Limelite
The offshore drilling industry in the Gulf of Mexico is an equal opportunity death merchant, even when operating normally, meeting "industry standards." Mercury levels around some rigs are so high as to qualify for the National Priorities List, a roll call of the nation's most hazardous contaminated sites. [snip] . . .[and] eventually lead to a federal "Superfund" clean-up effort, like those at Love Canal in New York. Mobile Press Register Only they won't because the danger doesn't pose an immediate threat to humans. And because the rigs are sources of Federally permitted pollution. But there's the rub -- it does and is posing an immediate danger to marine animals. Fish. Big time commercial and sports fishing industries target the rigs; some estimate as much as 75% of all fishing trips out of Louisiana do. That's only one of the Gulf States. Shocked? Here's the BIG shocker.
continued at Daily Kos....
The offshore drilling industry in the Gulf of Mexico is an equal opportunity death merchant, even when operating normally, meeting "industry standards." Mercury levels around some rigs are so high as to qualify for the National Priorities List, a roll call of the nation's most hazardous contaminated sites. [snip] . . .[and] eventually lead to a federal "Superfund" clean-up effort, like those at Love Canal in New York. Mobile Press Register Only they won't because the danger doesn't pose an immediate threat to humans. And because the rigs are sources of Federally permitted pollution. But there's the rub -- it does and is posing an immediate danger to marine animals. Fish. Big time commercial and sports fishing industries target the rigs; some estimate as much as 75% of all fishing trips out of Louisiana do. That's only one of the Gulf States. Shocked? Here's the BIG shocker.
continued at Daily Kos....
"A Strange Corporate Oil State"
by Edger
Author and activist Naomi Klein has been visiting Louisiana, and conducted a short on camera interview with Al Jazeera about her impressions of the disaster response to BP's oil leak catastrophe... Senator Dick Durbin once described Capitol Hill as being owned by the banks. He said the banks 'own this place' describing why it was so hard to get financial reform through in Washington, and all I can say from having spent the week here in Louisiana is that it really feels like the oil and gas industry owns this place. I think we're dealing with two factors here. One is an election strategy for the Obama Administration, they want to keep some distance, they don't want to own the disaster fully, they want to still have somebody to point fingers to. But then there's also just this major attitude in this administration from day one really, to trust industry.
continued at Daily Kos....
Author and activist Naomi Klein has been visiting Louisiana, and conducted a short on camera interview with Al Jazeera about her impressions of the disaster response to BP's oil leak catastrophe... Senator Dick Durbin once described Capitol Hill as being owned by the banks. He said the banks 'own this place' describing why it was so hard to get financial reform through in Washington, and all I can say from having spent the week here in Louisiana is that it really feels like the oil and gas industry owns this place. I think we're dealing with two factors here. One is an election strategy for the Obama Administration, they want to keep some distance, they don't want to own the disaster fully, they want to still have somebody to point fingers to. But then there's also just this major attitude in this administration from day one really, to trust industry.
continued at Daily Kos....
Solar Power is So Expensive?
by TheEnergyMiser
"But why is it so expensive?" - It was the third person that weekend to come to my home show booth and ask that question. I wish I could talk to them now. What I would say to them today, "If you think solar is expensive, you haven't thought about the Gulf enough." Full Disclosure: Four years ago, I started a business installing wind and solar electric systems. In those four years the solar business has taken off.
continued at Daily Kos....
"But why is it so expensive?" - It was the third person that weekend to come to my home show booth and ask that question. I wish I could talk to them now. What I would say to them today, "If you think solar is expensive, you haven't thought about the Gulf enough." Full Disclosure: Four years ago, I started a business installing wind and solar electric systems. In those four years the solar business has taken off.
continued at Daily Kos....
BP's Assault on the Great Lakes
by agnostic
2005 - 15 people were killed and over 170 injured from a fire and explosion on the Isomerization plant (ISOM) at the BP Products North America 2006 - BP's Prudhoe Bay pipeline exploded, spilling hundreds of thousands of gallons of heavy crude. BP attack on the Great Lakes comes in three parts: a) BP wants to drill under Lake Michigan, almost a mile below the lake's bottom. Think of the Gulf leak, but with fresh, not salt water. b) BP is the 6th largest polluter in the Chicago area. With its new Whiting Refinery capacity (Canadian oil shale & tar sands), that will increase by 40%. c) BP is deliberately pollutes Lake Michigan with benzene & mercury. Remnants from tar sands refining process will be far, far worse.
continued at Daily Kos....
2005 - 15 people were killed and over 170 injured from a fire and explosion on the Isomerization plant (ISOM) at the BP Products North America 2006 - BP's Prudhoe Bay pipeline exploded, spilling hundreds of thousands of gallons of heavy crude. BP attack on the Great Lakes comes in three parts: a) BP wants to drill under Lake Michigan, almost a mile below the lake's bottom. Think of the Gulf leak, but with fresh, not salt water. b) BP is the 6th largest polluter in the Chicago area. With its new Whiting Refinery capacity (Canadian oil shale & tar sands), that will increase by 40%. c) BP is deliberately pollutes Lake Michigan with benzene & mercury. Remnants from tar sands refining process will be far, far worse.
continued at Daily Kos....
Superpollution means conservatism to the junk heap
by worldforallpeopleorg
Ideologies are born, have a life of their own, and in the minds of their proponents can replicate the notions of a Dylan Thomas masterpiece: "raging, raging, against the dying of the light." But today's thinking conservatives have to be straddling a barbed fence: There is enough evidence before them that a disturbing conclusion must be stirring - they have been fundamentally and profoundly wrong. Conservatism belongs on the scrap heap of isms. Proof, over the fold,
continued at Daily Kos....
Ideologies are born, have a life of their own, and in the minds of their proponents can replicate the notions of a Dylan Thomas masterpiece: "raging, raging, against the dying of the light." But today's thinking conservatives have to be straddling a barbed fence: There is enough evidence before them that a disturbing conclusion must be stirring - they have been fundamentally and profoundly wrong. Conservatism belongs on the scrap heap of isms. Proof, over the fold,
continued at Daily Kos....
Initial Federal Oil Spill Estimate May Be Not Be True!
by slinkerwink
Two of the scientists on the National Flow Rate Technical Group are disagreeing with how the estimates were put out by the group. The current federal estimate is that the oil spill ranges from 12,000 to 19,000 barrels of oil per day. Here's the story on the disagreement with the oil spill estimate: The 12,000-to-19,000-barrel estimate was based on individual estimates from three different methods: one that used satellite images to study the amount of oil on the surface of the water, one that analyzed video of the underwater oil "plume," and one that analyzed the amount of oil collected by the Riser Insertion Tube Tool (RITT) that BP installed last week to capture some of the escaping oil. But it was impossible for members of the team that analyzed the oil plume video to estimate the upper boundary of the oil spilled, according to the Ira Leifer, a researcher at the Marine Science Institute at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Steven Wereley, a researcher at Purdue University. That means that what we have is not a full actual range of the numbers of barrels spilled per day, and that this is a lowball estimate.
continued at Daily Kos....
Two of the scientists on the National Flow Rate Technical Group are disagreeing with how the estimates were put out by the group. The current federal estimate is that the oil spill ranges from 12,000 to 19,000 barrels of oil per day. Here's the story on the disagreement with the oil spill estimate: The 12,000-to-19,000-barrel estimate was based on individual estimates from three different methods: one that used satellite images to study the amount of oil on the surface of the water, one that analyzed video of the underwater oil "plume," and one that analyzed the amount of oil collected by the Riser Insertion Tube Tool (RITT) that BP installed last week to capture some of the escaping oil. But it was impossible for members of the team that analyzed the oil plume video to estimate the upper boundary of the oil spilled, according to the Ira Leifer, a researcher at the Marine Science Institute at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Steven Wereley, a researcher at Purdue University. That means that what we have is not a full actual range of the numbers of barrels spilled per day, and that this is a lowball estimate.
continued at Daily Kos....
Something has Changed in the Climate Change Game -- the CIA
by jamess
Who says Climate Change is not anything to worry about? Climate Change Climbs the Ranks in the Pentagon and CIA Bryn Baker - 12/14/2009 The US Military and the CIA are increasingly concerned that climate change raises the prospects for military intervention to deal with the effects of severe weather, rising seas, drought, mass migration, spread of disease, and increased competition for resources. In Pentagon, CIA Eye New Threat: Climate Change, National Public Radio reports today that "for the first time, climate change will feature as one of the key threats under assessment in the 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review. [...]" Recent war games and intelligence studies have found that sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and South and Southeast Asia will likely be the most vulnerable regions, facing food shortages, water crises and severe flooding that could require an American humanitarian relief or military response. If they can plan War Games to manage the Human Chaos, expected from Climate Change -- Why can't we plan to minimize that Climate Change, in the first place?
continued at Daily Kos....
Who says Climate Change is not anything to worry about? Climate Change Climbs the Ranks in the Pentagon and CIA Bryn Baker - 12/14/2009 The US Military and the CIA are increasingly concerned that climate change raises the prospects for military intervention to deal with the effects of severe weather, rising seas, drought, mass migration, spread of disease, and increased competition for resources. In Pentagon, CIA Eye New Threat: Climate Change, National Public Radio reports today that "for the first time, climate change will feature as one of the key threats under assessment in the 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review. [...]" Recent war games and intelligence studies have found that sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and South and Southeast Asia will likely be the most vulnerable regions, facing food shortages, water crises and severe flooding that could require an American humanitarian relief or military response. If they can plan War Games to manage the Human Chaos, expected from Climate Change -- Why can't we plan to minimize that Climate Change, in the first place?
continued at Daily Kos....
Top Kill/Junk Shot Liveblog Mothership: 29 May, 2010 - Day Four
by Liveblog
This is the BP Junk Shot Mothership, Day Four. Rules of the Road Let's keep this a meta diary. To volunteer to host an ROV (submersible) diary, leave a comment here. For commenting on the Top Kill/Junk Shot attempt, please go to the current ROV diary. Please rec this mothership diary, not the submersibles. Please be kind to fellow kossacks who may have limited bandwidth and refrain from posting images or videos. To repeat: please refrain from commenting in this mothership diary, unless you're volunteering for a submersible shift.
continued at Daily Kos....
This is the BP Junk Shot Mothership, Day Four. Rules of the Road Let's keep this a meta diary. To volunteer to host an ROV (submersible) diary, leave a comment here. For commenting on the Top Kill/Junk Shot attempt, please go to the current ROV diary. Please rec this mothership diary, not the submersibles. Please be kind to fellow kossacks who may have limited bandwidth and refrain from posting images or videos. To repeat: please refrain from commenting in this mothership diary, unless you're volunteering for a submersible shift.
continued at Daily Kos....
Oil Leak Widget Features 'Spillcam'
by Hyde Park Johnny
just posting if nobody has already thanks in part to congressional pressure, we have a way to watch the environmental crisis unfold in real time via a live video feed. We modified our original Gulf Leak Meter because the video takes our sliding scale out of the abstract and into reality.
continued at Daily Kos....
just posting if nobody has already thanks in part to congressional pressure, we have a way to watch the environmental crisis unfold in real time via a live video feed. We modified our original Gulf Leak Meter because the video takes our sliding scale out of the abstract and into reality.
continued at Daily Kos....
Green diary rescue & open thread
by Meteor Blades
lao hong han passed along a poignant and chilling letter from a friend BP's Gulf Blowout And Our Future: "Our son-in-law, Lee, earns his living as a fisherman in Key West. Has done so for 30 years. Today is his 52nd birthday and he is now, effectively, jobless for the rest of his life." The intent of these restrictions would be believable if the same restrictions were placed on sportsfishers, but until this year, that hasn't happened. Instead, commercial fishers are restricted from catching, say, grouper in certain weeks because they're spawning, and they have to sit idle while sportsfishers pack them in, put them on ice, and take them home to their families and friends. ... Lee has been scrambling for work -- any kind of work. Captaining boats, scraping barnacles off boat bottoms, anything to bring in money. He's a worker, always has been, and this is very hard for him. He's also become a local spokesman for the small fisher community because he's smart and articulate and a no-bullshitter. Since the oil blowout, he and his fellow small fishers and others in the Keys who are out of work because tourism is down have all taken haz/mat training at the local college, at a cost of $550 a head. BP gave the college a grant to run the training, a few thousand dollars, and also the promise that those who completed the training would be reimbursed for their costs. Of course they're all hoping for work with BP to help clean up the oil when it hits -- which it will do eventually, and get swept into the Gulf Stream and get carried to other Caribbean countries, but also to the coasts of Europe and Africa. The dispersants, highly toxic to humans and all living creatures, will break up the oil into tiny drops making it less visible on beachers but infinitely harder to deal with. Like sending coal ash into the air. I am put in mind of the lyrebird, which resides in the Indonesian rain forest. This bird is noted for its amazing capacity to imitate the sounds of the forest all around it, incorporating the sounds into its mating song. In recent years ornithologists have recorded the lyrebird's songs, which include the sounds of the bulldozers and chainsaws cutting down the very trees around it. That's how I see Lee and his fellow fishermen, working to save the ass of the industry that has spelled their doom. = = = Once, you had to search to find environmental diaries. In the past five days, there have been so many that they wouldn't all fit in the rescue box. So I had to put the rest in a comment. [Green diary rescue appears Thursday and Sundays. Inclusion of a particular diary does not necessarily indicate my agreement with it. The diaries begin in the jump.]
continued at Daily Kos....
lao hong han passed along a poignant and chilling letter from a friend BP's Gulf Blowout And Our Future: "Our son-in-law, Lee, earns his living as a fisherman in Key West. Has done so for 30 years. Today is his 52nd birthday and he is now, effectively, jobless for the rest of his life." The intent of these restrictions would be believable if the same restrictions were placed on sportsfishers, but until this year, that hasn't happened. Instead, commercial fishers are restricted from catching, say, grouper in certain weeks because they're spawning, and they have to sit idle while sportsfishers pack them in, put them on ice, and take them home to their families and friends. ... Lee has been scrambling for work -- any kind of work. Captaining boats, scraping barnacles off boat bottoms, anything to bring in money. He's a worker, always has been, and this is very hard for him. He's also become a local spokesman for the small fisher community because he's smart and articulate and a no-bullshitter. Since the oil blowout, he and his fellow small fishers and others in the Keys who are out of work because tourism is down have all taken haz/mat training at the local college, at a cost of $550 a head. BP gave the college a grant to run the training, a few thousand dollars, and also the promise that those who completed the training would be reimbursed for their costs. Of course they're all hoping for work with BP to help clean up the oil when it hits -- which it will do eventually, and get swept into the Gulf Stream and get carried to other Caribbean countries, but also to the coasts of Europe and Africa. The dispersants, highly toxic to humans and all living creatures, will break up the oil into tiny drops making it less visible on beachers but infinitely harder to deal with. Like sending coal ash into the air. I am put in mind of the lyrebird, which resides in the Indonesian rain forest. This bird is noted for its amazing capacity to imitate the sounds of the forest all around it, incorporating the sounds into its mating song. In recent years ornithologists have recorded the lyrebird's songs, which include the sounds of the bulldozers and chainsaws cutting down the very trees around it. That's how I see Lee and his fellow fishermen, working to save the ass of the industry that has spelled their doom. = = = Once, you had to search to find environmental diaries. In the past five days, there have been so many that they wouldn't all fit in the rescue box. So I had to put the rest in a comment. [Green diary rescue appears Thursday and Sundays. Inclusion of a particular diary does not necessarily indicate my agreement with it. The diaries begin in the jump.]
continued at Daily Kos....
N_TION_LIZ_TION — Can America Buy a Vowel? Oil Made Easy
by Pluto
Who remembers this? It was published just about one year ago. Take a brief trip with me down Memory Lane -- and by the time we reach the end, you will learn a dangerous but empowering truth and discover a transformational and disruptive idea whose time has come. You will see the inevitable future of this nation -- one that will save your children's lives and free them from the crippling slavery of debt that is about to consume them.
continued at Daily Kos....
Who remembers this? It was published just about one year ago. Take a brief trip with me down Memory Lane -- and by the time we reach the end, you will learn a dangerous but empowering truth and discover a transformational and disruptive idea whose time has come. You will see the inevitable future of this nation -- one that will save your children's lives and free them from the crippling slavery of debt that is about to consume them.
continued at Daily Kos....
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