by Muskegon Critic
As hard up as my town is at nearly 17%+ unemployment and with vacant factories...and as much poverty as there is, I still don't think of it as the sort of town where Americorps comes in to help out. But apparently it is. It is, indeed, a place where Americorps comes to help make the city a better place to live. A friend and I went to visit the McLaughlin Urban Farm in Muskegon...which is not an Americorps endeavor, by the way...it's a Community enCompass endeavor. The farm is about a half acre in the middle of the McLaughlin neighborhood where several abandoned and condemned houses had been plowed under and as of 2009 replaced with an organic, urban farm with a large hoop house and several mounds of composting leaves and vegetable matter. It's a for-profit urban farm whose goal is to employ people in the impoverished McLaughlin neighborhood, provide local residents with fresh produce, and replace crumbling buildings with green space.
continued at Daily Kos....
Monday, May 31, 2010
food justice NOW earthship & the snowball effect
by eKos
Welcome to Monday's Ecojustice series, which tonight hosts the eKos Earthship. We dedicate this evening to gaining M-O-M-E-N-T-U-M towards motivating you to ACT NOW for Food Justice as we report out on the results of this weekend's Feeding America blogathon. Scroll down for today's eco-diary roundup and welcome aboard the Food Justice NOW Earthship! Follow ekos earthship on Twitter! Today's editor: boatsie
continued at Daily Kos....
Welcome to Monday's Ecojustice series, which tonight hosts the eKos Earthship. We dedicate this evening to gaining M-O-M-E-N-T-U-M towards motivating you to ACT NOW for Food Justice as we report out on the results of this weekend's Feeding America blogathon. Scroll down for today's eco-diary roundup and welcome aboard the Food Justice NOW Earthship! Follow ekos earthship on Twitter! Today's editor: boatsie
continued at Daily Kos....
Rep. Markey & smart phones take on BP
by Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse
Earlier this month, EcoAdvocates: Let's Ushahidi BP!, focused on how citizen witnesses and observers are using a mobile reporting platform to collect information on the impacts from BP's oil gusher. The database of information collected will be used to help the community, scientists and engineers to clean up this mess and to assist lawyers filing legal actions against BP. Now, a free app called Oil Reporter is available for everyone to report impacts of BP's oil gusher using iPhone and Android. The data is compiled at their website for everyone to use. People can report what they are seeing on the ground, such as oil sightings or harmed wildlife and upload photos or videos. Video here explains the process.
continued at Daily Kos....
Earlier this month, EcoAdvocates: Let's Ushahidi BP!, focused on how citizen witnesses and observers are using a mobile reporting platform to collect information on the impacts from BP's oil gusher. The database of information collected will be used to help the community, scientists and engineers to clean up this mess and to assist lawyers filing legal actions against BP. Now, a free app called Oil Reporter is available for everyone to report impacts of BP's oil gusher using iPhone and Android. The data is compiled at their website for everyone to use. People can report what they are seeing on the ground, such as oil sightings or harmed wildlife and upload photos or videos. Video here explains the process.
continued at Daily Kos....
SeaScum Uber-Barbie with Cheney Ties Now Speaks for BP.
by RLMiller
SeaScum: like pondscum, but bigger! Multinational corporation-sized bigger! BP has apparently come to the same conclusion that 300 million Americans have: Doug Suttles isn't photogenic, and every time Tony Hayward opens his mouth he digs himself a deeper hole (5,000 feet deep and counting). Poor BP! Poor Tony Hayward, who just wants his life back! Excuse me, Mr. Hayward, but we'd like our ocean back. Rather than trust Hayward to say anything intelligent, BP has hired a spokesperson. And not just any spokesperson, but one fresh from the heart of darkness! Anne Womack Kolton, congratulations. You win the SeaScum of the Day award.
continued at Daily Kos....
SeaScum: like pondscum, but bigger! Multinational corporation-sized bigger! BP has apparently come to the same conclusion that 300 million Americans have: Doug Suttles isn't photogenic, and every time Tony Hayward opens his mouth he digs himself a deeper hole (5,000 feet deep and counting). Poor BP! Poor Tony Hayward, who just wants his life back! Excuse me, Mr. Hayward, but we'd like our ocean back. Rather than trust Hayward to say anything intelligent, BP has hired a spokesperson. And not just any spokesperson, but one fresh from the heart of darkness! Anne Womack Kolton, congratulations. You win the SeaScum of the Day award.
continued at Daily Kos....
The New York Times! — For The Second Time This Year!
by WarrenS
Some day in the future I will no longer feel the need to write daily letters on climate change. Perhaps the Arcturans or Betelguesians will arrive with magic CO2 sponges, or perhaps some mild-mannered nerd in a basement somewhere will invent a tiny nanodevice that pulls carbon out of the atmosphere and turns it into diamonds, which are collected by another device so they don't fall to earth and hurt people. Perhaps. Meanwhile...the Business-As-Usual Complex keeps on destroying the planet, and their handmaidens in the media keep looking the other way. So I keep writing my letters. On May 27 I sat down to write my letter for the following day.
continued at Daily Kos....
Some day in the future I will no longer feel the need to write daily letters on climate change. Perhaps the Arcturans or Betelguesians will arrive with magic CO2 sponges, or perhaps some mild-mannered nerd in a basement somewhere will invent a tiny nanodevice that pulls carbon out of the atmosphere and turns it into diamonds, which are collected by another device so they don't fall to earth and hurt people. Perhaps. Meanwhile...the Business-As-Usual Complex keeps on destroying the planet, and their handmaidens in the media keep looking the other way. So I keep writing my letters. On May 27 I sat down to write my letter for the following day.
continued at Daily Kos....
Macca's Meatless Monday..Help! for oil addiction here
by beach babe in fl
In this weekly series we have been discussing the benefits of a vegetarian diet including; better health, animal rights, global food crisis, food safety, frugal living and the immense contribution of meat production to climate change/depletion of resources. If all Americans went meatless once a week, it would save the same CO2 emissions as 90 million airplane flights from NYC to LA. If all Americans cut out meat for two days a week, this would have the same positive effect on reducing greenhouse gasses as replacing all household appliances like fridges, freezers, microwave ovens, dishwashers, washing machines, tumble dryers and so on Continued below the fold
continued at Daily Kos....
In this weekly series we have been discussing the benefits of a vegetarian diet including; better health, animal rights, global food crisis, food safety, frugal living and the immense contribution of meat production to climate change/depletion of resources. If all Americans went meatless once a week, it would save the same CO2 emissions as 90 million airplane flights from NYC to LA. If all Americans cut out meat for two days a week, this would have the same positive effect on reducing greenhouse gasses as replacing all household appliances like fridges, freezers, microwave ovens, dishwashers, washing machines, tumble dryers and so on Continued below the fold
continued at Daily Kos....
Science Tidbits
by possum
Once again Monday is here. Today is the time to take a well deserved hiatus from all the politics of the day and enjoy some of the fine science news of the past week. New discoveries, new takes on old knowledge, and other bits of news are all available for the perusing in today's information world. Over the fold are selections from the past week from a few of the many excellent science news sites around the world. Today's tidbits include risk of climate change to small mammals, making tiny nanofibers, star of the African savanna ecosystem may be the lowly termite, coastal birds carry toxic metals inland, ancient jawbone of new pterodactyl, and a new method for calculating greenhouse value of ecosystems. Come gather around the fire for one more session of Dr. Possum's science education and entertainment.
continued at Daily Kos....
Once again Monday is here. Today is the time to take a well deserved hiatus from all the politics of the day and enjoy some of the fine science news of the past week. New discoveries, new takes on old knowledge, and other bits of news are all available for the perusing in today's information world. Over the fold are selections from the past week from a few of the many excellent science news sites around the world. Today's tidbits include risk of climate change to small mammals, making tiny nanofibers, star of the African savanna ecosystem may be the lowly termite, coastal birds carry toxic metals inland, ancient jawbone of new pterodactyl, and a new method for calculating greenhouse value of ecosystems. Come gather around the fire for one more session of Dr. Possum's science education and entertainment.
continued at Daily Kos....
They thought it could never happen?
by Jed Lewison
After telling David Gregory that he thought Tony Hayward is "doing a fantastic job," BP Managing Director Bo Dudley comes up with a novel argument for saving Hayward's skin: that nobody thought the blowout preventer could fail. CROWLEY: Do you think after this is all over that there are BP executives that ought to resign over the fact that there didn't seem to be any contingency plans for this sort of thing? DUDLEY: Well, Candy, this is an unprecedented accident in the oil and gas industry. ... The failure of the blowout preventers, which is the ultimate multiple redundant fail-safe system, has not happened like this before ... everyone in the industry now has to step back, look at this piece of equipment that generally the industry regarded as fail-safe, go back, figure out what happens, understand it, disseminate that, make sure it doesn't happen anywhere, anytime -- anywhere in the world again. Let's look at this in a couple of different ways. First, assume that Dudley is correct and nobody thought the blowout preventer could fail. Isn't that incredibly damning? He's basically saying that everybody failed to anticipate the possibility of a massive blowout like the one gushing into the Gulf. If that's really true, that's a really, really big screw up. It's so big that not only should Hayward be fired, but the entire drilling industry should pack up their bags, because if they can't see the risk in a blowout preventer failing, they've got no business working in dangerous waters. Second, assume that Dudley is wrong, and that there were people who anticipated the possibility of a blowout preventer failure. (This scenario seems infinitely more plausible, at least to me.) If that is the case, what possible argument is there against firing Hayward? We know BP was cutting corners. If BP (as seems overwhelmingly likely) also knew that cutting corners increased the risk of blowout preventer failure, getting fired should be the least of Hayward's concerns. Either way, it's just amazing that after a screw up of this magnitude, Tony Hayward isn't looking for a job. The fact that he's still in the driver's seat tells you a lot about the character of the people at BP. And it sheds light on how this occurred in the first place.
continued at Daily Kos....
After telling David Gregory that he thought Tony Hayward is "doing a fantastic job," BP Managing Director Bo Dudley comes up with a novel argument for saving Hayward's skin: that nobody thought the blowout preventer could fail. CROWLEY: Do you think after this is all over that there are BP executives that ought to resign over the fact that there didn't seem to be any contingency plans for this sort of thing? DUDLEY: Well, Candy, this is an unprecedented accident in the oil and gas industry. ... The failure of the blowout preventers, which is the ultimate multiple redundant fail-safe system, has not happened like this before ... everyone in the industry now has to step back, look at this piece of equipment that generally the industry regarded as fail-safe, go back, figure out what happens, understand it, disseminate that, make sure it doesn't happen anywhere, anytime -- anywhere in the world again. Let's look at this in a couple of different ways. First, assume that Dudley is correct and nobody thought the blowout preventer could fail. Isn't that incredibly damning? He's basically saying that everybody failed to anticipate the possibility of a massive blowout like the one gushing into the Gulf. If that's really true, that's a really, really big screw up. It's so big that not only should Hayward be fired, but the entire drilling industry should pack up their bags, because if they can't see the risk in a blowout preventer failing, they've got no business working in dangerous waters. Second, assume that Dudley is wrong, and that there were people who anticipated the possibility of a blowout preventer failure. (This scenario seems infinitely more plausible, at least to me.) If that is the case, what possible argument is there against firing Hayward? We know BP was cutting corners. If BP (as seems overwhelmingly likely) also knew that cutting corners increased the risk of blowout preventer failure, getting fired should be the least of Hayward's concerns. Either way, it's just amazing that after a screw up of this magnitude, Tony Hayward isn't looking for a job. The fact that he's still in the driver's seat tells you a lot about the character of the people at BP. And it sheds light on how this occurred in the first place.
continued at Daily Kos....
Heckuva' job, Tony
by Jed Lewison
BP Managing Director Bo Dudley thinks CEO Tony Hayward is "doing a great job...a fantastic job" and should keep his job, even despite BP's oil spill in the Gulf: Yeah, a real heckuva' job, Tony. Consider: Hayward has presided over the largest oil spill in American history and it's getting worse each day with no end in sight. Before the oil spill, Hayward led a company that willfully cut corners on safety measures in order to reduce costs and increase profits. Despite cutting corners, thereby increasing the risk of a spill, Hayward never made sure that BP could stop an oil spill like this, despite his company's assurances to regulators that it could. Since the spill, BP has done everything in its power to minimize the magnitude of the leak, whether its Hayward calling the spill "tiny" or BP dragging its feet on releasing undersea video. To BP's Managing Director, none of that matters because Hayward has boosted BP's bottom-line. In BP's world, Hayward isn't just adequate, he's exceptional. That's as good an argument as any that once this crisis is over, the U.S. government should sever all ties with BP: no more leases, no more authority to tap into our national resources. If that happens, it'll be a damn good riddance.
continued at Daily Kos....
BP Managing Director Bo Dudley thinks CEO Tony Hayward is "doing a great job...a fantastic job" and should keep his job, even despite BP's oil spill in the Gulf: Yeah, a real heckuva' job, Tony. Consider: Hayward has presided over the largest oil spill in American history and it's getting worse each day with no end in sight. Before the oil spill, Hayward led a company that willfully cut corners on safety measures in order to reduce costs and increase profits. Despite cutting corners, thereby increasing the risk of a spill, Hayward never made sure that BP could stop an oil spill like this, despite his company's assurances to regulators that it could. Since the spill, BP has done everything in its power to minimize the magnitude of the leak, whether its Hayward calling the spill "tiny" or BP dragging its feet on releasing undersea video. To BP's Managing Director, none of that matters because Hayward has boosted BP's bottom-line. In BP's world, Hayward isn't just adequate, he's exceptional. That's as good an argument as any that once this crisis is over, the U.S. government should sever all ties with BP: no more leases, no more authority to tap into our national resources. If that happens, it'll be a damn good riddance.
continued at Daily Kos....
Tony Hayward issues Executive Order: Plumes do not Exist.
by jamess
Since everything they try, to clean up the mess in the Gulf fails, BP CEO Tony Hayward has decided to take a different tact. CEO Hayward has decided to "will away" the Oil by some sort of Divine Executive Fiat! (Managing Billions of Dollars can inflate a person's Ego sometimes, it seems.) BP CEO disputes claims of underwater oil plumes Associated Press -- 05/30/2010 VENICE, La. — Disputing scientists' claims of large oil plumes suspended underwater in the Gulf of Mexico, BP PLC's chief executive on Sunday said the company has largely narrowed the focus of its cleanup to surface slicks rolling into Louisiana's coastal marshes. During a tour of a BP PLC staging area for cleanup workers, CEO Tony Hayward said the company's sampling showed "no evidence" that oil was suspended in large masses beneath the surface. He didn't elaborate on how the testing was done. Hayward said that oil's natural tendency is to rise to the surface, and any oil found underwater was in the process of working its way up. "The oil is on the surface," Hayward said. "There aren't any plumes." So that's, THAT, then.
continued at Daily Kos....
Since everything they try, to clean up the mess in the Gulf fails, BP CEO Tony Hayward has decided to take a different tact. CEO Hayward has decided to "will away" the Oil by some sort of Divine Executive Fiat! (Managing Billions of Dollars can inflate a person's Ego sometimes, it seems.) BP CEO disputes claims of underwater oil plumes Associated Press -- 05/30/2010 VENICE, La. — Disputing scientists' claims of large oil plumes suspended underwater in the Gulf of Mexico, BP PLC's chief executive on Sunday said the company has largely narrowed the focus of its cleanup to surface slicks rolling into Louisiana's coastal marshes. During a tour of a BP PLC staging area for cleanup workers, CEO Tony Hayward said the company's sampling showed "no evidence" that oil was suspended in large masses beneath the surface. He didn't elaborate on how the testing was done. Hayward said that oil's natural tendency is to rise to the surface, and any oil found underwater was in the process of working its way up. "The oil is on the surface," Hayward said. "There aren't any plumes." So that's, THAT, then.
continued at Daily Kos....
BP Gulf of Mexico Disaster - Liveblog Mothership - Day Six
by Liveblog
RECS ARE NEEDED TO KEEP THIS RECLISTED. If you haven't rec'd this mothership, please do so now. This is the BP Assault on the Gulf of Mexico Mothership, Day Six. 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 anything related to the BP disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, 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....
RECS ARE NEEDED TO KEEP THIS RECLISTED. If you haven't rec'd this mothership, please do so now. This is the BP Assault on the Gulf of Mexico Mothership, Day Six. 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 anything related to the BP disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, 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....
The oil spills in Nigeria, where we get 40% of our oil.
by quantumspin
In the referenced "The Guardian" article, Nigeria's 600+ oil fields supply about 40% of all crude the U.S. imports. What is the 'spill status' like in Nigeria, in specific, the Niger Delta? The article spells it out.
continued at Daily Kos....
In the referenced "The Guardian" article, Nigeria's 600+ oil fields supply about 40% of all crude the U.S. imports. What is the 'spill status' like in Nigeria, in specific, the Niger Delta? The article spells it out.
continued at Daily Kos....
Fishgrease: Booming The Money Shot
by Fishgrease
Hello Boomers! This time I'm going to talk to BP. Maybe BP will listen, maybe not. I guess we'll see. With the failure of the Top Kill procedure that was discussed in my last two diaries, now we're moving on to what BP is calling the LMRP. Lower Marine Riser Package. If you've read my stuff up to now, you know that I've been pretty pessimistic. I've mostly made negative predictions. This ain't going to work and here's why. That's going to be a complete fucking failure because taadaaa taadaaa taadaaa. Fishgrease = Debbie Downer I mean, I've been largely right about stuff. Look where we are now! I've told some DKos Boomers my prediction trick. It's an illusion, just like a Sigfried and Roy do, only I do it without tigers and I'm generally a little more ummmm... butch about it. Let's jump through the flaming hoop and I'll continue on the other side.
continued at Daily Kos....
Hello Boomers! This time I'm going to talk to BP. Maybe BP will listen, maybe not. I guess we'll see. With the failure of the Top Kill procedure that was discussed in my last two diaries, now we're moving on to what BP is calling the LMRP. Lower Marine Riser Package. If you've read my stuff up to now, you know that I've been pretty pessimistic. I've mostly made negative predictions. This ain't going to work and here's why. That's going to be a complete fucking failure because taadaaa taadaaa taadaaa. Fishgrease = Debbie Downer I mean, I've been largely right about stuff. Look where we are now! I've told some DKos Boomers my prediction trick. It's an illusion, just like a Sigfried and Roy do, only I do it without tigers and I'm generally a little more ummmm... butch about it. Let's jump through the flaming hoop and I'll continue on the other side.
continued at Daily Kos....
BP: "We're Not Blaming Anyone... Yet"
by Edger
The other day in BP Blaming Employees For The Gusher I wrote about BP looking to wriggle out of responsibility for their catastrophe in the Gulf. On Sunday David Edwards noted in a RawStory article that "Oil giant BP has said it is responsible for the Gulf oil spill, but now the company seems to be reserving the right to blame someone else" and that "Fox News' Chris Wallace questioned the managing director of BP, Bob Dudley, about the company's poor safety record. While taking full responsibility for the spill, Dudley indicated they may shift that responsibility in the future".
continued at Daily Kos....
The other day in BP Blaming Employees For The Gusher I wrote about BP looking to wriggle out of responsibility for their catastrophe in the Gulf. On Sunday David Edwards noted in a RawStory article that "Oil giant BP has said it is responsible for the Gulf oil spill, but now the company seems to be reserving the right to blame someone else" and that "Fox News' Chris Wallace questioned the managing director of BP, Bob Dudley, about the company's poor safety record. While taking full responsibility for the spill, Dudley indicated they may shift that responsibility in the future".
continued at Daily Kos....
Republicans Who Would Be Run Out of Their Party Protecting the Environment
by Ellinorianne
I'm not going to defend these Republicans on their policies regarding other social issues or their defense spending, the destruction of the middle class, etc. This is not what I'm attempting to write about. But the point I am trying to make is that the Party of No has gone so off the rails that they are putting our very future at risk because it is politically expedient and they would rather see Obama fail, our Country fail than work towards a common good. In the year and a half since Barack Obama was elected president, Republicans nationwide seem to have given up on the whole governing thing and chosen instead to play a long, rancorous game of “I’m More Conservative Than You Are.” Even Reagan Wasn’t a Reagan Republican
continued at Daily Kos....
I'm not going to defend these Republicans on their policies regarding other social issues or their defense spending, the destruction of the middle class, etc. This is not what I'm attempting to write about. But the point I am trying to make is that the Party of No has gone so off the rails that they are putting our very future at risk because it is politically expedient and they would rather see Obama fail, our Country fail than work towards a common good. In the year and a half since Barack Obama was elected president, Republicans nationwide seem to have given up on the whole governing thing and chosen instead to play a long, rancorous game of “I’m More Conservative Than You Are.” Even Reagan Wasn’t a Reagan Republican
continued at Daily Kos....
PLEASE UNRECOMMEND! - Overnight Mothership 30 May 2010 - Day Five
by alkalinesky
RECS ARE NEEDED TO KEEP THIS RECLISTED. If you haven't rec'd this mothership, please do so now. This is the BP Assault on the Gulf of Mexico Mothership, Day Five. 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 anything related to the BP disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, 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....
RECS ARE NEEDED TO KEEP THIS RECLISTED. If you haven't rec'd this mothership, please do so now. This is the BP Assault on the Gulf of Mexico Mothership, Day Five. 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 anything related to the BP disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, 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....
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