Farmworkers exposed to Pesticide? No More Silent Springs

by We Want Change

When I was 16 years of age and in high school, I had an English teacher who I especially liked. She made learning fun teaching the class new words every week and making us look up their meanings so that we could use them on book report assignments. When I look back and remember what she taught and shared with me, I suspect that she was probably one of the first Environmentalists that I or my classmates were ever exposed to. Follow me below the fold for a story about how young people can be influenced to care about the environment and change the world for the better. We must never stop trying. My diary is focusing on farmworkers who have no voice against those in power who have used poisons on them as they work in the fields in the past, and who are still working today under similar dangerous working conditions. Would you work under these conditions? Stephen Colbert has a show this week in which he will be presenting a tongue-in-cheek show called "Take Our Jobs" campaign.

continued at Daily Kos....

My Dogs Have Gone Green

by Dem Beans

Last summer, I adopted a kitten that was being given away by a neighbor.  The kitten was great.  The fleas he carried into my home were not.

Within weeks my Pomeranians were scratching and upon examining them I found a small number of fleas on each.  Horrified, I treated them all with Frontline, which I regret to this day.  One of my dogs had a serious skin reaction from it, and he still suffers from a skin condition as a result.

Obviously, another approach was required, and I started to research a better solution to flea control. The more I read, the more I realized how toxic most pesticide-based flea products for dogs and cats can be.  

continued at Daily Kos....