BRILLIANT GRAPHIC SHOWS SURFACE AREA REQUIRED TO POWER CALIFORNIA WITH 100% RENEWABLES...

Sep 24, 2016 Posted by

BRILLIANT GRAPHIC SHOWS SURFACE AREA REQUIRED TO POWER CALIFORNIA WITH 100% RENEWABLES

[Translate] by Tafline Laylin  INHABITAT View Slideshow Cold hard science in the clean energy space has a wonderful way of debunking misinformation fueled by politics and corporate greed, and nobody does that better than the husband and wife team behind the Land Art Generator Initiative (LAGI). Elizabeth and Monoian and Robert Ferry have dished up an illuminating new infographic which demonstrates how much surface area is required to transition California away from energy sources that jeopardize planetary health to 100 percent renewables; take a closer look after the jump. LAGI writes: “Starting in 2009 with the Surface Area Required to Power the World with Solar, we have been making the case that the renewable energy transition, while a huge undertaking, is not any more ambitious in scale than previous human endeavors, and that the...

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TINY NEW FLAT-PACKED OFF-GRID HOMES OFFER AFFORDABLE HOUSING BREAKTHROUGH...

Sep 24, 2016 Posted by

TINY NEW FLAT-PACKED OFF-GRID HOMES OFFER AFFORDABLE HOUSING BREAKTHROUGH

[Translate] by Lacy Cooke  INHABITAT View Slideshow For 11 years, Australia‘s five major cities have been listed as “severely unaffordable” – making home ownership just a dream for many. Architect Alex Symes realized home ownership is typically tied to land ownership, but land prices are now so high, most people can’t afford to buy. As a result, Alex started Big World Homes. The goal is to disrupt expensive city housing with tiny, flat-packed, off-grid homes that sell for between $60K and $80K in Australian dollars, or around $45K to $60K. A Big World Home is created with 39 flat-pack panels, which are comprised of “low environmental impact materials“, including plywood, thermal insulation, and lightweight cladding. Even people without building experience can erect a Build World Home using a drill and a hammer, with access...

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GULF WAR SYNDROME: DOCUMENTS PROVE UK AND US MILITARY PERSONNEL WERE INJECTED WITH UNTESTED VACCINES...

Sep 24, 2016 Posted by

GULF WAR SYNDROME: DOCUMENTS PROVE UK AND US MILITARY PERSONNEL WERE INJECTED WITH UNTESTED VACCINES

[Translate]   Dr. Garth L. Nicolson, the President, Chief Scientific Officer and Research Professor of Molecular Pathology at the Institute for Molecular Medicine in Huntington Beach, California, lecturing on the connection between military vaccines and Gulf War Syndrome. Image source. by Christina England, B.A. Hons Health Impact News In 1990, the recruitment of soldiers commenced for preparation to fight against Iraq in the Gulf War. On January 4, 1991, mass vaccination programs began, supposedly to protect the soldiers against the chemical warfare with which they may or may not come into contact. The soldiers reported being vaccinated with several vaccinations. In a witness statement, Mr. Richard Turnbull told the court that he had received the following vaccinations and a few that he could not remember: Anthrax Bubonic Plague Cholera Typhoid Yellow Fever Hepatitis A...

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THE PATENT THAT COULD DESTROY MONSANTO AND CHANGE THE WORLD …...

Sep 23, 2016 Posted by

THE PATENT THAT COULD DESTROY MONSANTO AND CHANGE THE WORLD …

[Translate] ECOSNIPPETS.COM   If there’s anything you read – or share – let this be it. The content of this article has potential to radically shift the world in a variety of positive ways. And as Monsanto would love for this article to not go viral, all we can ask is that you share, share, share the information being presented so that it can reach as many people as possible. In 2006, a patent was granted to a man named Paul Stamets. Though Paul is the world’s leading mycologist, his patent has received very little attention and exposure. Why is that? Stated by executives in the pesticide industry, this patent represents “the most disruptive technology we have ever witnessed.” And when the executives say disruptive, they are referring to it being disruptive to the chemical...

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ZUCKERBERG AND CHAN VOW TO DELETE DISEASES...

Sep 23, 2016 Posted by

ZUCKERBERG AND CHAN VOW TO DELETE DISEASES

[Translate] Scott Rosenberg Covering the Web since 1994. Backchannel. NewCo Daily. Wordyard.com. Say Everything. Dreaming in Code. Grist. Mediabugs. Salon. Berkeley, CA. Real person. yesterday4 min read Can $3 billion cure everything? “Cure all diseases” is a pretty grand ambition, but no one ever accused Mark Zuckerberg of thinking small. This lofty goal is the aim of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative: a $3 billion effort to conquer all the ailments that plague our lives, beginning with a $600 million research center in San Francisco called the Biohub, organized as a joint effort among Stanford, UCSF and UC-Berkeley (The Verge). Big-buck philanthropic moonshots have a mixed track record: Zuckerberg himself stumbled earlier in his career when he pumped $100 million into Newark’s schools without thinking things through carefully enough. Older and perhaps wiser, Zuckerberg this...

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THE BILL OF RIGHTS IS HANGING BY A THREAD IN LOUISIANA...

Sep 23, 2016 Posted by

THE BILL OF RIGHTS IS HANGING BY A THREAD IN LOUISIANA

[Translate] PUBLIC DEFENDERS The law is supposed to be our protector, not our enemy. Getty By Charles P. Pierce Since I suspect a lot of us will be talking about the inequities of the American criminal justice system (again) on Thursday—those of us who do not teach a section of Law 301: Elements of Vigilantism at respected law schools, anyway—it’s a good time to drop by the good folks at The Marshall Project to see what they’ve been up to these days. First, though, let’s revisit Gideon v. Wainwright, the 1963 landmark case in which the Supreme Court ruled that the 14th Amendment requires the states to provide counsel to indigent defendants regardless of the offense for which those defendants have been charged. Along with Miranda, which was decided three years later, Gideon was...

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What’s 11,000 Times Dirtier Than a Toilet Seat?...

Sep 23, 2016 Posted by

What’s 11,000 Times Dirtier Than a Toilet Seat?

[Translate] Hint: when you stop at a gas station, the grossest thing may not be the bathroom. By Larry Schwartz / AlterNet Photo Credit: Phovoir / Shutterstock America is a gas-guzzling, car-obsessed, open-road nation. Few things appeal to Americans more than a (traffic-free, ideally) leisurely drive to a fun, kick-back-your-heels destination, all the while enjoying the passing scenery. Of course, in order to achieve this bucolic vision of paradise, we need to fuel up the car, and in order to do that, we have to stop at the gas station. A study by Kimberly-Clark in 2015 investigating bacterial hot spots in the workplace fingered gas pumps as one of the unhealthiest things you can handle, and a new survey recently corroborates those findings. Admittedly, it’s probably no great surprise that gas pumps are not...

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Republican Presidents Are a Disaster for the Economy...

Sep 23, 2016 Posted by

Republican Presidents Are a Disaster for the Economy

[Translate] Labor Democratic presidents presided over higher stock market returns and corporate profits, greater compensation growth and productivity increases. By Leo Gerard / AlterNet US president Ronald Reagan personally apologized to then British prime minister Margaret Thatcher after US troops in 1983 secretly invaded Grenada, a Commonwealth island state in the Caribbean, according to newly-released tapes Nine years after the Great Recession began during the tax- and regulation-slashing Bush administration, some startlingly good economic news arrived from Washington, D.C., last week. The incomes of typical Americans rose in 2015 by 5.2 percent, the first significant boost to middle-class pay since the end of the Great Recession, and the largest, in percentage terms, ever recorded by the Census Bureau. In addition, the poverty rate fell 1.2 percentage points, the steepest decline since 1968.  Also smaller...

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‘A Five-Alarm Threat to Our Food Supply’: Experts Describe Bayer-Monsanto Merger...

Sep 23, 2016 Posted by

‘A Five-Alarm Threat to Our Food Supply’: Experts Describe Bayer-Monsanto Merger

[Translate] Food A scary future for farmers around the world. By Katherine Paul / AlterNet NEW YORK CITY – MAY 23 2015: environmental activists joined a global day out against Monsanto’s GMO programs & demanding that foods be labeled. Photo Credit: a katz / Shutterstock.com It’s been about a week since Monsanto and Bayer confirmed their intention to say “I do”—ample time for media, lawmakers, consumer and farmer advocacy groups, and of course the happy couple themselves, to weigh in on the pros and cons. Reactions poured in from all the usual suspects. Groups like the Farmers Union, Food & Water Watch, Friends of the Earth and others didn’t mince words when it came to condemning the deal. (Organic Consumers Association tagged it a “Marriage Made in Hell” back in May, pre-announcement, when the two mega-corporations were still...

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TRIBES IN CANADA AND U.S. JOIN FORCES AGAINST TAR SANDS PIPELINE DEVELOPMENT...

Sep 23, 2016 Posted by

TRIBES IN CANADA AND U.S. JOIN FORCES AGAINST TAR SANDS PIPELINE DEVELOPMENT

[Translate] Alejandro Dávila Fragoso Climate Reporter @ThinkProgress. Treaty signals a coordinated opposition to crude oil transport. native Americans head to a rally at the State Capitol in Denver, CO, earlier this month. CREDIT: AP/DAVID ZALUBOWSKI Dozens of native tribes from Canada and the United States have joined forces against Alberta’s tar sands crude oil transport with the signing of a treaty Thursday. Calling for a clean and sustainable economy, tribes said any further pipeline or rail development for Canadian tar sands puts indigenous territories and waterways at serious risk to toxic spills. In the Treaty Alliance Against Tar Sands Expansion, tribes also said development “will unquestionably fuel catastrophic climate change.” Tribes signed “this treaty because we needed to, mother earth can’t take any more of this pollution,” Judy Wilson, chief of the Canadian Neskonlith...

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THE BIGGEST THING A PRESIDENT’S EVER DONE ON CLIMATE IS IN THE HANDS OF 10 JUDGES...

Sep 23, 2016 Posted by

THE BIGGEST THING A PRESIDENT’S EVER DONE ON CLIMATE IS IN THE HANDS OF 10 JUDGES

[Translate] Revisit the history before the Clean Power Plan goes to court. CLIMATE PROGRESS Mountains of coal; wind turbine. CREDIT: FLICKR USER WACKELIJMROOSTER The Obama administration’s biggest action to cut carbon emissions from the power sector will get its biggest test next Tuesday when the full en banc D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals hears West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency. The case will decide whether the EPA violated the law when it finalized its carbon rule — the Clean Power Plan — to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from the power sector under the Clean Air Act. This is a significant case, and the D.C. Circuit took the somewhat unprecedented step of having the full court (that’s what en banc means) hear the case instead of the court’s normal three-judge panel — previously scheduled for a hearing last June. This signifies both...

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Institutions worth $2.6 trillion have now pulled investments out of fossil fuels...

Sep 23, 2016 Posted by

Institutions worth $2.6 trillion have now pulled investments out of fossil fuels

[Translate] Coalition of 2,000 individuals and 400 institutions are shifting assets from coal, oil and gas companies to tackle climate change Leonardo DiCaprio on a climate change march in New York in 2014. The actor has committed to divesting his money from fossil fuels. Photograph: Eduardo Munoz/Reuters Damian Carrington and Emma Howard   THE GUARDIAN   Leonardo DiCaprio and over 2,000 individuals and 400 institutions are now committed to pulling their money from fossil fuel companies, together representing a remarkable $2.6tn of investments, it was revealed on Tuesday. A new analysis shows the value of the funds committed to selling off their investments in coal, oil and gas companies has rocketed in the last year, rising 50-fold. Major pension funds and insurance companies have joined the universities and churches that founded the divestment movement, all...

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State of Emergency: Charlotte NAACP & Protesters Demand Police Release Video of Keith Scott Shooting...

Sep 22, 2016 Posted by

State of Emergency: Charlotte NAACP & Protesters Demand Police Release Video of Keith Scott Shooting

[Translate] News & Politics Violence erupted on the second night of protests in Charlotte following the fatal police shooting of 43-year-old African-American Keith Lamont Scott. By Amy Goodman / Democracy Now!  via alternet Photo Credit: Screen Capture / Democracy Now! North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory has declared a state of emergency in the city of Charlotte, where protests continued for a second night after Tuesday’s fatal police shooting of 43-year-old African American Keith Lamont Scott, the father of seven children. Police say Scott “posed an imminent deadly threat,” but Scott’s family says he was unarmed. We are joined by Corine Mack, president of theNAACP Charlotte-Mecklenburg Branch, and Bree Newsome, Charlotte-based artist and activist. They both call for the release of the police video of Scott’s killing. “There has to be transparency,” Newsome says. “This distrust...

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Did the EPA and CDC Mislead Local and State Officials and the Public on Safety of Mosquito Pesticides Used to Fight Zika Virus?...

Sep 22, 2016 Posted by

Did the EPA and CDC Mislead Local and State Officials and the Public on Safety of Mosquito Pesticides Used to Fight Zika Virus?

[Translate] Environment Naled, an insecticide being used in community mosquito spraying in the U.S., was banned by the EU in 2012 due to “unacceptable risk.” Beyond Pesticides Bangkok, Thailand – January 31, 2016 : Unidentified people fogging DDT spray kill mosquito for control Malaria, Encephalitis, Dengue and Zika in village at Bangkok Thailand. Photo Credit: PongMoji / Shutterstock.com Beyond Pesticides has urged the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to immediately alert local and state mosquito control officials, elected officials, and the public throughout the U.S. to the fact that EPA’s key data reviews on the safety of widely used mosquito control pesticides, including naled and synthetic pyrethroids, are outdated and incomplete and the scientific literature raises safety concerns. In a letter to EPA, Beyond Pesticides said, “As local and state officials implement mosquito abatement programs to address the Zika...

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Dalai Lama Gives Hilarious Trump Impression When Asked to Weigh in on U.S. Presidential Election...

Sep 22, 2016 Posted by

[Translate]   Election 2016 The whole world is watching. By Alexandra Rosenmann / AlterNet   Photo Credit: Daily Mail / Twitter Trump’s presidential bid has reached a new height of intrigue worldwide. In fact, even the Dalai Lama is now mocking the U.S. presidential election, specifically Donald Trump. During an interview with Piers Morgan this week, the spiritual leader performed an unexpected, but spot-on impersonation of the 70-year-old American billionaire. “Donald Trump, he’s a very controversial character; have you met Donald Trump?” Morgan asked the famous Buddhist. “Never,” the Dalai Lama said, although he’s willing to visit Trump in the White House, should the nominee become president and invite him. The 81-year-old spiritual leader then proceeded to poke fun at the GOP nominee’s hair and “small” mouth. The Dalai Lama also discussed the current refugee crisis as...

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THE SEC IS REPORTEDLY INVESTIGATING EXXON...

Sep 22, 2016 Posted by

THE SEC IS REPORTEDLY INVESTIGATING EXXON

[Translate] Samantha Page Climate Reporter at @ThinkProgress. The fraud case against the oil and gas giant just went federal. CREDIT: AP PHOTO/LM OTERO The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is reportedly investigating Exxon on allegations that the company is not accounting for the longterm risks of climate change. According to multiple reports, Exxon might not be accurately valuing its assets during the current spate of low oil prices or, in the longer term, in the face of climate change disruptions and decreased fossil fuel use. It is illegal to misrepresent financial information, including asset values, to shareholders. “This is a remarkably important development” — Bill McKibben, 350.org According to the Wall Street Journal, the SEC requested information in August from Exxon and its auditor, PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP. The agency has also been reviewing documents received during the New York attorney...

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BATTLING MOTHER NATURE: Why New York probably won’t abandon its waterfront in the face of climate change...

Sep 22, 2016 Posted by

BATTLING MOTHER NATURE: Why New York probably won’t abandon its waterfront in the face of climate change

[Translate] The city can’t surrender its waterfront. But it will have to do something to make it storm-proof. Ben Adler, Grist   FILE – This Dec. 4, 2012, file photo shows the ruins of Breezy Point in the Queens borough of New York where fire burned 130 houses during Superstorm Sandy. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)(Credit: AP) This post initially appeared on Grist Even under the best-case scenarios for climate change, much of New York City will be under water in 100 years. The city would be smart to retreat from its waterfront, according to experts quoted in a recent alarming feature article in New York magazine. But should the city really abandon its coastlines? And, given current political realities, how could it even do so? The article, written by Andrew Rice, suggests that waterfront...

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“I’m still angry”: Oliver Stone slams “superficial election,” media “idiots,” Orwellian U.S. politics...

Sep 22, 2016 Posted by

“I’m still angry”: Oliver Stone slams “superficial election,” media “idiots,” Orwellian U.S. politics

[Translate] SALON.COM The award-winning director of “Snowden” condemned U.S. warmongering and foreign policy in an interview Ben Norton Film director Oliver Stone in 2012(Credit: Carlo Allegri/Invision/AP) “I’m 70 years old and I’m still angry,” said Oliver Stone. “I’m still angry about the way we treat people. It’s depressing as hell.” The Oscar-winning filmmaker entered his seventh decade last week. He also released his latest broadside against American corruption and complacency, the biographical thriller “Snowden,” with Joseph Gordon-Levitt as National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden. Stone spoke at a small event in New York on Sept. 14, where he blasted the “superficial” U.S. presidential election, the “idiots” in the media and belligerent U.S. foreign policy. He also discussed difficulties in making “Snowden” and applauded whistleblowers for “courageously” exposing lies, as Salon previously reported. “Democracy Now”...

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THE BEST NEWS YOU DON’T KNOW...

Sep 22, 2016 Posted by

[Translate] Nicholas Kristof   NYTIMES The world is a mess, with billions of people locked in inescapable cycles of war, famine and poverty, with more children than ever perishing from hunger, disease and violence. That’s about the only thing Americans agree on; we’re polarized about all else. But several polls have found that about 9 out of 10 Americans believe that global poverty has worsened or stayed the same over the last 20 years. Fortunately, the one point Americans agree on is dead wrong. As world leaders gather for the United Nations General Assembly this week, all the evidence suggests that we are at an inflection point for the ages. The number of people living in extreme poverty ($1.90 per person per day) has tumbled by half in two decades, and the number of...

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THE DOCTOR BEHIND AUTISM MMR VACCINE CONTROVERSY SPEAKS OUT...

Sep 21, 2016 Posted by

THE DOCTOR BEHIND AUTISM MMR VACCINE CONTROVERSY SPEAKS OUT

[Translate]   September 21st, 2016 By Carolanne Wright Contributing writer for Wake Up World Dr. Andrew Wakefield is largely known for the firestorm created by his 1998 Lancet paper, which found evidence of a possible association between the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine, inflammatory bowel disease and autism. Critics of Dr. Wakefield are quick to point out the paper was ultimately retracted by the journal and that he was stripped of his medical license by the General Medical Council (GMC). Some classify him as a fraud and unethical researcher, who has put countless children in danger because parents now question the safety of vaccines. And yet, others believe “he is a brilliant and courageous scientist, a compassionate physician beloved by his patients, and a champion for families with autism and vaccine injury.” In a...

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WAVE POWER HAS FINALLY COME TO THE UNITED STATES...

Sep 21, 2016 Posted by

WAVE POWER HAS FINALLY COME TO THE UNITED STATES

[Translate] GRIST Briefly Stuff that matters the motion of the ocean Shutterst Less than a mile off the shores of Hawaii, two buoys are hard at work, bobbing up and down as they turn energy from the ocean’s movement into electricity. That electricity travels ashore to Oahu’s power grid through an undersea cable. It’s a test project, producing only enough power for about a dozen households. But it’s the first successful wave-energy project in the United States so far (in the wake of an abandoned project off the Oregon coast), despite experiments that date all the way back to the 19th century. Though development lags decades behind wind and solar, wave power has huge potential. The U.S Department of Energy projects that waves off the U.S. coastline could power more than 200 million homes. But harvesting energy from...

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JOHN KERRY URGES GROUNDING OF MILITARY AIRCRAFT IN ‘KEY AREAS’ OF SYRIA...

Sep 21, 2016 Posted by

JOHN KERRY URGES GROUNDING OF MILITARY AIRCRAFT IN ‘KEY AREAS’ OF SYRIA

[Translate] NYTIMES By SOMINI SENGUPTA, MICHAEL R. GORDON and ANNE BARNARD Conflict in Syria Kerry: ‘You Don’t Drop Bombs on Children’ Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday accused the Syrian government of violating a cease-fire agreement. By UNTV, VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS on Publish Date September 21, 2016. Photo by Timothy A. Clary/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images. Watch in Times Video »   UNITED NATIONS — Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday called for an immediate grounding of all military aircraft in what he described as “key areas” of Syria — including where aid is delivered — as a last-ditch effort to save an agreement with Russia to reduce violence and ultimately halt a war that shows no sign of slowing. Speaking in an unusually pointed and partly unscripted session at a United...

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$90 Billion Whistleblower Suit Filed Against Four of America’s Largest Chemical Companies...

Sep 21, 2016 Posted by

[Translate] Environment The companies are accused of selling billions of dollars worth of harmful isocyanate chemicals and intentionally concealing their dangers to consumers. By Lorraine Chow / EcoWatch   VIA ALTERNET Lake Jackson, Texas MAY 31, 2016: Dow Chemical company’s new Texas Innovation Center built in 2015. Photo Credit: Ric Frazier / Shutterstock.com Four of the country’s largest chemical companies have been accused of selling billions of dollars worth of harmful isocyanate chemicals but intentionally concealing their dangers to consumers and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over the past several decades. BASF Corporation, Bayer Material Science LLC, Dow Chemical Company and Huntsman International LLC have been named in a False Claims Act (FCA) lawsuitbrought by New York law firm Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman LLP on behalf of the U.S. government. EcoWatch learned that the recently unsealed whistleblower...

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David Letterman Returns to TV to Talk About Climate Change (Video)...

Sep 21, 2016 Posted by

David Letterman Returns to TV to Talk About Climate Change (Video)

[Translate] Environment It will be his first work on television since he left The Late Show a year-and-a-half ago. By Kristin Falzon / EcoWatch   VIA ALTERNET NEW YORK-MAY 21: David Letterman attends the 75th Annual Peabody Awards Ceremony at Cipriani Wall Street on May 21, 2016 in New York City. Photo Credit: Debby Wong / Shutterstock.com David Letterman is taking a break from retirement and is returning to TV to lend his voice to the important issues of climate change. Letterman will lend his wry humor and interview skills to National Geographic Channel’s Emmy-winning climate change documentary-series Years of Living Dangerously. It will be his first work on television since he left The Late Show a year-and-a-half ago. The show’s producers, Joel Bach and David Gelber, told Rolling Stone they reached out to Letterman after noticing his particular interest in...

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POLITICIANS ARE PUTTING FOSSIL FUELS AHEAD OF YOUR HEALTH (AGAIN)...

Sep 21, 2016 Posted by

[Translate] Victoria Fleischer   THINK PROGRESS The Clean Power Plan represents America’s most significant action to addressing the growing threat of climate change. And while the need to act is clearer than ever, implementing the plan has proven to be a contentious fight. Announced by the Obama administration in August 2015, the plan is the first national mandate to reduce carbon pollution from power plants. It’s expected to cut greenhouse gas emissions 32 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. Each state has their own emissions goal and can independently determine the best way to reach their target. Yet, 27 states have teamed up with fossil fuel companies to sue the Environmental Protection Agency over the plan. The Supreme Court granted a stay in February, meaning the program is paused until the legal challenges are resolved....

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VIDEO: ALMOST EVERYTHING YOU KNOW ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE SOLUTIONS IS OUTDATED...

Sep 21, 2016 Posted by

VIDEO: ALMOST EVERYTHING YOU KNOW ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE SOLUTIONS IS OUTDATED

[Translate]   The clean energy revolution is now unstoppable. THINK PROGRESS BY JOEL ROMM Europe’s biggest floating solar panel array at a UK reservoir. CREDIT: Matt Dunham, AP. Back in May, I began a series, “Almost everything you know about climate change solutions is outdated.” It’s now in its fifth month because the clean energy revolution keeps making big advances in real time that are ignored or misreported by major media outlets like the New York Times. Fortunately, some of the most sophisticated and credible energy and financial institutions have been analyzing the trend in detail. These include Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF), the International Energy Agency, and Goldman Sachs to name but three. Coal And Gas To Begin ‘Terminal Decline’ In Less Than A Decade, Bloomberg Says A stunning new forecast on “peak fossil...

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THE CHEMICAL ERIN BROKOVICH WARNED US ABOUT IS IN WATER ALL OVER AMERICA...

Sep 21, 2016 Posted by

THE CHEMICAL ERIN BROKOVICH WARNED US ABOUT IS IN WATER ALL OVER AMERICA

[Translate] Activists are warning residents of some major cities to avoid drinking water straight from the tap. Environmental activist Erin Brockovich in 2007; tainted water in California. (Photos: Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images; Eric Paul Zamora/’Fresno Bee’/Getty Images) TAKE PART DAILY Thousands of Americans drink tap water poisoned by unsafe levels of a cancer-causing heavy metal, and government authorities are doing little to stop it, according to a new report from clean water activists. The chemical hexavalent chromium, also known as chromium-6, gained notoriety as the carcinogenic water contaminant that Erin Brockovich sued a utility over in California—and the new report from advocacy organization Environmental Working Group finds that it shows up in the water systems of major cities all over the country. The data estimates that water supplies serving 218 million Americans—more than two-thirds...

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Why Did Clinton Just Tap a Pro-TPP, Pro-Keystone Pipeline, Pro-Fracking Pol to Head Her Transition Team?...

Sep 20, 2016 Posted by

Why Did Clinton Just Tap a Pro-TPP, Pro-Keystone Pipeline, Pro-Fracking Pol to Head Her Transition Team?

[Translate]   Environment Hillary Clinton has announced former Interior Secretary Ken Salazar as the head of her transition team. By Amy Goodman / Democracy Now! Photo Credit: Democracy Now! Ken Salazar is a former U.S. senator from Colorado who now works at WilmerHale, one of the most influential lobbying firms in Washington. Some groups have criticized Salazar’s selection due to his vocal support of fracking, the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Keystone XL pipeline. In addition to Ken Salazar, other leaders of the transition team include former Obama National Security Adviser Tom Donilon, Center for American Progress head Neera Tanden, former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm and Maggie Williams, the director of Harvard’s Institute of Politics. For more, we speak with David Sirota, senior editor for investigations at the International Business Times. This is a rush...

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The Dairy Industry Is Polluting America’s Waterways—and Some Babies May Be Dying Because of It...

Sep 20, 2016 Posted by

The Dairy Industry Is Polluting America’s Waterways—and Some Babies May Be Dying Because of It

[Translate] Cheap dairy has hidden costs most consumers don’t know about—including fatal birth defects. By Ellicott Dandy / AlterNet   Cow milking facility and mechanized milking equipment Photo Credit: Ratthaphong Ekariyasap/Shutterstock Low global milk prices and a historic dairy glut in the United States have recently prompted the U.S. Department of Agriculture to purchase $20 million worth of cheese and donate it to food banks. This is excellent news for folks who typically can’t afford cheese, but cheap dairy production—paired with lax regulations—has dire consequences for too many Americans. In efforts to cut the cost of milk production, dairy farmers cut corners on pollution prevention measures necessary to protect the quality of a different beverage: water. Large dairy factory farm operations, called concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), store their manure in large lagoons and...

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WHY CORPORATE MEDIA ARE READY TO DELIVER US INTO TRUMP’S HANDS...

Sep 20, 2016 Posted by

WHY CORPORATE MEDIA ARE READY TO DELIVER US INTO TRUMP’S HANDS

[Translate]   By The Daily Take Team, The Thom Hartmann Program | Op-Ed A screen shows Donald Trump’s address to the American Legion convention in Cincinnati, on September 1, 2016. (Sam Hodgson / The New York Times) According to the most recent polls — Donald Trump is now leading Hillary Clinton in the critical swing states of Ohio and Florida. And if their behavior in the primaries is any indication — the US media is about to deliver this nation into the hands of Donald J. Trump, and there’s probably very little any of us can do about it. The “how” of this has played out in front of us for a year: While Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton were debating issues on the Democratic side — and being largely ignored — Trump was...

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