December 13, 2012

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Tokyo ‘Not Doing Enough’ For Fukushima: Greenpeace

December 12, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Fukushima’s residents are being left to their fate and not enough is being done to protect them against radiation nine months afterJapan’s tsunami, environment group Greenpeace said Wednesday.

The Dutch-based group lashed Tokyo after a probe by one of its nuclear experts, who called for the evacuation of pregnant women and children from Fukushima city, some 60 kilometres (37 miles) from the Fukushima nuclear plant.

“The inhabitants of Fukushima are being left to their fate,” Greenpeace radiation expert Ike Teuling said in a press release, issued from Amsterdam.

Greenpeace said Teuling conducted an investigation around Fukushima city over the last few days and found the area still “seriously contaminated with radioactivity.”

“Japan’s authorities are doing too little to protect residents of Fukushima city against radiation,” it said with Teuling adding: “The Japanese government has to at least evacuate pregnant women as well as children until their living area has been properly cleaned.”

Teuling said tests showed “radioactive hotspots” with radiation “hundred times higher than the background radiation.”

But residents in contaminated suburbs were being told to clean their own homes and to bury radioactive material in their gardens, Greenpeace said.

“It is totally irresponsible to leave dangerous decontamination to residents or make them wait for months in a radio-active environment without them in the meantime having the right to evacuation,” added Teuling.

Large areas around the Fukushima plant have been left contaminated with radiation since the tsunami of March 11 knocked out its cooling systems and sent reactors into meltdown.

The world’s worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl has not directly claimed any lives, but has left tens of thousands of people displaced and rendered whole towns uninhabitable, possibly for decades.

 

Source: https://news.yahoo.com/tokyo-not-doing-enough-fukushima-greenpeace-170555895.html

Filed Under: Environment, Fukushima, Nuclear, Politicians, Politics, Radiation

More Polar Bears Turn to Cannibalism to Avoid Starvation

December 12, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The only thing that could be more upsetting than images of an adult polar bear eating his cub is the fact that it’s a scene that’s occurring with increasing frequency throughout the Arctic.

As the melting of Arctic Sea ice worsens every year, polar bear hunting grounds disappear, and so does their access to food.

Michael reported a story just like this one in 2008, and it appears that the cannibalism trend is rising. A report by environmental photojournalist Jenny Ross, who took the disturbing photos, and polar bear biologist Dr Ian Stirling notes three such sightings, and warns that as global warming continues, “the frequency of such intraspecific predation may increase.”

Source: https://www.care2.com/causes/more-polar-bears-turn-to-cannibalism-to-avoid-starvation.html#ixzz1gHAcK5BU

Filed Under: Ocean Tagged With: ,

Platypus Death Demonstrates Danger Of Discarding Rubbish Thoughtlessly

December 12, 2011 By Leave a Comment

THE adult platypus lying on veterinarian Robert Johnson’s operating table looks serene and perfectly formed.

But the plastic noose that hangs around her neck provides a clue to her untimely demise.

She was found in a small creek by a Richmond resident, the second platypus to be discovered dead in the western Sydney local catchment area in recent weeks.


aX-rays showed no broken bones. Photo: Kate Geraghty

The egg-laying animals are rarely seen by humans, which made the two deaths concerning, Dr Johnson, a platypus expert, said.

Scientists and veterinarians suspect the cause is pollution, mainly plastics bottle tops, plastic bags and other rubbish that have made their way through the city’s stormwater system into local waterways, where they are easily ingested by or entangle the aquatic mammals.

But all possible explanations must be explored, and the smell is overwhelming as Dr Johnson begins a post-mortem at his south Penrith clinic.

He first makes a deep incision from under the creature’s bill down its chest to the base of the tail, before using a pair of pliers to pry open the rib cage.

Inside, among a mish-mash of organs, he can find nothing unusual. X-rays have already confirmed the animal had no broken bones. But he does notice the creature had not eaten for some time before it died.

”It is a process of exclusion,” Dr Johnson said, of determining a cause of death.

He finally concludes that the plastic ring around the animal’s neck reduced its ability to care for itself and hunt, enough for it to starve to death or drown.

”Platypus use their bills to probe in and around small crevices, and [the plastic ring] probably got stuck,” he said. ”It’s how they search for food.”

An ecologist from the University of NSW, Tom Grant, said that until recently these types of human-induced platypus deaths were rare in Sydney.

Around Melbourne’s waterways, however, 10 per cent of platypuses captured by scientists had been found with some form of rubbish attached to them.

”Sometimes it has drowned them, sometimes it has strangled them, sometimes it has just cut them,” Dr Grant said.

Dr Johnson said the public needed to understand the effect rubbish, especially plastic, could have not just on platypuses, but on sea creatures including green turtles and on seabirds.

”All this crap that people throw away ends up somewhere and it is not biodegradable,” he said.

Source: https://www.smh.com.au/environment/conservation/platypus-death-demonstrates-danger-of-discarding-rubbish-thoughtlessly-20111211-1opmf.html#ixzz1gH6eUob3

Filed Under: Ocean, Pollution Tagged With: , , ,

Study Found Toxin from GM Crops is Showing up in Human Blood

December 4, 2011 By Leave a Comment

A new study is causing fresh doubts about the safety of genetically modified crops. The research found Bt toxin, which is present in many GM crops, in human blood.

Bt toxin makes crops toxic to pests, but it has been claimed that the toxin poses no danger to the environment and human health; the argument was that the protein breaks down in the human gut. But the presence of the toxin in human blood shows that this does not happen.

India Today reports:

“Scientists … have detected the insecticidal protein … circulating in the blood of pregnant as well as non-pregnant women. They have also detected the toxin in fetal blood, implying it could pass on to the next generation.”

Cry1Ab, a specific type of Bt toxin from genetically modified (GM) crops, has for the first time been detected in human and fetal blood samples. It appears the toxin is quite prevalent, as upon testing 69 pregnant and non-pregnant women who were eating a typical Canadian diet (which included foods such as GM soy, corn and potatoes), researchers found Bt toxin in:

  • 93 percent of maternal blood samples
  • 80 percent of fetal blood samples
  • 69 percent of non-pregnant women blood samples

Writing in the journal Reproductive Toxicology, the researchers noted:

“This is the first study to reveal the presence of circulating PAGMF [pesticides associated with genetically modified foods] in women with and without pregnancy, paving the way for a new field in reproductive toxicology including nutrition and utero-placental toxicities.”

This GM insecticide toxin is already showing up in fetal blood, which means it could have an untold impact on future generations.

Bt Toxin is a Built-In Pesticide

Upwards of 85 percent of U.S. corn crops contain a special gene added that allows them to produce an insecticide. This way, when bugs attempt to eat the corn they’re killed right away (specifically their stomach is split open) because the plant contains an invisible, built-in pesticide shield.

The particular gene added to most corn crops is a type of Bt-toxin – produced from Bacillus thuringiensis bacteria. Genetic engineers remove the gene that produces the Bt in bacteria and insert it into the DNA of corn (and cotton) plants.

They claim that Bt-toxin is quickly destroyed in human stomachs — and even if it survived, it won’t cause reactions in humans or mammals …

But studies are now showing that this is not the case, as Bt toxin is readily passing into the human bloodstream and animal studies have already shown that Bt-toxin does cause health effects in animals, including potentially humans. As Jeffrey Smith, executive director of the Institute for Responsible Technology, wrote:

“Mice fed natural Bt-toxin showed significant immune responses and caused them to become sensitive to other formerly harmless compounds. This suggests that Bt-toxin might make a person allergic to a wide range of substances.

Farm workers and others have also had reactions to natural Bt-toxin, and authorities acknowledge that “People with compromised immune systems or preexisting allergies may be particularly susceptible to the effects of Bt.”

In fact, when natural Bt was sprayed over areas around Vancouver and Washington State to fight gypsy moths, about 500 people reported reactions—mostly allergy or flu-like symptoms. Six people had to go to the emergency room.

… The Bt-toxin produced in the GM plants is probably more dangerous than in its natural spray form. In the plants, the toxin is about 3,000-5,000 times more concentrated than the spray, it doesn’t wash off the plants like the spray does, nd it is designed to be more toxic than the natural version.

In fact, the GM toxin has properties of known allergens and fails all three GM allergy tests recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) and others.”

GM Insecticide Poisons Also Showing Up in Waterways

Given that Bt toxin has now been confirmed in the human bloodstream, it should come as no surprise that it has also infiltrated the environment. According to one study, 50 of the 217 streams, ditches and drains near cornfields that researchers tested were found to contain Cry1Ab above six nanograms per liter.

The protein is getting into the waterways via corn stalks, leaves, husks and cobs that blow into the water — a phenomenon that’s incredibly common since farmers often leave such material in fields to help minimize soil erosion.

Eighty-six percent of the streams tested contained various corn material with the potential to transmit Bt-toxin into the water. Further, because the study was conducted six months after crops were harvested, it indicates that the GM protein lingers in the environment. Now that this GM toxin is showing up in waterways, it has the potential to devastate aquatic life and continue to spread, uncontrolled and unrestricted, across the entire United States and world.

GM Foods May be Leaving GM Proteins in Your Body

In case it’s not clear, I want to reiterate that this new study in Reproductive Technology has confirmed that if you eat GM foods that contain the insecticidal Bt toxin, it appears likely that it will be transferred to your bloodstream.

As I mentioned earlier, as of right now about 85 percent of the corn grown in the United States is genetically engineered to either produce an insecticide, or to survive the application of herbicide. And about 91-93 percent of all soybeans are genetically engineered to survive massive doses of Roundup herbicide.

What this means is that nearly ALL foods you buy that contain either corn or soy, in any form, will contain GM components unless it’s certified organic by the USDA.

There’s very convincing evidence that eating these genetically modified foods spells nothing but trouble for your health. As Smith discusses in this interview, scientists have discovered a number of health problems related to genetically modified foods in general, however these studies have been repeatedly ignored by both the European Food Safety Authority and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

In the only human feeding study ever published on genetically modified foods, seven volunteers ate Roundup-ready soybeans. These are soybeans that have herbicide-resistant genes inserted into them in order to survive being sprayed with otherwise deadly doses of Roundup herbicide.

In three of the seven volunteers, the gene inserted into the soy transferred into the DNA of their intestinal bacteria, and continued to function long after they stopped eating the GM soy.

However, the GM-friendly UK government, who funded the study, chose not to fund any follow up research to see if GM corn — which contains the BT toxin — might also transfer and continue to create insecticide inside your intestines. Now the evidence has come through nonetheless, as the study in Reproductive Technology shows that it does transfer, at least to your bloodstream (and the bloodstream of your baby if you’re pregnant).

This is extremely concerning, as in this interview Smith also mentions an Italian study where they fed BT corn to mice. As a result, the mice expressed a wide variety of immune responses commonly associated with diseases such as:

Rheumatoid arthritis Inflammatory bowel disease Osteoporosis
Atherosclerosis Various types of cancer Allergies
Lou Gehrig’s disease

I’ve gone on record saying that due to the amount of GM crops now grown in the United States, EVERY processed food you encounter at your local supermarket that does not bear the “USDA Organic” label is filled with GM components. So you’re eating GM foods, and you have been for the last decade, whether you knew it or not. You can thank Congress for this, and the USDA and Monsanto. What ultimate impact these GM foods will have on your health is still unknown, but increased disease, infertility and birth defects appear to be on the top of the list of most likely side effects.

no gmo foods1 Study Found Toxin from GM Crops is Showing up in Human Blood

How to Say “No” to GMOs

If you don’t already have a copy of the Non-GMO Shopping Guide, please print one out and refer to it often. It can help you identify and avoid foods with genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Also remember to look for products (including organic products) that feature the Non-GMO Project Verified Seal to be sure that at-risk ingredients have been tested for GMO content.

You can also download the free iPhone application that is available in the iTunes store. You can find it by searching for ShopNoGMO in the applications.

If you’re feeling more ambitious, you can also order the Non-GMO Shopping Tips brochure from the Institute of Responsible Technology in bulk and give it to your family and friends. When possible, buy your fresh produce and meat from local farmers who have committed to using non-GM seeds and avoid non-organic processed foods as much as possible, as again these are virtually 100-percent guaranteed to contain GM ingredients.

 

Source: https://majortrend.tv/4961/study-found-toxin-from-gm-crops-is-showing-up-in-human-blood/

Filed Under: Environment, Health, Science Tagged With: , ,

Japan Nuclear Meltdown? Maybe Worse Than Thought?

December 4, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Molten nuclear fuel at Japan’s Fukushima plant might have eaten two thirds of the way through a concrete containment base, its operator said, citing a new simulation of the extent of the March disaster.

Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) said their latest calculations showed the fuel inside the No. 1 reactor at the tsunami-hit plant could have melted entirely, dropping through its inner casing and eroding a concrete base.

In the worst-case scenario, the molten fuel could have reached as far as 65 centimetres (2 feet) through the concrete, leaving it only 37 centimetres short of the outer steel casing, the report, released Wednesday, said.

Until now, TEPCO had said some fuel melted through the inner pressure vessel and dropped to the containment vessel, without saying how much and what it did to the concrete, citing a lack of data.

“Almost no fuel remains at its original position,” TEPCO said in the report.

Two other reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant also went into meltdown when the tsunami knocked out cooling systems at the plant.

However, only about 60 percent of their fuel dropped through to the concrete floor and caused less damage, the report projected.

The molten fuel in the three reactors is believed to have stayed cool and stable because water has been injected into the vessels, the utility said.

TEPCO added, however, that it has yet to closely study many areas of the damaged reactors due to high level of radiation and stressed its findings were based on modelling.

The exact position of the fuel believed to have eaten its way through the concrete and to what extent it is being exposed to the cooling water is not known.

“Uncertainly involved in the analysis is significant due to the uncertain nature of the original conditions and data used,” the report said.

“Using (realistically assumed) conditions for the evaluation, the concrete could have been penetrated, but (the fuel) stayed inside the casing,” it said.

Fukushima Daiichi has spewed radioactive materials across eastern Japan since it was inundated by the huge waves of March 11.

The world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986 has not directly claimed any lives, but has left tens of thousands of people displaced and rendered tracts of land uninhabitable, possibly for decades.

TEPCO and the Japanese government have pledged to bring all the plant’s reactors to a state of cold shutdown by the end of 2011.

 

Source: https://uk.news.yahoo.com/japan-nuclear-meltdown-maybe-worse-thought-081203089.html

Filed Under: Environment, Fukushima, Nuclear, Radiation, Science

Help Save Our Bees: Petition Attached

December 4, 2011 By Leave a Comment

The U.N. expressed alarm at a huge decline in bee colonies under a multiple onslaught of pests and pollution, urging an international effort to save the pollinators that are vital for food crops.

Much of the decline, ranging up to 85 percent in some areas, is taking place in the industrialized northern hemisphere due to more than a dozen factors, according to a report by the UN’s environmental agency.

They include pesticides, air pollution, a lethal pinhead-sized parasite that only affects bee species in the northern hemisphere, mismanagement of the countryside, the loss of flowering plants and a decline in beekeepers in Europe.

“The way humanity manages or mismanages its nature-based assets, including pollinators, will in part define our collective future in the 21st century,” said UNEP executive director Achim Steiner.

“The fact is that of the 100 crop species that provide 90 percent of the world’s food, over 70 are pollinated by bees,” he added.

Wild bees and especially honey bee colonies from hives are regarded as the most prolific pollinators of large fields or crops.

Overall, pollinators are estimated to contribute 153 billion euros ($212 billion) worldwide or 9.5 percent of the total value of food production, especially fruit and vegetables, according to the report.

Honey bee colony declines in recent years have reached 10 to 30 percent in Europe, 30 percent in the United States,and up to 85 percent in Middle East, said scientist Peter Neumann, one of the authors of the first ever UN report on the issue.

PLEASE SIGN AND SHARE THE PETITION [Click on Link: https://www.thepetitionsite.com/37/help-save-our-bees/]

 

Source: https://www.thepetitionsite.com/37/help-save-our-bees/

Filed Under: Environment, Science Tagged With: ,

Ten Unusual Ways to Get in the Top 1% of Happiness

December 3, 2011 By Leave a Comment

At midnight my door opened and I saw the shadow of someone about 4 feet tall walk into my room and stand by my side of the bed. “I can’t sleep,” she said and she was smart enough to also say, “my mind is racing”. Over the nine years of her life so far she has probably heard me say that many times. Like when I was losing a home and I threw a chair and the police were called. The third time police had to be called on me in life (out of five).

So I took her hand and we walked downstairs and she gave me a lecture on what was going on in each one of her classes and she concluded with a discussion of the various Greek gods (“Athena is my favorite,” she said. “Who is yours. Hermes?”) And then I saw her yawn and I said maybe now she can try to go back to sleep, which she did.

I’m scared for her. My mind races also. How many times has my mind woken me up at midnight to remind me of how little money was in my bank account, or how many bills I had to pay, or how much I hated my job, or even hated being an entrepreneur with customers, clients, people screwing me, people hating me. I don’t want her mind to wake her like that when she’s older. It’s the worst pain. And I might not be there then for her to talk to.

Will she kill herself? Will she wake up her husband or girlfriend or whatever and say, “my mind is racing. Talk to me.”

One time some bad business things were happening to me. Something was shutting down, other things were going down. Some people were cheating me. Whatever. My mind was racing. I woke up Claudia. “Breathe like this,” she said. It was two in the morning but she wanted to help. She had me do a breathing exercise that involved quickly exhaling but I forget the rest of it. Then I fell asleep.

One investor of mine told me I had a “scarcity complex” - that I always had a strong feeling that I had nothing even when I had many things to be happy about. This was about eight years ago. I agreed with him. He wanted to be my mentor. I wanted him to sell his business and then let me invest the money. So I agreed to everything he said. I did that back then. But in this case maybe he was right. Unless I’m at optimal health in every way I constantly feel like I have less than nothing. It’s post-traumatic stress from losing everything several times and watching my father lose everything twenty years earlier.

No toys will ever patch that bleeding.

The country now has a scarcity complex. “The banks took everything.” “The government took everything.” “There are no jobs.” “There is no money”. Everyone is in despair. Everyone is scared about feeding their family. Scared and scarred. Greece, Japan, China, Libya, terrorism, Jamie Dimon, Obama, Rich Perry. These are the monsters in the closet at night.

I’m tired of monsters in my closet. Anger won’t change anything. Complaining won’t change anything.

I want to be consistently in the “1%”. Not of money. Money comes and goes, talking of Michelangelo.

I want to be in the 1% of the happiest people on Earth.

My only goal is to be in the 1% of happiness. Else, if I’m in the 99%, then all of my other goals will also fall short of the 1%. You can’t meet the love of your life, for instance, if you’re in the botton 99%. At least, from my experience it will be harder. It’s like taking out the garbage and expecting to meet the love of your life in the garbage can.

My life is like a laboratory and happiness has been the experiment. Only when I’ve been in the 1% of happiness have my other goals been satisfactorily achieved.

So I know what I have to do when I slip into the 99%. This might not work for everyone. Maybe some people have to protest with signs to be in the top 1% of happiness. That doesn’t work for me.

But these ten things work for me:

A) Lately, exercise has worked for me to stay in shape and sweat out toxins. Bad stuff builds up in the body. You have the usual disgusting methods to get out bad toxins that go into the digestion system. But what about bad stuff that builds up in every pore of your body. You have to sweat it out. Sometimes just 100 pushups a day will do it. For me, I like doing yoga.

B) I don’t have a lot of friends. But I do know enough people that I can do this: every day I make sure I don’t talk to people who bring me down. And I try to meet new people who bring me up. I won’t do business with anyone who brings me down. The last time I tried that, my body told me, “Bad James!” On the second day on the job I fell straight to the ground and sprained my ankle for no obvious reason. If you let it, the reactions in your body (any part of your body) will tell you if you are with good people or bad people. When I get an email from someone who is bad for me, I usually get a quick stomach ache. So I delete the mail and put the emailer in Spam. Its’s the only solution if I want to be in the 1%. I don’t engage at all with anyone who is going to bring me down. Why should I? [See. "How to Deal with Crappy People"]

C) I like to be creative. Whether it’s through this blog or writing down a list of ideas or even drawing. It makes my brain come to life in ways that it’s not used to. It’s important here, to never expect results from your creativity. When I was working on the pilot of a TV show, for instance, it made me very anxious to know whether or not it was going to get accepted. I was too attached to the results of the creativity. Just like now I might be too attached to blog traffic.

D) I like to avoid these nine obstacles to my success. Any one of these nine will make me unhappy.

E) I try to avoid all leaks. For instance, I’m happily married. Cheating on my wife would make me unhappily married. BAM! That would put me in the 99%.

F) I try to be as grateful as possible. When I remind someone what they’ve done for me and how happy it made me it not only brings back memories of that happiness it also makes me happy that I’m helping them be happy by being grateful for them.

G) I try to “surrender”. I say to myself, “I can’t do everything. I can’t take this pain. I can’t have everything I want. Sometimes I’m helpless in the face of my material goals. So YOU figure it out.” I don’t even know who I’m talking to. Who YOU is. I might be talking to my teddy bear when I say that. But having a sense of surrender and humility will help me reduce my needs (I don’t need a yacht for instance) and help me to feel humility. There’s a physical exercise that’s good to practice surrender if you are not good at it. In America we’re not really good at surrender. We never give up. We want to win every war. The exercise is to reach down and touch your toes. It obscures your vision (because you are staring at your knees), its almost impossible (you have to be flexible, both physically and mentally), and it looks like your bowing, which is an unusual thing for Americans to do. So it teaches surrender if you are uncomfortable with it.

(Claudia touching her toes)

H) I try not to lie to anyone or harm anyone. Because then you have to keep track of which lie was told to who. Or you feel bad about who you harmed, which was usually as a result of either anger or greed. If I never harm anyone I never have to deal with anyone’s anger (unless it’s irrational anger). Anger makes me unhappy.

I) Sometimes you can’t avoid work that you don’t want to do. We all have to feed our families. But, in general, if I move every day towards staying away from corporate America (fluorescent lights and bosses make me less happy) then I’ll be more happy.

J) I need a tenth thing so that I can call this post, “Ten Ways to be in the Top 1%” so hold on a second while I think of something…coffee? No, sometimes it spills on me. A lot of sex? Makes me VERY happy but sometimes makes me jealous or anxious. Ahh, sleeping 8-9 hours a day. Because then I know I’m in the top 1% for at least 1/3 of the day. And I also know I won’t be tired the other 2/3, which would put me in the bottom 99%.

And if I’m consistently in the top 1% of happiness, maybe there’s a slight chance my two daughters , and maybe others I interact with, will be in the top 1% when they’re older. Happiness is both contagious and hereditary. And so on.

 

Source: https://www.jamesaltucher.com/2011/10/ten-unusual-ways-to-get-in-the-top-1/

Filed Under: Health, Mental Health, Psychology, Self-Sustainability Tagged With:

Defense and Aerospace Industry Pollutant Now Found in Virtually All Humans Tested

December 3, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Perchlorate is an environmental pollutant primarily associated with releases by defense contractors, military operations and aerospace programs, as it is a key ingredient in rocket fuel.

It is now found in virtually all humans tested, and it is continually making its way up the food chain through ground and drinking water, into feed and edible plants, animals products, milk and breast milk — contaminating conventional and organically grown food, alike.

It is now distributed widely throughout North America, as depicted by the image below:
The Colorado River is so thoroughly contaminated with perchlorate (1.5-8 micrograms per Liter) that 90% of the lettuce consumed during the winter months in the United States produced in the Lower Colorado River region contains this powerful endocrine disruptor.

What does it do?

Perchlorate has been used as a “medicine” in this country to “treat” hyperthyroidism since the 1950s despite the fact some patients may develop aplastic anemia (bone marrow destruction) as a result.

Perchlorate interferes with iodide uptake at the sodium-iodide symporter in the thyroid gland which unfortunately has a 30-fold higher affinity for perchlorate than iodide. Without adequate iodide hypothyroidism ensues. Could this pollutant have anything to do with the geometric expansion of hypothyroidism diagnoses in this country?

5 studies on perchlorate/hypothyroidism link

If it were not for the perfect fit between pharmaceutical medicine, e.g. Synthroid (levothyroxine) and pollution-caused hypothyroidism, this question might get some traction in the medical community and we could start solving the underlying problem: a military-industrial establishment that thrives on death and disease.

HAS PERCHLORATE DESTROYED THE MEANING OF ORGANIC?

In 2005 the Journal of Environmental Science and Technology published a study on perchlorate levels in North America. They found:

Conventionally and organically produced lettuce and other leafy vegetable samples were collected from production fields and farmers’ markets in the central and coastal valleys of California, New Mexico, Colorado, Michigan, Ohio, New York, Quebec, and New Jersey.

Results show that 16% of the conventionally produced samples and 32% of the organically produced samples had quantifiable levels of perchlorate using ion chromatography. Estimated perchlorate exposure from organically produced leafy vegetables was approximately 2 times that of conventional produce…

The time has come for those of us who buy organic food to transcend the inherently self-centered and anthropocentric limitations associated with these food quality concerns. We can no longer fool ourselves into thinking that we can save ourselves by eating organically without doing something about the planet dying under the weight of the conventional and dominant food production and distribution system. When we pollute the environment we pollute ourselves. The very flesh of the Earth (our mother) and our flesh are woven from the same fabric.

 

The exact same problem with thinking that consuming organic protects you from planetary destruction has emerged with the inreasingly destabilized/destabilizing nuclear energy paradigm. Radioisotope contamination of the environment is now a global problem, and low-energy internalized radiation is several orders of magnitude more harmful to our health than previously assumed. (Read our expose on this topic here). The global distribution of uranium-238 through hydrological and meteorological cycles, for instance, does not descriminate between “organic” and “conventional” food — it bioaccumulates equally.

We are not saying that organic isn’t important, as we have no other way to protect ourselves from what is increasingly becoming a nutricidal food production system. However, in order to stay grounded in reality, we must realize its limitations and work on changing the underlying dysfunctional planet-harming systems that are cutting across the “organic” and “conventional” lines with equally destructive force.

 

Source: https://www.activistpost.com/2011/12/defense-and-aerospace-industry.html

Filed Under: Environment, Health, Military, Pollution, USA Tagged With:

The Top 20 Climate Killer Banks

December 2, 2011 By Leave a Comment

A new report titled “Bankrolling Climate Change” calls out the top 20 banks that are financing the dirty coal industry.

The top three “climate killers” will not come as much of a surprise: JP Morgan Chase, Citi, and none other than Bank of America top the list with $22 billion, $18.27 billion, an $16.79 billion invested in coal since 2005, respectively.

As officials from around the world are assembling in Durban, South Africa to discuss ways to combat climate change, banks around the world are busy trying to figure out how they can profit off of making the climate crisis worse.

In fact, between 2005 — the year the Kyoto Protocol went into effect — and 2010, funding for coal nearly doubled. Yes, you read that right: As the world’s leaders have been trying to get their act together and deal with the most urgent existential crisis humanity has ever faced, the biggest banks in the world have been busy sinking as much money as they can into the single largest cause of that crisis (emissions from coal-fired power plants are the biggest source of man-made carbon pollution).

As the report notes, these banks are not unaware of the climate crisis. It’s just that they see it more as an opportunity for some great PR than a problem they have a stake in solving even if it means leaving money on the table. All of the top 20 coal bankrollers have made climate commitments that are drastically contradicted by where they’re actually investing their money.

JP Morgan Chase claims it’s “Helping the world transition to a low-carbon economy”, for instance. Citi holds itself out as the “Most innovative bank in climate change” — which sounds more like Citi is gunning for Chase’s number one spot than trying to help solve the climate crisis, but who am I to quibble with how Citi chooses to word its greenwash.

Bank of America has declared that “The most formidable challenge we face is global climate change.” A fittingly purposeless statement, given that BoA has invested $4.3 billion in the US coal industry, making it the single largest underwriter of America’s coal problem.

Here is a chart showing which banks made the top 20, and the amount they’ve invested in companies that are polluting our communities and wrecking our climate:

Bank in billion Euro Ranking
JP Morgan Chase 16,540 1
Citi 13,751 2
Bank of America 12,590 3
Morgan Stanley 12,117 4
Barclays 11,514 5
Deutsche Bank 11,477 6
Royal Bank of Scotland 10,946 7
BNP Paribas 10,694 8
Credit Suisse 9,495 9
UBS 8,217 10
Goldman Sachs 6,770 11
Bank of China 6,323 12
Industrial and Commercial Bank of China 6,182 13
Crédit Agricole / Calyon 5,637 14
UniCredit / HVB 5,231 15
China Construction Bank 5,110 16
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group 4,980 17
Société Générale 4,742 18
Wells Fargo 4,523 19
HSBC 4,432 20

Data provided by Profundo

An international coalition of NGOs came together to release this groundbreaking report, including urgewald, a German environmental organization; groundWork and Earthlife Africa Johannesburg, two South African social and environmental justice organizations; and BankTrack, an international network. RAN contributed research to the report.

A full copy of the study with a ranking of all the researched banks can be downloaded here. The underlying data for this research were provided by Profundo economic research.

Source: https://www.care2.com/causes/the-top-20-climate-killer-banks.html#ixzz1fPhJU9uj

Filed Under: Banks, Environment, Pollution

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