Environment
"If my competitor were drowning, I’d stick a hose in his mouth and turn on the water."
--Ray Kroc
"…a funny, jowly, canny, barbarous guy who lives in a multimillion-dollar condo on Park Avenue in Manhattan and conveys himself about the planet in a corporate jet and a private yacht. At sixty-seven, he is unrepentant in the face of criticism. He describes himself as a "tough man in a tough business"….."The animal-rights people," he once said, "want to impose a vegetarian's society on the U.S. Most vegetarians I know are neurotic.""
--Jeff Tietz’s description of meat processing magnate, Joseph Luter III (from his Rolling Stone article, "Boss Hog")
--Ray Kroc
"…a funny, jowly, canny, barbarous guy who lives in a multimillion-dollar condo on Park Avenue in Manhattan and conveys himself about the planet in a corporate jet and a private yacht. At sixty-seven, he is unrepentant in the face of criticism. He describes himself as a "tough man in a tough business"….."The animal-rights people," he once said, "want to impose a vegetarian's society on the U.S. Most vegetarians I know are neurotic.""
--Jeff Tietz’s description of meat processing magnate, Joseph Luter III (from his Rolling Stone article, "Boss Hog")
Al Gore has leapt to center stage with well-founded concerns about global warming. He has been gratefully successful in publicizing the fact that there is a virtual library of irrefutable evidence that carbon dioxide levels are rapidly rising in our atmosphere, that this is being caused by human beings, and that the potential impacts are catastrophic.
What's not being said is that the solution to the problem---the necessary transition to Solartopia, a world based on renewable energy---is also the key to the future of our economic well-being, and would be whether global warming was a problem or not.
In short: even without the dire disaster of climate change, a transitioning to green power is the only hope our global economy has for future prosperity.
Indeed, moving to an industrial system that runs on wind, solar, bio-fuels and other renewable sources, along with increased efficiency, including a revival of mass transit, can and will do for the global economy in the next 25 years what the computer/internet revolution has done for the last.
What's not being said is that the solution to the problem---the necessary transition to Solartopia, a world based on renewable energy---is also the key to the future of our economic well-being, and would be whether global warming was a problem or not.
In short: even without the dire disaster of climate change, a transitioning to green power is the only hope our global economy has for future prosperity.
Indeed, moving to an industrial system that runs on wind, solar, bio-fuels and other renewable sources, along with increased efficiency, including a revival of mass transit, can and will do for the global economy in the next 25 years what the computer/internet revolution has done for the last.
USDA approval of genetically engineered alfalfa is vacated, seed sales halted
San Francisco, CA, March 12, 2007 - A Federal judge ruled today that the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) 2005 approval of genetically engineered (GE) alfalfa is vacated and ordered an immediate halt to sales of the GE seed. The ruling follows a hearing last week in the case brought by the Center for Food Safety (CFS) against the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for approving GE alfalfa without conducting the required Environmental Impact Statement.
“We are pleased that the judge called for halt to sales of this potentially damaging crop,” said Will Rostov, a Senior Attorney for CFS. “Roundup Ready alfalfa poses threats to farmers, to our export markets, and to the environment. We expect the USDA to abide by the law and give these harmful effects of the crop full consideration.”
San Francisco, CA, March 12, 2007 - A Federal judge ruled today that the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) 2005 approval of genetically engineered (GE) alfalfa is vacated and ordered an immediate halt to sales of the GE seed. The ruling follows a hearing last week in the case brought by the Center for Food Safety (CFS) against the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for approving GE alfalfa without conducting the required Environmental Impact Statement.
“We are pleased that the judge called for halt to sales of this potentially damaging crop,” said Will Rostov, a Senior Attorney for CFS. “Roundup Ready alfalfa poses threats to farmers, to our export markets, and to the environment. We expect the USDA to abide by the law and give these harmful effects of the crop full consideration.”
It has the feel of the final scene in the movie “Back to the Future” where Doc
Brown is feeding banana peels and other garbage into the Mr. Fusion appliance
on top of the DeLorean to fuel it.
But what is happening in Vista, California, right now is not in any futuristic movie, it is the next wave of good, clean, green ways to generate electricity without substantial adverse effects on the environment.
Not quite Mr. Fusion, but close.
Forward-thinking city officials have approved a special use permit which allows Envirepel Energy Inc., to move forward with the balance of the permits required to finish construction of its renewable, bio energy facility and begin operation of it for an initial 18-months.
It will be using a process called “gasification combustion” which cleanly burns green waste and wood, to produce electricity. Not to be confused with “incineration” during which refuse is burned in lieu of burial in a landfill, gasification would not degrade the quality of the environment, result in long-term or cumulative impacts or have substantial adverse effects on human beings, either directly or indirectly, say experts.
But what is happening in Vista, California, right now is not in any futuristic movie, it is the next wave of good, clean, green ways to generate electricity without substantial adverse effects on the environment.
Not quite Mr. Fusion, but close.
Forward-thinking city officials have approved a special use permit which allows Envirepel Energy Inc., to move forward with the balance of the permits required to finish construction of its renewable, bio energy facility and begin operation of it for an initial 18-months.
It will be using a process called “gasification combustion” which cleanly burns green waste and wood, to produce electricity. Not to be confused with “incineration” during which refuse is burned in lieu of burial in a landfill, gasification would not degrade the quality of the environment, result in long-term or cumulative impacts or have substantial adverse effects on human beings, either directly or indirectly, say experts.
Department of Energy Research Shows Technology Does Not Reduce Risks of Nuclear Proliferation and Terrorism
Background
The Bush administration requested $250 million in its fiscal 2007 budget as a first installment for a program to "reprocess" spent fuel from nuclear power reactors. Spent fuel is intensely radioactive, and reprocessing is a complex chemical operation that separates plutonium from those elements in spent fuel that make it highly radioactive. At that point the plutonium can be used to make new reactor fuel or nuclear weapons. For this reason, there has been a long-standing concern that reprocessing facilities anywhere would be potential sources for terrorists seeking the materials required to make nuclear weapons, and that such facilities could ease the path for nations beginning nuclear weapons programs. These concerns led the United States to abandon its reprocessing program in the 1970s.
Background
The Bush administration requested $250 million in its fiscal 2007 budget as a first installment for a program to "reprocess" spent fuel from nuclear power reactors. Spent fuel is intensely radioactive, and reprocessing is a complex chemical operation that separates plutonium from those elements in spent fuel that make it highly radioactive. At that point the plutonium can be used to make new reactor fuel or nuclear weapons. For this reason, there has been a long-standing concern that reprocessing facilities anywhere would be potential sources for terrorists seeking the materials required to make nuclear weapons, and that such facilities could ease the path for nations beginning nuclear weapons programs. These concerns led the United States to abandon its reprocessing program in the 1970s.
Why extracting plutonium from spent nuclear reactor fuel is a bad idea
Background:
The Bush administration is requesting a FY2008 budget of $405 million for its major new nuclear energy initiative, the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP), which involves "reprocessing" the used (or "spent") fuel from nuclear power reactors. Reprocessing separates plutonium and uranium from other nuclear waste contained in spent nuclear fuel. The separated plutonium can be used to fuel reactors, but also to make nuclear weapons. Nearly three decades ago, the United States decided on non-proliferation grounds not to reprocess spent fuel from U.S. power reactors, but instead to directly dispose of it in a deep underground geologic repository where it would remain isolated from the environment for at least tens of thousands of years.
Background:
The Bush administration is requesting a FY2008 budget of $405 million for its major new nuclear energy initiative, the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP), which involves "reprocessing" the used (or "spent") fuel from nuclear power reactors. Reprocessing separates plutonium and uranium from other nuclear waste contained in spent nuclear fuel. The separated plutonium can be used to fuel reactors, but also to make nuclear weapons. Nearly three decades ago, the United States decided on non-proliferation grounds not to reprocess spent fuel from U.S. power reactors, but instead to directly dispose of it in a deep underground geologic repository where it would remain isolated from the environment for at least tens of thousands of years.
Vermont, like too many other places with nuke reactors, was recently disgraced by an industry-sponsored visit from Patrick Moore, who claims to be a "founder" of Greenpeace, and who is out selling nuclear power as a "green" technology.
The two claims are roughly equal in the baldness of their falsehood.
But the impacts of the lies about Vermont Yankee---like so many other reactors---are far more serious. Vermont is now at a crossroads in its energy and environmental future. The reactor is old and infirm. Every day it operates heightens the odds on a major accident.
In a world beset by terror, there is no more vulnerable target than an aged reactor like Vermont Yankee. Its core is laden with builtup radiation accumulated over the decades. Its environs are stacked with supremely radioactive spent fuel. Its elderly core and containment are among the most fragile that exist.
The two claims are roughly equal in the baldness of their falsehood.
But the impacts of the lies about Vermont Yankee---like so many other reactors---are far more serious. Vermont is now at a crossroads in its energy and environmental future. The reactor is old and infirm. Every day it operates heightens the odds on a major accident.
In a world beset by terror, there is no more vulnerable target than an aged reactor like Vermont Yankee. Its core is laden with builtup radiation accumulated over the decades. Its environs are stacked with supremely radioactive spent fuel. Its elderly core and containment are among the most fragile that exist.
Agency Accused of Refusing to Enforce Law
CORNUCOPIA, WI: In a letter today, The Cornucopia Institute informed the USDA of their intention to file a complaint in federal district court accusing the agency of ignoring the organic regulations, and the intent of Congress, by their failure to enforce the law.
The impending lawsuit is just the latest salvo in a seven-year-long dispute between organic family farmers and the USDA. "A wide cross section of the organic industry has repeatedly petitioned the USDA to crack down on an increasing number of industrial-scale factory-farms that are producing ‘organic’ milk,” said Mark Kastel, Senior Farm Policy Analyst at the Wisconsin-based Cornucopia Institute.
At the center of the controversy are two major agribusiness corporations, Dean Foods and Aurora Dairy. Dean's Horizon brand and private-label milk produced by Aurora (marketed by Safeway, Wild Oats, Trader Joe's, and Wal-Mart, among others) have gained a dominant market share, estimated to be as high as 70%, by ramping up production on feedlot dairies milking as many as 2000 to 10,000 cows.
Al Gore's film, "An Inconvenient Truth," raises the issue of global warming in a way that scares the bejeezus out of viewers, as it should since the consequences of global climate change are truly earth-shaking. The former Vice-President does a good job of presenting the graphic evidence, exquisite and terrifying pictures that document the melting of the polar ice caps and the effects on other species, new diseases, and rising ocean levels.
But, typically, the solutions Gore offers are standard Democratic Party fare. You'd never know by watching this film that Gore and Clinton ran this country for 8 years and that their policies -- as much as those of the Bush regime -- helped pave the way for the crisis we face today.
Gore never critiques the system causing the global ecological crisis. At one point, he even mourns the negative impact of global warming on U.S. oil pipelines. Oh, the horror! What it all comes down to, for Gore and the Democrats, is that we need to shift away from reliance on fossil fuels and tweak existing consumption patterns.
But, typically, the solutions Gore offers are standard Democratic Party fare. You'd never know by watching this film that Gore and Clinton ran this country for 8 years and that their policies -- as much as those of the Bush regime -- helped pave the way for the crisis we face today.
Gore never critiques the system causing the global ecological crisis. At one point, he even mourns the negative impact of global warming on U.S. oil pipelines. Oh, the horror! What it all comes down to, for Gore and the Democrats, is that we need to shift away from reliance on fossil fuels and tweak existing consumption patterns.
The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is due to release a report in Paris on Friday entitled Climate Change 2007 in which 2,500 scientists from 130 countries unequivocally state that the current trend towards potentially catastrophic global warming has been induced by human activity, which began with the dramatic increase in fossil fuel use during the Industrial Revolution of the mid-19th century.
A draft of the report, the fourth climate change assessment conducted by the IPCC, has been circulated among major news organizations over the past week.
"As we add to [greenhouse] gases, we are just doing the same thing as putting another blanket on our bed at night," said Sir David King, British chief government scientific adviser, in an interview with CBS News. "The consequences are that you get warmer, and that is as simple as it is."
A draft of the report, the fourth climate change assessment conducted by the IPCC, has been circulated among major news organizations over the past week.
"As we add to [greenhouse] gases, we are just doing the same thing as putting another blanket on our bed at night," said Sir David King, British chief government scientific adviser, in an interview with CBS News. "The consequences are that you get warmer, and that is as simple as it is."