Environment
On February 12th, 140 of this nation's largest businesses in cooperation with the Bush Administration announced pledges to voluntarily reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 4% in the next four years. Considering that the Environmental Protection Agency reported in 1989 that it will take at least a 50% reduction in greenhouse gases to begin restabilizing the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and the fact that the rest of the international community is ready to accept legally binding emissions restrictions in the form of the Kyoto Protocol, something better than voluntary compliance to a 4% reduction will have to be done in the US to address global warming. Apparently the Bush administration is going to pass the buck to another generation and another administration to tackle this problem.
Thirty-seven U.S. states have animal
cruelty laws that result in felony
convictions. My own state of Ohio does not. What does that tell us about the mentality of humans in the Buckeye State? Well, if the riots I heard about at OSU are any indication – all over a bunch of large men wrestling, grabbing and grinding each other over a football – then the future is bleak.
There are two identical bills in the Ohio legislature right now that would increase the penalties for animal cruelty, House Bill 480 and Senate Bill 221. S.B. 221 passed on December 10, 2002 and is awaiting the signature of Governor Bob “Serial Killer” Taft. I hope a man with so much human blood on his hands will find some compassion for innocent animals. It seems a passive-sounding group “The Ohio Association of Animal Owners” is putting up quite a fight against animal protection legislation in Ohio -- battling the “animal rights terrorists ,” as it were. Contact your state reps and senators and ask them to support the two bills.
There are two identical bills in the Ohio legislature right now that would increase the penalties for animal cruelty, House Bill 480 and Senate Bill 221. S.B. 221 passed on December 10, 2002 and is awaiting the signature of Governor Bob “Serial Killer” Taft. I hope a man with so much human blood on his hands will find some compassion for innocent animals. It seems a passive-sounding group “The Ohio Association of Animal Owners” is putting up quite a fight against animal protection legislation in Ohio -- battling the “animal rights terrorists ,” as it were. Contact your state reps and senators and ask them to support the two bills.
Well, it’s autumn and back to school time again. Reading, writing, football Friday night . . . and animal cruelty lessons! In some classes, anyone from elementary school-age children to medical and veterinary college students are forced to cut up dead animals. Biology classes especially bring back horrible memories in some people of frog guts and frog legs sliced off the poor frog’s body. Pig hearts, I hear, are even used in some anatomy classes because they are so much like humans’. Except if pigs ran the schools, they’d have a heart and not dissect dead humans!
Background
In 2001 over 12,000 Central Ohio residents signed a petition saying they wanted a vote at the ballot box in the City of Columbus on a moratorium to stop new City sewer and water service into the Big Darby Watershed. In October of 2001 the Franklin County Board of Elections certified that enough of those signatures were valid City voters to meet the requirements of the City Charter. Columbus City Council then voted in October to put the issue on the May ballot, according to the dictates of the Charter. That same Charter requires the Clerk of Council to immediately send the petition to the Board of Elections.
In 2001 over 12,000 Central Ohio residents signed a petition saying they wanted a vote at the ballot box in the City of Columbus on a moratorium to stop new City sewer and water service into the Big Darby Watershed. In October of 2001 the Franklin County Board of Elections certified that enough of those signatures were valid City voters to meet the requirements of the City Charter. Columbus City Council then voted in October to put the issue on the May ballot, according to the dictates of the Charter. That same Charter requires the Clerk of Council to immediately send the petition to the Board of Elections.
There’s good and bad news on the
animal rights front. Here’s our
investigative correspondent Iggy to bring us the latest news:
Jesse Helms – man or mouse?
Jesse Helms – man or mouse?
Farm Bill Amendment Weakens Animal Welfare Act To Exclude Most
Animals Used in Labs from Humane Protection; Coalition Urges Defeat
Contact: Nancy Blaney of the Working Group to Preserve the Animal Welfare Act, 703-521-1689
Tina Nelson of the American Anti-Vivisection Society, 215-887-0816
WASHINGTON, May 2 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Today Congress will come one step closer to making the U.S. the only country with animal protection laws to exclude most research animals from the protection of the law. The Conference Report to the Farm Bill, which the House will consider today, includes an amendment offered by Senator Helms that denies the Animal Welfare Act's (AWA) requirements for humane care to 95 percent of research animals, i.e., birds, rats, and mice, from receiving humane care. Instead of using hearings and debates before making a significant and controversial change to the AWA, Senator Helms introduced an amendment that passed in the Senate by voice vote with only a few members present. This amendment is now part of the Farm Bill.
Contact: Nancy Blaney of the Working Group to Preserve the Animal Welfare Act, 703-521-1689
Tina Nelson of the American Anti-Vivisection Society, 215-887-0816
WASHINGTON, May 2 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Today Congress will come one step closer to making the U.S. the only country with animal protection laws to exclude most research animals from the protection of the law. The Conference Report to the Farm Bill, which the House will consider today, includes an amendment offered by Senator Helms that denies the Animal Welfare Act's (AWA) requirements for humane care to 95 percent of research animals, i.e., birds, rats, and mice, from receiving humane care. Instead of using hearings and debates before making a significant and controversial change to the AWA, Senator Helms introduced an amendment that passed in the Senate by voice vote with only a few members present. This amendment is now part of the Farm Bill.
The Ohio Division of Mineral Resources scheduled a meeting May 15 at 2 p.m. at the Belmont Technical College Red Room for Ohio Valley Coal Company’s Permit D-0360-13 (-13 for short) which would allow access from the -7 permit area to the -12 permit area, which includes all of Dysart Woods including the old growth forest.
If granted, Ohio Valley Coal Company could argue that the state must issue the -12 permit to mine under Dysart Woods since it permitted the -13 entrance main to the -12 permit. Further, the permit includes more than 20 acres of mining in the watershed buffer zone of Dysart Woods, which the Lands Unsuitable Petition appeal requests to be made off limits to mining.
Dysart Woods is among the most endangered ecosystem in the world according to a 1996 U.S. Department of Interior report. A map of the proposed mining permit, and the already approved and appealed -9 permit is at
Meanwhile, the Ohio Division of Mineral Resources has yet to deem the -12 permit complete, which would undermine all of Dysart Woods, including all of the old growth forest areas with longwall and room and pillar mining.
If granted, Ohio Valley Coal Company could argue that the state must issue the -12 permit to mine under Dysart Woods since it permitted the -13 entrance main to the -12 permit. Further, the permit includes more than 20 acres of mining in the watershed buffer zone of Dysart Woods, which the Lands Unsuitable Petition appeal requests to be made off limits to mining.
Dysart Woods is among the most endangered ecosystem in the world according to a 1996 U.S. Department of Interior report. A map of the proposed mining permit, and the already approved and appealed -9 permit is at
Meanwhile, the Ohio Division of Mineral Resources has yet to deem the -12 permit complete, which would undermine all of Dysart Woods, including all of the old growth forest areas with longwall and room and pillar mining.
1. The US gives notice of withdrawal from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty.
2. US Boycotts the UN Conference to Advance the Entry Into Force of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
3. US President George W. Bush pledges to reduce the US nuclear arsenal to between 1.700 and 2,200 strategic nuclear weapons over a period of ten years. Russian President Vladimir Putin says that he will “respond in kind.”
4. The Ukraine destroys its last nuclear missile silo, fulfilling its pledge to give up the nuclear arsenal it inherited after the dissolution of the USSR.
5. Germany decides to phase out nuclear power by 2025.
www.wagingpeace.org/resources/
2. US Boycotts the UN Conference to Advance the Entry Into Force of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
3. US President George W. Bush pledges to reduce the US nuclear arsenal to between 1.700 and 2,200 strategic nuclear weapons over a period of ten years. Russian President Vladimir Putin says that he will “respond in kind.”
4. The Ukraine destroys its last nuclear missile silo, fulfilling its pledge to give up the nuclear arsenal it inherited after the dissolution of the USSR.
5. Germany decides to phase out nuclear power by 2025.
www.wagingpeace.org/resources/
The recent leak of classified sections
of the Bush administration’s Nuclear
Posture Review [NPR] shows that Bush’s nuclear policies are schizophrenic and dangerous. Twelve years after the end of the Cold War, Bush policies are pushing the world closer to the use of nuclear weapons,” said Kevin Martin, Executive Director for Peace Action.
The revelations in the L.A. Times show that under the NPR the President intends to produce a wide array of new nuclear weapons and to expand the conditions under which nuclear weapons would be used. Bush’s NPR is the first nuclear review to target non-nuclear nations and the first to list the nations Pentagon planners are slating for nuclear targeting. The nations listed are non-nuclear weapons nations, Iraq, Iran, North Korea, Libya and Syria and nuclear weapons powers China and Russia.
The revelations in the L.A. Times show that under the NPR the President intends to produce a wide array of new nuclear weapons and to expand the conditions under which nuclear weapons would be used. Bush’s NPR is the first nuclear review to target non-nuclear nations and the first to list the nations Pentagon planners are slating for nuclear targeting. The nations listed are non-nuclear weapons nations, Iraq, Iran, North Korea, Libya and Syria and nuclear weapons powers China and Russia.
Now is the time to share with children the
importance of caring for our environment. If we want quality environmental conditions to exist for our children’s children, now is the time to educate the upcoming generation in order to make this happen. The following are tips that can lead to discussions:
Reduce, reuse, recycle!
Recycle plastic and paper grocery bags.
Turn off unused lights.
Take your lunch in reusable containers to school and work.
Shower in less than 5 minutes to conserve water.
Write an essay about the importance of caring for the environment.
Make your own glass cleaner by mixing 1/8 cup vinegar and 1 cup water.
Start some seeds indoors for a garden.
Turn off the water while you brush your teeth.
Think of five ways you can produce less trash.
Donate used magazines to a nursing home or hospital waiting room.
Decorate and use empty cans to hold nails, pencils, paper clips, etc.