writeaboutwarming

A major study, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, found a significant reduction in cancer risk in those individuals who eat lots of organic food. If you want to be one of those individuals, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) suggests you refrain from eating oat-based cereals made by General Mills or Quaker. Here's why: The EWG hired Anresco Laboratories to test samples of 28 different breakfast products made by Quaker and General Mills. In all but 2 of the products tested, the amount of Monsanto's weed killer Roundup was found at levels that endanger the lives of children, i.e., higher than 160 parts per billion (ppb)*. As you no doubt recall, the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) deems the active ingredient in Roundup, glyphosate, "probably carcinogenic to humans." This decision was reached after the review, in 2015, of U.S., Canadian, and Swedish epidemiological studies of glyphosate. Real-world exposures and g...

April 2, 2017 - The following was sent to me by Credo by email today. Please read and take action: Stunning new documents unsealed by a federal judge suggest that Monsanto worked directly with  federal regulators to hide the health risks of and manipulate the science behind its best-selling herbicide, RoundUp. The documents reveal that Monsanto pressured Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officials to not publicly release information on the cancer risks of glyphosate, the main ingredient in RoundUp, ghost- wrote research for the EPA and worked with a senior official at the agency to quash a federal review of the chemical. These documents suggest an unprecedented level of collusion between the EPA and Monsanto  to cover up evidence that RoundUp is a likely carcinogen.  The Office of Inspector General of the  EPA, an independent office tasked with investigating fraud and abuse in the agency, must immediately lau...

March 25, 2015 - I recall, back in the early 1970's, the constant stream of news stories telling Americans that virtually every new product recently developed contained something that caused cancer.  Honestly, it was hard to know what to do with the information.  I think because there were so many stories - several a week, it seemed like - there was also a lot of skepticism.  All these years later, I will confess we should have demanded that the products be pulled from the shelves.  We didn't, and now we pay the price with our own lives, and the lives of our children and grandchildren. I volunteer at the elementary school's library.  The librarian, incredibly competent and caring, is also the mother of two daughters.  Her younger child has had to be treated twice for leukemia.  The second go-round was caused by the first; yes, that's what I'm saying - the chemotherapy caused her to contract leukemia for a second time.  In all likelihood, chemica...

August 26, 2013 – Time was when I thought of the EPA as the good guys.   Industry – the bad guys – would once again imperil the water we drink, or the air that we breathe, and the EPA would ride to the rescue.   Something happened ( I believe it’s described as the Bush II administration), and the EPA began to excel at twiddling their thumbs, and little else.   Though twiddling may have lost its luster, I’m still not sure their hearts are really into protecting the environment. Case in point: the new regulations issued by the EPA last week that will reduce air pollution created by “fracked” wells.   But, you say, isn’t it the EPA’s job to issue those very regulations?   Indeed it is, I reply.   Everyone knows that’s their job, except – apparently – the EPA.   Otherwise, why did the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia have to order them to take action?   Yup.   You see, the Environmental Protection Agency is tasked by law wi...

July 2, 2012 - Those poor, poor people in Washington, D.C. who might not have their power restored until this coming weekend.  If you've never been in Washington in July, take my word for it: it gives the word "awful" new meaning.  The humidity, combined with the heat, makes the weather fit for neither man nor beast.  Here in Ohio, we were part of that original group of 4 million people without electricity, but we got ours back yesterday.  A little bit of food needed to be thrown out.  We were uncomfortably warm for awhile.  It was too hot to go out for a walk, and reading can hold your attention for just so long.  The water worked, and the basement was nice and cool, so we didn't lose any sleep.  Last night, another severe storm moved through, this time with quarter-sized hail.  My potato plants got beaten down, but I think they're ok.  Corn farmers may actually have welcomed these last two storms, assuming the wind and hail didn't fini...

February 7, 2012 - Hi everybody, glad to be back at last.  You know, I have friends who are very hip to permaculture, the need to end environmental degradation, and organic farm products, but who still can't get their minds wrapped around climate change.  They can't see it playing out in their town or neighborhood, so what's the worry?  Whenever I find myself talking to such people, I've wished I could whip out a fact like "Don't you realize that over 12,000 climatologists worldwide believe that global warming is a real threat to human existence?"  I still don't have that number at the ready (it's not 12,000 - I made that up), but I have found a website called 100 Top Climate Change Sites - http://www.world.org/weo/climate .  I though I'd give at least some of them a look and tell you what I think. The Center for Climate and Energy Solutions - http://www.pewclimate.org/ (formerly The Pew Center on Global Climate Change) is ranked number 1 o...

December 27, 2010 – The Environmental Protection Agency will begin regulating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in January, with the implementation of new permitting rules. Large facilities that must obtain permits for other pollutants will be required to include greenhouse gases in their permit, if they increase GHG emissions by at least 75,000 tons per year. (That’s confusing – does that mean that if they are found to emit 75,000 tons to begin with, they need the permit? Or does it mean the EPA will wait a year to see if they’ve added 75,000 tons to their baseline emissions?) The GHG to be regulated are carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride. Readers will recall that methane emissions from sources in nature have been on the increase due to global warming. In addition, the EPA will propose industry-specific GHG standards no later than December 2011. The industries most affected will be fossil-fuel power plants ...

December 16, 2010 – The EPA was largely rendered a toothless tiger during the Bush II administration. The damages wrought while Dracula guarded the blood bank (a very nice metaphor, with thanks to Jane Fonda) will become known to us over time. In fact, one such damage has recently been found out. As luck would have it, there’s at least one person with a conscience employed at the Environmental “Protection” Agency. That person took it upon him-or herself to leak evidentiary documents to Colorado beekeeper Tom Theobald, implicating the EPA-approved pesticide Clothianidin in the development of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). Beekeeping isn’t a business most people pay a great deal of attention to, so let’s get brought up-to-date. American beekeepers have noticed for some time now that their hives were sickly. Various causes for the worsening situation have been explored, then rejected. As bee colonies began their wholesale implosion in 2006, the name Colony Collapse Disorder was deemed su...

December 13, 2010 – There are a couple of stories in the news worth talking about. The first, about the climate talks in Cancun , is a bit of a surpri se : the talks have resulted in the adoption of two agreements. One is an agreement to further delay deciding the fate of the Kyoto Protocol (that’s not the surpri se ). The se cond, to which both China and the United States are parties, involves committing to cut greenhou se gas emissions, establishes a framework for transparency, se ts up a global climate fund of $100 billion, and recognizes the importance of limiting deforestation. Some brief discussion, if you plea se . It goes without saying, God help us if the R’s take back the White Hou se in ’12. The 192 other countries (all attendees, with the exception of Bolivia ) who adopted the agreement can and will proceed without us, if need be, but that would be a thoroughly bankrupt outcome for a small victory that was extremely difficult to achieve. The United Stat...

August 9, 2010 – Little by little, people are taking on the challenges that climate change will inevitably thrust upon all of us. In some ca se s, climate change has absolutely nothing to do with what’s happening. For instance, I’ve just found out that the Midwest ’s largest school garden is located right here, in the town where I live! I’ve driven by a few times in the last se veral weeks, and the sunflowers have been a sight for sore eyes. There are over 100 garden beds scattered across the 25 acres on which the elementary and preschools are located. The schools make u se of the vegetables in their cafeterias, as do the local soup kitchen and the vegetarian restaurant across the street. Community volunteers keep the gardens growing during the summer, and the community is welcome to pick whatever is growing. Started in 2002, the gardens are an unmitigated success! It’s entirely possible that one day, tho se school gardens may be a vital source of food for the communi...

June 7, 2010 – Imagine – the entire mid-Atlantic and Northeast coast under a tornado watch. I wonder if that’s ever happened before. Considering the damage done throughout the Midwest over the weekend, it was a logical step. America ’s “outback” is enduring more and more violent weather with each passing year. E-magazine Grist has been running an outstanding se ries of articles by David Roberts about the American Power Act (APA). Lambasted by many for its replacement of the Clean Air Act’s stationary-source regulations with a cap-and-trade system of pollution control, there are, according to Roberts, still many reasons for supporting the APA. What might tho se be? - the cap part of cap-and-trade, as defined by the APA, will provide long-term predictability, something investors value highly - becau se the Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) is authorized to regulate atmospheric pollutants, it will have...

December 8, 2009 – It’s funny. The size of the group of people who are impassioned about the need to do something about climate change has, I suspect, reached critical mass. The fact I only suspect our numbers have reached the tipping point is attributable to our not all being together in one place (other than cyber space). That makes it hard to tell. That’s also the reason we’re not doing anything. We don’t have the impetus provided by hearing someone yell “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore!” What ARE we doing? Sitting in front of our computers and nodding in agreement. It’s awful when you realize that’s exactly what the politicians are hoping we’ll do. The number of global warming experts who are now genuinely frantic about the need for us to change our behavior seems to be growing. Maybe that’s the missing piece of the puzzle: when they begin holding up signs and protesting, that will be the signal for the rest of us to join them. Until then, we seem to be left s...