Showing posts with label environment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label environment. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Saturday, November 17, 2012
Greenwashing at Walmart
As
Walmart and Walmart supply-chain workers rise up for dignity and
respect, we can support them in Western Massachusetts and across the
nation.
On November 23 (“Black Friday”) Jobs with Justice coalitions are adopting Walmart stores to engage in creative action. In areas where OUR Walmart members are walking out, coalitions will mobilize community/labor solidarity for the picket line, coordinating with the workers’ plans. Elsewhere, actions will include Walmart-focused Christmas caroling, leafleting shoppers, asking them to wear “I support Walmart workers” stickers inside, flash mobs inside the stores, and more.
To get involved in Western Mass., click here to email us. After you pick a store, the team captain will be in touch. Our stores are:
Monday, June 11, 2012
Breast cancer:
(The graphic shows the distribution of breast cancer in the state from 1982 - 1994. Hate to think what it is now.)
Silent Spring looks to end dry spell
State funding for environmental research on possible contaminants in the Cape's drinking water is getting harder to come by.
It's
a situation that advocates for breast cancer research say could delay
the development of protective regulations, costing lives as well as
treatment dollars.
After receiving no state
funding for the past two years, the Silent Spring Institute in Newton
asked legislators on Beacon Hill for $150,000 this spring to continue a
study on carcinogens and endocrine disrupters in the Cape's drinking
water. Lawmakers in both houses, however, turned down funding for the
nonprofit organization, founded in 1994 to study the Cape's high rates
of breast cancer.
But some fancy footwork by
state Sen. President Therese Murray, D-Plymouth, and Sen. Dan Wolf,
D-Harwich, could salvage one-third of Silent Spring's request.
At
the last minute, the legislators got a "technical amendment" to include
$50,000 for Silent Spring in the Senate budget. "It's really important
work," Wolf said.
Now Silent Spring leaders hope the proposed funding survives a joint conference committee review.
The
reduced amount "is a good start," said Cheryl Osimo, co-founder of
Silent Spring Institute and communications director of its sister
organization, the Massachusetts Breast Cancer Coalition.
"But we need to fill the gap to have an active research project on the Cape again," she said.
Hurt by budget crisis
The money is a far cry from the $1 million in funding Silent Spring got from the state a little more than a decade ago.
The
institute used the funds for studies on breast cancer incidence rates
and such factors as pesticide and land use in an attempt to look for
possible environment links to breast cancer on the Cape.
It
also conducted a household exposure case-control study showing that
contaminants from building materials and consumer products end up in the
air and dust of people's homes.
Many of these
contaminants are classified as endocrine-disrupting compounds, which
because of their ability to interfere with the body's hormone system
makes them suspect in cases of breast cancer.
But Silent Spring lost its state funding when falling tax revenues contributed to the state budget crisis in 2003.
Since
then, the organization, which has an annual budget of $1.6 million in
private and federal funds, has focused its Cape work on studies into
possible contaminants in drinking water.
Several
of its studies, including one on private wells released in November,
show that pharmaceutical products and artificial sweeteners as well as
flame retardants, hormones, plasticizers and insect repellent are making
their way into the Cape's private wells.
This
is a concern to researchers, since many of these substances mimic
estrogen, which causes breast cancer cells to grow in the lab.
Across
the country, about 40,000 women die of breast cancer each year.
Barnstable County has the state's highest breast cancer mortality rate,
according to a report by the Massachusetts affiliate of Susan G. Komen
for the Cure. The Cape's annual death rate from breast cancer is 29.4
out of 100,000 here, compared with the state average of 21.4. Barnstable
County's breast cancer incident rate also is higher than the state
average, according to the Komen foundation.
"Breast
cancer incidence has been elevated on Cape Cod ever since the
Massachusetts cancer registry began in 1982," Silent Spring Institute
Executive Director Julia Brody said.
In
December, the Institute of Medicine, a nonprofit organization that acts
as the health arm of the National Academy of Sciences, "issued a clear
statement saying that science now documents plausible biological links
between environmental chemicals and breast cancer risk," Brody said.
She said it was the first time a major medical organization had made such a claim.
But
with the economic crisis affecting public research dollars available at
both the federal and state levels, Silent Spring has been facing
budgetary woes.
The federal government filled
some of the state funding gap with four congressional appropriations,
the last of which was $350,000 in September 2010.
But
those appropriations ended with the federal ban on earmarks, although
the organization continues to receive other federal grants.
The
Massachusetts Environmental Trust helped out with the Cape drinking
water studies until it dropped its funding in fiscal 2011, Osimo said.
Nearly
a quarter of the organization's funding comes from private donations,
Osimo said. She said it gets more than a third of its funding from
nonprofit foundations and 42 percent from various federal grants. It
just received $200,000 from the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer, which Osimo
said will help update the organization's epidemiology database and
develop new biomarkers for exposure to contaminants.
Lack of funding 'appalling'
Karen Joy Miller of the Huntington Breast Cancer
Action Coalition on Long Island, N.Y., the fundraising arm for one of
the country's largest studies on environmental links to breast cancer,
said the funding situation is "appalling."
She said her organization no longer receives funds from the county, state or federal governments.
Miller
said Huntington and Silent Spring have been role models for involving
the community in discussion about breast cancer and partnering with
private donors to offset lost public funding.
Environmental
research organizations can't expect the deep-pocket corporate support
that floats pharmaceutical and other research, said Dr. John Erban of
Tufts Medical Center Cancer Center, who is on Silent Spring's board.
"There is very little revenue to be gained in prevention. The financial incentive is lacking," Erban said.
But
there is great cost savings to be had in preventing cancer, especially
as the population ages, he said. Unfortunately, organizations "are not
doing nearly as many studies as could be done, because of limitations on
resources," Erban said.
Copyright © Cape Cod Media Group, a division of Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Please help protect the Quabbin forest
Please help protect the Quabbin forest! (photo and post by Chris Matera)
This is the most important piece of undeveloped forest in Massachusetts that protects the drinking water for 2.2 million citizens, and the public owns it, but private logging companies want to start logging it again.
Environment Massachusetts is running an excellent campaign to permanently ban logging in the Quabbin and needs our help now.
Please go to this easy link to send a message:
For a reminder why we need to keep the private logging companies out of the quabbin, please see:
Quabbin Watershed Clearcutting - Ground & Aerial (15 MB): www.maforests.org/QUABBIN.pdf
Quabbin Watershed Clearcutting - Google (5 MB):
Please forward this message to friends and family!
thank you
Chris Matera
www.maforests.org
www.maforests.org/MFWBmess.pdf
413-341-3878
Saturday, October 8, 2011
What kind of Springfield do YOU want to live in?
Springfield Residents Urged to Show up and Be Heard at Neighborhood and Citywide MeetingsRebuild Springfield Planning Meetings begin week of October 11
Springfield, Mass., October 6, 2011—Rebuild Springfield, an initiative of DevelopSpringfield and the Springfield Redevelopment Authority, kicks into high gear with the first series of three neighborhood meetings during the week of October 10th, followed by a citywide meeting on Saturday morning, October 15th. Residents and stakeholders are asked to help create a vision for Springfield that will ultimately help form the master plan for both the tornado-impacted and related areas of the City of Springfield.
According to Bobbie Hill of Concordia, the firm retained to lead the master planning effort, “These meetings are critical to the planning process. We need to hear, firsthand, from a diverse array of residents from the impacted neighborhoods as well as the City at large. A successful plan is one that meets the needs and hopes of the city’s residents and stakeholders.”
Concordia is a 28-year old firm at the forefront of research and best practices related to planning for disaster recovery. They have applied their model to facilitate the collaborative design of neighborhoods and buildings for cities, most recently post-Katrina New Orleans.
The first round of neighborhood meetings will be held next week:
Sixteen Acres, East Forest Park
Tuesday, October 11, 2011, 6:30pm-9:00pm
Holy Cross Gymnasium, 221 Plumtree Road
Six Corners, Upper Hill, Old Hill, Forest Park
Wednesday, October 12, 2011, 6:30pm-9:00pm
J.C. Williams Center, 116 Florence Street
Metro Center (Downtown) & South End
Thursday, October 13, 2011, 6:30pm-9:00pm
Gentile Apartments Community Room, 85 William Street
The week will end with a city-wide meeting—all residents and stakeholders are encouraged to attend—on Saturday, October 15 from 8:30am-11:30am at the MassMutual Center. The purpose of this meeting is to discuss issues and opportunities that affect the city as a whole.
Residents are also encouraged to learn about Rebuild Springfield and to submit their ideas at the online conversation at http://www.rebuildspringfield.
There are two more rounds of meetings planned in November and December respectively, the dates and times are to be announced. The final meeting in January will be the presentation of the master plan for Springfield, incorporating the ideas and needs of the residents and stakeholders.
Nick Fyntrilakis, Chairman of DevelopSpringfield stressed the importance of community engagement. “Working together, we have an opportunity to create a vision for a stronger Springfield that builds upon our rich history while focusing on our future.”
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Getting old and facing pollution - forum
What do clean air, water, and soil have to do with aging? Why should be concerned about our environment as we get older? What does the recent tornado clean-up have to do with our health?
A Community Discussion with:
Chris Rogers, UMass School of Public Health
Patrick Sullivan, Director, Springfield Parks, Buildings & Recreation Management
Lynn Rose, City of Springfield, Air Quality Specialist
Mike Florio, WMass Coalition on Occupational Health & Safety
Nick Fyntrilakis, Chair, DevelopSpringfield
Wed., Sept. 28, 1 to 3:30 p.m.
Springfield Hobby Club
309 Chestnut St.
(off Franklin St., behind YMCA)
Information: Mass Senior Action, 543-2334
(off Franklin St., behind YMCA)
Information: Mass Senior Action, 543-2334
This event funded and supported by the Healthy Environment/Healthy Springfield CARE project, a US EPA-funded Environmental Justice Project
Saturday, September 3, 2011
First Nations and American Indian Leaders Arrested In Front Of White House To Protest Keystone XL Pipeline.
Photo courtsy of:
Representatives of Native governments and organizations from the United States and Canada traveled long distances to Washington DC to tell President Barack Obama not to issue a permit for the construction of a controversial 1,700 mile pipeline from Canada to the Gulf Coast. "The Dene people in northern Canada passed a resolution standing in solidarity with Native Americans and other people opposing the Keystone XL pipeline. We want the people of America to hear our concerns, as people that live downstream from the tar sands development" said Chief Bill Erasmus, Dene Regional Chief of NWT and representative of the Assembly of First Nations. Gitz Deranger, Dene from Fort Chipewyan, Alberta, living downstream from the tar sands, says, "I have seen the devastation of our people's health with increased cancer deaths. If Obama approves this pipeline, it would only lead to more of our people needlessly dying." "Our Lakota people oppose this pipeline because of the potential contamination of the surface water and of the Ogallala aquifer," says Deb White Plume, Lakota grassroots leader, with Owe Aku, an Oglala Lakota organization in South Dakota. "We have thousands of ancient and historical cultural resources that would be destroyed across our treaty lands. It's my responsibility as a woman to stand with Mother Earth against corporate male dominated greed. White Plume stood proud as her hands were handcuffed behind her back and led away. "This is a matter of life and death. Our human rights should not be on the altar of US energy policy," says Pat Spears, a Lakota, with Intertribal Council on Utility Policy, of South Dakota. Chief George Stanley, Regional Chief of Alberta said the pipeline was initiated under the previous Bush administration and inherited by Obama. "Our First Nations in Alberta have been concerned of the lack of consultation of the pipeline and tar sand expansion. President Obama can do what's right. The President's approval of this pipeline is not in the national interest of US or Canada." Tom Goldtooth, of the Indigenous Environmental Network, the organization that organized the Indigenous Day of Action in DC said, "The tar sands and pipeline infrastructure are weapons of mass destruction leading the path to triggering the final overheating of Mother Earth. President Obama made promises to Native Nations. Here is an opportunity for him to honor those promises and be a man of conscience by standing up to corporate power and saying no to the Keystone XL pipeline." SOURCE Indigenous Environmental Network www.prnewswire.com Copyright (C) 2011 PR Newswire. All rights reserved -0- KEYWORD: District of Columbia INDUSTRY KEYWORD: ENV OIL SUBJECT CODE: NTA CENSORED NEWS: Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2011/09/natives-portraits-of-arrests-white.html
Kandi Mossett, Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara/Photo Shadia Fayne Wood
Good article and good reminder We must fight for our mother!
o:nen
Liz
Published: Friday, 2 Sep 2011 | 11:30 AM ET WASHINGTON, Sept. 2, 2011 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- American Indian and Canadian Native leaders were arrested today in front of the White House.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Monday, August 1, 2011
The worst is yet to come
I'm no political analyst and it's going to take me (and the rest of the country) some time to figure out exactly how bad the pending deal is going to be for poor, working class and middle class people of this country. But I got a big hint this morning of where we're headed next during CNN's interview of Sen. John McCain.
McCain mentioned that as a way to stimulate the economy and get businesses investing, he'd like to see a two year moratorium on all government regulations.
Following is a list of some of the federal agencies and bureaus that would be affected by McCain's plan. Take a look and use your imagination: Just how might the robber baron corporations exploit lack of regulations, both those that currently exist and those that might be proposed?
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, Bureau of Prisons, Commission on Civil Rights, Council on Environmental Quality, Department of Agriculture,
Department of Energy, Department of Health and Human Services,Department of Labor, Environmental Protection Agency, Equal Employment Opportunity Division, Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, Federal Aviation Administration, Federal Maritime Commission, Federal Trade Commission, Fish and Wildlife Service, Food and Drug Administration,Food Safety and Inspection Service, Housing and Urban Development, Justice Department, Labor Department,Marine Mammal Commission, Mine Safety and Health Administration, National AIDS Policy Office, National Park Service, National Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Public and Indian Housing, Veterans Health Administration.
Well, I can give you a hint: as of last Friday, 39 anti-environmental riders were attached to the 2012 spending bill for the Interior Department and the Environmental Protection Agency. If passed, they would mean that for a year: no greenhouse gas regulations, no new auto efficiency regulations, no limits on mountaintop coal removal, no strengthening of protections for wetlands, no labeling the toxic ash from coal-fired power plants as hazardous waste-- and much more. You can read some details in a Sunday Editorial in the New York Times.
Only after the last tree has been cut down.
Only after the last river has been poisoned.
Only after the last fish has been caught.
Only then will you find that money cannot be eaten.
Only after the last river has been poisoned.
Only after the last fish has been caught.
Only then will you find that money cannot be eaten.
~ Cree saying
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Fighting for Environmental Justice
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| Holly, Steve and Chrisoula |
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| City Councilors Zaida Luna & Jose Tosado- Tim Allen also present |
================================
A few weeks ago, I got a call from a woman in Indian Orchard who has been on our mailing list for a number of years. She said she'd gotten a notice from the City's Planning Board about a proposed zone change from Residence B to Commercial A in her neighborhood. The notice read as follows: "Notice is hereby given that the Planning Board will hold a public hearing on Wednesday, July 20, 2011 at 6:00 pm. in Room 220 of City Hall for all those interested in a zone change from residence B to Industrial A at the property known as ES Parker St (09510-1894). Owner and petitioner: City of Springfield. By order of the City Planning Board, Katie Stebbins, Chairperson. Information may be viewed at the Planning/Eco Dev Dept., 70 Tapley St. (413) 787-6020."
Not a lot of info, right? And you'd have to be pretty pro-active to actually go to the Planning Dept. to see what the proposal is. On top of that, the zoning change notice was only delivered to households with 300 feet of the proposed zone change.
The woman I heard from, however, knew exactly what property was being discussed: a piece of Hubbard Park, owned by the city, would be given over to expand the parking lot of Unifirst Uniforms, right next door.
The "Industrial A" designation caught my eye, because I've been told that the City of Springfield has no say over what is done or developed with "Industrial A"-- which is supposed to be why it was easy for Palmer Renewable Energy to move its proposal for the biomass plant we've been fighting at the existing Palmer Paving site.
I went over to Parker St. to take pictures and see what my contact was talking about. Apparently Unifirst only wants about 10 feet of land and intends to put up a concrete wall between the parking lot and the remainder of the property.
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| Back entrance to Barrows Park |
I may have more to say about Unifirst in a later post, but I hope one thing is obvious: if the Planning Board wants real citizen participation in in local decisions, it's going to have to do a better job in informing the community-- better notices, better descriptions of what's really going on-- maybe some photos to accompany the notice?
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Justice Embodied Bearing the future to protect the Earth
This article really makes you think.
Justice Embodied
Bearing the future to protect the Earth
by _Sandra Cuffe
The Dominion - http://www.dominion paper.ca
Image from: vibrakeys.com
(http://www.dominion paper.ca/ images/3906)
VANCOUVER—A boy found his younger brother’s body hanging in the basement.
Another mine passed the environmental review process. More women are going
missing and are murdered. The search for a nuclear waste site continues.
Stories told by the media are presented as a series of disconnected
incidents and issues. Most governments, federal or otherwise, work in a similar
framework of disconnection, whether to determine jurisdiction or to deflect
accountability. Public discussion often separates reality into compartments.
The discourse of many groups and campaigns working on environmental and
climate issues explicitly rejects this disconnected perspective. However, that
same discourse has been questioned for its failure to make many other
connections that Indigenous peoples, women and others have been pointing out
for decades.
“Once you go to a birth, you know how connected you are to the earth, and
to all creation around us,” says Neddie Thompson, a traditional midwife from
Akwesasne, in Kanienkehaka (Mohawk) territory. “It’s the women who give
birth to all of our children...to take care of this land.”
“As an Indigenous feminist, one of the links I, as well as many Indigenous
women across the world, see is between reproductive health and
environmental justice. Simultaneously I am angry about the lack of recognition of this
link within most environmental discourse,” wrote Cree/Norwegian Indigenous
feminist Erin Konsmo. Also a student, she added that “[it’s] insulting to
hear in environmental classes that the idea of any form of sustainability
is a new concept.”
The declaration from the International Indigenous Women’s Environmental and
Reproductive Health Symposium held last year in California states that “
[sovereignty] and autonomy in relation to our lands, territories and
resources are intricately connected to sovereignty and autonomy in relation to our
bodies, minds and spirits.”
You can read the rest of the story at: (http://www.dominion paper.ca/ articles/ 3897#)
Friday, April 22, 2011
Monday, April 18, 2011
Earth Day!
Earth Day ‘11: Facing Our Present and Future through Eco-Poetry, Prose, and Song
Friday, April 22, 6:30-9:30pm, Northampton, Unitarian Universalist Society, 220 Main St.
Monday, May 2nd, 6:30-9pm, Greenfield , Second Congregational Church, Courthouse Square, (Near intersection of Main and Federal Streets)
Valley poets, writers, and musicians will offer their work focused on the ecological crisis facing—and caused by-- humanity.
The poetry will include not only expression of the grief, fear, outrage, and despair felt by many, but also the vision and hope for healing the planet, and living in sustainable harmony with the earth and each other. This is the first such gathering, which will continue once every three months with different artists presenting their work.
Poet John Berkowitz of Shelburne will host, and offer his recent poems such as: Vapor Trails, Apples from China, A Tsunami of Plastic, Tech-knowledg-y or Ignorance, and Honeybees: This Century’s Canary in the Coal Mine? He and others will also read environmental poems by Mary Oliver, Billy Collins, Ellen Bass, Wendell Berry, Marge Piercy, David Whyte, Galway Kinnell, and others. Poetry in songs recorded by Bruce Cockburn, Joni Mitchell, Bruce Springsteen, Magpie, and others of national and local renown will also be played, listened to, and discussed. People attending are also welcome to bring and read their own work, or favorites by others. After each reading, the audience will be invited to share their response to the poem or song and what it expressed. This will be limited to 5 minutes; and each responder will have not more than 1 minute, allowing others to have a turn. For those who wish to read along as well as listen, and take home the poems afterward, copies of each poem or song lyrics will be provided by those poets/writers who wish to do so.
Participating poets/writers/musicians for Friday, April 22 * Lori Desrosiers, Westfield poet, editor of Poetry News online calendar of events, * Jim Culleny, Shelburne poet/writer, op-ed column writer in Shelburne Independent and Greenfield Recorder, * Stan Pollock, Florence poet, * Annie Hassett, Greenfield, musician/songwriter, * Paul Richmond, Wendell poet/writer, host of Spoken Word events, * Erica Wheeler, Colrain musician/songwriter
Participating poets/writers/musicians for Monday, May 2 * Susan Middleton, Ashfield poet, * Jay Mankita, Northampton musician/songwriter,
More info: John Berkowitz, 413-625-6374 johnpberk@gmail.com
Organization Co-Sponsors (not yet confirmed): Greening Greenfield, Traprock Peace Center, MoveOn, CAN, Safe and Green, Transition Towns: Greenfield, Shelburne, 350 Pioneer Valley Alan Eccleton, National Priorities Project , Alliance for Peace and Justice, Arise for Social Justice, Stop toxic Incineration in Springfield, Connecticut River Watershed Alliance, Clean Water Action, American Friends Service Committee, Jobs With Justice, Coop Power, Center for Ecological Technology, Northampton Grow Food, Hungry Ghost Bread, Bread Euphoria, New England Organic Farmers Association, New England Solar Energy Association, Concerned Citizens of Franklin County plus Spfld/Russell group, PV Local First, Amherst Sustainability Fair, Seeds of Solidarity (Orange), North Star Self-Directed Learning for Teens, Boys To Men Teen Mentoring Program, Charlemont Academy
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Just tell it like it is: are we getting a health study or not?
This afternoon I went to Holyoke to hear Public Health Commissioner John Auerbach present one of his regional health dialogues on new directions in public health. I was going to wait until after the presentation to catch up with him and ask him a question: when was the DPH going to do the Health Impact Assessment (HIA) for which it had received funding nearly a year ago? I haven't been able to get an answer from my contacts at the Environmental Health Bureau of DPH, and the clock is ticking-- the biomass incinerator we're trying to stop is only two months away from getting its air permit.
After Auerbach finished his presentation and called for questions, an older woman stood up and I recognized her right away as Jean Caldwell; in fact I'd just heard her give a statement at Tuesday's Dept. of Environmental Protection air permit hearing.. She doesn't come to meetings of Stop Toxic Incineration in Springfield, but has become very engaged in this issue since our first phone conversations, doing her own research, contacting public officials and writing letters to the newspaper.
She gave him a overview of Tuesday's hearing, and mentioned a plant in Connecticut which required zero emissions from a proposed plant before they would approve it. She said that while she recognized DPH had no authority over decisions made by DEP, what could they do to help us? Possibly a Health Impact Assessment?
Auerbach had started nodding during Jean's presentation, showing he was familiar with Springfield's situation. He began his answer by agreeing she was right about the relationship between DEP and DPH. He then said that as she knew, DPH had suffered substantial budget cuts. DPH had the resources to provide existing data, but if she was thinking about focus groups, community input, anything in-depth, they just didn't have the money. Of course he took about two minutes to say this, while my blood started to boil. We have been depending on this study, and even though suspicion has been building up that it just wasn't going to happen, we've been trying to keep faith.
When he finished, I stood up, not waiting for him to call on me.
"Excuse me, that's not correct," I said, and introduced myself. "DPH received a grant from Pew Charitable Trust to do this study and we have been waiting for it to begin. I know it had to be reconfigured after the plant decided to burn green wood instead of construction and demolition debris-- but that was five months ago, and I'm not getting my phone calls to Suzanne Condon answered about when the study will start."
"Yes, we did get that grant," he said, "but that was for a different project."
"Why don't you just ask Suzanne to call me," I said, picked up my notebook, and left. I could tell I might really lose it if I stayed any longer. I wasn't yelling but I know my anger showed. Mr. Auerbach did more than dissemble when he didn't tell Jean that DPH actually had a grant for the study.
I probably now will get a call from Suzanne Condon, and I'm sure she won't be happy. But I think we deserve the truth. This has not been an easy week for any of us who are fighting this plant. We've had rogue labor booing us, bureaucrats dissembling, and corporados cheerleading with their cynical "clean and green" mantra. But we've had our resolve hardened and we're getting ready for whatever comes next. Want to get involved? Call Arise and leave a message for Stop Toxic Incineration in Springfield.
Graphic from Tomas Brechler's photostream at Flickr.
Friday, April 8, 2011
Stooges for the rich
A chief target is the Environmental Protection Agency, which would be forbidden to regulate greenhouse gasses-- costs too many jobs, Republicans say. Of course this put me in mind of Tuesday night's trade union vocal support support for Palmer Renewable Energy's biomass proposal. Maybe those guys would agree with the Republicans on this one.
Here we are in the middle of the biggest upward transfer of wealth in eighty years and yet there are people out there thinking that making rich people richer is going to be good for them. Maybe they haven't thought about it that way; the typical Tea Party member is a sheep who cries out for tax cuts and smaller government and then won't be able to get her aging mother into adult day care and her kids into a decent school. No problem for the rich, though.
I sat in a meeting today that is trying to promote a campaign to increase state revenue by returning to a higher previous income tax rate with substantial personal exemptions for the bottom 60%. We spent a good bit of time talking about messaging and finding the right way to convey to the public that essential services are at risk-- firefighters, teachers, nurses, et cetera.
Meanwhile I'm wondering why we aren't out there telling the truth to people: the rich are stealing our lives! They don't care that they ruin our environment, consign our children to mediocrity, shorten our days.
And they don't even need the money.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Be careful, people....
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Friday, March 25, 2011
One hour for the earth
After you get back from the Jobs with Justice conference...after you've made supper...after you've found a candle and a good book...turn off your lights and give one hour to the earth!
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
EPA and dioxin: Ask Cong. Neal to sign on
Won't you take a couple of minutes to call him and urge him to sign on? The Springfield office number is (413) 785-0325
Dear friends,
We’re working with U.S. Rep. Markey’s office on a “dear colleague” sign-on letter from members of the U.S. House of Rep. to EPA on their Dioxin Reassessment, which has been delayed for 20 years thanks to the chemical industry. Rep. Markey’s office started circulating the “dear colleague” letter for possible House co-signators yesterday.
Can you contact your member of Congress and ask them to sign on to the letter?
EPA is being aggressively lobbied and targeted by the chemical industry and Republican members of Congress on this issue, and it’s therefore critically important that EPA hears from members of Congress letting them know they want EPA to do the right thing.
If you can help, please let me know so we can track who’s contacting whom.
Thank you.
Best, Mike Schade, CHEJ, 212 964 3680, mike@chej.org
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Lying Facebook page - why you can't believe everything you read
Now, as GE prepares the next phase of the clean-up, a new Facebook page has appeared, the Smart Clean-Up Coalition, suggesting that the best clean-up may be no clean-up.
Clean-up issues are complicated, and I don't know enough to promote the best way to deal with the River's contamination. But when it turns out that the Smart Clean-Up Coalition is actually an initiative of a coalition that took $300,000 from the General Electric Company-- and that at first, they lied about it-- well, you have to wonder, yes?
Beth Daily at the Boston Globe is covering this story.
Photo from Jahansell's photostream at Flickr.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Live bullets and beards on women - the idiots who "serve" us
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| Ohio National Guard fires on demonstrators, killing 4 - 1970 |
OK, I know there are lots of examples we could give here (and feel free to chime in), but when I first get an email about one idiocy and then see the Reminder's Mike Dobbs' Facebook status within two minutes, I just have to write about them.
A deputy attorney general of the state of Wisconsin (fired today, hallelujah!) got into a tweeting war with a Mother Jones reporter and said he thought that live ammunition should be used on the demonstrating teachers and public employees in Wisconsin. One of Mike Dobbs' friends said, "Where are we again? Libya? Bahrain?"
Maine's Governor Paul LaPage was asked if he supported his own environmental board's recommendation to begin phasing out BPA in baby bottles and children's dishes. (If you don't know what this is, click the link.) His response?
"Until I see science that tells me that BPA is a problem--and I haven't seen it--quite frankly the science that I'm looking at says there's not been any science identified that there's a problem," LePage said. "The only thing that I've heard is if you take a plastic bottle, put it in the microwave and THEN heat it up it gives off a chemical that's similar to estrogen. And, ah, so the worst case is some women might have little beards, but we don't want to do that."
Read the rest of the Maine Public Broadcasting story.
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