The Largest Minority

July 15th, 2008 by Manila Ryce

We have an unhealthy addiction to oil which will eventually kill us if we don’t quit now. So what should we do? Obviously, drill for more in the hopes that our dependence will become more affordable. It’s like when you go to a treatment center for your meth addiction and they teach you how to make the stuff cheaper at home. What? Making a problem worse doesn’t solve the problem? Ah shit, then can we try the last 8 years over again?

President Bush lifted an executive order banning offshore oil drilling on Monday and urged Congress to follow suit.

Citing the high prices Americans are paying at the pump, Bush said from the White House Rose Garden that allowing offshore oil drilling is “one of the most important steps we can take” to reduce that burden.

However, the move is largely symbolic as there is also a federal law banning offshore drilling.

“This means that the only thing standing between the American people and these vast oil reserves is action from the U.S. Congress,” Bush said.

Bush has been pushing Congress to repeal the law passed in 1981.

“There is no excuse for delay,” the president said in a Rose Garden statement last month.

“In the short run, the American economy will continue to rely largely on oil, and that means we need to increase supply here at home,” Bush said, adding that there is no more pressing issue for many Americans than gas prices.

read more…

July 11th, 2008 by Manila Ryce

I think the end of the URL at the source says it all: “funny=not”.

The American leader, who has been condemned throughout his presidency for failing to tackle climate change, ended a private meeting with the words: “Goodbye from the world’s biggest polluter.”

He then punched the air while grinning widely, as the rest of those present including Gordon Brown and Nicolas Sarkozy looked on in shock.

Mr Bush, whose second and final term as President ends at the end of the year, then left the meeting at the Windsor Hotel in Hokkaido where the leaders of the world’s richest nations had been discussing new targets to cut carbon emissions.

One official who witnessed the extraordinary scene said afterwards: “Everyone was very surprised that he was making a joke about America’s record on pollution.”

read more…

July 8th, 2008 by Manila Ryce

Both Bush and sewage plants are full of shit, but comparing something as disgusting as the President of the United States to something useful like a wastewater treatment plant may be a bit too much.

A California group submitted a proposal Monday to rename a sewage treatment plant after President Bush, calling the initiative a fitting tribute to the outgoing chief executive and the “mess” he’ll leave behind.

The Presidential Memorial Commission of San Francisco wants to switch the name of the Oceanside Water Pollution Control Plant to the George W. Bush Sewage Plant.

Supporters hoping to put the issue on the November ballot turned in more than 10,000 signatures to San Francisco election officials, organizer Brian McConnell said. The measure needs just over 7,000 valid names to qualify and McConnell expects to find out later this month whether they made it.

Proponents of the renaming plan see it as fitting tribute to a president they contend has plumbed the depths of incompetence.

“We think that it’s important to remember our leaders in the right historical context,” said McConnell, a member of the group that was formed after friends came up with the renaming idea.

“In President Bush’s case, we think that we will be cleaning up a substantial mess for the next 10 or 20 years,” he said. “The sewage treatment facility’s job is to clean up a mess, so we think it’s a fitting tribute.”

read more…

July 2nd, 2008 by John Geraghty

The South Central farm is a great model to look back on when we talk about self sufficiency in an urban climate, the creation of community democracy, and the race to save the environment. However, there are always forces to overcome when we dare to take steps towards true independence.

Being an Irishman, the creation of a community farm in the heart of South Central L.A. was not a scheme that I was previously aware of, but something that I can definitely digg. The farmland was unfortunately demolished to make way for a Wal-Mart warehouse. Yes, as if we needed more of those in the world…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sH7wA5Olo18

June 24th, 2008 by D.C.

It is difficult to face the rising cost of oil prices these days, but is it really worth it to tap into oil supplies that would destroy a protected wildlife reserve? I think the preservation of the environment should be foremost in the minds of the United States government. They protected these areas for so long, and to give it up now seems to be a slap in the face to people that lobbied to have them saved in the first place.

 Besides, the oil that would be produced from this new oil source would not become available right away and would take years for the effects of the newly introduced oil to take effect. This oil crisis is making sane people act irrationally. We do not need to lose sight of the important things. It makes no sense to fix a problem in the present, but only to create a bigger problem in the future.

June 12th, 2008 by Allison Kilkenny

Despite being one of the most grotesquely overfed populations in recent memory, Americans remain preoccupied only with the quantity, and not the quality of their food. They don’t mind if scientists inject their French fries with High-Fructose Corn Syrup as long as McDonald’s Super-sizes their order for a nickel.

Yet, the attitude toward Vegetarianism is changing in the United States. While it’s difficult to quantify how many vegetarians live within the borders, it’s easier to observe the attitude towards vegetarians. Twenty years ago, “What’re you, a Commie?” was a more typical response to a confession of Veggie brotherhood. Nowadays, despite the occasional stink eye, meat-eaters at least understand that Vegetarianism is healthy, if not a lifestyle particularly suited for them.

Even though the U.S. is more Veggie-friendly these days, it’s still difficult to avoid crappy food even if one chooses to become a vegan (vegetarian, minus the dairy) as I did six years ago. Despite my decision, I found myself projectile vomiting into my toilet last week. Diagnosis: food-poisoning. Suspect: tomatoes. Unfortunately, becoming a vegetarian or a vegan doesn’t ensure healthiness. Sure, vegetarians enjoy many health perks (low rates of: heart disease, obesity, diabetes, cancer, etc.,) but we’re still at the mercy of the meat industry in many ways.

For starters, the meat industry poisons the environment. A 2006 United Nations report described the devastation caused by the meat industry as “one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global.” Aside from global warming, meat production is a large factor in overexploited natural resources, deforestation, wasted land, and air and water contamination.

Read the rest of this entry »

May 29th, 2008 by Manila Ryce

Scientists have finally confirmed what I’ve been saying for years - “stay out of the sun whitey”. An estimated 4,000 to 6,000 tons of sunscreen are released annually into reef areas. Even small doses of sunscreen can completely bleach corals within 96 hours of exposure and increase virus levels in surrounding seawater by 15 times normal levels.

Sunscreen lotions used by beach-going tourists worldwide are a major cause of coral bleaching, according to a new study commissioned by the European Commission.

In experiments, the cream-based ultra-violet (UV) filters — used to protect skin from the harmful effects of sun exposure — caused bleaching of coral reefs even in small quantities, the study found.

Coral reefs are among the most biologically productive and diverse of ecosystems, and directly sustain half a billion people. But some 60 percent of these reef systems are threatened by a deadly combination of climate change, industrial pollution and excess UV radiation.

The new study, published in U.S. journal Environmental Health Perspectives, has now added sun screens to the list of damaging agents, and estimates that up to 10 percent of the world’s reefs are at risk of sunscreen-induced coral bleaching.

read more…

May 15th, 2008 by Manila Ryce

This completely unreported bit of information on the recent polar bear classification is provided to us by Greenpeace Global Warming Campaigner Melanie Duchin. For more, read Polar Bear Listing Falls Short of Protection.

It’s taken several years, lawsuits, and thousands of letters from you, but the Bush Administration finally listed the polar bear under the Endangered Species Act today. I’d love to tell you that that’s great news, but there’s a BIG catch. The Administration listed the polar bear as threatened instead of endangered, and invoked a clause (known as a “4(d) exemption”) that excludes global warming from the list of threats the federal government has to consider when trying to protect polar bear habitat.

Global warming is the biggest threat facing polar bears today, and this little clause eliminates any protection the listing should have given to the polar bear. In fact, global warming is the very reason we sued the Administration for protection of the polar bear in the first place.

So who’s really being protected here? Polar bears or the oil industry?

The listing specifically says that federal agencies don’t need to consider the impact of global warming pollution on the polar bear. But there’s more: the listing also proposes a separate regulation that reduces the protections the polar bear would otherwise receive under the Endangered Species Act.

Meanwhile, in the months leading up to this weak decision, the Administration conveniently sold oil leases in prime polar bear habitat off Alaska’s northwest coast.

Are you starting to get the picture here? Well, if your temperature is rising like mine is, there are a couple of things I’d like you to do about it:

• First, join our new Rapid Response Network. Here’s how it works: we will send you a pop up notice about breaking news stories like this, as well as an easy way to click to promote the article to the Most Popular list of sites like CNN, Reuters, Yahoo News and a dozen other online media outlets. If you have just 5 minutes to spare each week, you have time to be a Rapid Responder!
• Next, please consider a donation today to help us fight for polar bears and ramp up our campaigns to stop global warming. We’re not going to stand by and let the Administration get away with this, and I hope you won’t either.

Despite the loopholes the Bush Administration has inserted, it is crystal clear that without your tremendous support, they would have continued to ignore the polar bear until it disappeared altogether. I thank you for your determination and continued support.

For the future of polar bear,
Melanie Duchin