Greenspiration News: Hot as Hell

Wed Aug 11 10:10:43 EDT 2010

Greenspiration News

P.S. Pass this onto a friend! -a

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We're Hot as Hell and We're Not Going to Take It Any More

Bill McKibben, Truthout: "I'm a mild-mannered guy, a Methodist Sunday School teacher. Not quick to anger. So what I want to say is: this is fucked up. The time has come to get mad, and then to get busy. For many years, the lobbying fight for climate legislation on Capitol Hill has been led by a collection of the most corporate and moderate environmental groups, outfits like the Environmental Defense Fund." 

http://www.truth-out.org/were-hot-hell-and-were-not-going-take-it-any-more62010

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F-35 jets are useless without war

Of all the things Canadians want from their government, my guess is that new military fighter jets would probably rank close to last.

But new fighter jets are what we're getting. Despite the enduring popularity of peacekeeping among Canadians, the Harper government continues to ramp up war-oriented military spending, most recently with its announcement of plans to buy 65 F-35 fighter jets from Lockheed Martin.

http://www.thestar.com/article/845780--mcquaig-f-35-jets-are-useless-without-war

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Oil sands toxins growing rapidly
Volume of arsenic, lead increased 26 per cent in last four years, Environment Canada says

Canada’s oil sands mining operations produce vast and fast-growing quantities of deadly substances, including mercury, heavy metals and arsenic, new data released by Environment Canada shows.

The information on pollutants sheds new light on the environmental toll exacted by Canada’s bid to extract oil from bitumen, showing in stark relief how many nasty substances are being laid on the northern Alberta landscape in the process – and how quickly those are growing.

http://m.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/energy-and-resources/oil-sands-production-of-toxins-growing-rapidly/article1667306/?service=mobile

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Greenpeace rappels off the Calgary Tower to remind government to separate oil and state

Greenpeace drove a message home to the heart of Canada’s oil industry today, hanging a huge banner from the Calgary Tower that says “Separate Oil and State” to highlight the need to sever the cozy relationship between the toxic tar sands oil industry and the federal and provincial governments.
“While oil may run your car, it shouldn’t run your government. Canada is not a petro-state and Big Oil should not be calling the shots and governments should not be ignoring the environmental destruction of the toxic tar sands,” said Greenpeace climate and energy campaigner Melina Laboucan-Massimo, from the action. “Until both the federal and Alberta governments stand up to the oil industry, greenhouse gas emissions will continue to increase, more animals will die, more residents will be poisoned by the air they breathe and the water they drink, and more treaty rights will be violated in favour of profits in the senseless quest to squeeze every last drop of dirty oil from this province.”

http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/recent/Greenpeace-rappels-off-the-Calgary-Tower-to-remind-government-to-separate-oil-and-state/

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Thousands of industrial incidents raise serious concerns about toxic oil industry

Greenpeace Canada, Sierra Club Prairie, Keepers of the Athabasca and Global Forest Watch Canada today released two databases compiled by prominent scientist Dr. Kevin Timoney, one with more than 6,500 incidents, regarding tar sands operations that raise serious concerns about how the Alberta government allows oil companies to operate in this province.

http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/recent/Thousands-of-industrial-incidents-raise-serious-concerns-about-toxic-oil-industry/

A new database that compiles thousands of government and industry records on Alberta's oilsands shows that the industry is a constant source of low-level pollution in the area's land, air and water

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story/2010/07/30/edmonton-oilsands-pollution-database-timoney.html

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Fish feminizing in Alberta rivers

The study also revealed that females make up 85 per cent of the minnow population downstream from Fort Macleod and Lethbridge. Upstream of those communities, only 55 per cent of the population is female — a more normal sex ratio, Habibi said.

This could indicate that chemicals in the river are causing the fish to change sex, he said. "If these animals are exposed at very early stages, in fact there is evidence it could alter the sex development. The estrogenetic compound in fish could make a male fish develop into a female fish."

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story/2010/07/29/calgary-fish-rivers-sex-hormones-research.html

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Monsanto: The world's poster child for corporate manipulation and deceit

http://www.naturalnews.com/029325_Monsanto_deception.html

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Mental health experts ask: Will anyone be normal?

An updated edition of a mental health bible for doctors may include diagnoses for "disorders" such as toddler tantrums and binge eating, experts say, and could mean that soon no-one will be classed as normal. 

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE66Q4BJ20100727

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Some Pharmaceutical Clinical Trial Results Are Buried, Study Shows
Results from fully one third of the clinical trials of five classes of drugs never see the light of day, finds an analysis published inAnnals of Internal Medicine. The drugs were anticholesteremics, antidepressants, antipsychotics, proton-pump inhibitors (which reduce gastric acid), and vasodilators (which relax blood-vessel walls in order to reduce blood pressure). 
Combine that with another finding—that industry-funded trials reported positive outcomes in 85 percent of publications, compared with 50 percent for government-funded trials—and a worrisome specter emerges: industry is cherry-picking which of its clinical trials to publish, deep-sixing those that failed to show that a new drug is effective.

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/08/05/some-pharmaceutical-clinical-trial-results-are-buried-study-shows.html

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Report: Best and worst provincial moves on climate change

This report from the David Suzuki Foundation and Climate Action Network Canada outlines this year's top five provincial actions on climate change, as well as five misguided actions.

http://www.climateactionnetwork.ca/e/

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What a Legal Pot Economy Would Look Like

3 min. video
http://www.truth-out.org/what-a-legal-pot-economy-would-look-like-video61850

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The War on Drugs: What a Joke!

A collection of clips about prescription pharmaceuticals, marijuana, and the hypocrisy of the War on Drugs.

6 min. video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cefoV_A878
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Up in the air, destroying the planet

Globally, aviation (passenger, freight, military) is among the fastest growing sources of GHG emissions. On an individual level, a single flight across the country can wipe out the benefit of a person's environmental good deeds for an entire year. Air travel to exotic destinations like Bali or Bangkok (even if you are staying in an "eco" resort) does as much damage to the climate as driving an SUV for a year.

Despite the growing and worrisome contribution of aviation to global warming, there has been little attention to the issue in Canada. Internationally, neither the Kyoto Protocol nor the recent Copenhagen agreement addressed GHG emissions from international flights.

http://rabble.ca/news/2010/08/air-destroying-planet
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Why antidepressants are simply a confidence trick: A leading psychologist claims taking sugar pills would work just as well 

We spend more than £250 m a year on antidepressants in the UK - and it's a complete waste of money. 

They are not much better than sugar pills, they have nasty side - effects, such as sexual dysfunction, and they increase young people's risk of suicide.

New research shows they don't even work on the brain in the way we thought they did.

The major reason you feel better when taking an antidepressant - maybe the only reason - is the placebo effect.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1299791/Why-antidepressants-simply-confidence-trick-A-leading-psychologist-claims-taking-sugar-pills-work-just-well.html 
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Between the Bomb and the Burqa

An internal Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) document released by WikiLeaks in March reveals a secret plan to use the plight of Afghan women and refugees in developing media strategies to 'leverage French (and other European) guilt' during an especially bloody summer of military escalation. The confidential document was prepared by the Red Cell, a secretive group that consults the US intelligence community.

http://www.truth-out.org/between-bomb-and-burqa62110 
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Ocean Losing Its Green

The oceans are the lifeblood of our planet and plankton its red blood cells. Those vital "red blood cells" have declined more than 40 percent since 1950 and the rate of decline is increasing due to climate change, scientists reported this week.

Plankton are the equivalent of grass, trees and other plants that make land green, says study co-author Marlon Lewis, an oceanographer at Dalhousie. "It is frightening to realise we have lost nearly half of the ocean's green plants," Lewis told IPS.

Another related mega-change in the oceans is the dramatic increase in number and size of dead zones - areas too low in oxygen to support life. Fertiliser and sewage run-off cause huge growth of plankton, which then quickly die and are consumed by bacteria that deplete waters of oxygen. The Gulf of Mexico has a 22,000 square kilometre dead zone every spring due to run-off from the Mississippi River.

Another pressing reason to pull the emergency brake is the increasing acidification of oceans due to human emissions of CO2. Each day, the oceans absorb 30 million tonnes of CO2, gradually and inevitably increasing their acidity, which in turn reduces the amounts of calcium carbonate available to some plankton and other species that need it to form their shells and skeletons.

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=52343
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Join the 2010 Quebec Climate Action Camp!

Convergence Days, August 18-22, in Dunham, Quebec

Help us take action to stop Big Oil from polluting communities and causing climate change,  and support clean energy solutions!
Climate change is destroying the lives of millions of people through extreme weather, flooding, droughts and other disasters. We need to act swiftly to tackle its root causes and avert climate catastrophe.

Come to Dunham, Quebec – one hour south-east of Montreal – for five days of learning, movement-building and sustainable, participatory living. Take part in non-violent direct action to challenge Enbridge's Trailbreaker, a pipeline that will carry dirty oil from the Alberta tar sands through Quebec to the Eastern seaboard. We will be joining forces with the local community to prevent the construction of a proposed pumping station – a key component of the Trailbreaker's infrastructure.

The Convergence Days will include workshops on climate justice and geo-engineering, panels on Cochabamba and Indigenous rights, non-violent direct action and climbing training, art-making, a media centre, bird-watching, film screenings, sports, live music and parties, and more! 

Website: http://www.uncampement.net/en
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=142695765741815&ref=ts
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Ecuador Will Receive $3.6 Billion to Not Drill for Oil

While many countries throughout the world are seeking to boost their economies by pumping the oil within their borders, Ecuador is now set to receive $3.6 billion for leaving it in the ground. In a UN agreement that's the first of its kind, the country has committed to not drill in its Yasuni National Park -- one of the most biologically-diverse corners of the Amazon rainforest -- in exchange for a payment from wealthier nations. "The trust fund that we have just established is historic, not only for Ecuador but for the entire world," says one UN official.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/08/ecuador-wil-receive-billions-to-not-drill-for-oil.php?campaign=daily_nl
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