Greenspirational News: pirates, renewables, tv
Angela Bischoff
greenspi at web.ca
Sat Apr 18 20:17:25 EDT 2009
Greenspirational News
"The root of the problem is that our ecological overshoot is changing
much faster than our thinking about it. By various measures, we are
in overshoot, meaning we are already consuming more resources than
the Earth can sustain by any reasonable measure. The further we
progress into overshoot, the more divorced our "solutions" to the
ecological crisis become. Ever since the 1970s, we have been
advocating for "alternative energy" and more efficiency. Let us
extrapolate this trend into the future. Suppose current strends
continue (which is likely), and the consumer society goes through
various economic convulsions, but remains essentially intact.
Meanwhile, starvation across the world continues to grow. Are we
going to continue to advocate plug-in hybrid cars and other expensive
technologies as the "solution" to the environmental crisis when two
billion people are severely malnourished? When there are three
billion? Four? At what point do we recognize that expensive
technologies meant to maintain a "sustainable" consumer society among
the world's wealthiest people are utterly divorced from any
reasonable moral coherence?"
- Silent Armageddon? by Alexis Zeigler, March/April 2009 Issue of the
Watershed Sentinel
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An Inconvenient Truth
Former Vice President Al Gore's crusade to halt global warming's
deadly progress in its tracks by exposing the myths and
misconceptions that surround it. more
Sunday April 19 at 10 pm ET/PT on CBC Newsworld
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Write a letter to the editor
of any or all newspapers in Canada. Find them all here. It’s as easy
as 1-2-3. Get writing – I know you have lots to write about!
You're most likely to get published if your letter is under 100 words.
http://www.canadians.org/wordwarriors/letter.html
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KYOTOplus
A Canadian public engagement campaign to support an urgent solution
to the global warming crisis.
Welcome to the KYOTOplus gateway for strong government action against
global warming.
Your help has never been more important. Governments have been warned
about the potentially catastrophic consequences if climate change is
ignored. But Canada's government is still not listening. Instead, it
is trying to block international action and delay implementing
effective policy solutions at home.
JOIN the thousands of concerned Canadians already united under the
KYOTOplus banner to end the federal political games which threaten
the future of Canadians and the planet.
With your help, KYOTOplus will ensure Canada:
Votes in favour of extending and strengthening the Kyoto Protocol
this December, 2009, at a special United Nations meeting in
Copenhagen, Denmark;
Replaces its current inadequate policy approach with a credible,
urgent plan that brings down Canada's greenhouse gas pollution fast.
http://www.kyotoplus.ca/
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The madness of Big Pharma
David Healy - The new enfant terrible of psychiatry and the
pharmaceutical companies' abuse of clinical trials
A book review
MANIA ends with a series of pessimistic pronouncements. In studies of
psychotropic drugs, “the publicly available data are close to
worthless”. We do know, however, that “the quality of life of
patients in whom treatment is deferred or not instituted is better
than those treated immediately”; and that, “uniquely among major
illnesses in the Western world, the life expectancy for patients with
serious mental illness has declined”. Big Pharma “increasingly
appears to jeopardize the health and well-being of our friends,
relatives, and children” in its manic pursuit of profit (a phenomenon
that afflicts – as Healy rightly notes – all of medicine, not just
the benighted psychiatric borderlands). And it observes no ethical
limits, ruthlessly extending its grasp to include the youngest and
most vulnerable, even though “giving major tranquilizers to children
is little different from giving children cancer chemotherapy when
they have a cold”. David Healy is indeed an enfant terrible – and a
very brave man. Either way, he can expect a lot of hate mail. I doubt
he is on Eli Lilly’s or Pfizer’s Christmas card list.
David Healy
MANIA
A short history of bipolar disorder
320pp. Johns Hopkins University Press. $24.95; distributed in the UK
by Wiley. £16.50.
978 0 8018 8822 9
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/
the_tls/article6013955.ece
---
Bipolar disorder and its biomythology: An interview with David Healy
Biomythology links to biobabble, a term I coined in 1999 to
correspond to the widely-used expression psychobabble. Biobabble
refers to things like the supposed lowering of serotonin levels and
the chemical imbalance that are said to lie at the heart of mood
disorders, ADHD, and anxiety disorders.
In the case of bipolar disorder the biomyths center on ideas of mood
stabilization. But there is no evidence that the drugs stabilize
moods. In fact, it is not even clear that it makes sense to talk
about a mood center in the brain.
And are the antipsychotics in fact safer than antidepressants?
No, they are not. The antipsychotics are as dangerous as the
antidepressants. Before the introduction of the antipsychotics, the
rates of suicide in schizophrenia were extremely low—they were hard
to differentiate from the rest of the population. Since the
introduction of the antipsychotics the rates of suicide have risen
10- or 20-fold.
http://blogs.psychologytoday.com/blog/side-effects/200904/bipolar-
disorder-and-its-biomythology-interview-david-healy
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The Battle of Chernobyl
A superb 90 min. 2007 documentary on the Chernobyl disaster.
Watch it free on you-tube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=t4vMTdSAm1w&feature=PlayList&p=6BB4C9CA0705E0D5&index=0&playnext=1
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Attention shoppers: beware of false eco-claims
More consumer products are claiming to be environmentally
responsible, but nearly all of them make at least one claim that is
unverifiable, according to a study released Wednesday.
http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2009/04/15/greenwashing.html
Report:
http://sinsofgreenwashing.org/findings/greenwashing-report-2009/
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You are being lied to about pirates
Some are clearly just gangsters. But others are trying to stop
illegal dumping and trawling <snip>
In 1991, the government of Somalia collapsed. Its nine million people
have been teetering on starvation ever since – and the ugliest forces
in the Western world have seen this as a great opportunity to steal
the country's food supply and dump our nuclear waste in their seas.
Yes: nuclear waste. As soon as the government was gone, mysterious
European ships started appearing off the coast of Somalia, dumping
vast barrels into the ocean. The coastal population began to sicken.
At first they suffered strange rashes, nausea and malformed babies.
Then, after the 2005 tsunami, hundreds of the dumped and leaking
barrels washed up on shore. People began to suffer from radiation
sickness, and more than 300 died.
Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, the UN envoy to Somalia, tells me: "Somebody
is dumping nuclear material here. There is also lead, and heavy
metals such as cadmium and mercury – you name it." Much of it can be
traced back to European hospitals and factories, who seem to be
passing it on to the Italian mafia to "dispose" of cheaply.
Full article:
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-
hari-you-are-being-lied-to-about-pirates-1225817.html
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Check out the Toronto Urban Repair Squad's latest escapade
The Easter Present - captured on video
http://urbanrepairs.blogspot.com/2009/04/easter-present.html
The installation lasted the weekend. Greenspiration applauds the
Urban Repair Squad.
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New nuclear: higher cost and higher risk than hydro imports
Potential Benefits of Increased Ontario-Quebec Electricity Trade
Exceed $1 Billion per Year
Increased electricity trade between Ontario and Quebec could provide
the two provinces with economic benefits in excess of $1 billion per
year according to a new report, The Power of Mutual Benefit, released
by the Ontario Clean Air Alliance (OCAA) today.
The benefits for Ontario include:
· Hydro-electricity imports can meet spikes in electricity
demand that occur on hot summer days at a much lower cost than
building three new inefficient gas-fired peaker plants in northern
York Region, Kitchener-Waterloo and the southern GTA, as proposed by
the Ontario Power Authority.
· Integration of Ontario’s wind generation with Quebec’s hydro-
electric facilities can result in an uninterrupted 24/7 renewable
electricity supply for Ontario consumers.
· Hydro-electric imports can supply base-load electricity to
Ontario at a substantially lower cost than new nuclear reactors.
For Quebec, long-term electricity contracts can provide it with a
guaranteed revenue stream to help fund its schools, universities and
hospitals at a time when electricity demand from industries like
forestry and aluminum manufacturing is dropping.
Despite the fact that Premiers McGuinty and Charest signed a
Memorandum of Understanding on Energy in June 2008 that called for
increased inter-provincial electricity trade, the provinces do not
appear to be any closer to signing a long-term electricity supply
contract.
Meanwhile, the Government of Ontario is planning to sign a contract
within the next 67 days for the construction of two new nuclear
reactors at the Darlington Nuclear Station, east of Oshawa. Based on
the cost estimates of Moody’s Investors Service, these new reactors
could cost $26 billion.
“It is puzzling why the McGuinty government with its commitment to
green energy would put building new nuclear plants ahead of a ready-
made green solution –lower cost hydro imports from Quebec,” said
Jack Gibbons, Chair of the OCAA.
The Power of Mutual Benefit can be downloaded from
www.cleanairalliance.org.
---
Sign our petition: http://www.ontariosgreenfuture.ca/petition.php.
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NATO 60th ANNIVERSARY: TIME TO DISBAND NATO - PETITION
NATO, must be Disbanded for Contributing to the Scourge of War, and
For Defying Peremptory Norms
While, on April 4, 2009, the NATO state leaders are poised to
celebrate the 60th Anniversary Conference of NATO in Strasbourg and
Baden Baden, the majority of states of the United Nations would
probably be more inclined to celebrate the demise of NATO.
NATO is a provocative, dangerous institution which has perpetuated
the scourge of war, and conflict through both its existence and its
expansion. The NATO states collectively spend approximately 70% of
the current 1.473 trillion global military budget.
World Military Spending: http://www.globalissues.org/article/75/world-
military-spending
Read more and sign the petition here:
http://www.petitiononline.com/z9m2x3nb/petition.html
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Mother's Act Promotes Pregnancy as New Cottage Industry
by Evelyn Pringle
Women of childbearing years represent the most lucrative market for
the makers of psychiatric drugs. The knowledge that infants were
being born with birth defects and suffering a withdrawal syndrome
when these drugs were used during pregnancy was hidden for decades.
Knowledge of these terrible risks would have caused a major drop in
sales to this customer base.
Ever since the warnings about birth defects started trickling out a
few years ago, the drug companies apparently have been plotting to
find ways to reverse their negative impact. But the most sinister
plot ever developed is a bill moving for approval in the US Senate
right now called the "Melanie Blocker-Stokes Mother's Act," to set up
the screening of all pregnant women for mental illness.
http://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/features/melanie-blocker-stokes-
mother-act-birth-defects.html
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Cathy’s Crawly Composters is an environmentally driven worm
composting business. Worms are going to play an ever-increasing role
in waste management and soil production. We supply red wiggler worms,
worm composting bins, castings, books and accessories. We also
conduct inspirational workshops and worm birthday parties. We offer
on-site solutions to manage organic matter. Worms convert food scraps
and paper into nature’s finest fertilizer. Our goal is to raise
awareness about the environment and encourage sustainable practices.
Without awareness, action is impossible.
Cathy Nesbitt
www.cathyscomposters.com
1-888-775-9495
http://www.cathyscomposters.com/events.html
Learn to love a worm. They are angels of the earth.
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Nuclear energy is not the answer
Renewables are do-able – we want ‘em now!
Nuclear energy is no solution
Renewables are do-able – we want ‘em now!
Nuclear pollution is no solution
Renewables are do-able – we want ‘em now!
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