What are they thinking?

Development Threatens to Destroy Tuscany

Here, in one of the last Tuscan valleys to have remained entirely unspoilt since medieval times, the local comune has received an application to build a “well-being centre” 500 metres from a national monument, the Castello di Potentino, along with other residential structures, [...]

Read more »

Recent Posts

Much Oil Remains in Gulf, Researchers Estimate – WSJ.com

Researchers at the University of Georgia said Monday that more than three-quarters of the oil spilled in the Gulf of Mexico following the Deepwater Horizon drilling-rig explosion could still be in the Gulf threatening fisheries and marine life, disputing government statements that much of the oil had been safely dispersed.
The federal National Incident Command, which [...]

Read more »

Study: Gulf oil spill still a threat to seafood safety

The Gulf of Mexico oil spill still poses threats to human health and seafood safety, according to a study published Monday by the peer-reviewed Journal of the American Medical Association.
Federal officials disputed the new report and said ongoing testing is aggressive and sufficient to protect public health.
In the short term, study co-author Gina Solomon voiced [...]

Read more »

Old-style coal plants expanding – San Jose Mercury News

Utilities across the country are building dozens of old-style coal plants that will cement the industry’s standing as the largest industrial source of climate-changing gases for years to come.
The construction wave stretches from Arizona to Illinois and South Carolina to Washington, and comes despite growing public wariness over the high environmental and [...]

Read more »

Dog boiled alive after jumping into mint farm discharge

A yellow labrador was boiled alive after jumping into a ditch with scalding-hot water from an illegal water discharge.
The dog’s owner sustained third-degree burns on his lower leg when he tried to save the dog. The mint farm responsible faces fines, but continued its deadly discharge Friday — nearly a week later — with the [...]

Read more »

Polluters manipulate law for profits

It’s time to stand up and say, “this is not okay!”
SACRAMENTO, Calif. The Texas-based oil companies that are the primary backers of a November ballot effort to suspend California’s global warming law are among the state’s biggest polluters, according to a report issued Tuesday by two groups advocating for inner-city residents.
Valero Energy Corp. and Tesoro [...]

Read more »

Minerals Service Had a Mandate to Produce Results

It’s time to put the focus on health and safety instead of just profits:
“The Minerals Management Service has been ridiculed as a pawn of the oil industry it was meant to oversee, and the Gulf Coast office has drawn particular scorn.
The causes of the spill remain unclear, but a number of the agency’s [...]

Read more »

Avoiding ‘pink slime’ in ground beef

Thanks to Lynn Dirk for sharing yet another reason to veer away from meat:
“Pink slime” is the nickname earned by a formerly inedible byproduct of the beef industry. Once used in pet food, it’s now a cheap additive in ground beef.
via Ask Umbra on avoiding ‘pink slime’ in ground beef and flushing kitty litter | [...]

Read more »

Bill McKibben, A Wilted Senate on a Heating Planet

We’re Hot as Hell and We’re Not Going to Take It Any More
Three Steps to Establish a Politics of Global Warming
By Bill McKibben
Try to fit these facts together:
* According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the planet has just come through the warmest decade, the warmest 12 months, the warmest six months, and the [...]

Read more »

Plan to attend EPA meeting!

EPA’s Public Hearing on proposed Koppers Superfund Cleanup Plan

THURSDAY, AUGUST 5TH, RALLY AT 5:00, HEARING AT 6:00

Stephen Foster Elementary School, 3800 NW 6th Street, (corner of NW 39th Ave.)

Your presence is needed on the proposed cleanup plan for the Koppers Superfund site at 200 NW 23rd Ave, across from Ward’s Supermarket.  Human and environmental [...]

Read more »

US inaction on climate troubles global talks

The failure of a climate bill in the U.S. Senate is likely to weigh heavily on international negotiations that begin Monday on a new agreement to control global warming.
The withdrawal of the bill to cap U.S. emissions of carbon dioxide, the most prominent gas blamed for global warming, “plays into the same old [...]

Read more »

E.P.A. Weighs Risks of Hydraulic Fracturing for Natural Gas – NYTimes.com

CANONSBURG, Pa. — The streams of people came to the public meeting here armed with stories of yellowed and foul-smelling well water, deformed livestock, poisoned fish and itchy skin. The culprit, these people argued, was hydraulic fracturing, a method of extracting natural gas that involves blasting underground rock with a cocktail of water, [...]

Read more »

Paying the Price of Coexistence with Big Oil – CBS News

If you live on the Gulf Coast, welcome to the real world of oil — and just know that you’re not alone. In the Niger Delta and the Ecuadorian Amazon, among other places, your emerging hell has been the living hell of local populations for decades.
via Paying the Price of Coexistence with Big Oil [...]

Read more »

Against backdrop of gulf spill, other nations move forward with deep-water drilling

Lessons not learned…
“The strategy of continuing to exploit the economic opportunities of deep-water wells even as the hazards they represent becomes clearer is being pursued the world over.”
via Against backdrop of gulf spill, other nations move forward with deep-water drilling.

Read more »

Dangers in the dust: Inside the global asbestos trade

Banned or restricted in more than 50 countries, white asbestos continues to be widely used in China, India, Russia and Brazil, and many developing countries.
via BBC News – Dangers in the dust: Inside the global asbestos trade.

Read more »

Waka Waka Haiti

This is what American capitalism is doing to the world. Looks like fun,  but please read between the lines. Thanks, Ewen and Nancy for sending this along:

Waka Waka Dance – Haiti from Jonathan Wooley/RTC Pictures on Vimeo.

Read more »

Oil spills blight Nigeria’s creeks

The waters around the Niger Delta swamps of Bodo are covered in a thick film of oil that has left the once lush mangroves looking like burnt twigs covered in grease. The air reeks of crude.
“I struggle everyday,” said fisherman Gaagaa Giadom, 60, paddling his blackened canoe through the meandering oil-coated creeks.
via Oil spills blight [...]

Read more »

Oil Companies Reap Billions From Subsidies – NYTimes.com

When the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform set off the worst oil spill at sea in American history, it was flying the flag of the Marshall Islands. Registering there allowed the rig’s owner to significantly reduce its American taxes….the company used a tax break for the oil industry to write off 70 percent of the [...]

Read more »

Drill Alaska!

How much better can things get? Maybe we can add more oil to our oceans…
“ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The Interior Department is offering oil and gas leases on 1.8 million acres of Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve while promising to protect critical migratory bird and caribou habitat.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/09/obama-to-open-up-18-milli_n_641559.html

Read more »