Greenwashing

Monsanto’s thumb on academic publishing

Independent Science News reports on how Monsanto is influencing peer-reviewed scientific journals:
by Claire Robinson and Jonathan Latham, PhD
Richard Smith, former editor of the British Medical Journal, has jested that instead of scientific peer review, its rival The Lancet had a system of throwing a pile of papers down the stairs and publishing those that reached [...]

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Recent Posts

EPA mentions bees in insecticide approval

Common Dreams posts:
Ignoring Bee Crisis, EPA Greenlights New ‘Highly Toxic’ Pesticide
Green group: ‘The EPA continues to put industry interests first to exacerbate an already dire pollinator crisis.’
- Lauren McCauley, staff writer
Despite new findings that prove a heightened crisis in US bee populations and a recent ban in Europe on similar chemical applications, the Environmental Protection [...]

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Copper industry re-writes NM pollution rules

By Laura Paskus for the Santa Fe Reporter
Close your eyes, and picture a radical.
Bill Olson is not that guy. With a neat brown beard and a fondness for western shirts and jackets, even the occasional bolo tie, he’s the quintessential water nerd. When asked, over coffee and a blueberry scone, to talk about groundwater, he [...]

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Follow the money in energy reporting

Union of Concerned Scientists
By Elliot Negin
[Editor's note: Elliott Negin, director of news and commentary at the Union of Concerned Scientists, shows how the U.S. news media routinely fail to inform the public about the fossil fuel industry funders behind climate change contrarian think tanks. Negin provides recommendations for how journalists can better serve the public [...]

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Asian workers need union protection

By Elizabeth Grossman, reporting from Bangkok, Thailand
As bodies of workers continued to be pulled from the wreckage of the collapsed Rana Plaza factory complex outside Dhaka, Bangladesh, pushing the death toll past 900, and news was breaking of at least seven deaths in a garment factory fire in Bangladesh on May 9, labor rights advocates [...]

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OMB: EPA regulations SAVE money

Living on Earth explores the cost of not regulating pollution”
Critics argue that EPA regulation is costly to business and the US economy. But a new report from OMB shows that the financial benefits of environmental regulation outweigh the costs ten-fold. Harvard Professor Joe Aldy talks with host Steve Curwood about benefits of EPA rules
Transcript
CURWOOD: From [...]

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Europe protects food as US doesn’t

Mother Jones reports:
Last week, the European Commission voted to place a two-year moratorium in most uses of neonicotinoid pesticides, on the suspicion that they’re contributing to the global crisis in honeybee health (a topic I’ve touched on here, here, here, and here). Since then, several people have asked me whether the Europe’s move might inspire [...]

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First Ag-Gag prosecution filed — and dropped

The case was dropped, as reported in the Salt Lake Tribune:
One day after the case made headlines, Draper prosecutors have dismissed a misdemeanor against an animal-welfare activist who filmed a Utah slaughterhouse.
Prosecutors on Tuesday dropped the case against Amy Meyer, who had faced a class B misdemeanor for agricultural-operation interference. Prosecutors filed the charge in [...]

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Ag-Gag laws protecting the corporate

Susie Cagle writes for Grist:
There’s a Paul McCartney quote popular with veg-heads: “If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian.” It may not be quite as simple as all that, but he’s definitely got a point.
For a little over 10 years, groups such as Mercy for Animals, the Humane Society of the United [...]

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East Coast fights over seismic testing

By CURTIS MORGAN of the Miami Herald,
cmorgan@MiamiHerald.com

Hunting for oil and gas deposits off the Atlantic coast with gear that produces underwater sound blasts 100,000 times stronger than a jet engine could harm or kill tens of thousands of whales and dolphins, an environmental group contends in a new report.
The devices, called seismic air guns, are [...]

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Resisting the Monstanto Protection Act

Ag Industry Caught in Legislative Embarrassment: Not the Way A Democracy Should Work
Posted: 14 Apr 2013 09:00 AM PDT By Susan Schneider of the University of Arkansas School of Law:
In late March, Congress was finally able to agree on budget legislation that would avoid a government shut down and provide funding for 6 months. The [...]

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Alternative energy sources erode PG&E’s grip

By Robert Rogers
Contra Costa Times
Posted:   04/04/2013 12:33:40 AM PDT
Updated:   04/04/2013 03:38:41 PM PDT

Related

Document: PG&E Letter to the Public Utilities Commission

RICHMOND — With clean energy upstarts cutting into its vast market share, electrical utility Pacific Gas & Electric filed a letter this week with the state Public Utilities Commission retaining the right [...]

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Hinkley struggles on

The California Report updates Erin Brockovich’s Hinkley:
Nearly 20 years ago, Pacific Gas & Electric paid hundreds of millions of dollars to settle legal claims that it had poisoned the Mojave Desert community of Hinkley by dumping industrial waste into the ground. But that David and Goliath triumph — portrayed in the movie “Erin Brockovich” — [...]

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Monsanto runs around government

A farmer fills his planters with seed corn using a leading Monsanto brand. (Credit: AP/Seth Perlman)

Salon’s Lina Khan analyzes how Monsanto outfoxed the Obama administration:

Last November, the U.S. Department of Justice quietly closed a three-year antitrust investigation into Monsanto, the biotech giant whose genetic traits are embedded in over 90 percent of America’s soybean crop [...]

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Big Ag seeks laws to hide behind

Temple Grandin has advocated for years that all animal business operations put 24-hour cameras on their sites, for all to see. That’s such a great idea, providing protection for the animals and transparency for the public. Too bad the industry is heading in the other direction.
Mother Jones reports on ag-gag bills:
What’s it like inside a [...]

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Shiva on Monsanto v. Bowman

On Democracy Now:
AMY GOODMAN: We continue our conversation on this International Women’s Day with world-renowned feminist, activist, thinker from India, Dr. Vandana Shiva. India witnessed nationwide protests earlier this year following the brutal gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old student in Delhi in December. The rape brought attention to other instances of sexual violence [...]

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Nuclear waste storage

The San Luis Obispo Tribune editorialized about the issue of nuclear waste storage this week. Over 2,000 tons is stored in the county, on the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant site:
The seismic safety of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant continues to be a focus of concern, and rightfully so. We need only look at [...]

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Revolving government-industry door

Greenwire reports:

A California senator’s decision to quit and jump to Chevron Corp. has sparked questions about whether he should have negotiated for that job while in a position to help the company politically.
Former Sen. Michael Rubio (D) resigned Friday to work as manager of California governmental affairs for Chevron (E&ENews PM, Feb. 22). He had [...]

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Alternative view of Super Bowl Farmer ad

Eric Holt-Giménez, executive director of Food First, takes it apart:
The spoofs on the “God Made a Farmer” Super Bowl commercial are starting to go viral. Their takes on Dodge RAM’s two-minute homily suggest the automaker may have irked as many people as it pleased: God made a (factory) farmer, God made a (woman) farmer, God [...]

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Well water on fire after fracking

 BRETT SHIPP reports for WFAA:
Posted on February 13, 2013 at 10:00 PM

Related:

CDC scientist: tests needed on gas drilling impact
EPA implicates fracking in pollution, Texas commission says no link
EPA to regulate disposal of fracking wastewater
More methane found in Parker County water
EPA, North Texas driller headed for face-off
EPA acts after water contaminated by drilling
Texas acts [...]

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