The San Jose Mercury News editorial:
President — finally — stands up to GOP, Big Oil
President Barack Obama finally seems to be standing his ground in the philosophical fight with Republicans over the direction of the country.
The decision to not approve the Keystone oil pipeline was the right one. Obama clearly signaled to Republicans, Big Oil [...]
Willie Nelson appeals to everyone who eats to support small farmers and save the food system:
Thanks to the Occupy Wall Street movement, there’s a deeper understanding about the power that corporations wield over the great majority of us. It’s not just in the financial sector, but in all facets of our lives. The disparity between [...]
Joel Achenbach proposes thinking about Spaceship Earth in other ways:
Spaceship Earth enters 2012 belching smoke, overheating and burning through fuel at a frightening rate. It’s feeling pretty crowded, and the crew is mutinous. No one’s at the helm.Sure, it’s an antiquated metaphor. It’s also an increasingly apt way to discuss a planet with 7 billion people, [...]
Bill Moyers exerts his charm on the interviewer.
Bill Moyers believes that capitalism is out of control and there can be no people’s democracy as long as corporations are considered people.
Bob Cuddy reports in the SLO Tribune:
After a four-hour hearing that capped months of debate, the county’s little-known waste management board voted Wednesday evening to ban plastic shopping bags at most stores in San Luis Obispo County.
Unless blocked by litigation, which has already been threatened, or a referendum, retailers will not be permitted to distribute [...]
Health advocacy groups have worked for decades to get the Environmental Protection Agency to require coal and oil-burning power plants to restrict emissions of mercury, dioxin, lead, arsenic and other toxic pollutants that can cause cancer, heart and developmental diseases, asthma and premature deaths. Though more than a dozen states have adopted such rules on [...]
THE ISSUE:New EPA regulations for mercury emissions have been imposed at last.THE STAKES:Cleaner air, cleaner water and economic opportunity.The last days of 2011 offer those concerned about the air we breathe and the waterways we enjoy all the more reason to celebrate. They might party like it’s, oh, 1990.That’s when the landmark legislation known as [...]
Kim Bartlett, publisher of Animal People, writes:
We all long for a day in which human beings see themselves not as lords and masters of the earth but as good stewards of creation. To get there, the way of thinking about animals as things to be used and abused must be replaced with a model reflecting [...]
Without any last-minute meddling by the White House, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last week published a long-awaited final rule strictly limiting how much mercury, arsenic, hydrochloric acid and other deadly toxins coal-fired and oil-fired power plants can spew into the air.The rule will save America billions more dollars in health care costs than industry [...]
I think it’s fair to say that most of the Washington, D.C., politicians attacking clean-air safeguards don’t have the same view out their front windows as the families in my small community of 300 people.
We look out on four polluting smokestacks, a small mountain of coal ash and seeping wastewater ponds. All are part of [...]
It turns out that the Fed provided an astonishing sum to keep banks afloat — $7.8 trillion, equivalent to more than $25,000 per American.The Fed did everything imaginable to avert a financial catastrophe — and succeeded. The money was repaid.Yet what is scandalous is the basic unfairness of what has transpired. The federal government rescued [...]
As of Friday, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives had voted 168 times this year to undercut clean air and water laws while blocking efforts to limit global warming, protect public lands and guard against future oil spills…
The Republicans, predictably, claim that regulations cost jobs and that all they are trying to do is help the [...]
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS — Amazon.com, the books-to-diapers-to-machetes Internet superstore, is a perfect snapshot of the American Dream, circa 2011.
It grows by the hour, fueled by a relentless optimism that has made America America. First it sold books. Then it realized that buying printed words in bulk, sorting and shipping them was a transferable skill. It has [...]
Single-use plastic bags such as those found at most grocery stores will be prohibited at stores countywide, and retailers will begin charging at least 10 cents for paper bags next year, if the San Luis Obispo County waste board approves the plan in November.
The county’s Integrated Waste Management Authority’s board of [...]
The solar-panel manufacturer Solyndra went bankrupt this week despite having received a $535 million federal loan. An embarrassment for President Obama? No, a testament to America’s incoherent energy policy.
Solyndra is one of four major solar companies to close its doors this year. They leave China’s solar industry, reported the New York Times on Friday “with [...]
One reason I supported President Obama is because he said we must protect clean air, water and lands. But what good is it to say the right thing unless you act on it?Since early August, three administration decisions — on Arctic drilling, the Keystone XL pipeline and the ozone that causes smog — have all [...]
Andrew Christie, director of the Santa Lucia Chapter of the Sierra Club in San Luis Obispo, California, writes in The Tribune:
On Aug. 5, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on the number of new jobs created in July, a number which did not significantly reduce the level of national unemployment. In response, House [...]
Family Farm Defenders examines financial speculation and its effects on farmers and agriculture:
A small trading elite also heads to work each day in Chicago — their job: trying to beat the market on everything from soybeans and carbon credits to fertilizer and timber. Founded in 1898 as the Chicago Butter and Egg [...]
The Sacramento Bee examines the issues:
Less than two months ago, U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston of Georgia went on the House floor and downplayed the fact that 48 million Americans contract foodborne illnesses every year.
Kingston, a Republican who oversees the budgets of the Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, noted that the [...]
The San Luis Obispo Tribune showcased its Sunday editorial for increased oversight for nuclear plants:
Given the devastating consequences, we believe it is absolutely incumbent on the nuclear industry to take every possible step to ensure safety and on strong, independent regulatory agencies to make sure that they do.
A recent series of articles [...]
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