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Towards the global food crisis?
Link: http://bellaciao.org/en/spip.php?article20041
The shortage of basic agricultural products for food (wheat, corn, rice, sorghum and millet) and the increase of such bestial products in world markets that had the tip of iceberg in 2007, will presumably "in crescendo" along the next decade and reached its zenith in the horizon of 2018. In reaching that crisis, (whose first sketches and are profiled and finish with crudely drawn at the end of the decade) have contributed the following elements:
PermalinkDeepwater Horizon workers knew of problems before explosion
Link: http://wsws.org/articles/2010/jul2010/nytr-j23.shtml
Two internal Transocean reports obtained by The New York Times shed further light on the criminal negligence of both BP and Transocean in the lead-up to the April 20 explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, which killed 11 workers and set off one of the most devastating environmental catastrophes in human history.
Cancer rate in Fallujah worse than Hiroshima
Link: http://wsws.org/articles/2010/jul2010/fall-j23.shtml
According to the authors of a new study, “Cancer, Infant Mortality and Birth Sex-Ratio in Fallujah, Iraq 2005–2009,” the people of Fallujah are experiencing higher rates of cancer, leukemia, infant mortality, and sexual mutations than those recorded among survivors in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the years after those Japanese cities were incinerated by US atomic bomb strikes in 1945.
Exposing the Natural Gas Industry's Attempt to Silence Its Critics
In June, just before Josh Fox’s documentary Gasland was about to premiere on HBO, a document seeking to discredit the film’s account of the hazards of natural gas drilling suddenly appeared. "Debunking Gasland" was posted on a Web site for Energy in Depth, a petroleum industry public relations concoction that had been whipped up the year before to defend the radical new drilling technology called horizontal hydraulic fracturing (or “fracking”) from growing investigation and criticism.
At the source of the nightmare
Link: http://socialistworker.org/2010/07/22/source-of-the-nightmare
Independent journalist Dahr Jamail describes the scene in the Gulf of Mexico where the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform exploded. Dahr's reports from Louisiana, along with photos by Erika Blumenfeld, can be found at Dahr Jamail's Dispatches Web site.
"Second Oil Spill Confirmed -Smaller than the First (which was the largest in history.)" - Video
Link: http://www.henrymakow.com/object_width480_height385param.html
Can you believe the rhetoric! Smaller than the Deepwater Horizon's? So, it could have been as large as the aforementioned oil volcano, or, it was so small that the US Coast Guard didn't even need to mention it, or something in-between. Thanks for presenting a potential second disaster as though it is nothing!
Co-opting the Anti-Nuclear Movement
Link: http://www.counterpunch.org/graham07222010.html
No medium of propaganda is as powerful and effective as film. Think of the classics, the most notorious efforts to to sway the public with the electrifying and collective passion of cinema: racial apartheid was justified in the US with Birth of a Nation. The Soviets glorified their revolution with the Battleship Potemkin. Then there was Triumph of the Will. A typical propaganda film tugs at emotions and invokes fears. It invokes dark threats to "the people," and it offers up solutions extolling state and corporate power. Unlike a political documentary it will not criticize the state or corporation. Instead it will celebrate great men as our leaders and saviors.
Toxic legacy of the Vietnam war - Video
Link: http://english.aljazeera.net/video/asia-pacific/2010/07/201072251513743646.html
Thirty-five years on from the end of the Vietnam war, the devastating effects still linger. Agent Orange, the chemical used by US forces during the war, is still poisoning the environment of the country and the health of its people, Vietnam says. The US says that cannot be scientifically proven.
Censored Gulf news: Scientists call on Obama to stop chem-spray
Over 100 scientists and academic institution, research laboratory, conservation organization leaders plus human rights defenders from as far away as Norway and Greece signed the Scientists Consensus Statement on the Use of Chemical Dispersants in the Gulf of Mexico calling for the Obama Administration to immediately halt chemical aerial spraying in the Gulf region. A public petition to end dispersant use is also gaining momentum.
24 photos/Slideshow from the anti-BP rally, on Capitol Hill
Link: http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/54090
24 Photos/Slideshow from the anti-BP rally, on Capitol Hill, on July 20, 2010 | War Is A Crime .org
Russian Farmers Urged to Harvest at Night in Worst Heat Wave in a Decade
As Russia suffers its worst drought in a decade, officials advised grain farmers in central Oryol province to start harvesting at night to protect their combines against mechanical breakdowns in the daytime heat.
Florida Legislature rejects oil drilling ban vote, adjourns
Link: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/07/20/1738813/florida-house-rejects-oil-drilling.html
TALLAHASSEE -- The Florida House abruptly adjourned a special legislative session after 49 minutes Tuesday, rejecting Gov. Charlie Crist's proposal to let voters place a permanent ban on offshore drilling in the Florida Constitution.
Kansas heat wave has killed 2,000 cattle: state
Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE66J4MG20100720?type=domesticNews
The intense heat and humidity that blanketed central Kansas since late last week have killed more than 2,000 cattle and one state official called the heat-related losses the worst in his 17 years on the job.
BP Oil Poisons the Gulf of Mexico’s Food Chain
Link: http://dahrjamailiraq.com/bp-oil-poisons-the-gulf-of-mexicos-food-chain
NEW ORLEANS – Environmental experts warn that the eco-systems and food chain in the Gulf of Mexico and surrounding region already deeply harmed and toxified by the ongoing British Petroleum (BP) oil disaster likely face much greater damage. “You know how the pelicans die of oil,” Dean Wilson, the Executive Director of Atchafalaya Basinkeeper asked IPS, “They open their wings, thinking they are drying them in the sun, and they just cook in the sun. Thousands of birds are dying like that because of the greed of a foreign company.”
Cold temperatures cause death, damage in South America
Link: http://sprint.mw.cnn.com/primary/_cU29Gb-inSWsQvJRd
An intense cold front in southern Latin America continues to blanket the region, causing deaths, school and highway closures, and other woes. Police in Paraguay reported eight deaths from hypothermia and two from carbon dioxide poisoning from the use of heating devices. The government opened shelters for the poor, who are picked up at night by military trucks. Paraguayan authorities also estimated that 1,000 cattle died because of the cold.
'Seep detected' near capped BP well
Link: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/07/2010718231020146812.html
The US government has ordered BP to submit a plan for reopening its recently capped blown-out oil well to allow oil to flow into the ocean again after engineers detected seepage on the ocean floor near the well.
They're still lying about oil disaster
Link: http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/article.asp?ID=13070
Oil industry insider Matt Simmons blew the whistle on the made-for-TV capping of the so-called oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico Thursday, July 15, during an interview on KPFK radio, the NPR station in Los Angeles. Simmons, former energy adviser to the second President Bush, explained that according to his reading of the data from NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, capping of the so-called riser and the subsequent announcement by U.S. President Obama was "the biggest con job we've ever seen."
Big Oil Makes War on the Earth: The Gulf Coast Joins an Oil-Soiled Planet
Link: http://www.truth-out.org/big-oil-makes-war-earth-the-gulf-coast-joins-oil-soiled-planet61457
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.
Seepage Detected Near Blown-Out BP Well
Link: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/07/18-4
Engineers monitoring BP Plc's damaged well in the Gulf of Mexico detected seepage on the ocean floor that could mean problems with the cap that has stopped oil from gushing into the water, the government's top oil spill official said Sunday night.
"Gulf Oil Gusher: No Reason to Believe It’s Over"
Link: http://www.meetup.com/WeSurroundThemGathering/messages/boards/thread/9437542
On Friday, the corporate media heralded the capping of BP’s Macondo well after 88 days of environmental disaster. “But after nearly three months of wall-to-wall coverage of top kills, junk shots, oiled plovers, and incinerated sea turtles, much of America outside the Gulf Coast has become less than riveted, offering up more an exhausted sigh of relief than a whoop of joy amid signs that cap on the undersea well is holding steady,” reports the Christian Science Monitor.
US Timber Demand Threatens Uncontacted Peruvian Tribe
Link: http://dissidentvoice.org/2010/07/us-timber-demand-threatens-uncontacted-peruvian-tribe/
Illegal mahogany loggers are plundering uncontacted Indians’ land in the depths of the Peruvian Amazon, according to a new report by the Upper Amazon Conservancy (UAC). The report says the logging ‘provides evidence that Peru is failing to uphold the environmental and forestry obligations of its 2009
NOAA: June, April to June, and Year-to-Date Global Temperatures are Warmest on Record
Link: http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov:80/stories2010/20100715_globalstats.html
Last month’s combined global land and ocean surface temperature made it the warmest June on record and the warmest on record averaged for any April-June and January-June periods, according to NOAA. Worldwide average land surface temperature was the warmest on record for June and the April-June period, and the second warmest on record for the year-to-date (January-June) period, behind 2007.
Rash of drownings as Russians attempt to escape heat
Link: http://sprint.mw.cnn.com/primary/_lc4lBi-i3ux7fxxFj
More than 1,000 Russians have drowned recently as they attempted to find relief from a stifling heat wave -- many of them after drinking alcohol, officials said. More than 1,200 total have drowned, 223 of them between July 5 and July 12. A heat wave settled over Russia in mid-June, according to the state-run RIA-Novosti news agency. The region has experienced record-breaking heat, with temperatures of up to 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).
Investigation Confirms Pennsylvania Fracking Well Blowout Was Easily Preventable, Potentially Catastrophic
First responders used cell phone cameras to photograph natural gas and wastewater spewing from the EOG Resources "fracking" gas well during the June 3 blowout in Clearfield County, Pennsylvania. (Photo Courtesy of the PA Department of Environmental Protection) Pennsylvanians are wondering if their state could become the next environmental ground zero after officials confirmed Tuesday that irresponsible drilling practices and a failed "blowout preventer" caused the June 3 blowout of a gas well in Clearfield County, Pennsylvania. Well operator EOG Resources uses controversial "fracking" techniques to harvest gas from the massive Marcellus Shale reserve, where the state has permitted thousands of wells.
BP And Feds Stonewalling Congress About Well Bore Integrity And BP Gulf Oil Spill Sea Floor Leaks
On July 2nd the Chairman of the Energy and Environment Subcommittee Rep. Ed Markey ordered BP to release any data of damage to the wellbore, sea floo leaks, and the time frame and design of the relief wells that BP is drilling. It is a good thing he did because Reuters News has just reported that the blowout preventers that BP is using for both of the relief wells had critical flaws that caused them to fail initial testing.
Scientists say Gulf spill altering food web
Link: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iJwXzrq3lD7vHJJH4DU8uNjjihPwD9GUQP0G1
If such impacts continue, the scientists warn of a grim reshuffling of sealife that could over time cascade through the ecosystem and imperil the region's multibillion-dollar fishing industry.
BP delays tests on new well cap
Link: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/07/2010714155457582415.html
Millions of gallons of oil have spilled into the Gulf since the April 20 explosion on the drilling platform. BP has again delayed tests on a new cap on its Gulf of Mexico wellhead for 24-hours to reduce risks of worsening the leak that has been spewing into the ocean for months.
New Weather Patterns Threaten U.S. Breadbasket
Link: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=52139
Climate change is expected to disrupt agriculture in the U.S. Midwest, with high carbon dioxide promoting crop growth but stronger storms, drought, floods and migrating yields dampening yields.
What the BP Disaster Really Means For America
Link: http://www.rense.com/general91/bos.htm
By the time you read this I may be gone, vanished from my home on Florida's Gulf of Mexico. For the past two weeks I've been barricaded, along with about 400 other holdouts, on the small barrier island where I live. We are cut off from the mainland and the FEMA and Homeland Security forces are surrounding us by land and sea. They're attempting to forcibly relocate us to a once-abandoned army base in Georgia. About three-quarters of the town passively already agreed to go, but some of us refused.
Monsanto's Roundup - Be Warned
Link: http://www.rense.com/general91/monss.htm
Weed killer kills human cells. Study intensifies debate over 'inert' ingredients. Used in yards, farms and parks throughout the world, Roundup has long been a top-selling weed killer. But now researchers have found that one of Roundup's inert ingredients can kill human cells, particularly embryonic, placental and umbilical cord cells. The new findings intensify a debate about so-called "inerts" the ssolvents, preservatives, surfactants and other substances that manufacturers add to pesticides. Nearly 4,000 inert ingredients are approved for use by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Former Contractor: BP Not Interested In Cleaning Up Oil Spill
Link: http://www.infowars.com/former-contractor-bp-not-interested-in-cleaning-up-oil-spill/
Former high-level BP contractor and Army Special Operations soldier Adam Dillon told a New Orleans television station that British Petroleum is not interested in cleaning up the oil spill because the company is run by “cutthroat individuals” who only care about money.
For Now, Oil Spews Unchecked in Effort to Cap Well
Link: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/07/11-2
Hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil are being allowed to spew into the fouled waters of the Gulf of Mexico while BP engineers prepare to install a new containment system they hope will catch it all in the coming days.
Eco warrior's Pacific journey shows how 'dumb plastic' is killing our seas
Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jul/11/plastiki-rothschild-plastic-bottle-catamaran
David de Rothschild set out on a mammoth ocean crossing aboard his recycled yacht to highlight pollution of Earth's waters – but even he was shocked by what he found. The "eastern garbage patch". This, the focus of their voyage, is a floating "continent" of debris. Nothing that the crew had read in advance could prepare them for what they found navigating an area twice as large as the North Sea. The garbage patch was first identified 12 years ago within the "North Pacific gyre" – a vortex where the ocean circulates slowly because of light wind and extreme high pressure systems. Oceanographers have since suggested that perhaps 100 million tonnes of plastic are held in suspension in these waters.
1.8M acres of Alaska drilling leases go up for bid
Link: http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0710/18m-acres-alaska-drilling-leases-bid/
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.
Photographer Harassed by BP Security, Detained by Police While on Assignment at BP Texas Refinery
Link: http://www.democracynow.org/2010/7/9/photographer_harassed_by_bp_security_detained
We speak with Lance Rosenfield, a freelance photographer who was hired by ProPublica to take pictures of BP’s Texas City refinery that had spewed thousands of pounds of toxic chemicals into the skies. While on assignment Rosenfield was followed by BP Security and then detained by local police.
US appeals court rejects moratorium on deepwater drilling
Link: http://wsws.org/articles/2010/jul2010/gulf-j09.shtml
A federal appeals panel ruled late Thursday against the Obama administration’s request to maintain its temporary ban on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. The 2-1 decision by a three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals leaves intact an injunction by District Judge Martin Feldman.
Scientist Working With Government Says BP Restricting Access to Study Gushing Oil Well
Link: http://www.democracynow.org/2010/7/6/scientist_working_with_government_says_bp
As the BP oil disaster enters its 77th Day we speak to a scientist leading a team of researchers trying to get access to the well to better study what is happening at the site. Dr. Ira Leifer, who’s on the federally appointed Flow Rate Technical Group, says BP is restricting his access to study the gushing oil well.[includes rush transcript]
Censorship and cover-up in the Gulf oil disaster
Link: http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m67671&hd=&size=1&l=e
The Obama administration has intensified its cover-up of the BP oil disaster. On July 1 it issued an order barring the public and the news media from coming within 65 feet of clean-up operations without permission from the Coast Guard. The transparent aim of the order, which purports to protect the safety of clean-up workers, is to prevent the population from viewing the devastation wrought by the BP oil blowout.
Global Emissions Targets Will Lead to 4C Temperature Rise, Say Studies
Link: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/07/06-0
Studies predict major extinctions and collapse of Greenland ice sheet with temperatures rising well above UN targets. The world is heading for an average temperature rise of nearly 4C (7F), according to analysis of national pledges from around the globe. Such a rise would bring a high risk of major extinctions, threats to food supplies and the near-total collapse of the huge Greenland ice sheet.
The Return of the Bicycle
Link: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=52066
The bicycle has many attractions as a form of personal transportation. It alleviates congestion, lowers air pollution, reduces obesity, increases physical fitness, does not emit climate-disrupting carbon dioxide, and is priced within the reach of the billions of people who cannot afford a car.
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