Link: http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2011/11/fukushima-china-syndrome-is-inevitable-huge-steam-explosions-massive-hydrovolcanic-explosion-or-a-nuclear-bomb-type-explosion-may-occur.html

Mainichi Dailly News notes: As a radiation meteorology and nuclear safety expert at Kyoto University’s Research Reactor Institute, Hiroaki Koide [says]: The nuclear disaster is ongoing. At present, I believe that there is a possibility that massive amounts of radioactive materials will be released into the environment again. At the No. 1 reactor, there’s a chance that melted fuel has burned through the bottom of the pressure vessel, the containment vessel and the floor of the reactor building, and has sunk into the ground. From there, radioactive materials may be seeping into the ocean and groundwater.

Link: http://www.truthout.com/radiation-reporting-blind-idiotic-corrupt-or-all-three/1320952140

The ongoing radiation catastrophe stemming from three out-of-control nuclear reactors in Fukushima, Japan, has taken a back seat to far graver news events of late: Michael Jackson's doctor, fund-raising by presidential hopefuls, the World Series and Netflix stock.

Link: http://beforeitsnews.com/story/1359/061/7_Elephants_Now_Thrashing_Your_Living_Room.html?currentSplittedPage=0

Estimated to have already far surpassed Chernobyl in dangerous radioactive emissions that are not abating in the least and expected to get worse, we hear nothing about this in the mainstream news. In fact, the level of denial is outright Orwellian.

Link: http://www.democracynow.org/2011/11/11/white_house_could_cast_decisive_vote

This week the Delaware River Basin Commission released draft regulations to allow for the natural gas drilling technique hydraulic fracturing, known as fracking, in the river’s watershed, which provides water to 15.6 million people in New York City, Philadelphia and New Jersey. The proposed plan would allow for some 20,000 gas wells to be developed in the watershed. A vote on the regulations is set for Nov. 21 and could prompt a battle between activists and the White House, which holds a seat on the commission and may cast the deciding vote. We speak with Josh Fox, whose documentary about fracking, "Gasland," was nominated for an Academy Award, and play an excerpt of his new video about the possible impacts natural gas fracking could have in the Delaware River Basin. [includes rush transcript]

Link: http://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Nuclear-Power/New-International-Report-Shreds-Japan-s-Carefully-Constructed-Fukushima-Scenario.html

Needless to say, in the aftermath of the disaster, both TEPCO and the Japanese government were at pains to minimize the disaster’s consequences, hardly surprising given the country’s densely populated regions. But now, an independent study has effectively demolished TEPCO and the Japanese government’s carefully constructed minimalist scenario. Mainichi news agency reported that France’s l’Institut de Radioprotection et de Surete Nucleaire (Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety, or IRSN) has issued a recent report stating that the amount of radioactive cesium-137 that entered the Pacific after 11 March was probably nearly 30 times the amount stated by Tokyo Electric Power Co. in May.

Link: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/fl20111101ad.html

There is an axiom in Japanese: uso mo hōben — "lying is also a means to an end." It sums up the general attitude in Japan of tolerance of — even justification for — not telling the truth.

Link: http://fairewinds.com/content/scientist-marco-kaltofen-presents-data-confirming-hot-particles

Washington, DC - October 31, 2011 – Today Scientist Marco Kaltofen of Worchester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) presented his analysis of radioactive isotopic releases from the Fukushima accidents at the annual meeting of the American Public Health Association (APHA). Mr. Kaltofen’s analysis confirms the detection of hot particles in the US and the extensive airborne and ground contamination in northern Japan due to the four nuclear power plant accidents at TEPCO’s Fukushima reactors. Fairewinds believes that this is a personal health issue in Japan and a public health issue in the United States and Canada.

Link: http://www.alternet.org/food/152921/why_is_the_state_department_using_our_money_to_pimp_for_monsanto/

The State Department is using taxpayer money to help force genetically modified crops on other countries. People in India are up in arms about eggplant. Not just any eggplant -- the fight, which is also raging in the Philippines, is over Monsanto's Bt eggplant. Even as increasing scientific evidence concludes that biotechnology and its arsenal of genetically modified crops may be doing more harm than good, companies like Monsanto are still pushing them hard and they are getting help from the U.S.

Link: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/10/31-7

Where are the criminal prosecutions of the major corporations responsible for the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico? Still nowhere to be found. Where are the prosecutors? Where is the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)? Not prosecuting major polluters. Instead, what are they doing? Cracking down on whistleblowers. And those who support whistleblowers. While the corporate crooks are running free.

Link: http://socialistworker.org/2011/10/26/how-the-1-percent-rules

Lance Selfa, author of The Democrats: A Critical History explains how the 1 percent has rigged the supposedly democratic political system so they're always the winners. THE OCCUPY movement's most powerful unifying factor has been its clear and simple identification of the key problem in American society: the divide between the vast majority of the population--the 99 percent--and the richest and most powerful 1 percent.

Link: http://www.alternet.org/food/152848/worst_food_additive_ever_it%27s_in_half_of_all_foods_we_eat_and_its_production_destroys_rainforests_and_enslaves_children/

The production of this ingredient causes jaw-dropping amounts of deforestation (and with it, carbon emissions) and human rights abuses. On August 10, police and security for the massive palm oil corporation Wilmar International (of which Archer Daniels Midland is the second largest shareholder) stormed a small, indigenous village on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. They came with bulldozers and guns, destroying up to 70 homes, evicting 82 families, and arresting 18 people. Then they blockaded the village, keeping the villagers in -- and journalists out. (Wilmar claims it has done no wrong.)

Link: http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=why-is-the-cia-keeping-climate-chan-11-10-23

The Central Intelligence Agency is working on climate change, but you'd never know it. Climate change is hard to hide, but the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency is trying anyway.

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/21/opinion/the-arctic-and-the-lessons-of-the-gulf.html?_r=3&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha211

The Interior Department has been inching closer to approving Royal Dutch Shell’s ambitious plans to drill for what are believed to be huge deposits of oil in the Arctic Ocean off Alaska.

Link: http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2011/10/fukushima-i-nuke-plant-450-tonnes-of.html

Since the end of June when the contaminated water treatment system started the operation, total 50,000 tonnes of groundwater have seeped into the reactor buildings and turbine buildings at Fukushima I Nuke Plant. Now, the total amount of contaminated water (highly contaminated water plus not-so-highly contaminated, treated water) at the plant has grown from 127,000 tonnes at the end of June to 175,000 tonnes as of October 18, according to Asahi Shinbun.

Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15342682

Climate change poses "an immediate, growing and grave threat" to health and security around the world, according to an expert conference in London. Officers in the UK military warned that the price of goods such as fuel is likely to rise as conflict provoked by climate change increases. A statement from the meeting adds that humanitarian disasters will put more and more strain on military resources.

Link: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/10/14-4

Officials in Rick Perry's home state of Texas have set off a scientists' revolt after purging mentions of climate change and sea-level rise from what was supposed to be a landmark environmental report. The scientists said they were disowning the report on the state of Galveston Bay because of political interference and censorship from Perry appointees at the state's environmental agency.

Link: http://www.alternet.org/water/152636/our_oceans_are_in_dire_shape%2C_but_without_them_all_life_on_land_--_human%2C_plant_and_animal_--_is_totally_screwed/

Global warming's impact on oceans will be severe, not only for marine life but also for all life on land. Global warming has often been discussed with regard to its effects for life on land: increased temperatures and heat waves, increased weather extremes, less but more intense rainfall, drought and forest fires.

Link: http://bellaciao.org/en/spip.php?article21193

(San Francisco) - Japan is readying six huge, long acting nuclear weapons for immediate use against the country’s economic and military foes. Chief among those is the United States. The weapon is radioactive poison gas from the six destroyed American reactors and old reactor cores at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. Fukushima Daiichi is now fully weaponized in concept and, in just days, in real life.

Link: http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/25-signs-that-a-horrific-global-water-crisis-is-coming

Every single day, we are getting closer to a horrific global water crisis. This world was blessed with an awesome amount of fresh water, but because of our foolishness it is rapidly disappearing. Rivers, lakes and major underground aquifers all over the globe are drying up, and many of the fresh water sources that we still have available are so incredibly polluted that we simply cannot use them anymore. Without fresh water, we simply cannot function. Just imagine what would happen if the water got cut off in your house and you were not able to go out and buy any. Just think about it. How long would you be able to last? Well, as sources of fresh water all over the globe dry up, we are seeing drought conditions spread. We are starting to see massive "dust storms" in areas where we have never seem them before. Every single year, most of the major deserts around the world are getting bigger and the amount of usable agricultural land in most areas is becoming smaller. Whether you are aware of this or not, the truth is that we are rapidly approaching a breaking point.

Link: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/09/03-9

WASHINGTON — As hundreds of anti-oilsands activists gathered for a final day of civil disobedience Saturday at the White House, the sizable crowd erupted in familiar songs of protest. More than 1,000 demonstrators have been arrested in the past two weeks in front of the White House as they protest against the Keystone XL Pipeline project. (Luis M. Alvarez/Associated Press) One lilting verse carried across the White House lawn louder than the others: "Which side are you on, Obama? Which side are you on?"

Link: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=104978

TOKYO - The Fukushima disaster has thrown up the first opportunity in decades to bring justice to thousands of unskilled workers who risk radioactive contamination to keep Japan’s nuclear power plants running.

Link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44353322/ns/us_news-environment/#.Tl_womqJ2mk

Astonished scientist says he was 'completely unprepared for the gob-smacking scale of the breakup, which rendered me speechless' New photographs taken of a vast glacier in northern Greenland have revealed the astonishing rate of its breakup, with one scientist saying he was rendered "speechless." In August 2010, part of the Petermann Glacier about four times the size of Manhattan island broke off , prompting a hearing in Congress.

Link: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2011/09/201191163236563698.html

Oil is resurfing again not far from the location of the BP Macondo Well off the Gulf of Mexico, 15 months on. According to oil trackers, globs of oil have been spotted near the Macondo Well [Bonny Schumaker/On Wings of Care] Fifteen months after BP’s crippled Macondo Well in the Gulf of Mexico caused the worst environmental disaster in US history, oil and oil sheen covering several square miles of water are surfacing not far from BP’s well. According to oil trackers with the organisation On Wings of Care who have been monitoring the oil since early August, rainbow-tinted slicks and thicker globs of oil have been visible.

Link: http://bellaciao.org/en/spip.php?article21150

The Second International Conference of Victims of Agent Orange/dioxin, held in Hanoi from August 8th to 9th, 2011 included participants from around the world: Agent Orange victims, victims of other toxic chemicals, scientists, lawyers and social activists. The conference is a significant and important historic event, marking the 50th anniversary of the first spraying of the toxic chemical Agent Orange (1961-1971) by the U.S. forces in Vietnam and Indochina.

Link: http://www.alternet.org/environment/152253/expanding_desert%2C_falling_water_tables%2C_and_toxic_pollutants_are_driving_people_from_their_homes/

As environmental stresses mount, we can expect to see a growing number of environmental refugees. People do not normally leave their homes, their families, and their communities unless they have no other option. Yet as environmental stresses mount, we can expect to see a growing number of environmental refugees.

Link: http://www.truthout.com/fifty-four-protesters-arrested-environmental-report-tar-sands-pipeline-released/1314387572

As environmental activists were handcuffed in front of the White House on Friday, the State Department released the final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the massive Keystone XL pipeline that would pump crude oil from the Alberta tar sands in Canada across six western states to stations in Oklahoma and Texas.

Link: http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2011/08/chinas-state-oceanic-administration.html

China sent a survey ship and taking seawater samples off the coast of Fukushima back in June and July. The State Oceanic Administration now says the contamination of the Pacific Ocean may extend as far as 800 kilometers (497 miles) off the coast of Fukushima, as reported by the Science and Technology Daily (ST Daily) in China, according to Asahi Shinbun.

Link: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10744574

A 5.9-magnitude earthquake shook northeast Japan, jolting the area devastated by a quake and tsunami in March, but there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties and no tsunami warning. The quake hit at 3:22 am (0622 NZT Thursday) at a depth of 38 kilometres, with its epicentre 18 kilometres from Iwaki city in Fukushima prefecture, the United States Geological Survey said.

Link: http://socialistworker.org/2011/08/11/chicagos-clean-coal-lie

CHICAGO'S THIRD coal plant isn't about "green jobs" or "clean power," but propping up the dirty and destructive coal industry, rather than investing in proven renewables like wind and solar.

Link: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/08/10-7

Psychologist and social scientist Dacher Keltner says the rich really are different, and not in a good way: Their life experience makes them less empathetic, less altruistic, and generally more selfish. In fact, he says, the philosophical battle over economics, taxes, debt ceilings and defaults that are now roiling the stock market is partly rooted in an upper class "ideology of self-interest." “We have now done 12 separate studies measuring empathy in every way imaginable, social behavior in every way, and some work on compassion and it’s the same story,” he said. “Lower class people just show more empathy, more prosocial behavior, more compassion, no matter how you look at it.”

Link: http://www.alternet.org/environment/151886/we%27ve_entered_the_age_of_mass_extinction%3A_goodbye_fish_and_a_whole_lot_more/

Mass extinction is finally fighting its way back into the news cycle, thanks to recent scary reports on climate change from the International Programme on the State of the Ocean, the United Nations Environment Program and the July issue of Science. But University of Washington paleontologist Peter Ward has been there, done that, and he's still depressed as hell.

Link: http://blogs.aljazeera.net/americas/2011/08/08/vulnerability-indigenous-tribes-brazil

According to workers at the Brazilian government-run national Indian foundation, FUNAI, late last week a group of men from a paramilitary faction from Peru, armed with rifles and machine guns, entered Brazilian territory and encircled a remote jungle guard post used by FUNAI researchers to study and protect isolated indigenous tribes near the border with Peru. The incident happened at a FUNAI post known as Xinane, a very remote monitoring location in Brazil's Acre state that serves as a small, five-person research base for the study and protection of isolated indigenous tribes in the region.

Link: http://www.straight.com/article-415211/vancouver/fukushima-brings-big-radiation-spikes-bc

After Japan’s Fukushima catastrophe, Canadian government officials reassured jittery Canadians that the radioactive plume billowing from the destroyed nuclear reactors posed zero health risks in this country. In fact, there was reason to worry. Health Canada detected massive amounts of radioactive material from Fukushima in Canadian air in March and April at monitoring stations across the country. The level of radioactive iodine spiked above the federal maximum allowed limit in the air at four of the five sites where Health Canada monitors levels of specific radioisotopes.

Link: http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2011/08/20118383214222938.html

Overpopulation is causing huge losses in biodiversity, and 'protected areas' such as national parks aren't working. Protecting bits of nature here and there will not prevent humanity from losing our life support system. Even if areas dedicated to conserving plants, animals, and other species that provide Earth's life support system increased tenfold, it would not be enough without dealing with the big issues of the 21st century: population, overconsumption and inefficient resource use.

Link: http://www.veteranstoday.com/2011/08/02/fukushima-radiation-1000-times-h-bomb-peak-2/

Dr. Chris Busby, world famous physicist, said tests run at the respected Harwell Radiation Laboratory in England demonstrate the airborne radiation in Japan is 1,000 times higher than radioactive “fallout” at the peak in 1963 of H-Bomb detonations by the nuclear powers. The calculations were on radioactive Cesium 137.

Link: http://www.alternet.org/economy/151887/us_of_austerity%3A_what_%24570_billion_cuts_will_do_to_our_water%2C_air%2C_the_jobless%2C_children%2C_the_elderly%2C_and_the_poor/

The debt ceiling deal simultaneously slashes programs crucial to our country's functioning and opens the door to more devastating- and mandatory - cuts.

Link: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/07/29-10

It’s tough getting any news out of Washington these days that doesn’t involve the debt ceiling. Understandably, the political firestorm that has led our country to the brink of financial default has dominated headlines. [While you’re hopefully off enjoying the Great Outdoors this weekend, House Republicans will be pushing legislation that promises to destroy it.]

Link: http://www.presstv.com/usdetail/191079.html

The nuclear theory 'radiation hormesis' - the hypothesis that low doses of ionizing radiation are beneficial - is "an incredible lie." "A lot of nuclear scientists … actually have the nerve to claim that radiation is good for you, and they have this theory called 'radiation hormesis' and they claim that radioactivity exercises the immune system and it's a healthy thing for people. Essentially what they are doing is promoting their technology with this incredible lie," Karl Grossman, a professor at State University of New York College told Press TV's U.S. Desk in an exclusive interview on Wednesday.

Link: http://youtu.be/LWhEOmWcHNs

Help us warn the world- send Genetic Genocide video to everyone you know... Genetic Armageddon: Humanity's Greatest Threat

Link: http://www.truthout.com/emails-show-white-house-promotes-ge-crops-wildlife-refuges/1311621066

The Obama administration is supporting genetically engineered (GE) agriculture in more than 50 national wildlife refuges across the country and watchdog groups say internal emails among top administration officials reveal that the GE plots are a priority in the White House.