(NaturalNews) A growing body of evidence, dating back to the 1960s, suggests that brain tumors may be only one of the many health problems produced by our new wireless society will produce.
Cell-phone technology "could lead to a health crisis similar to those caused by asbestos, smoking, and lead in petrol," warned the European Union's environmental watchdog agency in 2007.
The most ambitious attempt to catalogue the health risks of cell phones to date is the industry-funded Interphone study, carried out by researchers from 13 different countries (not including the United States). Although the study has been criticized for selecting data in a way designed to play down the risks of cell phone use, it continues to turn up alarming findings nonetheless. Among the findings so far are a 40 percent increase in brain tumor risk among adults who use a cell phone for 10 years (especially on the side of the head where the phone is held); a 300 percent increased risk of acoustic nerve tumors; and an increased risk of tumors of the parotid gland. The risk of a brain tumor increases by 400 percent in people who start using a cell phone before the age of 20.
Other studies, mostly out of Europe, have linked mobile phone and personal digital assistant (PDA) use to DNA damage, sperm death, and brain damage including early-onset dementia. These findings regularly make big news in the international press, but are by and large played down in U.S. media.
The United States has a long history of hostility toward the claim that the microwave radiation used by microwave ovens, cell phones, cell phone towers and wireless internet (Wi-Fi) can be harmful to human health. U.S. law prohibits challenging the placement of cell phone towers on health grounds, and an industry group (the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) is highly influential in setting exposure standards.
The first research on the risks of microwave radiation was actually uncovered by a U.S. researcher, Allan Frey, in the 1960s. Frey discovered that "nonionizing" electromagnetic radiation -- previously thought to be harmless -- could still produce biological effects. For example, radar waves can produce "sound" even in the absence of actual sound waves by interfering with the brain's own electromagnetic signals. Frey found that microwaves could damage the organs of lab animals, even stopping their hearts completely.
Yet when Frey published a paper showing that microwave radiation could disrupt the functioning of the blood-brain barrier, the Office of Naval Research ordered him to conceal the work or lose funding. Pentagon-funded scientists claimed they had refuted his work, but refused to share any information on their data or methods.
Frey found that while the primary (or "carrier") wave of microwave radiation can cause health problems, the secondary wave that carries the actual data -- whether sound, text, pictures or other information transmitted via cell phones or Wi-Fi connections -- is far more dangerous. The more data streams carried, the higher the danger.
Modern research supports these early findings, with 75 percent of independently funded studies showing health risks from cell phone radiation (in contrast with only 25 percent of industry funded studies). Researchers have also documented dramatic rises in the rate of numerous health problems immediately following the introduction of widespread Wi-Fi and cell phone networks across Europe.
Such concerns have led European governments to consider banning Wi-Fi in government facilities, and to the Austrian Medical Association's call for a ban on Wi-Fi in schools. The national library of France has already removed all Wi-Fi connections due to health concerns.
In certain segments of the U.S. population, awareness is also growing. According to an anonymous investment banker speaking to a GQ reporter, rates of brain tumors among financial executives are shockingly high, a fact more and more people are attributing to constant cell phone use.
"I knew four or five people just at my firm who got tumors," the banker said. "Each time, people ask the question. I hear it in the hallways."
Sources for this story include: www.gq.com/cars-gear/gear-and-gadge....
Showing posts with label environment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label environment. Show all posts
Monday, June 21, 2010
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Top ten things to love about Vilcabamba Ecuador, the Valley of Longevity
(NaturalNews) If you love perfect year-round weather and enjoying your own locally-grown foods, you'll love Vilcabamba, Ecuador. I lived there, on and off, for over two years, and in that time I came to know many of the people, places and cultural highlights of Vilcabamba. In this story, I'll share with you some of the best of Vilcabamba, Ecuador, where you can visit as a tourist or find a home to live the good life for pennies on the dollar!
Here's what I like most about Vilcabamba, Ecuador:
Most of the really good friends I made in Vilcabamba were locals, and we would spend hours chatting about various things: The climate, gardening, horses, tourist activity, politics, health and much more.
I've traveled the world and the closest I've ever come to the perfection of this climate is the Big Island of Hawaii. But land on the Big Island can cost anywhere from 20 to 100 times the cost of similar land in Vilcabamba.
The decor and ambiance of the restaurant is outstanding, and the view from the second floor is quite breathtaking. You can hang out in Papaya's Cafe for hours, chatting with friends and living the good life while enjoying smoothies, desserts, main courses and much more!
Papaya's Cafe is located adjacent to the Vilcabamba bus terminal, on the North side of the street. Just ask anyone in town to point you in the direction of either the cafe or the bus terminal. It's easy to find.
To help create our amazing food forest ranch on 20 acres, I hired as many as 3 grounds workers, plus a house helper who would prepare raw food smoothies and keep the house clean for us. The total cost of these four people was significantly less than one full-time helper working in the U.S.
If you want to see what we accomplished with the food forest, see the photos of my ranch at: http://www.naturalnews.com/Valley-o...
Madre Tierra offers an incredible value as a really nice place to stay in the valley. It's just outside of town: Far enough away to avoid the party noise on Friday and Saturday nights, yet close enough to walk to town in about 15 minutes (or you can take a short taxi ride).
Check out their website or make reservations at www.VilcabambaMadreTierra.com
The resort is under new ownership as of one month ago, and I personally know the new owners. They're really dedicated to updating and improving the resort to meet western standards. They've already enhanced many of the rooms, and they're working on remodeling the kitchen to improve it as well. If you visit the kitchen, say hello to Lolita (one of the cooks), as I've known her for several years and she's a really friendly lady who makes some wonderful Ecuadorian dishes.
She makes an amazing (yet simple) dessert with egg whites and fresh Maracuya fruit!
There are several horseback riding tour organizers in town, and I don't know them all, but here are two that I personally know and trust:
• Angel. He's a long-time resident of Vilcabamba who is extremely nice, humorous and highly skilled in the outback. His front door, which is a carved mural of horses, is located just 1-2 blocks North of the main town square (downhill from the town square). Just ask anyone for "Angel" and mention horses ("caballos"), and they'll point you in his direction.
• Holger is another horse tour guide, and he's really fun to ride with. He's a super nice person who really cares for animals and the environment. He has a cool temperament and solid knowledge of all the paths and roads throughout a wide-ranging area around the valley. His shop is located just one block East of the NE corner of the main square. Ask anyone for "Holger the horse guy" and they'll point you in the right direction. (The photo at the top of this story is a picture of Holger and one of his horses, which usually grazes on the grass in front of my house.)
Bicycle tours: There are also some great bicycle tours around Vilcabamba, including combination bicycling / walking tours to some amazing waterfalls! The bike tour guy in town is called "El Chino" (that's his nickname), and he's located 2 blocks East of the NE corner of the main square, right across from Maria's shop (which sells fresh fruits, avocados and sometimes even organic tomatoes).
Once again, just ask anyone for "El Chino" and mention bicycles ("bicicletas") and they will point you in the right direction.
There are many other tourist activities in Vilcabamba as well, including a hummingbird garden to the South, a botanical garden in Loja, the cacao-growing town of Zamora to the Northeast, and the Sunday market at Malacatos to the North. There are plenty of taxi drivers to get you from place to place (look for the white pickup trucks; they're the taxis), and many of the drivers can now speak English. In fact, lots of the people in Vilcabamba have been learning to speak more English over the last two years.
Be sure to also check out the nice restaurants located around the town square. You'll find a selection of restaurants (including a French cafe), internet cafes and tourist shops. If you're there on a Saturday, you'll often find crafts for sale under tents set up along the sidewalk. It's a fun time!
Here's one of the more amazing photos of the scenery you'll experience there: http://www.naturalnews.com/phototou...
Read my description of our adventure into Podocarpus in this story: http://www.naturalnews.com/028997_P...
Podocarpus is an immense and deeply diverse biological preserve that stretches from the edge of the Valley of Longevity all the way to Peru. It is an extraordinary forest with so many unique and fascinating life forms that scientists come here from all over the world to study it.
I only took a short adventure into Podocarpus, and even then I got to see numerous waterfalls, lush rainforest trails, bizarre and unique plant life covering the tops of the mountain ridges, and much more. It was truly an amazing experience, and I recommend it to anyone who wants to catch a glimpse of the natural beauty that Mother Nature has to offer.
By the way, you can hire the horse guides I mentioned above to take you into the Podocarpus National Forest. They'll arrange anything from a 1-day trip to a 7-day tour, if you like!
And if you don't want to grow anything at all, you can just start juicing the grass as we have been doing for several months. The field grass mixes extremely well with pineapple juice to make a delicious, refreshing raw living juice right from the fields. (And there's grass everywhere in the valley.)
The amazing food production capability in the Valley of Longevity is what makes Vilcabamba a destination of choice for many people concerned about preparedness and the world food supply. In Vilcabamba (and in Hacienda San Joaquin in particular, which has some of the best soils in the whole valley), you can grow a year-round food supply that will easily outlast any disruptions or interruptions that might impact the cities of western nations.
The best location for living in Ecuador, in my opinion, is Hacienda San Joaquin, a 500+ acre ranch that is now a gated community where many people from all over the world have built homes and are growing a considerable amount of food on their land. This is where I've been living on and off for the last two years, growing my food forest.
Because I now have a much greater need for privacy than I first realized, my "preparedness paradise" ranch is available for a new family. It's a six-figure price range. Check out the amazing photos at http://www.naturalnews.com/Valley-o...
For those looking for something more on the high end, there's a gorgeous estate property available on the same ranch, just down the road from my own property, that's selling in the seven figures. Email us at vilcaland@gmail.com and we'll send you the link to the photos and description for that property. It has its own indoor swimming pool, volleyball courts, tennis court, private orchards, horse fields and a whole lot more.
If you're looking for something on the more affordable side, my neighbor Matt has some land available right across the street from my own ranch. They've got something like 2.5 acres of good land available in the five figure range. Email us at vilcaland@gmail.com for more details.
If you're looking for something outside the Hacienda San Joaquin gated community, simply contact the Vilcabamba Real Estate Company (VREC), which is the local real estate company I recommend: Nick Vasey, nick@vrec.org or visit www.VREC.org for information. They have a lot of property listings for land and homes around the valley.
Remember when buying real estate in Vilcabamba that land is cheap if it has no roads, no electricity, no internet, no water and no access. But land that's actually usable for living or growing things needs support infrastructure, and that's what ultimately costs more money. You can get land dirt cheap if it's out in the middle of nowhere and has no roads. Some properties are literally only accessible by horseback...
The ground water is amazingly clean because it's recharged from rainfall on the nearby Podocarpus National Forest, where water flows down into the valley on a regular basis. It creates a unique situation where you have lots of sunshine hitting the valley, but you also have a very large water supply from the nearby mountains, so you have both full sunshine and lots of water (two things that normally don't exist together in the same exact geographic region).
The air in the Valley of Longevity is also strikingly clean. It has even been studied by scientists in an effort to determine whether some special property in the air encourages greater longevity. Personally, I think the longevity factor is more about eating lots of local foods and spending a lot of time outdoors walking, working or playing.
Come check it out!
Some travel tips:
• Quito is the capitol of Ecuador. That's where you'll fly to. Quito is located south of Florida, almost to the equator.
• Continental Airlines flies from Houston to Quito (roughly 4.5 hours). LAN Airlines flies from Miami to Quito.
• From Quito, you fly TAME Airlines (the local Ecuadorian airline) which offers some very nice Embraer jets on routes between Quito and Loja. From Loja, it's a 90-minute taxi ride to the Valley of Longevity.
Once in Vilcabamba, you can stay at Madre Tierra, Hosteria de Vilcabamba, Hosteria Izhcayluma, or other available places. There are usually plenty of rooms available except during celebration events when the whole town sells out!
If you're coming to look at property, Nick at www.VREC.org can help you organize transportation. Joe's staff at Hacienda San Joaquin (www.VilcabambaHomes.com) can also assist with that effort if you're coming to look at properties on the Hacienda (where my ranch is located). There are also a few unsold lots at Hacienda San Joaquin that might interest you if you prefer to live in a gated community.
Enjoy your trip and take lots of great pictures!
Here's what I like most about Vilcabamba, Ecuador:
#1) Amazingly nice locals
As my Spanish ability improved with practice, I made many friends with the local Vilcabamba people. They are exceedingly nice, polite and very friendly to visitors. They even have an unusual knack for understanding the really bad Spanish spoken by many visitors, and they go out of their way to try to communicate with you in simple words that you'll easily understand.Most of the really good friends I made in Vilcabamba were locals, and we would spend hours chatting about various things: The climate, gardening, horses, tourist activity, politics, health and much more.
#2) Ridiculously good climate
The climate in Vilcabamba just can't be beat: It's absolutely perfect. Not too hot, not too cold. Not too dry, not too wet. The air is crisp and clean, and the temperature is so perfect that they don't even build homes with air conditioning or heating units.I've traveled the world and the closest I've ever come to the perfection of this climate is the Big Island of Hawaii. But land on the Big Island can cost anywhere from 20 to 100 times the cost of similar land in Vilcabamba.
#3) Papaya's Cafe
If you visit Vilcabamba, you've got to visit Papaya's Cafe. Launched earlier this year by an American named Carey, Papaya's Cafe became an instant hit with both the locals and the foreigners living in the Valley of Longevity. The cafe serves up a variety of menu items, both from the realm of health-conscious eating (they sometimes host raw food dinners) and local Ecuadorian cuisine.The decor and ambiance of the restaurant is outstanding, and the view from the second floor is quite breathtaking. You can hang out in Papaya's Cafe for hours, chatting with friends and living the good life while enjoying smoothies, desserts, main courses and much more!
Papaya's Cafe is located adjacent to the Vilcabamba bus terminal, on the North side of the street. Just ask anyone in town to point you in the direction of either the cafe or the bus terminal. It's easy to find.
#4) Very low cost of living
The cost of living in Vilcabamba, Ecuador is surprisingly low, even if you're hiring a lot of help. A typical garden worker makes from $10 - $15 per day, and locals are always looking for more work. (I frequently had people stop by my house asking for more work.)To help create our amazing food forest ranch on 20 acres, I hired as many as 3 grounds workers, plus a house helper who would prepare raw food smoothies and keep the house clean for us. The total cost of these four people was significantly less than one full-time helper working in the U.S.
If you want to see what we accomplished with the food forest, see the photos of my ranch at: http://www.naturalnews.com/Valley-o...
#5) Madre Tierra
The most amazing resort in the Valley of Longevity is Madre Tierra ("Mother Earth"), a beautifully constructed resort with a spa, restaurant, water pools, and an assortment of other natural features.Madre Tierra offers an incredible value as a really nice place to stay in the valley. It's just outside of town: Far enough away to avoid the party noise on Friday and Saturday nights, yet close enough to walk to town in about 15 minutes (or you can take a short taxi ride).
Check out their website or make reservations at www.VilcabambaMadreTierra.com
The resort is under new ownership as of one month ago, and I personally know the new owners. They're really dedicated to updating and improving the resort to meet western standards. They've already enhanced many of the rooms, and they're working on remodeling the kitchen to improve it as well. If you visit the kitchen, say hello to Lolita (one of the cooks), as I've known her for several years and she's a really friendly lady who makes some wonderful Ecuadorian dishes.
She makes an amazing (yet simple) dessert with egg whites and fresh Maracuya fruit!
#6) Tourist activities
There are a great number of fun and exciting tourist activities in Vilcabamba. The first is horseback riding, where you can take adventures into the Podocarpus National Forest (see below), or up to the sacred mountain of Mandango (the sleeping Inca) on horseback.There are several horseback riding tour organizers in town, and I don't know them all, but here are two that I personally know and trust:
• Angel. He's a long-time resident of Vilcabamba who is extremely nice, humorous and highly skilled in the outback. His front door, which is a carved mural of horses, is located just 1-2 blocks North of the main town square (downhill from the town square). Just ask anyone for "Angel" and mention horses ("caballos"), and they'll point you in his direction.
• Holger is another horse tour guide, and he's really fun to ride with. He's a super nice person who really cares for animals and the environment. He has a cool temperament and solid knowledge of all the paths and roads throughout a wide-ranging area around the valley. His shop is located just one block East of the NE corner of the main square. Ask anyone for "Holger the horse guy" and they'll point you in the right direction. (The photo at the top of this story is a picture of Holger and one of his horses, which usually grazes on the grass in front of my house.)
Bicycle tours: There are also some great bicycle tours around Vilcabamba, including combination bicycling / walking tours to some amazing waterfalls! The bike tour guy in town is called "El Chino" (that's his nickname), and he's located 2 blocks East of the NE corner of the main square, right across from Maria's shop (which sells fresh fruits, avocados and sometimes even organic tomatoes).
Once again, just ask anyone for "El Chino" and mention bicycles ("bicicletas") and they will point you in the right direction.
There are many other tourist activities in Vilcabamba as well, including a hummingbird garden to the South, a botanical garden in Loja, the cacao-growing town of Zamora to the Northeast, and the Sunday market at Malacatos to the North. There are plenty of taxi drivers to get you from place to place (look for the white pickup trucks; they're the taxis), and many of the drivers can now speak English. In fact, lots of the people in Vilcabamba have been learning to speak more English over the last two years.
Be sure to also check out the nice restaurants located around the town square. You'll find a selection of restaurants (including a French cafe), internet cafes and tourist shops. If you're there on a Saturday, you'll often find crafts for sale under tents set up along the sidewalk. It's a fun time!
#7) Podocarpus National Forest
The Podocarpus National Forest is one of the natural treasures of Ecuador. Check out the photos from my own tour of the forest right here: http://www.naturalnews.com/phototou...Here's one of the more amazing photos of the scenery you'll experience there: http://www.naturalnews.com/phototou...
Read my description of our adventure into Podocarpus in this story: http://www.naturalnews.com/028997_P...
Podocarpus is an immense and deeply diverse biological preserve that stretches from the edge of the Valley of Longevity all the way to Peru. It is an extraordinary forest with so many unique and fascinating life forms that scientists come here from all over the world to study it.
I only took a short adventure into Podocarpus, and even then I got to see numerous waterfalls, lush rainforest trails, bizarre and unique plant life covering the tops of the mountain ridges, and much more. It was truly an amazing experience, and I recommend it to anyone who wants to catch a glimpse of the natural beauty that Mother Nature has to offer.
By the way, you can hire the horse guides I mentioned above to take you into the Podocarpus National Forest. They'll arrange anything from a 1-day trip to a 7-day tour, if you like!
#8) Food everywhere!
Food production in the Valley of Longevity is so easy and abundant that it's almost hard to believe. In mere weeks, you can grow a huge garden full of vegetables from the rich topsoil. In a few months, you can grow endless papayas, figs, babacos and berries. In a few years, you can have your own orchard of oranges, macadamia nuts, jungle almonds, noni fruit, avocados and much more. (I've got all those in my orchard of over 100 fruit and nut trees...)And if you don't want to grow anything at all, you can just start juicing the grass as we have been doing for several months. The field grass mixes extremely well with pineapple juice to make a delicious, refreshing raw living juice right from the fields. (And there's grass everywhere in the valley.)
The amazing food production capability in the Valley of Longevity is what makes Vilcabamba a destination of choice for many people concerned about preparedness and the world food supply. In Vilcabamba (and in Hacienda San Joaquin in particular, which has some of the best soils in the whole valley), you can grow a year-round food supply that will easily outlast any disruptions or interruptions that might impact the cities of western nations.
#9) Affordable homes and properties
Vilcabamba offers a wonderful place to live for those looking for homes or land in South America. Prices are relatively affordable compared to anywhere in North America or Europe, and there are some very nice properties available right now, in many different price ranges.The best location for living in Ecuador, in my opinion, is Hacienda San Joaquin, a 500+ acre ranch that is now a gated community where many people from all over the world have built homes and are growing a considerable amount of food on their land. This is where I've been living on and off for the last two years, growing my food forest.
Because I now have a much greater need for privacy than I first realized, my "preparedness paradise" ranch is available for a new family. It's a six-figure price range. Check out the amazing photos at http://www.naturalnews.com/Valley-o...
For those looking for something more on the high end, there's a gorgeous estate property available on the same ranch, just down the road from my own property, that's selling in the seven figures. Email us at vilcaland@gmail.com and we'll send you the link to the photos and description for that property. It has its own indoor swimming pool, volleyball courts, tennis court, private orchards, horse fields and a whole lot more.
If you're looking for something on the more affordable side, my neighbor Matt has some land available right across the street from my own ranch. They've got something like 2.5 acres of good land available in the five figure range. Email us at vilcaland@gmail.com for more details.
If you're looking for something outside the Hacienda San Joaquin gated community, simply contact the Vilcabamba Real Estate Company (VREC), which is the local real estate company I recommend: Nick Vasey, nick@vrec.org or visit www.VREC.org for information. They have a lot of property listings for land and homes around the valley.
Remember when buying real estate in Vilcabamba that land is cheap if it has no roads, no electricity, no internet, no water and no access. But land that's actually usable for living or growing things needs support infrastructure, and that's what ultimately costs more money. You can get land dirt cheap if it's out in the middle of nowhere and has no roads. Some properties are literally only accessible by horseback...
#10) Freedom from electromagnetic pollution, chemtrails, air pollution, water pollution
Vilcabamba, Ecuador is remarkably free from most kinds of pollution: Electromagnetic, air and water. On the electromagnetic spectrum, Vilcabamba has only one cell tower, and the electro "vibe" of the valley is relatively clean and pristine. No planes fly overhead dropping chemtrails on the population, either. (So you can breathe a sigh of relief...)The ground water is amazingly clean because it's recharged from rainfall on the nearby Podocarpus National Forest, where water flows down into the valley on a regular basis. It creates a unique situation where you have lots of sunshine hitting the valley, but you also have a very large water supply from the nearby mountains, so you have both full sunshine and lots of water (two things that normally don't exist together in the same exact geographic region).
The air in the Valley of Longevity is also strikingly clean. It has even been studied by scientists in an effort to determine whether some special property in the air encourages greater longevity. Personally, I think the longevity factor is more about eating lots of local foods and spending a lot of time outdoors walking, working or playing.
Come visit Vilcabamba!
Whether you just enjoy the natural beauty or you're looking for a place to live in a "preparedness paradise" with abundant food, Vilcabamba has a tremendous amount to offer.Come check it out!
Some travel tips:
• Quito is the capitol of Ecuador. That's where you'll fly to. Quito is located south of Florida, almost to the equator.
• Continental Airlines flies from Houston to Quito (roughly 4.5 hours). LAN Airlines flies from Miami to Quito.
• From Quito, you fly TAME Airlines (the local Ecuadorian airline) which offers some very nice Embraer jets on routes between Quito and Loja. From Loja, it's a 90-minute taxi ride to the Valley of Longevity.
Once in Vilcabamba, you can stay at Madre Tierra, Hosteria de Vilcabamba, Hosteria Izhcayluma, or other available places. There are usually plenty of rooms available except during celebration events when the whole town sells out!
If you're coming to look at property, Nick at www.VREC.org can help you organize transportation. Joe's staff at Hacienda San Joaquin (www.VilcabambaHomes.com) can also assist with that effort if you're coming to look at properties on the Hacienda (where my ranch is located). There are also a few unsold lots at Hacienda San Joaquin that might interest you if you prefer to live in a gated community.
Enjoy your trip and take lots of great pictures!
Thursday, June 3, 2010
U.S. culture of greed is threat to world
(NaturalNews) The world is doomed to environmental catastrophe unless the threat posed by U.S. consumption culture is directly addressed, warns the Worldwatch Institute's annual report.
"Until we recognise that our environmental problems, from climate change to deforestation to species loss, are driven by unsustainable habits, we will not be able to solve the ecological crises that threaten to wash over civilization," said project director Erik Assadourian.
The report, produced by a team of 35 researchers, notes that the average U.S. resident consumes more than his or her weight in products every single day. The average family in a Western nation spends more money on its pet in one year than a human being in Bangladesh does on all his or her expenses.
Such consumption habits are spreading around the globe at a frightening pace, the report notes. China has now surpassed the United States as the world's biggest market for personal automobiles, while excess has become a mark of cultural status in countries as far-flung as Brazil and India. Global consumption of goods and services has increased 28 percent in the last 10 years alone, to a whopping $30.5 trillion.
The report refutes the claim that increased consumption is a natural result of economic growth, noting that corporations have deliberately sought to convince consumers to purchase resource-intensive but unnecessary products. It cites the worldwide popularity of bottled water and hamburgers, the latter of which was considered an undesireable food in the early 1900s.
Without addressing the worldwide culture of consumption, policy changes can only go so far to avert global catastrophe, the report warns.
"We've seen some encouraging efforts to combat the world's climate crisis in the past few years," Assadourian said. "But making policy and technology changes while keeping cultures centred on consumerism and growth can only go so far. If we don't shift our very culture there will be new crises we have to face."
Sources for this story include: www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010....
"Until we recognise that our environmental problems, from climate change to deforestation to species loss, are driven by unsustainable habits, we will not be able to solve the ecological crises that threaten to wash over civilization," said project director Erik Assadourian.
The report, produced by a team of 35 researchers, notes that the average U.S. resident consumes more than his or her weight in products every single day. The average family in a Western nation spends more money on its pet in one year than a human being in Bangladesh does on all his or her expenses.
Such consumption habits are spreading around the globe at a frightening pace, the report notes. China has now surpassed the United States as the world's biggest market for personal automobiles, while excess has become a mark of cultural status in countries as far-flung as Brazil and India. Global consumption of goods and services has increased 28 percent in the last 10 years alone, to a whopping $30.5 trillion.
The report refutes the claim that increased consumption is a natural result of economic growth, noting that corporations have deliberately sought to convince consumers to purchase resource-intensive but unnecessary products. It cites the worldwide popularity of bottled water and hamburgers, the latter of which was considered an undesireable food in the early 1900s.
Without addressing the worldwide culture of consumption, policy changes can only go so far to avert global catastrophe, the report warns.
"We've seen some encouraging efforts to combat the world's climate crisis in the past few years," Assadourian said. "But making policy and technology changes while keeping cultures centred on consumerism and growth can only go so far. If we don't shift our very culture there will be new crises we have to face."
Sources for this story include: www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010....
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Facebook's green data center powered by dirty coal
(NaturalNews) The popular social networking site Facebook recently announced that its new data center in Prineville, Oregon, is "among the greenest in the industry", despite the fact that the energy company which is providing power to the facility is fueled primarily by coal. Upon hearing the news, several groups, including Change.org and Greenpeace, have begun hurling a firestorm of criticism against the company for allegedly deceiving the public.
Coal is one of the dirtiest, most destructive fossil fuels in the world. The burning of it to produce energy is responsible for polluting the air and causing acid rain, releasing toxic heavy metals into the environment, and tainting soil and water supplies. Coal mining operations are also destructive to the land and environment around them, especially if not properly remediated.
Trends have been moving away from dirty fuel sources towards clean, renewable energies like solar and wind power. Facebook, however, has decided not only to contract with a company that derives most of its energy from coal, but also to market the operation as "green". The decision is both irresponsible and dishonest.
Yet millions of people from all walks of life utilize Facebook to network, buy and sell products, promote their businesses, and keep in touch with friends and colleagues. While some people are upset about what Facebook is doing, few will actually do anything about it. After all, why bite the hand that feeds you?
As far as social networking sites go, Facebook is arguably the most popular and most widely used. If someone has a problem with Facebook's corporate policy, there are few alternatives. So, most people will simply bite the bullet and carry on with their lives no matter how many bad decisions the company makes.
Regardless of how one feels about the source of energy for Facebook's data center, corporations are increasingly taking hold of people's lives as they monopolize and control key pieces of the economy and life. Everyone relies on their mobile phones, televisions, internet connections, credit cards, gas stations and fast food joints, which are all generally dominated by only a few big corporations. If those corporations make despicable decisions, it is becoming increasingly difficult to simply boycott them.
If people feel strongly enough to make any sort of positive change, they will have to be willing to make significant sacrifices which may disrupt the type of lifestyles to which they have become accustomed. And to those who are deeply upset about Facebook's latest announcement: you may just have to deacivate your account.
Sources for this story include:
http://www.commondreams.org/view/20...
Coal is one of the dirtiest, most destructive fossil fuels in the world. The burning of it to produce energy is responsible for polluting the air and causing acid rain, releasing toxic heavy metals into the environment, and tainting soil and water supplies. Coal mining operations are also destructive to the land and environment around them, especially if not properly remediated.
Trends have been moving away from dirty fuel sources towards clean, renewable energies like solar and wind power. Facebook, however, has decided not only to contract with a company that derives most of its energy from coal, but also to market the operation as "green". The decision is both irresponsible and dishonest.
Yet millions of people from all walks of life utilize Facebook to network, buy and sell products, promote their businesses, and keep in touch with friends and colleagues. While some people are upset about what Facebook is doing, few will actually do anything about it. After all, why bite the hand that feeds you?
As far as social networking sites go, Facebook is arguably the most popular and most widely used. If someone has a problem with Facebook's corporate policy, there are few alternatives. So, most people will simply bite the bullet and carry on with their lives no matter how many bad decisions the company makes.
Regardless of how one feels about the source of energy for Facebook's data center, corporations are increasingly taking hold of people's lives as they monopolize and control key pieces of the economy and life. Everyone relies on their mobile phones, televisions, internet connections, credit cards, gas stations and fast food joints, which are all generally dominated by only a few big corporations. If those corporations make despicable decisions, it is becoming increasingly difficult to simply boycott them.
If people feel strongly enough to make any sort of positive change, they will have to be willing to make significant sacrifices which may disrupt the type of lifestyles to which they have become accustomed. And to those who are deeply upset about Facebook's latest announcement: you may just have to deacivate your account.
Sources for this story include:
http://www.commondreams.org/view/20...
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Pressure builds against mountaintop removal coal mining
(NaturalNews) The Obama Administration is coming under increasing fire for failing to take a strong stance against the destructive form of coal mining known as mountaintop removal.
In mountaintop removal, miners use dynamite and earth movers to blow up entire mountain peaks in order to remove the coal beneath. The rubble from these peaks is then pushed into adjoining valleys, often leading to devastating flooding as waterways are blocked.
In an article published in the journal Science, a group of ecologists, engineers and hydrologists calls on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Army Corp of Engineers to reject all permit requests for mountaintop removal mines. In support of this position, the letter writers analyzed studies on the environmental effects of the mines both on-site and downstream, concluding that they have "harmful consequences for both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems." The researchers also catalogued health effects on local communities including increased rates of lung cancer, kidney disease and early death.
"The scientific evidence of the severe environmental and human impacts from mountaintop mining is strong and irrefutable," said lead author Margaret Palmer of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science.
The EPA responded to the report by saying that it "underscores EPA's own scientific analysis regarding the substantial environmental, water and health impacts that result from mountaintop mining operations."
Yet the agency just recently approved new and massive mountaintop removal mine in West Virginia.
"The permit that the EPA just released this week is not consistent with what the scientists are saying," said Joan Mulhern of Earthjustice. "The Obama Administration has pledged in general to . . . do what the science dictates. This unequivocal new study has got to drive them to phase out the practice."
Scientists and environmentalists have criticized the administration for continuing to approve mountaintop removal mines even after promising to follow the best science on the issue.
Sources for this story include: www.latimes.com.
In mountaintop removal, miners use dynamite and earth movers to blow up entire mountain peaks in order to remove the coal beneath. The rubble from these peaks is then pushed into adjoining valleys, often leading to devastating flooding as waterways are blocked.
In an article published in the journal Science, a group of ecologists, engineers and hydrologists calls on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Army Corp of Engineers to reject all permit requests for mountaintop removal mines. In support of this position, the letter writers analyzed studies on the environmental effects of the mines both on-site and downstream, concluding that they have "harmful consequences for both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems." The researchers also catalogued health effects on local communities including increased rates of lung cancer, kidney disease and early death.
"The scientific evidence of the severe environmental and human impacts from mountaintop mining is strong and irrefutable," said lead author Margaret Palmer of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science.
The EPA responded to the report by saying that it "underscores EPA's own scientific analysis regarding the substantial environmental, water and health impacts that result from mountaintop mining operations."
Yet the agency just recently approved new and massive mountaintop removal mine in West Virginia.
"The permit that the EPA just released this week is not consistent with what the scientists are saying," said Joan Mulhern of Earthjustice. "The Obama Administration has pledged in general to . . . do what the science dictates. This unequivocal new study has got to drive them to phase out the practice."
Scientists and environmentalists have criticized the administration for continuing to approve mountaintop removal mines even after promising to follow the best science on the issue.
Sources for this story include: www.latimes.com.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Artificial Leaves Turn Sunlight Into Fuel
(NaturalNews) Researchers from Imperial College London have launched a £1 million ($1.6 million) study to create what they call an "artificial leaf," mimicking the process of photosynthesis that allows plants to generate energy from the sun.
Plants use solar radiation to power a chemical reaction that converts water and carbon dioxide into sugar. Part of this reaction entails splitting water molecules into their component hydrogen and oxygen parts, something that remains very expensive using modern technology.
Photosynthesis is so efficient, however, that scientists estimate that it could meet all the Earth's power needs for a year from merely an hour of sunlight. An artificial photosynthesis system that used only 10 percent of the light hitting it could meet all global energy needs if it covered only 0.16 percent of the Earth's surface area (about 315,000 square miles).
"We know that plants have already evolved to do it and we know that, fundamentally, it's a workable process on a large scale," said John Loughhead of the UK Energy Research Center. "Ultimately, the only sustainable form of energy we've got is the sun. From a strategic viewpoint, you have to think this looks really interesting because we know we're starting from a base of feasibility."
In contrast to other alternative energy sources such as solar panels or windmills, which produce electricity directly, the Imperial College researchers want to use photosynthesis to produce fuels -- either hydrogen for fuel cells, or sugars for biofuel engines. Even though the burning of these fuels would still produce carbon dioxide, the researchers believe it would be balanced out by the carbon dioxide that the artificial leaf removed from the air to make the fuel in the first place.
As one of their first steps, researchers are working on an artificial copy of the enzyme, photosystem 2, that plants use to split water into hydrogen and oxygen.
"It doesn't mean that you try to build exactly what the leaf has," researcher James Barber said. "Leonardo da Vinci tried to design flying machines with feathers that flapped up and down. But in the end we built 747s and Airbus 380s, completely different to a bird."
Sources for this story include: www.telegraph.co.uk.
Plants use solar radiation to power a chemical reaction that converts water and carbon dioxide into sugar. Part of this reaction entails splitting water molecules into their component hydrogen and oxygen parts, something that remains very expensive using modern technology.
Photosynthesis is so efficient, however, that scientists estimate that it could meet all the Earth's power needs for a year from merely an hour of sunlight. An artificial photosynthesis system that used only 10 percent of the light hitting it could meet all global energy needs if it covered only 0.16 percent of the Earth's surface area (about 315,000 square miles).
"We know that plants have already evolved to do it and we know that, fundamentally, it's a workable process on a large scale," said John Loughhead of the UK Energy Research Center. "Ultimately, the only sustainable form of energy we've got is the sun. From a strategic viewpoint, you have to think this looks really interesting because we know we're starting from a base of feasibility."
In contrast to other alternative energy sources such as solar panels or windmills, which produce electricity directly, the Imperial College researchers want to use photosynthesis to produce fuels -- either hydrogen for fuel cells, or sugars for biofuel engines. Even though the burning of these fuels would still produce carbon dioxide, the researchers believe it would be balanced out by the carbon dioxide that the artificial leaf removed from the air to make the fuel in the first place.
As one of their first steps, researchers are working on an artificial copy of the enzyme, photosystem 2, that plants use to split water into hydrogen and oxygen.
"It doesn't mean that you try to build exactly what the leaf has," researcher James Barber said. "Leonardo da Vinci tried to design flying machines with feathers that flapped up and down. But in the end we built 747s and Airbus 380s, completely different to a bird."
Sources for this story include: www.telegraph.co.uk.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Epigenetics: Chemicals Turn Genes On and Off at the Wrong Times
(NaturalNews) Scientists are increasingly becoming aware of a new mechanism by which pollutants can damage the health of living organisms -- epigenetic changes, in which a chemical changes how a gene is expressed.
While some chemicals are toxic (attacking the body's systems directly) and others are mutagenic (changing the actual code of an organism's genes), others do not change the way a gene is written, but instead how it acts in the body.
Epigenetic changes "can lead to increased susceptibility to disease," said Linda S. Birnbaum, director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and of the National Toxicology Program. "The susceptibility persists long after the exposure is gone, even decades later. Glands, organs, and systems can be permanently altered."
Epigenetic changes have been identified that increase the risk of Alzheimer's disease, asthma, breast cancer, prostate cancer, diabetes, heart disease, obesity, learning disabilities, Parkinson's disease and more.
One example was recently uncovered by researchers at the University of Cincinnati, who conducted a study on children in New York City who had been exposed to high levels of air pollutants in the womb. These children had higher rates of asthma than children who had not had such exposure.
Upon performing genetic tests, the researchers found that all the exposed, asthmatic children had a methyl group molecule attached to the ACSL3 gene, causing it to be less active than normal. None of the unexposed children had this molecule attached to their ACSL3 gene.
Researchers have also found epigenetic changes in children conceived through in-vitro fertilization. They believe that the chemicals used to incubate the fertilized eggs before implantation might cause epigenetic changes that lead to the higher rates of abdominal wall defects and cancers observed in such children.
Like mutations, epigenetic effects can be passed on to a person's offspring.
"There is a huge potential impact from these exposures, partly because the changes may be inherited across generations," Birnbaum said. "You may be affected by what your mother and grandmother were exposed to during pregnancy."
Sources for this story include: www.environmentalhealthnews.org.
While some chemicals are toxic (attacking the body's systems directly) and others are mutagenic (changing the actual code of an organism's genes), others do not change the way a gene is written, but instead how it acts in the body.
Epigenetic changes "can lead to increased susceptibility to disease," said Linda S. Birnbaum, director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and of the National Toxicology Program. "The susceptibility persists long after the exposure is gone, even decades later. Glands, organs, and systems can be permanently altered."
Epigenetic changes have been identified that increase the risk of Alzheimer's disease, asthma, breast cancer, prostate cancer, diabetes, heart disease, obesity, learning disabilities, Parkinson's disease and more.
One example was recently uncovered by researchers at the University of Cincinnati, who conducted a study on children in New York City who had been exposed to high levels of air pollutants in the womb. These children had higher rates of asthma than children who had not had such exposure.
Upon performing genetic tests, the researchers found that all the exposed, asthmatic children had a methyl group molecule attached to the ACSL3 gene, causing it to be less active than normal. None of the unexposed children had this molecule attached to their ACSL3 gene.
Researchers have also found epigenetic changes in children conceived through in-vitro fertilization. They believe that the chemicals used to incubate the fertilized eggs before implantation might cause epigenetic changes that lead to the higher rates of abdominal wall defects and cancers observed in such children.
Like mutations, epigenetic effects can be passed on to a person's offspring.
"There is a huge potential impact from these exposures, partly because the changes may be inherited across generations," Birnbaum said. "You may be affected by what your mother and grandmother were exposed to during pregnancy."
Sources for this story include: www.environmentalhealthnews.org.
Sara Lee accused of greenwashing marketing hype with its "EcoGrain" bread
(NaturalNews) The Sara Lee company stands accused today of engaging in blatant greenwashing through its highly misleading marketing of its new "EcoGrain" bread.
The Cornucopia institute has released news describing how this product line by Sara Lee is made with "toxic agrochemicals" even though it's being marketed as better than organic.
The full statement from the Cornucopia Institute follows (www.Cornucopia.org)
Sara Lee greenwashing reaches new lows with EcoGrain bread
With the growing success of organics, and increasing consumer interest in buying foods that were grown on sustainable farms without toxic chemicals, Sara Lee Corporation has launched, with much fanfare, a marketing campaign for its Earthgrains bread, chock-full of environmental-friendly catchphrases.Sara Lee claims that "Eco-Grain™," an ingredient actually used in small proportions in its Earthgrains brand breads, is more sustainable than organic grain. What has been described as a "crass and exploitive marketing ploy" has angered many in the organic community.
"Corporations like Sara Lee clearly want to profit from consumers' interest in ecological and healthy food production. But unlike organic companies, Sara Lee is doing practically nothing to ensure its ingredients are truly ecologically produced," said Charlotte Vallaeys, a Food and Farm Policy Analyst at The Cornucopia Institute, a Wisconsin-based organic industry watchdog. "It's a crass example of a corporation trying to capitalize on the valuable market cachet of organic, while intentionally misleading consumers -- without making any meaningful commitment to protect the environment or produce safer and more nutritious food."
Not exactly organic
The Cornucopia Institute, a farm policy research group, points out that the farmers who grow Eco-Grain differ very little from most conventional grain producers who use petroleum-based fertilizers, pesticides and fungicides, and have little in common with certified organic farmers.The one attribute that Sara Lee uses to differentiate Eco-Grain production is that the farmers, although they use chemical fertilizers, incorporate technology that has reduced fertilizer usage by 15%. In contrast, as mandated by federal law, organic farmers are required by law to reduce their synthetic fertilizer use by 100%.
Organic farmers use natural fertilizers, compost and crop rotations to enrich the long-term health of the soil, without damaging the environment or potentially contaminating the food produced.
However, Cornucopia's Vallaeys points out that, "Even if their new fancy wheat were truly superior, each Earthgrains 24 ounce loaf contains only 20% flour from Eco-Grain, with the remainder of the bread's wheat coming from regular, conventional wheat. The total reduction in chemical fertilizer use in a loaf of EarthGrains bread therefore amounts to a meager 3%."
"Even though they've done a countrywide media rollout, including underwriting spots on National Public Radio, Sara Lee is, in essence, playing a shell game," said Mark A. Kastel, Codirector at The Cornucopia Institute. "Even as they had the audacity to promote a bread with just 20% of their 'value added' wheat, the rest of their product line has 0% content of the Eco-Grain. If advertising executives could be charged with malpractice, this would be a major felony," Kastel said.
Demand for Sara Lee to halt the deceptive advertising
The Cornucopia Institute has written to the CEOs of both Sara Lee and NPR requesting that the "misleading and unethical" packaging and advertising campaign, and associated advertising and underwriting, be immediately suspended while the corporations investigate their propriety.In addition to the organic prohibition against chemical fertilizers, federal regulations also prohibit organic farmers from using toxic pesticides that are commonly applied to conventional wheat fields, including those growing "Eco-Grain."
One such pesticide typically used in conventional wheat production is 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D), which EPA researchers have correlated with numerous birth defects of the respiratory and circulatory systems, as well as defects like clubfoot, fused digits and extra digits. Other research has linked the use of toxic pesticides on wheat fields to increased cancer mortality rates.
And, in addition to chemical fertilizers and pesticides, conventional wheat farmers sometimes use synthetic fungicides and other chemicals to treat their fields.
"For Sara Lee to claim that their wheat is ecologically grown and sustainable, when they appear to make no effort to reduce or eliminate their use of toxic pesticides, that have terrible effects on the environment and public health, is highly disingenuous," says Nathan Jones, who grows organic wheat in King Hill, Idaho and chairs the Organic Advisory Board of the Idaho State Department of Agriculture.
In addition to shunning toxic agrochemicals, organic farmers are required to improve the long-term health of their soil, and increase biodiversity on their farms.
"Unfortunately, this is another example of a major agribusiness trying to blur the line between products labeled 'organic' and 'natural'," stated Kastel, who acts as Cornucopia's Senior Farm Policy Analyst. "It seems that some corporations, like Sara Lee, appear more interested in corporate profit and greenwashing than true environmental stewardship, and are doing everything they can to take advantage of this confusion among consumers," Kastel added.
"The term 'natural' on products like bread is not regulated by state or federal government," says Marion Nestle, Professor of Nutrition at New York University. "Companies that use the term 'all natural' essentially come up with their own definition."
In addition, some of Sara Lee's other bread ingredients, such as soy oil and soy lecithin, are grown and processed using genetic engineering and chemical extraction with the toxic solvent hexane, both technologies that are banned in organic production.
In online marketing materials, Sara Lee even claims that farming methods used to produce its "100% Natural" bread "have some advantages over organic farming." They cite only one ecological advantage, claiming that organic farmers require more land than conventional growers.
"This claim does not hold up against recent scientific data," said Alison Grantham, Research Manager at the Rodale Institute in Kutztown, Pennsylvania, an agricultural research, education and outreach group. "Long-term trials, such as our nearly 30-year-old Farming Systems Trial, show long-term average organic farming systems' crop yields match conventional farming system yields, and that the improvements in soil health achieved by organic management actually support higher yields during droughts."
"I just can't believe that Sara Lee would claim to be more sustainable than organic bakers like me," affirms Daniel Leader, a certified organic bread baker and owner of Bread Alone Bakery in the Hudson Valley, New York. "In deference to my customers, I've made an investment in real sustainability by going organic, and for Sara Lee to tarnish the good name of organics, and even claim to be superior to organic bread, is simply unacceptable." Bread Alone Bakery is certified by the Northeast Organic Farmers Association, a certifier accredited by the USDA.
Sara Lee's longtime ad jingle campaign doesn't seem to be ringing true for organic farmers, bakers and consumers -- "Everybody doesn't like something, but nobody doesn't like Sara Lee." It will remain to be seen whether spending more money on marketing and advertising than on Eco-Grain itself will pay off for the agribusiness giant.
For more information on the difference between Earthgrains bread and organic bread, The Cornucopia Institute has prepared a fact sheet, available at http://www.cornucopia.org/eco-grain...
The Earthgrains/Eco-Grain investigation is the first in a series of Natural Versus Organic profiles that The Cornucopia Institute will be issuing in 2010.
The campaign is intended to empower consumers and wholesale buyers with marketplace knowledge so that they can make good, discerning purchasing decisions -- providing their families and customers with truly superior food that pays dividends for human health, the environment and society.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Even "green" technologies depend on dirty, destructive mining operations for rare metals
(NaturalNews) The advent of new "green" technologies may seem like a perfect remedy to many former methods that caused heavy pollution and environmental destruction. The only problem is that many of these new technologies require the mining of rare earth metals which often leads to the destruction of land, farms, and water supplies.
Coming primarily from China, rare earth metals like dysprosium and terbium are mined largely by criminal gangs who dominate the heavy metal mining industry. Because nearly all of the world's supply of these metals is contained in China, the industry lacks any significant regulation. Gang owners are known for savagely tearing apart large swaths of land and leaving behind destructive acid solvents that ruin farmland and pollute rivers, streams and lakes.
The alternative energy industry is gaining popularity at breathtaking speed as nations strive to restructure their energy policies to use clean energy. Because China has a near monopoly on the mining operations that make these technologies possible, many nations including the U.S., are already investing in studies about alternatives to the existing alternatives.
The way it typically works is miners will gather the topsoil from a piece of land, move it into large dirt pits, and filter out the metals using acid washes that separate the metals from the soil. Once exhausted, large areas of barren, acid-tainted land remain where rice fields once lived. The heavy rains come and wash the acid residue downstream to other fields, contaminating them as well.
Even after mining operations are finished, cleanup is typically never done; workers simply move to the next site to begin the process again, extracting as much as possible with no consideration given to protecting the environment. Roughly half of the mining operations are legal and only a fraction of these operate responsibly; those operating illegally often use and abuse the land without providing any compensation to the farmers whose livelihoods are destroyed.
There is currently no effective way to identify which rare earth metals come from legitimate companies and which come from illegal, thug-controlled fly-by-nights. All of it simply gets imported together where it gets refined for use in military gear, wind turbines, electric batteries, and other technologies. In order to avoid detection, illegally derived rare earth metals are often mixed with steel and smuggled in order to hide them from customs agents, later to be extracted and sold.
Many experts believe that tougher regulation on the industry is necessary in order to make clean energy a reality. Otherwise the developed world might as well return to the old ways.
Sources for this story include: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/26/b...
Coming primarily from China, rare earth metals like dysprosium and terbium are mined largely by criminal gangs who dominate the heavy metal mining industry. Because nearly all of the world's supply of these metals is contained in China, the industry lacks any significant regulation. Gang owners are known for savagely tearing apart large swaths of land and leaving behind destructive acid solvents that ruin farmland and pollute rivers, streams and lakes.
The alternative energy industry is gaining popularity at breathtaking speed as nations strive to restructure their energy policies to use clean energy. Because China has a near monopoly on the mining operations that make these technologies possible, many nations including the U.S., are already investing in studies about alternatives to the existing alternatives.
The way it typically works is miners will gather the topsoil from a piece of land, move it into large dirt pits, and filter out the metals using acid washes that separate the metals from the soil. Once exhausted, large areas of barren, acid-tainted land remain where rice fields once lived. The heavy rains come and wash the acid residue downstream to other fields, contaminating them as well.
Even after mining operations are finished, cleanup is typically never done; workers simply move to the next site to begin the process again, extracting as much as possible with no consideration given to protecting the environment. Roughly half of the mining operations are legal and only a fraction of these operate responsibly; those operating illegally often use and abuse the land without providing any compensation to the farmers whose livelihoods are destroyed.
There is currently no effective way to identify which rare earth metals come from legitimate companies and which come from illegal, thug-controlled fly-by-nights. All of it simply gets imported together where it gets refined for use in military gear, wind turbines, electric batteries, and other technologies. In order to avoid detection, illegally derived rare earth metals are often mixed with steel and smuggled in order to hide them from customs agents, later to be extracted and sold.
Many experts believe that tougher regulation on the industry is necessary in order to make clean energy a reality. Otherwise the developed world might as well return to the old ways.
Sources for this story include: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/26/b...
Friday, February 5, 2010
Air Pollution Can Reduce a Child's IQ
(NaturalNews) Exposure to air pollution in the womb can significantly reduce a child's IQ, according to a study conducted by researchers from the Mailman School of Public Health in New York and published in the journal Pediatrics.
The researchers conducted the experiment on pregnant, non-smoking black and Dominican American women between the ages of 18 and 35 who were living in the New York City neighborhoods of Harlem, South Bronx or Washington Heights. The participants wore personal air monitors during pregnancy, providing the researchers accurate data on the women's exposure to a class of air pollutants known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The participant's children were then subjected to standardized IQ tests at age five.
"These results provide evidence that environmental PAHs at levels encountered in New York City air can affect children's IQ adversely," the researchers concluded.
PAHs are produced by the burning of fossil fuels and other organic materials, including tobacco. The major source of PAH pollution in urban areas is automobile exhaust.
The researchers found that after adjusting for other factors that might affect IQ, children of mothers who had high PAH exposure during pregnancy had IQ scores an average of 4.31 points lower than children of mothers with lower exposure. The difference in verbal IQ scores was even higher, with children of high-exposure mothers scoring an average of 4.61 points lower. This IQ difference is equivalent to that seen in children with low-level lead exposure.
"These findings are of concern because these decreases in IQ could be educationally meaningful in terms of school performance," lead author Frederica Perera said.
High PAH exposure was defined as higher than the participants' median exposure level, 2.26 nanograms per cubic meter. It was a comparative measure used for the purposes of the study only, and not linked to any health recommendations.
Previous research has already suggested that PAH exposure can cause cancer and damage the neurological and reproductive systems.
Sources for this story include: www.upi.com; latimesblogs.latimes.com.
The researchers conducted the experiment on pregnant, non-smoking black and Dominican American women between the ages of 18 and 35 who were living in the New York City neighborhoods of Harlem, South Bronx or Washington Heights. The participants wore personal air monitors during pregnancy, providing the researchers accurate data on the women's exposure to a class of air pollutants known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The participant's children were then subjected to standardized IQ tests at age five.
"These results provide evidence that environmental PAHs at levels encountered in New York City air can affect children's IQ adversely," the researchers concluded.
PAHs are produced by the burning of fossil fuels and other organic materials, including tobacco. The major source of PAH pollution in urban areas is automobile exhaust.
The researchers found that after adjusting for other factors that might affect IQ, children of mothers who had high PAH exposure during pregnancy had IQ scores an average of 4.31 points lower than children of mothers with lower exposure. The difference in verbal IQ scores was even higher, with children of high-exposure mothers scoring an average of 4.61 points lower. This IQ difference is equivalent to that seen in children with low-level lead exposure.
"These findings are of concern because these decreases in IQ could be educationally meaningful in terms of school performance," lead author Frederica Perera said.
High PAH exposure was defined as higher than the participants' median exposure level, 2.26 nanograms per cubic meter. It was a comparative measure used for the purposes of the study only, and not linked to any health recommendations.
Previous research has already suggested that PAH exposure can cause cancer and damage the neurological and reproductive systems.
Sources for this story include: www.upi.com; latimesblogs.latimes.com.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Plant-Based Plastics to Replace Petroleum Plastics?
(NaturalNews) As the price for crude oil continues to rise over time, the cost of producing petroleum-based plastic products continues to rise with it. Alternatives such as bio-plastics, which currently cost more to produce than existing plastics, may someday become more cost effective than petroleum-based plastics.
Frederic Scheer, owner of a company called Cereplast that makes sustainable bio-plastic material from vegetable and grain starches, believes that petroleum prices will eventually exceed the costs of producing his own product. By 2013, he believes that industry giants like DuPont and BASF will pursue his technology as a replacement for their soon-to-be outdated petroleum plastics.
Scheer's company has developed a method of converting starch from corn, wheat, tapioca, and potatoes into biodegradable plastic resins. Because they effectively biodegrade in a mere 90 days, they are an excellent alternative to traditional plastic cups, containers and packaging materials.
Cereplast also produces a hybrid resin composed of 50 percent renewable bio-plastic which cuts waste and conserves energy. This blend is useful in things like cars and children's toys. By cutting the amount of polypropylene plastic used in products, the kind most typically used in consumer products, Scheer hopes his company will help to reduce the negative environmental impact caused by plastic products.
Similar to using corn ethanol as fuel, the practicality of utilizing agricultural byproducts to produce sustainable energy is dependent upon the often fluctuating costs associated with obtaining them. The recent worldwide food crisis, for example, caused the prices of many commodities to rise dramatically, making some alternative energy projects no longer feasible.
In order to overcome this problem, Scheer is diversifying his efforts by researching the potential for utilizing algae. Because it can be grown quickly and cheaply, it is likely to work even better than starch because its costs would remain more stable. His company plans to release an algae-based plastic by the end of 2010.
Another hot commodity receiving little attention in the mainstream is the hemp plant. Hemp is a renewable biomass source that would not only work well in producing clean, biodegradable plastic products, but would also pave the way for energy independence by eliminating the need for fossil fuels. The uses for hemp are endless.
With a market topping $2.5 trillion worldwide, the plastics market holds a lot of potential for those with alternative ideas. The push for cleaner, "greener" products may eventually result in a tremendous gain for those like Scheer who have developed and continue to develop viable alternatives to fossil fuels.
Sources for this story include: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/ex...
Frederic Scheer, owner of a company called Cereplast that makes sustainable bio-plastic material from vegetable and grain starches, believes that petroleum prices will eventually exceed the costs of producing his own product. By 2013, he believes that industry giants like DuPont and BASF will pursue his technology as a replacement for their soon-to-be outdated petroleum plastics.
Scheer's company has developed a method of converting starch from corn, wheat, tapioca, and potatoes into biodegradable plastic resins. Because they effectively biodegrade in a mere 90 days, they are an excellent alternative to traditional plastic cups, containers and packaging materials.
Cereplast also produces a hybrid resin composed of 50 percent renewable bio-plastic which cuts waste and conserves energy. This blend is useful in things like cars and children's toys. By cutting the amount of polypropylene plastic used in products, the kind most typically used in consumer products, Scheer hopes his company will help to reduce the negative environmental impact caused by plastic products.
Similar to using corn ethanol as fuel, the practicality of utilizing agricultural byproducts to produce sustainable energy is dependent upon the often fluctuating costs associated with obtaining them. The recent worldwide food crisis, for example, caused the prices of many commodities to rise dramatically, making some alternative energy projects no longer feasible.
In order to overcome this problem, Scheer is diversifying his efforts by researching the potential for utilizing algae. Because it can be grown quickly and cheaply, it is likely to work even better than starch because its costs would remain more stable. His company plans to release an algae-based plastic by the end of 2010.
Another hot commodity receiving little attention in the mainstream is the hemp plant. Hemp is a renewable biomass source that would not only work well in producing clean, biodegradable plastic products, but would also pave the way for energy independence by eliminating the need for fossil fuels. The uses for hemp are endless.
With a market topping $2.5 trillion worldwide, the plastics market holds a lot of potential for those with alternative ideas. The push for cleaner, "greener" products may eventually result in a tremendous gain for those like Scheer who have developed and continue to develop viable alternatives to fossil fuels.
Sources for this story include: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/ex...
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Neurotoxic Chemical Common in Foods
(NaturalNews) A neurotoxic flame retardant resists environmental breakdown and builds up in the food chain, a new study conducted by researchers from the Boston University School of Public Health and published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives has found.
"They are persistent in the environment. They don't get broken down," lead researcher Alicia Fraser said. "Therefore, it takes a really long time for the contamination to leave our environment and our bodies. Even though we don't know the health effects at this point, most people would want policies that would stop us from being exposed to them."
The chemicals, known as polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), are closely related to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), which were banned in the 1970s after evidence emerged that they produced birth defects and neurological damage. Flame-retardant PBDEs were introduced at roughly the same time and soon became popular in a wide variety of household and consumer products.
Since the 1990s, evidence has increasingly emerged linking PBDEs to neurological damage in animals. Furthermore, study after study has shown that the chemicals can build up in the human body, particularly in breast milk. Every human population on Earth currently carries PBDEs in their bodies.
In the new study, researchers tested 2,000 people for PBDEs, finding that meat eaters had body burdens 25 percent higher than vegetarians. This provided still more evidence that the chemicals build up in animal fat, resisting degradation.
"The more meat you eat, the more PBDEs you have in your serum," Fraser said.
Many PBDEs have already been banned by the European Union, as well as the states of California, Maine and Washington. The new findings suggest that even if the chemicals are banned worldwide, they will continue to plague us for decades to come -- just like PCBs.
"The industry is finding new products to use as flame retardants, and we don't know the health and safety implications of those products either," Fraser said. "We need to test the health and safety implications of products before they go into use, not after."
Sources for this story include: www.wired.com.
"They are persistent in the environment. They don't get broken down," lead researcher Alicia Fraser said. "Therefore, it takes a really long time for the contamination to leave our environment and our bodies. Even though we don't know the health effects at this point, most people would want policies that would stop us from being exposed to them."
The chemicals, known as polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), are closely related to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), which were banned in the 1970s after evidence emerged that they produced birth defects and neurological damage. Flame-retardant PBDEs were introduced at roughly the same time and soon became popular in a wide variety of household and consumer products.
Since the 1990s, evidence has increasingly emerged linking PBDEs to neurological damage in animals. Furthermore, study after study has shown that the chemicals can build up in the human body, particularly in breast milk. Every human population on Earth currently carries PBDEs in their bodies.
In the new study, researchers tested 2,000 people for PBDEs, finding that meat eaters had body burdens 25 percent higher than vegetarians. This provided still more evidence that the chemicals build up in animal fat, resisting degradation.
"The more meat you eat, the more PBDEs you have in your serum," Fraser said.
Many PBDEs have already been banned by the European Union, as well as the states of California, Maine and Washington. The new findings suggest that even if the chemicals are banned worldwide, they will continue to plague us for decades to come -- just like PCBs.
"The industry is finding new products to use as flame retardants, and we don't know the health and safety implications of those products either," Fraser said. "We need to test the health and safety implications of products before they go into use, not after."
Sources for this story include: www.wired.com.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Compact Fluorescent Lights Dumping Mercury Directly into Landfills
(NaturalNews) Compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs have become all the rage over the past several years, touted by many as the preferable "green" way to light a home, save energy, and promote environmental responsibility. While they may use less energy than traditional incandescent bulbs, CFL bulbs are filled with toxic mercury that, when disposed of, contaminates landfills and the environment.
A report released in 2008 from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection revealed that when a CFL bulb is broken, it can release dangerously high levels of mercury into the air. Mercury-vapor standards generally allow for 300 nanograms of mercury per cubic meter of air, however a broken CFL bulb can emit upwards of 50,000 nanograms per cubic meter, or more than 166 times the safe upper threshold.
In Toronto, city officials require people to dispose of CFL bulbs at special hazardous waste facilities because they don't want the city's landfills to become contaminated with mercury. While used CFL bulbs are not legally recognized as hazardous waste, they are treated as such because they pose serious environmental threats when broken and released into the environment.
Waste runoff and ground seepage from landfills can contaminate rivers, streams, lakes, reservoirs, and underground water tables. Even though landfills are generally designed to minimize this kind of contamination, the rapidly growing usage of CFL bulbs could have disastrous environmental consequences if they are not disposed of properly.
CFL bulbs also emit high levels of radiation, causing migraine headaches, sleep abnormalities, fatigue, and other health problems. Unlike traditional incandescent bulbs, CFL bulbs emit excessive "dirty energy," or electromagnetic frequencies (EMFs), a fact that has received little attention from those on the mainstream "green" bandwagon who continue to endorse CFLs as the solution to the alleged climate change crisis.
The voltage reduction technology in CFL bulbs causes high amounts of EMF pollution to be emitted. Similar to the kind released from mobile phone antennas and food irradiation machinery, EMF radiation poses serious health threats to humans who are exposed to excessive amounts of it. CFL bulbs have been found to greatly increase EMF exposure as they are often the most significant EMF polluters in homes that use them.
Light-emitting diode (LED) bulbs, on the other hand, are a much safer alternative to CFL bulbs. Those who wish to transition from traditional incandescent bulbs to something that uses less energy would do well to investigate LED alternatives. Although they are typically more expensive than the other technologies due to limited acceptance in the mainstream, they are better for the environment than CFLs and emit far less EMF pollution.
Sources for this story include: http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/fix... http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/s... http://cflsafety.blogspot.com/
A report released in 2008 from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection revealed that when a CFL bulb is broken, it can release dangerously high levels of mercury into the air. Mercury-vapor standards generally allow for 300 nanograms of mercury per cubic meter of air, however a broken CFL bulb can emit upwards of 50,000 nanograms per cubic meter, or more than 166 times the safe upper threshold.
In Toronto, city officials require people to dispose of CFL bulbs at special hazardous waste facilities because they don't want the city's landfills to become contaminated with mercury. While used CFL bulbs are not legally recognized as hazardous waste, they are treated as such because they pose serious environmental threats when broken and released into the environment.
Waste runoff and ground seepage from landfills can contaminate rivers, streams, lakes, reservoirs, and underground water tables. Even though landfills are generally designed to minimize this kind of contamination, the rapidly growing usage of CFL bulbs could have disastrous environmental consequences if they are not disposed of properly.
CFL bulbs also emit high levels of radiation, causing migraine headaches, sleep abnormalities, fatigue, and other health problems. Unlike traditional incandescent bulbs, CFL bulbs emit excessive "dirty energy," or electromagnetic frequencies (EMFs), a fact that has received little attention from those on the mainstream "green" bandwagon who continue to endorse CFLs as the solution to the alleged climate change crisis.
The voltage reduction technology in CFL bulbs causes high amounts of EMF pollution to be emitted. Similar to the kind released from mobile phone antennas and food irradiation machinery, EMF radiation poses serious health threats to humans who are exposed to excessive amounts of it. CFL bulbs have been found to greatly increase EMF exposure as they are often the most significant EMF polluters in homes that use them.
Light-emitting diode (LED) bulbs, on the other hand, are a much safer alternative to CFL bulbs. Those who wish to transition from traditional incandescent bulbs to something that uses less energy would do well to investigate LED alternatives. Although they are typically more expensive than the other technologies due to limited acceptance in the mainstream, they are better for the environment than CFLs and emit far less EMF pollution.
Sources for this story include: http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/fix... http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/s... http://cflsafety.blogspot.com/
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
EWG Study Finds Hundreds of Pollutants in Nation's Drinking Water
(NaturalNews) The Environmental Working Group (EWG) has released yet another report indicting the nation's drinking water supplies are being highly contaminated with pollutants. An analysis of 20 million water quality tests performed between 2004 and 2009 revealed that many local and regional water supplies are tainted with up to 316 different toxic chemicals, many of which are unregulated by current federal standards.
Of the over 300 pollutants found, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has set safe maximum limits for only 114 of them, leaving the remaining 64 percent unrecognized as pollutants and unregulated by toxin laws. A few of these chemicals include perchlorate, a toxic component of rocket fuel; freon and radon, two chemical refrigerants; acetone; and metolachlor, a weed killer.
Nearly 10,000 American communities comprised of roughly 132 million people are receiving over 200 unregulated chemicals in their water supplies. Experts question the long-term safety of ingesting such tainted water, citing the fact that even existing federal laws about regulated chemicals suggest that tap water is unsafe for long-term ingestion. Health officials admit that current acceptable water contamination limits render water unsafe to drink.
Jane Houlihan, Senior Vice President for Research at EWG, notes that federal guidelines have failed to keep up with the growing number of toxic contaminants being found in drinking water. Utility companies, she says, are doing their best to purify water and make it safe to drink, but federal laws must be amended to include new chemicals in order to protect water supplies from unnecessary contamination.
Because many of the chemicals being found in water are unregulated and essentially permitted at any level, water utilities concerned about removing them spend more than $4 billion a year on chemicals designed to remove them from water. Only $207 million, or five percent of that amount, is spent protecting water sources from being contaminated in the first place.
Almost all of the unregulated chemicals being found in water are a result of discharge from agricultural pesticides and fertilizers, industrial pollutant runoff, and other wastewater treatment residue that makes its way into aquifers, reservoirs and groundwater supplies. Since there are virtually no laws in place to protect water supplies from these contaminants, industry is essentially permitted to discharge this waste with no consequence.
Experts believe that a federal restructuring of contaminant guidelines would go far to prevent water supply contamination, saving water utilities billions of dollars in treatment costs and maintaining the integrity of water supplies nationwide.
Sources for this story include: http://www.ewg.org/tap-water/pressr...
Of the over 300 pollutants found, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has set safe maximum limits for only 114 of them, leaving the remaining 64 percent unrecognized as pollutants and unregulated by toxin laws. A few of these chemicals include perchlorate, a toxic component of rocket fuel; freon and radon, two chemical refrigerants; acetone; and metolachlor, a weed killer.
Nearly 10,000 American communities comprised of roughly 132 million people are receiving over 200 unregulated chemicals in their water supplies. Experts question the long-term safety of ingesting such tainted water, citing the fact that even existing federal laws about regulated chemicals suggest that tap water is unsafe for long-term ingestion. Health officials admit that current acceptable water contamination limits render water unsafe to drink.
Jane Houlihan, Senior Vice President for Research at EWG, notes that federal guidelines have failed to keep up with the growing number of toxic contaminants being found in drinking water. Utility companies, she says, are doing their best to purify water and make it safe to drink, but federal laws must be amended to include new chemicals in order to protect water supplies from unnecessary contamination.
Because many of the chemicals being found in water are unregulated and essentially permitted at any level, water utilities concerned about removing them spend more than $4 billion a year on chemicals designed to remove them from water. Only $207 million, or five percent of that amount, is spent protecting water sources from being contaminated in the first place.
Almost all of the unregulated chemicals being found in water are a result of discharge from agricultural pesticides and fertilizers, industrial pollutant runoff, and other wastewater treatment residue that makes its way into aquifers, reservoirs and groundwater supplies. Since there are virtually no laws in place to protect water supplies from these contaminants, industry is essentially permitted to discharge this waste with no consequence.
Experts believe that a federal restructuring of contaminant guidelines would go far to prevent water supply contamination, saving water utilities billions of dollars in treatment costs and maintaining the integrity of water supplies nationwide.
Sources for this story include: http://www.ewg.org/tap-water/pressr...
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
More CO2 in the atmosphere leads to accelerated growth of certain tree species
(NaturalNews) Scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Minnesota at Morris have found that increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide have led to the rapid growth of certain tree species. The quaking aspen, a popular North America deciduous tree, has seen a 50 percent acceleration in growth over the past 50 years due to increased CO2 levels.
Trees are necessary climate regulators since they process carbon dioxide and give off oxygen. Humans process oxygen and give off carbon dioxide, working harmoniously with natural plant life to maintain proper atmospheric composition. Since natural forests represent about 30 percent of the earth's surface, they are highly effective at segregating greenhouse gases.
The quaking aspen is a vibrant, dominant tree found in both Canada and the United States. It is considered to be a "foundation species", meaning that it helps dictate the dynamics of the plant and animal communities that surround it. Roughly 42 million acres in Canada and 6.5 million acres in Wisconsin and Minnesota are composed of aspen trees.
Elevated levels of CO2 will naturally lead to increased plant growth since CO2 is a precursor to plant food. Tree-ring analyses verified that aspen trees have been growing at an increasingly accelerated pace over the years because of this phenomenon.
Because accelerated growth was not seen in other tree species like oak and pine, scientists admit they will have to further investigate the issue. Similarly, drier regions where the trees were found did not experience the same rapid growth rates as those found in the wetter regions.
Of course, plants produce oxygen as the "waste" product of their respiration, and that's a poison to other plants, so there's a natural balancing effect that keeps oxygen and CO2 levels in balance over the long haul.
This is why greenhouse gases are called "greenhouse gases", by the way -- because they turn the planet into a really effective greenhouse where plants grow like crazy. Of course, the clear-cutting of rainforest in the Amazon (and elsewhere) kills any chance of those regions taking part in that accelerated plant growth. Even in a high-CO2 environment, human beings can destroy plant life with bulldozers.
It's interesting that plants and humans breathe the same air but extract very different chemical elements from it: Humans need oxygen while plants need carbon dioxide. For both species to survive, the air needs to contain both chemicals in balance. Currently, the oxygen content of the air is roughly around 20% (and falling).
Sources for this story include:
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_relea...
Trees are necessary climate regulators since they process carbon dioxide and give off oxygen. Humans process oxygen and give off carbon dioxide, working harmoniously with natural plant life to maintain proper atmospheric composition. Since natural forests represent about 30 percent of the earth's surface, they are highly effective at segregating greenhouse gases.
The quaking aspen is a vibrant, dominant tree found in both Canada and the United States. It is considered to be a "foundation species", meaning that it helps dictate the dynamics of the plant and animal communities that surround it. Roughly 42 million acres in Canada and 6.5 million acres in Wisconsin and Minnesota are composed of aspen trees.
Elevated levels of CO2 will naturally lead to increased plant growth since CO2 is a precursor to plant food. Tree-ring analyses verified that aspen trees have been growing at an increasingly accelerated pace over the years because of this phenomenon.
Because accelerated growth was not seen in other tree species like oak and pine, scientists admit they will have to further investigate the issue. Similarly, drier regions where the trees were found did not experience the same rapid growth rates as those found in the wetter regions.
Comments by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
An interesting side effect of increased carbon emissions by human activity is that plants will grow more quickly. CO2 is to plants as oxygen is to humans, so the more CO2 is in the atmosphere, the more quickly many plants can grow.Of course, plants produce oxygen as the "waste" product of their respiration, and that's a poison to other plants, so there's a natural balancing effect that keeps oxygen and CO2 levels in balance over the long haul.
This is why greenhouse gases are called "greenhouse gases", by the way -- because they turn the planet into a really effective greenhouse where plants grow like crazy. Of course, the clear-cutting of rainforest in the Amazon (and elsewhere) kills any chance of those regions taking part in that accelerated plant growth. Even in a high-CO2 environment, human beings can destroy plant life with bulldozers.
It's interesting that plants and humans breathe the same air but extract very different chemical elements from it: Humans need oxygen while plants need carbon dioxide. For both species to survive, the air needs to contain both chemicals in balance. Currently, the oxygen content of the air is roughly around 20% (and falling).
Sources for this story include:
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_relea...
Friday, December 11, 2009
Dr. Jane Goodall speaks with NaturalNews about sustainable living and teaching children about the future of life on Earth
(NaturalNews) It's been almost 50 years since Dr. Jane Goodall first arrived at Gombe Stream National Park to study primates, and since then, much has changed in the world. "We have made rather a mess," Dr. Goodall told NaturalNews in an exclusive interview, speaking about the impact of humans on our planet. "We humans have left a very, very unpleasant ecological footprint on this beautiful planet."
Listen to the complete audio interview with Dr. Goodall here on NaturalNews at: http://www.naturalnews.com/Index-Po...
Dr. Jane Goodall, however, is no pessimist, and her message is instilled with a sense of hope and genuine inspiration. "What's tremendously important is that people do have a sense of hope amidst the doom and gloom," she says. "What I realize today is that we have made major mistakes and it's about time we start putting it back together."
Goodall's institute, named the Jane Goodall Institute (www.JaneGoodall.org) pursues worldwide programs to educate children, protect natural habitats and uplift the lives of those human populations that live among or near important protected habitats. Her institute's program for children, Roots and Shoots (www.RootsAndShoots.org) engages children in the knowledge and skills of sustainable living, teaching them practical know-how they'll need to be a proactive part of a sustainable future on our planet.
"We've been stealing, stealing, stealing from our children, and it's high time we started paying back," she told NaturalNews in her interview. "Think of how we could have changed the entire structure of the world and alleviated poverty if the money spent on the last couple of wars could have been used for good purposes."
Listen to the full conversation between Jane Goodall and the Health Ranger here: http://www.naturalnews.com/Index-Po...
(You may also download the interview as an MP3 file and play it on your iPod or other MP3 device.)
As part of that effort to help people make better choices, Jane Goodall has partnered with Pangea Organics (www.PangeaOrganics.com), an eco-conscious maker of hand-crafted body care products, to deliver a special offer to NaturalNews readers that helps raise funds for the Jane Goodall Institute.
You can read about this offer (and get the coupon code) here on NaturalNews: http://www.naturalnews.com/027715_J...
As part of our effort to support Dr. Jane Goodall's work, our non-profit Consumer Wellness Center is also donating $1,000 to the Jane Goodall Institute. Read more details at the story link mentioned above.
Your support will delight the animal lover in your life, and, most importantly, help the Jane Goodall Institute shelter chimpanzees like Kauka and Vichika -- orphans whose families were killed before their eyes by poachers.
www.janegoodall.org/chimp-guardian
The chimpanzees at JGI’s Tchimpounga Chimpanzee Rehabilitation Center in the Republic of Congo had a traumatic start to life, but with the support of people like you, they are nurtured back to health and happiness. And they get a new chimpanzee "family."
Please help the Jane Goodall institute give orphaned chimpanzees at Tchimpounga nutritious diets, TLC, and the chance to roam the forest, feel the sun on their backs and play with other chimps.
Your gift of a Chimp Guardianship will not only thrill someone you care about -- it will mean the world to everyone at the Jane Goodall Institute and Tchimpounga.
www.janegoodall.org/chimp-guardian
Listen to the complete audio interview with Dr. Goodall here on NaturalNews at: http://www.naturalnews.com/Index-Po...
Dr. Jane Goodall, however, is no pessimist, and her message is instilled with a sense of hope and genuine inspiration. "What's tremendously important is that people do have a sense of hope amidst the doom and gloom," she says. "What I realize today is that we have made major mistakes and it's about time we start putting it back together."
Goodall's institute, named the Jane Goodall Institute (www.JaneGoodall.org) pursues worldwide programs to educate children, protect natural habitats and uplift the lives of those human populations that live among or near important protected habitats. Her institute's program for children, Roots and Shoots (www.RootsAndShoots.org) engages children in the knowledge and skills of sustainable living, teaching them practical know-how they'll need to be a proactive part of a sustainable future on our planet.
"We've been stealing, stealing, stealing from our children, and it's high time we started paying back," she told NaturalNews in her interview. "Think of how we could have changed the entire structure of the world and alleviated poverty if the money spent on the last couple of wars could have been used for good purposes."
Listen to the full conversation between Jane Goodall and the Health Ranger here: http://www.naturalnews.com/Index-Po...
(You may also download the interview as an MP3 file and play it on your iPod or other MP3 device.)
Tiny choices, multiplied by millions
Jane Goodall's efforts today are focused on teaching people how to make informed, small choices that cumulatively add up to grassroots global change. "If you just spend a few minutes each day thinking about the choices you make: What you buy, what you eat, what you wear, how it was made, if it harmed the environment, if it hurt animals, if it was socially unjust, that would cause you to make small changes," she explained. "And if millions of people make small changes, we start to influence the companies who are making unethical products."As part of that effort to help people make better choices, Jane Goodall has partnered with Pangea Organics (www.PangeaOrganics.com), an eco-conscious maker of hand-crafted body care products, to deliver a special offer to NaturalNews readers that helps raise funds for the Jane Goodall Institute.
You can read about this offer (and get the coupon code) here on NaturalNews: http://www.naturalnews.com/027715_J...
As part of our effort to support Dr. Jane Goodall's work, our non-profit Consumer Wellness Center is also donating $1,000 to the Jane Goodall Institute. Read more details at the story link mentioned above.
Please consider giving the gift of a Chimpanzee Guardianship this holiday season
(A special message from the Jane Goodall Institute)Your support will delight the animal lover in your life, and, most importantly, help the Jane Goodall Institute shelter chimpanzees like Kauka and Vichika -- orphans whose families were killed before their eyes by poachers.
www.janegoodall.org/chimp-guardian
The chimpanzees at JGI’s Tchimpounga Chimpanzee Rehabilitation Center in the Republic of Congo had a traumatic start to life, but with the support of people like you, they are nurtured back to health and happiness. And they get a new chimpanzee "family."
Please help the Jane Goodall institute give orphaned chimpanzees at Tchimpounga nutritious diets, TLC, and the chance to roam the forest, feel the sun on their backs and play with other chimps.
Your gift of a Chimp Guardianship will not only thrill someone you care about -- it will mean the world to everyone at the Jane Goodall Institute and Tchimpounga.
www.janegoodall.org/chimp-guardian
Jane Goodall Institute partners with Pangea Organics with exclusive offer for NaturalNews readers
(NaturalNews) In perfect congruency with Dr. Jane Goodall's philosophies about environmental responsibility, the Jane Goodall Institute (www.JaneGoodall.com) has partnered with Pangea Organics (www.PangeaOrganics.com), a company that NaturalNews has for many years lauded as among the top environmentally-conscious personal care product companies in the world.
Pangea Organics offers hand-crafted, organic, palm oil-free bar soaps, shampoos, lip balm, body wash and many other body care products. They're all cruelty-free, palm oil-free and contain no synthetic fragrance chemicals. Most of the packaging is made from post-consumer recycled material, and the packaging for many products actually contains living tree seeds that can be planted and grown.
Under this unique partnership between the Jane Goodall Institute and Pangea Organics, all NaturalNews readers can purchase Pangea Organics products at 25% off through the end of December, 2009. Even better, 5% of every purchase is donated to the Jane Goodall Institute to support its global environmental stewardship education programs.
Simply use the discount code GOODALL with your online purchase from Pangea Organics (www.PangeaOrganics.com). You'll receive the 25% exclusive discount, plus 5% will be donated to the Jane Goodall Institute. This unique, time-limited arrangement lets you do something good for your health while raising funds to help protect our planet at the same time! (Offer expires at midnight, December 31, 2009.)
"[Pangea] has such good environmental and social ethics. That's what we look for in our partners," Goodall told NaturalNews in an exclusive interview. (http://www.naturalnews.com/Index-Po...)
Fundraising is important to support the outstanding work being pursued by the Jane Goodall Institute. "We need to raise funds. All our projects are fabulous, but like so many NGOs, we're hurting in the economic downturn, and so to find a partner with impeccable ethics and decent people and build a partnership with them is a win / win / win situation," Dr. Goodall explained.
This is part of the CWC's ongoing distribution of funds to important causes for health and the environment. Read some of the CWC's success stories from our 2009 grants right here: http://consumerwellness.org/GrantSu...
With Dr. Goodall's partnership on top of that, this is a wonderful opportunity for you to become a customer of a top-notch body care company while knowing that each purchase you make helps support the efforts of a legendary woman and scientist who has pioneered enormous positive change through her environmental stewardship.
This holiday season, consider making Pangea Organics one of your top choices for acquiring ethical gifts for your friends or family members. At 25% off, with 5% donated to the Goodall Institute, this exclusive offer for NaturalNews readers is a rare opportunity to be part of something extremely positive -- both for yourself and the planet!
Simply use discount code GOODALL with any purchase from Pangea Organics through the end of December, 2009: www.PangeaOrganics.com
NaturalNews is donating ad space to promote this special offer through December, 2009. In effect, this NaturalNews offer is being supported by four organizations here: Pangea Organics, the Jane Goodall Institute, NaturalNews and the Consumer Wellness Center.
For those who decide to take advantage of this unique offer, I personally thank you for your support of both Pangea Organics and the Jane Goodall Institute. Enjoy your Pangea Organics products, and thanks for making a positive difference in our world!
Your support will delight the animal lover in your life, and, most importantly, help the Jane Goodall Institute shelter chimpanzees like Kauka and Vichika -- orphans whose families were killed before their eyes by poachers.
www.janegoodall.org/chimp-guardian
The chimpanzees at JGI’s Tchimpounga Chimpanzee Rehabilitation Center in the Republic of Congo had a traumatic start to life, but with the support of people like you, they are nurtured back to health and happiness. And they get a new chimpanzee "family."
Please help the Jane Goodall institute give orphaned chimpanzees at Tchimpounga nutritious diets, TLC, and the chance to roam the forest, feel the sun on their backs and play with other chimps.
Your gift of a Chimp Guardianship will not only thrill someone you care about -- it will mean the world to everyone at the Jane Goodall Institute and Tchimpounga.
www.janegoodall.org/chimp-guardian
Pangea Organics offers hand-crafted, organic, palm oil-free bar soaps, shampoos, lip balm, body wash and many other body care products. They're all cruelty-free, palm oil-free and contain no synthetic fragrance chemicals. Most of the packaging is made from post-consumer recycled material, and the packaging for many products actually contains living tree seeds that can be planted and grown.
Under this unique partnership between the Jane Goodall Institute and Pangea Organics, all NaturalNews readers can purchase Pangea Organics products at 25% off through the end of December, 2009. Even better, 5% of every purchase is donated to the Jane Goodall Institute to support its global environmental stewardship education programs.
Simply use the discount code GOODALL with your online purchase from Pangea Organics (www.PangeaOrganics.com). You'll receive the 25% exclusive discount, plus 5% will be donated to the Jane Goodall Institute. This unique, time-limited arrangement lets you do something good for your health while raising funds to help protect our planet at the same time! (Offer expires at midnight, December 31, 2009.)
"[Pangea] has such good environmental and social ethics. That's what we look for in our partners," Goodall told NaturalNews in an exclusive interview. (http://www.naturalnews.com/Index-Po...)
Fundraising is important to support the outstanding work being pursued by the Jane Goodall Institute. "We need to raise funds. All our projects are fabulous, but like so many NGOs, we're hurting in the economic downturn, and so to find a partner with impeccable ethics and decent people and build a partnership with them is a win / win / win situation," Dr. Goodall explained.
Consumer Wellness Center pledges $1,000 donation to Jane Goodall Institute
NaturalNews earns nothing from this special offer. In fact, our related non-profit organization, the Consumer Wellness Center, is pledging a $1,000 donation today to the Jane Goodall Institute.This is part of the CWC's ongoing distribution of funds to important causes for health and the environment. Read some of the CWC's success stories from our 2009 grants right here: http://consumerwellness.org/GrantSu...
Health Ranger recommends Pangea Organics
Pangea Organics demonstrates the kind of environmentally-conscious business ethics that our world desperately needs. Even without the partnership with the Jane Goodall Institute, Pangea Organics is a company that deserves your repeat business.With Dr. Goodall's partnership on top of that, this is a wonderful opportunity for you to become a customer of a top-notch body care company while knowing that each purchase you make helps support the efforts of a legendary woman and scientist who has pioneered enormous positive change through her environmental stewardship.
This holiday season, consider making Pangea Organics one of your top choices for acquiring ethical gifts for your friends or family members. At 25% off, with 5% donated to the Goodall Institute, this exclusive offer for NaturalNews readers is a rare opportunity to be part of something extremely positive -- both for yourself and the planet!
Simply use discount code GOODALL with any purchase from Pangea Organics through the end of December, 2009: www.PangeaOrganics.com
NaturalNews is donating ad space to promote this special offer through December, 2009. In effect, this NaturalNews offer is being supported by four organizations here: Pangea Organics, the Jane Goodall Institute, NaturalNews and the Consumer Wellness Center.
For those who decide to take advantage of this unique offer, I personally thank you for your support of both Pangea Organics and the Jane Goodall Institute. Enjoy your Pangea Organics products, and thanks for making a positive difference in our world!
Please consider giving the gift of a Chimpanzee Guardianship this holiday season
(A special message from the Jane Goodall Institute)Your support will delight the animal lover in your life, and, most importantly, help the Jane Goodall Institute shelter chimpanzees like Kauka and Vichika -- orphans whose families were killed before their eyes by poachers.
www.janegoodall.org/chimp-guardian
The chimpanzees at JGI’s Tchimpounga Chimpanzee Rehabilitation Center in the Republic of Congo had a traumatic start to life, but with the support of people like you, they are nurtured back to health and happiness. And they get a new chimpanzee "family."
Please help the Jane Goodall institute give orphaned chimpanzees at Tchimpounga nutritious diets, TLC, and the chance to roam the forest, feel the sun on their backs and play with other chimps.
Your gift of a Chimp Guardianship will not only thrill someone you care about -- it will mean the world to everyone at the Jane Goodall Institute and Tchimpounga.
www.janegoodall.org/chimp-guardian
Friday, December 4, 2009
ClimateGate scandal demonstrates intellectual protectionism of modern scientists
(NaturalNews) The inconvenient release of private email conversations among climate change scientists has been a boon for climate change skeptics. What emerges from the leaked emails is a depiction of a group of scientists who practice "intellectual protectionism" -- meaning they know they're right and they'll do anything to protect their beliefs, even if it means hiding or manipulating data.
Sound familiar? Scientists in the pharmaceutical industry have been practicing this for decades. If you think the ClimateGate emails are revealing, just imagine what kind of similar emails are flying around between Big Pharma scientists who routinely manipulate study data and commit scientific fraud in the name of medicine. Time and time again, we see revelations of manipulated clinical trials where data was intentionally distorted in order to make a dangerous, useless drug appear to be safe and effective.
What ClimateGate scientists and Big Pharma scientists have in common is that they have both abandoned the core principles of good science in their quest to be right. Rather than asking questions of nature and humbly listening to the answers provided by the data, these scientists have staked out a position and decided to defend that position at all costs -- even if it requires hiding or distorting data!
That approach is entirely unscientific, of course. In my mind, it now puts much of the recent global warming science in the same category as Big Pharma's research: Pure quackery.
As Christopher Booker explains in The Telegraph, "The reason why even the Guardian's George Monbiot has expressed total shock and dismay at the picture revealed by the documents is that their authors are not just any old bunch of academics. Their importance cannot be overestimated. What we are looking at here is the small group of scientists who have for years been more influential in driving the worldwide alarm over global warming than any others, not least through the role they play at the heart of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)." (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/...)
And that's a shame because the question remains: What if the global warming scientists are really right? What if they're right for all the wrong reasons, and they let their egos and their professional pride get in the way of conducting real science, thereby discrediting the very notion they were attempting to prove? That's a possibility we would still do well to consider.
Yet, from their released emails, it's quite clear these scientists were manipulating data to make the "science" fit their beliefs. They weren't focused solely on the real facts; they were interested in forwarding their climate change theories using any means necessary -- including scientific trickery.
What's truly sad about all this -- both in the climate change community and the pharmaceutical community -- is that real science has seemingly been replaced by pseudoscientific quackery. I've known for a long time that you can't trust scientists who work for pharmaceutical companies because they tend to distort their findings to support their employer. Now learning that a similar approach to junk science was apparently pursued by climate change scientists is more than a little disconcerting. It makes me wonder: Are there any honest scientists left anywhere?
What I've come to realize in all this is that many of today's scientists aren't scientific thinkers. They're really just followers of their own private cult. Some "scientists" belong to the Cult of Pharmacology, and they believe pharmaceuticals are the answer to everything. Others belong to the Cult of Climatology, where scientific evidence is replaced with "faith" beliefs that are not allowed to be questioned. These micro-cults of scientific "truth" explain why science usually doesn't advance until a whole generation of scientists either retires or expires.
It all brings us back to the amazing book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. As this book explains, science almost never advances based entirely on new research, new ideas and new data. Instead, these new understandings collide with a wall of ego-driven resistance from the established scientific community. At times, such new ideas may linger for decades or even centuries before finally being seriously considered by the scientific community and then adopted as "truth." The classic example of this is the "Earth is the center of the universe" belief that was eventually replaced with the current sun-centric solar system model -- but not before many scientific thinkers were condemned (and even put to death) for their "preposterous" belief that the Earth was not the center of the universe.
In reality, modern science advances much like vomit -- in sudden wretched heaves that are both painful and revealing. The modern scientist is far more interested in being right than in being humbly informed about the mysteries of nature, and this makes much of so-called science more of a laughing matter than anything to be taken seriously. There are, no doubt, many very good scientists operating today who truly take to heart the Scientific Method and who avoid entangling their egos in their work, but I'm coming to discover that the number of such scientists may be far smaller than I had hoped.
In my mind, all of this further discredits the very idea that science is a reliable pathway to knowledge. There are many ways to glean knowledge about the world around us, and science is only one of them. Other methods included meditation, "communing" with nature, spiritual study or even embarking on spirit journeys with the help of plant medicines. Western science has given us much in terms of practical discoveries in fields like electricity, chemistry and physics, but it has utterly failed to provide us with answers on the things that really count: What is the meaning of life? What is the nature of human consciousness? What is the human soul?
None of these questions, it seems, will ever be answered by an ego-driven, profit-focused scientific community that would rather be right than enlightened.
Question #1) Are CO2 emissions on the rise? And by how much? (The answer to this is clearly yes. This part isn't being debated.)
Question #2) Will high CO2 levels in the atmosphere cause global warming? If so, what will be the climate effects at different CO2 levels? (This is the part being debated.)
Question #3) What can we do to prevent devastating climate change from occurring? (This is also being heavily debated.)
In my mind, there's no question that what we dump into the air affects the climate in some way, but as I'm not a climate scientist, I must rely on others to determine what levels of carbon dioxide are correlated with observable climate effects (such as a change in atmospheric temperature or lack thereof). What I've learned from the ClimateGate scandal is that I really can't trust these scientists to tell the truth about their findings, and that leaves me in a position of having more questions than ever before.
It won't change my behavior, though. I'll still engage in recycling. I'll continue with my plans to install solar panels to power my house. I'll keep planting trees and growing most of my own food locally. Regardless of who's right about ClimateGate, we all have a responsibility to reduce our footprint on this planet, or we may someday discover some other environmental tsunami rising up to haunt us in ways we may have never imagined.
The ClimateGate scientists may have made complete fools of themselves, but I believe we must still practice ecologically-sound "green living" in our own way, each and every day, to the best of our abilities. In other words, don't let the egos of a small group of scientists distract you from the very real need to protect the future of life on our planet. Reduce your own environmental footprint in ways that you can. Conserve and protect what we have on this planet, and we may yet have a planet left for our children a few generations down the line.
Remember: Just because these scientists manipulated the data doesn't mean we all have free license to endlessly pollute the planet. If these scientists really were hiding data indicating global warming isn't as bad as we thought, that would only be a blessing because it would mean we have more time than we thought to reduce the eco-footprint of human life on Earth (hopefully without invoking nefarious Big Brother population control measures...)
It will be fascinating to see how this story develops. We'll continue to cover it here on NaturalNews.com.
Sources for this story include
http://www.smh.com.au/world/univers...
http://features.csmonitor.com/polit...
http://www.greenleft.org.au/2009/82...
http://www.prisonplanet.com/climate...
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/1...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/...
Sound familiar? Scientists in the pharmaceutical industry have been practicing this for decades. If you think the ClimateGate emails are revealing, just imagine what kind of similar emails are flying around between Big Pharma scientists who routinely manipulate study data and commit scientific fraud in the name of medicine. Time and time again, we see revelations of manipulated clinical trials where data was intentionally distorted in order to make a dangerous, useless drug appear to be safe and effective.
What ClimateGate scientists and Big Pharma scientists have in common is that they have both abandoned the core principles of good science in their quest to be right. Rather than asking questions of nature and humbly listening to the answers provided by the data, these scientists have staked out a position and decided to defend that position at all costs -- even if it requires hiding or distorting data!
That approach is entirely unscientific, of course. In my mind, it now puts much of the recent global warming science in the same category as Big Pharma's research: Pure quackery.
As Christopher Booker explains in The Telegraph, "The reason why even the Guardian's George Monbiot has expressed total shock and dismay at the picture revealed by the documents is that their authors are not just any old bunch of academics. Their importance cannot be overestimated. What we are looking at here is the small group of scientists who have for years been more influential in driving the worldwide alarm over global warming than any others, not least through the role they play at the heart of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)." (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/...)
Claiming to save the planet is no excuse for scientific fraud
Global warming may, indeed, be a real phenomenon. But trying to "prove" it by conspiring to manipulate the data in order to be right is absolutely the wrong way to go about studying the issue. In fact, these ClimateGate revelations have soundly discredited much of the global warming scientific community to the point where whatever these people say from now on simply cannot be trusted.And that's a shame because the question remains: What if the global warming scientists are really right? What if they're right for all the wrong reasons, and they let their egos and their professional pride get in the way of conducting real science, thereby discrediting the very notion they were attempting to prove? That's a possibility we would still do well to consider.
Yet, from their released emails, it's quite clear these scientists were manipulating data to make the "science" fit their beliefs. They weren't focused solely on the real facts; they were interested in forwarding their climate change theories using any means necessary -- including scientific trickery.
What's truly sad about all this -- both in the climate change community and the pharmaceutical community -- is that real science has seemingly been replaced by pseudoscientific quackery. I've known for a long time that you can't trust scientists who work for pharmaceutical companies because they tend to distort their findings to support their employer. Now learning that a similar approach to junk science was apparently pursued by climate change scientists is more than a little disconcerting. It makes me wonder: Are there any honest scientists left anywhere?
The structure of scientific revolutions
It seems that in all realms of science, egos are more important than observational data. Whether you're dealing with astronomy, oceanography, anthropology or biology, every scientist wants to be right, and most will do whatever it takes to defend their proclaimed theories and beliefs. This is why it remains so ridiculously difficult to penetrate the minds of modern doctors with facts about vitamin D and cancer, for example: These "scientific thinkers" have already decided what to believe, and they'll defend those beliefs at all costs, even in the face of strong evidence that contradicts their beliefs.What I've come to realize in all this is that many of today's scientists aren't scientific thinkers. They're really just followers of their own private cult. Some "scientists" belong to the Cult of Pharmacology, and they believe pharmaceuticals are the answer to everything. Others belong to the Cult of Climatology, where scientific evidence is replaced with "faith" beliefs that are not allowed to be questioned. These micro-cults of scientific "truth" explain why science usually doesn't advance until a whole generation of scientists either retires or expires.
It all brings us back to the amazing book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. As this book explains, science almost never advances based entirely on new research, new ideas and new data. Instead, these new understandings collide with a wall of ego-driven resistance from the established scientific community. At times, such new ideas may linger for decades or even centuries before finally being seriously considered by the scientific community and then adopted as "truth." The classic example of this is the "Earth is the center of the universe" belief that was eventually replaced with the current sun-centric solar system model -- but not before many scientific thinkers were condemned (and even put to death) for their "preposterous" belief that the Earth was not the center of the universe.
In reality, modern science advances much like vomit -- in sudden wretched heaves that are both painful and revealing. The modern scientist is far more interested in being right than in being humbly informed about the mysteries of nature, and this makes much of so-called science more of a laughing matter than anything to be taken seriously. There are, no doubt, many very good scientists operating today who truly take to heart the Scientific Method and who avoid entangling their egos in their work, but I'm coming to discover that the number of such scientists may be far smaller than I had hoped.
In my mind, all of this further discredits the very idea that science is a reliable pathway to knowledge. There are many ways to glean knowledge about the world around us, and science is only one of them. Other methods included meditation, "communing" with nature, spiritual study or even embarking on spirit journeys with the help of plant medicines. Western science has given us much in terms of practical discoveries in fields like electricity, chemistry and physics, but it has utterly failed to provide us with answers on the things that really count: What is the meaning of life? What is the nature of human consciousness? What is the human soul?
None of these questions, it seems, will ever be answered by an ego-driven, profit-focused scientific community that would rather be right than enlightened.
Three questions we need to be asking
In order to know what's truly happening with human-caused climate change, we need to get accurate answers to the following three questions:Question #1) Are CO2 emissions on the rise? And by how much? (The answer to this is clearly yes. This part isn't being debated.)
Question #2) Will high CO2 levels in the atmosphere cause global warming? If so, what will be the climate effects at different CO2 levels? (This is the part being debated.)
Question #3) What can we do to prevent devastating climate change from occurring? (This is also being heavily debated.)
In my mind, there's no question that what we dump into the air affects the climate in some way, but as I'm not a climate scientist, I must rely on others to determine what levels of carbon dioxide are correlated with observable climate effects (such as a change in atmospheric temperature or lack thereof). What I've learned from the ClimateGate scandal is that I really can't trust these scientists to tell the truth about their findings, and that leaves me in a position of having more questions than ever before.
It won't change my behavior, though. I'll still engage in recycling. I'll continue with my plans to install solar panels to power my house. I'll keep planting trees and growing most of my own food locally. Regardless of who's right about ClimateGate, we all have a responsibility to reduce our footprint on this planet, or we may someday discover some other environmental tsunami rising up to haunt us in ways we may have never imagined.
The ClimateGate scientists may have made complete fools of themselves, but I believe we must still practice ecologically-sound "green living" in our own way, each and every day, to the best of our abilities. In other words, don't let the egos of a small group of scientists distract you from the very real need to protect the future of life on our planet. Reduce your own environmental footprint in ways that you can. Conserve and protect what we have on this planet, and we may yet have a planet left for our children a few generations down the line.
Remember: Just because these scientists manipulated the data doesn't mean we all have free license to endlessly pollute the planet. If these scientists really were hiding data indicating global warming isn't as bad as we thought, that would only be a blessing because it would mean we have more time than we thought to reduce the eco-footprint of human life on Earth (hopefully without invoking nefarious Big Brother population control measures...)
It will be fascinating to see how this story develops. We'll continue to cover it here on NaturalNews.com.
Sources for this story include
http://www.smh.com.au/world/univers...
http://features.csmonitor.com/polit...
http://www.greenleft.org.au/2009/82...
http://www.prisonplanet.com/climate...
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/1...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/...
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