Robert F. Kennedy talks eloquently about how the media has failed democracy (click HERE to view video). But has an apathetic democracy also failed the media, by consistently undervaluing it and failing to protect it? I guess it's a question of the chicken or the egg.
According to information just released by the California Environmental Protection Agency's Air Resources Board (ARB) up to 24,000 deaths a year may be attributed to particulate pollution. The figure is triple that of previous official estimates.
The new data was compiled by USC, who tracked 23,000 people in greater Los Angeles, and the American Cancer Society, who tracked 300,000 people nationwide.
One the reasons that the new estimated death toll is so much higher, is that experts had previously underestimated the dangers of particulate matter, which is too small to be caught by the body's own nose and throat, hair and mucous filtration system, and lodges deep in lungs, causing all manner of health problems such as asthma, cancer and cardiovascular disease.
"Our report concludes these particles are 70% more dangerous than previously thought, based on several major studies that have occurred in the last five years," said the ARB's chief researcher, Bart Croes, in a statement to the Los Angeles Times. "There's no death certificate that says specifically someone died of air pollution, but cities with higher rates of air pollution have much greater rates of death from cardiovascular diseases."
As shown on the California Environmental Protection Agency maps above, California has more counties designated for nonattainment of PM-10 (particulate matter less than 10 microns in size) safety levels in the "serious" classification than the rest of the U.S. put together. A similar map also shows widespread non-compliance for PM-2.5 safety levels (a classification for smaller particles) in California.
Not un-coincidentally, according to data compiled by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) in 1996, the top 5 metropolitan areas in the nation ranked by mortality rates attributable to particulate matter are all in California. The worst offender was Visalia-Tulare-Porterville, followed by Riverside-San Bernardino, Bakersfield, Fresno, and Stockton.
With such toxic air effectively fatally poisoning 24,000 people per year in the Golden State, drastic measures, such as the Bay Area's new pollution tax, are sorely needed.
"Particle pollution is a silent killer," said ARB Chairman Mary D. Nichols. "We must work even harder to cut these life-shortening emissions by further addressing pollution sources head-on."
According to information just released by the California Environmental Protection Agency's Air Resources Board (ARB) up to 24,000 deaths a year may be attributed to particulate pollution. The figure is triple that of previous official estimates.
The new data was compiled by USC, who tracked 23,000 people in greater Los Angeles, and the American Cancer Society, who tracked 300,000 people nationwide.
One the reasons that the new estimated death toll is so much higher, is that experts had previously underestimated the dangers of particulate matter, which is too small to be caught by the body's own nose and throat, hair and mucous filtration system, and lodges deep in lungs, causing all manner of health problems such as asthma, cancer and cardiovascular disease.
"Our report concludes these particles are 70% more dangerous than previously thought, based on several major studies that have occurred in the last five years," said the ARB's chief researcher, Bart Croes, in a statement to the Los Angeles Times. "There's no death certificate that says specifically someone died of air pollution, but cities with higher rates of air pollution have much greater rates of death from cardiovascular diseases."
As shown on the California Environmental Protection Agency maps above, California has more counties designated for nonattainment of PM-10 (particulate matter less than 10 microns in size) safety levels in the "serious" classification than the rest of the U.S. put together. A similar map also shows widespread non-compliance for PM-2.5 safety levels (a classification for smaller particles) in California.
Not un-coincidentally, according to data compiled by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) in 1996, the top 5 metropolitan areas in the nation ranked by mortality rates attributable to particulate matter are all in California. The worst offender was Visalia-Tulare-Porterville, followed by Riverside-San Bernardino, Bakersfield, Fresno, and Stockton.
With such toxic air effectively fatally poisoning 24,000 people per year in the Golden State, drastic measures, such as the Bay Area's new pollution tax, are sorely needed.
"Particle pollution is a silent killer," said ARB Chairman Mary D. Nichols. "We must work even harder to cut these life-shortening emissions by further addressing pollution sources head-on."
Alaska's Republican state governor, Sarah Palin, has announced plans to fight the Bush administration on its decision to place polar bears on the endangered species list. Palin is challenging conservation and environmental data, and sights concerns that the Endangered Species Act ruling will hinder oil exploration in the state.
As we previously reported (see story), the polar bear's addition to the endangered species list had repeatedly been delayed, allowing an oil rights sale, which generated bids totaling nearly $3.4 billion, to proceed in an area that is home to 20% of the world's polar bear population. There are less than 25,000 polar bears in total, and that number is expected to decline by 60% over the next 50 years as the creature's habitat literally melts away.
Palin was the first woman to hold office in Alaska, and was also the youngest governor ever to be sworn in. She likes snowmobiling and moose burgers, and was an athlete and a beauty queen prior to taking up politics. Obviously she didn't win her Miss Wasilla 1984 pageant title by promising to "help children and animals."
With pump prices acting as strong a deterrent, Americans are putting the breaks on their driving habits. DOT Federal Highway Administration mileage figures released earlier this month show, "the sharpest yearly drop for any month in FHWA history."
Estimated vehicle miles on public roads in March 2008 fell 4.3% when compared to the same month last year, with Americans driving 11 billion fewer miles in total. It was the first time that March driving figure had declined since 1979.
With gas prices like daylight robbery, commuters are choosing to skip the pump and run –– to the nearest bus stop. The American Public Transportation Association reports that last year ridership reached levels not seen in 50 years, with 10.3 billion bus, trolley and train trips taken in 2007. Furthermore, they report that a staggering 35% of summer travelers say they are likely to use public transit to save on driving costs when visiting other cities.
All this is good news for the environment, but extremely bad news for car makers. New car sales dropped by 7 % in April; the seasonally adjusted sales total of 14.4 million vehicles was the worst in 13 years.
With car sales plummeting, car dealers are resorting to desperate measures to move vehicles. One Butler, MO dealer is offering a choice of $250 in gas or a free semi-automatic handgun with purchase. We're not sure why the handgun needs to be semi-automatic (how many people do Missouri drivers need to shoot in one go?), but so far it's by far the preferred option, with 80% of customers opting for a coupon which they can exchange for a gun once they've passed the require background check.
"It's a choice –– protection or gas," said Walter Moore of Max Motors. "We got high gas prices, theft, carjackings, innocent people getting hurt."
We could be wrong, but it seems like Walter’s customers aren’t the Prius-buying type. It's attitudes like this that make Walter's namesake Michael Moore so proud –– of Canadians. We're figuring Walter skipped Bowling for Columbine when it came out in theatres, but would like to think he might catch up with it on DVD.
Scientists in Germany are working on a new generation of environmentally friendly explosives for use in bombs. Live Science reports that the research is being partially funded by the U.S. Army.
Explosives such as trinitrotoluene (a.k.a. TNT) and cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine (a.k.a. RDX), which are commonly used by military forces around the globe today, create toxic gases upon detonation. Furthermore, the compounds themselves are toxic, and can raise environmental concerns when chemicals from unexploded and partially exploded ordinance leach into ground soil.
The new bombs primarily get their explosive energy from nitrogen rather than carbon. In laboratory tests these explosive were found to be more powerful than traditional explosives, despite having a far smaller carbon footprint. We're sure that those who are eventually the targets of these new green bombs will find this most reassuring.
After a three year battle the polar bear has won its place on the government's Endangered Species list. But it's a somewhat hollow victory.
Three non-profits, the Center for Biological Diversity, Greenpeace and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), first sued the Bush administration in 2005 to secure protection for the polar bear under the Endangered Species Act. After many hearings, and even more hold ups, the government was compelled by law to make a final decision by January 9, 2008. The government flouted this deadline however, and was subsequently forced to make a decision by May 15 after animal rights activists, again, took the matter to the court.
This delay allowed The Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service (MM to complete the first Chukchi Sea oil lease sale since 1991. A press release posted on the MMS' own website boasted that the sale resulted in "667 bids on 488 blocks -- both record-setting numbers -- on the Outer Continental Shelf," with submitted bids "totaling almost $3.4 billion."
The Chuck Sea lies between Alaska and Siberea and is home to one fifth of the world's polar bear population. "Had the polar bear been listed prior to January 9 as the law required, that lease sale could not have moved forward without some substantial additional review of the impacts to polar bears," said Kassie Siegel, who serves as the climate program director at the Center for Biological Diversity.
"After years of delay, the Bush administration was forced to face the reality that global warming has endangered the polar bear and that the polar bear needs to be placed on the Endangered Species Act," said the Republican Chairman of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, Edward J. Markey in a statement to CNN. "But the administration has also simultaneously announced a rule aimed at allowing oil and gas drilling in the Arctic to continue unchecked even in the face of the polar bears' threatened extinction. Essentially, the administration is giving a gift to Big Oil, and short shrift to the polar bear."
It's estimated that there are between 20,000 to 25,000 polar bears in total on the planet, but the population is expected to decline to less than 10,000 over the next 50 years. Polar bears are only found in the wild in the Arctic. They spend much of the year on sea ice hunting for seals, which serve as their staple high fat diet. But global warming is taking its toll on the Arctic. The region is warming at a rate that is five times faster than that of the earth as a whole. In September 2007, the Arctic ice cap shrunk to a record low, with an additional 1 million square miles disappearing compared to previous years, meaning the polar bear lost an area of habitat equivalent in size to six times that of California.
Despite the fact that polar bears (and the planet) are on such thin ice, the government has its eye firmly on the gas pump, and is far more concerned about the interests of big business. While adding the majestic creatures to the endangered species list, the Secretary of the Interior, Dirk Kempthorne, cautioned that the Environmental Protection Act should not be "misused" to regulate global warming.
"Listing the polar bear as threatened can reduce avoidable losses of polar bears. But it should not open the door to use of the Endangered Species Act to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles, power plants, and other sources," said Kempthorne. "That would be a wholly inappropriate use of the ESA law. The ESA is not the right tool to set U.S. climate policy."
Fortunately for the polar bear, the Bush government will soon be extinct. With even John McCain making environmentally constructive comments in recent days, lets hope they can hold out for a wind of change.
CO2 levels have reached record highs. According to data published by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere now stands at 387 parts per million (ppm). This represents a 35 to 45 per cent increase compared to pre-industrial revolution levels, which are believed to have remained steady at between 260-280 ppm for the preceding ten thousand years.
This news comes hot on the heels of a report by top NASA climatologist James Hansen, which calls for target CO2 levels to be reduced to 350 ppm in order to avoid the "possibility of seeding irreversible catastrophic effects." The European Union currently has a target ceiling of 550 ppm, which is the world’s most stringent. Hansen, who has repeatedly accused the Kyoto-bashing Bush administration of trying to silence and censor him, fears that unless we take immediate and drastic action, global warming may accelerate at a far higher rate than expected, and life as we know it could end.
He theorizes that a mechanism known as "fast-feedback" will mean that radiation reflecting polar ice caps will melt rapidly, and not gradually as previous models have shown, once a 2-3 degree temperature tipping point is reached. As the ice melts, it will raise ocean levels, meaning that even more of the planet will be covered by heat-retaining water, exacerbating the cycle of global warming.
In the conclusion of a paper submitted to Science magazine last month, Hansen warns that, "If humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization developed and to which life on Earth is adapted, paleoclimate evidence and ongoing climate change suggest that CO2 will need to be reduced from its current 385 ppm to at most 350 ppm."
In order to publicize the 350 ppm bar that Hansen has set, Middlebury College scholar and author Bill McKibben co-founded Project 350. McKibben calls 350 "the red line for human beings" and "the most important number on the planet."
"Everyone on earth, from the smallest village to the cushiest corner office, needs to know what 350 means," says McKibben. "The movement to spread that number needs to be beautiful, creative, and unstoppable."
For more information on the number that will mark our salvation or our doom, go to: www.350.org. To find out how you can become part of the solution, go to: www.wecansolveit.org.
CO2 levels have reached record highs. According to data published by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere now stands at 387 parts per million (ppm). This represents a 35 to 45 per cent increase compared to pre-industrial revolution levels, which are believed to have remained steady at between 260-280 ppm for the preceding ten thousand years.
This news comes hot on the heels of a report by top NASA climatologist James Hansen, which calls for target CO2 levels to be reduced to 350 ppm in order to avoid the "possibility of seeding irreversible catastrophic effects." The European Union currently has a target ceiling of 550 ppm, which is the world’s most stringent. Hansen, who has repeatedly accused the Kyoto-bashing Bush administration of trying to silence and censor him, fears that unless we take immediate and drastic action, global warming may accelerate at a far higher rate than expected, and life as we know it could end.
He theorizes that a mechanism known as "fast-feedback" will mean that radiation reflecting polar ice caps will melt rapidly, and not gradually as previous models have shown, once a 2-3 degree temperature tipping point is reached. As the ice melts, it will raise ocean levels, meaning that even more of the planet will be covered by heat-retaining water, exacerbating the cycle of global warming.
In the conclusion of a paper submitted to Science magazine last month, Hansen warns that, "If humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization developed and to which life on Earth is adapted, paleoclimate evidence and ongoing climate change suggest that CO2 will need to be reduced from its current 385 ppm to at most 350 ppm."
In order to publicize the 350 ppm bar that Hansen has set, Middlebury College scholar and author Bill McKibben co-founded Project 350. McKibben calls 350 "the red line for human beings" and "the most important number on the planet."
"Everyone on earth, from the smallest village to the cushiest corner office, needs to know what 350 means," says McKibben. "The movement to spread that number needs to be beautiful, creative, and unstoppable."
For more information on the number that will mark our salvation or our doom, go to: www.350.org. To find out how you can become part of the solution, go to: www.wecansolveit.org.
CO2 levels have reached record highs. According to data published by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere now stands at 387 parts per million (ppm). This represents a 35 to 45 per cent increase compared to pre-industrial revolution levels, which are believed to have remained steady at between 260-280 ppm for the preceding ten thousand years.
This news comes hot on the heels of a report by top NASA climatologist James Hansen, which calls for target CO2 levels to be reduced to 350 ppm in order to avoid the "possibility of seeding irreversible catastrophic effects." The European Union currently has a target ceiling of 550 ppm, which is the world’s most stringent. Hansen, who has repeatedly accused the Kyoto-bashing Bush administration of trying to silence and censor him, fears that unless we take immediate and drastic action, global warming may accelerate at a far higher rate than expected, and life as we know it could end.
He theorizes that a mechanism known as "fast-feedback" will mean that radiation reflecting polar ice caps will melt rapidly, and not gradually as previous models have shown, once a 2-3 degree temperature tipping point is reached. As the ice melts, it will raise ocean levels, meaning that even more of the planet will be covered by heat-retaining water, exacerbating the cycle of global warming.
In the conclusion of a paper submitted to Science magazine last month, Hansen warns that, "If humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization developed and to which life on Earth is adapted, paleoclimate evidence and ongoing climate change suggest that CO2 will need to be reduced from its current 385 ppm to at most 350 ppm."
In order to publicize the 350 ppm bar that Hansen has set, Middlebury College scholar and author Bill McKibben co-founded Project 350. McKibben calls 350 "the red line for human beings" and "the most important number on the planet."
"Everyone on earth, from the smallest village to the cushiest corner office, needs to know what 350 means," says McKibben. "The movement to spread that number needs to be beautiful, creative, and unstoppable."
For more information on the number that will mark our salvation or our doom, go to: www.350.org. To find out how you can become part of the solution, go to: www.wecansolveit.org.
Sent out via E-Mail from
Wal Mart Watch:First of
all, let it be known that
I'm Debbie
Shank's son, and not
some random dude putting
in his two cents. That
being said, here's
the skinny...When we sued
the trucking company, our
lawyer told u...
Debbie Shank was a
Wal-Mart employee when
she was left "brain
damaged, disabled and
penniless" from a
car accident seven years
ago. But after the Shank
family received a
settlement from the
trucking company at
fault, Wal-Mart demanded
reimbu...
http://www.care2.com/news
/member/820934955/686388
I just don't
understand how WalMart
can justify this.
While the law may be on
their side, where is
their "we're a
family" mentality
that they supposedly show
to their workers?&n...
The Americans with
Disabilities Act has been
diluted and warped since
its inception by too many
lawsuits and various
Department of Justice
mandates. Please
visit this website to
learn more about this
vital piece of
legislation that would
give th...
2 Great sites that have
HUGE lists of
Click-To-Give
websites:http://www.freew
ebs.com/clickforcharity/h
ttp://www.freewebs.com/ka
t74/freedonationsites.htm
I just found these
yesterday (3-20-08) and
haven't had a chance
to compare the lists for
duplic...
Alaska's Republican state governor, 
With pump prices acting as strong a deterrent, Americans are putting the breaks on their driving habits. DOT 
when it came out in theatres, but would like to think he might catch up with it on 
Scientists in Germany are working on a new generation of environmentally friendly explosives for use in bombs. 
After a three year battle the 
to complete the first Chukchi Sea oil lease sale since 1991. A 
get the feed
