Apr 29, 2011
God's true believers eat mercifully
Anti-videotaping on farms bills: Good farmers don't fear a free press
"Good farmers don't fear a free press," say conservatives who've come out against bills that would criminalize video reporting of livestock operations. Article here
Werner Herzog's new film Cave of Forgotten Dreams
Large animals depicted in cave art some 32,000 years old...found in France. Clip here.
Apr 28, 2011
Cost of Pathogens from Meat: sickness, tax dollars, environmental destruction
Meat and big agrobusiness passes on massive external costs to society. Read the Washington Post report here.
Apr 27, 2011
Marcellus Shale gas well accident poisoned environment
When Chesapeake Energy lost control of a Marcellus Shale gas well in Pennsylvania on April 19, an emergency response team from Texas was called in to stop the leak. By the time the team arrived more than 13 hours later, brine water and hydraulic fracturing fluids from the well had spewed across nearby fields and into a creek. Why did a team have to be called in from Texas? Read on and know.
Huge safety cover-ups at Japan nuclear plant
Accident waiting to happen - and did. Excellent NY Times report. Whistleblower silenced, cover-uppers kept posts or promoted, safety violations and recommendations overruled in favor of saving money. Read it here
The REAL costs of the nation's Cheap Food system - this vid sums it up
The real "external" costs of our nation's Cheap Food system - taxes, envir damage, cruelty - video says it in a nutshell
Apr 26, 2011
Animal medical experimentation: expensive and ineffective - expose
"Despite their similarity to humans, chimps don't react to infection the same way." Other countries turn to better research models and more modern, cost-effective models, while some US researchers receiving research dollars don't want to change.
Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/04/24/112433/as-science-turns-from-chimp-research.html#ixzz1KeeNKe5D
Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/04/24/112433/as-science-turns-from-chimp-research.html#ixzz1KeeNKe5D
Rare turtle saved from strangulation by fishing line, garbage
Apr 25, 2011
Food Inc. film inspires families to become farmers
Food Inc. inspired this family to buy 30 acres and become farmers. Story here.
Even worse than an oil spill?
"Commercial fish catch has declined by 500,000 tons per year since 1988, not for lack of effort, money or technology — in fact because of those factors — but for lack of fish. The danger becomes dual, says Danson: “If you’re overfishing at the top of the food chain, and acidifying the ocean at the bottom, you’re creating a squeeze that could conceivably collapse the whole system.” Good article here
Apr 22, 2011
Apr 21, 2011
Got milk? Then you got drugs - contamination in dairy products
Apr 20, 2011
Pigs think, feel, cry: S.Korea mass-burying alive
Shame on S.Korean bureaucrats who decreed the mass burying alive of living, sentient beings. You can see the terror on the hogs' faces and hear it in their screams. A humane alternative to mass-burial would have even been cheaper had the decision not been hurried by freak-out. Even the farmers and overseers cried (well, at least some of them).
Ecovores, mind your cook-print
"Somewhere along the line, the annual media chatter surrounding Earth Day turned partly into a conversation about what we eat and how we cook it...." Denise O'Toole Kelly writes in the Daytona News-Journal. Read on here.
New video exposing horrid cruelty to calves
Why livestock/milk industry lobbying to outlaw reporting on factory farms: NEW Video - No Mercy - Farm Cruelty Exposed. Do you think this treatment is OK? http://t.co/UaWNKoI
Different Views of God May Influence Academic Cheating
Belief in God doesn't deter a person from cheating on a test, unless that God is seen as a mean, punishing one, researchers say. On the flip side, undergraduates who believe in a caring, forgiving God did cheat. (This makes me think of politics.) Read all about it: Different Views of God May Influence Academic Cheating
Apr 19, 2011
5 myths about Vegans - busted
Here in the Washington Post Outlook section: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/five-myths-about-vegans/2011/03/31/AF1wbw0D_story.html
Apr 18, 2011
Big Oil keeping billions of land-lease dollars owed to taxpayers
Big break for big oil, larger burden for taxpayers. Even as leaders grapple with the nation’s fiscal troubles and urge expanded drilling for natural resources, their failure to remedy the decades-old systemic shortcomings at the Interior Department may have allowed billions of dollars in royalties to slip away, increasing the burden on taxpayers. Center for Public Integrity
http://www.iwatchnews.org/2011/04/15/4155/big-break-big-oil-larger-burden-taxpayers
http://www.iwatchnews.org/2011/04/15/4155/big-break-big-oil-larger-burden-taxpayers
Apr 17, 2011
Oil, gas companies injecting tons of toxins into public water
Yellowstone turning into Ghost Park
Yellowstone turning into Ghost Park: Men’s Journal reports on loss of trout, pines, other species due to human-caused pollution #climatechange http://bit.ly/ftUivz
Potent rat poisons killing wildlife
Potent rat poisons causing owls, bobcats, birds, other animals to die grisly deaths. Read the Sacramento Bee article here. 
Get rid of tax breaks to fix economy
Click link above for NYTimes article. And here's a separate AP report from today:
The super rich pay a lot less taxes than they did a couple of decades ago, and nearly half of U.S. households pay no income taxes at all.The Internal Revenue Service tracks the tax returns with the 400 highest adjusted gross incomes each year.... Their average federal income tax rate was 17 percent, down from 26 percent in 1992.
The super rich pay a lot less taxes than they did a couple of decades ago, and nearly half of U.S. households pay no income taxes at all.The Internal Revenue Service tracks the tax returns with the 400 highest adjusted gross incomes each year.... Their average federal income tax rate was 17 percent, down from 26 percent in 1992.
Over the same period, the average federal income tax rate for all taxpayers declined to 9.3 percent from 9.9 percent.
The top income tax rate is 35 percent, so how can people who make so much pay so little in taxes? The nation's tax laws are packed with breaks for people at every income level. There are breaks for having children, paying a mortgage, going to college, and even for paying other taxes. Plus, the top rate on capital gains is only 15 percent.
There are so many breaks that 45 percent of U.S. households will pay no federal income tax for 2010, according to estimates by the Tax Policy Center, a Washington think tank.
Apr 16, 2011
Anti-Whistleblower laws: why they're anti-American as well as pro-cruelty
Anti-Whistleblower laws: why they're anti-American as well as pro-cruelty. Read this
Apr 15, 2011
Orlando: Veggin' out along I-Drive
Apr 14, 2011
Algae Could Replace 17% of U.S. Oil Imports
new study shows that being smart about where we grow algae can drastically reduce how much water is needed for algal biofuel. Growing algae for biofuel, while being water-wise, could also help meet congressionally mandated renewable fuel targets by replacing 17 percent of the nation's imported oil for transportation, according to a paper published in the journal Water Resources Research..... water use is much less if algae are grown in the U.S. regions that have the sunniest and most humid climates: the Gulf Coast, the Southeastern Seaboard and the Great Lakes. "Algae has been a hot topic of biofuel discussions recently... click here: Algae Could Replace 17% of U.S. Oil Imports
Apr 12, 2011
Popular Diets: Do They Prevent Cancer?
Popular Diets: Do They Prevent Cancer? Some do! You can lose weight and reduce risk of most cancers through doable diets - click and read about the evidence.
Pot growing is eco-hostile
Pot growers eco-friendly? NOT! Pollution generated by pot growers...who knew? NYTimes report http://nyti.ms/gjK7Mw
Apr 11, 2011
Gulf oil spill effects on animals, plants, water - short and long term
Insightful article rounds up best-case scenarios, as projected by oil industry-funded studies, and more sober studies looking at wider/deeper locations and to the long-term. In the NY Times...click here
Authors Explain Why Certain Foods Can Be Addictive
“These modern foods are deliberately designed to stimulate and excite our taste buds and brains. They all contain refined carbohydrates which, after becoming nutritionally neutered via processing, are often produced with refined sweeteners—both real and artificial, fats and problematic trans-fats, unnaturally high amounts of dietary omega-6 fatty acids from vegetable and manufactured oils, salt, a cornucopia of artificial chemicals, dyes and additives that make these packaged items lethal to our health and addictive to many.”
“Processed food manufacturers know this and create their formulas and recipes with this in mind. They hope you will become addicted to their product. Packaged food items are the highest-profit items in a grocery store; consequently, they are allotted the most space. It is profits, not health, that drive these products, advertising and sales..." Authors Explain Why Certain Foods Can Be AddictiveApr 5, 2011
How So-Called Healthy Foods Can Fool You
How So-Called Healthy Foods Can Fool You Let the eater beware.
Zoos - would you visit a zoo with lower standards of care?
Apr 4, 2011
Human impacts on animal behavior, migration - NYTimes
Key part of article: Humans add even more complexity to the forecast. Cities and farms now block the path for many species that might otherwise be able to spread to more suitable habitats, for example. Dr. Parmesan thinks much more research should go into the interactions of global warming and other human impacts. Scientists in Australia have found that coral reefs are more resilient against global warming, for example, if they’re protected from overfishing. The warming oceans stimulate the growth of deadly algae on the reefs. But grazing fish can keep the algae in check.
Such research will become the basis for decisions about which species to help, and how. Dr. Mace believes that some especially vulnerable species may need to be moved to new habitats in order to survive. Dr. Parmesan thinks that reducing other pressures, like overfishing, will make species more resilient to climate change. “We know that climate change wouldn’t be such a big problem if systems weren’t already stressed,” Dr. Parmesan said. “We really need to focus on reducing these other stressors.”
Dr. Pearson, on the other hand, argues for setting aside more land in parks and reserves. More space will help keep species ranges large even if those ranges shift. “We need to give nature the opportunity to respond,” he said.
Apr 1, 2011
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