October 2015

The contribution to global warming of artificial fertilizers

Posted on Thu, 10/01/2015 — 1:49 by Anonymous (not verified)

 Fertilisers, especially nitrogen fertilisers, require an enormous amount of energy to produce... Faced with this dilemma, the fertiliser companies have moved aggressively to control the international debate on agriculture and climate change, and to position themselves as a necessary part of the solution.
 -- GRAIN, Sept. 30, 2015
 

 

The first rain

Posted on Thu, 10/01/2015 — 22:58 by Anonymous (not verified)

 After the rain today in Merced it was as if the city had had a cataract operation, replacing the sepia tinted lens of drought. ---blj

But, does it stick on the barn door?

Posted on Tue, 10/06/2015 — 13:14 by Anonymous (not verified)

 

 The tedious mixture of hyperbole and desiccated cliches politicians hurl at global-warming crises for which they have been unwilling to prepare the public remind us of a general comment about politicians from the 19th Century:

To delude others and by deluding them to delude yourself--this is parliamentary wisdom in a nutshell! -- Karl Marx, Sept. 8, 1872. in Istvan Meszaros, Beyond Capital, p. 679.
 

 -- blj
 

 

 
 

 

 

 

The cosmetology of a state resource agency

Posted on Sat, 10/10/2015 — 17:38 by Anonymous (not verified)

 The California Department of Fish and Game changed its name to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife on Jan.1, 2013. The bill was sponsored by former Assemblyman Jared Huffman, who two days later became a congressman representing the north coast, home of the richest deer and bear hunting zones (1,2) in the state along with the densest concentration of forest fires.
Prior to going into politics, Mr. Huffman was an attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Merced City Council converts to district elections

Posted on Mon, 10/12/2015 — 13:16 by Anonymous (not verified)

 The proposed "Palma" map for City-Council district elections,  pushed by a number of speakers at last week's Merced City Council meeting, was rejected by the council. Council members inquired why South Merced residents would want a district map that included two South Merced districts, each of which bulged across the highway and railroad tracks into Downtown Merced.

Just put a number on it and everything will be clear

Posted on Thu, 10/15/2015 — 23:39 by Anonymous (not verified)

 "We have hundreds of millions of acre-feet of groundwater under our feet in California," Quinn said. ...The state Department of Water Resources will release a final list of critically overdrafted basins in coming days. Those basins will need to have groundwater sustainability plans in place by Jan. 31, 2020, two years earlier than other high- and medium-priority basins. -- Kate Campbell, Sierra Sun-Times, Oct. 14, 2015.

 

 

Mother Earth is an Indian woman from a high mountain who wears a fedora

Posted on Sun, 10/18/2015 — 13:36 by Anonymous (not verified)

 10-15-15
Common Dreams
'Capitalism is Mother Earth's Cancer': World People's Summit Issues 12 Demands
The establishment of an independent climate tribunal to hold wealthy nations accountable emerged as a central goal of conference in Bolivia
Deirdre Fulton
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/10/12/capitalism-mother-earths-can...

There are no Crocodile Dundees in the San Joaquin Valley

Posted on Wed, 10/21/2015 — 15:59 by Anonymous (not verified)

 We are always happy to hear about our state Legislature getting out and getting exposed to educational influences. The poor dears are in the Capitol for so short a time -- thanks to the concerted, successful efforts of California's dominant corporations to impose term limits on legislators -- that it should always be reassuring to all Californians whenever our legislators are getting educated.

But are Ryan's ideas any good for the public good?

Posted on Fri, 10/23/2015 — 17:31 by Anonymous (not verified)

 The Chicago Tribune, clarion voice of the Midwest, calls Paul Ryan, R-WI, leading candidate for speaker of the House of Representatives, a man of ideas. To be exact, the Tribune's editorial board quotes Mitt Romney, whose running mate Ryan was in the presidential election of 2012, "he is a man of ideas who is driven to see them applied for the public good."

Humanity doesn't deserve Nature

Posted on Mon, 10/26/2015 — 14:45 by Anonymous (not verified)

 Suppose, contrary to nearly universal public opinion, humanity doesn't deserve nature. Man is destroying ecological system after ecological system, extinguishing species after driving them into habitat corrals, constantly encroached upon by agricultural and housing development. The only way the story of the global environmental crisis makes sense is once hope is removed from reflections on it.
Every day is the New Day!