Badlands Journal
Social, Economic, and Environmental Justice
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
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
7-7-15
Esquire Magazine
When the End of Human Civilization Is Your Day Job
Among many climate scientists, gloom has set in. Things are worse than we think, but they can't really talk about it.
10-5-15
Democracy Now!
http://www.democracynow.org/2015/10/5/headlines#1054
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
...and Hill rolls down to the Plain of Oblivion.
10-7-15
commondreams.org
Golden State's Love for Sanders Grows as Support for Clinton Dwindles
Support for Sanders up 26 points since May poll; Clinton's support down 19 points
Andrea Germanos
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/10/07/golden-states-love-sanders-g...
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.
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.
10-13-15
Energybiz.com
Meters and more in the fight against California's drought
R. Kress
http://www.energybiz.com/article/15/10/meters-and-more-fight-against-cal...
Water conservation programs, along with Itron smart water meters, have helped keep consumption levels under control in drought-stricken Los Angeles.
"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.
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...
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.
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."
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!
10-28-15
The Guardian
Oil
Imagine if Exxon had told the truth on climate change
Bill McKibben
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/oct/28/imagine-if-exxon-had-...