The Bad Gets Worse and the Good Gets Better

http://www.beanproducts.com

http://www.moveon.org/technicaldifficulties/index.html
http://www.capital-technologies.com/
http://www.progressive.org
http://www.consortiumnews.com/links.html
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/links.php
http://www.truthout.org
http://www.inthesetimes.com
http://www.greens.org
http://www.nonviolence.org/links
http://compostingcouncil.org
riseup.net
www.globalizethis.org
mutualaid.org
www.jubileeusa.org
foe.org
Presenter: Global Justice Ecology Project, Vermont
9:00 - 12:30 pm : Teach-in on the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)
www.econjustice.net
www.sndden.org/rwg/index.htm
www.50years.org
www.radicalcheer.org
http://www.paconsortium.state.pa.us

======

BioCycle
http://www.jgpress.com/

======

Sojourners: Christians for Justice and Peace
http://sojo.net

======

Pennsylvania Labor Center
http://www.iup.edu/laborcenter

======

Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund
http://www.celdf.org/links.asp

======

http://www.takebackourfaith.org
http://www.dubyadubyadubya.com
http://www.progressive.org/oct04/cusac1004.html
http://geocities.com/progressivewebgroupalliance
http://progressive.proboards24.com
http://commoncause.org
http://pittsburghfoodbank.org
http://www.goodjobsfirst.org

======

Citizens for Tax Justice
Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy
http://www.ctj.org/itep

======

http://www.vote-smart.org
http://www.codepink4peace.org
http://misleader.org
http://www.grist.org
http://www.ninemilerun.org
http://www.sustainablepittsburgh.org
http://www.freedomofthepress.net
http://www.sustainableresources.org
http://www.secrecyandprivilege.com
http://www.internationalterrorist.com
http://www.humanmedia.org
http://www.cryptome.org
http://www.sustainableresources.org
http://www.farmaid.org
http://www.serendipity.li
http://www.secondharvest.org
http://yesmagazine.org
http://sanderhicks.com
http://www.freezerbox.com/
http://alleghenydefense.org/
http://penweb.org/
http://www.gasp-pgh.org
http://pennfuture.org/
http://www.wattbusters.com
http://www.pittsburghpulp.com
http://ufarm.org
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/savehaysfrombeingrazed/
http://pittsburgh.pa.us.mennonite.net
http://unionproject.org/
http://thomasmertoncenter.org/
http://publicintegrity.org
http://democrats.org
http://www.goodschoolspa.org
http://www.grist.org/
http://www.ecofuture.org/pk/pkquotes.html

======

Useful Green Links

There is so much of value on the internet that I would like to
suggest
some websites that may be of interest to Pittsburghers concerned with
stabilizing and improving the health of our environment. If you have
any
suggestions for the GreenWay, please send them to
hi@hazelwoodhomepage.com
or mccue@hillhouse.org.


a company turning grass clippings to energy
http://www.bioconverter.com/

Grass Roots Recycling Network
http://www.grrn.org

Campaign for America's Future
http://www.ourfuture.org

sustainable jobs and renewable energy
http://www.apolloalliance.org

Don't be a sucker; stop smoking.
http://www.tobacco.org

sustainable economic development
http://www.eco-logica.co.uk

Institute for Social Ecology
http://social-ecology.org/

Living on Earth
[radio program Saturday mornings 7 a.m. WDUQ]
http://loe.org

Green Building Alliance
http://gbapgh.org/

Pesticide Action Network
http://www.panna.org

sustainable jobs in renewable energy
http://www.apolloalliance.org

beneficial bacteria for the soil and organic farming products
http://www.naturesnovel.com

Group Against Smog and Pollution
http://www.gasp-pgh.org/

beneficial bacteria for the stomach
http://www.wysong.net/PDFs/probiotic.pdf
http://www.chbiosystems.com/probios.html
http://www.lifescienceproducts.com/productNB.asp
http://msbioscience.com/MSBioScience.html

Union of Concerned Scientists
http://www.ucsusa.org

Earth as one ecosystem
http://www.oneworld.net

high-tech organic farming, microbiotech
http://www.acresusa.com

Earth Policy Institute
http://www.earth-policy.org

Economic Policy Institute
http://www.epinet.org/

Council for a Livable World
http://www.clw.org

Blue Green Alliance
(Blue = labor; Green = conservationists and environmentalists.)
http://www.bluegreenalliance.org/

locally grown food
http://www.localharvest.org/

East End Food Co-op
http://www.eastendfoodcoop.com/

Center for Economic and Policy Research
http://www.cepr.net/

Environmental Research Foundation
http://www.rachel.org

RiverSides Stewards Alliance
http://www.riversides.org

Citizens' Environmental Coalition
http://www.cectoxic.org

Bellona Foundation (Russia)
http://www.bellona.no/

slowing global warming
http://www.futureforests.com/explainmore/links.asp

Pennsylvania Environmental Network
http://www.penweb.org/

Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League
http://www.bredl.org

World Conservation Union
http://www.iucn.org

Natural Resources Defense Council
http://www.nrdc.org

human rights and the environment
http://www.earthrights.org

World Policy Institute
http://www.worldpolicy.org/

environmental and social justice news
http://www.greenpress.org/

Action for a Sustainable Earth
http://www.acterra.org/

Clean Air Council
http://www.cleanair.org/

Envirolink Network
http://www.envirolink.org/

Sustainable Pittsburgh
http://www.sustainablepittsburgh.org/

======================

Keeping Down the Mosquitoes

From:

Mr. William Todaro
Allegheny County Health Department
West Nile Virus Surveillance Allegheny County Coordinator:

Bill Todaro, County Entomologist
(412)350-4046
(412)350-3886
(412)350-2792

http://www.westnile.state.pa.us/links.htm

http://www.dep.state.pa.us/dep/deputate/waterops/Redesign/WestNile/
controlproducts.htm

beneficial bacteria to kill mosquitoes:

Bacillus sphaericus, Bacillus thuringiensis (brand names Mosquitoe Dunks,

Vectobac, Vectolex, Bactimos Briquets, Teknar, Skeetal) is available at
Loews Hardware, Home Depot, Busy Beaver,

phone and mail order
Summit Chemical 1-800-227-8664
Arbico Garden Supply 1-800-827-BUGS

http://bugsource.com/mosquito_control.html
http://bugsource.com/mosquito_dunks_bactimos_briquets_bti_.html
http://www.critterridders.com/mosquito.htm
http://www.gardeners.com/sell.asp?ProdGroupID=17177
http://www.mosquito-control-products.com/
http://www.paradoxpro.com/mosquitos.html
www.valentbiosciences.com

=====

biodiesel
http://joshuatickell.com
http://www.biodieselconsumers.org

======

solar, renewable energy
http://www.homepower.com

======

renewable energy, energy efficiency
http://www.bioproducts-bioenergy.gov/
http://www.agtrol.com
http://www.upcolorado.com/bookdetail.asp?isbn=0-87081-678-0
http://www.iisd.ca
http://www.emissions.org
http://www.planetark.org
http://www.eyeforfuelcells.com
www.renewablenergy.com
http://www.eere.energy.gov/
http://crest.org/
http://www.newwindenergy.com
http://www.enn.com
http://www.pghtech.org
http://aflcio.org/
http://freepress.org
http://www.zmag.org
======

Pittsburgh Interfaith Impact Network
http://www.gamaliel.org/PIIN/

International Institute for Sustainable Development
http://www.iisd.ca

======

http://hillhouse.org
http://www.moveon.org/technicaldifficulties/index.html
http://www.capital-technologies.com/
http://www.progressive.org
http://www.consortiumnews.com/links.html
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/links.php
http://www.truthout.org
http://www.inthesetimes.com
http://www.greens.org
http://www.nonviolence.org/links
http://compostingcouncil.org
riseup.net
www.globalizethis.org
mutualaid.org
www.jubileeusa.org
foe.org
www.econjustice.net
www.sndden.org/rwg/index.htm
www.50years.org
www.radicalcheer.org
http://www.paconsortium.state.pa.us
======
BioCycle
http://www.jgpress.com/
======
Sojourners: Christians for Justice and Peace
http://sojo.net
======
Pennsylvania Labor Center
http://www.iup.edu/laborcenter
======
Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund
http://www.celdf.org/links.asp
======
http://www.takebackourfaith.org
http://www.dubyadubyadubya.com
http://www.progressive.org/oct04/cusac1004.html
http://geocities.com/progressivewebgroupalliance
http://progressive.proboards24.com
http://commoncause.org
http://pittsburghfoodbank.org
http://www.goodjobsfirst.org
======
Citizens for Tax Justice
Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy
http://www.ctj.org/itep
======

http://www.vote-smart.org
http://www.codepink4peace.org
http://misleader.org
http://www.grist.org
http://www.ninemilerun.org
http://www.sustainablepittsburgh.org
http://www.freedomofthepress.net
http://www.sustainableresources.org
http://www.secrecyandprivilege.com
http://www.internationalterrorist.com
http://www.humanmedia.org
http://www.cryptome.org
http://www.sustainableresources.org
http://www.farmaid.org
http://www.serendipity.li
http://www.secondharvest.org
http://yesmagazine.org
http://sanderhicks.com
http://www.freezerbox.com/
http://alleghenydefense.org/
http://penweb.org/
http://www.gasp-pgh.org
http://pennfuture.org/
http://www.wattbusters.com
http://www.pittsburghpulp.com
http://ufarm.org
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/savehaysfrombeingrazed/
http://pittsburgh.pa.us.mennonite.net
http://unionproject.org/
http://thomasmertoncenter.org/
http://publicintegrity.org
http://democrats.org
http://www.goodschoolspa.org
http://www.grist.org/
http://www.ecofuture.org/pk/pkquotes.html
http://www.unhabitat.org
http://www.unece.org
http://www.cseindia.org
http://www.iucn.org
http://www.basd-action.net
http://www.wedo.org
http://www.redeh.org.br
http://www.undp.org/sgp
http://www.iclei.org
htttp://www.joburg.org.za
http://www.act.gov.au
http://www.uneptie.org
http://www.gwpforum.org
http://www.metro-dade.com/clerk/
http://www.ipam.org.br
http://www.socioambiental.org
http://www.gta.org.br
http://www.prouty.org
http://www.artintoaction.org
http://www.greenscreenfilmfestival.org/
http://www.climatesolutions.org/pages/eNewsbulletins/April_2003/hydrogen.htm
KILLERCOKE.ORG
http://www.ufppc.org/
http://www.peakoil.net
http://www.africantransatlantic.org
http://www.kitgumschildren.org
stopbolton.org www.globalsolutionspgh.org
www.wsdp.org
indigenousrightswatch.org
http://oilonice.org
http://katahdin.org
http://www.chainworkers.org
www.environmentaloncology.org
http://www.upci.upmc.edu/ceo/
aclupa.org
www.fvcommunity.org/beloved
http://www.cimca.org.bo
http://villaingenio.org
http://bolivia.indymedia.org
http://www.narconews.com
http://www.democracyctr.org

A sense of history makes the present precious.

======
Stanislav Petrov - World Hero
http://www.brightstarsound.com/world_hero/article.html
http://www.brightstarsound.com/world_hero/transcript.html
======
Earthkeeper Hero: Stanislav Petrov
http://myhero.com/myhero/hero.asp?hero=Stanislav_Petrov
======
From:
European Public Health Alliance:
Cancer epidemic blamed on nuclear power
http://www.epha.org/a/710
The present cancer epidemic is a result of pollution from nuclear energy and of exposures to global atmospheric weapons fallout, which peaked in the period 1959-63, according to a report from the European Committee of Radiation Risk (ECRR) published in January 2003. It estimates that radioactive releases up to 1989 have caused, or will eventually cause, the death of 65 million people world-wide...
======
European Committee of Radiation Risk
http://nuclearfree.lynx.co.nz/eccr.htm
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/environm/no_nukes/2003/sixtyfivemilliondeaths.htm
...an international body of 30 independent scientists, led by Dr Chris Busby, a member of the Government's radiation risk committee and adviser to the Ministry of Defence on the use of depleted uranium. The findings prompted immediate calls for the Government to rethink its
support for the nuclear industry or share responsibility for millions of deaths worldwide...
======
European Committee on Radiation Risk
http://www.euradcom.org/#english
======
From:
Chernobyl 20 Years On
http://www.euradcom.org/publications/chernobyleflyer.pdf
...true consequences of radioactive exposures...
...the international radiation risk community has ignored the many reports of ill-health...glossed over, marginalized, ignored or denied the existence of the terrible consequences...Research papers have been excluded from official reports. Cries for help have been dismissed as due to
‘Radiophobia’. Research into these effects has been mainly published in Russian language journals; these valuable contributions have (perhaps purposely) rarely been translated into English. To do so would have been fatal to the nuclear industry which routinely discharges the same radioactive substances into the environment under license...
...scientists examine and review the data and show that, rather than fading away, the effects are only beginning to show themselves. The phenomenon of ‘genomic instability’, discovered in the laboratory in the UK in the 1990s, is seen now in its terrible effects on the animals, plants and human victims of the Chernobyl exposures. It is seen at doses that would have been, and still are, dismissed as vanishingly small by the current radiation protection laws...
..."...millions of people in the Northern hemisphere have suffered and will suffer from the Chernobyl catastrophe..."
======
http://faithfulsecurity.org
http://lastbestchance.org
======
Nuclear Threat Initiative
http://nti.org
======
http://ellsberg.net
http://www.commondreams.org
http://www.greenpeace.org
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/doewatch
======
Anna Mae Aquash (of the Mi’kmaq Nation from Nova Scotia, Canada) was a member of the American Indian Movement (AIM) who, in the 1970s, dedicated herself to defending the rights of Indigenous People. In South Dakota and elsewhere, Anna Mae quickly became known for her organizing skills and passionate idealism. She was outspoken and intelligent, keen to talk of treaties and The Peoples' freedom. Her dedication and ability to stand strong in the face of adversity eventually led to her death. She was found murdered in 1976 on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), ultimately responsible through their COINTELPRO tactics for her untimely death, failed to conduct a thorough investigation documenting the cause of death as "exposure" when, it was later found, she had actually been shot in the back of the headbecause she was an Indian and a member of AIM, and perhaps to cover up the Bureau's own role in her death...
http://www.annamaejustice.com
http://www.native-languages.org/mikmaq_culture.htm
======
Society of Professional Journalists
http://spj.org/pressNotes.asp?REF=1852
======
freedom of communication links
http://www.freedomforum.org/templates/document.asp?documentID=13042
======
http://conflictres.org
http://www.pittsburgh-mediation.org
http://www.independent.org
======
Pittsburgh Darfur Emergency Coalition
http://pittsburghdarfur.org/links.html
======
The Debt of the Dictators [film]:
How multinational banks supported dictators in Argentina, South Africa, the Philippines and the Democratic Republic of the Congo
http://www.erlingborgen.com/about.html
http://english.nca.no
4/11/6 7:00 p.m.
University of Pittsburgh, Barco School of Law (Forbes & DeSoto), room 111
======
http://www.jubileeusa.org
http://www.davidcorn.com
http://www.thenation.com
======
Nuclear salvation: ‘We’ve heard it before’
By Rosalie Bertell & Alexey Yablakov
http://www.catholicnewtimes.org/index.php?module=xarpages&func=display&pid=10
So many times nuclear power has put forth its ugly head as the saviour of the world. Remember the discovery of acid rain?
Nuclear power was not the most likely culprit in this dramatic loss of trees and lakes. It was touted as the saviour technology.
It was soon clear that even though nuclear power did not emit sulfuric acid or its precursors, it did emit beta particles which reacted with the nitrogen in the air causing nitric acid. In fact, the atmospheric nuclear testing may well have been the original culprit bringing about the acid rain crisis. Certainly during those years the Ph of our lakes shifted toward acid, and many industrial processes and automobiles then added to the disaster.
Next, nuclear power stepped forward in the 1970’s to save us from OPEC and high gas pricing. The crisis quickly went away, not because of nuclear power, but because the people learned to conserve energy.
Now we have nuclear power standing front and center to save us from the horrors of climate change and global warming. The thinking is again faulty, as so many have shown, but this time the “hype” and lobbying is somewhat more overwhelming. Is nuclear power really our only sane choice, or is this a last ditch stand for a failed industry?
Claims for nuclear power specious
The claims for nuclear power are at best specious, at worst disastrous. Take carbon emission. There is a blithe notion that nuclear power is clean; it emits no CO and therefore does not contribute to global warming. This argument has been systematically refuted over the past five years by two independent experts, Jan Willem Storm van Leeuwen and Philip Bartlett Smith. One is a chemist and energy specialist, the other a nuclear physicist, who between them have several lifetime experiences in the nuclear industry. What they have done is look at the entire life cycle of a nuclear power station, from the mining of the uranium to the storage of the resulting nuclear waste. Their conclusions make grim reading for any nuclear advocate.
They say that at the present rate of use, worldwide supplies of rich uranium ore will soon become exhausted, perhaps within the next decade. Nuclear power stations of the future will have to rely on second-grade ore, which requires huge amounts of conventional energy to refine it. For each ton of poor-quality uranium, some 5,000 ton of granite that contains it will have to be mined, milled and then disposed of. This could rise to 10,000 tons if the quality deteriorates further. At some point, and it could happen soon, the nuclear industry will be emitting as much carbon dioxide from mining and treating its ore as it saves from the so-w called clean power it produces thanks to nuclear fission.
At this stage, according to an article in Prospect magazine by the energy writer David Fleming, nuclear power production would go into energy deficit. It would be putting more energy into the process than it could extract from it. Its contribution to meeting the world’s energy needs would become negative! The so-called reliability of nuclear power, which its proponents enthuse over, would therefore rest on the growing use of fossil fuels rather than their replacement.
Even worse, the number of nuclear plants required to meet the world’s needs would be colossal. At present, about 440 nuclear reactors supply about two per cent of demand. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology calculates that 1,000 more would be needed to raise this even to 10 per cent of need. At this point, the search for new sources of ore would become critical. Where would they come from? Not friendly Canada, which produces most of it at present, but places like Kazakhstan, hardly the most stable of democracies. So much for secure sources of energy! We would find ourselves out of the oil-producing frying pan, right in the middle of the ore-manufacturing fire.
These arguments have to be met before other, more searching questions are answered about what the society suffers from routine emissions of radioactive materials into air and land, where we intend to store waste, what we are going to do to prevent unexpected radioactive leaks, and how we should protect nuclear plants against terrorism. The truth is that this form of energy is no more safe, reliable or clean than the others. That may well mean turning our backs on it. Some good, however, may come from the debate. The decision to go nuclear will, ironically, make the case for renewable energy stronger rather than weaker.
There are sustained local campaigns and derisive columns from the pro-nuclear lobby. They have one great advantage, however; they are genuinely renewable, and they are reversible. A wind turbine, unlike a nuclear reactor, can be removed once it has come to the end of its natural life. A wave machine can simply be towed away.
Nor, in comparison to nuclear power, are they gravely inefficient. Of course a wind farm depends on wind, which may or may not blow, and a wave machine similarly is weather-dependent. But both need to be part of the world’s energy jigsaw puzzle. It is absurd, for instance, that the Government is withholding the millions of dollars of investment that is needed to turn wave power into a commercial proposition. Experiments in the Orkney Islands have proved so promising that the Portuguese Government has bought the technology and is hoping to exploit it industrially in its own waters. Why can’t we do the same? It is only years of government subsidy which has made the nuclear option seem to be cheap!
Nuclear power generation is not trouble-free, and the more you look at it, the more enticing the other choices become.
Sr. Rosalie Bertell is a former winner of the Alternative Nobel Peace Prize
Alexey Yablakov is a prominent Russian environmentalist and former environmental advisor to President Yeltsin.

We're gonna hafta rassle em to the ground.

"After the Revolution, I'll be defending the Republicans."
- Bill Kunstler, attorney
======
Letters From Young Activists: Today's Rebels Speak Out
edited by Dan Berger, Chesa Boudin, and Kenyon Farrow
preface by Bernardine Dohrn 2005
http://lettersfromyoungactivists.org
======
From:
In the Name of Democracy: American War Crimes in Iraq and Beyond
edited by Jeremy Brecher, Jill Cutler, Brendan Smith 2005
http://americanempireproject.com
...page 45
U.S. Admits it Used Napalm Bombs in Iraq
Andrew Buncombe
American pilots dropped...during the advance on Baghdad...Pentagon denied using napalm at the time, but Marine pilots and their commanders have confirmed that they used an upgraded version......which uses kerosene rather than petrol...
page 280
Enforcing International Law Through Civil Disobedience:
The Trial of the St. Patrick's Four
...Nonviolent civil disobedience in protest of war has a long tradition in the United States, dating back at least to Henry David Thoreau's going to jail to protest the U.S. war against Mexico...
...because the United Nations had not approved the invasion of Iraq, the invasion was a series of illegal acts that constitute war crimes. Therefore, they had a right under the Nuremburg principles to try to stop war crimes...
page 308
Why War Crimes Matter
Brendan Smith
page 317
..."Like a sheriff with a posse of deputies, international law is slowly catching up with the Bush administration."...
page 327
The Responsibility of Americans
...People in many countries have found themselves to be citizens of states that conduct wars of aggression, kill civilians, tyrannize occupied territories, and torture prisoners....France in Algeria...Soviet Union in Afghanistan..Russia in Chechnya...India in Kashmir...Israel in Palestine...Syria in Lebanon...and Iraq in Kuwait all put their citizens at risk for complicity in war crimes. U.S. actions in Vietnam, Nicaragua, Afghanistan, and Iraq, among other places, have put Americans at similar risk....
Where national and international institutions fail to halt such crimes, it is the responsibility of the people to do so. "Affirmative measures" to halt war crimes are now a moral and even a legal obligation for all Americans...
======
Center for Econoomic and Social Rights
http://cesr.org
======
Crimes of War Project
http://crimesofwar.org
======
Fellowship of Reconciliation
http://forusa.org
======
Guantanamo Human Rights Commission
http://guantanamohrc.org
======
humanrightsfirst.org
======
Human Rights Watch
http://hrw.org
======
lawyersagainstthewar.org
======
World Tribunal on Iraq
worldtribunal.org
======
Coalition for the International Criminal Court
http://iccnow.org
======
From:
Bush Didn't Bungle Iraq, You Fools
The Mission Was Indeed Accomplished
by Greg Palast
The Guardian 3/20/6
http://gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=483&row=0
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/greg_palast/2006/03/bu_didnt_bungle_iraq_you_foo_1.html
...Big Oil -- and their buck-buddies, the Saudis -- don't make money from pumping more oil, but from pumping LESS of it. The lower the supply, the higher the price...The oil industry is run by a cartel, OPEC, and what economists call an "oligopoly" -- a tiny handful of operators who make more money when there's less oil, not more of it. So, every time the "insurgents" blow up a pipeline in Basra, every time Mad Mahmoud in Tehran threatens to cut supply, the price of oil leaps. And Dick and George just LOVE it. ...The top oily-gopolists, the five largest oil companies, pulled in $113 billion in profit in 2005 - compared to a piddly $34 billion in 2002 before Operation Iraqi Liberation. In other words, it's been a good war for Big Oil...
======
National Student Partnerships
http://www.nspnet.org/about/about_clients.htm
======
http://nospray.org

How full is the glass?

The glass is a tiny bit more than half full.
======
From http://thomasmertoncenter.org/calendar:
Talk by Fred Hampton Jr.
4/3/6 8:30 pm
free admission
University of Pittsburgh
David Lawrence Hall, Room 120,
+
Fred Hampton: Martyr
http://www.thetalkingdrum.com/fred.html
+
http://www.providence.edu/afro/students/panther/hamptonjr.html
======
planktos.com
http://planktos.blogspot.com/
...massive experiment we have been conducting in...atmospheric enrichment...called fossil fuel burning...we are all "carbon" based life forms on this planet. All of that carbon comes from CO2 that is changed via the photosynthesis of plants which combine it with nutrients and minerals from the soil into what we animals find delicious and nutritious.
TODAY we see that the air has 50% more CO2 than it did a mere hundred years ago. Desert and dry land plants are very happy about this. They now obtain the CO2 they need at far less expense in terms of water loss. This preserves their water supply for many days, they grow larger, and they produce more foliage and more viable seeds. For the deserts and dry lands of earth this higher CO2 concentration in the air is a fantastic bounty and we see those deserts and dry lands of the Earth becoming greener over greater areas and for longer periods each year. We know that the best way to reduce the loss of topsoil and dust from blowing from the land is to better cover the land with vegetation. To be certain the dry lands and deserts still dry out and become dusty deserts but that dry dusty period becomes smaller and for a shorter time each year. This may be good news for deserts but there is a price to be paid...dramatically reduced dust over the worlds oceans...ocean plants, phytoplankton...live in an abundance of water but live in a desert with regard to the nutrients and minerals that plants on earth take from the soil...they get these from the land and the process of erosion that slowly wears down the earth and washes or blows it into the oceans. However some very critical mineral nutrients do not last long in the ocean ecosystem as being rather insoluble they dissolve slowly and sink quickly to the bottom. Chief in importance of these trace minerals required for photosynthesis and life on this planet is iron. Iron acts like a catalyst in photosynthesis with a very tiny amount being needed to empower a very great amount of photosynthesis...ocean plants obtain their iron...from the deserts of the earth where that abundant red dust is red because of the iron it contains. The dust that blows from the deserts feed the ocean plants the tiny amounts of iron they need to survive and flourish. When these dust storms pass episodically over the oceans they dip down here and there in a random fashion and deliver the precious iron to the waiting ocean plants...if additional iron arrives via a fortuitous dust storm they...bloom...Along with this dusty iron stimulated bloom comes a growth of the entire food chain as tiny krill and other zooplankton rise to the dinner table and feed on the temporary bounty...system that is now staggeringly out of balance due to rising CO2 in the atmosphere...is a feedback system...threatens to change this planet in ways the likes of which our earthbound and earth focused climate modelers have never dreamed, and it is happening faster than we know...evidence showing the dramatic greening of dry and desert regions and the reduction of dust that is blowing from these regions over and onto the worlds oceans...productivity of the world’s great oceans is now stunningly reduced. The major oceans like the Pacific, Atlantic, and Southern oceans are 10-30% lower in productivity of ocean plants than they were a mere 25 years ago. If this rate of decline continues the oceans will become the deserts of this planet long before we humans notice a little warming...amount of CO2 the now diminished oceans are already failing to remove from our atmosphere...As the oceans become deserts our atmosphere is losing the most powerful CO2 removal mechanism on the planet. This will result in a rise of atmospheric CO2 at a far greater rate than the earth bound atmospheric scientists have predicted. This is already apparent in the actual rates of rising CO2 concentration that are reported as being mysteriously faster than the models have predicted...But this is not a story of inevitable doom and gloom. We can do something about this...raising the concentration of iron in a patch of ocean by only a few additional tens of parts per trillion can stimulate an ocean bloom...with a very small effort relative to what we earthlings spend on countless luxuries we can replenish the dust that the oceans are dying for. In the bargain we will scrub the CO2 that we spew from our tailpipes and power plants from the air using the free sunlight energy, we will replenish the food chain of the ocean that all ocean life and those of us who eat fish from the sea depend on, and we be able to do this in an affordable safe manner. No small effort is required but the effort is not so large that we cannot succeed in a timely fashion. If we start now we may be able to save the oceans and ourselves.
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Foreign Policy Association
http://www.fpa.org/
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Network of Spiritual Progressives
http://www.tikkun.org
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faithfulsecurity.org
mediachannel.org
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National Low Income Housing Coalition
http://nlihc.org
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National Alliance to End Homelessness
http://www.endhomelessness.org
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Center for Budget and Policy Priorities:
http://www.cbpp.org
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http://www.centerforsustainablecommunity.org