Sunday, May 31, 2009

Feed the Children

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Lunch Lessons:
Changing the Way We Feed Our Children
by Ann Cooper, Director of Nutrition Services, Berkeley, CA schools
lunchlessons.org
...serves organic, regionally sourced and sustainable meals...
ted.com/index.php/talks/ann_cooper_talks_school_lunches.html
"...school lunch is...a social justice issue...the symbiotic relationship between a healthy planet, healthy food and healthy kids. And if we don't do that...we're going to become extinct, because we're feeding our children to death...the way the government commodifies food...the USDA puts food on kids's plates that's unhealthy...The way we got here is because of big agribusiness. We now live in a country where most of us, by and large, don't decide what we eat. We see big businesses...who brought us Agent Orange...control 90% of the commercially produced seeds in our country...Ten companies control much of what's in our grocery stores, much of what people eat...trying to eat food from within our region. And, clearly, with what's going on with fossil fuel usage...We can't keep feeding our kids pesticides and herbicides and antibiotics and hormones...It doesn't work...70% of all antibiotics consumed in America is consumed in animal husbandry...in...animal protein..."
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Saturday, May 30, 2009

whole systems thinking

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The Powerdown Show - Transition Towns and Energy Descent Pathways
http://postcarbon.org
http://transitionculture.org
http://transitiontowns.org
http://vimeo.com/4678220
http://zone5.org
http://cultivate.ie
...A move toward energy efficient self-reliant local communities is inevitable...toward local resilience...something really historic...more like a party than a protest march...There is a place for protest. Transition initiatives are different...a way to prepare for an energy lean world with engaged optimism...
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http://makewealthhistory.org
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War is a racket.
http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/635.html
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Friday, May 29, 2009

g20 to the iron city

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Awake, o sleeping giant Pittsburgh and save the world, e.g. with wireless energy transmission, tesla turbines:

peswiki.com/energy/Directory:Suppression

teslatech.info/ttmagazine/v1n4/valone.htm

integrityresearchinstitute.org

Shut down the violence industry (e.g. military robotics, weapons manufacture), the fossil fuel industry, and dirty unsafe nuclear power. Turn on the Green light.
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Wednesday, May 27, 2009

We've been hypnotized and robbed.

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informationclearinghouse.info/article22708.htm
...yet another incalculably bloody war of aggression by the predatory military-industrial-financial elite that runs this country, and is running it into the abyss...stop the brutal war in Afghanistan and Pakistan...
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thenation.com/blogs/dreyfuss/437864/yet_another_bogus_terror_plot

dorway.com
indybay.org
serendipity.li/wot/guns_n_butter.htm
biotech.indymedia.org
ecobarons.wordpress.com
edwardhumes.com
gristmill.grist.org
publicradio.org/column/sustainability/greenwash
======
blog.thesietch.org

...There will be virtually nothing left to fish from the seas by the middle of the century if current trends continue, according to a major scientific study.

Stocks have collapsed in nearly one-third of sea fisheries, and the rate of decline is accelerating.

Writing in the journal Science, the international team of researchers says fishery decline is closely tied to a broader loss of marine biodiversity...
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greenoptions.com
climatedebatedaily.com
terrapass.com

ucsusa.org/food_and_agriculture/solutions/big_picture_solutions

ecological-engineering.com
globalgreen.org
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Carbon Algae Recycling System
news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-9939463-54.html
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Alberta Research Council
www.arc.ab.ca
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shiftinaction.com/discover/videos/harvey_saraswati/three
...Mother Earth supports many life forms but only one is destroying the planet for the rest...
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oilonthebrain.com
newamerica.net/publications/books/oil_on_the_brain
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Tuesday, May 26, 2009

a greenhouse to grow algae

We could do this in Hazelwood.
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A greenhouse to grow algae - for food, fuel, fertilizer, and carbon capture
globalgreensolutionsinc.com/i/misc/Vertigro/index.html
valcent.net
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Monday, May 25, 2009

unnecessary suffering, approaching joy

The real money is love.
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Eat Your Backyard
pittsburghgardenexperiment.org
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treehuggersofamerica.org/The_Theft_of_a_Nation.php
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http://www.pghopendoor.org/links/
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Garfield Community Farm
garfieldcommunityfarm.wordpress.com
johncreasy.blogspot.com
friendship-pgh.org/classified/view/id/1284
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bloomfield-garfield.org/pages/documents/may2009.pdf
...Garfield Community Farm Stand, located at Valley View Church, 601 N. Aiken Ave., opens May 7 and is open every Thursday from 3 to 6 p.m...
======
blogged.com/about/farm-community-worked
treehuggersofamerica.org
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Garfield Community Farm
johncreasy.blogspot.com
======
globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=13480

...‘the rise of large-scale factory farms in North America has created the perfect breeding grounds for the emergence and spread of new highly-virulent strains of influenza.’...

...Tamiflu, the drug invented by Donald Rumsfeld’s Gilead Sciences...

...Rather than order a full-scale independent investigation into the pathogen-generation in the toxic waste of Smithfield Foods’ Veracruz CAFO pig operations or other similar pig CAFOs around the world for production of deadly toxics and various possible pathogens, the CDC and increasingly the WHO seem to be more concerned with creating a climate for mass distribution of what have been documented to be dangerous, and in some cases deadly, influenza drugs such as Tamiflu...

...in November 2004, amid the early days of the then-world panic over alleged Avian Flu, when Tamiflu was first promoted as a wonder drug by Donald Rumsfeld and others...
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getafghanistanright.com
returngood.com
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Sunday, May 24, 2009

The revelation of Monsters, Inc

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Energy can be derived from either screams or laughter.
======
getafghanistanright.com
returngood.com
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American Academy of Environmental Medicine
says stop gmo foods
engdahl.oilgeopolitics.net
openyoureyesnews.com/?p=5130
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greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/genetic-engineering/feeding-the-world-facts-vers
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workerscompass.org
progressiveradionetwork.com
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One Man, One Cow, One Planet
howtosavetheworld.co.nz
muchdiet.com
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Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition International
tassc.org
======
alternet.org/rights/140205/right-wing_radio_host_gets_waterboarded,_and_lasts_six_seconds_before_saying_it's_torture
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The Weimar Hyperinflation? Could it Happen Again?
By Ellen Brown
URL of this article: www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=13673
webofdebt.com
“It was horrible. Horrible! Like lightning it struck. No one was prepared. The shelves in the grocery stores were empty. You could buy nothing with your paper money.”
~Harvard University law professor Friedrich Kessler on the Weimar Republic hyperinflation (1993 interview)
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Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Plenty work; getting paid's the problem

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From Environmental Data Services:
Why green growth is impossible
endsreport.com/index.cfm?action=report.article&articleID=20632 ...
Sustainable Development Commission’s report says economic growth has tended to add to the world’s overall environmental problems rather than solving them....
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Tuesday, May 19, 2009

It's time.

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“No matter how cynical I get, it’s just never enough to keep up.”
Lily Tomlin
======
youtube.com/watch?v=B36EoEuKjVg
..."We're on a lake in Siberia, and the lake is burning..."...Fire coming out of ice...huge volume of greenhouse gas entering the atmosphere...the more the...melt, the more fermentation...almost like a time bomb waiting to go off...area...bigger than the entire USA...dramatic shift in climate...If the permafrost were to melt, it would multiply the amount of methane in the atmosphere by a factor of ten...
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"We need to completely remake society in very short order or we're fucked."
~Ken Ward
jpgreenhouse.org
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Ward
+
Correction: In this speech at Tufts, Ward messaged me to say he meant to say google or youtube "farting ice", not "tundra fart" referring to flammable methane rising from the now rotting Siberian and Arctic tundra.
grist.org/member/1609
youtube.com/watch?v=Dd7u1IHmhVU
+
======
theaircar.com
integrityresearchinstitute.org
progressiveengineer.com/sustainability.html
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Monday, May 18, 2009

Tell me it ain't so

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globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=13644
... Obama increased the military budget by 4%...
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Sunday, May 17, 2009

repairing the tattered web of life

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"Be kind to your web-footed friends, for a duck may be somebody's mother..."
youtube.com/watch?v=V8BDYETDM5c
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Living on Earth
loe.org/shows/segments.htm?programID=09-P13-00020&segmentID=4
...honeybees do even more to earn their lunch than previously thought...act as plant bodyguards by scaring away caterpillars that would otherwise munch on the plants' leaves...when honeybees are around, caterpillars do 60 to 70 percent less damage to plant leaves...allowing farmers to use fewer chemical pesticides...
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I used to carry Baba Israel on my shoulders when he was a kid. I improv'd w/my harmonica...then he took my harmonica and I took his hat...His father Steve Ben and he both deliver a peaceful vibe.
Feel the Change Comin'
youtube.com/watch?v=Zz0BMCpARXY
...keep your soul pulsatin'...
openthoughtmusic.com
babaisrael.com
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steelcitysoils.com
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buylocalpa.org/source/view/one-woman-farm-inc
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pittsburghgardenexperiment.org
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climategroundzero.org
current.com/items/90055609_how-human-genes-become-patented.htm
======
blastfurnacetv.wordpress.com
radio4all.net
notowar.com
======
nyccan.org
Following the release of the 9/11 Commission Report in 2004, 66% of New Yorkers were in favor of another investigation to address the "still unanswered questions". Commission Chairman Thomas Kean would later come forward with the stunning assessment that the Commission was, in his words, “Set up to fail”...
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feedingamerica.org
eomega.org
======
ourplanet.org
=====
Bradddock
transformazium.org
======
From the Asian Development Bank
adb.org/Documents/books/Nature-Nurture/default.asp
...how poor communities in Asia and the Pacific have sought to break out of poverty through local actions that improved their environment or made them less vulnerable to environmental stress.
======
The Alliance for Climate Protection
climateprotect.org
...transition to a green economy...

Friday, May 15, 2009

Celebrating garden diversity

for hazelwoodhomepage.com
To: hazelwoodeditor@yahoo.com

One sentence sure to ruin a lovely conversation about gardening starts with, "You should..." Everybody's different and every garden spot is different. There are no set rules about what is the best way to garden: what to plant with what; when to plant; how to plant and with what tools; how to compost; how to care for your plants. Each garden and gardener has a unique set of limitations - time, money, physical strength, know-how, space.

And people garden for different reasons. Beautify the neighborhood. Feed people. Feed wildlife. Grow medicinal herbs. Pot up plants to sell. Aromatherapy. Provide a playground or learning area. Create a peaceful gathering area for adults. Save the Earth by nurturing and restoring the web of life. Raise the property value of the neighborhood. Give people positive options.

We can think and discuss all winter long how a garden should be, but when Spring comes around it's do time. And everybody wants to do something different. I'm learning to not so much make it in the eyes of my fellow gardeners as to just do my own thing. I'm into bugs - the little things (many too small to see without a microscope) most people either miss or are scared of or irritated by. If they only had a clue as to the stupendous beauty of - and intelligence displayed by - small life forms, maybe they'd be more able to see how important to us humans they are. From the butterflies - that can smell nectar a mile away - to the microbes that, literally, have microscopic machines inside them - to the earthworms that glow in the dark when injured (and don't ask me to prove it by injuring any earthworms to show you) - to the honeybees which have become friends with humans to the extent that they share their products (honey, propolis, royal jelly, wax) and services (as pollinators) with us - to the underground fungi that play their part in plant nutrition - insects and microbes testify that Nature is not a battlefield, it's a civilization. We are not the only creature that feels, nurtures, sacrifices, intuits, or deserves freedom. A honeybee will sting, but that act is a suicide to protect its hive. If we want to keep on eating, we need to respect the honeybees and other insect pollinators that allow our crops to produce.

Diversity of life in an ecosystem makes for stability. By encouraging as much quantity and variety of life as possible we make disease outbreaks less likely to happen and more manageable when they do. The more complexity in the system the easier it is to adapt. The same holds true for human communities open enough to welcome all kinds of people, enjoying our differences rather than being afraid of them.

And that's what makes a place valuable - all kinds of people with all kinds of ways of looking at things and all types of gardens.
======

Thursday, May 14, 2009

proof many maniacs in our government

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The Choice Between Renewable and Nuclear Energy
newvoiceofbusiness.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=page.viewpage&pageid=621
...a reactor meltdown in the LA area that had been kept secret for decades,...
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CHANGE NOW

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"...The problem with the debate so far is that climate change has been consistently underestimated. The conservative projections that have framed this story for many years are now being surpassed at a rate that has even shocked scientists closely monitoring the changes..."
~Larry Schweiger
President and CEO National Wildlife Federation
chair The Green Group
before the House Energy & Commerce Committee 3/25/9
youtube.com/watch?v=cElgqcDxWww
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The HumanCar, a low speed electric augmented by muscle power:
blogs.edmunds.com/greencaradvisor/FuelsTechnologies
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They just can't stop thinking about money...
"In our view, the climate change challenge will create more economic opportunities than risks for the U.S. economy."
U.S. Climate Action Partnership
us-cap.org/background/index.asp
Members Include:
* Alcoa
* Boston Scientific Corporation
* BP America Inc.
* Caterpillar Inc.
* Chrysler LLC
* ConocoPhillips
* Deere & Company
* The Dow Chemical Company
* Duke Energy
* DuPont
* Environmental Defense Fund
* Exelon Corporation
* Ford Motor Company
* FPL Group, Inc.
* General Electric
* General Motors Corp.
* Johnson & Johnson
* Marsh, Inc.
* Natural Resources Defense Council
* The Nature Conservancy
* NRG Energy, Inc.
* PepsiCo
* Pew Center on Global Climate Change
* PG&E Corporation
* PNM Resources
* Rio Tinto
* Shell
* Siemens Corporation
* World Resources Institute
* Xerox Corporation
======
anti genetic engineering
gene.ch/pmhp/gs/links.htm
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Chesapeake Bay Foundation
cbf.org
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Garden Dreams Urban Farm and Nursery
mygardendreams.com
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fear, epidemics, environmental change, and perspective
mnn.com/technology/research-innovations/stories/media-mayhem-bad-news-and-news-done-badly
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earthheartfarm.com/links.html
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dreamchange.org/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page&PAGE_id=21&MMN_position=79:79
http://johnperkins.org/
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Livestock and Poultry Environmental Stewardship Curriculum
lpes.org
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Western Pennsylvania Brownfields Center
cmu.edu/steinbrenner/brownfields
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urbanfuel.blogspot.com
======
pittsburghgardenexperiment.org
======
...Nutrient Recovery from Integrated Cellulosic Biorefineries...
terrapreta.bioenergylists.org/isubiorefinerynutrients
Robert Brown, Iowa State University, Bioeconomy Institute 2008...
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bioelectricity
peswiki.com/energy/Directory:BioElectricity
======

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Wholistic solutions solve more than one problem.

Big picture solutions are the ONLY practical ones in an age of perfect storms (many problems all at once).
======
"We are not passengers on spaceship Earth, we are the crew."
~Marshall McLuhan

nasa.gov/centers/ames/greenspace

earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/view.php?id=38430&src=eoa-nnews

NASA Envisions "Clean Energy" From Algae Grown in Waste Water

...process to produce "clean energy" biofuels, that cleans waste water, removes carbon dioxide from the air, retains important nutrients, and does not compete with agriculture for land or freshwater..."Sustainable Energy for Spaceship Earth."...most of the oil we are now getting out of the ground comes from algae that lived millions of years ago...

...soy beans produce about 50 gallons of oil per acre per year; canola produces about 160 gallons per acre per year, and palms about 600 gallons per acre per year. But some types of algae can produce at least 2,000 gallons of oil per acre per year...biofuels will be made and sewage will be processed. For the first time, harmful sewage will no longer be dumped into the ocean. The algae and nutrients will be contained and collected in a bag. Not only will oil be produced, but nutrients will no longer be lost to the sea...

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Life is magic.

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"When a farm grows its own feeds and makes its own fertilizers, the crops sold are simply carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen (in the form of carbohydrates, starches, fats, sugars and protein) derived from the air, rain and sunshine which falls on it."
~Jeff Poppen
Long Hungry Creek Farm, Tennessee
barefootfarmer.com/lhcf.txt
======
Long-dead frozen life now warm enough to rot -
Methane coming up from an area larger than the U.S., in amounts that may dwarf the amount of
greenhouse gas methane already in the atmosphere:
"Farting ice"
youtube.com/watch?v=B36EoEuKjVg&feature=related
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pittsburghgardenexperiment.org
meetup.com/PittsburghGardenExperiment
...116 urban farmers...permaculture, community gardens, community builders, buy local...share experience, knowledge, and fun times...grow, teach, and learn about agriculture in the Burgh...
Learn about urban food production, native plants, and permaculture design...

2. Join one of our PGE neighborhood teams or learn how to start your own.

3. Network with other urban farmers.

4. Get on-farm experience at a member farm.

This season we'll meet local farmers, take some field trips, and learn a lot from each other.

There is huge potential for urban food production to supply a large portion of our diet. We believe that with quality garden design and stewardship, we can create an urban food network that will thrive in Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh Garden Experiment is a project by Steel City Soils, LLC with a ton of help from the people of Pittsburgh (all of yinz).
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Monday, May 11, 2009

Coalbloney

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"Our coal isn't just made in America, it MAKES America."
~Consol Energy
======

Time to take yer best shot

No more rehearsals, this is it now, take ya shot for what you REALLY want. We won't have another chance to do it better, so we better do it the best we can this time.
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bioneers.org/aggregator/categories/3?page=813 ...releasing even a small fraction of the sub-sea methane would make stabilizing greenhouse gas emissions at non-catastrophic concentrations all but impossible...
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Sunday, May 10, 2009

Reversing Wall Street's encouragement of malnutrition

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Low-income neighborhoods are food deserts.

20 some years ago the Pittsburgh City Council created Food Policy Commission mapped the nutritional vicious cycle, the already then visible developing perfect storm of loss of "Mom and Pop" stores in areas where poverty, disability, lack of public transportation created what is now being called "food deserts." The loss of Dimperio's in the Hazelwood section of Pittsburgh is a part of the earthwide merger/acquisition trend which is threatening the entire Earth ecosystem which we each are an unavoidable part of. The Giant Eagle Corporation held a seat on the Food Policy Commission, with the consequence that short-term "win-win" bandaids (such as van service from housing projects to supermarkets) rather than deeper improvements such as grocery stores with healthier foods were taken action on.

Regardless of the type of food store (co-op, chain, individual owner), we need affordable locally-grown food to make Hazelwood a more healthy and walkable community. People should be able to get paid for the service of growing good food without owning a vehicle or being able to afford public transportation. Those of us too old or poor to own a car or get on a bus want to be able to walk to and from our jobs and homes and grocery stores - just like in the old days.
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Red Hook Community Farm (Brooklyn)
seasonalchef.com/farmredhook.htm
added-value.org/links.php
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nyc.gov/html/doh/html/cdp/cdp_pan_hbi.shtml

...small grocery stores...are the most common food retailers serving community residents, yet most do not offer a variety of affordable nutritious foods such as low-fat milk, whole grains, or fresh/frozen produce. Many...also heavily market unhealthy products such as cigarettes, alcohol and soda through prominent advertising and displays.

...partnering with local...owners to expand the availability of healthier food choices in target neighborhoods...with the highest rates of obesity and diabetes in the city...
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From:
Living on Earth 5/8/9
loe.org/shows/segments.htm?programID=09-P13-00019&segmentID=7
Food Deserts
Many low-income neighborhoods in the United States lack access to fresh and affordable fruits and vegetables. Residents in these so-called ‘food deserts’ rely on neighborhood corner stores and fast food chains as their main sources of food. But...a number of programs are working to close the food gap by bringing healthy foods close to home...

...When Michelle Obama rolled up her sleeves and started digging a garden on the White House lawn, advocates for healthy local food cheered. The First Lady set a powerful example by inviting Washington, DC schoolchildren to garden along with her.

The message: the inner city, too, can have access to fresh, organic food. And in these tough times this is especially important. Government figures show that some 36 million people live in households that have trouble just putting food on the table...efforts in New York City to bring high quality foods to struggling neighborhoods...
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Functional Literacy Ministry of Haiti
flmhaiti.org
======
Environment and Energy Publishing
eenews.net
======
beekeeper's blog
pollinatethis.org
======
Fair Trade Resource International
fairtraderesource.org
======
rainforestinfo.org.au/climate/articles/nukes_water_l.doc
...impacts on uranium mining and...on the impacts of depleted uranium...
“It seems ironic and somewhat shortsighted that if we know the world is heating up due to climate change from fossil fuels that we are looking to go nuclear which needs vast amounts of water to cool down the cores. As the local rivers and sea temperatures raise...those nations who embrace nuclear are looking to use that hotter local water to cool the reactors”.
~David Bradbury...
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exiledonline.com
solar-aid.org
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Saturday, May 09, 2009

methane feedback effect

======
Bubbles of warming, beneath the ice
by Margot Roosevelt 2/20/9
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-na-global-warming22-2009feb22,0,646220.story
+
video clip Frozen Heat: a global warming threat from the Arctic
narrated by Katey Walter, University of Alaska
alaska.edu/uaf/cem/ine/walter
+

Bubbles of warming, beneath the ice