Sunlight Seeker
Look up national or state donors or check where your Congresspeople are getting their money.
| October 2004 |
| Sun |
Mon |
Tue |
Wed |
Thu |
Fri |
Sat |
|
|
|
|
|
|
1
|
2
|
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
6
|
7
|
8
|
9
|
|
10
|
11
|
12
|
13
|
14
|
15
|
16
|
|
17
|
18
|
19
|
20
|
21
|
22
|
23
|
|
24
|
25
|
26
|
27
|
28
|
29
|
30
|
|
31
|
Liz Eisen - Thu 09 Oct 2008 02:12 PM CDT
Tojo8817 - Fri 03 Oct 2008 08:35 PM CDT
Marilyn Walker - Fri 03 Oct 2008 12:51 PM CDT
Brent - Mon 29 Sep 2008 02:55 PM CDT
audiored - Sat 27 Sep 2008 10:34 PM CDT
|
Monday, October 25
Levels of Mercury in Women Increase Dramatically During Bush's Term in Office; Superfund in Super Trouble
by
Linda Thieman
on Mon 25 Oct 2004 11:51 AM CDT
 Levels of Mercury in Women Increase Dramatically During Bush's Term in Office; Superfund in Super Trouble
American Progress: Under the Radar
MERCURY RISING:
A new national study conducted by the University of North Carolina
shows a whopping 21 percent of all women of child-bearing age have mercury levels in their bodies that exceed federal health standards.
That's almost double the rate of the last study conducted in 2000,
which concluded 12 percent of women had levels which were too high. The
Bush White House has relaxed mercury regulations in recent years. It
also let industry lobbyists write the regulations – the EPA's mercury
emission rules, which were written this year, contained "at least a
dozen paragraphs [that] were lifted, sometimes verbatim, from the industry suggestions."
SUPERFUND IN SUPER TROUBLE: Bad news for the environment: Thirty-four Superfund projects in 19 states will go unfunded this year.
Superfund, the government's toxic cleanup program, is facing historic
budget shortfalls which were exacerbated when the Bush administration ended the tax on corporate polluters that funded the program.
Reps. John D. Dingell (D-MI) and Hilda L. Solis (D-CA), who demanded
last August "that the EPA describe the full impact of the budget
shortfalls, said yesterday that the agency has yet to give Congress a
full accounting. 'EPA's failure to inform Congress and the public about
the site specific needs of the Superfund program in a timely manner
makes it much more difficult to get the support necessary to address
this serious problem,' the two lawmakers said."
Removing Mercury From Your System
Some
would have you believe that once mercury is in your body, it is
impossible to remove. That is not necessarily the case.
A search of the web brought up some information on the natural food
products, chlorella and spirulina, which are often used for cleansing
and detoxification. Take a look here.
Friday, October 15
A Grassroots Battle Over Biotech Farming
by
Linda Thieman
on Fri 15 Oct 2004 05:16 AM CDT
 A Grassroots Battle Over Biotech Farming
By Robert Mullins, NewsDesk.org
Local initiatives target genetic engineering
When voters in the Northern California county of Mendocino passed an initiative this spring banning the cultivation of genetically engineered crops, there were celebrations 3,000 miles away in Vermont.
That same day, March 2, nine town councils in Vermont passed resolutions calling for a state moratorium on genetically engineered farming, bringing to 79 the number of townships there that have taken such a stand.
“We were thrilled in Vermont after the Mendocino County vote passed the same day as our town vote. This is a huge boost for our campaign,” said Amy Shollenberger, an organizer of GE-Free Vermont, an advocacy group opposed to genetically engineered crops.
On the heels of these successes, and buoyed by widespread disapproval of genetically modified foods in Europe, municipalities around the U.S. are presenting their own versions of the ban to voters this November.
But activists may be trying to close the barn door after the horses have already fled. Many food crops worldwide are already being grown with genetically modified seed, and the agribusiness lobby, perhaps caught off guard by the Mendocino vote, is refocusing its well-funded lobbying machine.
more »
Tuesday, October 12
Converting Manure Into Crude Oil
by
Linda Thieman
on Tue 12 Oct 2004 05:22 PM CDT
 Converting Manure Into Crude Oil
ThePigSite.com
Tired of politics? Let's talk pig poo.
American
industrial agriculture is executed on an enormous scale. To look at
just one slice: More than 100 million head of hogs and pigs are
slaughtered in the United States every year. That's one hog for every
household in America.
...Swine manure, once considered a valuable natural fertilizer, has now become an expensive burden on the pork industry.
This
doesn't have to be the case. Manure can be converted to energy through
biological and chemical processes. The tremendous amount of swine
manure produced each year can be an alternative, renewable energy
source that can supplement the ever-dwindling reserve of fossil fuels.
One
exciting new technology for turning waste to fuel is thermochemical
conversion. Thermochemical conversion, or TCC, is a chemical process
that reforms organic matter in a heated enclosure, usually in an
environment with little or no oxygen.
(Click here to read the rest of the article.)
Also
from ThePigSite.com, the lovely and helpful treatise entitled
"Practices to Reduce Amonia," compiled by Wendy Powers of Iowa State
University. Click here to read the article.
Sunday, October 10
Iowa Hog Lot Controversy Far From Over
by
Linda Thieman
on Sun 10 Oct 2004 02:47 PM CDT
 Iowa Hog Lot Controversy Far From Over
by Shawn Harmsen, KIMT-TV, Mason City
Supporters
of a Worth County livestock ordinance say their fight for a cleaner
environment isn't over. Iowa's Supreme Court struck down the
ordinance [last week]. That decision could fertilize a new debate
less than four weeks before Election Day.
For supporters and authors of a Worth County ordinance regulating livestock facilities, a sense of disbelief.
What
was struck down was essentially a local health ordinance which
attempted, among other things, to test and regulate air quality around
factory-style farm operations.
Struck down because the court didn't want to see a different hog lot ordinance in each of Iowa's 99 counties.
But don't look for a court decision to end this often passionate argument.
"I
will never stop saying the [factory farms] are a detriment to the
health of our people,” says Dr. Stephanie Seemuth, who helped write the
ordinance. “I will never stop saying this."
A
message Stephanie hopes will convince voters to put some new lawmakers
in Des Moines, now that the courts have said "no" to local control.
(Click here to read the complete story.)
Wednesday, October 6
Iowa Livestock Air Law Has No Penalties
by
Linda Thieman
on Wed 06 Oct 2004 06:11 AM CDT
 Iowa Livestock Air Law Has No Penalties
by Perry Beeman, Des Moines Register
Iowa has its first limits on air pollution from livestock operations - but the rule has no teeth, and few are satisfied with it.
Those who called for regulations, including Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, say the limits on toxic hydrogen sulfide - a lung irritant from manure that smells like rotten eggs - aren't tough enough.
Others, including the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation, say that even those restrictions violate the intent of state law.
The
debate over odors and other emissions from large-scale hog confinements
and other livestock facilities has bitterly divided Iowans. Thousands
of confinement neighbors have packed public meetings in recent years as
the Iowa Legislature repeatedly declined to limit gases from the farms.
Many said their quality of life was ruined by the emissions, and they
feared their property values would be, too.
...Barb Kalbach of Adair County, a member of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, said the limits - which do not cover odor or ammonia from livestock confinements - fall short but are a good start.
"Rural
Iowans deserve to breathe clean air free of pollution from factory
farms," Kalbach said at a Statehouse rally [in September].
(Click here to read the complete article.)
|
|
