Commonsense wisdom from African farmers

If you want to learn what farmers think (and need), talk to African farmers – not to bureaucrats, environmental activists or politicos at the Rio+20 United Nations summit in Rio de Janeiro. You’ll get very different, far more honest and thoughtful perspectives. The recent (May 24) Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network conference in Pretoria, South Africa brought together delegates from agricultural communities in many African countries. FANRPAN’s primary objective is to improve food security in Africa, by ensuring that small-scale farmers can become more productive. Their obvious enthusiasm and commonsense views were heartening. FANRPAN chair Sindiso Ngwenya of [...]

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|2012-06-13T00:00:00-04:00June 13th, 2012|Comments Off on Commonsense wisdom from African farmers

Charles Manson energy

Wind turbine companies, officers and employees, however, are immune from prosecution, fines or imprisonment, regardless of how many rare, threatened, endangered or migratory birds and bats they kill. In fact, FWS data show that wind turbines slaughter some 400,000 birds every year. If “helter-skelter” applies to any energy source, it is wind turbines, reflecting their Charles Manson effect on birds.

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|2012-11-13T14:53:51-05:00January 16th, 2012|2 Comments

Deep Green Resistance: Occupy (and more) till civilization falls

By Duggan Flanakin (reviewer)The central theme of Deep Green Resistance, written by Aric McBay, Lierre Keith, and Derrick Jensen (author of Endgame), is simple. To save the planet, its wildlife and some of its people, the enlightened few must rise up in resistance – not to reform, but rather to totally tear down the corporate capitalist economic system, and even civilization itself as we know it.   Jensen presents his thesis in the book's preface. "The dominant culture – civilization – is killing the planet, and it is long past time for those of us who care about life on earth to [...]

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|2012-09-16T22:32:44-04:00December 27th, 2011|Comments Off on Deep Green Resistance: Occupy (and more) till civilization falls

Destroying biodiversity

The Soviet Union’s demise helped usher in manmade catastrophic global warming as the new “central organizing principle of civilization.” Now, global warming is giving way to a growing recognition that: climate change is primarily natural, cyclical and moderate; China, India and other countries will not sacrifice CO2-generating economic growth to prevent speculative climate crises; and carbon taxes strangle competitiveness, destroy jobs and send families into fuel poverty.Thus, while not recanting predictions of disastrous climate change, environmental activists and the United Nations are already launching a new campaign. The real threat to the planet, they now assert, is the impact of modern [...]

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|2010-07-13T15:28:24-04:00July 13th, 2010|Comments Off on Destroying biodiversity

New Congressional initiative to create ‘wildlife corridors’

  Two Democratic lawmakers – one from the East, the other from the West – have introduced a bill to create a vast network of wildlife corridors crisscrossing the entire country. Introduced by Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.) and Jared Polis (D-Colo.) to commemorate Earth Day 2010, the legislation would “protect” wildlife corridors through grants, management plans, and a new federal information program within the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS).  The bill’s sponsors say their legislation will give wildlife the necessary freedom to roam, contribute to the hunting, fishing, and outdoor recreation economy, and combat “threats” from urban sprawl and climate change. [...]

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|2010-06-11T08:43:05-04:00June 11th, 2010|Comments Off on New Congressional initiative to create ‘wildlife corridors’

Tiny fish threatens to turn California’s Central Valley into Dust Bowl

  Consumers around the country may soon be facing steeper prices for fruits, vegetables and nuts thanks to an obscure three-inch-long fish, called the Delta smelt, and the Endangered Species Act (ESA).  In California’s storied Central Valley, for decades one of the world’s most productive agricultural regions, an estimated 250,000 acres of prime farm land are lying fallow or dying.  The parched area bears all the signs of a prolonged drought, but the acute water shortage confronting farmers and growers is largely manmade, the result of the Interior Department’s rigorous enforcement of the ESA.    Responding to a lawsuit brought by the [...]

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|2009-08-31T09:37:27-04:00August 31st, 2009|Comments Off on Tiny fish threatens to turn California’s Central Valley into Dust Bowl

Giant pythons slither into Everglades

  For years, many have been establishing new homes in Florida.  But one new resident recently caused quite a stir and has government officials seeking his deportment. That newcomer is not a person, strangely enough, but a new class of wild python snakes that are now infesting the Everglades National Park.  According to CNS News, these Burmese pythons, which were originally native only to Southeast Asia, have been let loose in the wild by pet owners and are now adapting quite easily.  But since they can grow up to 20 feet long and weigh 250 pounds, these animals are [...]

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|2009-08-18T00:00:00-04:00August 18th, 2009|Comments Off on Giant pythons slither into Everglades

Dismal failure of Mexican Gray Wolf recovery program

Eleven years after the Clinton administration launched an ambitious plan to reintroduce the Mexican gray wolf in the desert Southwest, the plan is in shambles -- with dead wolves and cattle attesting to the failure of government biologists and bureaucrats to save the “lobo.” Officials at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), which administers the Endangered Species Act (ESA), originally projected that, as a result of their recovery efforts, some 100 wolves would be thriving in the area by 2006. But, today, the number of wolves in the designated recovery area in the Gila National Forest along the Arizona-New Mexico [...]

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|2009-07-29T11:45:17-04:00July 29th, 2009|Comments Off on Dismal failure of Mexican Gray Wolf recovery program

Red Rock Wilderness Bill

Environmentalists and their congressional allies are renewing legislative efforts to have over 9 million acres in Utah designated as wilderness.

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|2014-04-08T17:31:41-04:00July 13th, 2009|Comments Off on Red Rock Wilderness Bill

Will free markets save African white rhinos?

For a number of years, free market environmentalists have been calling for new strategies in managing rhino populations in Africa.  Now with a new report documenting widespread poaching and the decimation of the world's only wild population of northern white rhinoceros in the Congo, the timing to implement such a new approach may be urgent. Formerly widespread, white rhino numbers across five African countries used to hover around 2,250 in the early 1960's.  But due to widespread poaching, that count dropped to only a mere 15 animals in 1984, prompting wildlife officials to seek greater measures to protect the animals specifically [...]

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|2004-08-09T00:00:00-04:00August 9th, 2004|Comments Off on Will free markets save African white rhinos?

America’s Forests: In danger of vanishing?

While many Americans believe that our nation is losing more and more of its forest land, the facts seem to be much more encouraging.  Below is a transcript from a recent ABC special called "Myths, Lies and Downright Stupidity" hosted by John Stossel where this topic was examined:   Myth # 3: We are destroying our forests?   JOHN STOSSEL  (Voice Over) Lots of people don't like to see this [photo of a tree being cut down]. We're murdering that poor tree. Many of you see this and feel bad because you've been told that at the rate we're felling these trees [...]

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|2004-03-29T00:00:00-05:00March 29th, 2004|Comments Off on America’s Forests: In danger of vanishing?

Political heritage of modern environmental thought

This month, thousands of official delegates, environmental activists, and media will be gathering in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for a major United Nations’ conference on biological diversity. There, organizers will be seeking to advance something called “sustainable development” that is often billed as a panacea for some of the world’s most pressing human and environmental concerns.

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|2013-10-17T10:01:49-04:00February 9th, 2004|Comments Off on Political heritage of modern environmental thought

Facts lost in deep dark jungle of rainforest issue

 In the mysterious jungle known as the Amazon, legend had itthere lived a Golden King named El Dorado said to be so rich thateach day he used gold dust to adorn his royal body.  For GonzaloPizarro, brother of the famous conqueror of the Incas, this visionwas more than he could bear.  So in 1540, setting off with 4,000Indians, 200 horses, 3,000 swine, and packs of hunting dogs,Pizarro breached the Eastern edge of the great jungle and began hisquest to find and pillage El Dorado and his land of the cinnamonforests.     Pizarro, of course, never did find the Golden King.  And afterthrowing [...]

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|2003-01-01T00:00:00-05:00January 1st, 2003|Comments Off on Facts lost in deep dark jungle of rainforest issue

Off-shore oil rigs: A boon to aquatic species?

For many, the idea of off-shore oil rigs and environmental protection seem to go together like ... well, literally, oil and water. But if recent findings from the Bayou State of Louisiana are any indication, it may be such anti-oil sentiments which aren?t too factually slick.This, according to the publication Eco-Logic, which notes that a recent study from LSU found there is an astounding 50 percent more marine life around oil platforms than around surrounding mud bottoms. Indeed, the same study showed that 85 percent of Louisiana?s fishing trips involve fishing around these very waters, which is significant when you consider [...]

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|2002-03-18T00:00:00-05:00March 18th, 2002|Comments Off on Off-shore oil rigs: A boon to aquatic species?

The clear-cutting facts about the rainforest

For years, many environmentalists have expressed great concern about the fate of the rainforest. The Rainforest Action Network, for instance, has made the claim that the Amazon is losing "two to three football fields a minute, while actor William Shatner (a.k.a. Captain Kirk) has asserted that, worldwide, rainforests are being cleared at 20 football fields a minute. But what's the truth about this jungle story? Well according to researchers Marc Morano and Kent Washburn of the American Investigator, a T.V. news magazine, the facts about the rainforest can't be seen through all the emotion-driven trees surrounding them. In their special report, [...]

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|2001-01-01T00:00:00-05:00January 1st, 2001|4 Comments
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