EARTH ACTION IN THE NEWS - August 2, 2018
Emerald
EARTH ACTION IN THE NEWS
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to the people who have joined recently. This is a simple weekly
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1)
Why Nestle is one of the most hated companies in the world
https://www.zmescience.com/science/nestle-company-pollution-children/?utm_content=buffera2c13&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
Nestle
is my #1 - here's why.
2) Bayer, BASF to pursue plant gene
editing elsewhere after EU ruling
http://www.euronews.com/2018/07/27/bayer-basf-to-pursue-plant-gene-editing-elsewhere-after-eu-ruling
Euro
News: "Bayer, taking the No.1 spot in the global seeds and pesticides
market with the purchase of Monsanto, also ruled out trying to bring
gene-edited crops based on mutagenesis to European markets."
AND
European Court of Justice: Gene-Editing Will be Regulated in Same Way as GMOs
https://sustainablepulse.com/2018/07/25/european-court-of-justice-gene-editing-will-be-regulated-in-same-way-as-gmos/
Sustainable
Pulse: "“This is a big victory for the environment, farmers and consumers.
It clarifies that EU decision makers have to ensure that products from these
new techniques are assessed for potential food safety and environmental risks,
and that they are properly labelled as GMOs."
3)
‘Safe’ Levels of Pesticide Still Hamper Bees’ Memory and Ability to Learn
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/safe-levels-pesticide-still-hamper-bees-memory-and-ability-learn-180969612/#8ZQprKljspYZu7dY.99
Smithsonian
Magazine: "To track down food and ensure the survival of the colony,
worker bees must draw on their knowledge of smells, patterns and efficient
routes to and from the hive—a process that requires the insects to remember an
encyclopedic amount of information... “Our results show that, when combining
data collected from a wide range of studies, insecticides have a significant
negative impact on bee learning and memory,” lead author Harry Siviter, a PhD student
at Royal Holloway, said in a statement. “This occurs even at the low levels of
pesticides that bees would routinely encounter in the field.”
4) Another Lawsuit Blames Monsanto for
Crop Loss
https://beyondpesticides.org/dailynewsblog/2018/07/another-lawsuit-blames-monsanto-crop-loss/
Beyond
Pesticides: "A legal complaint filed by a Kansas farmer claims industry
giant, Monsanto, knew its new dicamba-formulated product would harm other
crops, but marketed and sold it anyway, damaging thousands of acres of crops.
The lawsuit, filed by 4-R Farms based in Corning Kansas, lost over 200 acres of
soybeans. This is the latest in a string of lawsuits Monsanto is facing."
5) Noam Chomsky: Survival of Organized
Human Life is at Risk Due to Climate Change & Nuclear Weapons (video)
https://www.democracynow.org/2018/7/30/noam_chomsky_survival_of_organized_human?utm_source=Democracy+Now%21&utm_campaign=e07b2a90d2-Daily_Digest_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_fa2346a853-e07b2a90d2-191276697
6) Glyphosate Girl is reporting on
the Monsanto Trial every day.
https://glyphosategirl.com/blog/
"Check
out her engaging and detailed reports straight from the courtroom!"
AND
Monsanto Trial: Toxicologist Explains to Jury How Monsanto Colluded With EPA
https://www.organicconsumers.org/blog/kennedy-monsanto-trial-epa-roundup-cancer
Organic
Consumers Association: "Despite this sordid history, proving that the
EPA’s determination was rooted in corruption is a tricky wicket for the
Plaintiff and a continuing source of frustration to our trial team. Various
rulings of the court forbid us from talking about the damning historical
evidence of wholesale and pervasive corruption in EPA’s pesticide office.
Another ruling forbids us from mentioning California’s EPA’s decision that
Roundup is a carcinogen."
7) South Koreans Take Stand Against GMOs
https://www.momsacrossamerica.com/south_koreans_take_stand_against_gmos?utm_campaign=big_news_and_moms_connect_call&utm_medium=email&utm_source=yesmaam
8) Glyphosate-based herbicide impairs
female fertility – new study
https://www.gmwatch.org/en/news/latest-news/18363-glyphosate-based-herbicide-impairs-female-fertility-new-study
GM
Watch is one of the best websites for science-based information about GMOs.
9) As Death Toll Rises in Flint, Dr.
Mona Hanna-Attisha on Her Fight to Expose Lead Poisoning in City (video)
https://www.democracynow.org/2018/7/26/as_death_toll_rises_in_flint?utm_source=Democracy+Now%21&utm_campaign=9e9a997835-Daily_Digest_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_fa2346a853-9e9a997835-191276697
Democracy
Now!: "Michigan has a crazy law, that if you are in a near-bankruptcy
state, the state can swoop in and usurp democracy... And they decided that the
water that we had been getting from Detroit, which was fresh Great Lakes water,
for half a century, was too expensive for this poor minority city that was near
bankruptcy, and that instead we would start drawing water from the local Flint
River, until a new pipeline to the Great Lakes was to be built. But the critical
error came where the water from the Flint River was not treated properly."
10) A Record 207 Environmental Activists
Were Killed Last Year
https://www.ecowatch.com/environmental-activists-killed-2589828107.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=8fb7198071-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-8fb7198071-86095421
"The
vast majority of murdered activists were from Latin America, accounting for 60
percent of those killed in 2017. Brazil was ranked the most dangerous with 57
murders alone... "The data we have painstakingly gathered and presented in
this report and the case studies included are almost certainly a sizeable
underestimate, given the many challenges in identifying and reporting
killings," the group said. "Yet even as it stands, it shows that the
risks defenders face every day continue to grow, and governments and business
have a very serious case to answer."
11) European Drought Threatens Harvests
From Sweden to the Czech Republic
https://www.ecowatch.com/european-drought-threatens-harvests-2589844659.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=8fb7198071-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-8fb7198071-86095421
"Overall,
in its July Analytical Report, the European Drought Observatory (EDO) found
there was a "high deficit in soil moisture" in Scandinavia, Latvia,
The Netherlands, northern Germany, Scotland and most of Ireland and an
"even stronger deficit" complete with "vegetation stress"
in western Belarus, western Poland and parts of the Czech Republic. But once
this year passes, climate change predictions for the region suggest that
farmers could see many more like it."
12) London's Canary Wharf Aims to Be
World's First Plastic-Free Commercial Center
https://www.ecowatch.com/londons-canary-wharf-plastic-free-2590114091.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=e852354bcd-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-e852354bcd-86095421
13) Uranium Leaked Through Floor of
South Carolina Nuclear Plant
https://www.ecowatch.com/south-carolina-nuclear-plant-leak-2590122072.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=e852354bcd-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-e852354bcd-86095421
"A
nuclear plant in Richmond County, South Carolina with a history of
contaminating groundwater has leaked radioactive uranium into the soil below
the plant, The State reported Tuesday... The company informed the U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission (NRC) of the leak July 12, which came through a hole in a
part of the plant where acid is used. The hole was three inches and extended
six feet into the ground, the NRC told The State. The NRC found uranium levels
in the soil of 4,000 parts per million, more than 1,000 times higher than
average for soil."
14) Thousands Flee 'Extremely Dangerous'
Northern California Wildfire
https://www.ecowatch.com/thousands-flee-northern-california-wildfire-2590344793.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=4472fbb99a-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-4472fbb99a-86095421
"Climate
change has been linked to the igniting of more frequent, severe wildfires
around the world."
AND
California’s Carr Fire Grows Larger and More Deadly
https://www.ecowatch.com/thousands-flee-extremely-dangerous-northern-califo-2591151650.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=691eadad01-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-691eadad01-86095421
"This
is climate change, for real and in real time. We were warned that the
atmospheric buildup of man-made greenhouse gas would eventually be an
existential threat," The Sacramento Bee wrote in an editorial about the
fire Friday."
15) 537 Dead in India Monsoon
https://www.ecowatch.com/537-dead-in-india-monsoon-2591222095.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=691eadad01-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-691eadad01-86095421
AND
More Than 100,000 Displaced in Deadly Myanmar Monsoon Floods
https://www.ecowatch.com/deadly-myanmar-monsoon-floods-2591424255.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=691eadad01-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-691eadad01-86095421
AND
Typhoon Slams Into Flood-Ravaged Japan
https://www.ecowatch.com/typhoon-jongdar-japan-2591161347.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=6a87f90fce-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-6a87f90fce-86095421
"After
historic flooding killed hundreds and a record-breaking heat wave killed scores
in Japan this month, the country prepared to weather yet another disaster as
Typhoon Jongdari made landfall on the country's main island of Honshu Sunday,
BBC News reported. The typhoon injured 24 as it passed over western Honshu and
the southern part of the island of Kyushu Sunday, The Japan Times reported. The
storm left 150,000 without power, according to BBC News. The typhoon's unusual
westward path was expected to take it through the regions most devastated by
flooding earlier in the month, which killed 225 people over all, the National
Policy Agency told The Japan Times."
16) Pakistan's Next Prime Minister Wants
to Plant 10 Billion Trees
https://www.ecowatch.com/pakistans-prime-minister-plant-10-billion-trees-2591203191.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=691eadad01-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-691eadad01-86095421
17) Living Plastic
Free
http://www.plasticfreejuly.org/living-plastic-free.html
3.4 MILLION
people in 177 countries participated in Plastic Free July! This is 3
times more than last year. Plastic Free has caught on with massive public
support. Let's keep it going year-round. What can you do to reduce
plastic consumption even more?
Call To Action!
We urge all groups including schools,
neighborhood associations, organizations, clubs and groups of any kind to adopt
a Climate Declaration. Adopt ours or write your own. Share your
Climate Declaration with local governments, the media, write articles, and
share information.
Occupy Sonoma County Climate Declaration
Occupy Sonoma County, along with concerned, forward thinking people all over the world, declares that climate change has reached catastrophic proportions as evidenced by the current level of CO2 in the atmosphere, the melting of polar ice caps, and the continual rising of global temperatures. This is a global emergency, and we must act immediately. We invite all forces of life to join together for our survival. We stand up for life.
We recognize that the root of climate change is a capitalist system run by money greedy corporations and the governments that they control. We actively oppose greenhouse gas producers, nuclear power investors, and fossil fuel companies by boycotting their products, developing alternatives, divesting from corporations that endorse them and insisting that governments at all levels take action. We call on all governments and corporations to adopt life-sustaining practices immediately.
The people must act now to stop this destruction from continuing and reverse the damage this has caused. The future is in our hands. We are the 99%!
Take Action - Get Involved!
Sonoma Solidarity with Standing Rock Meeting
Peace & Justice Center - 467 Sebastopol Ave.,
Santa Rosa
For more info: www.facebook.com/SonomaNoDAPL/,
Email sonoma.solidarity@gmail.com
Monday, August 20, 7-9 PM
Attend our next Earth Action Campaign
meeting
Peace & Justice Center, 467 Sebastopol Ave., Santa Rosa
This campaign meets monthly on the 3rd Mondays. Meet in person or call
in from home.
For more information go to http://OccupySonomaCounty.org
or call 707-877-6650.
Wednesday, August 23, 7pm
350 Sonoma
For more info go to Facebook350 Sonoma or
webpage 350sonoma.org. Email 350Sono...@gmail.com
Saturday, September 8, 10 AM
Embarcadero Plaza, San Francisco
RISE March for Climate, Jobs, and Justice
Stay tuned for information about buses going from Santa Rosa
Let's mobilize EVERYONE for this important march!
For more info contact 350Sono...@gmail.com
December 6, 5-8 PM
Holiday Networking Party & Awards for Leadership in Post-fire Ecosystem Regeneration
Sebastopol
Grange
Sonoma County Conservation Council: sc...@sonic.net
Volunteer Opportunities
• We need a list of Mexican restaurants and taquerias for a mailing about GMOs in corn products.
* Please help promote and attend the RISE march on September 8: http://CA.RISEFORCLIMATE.org
What Earth Actions are you taking?
707-877-6650
http://OccupySonomaCounty.org
http://OccupySonomaCounty.org/es (en español)
http://www.facebook.com/OccupySonomaCounty
https://twitter.com/OcSoCo
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmJoCP-ePUTPWNgHZwtBelg
Occupy Sonoma County embraces the egalitarian, deep democracy principles of the Occupy Movement with a regional strategy for effectively organizing countywide social justice campaigns that are globally relevant.