EARTH ACTION IN THE NEWS - March 8, 2018

[Emerald]

EARTH ACTION IN THE NEWS

 

Welcome to the people who have joined recently.  This is a simple weekly newsletter.  Your participation is encouraged.  Please share information and actions about climate change, climate justice, GMOs, toxic chemicals, and Earth-related topics.  Please refrain from posting petitions or donation requests without OSC approval.  Thank you for joining us.

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​1) Sonoma homeowners consider ‘going green’ in post-fire rebuild
http://www.sonomanews.com/news/8061503-181/sonoma-homeowners-consider-going-green?utm_campaign=trueAnthem:+Trending+Content&utm_content=5a9afec704d3010ad28f9a1b&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=twitter

2) Exposing Toxic Legacies in an Age of Fake News ​
https://medium.com/@annalappe/exposing-toxic-legacies-in-an-age-of-fake-news-dfed52b23c5f

Anna Lappé: "As the daughter of an epidemiologist who took on some of the biggest chemical companies in the world, I had a ringside seat to an industry causing global harm and shirking its responsibility for doing so. Through Real Food Media and in my writing and public speaking, I’ve spent nearly two decades uncovering food system solutions and documenting the impact of agrochemical companies on vulnerable populations."

3) Assessment Finds Alternatives Negate Any Need to Use Bee-Toxic Neonicotinoids
https://beyondpesticides.org/dailynewsblog/2018/03/assessment-finds-alternatives-negate-need-use-bee-toxic-neonicotinoids/

4) Millions Protest over Brazilian Regulation to Allow Genetic Extinction Technology
https://sustainablepulse.com/2018/02/28/millions-protest-over-brazilian-regulation-to-allow-genetic-extinction-technology/#.Wp5pozHLdlR

5) Lawsuit Filed Against Walmart for Claiming “Cage-Free” Eggs
https://modernfarmer.com/2018/01/lawsuit-filed-walmart-claiming-cage-free-eggs/

Cage-free and free-range means thousands of chickens loose in a warehouse instead of in cages. The conditions these chickens live in is deplorable! To choose a more humane alternative look for eggs that are organic and 'pasture-raised' or get them at the farmer's market. They cost a lot more so buy less to offset the higher cost of better quality.

6) 2017 Clean Energy By the Numbers: A State-by-State Look
https://www.ecowatch.com/2017-clean-energy-by-the-numbers-2541378584.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=0961946ee1-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-0961946ee1-86095421

Check this out to see what's actually happening with renewable energy in the US.

7) Pebble Mine Threatens One of the Last Great Salmon Rivers
https://www.ecowatch.com/last-great-salmon-rivers-2541794289.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=0961946ee1-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-0961946ee1-86095421

Sierra Club: "Since 2004, Alaska Natives, fishing councils and locals in the town of Dillingham have formed a rare alignment against a proposed gold mine near Bristol Bay and the headwaters of two of the last great salmon rivers on Earth."

8) Solar Industry in U.S. Clouded by New Uncertainty
https://www.ecowatch.com/solar-industry-us-tariffs-2543060790.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=0961946ee1-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-0961946ee1-86095421

9) Judge to Decide if Monsanto Roundup Cancer Lawsuits Move Forward at Crucial Hearing
https://www.ecowatch.com/glyphosate-lawsuits-hearing-2543054791.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=0961946ee1-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-0961946ee1-86095421
"More than 365 pending lawsuits against the agribusiness giant have been centralized in multidistrict litigation under U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria. The plaintiffs claim they or their loved ones developed non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (NHL) due to exposure to glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup weedkiller."
AND
Judge Says Public Doesn’t Need Cancer Warning Label
https://www.ecowatch.com/cancer-warning-glyphosate-2540852295.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=3ee1c136c5-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-3ee1c136c5-86095421
Moms Across America: "A California federal judge ruled on Tuesday that the public does not need a warning label to inform us that cancer-causing and harmful chemicals in glyphosate herbicides are in our food or products, temporarily relieving manufacturers from the responsibility of being honest with their customers. At a time when more and more American families are struggling with diseases and their high cost, one man decided that it was an injustice to the chemical companies to have to tell us about the presence of their chemicals."

10) “Freakishly Warm” Arctic Weather Has Scientists Reconsidering Worst-Case Scenarios on Climate Change (video)
https://www.democracynow.org/2018/3/1/freakishly_warm_arctic_weather_has_scientists?utm_source=Democracy+Now!&utm_campaign=efa56baad8-Daily_Digest&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_fa2346a853-efa56baad8-191276697

11) New Report Promotes Need for Fashion Industry Action
https://www.ecowatch.com/fashion-industry-action-2540853098.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=47ebe8ab0f-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-47ebe8ab0f-86095421

12) Plans Unveiled for World's Largest, Most Powerful Offshore Wind Turbine
https://www.ecowatch.com/offshore-wind-turbine-ge-2541368284.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=47ebe8ab0f-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-47ebe8ab0f-86095421

General Electric has figured out how to charge us for the wind.

13) How France Exterminates Its Dolphins
https://www.ecowatch.com/france-dolphins-overfishing-2540445116.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=bfb98005c2-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-bfb98005c2-86095421

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society: "From January through March, an average of 6,000 dolphins are killed each year on France's west coast by large industrial trawlers and vessels fishing in pairs (nets dragged between two trawlers). That number could be as high as 10,000, according to the Pélagis Observatory, based in La Rochelle... These vessels fish mainly for sea bass, targeting spawning grounds during the breeding season. This practice not only threatens sea bass populations, but is also deadly to dolphins trapped and drowned in the nets as by-catch... What the General Public Can Do 1. Eat less fish. 2. Avoid undersized fish completely. 3. Boycott fish from trawling vessels, sticking exclusively to line-caught fish."

14) Dicamba Drift Could Put 60 Million Acres of Monarch Habitat at Risk
https://www.ecowatch.com/dicamba-drift-monarch-habitat-2541379007.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=bfb98005c2-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-bfb98005c2-86095421
"Dicamba—a drift-prone herbicide linked to millions of acres of off-target crop damage across in 17 states—destroys mostly everything in its path except the crops that are genetically engineered to resist it. It's so damaging that several states, including Arkansas, Tennessee and Missouri have introduced temporary bans on the weedkiller. There's now another reason to worry about the controversial chemical. It's particularly harmful to milkweed, the only host plant for the iconic and already at-risk monarch butterfly."
AND
Monsanto's newest scheme is very bad news for monarch butterflies
http://www.citypages.com/news/monsantos-newest-scheme-is-very-bad-news-for-monarch-butterflies/475984443
AND
Monarch Butterfly Migration Could Collapse, Scientists Warn
https://www.ecowatch.com/monarch-butterfly-population-migration-2543505935.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=eb74c50e55-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-eb74c50e55-86095421
AND
EU-Wide Ban on Bee-Harming Pesticides Likely After Major Review
https://www.ecowatch.com/pesticides-bees-eu-2540910597.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=3ee1c136c5-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-3ee1c136c5-86095421

15) Why This Montana Farmer Grows Food Year-Round in Shipping Containers
https://www.ecowatch.com/farming-in-shipping-containers-2538160799.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=3ee1c136c5-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-3ee1c136c5-86095421

YES! Magazine: "Each of Curren's shipping containers has the capacity to grow 4,000 plants, a wide variety of herbs and leafy greens such as lettuce, kale, chard and arugula. Each container uses only 10 gallons of water per day, 90 percent less than what is used in conventional farming... Her operation allows her to supply six restaurants and her local farmers market with a fresh selection of produce. She prefers to buy her seeds from the local seed co-op, when available... Inside the containers, the crops are grown vertically in gutter-like hydroponic towers and exposed to red and blue LED light strips. Nutrient-rich water flows down through the top of the towers, bathing the roots along the way. Excess water is recycled back into the main tank."

16) Banana growers oppose GM field-testing in Mindanao
http://bworldonline.com/banana-growers-oppose-gm-field-testing-mindanao/

17) 'The Dirt Cure': Why Human Health Depends on Soil Health
https://www.ecowatch.com/dirt-cure-soil-health-2541326087.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=0c450f9e1f-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-0c450f9e1f-86095421

Organic Consumers Association: "The human microbiome, made up of trillions of microbes such as bacteria, fungi and protozoa, is often referred to as our "second brain," regulating a variety of processes including digestion, immune system function and brain function... It's our exposure (or lack thereof) to these microbes that plays a pivotal role in human health."

18) The Cold War’s Toxic Legacy: Costly, Dangerous Cleanups at Atomic Bomb Production Sites
https://www.ecowatch.com/nuclear-waste-cleanup-2543084504.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=0c450f9e1f-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-0c450f9e1f-86095421

The Conversation: "Cleanup operations at Hanford began in 1989, but have been hamstrung by daunting technical challenges and management errors. The current estimate assumes work will continue through 2060 and cost more than $100 billion, beyond the approximately $50 billion already spent. A key challenge is building a facility to extract the most toxic materials from the tank wastes and enclose them in glass logs to be sent elsewhere for permanent burial. Projected costs have ballooned to more than $17 billion, and the estimated completion date is now 2036. And with the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada mired in controversy, there is still no final resting place for these materials, which will be dangerous for tens of thousands of years."

19) Former Military Intelligence Officer Arrested in Murder of Berta Cáceres
https://www.ecowatch.com/berta-caceres-military-intelligence-officer-2543959014.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=0c450f9e1f-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-0c450f9e1f-86095421

Sierra Club: "Honduran federal police arrested Roberto David Castillo Mejía at the San Pedro Sula International Airport as he tried to leave the country. Honduran authorities are charging Castillo Mejía with being an "intellectual author" of Cáceres's assassination. "Castillo was in charge of providing logistical support and other resources to one of the material authors," authorities said in a press release. Berta Cáceres, a renowned Honduran environmentalist, feminist and indigenous leader, was murdered in her home just before midnight on Mar. 2, 2016, provoking widespread outrage in Honduras and across the world."
AND
Historic Latin American Treaty Protects Environmental Activists
https://www.ecowatch.com/environmental-activism-treaty-latin-america-2543965832.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=0c450f9e1f-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-0c450f9e1f-86095421

20) Lead in Grape Juice: FDA's Proposed Limit Won't Protect Children
https://www.ecowatch.com/lead-limit-grape-juice-fda-2543612192.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=0c450f9e1f-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-0c450f9e1f-86095421

There is no "safe amount" of lead for human consumption.  It does occur in nature but should still be avoided.

21) Two 4.2-Magnitude Earthquakes Rattle Northern Oklahoma in a Single Evening
https://www.ecowatch.com/oklahoma-earthquakes-fracking-2543113696.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=eb74c50e55-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-eb74c50e55-86095421

22) Germany Is a Clean Energy Superpower—And Here’s the Proof
https://www.ecowatch.com/germany-renewable-energy-2541336129.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=eb74c50e55-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-eb74c50e55-86095421
AND
Tesla Installing World's Largest Solar Rooftop on Nevada Gigafactory
https://www.ecowatch.com/tesla-solar-gigafactory-2543158034.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=eb74c50e55-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-eb74c50e55-86095421

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!

Thursday, Mar 8, 5:30 PM

Schools for Climate Action Monthly Meeting
Please register here: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/9c8b51ba1d164446dc2040ba88984b7b 

Saturday, March 10

Goat Rock Cleanup

B-Rad Foundation, Russian Riverkeeper, & Clean River Alliance

For more information contact rrke...@sonic.net or Sign up here.

Monday, March 19, 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.

 

Saturday, March 24​, 2-5 PM

Sonoma Solidarity with Standing Rock Meeting

2-3:30 pm Divestment & Public Banking
3:30-5 pm Main Meeting
Peace & Justice Center - 467 Sebastopol Ave., Santa Rosa
For more info: www.facebook.com/SonomaNoDAPL/, Email sonoma.solidarity@gmail.com​
Look for Public Bank Santa Rosa on Facebook or email them at in...@publicbanksantarosa.com.  Be sure to read and endorse their new resolution.

Monday, March 26, 7-9 PM

KBBF Presents An Occupy Sonoma County Teach-in: Urban Farming & Backyard Sustainability
Free with Donations Welcome
Carpenters' Union Hall, 1706 Corby Ave, Santa Rosa 95407

While healthy food can be prohibitively expensive, unhealthy food costs us even more in the long term with health costs and shorter lives. There is an answer to this dilemma: learn how to grow organic foods in your backyard year-round in healthy soils free from petrochemicals.
Presenter Jonathan Bravo, a field expert at LandPaths and Bayer Farm, has been dedicated to education and community action where he can express part of his life philosophy, 'what you seed you will harvest.'

​Pay-What-You-Can Plant Sale & Free Seed Exchange (bring your extra seeds to share).​ Everyone is welcome to this free event.
For more information go to OccupySonomaCounty.org or call (707)877-6650.

Community Seed Exchange
Sat. March 31 (the last Saturday every month)
St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, 500 Robinson Rd., Sebastopol
For more info: communityseedexchange@gmail.com

9-10:30 Optional Work Party

11-12 Growing Grains

9-12 Seed Library

April 21

Earth Day Creek Cleanup in Windsor - the 1^st ever!

B-Rad Foundation, Russian Riverkeeper, & Clean River Alliance

For more information contact rrke...@sonic.net

 

Monday, April 30 ​, 7-9 PM,

Sonoma County Climate Activist Network Meeting - SoCo CAN!
Peace & Justice Center

Climate change groups and individuals working together to coordinate efforts and make action plans.
Join the new Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/SonomaCountyCAN.

Thursday, May 10

2nd Annual ​Sonoma County Zero Waste Symposium
Zero Waste Sonoma is making great strides in reducing waste across Sonoma County through reducing, composting, reusing, and recycling.K​ick off Zero Waste Week (May 6 - 12)
For more info go to: https://zerowastesonoma.org/​

 

Volunteer Opportunities

• Adopt-A-Bulletin Board

What locations do you already go to that have bulletin boards?  Where can you easily go to in your own neighborhood to help us publicize teach-ins and events?  Download our latest flyer from our website and let us know where you are posting.  We especially need help covering Petaluma, Cotati and Rohnert Park.

• Video editing help is always needed - even one hour would help

We are behind in our video projects and could use some help in getting caught up.

Can you help us upload some video clips to our Youtube page?

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.