EARTH ACTION IN THE NEWS - April 5, 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) Monsanto concealed effects of toxic chemical for decades, Ohio AG alleges
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/monsanto-concealed-effects-toxic-chemical-decades-ohio-ag-alleges-n853866

What's astonishing about this story is that it was covered by NBC News!​
AND
Heavily used herbicide tied to shorter pregnancies
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2018/04/02/heavily-used-herbicide-tied-to-shorter-pregnancies.html
And this one on Fox News!

AND
Experts testifying for plaintiffs in Monsanto action recalled by doubting judge
https://norcalrecord.com/stories/511377480-experts-testifying-for-plaintiffs-in-monsanto-action-recalled-by-doubting-judge#.WsO69Y7tLhU.twitter

This is in the largest law newspaper in the Bay Area.

2) Regenerative Farming Trailblazers: How Reintegrating Livestock and Restoring Soils Can Lead to More Resilient Farmshttps://blog.ucsusa.org/marcia-delonge/regenerative-farming-trailblazers-how-reintegrating-livestock-and-restoring-soils-can-lead-to-more-resilient-farms
Union Of Concerned Scientists: "Getting folks started in utilizing regenerative practices, whether it’s converting their land to cover crops or applying improved rotational grazing or implementing agroforestry—is a good way for people to better understand the tremendous benefits to the soil, and therefore the pocketbook.”

AND
Surrounded by Big Agriculture, Ron Rosmann Innovates and Inspires
https://civileats.com/2018/02/21/surrounded-by-big-agriculture-ron-rosmann-innovates-and-inspires/

3) Bayer won’t seek quick decision from DOJ on Monsanto merger
https://nypost.com/2018/03/21/bayer-wont-force-justice-department-to-make-decision-on-monsanto-merger/?utm_source=twitter_sitebuttons&utm_medium=site%20buttons&utm_campaign=site%20buttons

New York Post: "Bayer will play nice as it angles for approval of its $66 billion acquisition of St. Louis-based Monsanto — deciding against an aggressive option to force the feds into making their decision within 30 days, a source close to the situation told The Post."

4) Still Cheaper Than Coal: A Report on the Economics of Solar Power in Colorado
https://www.ecowatch.com/solar-tariffs-colorado-2554088752.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=e9b22d6aa2-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-e9b22d6aa2-86095421

5) Bank Funding of Fossil Fuels Soars
https://www.ecowatch.com/fossil-fuel-funding-2554112901.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=e9b22d6aa2-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-e9b22d6aa2-86095421

Sierra Club: "Private banks around the world are back to funneling more money into the global fossil fuel sectors in 2017, according to a report released today by Rainforest Action Network, BankTrack, Indigenous Environmental Network, Oil Change International, Sierra Club and Honor The Earth."

6) Court Tosses Exxon's 'Implausible' Lawsuit Seeking to Stop Climate Probe
https://www.ecowatch.com/exxon-climate-lawsuit-2554739359.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=e9b22d6aa2-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-e9b22d6aa2-86095421

7) Environmentalists Celebrate First UK Coal Mine Rejected Over Climate Concerns
https://www.ecowatch.com/coal-mine-rejected-uk-2554469157.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=e9b22d6aa2-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-e9b22d6aa2-86095421
"The UK government has committed to phasing out coal power no later than 2025 in order to meet its climate targets."

AND
Controversial Amazon Gold Mine Close to Getting Permit, Say Activists Raising Alarm

https://www.ecowatch.com/brazil-amazon-gold-mine-permit-2555594074.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=1f63d9d795-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-1f63d9d795-86095421

8) 85,000 Petition Supermarket Giant to Open Plastic-Free Aisle
https://www.ecowatch.com/plastic-free-aisle-kroger-2554107086.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=e9b22d6aa2-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-e9b22d6aa2-86095421
"An online petition calling on the nation's largest supermarket chain to open a plastic-free aisle has surpassed 85,000 signatures.
The Care2 petition, launched less than a week ago, asks Kroger Co. to curb plastic packaging in its 2,800 branches."

AND
Those Little Produce Stickers? They’re a Big Waste Problem
https://www.ecowatch.com/produce-stickers-2548390944.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=a50c6d8f00-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-a50c6d8f00-86095421

Modern Farmer: "While household composting isn't quite as widespread in the U.S. as we'd like, it is in Canada. And people who compost are used to simply throwing their fruit and vegetable waste into the compost bin. That is fine for somewhere like an apple, for which you'd peel off and discard the sticker and discard before eating, composting only the core. But this becomes an issue with items where you don't eat the skin—say, an avocado, or banana. With these, people are just throwing that whole outside in the compost, sticker included."

9) Pollution Sources in China Increased More Than 50 Percent in Eight Years
https://www.ecowatch.com/china-air-pollution-survey-2554746258.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=e9b22d6aa2-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-e9b22d6aa2-86095421

AND
Study Finds Timely Emissions Reductions Could Prevent 153 Million Air Pollution Deaths This Century
https://www.ecowatch.com/timely-emissions-reductions-2550391279.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=a50c6d8f00-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-a50c6d8f00-86095421

10) World's Largest Desert Growing Even Larger, Partly Due to Climate Change
https://www.ecowatch.com/sahara-desert-climate-change-2554771645.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=8b8da98293-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-8b8da98293-86095421
"The African continent is one of the most vulnerable to climate change, yet its inhabitants are the least responsible for it. Truly, one of the great injustices of our time."

11) Culture Shift: Redirecting Humanity’s Path to a Flourishing Future
https://www.ecowatch.com/redirecting-humanitys-path-2553188530.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=16ea31c3fb-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-16ea31c3fb-86095421

12) Sustainable Cities Need More Than Parks, Cafes and a Riverwalk
https://www.ecowatch.com/sustainable-cities-2547935372.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=a50c6d8f00-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-a50c6d8f00-86095421

The Conversation: "We've written about what we call the "parks, cafes and a riverwalk" model of sustainability, which focuses on providing new green spaces, mainly for high-income people. This vision of shiny residential towers and waterfront parks has become a widely-shared conception of what green cities should look like. But it can drive up real estate prices and displace low- and middle-income residents.
As scholars who study gentrification and social justice, we prefer a model that recognizes all three aspects of sustainability: environment, economy and equity. The equity piece is often missing from development projects promoted as green or sustainable. We are interested in models of urban greening that produce real environmental improvements and also benefit long-term working-class residents in neighborhoods that are historically underserved."

13) This College Could Become the First 100% Renewable Campus in U.S.
https://www.ecowatch.com/100-percent-renewable-campus-2550398466.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=a50c6d8f00-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-a50c6d8f00-86095421

14) Kinder Morgan Pipeline Protest Grows: Arrests Include a Greenpeace Founder, Juno-Nominated Grandfather
https://www.ecowatch.com/kinder-morgan-burnaby-protests-2550332396.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=a50c6d8f00-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-a50c6d8f00-86095421

15) Methane Meltdown: Thawing Permafrost Could Release More Potent Greenhouse Gas Than Expected
https://www.ecowatch.com/permafrost-methane-climate-change-2550769172.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=a50c6d8f00-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-a50c6d8f00-86095421

16) SUVs and Trucks Nullify Car Efficiency Gains
https://www.ecowatch.com/suvs-trucks-nullify-car-efficiency-2550909616.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=1ee8f5b4eb-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-1ee8f5b4eb-86095421

David Suzuki: "Under the U.S. Clean Air Act, vehicle manufacturers were required to more than double fuel efficiency for cars over the following decade. Canada and other countries followed suit. But trucks, vans and SUVs weren't subject to the same regulations, so automakers started marketing them as family vehicles."

17) Popular Beer and Wine Brands Contaminated With Monsanto's Weedkiller, Tests Reveal
https://www.ecowatch.com/glyphosate-wine-beer-testing-2553632957.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=1ee8f5b4eb-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-1ee8f5b4eb-86095421

18) Saudi Arabia to House World’s Largest Solar Project
https://www.ecowatch.com/saudi-arabia-solar-2554432597.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=1ee8f5b4eb-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-1ee8f5b4eb-86095421

19) Risky Move: Canada Shipping More Tar Sands Oil by Rail
https://www.ecowatch.com/tar-sands-canada-railroads-2549892201.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=fc18370cf9-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-fc18370cf9-86095421

AND
Deadly Oil Spill Leaves Indonesian Bay 'Like a Gas Station'
https://www.ecowatch.com/oil-spill-indonesia-2555846407.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=22c2f3b4d3-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-22c2f3b4d3-86095421

20) First Study on Climate Change and Internal Migration: World Bank Finds 140 Million Could Be Displaced by 2050
https://www.ecowatch.com/climate--world-bank-2550301211.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=fc18370cf9-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-fc18370cf9-86095421

21) How to build a progressive movement in a polarized country
https://wagingnonviolence.org/feature/how-build-progressive-movement-polarized-country/

Waging Nonviolence: "Cooperation for deep struggle becomes more likely when we create a vision in common that speaks to diverse interests."

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!

Friday April 13
SRJC’s We the Future Social Justice Conference
SRJC Petaluma Campus
For more info:​​ https://wethefuture.santarosa.edu/we-future-social-justice-conference

Saturday, April 14​, 2-5 PM

Sonoma Solidarity with Standing Rock Meeting

1:00-3:00 pm Divestment & Public Banking
3:00-5:00 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, April 16, 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, April 18th 7pm

​350 Sonoma

Peace & Justice Center​

Ongoing subgroups, Regenerative Agriculture, Zero Waste, Legislative Action.
For more info

​ go to​

Facebook350 Sonoma or webpage 350sonoma.org. Email 350Sono...@gmail.com.

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

Community Seed Exchange
Sat. April 28 (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 Free Workshop

9-12 Seed Library

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/​

Saturday, July 14

Healdsburg River Palooza at Veteran's Memorial Beach

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

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

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 Healdsburg, Sonoma, Guerneville, 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.