EARTH ACTION IN THE NEWS - July 19, 2018

[Emerald]

​EARTH ACTION IN THE NEWS  

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​1) Secret Documents Expose Monsanto’s War on Cancer Scientists
https://sustainablepulse.com/2018/07/14/secret-documents-expose-monsantos-war-on-cancer-scientists/#.W0xF5DHLdlR
Good article about what is happening with this trial.​

​AND

Robert Kennedy Jr. launches first lawsuit of thousands against Monsanto alleging herbicide Roundup causes non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma
https://www.naturalnews.com/2018-07-16-robert-kennedy-jr-launches-first-lawsuit-of-thousands-against-monsanto-alleging-herbicide-roundup.html#

This is exciting news that Robert Kennedy Jr. is an attorney in this court battle.  (PS. Natural News is not one of my favorite news sources; they have some biases I don't agree with.)

​

​AND
Monsanto Trial: Toxicologist Explains to Jury How Monsanto Colluded With EPA ​

https://www.organicconsumers.org/blog/kennedy-monsanto-trial-epa-roundup-cancer

​2) ​

Meet the Foodies Who Are Changing the Way Americans Eat
https://www.ecowatch.com/foodies-who-are-changing-the-way-americans-eat-2585733535.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=12014e3f53-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-12014e3f53-86095421
The Conversation: "While it may be tempting to stereotype locavores as wealthy hippie liberals, as consumer researchers we wanted to dig deeper. Our research shows that locavorism is a consumer ideology with beliefs that cut across class, politics, age and gender."

​3) Solution to Ocean’s Plastic Waste Problem ‘Starts With Product Design’
https://www.ecowatch.com/plastic-waste-recycling-product-design-2586314189.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=b29296620c-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-b29296620c-86095421

Mongabay: "To address the issue, we need to "properly consider the product's life and its end of life right from the beginning, from the design stage," said Richard Thompson, a marine biologist at the University of Plymouth in the UK. Ocean cleanups, banning unnecessary single-use products, biodegradation, even recycling—none of these solutions alone will be enough to crack the problem, the researchers concluded.

"

4) 5 Ways to Curb the Power of Corporations and Billionaires
https://www.ecowatch.com/5-ways-to-curb-the-power-of-corporations-and-billionaires-2586352670.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=b29296620c-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-b29296620c-86095421
"This, of course, could only happen if grassroots demand for these ideas spread so powerfully that politicians had to take notice. This is not such an unrealistic scenario, given the worldwide disavowal of the dominant capitalist model: most Europeans have a higher opinion of socialism than capitalism, and even in the U.S., the overwhelming majority see big business as unethical and unfair."
I don't always agree 100% with everything I post.  There is a lot in here that I agree with and much that I do not, especially what they said about Occupy.

5) CRISPR Could Be Causing Extensive Mutations And Genetic Damage After All
https://sustainablepulse.com/2018/07/16/crispr-could-be-causing-extensive-mutations-and-genetic-damage-after-all/#.W1Awz7jLezY

Sustainable Pulse: “This is the first systematic assessment of unexpected events resulting from CRISPR/Cas9 editing in therapeutically relevant cells,” explains geneticist Allan Bradley from the Wellcome Sanger Institute in the UK.

"

6) Farm at hospital provides organic produce for patients
https://eu.newsleader.com/story/news/2018/06/13/farm-hospital-provides-organic-produce-patients/697862002/

USA Today: "The AMI Farm supplies vegetables to the Augusta Health cafeteria and patient meals and the "Food Farmacy" program that provides at-risk chronic disease patients with nutrition education and fresh produce, according to a press release."

7) Indigenous and environmental water protectors fight to block Louisiana pipeline

https://wagingnonviolence.org/feature/indigenous-water-protectors-louisiana-pipeline/

Waging Nonviolence: "The Bayou Bridge pipeline, or BBP, is one of a handful of pipelines currently under construction by Energy Transfer Partners, or ETP, a Dallas-based oil and gas company with tens of thousands of miles of lines already operational. Further upstream from the BBP, the ETP network includes its Dakota Access pipeline, which draws sweet crude from the Bakken oil fields in North Dakota and passes through the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation on its way to Patoka, Illinois. From there, another ETP line takes the oil south to Nederland, Texas, where the first phase of the Bayou Bridge to Lake Charles has already been completed.

"

8) Drop in plastic bags littering British seas linked to introduction of 5p charge
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/apr/05/drop-in-plastic-bags-littering-british-seas-linked-to-introduction-of-5p-charge?mc_cid=acd8514099&mc_eid=77c48bbaa7

The Guardian: "Scientists find an estimated 30% drop in plastic bags on the seabed in the same timeframe as charges were introduced in European countries

."

9) Hurricane Maria Aftermath: FEMA Admits to Deadly Mistakes in Puerto Rico
https://www.ecowatch.com/fema-puerto-rico-hurricane-maria-2587275568.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=cb7ed9d6ae-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-cb7ed9d6ae-86095421

Climate Nexus: "FEMA's after-action report details how the agency's warehouse on the island was nearly empty due to relief efforts from Hurricane Irma when Maria made landfall last September, with no cots or tarps and little food and water. The report finds that the agency was severely understaffed and relied on "underqualified" staffers, and that leadership lacked key information on the island's infrastructure both before and after the storm. The report advises that communities and families in remote areas must prepare independently of the agency for future weather disasters.

"

10) The Arctic Is Burning: Wildfires Rage from Sweden to Alaska
https://www.ecowatch.com/the-arctic-is-burning-2587826571.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=5585e3c4b5-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-5585e3c4b5-86095421
"There are currently 11 wildfires blazing in the Arctic circle, The Guardian reported Wednesday. While fires are also raging in Russia, Norway and Finland, Sweden has seen the most extensive Arctic fires, which have forced four communities to evacuate, according to The Guardian."

11) Green Groups Sue EPA to Reverse Pruitt’s Last Act
https://www.ecowatch.com/glider-trucks-epa-lawsuit-2587797751.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=5585e3c4b5-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-5585e3c4b5-86095421

12) 17 of 21 Members of Trudeau Youth Council Sign Letter Against Trans Mountain Buyout
http://www.theenergymix.com/2018/07/17/17-of-21-members-of-trudeau-youth-council-sign-letter-against-trans-mountain-buyout-sign-on/
CTV News: "Seventeen of the 21 members of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s youth council have signed a letter expressing their “immense disappointment” with the PM’s decision to buy out Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline, and urging him to walk back the C$4.5-billion purchase."

13) Put Together a Zero-Waste Kit for Zero Dollars
https://www.motherearthliving.com/wiser-living/zero-waste-kit-for-zero-dollars-zb0z1807

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!

July 1-31
Occupy Sonoma County is participating in Plastic Free July
Even if you are already doing all you can to reduce your plastic consumption please sign up at http://PlasticFreeJuly.org to be counted in this international campaign.  We are hoping to get 2 million participants signed up this year.

Go to our website to join our campaign.  Write letters to sympathetic companies to discuss their role in reducing plastic.  What more can you do about this problem?

Thursday, July 19th, 6:00-7:30pm

What is a Just, Equitable, and Sustainable Recovery for Sonoma County?

Christ Church United Methodist, 1717 Yulupa Ave, Santa Rosa
For more info go to​ 350sonoma.org. Email 350Sono...@gmail.com

Monday, July 30
Sonoma County Climate Activist Network (SoCoCAN!), 7-9 PM
Peace and Justice Center, 467 Sebastopol Ave., Santa Rosa
Climate activist groups and individuals working together to address and reverse climate change. We meet on months with a 5th Monday. 2018 Next Meetings: July 30, Oct. 29.
Please submit campaign proposals in advance to the SoCoCAN listserv.
For more info: (707) 595-0320 or SonomaC...@gmail.com (email preferred). Join us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/SonomaCountyCAN/.

Volunteer Opportunities

• Set up help is needed prior to our teach-ins

Help with taking down tables, setting up chairs, and bringing things in from the car.

Next event is Monday, July 23 - set up at 6:00 at the PJC.

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.