EARTH ACTION IN THE NEWS - April 12, 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.

Go to our Facebook and Twitter pages to share these articles already posted there.
If you are uncomfortable clicking on links in an email you can cut and paste the link into your browser.

​1) DuPont vs. the World: Chemical Giant Covered Up Health Risks of Teflon Contamination Across Globe​ (video)
https://www.democracynow.org/2018/1/23/dupont_vs_the_world_chemical_giant

If you still have any teflon cookware re-purpose it for growing houseplants or anything other than cooking. Please do not donate it to charity to be used by someone else. 

2) Washington County neighbors pack meeting to weigh-in on chicken farm permits
http://www.wowt.com/content/news/Washington-County-meeting---478947283.html

WOWT News (Omaha): "The chicken farms would supply the new Costco processing plant in Fremont but many neighbors are against the plans. Each of the six proposed farms would house up to 380,000 chickens. It's a number that drew a lot of concern."

3) Crop Fires Can Push Delhi Air Pollution 20 Times Beyond Safe Levels, Study Finds
https://www.ecowatch.com/india-air-pollution-crop-fires-2555949154.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=1fa08552b0-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-1fa08552b0-86095421
"Since around 1980, farmers in the agricultural region of northwest India have switched from traditional to mechanical agricultural techniques, which leave crop residue behind after harvesting. Farmers have taken to burning the residue in order to clear their fields after the fall harvest, in October and November, a practice that sends clouds of black carbon and particulate matter downwind to the larger National Capital Region of Delhi, which is home to more than 46 million people."

4) Mobil Knew: CEO Discusses Links Between Fossil Fuels and Climate Change in 20-Year-Old Footage
https://www.ecowatch.com/mobil-climate-change-fossil-fuels-2556206118.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=1fa08552b0-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-1fa08552b0-86095421
AND
Fight or Flight: Will Boston Be Prepared for Sea Level Rise?
https://www.ecowatch.com/boston-climate-change-sea-level-2555556358.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=5fb41605a3-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-5fb41605a3-86095421

AlterNet: "The city has a handy map where you can see just how likely it is that your home will flood. You can assess risk for low-income communities, the elderly, and for people with limited English skills, and once you add those layers, the entire city of Boston looks vulnerable very quickly."

5) New Mining Ban Around Yellowstone Moves Forward
https://www.ecowatch.com/yellowstone-mining-ban-2556261001.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=1fa08552b0-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-1fa08552b0-86095421

6) Cracked Undersea Pipeline Caused Deadly Oil Spill in Indonesia
https://www.ecowatch.com/oil-pipeline-spill-indonesia-2556434833.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=1fa08552b0-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-1fa08552b0-86095421

AND
Keystone Pipeline Spilled 407K Gallons in South Dakota, Double Previous Estimate
https://www.ecowatch.com/keystone-pipeline-oil-spill-2558227880.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=c0cffa5a08-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-c0cffa5a08-86095421

AND
Opposition Forces Kinder Morgan to Halt Trans Mountain Pipeline
https://www.ecowatch.com/trans-mountain-pipeline-halted-2558346085.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=5fb41605a3-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-5fb41605a3-86095421
Common Dreams: "Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of Coast Protectors said that "after some long hours in the boardroom," Kinder Morgan came "to the inevitable conclusion that that you simply can't ram a pipeline through in the face of such opposition—legal, political, on-the-ground opposition. It's impossible."

7) Humans Eat More Than 100 Plastic Fibers With Each Meal
https://www.ecowatch.com/plastic-consumption-food-dust-2556502607.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=1fa08552b0-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-1fa08552b0-86095421

AND
Is There Plastic in Your Teabag?
https://treadingmyownpath.com/2018/04/05/plastic-teabags/?utm_source=Treading+My+Own+Path+updates&utm_campaign=76cc12cafb-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_55699d32b3-76cc12cafb-228761553&mc_cid=76cc12cafb&mc_eid=b45198eb05

AND
Plastic Bag Bans Actually Work, Study of European Waters Shows
https://www.ecowatch.com/plastic-bag-bans-uk-2556456601.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=c0cffa5a08-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-c0cffa5a08-86095421

AND
Nestlé's Plastic Initiative Called 'Greenwashing' by Greenpeace
https://www.ecowatch.com/nestle-plastic-pollution-greenpeace-2558963533.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=6775b1d2d4-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-6775b1d2d4-86095421
"Nestlé's statement on plastic packaging includes more of the same greenwashing baby steps to tackle a crisis it helped to create," Greenpeace oceans campaigner Graham Forbes said. "It will not actually move the needle toward the reduction of single-use plastics in a meaningful way, and sets an incredibly low standard as the largest food and beverage company in the world. The statement is full of ambiguous or nonexistent targets, relies on 'ambitions' to do better, and puts the responsibility on consumers rather than the company to clean up its own plastic pollution."

8) Half a Degree of Warming Makes a Big Difference to Global Food Security, Study Finds
https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change-food-security-2555658027.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=69b8e89b59-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-69b8e89b59-86095421

9) FirstEnergy Bankruptcy a 'Cautionary Tale' for Coal and Nuclear Industry
https://www.ecowatch.com/firstenergy-bankruptcy-coal-nuclear-2555605793.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=69b8e89b59-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-69b8e89b59-86095421
"Electric services giant FirstEnergy Corp. announced over the weekend that its embattled coal and nuclear units have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection."

10) Justice Department to allow Bayer's acquisition of Monsanto: Dow Jones
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/09/justice-department-to-allow-bayers-acquisition-of-monsanto-dj.html?__source=sharebar|twitter&par=sharebar

AND
'Merger From Hell' Reportedly Approved by DOJ, Pushing Agrichemical Chokehold on Food System
https://www.ecowatch.com/monsanto-bayer-merger-food-system-2558653192.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=5fb41605a3-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-5fb41605a3-86095421

Common Dreams: "Jason Davidson, food and technology campaign associate with Friends of the Earth, was equally critical in his reaction to the development. "The Department of Justice has decided that corporate profits matter more than the interests of consumers and farmers. This decision will massively increase the power of major agrichemical companies that already have a stranglehold on our food system," he declared in a statement. He went on to lament that "American farmers will see increased seed prices, fewer options, and decreased bargaining power." Echoing Hauter's warning, he argued. "This merger from hell will further entrench the failing model of toxic, chemical intensive agriculture, which is poisoning people and the planet."

11) Shell Faces Historic Legal Action in Netherlands for Failure to Act on Climate Change

https://www.ecowatch.com/shell-climate-change-lawsuit-2556191673.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=69b8e89b59-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-69b8e89b59-86095421

​Friends of the Earth: ""Shell is among the ten biggest climate polluters worldwide," said Donald Pols, director of Friends of the Earth Netherlands. "It has known for over 30 years that it is causing dangerous climate change, but continues to extract oil and gas and invests billions in the search and development of new fossil fuels."​

​12) ​Michigan Lets Nestlé Draw More Groundwater for Bottling
https://www.ecowatch.com/nestle-water-michigan-2555887499.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=69b8e89b59-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-69b8e89b59-86095421

AND
Michigan Gov. Declares Flint Water Safe, Stops Free Bottled Water, But Residents Aren’t So Sure
https://www.ecowatch.com/michigan-drinking-water-flint-2558239374.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=c0cffa5a08-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-c0cffa5a08-86095421
"CNN reported that Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, one of the first to sound the alarm about the crisis when she noticed the rising lead levels in the blood of children she treated, tweeted disapproval. "This is wrong. Until all lead pipes are replaced, state should make available bottled water and filters to Flint residents," she wrote. Michigan State Representative Sheldon Neeley, a Democrat whose district includes Flint, agreed, calling the decision cruel according to Reuters. "Governor Snyder has failed to address the psychological trauma that his administration put the people of Flint through. The fact is, the people of Flint don't trust the Snyder administration or the science they pay for—science that previously allowed our city to be poisoned," Neeley said in a statement ."

13) Where are the Solar Jobs? New Resource Can Tell You
https://www.ecowatch.com/solar-power-jobs-2554843892.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=22c2f3b4d3-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-22c2f3b4d3-86095421

AND
Solar Capacity Exceeded All Other Fuel Sources Combined in 2017, Study Finds
https://www.ecowatch.com/solar-capacity-2017-2556858644.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=c0cffa5a08-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-c0cffa5a08-86095421

14) Researchers Innovate to Increase EV Drive Time
https://www.ecowatch.com/ev-drive-time-2554094238.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=22c2f3b4d3-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-22c2f3b4d3-86095421

15) General Mills is transitioning 53 square miles of South Dakota farmland to certified organic
https://newfoodeconomy.org/general-mills-gunsmoke-project-scaling-organic/
This is how we know we are "winning" when big corporate food giants take these steps to keep up with the demand for organic and non-GMO food. 

16) USDA is Flying Blind on Genome-Edited Crops
https://sustainablepulse.com/2018/04/09/usda-is-flying-blind-on-genome-edited-crops/#.WsxV4bjLezZ

17) Half of Earth’s Satellites Restrict Use of Climate Data
https://www.ecowatch.com/earth-climate-data-satellites-2555857383.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=6775b1d2d4-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-6775b1d2d4-86095421

18) Palm Oil Banned by Major UK Supermarket
https://www.ecowatch.com/uk-supermarket-bans-palm-oil-2558731055.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=6775b1d2d4-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-6775b1d2d4-86095421

Environmental Investigation Agency: "While other UK supermarket chains ... have pledged to only source sustainable palm oil in their own brand products..., one major supermarket has gone one step further by totally removing it. It states that it cannot guarantee palm oil is not causing rainforest destruction and believes that there is no such thing as "sustainable" palm oil. Earlier this year, researchers documented that 100,000 orangutans have been in lost in 16 years, partly due to land conversion to oil palm plantations."

19) How Well Did Wind Energy Perform During the Bomb Cyclone?
https://www.ecowatch.com/wind-power-bomb-cyclone-2554824592.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=22c2f3b4d3-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-22c2f3b4d3-86095421

AND
Scotland's Record-Breaking Wind Output Enough to Power 5 Million Homes
https://www.ecowatch.com/scotland-wind-power-2558314966.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=5fb41605a3-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-5fb41605a3-86095421

AND
Mainland Portugal Generated More Renewable Energy Than It Needed in March
https://www.ecowatch.com/portugal-renewable-energy-wind-hydropower-2556245355.html?utm_source=EcoWatch+List&utm_campaign=69b8e89b59-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_49c7d43dc9-69b8e89b59-86095421

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!

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.s...@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.

Tuesday, April 17th, 6:30pm
Wasted: The Story of Food Waste film screening
Santa Rosa Junior College,  Newman Auditorium
Free to students.  $10 suggested donation for other community members
F​acebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/151996425625669/?active_tab=about 

 

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

April 21, 12-4​
Santa Rosa Earth Day
Courthouse Square
For more info: srcity.org/earthdayhttp://srcity.org/earthday

Come say hi at the OSC booth and take home some free seeds for your garden

Community Seed Exchange
Sat. April 28 (the last Saturday every month)
St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, 500 Robinson Rd., Sebastopol
For more info: communitys...@gmail.com
9-10:30 Optional Work Party
11-12 Free Growing Beans Workshop
9-12 Seed Library

Monday, April 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 Meetings: April 30, July 30, Oct. 29.
For more info: (707) 595-0320 or SonomaC...@gmail.com (email preferred). Join us on Facebook 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

• Event Tabling

Tabling season is year-round but Earth Day kicks off several outdoor events where we will have our booth.  Help us set up and take down our booth and enjoy the event or stay with us to share information and answer questions with the public.

• Flyer Distributing

Such as at May Day!  We promote our events and campaigns by distributing small handbills at marches and large events.  This is fun and easy and goes fast when we have a team.

• 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. Our teach-in videos provide an ongoing opportunity to share important information with the public.  Go to our Youtube page to see some of our videos.

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.