Our World and Everything in It

 

I just read a really interesting article about the history of the banana as we know it, or rather, don’t know it. The banana is dying from Panama Disease. The disease will likely destroy all bananas because industry has basically created and propagated only one type of banana. It’s only logic then that if disease strikes it will kill all bananas because there are no other varieties that might be resistant.

 

There is also a very bloody past to the banana industry, and so the name “banana republic”. It’s not a very nice history what’s been done to the banana, people, land, and forests relative to one of America’s favorite fruits that have graced lunchboxes what seems like forever. Oh there will be substitutions but the creamy sweet banana we once knew is looking at impending doom not as much from disease but from corporate greed in a deregulated industry.

 

The title of the article is: “Why Bananas are a Parable for Our Times,” by Johann Hari, a columnist for the London Independent. Read what deregulation did for the banana. As the title suggests and the writer aptly describes:

Is there a parable for our times in this odd milkshake of banana, blood and fungus? For a hundred years, a handful of corporations were given a gorgeous fruit, set free from regulation, and allowed to do what they wanted with it. What happened? They had one good entrepreneurial idea - and to squeeze every tiny drop of profit from it, they destroyed democracies, burned down rainforests, and ended up killing the fruit itself.

Sounds familiar doesn’t it?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/johann-hari/why-bananas-are-a-parable_b_156102.html

 

With Michigan’s economy in the dumper and deficits rising, it’s hard for many to stick to a green path in Michigan. Construction of two new coalburners by Wolverine Power Supply and Consumers Energy are planned that will bring work there for a while.

 

But how do we think this will fair alongside new green industry Michigan is looking to entice to our area? We can’t expect green companies to park themselves next to one of the greatest pollution producing industries—coal. It would make for strange neighbors.

 

And what about our health in Michigan? If we expect to horde our water to keep it here, than we have the responsibility to keep that water fresh. Exposing more of our open fresh water to toxic mercury from these plants is unacceptable. Besides that our own health from the air born toxins are in jeopardy. The following is an excerpt from those in Michigan’s medical profession:

As medical doctors conducting health research at Michigan State University and the University of Michigan respectively, we feel compelled to warn that construction of these plants would gravely impair Michigan’s air quality and expose our communities to severe, even lethal, health impacts.

Coal plants release at least 70 different pollutants, including nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, particulate matter and mercury. These pollutants are known carcinogens, teratogens, neurotoxins, and/or cardiopulmonary irritants.

And we wonder why there are so many new cases of autoimmune disease and cancer? This isn’t just about jobs, this is about our health and welfare, which is supported by our environment, the air we breathe, water and food we drink and eat. There are so many more pollutants and toxins in our environment than our ancestors experienced that our bodies are overworked daily. So when we face something as simple as allergies our immune response is flooded. Just yesterday a friend called me to say that another dear friend died of problems arising from his immune system.

 

As Americans we have a tendency to seek instant gratification, only that can sometimes lead to acting without foresight and create more drastic problems down the road. We can’t wait to get jobs in Michigan and are quick to overlook the ramifications of adding more pollution to our state with these coalburners without really, really attempting to facilitate other sources. We gets jobs, get a paycheck for building coal fired power plants, but down the line we suffer grief and lose that income and more to illness. It isn’t worth it.

 

We have a new president on the way with new economic ideas that are environmentally friendly. It looks like this push to start construction on these coalburners is a rush to get by before the new president takes office. And when everyone finds that there are many, many jobs waiting in green industry also, that we have a choice of work, and alternatives for energy, there won’t be much of a long-term future for the archaic fossil fuel industry will there? That’s motive for the fossil fuel energy companies that isn’t in the best interest of the people in this state. The more we manage to forge ahead into green technology, the greater the strides we will make toward some pretty remarkable energy sources that won’t infringe on the environment and ultimately on our own well being.

 

Contact Governor Granholm that you want a stay on these permits for now: http://www.michigan.gov/gov/0,1607,7-168-21995—,00.html

 

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009901070332

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009901070345

 

 

Anyone from Michigan knows that the UP or Upper Peninsula was once a location for all types of mining. I have a small collection of different types of stones laced with copper and ore from the UP myself. As of late there are only two mining operations left in the UP, but quite possibly not for long.

 

Ever since an owner of a backwoods camp found a sparkling rock while digging for a well in Stephenson, MI six years ago, speculators for companies are exploring more than a dozen areas in the UP for mining precious metals again. The sparkling rock turned out to be zinc discovered from a nearly 2-billion-year-old-rock formation with other precious metals. So much for the faith based idea that the world is simply not that old.

 

On the subject of faith relative to Michigan’s prehistoric history and mining, I’ve read Stephen Collins book, THE “LOST” TEN TRIBES OF ISRAEL…FOUND!  Collins is an epigrapher or reader of ancient writings prior to Greco-Roman history, which is as far back in history that the average U.S. student is taught. But ancient writings tell of many powerful and well traveled civilizations like the Phoenicians who were maritime experts and neighbors to Parthia, ruled by the Hebrews, and one of the greatest civilizations to have existed before Greece or Rome.

 

Collins chronicles history as he knows it from ancient writings and parallel to what is revealed in the bible. All of it coincides beautifully. What really caught my attention was the mention of Michigan in relation to the construction of King Solomon’s temple. King Solomon had smelting plants for metal used in his temple. According to Collins, at the same time the temple was under construction, there is evidence that copper mines in Michigan’s UP were completed depleted of copper, but no evidence of any structures in North America using that amount. It was more than likely mined and shipped to Mount Moriah near Jerusalem for the temple’s construction.

 

Solomon’s temple was believed to have been under construction prior to 1000 BC and after the bronze/iron ages with the help of Phoenician labor. Hmmmm. There was no bronze or copper left in the Mediterranean area after the Bronze Age and into the Iron Age. It had to come from somewhere else and who not to ship it from somewhere else  but the Phoenicians?

 

Interesting, isn’t it, but I digress? Michigan may have been involved with mining since ancient times but mining is not what it used to be. It is much more invasive than times of yore. Between equipment, extraction, and dumping what is not needed anywhere and everywhere, there are fears that mining in the UP will destroy tourism with tourists looking for peaceful places to ski, hunt and fish. 

 

We also know that all that comes out of a mine like sulfuric acid, and benzene gases are not good for the air, earth, or water. And the process itself is horribly messy, tearing up habitat, and disturbing wildlife. With cuts being made within the DEQ and the EPA, there will be few regulators to oversee the process of more than a dozen new mining ventures.

 

And so the question: “Is there enough precious metals and iron still left to make these new ventures worth the bad consequences of tearing up the UP in all of its wild splendor?” After all, we’re not in the practice of constructing gilded temples any longer.

 

Read more about current plans to mine: http://www.wxyz.com/news/local/story/U-P-May-See-New-Mining-Boom/4Xd7R-vxaE-emaCe-s8e1w.cspx

 

For info on Stephen Collin’s book that I think everyone of faith should read simply because it’s fascinating facts that actually support biblical history, a very good read: http://www.giveshare.org/israel/lost10tribes.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

According to WXYZ News today, Governor Granholm signed a bill for $335 million in tax incentives beginning in 2011 thru 2016 that is “designed to make Michigan the center of U.S. efforts to develop high-tech batteries for electric and hybrid vehicles.”

 

It was approved 31-3 in the Senate and 94-0 in the House. Finally a green business move that our senate didn’t nix, although I don’t think it was the idea of going green that motivated Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop. It was more about helping the Detroit auto industry. The bill is designed with GM in mind relative to its plug-in hybrid “Volt.” It will ensure that all Volt related activities remain in Michigan.

 

At present there is no large-scale lithium-ion battery manufacturing in the U.S. This just shows how far behind we are on many green fronts. Japan, South Korea, INDIA and CHINA do all the manufacturing. The fact that India and China are ahead of us should be a warning to “catch up” fast.

 

And that’s what Governor Granholm hopes to do now that she has a little cooperation from what looked to be for a long time ”anti-environmental” senate. She hopes Michigan will “become a battery epicenter and draw a piece of an estimated $1 billion investment from the federal government.”

 

Read more: http://www.wxyz.com/news/story/Big-Battery-Tax-Credits-Approved/a5JpqyAFz0CjPXBjZnYh1A.cspx.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And it’s no surprise that half of the pollution cases that were neglected were oil spills. It also said that certain areas were inundated with unresolved violations like EPA Region 6, to include the states of NM, TX, OK, AK, LA, and Region 8, to include Montana, ND, SD, WY, UT, and CO. Interesting that most of the states are red states isn’t it? Republican support of big oil is coming back to bite them. Dallas reported dozens of oil spill cases that were either on hold or had no follow up for penalties. Denver’s office said they had hundreds of OPA’s (Oil Pollution Act) cases with no further action and a long list of violations no one intends to address. And the Kansas City office said that their “morale plummeted, employees lost hope, and the stress level is overwhelming, at critical levels.”

It was also revealed that the Asst. Secy. for the Army for Civil Works favored corporate lobbyists over scientific determinations of career officials in making Clean Water Act decisions for the Santa Cruz River in Arizona. Another non-surprise. It smacks of the rest of the Bush administration’s anti-environmental�appointments. It’s too bad besides being red states many of these SW states�may not have enough water in the future to sustain the populations of people. To pollute what is there is criminal.

This mess stems from the Supreme Court decision in June of 2006 that ruled for the Rapanos case which states that “federal agencies could assert jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act for many waters only after going through a time-consuming and resource-intensive process of demonstrating a ’significant nexus’ to ‘traditional navigable waters.’�It means�groundwater, small creeks, and streams have a habit of slipping through the cracks for any kind of protection. Michigan’s House and Senate go round and round about Michigan’s groundwater protection. The Great Lakes are protected, but inland it’s another story. A good portion of our groundwater doesn’t fall under jurisdiction for use. So the state’s aren’t protecting it, the feds aren’t protecting it, and this is where the problem lies.

This is a�pretty revealing story about the EPA in the Bush Administration leaving waters unprotected and hiding the mess from the public, while protecting corporate polluters.

http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/dec2008/2008-12-16-02.asp.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a draft of new FDA consumer guidelines regarding mercury in fish floating around Capitol Hill that the EPA says it simply will not endorse. The EPA is heads up on this one for a change. They accuse the FDA of being closer to the fishing industry than concern for consumers. The new draft as seen on CNN, states specifically that eating over 12 oz. of fish per week has more advantages than disadvantages for the consumer regardless of mercury content. The EPA questions the science behind this draft.

Pregnant women should play it safe and follow former guidelines for them that limit the consumption of larger fish like albacore tuna to less than 12 oz’s. per week. Mercury poisoning can have adverse affects on the human fetus.

This is an offering by the exiting Bush Administration to the fishing industry. It’s another instance of science being tossed and replaced with ideology hell-bent on helping business regardless of the harm it does to the air, water, earth, animals, plants/trees, and humans.  So consumer beware until we have a real FDA again and agencies that we can hopefully trust.  

While American automakers are being pummeled for ignoring the competition, what about the rest of our industries that lag environmentally far behind? I’m reading an article about Cleveland’s race to be the first to set wind turbines in Lake Erie, and that there are no wind turbines off of our shores both in saltwater or fresh. Right now Cleveland has a task force measuring ice thickness and movement relative to turbine towers, a whole new ball game for us.

Even though Europe is still struggling, it seems problems with ice freeze, turbulent waters, and horrendous storms have been dealt with on some 26 wind farms in the ocean’s coastal areas that help meet power demands for 5 countries there. Where did they come from? Overall, we don’t pay a heck of a lot of attention to our competition do we? So who are we to point fingers at our auto industry?

We’re just getting into the swing toward wind and solar power. And even so, with the recent drop in gas prices, many major corporations with millions set aside for environmental projects have shelved them. Here we go again, yoyo’s running up and down the strings manipulated by the fingers of Big Oil.

America just doesn’t get the concept that investing in alternative energy sources is not about the cost and/or availability of oil. It’s about the environment and keeping up with the competition that is simply pulling away from us. To continue to argue about global warming and our part in it while the environment gets decidedly worse is a big part of the problem and the source is Big Oil. The global warming argument has kept people in their Hummers while others screamed for hybrids to the point our auto industry is damned if they do, or damned if they don’t. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone doesn’t complain that with oil prices so low, “Why are American car companies making crappy, little cars?” Remember, “Drill, baby, drill,” was a mantra for our problems during the campaign. The same mindset has thwarted thousands of new jobs a new green industry would offer. But most poignantly, it has caused us to ignore the green competition overseas in many sectors of industry besides the auto companies.

So while Cleveland scrambles to set the first wind turbine tower in windy Lake Erie, with the hopes of having at least 10 by 2011, we’re small potatoes and nowhere near the European forerunners with 26 farms in the ocean. And even though Ohio has some 90 factories involved in the production of wind turbines, and that industry is growing fast, as the article says, “It’s still constrained by a supply chain that can’t meet the demand for wind turbine components,” evidence that green companies still aren’t a big draw here.

Until we divorce ourselves from the notion that there is nothing we can do for the environment, and we simply can’t live without the crude, we’re going to keep coming up short every time the fickle finger of Big Oil pulls it’s strings, whether it’s our own oil or not. And while we’re busy being yo-yos, the competition moves even farther ahead, with greater savings, more sustainable energy and independence, and new jobs emerging with new invention.

http://blog.cleveland.com/business/2008/12/click_here_to_view_the.html

I caught a real hoot of an interview on Planet Green between Bob Woodruff and Laura Bush yesterday. She said one of her passions is our national parks. She’s hiked in many, mentioning Denali National Park in Alaska, the park Sarah Palin wants to run a natural gas line through.

Mrs. Bush talked about her geothermally heated ranch, with water collection system, and the fact that White House switched to LED holiday lights. She went on to say that oil is a limited natural resource that will run out, as all of our natural resources worldwide. She won’t admit anything about global warming however; opting to say that it doesn’t matter. We should be practicing conservation anyway.

About global warming, she said she reads the latest worldwide reports like everybody else. She evidently hasn’t read about her husband’s horrible environmental legacy that has had a devastating effect on the national parks she avows to love. There is something seriously wrong with this picture because it was also reported that the Park Service, Dept. of Energy, and Interior are trying to overhaul the parks for more sustainability, or greening them up so to speak. Doesn’t President Bush appoint these dept. heads? Bush is doing his best to further the opposite.

There are plenty of things up Bush’s sleeve before he leaves office. Environmentalists are calling it a Fire Sale for the Oil and Gas Industry. As CBS news website reported:

Late on Election Day, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management announced a Dec. 19 auction of more than 50,000 acres of oil and gas parcels alongside or within view of Arches National Park and two other redrock national parks in Utah: Dinosaur and Canyonlands. ‘We find it shocking and disturbing,’ said Cordell Roy, the chief Park Service administrator in Utah. ‘They added 51,000 acres of tracts near Arches, Dinosaur and Canyonlands without telling us about it. That’s 40 tracts within four miles of these parks.’
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/11/16/national/main4608048.shtml?source=RSSattr=HOME_4608048

Then there is the administration’s push to weaken Clean Air Act protections for “Class 1 areas” of national parks nationwide. According to the Washington Post, “[It] has sparked fierce resistance from senior agency officials. All but two of the regional administrators objecting to the proposed rule are political appointees.” The article also said, “In written submissions, EPA regional administrators have argued that this switch would undermine critical air-quality protections for parks such as Virginia’s Shenandoah, which is frequently plagued by smog and poor visibility.” http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/18/AR2008111803813.html. Poor visibility from pollution smog over a national park. Sure, man doesn’t affect the environment. Keep believing that until we choke everyone out of existence.

I blogged about other attacks on our national parks by Bush/Cheney too like the repeal of the roadless rule. http://www.blogsmonroe.com/world/2008/04/were-about-to-lose-one-of-the-largest-forests-in-america-to-big-money-interests/

http://www.blogsmonroe.com/world/2008/03/pine-trees-in-danger-from-beetles-as-bush-looks-to-trample-our-biggest-forest/.

On top of this Bush just undid a 25 year old statute banning guns in National Parks. Yep, while hiking through one of them, minding your own business, a gunshot could ring out. Real nice place to take the kids and camp hey? The only reason for guns in national parks is for hunting or nuts. I thought critters in National Parks were protected? I thought humans in National Parks were protected from gunshots out of nowhere.

Right after this interview was a segment on Joshua Tree National Park. It’s getting harder to find older trees, and all the trees seem to be in decline. In some parts they are sure to be extinct soon. It was explained Joshua trees need a high desert environment, which is cooler. They also need a couple of nights of freezing weather that no longer happens due to global warming. Fires that weren’t as much a threat before in Joshua Tree Park have ravaged thousands of acres due to drier grasses. All it takes is a lightening strike. There are many more parks in danger of losing the very symbol for which they are known. The wetlands of Everyglades Park are retreating, and the glaciers of Glacier National Park are well…you know. Will we rename the parks? Will the parks even resemble places to preserve any more?

Scientists claim our National Parks are laboratories where effects of climate change are quick to appear. This does not bode well then, and further attacks on our parks by Bush/Cheney is just inexcusably the meanest turn any president has taken against our national treasures. If the First Lady is genuinely concerned she should take her passionate call for parks that are in peril to the source of that peril—her husband, oh and let’s never forget Cheney.

The United Nations opened its annual climate conference in Poznan, Poland yesterday. It seems the U.S. delegation of youths that is attending the 2-week conference was embarrassed when U.S. negotiator, Ambassador Harlan Watson, avoided committing to emissions targets or funding for developing countries to address global warming. Again, it was the same old song and dance of the Bush administration.

Since a great deal of America’s youth were involved with our latest election and clearly view climate change as important as anything else that faces our nation, their disappointment is understandable. I’m saying this again. One of the worse acts perpetrated on the American public by the Bush administration was instilling doubt about global warming. It politicized something that affects every living thing on earth, which has nothing to do with U.S. party lines. I’m also sick and tired of people here pointing fingers at China. We have no control over China. But we have all responsibility for how we act here. If enough civilized nations reel in their emissions and begin to unleash the ingenuity that brings new invention and prosperity, China will do likewise or suffer trade embargoes in the future. We’ve already suffered from tainted imports from China, and stopped importing them.

It’s called being a model for the rest of the global community, something America has not been for quite awhile relative to the environment. The youth of this country and groups like 350.org have plans to make Americans more aware of global warming, and it doesn’t look like they will give in easily. A good thing and none too soon.

It’s funny that doubters about global warming think steering away from oil and fossil fuels is impossible and will cause some sort of financial collapse and an altered lifestyle where we would be deprived of conveniences. Doubters think we would go in reverse.

Believers of global warming see a whole new frontier of invention yet to surface if the web of doubt could just be lifted long enough to allow all that inventiveness to progress. Believers feel like hostages to the big bucks of the oil and coal industry, which is mired in the past. To go green is to progress.

It’s the same old story all right. Doubters = reverse or reverting back to the usual. Believers = progress or advancing to the unusual. We’re in the 21st century for Pete’s sake. A little progress is due. Heck I’m still disappointed were not zipping around like the Jetsons.

http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/dec2008/2008-12-01-01.asp

I wrote this as a diary on other blogsites and found people weren’t as down on our car companies as thought. Since this blog does involve the environment I thought I would post it here also. Replies I’ve received from the west coast that buy foreign were a little surprised. One wanted to know about the new Ford Fusion hybrid. And many people including a congressman that I read about also find it curious that all three automakers ignored foreign competition. Here’s the blog:

We all had a hand in the recent demise of the American auto industry. Consumers ate up big gas guzzling SUV’s, trucks, and 300 hp engines in cars like my 9 year old Cadillac. Like most consumers, I figured if the Big 3 produces them, they are all right to buy; after all, the car companies have the inside track, and an eye up on the competition. We trusted their judgment and we were willing to buy.

American automakers sold us big gas guzzling cars, yet at the end of the Clinton administration, the Big 3 produced prototypes of energy efficient and hybrid vehicles for the future. When Bush/Cheney was elected all was abandoned. The Big Three were obviously assured by an overtly oil connected administration that the crude would keep flowing. The Big 3 trusted Bush/Cheney.

It is the trickle down of trust. Even though the source of this trust lies in an administration that is Wall St. friendly, (obviously), and anti-union, (prefers dictatorial management), even though the rest of the industrialized free nations are highly unionized and benefit from national health care systems. Hmm? Meanwhile, the Big 3 blindly and stupidly followed the lead of this anti-environmental administration, and totally ignored the competition that continued making hybrids. Odd. The assurances must have been great enough to go against basic business sense.

And what about the environment? The Bush administration appointed Michael Leavitt as EPA administrator in 2000. As new reports about global warming began to surface, they were either squelched or altered by the EPA. ENS reported: “The White House reversed course and rejected actions to control global warming pollution.” It is one of the worst deceptions the Bush/Cheney regime perpetrated on the American public, to cause doubt about global warming for the sake of the billionaire oil industry relishing the use of gas eating American cars by a trusting America and its auto industry.

As for Michael Leavitt, he left the EPA to head up Health and Human Services. Health and Human Services under his rule turned around and issued an e-mail to some 67,000 govt. employees urging them to buy hybrid cars, when U.S. automakers had none to offer. Of course the e-mail was a mistake, so sorry. What? As in a trial, the jury heard the stricken comment. Buy hybrid, buy foreign.
Within a span of a few years Michael Leavitt at the Bush/Cheney bidding was both anti-environmental, then suddenly green conscious. Bush/Cheney was purchasing more and more foreign oil. The beginning of 2007, before the economy took a dive, the Big 3 raced to Washington when oil prices rose to record highs. The Big 3 recognized the trouble ahead. They were snubbed by the same administration that obviously assured them early on. The oil was flowing but at outrageous prices, and now Bush/Cheney washed their hands of the auto industry. Not their problem. The Big 3 knew they had been duped. The environment was skillfully used as a means to an end.

The Big 3 scrambled back to Detroit to produce environmentally friendly cars. Ford is unveiling a hybrid Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan that goes up to 47 mph on electric power before switching to gas. The Prius tops out at 30-35 mph. Quite an achievement for Ford in a short time. GM is in the middle of producing a plug-in car. And Chrysler helped produce hydrogen-powered buses for Iceland in 2003. So they have the know how.

But there are new problems out of the auto industry’s control. The beloved Wall St. darlings of the Bush/Cheney era fumbled badly. Instead of just breaking unions, at least two of the Big 3 are on the precipice of extinction now. The final sword is bailing out Wall St. with $700 billion, and corps. like AIG twice, but stalling on the car companies for $25 billion citing that it will just be a cup of water on the fire.

If GM sold all 8 of its jets @ $35 million each, the total $280 million would by the same rationale be a thimble on the fire. If 20 execs conceded $5 million each in any perks or salary increases the resulting $100 million would be half a thimble on the fire. But there is no real fire. The auto industries have advanced greatly toward producing hybrid cars of the future in a very short time after realizing it was sheer stupidity trusting an administration that lead us into a war with Iraq. We’ve been mislead by the Bush/Cheney administration many times over and the one source that has profited greatly is Big Oil.

I believe Big Oil should return the favor to the Big 3 and float them the money to stay on the final stretch of track toward cars that won’t need oil in the future. If Obama can appoint his adversaries, then the oil industry can boost the car companies to a greener future without them. The auto companies deserve a bailout. The oil industry can easily afford it. They were bedfellows before. It’s time for some alimony.

Over four hundred blogs and all of the research, I’ve learned that all things lead back to politics through policy, legislation, and regulation. The past 8 years saw the demise of many things we’ve only just begun to notice. To blame unions and U.S. autoworkers for any of the problems the auto industry is currently experiencing continues to play into the hands of the Bush/Cheney mindset that would like to render our entire country an “at will” entity where no U.S. citizen will have the job security most of our major competitors in the free world enjoy. Understand that unions are the last powerful voice any average citizen has against the likes of a Wall St., that will most certainly make sure nothing, absolutely nothing trickles down. In light of what has happened, we’d be fools to think otherwise.

Japanese unions: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE5D8163EF933A15754C0A964958260.
Germany’s unions: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3755519,00.html
Britain’s unions: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2000/apr2000/rov-a
06.shtml