Discussed at Green Drinks Hackensack on 9/12

Marcellus Shale Fracking
Extracting gas from the Marcellus Shale deposit in Pennsylvania – country’s largest deposit – is still being promoted and it’s not good for us. Takes too much water from the region causing the water table to sink dramatically and it creates potable water pollution. Keep learning about fracking and advocating against it. Speak about it with family, friends and politicians.

Reality Climate Project on 9/14
Join the Reality Climate Project starting at 8pm EST on September 14.

24 Presenters. 24 Time Zones. 13 Languages. 1 Message. 24 Hours of Reality is a worldwide event to broadcast the reality of the climate crisis. It will consist of a new multimedia presentation created by Al Gore and delivered once per hour for 24 hours, representing every time zone around the globe.

Natural Resource Monetizing Equated With Public Good
Traditional government policy view the monetizing of natural resources as equivalent with the “public good”: that’s why business interests are able to get away with so much environmental destruction. But it isn’t very good to lack clear air and water, is it?

Investigate Scare Tactics Passed Along by Friends
Morty mentioned that he received a scare letter forwarded from a friend cautioning senior citizens that Medicare rates are going to be much higher in 2012 and even worse after that, so Morty called the Medicare office for verification. The customer service rep laughed when she heard his concern: 2012 Medicare rate figures don’t get released until October; and no one has even a slim idea about what the rates will look like in the years to come.

Real News v. Fox 5 Infotainment Propaganda
It’s important to realize that Fox News doesn’t deliver real news (informed people call it “infotainment“) and furthermore, it has a very apparent aim to create a state of constant panic in viewers; it will pull any dirty tactic possible to discredit individuals wishing to rationally debate ideas; and, Fox presents fabricated versions of history to bamboozle viewers into believing what it wishes them to believe. More info at Fox News Boycott and 14 Propaganda Techniques Fox ‘News’ Uses to Brainwash Americans.

Disneyworld: As Un-American As . . .?
Fox isn’t the only organization promoting buy-in to image over reality. What about Disneyworld? A National Geogrphic exposé unearths a lot of disturbing secrets about this “American Institution” which strangely, doesn’t exactly belong to America.

By the 1960s, all over America, suburbs were replacing old neighborhoods. Malls were driving Main Street out of business. There was hardly a new ranch home or split-level that didn’t have a TV antenna on the roof. Disney realized that in the coming decades shows like The Mickey Mouse Club, not climate and geology, would determine what the majority of Americans would consider a safe and enjoyable place to take a family vacation. That day, flying over central Florida, Disney decided that he, not reality, would define what constituted the Magic Kingdom in the minds and spending habits of millions of Americans in the years to come . . .

Disney’s new empire in central Florida would be marketed as Disney World. Its official name was, and remains, the Reedy Creek Improvement District. Thanks to a sweetheart deal with the state legislature, the lands Disney purchased were detached from the rest of Florida to form a Magic Kingdom, above and outside the law. Even now, Disney World’s rides are exempt from state safety inspections. Democratic process is excluded, too. Power remains in the hands of a board of supervisors composed of Disney allies. However much you pay for a time-share condo in Disney World, you cannot buy property outright, and therefore establish official residence, and therefore vote for the board. Celebration, Disney’s residential community themed to evoke pre-1940s small-town America, has a city hall but no actual municipal government.

Our Own Sally Get Arrested Protesting Alaska-Mexico Pipleline
I’ve saved the most exciting news for last. Green Drinks 3 co-host Sally Gellert, travelled to DC last week in order to get arrested along with 1200 plus other protesters including NASA’s James Hansen – who is speaking about the environment at Bergen Community College on 9/22.

Green Drinks Paterson/Clifton
Next week is Green Drinks Paterson/Clifton. We’ll be back with a report on what was discussed, or you can come out and help shape the conversation yourself.

Third Mondays at 6:30pm
Sultan Restaurant
429 Crooks Avenue, Clifton, NJ 07011
973-772-1995
Food and Drinks: Pay only for what you order
Parking: street parking
More info

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