Truthout has published a book excerpt from Unprecedented, subtitled Can Civilization Survive the CO2 Crisis?
Author David Ray Griffin addresses the failure of United States’ Big Media to cover climate change fairly, quoting three scientists who explain why this is a mistake.
Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway:
[O]nce a scientific issue is closed, there’s only one “side.” Imagine providing a “balance” to the issue of whether the Earth orbits the Sun, whether continents move, or whether DNA carries genetic information. These matters were long ago settled in scientists’ minds. Nobody can publish an article in a scientific journal claiming the Sun orbits the Earth.
James Hansen also regards misapplied science to be a major problem in communicating scientific conclusions to the public. He wrote:
The scientific method requires objective analysis of all data, stating evidence pro and con, before reaching conclusions. This works well, indeed is necessary, for achieving success in science. But science is now pitted in public debate against the talk-show method, which consists of selective citation of anecdotal bits that support a predetermined position. Why is the public presented results of the scientific method and the talk-show method as if they deserved equal respect?
And he references John Oliver’s segment on the topic:
In May 2014, John Oliver humorously demonstrated on his fake TV news show, “Last Week Tonight,” what this would mean in a “Statistically Representative Climate Change Debate.” Having described the typical TV debate between a climate scientist and a climate denier, he pointed out that the debate should really be representative of the two positions. So after having two more people join the denier, Oliver brought in 96 more to join the scientist.
See for yourself – Oliver’s always interesting (and fun).
Christie has been caught red-handed trying to set Liberty State Park up for privatization by giving it to the Meadowlands Regional Commission he created, of which 9 out of 13 seats are occupied by people the governor handpicked. The commission now oversees the NJ Sports and Exposition Authority.
After Gov. Christie made a similar move to take control of the Highlands Commission, the appointees he placed on that commission began systematically and intentionally sabotaging the guidelines that previous commissioners had put in place to protect the region and its pristine water sources, which provide water to half of New Jersey. Christie’s newly appointed commissioners have allowed development throughout the Highlands, endangering our water source as well as the health of residents who depend on it for drinking water.
It is feared that a similar travesty of justice will be inflicted on Liberty State Park and the residents who rely on it for recreational space and relief from the urban concrete jungles surrounding it. The Record in a Jan 15 article warns,
Three sentences, buried in the 80-page legislation that combines two Meadowlands agencies, allow a new commission to “evaluate, approve and implement any plan or plans for the further preservation, development, enhancement or improvement of Liberty State Park” in Jersey City.
It is unclear who added the paragraph. A spokesman for Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto, the bill’s primary sponsor, would not say.
“It came out of nowhere, because no one knew this was happening until after it passed,” said Sam Pesin, president of the 800-member Friends of Liberty State Park, a volunteer group. “There’s no reason to put the park under a new commission unless you want to build on it.”
Since opening in 1976, LSP has hosted a free, green, open park space behind Lady Liberty and is considered by millions to be an important and vital public asset – one which New Jerseyans aren’t ready to give it up without a fight. The Ironbound Super Neighborhood Council, urges you to act on the following calls to action to save Liberty State Park:
Ironbound Super Neighborhood Council will hold its regular meeting on Wednesday, February 4th at 7pm. Meetings are held at St James Church School at the corner of Madison and Elm Streets, Newark NJ
Assemblywoman Mila Jasey and Assemblyman John McKeon (D-Essex/Morris) reiterated their opposition to the proposal for the Pilgrim Pipeline, a 178-mile oil pipeline that would cross 30 New Jersey municipalities, after a Montana pipeline breached on Saturday January 17 2015, spilling up to 50,000 gallons of crude oil, some of which seeped into the Yellowstone River and has contaminated the local water supply. They fear that the Albany, NY to Linden, NJ Pilgrim Oil Pipelines could cause a similar disaster in New Jersey.
“Presumably, Bridger Pipeline told the people of Montana that this catastrophe was utterly impossible – just like Pilgrim Pipeline has tried to placate us with claims that advanced technology makes pipelines safe – but the Montana residents whose tap water smells and tastes like oil unfortunately now know all too well the very real threat an oil pipeline is to land, water and the public’s health and safety,” said Jasey. “Safe drinking water is a fundamental human need, and particularly in light of this – the most recent of far too many examples – we will continue to do everything possible to ensure that New Jersey never faces a similar disaster.”
Jasey noted that constituents have expressed their disapproval of the Pilgrim Pipeline proposal at numerous community meetings. The legislators plan to hold more public forums to hear the concerns of local residents.
“The Pilgrim Pipeline project simply is not right for New Jersey, and our residents have made their stance against it absolutely clear. In addition to denouncing the potential for the Pilgrim Pipeline to contaminate the Highlands, which supply drinking water for two-thirds of New Jersey’s residents, they reject exposing the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, home to numerous plants and animals, to one of the most flammable fuels in the world,” said McKeon. “The oil spill in Montana is a tragic manifestation of every fear New Jersey families and environmental advocates have about the Pilgrim Pipeline proposal. Our first priority is always protecting the people and natural beauty of New Jersey, and as such, we will remain steadfast in fighting against this plan.”
Jasey and McKeon are sponsors of a bipartisan resolution to oppose the Pilgrim Pipeline project (AR-191). The measure in December gained Assembly approval.
In this video clip, several New York county legislators talk about why they believed it necessary to ban fracking waste from use, storage or transportation across their counties. Since states haven’t shown much willingness to limit fracking or reject its waste, it’s great to see municipalities and county legislators taking action. I have several questions after watching the clip, though:
Are the New York county legislators shown in this clip part of a unified coalition?
How many New York counties have banned fracking waste? Is there a list somewhere?
How do New York county legislators stand on the topic of fracking itself?
Is the position of legislator on the Board of Legislators equivalent to a NJ freeholder?
Has New York State itself taken a position against fracking waste?
In 10 years glacial ice has retreated MORE than in the previous 100 years. Watch a huge piece disappear live in this impressive excerpt from the Academy Award nominated film Chasing Ice. A piece as large as the lower end of Manhattan with elevations as high as 600 feet, was filmed breaking just apart and disappearing.
This is what global warming’s all about, people. Glaciers are disappearing because our planet’s warming up and when they go, warm up accelerates. Methane gas – many times more dangerous than carbon because of its impact on the protective shell outside our planet shielding us from the sun’s rays – escapes from the Arctic Ocean floor as vegetation trapped in the ice begins to decompose. This is why we need to heal our planet.
Green Drinks is about Environmental Justice and Sustainability, not green colored drinks. Green Drinks is just our name! We meet monthly in three north Jersey Environmental Justice (EJ) cities. Our informal gatherings are held in friendly spaces to bring people together to chat over food and provide information about the green and sustainable issues relevant to our lives and communities.
Green Drinks meetings are open: everyone is welcome and there is no admission fee. Discussions are shaped by the attendees who sit around a table chatting together, but each month we propose certain topics to get the conversations/training going. Admission is free. You just pay for the food and drinks you consume at the locations where we meet. We always scout out friendly places with good food at moderate prices. Learn more at greendrinks3.org.
This month we’re returning to Agave but on 03 March 2014 Al-Tariq Best has invited us to meet at FP Youth Outcry’s HUBB Center on Prince Street in Newark.
Discussion themes this month
Winter is the time to plan your garden and start seeds
Big Money in general elections impacts the environment? We’ve partnered with Represent.Us to get rid of it!
How Green can you or your business get?
Preventing school closures in Newark and other NJ EJ communities
Green Drinks/Issues in 3 EJ cities every month
Green Drinks Newark 1st Mondays | 7-9pm
Mon 03 Feb 2014
Agave Mexican Restaurant
118 Pacific St, Newark, NJ | 973-732-4168 Street parking Green Drinks Hackensack July 2013 Green Drinks Hackensack 2nd Mondays | 7-9pm
Mon 10 Feb 2014
Villa de Colombia
12 Mercer Street, Hackensack, NJ Parking if restaurant lot is full:
Weekdays after 7 across street in jewelry business parking lot
Weekends in Salvation Army lot on the corner of Mercer & State Streets
Green Drinks Clifton-Paterson (this location has no fixed date or spot for now)
TBA (Check back here for update) | 7-9pm
Sultan Restaurant
429 Crooks Avenue, Clifton NJ (on the Paterson border) Safe street parking
Other green/sustainable activities & events
Communicating Effectively with Neighbors & Friends on Climate Change
Thurs 20 Feb 2013 | 6:30-9:30pm
FDU Metro Campus – Dickinson Hall, Wilson Auditorium
140 University Plaza Drive, Hackensack NJ Email to RSVP to this FREE event
A free lecture & interactive discussion with Geoffrey Feinberg, Yale University Project on
Climate Communication and the staff at Climate Nexus
RISING WATERS: RAISING CONSCIOUSNESS: A Maldives Activist on the urgency of mobilizing global
climate action
Thurs 30 Jan 2013 | 6pm
Friends Hall at Ramapo College of NJ
505 Ramapo Valley Road, Mahwah NJ 07430 Email to get a campus parking pass for this FREE event
We got a taste during Sandy, but what if our whole nation was in danger of being swallowed by the sea? Please Join the Ramapo College Masters in Sustainability Studies and Thilmeeza Hussain, Voice of Women and Climate Wise Women and a Maldives Activist on the urgency of mobilizing global climate action. Rising waters flyer
Nate Briggs of Brown v. Education fame comes to Bergen Community College Thu 20 Feb 2014 | 12:30-2 pm
BCC NAACP is bringing Nathaniel Brings to speak at the college for Black History Month. Mr. Briggs’ father was the first signer on the lawsuit that became Brown v Education. He will talk about his family’s experiences, and he’s a fascinating speaker.
People’s Organization for Progress (POP) meets weekly in Newark
The People’s Organization for Progress meets every Thursday | 6:30pm
Abyssinian Baptist Church
224 West Kinney Street, Newark NJ
Special Programs:
THURS 30 Jan Filmmaker Danny Schechter speaks. He wrote the book “Mandiba A-Z” and worked on many documentaries on Mandela and the film (at Abyssinian Baptist)
MON 02 Feb Dr. Cornel West at
Bethany Baptist Church
275 West Market Street, Newark NJ
Sign to stop elephant slaughter
More than 30,000 elephants were slaughtered last year for their tusks, which are used to make ivory trinkets and carvings, which are sold in black markets around the world, including in the US. But it’s important to stop this illegal trade. There may be only 250,000 elephants left in the wild. Sign to show you care!
After this, no one could ever say that ALEC and the politicians guided by it, care more for people than for profits. They boldly assert that betraying the public trust is necessary in order to insure that (their) economic profits remain intact. In a phenomenally informative article, The Guardian tells us about ALEC legislators’ all-out efforts to block clean energy development and the enforcement of clean water protections. They don’t dispute that this will be done at the expense of the environment and climate change reversal, but they care only for the profits they will continue to reap.
Among the more interesting discoveries by The Guardian: ALEC has plans to attack clean energy from the household-level to the White House-level, working in service to its utility industry members’ unfettered profits.
If you’re interested in a solar roof, you should know that ALEC and its legislators want to eliminate, or severely limit, home solar installations, as they take away profits from the traditional energy companies they own.
Here are some juicy excerpts from The Guardian’s article:
Over the coming year, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) will promote legislation with goals ranging from penalizing individual homeowners and weakening state clean energy regulations, to blocking the Environmental Protection Agency, which is Barack Obama’s main channel for climate action.
Details of Alec’s strategy to block clean energy development at every stage – from the individual rooftop to the White House – are revealed as the group gathers for its policy summit in Washington this week. (The ALEC strategy documents obtained by the Guardian are shown in entirety in the full article.)
…Gabe Elsner, director of the Energy and Policy Institute, said the attack on small-scale solar was part of the larger ALEC project to block clean energy. “They are trying to eliminate pro-solar policies in the states to protect utility industry profits,” he said.
The group sponsored at least 77 energy bills in 34 states last year. According to an analysis by the Center for Media and Democracy, the measures were aimed at opposing renewable energy standards, pushing through the Keystone XL pipeline project, and barring oversight on fracking…
In the confidential materials, prepared for the August board meeting, ALEC claimed to have made significant inroads against such clean energy policies in 2013.
“Approximately 15 states across the country introduced legislation to reform, freeze, or repeal their state’s renewable mandate,” the taskforce reported…
It just shows that ALEC uses lawmakers as lobbyists to block climate legislation at every turn,” said Connor Gibson, a researcher for Greenpeace. “They try to undermine the authority of agencies that have the power potentially to control carbon pollution, so whenever there is a new EPA rule that pops up, they re-tool their arsenal of model bills to make sure they are blocking the new rule.”
…Environmental lawyers said the resolution amounted to a “new manifesto” against the EPA regulating carbon pollution. “They don’t want the EPA to regulate greenhouse gas emissions,” said Ann Weeks, legal director for the Clean Air Task Force…
“They will probably tell you they don’t want the EPA to regulate anything so it is in their interest to turn what the EPA has proposed into something that is grotesque and unreasonable, which I don’t think is true,” Weeks said.
Donate your junked cellphone to a victim of domestic violence
1 in 4 women will experience domestic violence. You can help change that. Just mail in a junked cell phone by Thursday, January 9. It’ll raise funds to help survivors of domestic violence.
Green Drinks Newark 1st Mondays | 7-9pm
December: 02 Dec 2013
Agave Mexican Restaurant
118 Pacific St, Newark, NJ | 973-732-4168 Street parking
Green Drinks Hackensack 2nd Mondays | 7-9pm
December: 09 Dec 2013
Villa de Colombia
12 Mercer Street, Hackensack, NJ Parking if restaurant lot is full:
Weekdays after 7 across street in jewelry business parking lot
Weekends in Salvation Army lot on the corner of Mercer & State Streets
Green Drinks Clifton-Paterson(this location has no fixed monthly date or spot for now)
December: Tues 17 Dec 2013 | 7-9pm
Sultan Restaurant
429 Crooks Avenue, Clifton NJ (on the Paterson border) Safe street parking
New Jersey Safe Routes to School Coalition/NJ Network meeting
Tues 10 Dec 2013 | 10am – 12pm
Bloustein School in Room 113 | 33 Livingston Ave, New Brunswick, NJ
Please RSVP
WILMA SUBRA on Gas Infrastructure at Ramapo College
Wed 11 Dec 2013, 9:30-11:30am
RCNJ in Friends Hall More and parking pass
The Masters in Sustainability Studies and Environmental Studies Programs, Ramapo College of New Jersey in conjunction with the NJ Highlands Coalition, NJ Club, ClimateMama, and the Delaware Riverkeeper Network
Cordially Invite You to a Program on Gas Infrastructure and Its Adverse Impacts: Implications for Communities across the Region with Renowned Environmental Scientist and MacArthur Fellow
Rationale: The Ramapo Region now serves as a confluence for major gas infrastructure projects proliferating throughout the New York/New Jersey area. Beyond the other consequences of new gas pipelines, compressor stations, metering stations and gas- fired power plants, there is the question of whether natural gas is the clean source of energy it is billed as, particularly now that the gas traveling through our area is increasingly sourced from fracking of Marcellus Shale deposits.
Because of its position between the Shale fields of Pennsylvania and northeastern cities, the Ramapo region will likely remain at the crossroads of fracking infrastructure development. With these new drilling techniques and expanding infrastructure requirements we must ask, “How Hazardous is our reliance on Natural Gas?” This is a question of importance to community decision makers, parents, and other residents of the region seeking information upon which to base policy and personal decisions. Yet, there has been a paucity of information available.
Wilma Subra is a highly regarded environmental scientist and MacArthur Genius Award recipient who has devoted herself to approaching such challenging environmental health questions. Owner of a private environmental testing company in Louisiana, she has emerged as a strong voice for environmental justice and precautionary decisions regarding environmental hazards. She has served on numerous EPA commissions relating to environmental health and justice, played an important role in understanding the issues in post-Katrina Louisiana and has emerged as a key voice in cautioning about the proliferation of gas fracking and the resulting infrastructure projects because of potential adverse health effects and community impacts.
What could be wrong with family farming? Family farms, also known as traditional or small farms, produce good food with little or no pesticides … The farming methods they use keep both farm animals and the people eating the vegetables, dairy and meats produced on them, healthy and strong.
There’s the problem! For Big $, Big Ag, health insurance companies and Big Pharma, family farming is bad bad bad: because it leads to less need for hospitalization, insurance, pharmaceutics and erases the need for factory produced pesticides, fertilizers or seeds: in other words, major corporations can’t make a profit from family farming. So, they want to ban it. But for the real people of the world, people like you and me, family farming is good good good and we want more of it.
Check out the brilliant Food Revolution Europe video showing why GMOs and mono-crops are so bad for both people and the environment. Learn why we must say NO to GMOs, help spread the word about how bad they are and demand that governments halt their use.
We must also protect the family farmers of our world. Big Ag is using GMO crops to force small farmers out of business and steal their land, and we need to stop them. Their wellbeing and our health are irrevocably tied together.
In another video, Physicist Vandana Shiva tells why GMOs are the world’s death knell. OK, maybe Dr. Shiva is a bit serious, but she’s speaking relevant truths that all people should know. She also speaks as a native of India, where close to 300,000 cotton farmers have committed suicide because GMO seeds from Monsanto have bankrupted their farms, destroyed their families’ living and broken ties to land and homes they owned for generations.
Given Monsanto’s legacy as a producer of the lethal defoliant Agent Orange during the Vietnam War, Southeast Asian agriculture would presumably beg to differ with this characterization.
Sustainability is also not the first word that comes to mind when contemplating Monsanto’s policy of sowing the earth with genetically modified seeds that destroy soil and are designed with nonrenewable traits so as to require constant repurchase as well as acquisition of a variety of other company products like fertilizers and pesticides.
Nor would the term appear to define a situation in which nearly 300,000 Indian farmers have committed suicide since 1995 after being driven into insurmountable debt by neoliberal economics and the conquest of Indian farmland by Monsanto’s Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) cotton.
In tragic irony, many kill themselves by imbibing pesticides intended for their crops.
As for Monsanto’s shameless claim that one of its primary objectives is “to improve lives,” we might similarly conclude that butchers aim to improve the lives of cows and pigs and that two plus two is 86.
Truthout has published a book excerpt from Unprecedented, subtitled Can Civilization Survive the CO2 Crisis? 
