Thursday, August 15, 2013

Book review: 'Forests for the People'

Forests for the People: The Story of Americas Eastern National Forests
rn National Forests, by Christopher Johnson and David Govatski, Island Press, 2013, 324 pages. History is full of heroes and villains. Johnson and Govatski have meticulously researched the story of how the eastern national forests suffered when insatiable lumbering and devastating fires overwhelmed the forests east of the 100th meridian. A forest conservation movement led to the passage of the Weeks Act of 1911, which was essential to saving what remained. Read more

Saturday, June 22, 2013

Catastrophic loss of bees after pesticide sprayed

Yesterday, June 21, 2013, the Xerces Society released information that the 25,000 bumblebees found dead or dying in a Target store parking lot of Wilsonville, OR were poisoned. The pesticide Dinotefuran had recently been applied, and investigators confirmed that Dinotefuran was lkely the cause. Sold under the trade name ‘Safari,’ it belongs to a class of insecticides called neonicotinoids that have been linked to bee deaths in recent years. Continue reading

Monday, January 14, 2013

Activists call for President to keep promise to label GMO's

A group of safe-food advocates working through the Occupy Monsanto and Food Democracy organizations announced today, Jan. 14, 2013, their planned roving assembly in Washington, DC for 2nd Inauguration of President Barack Obama. Hundreds of safe food activists will hold a "GMO Free Inauguration" by sharing organic & non-GMO food and hot drinks via a roving musical assembly. Keep reading

Thursday, January 10, 2013

White River receives National Blueway designation

Fans of U.S. natural areas have long known that the White River and its watershed are special. Today, Jan. 9, 2013, the Department of the Interior has made it official. Deputy Secretary of the Interior David J. Hayes today announced that the White River, along with its watershed, has been named the nation’s second National Blueway.Keep reading

Monday, January 7, 2013

Dangers of Arctic drilling dramatized: Shell's oil rig remains stranded. Shell’s Arctic drilling rig Kulluk that ran aground on Monday near Kodiak Island and remains stranded today Sunday, Jan. 06, 2013 amid high seas and strong winds. After numerous attempts to regain control of the vessel, the U.S. Coast Guard is now working to stabilize the rig, minimize damage and detect fuel spills. The rig has about 155,000 gallons of diesel fuel and other petroleum products aboard, none of which has spilled, state environmental regulators said. Environmental groups question wisdom of any Arctic drilling “This latest mishap is another painful reminder that Arctic drilling is simply not safe,” said Deirdre McDonnell, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. Keep reading article.

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

When +Bill McKibben set out on his @350.org’s Do the Math Tour, he and a slew of green celebrities asked people and institutions to divest from fossil fuels. The 350.org organization believes divestiture from fossil fuels and investment in renewable energy is essential to health of the planet and all its living systems. Some colleges have listened. According to a 350.org update: Unity College in Maine became the first in the nation fully divest from fossil fuels. Hampshire College in Massachusetts has also passed a sustainable investment policy that effectively divests them from fossil fuels. At Harvard, a student resolution supporting divestment passed with 72% of the vote, and students are now pushing to meet with President Faust about divestment. UNH students delivered 1,000 signatures to their president to call for a meeting on divestment. At Brown, students rallied to push their administration to divest from coal. Perhaps most surprisingly, an entire city appears to be doing the math. Seattle Mayor @Mike McGinn sent a letter to the city’s two chief pension funds in late December, formally requesting that they “refrain from future investments in fossil fuel companies and begin the process of divesting our pension portfolio from those companies.” Keep reading at http://www.examiner.com/article/first-mayor-to-lead-divesiture-from-fossil-fuels-seattle-s-mike-mcginn?cid=db_articles

Find your story and write a memoir

Nature writing is often also first-person writing.  Is your memoir also nature writing? Maybe/maybe not. Find your story with a free guided ...