This site does not want to be a scandal, conspiracy or hysteria site.  That said, Comedian Paul Rodriguez addressed a deep concern he had with either the state or federal government cutting off water to farms in the “Valley” in the California crop belt.  Now this e-mail is being sent which seems to confirm his warnings of a dust bowl and a food shortage. 

I always worry that environmental alarmists go too far and cause harm to the cause of true Environmental Stewardship.  As I understand it, the Delta Smelt is neither endangered nor is it native to this area.  The water shut off will starve people in the end.  We must co-exist and be truely bio-diverse without extremist actions by the folks on the environmental side of the fence or the folks on the economic side of the fence.  In fact, I don’t think their should be a fence, but we should be open-minded and logical enough to see all the differing elements clearly and respond responsibly.

These are some of the best links I have discovered on the topic.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8217920.stm

http://www.povertyandhunger.org/PovertyinAmerica.html

Not wanting to be an alarmist, and not wanting to be guilty of not sharing the truth and a warning if I was given the opportunity, I will simply let the reports and the e-mail communique speak for themselves.

Wind Farms May Harm Your Health

Living near a wind farm may blow a host of health problems in your direction, including migraines, rapid heartbeat, and vertigo, according to a five-year study.

The so-called wind turbine syndrome (WTS) may even affect children to the point that it triggers nightmares and interferes with brain development, New York Dr. Nina Pierpoint’s study found.

“There is no doubt that my clinical research shows that the infrasonic to ultrasonic noise and vibrations emitted by wind turbines cause the symptoms which I am calling wind turbine syndrome,” the pediatrician said in an interview with the United Kingdoms’s The Independent. “There are about 12 different health problems associated with WTS. These range from tachycardia, sleep disturbance, headaches, tinnitus, nausea, visual blurring, and panic attacks with sensations of internal quivering to more general irritability.”

The turbines generate little noise, wind turbine manufacturers and wind farm operators say, and sound level measurements in the audible range generally show this to be true. However, some people who live close to wind farms say easily heard sounds are not the problem.

For instance, Dennis Stillings, who bought a farmstead in North Dakota, told Minnesota Public Radio that a wind farm was set up in a neighboring field soon after he moved in. He was told the turbines would be no louder than 55 decibels. “Which is about the same level as your refrigerator running, or the same level as my conversation right now,” Stillings said. What is bothersome, he said, is the pulsating, low-frequency sound like a “giant dishwasher.”

The low-frequency sounds are the ones Pierpoint zeroed in on as the source of health problems. Her study, which involved 38 people, shows that low-frequency sounds and vibrations affect humans through the bones in their ears, in the same manner as fish and amphibians. This sensitivity has been documented in new research by scientists at Manchester University and New South Wales.

Pierpoint told The Independent, “It has been gospel among acousticians for years that, if a person can’t hear a sound, it’s too weak for it to be detected or registered by any other part of the body. But this is no longer true. Humans can hear through the bones. This is amazing. It would be heretical if it hadn’t been shown in a well-conducted experiment.” Although Pierpoint recognizes that not everyone suffers from these sounds, she says wind farms should be built no closer to homes than 1.2 miles.

If there are plans to build a wind farm close to you, how can you tell if you might be affected? Information on Pierpoint’s Web site says that, if you get seasick, or if you got carsick as a child, you are at high risk of harm from wind farm noise and vibration. You are also at high risk if you suffer from preexisting migraine disorder, which is found in 6 percent of males and 18 percent of females.

Not everyone agrees with Pierpoint’s research, and some experts are quick to note how small the study was. In England, which has 219 wind farms and plans for 4,000 more turbines to be installed, a spokesman for the British Wind Association said, “An independent study on wind farms and noise in 2007 found only four complaints from around 2,000 turbines in the country. Wind turbines are quite safe and sustainable. It is not surprising that, according to a recent report, 94 percent of people who live near wind turbines are in favor of them. There is no scientific research to suggest that wind turbines are in any way harmful.”

Palm trees are harvested and animals suffer in terms of not having shaded habitat and food for a season in that particular area.  Animals do however migrate when there are fires and other forms of destruction and make a home in another place quite well.  People producing palm oil would be shooting themselves in the foot or committing personal economic suicide if they were not rotating their crops and orchards or plantations, because they would run out of plants and hence oil, and therefore profits/livelihood/ability to sustain their own lives.

So it is in the best interest of the palm farmers to keep growing and producing a healthy oil that replaces unhealthy oils.  So we have two choices.  Stop palm oil production or use it responsibly.  I am of the latter opinion.  Plus, someone who REALLY cares would get educated and come up with a better oil or a more dynamic solution to “fixing” the problem than simply whining about it or them.

Well, some have decided to do far more than whine and it is not even a choice between good, better or best.  This is their choice to be destructive and take the righteousness of environmental stewardship down with it.  Zealots will hurt our cause.  They will cause economic damage to companies, stores and employees and perhaps even start altercations.  They will give us all a bad name and then people will think environmental stewards are kooks.  These Jim Jones types with brown shirt emotion and thoughtless rights vs (no) responsibility types, give the cause a bad name and harm the end result when the inevitable backlash occurs.

We should always marry the environment and the economy together and do things that blend “rights” with “responsibility.”  This is what these folks did last year (or what they proposed to do and agitate) as posted on Planet Green.

” Wishing to break the cycle, the Rainforest Action Network (RAN) has created a way for us to send Hershey’s a message to remove palm oil from the chocolate-y mix. Dubbing it “Hershey’s Week of Action,” they’re asking us to head out to our nearby markets selling Hershey’s brand Easter candy and stamp the products with stickers that say, “Warning: Product May Contain Rainforest Destruction.”

No solution, just an adult temper tantrum.  Please find healthy ways to get your message out and produce solution-oriented positive actions.  Please help the cause of Environmental Stewardship and not perform some sort of fundamentalist crusade, jihad or scorched earh policy that harms everyone and is nearly terrorism.  Please!  For the Rain Forest and for the Animals be reasonable and a friend to ecological co-existance.

I thought President Obama wanted “Dialogue”?  When someone who has a nicely thought out position or opinion, such as John Mackey, who is far from being a Republican, why are he and his business attacked?  How did these attacks and protests get so well coordinated?  Why is it that any thoughts from GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt are met with open arms without an afterthought?

Here are comments from John taken from his blog.

Health Care Reform – Full Article

by John Mackey, August 14, 2009

As you are probably aware, I wrote an Op/Ed piece that was published in the Wall Street Journal earlier this week on health care reform, one of the biggest and most emotional issues facing our country. I was asked to write an Op/Ed piece and I gave my personal opinions. While I am in favor of health care reform, Whole Foods Market as a company has no official position on the issue.

In answer to President Obama’s invitation to all Americans to put forward constructive ideas for reforming our health care system, I wrote this Op/Ed piece called simply “Health Care Reform.” An editor at the Journal rewrote the headline to call it “Whole Foods Alternative to Obamacare,” which led to antagonistic feelings by many. That was not my intention – in fact, I do not mention the President at all in this piece.

I fully realize that there are many opinions on the healthcare debate, including inside my own company.  As we, as a nation, continue to discuss this, I am hopeful that both sides can do so in a civil manner that will lead to positive change for all concerned. You are welcome to share your thoughts in the comments section below. (Just remember our comment guidelines prohibit vulgarity and personal attacks.)

Here is the original unedited version that I submitted.

Health Care Reform

“The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money”-Margaret Thatcher.

With a projected $1.8 trillion deficit for 2009, several trillions more in deficits projected over the next decade, and with both Medicare and Social Security entitlement spending about to ratchet up several notches over the next 15 years as Baby Boomers become eligible for both, we are rapidly running out of other people’s money.  These deficits are simply not sustainable and they are either going to result in unprecedented new taxes and inflation or they will bankrupt us.

While we clearly need health care reform, the last thing our country needs is a massive new health care entitlement that will create hundreds of billions of dollars of new unfunded deficits and moves us much closer to a complete governmental takeover of our health care system.  Instead, we should be trying to achieve reforms by moving in the exact opposite direction-toward less governmental control and more individual empowerment.  Here are eight reforms that would greatly lower the cost of health care for everyone:

1.    Remove the legal obstacles which slow the creation of high deductible health insurance plans and Health Savings Accounts.  The combination of high deductible health insurance and Health Savings Accounts is one solution that could solve many of our health care problems.  For example, Whole Foods Market pays 100% of the premiums for all our team members who work 30 hours or more per week (about 89% of all team members) for our high deductible health insurance plan, and provides up to $1,800 per year in additional health care dollars through deposits into their own Personal Wellness Accounts to spend as they choose on their own health and wellness.  Money not spent in one year rolls over to the next and grows over time.  Our team members therefore spend their own health care dollars until the annual deductible is covered (about $2,500) and the insurance plan kicks in.  This creates incentives to spend the first $2,500 more carefully.  Our plan’s costs are much lower than typical health insurance, while providing a very high degree of team member satisfaction.

2.    Change the tax laws so that that employer-provided health insurance and individually owned health insurance have exactly the same tax benefits.  Right now employer health insurance benefits are fully tax deductible for employers but private health insurance is not.  This is unfair.

3.    Repeal all state laws which prevent insurance companies from competing across state lines.  We should all have the legal right to purchase health insurance from any insurance company in any state and we should be able use that health insurance wherever we live.  Health insurance should be portable everywhere.

4.    Repeal all government mandates regarding what insurance companies must cover.  These mandates have increased the cost of health insurance many billions of dollars.  What is insured and what is not insured should be determined by individual health insurance customer preferences and not through special interest lobbying.

5.    Enact tort reform to end the ruinous lawsuits that force doctors into paying insurance costs of hundreds of thousands of dollars per year.  These costs are ultimately being passed back to us through much higher prices for health care.

6.    Make health care costs transparent so that consumers will understand what health care treatments cost.  How many people know what their last doctor’s visit cost?  What other goods or services do we as consumers buy without knowing how much they will cost us?  We need a system where people can compare and contrast costs and services.

7.    Enact Medicare reform: we need to face up to the actuarial fact that Medicare is heading towards bankruptcy and move towards greater patient empowerment and responsibility.

8.    Permit individuals to make voluntary tax deductible donations on their IRS tax forms to help the millions of people who have no insurance and aren’t covered by Medicare, Medicaid, SCHIP or any other government program.

Many promoters of health care reform believe that people have an intrinsic ethical right to health care-to universal and equal access to doctors, medicines, and hospitals.  While all of us can empathize with those who are sick, how can we say that all people have any more of an intrinsic right to health care than they have an intrinsic right to food, clothing, owning their own homes, a car or a personal computer? Health care is a service which we all need at some point in our lives, but just like food, clothing, and shelter it is best provided through voluntary and mutually-beneficial market exchanges rather than through government mandates.  A careful reading of both The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution will not reveal any intrinsic right to health care, food or shelter, because there isn’t any. This “right” has never existed in America.

Even in countries such as Canada and the U.K., there is no intrinsic right to health care.  Rather, citizens in these countries are told by governmental bureaucrats what health care treatments and medicines they are eligible to receive and when they can receive them.  All countries with socialized medicine ration health care by forcing their citizens to wait in lines to receive scarce and expensive treatments.  Although Canada has a population smaller than California, 830,000 Canadians are waiting to be admitted to a hospital or to get treatment. In England, the waiting list is 1.8 million citizens.  At Whole Foods we allow our team members to vote on what benefits they most want the company to fund on their behalf.  Our Canadian and British team members express their benefit preferences very clearly-they want supplemental health care more than additional paid time off, larger donations to their retirement plans, or greater food discounts; they want health care dollars that they can control and spend themselves without permission from their governments.  Why would they want such additional health care benefit dollars to spend if they already have an “intrinsic right to health care”?  The answer is clear-no such right truly exists in either Canada or the U.K.-or in any other country.

Rather than increase governmental spending and control, what we need to do is address the root causes of disease and poor health.  This begins with the realization that every American adult is responsible for their own health.  Unfortunately many of our health care problems are self-inflicted with over 2/3 of Americans now overweight and 1/3 obese.  Most of the diseases which are both killing us and making health care so expensive-heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, and obesity, which account for about 70% of all health care spending, are mostly preventable through proper diet, exercise, not smoking, minimal or no alcohol consumption, and other healthy lifestyle choices.

Over the past two decades, breakthrough scientific research by Colin Campbell, as documented in his book The China Study, and clinical medical experiences by many doctors including Dean Ornish, Caldwell Esselstyn, John McDougall, Joel Fuhrman, and Neal Barnard have shown that a diet consisting of whole foods which are plant-based, nutrient dense, and low-fat will help prevent and often reverse most of the degenerative diseases that are killing us, and becoming more and more expensive to treat through drugs and surgery.  We should be able to live healthy and largely disease free lives until we are well into our 90’s and even past 100 years of age.

Health care reform in America is very important.  Whatever reforms are enacted it is essential that they be financially responsible and that we have the freedom to choose our own doctors and the health care services that best suit our own unique set of lifestyle choices.  We are responsible for our own lives and our own health.  We should take that responsibility very seriously and use our freedom to make wise lifestyle choices that will protect our health.  Doing so will enrich our personal lives and will help create a vibrant and sustainable American society. <end>

Here is one response:

“That’s why, today, we are calling on all American citizens to boycott Whole Foods.

Why?

Because Mackey has launched a public campaign to defeat single payer national health insurance.

This despite the bottom line reality that single payer is the only way to both control health care costs and cover everyone. …   And the problem with Mackey’s campaign is that it results in the deaths of 60 Americans every day due to lack of health insurance.

Mackey is responsible for these deaths as much as anyone.”

This is one of the tamer responses.  These lack reason and are full of hate, if not something more hidden and perhaps sinister.  If you invite dialogue, you are asking for a free flow of ideas and words.  This reaction is tantamount to thugery and is not too far removed from the people who shouted down opponents to a certain German Dictator in the 1930s-1940s. Jeffrey Immelt stand to make millions off of equipment, air power resources and the sole data system for tracking patients under the Obama proposed system.  Isn’t that at all worrisome?

This is what environmental co-existance is all about.  Engineers, craftsmen and people concerned with the environment are making great strides.  They can’t do it without capital and capitalism, but when merged together for good, everyone wins!

Wizetrize Takes Off with a Bang

Click on this link to read the Press Release.

We are making it fun to get involved in even a little way with the environment.  Sweepstakes Prizes, Big Projects like out Bio Fuel orchard in Costa Rica, Small everday things like controlling water use, Turning off lights, paying bills and reading newspapers on the internet, Eating foods that are produced locally and much more.  All of us making even a small difference multiplied by 300 million people in the United States alone will make a huge difference without going to extremes like cap and trade or worse.  Recycling, Reusing, Reducing and Rebuilding America are all good things.  Protecting the Environment, especially pristine places like Costa Rica is also worth our time, interest and effort.

From an article from Climate Realists…

“The towers in these images are Prop Turbines and when the wind is blowing, their blade tips spin at over 200 miles per hour,” explains Jim Wiegand, graduate Berkley University in California, where wind farms are being built with terrifying speed. “If you were an Eagle or an Owl hunting for a meal or any bird trying to fly over the hill, imagine having to navigate these spinning blades every day. This is just one of hundreds of Wind farms planned for America. It has been running for over 25 years. During that time over 30,000 birds of prey have died trying to fly through this gauntlet of spinning blades. Some estimate the mortality higher at 40,000. Over 1000 of these fatalities have been Golden Eagles“

Bear in mind that wildlife is not killed only by the spinning blades. High tension power lines, new access roads, habitat destroyed by construction of the farms and increased human presence all combine to transform what is touted as an ‘ecologically friendly’ new energy technology into the biggest deception ever perpetrated upon the public.

As is the case so often with powerful political/business lobbies (think tobacco industry), they have the money and influence to buy allies to perpetuate their party line.

The list of slaughtered species includes eagles, kites, hawks, cranes, bats, ducks, swifts, swans, geese, gulls, bustards, vultures, owls, grouse and more. Bear in mind reported losses don’t include carcasses claimed by scavenging animals before being recorded, nor bodies either too small or too mangled to be recognizable or even to leave enough remains to be found at all.

Don’t think for a moment that this is a problem restricted to the United States. There is a rising international outcry against these ugly, noisy eyesores that are spreading like cancers across fragile habitats and scenic open spaces around the globe. They’re not just endangering wildlife; they’re also destroying tourism, lowering property values and the quality of life for nearby residents.

I implore readers to click on and actually read the links I’ve provided. The statistics are truly alarming.

In an Open Letter to Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), co-signed by Professor David Bellamy and Mark Duchamp write. According to the preface, “This letter offers a good example of how governments cynically sacrifice our avian biodiversity (and much more) to help wind farm developers. Cheating with science, manipulating mortality predictions, covering up bird & bat-kill statistics; these are current practices in Scotland and most European countries. “

The letter states, “Based on the Koops study, it was estimated that high tension lines in the US could be killing 150 million birds a year, (emphasis: author), according to Mick Sagrillo of the American Wind Energy Association (2003). The same figure is also reported in Avian Collisions with Wind Turbines, a Summary of Existing Studies and Comparisons to Other Sources of Avian Collision Mortality in the United States – Western EcoSystems Technology Inc. (2001).

“Eagles don’t avoid wind turbines : they are attracted to them. In California, Dr Smallwood has observed that golden eagles fly twice as often near wind turbines than they would by chance. This explains why so many collide with the blades, which travel at up to 300 km/h at the tip. Two thousand three hundred golden eagles have been killed that way in California, and you know that : an official report confirms it.”

The letter goes on to say “Bird reserves are not even spared from this destruction. On the Isle of Lewis, for instance, a wind farm is to be built in a designated Important Bird Area ( Park UK224 ), and another in the Lewis Peatlands Special Protection Area (the Pentland Road road windfarm project.)

“How many more eagles and other protected birds will die on Skye and across Scotland on account of new transmission lines built to accommodate wind farms?” the letter asks.

Besides the predictable slaughter of eagles, swans, geese and other birds protected by EU and UK legislations, the Eisgein wind farm may have a detrimental effect on a National Scenic Area, and even possibly on other important tourist attractions such as the Callanish Stones and a unique cultural event : the “Birth of the Moon”.

Why is the building of farms being permitted in ecologically sensitive areas such as these?

Photo courtesy Marc Duchamp, Save-The-Eagles

It seems that the best locations for profitable wind farms are the same open, windswept scenic areas needed by wildlife. In this case, why doesn’t the wind industry just come out and say that this is NOT an ecologically friendly alternative, but they think it’s important enough/produces enough energy, to be worth sacrificing our wildlife and wild lands for?

- From the Movie entitled Coach Carter -

When we do something good and meaningful, we find solutions not complaints or grievances. Darkness fears light because it takes away darkness.  Light and truth are edifying.  I hope we can all find our light and bring light to the lives of others around us.  By learning truth we discover more truth.  The darkest lies can never hide from the light of truth.  Let us discover and shine the light of truth on the issues we face and never be afraid of another’s opinion because the truth will always be the means by which all things are able to bear the good fruit.

BioFuel Trees Wizetize Is Invested in, In Costa Rica

July 15, 2009 · Leave a Comment

How is BioFuel Produced from Trees?

BioFuel trees produce seeds that are rich in oil. Crushing these seeds in a simple mechanical press releases the oil, which can be filtered to a tight specification and stored. This oil is referred to as Pure Plant Oil (PPO) or Straight Vegetable Oil (SVO) and is the base material for Diesel substitution.

As a BioFuel, tree-based PPO has significant advantages over crop-based PPO like Soya or Rapeseed:  BioFuel trees grow on land that is unfit for food production or where Rain Forests can not and should not be removed.  The oil from BioFuel trees is inedible. This means that the use of tree-based PPO for BioFuel does not compete with food production or edible oil supply.

Pure Plant Oils tend to be more viscous than Diesel, but can be used directly in modern Diesel engines with technology like that supplied by UK-based Regenatec, which designs and sells some of the world’s most advanced Diesel engine conversion technology. 

The other option is to chemically process PPO in a refinery into what is commonly called “BioDiesel” and blend it with Diesel for regular use in vehicles.

Left over after crushing, the seedcake can be mixed with fruit husks and briquetted to displace Coal and other BioMass in cooking stoves or boilers. This BioCoal has low moisture content and can store and burn more easily and cleanly than firewood or cattle dung.

Alternatively,  the seedcake can be fed to a anaerobic digester to produce methane-rich BioGas and BioFertilizer, a cheap and locally-sourced fertilizer that can boost the yield of  food and cash crops grown on marginal soils.

Which Trees are Planted and Why?

The main tree species being used are Jatropha curcas and Karanj (Pongamia pinnata). In addition, some Castor (Ricinus communis L) shrubs will be mixed in initially. All 3 species are found naturally in the semi-arid tropical regions of India and are well-suited for this area. They are just 3 of dozens of local tree species that contain a significant amount of oil in their seeds.

Planting of Castor between other trees will be encouraged in initial years to generate an income within 9 months of planting. It is a fast growing hardy shrub that can be planted directly from seed.

Jatropha is attractive because it also grows rapidly and produces more seeds 2-3 years after planting. It lives much longer than Castor (up to 50 years) and therefore does not need to be replanted.

Pongamia takes longer to mature, but eventually produces significantly more oil. The tree is nitrogen-fixing, meaning it helps to improve fertility of the soil. It can live up to 100 years.

Jatropha and Pongamia both have strong tap root systems that go deep to find moisture and nutrients, and therefore both manage to grow on badly eroded and rocky soils. The deep roots and leaf fall help to bring up and hold nutrients at the surface, gradually regenerating eroded topsoil. Hardiness? Nutrition? Care? Water needs?

Relatively little fertilization, but like all living organisms trees need the most care early in their life. After they are established, Jatropha curcas and Pongamia pinnata are remarkably hardy tree species that survive off natural rainfall in the semi-arid tropics.

Average rainfall in the campaign area is around 700 mm/yr, and there is significant scope for capturing this water through micro-catchments, check dams and contour trenching. With such practices, these trees can grow well without additional irrigation from underground sources or canals.

Most of the species are not attacked by animals that roam the area, and those that are can easily be protected with thorny bushes. None of the trees planted have significant timber of firewood value, and thus do not need to be guarded against logging. Bio fertilizer/manure application and pest management treatments are also required rarely.

Can the trees work in any agroforestry system?

Yes, (Mostly) the trees included in the campaign can work in many agroforestry systems.

For example, intercropping of fodder between rows of trees could create extra forrage for the villager’s animals which at times, pass through the land to forage. Many fodder species also fix nitrogen from the air, thereby replenishing the soil with nutrients. Other low-maintenance legumes like certain lentils and peas could be used, depending on exact terrain.

It is also possible to plant some fruit trees around BioFuel trees.  The value of these fruit trees will be in the nutrition they provide to the locals, rather than in the commercial return obtained in local markets.

Pongamia and other included trees are well suited for bee-keeping, and the campaign will encourage ecoSHGs to design a plan with local bee keepers to start producing honey from these trees’ blossums.

These agroforestry and microenterprise activities will provide additional sources of nutrition from crops and trees that are not grown on the locals’ typical land areas and require little maintenance or water. Training and support in these activities will be given in Years 2 and 3 of the campaign while trees are maturing, ecoSHGs will have the option of deciding which activities are suitable to their “micro-forest” and worth their time.

Categories: Animals · Clean Air · Clean Water · Common Sense · Environmental Stewardship · Farming · Genuine Respect of Our World · Jobs · Nature · People · People Doing Good · Pollution · Sustainable · Technology · Waste Reduction
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