Environment: We Seriously Need a Green New Deal

There is environmental action being done this week and it is high time this takes center stage and stays there. Instead we have an executive branch in Washington DC that is trying to roll back what environmental protection / laws we have. If for no other reason (and there ARE lots of others IMHO), we must Dump Trump and his ilk. Complicit Republican legislators must not be forgiven for supporting him. (Burn the GOP lifeboats, per Driftglass and Blue Gal of the Professional Left podcast.)

Trump Protest Thoughts

New York had a relatively peaceful demonstration yesterday. Peaceful assembly is a right in the Constitution. New Yorkers also know that Trump is a con man -- he has a history of it and lost decisively in New York, and he's a former Queen's street boy. We don't see him keeping his populist promises (which he borrowed from Bernie who had huge crowds that went unreported in mainstream corporate media). It is not in Trump's character. He's already reneged on his wall promise -- it is now a strong 2-layered fence at certain places (like Hillary suggested). I think it is early to be out in the streets but I will be there, peacefully and loudly, when he attacks women's rights, the social safety net, the environment, etc., and doesn't deliver on jobs and stopping bad trade deals. The folks out there are being pro-active and should not be condemned for peaceful assembly. Violence is another matter.

President Obama: Just say NO to Keystone XL

I hope that President Barack Obama sees this tweet from @PoppaWillie, thinks about it hard and fast, THEN says NO to the Keystone XL Pipeline.

John Boehner has at least 100k Investment in KXL. pic.twitter.com/qBKKSGL8kD
— Poppa/Willie (@PoppaWillie) February 19, 2014

Chris Hedges: The Absurdity of American Empire

Chris Hedges, co-author with Joe Sacco of Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt was interviewed by Laura Flanders of GritTV. Wake up, America! We are living in days of inverted corporate totalitarianism: Resist. Right now the sacrifice is high in West Virginia but the corporations' fracking and drilling is poisoning our water, killing our fish, destroying all of US.

The Majestic Plastic Bag - A Mockumentary

Hope you like me are mostly using re-useable bags instead of plastic bags. This beautifully done four minute video mockumentary tells a lot, providing much impetus for reducing, reusing, and recyling. Found it thanks to the Wondering Rose blog, where I had landed thanks to author Anne Rice and the saintly Sister Margaret McBride [more on them in another blog post, most likely].

Do you know how many plastic bags are used each year just in California? 19 billion. That’s Nineteen BILLION! Of which only about 5% are recycled. Most of the bags, like the plastic bottles (which I wrote about in my earth day post on April 22 2010) end up in the Great Pacific Garbage patch ~~ Roseanne Freed, Wondering Rose

Just looked at Rose / Roseanne's bottle post -- gotta redouble my effort on NOT using plastic bottles, too. Join us!

BP Slick: CREEKKEEPER appears on Olbermann

John L. Wathen and his videos of the ravaged Gulf, including affected wildlife, brought me to tears as I watched the podcast of Keith Olbermann's Countdown. Heavy stuff that must be seen and acted upon. PLEASE check out: BP Slick: CREEKKEEPER appears on Olberman. The BP Gulf Disaster must be followed up on closely. I'm calling my Congress critter again today and repeating that BP must stop using the dispersants which only add to the poison and the coverup.

We must face what our love of oil has wrought and do much-needed activist penance. Pray God that we can get this oil gusher stopped soon. Much work to be done. Please do what YOU can. Call. Donate. Write letters to editors. Blog. Talk to others. Act!

"Cries From The Gulf" by Lea Morris

Anyone who has ever chanted "Drill Baby Drill" should watch this five minute video, a heart-breaking open letter written and narrated by Gulf Coast native Lea Morris, who poignantly discusses the millions impacted by the Deepwater Horizon disaster. (Produced by ROF Productions who really care about our future.)

MSNBC's Rachel Maddow - Prof. Riki Ott: the health threat to Gulf Oil...

The health concerns mount for people in the areas where the oil from the Gulf Oil Gusher a/k/a oil spill (too slight of a word). This interview of Professor Riki Ott by Rachel Maddow is one which people must note and act upon. Legislators and President Obama must be contacted to move on more protection for workers and residents alike. BP cannot be allowed to trivialize this.

Drill, Baby, Drill! vs Jail, Baby, Jail!

Good 2:34 second parody. Now I would like Patsy Monteleone to do a followup based on Shannyn Moore's latest mantra, "Jail, Baby, Jail".

Papantonio: BP - The Manslaughter Felon

Mike Papantonio of Ring of Fire Radio discusses the history of BP and Halliburton, including their past as convicted felons. These two felons are responsible for the oil spill that is dumping millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, and we're supposed to expect them to tell us the truth about what happened? Given their histories, that seems highly unlikely.

Can we also talk eco-terrorism here? When are we going to properly penalize for corporate crimes? To be sure, folks are in US jails for a long time for a lot less. I'm happy to add my voice to Shannyn Moore's chorus, "Jail, Baby, Jail!"

Oil Spill Begins To Wash Ashore

This video attests to the oil slick moving ashore AND to disbursement chemicals being used and "hiding" the oil. (How much remains broken up so as to be less visual, but present in tiny molecules?) So the people, fish, and birds have to contend with both oil and chemicals -- what are these chemicals? What is the short term and long term effects and what will BP do about it going forwards as it privatizes its profits and socializes most of their cleanup costs -- $750 million will not go very far, especially with oil still gushing. Is this America's Chernobyl?

Senator Sanders Unfiltered: Environment + Economy = Harmony

America's Senator Bernie Sanders speaks out on energy efficiency and the environment -- The latest weekly Sanders Unfiltered can be delivered to you on Facebook, email, Twitter, or podcast -- or seen on YouTube if you subscribe there. Go to "SandersUnfiltered.com for more info.

Plastic Safety

"You are what you eat" -- and drink -- and we get exposed to a lot of plastics. Gifted with a plastic water bottle from my company, I pondered then googled its plastic information: 1 pete water bottle. Some results follow:

Less Leaching Plastic: #2, 4, & 5
More Leaching Plastic: #1, 3, 6, & 7
(The above with good information from Bonnie Penner posted at PattyCake.ca.)

The same article stressed not reusing commercial water bottles, advised not heating the plastic, and reminded that if you taste the plastic, you are drinking the plastic. (Makes me want to check the Brita Pitcher and a few other water bottles and thermal coffee cups to see if they are the less leaching plastic.) Stainless steel is best.

Earth Hour and Twitter and Air America

As we get ready for Earth Hour 2009 --please make a powerful statement by powering down this Saturday, 8:30 pm - 9:30 pm -- I've been listening to Ron Reagan Jr. and Richard Greene speak about Twitter on Air America Radio. Ron is hesitant. Richard is diving in. Let's be adventurous and use Twitter as a positive organization and social tool, guys!

Richard Greene also interviewed someone from ElectromagneticHealth.org -- She made me more aware but the info gave me a headache. We are being bombarded by cell phone and wi-fi waves, especially here in NYC. Well, maybe we stopped one building in Queens Community Board 2 from hosting a rooftop of cell phone towers. We voted it down! (Did Bloomberg let 'em go ahead anyway. Must check with CB2 office.)

Environment Health and Democracy with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Bobby Kennedy Jr. gives a terrific presentation. This video speaks of environmental abuses during the Bush administration and documents more reason for happiness in seeing them finally OUT as well as reason for campaign finance reform. Preserve our democracy and our environment by allowing politicians to serve who are only answerable to WE the People. And we can only have that by getting big money OUT of Politics. Limit campaign contributions and spending. Keep lobbyists out of government. Allow GOOD people of education and wisdom from all economic levels to run for office, not just the wealthy. (And it makes me wish even more that RFK, Jr. could have been Hillary's successor.)

Stopping Direct Mail

Reduce-Reuse-Recycle: The environmentalists' mantra. Junk mail is a challenge and so are junk mail sites. Excuse me, direct mail sites. When you have some time, if your mail is like mine and cause for your postal carrier's chiropractic care, wend your way through the Direct Marketing Association's Mail Preference Service site. Tip of the hat to Jim Hightower's Hightower Lowdown newsletter who checks it before sharing names with "friendly organizations". While any friend of Jim's is probably a likely friend of mine, my mail runneth over and I'm tired of killing trees. Check out DMAchoice.org or write them at PO Box 643, Carmel, NY 10512.

Green Kevin

Green Kevin
Originally uploaded by Kate Anne

The Bacon Brothers performed at Riverkeeper's Shad Fest and Hudson River Celebration, near Cold Spring NY. More pictures on Flickr, including some of Bobby Kennedy Jr., Dan Aykroyd, and fiddler Carrie Rodriguez.