Climate Change Threatens New England Forests and Cultures
In New England, spring is arriving earlier, snowpack is melting faster, and rivers are flowing at peak levels sooner than ecologists have seen before. Climate change has extended the growing season of New England forests 10 more days per year than foresters observed before 1970.
That may sound like good news for the region's foresters, but New Englanders are quickly realizing that a more humid climate may threaten seasonal activities and their overall culture as native species are forced to migrate north for their survival, reports Worldwatch Fellow John Mulrow from the New England Society of American Foresters' winter meeting.
Click here for the full article on Worldwatch's Dateline: Copenhagen blog.
Monsanto guilty in 'false ad' row
France's highest court has ruled that US agrochemical giant Monsanto had not told the truth about the safety of its best-selling weedkiller, Roundup. The court confirmed an earlier judgment that Monsanto had falsely advertised its herbicide as "biodegradable" and claimed it "left the soil clean".
Dr John Matlander's Healing Testimony
Cuenca, Ecuador, South America
This experience with Homa Therapy is about an indigenous child who tried to commit suicide by drinking acid. It completely burned her stomach and also burned her lungs. She was left for nine months in a bed in the Hospital “Vernasa” with a stomach probe (tube) and they gave her milk. Then they called me.
OCA Challenges Whole Foods Market to 'Walk the Talk'
At a shareholders' meeting in Vancouver, one of the leading sellers of organic goods was accused of misleading consumers with its labelling of products and disregarding the working conditions of the people who grow the food they sell. Ronnie Cummins of the Organic Consumers Association says this is because Whole Foods founder John Mackey believes that climate change is a hoax and hates unions with a passion.
Reeve's Bid to Halt Spreading of Biosolids Rejected
Tweed - Council will not adopt any measures to control the spreading of sludge on local farmland, even though Reeve Jo-Anne Albert pushed for a moratorium.
How the Global Food Market Starves the Poor [Video]
To understand the complexities of the international food market -- and how traders in Chicago can cause Africans to starve -- you could get a Ph.D. in economics, or read a 400-page report from the World Bank. Or you watch this superb nine minute video, directed by Denis van Waerebeke.
Seeing the Forest Through the Trees
There's an old cliché about someone who can't see the forest for the trees. It is used to describe people who are so focused on some detail that they fail to see the big picture. Nowhere is this failure to see the forest for the trees more evident than in the rush to utilize dead trees for biomass fuels and/or the presumed need to "thin" forests to reduce so-called "dangers" and/or "damage" from wildfire and beetle outbreaks.
Britain's First Factory Farm?
The plan for Britain's first "factory farm" for cows has stirred up the debate on the future of farming in Europe.
Can a Video Game Teach Sustainability?
CU and OCA Urge Action on Deceptive 'Organic' Labeling
Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports, and the Organic Consumers Association (OCA), today filed a petition with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) requesting action on the widespread and blatantly deceptive labeling practices of several "organic" personal care brands that do not comply with the National Organic Program (NOP).
Walmart Fires Cancer Patient for Legally Using Medical Marijuana
Joseph Casias, 29, has sinus cancer and an inoperable brain tumor. Despite his condition, he has dutifully gone to work every day for the last five years at a Walmart in Battle Creek, Michigan, where in 2008 he was named Associate of the Year.
Cities Sue Over Weed Killer in the Water
As Change.org has previously reported, atrazine is as ubiquitous as it is dangerous. The most widely used weed killer in the country, it spreads swiftly to municipal water—where it has been found to lower sperm counts for men and increase the risk of breast cancer and fertility problems in women. When tested on frogs, it was even powerful enough to turn males into functional females.
The 'Femivore': New Breed of Feminist, or Frontier Throwback?
Have locavores and feminists -- factions that a few years ago, some bloggers believed to be fundamentally at odds -- become allies?
Vandana Shiva Says Relying on GM Crops to Battle Climate Change 'Suicidal'
Widespread adoption of GM varieties by small farmers would be "suicidal in terms of climate change," said Vandana Shiva, an Indian social activist, environmentalist and proponent of small-scale farming.
Protesters Say Panic, Products Aren't Organic
Cell phone and pocket cameras whirred and clicked as a group of about a dozen protesters got the Natural Products Expo off to a raucous start Friday at the Anaheim Convention Center.
Bees are Busier Than Ever as Disease Besieges Colonies
More than three years after beekeepers starting seeing the sudden disappearance of hive populations, scientists have yet to find the cause -- let alone the fix -- for a condition called colony collapse disorder (CCD). Meanwhile, the commercial beekeeping industry is struggling to provide pollination services to the nations' farmers. One-third of food crops rely on insect pollination.
School Lunches: Where’s the Broccoli?
First Lady Michelle Obama's noble fight against childhood obesity cannot be won unless members of Congress act boldly this spring and vote to give school lunches the healthy makeover that our kids deserve and desperately need.
Saving U.S. Water and Sewer Systems Would Be Costly
Today, a significant water line bursts on average every two minutes somewhere in the country, according to a New York Times analysis of Environmental Protection Agency data. State and federal studies indicate that thousands of water and sewer systems may be too old to function properly.
Nearly Half of Americans Believe Climate Change Threat is Exaggerated
Public belief in climate science has seen a precipitous slide in the US, according to new polling that suggests fewer Americans are concerned about the threat posed by global warming.
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