“NO-VOTE” McCAIN - NO FRIEND OF THE ENVIRONMENT

John McCain is no friend of the environment. Although he likes to tout his environmental record as positive, he has consistently missed important votes - votes that were considered critical to environmental well-being.

In the 2007 National Environmental Scorecard released by the League of Conservation Voters, John McCain receives a score of ZERO. McCain was the only member of Congress to skip every single crucial environmental vote scored by the organization, posting a score lower than Members of Congress who were out for much of the year due to serious illnesses–and even lower than some who died during the term. By contrast, the average Member of Congress scored a 53 in 2007. McCain posts a lifetime score of only 24.

Carl Pope, Sierra Club Executive Director, had the following to say about McCain:

“We were appalled two weeks ago when John McCain was the only Senator who chose to skip a crucial vote on the future of clean energy in America-dooming the measure to fail by just a single vote. As it turns out, this was merely the most recent example of a clear pattern of missing the most important votes on energy and the environment–as his abysmal LCV score clearly demonstrates.

“McCain missed votes to save his constituents $499 million dollars at the pump and at least $550 million on their energy bills, while creating more than 10,000 new clean energy jobs in his home state.

The following is the League of Conservation Voters 2007 Scorecard Senate votes, all of which John McCain missed:

• Cloture on H.R. 6, the energy bill (6/21, Vote 225)
• Passage of H.R. 6, the energy bill (6/21, Vote 226)
• Maintaining Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) in H.R. 6 (12/7, Vote 416)
• Taking away giveaways to Big Oil to subsidize clean energy (12/13, Vote 425)
• Loosening public health and environmental regulations on refineries (6/13, Vote 210)
• Undermining the RES with coal and nuclear energy (6/14, Vote 211)
• Offshore drilling in Virginia (6/14, Vote 212)
• Liquid coal (6/19, Vote 213)
• Environmental safeguards for biofuels (6/20, 219)
• Consider global warming for water projects (5/15, Vote 166)
• Appropriately prioritizing water projects (5/15, Vote 165)
• International family planning (9/6, Vote 320)
• Farm Bill subsidy reform (12/11, Vote 417)
• Farm Bill subsidy caps (12/13, Vote 424)
• Eminent Domain for public parks (12/3, Vote 429)

No doubt as the campaign heats up, we will see more of McCain’s inconsistencies. The environment deserves protection, and we need a president who will protect that environment. We don’t need someone who blithely skips crucial environmental votes and who will perpetuate the last eight years of the Bush Administration’s head-turning, wink-wink policies when it comes to environmental protection.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

IS THIS PERSON FOR REAL?

The Vera Bradley “buy and then sell on eBay for a ridiculous amount” sale was held a week ago. I have to admit that I do not get it. I have never attended this madhouse of shoppers who see big bucks in purchasing their limit and then jacking up the price on eBay. Hmm, maybe that is the only reason for attending.

But as I was reading through the Journal-Gazette, I came across a statement that just left me wondering where our priorities lie. Lisa Pearson from Carmel was interviewed at 3:30 a.m. on that Thursday morning. Her comment:

“It’s my first time, and I’ve been training my whole life for this.”

This is absolutely incredible - her whole life? I say get a grip on reality. These are inanimate, cloth items. Perhaps a trip to Myanmar or some other country where people are suffering beyond imagination would clear her mind and give her some sense of reality.

EARTH DAY TURNS 38 - HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Earth Day is 38 years young today. In 1970, the first Earth Day was held as an event to increase public awareness of the world’s environmental problems. Millions of Americans, including students from thousands of colleges and universities, participated in rallies, marches, and educational programs.

Earth Day was the idea of Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin, a staunch environmentalist who hoped to provide unity to the grassroots environmental movement and increase ecological awareness. Earth Day, indeed, increased environmental awareness in America, and in July of that year the Environmental Protection Agency was established to regulate and enforce national pollution legislation.

The infant agency was to be created from 15 different established agencies and parts of agencies already existing within the federal government. From a management point of view, the task was daunting: how to form a cohesive, integrated, functioning entity out of those different entities?

But create it they did, and today over 17,000 people are employed by the EPA to oversee its mission to protect human health and the environment.

The Earth is our home, and it deserves to be treated with respect and dignity. Two of the most eye-opening courses I took in undergrad were Physical Geography and Physical Geology. Those two classes contained a wealth of knowledge about the Earth and its component systems. When I had finished those courses, I knew I would never look at the Earth and how I related to it in the same way.

So, today, take a moment and think about how your actions impact this home - the only home - we will ever have. Treat the Earth with respect, learn about its cycles and its biomes, understand how it sustains, protects, and provides for us as we move in seasons around our Sun.

But, most of all, take action to make a difference. Every small change you make will lead to combined larger changes that will keep this planet a home of which we can be proud.

Photo credit: About.com

BARE NAKED LADIES

Nope, I am not referring to the rock group, Barenaked Ladies. Or those groups of oldies but goodies who bare all for calendar sales. I am talking about average, everyday deciduous trees during the two seasons when they have shed their clothes.

Deciduous means “falling off at maturity” or “tending to fall off” - deriving from the Latin word decidere, to fall off. The term is typically used in reference to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally.

Of course, I prefer to look at the deciduous trees since they are the ones that hold the most fascination for me.

Oriental Plane (cousin to the Sycamore) in East Swinney Park

_______________________________________________________________________________

I love the sight of trees standing in the cold winter air - their feathered tops breaking the bleak, still, bitter, winter skyline. My eyes are always drawn to the sky in the winter when I am out on the highways traveling. Without leaves, the trees sport their bones, some crooked, some balanced, but all amazing structures.

Trees are truly a wonder. They start from seeds - many half the size of a penny - and sink their tiny roots in the ground. Anyone who has ever ignored a seedling and let it grow to a fair size knows the struggle it takes to remove it. Trees send roots under sidewalks and streets and into home foundations, worming their way upward creating bulges. They are sturdy, adaptable creatures found in almost every corner of our world.

Spring is now here, bringing forth bright green dressings to deck the trees, clothing them once again in their plump appendages that wave in the summer breeze and hang lazily overhead to shade us from the summer heat. The bones will disappear amid the donning of their cloaks of green, and I will have to wait, once again, for the cold temperatures of fall and winter to create the feathery skyline which I so love and admire.

Oriental Plane (cousin to the Sycamore) across the street from my home

__________________________________________________________________________________

The tree above, which guards a corner on Thieme Drive across from home, is close to one hundred years old. It was planted as part of a parks and boulevard system developed by George Kessler around 1911. What a magnificent specimen! The tree sheds its bark every so often, and I like to gather it for craft projects. The bark is amazingly beautiful with a mottled look. When brushed with a stain or sealant, it takes on a deep, brown color.

Stand of trees at Collamer, Indiana

________________________________________________________________________________

Multi-trunk tree at Collamer, Indiana

_______________________________________________________________________________

Tree along the River Road near South Whitley, Indiana

EARTHQUAKE! 5.4 EARTHQUAKE HITS SOUTHERN ILLINOIS - RUMBLES NORTHWARD

As I was getting ready this morning, I suddenly felt my entire home tremor. The tremor lasted only a few seconds and occurred at about 5:40 a.m. Startled, I started thinking of reasons for the shaking. Was it a train rumbling by several blocks away? I often feel the vibrations of trains as they travel across the St. Marys River trestle at Van Buren and Main Street and head east through Fort Wayne.

Was it a large semi of some kind that had passed by? Sometimes those vehicles also trigger vibrations through my home. I worry about the foundation of my home since it has suffered over the years from water seepage from the flooding St. Marys. The last five years have been particularly harsh with four floods since July 2003. Each flood leaves me anxious about the condition of my home, and, in particular, my basement foundation.

But as I was listening to the news on Channel 15, the announcers - somewhat incredulously - said we had experienced an earthquake. The epicenter - the point of origination - was about 60 miles northwest of Evansville near West Salem, Illinois, which is about an hour’s drive northwest from Evansville.

Although we typically think of earthquakes as specific to certain regions such as California, we, in the Midwest, have one of the most active earthquake faults in the country - the New Madras fault. The following map shows earthquakes that have been recorded from that fault since 1974.

Photo credit: Live Science

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

________________________________________________________________________________

Although this morning’s quake appears to have originated farther north, earthquakes in the Midwest are fairly common if the above map is any indicator. So, as we go through today, we will hear more about the New Salem earthquake.

Now, I am off to work to find out if my co-workers also felt the quake and to excitedly discuss the phenomenon that we do not experience too often here in our area.

WETLAND WATERS TRIUMPH NEAR SOUTH WHITLEY

Wetlands are ecological marvels. According to the Environmental Protection Agency’s definition, wetlands are lands where saturation with water is the dominant factor determining the nature of soil development and the types of plant and animal communities living in the soil and on its surface. They serve many purposes: as filters for water, as recreational areas, and as places to conduct wildlife observation.

In the past, wetlands were mostly considered to be wastelands. As the United States was settled and people moved west, swamps and marshes were obstructions along the way. Many were drained to be replaced by farmland, railroads, and road construction.

In past decades, farmers have tried in vain to drain, plow, and plant wetlands, yet the wetlands ultimately won. For years, as I drove Highway 14 from Fort Wayne to South Whitley and back again, I watched in fascination as a wetland just east of South Whitley fought back. In early years - in the 1960s and 1970s - the area was drained and planted with crops. But, in wet springs, the water slowly crept back. Each season, depending on the weather, either the wetland won or the farmer won.

Wetland east of South Whitley once farmland

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Eventually, over the years, the farmer gave up, and the wetland slowly rose to reclaim the area which had been taken from it. I always feel a sense of joy when I drive along Highway 14 and look to the north, and I see a large, shallow “lake” where once farmland had been. The wetland is home to many animals and aquatic life, but one of my favorite inhabitants is not a living creature - it is a dead tree with branches stripped of leaves and life.

It stands in stark contrast to the skyline and to the water surrounding its trunk. It is a reminder of the faraway past when the land was farmed and trees dotted the landscape. But just as the farmer lost his battle to work the land, the tree lost its struggle to survive in the soggy waters of the wetland.

Wetland east of South Whitley on Highway 14

CHICAGO MERCHANDISE MART GOES GREEN

Green buildings have become the force “de jour” with many companies retrofitting their buildings to save energy and become part of the new “green” revolution.

The Chicago Merchandise Mart has gone green, retrofitting all its 4,000,000 square feet to be more energy efficient. Opened in 1930, the Mart is 4.2 million square feet contained in 24 stories. Over 20,000 people work in the Mart each day.

Due to the leadership of its owners and the City of Chicago, the Merchandise Mart is now the largest Green Building in the world. It uses 35% less water and 10% less energy than before the upgrades. And, for a building its size, the upgrades were significant:

• Most of the 4,000 windows were replaced.
• Water waste was tracked, to determine which of the 2,000 toilets needed to be replaced with more efficient ones
• Leaks in the air conditioning were tracked down and fixed, saving over $4,000 a year.
• Many of the buildings spaces were metered individually, to determine high energy use areas, and bill tenants accordingly.
• A supply shop for tenants was opened in the basement, making everything from low-vapor paints to high-efficiency bulbs available, inexpensively, to all tenants.
• Lighter carpets make rooms brighter, meaning less electricity is needed
• A Bulb-Eater in the basement eats fluorescent bulbs, contains their toxins, and produces waste bins that are recycled properly.

Photo Credit: ecogeek.org

______________________________________________________________________

While the upfront cost for upgrades may be seen as significant, the ultimate savings will compensate in years to come. Today’s newer buildings are already being built with green in mind, but thousands of older buildings exist all over our landscape - buildings that are suitable for retrofitting.

If the world’s largest retail building can “go green”, there isn’t any reason to delay retrofitting our older buildings to help meet our goal of energy conservation.

BUSH POLICIES ENDANGER “ENDANGERED SPECIES”

Since assuming his first presidential term in 2001, George Bush has made protecting vanishing species more difficult than the two presidents before him.  The Endangered Species Act (ESA) was passed in 1973 with the stated purpose of protecting species and the ecosystems upon which they depend.  The Act encompasses plants and invertebrates as well as vertebrates.

The ESA is administered by two federal agencies - the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) - and contains a citizen suit clause which allows private citizens to sue the government to enforce the law. 

But the Act hasn’t stopped Bush from using bureaucratic tactics which block, prevent, and discourage listing of impending endangered species and plants.  At the higher levels of management, agencies tend to be populated by administration picks who share the views of the one who appointed them.  In this case, Bush, who has never been seen to be a friend of the environment.  Those who are at lower levels simply kowtow to their supervisors.

Photo Credit: Washington Post.com

___________________________________________________________

With agency personnel falling line with Bush’s philosophies, the administration has brought into play the following disastrous policies and procedures which fall into four categories:

1. agency personnel have been barred from using information in agency files which might support new listings
2. senior agency advisors have repeatedly dismissed the views of scientists by rejecting nominees or by removing others from the protected list
3. agency officials have changed the method by which plants and animals are placed on the list by looking at where they are now found rather than where they originally existed
4. agency officials have blocked citizen petitions which must meet critical deadlines

Despite outside interests such as farming, developers, and business work against listing of species for obvious reasons, the first President Bush and President Clinton listed an average of 58 (231 total) and 62 (521 total) species, respectively, per year during their presidencies. 

The lack of concern shown by the Bush administration is not surprising - he has almost always landed on the side of those businesses that want to raze lands for more development.  What better way to help accomplish those goals than to remove as many obstacles as possible.  The problem is that what Bush sees as obstacles in the form of endangered species others see as integral components of our environment.

JUST WHAT ARE GENETICALLY MODIFIED ORGANISMS (GMOs)?

Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) or as they are alternatively called, genetically engineered organisms (GEOs) have raised quite a bit of concern over the past decade. But just what are these creatures that have caused so much alarm? In order to understand GMOs and their penchant to trigger alarm, we must first look at the base structure of all living things - DNA. The structure of DNA is often described as resembling a spiral staircase as shown in the drawing below.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

_______________________________________________________________________

Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) is the building block of life because it contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms - it is often called a blueprint or map. Only four bases comprise every conceivable combination of DNA pairings. The four bases found in DNA are adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G), and thymine (T) with each type of base on one strand forming a bond with just one type of base on the other strand. This is called complementary base pairing.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

_________________________________________________________________________

Genetic modification is a special set of technologies that alter the genetic makeup of such living organisms as animals, plants, or bacteria by combining genes from different organisms and is known as recombinant DNA technology. The result is an organism that is said to be “genetically modified,” “genetically engineered,” or “transgenic.” With recombinant DNA technology, DNA molecules from different sources are combined in vitro into one molecule to create a new gene. This DNA is then transferred into an organism and causes the expression of modified or novel traits

Tinkering with the DNA of seeds - those packets of DNA producing our food supply - has become big business in agriculture. Companies such as Syngenta and Monsanto have been involved for decades in experimenting with modifying the DNA of crops such as corn, soybeans, and rice. Once modification has taken place, the company slaps a patent on the seed and owns the rights to market the seed.

Just how important is ownership of technology processes as well as seed patents? The two Goliaths of agribusiness went toe-to-toe in a battle over the rights to Agrobacterium technology. The following is an excerpt from a report on that case:

On February 23, 2004, Syngenta International AG (Basel, Switzerland) and Monsanto Company (St. Louis, Missouri) announced an agreement in which the companies cross-license proprietary Agrobacterium-mediated transformation technology. The agreement resolved a patent interference proceeding in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) involving transgenic broad leaf crops.

The Monsanto-Syngenta deal also resolved a lawsuit that had been pending in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware. Syngenta had filed the case in 2002, alleging that Monsanto and Delta and Pine Land infringed U.S. Patent No. 6,051,757, which covers methods of transferring genes into dicotyledonous plants using Agrobacterium-based vectors. On the day that the companies announced their new agreement, the Delaware district court dismissed the patent infringement case.

Monsanto continues to build its store of Agrobacterium-related patent rights. In October, the company announced the PTO’s decision that Monsanto’s scientists had invented Agrobacterium transformation methods in dicot plants before the Max Planck Institute and other parties. The decision ended a 12-year patent interference dispute.

The Human Genome Project Information website provides a list of both benefits and controversies:

Benefits

• Crops
  • Enhanced taste and quality
  • Reduced maturation time
  • Increased nutrients, yields, and stress tolerance
  • Improved resistance to disease, pests, and herbicides
  • New products and growing techniques
• Animals
  • Increased resistance, productivity, hardiness, and feed efficiency
  • Better yields of meat, eggs, and milk
  • Improved animal health and diagnostic methods
• Environment
  • “Friendly” bioherbicides and bioinsecticides
  • Conservation of soil, water, and energy
  • Bioprocessing for forestry products
  • Better natural waste management
  • More efficient processing
• Society
  • Increased food security for growing populations

Controversies

• Safety
  • Potential human health impact: allergens, transfer of antibiotic resistance markers, unknown effects Potential environmental impact: unintended transfer of transgenes through cross-pollination, unknown effects on other organisms (e.g., soil microbes), and loss of flora and fauna biodiversity
• Access and Intellectual Property
  • Domination of world food production by a few companies
  • Increasing dependence on Industralized nations by developing countries
  • Biopiracy—foreign exploitation of natural resources
• Ethics
  • Violation of natural organisms’ intrinsic values
  • Tampering with nature by mixing genes among species
  • Objections to consuming animal genes in plants and vice versa
  • Stress for animal
• Labeling
  • Not mandatory in some countries (e.g., United States)
  • Mixing GM crops with non-GM confounds labeling attempts
• Society
  • New advances may be skewed to interests of rich countries

GMOs have set off a debate as to health, safety, ethics, etc., but, it is the last concern listed that should set off an alarm to all citizens in all countries. While we were not paying much attention, the multinational agribusiness corporations have been establishing patent after patent for GMOs. They are exploiting third world nations by using them as experimental stations.

As noted in the short excerpt about Monsanto and Syngenta, the companies are building storehouses of patents - patents that control the creation and distribution of seeds.

He who controls the food supply controls the world. And, it looks like it will be the Goliaths of agribusiness, not the fast-disappearing Davids of the agriculture world.

WHAT GOES UP MUST COME DOWN - NAVY TO SHOOT DOWN SATELLITE

The Navy has been ordered to shoot down a spy satellite hurtling toward Earth with a 1,000 pounds of deadly hydrazine onboard. The satellite spun out of control after being launched in December 2006. The exercise gives the Pentagon a chance to show off decades of controversial research into space weapons - and raises new concerns that it could cause an escalation of military competition in outer space.

_____________________________________________________

But shooting down the satellite is particularly sensitive now because of the controversy surrounding China’s anti-satellite test last year, when Beijing shot down one of its defunct weather satellites. The action drew immediate criticism from the U.S. and other countries.

A key concern at that time was the debris created by Chinese satellite’s destruction—and that will also be a focus now, as the U.S. determines exactly when and under what circumstances to shoot down its errant satellite. So we protest China’s actions and then turn around and prepare to do the same thing - now that is hypocrisy. It also sounds like the old familiar “one-upsmanship” that permeated so much of the Cold War era.

However, the action not only raises the specter of increasing “spy-in-the-sky” games but also raises the issue of environmental damage that may be done to the area of the Pacific Ocean where the satellite will splash down, spewing out its toxic content. But Bush has never had much concern for the environment - why start now?

After all what’s a little environmental damage and a little “step over this line” diplomacy when Bush decides to put on his cowboy persona and once again flex his “my guns are bigger than yours” attitude.