Category Archives: organic

Police in military gear arrest 21 people gathered near the Dakota Access site.

by GastonWheelwrig Posted on September 29, 2016

Cannabis, according to a new report from EQ Research, could require as much energy as data centers to grow indoors.

In states where cannabis has been legalized like Washington and Colorado, growing operations may account for as much as 1 percent of total energy sales. And a lot of energy usually means a lot of emissions. A 2012 study found that indoor marijuana-growing operations produce 15 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year, equivalent to 3 million cars.

The high energy use comes mostly from lighting, ventilation, and dehumidifying, as GreenTech Media reports. But unlike other energy hogs (like data centers), it’s difficult for growers to take part in state and utility-run energy efficiency programs. That’s because the cannabis industry is illegal, federally.

According to the report, it will take electric utilities, regulatory commissions, state and local governments, and cannabis growers and business associations working together to create completely new incentives, programs, and financing tools for energy-efficient growing systems.

In the meantime, what’s the concerned marijuana user to do? Well, you can try to buy pot that’s grown outdoors — or, if that’s not an option, install some LEDs and grow your own. Just be sure to brush up on your local laws first.

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Police in military gear arrest 21 people gathered near the Dakota Access site.

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Lawmakers finally agreed on Flint aid, 363 days after residents were told to stop drinking their water.

by MableMcMillen Posted on September 29, 2016

Cannabis, according to a new report from EQ Research, could require as much energy as data centers to grow indoors.

In states where cannabis has been legalized like Washington and Colorado, growing operations may account for as much as 1 percent of total energy sales. And a lot of energy usually means a lot of emissions. A 2012 study found that indoor marijuana-growing operations produce 15 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year, equivalent to 3 million cars.

The high energy use comes mostly from lighting, ventilation, and dehumidifying, as GreenTech Media reports. But unlike other energy hogs (like data centers), it’s difficult for growers to take part in state and utility-run energy efficiency programs. That’s because the cannabis industry is illegal, federally.

According to the report, it will take electric utilities, regulatory commissions, state and local governments, and cannabis growers and business associations working together to create completely new incentives, programs, and financing tools for energy-efficient growing systems.

In the meantime, what’s the concerned marijuana user to do? Well, you can try to buy pot that’s grown outdoors — or, if that’s not an option, install some LEDs and grow your own. Just be sure to brush up on your local laws first.

Read article here:  

Lawmakers finally agreed on Flint aid, 363 days after residents were told to stop drinking their water.

Posted in alo, Anchor, cannabis, FF, GE, Green Light, Mop, ONA, organic, Ringer, The Atlantic, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Lawmakers finally agreed on Flint aid, 363 days after residents were told to stop drinking their water.

How to Banish Plastic Straws From Your Life Forever

by JeniferSchaefer Posted on September 24, 2016

The anti-plastic straw movement grows stronger by the day. Campaigns are springing up around the country, urging people to hold the straw with their next drink, understand why this is such a big deal, and discover reusable alternatives.

The numbers are sufficiently shocking to make anyone want to change their habits. Americans use an estimated 500 million plastic straws daily enough to fill 127 school buses and circle the earths circumference 2.5 times. Five hundred million straws weigh about the same as 1,000 cars (close to 3 million pounds), which is a massive amount of plastic to throw in landfills on a daily basis.

Straws, which are made of a petroleum byproduct called polypropylene mixed with colorants and plasticizers, do not biodegrade naturally in the environment. They are also nearly impossible to recycle, so nobody really bothers. Some are incinerated, which releases toxic chemicals into the air, but most end up in the ground, where they will hang around for an estimated 400 years and leach chemicals into the ground. That means that every straw ever used still exists on this planet.

Fortunately, resistance is growing stronger, and several interesting efforts to promote the straw-free message have gained traction in recent years. There are also more companies offering reusable alternatives to plastic straws.

Check out the following list of resources to learn how you can get involved, educate others around you, and banish plastic straws forever from your life.

TheOne Less Strawcampaign has its official start on October 1, but individuals, businesses, and schools can sign up now. It has a nifty accountability system whereby, for every straw that you accidentally use (i.e. you forget to tell the server you dont want one), you have to pay into a fund that will then get donated to your school to promote environmental education. (See TreeHugger storyhere.)

The Last Plastic Strawurges restaurants and bars to change their policy to straws available upon request, in order to get people thinking about the issue and drastically cutting down on the number handed out each day. This group inspired Bacardi to launch itsHold the Straw campaign.

U-Konserve, seller of reusable food storage containers, has a fabulous Pinterest page called Switch the Straw with many helpful links to anti-plastic straw campaigns, infographics, and alternative products. U-Konserve is also offering a free straw-cleaning brush with the purchase of any reusable straws right now.

Straw Sleevesis a U.S. company that manufacturers cute little cloth bags to store reusable straws for easy accessibility when youre out for dinner or drinks. It also has an activeInstagram accountwith some great content, including facts about plastic pollution and photos of abandoned straws in beautiful natural settings, which is enough to inspire anyone to change their habits!

Where to find reusable straws:

Glass strawsGlass Dharmamakes borosilicate glass straws that come in a variety of lengths and diameters.
Strawsomealso sells handmade glass straws, made in USA with lifetime guarantee and free US/Canada shipping. They come in different colors, shapes, diameters, and lengths.

Metal strawsMulled Mindsells made-in-USA stainless straws that are shipped in recycled and reused materials.
Sets of 4 stainless steel straws with a cleaning brushsold by Life Without Plastic.

Bamboo straws These 10bamboo strawsare entirely unprocessed; theyre just dried hollow stalks that can be washed, air-dried, and used for many years.
Bambu Home sellsslightly shorter straws, at 8.5 long. They are made from organic bamboo, harvested from wild groves, rather than plantations, and are finished with an organic flax seed oil.

Paper straws Paper straws still generate some waste, so theyre not as good as reusable options, but a huge improvement over plastic. You can order fromAardvark Straws(made in USA).

Straw straws Straws that are made from straw? Its the most logical material out there. Thiscompanyhas an online store set to open in October 2016, so youll be able to place orders shortly.

Pasta straws Its the ultimate zero waste solution and kids will love it. Look forbucatini or perciatelli, long spaghetti-like, tube-shaped noodles with holes in the middle, through which its possible to sip liquids. Then you can cook your straws and eat them for dinner.

Get ready to watch the STRAWS documentary film, currently undergoing production. It will delve deep into the disturbing world of plastic straw pollution, one of the top five marine polluters. Filming is supposed to be done by autumn 2016. Learn morehere.

Written by Katherine Martinko.This post originally appeared onTreeHugger.

Photo Credit: One Less Straw Campaign/Facebook

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Original source: 

How to Banish Plastic Straws From Your Life Forever

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You know you want to be Grist’s newest fellow

by CedricChan Posted on September 20, 2016

COME WORK WITH US

You know you want to be Grist’s newest fellow

By on Sep 20, 2016Share

Are you an early-career journalist, storyteller, or multimedia wizard who digs what we do? Then Grist wants you!

We are now accepting applications for the spring 2017 class of the Grist Fellowship Program.

This time around we’re looking for all-stars in (count ’em) THREE different areas: editorial, justice, and video. You’ll find deets on all three fellowship opportunities here.

The Grist Fellowship Program is an opportunity to hone your journalistic chops at a national news outlet, deepen your knowledge of environmental issues, and experiment with storytelling. We get to teach you and learn from you and bring your work to our audience. You won’t get rich — but you will get paid. The fellowship lasts six months.

For fellowships that begin in February 2017, please submit applications by Nov. 8, 2016. Full application instructions here.

Good luck!

Election Guide ★ 2016Making America Green AgainOur experts weigh in on the real issues at stake in this electionGet Grist in your inbox

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You know you want to be Grist’s newest fellow

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Bernie Sanders Is Coming Off the Bench to Save the Democrats

by HarrietPerrin Posted on September 16, 2016

Mother Jones

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN” “http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd”>

For a few minutes Friday afternoon in New Paltz, New York, it felt like old times for Bernie Sanders. Looking out over a sea of college students in Bernie t-shirts and Bernie buttons and a very uncomfortable looking Bernie onesie, the Vermont senator ran through the issues that had fueled his strong showing upstate during New York’s March primary: fracking, oligarchy, inequality.

But this time, Sanders was on a different mission—to elect Zephyr Teachout to Congress in the state’s 19th district. National Democrats consider the swing district held by the retiring GOP Rep. Chris Gibson one of their most important pickup opportunities, critical to their hopes of retaking the House, and Sanders was effusive in his praise of law professor and campaign finance crusader he has described as a leading light of his “political revolution.” Of the 435 members of the House, he said, Teachout was poised to be “the most outstanding” of the bunch—”a leader at a time when we need leaders.” When the crowd started into one last chant of “Ber-nie!” the senator interrupted, determined to pass the torch. “Thank you,” he said, “but that ‘Ber-NIE‘! has now got to be directed to ‘Ze-PHYR!'”

Sanders has been mostly quiet since the chaotic Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, when hundreds of his supporters walked out of the arena after he ceded the nomination to former secretary of state Hillary Clinton. But the Vermont independent had pledged to “vigorously” campaign for Clinton and downballot Democrats this fall and launched his own political non-profit to further the goals of his “revolution.” Now, with less than two months to go until election day, Sanders is getting off the bench—and Democrats could really use the help.

After campaigning with Teachout, Sanders boarded a plane to Pittsburgh, where he was set to stump for Katie McGinty, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Pennsylvania. (Joining Sanders in Steel City: Braddock, Pennsylvania, mayor John Fetterman, a Sanders backer who lost to McGinty in the primary.) Then he has a busy weekend of rallies and organizing events planned for Ohio, where he and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) are crisscrossing the state to campaign for Clinton, hitting the cities and college campuses where Sanders performed best in the March primary. After trailing for months, Trump has led the last three polls in Ohio and now leads in the Real Clear Politics average in the state.

Sanders’ campaign tour comes at a time when a significant portion of his supporters are still unsure who to vote for. According to a New York Times/CBS News poll released on Thursday, 36 percent of voters under the age of 30 are supporting third-party candidates. Ten percent of those voters are backing Green Party nominee Jill Stein, who has made a show of appealing to disaffected Sanders supporters and has earned the backing of a handful of Democratic National Convention delegates. In July, Stein even offered to give Sanders a spot on the Green Party ticket if he would drop out of the Democratic race to join the third-party.

The 44-year-old Teachout, a Fordham University Law School professor and former Howard Dean staffer who has written a book about political corruption, was one of a handful of House candidates who Sanders endorsed during the primaries. Two years ago she ran for governor in the Democratic primary against the incumbent Andrew Cuomo and won 32 of 62 counties despite minimal funding and zero establishment support. Her unlikely success, and her unabashedly progressive platform, foreshadowed Sanders’ long-shot campaign this spring.

Although Clinton should win New York’s electoral votes easily, Teachout’s Hudson Valley district—infused with a Vermont-ish mix of family farmers, college students, and old-school hippies—is emblematic of the kind of place in swing districts and purple states where Sanders’ word carries the most weight. A local string band called Yard Sale, which described itself as “local and organic,” performed on a stage fashioned from a shipping container for the crowd compromised largely of students from the nearby State University of New York at New Paltz. “We’re gonna reach out/ for Teachout/ everybody/ join along,” a band member sang.

Sanders couched his support in personal terms, citing a meeting he and Teachout had attended years ago opposing the North American Free Trade Agreement and calling Teachout’s House race the clearest battle on the map between the “oligarchy” and the progressive left. (Teachout has challenged the billionaire hedge-funder Paul Singer, a backer of her Republican opponent John Faso—a former fracking pipeline lobbyist—to a debate.) When it was Teachout’s turn, she addressed the audience, many of whom were hearing her speak for the first time, in a language that sounded familiar. She railed against the “hedge fund billionaires,” such as Singer, funding a super-PAC in support of her opponent, and asked her supporters if they knew what her average donation was—a staple of Sanders stump speeches. “Nineteen dollars!” came the response.

But there were plenty of reminders of the challenges facing Sanders as he tries to herd his coalition into the Democratic tent. Perhaps wary of resurrecting old wounds (the Vermont senator was jeered when he called for party unity at a delegate meeting in Philly) neither candidate mentioned the name at the top of the Democratic ticket, and Sanders alluded to Trump only in passing.

Safiyyah Alston, a sophomore at SUNY-Ulster with a Three Bernie Moon t-shirt and flowers in her hair, told me she still just wanted to see Sanders on the ballot. “I support him now!” she said. “If he jumped in the race I’d support him.” But she was still trying to get to yes with Clinton. Lorraine Vigoriti, another Bernie backer in a t-shirt that read “#ForeverBernie” with a drawing of a forlorn looking senator walking into the distance, told me it was “Jill or nobody.” Why nobody? She was worried that if she so much as cast a vote it would be “stolen” by Clinton supporters at the polling location and converted into a Hillary vote; better to just stay home.

As organizers took apart the stage and wrangled attendees for volunteering shifts toward Teachout’s goal of 70,000 door-knocks, I found 21-year-old Oscar Salazar in a onesie covered in photos of Bernie’s smiling face. He had driven up from Westchester County, determined to travel “wherever Bernie speaks or wherever the Pokemon take me,” he said. Salazar had backed Sanders during the primary, of course, and was now leaning toward Stein in the general election. “I’m tired of voting for the lesser of two evils,” he said, although this was the first year he’d ever voted. Still, the primary hadn’t soured him on Democrats entirely. He liked what he’d heard from Teachout—now he was planning to phone-bank for her.

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Bernie Sanders Is Coming Off the Bench to Save the Democrats

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Today in weird transit news, we bring you a car that smiles and a mind-blowing electric bus.

by FelipaG777819 Posted on September 15, 2016

At the Our Ocean Conference in Washington, D.C., this week, Obama announced the creation of The Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, which will protect deep-sea ecosystems off the coast of New England.

The monument, which lies about 150 miles east of Massachusetts, includes three submerged canyons — one of them deeper than the Grand Canyon — and four underwater mountains. The designation means that commercial fishing will be phased out of the region, and resource extraction such as mining and drilling will be prohibited. That’s good news for creatures like endangered whales, sea turtles, and deep-sea coral — and those less sexy microorganisms that sustain all of them, like plankton.

According to a recent study by the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, ocean temperatures in this section of the Atlantic are projected to warm three times faster than the global average. This new monument, according to the White House, “will help build the resilience of that unique ecosystem, provide a refuge for at-risk species, and create natural laboratories for scientists to monitor and explore the impacts of climate change.”

President Obama has protected more land and water than any other American president — including the world’s largest marine protected area in the Pacific.

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Today in weird transit news, we bring you a car that smiles and a mind-blowing electric bus.

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Chicago just named a street for an environmental justice hero.

by SallyLandon Posted on September 15, 2016

At the Our Ocean Conference in Washington, D.C., this week, Obama announced the creation of The Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, which will protect deep-sea ecosystems off the coast of New England.

The monument, which lies about 150 miles east of Massachusetts, includes three submerged canyons — one of them deeper than the Grand Canyon — and four underwater mountains. The designation means that commercial fishing will be phased out of the region, and resource extraction such as mining and drilling will be prohibited. That’s good news for creatures like endangered whales, sea turtles, and deep-sea coral — and those less sexy microorganisms that sustain all of them, like plankton.

According to a recent study by the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, ocean temperatures in this section of the Atlantic are projected to warm three times faster than the global average. This new monument, according to the White House, “will help build the resilience of that unique ecosystem, provide a refuge for at-risk species, and create natural laboratories for scientists to monitor and explore the impacts of climate change.”

President Obama has protected more land and water than any other American president — including the world’s largest marine protected area in the Pacific.

Continue reading:

Chicago just named a street for an environmental justice hero.

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Solar power’s not just for roofs anymore: It’s being woven into fabric.

by VitoBadgett Posted on September 15, 2016

Soon, everything from sneakers to beach umbrellas could suck up the sun’s energy and turn it into electricity.

Marianne Fairbanks, a fabric designer, and Trisha Andrew, an organic chemistry professor at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, teamed up to make solar fabric — first invented 15 years ago — a little bit sleeker. They created a layer of polymer-coated fabric that absorbs light and conducts electricity, and can be applied to any type of textile. A four-by-four foot swath of cloth can generate enough power to charge a smartphone.

“I get really excited, because textiles are portable and lightweight,” Fairbanks told Smithsonian. “They could be deployed in the wilderness for a hunter or in the field for medical or military applications in a way that big clunky solar panels never could be.” The duo is working on creating marketable solar-powered products like gloves, tents, and other outdoor gear.

Meanwhile, researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology recently developed a different wool textile that harvests wind and solar energy. Who knew the renewable energy fabric industry was so competitive?

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Solar power’s not just for roofs anymore: It’s being woven into fabric.

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Lawyers told Lamar Smith his Exxon subpoenas are trash.

by RudolfDeRougemo Posted on September 14, 2016

Accusations that Stein is an anti-vaxxer have followed the Green Party candidate throughout the race, even though she’s a Harvard-educated physician and not a graduate of the Jenny McCarthy school of medicine.

In a ScienceDebate.org survey of presidential candidates’ views on science, Stein gave them a somewhat modified answer on vaccines.

“Vaccines prevent serious epidemics that would cause harm to many people,” she said, adding:

To reverse the problem of declining vaccination rates, we need to increase trust in our public health authorities and all scientific agencies. We can do that by removing corporate influence from our regulatory agencies to eliminate apparent conflicts of interest and show skeptics, in this case vaccine-resistant parents, that the motive behind vaccination is protecting their children’s health, not increasing profits for pharmaceutical companies.

Stein’s been accused of pandering to anti-vaxxers before, for saying, “There were concerns among physicians about what the vaccination schedule meant … There were real questions that needed to be addressed.”

While she’s still hitting on her point about corporate influence, she’s sounding less loony these days.

In the same questionnaire, however, Stein didn’t budge on another topic in which she stands at odds with the scientific community: GMOs. She wants to place a moratorium on GMOs until they have been proven safe.

Of course, those persnickety scientists will tell you it’s impossible to prove anything is safe — but that’s not a reason to dismiss new plant varieties or lifesaving shots.

Read the article:

Lawyers told Lamar Smith his Exxon subpoenas are trash.

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Jill Stein tries to clarify her opinion of vaccines.

by AngelineChilde0 Posted on September 13, 2016

Accusations that Stein is an anti-vaxxer have followed the Green Party candidate throughout the race, even though she’s a Harvard-educated physician and not a graduate of the Jenny McCarthy school of medicine.

In a ScienceDebate.org survey of presidential candidates’ views on science, Stein gave them a somewhat modified answer on vaccines.

“Vaccines prevent serious epidemics that would cause harm to many people,” she said, adding:

To reverse the problem of declining vaccination rates, we need to increase trust in our public health authorities and all scientific agencies. We can do that by removing corporate influence from our regulatory agencies to eliminate apparent conflicts of interest and show skeptics, in this case vaccine-resistant parents, that the motive behind vaccination is protecting their children’s health, not increasing profits for pharmaceutical companies.

Stein’s been accused of pandering to anti-vaxxers before, for saying, “There were concerns among physicians about what the vaccination schedule meant … There were real questions that needed to be addressed.”

While she’s still hitting on her point about corporate influence, she’s sounding less loony these days.

In the same questionnaire, however, Stein didn’t budge on another topic in which she stands at odds with the scientific community: GMOs. She wants to place a moratorium on GMOs until they have been proven safe.

Of course, those persnickety scientists will tell you it’s impossible to prove anything is safe — but that’s not a reason to dismiss new plant varieties or lifesaving shots.

Link: 

Jill Stein tries to clarify her opinion of vaccines.

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