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Environment

A healthy planet, free of pollution where people act responsibly to protect and maintainbalance with the environment.

Foster Gamble

• 34 min read
Environment

VISION for a Thriving Environment : A healthy planet, free of pollution where people act responsibly to protect and maintain
balance with the environment.

Danger : The water, soil and atmosphere are being dangerously polluted and manipulated.  Extinction rates are growing and people are starving.

Opportunity :  In every area that our environment is threatened, people are organizing to intervene with strategic and effective solutions.

Critical Issues:

Nuclear Radiation

DANGER: Nuclear Power is Unsafe

Why would we risk all life on Earth by unleashing the most dangerous pollutant ever discovered when there are safe, sustainable and cheap alternatives?

Some of the threats posed by nuclear power plants include:

  • They create lethal radioactive waste - Nuclear reactors create lethal hazardous waste.  There is no proven-safe means of disposing of it. It is often buried deep below ground – often near poor or Native-American communities – or stored in temporary containers that eventually break down. This contaminates our soil, causes long-term environmental devastation, and can potentially leech into our air and water supply.
  • Nuclear weapons are made from waste generated at nuclear power plants - Commercial nuclear reactors make it easier for people to access the material to process into weapons grade plutonium for nuclear bombs and depleted uranium shells like those with which the US Army has polluted so much of the Middle East.[1] Nuclear power plants are a serious national security threat – they allow for proliferation of nuclear technology and materials.
  • They are extremely expensive - A comprehensive study found that nuclear reactors are much more costly than other alternative energy sources such as biomass, wind, geothermal, and some solar and conventional fossil fuels.[2] No insurance companies will insure nuclear power producers so taxpayers have to pay to insure an unproven, unsafe option. Why should we insure something insurance companies find too dangerous to insure? The government subsidies that nuclear power relies on come from taxpayer dollars without taxpayer consent. These costs are not included in typical discussions of nuclear viability.
  • They are never totally safe - Nuclear reactors are inherently risky and can never be 100% safe. The infamous Chernobyl accident of 1986 — which created a 36 mile dead-zone, killed thousands, and caused serious, ongoing health effects for many others — can still happen. As reactors get older, they become more vulnerable to leaks or melt-downs. As targets of attack by missiles or planes, they represent nuclear bombs waiting to be exploded.  We don’t have to put all life at risk to create more energy.
  • They are non-renewable - In order to generate electricity, nuclear plants require uranium, plutonium, and other radioactive materials that will eventually be depleted. Like oil, as these resources become more scarce, they’ll also become more expensive, driving the cost of energy up.

The nuclear industry has been attempting to convince politicians and the public that nuclear energy is a safe, viable, and environmentally friendly solution to our energy crisis. This dangerous deception is simply not true.[3] And in fact, there are far better alternative energy solutions that cost a lot less and are not harmful to our health or the environment. To learn more about it check out the “opportunity” below.

OPPORTUNITY: We Can Access Electricity Without Harming the Planet or OurselvesThere are far better alternatives to nuclear power.  They include “New Energy” devices, solar, wind, geo-thermal, and more. Rather than crashing, crunching and exploding atoms (and trying to control all the risks and results) we can blend with the natural movement of energy in the Universe to produce all the power we need. The good news is alternatives are already available, now it’s just a matter of making the shift. Here are some possibilities:

“Free” or “New Energy” Technology

John Bedini's Monopole Device.

The most potential for clean, renewable, and infinite energy exists in what’s called “New Energy” technologies, including Radiant, Zero-Point and Magnetic varieties. Resonant (rather than “explosive” – combustion, fission and fusion) technology devices access the energy that already surrounds us. They are not “perpetual motion” machines, because any mechanical device will eventually wear out, but they are “over-unity” – meaning that once initiated, they can provide significantly more electricity than it takes to run them. It means that a source of infinite energy is available to everyone – you don’t need coal, oil, the sun, or the wind.  These devices have been brutally suppressed by those with vested oil interests,  but have huge potential for humanity.  Now is the time to spread the word about these devices and to support research, development and business ventures to create affordable devices for everyone. To check it out in more detail, go to the New Energy Technology section of this site.

It will take time to fully fund, research and develop New Energy Technology. In the meantime, wind and solar are good alternatives to current polluting energy industries. However, because wind and solar require intense use of materials, they are not sustainable in the long term. We therefore view them as a temporary improvement on the way to an even cleaner energy future.

Solar

Photo by Wayne National Forest.

Getting energy from the sun is a good alternative. Solar is growing by more than 40% every year and is taking off in countries such as Germany, China, and Japan. Solar is an exciting opportunity for the 1.6 billion people who are not connected to the grid – many of which are in poor, rural communities in developing countries.  These people can bypass the step of connecting to the grid, and get relatively cheap rooftop solar water heaters. In fact, China has already installed at least 40 million of them, the equivalent of 54 coal-fired power plants.[4] It’s also estimated that the sun-drenched southwestern United States has the ability to generate 7,000 gigawatts of electricity, about 7 times the amount currently generated from all sources in the U.S. combined. With a combination of solar plants in the Southwest and wind turbines in the Midwest, the U.S. could easily generate enough electricity to power the nation.

Find out how communities in California are making solar more affordable and accessible for everyone. (Click Here)

Wind

Photo by Martin Pettitt.

Global wind generating capacity went up almost 26% in 2006.[5] Denmark is now powered by at least 15% wind power and other countries around the world are making similar advances. In the U.S. there is enormous potential for growth in the wind industry. As the Earth Policy Institute’s Lester Brown says, “The U.S. great plains are the Saudi Arabia of wind power.” Texas, North Dakota, and Kansas alone have enough wind to power the entire nation.[6]

WHAT CAN I DO?

Sign the Petition for NO Nuclear Plant Near Jeffrey's Bay, South Africa - Let the CEO of Eskom Enterprises know that the global community does not support the building of a Nuclear Power Plant near Jeffrey's Bay, South Africa and urge him to shift efforts toward renewable energies. Click here to sign the petition.

Create Your Own Petition to Oppose Nuclear in Your Area - Two great resources to do this are Causes.com and Avaaz.org.

[1] Depleted Uranium has caused severe birth defects. To see images (caution, very graphic), click here.  You can also learn more about Depleted Uranium from the movie, Beyond Treason.

[2] The Economics of Nuclear Reactors: Renaissance or Relapse? by Mark Cooper, Senior Fellow for Economic Analysis Institute for Energy and the Environment. June 2009. http://www.nirs.org/neconomics/cooperreport_neconomics062009.pdf

[3] To learn more about this See NuclearBailout.org. (http://www.psr.org/nuclear-bailout/)

[4] Lester Brown. Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization. New York : W.W.Norton & Company, Inc., 2008. (246).

[5] World Watch Institute. Vital Signs 2007-2008, (36).

[6] See Lester Brown’s Eco-Economy, (103-104).

Chemtrails and Human Geo-Engineering



Danger: Chemtrails – Aerial Spraying of Toxic Chemicals

Photo by Andrea Ursini Casalena.Governments and corporations are deliberately manipulating and altering Earth’s climate, endangering the lives of people all over the world. Two of the most extreme cases of geo-engineering are chemtrails – the release of toxic chemicals into the air that are poisoning people and the planet – and HAARP – an electromagnetic antenna array based in Alaska that can send radio-frequency radiation over large geographical areas and manipulate weather patterns causing earthquakes, tsunamis, and more.  These projects represent some of the worst crimes in history, yet most people are unaware of them.

Over a hundred patents [1] have been granted to major corporations, including Monsanto, for aerial spraying of materials that can penetrate your lungs and blood, cause disease, disrupt your mental capacity, cause you to be sterile and even cause premature death. These materials are being sprayed all over our planet – and on you – right now, without your knowledge or consent.For over ten years, observers have been noticing white aerosol trails being dispersed in the skies that don’t behave like usual condensing jet exhaust. When seeking explanation, investigators are told by the government that these are just the normal “contrails” that we see coming from commercial jets and that they are perfectly safe. However, they don’t dissipate the way regular condensation trails do. They linger for hours, spreading across the sky, and are often laid out in cross hatch patterns. The government has refused to test samples collected underneath the trails. Now a TV news report from Germany has confirmed that their military is in fact doing aerial spraying of chemtrails.[2]

An article from the NIH, the National Institutes of Health, confirms that not only are chemtrails real, but they are suspected to be responsible for a variety of neurotoxic conditions including MS.[3]

In 2001, Congressman Dennis Kucinich of Ohio introduced “The Space Preservation Act”, HR 2977.  As former head of the House Armed Services Committee overseeing U.S. military projects, Kucinich’s bill called for the peaceful use of space and a ban on “exotic weapons”, including chemtrails.

Photo by White Iron.

Intense spraying of dangerous chemicals from planes has been reported in, at least, the US, Canada, Germany, England, Australia, Mexico, South Africa, Bahamas, Puerto Rico and Croatia. A nasty mixture of parasites, pathogens, toxic heavy metals and nano-engineered particles have been found falling to earth from the trails of certain planes. Aluminum, barium, bacillus spores, radioactive thorium, cadmium, chromium, nickel, desiccated blood, mold spores, yellow mycototoxins, ethylene dibromide and synthetic nano-fibers are among the ingredients found in collected samples.[4] As these fill the atmosphere and lodge in our lungs and blood streams through the air we breathe and the food we eat, it represents the most unavoidable toxic pollution in history.

In some areas under the spray, aluminum levels in the soil are so elevated certain trees and crops are struggling to survive. Interestingly, the USDA, which receives royalties on GMO crops, was recently granted a patent for seeds that can grow in soil with high aluminum content.[5]

There are hundreds of photos of Chemtrails, ground based videos, and even a video shot from above a plane while it was turning on and off its sprayers.

The Council on Foreign Relations ran an article in its Foreign Affairs journal promoting the use of dumping heavy metals in the atmosphere to combat global warming.  They also held workshops on the subject titled: “Unilateral Planetary Scale Geo-engineering and the Challenge of Global Governance.”  Recently their conference in Monterey, California, called “Strategic Aerosol Geo-engineering” announced a ban on reporting such activities.[6]

For an authoritative look into over a decade of research into chemtrails and a comprehensive timeline/history of chemtrail activity, check out Clifford Carnicom’s website. To view extensively researched documentary films on chemtrails see, What in the World Are They Spraying: The Chemtrail/Geo-Engineering Cover-up and Why in the World are They Spraying?.  Even the History Channel has begun reporting on chemtrails, HAARP and their possible connection.

Theories as to what chemtrails are intended for range from enhancement of radar, to weather control, aerial mass inoculations, mind control, and sickening/weakening/culling the population.[7]

What Can I Do?

We Can Expose Chemtrails and Restore Clean Breathing Air. Most people are unaware of chemtrails. If we spread the word and expose these covert programs, we can then prosecute corporate, government, and military offenders and restore purity to our atmosphere.

~~~~~

DANGER: HAARP (High Altitude Active Auroral Research Project)

Given the choice, do you want to let the government manipulate the weather, create earthquakes and potentially control your mind?

HAARP, an electromagnetic antenna array project in Alaska, has been a joint effort of The US Navy, the Air Force, the ARCO oil company, Raytheon and the University of Alaska, Fairbanks.  It’s the world’s largest antenna array, but it is not a listener, it’s a sender. It’s an “ionospheric heater” that can focus 3.6 billion watts of radio-frequency energy into a single area of the atmosphere.

The military and the patent documents say HAARP could:

  • modify and re-direct the weather and the jet-stream as potential weapons
  • manipulate and disturb human mental process through pulsed radio-frequency radiation over large geographical areas
  • create electromagnetic pulse effects similar to atmospheric thermonuclear devices
  • replace the current over-the-horizon radar system (potentially enhanced by all the aluminum dumped in the sky by the chemtrailers)
  • wipe out communications over an extremely large area, while keeping the military’s communication system operative
  • probe the Earth for oil, gas and mineral deposits

The defensive and exploratory capabilities of HAARP are what are being acknowledged publicly. Researcher Nick Begich has uncovered far more sinister probabilities and reported them in his book with Jeane Manning, Angels Don’t Play This HAARP and the video by the same name.

The “Earth-penetrating tomography” capability of the HAARP array can create a high-pressure bubble in the upper atmosphere. This bulges up the top of the Ionosphere, which then snaps back down sending an electromagnetic pulse into the Earth to detect oil or gas reserves. This same technique, however, with the levels of power generated by HAARP could theoretically cause earthquakes and potentially associated tsunamis.  The Chinese government accused the US of intentionally initiating the quake of 2008, citing the use of HAARP.

Here are some chilling facts to consider:

1) A large HAARP energy concentration tends to create a characteristic rainbow light pattern in the sky as the energy builds.

2) This pattern was seen and filmed over the Sichuan province in China in 2008. The video above shows the rainbow lights before the earthquake in China.

3) A half hour later, this exact area was hit with the disastrous Sichuan earthquake.

4) For three days leading up to the devastating earthquake in Haiti on January 12, 2010, a Japanese atmospheric monitoring group tracked the turning on and amplifying of HAARP, and saw it turned off right after the quake.

Why would HAARP be used to cause an earthquake in Haiti?  It could be because of the recent discovery that Haiti is rich in resources. Shortly before Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristede was removed by a CIA-backed military coup in the early nineties, he produced research and a book detailing for the first time the location of vast Haitian resources, including oil (potentially more than Venezuela) as well as gold, uranium, zyconium and iridium, and how they would benefit the general population.

5) As the Haiti earthquake occurred the US military had 20,00 troops stationed in Miami, Florida at the tip of Florida for an exercise aimed at ‘rescuing Haiti from a hurricane.”  There were similar exercises conducted at the same time as the 9/11 attacks in New York and the 7/7 train bombings in London. The troops were immediately deployed to commandeer the airport at Port-au-Prince. Former presidents George Bush Sr. and Bill Clinton were immediately put in charge of the “relief effort,” which has been a miserable failure, while the takeover of Haiti’s sovereignty by the US military and by a consortium of foreign banks has been successful. This could be a classic example of the “Problem, Reaction, Solution” tactic for taking over resources, rights and control while trying to avoid the backlash at home and insurgency abroad that accompanies straight out war. For more on this see the Global Domination Agenda topic.

6) Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has accused the US of intentionally causing the earthquake in Haiti.

[1] Chemtrails: The List of Patents for Stratospheric Aerial Spraying Programs: http://www.sovereignindependent.com/?p=9344

[2] German Scientist Exposes Chemtrails as Military Operations by Rami Nagel: http://www.naturalnews.com/z022838.html

[3] Chronic barium intoxication disrupts sulphated proteoglycan synthesis: a hypothesis for the origins of multiple sclerosis by Purdey M:  http://ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15082100

[4]  http://rense.com/general90/metc.htm

and http://www.jonesreport.com/article/01_08/080108_chemtrails.html

[5] Patent #7582809 was granted Sept. 1, 2009.  It was assigned to the US Department of Agriculture and the Brazilian Enterprise for Agricultural Research. According to Cornell University Chronicle Online, the research project was supported in part by the McKnight Foundation Collaborative Crop Research Program, the Generation Challenge Program, the National Science Foundation and the USDA. It was developed at the Robert W. Holley Center for Agricultural Health at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. Leon Kochian and Jurandir Vieira de Magallhaes are the primary inventors/ researchers.

[6] http://www.infowars.com/shhh-if-it-was-reported-that-they-are-spraying-aluminum/

[7] http://www.fountainofwellness.com/environmental-health/pollution-and-consumption/air-pollution-from-aerial-spraying.html

Pollution

DANGER: Our Air, Water, and Soil are Terribly Polluted

Photo by Bert van Dijk.

Do you believe individuals and organizations who destroy the health of others and of eco-systems should be stopped and forced to provide restitution?

We all play a part in polluting, but some more than others. Corporate pollution is out of control, and often goes unprosecuted, even when it’s dangerous to our health and the environment.

Some examples of corporate pollution with disastrous effects include:

  • The BP oil spill in 2010 was one of the worst environmental disasters in history. It released an estimated 206 million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico, threatening more than eight U.S. national parks and thousands of species; shutting down multiple fisheries; impacting employment and tourism in the area; and causing ongoing health problems for people exposed to the polluted waters and seafood.
  • Dupont and Dow Chemical Poison Communities with Dioxin. Dioxin is one of the most dangerous super-toxins on the planet. It has been linked to causing cancer and disrupting immune and reproductive systems. A Dow Chemical plant in Midland, Michigan polluted up to 50 miles of surrounding area with Dioxin. [1] Dupont’s plant in Delisle, Mississippi has been poisoning workers and residents nearby. Many people in the community have turned up with rare forms of cancer. For more info, see the video Dioxin, Duplicity, and Dupont.
  • Texaco Has Destroyed Much of the Amazon in Ecuador. Over the course of 28 years, Texaco (now owned by Chevron), dumped 18 billion gallons of wastewater into surface water streams and left close to 1,000 unlined toxic waste pits in the rainforest that continue to leak toxins into the soil and water and pollute surrounding communities.[2]
  • Royal Dutch Shell Has Devastated the Niger Delta. The Niger Delta is an environmental catastrophe. Between 1970 and 2000, there were more than 7,000 oil spills.[3]
  • Honeywell leaked 165,000 pounds of mercury and other toxins into Onondga Lake in New York. It’s the most polluted lake in the U.S.
  • PG&E poisoned residents of Kettleman Hills, CA with chromium from a compressor plant.
  • Many Corporations are Responsible for American Superfund Sites. The EPA has identified more than 1,000 hazardous waste sites in the U.S., called Superfund Sites. Corporations are often responsible for the damage.

Every year corporations also release hundreds of millions of pounds of toxic pollutants into the air. The University of Massachusetts has put together an index, called “The Toxic 100”, ranking the worst corporate air polluters. Among the worst are Bayer Group, Exxon Mobil, Ford Motor Company, Conoco Phillips, Dow Chemical, and BP.

The biggest source of air pollution in the U.S. comes from fossil-fuel electric power plants.[4] 77% of the largest 1000 fossil fuel-fired power plants are not subject to pollution controls under the Clean Air Act’s New Source Review requirements, which regulates the emissions of new power plants and prevents old ones from increasing emissions.[5]

Part of the problem with all this pollution is that we’re externalizing costs, meaning that the costs of goods and services fail to reflect their overall impact. This allows the worst corporate polluters to make a profit even though they’re destroying the planet. To learn more about this check out Annie Leonard’s video, The Story of Stuff:

Organizations and individuals can and should be held accountable for their pollution, especially if it’s harming others.  This can be taken care of within the legal system, which we discuss more in the Environment Solutions article and the Liberty Section.

There are alternatives to this failing model – check them out below.

OPPORTUNITY: We Can Eliminate Waste and Create Sustainable Systems

We are already on our way to creating more sustainable systems – more and more people are recycling and innovative manufacturing processes are emerging that drastically reduce waste.

In 2007, Americans kept 85 million tons of trash out of landfills and incinerators by recycling their waste.  Although recycling is an important short-term step, it is not the ultimate solution. Recycled products break down over time (something referred to as “down-cycling”) which eventually makes the products and materials useless. This is a good first step, but we can do even better.

Find out how community organizers in India transformed their neighborhoods and created a “zero-waste” state. (click here)

Cradle-to-cradle is an answer to linear, dead-end production and consumption. Coined by architect William McDonough, it is the idea that we can create closed-loop manufacturing cycles, where businesses reclaim and reuse their products over and over again. For example, Interface, Inc., one of the world’s largest carpet manufacturer’s, not only makes high-quality, long-lasting carpets with sustainable materials, but actually reclaims, reprocesses, and reuses all of the carpets they install. It has transformed the industry from being notoriously wasteful to more self-sufficient.  There is now a cradle-to-cradle certification program to encourage more conscious consumer and business decisions.

[1] Nearby Saginaw Bay was found to have the highest amount of dioxin levels ever found in the U.S. at 1.6 million parts per trillion.  When an EPA regional administrator, Mary Gade, tried to go after Dow Chemical she was forced out of office.

[2] Chevron Toxico Website: http://chevrontoxico.com/about/environmental-impacts/

[3] “Nigeria’s Agony Dwarfs the Gulf Oil Spill” by John Vidal. May 30, 2010 in The Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/30/oil-spills-nigeria-niger-delta-shell

[4] Natural Resources Defense Council, "Global Warming Basics": http://www.nrdc.org/globalwarming/f101.asp#1

[5] New Source Review provides loopholes whereby old power plants can get away with higher emissions. The legislation is so loosely defined that old power plants are getting away with modifications to their plants that increase emissions. The specific problem with New Source Review is that it permits "routine scheduled maintenance" in older plants so long as the maintenance does not result in a "significant increase" of emissions, yet it does not define "significant" so big plants with heavy-duty legal counsel end up skirting the intent of the law. See:

GMOs - Genetically Modified Organisms

DANGER: Genetically Modified Crops Are Getting into Everything and Everyone

Why would we risk our health, threaten evolution and become dependent on chemical companies for our food?

Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) have been altered by humans who force non-food genes – from other species – into the DNA of plants, changing the very nature of the food itself. Monsanto’s mutated seeds have taken over 90% of the U. S. soy crop and 95% of the corn. Wheat and fish are next on their agenda. Despite valiant and growing resistance around the world, GMO’s are still on the rise.

Why are GMO’s dangerous?

  • GMO’s are bad for our health – In 2009, the American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) called for a moratorium on GM foods stating that “there is more than a casual association between GM foods and adverse health effects. There is causation.”[1] This was confirmed in several animal studies. Many doctors have also acknowledged that GM foods cause adverse health effects and are prescribing GM-free diets.[2] After reviewing more than 600 scientific journals, world renowned biologist Pushpa M. Bhargava, concludes that genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are a major contributor to the sharply deteriorating health of Americans.
  • Animals exposed to GMO’s suffer lethal consequences – Lab rats, mice and chickens exposed to GMO’s, as well as sheep grazing on GMO crops, are often smaller. Most of their babies are dying and they are showing up with cancer, bleeding stomachs, black patches and major irritation in both their intestines and livers. GMO fed livestock have developed pro-lapsed uteruses, delivered offspring pre-maturely and become infertile. There is evidence that the DNA mutations from these GMO products transfers into our own stomachs and continues to function.[3] Monsanto’s Genetically modified corn is also causing organ failure in rats.[4]
  • Some GMO seeds can’t reproduce – Monsanto (the largest biotech company in the world) has created a “terminator” seed that is unable to reproduce. This makes it impossible for farmers to save seeds and replant crops. They become dependent on biotech companies instead of nature in order to grow food. The newer, aptly named  “traitor” seeds won’t even develop through the natural stages of the plant unless sprayed with Monsanto’s chemicals.
  • GMO’s threaten evolution and freedom – The very course of evolution itself and the freedom of people to grow their own food are threatened. Millions of years of natural evolution and diversity of seeds are being wiped out in a generation - what we believe is a clear intention to control food worldwide.
  • GMO takeover of farmers’ freedom is a major factor in suicides – Between 1997 and 2007, 182,900 farmers in India took their own lives. The National Crime Records Bureau of India estimates that there is roughly one suicide every 30 minutes. [5]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Av6dx9yNiCA

  • GMO’s can contaminate other crops – GMO’s can cross-pollinate and spread their altered genes to other plants. These altered genes have the potential to spread far and wide, and make it into everyone’s food. Farmers whose crops have been contaminated have been repeatedly sued by Monsanto for violation of patent rights. [6]
See how a small farmer has claimed a “moral victory” against Monsanto by charging them for contamination of his crops. (Click here)
  • Pregnant women and babies are at great risk – Among others, biologist David Schubert of the Salk Institute warns that “children are the most likely to be adversely effected by toxins and other dietary problems” related to Genetically Modified foods. He says without adequate studies the children become “the experimental animals.” [7]
  • GMO’s and the “Green Revolution” are not solving the global food crisis. They are making it worse. A four-year study by 400 scientists concluded in 2008 that monoculture and genetic modification of crops are creating significant problems and that small-scale organic farms are best qualified to feed the world. The study was virtually ignored by the US corporate press.[8]

How did we develop such an unhealthy food model? If you follow the money, you’ll find that this was a strategy initiated by the Rockefeller Foundation and large agricultural companies to breed dependency and gain more profits. To find out more, go to the Follow the Money Story.

OPPORTUNITY: Organic Farming is On the Rise and Becoming More Affordable

While GMO giants are desperately trying to dominate the agriculture industry, organic farming is rapidly gaining popularity. The number of certified organic farms in the U.S. has almost doubled in the last 10 years, which helps it to become affordable to more people.

Why is organic better?

  • No pesticides and herbicides – organic foods are not sprayed with petroleum based toxins that poison farm workers, pollute our soils, water and air, and are bad for our health.
  • Better farming practices – in order to keep healthy crops, organic farmers use more natural farming techniques such as crop rotation, composting and the interspersing of crops for natural predator resistance and soil health.
  • It’s more nutritious and tastier – more nutrients from the soil give the food a better flavor.

There are still some problems with organic. For example, there are lots of industrial organic farms that only grow one crop, organic certification is expensive and the standards are being deceptively diluted.

Even more promising are the Permaculture and Biodynamic farming models. These go beyond organic standards and include more holistic approaches such as land conservation, biodiversity, and self-sufficiency.

WHAT CAN I DO?

  • Join the “Millions Against Monsanto” Campaign - click here.
  • Help Inform Others of the Risks of GMO Food - As organic food grows in popularity it becomes less expensive and therefore increasingly accessible.
  • Shop at a Farmers Market - By shopping at farmers markets you can reduce the use of fossil fuels, get to know your local growers, enhance local food systems, build strong local economies, and enjoy fresh, healthy food all at the same time. Find a farmers market near you.
  • Join a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) - Get your food in a box on a weekly basis from local farmers.  You usually get an assortment of veggies, fruit, eggs, dairy, and bread that are constantly changing with the seasons. Plus you get to meet the growers and other health-oriented people in your community. Find a CSA near you or view listings of CSA’s throughout the U.S.
  • Buy Local and Organic as Much as Possible - Some grocery stores sell produce from local farmers, however, because it’s often cheaper and easier to go through big distributors our food is often shipped from hundreds or thousands of miles away, even when it’s being grown right down the road.  To show your support for local farms, and to help get the cost down and the food accessible to more people, if you can afford it, buy local and organic as much as possible and voice your concern to managers at stores when options are limited.
  • Support Organizations That are Working to Protect People and the Environment from Unsafe GMO Practices - Including: The Center for Food Safety, Natural Solutions Foundation, The Organic Consumers Association, and Greenpeace, Institute for Responsible Technology

RELATED LINKS

Actions:

Successes:

Movies & Videos:

[1] Genetically Modified Foods by Amy Dean, D.O. and Jennifer Armstrong, M.D. This statement was reviewed and approved by the Executive Committee of the American Academy of Environmental Medicine on May 8, 2009. http://www.aaemonline.org/gmopost.html

[2] For example, Dr. Amy Dean, a Michigan internal medicine specialist, and board member of AAEM says, “I strongly recommend patients eat strictly non-genetically modified foods.” Ohio allergist Dr. John Boyles says “I used to test for soy allergies all the time, but now that soy is genetically engineered, it is so dangerous that I tell people never to eat it.”

[3] http://www.responsibletechnology.org/utility/showArticle/?objectID=2989

[4] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/19/monsanto-gm-corn-causing_n_425195.html

[5] http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/05/05/Could-Monsanto-Be-Responsible-for-One-Indian-Farmers-Death-Every-Thirty-Minutes.aspx

[6] “The Multiple Ways Monsanto is Putting Normal Seeds Out of Reach”:

http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-multiple-ways-Monsanto-by-Linn-Cohen-Cole-090203-854.html , “Raids on Seeds (LIFE , itself)…by Monsanto”:

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Raids-on-Seeds-life-itsel-by-Linn-Cohen-Cole-081215-45.html

[7] Doctors Warn: Avoid Genetically Modified Food:

http://www.responsibletechnology.org/utility/showArticle/?objectID=2989

[8] Study by International Assessment for Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development: http://www.agassessment.org/reports/IAASTD/EN/Agriculture%20at%20a%20Crossroads_Global%20Report%20(English).pdf

Climate Change

How does climate change relate to the banking elite’s effort to transcend national sovereignty, establish global governance and create a global tax to fund their dominance?

The debate around global warming can be challenging and controversial. It is often presented with extreme allegations on both sides: either human pollution is the cause of all global warming or pollution is just fine and there’s no problem, while we believe neither is the case. There are a variety of potential sources of climate change, each with a myriad of implications. Many scientists believe that geo-engineering in the skies, often referred to as “chemtrails” is having a dire impact on the weather. The Chinese have long-acknowledged weather manipulation, and the link between weather modification and war has been documented as far back as 1812. Others attribute climate change to human pollution in the form of Co2 emissions and still others attribute the change in climate to the natural warming cycle of the sun. Questioning the validity of any of these perspectives tends to ignite hostility, and it is astonishing how little open, respectful debate and discussion there is on a topic so impactful in all of our lives. Whatever the source, we at Thrive Movement believe that human caused emissions such as carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels, methane from factory farms and nitrous oxide from pesticides and fertilizers must be curtailed. There is no question that they contribute to serious problems, including environmental pollution and health issues such as asthma.  We also consider geo-engineering and the heavy metals now raining down on people and plants present a major threat to our wellbeing as well as our ability to produce healthy food. We also believe that the evidence about the sun’s influence is compelling and needs further open minded inclusion in the discussion. Understanding the cause – or more likely causes – will help us create effective responses.

While the real open and public debate around global warming has been essentially non-existent, the general consensus is that greenhouse gases (GHG’s) are being released into Earth’s atmosphere at a growing rate – in large part due to human pollution – creating a greenhouse effect that traps heat in Earth’s atmosphere and warms the planet. While these emissions are clearly polluting our breathing air and causing a number of other environmental disasters, it does not necessarily mean that this pollution is causing the warming of the planet.[1]

Other theories and scientific explanations to explain global warming are virtually ignored.  For example, the impact of geo-engineering of the skies, chemtrails and HAARP, is not even acknowledged by the US government despite documented evidence of it taking place and of it having impact on the weather (see our article on human geo-engineering). Other evidence shows that other planets in our solar system are warming, suggesting that solar activity may be the cause of rising temperatures on Earth.[2]  Still other evidence suggests that the trend is already reversing and that certain parts of the planet are cooling.[3] In fact, Dr. Phil Jones, Director of the Climate Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia in the UK, admitted in an interview with the BBC in 2010 that “from 1995 to the present there has been no statistically-significant global warming.”[4].  Satellite-based temperature measurements, which are more reliable than surface readings, suggest that the most recent warming trend ended in 1998. The impact of the warming can still be felt even though there is good evidence the trend has reversed because geologic changes are slow to show up when heating or cooling.[5]

Given the increasing consolidation of power and decreasing sovereignty of individuals, communities, and nations, we have great concern that the carbon tax (being paid to the World Bank and enforced by the International Police forces) would provide the financial basis for an involuntary global government that further undermines the sovereignty of each nation. Doesn’t it make sense that something so consequential would be transparently discussed and debated? Instead merely questioning it is often met with hostility.

There is a lot of propaganda out on the part of those with vested interests in people believing one view or another. Those who point to solar activity as a cause of global warming are often ridiculed and accused of being funded by the oil industry, and those who point to chemtrails are called "conspiracy theorists" and those who promote the CO2 emissions theory are often considered to be aiding corporate pollution by supporting cap and trade and other programs that insufficiently address pollution and unknowing lobbyists for the one world government agenda. Who's right?

We think it's important to unpack the issue.  Global leaders, bankers, corporations and academic researchers have a lot to gain from pollution-caused global warming being accepted as truth. Without full, open discussion and debate, the public is encouraged to accept substandard and incomplete solutions, such as the global cap and trade system.

Cap and trade sets limits on carbon emissions and allows the worst polluters to buy “pollution credits” from those who are polluting less. Rather than limit pollution, it merely allows those with the most money to buy their “right” to pollute from others.  Cap and trade is the elite’s response to an oversimplified and self-serving interpretation of climate change and sets the stage for the next market bubble for the bankers to pump up and then dump. This is a typical strategy used by the global elite – they create or capitalize on a “problem”, instill fear in the people to get a certain “reaction”, and then propose a “solution” that will benefit themselves, at our - and our planet’s - expense.

Cap and trade also seems to be a preliminary step in establishing an international tax system and governing body. The global elite can use cap and trade as a way to get people accustomed to international taxes, while also consolidating and giving themselves more power.

This strongly suggests that we need to think bigger and have on-going, televised debates that are transparent about the relationship between corporate pollution, carbon tax and the global governance desired by the so-called New World Order. The debate would also need to address climate changing impact of geo-engineering in the form of "chemtrails".

For an understanding of the potential role of chemtrails in climate change, see both "What in the World are They Spraying?" and "Why in the World are They Spraying?".

For an extensive and well-documented exploration of the deceptions and manipulations of the global warming  establishment, check out the article, “Is the Western Climate Establishment Corrupt?”, and the documentary, “The Great Global Warming Swindle.”

To explore the cap and trade issue more, check out Annie Leonard’s video: “The Story of Cap and Trade: Why You Can’t Solve a Problem with the Thinking that Created It”.

To confront important information about “climate change” consider the following questions and discuss them with others. It ‘s vital for us to engage in open, honest debate about something so consequential.

  • If other planets in our solar system are heating up too, then might not the Sun itself be a major cause of global warming?
  • What is the role of weather manipulation in commodities futures trading?
  • Why is there no live, televised public debate about global warming? Why do Al Gore and the scientists of the IPCC refuse to engage?
  • Is there a financial incentive for Al Gore to have people believe his data about global warming?[6]
  • If CO2 is the cause of global warming, why do Al Gore’s own graphs show that temperature changes in fact lead, rather than follow, the changes in CO2?
  • Have temperature fluctuations happened before? Did they happen before humans were using fossil fuels? Why are proponents of a global carbon tax, like the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit, hiding data such as the Medieval Warm period from public discussion?

[1] A growing number of scientists agree this is the case. See the following U.S. Senate Minority Report for more information:

“More than 650 International Scientists Dissent Over Man-Made Global Warming Claims – Scientists Continue to Debunk “Consensus” in 2008.” Released December 11, 2008: http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Minority.Blogs&ContentRecord_id=f80a6386-802a-23ad-40c8-3c63dc2d02cb

[2] “Mars Melt Hints at Solar, Not Human, Cause for Warming, Scientist Says” by Kate Ravilous. National Geographic News. February 28, 2007: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/02/070228-mars-warming.html

“Global Warming on Pluto Troubles Scientists” by Robert Roy Britt. October 9, 2002: http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/pluto_warming_021009.html

“Suns’s Shifts May Cause Global Warming” by Marion Long. Discover Interview: June 25, 2007: http://discovermagazine.com/2007/jul/the-discover-interview-henrik-svensmark/article_view?b_start:int=3&-C=

[3] Peter Taylor. Chill: A Reassessment of Global Warming Theory, Does Climate Change Mean the World is Cooling, and If So What Should We Do About It? Clairview Books, 2009.

[4] Q & A with Professor Phil Jones on BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8511670.stm

[5] “Is the Western Climate Establishment Corrupt? by Dr. David Evans: http://scienceandpublicpolicy.org/originals/western_climate_establishment_corrupt.html

[6] Some sources of info on Gore’s investments include:

“Al Gore Invests Millions to Make Billions in Cap-and-Trade Software” by Steve Milloy. Canada Free Press. June 3, 2009: http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/11607

“Al Gore’s Green Investments Prompt Conflict of Interest Row” by Ed Pilkington. The Guardian. November 3, 2009: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/03/al-gore-conflict-of-interests

“Gore’s Dual Role: Advocate and Investor” by John Broder. New York Times. November 2, 2009: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/03/business/energy-environment/03gore.html

Plastics

DANGER: Plastics are Poisoning Our Bodies and the Planet

How does consuming plastic threaten our well-being and benefit the oil industry at the same time?

Plastic is a remarkable material. It’s used in just about everything: cars, buildings, computers, cell phones, packaging. The list goes on and on.  Plastic, however, is tremendously energy intensive to produce and is toxic to our health and to the environment. We use plastic as if there’s an endless supply: to-go coffee mugs, take-out containers, plastic grocery bags. These items that we use for only minutes often stick around for hundreds of years. They don’t break down easily. As a result, our landfills are filling up; birds and marine animals are being poisoned; and our environment is being polluted. Not to mention our bodies.

Our health is suffering from constant exposure to plastic toxins.  Bisphenol A (BPA), which is used to make polycarbonate plastic, is a known endocrine disruptor.  It lines baby bottles, beer cans, canned food, and is in many other consumer products.  BPA has been linked to autism, ADHD, breast cancer, early puberty, low sperm count, prostate cancer, miscarriage, obesity, and more. Phthalates are also commonly used in plastic products even though they’re linked to serious health effects including asthma, eczema, premature birth, smaller penis size, lower sperm count, allergies, and more.

One of the dirty little secrets behind the prevalence of plastic in our lives is that the oil industry profits hugely from plastics.  Plastic is made from oil. It takes 50 million barrels of oil just to produce the plastic for one year of global bottled-water consumption.[1]  The combined lobbying efforts of the plastic and oil industry has created more and more demand for plastic. It’s no coincidence that we’ve produced more plastic in the last 10 years than in the previous century.[2] As discussed in the Follow the Money section of this site, the people who control oil – the international central bankers like the Rockefellers, Rothschilds, and Morgans – also control every other sector of human endeavor. Plastic is yet another tool of theirs to breed dependency on oil, reap enormous profits, and gain even more control.

OPPORTUNITY: We Can Stop Consuming So Much Plastic

There are a number of ways to take action in your community:

Boycott Bottled Water at Your School, Work, or in Your Community – Here are some resources to make the shift:

Reduce Your Use of Single-Use Plastics – Here are some alternatives:

  • Re-usable Coffee Mugs – there are a variety of options online. Try Mighty Nest for coffee mugs free of BPA and other toxins.
  • Re-usable Water Bottles – try Klean Kanteen’s stainless steel, BPA-free water bottle.
  • Re-usable To-Go Containers – To-Go Ware has bamboo utensil sets and stainless steel containers.

Don't Drink Bottled Water – Bottled water is no better than tap water! Plus it is bad for the environment, costs 2000 times more than the price of tap water, and is subject to less regulations. Here are some resources to make the change:

  • Sign the Pledge to Take Back the Tap – Buy a filter if it’s needed. Then pledge to choose tap water over bottled water whenever possible, fill a reusable bottle with tap water, and support policies that promote clean, affordable tap water for all.
  • Use the Bobble to improve the taste and quality of tap water. It filters tap water, is good for 2 months (or 40 gallons), and is easy to carry around wherever you go. It’s not an ideal solution because it’s still made of plastic, but it’s better than single-use disposable bottles.  A more leveraged action is to improve the quality of the tap water in your community so everyone is happy drinking it.  Join some of the campaigns listed above to help make that happen.

Buy Products with Less Packaging – The average American uses 800 lbs. of packaging every year. That’s not sustainable! Find alternatives.

Buy Used Products – It’s easier than you think. Find consignment stores in your area or check out these online possibilities:

  • Craigslist – you can search for all kinds of used goods on craigslist including bikes, furniture, musical instruments, computers, appliances and more. You can even post a “wanted” ad if there’s something you’re specifically looking for and can’t find on the site.
  • Freecycle - a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (and getting) stuff for free in their own towns. It's all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills.

Bring Your Own Containers and Bags to the Store – Globally, we use about 500 billion plastic bags each year. You can help bring this number down by shopping with your own re-usable bags.

  • Chico Bags – a compact, reusable, durable light-weight bag. Look for their rePETE logo, which means the bag was manufactured using recycled materials.
  • Eco-Bags – certified organic cotton produce and classic string bags.
  • Blue Lotus – organic cotton produce and bulk bags.

Buy Less Stuff – It’s simple. Simply resist the temptation to buy more if you don’t really need it.

[1] This is based on global bottled-water demands from 2007. See “Energy Implications of Bottled Water” by P.H. Gleick and H.S. Cooley of the Pacific Institute. Published February, 2009.

[2] The movie “Bag It” explains that we have produced more plastic from 2000-2010, than from 1900-2000.

Honey Bee Colony Collapse

Danger: Honeybees Are Disappearing

What are humans doing that would be causing a vast percentage of bees to die off, and how can we save them?

Photo by Max xx.Honeybees are responsible for one out of every three bites of food you take.  In the U.S., they pollinate an estimated $15 billion in U.S. crops each year.[1]  They are the unpaid workers that prepare food for the dinner table.  But in recent years, honeybees have been vanishing.  In the winter of 2006, beekeepers in the U.S. lost a third of their 2.4 million colonies.[2] The following year, 35% more vanished.  The causes are still not fully understood.

This problem is known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) and there are a number of theories as to what’s causing it. Rowan Jacobsen, author of Fruitless Fall, sheds light on the fact that honeybees are likely dying from a combination of factors and that most of them stem from the way we farm.   Some of the causes include: pesticides; insecticides, such as the commonly used imidacloprid; viruses, including varroa mites; poor nutrition, from high-fructose corn syrup that is fed to the bees and monoculture crops; antibiotics that are pumped into unhealthy hives; and constant travel from farm to farm with no down-time that seasons naturally provide.

The whole system of industrial agriculture, and the demand that it creates for more and more honeybees, is one of the problems.  In 2010 it was revealed that the EPA was well-aware that the pesticide Clothianidin (marketed as “Poncho” by Bayer) posed serious risks to honeybees, yet it didn’t do anything to stop it.[3]  If we want to save the honeybees, it seems we’ll not only have to change the way we take care of honeybee hives, but also the way we grow food.  Check out some of the opportunities below.

Opportunity: We Can Save Honeybees While Solving Other Problems

Photo by mommamia.

If Colony Collapse Disorder is indeed caused from multiple stress factors, then the following actions can improve honeybee health, while also helping the environment and ourselves:

Organic farming – Bees pick up pesticides easily – a study in 2008 identified 46 different pesticides in 108 pollen and wax samples.[4] One sample had 17 different pesticides alone – the average was five.  Constant exposure to these toxins cannot be good for honeybees and pesticides certainly aren’t good for us or the environment – we need to cut down on pesticide use.

Diverse, native plantings – Honeybees have poor nutrition partly because monoculture farming (the planting of a single crop) cuts down on the diversity of their diet. Native flowers attract four times as many pollinators as non-native ones. By planting more diverse crops and native plants, we can improve the diet of honeybees. You can find out more about native plants in your region by contacting your local Native Plant Society.

What Can I Do?

Sign the Petition to Save the Bees - Tell the EPA, Ban the Pesticide that's killing Honeybees. Sign the Petition.

Photo by edibleoffice.

Become a Beekeeper

You can help the honeybee population grow by keeping your own. It takes work, but it’s rewarding.  Some resources to get started include:

Plant a Pollinator Garden

You can create a pollinator-friendly habitat in your own backyard. Check out the planting guides on the Pollinator Partnership website to get started.

[1] USDA Agricultural Research Service: http://www.ars.usda.gov/News/docs.htm?docid=15572

[2] Rowan Jacobsen. Fruitless Fall: The Collapse of The Honey Bee and the Coming Agricultural Crisis. New York: Bloomsbury, 2008. (64)

[3] Wikileaks Uncovers Government Bee Killing Conspiracy by Stephanie Feldstein. December 16, 2010. http://animals.change.org/blog/view/wikileaks_uncovers_government_bee_killing_conspiracy

[4] What Have Pesticides Got to Do with It? by Maryann Frazier, Chris Mullin, Jim Frazier, and Sara Ashcraft. June, 2008.

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