Outrageously Terrible Idea from Salem's own Brian Clem

This is more corporate wheeling and dealing to defeat democracy in Oregon and prevent anything that interferes with corporate profits.

Agriculture in Oregon has PLENTY of advocates who make sure that ANY costs to farmers are WELL understood and considered in Salem. This is an underhanded, anti-democratic, anti-American assault on the whole idea that businesses -- including agribusiness -- do not operate in a vacuum, and have a responsibility to operate within reasonable regulations. 

Rep. Brian Clem should be ashamed of himself. The logic of this bill is the same logic used against all progressive legislation in America and at the heart of all efforts against any progressive legislation.

HB 3212 would entitle farmers to be compensated for any local or state regulation they deem would create a loss in value to their operation as a result of the regulation. If a local or state government could not, or did not want to pay the compensation, they would have to waive the enacted regulation. This puts a huge chilling effect on a variety of land-use practices that help protect our waterways, air quality, soil health, animal treatment and human health.

Please review the information below and take action TODAY by:
Calling or emailing your Senator and/or Senate President Peter Courtney
(Senator Courtney's email address is: sen.petercourtney@state.or.us and his
phone number is: 503-986-1600.) TODAY;

Attend the hearing and testify against the bill; and/or
Write a letter to the editor.

The bill passed the House and will be heard this coming Monday, June 1st, at 1 p.m., Hearing Room B, by the Senate Business and Transportation Committee

Membership                        

Chair    Senator Lee Beyer
Member    Senator Rod Monroe
Member    Senator Chuck Riley
Member    Senator Chuck Thomsen
Vice-Chair    Senator Fred Girod

HB 3212 would protect harmful agribusiness activities from being regulated now and in the future by that entitling farmers to compensation from local and state governments for loss in value due to regulatory changes that forced them to change their practices. If a county or the state could not, or did not want to, pay compensation they would have to waive the enacted regulation.

Promoted by Rep. Brian Clem, the bill could lead to huge taxpayer funded compensation payouts related to laws and rules adopted since January 1, 2010 that have led to cleaner air, cleaner water and better animal welfare standards on farms. If state and local agencies were unable to afford to pay for compensation claims, laws and rules would have to be waived or go unenforced. Examples if impacted legislation include:

• Rules adopted to enforce Oregon’s ban on large-scale field burning in the Willamette Valley
  
• Oregon’s landmark law requiring larger cage sizes for laying hens, adopted in 2011 and phased in by rule in coming years
  
• Jackson County’s 2014 voter adopted ban on genetically engineered crops
  
• Additionally, the legislation is so broad, it could impact numerous existing Oregon Department of Agriculture authorities that help protect clean water, prevent livestock disease outbreaks and more.

Such ‘regulatory takings’ legislation is straight out of the right wing anti-government/anti-environment playbook and only serves to protect the most polluting agricultural industries and harmful practices, not most Oregon family farmers.

One amendment under discussion would make the bill only apply to new regulations adopted after January 1, 2016. This is still terrible public policy. While it would not overturn pre-existing laws or rules, it would preemptively tie the hands of state agencies and local governments, and create a ‘chilling effect’ on new regulations intended to protect the environment from, and prevent harmful impacts of, some farming practices. For example, even if HB 3212 only applied to new regulations or laws adopted after January 1, 2016, it could prevent:

• Better regulation of pesticide spraying to protect streams, pollinators and sensitive habitats
   
• Stronger regulation of genetically engineered (GE) crops to protect organic and other non-GE growers impacted by lax oversight over these crops currently
   
• Rules to protect rainbow trout and stream health by requiring farmers to plant trees or other vegetation near streams to prevent erosion and provide shade
   
• Animal welfare standards needed to provide animals on factory farms better living conditions.
   
• Oregon has a long history of showing leadership on adopting such reforms, including banning gestation crates for sows and requiring larger cage sizes for laying hens.

What you can do: HB 3212 already passed the House, but is up for a hearing and possible committee vote at 1pm on Monday, June 1 in the Senate Business and Transportation Committee. Please call and email your State Senator and urge them to oppose HB 3212, even if it is amended to just apply to future regulations. As Senate President, Senator Peter Courtney is a key player on whether this bill moves forward or not. Also, please consider

attending the hearing on June 1 and testifying in opposition. Senator Courtney's email address is: sen.petercourtney@state.or.us and his phone number is: 503-986-1600.

Moyers on the Challenge of Journalism in the Plutocracy Pressure-Cooker

OregonPEN.org

Read Bill Moyer’s profound and worrisome essay. 



Then subscribe to OregonPEN — Oregon Public Empowerment News (OregonPEN.org). 

Want to Contribute?

Got a story you want to tell?

OregonPEN is a new kind of venture, a step into a new direction, made to prepare for the new world that will remain after the ongoing demise of the old newspaper model is complete. This transformation is already underway, as the mass media of each generation gives way to the next.

If you want to join in, we would love to have you share your insights with us and our readers.

What are we looking for? What will we look for in anything you send for consideration?

First, anything you send has to be about Oregon in a meaningful way. Not exclusively, however, so pieces about world and national issues are welcome, provided you show how the issue or events you cover affect Oregon, now or in the future.

Second, it has to be about Public issues. OregonPEN isn't a blog or a journal of opinion, or poetry, or art (although if you're an artist who likes to use your magic to help tell complex stories in clear graphics, contact us!). There are many terrific outlets for interior, personal reporting on the human condition and private affairs and relationships. This isn't one of them.

Third, the story has to contribute to reader Empowerment. OregonPEN readers don't need more superficial, out of context stories about events -- the fire, or the flood, or the famine. OregonPEN's mission is to help illuminate the patterns and forces causing the events, to give readers insights they need to be active, effective agents for making a better future for Oregon. If the story you send is about a once-in-lifetime happening, it's probably not for us, no matter how interesting, because our focus is on helping readers understand and shape the future for the better.

But, even though we're not about simply reporting events, the story you send still has to be News -- either a news story or an informed, sourced analysis, and to follow the best conventions of solid news reporting. (Note, however, that news can include your own doings, so long as they are verifiable.)

---

Payment: OregonPEN aims to develop enough to pay a fair rate for all submissions; however, until 2016 at the earliest, we cannot not offer any compensation for stories submitted.

HUGE precedent for Stopping Salem's Bridgasaurus Boondogglus!

A federal court gave us a HUGE boon in the struggle against the absurd giveaway to developers known as the 3rd Bridge or the "Salem River Crossing." 

LOVESalem has been researching just this question to prepare for a challenge to the comically fraudulent work the planners are doing for the environmental impact statement that is being fabricated to further the Boondoggle — and, 

Happily, there's now precedent that when a DOT tries to say 

2 + 2 + 2 + 0 - 1 + 0 - 2 + 0 + 1 + 0 = 20 

(which is what Salem and ODOT's traffic projections do)

That you can challenge the lies and prevent the project from going forward.  

In lay terms, you can call BS on a stinking mound of BS.

This is Christmas and the Fourth of July in one for Salem taxpayers!

Last Friday a federal district court ruled in favor of 1000 Friends of Wisconsin in a case they brought against both the US and Wisconsin departments of transportation. At issue was a proposed highway expansion and a set of bogus traffic projections used to justify it. The court said, in essence, that if the DOT is going to project a huge increase in traffic while population and actual traffic counts are dropping, they need to show how they came up with that.

This decision has huge implications. Together we've long battled the standard DOT approach of continual highway expansion justified through faulty projection methods. This decision is a really important pushback.

Some links for you:

• The judge's ruling,
• A press release from 1000 Friends of WI, and
• Our latest podcast, which reviews the case from different angles.

"Let's live on the planet as if we intend to stay."

The mousetrap snaps: Agrofuels provide the cover to build a new Bakken crude refinery in Longview

This has always been the issue with agrofuels (the correct term, since all fossil fuels are, in fact, biofuels) — they are nothing but a tiny dose of green dye sprayed over the fossil fuel empire to fool the rubes, and they do nothing but help prolong that empire until the last dollar is wrung out of it and the last glacier melts.

Adding agrofuels to our fuels diet in the name of reduced emissions is nonsense; the total emissions goes UP, UP, UP, and more and more tropical rainforests are annihilated for palm oil plantations.

This is why the so-called "Clean Fuels" bill in Oregon doesn't even bother pretending that total emissions will go down. Instead, it promises reduced carbon "intensity."

This is the logic of millions of bankrupt consumers who failed to understand how all the great deals and all the money they "saved" on those great deals adds up to bankruptcy.

Co-opted environmentalists touting agrofuels love to accuse realists of helping Big Oil — a massive case of projection, since it is the co-opted enviros who are doing Big Oil's work for them, keeping the liquid fueled, private auto model as the centerpiece of all our thinking, and ensuring that we don't leave the infernal combustion engine until it destroys us.

http://www.opb.org/news/article/nw-push-for-clean-fuels-could-mean-more-crude-new-refinery/

"Let's live on the planet as if we intend to stay."

Oregon next, please! How Nebraska Abolished the Death Penalty [feedly]

How Nebraska Abolished the Death Penalty// Master Feed

The lethal injection chamber in Nebraska, which has never been used. (Nate Jenkins / AP)

..."It's not just about the procurement of drugs," said Marc Hyden of Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty, an organization that sprouted up in Montana several years ago and has since expanded nationally. "It's not pro-life because it risks innocent life. It's not fiscally responsible because it costs millions more dollars than life without parole." Yet Nebraska's bumbling and occasionally shady attempts to carry out death sentences—along with incidents in neighboring states like the botched execution of Clayton Lockett in Oklahoma—have given rise to another argument that sells among conservatives: the death penalty is just another example of government run amok.

"At the end of the day, this is just another big government program that's really dangerous and expensive but doesn't achieve any of its goals," Hyden told me, summarizing his pitch to Republicans. "They don't need to ask themselves, 'Do some people deserve to die?' The question they need to ask themselves is, do they trust an error-prone government to fairly, efficiently and properly administer a program that metes out death to its citizens? I think the answer to that is a resounding no." . . .

"Let's live on the planet as if we intend to stay."

What SHOULD be done with North Campus of State Hospital

What should be done with the North Campus Property? Rather than hand it over to developers, how about the state give it to ODVA and Salem in a joint partnership charged with turning the existing campus into a year-round "Housing First" site to house homeless veterans, of which Oregon has an abundance.

Instead of leveling serviceable buildings, make them homes.  Build training and supports, provide wraparound services on site in conjunction with the nearby Community Action Agency. Since the property is well located on transit lines, there's no need to waste space paving acres for parking -- we can keep the precious green space, house homeless vets and their families, and provide career training and services right in town.

http://salemnen.org/news/2015/05/26/town-hall-meeting-planned-for-update-on-north-campus-of-the-former-oregon-state-hospital/

Town Hall Meeting Planned for Update on North Campus of the Former Oregon State Hospital

by NICHOLAS on May 26, 2015 • 12:13 pm

The North East Salem Community Association, which represents the community bordering Northeast Neighbors to the East, has announced a Town Hall Meeting with Representative Brian Clem to discuss the latest news regarding redevelopment of the North Campus of the Former Oregon State Hospital, located between Center and D Streets in Northeast Salem.

As many of you may know, after successfully halting what many felt was an ill-timed and executed sale effort, Rep. Clem requested funds to prepare the property for sale, including the demolition of the majority of the buildings on the site. After considerable discussion, the membership of NESCA voted to support the Representative's initiative, which is still pending in the Legislature. The NEN board is also considering a motion to formally support Rep. Clem's initiative, but has not completed deliberations.

Rep. Clem is holding a Town Hall Meeting where he will discuss the project generally and his specific efforts and the future of the project on June 2nd at 6 p.m. at the Hoover School cafeteria, located at 1104 Savage Road NE, Salem, OR 97301.

Residents of NEN are welcome to attend to learn more about this important development that will impact the quality of life for our neighborhood and broader community.

"Let's live on the planet as if we intend to stay."

When autism maybe isn't -- A Note From Len Rubin, “Dad” | Lead Safe America Foundation

http://leadsafeamerica.org/a-note-from-dad/


"Let's live on the planet as if we intend to stay."

THIS: How to turn a liberal hipster into a capitalist tyrant in one evening

How to turn a liberal hipster into a capitalist tyrant in one evening | Comment is free | The Guardian
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/may/24/turn-a-liberal-hipster-into-global-capitalist-world-factory
----
Shared via my feedly reader

"Let's live on the planet as if we intend to stay."

Tom Tomorrow deadly accurate on TPP

http://www.credomobile.com/lp/tom-tomorrow/tpp.aspx

"Let's live on the planet as if we intend to stay."

Why the TPP Should Be Defeated

Economist Paul Krugman, no opponent of trade or liberalized trade, notices that when you have to sell a policy with lies and deceptions, it's probably a weak policy to start with. 

Just like with Salem's Bridgeasaurus Boondogglus, the wildly misguided effort to restart Polk County sprawl and support Keizer Station with a $600 million - $1+ billion dollar subsidy -- paid mainly by Salem taxpayers -- even if you don't understand the policy details, you can rely on the fact that when proponents keep coming up with ever-shifting rationales for a pre-determined desired outcome, you know that you're being conned.

 ...

In any case, the Pacific trade deal isn’t really about trade. Some already low tariffs would come down, but the main thrust of the proposed deal involves strengthening intellectual property rights — things like drug patents and movie copyrights — and changing the way companies and countries settle disputes.

And it’s by no means clear that either of those changes is good for America. On intellectual property: patents and copyrights are how we reward innovation. But do we need to increase those rewards at consumers’ expense? Big Pharma and Hollywood think so, but you can also see why, for example, Doctors Without Borders is worried that the deal would make medicines unaffordable in developing countries. That’s a serious concern, and it’s one that the pact’s supporters haven’t addressed in any satisfying way.

On dispute settlement: a leaked draft chapter shows that the deal would create a system under which multinational corporations could sue governments over alleged violations of the agreement, and have the cases judged by partially privatized tribunals. Critics like Senator Elizabeth Warren warn that this could compromise the independence of U.S. domestic policy — that these tribunals could, for example, be used to attack and undermine financial reform.

Not so, says the Obama administration, with the president declaring that Senator Warren is “absolutely wrong.” But she isn’t. The Pacific trade pact could force the United States to change policies or face big fines, and financial regulation is one policy that might be in the line of fire. As if to illustrate the point, Canada’s finance minister recently declared that the Volcker Rule, a key provision of the 2010 U.S. financial reform, violates the existing North American Free Trade Agreement. Even if he can’t make that claim stick, his remarks demonstrate that there’s nothing foolish about worrying that trade and investment pacts can threaten bank regulation.

As I see it, the big problem here is one of trust. . . .

Instead of addressing real concerns, however, the Obama administration has been dismissive, trying to portray skeptics as uninformed hacks who don’t understand the virtues of trade. But they’re not: the skeptics have on balance been more right than wrong about issues like dispute settlement, and the only really hackish economics I’ve seen in this debate is coming from supporters of the trade pact. . . .

Bizarre: area man concerned that children's sports not authoritarian enough

Gosh, someone with a little power used it wisely instead of becoming a petty tyrant and turning everything into competition over artificial scarcity and winners/losers ... Letting kids wear whatever number they wanted, even if they shared the same number as another teammate. 

Instead of applause, Horrors!  "How are we going to defeat the commies if we don't start kids on the path to nameless peons identified by number only early?  We must start imposing meaningless and unnecessary restrictions arbitrarily NOW, because we plan on doing it more later too. If we don't, kids might grow up thinking that the people in charge should act sensibly."

----
Allowing kids to wear the same jersey number? What message does that send? (Letters to the Editor) | OregonLive.com
http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2015/05/allowing_kids_to_wear_the.html
----
Shared via my feedly reader

"Let's live on the planet as if we intend to stay."

Bush CIA Deputy/Acting Director Admits We Were Lied Into Iraq War

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/05/20/1386107/-Bush-CIA-Deputy-Director-Admits-We-Were-Lied-Into-Iraq-War?detail=email


"Let's live on the planet as if we intend to stay."

Another great Looking free film: May 21, 7 p.m. Loucks Aud.: Jilel: Calling of the Shell

Join with us on Thursday, May 21st at 7 PM   at the Louck's Auditorium, Salem Public Library 585 Liberty St. SE, Salem   For the free screening of  "Jilel: The Calling of the Shell"   a documentary about climate change and the effect of the rising seas  on the Marshall Islands.   SPFS is a sponsor of this event, so we are sharing this information with you. See below for more information about the film and guest speakers.

Upcoming Film

May 21st, 2015 * 7 PM      "Jilel: The Calling of the Shell"   7 PM, doors open at 6:30   Free!   Described as 'A Global Warming Fairy Tale', Jilel is a heartwarming, heroic story about a young Marshallese girl named Molina who is confronted for the first time with the idea that her island-her beloved homeland-is vanishing because of the rising seas caused by world-wide global warming. This unusual, thought provoking full-length feature film was produced in the Marshall Islands.   Guest Speakers:  Jack Niedenthal, Film maker and resident of the Marshall Islands   Sponsored by Cofa Alliance National Network (CANN) & Salem Progressive Film Series   For more information: 541-619-8861

"Let's live on the planet as if we intend to stay."

How America Overdosed on Drug Courts - Pacific Standard

Worth reading several times. As with all criminal sentencing and with most government things ... Schools, e.g. ... It's just dumb luck if we do something right these days.

There is no accountability for results, or for bureaucrats in the system (including judges) who refuse to follow the evidence whenever it fails to conform with their own prejudices.

one thing that markets do provide that we have to figure out how to get into government programs is feedback loops that punish reality deniers at the top with loss of status and position. With government, in many cases, the wronger you are, the more aggressively wrong you are, the higher you go (prosecutors who win election as judges because they pursue death penalty convictions, people who push programs like DARE, people who push biofuels, people who promise to Get Tough on crime/Saddam/China . . . )

The accountability thing gets confusing, because in typical bureaucratic fashion, the commissars at the top are great at talking the language of accountability while making sure that they themselves are unaccountable, and they inflict accountability charades on underlings who have no ability to affect policy.

So the school boards and CEO style superintendents promote absurd and destructive standardized testing regimes and pretend it has something to do with accountability, thus choosing the popular placebo while pointing the finger at teachers, and evading the spotlight themselves for building soulless factory schools that destroy potential rather than elevate it. You can't tell who gets real accountability by listening to them – you have to see what feedback really is in their system. The CEO model superintendents of school districts go from failure to greater failure with increasing success and salary, and are not accountable to anyone as long as they sling the lingo and adopt corporate values, turning children into little future human resource modules to be delivered to the human resource departments for further processing.

Likewise, we get Departments of Transportation constantly making things worse by trying to keep more of what's failing – a Transportation system centered exclusively on private automobility – going on a bigger and bigger scale.

http://www.psmag.com/politics-and-law/how-america-overdosed-on-drug-courts


"Let's live on the planet as if we intend to stay."

P.S. Re Stop Drinking Bottled Water

We should bar any city funds from being used to buy bottled water, and stop bottling Salem water.

http://gizmodo.com/stop-drinking-bottled-water-1704609514


"Let's live on the planet as if we intend to stay."

NO to Nestle in Oregon: Stop Drinking Bottled Water

Great piece.

Sugar: The Bitter Truth -- a powerful must-see video

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://youtu.be/dBnniua6-oM

If you're a person who cares whether your kid smokes cigarettes or if there is a gun or two kept laying around when your kid or grandkids goes to play at a friend's house, or if you have tried following a diet of any description in the last 35 years, this is a must-see video about why your diet failed and the real threat to your kid's future health.

"Let's live on the planet as if we intend to stay."

Let's make sure we the person winning the presidency first wins the most votes

Dear Friends,

The National Popular Vote plan just passed the Oregon House 37-21!

HB 3475 passed on the House floor by a big 37-21 margin, with votes from both Democrats and Republicans. Your emails and call have made a difference, along with those of the more than 2,300 Oregonians who signed my petition in support of the national popular vote for president and allied groups like Common Cause, League of Women Voters and Natoinal Popular Vote

.

It's time to shift gears to the Senate. To build support, I have a favor. Please share the news of this big win on social media and by email with your friends. Let's keep growing our petition signers so we have a bigger community of Oregonians ready to take action as the bill moves in the senate.

 

Please share news of the big win today and give people my petition link to sign.

https://www.credomobilize.com/petitions/support-a-national-popular-vote-for-oregon

 

Thank you!

"Let's live on the planet as if we intend to stay."

This is the best explanation of gerrymandering you will ever see - The Washington Post [feedly]

We finally have people waking up to the gerrymandering problem, but they have not yet realized that it's inherent in creating single-member districts, and that the wrong problem to work on is how to gerrymander less--the right problem is how to overcome centuries of primitive democratic tradition and move to full representation by electing from multi-member districts, so that the majority rules but minorities are guaranteed a voice, regardless of where they live. 

This is the best explanation of gerrymandering you will ever see - The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/03/01/this-is-the-best-explanation-of-gerrymandering-you-will-ever-see/?tid=trending_strip_3
----
Shared via my feedly reader

"Let's live on the planet as if we intend to stay."

More on trains: Dead Nation Walking [feedly]

Dead Nation Walking
...

Anyway, even if Americans seem to prefer for the present moment to drive or fly, it may not always be the case that they will be able to. Several surprising forces are gathering to take down the Happy Motoring matrix. Peak oil is actually not playing out in the form of too-high gasoline prices, but rather a race between a bankrupt middle class unable to pay the total costs of motoring and an oil industry that can't make a profit drilling for hard-to-get oil. That scenario is plain to see in the rapid rise and now fall of shale oil.

Nowhere on earth is there passenger rail that pays for itself. But, of course, you don't hear anyone complain about the public subsidies for driving or air travel. Who do you think pays for the interstate highway system? What major airport is privately owned and operated?

...

America is going to need trains more than it thinks right now, despite what the "free market" says. The condition of our trains is symptomatic of the shape of the nation. The really sad part is we missed the window of opportunity to build a high-speed system. Capital will soon be too scarce for that. But we still have a conventional network that not so many decades ago was the envy of the world, and we know exactly how to fix it. We just don't want to. No will left. Apparently we'd rather just turn into the walking dead.

"Let's live on the planet as if we intend to stay."

Why we'll never get decent passenger train service

A sharp-eyed LOVESalem foreign correspondent sends this.

"Let's live on the planet as if we intend to stay."

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/18/opinion/our-trouble-with-trains.html?emc=edit_th_20150518&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=14202780&_r=0

The more I read about our railroad history, the more disgustingly brutal it seems.  But this article articulates the basic systemic reasons we'll never get anything like the passenger train service that even '2nd class' countries enjoy.  High speed, high-tech rail service will NOT happen in a country hell-bent on maintaining its empire rather than getting ready for the real 21st century.  A political system dedicated to burning the last drops of unconventional fossil fuel dregs will instead focus on reliable (slow) rail service for getting isolated coal and oil deposits to remote customers; and since Amtrak uses these same rails throughout the system, it too is slow.  U.S. environmentalists who tout high-speed electric and/or maglev trains to cope with declining fossil fuels and/or climate change have drunk the kool-aid, but the sugar content has fattened their brain to the point they are in fantasy land.

Out here on the west side of the Cascades, an Amtrak line shares the rails with coal and oil trains that are becoming more and more frequent, to the point that Amtrak schedules are more and more problematic.  And I don't think our Amtrak train EVER travels faster than 60 mph, and never has.  I've been on trains in Japan and Germany; in both those places the things went at least twice as fast, and the ride was smooth - a huge contrast with our Amtrak that sways like a camel-ride.  On our Amtrak train, walking the aisles to get to the food car is more demanding than walking a wire.  I'm pretty sure the owners of our NW rails (BNSF) regard Amtrak as a nuisance customer, one BNSF would drop like a hot skillet if it weren't for the political requirement not to.

cheers,

Tooj

Down with corporate dynasties.  Write in Elizabeth Warren for president and vice-president in 2016.

Krugman on refusing to join the Iraq War amnesia

https://mgpaquin.wordpress.com/2015/05/18/blow-and-krugman-40/

Utah Phillips used to say that the most radical thing you can have in America is a long memory.

"Let's live on the planet as if we intend to stay."

Sweet Revenge: Dr. Robert Lustig Explains How to Cut Sugar, Lose Weight and Turn the Tables On Processed Foods | Bay Area Bites | KQED Food

http://ww2.kqed.org/bayareabites/2014/08/06/sweet-revenge-dr-robert-lustig-explains-how-to-cut-sugar-lose-weight-and-turn-the-tables-on-processed-foods/


"Let's live on the planet as if we intend to stay."

Rally against planetary suicide, May 26

"Let's live on the planet as if we intend to stay."

Don't nibble at water waste - hit the big wasters: industrial animal ag

Hi, my name is Kip Andersen and I'm a filmmaker from San Francisco, CA.
California is experiencing one of its worst droughts on record and I do what I can to conserve water and educate my friends and neighbors about it.

When I learned that the fracking industry - despite the drought - used 70  million gallons of water last year alone, I was stunned. When I learned that the Nestlé bottled water corporation is taking hundreds of millions of gallons of California's water to sell it back to the population, I got angry. But, when I learned that animal agriculture in California is using a staggering amount of 4.8 trillion gallons per year, I was shocked! So shocked indeed, that I made a film about it.

I couldn't believe that the meat and dairy industry accounts for 47% of California's water footprint, yet no one is trying to regulate this thirsty industry!

But here is the most painful truth: California exports 100 billion gallons of water in the form of alfalfa every year to Asia for meat and dairy production!

Governor Jerry Brown has declared a drought emergency for the state of California. California residents have been asked to be vigilant and cut back on household water use, but only about 5% of California’s water footprint is individual, personal use. This will not help solve the severe problem that we're all facing!

Join me in asking Governor Jerry Brown to hold the meat and dairy industry responsible for it's tremendous water usage and STOP THE EXPORT OF 100 BILLION GALLONS OF CALIFORNIA'S WATER TO ASIA.

How Lynching Shaped American History—From the Old South to Modern Prisons by Liz Pleasant — YES! Magazine

http://www.yesmagazine.org/peace-justice/how-lynching-shaped-american-history-from-the-old-south-to-modern-prisons

"Let's live on the planet as if we intend to stay."

MAY 21 in Salem: Jilel (The Calling of the Shell), a Marshallese feature film

Loucks Auditorium -- a global warming fairy tale ...
http://www.microwavefilms.org/Jilel.html

"Let's live on the planet as if we intend to stay."

A group good enough to get Sen. Liz Warren to let them use her name on a fundraising pitch

It's been six and a half years since Wall Street broke our economy, but the fight for accountability and a level playing field is far from over.   Right now, the big banks and financial institutions – and their armies of lawyers and lobbyists in Washington – are systematically chipping away at the rules on Wall Street. And that's why Americans for Financial Reform is so important. For years, I've worked hand-in-hand with AFR—first to get the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and other critical Dodd-Frank reforms passed into law, and then to protect those laws from being gutted by financial industry lobbyists. This is a David vs. Goliath fight, and if we're going to have any chance at fighting back, we need AFR more than ever. Can you join me in supporting AFR's effort to stand up to Wall Street and to fight for tougher rules moving forward?  Your contribution of $25 can make a big difference. If you need proof that Wall Street is working to weaken financial regulations, take a look at what happened in December. Citigroup lobbyists slipped a provision into the must-pass budget package to make it easier for the biggest banks to get bailed out again in the future. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon personally called up members of Congress to lobby for their votes. We fought our hearts out to stop it, but we lost that battle. Even so, the hard work of AFR and its coalition of consumer, labor, civil rights, faith-based, and community organizations helped send a loud and clear message to Wall Street that ripped through Washington: If you try to bring back the sort of reckless gambling that caused the economic crisis, there's going to be a fight. We've seen a real shift in Washington as a result of that fight.  The attacks continue, there is a lot at stake, and we still have a lot of work left to do -- but there is a little less bravado among the Wall Street lobbyists and a little less momentum behind further rollbacks.    We fight for Wall Street accountability so that Congress puts in place strong laws and the government regulators enforce them. We fight to protect consumers from tricks and traps, to end reckless gambling by Wall Street, and to protect taxpayers from bailouts. We fight because it's the right thing to do.    I hope you'll take a moment today and make a donation to AFR. Your support will help them make sure the big banks don't always get the last word in Washington on policies that make a difference to all of us. I appreciate your support for AFR, and I hope you can contribute to its very important work.    Sincerely, Elizabeth Warren U.S. Senator p.s.  Whatever happens or doesn't happen in Congress, there are a lot of important decisions being made all the time at the at the banking oversight agencies.  Many Dodd-Frank rules haven't been implemented or even written yet, and AFR is on the front lines pushing for strong, tough rules – and enforcement of the rules. I hope you can support their work with a $25 contribution. Find us on Facebook and Twitter. Sent by Americans for Financial Reform 1629 K Street NW, 10th Floor, Washington, DC 20006 - (202) 466-1885

"Let's live on the planet as if we intend to stay."

Why Bridgasaurus Boondogglus is just plundering to plan a scheme that will never happen

The era of the total paving moratorium is coming, like it or not.

The only question is whether we will accept it gracefully and use the diminishing (but currently still ample) amount of excess wealth around to plan and prepare for the day when none can deny that the Happy Motoring Era of mass automobility is over - or will we pretend that the laws of physics have exceptions for those who bury their heads in the sand forcefully enough and who chant the mantras of "growth" and electric self-driving cars on "smart" roads faithfully enough.

http://www.resilience.org/stories/2015-05-07/the-whisper-of-the-shutoff-valve

"Let's live on the planet as if we intend to stay."

If we can't dream of tackling this for everyone, at least why don't we do this for all veterans?

Meet the outsider who accidentally solved chronic homelessness - The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/inspired-life/wp/2015/05/06/meet-the-outsider-who-accidentally-solved-chronic-homelessness/?tid=trending_strip_4
----
Shared via my feedly reader

"Let's live on the planet as if we intend to stay."

FED UP! Thursday, 5/14, 7 pm, a must-see at Salem Progressive Film Series

Please join us on Thursday, May 14th at 7 PM at the Grand Theatre  for the screening of the documentary  Fed Up!   We feel this documentary is so important for young people and families to see, we are lowering the entrance price to $3 for anyone under 18 years of age. Please share this email with parents, teachers, and teens..   The film focuses on the causes of obesity in the US, presenting evidence showing that the large quantities of sugar in processed foods are an overlooked root of the problem, and points to the monied lobbying power of "Big Sugar" in blocking attempts to enact policies to address the issue.     "Fed Up is poised to be the Inconvenient Truth of the health movement".  LA Weekly   See below for more information about the film and guest speakers.

Upcoming Film

May 14th, 2015 * 7 PM   "Fed Up"   Fed Up shows how the first dietary guidelines issued by the U.S. government 30 years ago overlooked the role of dietary sugar in increasing risks of obesity, diabetes, and associated ill-health outcomes, particularly in children. Since these guidelines effectively condoned unlimited addition of sugar to foods consumed by children, sugar consumption has greatly increased, obesity has skyrocketed, and generations of children have grown up far fatter than their parents. These children face impaired health and shorter lifespans as a result. As the relationship between the high-sugar diet and poor health has emerged, entrenched sugar industry interests with almost unlimited financial lobbying resources have beaten back attempts by parents, schools, states, and in Congress to provide a healthier diet for children.   To view trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCUbvOwwfWM     Guest Speakers:     Dr. Jeanette Walker, MDVIDA Integrative Medicine   Jessica Short, RD, LD, CDESalem Hospital

"Let's live on the planet as if we intend to stay."

Sneak Attack by Corporadoes on Local Laws Protecting Farmland

Disgusting sneak attack by corporations who want to win the ability to SUE local governments to demand ransom having to follow the law.

And even more revolting, the Democratic-majority Oregon House passed this offensive, Orwellian attack on democracy (letting corporations sue to make states pay for passing laws to protect the public that the corporations don't like):

Call your State Senator ASAP -- especially Salem folks living in Senate President Peter Courtney's district:

A year ago this month, voters in Jackson County – led by local family farmers trying to protect their crops from GMO contamination – voted overwhelmingly to ban genetically engineered crops from being cultivated within their borders. This landslide win was a victory for grassroots activists and a rebuke for Monsanto and other corporations that spent BIG money to defeat the measure.

But now, a sneaky new bill, HB 3212, is moving through the state legislature that would undermine Jackson County’s trailblazing legislation. It gives the same industrial farm interests that fought GMO labeling the right to sue counties, cities and the state for “compensation” due to important laws that protect the environment and the public.

Groups representing family farmers, such as Friends of Family Farmers and Our Family Farms Coalition, are opposing HB 3212 since it would also undermine laws meant to protect family farmers and organic farmers from being damaged by industrial agricultural practices. Laws protecting family farmers from GMO-contamination or pesticide over-spraying, for example, would be undermined by HB 3212.

The bill has already passed the Oregon House and could soon be considered by the State Senate.

John, we need all hands on deck to fight this damaging legislation. Click here to find the phone number and email of your State Senator. Then, ask them to OPPOSE HB 3212 since it doesn’t protect the public, family farmers, or the environment!

We only have a short time to stop this bill in its tracks. Tell your Senator to oppose HB 3212 today >>

Thank you,

Oregon GMO Right to Know

Hook 'em young: Educating kindergartners about sugary drinks on Pinterest | Sports Dr…

https://www.pinterest.com/colinpurrington/educating-kindergartners-about-sugary-drinks/


"Let's live on the planet as if we intend to stay."

ACT FAST to demand that USDA Diet Guidelines Consider Environmental Consequences!

Here’s the full story:

Every 5 years the US dietary guidelines are updated. And what goes into those guidelines informs the $16 billion school lunch program, WIC, and other institutional procurement standards nationally. Every 5 years an independent science panel recommends what should be updated in the guidelines- then there is a short public review period which typically involves industries advocating for their special interests “more sugar!” “more beef!” etc., while citizens remain uninformed and their voices never heard by the government agencies that decide on the final guidelines.

This year, for the first time ever, the science committee recommended considering the sustainability of the dietary patterns promoted by the dietary guidelines, for the sake of food security to feed our country healthfully today and in the future. This is an unprecedented and welcome change!

But Big Ag has pushed back saying there is no place for sustainability language in the dietary guidelines. The livestock industry have been mobilizing their membership to place comments protecting their interests, and working against that of the public, by objecting to the inclusion of sustainability, as recommended by the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee.

Over the next few months a political process will take place behind closed doors to define what will be in our dietary guidelines. But we as citizens have one last chance to have our voices heard! We can submit a public comment directly to the HHS and USDA by May 8th.

http://cowspiracy.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=773de69b0ae89f48a7271e5e0&id=87dcb3d6c9&e=882dbc0b10

Here's the comment I just submitted:

PLEASE do not overlook the environment when considering dietary guidelines! The earth is our sole storehouse of food -- ignoring that we need to eat tomorrow and for years to come, as well as today, is not just short-sided, it's counterproductive to dietary guidelines.

MAKE SURE TO include dietary advice on health and the environment in the 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, as recommended in the 2015 Scientific Report of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. The science is clear, a diet higher in plant-based foods, such as vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds, and lower in calories and animal-based foods is more health promoting, less resource intensive, and is associated with less environmental impact.

Although we humans like to think of ourselves otherwise, we are part of the planetary ecosystem, and we are overwhelming it with our sheer numbers. To have a secure future, we must start being conscious of how we are degrading the planet's long term ability to provide for our needs, and to curb our appetites and to shift towards more sustainable choices in diet. We cannot afford to wait until the oceans are devoid of life and the climate is radically destabilized to realize that what's on our plates has a huge effect on what goes on with the planet -- and vice versa!

Any homo sapiens sapiens worthy of the title would realize that WE HAVE TO STOP EATING LIKE THERE'S NO TOMORROW IF WE WANT MORE TOMORROWS!

How Sustainable is Stored Sunlight? [feedly]

A must-read now that media is falling all over Tesla's plan to make money selling batteries for cars without the car . . .

----
How Sustainable is Stored Sunlight?
// Low-tech Magazine

Picture: Tesla's lithium-ion home storage system.

One of the constraints of solar power is that it is not always available: it is dependent on daylight hours and clear skies. In order to fill these gaps, a storage solution or a backup infrastructure of fossil fuel power plants is required -- a factor that is often ignored when scientists investigate the sustainability of PV systems.

Whether or not to include storage is no longer just an academic question. Driven by better battery technology and the disincentivization of grid-connected solar panels, off-grid solar is about to make a comeback. How sustainable is a solar PV system if energy storage is taken into account?

---

 

---

 

In the previous article, we have seen that many life cycle analyses (LCAs) of solar PV systems have a positive bias. Most LCAs base their studies on the manufacturing of solar cells in Europe or the USA. However, most panels are now produced in China, where the electric grid is about twice as carbon-intensive and about 50% less energy efficient. [1] Likewise, most LCAs investigate solar PV systems in regions with a solar insolation typical of the Mediterranean region, while the majority of solar panels have been installed in places with only half as much sunshine.

As a consequence, the embodied greenhouse gas emissions of a kWh of electricity generated by solar PV is two to four times higher than most LCAs indicate. Instead of the oft-cited 30-50 grams of CO2-equivalents per kilowatt-hour of generated electricity (gCO2e/kWh), we calculated that the typical solar PV system installed between 2008 and 2014 produces close to 120 gCO2e/kWh. This makes solar PV only four times less carbon-intensive than conventional grid electricity in most western countries.

However, even this result is overly optimistic. In the previous article, we didn't take into account "one of the potentially largest missing components" [2] of the usual life cycle analysis of PV systems: the embodied energy of the infrastructure that deals with the intermittency of solar power. Solar insolation varies throughout the day and throughout the season, and of course solar energy is not available after sunset. . . .

"Let's live on the planet as if we intend to stay."

Nice: Where is the Love? [feedly]

A small troupe of writers and artists create Salem Is, a worthy site for any reader

Where is the Love?
// Salem Is

"Let's live on the planet as if we intend to stay."

Amtrak Train Days -- in Salem May 16

"Let's live on the planet as if we intend to stay."

From: "Amtrak" <Amtrak@e-mail.amtrak.com>
Date: May 1, 2015 at 14:01:46 PDT
Subject: Amtrak Train Days arrive in Salem May 16

Learn more about Amtrak Train Days events in Salem's Riverfront Park. View as a web page PLAN YOUR NEXT TRIP » All aboard for Amtrak Train Days Saturday May 16 in Riverfront Park Celebrate your love of trains at Amtrak Train Days—the traveling, community-centric celebration of the history, importance and value of passenger train travel in America. At Riverfront Park you'll be able to climb aboard the Amtrak Exhibit Train and explore the history of Amtrak® and the future of rail travel with an array of interactive exhibits and rare Amtrak memorabilia. Plus, Amtrak will also be showcasing the Reason to Ride train—a dynamic experience that takes viewers on an interactive journey through the benefits of train travel. And the Chuggington Kids Depot will have plenty of toy trains and coloring tables for the kids. Book your ticket to Salem today and see for yourself why Amtrak is America's Railroad. BOOK TODAY Amtrak.com Deals Plan Contact Us Amtrak Guest Rewards® Amtrak and Amtrak Guest Rewards are registered service marks of the National Railroad Passenger Corporation. Our mailing address is: Amtrak, Marketing Department, 10 G Street NE Washington, DC 20002 Stay Connected