A personal quest to promote the use of wind energy and hydrogen technology in the Great Lakes area of the United States. The Great Lakes area is in a unique position to become an energy exporting region through these and other renewable energy technologies. *Update 2014: Just do it everywhere - Dan*
http://gl-zephyr.blogspot.com/ - Great Lakes area Wind Power & Hydrogen, renewable energy news.
From: Google Alerts
Sent: Thursday, November 26, 2009 5:11 AM
Subject: Google Alert - hydrogen, wind, power
Google News Alert for: hydrogen, wind, power
| 2009-11-25 Quantum Technologies to buy Canadian wind develop... |
http://gl-zephyr.blogspot.com/ - Great Lakes area Wind Power & Hydrogen, renewable energy news.
From: Google Alerts
Sent: Wednesday, November 25, 2009 5:11 AM
Subject: Google Alert - hydrogen, wind, power
Google News Alert for: hydrogen, wind, power
| Efficient Danes use hydrogen cells to maximize wind power |
| We the Six Billion: The Ammonia Economy (part 2) |
| Sunshine to Petrol Promises Fuel From CO2 |
| The right argument on renewables |
http://gl-zephyr.blogspot.com/ - Great Lakes area Wind Power & Hydrogen, renewable energy news.
From: Google Alerts
Sent: Tuesday, November 24, 2009 5:10 AM
Subject: Google Alert - hydrogen, wind, power
Google News Alert for: hydrogen, wind, power
| US Department of Energy funding nuclear fusion as a source of green energy |
| A long way to go for electric mobility |
| Polaris, ARPA-E Pump Money Into Nocera's Breakthrough in Biomimic Photosynthesis |
http://gl-zephyr.blogspot.com/ - Great Lakes area Wind Power & Hydrogen, renewable energy news.
From: Google Alerts
Sent: Sunday, November 22, 2009 5:11 AM
Subject: Google Alert - hydrogen, wind, power
Google News Alert for: hydrogen, wind, power
| Honda FCX Clarity | ||
Could Nuclear Power Be the Answer to the Energy Crisis? |
http://gl-zephyr.blogspot.com/ - Great Lakes area Wind Power & Hydrogen, renewable energy news.
From: Google Alerts
Sent: Monday, November 23, 2009 5:11 AM
Subject: Google Alert - hydrogen, wind, power
Google News Alert for: hydrogen, wind, power
| A tank of hydrogen not the same as H Bomb | |
| Europe looking to lead green revolution | |
| Will Hydrogen Power Suck the Lakes Dry? | |
| Solar energy industry brings a ray of hope to the Rust Belt | |
Hamburg shows hydrogen transports are here and now | |
| FIRST DRIVE: Clarity makes future of motoring NOW |
http://gl-zephyr.blogspot.com/ - Great Lakes area Wind Power & Hydrogen, renewable energy news.
From: Google Alerts
Sent: Saturday, November 21, 2009 5:12 AM
Subject: Google Alert - hydrogen, wind, power
Google News Alert for: hydrogen, wind, power
| Boundless opportunities for renewable energy |
| Clean energy to bring 'boundless opportunities' |
| Renewable Energy Stocks Directory Adds Smart Grid Stocks Category |
http://gl-zephyr.blogspot.com/ - Great Lakes area Wind Power & Hydrogen, renewable energy news.
From: Google Alerts
Sent: Friday, November 20, 2009 5:11 AM
Subject: Google Alert - hydrogen, wind, power
Google News Alert for: hydrogen, wind, power
| Nitrogen source could become as close as the nearest wind turbine |
| We the Six Billion: The Ammonia Economy |
http://gl-zephyr.blogspot.com/ - Great Lakes area Wind Power & Hydrogen, renewable energy news.
From: Google Alerts
Sent: Thursday, November 19, 2009 5:11 AM
Subject: Google Alert - hydrogen, wind, power
Google News Alert for: hydrogen, wind, power
| AEE Market Research Launches Series of Research Reports |
http://gl-zephyr.blogspot.com/
From: Google Alerts
Sent: Wednesday, November 18, 2009 5:11 AM
Subject: Google Alert - hydrogen, wind, power
Google News Alert for: hydrogen, wind, power
A Role Model for Green Initiative in Free Economic Zone |
http://gl-zephyr.blogspot.com/
From: Google Alerts
Sent: Tuesday, November 17, 2009 5:10 AM
Subject: Google Alert - hydrogen, wind, power
Google News Alert for: hydrogen, wind, power
| Party policies on the environment | ||
Politics of the Prius | ||
| www.bharatbook.com : Unison Co., Ltd. - Financial Analysis Review | ||
| Climate Denial Industry Costs Us $500 Billion a Year |
http://gl-zephyr.blogspot.com/
From: Google Alerts
Sent: Friday, November 13, 2009 5:11 AM
Subject: Google Alert - hydrogen, wind, power
Google News Alert for: hydrogen, wind, power
| The coming economic collapse and oil at $200 |
| Timothy P. Carney: A mining giant in bed with Boxer, Kerry |
http://gl-zephyr.blogspot.com/
From: Google Alerts
Sent: Saturday, November 14, 2009 5:11 AM
Subject: Google Alert - hydrogen, wind, power
Google News Alert for: hydrogen, wind, power
Kern County has power to be renewable energy leader |
http://gl-zephyr.blogspot.com/
From: Google Alerts
Sent: Sunday, November 15, 2009 5:11 AM
Subject: Google Alert - hydrogen, wind, power
Google News Alert for: hydrogen, wind, power
| Candidates speak to agribusiness | ||
Could This Lump Power the Planet? | ||
| To the mountaintop |
From: Google Alerts
Sent: Monday, November 16, 2009 5:11 AM
Subject: Google Alert - hydrogen, wind, power
Google News Alert for: hydrogen, wind, power
Dubai and Persian Gulf States Look To Renewable Energy | ||
| Popular energy: A vision of 2030 | ||
| 'Angry Mermaid' joins fight against climate change | ||
| DOE's Chalk: Managing Billions of Dollars in Clean Energy Stimulus Funding | ||
| First drive: Honda FCX Clarity Hydrogen Car |
Organic Bytes #199: Will Obama Walk His Talk on Organics?
November 13, 2009
Organic Bytes #199: Will Obama Walk His Talk on Organics?
Health, Justice and Sustainability News
from the Organic Consumers AssociationEdited by: Alexis Baden-Mayer and Ronnie Cummins
In This Issue
- Quote of the Week: Will Obama Walk His Talk on Organics?
- Alert Updates of the Week: Organic Standards Board Votes, Organic Cosmetics Fraud, GMO Vaccines in Organic, Organic Animal Welfare, Nanotechnology in Organic
- Victory of the Week: New York Times Echoes OCA's Charges Against Siddiqui
- Art Project of the Week: The Organic Answer to Climate Change
- Video of the Week: Stop Gambling on Hunger
- Book of the Week: Poisoned Profits. The Toxic Assault on Our Children
- Little Bytes: BPA, Silk, GE Corn, Climate Change and the Nitrogen Fix
- Grassroots Netroots News: Planting Peace, Justice, Democracy, Health and Sustainability
Subscribe | Unsubscribe | Read Past Issues | OCA Homepage | Donate
Quote of the Week
Will Obama Walk His Talk on Organics?
"I was just reading an article in the New York Times by Michael Pollan about food and the fact that our entire agricultural system is built on cheap oil. As a consequence, our agriculture sector actually is contributing more greenhouse gases than our transportation sector. And in the mean time, it's creating monocultures that are vulnerable to national security threats, are now vulnerable to sky-high food prices or crashes in food prices, huge swings in commodity prices, and are partly responsible for the explosion in our healthcare costs because they're contributing to type 2 diabetes, stroke and heart disease, obesity, all the things that are driving our huge explosion in healthcare costs."
-Barack Obama, campaigning for the Presidency, during an interview with Joe Klei in TIME, October 23, 2008
Alert Updates of the Week
National Organic Standards Board Votes to Crack Down on Labeling Fraud
Victory on Organic Body Care and Cosmetics Products
In a milestone victory after years of work by the OCA and the organic community to demand an end to blatant labeling fraud in the organic marketplace the National Organic Standards Board voted 12 to 1 at their November 2009 meeting to direct the USDA National Organic Program to enforce the law for organic personal care products - just as they do for organic food. This means that shampoos, body care products, and cosmetics that claim to be organic but are not certified would be forced to drop their organic label and advertising claims, or else reformulate their products (getting rid of petrochemicals and problematic synthetic ingredients) to meet "USDA Organic" or "made with organic ingredients" standards.
The Organic Consumers Association is initiating a letter-writing campaign asking the USDA to take quick action on the NOSB recommendation. While we wait for the USDA to begin enforcement actions, we're calling on consumers to boycott fake, falsely labeled organic body care brands, and instead to buy only USDA certified organic products.
Get GMO Vaccines out of Organic
Vaccines are allowed in organic animal husbandry, but genetic engineering is excluded from organic. There is one exception: genetically modified vaccines. Under current law, genetically modified vaccines must be petitioned for use and reviewed by the National Organic Standards Board to be included on the National List of allowed substances. The problem is, the USDA National Organic Program hasn't been enforcing the law. Instead of asking the USDA to enforce the law, the National Organic Standards Board is instead recommending that the USDA change the law to remove the GMO vaccine review requirement. The recommendation they passed would require non-GMO vaccines to be used whenever they are available, so it's not quite as bad as it could have been, but it would still allow any type of GMO vaccine to be used without review, as long as a certifier could be convinced that there were no non-GMO alternatives.
The Organic Consumers Association is taking action to prevent this misguided recommendation from being adopted by the USDA. We're calling on the USDA to enforce the current law, and to disallow GMO vaccines, unless there is absolutely no other alternative to saving the animal's life. The USDA should train certifiers on identifying genetically modified vaccines and preventing their use.
Victory on Organic Animal Welfare
Current organic regulations prescribe livestock living conditions which accommodate the "health" and "natural behavior" of animals. The regulations require access to the outdoors, pasture for ruminants, clean bedding, and appropriate shelter, while placing restrictions on confinement. However, many organic consumers and farmers have complained that the current regulatory language is insufficiently precise.
The National Organic Standards Board passed a recommendation last week that attempts to remedy this situation, by adding measurable standards for the treatment of animals and prohibiting practices like tail docking and debeaking (cutting off animals' tails or beaks) that hadn't been expressly addressed before. As the NOSB minority opinion points out, the recommendation isn't perfect and doesn't go far enough. For instance, it could have limited the frequency of milking for dairy cows to twice a day, and could have required certifiers to monitor the overall health of farms by keeping track of animals that die prematurely or have to be taken out of organic production.
Nevertheless, the Organic Consumers Association supported the recommendation, as we believe that it will encourage the USDA to enforce and strengthen existing laws. Please write to the USDA to ask them to do a better job of enforcing current animal welfare standards and use the new NOSB recommendation as the starting point for even stronger and better defined requirements.
Get Nanotechnology Out of Organic
Over the objections of the OCA and thousands of our members, the National Organic Standards Board decided to table the recommendation to prohibit nanotechnology in organic. The NOSB member who fills the scientist slot, Katrina Heinze of General Mills, delayed the process by insisting that the Board consider a compromise position that wouldn't exclude nanotechnology from organic altogether, but would classify it as a "synthetic" that could be petitioned for use in specific instances. Please write to the NOSB and tell them to ban untested, unlabeled and hazardous nanotechnology products and ingredients in organic.
OCA Needs Your Help to Spread the Organic Revolution
OCA and our national, now international, network of organic consumers understand that we have a positive healthy solution for the nation and the globe's food, health, economic, and climate crisis: organic food, farming, and ranching. But to get out our all-important message we need your support and your donations. For the next two weeks, our strongest ally in the organic industry, the Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap Company, will be matching your donations dollar for dollar. So please send us a tax-deductible donation today.
Victory of the Week
New York Times Echoes OCA's Charges Against Biotech and Sewage Sludge Advocate Siddiqui
"The White House has nominated Mr. Siddiqui for the position of chief agricultural negotiator in the office of the United States trade representative. He is presently a vice president at CropLife America, a coalition of the major industrial players in the pesticide industry, including Syngenta, Monsanto, Dow Chemical and DuPont. That job doesn't seem to square with the Obama administration's professed interest in more sustainable, less chemically dependent approaches to agriculture.
"Nor does much of the rest of Mr. Siddiqui's résumé. The White House has touted his role in the first phase of developing national organic standards. But those standards, as they first emerged in draft form in the Clinton years, were notoriously loose about allowing genetically engineered crops and the use of sewage-sludge fertilizers to be labeled as 'organic.'"
OCA press release? No, it's actually the New York Times editorial page.
Art Project of the Week
The Organic Answer to Climate Change Art Project
With just over a month to go before the critical UN climate talks in Copenhagen, we're trying to spread the word about organic agriculture's amazing potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and sequester climate-destabilizing CO2 in the soil.
OCA is joining the 1Sky Campaign's "Make Art for Climate" project that brings people together to decorate large pieces of cloth with images conveying the urgency around climate change and the need for positive solutions.
If you send our Washington, DC, office an artwork on cloth, OCA Political Director Alexis Baden-Mayer will incorporate your art into a large banner for use in public actions and demonstrations. Prior to the start of the Copenhagen Summit on December 7, the art pieces will be delivered in DC to the Obama administration and key Senate offices. This DC delivery will be complemented by public actions and similar art deliveries to local Senate offices across the country from December 1-4, all aimed at drawing media attention to the need for President Obama and the Senate to take bold action on climate.
To get involved contact alexis{at}organicconsumers.org or mail your artwork to 1858 Mintwood Place, NW #4, Washington, DC, 20009.
Video of the Week
Stop Gambling on Hunger
Remember when gas was over $4 a gallon? Remember the global food crisis that resulted in dozens of food riots around the world and plunged over 100 million people around the world into hunger?
These crises where not caused by shortages of oil or food. Instead they were caused by massive bets made on Wall Street. A large portion of the higher prices were brought on by the same thing that caused the global economic crisis - market deregulation. While we had to pay more for our gas and food, fat cat investors made a bundle.
Watch this video to learn how speculators brought about last year's food and oil bubbles and how we can get Wall Street to stop gambling on hunger.
Book of the Week
Poisoned Profits, The Toxic Assault on Our Children
Philip Shabecoff, former chief environmental correspondent for the New York Times, and Alice Shabecoff, former executive director of the National Consumers League, contend that there is a link between corporate pollution and the high percentage of the children being born with or developing health problems.
With indisputable data, the Shabecoffs reveal that the children of baby boomers ― the first to be raised in a truly "toxified world" ― have higher rates of birth defects, asthma, cancer, autism and a frightening range of other neurological illnesses from ADHD to mental retardation, and other serious chronic illnesses compared to previous generations.
They reveal that one out of two pregnancies fails to come to term or results in a less than healthy child and that premature births and infertility are on the rise as this generation matures.
You can watch a BookTV event with the authors, read Alice's new blog postings on MomsRising.org, and browse information on the victims and perpetrators of toxic pollution at PoisonedProfits.com.
LITTLE BYTES
1) BPA: Chemicals in Our Food and Bodies
Your body likely contains a hazardous chemical called bisphenol A, or BPA. It's a synthetic estrogen that United States factories now use in everything from plastic bootle and food can liners to epoxies ― to the tune of six pounds per American per year.
READ MORE2) Grocers Irked to Find Out Soy Milk Nonorganic
Organic food shoppers are making a rude discovery at their grocers' refrigerated display case. White Wave Silk Soymilk is no longer Organic.
READ MORE3) Transgenic High-Lysine Corn Withdrawn After EU Raises Safety Questions
A Monsanto/Cargill joint venture has quietly withdrawn its application for high-lysine transgenic corn after EU regulators on the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) GMO panel raised questions about its safety for human consumption.
READ MORE4) What Kind of Agriculture do We Need in an Era of Climate Change?
The challenge is to design an agriculture that adapts and responds to changes in climate, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This challenge can be met through biodiverse, agro-ecologically-based farming.
LEARN MORE5) The Nitrogen Fix: Breaking a Costly Addiction
A single patent a century ago changed the world, and now, in the 21st century, Homo sapiens and the world we dominate have an addiction. Call it the nitrogen fix.
READ MORE
Planting Peace and Grassroots Netroots News
1) HEALTH:
Kucinich: Why I Voted NO
READ MORE2) JUSTICE:
Robert Jensen on War, Ecological Crises, and the Quest for Justice
READ MORE3) SUSTAINABILITY:
Global Oil Supply 'Far Worse Than Admitted'
READ MORE4) PLANTING PEACE:
Watch 'Rethink Afghanistan' and Tell Congress to Get Out!
READ MORE5) DEMOCRACY:
Government by the Rich: 237 Millionaires in the U.S. Congress
READ MORE
LOCAL IL NEWS OF THE WEEK
IL--Get Involved Locally
- Learn more about OCA related action alerts and other news in IL here.
- Join IL discussion groups in our forum.
- Post events in IL on our community calendar.
Message from our Sponsors
Health Made Simple!
This award winning new book brings us back home to the simple genius of Nature. Endorsed by best selling author Bernie Siegel, MD., Oby's Wisdom, A Caveman's Simple Guide to Health and Well-being weaves together witty parables and compelling, real life stories to remind us that we all have the ability to heal from within, that the healthiest foods are those grown organically, and other lessons on exercise, children's wellness, spirituality and living. Download a free excerpt. Buy now and receive an incredible package of free bonuses. Special discount for OCA supporters!
Please forward this publication to family and friends, place it on web sites,
print it, duplicate it and post it freely. Knowledge is power!Organic Bytes is a publication of Organic Consumers Association
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Daniel Stafford
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aqmstaffo@mailbag.comRead past issues and print- friendly PDF versions of Organic Bytes |
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Subscribe – About Our Planet – Feedback – Privacy Policy Week of November 8th, 2009
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NEWS THIS WEEK EPA: Capping Dissent?
Two U.S. Environmental Protection Agency employees have drawn agency fire after they posted a YouTube video criticizing the climate change legislation currently before Congress.
Go to all articles - Go to this articleLilith's Green Return
The Lilith Fair-the music festival in the late nineties that drew over 1.5 million fans over its three-year run-is announcing its return. And this time, it's coming back green.
Go to all articles - Go to this articleReporting by Brita Belli
THIS WEEK'S COMMENTARY Solar Heating Simplified
Adding Solar Elements to Your Current Heating System
If your home is like most others in the country, you rely on a furnace for your heat, usually one fed by oil or gas that grumbles to life whenever you turn up the thermostat. By Brita Belli, Adapted from The Complete Idiot's Guide to Renewable Energy for Your Home
Go to all articles - Go to this articleIN THE CURRENT ISSUE OF E GREEN LIVING A Pumpkin in the Oven
Organic Chefs Share Their Favorite Fresh Pumpkin Recipes
Organic Chefs Share Their Favorite Pumpkin Recipes By Jessica Rae Patton
Go to all articles - Go to this articleFEATURES INNOVATION
Mussel Beach
Synthetic Mussels Reveal How Species Adapt By Amanda Peterka
Go to all articles - Go to this articleEARTHTALK Week of 11/8/09
Dear EarthTalk: I don't understand why many people oppose wind power just because they have to look at the turbines. If you ask me, wind turbines are much nicer-looking than coal-fired, waste-to-energy or nuclear power plants.
Dear EarthTalk: I'm a travel agent and our firm has several clients wanting to go with green vendors, including for travel (airline or rental car) and lodging. Our company is supportive so would like to know which airlines, hotels and car rental agencies are going affordably green?
Go to this week's EarthTalkWE NEED YOUR SUPPORT This content is brought to you as a free public service by E/The Environmental Magazine, which is published by Earth Action Network, Inc., a non-profit 501 (c) (3) organization. Our address is 28 Knight Street, Norwalk, CT 06851.
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