Latest members of the group of politicians with dollar signs in their eyes. U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton (R), freshman from Colorado, is working for the welfare of Big Oil over the welfare of our environment by blocking efforts to combat climate change and promote renewable energy, taking funds away from land cleanups and conservation, and weakening the Environmental Protection Agency. His voting record clearly defines him as a protector of tax breaks for big oil.
Tipton joins Big Oil’s collection of politicians, along with his fellow Republican congressmen Cory Gardner and Doug Lamborn, who repeatedly vote against the environment simply to support a pro-polluter agenda.
This country needs oil. At least for now. This country also needs safe drinking water and breathable air. Congress must work on a balanced agenda of protecting business while protecting its citizens. They must not favor one over the other.
Subsidies to corporations that are raking in huge profits is unethical and unsustainable to this nation’s well-being.
One of the foundations of a moral and ethical society is that if you do the damage you clean up the mess.
Politicians, corporations and conservative media are so against any effort that appears to threaten their ability to make money that they will spend their precious dollars to combat all groups - who only want to help their fellow Americans not be poisoned - rather than work with these groups in an effort to keep everyone happy.
Their version of ‘share the wealth’ is to pay lawyers to prevent being held accountable for the environmental damage they have caused.
This is so very Un-American.
Iowa Legislature has decided that a 100 year ban on hunting Doves is long enough. Beginning Sept 1 of this year hunters will be given the legal right to kill these song birds once again.
I’m not a fan of killing animals for sport. The old argument hunters use to justify it being “it helps nature keep the population down so they don’t starve to death from over-growing their food source” just sounds so self-serving. Nature has been able to keep this ‘balance’ for millennia before man ever came onto the scene and took almost all of that food source away.
Anyway the purpose of this post lies in the shot used to hunt these animals. Apparently, lead is still being used in shotgun shells. If you have ever dissected a shotgun shell you will notice it is filled with pellets of varying sizes. About the same size and shape as bird feed and scratch that birds eat. Once the lead gets into their tiny bodies and they get eaten by birds of prey, etc and so on, you know the chain. Lead has been taken out of paint and gasoline due to its well known toxicity. Why not bird shot?
It took me by surprise to learn that lead is being scattered throughout the country side where it can be eaten by wild animals, or leeched into the waterways affecting aquatic life. To be fair to hunters, there are quite a few who are concerned enough for the environment that they will pay the extra 4 cents per shell to avoid lead. But there are many more who just don’t care. Given the fact that they eat the few forkfuls of meat a song bird provides and the lead gets into their own bodies as well as the bodies of the family, one would think this would be enough to wake them up to the fact they are poisoning themselves. Spend the extra 4 cents.
The Iowa legislature had the opportunity to ban shells of lead shot but turned it down. Why? Only they know, but lead is still being scattered about without regard to how it affects our food chain.
Just thought you would want to know.
We as consumers enjoy our freedom to spend our money as we see fit. We would like to believe that the market at large provides us with safe and healthy product and that they generally have our best interests at heart. We would also like to believe that an organization with the lofty title The Center For Consumer Freedom is looking after our best interest. Don’t you believe it.
There is truth in their title. They are interested in our ability to consume freely. However, they are not interested in consumer protectionism. Most of their funding comes from the restaurant, food and gaming industry, including Coca-Cola, Wendy’s and Outback Steakhouse. And also Monsanto, which might have something to do with why it thinks that groups against genetic engineering are “anti-choice nannies”.
Basically, restaurants want you to think that eating their crap without knowing what's in it is just awesome, and they know that using a nonprofit group as a front is more effective than getting a guy in a burger costume to crash Congress.
If we want to live a healthy lifestyle, it is up to us to research verifiable studies and to question the motives for ‘consumer groups’. They always have an agenda and at the top of that list is invariably money.
Don’t take the easy way out of research when it comes to your health by believing what this or that group says. Read different sources, use common sense based in solid scientific studies and always, always learn who is behind every claim.
Did you know oil and gas companies are allowed to inject huge quantities of secret, toxic fluids, directly into our drinking water - and that the EPA is currently powerless to do anything about it?
High Pressure Hydraulic Fracturing (or fracking) is a method of drilling for natural gas by pumping a mixture of water and toxic, cancer-causing chemicals deep underground, and it's already responsible for poisoning the groundwater in states across the country.
An original investigative report by Earth Focus and UK'sEcologist Film Unit looks at the risks of natural gas development in the Marcellus Shale. From toxic chemicals in drinking water to unregulated interstate dumping of potentially radioactive waste that experts fear can contaminate water supplies in major population centers including New York City, are the health consequences worth the economic gains?
Do we really need natural gas more than we need clean drinking water? Or uncontaminated food?
I like to pass on info on products that actually follow the mantra “reduce, reuse, recycle”.
This candle is made using a natural organic candle 'wax' produced from Soy Beans which does not produce toxins. The company claims the essential oils used in soy candles can alter your health and mood, only you can decide if this actually works.
I found many several pleasing fragrances that can last from only a few hours or up to an entire day.
Disclaimer: This is NOT a paid for advertisement for this company. I do not receive any money or gifts in exchange for anything I write on this blog.
Seeking balance . . .
Green? I don’t mean the ‘green’ that product manufacturers are misusing to get us to buy their products, which somehow convince consumers that by buying ‘green’ products they have satisfied their commitment to protecting the environment. Sorry, we don’t get off that easily.
I’m talking about the broader scope that only comes from not ‘abusing’ the planet for our personal gain and comfort. Notice I used the term ‘abusing’. We can live on this planet perfectly happy and prosperous without destroying it as we have been known to do.
Sustainable living is a concept that has been in practice since the Stone Age, although they just saw it as surviving. Our machines are ‘using up’ this planet beyond its ability to repair itself. This practice needs to slow down in order to give the planet a chance to rest. By doing so, it is my belief that, we can live in harmony with it for a lot longer than we would otherwise.
We can celebrate what nature gives us and live with it without over-using it for personal greed. Humanity must come to an agreement on what that balance is and maintain that balance for the future of our children and grandchildren.
Only then will be able to say we are ‘green’.
The scope of this blog will consider the future (sustainable living), the now (renewable energy) and the past (what we have done to the environment).
Exploring the struggle to escape the tyranny of fossil fuels, wading through and dispelling 'green' advertising, while peacefully, non-destructively, co-existing with nature.
Alternative viewpoints . . .
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