Tag Archive: environment


Triclosan and Triclocarbon are killers are anti-microbial chemicals that are added to thousands of consumer products %u2013 from soap to toothpaste, public changing tables and even shoes. When the soap and other products wash down our drains or products break down, Triclosan and Triclocarbon end up in our environment or farms around the country where they disrupt the natural ecosystem and pose a risk to human health.? (Learn More)

Sign the petition to ban Triclosan and Triclocarbon for non-medical purposes.
Get Toxic Anti-microbial Chemicals Out of My Soap and Body

When it comes to the environment, overpopulation is the elephant in the room. It doesn’t matter how much we recycle, buy hybrid cars, or install solar panels on our rooftops—without addressing our swelling population and its impact on a limited stash of resources, we’re, well, screwed.

Now comes proof of just how much good we could do by controlling our populace: A recently-released study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reveals that if we slowed global population, we could cut emissions an incredible 16 to 29 percent by 2050 and even more steeply by the end of the century.

So why, despite the mounting evidence, do we continue to sidestep the issue of overpopulation? There are several reasons, the most basic being that it’s a tricky topic to broach. In a recent Mother Jones article, Julia Whitty reported that the carbon legacy of one American child and her offspring is 20 times greater than every other sustainable maternal choice combined. The problem is, those other sustainable choices are a lot less personal, and so are much easier to preach about. (Put another way: “Don’t have kids!” is a tough sell).

The controversial issue of family planning also comes into play. In a recent post, Change.org blogger Ben Broffer shared that almost 40 percent of pregnancies worldwide are unplanned, and 123 million women have an unmet need for family planning. But the best tools at our disposal to combat this—legalizing abortion and making contraceptives widely available—are two of the thorniest social, political and religious issues around.

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You might think that more water would be the last thing a flood victim would want to see, but gaining access to clean drinking water can mean the difference between life and death after a devastating deluge.

Floods not only hold the devastating potential to displace thousands of people from their homes, and kill or injure those in its path, but the surges often cut off large populations of people from food, medical supplies and potable water. Without access to these vital resources, health risks and fatalities can multiply exponentially in a matter of days or even hours.

In many cases these horrible circumstances are compounded by the fact that for those who were homeless before a flood, gaining access to clean water was already an enormous challenge. As Change.org blogger Steven Samra pointed out earlier this year, when massive floods swept through Nashville in May, residents of the city’s largest homeless encampment not only lost all their personal possessions, but also lacked the social safety net available to those who had been previously housed. Unable to access local, state or federal aid, without the assistance of housed friends and family, and dislocated from what limited resources (food, water, etc.) they may have had before the flood, many peoples’ situation went from bad to worse.

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Bluefin Tuna in Hot Water

Spicy tuna rolls may taste delicious, but the flavorful sushi treats create some pretty massive environmental destruction. Atlantic bluefin tuna are seriously overfished, with population numbers plummeting by up to 85 percent in recent years. According to a new article, the tuna situation may be even more bleak than environmentalists ever thought possible.

As the New York Times reports, member countries of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) will meet in Paris next month. What’s decided at the meeting could make or break bluefin tuna’s survival.

The ICCAT meeting establishes yearly catch limits for the threatened fish. Scientists say that if nations stick to 2009’s catch limit — 13,500 tons — the overfished bluefin stand a 60 percent chance of bouncing back by 2019. But based on fishing nations’ past history with illegal and underreported catches, it seems like the odds of survival are stacked against the struggling bluefin.

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Dear fellow Humans,

It is now clear, that the greatest threat to mankind and Earth itself comes from overpopulation, which is growing at an exponential rateas underlined in a recent UN Study: Slower Population Growth To Help Environment

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j74yWpJ1atBwCsu78IVj2VOABDzg

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As we all well know, the population of a given country is to be considered in relation with the available territory, the resources, the state of, interaction with and impact on the environment, the flora and fauna, and this all with regards to the modes of social and economic productions and the standard of life, which are therethrough responsibly achieved or made potentially realizable.
This is as true as the fact, that this planet forms a rather homogeneous eco-system, wherein not only all the elements are interdependent and interconnected, but also one, in which each of these elements is equally important and necessary to the preservation of the whole.
Human societies are not exempt from these natural principles and in the current world view and international practice, whereby the notions of integration and globalization are the motto, it is practically impossible to render proper measure of overpopulation in national or regional terms or to approach it exclusively in such a context. No country is an exception.

Overpopulation is a worldwide issue.
Overpopulation is an all-human tragedy and, as such, it requires a worldwide understanding and solution.
The situation may of course differ from one country to another, but this does not substantially change the global picture, for, also the less overpopulated areas would eventually face it and taste it through immigration and the effects of overpopulation on the overall state of the climate, the environment, the resources and the globalized economy as well as on world peace and stability.
Besides, without tackling overpopulation, all measures, which would be taken to ensure the growth of the economy and provide a given population of a given country with a higher quality of life, would only be postponing, shoving the problem onto future generations?? -? as if “killing our grandchildren to feed our children.”, to quote one wise man.

Overpopulation and its consequences on our evolution and our security as well as on the sustainability of this planet?are definitely a source of great concern: there are just too many of us? -? think of the amount of garbage alone, which seven billion Humans produce! Daily.

It is also obvious, that our planet is subject to far-reaching changes.
The consequences of these changes could be catastrophic, if we do not re-adjust our ways of thinking and doing, also with regards to reproduction and population.

Our world is extremely overpopulated; our legitimate demands of food, energy, water and other goods of first necessity weigh heavily on the available resources, the environment, the flora and fauna. This is no longer sustainable.

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A worldwide, rational, responsible, democratic ( applicable and mandatory to each and all! ), scientific and rigorously monitored Birth Control is the only logical, mature and ethical answer to this unprecedented, but largely foreseen challenge.

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Some, however, speak of free energy, as the ultimate remedy to this crisis.
Truly, technology alone is not a panacea in human matters.
Lasting food security, development in sustainability thus, could hardly be realized without absorbing into the equation the determining factor of human population and its diverse legitimate demands, both of which will be growing exponentially.

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Others may still say, “multiply yourself” orders The Bible.
Genesis 1:22: “God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.”.”

Well, we certainly shall argue here, that reason is also given to us, so that we can know, judge and decide when we ‘have multiplied enough’.

And again, the Commandment could have as well been: “multiply yourself with wisdom and reason and humaneness and knowledge and care and management.”
Besides, if we keep procreating the way we now do, there wouldn’t be much animals, fish, trees, “birds” left “on the earth”!

Overpopulation has indeed a deeper spiritual dimension and, besides,? the following summary makes convincingly the case for a serious struggle against overpopulation, even if one is to consider?the issue?from a solely practical point of view:

Fewer Humans = smaller petroleum demand = less carbon dioxide/monoxide produced by cars and industry

Fewer Humans = reduced food demand = fewer trees cut down for farmland (e.g. Brazilian rainforest)

Fewer Humans = reduced demand for everything which results in a reduced price/cost for everything (education, well-being, housing, energy, food…)

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We are already causing drastic climate change; species are going extinct and fellow Humans are starving to death en masse which means that the population is obviously already too high.

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Do please endorse us and most importantly, do strongly advocate a rational, democratic and scientific birth control, at home and abroad; empower Women, add your influential voice to ours, help us promote a humane and just solution to this tragedy!

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Thank you and may reason and wisdom prevail.

Overpopulation Awareness & Birth Control

The bald eagle, America’s symbol of national freedom, apparently doesn’t hold a candle to the gun lobby’s perceived freedom to poison this beautiful bird.

You can thank U.S. EPA. On Friday, gun-lovers won a crucial battle against conservationists and wildlife when, in a surprising move, the agency rejected a request (pdf) from environmental groups for a ban on lead in gun ammunition and tackle.

The Center for Biological Diversity, American Bird Conservancy and other groups argue lead toxins are wreaking havoc on the environment and have some startling numbers to back up the claim, including:

–Up to 20 million birds and other animals are killed each year as a result of lead poisoning.

–At least 75 wild bird species, including bald eagles and endangered California condors, are poisoned by spent lead ammo.

–About 87,000 tons of lead are released into the environment each year as a result of hunting, fishing and shooting ranges. As Change.org Animals blogger Martin Matheny recently pointed out, that’s as many tons as there are in the U.S. Navy’s largest vessel.

–Humans who eat game shot down with lead ammo face serious health risks. A recent study found that up to 87 percent of cooked fowl killed by lead ammo can contain unsafe lead levels.

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Women saving the environment is one of my favorite topics. So, you’d think I’d be really happy to see this weekend’s Washington Post piece about Diane MacEachern of Big Green Purse. A longtime environmentalist, she’s also an entrepreneur and public speaker with a few best-selling books under her belt. Cool, right?

But lately, she focuses on one thing that basically drives me up the wall. As the Post explains it, MacEachern “started a campaign on her website encouraging women to join the ‘One in a Million’ initiative by pledging to shift $1,000 of their household budgets to green products and services.” Much like the books she’s authored on the subject, her BGP website encourages women to “go green” with tips about buying less bottled water, eating less meat, having an eco-friendly Halloween, and demanding to receive fewer catalogs in the mail.

Is this Chicken Soup for the Wannabe Sustainable Soul? How many poor women who barely scraping by can think about buying “green” products in this economy and too many catalogs in their mailbox? How few of us have a grand lying around for our “household budget?” Buying fair trade chocolate and worrying about “responsible investing” are some of the most underwhelming options available when faced with melting polar ice caps, but promoting a so-called “eco-lifestyle” is really only the beginning of my frustration.

There are several serious flaws in MacEachern’s strategy to green the world. In my mind, it isn’t about pressuring companies to sell more eco-friendly products, though that’s certainly one part of a larger environmentalism strategy. But what we oughta be doing instead is something much more simple: quit buying stuff and quit hoarding. There is life after shopping.

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Make Recycling a Federal Law

Recycling is the easiest way to make a difference.? It creates jobs and is beneficial to our environment.? It needs to be a federal law.? Please sign this petition.? Our voices will be heard!
Make Recycling a Federal Law

Protect Coastal Habitats

Please send a message to the Canadian Government urging them to immediately protect coastal habitats that help combat climate change.

Scientists of the United Nations Environment Program recommended to the 2009 Copenhagen Climate Change Conference that 80 percent of the world’s remaining seagrass and salt marsh habitat be protected as an important step among the range of strategies necessary to combat global climate change. The best way to protect coastal ecosystems is to set aside marine protected areas (MPAs) and regulate their use through marine planning and ecosystem-based fisheries management. As the nation with the longest coastline in the world, protecting these ecosystems is part of the action Canada should take to combat climate change.
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The Government of Canada has already committed to creating a national network of MPAs but has not adequately prioritized that commitment nor considered identifying natural carbon sequestering habitats as part of the network. Now is the time to act.

Natural carbon sequestration is the storage of carbon in a stable solid form. Some terrestrial and marine plants sequester or fix carbon into the soil or sediments around their roots in mineral form, storing it for thousands of years or more. These carbon sequestering plants are extremely important for reducing the amount of carbon circulating in the atmosphere and oceans, and play an important role in combating climate change and ocean acidification which are caused by increased CO2 in the atmosphere.

Seventy percent of the marine plants that naturally sequester carbon are found in coastal areas such as seagrass meadows and salt marshes. Much of these areas have been lost since the 1940s due to coastal development, and have been damaged by run off from agricultural and industrial activities. These coastal ecosystems are more effective than terrestrial ones when measuring climate change mitigation effectiveness. Half a kilogram of marine plant material can sequester as much as 1,000 kgs of plant material on land due to unique chemical processes within marine sediments
Protect Coastal Habitats

There’s a rash of shark attacks happening throughout the world’s oceans. But here’s the real problem: It’s the sharks who are the victims.

Due to an increased global demand for the fish’s meat, shark populations have seriously plummeted in recent years. According to Oceana, more than 100 million sharks are killed every year for their meat, oftentimes through “finning,” a brutal process where fishermen cut off sharks’ fins and throw their bodies into the ocean to die. In other cases, sharks get trapped and killed as bycatch during longline tuna fishing. Some species of shark have declined by as much as 99 percent. Sharks may reign at the top of the ocean’s food chain, but the fish’s survival is nothing short of precarious.

The severity of the shark situation is well-documented, yet stores and restaurants across the world still serve up shark meat. Even Henry’s Farmers Markets, a grocery store chain, sells shark meat, despite the store’s supposed commitment to providing products that “support a healthy lifestyle.” I’ve got news for you, Henry’s: Shark meat isn’t healthy for people, and it sure as heck isn’t healthy for ocean ecosystems.

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