Earth and Environmental News

Alas this is another subject that I care so much about and have so little power to improve there are thousands of stories about how even our own governments policies are affecting our environment and the delicate balances. I believe that the only species on the earth that needs to be controlled is the human population. We do not need to be shooting, Harvesting or controlling mute swans Bison or deer off the face of the earth. John Galt jr.

03/01/11 East coast mountain lions, have been declared officially extinct. While officials believe the last of the American panthers was killed in the 1930's, there have been 110 confirmed spottings in the past 90 years, but none in the last ten. None the less, officials say, there is no possibility of a free range breeding stock. All of the spottings were either escapes from from zoos public or private or stray west coast cats looking for greener grasses. The Eastern American Puma was put on the endangered list in 1972, but with no confirmation of wild cats, they move into extinction. Good news for big game hunters, now that they are no longer endangered, it's not illegal to shoot them...

February 2011 Dolphin deaths rise along Gulf Coast Send a bill to BP?

April 24, 1998 There is a potentially serious environmental problem with far reaching
implications, which need immediate action. The DEA seeks clearance to spray "cannabis" with the industrial herbicide,TRICLOPYR.

Officials say Water is Polluted

1/8/98-- In the first comprehensive analysis ever conducted of contaminated sediments in the nation's rivers, lakes and coastal waters,
the Environmental Protection Agency has identified widespread risks to human health and the environment, especially in the New York region.

5/98 Hemp is being used as feed for blue catfish at the Univ. of Kentucky.
Carl Webster and Laura Tiu have been giving about 150 catfish hemp meal along with vitamins,
 minerals and oil and fatty acids, the bare minimums needed to survive.
"They seem to like it. I think they're on par with normal growth
for blue catfish. If you can feed them something straight like this, you've got
a pretty good ingredient,"Webster told the Lexington Herald-Leader.

With hemp production still illegal in the United States, using hemp meal will not be cost effective.
 Soy meal makes up about 60 percent of the fish food market and costs $170 a ton. Being imported
 from China, hemp meal costs several times more, roughly $1,200 a ton.

"We could get rid of two-thirds of the cost simply by growing it in Kentucky," 
said Don Wirtshafter, owner of the Ohio Hempery, to the Herald-Leader. Wirthshafter is now
contracting to buy seeds from the new Canadian farmers. 

In Willisburg, Kentucky, Donnie Colter says that feeding his
animals hemp meal gives them more energy and shinier coats.
Recently he sold some of his heifers and received $13 more for
the calves who had been fed the hemp mix. At the University
of Kentucky, researchers are planning to study what
difference, if any, the hemp meal made. Colter originally
grew hemp on his farm in the 1940's, before it became illegal.


Planet getting warmer?

WASHINGTON 1/8/98 - Federal climate researchers said today that 1997 was the hottest year on record and the release of harmful gases from industries, cars and other sources was at least partly to blame. "Indeed, 1997 was the warmest year on record," said Tom Karl, a senior researcher for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "We believe this tendency for increased global temperatures is related to human activity." The 1997 reading tops the previous warmest year, 1990, by 0.15 degrees. Karl reported that the earth's average temperature last year was three-quarters of a degree Fahrenheit above normal. Normal is 61.7 degrees, the average for the years 1961-1990.

Many scientists believe that carbon dioxide and other gases released into the atmosphere by industrial activities are increasing the earth's temperature by trapping heat from the sun, somewhat like a greenhouse, hence the "green house effect" theory was formed. Other scientists disagree and, previously, NOAA officials have simply reported their findings without speculating on the cause of rising temperatures. 'We feel more comfortable now in saying there is a human effect because we have more data than before,'' said Elbert W. Friday, Assistant NOAA Administrator for Oceanic and Atmospheric Research.
Karl reported that the ongoing El Nino phenomenon in the Pacific Ocean, which is affecting weather in large areas, contributed to the 1997 warming. El Nino is characterized by a large pool of warmer than normal water in the Pacific. But even without El Nino, 1997 would have been very warm, he added, noting that nine of the warmest years on record have occurred in the last 11 years. Karl's analysis was based on records of land temperatures back to 1880 and ocean readings since 1900.

But what about El Nino anyway? El Nino is mentioned on the News every night at least six times.
The weather and natural disasters all over the world are being blamed on El Nino. Wars starvation, drought floods everything... Well lets wake up folks El Nino is nothing new... It happens often enough to have a name !!! Besides that we have plenty o floods mud slides thunder storms when El Nino doesn't happen.

Murdered Trees?

12/1/97 Well its almost Christmas Time again and millions of trees are being murdered to honor the great capitalist god. Do we really need to slaughter all these trees just to celebrate the annual debt renewal of the American people? But most of them come from tree farms proponents tell us, It's not like they're wild trees. Doesn't a "farmed" tree clean the air and provide us with life giving oxygen as well as homes for many of our smaller animal brethren? Doesn't a farmed tree remove CO2 and create Oxygen? Doesn't a farmed tree have the same soul as a wild one? The main reason "capitalism" keeps this sick tradition alive is to support the construction industry after all those decorations will be the cause of hundreds perhaps thousands of house fires again this year and further the need for the slaughter of even more trees. Boycott Christmas trees, if you feel the need to perpetuate this tradition get an artificial or a potted tree. Remember trees maybe not be people but they are important...

12/97 Insurance statistics now show that at least a half million deer / car collisions are occurring each year. Fools use this statistic to champion the cause of the continuing deer slaughters. They say the increases in collisions is caused by the ever growing population of deer... Meanwhile hunter complain that they can't find any... There is also an ever increasing amount of tree / car collisions. Are the trees out of control or the people? I submit that the increased collisions are caused by the over population of humans and their need to cover the landscape with asphalt and concrete. The need to keep the automotive industry alive is the primary reason for the deer harvests...

Wild Horses

1/29/97 Because the federally protected wild horse herds have been steadily growing for decades. They put 10,000 horses a year up for adoption. Many go directly to slaughter house where they end up as pet food. Violators are currently not prosecuted because " They have more horses than adopters"

Bison in the news

1/15/97 1000 Famous Buffalo Escape from captivity in Pierre S.D. (These are the buffalo that were used in Dances with wolves.) The Escapees have Brucellosis and will have to be destroyed to protect cattle. They walked over their eight foot high fences by climbing on snow drifts...

12/23/96 Officials announce that about 600 bison from the only remaining wild grazing herd in the world will be put to death... to protect cattle in Montana because they may stray from Yellowstone. No sending them back, no dart guns . . . They won't however be slaughtered in the open air as in past years (It doesn't look good to the neighbors and makes real bad press.) They will be captured and sent to slaughter houses in Montana. 1500 have been killed since 1975 (seven hundred in 1995 and 50 or so in 96) mostly pregnant females, because the only way to pass the disease on is to come in contact with the blood from the embryonic sack, just after birth. Good news they will give the meat to the Native Americans in the area. (Buffalo meat is too tough for white folks...)
March 97 Update Over half the Yellowstone Bison (1024 and counting) have been killed while on Park property so that they would not stray out into private lands. Officials say that it ( the slaughter of hundreds ) was unavoidable. I wonder how much of the meat made it to the Indians?
18 years later still going on...



Rhinoceros in the news

12/27/96 Another rare white rhinoceros meets its end in Florida. A pregnant female escaped after a argument with it's mate. Was chased around by Police and zoo officials with jeeps and then shot to death when it charged a veterinarian. They say it was self defense, they wanted to drug the rhino. Did anyone ever consider the Rhino's position of self defense after being caged, prostituted, chased, shot at???
Dec 96 Two rare rhinoceros died from dehydration and exposure while traveling across China. You would think that someone would have noticed they were sick before they died!! But then you have to wonder about the wisdom of sending them to China where their horns are considered to be an expensive aphrodisiac. Not to worry one of them will be stuffed and displayed at the zoo... I'll bet a million dollars that we never find out how they really died..

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