Bayer and Monsanto: A Marriage Made in Hell

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by Martha Rosenberg and Ronnie Cummins

The two multinationals that teamed up during the Vietnam War to poison millions of people with their Agent Orange herbicide—St. Louis, Mo.-based Monsanto and Germany’s Bayer AG—are looking to become one.

Bayer has announced a bid to buy Monsanto in a deal that would expand Bayer’s GMO and pesticide holdings and add drugs to Monsanto’s global portfolio. Monsanto has rejected the latest bid, but the two are still in talks.

If Monsanto, perhaps the most hated GMO company in the world, joins hands with Bayer, one of the most hated Big Pharma corporations on Earth (whose evil deeds date back to World War I and the Nazi era), the newly formed seed-pesticide-drug behemoth would have combined annual sales of $67 billion.

That’s a staggering figure. But here’s another, even more alarming: Combined, the new mega-chemical/seed company would control 29 percent of the world’s seed market and 24 percent of the pesticide market.

Bison Bison Bison

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By Elif Batuman for the New Yorker
On Monday, President Obama signed legislation honoring the American bison, also known as the buffalo, as this country’s first national mammal. In temperament, physique, and symbolism, it is difficult to imagine a creature more starkly different from the bald eagle, which has been our national animal since 1782. (The new law does not affect the eagle’s status.) A raptor known for its razorlike talons and visual acuity, the eagle has served as the imperial standard of the Roman legions, the Byzantine Empire, the Spanish Army, and many other forces. Not so the bison, North America’s largest land mammal, which weighs in at as much as a ton.

Bright flash of light marks incredible moment life begins when sperm meets egg

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by Sarah Knapton, Science Editor at The Telegraph
Human life begins in bright flash of light as a sperm meets an egg, scientists have shown for the first time, after capturing the astonishing ‘fireworks’ on film.

An explosion of tiny sparks erupts from the egg at the exact moment of conception.

Scientists had seen the phenomenon occur in other animals but it is the first time is has been also shown to happen in humans.

Not only is it an incredible spectacle, highlighting the very moment that a new life begins, the size of the flash can be used to determine the quality of the fertilised egg.

Bison closer to ‘national mammal’ status after House vote

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Bison CNN

U.S. may soon have a national mammal

(CNN) The U.S. House voted Tuesday evening to adopt the North American bison as the national mammal of the United States, bringing the iconic animal one step closer to receiving the recognition many groups have pushed for.

The National Bison Legacy Act, which must get Senate approval before heading to the President’s desk for his signature, aims to honor the historical and contemporary significance of the majestic animal.
“No other indigenous species tells America’s story better than this noble creature,” Rep. William Lacy Clay, D-Missouri, said in a statement.

Clay and several other members of the House and the Senate across both parties wrote and co-sponsored the bill.

“The American bison is an enduring symbol of strength, native American culture and the boundless Western wildness,” Clay said.

“It is an integral part of the still largely untold story of Native Americans and their historic contributions to our national identity.”

Be part of making Earth History Now!

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Support Catalog.Earth, a project by David Al-Ibrahim and Saba Singh.

“It’s called Catalog.Earth. Our mission is to preserve some of the world’s most endangered landscapes in 360 video before they are destroyed by deforestation, climate change, and even warfare. We are trying to build a virtual and lasting archive of these perishable places, where anyone (students, artists, scientists, non-profits, etc.) can access and use the footage for free.” This would be part of a commons audio, visual library of our Planet now, for the future.

View the Kick Starter. www.catalog.earth

Check it out and please forward to anyone you think might be interested in supporting this beautiful effort. We are and hope you be will too.

Drs. Bob and Zoh Hieronimus

Changing Everything

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by Local Futures

Among climate change activists, solutions usually center on a transition to renewable energy. There may be differences over whether this would be best accomplished by a carbon tax, bigger subsidies for wind and solar power, divestment from fossil fuel companies, massive demonstrations, legislative fiat or some other strategy, but the goal is generally the same: replace dirty fossil fuels with clean renewable energy. Such a transition is often given a significance that goes well beyond its immediate impact on greenhouse gas emissions: it would somehow make our exploitative relationship to Nature more environmentally sound, our relationship to each other more socially equitable. In part this is because the fossil fuel corporations – symbolized by the remorseless Koch brothers – will be a relic of the past, replaced by ‘green’ corporations and entrepreneurs that display none of their predecessors’ ruthlessness and greed.

Maybe, but I have my doubts.

Pro-GMO Train Running Off Its Track

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By Dr. Mercola

During the 2013 ballot campaign to label genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in Washington State, the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) resorted to an illegal money-laundering scheme to protect the identity of members who donated funds to the opposing campaign.

Several major food companies had experienced major backlash from consumers who felt betrayed when their contributions to the 2012 anti-labeling campaign in California came to light.

Those donating to the Washington campaign certainly wanted to avoid the same fate. Fortunately, their scheme did not go unnoticed.

On October 16, 2013, Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed suit against the GMA on behalf of the State of Washington, alleging the association had violated the state’s campaign disclosure laws — both by failing to register a political committee, and by concealing the true source of its campaign funds.

According to Ferguson, the GMA began plotting and planning how to best defeat Initiative 522 back in December of 2012, placing particular emphasis on the establishment of a separate GMA fund to “combat current threats and better shield individual companies from attack.”

TAKE ACTION TODAY! Dial 888-897-0174 to call your Senators, and ask them to reject Sen. Roberts’ version of the DARK Act, and to oppose any compromise that would block or delay Vermont’s GMO labelling law. You can also sign the OCA’s petition to the Senate.

White Spirit Animals – Dr. Zohara’s New Book to be Released in 2017

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Dr. Zohara Meyerhoff Hieronimus, D.H.L, has been writing her book about the White Spirit Animals for two years (working title: White Spirit Animals: Prophets of the Wild, to be released in 2017 by Bear & Co.), discovering as Shamans do, that dreams are a bridge between all species and make it possible for everyone to talk with animals. “What I have learned is that animals know their own pre-Ice Age history and share it willingly with humans who listen. All of the White spirit animals are apex guardians of entire ecosystems. We must do everything we can to protect the Lion, Bear, Wolf, Bison, Elephant and Whale as each presides over Earth’s major ecosystems, which, without them, will collapse more rapidly.”

All of the White Spirit animals and their species have come to tell humanity “Save as many of us as you can.” Zohara’s book covers indigenous people’s prophecies about these times and why the White Spirit animals are coming to us now with vital messages. “The Primary message they bring us is that the earth needs CPR: Conservation, Preservation, and Restoration”, a message Wolf brought to Dr. Z in one of her recent dreams. In her new book Dr. Zohara teaches how to use dreams to retrieve information about any subject and how to listen and talk with the animals.

Zohara’s Author page at Inner Traditions

IN SUPPORT OF: Pollinator Protection Act of 2016 HB 211 — Neonicotinoid Pesticides — Labeling, Signage, and Restrictions on Sales and Use

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Honorable Delegates of the Environment and Transportation Committee,

The Ruscombe Mansion Community Health Center is one of the oldest holistic healing centers in the country, serving thousands of patients each year. Healthcare practitioners and their patients at the Ruscombe Mansion Community Health Center are concerned with the growing and widespread use of toxic neonicotinoid pesticides (also referred to as neonics). This class of pesticide has been found to be harmful to managed honey bee hives, wild native bees, birds, and humans health— We respectfully urge you to support HB 211 Neonicotinoid Pesticide – Labeling Requirement (Pollinator Protection Act of 2016) to label nursery plants treated with toxic, bee-killing pesticides and restrict the non-essential, cosmetic use of products containing neonics by consumers.

Want to help save Maryland’s bees?

E-mail your support for the Pollinator Protection Act of 2016

Call: (410) 841-3990, (301) 858-3990; 1-800-492-7122, ext. 3990 (toll free)

How Globalization Fuels Terrorism and Fundamentalism

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How Globalization Fuels Terrorism and Fundamentalism

By Helena Norberg-Hodge / localfutures.org. For people in the modern world, there may be nothing more difficult to comprehend than the group calling itself the Islamic State, or ISIS. The beheadings, rapes, and other acts of cruelty seem beyond understanding, as does the wanton destruction of priceless ancient monuments. Perhaps most mystifying of all is the way ISIS has been able to recruit young men — and even some young women — from the industrialized West, particularly Europe: the conventional wisdom is that the cure for ethnic and religious violence is “development,” education, and the opportunities provided by free markets. This seems not to be the case.

Norway Builds World’s First Bee Superhighway

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Norway Builds World’s First Bee Superhighway

In an attempt to help out dwindling bee populations, the city of Oslo has installed a new “bee highway” through the city so bees can travel safely.

According to The Local, Oslo has put clusters of bee-friendly plants every 250 meters along a path through the city, which will work as rest stops for the bees as they fly around. Bees have been dying off in large numbers in recent years, and the dwindling bee numbers are very bad news for agriculture, which depends on the insects for pollination. Bees have a difficult time in cities, where there are not a lot of nectar-rich plants around for them to eat. Oslo’s plan is to help counter that with the bee-feeding stations.

Stop Monsanto’s secret plan to Kill GMO Labeling!

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Stop Monsanto’s secret plan to Kill GMO Labeling!

Breaking: The Monsanto Protection Act is Back and WORSE than ever! Once again Monsanto and giant food companies are scheming behind the scenes to pass a bill in Congress that would kill mandatory GMO labeling efforts and replace it with a gutted version that will preempt states’ rights and give the illusion of oversight. This week, Congressman Mike Pompeo (R-KS) has reintroduced an updated version of his deceptive bill, H.R. 1599, AKA the Ultimate Monsanto Protection Act, to try to convince members of Congress to violate state’s rights in an effort to kill GMO labeling.

This is a blatant power grab to deny Americans their basic right to mandatory GMO labeling and protect flawed GMO products – and we can’t allow them to get away with it. We need your help today. Every voice counts!

Learn about Propaganda for Toxic Farming

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Learn about Propaganda for Toxic Farming

To make sound decisions about food and farming — from consumer decisions about food to public policies that will determine the future of our food system — it is essential to be able to separate industry spin from science and PR campaigns from public education. But today, with the industrial food sector spending hundreds of millions of dollars every year on front groups, third-party messengers, social media campaigns and other covert marketing tactics to spin the story of food, it is increasingly difficult to sort truth from fiction.

The evidence also shows that the public’s demand for organic and non-GMO food, and support for sustainable farmers and sound food policies, continues to grow. However, if industry-sponsored misinformation and covert communications is left unchecked, it may become increasingly difficult to maintain market momentum toward healthier food and build public support for policies that incentivize sustainable food and farming systems.

Psycho-meds are the Common Thread in Mass Shootings

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Psycho-meds are the Common Thread in Mass Shootings

Every Mass Shooting Shares One Thing In Common & It’s NOT Weapons

Nearly every mass shooting incident in the last twenty years, and multiple other instances of suicide and isolated shootings all share one thing in common, and it’s not the weapons used.

The overwhelming evidence points to the signal largest common factor in all of these incidents is the fact that all of the perpetrators were either actively taking powerful psychotropic drugs or had been at some point in the immediate past before they committed their crimes.

Here’s How Our Night Sky Would Look If Celestial Bodies Were Closer To Earth

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Here’s How Our Night Sky Would Look If Celestial Bodies Were Closer To Earth

From breathtaking nebulae to spectacular galaxies, the cosmos is chock-full of stunning celestial objects. But think how stunning those objects might look if they were much closer to Earth — close enough for us to see them in the night sky without having to use a telescope?

The Russian space agency Roscosmos recently took on that thought experiment, creating a series of simulations in a new YouTube video (above). The video features the nearby Andromeda galaxy, the iconic Ring Nebula, and even a massive black hole.

NASA Study Shows Antarctica’s Larsen B Ice Shelf Nearing Its Final Act

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NASA Study Shows Antarctica’s Larsen B Ice Shelf Nearing Its Final Act

A new NASA study finds the last remaining section of Antarctica’s Larsen B Ice Shelf, which partially collapsed in 2002, is quickly weakening and likely to disintegrate completely before the end of the decade.

A team led by Ala Khazendar of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, found the remnant of the Larsen B Ice Shelf is flowing faster, becoming increasingly fragmented and developing large cracks. Two of its tributary glaciers also are flowing faster and thinning rapidly.

“These are warning signs that the remnant is disintegrating,” Khazendar said. “Although it’s fascinating scientifically to have a front-row seat to watch the ice shelf becoming unstable and breaking up, it’s bad news for our planet. This ice shelf has existed for at least 10,000 years, and soon it will be gone.”

Monsanto’s Glyphosate Blankets GMO Crops Near Schools

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Monsanto’s Glyphosate Blankets GMO Crops Near Schools

Genetically engineered crops, or GMOs, have led to an explosion in growers’ use of herbicides, with the result that children at hundreds of elementary schools across the country go to class close by fields that are regularly doused with escalating amounts of toxic weed killers.

GMO corn and soybeans have been genetically engineered to withstand being blasted with glyphosate – an herbicide that the World Health Organization recently classified as “probably carcinogenic to humans.” The proximity of many schools to fields blanketed in the chemical puts kids at risk of exposure.

But it gets worse.

The drug war killed Freddie Gray

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The drug war killed Freddie Gray

Zohara Meyerhoff Hieronimus The Baltimore Sun, May 2, 2015. The tragic deaths of Freddie Gray in Maryland, Michael Brown of Missouri, and Walter Scott in South Carolina are representative of America’s institutionalized violence, grounded in our modern era drug war.

The American drug war began with President Richard Nixon’s 1971 declaration of war, calling drug use “public enemy No.1,” followed two years later by the creation of the Drug Enforcement Agency. It was easier then for law enforcement to both legally and illegally arrest our citizens without fearing for their own lives, because there were fewer guns on the streets. Today there are 250 million to 300 million guns in our community, one for almost every American.

USGS links rise in earthquakes to oil & gas wastewater disposal

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USGS links rise in earthquakes to oil & gas wastewater disposal

U.S. government scientists have identified 17 areas in eight states that have seen an increase in earthquakes triggered by human practices.

Earthquake activity in the central and eastern United States has increased significantly since 2009 and this has been linked to the disposal of oil and gas wastewater by injecting it into deep wells.

The new report by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) offers a comprehensive assessment of the hazard levels associated with induced earthquakes in parts of Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma and Texas.

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