The cost of America’s inefficient sprawl

By William Fulton, Special to CNN

Editor’s note: William Fulton is vice president for policy and programs at Smart Growth America, and a former mayor of Ventura, California. The views expressed are his own.

July 31st, 2012

Earlier this month, Global Public Square addressed a critical issue at this moment in American history, as towns and cities nationwide look to bounce back from the recession.

Press Release, Grand Council of the Crees, August 9 2012.

Waskaganish, Eeyou Istchee, (August 9, 2012) ---The James Bay Cree Nation has declared a Permanent Moratorium on uranium exploration, uranium mining and uranium waste emplacement in Eeyou Istchee, the James Bay Cree territory. The permanent moratorium was enacted unanimously by the Annual Cree Nation General Assembly in Waskaganish.

http://www.gcc.ca/newsarticle.php?id=281

Critics of climate change are losing their PR battle

Stephen Maher, Postmedia News August 10, 2012 8:12 PM - University of Calgary Prof. Barry Cooper wrote a funny piece for the Calgary Herald on Tuesday, in which he humorously derided BritishColumbians for their opposition toward a pipeline that would carryAlberta bitumen to the B.C. coast.

British Columbia is full of “sybaritic scatterbrains,” Cooper wrote,“soft consumers and rent collectors, drinking lattes in the rain. Manybelieve in spirit bears and water sprites and require grief counsellingwhen trees blow down in Stanley Park.”

tp://www.montrealgazette.com/business/Critics+climate+change+losing+their+battle/7073763/story.html

Energy admission: wind, solar to be cheapest by 2030

Giles Parkinson of RenewEconomy - The Australian government’s chief energy forecasting body has published a dramatic revision of its cost estimates, predicting that onshore wind and solar PV will deliver the cheapest forms of energy by 2030 — with solar PV dramatically cheaper than all other energy forms by 2050.

http://www.crikey.<WBR>com.au/2012/08/01/energy-<WBR>admission-wind-solar-to-be-<WBR>cheapest-by-2030/

Trailer Trashing as South Africa Considers Outlawing Bicycle Trailers

By Gail JenningsReprint| |

CAPE TOWN, South Africa, Aug 7 2012 (IPS) - The road between Zimbabwe’s Victoria Falls and Livingstone, in Zambia, is a well-traversed one, criss-crossed by bicycle riders towing trailers of bread and other supplies, with their bicycle spokes reinforced to bear the extra weight.

“If you have a bicycle, you can be rich,” said one cargo cyclist on the road just beyond the falls, as he abandoned pedalling and pushed his wheeled load. “This is how we trade.”

Although they are low-tech, the trailers are skilfully designed and often neighbourhood- manufactured, have two wheels and are attached to the bicycle via a hitch behind the saddle. They can carry up to around 200 kilogrammes of goods, water or, less often, people. These are significantly greater weights than what can be transported by head load, handcart or backpack.

Zambulances – bicycle trailers with a mattress, privacy curtain and basic medical equipment – have replaced walking or being pushed in a wheelbarrow for many ailing rural people who live some distance from healthcare centres. Credit: Gail Jennings/IPS

Papua New Guinea's seabed to be mined for gold and copper

Government approves world's first commercial deep-sea mining project despite vehement objections over threat to marine life
Oliver Milman guardian.co.uk, <TIME datetime="2012-08-06T12:16BST" pubdate="">Monday 6 August 2012 12.16 BST

Nautilus minerals team taking rock samples during a deep sea mining exploration drill. Photograph: Nautilus Minerals

A "new frontier" in mining is set to be opened up by the underwater extraction of resources from the seabed off the coast of Papua New Guinea, despite vehement objections from environmentalists and local activists.

Canadian firm Nautilus Minerals has been granted a 20-year licence by the PNG government to commence the Solwara 1 project, the world's first commercial deep sea mining operation.

The Hunger Wars in Our Future: Heat, Drought, Rising Food Costs, and Global Unrest
By Michael T. Klare http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175579/

The Great Drought of 2012 has yet to come to an end, but we already know that its consequences will be severe. With more than one-half of America’s counties designated as drought disaster areas, the 2012 harvest of corn, soybeans, and other food staples is guaranteed to fall far short of predictions. This, in turn, will boost food prices domestically and abroad, causing increased misery for farmers and low-income Americans and far greater hardship for poor people in countries that rely on imported U.S. grains.

Droughts Bring Climate Change Home to Nepali Farmers

By Naresh NewarReprint|

Maize destroyed by monsoon failure in Chitwan district. Naresh Newar/IPS

CHITWAN, Nepal, Aug 6 2012 (IPS) - Farmers in this fertile central district of south Nepal are convinced that an intense drought between May and early July that destroyed their maize crops is the result of climate change.

United Church considering motion to oppose pipeline construction

The Canadian Press Aug 6, 2012 10:51  http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2012/08/06/pol-cp-northern-gateway-pipeline-opposition-churches.html?cmp=rss

Canadian churches are raising environmental concerns over the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline, which would run from Alberta to the Douglas Channel in Kitimat, B.C. (Darryl Dyck/Canadian Press)

Churches across Canada say they have a religious duty to speak out on the proposed Northern Gateway oilsands pipeline.

Canada  last among G8 in clean energy
Mike De Souza AUGUST 4, 2012Postmedia News 

http://www.canada.com/technology/Clean+energy+mega+trend+sweeping+globe+Canadian+economy+left+vulnerable+Harper+government+told/7043569/story.html

OTTAWA — A dependence on fossil fuel resources is making the country vulnerable to a planetary “mega trend” toward low-carbon energy that “will affect the whole of Canada’s economy,” Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver was told in newly released internal briefing notes.

Echoes of Gandhi in Electricity-Generating Spinning Wheel: A "Micro-Power Plant" for the Poor

Kimberley Mok
Energy / Renewable Energy
September 24, 2008

Ban GMOs Now

Dr. Mae-Wan Ho warns that further indulgence in GMOs will severely damage our chances of surviving the food crisis and global warming; organic agriculture and localised food systems are the way forward

Invited lecture at conference on TRADITIONAL SEEDS OUR NATIONAL TREASURE AND HERITAGE -Traditional and Organic Agriculture instead of GMO, 17 May 2008, Bewelder, Warsaw, Poland

The Brave New World of GM Science

Harper government reserves Gateway environmental decision for the cabinet, sets Dec. 31, 2013 deadline for JRP

Today, Friday, August 3, 2012, Environment Minister Peter Kent used the provisions of what the Harper government calls the Jobs, Growth and Long Term Prosperity Act (former Bill C-38) to set a final deadline for a report from the Northern Gateway Joint Review Panel on December 31, 2013 and reserve the final environmental decision for the Governor-in-Council.

Mexican Farmers Fear Losing Traditions, Livelihood As Monsanto Wins Gmo Planting Rights

A farmer holds Monsanto’s Round-Up Ready Soy Bean seeds at his family farm. (AP Photo / Dan Gill)

July 25, 2012 • Martin Michaels - (MintPress) — The Monsanto Corporation has won the right to begin planting genetically modified (GMO) corn in Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. Although the company touts higher crop yields and new drought resistant vegetables, their presence has been met with vehement opposition in Mexico and in other countries with  an unfavorable relationship with the largest developer of genetically modified crops. Corn was first domesticated in Mexico some 10,000 years ago, and introducing GMO corn crops would likely disrupt and permanently change a long running history of corn cultivation by small, independent farmers.

http://www.mintpress.net/mexican-farmers-fear-losing-traditions-livelihood-as-monsanto-wins-gmo-planting-rights/

Subhankar Banerjee - When you go to the mountains, you go to the mountains. When it’s the desert, it’s the desert. When it’s the ocean, though, we generally say that we’re going “to the beach.” Land is our element, not the waters of our world, and that is an unmistakable advantage for any oil company that wants to drill in pristine waters.

http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175577/