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Springtime
brings more than buds on trees
It's that time of year. We're receiving phone calls and mailings from lawn care
companies. We're reading advertisements in newspapers selling lawn chemicals.
What are they really trying to sell us?....
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Just one word ... Plastics.
I well remember the one-liner in the 1967 movie The Graduate. A
businessman offered advice to a young man who was considering his
career options - "Just one word ... Plastics." Without
debate, plastics have provided many benefits, such as the use of
intravenous tubing, which has saved lives. So what's the brooha?...
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WATER
"The future is clear. Global warming will intensify drought." This
is a quotation from Stephen Schneider of Stanford University in the 8/20/07
Washington Post. Wells are being drilled around the clock in California's central
valley, one of the most productive food-growing areas in the world. The drilling
must burrow deeper and deeper to tap into the sinking water table. It's expected
that farmers may not be able to afford the exorbitant cost to pump it...
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Lawn
Chemicals and Wildlife Don’t Mix
Spring in Northeast Ohio brings many delights. Birds building
nests, spring peepers calling out in the night and the Forsythia
starting to bloom all signal the start of a new season. The first
new blades of grass emerging in a suburban lawn is another sign
of spring. But is that grass a blessing or a curse?...
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What is SRI?
As a new member of the Sierra Club Northeast Ohio, by way of introduction,
I’d like to say that Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) is my Purpose,
Passion, and what I Persevere to educate others on. Why SRI?...
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Fair Trade
Fair trade is an innovative approach that guarantees farmers will
receive a fair price for their products. This allows them higher
living standards, sustainable farming practices and improved working
conditions...
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Will climate change lead to mass migrations?
Climate change is now being considered a threat to human security.
Recent projections of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC) estimate that by 2080, billions of people will face water
scarcity and hunger and millions of homes will be hit hard by coastal
flooding. People will be at risk of displacement, causing an environmental
crisis of global proportions...
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Toilet paper’s link to climate change
One very simple way to reduce your carbon footprint is to use recycled-content
toilet paper instead of the fluffy virgin-wood kind (most of the mainstream brands,
such as Charmin and Cottonelle). According to the NRDC (Natural Resources Defense
Council), if everyone in the US switched just one virgin roll to recycled content,
we'd save 424,000 trees...
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Organic Labeling
The demand for organically grown food is soaring. According to
the U.S. Department of Agriculture (U.S.D.A.) organic sales increased
22 percent in 2006. As conscientious consumers we want this trend
to continue. The way to make that happen?...
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Leaf Blowers: The Scourge of Suburbia
My name is Robert Carillio and I serve as an Ohio contact for
Noise Free America -- a national grassroots advocacy dedicated
to restoring reasonable peace and quiet to our communities through
education about the hazards of noise pollution...
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Will Environmental Justice be Served?
Thousands of Central American agricultural workers filed lawsuits claiming
they were left sterile after being exposed to DBCP, a pesticide
used primarily in banana plantations. The lawsuit claims that Dow Chemical Company
noted atrophied testes in laboratory animals exposed
to the pesticide, yet Dow suppressed information about its toxicity and continued
to market...
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Protect the
Environment, One Bite at a Time
As a hamburger patty is thrown on the grill,
it's easy not to think about the huge impact that lone burger has
on our environment. Large amounts of fossil fuels are used to produce
that hamburger and transport it to our dinner plate, including
petroleum based fertilizers and agrichemicals used to grow livestock
feed...
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Choosing Healthy
Fish
A healthy diet is of utmost importance where our families are
concerned. Fish, which is high in protein and many other nutrients,
is still considered to be a healthy choice. As a source of lean
protein, low in saturated fat, seafood provides essential omega
3 fatty acids that are important for cell function. The American
Heart Association recommends consumers eat two servings of fish
per week to prevent coronary heart disease. However, today's processing
techniques are very complex, and some fish choices are healthier
than others....
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The Truth About Corn Ethanol
When I first heard about corn ethanol, I thought it sounded wonderful.
Then I read the March 28, 2004 front page story in the Plain Dealer
called "Ethanol Subsidies Fuel Heated Debates". Dan Becker,
director of Sierra Club's energy program was quoted as saying "Ethanol,
especially from corn, is not a good idea"...
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The Birds and the Bees and the Flowers and the Trees
Those words in a 1960's song bring memories of slow dancing in a high
school gym. I had other things on my mind then. It hadn't occurred
to me that birds, bees, and other creatures have a purpose other
than poetic words for a love song. It became very clear when I
learned about the 10/18/06 report by the National Research Council
which indicates that long-term population trends for many North
American pollinators are "demonstrably downward."...
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Mountaintop
Removal
This hollow is like so many others-a twisted, narrow ribbon of fertile
bottomland separating the steep, convoluted mountains of Southern West
Virginia. Here, as in all these valleys, it's easy to see that this sheltering,
isolating landscape molded the culture of the Appalachian folk as they
made a living off what they could harvest both from above and below the
ground...
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Spring
Planting Fever
When I met ethnobotanist Peter Gail, he said to me, “People are always
talking about what not to do. I like to talk about what to do.” He spoke
excitedly about dandelions, a topic that makes some people shudder. When he said
that according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, dandelions are one of the
top five nutritious plants that a person can eat, he had me hooked...
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Conserve
Our Water Resources
Less than 1 percent of the world’s water is available for human use. The
rest is mostly in our salty oceans (97.5% of it), with much of the remaining
2.5% locked up in glaciers and icecaps (the largest being Greenland and Antarctica),
or beyond our reach underground ...
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Climate Change and Biodiversity
If you have seen an Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore’s documentary about global
warming, you are probably convinced that climate change is at least something
that we should be worried about and more likely something that must be addressed
sooner rather than later. Gore’s film did an excellent job of outlining
the process of climate change and its likely consequences. However, the film
was short on specifics concerning the impact on biodiversity. Polar bears are
going to be in trouble, but they represent only the tip of the metaphorical melting
iceberg ...
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Climate Change – Are We Capable of a Serious Response?
The brilliant cartoonist Tom Toles made a pointed comment on mankind’s
ability to ignore compelling scientific evidence in a series of panels
he drew in 2002. Three men are sitting in a steaming Jacuzzi, and
one says “So these scientists did this experiment that if you drop a frog into boiling
water he jumps out, but if you put him in warm water and heat it slowly,
he just swims around until he’s cooked.” “What’s
the point ofthat experiment?” asks the second man ...
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Emerging Diseases and the Environment
Global Warming continues to spiral out of control – disrupting the
delicate balance of disease in nature. One can’t turn on the news
without hearing about some new virus or bacteria, or the latest outbreak
of the Bird Flu or West Nile virus. This piece was originally published as an
op-ed in 1995. Eleven years later, it’s even
more relevant than ever before ...
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Club Member’s Journal: The Bird Feeder
Several years back, I wrote about our bird feeder, a
housewarming gift for our new digs. We had problems
with squirrels and with the pole that held the feeder.
Also, it was about ten or fifteen feet from the dinette window,
too far from ...
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Low Price is No Excuse
Where can you find a store that causes many of the
longstanding established ‘mom and pops’ which can’t
compete to close, leaving main street with empty storefronts?
Where can you find full-time employment defined as a 28 hour work week, ...
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Who Does Poverty Serve?
Here in West Virginia, we have a long history of poverty
and a long history of business coming in and getting
rich off our backs. Our poverty serves big business.
Our state courts big business. If you have jobs our state ...
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Facts about Lawn Pesticides
Pesticides, which are chemicals that kill weeds, insects and fungus, are potentially harmful chemicals used in lawn care.
For example: “weed and feed” contains pesticides. Both granular chemicals and spray forms are poisons.
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Save Money and Reduce Climate Change!
Here are a few reminders about how to quickly and easily save energy this winter:...
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Hurricanes Cause Extreme Natural Gas Shortages
Motorists saw an instant jump in gasoline prices to above $3.00 a gallon when Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast. Hurricanes Katrina and
Rita have also managed to shut down a huge portion of America's natural gas production.
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Go Native in the Garden
Native plants of North America come in a wide variety of shapes, colors, and sizes. When landscaping, seek information as to where the
plant you are purchasing comes from. If it is from another continent it may become an invasive species when it goes to seed in its new home.
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The Environmental Impact of Bottled Water
Recent articles have been telling us that Americans are drinking bottled water at rates that astound even the purveyors of the bottled water.
It's interesting that every study that's ever been done shows that most water drinkers cannot tell the difference between the bottled or tap water.
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Bagging It
Recent articles have been telling us that Americans are drinking bottled water at rates that astound even the purveyors of the bottled water.
It's interesting that every study that's ever been done shows that most water drinkers cannot tell the difference between the bottled or tap water.
...Read More
Fair Trade Coffee Supports Sustainability
Americans sure love coffee. Each morning, nearly 100 million of us get things going with a piping hot cup of Joe. But most of us know
very little about this product that has become such a part of our everyday lives.
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Are Pesticides Safe?
Resources for Risks From Exposure to Synthetic Pyrethroids
Colombia Overview (Rainforest Committee)
Conservation Work In Colombia (Rainforest Committee)
The Herbicide Threat - Colombia (Rainforest Committee)
West Nile Virus Fact Sheet
Recommended Surveillance and Control Plan for WNV
Integrated Pest Management Plan & Policy for Schools
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