Why are we a nation of tree-huggers?

The Ecology of Work | Curtis White Environmentalism can't succeed until it confronts the destructive nature of modern work—and supplants it by Curtis White Art by Teun Hocks Last of a two-part series. See The Idols of Environmentalism for part one. I ENVIRONMENTALISTS SEE THE ASPHALTING of the country as a sin against the world of nature, but we should also see in it a kind of damage that has been done to humans, for what precedes environmental degradation is the debasement of the human world. We are not the creators of our own world; we merely perform functions in a system into which we were born. Challenging our place in this system as mere isolated functions (whether as workers or consumers) is a daunting task, especially for environmentalists, who tend to think that human problems are the concern of somebody else (labor unions, the ACLU, Amnesty International, Habitat for Humanity, etc.). II HERE’S A BALD ASSERTION FOR WHICH I have no proof scientific or otherwise: a human society would never willingly harm nature.

UK and World Weather Forecast: radar, severe warnings, and more Earthquake Swarm A series of earthquakes have been experienced in Arkansas and are slowly becoming the norm, though the reason as to why there have been so many remains elusive. According to the most recent geological report by the USGS, Arkansas has been experiencing about two-to-seven earthquakes a day ranging from about 1.8-4.0 on the richter scale, and the trend doesn't seem likely to stop with up to two dozen quakes sometimes being reported in a given day. More than 800 earth quakes have been reported across the region in the past six months, and the region experienced its largest quake yet this past Sunday reaching nearly 5.0 on the ricter scale. Geologists have presented two possibilities for the constant earth flux, one being that this is a natural event such as a swarm of similar quakes that occurred in the 1980s that hit Enola, Arkansas. The other theory points to a natural gas exploration technique called "fracking" as a possible cause.

Weather: Interactive weather world map, short and long range forecasts for the UK and abroad Sky News UK Weather Forecast Temperatures over parts of the country dropped back to minus 4C on Thursday night, so it was a chilly start in many spots, but sunny. That sunshine will help push temperatures up to around 14C at best, but that should feel quite pleasant in light winds. It will be warmest over parts of the north and west, whilst North Sea Coasts will be cooler at times, with an on shore breeze. Through the afternoon, cloud will bubble up over central, southern and south-eastern areas; this will disappear this evening. So, it will be another chilly night tonight, with a touch of frost in rural areas. The emphasis on Saturday’s weather will be on dry conditions once again, with the best of the sunshine in the north and west. Central, southern and south-eastern areas will be more cloudy with one or two isolated showers.

Trouble in Farm City, and How You Can Help – EcoLocalizer Food Published on April 7th, 2011 | by Patricia Larenas Oakland Urban Farmer Novella Carpenter Urban farmer extraordinaire, Novella Carpenter, has recently hit a wall of bureaucracy with the city of Oakland that threatens the very existence of her small farm. Carpenter is the author of the popular and engaging book “Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer”, and has been raising food on an open parcel of land that she owns in Oakland. Although the city of Oakland is slated to change the law to allow growing vegetables, the one banning livestock will remain. “The deal is that growing any food on an ‘empty lot’ in the City of Oakland is illegal. Transforming More Vacant Lots into Urban Farms Why should we care or act to help prevent the death of this small urban farm? Farms are no longer way out in the country somewhere; they might be on your city street corner, or growing atop the suburban neighborhood rooftop next door. Cover via Amazon Photo: Michelle Renee’s Gardening About the Author

Botany Department, Smithsonian Institution New Bolivian Law Would Give Rights to Nature | Care2 Healthy & Green Living By Erin La Rosa, ecorazzi It’s an annoying fact that not everyone recycles or turns the lights off or makes efforts to so much as conserve water. So, what if the government stepped in and forced everyone to do all of those things? That’s what lawmakers in Bolivia are taking steps toward with their “Law of Mother Earth” bill. It’s a piece of legislation that would grant nature equal rights to humans. The laws would be the first of their kind, with 11 in total, and would recognize that the planet has an equal right to be protected. The Guardian outlined the laws as: “the right to life and to exist; the right to continue vital cycles and processes free from human alteration; the right to pure water and clean air; the right to balance; the right not to be polluted; and the right to not have cellular structure modified or genetically altered.” Hopefully Bolivia’s bold move will lead to laws like this being implemented elsewhere! (via Huffington Post)

Department of Vertebrate Zoology, NMNH Brazilian president's promises crumble under weight of Belo Monte dam | Environment Brazil's new president, Dilma Rousseff, has never been popular among environmentalists. Since the early days of predecessor Luis Inácio Lula da Silva's presidency, when she occupied the post of minister of mining and energy, many activists have seen her as a leader with an old-fashioned view of development. Something like "economic growth is priority number one, no matter if some hectares of Amazon rainforest has to be chopped down". The animosity increased even more after Rousseff was promoted, in 2005, to the ministry of internal affairs – the post that paved her way to the presidency. It was a period when almost every infrastructure project – from offshore oil drilling to roads in the middle of the forest – were given licences, despite civil society criticism. Nevertheless, in her first day in the job, the new president gave an impression that something could have changed. It seems very likely that the Brazil's target will be reached.

Undercover Cop Who Posed as Environmentalist Tells All Photo: Guardian--the new look The news story in the UK of the undercover cop who was posing as an environmentalist for seven years just keeps on going. This one has legs, as they say. Mark "Stone", really Kennedy, was the perfect environmentalist who was found out and has now turned against the police, dishing dirt which they say is dangerous to other agents still undercover. Photo: schNews--the old look The whole affair has become a bit of a circus, with Mark Kennedy re-doing his look: he is now shaved, with a neat hair cut and conservative clothing. Kennedy claims that there are at least 15 other undercover agents who have infiltrated the green movement in the past and that four are still under cover. As for the pay at this gig, in addition to his salary of £50,000 (US $79,000), he was paid another £200,000 (US $317,000) to help him keep his cover. He says that he is on the run, in hiding and afraid for his life.

Brazil's New President Vows to Defend the Environment Photo: Antonio Cruz, via Exame Yesterday was a historic day in Brazil, and the end of an era for President Lula da Silva, whose leadership over the last eight years has made Brazil one of the most rapidly developing countries in the World, as well as a nation on the leading edge of environmental policy. Taking Lula's place to become the country's first female president, trained economist and former Marxist rebel, Dilma Rousseff, has pledged to help make Brazil "on of the most developed and least unequal nations in the world." But, with developmentalism and environmentalism so often at odds, it is important to note where Brazil's Presidents stands on the intersection of these important and dynamic issues.While Brazil has been a major player in Latin America since its founding, the nation's current experiment with democratic politics has, thus far, been relatively brief. In 2003, with the election of Lula da Silva, the nation began a profound transformation.

WikiLeaks Reveals Pollution Issues in China The latest batch of diplomatic cables unearthed by WikiLeaks reveals China's failure to measure certain pollution levels and the government's silence about the issue. Several newly revealed cables, dating from 2006, show that certain types of air pollution aren't measured at all in China and that the Chinese government has ignored alarming findings from academics and scientists. "Air pollution in China has grown so bad that Chinese officials are acknowledging the challenge it presents, and various foreign scholars are offering alarming statistics about the financial and health costs it brings. ... However, fine particle (PM2.5) pollution — which is deemed to be of highest concern for public health — is not measured," a cable dated Aug. 16, 2006, claims. Another cable reveals that the levels of ozone (O3) in the Chinese province of Guangdong were at one point extremely high. China has been praised in recent years for its efforts to reduce air pollution. [via The Guardian]

New Mexico County is First in the Nation to Ban all Drilling and Fracking Republished from grist.org By John Upton Mora County, N.M., has a message for the oil and gas industry: “You’re not welcome here.” County commissioners voted 2-1 on Monday to ban all oil and gas extraction in their drought-ravaged county near Santa Fe, home to fewer than 5,000 people. A temporary drilling moratorium is already in place in neighboring San Miguel County, but it is believed that Mora County is the first in the nation to impose an outright ban on all oil and gas drilling. From E&E News, via NRDC: Commissioner Alfonso Griego said “he supported the measure because he feels that federal and state laws fail to adequately protect communities from the impacts of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.” Any detractors? Wally Drangmeister, a spokesman for the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association, said the potential of the natural gas deposits in the area may never be known if exploration isn’t allowed and that could result in lost revenues for the county, as well as the rest of New Mexico.