Fukushima and Slave Labor

Recently out of work? Unemployment benefits running out? Looking for work? Why not go to Japan? Looking to build up your resume in the up and coming nuclear clean-up industry? Or maybe you'd just like to experience being recruited by the Japanese mafia? For less than minimum wage you can get a job in Fukushima cleaning up radioactive waste. Of course, by the time you pay for your lodging and food you'll find yourself in debt (not counting the air fare to get to Japan or post-job medical expenses). Read more here and here.

2013 Fossil Fuel Disasters

What a Year: 45 Fossil Fuel Disasters the Industry Doesn't Want You to Know About ...Will you want to memorize this list? Probably not. And it may not make for the kind of polite dinner talk that others will enjoy. Here are a few ideas for New Year's dinner party conversation starters: "Do you think that 2014 will have more or less fossil fuel disasters than 2013?" Okay. How about: What happened on March 29, 2013? Answer: An ExxonMobil pipeline carrying...Read more. Not sure if that'll get the party started. Well, how about this:

Let's see if there was a disaster on your birthday?...Who was born on [pick a disaster date]?" The winner gets a gift certificate to the local gas station.

Well, if these ideas don't float we could always invent a new version of the board game "Sorry": 45 squares to move around the board (one for each disaster); a deck of cards. You can draw a disaster - which will allow you to move your "car" to the matching square. Positive and negative numbers that move you either forward or backwards. The goal is to "drive" your car to the final square - "a gas station". Enjoy. For ages 4 - 94.

Obama's New "Peace" Budget - $607 Billion

"President Barack Obama signed into law on Thursday the National Defense Authorization Act for the fiscal year 2014 that allots $526.8 billion for the Pentagon's budget and $80 billion for the war in Afghanistan—totaling nearly $607 billion in defense-related spending. This is nearly $30 billion more than was agreed to in the bipartisan federal budget deal that was also signed by Obama on Thursday." Read more The chart below puts this into perspective:

Meanwhile - United States Institute for Peace Budget (2011) - $39.5 million. Just imagine if Obama hadn't won the Peace Prize?

Major General Smedley Butler, USMC, on Interventionism

"I helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912 (where have I heard that name before?). I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. In China I helped to see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested." "During those years, I had, as the boys in the back room would say, a swell racket. Looking back on it, I feel that I could have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents." Read more

A new study tracks the "dark money" behind the bogus climate denial research.

"The climate change countermovement is a well-funded and organized effort to undermine public faith in climate science and block action by the U.S. government to regulate emissions. This countermovement involves a large number of organizations, including conservative think tanks, advocacy groups, trade associations and conservative foundations, with strong links to sympathetic media outlets and conservative politicians." Read more Like it or not, we are in a culture war. And this ain't your old political correct battles over proper language as we have tea and crumpets together. No, this is about revving the oil pumps, about breaking the back of organized labor, about ending public education, about ending privacy, about exploiting the earth till there's no return.

Finally a Little Good Environmental News from White House

Has someone finally put a green tint on the White House (esp. after all the fracking, support of Big Oil and Keystone Pipelines - here)? The Washington Post reports that "Some of this would presumably lead to battles with industry, but if the Politico story is right, Podesta will internally push for such confrontations, even if they are politically daunting. Additionally, the White House has also laid out its own climate action agenda, some of which would be accomplished through executive action, including empowering the EPA to get tougher on polluters and the imposition of new carbon limits on existing plants."

Podesto says he will only stay a year. He'll have to wear a mask and sharpen his sword if he plans on having much impact in 2014.

Fukushima- the disaster that won't stop

Project Censored did a nice piece recently on one of the biggest and most under-reported stories in the world. Here

Humans cause of climate change

It never surprises that so many people still seem to think that humans aren't the cause of climate change. If not, then we can go on polluting. Here in the USA I constantly see people letting their engines run while they wait for someone, or go into the store, or check their phones, or wait for the train. Thinking that climate change isn't human produced seems to be an excuse. But the fact is that majority of scientists agree. It is human caused. Here

Jet Setters Beware: Shrinking Skiing in Alps

"One climatic trend that is directly visible — and visibly disappointing — to many is the shrinking skiing season in the Alps." A new study confirms that the snow packs in the Alps are shrinking. Read more.

New Study on Water Scarcity

New study finds that 1 in 10 people will face a scarcity of water by the end of the century. "From a risk management perspective, it becomes very clear that, if human-made climate change continues, we are putting at risk the very basis of life for millions of people, even according to the more optimistic scenarios and models,” co-author Pavel Kabat, of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), said in a statement." Read the article at Salon here.

Teacher's Guide: Using the Film "Avatar" in Education

Our Teacher's guide to the film Avatar was originally published at Google Knol. However, since Google discontinued Knol it has been a dead link. The Teacher's Guide can now be found at 2050 Framework, which is dedicated to publishing original work by artists, educators, intellectuals and scholars on subjects relevant to preparing for mid-century.