FDA Allows Pet Deaths to Mount While Awaiting Scientific Certainty, Certainty That has Eluded Them Since 2008

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by Dennis Kucinich
Washington, Jul 23, 2012

Image by Dandelion Salad via Flickr

Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) today released the following statement criticizing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for failing to adequately protect domestic pets.

“After a weeks-long investigative trip to China and thousands of reports of sick and dying dogs, the FDA still has no answers and offers pet owners no protection,” said Kucinich.

The greatest crimes of human history are made possible by the most colorless human beings by Chris Hedges

by Chris Hedges
Featured Writer
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Truthdig
July 23, 2012

Image by laurinkofler via Flickr

The greatest crimes of human history are made possible by the most colorless human beings. They are the careerists. The bureaucrats. The cynics. They do the little chores that make vast, complicated systems of exploitation and death a reality. They collect and read the personal data gathered on tens of millions of us by the security and surveillance state. They keep the accounts of ExxonMobil, BP and Goldman Sachs. They build or pilot aerial drones. They work in corporate advertising and public relations. They issue the forms. They process the papers. They deny food stamps to some and unemployment benefits or medical coverage to others. They enforce the laws and the regulations. And they do not ask questions.

Raj Patel on Changing the Global Food System by David Bollier

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by David Bollier
www.bollier.org
July 13, 2012

Image by Dandelion Salad via Flickr

Raj Patel has been tracking the pathologies of the global food system for many years.  An activist and academic who teaches at the UC Berkeley Center for African Studies, Patel has just published a second, updated edition of his 2008 book, Stuffed and Starved:  The Hidden Battle for the World Food System.

The problem with the food system is not that we don’t produce enough calories to eradicate hunger, Patel notes.  It’s that the food system has its own priorities of institutional consolidation and profit, which means that more than 1 billion people in the world are malnourished and 2 billion are overweight – which is worse than when the first edition of Patel’s book came out.

Don Tipping: Permaculture: Follow the Water System

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Jul 18, 2012 by amillison

Image by oliverk via Flickr

Permaculture seed wizard Don Tipping takes us on a 10 minute animated tour of the epic Seven Seeds Farm in the Siskiyou Mountains of Southern Oregon, USA. The farm was designed using Permaculture Principles and Keyline patterning. We follow the water system from top to bottom, and then the amazing downstream effects are revealed. This video was produced by Andrew Millison as part of the course content for his online Advanced Permaculture Design Practicum, Hort 485, taught through the Horticulture department at Oregon State University’s Extended Campus: http://www.beaverstatepermaculture.com.

Earthrise: Earthships + North Aral Sea Revival

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Image by Tweaver via Flickr

Jul 21, 2012 by AlJazeeraEnglish

The arid New Mexico desert is home to a cluster of unusual buildings called ‘Earthships’ — environmentally-sustainable, self-sufficient homes made using recycled and natural materials. Plus, the revival of the North Aral sea, thanks to more efficient irrigation to increase in the inflow of the Syr Darya river, endangered fish reintroduction programmes and the 13-kilometre Kok-Aral dam.