News

Proposed nickel-copper-sulfide mines threaten the rivers, Lake Superior, wildlife, and the Chippewa native communities. Over 1,000 acres of wetlands would be destroyed, and the fish and wild rice would be threatened. Also, oppose a land swap of federal national forest to become state land that would primarily logged and mined for profit without concern for wildlife, fish, forest, or recreation. LINK

In camping out, the students remind me of the cardboard shantytown that students built and lived in 26 years ago to pressure the CU adminstrators to divest from companies doing business with apartheid South Africa. Here is an article on the protest. We printed the divest t-shirts for the CU students. And 26 years ago, Jimmy Walker perched atop the extension ladder that he had roped to the cardboard shantytown, so that if the cardboard structure were removed, then he would plummet.

Protestors arrested at BP today. Last night, I saw a great documentary, The Great Invisible, about the oil, shrimp, and oyster workers harmed by BP oil. People are out of work, hungry, and not receiving support from BP. Yet some neighbors are gathering and distributing food to hungry families. Such a contrast between the needy Gulf residents and the powerful oil companies. I recall Tony Hayward, the BP president, complaining about the spill making him miss a yacht race- what a contrast versus the people out of work, and the fish, turtles, whales and dolphins dead. The FB movie site has scary updates on the spill.

Democracy Now shows an article on and interviews with Galeano. He fled military dictatorships because he didn't want to be in a jail ," to lay in a cemetery... as death is very boring" . He wrote of "our possible greatness, our possible beauty" and to remind us of the exploitation that has been done to us. "Torture is not to get information, it is to spread fear. Freedom and Slavery are intimately connected. Wars and invasions and coups are done in the name of democracy against democracy." He loved the playfulness of soccer, of language, of people, of stories.

Tell EPA to ban current neonicotinaoid pesticides, not just limit some future ones! Neonicotinoids kill bees butterflies, and ladybugs. This recent article shows the public relations tactic of the EPA pretending to regulate in the future while allowing more neonicotinoid pesticide use now. Write letters to your newspapers, please.

A neighbor just got a load of compost to fill the raised beds he has been digging and framing. Here is an article about how raised bed gardens give veggies plus stuff for bees and butterflies.