Category: take action

politics, social justice and ways you can make a difference in the world around you.

Silly corn subsidies

I can’t help but think about The West Wing’s King Corn. “Did you take the ethanol pledge?”

Treehugger reports on Jeff Goodell‘s article in Rolling Stone:

He starts strongly: “The great danger of confronting peak oil and global warming isn’t that we will sit on our collective asses and do nothing while civilization collapses, but that we will plunge after “solutions” that will make our problems even worse. Like believing we can replace gasoline with ethanol, the much-hyped biofuel that we make from corn.” and explains the political pressures that lead so many politicians like Obama, Clinton, McCain, and Edwards, who should know better, to support it.
Before the “corn is just the first step” people jump in, Jeff covers that, quoting Vinod Kholsa, but explaining how cellulosic ethanol, if it can be scaled up to production, is still no answer. “replacing fifty percent of our current gasoline consumption with cellulosic ethanol would consume thirteen percent of the land in the United States – about seven times the land currently utilized for corn production. ”
The facts are straightforward: Filling the tank of 1 SUV with pure ethanol consumes more than 450 pounds of corn, enough calories to feed a person for a year. “if we rely on ethanol to save the day, we could soon find ourselves forced to make a choice between feeding our SUVs and feeding children in the Third World. And we all know how that decision will go.”

Sustainable infrastructure

Working for the County Commissioner in Ellis County Pct. 3, I’ve seen my share of bridge damage and road damage with all the rains we’ve had this summer.
whitten-rd2jpg.JPG
(Yes that’s a five foot culvert that used to run under Whitten Rd – it buckled and snapped in half with all the rain water).
Granted our roads and bridges are nothing like the I-35 bridge outside Minneapolis, and granted, we haven’t had any fatalities on our damaged roadways — but as reported on Treehugger, “Governments do not want to pay for maintenance because it is not sexy,” said John Ochsendorf, a structural engineer and an associate professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
There’s this really odd way of thinking (especially of some elected officials in Ellis County) that if we don’t maintain our infrastructure (i.e. facilities, roads, bridges, etc.) we can keep our tax rate low and get re-elected and pass the maintenance off to the people who come behind us.

What might have cost a lot less if things had been taken care of originally are now costing more to rebuild or completely replace.
Where’s the logic in that?
More from Treehugger:

As Congress approves 55 billion dollars in corn subsidies and pays 12 billion dollars a month for the Iraq war, the infrastructure in America continues to crumble: Bridges in Minneapolis, steam pipes in Manhattan, highway collapses in Montreal and of course levee breaches in New Orleans.
The New York Times says “Transportation officials know many of the nation’s 600,000 bridges are in need of repair or replacement. About one in eight has been deemed “structurally deficient,” a term that typically means a component of the bridge’s structure has been rated poor or worse, but does not necessarily warn of imminent collapse. Most deficient bridges, which included the span of Interstate 35W over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, remain open to traffic.”
Geoff Manaugh of BLDGBLOG does the math and notes “13.6 percent of U.S. bridges – i.e. more than 81,000 bridges – are “functionally obsolete.” He continues: “the Federal Highway Administration’s annual budget appears to be hovering around $35-40 billion a year….and annual government subsidies for Amtrak come in at slightly more than $1 billion. That’s $1 billion every year to help commuter train lines run.”

Let’s wake up and take care of what we have now – or end up paying a much higher price later on.

Geoff says “Perhaps the best way to be “pro-American” these days is to lobby for modern, safe, and trustworthy infrastructure – and the economic efficiencies to which that domestic investment would lead.”

Obama lays out plans for terrorism

This is a couple days old, but Barack Obama laid out his vision for fighting terrorism Wednesday, saying he was prepared to send troops into Pakistan if the threat warranted.
“We’ve got a color coded politics of fear.”
Obama maintains that the war in Iraq should have never been launched.
“Just because the President misrepresent our enemy does not mean we don’t have enemies… the threat is real.”
He also said the US should have all combat brigades out of Iraq by next Spring and the US should focus back on Afghanistan and possibly Pakistan where Al Quida is being safely harbored.
Hear the report from NPR.

Treehugging according to The Simpsons

My brother-in-law Brian and I took our nephew Jake to see The Simpsons movie last night. Funny stuff. I felt like maybe we were a little off or the humor was a little smarter than the rest of the audience (that’s what I want to think) as I felt like we were laughing at more of the sight gags and jokes than anyone else in the theater.
I thought it was smart (sometimes crude) satire/comedy that poked fun at the EPA and well, everyone else as the show typically does.
My favorite scene was a picture of the Springfield church next to Moe’s bar. When the folks discovered the end of Springfield was near, those in the bar and church ran out screaming and those in the bar ran into the church and those in the church ran into the bar.
Later in the movie as the “end of the world” was at hand, the church marquee was changed to say, “We told you so.”
Ha! Good stuff.
Slate has put together a video looking at the show’s history on environmentalism that’s quite good… take a look.

Abolish modern day slavery

From FreetheSlaves.net:

Free the Slaves logoMany of our supporters have told us that they would really like to help out when there is something specific they can do. This week is one of those times. A 3-minute phone call from you today can make an incredible difference for the anti-slavery movement. This week the US Congress is considering groundbreaking legislation, and I’m writing to ask for your assistance. Would you join us in phoning our Representatives to request their support?
Free the Slaves and others have helped write legislation that would form a year-long Commission on the Abolition of Modern Slavery. The Commission would take a close look at how the US government can enhance its anti-slavery efforts, be a global leader in the fight against slavery and make clear recommendations for improvement. It is a non-controversial project that will yield concrete results for very little money.
The bill has both Republican and Democratic support. Both parties recognize this as an historic opportunity to focus the US government on ending slavery for good.
But if Members of Congress do not hear from voters—their constituents—they will not act.
Now is the time to show your commitment to fighting slavery. Call your Congressional Representative and challenge them to show a similar commitment by co-sponsoring the Commission bill, HR 2522. When people like you from across the country are calling with the same message, Congress will pay attention.
These three minutes on the phone will make an actual difference in the fight to end slavery. We know your time is valuable and appreciate you taking the time to make this call.
Calling your Representative’s office is quick and easy, even if you’ve never done it before (see below)!
Sincerely,
Jolene Smith
Executive Director
Free the Slaves

You can find your Representative and their phone number on the House website. (There you’ll select your state, type in your zip code and the correct info will appear.)

Sample script for your phone call to your Representative, for you to personalize as you wish:

“I am a constituent calling about the bill to create a congressional Commission on the Abolition of Modern Slavery. I would like Representative to co-sponsor this bill, HR 2522. There are more people in slavery today than at any other time in human history—27 million by conservative estimate. I believe that the US should take a firm stand against slavery and that our government should fight it in the most effective way possible. This Commission would be an important first step. Ending slavery is a non-partisan issue. We can all agree that slavery must end. I would like to see Representative take a leadership position by co-sponsoring this bill.”

If the staff at your Representative’s office have further questions about the bill, you can tell them that they are welcome to call:
Meg Roggensack at Free the Slaves, 202-638-1865
Edan Lichtenstein at Rep. John Lewis’ office, 202-225-3801

As Free the Slaves’ supporters are phoning their Representatives, our Policy Director Meg Roggensack and I will be following up with in-person meetings on Capitol Hill, so we would love to hear about how your phone calls go. It helps us strategize. You can reach Meg at 1-866-324-FREE or roggensack@freetheslaves.net.

To read the text of the bill, see our website. Please let us know if you have any questions!