hope

Women Leaders Gather for Peace: Celebrities Include Christie Brinkley, Marian Hobbs and Alexa McDonough

Oct 12 2007
Women Leaders Gather for Peace: Celebrities Include Christie Brinkley, Marian Hobbs and Alexa McDonough Video Thumbnail

At the United Nations, women leaders from around the world gathered for peace.

Posted by Pierre Terre |

Thinking Outside the Bomb: Beyond Nuclear Weapons

Aug 05 2007
Thinking Outside the Bomb: Beyond Nuclear Weapons Video Thumbnail

Hope over fear. With this intention, leading experts on the risks of nuclear weapons, space weaponization, nuclear proliferation, Iran, North Korea and nuclear terrorism gathered to develop a path toward "A World Free of Nuclear Weapons" - a path forward also recently described by George P. Shultz, William J. Perry, Henry A. Kissinger, and Sam Nunn in the Wall Street Journal on January 4th, 2007.

Posted by Kevin Hansen |

Dr. Hans Blix of the Commission on Weapons of Mass Destruction - Introduction by Jonathan Granoff, President of the Global Security Institute

Jun 13 2006
Dr. Hans Blix of the Commission on Weapons of Mass Destruction - Introduction by Jonathan Granoff, President of the Global Security Institute Video Thumbnail

Dr. Hans Blix, Chairman of the WMD Commission and former Chief Inspector of the IAEA, presents the WMD Commission Report "Weapons of Terror" in Philadelphia, on June 2, 2006 at the National Constitution Center. Dr. Blix provides hope for practical and effective ways of reducing world tensions over Weapons of Mass Destruction.

Posted by Kevin Hansen |

Create a Honey Bee Haven!

Submitted by Kevin Hansen on August 18, 2012 - 18:38

There is a wonderful new program by Pesticide Action Network that appears very helpful for bees, pollinators and habitat:

Honey Bee Haven:

http://www.honeybeehavens.com/content/honey-bee-toolkit?utm_source=actio...

Download the Honey Bee Haven Toolkit:
http://www.panna.org/sites/default/files/BeeToolkit_Reduced_0.pdf

Cheers,
Kevin

Bee-Killing Nicotine Pesticide Illegally Registered in US - One Million+ Sign Emergency Petition

Submitted by Kevin Hansen on March 24, 2012 - 17:14

A remarkable emergency petition with over one million signatures has been submitted to the USEPA requesting the withdrawal of the pesticide clothianidin - a nicotine-based systemic pesticide widely used on corn/maize. Multiple activist organizations participated, lead by major US beekeepers.

The basis of the petition is that the USEPA's legal requirements for the demonstrated safety of clothianidin were never proven - and subsequent findings have shown its damages - violating the US law FIFRA, which governs the registration process for pesticides.

A coalition of beekeepers and activists gained over one million signatures on this petition, that walks step-by-step through the reasoning behind the proposed determination of the clothianidin registration's illegality - used as the basis for the withdrawal request.

This is fantastic.

http://www.beyondpesticides.org/pollinators/CFS-Clothianidin-Petition-3-...

Please pass this link to whomever you think might benefit.

Honeybee Dieoff Link to Corn Planting Process - Italy Researchers

Submitted by Kevin Hansen on February 19, 2012 - 20:09

The process of planting can release large amounts of pesticides coated on seeds - as dust. Corn/maize is widely treated with a coating laced with toxins: neonicotinoid pesticides, fungicides and a host of other substances are physically stuck to the grains of corn. This is a brittle substance that breaks off and creates a large dust problem - a toxic dust.

The team of researchers at the University of Padua, Italy, led by Andrea Tapparo has found significant mortality to honeybees as a result of this exposure. This was closely related to the spring-planting die-off blamed in Germany for a honeybee catastrophe several years ago.

This article is accepted - and will be published in the American Chemical Society's (ACS) journal "Environmental Science and Technology."

We have read a pre-print - look for this one to be downloadable soon.

Top US Bee Experts: Nicotine Pesticides Worsen Bee Diseases

Submitted by Kevin Hansen on February 12, 2012 - 21:34

This is a really big deal:

A team of the top United States honeybee experts at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Beltsville, Maryland, laboratory near Washington DC has published a damning report linking tiny sub-lethal concentrations of one nicotine pesticide, imidacloprid, with an increase in another common gut disease, Nosema.

Although many other studies before this suggested similar findings, the US government has been far behind - this is therefore a breakthrough. It also acknowledges some of the major work done by French researchers: until now, the groundbreaking French research was largely ignored by official US government agencies. Look for breakthroughs because of this work.

The original article linked above was released for public/open access (thanks Springer Publishing for making this open access!!). It is a top-downloaded article at this time on Springer's website.

Abstract of Original Article:

Kick-Starting the Bio-Based Economy by by Mackinnon Lawrence

Submitted by Kevin Hansen on February 4, 2012 - 19:13

This is one of the very important shifts occurring now: an entirely new industrial production base not founded on fossil fuels. Cheers, Kevin

ENERGY | JANUARY 30, 2012 | BY MACKINNON LAWRENCE
Kick-Starting the Bio-Based Economy

Original Article in MatterNetwork.com:

http://www.matternetwork.com/2012/1/kick-starting-bio-based-economy.cfm

by Mackinnon Lawrence of PikeResearch.com

Massive, varied, and intricately woven into the fabric of modern industrial society, the global chemical industry was valued at over $4 trillion in 2011, according to Pike Research’s Green Chemistry report. The non-pharmaceutical chemicals industry in the United States is valued at around $700 billion per year.

Under Pressure, Monsanto withdraws GM Corn (Maize) from France

Submitted by Kevin Hansen on January 24, 2012 - 16:58

Monsanto says won't sell GMO maize in France in 2012

Under pressure, Monsanto has withdrawn its GMO corn MON810 from France, as beekeepers, activists and farmers protested and repeatedly sued - and won - in court.

This comes on the heels of Bayer, Syngenta and other manufacturers of neonicotinoid pesticides withdrawing their products for use on almonds in California. Although at first GMO and pesticides seem different, they are in fact tightly corrrelated: seeds now routinely are GMO, and are simultaneously treated with nicotine-based pesticides and fungicides. The full article is here:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/24/us-gmo-france-monsanto-idUSTRE...

Global Simultaneous Die-Offs of Multiple Species

Submitted by Kevin Hansen on January 24, 2012 - 16:20

This great article in two parts, from Australia, details the mass die-offs around the world, of many species - including the beautiful Ladybird Beetle that is surprisingly important to the web of life: Original Articles at: Part One: http://hydroponics.com.au/free-articles/where-have-all-the-ladybirds-gone and Part Two: http://hydroponics.com.au/free-articles/where-have-all-the-ladybirds-gon...

Where have all the ladybirds gone? Part 1

By Marilyn Steiner and Stephen Goodwin

In this two-part article, the authors shine a spotlight on neonicotinoid pesticides against a backdrop of widespread use of this group and concerning reports of an alarming and increasing loss of biodiversity. While honey bees have been the focus of concern, other pollinators and invertebrates, birds and even the lowly earthworm are at risk.

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