Gentle Readers of this Blog, please help save the birds and the bees from pesticide contamination. J.R.

The bees‏

Claiborne Deming, Story of Stuff

9/06/14

 Newsletters

To: JOSEPH Raglione

New studies show the pesticides wiping out the bees are killing many more animals, threatening "the heart of a functioning ecosystem."  Tell Bayer to stop making bee-killing neonic pesticides! Take Action! Dear JOSEPH Raglione, The vanishing of the bees is just the tip of the iceberg. Recent studies have found that the neurotoxins killing off the bees are also threatening to wipe out "the heart of a functioning ecosystem." So many birds are dying National Geographic says it could be a second "Silent Spring." "We are witnessing a threat to the productivity of our natural and farmed environment," said Jean-Marc Bonmatin of France's National Centre for Scientific Research (NCSR), co-author of the report. After studying over 800 reports gathered over 20 years, scientists found "clear evidence of harm" "sufficient to trigger regulatory action". Bayer, one of the largest producers of neonics, has been under enormous pressure to reign in the killer pesticide. Instead, Bayer has launched a lawsuit at the EU in an attempt to overturn neonic regulations. These new studies could not be any clearer that the time for waiting is over. Tell Bayer to stop making the neonics causing mass destruction of our ecosystem! The latest study says these pesticides, absorbed by plants, are also harming other insect pollinators, fish and birds as they leach into soil and water. The most affected species were terrestrial invertebrates such as earthworms, which are crucial soil-enrichers, said the NCSR in a press statement. Bees and butterflies were next, followed by water-born insects, then birds, and finally fish and amphibians. The effects are working their way up the food chain.  "The combination of their widescale use and inherent properties, has resulted in widespread contamination of agricultural soils, freshwater resources, wetlands, non-target vegetation, estuarine and coastal marine systems." This four-year assessment was carried out by The Task Force on Systemic Pesticides, which advises the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the world's watchdog on species loss. But with these mounting studies finding neonicotinoids responsible, the big pesticide companies are starting to engage in tactics they learned from Big Tobacco by pumping out their own research to cast the blame on mites, climate change -- anything other than their own toxic products. We can't afford pesticide companies to subvert science and threaten our global ecosystems. Tell Bayer to stop making the pesticides that are wiping out the food chain! Neonicotinoids are particularly pernicious pesticides that seeps into every part of the plant.They damages the brains of insects that land to feed on plants -- whether they eat the fruit or just the pollen -- and then wash out into the surrounding soil where they wipe out most of the surrounding life. Millions of tons of pesticides are dumped onto our crops, into our rivers, and carried throughout our ecosystems around the world. This is a clear example of "more" not meaning "better". The more toxins we dump, the more the real pests they are designed to kill grow resistant, and the more the animals we rely on to maintain a clean, healthy planet are endangered. In the old story, the solution to any farming problem is more -- more machines, more fertilizer, more pesticides. This constant push for more is endangering the natural world, pushing nature out of balance. We're here to tell a new Story, one where we focus on making things better, and cultivating a healthy, safe environment. Please join today in helping us tell this story and fight for a cleaner planet. Tell Bayer that we can't keep dumping neonicotinoids into our ecosystem! Thank you for all you do!  Claiborne Deming, on behalf of The Story of Stuff team Resources: The Independent: Pesticides linked to mass bee deaths also affect other friendly organisms including birds and fish, June 24, 2014 National Geographic: Second Silent Spring? Bird Declines Linked to Popular Pesticides, July 9, 2014

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At the Story of Stuff, we're rewriting the narrative that has us overworked and trashing the planet.
 We're working to build a world that is healthy, sustainable, and just.

Sustain our movement. | Unsubscribe.

Gentle People: Bardarbunga is a hot name...literally. See for yourselves!
 Every day my friends from NASA provide me with Earth surprising information.
 I can't handle this much info all by myself and so I am passing it on to you. Please share!

[eo-announce] Earth Observatory: What's New Week of 09 September 2014‏

NASA's Earth Observatory (eo-announce@lists.nasa.gov)

9/09/14

 Groups, Newsletters

To: eo-announce@lists.nasa.gov

The latest from NASA's Earth Observatory (09 September 2014)
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Latest Images:
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/

* Roiling Flows on Holuhraun Lava Field
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=84316&src=eoa-iotd

* Smoke in Yosemite
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=84320&src=eoa-iotd

* Thunderstorms over Borneo
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=84308&src=eoa-iotd

* Measuring Earth's Magnetism
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=84266&src=eoa-iotd

* Acid Lake in Java
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=84305&src=eoa-iotd

* Flooding in Bangladesh and India
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=84299&src=eoa-iotd

* Infrared Views of Bardarbunga
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=84282&src=eoa-iotd

* Ash on New Britain 
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=84276&src=eoa-iotd

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Recent Blog Posts:
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/blogs/

Earth Matters
* Puzzling Evidence
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/blogs/earthmatters/?p=4930&src=eoa-blogs

Notes from the Field
* May the 4STAR Be With You
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/blogs/fromthefield/?p=6434&src=eoa-blogs

* Aerosol Measurements in Hurricane Cristobal
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/blogs/fromthefield/?p=6416&src=eoa-blogs

--------------------


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I BELIEVE!
---------------
I believe in Ethics and Principles and in Truth and in Justice. I believe in both our human laws and in nature's laws.

I believe that all that ever was still is constantly changing within the eternal energy of the universe.

I believe man has labeled the eternal energy of the universe with his own cultural interpretations understood around the world as: God, or Mohammed, or Buddha, or Vishnu and many other wonderfully descriptive names.

I believe, therefore, that the concepts describing supreme all powerful beings are attempts to define the Eternal Energy of the Universe and so far not a priest or a scientist has explained eternal energy.
"All is relative" said Einstein. And surprise! Einstein believed in God!

I believe that all successful religions are based on: Peace, Love, Compassion and Ethics.

I believe that not all peaceful and loving and compassionate ethical human beings are religious or need to be religious to do good work.

I believe that all rules based on love and compassion will promote good will and peace to the degree in which they are obeyed.

I believe what good a person creates on this Earth returns to that person. It is commonly known as Karma but it can also be called free love and it spreads around quickly from person to person.

I believe that free and honest and fair trade between people and countries creates good will and the opposite creates ill will.

I believe that territory and food and shelter must be shared in a crowded world and that borders and fences create fear and fear creates enemies!

I believe that sharing honest and true facts as well as goods and services leads to peace.

I believe that hoarding money and food and goods and services leads to violence.
I believe that allowing poor human beings to go hungry in order to maintain an imperial economy is cruel and foolish and dangerous and the same goes for  imperial communism.
I believe that voluntary soldiers working as trained Peace Keepers for the United Nations are better at keeping World Peace than their military counterparts who are trained and paid to kill.

I believe that Doctors without borders are heroes and visionaries and necessary!

I believe that farmers and ecologists and teachers doing their best to feed and save the planet using natural non polluting systems are necessary heroes and visionaries.

I believe that every person: young, old, weak or invalid, must be given the opportunity and the training to work for themselves in order to gain merit and self worth, as long as the work is non-polluting.

I believe that all those who need help must be given a helping hand and all those willing and capable of working must be paid honest and fair wages.

I believe all governments must support in dignity and comfort all citizens who are medically proven to be unable to support themselves. Privatizing any medical system unnecessarily burdens the poor and the helpless as they simply cannot pay for the medical help they need.

I believe that dollars must be used to focus on life sustaining systems and not on polluting non-life sustaining systems. All powerful multi-national companies should invest in life sustaining business.

I believe our Medicare and Social Welfare systems must be improved and maintained.

I believe that prisoners must be given work and credited for their work with their money re-directed towards the victims of crime and to non-profit charities.

I believe that Human Beings live a more fulfilling life when they live by the sweat of their brow...but not so much they break their backs simply to survive!

I believe that if we work to enhance and replenish Nature, she in return will replenish and enhance our lives!

I believe that today there are still a few large corporations left who are working against Nature and they continue to create severe harm to many species existing on this Earth, including our own.

I believe that Life is Good and Love is wonderful and birth control an absolute necessity.

I believe that men who live and abide by moral and by ethical as well as by natural principles, live more abundantly than those who believe that there are no such principles.

I believe that understanding Nature's Laws is the best way to be useful to one's self and to our fellow Human Beings. 

If you also believe the way I do, then please join the world humanitarian peace and ecology movement or the Green Party or the Sierra Club or Green-Peace or the World Wildlife Fund or any other of the wonderful and honest non-profit organizations working to save and enhance Life on this our small Blue Planet Earth.

You can also start your own group and do something wonderful for yourself and for your family and friends and all life on this our little Blue planet.

Signed: Joseph Raglione
Executive director: The World Humanitarian Peace and Ecology Movement.

human4us@bell.net

--------------------------------

human4us2.blogspot.ca

• 
  
• 
  

• Gentle People:

•  Here is a message from my friends at Greenpeace. Please pass it on...Thanks!

• 
  

• Let's stop feeling so guilty about global warming

  Blogpost by Emma Thompson - August 7, 2014 at 16:071 comment
  

  Emma Thompson is currently in the Arctic aboard the Greenpeace ship Esperanza. She wrote these words after walking out onto the fragile sea ice for the first time alongside her 14 year old daughter Gaia.

  We're told that it is all our fault, global warming — we want the fuel, we want our cars, and that the oil industry is merely responding to the needs of a greedy public. But that's simply not fair. Most of us want to live cleaner lives, but our governments don't make these things easily available.

  The changes we need, that the Arctic needs, must come from the top as well as the bottom. We need electric cars to be cheaper and more accessible. We want safer bike lanes in every big city. We want plastic bags to be banned for good. We need governments to stand up to the dirty industries that have for so long funded and controlled them, and to give us all an affordable chance to live our lives in a more sustainable way.

  Yes, keep recycling; keep using your own shopping bags, taking transit and using your bike. But also use your voice. Know that you have power and you can make your government listen. Above all, I hope that people stop feeling so guilty and powerless about climate change. That's the lie that keeps us paralysed when really together, we are so much more powerful.

  But bear in mind that politicians often lose sight of issues that aren't in front of them all the time. They can end up ignoring even something like climate change, which is possibly the most pressing challenge of our time. So we all need to be bold. Attend a rally, write to your local leaders. If tens of millions of us just wrote to our leaders demanding action on the Arctic and climate change, well – that could change everything.

  Please join me, and five million others so far. Visit www.savethearctic.org/emma

The World Humanitarian Peace and Ecology Movement presents: Our INTERNATIONAL WEB SITE INDEX .

3851-56 

Laval, West,

Quebec, Canada.

H7R1M5

------------------

Freedom with honesty and justice and courage…

Compassion with dignity, tolerance and humour…

Peace with love and harmony towards all life on Earth.

"All that ever was still is constantly changing within the eternal energy of the universe and the only constant is constant change. Author: Joseph Raglione."

Gentle People:
Welcome to my index of fun web sites and return as often as you like. Joseph Raglione/

1.=  http://www.FreeChess.org

2.=  http://www.netflix.com/WiHome

3.= http://www.webcrawler.com/%E2%80%8E/support/addsearchtosite?qc=web&aid=c7d63d78-d17e-49d5-a735-4e642b7855ac&ridx=1

4.= https://www.google.ca/?gws_rd=cr&ei=mKPmUor8O4zxrAGy44BY

5.=  http://www.Youtube.com>

6. = http://www.Greenpeace.org
7.=  http://www.human4us.org

8. = http://www.NASA.GOV</>

9. = http://www.teamsternation.com
/2014/02/.html</>

10.=  http://www.Ted.com

11.=  http://ca.yahoo.com/?p=us

12. = http://www.Reuters.com

13.=  http://www.ustream.tv/decoraheagles

14.=  http://www.tour-eiffel.fr/360-panorama-paris/index-en.html

15.=  http://www.greatwallchina.info/news/index.htm

16.=  http://www.geographia.com/russia/moscow02.htm

17. = http://www.wwfindia.org/

18. = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhLa6O1OP0Y

19.=  http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=80167&eocn=te&eoci=index

20.=  http://www.un.org/en/

21. = http://storyofstuff.org/

22. = wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_memory

23.=  http://www.dalailama.com/

24.=  http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/francesco/

25.=  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cV4aB5EeN6ohttp://

26. = http://www.bbc.com/news/health-24564446

27.=  http://www.kijiji.ca/

28.=  http://www.nytimes.com/
29.= http://video.canadiens.nhl.com/videocenter/console?catid=291&id=587397&lang
30.= http://www.iTooch.com  How to greatly improve our school systems.
31. =http://www.Netmaths.com
32. =http://www.Evernote.com
33. =http://www.abmaths.com
34. =http://www.Sciences.com
35. =http://www.iBooks.com
36. =http://www.skitch.com
37. =https://plus.google.com/u/0/  
38.=http://www.jaccorde.com
39.=http://www.Atlasdumonde.com
40.=http://www.Echecs.com
41.=http://mlb.mlb.com/home
42.=http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/
43.=http://www.nfl.com/
44.=http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=83650
45.=http://crowdenergy.org/ocean-energy-turbine-kickstarter-video/
46.=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVmmpGeR6nk
47. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Current_events
48.  http://www.sierraclub.org/
49.http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/en/kids/games.shtml.
50.http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/07/140709-birds-insects-pesticides-insecticides-neonicotinoids-silent-spring/

Song of the Universe.

In space
All the energy that ever was still is
But
In a different place and at
A different speed...
We measure light from the
Stars in the Sky
With the question why?
And as we measure
Life on Earth
With the same question?
The energy that now is
You and I, my love,
Will change speed and place
Within eternal space
In order to find the answer.

copyright: Joseph Raglione.
-------------------------------------

The Setting of the Hydrogen Sun.

 I see the setting of the Hydrogen Sun
As a child does when having fun,
Transfixed and filled with wonder...

And high above my head the Red
And Orange and Dark Blue colours,
Are painted by our fiery Sun
On clouds across the sky...

And time slides like a Seagull flying...

And soon it is over as the Sun goes hiding
And the dark sets a stage for the bright Moon
Above my head...

And rising I think of bed...
But suddenly I see the planet Mars arriving...
And beyond that a heaven of eternal galaxies
Hiding from my logic!
And so, like a child, I stay a while longer.

copyright: Joseph Raglione.

Gentle People:

 Apparently I am at war with the advertising companies! They flooded my computer with pop-up ads and with PC improvement ads which informed me how my old XP computer was slow and was no longer supported by Microsoft and therefore I needed to upgrade. According to these insulting commercial cyber terrorists I had to immediately buy a new computer! To prove it, they even stuck pop-up advertising in my Netflix movies and made it virtually impossible for me to watch movies. That was when I got angry!
 Does this blog give you the impression I capitulated to their demands?
 I like my old computer and I'm keeping it. When the fight is over I will give you the secrets for blocking the advertising pop-ups from infiltrating into your brand new computers. It may take a while to win the war because advertising is a multi-billion dollar industry and they do not appreciate human-rights activists cutting into their profits. Apparently they were not around when we created the ground rules for computer users. Spamming is forbidden on all computers around the world. Do not spam and shove unwanted advertising in our email boxes and on our computers. If you want to sell something, create your own web site and wait for people to find you. You are allowed to place advertising on your own web sites but if nobody wants your product, too bad! There are still enough "GEEKS" in this world who hate advertising and will help to protect the World Wide Web from commercial infiltration and domination. We may even flag a few nasty and ignorant companies in the process. Have a great day!
Signed: Joseph Raglione
Executive Director: The World Humanitarian Peace and Ecology Movement.

Hey kids! Water does not derive from 

plastic bottles!

The fight Nestlé never expected.‏

Claiborne Deming, Story of Stuff

8/02/14

To: JOSEPH Raglione

Dear JOSEPH Raglione, When Nestlé subsidiary Poland Spring came  to the tiny town of Fryeburg, Maine, USA nearly  a decade ago, residents noticed that their  water was vanishing. Lake levels were lowering. Streams were getting smaller. Nestlé was pumping the aquifer under their town for all it could get. When the citizens of Fryeburg spoke up,  Nestlé unleashed an aggressive, divide-and-conquer strategy. It sued the town, nearly bankrupting  several local activists. It worked to ensure that  local regulatory boards were friendly to its position  and it took its case all the way to the state  Supreme Court. But Nestlé also set up a Poland Spring shop for local outreach, and established the Fryeburg Business Association  -- staffed by a Nestlé employee -- to lead a charm offensive. Local schools  even have a bottled water vending machine  and Nestlé hands out bottles of water to people in the town.  That’s right – a town sitting atop one of America’s  most famous aquifers is being sold its own water... in plastic bottles. Nestlé is boldly planting a story --  telling the residents, even the children,  of Fryeburg to get used to drinking their  own spring water through Nestlé’s plastic bottles.   But we have a different story to tell and we  need your help. We’ve been speaking with local activists -- the Friends of the Fryeburg Water District -- and they say that  it’s vital we restore local residents’  sense of pride and ownership of their  water resources.  That’s why we’re raising money to buy  public drinking fountains for the town  specifically designed to fill up reusable  water bottles. We’ll also supply local residents with their own Fryeburg-branded water bottles, to take pride in the fight they’ve waged and send a clear message to Nestlé: We don’t want your bottled water. Chip in today to buy water bottles  and public drinking fountains for the   Fryeburg school and town! Nestlé has planted its presence in Fryeburg and  its schools because it wants the local children to  grow up assuming their local water should come  in plastic bottles. To teach them that it comes from  Nestlé, not from the tap.   But imagine if the residents of Fryeburg  had their customized water bottles,  which they filled up directly from their  local springs.  Above each of the  “hydration stations”  will be a plaque with information and  an inspirational quote about their  natural spring water. Each day, the kids tote their water bottles to school, and every time they fill them up it gives them a sense of pride in their natural spring water, reinforcing that they don’t have to depend on Nestlé for their water. After a long battle with Nestlé,  the townsfolk are exhausted. Many people took out first or second mortgages  on their home during the long legal battle. Their muscles tense up every time they see a tanker truck rumble down their quiet roads, but they have always been playing defense. But after a couple of dramatic shake-ups,  the citizens of Fryeburg are starting to have  hope again. In the biggest victory, the Fryeburg Water District resigned en mass after being hounded over conflict of interest, opening up the election to locals who want control of their water. The movement is energized, and if we can  help give it these very visible, public  markers of success, people can take  even greater pride in their pristine  local resource, and second-guess  Nestlé's attempts to colonize the town. Chip in today to show Nestlé that  water is a public right! Fryeburg isn’t the only fight, but right now  Fryeburg is the testing ground for  Nestlé's goal of water rights’ contracts  that will last for generations. And we’re pushing back. Around the world Nestlé is trying to buy water out from under local people, purchasing it at  a fraction of the price that it's worth, and making outrageous profits. Bottled water  companies create massive pollution and  run campaigns to make people  suspicious of tap water. They also try to tell their own story -- that public resources should be privatized and owned by multinational corporations. Nestlé's Chairman of the Board famously declared that the idea that human beings have a right to water was an "extreme" solution. Instead, Nestlé thinks that water should be priced and sold on the open market -- in reality, it means that Nestlé should be able to buy up a town's water rights and make billions in profits. Nestlé has shown that it will do whatever  it can get away with, from causing local  wells to run dry in Pakistan to pumping  out millions of gallons during drought  conditions in Canada and California. We are all actors in this Story, and we're not going to let corporations like Nestlé write the script. Nestlé wants to reduce the world to things that can be bought and sold, so that it can muscle  in on small towns and force them into terrible long-term contracts. But we are not just lone  individuals. We are friends, neighbors, and citizens  united by our desire for a better world for  ourselves and for future generations. Acting together, we can show Nestlé that water is a human right, not a private good, and help support local water resources. Chip in today to buy water bottles and  public drinking fountains for the  Fryeburg school and town! Thank you, -Claiborne, Michael, Annie, Allison and the  rest of us at the Story of Stuff.

---

At the Story of Stuff, we're rewriting the
 narrative that has us overworked and
 trashing the planet. We're working to
 build a world that is healthy, sustainable, and just.