June 2013 - Page 2 of 31

Choice of Monsanto betrays World Food Prize purpose, say global leaders

By Frances Moore Lappé and Anna Lappé, Huffington Post

“This statement is supported by 81 Councillors of the World Future Council, a network of global luminaries who “form a voice for the rights of future generations,” and/or Laureates of the Right Livelihood Award, often called the Alternative Nobel. Supporters’ names appear below.”

In honoring the seed biotechnology industry, this year’s World Food Prize – to many, the most prestigious prize in food and agriculture — betrays the award’s own mandate to emphasize ”the importance of a nutritious and sustainable food supply for all people.”

The 2013 World Food Prize has gone to three chemical company executives, including Monsanto executive vice president and chief technology officer,Robert Fraley, responsible for development of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Yet, GMO seeds have not been designed to meet the Prize’s mandate and function in ways that actually impede progress toward the stated goals of the World Food Prize.

Almost twenty years after commercialization of the first GMO seeds, by far the most widely used are not engineered to enhance nutrient content, but to produce a specific pesticide or to resist a proprietary herbicide, or a combination of these traits. Even in reducing weeds, the technology is failing, for it has led to herbicide-resistant “super weeds” now appearing on nearly half of American farms.

GMO seeds undermine sustainability in other ways as well.

While profitable to the few companies producing them, GMO seeds reinforce a model of farming that undermines sustainability of cash-poor farmers, who make up most of the world’s hungry. GMO seeds continue farmers’ dependency on purchased seed and chemical inputs. The most dramatic impact of such dependency is in India, where 270,000 farmers, many trapped in debt for buying seeds and chemicals, committed suicide between 1995 and 2012.

GMOs also threaten sustainability because they continue agriculture’s dependence on diminishing and damaging fossil fuels and mined minerals, as well as a wasteful use of water.

This award not only communicates a false connection between GMOs and solutions to hunger and agricultural degradation, but it also diverts attention from truly “nutritious and sustainable” agroecological approaches already proving effective, especially in the face of extreme weather. The Rodale Institute, for example, found in its 30-year study, that organic methods used 45 percent less energy and produced 40 percent less greenhouse gases and outperformed chemical farming during drought years by as much as 31 percent.

Further evidence from around the world is showing how ecological methods dramatically enhance productivity, improve nutritional content of crops, and benefit soil health, all without leaving farmers dependent on ever-more expensive inputs. The United Nations, through its Office of the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, has documented ecological agriculture’s potential in hungry regions to double food production in one decade. Chaired by former World Food Prize awardee Dr. Hans Herren, the 2008International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) report, developed by 400 experts and endorsed by 59 governments, calls for redirection of agricultural development toward such sustainable practices. Agroecology and food sovereignty are emerging solutions shaped and chosen by scientists and citizens worldwide.

Note that the World Food Prize mandate is also to recognize contributors to food “for all people,” but GMO seeds make this goal harder to reach. Most GM crops are used for feed for livestock, processed food, or fuel — products not accessible to hungry people. Moreover, the planet already produces more than enough food for all, and 40 percent more per person than in 1970; yet today 870 million people, still suffer from extreme, long-term undernourishment because they lack power to access adequate food. Developed and controlled by a handful of companies, genetically engineered seeds further the concentration of power and the extreme inequality at the root of this crisis of food inaccessibility. Monsanto, for example, controls 90 percent of the U.S. soybean crop and 80 percent of the country’s corn and cotton crops.

The choice of the 2013 World Food Prize is an affront to the growing international consensus on safe, ecological farming practices that have been scientifically proven to promote nutrition and sustainability. Many governments have rejected GMOs, and as many as two million citizens in 52 countries recently marched in opposition to GMOs and Monsanto. In living democracies, discounting this knowledge and these many voices is not acceptable.

The 81 signatories below are Councillors of the World Future Council and/or
Laureates of the Right Livelihood Award:29 COUNCILLORS OF THE WORLD FUTURE COUNCIL (An asterisk indicates the signer is also a Right Livelihood Award Laureate but listed only once.)

*Vandana Shiva, Founder, Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology
*Frances Moore Lappé, Co-founder, Small Planet Institute
*Maude Barlow, National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians
*Dipal Barua, Founder and Chairman of the Bright Green Energy Foundation
*Hans-Peter Dürr, Nuclear physicist and philosopher
*Sulak Sivaraksa, Co-founder, International Network of Engaged Buddhists
*Ibrahim Abouleish, Founder of SEKEM
*Chico Whitaker, Co-founder, World Social Forum
*Manfred Max-Neef, Prof Dr. h.c. (mult.) Manfred Max-Neef, Director, Economics Institute, Universidad Austral de Chile
*Alyn Ware, Founder and international coordinator of the Network Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament (PNND)
David Krieger, President, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
Rama Mani, Vice Chair, Academic Council on the United Nations System
Alexander Likhotal, President, Green Cross International
Thais Corral, Co-founder, Women’s Environment and Development Organization
Pauline Tangiora, Maori elder, Rongomaiwahine Tribe
Anna Oposa, Co-Founder, Save Philippine Seas
Scilla Elworthy, Founder, Oxford Research Group, Founder, Peace Direct
Katiana Orluc, Director of Development/Strategic Affairs, Thyssen-Bornemisza, Art Contemporary (TBA21)
Riane Eisler, President, Centre for Partnership Studies
Ashok Khosla, Chairman, Centre for Development Alternatives
Hafsat Abiola, Founder and President of the Kudirat Initiative for Democracy (KIND)
Rafia Ghubash, President, Arab Network for Women, Science and Technology
Daryl Hannah, Actress and advocate for a sustainable world
Vithal Rajan, Founder, Trustee of Agriculture Man Ecology [AME], Foundation of India
Anuradha Mittal, Executive Director, The Oakland Institute
Herbert Girardet, Honorary Councillor, World Future Council
Ana María Cetto, Research professor of the Institute of Physics and lecturer at the Faculty of Sciences, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Nicholas Dunlop, Secretary-General, Climate Parliament
Motoyuki Suzuki, Chairman, Central Environmental Council of Japan

52 ADDITIONAL RIGHT LIVELIHOOD AWARD LAUREATES

Alice Tepper Marlin, President & Founder, Social Accountability International, USA (RLA 1990)
Alla Yaroshinskaya, Russia (RLA 1992)
Andras Biro, Hungarian Foundation for Self-Reliance, Hungary (RLA 1995)
Angie Zelter, Trident Ploughshares, United Kingdom (RLA 2001)
Annelies Allain, International Baby Food Action Network, Malaysia (RLA 1998)
Anwar Fazal, Director, Right Livelihood College, Malaysia (RLA 1982)
Augusto Juncal, Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais sem Terra (MST), Brazil (RLA 1991)
Bianca Jagger, Founder and Chair, Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation, Nicaragua/UK (RLA 2004)
Birsel Lemke, Turkey (RLA 2000)
Daniel Ellsberg, USA (RLA 2006)
David Suzuki, Canada (RLA 2009)
Erik Dammann, Future in Our Hands, Norway (RLA 1982)
Bishop Erwin Kräutler, Brazil (RLA 2010)
Evaristo Nugkuag Ikanan, Instituto para el Buen Vivir, Peru (RLA 1986)
Felicia Langer, Israel/Germany (RLA 1990)
Fernando Funes-Aguilar, Grupo de Agricultura Orgánica, Cuba (RLA 1999)
Fernando Rendón, Co-Founder and Director, International Poetry Festival of Medellín, Colombia (RLA 2006)
GRAIN, International (RLA 2011)
Hanumappa Sudarshan, Karuna Trust & VGKK, India (RLA 1994)
Helen Mack Chang, Fundación Myrna Mack, Guatemala (RLA 1992)
Helena Norberg-Hodge, Founder and Director, International Society for Ecology & Culture, UK (RLA 1986)
Hunter Lovins, Natural Capitalism Solutions, USA (RLA 1983)
Ina May Gaskin, USA (RLA 2011)
Irene Fernandez, Tenaganita, Malaysia (RLA 2005)
Janos Vargha, Hungary (RLA 1985)
Prof. Dr. Johan Galtung, Norway (RLA 1987)
Juan Pablo Orrego, President, Ecosistemas, Chile (RLA 1998)
Katarina Kruhonja, Center for Peace, Nonviolence and Human Rights-Osijek, Croatia (RLA 1998)
Martín von Hildebrand, Founder and Director, Fundación GAIA Amazonas, Colombia (RLA 1999)
Melaku Worede, Ethiopia (RLA 1989)
Prof. Michael Succow, Founder, Michael Succow Foundation for Nature Conservation, Germany, (RLA 1997)
Mike Cooley, UK (RLA 1981)
SM Mohamed Idris, Sahabat Alam Malaysia-Sarawak, Malaysia (RLA 1988)
Monika Hauser, Founder, Medica Mondiale, Germany (RLA 2008)
Nicanor Perlas, Center for Alternative Development Initiatives, Philippines (RLA 2003)
Nnimmo Bassey, Health of Mother Earth Foundation, Nigeria (RLA 2010)
Pat Mooney, ETC Group, Canada (RLA 1985)
Raúl A. Montenegro, President, Fundación para la defensa del ambiente, Argentina (RLA 2004)
Ruchama Marton, Founder and President, Physicians for Human Rights, Israel (RLA 2010)
Shrikrishna Upadhyay, Executive Chairman, Support Activities for Poor Producers of Nepal, Nepal (RLA 2010)
Sima Samar, Chairperson, Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, Afghanistan (RLA 2012)
Stephen Gaskin, PLENTY International, USA (RLA 1980)
Suciwati, widow of Munir, Indonesia (RLA 2000)
Swami Agnivesh, India (RLA 2004)
Tapio Mattlar, Kylätoiminta / The Finnish Village Action Movement, Finland (RLA 1992)
Tony Clarke, Executive Director, Polaris Institute, Canada (RLA 2005)
Uri Avnery, Founder, Gush Shalom, Israel (RLA 2001)
Wes Jackson, Founder and President, The Land Institute, USA (RLA 2000)
Zafrullah Chowdhury, Gonoshasthaya Kendra, Bangladesh (RLA 1992)
Percy and Louise Schmeiser (RLA 2007)
Jacqueline Moudeina (2011)

‘Full-Blooded Chief’ Redskins Defender Not a Chief! Reactions From Around the Web

Source: Indian Country Today Media Network (ICTMN)

Reactions to Deadspin’s Dave McKenna’s report yesterday, “Redskins’ Indian-Chief Defender: Not a Chief, Probably Not Indian,” are spreading across the Web and here ICTMN presents a few of the top ones. Meanwhile, still not a related peep out of the Pigskins camp yet, including in their “morning roundup of what the local and national media have to say about the Washington Redskins.” And the original May 3 interview with “Chief” Stephen Dodson, including the video, remains the same on Redskins.com.

1. Michael Tomasky, Newsweek/Daily Beast special correspondent and editor of Democracy: A Journal of Ideas

“Click through on the [Deadspin.com story link] to read about how sloppily and cavalierly and plain old incorrectly the WFO (Washington football organization, which I’ll use heretofore as shorthand) described Dodson’s alleged lineage, showing that no one at the organization really gave one-tenth of a shit about where these people actually come from.

Read Tomasky’s article: Dan Snyder’s Indian Chief Is Neither

2. Mike Florio, NBCSports.com Pro Football Talk primary editor and contributor

“[The] Redskins, who apparently have chosen to dispense with steps like vetting a guest, put [Dodson] on their in-house web show, described him as a Chief, and had him explain why he supports the name. And, yes, the guy actually said that Native Americans on the “reservation” actually great each other with, “Hey, what’s up, redskin?””

Read Florio’s column: Defense of Redskins name includes fake Chief

3. Eric Malinowski, BuzzFeed.com senior sports writer

“The ridiculousness of Dan Snyder’s ridiculous tenure as Washington Redskins owner is something we’ve all become familiar with, but it’s reassuring to know that someone so comfortable in their role can always come up with a new trick or two.”

Read Malinowski’s story: Loathsome Owner Outdoes Self By Employing Dubious “Chief” To Defend “Redskins” Name

Point Lips, Not Fingers: Paul Frank Native Designer Dustin Martin

By Lee Allen, Indian Country Today Media Network

On June 18, Paul Frank Industries announced that four Native designers had been selected to collaborate with the company on a line of products. Called “Paul Frank Presents,” the collection will debut on August 16 at the Santa Fe Indian Market. Dustin Quinn Martin, who designs T-shirts for his company S.O.L.O. (Sovereign Original Land Owners), was one of the young fashion talents who got the nod.

NAME: Dustin Quinn Martin

AGE: 23

TRIBAL HERITAGE: Navajo

SPECIALTY: T-shirt designer since college days

INFLUENCES AS A DESIGNER: “My contribution to the line was built on the concept ‘Point Lips, Not Fingers.’ When I was growing up, my grandfather taught me it was rude to point fingers (literally and figuratively). So, like many Navajos who grow up on the rez, I learned that pointing my lips was a polite alternative to conventional hand gestures. Anyone who’s spent time in Navajo land will know what I’m talking about…

“The design I cooked up uses a cultural quirk (lip-pointing) to embed meaning and humor into the image and remind viewers of what sparked the collaboration. Graphic silhouettes (think Kara Walker) of a Dine man and woman are featured in most of the products. These figures are met by Julius (Paul Frank’s signature brand character) lost on a hike through Native America. Their pointed lips show that the monkey’s childish curiosity has been met with patience and respect rather than gesticulating rudeness. Elsewhere in the design you’ll see the Paul Frank brand surrounded by (and integrated into) familiar ‘Native’ geometry. But these perfectly symmetrical shapes evolve into abstract fields of modern-looking angles. These jarring shapes imply new directions — for thoughts, for friendships, for artistic traditions, for brands. Fresh trails can only be blazed with the help of patient and forward-thinking guides. These guides point lips, not fingers.”

THOUGHTS ON WORKING WITH PAUL FRANK INDUSTRIES: “Without a doubt I’m very thankful for the opportunity. Negotiating terms with a multinational brand licensing corporation was an eye-opening experience and a huge confidence booster. Though I now have an even better idea of how much there is for me to learn, I also know that a fashion collaboration — no matter how ‘big league’ it may appear at first — isn’t rocket science. When I was able to look past ‘Paul Frank’ and [Paul Frank Industries’ parent company] ‘Saban Brands’ to see the people behind the curtain, it became a lot like working with friends.

“Above all, I went into this experience with this mindset: ‘This is the type of recognition and respect Native artists and designers have been praying for. DON’T DROP THE BALL.’ I hope all four of us chosen designers make Native America proud.”

Learn more about Dustin Martin at the official S.O.L.O. site, solo505.com. Photos of and information about products featured here were provided by Beyond Buckskin Boutique.

Obama seeks benefits for all gay couples

Washington Post

President Barack Obama signaled Thursday that his administration would extend federal benefits to gay couples living in states that don’t recognize their marriages, a relief for advocates left with a thicket of uncertainty a day after their historic Supreme Court victory.

The president said the government should define marriage based on where a couple weds and not necessarily where they live – a definition of wedlock that’s essential to how the administration will implement the court’s decision Wednesday to strike a key provision of the federal Defense of Marriage Act.

“It’s my personal belief – but I’m speaking now as a president as opposed to as a lawyer – that if you’ve been married in Massachusetts and you move someplace else, you’re still married, and that under federal law you should be able to obtain the benefits of any lawfully married couple,” Obama told reporters at a news conference in Dakar, Senegal, on a trip to sub-Saharan Africa.

The president called the ruling a “victory for American democracy” and said he has directed his administration to “comb through every statute” to ensure that gay couples receive federal benefits for which they are now eligible.

The task is already proving daunting.

As jubilant same-sex couples scrambled to call attorneys and agencies and scour the Internet about new rights, officials across the government continued reviewing the 1,110 federal rights, benefits and obligations that marriage confers.

They range from Social Security and pension benefits to green cards for spouses who are not citizens. All but two are regulations the administration can change without congressional action. Social Security and veterans’ benefits are the two exceptions that may require Congress to make the legal changes to ensure that married same-sex couples get the benefits of those programs.

A White House official said the process will take time, but benefits for same-sex couples will come on a rolling basis.

But since the court stopped short of ruling that the right to marry must be extended to same-sex couples no matter where they live, state lines still determine who is legally married and who is not. And that’s where much is left for the Obama administration to interpret – and opponents of same-sex marriage to contest.

Thirty-seven states do not allow same-sex unions. Virtually every federal agency has a different standard for how it defines marriage, whether based on the place a couple weds or where they live. Some agencies do not address either definition, such as the Office of Personnel Management, which makes policy on benefits for 2 million federal employees.

The federal employee retirement law, for example, defines a marriage for retirement benefit purposes as one recognized in the jurisdiction “with the most significant interest in the marital status” of the individual, unless that law is contrary to federal policy, according to the Congressional Research Service.

A decision on which state has the “most significant interest” likely would take into account where the employee lived while working and during retirement, and where the person eventually died. Also taken into consideration would be where the couple had financial assets and where the surviving spouse lives, personnel experts say.

Some issues are more clear-cut. For example, once the ruling takes effect, a legally married gay spouse who is not a citizen should be permitted to apply for a green card in any state. Under immigration law, the rules of a state where a wedding occurs takes precedence.

But most others are not.

“You could have federal employees in D.C. getting all the benefits of marriage,” said Fred Sainz of the Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights advocacy group. “Legally, across the river in Arlington ⅛County in Virginia€, they would not get them.”

Sainz called the president’s comments Thursday an “incredibly encouraging” sign to resolving the murkiness.

“We are literally sitting on pins and needles waiting on guidance from the administration on how the court’s decision will be put into practice.”

As with immigration, the Pentagon defines marriage based on the place of celebration. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said the military will extend to same-sex couples medical and dental care, access to base housing and commissaries and other benefits, including the right to a burial at Arlington National Cemetery.

But for Defense Department civilians, who are covered by OPM’s murkier definition of marriage, these benefits are not as cut-and-dried.

Hagel said there is no estimate yet on how much it will cost to make the changes mandated by the ruling. “But make no mistake, it will be implemented in its entirety,” he told reporters.

Defense officials said they have launched an effort to update systems for issuing identification cards for same-sex spouses, but estimate that it will take six to 12 weeks to complete.

Stephen Peters, president of the American Military Partner Association, said some same-sex military couples now in domestic partnerships are planning to travel to states where gay marriage is legal and get married to qualify for benefits.

Shannon Simpson, who married Army 1st Lt. Ellen Schick at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in November, said the couple are already examining what steps they will need to take to get access to the same benefits provided opposite-sex couples.

“We were looking at some of that material last night, trying to figure out what kind of paperwork I’ll have to file,” said Simpson, 26.

Simpson, who lives off-post with her spouse, will also have access to the Keller Army Community Hospital on the West Point campus where Schick, a registered nurse, is assigned.

“There’ve been times I’ve gotten ill and we’ve had to drive 45 minutes over a mountain to get to an urgent-care clinic, and thinking the whole time that this is ridiculous that we can’t drive five minutes to the hospital where she works,” Simpson said.

Questions remain about how the Supreme Court decision will affect taxes and tax filings for same-sex couples. Currently, federal law treats them differently depending upon whether their states recognize same-sex marriage and whether the couple owns property.

“We had to find special accountants who knew how to do it,” said California resident Karen Golinski, a federal attorney. “I don’t think most people understand how difficult life can be when the law doesn’t treat you the same as everyone else.”

Suzanne Artis, who lives in Connecticut with her same-sex spouse, said the ruling “feels a little unfinished.”

“The result was great, but I’m looking forward to closure – complete closure.”

Some conservative leaders who oppose the court’s ruling said Thursday that Obama may be treading on shaky legal ground by redefining marriage in states that have made it clear they do not support gay marriage.

“We would support a narrower interpretation that would only apply to the state of domicile,” said Peter Sprigg, senior fellow at the Family Research Council, which filed a friend-of-the-court brief in support of DOMA.

“If we now say the same-sex couples will be recognized as married even where states don’t allow it, you would have inconsistent benefits,” he said. “You would have to file two tax returns, federal and state, according to different laws.”

Sprigg acknowledged that a legal challenge if the federal government extends benefits to states that don’t recognize gay marriage could be tricky:

“The challenge would be to figure out who suffers harm from that recognition,” he said.

Story tags » • Federal • Taxes • Gay marriage

Forecast calls for 80s, 90s in Western Washington

Doug Esser, Associated Press

SEATTLE — The weather that Western Washington residents dream about through the damp gray days of winter is finally here.

The forecast promises a dry, sunny weekend with high temperatures in the 70s and 80s. Then, Northwesterners could have a couple of days where they can join the rest of the West in complaining about the heat.

Record temperatures in the 90s are possible in places Monday and Tuesday, the National Weather Service office in Seattle said.

The record for July 1 at Sea-Tac Airport is 87 degrees, set most recently in 1995. And the record for July 2 is 92, set in 1968. The temperatures for both days “have a shot” of setting new records, said meteorologist Chris Burke.

A 90-degree day in Seattle is rare, but not unheard of.

“We don’t get to 90 degrees every year, but most years we do,” he said Friday.

Temperatures east of the Cascades will be even hotter, as they usually are, with weekend highs in the 80s and 90s, possibly breaking 100 on Monday and Tuesday.

In Spokane, temperatures in the 90s are expected Saturday and Sunday during the Hoopfest 3-on-3 basketball tournament. The event is expected to draw 28,000 players and up to 200,000 people downtown. They are being warned to drink plenty of fluids to avoid heat-related problems.

The cause of the heat wave is a “very impressive big giant high” pressure system, Burke said.

“It’s pretty normal for the rest of the West. Only once or twice a year does it reach Western Washington,” he said.

Marine air is expected to push into Washington again on Wednesday, dropping temperatures to the 80s and 70s by the Fourth of July.

The downside of great weather is the risks some people take to enjoy it at rivers, lakes and beaches in Washington. Cold water is a shock.

“Most hot weather deaths are from drowning because rivers are fed by melting snow,” Burke said. “You go in and get into trouble right away.”

Authorities also are advising people to protect themselves from heat-related illnesses and not to leave children or pets in cars.

Be careful and enjoy the summer weather.

“It’s going to be pretty nice, basically,” Burke said.

Berg takes helm at school district

Kirk BoxleitnerTerri Kaltenbach, left, speaks at the June 18 Marysville School District strategic leadership transitioning meeting also attended by incoming Superintendent Dr. Becky Berg, right. — Kirk Boxleitner
Terri Kaltenbach, left, speaks at the June 18 Marysville School District strategic leadership transitioning meeting also attended by incoming Superintendent Dr. Becky Berg, right.

Kirk Boxleitner, Marysville Globe

MARYSVILLE — Incoming Superintendent Dr. Becky Berg wound up being one of nine Marysville School District staff members to be introduced, or in some cases reintroduced, to the community during the Marysville School Board’s June 17 meeting, and she would continue to introduce herself to the community through the following evening, during the district’s third strategic leadership transitioning meeting on June 18.

Berg preferred to listen during the brainstorming sessions at the Tulalip Resort on June 18, which were complimented with a review of the two prior community engagement events on May 14 and 16, and spent most of her time during the June 17 Board meeting introducing her team, which includes a few familiar faces in new roles.

“It’s not just me who’s coming on board, but a number of new staff members,” said Berg, who’s retained Ray Houser, former executive director of teaching and learning, as her assistant superintendent. “I don’t have anywhere near the energy level of Ray,” she added, before introducing Cinco Delgado, former principal of Ridgecrest Elementary in the Shoreline School District, as the new executive director of teaching and learning in Houser’s stead.

Former Newport School District Superintendent Jason Thompson is stepping in as executive director of human resources for the Marysville School District, while Liberty Elementary Principal Scott Irwin is stepping up as the district’s categorical programs director.

“Donneta Spath has created CTE programs that have served multiple schools, so she’s a perfect fit for her new role,” Houser said of Spath, who moves from being executive director of the Northwest Career & Technical Academy to being the Marysville School District’s Career and Technical Education Director. “It’s been a brisk year for retirements,” he laughed.

Outgoing Assistant Superintendent Gail Miller and remaining Executive Director of Teaching and Learning Dr. Kyle Kinoshita noted that Sonja Machovina and Gloria Henderson are no newcomers to the Marysville School District, having both started out as teachers at Tulalip Elementary. Machovina will serve as the new assistant principal at Totem Middle School, while Henderson succeeds Irwin as the new principal of Liberty Elementary.

“I’ve been in Sonja’s classes, and her energy and innovation are amazing,” Miller said. “She relates to kids very calmly and effectively.”

“When we heard Gloria was available, we couldn’t resist bringing her back,” Kinoshita said. “And Lynn has got a solid background in instruction.”

Lynn Heimsoth, formerly a teacher in the South Kitsap School District, will serve as principal of Shoultes Elementary.

As of June 24, Berg still has a voicemail box at the Deer Park School District, but she’s already sought to engage with the Marysville community through events such at the June 17 and 18 meetings, not only to keep her previously stated pledge to “hit the ground running, listening and learning,” but also to ensure she’s up to speed when she officially starts her new job on July 1.

“I’m open to meeting with as many constituents and community groups as possible, so that I can learn as much as possible during those golden hours when I’m still new to the school district,” Berg said. “I have no agenda other than continuing the great work that’s already been done in the district, and understanding its future needs.”

During the June 17 Board meeting, Board President Chris Nation reiterated that Berg’s selection was the result of the district’s commitment to soliciting extensive community input, and offered a few final words of tribute to his friend, outgoing Superintendent Dr. Larry Nyland.

“We heard all the voices,” Nation said. “That was what Dr. Nyland was all about, was a focus on student achievement, and everyone coming to the table to talk about it together. Our partnership with the Tulalip Tribes is an example of that.”

“I’m delighted with the work that’s been done, especially in partnership with the Tribes,” Nyland said. “Our staff throughout the district have done a great job.”

Carnival comes to Smokey Point

The carnival is coming to town!

Jun 25, 2013

by Beckye Randall in North County Outlook
The Arlington-Smokey Point Chamber of Commerce has contracted with Butler Amusements, the folks behind the carnival at the Evergreen State Fair, to bring their rides and games to Smokey Point for a four-day event. The carnival will be set up at the corner of 172nd St. NE and 51st Avenue NE, near the Arlington Airport, June 27 through 30.

There’s no admission charge, and a $20 wristband is good for rides all day long. Individual ride tickets will also be available.

The wristbands are available in advance at the Smokey Point Walmart, and at Coastal Community Bank at 16419 Smokey Point Blvd.

“There will be a midway with games and some concessions,” said chamber manager Mary Jane Harmon, “and we’ll have some food vendors as well.”

And the rides? Butler is bringing some of the most popular carnival rides, including the Zipper, the Scrambler, the Cyclone and the Tilt-a-Whirl. Kids’ rides include Goofyville, a crawl-through maze, the Galaxy Swing and, of course, a giant slide.

“Butler Amusements has an excellent safety record,” said Harmon. “They have rides for all ages.”

For more information, visit www.arlington-smokeypointchamber.com

Thanks to this Spanish town, your car could one day run on poop

Original image by Mark in DetroitFill ‘er up! — Original image by Mark in Detroit
Fill ‘er up!

Holly Richmond, Grist

Poop is good for a lot of things: throwing at your sister, lighting your neighborhood park, and powering everything from your house and spaceship to your nearest sewage plant and margarita machine (how that last one is different from a blender, I don’t know). And now Southwest Spain town Chiclana de la Frontera is adding “fueling your car” to that list.

It’s not as simple or quaint as just cramming crap into your fuel tank. Essentially, poopy water plus sunlight equals algae, which is the basis of the biofuel that actually runs your car. According to Reuters:

The project in Chiclana, called All-gas to sound like “algas” or seaweed in Spanish, seeks to … [become] the first municipal wastewater plant using cultivated algae as a source for biofuel.

While industries such as breweries or paper mills have produced biogas from wastewater for their own energy needs, All-gas is the first to grow algae from sewage in a systematic way to produce a net export of bioenergy, including vehicle biofuel.

Adds Inhabitat:

[O]nce out of the pilot phase, the plant should be able to produce enough fuel to run 200 cars annually. On top of creating clean fuel, the plant is also cheaper than a conventional sewage plant, making it doubly good for the town.

In order to create the fuel, the plant requires a lot of land — about 10 football fields when all is said and done — and a lot of sunshine. Chiclana de la Frontera fits the bill perfectly because of its sunny location and abundant land. Other cities in southern Spain have their eye on the project, and at least 300 other small towns have been identified that would also be ideal sites for a plant.

Does this mean even poop is a cleaner energy source than coal? Because that’s pretty awesome.

The biggest oversight in Obama’s climate plan — and it’s a doozy

By David Roberts, Grist

I’ve mostly been offering modest praise for Obama’s climate plan, but there are some notable oversights. While it addresses U.S. coal-fired plants through EPA regulations, it neglects another, equally large aspect of the coal problem. Specifically, I’m talking about coal mining, leasing, transport, and export in the U.S. Northwest. There’s a bad situation there and it’s getting worse.

The Powder River Basin stretches across southeast Montana and northeast Wyoming. It is rich with high-sulfur (dirty) coal. Most of that coal is on public land, owned by you and me. What you and I are doing at the moment, via the Bureau of Land Management in the Department of the Interior, is leasing the mineral rights on those public lands to coal companies for pennies on the dollar.

Domestic demand for coal is declining (and will decline further once EPA regulations are in place), so what these coal companies want to do is start shipping the coal by rail to the West Coast and from there exporting it to China and other coal-hungry developing countries, where it sells for prices up to seven times higher than in the U.S.

It’s a sweet deal for the coal companies: buy low, sell high. But it’s a raw deal for everyone else and a disaster for the climate.

Joe Smyth has a great post about the rotten coal-leasing program here, and I wrote about the push for coal-export terminals here. There’s lots of background in those posts if you want it. In this post, I’ll mostly focus on the topic at hand, which is what Obama can and should do about it.

First, the coal-leasing program. A recent report from the Inspector General at Interior revealed that the program is (or rather, remains, after decades of corruption [PDF]) terribly run, with spotty enforcement, very little competitive bidding, disregard of rising exports, and prices that fall well below going market rates. Overall, writes The New York Times, the program’s failures “deprived taxpayers of almost $30 billion over the previous 30 years.”

The BLM says it has a “task force” looking into it, for whatever that’s worth. Obama should make it a priority to finally clean up that cesspool.

But he should go farther than that. The problem is not just that the public is leasing coal at below-market rates, it’s that market rates are too low. Coal markets do not currently internalize the costs imposed by carbon pollution (the “social cost of carbon”). Obama should insist that the social cost of carbon be integrated into the leasing program. That would more fairly balance the public’s interest in revenue from leases with its interest in a livable climate. Such a move would substantially reduce the the amount of coal leased on public land — as it should.

Second, coal exports. “Turning Cascadia into a conveyor belt for coal,” as KC Golden puts it, flies in the face of the region’s character as a nature-rich tourist destination and as a high-skill, high-tech hub. Dozens of new coal trains a day would thunder through the region’s small towns (and my beloved Seattle as well), making noise, clogging traffic, and spewing toxic dust. The coal would then be loaded on to giant, polluting ships in giant, polluting ports, turning the bucolic coastal towns where they are located into loud, dirty industrial hubs. All to ship coal the American public got scammed out of to China, where it will be burned and accelerate climate change.

It’s insane. And it’s running into resistance that may prove fatal. Three of the six proposed coal export terminals have been scrapped and the others face serious problems. Delay alone could kill the remaining ports, as there are signs that China’s demand for coal may fall short of expectations. News of slowing Chinese growth is part of what sent coal stocks tumbling the other day.

What’s needed is a comprehensive environmental assessment of the whole network of coal leases, trains, and ports, an assessment that includes the effects on carbon emissions. (Preliminary analysis shows that — shocker — exporting the coal would raise carbon emissions [PDF].) Only the feds can do that kind of analysis. The governors of both Washington and Oregon have asked the feds for one, as have mayors, members of Congress, and activists. But just the other day, the Army Corps of Engineers refused (again). That’s Obama’s corps. He should kick their asses into gear and get a comprehensive assessment underway.

Remember what Obama said about Keystone: “Our national interest will be served only if this project does not significantly exacerbate the problem of carbon pollution.” How does turning over one of the world’s biggest dirty coal fields to private companies for cheap not exacerbate the problem of carbon pollution?

Of course it does. Digging up and burning that Powder River Basin coal will put enough carbon in the atmosphere to undo all of Obama’s other climate work.

If Obama really believes, as he proclaimed on Tuesday, that increasing climate pollution is not in the nation’s interests, then he needs to get serious about stopping coal leasing and coal exports in the Northwest.

Biomass energy: The bad apple in Obama’s renewable energy barrel

Source: Partnership for Policy Integrity

At last, President Obama has tackled climate change and the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in a major speech. Recognizing that power plants are a huge source of unchecked CO₂, the President is directing EPA to complete CO₂ emission standards for new and existing power plants. Given that reducing emissions will require replacing a significant amount of fossil-fueled power generation with carbon neutral renewable power, clean energy advocates wonder what the Administration’s plans mean for biomass energy, the combustion of biological materials in power plants, instead of fossil fuels.

We already know what EPA is considering as a standard for new fossil fueled power plants – 1,000 pounds of CO₂ per megawatt-hour (MWh), a standard that is difficult if not impossible for a coal plant to meet. What about biomass energy? Start with the simple fact that a biomass power plant emits about 3,000 lb of CO₂ per MWh, far more than even a coal plant. Beyond that, the biomass power plants being built in the US are primarily wood-burners, with a typical 50 MW facility (tiny by coal plant standards) burning the equivalent of millions of trees per year. Cutting forests for fuel degrades forest carbon uptake, and transporting wood fuel takes hundreds of trucks per week, driven thousands of miles, belching more CO₂ and pollution. Claims that stack emissions from burning biomass don’t matter – that the CO₂ is eventually neutralized by forest regrowth, or that “waste” wood burned as fuel would have eventually decomposed and emitted the CO₂ anyway – are nothing more than assumptions, and unrealistic ones at that, considering that last summer the US got a taste of the climate-to-come, experiencing record-breaking temperatures, extreme weather events and massive forest fires.

Even under the best case scenario, where forests are left alone to regrow for decades after being cut for biomass fuel, current modeling and science shows that it takes several decades to neutralize the extra CO₂ emitted a biomass power plant. No serious climate scientist believes we can afford to wait decades to reduce emissions, and no serious policy-maker should promote investing billions of dollars into biomass energy infrastructure, with its deferred and hypothetical benefits of carbon reductions that are decades off, alongside wind and solar, where the reduction in CO₂ emissions occurs right away.

Massachusetts recognized that biomass power plants increase emissions instead of reducing them, and took low-efficiency biomass energy out of the State’s renewable portfolio. The fact that wood-burning power plants are still considered “renewable” energy sources in the rest of the country is a testimony to the biomass industry’s lobbying clout. With CO₂ emissions standards for power plants finally on the Administration’s radar, however, claims that biomass energy benefits the climate may finally bump up against reality.

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