Sow the wind, reap the whirlwind #agw

Homes are destroyed by the Waldo Canyon fire in the Mountain Shadows area of Colorado Springs. Scientists say the fires offer a preview into the kind of disaters that climate change could bring. Photograph: Jerilee Bennett/AP

m.guardian.co.uk: "The Colorado fires are being driven by extreme temperatures, which are consistent with IPCC projections"

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Mountaintop removal coal mining a danger to health

Coal River Mountain Watch: "Lawmakers concerned about the health effects on humans from mountaintop removal coal mining set forth legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives today. Representatives Dennis Kucinich (OH), Louise Slaughter (NY), Maurice Hinchey (NY), Earl Blumenauer (OR), Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA), John Yarmuth (KY), Lynn Woolsey (CA), Judy Chu (CA), Raúl Grijalva (AZ), James Moran (VA), Michael Honda (CA), John Conyers (MI), and Keith Ellison (MN) introduced the Appalachian Communities Health Emergency (ACHE) Act [H.R. 5959] which would place a moratorium on permitting for mountaintop removal coal mining until health studies are conducted by the Department of Health and Human Services. "

George Monbiot – How “Sustainability” Became “Sustained Growth”

Image Link - Think Progress

George Monbiot – How “Sustainability” Became “Sustained Growth”: "In 1992 world leaders signed up to something called “sustainability”. Few of them were clear about what it meant; I suspect that many of them had no idea. Perhaps as a result, it did not take long for this concept to mutate into something subtly different: “sustainable development”. Then it made a short jump to another term: “sustainable growth”. And now, in the 2012 Earth Summit text that world leaders are about to adopt, it has subtly mutated once more: into “sustained growth”.

This term crops up 16 times in the document, where it is used interchangeably with sustainability and sustainable development. But if sustainability means anything, it is surely the opposite of sustained growth. Sustained growth on a finite planet is the essence of unsustainability."

Americans for Transit

Americans for Transit: "A national non-profit dedicated to creating, strengthening, & uniting grassroots transit rider organizations across America."

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Bob Simpson: Why do we even have #transit fares?

Photo Credit: CTA

Big Banks Slam the Brakes on Public Transit - Bob Simpson - Open Salon: " Why do we even have transit fares at all?

The interest rate swap scam is a small drop in a large bucket.  If we really want people to use transit rather than cars, we need to make transit a genuine public service and eliminate all fares. And yes, the big banks and corporations are going to have to pony up more cash to cover costs. They benefit hugely from public transit.

Fares are annoying. They require expensive fare boxes and turnstiles. They demand complex systems to account for the money and distribute transit cards and electronic card readers. They slow down buses on crowded streets as people line up while fumbling for their money or their transit cards. Fares mean people can’t board through both doors of the bus.They’re an added hassle for the bus operator who has enough to do already."

Read whole article here:
http://open.salon.com/blog/bobbosphere/2012/06/11/big_banks_slam_the_brakes_on_public_transit

Austerity does not work. Growth cannot work. What works? Default.

Cenk Uygur: Iceland Shows Bailing out Middle Class Works, Not Bailing Out Banks | AlterNet: "There's the US m.o., where we gave "everything to the banks, and nothing to the homeowners" and are, predictably, still struggling. Then there's the divergent example of Iceland, where initial efforts at complete deregulation failed and the government switched course by indicting those who had "caused the mess" and bailing out the middle class instead.

Take a look at what they did, and how it worked."

See also: see Krugman: http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/13/guess-whos-emerging-from-the-crisis/

Chris B. Leyerle - How many jobs can be created with a million dollars?

Chris B. Leyerle: Oh, and where is Big Oil which the API keeps telling us is such a wonderful job creator? The original study suggests combined oil and gas is 5.18 jobs per $1M investment, but that is, well, all gas. If oil were broken out in this chart, their number would be negative. The oil industry has been shedding jobs for years and pales as a job creator to the renewable energy industry.
http://blog.leyerle.com/2012/06/job-creators.html

The Free Rider Problem « Father Theo's Blog

The Free Rider Problem « Father Theo's Blog: "With free transit, people will get out of their cars anyway without anybody forcing or inconveniencing them.
We’ll all win from that.
And it will really put a dent in the free rider problem.  The free riders on the streets and highways, that is."

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Solution for population growth

Studies show that the following things lower birth rate.

child health
education of women
economic security

For the price of one oil war, we could have all these things.

So, here is what to do. Make public transit fare-free. This will tip the critical mass of human transport away from the car. Auto subsidy will be seen as waste instead of necessity. Cities will be more attractive. Money saved from ending oil wars and sprawl could be used for education and health. Birth rate will drop. Problem solved.

We need to do this. The earth can support only 2 billion people without fossil-fuels.

U.S. Military is in Afghanistan for pipelines, not for any of the other fake reasons given.

Iran to Build Oil Pipelines Through Afghanistan and Pakistan - Night Watch - Townhall Finance Conservative Columnists and Financial Commentary - Page 1: "Iran-China: Iran is ready to deliver oil to China by constructing pipelines through Afghanistan and Pakistan in order to meet China's long-term energy demands, President Ahmadi-Nejad said on 7 June."

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Interest-rate swap rip-off explained. How banks steal from public transit.

http://refundtransit.org/

Press Clips | ReFund Transit: "Washington, DC – Wall Street banks are gouging public transit riders for more than half a billion dollars each year through toxic interest rate swap deals with transit agencies and the governments that fund them amidst the worst post-war wave of fare hikes and service cuts.  This is the startling conclusion made in Riding the Gravy Train, a report released today by the ReFund Transit Coalition, a group of transit advocates, workers, and supporters.
The report documents how the nation’s biggest banks—flooded with nearly free money from the Federal Reserve—are profiteering on the backs of transit riders from a rate-spread windfall on interest rate swaps with transit agencies and states made before the Great Recession. The swaps are now draining transit agencies of funds desperately needed to keep mass transit rolling in the United States. The full report, which examines these toxic interest rate swaps in 12 major cities, can be found at www.refundtransit.org."

Paul Craig Roberts: Collapse At Hand | Peak Oil News and Message Boards

Paul Craig Roberts: Collapse At Hand  |  Peak Oil News and Message Boards: "Unlike the US financial press, the foreigners who hold dollar assets look at the annual US budget and trade deficits, look at the sinking US economy, look at Wall Street’s uncovered gambling bets, look at the war plans of the delusional hegemon and conclude: “I’ve got to carefully get out of this.”"

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Egyptian people do not fall for election trickery, corrupt courts.

Use of public transit is soaring in 2012 – USATODAY.com

Use of public transit is soaring in 2012 – USATODAY.com: "There are definitely loads where you can't handle demand, such as during rush hour," he says. Many riders don't have a car or take the bus because it is cheaper than driving."

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Big power competition: who can destroy the biosphere fastest?

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Norway's Minister of Foreign Affairs Jonas Gahr Stoere (right) talk onboard the Arctic research vessel Helmer Hanssen while touring a fjord off Tromso Saturday. Pool / Reuters

World News - Clinton highlights importance of oil-rich Arctic: "TROMSO, Norway -- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton boarded a research ship on Saturday to tour the Arctic, where big powers are vying for vast deposits of oil, gas and minerals that are becoming available as the polar ice recedes. "

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Gratuité dans les transports en commun pour sortir de la crise climatique

Gratuité dans les transports en commun pour sortir de la crise climatique: "Suppression des 6 zones et mise en place d’un tarif unique revu à la baisse. Instaurer la gratuité pour les chômeurs, les précaires, les étudiants, les personnes âgées à faible revenu, les jeunes en insertion. L’objectif est d’aller vers la gratuité des transports en commun. C’est la seule mesure qui permette de répondre à l’urgence sociale et à la crise climatique pour sortir du tout-camion et du tout-voiture."

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