Intelligence, environmental communities alerting on climate catastrophe, antibiotics

Former Vice President Al Gore has announced a new climate initiative.

Comparing the clearing of native prairie in the Corn Belt to the Dirty Thirties and the deforestation of Brazilian rain forest is further evidence that red flag warnings mean red state collapse. We know that livestock grazing is not the solution to climate change or to saving the West. As wildfire season begins scientists remain on full alert about how fucked we are.

From a piece Joe Hitchon wrote in yesterday's IPS News Agency:

More than three dozen national security officials, members of Congress and military leaders are warning of the threat climate change poses to U.S. national security, the latest in an indicator that U.S. intelligence and national security circles are increasingly worried about a warming planet. In a new bipartisan open letter, they stress the need for urgent action and call on both public and private support to address issues that included forced migration and the displacement of vulnerable communities, as well as the dangers related to food production during extreme weather events.

Kate Sheppard wrote at Mother Jones:

Current efforts of local, state, and private sector actors are important, but not likely to yield progress comparable to what could be achieved with the addition of strong federal policies that establish coherent national goals and incentives, and that promote strong U.S. engagement in international-level response efforts.

From the Edmonton Journal:

A joint study by biological scientists Rebecca Rooney, Suzanne Bayley and David Schindler and published online shows the pitfalls of failing to rehabilitate land mined for bitumen to its original state. The authors also say the “destruction” of more than 29,500 hectares of peatland habitat means loss of carbon storage. Essentially, with the loss of peat cover, the contribution of oilsands development to overall carbon emissions and climate change could grow substantially, they say. “The boreal forest is the world’s largest and most important forest carbon storehouse ... but its continued storage depends on future management practices.”

One hundred percent of respondents in an interested party poll believe that livestock producers suspected of polluting watersheds should be surveilled by federal drones.

Robyn O'Brien wrote in Inspired Bites:

In 2011, 29.9 million pounds of antibiotics were sold for use on the animals we eat. 7.7 million pounds of antibiotics were sold for use on our families, reports the Pew Campaign on Human Health and Industrial Farming. In other words, the livestock world is pumping 3.9 times more drugs into meat production than are being used to treat human health conditions.

It's long past time for the Food and Drug Administration to work in concert with the Environmental Protection Agency to end the environmental degradation caused by the capitalistic exploitation of pharmaceuticals according to the Natural Resources Defense Council:

Eighty percent of all antibiotics sold in the United States are for use in livestock -- the vast majority for use in animals that do not have bacterial infections -- to promote faster weight gain and to compensate for crowded and unsanitary conditions. It's like taking antibiotics to avoid getting sick instead of washing your hands. It's up to the Food and Drug Administration to protect the public's health from the dangerous, widespread misuse of antibiotics in livestock. But so far, the agency has done little beyond releasing voluntary guidelines -- mere suggestions that pharmaceutical companies and food producers can choose to follow or ignore entirely.