Greenspiration News: transport, water, radiation, docs

Angela Bischoff greenspi at web.ca
Sat May 16 12:42:48 EDT 2009


Greenspirational News

We didn't leave the stone age for lack of stones.

Clayton Thomas Mueller, Indigenous Environmental Network

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The latest issue of World Transport Policy and Practice has some  
excellent articles.

Sustainable Transport that Works: Lessons from Germany -- Pucher and  
Buehler present a detailed case study of Freiburg, widely considered  
to be Germany's most sustainable city. Since the 1970s, German cities  
have supported alternatives to the car while restricting car use.  
Today, despite high levels of car ownership, Germans walk, bike and  
take public transport for 41% of their daily trips, compared to 11%  
in the USA.

Cycling for a Few or Everyone: The Importance of Social Justice in  
Cycling Policies -- Pucher and Buehler defend their position that in- 
school cycling training courses offered to children in several  
European countries are superior to the vehicular cycling courses  
taught primarily to adults in North America.

Gravy Train of Car Support -- The next time you hear a motorist  
complaining of being soaked, mention the enormous sums in support  
that is handed to the industry by all taxpayers – where everyone pays  
for the privileged choice of the driver, directly and indirectly –  
and that includes paying with lives in fighting the wars for cheap oil.

Proposed Speed Limit of 30 mph --  These could be in showrooms almost  
immediately, as cars developed for 30mph are so much more efficient  
both in terms of cost and environmental impact than a product  
striving to achieve 60-70mph.

http://www.eco-logica.co.uk/pdf/wtpp15.1.pdf

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Poisoned Waters

A far-reaching investigation into America's great waterways. They are  
in peril. There's a new wave of pollution that's killng fish, causing  
mutations in frogs -- and threatening human health.

Documentary Poisoned Waters demonstrates that today's growing  
environmental threat comes from chemicals in consumers' face creams,  
deodorants, prescription medicines and household cleaners finding  
their way into sewers, storm drains and drinking water.

Watch it online here: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/ 
poisonedwaters/

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Must Watch Documentaries
What They Won't Show You On Television

Free! Online...
http://www.sprword.com/mustwatch.html

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Options to Minimize Non-Ionizing Electromagnetic Radiation Exposures  
(EMF/RF/Static Fields) in Office Environments

Offices are abuzz with electromagnetic hazards. Do health regulations  
protect us? From acute, thermal effects: yes. From long-term effects  
of low-level exposures: no. In this 150-page paper, find out what the  
natural background levels are, how much energy the electronic devices  
you are using emit, and what you can do to lower your exposure (pages  
39-66). After taking a closer look at documented health effects and  
electromagnetic hypersensitivity, it becomes clear why it is so  
important to follow the precautionary approach.

http://www.buildingbiology.ca/healthyoffice.php

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The Strangest Dream demonstrates the renewed threat of nuclear  
weapons, while encouraging hope through the example of morally  
engaged scientists and citizens. It was produced by the NFB, is  
available on DVD and can be purchased at NFB.ca/store.

Podcast episodes are all available at http://www3.nfb.ca/webextension/ 
strangest-dream/podcasts.php or http://citizen.nfb.ca/strangest- 
dream, where you can view the clips, as well as comment and upload  
your own videos, photos, audio pieces or texts dealing with nuclear  
disarmament.

If you or anyone you know would like to organize free community  
screenings of The Strangest Dream, please contact Jane Gutteridge at  
j.gutteridge at nfb.ca or 416-954-3396.

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New Street Films 2009

Streetfilms.org have added two new carfree additions to their online  
archive of short films from all over the world: one is about Paris'  
public bicycle system,
Velib exploring its success in traffic calming and safe cycling, and  
the other is the Street Memorial Project which honours cyclists and  
pedestrians that have
been killed on New York City's streets.

Rethinking Streets in Paris:
http://www.streetfilms.org/archives/rethinking-streets-in-paris/

NYC Street Memorial 2008:
http://www.streetfilms.org/archives/nyc-street-memorials2008/

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Stop CF-18 warplanes from being deployed to Afghanistan

As you may have heard on the news, up to 100 Afghan civilians are  
feared dead as a result of U.S. air strikes.

Now, I am writing to alert you of a potential major escalation of  
Canada’s war in Afghanistan: Canadian fighter-bomber warplanes.
The military is engaging in a lobbying campaign to have a squadron of  
our CF-18 Hornet fighter bombers deployed to Afghanistan.

The planes would be used to attack suspected insurgents and to fight  
with Canadian and U.S. troops engaged in search and destroy missions.  
But they will also kill untold numbers of Afghan civilians in these  
attacks.

The deployment of CF-18 fighter bombers would be a major increase in  
our combat role in Afghanistan, and should be opposed by Canadians.  
Please send your letter to Prime Minister Harper right away.

We need to push back against the military lobby by sending a strong  
signal to the Harper government, and the military, that we do not  
want Canadian CF-18 fighter bombers sent to Afghanistan.

Ceasefire.ca

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Carfree Cities Discussion Group

Carfree_cities is a yahoo discussion forum that aims to promote the  
concept of
carfree cities. The discussion covers a broad range of issues related  
transport
and energy issues. This is another great platform for networking and  
for people
to discuss personal experiences which relate to the larger issues  
within the
carfree movement.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/carfree_cities/

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BIG PHARMA UPDATE:
The Sick Get Sicker as Legal Drug Pushing Puts Profits Before the  
Health of Patients

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in March against the drug industry’s  
demand that they be granted full immunity against all liability for  
the damage their drugs cause (Wyeth vs. Levine) – a last-ditch effort  
to escape the consequences of dealing in harmful products. The  
following blockbuster drugs are about to suffer the consequences of  
that ruling as hundreds of legal actions involving tens of thousands  
of plaintiffs are already in progress: Baycol, Vytorin, Ketek,  
Avandia, Bextra, Celebrex, Prempro, Premarin, Zyprexa, Risperdal,  
Seroquel, Lexapro, Celexa, Cymbalta, Fosomax, Boniva, Effexor,  
Lyrica, Geodon, Ablify, Zoloft, Paxil, Prozac, Chantix, Singulair,  
Ambien, and Trovan. The era of blockbuster drugs is coming to an end  
– not because of patents running out but because patients, the court  
system, and the medical profession have declared a war on drugs, and  
Big Pharma is losing.

All blockbuster drugs follow a clear pattern: they can cause or  
promote the very conditions they are intended to prevent, or they may  
have deadly “side” effects like chronic diseases, cancer, or  
deregulation of the central nervous and hormonal systems.

http://www.vitalitymagazine.com/may09_helkefeature

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Our Appetite for Animals Is Taking Us Toward Apolcalypse

Cutting your meat-eating habits is one of the most impactful ways you  
can prevent drastic changes to our climate

Most of us are taking some actions, but many are not taking the  
action recommended by the head of the IPCC and indicated by the  
United Nations report, Livestock's Long Shadow, which reports that  
eating meat causes about 40% more global warming gases as all the  
cars, trucks, planes, and other forms of transport combined--that is,  
cutting back on our consumption of chicken, pork, and other animal  
products (I discuss the environmental case against meat in greater  
depth here).

http://www.alternet.org/environment/140059/ 
our_appetite_for_animals_is_taking_us_toward_apolcalypse/

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