The Number One Worst Polluter on Earth Is… The U.S. Federal Government By W. E. Messamore | 04/18/2012 | Civil Rights, Energy, Foreign Policy, News, States | 14 Comments Read Time: 3 - 5 minutes

Photo Credit: U.S. Federal Government

With Earth Day coming up this weekend, it might be helpful to remember that the worst polluteron planet Earth is not a major corporation, but the United States federal government, and if we’re going to be serious about reducing our impact on the environment, we need to advocate for less, not more government.

Indeed, the federal government is the single largest consumer of energy with 500,000 buildings and 600,000 vehicles. In 2009 alone, the government’s bill for utilities and fuel totaled $24 billion, so it’s no surprise that the government’s carbon footprint is 123.2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide a year.

State and local governments are also among the nation’s worst polluters. In Georgia for example, an investigation just last November found that the state and county governments are Georgia’s worst polluters. In fact, over the last decade, dozens of county governments have racked up a total of more than $14 million in pollution fines and the state government itself is a major hazard to the environment too, with the Georgia Department of Transportation and its contractors alone racking up $1.3 million in pollution fines.

Yet even as awful as many state and local governments throughout the country are, the federal government is still by far, the worst polluter. And despite never-ending plans, promises, and programs from every administration to get its polluting under control (remember the Environmental Protection Agency was started over 40 years ago in 1970– by a Republican) the pollution just keeps getting worse with no end in sight.

This could be in part because military spending and activity, especially after 9-11,  just keeps expanding with no end in sight. While the federal government is the world’s worst polluter, the Department of Defense alone actually pollutes more than the rest of the federal government combined. Yet environmentalist activism directed against the government’s pollution is virtually nonexistent.

As ProjectCensored.org reported last year:

“The US military is responsible for the most egregious and widespread pollution of the planet, yet this information and accompanying documentation goes almost entirely unreported. In spite of the evidence, the environmental impact of the US military goes largely unaddressed by environmental organizations and was not the focus of any discussions or proposed restrictions at the recent UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. This impact includes uninhibited use of fossil fuels, massive creation of greenhouse gases, and extensive release of radioactive and chemical contaminants into the air, water, and soil.”

In 2005, Lucinda Marshall, founder of the Feminist Peace Network, wrote that the U.S. Department of Defense produces more hazardous waste than the five largest U.S. chemical companies combined. From cancer-causing depleted uranium ammunition and armor, toperchlorate rocket fuel leaking from literally hundreds of military plants and installations into the groundwater of 35 states, to the military’s unquenchable thirst for fossil fuels– the Department of Defense is polluting our environment more than anyone else.

This year on Earth Day, instead of giving the government a free pass on pollution while it polices the rest of our polluting, environmentalists should demand that we start where the problem is worst, that we start by cutting back the government‘s polluting, and not with more phony promises, plans, and programs that never change anything, but by cutting back the size, role, and influence of government itself.

Innovative Jhoolas

Wonderfully Described Definitions......?

Wonderfully Described Definitions......?

Cigarette :  
A Pinch Of Tobacco Rolled in Paper
With Fire At One End And A Fool At The Other !

Marriage :  
It's An Agreement Wherein A Man Loses His Bachelor Degree And A Woman Gains Her Master

Lecture :  
An Art Of Transmitting Information From The Notes Of The Lecturer To The Notes Of Students Without Passing Through The Minds Of Either

Conference :  
The Confusion Of One Man Multiplied By The
Number Present

Compromise :
The Art Of Dividing A Cake in Such A Way That
Everybody Believes He Got The Biggest Piece

TEARS :  
The Hydraulic Force By Which
Masculine Will Power is Defeated By Feminine Water-Power !

Conference Room :  
A Place Where Everybody Talks,
Nobody Listens And Everybody Disagrees Later On

Ecstasy :  
A Feeling When You Feel You Are Going To Feel
A Feeling You Have Never Felt Before

Classic :  
A Book Which People Praise, But Never Read


Smile :  
A curve That Can Set A Lot Of Things Straight !


Office :  
A Place Where You Can Relax After Your Strenuous
Home Life

Yawn :  
The Only Time When Some Married Men
Ever Get To Open Their Mouth

Experience :  
The Name Men Give To Their
Mistakes

Diplomat :  
A Person Who Tells You To Go To Hell in Such A Way That You Actually Look Forward To The Trip

Optimist :  
A Person Who While Falling From EIFFEL TOWER Says in Midway
" SEE I AM NOT INJURED YET ! "

Miser :  
A Person Who Lives Poor So That
He Can Die RICH !


Father :  
A Banker Provided By Nature

BOSS :  
Someone Who is Early When You Are Late
And Late When You Are Early

Politician :  
One Who Shakes Your Hand Before Elections


And Your Confidence Later

Rio's Welcome Sign - 2016 Olympics

Rio's

  Welcome Sign - 2016 Olympics

"Solar
  City Tower ," built atop the island of Cotonduba ,
will
  be the welcome symbol to the 2016 Olympic

Games
  in Rio de Janeiro .

It will be seen by the game visitors and
  participants as
they arrive by air or water.

The tower,
  captures solar energy. It will supply energy
for all of the
  Olympic city, as well as also for part of Rio .

It
  pumps up water from the ocean to create what
appears like a
  water fall and this fall stimulates

turbines
  that produce energy during the night.

It will also hold the
  Olympic flame.

The
  Tower possesses an amphitheater, an auditorium,

a
  cafeteria and boutiques. Elevators lead to various
  observatories.

It
  also has a retractable platform for the practice of bungee
  jumping.

 

At
  the summit is an observation point to appreciate

the
  scenery of the land and ocean, as well as the water
  fall.

Solar
  City Tower will be the point of reference

for
  the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro ..

 

 

 

How
  amazing is that?

Roti aur Beer ki Bottle

Father of Baba Ramdev

Indian Government Rejects Monsanto’s Climate Resilient Plant Patent

July 11, 2013 by Arjun

Justice Prabha Sridevi is the Chair of the Intellectual Property Appellate Board of India. Along with Hon Shri DPS Parmar, a technical member, they dismissed Monsanto’s appeal against the rejection of their patent application to the Patent office for “Methods of Enhancing Stress Tolerance in plants and methods thereof.” It’s great to see India denying Monsanto a patent for this genetically-engineered method of increasing climate resilience in plants. There are other ways, farmers have already evolved a variety of climate resilient crops.

The Intellectual Property Appellate Board said that the technology is only a discovery of a new property of known substance, not an invention, just as it states in section 3(d) of the India Patent Act (1).This is the first time that this section has been used on plant patents. The Act also specifies that plants and animals are not patentable, in section 3(j)(1). This is very significant, as other countries might look to make similar amendments.

With these very broad patents , corporations like Monsanto can prevent access to climate resilient seeds after climate disasters, because a patent is an exclusive right to produce, distribute, and sell the patented product(2). – Dr Vandana Shiva

 India has a long history with Monsanto, approximately 270,000 farmers have committed suicide in the last decade alone. Most of these suicides come from the cotton belt, and Monsanto now controls 95% of cotton seed supply through its GMO Bt cotton. All of this has continued while scientists discovered that Monsanto’s Bt toxins are harmful to human health, especially to red blood cells. You can read more about that here. It’s all about patents, Monsanto has taken over 1000 patents on climate resilient crops already. Farmers have already evolved climate resistant crops overtime because climate resistant traits are becoming more important due to unpredictable weather conditions.

The patent office refused to grant the patent as it was found that the application lacked an inventive step in view of (i) Willimsky Gerald Journal of bacteriology .Vol174,No 20 ,1992,6326-6335,(ii)  WO 90/09447and US 5470971.(ii) Claims do not define any invention under section 2(1)(ja) of the Patents Act, 1970 as structure and function of cold shock protein was already known in cited prior art and it is obvious to person skilled in plant to make transgenic plant. (iii) It is mere application of already known cold shock protein in producing cold stress tolerant plant and tolerant to heat, salt and drought conditions, claims fall within the scope of Section 3(d) of The Patents Act, 1970. (iv) . The patent office found that it is not patentable under 3(j) as claims also include essential biological process of regeneration and selection, which includes growing of plant in specific stress condition(2). – Dr. Vandana Shiva

Every year the human race seems to be uniting together in awareness to spread the word about our food industry. Since the recent worldwide march against Monsanto, hundreds of millions, if not billions of people are waking up to the fact that genetically modified foods (GMOs) and pesticides are really harmful to human health. Furthermore, the patenting of seed, controlling and owning the entire global food supply and the attempt to make the whole human race dependant on “terminator technology” has not sat well with many. Individual states like Maine, Connecticut and more within the United States have been speaking out and making progress, while dozens of other countries have completely banned Monsanto’s GMOs. The world really is waking up and making progress, and now India is making more noise. It’s amazing to see how much we are becoming aware of on our planet, and how much we are coming together and uniting for what resonates with us most. The world is becoming more transparent, it’s easier for us to see through corporate agendas.

In defining seed as their creation and invention, corporations like Monsanto shaped the Global Intellectual Property and Patent Laws so that they could prevent farmers from seed saving and sharing and force them into dependence  on their  patented GMO seeds.This is how the Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) Agreement of the World Trade Organization was born.A Monsanto representative is on record stating that in drafting the TRIPS agreement, they were the patient, diagnostician, and physician all in one(2). – Dr. Vandana Shiva

Annotated Sources:

(1) http://www.ijlt.in/pdffiles/Patents-Act-1970.pdf

 (2)http://www.navdanya.org/news/360-monsantos-climate-resilient-plant-patent-rejected-by-indias-patent-office-rejection-upheld-by-the-intellectual-property-appellate-board

Navdanya has helped set up 111 community seed banks across the country, trained over 5,00,000 farmers in seed, sovereignty, food sovereignty and sustainable agriculture over the past two decades, and helped setup the largest direct marketing, fair trade organic network in the country.   Navdanya started as a program of the Research Foundation for science, Technology and Ecology (RFSTE), a participatory research initiative founded by world-renowned scientist and environmentalist Dr. Vandana Shiva, to provide direction and support to environmental activism.  Navdanya means nine crops that represent India’s collective source of food security. The main aim of the Navdanya biodiversity conservation programme is to support local farmers, rescue and conserve crops and plants that are being pushed to extinction and make them available through direct marketing.

http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=ETNEW&BaseHref=ETD/2013/07/10&PageLabel=9&EntityId=Ar00901&ViewMode=HTML

http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-07-10/news/40492378_1_monsanto-indian-patent-act-patent-protection

http://occupymonsanto360.org/blog/monsanto-patent-rejected-by-indian-government-and-rejection-upheld-saving-small-farmers/

Worlds best 8 Superb Quotes

Worlds best 8 Superb Quotes

Shakespeare.
"Never Play With The Feelings Of Others Because U May Win The Game But The
Risk Is That U Will Surely Lose The Person For A Life Time".

Napoleon.
"The world suffers a lot. Not because of the violence of bad people, But
because of the silence of good people!"

Einstein.
"I am thankful to all those who said NO to me It's because of them I did it
myself."

Abraham Lincoln.
"If friendship is ur weakest point then U are the strongest person in the
world."

Shakespeare.
"Laughing Faces Do Not Mean That There Is Absence Of Sorrow! But It Means
That They Have The Ability To Deal With It".

William Arthur.
"Opportunities Are Like Sunrises, If You Wait Too Long You Can Miss Them".

Hitler.
"When You Are In The Light, Everything Follows You, But When You Enter Into
The Dark, Even Your Own Shadow Doesn't Follow You."

Shakespeare.
"Coin Always Makes Sound But The Currency Notes Are Always Silent. So When
Your Value Increases Stay Quiet.

Amazing True Story (Paderewski & Herbert Hoover)

Amazing True Story

Sea is common for all… Some take pearls,

Some take fishes,Some come out just with just wet legs!

World is common to all; what we get, is whet we try for!

This is a true story that had happened in 1892 at Stanford University. It's moral is still relevant today.

A young, 18 year old student was struggling to pay his fees. He was an orphan, and not knowing where to turn for money, he came up with a bright idea. A friend and he decided to host a musical concert on 

campus to raise money for their education.They reached out to the great pianist Ignacy J. Paderewski. His manager demanded a guaranteed fee of $2,000 for the piano recital. A deal was struck. And the boys began to work to make the concert a success.

The big day arrived. Paderewski performed at Stanford. But unfortunately, they had not managed to sell enough tickets. The total collection was only $1,600. Disappointed, they went to Paderewski and explained their plight. They gave him the entire $1,600, plus a cheque for the balance of $400. They promised to honour the cheque soonest possible. "No" said Paderewski. "This is not acceptable" He tore up the 

cheque, returned the $1,600 and told the boys "Here's the $1,600. Please deduct whatever expenses you have incurred. Keep the money you need for your fees. And just give me whatever is left" The boys 

were surprised, and thanked him profusely.

It was a small act of kindness. But it clearly marked out Paderewski as a great human being. Why should he help two people he did not even know? We all come across situations like these in our lives. And most of us only think "If I help them, what would happen to me?"

The truly great people think, "If I don't help them, what will happen to them?" They don't do it expecting something in return. They do it because they feel it's the right thing to do.

Paderewski later went on to become the Prime Minister of Poland. He was a great leader, but unfortunately when the World War began, Poland was ravaged. There were over 1.5 million people starving in his country, and no money to feed them.

Paderewski did not know where to turn for help. He reached out to the US Food and Relief Administration for help.

The head was a man called Herbert Hoover - who later went on to become the US President. Hoover agreed to help and quickly shipped tons of food grains to fee the starving Polish people. A calamity 

 was averted.Paderewski was relieved. He decided to go across to meet Hoover and personally thank him. When Paderewski began to thank Hoover for his noble gesture, Hoover quickly interjected and said, "You shouldn't be thanking me, Mr. Prime Minister. You may not remember this, but several years ago, you helped two young students go through college in the US. I was one of them."

The world is a wonderful place. What goes around usually comes around.

Advice From a 101 Old Doctor!

Advice From a 101 Old Doctor!

Dr. Shigeaki Hinohara, Japan, turned 101 on 4th October 2012
 

As a 101 year old Doctor, he was interviewed, and gave his advice for a long and healthy life.

 

Shigeaki Hinohara is one of the world's longest-serving physicians and educators. Hinohara's magic touch is legendary: Since 1941 he has been healing patients at St. Luke's International Hospital in Tokyo and teaching at St. Luke's College of Nursing.






He has published around 15 books since his 75th birthday, including one "Living Long, Living Good" that has sold more than 1.2 million copies. As the founder of the New Elderly Movement, Hinohara encourages others to live a long and happy life, a quest in which no role model is better than the doctor himself.

 

Doctor Shigeaki Hinohara's main points for a long and happy life:

 

* Energy comes from feeling good, not from eating well or sleeping a lot. We all remember how as children, when we were having fun, we often forgot to eat or sleep. I believe that we can keep that attitude as adults, too. It's best not to tire the body with too many rules such as lunchtime and bedtime.

 

* All people who live long regardless of nationality, race or gender share one thing in common: None are overweight. For breakfast I drink coffee, a glass of milk and some orange juice with a tablespoon of olive oil in it. Olive oil is great for the arteries and keeps my skin healthy. Lunch is milk and a few cookies, or nothing when I am too busy to eat. I never get hungry because I focus on my work. Dinner is veggies, a bit of fish and rice, and, twice a week, 100 grams of lean meat.

 

* Always plan ahead. My schedule book is already full until 2014, with lectures and my usual hospital work. In 2016 I'll have some fun, though: I plan to attend the Tokyo Olympics!

 

* There is no need to ever retire, but if one must, it should be a lot later than 65. The current retirement age was set at 65 half a century ago, when the average life-expectancy in Japan was 68 years and only 125 Japanese were over 100 years old. Today, Japanese women live to be around 86 and men 80, and we have 36,000 centenarians in our country. In 20 years we will have about 50,000 people over the age of 100...

 

* Share what you know. I give 150 lectures a year, some for 100 elementary-school children, others for 4,500 business people. I usually speak for 60 to 90 minutes, standing, to stay strong.

 

* When a doctor recommends you take a test or have some surgery, ask whether the doctor would suggest that his or her spouse or children go through such a procedure.Contrary to popular belief, doctors can't cure everyone. So why cause unnecessary pain with surgery I think music and animal therapy can help more than most doctors imagine.

 

* To stay healthy, always take the stairs and carry your own stuff. I take two stairs at a time, to get my muscles moving.

 

* My inspiration is Robert Browning's poem "Abt Vogler." My father used to read it to me. It encourages us to make big art, not small scribbles. It says to try to draw a circle so huge that there is no way we can finish it while we are alive. All we see is an arch; the rest is beyond our vision but it is there in the distance.

 

* Pain is mysterious, and having fun is the best way to forget it. If a child has a toothache, and you start playing a game together, he or she immediately forgets the pain. Hospitals must cater to the basic need of patients: We all want to have fun. At St. Luke's we have music and animal therapies, and art classes.

 

* Don't be crazy about amassing material things. Remember: You don't know when your number is up, and you can't take it with you to the next place.

 

* Hospitals must be designed and prepared for major disasters, and they must accept every patient who appears at their doors. We designed St. Luke's so we can operate anywhere: in the basement, in the corridors, in the chapel. Most people thought I was crazy to prepare for a catastrophe, but on March 20, 1995, I was unfortunately proven right when members of the Aum Shinrikyu religious cult launched a terrorist attack in the Tokyo subway. We accepted 740 victims and in two hours figured out that it was sarin gas that had hit them. Sadly we lost one person, but we saved 739 lives.

 

* Science alone can't cure or help people.Science lumps us all together, but illness is individual. Each person is unique, and diseases are connected to their hearts. To know the illness and help people, we need liberal and visual arts, not just medical ones.

 

* Life is filled with incidents. On March 31, 1970, when I was 59 years old, I boarded the Yodogo, a flight from Tokyo to Fukuoka. It was a beautiful sunny morning, and as Mount Fuji came into sight, the plane was hijacked by the Japanese Communist League-Red Army Faction. I spent the next four days handcuffed to my seat in 40-degree heat. As a doctor, I looked at it all as an experiment and was amazed at how the body slowed down in a crisis.

 

* Find a role model and aim to achieve even more than they could ever do. My father went to the United States in 1900 to study at Duke University in North Carolina. He was a pioneer and one of my heroes. Later I found a few more life guides, and when I am stuck, I ask myself how they would deal with the problem.

* It's wonderful to live long. Until one is 60 years old, it is easy to work for one's family and to achieve one's goals. But in our later years, we should strive to contribute to society. Since the age of 65, I have worked as a volunteer. I still put in 18 hours seven days a week and love every minute of it.