Kevin Hansen's blog

A remarkable emergency petition with over one million signatures has been submitted to the USEPA requesting the withdrawal of the pesticide clothianidin - a nicotine-based systemic pesticide widely used on corn/maize. Multiple activist organizations participated, lead by major US beekeepers.

The basis of the petition is that the USEPA's legal requirements for the demonstrated safety of clothianidin were never proven - and subsequent findings have shown its damages - violating the US law FIFRA, which governs the registration process for pesticides.

A coalition of beekeepers and activists gained over one million signatures on this petition, that walks step-by-step through the reasoning behind the proposed determination of the clothianidin registration's illegality - used as the basis for the withdrawal request.

This is fantastic.

http://www.beyondpesticides.org/pollinators/CFS-Clothianidin-Petition-3-...

Please pass this link to whomever you think might benefit.

This is a really big deal:

A team of the top United States honeybee experts at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Beltsville, Maryland, laboratory near Washington DC has published a damning report linking tiny sub-lethal concentrations of one nicotine pesticide, imidacloprid, with an increase in another common gut disease, Nosema.

Although many other studies before this suggested similar findings, the US government has been far behind - this is therefore a breakthrough. It also acknowledges some of the major work done by French researchers: until now, the groundbreaking French research was largely ignored by official US government agencies. Look for breakthroughs because of this work.

The original article linked above was released for public/open access (thanks Springer Publishing for making this open access!!). It is a top-downloaded article at this time on Springer's website.

Abstract of Original Article:

This is one of the very important shifts occurring now: an entirely new industrial production base not founded on fossil fuels. Cheers, Kevin

ENERGY | JANUARY 30, 2012 | BY MACKINNON LAWRENCE
Kick-Starting the Bio-Based Economy

Original Article in MatterNetwork.com:

http://www.matternetwork.com/2012/1/kick-starting-bio-based-economy.cfm

by Mackinnon Lawrence of PikeResearch.com

Massive, varied, and intricately woven into the fabric of modern industrial society, the global chemical industry was valued at over $4 trillion in 2011, according to Pike Research’s Green Chemistry report. The non-pharmaceutical chemicals industry in the United States is valued at around $700 billion per year.

This great article in two parts, from Australia, details the mass die-offs around the world, of many species - including the beautiful Ladybird Beetle that is surprisingly important to the web of life: Original Articles at: Part One: http://hydroponics.com.au/free-articles/where-have-all-the-ladybirds-gone and Part Two: http://hydroponics.com.au/free-articles/where-have-all-the-ladybirds-gon...

Where have all the ladybirds gone? Part 1

By Marilyn Steiner and Stephen Goodwin

In this two-part article, the authors shine a spotlight on neonicotinoid pesticides against a backdrop of widespread use of this group and concerning reports of an alarming and increasing loss of biodiversity. While honey bees have been the focus of concern, other pollinators and invertebrates, birds and even the lowly earthworm are at risk.

A World that Works for Everyone

By Jay Walljasper

Original article in Notre Dame Magazine:
http://magazine.nd.edu/news/27932-a-world-that-works-for-everyone/
PUBLISHED: WINTER 2011-12 POSTED IN: CAMPUS & COMMUNITY AND CURRENT AFFAIRS

You would expect Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business to focus its teaching on making profits from the world as it is instead of asking students to explore how to fundamentally change it.

But that means you probably haven’t met business Professor Leo Burke — a former entrepreneur, Motorola executive and, in his student days, manager of the Notre Dame football team.

There is a very amazing trend towards "Do-It-Yourself-Everything" that is made possible by the economic needs of the present - and offers great hope for individual sustainable living for the planet.

This shift is re-localizing manufacturing - and empowering people to create their own lives in wonderful ways:

Global Village Construction Set: http://opensourceecology.org/wiki/Global_Village_Construction_Set

A very important shift may be occurring in our understanding of pesticides: risk may increase over time, rendering even very small amounts of pesticides such as some nicotine-based neonicotinoids much more toxic than previously realized.

Dutch researcher Dr. Henk Tennekes, with Dr. Francisco Sanchez-Bayo of Australia, have shown this in a new article in the Journal of Environmental & Analytical Toxicology: "Time-Dependent Toxicity of Neonicotinoids and Other Toxicants: Implications for a New Approach to Risk Assessment" that is an open-access research article downloadable with the link shown above. I corresponded with Dr. Tennekes, who summarized his deep concerns:

"By Dr. Henk Tennekes

AN ECOLOGICAL DISASTER THAT WILL AFFECT US ALL

A wonderful article describing organic permaculture teaching gardens used to help teach children via experiential means the lessons they need - in a practical garden setting:

Sowing the Seeds of Food Security

By FIONA MACKAY
Published: New York Times - November 27, 2011

CAPE TOWN — At primary schools in South Africa’s impoverished Cape Flats area, teachers are using organic vegetable gardens to help children learn science, geography and economics — and to unlearn hunger.

Schools Environmental Education and Development (SEED) is a nonprofit based in Cape Town that creates learning gardens as part of their Organic Classroom Program, in partnerships with schools in South Africa’s poorest communities.

Founded in 2002, SEED trains teachers to design, plant and nurture a garden according to permaculture principles, which encourage a sustainable approach to agriculture modeled on the ecosystem.