Posted in economy, first person, health, tagged 2010, 2015, additive, adverse, agency, agriculture, anthropogenic, Apidae, approval, asthma, autism, autoimmune, babies, bathroom cleaners, Bayer, bee, beekeepers, biomagnification, biomarkers, biomonitoring, blame, Bloomberg, butterfly effect, buyer, cancer, carcinogen, care, chemical, chemistry, children, choice, choices, cleaners, coating, colonies, colony collapse disorder, commercial, companies, consequences, consumption, control act, cooking, cookware, cord blood, corporate interests, court, crops, cumulative, damage, dangerous, dangers of, date, death, decimate, decline, demand, die-off, disease, DNA, DuPont, dying, effects, empower, empowerment, enlightened consumer, environmental, EPA, epidemic, epigenetics, evolved, famine, farming, fate, fertilize, food, food chain, fungus, future, genes, genetic code, GMO, grandchildren, groups, harm, harvest, have our backs, health, hives, homologue, honeybees, hunger, illness, immune system, impact, industrial, ingredient, inherited, injunction, insect, institute, Internet, judge, lawmakers, learning disabilities, legislature, look in the mirror, lost headline, magnifier, market, marketplace, media, mice, mirror, mite, modern, modified, Movento, mutate, national, new year, New York, newborns, nonstick, numbers, nutrition, packaging, pans, parasite, pest, pesticides, PFOA, phase out, pocketbook, policy, pollen, pollinators, population, precautionary principle, profile, profitable, protection, public health, public interest, rationalize, reaction, reduction, reflection, regulators, represent, reproduction, research, retailers, risk, risk factor, ruling, safety, science, Scotchguard, self interest, serve, shopper, shrinking, sick, smart consumer, Spirotetramat, stain repellents, Stainmaster, stay, stewardship program, stock, stores, study, substances, take charge, Teflon, tipping point, toxic, traits, trigger, trouble, tumor, voluntary, voting with our wallets, weeds, welfare, withdraw, working group, zero on January 6, 2010 |
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Remember that story a few years back about the mysterious honeybee affliction known as Colony Collapse Disorder? It didn’t remain in the headlines for long but it should have: Honeybees pollinate up to 1/3 of the world’s crops. Lose them and we lose a great deal of human civilization to malnutrition.
I was reminded of this sad phenomena over the holidays when, from city to city, county to county, I kept stepping over dead and dying honeybees. Not just one, but several. Not merely one week, but several weeks in a row. Three years earlier — and what first brought CCD to my attention when I came online in search of an explanation — I took a walk in a local park and saw hundreds of bees dying on the ground. It was all I could do to keep my dog from stepping on them, a number of them still trying, fruitlessly so, to fly. A few weeks later at another park, I saw the same phenomena. The carnage became so commonplace that year that I eventually lost count.
Now here comes a late-breaking 2009 headline nearly lost amidst end-of-year festivities:
Bayer ‘Disappointed’ in Ruling on Chemical That May Harm Bees | Bloomberg.com
Bayer’s newest chemical wonder, Spirotetramat, was not on the market when CCD surfaced, but what is alarming about this story is that the EPA apparently approved it, critics allege, knowing that it could heighten or accelerate the harm to a critical link in the food chain.
Our food chain.
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Posted in notes on the human condition, politics, tagged 2001, abuser, academia, accountability, activism, activist, administration, affirmative action, agenda, America, Appeals Court, appoint, Associated Press, bench, Berkley, bigoted, blind, candidate, cases, caucasians, character, choice, class, congress, conscience, consequence, Constitution, convey, country, court, courtroom, cultural, culture wars, diabetes, Dianne Feinstein, discern, discretion, discretion is the better part of valor, discrimination, dominance, eccentric, elitism, empowerment, equality, ethnic, ethnicity, ethnocentric, express, fire fighters, fixation, gender, Harriet Miers, heritage, Hispanic, history, hubris, human experience, human nature, humanity, identity, identity politics, institutionalized, jockeying, judgment, judicial seat, justice, knowledge, La Raza, language, Latina, law, lawsuits, lecture, liberal, loose cannons, marginalization, nation, nominee, Obama, Obama administration, one-upmanship, perception, politically incorrect, poor, power, power structures, president, pride, privileged, professor, proud, race relations, racialist, racism, radicalization, rational, regrets, restitution, reverse discrimination, Robert Gibbs, school, SCOTUS, self, self esteem, self identification, self promotion, selfish, sentiments, sexism, shortsighted, social position, social theorists, Sonia Sotomayor, sound mind, speech, statement, studies, subjugate, superior, superiority, Supreme Court, tapestry, thought form, true colors, UC, university, US, vetting, victimhood, victimization, vision, vitriol, voters, white male, wisdom, wiser, words on May 30, 2009 |
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Prospective Supreme Court justice Sonia Sotomayor has yet to complete the vetting process but already controversy over a comment she made in 2001 has erupted. In “A Latina Judge’s Voice“, a lecture presented at the law school of the University of California, Berkeley, Sotomayor said that her Latina heritage undeniably plays a role in her judgments. “I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life,” Sotomayor told her audience.
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