EarthAction

Where have all the honey bees gone?

What is it:

Colony Collapse Disorder is the name given to a phenomenon first noticed by large-scale bee keepers in 2006 and 2007 that is estimated to have impacted one third of all honey bee colonies in the United States. 

Hives that suffer from CCD incur a loss of the majority of their adult worker-bee population and are characterized by a hive empty of bees yet full of honey, bee young and even the queen bee.The bees from these colonies appear healthy until, one day, bee keepers find a hive with no adult worker bees. No dead bees are found near the hive nor are there any signs as to where the bees disappear to, all that is known is that they leave behind what looks to be an otherwise healthy hive.

What Causes it?

 The causes of Colony Collapse disorder are debated, with no entirely conclusive study yet to be conducted. Some proposed causes include:

• poisoning from pollinating pesticide treated crops
• poor nutrition from altered foraging patterns/lack of diversified food sources
• increased presence of the honey bee pest varroa mites
• new viruses targeting bee immune systems

Most scientists and bee keepers argue that CCD may be the result of increased stress due to many of the above listed factors. However, all agree that threats to the honey bee population are threats to our global food system as we know it.

Why is it important:
Bees aren’t just busy pollinating flowers, they are the unsung heroes in food systems across the globe, pollinating many crops for human consumption. In the United States our industrial food system is supported by a network of bee keepers who truck bees up and down highways pollinating everything from Maine blueberries to Florida oranges and California almonds. Without them, food supplies world wide are in danger of collapsing.
And CCD isn’t just happening to bees in the United States, honey bees in The UK have been reportedly suffering from CCD and in 2011 the United Nations issued a statement declaring CCD a global concern reaching from US beekeepers to Chinese beekeepers.

What can we do:

• Urge secretary Tom Vilsack of the US Department of Agriculture to continue to fund research to combat CCD using this online messaging system from the National Resources Defense Council. (Tip- customize the message, tell Tom Vilsack why this issue is important to you, for maximum impact!)
• Read these tips from the NRDC on how to make a bee-friendly garden and which pesticides are commonly known to impact bee health. Inform other gardeners and farmers in your community of the pesticides on the list!
• Learn to keep bees (even in the city) to add to a growing number of small scale bee keepers invested in healthy honey bees across the globe!
• Read about what the EPA is doing to protect honey bees in the United States.

Written by EarthAction Intern Walker Dunn
Sources and Further Information:

http://www.ars.usda.gov/News/docs.htm?docid=15572
http://www.nrdc.org/wildlife/animals/bees.asp
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/in720

Image Source through Creative Commons Liscensing

Middle Photo by: Dan Solely (c) turtlephoto.org 

Pay-as-you-go Business Innovation Makes Renewable Energy Accessible

Written and Researched by EarthAction Intern Larry O'Connor

The Economist magazine recently published an article about a company that has developed an interesting way to profit from providing electricity to poor, sunny regions around the world. The company is based out of London and called Eight19, which refers how long it takes sunlight to reach the earth - 8 minutes and 19 seconds.

The Economist article focuses on Eight19’s “Pay as you go” solar program, where a family will be able to pay an upfront deposit of $10 US to purchase a solar cell and battery that have the ability to light two small rooms for 7 hours per day while charging one cell phone. The users then must purchase "scratch cards" using their cell phones to receive a reference number that will activate the devices. The "scratch cards" and reference numbers are sent via text message. Users can purchase any amount that they can pay for: a day, a week, or a month. These small purchases work toward paying off the cost of the device. After purchasing approximately eighty dollars’ worth of scratch cards, the customer will have paid off the entire cost of the battery and will have complete ownership of the unit.

Customers can then use their $80 US investment on a down payment to move up the "Indigo Energy Escalator" to obtain a larger solar battery unit, or they can just keep their solar unit and not spend any money on electricity. This energy escalator has four different levels, ranging from 3 to 80 watt capacity. The 80 watt solar cell generates light for a phone, four rooms, a radio, a TV, and a sewing machine.

 

This process was recently tested on a few hundred Kenyan families. Over the next two months Eight19 plans to release 4,000 solar kits in Kenya, Malawi, and Zambia. Many people in this region already have light and some electricity fueled by paraffin - a harmful waxy substance that comes from hydrocarbons used for lighting candles (pictured aboved). The most important aspect in this process is that these incremental payments are similar to what potential customers currently pay for paraffin to light lamps and the cost of charging a cell phone at a store.

Potential Implications of “Pay as you go solar”

Can Organic Farming Feed the World?

Written By: Yelena Kobaliya, EarthAction Intern

The question on many consumers' minds while staring at an array of beautiful produce trucked to their local grocer from Mexico, California, Chile and other far-away locales is, exactly how much better for me are the tomatoes labelled "organic" over "conventional"? Are the health benefits worth the steep price tag?

They may be, but a major study by the Rodale Institute in Kutztown, PA concluded that the main advantage of organic produce over conventional is not in organic food's health benefits for individual consumers. The 30-year study shows that there are major ecological benefits to organic agriculture which can impact more than the individual pushing the shopping cart.

It has often been argued that organic agriculture cannot provide enough for the world. Rodale Institute’s study contradicts this point of view. Comparisons of conventional and organic plots did not show any difference in total wheat, corn or soy production per acre. Moreover, during the drought years, organic plots provided 30% more harvest than conventional plots.

In an interview with the Huffington Post, Mark Smallwood, Rodale Institute’s executive director, stated: "If we're looking to feed the world for the next 50 years, conventional can do it. But if we're looking at feeding the world for the next 1500 years, we must switch over to organic."

The usage of petroleum-product contributes to the sustainability gap between conventional and organic agriculture. Even though both methods use diesel fuel for farm equipment, some 41% of conventional systems' petroleum consumption comes from using harmful, nitrogen-based fertilizers.

Sustainable soil health is another factor which differentiates the two systems. Conventional agriculture relies on crude-oil-dependent artificial fertilizers for the soil's macronutrient content. The use of such heavy-duty pesticides has been referred to as the pesticide treadmill, a dangerous cycle which, once begun, is difficult to come out of.  When dwindling oil supplies or rising fossil fuel prices begin to impact the availability and price of synthetic fertilizers, it will be the organic farms that will remain prosperous.

The summary of the Rodale Institute's findings are:

• Organic yields match or surpass conventional yields.

• Organic yields outperform conventional yields in years of drought.

• Organic farming systems build rather than deplete soil organic matter, making it a more sustainable system.

• Organic farming uses 45 percent less energy and is more efficient.

• Conventional agricultural systems produce 40 percent more greenhouse gases.

• Organic farming systems are more profitable than conventional farming systems.

Mark Smallwood shed light on the high cost of organic food explaining, "one of the reasons is that there aren't enough organic farms. It's because demand is higher than supply." To combat the discrepancy in supply and demand the Rodale Institute proposes several policy recommendations based on their study; to expand organic research funding, to ensure fair and appropriate risk management tools, to meet market demand, to create a robust organic transition assistance program, and to reward environmental benefits.

Eric Schlosser on the benefits of organic farming: http://aol.it/pc693W

Image source: Organic Farming Research Foundation

To learn more about the Rodale Institute, visit www.rodaleinstitute.org

UPDATE ON KHIMKI: Protestors filing lawsuit against builders of highway that would destroy Khimki Forest

Here's an update from our friends at Movement to Defend Khimki Forest. Lawmakers have proposed narrowing the planned highway through the Khimki Forest from four lanes to two lanes, but that simply wouldn't be enough to save the rich wildlife, endangered species, and beloved birch trees from deforestation. The Movement to Defend Khimki Forest is now filling a lawsuit against the highway builders, PO 'DorInzhStroyProyect' LLC in an effort to save the threatened ecosystem. Please read more below.

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Lawsuit against PO 'DorInzhStroyProyect' LLC

November 3, 2011 
Press release 

Due to Khimki Forest defenders’ struggle, the width of the road on the main sections of Moscow – St. Petersburg toll motorway has been cut from 8 to 4 traffic lanes and now is 26 meters (http://princip1.livejour nal.com/17998.html). However, it can’t help solve the problem of destruction of Khimki Forest as an ecosystem.

The main task of forest defenders remains the revision of construction project and the change of the motorway’s route to spare Khimki Forest. The independent expertise has shown the existence of over 10 alternative variants for the route of Moscow – St. Petersburg motorway, which can solve the existing transport crisis on the territory of Khimki town district.

Our suit must show the total uselessness of road construction across Khimki Forest.

The builders have themselves accepted the absurd nature of the road, when they have got permission for construction of the motorway with 4 traffic lanes. It proves once more that the road isn’t destined for solution of transport problem, but rather for theft of budget funds.

PO ‘DorInzhStroyProyect’ LLC during preparation works for road construction has used budget funds, while the income from the toll motorway will go to private NWCC LLC, partly belonging to oligarch Arkady Rotenberg (http://www.ecmo.ru/data/Jul2011/Vinci_a_cover_for_oligarchs_ru.pdf).

The contractor in violation of permission fo r construction has felled the opening more than 100 meters wide, that is 4 times more than written in the project.

This violation became possible due to belated receipt of permission for construction and the lack of state construction supervision. The developer in violation of acting town planning legislation didn’t inform authorized organs on the beginning of construction works and was fined for that on 100000 ruble (http://princip1.livejournal.com/18829.html).

At the moment of the cutting the developer lacked (besides permission for construction) an order for fulfillment of ground works and a cutting ticket.

Most transport problems arise due to the lack of unified town planning policy. For example, there is no acting general plan today in Khimki (http://princip1.livejournal.com/22224.html).

The old general plan, which acted in town Khimki until 2009, didn’t include the toll motorway Moscow – St. Petersburg on the route, where the opening was later cut. We believe that the lack of the general plan in Khimki is among the causes, why the developers cut 4 times more forest area, than they should have done according to the project.

We intend to suit PO ‘DorInzhStroyProyect’ LLC in the court. 

For more information, visit:

Movement to Defend Khimki Forest
www.khimkiforest.org
www.ecmo.ru

Map Photo by OpenStreetMap Contributors
Protester Photo by Daniel Beilinson/Coalition "For the Forests of Moscow Region!"

UPDATE: Cultural Survival/Global Response Selects the Prey Lang Issue for its Next Campaign

In August, EarthAction brought global attention to the Prey Lang forest issue in Cambodia. The Cambodian government is allowing companies, the military, and illegal groups to make a profit by destroying the ancient Prey Lang forest. Indigenous Kuy communities, who live in or around Prey Lang, have been fighting to protect the forest, the source of their livelihoods and culture.

We are very pleased that the Prey Lang issue has been selected as the next Cultural Survival/Global Response campaign. Cultural Survival, an organization with a consultative status with the United Nations, has partnered with indigenous communities around the world to help them defend their cultures, lands, and languages for nearly 40 years. Just like EarthAction, Global Response was launched at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. Cultural Survival's Global Response Program will develop a campaign that will include action alerts, maps, photos, and additional articles and links to other websites and resources for the campaign. The action alerts will also be published in the winter issue of the Cultural Survival Quarterly magazine, which will be released in mid-December.

For more information about Cultural Survival's Global Response Program activities, please visit www.cs.org

Avatar Activists Photograph by: AFP, Tang Chhin Sothy

Spreading The Word On Biochar

by: Alexandra Reissig

What if there existed a material that could help solve world hunger, fight climate change, and offer a solution for energy shortages to boot? Recent studies on biochar say that it may be just the product, and here’s the kicker: it has been around for at least 2,000 years. It is a solid material produced from the carbonization of organic waste. Extremely high in carbon content, its uses range from replenishing exhausted soil to sequestering excess CO2 out of the atmosphere. Recent discoveries into its uses, both locally and globally, have shown it to be a viable material for an environmentally sustainable future.

Biochar is essentially charcoal, produced when biomass is heated in a low oxygen environment in a pyrolysis process. This process takes dry biomass and heats it at extreme temperatures and at a very low oxygen level. It is very similar to what happens naturally to soil that has been exposed to forest fires: the charred remains are more healthy and nutrient rich. Of the total amount of carbon that goes into the pyrolysis process, half goes into an energy carrying system that can be generated into biofuel. The other half of the carbon is fixed in biochar: a charcoal-like material that can be used as fertilizer to help increase crop yields, prevent run-off of nutrients and fertilizers, retain moisture in the soil and replenish exhausted soils with organic carbon.

Join us in Northampton, MA to End Holyoke Coal

Special Local Action: Retire the Coal Plant in Holyoke, MA

We at EarthAction don't typically send out emails about local campaigns. However, we thought this one was so important to the Pioneer Valley that we decided to send it to our Western Mass partners. Please see the email below from our friends at the Northampton Sierra Club. Tonight is the kickoff for their Beyond Coal campaign to finally retire the dirty, aging coal plant in Holyoke, MA and replace it with clean, renewable energy. We hope that you'll join us for tonight's meeting!

                                                 - With Peace and Love, Lois Barber

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Do you care about clean, healthy air? How about creating local green jobs?

Then join us for…  

Sierra Club Beyond Coal Campaign Kickoff Meeting!

Tuesday, September 27th
7:00 – 8:00 PM

@ the Media Education Foundation

60 Masonic Street #A
(next to Woodstar Cafe)
**Refreshments provided**

Coal is dirty, dangerous and outdated. The Mt. Tom coal plant in Holyoke, MA is over 50 years old and releases toxins like mercury and sulfur dioxide. These toxins are a threat to our health and environment. In Holyoke alone, where the plant resides, asthma rates are more than double the state average and everyone that lives within 30 miles of the plant is at risk. Northampton, Amherst, Easthampton, Hadley and South Hadley are all high risk communities. The Pioneer Valley has the right to clean air and water, and deserves renewable energy and clean jobs. Right now, the Pioneer Valley has the chance to transition from coal to further investments in energy efficiency, wind and solar—and the Governor is a key actor.

Pioneer Valley supporters of clean air are working to replace coal with renewables in Western Massachusetts, and are hoping to convince Governor Deval Patrick to join them. Join us on Tuesday to learn more about the local Beyond Coal campaign to move the Pioneer Valley beyond coal and how to get involved!

The event is free and open to the public. Speakers include Jane Andresen of the Alliance for a Healthy Holyoke, Drew Grande of Massachusetts Beyond Coal, and more.

What You Can Do

Please RSVP for the Kick-Off Meeting by clicking here.

Send the Governor an email right now! Check it out here: 
http://action.sierraclub.org/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&id=7053

To learn more about how you can get involved, please contact:
Savannah Sullivan
p) 513-317-1456
e) Savannah[at] greencorps.org

 

2010 Campaign Report

This report summarizes the campaigns and projects that EarthAction supported and carried out in 2010. Read about our work to protect a forest in Moscow, indigenous peoples' rights in Colombia, elephants in Africa, endangered languages in Siberia, and much, much, more. It's all part of our goal to create a more just, peaceful and sustainable world.

Valentine to the King of Norway: Stop Farm Fishing in BC!

Our friends at salmonaresacred.org have just released a valentine that you can download and send to the King of Norway pressuring him to stop farm fishing in British Columbia.  From their site:

"You can help take a stand against the biological and social threat and commerce of industrial marine net-cage feedlots using our global oceans. The science is clear: these operations risk wild salmon populations by intensifying disease and deplete world fishery resources to make the feed. They privatize ocean spaces and threaten sovereign rights to food security."  

You can send this valentine to your friends and family to raise awareness, post it to your blog, and mail or e-mail the King of Norway directly.  Letters may begin, "Your Majesty, King Harald of Norway, For the Love of Wild Salmon please instruct your fish farmers to get out of the coastal waters of British Columbia and all the world's oceans.”  For more letter ideas click here.

The King's address:

email address:(post@slottet.no)
Mailing address:

His Majesty
King of Norway
Royal Palace
Henrik Ibsens Gate 1
0010 Oslo
Norway

For more information, see salmonaresacred.org or alexandramorton.ca.  We can help create a more just and food secure future for us all.

 

THIS IS GOING TO BE HUGE!

The 10/10/10 Global Work Party, is shaping up to be the largest single day of carbon-cutting action in the planet's history. With just over two weeks left before 10/10/10, there are over 3500 events in 165 countries--and hundreds of new events being registered for 10/10/10 every single day.

This is clearly going to be huge. Don't miss it: get involved today. Click here for the 350.org website where you can see what's going on and register an event.