House Democrats Propose a “Green New Deal” to help fight Climate Change 

photo credit: Sierra Club

House Representative-Elect Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez is already stirring things up in Congress. She recently rolled out a proposal for a “Green New Deal”, which is a plan for the US to make changes to help fight climate change. Her plan proposes to reduce carbon emissions, overhaul the current US energy situation, and create new jobs. She believes that the “Green New Deal” and fighting to stop climate change, will be this generations feminist movement or civil rights movement. Along with Senator Bernie Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez attended the Climate Change Forum: “Solving Climate Change”. During the event, they discussed the things that need to change, but did not go into detail on how they planned on implementing them. Right now there are a slew of conservative senators and congressmen/woman who are man-made climate change deniers. Convincing those people to sign on will be the hardest struggle with the plan. 

Senator Sanders said :“What we are trying to do tonight is be part of the revolution in terms of the need to transform our energy system away from fossil fuels and to not only save the planet but create millions of good-paying jobs in the process,” Sanders said.” 

It is great to see government officials representing the needs of citizens and connecting with citizens on a real level to help our planet and communities. For more information on the event and the potential “Green New Deal” click here. To Watch the whole forum click here. 

Scientists Warn the Insect Apocalypse is Here, But How Will That Effect The Earth? 

The New York Times came out with a feature piece discussing how the earths insect population has been seriously depleted in the last 50 years.

Some statistics are: “United States, scientists recently found the population of monarch butterflies fell by 90 percent in the last 20 years, a loss of 900 million individuals; the rusty-patched bumblebee, which once lived in 28 states, dropped by 87 percent over the same period.” 

This is worrisome because insects are a functional part of the earths ecosystem, from pollinating to recycling products and helping decompose products. Many scientists think that it is a combination of pesticides in farming, climate change, and the loss of habitat that has driven insects away, and in some cases caused them to go extinct. This is another issue we need to be concerned about, because insects play critical role in the balance of our entire world!

To read the whole NY Times article click here: 

Chemicals in Our Food? Many Foods Are Not Safe, Despite the FDA Approval!

It is widely known that our current food system and food growing practices use pesticides and herbicides (unless they are organic.) This means that every non organic food item we eat has some kind of chemical residue on it. The Food and Drug Administration has guidelines which allow for trace amounts of these chemicals and identifies them as safe. However, a recent study now shows that these so-called “safe products” may not really be safe after all. 

The Organic Consumer Association Article states:

“More than 75 percent of fruits and more than 50 percent of vegetables sampled carried pesticides residues in the latest sampling reported by the Food and Drug Administration. Even residues of the tightly restricted bug-killing chemical, DDT, are found in food, along with a range of other pesticides known by scientists to be linked to a range of illnesses and disease. The pesticide endosulfan, banned worldwide because of evidence that it can cause neurological and reproductive problems, was also found in food samples, the FDA report said. 

U.S. regulators and the companies that sell the chemicals to farmers insist that the pesticide residues pose no threat to human health. Most residue levels found in food fall within legal “tolerance” levels set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), regulators say.” 

The problem is that Harvard scientific research shows that eating organic, and avoiding all pesticides on regular fruit and vegetables could help prevent cancer. This is their perspective on how the “low levels of pesticides” affects the human body: 

“Clearly the current tolerance levels protect us from acute toxicity. The problem is that it is not clear to what extent long-term low-level exposure to pesticide residues through food may or may not be health hazards,” said Dr. Jorge Chavarro, Associate Professor of the Departments of Nutrition and Epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and one of the study authors. 

It is important to know what you are eating, where your food is coming from, and who is growing it, to ensure it is safe and pesticide or herbicide free. To read the full article click here.