Category Archives: environment

Horse Slaughter Plants Hope to Open Aug. 5

The attorney representing newly licensed horse slaughterhouses in New Mexico and Iowa says the plants are set to open Aug. 5.

But lawyer Blair Dunn says those plans hinge on an Aug. 2 court date before a federal judge in New Mexico overseeing a lawsuit by animal protection groups.

The Humane Society of the United States, Front Range Equine Rescue of Larkspur, Colo., and others filed the suit against the Department of Agriculture, alleging it failed to conduct the proper environmental reviews before issuing permits for Valley Meat Co. of Roswell, N.M., and Responsible Transportation in Sigourney, Iowa.

Dunn says the judge will decide whether to issue a temporary restraining order to prevent the plants from opening. They would be the first horse slaughterhouses to operate domestically since 2007.

via Horse Slaughter Plants Hope to Open Aug. 5.

‘Fake’ iPhone charger cited in electrocution death probe | South China Morning Post

A woman killed by an electric shock while using her iPhone may have been using a non-Apple-made battery charger at the time of her death, Chinese state media reported.

The victim, 23-year-old Ma Ailun, had been using what appeared to be an unauthorised iPhone 4 charger, CCTV reported on Tuesday. According to Xiang Ligang, a telecommunications expert interviewed by CCTV, the charger Ma had been using may have been a “knockoff”‘ – a fake.

“Knockoff chargers sometimes cut corners,” Xiang said. “The quality of the capacitor and circuit protector may not be good, and this may lead to the capacitor breaking down and sending 220 volts of electricity directly into the cell phone battery.”

via ‘Fake’ iPhone charger cited in electrocution death probe | South China Morning Post.

Beijing is delicately super-sizing the country’s farms | China Economic Review

In the northwestern Chinese town of Wuliming, farms are being consolidated into a vast tract, the likes of which haven’t been seen since collective farms under Mao Zedong.

But the plots aren’t being combined under the directives of commune leaders as they were in the late 1950s. Farmers won’t be eating gruel in communal dining halls. And there will be little need for them to sweep across the fields en masse turning up soil or harvesting crop.

via Beijing is delicately super-sizing the country’s farms | China Economic Review.

Same song but this time banks, government, and international investors will try to control agriculture in China and for sake of profit – will likely kill the land with over production and industrialized agriculture – all so they can force farmers and rural people to move to cities to become factory workers – think factory communes or starve… 

CDC – Blogs – Public Health Matters Blog – Animal Rescue: Caring for Animals During Emergencies

In 2008, Hurricane Ike devastated the upper Texas coast with many animals lost and many more suffering needlessly.  This storm triggered a request for the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences to form a deployable veterinary emergency team.

The Texas A&M Veterinary Emergency Team (TAMU VET) is comprised of veterinary faculty, staff, and senior veterinary medical students. Since the inception, the TAMU VET has been deployed for Hurricanes Rita and Gustuv, the 2011 Grimes County Wildfire and Bastrop Complex Wildfire, an Alzheimer’s patient search in Brazos County in 2012, and the 2013 West, Texas fertilizer plant explosion.

via CDC – Blogs – Public Health Matters Blog – Animal Rescue: Caring for Animals During Emergencies.

Powdered Water Hydrates Drought-Stricken Farms | Green Prophet

“The incorporation of solid rain in the soil improves its structure and moisture holding capacity, this reduces leaching and improves water and nutrient availability to plants,” according to company literature.

“With the use of solid rain, the water requirements can be minimized due to the reduction of losses by percolation or evaporation,” they added.

“The interval between irrigations can be doubled, tripled or more. Additionally, the extra reserve of water in the soil prevents plants from water stress. This is especially important in areas or periods with low precipitation.”

via Powdered Water Hydrates Drought-Stricken Farms | Green Prophet.

Saudi Arabia to restrict pilgrimage visas over coronavirus – Times LIVE

Saudi Arabia will not issue Haj visas this year for the Muslim elderly and people with chronic diseases in a bid to prevent the spread of the MERS coronavirus during the upcoming pilgrimage season, the Health Ministry said Saturday.

via Saudi Arabia to restrict pilgrimage visas over coronavirus – Times LIVE.

Farming for a sustainable community: A training manual | American Friends Service Committee

“Farming for a Sustainable Community: A Training Manual” documents the knowledge of Don Bustos, lifelong New Mexican farmer and director of AFSC’s New Mexico program, and the farmer-to-farmer training program developed by AFSC to pass down the knowledge he and his ancestors have known for generations.

via Farming for a sustainable community: A training manual | American Friends Service Committee.

Pig Virus Migrates to U.S. – Cr**!

The virus has been confirmed in about 200 hog facilities in 14 other states including Arkansas, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and South Dakota, according to the American Association of Swine Veterinarians.

Dr. Lisa Becton, director of swine health information and research for the National Pork Board, an industry trade group, said the impact on the availability of pork and meat prices is difficult to estimate.

“At this point, I really don’t have any indications what that potential impact would be. Obviously, we know for individual farms the impact is severe, especially if it’s a sow farm that has baby pigs, because baby pigs do suffer the most from the disease,” she said.

According to the Iowa Pork Industry Center, an industry advocate, the ability to test for the disease is limited. It is believed to be transmitted by infected food or feces, and can be contained by quarantining infected animals and washing down trucks and production facilities.

Becton said the disease can spread quickly and has killed entire populations of pigs under 7 days old.

“As they get older, by the time they’re weaned at around 3 weeks of age, death loss can be around 80 percent or in severe cases upwards of 100 percent. Typically, after weaning mortality declines dramatically,” she said.

via Pig Virus Migrates to U.S..

So who has not been watching the importation of pigs or food for pigs and allowed the virus in. We take better care of oranges than this!

Why Is Google Supporting a Climate-Denying Senator? : Compass

Senator Inhofe is notorious for his climate denial and disgust for clean energy. He regularly repeats misinformation and outright lies about climate science, going so far as to say that carbon pollution and warming temperatures are “beneficial to our economy and our environment” and calling climate change “the greatest hoax perpetuated on the American people.”

(Update: As of Wednesday afternoon, he even took to the Senate floor to mock and rail against the President’s climate action plan!)

Inhofe’s rhetoric doesn’t really mesh with a company whose chairman, Eric Schmidt, recently said, “You can lie about the effects of climate change, but eventually you’ll be seen as a liar.”

Google’s fundraiser for Senator Inhofe comes on the heels of the news that Google also donated $50,000 for a fundraising dinner for the anti-environment Competitive Enterprise Institute. CEI staff also deny climate disruption and the organization receives significant donations from the dirty fuels industry.

Yet Google’s donation to CEI even outdid donations from the Koch brothers!

This is no way for Google to lead on clean energy and climate action. Google’s support of the most outspoken climate denier in the Senate is backwards, out of place, and doesn’t stand with their strong clean energy credibility.

via Why Is Google Supporting a Climate-Denying Senator? : Compass.