It’s time for the livestock industry (especially the corporate cowboys) to admit that they have greater threats to their profitability than wild horses. If the “ranchers” and the BLM are truly concerned about the health and quality of range land, watersheds, and food supplies, here is a new suggestion: manage public lands and entire watersheds against the spread of the deadly prion. One key strategy is to keep all livestock off of our cherished public lands — where prion disease is a growing threat.

As more people are learning every day, prions are a form of deadly protein that builds up in the cells and bodily fluids of people and animals afflicted with various forms of prion disease, including mad cow disease, chronic wasting disease, scrapie, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease. Prions now are such a formidable threat that the United States government enacted the Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002 to halt research on infectious prions in the United States in all but two laboratories. Now, infectious prions are classified as select agents that require special security clearance for lab research. The intent is to keep prions and other dangerous biological materials away from terrorists who might use them to contaminate, food, water, blood, equipment, and entire facilities.

Dr. Stanley Prusiner earned a Nobel Prize in 1997 for identifying and studying deadly prions. President Obama awarded Prusiner the National Medal of Science in 2010 to recognize the growing significance of his discovery.

Thanks to Prusiner and other researchers, we now know that various forms of prion disease already are spreading around the world. Prion disease has been found in livestock and a variety of wildlife species across the Rocky Mountain region, the northwest U.S., and southwest.

As Prusiner and other scientists have discovered, the prion pathogen spreads through urine, feces, saliva, blood, milk, soil, and the tissue of infected animals (not to mention soil and water). With those attributes, prions obviously can migrate through surface water runoff and settle in groundwater, lakes, oceans, and water reservoirs. If prions must be regulated in a laboratory environment today, the outdoor environment should be managed accordingly.

It’s time to develop a comprehensive prion management strategy that maximizes safeguards for human health, food, water, and wildlife around the globe. The stakes are too high for fragmented and misguided prion policies. Just ask the Canadian cattlemen what a few prions did to their industry. Ask the U.S. cattle and dairy industries if they want to increase prion pathways in the watersheds that feed our public and private lands. If not, then we need to keep all livestock off of public lands to minimize the risks of cross-contamination. We don’t need to increase the opportunity for sick wildlife to infect livestock or for sick livestock to infect wildlife. Tell the cattle industry to take a stand for food safety and stop grazing on public lands. Then so-called conflicts with wild horses become a non-issue and then public lands become multi-use again.

We have very few mom-and-pop ranchers left in America. Mom-and-pop ranchers also have been wiped out by the “corporate cowboys.” The groups fighting to extinguish the wild horses and the wolves are fighting for every last penny of profit. Remember, this is the industry that decided that feeding dead animals to cattle was a good idea (meat and bone meal is cheap feed). They also decided that injecting cows with the pituitary gland of a dead cow was a good idea (that’s where growth hormones originated).

Therefore, the battle for the wild horse in the American West also is one of greed. If the livestock industry continues its assault for our wild horses, alter your diet accordingly. Tell everyone that you know to do the same. If they harass horses by helicopter, is that a license for all to harass cattle from the sky? What happens when they break their legs running in fear (as happens with our magnificent wild horses). And while we are leveling the playing field, has the livestock industry completely quit using growth hormones derived from the brains of dead cattle? As a specified risk material (SRM) this should have been stopped long ago. How about the feed mills? How many still need to be inspected to safeguard us from mad cow disease? Take a REAL stand for food safety. And take a stand for a REAL symbol of the American spirit.

Do your own research. Read the “Pathological Protein” or “Mad Cowboy.”

As more people are learning every day, prions are a form of deadly protein that builds up in the cells and bodily fluids of people and animals afflicted with various forms of prion disease, including mad cow disease, chronic wasting disease, scrapie, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease. Prions now are such a formidable threat that the United States government enacted the Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002 to halt research on infectious prions in the United States in all but two laboratories. Now, infectious prions are classified as select agents that require special security clearance for lab research. The intent is to keep prions and other dangerous biological materials away from terrorists who might use them to contaminate, food, water, blood, equipment, and entire facilities.
Dr. Stanley Prusiner earned a Nobel Prize in 1997 for identifying and studying deadly prions. President Obama awarded Prusiner the National Medal of Science in 2010 to recognize the growing significance of his discovery.

Thanks to Prusiner and other researchers, we now know that various forms of prion disease already are spreading around the world. Prion disease has been found in livestock and a variety of wildlife species across the Rocky Mountain region, the northwest U.S., and southwest Canada (gray wolf habitat). Reducing wolves in these areas below natural numbers will open the door to the deadly spread of prion contamination in the environment.

As Prusiner and other scientists have discovered, the prion pathogen spreads through urine, feces, saliva, blood, milk, soil, and the tissue of infected animals (not to mention soil and water). With those attributes, prions obviously can migrate through surface water runoff and settle in groundwater, lakes, oceans, and water reservoirs. There is not a known cure for prion disease and allowing sick animals to wander the wild unchecked by wolves will further contaminate entire watersheds – increasing the pathway to humans, livestock, and wildlife downstream.

If prions must be regulated in a laboratory environment today, the outdoor environment should be managed accordingly. Wolves and other predators represent one of the few natural barriers to help minimize the spread of prions in the environment and within our food chain. Accelerating the killing of wolves and other predators for profit and pleasure is a foolish experiment in prion management and a reckless platform for safeguarding wildlife, watersheds, and homeland security. In fact, the National Park Service studied the issue and concluded that “as CWD distribution and wolf range overlap in the future, wolf predation may suppress disease emergence or limit prevalence.” (The Role of Predation in Disease Control: A Comparison of Selective and Nonselective Removal on Prion disease Dynamics in Deer.)

Now, more than ever, wolves are part of a healthy ecosystem and a healthy future. It’s time to develop a comprehensive prion management strategy that maximizes safeguards for human health, food, water, and wildlife around the globe. The stakes are too high for fragmented and misguided prion policies. Just ask the Canadian cattlemen what a few prions did to their industry. Ask the U.S. cattle and dairy industries if they want to increase prion pathways in the watersheds that feed our public and private lands. My guess is that a prion in the soil or water doesn’t care if it attaches to a cow, sheep, deer, elk, or human. It kills them all with the same efficiency. Dilution of this pathogen is not a solution. Ignoring this pathogen is not a solution. Let wolves do their job in the food chain without human interference. This is no time for people to play god.

In terms of tree planting, the state’s official tree, the white oak, won’t be part of the plan because the climate in Illinois is changing too rapidly.

Please read more about the challenge Chicago is taking on at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/23/science/earth/23adaptation.html?hp

Therefore, let’s break it down more logically. The unfortunate term “global warming” is about air pollution, energy policy, and land use. For those who believe that air pollution is good (and that our limited atmosphere can absorb unlimited amounts of carbon dioxide), please feel free to conduct your own scientific experiment. Put your car in the garage, close all the doors, and turn the engine on. Of course, we all know that such an act is suicide. Pumping infinite amounts of toxins into the confines of our atmosphere also is suicide because the atmosphere is like a big balloon that traps everything inside. Contrary to some popular thinking, air pollution doesn’t escape into space. In fact, significant amounts of toxins precipitate back into our water supplies on the earth’s surface (such as mercury).

Secondly, global warming (climate change) is about our energy policy. Since when is wasting energy and propping up the profits of oil companies and utilities good for everyone? Since when does that make most businesses more profitable? Is propping up the profits of hostile regimes really the patriotic energy policy? Ask our 9/11 first responders what they think about the issue.

Finally, is deforesting the world and reducing the planet’s ability to absorb carbon dioxide really a good idea? Are we afraid that those trees provide hiding places for terrorists and wild animals who want to attack us? Are we to believe that cow pastures, parking lots, coal mines, and oil fields are what god meant to do with this planet? And how about all of those other pesky creatures like polar bears, dolphins, whales, wolves, tigers, and eagles. Why did god put them in the way of human progress?

Technorati Tags: global warming, extreme weather, deforesting, energy policy, land use, global warming deniers, Gary Chandler

Today, the Student Environmental Action Coalition (SEAC) has more than 30,000 members on 1,500 campuses.

“With a little more outreach after that first message, the interest just flooded in,” said Eric Odell, editor of SEAC’s newsletter, Threshold. “At the time, there was a growing surge of interest in environmental activism on campuses. SEAC began at just the right time to harness that surge.”

The organization serves as a source of communication — linking different student environmental groups around the country to create a more integrated movement. SEAC gives students a sense of connection to a national environmental movement, Odell said.

SEAC is now calling for a new American environmental agenda that includes the issues of race, class and poverty — along with the traditional goals of conservation and preservation.

“SEAC challenges its members to see the connections between social and environmental problems,” Odell said. “Our environment is dying not just because humans abuse the earth, but because we abuse each other. To be strong, our movement must cross lines of gender, race and class.”

One of the organization’s latest campaigns is aimed at trying to stop a huge hydroelectric project in Quebec called James Bay II. SEAC chapters have been working with labor groups to fight the project, which will displace thousands of native Indians and flood Canadian wilderness.

To finance the project, Quebec has been signing power contracts with U.S. utilities. However, SEAC recently helped win a battle when the New York state government decided not to sign a $13 billion contract to buy power from the project. Instead, the state will support a campaign to reduce energy use and promote economic development in the state, Odell said.

“It was clear that this victory came partly as a result of SEAC’s efforts on this issue,” he said. “We worked to build coalitions with labor groups to show that billions of dollars flowing out of New York would hurt the state and cost jobs. Getting the support of organized labor was a key in changing the state’s mind.”

In the future, SEAC will continue to try and broaden the definition of the environment to include social factors along with conservation issues, Odell said. And by doing so, the largest student-run environmental organization on American campuses today should continue to grow.

Earth Fact: SEAC operates with a paid staff of 12 and a $500,000 annual budget, raised through grants from various foundations.

Technorati Tags: conservation issues, social and environmental problems, environmental coalition, environmental activism

An agreement between the brewer and AWF is sending 51 percent of the beer maker’s profits to the organization for its efforts to protect African wildlife.

The idea started when Scott Griffiths, president of a Los Angeles-based advertising agency, entered his firm in the city’s Advertising Softball League. He named the team Rhino Chasers after a group of tough surfers who chased down huge waves in Hawaii.

Griffiths had a Rhino Chasers logo designed for the team. Soon after, the logo was transformed into a beer label and placed on bottles of imported Mexican beer for team members to enjoy.

The concept of a full-fledged beer eventually blossomed. Griffiths formed a new company, called William & Scott, and a portion of a local micro-brewery was purchased to produce the beer.
At first, however, the name caused some confusion.

“Some customers said, ‘What are you doing, urging people to attack an endangered species? It sounds like you guys are rhino bashers,’” explained Michael Riley, president of William & Scott. “Of course, that wasn’t our intention at all. So we contacted the African Wildlife Foundation and the more we learned, the more we liked it.”

“The name ‘Rhino Chasers’ comes from an old surfing term,” said Griffiths. “But instead of trying to sell the world another macho beer full of sports images, we wanted to find a way to contribute something valuable to the planet, which is what enjoying the outdoors is really about anyway.”

To date, several thousand dollars have been donated to the AWF — although the beer company has yet to make a profit, Riley said. The company now ships 4,000 cases of beer a month to its various distributors.

The AWF has been assisting African governments in their struggle to conserve natural resources for nearly 30 years. AWF projects include the purchase of equipment for anti-poaching patrols, a scholarship program for African students at a Tanzanian wildlife college, and coordination of the Elephant Awareness Campaign, aimed at slashing the demand for ivory.

“We’re very grateful that Mr. Griffiths chose to work with us,” said Diana McMeekin, AWF vice president. “Whether they learn it from billboards or beer bottles, the public needs to know what’s happening to the wildlife of Africa. The only way change can come about is through increased public awareness.”

One of the company’s ads is a parody of a traditional beer advertisement. Its slogan is “Tastes Great, Less Killing,” and features a close-up of a rhinoceros.

“Some folks have complained about our product being alcoholic, but our view is that beer is a part of the American culture,” Riley said. “We’re all for temperate enjoyment of alcohol — along with giving people the additional plus of doing a good thing while they’re at it.”

Earth Fact: Due to poaching, Africa’s black rhino population has dropped from 65,000 just 20 years ago to only 3,500 today.

Technorati Tags: environmentally conscious brew, endangered animals, black rhino population

Since 1971, EarthWatch has sent more than 32,000 of its EarthCorps volunteers to assist scientists and scholars who are researching critical environmental issues. For travelers looking for more than just a regular vacation, an eco-trip such as this might be just the thing.

This year alone, the nonprofit organization will send more than 600 teams into the field to address environmental and scientific problems in 30 states and 50 countries, said EarthWatch President Brian Rosborough.

“EarthWatch is about fixing environmental problems,” he said. “It’s a way of giving people ownership over issues that would otherwise be left to governments and authorities — over which they have little control.”

Projects range from monitoring black bears in Minnesota to creating management plans for Brazil’s endangered rainforests. More than 100 projects are listed in each issue of the EarthWatch magazine, sent to the organization’s 60,000-plus members six times a year.

One project is under way on the Indonesian island of Krakatua. When its volcano erupted in 1883, the eruption killed 36,000 people and scoured all life from the island. Yet within a decade, tree saplings appeared, and today the rainforest-covered island boasts trees three feet in diameter, along with 400 other plant species.

Because Krakatua is a perfect setting to study how a rainforest ecosystem rebuilds itself, the project will provide results to help people worldwide restore seriously damaged ecosystems.

EarthWatch volunteers make a tax-deductible contribution to help fund the expedition they join. Contributions range from $800 to $2,000, and cover food, accommodations, field support and equipment, but not airfare. Volunteers need no special skills to join a project team.

“It’s a wonderful way to accomplish a number of different objectives. Apart from assisting scientists who need the volunteer talent to help them do their work, we also do a lot of training of teachers and young people from the host countries,” Rosborough said. “By assigning them to expeditions, they can bring back knowledge and understanding to share with their native communities.”

EarthWatch also runs a Planet Management Program involving corporations. Through this effort, employees are given time off to assist project teams with their specific talents. Typically, these employee volunteers are deployed to assist with environmental impact assessment.

“In our view, there is no better chemistry than getting, say, people in the oil business to go out and work on the problems of coastal pollution,” he said. “Since there is no ownership to many of these environmental problems, they are hard to deal with because no one has accountability for solving them. We find capital and manpower to go out and address as many of these issues as we can.”

Earth Tip: For information on upcoming projects and membership, write to EarthWatch, 680 Mt. Auburn St., Watertown, MA 02272, or call (617) 926-8200.

Technorati Tags: EarthWatch, environmental problems, environmental issues, rainforest, ecosystems

Earth News Media is a pioneer in the field of environmental news and information. The company was founded in 1991 as an international news service. Its efforts have led to a syndicated environmental news column being published around the world.

The album also will raise money for three nonprofit environmental organizations. A portion of the proceeds from sales of
“In the Garden,” distributed nationally by Narada Productions, will go to the Center for Plant Conservation, the National Gardening Association and the Seed Savers Exchange.

“I like the idea of putting a certain amount of income toward groups working to make a difference,” said Rumbel. “And we helped decide which organizations would receive donations.”

Started in 1984, the Center for Plant Conservation helps preserve rare and endangered plants throughout the United States through its network of participating botanical gardens. For example, seeds from a nearly extinct plant will be grown in a botanical garden, then the resulting plants transplanted in their native areas.

“Sometimes it’s easier for people to relate to endangered animals,” Rumbel said. “But as more and more medicinal uses are discovered from plants, more emphasis will need to be placed on saving endangered plants, as well.”

The National Gardening Association works to develop and fund education programs for children, helping them learn about plants and how they grow. Chief among its projects is GrowLab, a science-based indoor gardening program for elementary and middle school students. The organization also helps teachers share ideas and methods that are working in their classrooms.

“The garden is a beautiful, almost magical workshop to help children learn to appreciate the land,” she said. “Parents should feel a sense of obligation to provide opportunities that allow their children to fall in love with the land. Gardening, I believe, is the perfect choice.”

And finally, the Seed Savers Exchange is a network of people who offer a wide variety of seeds for sale in a 300-page directory produced by the group. Seeds handed down through generations are available to help preserve different species of plants. For instance, the directory includes seven pages of seeds for different apple trees.

“In the Garden,” the duo’s sixth album, was released last fall and has received great response so far, Rumbel said. A woodwind instrumentalist, Rumbel joins guitarist Tingstad to create music that has been called contemporary chamber music.

“When we spend so much time in our offices, cars and homes, it’s important that we remember to get out and relate to plants, the environment and the Earth itself,” Rumbel said. “Hopefully, through our music, listeners will be inspired to do just that.”

Earth Fact: Nearly 15 percent of the world’s flora is now in danger of extinction.

Technorati Tags: music, environmental issues, art of gardening, environmental organizations, endangered animals

Earth News Media is a nationally syndicated environmental news service profiling the positive environmental efforts of individuals, organizations and corporations around the world.

More than five tons of discarded directories are shredded up every week and used as cow bedding on Ronald Webb’s dairy farm. The phone books are delivered free of charge to the farm by Nynex Corp., the local telephone company.

The soiled bedding is later mixed with food scraps provided by Hannaford Brothers, a local grocery-store chain, in a composting project that eventually returns all the garbage to the earth and completes the cycle.

Tests have shown that ink from the shredded phone books has no adverse effect on the cows, said Ted Brown, environmental affairs manager with Hannaford Brothers. Also, udder infections have decreased since the phone books were introduced, and bacteria levels in the cows’ milk have dropped, resulting in less milk spoilage.

The phone books are used instead of sawdust or hay, creating less dust and better protecting the cows from slipping on manure in their stalls.

“The material has good absorption qualities,” Brown said. “Mr. Webb has not lost a cow to slippage since the project started two years ago. Usually, an average of two cows a year are lost when they slip and break a pelvis or leg.”

For the composting portion of the process, Hannaford Brothers supplies roughly two tons of food scraps a week. The waste is composed of trimmings from produce and unsaleable products.

Because the grocery-store chain separates its trash and provides Webb only organic material, the dairy farmer simply adds it to the compost mixture, Brown said. Currently, Hannaford Brothers is providing food wastes generated from 13 of its 91 stores to two farmers.

“This is a local effort that is providing a solution,” he said. “Our interest is high because this does good things for the grocery industry. It takes about 40 percent of our waste stream and gets it back into the ground naturally.”

Across the nation, food merchants typically have sent their wastes to landfills. But Hannaford Brothers believes separating wastes for composting or recycling is a better alternative, Brown said. The company is currently looking for more small agricultural businesses willing to take wastes into their operations.

“We don’t view the stuff as waste, but as a commodity,” he said. “A black banana should not go to a landfill or incinerator.”

Earth Fact: By hauling the old phone books to Ronald Webb’s farm, the Nynex Corp. saves thousands of dollars a year in landfill charges.

Technorati Tags: landfills, composting, waste management, environmental ideas

“The recession is only going to accelerate the trend toward environmental consumerism,” said Jacquelyn Ottman, a New York City-based environmental marketing consultant. “Many environmental business issues deal with managing resources more efficiently. If a company builds that philosophy into their product, it will have a product that both costs less and has less of an environmental impact.”

Ottman has studied environmental consumerism since 1988. She recently published many of her findings in a report titled “Environmental Consumerism: What Every Marketer Needs to Know.” The report has been so popular that she now is under contract to write a more detailed book, due out this fall.

“We’re at the beginning of the environmental consumerism trend right now,” she said. “It’s going to change the way marketers do business.”

One of the more interesting trends Ottman has observed is the involvement of children.

“Young people have the single largest influence on adult purchases these days,” she said. “Especially the teenagers and college kids — they’re badgering their parents to buy environmentally responsible products.”

Characteristics of other consumer groups also have been studied by Ottman. There are the “deeply green” consumers that drastically change their lifestyle to help the environment, she said. And there is another group of people who are being conservative and resourceful, but primarily to save money rather than the environment.

A third group is too busy to worry about environmental concerns. They prefer to pay a premium for certain products to clear their environmental conscience.

“There’s a big opportunity out there for companies to sell products and services that will help people conserve resources,” Ottman said.

Environmental consumers can look forward to plenty of new products in the future, she added.

“The big news is what’s on the drawing boards today. For example, Teledyne just developed a new version of their Shower Massage that uses one-third less water,” she said. “And another company is developing a ‘dry’ washing machine that uses electro-static technology instead of water and detergents.

“People are definitely making a connection between our environmental problems and the products they buy. But the recession also has reminded everyone to just be more resourceful.”

Earth Fact: By removing the outer cartons from its Sure and Secret antiperspirants, Procter & Gamble reduced production costs by 20 percent and increased sales by 4 percent.

Technorati Tags: environmental consumerism, environmental business issues, environmentally responsible products