Sunday, November 1, 2015

O Trabalho na Agroecologia no Brasil

I ENAU: quanto vale o trabalho na agroecologia? Por Najar Tubino, na Carta Maior Rio de Janeiro – A última etapa do Encontro Nacional de Agricultura Urbana dividiu os participantes em vários grupos para visitas de campo, tanto na cidade como na região metropolitana. Estive em Guapimirim, a 70 km da capital carioca, o último município da Baixada Fluminense, com 51 mil habitantes e um quarto da população cadastrada e recebendo dos programas sociais do governo federal. Guapi, como é chamado, fica no pé da Serra dos Órgãos, na zona de amortecimento do Parque Nacional – criado em 1954 – e tem 70% do território em área de preservação permanente. É um lugar lindo, com maciços de pedra cobertos pelo que restou da Mata Atlântica, cachoeiras e rios, que deságuam na Baía de Guanabara. E justamente por isso é cada vez mais atacado pelos especuladores imobiliários, por administradores públicos que não reconhecem o valor das comunidades na zona rural, que produzem alimentos para a metrópole. A Região Metropolitana do Rio de Janeiro com 19 municípios, 12 milhões de habitantes e registra 5.500 agricultores e agricultoras familiares. Somente na cidade do Rio são mais de mil. Depois de muita luta e organização hoje em dia um circuito de 15 feiras orgânicas comercializa a produção livre de agrotóxicos e transgênicos. Guapi tem 81 e uma associação que reúne 15 famílias na localidade do Fojo – a AFOJO. São migrantes na sua maioria do Espírito Santo, que nasceram ao redor dos cafezais, mas nunca tiveram terra própria. Foram saindo desde a década de 1960 e povoando outras regiões do país. Guapimirim era a última estação do trem, para quem se dirigia a Teresópolis. Mesmo depois da construção da BR-116 a linha foi mantida, embora em estado precário. Trabalho de pesquisa em sete regiões Muitos chegaram à região pelo trem, como é o caso da família Benevides, cujos parentes se espalham pelas encostas da localidade do Fojo. A Articulação Nacional de Agroecologia (ANA) desde a realização do III ENA em Juazeiro (BA) vem recolhendo experiências de produção agroecológica em sete regiões do Brasil – no Sudeste, no Semiárido Mineiro, no Nordeste, Centro-Oeste, Norte e Sul. O objetivo é simples: mostrar o valor não somente de mercado dos produtos agroecológicos, alimentos saudáveis, mas também o que a economia neoclássica não contabiliza: o trabalho de homens e mulheres que desenvolvem a produção aliados aos ecossistemas, protegendo as nascentes, as plantas nativas, as aves, pássaros, insetos, micro-organismos do solo e muito mais. Quanto vale tudo isso? É difícil avaliar. Mas é o que os técnicos da ASPTA em conjunto com outros parceiros, por intermédio da ANA, com apoio do BNDES e de programas do PLANAPO estão realizando. Um trecho da explicação do projeto: “- A ASPTA em conjunto com outras entidades parceiras vem desenvolvendo e aperfeiçoando uma metodologia que possibilite avaliar os impactos econômicos e ecológicos dos agrossistemas agroecológicos. Este método descrito como Análise de Agroecossistema se baseia em dar visibilidade às experiências agroecológicas com leitura e interpretação à luz da economia política, econômica ecológica e da economia feminista. O ponto de partida para a elaboração desse referencial de análise econômica foi o reconhecimento da existência da singularidade das estratégias de gestão da agricultura familiar quando comparadas com a lógica do agronegócio”. Estudo mostra o poder da agroecologia O estudo envolveu diretamente na comunidade do Fojo três técnicos especializados: Renata Lúcia Souto, Claudemar Mattos e Fabricio Walter. Foram avaliados os anos de 2013 e 2014. Renata alugou uma casa em Guapi e Fabricio se tornou morador permanente, além de ensinar sociologia em uma escola local – também fez da situação de vulnerabilidade e pobreza da região sua tese de mestrado na UFRJ. O estudo é um trabalho insano de levantamento de dados, por se tratar de trabalhadores e trabalhadoras sem experiência de gestão, de contabilidade ou mesmo de administração. Eles não têm ideia geral do tamanho da produção que conseguem viabilizar, muito menos as relações entre todos os segmentos, suas trocas e a interação com o ambiente. O local é o Sítio Santo Antônio, com cinco hectares onde o casal Nazaípe Bernardo (paraibana) e Carlos Benevides (capixaba) trabalha em regime de parceria – 80% é deles e 20% para o dono da terra. Eles mantêm várias roças de legumes – maxixe, quiabo, jiló-, um galinheiro com 72 aves, uma criação de peixes, centenas de frutíferas e pés de café, além de um viveiro de mudas. Tudo em meio à Mata Atlântica. A comunidade do Fojo já tinha uma área certificada pela ABIO – Associação dos Agricultores Biológicos – através do Serviço de Proteção Garantido (SPG), previsto na regulamentação da produção orgânica. Eles ainda compram ração de fora para as galinhas, embora elas comam vegetais de todo tipo. Mas a essência do projeto é de autonomia, justamente o que a agroecologia tem para mostrar – quanto mais trabalho local, maior o valor agregado na produção e maior autonomia. Produto Interno Bruto do Sítio é de R$33,7 mil Na soma dos itens produzidos o estudo contabilizou 45 entre palmito, hortaliças, plantas medicinais, mudas, frutas, ovos e as galinhas. A comercialização é feita de porta em porta no bairro próximo e desde 2014 na Feira Orgânica de Guapimirim. Também mantém uma unidade de fabricação de caldas caseiras – supermagro, bordalesa e sulfocálcia, insumos utilizados, juntamente com o esterco de galinha, restos de cultivo. O núcleo familiar é composto por oito pessoas, entre elas uma filha com necessidades especiais. Recebem Bolsa Família e o Benefício de Prestação Continuada. O Produto Interno Bruto do sítio Santo Antonio é de R$33.701,64, sendo R$18.521,64 a renda agrícola, R$15.180,00 a não-agrícola – contando a transferência de renda e outras atividades. O que dá uma média de R$3.704,33 por hectare e um valor agregado por ha de R$4.106,33. Na composição do Produto Bruto entraram as vendas, o autoconsumo, trocas e doações e o estoque. Posteriormente a Repartição do Valor Agregado por Esfera foi dividido entre mercantil, autoconsumo; doméstico e de cuidados; participação social e pluriatividade. Também referenciaram o rendimento dos diversos segmentos dentro do sítio, como a agrofloresta, a horta, lavoura-roçado, piscicultura e viveiro de mudas. Está tudo ilustrado em gráficos comparativos. Porém, o importante de tudo isso é o gráfico final totalmente colorido onde entra cada participação dos itens produzidos contando ainda as vendas, autoconsumo, doações e o estoque. E mais o valor por intensidade de cada segmento no uso da terra com seu valor agregado. No final a repartição do valor agregado por esfera de trabalho e por gênero, onde fica evidente o trabalho da Nazaípe exclusivo em cuidar da casa, da filha, além de participar da feira, das reuniões, eventos – eles registraram a participação social como forma de trabalho -, de ajudar na colheita dos produtos para a feira. Quando surge o gráfico dos dias trabalhados a diferença é gritante, mesmo que Carlinhos se ocupe integralmente dos cuidados da roça, do viveiro, das galinhas e etc. Resultado é inestimável É importante ressaltar que o estudo foi discutido em oficinas locais, assim como os resultados. Outro morador, Anísio Benevides, de 62 anos, já proprietário de um lote, também ajudou na formulação dos dados e nas análises posteriores. A verdade é que contabilizada em detalhes aquilo, que parece miudeza, ao final do ano se transforma em algo consistente. Claro, que não se trata de uma renda de classe média da cidade, mas a função do trabalho de pessoas como Nazaípe e Carlinhos, para personalizar o caso, que produzem alimentos livres de venenos e de transgênicos, protegem o ambiente, porque é dali que sai o ganha pão, e comercializam comida saudável para a comunidade não tem preço. Se forem somados 10 mil hectares de agroecossistemas, imaginando um território contínuo, o agronegócio da soja movido a capital e veneno se transforma em algo fictício, mentiroso, antieconômico, sem contar a destruição ambiental e os prejuízos à população local. Enfim, a agricultura camponesa agroecológica resiste bravamente na segundo maior região metropolitana do país e conta com brasileiros idealistas, apaixonados pelo trabalho, extremamente cuidadosos em ensinar aos que precisam, para que trilhem seus próprios caminhos, sem necessitar de políticos ou gestores de fora do território. Uma lição para o Brasil neste momento, onde todo o poder da mídia está voltado, justamente, em promover àqueles que querem destruir este legado. Créditos da foto: Renata Souto

Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Co-ops in Spain, not just Mondragon....

Just don't hear enough about co-operative businesses. On the one hand it's strange, since the first modern form was founded in the 1840s in the UK by a bunch of workers when labor unions were still outlawed. On the other hand, there is a lot of economic ideology around.... Worker cooperatives drive employment recovery Spain’s worker cooperatives, numbering in excess of 17,000, have seen a ten percentage point lesser drop in employment compared to other business models. Juan Antonio Pedreño, president of COCETA (Confederación Española de Cooperativas de Trabajo Asociado or the Spanish Confederation of Worker Cooperatives, in English), said “it shows how the loss of 1.8 million jobs could have been avoided – by all businesses operating like cooperatives. The municipalities with the lowest losses of employment are the ones where the cooperative movement is strong”. 29 June 2015 In 2007 around 24% of businesses were cooperatives. At the close of 2014 this had increased to 32.1%. During the same period the number of cooperative enterprises with more than 250 workers increased from 22% to 31.8%. 80% of worker cooperatives offer indefinite employment and 81% offer full time work. Women represent almost 50% of the workforce, whilst young people (up to the age of 39) account for almost 43%. Worker cooperatives are also more likely to be more inclusive, taking on people with difficulties..... full article at: http://www.cicopa.coop/Worker-cooperatives-drive.html

Friday, May 29, 2015

Conference climat de Bonn-Actualite-WWF-FR, Greenpeace-FR, L'Eolien FR

Conférence climat de Bonn : le WWF fixe les priorités de travail des négociateurs climat  0  0  2 Article posté le 28 mai 2015 Du 1er au 11 juin prochains, les négociateurs de 196 pays vont se réunir à Bonn (Allemagne) pour travailler sur la préparation du texte de la COP21 qui se tiendra à Paris en décembre 2015. Le WWF les appelle à se concentrer sur trois priorités : S’assurer que les engagements pour les 5 à 10 prochaines années soient en ligne avec les recommandations des scientifiques du GIEC pour limiter la hausse de la température moyenne mondiale bien en-dessous de 2°C ; Intégrer à l’accord de Paris des décisions et objectifs ambitieux de réduction des émissions de gaz à effet de serre (GES) pour la période pré-2020 ; Soutenir davantage les communautés les plus pauvres et vulnérables pour qu’elles puissent faire face aux impacts du changement climatique. Cliquez sur l'infographie pour agrandir Selon Samantha Smith, directrice de l'Initiative mondiale Climat et Énergie au WWF, « Le futur accord climatique de Paris perdra de sa valeur si les émissions de GES continuent à augmenter d’ici son entrée en vigueur en 2020. Les tendances indiquent une augmentation importante des émissions sur cette période, à moins que nous ne prenions des mesures dès maintenant pour réduire les gaz à effet serre. La croissance des énergies renouvelables et l’efficacité énergétique, par exemple, dépasse les prévisions. Ce sont des secteurs sur lesquels les gouvernements peuvent agir sans attendre ! » Pour Philippe Germa, directeur général du WWF France, « La route vers Paris Climat 2015 est longue et semée d’embûches pour la présidence française. Mais cette complexité ne doit pas être l’excuse d’un accord au rabais. Des investisseurs, des entreprises et des collectivités territoriales ont compris l’urgence et l’intérêt d’agir vite : sortie du charbon, déploiement des renouvelables et de l’efficacité énergétique…les exemples sont nombreux. Nous souhaitons que Paris ancre cet élan dans la durée pour une décarbonisation de nos sociétés et une transformation de nos modèles économiques qui dilapident notre capital naturel et la biodiversité. » Agir avant 2020 pour un accord climat ambitieux Le WWF a réalisé le rapport Closing the divide: how to reduce the emissions abyss qui propose les mesures d'atténuation à mettre en œuvre d'ici à 2020. Le premier volet, présenté à Genève en février, se concentre sur 10 pays clés : Inde, Chine, Mexique, Brésil, Afrique du Sud, Japon, France, États-Unis, Australien et Union européenne. Le deuxième volet sera présenté à Bonn et concernera plusieurs pays tels que la Russie, la Pologne, le Kenya, la Norvège, la  Turquie et les Émirats arabes unis. Greenpeace France, Agriculture - OGM | le 27 mai 2015 à 11:11 Course Zéro Pesticide : c’est parti ! Ce matin, les militants des groupes locaux de Greenpeace se sont mobilisés en Ile-de-France, à Saint-Etienne et à Lille pour s’adresser directement aux salariés des six principales enseignes de la grande distribution française : Auchan, Casino, Carrefour, Intermarché, Leclerc et Système U. Ils étaient là pour les encourager à devenir acteurs du changement, acteurs d’une vraie transition vers un modèle agricole écologique ! Cela passe par l’élimination d’ici 2017 des pesticides les plus dangereux (pour les abeilles et pour la santé humaine) de la production des pommes et des pommes de terre, tout en accompagnant véritablement les agriculteurs qui s’engagent à produire sans pesticides. La compétition est lancée ! La grande distribution joue un rôle majeur en France dans les achats alimentaires des consommateurs. Deux tiers des achats alimentaires se font en grande surface, et près de 70% des fruits et légumes frais sont écoulés par ce canal de vente. Cette position de force lui confère une influence très importante sur ses fournisseurs, qu’ils soient de l’industrie agroalimentaire ou agriculteurs. Les six enseignes en compétition dans la Course Zéro Pesticide représentent 85% des parts de marché en France. Entre elles, la concurrence est féroce ! Sur les prix bas, sur leur proximité avec les consommateurs français, sur l’origine locale de leurs produits. Il est temps qu’elles s’attaquent au sujet de l’agriculture écologique : quelle enseigne sera la plus rapide à éliminer les pesticides de votre alimentation ? Etant donné le poids qu’elles représentent, les enseignes peuvent jouer un grand rôle pour faire évoluer les pratiques agricoles. Les consommateurs peuvent et doivent avoir accès à des fruits et légumes sans risque pour la santé et l’environnement. Les pommes et les pommes de terre en première ligne Pour arbitrer la Course Zéro Pesticide, nous vous présentons Reinette la pomme et Nicolas la pomme de terre. Avec vous, ils souhaitent pousser au changement les acteurs de la grande distribution. Les pommes et les pommes de terre sont le fruit et le légume les plus produits et les plus consommés en France. Une pomme de terre reçoit en moyenne 16 traitements pesticides pendant sa production, et 35 pour une pomme ! Elles sont parmi les fruits et légumes les plus traités ! Mais ceci n’est que le point de départ de grands changements. A termes, tous les fruits et légumes doivent être produits sans pesticides ! Vous pouvez agir aux côtés de Reinette et Nicolas en rejoignant le mouvement pour une agriculture et une alimentation plus saines. Transition énergétique : un bilan décevant pour les professionnels du secteur à l’issue de l’examen en séance publique du projet de loi de Transition énergétique 22 mai 2015 Instabilité sur l’avenir de la filière : Les professionnels de l’éolien sont sur la réserve à la suite des discussions des députés et s’inquiètent d’un surcroît de contraintes d’implantation et d’incertitudes contraires au choc de simplification voulu par le Gouvernement. Les débats en deuxième lecture sur le projet de loi de transition énergétique qui ont eu lieu hier soir à l’Assemblée nationale laissent les professionnels de l’éolien face à un bilan décevant : bien que la distance d’éloignement entre éoliennes et habitations soit maintenue à 500 mètres, deux autres sujets essentiels pour la profession que sont la période transitoire entre contrat d’achat et complément de rémunération, mais aussi l’arbitrage pour la cohabitation entre éoliennes et secteurs militaires, ont été revus par les députés. Un Européen consomme en moyenne 61 kg de soja par an, dont 57 kg de manière indirecte  59  0  67 Article posté le 20 mai 2015 A l’occasion de la conférence annuelle de la Table Ronde pour le Soja Responsable (RTRS) organisée à Bruxelles les 19 et 20 mai, le WWF présente l’étude Mapping the Soy Supply Chain in Europe qui indique que la consommation moyenne indirecte de soja dans l’Union européenne est de 61kg par habitant et par an. Ce chiffre s’explique en grande partie par la consommation de produits dérivés d’animaux nourris au soja puisque 57 kg soit 93% du soja consommé est contenu dans la viande, les œufs, le poisson ou le lait. Certains produits dérivés des animaux sont particulièrement riches en soja « caché » : le blanc de poulet (109g de soja pour 100g de viande), les œufs (35g de soja pour un œuf de 55g), le saumon d’élevage (59g de soja pour 100g), les côtes de porc (51g de soja pour 100g), la viande de bœuf hachée (46g de soja pour 100g) et le fromage (25g de soja pour 100g). Au cœur de notre système alimentaire actuel, le soja représente une culture attractive et très riche en protéines. Toutefois, il est majoritairement importé d’Amérique du Sud (97% du soja consommé en Europe est importé) et sa production peut avoir des impacts sur les communautés locales et l’environnement. Sur les 50 dernières années, la production croissante de soja s’est faite au détriment de millions d’hectares de forêts, de prairies et de savanes, transformés pour un usage agricole, en particulier en Amérique du Sud. « La majorité des consommateurs ignorent les quantités de soja nécessaires pour produire la viande, les œufs, les produits laitiers et les poissons d’élevage qu’ils mangent régulièrement » explique Sandra Mulder, responsable soja au WWF International. « Ce qui est encore moins connu, ce sont les conséquences dévastatrices que peut avoir la culture du soja sur les écosystèmes les plus riches tels que l’Amazonie, le Cerrado ou le Gran-Chaco au Brésil. » Le WWF exhorte les entreprises qui achètent directement du soja ou des produits dérivés des animaux à s’approvisionner dès aujourd’hui en soja responsable. En s’inscrivant dans cette démarche, les entreprises peuvent envoyer un signal fort aux producteurs de soja, implantés notamment en Amérique du Sud, en  démontrant la volonté des acheteurs européens à se fournir en soja produit durablement.   Le WWF appelle les consommateurs européens à faire pression sur leurs distributeurs, le secteur de la restauration, ou leurs marques préférées en leur demandant de s’approvisionner en soja responsable, respectant par exemple les principes de la Table Ronde pour le Soja Responsable (RTRS) ou de recourir aux alternatives locales au soja d’importation.  A leur échelle, les consommateurs peuvent également limiter leur consommation de protéines animales. « Il est grand temps que les consommateurs européens prennent conscience que leurs habitudes de consommation peuvent engendrer des impacts à l’autre bout du monde. Certaines entreprises de la distribution ou du secteur laitier ont déjà pris les devants, et démontrent qu’il est possible de s’approvisionner en soja produit de manière responsable. Il est maintenant du devoir des autres acteurs de participer à la généralisation de ces bonnes pratiques », souligne Arnaud Gauffier, responsable agriculture au WWF France. Greenpeace France, Energie / Climat | le 6 mai 2015 à 20:56 En Inde, Greenpeace dérange et risque la fermeture imminente Le gouvernement indien a bloqué les comptes de l’organisation et interdit à des collaborateurs de quitter le pays. Mais Greenpeace ne se laisse pas réduire au silence et lutte contre cette forme d’oppression. Il ne reste qu’un mois à Greenpeace Inde pour assurer sa survie… Depuis plusieurs mois, le gouvernement de « la plus grande démocratie du monde » prend de vastes mesures répressives contre les organisations de la société civile en général, et contre les associations de défense de l’environnement en particulier. Greenpeace Inde ne dispose plus que de 30 jours de trésorerie pour couvrir les salaires de son personnel et ses frais de fonctionnement. Une oppression sournoise pour asphyxier l’association La décision du ministre de l’Intérieur, Rajnath Singh, de geler les comptes bancaires de Greenpeace Inde est une façon de détruire l’ONG à petit feu. Non seulement 340 salariés risquent de perdre leur emploi, mais, en outre, les campagnes menées par l’organisation pour défendre le développement durable, la justice environnementale et les énergies propres seraient réduites à néant. Le gouvernement indien multiplie depuis plusieurs mois les attaques contre Greenpeace Inde. En mars dernier, par exemple, les autorités avaient interdit à la chargée de campagne Priya Pillai de se rendre à une conférence au Royaume-Uni, où elle devait présenter les impacts de l’industrie extractive sur la population indienne. Cette interdiction, ainsi que d’autres sanctions imposées à l’ONG, ont finalement été levées par la Haute Cour de justice de Delhi. En gelant les comptes de Greenpeace Inde, le gouvernement bloque en réalité les dons de 77 000 citoyennes et citoyens indiens ! Ces dons représentent plus de 68 % des revenus de l’association, le reste provenant des contributions apportées par d’autres bureaux de Greenpeace dans le monde, dont bien sûr Greenpeace France. Par solidarité, Greenpeace France se mobilise Greenpeace France a adressé un courrier à l’Ambassadeur d’Inde en France lui demandant un rendez-vous afin de pouvoir répondre aux accusations portées contre Greenpeace Inde. Le courrier souligne notamment la transparence financière de l’organisation en Inde et indique que ces attaques constituent une violation des droits à la liberté d’expression et d’association garantis par la Constitution indienne et par le droit international. Greenpeace France compte également interpeller le ministre français des Affaires étrangères, Laurent Fabius, sur ce sujet. Greenpeace Inde coupable de faire passer la planète avant les profits ? La fermeture forcée de Greenpeace Inde ne serait pas qu’un symbole catastrophique pour ce pays. Ce serait surtout la fin de campagnes ambitieuses et d’une véritable vision d’un avenir respectueux de l’environnement et des personnes. Ses actions ont déjà permis des avancées majeures, par exemple en protégeant récemment les forêts de Mahan de l’exploitation de charbon, ou en mettant en avant des solutions positives pour les Indiens les plus pauvres comme dans le village de Dharnaï, le premier en Inde où toute l’électricité est produite à partir de l’énergie solaire. Grâce à une coalition d’associations menée par Greenpeace, environ 450 maisons, 50 commerces, deux écoles ainsi qu’un centre dédié à la formation et à la santé sont raccordés à 280 panneaux photovoltaïques installés à proximité du village. Aujourd’hui Greenpeace, demain d’autres membres de la société civile ? Greenpeace Inde prépare un nouveau recours judiciaire, mais son directeur, Samit Aich craint que le processus ne se prolonge bien delà du 1er juin, date à laquelle les réserves de trésorerie seront épuisées. Il s’interroge sur les raisons de ces sanctions : « Est-ce parce ce que nous avons parlé de thé sans pesticides, de pollution de l’air, et d’un avenir plus propre et plus juste pour tous les Indiens ». Samit Aich espère que le Ministère de l’intérieur donnera les vraies raisons de ses décisions arbitraires. « Le Ministre de l’intérieur essaie de nous planter un couteau dans le dos. Car il sait qu’interdire Greenpeace dans son ensemble est anticonstitutionnel. Nous l’appelons à reconnaître enfin qu’il veut interdire Greenpeace Inde pour nous faire taire. Ces attaques arbitraires pourraient créer un précédent extrêmement dangereux. En Inde, toutes les organisations civiles sont devenues des cibles. »   Vous pouvez vous aussi soutenir la liberté d’expression et l’action de Greenpeace Inde et afficher votre solidarité sur les réseaux sociaux : En vous abonnant à la page Facebook de Greenpeace Inde En relayant le hashtag #ISupportGPIndia sur Twitter La voix des Indiens ne doit pas être réprimée par des décisions arbitraires ! Tous ensemble, apportons-leur notre soutien ! Les professionnels de l’éolien rétablissent la vérité sur les distances en vigueur en France… et en Europe 21 mai 2015 En deuxième lecture à l’Assemblée nationale, la loi pour la Transition énergétique fixe des objectifs ambitieux et nécessaires en matière d’énergies renouvelables. Au cœur des débats, l’éolien est une clef pour les atteindre. Face à la désinformation qui pollue le débat, les professionnels de l’énergie éolienne rappellent que la distance minimum légale en vigueur, de 500 mètres, entre éoliennes et premières habitations est déjà en application dans plusieurs pays européens. L’initiative Science Based Targets appelle les entreprises à aligner leurs émissions de gaz à effet de serre sur l’objectif de 2°C Article posté le 20 mai 2015 Aujourd’hui, les organisations fondatrices de l’initiative Science Based Targets – Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), United Nations Global Compact, World Resources Institute et WWF – lancent une campagne visant à  mobiliser 100 entreprises d’ici fin 2015 souhaitant aligner leurs émissions de gaz à effet de serre sur les recommandations des scientifiques du GIEC pour limiter la hausse de la température moyenne mondiale en-dessous de 2°C. En s’inscrivant dans cette démarche, les entreprises peuvent à la fois évoluer vers une économie sobre en carbone et démontrer aux politiques, qui participeront notamment à la Conférence Paris Climat 2015, leur niveau d’ambition dans la lutte contre le changement climatique. 80 % des 500 plus grandes entreprises du monde disposent d’objectifs de réduction de leurs émissions de GES ou de gestion de l'énergie, mais on estime que seule une douzaine des entreprises les plus proactives prennent en compte la nécessité de contenir la hausse de la température moyenne mondiale en-dessous de 2°C. Rapport Mind the science : évaluation des objectifs de réduction des émissions de GES de 70 entreprises Dans le cadre de l’initiative Science Based Targets, le CDP présente Mind the science, un rapport interactif évaluant et comparant les objectifs d’émissions de GES de 70 entreprises grandes consommatrices d’énergie qui, à elles seules, représentent 9% des émissions mondiales. Parmi les entreprises évaluées, 28 disposent d’objectifs de réduction de leurs émissions de GES qui soient cohérents avec l’objectif de 2°C. Le rapport Mind the science souligne que la mise en place d’objectifs « basés sur la science » est tout à fait compatible avec la croissance économique d’une entreprise. Ces objectifs peuvent même stimuler l’innovation, réduire les coûts et augmenter sa rentabilité en anticipant les menaces liées au changement climatique et enfin, créer de la valeur pour les actionnaires et la société dans son ensemble. D’autres bénéfices peuvent être soulignés : entrée sur de nouveaux marchés, conformité aux réglementations et politiques climatiques, incitations à transformer les produits, amélioration de l’image de marque. La plupart des objectifs à court terme de réduction d’émissions de GES présentent la date butoir de 2014 ou de 2015 : les entreprises doivent profiter de cette fenêtre de tir pour établir de nouveaux objectifs ambitieux. Remettre à plus tard rendrait toute transition encore plus compliquée et plus coûteuse. Méthodologie Sectoral Decarbonization Approach : aider les entreprises à établir leurs objectifs de réduction d’émissions de GES Pour aider les entreprises à établir des objectifs cohérents avec les trajectoires de décarbonisation de l’économie recommandées par le GIEC, l’initiative Science Based Targets vise à développer une méthodologie sectorielle pouvant être largement appliquée en identifiant les approches novatrices des entreprises en matière de réduction d’émissions. La méthodologie Sectoral Decarbonization Approach présentée aujourd’hui s’adresse aux entreprises issues des secteurs à forte intensité énergétique et croise les projections économiques de leur secteur d’activité et leur potentiel quant à la réduction d’émissions de GES. Greenpeace France, Energie / Climat | le 11 mars 2015 à 10:07 Fukushima : une catastrophe sans fin Le 11 mars 2015 marque un terrible « anniversaire » : il y a quatre ans, un séisme et un tsunami dévastateurs frappaient le Japon, et une catastrophe nucléaire majeure débutait avec la fusion de trois réacteurs de la centrale nucléaire de Fukushima Daiichi, exploitée par Tepco. Quatre ans plus tard, la catastrophe nucléaire continue de se dérouler sous nos yeux, entraînant à la fois une contamination de l’environnement et une souffrance humaine intolérables. Même le Premier ministre Shinzo Abe – fervent partisan d’une relance du parc nucléaire japonais à l’arrêt depuis la catastrophe – semble hésiter face à l’ampleur de la crise de l’eau contaminée. Naoto Kan, son prédécesseur en fonction pendant les premiers mois de la catastrophe, estime quant à lui qu’il faut « arrêter le nucléaire le plus tôt possible« . Manifestation contre le redémarrage des réacteurs, Tokyo – © Noriko Hayashi / Greenpeace Le tonneau des Danaïdes de l’eau contaminée L’eau de Fukushima est contaminée par des éléments radioactifs hautement toxiques et persistants, comme le dangereux césium ou le cancérigène strontium 90. Le 25 février dernier, Tepco a annoncé que de l’eau hautement radioactive (à des concentrations 50 à 70 fois supérieures aux niveaux déjà très élevés mesurés sur le site) s’écoulait dans l’océan. L’exploitant avait connaissance de cette fuite depuis près d’un an. « Tepco a tendance à cacher les choses qui la gênent. » Naoto Kan, ancien premier ministre du Japon (lire l’intégralité de l’interview sur le site de Reporterre) Les chiffres exponentiels de l’eau contaminée En décembre 2014, 320 000 tonnes d’eau hautement radioactive étaient stockées dans environ 1 000 énormes réservoirs sur site, dans l’attente d’être traitées et débarrassées des 62 éléments radioactifs qui la contaminent (sauf le tritium, pour lequel aucune solution de traitement n’a été trouvée). Chaque jour, 300 tonnes d’eau sont déversées sur les cuves des réacteurs des unités 1, 2 et 3 pour les refroidir. On ne sait même pas à quelle profondeur se trouvent les cœurs des réacteurs… Chaque jour, 800 tonnes d’eaux souterraines s’écoulent sur le site, dont 300 à 400 tonnes deviennent radioactives. Chaque jour, 400 tonnes d’eau hautement radioactive se déversent dans l’océan Pacifique. À noter que ce chiffre ne comprend pas la dernière fuite annoncée en février par Tepco. On estime que 11 000 tonnes d’eau hautement radioactive sont stockées dans des tranchées, que Tepco a essayé de pomper avec un succès limité. Des solutions qui risquent de prendre l’eau Pour résoudre le problème, deux pistes sont à l’étude : la construction d’une digue pour contrôler les fuites massives d’eau radioactive dans l’océan, ou l’édification d’un mur de glace pour réduire les quantités d’eau qui s’écoulent chaque jour sur le site. Tepco espère qu’à une certaine profondeur, le sous-sol du site soit composé de roche imperméable et puisse servir de réservoir naturel pour empêcher l’eau de s’écouler. Cependant, les chances de réussite de ces travaux sont compromises : d’après des études géologiques, le site nucléaire est construit sur un sol spongieux et hautement perméable, composé de sable et de ponce, jusqu’à une profondeur de… 200 mètres. L’extérieur du site continue aussi d’être contaminé… Là aussi, les chiffres sont vertigineux. D’importantes quantités de déchets radioactifs se sont accumulées au fur et à mesure des travaux de décontamination. Ces déchets sont stockés dans d’immenses sacs noirs, entreposés temporairement dans pas moins de 54 000 décharges à ciel ouvert dispersées aux alentours de la centrale, y compris dans les jardins de particuliers, des parkings ou des parcs. D’après les estimations officielles, le volume de stockage nécessaire pour mettre à l’abri ces montagnes de déchets serait de 15 à 28 millions de mètres cubes. Sacs de sol, de boue et d’herbe contaminés, stockés dans le village d’Iitate – © Noriko Hayashi / Greenpeace En d’autres termes, les efforts de décontamination n’ont pas permis d’éliminer le problème des déchets radioactifs : ils n’ont fait que le déplacer et l’éparpiller. Dans la ville hautement contaminée d’Iitate (à 40 km de la centrale), des milliers d’ouvriers s’activent pour décontaminer les espaces publics. Certains nettoient les trottoirs à l’aide de brosses à dents. Malgré leur détermination et leur courage, leur tâche semble insurmontable… … Et la radioactivité ne décroît pas aussi vite qu’espéré Les experts en radioprotection de Greenpeace se sont rendus à Fukushima à 23 reprises depuis le début de la catastrophe. Les taux de radioactivité relevés en octobre 2014 à Iitate et dans d’autres villes avoisinantes montrent qu’en de nombreux endroits, le niveau de contamination n’a pas suffisamment diminué pour atteindre les objectifs fixés par le gouvernement japonais à long terme. Dans le village de Kawauchi, par exemple, 59 % des mesures effectuées par Greenpeace dépassaient le plafond fixé par le gouvernement – alors que les habitants viennent en partie d’être autorisés à regagner le village. A l’heure actuelle, 120 000 habitants sont encore « déplacés » ou vivent dans des logements temporaires dans d’autres régions du Japon. Le processus de réparation est loin s’être satisfaisant : toutes les victimes ne sont pas forcément éligibles, le traitement des demandes d’indemnisation a pris du retard, les versements mensuels ne permettent pas aux personnes déplacées de vivre décemment, ni de compenser intégralement la perte de leurs biens, encore moins de démarrer une nouvelle vie. Beaucoup ont perdu espoir de regagner un jour leur domicile. (Re)lire notre rapport : Fukushima, des victimes livrées à elles-mêmes Pour un état des lieux détaillés de l’état de la situation, voir le travail exemplaire réalisé par le laboratoire indépendant de l’ACRO (Association pour le Contrôle de la Radioactivité dans l’Ouest) sur le site : http://fukushima.eu.org/ Compteur Geiger à Fukushima – © Masaya Noda / Greenpeace L’éolien à l’honneur lors du 19ème Mondial du Vent à Leucate 28 avril 2015 Cette édition 2015 du Mondial du Vent s’est achevée ce dimanche 26 avril 2015 avec une journée très ventée !   Toute la semaine, les équipes de France Energie Eolienne ont tenu un stand d’information au sein du village d’animation et ont sensibilisé les nombreux spectateurs  à l’éolien. Samedi 25 avril, une éolienne humaine a même réuni plus d’une centaine de personnes sur la plage de La Franqui ! Bravo à tous pour cette semaine placée sous le signe du vent ! Coté compétition c’est Maxime Nocher, 20 ans, originaire de Cagnes-sur-Mer, qui a remporter, après 3 manches validées, l’épreuve de longue distance de la Sosh Cup Pro-Am devant le recordman de kitespeed Alexandre Caizergues. Romain Castel, vainqueur l’an passé, qui complète le podium. La première place féminine revient à la Leucatoise Louise Delorme (18 ans) qui termine devant Mireille Clerc et Catherine Delquié. Un clou de plus dans le cercueil du nucléaire Avant la catastrophe de Fukushima, l’industrie du nucléaire était déjà en déclin à l’échelle mondiale. Depuis les années 1990, plus de centrales ont été fermées que de nouveaux réacteurs construits. Depuis Fukushima, la tendance s’est accélérée. De nombreux pays ont décidé de sortir progressivement du nucléaire (Allemagne, Suisse, Belgique, Suède…), d’annuler leurs plans de relance (Italie, Égypte, Koweït, Thaïlande…) ou de mettre leurs projets en stand-by (Bangladesh, Belarus, Jordanie, Turquie, Lituanie, Pologne, Arabie saoudite, Vietnam). Par ailleurs, le « retour d’expérience » de Fukushima contraint les pays nucléarisés à apporter des mesures correctives de grande envergure à leurs installations nucléaires. À ces travaux « post-Fukushima » viennent s’ajouter ceux du « lifting » des centrales, rendus nécessaires par le vieillissement du parc nucléaire. En France, les coûts de l’ensemble de ces travaux atteindraient la bagatelle de 4,4 milliards d’euros par réacteur, rendant le nucléaire bien moins compétitif que les énergies renouvelables. On peut se demander comment l’industrie nucléaire française va provisionner ces coûts, ses finances étant déjà mal en point. AREVA a confirmé le 4 mars dernier une perte record de 4,8 milliards d’euros, en grande partie imputable aux retards à répétition et surcoûts des chantiers EPR. À contre-courant de la tendance mondiale d’investissement dans les énergies renouvelables et de prise de conscience du non-sens économique et sécuritaire du nucléaire, nos Sénateurs ont choisi de « renucléariser » la loi sur la transition énergétique… Un choix qui a été bloqué en commission mixte paritaire, alors que François Hollande lui même a rappelé deux fois sa promesse publiquement ces derniers jours. Alors que les habitants de Fukushima continuent de panser leurs plaies quatre ans après le début de la catastrophe, le Premier ministre Manuel Valls, interrogé le 4 mars dernier à l’Assemblée nationale sur le sort de la filière nucléaire française, a déclaré : « Le nucléaire est une filière d’avenir« . Oui, mais lequel ? Rapport Planète Vivante Le Rapport Planète Vivante est l'analyse scientifique la plus importante au monde concernant la santé de notre planète et l'impact de l'activité humaine. Étant conscient que nous n'avons qu'une seule planète, le WWF croit au fait que l'humanité peut faire de meilleurs choix qui peuvent se traduire par de réels gains pour l'écologie, la société et l'économie actuelle, et ce, sur le long terme. Autrement dit, en moins de deux générations, la taille des populations des espèces de vertébrés a fondu de moitié. Or, les différentes formes du vivant sont à la fois la matrice des écosystèmes permettant la vie sur Terre, mais aussi le baromètre de ce que nous faisons subir à notre planète, notre unique demeure. Nous nous désintéressons de leur sort pour notre propre perte. Ces indicateurs révèlent la demande excessive de l’humanité en ressources planétaires et montrent que nous dilapidons les cadeaux offerts par la nature comme si nous avions plus d’une Terre à notre disposition. En prélevant sur nos écosystèmes davantage que ce qu’ils peuvent régénérer eux-mêmes, c’est notre avenir que nous hypothéquons. Conservation de la nature et développement durable sont pourtant indissociables : à travers eux, il ne s’agit pas uniquement de préserver la biodiversité et les milieux, mais rien de moins que de préserver l’avenir de l’humanité, c’est-à-dire notre bien-être, notre économie, notre sécurité alimentaire, notre stabilité sociale, en un mot notre survie. Dans un monde où la pauvreté est une réalité pour tant d’individus, la protection de la nature pourrait passer pour un luxe. C’est pourtant le contraire : pour les plus modestes de la planète, c’est un moyen de survie. Et de fait, nous sommes tous dans cette situation : où que nous vivions sur le globe, nous avons tous besoin de nourriture, d’eau douce, et d’air pur. La situation est si préoccupante qu’il semble difficile d’envisager l’avenir avec optimisme. Difficile, certes, mais pas impossible, parce que c’est en nous-mêmes, qui sommes à l’origine du problème, que nous pouvons trouver la solution.  À présent, notre obligation est de faire en sorte que la génération à venir saisisse l’occasion que nous avons laissé passer jusqu’ici, et referme ce chapitre destructeur de notre histoire, pour bâtir des lendemains où les êtres humains vivent et prospèrent en harmonie avec la nature. Car oui, nous sommes tous connectés les uns aux autres, et, ensemble, nous pouvons imaginer et adopter les solutions qui sauvegarderont l’avenir de notre seule et unique planète. © WWF / ESA Pas le temps de lire le rapport complet ? Téléchargez le résumé Aller à l'essentiel L'Indice Planète Vivante L'Empreinte écologique Solutions "Une Seule Planète" Nourriture, eau et énergie Lancement du LPR 2014 à l'UNESCO Le WWF a officiellement dévoilé son Rapport Planète Vivante le 30 septembre 2014 à l'UNESCO. Partenaires du Rapport Planète Vivante Zoological society of London Fondée en 1826, la Société zoologique de Londres est une organisation internationale scientifique d’éducation et de protection de la nature. Sa mission est d’assurer et de promouvoir la protection des animaux et de leurs habitats à travers le monde. La ZSL gère le zoo de Londres et le zoo de Whipsnade, effectue des recherches scientifiques à l’Institut de zoologie, et est active mondialement dans le domaine de la protection de la nature. Elle concourt à l’établissement de l’Indice Planète Vivante ® dans le cadre d’un partenariat avec le WWF. Global Footprint Network (GFN) Le Global Footprint Network propose l’Empreinte écologique comme outil de mesure afin de promouvoir une économie durable. Avec ses partenaires, il s’efforce de faire progresser et d’appliquer cette approche en coordonnant la recherche, en développant des règles méthodologiques, et en fournissant aux décideurs des comptes de ressources fiables pour que l’économie humaine fonctionne dans les limites écologiques de la Terre. Water Footprint Network (WFN) Le réseau Empreinte eau est un réseau multi-acteur dédié à la transition vers un usage équitable et raisonné de l’eau douce de la planète. Il a publié en 2011 le protocole d’évaluation de l’empreinte eau mondiale. Il favorise l’évaluation de l’Empreinte eau à travers le partage des connaissances, le développement de projets pilotes, et la mise en relation des communautés. Le WFN entretient la base de données la plus complète au monde sur l’Empreinte eau (WaterStat) et l’outil d’évaluation de l’Empreinte eau. WWF et le Groupe Michelin, partenaires pour un marché du caoutchouc naturel responsable  0  0  New Article posté le 19 mai 2015 WWF et le Groupe Michelin s’engagent ensemble dans la transformation du marché de l’hévéa vers des pratiques durables. Il s’agira pour les deux partenaires de définir et développer une filière du caoutchouc naturel responsable au niveau international, en renforçant notamment la lutte contre la déforestation en Indonésie sur plusieurs zones de conservation prioritaires du WWF. Une collaboration visant au développement d’un marché et d’une culture du caoutchouc naturel responsable Le marché de l’hévéa est complexe. Ce matériau provient à la fois de grandes plantations, de l’exploitation des forêts et de petits producteurs. Ces derniers représentent 90 % de la production mondiale. Sumatra, Bornéo et le Grand Mékong, zones prioritaires de la politique de conservation du WWF, représentent à elles seules les trois quart de la production globale de la matière première. En 2013, l’Indonésie assurait un quart de la production mondiale de caoutchouc naturel, avec un rendement à l’hectare parmi les plus faibles du monde du fait de l’inefficacité des pratiques actuelles. Représentant 70 % de la demande mondiale sur cette matière première, l’industrie du pneumatique dispose de leviers d’actions importants pour influencer ses fournisseurs et promouvoir une culture responsable de cette matière première. Premier acheteur mondial de caoutchouc naturel, le Groupe Michelin est un acteur clé du marché. Il était ainsi important qu’il soutienne la démarche du WWF pour impulser la transformation de la culture et du marché de l’hévéa vers de meilleures pratiques. Sur cet axe du partenariat, le Groupe Michelin s’engage à plusieurs niveaux : Le groupe collaborera tout d’abord avec le WWF dans la définition du caoutchouc naturel responsable Il s’imposera l’évolution de ses propres pratiques d’approvisionnement en fonction de l’avancée de ce travail commun de définition du caoutchouc naturel durable. Michelin sera, enfin, acteur à part entière de la promotion de meilleures pratiques auprès des instances internationales représentatives de la profession, des acheteurs de cette matière première et des producteurs, et ce, afin de faire évoluer les pratiques tout au long de la chaîne d’approvisionnement, depuis les plantations d’hévéa jusqu’à la consommation du caoutchouc naturel. Un projet pilote opérationnel pour l’évolution du marché et la lutte contre la déforestation en Indonésie Conscient des lourdes conséquences environnementales et sociales de la culture du caoutchouc naturel en Indonésie,  le Groupe Michelin a d’autre part souhaité s’impliquer auprès du WWF dans la préservation de la forêt primaire du pays à travers un programme « zéro déforestation »  auquel s’ajoute une politique de protection et de restauration forestière à Sumatra et à Bornéo. Couvrant 88 000 hectares de concessions, soit l’équivalent de Paris intramuros et du Grand Paris réunis, ce projet pilote reposera sur :   le développement de plantations d’hévéa adoptant des pratiques responsables tout en respectant les écosystèmes subsistants et le droit des communautés locales la restauration et la préservation d’un  environnement naturel dans l’objectif de protéger  de nombreuses espèces menacées par la disparition de leur habitat (éléphants, orangs outangs, tigres…), conséquence de la surexploitation des plaines et des forêts de la région.   Le WWF encourage cette initiative car elle engendrera des impacts positifs au niveau local sur les populations et l’écosystème forestier.   Depuis de nombreuses années, le WWF tire la sonnette d’alarme sur la déforestation toujours plus rapide de l’Indonésie et alerte la communauté internationale sur l’état d’urgence environnementale de l’ensemble de la région. « L’Indonésie est l’une des zones les plus riches en biodiversité mais également l’une des régions les plus dégradées du monde. Elle détient le triste record du taux de déforestation le plus élevé de la planète » souligne Philippe Germa, Directeur général du WWF France.  « La culture de l’hévéa manque de lignes directrices et induit des problèmes sociaux et environnementaux notoires. Dans un contexte économique et social de pauvreté et de précarité, de vastes zones y sont chaque jour déforestées, sans pour autant dispenser de plus-value économique » ajoute Philippe Germa. Particulièrement active dans la protection des parcs naturels de Bukit Tigapuluh et Limau aujourd’hui menacés, l’ONG dirige depuis plus de 10 ans des opérations de protection en Indonésie. Depuis 2014, le WWF mène notamment un programme de restauration des écosystèmes sur une zone de conservation prioritaire dans la province de Jambi.  « Nous nous réjouissons de l’implication d’un groupe tel que Michelin à nos côtés. Son investissement dans nos programmes aura sans aucun doute un impact notoire et très positif sur l’ensemble de la filière du caoutchouc naturel. Il s’agira en effet de répliquer ce projet et ces bonnes pratiques à plus grande échelle afin de transformer la culture de l’hévéa à un niveau global et de faire ainsi évoluer le marché mondial », ajoute Marie-Christine Korniloff, Directrice déléguée au Monde Economique du WWF France.

Thursday, March 26, 2015

Mainstream Islamic Culture, and a more modern view

I don't like to get too involved in the Israeli-Palestine Conflict because it is filled with misinformed outrage. I generally like to leave it at, Both sides need to stop. However, that actually makes me a radical, since a huge crowd has built against Israel alone, the Zionists. As such, my examination and reflection has taken me to the basics. The Arab Muslims have been manipulated by their leaders, who they have followed in large numbers, to hate the Jews. They rejected the UN proposal, or any idea of a compromise, in 1947, then made war on May 15, 1948. Take it from there to its logical conclusions. I found two Muslim views which demonstrate the distinction between the overwhelming mainstream Arab Muslim culture, and getting free of that. Ministering to the Upwardly Mobile Muslim By SAMANTHA M. SHAPIRO Published: April 30, 2006 Early one gray Friday morning in late December, Mona K. left her parents' house in a residential neighborhood in Alexandria, Egypt, and headed downtown to Al Amirat, a wedding hall facing the Mediterranean Sea. She was going to see Amr Khaled, a Muslim TV preacher. Khaled's devotional programs are broadcast on Iqraa, a Saudi-owned religious satellite channel, and together with millions of other mostly young Muslims in the Middle East and Europe, Mona is a loyal viewer. Olaf Blecker for The New York Times Amr Khaled. Olaf Blecker for The New York Times Getting His Word Out: It wasn't until sales if Khaled's first tapes, sold by street vendors, hit 50,000 that an Egyptian TV network took notice. I traveled with Khaled in Egypt, England and Germany last winter, listening to him speak to large crowds and small groups. Many of his followers had stories much like Mona's. Her family, as she was growing up, was traditional — she prayed fairly regularly, and she always fasted during Ramadan — but not extremely religious. She had been listening to Khaled's sermons and watching him on television since a friend took her to one of his talks when she was a teenager. She was blown away. Khaled was different from any religious speaker she had ever heard. He wasn't an imam; in fact, he didn't have any official religious credentials at all. He was young, just 38, and like Mona he'd had a secular education. He had worked as an accountant for Cairo's most prestigious firm. On TV, he dressed in stylish European suits or jaunty sweaters and polo shirts — no long robes — and he spoke not in classical Arabic but the way she did, peppering his sermons with Egyptian slang. He told emotional stories about the Prophet Muhammad that often concluded with simple, satisfying morals and a list of practical lessons to apply in the week ahead. He used modern Western terms, saying that Islam "empowers" women and that the Prophet Muhammad was "the first manager" and held "press conferences." Unlike traditional Muslim religious leaders, Khaled didn't parse the finer points of Islamic law or get too deeply into political questions — he emphasized that he wasn't qualified to speak on either. He talked instead about how to be successful and happy and how to enjoy life while avoiding sin. On his TV show and in his frequent public appearances, he told his audiences how much Allah loved people, how merciful Allah was and how easy it was to earn his forgiveness. Khaled was tall and athletic and masculine, but he had a gentle demeanor, and when he prayed with his audience, he often broke down in tears. Khaled is especially popular among women, who are drawn in part by the fact that he addresses them directly in his sermons and emphasizes their central role in Islam — he has pointed out that the first convert to Islam and the first martyr to die in jihad were both women. He compares women's bodies to pearls, so precious that they require a thick shell of covering. He once told his followers that when the Prophet's wife Aisha had her menstrual period and was moody, Muhammad always made extra efforts to "display love and compassion." As she watched and listened to Khaled's sermons, Mona grew more excited about Islam. She began praying more often. She tried fasting on Mondays and Thursdays, which the Koran recommends. Once, Mona wrote a letter to Khaled asking for "Islamic guidance" concerning a personal problem. Khaled receives thousands of letters and phone calls a week from young people asking for his advice on everything from whom to marry to how to pray to what to do if they think they might be gay. "He replied back with the most tender words," Mona recalled when I met her. (She asked that I not use her full name.) "He sent a card, and it said, 'If you want to ask me anything else, consider me like your elder brother!' It wasn't copied and pasted — he really reads your letters and gives you his thoughts, and he is so tender and most adorable." When Mona arrived at Al Amirat that morning, a few bubbly young volunteers stood at the entrance with clipboards. One of them checked Mona's name off the list, and then Mona headed upstairs to a ballroom painted maroon and gold and hung with chandeliers. It was crowded; about 250 middle- and upper-class young professionals and university students were milling around. There was a stage at the far end of the room, where men in suits who looked to be management consultants were setting up projection screens for a PowerPoint presentation. None of the men in the room wore traditional beards, which Khaled says are optional — he himself has no beard at all, just a neatly trimmed mustache. All but one of the women in the room were wearing hijabs, or head scarves, which Khaled says is a requirement of Islam. Some women were fully covered by what amounted to burkas: in addition to robes and head scarves, they were wearing veils that cover the face and eyes, and gloves to cover their hands. Other women had negotiated a compromise between piety and fashion; they wore hijabs trimmed with pink lace around their faces, or they wore them with jeans or electric blue eye shadow. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/30/magazine/30televangelist.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0 My Life as an Egyptian Muslim Radical Dr. Tawfik Hamid reveals the indoctrination of Egyptian youth and the election of the extremist Muslim Brotherhood. by Rabbi Shraga Simmons Dr. Tawfik Hamid (pronounced taw-feek hameed) was born and bred in Egypt. While attending medical school in Cairo he joined the Muslim terror organization Gamaat Islamiya, where his colleagues included Ayman al-Zawahiri, the current leader of Al Qaeda. Using the powers of his intellect, Dr. Hamid was eventually able to pry himself away from the extremist indoctrination and embrace a far more moderate and tolerant version of Islam. Currently, Dr. Hamid is a Senior Fellow and Chair for the Study of Islamic Radicalism at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies. His book, Inside Jihad: Understanding and Confronting Radical Islam, has been hailed as a manifesto on how to neutralize the threat of radical Islam. Dr. Hamid spoke with Aish.com this week from his home in Washington DC. In a wide-ranging and candid interview, he offers insights into the recent election of Mohamed Morsi as president of Egypt; the possibility of a nuclear Iran; and the key to revitalizing Islam as a “religion of peace.” Dr. Tawfik HamidAish.com: Let’s go back to the beginning. How did you – who grew up in a liberal household, the son of an orthopedic surgeon – become a member of a radical Islamic group? Dr. Hamid: I was a normal kid occupied with school and hobbies such as sports, stamp collecting, chess and music. Although my parents were secular, I had a desire to find God. I always believed that God and the world are aligned, but I never connected my heart to my mind. Then I took a biology class where I learned about the molecular structure of DNA. I felt that I’d discovered an expression of God in the world. This was the beginning of my spiritual journey. Unfortunately my zealousness for God led me to the darker side of Islam. Aish.com: You joined Gamaat Islamiya, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization dedicated to the violent imposition of Sharia law. How did that come about? Dr. Hamid: I was at medical school in Cairo. Studying anatomy and physiology increased my belief in God and made me more enthusiastic about Islam. The radicals were on the lookout for people like me. I was recruited and indoctrinated in three psychological stages: 1) hatred of non-Muslims and dissenting Muslims, and 2) suppression of my conscience. At that point I was open to accepting the third psychological stage: violence in the service of Allah without guilt. Aish.com: What specific goal did they have for you? Dr. Hamid: I met Ayman al-Zawahiri, now the leader of al-Qaeda, who was one of the top postgraduate students in the medical school. He dreamed of forcing the West to conform to a Taliban-style system where women are obligated to wear the hijab, are legally beaten by men to discipline them, and are stoned to death for extramarital sex. I was groomed to go to Afghanistan to join other young Muslims in training for jihad, to perform crimes in the name of God. My sponsors pledged to make all the logistical and financial arrangements. I was excited to go because my personal dream was to be an Islamic warrior, in accordance with the verse: “When you meet the unbelievers, smite their necks” (Koran 47:4). This seemed the easiest way to attain my purpose in life and to guarantee my salvation in the afterlife. http://www.aish.com/jw/me/My_Life_as_an_Egyptian_Muslim_Radical.html

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Seed Banks in the US- SAve Agriculture from Big Business

My brother, his wife, and their kids were passing through recently, and I brought up Vandana Shiva briefly. I had read about her in Francis Moore Lappe and Anna's Hope's Edge. There are also a few sweet videos on line where VS's cutting intellect bursts forth. She hasn't won the Nobel Prize, or the Right Livelihood Award, for that matter, and maybe she doesn't need it. She is all about helping the grassroots organize there in India, as opposed to, say, the corporate executive driven farmer suicides there. I was wondering about the US. In taking a look at Via Campesina in the US I found something interesting, but nothing I recall about seed banks. Then I just found this on Alternet.... Environment Seed Libraries Are Sprouting Up Across the Planet, and Corporate Dominated Govts Are Trying to Stop Them Amid government crackdown, seed libraries expand biodiversity and food access. By Christopher D. Cook / Shareable March 17, 2015 Print COMMENT NOW! It’s easy to take seeds for granted. Tiny dry pods hidden in packets and sacks, they make a brief appearance as gardeners and farmers collect them for future planting then later drop them into soil. They are not “what’s for dinner,” yet without them there would be no dinner. Seeds are the forgotten heroes of food—and of life itself. Sharing these wellsprings of sustenance may sound innocuous enough, yet this increasingly popular exchange—and wider seed access—is up against a host of legal and economic obstacles. The players in this surreal saga, wherein the mere sharing of seeds is under attack, range from agriculture officials interpreting seed laws, to powerful corporations expanding their proprietary and market control. Seed libraries—a type of agricultural commons where gardeners and farmers can borrow and share seed varieties, enriching their biodiversity and nutrition—have sprouted up across the U.S. in recent years, as more Americans seek connection to food and the land. This new variety of seed sharing has blossomed from just a dozen libraries in 2010 to more than 300 today. The sharing of seeds “represents embedded knowledge that we’ve collected over 10,000 years,” says Jamie Harvie, executive director of the Institute for a Sustainable Future, based in Duluth, Minnesota. “Healthy resilient communities are characterized not by how we control other people, and more about valuing relationships.” As Harvie suggests, seed libraries offer a profound alternative to the corporate takeover of seeds, which has reached frightful proportions: according to the non-profit ETC Group, just three firms control more than half of the worldwide seed business (more than doubling their 22% share in 1996), while the top ten corporations now occupy 76 percent of the global market. Monsanto alone has 26 percent of the world’s seed market, with Du Pont and Syngenta not far behind. A 2013 report by ETC Group shows the startling scope of the industry’s market power, across the panorama of seeds, agrochemicals, and genetics: Four firms control 58.2% of seeds; 61.9% of agrochemicals; 24.3% of fertilizers; 53.4% of animal pharmaceuticals; and, in livestock genetics, 97% of poultry and two-thirds of swine and cattle research. Kristina Hubbard, communications director for the Organic Seed Alliance, sees a direct connection between corporate control and the seed-sharing movement. “I think community-based projects like seed libraries are at least in part a direct response to concerns people have about who controls our seed,” explains Hubbard. “It’s a necessary response, as seed industry consolidation continues and is increasing the vulnerability of our seed and food systems. We need more decision makers in the form of seed stewards, and more resiliency in our seed and food systems.” Seed Libraries Rising “Love the earth around you,” urges Betsy Goodman, a 27-year-old farmer in Western Iowa, where “most of the landscape is covered in uniform rows of corn and soybeans.” Working on an 11-acre organic farm that sprouts 140 varieties of tomatoes and 60 varieties of peppers, among other crops, Goodman has become something of a seed evangelist. In 2012, she launched the Common Soil Seed Library, just across the Missouri River in nearby Omaha, Nebraska—enabling area gardeners and farmers to borrow some 5,000 seed packets (112 different varieties) to date. “It didn’t make sense to me that no one was perpetuating the cycle of seed and life,” says Goodman. “People have this idea that you put a seed in the ground, harvest your food, and let it die.” Goodman says she is working to perpetuate life. “The basis of our whole food system comes from the seed,” she says. “I think people are not generally conscious of how grateful we should be for our food diversity and wealth.” Goodman sees the seed library as an essential reclaiming of farming traditions and local food security. “I want farmers to go back to saving seeds. It’s our responsibility to uphold our food system. It takes everybody.” But, she says, many farmers remain isolated and unaware of the seed-sharing movement. “The consciousness around this is not there yet. I haven’t really heard from farmers yet…The farmers buy their seed each year from Monsanto and Syngenta, this huge industrial system that’s very much in control of this state and surrounding states.” Farmers, she adds, “rely on these companies to buy their corn, they are very tied into these companies, and can’t even feed themselves off of the food they’re growing.” Motivated by similar concerns, the Wisconsin Seed Savers Alliance has helped germinate six seed libraries (with three more on the way this spring) across five counties in the state’s economically isolated northeast, along the shores of Lake Superior. “A lot of food grown here is shipped away,” says Alliance director Tessah Wickus. She explains that seed libraries are about “sharing the burden of growing food and making sure we all have something nutritious…We don’t have a whole lot of income sources, our schools are in the system for hot lunch programs, and we have a high poverty rate. One of the concerns here is food security and expanding local foods.” While small in scale, Wisconsin’s seed library alliance has tapped a well of interest among new farmers and old, says Wickus, who is 25. “Sharing seeds is part of helping the next generation of farmers…[T]his is an integral part of how to survive and sustain yourself, how to pass along knowledge from one generation to another. People have a hunger to know where their food comes from, something we’ve lost.” About 200 miles westward, on the White Earth Indian Reservation in northern Minnesota, a new seed library offers varieties of sunflower, bean, corn and other seeds to residents—many of whom are poor and seeking a reconnection to indigenous food and farming. Most of the money here “goes off the reservation,” says Zachary Paige, farm manager at the White Earth Land Recovery Project. “This is one way to get the economy back on the reservation, and save money for food, instead of buying seeds from catalogs,” he says, while also “closing that loop in producing food.” Paige (who is not Native American) helped start the White Earth Seed Library two years ago, and is working with local college and school garden projects to cultivate traditional seed varieties. He points to an indigenous tradition of growing and sharing food, and a revival of highly nutritious pre-Columbus crops, such as Bear Island Corn. Sharing seeds fits into a larger goal on the reservation of “trying to eat healthier and relieve diabetes.” Seed-Sharing Crackdown But all this seed-sharing love is butting up against some prodigious economic and regulatory challenges. As the libraries spread across the US, they are catching scrutiny from agriculture officials in states such as Pennsylvania, Minnesota, and Iowa, who express concerns about unlabeled seed packets, and the spreading of contaminated seeds and noxious or invasive species. One flashpoint in this battle is a small seed library in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, which ran into a regulatory dispute with the state’s department of agriculture. Last June, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture informed an employee of the Joseph T. Simpson Public Library that its seed library ran afoul of state seed laws and would have to shut down or follow exorbitant testing and labeling rules intended for commercial seed enterprises. County Commissioner Barbara Cross raised the specter of terrorism, telling local media, “Agri-terrorism is a very, very real scenario,” she said. “Protecting and maintaining the food sources of America is an overwhelming challenge...so you’ve got agri-tourism on one side and agri-terrorism on the other.” The library was forced to limit its sharing, holding a special seed swapping event instead. As Mechanicsburg seed librarian Rebecca Swanger explained to media at the time, “We can only have current-year seeds, which means 2014, and they have to be store-purchased because those seeds have gone through purity and germination rate testing. People can't donate their own seeds because we can't test them as required by the Seed Act.” While the Sustainable Economies Law Center (SELC) insists that laws regulating large commercial seed companies do not apply to seed libraries, “other states are now considering adopting Pennsylvania’s seed protocol,” Shareable reported—potentially stopping the seed library movement in its tracks. But Pennsylvania and some other states “have misapplied the law entirely,” says Neil Thapar, staff attorney at SELC, which is spearheading a national seed library campaign called Save Seed Sharing. Pennsylvania’s Seed Act, he says, “does not actually authorize the state agriculture department to regulate noncommercial seed sharing through seed libraries.” Thapar argues that applying state seed laws to the libraries is “inappropriate because it violates the original spirit and intent of these laws. Seed laws were created solely as consumer protection laws to protect farmers from unscrupulous seed companies in the marketplace.” In contrast, seed sharing takes place outside of markets, as a “noncommercial activity in community.” Minnesota’s budding seed library movement has encountered similar resistance. Last September, the state’s department of agriculture (MDA) informed the Duluth Seed Library that it was in violation of state seed laws that prohibit transferring ownership of seeds without comprehensive testing. Harvie, who helped organize the library effort in Duluth, recalls the crackdown “really shocked people…it seemed like an egregious overreach.” Harvie says the Department of Agriculture enforcements nationally are galvanizing people to support seed libraries. “What people are asking is, who’s being hurt,” he says. “Nobody is being hurt. The only one anyone can imagine being hurt is the seed industry.” Was the seed industry behind the MDA’s actions? Harvie does not suspect a conspiracy, but he notes, “There had to be some pressure, the [MDA] has plenty of other things to do. Perhaps the MDA knew that by purposefully enforcing the law, it would draw out support for saving.” Minnesota’s Seed Program Advisory Group, which advises the MDA on state seed laws, meets three times a year and publishes no records of its meetings. Its members include major state commodity groups such as the Minnesota Corn Growers Association, Soybean Growers Association, and the Minnesota Crop Improvement Association. When the advisory group met last December, Harvie recalls, “I think the Department of Agriculture was excited for us to be at the meeting. It provided them with some community voice,” he says, “when too often it is only industry that can afford the time and expense of attending meetings. The lesson is, the community has to stand up and be present.” With nationwide challenges to seed libraries, activists worry about a chilling effect on this nascent and increasingly popular form of seed-sharing. In Omaha, Nebraska, the community “has responded really well and been very supportive” of Common Soil’s initiative, says Goodman. “We’re not being attacked, we are being supported,” she says, by gardeners and lawmakers interested in putting the libraries on more solid legal ground. But, she adds, “I was approached by others across Nebraska who wanted to open seed libraries, but they were afraid they would put all this work in and get shut down.” It remains unclear whether the seed industry has played any role in promoting the enforcement push, but this powerful agribusiness sector is vigilant about expanding its control over seeds. As first reported by MintPress News this January, the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is peddling its “Pre-Emption of Local Agricultural Laws Act”—a law providing “exclusive regulatory power over agricultural seed, flower seed and vegetable seed and products of agriculture seed, flower seed and vegetable seed to the state.” Despite the conservative mantra of “local control,” ALEC’s measure would prohibit local governments from enacting or enforcing measures to “inhibit or prevent the production or use of agricultural seed, flower seed or vegetable seed or products.” Meanwhile, the American Seed Trade Association advocates for “Strong intellectual property protection,” to keep investment dollars flowing, and to “add value to agriculture and society through new products. Any state legislation that could undermine this simple principle is vigorously opposed.” Asked for its stance on seed libraries, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) stated, “We have not received any formal complaints of mislabeled seed being distributed in interstate commerce through these programs (seed libraries).” The Federal Seed Act (FSA) governs “truthful labeling of agricultural and vegetable seed shipped in interstate commerce,” the agency said, adding, “It remains to be seen if any of the seed being obtained from these libraries will make it into interstate commerce.” Unless the seeds are shipped across state lines, or “determined to be a variety protected” under the federal Seed Act, the FSA “has no jurisdiction over this seed. Individual States will need to establish internal methods of dealing with labeling and possible mislabeling of the seed packets.” Saving the Libraries As state agriculture agencies consider whether to curtail seed libraries, legislative efforts are underway in Nebraska, Minnesota, and other states, to protect them. The Community Gardens Act [pdf] currently moving through the Nebraska legislature would exempt seed libraries from state laws governing seed labeling and testing. In December 2014, the city council of Duluth, Minnesota passed a resolution supporting seed sharing “without legal barriers of labeling fees and germination testing.” Perhaps more significantly, the Duluth resolution advocated reforming the Minnesota Seed Law to “support the sharing of seeds by individuals and through seed libraries,” by exempting these forms of sharing from the law’s labeling, testing, and permitting requirements. After one reform measure was withdrawn from the Minnesota legislature, activists are gearing up for another legislative push soon. In coming months, seed-sharing advocates can expect legislative battles across the US—some seeking to expand libraries’ sharing rights, and others limiting the exchange. Meanwhile, agribusiness continues to widen its economic and legal control over the world’s seed supply. “Seed sharing is an interactive and vibrant contrast to the extractive marketplace,” says Harvie. The battle over seed libraries and sharing represents “a clash of worldviews that just don’t reconcile.” Despite the challenges, Goodman remains buoyant about the seed library movement. “It’s natural for companies to try to get power over this, but it’s our responsibility to push back and establish our freedom,” she says. “We are losing huge chunks of our food system, and it’s our responsibility to reclaim it. We have to be the ones to do it.” Christopher D. Cook, an award-winning journalist and author, worked as communications director for the No on S campaign in Berkeley. His work has appeared in Harper’s, The Economist, the Los Angeles Times and elsewhere. His website is www.christopherdcook.com.

Thursday, March 19, 2015

Hogfarm Waste and Biogas Generators Anyone?

Besides the fact that Wind Power, solar, and small hydro are some exciting RE technologies, there is the question of intermittency, you know, variability. Biogas generation can solve that. Moreover, I was reading about Hog Farm Waste again recently, huge pools of stopped up animal manure in toxic pools, just because they are left sitting there. It should be no problem, not least of which is the same solution as for intermittency, biogas. I was reading about one company, Midwest Biogas, from 2009. Alas, nothing since then, so the prize goes to Avant Energy. Europeans, especially the Germans, have been doing it for more than 30 years, I'm happy to say. The US has been big on cell phones, iPads, and tablets, all toxic and slave-labor made. A few years ago, Greenfreeze ozone-safe refrigeration technology was finally had bans lifted. Now there's biogas. That is some of the scope of the US's insanity, but Corporate Executive imperialism and oligarchy have only severely slowed Climate Change ecological response. Slowly, some good news has appeared. -------- The Legacy of Slavery: What Inequality and Industrial Hog Operations Have in Common By Laura Orlando The location of North Carolina's industrial hog operations in 2014 overlaid on the density of North Carolina's enslaved people in the 1860s. Steve Wing American agriculture is not one story, but many. Millions of animals living in confined spaces as part of large scale, market-directed production—industrial agribusiness—is one of the more horrific ones. For people that live near industrial hog operations, where hundreds or thousands of hogs are raised in a confined space, with open pits of urine and feces and regular disposal these wastes near their homes, it becomes a story about health and quality of life. Steve Wing, an epidemiologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill shows that it’s also about environmental injustice. Research by Wing and Jill Johnston, a UNC postdoctoral scholar, documents that most of the 9.6 million hogs in North Carolina live in concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) in the eastern part of the state where they disproportionately impact African Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans. Their 2014 study found that the swine CAFOs—also known as industrial hog operations (IHOs)—permitted by the North Carolina Division of Water Quality are located in counties with high non-white populations. Duplin County, on the southeastern coastal plain, is home to 2.35 million hogs distributed among 530 hog operations. In Duplin, 43 percent of the population is non-white. One of the poorest counties in North Carolina, Duplin has a poverty rate of 23.6 percent. Wing and Johnston do not focus directly on issues of wealth and poverty in their study, but they observe that IHOs are “relatively absent from low-poverty White communities.” After all, no industrial hog operation is located next to North Carolina’s Executive Mansion. Over the past two decades, the number of U.S. hog farms declined by more than 70 percent while hog production rose by more than 30 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In 2007, 97 percent of hogs were raised in places with over 500 animals. Three-quarters of hogs sold for market are from “specialized operations” with corporate production contracts that buy 30 to 80 pound pigs from other “specialized operations” and finish them to 240 to 270 pounds, slaughter weight. The people that manage these operations are not called farmers: they are “contract growers.” Like other U.S. corporate agribusinesses, industrial hog operations are heavily supported by state and national policies. Larger operations are more profitable than smaller ones because the pigs are treated as commodities, their feed is mechanized, and the cost of environmental and public health damage is not considered in the balance sheet. The human and environmental costs Water and air pollution from the confinement of thousands of swine endanger the health of people living nearby. Industrial hog operations pollute the air with a complex mixture of particulates (e.g., fecal matter and endotoxins), vapors and gases (e.g., ammonia and hydrogen sulfide)—all of which have negative health effects. Add odor from feces, not only a nuisance but also the cause of health problems, and you get sick people. Wing and colleagues have recorded stress, anxiety, mucous membrane irritation, respiratory conditions, reduced lung function and acute blood pressure elevation.... (read the rest at the main article....) ----------- Here is a fine, recent overview, with a confirmation of the Hometown plant as the first successful electrical generating plant in the US....apparently, the efforts by Midwest Biogas did not go through somehow.... original article Market improving for waste-to-energy projects in Minnesota Posted on 09/16/2014 by Frank Jossi The Hometown Bioenergy plant near Le Sueur, Minnesota, can produce up to 8 MW of electricity. (Photo ©Le Sueur News-Herald, used with permission) With the help of some aggressive bugs that thrive on a diet of waste and manure, the $45 million Hometown Bioenergy plant in Le Sueur, Minnesota has reached 60 percent capacity since opening in December of 2013. “It’s a biological process, it’s not like you can flip the switch,” said Kelsey Dillon, the vice president of bioenergy for Avant Energy Inc., which manages the plant. “There’s definitely an art to getting the bugs acclimated and getting them tuned up to digest this material at higher and higher strengths, if you will, we’re still in that ramp-up period, but it’s going well.” The anaerobic digester, capable of producing 8 megawatts of electricity, is one of the largest facilities of its kind in the country. It sits on a 35 acre site and draws customers from a 60 mile radius, including sweet corn canning operators and other vegetable processors, who bring their waste and pay tipping fees to have Hometown take care of it, she said. A subsidiary of the 12-member Minnesota Municipal Power Agency, Hometown is one of a growing number of industrial scale digesters either under construction and in the planning stages in Minnesota and around the country. The Port Authority of St. Paul, for example, has made investments in nine large-scale anaerobic digester projects in St. Paul, South St. Paul, Chaska, East Grand Forks, Austin and Becker. They range in size from $10 million to $35 million, said Peter Klein, the Port Authority’s vice president of finance. The Central Region office of Natural Systems Utilities LLC will soon announce two industrial-scale anaerobic digester projects in the Midwest valued at between $14 million and $40 million, one that will be located in Minnesota, said Ryan Brandt, executive vice president. “We’re starting to see the market shift to favoring projects in the $10 million to $50 million range, while the projects $10 million and less are harder to raise capital for,” he said. Several trends are making for a more attractive market for digesters, among them a desire to reduce the level of waste going to landfills, to produce more renewable energy and to create value out of agricultural waste, he said. Minnesota’s food industry needs disposal options and anaerobic digesters provide an answer, said Brandt. What differentiates these new projects from the kind of farm-based digesters that employ manure to produce methane is that the larger operations rely on food and agricultural waste, he said. In some cases the digesters will be located near food and beverage manufacturers that have a steady of waste available for disposal. “Europe has had this for decades but now we’re just catching wind and seeing how waste is being redefined for us,” Brandt said. “We’re seeing a market shift to ban organics from coming into landfills, which offers opportunities for anaerobic digesters to handle that waste.” The Minnesota Project in a major study on farm digesters reported that the United States has 126 anaerobic operations producing electricity. Hometown Bioenergy is one of the first, if not the first, to produce electricity from waste in Minnesota. In some cases biogas is being used to replace natural gas, too. The Metropolitan Council Environmental Services added a solids processing facility at Blue Lake Wastewater Treatment Plant in Shakopee that opened in 2012. By being able to replace as much as 80 percent of the plant’s natural gas needs with methane biogas the Met Council saw a savings of $500,000 annually. The biogas facility also fuels hot water boilers and provides other advantages that reduce the need for natural gas purchases. Other market drivers Additional factors fueling biodigester growth include regulations, tax credits, a push by the White House, and aggressive marketing by three German companies which see a rich American market, said Paul Greene, director of the American Biogas Council. The federal government in August issued a new “biogas roadmap,” he said, that calls for creation of 11,000 more digesters, up from the 2,116 that exist today. By reaching that total the nation could see enough methane to power three million homes and fuel 2.5 million vehicles. Digesters are taking off because “it’s a good greenhouse gas story, a good renewable energy story, a good nutrient management story a good green energy story, so that has all helped,” he said. Several Northeast states have implemented new regulations banning food waste from landfill sites, Greene said, with Massachusetts’ new law starting in October. New York City businesses that produce more than one ton of food waste a week must divert that to something other than a landfill, he said. Larger producers, such as hotels, can no longer send their food waste to landfill sites, leaving a potential for entrepreneurs to come in with an anaerobic digester solution. Agencies in the Northeast, he added, are offering financial encouragement for developers. Anheuser-Busch, for example, uses a “beneficial energy recycling system” that takes brewery waste and makes methane gas that is reused in plants for heating, he said. The St. Paul Port Authority has invested $1.3 million in digesters that began when the RockTenn paper recycling plant was threatened with closure, said Klein. Although he points out that RockTenn will not use the biogas from digesters directly, the Port Authority will receive carbon credits while “producing an economic benefit” to those communities. For now, however, the investments have yielded only one completed project, Klein said. Full Circle Organics in Becker has been operating since June and collected several thousand tons of organic material, according to an article in the St. Cloud Times. The carbon credit market may be struggling, but the Port Authority believes it will rebound, he said. In the meantime, food processors would benefit by having anaerobic digesters and be more competitive by having to pay less for their energy, he said. “The country has to look at what Europe is doing,” he said. “There is a value to it if you can separate waste out — you can produce energy from it. If you just put it in a landfill it will create methane, anyway, which is a harmful greenhouse gas. The landfill companies have these collection systems but they don’t really collect all the gas.” The Port Authority has offered a proposal to the state to create a state-sponsored fund to promote $80 million in investment in five large scale anaerobic digesters at wastewater treatment facilities. Although it has yet to pass the legislature, Klein said the effort will continue. ------------ Midwest Biogas to use ethanol byproducts, animal waste By Anna Austin Minnesota-based Midwest Biogas LLC is greeting the new year with plans to construct a biogas plant in northern Iowa, a project that will mark the company's renewable energy debut. appears not to have been completed ..... (read the rest at the main article site) (see also below, Mid-size Dairy Farms) ---------- Biogas comes of age As biogas becomes big business, it’s creating new opportunities for all involved in managing food waste. Iyad Omari from London-based cleantech investor, Frog Capital, and Peter Stepany, Chief Technology Officer of German biogas specialists, agri.capital, set out the choices facing biogas companies and the challenges that need to be met. by Iyad Omari & Peter Stepany A unique source of renewable energy Despite the recent UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen showing how hard it is to build an international consensus, the worldwide drive to find clean, renewable energy sources remains undimmed. This isn’t simply an issue of global warming. Many countries are also keen to cut their reliance on fossil fuels due to concerns over security of supply. Germany has been a beacon of sustainable energy practice in Europe for 20 years, with a strong regulatory framework to encourage clean energy production. agri.capital is one of the success stories to emerge from Germany’s green wave. Since 2004 it has set up around 50 plants across Germany, Austria and Italy to generate biogas – gas extracted from organic matter including organic waste. The company is the largest biogas producer in Europe and the huge demand for clean energy looks set to underpin its rapid growth for years to come. To date agri.capital’s model has relied on the use of purpose-grown crops as fuel. But as the biogas sector becomes big business, it is creating a wealth of opportunities for profitable partnerships with those who manage an alternative fuel – food waste. To understand these opportunities, it helps to get a taste of biogas production and the complex choices it offers. The recent investment in agri.capital by London-based cleantech specialist, Frog Capital, was driven by a belief that biogas has unique advantages. It uses well-proven technology and combines strong green credentials (e.g. its ability to recover energy from biodegradable waste, thus diverting it from landfill) with reliability and ease of storage. These are characteristics that other renewable energies such as solar, wind and wave power find it hard to match. A technology whose time has come For many, Germany is the model to follow when it comes to biogas. The German Renewable Energy Act (known as EEG) gives biogas producers a lot of comfort. Producers who burn biogas to generate electricity for the grid earn a tariff that’s guaranteed for 20 years from the plant’s inception. This certainty helps producers obtain the 10-year finance that plants need and supports long-term contracts with feedstock suppliers. Although most of Germany’s biogas producers currently convert it to electricity, they also have the option of pumping a purified version of the gas directly into the national network. The tariffs for this aren’t guaranteed but they’re not entirely free-moving either; so much gas is ultimately burnt to generate electricity that its price tends to move in line with electricity prices, creating a level of predictability that facilitates long-term gas supply contracts. Deciding how to use biogas from AD Several factors have to be weighed up when deciding how to use the biogas. Injecting gas into the grid demands complex processes for scrubbing it. On the other hand, burning it to create electricity involves running an engine and finding a customer for the excess heat emitted by the process; without a customer for the heat, a lot of the primary energy value is wasted. So far most sites established by agri.capital burn gas to create electricity because they’ve been able to identify local clients for heat, e.g. commercial businesses that operate drying processes. But the number of customers for year-round heat is limited and many are already satisfied. Increasingly, therefore, new plants will inject gas into the mains. Getting the right mix of inputs A fundamental decision for a biogas producer is which feedstock to use. Put simply, this comes down to a choice between purpose-grown food crops (biomass) and organic waste generated by households and businesses such as food waste. For a biogas operator running many plants, an ‘ideal’ feedstock has three characteristics: homogenous – the content is consistent and produces stable outputs and that doesn’t upset the bacteria used high energy density – many cubic metres of biogas are produced per tonne of feedstock no pollutants – it does not contain unwanted elements that will be difficult and costly to dispose of at the end of the process. Under the German framework, each plant needs to specify upfront the broad category of feedstock that it is going to use (e.g. food waste or biomass). agri.capital typically uses feedstock that is roughly 70 % biomass and 30 % animal manure. The crops have high gas yields of around 200 m³ per tonne. The manure’s gas yield is only a tenth of this level, but it contributes useful minerals and makes the overall mix malleable. The feedstock mix also enables it to agree long-term contracts with farmers for the supply of crops and manure, which provides much-needed certainty for everyone.....(go to main article site -------- Energy: Biogas / Methane Digesters New Digester Opportunities — Studying Digester Feasibility for Mid-Sized Dairy Farms Anaerobic digestion technology holds many benefits for Minnesota farms. It has the potential to reduce environmental problems associated with animal agriculture and provide economic benefits to farms and rural communities. It can reduce odor, pathogens, greenhouse gas emissions, costs for bedding by utilizing recycled solids and adds value by producing renewable energy which provides distribution generation of electricity. However, most of the commercially developed anaerobic digester technology has been proven to be most economically feasible on dairy farms that have 300 or more cows. But according to the 2002 Census of Agriculture, 96% of Minnesota's dairy farms have 200 cows or less. This brings into question if there is a possibility that 96% of Minnesota's dairy farms can receive the same economic and environmental benefits from anaerobic digester technology that larger farms can? Through funding provided by AgStar Fund for Rural America, the Minnesota Project was able to contract with Philip Goodrich to complete a preliminary report assessing existing digester systems appropriate for small to mid dairy farm size. Mr. Goodrich has over 30 years of experience in the field of anaerobic digester systems. The report he prepared contains information about six digester models that could be applied for use on small to mid-sized dairy farms. Each model contains information dealing with the schematics of the system, an explanation of how the system functions, environmental benefits, and lessons learned from other similar digesters. Capital costs for the installation of the digesters and yearly costs are presented. (Find more at the original article site) -------- Then there is Peter TAglia, who seems to have made a nice bit of work in Wisconsin a few years back now for the American Biogas Council -------- More information on Midwest Biogas from 2009.. Biogas plant coming to Welcome 0 Posted: Tuesday, September 1, 2009 9:06 pm | Updated: 1:04 am, Tue Sep 2, 2014. By Brian Ojanpa The tiny town of Welcome is hoping to reap big benefits from barnyard manure. Gaylord-based bioenergy development company Midwest Biogas plans to build a plant near the 700-resident community that turns hog and chicken waste into energy for electricity and natural gas. Midwest Biogas President Nick Nelson said the bioenergy park would be the first of several the company plans to build throughout the upper Midwest. “We need to crawl before we can walk,” Nelson said of the start-up venture that would be the first plant of its type in Minnesota. .... Midwest Biogas will use Schmack BioEnergy as its anaerobic digestion technology supplier and is working to secure U.S. Department of Agriculture loan guarantees for the projects. original article

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

New US Co-op Film / Venezuelan Coup Attempt /German-Canada RE coops

Nice to hear that there's a new film out on co-ops, the member-ownership model of enterprise. Michael Moore's Capitalism is a landmark for its visibility and inclusion of co-ops, there was The Take by the well-known Naomi Klein, and even one on Mondragon from 1982, and others. Denmark, Germany, Emiglia Romana Italy, and Mondragon Spain are inspiring jurisdictions with lots of social democratic participation and economic democracy, as well as US credit unions and food co-ops, and co-ops and Fair Trade arrangements everywhere. “What is Inexcusable is Venezuela's Political Independence” What Does It Take to Start a Worker Co-Op? A Practical Video Guide to Democratizing Our Economy A new film asks whether practicing workplace democracy would be easier if our media gave us as many visions of collaboration as they do of competition? Laura Flanders posted Feb 10, 2015 As Sarah van Gelder pointed out recently, 2014 research by the Pew Center found that 78 percent of Americans believe that too much power is concentrated in the hands of a few huge companies. More than half—62 percent—believe our current economic system is rigged in favor of those with the most power. That belief, backed by the reality of gaping inequality and downward pressure on most Americans’ wealth and wages has led many people to look for ways, not only to ameliorate the pain and pressures of business-as-usual, but to find new ways of doing business. Worker-owned cooperatives, where workers are offered a share in the company and a say in decision-making, are one way to make the workplace more democratic. The most successful cooperatives have a good record of reducing inequality and building local assets, but co-ops aren’t easy, and they aren’t for everybody. A year ago, GRITtv and TESA the Toolbox for Education and Social Action teamed up to look more closely at what it takes for a worker-owned cooperative to get started, and to succeed. The result is Own the Change: Building Economic Democracy One Worker Co-op at a Time. Would practicing workplace democracy and working together be easier if our media and our education system gave us as many visions of collaboration as they do of competition? What if we were encouraged to participate in our communities as much as we are pushed to purchase stuff? If we measured prosperity not by how high we could pile up resources, but how widely we could spread them out, would our heroes, not to mention our economy look different? We believe so. Own the Change: Building Economic Democracy One Worker Co-op at a Time is one contribution to a broader vision. Read the rest at yesmagazine.org Some kind of coup attempt recently. It seems to me the government needs to start broadening the participation of ownership in the wealth of the economic elite there in Venezuela. By John Pilger- TeleSUR English, February 17th 2015 Tags 2015 Opposition sovereignty U.S. sanctions An interview with John Pilger, conducted by Michael Albert. Why would the U.S. want Venezuela's government overthrown? There are straightforward principles and dynamics at work here. Washington wants to get rid of the Venezuelan government because it is independent of U.S. designs for the region and because Venezuela has the greatest proven oil reserves in the world and uses its oil revenue to improve the quality of ordinary lives. Venezuela remains a source of inspiration for social reform in a continent ravaged by an historically rapacious U.S. An Oxfam report once famously described the Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua as 'the threat of a good example'. That has been true in Venezuela since Hugo Chavez won his first election. The 'threat' of Venezuela is greater, of course, because it is not tiny and weak; it is rich and influential and regarded as such by China. The remarkable change in fortunes for millions of people in Latin America is at the heart of U.S. hostility. The U.S. has been the undeclared enemy of social progress in Latin America for two centuries. It doesn't matter who has been in the White House: Barack Obama or Teddy Roosevelt; the U.S. will not tolerate countries with governments and cultures that put the needs of their own people first and refuse to promote or succumb to U.S. demands and pressures. A reformist social democracy with a capitalist base - such as Venezuela - is not excused by the rulers of the world. What is inexcusable is Venezuela's political independence; only complete deference is acceptable. The 'survival' of Chavista Venezuela is a testament to the support of ordinary Venezuelans for their elected government - that was clear to me when I was last there. Venezuela's weakness is that the political 'opposition' -- those I would call the 'East Caracas Mob' - represent powerful interests who have been allowed to retain critical economic power. Only when that power is diminished will Venezuela shake off the constant menace of foreign-backed, often criminal subversion. No society should have to deal with that, year in, year out.... read the rest at venezuelanalysis.com I looked for something on German Renewable Energy Co-ops, and found this German representative's visit to Ottawa in 2014... Tour: Learning from German Co-op Sector OREC has been very fortunate to have Dr Andreas Wieg, German Renewable Energy Co-op expert, join us for a whirlwind tour of Ontario. During his week here he has inspired audiences from Parliament Hill to Carleton University, from Ecology Ottawa to Queens Park. In case you missed seeing him present, you can find his presentation slides about the German renewable energy co-op transition here: Wieg in Canada 2014_2-2 more at http://www.ottawarenewableenergycoop.com/tour-learning-from-german-co-op-sector/