The Environmentalist

The Non-Mandated Society

Janet Ritz | Posted 06.24.2011

Read More: Naomi Klein's Shock Doctrine, JP Morgan Chase, Politics, Politics News, Hamp, 99ers, Unemployment, The Environmentalist, Tim Geithner, Mortgage Crisis, Unemployment Benefits, US Treasury, Business, Hardest Hit Fund, Barack Obama, Business News

If the banks were mandated to stop demonizing the unemployed in unemployment recovery programs, that would allow programs to have a better percentage of success than their current rate of failure.

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A New Climate Reality

Janet Ritz | Posted 05.25.2011

No matter what the impact turns out to be of U.N. conferences, no matter who signs on to resultant accords, it's time to adjust to a new climate reality.

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"A Success Story in the Middle East"

Janet Ritz | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Iraq, Iraqi Kurdistan, Jalal Talabani, Qubad Talabani, Kurdistan, Slidepollajax, Religion, Environment, Iran, Turkey, The Environmentalist, Politics, Kurds, World News

A recent conversation with Qubad Talabani, the Kurdish representative to the U.S., centered on what the son of Iraq's President Jalal Talabani called the U.S.'s success story in the Middle East.

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Obama's Tax Deal: How Leaving Out the 99ers Impacts 2012 (VIDEO)

Janet Ritz | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Sheila Jackson Lee, Austan Goolsbee, Unemployment, 99ers, The Environmentalist, Rachel Maddow, Unemployment Benefits, Timothy Geithner, Jack Lew, Barack Obama, Unemployment Extension, Elections, Politics, Business, Business News

Soon, millions of middle class American citizens will join them in their plunge through the torn safety net this deal does not repair. And they will vote in 2012.

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The White House Answers My Question About 99ers (Video)

Janet Ritz | Posted 05.25.2011

The 99ers are talented and good American citizens who would do anything to work and apply for everything that comes along -- mostly to no avail.

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The U.S. Military's 1947 Warning on Intolerance

Janet Ritz | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Ground Zero Mosque, US Military, Intolerance, The Environmentalist, Propaganda, Tolerance, Prejudice, Politics, Religion, Environment, Koch Industries, Religion and Politics, Integration, Glenn Beck, Muslim, Tea Party, Mlk, I Have a Dream, Sarah Palin, Lincoln Memorial, Glenn Beck Rally, Tea Party Movement, Martin Luther King, Koch Brothers, Islam, Van Jones, Green, Barack Obama, Unions, Discrimination, Politics News

It is and always has been a risk in free societies that those interested in power or ideology will take advantage of those freedoms to deny the same to others.

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Koch Brothers Called Out for Waging War Against Obama

Janet Ritz | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: David Koch, Dick Armey, Tea Party, The Environmentalist, Breaking Green News, Greenpeace, Barack Obama, Pollution, Political News, John Birch Society, Rachel Maddow, Americans for Prosperity, Big Oil, Charles Koch, Green News, Koch Industries, Breaking Politics News, Green News

This is not the first time questions have been raised about Koch Industries' involvement with and funding of the extreme right wing and climate science denial.

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Scary Study: Plants at Base of Ocean Food Chain Have Declined Up to 40% Due to Warming Seas

Janet Ritz | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Climate Gate, War of the Worlds, The Environmentalist, Extinction, Food Chain, Environment, Green News, Science, H.G. Welles, Breaking Green News, Ocean-Food-Chain, Endangered Species, Oceans, Whales, Global Warming, Green News

Regardless of the geopolitics of climate change, no matter what anyone chooses to believe or not, the total loss of phytoplankton would be a catastrophic global event.

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Investment Fund Chairman on Climate Change: Grantham Says Buy It

Janet Ritz | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Environment, Investment Banks, Bp, Gulf Oil Spill, The Environmentalist, Big Oil, Jeremy Grantham, Green News, Climate Change Denial, Global Warming, Gmo, Business, Climate Change, Business News

Investors, take note. One of your own has weighed in on the fact of climate change and has recommended that you buy it.

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The Planet Has a Fever

Janet Ritz | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Gulf Oil Spill, Heat Wave, The Environmentalist, Environment, Green News, Science, Climate Change, Noaa, Climate Gate, Global Warming, Green News

Climate scientists have warned of this for years. The tipping point of 350 ppm in greenhouse gases has been passed and it's given the planet a temperature.

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The Case for Informed Citizenship

Janet Ritz | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Citizenship, The Environmentalist, Environment, Naomi Klein, Climate Change, Media, BP Oil Spill, Philip Morris, Gulf Oil Spill, Climategate, Fair Trade Chocolate, Consumer Spending, Barack Obama, Unemployment, Shock Doctrine, Politics News

Are we, by our own obtuseness, responsible for those who toil in unsafe conditions, who find themselves looking out at a destroyed Gulf of Mexico, who mourn for loved ones buried in an unsafe mine?

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The Gulf Coast Oil Spill: An Ecological Disaster Years in the Making

Janet Ritz | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Endangered Species, Business, Oil, Fauna, Science, Barack Obama, Politics, British Petroleum, Katrina, Flora, Halliburton, Gulf Oil Spill, Dick Cheney, Bp-Oil-Spill, BP Oil Spill, The Environmentalist, Louisiana Oil Spill, Energy, Oil Leak, Louisiana, Bp, Oil Rig, Deepwater Horizon, Green News, Oil Spill, Gulf Coast, Exxon Valdez Oil Spill, Drill Baby Drill, Green News

The BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill has now reached the Gulf Coast and will likely eclipse the Exxon Valdez disaster in its impact on the ecology of th...

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Senator Sheldon Whitehouse's Historic Speech on Corporate Influence in Government (VIDEO)

Janet Ritz | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Corruption, Sec, Bp, The Environmentalist, Lobbying, Breaking Political News, Green News, Regulation, Gulf Oil Spill, Mms, Dick Cheney, Political News, Sheldon Whitehouse, Oil Spill, Big Oil, Attorney General, Environment, Financial Crisis, Politics News

Whitehouse proposes the attorney general step in and clean house of all regulatory agencies to insure the integrity of the personnel to make sure they are not taken over by corporate interests.

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Koch Industries' Unsolicited Emails: More Questions Than Answers

Janet Ritz | Posted 05.25.2011

Is Koch Industries the largest funder of climate science denying organizations in the world and whether that's true or not, what's Koch Industries' position on climate change?

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Where is Dick Cheney During the Gulf Oil Spill?

Janet Ritz | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Energy, Politics, The Environmentalist, Halliburton, Environment, Green News, Deepwater Horizon, Gulf Oil Spill, Barack Obama, Dick Cheney, Gulf Oil Spill 2010, Politics News

Halliburton was a player in this worst environmental disaster in the history of the United States. It was their cementing of the well that did not hold. They were involved. Is that why Mr. Cheney has been so silent?

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Reuse or Recycle? Try Freecycling

Jonathan Merritt | Posted 05.25.2011

Unfortunately, there is more to sustainable living than just recycling. Recycling is good, but it is even better not to use disposable goods if possible.

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What Is Patriotism?

Janet Ritz | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Politics, Patriotism, Unemployment, The Environmentalist, Economy, War, Health Care Reform, Green News, Climate Change, Afghanistan, Health Care, Barack Obama, Global Warming, Corruption, Congress, Politics News

President Obama may deserve criticism. But trying to undermine his presidency, his legitimacy, his personal safety, especially in a time of war, is unpatriotic at best.

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Will Walmart's Drive Toward Sustainability Work?

Janet Ritz | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Environment, Walmart, The Environmentalist, Green, Global Warming, Sustainability, Business, Climate Change, Green News

Walmart announced this week that they are planning to put green/sustainability labeling on all their products within the next five years. The question, of course, is whether they can make it happen.

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Searching for Relevancy in an Obama World

Janet Ritz | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Politics, Green Lifestyle, Lifestyle, Green Office, Responsibility, The Environmentalist, Environment, Green, Deniability, George Witte, Barack Obama, Obama Transition, Politics News

Eight years of having someone to point at and say: See! There's the problem (and it was), was an easier proposition than looking in the mirror and asking: How am I the problem?

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Greening Your Office in a Recession

Janet Ritz | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Green Office, Opportunity, The Environmentalist, Green Office Blog, Economy, Environment, Green, Office, Crisis, Sustainability, Business, Recession, Green News

My clients ask me why they should green their office in a recession. I reply that the Chinese use two separate brush strokes for 'crisis': One character stands for danger; the other for opportunity.

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Deniability: Facing the War on Terror through Poetry

Janet Ritz | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: History, War on Terror, Torture, Poetry, The Environmentalist, Politics, 9/11, Literature, George Witte, Deniability, Entertainment News

George Witte's Deniability is spectacular for its simplicity, its perfect placement of each word and for its bravery in peeling back the layers of the war on terror in verse.

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Palin Loses Attempt to Block Protection of Alaska's Whales

Janet Ritz | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Interior Department, The Environmentalist, Center for Biological Diversity, Noaa, Beluga Whales, Sarah Palin, Green News, Environment, Endangered Species, Climate Change, Alaska, Whales, Politics, Bush Administratione Endangered Species, Endangered Animals, Animals, Green News

Palin had opposed the endangered listing for beluga whales in part by questioning the science and saying the listings would hinder oil and natural gas drilling.

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John McCain's Missed Opportunity

Janet Ritz | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: John McCain Attack Ads, Patriotism, John McCain, Missed Opportunities, Obama Assassination Threats, Martin Luther King, John Lewis, Sarah Palin, Democracy, Presidential Debates, Barack Obama, The Environmentalist, Politics News

Senator John McCain made a point during the debate that Barack Obama should repudiate John Lewis' Wallace comparison, which Senator Obama had done already.

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Cost of Forest Loss Exceeds Current Banking Crisis

Janet Ritz | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Green News, The Environmentalist, Deforestation, Climate Change, Convention of Biological Diversity, Bank Crisis, Biodiversity, Wall Street Crisis, Green News

The global economy is losing more money from the disappearance of forests than through the current banking crisis, according to an EU-commissioned study.

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2010 Scenarios: Which Country do you Want First?

Janet Ritz | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Politics, Scenarios, Bill Clinton, John McCain, Worst Case Scenario, The Environmentalist, War, Best Case Scenario, Sarah Palin, Environment, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Green, Politics News

Have you thought about what America will be like two years into the next administration?

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