by Andrew Gavin Marshall

Global Research, August 21, 2010

The debate is over! There is a consensus! The time for discussion has ended and the need for action is paramount!

We have all heard this before.

Yet it is important to keep in mind that these types of statements are inherently inimical to scientific inquiry; the debate and discussion should never be over. As new information surfaces, it should be taken into consideration, analyzed, discussed, debated and ultimately it will aid in the advancement of knowledge and scientific understanding. To declare the debate as over is to declare information and knowledge as irrelevant. Progress has never come from holding onto antiquated ideas. The attainment of knowledge does not come from the refusal to reflect. Climate change is no exception. In light of events of the past year, it has become clear that there was a concerted effort on the part of a small clique of elite scientists at the UN and in supporting institutions, governments and universities to concoct the climate change “consensus” to pressure governments and public opinion into supporting the political, economic and social agenda of elites.

Farmland threatened by rogue municipal council in Saanich
 

The Interior Department exempted BP's calamitous Gulf of Mexico drilling operation from a detailed environmental impact analysis last year, according to government documents, after three reviews of the area concluded that a massive oil spill was unlikely.

The decision by the department's Minerals Management Service (MMS) to give BP's lease at Deepwater Horizon a "categorical exclusion" from the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) on April 6, 2009 -- and BP's lobbying efforts just 11 days before the explosion to expand those exemptions -- show that neither federal regulators nor the company anticipated an accident of the scale of the one unfolding in the gulf.....

"They never did an analysis that took into account what turns out to be the very real possibility of a serious spill," said Holly Doremus, a law professor at the University of California at Berkeley who has reviewed the documents....

BP's exploration plan for Lease 206, which calls the prospect of an oil spill "unlikely," stated that "no mitigation measures other than those required by regulation and BP policy will be employed to avoid, diminish or eliminate potential impacts on environmental resources."...

BP has lobbied the White House Council on Environmental Quality -- which provides NEPA guidance for all federal agencies-- to provide categorical exemptions more often. In an April 9 letter, BP America's senior federal affairs director, Margaret D. Laney, wrote to the council that such exemptions should be used in situations where environmental damage is likely to be "minimal or non-existent." An expansion in these waivers would help "avoid unnecessary paperwork and time delays," she added.
 

[1] Time to Drill Down Into Halliburton's Role in Big Oil Spill
May 1, 2010 Huffington Post
Charlie Cray, Director of the Center for Corporate Policy

[2]  Halliburton's role in the oil spill
By RUSSELL GOLD And BEN CASSELMAN
Wall Street Journal

fyi-janet

Statement: Sierra Club Canada Reacts to the Climate Change Accountability Act, Bill C-311, Moving to Third Reading

by Rady Ananda

Global Research, January 3, 2010

In what is being described as the first ever and most comprehensive study of the effects of genetically modified foods on mammalian health, researchers have linked organ damage with consumption of Monsanto’s GM maize.

All three varieties of GM corn, Mon 810, Mon 863 and NK 603, were approved for consumption by US, European and several other national food safety authorities. Made public by European authorities in 2005, Monsanto’s confidential raw data of its 2002 feeding trials on rats that these researchers analyzed is the same data, ironically, that was used to approve them in different parts of the world.

From the mainstream press we read, “As scientists confirm the earth has not warmed at all in the past decade, others wonder how this could be and what it means for Copenhagen. It will be a very cold winter of discontent for the warm-mongers. The climate show-and-tell in Copenhagen next month will be nothing more than a meaningless carbon-emitting jaunt, unable to decide just whom to blame or how to divvy up the profitable spoils of climate change hysteria. ^[1]

Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe, the leading Republican on the Environment and Public Works Committee said, “Until this year, any scientist, reporter or politician who dared raise even the slightest suspicion about the science behind global warming was dismissed and repeatedly mocked. Today I have been vindicated.”

The Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) has essentially been rendered inactive, yet many of its key priorities such as energy integration were part of the agenda at the recent North American Leaders’ Summit held in Guadalajara, Mexico on Aug 9-10.  Environmental concerns are being used to further advance North American integration and the U.S., Canada and Mexico have committed to a more continental approach in combating climate change.

Bill Gates Patents a Device Aimed at Halting Hurricanes

The applications made public by the U.S. Patent Office last week describe floating devices that could reduce the strength of hurricanes by drawing warm water from the ocean’s surface and channeling it down to the depths through a long tube. A second tube would reverse the process and bring deep, cold water up to the surface.

Canada has fallen to last place in the latest G8 Climate Scorecard, after the United States moved up in the annual rankings based on recent climate initiatives announced by the Obama administration.

Reducing the cost of the most expensive component of any high-priced product seems the obvious way to increase its consumer demand.

Since 2000, the Colorado River - which provides water for seven US states in the region - has carried less water than at any time in recorded history.

And while the drought is worsening, the demand for water in this booming part of the country is increasing.

The states dependent on the Colorado River for their water are seeking solutions to their water shortage, with some suggesting that importing water from far-flung states - or even towing icebergs down from the Arctic - could solve the problems.

Lawns are buried in Ottawa at this time of year. But can the same be said of a potential NAFTA lawsuit over lawn pesticides?

A few months ago, Embassy revealed details of a legal threat made by Dow chemical company. The U.S. firm warned that a Quebec ban on the use of lawn-care pesticides could breach protections contained in the North American Free Trade Agreement.

A multi-million dollar lawsuit against the federal government appeared to be in the offing—with Dow prepared to accuse Canada of "unfair" and "expropriative" treatment of its long-standing investments in the pesticides market.

Environmental advocates pilloried Dow for having the temerity to demand financial compensation for future lost profits in the pesticides market.

Under NAFTA rules, Dow had to notify Canada of its intent to launch a claim under Chapter 11 of NAFTA, and then wait 90 days before moving forward with that lawsuit.

There is a youtube video, which can be viewed in the forum, which shows how small amounts of mercury affect the brain. There is footage from a study done at the University of Calgary , it details some of the sources of mercury in the body, and exactly what goes on at the cellular level. The article following the video gives more details on sources of mercury.