Alex Kirby – El Niño and war drive aid agencies to the brink

Climate News Network, 30 December, 2015 – The global humanitarian system, designed to save those at risk of dying because of human or natural disasters, faces unprecedented demands in 2016 from levels of strain it has never before had to face, a leading development agency says. With more than 10 million people in a single African country expected to need …

Joel Edwards – VACCINES & COGNITIVE DISSONANCE – INSIDE THE PRO-VAXXER MIND

Along with the belief that vaccines are “safe and effective” come other beliefs. There is a belief that vaccines do not cause autism, that vaccine reactions are rare, and so on. This is what the public is told about vaccines through the mainstream media. Despite these beliefs having no basis in scientific reality, they are continually reinforced by propaganda-laden journalism. …

Andy Bellatti – Was 2015 the Year Big Food Began to Lose Its Sway?

Today’s big food and agriculture companies work hard to protect their images. Companies like Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, and Monsanto spend a lot of time and money diverting attention away from negative science related to their products and associating themselves with groups that promote healthy food and families. For a long time, those tactics appeared to be working; but several of this …

Justin Gardner – Police Depts in the US Have a KKK Problem – They’ve Long Been Infiltrated – Denying it Won’t Help

Los Angeles, Ca — In 1991, a neo-Nazi, white supremacist gang was terrorizing the streets of Lynwood in Los Angeles County. The reason these violent thugs could run amok was because they were deputies at the Lynwood Sheriff’s station, having the power of blue privilege. A federal judge acknowledged that the gang of deputies carried out “systematic acts of shooting, …

Media Take Diet Advice From Coke-Funded Academics

Readers of USA Today, the LA Times and Atlantic Monthly might expect that prominent university professors quoted as independent experts on obesity would relay objective information based on the best science. They would be wrong. Over the past few months, through excellent investigative work, journalists Anahad O’Connor and Candice Choi unmasked a scheme that should look familiar to anyone following …

David Swanson – Why do War Veterans Commit Suicide or Murder?

In two recent articles in the Los Angeles Times and the academic studies that inspired them, the authors investigate the question of which war veterans are most likely to commit suicide or violent crimes. Remarkably, the subject of war, their role in war, their thoughts about the supposed justifications (or lack thereof) of a war, never come up. The factors …

Bill McKibben – Exxon Knew Everything There Was to Know About Climate Change by the Mid-1980s—and Denied It

few weeks before the last great international climate conference—2009, in Copenhagen—the e-mail accounts of a few climate scientists were hacked and reviewed for incriminating evidence suggesting that global warming was a charade. Eight separate investigations later concluded that there was literally nothing to “Climategate,” save a few sentences taken completely out of context—but by that time, endless, breathless media accounts …

Michael Payne – The Deadly Epidemic of Mass Murders Spreading Across America

This American society is in a state of distress. What is happening within America must stop; we must find the ways to bring an end to this succession of mass murders that are taking place across this country. How can a seemingly advanced society allow these acts of inhumanity to continue unabated? Here are some shocking statistics citing the many …

Project Censored – 08.25.15

In a remarkable case study of censorship, author and political cartoonist Ted Rall recounts how he was dropped from the Los Angeles Times, purportedly for giving an untrue account of a 2001 encounter with an LAPD officer, who cited Rall for jaywalking. As he refutes the ‘evidence’ behind his dismissal, Rall also points out links between the Times, the LAPD, and the police union, raising questions about how decisions are made at one of the “big three” U.S. newspapers.

Fearless Parent Radio – Can Science Teach Kids About Humanity? – 08.26.15

Guest // David George Haskell, PhD

Host // Louise Kuo Habakus

forest unseen jacketThe #1 ranked high school in the country is requiring this book, The Forest Unseen, as summer reading for all incoming freshmen. I picked it up and was hooked. The premise is simple — what can we learn by closely observing the same square meter of forest over a one year period?

It’s no surprise that the forest can teach us biology. But does it also hold lessons about social connections, social responsibility, and our essential humanity?

Yes.

Imagine a contemporary biologist who writes like a poet — giddy with delight about the surprises and secrets that Nature will disclose to anyone who cares to take a closer look.

We know that our kids need to spend more time outdoors. For this to happen, maybe parents need a dose of inspiration, too. This isn’t a quick read; you won’t (and shouldn’t) knock it off your list in a weekend. I’m reading it with my boys, individually. Each is drawn to different ideas — the brutal parasitism of the horsetail worm… stripping naked in -20F weather to experience winter as the chickadees do — but it feeds curiosity and spurs some terrific conversations.

If you’re headed to the lake or mountains — or wish you were — this is the perfect summer read. The chapters are short and the insights are unexpected. It’s no wonder that this book was a finalist for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize and received numerous awards, including the National Academies’ Best Book Award for 2013, the 2013 Reed Environmental Writing Award, and the 2012 National Outdoor Book Award for Natural History Literature. A profile in The New York Times said that Haskell “gives the natural world the kind of open-minded attention one expects from a Zen monk rather than a hypothesis-driven scientist.”

david haskellDavid George Haskell, PhD holds degrees from the University of Oxford and Cornell University. He is Professor of Biology at the University of the South, where he served as Chair of Biology. His scientific research on animal ecology, evolution, and conservation has been sponsored by the National Science Foundation, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the World Wildlife Fund, among others. David serves on the boards and advisory committees of local and regional land conservation groups. His classes have received national attention for the innovative ways they combine science, contemplation, and action in the community. David was born in England, raised in Paris, educated at Oxford and Cornell, and now lives in Tennessee where he helps his wife run a CSA called Cudzoo Farm.