Pollinator Protection - Europe Shows Us How It's Done

Dear Editor, 

Oh, to be in Europe, now that they have put us to shame, once again! 

Member states of the European Union have just voted to clamp a temporary (2 year) ban on members of that "devil family" of bee-killing insecticides known as "neonicotinoids." It is now illegal to use the stuff anywhere over that entire continent! While Europe has finally seen the light, they're still applied prodigiously on food crops in North America. The seeds of crops such as corn and canola are now shot-full of them before they even go into the ground!

Bee-Harming Pesticides Banned in Europe

The Guardian

EU member states vote ushers in continent-wide suspension of neonicotinoid pesticides. Details here.

PLT: Below is a comment I left in the comments section following this story in "The Guardian."
"Damn straight, the EU did right by banning these chemicals! They are a curse & a threat to both the natural world and the future of many human food crops! As a blogger and journalist, I've written extensively on this topic, chronicling the disgusting and shameful, do-nothing approach of my own Canadian government, which acts more like an agent for Bayer et al than a representative of real people. I'd invite you to read one of my articles on this topic which I wrote some time ago."
"Are Canada's Pesticide Regulators on the Take? Canadian Authorities Refuse to Protect Precious Pollinators From Known Toxins. Is Something Crooked Going on Here? "

Should Capital Punishment be Applied in the Bangladeshi Garment Tragedy?

by Larry Powell

I don't believe in capital punishment. Never have. 

But maybe now is the time for me - and the rest of society- to step back, take a deep breath, and take another look.

The profound evil which has been at play in the recent, horrific collapse of the garment factory in Bangladesh - killing hundreds of innocent workers - sinks to such depths of depravity in every aspect, such a re-assessment seems suddenly appropriate.

And I'm not sure I'd stop at the owners of the building. Western multinational corporations  have blood on their hands, too, by using such despicable sweatshops to make their clothing, cheap - Wal Mart, Sears, Loblaws (the latter through its "Joe Fresh" clothing line in Canada and the 'States) - they've all filled their boots with more than their share of guilt. And the history of such things, steeped in blood as it has already become over the years, offers no way out for these heartless entities, to somehow claim ignorance of what is going on. 

Perhaps its time to round up the CEOs, and ship them all off for trial before the ICC. I'm not even sure whether the death penalty is within that court's mandate. If it is not, perhaps it should be! Let the court assess their guilt, or degree thereof, and make its judgement.

For they are just as surely guilty of neglect, criminal negligence and, yes, even murder, as the buildings owners/managers who forced those poor (in more ways than one) souls, into that building when they apparently knew full well it was not safe. There, hundreds died horrible and sometimes slow deaths over several agonizing days.

Whether they be corporate entities, individual executives or even shareholders, whether they be in my country, the US or abroad, I can feel no more sympathy for them than I do for terrorists or pedophiles. And what about the millions of consumers, who expect to buy clothing dirt-cheap without giving a thought, or caring whether they are creating consequences down the line? Should they be considered blameless? I'm sure many are just plain ignorant - or don't give a thought - as to what happens in the world around them. Does that render them innocent? 

I wonder.

Having said that, I am under absolutely no illusion that what I suggest here, will happen. Thanks to hollow, greedy people and their spineless enablers, our lawmaking politicians, our world has now fallen under such complete domination by the globalists and free marketeers, all hope for justice or even for vengeance, is indeed nothing more than a pipe-dream.

While, by writing this, I may have succeeded in getting something off my chest in some superficial way, it will be cold comfort indeed to the families of the innocents whose lives have been so needlessly and senselessly taken from us.

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Related article:  Battling for a Safer Bangladesh

Canadian Officials Should be Ashamed for Attacking Scientists

rabble.ca - BY ELIZABETH MAY 

Earlier this week, our Minister for Natural Resources, the Hon. Joe Oliver, went to Washington on what the Canadian media mistakenly insists on calling a "charm offensive." It really cannot be described as having anything to do with "charm"…Details here.

Freedom Isn’t Free, Terrorism Is Pervasive

By Dr. Glen Barry, Ecological Internet

Enduring occasional acts of random terror is the cost of living in a free society. Giving up civil liberties does not provide security, but rather enslaves you in a state of pervasive terror. The human family is threatened by systematized eco-terrorism and other assaults by the elite upon the poor far more than by infrequent criminal acts which the courts can and should handle. Full essay here.

Climate Crisis Threatens Canadian Agriculture, We Need an Agricultural Adaptation Plan, Now

Elizabeth May

All around the world, governments are mobilizing resources to both reduce greenhouse gas emissions while adapting to the climate crisis. Everywhere around the world that is except Canada. Details here.

Bangladeshi Outrage - Will Anything Change?

• P in P: Will the outrageous tragedy involving the collapse of a garment factory in Bangladesh change anything with regard to workers' rights? Of course not. Wasn't it just the other month when a horrific fire claimed over a hundred lives at another similar factory in that same country, with workers locked inside? That sure changed a lot of attitudes and practises, didn't it?
• While cute little kids dance on Canadian TV, advertising Joe Fresh clothes which are made in these horrific sweat-shops, there is plenty of blame to go around. But greedy, soulless, heartless corporations like Joe Fresh, Walmart and Disney, including their hollow, despicable shareholders, surely must remain at the top of the blame-list. 
• Instead of improving working conditions and pay for the world's poor, thus allowing them to buy clothing, ethically made in places which pay decent, livable wages, human society is on a downward escalator, on a relentless race to the bottom.
• As long as cowardly lawmakers there and here at home run from their obligations, as long as the world continues to worship at the altar of capitalism, greed, free markets and globalization, nothing will change.
• Below are a couple of interesting comments which have just appeared on the Joe Fresh Facebook page;
• Bex L Alex Until Joe moves it's manufacturing operations to North America, takes financial and legal responsibility for worker's rights and safety, I will not be shopping there. Also, a Bangledeshi worker's life is worth more than a $250 settlement. Do the right thing. Stop being greed-driven, exploitive parasites. Own up, pay out and end exploitational practices. 
  
• Naomi Clement I agree Bex, but we as consumers need to do our part as well, and stop expecting a t-shirt to cost less than $10.

Related: Should Capital Punishment be Applied in the Bangladeshi Garment Tragedy?