Roy Beck Appearance Raises Concern
The word is the National Council for Science and the Environment did not boot Roy Beck from its conference on Thursday, and it didn’t turn out too well. Attendees to Beck’s session were given detailed leaflets beforehand explaining his associations to the John Tanton Network and white nationalism and voiced their concerns about his relationships during the session.
Following up on our recent post about the NCSE, here is an excerpt from Erin Rosa’s in-depth article at Campus Progress:
What was supposed to be an annual convention of environmental scientists and influential policymakers quickly turned into a political polemic after some discovered that a speaker at one of the event’s breakout sessions had close ties to white supremacists. Read more
The National Council for Science and the Environment Should Dump Roy Beck
- Roy Beck presenting for the Council for Conservative Citizens
The white nationalist movement has long tried to dress up opposition to immigration as a “progressive” effort to protect the environment from population stress. So it should come as no surprise that Roy Beck, Executive Director of NumbersUSA, a Tanton-network group, will speak at a conference that starts today entitled The New Green Economy. What is both surprising and disturbing is that the National Council for Science and the Environment (NCSE) invited him.
The environmental movement has been a target of aggressive tactics by anti-immigrant organizations for over 20 years. The strategy was first clearly articulated in 1986 by Beck’s former employer, and the original fiscal sponsor of NumbersUSA, John Tanton — widely described as the architect of the American immigration-restriction movement. Read more
Crosspost: Is Whole Foods Bad for the Planet?
Kate Sheppard wrote a revealing article this week in Mother Jones about Whole Foods CEO John Mackey. As if the previous news about Mackey’s positions on heath care and labor weren’t bad enough, now we come to find out his ideas on global warming don’t quite square with Whole Foods’ squeaky green image.
Whole Foods CEO John Mackey has probably brought more people to organic foods than anyone else in the United States. And many of the folks shopping at his markets undoubtedly consider themselves to be environmentally aware. They might even believe that by purchasing their groceries at Whole Foods outlets they are doing their part to help the planet. But certainly many of them would probably be startled to learn of of Mackey’s position on climate change: he’s a global warming denier. Read more
Anti-immigrant Groups and Environmentalists at Odds
Masked is the word that comes to mind when I think of anti-immigrant organizations that claim to be concerned about the environment. As we move into a new month, year, decade and closer to the 30th anniversary of Earth Day, we must be mindful of environmental issues and especially of who are considered legitimate environmental experts. Conscious and informed environmentalism is imperative to solve dire environmental problems.
However, politically extreme organizations that purport to prioritize environmental preservation/conservation are using this alarming issue to promote their anti-immigrant agendas. They are employing several aggressive tactics, some of which are outright attacks on mainstream environmental organizations for not taking an anti-immigrant stance. Other examples include TV and radio advertisements which falsely connect immigrants to environmental degradation. Fear-mongering and bullying are the anti-immigrant movement’s favored tactics. Read more
Have a Happy, Sustainable Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving – the time to think about whom and what we are thankful for – has arrived! After you figure out where to go, what to eat and who to see today, consider the individuals responsible for your thanksgiving meal.
Conditions for workers are instrumental in making sure that the food that comes to us is safe. Workers (often immigrants and refugees) at meat processing plants do the most dangerous jobs in America at low wages. Recently, there were cases against facilities for not paying their employees. If this wasn’t bad enough, mentally disabled Iowa turkey workers were being exploited. Alarmingly, as the NY Times highlighted last week, work related injuries are underreported.
What can you do? Even if you cannot do anything directly to reduce the plight of hard working immigrants, here are a 10 things you can do for your fellow earthlings before, while and after you focus on your turkey, stuffing, yams and pumpkin pie. Read more
Blog Highlight: The War on Soy
Tara Lohan of AlterNet published the following article, The War on Soy: Why the ‘Miracle Food’ May Be a Health Risk and Environmental Nightmare. Looks like soy is proving to be too much of a good thing.
Vegetarians aren’t the only ones who should be concerned; there’s soy in just about everything you eat these days — including hamburgers, mac ‘n cheese and salad dressing.
These days, you can get soy versions of just about any meat — from hot dogs to buffalo wings. If you’re lactose-intolerant you can still enjoy soy ice-cream and soy milk on your cereal. If you’re out for a hike and need a quick boost of energy, you can nibble on soy candy bars.
Read more
Discussions on Race and Climate Change
It is imperative to incorporate conversations about racism in a discussion about climate change. There is a lot of talk these days about the climate change bill, also known as the clean energy bill being considered in the Senate. On the eve of the United Nations Climate Change Conference about to take place in Copenhagen from December 7th to 18th 2009, this is especially important. The climate change bill addresses important issues such as green jobs, clean energy, etc. The bill would require industry to cut emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases 20 % by 2020 from 2005 levels.
Left out of the discussion however, are issues of race, environmental racism, environmental justice, and how climate change and a climate bill will affect communities of color. This comes at a very interesting time in history where controversial individuals like Frosty Woodridge, and politically extreme organizations like the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) in their articles on population and the environment, are suggesting that environmental organizations should take an anti-immigrant stance. Read more
Crosspost: Glenn Beck’s Bizarre Outburst Against Meatless Mondays and Vegetarians
AlterNet’s Kerry Trueman highlights another absurd attack by Glenn Beck.
Cheap gas and cheap chuck remain American birthrights to loopy libertarians like Beck.
Jon Stewart ended an interview with climate-change contrarian and Super Freakonomics co-author Steven Levitt on Monday night by noting, “I’ve apparently frightened our audience by suggesting that conservation isn’t the only way out of any of the problems of the world. I sincerely apologize.”
He added, “And I do also believe that we should just eat vegetables.”
I’d love to report that Stewart has embraced Michael Pollan’s “eat food/not too much/mostly plants” edict. But, of course, Stewart was only joking. The line drew a big laugh from the audience.
The interview followed a report on the Whole Foods “buycott” from Daily Show correspondent Wyatt Cenac asking “whether conservative hatred of liberals is so strong it can make them buy organic food.” Read more
Will Restricting Immigration Protect the Environment?
This is a pressing question being discussed across the country and an issue that the Center for New Community is taking quite seriously. In fact, I take this issue so seriously that it will be my focus for the next two to three years in my role as Field Organizer for the Center for New Community’s new initiative on Migration, Race and the Environment. I think that the two theories, the Malthusian and nativist theories (described in further detail below), that have been used to argue that immigration should be restricted, lack substance and thus my answer to this question is that immigration should not be restricted.
The Malthusian theory was born when Malthus published “An Essay on the Principle of Population in 1798”, in which he stated that the discrepancy between the rates of population and food growth would lead to a permanent food shortage for humans. Specifically, scholars belonging to the Malthusian tradition claim that populations are constrained by the carrying capacity of the environment and that population growth causes environmental degradation. Read more
Limbaugh Tries Moral Stance on Environment, Sounds Evil
Tara Lohan, a senior editor at AlterNet, wrote in an article this week about Rush Limbaugh’s attacks on environmentalist Andrew Revkin.
Once again, Rush Limbaugh is stoking the fires of hate. Yesterday he told millions of his listeners: “Mr. Revkin, why don’t you just go kill yourself, and help the planet by dying.”
He’s talking about Andrew Revkin who writes the Dot Earth blog for the New York Times and is a prominent environmental writer.
What got Rush’s pants all twisted? Some commentary Revkin had given at a symposium discussing the environment and population growth. Revkin explains on his blog, “I had talked, in part, about recent studies concluding that programs offering family planning information and services to women seeking smaller families, in essence, had a climate value by avoiding emissions of greenhouse gases that would come with more kids.” Read more
Crosspost: The “Environativists” Problem
Prerna Lal puts anti-immigrant “Environativists” on blast in her expert article, “How Do You Make A Rabid Right Winger Believe in Global Warming?”
Answer: Blame it on immigrants.
The anti-immigrant lobby, led by the Center for Immigration Studies, has long accused immigrants for global warming and climate change, targeting organizations such as Sierra Club to adopt anti-immigrant goals. ‘Environativists’ even attacked the progressive principles for immigration reform recently, arguing that environmental sustainability and immigration are at odds with one another.
The issue cuts through the heart of migrant rights and environmental justice. Why is it alright for the United States to export its pollution to poorer countries but not import people from the countries it is polluting? What about travel and tourism, including the exportation of food and privatized water. Does that not contribute to global warming? Trade liberalization under GATT, NAFTA and CAFTA keeps chipping away at environmental protections while displacing people from their countries and yet, environativists still point the finger towards immigrants who are simply trying to look for a better way of life. Read more
Meat Consumption and a Healthy Planet
by Carlos Rich
I have not always liked meat. Where I grew up in Guatemala meat was not always available to us and it was more costly back then. We used other foods as means of getting our protein, like wild mushrooms and other high protein vegetation. So when I moved to the US about 19 years ago, I did not eat beef or pork for the first five to ten years as much as do now. I never would have known how much impact I was causing the environment by eating meat. But in fact, when we consume meat we are contributing quite a bit of damage to our world.
I read some statistics the other day about the production of animals. According to the Livestock Long Shadow: Environmental issues and Option, “ Overall, livestock activities contribute an estimated 18 percent of the total anthropogenic green house emission from the five major sectors for greenhouse gas reports: energy, industry n waste land use change and forestry and agricultural. Livestock’s contribute 80 percent of all emissions.” Read more
What are the children drinking?
Nearly four decades after the clean water act was passed drinking water at thousands of schools across the country has been found to contain lead, pesticides, arsenic, and other toxins.
Not surprisingly, schools that have their own wells are the ones with the most apparent contamination; however it’s a widespread issue affecting schools in all 50 states. It’s also affecting both private and public schools in cities and small towns alike.
But the problem has gone largely unmonitored by the federal government, even as the number of water safety violations has multiplied.
Marc Edwards, an engineer at Virginia Tech who has been honored for his work on water quality, calls it an outrage but also points out that there is no system to “make people follow the rules and keep school children safe”.
Of Waves and Walls: Climate Change and Structural Racism
Filed under: Ecopolitics, Immigration, International
In his provocative new book Ultimatum, set in the U.S. in the 2030s, British author Matthew Glass writes that Europe’s low-intensity, climate-related warfare in Africa “…is also a racial war, and the countries prosecuting it are becoming increasingly xenophobic.” Within Glass’ disturbing story of a future environmental and nuclear cataclysm, this observation stands out: climate change and structural racism are inherently inter-related.
Rising seas, drought and other dramatic climate disasters will force migrations of millions of peoples of color. The response of receiving and resettlement nations to their arrival (and survival) will—given the restrictions already imposed by predominantly white nations on immigrants—constitute an extraordinary challenge. As waves of people are forced from their homelands, walls and other barriers will rise to keep them out. Coupled with the anticipated economic and political costs of forced migration, Glass’ fictional portrayal of racial warfare two decades hence is unnerving.
Environmental Organizations Targeted by Anti-Immigrant Bigots
On Monday, Imagine 2050 contributor, Eric Ward, wrote about how to defeat anti-immigrant bigotry in seven days. One day focused on the Sierra Club and why we should show support for an organization that has repeatedly confronted bigotry infiltrating its ranks. If you haven’t already, click here to join the Sierra Club. If you are already a member, give a gift membership to a family member or friend.
On August 10, Southern Poverty Law Center posted this warning on its HateWatch blog:
Since his efforts to take over the board of directors of the Sierra Club with anti-immigration activists failed in 2004, UCLA professor Ben Zuckerman seems to have refocused his energies on his academic specialty, the planet and the stars. But there he was last week on CNN’s “Lou Dobbs Tonight,” warning about the perils of immigration. “The mainstream environmental movement has entirely dropped the ball on this issue,” Zuckerman said in a brief interview for a story about an Oregon State University report showing that having fewer children produces fewer carbon emissions. Books that tell what steps to take to ensure a greener future “don’t even mention population,” Zuckerman complained. Read more
Anti-Immigrants Believe Third Time’s a Charm for Greens
This morning I came across a quote from the Christian Bible that says “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” The environmental movement, if it is to remain politically relevant, would do well to remember this in the coming years. Anti-immigrant bigots are once again targeting the green movement. Environmentalists’ responses will impact the movement’s relationship to communities of color for decades to come.
The controversial anti-immigrant organization, the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), announced yesterday that it will be holding a “debate” called Immigration, Population, and the Environment. The event is to be held at the National Press Club, Tuesday, August 25, at 9:30 a.m. in the Murrow Room, Washington D.C. The Center for Immigration Studies is known for its ties to political extremists including white nationalists. Read more
Is Treehugger Embracing Hate?
It really bummed me out to read David Friedlander’s article on treehugger.com titled, Yale Essay Says Sustainability and Open Immigration are Often at Odds. The author is not thoroughly informed on immigration, and badly mangles the issue of sustainability and immigration. He should be careful about wandering into this area unless he is fully versed on the environmental agenda of the anti-immigrant movement.
In Friedlander’s piece, he refers to a statement made in an article posted on Yale Global: “Contrary to popular thought, the dominant force fueling America’s demographic growth is not natural increase, but immigration. This is because immigrants not only add their own numbers to the nation’s overall population, but also contribute a disproportionate number of births whose effects are compounded over time.” Read more
Chicago Ready for Action on Green Food
Chicago is poised to be the first city in the nation to pass a resolution for a healthier, more sustainable food system. Last week Chicago’s Energy, Environmental Protection and Public Utilities Committee presented a proposal to the city council called the “green food resolution”. It is a nonbinding initiative that encourages the city to help make fresh, locally grown food available to Chicagoans.
“BE lT RESOLVED, that the Chicago City Council encourages individuals, civic associations, and community based organizations to grow local, organic gardens, and institutions and businesses to offer more plant based foods; and
BE lT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Chicago City Council promotes the expansion of the number of Farmers’ Markets, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs, community gardens, and other venues which provide healthful plant based foods.”
Although this uplifting rhetoric is making no promises, I believe it has the potency and the ability to motivate politicians to support the necessary task of building a sustainable food infrastructure. Read more
Sustaining White America: Population, Environment, and Immigration
Ever since John Tanton launched FAIR three decades ago, the anti-immigrant movement has used population growth and its environment impacts to advance specious arguments for its restrictionist agenda. The Center 
for Immigration Studies’ (CIS) latest report touting “The Environmental Argument for Reducing Immigration to the United States” marks another step in the movement’s ongoing attempts to lay environmental degradation on the backs of the wrong people.
The anti-immigrant movement is deeply rooted in the population control movement of the 1960s/70s—a movement that often wavered between its racially-tinged, eugenics edges and full-bore blame on overly-consumptive “Americans” (i.e., whites) for the environmental crisis of that era. Today the movement has resolutely staked its claim on those old, racially-tinged edges in a disingenuous move to lure environmentalists into its fold. By doing so it has completely abandoned assigning any responsibility for the contemporary environmental crisis on a still-wealthy nation that consumes some forty percent of the world’s resources, regardless of immigration levels. Read more
“Green” Fuel Has Human Cost
Governments and big business displacing landowners around the globe is nothing new. So it comes as no surprise that since 2005 there has been a resurgence of land theft in Colombia to make way for biofuel, and not so coincidentally, a re-mobilization of paramilitary groups.
BBC News covered the conflict in Colombia on June 3, exposing the human rights violations of the Colombian biofuel industry. An excerpt from the report states:
In rural areas, there is evidence that some people have been forcibly displaced to make way for biofuel production. Last year, the United Nations stopped its investment in the sector in Colombia. But while ethanol production in Brazil has been pored over by experts and activists, the challenges faced by Colombia remain relatively unexamined.
Inhabitants standing in the way of the biofuel industry are subject to paramilitaries arriving at their property and forcibly displacing them. Read more
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