CounterCurrents: The Lancet: Fossil Fuels Are Killing Us... Quitting Them Can Save Us, On Brink Of 'Sixth Great Extinction,' Humanity Must Conserve Or Die, When Temple Bells Drown The Earth's Heartbeat: Earth-Based Spirituality Versus Organized Religion

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Binu Mathew
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www.countercurrents.org


The Lancet: Fossil Fuels Are Killing Us... Quitting Them Can Save Us 
By Jon Queally

http://www.countercurrents.org/queally230615.htm

Comparing coal, oil, and gas addiction to the last generation's effort to kick the tobacco habit, doctors say that quitting would be the best thing humanity can do for its long-term health


On Brink Of 'Sixth Great Extinction,' Humanity Must Conserve Or Die 
By Nadia Prupis

http://www.countercurrents.org/prupis230615.htm

It's official: the planet is entering a "sixth great extinction" that even the most conservative estimates show is killing off species at rates far higher than the previous five mass die-offs—and humanity is both at fault...and at risk


Ukraine's President Poroshenko Says Overthrow of Yanukovych Was a Coup 
By Eric Zuesse

http://www.countercurrents.org/zuesse230615.htm

Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko requests the supreme court of Ukraine to declare that his predecessor, Viktor Yanukovych, was overthrown by an illegal operation; in other words, that the post-Yanukovych government, including Poroshenko's own Presidency, came into power from a coup, not from something democratic, not from any authentic constitutional process at all


Neither Forgive Dylann Roof Nor Ourselves: Quandaries Of American 'Democracy' 
By Gary Corseri

http://www.countercurrents.org/corseri230615.htm

Ultimately, Dylann Roof is responsible for his unconscionable crimes. But, so is the society that spawned him. It’s a matter of theology and teleology: If we are not responsible for our “good” and “bad” deeds, then we reduce ourselves to automatons or actors driven by “biological determinism”—and not amor, not free-will, not “liberty” or “democracy”— but hereditarianism and genetic aberrations conquer all. But, if we deny the medium we thrive or perish within, the matrix of connections and processes we are bequeathed and bequeath, then we surrender to the impulses of solipsism and megalomania


When Temple Bells Drown The Earth's Heartbeat: 
Earth-Based Spirituality Versus Organized Religion 
By Aparajita Sengupta

http://www.countercurrents.org/sengupta230615.htm

Trying to listen in on our planet's heartbeat on a quiet day, someone might figure out that the mysteries of the universe are never going to be solved in temples or mosques or churches


Must Read: The Drone Eats With Me: Diaries From A City Under Fire 
By Vacy Vlazna

http://www.countercurrents.org/vlazna230615.htm

I read The Drone Eats With Me: Diaries from a City Under Fire by Atef Abu Saif in almost one sitting - resenting that I had to break to cook and eat dinner. These beautifully written searing diaries recounting each of the horrific 51 days of Israel’s monstrous war on the people of Gaza sweeps the reader into Atef’s anguished experience. An experience so dreadfully encompassing of the dark depths of human sentience that it is simultaneously personal and collective


P.K Nair On #FTIIStrike

http://www.countercurrents.org/pknair230615.htm

RSN: The Alarming Research Behind New York's Fracking Ban

This deserves to be read and considered by any who believe FRACKING and the increased use of gas are environmentally benign.

We know what the current implications are....LONG TERM?

(photo: Flickr)

The Alarming Research Behind New York's Fracking Ban

By Nicholas St. Fleur, The Atlantic

21 December 14

he battle over untapped natural gas in New York State appears to have reached its end. Following an extensive public health review of hydraulic fracturing, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced a complete ban on the oil and natural gas harvesting practice in the state on Wednesday.

The 184-page report, conducted by the New York State Department of Health, cites potential environmental impacts and health hazards as reasons for the ban. The research incorporates findings from multiple studies conducted across the country and highlights the following seven concerns:

• Respiratory health: The report cites the dangers of methane emissions from natural gas drilling in Texas and Pennsylvania, which have been linked to asthma and other breathing issues. Another study found that 39 percent of residents in southern Pennsylvania who lived within one kilometer of a fracking site developed upper-respiratory problems compared with 18 percent of those who lived more than two kilometers away.
• Drinking water: Shallow methane-migration underground could seep into drinking water, one study found, contaminating wells. Another found brine from deep shale formations in groundwater aquifers. The report also refers to a study of fracking communities in the Appalachian Plateau where they found methane in 82 percent of drinking water samples, and that concentrations of the chemical were six times higher in homes close to natural gas wells. Ethane was 23 times higher in homes close to fracking sites as well.
• Seismic activity: The report cites studies from Ohio and Oklahoma that explain how fracking can trigger earthquakes. Another found that fracking near Preese Hall in the United Kingdom resulted in a 2.3 magnitude earthquake as well as 1.5 magnitude earthquake.
• Climate change: Excess methane can be released into the atmosphere, which contributes to global warming. One study predicts that fracking in New York State would contribute between 7 percent and 28 percent of the volatile organic compound emissions, and between 6 percent and 18 percent of nitrogen oxide emissions in the region by 2020.
• Soil contamination: One analysis of a natural gas site found elevated levels of radioactive waste in the soil, potentially the result of surface spills.
• The community: The report refers to problems such as noise and odor pollution, citing a case in Pennsylvania where gas harvesting was linked to huge increases in automobile accidents and heavy truck crashes.
• Health complaints: Residents near active fracking sites reported having symptoms such as nausea, abdominal pain, nosebleeds, and headaches according to studies. A study in rural Colorado which examined 124,842 births between 1996 and 2009 found that those who lived closest to natural gas development sites had a 30 percent increase in congenital heart conditions. The group of births closest to development sites also had a 100-percent increased chance of developing neural tube defects.

In 2008, New York State suspended its fracking activities pending further research into the health, environmental, and economic effects. Since the moratorium six years ago, many different scientific groups have conducted hydraulic fracturing research, as the state’s report reflects.

"I asked myself, ‘would I let my family live in a community with fracking? The answer is no."

Howard Zucker, the acting state health commissioner who helped spearhead the report, addressed the ban with Gov. Cuomo in Albany. “I cannot support high-volume hydraulic fracturing in the great state of New York,” said Zucker, according to The Wall Street Journal. He added, “I asked myself, ‘would I let my family live in a community with fracking? The answer is no,” The Los Angeles Times reported.

But Cuomo and Zucker’s critics were quick to blast the ban, which they say will cost the state millions in jobs and energy. Dean Skelos, the Republican co-leader of the New York State Senate, said the move was shaped by politics, not science. “The decision implies that at least 30 other states, Senator Schumer and the Obama Administration’s Environmental Protection Agency are wrong about the health impacts and do not care about the well-being of millions of American citizens,” he said in a statement. Others have lashed against Zucker’s comments about not letting his family live in a fracking community despite not having children.

Zucker also voiced concern over how little is known about the long-term effects of injecting water and chemicals into the Marcellus shale, the disputed natural gas reserve that has been the subject of debate in New York and elsewhere. The new report, he said, highlights gaps in the current scientific understanding of fracking’s impact on groundwater resources, air quality, radon exposure, noise exposure, traffic, psychosocial stress, and injuries.

“The bottom line is we lack the comprehensive longitudinal studies, and these are either not yet complete or are yet to be initiated," Zucker said according to The Syracuse Post-Standard. "We don't have the evidence to prove or disprove the health effects. But the cumulative concerns of what I've read gives me reason to pause."

 

http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/27611-the-alarming-research-behind-new-yorks-fracking-ban