China, Tibet, and the Strategic Power of Water

An estimated 70 percent of China’s rivers are polluted, leaving an estimated 300 million people with limited access to clean water.
Almost half of the world’s population lives in the watersheds of the rivers whose sources lie on the Tibetan Plateau.
Scientists say glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau are receding faster than in any other part of the world — if the rate continues, most will gone by 2035.
There are more than 1000 lakes on the Tibetan Plateau, including the world’s highest salt lake — Namtso (Nam Co).
Both sourced in the Tibetan Plateau, the Yangtze (Chang Jiang) River and the Yellow River serve roughly 520 million people in China.
The Yangtze River is the third-longest in the world, after the Amazon and the Nile.

Infographic: Fracking Imports and Exports in Europe — Natural Gas Reserves, Production, and Consumption by Country

The Stream, June 6: Heavy Rains Relieve China’s Drought

Federal Water Tap, June 6: Water Assessments

The Stream, June 3: Energy Shortages

Uncertain Future for Fracking in Europe — Accepted by U.K., Rejected by France, Others Undecided

Peter Gleick: Unsafe Drinking Water for California’s Poor – Unfair, Unnecessary, and Unacceptable

1.3 million people may be exposed to nitrate contaminated drinking water in the San Joaquin Valley.

Personal Secession – The Way to Freedom

I feel sorry for the human race. The thinking and emotional makeup of most people are so impoverished that they cannot find a way to live without imposing their views on as many other people as they can. It is not enough for them to preach their views. They feel they have to pass a law or somehow use the government to make everyone else conform to their wishes

On the potential for oilsands to add 200ppm of co2 to the atmosphere
In the fight against climate change, every bit counts, but to make an argument that is based on a leverage ratio of somewhere between 90 and 500 times the actual damage caused by a particular project is not the right way to go about it.

A false hope underpins the Mine Financial Security Program

Why the provincial plan to backstop reclamation costs fails Albertans :

If improved fiscal conditions are necessary for the viability of the oil sands industry, then these should be offered through the royalty regime and not through the underwriting of billions of dollars worth of reclamation liability.

The social license for continued expansion of oil sands facilities will be eroded by the perception that facilities can’t cover their environmental costs. A transition away from implicit subsidies through deferred environmental security should have been the starting point for the revised MFSP. The first step in making this happen would be a commitment from the province to list, as it would for the balance of the Heritage Savings Trust Fund, the balance of the Alberta Unfunded Environmental Liabilities Trust.

The Pembina Institute would put that figure at a whopping $15 billion – a big red number in a province that claims to have no provincial debt.

The seedy side of oil sands reclamation

The War on Drugs and the Surveillance Society

June 2011 marks the 40th anniversary of President Richard Nixon's declaration of a "war on drugs" — a war that has cost roughly a trillion dollars, has produced little to no effect on the supply of or demand for drugs in the United States, and has contributed to making America the world's largest incarcerator. Throughout the month, check back daily for posts about the drug war, its victims and what needs to be done to restore fairness and create effective policy.

The Truth About ‘Fluoride’

Sovereign Independent

Fluoride used by Nazis to sterilize inmates and make them docile. Fluoride a key dumbing down ingredient of Prozac and Sarin nerve gas — poisons of choice for tyrant rats.

Sodium Fluoride is nothing more (or less) than a hazardous waste by-product of the nuclear and aluminum industries. In addition to being the primary ingredient in rat and cockroach poisons, it is also a main ingredient in anesthetic, hypnotic, and psychiatric drugs as well as military NERVE GAS!

Independent scientific evidence over the past 50 plus years has shown that sodium fluoride shortens our life span, promotes various cancers and mental disturbances, and most importantly, makes humans stupid, docile, and subservient, all in one neat little package.

Antiwar.com Original

Monday: 5 US soldiers, 26 Iraqis Killed; 47 Iraqis Wounded

3 minutes ago