The ECA recognizes the U.S. and Panama’s commitment to expanding cooperation on environmental matters. As a complement to the U.S.-Panama Trade Promotion Agreement, the ECA establishes a framework for bilateral cooperation to protect the environment and promote sustainable development in concert with the U.S.-Panama trade and investment relationship.

The ECA provides for a new Environmental Cooperation Commission, which will help oversee the implementation of the agreement. This Commission will define a work program to establish specific goals, objectives, and areas for cooperation that are reflective of each country’s national environmental priorities.

Bilateral and regional environmental cooperation under the ECA will help ensure that:
* Obligations under the Environment Chapter of the U.S.-Panama Trade Promotion Agreement are fulfilled;
* Progress is made toward a level playing field on environmental rules for businesses in the United States and Panama; and
* Trade and environmental policies are mutually supportive.

Through environmental cooperation, the United States and Panama will advance the world’s transition to a green economy and a sustainable future.

To learn more about free trade and environmental protection and read the U.S.-Panama ECA, please visit: http://www.state.gov/e/oes/env/trade/panama/index.htm .

In coordination with software developer Appfrica International, the U.S. Department of State will bring civil society, academia and private sector organizations together with African technology innovators to develop applications that address local climate change adaptation challenges. In doing so, we seek to raise African public awareness of climate change adaptation and U.S. involvement in Africa on these issues; support the development of civil society and private-sector networks; and highlight African solutions to local climate change adaptation challenges.

The 2011 competitions are linked to three African regional climate change workshops organized by the U.S. Agency for International Development and the U.S. Department of State. The workshops are part of the broader Adaptation Partnership, which brings together practitioners and policy-makers to address key adaptation challenges in their region. Climate change issues identified at these workshops will be used to inspire ideas for mobile applications for the competitions.

The Apps4Africa: Climate Challenge builds on the success of the 2010 Apps4Africa: Civic Challenge in which civil society challenged program developers to find innovative technological solutions to everyday problems on issues ranging from transparency and governance to health and education. The 2011 competition begins in Western and Central Africa in September, with Eastern and Southern Africa to follow. Winners will receive prizes, including cash awards. Private partners, including TED and Indigo Trust, are contributing technical assistance, prizes, and follow-on support for the new partnerships created by this platform.

For more information please visit http://apps4africa.org .

Today, ECPA is comprised of more than 40 initiatives and projects led by the United States and other Western Hemisphere governments and civil society institutions, with the support of the Organization of American States, Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank, and others. For more information about ECPA, please visit www.ecpamericas.org.

In support of ECPA, the U.S. Department of State and USAID announce an open competition for U.S.-based non-profit organizations and universities. Up to $5.5 million will be available to promote electrical interconnection and cross-border trade in electricity in Central America as well as in the Andes; clean energy in the Americas; and an Andean Glacier and Water Resources Monitoring Network to promote modeling and information sharing on how glacial retreat will impact water security.

Ensuring the quality and management of natural resources and ecosystems worldwide promotes the health and stability of populations and builds sustainable economies for a secure and prosperous world. Actions are needed at all levels. Secretary Clinton’s Greening Diplomacy Initiative is a commitment to lead by example and improve the sustainability of the State Department’s facilities and operations. This year’s Earth Day celebration recognized our ongoing efforts and reminded us that there is more we can do.

Our Embassies and Consulates partnered with their local communities to take steps to promote a healthy planet. Here in Washington, we hosted a speakers’ event, showcased our green building and recycling efforts, and performed our first-ever 6k Walk for Water to recognize the millions of people worldwide without access to clean water. We also partnered with the Earth Day Network’s “Billion Acts of Green” campaign.

The Billion Acts of Green campaign recognizes the role that individuals can play in promoting healthy ecosystems and preserving natural resources. The relatively simple commitments of many individuals to use energy efficient appliances, take shorter showers, or take public transit, can make a difference.

The State Department participated in the “Billion Acts of Green” campaign by creating an internal contest using our Sounding Board intranet site. We encouraged the Department’s posts and bureaus to compete against each other to see which offices would make the most “green” commitments on our internal “Billion Acts of Green” website.

The Earth Day Network’s goal is to record one billion green acts by the 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development, also known as Rio +20, to be held in Rio de Janeiro. The State Department is pleased to announce that, as of April 24th, we had logged almost 1,300 green acts toward that goal. The hundreds of State Department employees, locally engaged staff, and members of the embassy communities who participated show a high level of commitment to recycling, to conserving energy, to reducing waste, and to using water wisely. These individual green commitments can make our communities and workplaces cleaner and more energy efficient. They can save money, and encourage healthy habits. The post with the highest employee percentage of green pledges through April 24th was Reykjavik, Iceland. Reykjavik logged a 63% commitment level relative to the size of their total staff. Two more posts came in above 50% participation rate: Bratislava, Slovakia, and Canberra, Australia. This willingness to do something good for the earth – and to commit to it publicly – is something everyone at these posts can be proud of!

The domestic bureau with the highest percentage of Green pledges through April 24th was by far our Overseas Building Office, known as OBO. OBO had a 25% commitment level relative to their domestic staffing numbers. Truly the employees at OBO showed that they care about energy efficiency and recycling. I am glad to know that the teams that design and maintain our overseas buildings have such things on their minds! Congratulations to OBO and to Reykjavik! We recognize your dedication to principles of efficiency and sustainability. Thank you.

As the Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, I am happy to know that so many members of the State Department are committed to using our natural resources wisely and protecting the environment. Our partners at the Department of State include the Bureau of Economic, Energy, and Business Affairs, the regional Bureaus, the Special Envoy on Climate Change, and the Global Health Initiative. Our partners also include other federal agencies. Together, we ensure that the United States is engaged and leading on many environmental issues. Our security as a nation is strengthened by ensuring our participation and leadership on environmental issues. No matter where we work in the State Department or the interagency teams serving at Post, we are all invested in making our country safer and ensuring our prosperity into the future.

Congratulations again to Reykjavik and to OBO. May we keep making the individual decisions that lead to important environmental change.

In a landmark decision on April 25 that is rippling across America, the People of Pueblo Colorado chose to protect their families and Rocky Mountain Ski Mecca with renewable energy over a nuclear reactor, to prevent more priceless catastrophes that threaten our very existence.

Given that technology has not been able to solve our world eco crisis, UN General Assembly President Brockman said, “We need to listen to the voice of Indigenous People,” supported by six Nobel Prize Winners. But it was the late Secretary of Interior Stewart Udall, who first said at Aspen’s World Watch conference, “There is hope for humanity because we are starting to listen to the wisdom of Native Americans.”

The Hopi Elders have warned us for decades in the “Book of Hopi” by Frank Waters that, “Three of our worlds have already been destroyed. The first one by volcano triggered fires, the second by ice and the third by floods, all as a result of the Earth shifting on Her axis. Creator destroyed these worlds after the Oneness given us turned into human quarrels, corruption, world wars over materialism, and then technology making humanity forget to ‘sing joy from our hearts to Creator.’ But those who kept their hearts open were saved.”

We are now in the 4th world, and Hopi Elders say that “the United States will be destroyed, land and people, by atomic bombs and radioactivity. But those with peace in their hearts will be sheltered.” (REF: http://www.iamamerica.com/media/following_the_star.pdf ). The Elders also say that prophesies can shift as the minds and hearts and actions of humanity shift.

The late Sir George King, astrophysicist and mystic, corroborates much of the Hopi Prophesy in his book “The Holy Mountains of the World” (published by Aetherius Society). He said “Planet Earth is an ancient Goddess of immense compassion, wisdom and cosmic experience, who gives us refuge upon Her surface.” He agreed that each of these three worlds, or human civilizations, were destroyed by the Earth’s axial turns. The difference is that he says the axial turns all triggered massive floods that cleansed the earth and prevented nuclear chain-reactions. Dr. King explained that Man had nuclear technology then that could have killed life forms on most of the planet’s surface for hundreds of thousands of years, and possibly Mother Earth Herself. And the Great Ones consider the protection of Mother Earth as first priority.

The Hopi and Dine/Navajo Elders say that coal is Mother Earth’s precious liver, and uranium both Her heart and lungs, which is why they have always fought mining in the Four Corners, and why the Navajo developed model solar communities in Arizona. Oil, which they call “the blood of Mother Earth,” is the lubricant of our Continental tectonic plates, why using renewable energy sources is imperative or “Shift Happens.”

Mother Earth is also a teacher through timely “signs.” On the eve of UN’s second International Mother Earth Day on April 22, ABC News reported that Arkansas’ gas drilling that started a year ago, was shut down after 1,000 earthquake tremors, which had never happened there before.

Yet in this 4th World, scientists in the U.S. and other nations have known since the 1950s about the horrific dangers of all things nuclear. In 1957, Walter Russell, who was called “the Man who tapped the secrets of the Universe” by IBM founder Tom Watson Sr. and others, wrote the book, “Atomic Suicide.” In it he said, “Radioactivity is man’s discovery of how we can die quickly, and not be able to propagate for many long centuries.”

This continued suicidal attempt by man is a main reason why Seneca Elder, RobertJohn Knapp spoke with Pope Benedict, who was moved to declare in 2008, “It is a sin to poison the water!”

“Through our ignorance and breaking of Nature’s laws,” Walter said, “we have collectively created sickness.” His co-author wife Lao said, “The Universal Law is the principal of giving, and violation of that law has created every war and problem in our lives.” Imagine how glorious living according to Universal Law in harmony with Nature can look and feel like!

Australia’s Dr. Helen Caldecott received a Nobel Prize for her medical research and perspective that reinforced Walter Russell’s warning to humanity that “Nuclear energy is a destroyer of worlds!”

NUCLEAR ENERGY 200 TIMES MORE DAMAGING THAN HIROSHIMA AND NAGASAKI’S BOMBS!

It took Japan’s meltdown to finally wake us up to realize that more people have been killed or sickened by nuclear energy radiation than nuclear bombs. In 1999, over 10 years ago, the press reported that the “radiation from nuclear energy, atomic tests, Chernobyl and other accidents, had already poisoned humanity with over 200 times more radiation than the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs.” Deadly radiation from four unreported nuclear accidents in the U.S. similar to the Three Mile Island accident in 1979 was revealed by Rachel Maddow on her April MSNBC show.

MAYAN PROPHECY

And here we are again. CNN reported that the Japanese quake sparked the axial shift of the earth’s crust, prophesied by the Mayans.

TIME TO GRADUATE

Our human family has flunked “Survival 101″ three times from forgetting, ignoring, allowing ourselves to be distracted, or hiding these lessons. Knowing these horrific human history lessons, and inspired by the mindshift created by UN’s International Mother Earth Day, let us collectively set our hearts on choosing to manifest the other (multi-cultural) prophesy of 1,000 years of Peace and Prosperity for all life forms, including all of us and our children who take responsibility for creating a New Earth.

Dr King’s book “You Are Responsible” would say it is imperative for each of us to do our part to INSIST that our leaders shut down and stop the licensing and building of all nuclear reactors, and to phase out anything nuclear related NOW (weaponry, uranium mines and mills). Then SHIFT our 2012 Budgets from defense and nuclear projects to safe wind, solar, tidal turbine and geothermal energy. Let our Earth Mother safely boil our water. Let Her hum with happiness and more abundance for all!

KARMA

With 2012 coming up many of us are interested in karma. I was surprised to learn that the wise ones say that ignorance is no excuse, as God gave us minds, intuition and discernment. Karma works like a bank account. Our good deeds now can offset past bad, ignorant or unconscious deeds, including our collective part. For example, Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev founded the Green Cross to make amends for his part of the nuclear arms race and Chernobyl, to warn humanity about the incomparable dangers of anything nuclear, including its waste.

PENDING NUCLEAR FREE BILLS

Here is how you can majorly Renew our World in 15 minutes by making America or your country, nuclear free: Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton brilliantly introduced the Nuclear Weapons Abolition and Economic and Energy Conversion Act of 2011, redirecting $50 billion annual funds for nuclear weapons programs towards human, infrastructure, and clear energy needs.

Following Colorado’s victory, by each doing our part to shift from nuclear to renewable energy NOW, and celebrating Mother Earth’s gifts and holding Her in our hearts every day, we are on our way to graduating from an historic cycle of abuse, to 1,000 years of phenomenal Peace and Prosperity!

See Part 2, for “A Renewed World.” And may God bless us all!

Article is Copr. © 2011 by Suzy Chaffee and opinions expressed are those of the author and not necessarily this site/publication (eNewsChannels.com). Facts and quoted sources are believed accurate but not guaranteed. Image Courtesy of: “Dreamstime[.]com.”

Here are some mind-blowing latest numbers and scientific and spiritual breakthroughs and to help determine which energy sources are authentically cost-effective, clean, and safe, to wisely merit investing our hard earned billions. Both are landmark decisions since they take us down paths that affect tens of thousands of generations of children. Therefore it is a moral imperative to choose wisely.

Pope Benedict recently joined the late Pope John Paul 11, an avid skier, in addressing our integrity with Nature, urging humanity, “To resist the temptations of productivity and profit that work to the detriment of the respect of Nature. We need a healthy balance with Nature to avoid putting people’s lives at risk.”(AP) After also warning about the (suicide) Genetically Modified Seeds, Pope Benedict joined other spiritual leaders in making an historic decree related to water.

Shall we further invest in nuclear energy that provides some energy and jobs? Or go the way of other G8 countries, which are now opening their massive wind, solar, and geothermal projects that are solving their energy needs. Its citizens are also proud and relieved they are preserving their clean air and water for their children while getting off the grid so that their businesses could bounce back in case Nature or Man knock out electricity for weeks or more and with it computers, phones, gas stations and food supplies. Plus they have reduced worry about risk of a Chernobyl or Gulf Oil spill.

While many G8 countries also have supplemental nuclear energy, America ranked 7th out of 8th in green progress at the UN’s 2010 Copenhagen Climate Summit. Yet at the 2011 Cancun Summit, the U.S. wisely agreed to contribute $100 billion toward funding renewable energy, (not nuclear), for developing countries to prevent them from going our ‘high emissions’ way that would destroy Earth’s biosphere. What about the same for Americans? Which begs the question, is there any safe nuclear?

A TRAIN OF NUCLEAR WASTE COULD REACH AROUND THE EQUATOR

Russian President Gorbachev made some amends for their Chernobyl and nuclear proliferation by founding the Green Cross to warn humanity about the extreme dangers of all things nuclear, including about the massive radioactive waste since no one has found a way to stop radiation leaks into the environment and communities.

Time Magazine’s Peter Essick described the U.S. and world’s nuclear storage dilemma: “Load these tailings (transuranic waste, low and mixed low-level waste, and tailings from nuclear energy, bombs, uranium mines and mills) into railroad cars, then pour the 91 million gallons of the wastes into tank cars, and you would have a mythical train that would reach around the equator.” Plus experts remind us of Murphy’s Law, a Chernobyl or 3 Mile Island could be just a human error, budget shortage, or terrorist act away.

100,000 YEARS OF RADIOACTIVE CONTAMINATION

I am embarrassed to say that I did not know that our American Nuclear plants have been contaminating the water and man for 100,000 years or more. And that radiation kills all life forms it comes in contact with. Yet we have seen how Nuclear Reactor Meltdowns and explosions have created generations of deformed children around Chernobyl and a high incidence of cancer in workers and surrounding communities. A Navy veteran who worked on a nuclear powered facility in Antarctica just died riddled with 200 tumours. http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/news/local_news/investigations/nuclear-plant-leak-suspected-of-causing-cancer

POPE BENEDICT DECLARED, “IT IS A SIN TO POISON THE WATER.”

Thanks to researchers in 11 countries and a Nobel Prize winner in the YouTube video, WATER – The Great Mystery, we know a lot more about how precious the purity of our water is: “The last original water on Earth in Venezuela has 40,000 X the body activation as bottled or tap water. Radiation is the biggest threat to water and therefore all life forms, including humanity since we are mainly water. Radiation (in microwaves and nuclear anything), weakens in our brains our drive to survive. It is likely a contributor to our tribes having the high suicide rate in America per capita since nuclear plants, mills and dumps contaminate the water and air, and many are located near reservations without tribal consent, like the uranium mine under the Laguna Pueblo and on the Lakota reservation depicted in the South Dakota film “Thunderheart.”

Since there is no technology that can purify water of the most dangerous toxins: radiation, mercury, pharmaceuticals and pesticides, to safely drink or be used in agriculture and Nature, such as snowmaking, we need to stop contaminating our water, the key to life, in the first place. These are some of the many reasons, including suicide being against most religions, that renowned Seneca Elder, Robert John Knapp, whose Iroquois have a water prophesy, inspired Pope Benedict in 2008 to declare, “It is a sin to poison the water.”

WHICH IS MORE COST EFFECTIVE, NUCLEAR OR RENEWABLES?

I had thought that people would only consider putting their communities and children’s health and future at risk by going nuclear if they couldn’t afford the safe, clean, risk free renewable way to go, especially in this economic downturn, where everyone is trying to save even pennies. In looking into the economics, I was shocked: WIND ENERGY COSTS 1 CENT PER KOLOWAT-HOUR.

“When clean, no-risk wind energy first began to grow in California,” a Native American Elder pointed out, “it cost 38 cents per kilowatt-hour. Today it is one cent.” And that’s according to President of the Institute of Energy, Dr. Arjun Makhijani. His studies found that “The US could have low-carbon energy without nuclear power, and that wind and solar energy would be cheaper and safer than nuclear since there is no risk of catastrophic downside and phenomenal cleanup costs.” http://earthsky.org/energy/arjun-makhijani-believes-nuclear-power-is-too-costly-too-risky .

Time magazine notes corroborated that: “Nuclear plants’ capital costs are out of control and conclude that: Most efficiency improvements have been priced at 1¢ to 3¢ per kilowatt-hour, while new nuclear energy is on track to cost 15¢ to 20¢ per kilowatt-hour. And no nuclear plant has ever been completed on budget.” http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2009/01/nuclear_power.html .

“US and foreign corporations are allowed by Congress to build high risk nuclear-related projects, which contaminates our waters and air, yet U.S. tax payers fund these projects for millions and billions, without receiving any royalties, yet the corporations receive huge profits. And it’s all in exchange for corporations contributing millions to Congressional campaigns.” – Ralph Nader`s “Cutting Corporate Welfare.”

That includes the Pueblo Plant, as well as the proposed Canadian uranium mill in Paradox, in Southern Colorado, which plans to sell ‘yellow cake’ used in nuclear bombs to Asia, including Korea.” (http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_16943858). Nuclear proponents even admit the water can never be restored to its original levels of purity, yet communities end up spending billions on the clean up since the owners don’t live up to their promises. Many also do not provide a community evacuation plan. So ask.

LEADING SOLAR ENERGY STATES

Joan Seeman, Sierra Club’s Colorado Guardian, praised Colorado’s Ken Salazar, President Obama’s Secretary of the Interior, for approving Solar Energy Projects on BLM land in California. His press release reports “that jobs will be created and it promotes clean energy…. with minimal threat and cost to the planet and the public.” There was also a public hearing on March 7th in Alamosa Colorado on an Environmental Impact Study (EIS) for a BLM solar project. Salazar is now taking steps to preserve Colorado’s world renowned Snow Sports and Eco and Mesa Verde tourism, and providing jobs harnessing this Sunshine state to become a leading Solar Energy State!

The city of Wray in Colorado is already using wind energy through their electrical provider from the super windy Great Plains thanks to Native Energy, which won a World Clean Energy Oscar in Switzerland recently. Fifteen tribes in the Upper Great Plains are standing by to implement that award winning plan of their Intertribal Council on Utility Policy (COUP), for tribal wind on the WAPA grid. COUP has proposed a CLEAN Contract policy to bring tribal wind onto the federal grid through rate-based, long-term, fixed-priced stand offer contracts for wind power as their part of fulfilling President Obama’s goal: “80 percent of America’s electricity will come from clean energy sources.” http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/ict_sbc/clean-contracts-for-indian-country/ .

Thanks to Aspen Ski Company’s green leadership: Solar restaurant, some wind powered lifts, and biodiesel snowcats plus mass transit, along with Ute and Tibetan ceremonies, Aspen has been blessed with consistently abundant snow. Nuclear fallout from increased nuclear protects may disrupt those hard earned rebalanced snow cycles.

RENEWABLES WIN HANDS DOWN ECONOMICALLY

Shifting the billions budgeted for nuclear energy to renewables right now, including Solar in Colorado, can finally bring its costs down to that of wind. “Once panels are installed on the rooftops, solar costs nothing because it needs zero maintenance not even cleaning!” said a delighted owner.

So not even counting the unfathomable costs of catastrophes like Chernobyl and the Gulf oil spill, added to skyrocketing nuclear waste storage, water and crop contamination, melting of the glaciers, plus the cost to health and ongoing clean up costs of nuclear, which are also the downsides of oil and coal, renewables win hands down for America.

WARNING – NUCLEAR INDUSTRY SPENT $650 MILLION ON MARKETING & SELLING CONGRESS

Many of us Americans have not known these safety and cost comparisons as a result of: “Nuclear Industry Spending $650 million over the Last Decade to Sell Public and Congress on New Reactors.” That was the 2010 headlines of the Union of Concerned Scientists, which included Stanford’s late 2007 Nobel Prize Winner, Dr. Stephen Schneider, a skier and consultant to Aspen Ski Company and partner of our North American Elders. They scientists warned, “DON’T BE TAKEN IN BY CLAIMS THAT THE NEW NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS ARE ‘CLEAN ENERGY’ OR ‘EMMISIONS FREE.’”

They revealed how “The nuclear industry has latched onto CO2 as a selling strategy, but more informed people know that CO2 is only one of many greenhouse gases. These claims only refer to CO2 output (carbon dioxide gas), and on closer examination are false. The water vapour from cooling towers, (the worst greenhouse gas), at the nuclear plants generates massive thermal waste heat.”

Given there are over a thousand nuclear reactors worldwide, 104 in the U.S., this heat adds up to nuclear energy being a significant contributor to melting our glaciers, a little know fact, similar to the tar sands oil extraction in Canada that is together heating up and killing our North American forests. Yet the licensing process for Nuclear Plants is being fast tracked in Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina and Texas, and thousands planned.

$36 BILLION TO SUBSIDIZE NUCLEAR ENERGY IN 2012 BUDGET

“Nuclear power is so destructive to the environment and extraordinarily expensive to build nuclear utilities, that is why they can’t find private money to build new reactors, and want you to lend them the money for new reactor construction,” says NukeFree.org, “Unfortunately, President Obama wants you to lend them the money too. His 2012 budget proposes tripling the nuclear loan program, adding $36 Billion to the $18.5 Billion approved in 2007 — $10.2 Billion of which is still unspent. He also wants to spend $500 million over the next five years to develop new ‘small modular reactors.’”

NukeFree.org says, “If those reactors were commercially viable, they would be developed on their own. The nuclear industry is wealthy– it could spend that money if it wanted to, but they would rather you paid for it through cutting programs for the poor, health, children and sustainable environment. After all, the industry has spent $650 million just on lobbying and campaign contributions over the past decade.”

SEC STOPS DEVELOPER OF PUEBLO NUCLEAR PLANT FROM BUILDING IN IDAHO

Idaho is a prime example of the destruction: SunValleyOnline.com reported that the SEC blew the whistle on the economic misrepresentation of their nuclear developer: “SEC Suspended AEHI Stock Trading: Feds Probing Nuke Developer’s Finances” on December 14, 2010.” http://sunvalleyonline.com/2010/12/14/sec-suspends-aehi-stock-trading-feds-probing-nuke-developers-finances .

This happened after their world famous ski communities realized the downside of Idaho’s National Laboratory, a huge nuclear waste Superfund site near magical Sun Valley, where I once lived. Millions of cubic feet of radioactive waste contaminated tens of millions of cubic feet of soil and the Snake River Aquifer 600 feet below.” As a result, the developers could not find investors or even one community site that wanted more nuclear heartaches.

AEHI is the same developer of the proposed Nuclear Plant in Pueblo, which will be decided on March 15. Colorado sportsmen and ranchers can now learn from Idaho’s costly lessons, misinformation, and legal challenges. “Now a spokesperson for ‘Puebloans for Energizing our Community’ is promoting the nuclear power plant, after distancing himself from AEHI, claiming they were actually a major consultant, and there could never be a Chernobyl or Three Mile Island here.”

SWEDEN SHIFTS FROM NUCLEAR TO RENEWABLE ENERGY

Generations of Russians are still suffering from Chernobyl’s nuclear meltdown and along the thousand mile path of fallout that even wiped out the reindeer herds, the subsistence food of the Laplanders in the far North. All from once thinking that nuclear is a safe clean alternative. Those are some of the reasons why Onondaga Iroquois Chief Oren Lyons convinced the Prime Minister of Sweden, home of the Nobel Peace Prize, to switch back from nuclear to renewable energy. That makes Sweden’s “highest standard of living in the world” sustainable, and so should America.

PENDING PUEBLO COLORADO NUCLEAR PLANT – March 15th Decision Day Despite the SEC setback, the Nuclear Power Plant in Pueblo, Colorado may be built unless Colorado citizens tell representatives now, NO NUKE ENERGY. Idaho, as well as Houston’s radioactive drinking water, is a preview of things to come for Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, unless informed citizens stand up for their children.

“COLORADO’S REAL ESTATE PRICES COULD PLUMMET”

Having lived in Telluride and Aspen, attracted to the majestic pristine Rockies, my Colorado ski friends, including Natives, asked me to help. One is Telluride Ski Instructor, Rabbi Michael Saftler, the self appointed guardian of their wetlands and beaver pond. I was shocked hearing that there is radioactive uranium mill tailings in Durango on one side Telluride and on the other Paradox’s leaking uranium waste dump, and now the proposed Canadian uranium mill next to it, as well as the proposed Pueblo plant. Approval of either project “could open the floodgates of the industry, and reopen many Colorado uranium mines,” proponents say.

Saftler, also a real estate broker, says “Given the 100,000 years of contamination there is no going back. I pray that fellow mountain communities take this critical moment to prevent their homes and land prices from plummeting, so it’s got to stop NOW. Who wants to come ski, vacation or live in an irradiated zone?”

FIVE NOBEL PRIZE WINNERS WEIGH IN

Five Nobel Prize winners, Ethical Scientists and the North American Elders agree that it is critical to stop poisoning and start purifying our water and mountains in this eco crisis to rebalance Mother Nature’s cycles so she doesn’t have to around 2012. Investing in renewable energy also protects our standard of living with sky rocketing oil prices from Middle Eastern people bravely fighting for their rights to prosperity.

THE GOOD NEWS!

The Nuclear Information and Resource Service reported that “President Obama made a proposal last year for $36 Billion for new reactor loan guarantees, and thanks to public opposition he didn’t get one dime of it.”

57 percent of AMERICANS WANT TO CUT NUCLEAR SUBSIDIES FROM BUDGET

The great news is that the “Wall Street Journal/NBC News public opinion poll released on March 3, found cutting subsidies for new reactors is the Americans People’s single most popular possible budget cut, with 57 percent agreeing.”

ALL AMERICANS

If it makes common sense that the nuclear industry shouldn’t get one more penny, click to sign the petition that tells your representatives to: Demand the Senate delete this $54 billion Nuclear energy giveaway from the 2012 Budget and the 2011 Continuing Resolution: http://www.beyondnuclear.org/actnow/ .

By phone tell them to shift those billions to renewable energy, with some left over going to restore programs for the poor, environment, sustainable organic farming (including in Colorado), children, students and Planned Parenthood. Then tell the White House what you want: 202-456-1111.

COLORADOANS

Coloradoans, please call Congressmen Scott Tipton, and Senators Mark Udall and Michael Bennett at 202-224-3121. Tell them not to mess with Colorado’s Ski Mecca – that’s millions of jobs, compared to approx 150 jobs at nuclear facilities – so NO on the Pueblo Nuclear Plant” – deadline March 15. And NO on the Canadian-owned Paradox Uranium Mill, and NO to the Senator Udall’s Nuclear Power 2021 Act (S. 512),for small modular reactors, and to SHIFT that money to renewables. All these could be decided any day.

Thank Secretary Salazar for assisting Colorado and California become Solar Energy leaders, and to offer nuclear challenged communities, like Pueblo and Paradox, healthy solar job alternatives to protect the children and economy of Colorado. (202) 208-3100, E-Mail: feedback@ios.doi.gov .

This is how to be heroes to our children and Earth Family as it takes a Village! And kids, keep telling your parents what you want. Because they love you and want the best for you, they will listen and act! And bless you for spreading the word that enjoying a Green-powered Earth is just a click and call away.

PHOTO Caption: Stunning Bridal Veil Falls in Telluride, a source of the first clean electric AC, (replacing flickering DC), developed by Tesla and Westinghouse, which revolutionized the world. Here’s the next leap in “Clean Energy.” Photo credit: Suzy Chaffee.

Article is Copr. © Suzy Chaffee. All rights reserved. Opinions expressed by author do not necessarily reflect opinions or position of this magazine on any topic presented.

This year’s commemoration is more important than ever as we face unprecedented environmental challenges that threaten our planet’s natural resources and biodiversity.

Today, the United States is learning firsthand how fragile our ecosystems are and how quickly a treasured landscape can become endangered. As President Obama recently stated, protecting the earth’s biodiversity, be it in the Gulf of Mexico or elsewhere, is a responsibility all of us share.

The urgency and scope of our shared responsibility is reflected in this year’s theme, “Many species, one planet, one future.”

Its is also reflected in the commitment of the United States to building global partnerships to preserve the earth’s rich biodiversity. From protecting the forests in the Congo Basin in central Africa to preserving the coral reefs in Southeast Asia, we are working together to meet our shared challenges. We are strengthening partnerships such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Wildlife Enforcement Network (ASEAN-WEN) and working to build similar networks in Central America and South Asia.

While we have learned a great deal about environmental conservation since the first World Environment Day 38 years ago, there is much more for us to learn and do. Let us individually and collectively redouble our efforts to protect the environment, for the benefit of generations to come.

Lion Technology Director of Corporate Training, Scott Dunsmore, a national expert on hazardous waste management, stresses that proper hazardous waste handling, management, and disposal is essential, especially in light of recent superfund liability cases.

Dunsmore says, “It is imperative for industry to keep up-to-date with changing regulations and new waste management concepts. EH&S excellence can provide your company with a competitive advantage in today’s business environment.”

Lion Technology Inc., a nationally renowned regulatory compliance training firm, will present several two-day workshops on hazardous waste management in the region next month. Workshops will be held in Phoenix, AZ; Los Angeles, CA; San Francisco, CA; Denver, CO; Salt Lake City, UT; and Portland, OR.

Tuition is $795 per person, with group discounts available. Registration includes hands-on instruction, course reference materials, networking luncheon, certificate of achievement, and one year of follow-up support. Group discounts apply to three or more registrations. Sign-in is at 7:30 a.m., and training starts at 8:30 a.m. Pre-registration is recommended. To register, call (888) 546-6511 or visit www.lion.com .

About Lion Technology:

Since 1977, more than 100,000 professionals have relied on Lion Technology to meet their regulatory compliance training needs. Lion offers comprehensive training and resources in the area of environmental, hazardous materials/dangerous goods transportation, and workplace health and safety compliance. Training is offered through nationwide public workshops, live web seminars, online courses, and on-site programs. Regulatory support services and consulting are provided to assist industry comply with Federal and State laws and regulations.

“The other major benefit of this system is that we’re able to significantly reduce the amount of plastic waste generated by the resort and it feels good to know we’re continually expanding our efforts.”

The “PURE H2O” is a micro-mineral, organic particle, reverse osmosis, active carbon and ultraviolet mini-filtration plant that treats the lodge’s water, mainly derived from harvested rainwater. There are plans to install a flow meter that will provide accurate information regarding the precise times for changing the filtration cartridges, creating an even more efficient system. The “PURE H2O” station is located next to the entrance doors of the main lodge, providing convenient access at any time, especially for guests departing on excursions.

“By utilizing this new practice over the busy two weeks of the holiday season, we actively saved the environment from between 950 to 1,150 plastic water containers,” stated Gardiner. “The amount is striking, considering we only have 12 casita room accommodations. This initial success has inspired me to eliminate the use of all non-reusable plastic bottles from Machaca Hill.”

Perched in the verdant hills above the Caribbean coast of southern Belize, Machaca Hill Lodge is a self-contained sanctuary from the everyday world. The main lodge is the communal heart of the resort, offering dining and lounging areas, concierge, gift shop and observation decks with views of the coast, Maya Mountains and the pristine rainforest. Accommodations consist of 12 private, individual canopy suites with screened fresh-air verandas and luxurious tiled spa-style baths overlooking the treetops. Activities include birding, jungle excursions, river adventures, snorkeling, diving and fishing.

For more information and reservations, visit www.machacahill.com or call the resort directly at +501.722.0050.

Hazardous Waste Management: The Complete Course will be taught on February 1 and 2, DOT Hazardous Materials Training: The Complete Course will be taught on February 3 at the same location, and IATA/IMO will be taught on February 4 at the same location.

According to the EPA, workers who handle hazardous waste must be trained annually, and the federal DOT requires that workers involved in the shipment of hazardous materials be trained at least every three years. Personnel who ship hazardous materials by air or water must receive training mandated by the International Air Transportation Association (IATA) and International Maritime Organization (IMO) every two years.

Registration for the mandatory training is available by calling 800-537-2372 or at www.ercweb.com/classes .

Now in its 28th year, Environmental Resource Center trains not only thousands of industry personnel every year, the company also trains personnel from most of the State and Federal agencies that enforce the regulations.

More information: www.ercweb.com .