Save an Endangered Species

As someone who cares about wildlife and environmental health, I'm writing to strongly oppose the Environmental Protection Agency's efforts to register Kaput-D for use in eradicating prairie dogs in ten states across the Great Plains. The Environmental Protection Agency should not approve Kaput-D, and should immediately rescind its May 2009 approval of Rozol, a similar poison used to kill prairie dogs. In addition to killing black-tailed prairie dogs -- themselves a candidate for federal protection -- these poisons will put other imperiled species at unacceptable risk in violation of the Endangered Species Act, the Migratory Bird Act and other federal laws.

I'm amazed that by using Kaput (note the slang term in this name) does not understand the significance of killing off an endangered specie or using poison to do so. It's obvious that by using poison to kill one living thing, will in turn poison other living things that come into contact with that poison.

Example being: when you poison a rat, and your dog then eats that rat...you dog dies of the poison as well... So poison contains a chain reaction..... when you poison bugs, you poison the food plant the bug was living on and in turn the poison passes into the ground and poisons not only the earth, but the water...and then we who eat that plant or drink the water become become poisoned, get sick and die.

Prairie dogs have declined by more than 95% from their historic numbers due to habitat loss, poisoning, shooting and non-native disease. And as a keystone species, their decline has had a negative effect on other prairie animals -- including black-footed ferrets, one of the rarest animals in the world. So it begs the question: why would the EPA even consider approving two new poisons that will help speed the decline of these already imperiled species?

Rozol and Kaput-D cause prairie dogs to slowly bleed to death (Jesus wept) -- a cruel and excruciating way to die. These chemicals also set off a chain reaction of secondary poisoning that can kill imperiled animals that are tied to prairie dogs on the food chain -- including black-footed ferrets, swift foxes, badgers, golden and bald eagles, burrowing owls and ferruginous hawks.

In September, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials requested that your agency consult with them before approving Rozol -- and to put Kaput-D on hold completely (and get these Actively Ignorant people who would use this out of office) -- because prairie dog poisoning had been shown to be a "major factor in the decline of [black-footed] ferrets" and because they had serious concerns about the effects these two poisons could have on other prairie wildlife.

But despite these requests, the EPA went ahead and approved the use of Rozol without properly consulting with federal wildlife experts and without giving the public a chance to weigh in on this deadly decision. And now the agency is poised to approve Kaput-D.

The Environmental Protection Agency is supposed to protect our environment and the wildlife we share it with. I hope the agency will rethink its decision to approve Rozol -- and reject the application to approve Kaput-D -- in order to avoid playing an active role in speeding the decline of several already imperiled species.

360: Stoopidity: March 29, 2008

From: http://articles.mercola.com


Embarrassingly Stupid Americans --
One in Five Believes Sun Revolves Around Earth

The title of this article, that an embarrassingly high number of Americans believe that the sun revolves around the Earth, is only one point argued by the Washington Post’s Susan Jacoby, in her attempt to prove that Americans are in serious intellectual trouble, facing a virulent mixture of anti-intellectualism, anti-rationalism and low expectations.

What else is signaling that Americans are becoming increasingly dumbed-down as a society?

• Reading -- of books, newspapers and magazines -- is on the decline. A 2007 study even found that 80 percent of American families did not buy or read a book in 2006.
  

• Attention spans are declining; Jacoby suggests this is due to television and videos. For instance, between 1968 and 1988, the average sound bite on the news for a presidential candidate dropped from 42.3 seconds to 9.8 seconds. By 2000, according to a Harvard study, the daily candidate bite was down to just 7.8 seconds.

• General knowledge is eroding. This is evidenced not only by the fact that one in five U.S. adults believe the sun revolves around the Earth, but also many others.

Yet, it’s not bad enough that knowledge is quickly declining in the United States. On top of that, there is an arrogance about this lack of knowledge, almost as if a good portion of the population is saying, “We know we’re ignorant, but we don’t care!”

Consider, for instance, that a 2006 survey by National Geographic-Roper found that nearly half of young Americans did not think it was necessary to know the location of other countries in which important news was being made. And another one-third felt it was “not at all important” to know a foreign language.

Why is this so concerning? Because …

Fear and Ignorance Go Hand in Hand

The more that you are kept in the dark, either due to your own lack of inquisitiveness or the workings of an unscrupulous industry (such as the food industry that markets junk foods and soda to children as though it is something they should be consuming), the easier you are to manipulate.

And this is where a population of people who do not possess their own knowledge base will easily believe, for instance, that they must quickly get vaccinated to protect themselves against an imaginary pandemic like the bird flu, or that food from their local supermarket is somehow safer than food grown by a farmer down the road.

Obviously, most of you reading this do not fall into this category, as you are actively seeking more knowledge, just by reading this.

Well, it is my goal to help create a fundamental paradigm shift in people’s consciousness about health, and also about empowerment. Because the more you know, the more you will realize that you have the power to impart positive changes in your life, and the lives of those around you.

And, ultimately, living a positive life is really what it is all about.