KaylinQ/government

Change is in the air. Can we bring change to the water, too?

Yes we can. Come to Washington D.C. and help Turn the Tide.
Join the Blue Vision Summit March 7-10, 2009!

Our Ocean Planet is in trouble. President Obama and the new Congress need to be reminded how vital a healthy ocean and coasts are to our economy, security and climate response.

Join the Blue Vision Summit along with hundreds of ocean leaders for three purposes:

* To ENCOURAGE President Obama and Congress to take positive action on our public seas

* To ADDRESS Climate Change impacts on the Ocean

* To highlight SOLUTIONS to marine environmental threats that work and need to be expanded

Nice interactive map

From Site:
President-elect Barack Obama has tapped Oregon State University professor Jane Lubchenco, one of the nation's most prominent marine biologists, to head the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Lubchenco, a conservationist who has devoted much of her career to encouraging scientists to become more engaged in public policy debates, is also a vocal proponent of curbing greenhouse gases linked to global warming.



The appointment marks a shift for NOAA, which oversees marine issues as well as much of government's climate work. Lubchenco has criticized the agency in the past for not doing enough to curb overfishing.

Holy Mola! I can't contain my excitement about this appointment. Her work in marine ecology and conservation is seminal and her involvement in science outreach is phenomenal. This marks a new era for NOAA indeed. I am very excited to see where she takes the agency. Yet again, another amazing Obama appointment. It feels so strange to have a president who respects science and appoints highly qualified people to important posts.

From the page:

Militants oppose oil exploration by US company in Sulu Sea

"A MILITANT FISHERFOLK ALLIANCE on Saturday vowed to oppose the government�s plan to let the American oil firm ExxonMobil drill for oil in the Sulu Sea.

The Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas said its opposition to ExxonMobil�s $110-million oil exploration plan, expected to start by the middle of next year, will be �oeone of the biggest battles of Filipino fisherfolk in the very near future.”

�oeWe will fight this transnational plunder courtesy of President Macapagal-Arroyo�s first-rate puppetry to US interests,” Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap said in a press statement.

The group said it was apprehensive of the project�s impact on the livelihoods of fishing communities in Palawan, Western Visayas, Zamboanga peninsula and Sulu archipelago.

The Sulu Sea, in the southwest Philippines, connects the South China Sea and the Celebes Sea and is considered to be on the route of tuna and other schools of fish leaving or going to the Pacific Ocean."

Neptune Memorial Reef

For over three decades, the focus of the Neptune Society has always been on cremation and giving our members peace of mind. What's more, cremation and placement in the Neptune Reef is a non-polluting process that consumes no above-ground real estate while reducing stress on other fragile marine reefs which actively support the continuation of life and aliveness on our planet. Done properly, this marine habitat enables life to thrive in the ocean. What better way to give back to the environment and our planet than this environmentally friendly way to replenish the coral growth. The Neptune Memorial Reef is the largest man-made reef ever conceived. This reef serves many purposes from being a training ground for students of marine biology to an underwater theme park that is complete with no admission charge for all scuba divers. The reef is located 3.25 miles east of Key Biscayne in Miami and it's 16 acres of open water diving. We founded the reef project with the intent that it should be an environmentally friendly alternative to traditional funeral arrangements and in the keeping with many of our clients philosophies. Participating members in the Neptune Society are now invited to memorialize themselves in the living reef by placing loved ones' keepsakes or cremated remains into the concrete structures that form the reef. Placement in the reef varies in price depending on the type of feature you select and its location on the reef.

From the page:

Interment.net

"Interment.net contains thousands of transcriptions of cemetery records and tombstone inscriptions, from cemeteries in the USA, Canada, England, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and other countries.

Access is free - no subscription fees, no money"

National DNA database gets kickstart from feds
Tests could reveal facts 'making individual less useful to society'

With virtually no fanfare, President Bush signed into law a plan ordering the government to take no more than six months to set up a "national contingency plan" to screen newborns' DNA in case of a "public health emergency."

The new law requires that the results of the program - including "information ... research, and data on newborn screening" - shall be assembled by a "central clearinghouse" and made available on the Internet.

According to congressional records, S.1858, sponsored by Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., was approved in the Senate Dec. 13, in the House April 8 and signed by Bush April 24.

"Soon, under this bill, the DNA of all citizens will be housed in government genomic biobanks and considered governmental property for government research," said Twila Brase, president of the Citizens' Council on Health Care. "The DNA taken at birth from every citizen is essentially owned by the government, and every citizen becomes a potential subject of government-sponsored genetic research."

U.S. environment scientists report political meddling

Nearly 900 scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency have experienced political interference in their work in the last five years, the Union of Concerned Scientists reported on Wednesday.

The nonprofit environmental organization said its investigation of EPA was in line with previous probes of other U.S. agencies which found "significant administration manipulation of federal science."

"Our investigation found an agency in crisis," said Francesca Grifo of the Union of Concerned Scientists, referring to the Environmental Protection Agency. "Distorting science to accommodate a narrow political agenda threatens our environment, our health and our democracy itself."

The report included interviews with current and former staff members, analysis of government documents and a questionnaire sent to 5,419 EPA scientists, which generated 1,586 responses.

Of those responses, 889 scientists or 60 percent, said they had personally experienced at least one instance of political interference in the last five years; 394 said they experienced frequent or occasional "statements by EPA officials that misrepresent scientists' findings."

More than one-fifth, or 285, said they had experienced "selective or incomplete use of data to justify a specific regulatory outcome," the report said.

Nearly 100 scientists said the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) was the main offender.