Motley Moose – Archive

When Congress passed the health care bill, with it came a momentous education reform. Signed into law by President Barack Obama, its intention was to help relieve the ever-rising burden imposed by soaring college fees and tuition rates.

This reform was funded by ending a government subsidy to big banks in the business of student loans. Money for poor people to attend college was expanded. Money was also saved by ending these government subsidies.

Under the previous system, the government ensured that student lenders would always make money; if students defaulted on their loans, the government would pay the money to the student lenders. In a CBS 60 minutes report, think tank expert Michael Dannenberg characterized this as:

a socialist-like system,” he says. “It’s not as if this private entity  is assuming any risks. No, no, no. The law makes sure that this  so-called private entity has virtually no risk.”

Unfortunately for students, this lucrative government-funded industry did relatively little to benefit them.

More below.

Last year while I and 10 percent of the population was unemployed, my dad’s company laid off 10 percent of their entire workforce, mostly working class laborers and administrative assistants who were barely scraping by before the recession.

In response, my dad’s big boss…bought an NFL football team for a half a billion dollars. His direct boss, the Executive VP of the company bought a yacht and a summer home…in Aruba…after selling his summer home in the Hamptons.

In America this is ok.  

In this regular series, we profile advisors to the Nourishing the Planet project. This week, we feature Louise Buck, Senior Extension Associate at Cornell University. Cross posted from Worldwatch Institute’s Nourishing the Planet.

Name: Louise Buck

Affiliation: Cornell University and Ecoagriculture Partners

Location: Ithaca, New York, United States

Bio: Louise Buck is Senior Extension Associate at Cornell University. She joined the university’s Department of Natural Resources in 1996 and has been associated with the Cornell International Institute for Food Agriculture and Development (CIIFAD) since 1993. Presently, Louise leads the Cornell Ecoagriculture Working Group. Her interests include community-based natural resource management, agroforestry, curriculum development for experiential learning, and participatory research.

Recent Work:

-L.E. Buck and S.J. Scherr, “Building innovation systems for managing complex landscapes,” in K.M. Moore, ed., The Sciences and Art of Adaptive Management: Innovating for Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resources Management (Ankeny, IA: Soil and Water Conservation Society, 2009).

-J. Sayer and L.E. Buck, eds., “Learning from Landscapes,” IUCN Forest Conservation Program and Ecoagriculture Partners, Arborvitae Special Issue, September 2008.

-“Farming the Forest,” Cornell Plantations Magazine, vol. 62, no. 2 (2007), pp. 6-13.

-L.E. Buck, T.A. Gavin, N.T. Uphoff, and D.F. Lee, “Scientific Assessment of Ecoagriculture Systems,” in S.J. Scherr and J.A. McNeely, eds., Farming with Nature: The Art and Science of Ecoagriculture (Washington, DC: Island Press, 2007).

On Nourishing the Planet: The Nourishing the Planet project will stimulate much-needed innovation in the development of integrated land-use and market systems that can deliver food production, environmental conservation, and livelihood security outcomes. It will also support innovation in the collaborative management of agriculture and natural resources at a landscape scale.

How do farmers benefit from the utilization of forest management? Forests and forest resources play vital roles in farmers’ livelihood strategies throughout the world, especially in lesser developed countries and in places where livelihood security is tenuous. Forests provide safety nets for farmers when times get tough, and managing them is essential to the reliable production of foods, medicines, fodder, and building materials that many millions of farmers depend on during all or part of the year. In addition, forests play vital roles in micro-climatic and hydrologic functions that regulate the supply of water needed for crop growth and livestock production in agricultural landscapes. Management is required to ensure the delivery of these critical ecosystem services.

Can you describe the local benefits of forest management as well as the global benefits? Local benefits contribute to the livelihoods of people and to the well-being and survival of wildlife in proximity to where forests are located. Such benefits include a wide variety of products, habitat, and water regulation to help prevent flooding and drought. Globally, forests contribute to climatic function through their roles in the hydrological cycle, and in the sequestration of carbon and other greenhouse gases.

What types of projects, policies, and other actions would you like to see put in place to encourage improved forest management? Systems of land tenure and property rights that provide incentives for local communities to manage forest resources for current and future use are the core requirement for sustainable forest management. Locally based management systems must be protected by national-level regulations and sanctions against internal and external violators. With these measures in place, communities can readily develop the capacity for effective management. While a variety of joint management and collective-use agreements from around the world can serve as models, the political will to support and protect them from violators is too often in short supply. Given the local and global importance of forests, this is a core issue that humanity needs to address.



What role can education play in encouraging people to think about environmental sustainability when practicing agriculture? Formal and informal education at all levels can play an essential role in building awareness about the linkages between agricultural practice and environmental protection. The keys are in “getting the curriculum right” and in fostering joint learning and collective problem solving. A particularly promising educational tool for this purpose is the Agriculture Bridge system, which connects innovative agricultural practitioners around the world to leading universities and to one another to help resolve pressing questions related to agriculture and conservation through the use of multi-media case studies and an interactive communications platform.

Thank you for reading! If you enjoy our diary every day we invite you to get involved:

1. Comment on our daily posts-We check comments everyday and look forward to a regular ongoing discussion with you.

2. Receive weekly updates-Sign up for our “Nourishing the Planet” weekly newsletter at the blog by clicking here and receive regular blog and travel updates.

By: Inoljt, http://mypolitikal.com/

Memory fades quickly in politics; less than a year ago Bush was president, and already the man is halfway forgotten.

Many, though, remember that Bush became distinctly unpopular during his second term. Liberals will explain this as a product of Bush’s stance on Iraq, civil liberties, the environment everything. Conservatives will point to his “betrayal of the cause” – the deficits and his moderate stance on immigration.

The average person might, if asked, talk about Bush’s poor handling of the Iraq War and the economy’s weak performance during his term.

These explanations all ring true enough. But there is a giant element which they do not account for. Nobody talks anymore about this thing – this event. It is only when one reads Bush’s wikipedia article, that one goes – “Ah! I remember that. He really failed on that.”

More below.

{First, a cheap plug for my blog Senate Guru.}

40 days from today – on May 18 – we will see two HUGE primaries for U.S. Senate.  Even if you’re not from either of these two states, these races impact Democrats across the country and, well, the entire country as a whole.

In Pennsylvania, Democratic Congressman Joe Sestak will try to upset Republican-for-decades Arlen Specter.

In Arkansas, Democratic Lieutenant Governor Bill Halter will try to upset corporate lackey Blanche Lincoln.

Congressman Sestak and Lieutenant Governor Halter winning these primaries are critical to keeping these seats in truly Democratic hands. Your support can help make that happen!  Please hop over to the Expand the Map! ActBlue page right away to make a contribution – an investment in the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party to pull out an old expression – and show your support.

Thanks SO much for any support you can provide. 40 Days.

Cross posted from Worldwatch Institute’s Nourishing the Planet.

In many parts sub-Saharan Africa, 60 percent of children come to school in the morning without breakfast, if they attend school at all. Many suffer from health and developmental problems, including stunted growth. Exhausted from hunger and poor nutrition, they often have trouble paying attention and learning during class.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) provides school meals for about 20 million children in Africa. While some national governments, including in Côte d’Ivoire, have provided school meals for decades, the food, fuel, and financial crises of 2007-08 highlighted the role that school nutrition programs can play in not only improving education, health, and nutrition, but also providing a safety net for children living in poverty. For some children, these programs provide the only real meal of the day.

Improved school menus provide students with much-needed nutrition while also creating an incentive for both students and parents to keep up regular attendance. Some programs include a take-home ration, targeted specifically at improving the attendance of girls. In exchange for an 80-percent attendance rate for one month, for example, students are able to take home a jug of vegetable oil to their family. Students also often share the nutrition information they learn at school with family members, helping to improve the nutritional value of meals made at home.

Earlier this year, the Partnership for Child Development (PCD), in partnership with the WFP and with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, launched the Home Grown School Feeding (HGSF) program. HGSF, modeled in part after programs developed by the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), works with governments to develop and implement school feeding programs, improving the diets and education of students while also creating jobs and supporting local agriculture.

Starting with five countries that were either already running school food programs or had demonstrated an interest in them and a capacity for implementation-including Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Mali, Kenya, and Ghana-HGSF hopes to create a bigger market for rural farmers through demand created by purchasing only locally grown and processed food for school meals.

“The definition of ‘local’ varies from country to country,” says Kristie Neeser, program coordinator at PCD. “Some schools keep their food purchasing within the local community and some keep their purchasing within the country. But what is most important is creating that relationship between the farmers and the government program.”

To best facilitate links between farmers and governments, HGSF works closely with the ministries of education to develop programs that will suit local needs and customs. In Ghana, for example, markets are run by “market queens,” women who purchase vegetables from farmers and then sell them to commercial buyers at markets. To avoid disrupting this system, HGSF works to incorporate the market queens with Ghana’s school purchasing process, instead of attempting to deal directly with the farmers, as programs in other countries often do.

Ultimately, HGSF hopes to work with 10 countries, transitioning each program to being fully government owned, funded, and implemented-creating a permanent safety net for school children and a dependable demand for local, small-scale, farmer-sourced produce.

Thank you for reading! If you enjoy our diary every day we invite you to get involved:

1. Comment on our daily posts-we check comments everyday and look forward to a regular ongoing discussion with you.

2. Receive weekly updates-Sign up for our “Nourishing the Planet” weekly newsletter at the blog by clicking here and receive regular blog and travel updates.

I remember all those teabagging morons who claimed that because we were having record breaking snowfall six weeks ago, climate change isn’t real and is just a liberal fantasy.

I also remember climate change defenders shooting back by saying “watch, in like a month or two, it’ll be 90 degrees”

The temperature outside my Queens office is 92, five and a half weeks after 21 inches of snow fell on the same spot. There’s actually still a mountain of snow in the parking lot of the Brooklyn shopping center I go to often.

Open Thread, is it hot by you?

PS- Jobs Part II- The Ridiculous Right is coming very soon.  

Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell has declared April, 2010 as “Confederate History Month”.  I am certain that Malia and Sasha Obama will be warmly welcomed to the ceremonies by the Governor himself.

WHEREAS,  it is important for all Virginians to reflect upon our Commonwealth’s  shared history, to understand the sacrifices of the Confederate leaders, soldiers and citizens during the period of the Civil War, and to recognize how our history has led to our present;

On the Governor’s website we also see a proclamation of February, 2010 as “Black History Month”.  Personally, I am looking forward to the “Black Confederate History Month” proclamation, including the “Commemorative Wearing of Chains Day” and the “Flog a Disrespectful Slave” events where people of all backgrounds can take a turn acting out the daily rituals of their forefathers.  I hear the funnel cakes are going to be made with extra powdered sugar.

I understand the desire to come to terms with the past, but I don’t think this proclamation has anything to do with the past.  It seems to me that it is entirely about the political future of one Virginian Governor.

The photograph was taken on Smith’s Plantation, Beaufort, South Carolina, not far from where Michelle Obama’s great-great-grandfather Jim Robinson lived as a slave.

Consider this an Openly Secessionist Thread.

(h/t to Patrick Moore for bringing this one to my attention)

Cross posted from Border Jumpers, Danielle Nierenberg and Bernard Pollack.

Nearly 40 years after Francis Moore Lappé wrote Diet for a Small Planet-one of the first books to take a hard look at the environmental and health problems caused by the meat industry-her daughter Anna Lappé has written a book exposing how the industrial food system is contributing to climate change. In Diet for a Hot Planet, Anna describes how are diets can be a crucial tool in the fight against global warming-and she gives a recipe for what an environmentally sustainable diet should look like, including more locally grown foods and eating less meat.

For more information, check out Anna’s “Taking a Bite Out of Climate Change” website.

Thank you for reading! If you enjoy our diary every day we invite you to get involved:

1. Comment on our daily posts — we check for comments everyday and want to have a regular ongoing discussion with you.

2. Receive regular updates–Join the weekly BorderJumpers newsletter by clicking here.

3. Help keep our research going–If you know of any great projects or contacts in West Africa please connect us connect us by emailing, commenting or sending us a message on facebook.

This is the third part of a series of posts analyzing the swing state Pennsylvania. Part four can be found here.

Philadelphia’s Suburbs

There used to be a time when Republicans could count on Philadelphia’s suburbs to counter Democratic margins from the city. This is Philadelphia, circa 1988:

Not anymore. Philadelphia, 2008:

Philadelphia’s suburbs stretch across four counties: Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery. Their Democratic shift threatens to turn Pennsylvania blue for the foreseeable future.

More below.