To Kill a Moth

10 Reasons to Oppose the LBAM Spray - San Francisco - Ten Reasons to Stop the Spray for Light Brown Apple Moth in the Bay Area

Link: 10 Reasons to Oppose the LBAM Spray - San Francisco - Ten Reasons to Stop the Spray for Light Brown Apple Moth in the Bay Area.

I just found 10 great talking points on About.com, about the LBAM madness. Here are the cliff notes:

1. The Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM) is Not an Emergency - No Crop Damage
2. The Light Brown Apple Moth Has Likely Been in California For Years
3. The Light Brown Apple Moth Can Be Safely Managed
4. Aerial Spraying is an Experiment Without Our Consent
5. It's Not Simply a Pheromone - It's a Chemical Mix
6. The Delivery System: A Tiny Plastic Microcapsule That Can Be Inhaled
7. Long-Term Health, Environmental & Wildlife Effects Are Unknown
8. Years of Aerial Spraying May Damage Local Economy
9. Effects on Other Moths, Butterflies and Bees are Unknown
10. Opposition to the Aerial Spraying is Not an Isolated Group of "Activists"

CHECKMATE: Health Impacts of Moth Eradication Madness

Here's some sobering reading from the Moms of Marin Against the Spray:

MOTHERS OF MARIN AGAINST THE SPRAY (MOMAS)
BACKGROUND INFORMATION

A. HEALTH IMPACTS & TESTING OF SPRAY CHEMICALS

The proposed chemicals have never been sprayed over densely populated area.
Numerous chemicals will be sprayed repeatedly throughout the Bay Area every 30-60 days by low-flying airplanes, over highly populated urban areas near water, for a period of 3-10 years.
The chemicals to be sprayed, which are contained in a formula called CheckMate, were designed to be applied only over unpopulated agricultural areas.
California’s consensus document on the health risk of the spray explicitly states that studies assume “aerial application over agricultural areas rather than aerial application over populated areas.” [Cal. Dept. Pesticide Regulation, Cal OEHHA Oct 31 2007 Consensus statement]

No tests have addressed long-term exposure of the chemicals on humans.
No tests have addressed the impact of breathing these chemicals over a long-term period by varied populations, including pregnant women, children and the elderly.
CheckMate and other similar formulations of pheromone pesticides have undergone only short-term testing on rats and rabbits.
The active ingredient, a synthetic pheromone, has not undergone long-term human toxicity testing. [Testimony of Philip Richard in County of Santa Cruz v CDFA, Superior Court of California, Santa Cruz County, Oct 31, 2007]

The spray contains hazardous chemicals.
The product label, which can be found on the manufacturer’s website (Suterra LLC of Bend, Oregon, www.suterra.com) states “Hazardous to Humans and Domestic Animals. Harmful if absorbed through the skin. Causes moderate eye irritation. Avoid contact with skin, eyes, or clothing. Harmful if inhaled. Avoid breathing vapor or spray mist.”
The State continues to focus on the alleged safety of the pheromones contained in CheckMate. However, the spray contains at least 8 other chemicals.
Material Data Sheets for several of these chemicals state:
“Substance may be toxic to blood, liver, central nervous system.”
”Toxic to lungs and mucous membranes.”
“Very hazardous in case of eye contact.”
“Hazardous in case of skin contact.”
”May cause cancer based on animal studies.”
“Harmful by inhalation.”
”Risk of serious damage to eyes.”
“Material is irritating to mucous membranes and upper respiratory tract.”
“May affect genetic material.”
“May cause adverse reproductive effects and birth defects.”

A Bird and a Plane in the Sky

Link: A Bird and a Plane in the Sky.

They both can fly, but one burns fossil fuels and the other burns food.  One is capable of dropping pesticides on the entire San Francisco Bay Area, and the other capable of eating moths.  (Click the image to magnify.) For more on the topic of planned monthly aerial sprays of checkmate pesticide, visit:

www.stopthespray.org

Letter to Governor Schwarzenegger About Moth Anihilation

Here is a note I sent to the Governor of California and good friend of Stewart Resnick, a gazillionaire that donated $144K to his campaign, and owner of Suterra, the company that makes Checkmate, a pesticide that they both want to spray over most of the Bay Area, including our homes, playgrounds, schools, gardens, shopping malls, and parks.   

If you don't like monthly pesticide showers, I suggest you do the same.   Call him and/or send a note via this site:  http://gov.ca.gov/interact

Dear Governor Schwarzenegger,

I just read your press release "Gov. Schwarzenegger Meets with Local Officials on Light Brown Apple Moth" and didn't find it very reassuring.  It sounds like your "six-pack" of tests is only short term, and doesn't explain much about your methodology or extent of testing, and who is doing the tests.   Where can we find more details?

As a father of two children and relative and friend of several who have suffered from cancer, alzheimer's, and autism, I have read too many press releases about other programs like this that were supposed to be safe, but are now highly correlated with long-term side effects due to prolonged exposure.   (Remember DDT and Malathion?)   I don't care about getting a sore throat and watery eyes the day after we get showered the first or second time, but monthly, for years?   The micro-capsules are considered particle pollution which is considered dangerous by the American Lung Association, and the "inert ingredients" don't appear to be on your list for testing.   Please clarify if I am wrong about this.   Kids have a different metabolism than us, put things in their mouths, and like to play in the places you spray.

And where is the believable evidence this moth is such a big threat that it requires total eradication?   It sounds like you are planning to spend more of our tax dollars on the eradication program than we could potentially lose by leaving it to natural predators and voluntary control programs.   And that is not even counting the potential collateral costs of health complications, tourism declines, real estate drops, and other side effects.

Do a few bad apples really warrant an all-out war on a moth, and more importantly, potential harm to millions of adults, kids, and pets? 

Why can't we change our mindset and become leaders in the organic farming evolution?  Organic food is becoming popular and commands higher prices, and farming methods are becoming more efficient.  We should be investing in the startups and projects that are innovating new methods to farm efficiently (use resources more intelligently while reducing waste), reduce the carbon footprint, and make better tasting food that is healthier for us all.   That could even help solve our healthcare crisis at the same time.   (Think of those economics...)

PS -
Hope to see a press release soon that is titled "Gov. Schwarzenegger Meets with 'Local Moms and Dads and their Kids' on Light Brown Apple Moth"

Come to the Bay Area for Your Monthly Pesticide Showers

Link: LBAM Petition: Stop the Spray, Demand Safe Alternatives to Aerial Pesticide Spraying!.

If you don't like the idea of airplanes flying over your house every month for several years showering you with pesticides, I'd suggest you visit Stop The Spray and sign their petition, write to Governor Shwarzahoweveryouspellit, call and email everybody you care about, and study up on the subject and do something about it.

The spray, Checkmate, targets the light brown apple moth, known affectionately as "LBAM", an enemy combatant that has no access to due process as the DHS, in voluntary cooperation with the USDA, the CDFA (California Dept. of Food and Agriculture), and the Governor of California, has been classified under terror threat level "A" for the actions of a few bad apples among their population that have been seen nibbling on leaves.

This terrorist moth is an "invasive species", like carrots, tomatoes, cows, and most of the food and animals grown commercially in California. The difference is, it is only located in San Francisco, Marin, Berkeley, Santa Cruz, and Monterey. And before it gets to Atherton, Hillsborough, Sacramento, and our central valley farms, we need to eradicate it completely.

The CDFA argues the pesticide is not a pesticide, but more like a cologne that makes the male moths get confused and mate with everything that gets sprayed with it. It hasn't been tested for long term health effects and special effects on children and others who like to eat dirt and frolic in gardens and playgrounds after the showers. But, don't worry, they assure us it is much safer than DDT and Malathion and the other solutions of the past that were also supposed to be good for us. Just because the American Lung Association is worried about the particulate matter getting lodged in your deep lung tissue doesn't mean you should worry.

And don't believe any of the conspiracy theories. It is only a coincidence that Stewart Resnick donated $144K to Arnold's campaign, and just happens to be the owner of Suterra, the company making the Checkmate spray that will be bought with our millions of tax dollars.

Sure, Arnold said on August 31, 2003 "Any of those kinds of real big, powerful special interests, if you take money from them, you owe them something.” But he was talking about the other politicians at the time...

Solution to Oil Addiction

A simple solution that can cure obesity, curb global warming, reduce the need for war, and help us to see the Nazunas blooming along the hedges.  Brought to you by common folk consumer-generated media artists at Revver.

Daylight Savings Time Gets a Promotion

Capitol Hill just passed their energy bill.  If you have a conservation conversation with Prezident Shrub about it, he'd tell you that he cares so much about conservation that he made sure to extend our daylight savings time an extra few days each year so we can all save an extra 100 thousand barrels of oil a day for those extra days of extra daylight...

eXXpose eXXon

Join the revolution and inspire ExxonMobil to invest some of its $25 billion in profits into alternative energy.  According to the whiney environmentalists who are just plain jealous they aren't making as much money as them:  "ExxonMobil is trying to open the Arctic Refuge to oil drilling and sabotaging efforts to slow global warming.  Despite making a record $25 billion profit last year, the company is still shirking paying the money it owes fishermen and other Alaskans hurt by the Exxon Valdez spill 16 years ago and refusing to put its huge profits to good use developing clean, renewable energy."
 
They don't have much incentive to change their ways given the way the economy has been treating them lately, but if we all stop buying their toxic gas, they might start to get the message.  I recommend adding a carrot to your message, and tell them nicely that when they start to clean up their act, you'll not only buy their products again, but also invest in their company and maybe even send in your resume in hopes of getting a job there.  Click on the link above to join the revolution and let them know how much you care.

The Other, Bigger Growing Deficit

Green Car Congress: The Other, Bigger Growing Deficit

We're treating the hand that feeds us like a credit card. Live now, pay later. Hope the interest rates don't go up anytime soon... Apparently, there is another deficit rivalling the one on Capitol Hill. The Living Planet Report 2004 indicates we are consuming our planet's resources 20% faster than it can renew them, and our use of "non-renewable fossil fuels such as oil, coal and gas, increased nearly 700% in the 40-year period surveyed, from 1961 to 2001."

Click on the "comments" link below to see what fellow earthlings have to say about it, and to say something yourself.

Paper or Plastic?

Every time we go to the grocery store, we are faced with the dilemma. We either have oodles of paper and plastic bags piling up at home, or we throw zillions of them in the trash over the course of our lives. And for those of us who care about the consequences of such decisions, we ponder it for a moment. Hmmn, plastic is synthetic and evil, paper is natural. But plastic takes up less space in the landfill. But we can recycle the paper. It takes more energy to create the paper bags. Or is it the plastic? Finally, we flip a coin or ask the supermarket check-out clerk to decide for us...

Putting Money in Our Mouths

It's all a big bunch of math. Who votes for who added up in each state by the various malfunctioning machines and methods. The higher count gets x number of electoral votes for that state. Then add all that up for the 52 cards in the deck. It all adds up to some number that should determine what kind of planet our children and grand-children will inherit. On the other hand, it probably doesn't matter much anyway, because all this presidential indecision 2004 is all just a big red herring dropped down a gully, getting us all looking anywhere but up or forward.

One candidate promises the victorious spreading of democracy around the world, like Skippy creamy peanut butter spread across some big slice of Wonderbread. The other promises to clean our air. One promises that learning is become the basics for education. The other promises to dig up the funding to inspire teachers to teach. One promises winning the War on Terrorism. The other promises to make new friends in the world. One promises to cut taxes. The other promises to not raise taxes, at least not for the majority of voters - those suburban fast-food-eating SUV-driving mall-shopping TV-watching middle class bunch of people.

One thing they both promise is to create more jobs. Not sure where they are going to get the magic wand to make it all happen. One could argue that hurricanes create jobs. Look at all the people who will be busy building buildings and fixing freeways in Florida once the storms pass. One could argue that terrorists create jobs too. Look at all the new security jobs being created. Cancer creates jobs too. The more people with cancer, the more jobs for doctors, nurses, insurance companies, medical equipment companies, and pharmaceutical salespeople...