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Tag Archives: United States
President Obama Meets With Senior Officials at the Pentagon Regarding ISIL:
 President Barack Obama meets with senior Defense Department, national security advisors and military leadership regarding the campaign against ISIL, at the Pentagon in Arlington, Va., July 6, 2015. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
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President Obama Provides an Update on Our Strategy to Degrade and Destroy ISIL
In Case You Missed It: West Wing Week 07/03/15 or, “Amazing Grace”
This week, the President signed a bipartisan trade deal, welcomed the President of Brazil to the White House–and showed her one of our national treasures–hosted 50 girls in green on the South Lawn for a campout to celebrate the great outdoors, answered questions about healthcare in Tennessee and online, and traveled to Wisconsin to announce new overtime protections for hard-working Americans. That’s June 26th to July 2nd or, “Amazing Grace.”
Our 3 Favorite Moments from the President’s Speech in Wisconsin
Three highlights from the President’s speech on the economy in La Crosse, Wisconsin.
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UCS and sustainable food systems …
Demand a healthy, affordable, sustainable food system.
Nearly 20,000 people have already signed our petition urging President Obama to establish a National Food Policy that will ensure healthy, sustainably grown food for all. It’s not too late to add your name! Sign today.
Read this issue on the UCS website.
www.ucsusa.org/publications/december_2014.html
Why we need a national food policy.
A twitter conversation with Michael Pollan, Mark Bittman, and Ricardo Salvador.
| Ricardo Salvador, Ph.D. Director, Food & Environment ProgramFollow Ricardo’s blog >> |
“I read your call for an executive order to create a national food policy. I heartily agree that our food system is broken. But how would a national food policy be any different—or better—than the backward set of policies we have now?”—O. Day, Oakland, CA.As things stand today, the federal government already addresses a range of interconnected agricultural issues—diet-related disease, environmental degradation, farm subsidies, food safety, pesticides, immigration and farm labor, workplace safety and health—with a patchwork of regulations and standards across at least eight agencies. Not only is this approach uncoordinated, all too often agencies work at cross-purposes. READ MORE |
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President Obama on Health Reform
President Barack Obama greets audience members after delivering remarks on health care reform during the Catholic Health Association Conference at the Washington Marriott Wardman Park in Washington, D.C., June 9, 2015. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
Yesterday, at the Catholic Health Association’s annual assembly, President Obama outlined the state of health care in America, now that the Affordable Care Act has become part of the fabric of our health care system.
“Everything we’ve done these past six and a half years to rebuild our economy on a new foundation… has been in pursuit of that one goal, creating opportunity for all people,” the President said. “And health reform was a critical part of that effort.”
My Day One: From the Streets of Lahore to the Heart of Texas
June is Immigrant Heritage Month, and people across the country are sharing their American stories. Manar Waheed — the Deputy Policy Director for Immigration here at the White House — shared her own story this morning.
The First Lady Celebrates the Class of 2015
Last night, the First Lady delivered her final commencement address of the season at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Preparatory High School (King College Prep) in Chicago. This spring, Mrs. Obama also celebrated the graduates at Tuskegee University in Tuskegee, AL, and Oberlin College in Oberlin, OH as a way to shine a spotlight on students who have gone above and beyond to reach higher, and help others do the same.
At the G7: President Obama’s Trip to Germany
This weekend, the President traveled to Krun, Germany — a small village in the Bavarian Alps — to meet with the leaders of the Group of Seven (G7). The G7 is an organization of world leaders, finance ministers, and heads of state from seven of the largest economies in the world — Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the U.K., and the U.S. — as well as the European Council, EU Commission, and International Monetary Fund.
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The Everest of excrement is actually Mount Everest
- Rubbish left at one of Mount Everest’s base camps.
Image: Mary Plage
Nepal has a stinky situation on its hands.Human waste left by climbers on Mount Everest has become a major problem, and is even threatening the spread of disease, Ang Tshering, the chief of Nepal’s mountaineering association, said, The Associated Press reports.Everest’s climbing season only lasts a measly two months, but nearly 700 climbers brave the world’s tallest peak and not all of them dispose of their trash, urine and feces properly. None of Mount Everest’s four base camps, which are located at 17,380 feet, have proper facilities. The camps have tents, equipment, supplies and even cooks, but no toilets. The waste is collected in a drum in a toilet tent, where it is then carried to a lower altitude and disposed.
But not all climbers use the camps’ facilities to do their business.
“Climbers usually dig holes in the snow for their toilet use and leave the human waste there,” Tshering told The Associated Press, adding that waste around the base camps has been accumulating for years.
Away from the base camp, as climbers head toward the 29,035 foot summit, human waste is also an issue.
“It is a health hazard and the issue needs to be addressed,” said Dawa Steven Sherpa, who has been at the forefront of Everest cleanup expeditions since 2008. Some climbers carry disposable toilet bags with them to the higher camps that don’t have any facilities, Sherpa said.
The advance base camp for people climbing Mount Everest sits on the mountain’s north slope at about 21,000 feet. Image: Dave Watson/Associated Press
Last year the Nepalese government imposed new rules, which requires climbers to return to the base camp with 17.6 pounds of waste. The weight is an estimate of the average amount of trash climbers accumulate en route.
The government does not currently have plans to deal with the human waste issue
The government does not currently have plans to deal with the human waste issue, however Puspa Raj Katuwal, the head of the government’s Mountaineering Department, said officials will strictly monitor it, adding that climbing teams must submit a $4,000 deposit that they will lose if regulations are broken.
Human fecal waste and trash isn’t the only thing left on the mountainside. According to an article released in 2012 by Smithsonian Magazine, more than 200 human bodies remain frozen on the mountain. Some of them are even used as landmarks.
More than 4,000 climbers have braved the mountain since its first expedition in 1953.
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