North Side Green Party

The FDIC Thursday announced the failure of six more Illinois banks. The state's total for the year now stands at twelve. The last Illinois bank to fail was the Bank of Lincolnwood, in June.

This month's lineup now includes:

Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich blasted the Democrat energy bill. He voted against it, he said, because “Passing a weak bill today gives us weak environmental policy tomorrow.”

Among his objections to the bill:

• It strips the EPA of the power to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.
• It does not phase out nuclear power.
• Dirty Coal is also given a lifeline.
• Benchmarks are so low as to be meaningless.

Two Illinois sites are rated High Hazard Potential by the EPA. Both belong to Dynegy Midwest. The sites are located in Havana and Alton. According to the EPA, "A high hazard potential rating indicates that a failure will probably cause loss of human life."

Nicholas Kristof, writing in the New York Times, says that a class of pollutants known as endocrine disruptors is apparently causing male fish and frogs to develop feminine characteristics.

George Monbiot says the US is acting like a failed state in regard to the climate change issue. He is critical of the Waxman-Markey climate change bill.

The Bee Spotter project is looking for volunteers with cameras. Their mission? To take pictures of bees and send them in to the project.

By helping, volunteers will be advancing important scientific goals, and in addition, will be contributing to the preservation of a crucially important part of the environment.

Ira Flatow's Science Friday today featured an interview with the authors of a new study on wind energy.

Assuming the use of off-the-shelf hardware (General Electric 2.5 megawatt turbines) and wind data from around the world, the study's authors, Xi Lua, Michael B. McElroya, and Juha Kiviluoma, explored the potential of wind energy to supply world needs. They found that the world has more than enough wind energy to completely eliminate use of nuclear power and other fossil fuels. This was especially true of the United States. In the US, most states had the potential to become surplus energy producers.

The June issue of Scientific American has an article about coming shortages of phosphorus, a mineral vital for agriculture. Major changes in the ways in which we conduct agriculture and recycle waste are urgently called for.

The author, David A. Vaccari is Director of the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Ocean Engineering at the Stevens Institute of Technology.

IBEW Local 21 members were picketing AT&T locations on Wednesday in a dispute over outsourcing. IBEW's contract with AT&T expires on Saturday, June 27.

According to picketers who spoke to the North Side Greens, a problem impeding negotiations is AT&T's insistence on outsourcing jobs.

On Saturday, Laura Buenrostro, spoke to a group of 200 protesters. The group were asking that West Suburban Hospital stop retaliation against employees who join the AFSCME/HEART union organizing committee.

Greens joined the AFSCME/HEART Committee today in picketing West Suburban Hospital in Oak Park. The group was protesting "union busting," reprisals against nurses, and short staffing policies.

Picketing began shortly after 12:00 pm when a small group of pickets appeared. Over the next hour others joined the effort. Eventually, two hundred people were involved including passers-by and some hospital employees who left the building, still in hospital scrubs. Some patients were seen waving to protesters from the upper floors.

In a turn about that came as no surprise to the North Side Greens and other Chicagoans, Mayor Daley agreed to sign a document making the taxpayers of the City of Chicago 100% responsible for any cost overruns or shortfalls resulting from the 2016 Olympics.

According to Phyllis Sladek "A growing number of international geologists and analysts warn of a looming catastrophe with the onset of the decline in the global supply of oil." She needs your help to pressure the Obama government to act.

The basic science of Peak Oil has been known for 55 years, but government has been afraid of the political consequences of attempting to solve the problem. Now there is very little time left.

The AFSCME/HEART Committee heard testimony from two patients during its Saturday meet. The topic was efforts by nurses at Resurrection Health Care to organize for better working conditions - especially better hours.

The Midwest Renewable Energy Association will be sponsoring its 20th annual Energy Fair. The event takes place in Custer, Wisconsin on June 19, 20, and 21.

Worldwatch Institute has a story about two new reports which may help encourage negotiators to adopt pro-environmental positions in the upcoming Copenhagen climate talks.

The Obama administration gave the go ahead to an experimental plant designed to demonstrate carbon capture technology.

The Northside Greens ran a story in April about new research which casts doubt on the workability of the proposed "clean coal" technology. Environmental groups have long been opposed.

According to Bloomberg, the plant will be located in Mattoon, Illinois.

The North Side Greens have previously warned that the Obama administration was pushing coal, a principal source of greenhouse emissions.

The Northside Greens have always opposed reliance on fossil fuels. They have campaigned especially hard against an environmentally disastrous mining practice known as mountain top removal.

As the Bank of Lincolnwood was about to close Friday afternoon, agents of the FDIC and the State's Office of Professional Regulation, Banking Division told staff to remain at their posts.