The military now says that climate change will be damaging for this country and our national security.  According to a recent article in the NYT, "a growing number of policy makers say that the world’s rising temperatures, surging seas and melting glaciers are a direct threat to the national interest. . . Recent war games and intelligence studies conclude that over the next 20 to 30 years, vulnerable regions, particularly sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and South and Southeast Asia, will face the prospect of food shortages, water crises and catastrophic flooding driven by climate change that could demand an American humanitarian relief or military response."

Seattle residents can apply to get free apple and cherry trees under a pilot program provided by the City of Seattle's Neighborhood Matching Fund.  If interested, check out Seattle's ReLeaf Web site.  The program, the City of Seattle's Tree Fund, created to absorb carbon dioxide emissions, filter air pollution, reduce noise pollution, and provide habitat for birds and wildlife.

In Oxnard, California, an onion farmer, Steve Gill, has been using juice from the 40% of the discarded portions of onions that Gills Onions processes, about 150 tons of waste a day, to create energy to run refrigerators and lighting at the 14-acre plant.  By generating their own electricity from the waste of their production processes, the processing plant saves $700,000 each year on electricity costs plus another $400,000 a year on disposal costs.

Each year for the last 20 years, the Tribal Canoe Journeys brings together native tribal members from Washington, British Columbia and Alaska.  This year as many as 10,000 camped, danced, and told stories in Suquamish, on the Kitsap Peninsula, just across from Bainbridge Island.  Some of the tribal members had paddled by canoe from as far away as VAncouver Island.  A total of 87 canoes made the journey this year.  According to a PI.com article, the journey "hosted by a different tribe each year, is a pledge of sobriety, and a celebration of unity and traditional Indian values".

A new poll out of the University of Maryland by Global Public Opinion suggests that Americans place a lower priority on addressing the climate change crisis than 18 other nations polled.  The question was, "How high of a priority should the government place on global warming?" with answers from 1 to 10, 10 being the highest priority.  The poll sampled 18,578 people in the 19 countries.   Americans said 4.71.  Chinese said 8.86.  Mexicans said 9.09.  And so it went.  Even in India, which has recently refused to commit to lower pollution rates, 7.52 percent said they wanted their country to address the issue.  Russians said 7.39.  Americans places the priority at the lowest of all the nations polled.

Jim Wilcox, of the Wilcox Family Farms, has slowly become a believer in sustainable agricultural methods.  According to an article in the Tacoma News Tribune, he says of Wilcox Farm's shifts, “We’re changing for two reasons.  One, it’s good business, and, two, it’s the right thing to do.” . . . “Twenty to 30 years ago, we weren’t very good stewards of the land,” he said. “We’ve kind of seen the light.”

Wilcox Farms has been in business 100 years this week. The family has 1,500 acres along a mile-long stretch of the Nisqually River; they've been selling milk and eggs, at one point selling 1 million gallons of milk a week.