Hillary Clinton is returning to New Hampshire for the first time since just before the 2016 presidential election.

The former Democratic presidential candidate is signing copies of her new book, “What Happened” on Tuesday in Concord. Clinton won New Hampshire’s four electoral college votes in last year’s election, though President Donald Trump — without offering evidence — blames voter fraud for his loss in the state.

Clinton also is heading to Boston, where she will be honored with the Big Sister Association of Greater Boston’s “Believe in Girls” award for working to improve the lives of women and girls.

Greater Boston chapter president and CEO Deb Re says Clinton embodies the resilience and self-confidence the group hopes to inspire in young women.
…

From: MeNeedIt

The government of Brazil’s President Michel Temer is far from assembling the coalition needed to pass a landmark pension reform, but potential supporters of the measure are now more organized, a key legislator said on Monday.

“We’re still enormously far (from having the needed votes), but we have a party leader committed, a party president committed, one party that’s set to commit,” Brazil’s lower house speaker, Rodrigo Maia, told journalists after an event in Rio de Janeiro.

Pension reform is the cornerstone policy in President Temer’s efforts to bring Brazil’s deficit under control. But the measure is widely unpopular with Brazilians, who are accustomed to a relatively expansive welfare net.

In order to curry support from Congress, Temer and his allies watered down their original proposal in November, requiring fewer years of contributions by private sector workers to receive a pension.

According to several government sources, Temer’s allies have grown more optimistic in the last week about the reform’s chances.

However, speed is essential for the bill’s passage. A congressional recess begins on Dec. 22, and lawmaking thereafter will be hampered by politics, as lawmakers ramp up their campaigns for 2018 elections.
…

From: MeNeedIt

Under intense pressure from all sides, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will decide Tuesday whether to ban Russia from next year’s Winter Olympics over alleged institutionalized doping.

Anti-doping agencies and many athletes want Russia to be completely excluded from Pyeongchang, but Moscow has vehemently denied state involvement and complained of political manipulation.

Facing the same decision ahead of the Rio Summer games 18 months ago, the IOC stopped short of imposing a blanket ban and instead left decisions on individual athletes’ participation to the respective sports federations.

Russia’s anti-doping agency (RUSADA) has been suspended since a report by a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) commission headed by Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren in 2015 found evidence of state-sponsored doping in Russia and accused it of systematically violating anti-doping regulations.

A further WADA report by McLaren in 2016 found that more than 1,000 Russian competitors in more than 30 sports had been involved in a conspiracy to conceal positive drug tests over a five-year period.

In the last month, the IOC’s own commission has banned more than 20 Russian athletes from the Olympics for life over doping violations at the 2014 Winter Games that Russia hosted in Sochi, while WADA has said that Russia remains “non-compliant” with its code.

The options facing the 15-member IOC Executive Board, which meets Tuesday, include a blanket ban on Russia or allowing Russian athletes to compete in South Korea as neutrals. This would mean that they could not participate under Russia’s flag and the Russian anthem would not be played at medal ceremonies.

The IOC could also do what it did at Rio and defer the decision to the international sports federations. Although Russia was barred from athletics and weightlifting, it was able to send around 70 percent of its original 387-strong squad after other sports’ federations accepted its athletes.

Delicate decision

IOC President Thomas Bach said at the time that the decision balanced “the desire and need for collective responsibility versus the right to individual justice of every individual athlete.”

The IOC could argue that the fundamental situation has not changed since then despite the evidence produced from the Sochi games and the publication of the second part of the McLaren report.

“The IOC has a delicate decision to make,” sports marketing expert Patrick Nally said. “On the one hand, it needs to show WADA and the world’s media that it is chastising Russia, but at the same time it needs to be temperate in its approach. … Banning them outright will, I think, be too negative a step.

“A compromise is necessary if the IOC wants to maintain stability. It can withstand media criticism but it can’t withstand an all-out war with one of its influential members.”

Last week, Joseph de Pencier, head of the iNADO umbrella group of national anti-doping agencies, said allowing Russia to take part in Pyeongchang would raise doubts about sport’s willingness to root out drug cheats.

Russian officials have said their country is the victim of a politicized dirty tricks campaign designed to besmirch its reputation and curb its sporting success.

On Monday, two Russian Olympic medalists urged the IOC to allow Russian athletes to compete.

“I passionately believe that it is not the answer to ban innocent, clean, young Russian athletes from competing under the Russian flag in Pyeongchang,” said Svetlana Zhurova, who won Olympic gold in speed skating in 2006.

Evgeni Plushenko, a four-time Olympic figure skating medalist, said making Russians compete as neutrals would be “unfair on them and all their competitors who in some way would feel that the competition and Olympic spirit would have been devalued.”
…

From: MeNeedIt

Doctors across the U..S could soon be prescribing formerly illegal drugs as therapy for two hard-to-treat diseases – childhood epilepsy and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. A growing body of scientific evidence is leading the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to take a closer look at cannabidiol, an extract of marijuana, and MDMA, an ingredient in the party drug ecstasy.

The makers of a cannabidiol product named Epidiolex have now completed all three phases of FDA-approved clinical studies. The submission for FDA approval includes clinical data on 1,500 patients, 400 of whom had used it for more than a year. If it is approved, Epidiolex could be part of the legal arsenal for treating epilepsy within a year.

MDMA

The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) is a non-profit organization focused on beneficial medical uses of psychedelics and marijuana. It funded six Phase 2 FDA-approved clinical studies of MDMA combined with therapy for treating Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. The only PTSD medicines currently approved by the FDA usually don’t work well, says Boulder, Colorado, psychiatrist Will Vanderveer, “and leave millions of people still symptomatic and suffering. And dying from suicide.”

Vanderveer worked with psychotherapist Marcela Ot’Alora, the study’s principal investigator, on the three-month long protocol, which included a monthly dose of MDMA and weekly therapy sessions. There were 28 participants. When they were given MDMA, therapists stayed with them during the eight hours the drug was active, helping them recall past traumas in a more effective way.  

Ot’Alora says the MDMA promoted trust with the therapists, and the insights gained were profound.

“It could be crying, it could be even screaming. They realize, ‘wow, I was completely going away and dissociated from the experience, and now I see what was really happening.’ Anger can come up, really getting in touch with the anger at what was done to them.”

Karen, one of the participants, was plagued by nightmares and dread after being sexually abused as a child. She says that decades of therapy and anti-depressant drugs did not help, but this protocol did.

“I don’t walk around just thinking I’m garbage anymore. You know, I feel like, wow, you know, I’m kind of a good person here.” James was a combat medic, and returned from a tour of duty in Afghanistan with PTSD. He tried a number of different therapies, but still felt like he was in a dark cave, with no way out. Then he found the MDMA study. In an on-line documentary about the study, he describes the drug as “a kind of light,” and the therapists as “guides. And I could see around the cave and figure out how to get out of there. It was really helpful.”  

The MDMA plus therapy protocol eliminated symptoms in nearly 70 percent of the participants previously diagnosed with treatment resistant PTSD.  The final step before requesting FDA approval as a prescription medicine is Phase Three trials, which are scheduled to begin next year.
…

From: MeNeedIt

NASA has nailed an engine test on a spacecraft 13 billion miles away.

Last week, ground controllers sent commands to fire backup thrusters on Voyager 1, our most distant spacecraft. The thrusters had been idle for 37 years, since Voyager 1 flew past Saturn.

To NASA’s delight, the four dormant thrusters came alive. It took more than 19 hours — the one-way travel time for signals — for controllers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, to get the good news.

Engineers wanted to see if these alternate thrusters could point Voyager 1’s antenna toward Earth, a job normally handled by a different set that’s now degrading. The thrusters will take over pointing operations next month. The switch could extend Voyager 1’s life by two to three years.

Launched in 1977, Voyager 1 is the only spacecraft traveling through interstellar space, the region beyond our solar system. Voyager 2 is close on its heels — nearly 11 billion miles from Earth. The thruster test worked so well that NASA expects to try it on Voyager 2. That won’t happen anytime soon, though, because Voyager 2’s original thrusters are still working fine.

The Voyager flight team dug up old records and studied the original software before tackling the test. As each milestone in the test was achieved, the excitement level grew, said propulsion engineer Todd Barber.

“The mood was one of relief, joy and incredulity after witnessing these well-rested thrusters pick up the baton as if no time had passed at all,” he said in a statement.

The twin Voyagers provided stunning close-up views of Jupiter and Saturn. Voyager 2 also offered shots of Uranus and Neptune.
…

From: MeNeedIt

Anthony walks the streets of Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood looking for two competing things: His next heroin fix – and help in what he says is his struggle to end addiction.

He traces the habit to one fateful day.

“I shattered my leg and I was on oxycodone pain medication prescribed through my doctor,” recalls the 28 year-old, who asked for anonymity to share his story. “I withdrew so bad, a friend put me on heroin and it’s been a slippery slide for five years.”

He ended up in Kensington, a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood where drug users can find some of the cheapest and purest heroin in the country. The area is also home to unscrupulous healthcare providers who continue to over-prescribe opioid medications. 

Open drug use occurs within easy view of storefronts. Teenagers riding their bikes pass addicts in zombie-like states on the sidewalks and porches. Kensington is a destination for heroin users from afar. Many end up staying to feed their addiction.

“We have not only people from other parts of the state, we have people from other parts of the country who come here,” said Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Special Agent Patrick Trainor. “Unfortunately, it’s sparked a heroin tourism industry,”

The drug epidemic is not a new phenomenon for Kensington. For decades, it’s contended with addicts. More than half the population lives below the poverty line, 2.5 times the rate of the rest of Philadelphia. The wide availability of prescription opioids from healthcare providers, along with the influx of individuals from outside the community, has made matters dramatically worse.

In 2017, a deal was reached by city officials to clear out an open air heroin market known as El Campamento, or “The Tracks.”

It existed beneath sunken train tracks, hidden from street level. The property was riddled with syringes and all kinds of drug paraphernalia.

People in the area regularly died from drug overdoses. At times, 75 to 125 opioid addicts lived there in makeshift homes.

“It was contained,” said Councilwoman Maria Quinones Sanchez, who represents the Philadelphia district that includes Kensington. “But now it’s out in the open and people are kind of struggling about dealing with the problem. What are we going to do with it? Because this problem is not going to go away in the next six months or in the next year,” said Sanchez.

Pure Heroin Fills the Streets of Kensington

The attraction of Kensington is simple: cheap and powerful heroin primarily piped in by Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel. And in the streets of Kensington, drug dealers compete with one another to sell heroin, some laced with fentanyl, a synthetic opioid.

“In order to compete, you have to have the purest stuff on the street, we’ve seen purity levels in Philadelphia around 93% at times, and that’s street purity level,” said (Drug Enforcement Administration) DEA Special Agent in Charge Gary Tuggle. “So in order to compete with that, many groups have started to adulterate that 50% [of heroin] or so with fentanyl. Often not recognizing the fact that fentanyl is 80 to 100 times more powerful than morphine, 50 to 80 times more powerful than heroin.”

Davey, a 31-year-old heroin addict knows firsthand how strong, and dangerous, the fentanyl laced drug can be. “I had a good friend, the bag was empty, I scraped an empty bag for him, some grains, and just a tiny amount and he overdosed,” Davey said. “That’s just how powerful it is.”

Philadelphia recorded 900 overdose deaths in 2016. Officials say the city is on track for at least 1,200 deaths in 2017. Overdoses are the number one cause of death in Philadelphia for every age group from 25 to 44, the number two cause from age 45 to 54, and the number three cause from age 55 to 64.

“It’s extraordinary to have an epidemic like this appear on leading causes of death,” said Dr. Thomas Farley, Philadelphia’s Health Commissioner. “The problem is not only not slowing down, but it’s accelerating. There are not enough beds for addicts he said.

“I lived through the worst drug epidemics in the country’s history. The post-Vietnam heroin epidemic, the crack cocaine epidemic of the ‘80s and early ‘90s and then there’s this particular opioid epidemic that dwarfs the other two,” Tuggle said.

“It has a feeder system to it that the others didn’t have. And that’s the misuse and abuse of prescription opioids,” Tuggle said.

“We still have a major focus on the enforcement piece, but we also engage with the community in prevention and education to try to drive down that insatiable demand for opioids that exists in this country,” said Tuggle. The engagement includes non-traditional partnerships within the public health sector such as treatment providers and medical examiners where they analyze data to assist in explaining the drug epidemic trends.

Councilwoman Sanchez wants all sectors working together to ensure those who understand what is happening are the ones leading the fight. “We now have to have the political will to sit all of those actors at the table and say, ‘OK, how do we work our way backwards,” she said.

The biggest obstacles are lack of treatment facilities and housing for addicts and others. Estimates suggest that 30,000 heroin addicts are in Philadelphia, currently, only half would have access to proper treatment.

“Not all people who are drug users have housing, and housing is often a part of treatment. It’s hard for people to get treatment if they are living on the street,” said Dr. Farley. 

A Community Connected beyond the Drug Epidemic

On a recent walk down Kensington Avenue, Sanchez recalls growing up in the neighborhood and her commitment to the people.

“All I see is people who survive despite circumstances that are sometimes created outside of their control, and those are the folks that I represent,” she said. “And so my job is to be the cheerleader for those folks who work really hard and despite all the situation, whether it’s the teacher, principal, the librarians, you know, the folks that are here.”

Convenience store owner Sam Kuttab said things have improved some. He plans to stay in Kensington.

“About 10 years ago we had a big fire here and the insurance company paid us good money,” Kuttab said. “We could have just taken the money and moved on. But we felt there is a community here, there’s a community here that really appreciated our services, and we appreciated them. So we put our money back into this neighborhood, and it’s paid off,” he said.

Officials recognize there are obstacles, but unless they do something impactful more people will die in Kensington and Philadelphia.
…

From: MeNeedIt

President Trump’s opioid commission is calling for more federal funding to battle addiction and deadly opioid drug-related overdoses in the United States. More than 175 Americans are dying every day and the Trump administration has declared the opioid crisis a “public health emergency”. VOA’s Chris Simkins takes us to a hard hit Philadelphia neighborhood where the opioid epidemic is on open display.
…

From: MeNeedIt

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro says his government will launch a cryptocurrency (digital currency) to circumvent what he called a financial “blockade” by the U.S. government.

The new currency will be called the “petro,” the leftist leader said in his TV address Sunday, and will be backed by the socialist-run, OPEC nation’s oil, gold and mineral reserves.

That will allow Venezuela to advance toward new forms of international financing for its economic and social development, Maduro said.

“That Venezuela is going to implement a new cryptocurrency system from the oil reserves, Venezuela will create a cryptocurrency, the petro-currency, the petro, to advance in monetary sovereignty, to make their financial transactions, to overcome the financial blockade. This will allow us to move towards new forms of international financing for the economic and social development of the country. And it will be done with a cryptocurrency issue backed by reserves of Venezuelan riches of gold, oil, gas and diamond.”

Maduro did not give any details what the new currency’s value will be, how it will work or when it will be launched.

The government also announced the creation of a “blockchain observatory” software platform for buying and selling virtual currency.

Opposition leaders objected to Maduro’s announcement, which they said needed congressional approval. Some questioned whether the digital currency would even be introduced in the midst of turmoil.

Venezuela’s traditional currency, the bolivar, has significantly declined in recent weeks as U.S. sanctions make it harder for the country to stay current on its foreign debt.
…

From: MeNeedIt

Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro on Sunday gained more powers over the OPEC member’s oil contracts, as a deepening purge looks set to strengthen the leftist leader’s control of the key energy sector amid a debilitating recession.

A months-long crackdown on alleged graft in Venezuela’s oil industry has led to the arrest of some 65 former executives, including two prominent officials who used to lead both the oil ministry and state oil company PDVSA.

Corruption has long plagued Venezuela, home to the world’s biggest crude reserves, but the socialist government usually said “smear campaigns” were behind accusations of widespread graft.

Maduro has recently changed his tack, blaming “thieves” and “traitors” for the country’s imploding economy.

PDVSA’s new boss, former housing minister Major General Manuel Quevedo, said on Sunday that all oil service contracts and executive positions would be reviewed by Maduro as of Monday.

“There aren’t going to be any more contracts backed by the board to keep pillaging, as has happened in some instances,” said Quevedo during a visit to the ailing Paraguana Refining Center.

Further details were not immediately available. PDVSA did not respond to a request for information.

Maduro said former energy minister Ali Rodriguez had been appointed honorary president of PDVSA and had met with Quevedo for six hours over the weekend.

Art, wine, gold chess set

The most recent high-profile sweep saw Diego Salazar, a relative of former oil czar Rafael Ramirez, detained on Friday on charges of helping launder some around 1.35 billion euros to Andorra.

During his Sunday television program, Maduro flashed a painting by Venezuelan painter Armando Reveron and pictures of luxury goods, including bottles from an alleged 300,000-euro wine cellar and a gold chess set, he said belonged to Salazar.

“Thieves!” said Maduro, banging his fist on the table, during the near five-hour broadcast. “All your assets must be expropriated,” he added, stressing that the money should go to state coffers.

Reuters was not able to confirm Maduro’s accusations or contact a representative for Salazar.

His detention has spurred speculation that authorities are after Ramirez, who was the powerful head of PDVSA and the oil ministry for a decade before Maduro demoted him as an envoy to the United Nations in 2014.

A protracted rivalry between Maduro and Ramirez has increased in recent weeks, insiders say, especially after Ramirez wrote online opinion articles criticizing Maduro’s handling of Venezuela’s economy.

Maduro fired Ramirez last week and summoned him back to Caracas, according to people familiar with the clash.

When asked by Reuters on Whatsapp whether Ramirez was being investigated, chief state prosecutor Tarek Saab on Sunday replied there were “no exceptions” in the investigation.
…

From: MeNeedIt

A committee exploring the effects of recreational marijuana on Nevada’s gambling industry is wrestling with how the state’s casinos might deal with the pot business while not running afoul of federal law.

Lured by a potential economic impact in the tens of millions of dollars, Gov. Brian Sandoval’s Gaming Policy Committee is trying to figure out how casinos can host conventions and trade shows on marijuana.

The 12-member committee ended its meeting Wednesday without a formal decision on the matter, but Sandoval said he hopes to have committee recommendations for possible regulations by February.

The Nevada Gaming Commission has discouraged licensees in the past from becoming involved with the marijuana business, fearing legal backlash. Committee members have also voiced opposition to the idea of allowing marijuana use at resorts.

However, events like MJBizCon, a conference on various aspects of the marijuana growing industry, have drawn the attention of the gambling industry because of their strong turnout.

Cassandra Farrington, who started the conference, told the committee that the event brought about 18,000 people to the Las Vegas Convention Center last month and it’s only expected to grow. She noted that marijuana products are not allowed on the show floor, and people who violate that ruled are expelled.

Trade shows like Farrington’s conference can generate millions of dollars in tax revenue, said Deonne Contine, the director of the Nevada Department of Taxation. Contine told the committee that a show with about 15,000 people can produce a $28.2 million economic impact on the city.

Attorney Brian Barnes said any marijuana business in gambling facilities could be considered racketeering or money laundering under federal regulations.

“Marijuana business is illegal under virtually every aspect of federal law,” Barnes said.
…

From: MeNeedIt

Liz Whitehurst dabbled in several careers before she ended up on a Maryland farm, crating fistfuls of fresh-cut arugula in the November chill.

The hours were better at her nonprofit jobs. So were the benefits. But two years ago, Whitehurst, 32 — who graduated from a liberal arts college and grew up in the Chicago suburbs — abandoned Washington for a three-acre plot in Upper Marlboro, Maryland.

She joined a growing movement of highly educated, ex-urban, first-time farmers who are capitalizing on booming consumer demand for local and sustainable foods and who, experts say, could have a broad impact on the food system.

For only the second time in the last century, the number of farmers under 35 years old is increasing, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s latest Census of Agriculture. Sixty-nine percent of the surveyed young farmers had college degrees — significantly higher than the general population.

This new generation can’t hope to replace the numbers that farming is losing to age. But it is already contributing to the growth of the local-food movement and could help preserve the place of midsize farms in the rural landscape.

“We’re going to see a sea change in American agriculture as the next generation gets on the land,” said Kathleen Merrigan, the head of the Food Institute at George Washington University and a deputy secretary at the Department of Agriculture under President Barack Obama. “The only question is whether they’ll get on the land, given the challenges.”

The number of farmers aged 25 to 34 grew 2.2 percent between 2007 and 2012, according to the 2014 USDA census, a period when other groups of farmers — save the oldest — shrank by double digits. In some states, such as California, Nebraska and South Dakota, the number of beginning farmers has grown by 20 percent or more.

New to farming

A survey that the National Young Farmers Coalition, an advocacy group, conducted with Merrigan’s help shows that the majority of young farmers did not grow up in agricultural families.

They are also far more likely than the general farming population to grow organically, limit pesticide and fertilizer use, diversify their crops or animals, and be deeply involved in their local food systems via community-supported agriculture (CSA) programs and farmers markets.

Today’s young farmers also tend to operate small farms of less than 50 acres, though that number increases with each successive year of experience.

Whitehurst took over her farm, Owl’s Nest, from a retiring farmer in 2015.

The farm sits at the end of a gravel road, a series of vegetable fields unfurling from a steep hill capped by her tiny white house. Like the farmer who worked this land before her, she leases the house and the fields from a neighboring couple in their 70s.

She grows organically certified peppers, cabbages, tomatoes and salad greens from baby kale to arugula, rotating her fields to enrich the soil and planting cover crops in the off-season.

On Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, she and two longtime friends from Washington wake up in semidarkness to harvest by hand, kneeling in the mud to cut handfuls of greens before the sun can wilt them. All three young women, who also live on the farm, make their living off the produce Whitehurst sells, whether to restaurants, through CSA shares or at a D.C. farmers market.

Finances can be tight. The women admit they’ve given up higher standards of living to farm.

“I wanted to have a positive impact, and that just felt very distant in my other jobs out of college,” Whitehurst said. “In farming, on the other hand, you make a difference. Your impact is immediate.”

Larger impact

That impact could grow as young farmers scale up and become a larger part of the commercial food system, Merrigan said.

Already, several national grocery chains, including Walmart and SuperValu, have built out local-food-buying programs, according to AT Kearney, a management consulting firm.

Young farmers are also creating their own “food hubs,” allowing them to store, process and market food collectively, and supply grocery and restaurant chains at a price competitive with national suppliers.

That’s strengthening the local and organic food movement, experts say.

“I get calls all the time from farmers — some of the largest farmers in the country — asking me when the local and organic fads will be over,” said Eve Turow Paul, a consultant who advises farms and food companies on millennial preferences. “It’s my pleasure to tell them: Look at this generation. Get on board or go out of business.”

There are also hopes that the influx of young farmers could provide some counter to the aging of American agriculture.

The age of the average American farmer has crept toward 60 over several decades, risking the security of midsize family farms where children aren’t interested in succeeding their parents.

Between 1992 and 2012, the country lost more than 250,000 midsize and small commercial farms, according to the USDA. During that same period, more than 35,000 very large farms started up, and the large farms already in existence consolidated their acreage.

Midsize farms are critical to rural economies, generating jobs, spending and tax revenue. And while they’re large enough to supply mainstream markets, they’re also small enough to respond to environmental changes and consumer demand.

If today’s young farmers can continue to grow their operations, said Shoshanah Inwood, a rural sociologist at Ohio State University, they could bolster these sorts of farms — and in the process prevent the land from falling into the hands of large-scale industrial operations or residential developers.

“Multigenerational family farms are shrinking. And big farms are getting bigger,” Inwood said. “For the resiliency of the food system and of rural communities, we need more agriculture of the middle.”

Numbers are still small

It’s too early to say whether young farmers will effect that sort of change.

The number of young farmers entering the field is not nearly large enough to replace the number exiting, according to the USDA: Between 2007 and 2012, agriculture gained 2,384 farmers between ages 25 and 34 — and lost nearly 100,000 between 45 and 54.

And young farmers face formidable challenges to starting and scaling their businesses. The costs of farmland and farm equipment are prohibitive. Young farmers are frequently dependent on government programs, including child-care subsidies and public health insurance, to cover basic needs.

And student loan debt — which 46 percent of young farmers consider a “challenge,” according to the National Young Farmers Coalition — can strain already tight finances and disqualify them from receiving other forms of credit.

But Lindsey Lusher Shute, the executive director of the coalition, said she has seen the first wave of back-to-the-landers grow up in the eight years since she co-founded the advocacy group. And she suggested that new policy initiatives, including student loan forgiveness and farm transition programs, could further help them.

“Young farmers tend to start small and sell to direct markets, because that’s a viable way for them to get into farming,” Lusher Shute said. “But many are shifting gears as they get into it — getting bigger or moving into wholesale.”

Just last year, Whitehurst was approached by an online grocery service that wanted to buy her vegetables. Because While Owl’s Nest produces too little to supply such a large buyer on its own, the service planned to buy produce from multiple small, local farmers.

Whitehurst ultimately turned the deal down, however. Among other things, she feared that she could not afford to sell her vegetables at the lower price point the service wanted.

“For now, I’m focused on getting better, not bigger,” she said. “But in a few years, who knows? Ask me again then.”
…

From: MeNeedIt

The city of Zibo, China’s ceramics capital, is undergoing environmental shock therapy to clear its filthy skies and transform its economy — and not everyone is happy.

Much of Zibo’s sprawling industrial district has become a ghost town of shuttered factories, empty showrooms and abandoned restaurants after a cleanup campaign that began last year intensified this winter. Dozens of chimneys stand inactive.

“There used to be a lot of workers here, but now they are demolishing the entire place,” said a caretaker who gave his surname as Wei, pointing at the deserted warehouse of an abandoned factory he was guarding. “We have no idea what they will build here — that’s the boss’s decision.”

Zibo, home to 4.5 million people about 260 miles south of Beijing in Shandong province, is one of 28 northern Chinese cities targeted in an unprecedented six-month anti-pollution blitz as China scrambles to meet air quality targets.

The city is also at the heart of a wider, long-term government effort to upgrade China’s heavy industrial economy.

Once responsible for about a quarter of China’s ceramic output, mainly floor and wall tiles, Zibo has slashed capacity by 70 percent and shut more than 150 companies and 250 production lines as part of a ruthless war on pollution.

Surviving plants have rushed to comply with tough new standards, but business is still threatened by constant production suspensions ordered by the government, as well as natural gas shortages this winter as northern cities switch to the fuel from coal.

“It is a brave step that China is taking, but they have to take it,” said Alex Koszo, the founder of Vecor, a Hong Kong-based company that has built a joint-venture plant in Zibo to manufacture environmentally friendly tiles from fly ash.

“They have the will, the money, and access to technology, so I think we are looking at a very different Zibo, and a very different Shandong, in five to 10 years.”

The local environmental bureau declined to be interviewed, telling Reuters that cleanup efforts were “still at an early stage” — but changes are already conspicuous.

With old factories marked for demolition, new apartment blocks, shopping complexes and roads are being built. The city registered growth of 7.8 percent in the first three-quarters of this year, driven by the service sector, according to the local government. Displaced workers have shifted to construction sites and other industries like textiles, residents said.

Zibo has also established a “greentech” incubator in the old district and opened a new high-tech industrial park in order to attract companies and encourage innovation in ceramics.

But some local businessmen accuse Beijing of running roughshod over local industry and paying too little heed to circumstances on the ground, with one boss accusing inspectors of behaving like “imperial envoys.”

“There is a ring of 28 cities, and pollution only needs to appear in Beijing — even just medium-level pollution — and all our factories have to shut,” said the owner of a large local factory who declined to be named, fearing repercussions. “It doesn’t matter whether you meet the standards or not, you have to shut.”

Upgrades

Over the past decade, Zibo’s ceramics makers took advantage of closures elsewhere to drive up output and seize market share in China. Zibo’s tiles were used throughout China and exported around the world. In recent years, however, the industry was weighed down by poor quality and chronic overcapacity that eroded prices and exposed the sector to European Union anti-dumping measures.

Beijing’s war on pollution served as an opportunity to tackle those problems. Now, the mainstay of the local economy is a shadow of its former self.

With annual production capacity slashed to 246 million square meters, compared with 827 million square meters before the campaign began, the government hopes surviving manufacturers can upgrade and compete with higher-end producers.

“I think the steps the government is taking now will push the costs up, and therefore the price of the goods will be up and the quality will meet international standards,” said Koszo.

But the local factory owner said the campaign has inflicted long-term damage, eroding cost advantages and driving customers away.

“If Zibo was the only place producing tiles in the whole country, then it wouldn’t be a problem. But this is an unfair policy. They are closing us but not others,” he said.

Stop-start production

Environmental officials deny the pollution crackdown or the heightened vigilance of inspectors will cause deep harm to China’s economy, saying any losses would be compensated by the long-term benefits of clean investment.

But in Zibo, even environmentally compliant manufacturers are losing customers. The factory owner said he has lost 80 percent of domestic clients and half his overseas ones, with many frustrated by the stop-start nature of production.

Zibo’s ceramics companies are not only hit by emergency closures aimed at curbing smog. A year ago, they were ordered to switch from coal to gas, but suppliers are giving priority to residential winter heating.

“People are losing patience and manufacturing is shifting to the south,” said Bryan Vadas, director at the Tile Agencies Group in Australia, which used to source products for export from Zibo but has now started buying elsewhere.

Environment Minister Li Ganjie said this year that China would not adopt an “indiscriminate one-size-fits-all approach,” adding that companies have plenty of leeway to clean up and survive.

“Only enterprises that have no clear survival value, pollute heavily and have no hope of being rectified will be shut down,” Li said.

But local enterprises have struggled to cope with repeated policy changes, with industry entry requirements adjusted four times in less than two years, the local factory owner said.

“I have worked hard to build up this business,” he said.

“Personally, I just think the government should tell us directly that they don’t want us to stay in operation. There’s no need for them to torture me.”
…

From: MeNeedIt