THE HILL 06/17/20 By Michael Shank It’s time for a global divestment campaign against the factory farming industry. It has now proved itself to be as harmful to human health as the fossil fuel industry. While air pollution is prematurely killing 7 million humans annually — for which fossil fuels, […]
Author: Michael Shank
Time to Divest from Factory Farming
VTDIGGER 06/16/20 By Michael Shank Editor’s note: This commentary is by Michael Shank, of Brandon, who is adjunct faculty at New York University’s Center for Global Affairs. It’s time for a global divestment campaign against the factory farming industry, which has now proved itself to be as harmful to human […]
The Military Must be De-Funded Along with the Police
COUNTERPUNCH 06/15/20 By Daniel Kovalik As Vijay Prashad explains in his book, Red Star Over The Third World, domestic fascism in the West has reflected the West’s pre-existing colonial practices abroad. Citing Martinique communist Aimé Césaire, Prashad explains: “What had come to define fascism inside Europe through the experience of […]
The Government Is Arming Police for War. Reform Can Start Right There
NEWSWEEK 06/11/20 By Michael Shank and US Congressman Hank Johnson America’s streets are looking increasingly like countries we dismiss as petty dictatorships and rogue states. Mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles and Humvees are now patrolling cities all across America. We saw it at Standing Rock. We saw it in Ferguson. We saw […]
How Police Became Paramilitaries
NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS 06/03/20 By Michael Shank Military might has always paraded in America’s streets. But it wasn’t until this century that it became an often daily presence. In the 2000s, local law enforcement agencies began to adopt the type of military equipment more frequently used in a […]
It’s Time to Shut Down Industrial Animal Farming
THE HILL 06/03/20 By Michael Shank and Former US Congressman Michael Honda While governments act aggressively to save lives, stop any further spread of COVID-19, and reopen their economies, let’s not wait to prevent the next virus. More will come. Pandemics are picking up their pace. Thankfully, prevention is entirely […]
GMP Boosts Rebates on Energy Savers, Adding Solar Sharing in June
VERMONT BIZ 05/28/20 VTDIGGER DAILY ENERGY INSIDER New GMP Programs Include Enhanced Rebates Plus Innovative Solar Credit Sharing App to Assist Recovery for Small Businesses in Vermont Vermont Business Magazine Green Mountain Power (GMP) launched a new package of incentives and programs called Go, Save & Share Green with GMP […]
Local Environmental Film Contest a Success
RUTLAND HERALD 05/28/20 By Keith Whitcomb, Jr. BRANDON — Flooding, mosquito spraying and littering were the winning topics for the inaugural Brandon Environmental Film Competition. The competition was announced last fall by Brandon resident Michael Shank, a volunteer at the Neshobe Elementary School library, communications director for the Carbon Neutral […]
Will Coronavirus Be What Finally Kills Factory Farming?
NEWSWEEK 05/22/20 By Michael Shank and Em Heppler Although the identity of COVID-19’s patient zero is still unknown, the virus is widely suspected to have originated in a Wuhan wet market. And one thing is crystal clear: These informal slaughterhouses, along with their more formal counterparts in the factory farming […]
A Prescriptive Path Forward for Saving Struggling Countries’ Economies
THE HILL 05/20/20 By Michael Shank and US Congressman Gregory Meeks When the heads of all the agencies at the United Nations come together and find consensus on something, their advice is worth heeding. Recently, they did just that, issuing an emergency fund appeal and urging a rapid and coordinated […]