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Lawsuit challenges uranium mine that threatens water and wildlife of the Grand Canyon
What's the point of the Interior Dept. issuing decrees if companies are still going to be allowed to get away with toxifiying the planet and destroying national landmarks for profit?What's the point of the Interior Dept. issuing decrees if companies are still going to... more-
- JanforGore
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- 4 days ago
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- 2 comments
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We are winning the fight against Genetically Engineered trees
Over 17,500 comments against this monstrosity of nature. Let's keep it coming!-
- JanforGore
- added this
- 11 days ago
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- 9 comments
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The Nitrogen Fix: Breaking a Costly Addiction
"Over the last century, the intensive use of chemical fertilizers has saturated the Earth’s soils, waters, and atmosphere with nitrogen. Now scientists are warning that we must move quickly to revolutionize agricultural systems and greatly reduce the amount of nitrogen we put into the planet's ecosystems."
Two more excerpts:
"Nitrogen affects more parts of the planet’s life-support systems than almost any other element, says James Galloway of the University of Virginia, who predicts: “In the worst-case scenario, we will move towards a nitrogen-saturated planet, with polluted and reduced biodiversity, increased human health risks and an even more perturbed greenhouse gas balance.”
"Today, of 175 million tons of nitrogen applied to the world’s croplands in a year, almost 50 percent is from chemical fertilizer. It has raised the “carrying capacity” of the world’s soils from 1.9 people per hectare of farmland to 4.3 — and 10 in China, where applications reach twice anything seen in Europe.
"This is a profound change to the biochemistry of life on Earth — and to our own bodies. Today, much of the nitrogen in our bodies comes not from biological sources but from giant chemical factories. We are, in a real sense, as much chemistry as biology. Vaclav Smil, the distinguished Canadian researcher into food and the environment at the University of Manitoba, calls the nitrogen fix 'an immense and dangerous experiment.' "
More at: http://e360.yale.edu/content/feature.msp?id=2207
Nitrogen is saturating our planet, causing algae blooms, destroying sea life, dead zones, global warming, acid rain, eating the ozone layer and reducing nature's biodiversity.
Organic agriculture can answer to this.
This needs to be addressed along with global warming as they both go hand in hand.
Join Organic:
http://current.com/groups/organicgreen/"Over the last century, the intensive use of chemical fertilizers has saturated the... more-
- lookatmypix
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- 19 days ago
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Corporate patents on plants and animals threaten freedom and biodiversity
I was going to add a title saying I was stripping for sustainable agriculture to get more attention, but I decided not to. But seriously, is that really what we have to stoop to in order to get people to pay attention to such an important issue? When will this be considered important to media? When you are not able to buy or plant a seed without a corporation owning it? When you will not be able to eat anything but what they tell you to eat? When the number of crops grown dwindles down to 10 and biodiversity is all but gone? When the worldwide famine hits or we completely poison this planet into unsustainability?
Excerpt:
A global civil society coalition sent a public warning to the UN General Assembly that a new class of patents covering plants and animals endangers both innovation and food security, echoing the sentiments of the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food.
The "Global alert against Monstantosizing' our food" was released on 21 October by the "No Patents on Seeds" coalition, coinciding with the presentation of similar concerns by the UN Special Rapporteur, Olivier de Schutter, on the Right to Food, at the Third Committee (dealing with Social, Humanitarian and Cultural issues) in New York.
The alert was initiated by the organisations Berne Declaration, Swissaid, Misereor No Patents on Life (Switzerland), Greenpeace and The Development Fund (Norway), supported by farmer organisations from Europe, South America and Asia. They include Coldiretti in Italy, COAG in Spain, dairy farmers from Germany, Federacion Agraria Argentina and Bharat Krishak Samaj, an Indian farmer organisation.
Directed at governments, parliaments and patent offices, the alert warns about a new class of patents covering plants and animals derived from conventional breeding. "These patents even claim harvests and derived food products such as milk, butter and bread," the report revealed.
By speaking of "Monsantosizing", the signatories to the alert warned that the whole chain from seed to food production might be controlled by a few big international corporations like Monsanto, DuPont and Syngenta, leading to a process of oligopolies and increasing concentration.
"A radical change in both patent legislation and the practice of patent offices is needed to eliminate patents on plants and farm animals," said Francois Meienberg of the Berne Declaration.
"Corporations should not be allowed to continue to misappropriate and monopolise seeds, plants and farm animals via patent law. If they are, these patents will become a major threat to global food security, food sovereignty and innovation."
"The big companies are about to control seed, harvest, trade and even food production," warned Luis Contigiani at Federacion Agraria Argentina.
"We can see how Monsanto tries to license fees on soy production, imposing embargoes on European importers of Argentinean soy and derivatives based on patents that are not valid in our country. This is an example of the consequences when genetic resources are subjected to the logic of monopolisation by patent rights."
The alert quotes from the background report by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food (A/64/170), de Schutter, which also raises concerns that seed patents might increase food crises. Citing de Schutter, "The oligopolistic structure of the input providers' market may result in poor farmers being deprived of access to seeds, productive resources essential for their livelihoods, and it could raise the price of food, thus making food less affordable for the poorest."I was going to add a title saying I was stripping for sustainable agriculture to get... more-
- JanforGore
- added this
- 27 days ago
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- 1 comment
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Obama supports Food Inc's world domination, and all we get is the White House garden?
I’ll admit it. I’m an unabashed fan of the First Lady. I read every article about the White House organic garden and I go to Michele’s farmers’ market every Thursday. I’m a fan and I’m a little jealous, too. She’s managed to educate DC school children and provide farm fresh food to state dinners. The garden I started at my daughter’s DC public school this spring was abandoned to the office and maintenance staff this summer, then plowed under in a schoolyard renovation before school started in the fall, and has yet to feed any students.
Because I admire the First Lady’s good example, I am shocked by the chemical agribusiness and biotech cheerleading of her husband’s administration. From USDA and FDA appointments of biotech and chemical industry insiders, to support for the preposterous idea that genetic engineering can feed the world, it is obvious that the Obama Administration is happy to assist agribusiness in its quest for world domination.
World domination sounds a little histrionic, doesn’t it? But, there’s no other way to describe the profit-at-any-cost business model of companies like Monsanto that seek to patent and control access to seeds and food and decide for the world what we can eat. The question that faces humanity today is, “Shall we let Monsanto, Cargill, McDonald’s and a handful of other multinational corporations decide the future of food?”
Proponents of the so-called Second Green Revolution, led by the chemical, biotech and industrial biofuels lobby, are spending millions each year on advertisements and donations to politicians, universities, and non-profits to convince us that the only way to feed the world and survive climate change is through high technology—relying on factory farm animal production, genetic engineering, toxic pesticides, nitrate chemical fertilizers, and compliant farmers, farm workers, and consumers.
With far fewer resources, the organic movement is generating the science to support an alternative view. Organic agriculture can feed the world, turn back climate change and make food production more resilient to droughts and floods. Organic agriculture can do it with biodiversity instead of biotech, greenhouse gas sequestration instead of emissions, integrated pest management instead of toxic pesticides, humus-rich compost instead of fossil fuel fertilizers or sewage sludge, more family farmers and better conditions for farm workers.
The question of which agriculture model will dominate food production is a question we only have one opportunity to answer. Once a seed or animal variety is extinct or contaminated with foreign genes, we will never get it back. In an age when a billion people are stuffed while a billion people are starved, most people on the planet suffer from either poor nutrition, exposure to toxic ingredients, diet-related diseases, or all three. Agriculture is a life and death issue for all of us.
So, which side is the Obama Administration on? The first answer to that question is, well, who’s in the Obama Administration?
Let’s start with the Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack. While Iowa Governor, Vilsack was a leading advocate for Monsanto, genetic engineering, and factory farming.
The senior adviser to the Food and Drug Administration Commissioner on food safety is Michael Taylor. The Vice President for Public Policy at Monsanto Corp. from 1998 until 2001, Taylor exemplifies the revolving door between the food industry and the government agencies that regulate it.
Rajiv Shah is the USDA Under Secretary for Research, Education and Economics and Chief Scientist. Agricultural policy experts initially expressed concern that Shah, Director of Agricultural Development Programs at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, lacked real experience in agriculture. Shah was the founding director of the Gates Foundation's agriculture program, which has donated $37 million to GM research.
much more about GMO cronyism at the link.I’ll admit it. I’m an unabashed fan of the First Lady. I read every article about... more-
- JanforGore
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- 1 month ago
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The Science On Organic Agriculture and Climate Change
Excerpts from Rodale Institute CEO Tim La Salle's PowerPoint presentation, "Regenerative 21st Century Farming: A Solution to Global Warming & The Organic Green Revolution."
LaSalle summarizes Rodale research that shows how the combination of organic agriculture, managed grazing and restorative forestry could sequester 100% of global greenhouse gas emissions.Excerpts from Rodale Institute CEO Tim La Salle's PowerPoint presentation,... more-
- JanforGore
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- 1 month ago
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Going beyond organic: Analog forestry
Even on his best days in Sri Lanka’s central highland mountains, running the family tea export business, T.P. Letchumana Raj always imagined that he would diversify into other crops. He had seen the tea trade suffer in the late 1980s, but beyond the plantation grounds he had also seen harmful modern land management lead to environmental blight and financial ruin.
So Mr. Raj turned to organic cultivation – with a twist. Instead of merely changing farm practices, he melded agriculture with the surrounding forests. Carefully selecting tree, shrub, and vine plantings, he created complex ecosystems capable of producing crops for people while providing habitat for birds, insects, and animals. By 1992 his company, Lanka Organics, had become a pioneering producer, marketer, and exporter of certified organic produce – first tea, then cashews, spices, coconuts, mangoes, papayas, pineapples, and tamarind pods cultivated through a now internationally recognized agroforestry system known as analog forestry.
“The idea was to go beyond organic,” says Raj. Lanka Organics sells certified products to Australia, Europe, and Japan, and has marketing plans drawn up for the United States.
Although the trade volumes are minuscule, just a few million dollars’ worth per year, the idea has spread to more than 20 countries, including Brazil, India, Ecuador, and Peru. Soon to appear on European store shelves: tea and chocolate marketed under analog forestry’s certification, called Forest Garden Products.
This kind of restoration ecology has gained momentum in recent years because of a glaring biodiversity problem within many organic agriculture and sustainable forestry systems. Often producers are simply replacing one monoculture – a field devoted to a single crop – with another. The result may be less pesticide and synthetic fertilizer use, but leaders in the organic movement – from developing nations to the US – are beginning to wonder how sustainable that is.
“Organic certification calls for either mixed or intercropped cultivation, but this is not strictly adhered to,” says Deva Vikrnatha, who conducted some of the first internationally recognized organic inspections in China, Indonesia, and Pakistan and is now in charge of Forest Garden Products certification. Analog forestry closes this loophole by broadening biodiversity concerns beyond vegetation to include the impact of soil, water, and tree and plant cover on the ecosystem.
The inspiration for Forest Garden Products was Sri Lanka’s long tradition of “home gardens,” where locals grew a wide variety of food on cultivated land interspersed with forest. Looking for an alternative to monocultures of pine and eucalyptus tree farms, Sri Lankan ecologist Ranil Senanayake in 1982 developed the concept of analog forestry. The big idea: By encouraging villagers to plant carefully selected trees in their farm plots, they could rejuvenate degraded ecosystems and restore biodiversity while growing crops that would feed themselves and, perhaps, command premium prices in developed nations.Even on his best days in Sri Lanka’s central highland mountains, running the family... more-
- JanforGore
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- 1 month ago
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BIODIVERSITY: Earth's life support systems failing
The world has failed to slow the accelerating extinction crisis despite 17 years of national and international efforts since the great hopes raised at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.
The last big promise to act was in 2003, when government ministers from 123 countries committed to reduce the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010.
Experts convening an international meeting in South Africa this week agree that target will not be met next year, which is also the International Year of Biodiversity.
"It is hard to imagine a more important priority than protecting the ecosystem services underpinned by biodiversity," said Georgina Mace of Imperial College in London, and vice chair of the international DIVERSITAS programme, a broad science-based collaborative.
"We will certainly miss the target for reducing the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010," said Mace in a statement.
Biodiversity is not just weird-looking animals and pretty birds. It is the diversity of life on Earth that comprises the ecosystems that provide vital services, including climate regulation, food, fibre, clean water and air.
By some estimates, 12,000 species go extinct every year, and the rate is accelerating. Akin to a cataclysmic asteroid, pollution, logging, over-exploitation, consumption, land use changes and engineering projects have produced the planet's sixth great extinction of species.
Freshwater ecosystems may be the first collapse of one of Earth's life support systems in 13,000 years. Species that live in lakes and rivers are vanishing four to six times faster than anywhere else on the planet, said Klement Tockner of the Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries in Germany.
"There is clear and growing scientific evidence that we are on the verge of a major freshwater biodiversity crisis," Tockner told IPS.
Some experts predict that by 2025, not a single Chinese river will reach the sea, except during floods, with tremendous effects on coastal fisheries in China. Worldwide, all 25 species of sturgeon and all species of the river dolphins are either extinct or facing extinction. The species remaining in the world's great rivers like the Danube, Rhine, Hudson and Mekong are mostly non-native species, Tockner said.
"This is a complete change, and few are aware of the threat," he added.
Freshwater ecosystems cover only 0.8 percent of the planet's surface, but they contain roughly 10 percent of all animals, including more than 35 percent of all vertebrates. The pace of extinctions is quickening, Tockner warns - especially in hot spot areas around the Mediterranean, in Central America, China and throughout Southeast Asia.
"Our priority must be to conserve the last free flowing river systems...there are very few left," he said.
And many have new dams proposed to generate carbon-free electricity. Ironically, freshwater ecosystems do a better job at keeping carbon out of the atmosphere as they absorb and bury about seven percent of the carbon humans add annually to the atmosphere.
"Scientists are alarmed at how fact things are unraveling," said Hal Mooney, an environmental biologist from Stanford University in California and the chair of DIVERSITAS, which is convening its Second Open Science Conference Oct. 13-16 with 600 experts from around the world.
"There is a real sense of urgency, but not amongst policy-makers," Mooney told IPS from Nairobi, Kenya last week.The world has failed to slow the accelerating extinction crisis despite 17 years of... more-
- JanforGore
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- 1 month ago
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Lebanon: 'Nature in the city: Blog Action Day 2009'
The environmental health department developed several studies around the impact of war on the environment – such as the growing costs of landmines.
"Landmines have been planted in different parts of the world not only to secure borders but also to continue harming thousands of innocent people many years after," Aya Fayyad an AUB student and creator of the project said.
"They also have adverse economical, environmental and public health affects. Also, the tentative restoration of lands and water bodies contaminated with landmines keep increasing yearly environmental costs. In order to minimize this global problem, states should sign the treaty to ban landmines, to secure a world free of landmines and a healthier future."The environmental health department developed several studies around the impact of war... more-
- Simba_Russeau
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- 1 month ago
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Organic foods. Sorry, really, it's the only way to go!
Title of the article posted here: The great Organic myths rebutted
In response to this http://current.com/items/91178790_organic-foods-sorry-really-i-wished-it-was-true-too.htm
Excerpts:
"Fact one: Organic farming is good for the environment"
"The Sustainable Development Commission says that organic certification represents "the gold standard" for sustainable food production. I farmed non-organically for more than 30 years, and switched to organic, mainly to try to bring back wildlife on the farm. We have far more birds, and data on hares before and after switching to organic show numbers doubled from 20 to 40. This year we found 56."
"Fact two: Organic farming is more sustainable"
"Last week's article contained several errors – for example, the statement that organic tomatoes take double the amount of energy to produce is wrong, as were the figures for different types of tomato. The information on the climate change impact of organic food omitted one of the key benefits of organic farming: storing carbon in the soil. When this is included, the climate change impact of organic food goes down by between 12 and 80 per cent. "
"Fact three: Organic farming doesn't use pesticides"
"We've never claimed this! The Soil Association's rules allow farmers to use four pesticides, with permission. Non-organic farming uses more than 300. The vast majority of organic farmers have no need for sprays. If all farming was organic, spraying would fall by 98 per cent. Organic sprays are mainly used on potatoes and in orchards. Those we allow are either of natural origin (rotenone and soft soap) or simple chemical products – copper compounds and sulphur. The active ingredients in rotenone and soft soap break down rapidly when exposed to sunlight, minimising risk to the environment. Copper and sulphur occur naturally in the soil, and most copper is applied by non-organic farmers to correct copper deficiencies. None is found in organic food."
"Fact four: Pesticide levels in conventional food are dangerous"
"Fact five: Organic farming is healthier"
"Fact six: Organic food contains more nutrients"
"Fact seven: The demand for organic food is growing"
"Long-term trials in the US found organic yields matching those from non-organic systems, with organic farming outperforming non-organic in drought years. Even with the uncertainties, in a world of increasing scarcity of fossil fuels, organic farming provides the only environmentally, or economically, sustainable system of feeding the world. Organic farming and food do not have all the answers. But solar-powered, animal and wildlife friendly, pesticide- and additive-free farming and food, is where we're heading."
Go on and read the truth at the link.
One more message from me, to all people that promote the opposite:
You don't know or
"It's difficult to get a man to understand something if his salary depends upon his not understanding it."
By Upton Sinclair
Join Organic:
http://current.com/groups/organicgreen/Title of the article posted here: The great Organic myths rebutted In response... more-
- lookatmypix
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- 1 month ago
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Uncertain Peril: Genetic Engineering and the Future of Seeds
Claire Hope Cummings was an environmental lawyer for 20 years. An environmental journalist, she has also farmed in both California and Vietnam. This essay is an excerpt from her new book, Uncertain Peril: Genetic Engineering and the Future of Seeds (Beacon Press, 2008) .
On a frozen island near the North Pole, a huge hole has been blasted out of the side of an Arctic mountain and a tunnel has been drilled deep into the rock. When the facility under construction here is completed, it will be lined with one-meter-thick concrete, fitted with two high-security blast-proof airlock doors, and built to withstand nuclear war, global warming, terrorism, and the collapse of the earth's energy supplies. It's known as the "Doomsday Vault," and in it will be stored millions of seeds and mankind's hope for the future of the world's food supply.
The idea is that in the event of massive ecological destruction, those seeds could be used to reconstruct the planet's agricultural systems. Exactly who might remain to begin replanting the earth after such a catastrophe is only one of the questions this astounding project raises. The more immediate question is, are seeds in peril? The answer is yes, especially the seeds that provide us with food, fiber, and fuel. Both the diversity and the integrity of seeds are threatened, in the wild and on our farms. They are being put at risk by agricultural technologies, patents and corporate ownership, and the overall degradation of the environment. The plight of seeds is one of the most important environmental stories of our time. Until now, however, this critical issue has not received the attention it deserves.
Seeds are as critical to our survival as air, water, and soil. And yet despite the everyday miracles that they perform, we tend to take them for granted. Seeds sustain the beauty and vitality of the earth. Seeds are essential to the regenerative capacity of the planet. We will need their natural resilience and adaptability even more as temperatures rise. Biologically, each seed has a unique way of fulfilling its promise. Taken together, the world's seeds maintain the plant systems that keep the planet breathing. Every breath we take has been exhaled by a plant, which turned it into oxygen for us. Seeds have always been our silent partners in maintaining life on earth.
People and plants coevolved through the ages, and that relationship has been mutually beneficial. Seed plants dependably meet our needs, producing the corn and rice we eat, the flax and cotton we weave, and the oak and pine we use for shelter. Eighty percent of the people in the world still rely on plants as their primary source of medicine. The remains of long-dead plants provide all of us with our fossil fuels. As metaphors, seeds are a rich source of inspiration in art, literature, and religion. We cannot afford to lose any more of this generosity, this beauty, this abundance.
We find ourselves at a dramatic turning point for life on earth. Population and consumption are rapidly expanding. Industrial food production is exhausting the planet's basic biological support systems, making them even more vulnerable to the effects of global warming. The natural world is experiencing catastrophic losses of biodiversity, fresh water, and fertile soil. All of these trends are threatening seeds and forcing us to take a careful look at how we will feed ourselves in the future. It comes down to this: whoever controls the future of seeds controls the future of life on earth.
http://www.clairehopecummings.com/book.htmlClaire Hope Cummings was an environmental lawyer for 20 years. An environmental... more-
- JanforGore
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- 1 month ago
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25 U.S. National Parks in Peril
Our parks are in start of decline, reports this recent article from Grist. If pictures of melting arctic sea ice or stories of 'climate refugees' have yet to hit home (where it hurts), our national parks -- more local barometers for planetary health -- are now telling a similar tale...
from article:
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The 25 most endangered parks are being threatened by dramatic declines in snow and water, by rising seas, extreme weather, the disappearance of native plants and wildlife, and by the onslaught of nonstop, human-generated pollution. The changes have already begun.
Warmer temperatures have killed as many as 90 percent of the pinon pines in Colorado’s Mesa Verde National Park. Grizzly bear birth rates are in decline in Yellowstone National Park along with the whitebark pine tree, which is being threatened by infestations of mountain pine beetle.
Zion National ParkZion National ParkPhoto: National Parks ServiceAccording to the report, “Climate change from human activity is the leading threat to wildlife, plants, water and ice in 25 of America ’s national parks.” From Denali in Alaska to the Florida Everglades, the 25 most at-risk parks span 22 states. Taken together, they represent many of America’s most majestic and wondrous natural landscapes.
The report warns that unless we can get our arms around the problem of climate change, namesake features will begin to vanish from our national parks – and soon. No more glaciers in Glacier National Park. No more Joshua trees in Joshua Tree National Monument. Some coastal parks – the Everglades and New York ’s Ellis Island are but two—will be completely submerged. And all of this could happen within the next 20 years.Our parks are in start of decline, reports this recent article from Grist. If pictures... more-
- jakewhitcomb
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- 1 month ago
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Seed saving: heirlooms of tomorrow
Heirloom vegetables hold a special place in many people’s hearts. Often they bring us a pleasant nostalgia of our ancestors in different regions preparing scrumptious feasts with garden-grown treasures. Technically a vegetable variety can be considered an heirloom once it has been cultivated for over fifty years. Some consider the year 1951 to be a cutoff point for heirlooms because many modern hybrid varieties were introduced at that point. Often a variety achieved heirloom status by virtue of its flavor, appearance, and general ability to perform well in a given region. Characteristics such as disease resistance, cold hardiness, and vigor were very important before modern crop supports came to dominate the food supply. With respect to vegetable varieties, heirlooms were synonymous with place.
Nowadays, we tend to view heirloom vegetables differently. We want to taste the garden culture of the whole world in our own backyard, despite where we live. Because of the relative youth of our displaced, transplanted culture, we conveniently overlook the reality that many of the traits for which heirlooms were selected had to do with a varietal’s adaptation to a regions climate, pests, diseases, and cultural preferences. Internet shopping, mail-order commerce, FedEx, and cell phones have placed the whole world’s wealth within our grasp. Nonetheless, we still can’t dial up our desired climate or day length; there are limits to our technological prowess. Thank goodness!
Take red and purple carrots, for instance. In India there exists a cultural preference for these colors in carrots, which are predominantly used for cooking. The average climate in India is too warm to produce the crisp, sweet, fresh eating carrots that we clamor for at farmers’ markets across the country. So, what do we do when we desire a rainbow of colors for our bunches of carrots for fresh eating? Well, we turn to the heirloom of another culture and try to use it as we would an orange, fresh market variety. Sadly, the results are somewhat lackluster. The flavor of red and purple carrots doesn’t hold a candle to the sugar-on-a-stick sweetness of “Nantes” type carrots to which we have grown accustomed. A plant breeding failure, or a misguided application for a fine heirloom cooking carrot that grows well in warm subtropical climates? You decide. I’ll stick to my proven regional favorites, thank you.
John Navazio and Matthew Dillon at the Organic Seed Alliance have coined the term “Heirlooms of Tomorrow” to describe a bioregional-based approach to selection for varieties that perform well within their intended marketplace. While many of our traditional heirlooms are certainly worthy of preserving for their cultural significance and fine attributes, we tend to glorify them based on their heritage alone.Heirloom vegetables hold a special place in many people’s hearts. Often they bring... more-
- JanforGore
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Frogs becoming homogenous as species disappear
Like neighborhood coffee shops and independent movie theaters around the United States, unusual varieties of frogs are rapidly disappearing from rainforests in Central America.
A fungal infection seems to be hitting those rare species of frogs harder than common ones, found a new study, leading to local extinctions and a homogenized version of nature where everything is more similar than it used to be. The result is both a less interesting world aesthetically and a less resilient one biologically.
"Everyone knew that amphibian declines were really bad," said ecologist Kevin Smith, of Washington University in St. Louis. "But it looks like it's worse than we actually thought."
continued at linkLike neighborhood coffee shops and independent movie theaters around the United... more-
- JanforGore
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Honeybees, Bumble Bees, and now Ladybugs-- they're all going on strike
Scientists are asking children, adults, families, educators and everyone from two to 102-years-old to join a citizens-science group to help our ladybugs.
Ladybugs were once one of the most common bugs found across the U.S. and Canada. Controlling pests that attack farm harvests, balancing the ecosystems in forests and fields, their industriousness is an important part of the ecosystem.
During the past two decades as invasive look-alike ladybugs expanded their territories and pollution and habitat loss have crowded them out, species of Native ladybugs began vanishing and the invasive species began increasing. These include the multicolored Asian ladybug, checkerboard ladybug and the seven-spotted ladybug.
The larger, rounder multicolored Asian ladybug had been introduced as a biological control for scale bugs then mass produced across the lands. It even eats ladybug larvae. The checkerboard ladybug, which is small and yellow, hitched a ride from Europe through the St. Lawrence River in the 1960s and has since been traveling steadily southward. The seven-spotted ladybug, also from Europe, came to North America in 1956. Its population extended its range as the Native nine-spotted and two-spotted began disappearing.
“This has happened very quickly and we don't know how this shift happened, what impact it will have, and how we can prevent more native species from becoming so rare,” said John E. Losey, Cornell University entomologist.
In June 2007 the Lost Ladybug collaborators, headed by Losey, received a $2 million grant from the National Science Foundation to expand the program throughout New York and extend it nationally. Their goal is to use citizen science to bring more participation in the search for the bugs. The ladybugs are collected into viles with twigs and drops of water. The date, time and place they were found are written down. The discoveries are placed on a gray square and their pictures are taken. Digital images are sent to the projects website, or color prints can be mailed to the university. The ladybugs are returned to where they were found.
The database will help scientists understand the shifting changes on earth, help farmers with crops and further understanding of rare species and the ecosystems in which they live. There are more than 5,000 species of ladybugs around the earth. About 450 are Native to North America. It’s not yet known if the new species inhabiting the continent will serve the same function or favor the same habitats as the native species.
In turn, youth will learn about the place of the ladybug in the community of nature and the importance of biodiversity and conservation for the web of life through hands-on participation in research. Educational materials, books, collection viles and nets are provided through Cornell University.
The project's website will post instructions for finding collection sites, making nets, photographing ladybugs, submitting data and uploading photos. The website will also offer an automated identification feature to provide people with real-time feedback on species that have been collected. Ladybug lore, myths, songs and culturally based stories are being posted to explain the relationships between ladybugs, pests and our food.
As of this year, more than 3,000 ladybugs will be in the new data display sent in by hundreds of participants across the U.S. and Canada.Scientists are asking children, adults, families, educators and everyone from two to... more-
- asherp
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U.S. says climate bill might not pass in time
You know, at this point I say, SO WHAT? It isn't as if this Congress is even going to give us a bill that the Earth NEEDS. 17% reductions of GHGs by 2020 is PITIFUL. Dragging your feet on giving us REAL fuel emissions standards is PITIFUL when scientists have already stated we could be getting 80 miles to the gallon in our cars. And where are the subsidies for the AFFORDABLE hybrid plug- ins for the middle class? Ignoring Arctic melt because you want to secure sea routes for the resources there is PITIFUL. Ignoring the effects your cronyism in the agricultural sector are having on the environment is PITIFUL. Continuing to allow the practice of mountaintop removal is CRIMINAL.
So by all means, U.S. Congress, show the world your true colors and just how bought and sold to the coal and oil industries you really are even at a time of planetary crisis. Then go to Copenhagen hanging your heads in shame. Approving the Alberta Clipper pipeline to pipe in dirty bitumen tarsands while trying to tell the world the U.S Is ready to tackle climate change is also an insult to our intelligence. But go ahead, continue to think you can rickroll the American people with your doubletalk and ignorance. The day will come when your decades of inaction will have the full effect and your petty, selfish, politically partisan drivel will be seen for the irrelevance it is.
This also proves their level of consciousness about this is nil. It is not now a question of them having the luxury of a CHOICE as to whether they can pass this in time or not. This is a moral imperative that scientists state must be done and done right to stave off the worst effects of a crisis that will change our way of life. This in essence IS our healthcare bill, because without a sustainable planet we have nothing else, including health.
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Excerpt:
The fate of U.S. legislation capping carbon emissions weighed heavily on delegates at U.N. climate talks starting Monday in Bangkok, with the Americans saying delays in passing the bill could deter commitments from other nations.
Negotiations on a new U.N. climate pact have been bogged down by a broad unwillingness to commit to firm emissions targets, and a refusal by developing countries to sign a deal until the West guarantees tens of billions of dollars in financial assistance — something rich countries have so far refused to do.
"The more specific we can be, the easier it is to press others to be equally specific," Jonathan Pershing, the chief U.S. negotiator at the talks, told The Associated Press. "We have a lot of things we want from countries. ... The less we can put on the table, the harder it is to achieve that outcome."
The two weeks of U.N. climate talks in the Thai capital are drawing some 1,500 delegates from 180 countries to boil down a 200-page draft agreement to something more manageable, aiming for a new international climate pact this year.
In June, the U.S. House of Representatives passed its first bill to cap carbon emissions. The Senate, currently embroiled in debate on health care, is expected to take up the legislation as early as this week.
But Pershing said he doubted there's enough time to pass a climate bill in Congress before the year's biggest climate change negotiations in Copenhagen in December, which aims to reach a deal to replace the Kyoto Protocol expiring in 2012.
end of excerptYou know, at this point I say, SO WHAT? It isn't as if this Congress is even going to... more-
- JanforGore
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- 1 month ago
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Dear Big Ag: World Hunger Is Not for Sale
What a beautiful article:
"The objectives of this week's Global Harvest Initiative symposium, which focused on coordinated efforts to address world hunger, were compelling. World hunger already affects 1 billion people and the numbers are projected to climb. Unfortunately, thanks to big agribusiness sponsors ADM, DuPont, John Deere and Monsanto, the event ultimately amounted to nothing more than glitzy green packaging for the same old unnecessary gift of chemical dependence for the world's farmers."
More:
"By framing global food security in terms of "not enough food," the Global Harvest Initiative seems stuck on doing the same old thing harder and faster, citing technology and high-input dependent systems as the solution to world hunger.
What was Einstein's definition of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. The GHI seems to be ignoring this wisdom--more food alone won't help starving people until the global agricultural system radically shifts its focus to address the barriers of poverty (the inability to buy food) and distribution (getting food to where people are)."
More excerpts:
"As demonstrated by 30 years of research in our Farming Systems Trial, organic and near-organic techniques offer robust, biodiverse, productive and regenerative systems that can out-produce chemical approaches in drier and wetter seasons.
Organic restoration is true conservation -- a focus of yesterday's symposium -- that does not require us to choose between areas that will be protected and areas that must be sacrificed to our agricultural destruction. Well-managed organic systems actually increase biodiversity throughout farmed land at every level of the food chain.
And while the GHI mission calls for more money, attention, research, trade and policy support for chemically dependent farming systems, it ignores the findings of many of the world food study groups, who maintain that organic and ecological production systems are the best hope for transforming the "feeding the world" challenge."
The last passage is what I loved the most, I dream... :
"In the midst of all this big-ag hype, the true agenda of the GHI symposium is clear: more money for chemical agriculture systems. But no amount of money can offset the true cost of these systems -- to our environment, and to our health. I want hungry people to be fed, farmers to prosper, ecosystems to thrive while farming improves, wildlife to flourish, and whole bio-regions to develop sustainable economies. That's why I demand organic agriculture be front and center on the global food agenda."
Join Organic:
http://current.com/groups/organicgreen/What a beautiful article: "The objectives of this week's Global Harvest Initiative... more-
- lookatmypix
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- 1 month ago
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Dead-end agriculture says it will feed the world
Don't fall for their lies.
Excerpt:
The compelling humanitarian goals expressed today at the corporately sponsored Global Harvest Initiative symposium were laudable, as were some of the hunger-relief projects cited. Missing, however, was an honest assessment of the limits of dead-end chemical agriculture to play a leading role in actually feeding people.
Also absent from the high-powered forum was a prominent role for what organic agriculture is already doing to meet the most important goals on the food-hunger-nutrition side of the problem.
The event, despite all the good people presenting and all the calls for curbing the environmental harm of chemical ag, amounted to glitzy green packaging for the same unnecessary gift of chemical dependence for the world's farmers. GHI is sponsored by ADM, DuPont, John Deere and Monsanto. (Yes, the same Monsanto which has promised to double its profits by 2012 with continuing introductions of "high impact technology" seeds.)
In his opening remarks, GHI executive director William Lesher placed the focus firmly on the need for more food, highlighting a projected "productivity gap" that will require a doubling of current world food output by 2050. This thinking follows the outlines of a white paper by GHI in April: "Accelerating Productivity Growth: The 21st Century Global Agriculture Challenge: A White Paper on Agricultural Policy." Yet more food alone won't help starving people until the global agricultural system radically shifts its focus to address the barriers of poverty (the inability to buy food) and distribution (getting food people want to where they are).
By framing global food security in terms of "not enough food," the Global Harvest Initiative seems stuck on doing the same old thing harder and faster. It backers still push expensive seeds and continued dependence on climate-damaging inputs. Organic and near-organic techniques offer robust, biodiverse, productive and regenerative systems that can out-produce chemical approaches in drier and wetter seasons.
The symposium's highlighting of groups seeking environmental and social benefits may do some good -- if the groups can break industrial ag's profit-driven willingness to sacrifice soil vitality, agricultural biodiversity, human endocrine and neurological health, farmer control of seeds and a nation's nutritional well-being. Or it may just be the best agri-greenwashing money can buy.
Sustainable Agriculture Group:
http://current.com/groups/sustainable-agriculture/Don't fall for their lies. Excerpt: The compelling humanitarian goals expressed... more-
- JanforGore
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- 2 months ago
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Sudden collapse in ancient biodiversity: was global warming the culprit?
Scientists have unearthed striking evidence for a sudden ancient collapse in plant biodiversity. A trove of 200 million-year-old fossil leaves collected in East Greenland tells the story, carrying its message across time to us today.
Results of the research appear in this week's issue of the journal Science.
The researchers were surprised to find that a likely candidate responsible for the loss of plant life was a small rise in the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, which caused Earth's temperature to rise.
Global warming has long been considered as the culprit for extinctions--the surprise is that much less carbon dioxide gas in the atmosphere may be needed to drive an ecosystem beyond its tipping point than previously thought.
"Earth's deep time climate history reveals startling discoveries that shake the foundations of our knowledge and understanding of climate change in modern times," says H. Richard Lane, program director in the National Science Foundation (NSF)'s Division of Earth Sciences, which partially funded the research.
Jennifer McElwain of University College Dublin, the paper's lead author, cautions that sulfur dioxide from extensive volcanic emissions may also have played a role in driving the plant extinctions.
"We have no current way of detecting changes in sulfur dioxide in the past, so it's difficult to evaluate whether sulfur dioxide, in addition to a rise in carbon dioxide, influenced this pattern of extinction," says McElwain.
The time interval under study, at the boundary of the Triassic and Jurassic periods, has long been known for its plant and animal extinctions.
Until this research, the pace of the extinctions was thought to have been gradual, taking place over millions of years.
It has been notoriously difficult to tease out details about the pace of extinction using fossils, scientists say, because fossils can provide only snap-shots or glimpses of organisms that once lived.
Using a technique developed by scientist Peter Wagner of the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., the researchers were able to detect, for the first time, very early signs that these ancient ecosystems were already deteriorating--before plants started going extinct.
The method reveals early warning signs that an ecosystem is in trouble in terms of extinction risk.
"The differences in species abundances for the first 20 meters of the cliffs [in East Greenland] from which the fossils were collected," says Wagner, "are of the sort you expect. "But the final 10 meters show dramatic loses of diversity that far exceed what we can attribute to sampling error: the ecosystems were supporting fewer and fewer species."
By the year 2100, it's expected that the level of carbon dioxide in the modern atmosphere may reach as high as two and a half times today's level.
"This is of course a 'worst case scenario,'" says McElwain. "But it's at exactly this level [900 parts per million] at which we detected the ancient biodiversity crash.
"We must take heed of the early warning signs of deterioration in modern ecosystems. We've learned from the past that high levels of species extinctions--as high as 80 percent--can occur very suddenly, but they are preceded by long interval of ecological change."
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Join the Sustainable Agriculture Group here at Current.com for the latest information on GMOs, biodiversity, soil health, climate change, food politics, and how industrial agriculture is effecting our environment and our health. You will also find ways that you can become active in solutions.
http://current.com/groups/sustainable-agriculture/
And of course, we cannot have agriculture without water:
http://current.com/groups/water-is-life/Scientists have unearthed striking evidence for a sudden ancient collapse in plant... more-
- JanforGore
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- 2 months ago
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