tagged w/ Food Sovereignty
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The Just Label It (JLI) Campaign announced today that a record-breaking one million Americans of all political persuasions have called on the FDA to label genetically engineered (GE) foods. Today, March 27, is the date that the FDA is required to respond to the petition. It took JLI and its more than 500 partner organizations less than 180 days to accumulate a record breaking number of public comments--a testament to the power of collective voices to demand our right to know what's in our food. (I've written about the campaign before here, here, and here.)
The campaign also announced today a new national survey revealing that more than nine out of 10 Americans across the political spectrum supports labeling food that has been genetically engineered. This new infographic is a compelling visual that shares the results of the survey.
New Survey Results: Motherhood, Apple Pie and GE Food Labeling
Voter support for GE-foods labeling in the U.S. is nearly unanimous, according to the political opinion survey on GE food labeling conducted by The Mellman Group on behalf of JLI. Explained pollster Mark Mellman, "Few topics other than motherhood and apple pie can muster over 90 percent support, but labeling GE-foods is one of those few views held almost unanimously." The survey found nearly all Democrats (93% favor, 2% oppose), Independents (90% favor, 5% oppose) and Republicans (89% favor, 5% oppose) in favor of labeling. The study also revealed that support for labeling is robust and arguments against it have little sway.
In the era of pink slime, BPA in our soup and deadly melons, we have a right more than ever to know about what's in our food. The FDA needs to restore confidence in our food and our right to know about the food we eat and feed our families. It's time for the FDA to give Americans the same rights held by citizens in over 40 nations, including all of our major trade partners, to know whether our foods have been genetically modified.
Stay tuned as the campaign now works to make sure that the FDA and Washington knows that one million Americans are watching to make sure they deliver.
More at the linkThe Just Label It (JLI) Campaign announced today that a record-breaking one million... more
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I might presume that most of You are aware of the Venus Project and the Zeitgeist Movement - if not, search the web, as there is much information. What Jacque Fresco and Peter Joseph, the founders of these movements respectively, fail to grasp, in Each's approach to a "resource based economy" is that the planet We live on is vastly abundant, and the universe offers incalculable amounts of energy.
As all economies of today are based on energy, with money needed to account for the meaningful energy expended, adding abundant energy eliminates the need for an economy as We presently know it.
(For more on the basis of economies in an energy-scarce world, see My blog: http://amaterasu101.tumblr.com/)
Adding overunity in a form drawing on the "dark" energy of the universe allows the elimination of an economy altogether, in any sense We Humans grasp as an economy today. As resource abundance and energy abundance flow, the economy will become a social one, not resource-based.
Released to follow One's bliss, We all will place value, not on resources, but on reputation.
To illustrate this I will offer an example of a painter - but this could be a scientist, an architect, a programmer, a robotics expert, or any other bliss-driven activity that offers betterment.
In the abundance paradigm, Our artist may order Her brushes, paints and canvases (all created by robots and any whose bliss it is to create these things) from the web, delivered to Her by robots (or, should there be any, One whose bliss it is to deliver things...).
She blissfully paints as Her heart leads Her, spending as much time as She chooses - She has no deadline - in completing Her work. Once She is satisfied that the painting is done, She photographs it and emails the picture to Her "followers." She may have a small list or a very large list. She may post the picture on websites to build Her list of followers (Her reputation).
Those who like and want Her painting will contact Her and then She may ask questions, seeking the highest appreciation of Her work (Her "payment" in the form of appreciation). Eventually, She decides on the recipient of Her piece, sending it via robot to the One She feels most appreciates Her efforts.
Those who appreciate Her work leave glowing comments at Her site...
The resources are not the base of the economy; the social aspects of reputation, appreciation, name recognition, lauds, Self-satisfaction, and so on are what the "economy" will be based on. Though resources are needed to facilitate abundance, they are not the basis of economy in abundance.
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So sign a petition for the release of the "free energy" technology of electrogravitics, click here:
http://chn.ge/AouRTZI might presume that most of You are aware of the Venus Project and the Zeitgeist... more
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Positive action for positive change...
As part of the Global Day of Action to Shut Down Monsanto on Saturday, this action was co-organized by AGRA Watch/Community Alliance for Global Justice, Washington Fair Trade Coalition, Washington Biotechnology Action Council, and GMO-Free Washington. The protest was directed at the Gates Foundation for their efforts to spread Monsanto’s dangerous GMOs throughout Africa.Positive action for positive change...
As part of the Global Day of Action to Shut... more
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Progress is definitely being made at the state level regarding bills being put forth to label GE foods. The latest one is from the state of New Jersey. S1367 is a bipartisan bill proposed by state senators Vitale (D) and Singer (R) that seeks to label GE foods. I emphasize bipartisan because in the US we don't see too much of that of late. I also emphasize it because I truly do think that is the only way to see progress on bills like this. It also emphasizes that this important issue transcends political lines because genetically engineered foods affect us all.
I will be posting some information you can use if you would like to contact the NJ legislature to support this bill being passed. I wrote to my legislator a few months ago on this and was part of outreaches to see this bill come to pass, so I am happy it has finally been proposed. Here is the note I sent them yesterday to ask the legislature to support the bill:
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As a constituent who is very concerned about the food I eat and the effects of genetic modification of seeds on our health and environment, I would like you to support bi-partisan legislation introduced by Senator Singer and Senator Vitale to require labels for genetically engineered foods.
Since GE foods were first introduced in the U.S. food supply in 1996 without our knowledge or consent these foods have increased to 94% of soy crops and 88% of corn crops. Despite the prevalence of GE foods in the food supply the USDA continues to rely on industry safety studies to determine public health impacts of these foods. These organisms which are dominated by Monsanto's BT soy and corn (a registered pesticide with the EPA) sprayed with glyphosate (Round Up) cause transgenic contamination of organic crops which has also cost small scale organic farmers their livelihoods while threatening biodiversity through polluting rivers, streams and being found in the human bloodstream.
Independent studies on these organisms as well have shown effects on kidney cells with other potential health effects such as allergies. Up to this point the term "substantial equivalence" has been applied to imply these GE seeds are the same as conventional seeds. This is not the case. Therefore, without labels consumers have no idea which foods they are eating are genetically engineered. Having the ability to choose the foods you eat to avoid those that may be unhealthy to you and your children is a fundamental right. Many other countries in Europe as well as Asia have labelling requirements for GE foods. Americans as well have the right to know what they are eating.
Please follow the lead of Senator Singer and Senator Vitale by co-sponsoring S1367 and supporting the labeling of genetically engineered foods.
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We can do this. The state level seems to be the only place we can. It is imperative we work to protect our biodiversity and change our destructive unhealthy food system, especially in the face of the global crises we face regarding climate and economy.
http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/
NJ State Legislature
http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/2012/Bills/S1500/1367_I1.HTM
S1367Progress is definitely being made at the state level regarding bills being put forth... more
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Monsanto has closed its facility in Davis after 150 occupiers from throughout the state blocked the entrances to Monsanto’s Davis facility on 1910 5th Street.
The occupiers reported they have “shut down” the corporate giant, which produces genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and is notorious for its inordinate influence over the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under the Obama administration. Police are now on the scene.
You can see the protest live at sacmedia.tv.
The protest is part of a “Global Days of Action to Shut Down Monsanto” in dozens of U.S. cities and several countries. Occupy groups from Sacramento, Davis, Woodland and even Los Angeles are expected to participate, as well as labor, environmental, veterans and social justice groups.
“We are calling for a ‘global class-action’ against Monsanto,” said Steven Payan, one of the Davis protest organizers. “We are joining the world in solidarity to demand a ban on all GMO foods and hold Monsanto accountable for its actions throughout history from Agent Orange to Deforestation to current and past deaths to preying on small farmers through a broken court system and also through International Free Trade Agreements.”
Payan said Monsanto has been linked to massive pollution, including the poisoning of drinking water, genetically modified crops and seeds, chopping down rain forests and other types of social justice and environmental destruction.
Several countries, including Brazil, India, Haiti, Peru, France and others in Europe, have enacted recent bans or restrictions on Monsanto and its GMO foods. People worldwide are demanding restitution for hundreds of thousands of deaths, birth defects, suicides and ailments linked to Monsanto. 300,000 organic farmers recently sued Monsanto, according to Payan.
Among the endorsers of the Monsanto protest are The Anti-Monsanto Project, Occupy Woodland & Occupy UC Davis (Occupy Yolo County), Occupy Sacramento, Occupy Yuba-Sutter, Occupy Redding, Occupy Chico, Peace & Freedom Party, PSL Sacramento, Native People Association, Sierra Club, Rebuild the Dream, Labor Council for Latin American Advancement AFLCIO, MEChA de Woodland Community College, SEIU-Justice for Janitors, Revolutionary Hip-Hop Report, SoL Communications, Battle Creek Alliance, Sierraforest.org, Geo-Engineering Watch, Northbay Uprising, West Sacramento LULAC, SmallWorldRadio.net, United Native Americans and more.
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Also today, Occupy Monsanto’s agents of change with the Genetic Crimes Unit (GCU), a group designed to protect America from genetically modified foods, will wear bio-hazmat suits when they visit Congress. The group will gather at Capitol South Metro station in Washington D.C. at noon to highlight how chemical company Monsanto is contaminating our political process.
The GCU opposes Monsanto’s bid to increase spraying of food with toxic weed killers like 2,4 D (the main ingredient in Agent Orange), genetic contamination of the organic food supply, and other risks associated with genetically modified food (GMOs).
The GCU will arrive at the metro station wearing bio-hazmat suits to assess whether Members of Congress and their staff have been victims of genetic crimes. The GCU will hold a banner that reads, “Congress is Genetically Modified,” as they circulate on Capitol Hill sidewalks.
This day of action is part of a larger international call to ‘Occupy Monsanto’ taking place all over the globe including Spain, Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and at least 28 cities throughout the US.
More at the link
http://www.occupymonsanto360.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/monsanto-touch-of-genius.jpgMonsanto has closed its facility in Davis after 150 occupiers from throughout the... more
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Electrogravitics... This technology was being developed and tested in all major aerospace companies in the 1950's. Martin, Convair, Lear, Sperry, Raytheon, and many others all were eagerly studying electrogravitics. But in 1959 or early 1960, the technology became highly classified and the path to energy abundance was stymied. Here is a basic description of electrogravitics:
First One has to understand that the model offered by Einstein is flawed... There are other models. There is one in particular...
The model, which I say is a far better one than relativity, is subquantum kinetics (SQK). Its developer, Dr. Paul A. LaViolette (an interesting character, to say the least), started with chemical kinetics (as above, so below?) and came up with SQK, being very concerned by its gravitational predictions. He had not heard of the Biefeld-Brown Effect, nor the work of T. Townsend Brown. He struggled with these predictions until He encountered Brown's work, discovering that SQK predicted exactly what Brown was showing experimentally.
Why is SQK better than relativity?
It takes no element on faith: Einstien's relativity is based on the faith that matter somehow "bends" space-time. Nowhere does He explain (or even try to) HOW or WHY this might be. One just has to take it on faith.
It explains things without the need for "renormalization;" relativity ends in infinities without this mathematical fudge.
It integrates EM with gravity. Einstein Himself died still trying to do so.
And it still predicts things like the lensing of light, the apparent time dilation, and all other predictions of relativity, plus more - all of which are testable (string theory is 100% untestable).
In fact, many of the mysteries of Einsteinian mathematics are predicted in SQK.
I recommend reading a book called Secrets of Antigravity Propulsion, by Dr. LaViolette, for more on the Biefeld-Brown Effect, Brown's work, electrogravitics, SQK, and more. It can be read here:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/47447158/secrets-of-antigravity-propulsion-pdf-november-11-2010-11-21-pm-28-7-meg
In SQK, positively charged particles have a positive gravity potential "well." Negatively charged particles have a negative gravity potential "hill." The positive particle's "well" is just the smallest fraction bigger than the negative "hill," accounting for the apparent weakness of gravity, where essentially even amounts of positively charged and negatively charged particles make up common matter, and in quantities as big as the earth, say, offer a slight "well" overall, thus explaining why We are aware of gravity at all.
The Biefeld-Brown Effect was discovered when it was noted that a dielectric with electrodes attached at either end, would lose weight when charged if the positive pole was pointed upwards on a scale, and gain weight when reversed. Higher voltage increased this effect. Study showed that the higher the K of the dielectric, the more pronounced the weight changes became, as well. Asymmetrical electrodes increased the effect. Also, a non-linear dielectric produced greater changes than a linear one. With high K, non-linear dielectrics, a substantial force could be observed, even to the point of levitation and a local gravity field was induced.
If, say, four devices were placed on a cross, each oriented 90° to the center and pointing in the same direction relative to that center, and a shaft was set at center and into a generator, when small amounts of energy are used at high voltage on the units, the resulting rotation will induce a greater output at the generator than the input to the units. Overunity is achieved.
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To sign a petition for the release of electrogravitics from black projects, please sign this petition and spread the information. If We can reach the tipping point of awareness, We can demand this technology:
http://www.change.org/petitions/us-military-release-the-technology-of-electrograviticsElectrogravitics... This technology was being developed and tested in all major... more
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Willie Nelson, Anna Lappe, Vandana Shiva, Michael Pollan, Raj Patel, Marion Nestle and Many Others Join 60+ Occupy Groups and 30+ Environmental and Food Groups for Global Day of Action
Monsanto and Cargill rise to top of food movement’s ire
SAN FRANCISCO (Thursday, February 23): On February 27, an unprecedented alliance of more than 60 Occupy groups and 30 environmental, food and corporate accountability organizations have joined together for Occupy our Food Supply, a global day of action resisting the corporate control of food systems.
The call to Occupy our Food Supply, facilitated by Rainforest Action Network, is being echoed by prominent thought leaders, authors, farmers and activists including the Indian environmentalist Vandana Shiva, Food Inc.’s Robert Kenner, music legend Willie Nelson, actor Woody Harrelson, and authors Michael Pollan, Raj Patel, Anna Lappe, Gary Paul Nabhan, and Marion Nestle, among others. (See quotes in release below). The central theme uniting this diverse coalition is a shared sense of urgency to resist the corporate consolidation of food systems and create socially and environmentally just local solutions.
"Nothing is more important than the food we eat and the family farmers who grow it," said Willie Nelson, Founder and President of Farm Aid. "Corporate control of our food system has led to the loss of millions of family farmers, destruction of our soil, pollution of our water and health epidemics of obesity and diabetes. We simply cannot afford it. Our food system belongs in the hands of many family farmers, not under the control of a handful of corporations."
From Brazil, Hungary, Ireland, and Argentina to dozens of states in the US, thousands of people will be participating in the February 27 global day of action. Participants will be reclaiming unused bank-owned lots to create community gardens; hosting seed exchanges in front of stock exchanges; labeling products on grocery store shelves that have genetically engineered ingredients; building community alliances to support locally owned grocery stores and resist Walmart megastores; and protesting food giants Monsanto and Cargill.
“Occupy our Food Supply is a day to reclaim our most basic life support system – our food – from corporate control. It is an unprecedented day of solidarity to create local, just solutions that steer our society away from the stranglehold of industrial food giants like Cargill and Monsanto,” said Ashley Schaeffer, Rainforest Agribusiness campaigner with Rainforest Action Network (RAN), of the day of action,
Never have so few corporations been responsible for more of our food chain. Of the 40,000 food items in a typical US grocery store, more than half are now brought to us by just 10 corporations. Today, three companies process more than 70 percent of all U.S. beef, Tyson, Cargill and JBS.[1] More than ninety percent of soybean seeds and 80 percent of corn seeds used in the United States are sold by just one company: Monsanto. Four companies are responsible for up to 90 percent of the global trade in grain. And one in four food dollars is spent at Walmart.
The overwhelming support for Occupy our Food Supply underscores the unity between farmers, parents, health care professionals, human rights activists, food justice advocates and food lovers around the world who are increasingly viewing their concerns as different manifestations of the same underlying problem: a food system structured for short term profit instead of the long term health of people and the planet.
Supporting groups include: Bay Localize, Berkeley Association for Animal Advocacy, Biosafety Alliance, California Food and Justice Coalition, Chiapas Support Committee, Family Farm Defenders, Food Democracy Now, Food First, National Family Farms Coalition, PAN (Pesticide Action Network), Pesticide Watch, Planting Justice, Organic Consumers Association, Occupy Big Food, Occupy Claremont, Occupy Cargill, Occupy DC, Occupy Delaware, Occupy Denver, Occupy Farms, Occupy for Animal Rights, Occupy Fort Lauderdale, Occupy Food, Occupy Gardens Toronto, Occupy Jacksonville, Occupy Maine, Occupy MN/Seeds of Change, Occupy Monsanto, Occupy Philly (Occupy Vacant Lots), Occupy Portland, OWS-Food Justice, OWS Puppets, OWS Sustainability, Occupy Santa Cruz, Occupy SF Environmental Justice Working Group, and Occupy the Food System- Oakland, among many others.
For the full list of supporters and more information on the events planned for Occupy our Food Supply, visit www.occupyourfoodsupply.org.
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Read more: The Food Movement Speaks With one Voice: Occupy our Food Supply | Rainforest Action Network http://ran.org/food-movement-speaks-one-voice-occupy-our-food-supply#ixzz1nPEJHWmI
More at the linkWillie Nelson, Anna Lappe, Vandana Shiva, Michael Pollan, Raj Patel, Marion Nestle and... more
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From this site:
http://12160.info/group/we-hate-tar-sand-oil-and-we-support-john-bolenboug
[quote]In July , the Summer of 2010, over 1 millions gallons of tar sand oil were spilled http://http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38435210/ns/us_news-environment/t/pipeline-leak-pollutes-major-michigan-river/#.TzG5ysgrzKQ
into the Kalamazoo River in Calhoun County area, including Marshall, Kalamazoo, and Talmidge Creek.
John Bolenbough was an employee of Enbridge and he was being paid (a handsome wage) to clean up oil. John was fired when he refused to COVER UP OIL with mud, leaves, grass, etc.[/quote]
John has been bringing the truth of the oil debacle and I think any conscientious Human should help, too.
Let everyOne You know have a chance to spread the word, too. Send the link on!
Thank You!From this site:... more
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Now this is very strange... Since the beginning of February, 2012, forty - let Me restate... FORTY - CEO's, bank heads, and other major bankster-types have left Their jobs or announced Their plans to do so.
According to http://wakeup-world.com/2012/02/23/february-fever-why-are-major-ban... there are these on the list:
(1) 9/25/11 (SWITZERLAND) Bank chief resigns over ?1.5bn rogue trader crisis
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2041385/Oswald-Gruebel-resigns-UBS-boss-steps-Kweku-Adoboli-trading-scandal.html
(2) 10/29/11 (CHINA) Resignations Suggest Shift for China’s Banks
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203687504577003734190522426.html
(3) 11/01/12 (INDIA) More directors of the Beed district bank resign
http://www.thenews.coop/article/more-directors-beed-district-bank-resign
(4) 11/21/11 (JAPAN) UBS?s Japan Investment Banking Chairman Matsui to Resign
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-22/ubs-s-japan-investment-banking-chairman-yasuki-matsui-to-resign.html
(5) 11/29/11 (Iran) Iran’s Bank Melli CEO Resigns Over Loan Scam
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xlcznz_iran-s-bank-melli-ceo-resigns-over-loan-scam_news
(6) 12/15/11 (UNITED KINGDOM) Senior private banker resigns from Coutts [a very exclusive private bank]
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/15/coutts-fleming-idUSL6E7NF23S20111215
(7) 12/22/11 (FRANCE) Societe Generale?s Investment Banking Chief Steps Down
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/12/22/socgens-investment-banking-chief-steps-down/
12/23/11 (USA VA) Bank feud: Chairman Giles quits VNB with other directors
http://www.readthehook.com/102524/bank-feud-chairman-giles-quits-vnb-other-directors
(8) 1/05/12 (UNITED KINGDOM) Chief executive of Saunderson House [Private Bank] steps down
http://www.ftadviser.com/2012/01/05/ifa-industry/people/saunderson-house-chief-executive-steps-down-M0vEWlpbSqKA3OCLZDCcGM/article.html
(9)1/09/12 (SWITZERLAND) Switzerland’s central bank chief resigns
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2012/01/201219145612935171.html
(10) 1/12/12 (United Kingdom) Lloyds? head of wholesale quits
http://www.bankingtimes.co.uk/2012/02/01/lloyds-head-of-wholesale-quits/
(11) 1/19/12 (SPAIN) Spanish bank Santander’s Americas chief quits
http://www.expatica.com/es/news/spanish-news/spanish-bank-santander-s-americas-chief-quits_202395.html
(12) 1/30/12 (UNITED KINGDOM) Head Of UK Private Bank Steps Down [Butterfield Private Bank]
http://www.wealthbriefing.com/html/article.php?title=Head_Of_UK_Private_Bank_Steps_Down&id=43933
(13) 1/20/12 (JAPAN) Normura’s head of wholesale banking quits
http://www.euromoney.com/Article/2959021/Nomuras-head-of-wholesale-banking-quits.html
(14) 1/29/12 (NEW ZEALAND) New Zealand Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard to Step Down in September
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-29/new-zealand-reserve-bank-governor-alan-bollard-to-step-down-in-september.html
(15) 1/21/12 (Greece) Banks’ top negotiator quits Greece, but talks go on
http://www.france24.com/en/20120121-banks-top-negotiator-quits-greece-but-talks-go
(16) 2/02/12 (VENEZUELA) Key Chavez Minister Resigns Amid Banking Corruption Fallout
http://www.laht.com/article.asp?CategoryId=10717&ArticleId=348565
(17) 2/05/12 (USA – NY) Two Top Morgan Stanley Bankers Resign
http://www.stockbroker-fraud.com/lawyer-attorney-1133774.html
(18) 2/06/12 (INDIA) Dhanlaxmi Bank CEO Amitabh Chaturvedi quits:
http://www.livemint.com/2012/02/06160111/Dhanlaxmi-Bank-CEO-Amitabh-Cha.html
(19) 2/07/12 (INDIA) Falguni Nayar quits Kotak Mahindra Bank
http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-02-07/news/31031134_1_kotak-mahindra-bank-falguni-nayar-shanti-ekambaram
(20) 2/07/12 (IRAN) Iran denies central bank resignation rumor (don’t believe until its denied?)
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/iran-denies-central-bank-resignation-164154294.html
(21) 2/09/12 (VATICAN) Four Priests Charged In Vatican Banking Scandal
http://articles.businessinsider.com/2012-02-09/europe/31040509_1_anti-money-laundering-law-vatican-finances-italian-tv
(22) 2/10/12 (KOREA) Korea Exchange Bank chief steps down
http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/business/2012/02/10/0503000000AEN20120210005100320.HTML
(23) 2/10/12 (INDIA) Tamilnad Mercantile Bank CEO resigns
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/tamilnad-mercantile-bank-md-resigns/464259/
(24) 2/13/12 (KUWAIT) Kuwait Central Bank CEO resigns
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/industries/kuwait-central-bank-chief-resigns-amid-political-tensions/2012/02/13/gIQAcxrOAR_story.html
(25) 2/14/12 (NICARAQUA) Nicaraqua Central Bank Pres Rosales resigns
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-14/nicaragua-central-bank-head-quits-amid-row.html
(26) 2/14/12 (UNITED KINGDOM) Social finance pioneer Hayday steps down from Charity Bank
http://www.socialenterpriselive.com/section/news/people/20120214/social-finance-pioneer-hayday-steps-down-charity-bank
(27) 2/15/12 World Bank CEO Zoellick resigns
http://business.time.com/2012/02/15/world-bank-president-zoellick-resigns/
Did the White House tell the World Bank president that he’s out?
http://bosco.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/02/15/did_the_white_house_tell_the_world_bank_president_that_hes_out
(28) 2/15/12 (SLOVENIA) Slovenia TWO largest Banks CEO’s (2) resign
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-15/slovenia-s-nova-kreditna-banka-maribor-ceo-plos-resigns.html
(29) 2/15/12 (KENYA) Governor of Kenyan Central Bank to Resign
http://www.centralbanking.com/central-banking/news/2152753/parliamentary-committee-calls-kenyan-governor-resign
(30) 2/16/12 (GHANA) Ken Ofori-Atta steps down as Executive Chair of Databank Group
http://business.thinkghana.com/pages/finance/201202/57429.php
(31) 2/16/12 (SAUDI ARABIA) Saudi Hollandi Banks Managing Director Quits
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:ZVfFZypqVIcJ:www.a1saudiarabia.com/4489-saudi-hollandi-banks-md-quits/+&cd=4&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
(32) 2/16/12 (AUSTRALIA) Anz Bank CFO Australia resigns
http://www.proformative.com/news/1470243/cfo-anz-bank-resigns-amid-turmoill
(33) 2/16/12 (UNITED KINGDOM) Royal Bank of Scotland Bankers Arrested
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financial-crime/9086930/Senior-bankers-caught-up-in-film-investment-tax-probe.html
(34) 2/16/12 (AUSTRALIA) Royal Bank of Scotland Austrailan CEO Stephen Williams resigns
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/wall-street-journal/andrew-chick-to-lead-royal-bank-of-scotlands-australian-arm/story-fnay3vxj-1226272513981
(35) 2/17/12 (USA) Blankfein out as Goldman Sachs CEO by summer
http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2012/02/17/gary-cohn-goldman-sachs/
(36) 2/17/12 (SWITZERLAND) SNB Council President To Leave Central Bank
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20120217-710604.html
(37) 2/18/12 (PAKISTAN) AJK Bank?s executive steps down
http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/national/18-Feb-2012/ajk-bank-s-executive-steps-down?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online%2F24hours-news+%28The+Nation+%3A+Latest+News%29
(38) 2/20/12 (RUSSIA) Head of Russian Bank Regulator Steps Down
http://newsley.com/articles/head-of-russian-bank-regulator-steps-down/206711
(39) 2/20/12 (SWITZERLAND) Credit Suisse Chief Joseph Tan resigns
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-02-20/credit-suisse-s-private-bank-chief-asian-economist-tan-resigns.html
(40) 2/20/12 (USA) R. David Land Submits Resignation from the Boards of Directors of Peoples Bancorporation, Inc. and Seneca National Bank
http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=25695731
All this leaves One to wonder what's up. Are They all quitting so as not to be missed when the excrement hits the air-moving device? When the elite duck into Their comfy li'l bunkers? To Me, this is disturbing, to say the least.Now this is very strange... Since the beginning of February, 2012, forty - let Me... more
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In order to understand the very basis of money, it is best to contemplate how it developed in the first place. Once society developed past the clan stage, when barter, trade and so forth arose, it became the practice to place value on the products of Human energy expended. If One used One's energy to build a bow, go out hunting, kill an animal, process the carcass, and transport the meat back to be traded or bartered for, this gave that meat value. The bow components were free, as was the animal. The same was true for the farmer, who expended meaningful energy in tilling, sowing, tending, harvesting, and, if need be, transporting what that farmer produced. The produce had value. Even the gatherer expended meaningful energy in seeking things to gather and transporting the find back to be used as "money" for other things. The miner expended the meaningful energy to find the (free) ore, hew it out of the earth, and transport it.
From these beginnings, the practice of using coin and other objects arose to represent this meaningful energy expended when transporting large amounts of goods, as well as needing something anOther had but not having the specific thing the Other wanted, became problematic. And from this, Humans went on to bills, when coins and jewels and other objects became too cumbersome. And lately, We have added electronic funds, as even bills are cumbersome in million unit, billion unit and trillion unit transactions.
But the foundation of all these monetary units is the meaningful energy expended, whether Human or external (oil, coal, nuclear, etc.) energy.
Given this, it becomes clear that an addition of abundant energy - in the form of overunity ("free energy") and robotics (to replace Human energy in necessary work no One wants to do), the need for money in any form - barter, trade, work exchange, coin, bills, electronic funds... - becomes unnecessary.
If one removes the cost of the energy - Human and external - all down the line, what is left is freely given by this planet We inhabit.
Now, of course, many would say, "But there IS no "overunity" to be had!" And in that, They would be incorrect. There have been many solutions to energy production and distribution which have been avidly suppressed and hidden by the power elite. They are fully aware that, by adding energy which is free, Their power over others, in the form of money, will dissipate, leaving Each to control Self but no Others. Though there are examples of things such as cars that run on water, extracting energy from the planet's magnetic field, and so on that have had patents bought and buried, or threats to lives (of the inventors Themselves as well as Their families), to actual murders, I know of one such technology that not only offers overunity but also gravity control. And, unlike most of these other examples, is negentropic (negative entropy) in its function. Cooling is seen in this technology, as opposed to heating.
That science/technology is electrogravitics.
Back in the 1950's, electrogravitics, with the Biefeld-Brown Effect as its foundation, was being pursued at all the major aerospace companies: Lockheed, Boeing, Convair, Lear and many others were excitedly exploring what electrogravitics has to offer. Sometime, around 1959 or early 1960, this work became highly classified, and though ostensibly for its "weaponization" concerns, the true reason it became highly classified was because of its overunity capabilities. The power elite grasped that THAT was the biggest threat to Their continued control.
As a source of energy, electrogravitics is ideal. From it, We can have energy that is free of pollution, is easily constructed, and does not contribute to the entropy of the universe. Because it is so ideal, and because the power elite seem bent on Naziesque control of the planet - with "Patriot" Acts, NDAA's, TSA's, and other fascist enactments - it is vital that the awareness of such technology spread to the tipping point. If We can achieve that, Humanity will demand this tech and free itself from:
● Poverty
● Hunger
● Slavery (outright or wage slavery)
● War (most wars are incited to ensure profit for the war suppliers and "infrastructure rebuilders")
● The control of the many by the few
● The LOVE of money (the root of all evil)
● The need to pay for education (going deeply into debt or forgoing education)
● Products made to fail so as to ensure future sales
● Hidden cures (cures are not a money-maker in the long run; sick People keep paying)
● Spam
● Aggressive advertising
● Focus on the material
● Politics for Self- or special-interest
● GMO for control of food
● Water control
● Hydrofracking, rain forest clearing, oil drilling, coal mining
● Corporations
● Corporate "farmers" paid to NOT produce food (so as to keep the prices inflated through supply and demand)
● Doctors who are more interested in money than patients
● Bankers
● Insurance
● Interweb takeover
● "Voting" machines with proprietary software (why would a simple vote-counting program need to be proprietry??? Why do We accept such things???)
● Waste (presently supermarkets alone throw out hundreds or thousands of tons of food a month, distributing by profit and not need, other waste such as packaging can virtually be eliminated, products will not be made to break so as to ensure future sales)
There's more, but as One can see, just this list is an elimination of most of the problems We presently are beset with.
To the end of achieving the tipping point of awareness, I am offering a petition to the US Military (which presently controls the science of electrogravitics) to release this information. I offer it here in the hopes You sign, and not only that, spread the awareness of what I have presented and of the petition itself.
http://www.change.org/petitions/us-military-release-the-technology-of-electrogravitics
I thank You for reading and for considering My petition.
Twitter: @AmaterasuSolar http://www.tumblr.com/blog/amaterasu101In order to understand the very basis of money, it is best to contemplate how it... more
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Because I need a link:
http://amaterasu101.blogspot.com/2011/03/let-us-forgive.html
Let Us Forgive.
Let Us forgive the Down Trodden, who are reviled because They “take advantage of the system.”
Let Us forgive the Power Elite who choose to create the Down Trodden by hiding technology and news.
Let us forgive the Toadies, who know They behave unethically, but the money and status lure Them astray.
Let us forgive the Slaves, who have but a piece of the total picture and dutifully fulfill Their Work ethic tasks in return for some time They think is free.
Let Us forgive the Stars, the Ones who show Us what Others want Us to see.
Let Us forgive the Influences who see Beings of Human construction as cattle or sheep.
Let Us forgive the Influences who have held so little faith in Beings of Human construction.
Let Us forgive the Liars, whether Down Trodden, Power Elite, Toadie, Slave, Star or Influence.
Let Us forgive the Incurious, who reject much data and do not investigate.
Let Us forgive Those amongst Us who do not believe as We do in matters of the Spirit.
Let Us forgive Beings born of a different nature than Ourselves, be the difference in preferences, physical configuration, capacity, ideology, coloration, or status – within the Three Laws.
Let Us, instead, stand both tall and humble – tall in the knowledge that We are true Beings who are capable of Love, and humble in the awareness that We are equal to all Others.
Let Us show We are worthy of forgiveness and want Our place as equals by forgiving Our equals.
Petition for the release of electrogravitics, to free Humanity of hunger, poverty, war, and the control of the power elite:
http://www.change.org/petitions/us-military-release-the-technology-of-electrograviticsBecause I need a link:
http://amaterasu101.blogspot.com/2011/03/let-us-forgive.html... more
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Continued from Part 1 - http://current.com/community/93670291_the-end-of-entropy-part-1.htm
If we insist that all farming be organic – in its true sense, and not some trumped up legal definition – our food will grow ever better. If we insist that mining is done with a conscious awareness for retaining beauty and structure, our impact will be small and repairable. If we insist that manufacturing be done such that it is free of pollutants, our planet will remain healthy and abundant. If we are using the Plenum Energy, the energy we use will be clean (and fracture drilling, oil pumping, coal mining, rain forest clearing and other nasty behaviors and consequences associated with petrofuels will be eliminated). If we set this parameter of the seed with the drive to be thoughtful of our planet, our planet will thrive.
If we demand open-source in all technology, we remove fears of machines “taking over.” Code can be looked at, published on the web – and better code will be worked out by those whose bliss it is to program things. A distrust of proprietary code (or any other hidden thing) should be promoted. Such a setting in this parameter of the seed will bring forth the best we can create.
By creating robots to do all the necessary work no one (or not enough people) wants to, we release ourselves to do what we enjoy – we are released from slavery, having cast it off onto our machines. This seed parameter is one only now available to humanity. Never before in our history have we had the option to create mechanical slaves for every “dirty job.” Therefore, it, along with the addition of a negentropic energy source, will provide a frame for unique emergence, a new societal framework, a new consciousness.
With a central website, in forum style, to address major issues – divided into local sections, regional sections and global sections, with “votes” at a certain level elevating the problems and solutions to the next level to be voted on by a greater number – we can collectively coordinate to solve the issues of this planet. This seed parameter will see an emergence of human unity as a race and as a planet.
Setting a focus of fulfilling one’s own bliss, exchanging the “work ethic” for a Betterment Ethic, will see very much happier people, and far better results of efforts made – a job is done far better by someone who loves to do it than by one who feels compelled against their main desire. No job will be required to live well, but any job one wants to do is open to be done. I quote again from Rifkin’s [u]Entropy[/u] (p. 210) to illustrate the differences between the scarcity paradigm and the new abundance paradigm, as it relates to work:
[quote]… [T]he authoritarian structure of the workplace robs the individual worker of a chance to join in a community with his fellows to make decisions and develop his talents. Unable to join with others to explore his potential and creativity, the individual is forced to retreat into a shell in which he has neither meaningful rights nor responsibilities at his work. All he is left with is a job, a place to make money, and a degrading environment to which he must submit, eight hours of every day.[/quote]
Thus we can see how a seed parameter of encouraging one to follow one’s bliss – since in this new paradigm one can – uplifts each one of us and increases the value of consciousness in society.
Having described the seed, how might it be expected to manifest? One of the first products that is likely to be seen are “power boxes,” which will be sold, initially. These would be units that had a mechanism to draw on the Plenum Energy and outlets to plug in our air conditioners, stoves, heaters, refrigerators, freezers, and so forth. This would allow us to move anywhere and bring our comfort items with us. We could “go camping” and still have our amenities, and many will. Eventually these items will each have their own units within.
As the cost of energy is removed from the production line at every stage, things will become less and less expensive, and at some point, will be given freely.
Other observables will include:
• Money falling into disuse
• Motivation from the heart as opposed to profit
• “Greed” becomes meaningless
• Peace
• Abundance for everyone
• Elimination of corruption
• Power over others supplanted by power over self
• Elimination of GMO’s
• Great reduction in violence
• Creative pursuits increased greatly
• A healed planet
• Reduced or eliminated hoarding
• Value placed on human-created art, textiles and products
• Focus on cures, not patentable chemicals that sicken for profit motive
• Human interaction with only those whose company is enjoyable (reduced social friction)
• Robotic stewardship of the planet
• Increased love and compassion
• Greatly reduced stress
• Wondrous works
• “Live and let live” behavior
• Most “laws” become unnecessary
• Corporate power eliminated
• Products made to last – no “planned obsolescence”
• Waste reduced to virtually nil
• Food nutrition increased for all
• One’s reputation becomes the “coin” one uses
• Personal responsibility for one’s own behavior
• Spiritual growth
• Slavery (outright or wage-slavery) abolished
• Human dignity encouraged
• Increase in charitable behavior
• Self autonomy
• Things are done because someone cares – from raising children to caring for others
From this list, it is clear that many issues we now face will be solved. Wealth will be measured in richness of character, rather than in deposits to a bank account. And we will spend our time doing what we like to do, being with the people we like and share interests with. Inventions, rather than being suppressed, will burgeon, and the “Star Trek universe” may be within our grasp, with things like transporters and replicators emerging.
And spiritual growth and communication will be encouraged as we find a greater amount of our time available to pursue the exploration of our inner dimension.
And though this is not a solution to every issue arising from human interaction – we will always have our personal disagreements – the overall health of society will skyrocket. Yes, we may still argue with others over the smaller issues in our lives, and some may choose to behave violently, but the numbers of occurrences will drop to a level we would consider statistically insignificant. Definitely a vast improvement over what we see today.
When you consider what I present here, ask yourself these questions:
Does this threaten a pet vision – passing laws, say, to solve a problem you see, or a view of striking it rich – that you have of your future? Does this scare you? Do you look for reasons that it won’t work? (All you envision as barrier issues – are scarcity paradigm views…)
Then ask yourself why working towards what I present here won’t solve the issue you want to solve, why you wouldn’t be rich in what I show to you, why it wouldn’t fulfill your idea of heaven, why you are afraid, and/or why you look for reasons it won’t work – rather than apply the proactive will to make this happen.
If we each choose to create this, since we have all it would take, consciously co-creating towards this goal, what I present would happen. It would take enough of us reaching a tipping point before it would all be downhill, and you may choose your future behavior. Speak for abundance, or reduce the chances that this will ever happen by keeping silent.
In closing, I recommend any who work for someone else and also are privy to information (such as methods of extracting usable energy from the plenum) give strong consideration to coming forth with what is known. In the end, you and all of us will be better off – and even today’s power elite will retain their life style, if not their power over us.Continued from Part 1 -... more
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Monsanto ready to sell GM crops and weed-killing chemicals in Vietnam; Many outraged
- Common Dreams staff
Multinational agricultural biotech corporation Monsanto, known as the creator of chemical weapon Agent Orange, is attempting to infiltrate Vietnam once again -- this time as GMO dealer.
Agent Orange, used for chemical warfare in the Vietnam War, is estimated to have killed 400,000, deformed 500,000 and sickened another 2 million.
"BA VI, VIETNAM: Handicapped orphans are fed by the medical staff at the Ba Vi orphanage. These young children represent the 3rd generation of Agent Orange victims more than 30 years after the war in Vietnam, where a battle is still being fought to help people suffering from the effects of the deadly chemical." - Global Post (Photo Paula Bronstein / AFP/Getty Images)
"Between 2.1 to 4.8 million Vietnamese were directly exposed to Agent Orange and other chemicals that have been linked to cancers, birth defects, and other chronic diseases during the war that ended in 1975, according to the Vietnam Red Cross," Thanh Nienn News writes.
30 years after the war, three generations have suffered from the effects of Agent Orange.
Now, as Monsanto seeks to reap profits in Vietnam once again, this time through agribusiness, many are speaking out against the corporation as well as the potential effects of the GM seeds and herbicides that Monsanto seeks to sell.
* * *
Thanh Nienn News in Ho Chi Minh City reports:
No biotech company has yet got the official green light for selling genetically modified organisms (GMOs), but it does not assuage the fears that Vietnam could end up with another tragic legacy from a company that once caused many deaths in the country, environmental activists say.
It would be ironic if Vietnam becomes a willing party to a “lethal” product made by the same US company that manufactured Agent Orange, the toxic defoliant used during the Vietnam War.It would be ironic if Vietnam becomes a willing party to a “lethal” product made by the same US company that manufactured Agent Orange, the toxic defoliant used during the Vietnam War, they pointed out. [...]
In 2006 the government approved a blueprint that envisaged covering between 30 percent and half of the country’s agriculture lands with the controversial gene-altered crops by 2020.
Only three companies – Monsanto, Syngenta, and Pioneer – have been licensed to carry out lab research and tests in Vietnam, the minister’s statement said.
Monsanto accounts for almost one-quarter (23 percent) of the global proprietary seed market.
[Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Van Rinh, former deputy defense minister, chairman of the Vietnam Association of Victims of Agent Orange] is also worried about the weedkiller Roundup Monsanto plugs for use along with its crops.
“By introducing [GMOs] paired with toxic weed killers, the tragic legacy of Agent Orange might repeat itself,” he warned. [...]
The U.S. Airforce spraying 'Agent Orange' defoliant over the countryside of Vietnam. Originally termed "Operation Hades," the spraying program was renamed "Operation Ranch Hand" to improve public relations. Jeffrey Smith, author of the bestseller Seeds of Deception and founder and executive director of the California, US-based NGO Institute for Responsible Technology, said: “It is not inconsequential that a new genetically modified corn up for review is designed to be tolerant to the herbicide 2,4-D, a component of Agent Orange.
“This means that much higher amounts of toxic 2,4-D will drench the agricultural lands where this new crop is planted.
“It would be a harsh and ironic consequence if Vietnamese people suffer from birth defects from both of these Monsanto products, Roundup and Agent Orange.”
* * *
The Global Post reports:
Monsanto is, of course, highly aware of Agent Orange's reputation and has fought numerous lawsuits filed by chemical's victims both Vietnamese and American. The chemical, commissioned by the U.S. military, was dumped over jungles to kill vegetation and rout communist forces.
In Monsanto's own primer on the Agent Orange era, it casts the chemical as patriotic -- it was meant "to save the lives of U.S. and allied soldiers," Monsanto says -- and contends that the matter "should be resolved by the governments that were involved."
Keeping Monsanto out of Vietnam already appears to be an uphill fight.
A Vietnamese legislator and former deputy defense minister has, according to Thanh Nien, faced evasion when he tried to raise the issue with the [government].
More at the linkMonsanto ready to sell GM crops and weed-killing chemicals in Vietnam; Many outraged... more
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Willie Nelson and Farm Aid are in heaven right now!
The two minute commercial speaks for itself but we would appreciate some feedback from this community on this commercial.
http://youtu.be/aMfSGt6rHos
Thank you Chipotle! We appreciate the support of small farms!Willie Nelson and Farm Aid are in heaven right now!
The two minute commercial... more
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Agroecology is the science behind sustainable agriculture, from the ground up.
It combines scientific inquiry with place-based knowledge and experimentation, emphasizing technology and innovations that are knowledge-intensive, low cost, ecologically sound and practical. By listening to farmers, and using the most up-to-date science, agroecology provides a modern framework for thinking broadly about agriculture in terms of its four key systems properties: productivity, resilience, equity and sustainability.
At PAN, we document and publicize the contribution of the agroecological sciences to climate-friendly, sustainable development, profile the successes of local organic farmers and provide technical support on alternatives to our campaign partners.
~~~
Africa :: The push-pull system (PDF) of ecological pest management is transforming small farms in Africa. It illustrates agroecology's ingenuity, as well as the many economic, food security, health and environmental benefits of this approach.
Kenyan maize farmers have tripled their yields by intercropping maize with plants that repel pests, support natural pest predators and suppress weeds. One of the plants, desmodium, is a nitrogen-fixing legume that is also used as fodder for animals. The inclusion of these plants in the farming system reduces synthetic pesticide use and augments livestock feed, providing families with additional milk and meat for consumption or sale. Additional benefits include reduced run-off and soil erosion, enhanced soil fertility, improved food security and family nutrition, and increased household income. More than 12,000 farmers across eastern Africa have adopted the technology, with another 100,000 expected to do so over the next three years.
More stories at the linkAgroecology is the science behind sustainable agriculture, from the ground up.
It... more
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A newly released hidden video is available for unrestricted use by the members of media at a new website http://occupy-monsanto.com. Occupy Monsanto is calling for protests on September 17, 2012, at Monsanto facilities across the globe to demand GMO labeling and the elimination of cancer causing toxic chemicals in our food supply.
During a face-to-face encounter caught on hidden video, Monsanto CEO Hugh Grant is challenged on how his company has an "artificial buffer" of acceptance in the consumer marketplace because "people don't know if what they are eating is GMO."
In the video GMO Labeling campaigner Adam Eidinger also speaks before the entire shareholder meeting, urging acceptance of GMO labeling. He decries the agrichemical giant's contribution to the rise of "Superweeds" and "Superpests" that develop resistance to ever more toxic chemicals sprayed on them. Despite the challenge of Monsanto to "reform," no shareholders challenged Eidinger on the facts except for Grant. Eidinger also asks Grant from the podium how much the company will spend fighting GMO labeling efforts in 2012.
When pressed by Eidinger a second time on the labeling issue Grant asserts that Monsanto complies with and supports US laws regarding labeling. He admits, "There is an increasing category of GMO-free as well, so we would support the overarching umbrella of labeling."
Eidinger responded that his question addressed efforts to change the laws to mandate labeling. "Is the Company going to oppose these labeling efforts wherever they take place?" he asks. Grant relents, "We would be absolutely open and willing to engage in a dialog with our broad industry peers," when it comes to the question of labeling GMOs.
Currently, Monsanto faces new lawsuits from organic farmers, while in California a GMO labeling ballot proposition is under review. More than 550,000 people have signed onto the JustLabelit.org citizens' petition to the Food and Drug Administration for GMO labeling and last fall for the first time about 100 people marched in a GMO Right2Know March from New York to the White House to demand President Obama keep his campaign promise to label GMO foods. (Video of the promise can be seen here. )
About Occupy-Monsanto.com
The Monsanto Annual Shareholders' Meeting concluded official activities of the Right2Know March for GMO labeling which was sponsored by the Non-GMO Project and many other organizations and businesses. Some coordinators of last year's march have set their focus on Monsanto. In March of 2012 a new "Occupy Monsanto" campaign will be formally launched to focus on changing Monsanto's business practices and support the principles of the Occupy movement.
More at the linkA newly released hidden video is available for unrestricted use by the members of... more
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If you assume that Bill Gates is so well informed about all his philanthropic targets that you take his word at face value, you would be in good company, but you might be terribly wrong. Organizations well versed in the agricultural issues facing developing nations are saying his annual letter, released last week, is completely mistaken when it asserts that a lack of support for GMO crop development is responsible, in part, for allowing world hunger to endure. We interviewed Heather Pilatic, Ph.D., co-director of the Pesticide Action Network North America (PANNA), to show us the other, important side of the story.
TakePart: In the introduction to his letter, Bill Gates cites the Green Revolution of the 1960s and '70s, saying scientists created new seed varieties for rice, wheat, and maize, and that this resulted in increased crop yield and a decrease in extreme poverty around the world. Do you agree that this is a model to use moving forward?
Heather Pilatic: The Green Revolution is a story that some people like to tell, but it has little basis in historical fact. Take the Green Revolution’s origins in 1940s Mexico, for instance. It was not really about feeding the world; Mexico was a food exporter at the time. Rather, the aims included stabilizing restive rural populations in our neighbor to the south, and making friends with a government that at the time was selling supplies to the World War II Axis powers and confiscating oil fields held by Standard Oil (a funding source for the Rockefeller Foundation, one of the key architects of the Green Revolution).
We can also learn from India, the Green Revolution’s next stop after Mexico. India embraced the Green Revolution model of chemical-intensive agriculture. Now it is the world’s second biggest rice grower with surplus grain in government warehouses. Yet India has more starving people than sub-Saharan Africa—at more than 200 million, that’s nearly a quarter of its population. History shows that a narrow focus on increasing crop yield through chemical-seed packages reduces neither hunger nor poverty.
So no, we do not agree that the Green Revolution offers a promising model for addressing poverty.
TakePart: Bill Gates is urging that more money be donated to agricultural innovation, including crop GMOs, because "one in seven people will continue living needlessly on the edge of starvation." Of course, this argument worries all of us. Will you explain PANNA's perspective?
Heather Pilatic: We could not agree with Gates more on the first point. Investment in agriculture in the developing world is enormously efficient and more impactful on the ground than investment in just about any other sector. It is also true that more people than ever before are going hungry, needlessly. We have enough food to go around now. We disagree with Gates on two points—one scientific and one political.
First, the science. Most of the rest of the world's experts agree that GMOs are not what the world's poor need to feed themselves. The science simply doesn't bear this claim out. Our staff scientist was a lead author in the most comprehensive analysis of global agriculture ever undertaken, the UN & World Bank's International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (the IAASTD). After four years and with the input of over 400 experts, and reams of evidence, the IAASTD concluded that the developing world's best bet for feeding itself in the 21st century was explicitly not the kind of chemically intensive farming that accompanies GMO seeds. Rather, these experts found that smaller scale, farmer-driven, knowledge-intensive, ecological agriculture is one of the most promising ways forward for the developing world in particular. The U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food has reported that ecological farming can double food production within 10 years. This is the kind of agriculture we should be investing in.
Second, the political—and this cuts two ways. We must finally recognize that hunger is a problem of poverty and access to resources, especially land, not agricultural yield. The solution to world hunger is a political one: stop kicking farmers off their land and dumping product on the world market that puts them out of business; protect farmers’ rights to save and exchange seed; kick the bankers out of food-crop commodities speculation, they're playing roulette with our food system; write fair trade policies; listen to the world's poor, they know what they need...in short, democratize food and farming if you want to address hunger.
Finally, here in the U.S., kick the farm lobby out of Congress and the pesticide industry out of our federal regulatory agencies (EPA & USDA). Together, these two special interests have a chokehold on U.S. farm, aid and trade policy, and dominate our agricultural research agenda in ways that make it possible for a smart man like Bill Gates to believe and prosyletize on behalf of an approach to agriculture that A, the rest of the world knows is defunct; and B, has failed—after 14 years of commercialization and billions of dollars in public research funding—to deliver on a single one of its promises to the public.
More at the linkIf you assume that Bill Gates is so well informed about all his philanthropic targets... more
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If you happened to be walking around Lower Manhattan this morning, you might have noticed the anti-Monsanto chants echoing from Foley Square. In a protesting trifecta, Occupy Wall Street, Occupy Big Food, and Food Democracy Now joined forces to support family farmers as the first phase of their federal court case against food industry giant Monsanto. The crowd of around 200 people included farmers from as far away as Maine as well as local food activists and chefs.
The case against Monsanto (Organic Seed Growers Trade Association et al. v. Monsanto) aims to protect farmers against aggressive lawsuit and crop contamination from Monsanto’s genetically modified seeds. Organic and non-GMO crops can be severely damaged by the introduction of GMO seeds and farmers whose crops have been infiltrated are vulnerable to lawsuits from Monsanto who owns a vast majority of the genetics on commodity crops such as corn, soybeans and cotton.
Farmers’ fear of being sued by the multi-billion dollar company is not unfounded. According to Monsanto, since 1997, it has filed 145 lawsuits against farmers and settled 700 other disputes out of court.
Today in Federal District Court in Manhattan, Judge Naomi Buchwald will hear complaints from farmers and determine whether or not their case against Monsanto will move forward. Protestor and organic farmer Deb Taft of Mobius Fields in Westchester, New York said she was “cautiously optimistic” about the outcome of this morning's hearings.
Many protestors felt it was an accomplishment in itself that the case has made it to Federal District Court. An unnamed protestor and chef at a local private school said he came out to stand with farmers who finally got their day in court. He has been wary of Monsanto since the mid 1980s, when the issues of genetically modified organisms were mostly talk, rather than reality.
While all of the protestors united around their distrust of and frustration with Monsanto, their specific reasons for being there were varied. Some were concerned with the lack of seed choice now that Monsanto has put many local providers out of business while others were concerned with Monsanto’s global presence (Monsanto is currently being sued for biopiracy in India).
Protestors pointed to a long history of infractions on the part of Monsanto, which they demonstrated by creating a human timeline of the company’s history. Monsanto genetically modified its first plant in 1982, but the company’s story goes back to the beginning of the 20th century. John Francis Queeny, a pharmaceutical industry veteran, founded the company in 1901 and in 1902 Monsanto sold its first product to Coca-Cola — saccharin, the artificial sweetener that has been linked to cancer. Protestors this morning also referenced Monsanto's role as one of the companies that manufactured Agent Orange, an herbicide used by the U.S. Army in Vietnam that has been proven to caues severe health damage and birth defects.
But the protestors main focus today was the effect that that GMOs have on biodiversity and farmer livelihood. Andrew Faust, a permaculture teacher and founder of The Center for Bioregional Living in Ellenville, New York, urged consumers to use their buying power to boycott Monsanto products. Currently, advocacy groups working under the slogan “Right to Know” are lobbying for GMO labeling, which is already required in the European Union and China, and which Monsanto is fighting against.
According to a tweet from someone present in the courtroom, the judge will give her ruling on this morning’s hearings, which ended around 11:30 am, by March 31st. Those interested in supporting the farmers' cause can sign Food Democracy Now!’s pledge to support America’s farmers and donate to the Right to Know campaign.
More at the linkIf you happened to be walking around Lower Manhattan this morning, you might have... more
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Bill Gates is one very confused billionaire philanthropist.
He understands global warming is a big problem — indeed, his 2012 Foundation Letter even frets about the grave threat it poses to food security. But he just doesn’t want to do very much now to stop it from happening (see Pro-geoengineering Bill Gates disses efficiency, “cute” solar, deployment — still doesn’t know how he got rich).
He love technofixes like geoengineering and, as we’ll see, genetically modified food. Rather than investing in cost-effective emissions reduction strategies today or in renewable energy technologies that are rapidly moving down the cost curve, he explains that the reason invests so much in nuclear R&D is “The good news about nuclear is that there has hardly been any innovation.” Seriously!
His Letter includes the ominous chart at the top, and he warns of the dire consequences of climate change:
Meanwhile, the threat of climate change is becoming clearer. Preliminary studies show that the rise in global temperature alone could reduce the productivity of the main crops by over 25 percent. Climate change will also increase the number of droughts and floods that can wipe out an entire season of crops. More and more people are raising familiar alarms about whether the world will be able to support itself in the future, as the population heads toward a projected 9.3 billion by 2050.
Strong stuff.
And yet, as the AP reported this week, the wealthiest of all Americans gets very prickly if you don’t wholeheartedly endorse his techno-fix adaptation-centric approach to dealing with this oncoming disaster:
Bill Gates has a terse response to criticism that the high-tech solutions he advocates for world hunger are too expensive or bad for the environment: Countries can embrace modern seed technology and genetic modification or their citizens will starve….
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has spent about $2 billion in the past five years to fight poverty and hunger in Africa and Asia, and much of that money has gone toward improving agricultural productivity.Gates doesn’t apologize for his endorsement of modern agriculture or sidestep criticism of genetic modification. He told The Associated Press that he finds it ironic that most people who oppose genetic engineering in plant breeding live in rich nations that he believes are responsible for global climate change that will lead to more starvation and malnutrition for the poor.
Resistance to new technology is “again hurting the people who had nothing to do with climate change happening,” Gates said.
The real irony is that most people who diss efficiency and renewables and aggressive greenhouse gas mitigation, like Gates, live in rich nations that are responsible for global climate change that will lead to more starvation and malnutrition for the poor.
Where is the story that says, “countries to embrace existing technology to reduce emissions or their citizens will starve” or resistance to aggressive low carbon technology deployment is “again hurting the people who had nothing to do with climate change happening”?
This is not a blog on genetic modification, so I’ll just quote the AP story:
Bill Freese, a science policy analyst for the Washington-based Center for Food Safety, said everyone wants to see things get better for hungry people, but genetically modified plants are more likely to make their developers rich than feed the poor. The seed is too expensive and has a high failure rate, he said. Better ways to increase yields would be increasing the fertility of soil by adding organic matter or combining plants growing in the same field to combat pests, he said.
The biggest problem with those alternatives, Freese said, is the same one that Gates cited in high-tech research: A lack of money for development.
snip
But the fact is, as Oxfam and others have made clear, global warming is poised to make food vastly more expensive, which will be devastating to the world’s poor know matter how much money Gates dumps into GM crops — see Oxfam Predicts Climate Change will Help Double Food Prices by 2030: “We Are Turning Abundance into Scarcity”:
More at the linkBill Gates is one very confused billionaire philanthropist.
He understands global... more
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Ignacio Chapela will be familiar to readers of Stuffed and Starved. He’s a soil biologist at Berkeley and an outspoken critic of genetically modified crops, a position which has focussed the wrath of the biotechnology industry upon him. Here is a short analysis he penned earlier today on news from Europe that chemical company BASF will be pulling its GMO operations from Europe, where they are unwelcome (because ineffective and dangerous), and moving them to North Carolina.
Will the English-speaking media lose its nerve and write about it? Based on past experience, my wager goes to the habitual policy of silence, and I expect that the news will continue all but unrecorded in English. Most of us will not celebrate as we should.
Other languages do comment and give a little more detail, albeit still briefly. In German, the word is printed clearly: “BASF admits defeat”, while in French: “The number one chemical concern in the world, the German BASF has announced on 16 January 2012 that it gives up the development and marketing of new transgenic products intended for the European Union.”
Clearly put: one of the largest among the few who banked on the GMO route to do agriculture is giving up in its own home turf, defeated by public opposition to its products which evidently do not live up to expectations.
You will find some records in the business websites, mostly deploring the European hostility towards GMOs, the loss of jobs (about 150-170 in Europe, although many are relocated to North Carolina, for an overall loss of about 10 jobs altogether) and repeating again the idea that rejecting GMOs in the environment is tantamount to committing economic suicide and “rejecting the future” as if this was possible.
I say that the future holds very little promise for GMOs altogether, and BASF is only the first to have the capacity to recognize the thirty years of bad investments. They can afford this move, which is not unannounced and forms part of a year-long reconfiguration of the company to navigate tighter economic straits ahead, because they are diversified and have strengths in other fields. Monsanto and Syngenta, for comparative example, have stood in complete dependency of GMOs since their mothership companies shed them off to swim or sink on transgenic markets twelve years ago; Bayer and Dow stand somewhere in between. Where Monsanto’s stock would have floundered if they announced they were closing GMO R & D in St Louis, Missouri, BASF’s stock hardly budged on the equivalent news (it actually ticked upwards in the Frankfurt exchange) – the timing of the news release may well have been a token of deference to BASF’s partner Monsanto, protecting the latter’s stock from the shock on a day when the US stock markets are closed.
The reasons for the failure of BASF’s products in Europe are many and very diverse, but the fundamental truth stands that over the decades no real benefit has offset the proven harm caused by GMOs. It is fine to blame “the European public”, but we know that this public is no better or worse than our own in the US or anywhere else – had there been a GMO equivalent of the iPad, masses would have thronged the streets of Europe clamoring for their use. But it may be just as true that BASF would continue to push GMOs into Europe were it not for the tireless and creative work of many hundreds of thousands, the kinds of numbers needed these days to make a self-evident point which counters accepted official policy. So I say to our European friends: embrace the credit that is hurled at you and loudly celebrate what will not be announced as your victory in the newspapers.
We are left in desolate America, though, land of government by Monsanto, where BASF is relocating its GMO headquarters (some specialty technical BASF outfits remain in Ghent and Berlin). In the North it is impossible to know where the nearest non-GMO plant may be, while in the South and in Mexico the tragedy of GMO soy- and corn-agriculture continues apace, driven by corrupt or willfully ignorant governments and against public opinion much stronger and much more vocal than what we have seen in Europe. Far from recognizing the failure of GMOs altogether, something that should have happened at least a decade ago, BASF identifies the opportunities offered by the brutal realities of the Third World, opportunities which are better capitalized with the centralization, mechanization and property-rights enforcement possible only through GMOs. As we celebrate the lifting of perhaps one third of the pressure upon Europe to give in to GMOs, let’s not forget those places where they will continue to be used as the effective spear-head of corporate biological mining of other lands.Ignacio Chapela will be familiar to readers of Stuffed and Starved. He’s a soil... more
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