Tech | February 08, 2011 | 63 comments

Droughts, Floods and Food

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JanforGore
A well written piece by Paul Krugman appeared in the NY Times yesterday that gives a truthful view on the current protests we are seeing in relation to food prices and world weather events and the effects of climate change. I have been reporting and writing about sustainable agriculture here for a couple of years now primarily in regards to the effects of climate, speculation, world policy regarding loans and food grown for export, types of sustainable agricultural practices, seed patents and the effects of monoculture GMOs on the world's economy, health, environment and food sovereignty.

It is no overstatement to state that we are in a climate/food crisis. Recent events in Australia, Russia, China, Africa and Latin America for example have not only been a part of rising prices but also in giving us a glimpse of what life will be like in a warming world. Agriculture, its cultivation, its very existence is under threat by an ongoing assault of erratic and intensifiying weather/climate events, pesticides, expansive and destructive industrial agricultural policies and practices that see more land going to growing non food items, lack of food access and the effects of GMOs and the transgenic contamination they bring which has already affected not only the traditional corn varieties of Mexico's culture and livelihood, but crops around the world which works against what we must now be doing to save our agriculture.

As we look to the future our ability to provide for our needs is being made much harder by our own actions. As we see our population approaching a projected 9 billion within the next several decades we must begin to seriously understand the role our actions play in the world we see before us, and the world we will leave successive generations. The ability to feed ourselves and plant seeds that preserve our global biodiversity is being attacked by those who would profit from both their ownership and their demise.

In this century there will be no greater challenge to our species than working to preserve the planet that provides our food, our water, and our lives. What Mr. Krugman states here is not to be taken lightly. Climate change is indeed upon us, and its reach goes far beyond the political differences that have kept this urgent crisis from being faced as it must be now. The protests in Egypt and around the world are warning signs as well as hopeful signs. If we do not deal with the root causes of this crisis including and most importantly climate change, the world of our making will not be one we will be able to inhabit. This does come down to the very seeds we plant in our soils, and in our consciences.

http://water-is-life.blogspot.com/2011/02/droughts-floods-and-food.html
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Excerpt by Mr, Krugman:

"While several factors have contributed to soaring food prices, what really stands out is the extent to which severe weather events have disrupted agricultural production. And these severe weather events are exactly the kind of thing we’d expect to see as rising concentrations of greenhouse gases change our climate — which means that the current food price surge may be just the beginning."
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63 comments // Droughts, Floods and Food

  • gypsysailor
  • Gravity_Man
    • -1
      Gravity_Man  
    • gypsysailor:

      Once everyone has lost their homes to bankers and they're renters like me that might change. Obama, the homeowner's friend, helping prep everybody for herd living.

      With electric cars we'll get 40 miles.

    • 1 year ago
  • irishgirlforever
  • JanforGore
  • Frosty46
    • 0
      Frosty46  
    • Reading the comments requires a statement on the postings of Gravity_Man.
      Religion and it's insanity is the root cause of the planets problems. Christianity is the ultimate good ol boy syndicate in the US.
      The death wish of the Christians for the planet to end is stupid and lacks rationality. Science and it's intelligent practice is the road to a bright future.

    • 1 year ago
  • Gravity_Man
    • 0
      Gravity_Man  
    • Frosty46:

      My zero-pollution dual-fuel => air+steam engine that does away with fuel pumps FOREVER is chopped liver I reckon. btw, Brainiac knowledge base master you are, the Bible says the planet lasts FOREVER also => Isaiah 45 vs 18 ("Earth made to be inhabited") and Eccles. 1 vs 4 ("earth lasts forever").

      It's those false religions CALLING themselves Christian what lied to all of you. They DON'T last Forever => Revelation 18 vs 21 ("great city will be torn down and she will never be found again").

      Tomorrow I will give you what your braggart "Science" has withheld from you for 70 years => Controlled Anorexia.

    • 1 year ago
  • Gravity_Man
    • -2
      Gravity_Man  
    • Frosty46:

      For over 130 years Jehovah's Witnesses (formerly known as "the Bible Students" pre-1930's) have been calling the world's attention to False Christianity. We do NOT preach an end to the world, the planet. It's this system (2 Corinthians 4 vs 4) that builds enough weapons to destroy it that has to be stopped, and replaced by a new government operated from heaven called God's kingdom of the heavens.

      There's nothing wrong with good science. I do it all the time myself. I like microwave ovens => I even used one to fast-mature yellow onions to their full chemical potency to make my health tonic work.

      Peace on Earth comes soon. Those who work against it get x-ed out.

    • 1 year ago
  • Gravity_Man
    • 0
      Gravity_Man  
    • Frosty46:

      All the trillions being poured into arms research Frosty46, you and the rest of America thinks it's being done to protect YOU. That's false also my friend. The gov't believes the Bible that tells them in various place Christ is coming to rip them off their thrones of power. They aren't doing all this weapons research for your benefit they're doing it for THEIRS.

      You just pay for it.

      All this Monsanto garbage is to keep you all distracted away from what they fully expect is already in the pipeline => their time to fight Christ Jesus for control of this world.

      They have Tesla's energy and Floyd Sweet's too. They have UFO saucers armed and ready to keep YOU a slave to THEM. Laugh all ya want but that's where your tax dollars have been going, to keep the masters of you in power. You can laugh in your ignorance but they are not ignorant. They know.

      There's a helluva war about to break loose. The only way you and us peons can survive is to have angelic protection because "our side" isn't worried about friendly fire. Their only intention is to maintain their Status Quo.

      Whether YOU live through it is your tough story to tell. In essence you have dutifully paid your taxes that will pay for your death. If it looks like Jesus or looks like "aliens", either way you're toast without heavenly help. Your side plans to fire every weapon in their arsenal while they are likely already safe in deep underground safe zones your taxes also paid for but YOU can't access.

      Welcome to the real world. It's about to blow.

    • 1 year ago
  • Gravity_Man
  • Gravity_Man
  • coolplanet
  • Gravity_Man
    • +1
      Gravity_Man  
    • coolplanet:

      Can't take a Male with an ego eh? You're exposing yourself to ridicule now. My feeling about Current dot com is it's a Forum, presumably for IDEAS and ANSWERS.

      Not liking MY answers is little justification for flagging. Go your way in Peace and I'll tell people my peace. Fair enough male hater? Thinking male hater? Learned male hater?

      Knowing the Bible was once considered high knowledge. Too bad you fell away but, that's your choice. However, your hatred because of your choosing to remain ignorant is not justification for thinking you have the right to censor me, chastise me or shut me down.

      I listen to your tripe too.

    • 1 year ago
  • Clevelandchick
    • +2
      Clevelandchick  
    • I remember the very little reported crop failures in the South after the Gulf spill most likely caused by toxic rain picked up in the Gulf.

      We need water and food more than we need oil folks. Everybody should join or start a local community garden to grow some of their own food and shop local farm markets in the summer. We need to localize our economy not only for the planet's sake but for our own.

    • 1 year ago
  • JanforGore
    • +1
      JanforGore  
    • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5h7rqIsOleU
      Let's get back on track.

      What if the solution was right beneath your feet?

      All it takes is being good stewards of the planet that sustains you. And regardless of what else you may believe humans do have a part they must play in those solutions which are possible because it is already being done.

      This is what developing nations need. Not GMOs. Not World Bank loans. Not Monsanto. Not Cargill. Not the WTO. Not Bill Gates's geoengineering schemes. It starts with the soil and with giving people seeds they can save and food sovereignty. There are also traits indigenous people know of in certain seeds that work to tolerate climactic changes and shifts naturally. However, their rights to those seeds are also being taken away by multinationals in biopiracy schemes. This is another reason why we see higher food prices.

      Higher oil prices, higher imputs, less yields, more pesticides and fertilizers, poorer soil quality, lack of food access. All human made and all preventable.

    • 1 year ago
  • s_peak
    • +1
      s_peak  
    • JanforGore:

      Indeed. Politicians try to make it seem so complicated (because if we all knew the truth, they'd stop getting paid).... but it's really not complicated. They tell us we need to expand, and grow more, faster, with more fertilizer (made with oil)... but that's wrong. The solution is simple: keep it local. Buy food from your next door farm. Grow your own food. That decision ALONE will cut our emissions down considerably, and provide us with healthier food, and a healthier planet.

      I could go on and on... but I'm just not in the mood. Good post, though, Jan. Thank you!

    • 1 year ago
  • coolplanet
    • +1
      coolplanet  
    • Looks like Gravity Man has been drinking again.
      Thanks for disrupting this important discussion with your religious bullshit!

    • 1 year ago
  • Gravity_Man
    • +1
      Gravity_Man  
    • coolplanet:

      But you will love me tomorrow because I tell how to easily end the nation's obesity epidemic. The doctors and their medical community won't tell you but I will.

      I've cracked the egg on weight loss.

    • 1 year ago
  • Gravity_Man
  • Gravity_Man
  • Gravity_Man
    • -1
      Gravity_Man  
    • Gravity_Man:

      The timeclock has grown WEARY of your demands for more time you're FINISHED. Clayton Moore is DEAD not Al Gore. Al Gore has FAILED. Not because Gore is a failure but because people turned against him instead of JOINING HIM.

      I've seen this before and it is all we are capable of! Dr. Hertzberg in 1997 had an engine running on compressed nitrogen. He didn't fail because of the ENGINE he failed because his contemporaries shot out his tires. They could've helped him fix the engine but instead they grabbed a rope and hung Hertzberg's engines from the nearest oak tree.

      This is all humanity is good for. We shoot each other don't you get it by now it's all we do and all we can do is => AIM and SHOOT.

    • 1 year ago
  • Gravity_Man
  • Gravity_Man
    • 0
      Gravity_Man  
    • Gravity_Man:

      Butchering your babies & newborns didn't work either. Other women filled in the gap and HAD MORE. Your answers don't work. Jesus is near, he will save us. We couldn't save a family of turtles crossing the highway.

    • 1 year ago
  • Gravity_Man
  • s_peak
    • +1
      s_peak  
    • Gravity_Man:

      The most reprehensible and sickening aspect of Christianity is it's need to tell people that they are incapable of being good and evolving on their own without the intervention of some magic man in the sky. This aspect robs us of our very humanity. Humans are fully capable of creating a beautiful, Utopian world that takes care of the planet and it's people, without some tablets handed down from God. I find it appalling that Christians think we are incapable of morals without the bible. It's PRECISELY that kind of thinking that is DESTROYING US! The majority of people on the planet are religious, and every civilization wracked by the disease of creed is failing! Isn't this enough of a clue that we're doing it all wrong? We need faith in ourselves, not in illusions!

    • 1 year ago
  • s_peak
    • -1
      s_peak  
    • Gravity_Man:

      If we need a messiah to begin with, then we have no purpose. Your logic is asinine. The christian way of thought has trapped us in this prison of greed and destruction. Men were born with much capability, and we spend all of our time arguing about God. What a waste.

    • 1 year ago
  • JanforGore
    • +2
      JanforGore  
    • s_peak:

      Not to belabor this but for me faith in the true words of Christ (in the Gnostic view) only amplifies faith in myself and others, so on that I agree. Stewardship and an understanding of how that faith works with all other disciplines including responsible science to respect nature is what will light the way to a better future.

    • 1 year ago
  • coolplanet
  • Gravity_Man
    • 0
      Gravity_Man  
    • s_peak:

      For a person like you begging others to listen to you you sure have a lot to say about stuff you automatically shut down. I nowhere said people were no good, we just aren't capable of Self-Rule. Your own posts are proof of that, killing the world's ecosystems, massive failures, that's what you wrote.

      For this world's inhabitants to achieve what you want we have to reach agreement. Jesus comes soon and when he does all the disagreeable folks YOU KNOW HAVE TO GO will be done away with by divine edict. The world you know is possible will then be achievable.

      Inventors of zero pollution engine systems have been jailed or killed or otherwise disposed of like rotting trash. We should NOT be having these problems. The climate should not be fighting us. Inventors should NOT have been jailed and killed and their energy-producing inventions mothballed.

      You better hope the Bible is right because we don't have a prayer if it is not. It isn't all the people who have to go, it's the ones opposed to God ruling over His Creation. You standing their shouting YES WE CAN puts you in a very poor position backing the ones about to be outted.

      Calling God names isn't a good idea either. Your decision. The Bible, that book you're afraid to open, has the answers. You won't learn them from the Pope or Billy Graham but you can from JW's, that is if you weren't quaking in FEAR so much. You claim you have an open mind I fail to see anything but a sweaty brow running from a Book.

    • 1 year ago
  • s_peak
    • 0
      s_peak  
    • Gravity_Man:

      I'm not afraid of the bible. In fact, I think there's a lot of coded knowledge in the bible... so I don't totally discount it... but even you must acknowledge that the bible has been edited by many different tribes of men throughout history, and it's contents MIGHT be inaccurate. Some of it was changed for purposes of control and profit. Unless you're reading one of the original copies, that is...
      But I refuse to accept that men were made without the capability to save themselves. Until the day comes, I will do my best to create a better world (which is a daunting task, to be sure), not sit around and wait for it to happen for me. I have been a good person my entire life. I treat all creatures with respect (I don't even kill flies), I don't lie (I believe the truth sets us free), I do my best to collect knowledge and share it... and I have never fought or been violent. I also despise money and am trying to live a life without possessions, and someday I will be all the way there. I have definitely still sinned a lot, however. So when God comes back, he can judge me... and I do not fear him. I fear a hell on earth for all men and women as a product of their combined greed and destruction. You know I respect your views on energy... and I think you're a good guy... but I refuse to say that humans are incapable of creating a better world without the good book... that kind of mentality is a prison that has led us to where we are today. What if he doesn't come back? Will you give up your ways and start working for a better future without his help? You think we should ignore the problems in the world because jesus is coming back... and it won't matter? Do you not see a potential flaw in that logic?

      I also don't beg people to listen to me. I prefer that they do their own research. I say it all the time.

    • 1 year ago
  • JanforGore
    • 0
      JanforGore  
    • coolplanet:

      “Faith is our earth, in which we take root; hope is the water through which we are nourished; love is the air through which we grow; gnosis is the light through which we become fully grown."

      Beyond Belief, Elaine Pagels

      And through faith, hope, and love we become aware of who we are and that the answers to lifes's questions and mysteries lie in knowing we are the solution through that "knowing" of the inner light in all of us. Not to get into it too much, but the Gnostic gospels are really the only true gospels in my view. They are the truth about Christ's teachings wherein he reveals the secret to that knowing which entails having the ability to understand our flaws through inner reflection to come to that knowing, and to see that he did not come to save us, but to make us aware of the divine spark in us. Being good stewards of tha natural world is part of that knowing as well.

    • 1 year ago
  • Gravity_Man
    • 0
      Gravity_Man  
    • s_peak:

      Without a doubt you have many redeeming qualities, but to inherit what the Kingdom gives we have to accept its rules, otherwise God sees us as making our own rules.

      That's what caused this situation in the first place.

      Yes, you would think we could make a new earth but we can't ever do that because Satan is so good at messing up our best plans. Such as my engines, but many more engines and plans than just my few! One reason Jesus will help us is to rid us of his influence.

      We're caught in a mouse trap. Your ideas and plans -if they aren't stolen as some of mine and others were- just don't stand much a chance to find out if you're right or wrong that we could do it. We aren't in a controlled petri dish experiment here. The test was slanted from the beginning.

      You've been tainted by the world's brainwashing. We all have. It gets in your hair, gets in your blood, then you want it like the best drug you ever had. If you want to break free of that drug you can, with help, takes some time & effort to get the tentacles out.

      Much of what has people in an uproar today is main topics that whoa, never ever get solved. Wars, health reform, crumbling economy, these are all smokescreens to keep you tied in the chair where you're wanted to remain. I hope you see that.Your hopes of doing further research in a short lifetime can be greatly exceeded in an everlasting life length lifetime.

      When I first studied the Bible the tentacles of Science and Philosophy were reaching for be bad man. Satan wanted to stop me and came very close. NASA had just gotten men in Space. I watched the Moon landing on TV. I hate seeing you loose what you deserve because you like all of us are being stripped of our lawful inheritance.

      Jesus comes to give each of us a much bigger shot than anything you now know. A shot at your rightful inheritance, freedom from evil and evil men who think they have the right to rule. They have shown us they do not. They are the Greedy you should hate. You should want to get lots of distance between yourself and them and a closer place near Jesus and the Bible.

      That's our only hope, not world gov't by men and not their ignorant, do-nothing United Nations.

    • 1 year ago
  • Gravity_Man
    • -1
      Gravity_Man  
    • JanforGore:

      Daniel 2 vs 44 tells us who will win. And thank goodness too because the way this old system operates right now they select which ones they want to win and many times that means SOMEBODY ELSE who kisses their shiny behind more often than you.

      I hope you investigate these matters further. Many people will mislead you saying the time that has passed has been too long and the prophecy is a lie. However, a few years ago we discovered a scriptural extension of the prophecy they say is finished. haha It is not finished. It's getting close is what it's doing, real close.

      Anyway, you owe it to yourself to learn more then decide, not from me and not from your tentacle-strapped peers. It's too important for you to let middle men choose life or death for you.

    • 1 year ago
  • Gravity_Man
    • 0
      Gravity_Man  
    • s_peak:

      In the book of Romans (15 vs 4) Paul states "the things that happened aforetime were written for our instruction". Extrapolated that means many of the things written all through the Bible are telling us what is to happen again. You ask What if? questions and that's good because we all did that. However, take a look at the gospel account of Matthew and Luke you'll find there were "Magi" astrologers aka astronomers and they were led to Jesus by a moving star.

      We know stars don't move like that but whether it was an image placed in their mind or some sort of mass illusion makes little matter because it was leading them to baby Jesus so he could be killed. So it certainly wasn't any angel.

      Don't you find it a tad interesting how all of a sudden all these astronomers are finding habitable planets? The pinata my man is very large. You are being fought over.

    • 1 year ago
  • coolplanet
    • 0
      coolplanet  
    • JanforGore:

      Beautifully said!
      Elaine Pagels is a master. One of my very favorite authors.
      I like the quote from the Gospel of Thomas where the disciples ask when the end will come.
      "The kingdom of heaven is spread out upon the earth and men do not see it."
      I see it.
      And i think you do too.

    • 1 year ago
  • coolplanet
    • 0
      coolplanet  
    • Gravity_Man:

      Instead of deluging posts with Jehovah Witness propaganda the appropriate thing to do would be to submit your own post to Current, which is what this site is all about.
      A short spiritual comment to a scientific discussion is certainly fine.
      But what you are doing is trolling for Jehovah.
      I'm going to start flagging you if you don't curtail it.
      I like you Gravity Man and am glad you are here to share your unique insights.
      Just please stop disrupting threads with multiple posts of unrelated bullshit!!!

    • 1 year ago
  • JanforGore
  • JanforGore
    • +2
      JanforGore  
    • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iq6jpkDNxtI&playnext=1&list=PL55ED1C6FCB7...

      Food Wars: Globalization, GMOs, and Biofuel

      There is no one speaker on this topic who addresses it with as much clarity, truth, intelligence and hope than Dr. Vandana Shiva. Here she speaks of how food is grown, where it is shipped, and the impacts of our entire food system. How and where we grow certain staple crops is one thing that will need to be considered as climate change makes its effects known in places where such crops are constantly under siege from erratic and severe climactic events.

    • 1 year ago
  • JanforGore
    • +2
      JanforGore  
    • http://www.cnr.berkeley.edu/~agroeco3/the_potential_of_agroecology.html

      Agroecology increases productivity and sustainability. It is how we grow food that effects longterm soil health, soil carbon sequestration, sustainability and yield.

      Excerpt:

      " the agroecological approach favored by increasing numbers of farmers, NGOs, and analysts around the world, offers several advantages. First, it is a alternate path to agricultural productivity or intensification that relies on local farming knowledge and techniques adjusted to different local conditions, management of diverse on-farm resources and inputs, and incorporation of contemporary scientific understanding of biological principles and resources in farming systems. Second, it offers the only practical way to actually restore agricultural lands that have been degraded by conventional agronomic practices. Third, it offers an nvironmentally sound, and affordable way, for smallholders to sustainable intensify production in marginal areas. Finally, it has the potential to reverse the anti-peasant biases inherent in strategies that emphasize purchased inputs and machinery, valuing instead the assets that small farmers already possess, including local knowledge and the low opportunity costs for labor that prevail in the regions where they live. Thus it is an approach that is likely to decrease, rather than exacerbate, inequality, and also enhance sustainability."

    • 1 year ago
  • JanforGore
  • chardly
  • IceKat
  • JanforGore
    • +4
      JanforGore  
    • You know what you can do with your graphs. You can't even begin to grasp what we face. No wonder you keep trying to make yourself relevant by attaching yourself to every word I type.

    • 1 year ago
  • IceKat
    • -5
      IceKat  
    • JanforGore:

      If I did attach myself to every word you type here I would have a full-time job!!!
      I'm just not scared by the stupid claims of people with agendas, I don't seek and find negativity in every corner. The world is in a lot better shape than you think it is. You have no idea how lucky you are to be alive at this time, a time of increased longevity and prosperity and all you can do is look for someone to blame. That really is strange behaviour.

    • 1 year ago
  • robin49
    • 0
      robin49  
    • IceKat:

      I think you meant to say, "You have no idea how lucky you are to be alive IN AMERICA." Life in a lot of other countries is terrible. There are BILLIONS of people who don't have clean drinking water or know when they'll get to eat next. Yeah longevity and prosperity has increased for those living above the poverty line in industrialized countries, but certainly not for everyone else. Don't forget about the rest of the world.

    • 1 year ago
  • IceKat
    • -4
      IceKat  
    • Image
    • "It is no overstatement to state that we are in a climate/food crisis." - JanforGore

      Actually that is a massive overstatement, but that's to be expected.

      Wiki: "Erlich’s The Population Bomb was a best-selling book written by Paul R. Ehrlich and his wife, Anne Ehrlich (who was uncredited), in 1968. It warned of the mass starvation of humans in the 1970s and 1980s due to overpopulation, as well as other major societal upheavals, and advocated immediate action to limit population growth. Fears of a “population explosion” were widespread in the 1950s and 60s, but the book and its charismatic author brought the idea to an even wider audience. The book has been criticized in recent decades for its alarmist tone and inaccurate predictions."

      And just as extremist alarmists were bleating on and on about imagined problems in the future in the 60s, so they continue today. The results will be the same. People will look back in decades to come and laugh themselves silly at the amazing predictions dumped onto an amused public by the alarmists.

      Chart shows grain prices (Daniel Sumner, University of California-Davis).
      No doubt someone will come along and manage to fit some sort of climate event to the grain prices, but I doubt it, there is no correlation.
      There is no climate/food crisis, except for the man-made one of increasing grain prices caused by stupid people who want to grow food to burn.

      "...but also in giving us a glimpse of what life will be like in a warming world. "
      Food grows better in a warm world. Growing seasons are extended. Let's not forget that the planet has actually been cooling for some years now, but that is conveniently ignored because it doesn't fit the mantra. No matter, the extremists will be quick to pounce upon any weather event and use that as evidence for climate change, and climate change, according to them, is always bad - always.

      Still the population grows and still we manage to feed them, even throughout all the natural climate changes that have occurred, the weather events, and the green extremists' attempts to create a world where ideology rules over common sense and reality.

    • 1 year ago
  • Gravity_Man
    • 0
      Gravity_Man  
    • IceKat:

      The rule is => when people hear "The End is Near" they're automatically triggered to have more children. The world is filled with people saying the End is Near therefore the excessive overpopulation will continue, and continue, and continue.

      Because the End is getting closer, and closer; it never stops getting CLOSER, therefore the children get ever closer also. It isn't Rocket Science.

      Oh, and The End is Extra Near. 10 billions come on down!!!

      And nothing IceKat OR Jan posts will stop it.

      No charts will stop it. Reasoning, nope.

    • 1 year ago
  • Gravity_Man
  • Gravity_Man
    • 0
      Gravity_Man  
    • IceKat:

      Besides, look at the stupidity involved. Extra monies should be being poured into manufacturing ocean islands to support the burgeoning population but no-o-o-o we build stupid SPACESHIPS and Moon probes and so on vomit. Were we making floating islands we would also be causing / encouraging environment stabilization.

      We live on Planet Stupid, waiting for the inevitable End to come. We want it, we will get it. Just sit around blogging long enough and doing NOTHIN it will be here come hell or high water. Buncha whiners and crybabies waiting for Mommie to come change their diaper.

      Oh, and having plenty of spaceship toys to play with.

    • 1 year ago
  • s_peak
    • +3
      s_peak  
    • IceKat:

      Actually. There is a pretty big crisis going on. Soil scientists everywhere are growing very concerned about aluminum toxicity. And WHY is Monsanto developing aluminum resistant seeds?

      http://www.mtshastanews.com/opinions/x1950206316/Citizens-seeking-answers-to-alu...

      "When a hydro-geologist was shown the tests, he stated, “unless you live near an Alcoa Aluminum plant, there is no way these types of metals (barium has also been detected) should be showing up in your pond or rainwater samples, in any quantity.” The Pit River sample tested at 4,610,000 ug/L, which is 4,610 times the MCL. "

      Aluminum at 4,610 TIMES a "reasonable" dose in the soil?... this effect is probably man-made, but even if it isn't, the manifestation of this is coming to light. The soil, along with prokaryotes and other creatues that inhabit that soil are dying off at an alarming rate. Most of these creatures we can't see with the naked eye, but they are basically responsible for healthy plant growth, along with completing various nutrient cycles that are necessary, not only for plants, but for all life.

      This is actually just one example of several that show, basically, that ecosystems all over the world are beginning to collapse. Humans break the energy cycle of the planet by sequestering needed energy from the ecosystem and then dumping it where it shouldn't go. Without MASSIVE human intevention, our soil will become sterile... and fertilizers used on every major farm in the world are accelerating this soil-death. petroleum based fertilizers are EDTA chelated... which is akin to salting the soil in the long term.
      ...In the short term, plants grow very quickly, but in the long run, they will decline and be unable to grow altogether. This is what we're seeing... and it's a product of killing the culture of the soil... something that we only figured out recently, and something nobody wants to hear about.

      It's easy to understand why we do things this way. Actually, until the 80's humans didn't even know that bacteria were important to human life, they just assumed they were all little baddies to be destroyed. We are finally coming to the realization that these tiny forms of life are incredibly important to all life/eco systems... and it's pretty much too late. Our planet's skin is rotting, and once the culture flips to anaerobic, it's very hard (but not impossible) to flip back. It could take decades ( or MUCH longer... and a great deal of intervention) to get anything to grow again in that soil.

    • 1 year ago
  • coolplanet
    • +1
      coolplanet  
    • s_peak:

      Thank you for this very well-informed and passionate explanation!
      You sound like you must be a gardener.
      It restores my faith in humanity to know that some people understand what the hell is going on.

    • 1 year ago
  • s_peak
    • 0
      s_peak  
    • coolplanet:

      Thank you very much!

      botany and microbiology are two things I am very passionate about. I spend a great deal of time researching and reading. It makes me happy to know that someone out there is listening!

    • 1 year ago
  • Incredulous
  • JanforGore
  • IceKat
    • -6
      IceKat  
    • JanforGore:

      Once again you prove me correct. Find any story that you can tenuously link to the climate, blame someone and bingo - a story.
      Climate migrants? Come on... when in the entire history of human life did migrations not occur?
      People live in virtually every corner of this planet, from frozen wastelands to scorching desert, from the wettest to the driest, and you think weather events are going to set off a mass migration? Why hasn't it happened before? and on't tell me the climate is getting worse now - it isn't.
      Some people are opportunists, they can see a free ticket to somewhere else if they play the climate card. Don't be so gullible.

    • 1 year ago
  • coolplanet
    • 0
      coolplanet  
    • IceKat:

      Most people on Earth live in cities at sea level.
      Oceans are rising twice as fast as climatologists predicted.
      If Arctic ice and tundra continue melting at the alarming rate they have been since 2007 we will be seeing perhaps billions of climate refugees within this decade.

    • 1 year ago
  • robin49
    • +1
      robin49  
    • IceKat:

      It has happened before. Any archaeologist can give you several examples of situations where a population outgrew it's resources, because of population increase and climate change, abandoned its homes and cities, and migrated.

    • 1 year ago
  • IceKat
  • coolplanet
  • s_peak
    • 0
      s_peak  
    • IceKat:

      I was really hoping you would take the time to respond to my post. If you don't think she's making a good point, perhaps you can refute mine? Once you try that, I'll give you an even harder one.

    • 1 year ago
  • IceKat
    • -2
      IceKat  
    • s_peak:

      I'm not even remotely interested in aluminium toxicity in soil, it isn't a subject I know anything about. But in line with the rest of the alarmist propaganda presented here I suspect there's more to it than meets the eye.

    • 1 year ago
  • s_peak
    • +1
      s_peak  
    • IceKat:

      So you're okay with telling someone they're wrong and alarmist... and that we're all spewing propaganda... but you're not going to spend the time to make a thoughtful argument? Hmm.
      So what exactly do you know a lot about? Because people who study the planet tend to agree that there's shit happening here that needs to be addressed. Aluminum toxicity, whether you realize it or not, has a huge impact on the food you eat every day (and with global food production), along with mental and physical health of you and people you know. But there are plenty of other topics I'd gladly discuss (pick one, I'm always happy to learn something new, or be proven wrong), since aluminum toxicity is once of several that I spend lots of time on.
      New strains of food are being genetically developed to be resistant to aluminum by essentially the same companies that are putting the aluminum into our soil and water to begin with. You don't think that's pertinent? ... you don't think that's globally relevant?

      You aren't allowed to call what I say "alarmist propaganda" until you prove me wrong... and only someone of weak moral fiber would say such a thing about a subject they don't know. If you don't know much about that subject, and you want to say the world ISN'T in crisis... then maybe it's time you learned, or at least opened your ears up and listened to people who are here to discuss, not argue. We can learn a lot from each other when we don't treat each other like assholes, you know?

    • 1 year ago
  • IceKat
    • -2
      IceKat  
    • s_peak:

      I'm fairly sure there are many other people here willing to wallow in your version of doom and gloom. I, however, have lived long enough and through enough false scare stories to know better than to engage with someone who has some sort of axe to grind based on a preconceived belief that everything is wrong.

      "You aren't allowed to call what I say "alarmist propaganda" until you prove me wrong..."
      I didn't. I merely suggested that it might be based upon what I usually read here - "I suspect there's more to it than meets the eye" was what I actually wrote.

      "then maybe it's time you learned, or at least opened your ears up and listened to people who are here to discuss, not argue. "
      In other words listen to the words of the wise elders, don't question anything - the science is settled, right?

    • 1 year ago
  • s_peak
    • 0
      s_peak  
    • IceKat:

      "based on what you usually read here" ... so you're just lumping me in with everyone else here... ignoring any possibility that I know what I'm talking about, or have anything relevant to say. I understood the inference. You treated me the same way you treated everyone else here... with ignorance rather than a desire to discuss and learn.

      I'm not selling any doom and gloom, guy. I'm a scientist. I report using logic... and I understand the importance of causation / correlation. It's not doom and gloom, it's happening, and I can prove it, as can many soil scientists. I'm certainly not saying it's the end of the world, but it IS time that we start listening and doing something.

      "listen to elders, don't question anything"
      I think it's important to question everything. I'm not a wise elder, but when people of authority on a subject are talking... I listen. I have gotten far in my life because of this.

      You, however, can do as you please.

    • 1 year ago
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