Category Archives: environment

Vandana Shiva

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More from the organic farmers’s group–this article on Vandana Shiva, an intelligent, feminist activist who is a delight to watch whenever she appears on DN!   She doesn’t back down and she has sound arguments to all the corporate-speak.

From the article:

Why do you refer to the term seed slavery?

In another time, some people thought it was alright to own other people as slaves. In our times some corporations think it is alright to own life on earth through patents and intellectual property rights (IPR). Patents are granted for inventions, and life is not an invention. These IPR monopolies on seeds are also creating a new bondage and dependency for farmers who are getting trapped in debt to pay royalties. This is why 270,000 Indian farmers have committed suicide.

Word.

Be sure to click on the Puztai link.  Wow. This falls under  “if you have nothing to hide…”  then why are you trying to quash this information and silence a scientist who made such a discovery…?

 

List of Heirloom Seeds

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A member of the organic farmers group I belong to posted this website promoting heirloom seeds with lists of companies that provide them.  I thought I’d pass it along to anyone interested.

Here’s the main page and think it’s a pretty cool site on the harm caused by Monsanto, et al.   (As a side note~look at the end of this article–boy, does that hit close to home! <sigh> 1996…pre-9/11…)

Link to their “booklet” on the website–can’t read it all but the first few pages look very good.

Here’s another informative article.

Holy Crap

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Secret Cold War tests in St. Louis…

From the story:

But in 1994, the government said the tests were part of a biological weapons program and St. Louis was chosen because it bore some resemblance to Russian cities that the U.S. might attack. The material being sprayed was zinc cadmium sulfide, a fine fluorescent powder.

Now, new research is raising greater concern about the implications of those tests. St. Louis Community College-Meramec sociology professor Lisa Martino-Taylor’s research has raised the possibility that the Army performed radiation testing by mixing radioactive particles with the zinc cadmium sulfide, though she concedes there is no direct proof.

…makes you wonder what they’re doing now, in unsuspecting neighborhoods, for the war on terrorism?

My thoughts went to the chemtrails and how much they affect me and others.  I’ve definitely noticed a correlation between behavior and continuous (daily) spraying of trails.  When I had this last migraine, they had been spraying five or six trails at a time, all day,  every day, for three weeks.  (And I noticed that just before the elections in 2008, they were spraying the hell out of the skies for the four days prior to election day–keep your eyes on the skies before this election, folks, and see if you see the same phenomenon.)

Here’s a report on a news station:

I’ve read this this website before, but I can’t remember if I posted it.  A little dramatic, but I think there is cause for concern.

I went to the Environmental Working Group website, and could find nothing on the chemtrails.  Nothing on the Union for Concerned Scientists, either.

Joe Marmon has sued California authorities for contaminating the air.

Here’s a European take on the chemtrails phenomenon.

Czech Republic:

Da bees

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Well, it’s refreshing that some countries are paying attention.  And acting on it.

Purdue Research on the problem here: http://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/research/2012/120111KrupkeBees.html

What bothers me when researchers report that the pesticides are causing the problem, instead of advocating eliminating pesticides and using beneficial (complimentary) methods of insect control, they want t come up with some other scientific method.

It’s like throwing a rock through a window and trying to correct the damage by putting a newspaper over it….doesn’t really address the problem, does it?

To me, it kind of feels like avoiding responsibility–avoiding the harder choice of trying to work with nature instead of against it.  Farmers in Indiana never met a tree they liked–if you look at Indiana on the map, you can pick it out from the other states by the absence of trees.  One of the reasons I admire Michigan and Ohio is they actually seem to like trees and it’s pleasant to drive through the states.  (Well, I could say something about Ohio drivers, but I’ll save that for another time….:)

So…the farmers remove as many trees from the acres as they can because they want to use every inch of space for crops…but the problem is that they remove the habitats of the birds that eat insects.  It also creates more wind erosion by taking away the windbreaks…hence drier soil that is more susceptible during drought.

It takes more work to factor in all of this, and the motivation just isn’t there.  It’s just too easy to apply chemicals to control for insects, weeds, and fertilize.

 

Slooooow Food

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…versus Fast Food.  Here’s a link to the Slow Food website.  As the website states, Slow Food is a way of life–a sustainable way of feeding ourselves without destroying the environment (and ourselves) in the process.

Carlo Petrini founded the Slow Food movement after the first McDonald’s opened its doors in Italy.

The National Heirloom Expo is held annually to draw attention to what’s happening with the GMO seeds and to promote heirloom seeds (non-GMO).

Seed Savers website here.   Another website here.

Finally, here’s Treehugger.com, where those dirty effing hippies must hang out.  🙂

Note that in the comments, the readers state there is a controversy with Seed Savers being stacked with corporate toadies….intrigue among the seeds. <sigh>

A rather depressing article here. 

Bill and Melinda Gates controlling the world food supply along with Monsanto is a scary thought.  It’s apparently not enough for them (Gates)  foisting “education reform” on the children of the United States…

…and his comments on environmentalists being against GMO’s speak of his true intent…

As the Grist article states, organic farming has proven to be effective during times of drought, more so than chemical-based farming.  And it goes on to remark about organic/sustainable farming being ideal for the poor communities.  It’s a no-brainer to me:  you put food scraps in a compost pile that turns into a rich soil that you put back into the ground.  This rich compost returns nutrients and beneficial microbes back to the soil.  One of the problems with chemical farming is that it strips the land of nutrients and the soil deteriorates, requiring more water than compost-rich soil.  Any poor person could do that–returning food scraps back to the soil is free.

An interesting article here.

John Ikerd is a retired professor out of the U of Missouri.  He’s an advocate of sustainable farming and has written extensively about it. Link here.

The problem that most folks are unaware there is a problem.  They go to their grocers, see rows of fresh food and shelves stocked to the hilt, and think everything is great….

…and the only thing left will be GMO food that makes them ill…

The coal debate

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I about fell off my chair when I heard the radio ad that Barack Obama “approves this message”.  I thought it sounded too much like an Onion spoof…but, alas…

The message?  He approves of coal…and fracking as viable energy sources.  Well, not that it’s a surprise that he *still* supports “clean coal”…but I thought that he at least had sense not to endorse fracking…I was apparently wrong.

Story here:  http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2012/09/obama_campaign_says_romney_not.html

Look at the faces of the miners–blackened with coal dust that contains mercury, lead, arsenic, and on...

91% of those children had respiratory problems–what more does it take?!  A 100%??

From the article:

But according to Stephen Lester, science director of the Virginia-based Center for Health, Environment, and Justice, the air quality tests done at Marsh Fork were “extremely limited” and “provide meaningless information” since they did not test specifically for heavy metals like nickel, lead, arsenic, and mercury found in coal dust.  Rather, they conducted standard state tests for mold, air flow, and air filter upkeep

What a joke.  See, if you don’t acknowledge there’s a problem…then they don’t have to do something about it.  And the chemical industry/coal industry/nuclear industry…and on…can continue doing what they do without being held accountable.

A miner’s viewpoint here.

Environmental Working group has this from 2004.  And this from 2001:  the revolving door phenomenon.

This woman is a walking toxic dump.   Good Grief.  This a testament to our body’s ability to withstand a toxic beating and still try to correct the situation…but even the miracle of one’s body has its limits.

The problem with the situation is that as the above article states, scientists are testing folks for toxins in their systems, but they don’t know what it means–it doesn’t mean the presence of disease, but also doesn’t mean there’s no damage done.

From the article:

“Just because it’s there doesn’t mean it’s going to hurt you,” says Bruce Caswell, senior manager of environmental health and safety with the Canadian Chemical Producers Association. But it doesn’t mean it’s not hurting you either. We experience a constant barrage of synthetic stuff, even in the womb. Doses differ as do genetic and physiological vulnerabilities. “None of this belongs in our bodies. Period,” says Riina Bray, a family physician at Women’s College Hospital’s Environmental Health Clinic. Researchers suspect these toxic chemicals have links to a number of cancers, including breast, testicular and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, not to mention reproductive disorders and learning disabilities.

I wonder about the toxin drift as highlighted in this article with David Masty testing positive.  I think the bizarre actions of folks in the last decade or so are related to how toxic our environment is–that we’ve reached our limits of how much our bodies can take before we crash–and the result isn’t always physical, but mental.  This was one of the most surprising aspects of toxic poisoning that I’ve learned on this odyssey I’m on–I had no idea that toxins affected one’s mental abilities.  The medical profession has always treated mental issues as if they were exclusively a problem with the brain–not a likely result of toxic exposure.

And the children being born polluted…it should be enough to make every adult sit up and take notice….

Related to this is the EWG filing suit after Cuomo refuses to release all requested documents.

In my case, although there are numerous red flags, the FDA refuses to recognize that dental amalgams poison people–even though most folks on the mercury support group became sick within a year of amalgam placement.  And I know that living near a coal-burning power plant in the 70s also contributed to my mercury/lead/arsenic load.  Truly, it was when I first had mercury symptoms–only they were minor annoyances that would be misdiagnosed or ignored.

And the USDA is still recommending a diet that is heavily grain based, even though this may mean it is opening the door for mercury/heavy metal poisoning for Celiacs.

…and then the poor sap that falls ill will be met with the “you don’t have a right to food or shelter…”

Funding for organic research questioned

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commondreams has this up on the questions of who funded this bogus study.  Knowing about how corporations are trying to influence university’s research, I was suspicious of this study from the start.

Links on the subject here. 

And here.

And here.

And here.  This isn’t shocking to me–Monsanto was giving huge amounts to Purdue University.  During a panel on the genetically modified organisms, circa 1998, they asserted there was no problem with GMO’s.  The panel was made up of three scientists–one against GM’s and the other two for them.  The technology was new and had not been tested for adverse affects not only on humans, but nature, as well.

Deer have been known to cross a road to eat organic corn if a choice were given between GMO corn.  Here’s a link to an article.

A thought struck me as I read that last article–these crops are engineered to “drink poison”.  If we put aside the genetic manipulation, and look at the ability for the gene to absorb much more pesticides, etc., wouldn’t that be multiplying the devastating effects of those chemicals on the body?  I mean, we know how devastating chlorinated hydrocarbons (DDT, etc.) are…so it stands to reason that it’s exponentially more so with these GM crops.  And the Celiac thing–how much is being influenced by not only eating GM crops, but breathing in that poison from, say, corn pollen? Article here. Note that this was clear back in 1999–this stuff has been known…and yet the Monsanto monster continues to grow…

News from Indian Country

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Here’s a story on the continuing fight for sacred sites and the environment. Another story about it here.

Why are they making fake snow? And why are they occupying a sacred space?

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Story here on the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous.  I’m glad that the U.S. has finally signed on.  Special Rappoteur statement here.

One of the problems is that with my generation, the Boomers, we grew up with “Cowboys and Indians” …with the Indians being the “bad guys”.  Along with that, we had John Wayne movies (and others) that also portrayed them as the bad guys.  Then, when we studied history, we were told of all the brave settlers and how they were to be commended for “settling” the West…we were never told of the other side, or if there was, it was only when the “good Indians” helped whites to settle the land.

It was only when I began reading the Native Americans own account of their history that I began to realize how one-sided my history book had been.  This would also include women’s history, by the way, but that is another topic for another day.

I would learn that they were in many ways just the opposite of what I had been told:  they were spiritual; they were compassionate; they cared deeply for the environment (the “wilderness” of America was actually a carefully cultivated ecosystem); they respected their elders; they looked out for one another; they were not greedy–they took only what they needed.

We lost so much when we sought to impose our own beliefs on the Native Americans instead of trying to understand their culture.

Sleeping with the enemy…

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…toxic chemical manufacturers created a front group to promote the use of fire retardants…and the guy behind it was also a mouthpiece for the tobacco industry.

Be sure to click on the Chicago Tribune’s excellent piece.

Here’s the kicker:  fire itself is not usually the cause of death–it’s smoke inhalation.  From chemicals.  One of the fire guys I talked to told me that burning plastic is the worst–burning plastic creates cyanide and it will “drop you like that” (as he snapped his fingers).  He said they never go into where plastic is burning without their oxygen masks.

Here’s a report from the LA Times in 2011.

…and the next question should be:  If it affects humans, what effect does it have on nature?

Here’s a short blurb on the increase of the toxic chemicals in the oceans.

These stories make me glad that I sewed my kids’ pajamas when they were young, using untreated cotton…at least I spared them that exposure.