Provocations

Obama? Romney? How about neither?

When I was a child care worker and I wanted to give a frustrated child a little space, a sense of some autonomy in what was often a very restricted setting, I'd seek to give them a couple of acceptable (to me) options. It often eased the frustration. Are voters in the upcoming US election - and many others - essentially limited to choices that sustain the corporate status quo? If you want to give this some serious thought, try this recent column by Chris Hedges.

How Do You Take Your Poison?

By Chris Hedges — Posted on Sep 24, 2012

We can take it from nurse Romney or we can take it from nurse Obama, but one way or another the corporate hemlock will be shoved down our throats.

Read more

Organic vs Conventional. Lets get it straight.

Apples vs Oranges?

Yet another study - this time in today's Washington Post:
The environmental footprint of organic vs. conventional food
comes to a fairly simple conclusion: "Organic food is no better than regular food, a study finds."

I wonder how many will read what, as of this writing, is the sole comment. There's more understanding there than in the article itself. It stands on its own so I'll quote it here to give it a little more exposure:

Tawster wrote (italics mine):

You did something really subtle there. You changed the wording a bit there: The study is comparing "yields" and not "productivity". Big difference. I was scratching my head for a bit as I read because I knew that "productivity" of organic crops generally crushed conventional every time, though, dependent on the practice of the farmer, "yields" could be mixed.

Productivity is a measure of NET yield. I.e., after cost is factored in. Yields can be more or less than conventional, but the cost endured for conventional crop production is massive in comparison to organic. Costs include raw costs, like seed, fertilizer, fuel, herbicides, fungicides, labor. Those are a bit more for conventional generally, but it could be comparable in many cases. But where conventional falls face down is in *externalized* costs: ground water poisoning, air pollution, MRSA and virulent E. coli outbreaks, slurry lagoon breeches, soil loss, etc. etc.

i.e., The costs of conventional farming, often are more than the value of the crop they produce.

If you move to modern beyond-organic farmers, even their yields blow away conventional and organic and are the most yielding *and* productive farms on the planet.

This is trivially simple stuff. Why is the press not getting it right? I don't understand.

I think Tawster's being polite. It's actually not that hard to understand. The big money's not on organic, as evident in the attempt by Monsanto et al to defeat California's Proposition 37 (which seeks clear labelling of genetically modified products). Here's what it looked like as at the beginning of September. These are the companies seeking to prevent labelling of GMO foods in California; and the money they are spending to attempt to keep customers in the dark. Some are no surprise and some actually sell certified organic food. (Source: Big Ag Drops Another $13 Million to Defeat Food Labeling Prop)

1. MONSANTO COMPANY $4,208,000.00
2. E.I. DUPONT DE NEMOURS & CO. $4,025,200.00
3. PEPSICO, INC. $1,716,300.00
4. BASF PLANT SCIENCE $1,642,300.00
5. BAYER CROPSCIENCE $1,618,400.00
6. DOW AGROSCIENCES LLC $1,184,800.00
7. NESTLE USA, INC. $1,169,400.00
8. COCA-COLA NORTH AMERICA $1,164,400.00
9. CONAGRA FOODS $1,076,700.00
10. SYNGENTA CORPORATION $821,300.00
11. KELLOGG COMPANY $632,500.00
12. GENERAL MILLS, INC. $519,401.17
13. HERSHEY COMPANY $498,006.72
14. THE J.M. SMUCKER COMPANY $388,000.00
15. COUNCIL FOR BIOTECH. INFO. $375,000.00
16. GROCERY MFRS. ASSOCIATION $375,000.00
17. HORMEL FOODS CORPORATION $374,300.00
18. BIMBO BAKERIES USA $338,300.00
19. PIONEER HI-BRED INT $310,100.00
20. OCEAN SPRAY CRANBERRIES, INC. $301,553.21
21. PINNACLE FOODS GROUP LLC $266,100.00
22. DEAN FOODS COMPANY $253,950.00
23. BIOTECH INDUSTRY ORG. $252,000.00
24. MCCORMICK & COMPANY, INC. $248,200.00
25. WM. WRIGLEY JR. COMPANY $237,664.90
26. RICH PRODUCTS CORPORATION $225,537.15
27. CARGILL, INC. $202,229.36
28. DEL MONTE FOODS COMPANY $189,974.61
29. KNOUSE FOODS COOPERATIVE, INC. $135,831.53
30. MARS FOOD NORTH AMERICA $100,242.69
31. BUMBLE BEE FOODS, LLC $98,073.62
32. SUNNY DELIGHT BEVERAGES $96,952.57
33. SARA LEE CORPORATION $96,833.22
34. CAMPBELL SOUP COMPANY $70,454.91
35. SOLAE, LLC $61,207.43
36. MCCAIN FOODS USA, INC. $52,295.63
37. DOLE $45,580.05
38. C. H. GUENTHER & SON, INC. $24,189.18
39. LAND O'LAKES, INC. $21,513.78
40. HERO NORTH AMERICA $21,044.96
41. MORTON SALT $20,957.42
42. INVENTURE FOODS, INC. $11,343.80
43. GODIVA CHOCOLATIER, INC. $11,121.53
44. HOUSE-AUTRY MILLS, INC. $1,077.27
45. RICHELIEU FOODS, INC. $165.80

Some of these big names have organic food divisions or subsidiaries. This fairly recent chart will give you some insight:

Who Owns What in the Organic food industry.

I'm going to keep Tawster's comment handy for when I encounter the next blinkered article, claiming organic is more expensive than conventional agriculture.

The bottom of the oil barrel is covered in tarsand

Investments and vested interests can cloud vision. Maybe there's enough in this video to break through a few hardened hearts, hardened to the state of our planet and its people.

I think I'd have more respect for someone who said, I know it may be hurting our planet and its people but I still think it's the best thing to do. Instead most support for the tar-sands seems to rely on smoke and mirrors. Meanwhile, true to the pattern of addiction (money, oil . . . ), it is the addiction that drives. And, of course, the whole family suffers; in this case, the human family, starting with the most vulnerable:

Canadian doctors encourage US citizens to go for real health care

A little truth to dilute the poisonous lies being spread in the US.

Canadian Doctors for Medicare hosted a celebration of Medicare in Canada. The speakers included Roy Romanow, former Saskatchewan Premier and Commissioner on Health Care in Canada. They tell Americans that Canadian universal health care works and encourage Americans to implement a single payer universal health care systems.

The Kaslo Food Security Project

A good example of a community approach to food security:

Planting the Seeds from Hadas Levy on Vimeo.

Public health care in Canada

Recent use by conservative US political groups to cast the Canadian health care system in a poor light has given Canadians an opportunity to once again clarify their own thinking on the actual state of our health care system. This interview (with additional clips) does a pretty good job of that:

By piecing together a complex ecological puzzle, biologist Willie Smits has found a way to re-grow clearcut rainforest in Borneo, saving local orangutans - and creating a thrilling blueprint for restoring fragile ecosystems.

About Willie Smits
Willie Smits has devoted his life to saving the forest habitat of orangutans, the "thinkers of the jungle." As towns, farms and wars encroach on native forests, Smits works to save what is left.

Watch this remarkable and inspiring 20-minute video.

UPDATE,Grist, May 22: Biotech industry group alights on La Gloria to test backyard pigs

The bad news is that the scientists aren’t from the World Health Organization or some other neutral international group. Indeed, one of the two scientific teams that have arrived in La Gloria is funded by the biotech industry - and rather than investigate the large-scale concentrated-animal feedlot operations that lie at the villages perimeter, they’re focusing on backyard hog raising as the culprit.

UPDATE, TIME, May 15:  H1N1 Virus: The First Legal Action Targets a Pig Farm

-------------------------------------------------

I watched a CNN interviewer this morning "interviewing" US Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, asking whether the US-owned (Smithfield Foods) hog farm in Vera Cruz could be responsible for the current swine flu outbreak. Vilsack took the opportunity to go on at length on how safe US pork is,  either ignorantly or deliberately avoiding the matter of pig-human transfer of the virus.  Equally unaware or incompetent, the interviewer allowed herself and her network to be used to convey Vilsack's message and avoid the critical issue of accountability.

Whether there's something to this story is another matter but we need to have the answer to questions like this, and we need media staff to have the understanding and intellectual rigour to ask - and stay with - the question.

Here's the one article currently asking the question. It also points out the current lack of coverage of this story: Swine-flu outbreak could be linked to Smithfield factory farms

Tech Museum Awards: 2008 Health Award Laureate

Pesticide Action Network North America

Laureate Country: United States
Project Countries: Germany, the Philippines, South Africa, United States
Website: http://www.panna.org/drift/catcher

The Pesticide Action Network devised air-monitoring technology that allows people to detect and fight toxic pesticide exposure.

Five billion pounds of hazardous pesticides are applied to crops each year. The chemicals are a major source of toxic air pollution. As a result, farm workers and others near agricultural sites experience high rates of cancer, asthma, miscarriage, and birth defects.

The Pesticide Action Network developed the Drift Catcher, a monitoring system that allows people without scientific training to test their air for pesticides. The device captures airborne pesticides on a resin filter, which is then analyzed in a lab to determine the quantity and types of pesticides present. With these scientific results in hand, vulnerable communities have won legislation to force the use of safer pest management and reduce hazardous exposures.

Nearly a third of air fresheners contain phthalates, used to make the scent last longer. This according to an investigation by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). They are the same family of chemicals found in many water bottles. Air fresheners and related products are used by about 60% of Canadians.  Some stores in Europe and the US are starting to remove some of these products from their shelves.

If there's one prop of "civilization" we can do without, surely this is it: the illusion of cleanliness.

A Blueprint for Restoring Fragile Ecosystems

By piecing together a complex ecological puzzle, biologist Willie Smits has found a way to re-grow clearcut rainforest in Borneo, saving local orangutans - and creating a thrilling blueprint for restoring fragile ecosystems.

About Willie Smits
Willie Smits has devoted his life to saving the forest habitat of orangutans, the "thinkers of the jungle." As towns, farms and wars encroach on native forests, Smits works to save what is left.

Watch this remarkable and inspiring 20-minute video.

Swine Flu and US-owned Smithfield Farms in Vera Cruz, Mexico

UPDATE,Grist, May 22: Biotech industry group alights on La Gloria to test backyard pigs

The bad news is that the scientists aren’t from the World Health Organization or some other neutral international group. Indeed, one of the two scientific teams that have arrived in La Gloria is funded by the biotech industry - and rather than investigate the large-scale concentrated-animal feedlot operations that lie at the villages perimeter, they’re focusing on backyard hog raising as the culprit.

UPDATE, TIME, May 15:  H1N1 Virus: The First Legal Action Targets a Pig Farm

-------------------------------------------------

I watched a CNN interviewer this morning "interviewing" US Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, asking whether the US-owned (Smithfield Foods) hog farm in Vera Cruz could be responsible for the current swine flu outbreak. Vilsack took the opportunity to go on at length on how safe US pork is,  either ignorantly or deliberately avoiding the matter of pig-human transfer of the virus.  Equally unaware or incompetent, the interviewer allowed herself and her network to be used to convey Vilsack's message and avoid the critical issue of accountability.

Whether there's something to this story is another matter but we need to have the answer to questions like this, and we need media staff to have the understanding and intellectual rigour to ask - and stay with - the question.

Here's the one article currently asking the question. It also points out the current lack of coverage of this story: Swine-flu outbreak could be linked to Smithfield factory farms

Pesticide monitoring system wins award

Tech Museum Awards: 2008 Health Award Laureate

Pesticide Action Network North America

Laureate Country: United States
Project Countries: Germany, the Philippines, South Africa, United States
Website: http://www.panna.org/drift/catcher

The Pesticide Action Network devised air-monitoring technology that allows people to detect and fight toxic pesticide exposure.

Five billion pounds of hazardous pesticides are applied to crops each year. The chemicals are a major source of toxic air pollution. As a result, farm workers and others near agricultural sites experience high rates of cancer, asthma, miscarriage, and birth defects.

The Pesticide Action Network developed the Drift Catcher, a monitoring system that allows people without scientific training to test their air for pesticides. The device captures airborne pesticides on a resin filter, which is then analyzed in a lab to determine the quantity and types of pesticides present. With these scientific results in hand, vulnerable communities have won legislation to force the use of safer pest management and reduce hazardous exposures.

Many air fresheners contain a dangerous chemical

Nearly a third of air fresheners contain phthalates, used to make the scent last longer. This according to an investigation by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). They are the same family of chemicals found in many water bottles. Air fresheners and related products are used by about 60% of Canadians.  Some stores in Europe and the US are starting to remove some of these products from their shelves.

If there's one prop of "civilization" we can do without, surely this is it: the illusion of cleanliness.