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You can help save the earth in your kitchen not only by what you eat and how you prepare it, but also how you clean up afterwards. Annie Berthold Bond shares decades of experience in devising home-made cleaning supplies. Check it out at Green Chi Cafe.
The Union of Concerned Scientists has a useful newsletter, Food and Environment Electronic Digest (FEED). The latest issue has a story about a giant corporation’s attempt to corner the market. Here’s the story from FEED: “An Associated Press (AP) investigation has detailed practices by seed giant Monsanto that allow it to control access to its seeds and stifle competition. For example, Monsanto licensing agreements bar independent biotechnology companies from breeding plants that include both genes from Monsanto and genes from any of its rivals. Since 95 percent of the soybeans and 80 percent of the corn grown in the United States are Monsanto products, these agreements hobble the improvement of competitors’ products and put Monsanto in a position to dominate the U.S. grain supply, which could pave the way for increases in food prices. Read more about the AP investigation. The Department of Justice is investigating Monsanto for anticompetitive practices.”
You’ve probably heard that bee colonies in the US have been collapsing, as the bees abandon their hives or die. This is serious, since bees pollinate (make fertile) the crops we depend on (not to mention bees’own rights). Many causes have been proposed, and perhaps many factors have played a role in this Colony Collapse Disorder. But some good news is reported today by Pesticide Action Network . A federal judge has banned the sale of the herbicide spirotetramat, whch was shown in studies (including some by its own manufacturers) to harm bees.This herbicide has already been banned by France, Germany, and Italy. Even little Slovenia beat us to the punch on this important action.
According to Greenbuzz, a website/newsletter full of information on what businesses are doing to move toward sustainability, “The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy have agreed to work jointly in support of the dairy industry’s goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent over the next decade….. The agreement may also help accelerate adoption of methane gas digesters for all sizes of dairy farms, making it easier to connect digesters to electricity grids and help digester operators capture potential carbon offset payments. Additional support from the USDA could include research on how feed mixtures affect methane emissions from cows. Opportunities to reduce so-called enteric emissions have been identified by dairy stakeholders in the Innovation Center’s industrywide plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions.”
We’ve heard about “gas-belching trucks.” It’s about time we reversed the process! Now if only we could capture human burps….
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A new book called Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows is an eye-opening account of a little-questioned article of faith in our culture: the idea that it is normal to befriend some animals while exploiting others. A step-by-step analysis of a cultural blind spot, it is a powerful blend of reason, compassion, and psychological insight. And one dreaded comparison is inevitable. Whenever human beings are rounded up and slaughtered by sophisticated, industrialized killing machines, we called it an atrocity and sneer at those bystanders who claimed they “didn’t know.” Yet today animals are bred, drugged, crammed into concentration camps, and horribly slaughtered – by the billions every year. Most of us eat the result.
The book is well constructed, assembling questions, evidence, and logic to bring us face to face with our moral conflicts – and our moral numbing. Whatever your position on meat may be, this book will amaze and enlighten you about your own attitudes. It would make a powerful addition to the reading list for courses on critical thinking and psychological defense mechanisms. What I found most impressive was the author’s capacity to empathize with readers who have never thought about these things, and to pique not guilt, but curiosity. Please have the courage to challenge mental habits and be curious. This book is a frank and friendly guide that can be your ally in understanding yourself, your culture – and your choices.
At last! In a welcome dose of good news, the Environmental Protection Agency has declared that greenhouse gases are a threat to human health and therefore fair game to be regulated. How does this relate to food? Industrialized agriculture produces almost 20% of greenhouse gases, according to a prominent UN report. While environmental regulators work to overcome hysterical resistance from agribusiness and other polluting industries, you can help by buying food that is fresh, local, organic, and in season
