If they plant fruit trees and nut trees that should take care of those worries since we get both the tree and agriculture. URL: www.washingtontimes.com
According to the Gaya theory - everything is Alive. Thus it is tough to decide which to eat since no matter what you are killing something to survive. |
Sorry, Vegans: Brussels Sprouts Like to Live, Too
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| I stopped eating pork about eight years ago, after a scientist happened to mention that the animal whose teeth most closely resemble our own is the pig. Unable to shake the image of a perky little pig flashing me a brilliant George Clooney smile, I decided it was easier to forgo the Christmas ham. A couple of years later, I gave up on all mammalian meat, period. I still eat fish and poultry, however and pour eggnog in my coffee. |
| But before we cede the entire moral penthouse to “committed vegetarians” and “strong ethical vegans,” we might consider that plants no more aspire to being stir-fried in a wok than a hog aspires to being peppercorn-studded in my Christmas clay potRead more at www.nytimes.com |
Wow. This is the first I have heard about this. Amazing the media flocks on Tiger Woods and other Celebs, but stuff like this never makes the headlines. Bayer Admits GMO Contamination is Out of Control |
EXTRACT: Bayer has admitted it has been unable to control the spread of its genetically-engineered organisms despite ‘the best practices [to stop contamination]‘(1). It shows that all outdoors field trials or commercial growing of GE crops must be stopped before our crops are irreversibly contaminated.
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$2 million US dollar verdict against Bayer confirms company’s liability for an uncontrollable technology |
Greenpeace welcomes the United States federal jury ruling on 4 December 2009 that Bayer CropScience LP must pay $2 million US dollars to two Missouri farmers after their rice crop was contaminated with an experimental variety of rice that the company was testing in 2006. |
This verdict confirms that the responsibility for the consequences of GE (genetic engineering) contamination rests with the company that releases GE crops. Read more at www.organicconsumers.org |
Hunger, family homelessness on rise in U.S. cities |
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Hunger is spreading while the number of homeless families is increasing as a result of the recession and other factors, according to a report on Tuesday. |
The U.S. Conference of Mayors said cities reported a 26 percent jump in demand for hunger assistance over the past year, the largest average increase since 1991. |
Middle-class families as well as the uninsured, elderly, working poor and homeless increasingly looked for help with hunger, which was mainly fueled by unemployment, high housing costs and low wages. |
The 2009 report is based on a survey of 27 cities, including Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Miami, Philadelphia and San Francisco, that comprise the group’s task force on hunger and homelessness. |
Looking ahead to 2010, cities said they expect it will be difficult to meet increased demands for food due to the impact of state and local budget cuts, a decrease in grocery store donations and higher food costs. Read more at www.reuters.com |
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Food Stamp Use Soars, and Stigma Fades
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A GROWING NEED FOR A PROGRAM ONCE SCORNED Greg Dawson and his wife, Sheila, of Martinsville, Ohio, help feed their family of seven with a $300 monthly food stamp benefit. Center and right, the food pantry in Lebanon, Ohio, where residents can also enroll in what is formally called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
More Photos >
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MARTINSVILLE, Ohio — With food stamp use at record highs and climbing every month, a program once scorned as a failed welfare scheme now helps feed one in eight Americans and one in four children. |
It has grown so rapidly in places so diverse that it is becoming nearly as ordinary as the groceries it buys. More than 36 million people use inconspicuous plastic cards for staples like milk, bread and cheese, swiping them at counters in blighted cities and in suburbs pocked with foreclosure signs. Read more at www.nytimes.com |
Natural is the way to go. The fight over the future of food |
NEW YORK/WASHINGTON/MILAN (Reuters) - At first glance, Giuseppe Oglio’s farm near Milan looks like it’s suffering from neglect. Weeds run rampant amid the rice fields and clover grows unchecked around his millet crop. |
Oglio, a third generation farmer eschews modern farming techniques — chemicals, fertilizers, heavy machinery — in favor of a purely natural approach. It is not just ecological, he says, but profitable, and he believes his system can be replicated in starving regions of the globe. |
Nearly 5,000 miles away, in laboratories in St. Louis, Missouri, hundreds of scientists at the world’s biggest seed company, Monsanto, also want to feed the world, only their tools of choice are laser beams and petri dishes. |
Monsanto, a leader in agricultural biotechnology, spends about $2 million a day on scientific research that aims to improve on Mother Nature, and is positioning itself as a key player in the fight against hunger. Read more at www.reuters.com |
Farmers Killing Cows Amid Low Milk Prices |
Farmers Seek To Reduce Supply |
| After burning through $1 million in savings and seeing no end to their losses, dairy farmers Jake and Lori Slegers figured they didn’t have much choice — they had to kill the cows. So one day last summer their sons tagged all 1,571 cows, loaded them onto trailers at their farm south of Fresno, Calif., and watched them rumble away to a slaughterhouse. Lori Slegers said her husband came into the house and broke down. “He said it was the hardest thing he ever had to do,” she said. “Luckily, my boys could do it.” Growing demand in developing nations drove up milk prices when times were good, and dairy farmers expanded their herds. But the global recession hurt exports and left farmers with too much milk on their hands. Milk processors cut the price they were willing to pay farmers, in many cases below what it cost to produce milk.Read more at www.thebostonchannel.com |
AP IMPACT: School drinking water contains toxins |
CUTLER, Calif. – Over the last decade, the drinking water at thousands of schools across the country has been found to contain unsafe levels of lead, pesticides and dozens of other toxins. |
An Associated Press investigation found that contaminants have surfaced at public and private schools in all 50 states — in small towns and inner cities alike. |
But the problem has gone largely unmonitored by the federal government, even as the number of water safety violations has multiplied. |
“It’s an outrage,” said Marc Edwards, an engineer at Virginia Tech who has been honored for his work on water quality. “If a landlord doesn’t tell a tenant about lead paint in an apartment, he can go to jail. But we have no system to make people follow the rules to keep school children safe?” Read more at news.yahoo.com |
I don’t read People Magazine, this just came up in my newsfeeds and caught my eye.
Interesting with these folks is that they, unlike that octamom or others, actually seem to be well-organize, self-sufficient, and good providers for their kids Almost like a real life Waltons! Duggars Expecting Their 19th Child! |
Make way for more Duggars!
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Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar of Tonitown, Ark., who have 18 children and one grandchild on the way, are expecting a new addition to their household – baby No. 19 will arrive in the spring.
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“We are so thrilled,” says Michelle, 42. “We just couldn’t believe it is happening.” Jim Bob, 44, agrees: “This never gets old. We are so grateful for each child. We are looking forward to our first grand baby and our 19th child.”
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Oldest son Joshua, 21 and his wife Anna, 21, are expecting daughter Mackynzie Renée next month, so she will be older than her new aunt or uncle. |
“I think it is going to be awesome, it is going to be great,” says Josh about the news that his parents are expecting. “We have been looking forward to the arrival of my little girl and to now get to celebrate for my parents, it’s a wonderful thing.”
Read more at www.people.com |
This is not a good thing. Especially since we utilize about 6-8 gallons of milk a week. FACTBOX: U.S. dairy farms in crisis as milk prices dive |
(Reuters) - U.S. dairy farmers are struggling with mounting losses as milk prices are down more than 30 percent from last year and below operating costs for many farmers. |
On the more than 60,000 dairy farms in all 50 states, dairy farmers are adjusting feed rations and culling cows from their herds to cope with the losses. In the past, some had lost more than $200 per cow every month and some are exiting the industry. |
U.S. milk prices spiked in 2007 to record highs and reached the second highest ever levels in 2008 on rising exports and tight global supplies. But global economic turmoil from mid-2008 has dragged down demand while supplies have grown. |
Following are dairy industry statistics compiled from U.S. Agriculture Department data and from industry sources. Read more at www.reuters.com |
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