Mon$anto vs. Mother Earth

numerobis

Monsanto will halt production of genetically modified corn in all of Europe

http://www.naturalcuresnotmedicine.com/2013/05/monsanto-loses-in-europe.html

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/eu-to-check-us-wheat-for-gm-tainted-wheat-2013-05-30?siteId=

Mike Lucey

solo

Run Monsanto run, Chuck Norris is onto you...

http://mobile.wnd.com/2013/06/chuck-norris-battles-genetically-modified-foods/#RBjSjLUI4gsKoJWG.99

olishea

lol go Chuck!! I hope he still had his beard when he wrote that.

I was tucking into a bowl of Lucky Charms cereal for old time's sake, which is imported into UK. Then I noticed the box read made with GM maize!! I threw it all away immediately!!

Mike Lucey

Oli,

Have you noticed any new lucky charm shaped extremities budding on your body?

olishea

No, but I gotta say, they passed the taste test. Shame I'll never taste them again!

dale

This is the kind of thing that is of concern.
U.S. investigating rogue GM wheat found in Oregon field
Monsanto abandoned work on strain more than a decade ago

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2013/06/05/science-gm-wheat-oregon.html

Wo3Dan

@dale said:

This is the kind of thing that is of concern.
U.S. investigating rogue GM wheat found in Oregon field
Monsanto abandoned work on strain more than a decade ago

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2013/06/05/science-gm-wheat-oregon.html

What is your concern? The invertigation? Japan's reaction to restrict import of wheat?
Or maybe this:
@unknownuser said:

(comment quote from the article)"It's actually a horror story in the making. What if some genetic material from cannabis was added to the wheat? You'd eat a pizza made with flour from this wheat, and you'd get hungry, so you'd eat more pizza which would make you even hungrier. It would be a never ending hunger. I can imagine pizza zombies roaming the streets, ravenously seeking more pizza..

or?.....
The protests around the world agains Monsanto at least had some positive effect in Europe.

I think it's madness to honour GM plants with any patent. The plant is doing 99.999999999% of the work to reproduce itself.

dale

@wo3dan said:

@dale said:

This is the kind of thing that is of concern.
U.S. investigating rogue GM wheat found in Oregon field
Monsanto abandoned work on strain more than a decade ago

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2013/06/05/science-gm-wheat-oregon.html

What is your concern? The invertigation? Japan's reaction to restrict import of wheat?
Or maybe this:

Actually my concern is the escape of rogue seed that are genetically modified. We have been told that all is safe and controlled, and as it has been stated in this thread several times, there can be no guarantees that the outcome of this research and development will not get, in one way or another, out of control.

I take part in another forum for the Digital recording software Logic. Thought I would link this piece by Ron Fuller, a fellow Canadian (what the hell, up his hits on YouTube a little)
A little Monsanto protest song.
Youtube Video

Wo3Dan

Thank you Dale for the great protest song. Good to cheer you up and see/hear that there's a lot of protest against companies like More$anto.

Box

Time to stir up the debate again.
http://action.sumofus.org/a/world-food-prize-monsanto-syngenta/?sub=taf

Mike Lucey

Thanks for posting the info ..... its sad to see this happening.

I recently watched Marla Spivak's talk on TED, 'Why bees are disappearing' Its well worth listening to this woman and supporting any way we can. The link to the talk is, here,

http://www.ted.com/talks/marla_spivak_why_bees_are_disappearing.html

The current situation with bees ....... NOT IMPROVING I am sorry to see. It appears that many Bee Keepers now routinely expect up to 50% of their hives to fail each year. They can only hold populations by manipulation.

At least the EU took a stern line on matters recently and hopefully this stance will hold fast. We really have to get back in tune with nature before its becomes too late for us to do so.

http://action.sumofus.org/a/world-food-prize-monsanto-syngenta/?sub=taf

Be sure to sign the petition if you agree, it only takes a minutes. The bees will thank you and keep pollinating with some help

Mike Lucey

..... came across an informative article on how GM crops are pushing along with their agenda. The article is 'Monsanto, the TPP, and Global Food Dominance'

http://www.opednews.com/articles/1/Monsanto-the-TPP-and-Glo-by-Ellen-Brown-Food_Food-Sovereignty_Food-Supply_Food-Agriculture-131127-63.html

One of the main agruments for GM crops is that its the only way increasing populations can be fed. The last paragraph of the article puts forward a very interesting argument, it reads,

*Return to Nature: Not Too Late

There is a safer, saner, more earth-friendly way to feed nations. While Monsanto and US regulators are forcing GM crops on American families, Russian families are showing what can be done with permaculture methods on simple garden plots. In 2011, 40% of Russia's food was grown on dachas (cottage gardens or allotments). Dacha gardens produced over 80% of the country's fruit and berries, over 66% of the vegetables, almost 80% of the potatoes and nearly 50% of the nation's milk, much of it consumed raw. According to Vladimir Megre, author of the best-selling Ringing Cedars Series:

"Essentially, what Russian gardeners do is demonstrate that gardeners can feed the world -- and you do not need any GMOs, industrial farms, or any other technological gimmicks to guarantee everybody's got enough food to eat. Bear in mind that Russia only has 110 days of growing season per year -- so in the US, for example, gardeners' output could be substantially greater. Today, however, the area taken up by lawns in the US is two times greater than that of Russia's gardens -- and it produces nothing but a multi-billion-dollar lawn care industry."*

Russia seems to be leading the way these days when it comes to sanity. Food for thought!

dale

Permaculture, now you talking.

pbacot

Given the basics of perma-culture, I'd be interested in how it works on a small plot. It's more a whole farm system. NVTL: good ideas, though who knows about the veracity of the claims? Need to find ways to perma-culture amongst ourselves as well as we social-network, hopscotching corporate-government controls.

Or does it come down to who controls the means of production--if most of the land (water, air, nutrients) is controlled by corporations and 1% speculators?

French intensive bio-dynamic might help in small scale. Also interesting developments in IMO (indigenous micro-organism culture). Typically I think many, perhaps the majority of, gardeners spend more to grow their head of broccoli than what it costs in the store.
The point about lawns is well taken. What a waste! We may put the little patch we have in the front into garden. I have not done anything with it(mow the weeds) for years. Certainly never dump fertilizer and poison on it like my neighbors. The back lawn is for the dogs to poop on!

I recall reading (when I used to read all sorts of alternative farming stuff) about all the fantastic things Soviet scientist or agronomists were coming up with, and meanwhile we were shipping boatloads of grain to them.

dale

We've worked with several permaculturalists on very intensive projects we have been involved in, and all of them could be considered small in scale.
What amazed me about them was firstly the amount of production out of small spaces, and the variety.
One Victoria (Canada) based permaculturist, raises both the food he eats, and enough surplus that he sells to Victoria restaurants. His garden is quite amazing.
If your interested have a look at the work of Bill Mollison and David Holmgren, the guys who started it all.

Mike Lucey

Thanks for the links Dale.

I've looked them up and found Geoff Lawton's site. From the few presentations I've viewed I think its something that I will look into more. This guy is very involved in the proper planning of areas to be used as permaculture enterprises.

His site is here, http://www.geofflawton.com/sq/15449-geoff-lawton

and some of his videos are here,

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=geoff%20lawton%20permaculture%26amp;sm=1

solo

Mike Lucey

I think most here will agree with the following statement,

'The annual mass migration of 60 million monarchs from Canada to Mexico is one of the most beautiful phenomena in the natural world'

Well, Mon$anto do not seem to agree with this statement. Monsanto says we should balance the butterfly's survival with what it calls "productive agriculture". Why don't they just be honest and say what they really mean and replace "productive agriculture" with profits.

Anyway there is something butterfly loves can do, be it ever so little, but a lot of 'littles' make a 'big. Please put your name to this petition, http://action.sumofus.org/a/monsanto-is-killing-the-monarchs/?akid=3949.1810268.-dvEzc%26amp;rd=1%26amp;sub=fwd%26amp;t=1

Thanks,

Mike

Mike Lucey

Roundup alternatives?

Its all well and good bitching about the effects of Roundup on the environment but how do I control unwanted weeds?

Here is one alternative that I imagine is a hell of a lot cheaper than Roundup and more friendly, although there is concern about the salt content!

Biodegradable and safer alternative for commercial herbicide

http://www.instructables.com/id/Biodegradable-and-safer-alternative-for-commercial/