Farmed Out: How Will Climate Change Impact World Food Supplies?
A new study attempts to estimate the effects of climate change on global agriculture--and outline ways to mitigate its most dire consequences
By David Biello
September 30, 2009
Link to full article below
The people of East Africa once again face a devastating drought this year: Crops wither and fail from Kenya to Ethiopia, livestock drop dead and famine spreads. Although, historically, such droughts are not uncommon in this region, their frequency seems to have increased in recent years, raising prices for staple foods, such as maize.
This scenario may simply be a taste of a world undergoing climate change in the mid–21st century, according to a new report from the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), a Washington, D.C.–based organization seeking an end to hunger and poverty through appropriate local, national and international agricultural policies. By IFPRI's estimate, 25 million more children will be malnourished in 2050 due to the impact of climate change on global agriculture.
"Higher temperatures and changes in precipitation result in pressure on yields from important crops in much of the world," says IFPRI agricultural economist Gerald Nelson, an author of the report, "Climate Change, Agriculture, and Food Security: Impacts and Costs of Adaptation to 2050". "Biological impacts on crop yields work through the economic system resulting in reduced production, higher crop and meat prices, and a reduction in cereal consumption. This reduction means reduced calorie intake and increased childhood malnutrition."
Nelson and his colleagues, working with funding from the World Bank and Asian Development Bank, estimated global agricultural impacts by pairing IFPRI's own economic models for crop yields with climate models for precipitation and temperature from the U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research and Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization. Assuming a world that is slow to adapt to climate change and focused on regional self-reliance, the researchers found that children in the developing world—which are the countries expected to provide the bulk of population growth to nine billion or more by mid-century—will be hardest hit.
"It's not economic development that matters in this case, it's the location on the surface of the Earth," Nelson notes. Without better crop varieties or other agricultural technology improvements, irrigated wheat yields, for example, will fall at least 20 percent by 2050 as a result of global warming, and south Asia as well as parts of sub-Saharan Africa will face the worst effects.
Even without climate change, population pressure alone will cause a spike in food prices without intervention, according to IFPRI's economic model. For example, without climate change, wheat prices might rise from $113 per metric ton in 2000 to $158 per metric ton in 2050—an increase of 39 percent. Similarly, rice prices would soar by 62 percent, maize by 63 percent. But factoring in climate change will boost wheat prices by at least 170 percent and rice by a minimum of 113 percent; the cost of maize will be at least 148 percent higher than at the turn of the century by mid-century.
Nor will the developed world go unscathed. Research published in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science in August noted that corn, soybean and cotton yields in the U.S. will drop precipitously because of additional days where the temperature is above 30 degrees Celsius.
Part of the problem is that the benefits of better plant growth, thanks to higher carbon dioxide concentrations (plants use CO2 for photosynthesis) are more than offset by the impact of higher temperatures and differing precipitation. "If you grow a plant in a bell jar in a lab and increase the CO2 inside, the plants will perform better. [But] will those results translate into farmer's fields? Evidence that we've been getting from farmer's fields suggests perhaps not," Nelson says. And that means fewer calories per person would be available in 2050.
To prevent this agricultural crisis, Nelson estimates, would require an investment of at least $7 billion per year in the most affected countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America for increased agricultural research into, for example, drought-resistant crop varieties. "Crop and livestock productivity–enhancing research, including biotechnology, will be essential to help overcome stresses due to climate change," the report's authors wrote.
These areas will also need expanded rural road and irrigation infrastructure as well as improvements to the efficiency of that irrigation.
Climate change's glacial meltwaters will not aid such irrigation projects. "The glaciers, particularly in the Himalayas, may disappear and cause some of the major rivers to become much more variable, which will have negative effects on yields in south Asia," Nelson notes. At the same time, traditional seed varieties and livestock breeds that might provide a genetic resource to adapt to climate change are being lost.
Crop diseases and insect pests will also thrive in a hotter or more humid climate, and the report does not take into account issues such as current agricultural lands swamped by rising sea levels. "These are conservative estimates," Nelson adds. "Some elements we left out could make those numbers even higher."
Even those areas that will benefit from a changed climate, such as a potential expansion in regional climates amenable to certain crops in Canada, for example, will not solve the problem. "The problem is you'd have to grow corn on some pretty rocky soils," Nelson explains. "It's not clear that you'd get more production even if climate favors them."
And expanding agriculture to feed more people may simply exacerbate climate change. Deforestation, largely driven by conversion to cropland, accounts for roughly 16 percent of global emissions of the carbon dioxide warming the atmosphere.
There is hope, of course. IFPRI's fellows in the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research system are developing, for example, drought-tolerant or heat-resistant varieties of staple crops such as wheat and rice. And various efforts such as the Millennium Villages in East Africa may speed adaptation. Already, the Kenyan village of Sauri has boosted maize yields with the help of an influx of donor cash. And some Indian farmers in the state of Bihar have begun to plant hybrid rice strains because they are drought-tolerant and can be planted on lands that were previously difficult to successfully cultivate.
"Agriculture is the sector most likely to be affected by changes in climate of all sectors of society," Nelson adds. "Investment will not guarantee that all negative impacts can be overcome, but business as usual will guarantee disastrous consequences for the human race."
To read the full, excellent article: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-will-climate-change-impact-world-food-supplies&sc=DD_20090930
Showing posts with label choose this: grow your own food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label choose this: grow your own food. Show all posts
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Food Inc - See the movie!
Meet Your New Farmer: Hungry Corporate Giant
June 12, 2009
Forget buckets of blood. Nothing says horror like one of those tubs of artificially buttered, nonorganic popcorn at the concession stand. That, at least, is one of the unappetizing lessons to draw from one of the scariest movies of the year, “Food, Inc.,” an informative, often infuriating activist documentary about the big business of feeding or, more to the political point, force-feeding, Americans all the junk that multinational corporate money can buy. You’ll shudder, shake and just possibly lose your genetically modified lunch.
Divided into chapters dedicated to points along the commercial food chain — from farm to fork, to borrow a loaded agribusiness phrase — the movie is nothing if not ambitious. “There are no seasons in the American supermarket,” the unidentified voice intones in the opening scene, as the camera sweeps the aisles of one such brightly lighted, heavily stocked if nutritionally impoverished emporium. From there the director Robert Kenner jumps all over the food map, from industrial feedlots where millions of cruelly crammed cattle mill about in their own waste until slaughter, to the chains where millions of consumers gobble down industrially produced meat and an occasional serving of E. coli bacteria.
To read the full article from NYTimes:
http://movies.nytimes.com/2009/06/12/movies/12food.html?ref=arts
June 12, 2009
Forget buckets of blood. Nothing says horror like one of those tubs of artificially buttered, nonorganic popcorn at the concession stand. That, at least, is one of the unappetizing lessons to draw from one of the scariest movies of the year, “Food, Inc.,” an informative, often infuriating activist documentary about the big business of feeding or, more to the political point, force-feeding, Americans all the junk that multinational corporate money can buy. You’ll shudder, shake and just possibly lose your genetically modified lunch.
Divided into chapters dedicated to points along the commercial food chain — from farm to fork, to borrow a loaded agribusiness phrase — the movie is nothing if not ambitious. “There are no seasons in the American supermarket,” the unidentified voice intones in the opening scene, as the camera sweeps the aisles of one such brightly lighted, heavily stocked if nutritionally impoverished emporium. From there the director Robert Kenner jumps all over the food map, from industrial feedlots where millions of cruelly crammed cattle mill about in their own waste until slaughter, to the chains where millions of consumers gobble down industrially produced meat and an occasional serving of E. coli bacteria.
To read the full article from NYTimes:
http://movies.nytimes.com/2009/06/12/movies/12food.html?ref=arts
Sunday, June 14, 2009
VERY IMPORTANT: California's Water Woes Threaten the Entire Country's Food Supply
California's Water Woes Threaten the Entire Country's Food Supply
By Scott Thill, AlterNet
June 6, 2009
What a difference an administration makes. Samuel Bodman, the previous secretary of energy under the Bush administration, spent his short term stumping for nuclear power plant construction, polluting the hell out of the Earth, profiting off global warming and trying to significantly downplay America's singular role in greenhouse-gas emissions.
The new one? Well, he's a doom prophet with a Ph.D.
"I don't think the American public has gripped in its gut what could happen. We're looking at a scenario where there's no more agriculture in California. I don't actually see how they can keep their cities going," Steven Chu told the Los Angeles Times in February, shortly after taking office in January. "I'm hoping that the American people will wake up," he added, just in case there was any confusion about the gravity of the situation.
That kind of apocalyptic foresight has made Chu a breath of fresh, dystopian air. For eight nearly insufferable years, the American public has had no shortage of political tools telling it everything is going to be all right, that the United States is the greatest country in the world, that reports of our impending environmental devastation have been greatly exaggerated, and so on. By contrast, Steven Chu is a Cassandra on a mission from reality. But few, especially in the state he singled out, feel like buying what he is selling.
"Dr. Chu is not a climate scientist," argued Jim Metropulos, senior advocate at Sierra Club's California chapter, echoing the same conditional given in the Los Angeles Times article in which Chu was quoted. "Obviously, he's versed on it, but he's taking an apocalyptic view. I think it's not sustainable in its current form. We rely on imported water to grow high-value crops, but maybe the agriculture we have today may not be the agriculture we have decades from now."
To read the full article: http://www.alternet.org/story/140487/
By Scott Thill, AlterNet
June 6, 2009
What a difference an administration makes. Samuel Bodman, the previous secretary of energy under the Bush administration, spent his short term stumping for nuclear power plant construction, polluting the hell out of the Earth, profiting off global warming and trying to significantly downplay America's singular role in greenhouse-gas emissions.
The new one? Well, he's a doom prophet with a Ph.D.
"I don't think the American public has gripped in its gut what could happen. We're looking at a scenario where there's no more agriculture in California. I don't actually see how they can keep their cities going," Steven Chu told the Los Angeles Times in February, shortly after taking office in January. "I'm hoping that the American people will wake up," he added, just in case there was any confusion about the gravity of the situation.
That kind of apocalyptic foresight has made Chu a breath of fresh, dystopian air. For eight nearly insufferable years, the American public has had no shortage of political tools telling it everything is going to be all right, that the United States is the greatest country in the world, that reports of our impending environmental devastation have been greatly exaggerated, and so on. By contrast, Steven Chu is a Cassandra on a mission from reality. But few, especially in the state he singled out, feel like buying what he is selling.
"Dr. Chu is not a climate scientist," argued Jim Metropulos, senior advocate at Sierra Club's California chapter, echoing the same conditional given in the Los Angeles Times article in which Chu was quoted. "Obviously, he's versed on it, but he's taking an apocalyptic view. I think it's not sustainable in its current form. We rely on imported water to grow high-value crops, but maybe the agriculture we have today may not be the agriculture we have decades from now."
To read the full article: http://www.alternet.org/story/140487/
Friday, May 29, 2009
What the financial collapse can teach us about the food system
What the financial collapse can teach us about the food system
by Tom Philpott
25 May 2009
http://www.grist.org/article/2009-05-22-financial-collapse-food/
In a recent New Yorker, Nick Paumgarten published a lucid, entertaining essay on the financial collapse. Titled “The Death of Kings,” it focuses on the hedge-fund managers, stock gurus, and private-equity wizards who reaped billions from the credit bubble.food systemIs Big Ag running the food system into the ground the same way Wall Street wrecked the economy?iStock Photo
What were those people thinking? Turns out, Paumgarten relates that during the flush times, many in the world of finance had a “moment of clarity, an inkling of doom” about what was coming. “The sky was full of signs,” Paumgarten writes.
For many, the awakening came while driving through some overbuilt exurb in California or Florida, or watching a commercial for a subprime lender (“Mortgage consultants are standing by!”), or studying a chart depicting total debt to the gross domestic product.
Paumgarten’s tale is essentially about high-level fecklessness: people with degrees from the nation’s finest universities, rewarded with nine-figure annual salaries, knowingly driving the global economy right over a cliff. Paumgarten doesn’t go there, but the same analysis applies to financial policymakers and regulators; they, too, could gawk at obviously overbuilt exurbs, or wince at debt-to-GDP charts.
The whole sorry spectacle got me thinking of the global food system, the juggernaut that feeds billions every day. It’s not hard to make analogies with the financial sector whose rubble now lays scattered about, ready to be cleaned up on the public’s dime.
Like the financial sector, the food system has dramatically globalized over the past generation, even as it has become increasingly concentrated (PDF). Just as traders in New York, Tokyo, and London—often employed by the same mega-banks—can make, say, the Argentine peso plunge or soar with a few keystrokes, global food commodity markets have become tightly intertwined.
To read the full article: http://www.grist.org/article/2009-05-22-financial-collapse-food/
by Tom Philpott
25 May 2009
http://www.grist.org/article/2009-05-22-financial-collapse-food/
In a recent New Yorker, Nick Paumgarten published a lucid, entertaining essay on the financial collapse. Titled “The Death of Kings,” it focuses on the hedge-fund managers, stock gurus, and private-equity wizards who reaped billions from the credit bubble.food systemIs Big Ag running the food system into the ground the same way Wall Street wrecked the economy?iStock Photo
What were those people thinking? Turns out, Paumgarten relates that during the flush times, many in the world of finance had a “moment of clarity, an inkling of doom” about what was coming. “The sky was full of signs,” Paumgarten writes.
For many, the awakening came while driving through some overbuilt exurb in California or Florida, or watching a commercial for a subprime lender (“Mortgage consultants are standing by!”), or studying a chart depicting total debt to the gross domestic product.
Paumgarten’s tale is essentially about high-level fecklessness: people with degrees from the nation’s finest universities, rewarded with nine-figure annual salaries, knowingly driving the global economy right over a cliff. Paumgarten doesn’t go there, but the same analysis applies to financial policymakers and regulators; they, too, could gawk at obviously overbuilt exurbs, or wince at debt-to-GDP charts.
The whole sorry spectacle got me thinking of the global food system, the juggernaut that feeds billions every day. It’s not hard to make analogies with the financial sector whose rubble now lays scattered about, ready to be cleaned up on the public’s dime.
Like the financial sector, the food system has dramatically globalized over the past generation, even as it has become increasingly concentrated (PDF). Just as traders in New York, Tokyo, and London—often employed by the same mega-banks—can make, say, the Argentine peso plunge or soar with a few keystrokes, global food commodity markets have become tightly intertwined.
To read the full article: http://www.grist.org/article/2009-05-22-financial-collapse-food/
Monday, March 30, 2009
Are Food Additives Altering Our Hormones?
Are Food Additives Altering Our Hormones?
With 3,000 food additives in use in the U.S., a study raises questions about the safety of estrogen "cocktails."
Try the Real Food Diet for simple commonsense nutrition.
By Jessica A. Knoblauch
Environmental Health News
3.27.2009
A discovery that two commonly used food additives are estrogenic has led scientists to suspect that many ingredients added to the food supply may be capable of altering hormones.
More than 3,000 preservatives, flavorings, colors and other ingredients are added to food in the United States, and none of them are required to undergo testing for estrogenic activity, according to the Food and Drug Administration.
“We need to be mindful of these food additives because they could be adding to the total effect of other estrogen mimicking compounds we're coming into contact with,” said Clair Hicks, a professor of food science at the University of Kentucky and spokesperson for the Institute of Food Technologists, a nonprofit scientific group.
“The benefits of using these additives in food need to be weighed against the risks they present,” Hicks said.
To read the full article: http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/harmful-food-additives-47032701?src=nl&mag=tdg&list=dgr&kw=ist
With 3,000 food additives in use in the U.S., a study raises questions about the safety of estrogen "cocktails."
Try the Real Food Diet for simple commonsense nutrition.
By Jessica A. Knoblauch
Environmental Health News
3.27.2009
A discovery that two commonly used food additives are estrogenic has led scientists to suspect that many ingredients added to the food supply may be capable of altering hormones.
More than 3,000 preservatives, flavorings, colors and other ingredients are added to food in the United States, and none of them are required to undergo testing for estrogenic activity, according to the Food and Drug Administration.
“We need to be mindful of these food additives because they could be adding to the total effect of other estrogen mimicking compounds we're coming into contact with,” said Clair Hicks, a professor of food science at the University of Kentucky and spokesperson for the Institute of Food Technologists, a nonprofit scientific group.
“The benefits of using these additives in food need to be weighed against the risks they present,” Hicks said.
To read the full article: http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/harmful-food-additives-47032701?src=nl&mag=tdg&list=dgr&kw=ist
Friday, March 20, 2009
Food & Energy Shortages Will Create the "Perfect Storm" by 2030
[blog note: We ALREADY have millions and millions starving and without water...how can we let it get worse?]
Food and energy shortages will create 'perfect storm', says Prof John Beddington
Growing populations, falling energy sources and food shortages will create the "perfect storm" by 2030, the government's chief scientist Professor John Beddington has said.
By Richard Alleyne, Science Correspondent
19 Mar 2009
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/5015051/Food-and-energy-shortages-will-create-perfect-storm-says-Prof-John-Beddington.html
The demand for resources will create a crisis with dire consequences, Prof Beddington predicts.
Demand for food and energy will jump 50 per cent by 2030 and for fresh water by 30 per cent, as the global population tops 8.3 billion, he is due to tell a conference in London.
Climate change will exacerbate matters in unpredictable ways, he will add.
"It's a perfect storm," Prof Beddington will tell the Sustainable Development UK 09 conference.
"There's not going to be a complete collapse, but things will start getting really worrying if we don't tackle these problems.
"My main concern is what will happen internationally, there will be food and water shortages," he said.
"We're relatively fortunate in the UK. There may not be shortages here, but we can expect prices of food and energy to rise."
He said we need more disease-resistant and pest-resistant plants and better practices, better harvesting procedures.
Prof Beddington said the "storm" would create war, unrest and mass migration.
Growing populations and success in alleviating poverty in the Third World will create huge demand for food and water in the next two decades with climate change depleting resources.
He said food reserves are at a 50-year low but the world requires 50 per cent more energy, food and water by 2030.
Prof Beddington said climate change would mean Northern Europe would become new key centres for food production and other areas would need to use more advanced pesiticides.
The United Nations Environment Programme predicts widespread water shortages across Africa, Europe and Asia by 2025. The amount of fresh water available per head of the population is expected to decline sharply in that time.
Food and energy shortages will create 'perfect storm', says Prof John Beddington
Growing populations, falling energy sources and food shortages will create the "perfect storm" by 2030, the government's chief scientist Professor John Beddington has said.
By Richard Alleyne, Science Correspondent
19 Mar 2009
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/5015051/Food-and-energy-shortages-will-create-perfect-storm-says-Prof-John-Beddington.html
The demand for resources will create a crisis with dire consequences, Prof Beddington predicts.
Demand for food and energy will jump 50 per cent by 2030 and for fresh water by 30 per cent, as the global population tops 8.3 billion, he is due to tell a conference in London.
Climate change will exacerbate matters in unpredictable ways, he will add.
"It's a perfect storm," Prof Beddington will tell the Sustainable Development UK 09 conference.
"There's not going to be a complete collapse, but things will start getting really worrying if we don't tackle these problems.
"My main concern is what will happen internationally, there will be food and water shortages," he said.
"We're relatively fortunate in the UK. There may not be shortages here, but we can expect prices of food and energy to rise."
He said we need more disease-resistant and pest-resistant plants and better practices, better harvesting procedures.
Prof Beddington said the "storm" would create war, unrest and mass migration.
Growing populations and success in alleviating poverty in the Third World will create huge demand for food and water in the next two decades with climate change depleting resources.
He said food reserves are at a 50-year low but the world requires 50 per cent more energy, food and water by 2030.
Prof Beddington said climate change would mean Northern Europe would become new key centres for food production and other areas would need to use more advanced pesiticides.
The United Nations Environment Programme predicts widespread water shortages across Africa, Europe and Asia by 2025. The amount of fresh water available per head of the population is expected to decline sharply in that time.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Monday, February 23, 2009
"Grow It Yourself: Save Money, Help Earth, and Improve Your Quality of Life" by Heather Havey, M.A.
Grow It Yourself: Save Money, Help Earth, and Improve Your Quality of Life by Heather Havey, M.A.
(NaturalNews) The Telegraph reported that "26% [of residents in Britain] are growing their own fruit and vegetables" [1]. One-quarter of British populations now choose gardening at home in order to improve their quality of life during difficult times. As a result, this has helped many UK residents to considerably reduce their grocery bills. Cuba is another example. In the 1990s, desperate economic circumstances forced Cubans to adopt local, urban, organic farming practices [2]. As of 2008, at least 1/3 of the land in their country is used to organically grow produce [3, 4]. As a result, Cuba leads the world in organic agriculture. Also, most Cubans ride bicycles. We can follow these examples in our own homes. Growing food has many benefits. It can save each family a lot of money. It reduces our carbon footprint and overall energy expenditure. It helps us to combat the world food crisis. It benefits health and well-being. It can help wildlife. By increasing food sources, it can also save lives.
Growing food at home saves money.
We face ever-larger economic struggle around the world today. States and even nations are filing bankruptcy. Many families have lost their homes. Even more have lost their jobs. Gas prices shift up and down. More people will likely lose their jobs or homes. Nearly every family is affected. The world food crisis is growing. Also, increasing storm activity from global warming increases food prices even more [5]. These storms are predicted to escalate as global warming advances. All of these factors can increase our cost-of-living as well as the cost of food.
One money-saving solution is to grow food at home (and buy from local farmers). Seeds can be purchased online or in nurseries and gardening centers. Often, also, local farmers may sell seeds. A package of seeds can grow quite a few plants. The cost is a couple of dollars plus water, sun, minerals (good soil) and some tender-loving care. If you prefer, you can also buy pre-sprouted plants for several dollars.
Let us look at one example: broccoli. Fifteen broccoli plants can bear at least twenty to thirty heads of broccoli. Once the main head is harvested, new florets will grow. Simply cut off the flowers so the plant does not harden and go to seed. For a few months, these plants will provide your entire family and also even a neighbor or friend with plenty of broccoli. Broccoli leaves, also, make delicious salad greens. They can be juiced with apple, ginger, and/or other greens to make a delicious drink.
Another way to save money is to save your own seeds. When you eat fruits or vegetables, simply pull out the seeds, save them, and sprout them. Nearly everything will grow. Avocadoes, papayas, starfruits, and many others do very well when sprouted from home.
We face global food, energy, weather, biological, and peace challenges today.
Earth faces a number of growing crises today. These include population explosion, peak oil, world food shortages, rising economic instability, steadily-increasing unemployment, global warming, global dimming, and mass extinction, among others. Nearly every family has been affected by one or many of these issues. Some experts even predict a 49% chance that our whole civilization may collapse [6, 7]. In light of these predictions, growing your own food makes more and more sense.
When you grow produce or buy from local farmers, you drive less. Also, you do not support long-distance hauling of food items. The current average distance that food travels after harvest is 1500 miles [8]. In some cases it is much further. When you grow food yourself, also, you do not use new plastic bags. Each year, over 500 billion plastic bags are produced in the world [9]. These bags will not decay for over 1,000 years in many cases. Each year, at least 100,000 mammals and birds die from these plastic bags [10]. This includes even whales. Last year, an alligator was found dead with 25 plastic bags in its stomach.
Also, if you grow or buy organic produce, then you are not supporting the petroleum and pesticide industries. Most fertilizers and pesticides are made from petroleum products [11]. All of these aspects reduce your own carbon footprint. This in turn helps with global warming.
When you grow food at home, also, you increase the amount of food in the world. It may seem trivial upon first glance, but consider the numbers. If even 5% of the U.S. population grew some food, then 15.3 million more people would be adding food to the world supply [14].
Each time you feed a neighbor or friend, you are helping to decrease world hunger. Each time you buy local or grow your own food, also, you decrease world hunger and save precious resources.
Improve the beauty and quality of life within your own yard.
A yard filled with fruit and nut trees, vegetables, flowers, and other plants is far more beautiful to behold than a bare lawn. Also, leaves protect soil and prevent the sun from leaching out nutrients or water. Shrubs, trees, and plants protect small animals and beneficial insects. The plants also help to hold in moisture, preventing drought and loss of minerals. This will reduce your need to water or maintain your lawn.
If you protect birds, bees, and bats, then these animals will also aid your garden. Bees love flowers, so plant many flowers. Birds benefit from feeders filled with organic birdseeds. They will eat certain insects that desire to eat your vegetable leaves (for example: caterpillars). Also, bats eat mosquitoes and other insects. To protect bats, build a bat house and hang it 15-20 feet high on a nearby tree or in the middle of a field [12].
Nature is designed so perfectly to maintain and protect itself. The concept of the modern "lawn" needs to be abandoned out of compassion for Earth and wellness in general. The modern lawn is extremely harmful to the Earth and its inhabitants. Earth is naturally dense, diverse, beautiful and filled with many forms of life that maintain and protect each other. The lawn, on the other hand, represents the absolute loss of soil health, minerals in the soil, beneficial insects in soil and air, land mammals, plant diversity, and so on. It is essentially a deserted, poisoned wasteland that has been stripped of life.
Please choose the diverse beauty of gardens, trees, shrubs, and flowers over a lawn.
Where can I grow plants?
Plants are very easy to grow, and many can be grown in a pot by a window or with a grow light inside your home. Outdoor gardening options are also very diverse and can be fun to explore. You can grow food in any container, even a small cup. Also, you can grow plants in raised beds outside, in an old bathtub, in hanging baskets, used bottles, or in any container that will hold the plant in place.
What is best to grow?
Gardening varies widely according to weather patterns, seasons, and geographical region. There are certain crops, in general, that tend to be the easiest to grow. These include:
* salad greens (lettuces, arugula, swiss chard, collard greens, spinach)
* nightshade vegetables (squashes, peppers, tomatoes),
* root vegetables (radishes, potatoes)
* cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts)
* fruits and nuts,
* herbs (parsley, basil, thai basil, oregano, rosemary)
* berries (strawberries and blueberries)
* green beans
How do I grow food?
To grow food, simply drop one or two seeds into a dixie cup half filled with peat or seed-starting soil. While the seeds sprout, it is best to keep them indoors in warm, controllable conditions. Water them only every few days. The idea is to keep them moist but not fully wet. Baby sprouts could damp off if they are watered too much. This means basically that they could bend over and die from root-rot. If desired, keep a grow light on them. When they are a few weeks old, begin to acclimate them to the outdoors. After a week of increasing their exposure to sun and wind, then plant them in a pot or in a raised bed outdoors. From here, give them periodic water, sunshine, and natural compost to enrich their nutrients.
"What if I do not have a green thumb?"
If you have no desire to grow food or you lack a green thumb, then you can still help. Eat food from your neighbor`s garden and buy your food from local farms and community gardens.
Where can I learn more?
Nearly every state has a Master Gardener`s program [13]. These offer free information on organic gardening that is specially-suited to your region. They consist mostly of volunteers who love gardening and farming, and they are happy to help. Also, local farmers and CSA`s (Community Supported Agriculture) often can provide you with helpful tips as well as their favorite books. Evening classes, weekend workshops at farms, and college courses also help. Some recommended books to get you started include:
American Horticultural Society, and Alan R. Toogood. Plant Propagation. New York: DK Pub, 1999.
Flowerdew, Bob. The No Work Garden: Getting the Most Out of Your Garden for the Least Amount of Work. London: Kyle Cathie, 2004.
Hamilton, Geoff. Organic Gardening. RD home handbooks. Pleasantville, N.Y.: Reader`s Digest Association, 1992.
Happy Gardening!
"Earth laughs in flowers." -Ralph Waldo Emerson
Resources
1. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardenin...
2. An excellent documentary film that I highly recommend is The Power Of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil http://www.powerofcommunity.org
3. http://www.coxwashington.com/hp/con...
4. http://www.projectcensored.org/top-...
5. One of many examples: Emanuel, Kerry. "Increasing Destructiveness of Tropical Cyclones over the Past 30 years." Nature. Volume 1436, 4 August 2005, pages 686-688.
6. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnZg...
7. http://www.naturalnews.com/025662.html
8. http://www.leopold.iastate.edu/pubs...
9. http://www.britannica.com/blogs/200...
10. See, for example: http://www.leopold.iastate.edu/pubs...
11. This calculation is based on a U.S. estimated population of 306,000,000.
12. http://www.eparks.org/wildlife_prot...
13. For a complete list of Master Gardener programs: http://www.ahs.org/master_gardeners...
(NaturalNews) The Telegraph reported that "26% [of residents in Britain] are growing their own fruit and vegetables" [1]. One-quarter of British populations now choose gardening at home in order to improve their quality of life during difficult times. As a result, this has helped many UK residents to considerably reduce their grocery bills. Cuba is another example. In the 1990s, desperate economic circumstances forced Cubans to adopt local, urban, organic farming practices [2]. As of 2008, at least 1/3 of the land in their country is used to organically grow produce [3, 4]. As a result, Cuba leads the world in organic agriculture. Also, most Cubans ride bicycles. We can follow these examples in our own homes. Growing food has many benefits. It can save each family a lot of money. It reduces our carbon footprint and overall energy expenditure. It helps us to combat the world food crisis. It benefits health and well-being. It can help wildlife. By increasing food sources, it can also save lives.
Growing food at home saves money.
We face ever-larger economic struggle around the world today. States and even nations are filing bankruptcy. Many families have lost their homes. Even more have lost their jobs. Gas prices shift up and down. More people will likely lose their jobs or homes. Nearly every family is affected. The world food crisis is growing. Also, increasing storm activity from global warming increases food prices even more [5]. These storms are predicted to escalate as global warming advances. All of these factors can increase our cost-of-living as well as the cost of food.
One money-saving solution is to grow food at home (and buy from local farmers). Seeds can be purchased online or in nurseries and gardening centers. Often, also, local farmers may sell seeds. A package of seeds can grow quite a few plants. The cost is a couple of dollars plus water, sun, minerals (good soil) and some tender-loving care. If you prefer, you can also buy pre-sprouted plants for several dollars.
Let us look at one example: broccoli. Fifteen broccoli plants can bear at least twenty to thirty heads of broccoli. Once the main head is harvested, new florets will grow. Simply cut off the flowers so the plant does not harden and go to seed. For a few months, these plants will provide your entire family and also even a neighbor or friend with plenty of broccoli. Broccoli leaves, also, make delicious salad greens. They can be juiced with apple, ginger, and/or other greens to make a delicious drink.
Another way to save money is to save your own seeds. When you eat fruits or vegetables, simply pull out the seeds, save them, and sprout them. Nearly everything will grow. Avocadoes, papayas, starfruits, and many others do very well when sprouted from home.
We face global food, energy, weather, biological, and peace challenges today.
Earth faces a number of growing crises today. These include population explosion, peak oil, world food shortages, rising economic instability, steadily-increasing unemployment, global warming, global dimming, and mass extinction, among others. Nearly every family has been affected by one or many of these issues. Some experts even predict a 49% chance that our whole civilization may collapse [6, 7]. In light of these predictions, growing your own food makes more and more sense.
When you grow produce or buy from local farmers, you drive less. Also, you do not support long-distance hauling of food items. The current average distance that food travels after harvest is 1500 miles [8]. In some cases it is much further. When you grow food yourself, also, you do not use new plastic bags. Each year, over 500 billion plastic bags are produced in the world [9]. These bags will not decay for over 1,000 years in many cases. Each year, at least 100,000 mammals and birds die from these plastic bags [10]. This includes even whales. Last year, an alligator was found dead with 25 plastic bags in its stomach.
Also, if you grow or buy organic produce, then you are not supporting the petroleum and pesticide industries. Most fertilizers and pesticides are made from petroleum products [11]. All of these aspects reduce your own carbon footprint. This in turn helps with global warming.
When you grow food at home, also, you increase the amount of food in the world. It may seem trivial upon first glance, but consider the numbers. If even 5% of the U.S. population grew some food, then 15.3 million more people would be adding food to the world supply [14].
Each time you feed a neighbor or friend, you are helping to decrease world hunger. Each time you buy local or grow your own food, also, you decrease world hunger and save precious resources.
Improve the beauty and quality of life within your own yard.
A yard filled with fruit and nut trees, vegetables, flowers, and other plants is far more beautiful to behold than a bare lawn. Also, leaves protect soil and prevent the sun from leaching out nutrients or water. Shrubs, trees, and plants protect small animals and beneficial insects. The plants also help to hold in moisture, preventing drought and loss of minerals. This will reduce your need to water or maintain your lawn.
If you protect birds, bees, and bats, then these animals will also aid your garden. Bees love flowers, so plant many flowers. Birds benefit from feeders filled with organic birdseeds. They will eat certain insects that desire to eat your vegetable leaves (for example: caterpillars). Also, bats eat mosquitoes and other insects. To protect bats, build a bat house and hang it 15-20 feet high on a nearby tree or in the middle of a field [12].
Nature is designed so perfectly to maintain and protect itself. The concept of the modern "lawn" needs to be abandoned out of compassion for Earth and wellness in general. The modern lawn is extremely harmful to the Earth and its inhabitants. Earth is naturally dense, diverse, beautiful and filled with many forms of life that maintain and protect each other. The lawn, on the other hand, represents the absolute loss of soil health, minerals in the soil, beneficial insects in soil and air, land mammals, plant diversity, and so on. It is essentially a deserted, poisoned wasteland that has been stripped of life.
Please choose the diverse beauty of gardens, trees, shrubs, and flowers over a lawn.
Where can I grow plants?
Plants are very easy to grow, and many can be grown in a pot by a window or with a grow light inside your home. Outdoor gardening options are also very diverse and can be fun to explore. You can grow food in any container, even a small cup. Also, you can grow plants in raised beds outside, in an old bathtub, in hanging baskets, used bottles, or in any container that will hold the plant in place.
What is best to grow?
Gardening varies widely according to weather patterns, seasons, and geographical region. There are certain crops, in general, that tend to be the easiest to grow. These include:
* salad greens (lettuces, arugula, swiss chard, collard greens, spinach)
* nightshade vegetables (squashes, peppers, tomatoes),
* root vegetables (radishes, potatoes)
* cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts)
* fruits and nuts,
* herbs (parsley, basil, thai basil, oregano, rosemary)
* berries (strawberries and blueberries)
* green beans
How do I grow food?
To grow food, simply drop one or two seeds into a dixie cup half filled with peat or seed-starting soil. While the seeds sprout, it is best to keep them indoors in warm, controllable conditions. Water them only every few days. The idea is to keep them moist but not fully wet. Baby sprouts could damp off if they are watered too much. This means basically that they could bend over and die from root-rot. If desired, keep a grow light on them. When they are a few weeks old, begin to acclimate them to the outdoors. After a week of increasing their exposure to sun and wind, then plant them in a pot or in a raised bed outdoors. From here, give them periodic water, sunshine, and natural compost to enrich their nutrients.
"What if I do not have a green thumb?"
If you have no desire to grow food or you lack a green thumb, then you can still help. Eat food from your neighbor`s garden and buy your food from local farms and community gardens.
Where can I learn more?
Nearly every state has a Master Gardener`s program [13]. These offer free information on organic gardening that is specially-suited to your region. They consist mostly of volunteers who love gardening and farming, and they are happy to help. Also, local farmers and CSA`s (Community Supported Agriculture) often can provide you with helpful tips as well as their favorite books. Evening classes, weekend workshops at farms, and college courses also help. Some recommended books to get you started include:
American Horticultural Society, and Alan R. Toogood. Plant Propagation. New York: DK Pub, 1999.
Flowerdew, Bob. The No Work Garden: Getting the Most Out of Your Garden for the Least Amount of Work. London: Kyle Cathie, 2004.
Hamilton, Geoff. Organic Gardening. RD home handbooks. Pleasantville, N.Y.: Reader`s Digest Association, 1992.
Happy Gardening!
"Earth laughs in flowers." -Ralph Waldo Emerson
Resources
1. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardenin...
2. An excellent documentary film that I highly recommend is The Power Of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil http://www.powerofcommunity.org
3. http://www.coxwashington.com/hp/con...
4. http://www.projectcensored.org/top-...
5. One of many examples: Emanuel, Kerry. "Increasing Destructiveness of Tropical Cyclones over the Past 30 years." Nature. Volume 1436, 4 August 2005, pages 686-688.
6. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnZg...
7. http://www.naturalnews.com/025662.html
8. http://www.leopold.iastate.edu/pubs...
9. http://www.britannica.com/blogs/200...
10. See, for example: http://www.leopold.iastate.edu/pubs...
11. This calculation is based on a U.S. estimated population of 306,000,000.
12. http://www.eparks.org/wildlife_prot...
13. For a complete list of Master Gardener programs: http://www.ahs.org/master_gardeners...
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Farmers Call for Restructuring of Global Food System
Farmers Call For Restructuring of Global Food System
by Jeff Nield, Vancouver, British Columbia
01.26.09
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/01/farmers-call-for-restructuring-global-food-system.php?dcitc=weekly_nl
A coalition of peasant farmer groups are protesting their meaningful exclusion at the High Level Conference on Food Security taking place in Spain on January 26-27. In response to their exclusion 49 groups, including La Via Campesina, GRAIN, and ETC Group have signed a declaration, "Accelerating into disaster - when Banks manage the Food Crises".
More on the declaration after the jump.
The joint statement points out that the forum, and other high-level forums like it, are dominated by the World Bank, IMF and WTO, as well as transnational companies such as Monsanto. The groups are outraged that the small farmers, who grow 80% of the world's food, are "left only a few minutes on the floor to give their position."
They claim that the policies of these institutions and companies have failed with over one billion people now going hungry worldwide. The groups believe it's time for an alternative vision in the concept of food sovereignty.
Small farmers and social movements from all over the world promote a model based on food sovereignty and orientated towards peasant-based agriculture and artisan fisheries, prioritizing local markets and sustainable production methods. This model is based on the right to food and to the rights of peoples to define their own agricultural policies.
The food crisis should not be an opportunity to make more money through the sale of fertilizers, agrochemicals and genetically modified seeds. Agribusinesses cannot be allowed to attempt to profit from the desperation of over a billion people. They must be excluded from dealing with the food crisis - agribusiness and international financial and trade agencies cannot be relied upon to solve a problem they themselves have caused.
We call for an end to the development of new initiatives such as the High Level Task Force or Global Partnership. Other such initiatives in the past - such as the World Food Council and the International Alliance Against Hunger - have failed. We call for one single space inside the UN to deal with the food crisis with the full participation of social movements and small holder food producers.
The full declaration including the list of signers can be found at La Via Campesina
http://www.viacampesina.org/main_en/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=672&Itemid=1
More information on the food sovereignty movement can be found at IPC Food Sovereignty
http://www.foodsovereignty.org/new/
by Jeff Nield, Vancouver, British Columbia
01.26.09
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/01/farmers-call-for-restructuring-global-food-system.php?dcitc=weekly_nl
A coalition of peasant farmer groups are protesting their meaningful exclusion at the High Level Conference on Food Security taking place in Spain on January 26-27. In response to their exclusion 49 groups, including La Via Campesina, GRAIN, and ETC Group have signed a declaration, "Accelerating into disaster - when Banks manage the Food Crises".
More on the declaration after the jump.
The joint statement points out that the forum, and other high-level forums like it, are dominated by the World Bank, IMF and WTO, as well as transnational companies such as Monsanto. The groups are outraged that the small farmers, who grow 80% of the world's food, are "left only a few minutes on the floor to give their position."
They claim that the policies of these institutions and companies have failed with over one billion people now going hungry worldwide. The groups believe it's time for an alternative vision in the concept of food sovereignty.
Small farmers and social movements from all over the world promote a model based on food sovereignty and orientated towards peasant-based agriculture and artisan fisheries, prioritizing local markets and sustainable production methods. This model is based on the right to food and to the rights of peoples to define their own agricultural policies.
The food crisis should not be an opportunity to make more money through the sale of fertilizers, agrochemicals and genetically modified seeds. Agribusinesses cannot be allowed to attempt to profit from the desperation of over a billion people. They must be excluded from dealing with the food crisis - agribusiness and international financial and trade agencies cannot be relied upon to solve a problem they themselves have caused.
We call for an end to the development of new initiatives such as the High Level Task Force or Global Partnership. Other such initiatives in the past - such as the World Food Council and the International Alliance Against Hunger - have failed. We call for one single space inside the UN to deal with the food crisis with the full participation of social movements and small holder food producers.
The full declaration including the list of signers can be found at La Via Campesina
http://www.viacampesina.org/main_en/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=672&Itemid=1
More information on the food sovereignty movement can be found at IPC Food Sovereignty
http://www.foodsovereignty.org/new/
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Does Your Food Travel More Than You Do?
Does Your Food Travel More Than You Do? from In the Raw -
http://earthmother-intheraw.blogspot.com/2009/01/does-your-food-travel-more-than-you-do.html
Here in the arctic tundra northeastern Ohio, it's a given that when you buy a fresh tomato, peach or bunch of grapes during the middle of winter, it could only have come from anywhere remotely nearby if grown in a hot-house. It will be June before I can head over to the organic farm stand down the road for some just-picked peas, collards and strawberries. Such is life in this climate.
But you could have blown me over with far less than a strong nor'easter today when I started looking at the labels on my produce. Ever pay any attention to those annoying little things you have to peel off your fruits and vegetables? Me neither, but you can bet I am now and so should you. We may be surprised to find that a lot of what we buy isn't grown anywhere in the United States, warmer climate or not.
Until recently, most produce in major grocery stores was anonymous. The United States Department of Agriculture issued new country of origin labeling (COOL) regulations that went into effect on September 30, 2008. Suppliers and retailers are now required to provide COOL for a wide range of products, including fresh and frozen beef, pork, lamb, and chicken, as well as fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables.
How COOL Is This?
I still couldn't find labels on all of my produce, but let's take a look at what I did find. Here's a list of fresh (and I use that term loosely) produce I ate for breakfast and lunch, where it originated from, and the number of miles it traveled to get to me. It should be noted that the mileage I list is direct from point A to point B. In all likelihood, my produce traveled considerably farther before gracing my table.
Bananas – Ecuador – 2,886 miles
Blueberries – Chile – 5,177 miles
Apples – Washington – 2,024 miles
Oranges – Florida – 817 miles
Avocado – Florida – 817 miles
Kale – California – 2,088 miles
Collards – California – 2,088 miles
Cucumbers – Mexico – 1,917 miles
Tomatoes – Florida – 817 miles
Peppers – Mexico – 1,917 miles
Onion – Washington – 2,024 miles
So by the time I had finished lunch, my food had traveled 22,572 miles. That's almost one full trip around the globe! Anyone else see the absurdity in this?
Frequent Fliers
Some food items, such as bananas, have always been imported and have wide consumer acceptance. The most obvious sources for out-of-season produce are Mexico, and Central and South America.
Check out this great resource from The Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture that shows common origins of more than 95 different produce that's shipped into or across the United States each year.
Here's a list of commonly air-freighted fruits and veggies and their country of origin:
* Asparagus (Peru)
* Bell peppers (Netherlands)
* Tomatoes (Netherlands)
* Blackberries (Chile)
* Blueberries (Argentina)
* Cherries (Chile)
* Raspberries (Chile)
* Peaches (Chile)
* Nectarines (Chile)
* Papayas (Brazil)
The Real Price of Imported Food
Trucking, shipping and flying in food from around the globe takes a toll on the environment and on public health. The National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) did a study analyzing the transportation-related impacts of importing agricultural products into California's three largest ports – Los Angeles, Long Beach and Oakland.
The NRDC study showed that in 2005 alone, approximately 3 million tons of fruits, vegetables, cereals, nuts, and wine were imported from overseas into California by ship, airplane and truck. The California Air Resources Board estimates that 2,400 premature deaths, 2,800 hospital admissions for asthma, and approximately 16,870 missed school days were attributable to direct and indirect exposure to diesel pollution from freight transport activities within the state.
Almost 250,000 tons of global warming gases released were attributable to imports of food products — the equivalent amount of pollution produced by more than 40,000 vehicles on the road or nearly two power plants.
Keep in mind, we're just talking about California here. Pretty eye-opening, huh?
Think Global, Eat Local
It stands to reason that produce that's traveled thousands of miles is not going to taste as fresh or be as nutrient dense as something that's just been picked this morning. And yet, when we shop at the grocery store today, we don't bat an eye at the sight of strawberries in the winter or perfect tomatoes from Holland. In the space of a generation, we've become accustomed to eating food that's never grown roots in local soil.
It's time we start paying attention to those little labels on our fruits and veggies to see how far our food traveled and begin asking our favorite grocery stores and restaurants to carry more local foods in season. We can support our local farmers by purchasing produce at a farmers' market, or becoming a shareholder in a CSA. Check out Local Harvest to find one in your area. Better still, let's put our hands in some dirt, plant and cultivate our own food. It's possible, even in the dead of winter. Take some inspiration from my friend Anthony. It might be -10 degrees outside, but he's still working in his garden. Allow him to show you around.
http://earthmother-intheraw.blogspot.com/2009/01/does-your-food-travel-more-than-you-do.html
Here in the arctic tundra northeastern Ohio, it's a given that when you buy a fresh tomato, peach or bunch of grapes during the middle of winter, it could only have come from anywhere remotely nearby if grown in a hot-house. It will be June before I can head over to the organic farm stand down the road for some just-picked peas, collards and strawberries. Such is life in this climate.
But you could have blown me over with far less than a strong nor'easter today when I started looking at the labels on my produce. Ever pay any attention to those annoying little things you have to peel off your fruits and vegetables? Me neither, but you can bet I am now and so should you. We may be surprised to find that a lot of what we buy isn't grown anywhere in the United States, warmer climate or not.
Until recently, most produce in major grocery stores was anonymous. The United States Department of Agriculture issued new country of origin labeling (COOL) regulations that went into effect on September 30, 2008. Suppliers and retailers are now required to provide COOL for a wide range of products, including fresh and frozen beef, pork, lamb, and chicken, as well as fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables.
How COOL Is This?
I still couldn't find labels on all of my produce, but let's take a look at what I did find. Here's a list of fresh (and I use that term loosely) produce I ate for breakfast and lunch, where it originated from, and the number of miles it traveled to get to me. It should be noted that the mileage I list is direct from point A to point B. In all likelihood, my produce traveled considerably farther before gracing my table.
Bananas – Ecuador – 2,886 miles
Blueberries – Chile – 5,177 miles
Apples – Washington – 2,024 miles
Oranges – Florida – 817 miles
Avocado – Florida – 817 miles
Kale – California – 2,088 miles
Collards – California – 2,088 miles
Cucumbers – Mexico – 1,917 miles
Tomatoes – Florida – 817 miles
Peppers – Mexico – 1,917 miles
Onion – Washington – 2,024 miles
So by the time I had finished lunch, my food had traveled 22,572 miles. That's almost one full trip around the globe! Anyone else see the absurdity in this?
Frequent Fliers
Some food items, such as bananas, have always been imported and have wide consumer acceptance. The most obvious sources for out-of-season produce are Mexico, and Central and South America.
Check out this great resource from The Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture that shows common origins of more than 95 different produce that's shipped into or across the United States each year.
Here's a list of commonly air-freighted fruits and veggies and their country of origin:
* Asparagus (Peru)
* Bell peppers (Netherlands)
* Tomatoes (Netherlands)
* Blackberries (Chile)
* Blueberries (Argentina)
* Cherries (Chile)
* Raspberries (Chile)
* Peaches (Chile)
* Nectarines (Chile)
* Papayas (Brazil)
The Real Price of Imported Food
Trucking, shipping and flying in food from around the globe takes a toll on the environment and on public health. The National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) did a study analyzing the transportation-related impacts of importing agricultural products into California's three largest ports – Los Angeles, Long Beach and Oakland.
The NRDC study showed that in 2005 alone, approximately 3 million tons of fruits, vegetables, cereals, nuts, and wine were imported from overseas into California by ship, airplane and truck. The California Air Resources Board estimates that 2,400 premature deaths, 2,800 hospital admissions for asthma, and approximately 16,870 missed school days were attributable to direct and indirect exposure to diesel pollution from freight transport activities within the state.
Almost 250,000 tons of global warming gases released were attributable to imports of food products — the equivalent amount of pollution produced by more than 40,000 vehicles on the road or nearly two power plants.
Keep in mind, we're just talking about California here. Pretty eye-opening, huh?
Think Global, Eat Local
It stands to reason that produce that's traveled thousands of miles is not going to taste as fresh or be as nutrient dense as something that's just been picked this morning. And yet, when we shop at the grocery store today, we don't bat an eye at the sight of strawberries in the winter or perfect tomatoes from Holland. In the space of a generation, we've become accustomed to eating food that's never grown roots in local soil.
It's time we start paying attention to those little labels on our fruits and veggies to see how far our food traveled and begin asking our favorite grocery stores and restaurants to carry more local foods in season. We can support our local farmers by purchasing produce at a farmers' market, or becoming a shareholder in a CSA. Check out Local Harvest to find one in your area. Better still, let's put our hands in some dirt, plant and cultivate our own food. It's possible, even in the dead of winter. Take some inspiration from my friend Anthony. It might be -10 degrees outside, but he's still working in his garden. Allow him to show you around.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
A 50 year Farm Bill
A 50-Year Farm Bill
source: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/05/opinion/05berry.html?_r=1&ref=opinion
Article Tools Sponsored By
By WES JACKSON and WENDELL BERRY
Published: January 4, 2009
THE extraordinary rainstorms last June caused catastrophic soil erosion in the grain lands of Iowa, where there were gullies 200 feet wide. But even worse damage is done over the long term under normal rainfall — by the little rills and sheets of erosion on incompletely covered or denuded cropland, and by various degradations resulting from industrial procedures and technologies alien to both agriculture and nature.
Soil that is used and abused in this way is as nonrenewable as (and far more valuable than) oil. Unlike oil, it has no technological substitute — and no powerful friends in the halls of government.
Agriculture has too often involved an insupportable abuse and waste of soil, ever since the first farmers took away the soil-saving cover and roots of perennial plants. Civilizations have destroyed themselves by destroying their farmland. This irremediable loss, never enough noticed, has been made worse by the huge monocultures and continuous soil-exposure of the agriculture we now practice.
To the problem of soil loss, the industrialization of agriculture has added pollution by toxic chemicals, now universally present in our farmlands and streams. Some of this toxicity is associated with the widely acclaimed method of minimum tillage. We should not poison our soils to save them.
Industrial agricultural has made our food supply entirely dependent on fossil fuels and, by substituting technological “solutions” for human work and care, has virtually destroyed the cultures of husbandry (imperfect as they may have been) once indigenous to family farms and farming neighborhoods.
Clearly, our present ways of agriculture are not sustainable, and so our food supply is not sustainable. We must restore ecological health to our agricultural landscapes, as well as economic and cultural stability to our rural communities.
For 50 or 60 years, we have let ourselves believe that as long as we have money we will have food. That is a mistake. If we continue our offenses against the land and the labor by which we are fed, the food supply will decline, and we will have a problem far more complex than the failure of our paper economy. The government will bring forth no food by providing hundreds of billons of dollars to the agribusiness corporations.
Any restorations will require, above all else, a substantial increase in the acreages of perennial plants. The most immediately practicable way of doing this is to go back to crop rotations that include hay, pasture and grazing animals.
But a more radical response is necessary if we are to keep eating and preserve our land at the same time. In fact, research in Canada, Australia, China and the United States over the last 30 years suggests that perennialization of the major grain crops like wheat, rice, sorghum and sunflowers can be developed in the foreseeable future. By increasing the use of mixtures of grain-bearing perennials, we can better protect the soil and substantially reduce greenhouse gases, fossil-fuel use and toxic pollution.
Carbon sequestration would increase, and the husbandry of water and soil nutrients would become much more efficient. And with an increase in the use of perennial plants and grazing animals would come more employment opportunities in agriculture — provided, of course, that farmers would be paid justly for their work and their goods.
Thoughtful farmers and consumers everywhere are already making many necessary changes in the production and marketing of food. But we also need a national agricultural policy that is based upon ecological principles. We need a 50-year farm bill that addresses forthrightly the problems of soil loss and degradation, toxic pollution, fossil-fuel dependency and the destruction of rural communities.
This is a political issue, certainly, but it far transcends the farm politics we are used to. It is an issue as close to every one of us as our own stomachs.
Wes Jackson is a plant geneticist and president of The Land Institute in Salina, Kan. Wendell Berry is a farmer and writer in Port Royal, Ky.
source: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/05/opinion/05berry.html?_r=1&ref=opinion
Article Tools Sponsored By
By WES JACKSON and WENDELL BERRY
Published: January 4, 2009
THE extraordinary rainstorms last June caused catastrophic soil erosion in the grain lands of Iowa, where there were gullies 200 feet wide. But even worse damage is done over the long term under normal rainfall — by the little rills and sheets of erosion on incompletely covered or denuded cropland, and by various degradations resulting from industrial procedures and technologies alien to both agriculture and nature.
Soil that is used and abused in this way is as nonrenewable as (and far more valuable than) oil. Unlike oil, it has no technological substitute — and no powerful friends in the halls of government.
Agriculture has too often involved an insupportable abuse and waste of soil, ever since the first farmers took away the soil-saving cover and roots of perennial plants. Civilizations have destroyed themselves by destroying their farmland. This irremediable loss, never enough noticed, has been made worse by the huge monocultures and continuous soil-exposure of the agriculture we now practice.
To the problem of soil loss, the industrialization of agriculture has added pollution by toxic chemicals, now universally present in our farmlands and streams. Some of this toxicity is associated with the widely acclaimed method of minimum tillage. We should not poison our soils to save them.
Industrial agricultural has made our food supply entirely dependent on fossil fuels and, by substituting technological “solutions” for human work and care, has virtually destroyed the cultures of husbandry (imperfect as they may have been) once indigenous to family farms and farming neighborhoods.
Clearly, our present ways of agriculture are not sustainable, and so our food supply is not sustainable. We must restore ecological health to our agricultural landscapes, as well as economic and cultural stability to our rural communities.
For 50 or 60 years, we have let ourselves believe that as long as we have money we will have food. That is a mistake. If we continue our offenses against the land and the labor by which we are fed, the food supply will decline, and we will have a problem far more complex than the failure of our paper economy. The government will bring forth no food by providing hundreds of billons of dollars to the agribusiness corporations.
Any restorations will require, above all else, a substantial increase in the acreages of perennial plants. The most immediately practicable way of doing this is to go back to crop rotations that include hay, pasture and grazing animals.
But a more radical response is necessary if we are to keep eating and preserve our land at the same time. In fact, research in Canada, Australia, China and the United States over the last 30 years suggests that perennialization of the major grain crops like wheat, rice, sorghum and sunflowers can be developed in the foreseeable future. By increasing the use of mixtures of grain-bearing perennials, we can better protect the soil and substantially reduce greenhouse gases, fossil-fuel use and toxic pollution.
Carbon sequestration would increase, and the husbandry of water and soil nutrients would become much more efficient. And with an increase in the use of perennial plants and grazing animals would come more employment opportunities in agriculture — provided, of course, that farmers would be paid justly for their work and their goods.
Thoughtful farmers and consumers everywhere are already making many necessary changes in the production and marketing of food. But we also need a national agricultural policy that is based upon ecological principles. We need a 50-year farm bill that addresses forthrightly the problems of soil loss and degradation, toxic pollution, fossil-fuel dependency and the destruction of rural communities.
This is a political issue, certainly, but it far transcends the farm politics we are used to. It is an issue as close to every one of us as our own stomachs.
Wes Jackson is a plant geneticist and president of The Land Institute in Salina, Kan. Wendell Berry is a farmer and writer in Port Royal, Ky.
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Top 10 Food Sources of Vitamin C
Top 10 Food Sources of Vitamin C
By Annie Bell Muzaurieta
http://www.thedailygreen.com/healthy-eating/eat-safe/top-sources-vitamin-C-44102808?src=nl&mag=tdg&list=dgr
Vitamin C
Vitamin C helps the body maintain healthy tissues and a strong immune system, and it aids in the absorption of iron. The recommended daily allowance (RDA) for adult men is 90 mg and for adult women it's 75 mg. Here are the top 10 food sources of vitamin C, according to the USDA's Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
1. Guava
Guava is rich in vitamin C -- one half-cup of the fruit contains 188 mg of vitamin C and 56 calories. Eat the fruit raw, or in a smoothie.
2. Red Sweet Pepper
You probably instantly think citrus when you think of immune system-boosting vitamin C, but red sweet pepper offers a solid dose of the nutrient. One half-cup of raw red sweet pepper contains 142 mg of vitamin C and 20 calories. If you cook the veggie, a 1/2 cup offers 116 mg of vitamin C.
You can always chop up a red pepper into salads and for crudités.
3. Kiwi
Kiwi--the fruit, not the bird that's the national symbol of New Zealand--is rich in vitamin C. One medium kiwi contains 70 mg of the nutrient and 46 calories.
The fruit is typically eaten raw, but you could always attempt to make New Zealand's national dessert, the Pavlova, which is often topped with kiwi.
4. Orange
Who doesn't want an injection of acidic orange when in need of a vitamin C boost? You're justified. One medium orange contains 70 mg of vitamin C and 62 calories.
If you prefer it in liquid form, 3/4 cup of orange juice contains 61-93 mg of vitamin C and 79-84 calories.
5. Green Sweet Pepper
Green sweet peppers offer 60 mg of vitamin C per half-cup, with only 15 calories. When cooked, the vegetable provides 51 mg of vitamin C.
6. Grapefruit Juice
Grapefruit juice provides almost the same amount of vitamin C as green peppers: 3/4 cup has 50-70 mg vitamin C and 71-86 calories.
7. Vegetable Juice Cocktail
Drinking your vegetables provides plenty of nutrients, including a vitamin C punch. You'll get 50 mg of vitamin C and 34 calories in 3/4 cup of juice.
8. Strawberries
Strawberries are full of fiber and antioxidants, including vitamin C. One half-cup of strawberries contains 49 mg of the vitamin and 27 calories.
9. Brussels Sprouts
You already know this kid-unfriendly vegetable has a good nutritional reputation, but did you know that includes vitamin C? One half-cup of cooked Brussels sprouts offers 48 mg of vitamin C and 28 calories.
10. Cantaloupe
One quarter of a medium cantaloupe has 47 mg of vitamin C and 51 calories.
By Annie Bell Muzaurieta
http://www.thedailygreen.com/healthy-eating/eat-safe/top-sources-vitamin-C-44102808?src=nl&mag=tdg&list=dgr
Vitamin C
Vitamin C helps the body maintain healthy tissues and a strong immune system, and it aids in the absorption of iron. The recommended daily allowance (RDA) for adult men is 90 mg and for adult women it's 75 mg. Here are the top 10 food sources of vitamin C, according to the USDA's Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
1. Guava
Guava is rich in vitamin C -- one half-cup of the fruit contains 188 mg of vitamin C and 56 calories. Eat the fruit raw, or in a smoothie.
2. Red Sweet Pepper
You probably instantly think citrus when you think of immune system-boosting vitamin C, but red sweet pepper offers a solid dose of the nutrient. One half-cup of raw red sweet pepper contains 142 mg of vitamin C and 20 calories. If you cook the veggie, a 1/2 cup offers 116 mg of vitamin C.
You can always chop up a red pepper into salads and for crudités.
3. Kiwi
Kiwi--the fruit, not the bird that's the national symbol of New Zealand--is rich in vitamin C. One medium kiwi contains 70 mg of the nutrient and 46 calories.
The fruit is typically eaten raw, but you could always attempt to make New Zealand's national dessert, the Pavlova, which is often topped with kiwi.
4. Orange
Who doesn't want an injection of acidic orange when in need of a vitamin C boost? You're justified. One medium orange contains 70 mg of vitamin C and 62 calories.
If you prefer it in liquid form, 3/4 cup of orange juice contains 61-93 mg of vitamin C and 79-84 calories.
5. Green Sweet Pepper
Green sweet peppers offer 60 mg of vitamin C per half-cup, with only 15 calories. When cooked, the vegetable provides 51 mg of vitamin C.
6. Grapefruit Juice
Grapefruit juice provides almost the same amount of vitamin C as green peppers: 3/4 cup has 50-70 mg vitamin C and 71-86 calories.
7. Vegetable Juice Cocktail
Drinking your vegetables provides plenty of nutrients, including a vitamin C punch. You'll get 50 mg of vitamin C and 34 calories in 3/4 cup of juice.
8. Strawberries
Strawberries are full of fiber and antioxidants, including vitamin C. One half-cup of strawberries contains 49 mg of the vitamin and 27 calories.
9. Brussels Sprouts
You already know this kid-unfriendly vegetable has a good nutritional reputation, but did you know that includes vitamin C? One half-cup of cooked Brussels sprouts offers 48 mg of vitamin C and 28 calories.
10. Cantaloupe
One quarter of a medium cantaloupe has 47 mg of vitamin C and 51 calories.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
"10 Ways to Eat Healthy on a Budget" by Heather Havey, M.A.
"10 Ways to Eat Healthy on a Budget" by Heather Havey, M.A.
1. Grow your own organic food. Seeds are very affordable. Simply takes a bit of prep, water, sunlight, and TLC. The joy of harvesting food that you grew yourself is priceless, will bring you great joy, and can change your life. Watching these plants grow can bring you peace, gratitude, and awe. Feeding yourself, friends, and loved ones will also bring you great joy.
2. Buy organic from local farmers. Food that has been shipped around the country or world is more expensive than food grown in your own town. Also, by supporting local organic farmers, you are supporting a healthier world (no poisons), and you are not supporting the destructive corporatization of the bigger farms. Huge companies typically care about profit and growth; consideration of your health is an afterthought, if a thought at all.
3. Buy seasonal produce. Fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and grains that are in season, are cheaper to buy.
4. Drink more water. People spend a LOT of money on sodas, alcohol, coffee, tea, and so on. Drink more water. Also, do not buy bottled water. Drink water purified from your own faucet or well. Also, you can easily grow camomile, peppermint, lavender, and other herbs to make your own tea with.
5. Buy bulk. You will save money by not buying quantities of foods with no need for packaging materials.
6. Prepare your own food rather than eating our or buying prepackaged meals. This always saves money. Also, typically your own homemade meals will be significantly healthier than any canned, jarred, packaged, processed, altered, or restaurant foods (though some restaurants can be very healthy).
7. Be a grazer. Rather than prepare elaborate and expensive meals, eat simply. Make a simple salad. Eat a cucumber, sliced. Eat a piece of fruit. Make a simple fruit salad. Make a simple soup. If you have fruit trees in your yard, you can eat those fruits for a snack. Be a grazer, of natural foods.
8. Eat less: when you feel hungry, sometimes all you need is a big glass of water. Americans eat far too much food!!! Eat smaller quantities of more nutritious food.
9. Organize potluck dinners or picnics with friends...and enjoy them out in nature.
10. If you see a particular sale on an item, eat that for the day or week.
Heather Havey, M.A., is a naturalist, veganic farmer, and author. She teaches yoga/meditation as well as organic farming techniques. She supports the "food not lawns" philosophy of filling your life with natural organic beauty, wildlife, and nature - rather than overly-manicured, poison-filled "lawns." To reach her: www.peacethroughkindness.com
Click here to read more articles by Heather Havey.
Click here to see books published by Heather Havey.
1. Grow your own organic food. Seeds are very affordable. Simply takes a bit of prep, water, sunlight, and TLC. The joy of harvesting food that you grew yourself is priceless, will bring you great joy, and can change your life. Watching these plants grow can bring you peace, gratitude, and awe. Feeding yourself, friends, and loved ones will also bring you great joy.
2. Buy organic from local farmers. Food that has been shipped around the country or world is more expensive than food grown in your own town. Also, by supporting local organic farmers, you are supporting a healthier world (no poisons), and you are not supporting the destructive corporatization of the bigger farms. Huge companies typically care about profit and growth; consideration of your health is an afterthought, if a thought at all.
3. Buy seasonal produce. Fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and grains that are in season, are cheaper to buy.
4. Drink more water. People spend a LOT of money on sodas, alcohol, coffee, tea, and so on. Drink more water. Also, do not buy bottled water. Drink water purified from your own faucet or well. Also, you can easily grow camomile, peppermint, lavender, and other herbs to make your own tea with.
5. Buy bulk. You will save money by not buying quantities of foods with no need for packaging materials.
6. Prepare your own food rather than eating our or buying prepackaged meals. This always saves money. Also, typically your own homemade meals will be significantly healthier than any canned, jarred, packaged, processed, altered, or restaurant foods (though some restaurants can be very healthy).
7. Be a grazer. Rather than prepare elaborate and expensive meals, eat simply. Make a simple salad. Eat a cucumber, sliced. Eat a piece of fruit. Make a simple fruit salad. Make a simple soup. If you have fruit trees in your yard, you can eat those fruits for a snack. Be a grazer, of natural foods.
8. Eat less: when you feel hungry, sometimes all you need is a big glass of water. Americans eat far too much food!!! Eat smaller quantities of more nutritious food.
9. Organize potluck dinners or picnics with friends...and enjoy them out in nature.
10. If you see a particular sale on an item, eat that for the day or week.
Heather Havey, M.A., is a naturalist, veganic farmer, and author. She teaches yoga/meditation as well as organic farming techniques. She supports the "food not lawns" philosophy of filling your life with natural organic beauty, wildlife, and nature - rather than overly-manicured, poison-filled "lawns." To reach her: www.peacethroughkindness.com
Click here to read more articles by Heather Havey.
Click here to see books published by Heather Havey.
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