The poor ignorant savage even apologized to a tree for having to
cut it down and had sacred groves and woods he left standing—
homes of the gods or of his fellow creatures—whereas his successor,
who ungodded nature, ravages the heights and brings floods,
dustbowls and salt pans into the once fertile lowlands. Or worse,
defoliates to facilitate hunting down his brother man.
- Jacob Trapp, The Light of a Thousand Suns, 1973
Showing posts with label issue: industrialism destroys and rapes the planet and people. Show all posts
Showing posts with label issue: industrialism destroys and rapes the planet and people. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Friday, May 1, 2009
Symptom: swine flu. Diagnosis: industrial agriculture?
Symptom: swine flu. Diagnosis: industrial agriculture?
by Tom Philpott
28 Apr 2009
http://www.grist.org/article/2009-04-28-more-smithfield-swine
Several days after news broke of a possible link between Mexico-based hog CAFOs and the rapid spread of a novel swine-flu strain, what have we learned?
• Clarifying details about respiratory ailments in the Perote area of Vera Cruz State—where U.S. pork behemoth Smithfield Foods raises nearly a million hogs a year in large confinement buildings, under a subsidiary called Granjas Carroll—have emerged. In my original post on this topic, I didn’t fully understand that the outbreak of a virulent respiratory condition in the town of La Gloria—located near Smithfield’s farming operations—wasn’t initially identified as swine flu. The disease emerged as early as February and infected 60 percent of the town’s 1,800 inhabitants, according to the widely cited blog Biosurveillance, run by the U.S. disease-tracking consultancy Veratract (which claims the CDC, the World Health Organization, and the Pan-American Health Organization as clients). Three children died during the outbreak, Veratract reports. Residents blamed the Granjas Carroll confinements for the outbreak; and local authorities
evidently agreed. “Health workers soon intervened, sealing off the town and spraying chemicals to kill the flies [which grew in swarms on Granjas Caroll’s manure lagoons] that were reportedly swarming through people’s homes,” according to a Monday account in the Guardian.
To read the full article: http://www.grist.org/article/2009-04-28-more-smithfield-swine
by Tom Philpott
28 Apr 2009
http://www.grist.org/article/2009-04-28-more-smithfield-swine
Several days after news broke of a possible link between Mexico-based hog CAFOs and the rapid spread of a novel swine-flu strain, what have we learned?
• Clarifying details about respiratory ailments in the Perote area of Vera Cruz State—where U.S. pork behemoth Smithfield Foods raises nearly a million hogs a year in large confinement buildings, under a subsidiary called Granjas Carroll—have emerged. In my original post on this topic, I didn’t fully understand that the outbreak of a virulent respiratory condition in the town of La Gloria—located near Smithfield’s farming operations—wasn’t initially identified as swine flu. The disease emerged as early as February and infected 60 percent of the town’s 1,800 inhabitants, according to the widely cited blog Biosurveillance, run by the U.S. disease-tracking consultancy Veratract (which claims the CDC, the World Health Organization, and the Pan-American Health Organization as clients). Three children died during the outbreak, Veratract reports. Residents blamed the Granjas Carroll confinements for the outbreak; and local authorities
evidently agreed. “Health workers soon intervened, sealing off the town and spraying chemicals to kill the flies [which grew in swarms on Granjas Caroll’s manure lagoons] that were reportedly swarming through people’s homes,” according to a Monday account in the Guardian.
To read the full article: http://www.grist.org/article/2009-04-28-more-smithfield-swine
Monday, December 29, 2008
Wendell Berry
"It is better to sustain a small population indefinitely than to build up a large artificial population on an agricultural system of which the basic principle is its willingness to destroy itself."
-Wendell Berry
-Wendell Berry
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