Soil Life Key to Arid Gardening, Harvesting a Pasture Cropped Wheat Paddock, Adding Value to Soil Carbon, But is Soil Carbon Ready for the Scrutiny?, Turning Prisoners into Farmers, Feeding the World One Backyard at a Time, Bacteria Protein to Kill E. Coli, Increased Local Food Interest, Kangatarians, Shiv Chopra, Rules Before Commonsense, Caring For Country Criticised, Emulating Nature in Business, Coal vs Food, Soil Biology Problems with GM Crops, GM Rice Contamination, GM Crops in Australia, GM Canola Not Yielding, GM Corn into Mexico, GM Eggplant Uproar in India, More IPCC Flaw, Climate Change Promotional Conflict, The Bias is Here in Australia Too, Red Meat Facts, More Meat Facts, Understanding the Ruddy ETS, Curious Funding Paradoxes, Thirst for Change, What is in That Cleaner?, Electricity Without Cords, Car that Runs on Air, Beautiful Strange Buildings, Unbelievable Inheritance Stories, What's New..., Invitation to Ben's Falls Retreat, 7/8ths Selling, Power of Engagement, Health (honest food guide, failed war on cancer, MMR/autism retraction, the Royal Rife story, China breding superbugs, warehousing DNA, the SAD, myths of low fat diets), Quote, Cartoon, Miscellaneous, Events, Postscript

Soil Life Key to Arid Gardening

Tucson gardener Tom Pew is fascinated by teeming life-forms that he can’t even see—at least not without the aid of a microscope. “When I started studying beneficial soil microbes and fungi a few years ago, it transformed my skills as a gardener.” As Pew began brewing compost tea (loaded with microorganisms) to add to his soil he noticed that his plants were healthier, suffered fewer pest outbreaks, and perhaps most noteworthy for a desert dweller, his garden used less water.

Harvesting a Pasture Cropped Wheat Paddock

Angus Maurice from Gillinghall, Wellington, Central West NSW, Australia discusses his wheat crop that has been Pasture Cropped into native grasses.
Pasture Cropping is a regenerative agricultural practice that enables a farmer to do cereal cropping into native grassland without having to damage the grassland. This practice has many environmental benefits and enables land managers to achieve triple bottom line outcomes.

Adding Value to Soil Carbon

The opposition has said it will rely on measures to increase soil in carbon like biochar, reducing tillage and using compost to make 60% of the greenhouse gas cuts from its climate fund for industry, yet The Wentworth Group believe farmers will get more money from the government's emissions trading than the opposition's climate policy. [It's worth reading the comments below this article for a wider perspective]

But is Soil Carbon Ready for the Scrutiny?

By making soil carbon a foundation stone of its policy, and a commodity that all Australian taxpayers will be investing in whether they like it or not, the Coalition has invited rigorous scrutiny of the issue. But taxpayer-funded soil carbon trading is a concept that needs some massaging and makeup before it is shoved into the glare of prime-time TV, and the demolition job that will now result...

Turning Prisoners into Farmers

The Sustainable Prisons Project in the US has inmates compost the facility's food waste. They sort recycling by hand. They grow organic produce. They collect rainwater for the gardens. They raise bees. And they partner with scientists to do ecological research projects; right now, two of them are painstakingly raising endangered Oregon spotted frogs. [What a great story]

Feeding the World One Backyard at a Time

Urban farmers are challenging city halls across the US to rewrite ordinances that govern residential gardens. They believe feeding their fellow urbanites homegrown tomatoes, fresh eggs and sweet corn will change the world one backyard at a time. Seattle has loosened its rules for backyard goats, New York City's health department is taking steps to legalize beekeeping and Detroit is looking into regulating compost and greenhouses.

Bacteria Protein to Kill E.coli

A bacteria-killing protein that would be applied to raw meat during processing to 'signifcantly reduce' the presence of E. coli is under development. The product could be applied directly onto raw meat surfaces as a fine coating or mist during processing. “The antimicrobial protein in the product kills E. coli O157:H7 during processing and has no effect in the final product. The antimicrobial protein binds specifically to E. coli O157:H7 and kills this pathogen by puncturing its cell wall.”

Increased Local Food Interest

Interest in locally-produced food has mushroomed in the last five years, indicates a new UK survey that considers manufactured food as well as locally grown and raised produce. [Great news]

Kangatarians

There's a new semi-vegetarian movement emerging in Australia: people who exclude all meat except kangaroo on environmental, ecological and humanitarian grounds. They call themselves kangatarians and are slowly growing in numbers.

Shiv Chopra

Shiv Chopra is the scientist behind The Five Pillars of Food Safety presented in a recent newsletter. A subscriber has referred me to Shiv's site which has wonderful running commentaries and stories on food safety - covering topics such as GM, vaccines and food politics. I thought many of you might enjoy the browse too.

Rules Before Commonsense

Health inspectors seized, slashed open and poured bleach over thousands of dollars of local peaches, pears, raspberry and plum purees owned by pastry chef Flora Lazar. She'd purchased the fruit from Green City Market farmers last summer and had planned to use it to make local fruit gelees for her business. Inspectors cited no health problems with any of the food. They only said the food was prepared by chefs who didn't have the proper business licenses to prepare and sell it.

Then there is the case of FDA agents invading a non-commercial Amish farm. In this case the agents said they had a right to be there because “you produce food for human consumption.”  The farmer asked why they believed that and they said, “Well, you have cows. You cannot be consuming all the milk you produce.” They further stated, “If you get a milk truck in to move all this milk you sell milk to the public, therefore we have jurisdiction.” And so the story continues. [You get the sense that there is a war being waged on natural foods]

Caring For Country Criticised

Australia's Landcare volunteers have been ''alienated and disenfranchised'' by the Rudd Government's $2.5 billion Caring for Our Country environmental grants scheme, a Senate report says. The Senate committee's report paints a damning picture of a ''closed shop'' Canberra-centric program, undermining morale and mateship among rural Landcare volunteers across the country. [Hmmm, I couldn't begin to make a comment]

Emulating Nature in Business

Nature has a warehouse of proven principles and a research and development laboratory with four billion years of product development. When we follow nature's blueprint, economic, social and environmental abundance occurs. All waste is lost profit, all value is created by design and adaptation. The ability to learn is crucial for survival and many corporations are proving this.

Coal vs Food

There is an emerging tension between resources development and the rural economy in Australia. One of the most problematic byproducts from coal-seam gas extraction is salt. ''It's toxic to the plants, it's toxic to the soil, it's toxic to the animals. Salt cannot be burnt or sent into the ocean." Then there is the possible contamination of ground water. Normally conservative farmers are shaping up for a fight with big business.

I just loved this quote from a farmer who supposedly supports the mining....''It's not all about money to us. If we can get long-term security of water supply, that could be absolutely fantastic for us irrigators,'' he said. ''There's a lot of negativity out there and it's really unjustified. They forget they've just got a cheque in the mail.'' [Indeed, it is obvious his argument for mining not about the money!!!]

Soil Biology Problems with GM Crops

Rober Kremer is a microbiologist and co-authored one of five papers published in the October 2009 issue of The European Journal of Agronomy that found negative impacts of Roundup herbicide, which is used extensively with Roundup Ready GM crops. The USDA has been reluctant to publicize these results. They discovered a root fungi problem that seemed to be encouraging sudden death syndrome (SDS) and saw the increase of these fungi in the Roundup Ready (genetically modified) system, on both soybeans and corn. They found that the system is altering the whole soil biology with differences in bacteria in plant roots and changes in nutrient availability.

GM Rice Contamination

A US federal court jury has ordered the German conglomerate Bayer CropScience to pay $1.5 million to farmers in Arkansas and Mississippi whose rice seed was contaminated with a genetically altered strain. A jury awarded about $2 million to two Missouri farmers in December, and three additional test cases are scheduled for this year involving farmers from Louisiana and Texas as well as a rice exporter.

GM Crops In Australia

On Saturday 1 September 2007, in a meeting held in Scots Church, Adelaide, two of the best-informed anti-GM activists, epidemiologist and biochemist Dr Judy Carman and National Spokesperson for the Network of Concerned Farmers, Julie Newman, gave detailed speeches outlining why the commercial production of GM food crops would be the biggest threat to food and agriculture Australia has ever faced. This meeting has been downloaded onto DVD and is essential viewing for students and activists, and anyone interested in the GM food debate.

GM Canola Not Yielding

The Grains Research and Development Corporation has released the results of 150 canola trial results from across the country with the major finding that genetically modified canola did not significantly outyield Clearfield. Proponents of GM canola said this was always to be expected, and that GM canola was not being grown for its yield advantage, but rather for its rotational benefits...[OH REALLY, pity they didn't let their publicists know!! Note that conventional canola lines are not included in these trials] Yet in response to these results a Monsanto rep states: "These results clearly show that the Roundup Ready canola system offers growers higher yields in addition to superior weed control." [N remember, it's not about yields...]

GM Corn into Mexico

Capping a decade-long battle, private companies in Mexico have begun the first legal plantings of genetically modified corn. Opponents say modified genes could spread and contaminate genetically valuable native varieties, from which modern corn was first hybridized between 6,000 and 8,000 years ago. The native genes could be needed someday to help strengthen hybrids. [I'm not sure why they use the word 'could'. GM contamination has already been found throughout Mexican native corn - see Modified Genes Spread to Local Maize article]

GM Eggplant Uproar in India

The cutting-edge technology of Bt brinjal has had an unintended consequence. The public outrage that followed the regulatory clearance of the first ever GM food crop has forced environment minister Jairam Ramesh to adopt an innovation in public administration. The uproar over Bt brinjal has served to highlight a trust deficit in the regulatory system, some of that based on a series of regulatory lapses that have surfaced since at least 2006.

More IPCC Flaws

It has emerged that the IPCC’s panel had wrongly reported that more than half of the Netherlands was below sea level because it had failed to check information supplied by a Dutch government agency. And a diagram used to demonstrate the potential for generating electricity from wave power has been found to contain numerous errors. Researchers insist the errors are minor and do not impact on the overall conclusions about climate change, but senior scientists are now expressing concern at the way the IPCC compiles its reports and have hit out at the panel’s use of so-called “grey literature” — evidence from sources that have not been subjected to scientific ­scrutiny.

Climate Change Promotion Conflict

Concerns are growing that BBC journalists and their bosses regard disputed scientific theory that climate change is caused by mankind as “mainstream” while huge sums of  employees’ money is invested in companies whose success depends on the theory being widely accepted. The BBC is the only media organisation in Britain whose pension fund is a member of the Institutional Investors Group on  Climate Change, which has more than 50 members across Europe. In addition, the BBC chairman is also the BBC’s Head of Pensions Investment.

The Bias is Here in Australia Too

Media Watch appears to be saying that climate sceptics are just getting too much of a say in the media now, given the alleged weakness of their scientific evidence. It blames timid scientists for not speaking up, and green journalists for not being better informed - or better placed to get access to the mass media. But what is the real story? Maybe the timid scientists are in fact the sceptics who are timid for very good reason..., how can you possibly suggest climate change scientists are not given air time, and maybe the science is actually weak on the other side... One Australian journalist, Andrew Bolt, sets the records straight.

Red Meat Facts

Accusations that “less meat means less heat”, inferring that cutting back on livestock production is a panacea for global warming, are wide of the mark according to the Australian Farm Institute (AFI). Firstly, carbon-dioxide exhaled by livestock is derived from plant matter that has grown by fixing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and is therefore effectively emissions-neutral. Secondly, the charge that charge livestock production is the cause for virtually all forest clearing, particularly in South America is incorrect - recent studies that suggest 20-40% of Brazilian forest clearing is now driven by the desire to create cropping land.

More Meat Facts

Australian red meat production is much more carbon-efficient than often reported in the media, says an important study by the University of NSW. Production systems in Victoria, NSW and WA showed carbon emissions from sheep and cattle meat production were among the lowest in the world. [I am curious at the claim in this article that beef from lotfed cattle had 50% and 38% lower methane emissions than organic and grassfed beef production respectively - is that because the lifecycle assessment does not include the carbon sequestration of vegetation that cattle stand on? Is it only tracking carbon outputs, not the full cycle?]

Understanding the Ruddy ETS

I like this summary on the proposed ETS from the Carbon Sense Coalition: “If Rudd’s ETS ever rules Australia, companies producing electricity from carbon fuels must beg, buy or borrow a permit to burn coal, gas or diesel. They can beg a free permit from some mate in Canberra; they can buy a permit from some lucky sod who managed to get more permits than he needs; they can borrow a permit by entering into some tricky derivative trade with a speculator in Chicago; or they can pay carbon credit penance to a shifty land owner in some foreign land who promises solemnly not to clear his trees. No matter which option is chosen, power costs will go up and companies must pass the extra cost (plus GST) onto their customers or go broke."

Curious Funding Paradoxes

While many climate change believers claim there is an orchestrated campaign being waged against climate change science to undermine public acceptance of man-made global warming, it seems the claim is largely based on mere assumptions. For example: "I am sure there are some sceptics who may well be funded by the private sector to try to cast uncertainty." You then have the Indian head of the UN climate change panel writing a fiction novel and allowing it to be promoted by BP and the head of India’s biggest gas producer. [I just love some of the comments below this second article!]

Thirst For Change

What a terrific Australian design needing to get kick-started. I first saw this on ABC's New Inventors program. This beautifully designed, re-usable water bottle has a unique plunger mechanism with a built-in filter, so you can fill it from any tap to produce fresh, filtered water. It’s the most stylish way to stay healthy and hydrated whilst reducing the use of fossil fuels, carbon emissions and waste associated with drinking bottled water. And its BPA free. Apparently it has overseas interest, but ideally they want to produce the product here in Australia. We have put our order in - what about you?

What is in that Cleaner?

Exactly what’s in floor cleaner? What’s stain remover made of? And what effects, if any, might they have on human health or the environment? Federal US environmental laws don’t require most household cleaning products to list their ingredients. [Which is similar in Australia] Yet some studies have linked cleaning product components to asthma, antibiotic resistance, hormone changes and other health problems. The industry’s major trade group, the Soap and Detergent Association, assails the research as flawed, says the products are safe if used correctly and notes that cleaning can itself help stop the spread of disease.

Electricity without Cords

The idea of wireless power transfer is almost as old as electricity generation itself. At the beginning of the 20th century, Nikola Tesla proposed using huge coils to transmit electricity through the troposphere to power homes. Beamed power is still in its infancy, though three viable options seem to be emerging. The technology is however likely to meet some objections along the way, particularly from a human health perspective, but also environmental.

Car That Runs on Air

This five seater car runs on compressed air, has zero pollution, very low running costs and will cost just over $5,000 [they don't state what currency, and at the end they mention $15,000...interesting nontheless]

Beautiful Strange Buildings

See 33 of the world's strangest buildings. Many of them are so organic and interesting!

Unbelievable Inheritance Stories

Perhaps a bit offbeat for this newsletter, but I couldn't resist - some of these stories are quite remarkable and often show the wonderful sense of humanity that exists in the world (though some perhaps show the opposite...)

What's New...

I have just been sent through a great summary on a microbial based product called Bactivate. It certainly gives a great overview of the benefits of soil microbes in general. I do not know much about the product itself, but it all sounds fine and may well be worth investigating. Combining beneficial soil microbes with humates is an ideal scenario - the 'bugs' can enter a 'hostile' environment with a home and food to help them settle in. It notice that they have a field day in Victoria this Friday.

Invitation to Ben's Fall Retreat

It's a unique local New England experience - eating in a hand-build wooden facility overhanging Ben's Falls. Even the restrooms have the most spectacular views! The place is only opened up to groups via invitation, and the Inverell Rotary Club is inviting you along on 17th April, Emmaville Gorge. It is part of their 'Caravan of Hope' project raising money to purchase an off-road caravan to send out with Salvation Army counsellors to help families doing it tough in the drought stricken outback where divorce and suicide rates are soaring. Hope to see you there!

7/8ths Selling

This 2-day program takes you into the mind of the buyer. 7/8 Selling enables sales people to focus on having buyer-centric conversations as partners in the decision-making process. It shifts the focus from attempting to sell to empowering buyer’s decision-making processes. 29th - 30th March, Toowoomba.

Power of Engagement

Communication is essential to every aspect of our lives, yet so many of us do not do it well: we do not engage, we do not listen and frequently we do not understand. This 2-day program will equip you to maximise your ability to effectively engage with others. I know people who rave about this course! 29th - 30th March, Toowoomba.

Health

Honest Food Guide

A U.S. District Court judge ruled last week that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) violated federal laws when they selected individuals with known financial ties to various food industries to serve as members to the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. This group was in charge of drawing up the latest nutritional guidelines that comprise the USDA's "Food Pyramid". Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) asserts that the current food pyramid is unhealthy because it promotes the consumption of meat, eggs and dairy as part of the daily diet and have drawn up an 'Honest Food Guide' which is free from the corruption and influence of various food industries (dairy, beef, junk foods, etc.), is designed to benefit you, not Big Business, and offers genuine nutritional information, not watered-down information designed to boost the sale of milk, beef and grains. [The guide is good]

Failed War on Cancer

In 1971, President Nixon declared a war on cancer. In the ensuing decades, tens of billions of dollars have been spent on the cause yet a cure by orthodox means remains elusive. By any standards this campaign has been a failed endeavour; or worse, a shameful fraud. It's up to each individual to empower themselves with knowledge of the myriad ways to eradicate cancer without harming the body. Although it's easier to prevent cancer than to reverse it once it has taken hold, it is nevertheless reversible with holistic therapies that address imbalances of the body, mind and spirit. [I would also recommend reading the book 'Outsmart Your Cancer' - a brilliant overview to alternative methods - there are some locals taking responsibility and beating the odds using some of this information. I have books for sale too]

MMR/Autism Retraction

I still don't get it - the UK Medical Journal - The Lancet - is retracting Dr Wakefield's original paper linking MMR to autism. It is perhaps true that the subjects of the study were used unethically and the mechanism for the link is still yet to be scientifically 'proven' (ie the science is not there YET), but the results still shine a beacon on something wrong. Instead of working towards finding that mechanism or building the science, all time and energy has been channelled into publicly shaming the scientists who strongly suspected the link from their patients. "With the retraction, the hypothesis that he put forward has been debunked," says one antogonist - really, I don't get that logic?

The Royal Rife Story

What a story, which is also told in more detail in the book Outsmart Your Cancer. In the 1950s Dr Royal Rife, an American inventor designed a very powerful microscope that could detect living microbes by the color of their vibratory rates. Though it was only in the late 1960s that scientists discovered living cells emit light, Rife with his own technology discovered this in the 1920s. He then developed an instrument called the Rife Frequency Generator that generated radio waves with precisely the same frequency as 15 bacteria and viruses that shattered their protoplasm. The results were far-reaching and are being rediscovered slowly now, but will the healing potential continue to be ignored?

China Breeding Superbugs

China's reckless use of antibiotics in the health system and agricultural production is unleashing an explosion of drug resistant superbugs that endanger global health, according to leading scientists. "There is a real risk that globally we will return to a pre-antibiotic era of medicine, where we face a situation where a number of medical treatment options would no longer be there. What happens in China matters for the rest of the world."

Warehousing DNA

A critical safety net for babies - that heelprick of blood taken from every newborn - is facing an ethics attack. After those tiny blood spots are tested for a list of devastating diseases, some states are storing them for years. But seldom are parents asked to consent to such research - most probably don't know it occurs. Texas is poised to throw away blood samples from more than 5 million babies to settle a lawsuit from parents angry at what they call secret DNA warehousing.

The SAD

In the Standard American Diet (SAD), there are over six thousand chemicals that are sanctioned for use in the modern diet, many of which are carcinogens and some of which are known to cause cancer, and many others are suspected as such. Most of the companies that make these products and chemicals do in fact know it. They are simply making far too much money to care to do anything about it. It's the oldest medical scam in history. You make the patient sick by slowly poisoning them, then you come along and give them the 'cure' which solves one problem, but slowly creates several more problems. This happened in China centuries ago and that's one of the main reasons that in China doctors do not get paid each time you call them. [A good thought provoking read]

Myths of Low Fat Diets

Powdered skim milk is a source of dangerous oxidized cholesterol and neurotoxic amino acids which is added to 1% and 2% milk. Skim milk is devoid of fat and enzymes necessary for calcium absorption; and low-fat yogurts and sour creams contain mucopolysaccharide slime to give them body; and pale butter from hay-fed cows contains colorings to make it look like vitamin-rich butter from grass-fed cows. [Exactly! People find it hard to believe, but note the comment below this article - always check from who the information is coming. If from industry itself, beware. It's worth checking out this doctor's site too, there is some great information and she's based here in Australia]

Quote

‘Of all the polite topics of conversation, the state of one’s intestines is probably at the bottom of most people’s lists. Let’s face it: Irritable bowel syndrome, constipation, gas, diverticulitis and colon cancer are simply not things we like to discuss. And yet, as the old expression goes, death begins in the colon. Don’t believe it? Ask any coroner. Autopsies often reveal colons that are plugged up to 80 percent with waste material.’ – Vegetarian Times, March 1998

Cartoon

Not exactly a cartoon, but the marketing genius behind Absolut Vodka is amazing - check out these ads. What an imagination!

Miscellaneous

Something to getting you thinking about what is or isn't impossible. I listen to my two girls telling me they can't do so many things - I think this short video gave them food for thought!

And this story of a 7 year old boy painting like an old master is fascinating. So few years to develop such style and technique!

And for those that like to ponder reality, economics and social design, you'll love this interview. A sample: "We've mistaken our jobs for work. We've mistaken our bank accounts for savings. We've mistaken our 401k investments [superannuation] for our future. We've mistaken our property for assets, and our assets for the world. We have these places where we live, then they become property that we own, then they become mortgages that we owe, then they become mortgage-backed loans that our pensions finance, then they become packages of debt, and so on and so on. We've been living in a world where the further up the chain of abstraction you operate, the wealthier you are."

Events

* 7/8ths Selling - Toowoomba Qld 29th - 30th March 2010.

* Power of Engagement - Toowoomba Qld 29th - 30th March 2010.

* Ben's Falls Retreat - Emmaville Gorge NSW 17th April 2010.

Postscript

Lawrence Livermore Laboratories has discovered the heaviest element yet known to science. The new element, Governmentium (Gv) , has one neutron, 25 assistant
neutrons, 88 deputy neutrons, and 198 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an  atomic mass of 312.

These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons. Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert; however, it can be detected,
because it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact. A tiny amount of Governmentium can cause a reaction that would normally take less than a second, to take from 4 days to 4 years to complete.

Governmentium has a normal half-life of 2 - 6 years. It does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy
neutrons exchange places.

In fact, Governmentium's mass will actually increase over time, since each reorganization will cause more morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes. This characteristic of morons promotion leads some scientists to believe that
Governmentium is formed whenever morons reach a critical concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as critical morass.

When catalyzed with money, Governmentium becomes Administratium, an element that radiates just as much energy as Governmentium since it has half as many peons but twice as many morons.