Bacteria and Rain

As I have been hypothesising and ranting about semi-privately for a while....Biological organisms play a surprisingly large role in how rain and snow forms, a new study shows. More of these bacteria and other microorganisms seed ice formation in the atmosphere than anyone realised. Every snow and ice sample looked at had biological ice nucleators. Its a shame the research has not linked up with research in the '80s that discovered plants actually aerosol the microbes into the atmosphere, not specifically dust. The implications? Get more green plants growing!!!

Pasture Cropping Benefits

This CSIRO study compares pasture, cropping and pasture cropping at Colin Seis's property at Gulgong. The conclusions were that pasture cropping has higher total ground cover year-round and increased total biomass outside of the cropping season than either cropping or pasture alone. It may also reduce the likelihood of water-logging, dryland salinity, loss of nitrogen through denitrification, and soil acidification developing. Its a pity that research into pasture cropping stopped there!  CSIRO 2005 22/06/2009,18:53 68.50 Kb

Protest of White House Organic Garden

The symbolic importance of an organic garden on the South Lawn, visible from the iron fence on E Street, has blossomed in ways no one could have expected. It has not only spurred many to have their own home garden - it has also clearly put a scare into conventional agriculture, which has fought back. This satire piece on an organic-free world is terrific. "I think the Obama garden should come with a warning label. It's irresponsible to tell people that you should have to eat organic and locally grown food. Not everyone can afford that. That's a serious public health concern."

Feedlot Meat Ecological?

My goodness, you can label anything with anything! Eco-Beef is generated from a 50,000-head Whyalla feedlot in Queensland. The Eco comes from being able to track CO2, though they are also adding initiatives, such as feedlot pen shade, and pen waste composting programs that add to the overall 'green' claims. Who is fooling who? This is surely greenwashing at its worst...

Warning Against GM Food

Author of Corrupt to the Core is the former senior health regulator from Canada. He writes about what he sees as the major threats to food safety from the use of "genetically manipulated foods, pesticides and herbicides, hormones and antibiotics in animal production systems". He believes they are behind huge increases in cancer rates, neurological and reproductive disorders and breakdowns in immune systems, and that GM crops should be the responsibility of the Minister for Health, not the Minister for Agriculture.

Farmers Reliant on Agronomists

Research into how farmers understand soil has identified that soil indicators, including those related to soil 'health', need to relate to some clear, practical use to farmers if they are to be used in farm decision making. But it also discovered a high reliance by farmers on agronomists which may result in increasing loss of connectivity between farmers and their land. In conclusion soil health projects may need to consider where best to direct their capacity-building activities, and/or how to re-empower individual farmers.

The Loss of Paddock Trees

Tens of millions of paddock trees shelter livestock, nurture wildlife and save long-cleared farmland from appearing as bare as the desert. But they are set to become ghosts themselves. Most of the majestic old trees of our temperate grazing lands are close to death, with very few young to replace them. The challenge is to give saplings a chance. On heavily fertilised land, farmers need to plant seedlings, using tree guards. But on other land they can set up "self-perpetuating systems" of tree regeneration by using rotational grazing.

Building New Ecosystems

It started with planting trees on a former landfill ecological urban desert. Fruiting trees and shrubs attracted birds, which then dispersed seeds over the area. The original plantings matured, and the number of species on the site increased. It had once again become a viable ecosystem. Now new projects keep emerging and in turn, has advanced the young discipline of urban restoration ecology.

Toxic Mop Up With Native Grasses

Researchers have hit on an idea that could potentially scrub away the dangers of TNT soil residues - native grasses. Mounting evidence has shown that certain native grasses, and the microbes that thrive around their roots, convert the toxic leftovers from atrazine into harmless carbon dioxide. I guess the new problem they have missed in this article is the fact that carbon dioxide is rapidly being seen as a pollutant! Perhaps it is not such a great idea...

Plants Increasing Ozone Pollution

Certain plants, such as rosemary, juniper and pine trees, emit chemical compounds known as terpenes. However, when terpenes mix with pollutants (particularly nitrogen oxides from industry and traffic) they react to produce ozone - a key ingredient of photochemical smogs, and a health hazard that can cause breathing difficulties and may cause cancer. So cityscape plantings need to take this into consideration.

Sun Spots Revving Up

This is the longest period the sun has been quiet since the start of the Space Age. However, there is now evidence that all is well and that the sun is finally waking and the coming sunspot storms once more could treat the world to auroras and communication blackouts.

Copenhagen Climate Change Report

Synthesis Report from the Copenhagen Climate Change meeting in March this year is available for those interested (the file size is enormous, so contact me for a copy if you can't download it). The report presents the very newest scientific evidence that has emerged since the IPCC report came out in 2007. The official summary gives a clue to the overall purpose of the event....A summit of science for politics!! 

Farming in the Sky

High above the noise and grime of urban streets, gardeners are raising fruits and vegetables. Farming in the sky is a fairly recent development in the green roof movement, in which owners have been encouraged to replace blacktop with plants, often just carpets of succulents, to cut down on storm runoff, insulate buildings and moderate urban heat. Some cities provide tax incentives to do so, and businesses are even having a go and selling their produce.

Mad Cow Disease from Fish?

Currently, farmed fish are fed cow byproducts - a food source they would never find in their natural environment, and a neurologist has warned that "We have not proven that it's possible for fish to transmit the disease to humans."

Monsanto Loses Court Case

After a protracted court battle of seven years, a small South African environmental organisation won a major legal victory against the multinational agri-chemical and seed giant Monsanto.

Pest Management Better than Poisons

Management measures that keep unwanted pests out of buildings and apartments can control cockroaches and their associated allergens better than traditional pesticide sprayings. In buildings where residents received a single integrated pest management visit, the number of cockroaches dropped by 75 percent after three months. In contrast, the number of cockroaches in the buildings receiving professional exterminator visits every three to six months increased slightly.

China Buying Up Coal Land

The largest Chinese coal mining company, Shenhua, has apparently started buying up properties in the Liverpool Plains at prices up to 300% above current land values where they plan to mine coal.

A Jellyfish World

Jellyfish explosions are linked directly to human actions, including over-fishing, the input of fertilizer and sewage into the ocean, and climate change. Once jellyfish appear en masse in an ecosystem they can make it very difficult for fish to stage a come-back. While jellyfish are edible, it is doubtful that they could serve as rich-or as diverse-a food source as marine fish.

Dead Sea Sinkholes

Underground craters surrounding the Dead Sea can burrow to the surface in an instant, sucking in whatever lies above, including humans. The holes form when a subterranean salt layer that once bordered the sea is dissolved by underground fresh water that follows the receding Dead Sea waters. The Dead Sea has shrunk by a third since the 1960s due to human intervention, and is expected to continue shrinking.

Artificial Sun on Earth

Researchers outside Oxford are creating a fusion reactor that recreates the reaction that occurs at the heart of the sun, only more intensely. Less than a gram of hydrogen is used, but it's heated to 200 million degrees C by high-energy beams that are among the most powerful and lethal heating devices on Earth. The goal is to generate more power than the world's entire oil reserves. It works in opposite to a nuclear reactor. 'This is save-the-world science. Fusion is the only serious answer to future energy demands.'

Bamboo Questioned

Because bamboo plants grow swiftly and are purported to require little fertilizer, water and pesticides, many companies now market bamboo as an environmentally friendly material. In addition to flooring and plywood, it is made into fabric-for shirts, socks, towels, even diapers. Enthusiasts can find bicycles, skateboards and laptop computer shells. But bamboo grows halfway around the world, so its journey to North American consumers has a sizable carbon footprint. And product manufacturing is not as "natural" as some of its champions claim.

Canadian Organic Newsletter

June's newsletter includes: Breeding in Public: The Re-decentralisation of Plant Breeding; Wheat Breeding for Organic Production; nematode control using pig manure; soil health assessment in organic farming systems.

Guano Prices Dropping

Prices for Nutri-Tech Solutions' Guano products are dropping by up to 35% as at 23rd June, as well as other phosphorus products such as Phos-Life and Phos-Force.

Biological Grains Wanted

A mobile pasture-grazed egg production system is about to commence in Guyra, NSW in a few months time, and they are seeking a mix of 'biologically' grown grains - principally sorghum, but also corn, barley, pulses, lupins etc. They require 350kg per week of total grain for the first 5-6 months with quantities expected to grow as the enterprise expands. If anyone has such grain for sale please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Bokhara Plains Field Day

This field day had to be cancelled because of rain (which was terrific news really!) and will now be held 8th July.

RCS are hosting a free field day at Brewarrina at Graham and Cathy Finlayson's "Bokhara Plains" - 2008 Nuffield Scholar. Topics for discussion will include: fencing and water costs and returns; grazing management in a brittle environment; pasture cropping in North West NSW; the future of the Western Division. Below is a sampling of some of the changes occurring there.

 Bokhara July 09 24/06/2009,23:26 521.06 Kb 

Liquid Inject Field Day

This information field day on row support technology will be held in Forbes 30th July. Speakers include: Michael Ayres of Forward Scout, Bart Davidson of Bionutrient Solutions and Guy Webb of GAIA Consultancy covering the idea behind row support; the connection between fertiliser inputs, phosphorus and nitrogen cycling, drought tolerance, diseases and carbon; economic benefits; spray rig set ups; foliar fertilisers; local crop trials.  Liquid Inject Field Day 09 17/06/2009,05:20 686.82 Kb

Health

Fulvic Acid for Human Health

Fulvic acid has proven to be an extremely powerful organic electrolyte, which balances cell life. This can literally bring life back to dying or disintegrating cells. Fulvic acid has a natural way of chelating heavy metals, turning them into absorbable bio-available forms that allow their removal. It rejuvenates all energy levels and libido; it has anti-aging qualities, and it has even helped many overcome depression and seemingly much more. Of course all these benefits (except perhaps libido!) also apply in agriculture.

Third World Drug Testing

Pharmaceutical companies are increasingly turning to the practice of testing their drugs on Third World populations in order to keep costs down, according to a report. The practice has raised concerns over exploitation of vulnerable populations and the accuracy of research conducted in such conditions.

Lax Biosecurity

Fort Detrick's infectious disease laboratory is an institution that has been the focus of intense scrutiny since the anthrax scare in 2001, yet an inventory of potentially deadly pathogens found more than 9,000 vials that had not been accounted for. Leaves you wondering about the security in all these establishments doesnt it?

BPA Collusions

Its been a typical David vs Goliath battle to have BPA removed from products. Public interest advocates and a handful of scientists pushing back against lobbyists and dealmakers, shady government contractors, bogus science, backroom strategy sessions. But changes are happening. Unfortunately this is only one of so so many chemicals that need the same treatment.

We are All Polluted

It seems to be a consequence of living in the 21st century. Virtually everyone alive can expect to test positive for a long list of chemicals whose implications for human health are uncertain at best, life-altering or deadly at worst.

Sweeteners Polluting Water

So much for the claims that artificial sweeteners breakdown in your body... New research shows artificial sweeteners are not removed in waste water treatment. Acesulfame, cyclamate, saccharin and sucralose have been detected. So the sweeteners are obviously passing through our bodies into our sewerage systems in tact.

ADHD Medication Causing Deaths

A new federally funded study links ADHD drugs like Ritalin to an increased risk of sudden cardiac death. The study identified 564 children and teenagers who had died suddenly for unexplained reasons, and who had no structural heart defects. The FDA is saying that the study has its limitations and should not necessarily change the way the stimulant drugs are used.

Mosquitoes to Deliver Vaccines?

A Japanese Research team is working on genetically engineering mosquitoes to deliver vaccines. Edible vaccines, as GMO foods, are in the future pipeline as well.

Unhealthy Polyunsaturated Oils

This is a short piece on the problems associated with polyunsaturated oils - it does not go into any depth, but highlights issues which you can research yourselves later. Give me saturated fats to cook with any day.

Mind Programming

You know that your thoughts create your reality, but what you do not know is the plethora of research that has been carried out simply to discover ways to control your every thought and desire. Tweaking your psyche has become big business.

Another Pesticide/Parkinsons Link

A new study confirms the link between on-the-job pesticide exposure and Parkinson's disease, and suggests that certain insecticides may be particularly risky. The association was the strongest for organochlorine insecticides. "We showed that the risk increased with the number of years or hours of exposure."

The Importance of Leptin for Health

Leptin is a hormone that controls how energy is used in the body and seems to be even more important than insulin. If a person is getting too fat, the extra fat produces more leptin which is supposed to tell the brain that there is too much fat stored, more should not be stored, and the excess should be burned. Many diseases result if the body cannot properly hear leptin's signals, e.g. heart disease, obesity, diabetes, osteoporosis, autoimmune diseases, reproductive disorders, and perhaps the rate of aging itself.What a great overview.

Manipulating Science for Profit

In 2005, Biostratum, Inc. made a mistake - they invested millions of dollars into developing a drug, only to discover that the active ingredient, pyridoxamine, was a common, naturally occurring substance that has been sold for decades at low cost. Biostratum responded by asking the U.S. FDA to declare supplements containing pyridoxamine "adulterated," and effectively ban anyone but Biostratum from selling pyridoxamine. Earlier this year the FDA agreed...

Cartoon

Miscellaneous

The Fourth Turning is a book about intergenerational change - instead of viewing history as a linear process, it views it as cycles, much like the seasons. The authors identify 4 distinct generation archetypes, based the childhood experiences of a generation. My generation is placed as Nomads, my parents as Prophets, and the new emerging generation of 20 somethings as Heros....all so eerily defined and identifiable. As the shifts of these generations move through, periods of 'turning' occur, and at the moment we are heading into the most destructive fourth turning - gosh, its all so prophetic! Check out this interview with one of the authors too (which got me hooked) - if you want the full interview contact me. But this knowledge certainly helps you understand what to expect and how to steer your way through - and it makes so much sense.

Events

The calendar is playing up, so most of the links below are directed back to other websites where possible or to a contact email address. If there are no links, look to the related article above.  

* Bokhara Plains Field Day - Brewarrina NSW 8th July 2009.

* Liquid Inject Field Day - Forbes NSW 30th July 2009. 

Postscript

I have never observed a chameleon changing colours before - it only needs to touch a colour for its skin to start transforming to that exact colour. Amazing.

Noble Prize Winning