GM Moratoria's Lifting

Mmmm, how interesting? It looks like Victoria and NSW will lift their moratoria's on GM Canola - politics, power and money claim their victory. I was very unimpressed with this roll call of supposed facts, with this press release even more ridiculous. Apparently the Victorian premier is facing a backlash from his Labor caucus over the GM issue though.

In the meantime they still need to determine how to segregate the seeds, so a committee will be established to tackle the issue prior to passing the legislation in NSW. No matter how this plays out, the segregation issue will put an enormous onus on organic and non-GM growers - which flies in the face of so-called 'choice'.

Tinkering on the Edges

This is a fabulous essay by Stuart B Hill (University of Western Sydney) outlining the difference between short-term problem fixing of natural systems and long-term holistic systems approaches to nature. The quote: Clever people know how to solve problems, wise people avoid them (attributed to Einstein) says it all...and aren't we living in such a 'clever' society? Deep Organics 04/12/2007,09:26 27.68 Kb

Ethanol Production

While Australia races to open its first commercial ethanol refinery, America is starting to seriously question the merit of its ethanol production. In the span of one growing season, ethanol has gone from panacea to pariah in the eyes of some and they blame ethanol for pushing up food prices, question its environmental bona fides and dispute how much it really helps reduce the need for oil.

Difficulties in Studying Organic

This is a well balanced report on how difficult it is to study the merits of organic produce. It raises many of the problems of making comparisons between any produce, let alone organic vs conventional. For example, nutritional content changes according to variety, time of picking, growing conditions, post-harvest treatments and processing etc. A good thought-provoking article.

Nanotechnology

I have been watching the emerging debate on nanotechnology for some time and thought it timely to introduce it to the newsletter as the debate begins to hot up as outlined in this article. Nanotechnology looks set to contribute to agriculture as well - I'll keep you posted on those developments. Personally I have not quite formed an opinion either way, though I still come back to the idea that nature provides everything anyway, so why go down this path? Interestingly the companies involved seem to be nervous about a consumer backlash, much like GM crops I suspect, and while nanotechnology is already in many products - it remains unlabeled of course!

Geothermal Energy

Tapping into steam from below ground has been used extensively in Iceland over the last 3 decades with great success - it now appears that the idea is being exported to other countries. It can certainly be considered a clean energy source.

Labeling

While this relates to events in Pennsylvania US, the argument that labeling only confuses consumers, therefore is unnecessary, is interesting as I suspect it is the same argument used globally for all sorts of 'artificial' inputs, including GM. Where is the proof that all consumers are confused anyway?? Not coincidently, some suppliers have stopped using certain ingredients because of consumer protest via labeling - which obviously provides strong incentive for companies to get legislation against future labeling...but is it in the consumer's best interest?

Things that Don't Make Sense

Scientists have identified 13 things that just don't make sense (to them...) despite the data to support their existence. The list includes homeopathy, and interestingly for me, carbon-14 containing methane without evidence of organic life....something that Thomas Gold theorises on in his Deep Hot Biosphere that challenges the organic origins of hydrocarbons on earth.

Farm Day 2008

When I first read about this idea I loved it, and it has been very successful to date apparently. Farm Day is when a farm family hosts a city family for a day for a real hands-on experience and a greater understanding of the day-to-day life of the farming family and it will be held on either the 24th or 25th of May 2008.

Stone Age Farming Workshop

Alanna Moore has a number of events coming up that explores energy dowsing, particularly as it relates to farming and gardening. These events are lots of fun where even the lay person discovers some of the mysteries of the world, including uses for paramagnetic rock dust. See events below for more details.

Sofenica - Part 20

When confused about what modern appliance I need, I often revert back to musing about how people survived without them in the first place. Refrigeration is obviously a relatively new invention and most fruit and vegetables were stored in 'cool' places for relatively long periods of time in the past. When considered, most of my fridge space is filled with fruit and vegetables and products preserved in glass jars...so I started hunting down information on the 'old' ways of storing.

It became clear that the best form of storage was in a cool place with good airflow, and perhaps with the produce 'nested' on beds of straw which allowed good airflow but could also be cleaned out regularly. And so the idea of a cool cupboard started to form.

If I could create a cool cupboard that allowed good airflow around and between all my fruit, vegetables and preserves, then only a small fridge and/or freezer would be necessary for those remaining goods that needed to be very cold - like dairy products and frozen goods.

Health

Epigenics

This topic is certainly starting to come to the fore. Epigenics refers to any process that alters the gene activity in a strand of DNA without changing the genes themselves. And it means DNA can no longer be thought of as a biological inheritance passed from parent to child. Given that so so much is still unknown, it makes the 'facts' of GM technology rather interesting as it continues to promote the old paradigm of one gene = one trait. Epigentics is also leading scientists to find links between diet and disease.

Vaccines and Schizophrenia

And right on the heels of epigenic research is this tantalising connection between schizophrenia in children who's mothers had flu at a critical time in their pregnancy. But what is even more tantalising is the idea that the immune response triggered by the flu vaccine seems to contributes to the same effect - thereby putting more pregnant women at risk, especially when the authorities recommend that all pregnant women should vaccinate against flu, compared to the lower number of women who would otherwise experience the flu without the vaccine.

Malnutrition

It is estimated that one in four adults are at risk of malnutrition in the EU - and interestingly malnutrition here is defined as an imbalance of minerals - both in excess and deficit, but even more interestingly is that it is is being linked to disease and poor quality of life. Of course the food industry can see the profits of this idea through the supply of supplements - which is a shame. Surely the problem lies in the consumption of nutrient depleted processed foods and the lack of 'real' food in people's diets, not the lack of supplements.

Following on from this is the call to enlist the food industry to help fight AIDS, with the comment: that 'food as medicine' ought to be common sense, but sadly, at the policy level, it has played second fiddle to pharmaceuticals. Lets hope this message starts to spread to 3rd World Countries where the campaign for cheap drugs is converted into healthy 'real' food for disease control instead (please, not manipulated food though)! As stated in this article: anti retroviral drugs used without also funding food and nutrition, is like paying a fortune to fix a car without paying for the petrol needed to run it.

Government Involvement in Health Care

This short history states that from 1776 to 1914, the US government played no role in civilian medicine. In 1914, the first antinarcotic legislation was enacted. Then came the avalanche of funding and regulations, much like in Australia. An interesting read.

New Artificial Sweetner to Hit Markt

Although they claim it is 'natural', the 'production breakthrough' is a give away that a natural ingredient has no doubt been manipulated into a chemical aberration in a laboratory. It will be cleverly marketed as Cweet. Beware!

Miscellaneous

It is amazing to see how the Ron Paul campaign is traveling in America - despite the odds against him, his supporters are quite remarkable in their dedication. On top of that the whole campaign is remarkably open and transparent. He has even made the front page of the New York Times after raising $4million in one day.

Events

For all December events

For all January events

* Divining Earth Spirit - Pambula NSW 22nd December 2007.

* Stone Age Farming - Wagga Wagga NSW 29th December 2007.

* Divining Earth Spirit - Thora NSW 12th April 2008.

* Divining Earth Spirit - Armidale NSW 13th April 2008.

* Farm Day 2008 - Australia 24th & 25th May 2008.

Postscript

Four Reasons Not to Mess with Children

1. A little girl was talking to her teacher about whales.

The teacher said it was physically impossible for a while to swallow a human because even though it was a very large mammal, its throat was very small.

The little girl stated that Jonah was swallowed by a whale.

Irritated, the teacher reiterated that a whale could not swallow a human; it was physically impossible.

The little girl said, 'When I get to heaven I will ask Jonah.'

The teacher asked, 'What if Jonah went to hell?'

The little girl replied, 'The you ask him.'

2. The girl replied, ' I'm drawing God.'

The teacher paused and said, 'But no one knows what God looks like.'

Without missing a beat, or looking up from her drawing, the girl replied, 'They will in a minute.'

3. The children had all be photographed, and the teacher was trying to persuade them each to buy a copy of the group picture.

'Just think how nice it will be to look at it when you are all grown up and say, 'There's Jennifer; she's a lawyer,' or 'That's Michael; he's a doctor.'

A small voice at the back of the room rang out,' And there's the teacher; she's dead,'

4. The children where lined up in the cafeteria of a Catholic elementary school for lunch. At the head of the table was a large pile of apples. The nun made a note, and posted on the apple tray:

'Take only ONE. God is watching.'

Moving further along the lunch line, at the other end of the table was a large pile of chocolate chip cookies.