Slow Food, Slow Money and Sustainability (Video)

By Woody Tasch
Intro by globaloneness

In this complete interview, author Woody Tasch illustrates the concept of Slow Money. He describes how the current economic crisis evokes fundamental questions about the future of capitalism and provides a unique opportunity to reorganize financial markets for sustainability. He explains the simple notion that if we slow down, we can enjoy life more, and challenges us to bring this concept into financial markets.

Why natural gas companies fear Josh Fox, Gasland and the Oscars

By Sarah Laskow
Media Consortium’s Weekly Mulch

The natural gas industry is afraid that Josh Fox, director of the muckraking film Gasland, might win an Oscar on Sunday. Earlier this month, an organization called Energy in Depth, backed by the oil and gas industry, sent the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences a letter in which it argued that Gasland, Fox’s exposé on the natural gas industry, should be removed from consideration for best documentary feature because it contained inaccurate information.

After dealing with the industry for the past couple of years, Fox is not surprised by this tactic. “What this points to is the culture of that industry, which is bullying, which is aggressive, which is outlandish in their tactics, which will stop at nothing,” he told AlterNet.

The Incredible Journey of the Butterflies (52 min Video)

Intro by Top Documentary Films

Watch the full documentary now (playlist – 51 minutes). Orange-and-black wings fill the sky as NOVA charts one of nature’s most remarkable phenomena: the epic migration of monarch butterflies across North America. NOVA’s filmmakers followed monarchs on the wing throughout their extraordinary odyssey.

To capture a butterfly’s point of view, camera operators used a helicopter, ultralight, and hot-air balloon for aerial views along the butterflies’ transcontinental route. (Learn more about the production techniques and adventure of traveling with the monarchs in an interview with Director Nick de Pencier.)

Shantih Coro hosts ‘The Vegetarian Myth’ author on radio tonite

By Shantih Coro
Functional Holistic Wellness Radio

TONIGHT February 22, 2011
5 PM PST/8 PM EST

The Dangers of Modern Agriculture with author of The Vegetarian Myth, Lierre Keith

Lierre Keith was a vegan at heart for over 20 years and paid the consequences of this way of eating with her own health.  She then extensively studied agriculture and the effects on our planet.

Learn the truth about agriculture, including:

* Why we cannot live healthy long term on a purely plant-based diet
* The effect of a purely plant based diet our health
* The effect of agriculture on our health
* The dangers of agriculture for our planet and ecosystem
… and much more.

Climate Change and Agriculture

By Dr. Vandana Shiva
23 February, 2011
Climatestorytellers.org

Biodiverse Ecological Farming is the Answer, not Genetic Engineering

Industrial globalised agriculture is heavily implicated in climate change. It contributes to the three major greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide (CO2) from the use of fossil fuels, nitrogen oxide (N2O) from the use of chemical fertilizers and methane (CH4) from factory farming. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate change (IPCC), atmospheric concentration of CO2 has increased from a pre–industrial concentration of about 280 parts per million to 379 parts per million in 2005. The global atmospheric concentration of CH4 has increased from pre–industrial concentration of 715 parts per billion to 1774 parts per billion in 2005. The global atmospheric concentration of N2O, largely due to use of chemical fertilizers in agriculture, increased from about 270 parts per billion to 319 parts per billion in 2005.

Industrial agriculture is also more vulnerable to climate change which is intensifying droughts and floods. Monocultures lead to more frequent crop failure when rainfall does not come in time, or is too much or too little. Chemically fertilized soils have no capacity to withstand a drought. And cyclones and hurricanes make a food system dependent on long distance transport highly vulnerable to disruption.

Genetic engineering is embedded in an industrial model of agriculture based on fossil fuels. It is falsely being offered as a magic bullet for dealing with climate change.

Peasant agriculture can feed the world: April 17 Day of Action

By La Via Campesina

Join our Global Day of Action!

The 17th of April is a special day. People around the world celebrate the struggle of peasants and rural people to survive and continue feeding the world. This day commemorates the death of 19 farmers in Brazil, assassinated in their struggle for land and dignity.

Every year, more than a hundred actions and events take place around the world, defending a new food system based food sovereignty, justice and equality. Wherever you are, whoever you are, you are invited to join the celebration: organize an action, a mobilization, a farmer’s market, a film screening, a picture exhibition, a talk, a party, a special radio or TV program…

GM crop cultivation nosedives across Europe

By Nigerian Compass

The new annual industry- sponsored report from Friends of the Earth International revealed that cultivation of genetically modified (GM) crops across Europe continues to decline – with an increasing number of national bans, and decreasing numbers of hectares dedicated to GMOs.

The report, ‘Who Benefits from GM Crops?’ revealed that less than 0.06 per cent of European fields are planted with GM crops – a decline of 23 per cent since 2008.

According to the report, seven member states uphold bans on Monsanto’s GM maize due to growing evidence of its negative environmental impacts. Three countries have banned BASFs GM potato due to health concerns, immediately after its authorisation in spring 2010, and for the first time five member states have sued the European Commission over the authorisation of a GM crop. Public opposition to GM food and feed has increased to 61 per cent Europe wide.

Australia proposes ban on 1000s of plants including national flower

From info at Garden Freedom

Legislation being proposed in Australia would criminalize most permaculturists, farmers, gardeners, nurseries and bush regenerators by banning any plant that contains  DMT – a naturally-occurring hallucinogen.  Five plants are currently criminalized, but the new list will include hundreds (possibly thousands) of other species that are common garden plants and include a significant number of common native plants including the national flower, the wattle.  [Image: Australia's National Flower, Acacia pycnantha]

Having any of these plants could get you charged with and convicted of a federal drugs violation. The list can be found here, comprising about four pages of the 41-page document.

Beekeeping Alternatives: Top-bar Hives, Warré Hives and Natural Approaches to Honey Bees

By Sami Grover
TreeHugger

Whether it’s my post on learning top-bar hive beekeeping online, the efforts of the Barefoot Beekeeper, or the Bee Whisperer’s experiments in alternative beekeeping, there seems to be an appetite out there for information on top-bar hives and other natural beekeeping methods. And while many traditionalists will argue that there is nothing wrong with the status quo, with Colony Collapse Disorder continuing to wreak havoc on honey bees around the world, it only makes sense to keep an open mind about alternative approaches to beekeeping.

But where does the beginner start?

Former basketball pro Will Allen spreads urban farming seed

By Matthew Hoekstra
Richmond Review

Will Allen is known as a global superstar to local urban farming advocates. But the towering former pro basketball player isn’t entirely comfortable with his celebrity status.

“I was never planning to be sitting here,” he said over lunch at Terra Nova Rural Park Wednesday. “I was driving down the street, saw the for sale sign and stopped. All I wanted to do was farm.”

Allen is head of the U.S.-based Growing Power, a non-profit organization that aims to provide people with equal access to healthy, high-quality, local, affordable food. He met with organizers of Richmond Sharing Farm this week before delivering a lecture in Vancouver.

Scientists warn of link between dangerous new pathogen and Monsanto’s Roundup

Urges USDA to rescind approval of genetically engineered alfalfa: “In layman’s terms, it should be treated as an emergency.”

Late term spontaneous abortion

By Rady Ananda
Food Freedom

A plant pathologist experienced in protecting against biological warfare recently warned the USDA of a new, self-replicating, micro-fungal virus-sized organism which may be causing spontaneous abortions in livestock, sudden death syndrome in Monsanto’s Roundup Ready soy, and wilt in Monsanto’s RR corn.

Dr. Don M. Huber, who coordinates the Emergent Diseases and Pathogens committee of the American Phytopathological Society, as part of the USDA National Plant Disease Recovery System, warned Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack that this pathogen threatens the US food and feed supply and can lead to the collapse of the US corn and soy export markets.  Likewise, deregulation of GE alfalfa “could be a calamity,” he noted in his letter (reproduced in full below).

Bringing nutrient dense organic food to schools – within budget

By Rady Ananda
Food Freedom

When your food is good, so is your physical and mental health, and for kids especially, behavior improves.  It took a whole community – parents, educators, food justice advocates, cooks, policymakers, and helpful citizens – more than a decade to change the way children access healthy and nutritious meals in the Berkeley, California schools. This, according to the Lunch Love Community Documentary Project, which uses a mosaic of “webisodes” made specifically to be watched, shared and spread online. These short videos are part of a public engagement campaign that will culminate in a full length documentary, to be released this year.

Jackie Zabel of CitizenFilm.org told Food Freedom, “These short films are a riveting campaign, focusing on the importance of feeding our children nutritional food and the nationwide movement that began with the Berkeley school lunch program.”

Here are two of the short videos: The Parent Factor and The Whole World in a Small Seed:

Best Vegetables to Grow in the Shade

By Colleen Vanderlinden
Mother Earth News

For success growing in the shade, remove low-hanging branches from nearby trees, use raised beds and liners to discourage tree roots from wicking water away from crops, and use reflective mulches to give plants more light.

For many gardeners, the optimum conditions most vegetables prefer — eight to 10 hours of full sun — just aren’t possible. Whether it’s from trees or shadows from nearby buildings, shade is commonly a fact of gardening life. Luckily, shade doesn’t have to prohibit gardeners from growing their own food. If you start with the most shade-tolerant crops, take extra care to provide fertile soil and ample water, and consider using a reflective plastic mulch, you can establish a productive shade garden and harvest a respectable variety of veggies.

Mexico goes back to the land

By Gustavo Esteva
UK Guardian

A peasant holds corn cobs during a demonstration in Mexico City against prices rising Photograph: Luis Acosta/AFP/Getty Images

This is grim news: food prices are reaching record levels worldwide. The thousands of farmers who have killed themselves over the past decade seem to have no precedent. According to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation’s director, the goal to reduce the number of hungry people by half will only be achieved in 2050.

Top 10 reasons to consume cod liver oil

By Shantih Coro
Functional Holistic Wellness

From the Arctic to ancient Rome, from the South Seas to Scandinavia, fermented cod liver oil was a sacred food considered essential for optimal health and strength.

So what is the deal? Why is it so important to consume fermented cod liver oil?

Sally Fallon on Functional Holistic Wellness Radio, Tuesday 8pm ET

FHW Radio host Shantih Coro interviews Sally Fallon of Weston Price Foundation February 15, 2011, 5 PM PST/8 PM EST.

Live Via Internet FHW Radio
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/fhwellness
Live Via Phone (646) 915-8056
FREE Podcast iTunes
FREE on your Mobile Phone

Mexico freeze kills 80-100 pct of crops; US food prices to soar

Devastating freeze in Mexico is worst freeze in over 50 years

By Sysco Corporation
Feb. 8, 2011

All of our growers have invoked the act of god clause on our contracts (force majuere) due to the following release:

The extreme freezing temperatures hit a very broad section of major growing regions in Mexico, from Hermosillo in the north all the way south to Los Mochis and even south of Culiacan. The early reports are still coming in but most are showing losses of crops in the range of 80 to 100%.

Canada defeats GMO hazard legislation

By Rady Ananda

By a vote of 178 to 98, on February 9th, Canada’s House of Commons defeated Bill C-474, an Act that would have required an analysis of potential harm to export markets before permitting the commercialization of any new genetically engineered seed. Organic farmers now fear the collapse of the wheat and alfalfa markets, since Canada’s export markets reject biotech food.

Jack Layton, MP (Toronto-Danforth) and leader of Canada’s New Democrats, expressed his disappointment in an email promising to “continue to take every opportunity to pressure the government to initiate a public debate around genetic engineering and to use a precautionary approach to this important issue.”

Food Chain Radio: The GMO Alfalfa Debacle

By Michael Olson
Food Chain Radio

This Saturday at 9am Pacific, Michael Olson’s Food Chain Radio hosts Mark Kastel of the Cornucopia Institute, for a conversation about GE alfalfa. Monsanto declined to participate. (Food Chain Radio #714)

The Obama administration has approved the release of genetically-engineered alfalfa, which, the Monsanto Corporation says, will allow farmers to grow more crops. And, as the expression goes, that ain’t hay!

But the release of GE alfalfa raises some very interesting questions for those who want to know What will become of organic meat and dairy foods?

Rethinking Water: Greywater Guerillas Workshop (Video)

Bibi Farber
Next World TV

A group of people are on their way by bus to an underground meeting to learn how to do something that is illegal in parts of the country.  And what would that be? They are going to a workshop to learn how to install clandestine greywater systems in their yards!

The video shows the steps to reconfigure your plumbing to be able to use your greywater for growing food — how to filter it through mulch and safely reuse it on plants — instead of draining it all away.