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April 22, 2008

The North Pacific Trash Gyre

n&t.jpgMy nine-year-old freaked out yesterday when he read an email a local artist sent out about The North Pacific Trash Gyre, also known as Plastic Soup and The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, two huge masses in the Pacific Ocean made up of floating plastic. This plastic debris ranges from nurdles (factory-ready plastic the size of grains of sand that later becomes windborne) to tires, plastic bags and bottles, fishnets, etc. Thinner areas of the “Gyre” are 3-6 feet deep, while the thickest areas can reach 60 feet deep. Can you imagine 60 feet deep of plastic bits swirling around in the ocean? Too small to photograph, especially underwater (and frequently transparent), this is nevertheless a huge and disturbing problem. In the salt water, the plastic attracts oil-based carcinogens and other toxic chemicals, and fish lay their eggs in the Gyre as they do in seaweed and other floating debris. Other fish eat the eggs and the plastic they’re resting upon, and become contaminated; this contamination moves up to the top of the food chain and eventually you and I eat it. Birds also eat the fish eggs and ingest the plastic, and eventually die from rupturing organs especially when they eat things like toothbrushes and syringes.

Continue reading "The North Pacific Trash Gyre" »

November 16, 2007

Industrial hemp progress in the US?

Vote Hemp just sent out an update about the North Dakota Industrial Hemp Farming Controversy. As the email they sent out says:

(Expand the entry to read about it...)

Continue reading "Industrial hemp progress in the US?" »

October 12, 2006

Have I mentioned The Campaign lately?

I haven't? Do check them out -- it's a Grassroots Political Action campaign working toward the mandatory labeling of GMOs, the regulation of PharmCrops, and saving organic food from GMOs. There are handy-dandy Action Alerts, and you can sign up to have them emailed to you as well. Definitely worth checking out.

Another very interesting site is The New Farm, which offers "farmer-to-farmer know-how from the Rodale Institute." They have such helpful things as The New Farm Organic Price Index, which tells you how much of a surplus you could/should be charging for organic crops, forums, etc. If you're an organic farmer (or want to be, someday), this site could be very useful.

September 06, 2006

Mid-week reading: How far does your food travel?

The Green Guide has an article in their Sept/Oct issue entitled "Local or Organic? I'll take both." It's good reading, talking about the challenges of finding local, organic food, the expected impact of Walmart's entrance into the organic market, and what you yourself can do. They link to an article in the Honolulu Weekly about eating only organic, local foods in Hawaii -- much more difficult than I would have thought!

Continue reading "Mid-week reading: How far does your food travel?" »

June 16, 2006

Frankenplums?

The Organic Consumers Association has a petition to stop the commercial release of genetically engineered plums. You might want to check it out...

Oh, and they have a biweekly email (Organic Bytes) about organic issues that can be very interesting; you can subscribe here if you're interested in doing so.

May 12, 2006

Responsible Shopper

I just returned from the All Things Organic trade show and expo in Chicago, with so much I want to learn, talk, and write about. I also returned with a wicked case of food poisoning, so I'm postponing most of the above talking, learning, and writing until I feel better. Such exciting things are happening in the "organic world" these days, though, and the show was quite inspiring.

In the meanwhile, have you seen Co-Op America's new Responsible Shopper site? Its mission is:

Responsible Shopper reports on global research and campaign information in order to alert the public about the social and environmental impact of major corporations, while providing opportunities for consumers and investors to vote with their dollars for change.

We focus on companies with significant influence in their industry that are subjects of consumer and shareholder action campaigns. Getting these companies to change could lead to significant industry wide reform.

If you, like me, have trouble sometimes remembering which company is owned and by whom, who has egregious environmental practices, who keeps the sweatshops in business ... this site is for you. And remember -- if you sew your own clothes, from sustainable materials, you can be sure they're sweatshop-free!

April 07, 2006

That pesky senate of ours!

They're trying to take away states' rights to have more stringent food labelling laws than what the federal government requires. This attempt would also take away the rights of local municipalities to pass laws preventing GMOs and RGBH. You can read more here. The National Uniformity for Food Act has already passed the house; we need to keep it from passing the Senate.

Continue reading "That pesky senate of ours! " »

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