The Low Density Lifestyle Out at Sea, Part 3

Today is the final part of the 3-part interview with Andrea and Karl Matson-Dekay, intrepid sailors, having lived on their sailboat for the past 5 years with their two boys.

It’s a great tale they tell, of a simple life and a good life, living in a sustainable way, and a Low Density Lifestyle way. They’re happy, healthy, and doing it their own way.

As a postscript, Andrea and Karl, as of this writing, are back at sea, sailing their way to the U.S. where they will be staying in Southern CA for the next few months as they ready themselves for their next adventure. After their short U.S. hiatus, they will be heading to Costa Rica, where they will be living with their two boys for the next year.

I’ll be visiting with them in the future, so you’ll get to hear more from our intrepid travelers – and foreign correspondents.

I hope you’ve enjoyed all segments. In case you missed it, here are the links to the other two parts:
The Low Density Lifestyle Out at Sea, Part 1
The Low Density Lifestyle Out at Sea, Part 2

This closes the series on sustainable/green living.

Before I close, I want to tell you that I have very sad news to impart to you.  If you recall, a couple of weeks ago I was talking about the Monsanto corporation and how important it was that we show our love to them, with the article Don’t You Just Love Monsanto?

In a separate article, I discussed Monsanto’s Roundup product, and talked about how it was creating a new generation of superweeds.

Well, the sad news is that sales of Roundup are down, and it’s hurting Monsanto’s bottom line. They announced the other day that their fiscal third quarter net income is down 45%.

So grab that box of tissues and wipe the tears away from your eyes. We can only hope the makers of DDT, Agent Orange, Nutrasweet, genetically modified seeds, bovine growth hormone, PCBs, and all kinds of other really cool stuff will come up with some new product that will increase their profits while once again improving our way of life.

I propose that all of you go out now and buy some Roundup, as a way to show your support to this beleaguered company.

Furthermore, I also propose that this summer a benefit concert be held, in the style of Farm Aid, to also help out Monsanto. After all, they have done so much for America’s farmers. I’m going to be contacting Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp, the originators of Farm Aid, and see if they would be willing to get involved for this worthy cause.

Roundup Those Genetically Modified Organisms

In the last two articles, I told you about a little homespun mom and pop operation called Monsanto. I asked if you could feel the love in your heart for them, with the article Don’t You Just Love Monsanto?, and then I gave you A Brief History of Monsanto.

One of the things that Monsanto is known for is their genetically engineered seeds, also known as genetically modified organisms, or GMOs.

Critics call the crops that grow from these GMOs “Frankenfoods,” because of the fact that they are half-biologically real, and half-monster.

One of the main reasons Monsanto has created GMOs is to be able to sell the herbicide Roundup; the crops that sprout from genetically engineered seeds are called “Roundup Ready.”

Roundup is the herbicide for the new millennia. The crops are genetically modified to withstand being sprayed by Roundup, so what happens is Roundup kills all the weeds in the field, but the GMOs stay intact and grow unfettered.

Yippee!! Let’s have three cheers for Monsanto. Thanks to them farmers can feed the world!

Or so they think.

You see, it’s the same thing with the problem with antibiotics. Over the years, superbugs have developed – antibiotic-resistant germs, which have immunity to antibiotics.

And in the fields of farmers, there are now superweeds – Roundup resistant weeds, with immunity to the herbicide.

Does that mean the next step is to have genetically modified weeds?

Horseweed, ragweed and pigweed are just a few of these superweeds. Pigweed can grow three inches a day and reach seven feet or more, choking out crops; it is so sturdy that it can damage harvesting equipment.

Because Monsanto has aggresively marketed their GMOs and Roundup herbicide as the second coming, farmers have sprayed so much Roundup that weeds have quickly evolved to survive it.

That has led Mike Owen, a weed scientist at Iowa State University to say, “What we’re talking about here is Darwinian evolution in fast-forward.”

(Brief aside here: a weed scientist? I didn’t know there was such a thing. I would have thought a weed scientist was someone who specialized in different aspects of hemp.)

Monsanto has things under control, so don’t worry. “It’s a serious issue, but it’s manageable,” said Rick Cole, who manages weed resistance issues in the United States for the company.

Of course, Monsanto stands to lose a lot of business if farmers use less Roundup and Roundup Ready seeds, so what can they be expected to say?

The truth is, a lot of farmers are pissed, and are feeling like they’ve been sold a bill of goods. They now have to use more herbicides, not less, which was the promise of Roundup and GMOs.

As Steve Doster, a corn and soybean farmer in Barnum, Iowa said, “You’re having to add another product with the Roundup to kill your weeds. So then why are we buying the Roundup Ready product?”

One of the promises of Monsanto and the biotechnology agricultural revolution was that GMOs and the use of Roundup was better for the environment.

But with the growth of superweeds, critics of genetically engineered crops say that the use of extra herbicides, which have to be used to deal with the new generation of “Frankenweeds,” include ones that are less environmentally tolerable and far more toxic than Roundup.

“The biotech industry is taking us into a more pesticide-dependent agriculture when they’ve always promised, and we need to be going in, the opposite direction,” said Bill Freese, a science policy analyst for the Center for Food Safety in Washington.

Organics anyone?

Farm experts say the superweeds and the efforts to eradicate them could lead to higher food prices, lower crop yields, rising farm costs and more pollution of land and water.

“It is the single largest threat to production agriculture that we have ever seen,” said Andrew Wargo III, the president of the Arkansas Association of Conservation Districts.

Georgia has been one of the states hit hardest by Roundup-resistant pigweed, and the superweed could pose as big a threat to cotton farming in the South as the beetle that devastated the industry in the early 20th century.

“If we don’t whip this thing, it’s going to be like the boll weevil did to cotton,” said Louie Perry, Jr. a cotton grower in Georgia who is also chairman of the Georgia Cotton Commission. “It will take it away.”

There’s a couple of videos on this page. At the top of the page is a rap song called “Monsanto,” from rap artist Roy Shivers. Listen carefully to the words – it tells the story.

Below are two videos. The first is “Everything You Have to Know About Dangerous Genetically Modified Foods,” with Jeffrey Smith, author of Seeds of Deception and Genetic Roulette.

The second video below is a Roundup commercial from Australian TV. Isn’t that Roundup character just so cute and lovable?

A Brief History of Monsanto

In yesterday’s article, Don’t You Just Love Monsanto?, I told you all the wondrous things about the Monsanto corporation and how they were making the world such a better place.

You may have noticed that my tongue was firmly planted in my cheek in writing that article. The truth is I don’t think very highly of Monsanto. And I don’t believe any right-thinking person does either.

And that’s because they have done a lot to make this world a worse place.

But who is this Monsanto corporation? Where did they come from? Today, I give you a brief history of Monsanto.

Monsanto, based out of Creve Coeur, Missouri, is a multinational agricultural biotechnology corporation. It is the world’s leading producer of the herbicide glyphosate, marketed as “Roundup.” Monsanto is also the leading producer of genetically engineered (GE) seed; it sells 90% of the U.S.’s GE seeds.

The reason Monsanto is not a well-loved company – and that’s putting it politely – is because of their development and marketing of genetically engineered seed and bovine growth hormone, as well as its aggressive litigation and political lobbying practices.

Plus in the past, they have created some of the most toxic substances known to the world.

Monsanto was founded in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1901, by John Francis Queeny, a 30-year veteran of the pharmaceutical industry. He funded the start-up with his own money and capital from a soft drink distributor, and gave the company his wife’s maiden name.

The company’s first product was the artificial sweetener saccharin, which it sold to the Coca-Cola Company.

Over the next few decades, Monsanto produced various chemical products, which cemented its place as one of the top chemical companies in the U.S.

Th 1940’s were a fertile decade for this growing company. Major products developed in this decade were the herbicides 2,4,5-T; DDT; and Agent Orange (used primarily during the Vietnam War as a defoliant agent and later proven to be highly carcinogenic to any who come into contact with the solution); the artificial sweetener aspartame (NutraSweet); bovine somatotropin (bovine growth hormone (BST), and PCBs.

Also in this decade, Monsanto operated the Dayton Project, and later Mound Laboratories in Miamisburg, Ohio, for the Manhattan Project, the development of the first nuclear weapons and, after 1947, the Atomic Energy Commission.

In 1982, Monsanto scientists became the first to genetically modify a plant cell. Five years later, Monsanto conducted the first field tests of genetically engineered crops. This development allowed Monsanto, by the late 1990’s, to make a transition from chemical giant to biotech giant.

By this time, Monsanto had gotten patents for their genetically engineered seeds, which then allowed them to swing into high gear.

Thanks to their genetically modified seeds, also known as GMOs, or genetically modified organisms, Monsanto has become the largest producer of glyphosate herbicides through its popular brand, Roundup.

One of the reasons Monsanto’s seed products are genetically modified is to make them immune to Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide. Yet, this new herbicide has been shown to cause liver and kidney toxicity.

In response to questions about the genetically modified organisms they are producing, Monsanto has said, “Monsanto should not have to vouchsafe the safety of biotech food. Our interest is in selling as much of it as possible. Assuring its safety is the FDA’s job.”

The problem with that statement is that Monsanto has a very cozy relationship with the FDA.

And then there are the lawsuits against farmers. Monsanto has filed lawsuits against many farmers in Canada and the U.S. on the grounds of patent infringement, specifically the farmers’ sale of seed containing Monsanto’s patented genes.

In many of the cases, the seeds the farmer have sold were unknowingly sown by wind carrying genetically modified seeds from neighboring farms.

But Monsanto has shown no compassion towards these farmers who they say have broken the law, and they have put many farmers out of business.

Monsanto also has patent claims on breeding techniques for pigs which would grant them ownership of any pigs born of such techniques and their related herds. Greenpeace claims Monsanto is trying to claim ownership on ordinary breeding techniques.

Monsanto claims that the patent is a defensive measure to track animals from its system. They furthermore claim their patented method uses a specialized insemination device that requires less sperm than is typically needed.

So if they get the patent, you will hear of many lawsuits against pig farmers/breeders for patent infringement.

And then there’s Monsanto’s environmental track record. Monsanto has been identified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as being a “potentially responsible party” for 56 contaminated sites (Superfund sites) in the United States. Monsanto has been sued, and has settled, multiple times for damaging the health of its employees or residents near its Superfund sites through pollution and poisoning.

And how about Monsanto’s bovine growth hormone, which is another technological advance in the quest to have a completely bioengineered food supply – which some have called “Frankenfoods.”

Bovine somatotropin, abbreviated as rBST and commonly known as rBGH, is technically a recombinant bovine growth hormone. It is a synthetic hormone that is injected into cows to increase milk production.

Bovine growth hormone has been found to produce adverse effects, behaving as a cancer accelerator; this biologically active hormone is associated with breast cancer, prostate cancer, lung cancer and colon cancer.

But that hasn’t stopped Monsanto from pushing forward their agenda with it, just like they push forward their agenda with everything else they produce.

They have even have had the unmitigated gall to sue dairies for advertising that its milk products did not come from cows treated with bovine growth hormone. Monsanto’s claim was that such advertising hurt its business.

At the top of the page is a video that tells about a collaboration between Monsanto and Fox news to squash a report that two Fox news investigative reporters did on bovine growth hormone. The reporters stated that most of the U.S. milk supply is tainted with the growth hormone, and that there were very specific health risks.

The Fox news reporters showed the insidious connections Monsanto has with government regulators, which allow Monsanto to get its way. But because the report hit so close to home, Monsanto was able to get it suppressed.

Monsanto is a true High Density Lifestyle corporation. They only think of their needs at the expense of what is good for the general public. And it doesn’t matter who gets in the way of Monsanto’s insatiable quest for bigger and higher profits.

Consider yourself forewarned…

Don’t You Just Love Monsanto?

The Monsanto Food Corporation – don’t you just love Monsanto!

I mean, check out the above video – they are helping farmers to feed the world! Who doesn’t want to feed the world? Who doesn’t love farmers?

Really – it’s Monsanto to the rescue!

What? Are you saying something? Are you saying Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) – which is Monsanto’s handiwork – don’t produce more food, and aren’t proven safe, and Monsanto gets to patent seeds and already has infected most food staples (nearly 100% of corn, wheat, soy is GMO!), and sue farmers and push traditional farmers to bankruptcy and mass suicide?

Oh, c’mon, get with the program – don’t you just love Monsanto?

I mean, here is their mission statement, from their website:

Monsanto is an agricultural company. We apply innovation and technology to help farmers around the world produce more while conserving more. We help farmers grow yield sustainably so they can be successful, produce healthier foods, better animal feeds and more fiber, while also reducing agriculture’s impact on our environment.

Furthermore, on their website, Monsanto has a pledge. This is what they pledge:

Integrity

Integrity is the foundation for all that we do. Integrity includes honesty, decency, consistency, and courage. Building on those values, we are committed to:

Dialogue

We will listen carefully to diverse points of view and engage in thoughtful dialogue. We will broaden our understanding of issues in order to better address the needs and concerns of society and each other.

Transparency

We will ensure that information is available, accessible, and understandable.

Sharing

We will share knowledge and technology to advance scientific understanding, to improve agriculture and the environment, to improve crops, and to help farmers in developing countries.

Benefits

We will use sound and innovative science and thoughtful and effective stewardship to deliver high-quality products that are beneficial to our customers and to the environment.

Respect

We will respect the religious, cultural, and ethical concerns of people throughout the world. The safety of our employees, the communities where we operate, our customers, consumers, and the environment will be our highest priority.

Act as Owners
to Achieve Results

We will create clarity of direction, roles, and accountability; build strong relationships with our customers and external partners; make wise decisions; steward our company resources; and take responsibility for achieving agreed-upon results.

Create a Great
Place to Work

We will ensure diversity of people and thought; foster innovation, creativity and learning; practice inclusive teamwork; and reward and recognize our people.

I mean, what an enlightened philosophy. What a beautiful philosophy. C’mon, repeat after me, Don’t You Just Love Monsanto?

What, you got a problem with that? This is a company that has produced saccharine, aspartame, Agent Orange, bovine growth hormone, PCB’s, DDT, and genetically engineered seeds.

I mean, c’mon, they’ve produced some of the finest things ever. And I mean ever.

Ok, so they sue farmers who aren’t happy with genetically modified seeds. But let’s get real – those farmers getting sued are pesky and aren’t with the program. They obviously don’t know how to show the love for Monsanto.

And what Monsanto is saying is, if you’re not going to show us the love, we’re going to sue you.

So, listen to me: let’s show Monsanto the love. Or else, they might show sue you or me.

Below are two videos: the first is a short factual piece about Monsanto’s bovine growth hormone and their efforts to not allow milk without bovine growth hormone in it labeled as such.

The second video is the trailer from the film Food, Inc. Although Food, Inc. is not just about Monsanto (although the film does go into Monsanto’s dark side), it is a film about the American food supply, and how we have lost touch with where our food comes from.

Which is precisely what Monsanto wants.

Not Everyone is Happy with the White House Garden

In yesterday’s article, I told you about the White House organic garden in detail. I showed you the plans for the garden, and highlighted 10 vegetables and 8 herbs that will be grown in the garden.

The plan for the garden is to educate children and the general public about the merits of healthy eating, and to be able to feed the residents and guests of the White House with locally grown food.

It’s such a great thing, and whatever your political thinking, it’s hard to find fault with creating an organic garden at the White House. As I showed you in the other day’s article, the White House has a longstanding tradition of growing vegetables.

But there is a group that has gotten their knickers in a twit over the White House garden. It is a group that needs to learn some stress management techniques and also how to manage stress, because they are too deeply immersed in a High Density Lifestyle, and it is causing them to have tunnel vision.

The group that is foaming at the mouth about the garden is called MACA, which stands for Mid America CropLife Association. MACA is made up of former executives from Dow AgroSciences, Monsanto and DuPont Crop Protection.

In case you’re not aware of whom these companies are, they are deeply entrenched in agribusiness and manufacture pesticides and fertilizers, and also are involved with bioengineering as it applies to farming.

Because MACA feels threatened about all the good publicity organic gardening and farming is getting of late, they decided they needed to retaliate and sent an email to Michelle Obama. They also then forwarded the email to many others. In their letter they made the case for chemical farming and urged Michelle Obama not to solely rely on organic methods to grow the White House garden.

They really need to take a deep breath and learn some stress management techniques so that they can manage stress better. It is really unfortunate when groups like this that are so embedded in a High Density Lifestyle can’t see beyond their own self-interests.

Accompanying the email that MACA forwarded to others was an introductory message. This is what it said:

Did you hear the news? The White House is planning to have an “organic” garden on the grounds to provide fresh fruits and vegetables for the Obama’s and their guests. While a garden is a great idea, the thought of it being organic made Janet Braun, CropLife Ambassador Coordinator and I shudder. As a result, we sent a letter encouraging them to consider using crop protection products and to recognize the importance of agriculture to the entire U.S. economy. Read below for the entire letter.

And here is the entire email letter they sent to Michelle Obama and then forwarded around:

March 26, 2009

Mrs. Barack Obama
The White House
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mrs. Obama,

We are writing regarding the garden recently added to the White House grounds to ensure a fresh supply of fruits and vegetables to your family, guests and staff. Congratulations on recognizing the importance of agriculture in America! The U.S. has the safest and most abundant food supply in the world thanks to the 3 million people who farm or ranch in the United States.

The CropLife Ambassador Network, a program of the Mid America CropLife Association, consists of over 160 ambassadors who work and many of whom grew up in agriculture. Their mission is to provide scientifically based, accurate information to the public regarding the safety and value of American agricultural food production. Many people, especially children, don’t realize the extent to which their daily lives depend on America’s agricultural industry. For instance, children are unaware the jeans they put on in the morning, the three meals eaten daily, the baseball with which they play and even the biofuels that power the school bus are available because of America’s farmers and ranchers.

Agriculture is the largest industry in America generating 20% of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product. Individuals, family partnerships or family corporations operate almost 99% of U.S. farms. Over 22 million people are employed in farm-related jobs, including production agriculture, farm inputs, processing and marketing and sales. Through research and changes in production practices, today’s food producers are providing Americans with the widest variety of foods ever.

Starting in the early 1900’s, technology advances have allowed farmers to continually produce more food on less land while using less human labor. Over time, Americans were able to leave the time-consuming demands of farming to pursue new interests and develop new abilities. Today, an average farmer produces enough food to feed 144 Americans who are living longer lives than many of their ancestors. Technology in agriculture has allowed for the development of much of what we know and use in our lives today. If Americans were still required to farm to support their family’s basic food and fiber needs, would the U.S. have been leaders in the advancement of science, communication, education, medicine, transportation and the arts?

We live in a very different world than that of our grandparents. Americans are juggling jobs with the needs of children and aging parents. The time needed to tend a garden is not there for the majority of our citizens, certainly not a garden of sufficient productivity to supply much of a family’s year-round food needs.

Much of the food considered not wholesome or tasty is the result of how it is stored or prepared rather than how it is grown. Fresh foods grown conventionally are wholesome and flavorful yet more economical. Local and conventional farming is not mutually exclusive. However, a Midwest mother whose child loves strawberries, a good source of Vitamin C, appreciates the ability to offer California strawberries in March a few months before the official Mid-west season.

Farmers and ranchers are the first environmentalists, maintaining and improving the soil and natural resources to pass onto future generations. Technology allows for farmers to meet the increasing demand for food and fiber in a sustainable manner.

* Farmers use reduced tillage practices on more than 72 million acres to prevent erosion.
* Farmers maintain over 1.3 million acres of grass waterways, allowing water to flow naturally from crops without eroding soil.
* Contour farming keeps soil from washing away. About 26 million acres in the U.S. are managed this way.
* Agricultural land provides habitat for 75% of the nation’s wildlife.
* Precision farming boosts crop yields and reduces waste by using satellite maps and computers to match seed, fertilizer and crop protection applications to local soil conditions.
* Sophisticated Global Positioning Systems can be specifically designed for spraying pesticides. A weed detector equipped with infrared light identifies specific plants by the different rates of light they reflect and then sends a signal to a pump to spray a preset amount of herbicide onto the weed.
* Biogenetics allows a particular trait to be implanted directly into the seed to protect the seed against certain pests.
* Farmers are utilizing 4-wheel drive tractors with up to 300 horsepower requiring fewer passes across fields-saving energy and time.
* Huge combines are speeding the time it takes to harvest crops.
* With modern methods, 1 acre of land in the U.S. can produce 42,000 lbs. of strawberries, 110,000 heads of lettuce, 25,400 lbs. of potatoes, 8,900 lbs. of sweet corn, or 640 lbs of cotton lint.

As you go about planning and planting the White House garden, we respectfully encourage you to recognize the role conventional agriculture plays in the U.S in feeding the ever-increasing population, contributing to the U.S. economy and providing a safe and economical food supply. America’s farmers understand crop protection technologies are supported by sound scientific research and innovation.

The CropLife Ambassador Network offers educational programs for elementary school educators at http://ambassador.maca.org covering the science behind crop protection products and their contribution to sustainable agriculture. You may find our programs America’s Abundance, Farmers Stewards of the Land and War of the Weeds of particular interest. We thank you for recognizing the importance and value of America’s current agricultural technologies in feeding our country and contributing to the U.S economy.

Please feel free to contact us with any questions.

Sincerely,

Bonnie McCarvel, Executive Director
Janet Braun, Program Coordinator
Mid America CropLife Association
11327 Gravois Rd., #201
St. Louis, MO 63126

Nice job, MACA. They really know how to keep people living the High Density Lifestyle. If you’re a Star Wars fan, you would file this under The Empire Strikes Back (is that Darth Vader I see in the horizon, getting ready to land his ship on the White House lawn?)

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