Review of 'Surviving Ourselves' by Eric Herm
By Ed Conroy
He clearly aims to inspire young people to join him as farmers, to re-populate rural America with new families in sustainable farming operations and new small communities - despite all the forces of mega-agribusiness and federal policies that have long told farmers to, in effect, "get big or get out."
While still passionately critical of worldwide commercial agriculture's increasing reliance on genetically modified organisms and glyphosate-based pesticides such as Roundup, Herm returns to his strengths as a former journalist to tell the stories of organic farmers and programs for educating a new generation of farmers who are succeeding in their work.
Showing posts with label American. Show all posts
Showing posts with label American. Show all posts
Tuesday, 18 September 2012
Thursday, 15 December 2011
The Greatest Water Crisis in the History of Civilization: Coming to the American West?
By William deBuys
Consider it a taste of the future: the fire, smoke, drought, dust, and heat that have made life unpleasant, if not dangerous, from Louisiana to Los Angeles. New records tell the tale: biggest wildfire ever recorded in Arizona (538,049 acres), biggest fire ever in New Mexico (156,600 acres), all-time worst fire year in Texas history (3,697,000 acres).
The fires were a function of drought. As of summer's end, 2011 was the driest year in 117 years of record keeping for New Mexico, Texas, and Louisiana, and the second driest for Oklahoma. Those fires also resulted from record heat. It was the hottest summer ever recorded for New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana, as well as the hottest August ever for those states, plus Arizona and Colorado.
Virtually every city in the region experienced unprecedented temperatures, with Phoenix, as usual, leading the march toward unlivability. This past summer, the so-called Valley of the Sun set a new record of 33 days when the mercury reached a shoe-melting 110º F or higher. (The previous record of 32 days was set in 2007.)
And here's the bad news in a nutshell: if you live in the Southwest or just about anywhere in the American West, you or your children and grandchildren could soon enough be facing the Age of Thirst, which may also prove to be the greatest water crisis in the history of civilization. No kidding.
Consider it a taste of the future: the fire, smoke, drought, dust, and heat that have made life unpleasant, if not dangerous, from Louisiana to Los Angeles. New records tell the tale: biggest wildfire ever recorded in Arizona (538,049 acres), biggest fire ever in New Mexico (156,600 acres), all-time worst fire year in Texas history (3,697,000 acres).
The fires were a function of drought. As of summer's end, 2011 was the driest year in 117 years of record keeping for New Mexico, Texas, and Louisiana, and the second driest for Oklahoma. Those fires also resulted from record heat. It was the hottest summer ever recorded for New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana, as well as the hottest August ever for those states, plus Arizona and Colorado.
Virtually every city in the region experienced unprecedented temperatures, with Phoenix, as usual, leading the march toward unlivability. This past summer, the so-called Valley of the Sun set a new record of 33 days when the mercury reached a shoe-melting 110º F or higher. (The previous record of 32 days was set in 2007.)
And here's the bad news in a nutshell: if you live in the Southwest or just about anywhere in the American West, you or your children and grandchildren could soon enough be facing the Age of Thirst, which may also prove to be the greatest water crisis in the history of civilization. No kidding.
Sunday, 2 October 2011
American Breakfast Foods Are a Corporate Scam
By Dr. Mercola
Starting your morning with a bowl of cereal and a glass of orange juice, a donut and a cup of coffee, or a bagel and cream cheese may seem like second nature, but did you ever stop to think about why or how these foods came to signify breakfast in America?
It wasn't always this way, that's for sure.
Generations ago Americans would have scoffed at a cold breakfast of flaked grain cereal. Instead, they fueled their bodies with a hearty meal of eggs and meats (sausage, ham, bacon), and sometimes pancakes or bread. This was intentionally the heaviest meal of the day, as workers, particularly farmers, often wouldn't eat again until dinner.
What happened to make cold cereal, juice, donuts and bagels the "norm" of American breakfasts? Breakfast food became corporate food.
How Much of YOUR Diet is Dictated by Corporate Creations?
You're probably well aware that nowadays most of the food Americans eat is no longer dependent on local farmers and seasonal growing conditions. Instead, it's dictated by corporate America. The foods you may call "staples" are actually wildly successful marketing creations drummed up by some of the forerunners of the modern-day food industry.
Starting your morning with a bowl of cereal and a glass of orange juice, a donut and a cup of coffee, or a bagel and cream cheese may seem like second nature, but did you ever stop to think about why or how these foods came to signify breakfast in America?
It wasn't always this way, that's for sure.
Generations ago Americans would have scoffed at a cold breakfast of flaked grain cereal. Instead, they fueled their bodies with a hearty meal of eggs and meats (sausage, ham, bacon), and sometimes pancakes or bread. This was intentionally the heaviest meal of the day, as workers, particularly farmers, often wouldn't eat again until dinner.
What happened to make cold cereal, juice, donuts and bagels the "norm" of American breakfasts? Breakfast food became corporate food.
How Much of YOUR Diet is Dictated by Corporate Creations?
You're probably well aware that nowadays most of the food Americans eat is no longer dependent on local farmers and seasonal growing conditions. Instead, it's dictated by corporate America. The foods you may call "staples" are actually wildly successful marketing creations drummed up by some of the forerunners of the modern-day food industry.
Wednesday, 6 October 2010
Obama's Massive Power Struggle with the American War Machine
By Pepe Escobar
Alternet
As that self-appointed court stenographer Bob Woodward reveals in his latest court opus Obama's Wars - conveniently leaked to the Washington Post and the New York Times - the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is shelling out the moolah for its own, 3,000-assassin-plus Murder Inc to roam in AfPak. These paramilitary - brigade-size - outfits, "elite and well trained", have been branded Counter-terrorist Pursuit Teams (CPT).
Much is being made in US corporate media that this shady CPT posse is able to "cross-over" to the tribal areas in Pakistani territory and, like in that famous Heineken ad campaign, reach the parts US intelligence are not able to reach. Aware Latin Americans - with a shrug - will see this as Bad Joke redux: the "Salvador option" is back. As much as these Afghan assassins have been flown to the US for training, the infamous School of the Americas in the 1970s and 1980s trained death squads of natives to kill their compatriots from Chile to El Salvador. The CIA not exactly excels on thinking outside the box.
Old Afghan hands will also be thrilled; this is a small-scale remix of the Afghan mujahideen fighting the anti-Soviet 1980s jihad. Everyone knows what happened afterwards to those bad asses Ronald Reagan called "freedom fighters"; they turned against the US. Maybe some enterprising CIA analysts should share a kebab with their old pal on a payroll, former Afghan prime minister Gulbuddin "bomb, bomb Kabul" Hekmatyar, an eternal mujahid today on Washington's most wanted list.
Alternet
As that self-appointed court stenographer Bob Woodward reveals in his latest court opus Obama's Wars - conveniently leaked to the Washington Post and the New York Times - the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is shelling out the moolah for its own, 3,000-assassin-plus Murder Inc to roam in AfPak. These paramilitary - brigade-size - outfits, "elite and well trained", have been branded Counter-terrorist Pursuit Teams (CPT).
Much is being made in US corporate media that this shady CPT posse is able to "cross-over" to the tribal areas in Pakistani territory and, like in that famous Heineken ad campaign, reach the parts US intelligence are not able to reach. Aware Latin Americans - with a shrug - will see this as Bad Joke redux: the "Salvador option" is back. As much as these Afghan assassins have been flown to the US for training, the infamous School of the Americas in the 1970s and 1980s trained death squads of natives to kill their compatriots from Chile to El Salvador. The CIA not exactly excels on thinking outside the box.
Old Afghan hands will also be thrilled; this is a small-scale remix of the Afghan mujahideen fighting the anti-Soviet 1980s jihad. Everyone knows what happened afterwards to those bad asses Ronald Reagan called "freedom fighters"; they turned against the US. Maybe some enterprising CIA analysts should share a kebab with their old pal on a payroll, former Afghan prime minister Gulbuddin "bomb, bomb Kabul" Hekmatyar, an eternal mujahid today on Washington's most wanted list.
Tuesday, 5 October 2010
Save American Democracy, or What's Left of It
By Kevin Zeese
This is the first election after the Citizens United decision which gave corporations complete freedom to spend as much money as they want to influence the outcome of elections.
Citizens beware. Citizens get active. Citizens get organized. Our fragile democracy is at grave risk.
We've seen in Obama's time in office (and before) how corporations dominate Washington, DC. The health care "reform" turned out to be a re-enforcement of the insurance-company-dominated health care industry. And finance reform had to get the approval of Wall Street and the Federal Reserve before moving forward. Corporate welfare to the weapons, coal, nuclear and oil industries have continued or even grown under Obama. The housing crisis, which should have ended with the bailout of Wall Street, is getting worse, with record foreclosures last month. But that is not enough for the oligarchs who control government through concentrated corporate power. They want more, and they are using massive spending on elections to get it.
A coalition of organizations has come together to expose groups spending hundreds of millions on the mid-term elections in secret, unlimited donations that avoid campaign finance laws.
This is the first election after the Citizens United decision which gave corporations complete freedom to spend as much money as they want to influence the outcome of elections.
Citizens beware. Citizens get active. Citizens get organized. Our fragile democracy is at grave risk.
We've seen in Obama's time in office (and before) how corporations dominate Washington, DC. The health care "reform" turned out to be a re-enforcement of the insurance-company-dominated health care industry. And finance reform had to get the approval of Wall Street and the Federal Reserve before moving forward. Corporate welfare to the weapons, coal, nuclear and oil industries have continued or even grown under Obama. The housing crisis, which should have ended with the bailout of Wall Street, is getting worse, with record foreclosures last month. But that is not enough for the oligarchs who control government through concentrated corporate power. They want more, and they are using massive spending on elections to get it.
A coalition of organizations has come together to expose groups spending hundreds of millions on the mid-term elections in secret, unlimited donations that avoid campaign finance laws.
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