Green Credits

Found this on my computer . No comments .

Jimmy's GM food fight

Jimmy Doherty, pig farmer, one-time scientist and poster-boy for sustainable food production is on a mission to find out if GM crops really can feed the world.

We need to double the amount of food we produce in the next fifty years to feed the world's growing population. Are GM crops the answer? Or are they a dangerous Frankenstein technology that could start an environmental catastrophe?

To find the answers Jimmy is on a journey that will take him from the vast soya plantations of Argentina to the traditional Amish farms of Pennsylvania; and from the cutting-edge technology of the GM laboratories to the banana plantations of Uganda.
BBC

Sounds wonderful , right ? Sounds like Jimmy is taking the fight to the GM camp , had me fooled as well and so I spent an hour watching another campaign for Genetically Modified foods . Jimmy garbed like a real scientist pretends to ask questions about the validity of GM food , it's financial , environmental and ethical validity and surprise surprise , GM comes out with flying colors to each question . So vast monocultures in Argentine are definitely a good thing , the Amish are using it , so it must be a great thing and most importantly genetically modified food will be more nutritious and will save the world from hunger . Down the way he concludes that producing GM seed is just like the natural process, just speeded up and while there have been some allergies from GM food in lab experiments , it must be ok as the Americans have been eating it for ten years . What really peeved me up was his claim that by applying European standards of caution to GM food , we are effectively letting the poor Africans starve !! So my question is Jimmy , if GM food is not proven safe why do you think it is right for the Africans and the rest of the developing world eat it . Sure the Europeans need it to be tested on someone and it is ok to let the black man to be used as a guinea pig because they are going to die of starvation anyway .
And what about Monsanto , how can we talk about GM and not even mention Monsanto , the largest philanthropic organisation in the world , controlling 90% of the GM seed and on their to acquire a sizable amount non Gm seed . The GM ethics are very clearly enunciated in this article by Vandana Shiva .

An epidemic of farmers' suicides has spread across four Indian states -- Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Punjab -- over the last decade. According to official data, more than 160,000 farmers have committed suicide in India since 1997.

These suicides are most frequent where farmers grow cotton, and appear directly linked to the presence of seed monopolies. For the supply of cotton seeds in India has increasingly slipped out of the hands of farmers and into the hands of global seed producers like Monsanto. These giant corporations have begun to control local seed companies through buyouts, joint ventures and licensing arrangements, leading to seed monopolies.

When this happens, seed is transformed from being a common good into being the "intellectual property" of companies such as Monsanto, for which the corporation can claim limitless profits through royalty payments. For farmers, this means deeper debt.

Vandana Shiva - Harvest of suicide

You can read an elaborate dissection of the documentary here . Another link that clears the myth of high productivity and less pesticide use being claimed for GM food .

Garden log 13.06.09

My reputation as a gardener who never grows anything is taking a dent lately . Whether it is due to my dabbling is permaculture or the abundant water from our greywater system or the slight amount of soap that manages to get through the filtration system or the early onset of summer or all the above , it cannot be denied that the garden is blooming . The zucchini is going great guns , huge blooms and a lot of flowers . Today we harvested the sixth zucchini . Though there is some white powdery stuff on the leaves that is a bit disturbing . The tomatoes give me no reason to complain but still a way to go , beans we manage to get a handful every second day and some basil and rocket . But the pride and joy is definitely the melons , a nice decent sized melon , a small one and a few on the way .
The greywater system is giving me a bit of worry though . The water is down to a trickle and needs to be coaxed through . I suspect the sand layer ,since it was not protected with a geotechnic cloth has managed to find its way to the gravel and is creating a sludge which is pretty difficult for the water to get through. I have a taken out a bit of this sludge and gravel but the solution might lie in a reed bed that actively breaks down the soap and aerates the water . Next stage .
For the moment though we are enjoying watching the garden grow . If I had my way , I would've taken a chair and watched it all day long .
All the phots were taken by Ben . Going over the photos I remembered the pomegranate .

Sustainable cities

They are talking about LA here !

Garden log 310509

The garden is coming along nicely , the tomatoes , bean and zucchini doing very well though only the zucchini has any fruit , lots of flowers on tomatoes .


Zucchini living up to its reputation of being a fast mover , giant blooms , took me my surprise .

Planting log 130509

The garden is picking up, well sort of . It still isn't overrun by plants but gradually we can see some greenery . And considering the state we were in , if we produce food this season , it will be a big bonus .

The herb patch on the Hugelkultur bed , lavender , sage , basil and a tiny tomato seedling.


The Hugelkultur terrace, logs of wood held in place with metal stakes , actually scrap iron bars , filled with goodness of rotting wood .


Greywater tank filter with the salvaged mulch


Tomatoes ..


Beans for some nitrogen fixing . I took a handful of organic store bought beans and threw them all over the place .



The almond..


The plum..


And zucchini , the only plant that seems to understand the urgency .

Is it a bird, is it a ..........

This guy ain't saving no energy by using a bike but one cannot let this pass by .
Awesome.