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    United States Avalon Member onawah's Avatar
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    Default Manmade Disasters...and Solutions

    Industrial Farming Threatens Food Security in the US
    January 10, 2017
    http://articles.mercola.com/sites/ar...rid=1835887422
    By Dr. Mercola

    Quote It is indisputable that we are negatively affecting our air, soil and water in a way that is drastically impacting the earth itself.

    If you look down while on an airplane, you can't help but notice the vast exposure of soils into perfectly-carved squares below. These exposed soils are a tragic sign of an unsustainable practice that leads to erosion, runoff pollution while also decreasing soil organic matter and impacting our air quality.

    Please use my search engine to find previous interviews with experts like Gabe Brown, Joel Salatin, Will Harris or other articles related to regenerative agriculture.

    Agriculture has undergone massive changes over the past several decades. Many of them were heralded as progress that would save us from hunger and despair. Yet today, we're faced with a new set of problems, birthed from the very innovations and interventions that were meant to provide us with safety and prosperity.

    For decades, food production has been all about efficiency and lowering cost. We now see what this approach has brought us — skyrocketing disease statistics and a faltering ecosystem.

    Fortunately, we already know what needs to be done. It's just a matter of implementing the answers on a wider scale. We need farmers to shift over to regenerative practices that stops depleting our soil and fresh water supplies.

    Frustratingly, farmers are often held back from making much needed changes by government subsidy programs that favor monocropping and crop insurance rules that dissuade regenerative farming practices.

    Will American Farming Create Another Dust Bowl?

    The Great Depression of the 1930s was tough for most Americans, but farmers were particularly hard hit. Plowing up the Southern Plains to grow crops turned out to be a massive miscalculation that led to enormous suffering.

    Three consecutive droughts (1930 to '31, '33 to '34 and 1936) turned the area into an uninhabitable and unworkable "dust bowl." As the natural winds that cross the Plains picked up the dry soil, dense clouds of dust called "black blizzards" covered the region in an unprecedented years-long "storm."

    As noted by bioethicist George Dvorsky in a recent Gizmodo article,1 research2 suggests modern agricultural methods cannot protect us from a repeat of those devastating conditions.

    "Researchers Michael Glotter[, Ph.D.,] and Joshua Elliot[, Ph.D.,] from the University of Chicago ran computer simulations to predict the effects of a Dust Bowl-like drought on today's maize, soy and wheat crops.

    'We expected to find the system much more resilient because 30 percent of production is now irrigated in the United States, and because we've abandoned corn production in more severely drought-stricken places such as Oklahoma and west Texas,' noted Elliott in a press release.

    'But we found the opposite: The system was just as sensitive to drought and heat as it was in the 1930s,'" Dvorsky writes.

    Massive Changes Could Decimate Agriculture

    Is the U.S. about to face another dust bowl episode? According to simulations, if the U.S. were to experience the same kind of drought as in 1936, we'd lose nearly 40 percent of the commodity crops grown today.

    The best-case scenario? If rainfall remained normal, a 4-degree increase would result in the same kind of losses experienced in the 1930s, meaning we'd lose 30 to 40 percent of our crops.

    "Given recent predictions3 that parts of the U.S. could soon experience 'megadroughts' lasting for as long as 35 years (yes, you read that correctly), these results should serve as a serious wakeup call," Dvorsky writes.

    Industrialization Versus Regenerative Agriculture

    Regenerative agriculture that makes use of cover crops, no-till and herbivore grazing can help solve many of our most pressing problems, including reducing atmospheric Co2 levels and normalizing weather patterns.

    For example, an interesting study that highlights the importance of grazing animals found that reindeer grazing on shrubs on the Arctic tundra actually help combat global warming by increasing surface albedo (the amount of solar energy being reflected back into space). As noted by the Climate News Network:4

    "The effect reindeer grazing can have on albedo and energy balances is potentially large enough to be regionally important. It also points towards herbivore management being a possible tool to combat future warming.

    Most of the Arctic tundra is grazed by either domesticated or wild reindeer, so this is an important finding."

    Even if regenerative agriculture cannot completely solve all of our issues, it's still the only way forward, as factory farming makes everything worse. It's important to realize that agriculture has a significant impact on life on Earth.

    Not only does it provide us with food, it's also an integral part of the ecosystem as a whole. Done correctly, it supports and nourishes ALL life, not just human life.

    Drawbacks of Industrialized Agriculture

    The drawbacks of industrialized farming are many, including the following:

    Degrades and contaminates soil

    Grains account for about 70 percent of our daily calories, and grains are grown on about 70 percent of acreage worldwide. The continuous replanting of grain crops each year leads to soil degradation, as land is tilled and sprayed each year, disrupting the balance of microbes in the soil.

    Top soil is also lost each year, which means that, eventually, our current modes of operation simply will no longer work. Soil erosion and degradation rates suggest we have less than 60 remaining years of topsoil.5

    Forty percent of the world's agricultural soil is now classified as either degraded or seriously degraded; the latter means that 70 percent of the topsoil is gone.

    Soil degradation is projected to cause 30 percent loss in food production over the next 20 to 50 years. Meanwhile, our global food demands are expected to increase by 50 percent over this span of time.

    As explained in Peter Byck's short film, "One Hundred Thousand Beating Hearts," farm animals form symbiotic relationships where one species helps keep parasites from overwhelming another.

    It is the separation of crops and animals into two distinctly different farming processes that has led to animal waste becoming a massive source of pollution rather than a valuable part of the ecological cycle.
    Contaminates water and drains aquifers

    Agriculture accounts for 70 percent of our fresh water use. When the soil is unfit, water is wasted. It simply washes right through the soil and past the plant's root system.

    We already have a global water shortage that's projected to worsen over the coming two or three decades, so this is the last thing we need to compound it. On top of that, concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) are a major water polluter, destroying what precious little water we do have.

    The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has noted that U.S. states with high congregations of CAFOs report 20 to 30 serious water quality problems each year.6 According to a report7 by Environment America, corporate agribusiness is "one of the biggest threats to America's waterways."

    Tyson Foods Inc. is among the worst, releasing 104.4 million pounds of toxic pollutants into waterways between 2010 and 2014; second only to a steel manufacturing company.
    Contributes to greenhouse gas emissions

    While fertilizer production produces its share of greenhouse gases, most of the emissions occur upon application.

    According to the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), 1 out of every 100 kilos of nitrogen fertilizer applied to farm land ends up in the atmosphere as nitrous oxide (N2O), a potent greenhouse gas (300 times more potent than CO2) known to deplete the ozone.8

    In 2014, the amount of N2O created by nitrogen fertilizer spread on American farmland was equal to one-third of the N2O released by all cars and trucks in the U.S. More recent research suggests the real number is three to five times higher than that.
    Reduces biodiversity

    The efficiency model of large-scale industrialized agriculture demanded a reduction in diversity. Hence we got monoculture: farmers growing all corn, or all soy, for example. Monoculture has significantly contributed to dietary changes that promote ill health.

    The primary crops grown on industrial farms today — corn, soy, wheat, canola and sugar beets — are the core ingredients in processed foods known to promote obesity, nutritional deficiencies and disease.

    According to a report by the Royal Botanic Gardens in the U.K., one-fifth of all plants worldwide are now threatened with extinction, primarily through the expansion of agriculture.9

    Ethanol and corn sweetener subsidies have also led to farmers abandoning conservation measures designed to preserve fragile lands and protect biodiversity in the natural landscape.10
    Worsens food safety and promotes pandemic disease

    Agricultural overuse of drugs, especially antibiotics, has led to the development of drug-resistant disease,11 which has now become a severe health threat. Pandemic outbreaks are also becoming more prevalent in CAFOs, revealing the inherent flaws of industrialized animal farming.

    In 2015, an avian flu outbreak spread across 14 states in five months. The year before that, a pig virus outbreak killed off 10 percent of the American pig population. As noted by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy:12

    "The rapid spread of new disease strains ... is one very visible reason why the expansion of factory-style animal production is viewed as unsustainable."
    Threatens food security by decimating important pollinators such as butterfly and bee populations.13
    Promotes nutritional deficiencies and poor nutrition

    Industrial farming is set up and subsidized to grow ingredients used in processed foods. This is the cheapest way to feed the masses. However, what people really need more of in order to thrive is fresh produce.

    According to research14 presented at the 2016 American Heart Association's Epidemiology meeting, reducing the price of fruits and vegetables by 30 percent could save nearly 200,000 lives over 15 years by lowering rates of heart disease and stroke.

    If people added just one additional serving of fruits and vegetables a day, up to 3.5 million deaths from heart disease could be prevented in just two years.
    Necessitates the use of toxins, poisons and harmful mechanical farming methods

    Industrialization led to the separation of crops and livestock farming into two different specialties. That change alone has done tremendous harm, as livestock are actually a core component of regenerative agriculture.

    As a result, a whole host of land maintenance services that animals serve for free have had to be replaced with chemical and mechanical means — all of which have detrimental effects on human health and the environment.
    Regenerative Agriculture Can Help Solve Many of Our Problems
    Around the world, farmers are waking up to the many adverse effects of industrialized agriculture. While chemicals and machines have allowed farms to expand and increase production, there's growing awareness about how these strategies harm the soil, ecology and, ultimately, human health.

    As a result, a growing number of farmers are transitioning over to more sustainable and regenerative methods that do not rely so heavily on chemical and technological means. While regenerative strategies may appear "novel" to born-and-raised city slickers, it's really more of a revival of ancestral knowledge. In the video above, Dr. Joel Gruver demonstrates sustainable agriculture techniques taking place at Allison Farm, the largest organic research farm in Illinois.

    Regenerative agriculture — which includes strategies such as crop rotation, diversification, cover crops, no-till, agroforestry and integrated herd management — can help rehabilitate land turned to desert, improve water management and protect water quality. It also eliminates the need for toxic fertilizers and other agricultural chemicals, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions like carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide.15 Importantly, by improving soil quality, regenerative farmers can produce more nutrient-dense foods.

    You can also consider attending a Regernation International event of webinar. Regeneration International is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving soil fertility and biodiversity through regenerative agriculture techniques. Click below for a list of upcoming events.http://regenerationinternational.org/events/Fear of Losing Crop Insurance Holds Many Farmers Back From Using Cover Crops

    Crazy enough, certain valuable regenerative practices such as the use of cover crops are discouraged by the current crop insurance system. One example of how a regenerative farmer was financially punished by doing the right thing is detailed in a recent article by the Food and Environment Reporting Network.16

    Insurance rules require cover crops to be completely killed off before the market crop is planted. In this case, high winds had prevented Gail Fuller, a farmer in Texas, from successfully killing off the cover crops before planting his corn, soy and barley.

    When a serious drought in 2012 destroyed a good portion of his crops, the insurance refused to pay because he'd failed to destroy the cover crop. Indeed, fear of losing their crop insurance is a major reason why many farmers don't use cover crops, despite the environmental benefits.

    Some Crops Are More Sustainable Than Others

    Besides cover crops, certain food crops can perform similar functions. Pulses, such as peas, beans, chickpeas and lentils, are among the most sustainable crops on the planet, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.17

    They have much deeper root systems, which help keep carbon sequestered in the soil, thereby improving the organic matter content while simultaneously reducing atmospheric Co2. This in turn helps support the entire ecosystem. As noted by the Organic Consumers Association:18

    "Pioneers in soil regeneration, or carbon farming, bear proud testament to a substantial list of potential benefits of carbon-rich soils. Such lands are more drought-resistant, they mitigate flooding when those around them are under water, support more wildlife and beneficial insects, restore natural stream flows, retain nutrients, reduce the number of pests, weeds and crop diseases and produce more nutritious food, all at lower input costs, which means higher profits.

    If we continue with our chemically-dependent farm business as usual, we can expect crop productivity to fall as soils are depleted and as raw resources become more costly, more scarce and more undependable, as overall production costs rise in concert with oil prices … It's time to start demanding support for carbon farming to rescue our agricultural and privately owned natural resource lands from systemic collapse."

    Creating Carbon Capture Gardens

    Science Daily19 recently reported how brownfield sites, "those unloved areas of stony rubbish usually dismissed as wasteland," could be a valuable tool in the effort to lower atmospheric Co2 levels. As explained in the article, soil is a major reservoir for carbon. In the soil, carbon promotes soil fertility and health; in the air, it is a greenhouse gas thought to contribute to global weather alterations.

    Brownfield sites contain a lot of calcium. When combined with atmospheric CO2, it forms calcite (calcium carbonate). What makes brownfield sites so useful for sequestering atmospheric Co2 is that inorganic carbon in calcite forms much more rapidly than in other soils. A single hectare (2.47 acres) can sequester up to 85 tons of atmospheric carbon per year. According to Science Daily:

    "The U.K. has 1.7 million [hectares] of urban land. If only 700,000 [hectares] of this was managed proactively it could meet 10 percent of the U.K.'s annual CO2 reduction target.

    They also surveyed the sites' plant and animal life, as well as their potential for recreation, education and food production — and again came up with fascinating findings … 'We found that carbonation is widespread on brownfield soils, and that these soils can also support a diverse range of plants. We recorded more than 180 plant species on the 21 sites,' Goddard says.

    The results have important implications for how we develop our gardens — as well as our towns and cities. The SUCCESS project team is now engineering artificial soils to capture as much CO2 as possible, and conducting experiments to find out which plants are best at channeling carbon from the atmosphere into the soil via photosynthesis.

    If successful, they will be able to recommend designer plant communities that maximize carbonation as part of 'carbon capture gardens' — urban green spaces that soak up CO2 as well as being places for recreation and wildlife."

    Applying crushed silicate rock to their land is another method farmers could use that would encourage greater carbon sequestration.20 The rock would also release phosphorous, potassium and silica, which are important minerals for healthy plant growth. There are serious drawbacks to such a scheme, though.

    For starters, it would require major mining operations and transportation. In addition to the environmental destruction associated with mining, it would also add to carbon emissions. What we really need are environmentally friendly carbon neutral or carbon negative solutions, and regenerative farming fits the bill, solving not just the problem of carbon sequestration but also many others.

    What You Can Do to Promote Positive Change

    One way to improve your diet and promote a more sustainable food system is to grow some of your own food. During World War II, 40 percent of the produce in the U.S. was grown in people's back yards in so-called "victory gardens," and this trend has started taking root once again. If you're unsure of where to start, I recommend starting out by growing sprouts. Broccoli, watercress and sunflower sprouts are foods that virtually everyone can and would benefit from growing.

    It's inexpensive, easy and can radically improve your overall nutrition. If you're fortunate enough to have your own home and some land, you can start to rebuild your own topsoil. Simply applying biomass will convert to soil in a few years. Over the past three years, I have added about a million pounds of wood chips on my property from local tree removal services, and plan on doubling that.

    The chips need to be finely ground and ideally have some leaves in the mix to balance the carbon to nitrogen ratio. Even then it will take a few years for the chips to convert to soil with high levels of humates. It is also important to never plant directly into the chips, only below them. The chips and mulch help retain the moisture and decrease water requirements. My interview with Paul Gautschi, master arborist and gardener for more than half a century, goes into even more details.

    Another way is to join a community supported agriculture (CSA) program. As a CSA member, you basically buy a "share" of the vegetables the farm produces, and each week during growing season (usually May through October) you receive a weekly delivery of fresh food. Joining a CSA is a powerful investment in your local community and economy, as well as your own health.

    Thriving CSAs can help revitalize a community and allow residents to form strong bonds with the farmers who grow their food. It's also really helpful for the farmer, who is able to collect money needed to seed, sow and harvest up-front. Alternatively, buy as much food as you can from your local farmers or farmers market. If you live in the U.S., the following organizations can help you locate farm-fresh foods:
    (live links in the article at:http://articles.mercola.com/sites/ar...rid=1835887422
    EatWild.com

    EatWild.com provides lists of farmers known to produce raw dairy products as well as grass-fed beef and other farm-fresh produce (although not all are certified organic). Here you can also find information about local farmers markets, as well as local stores and restaurants that sell grass-fed products.
    Weston A. Price Foundation

    Weston A. Price has local chapters in most states, and many of them are connected with buying clubs in which you can easily purchase organic foods, including grass-fed raw dairy products like milk and butter.
    Grassfed Exchange

    The Grassfed Exchange has a listing of producers selling organic and grass-fed meats across the U.S.
    Local Harvest

    This website will help you find farmers markets, family farms and other sources of sustainably grown food in your area where you can buy produce, grass-fed meats, and many other goodies.
    Farmers Markets

    A national listing of farmers markets.
    Eat Well Guide: Wholesome Food from Healthy Animals

    The Eat Well Guide is a free online directory of sustainably raised meat, poultry, dairy and eggs from farms, stores, restaurants, inns, hotels and online outlets in the United States and Canada.
    Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA)

    CISA is dedicated to sustaining agriculture and promoting the products of small farms.
    FoodRoutes

    The FoodRoutes "Find Good Food" map can help you connect with local farmers to find the freshest, tastiest food possible. On their interactive map, you can find a listing for local farmers, CSAs and markets near you.
    The Cornucopia Institute

    The Cornucopia Institute maintains web-based tools rating all certified organic brands of eggs, dairy products, and other commodities, based on their ethical sourcing and authentic farming practices separating CAFO "organic" production from authentic organic practices.
    RealMilk.com

    If you're still unsure of where to find raw milk, check out Raw-Milk-Facts.com and RealMilk.com. They can tell you what the status is for legality in your state, and provide a listing of raw dairy farms in your area.

    The Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund21 also provides a state-by-state review of raw milk laws.22 California residents can also find raw milk retailers using the store locator available at www.OrganicPastures.com.
    [+] Sources and References
    Each breath a gift...
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    Default Re: Manmade Disasters...and Solutions

    Thanks Onawah, I am always doing Google searches for 'global drought.' I watched a very interesting Ted Talk the other day about modern agriculture and how it is the main culprit where drought is concerned. Scarcity of water comes in second, in most areas affected. There are too darned many people!

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    Default Re: Manmade Disasters...and Solutions

    Welcome to my world, well one of them. I love soil rejuvenation. Here in tobacco nutrient stripped VA I've got quiite a few sandy, dusty, clay areas healthy by using the plants own by-products w/used coffee grounds, veggie scraps, banana peels.

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    United States Avalon Member onawah's Avatar
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    Default Re: Manmade Disasters...and Solutions

    The giant pig farm disaster: a medical hoax and cover story
    or:
    How environmental killing becomes a medical disease
    https://jonrappoport.wordpress.com/2...dical-disease/

    Quote The full truth has never been told—until now.

    by Jon Rappoport

    January 18, 2017

    “To handle all that [pig-farm feces] waste, farmers in North Carolina use a standard practice called the lagoon and spray field system. They flush feces and urine from barns into open-air pits called lagoons, which turn the color of Pepto-Bismol when pink-colored bacteria colonize the waste. To keep the lagoons from overflowing, farmers spray liquid manure on their fields nearby. The result, says Steve Wing, an epidemiologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is this: ‘The eastern part of North Carolina is covered with ****’.” —National Geographic, 10/30/14

    The above quote describes corporate pig farming around the world.

    In order to carry out this operation, giant companies like Smithfield have influenced legislators and government-agency officials. Environmental laws and regulations are ignored, or changed. Lawsuits are fought, hammer and tongs.

    Here is what Robert F Kennedy Jr. told radio interviewer, Rachel Lewis Hilburn on 6/3/16: “…a hog produces ten times the amount of fecal waste by weight as a human being, so if you have a facility that has ten thousand hogs in it, it’s producing as much sewage as a city of a hundred thousand people. Smithfield has one plant in Utah—they call it Circle Four Farms—that has a million hogs on it, so it’s producing the same amount of waste as New York City every day.”

    Here is Kennedy’s kicker:

    “There’s no difference between hog waste and human waste in terms of its danger to human health. They [Smithfield and other giant corporate pig operations] ought to have to have a sewage treatment plant that cleans it up. And yet, if they had to build that sewage treatment plan, it would drive the price of hogs up so that they could no longer function in the marketplace… they ought to have to build sewage treatment facilities but nobody’s making them do that because they have used political clout…”

    All right, that’s a bit of background. Now I’m going to shift to the subject of Swine Flu, the phony epidemic of 2009.

    Where did it start?

    At a Smithfield pig-raising operation in Perote, Mexico; in a village called La Gloria. Smithfield raises 950,000 hogs a year there.

    Press reports described outdoor “pig feces lagoons” on the property. When workers began to get sick, the area was sprayed with unknown chemicals. More workers fell ill and died.

    Anyone with a basic knowledge of public health could testify that this combination of mind-boggling (non-) sanitation, plus strong germicides, plus other toxic chemicals routinely dumped in the feces lagoons, could and would cause human disease.

    In fact, it doesn’t matter which particular germs are present in the mix.

    People at the CDC had to be well aware of this. Yet, in 2009, their choice was to rush researchers to the Smithfield operation in La Gloria, Mexico, armed with the unfounded assumption that some novel virus, never before seen, was the culprit, and their job was to take blood samples and discover what the new germ was.

    Why? Why assume, when workers who operate in that kind of environment get sick, there is some new disease at work? The symptoms of the workers were not unusual, given the circumstances.

    Workers dying in that vat of filth and chemical soup should be expected.

    But, up front, based on no evidence, the CDC on-site team was going for a new germ and a new disease, and that’s what they announced they had found. A gullible world, fed by press reports, bought in.

    And that’s how the fake epidemic called Swine Flu was launched.

    All the focus that could have centered on the highly toxic Smithfield pig operation in La Gloria was diverted.

    Diverted to a virus.

    H1N1 it was called. The Swine Flu virus.

    Suddenly, it was a medical problem. Not an environmental disaster.

    It was RE-INVENTED as a medical problem.

    If you don’t yet get what I’m pointing out here, imagine this: you’re living in an old sewage tunnel under a city. You’re surrounded by human excrement and biting insects and fetid waste water and foul air—and when you fall ill, you suddenly see virus-hunting researchers, not haz-mat rescue workers, approach you and take blood samples. Are they crazy?

    No, they’re just doing what their bosses tell them to do. Because the CDC is fronting for, and protecting, major corporate agricultural criminals. Because your illness has to be shifted over to a “new disease and a new virus.”

    On top of all this, the virus that these “researchers” do find, which, by the way, is in no way proven to cause disease, can be found all over the world. Why? Because it’s been around for a long, long time, and it has never caused any dire condition at all.

    This is how the game works.

    This is the medical hoax.

    In the case of Swine Flu, it gets worse. It turns out that the virus is not so prevalent after all. That is why, in the early autumn of 2009, CBS reporter Sharyl Attkisson discovered that the CDC, ignoring its mandate and charter, had secretly stopped counting Swine Flu cases in America. You see, the overwhelming percentage of blood samples taken from the most likely Swine Flu patients, when sent to labs for testing, were coming back with no trace of the so-called Swine Flu virus or any other flu virus. CBS put Attkisson’s published report on the shelf and never followed up on it.

    Again, the virus as the cause of illness, was the cover story. Intelligence agencies float cover stories on a regular basis. It’s no accident that CDC has a large unit of virus hunters called the Epidemic Intelligence Service.

    Right off the top, I can tell you they create disinformation on a scale that must make the CIA jealous.

    Graduates of this EIS program, as proudly stated by the CDC, have gone on to occupy key positions in the overall medical cartel: Surgeons General; CDC directors; medical school deans and professors; medical foundation executives; drug-company and insurance executives; state health officials; medical editors and reporters in major media outlets.

    It’s a loyal insider’s club. They collaborate to float prime-cut, A-number-one cover stories of extraordinary dimensions. They invent medical reality out of thin air.

    Here is a brief excerpt from the CDC’s website, “50 Years of the Epidemic Intelligence Service”:

    “In 1951, EIS was established by CDC following the start of the Korean War as an early-warning system against biologic warfare and man-made epidemics. EIS officers selected for 2-year field assignments were primarily medical doctors and other health professionals…who focused on infectious disease outbreaks. EIS has expanded to include a range of public health professionals, such as postdoctoral scientists in statistics, epidemiology, microbiology, anthropology, sociology, and behavioral sciences. Since 1951, approximately 2500 EIS officers have responded to requests for epidemiologic assistance within the United States and throughout the world. Each year, EIS officers are involved in several hundred investigations of disease and injury problems, enabling CDC and its public health partners to make recommendations to improve the public’s health and safety.”

    Several hundred investigations a year. An unparalleled opportunity to shape the truth into propaganda. Control of information about disease. Control out in the field, where EIS agents rush to the scene of “outbreaks,” all the way back through the hallowed halls of academia, into the press, into Big Pharma, into the government.

    When I say control of information, I mean disinformation. That’s what the EIS is for. They’ve never met a virus they didn’t love, and if they couldn’t find one, they pretended they did.

    They front for the medical cartel. And they provide cover for the crimes of mega-corporations. There’s a town where poverty-stricken people are dying, because horrendous pesticides are running into the water supply and soil? No, it’s a virus. There’s a hotel where the plumbing is broken and human waste is getting into all the bathrooms, and they want this hotel to be the epicenter of a new epidemic? No, it isn’t the plumbing, it’s a novel virus never seen before by man. There’s a section of a city where the industrial pollution is driving people over the edge into immune-system failure? No, it’s a virus.

    And here’s the capper. Their propaganda is so good most of the EIS people believe it themselves. You don’t achieve that kind of robotic servitude without intense brainwashing. The first installment of the mind-control program is called medical school.

    Psy-op and propaganda begin with the virus hunters of the EIS. They control and own the chokepoint of disease research. They blow up their scanty findings into ex-cathedra pronouncements.

    And of course, this strengthens the vaccine establishment because, for every virus, there must be a vaccine: the shot in the arm, loaded with toxic chemicals and a variety of germs.

    The EIS. The CDC’s band of brothers. The medical CIA.

    “Show me vast pig-feces lagoons, and I’ll show you a virus you’ve never heard of before. I’ll protect corporate criminals from here to the moon…”

    Jon Rappoport
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    Default Re: Manmade Disasters...and Solutions

    Those lagoons are artificial, i. e. they are contained in raised dykes. Some years back, one of those things broke, and when that happens, it can apparently flood a rather large area. But Smithfield is a highly respected name in pork.

    Purdue (chickens) operates all over the place too, but they attempt some kind of sanitation. Every night around 3 a. m. a big tanker truck goes across the street from here to fill up on waste. I couldn't even begin to guess the total number of such trucks that prowl around the general area. I think it goes into fertilizer.

    Edit: I'm informed they also have a swine farm with lagoon across the street, and actually I never would have guessed...
    Last edited by shaberon; 20th January 2017 at 06:51.

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    Default Re: Manmade Disasters...and Solutions

    I started this thread focusing on disaster, but here's a practical solution:
    Biodynamic Farming and the Legacy of Rudolf Steiner
    http://articles.mercola.com/sites/ar...rid=2068082229

    Quote Story at-a-glance

    Biodynamic farming is a spiritual-ethical-ecological approach to agriculture initially developed by Austrian scholar Rudolf Steiner, Ph.D., (1861-1925)
    Not only does biodynamic farming provide superior crops both in volume and increased density of nutrients, but biodynamic farms are also completely self-sustaining
    What sets biodynamic farming apart from organic farming are the principles involving cosmological forces, such as taking moon phases and planetary cycles into account when planting and harvesting

    By Dr. Mercola

    Biodynamic farming is a spiritual-ethical-ecological approach to agriculture initially developed by Austrian scholar Rudolf Steiner,1 Ph.D., (1861-1925). It’s an approach that can provide far superior harvests compared to conventional chemical-based agriculture, while simultaneously healing the Earth.

    Not only does biodynamic farming provide superior crops both in volume and increased density of nutrients, but biodynamic farms are also completely self-sustaining. As noted in the featured film, “The Challenge of Rudolf Steiner,” sustainability, and the personal independence and freedom that sustainability provides, was incredibly important to Steiner.

    It’s a very long film — over three hours — but if you have an interest in biodynamic farming or Steiner’s worldview in general, it’s well worth watching. He taught there is an invisible force that aids and sustains humanity, and biodynamic farming makes use of a wide variety of influences, including planetary influences and moon phases.

    Regenerative agriculture has been one of my passions for the past few years, and I’ve read many books and interviewed many experts in this area. Over these past few years, I’ve tested a number of different strategies to improve plant growth, such as vortexed compost tea, rock dust powders, magnetic structured water, ionic ocean minerals, biochar, many types of foliar sprays and mulch like wood chips.

    Steiner’s Legacy Lives On
    Steiner has had a profound influence, making an indelible mark on the world. Profoundly prolific, his complete works fill more than 330 books, much of which are now available online in German and English.2

    Steiner was a trained scientist and respected philosopher, a true eclectic and visionary far ahead of his times. His voluminous works span a wide range of topics, from “The Mysteries of Antiquity” and writings on Nietzsche and Goethe, to “The Philosophy of Freedom” and “Spirit and Matter” to the “Birth of the Biodynamic Method.”

    He wrote about economics, politics, art, architecture, drama, therapeutic speech, epistemology, religion, science, medicine, education and more. You could spend your entire life studying his life’s work, many aspects of which are detailed in this two-part film.

    Education — The Steiner Way
    Aside from agriculture, Steiner had a deep interest in early education, and his principles are alive and well to this day. In the U.K. alone, there are more than three dozen Steiner academies of learning, and the natural world, including farming skills, is an integral part of the curriculum.

    Steiner kindergarten academies “provide ‘unhurried and creative’ environments for learning,” The Guardian wrote in 2012.3 Trevor Mepham, principal of Steiner Academy Hereford, told the paper, “It's about keeping that vitality and that freshness and that twinkling eye. I think that's common sense, though. It's just that we arguably try to do that as a matter of course.”

    “There's something undeniably wholesome about the Steiner approach,” The Guardian notes. “In an age when toddlers are adept at using iPhones, the idea of children building shelters in the woods is profoundly attractive to parents. Access to television is restricted — under the homeschool agreement with parents, children are not meant to watch TV before the age of 8.

    There is no uniform; the children wear hoodies, sturdy trousers and plimsolls, and the canteen serves mainly vegetarian food. A homely vegetable curry spiced with mustard seeds is dish of the day when I visit …

    ‘As human beings we have a close and important relationship with the natural world. To pretend that we just need gadgetry and technology, that misses out a very vital part of the piece,’ Mepham says. ‘Especially when children are young, we need to try to foster in them an interest and sense of inquiry and hopefulness about the natural world.’"

    Biodynamic Farming and Reverence for Nature
    Biodynamic farming is perhaps the area where his legacy lives on the strongest. In 1924, due to popular demand, Steiner offered an agriculture course in Koberwitz, a small village in what is now Poland.

    The course consisted of eight lectures and five discussions, now available in the book “Agriculture: Spiritual Foundations for the Renewal of Agriculture,” which to this day serves as the basis of biodynamic farming everywhere. His course is also available for free online.4 As noted by Biodynamic Association:5

    “Steiner was one of the first public figures to warn that the widespread use of chemical fertilizers would lead to the decline of soil, plant and animal health and the subsequent devitalization of food. He was also the first to bring the perspective of the farm as a single, self-sustaining organism that thrives through biodiversity, the integration of crops and livestock and the creation of a closed-loop system of fertility.”

    In 1923, he also predicted that, in 80 to 100 years, honeybee populations would collapse6 — a prediction fulfilled with the sudden emergence of colony collapse disorder, which can be traced back to the use of toxic pesticides and herbicides.

    As just one of many examples of Steiner’s comprehensive approach to farming, biodynamic farmers will not cut off the horns on their cows, as the animal’s horns are a primary sensory organ, and a complex interrelated relationship exists between the horns and the animal’s digestive system.

    Why Agricultural U-Turn Is Necessary
    We live in an increasingly toxic world, and according to a wide variety of scientists, we are looking at no more than 50 to 60 years’ worth of business as usual before we reach a point at which nature will no longer sustain us on any front, be it water, air or soil quality. Indeed, food security is no longer a given, even if you have plenty of available land, and here’s why:

    Water scarcity is getting worse as aquifers are drained faster than they can be refilled

    One-third of the largest groundwater aquifers are already nearing depletion,7 with three of the most stressed aquifers being located in areas where political tensions are already running high.8 To give you an idea of how quickly groundwater is being depleted, consider what’s happening in the High Plains Aquifer (also known as the Ogallala) in the American Midwest.

    Here, the water level has been dropping by an average of 6 feet per year, while the natural recharge rate is 1 inch or less.9 Once this aquifer is depleted — and many wells have already run dry in the area — 20 percent of the U.S. corn, wheat and cattle output will be lost due to lack of irrigation and water for the animals.
    Soil erosion and degradation is rapidly worsening

    In a 2012 Time magazine10 interview, University of Sydney professor John Crawford noted that about 40 percent of agricultural soils around the globe is currently classified as degraded or seriously degraded. “Seriously degraded” means that 70 percent of the topsoil (the layer of soil in which plants grow) has already disappeared.

    The reason for the erosion and degradation is farming methods that remove carbon from the soil and destroy the microbial balance in the soil responsible for plant nutrition and growth. At present, topsoil is being lost 10 to 40 times faster than nature can regenerate and replenish it naturally.
    Water pollution is worsening

    Precious water sources are also threatened by pollution from large-scale monocrop farms and concentrated animal feeding operations.11 According to a report12 by Environment America, corporate agribusiness is “one of the biggest threats to America’s waterways.” Tyson Foods Inc. was deemed among the worst, releasing 104.4 million pounds of toxic pollutants into waterways between 2010 and 2014.

    Researchers have warned that many lakes around the world are at grave risk from fertilizer runoff that feeds harmful blue-green algae (cyanobacteria),13,14 and once established, it’s far more difficult to get rid of than previously thought. The answer, according to the authors of this study, is better land-use management that addresses fertilizer runoff. Dramatic reductions in fertilizer use are also recommended.
    Air pollution is worsening

    Scientists have declared farming and fertilizers as the No. 1 cause of particulate matter air pollution in much of the U.S., China, Russia and Europe today, specifically the nitrogen component of fertilizers.15,16 Industrial food and farming also release dangerous amounts of greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide.

    Meanwhile, the World Health Organization warns 25 percent of all deaths worldwide are attributable to environmental pollution, with air pollution being among the most significant.17
    Desertification is speeding up

    Land is turning into desert at a rapid clip and, with it, we’re losing biodiversity of both plant and animal life.
    Biodynamic Farming Is Part of the Answer
    Biodynamic farming addresses all of these problems and more. The good news is biodynamic farming is on the rise, gaining popularity among younger farmers — even people who don’t have a family background in farming. John Chester, for example, was a filmmaker before he left Hollywood for a 213-acre farm in Moorpark, California. The Guardian writes:18

    “… Chester runs [Apricot Lane Farms] with his wife, Molly. The couple nurtures 100 different types of vegetables, 75 varieties of stone fruit, and countless animal residents: Scottish highland cattle, pigs, chickens, sheep, ducks, hens, horses and livestock dogs. Last year, Apricot Lane Farms was recognized by the National Wildlife Federation and the North American Butterfly Association for supporting so much wildlife — not a recognition typically given to farms.”

    Last year, biodynamic farming in the U.S. increased by 16 percent, adding nearly 21,800 acres to its fold.19 To evaluate the impact of biodynamic methods on soil quality, Demeter USA, a nonprofit certifier of biodynamic goods, has started collecting topsoil samples from participating farms. Eventually, this will tell us just how quickly soil quality can be improved.

    Demeter co-director Elizabeth Candelario told The Guardian, “This will provide a tool for farmers who continue to focus on building healthy soil, and give voice to power about biodynamic agriculture’s role in mitigating the impacts of climate change.”

    Cosmic Influences
    What sets biodynamic farming20 apart from organic farming are the principles involving cosmological forces, such as taking moon phases and planetary cycles into account when planting and harvesting. Each of the 12 zodiac signs are associated with a particular quality. As explained by Tony Carlton in the film, the four primary qualities or energies farmers work with are earth, light, water and warmth. Zodiac signs also fall into four different elements, namely earth signs, air signs, water signs and fire signs.

    During the influence of an earth sign, you would plant root vegetables, as the astrological earth element corresponds with plant roots. Earth signs are: Taurus (April 20 to May 20), Virgo (August 23 to September 22) and Capricorn (December 22 to January 19)
    During water signs, you would plant leafy greens (water element). Water signs are: Cancer (June 21 to July 22), Scorpio (October 23 to November 21) and Pisces (February 19 to March 20)
    Air signs call for planting of flowering plants (light element). Air signs are: Gemini (May 21 to June 20), Libra (September 23 to October 22) and Aquarius (January 20 to February 18)
    Fire signs call for planting of fruits (the element of warmth). Fire signs are: Aries (March 21-April 19), Leo (July 23 to August 22) and Sagittarius (November 22 to December 21)
    To recap, the four elements of earth, water, air and fire correspond to the plant kingdom of root, leaf, flower and fruit. As an example, lettuce grows well under the influence of Pisces, but the bean does not. Beans prefer the influence of Aries. If you plant beans during the month of Pisces, the plant will hardly grow at all — until Aries comes around, at which time it will actually start to grow.

    This further translates into moon phases as well. For example, when the moon is in Aries, a fire sign, you’ll want to plant fruiting plants, such as cherries. When the moon is in Taurus, an earth sign, plant carrots and other root veggies. Since the moon moves quickly through each sign, it will change signs every two days or so. For a planting guide based on moon phases, see The Gardeners Calendar.21

    Biodynamic Is Organic and Regenerative, and Then Some
    Biodynamic farming also differs a bit in the way farmers are certified. While an organic farmer can section off as little as 10 percent of the farm for the growing of certified organic goods, in order to be certified as a biodynamic farmer, your entire farm must be biodynamic. In addition to that, biodynamic certification also requires 10 percent of the land be dedicated to increasing biodiversity, such as forest, wetland or insectary. As noted by Lauren Mazzo, writing for Shape Magazine:22

    “In the end, they're both about eliminating the scary stuff from our food. An organic certification means there are no synthetic fertilizers, sewage sludge, irradiation or genetic engineering used in the food, and farm animals must be fed organic feed, etc.

    Biodynamic includes those guidelines, as well as making the farm even more self-reliant. For example, instead of simply requiring organic feed for animals, most of the feed must originate from other processes and resources on the farm.”

    Biodynamic farming also has most or all of the features associated with regenerative agriculture, such as crop rotation, cover crops and so on. And, while neither use synthetic fertilizers or pesticides or herbicides, Steiner created a number of very specific preparations made from herbs, minerals and manure, which are then added to compost or sprayed on the fields.

    One such preparation involves packing manure into a cow horn and burying it underground over the winter. In spring, the contents of the horn are scraped out, mixed with water and applied as a soil treatment to stimulate root growth. Another involves packing silica into a cow horn and burying it over the summer.23

    You Are What You Eat
    According to Steiner, man is a microcosm of the macrocosm. Certainly, it’s true that the biosphere that is the Earth is intricately connected, from the tiniest bacteria in the soil all the way up to the human body, which just so happens to contain 10 times more bacteria and other microorganisms than human cells. What separates us from the microbiome in the soil, you could say, is merely scale and perception.

    With that in mind, we cannot afford to ignore soil, plant and insect health, as our health depends on theirs. While few are called to become full-time farmers, most people can grow some of their own food, even if it’s just some herbs or sprouts, which require little space and maintenance.

    Even if you do none of those things, you can still help steer the agricultural industry toward safer, more sustainable systems by supporting your local farmers and choosing fresh, locally-grown organic and grass fed foods. If you live in the U.S., the following organizations can help you locate farm-fresh foods:

    American Grassfed Association

    The goal of the American Grassfed Association is to promote the grass fed industry through government relations, research, concept marketing and public education.

    Their website also allows you to search for AGA approved producers certified according to strict standards that include being raised on a diet of 100 percent forage; raised on pasture and never confined to a feedlot; never treated with antibiotics or hormones; born and raised on American family farms.
    EatWild.com

    EatWild.com provides lists of farmers known to produce raw dairy products as well as grass fed beef and other farm-fresh produce (although not all are certified organic). Here you can also find information about local farmers markets, as well as local stores and restaurants that sell grass fed products.
    Weston A. Price Foundation

    Weston A. Price has local chapters in most states, and many of them are connected with buying clubs in which you can easily purchase organic foods, including grass fed raw dairy products like milk and butter.
    Grassfed Exchange

    The Grassfed Exchange has a listing of producers selling organic and grass fed meats across the U.S.
    Local Harvest

    This website will help you find farmers markets, family farms and other sources of sustainably grown food in your area where you can buy produce, grass fed meats and many other goodies.
    Farmers Markets

    A national listing of farmers markets.
    Eat Well Guide: Wholesome Food from Healthy Animals

    The Eat Well Guide is a free online directory of sustainably raised meat, poultry, dairy and eggs from farms, stores, restaurants, inns, hotels and online outlets in the United States and Canada.
    Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA)

    CISA is dedicated to sustaining agriculture and promoting the products of small farms.
    FoodRoutes

    The FoodRoutes "Find Good Food" map can help you connect with local farmers to find the freshest, tastiest food possible. On their interactive map, you can find a listing for local farmers, CSAs and markets near you.
    The Cornucopia Institute

    The Cornucopia Institute maintains web-based tools rating all certified organic brands of eggs, dairy products and other commodities, based on their ethical sourcing and authentic farming practices separating CAFO "organic" production from authentic organic practices.
    RealMilk.com

    If you're still unsure of where to find raw milk, check out Raw-Milk-Facts.com and RealMilk.com. They can tell you what the status is for legality in your state, and provide a listing of raw dairy farms in your area. The Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund24 also provides a state-by-state review of raw milk laws.25 California residents can also find raw milk retailers using the store locator available at www.OrganicPastures.com.
    Each breath a gift...
    _____________

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    Default Re: Manmade Disasters...and Solutions

    Mother Earth Is Becoming Tired And Cannot Sustain Any More Impacts Of War
    April 11, 2018
    http://nativenewsonly.com/2018/04/11...mpacts-of-war/

    "A 'disease of the mind' has set in world leaders and many members of our global community, with their belief that a solution of retaliation and destruction of peoples will bring peace." Chief Arvol Looking Horse


    Bold letters my (OP's) emphasis
    Quote I, Chief Arvol Looking Horse, of the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota Nations, ask you to understand an Indigenous perspective on what has happened in America, what we call “Turtle Island.” My words seek to unite the global community through a message from our sacred ceremonies to unite spiritually, each in our own ways of beliefs in the Creator. We have been warned from ancient prophecies of these times we live in today, but have also been given a very important message about a solution to turn these terrible times.

    To understand the depth of this message you must recognize the importance of Sacred Sites and realize the interconnectedness of what is happening today, in reflection of the continued massacres that are occurring on other lands and our own Americas.

    I have been learning about these important issues since the age of 12 when I received the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe Bundle and its teachings. Our people have strived to protect Sacred Sites from the beginning of time. These places have been violated for centuries and have brought us to the predicament that we are in at the global level.

    Look around you. Our Mother Earth is very ill from these violations, and we are on the brink of destroying the possibility of a healthy and nurturing survival for generations to come, our children’s children.

    Our ancestors have been trying to protect our Sacred Site called the Sacred Black Hills in South Dakota, “Heart of Everything That Is,” from continued violations. Our ancestors never saw a satellite view of this site, but now that those pictures are available, we see that it is in the shape of a heart and, when fast-forwarded, it looks like a heart pumping.

    The Diné have been protecting Big Mountain, calling it the liver of the earth, and we are suffering and going to suffer more from the extraction of the coal there and the poisoning processes used in doing so. The Aborigines have warned of the contaminating effects of global warming on the Coral Reefs, which they see as Mother Earth’s blood purifier.

    The indigenous people of the rainforest say that the rainforests are the lungs of the planet and need protection.

    The Gwich’in Nation in Alaska has had to face oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge coastal plain, also known to the Gwich’in as “Where life begins.”

    The coastal plain is the birthplace of many life forms of the animal nations. The death of these animal nations will destroy indigenous nations in this territory. As these destructive developments continue all over the world, we will witness many more extinct animal, plant, and human nations, because of mankind’s misuse of power and their lack of understanding of the “balance of life.”

    The Indigenous people warn that these destructive developments will cause havoc globally. There are many, many more indigenous teachings and knowledge about Mother Earth’s Sacred Sites, her chakras, and connections to our spirit that will surely affect our future generations.

    There needs to be a fast move toward other forms of energy that are safe for all nations upon Mother Earth. We need to understand the types of minds that are continuing to destroy the spirit of our whole global community. Unless we do this, the powers of destruction will overwhelm us.


    Our Ancestors foretold that water would someday be for sale. Back then this was hard to believe, since the water was so plentiful, so pure, and so full of energy, nutrition and spirit. Today we have to buy pure water, and even then the nutritional minerals have been taken out; it’s just empty liquid. Someday water will be like gold, too expensive to afford.

    Not everyone will have the right to drink safe water. We fail to appreciate and honor our Sacred Sites, ripping out the minerals and gifts that lay underneath them as if Mother Earth were simply a resource, instead of the source of life itself.

    Attacking nations and using more resources to carry out destruction in the name of peace is not the answer! We need to understand how all these decisions affect the global nation; we will not be immune to its repercussions. Allowing continual contamination of our food and land is affecting the way we think.

    A “disease of the mind” has set in world leaders and many members of our global community, with their belief that a solution of retaliation and destruction of peoples will bring peace.

    In our prophecies it is told that we are now at the crossroads: Either unite spiritually as a global nation, or be faced with chaos, disasters, diseases, and tears from our relatives’ eyes.


    We are the only species that is destroying the source of life, meaning Mother Earth, in the name of power, mineral resources, and ownership of land. Using chemicals and methods of warfare that are doing irreversible damage, as Mother Earth is becoming tired and cannot sustain any more impacts of war.

    I ask you to join me on this endeavor. Our vision is for the peoples of all continents, regardless of their beliefs in the Creator, to come together as one at their Sacred Sites to pray and meditate and commune with one another, thus promoting an energy shift to heal our Mother Earth and achieve a universal consciousness toward attaining Peace.

    As each day passes, I ask all nations to begin a global effort, and remember to give thanks for the sacred food that has been gifted to us by our Mother Earth, so the nutritional energy of medicine can be guided to heal our minds and spirits.

    This new millennium will usher in an age of harmony or it will bring the end of life as we know it. Starvation, war, and toxic waste have been the hallmark of the great myth of progress and development that ruled the last millennium.

    To us, as caretakers of the heart of Mother Earth, falls the responsibility of turning back the powers of destruction. You yourself are the one who must decide.


    You alone – and only you – can make this crucial choice, to walk in honor or to dishonor your relatives. On your decision depends the fate of the entire World.


    Each of us is put here in this time and this place to personally decide the future of humankind. Did you think the Creator would create unnecessary people in a time of such terrible danger?

    Know that you yourself are essential to this world. Understand both the blessing and the burden of that. You yourself are desperately needed to save the soul of this world. Did you think you were put here for something less? In a Sacred Hoop of Life, there is no beginning and no ending.

    Chief Arvol Looking Horse is the author of White Buffalo Teachings. A tireless advocate of maintaining traditional spiritual practices, Chief Looking Horse is a member of Big Foot Riders, which memorializes the massacre of Big Foot’s band at Wounded Knee.
    Each breath a gift...
    _____________

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    Default Re: Manmade Disasters...and Solutions

    Hemp Could Free Us From Oil, Prevent Deforestation, Cure Cancer, and It’s Environmentally Friendly
    http://truthcommand.com/2018/03/hemp...ally-friendly/
    2 weeks ago
    (If the development and use of fossil fuels to power the world and the cutting down of trees to make paper aren't manmade disaster, I don't know what is.)
    "While there is virtually no THC in the varieties grown for industrial uses such as oil and fibre, governments have cooperated with powerful corporate lobbyists the ensure that hemp is lumped into the same category as marijuana. The primary reason is that hemp has too many abundant resources for fuel, housing, food, medicine that corporations cannot exploit.

    Think about how many polluting conglomerates would go down if hemp was permitted as a resource. The oil, pharmaceutical, supplement and constructions industry would need to radically shift their business model to survive."

    Quote Hemp is a tall, beautiful and gracious looking annual plant that can reach heights over twelve feet – and even that il mattes more than many people know about it.
    Fortunately, we’re here with an education to offer you.

    Although hemp (cannabis sativa) and marijuana (cannabis sativa var. indica) come from a similar species of plant, they are very different and confusion has been caused by deliberate misinformation with far reaching effects on socioeconomics as well as on environmentars.

    The reason hemp is illegal is not because of any negative impact to the environment or human health, but exactly the opposite. It is so environmentally friendly, nutritionally and medicinally beneficial, that it provides too many abundant resources which would make it impossible for powerful corporations to compete.

    Historical Use
    Hemp is the most universally useful plant we have at our disposal. The history of mankind’s use of hemp can be traced way back in time to between about 5000 – 7000 BC. Remains of seed husks have been found at Neolithic burial sites in central Europe, which indicate that they were used in funeral rites and shamanic ceremonies. It is probable that at that time the distinctions between various strains were not as pronounced as they are today.

    Up until and even during WWII, hemp was a widely grown crop, which provided the world with an excellent and most durable source of fibre. Since it is an annual with a growing cycle of only 120 days it can be harvested several times a year, depending on local weather conditions. Its biomass is considerable, which means that it absorbs large quantities of the greenhouse gas CO2.

    It is resistant to bugs and requires little agrochemical treatment. It is extremely undemanding and can be grown in very poor conditions and depleted soils and will actually improve the soil structure over a period of years. For many centuries hemp was one of the most important industrial crops which provided the fibres for rope and tough, durable canvass without which the age of exploration could never have set sail.

    In the US too, there have long been numerous rules and regulation in place regarding the cultivation of hemp. But unlike today’s regulations that strongly prohibit any cultivation of hemp, less than a century ago hemp cultivation was not just encouraged, but mandatory, with hefty fines being levied against farmers who refused. ‘Hemp for Victory’ was the government coined slogan that fuelled the last big bout of legal hemp cultivation during WWII, promoting hemp cultivation as a patriotic cause.



    Deliberate Misinformation About THC
    Hemp is a variety of cannabis sativa that has a long history of use in the United States. However, since the 1950s it has been lumped into the same category of marijuana, and thus the extremely versatile crop was doomed in the United States. Hemp is technically from the same species of plant that psychoactive marijuana comes from. However, it is from a different variety, or subspecies that contains many important differences.

    Industrial hemp has very low Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) levels, which is the principal psychoactive constituent. Compared to marijuana which is specifically cultivated for personal psychoactive use, it is nearly impossible to “get high” on hemp. Marijuana that can be smoked usually contains between 5-10%t THC, industrial hemp contains about one-tenth of that. In order to get a psychoactive effect, one would need to smoke more than a dozen hemp cigarettes over a very short period of time to achieve any kind of psychoactive effect.

    The reason for the low THC content in hemp is that most THC is formed in resin glands on the buds and flowers of the female cannabis plant. Industrial hemp is not cultivated to produce buds, and therefore lacks the primary component that forms the marijuana high. Furthermore, industrial hemp has higher concentrations of a chemical called Cannabidiol (CBD) that has a negative effect on THC and lessens its psychoactive effects when smoked in conjunction.

    Industrial hemp also grows differently than THC-containing cannabis. Hemp is typically grown up, not out, because the focus is not on producing buds but on producing length of stalk. In this way, hemp is a very similar crop to bamboo. The stalk contains the fiber and hard, woody core material that can be used for a variety of purposes, even carpentry.

    The two also differ in the areas that they can be effectively grown. THC-producing Marijuana must be grown in generally warm and humid environments in order to produce the desired quantity and quality of THC-containing buds. However, since industrial hemp does not contain these buds, and the hardy parts of the plant are the more desired, it can be grown in a wider range of areas.

    Generally, industrial hemp grows best on fields that provide high yields for corn crops, which includes most of the Southwest, Southeast, and Northeast United States. Furthermore, since industrial hemp can use male plants as well as female plants (since the object is not THC production), higher crop yields can result.

    While there is virtually no THC in the varieties grown for industrial uses such as oil and fibre, governments have cooperated with powerful corporate lobbyists the ensure that hemp is lumped into the same category as marijuana. The primary reason is that hemp has too many abundant resources for fuel, housing, food, medicine that corporations cannot exploit.

    Think about how many polluting conglomerates would go down if hemp was permitted as a resource. The oil, pharmaceutical, supplement and constructions industry would need to radically shift their business model to survive.

    Abundant Resources
    Hemp provides the fibre to make a durable paper – a far more sensible solution than the wasteful method of clear cutting old growth forests, or even the cultivation pine plantations that are ecologically speaking dead zones that take 20 years to mature before they can be harvested. Cannabis produces 4 times more fibre per acre and can be harvested several times per year. The first dollar bills were printed on hemp paper, your old family bible is probably printed on hemp paper and even the constitution itself was drafted on hemp paper.

    Hemp has the strongest natural fibres, which can be used not just to produce rough cloth, such as sails or canvass, but also durable work clothes, like the original jeans. When the plants are grown closer together the fibre becomes shorter and finer, which allows for finer textiles. Today, there are some fashion designers that are experimenting with a wide range of textiles made from hemp for their stylish, trendy hemp lines, shirts, suits, bags, jeans and more. And, no- you can’t smoke them to get high!

    Hemp fibres are also finding application as a modern building material, an application that has been spearheaded and exploited successfully in France. Hemp fibres can be blended with water and limestone to create an extremely tough, light-weight, natural cement that has not only excellent insulating properties, but also shows more flexibility than conventional concrete, which makes it particularly useful as a building material in earthquake prone areas.

    Back in 1941, Henry Ford built a car that was not only entirely built from ‘hemp plastic’, but also ran on hemp fuel. Hemp oil, pressed from the seeds is also extremely versatile. It can be polymerized to create a solid plastic-like material, which is extremely durable, yet nevertheless is completely natural and biodegradable, which could replace plastics in numerous industrial processes.

    Car manufacturers are again turning to hemp as a resource to provide light-weight, yet shock absorbent and environmentally friendly material for their cars. Due to the high biomass hemp would also make an ideal source of ethanol, the best bio-fuel alternative to gasoline, which is capable of fuelling engines without producing all those evil gases that are destroying our atmosphere and poisoning the air. At long last, some of the top car manufacturers are beginning to follow in Ford’s steps.

    Some Facts on Hemp
    – Farming 6% of the continental U.S. acreage with biomass crops would provide all of America’s energy needs.

    – Hemp is Earth’s number-one biomass resource; it is capable of producing 10 tons per acre in four months.

    – Biomass can be converted to methane, methanol, or gasoline at a cost comparable to petroleum, and hemp is much better for the environment. Pyrolysis (charcoalizing), or biochemical composting are two methods of turning hemp into fuel.

    – Hemp can produce 10 times more methanol than corn.

    – Hemp fuel burns clean. Petroleum causes acid rain due to sulfur pollution.

    – The use of hemp fuel does not contribute to global warming.

    Hemp oil is of a very high quality and industry is using it in paints, inks and varnishes. In recent years the food industry is also discovering its virtues. Hempseed oil is one of the richest sources of essential amino acids and essential fatty acids, providing an excellent balance between omega-3, -6 and -9 fatty acids.

    All of these substances are currently being discussed, not only in the alternative health scene, but also by the food industry, which is searching for suitable ingredients to create so called ‘functional foods’. Essential fatty acids are extremely important to the proper functioning of cells. They play a role in reducing bad cholesterol and plaque, which is responsible for arteriosclerosis. Healthfood companies are beginning to experiment with hemp as a basis for a large range of products- from hemp seed bars, to gummi bears, to beer, to hemp cheese and many more.

    Studies have been released that show people suffering from cancer have low levels of melatonin in their bodies. Also studies have shown that just smoking hemp can raise the melatonin levels in our bodies. So one can only imagine what hemp oil that is in a concentrated state can do to increase melatonin levels. Hemp oil promotes full body healing and raises melatonin levels thousands of times higher than normal. When the pineal gland produces vast amounts of melatonin, it causes no harm to the body but it is very hard on the condition you are suffering from and indeed can eliminate it. For almost a decade, Rick Simpson has been showing people how to cure cancer with hemp oil.

    Both the commercial legal type of hemp oil and the illegal THC laden hemp oil are one of the most power-packed protein sources available in the plant kingdom. Its oil can be used in many nutritional and transdermal applications.

    In other chapters in my Winning the War on Cancer book we will discuss in-depth about GLA and cancer and also the interesting work of Dr. Johanna Budwig.

    She uses flax seed oil instead of hemp oil to cure cancer — through effecting changes in cell walls — using these omega3 and omega6 laden medicinal oils.

    Hemp Oil Uses
    Every application that uses petroleum for it’s skin and hair products can use hemp oil as it is more beneficial and herbal. It can be used in many health issues as either a pain reducer or even as the cure for it.

    – Since hemp oil is natural, it is used as a moisturizing oil which can be applied after a shower or a bath. When you massage your body with it, it nourishes the skin and increases the blood circulation. More on facial skin care.

    – Hemp oil is used in cooking as well, though it is not suitable for high heat cooking. Along with giving a slightly nutty and crispy taste to food, it can be the perfect salad oil just in case you’re out of olive oil.

    – Another application of hemp oil is it’s use as biodiesel in the same manner like other vegetable oils. It is a safe replacement for petroleum as it is non-toxic and doesn’t harm the environment.

    – Almost all the forms of plastics can be made by using hemp oil instead of using petroleum as a base. As those made from petroleum, release harmful chemicals while decomposition, but those from hemp oil, don’t.

    – Hemp oil can also be used in the production of paints as it doesn’t cause any armful releases when washed down from the drain and has very low emissions than the petroleum paints which are currently being used.

    – Hemp oil prevents skin disorders like psoriasis, eczema, acne and dry skin. It is highly nutritious for the skin and makes a wonderful addition to homemade moisturizing blends and rejuvenating creams. (Read Andrew Weil’s article on hemp oil)

    The list of beneficial uses of hemp goes on and on.

    So why is non-psychoactive Hemp illegal?
    There is an old saying: if you want to get to the root of a problem, follow the money. This holds true for hemp. In this case we have to ask the question ‘who benefits from hemp being illegal?’ The logical answer is: the oil companies- and their share holders, of course. Hemp became illegalized at the time when oil was beginning to make an impact on the economy as a base material for many things that hemp could also be used for, including textiles and fibres (plastics), cosmetics and fuel.

    Obviously, a resource is more profitable if access to it is restricted and not every farmer can grow it himself. In an exceedingly clever PR move psychoactive marijuana and hemp have been ‘thrown in the same pot’ as it were, and a massive campaign has been launched to convince people of the dangers of marijuana alias hemp – a highly questionable assertion.

    Although technically hemp is not illegal to grow in some states, it requires obtaining a special permit from the drug enforcement agency (DEA) to restrict mass production. These permits are rarely given out and require that the crop be surrounded by security measures such as fences, razor wire, security guards, or dogs. For a crop that has little-to-no potential to get people high, the current attitude is both irresponsible and draconian.

    Hemp is the most useful plant ally we have – a sustainable resource par excellence, as some might like to call it. Instead of cursing it we should be grateful to its deva and use all its ample gifts to turn the ecological demise of our planet around.

    It is not hard to see how immensely valuable hemp is and how it has the potential of solving many of our environmental problems, not to mention our health problems. Yet, we are continuously deprived of its benefits because farmers are prohibited from cultivating this crop.

    Obviously importing it or products made from it is very expensive and the high expense is a prohibitive factor to choosing hemp as an environmentally friendly alternative even where it is available. It makes no sense to import a crop like hemp, when it can be, should be and used to be grown in all temperate and hot regions of the world.

    Industrial hemp could transform the economy of the world States in a positive and beneficial way, and therefore should be exploited to its full potential
    .
    Last edited by onawah; 17th April 2018 at 18:51.
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    Default Re: Manmade Disasters...and Solutions

    Landmark case?--Jury awards plaintiffs more than $50 million in historic hog nuisance lawsuit
    4/26/18
    http://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/2018/...sance-lawsuit/
    This is very encouraging! Hog farms are notorious for polluting indiscriminately and getting away with it. Perhaps that is changing now.
    Quote This is a developing story and will be updated tomorrow.

    A jury deliberated for less than two days before awarding 10 plaintiffs $50 million in a hog nuisance lawsuit against Murphy-Brown/Smithfield Foods, the world’s largest pork producer.

    According to the verdict sheet, the jury unanimously agreed that Murphy-Brown, which owns the hogs at Kinlaw Farms in Bladen County, “substantially and unreasonably interfered with the plaintiff’s use and enjoyment of their property.” The jury awarded each of the plaintiffs $75,000 on those grounds. But the jury also had the latitude to award punitive damages. They did so: $5 million for each plaintiff. In sum, the plaintiffs, ranging in age from their teens to 85, were awarded a total of $50.7 million.

    “We are pleased with the verdict,” said Mona Lisa Wallace of Wallace and Graham law firm in Salisbury, in a prepared statement. The firm represented the plaintiffs, and Michael Kaeske argued the case. “These cases are about North Carolina family property rights and a clean environment. I am grateful for the hard work of our co-counsel, Mike Kaeske, and the others who worked on this trial. We are now preparing for the next which is scheduled for the end of May.”

    At least a half-dozen more trials related to nuisances from industrialized hog farms are scheduled through the fall.

    Smithfield Foods, a $15 billion global food company, issued a statement in response to the verdict, which the company said it will appeal to the Fourth Circuit Court. Here it is in full:

    “We are extremely disappointed by the verdict. We will appeal to the Fourth Circuit, and we are confident we will prevail. We believe the outcome would have been different if the court had allowed the jury to (1) visit the plaintiffs’ properties and the Kinlaw farm and (2) hear additional vital evidence, especially the results of our expert’s odor-monitoring tests.

    These lawsuits are an outrageous attack on animal agriculture, rural North Carolina and thousands of independent family farmers who own and operate contract farms. These farmers are apparently not safe from attack even if they fully comply with all federal, state and local laws and regulations. The lawsuits are a serious threat to a major industry, to North Carolina’s entire economy and to the jobs and livelihoods of tens of thousands of North Carolinians.

    From the beginning, the lawsuits have been nothing more than a money grab by a big litigation machine. Plaintiffs’ original lawyers promised potential plaintiffs a big payday. Those lawyers were condemned by a North Carolina state court for unethical practices. Plaintiffs’ counsel at trial relied heavily on anti-agriculture, anti-corporate rhetoric rather than the real facts in the case. These practices are abuses of our legal system, and we will continue to fight them.”

    The original jury pool of 40 or so people was roughly 50 percent Black. But after Smithfield attorneys finished their challenges to the jurors, the final 10-person panel was predominantly white. (A 12th juror, also white, became ill early in the trial and could not continue serving; another juror was excused because they knew one of the witnesses..) All of the plaintiffs are Black. Most are related and live in modest homes adjacent to Kinlaw Farms, which raises 15,000 hogs owned by Murphy-Brown/Smithfield Foods. Next door, Don Butler, a retired corporate executive for Murphy-Brown/Smithfield lives on a palatial estate where he raises horses. (This is a different Don Butler than the one that worked for Murphy-Brown.)

    Attorney Mark Anderson, who represented Murphy-Brown, cited state law that caps the amount of punitive damages. He said that punitives can’t be more than three times the compensatory damages — in this case, $225,000 per plaintiff — or $250,000, whichever is higher. If the jury awards more than that amount, the trial court is supposed to reduce the award to the maximum amount.

    However, Michelle Nowlin, clinical professor of law and supervising attorney for the Environmental Law and Policy Clinic at Duke University, said the standards could be different because this trial was held in federal court, not state court. But if the ratio of compensatory to punitive damages is more than 1 to 10, then the award could be reviewed; the extra damages aren’t prohibited, but do receive additional scruinty. If that standard applies in this case, the punitive awards could be capped at $750,000 per plaintiff.

    She was not involved in the case, but is an expert in agricultural law and policy, and led the Southern Environmental Law Center’s Hog Industry Project.

    “This is a significant victory for the community members who live next to these factory feedlots,” she said in a written statement. “They have suffered indescribable insults, not just from the immediate impacts of the feedlots themselves, but also from decades of government failure to come to their aid. Litigation was their last chance for justice, and this verdict and award will help them move forward.”
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    Default Re: Manmade Disasters...and Solutions

    Rodale Institute Industrial Hemp Research Project
    Industrial hemp as a cash or cover crop to address weed pest issues and enhance soil health in organic agriculture.
    Rodale Institute on April 19, 2018
    ( Commercial farming is definitely a disaster. Hemp could really help set the path straight again towards more sustainability.)
    https://hemphistoryweek.com/blog/rod...earch-project/
    Quote Learn about Rodale Institute’s pioneering research on organic, no-till farming of hemp in Pennsylvania. Rodale’s work focuses on hemp’s benefit to soil health and crop rotations within a regenerative agriculture model, and will provide farmers the necessary tools and knowledge to successfully farm hemp commercially once federal prohibition of the crop is lifted. Be sure to also watch the Hemp History Week video at the bottom of this article that features the Rodale Institute’s hemp trials!Our Project

    Pennsylvania’s Industrial Hemp Research Act
    Industrial hemp, a versatile plant grown for its fiber, seed or oil, was a valuable cash crop and a major industry in Pennsylvania for more than 260 years. Due to its close relationship to the marijuana plant, hemp production became a casualty of a 1933 law banning marijuana, and was later named a Schedule 1 drug by the Controlled Substances Act of 1970.

    Several states have authorized programs that aim to either assess the potential for industrial hemp or to actively support the adoption of industrial hemp by farmers. The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture (PDA) is conducting an Industrial Hemp Research Pilot Program as authorized by section 7606 of the Agricultural Act of 2014 (Farm Bill) and Pennsylvania’s Industrial Hemp Research Act (3 Pa.C.S.A. 701-710) (Act 92), signed by Governor Wolf on July 20, 2016. This program allows researchers from institutions of higher education and growers contracting with PDA to apply and be approved for a research permit from PDA.

    Rodale Institute welcomed Pennsylvania Secretary of Agriculture, Russell Redding, to the farm for a tour of the Industrial Hemp Research Project.
    In 2017, Rodale Institute was one of 16 organizations that received a permit for the inaugural planting of hemp in Pennsylvania in more than 80 years, as part of the PA Department of Agriculture Industrial Hemp Pilot Project.With initial funding from Dr. Bronner’s, the institute initiated the four-year research project, beginning 2017, to evaluate industrial hemp varieties that are most suited to soil and climatic conditions in Pennsylvania, determine the potential of selected hemp varieties to suppress and manage weeds in an organic reduced tillage management system, and monitor soil health. Our research aims to identify which varieties of hemp will be effective for future use by organic farmers. Organic farmers are interested in growing hemp but require research-based information that will help them make informed decisions about integrating hemp into their rotations.

    The project has two main components; a variety trial that aims to determine available varieties with greatest seed yield and biomass/fiber content and a weed suppression trial that aims to establish hemp as a dual cover and cash crop. Due to seed sourcing challenges, we were only able to secure three varieties for the trial, which are being assessed for weed suppression, viability (germination and stand counts), weed density and biomass, growth parameters (height, time and percentage of bud emergence, hemp biomass, and seed yield) as well as effect on soil physical and chemical properties.The weed competition trial is evaluating the potential of hemp to act as a substitute cover crop (specifically to replace sorghum Sudan grass) in common organic tilled and no-till crop rotations, as a weed suppression cover crop (that also doubles up as cash crop). We are especially interested in determining if hemp can suppress weeds enough to facilitate no-till planting of winter cover crops – the main ones in this region being cereal rye (normally rolled/crimped to plant soybeans) and hairy vetch (usually rolled/crimped to plant corn). Agronomic data being collected include weed density and biomass, growth parameters (height and biomass) as well as soil physical and chemical properties.

    What we learned in year one
    Preliminary results indicate that both hemp (Santhica – fiber variety) and sorghum Sudan grass substantially suppress weeds almost equally compared to control. Our preliminary data also indicate that hemp suppresses ragweed better than Sudan grass, while the latter suppresses lambsquarters better than hemp. Preliminary data also suggest that ‘Santhica’ hemp variety and Sudan grass reduce soil bulk density compared to the other two seed varieties and control. Additional data and statistical analyses are still being compiled.

    Challenges we faced
    The primary challenges experienced during this first year included sourcing the seed and working out the permitting process. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania was in their first year of the permitting process as well as handling import and export red tape, so there were several learning curves that had to be worked out. Sourcing quality seed from international sellers was especially challenging. After substantial delay obtaining four varieties originally planned for the variety trial, one variety was found to have only have a 3% germination rate and had to be discarded. These challenges, however, provided valuable lessons that will be useful in overcoming similar future obstacles.
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    Default Re: Manmade Disasters...and Solutions

    Fungi to the rescue!
    This Fungus Eats Polyurethane
    Scientists found it at the dump. One day it could fix our plastic problem.
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    BY CASEY O'BRIEN | OCT 4 2018
    https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/fu...ign=newsletter


    "To Sehroon Khan, a scientist at the Kunming Institute of Botany in the province of Yunnan, China, exploring a new garbage dump is kind of like going to the grocery store. “You know that if you go to a vegetable market, you can find all types of vegetables easily,” Khan says. “If you go to a garbage or dumping site where there are many plastic wastes, there must be a microorganism that can degrade it.”

    In 2017, Khan and a team of other scientists collected a sample of a previously undiscovered strain of fungus on top of a garbage dump in Islamabad, Pakistan. When they took it back to China to study in the laboratory, the species of fungus, a previously undiscovered strain of the species Aspergillus tubingensis, was able to break down polyurethane—common in industrial settings and used in refrigerators, fake leather, and many other applications—in just weeks instead of decades. The fungus secretes enzymes that break down the plastic’s chemical bonds and uses its mycelia—filaments fungi grow that are much like a plant’s roots—to break apart the plastic further.

    Although there have been studies in the past highlighting fungus species that can degrade plastics, these species are rare, and Aspergillus tubingensis has never been found to do so before. The new strain “has potential to be developed into one of the tools desperately needed to address the growing environmental problem of plastic waste,” according to Kew Gardens’ State of the World’s Fungi report.

    Often, biologists do field work in remote areas that are relatively undisturbed by humans as part of an attempt to understand the biodiversity of those regions, says Ilia Leitch, a senior scientist at Kew and one of the authors of the report. “But these researchers, instead of going to an exotic location, went specifically to rubbish dumps to look for fungi that can process plastic. So less of an exotic trip, but much more important in some respects.”

    Plastic is popular precisely because it doesn’t degrade—there are very few life-forms out there that are capable of eating it. Plastic is also wreaking havoc on ecosystems around the world for the same reason. Most of the 8.3 billion tons of plastic that have been produced since its use became widespread in the 1950s still exists in some way. Only a fifth of all plastic is recycled.

    While the discovery has potential, it will likely take years to develop it into something that can break down polyurethane on a large scale, partially because the scientists are still working on determining the best conditions for the fungus to grow. Khan’s team is at work looking for applications for their findings, and Leitch is cautiously optimistic. “This is an exciting discovery, but it is really quite new—it is going to be a long road to turn it into a solution.”

    Fungi are best known for breaking down organic material like dead leaves but play an important role in science, even though we have only identified about 7 percent of the world’s fungi. Fungi are used in bioremediation projects, to help clean up oil spills, and to draw heavy metals out of soil. They are used in medicines like antibiotics and statins. Scientist Dr. Jean Borel used compounds from fungi to develop one of the first successful immunosuppressant drugs, which allowed for successful organ transplants.

    “They play a really important role,” Leitch says. “But because we can’t see them most of the time, we don’t appreciate them. That’s why we underestimate them, I think. But they are critically important to all of our lives.”
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