Who Benefits from GM Seeds?

*by Sam Burcher -

Agroecology Offers Real Solutions to World Hunger After Decades of GM Hype

The Via Campesina (the Peasants’ way) is emerging as a potentially powerful international movement mobilizing resistance against the GM Corporations, which have consolidated their agro-chemical companies into just five major global players; Monsanto, Bayer, BASF, Syngenta and Dupont.

A recent report by the Friends of the Earth (FOE) ¹ has highlighted the struggle between the two forces for control of the seeds. On one side are the 1.5 million members of the Via Campesina, who are demanding food sovereignty or the right to grow healthy food from local, time-honoured seeds.  On the opposing side are the mega Corporations, which have gained so much power through patents on GM seeds.

Bill McGibben Speaks to Power Shift 2011 - a Must-See Video!

Canada Has More to Offer the World Than Oil

Eric Swanson at Apr 15, 2011 DOGWOOD Initiative
Enbridge CEO Patrick Daniel has been getting a lot of attention lately while pushing his view that his Northern Gateway oil supertanker proposal for B.C.’s coast presents a profound choice. We couldn’t agree more. Details here.

Manitoba Floods Close Main Highway Artery Into the 'States - Is THIS Climate Change?

by Larry Powell - In its latest flood bulletin, the Government of Manitoba has announced it has closed a key access road between Winnipeg and North Dakota, PTH 75, (l.) "as a result of rising floodwater."   

                           

The flooding is already covering a larger area of the province than ever before. And flood levels in the Red River Valley are expected to top leves in 2009, the 2nd worst flood in the province in 150 yrs.    

There have been hundreds of rural road closures, states of emergency and evacuations of both residences and personal care homes.         

                

Two deaths have been attributed to the flooding.    

                                    

 Ice jams on the Assiniboine River west of Winnipeg yesterday caused the water to rise almost 2 meters (6ft). The jams have now moved out, sending water downstream. And that is expected to raise water levels of 30 cm (1 ft) going into Winnipeg. 

The Town of Melita (in the southwest of the province) has declared a state of local emergency.  Work is ongoing on the Melita dike to protect the community. 

The Assiniboine Valley at St. Lazare 

A section of the ring dike at St-Lazare will be raised by approximately 30cm as a precautionary measure in preparation for high flows from the Qu'Appelle River expected later this week.     

 This bridge, (r.) near the confluence of the Qu'Appelle and Assiniboine Rivers at St. Lazare, had very little "freeboard" beneath it, when I visited there yesterday (Sunday) and the crests haven't even arrived yet!

A second peak is expected over the weekend along the Qu'Appelle River. Part of PTH 41 is expected to close because of high waters.

Due to high flows on the Assiniboine, the Portage Diversion has been operated at or near maximum  capacity for the last three days. 

 

This is the normally docile Boggy Creek, now swollen and rushing toward Lake of the Prairies, on the Assiniboine River near Roblin. (All photos & video by l.p.)

PUBLISHER'S COMMENT: Is it global warming?

I put that question to the chief climatologist at Environment Canada, Dave Phillips. I had sent him a news account out of the States. In it, climate scientists suggested a link between the extreme blizzards which struck the eastern seaboard in the previous two winters, ("Snowmageddons") and climate change. As they explained, that's because a warmer atmosphere can hold a lot more precipitation - hence, more intense rainfalls/snowfalls. So I asked Mr. Phillips whether this might be the case in this country, as well. Here is his response, in an email to me on March 14th. l.p.

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 Hello Larry:
 
Thank you for your question and reference to the newspaper article. (...That article...) focused on weather in the United States but the circulation pattern described in the piece is also influencing the weather here in Canada.  For example what the writer says about the Red River in North Dakota applies equally so in Manitoba and most Canadians in Atlantic Canada will say this winter has been especially difficult with its parade of storms.  I think that climate is having the same effect on our extremes as in the United States.  What is especially becoming evident in recent years is the increased variability of the weather and that likely is associated with altered climate.  More so there seems to be an increase in the frequency of heavy rainfalls.  We are seeing that in Canada.  More of our flooding events come from intense rainfalls than snow and and ice melting events which were the big flood producers of the past.  Just last month a seminal ariticle appeared in Nature linking rainfall intensity with anthropogenic climate change.  Again, I think if you look for them there are changes in the frequency, intensity and duration of extreme weather events in Canada just as there are in the United States.
Thanks for your interest Larry.
 
David Phillips

US Meat and Poultry Is Widely Contaminated With Drug-Resistant Staph Bacteria, Study Finds

ScienceDaily (Apr. 15, 2011) — Drug-resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus (r.), a bacteria linked to a wide range of human diseases, are present in meat and poultry from U.S. grocery stores at unexpectedly high rates...Details here.

Conversation with Deepak Chopra - GE Alfalfa - Video

deepakhomebase on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free

Since the making of this video, the USDA has, to its everlasting shame, approved both GE alfalfa and GE sugarbeets. Canada threatens to do the same! l.p.

Catastrophe In The gulf of Mexico: Devastation Persists One Year After Spill

Centre for Biological Diversity Apr 12'11
It’s been a year since BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig blew up in the Gulf of Mexico, killing 11 people and unleashing the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history. Details here.

Dam Construction Is Set to Destroy the 'Mother of all Rivers'

AlterNet / By Aviva Imhof - Apr 15 '11

A series of dams proposed along the Mekong River threaten 41 fish species with extinction and puts the livelihoods of nearly half a million people at risk. Details here.

The Red River Valley Could be Headed for its Second-Worst Flooding in a-Century-&-a-Half - The Gov't. of Manitoba

In its latest flood bulletin, the Government of Manitoba states, "While the upper level of the forecast range has been reduced slightly, it still remains somewhat above 2,009 levels for all points on the Red River. 2009 was the second-largest flood in the past 150 years."

While cooler-than-normal temperatures will blunt the severity of the flooding, it will also make it last longer than it otherwise would, the Government adds.

A swollen stream spills into Boggy Creek, just above Lake of the Prairies (on the Assiniboine River system) in western Manitoba.

PUBLISHER'S COMMENT: It's only mid-April. Yet,  already two people have died and hundreds more have been displaced in flood-related incidents. Scores of roads have been washed out and many homes and businesses are isolated by the floodwaters. Ranchers report conditions hazardous for their livestock. At least three personal care homes have been evacuated. At least one boil-water advisory has been ordered. The main CN rail line was damaged for a time and trains re-routed. In neighboring Saskatchewan, flooding closed the Trans Canada Highway east of Regina and there are fears for the safety of drinking water. 

Just how much longer can the "powers that be" ignore the role that climate change is surely playing in these catastrophic events? One would think the increase in the frequency and severity of these occurrences are now plain for all to see. In a saner world, it surely ought to be more than enough to prompt a response in the form of regulations to control greenhouse gas emissions. 

On the contrary, here in Manitoba, we are seeing:

• Exploration for oil, a non-renewable, unsustainble, climate-change-producing resource, at an all-time high.
• Massive excavation and earth-movinig in preparation for "Centreport," a misguided megaproject to turn Winnipeg into a "hub" for just about any mode of transport you can imagine, connecting the city with the rest of the continent, including Mexico and Nunavut! It's promoters call it "world-class." I call it Greenhouse-Gas City!"
• A massive expansion of the Winnipeg airport, to accomodate many more jetliners, among the worst contributors to the climate change crisis. 
• Rather than take measures which attack the root-causes of climate change, massive machines break up ice jams, dig deeper trenches and higher dikes, producing more harmful emissions in the process.
• Meanwhile, greenhouse gases in this province are, like most other places, on the rise. Yet we are apparently supposed to believe this government is, somehow,"green!!!!" l.p. 

Please also read: "Prairie Flooding Delays Seeding Two Weeks So Far."

Earth to EPA: Bees Need Help Now

PANNA - Apr 14 '11
In the last four months, 1.2 million people around the world have raised their voices on behalf of honey bees – urging officials to take decisive, precautionary action by suspending a suspect class of pesticides (neonicotinoids) known to undermine honey bee immunity. Details here.

EARTH DAY..22 APRIL - A Letter to the Editor

Dear Editor,
 
We put aside this day each year to officially recognize and appreciate our Planet and to honour the sacred elements of Air, Water,

Earth and Fire.

Some estimate that North Americans alone need five planets, the size of our earth , to sustain their continued and present rate of green

house gas emissions. This is very sad and alarming news.

Our governments have an important role to play in solving this problem. Unfortunately,however,it is governments that have allowed and encouraged activities that increase emissions and brought us to a place of crisis. Our governments are supposed to be accountable for their actions, to regulate and make decisions that protect public interest, the environment.

Human health and survival depends on a healthy environment.

Yet, today's governments are unduly influenced and controlled in too many ways by industry and corporations with their promises of investments,development,technological solutions and globalized trade.

I have yet to see their names printed on ballots at the voting centres, yet their impact and corporate power are prominent and usually prevail in so many controversial decisions,regarding Nature and Earth. This leaves me to conclude, that although not democratically elected, they are the ones effectively in control.They are the ones that control the decision-makers.

With the compliments of our government, federal and provincial environmental assessment laws, originally put in place, "to protect" our waters and environment, have been gutted and stripped, so as to not hinder the progress of Industry. How often are development proposal approvals denied? Provincial regulations receive little or no enforcement in matters that could impede economic development

profit and "economic growth".

These are the workings of corporate-first politics. Is it any wonder,that our planet is in trouble?. 

Our home,planet earth, does not deserve the disrespectful,unethical exploitation that it is experiencing from the industries and corporations in their relentless pursuit of profit. Our earth does not deserve governments, who wilfully abandon responsibilities to protect, for the primary benefit and domination of industry.

Granted the planet, environment, water and air pollution issues and the associated health risks are all talked about, but, always seem to come in second best,and in the majority of the final decisions, are the losers. 

Why do we recognize only "one day each year" as Earth Day?  Shouldn't Earth Day be "every day"? After all, we do not have five other planets to depend on. Earth is our one and only home. "There's no place else to go" 

But I also know and realize there are a great many North Americans fighting very hard to preserve and save our planet from the ravages of industry and its continued plundering of the Earth's resources, realizing that the advertised concepts of "sustainable progress and development," so often end up as economic disasters. Disasters that we,as taxpayers, and nature, end up paying for.

The lessons of history are there to remind us all,about Corporate "greed".

In support of this Earth Day and every day from now on, let us all begin by treating and appreciating our earth with the deserving respect of its creation and be thankful for how it sustains human life. 

Let us continue to support these values by proclaiming "The Truth". The crisis is human. Man is the cause and the victim. We are destroying what we need to survive. Governments must be compelled, by us, to live up to their responsibilities.

Economy is not the bottom line. The survival of humans through the protection of earth is. 

The burden of responsibility for the survival of future generations and this Earth,is an honourable and moral commitment.

                                        

 John Fefchak.

 Virden,Man.

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Please also read "Born of the Stump."