Posts
SOIL: the Forgotten Element
United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) We live, all our lives, less than 25 centimetres away from extinction. For that is the average thickness of the thin dusting of topsoil that is all that stands between us and a barren planet, and on which we utterly depend. About a quarter of the world's agricultural land, the United Nations reports, has already been degraded, and another 12 million hectares – an area the size of the African country of Benin is lost to farming each year. TUNZA looks at the issues surrounding this forgotten crisis. more ... PLT: I was astonished (naive?) to just learn that UNEP works with Bayer (the big German-based corporation), to "encourage young people to care for the environment." They neglect to mention that Bayer has been making farm poisons which have been killing honeybees, for years! You don't suppose Bayer has a hidden agenda here, do you? Naaaa!
Eminent Domain Fight Has a Canadian Twist
LESLIE KAUFMAN and DAN FROSCH New York Times Oc 17'11 A Canadian company has been threatening to confiscate private land from South Dakota to the Gulf of Mexico, and is already suing many who have refused to allow the Keystone XL pipeline on their property, even though the controversial project has yet to receive federal approval. Details here.