Author: Daniela

  • Wednesday’s Poem

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    A mum’s poem: Where Daisy Chains Lie Through the thronged streets. Applause rippled in waves As they strode along High St, Road and Avenue, Remembering other roads As familiar now as these. Wishtan, Nad e Ali Musa Qul’ah In whose parched soil, Strands of daisy chains Lay buried under the dirt To trip the unwary…

  • Cicia, First Fully Organic Island in Fiji

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    I posted information on Cicia, the first island in Fiji to become fully organic before, but, as Islands Business states, this story did not get enough coverage.  The author of the article lays out the drawbacks of industrial agriculture and lauds Cicia’s decision to reject the industrial farming practices they once embraced to become fully…

  • Link Between Food Web and Green House Gas Emissions Found in Ocean

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    Daniela
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    Earthsky blog reports on a study that uncovers one of the “first and best examples of a direct link between a food web and the dynamics that control greenhouse gas emissions from the ocean.” Results of the study, which was funded primarily by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Federal Ministry of Education and…

  • Agrochemical Companies and their stockholders the only ones who need genetically engineered crops

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    In the opinion section of Pambazuka News, Ali Masmadi Jehu Appiah, a Chairperson for Food Sovereignty Ghana, asserts, “The only people who need genetically engineered crops are the foreign seed and agrochemical companies and their stockholders.”  He provides a compelling argument for why Ghana should reject genetically engineered Bt cotton: After several years of apparent short-term success in…

  • No Sacred Cows

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    Originally posted on The Dish: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjRA1s5CVbs In a long essay on the ethics of eating animals, Namit Arora explains the intellectual and cultural backdrop to the West’s comparative indifference and even cruelty to the creatures we raise for food: What might have arrested this decline in the fortunes of farm animals are big cultural ideas,…

  • Organic Farm Poised to Convert Farm Waste to Energy

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    Daniela
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    The Advertiser announces that an organic farm intends to produce power for the national grid by using a digester to convert farm waste to energy: Home Farm, at Newby Wiske, which is the northern base for Riverford Organic Farms, has applied to Hambleton District Council to install a sunken and domed 200kW anaerobic digester as part of…

  • Marketing Co-op Seen as Last Defense Against Free Trade

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    Daniela
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    Why do governments sign these trade agreements that negatively impact their local producers?  This article by Jimmy Laking, in the Phillipine Baguia Midland Courier, underscores the need to strengthen farmers marketing cooperatives to cope with the onslaught of vegetable products from China, that will flood the market, when the ASEAN Free Trade Agreement comes into…

  • Harvard Scientists Link Coffee Drinking to 45% Lower Suicide Risk

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    Daniela
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    Of course – because drinking coffee makes you happy!!! Harvard scientists say their new study supports an association between drinking two to three cups of coffee daily and a 45% lower risk of suicide.

  • Weight Loss Improved with High-Calorie Breakfast

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    Daniela
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    Caroline Scott-Thomas explains why a high calorie breakfast may help you lose weight more quickly and improve your health: Published in the journal Obesity, the study randomly assigned 93 overweight or obese women to one of two diets, both providing 1,400 calories a day over a 12-week period.  One group consumed a high-calorie breakfast (700…

  • Earth’s “Deep Time” to Predict Future Effects of Climate Change

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    The Science Codex blog reports on a new study that highlights how information from past episodes of rapid change in the Earth’s history provide a valuable tool in predicting how climate change will affect our ecosystems: “Climate change and other human influences are altering Earth’s living systems in big ways, such as changes in growing seasons…