Category: Earth Community
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Organic Seed Banks Preserve Genetically Diverse Food Supply
Seed Activism In a recent study titled “Seed Freedom: A Global Citizens Report,” Shiva’s research showed the ways that genetic contamination is rapidly spreading and, specifically, how India has lost organic cotton seed varieties due to contamination by Bt Cotton. The report also points to other places, like Mexico, facing similar challenges. “Mexico, the historical…
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Life Under the Ice
Science News‘ long piece on a study, conducted by Russian scientists at Lake Vostok, reveals evidence of a complex subglacial ecosystem: Lake Vostok is a behemoth, and not just by Antarctic standards. It is nearly as big as Lake Ontario and much deeper — estimated to be more than 900 meters in some places. By…
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United Nations’ FAO Reaches Landmark Decision
This is great news! The Wall Street Journal’s Christopher Emsden announces a landmark decision reached by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization: …The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization Tuesday reached a deal giving extended support to co-operatives, a growing force in the global economy. The FAO’s memorandum of understanding is with the International…
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State Confers Award to Navara Eco Farm for Saving Rare Rice Variety
Mr. Narayanan Unny and his Navara Eco farm are featured in N.J. Prabu’s article in The Hindu. “Navara is a medicinal rice variety and its cultivation is almost extinct. Many reasons such as non-availability of pure seeds, low yield and high production cost are attributed for this. The speciality is that this is the only…
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Islamabad Women’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IWCCI) Promotes Organic Farming
I’ve really come to admire the women of India and Pakistan. Contrary to Western stereotypes, many Indian and Pakistani women are engaged and active in all spheres of society and are fighting for better standards of living for themselves and their communities. In this Business Recorder article, Parvez Jabri spotlights the push toward organic farming…
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Meteorites May be Responsible for Life on Earth
The Pentagon Post features an article by Ike Miller that delves into a fascinating hypothesis of how meteorites may have been responsible for life on earth: Scientists were surprised to find that a meteorite that landed in California in 2012 contained all the essential ingredients necessary for the evolution of life. The Meteorite that exploded…
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Stop Nestlé from Stealing
Nestlé is taking 265 million liters of fresh Canadian water every year to bottle and sell off around the world — and it does not pay a penny. At a time when water is in short supply around the world, it is outrageous that Nestlé can draw limitless amounts of our natural resources to sell…
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Shut Up and Listen – Cont’d.
Peasant communities all over the world are beginning to realize that, although intensive agriculture might boost crop yields in the short term with seemingly little effort, in the long term it pollutes water sources and depletes the soil. Many have decided to abandon intensive agriculture and revert to the traditional farming practices used by their ancestors for…
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Fela Kuti
The musical style of Felá is called Afrobeat, a style he largely created, which is a complex fusion of Jazz, Funk, Ghanaian/Nigerian High-life, psychedelic rock, and traditional West African chants and rhythms. Afrobeat also borrows heavily from the native “tinker pan” African-style percussion that Kuti acquired while studying in Ghana with Hugh Masekela, under the uncanny Hedzoleh Soundz.[15] The importance of the…
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Indian Farmers Learn From Past Mistakes
Tan Cheng Li writes about a growing number of farmers in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu who are returning to the old way of chemical-free cultivation of crops: YONG Weng Thing was amazed when he saw the field of spinach. Being a farmer himself, he knows good quality stuff when he sees it and…
