Tag: Biodiversity
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Agroecology Popular in Latin World
I came across several good articles on agroecology this week. First, Lois Ross at Rabble.ca feels we have a lot to learn from Cuba’s agroecological revolution. After the collapse of the Soviet Union Cuba’s export market for sugar fell. “It did not have the currency to import petroleum or petroleum-based fertilizers to continue cultivation of monocultures…
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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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Monsanto Drawing Opposition Across Globe
Increasingly Monsanto is drawing opposition across the globe. In The Times of India Laxmi Prasanna reports on a recent conference held in Thiruvananthapuram that attracted green activists and scientists from around the world. As part of the global call against Monsanto, participants including green activists from 400 cities across the world including Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram will organise…
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Agrochemical Companies and their stockholders the only ones who need genetically engineered crops
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…
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New Paradigm: Earth Democracy
Vandana Shiva has long advocated that we change our worldview from separation from nature to connectedness with it. In this excerpt from her essay New Paradigm: Earth Democracy, she addresses the root of the problem and urges us to again become part of the Earth community: The same technological and economic systems that violate the…