Sergey Brin says he and Google co-founder Larry Page would not have been able to create their search giant if the internet was dominated by Facebook. Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

The principles of openness and universal access that underpinned the creation of the internet three decades ago are under greater threat than ever, according to Google co-founder Sergey Brin.

In an interview with the Guardian, Brin warned there were “very powerful forces that have lined up against the open internet on all sides and around the world”. “I am more worried than I have been in the past,” he said. “It’s scary.”

The threat to the freedom of the internet comes, he claims, from a combination of governments increasingly trying to control access and communication by their citizens, the entertainment industry’s attempts to crack down on piracy, and the rise of “restrictive” walled gardens such as Facebook and Apple, which tightly control what software can be released on their platforms.

The 38-year-old billionaire, whose family fled antisemitism in the Soviet Union, was widely regarded as having been the driving force behind Google’s partial pullout from China in 2010 over concerns about censorship and cyber-attacks. He said five years ago he did not believe China or any country could effectively restrict the internet for long, but now says he has been proven wrong. “I thought there was no way to put the genie back in the bottle, but now it seems in certain areas the genie has been put back in the bottle,” he said.

He said he was most concerned by the efforts of countries such as China, Saudi Arabia and Iran to censor and restrict use of the internet, but warned that the rise of Facebook and Apple, which have their own proprietary platforms and control access to their users, risked stifling innovation and balkanising the web.

“There’s a lot to be lost,” he said. “For example, all the information in apps – that data is not crawlable by web crawlers. You can’t search it.”

Brin’s criticism of Facebook is likely to be controversial, with the social network approaching an estimated $100bn (£64bn) flotation. Google’s upstart rival has seen explosive growth: it has signed up half of Americans with computer access and more than 800 million members worldwide.

Brin said he and co-founder Larry Page would not have been able to create Google if the internet was dominated by Facebook. “You have to play by their rules, which are really restrictive,” he said. “The kind of environment that we developed Google in, the reason that we were able to develop a search engine, is the web was so open. Once you get too many rules, that will stifle innovation.”

He criticised Facebook for not making it easy for users to switch their data to other services. “Facebook has been sucking down Gmail contacts for many years,” he said.

Brin’s comments come on the first day of a week-long Guardian investigation of the intensifying battle for control of the internet being fought across the globe between governments, companies, military strategists, activists and hackers.

Continue reading at The Guardian.

Source: The Guardian/UK, 15 April 2012

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‘The majority of Canadians are opposed to the annual seal slaughter.’ Photograph: Stewart Cook / Rex Features

This Thursday marks the official start of Newfoundland’s and Labrador’s spring seal-slaughtering season. More than two thousand seals have been killed so far this year. Many more will be clubbed or shot before sealers hook them in the eye, cheek or mouth and drag them across the ice floes off Canada’s east coast. Some will be skinned while they are still alive. Each one of them is a victim of the Canadian government’s desperate efforts to keep the failing sealing industry afloat. Many had hoped that the seal slaughter would not happen this year. The Canadian government’s decision to go ahead with this annual bloodbath – despite the fact that there is no longer any market for seal fur – makes no economic sense.

What should have been the final nail in the coffin of the seal slaughter came last December when Russia – which had been buying 95% of Canadian seal pelts – joined the EU, Mexico and the US in banning seal-fur imports. Russian president Vladimir Putin has called seal hunting a “bloody business that should have been banned long ago” and later ended seal imports after Pamela Anderson led an international appeal on behalf. In September, the EU rejected an obviously orchestrated attempt by the Canadian government, in its challenge of the EU ban on seal products, to play the “native Canadian Inuit” card. But the Inuit live far from “the front” – the area where the mass commercial slaughter takes place – and are responsible for only about 3% of Canada’s annual seal kill. The EU already exempts Inuit seal products from the ban.

The seal slaughter most definitely doesn’t continue because of support in Canada. Polls have consistently shown that the majority of Canadians are opposed to the slaughter. Millions in taxpayer money are being wasted to prop up this dying industry. The federal government pours up to CAN$7m (£4.4m) a year into maintaining an industry that nets only about $1m. While seal pelts used to earn sealers more than $100 each, the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans reported that in 2010, pelts were sold for only about $20 to $25. At this rate, sealers can hardly cover their operating costs.

Very few sealers took part in the 2011 slaughter, and they killed less than 10% of the 400,000-seal quota. One of the largest seal-processing companies, NuTan Furs, has just announced that it will not buy any seal pelts this year. The Canadian government has been trying to peddle seal products in China, but groups like PETA Asia have been working hard to ensure that doesn’t happen. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and the provincial government of Newfoundland and Labrador even just announced it would provide $3.6m in financing for a fur processor.

So why does the Canadian government still allow thousands of seals to be slaughtered in such barbaric ways, squandering millions in tax dollars and staining the country’s international reputation in the process? It likely won’t surprise you to learn that the answer is politics. Both the liberal and conservative parties are desperate to control the swing seats in Newfoundland. But now even Canadian politicians are openly questioning the slaughter. Ryan Cleary, a member of the Canadian parliament who represents one of the regions in which the seal slaughter takes place, summed up the general feeling when he acknowledged: “Part of our history is also whaling, for example, and the day came when the whaling industry stopped. Now, is that day coming with the seal hunt? It just may be”.

That day has come, in fact it’s long overdue. It’s more important now than ever for people to speak out against this cruelty.

Source: The Guardian/UK, 12 April 2012

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10,153 million (nearly 10.2 billion) land animals were raised and killed for food in the United States in 2010, according to data extrapolated from U.S. Department of Agriculture reports. This is a 1.7% rise from the 2009 totals, larger than the 0.9% increase in US population, meaning that animals killed per-capita increased slightly.

The Breakdown:

Of the 10,153 million land animals killed, 9,210 million (91%) were chickens raised for meat, 464 million (4.5%) were chickens raised for eggs, 276 million (2.5%) were turkeys, and the remaining 202 million (2%) were cows, pigs, other mammals, and ducks and geese.

In addition to the 9,278 million animals who were slaughtered, the total figure includes the 875 million animals, or 8.6%, who died lingering deaths from disease, injury, starvation, suffocation, maceration, or other atrocities of animal farming and transport. It should be noted that the U.S. is a net exporter of both live animals and processed meat, so the number of animals actually consumed in the U.S. was less than the number killed.

The 10,153 million animals raised and killed for food in the U.S. in 2009 accounted for 98% of all land animals abused and killed in the U.S. An estimated additional 200 million land animals were killed in biomedical experiments, by hunters, by furriers, in pounds, or as “pests”.

2011 Projections, Industry Speculations and Aquatic Animal Estimates:

Based on January-August 2011 USDA slaughter numbers, it is projected that the number of land animals killed in 2011 will increase an additional 1% from 2010 numbers, rising to approximately 10,266 million animals. Fortunately, due to increased feed prices and sinking domestic demand, Bloomberg.com is speculating that there may be a 5% drop in animals raised for food in 2012!

While the number of aquatic animals killed each year is not reported, meticulous calculations by researcher Noam Mohr estimate the number of finfishes killed each year for US consumption to be 13,027 million, and the number of shellfishes to be 40,455 million, resulting in a combined 53,481 million (over 53 billion) aquatic animals who died for American consumption in 2010.

In Personal and Global Terms:

Per-person, an average American meat-eater is responsible for the suffering and death of 28 land animals and an estimated 175 aquatic animals per year, totaling over 15,000 individual animals over a 75 year lifespan.

Globally, the number of land animals killed each year for food has exceeded 65 billion, according to conservative U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization figures. Aquatic estimates are unavailable.

A Partial List of Sources:

Source: Farm Animal Rights Movement (FARM), 2012-04

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A group representing the drinks industry sought to alter paragraphs and remove figures on alcohol-related rape and domestic violence from a special report shaping Government policy.

The Alcohol Beverage Federation of Ireland sought to delete paragraphs and dilute the language in a report on substance misuse created by the National Substance Misuse Steering Group. That group, which sat for almost two years, was tasked with formulating an integrated approach to substance misuse, both alcohol and drugs. Its final report was published in February.

However, documents released to the Irish Examiner under a Freedom of Information request show that even though it had a position on the steering group itself, ABFI was deeply critical throughout the process leading up to the final report to Government.

At one point, the steering group created a draft document which it circulated to its members for consideration. ABFI suggested a number of changes, seeking the deletion of paragraphs which read:

• Alcohol was a potential trigger in one-third of cases of domestic violence.
• Among those who experienced severe domestic abuse, 34% of cases had alcohol identified as a potential trigger and in one-quarter of cases, alcohol was always involved.
• Alcohol intoxication is a factor in rapes.
• 45% of complainants and 41% of suspects were severely intoxicated around the time of the rape.
• Instead it wanted to insert paragraphs which read:
• A survey of domestic abuse in Ireland in 2005 found that about one-third of cases of abuse were associated with the consumption of alcohol. However, alcohol consumption was always involved in only one-quarter of such cases.
•  A Rape and Justice in Ireland briefing paper of September 2010 outlines research which indicates that decisions on the consumption of alcohol made by both men and women can have the effect of facilitating the incidence of rape and make detection and prosecution of rape more difficult and that alcohol consumption affects decisions on whether to report alleged rapes.

Rape Crisis Network Ireland said ABFI was trying to distance alcohol from sexual violence.

“We do not need to talk in these general terms when we have concrete evidence and know the facts,” said Cliona Saidlear of RCNI.

She also questioned why the alcohol industry was involved in the decision-making process in the first place.

A spokesperson for the federation said that while the majority of people consume alcohol responsibly, it “was fully committed to addressing alcohol misuse”.

“ABFI in no way sought to downplay the role of alcohol in incidence of rape and domestic violence. We fully recognise the severity of these issues. Nor did we seek to question any of the evidence presented to the steering committee in relation to rape and domestic violence. Rather we sought to emphasise all of the facts from the research that had been cited, and in this instance to avoid the simple presentation of particular statistics without sufficient context and explanation.”

It also pointed out that a minority report issued by ABFI at the time of publication of the final steering group report did not take issue with the section on rape and domestic violence, nor any of the measures proposed to address those.

Source: The Irish Examiner, by Stephen Rogers, April 13, 2012

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New research models real-world exposures to environmental cause of autism

The study explores how mineral deficiencies—affected by dietary factors like high fructose corn syrup (HFCS)—could impact how the human body rids itself of common toxic chemicals like mercury and pesticides.

Used under creative commons license from bbaltimore.

Minneapolis — The epidemic of autism in children in the United States may be linked to the typical American diet according to a new study published online in Clinical Epigenetics by Renee Dufault, et. al. The study explores how mineral deficiencies—affected by dietary factors like high fructose corn syrup (HFCS)—could impact how the human body rids itself of common toxic chemicals like mercury and pesticides.

The release comes on the heels of a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that estimates the average rate of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) among eight year olds is now 1 in 88, representing a 78 percent increase between 2002 and 2008. Among boys, the rate is nearly five times the prevalence found in girls.

“To better address the explosion of autism, it’s critical we consider how unhealthy diets interfere with the body’s ability to eliminate toxic chemicals, and ultimately our risk for developing long-term health problems like autism.” said Dr. David Wallinga, a study co-author and physician at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP).

Commander (ret.) Renee Dufault (U.S. Public Health Service), the study’s lead author and a former Food and Drug Administration (FDA) toxicologist, developed an innovative scientific approach to describe the subtle side effects of HFCS consumption and other dietary factors on the human body and how they relate to chronic disorders. The model, called “macroepigenetics,” allows researchers to consider how factors of nutrition, environment and genetic makeup interact and contribute to the eventual development of a particular health outcome.

“With autism rates skyrocketing, our public educational system is under extreme stress,” said Dufault, who is also a licensed special education teacher and founder of the Food Ingredient and Health Research Institute (FIHRI). As part of the current study, the authors found a 91 percent increase in the number of children with autism receiving special educational services in the U.S. between 2005 and 2010.

Key Findings:

• Autism and related disorders affect brain development. The current study sought to determine how environmental and dietary factors, like HFCS consumption, might combine to contribute to the disorder.
• Consumption of HFCS, for example, is linked to the dietary loss of zinc, which interferes with the elimination of heavy metals from the body. Many heavy metals like mercury, arsenic and cadmium are potent toxins with adverse effects on brain development in the young.
• HFCS consumption can also impact levels of other beneficial minerals, including calcium. Loss of calcium further exacerbates the detrimental effects of exposure to lead on brain development in fetuses and children.
• Inadequate levels of calcium in the body can also impair its ability to expel organophosphates, a class of pesticides long recognized by the EPA and independent scientists as especially toxic to the young developing brain.

“Rather than being independent sources of risk, factors like nutrition and exposure to toxic chemicals are cumulative and synergistic in their potential to disrupt normal development,” said Dr. Richard Deth, a professor of Pharmacology at Northeastern University and a co-author of the study. “These epigenetic effects can also be transmitted across generations. As autism rates continue to climb it is imperative to incorporate this new epigenetic perspective into prevention, diagnosis and treatment strategies.”

The picture of how and why a child develops autism is a complicated one influenced by many different factors. The authors of this study have given insight into the complex interplay between several of the factors that may lead to the development of this debilitating neurodevelopmental disorder. In order to curb the epidemic of autism in the U. S., continued analysis of the impact of the industrialized food system and exposure to environmental toxins on ASD must be key areas of research moving forward.

The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy works locally and globally at the intersection of policy and practice to ensure fair and sustainable food, farm and trade systems. iatp.org

The Food Ingredient and Health Research Institute (FIHRI) is a non-profit organization devoted entirely to food ingredient safety, education, and research. foodingredient.info

Download this document

Source: Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), by Katie Rojas-Jahn, April 11, 2012

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An extensive report into the deaths of scores of African migrants who were left adrift at sea while trying to flee the war in Libya has suggested that the British military may have known about their plight.

Some 63 of the 72 migrants on board died on the “left-to-die” boat in 2011, most of thirst and starvation. The 90-page report, published by Goldsmiths University in London, used “forensic oceanography” technology to chart the movements of the boat, which drifted for two weeks unaided, despite claims it was known to both Nato and participating forces.

According to the few survivors, a “military helicopter” twice had visual sightings of the boat and communicated with those on board, but left the area without providing assistance.

The description of the helicopter is alleged to be that of a British Westland Lynx, believed to have served in the operation against the crumbling Libyan regime at the time.

The British military has so far refused to co-operate with any investigation into the incident, and the MoD has denied its helicopters were in the area at the time of the boat crisis.

However, one of the survivors was shown pictures of helicopters serving in the area at the time and identified the Lynx.

According to the report, survivor Dan Haile Gebre, was “presented him with several photographs of different helicopters in operation at the time of events”. When he was showed the image of the Westland Lynx helicopter of the British Army, he immediately said it was “exactly like this”.

According to survivors’ accounts, a ship also came into contact with the migrant boat, but again abandoned those on board. The ship may have been French, according to one survivor, who alleges that it was flying the French flag.

The report states: “At first, after the ‘left-to-die boat’ case was reported in the international press Nato denied being involved in any way in the incident”.

In May 2011, Carmen Romero, Nato deputy spokesperson, stated that: “We [Nato] can find no evidence whatsoever of any Nato ships being involved in this tragic incident.

Nato subsequently admitted that the Italian coastguard had informed the organisation of the vessel’s plight.

The newly-published report goes further, highlighting a “number of elements” that suggests that Nato was informed of the “the migrants’ distress”.

Dan Haile Gebre described the first encounter with the helicopter as follows: “It circled around us 4-5 times and came closer. It was making a lot of wind, and we almost lost our balance”.

A second survivor, Abu Kurke Kebato added: “The helicopter came very close to us down, we showed him our babies, we showed them we finished oil, we tell them ‘Please help us.’”

Further damning testimony alleges that that the helicopter bore the English writing “ARMY”.

According to the report, “a Westland Lynx 140, a battlefield utility helicopter of the British Army which does bear the writing “ARMY” on its side and can be used for SAR operations, was spotted in June 2011 in Malta on-board the HMS Ocean, a landing platform dock ship that took part to the military operation in Libya”.

Britain and the US refused to co-operate with a recent Council of Europe investigation into the tragedy, which concluded that the deaths were avoidable, blaming institutional failures within Nato and its constituent countries’ military forces for the tragic outcome.

Subsequent to that investigation, Nato has come under increasing pressure to identify the helicopter and the boat that are believed to have contacted the migrant vessel, but have so far refused to release classified imagery.

The Goldsmiths report, which used advanced technology to map the drift of the migrant boat, highlights the ease with which a rescue operation could have been initiated by Nato.

The research concludes by stating “participating states/Nato forces had the information and the ability to assist the migrants but failed to do so in a way that would have prevented the deaths of 63 people,” adding that “only through further inquiry and disclosure by all parties involved will they receive the definite answers they deserve.”

When contacted for comment, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence told the Huffington Post UK that British forces operating at sea are “fully aware of their obligations under maritime law to render assistance to those in distress”.

According to the MoD, there is no record of any Nato aircraft – British or otherwise – having seen or made contact with this particular vessel.

“Furthermore, the witness states that the helicopter in question bore the word “ARMY” on its side. We can categorically state that there were no British Army Lynx in the Mediterranean during this period.”

Source: The Huffington Post UK, by Paul Vale, 11/04/2012

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Privacy is eroding fast as technology offers government increasing ways to track and spy on citizens. The Washington Post reported there are 3,984 federal, state and local organizations working on domestic counterterrorism. Most collect information on people in the US. Here are thirteen examples of how some of the biggest government agencies and programs track people.

One. The National Security Agency (NSA) collects hundreds of millions of emails, texts and phone calls every day and has the ability to collect and sift through billions more. WIRED just reported NSA is building an immense new data center which will intercept, analyze and store even more electronic communications from satellites and cables across the nation and the world. Though NSA is not supposed to focus on US citizens, it does.

Two. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) National Security Branch Analysis Center (NSAC) has more than 1.5 billion government and private sector records about US citizens collected from commercial databases, government information, and criminal probes.

Three. The American Civil Liberties Union and the New York Times recently reported that cellphones of private individuals in the US are being tracked without warrants by state and local law enforcement all across the country. With more than 300 million cellphones in the US connected to more than 200,000 cell phone towers, cellphone tracking software can pinpoint the location of a phone and document the places the cellphone user visits over the course of a day, week, month or longer.

Four. More than 62 million people in the US have their fingerprints on file with the FBI, state and local governments. This system, called the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS), shares information with 43 states and 5 federal agencies. This system conducts more than 168,000 checks each day.

Five. Over 126 million people have their fingerprints, photographs and biographical information accessible on the US Department of Homeland Security Automated Biometric Identification System (IDENT). This system conducts about 250,000 biometric transactions each day. The goal of this system is to provide information for national security, law enforcement, immigration, intelligence and other Homeland Security Functions.

Six. More than 110 million people have their visas and more than 90 million have their photographs entered into the US Department of State Consular Consolidated Database (CCD). This system grows by adding about 35,000 people a day. This system serves as a gateway to the Department of State Facial Recognition system, IDENT and IAFSIS.

Seven. DNA profiles on more than 10 million people are available in the FBI coordinated Combined DNA index System (CODIS) National DNA Index.

Eight. Information on more than 2 million people is kept in the Intelligence Community Security Clearance Repository, commonly known as Scattered Castles. Most of the people in this database are employees of the Department of Defense (DOD) and other intelligence agencies.

Nine. The DOD also has an automated biometric identification system (ABIS) to support military operations overseas. This database incorporates fingerprint, palm print, face and iris matching on 6 million people and is adding 20,000 more people each day.

Ten. Information on over 740,000 people is included in the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment (TIDE) of the National Counterterrorism Center. TIDE is the US government central repository of information on international terrorist identities. The government says that less than 2 percent of the people on file are US citizens or legal permanent residents. They were just given permission to keep their non-terrorism information on US citizens for a period of five years, up from 180 days.

Eleven. Tens of thousands of people are subjects of facial recognition software. The FBI has been working with North Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles and other state and local law enforcement on facial recognition software in a project called “Face Mask.” For example, the FBI has provided thousands of photos and names to the North Carolina DMV which runs those against their photos of North Carolina drivers. The Maricopa Arizona County Sheriff’s Office alone records 9,000 biometric mug shots a month.

Twelve. The FBI operates the Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting Initiative (SAR) that collects and analyzes observations or reports of suspicious activities by local law enforcement. With over 160,000 suspicious activity files, SAR stores the profiles of tens of thousands of Americans and legal residents who are not accused of any crime but who are alleged to have acted suspiciously.

Thirteen. The FBI admits it has about 3,000 GPS tracking devices on cars of unsuspecting people in the US right now, even after the US Supreme Court decision authorizing these only after a warrant for probable cause has been issued.

* * *

The Future

The technology for tracking and identifying people is exploding as is the government appetite for it.

Soon, police everywhere will be equipped with handheld devices to collect fingerprint, face, iris and even DNA information on the spot and have it instantly sent to national databases for comparison and storage.

Bloomberg News reports the newest surveillance products “can also secretly activate laptop webcams or microphones on mobile devices,” change the contents of written emails mid-transmission, and use voice recognition to scan phone networks.

The advanced technology of the war on terrorism, combined with deferential courts and legislators, have endangered both the right to privacy and the right of people to be free from government snooping and tracking. Only the people can stop this.

Bill Quigley is Associate Director of the Center for Constitutional Rights and a law professor at Loyola University New Orleans.  He is a Katrina survivor and has been active in human rights in Haiti for years. He volunteers with the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti (IJDH) and the Bureau de Avocats Internationaux (BAI) in Port au Prince. Contact Bill via Email.

Source: CommonDreams.org, by Bill Quigley, April 9, 2012

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Yet another nation has taken a stand against Monsanto’s genetically modified crops. Poland recently decreed that it will move to ban a strain of GMO maize known as MON810.

Poland’s announcement comes less than a month after seven countries blocked a proposal by the Danish EU presidency to allow the cultivation of genetically-modified plants in Europe. Just days after Belgium, Britain, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Ireland and Slovakia blocked the measure, the country of France took it a step further by imposing a temporary, “precautionary” ban on MON810.

Also known by its trade name, “YieldGuard,” MON810 maize has been genetically modified to include a bacteria into its DNA structure. Monsanto claims that the bacteria makes YieldGuard resistant to insect pests that damage harvests. However, according to some experts, it can be dangerous for plants and animals.

In addition to being linked to a plethora of health ailments, said Polish Agriculture Minister Marek Sawicki, the pollen originating from this GM strain may actually be devastating the country’s already dwindling bee population.

Many feel that the bans initiated by France and Poland are signs of a larger backlash against the potential danger of genetically modified crops. In 2011, the nation of Hungary destroyed 1,000 acres of GM maize and India is slamming Monsanto with ‘biopiracy’ charges. And is only the beginning.

A new report shows that small farmers, organic food advocates, and community organizations all over the world are organizing to launch a full scale rebellion against Monsanto and the agribusiness model it embodies.

Source: Care2, by Beth Buczynski, April 8, 2012

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Ours is often referred to as the blue planet because 70 percent of the Earth’s surface is covered by water. Yet, scientists and public officials predict a global water crisis within the next few decades. Worldwide 2.7 billion people are currently affected by water shortages and, by 2025, and two-thirds of the world’s population could be living under water stressed conditions.”

There are two primary components of water availability: quantity and quality.

• Insufficient supplies mean not enough water for drinking, washing, agriculture.
• Insufficient quality spreads disease and threatens the health of both people and ecosystems.

Quantity: The Earth‘s Drinkable Freshwater Supply is Limited

Only 2.5 percent of the water on earth is theoretically drinkable and the vast majority of that freshwater is inaccessible, either deep below the earth’s surface or in glaciers and snowfields at the poles. As climate change shifts rainfall and drought patterns around the world, more and more people are living in water stressed conditions.

According to the WorldWatch Institute, “some 20 percent of the increase in water scarcity in the coming decades will be caused by climate change … In poor countries, the consequences of climate change could be dire – erratic weather patterns have already been the primary cause of famine for millions around the world.”

Water Scarcity Around the World

China – Chronic drought in north China is pushing the Gobi Desert into farmland that feeds China’s megacities Beijing and Tianjin and the Yellow River, “the so-called birthplace of Chinese civilization, is so polluted it can no longer supply drinking water.”

Europe – France – a major supplier of wheat barley and sugar beets to the European Union – is experiencing the worst drought in the past 50 years.

Africa – In sub-Saharan Africa, only 61 percent of inhabitants have access to safe drinking water sources. This compares with 90 percent or more in Latin America and the Caribbean, northern Africa, and large parts of Asia. In poorer countries, lack of water access is often due to lack of infrastructure. While much wealthier than most sub-Saharan countries, Egypt still suffers from water scarcity. The country imports more than half of its food because it does not have enough water to grow it domestically.

Island Nations – Drinking water is one of the many climate change concerns of island nations. On the Pacific Island of Tuvlala, water was rationed to just two buckets a day during a prolonged drought in 2011. During the worst of the drought, New Zealand and Australia provided “rehydration packets” to prevent a humanitarian crisis.

Australia – But Australia has its own water woes. Climate change may be intensifying the continent’s natural drought cycle. At the same time, extreme weather events such as last fall’s record flooding that inundated Melbourne may become more frequent.

United States – The water level in the Ogaliala Aquafer, groundwater that feeds wells in Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma and New Mexico, has been dropping every level, more than 150 feet in some places. Agricultural communities that depend on the aquifer to irrigate crops are under immense strain, with some nearly collapsing already. In other regions, record droughts in Florida and Texas threatens agriculture that supplies the whole nation with food.

Quality: Abuse of a Common Resource

Centuries of assuming that dilution is the solution to pollution has taken a toll on world waters.

U.S. Water Pollution Facts

• In 2010 alone, Industrial polluters dumped 226 million pounds of toxic chemicals in to U.S. waterways.
• According to American Rivers, “eighty percent of sampled streams in a national clean water survey contained drugs, hormones, pesticides, or other chemicals. Three-quarters of those streams contained more than one chemical.”
• Those chemicals cycle back around to drinking water. In 2009, the Environmental Working Group published a study showing that 252 million Americans were served by drinking water systems that exceeded recommended safety guidelines for some contaminate at least once during the study period.

Water Pollution Around the World

The story is similar worldwide with 2 million tons of human waste dumped directly into waterways every single day. In developing countries, 70 percent of industrial waste is dumped into rivers and streams that communities depend up on for drinking, washing, watering farms and supplying livestock.

Asian rivers may be the most polluted in the world. “They have three times as many bacteria from human waste as the global average, and 20 times more lead than rivers in industrialized countries.”

Drinking water pollution directly affects more than half the world’s population and each year there are about 250 million cases of water-related diseases, with roughly 5 to 10 million deaths

The Future of Water

While there has been some good news on water, experts predict that access to water in the future will drive not just economic growth but conflicts between nations.

In part two of World Water Crisis 101, we’ll explore possible solutions.

Source: Care2, April 7, 2012

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(AP/Andy Wong)

The Smithsonian Magazine writes that Australian physicist Graham Turner says “the world is on track for disaster” and that current research from Turner coincides with a famous, and in some quarters, infamous, academic report from 1972 entitled, “The Limits to Growth.” Turner’s research is not affiliated with MIT or The Club for Rome.

Produced for a group called The Club of Rome, the study’s researchers created a computing model to forecast different scenarios based on the current models of population growth and global resource consumption. The study also took into account different levels of agricultural productivity, birth control and environmental protection efforts. Twelve million copies of the report were produced and distributed in 37 different languages.

Most of the computer scenarios found population and economic growth continuing at a steady rate until about 2030. But without “drastic measures for environmental protection,” the scenarios predict the likelihood of a population and economic crash.

However, the study said “unlimited economic growth” is still possible if world governments enact policies and invest in green technologies that help limit the expansion of our ecological footprint.

The Smithsonian notes that several experts strongly objected to “The Limit of Growth’s” findings, including the late Yale economist Henry Wallich, who for 12 years served as a governor of the Federal Research Board and was its chief international economics expert. At the time, Wallich said attempting to regulate economic growth would be equal to “consigning billions to permanent poverty.”

Turner says that perhaps the most startling find from the study is that the results of the computer scenarios were nearly identical to those predicted in similar computer scenarios used as the basis for “The Limits to Growth.”

“There is a very clear warning bell being rung here,” Turner said. “We are not on a sustainable trajectory.”

Correction: This post has been edited to reflect that MIT has not updated its research from the original 1972 study.

Source: Yahoo News, by Eric Pfeiffer | The Sideshow, Apr 4, 2012

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Scientists issue dire call for action on climate change at conference; we must stop warming or “cross the threshold”

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New Evidence points to ‘chemical fingerprint’ of Deepwater Horizon

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By Zoe Weil: President, Institute for Humane Education

Zoe Weil is the president of the Institute for Humane Education, which offers the first and only M.Ed. and M.A. programs in Humane Education, as well as online programs, workshops, and resources for teachers, parents, and change agents. She is the author of Nautilus silver medal winner Most Good, Least Harm; Above All, Be Kind; The Power and Promise of Humane Education, and Moonbeam gold medal winner for juvenile fiction, Claude and Medea. She has given an acclaimed TEDx talk on solutionary education and blogs at www.zoeweil.com.

Source: One Green Planet, March 27, 2012

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Countries that carried out executions in 2011 did so at an alarming rate but those employing capital punishment have decreased by more than a third compared to a decade ago, Amnesty International found in its annual review of death sentences and executions.

Only 10 percent of countries in the world, 20 out of 198, carried out executions last year.

People were executed or sentenced to death for a range of offences including adultery and sodomy in Iran, blasphemy in Pakistan, sorcery in Saudi Arabia, the trafficking of human bones in the Republic of Congo, and drug offences in more than 10 countries.

Methods of execution in 2011 included beheading, hanging, lethal injection and shooting.

Some 18,750 people remained under sentence of death at the end of 2011 and at least 676 people were executed worldwide.

But these figures do not include the thousands of executions that Amnesty International believes were carried out in China, where the numbers are suppressed.

Nor do they account for the probable extent of Iran’s use of the death penalty – Amnesty International has had credible reports of substantial numbers of executions not officially acknowledged.

“The vast majority of countries have moved away from using the death penalty,” said Salil Shetty Secretary General of Amnesty International.

“Our message to the leaders of the isolated minority of countries that continue to execute is clear: you are out of step with the rest of the world on this issue and it is time you took steps to end this most cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. “

In the Middle East there has been a steep rise in recorded executions – up almost 50 per cent on the previous year.

This was due to four countries – Iraq (at least 68 executions), Iran (at least 360), Saudi Arabia (at least 82) and Yemen (at least 41) – which accounted for 99 per cent of all recorded executions in the Middle East and North Africa. The rise in Iran and Saudi Arabia alone accounted for the net increase in recorded executions across the world of 149, compared to 2010.

Thousands of people were executed in China in 2011, more than the rest of the world put together. Figures on the death penalty are a state secret. Amnesty International has stopped publishing figures it collects from public sources in China as these are likely to grossly underestimate the true number.

The organization renewed its challenge to the Chinese authorities to publish data on those executed and sentenced to death, in order to confirm their claims that various changes in law and practice have led to a significant reduction in the use of the death penalty in the country over the last four years.

In Iran, Amnesty International received credible reports of a large number of unconfirmed or even secret executions which would almost double the levels officially acknowledged.

At least three people were executed in Iran for crimes that were committed when they were under 18 years of age, in violation of international law. A further four unconfirmed executions of juvenile offenders were reported there, and one in Saudi Arabia.

The United States was again the only country in the Americas and the only member of the G8 group of leading economies to execute prisoners – 43 in 2011. Europe and former Soviet Union countries were capital punishment-free, apart from Belarus where two people were executed. The Pacific was death penalty-free except for five death sentences in Papua New Guinea.

In Belarus and Vietnam, prisoners were not informed of their forthcoming execution, nor were their families or lawyers. Public judicial executions were known to have been carried out in North Korea, Saudi Arabia and Somalia, as well as in Iran.

In the majority of countries where people were sentenced to death or executed, the trials did not meet international fair trial standards. In some, this involved the extraction of ‘confessions’ through torture or other duress including in China, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, and Saudi Arabia.

Foreign nationals were disproportionately affected by the use of the death penalty, particularly in Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand.

But even in those countries that continue to execute on a high level some progress was made in 2011.

In China, the government eliminated the death penalty for 13 mainly ‘white collar’ crimes, and measures were also put forward to the National People’s Congress to reduce the number of cases of torture in detention, strengthen the role of defence lawyers and ensure suspects in capital cases are represented by a lawyer.

In the USA, the number of executions and new death sentences dropped dramatically from a decade ago. Illinois became the 16^th state to abolish the death penalty. A moratorium was announced in the state of Oregon. And victims of violent crimes spoke out against the death penalty

“Even among the small group of countries that executed in 2011, we can see gradual progress. These are small steps but such incremental measures have been shown ultimately to lead to the end of the death penalty,” said Salil Shetty.

“It is not going to happen overnight but we are determined that we will see the day when the death penalty is consigned to history.”

Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases without exception regardless of the nature of the crime, the characteristics of the offender or the method used by the state to carry out the execution. The death penalty violates the right to life and is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.

Continue reading at Amnesty International.

Source: Amnesty International, 27 March 2012

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Declaration of La Via Campesina in the Alternative World Water Forum

We, as peasants’ and farmers’ organizations from countries all over the world, members of La Via Campesina, met between the 12th and 17th of March 2012, for the Alternative World Water Forum in Marseille, France. Among others, the testimonies from Turkish, Brazilian, Bangladesh, Madagascar, Portugal, Italy, French, and Mexican delegates gave voice to the distress of “environmental victims”, making known the plight of people affected by dam construction, by the shale gas and mining industries, by the grabbing, commodification, scarcity and widespread pollution of water, and by the repression and murder of activists who are defending water.

We demand that the right “of” and “to” water should be respected within the framework of food sovereignty. The right “of” water means continuous respect for the entire water cycle.

We state that the privatization and commodification of water and of any other common good (land, seeds, knowledge, etc.) are crimes against the planet and against humanity. Large-scale dams and hydro-electric projects grab and sequester water, taking no account of the needs, traditional practices and opinions of local communities, and totally disregarding the protection of ecosystems.

The water and biodiversity crises, the social and financial crises, and the energy crisis are all linked. They are the consequences of neo-liberalism and of the industrial agricultural model that is promoted by the international financial institutions (the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization), through free trade agreements, by the World Water Council, and by transnational Corporations as well as by most national governments.

The Green Economy is a false solution to climate change and water scarcity. The supposed answers to the crises: the commodification of water, of carbon and of biodiversity; nanotechnology; geo-engineering; and GMOs represent new opportunities for neo-liberal economic expansion. Despite the fact that these technology-driven and market-driven responses are the main cause of the environmental and social chaos that we are suffering, neo-liberalism’s headlong rush continues.

The industrial model of production, with its monoculture and its agro-chemicals, has polluted our water and endangered our health. We defend agro-ecological practices and small-scale and peasant agriculture that put into effect food sovereignty and contribute to the protection and sustainable use of water.

Water is a common good for the benefit of all living beings and it should be under public, democratic, local and sustainable management. Local and traditional systems of knowledge regarding forms of water management that take into account and protect the whole ecosystem have existed for thousands of years; they have demonstrated over time their effectiveness. We believe that public policies and laws related to water should recognize and respect this knowledge.

In Defense of Food Sovereignty: Stop Water Grabbing!

Source: La Via Campesina,

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The study shows that some honey bees are more eager to take on certain jobs than their comrades. And researchers say this could be down to differences in their personalities.

The researchers found thousands of distinct differences in gene activity in the brains of scouting and non-scouting bees.

This flies in the face of our usual conception of bees as interchangeable workers all serving their queen. Instead, some bees are thrill-seekers always looking for a new experience. So how does a bee get a rush? One way is by becoming a nest scout. When the colony outgrows its hive, it has to find a new place to live, and that’s when a vanguard of scout bees takes off in search of new digs. These brave little nest scouts (drawn from less than 5% of the colony) are also much more likely than the average bee to become food scouts.

Researchers say the fact that these bees’ penchant for adventure — whether it’s nest recon or scavenging for food — is an important discovery. “There is a gold standard for personality research and that is if you show the same tendency in different contexts, then that can be called a personality trait,” says entomologist Gene Robinson of the University of Illinois, who points out these bees are always willing to “go the extra mile” for the hive.

The researchers didn’t stop at observing the bees’ behavior; they also looked at the genes in the brains of scouts and non-scouts. They discovered that there are thousands of differences in gene activity between the brains of the intrepid and the timid bees. Specifically, they found that the scout bees brains reward systems are wired to respond well to novel experiences.

This, say researchers, is how things work in humans, too. “Our results say that novelty-seeking in humans and other vertebrates has parallels in an insect. One can see the same sort of consistent behavioral differences and molecular underpinnings,” Robinson said; “The findings also suggest that insects, humans and other animals made use of the same genetic “toolkit” in the evolution of behaviour”.

The tools in the toolkit “genes encoding certain molecular pathway ” may play a role in the same types of behaviours, but each species has adapted them in its own, distinctive way.

Photo: Peter O’Toole / Getty Images

Source: Animal Equality, 03/12/2012

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There are few things as infuriating as the annual report by one of my favorite research organizations.

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute released on March 19 its yearly global arms report, with data showing that arms transfers for the past four years have increased by a quarter over the 2002-2006 period. Asia is leading the world in the wrong direction.

“Asia and Oceania accounted for 44 per cent of global arms imports, followed by Europe (19 percent), the Middle East (17 percent), the Americas (11 percent) and Africa (9 percent),” the report says, adding that “India was the world’s largest recipient of arms, accounting for 10 per cent of global arms imports.”

A staff member of the group explained India’s motivation to CNN.

“India procures arms in relation to its tense relationship with Pakistan and increasingly sees China as a potential threat,” said Siemon Wezeman, a senior analyst with SIPRI. “It also wants to assert itself as a major regional or even global power.”

If India wants to compete with China, Nobel laureate Amartya Sen has a better suggestion.

“Life expectancy at birth in China is 73.5 years; in India it is still 64.4 years. Infant mortality rate is fifty per thousand in India, compared with just seventeen in China, and the under-five mortality rate is sixty-six for Indians and nineteen for the Chinese,” Sen wrote in The Hindu newspaper last year. “Almost half of our children are undernourished, compared with a very tiny proportion in China. Comparing ourselves with China in these really important matters would be a very good perspective, and they can both inspire us and give us illumination about what to do—and what not to do.”

Alas, instead of taking Sen’s sage advice, India is instead driven by delusions of global grandeur and is embarking on a whopping $200 billion defense modernization drive over the next decade.

Then there are the arms merchants that shamelessly profit by peddling these instruments of death. Here, the revelations of another recent SIPRI analysis, this one released on February 27, are also quite depressing.

“Sales of arms and military services by the largest arms-producing companies—the SIPRI Top 100—continued to increase in 2010 to reach $411.1 billion,” says the report (though the rate of increase slowed as compared to 2009).

U.S.-based weapons manufacturers occupy pride of place.

“Sales by the forty-four U.S.-based companies accounted for over 60 percent of all arms sales by the Top 100 arms-producing companies in 2010,” the analysis says.

Should we be proud that the United States still makes something or should we be embarrassed that one of the few things it knows how to manufacture is so destructive?

The report also points out how consolidated this industry is.

“The global arms industry continues to be highly concentrated, with the top ten arms-producing companies accounting for 56 percent, or $230 billion, of total Top 100 arms sales,” the report says. While companies in most realms of the economy have suffered, the weapons behemoths continue to flourish. “The data for 2010 demonstrates, once again, the major players’ ability to continue selling arms and military services despite the financial crises currently affecting other industries,” says Susan Jackson of SIPRI.

Dominating the list are giants such as Lockheed Martin, Boeing, General Dynamics, Raytheon, and Northrop Grumman. (Lockheed Martin itself had $35 billion in arms sales in 2010!)

The question is: What can be done about this? Many years ago, economist John Kenneth Galbraith had the suggestion that the U.S. weapons industry be nationalized, with the logic that the dynamics of the arms bazaar anyway made a mockery of the whole idea of a free market. Fighting Bob La Follette had the same idea. It’s time to consider it once again.

Source: The Progressive, March 22, 2012

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First decade of 21st Century warmest on record; US locations break 7,000 temperature records in March

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By Dave Shishkoff aka @VeganCyclist

Early in 2012 I started reaching out to vegan friends on twitter to ask them to share their testimonials. My hope was that by getting vegans to share their stories we could educate and inspire others and give people first hand accounts to replace perceptions or stereotypes. I’m incredibly grateful to those that have participated. Their stories speak for themselves! If you enjoy the series please let us know!

Dave Shishkoff Racing Cross – credit – Geoff Robson

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Water is a basic necessity of life, yet it remains inaccessible for a large part of the world’s population. At present, almost one fifth of the global population (about 1.2 billion people) live in areas which are water scarce and a quarter live in developing countries that face water shortages. Globally the situation is getting worse due to the increase in population and the need for more water for agriculture, industry and household use to meet the needs of the increasing population. With the existing climate change scenario, it is predicted that almost half of the world population will be living in water stressed areas by 2030.

Almost one billion people live in chronic hunger and with the depleting water resources, food production is likely to suffer. – Photo by AP

It needs to be understood that freshwater resources are limited and are fast depleting due to irresponsible use. As a means of focussing attention on the importance of freshwater and advocating for the sustainable management of freshwater resources, the United Nations General Assembly designated March 22 to be observed as World Water Day in 1993.

Each year, the World Water Day highlights a specific theme and this year’s theme is Water and Food Security. The theme is very relevant as there are growing indications for both water and food scarcity in the years to come.

To feed the burgeoning world population, an increased food growth is required. Almost one billion people live in chronic hunger and with the depleting water resources, food production is likely to suffer.

All the food from crop and livestock, fisheries and forest products requires water…a lot of water. Just imagine: it takes about 1,500 litres of water to produce one kilogram of wheat and 10 times more to produce beef. It may come as a surprise for many but the fact is that when combined all the water required for raising a cow (its feed too needs water to grow), slaughtering and processing meat it the water content for beef becomes this high. Even fisheries and aquaculture require a certain quantity and quality of water in rivers, lakes and estuaries and are therefore important water users.

The biggest share of water use is in agriculture. In fact, about 70 per cent of all water usage is in agriculture. But world’s water supply is being impacted by climate change because of changed rainfall patterns, greater droughts, melting glaciers and altered river flows; this will drastically affect agriculture, including feed and fodder for livestock. Erratic rainfall and seasonal differences in water availability can cause temporary food shortages, while floods and droughts can cause intensive food emergencies. Lack of water can be a major cause of famine and result in under-nourishment, as it limits farmers’ ability to produce enough food to eat or earn a living.

With population increase, economic growth and urbanisation, the demand for water in cities and industries is also growing at a fast rate. Attempts to meet this growing demand put pressure on both the current availability and further expansion of the irrigated area. This is besides the water required for non-food crops such as bio-fuels and fodder for livestock.

This increased competition for water further impacts the poor and vulnerable groups. Millions of small farmers, fishers and herders depend on water as one of the most important factors of production — without water they cannot make a living.

With climate change affecting water availability, there is an urgent need to find ways and means to conserve water; it also calls for better water management in agriculture. Techniques must be developed to improve water usage in the fields, so that more crop is produced using less water or crop yield per unit of water is more. This can be achieved by better control and application of irrigation water, as well as combination of rain and irrigation water wherever possible. These, combined with good agricultural practices, will ensure highest possible productivity.

Along with measures to maximise food production, dietary habits must be changed and the consumption of water-intensive food must be lessened. For example, a more vegetarian diet can be helpful as producing meat needs more water. Moreover, emphasis should be on cultivating less water intensive crops so more food is produced with less water.

Treated waste water, drainage water and desalinated water can be used for agriculture, especially in arid and semi-arid areas, after making sure that no toxic substances are present in the water. Similarly, recirculation of water in aquaculture can reduce the use of water to a great extent.

It is important to reduce food wastage. Roughly about 30 per cent (1.3billion tons) of the food produced worldwide is never eaten. It is either wasted somewhere between farmers’ field and markets due to poor storage or during transportation or ends up in garbage dumps by consumers who are not aware or do not care how important it is for the starving millions. It is not only the food that is wasted but the water used to produce it is also lost.

Conservation of water is vital as not only its resources are dwindling, but food security also depends on it.

The writer is a journalist at Dawn newspaper.

Source: Dawn.com, Rizwana Naqvi, 2012-03-22

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Niamey (Niger) – According to a recent field study conducted in communities in western and eastern Niger, between 70 and 90 per cent of people estimate their food stocks will run out before the next harvest, creating an imminent ‘hunger gap’. A full 100 percent of families surveyed say they have already reduced the amount of food consumed each day because they do not have enough to eat.

The study was conducted by the Assessment Capacities Project (ACAPS) and the Emergency Capacity Building Project (a coalition including CARE, Catholic Relief Services, Mercy Corps, Oxfam, Plan International, Save the Children and World Vision), with input from the World Food Programme and the Government of Niger. It is the latest in mounting evidence pointing to a potentially massive humanitarian disaster in the Sahel if the world does not respond quickly with urgently-needed assistance to those already in crisis, and mitigation activities to prevent more families from going hungry.

“In the villages we see more and more mothers not being able to feed their children more than once a day. We can’t wait any longer. We can’t wait until it becomes one meal every second day, and those children are starving, and suffer crippling, life-long effects from malnutrition,” said Johannes Schoors, Country Director of CARE Niger. “Many families haven’t recovered from the 2005 and 2010 crises. They need help now.”

While in a typical year the hungry season, when people usually start cutting back on meals, does not usually start until May or June, the surveyed communities in Diffa and Tillabéri said that this year it has already started, and that the situation is already critical and will get worse. Key findings of the assessment include:

• 100 percent of families indicated that they have already reduced portions and number of meals eaten each day.
• Between 70 and 90 per cent of people estimate their food stocks will run out before the next harvest.
• Farmers and pastoralists said last year’s harvest was twice as bad as 2009, when a catastrophic drought and high food prices led to a country-wide humanitarian disaster.
• One-quarter of communities said children are dropping out of school because families left in search of work, the school canteens closed, or the children must work.
• People are forced to sell their animals to buy food, but this is flooding the market and causing livestock prices to plummet.
• 97% of the communities indicated serious problems as a result of decreased fodder production for their animals.
• Approximately 80 percent do not have enough seed stocked to plant for the next season, putting people at risk of hunger for next year as well.
• Nearly one-third of the population is still in debt from the last widespread crop failure in 2009.

Instability in neighboring countries is making things worse, communities said. Remittances have plummeted since people cannot move freely for work, a typical coping strategy, and refugees from conflict in Mali have crossed into Niger, putting additional strain on families already facing food shortages.

“People are arriving exhausted, hungry and in need of the very basics. But Niger is struggling to cope with the influx of refugees and the extra strain is pushing families to the brink of survival,” said Chris Palusky, World Vision’s Food Crisis Response Manager for Mali and Niger. “Poor villages have been overwhelmed with people, some expanding seven-fold in just a few months, with refugees forced to live in overcrowded homes and makeshift shacks. Time is running out to support host families before they themselves reach breaking point. A large and speedy response will not only save lives but strengthen communities who are already bearing the brunt of this disaster.”

Some 13 million people are at risk from a food crisis in the Sahel region of West and Central Africa, including one million children at risk of severe malnutrition. Erratic rains and an attack of pests and locusts destroyed entire harvests in 2011, leaving families with nothing to eat through this year’s hungry season. High food and fodder prices are leaving people with few options. In Niger alone, more than six million people are at risk of hunger; nearly two million of those are in critical need of food and assistance now.

“People in Niger are facing a multifold crisis. This year, we’re witnessing a lethal cocktail which is putting enormous strain on households across the country. Following several crisis since 2005, their coping mechanisms have reached their limit and already pushed thousands over the edge,” said Samuel Braimah, Country Director of Oxfam in Niger. “The worst can be avoided and thousands of lives will be saved if we act now. It’s that simple.”

Recommendations

Based on the results of the assessment, the seven agencies recommend the following:

• Donors must provide funding now to implement immediate support for families already in desperate need and to prevent more people from tipping over the edge into crisis. We know from experience that waiting will lead to needless deaths, loss of livelihoods, and a costlier response.
• We must act quickly to scale up interventions to address food security and malnutrition, particularly for the most vulnerable: children under the age of two, pregnant and breastfeeding women, and the elderly. The specific needs of pastoralists must also be addressed.
• This is a chronic emergency with long-term causes. Any response must work with local governments to integrate risk reduction measures to help families be more resilient to food shortages and drought and prevent them from falling into crisis.

The full field study report can be downloaded at www.acaps.org.

Read more

Photo-gallery: Sahel: A food crisis foretold

Blog: Hunger calls in Africa’s Sahel region

Read the report: Escaping the Hunger Cycle: Pathways to resilience in the Sahel

What a global food crisis looks like: Oxfam’s food prices map

Source: Oxfam, 21 March 2012

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Over the last decade, both naturalists and scientists have been troubled by the steadily decreasing monarch butterfly populations. While opinions have varied over the years around the cause of this decline, a new study conducted by researchers from the University of Minnesota and Iowa State University point to Monsanto’s genetically modified corn and soybean crops as the culprit.

The researchers found that from 1999 to 2010, a period when GM crops became more common on U.S. farms, the number of monarch eggs in the Midwest declined by 81 percent. As farmers switched over to herbicide-resistant GMO corn and soybeans crops, they sprayed their crops with the weed-killer Roundup, killing milkweed in the process. Unfortunately, milkweed is the plant that monarchs lay their eggs in and is the only thing the larvae can eat.

According to the blog Triple Pundit, Environmental Protection Agency statistics reveal that roughly five times as much of the weed killer was used on farmland in 2007 as in 1997, a year after the Roundup Ready crops were introduced.  The Star Tribune reports that Monsanto did not respond to a request for comment, but says on its website the seeds help farmers increase yield and Department of Agriculture data reveals that it is used by 94 percent of soybean farmers and 72 percent of corn farmers in the U.S.

Monarch butterflies are one of the most recognizable and cherished of all the butterfly species in the U.S. When genetically modified plants were being developed, the effects on such beloved creatures were unfortunately not in the forefront of anyone’s mind.

One way to solve this problem, for the monarchs at least, would be for farmers to grow milkweed in pastures away from their corn, soybean, and other crops. This would provide a safe place for butterflies to lay their eggs, as well as keep the pesky weeds out of the farmers’ crops.

But this may still not be enough to help the monarch butterfly. Some experts claim that it may be too early to link GM crops to butterfly population declines. The Washington Post reports that another new study on this topic found that damage to the butterflies’ wintering grounds in Mexico, may also be a factor

Want to help the monarch butterfly? University of Kansas-based Monarch Watch, an organization dedicated to the preservation and research of monarchs, encourages farmers, gardeners, even city dwellers with a pot of soil to plant milkweed. You can also help by supporting the conservation efforts being promoted in Mexico to prevent illegal logging and preserve the habitat that the monarchs rely upon.

Only time will tell whether or not we agree on the problem and arrive at a timely solutions to save the beautiful Monarch butterfly. In the interim, let’s do as much as we can.

Image Source: Ted/Flickr

Source: OneGreenPlanet.Org, by Megan Mundy, March 20, 2012

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