Today is a cloudy day in my corner of the woods. I keep hoping that it will rain. Lord knows we need it. But, as I opened this morning’s newspaper the headline on the front page of my local paper catches my eye, “Arid Outlook”. The article states that we are already 4.63 inches of rain behind so far this 2013 year in my area and that the prediction for our summer will be “warmer and drier than usual”. Have you ever been in East Texas in August? August is scorching hot and humid, and the only rainfall we receive is the sweat that falls off us!

The new challenge as we head into our summer is to learn techniques on how to be more frugal with our water so, that we can stretch it further. There is a website that encourages us to take a challenge to conserve water at http://www.40gallonchallenge.org/.  This website gives indoor and outdoor activities that can be done to save water. Also this website lists how much gallons of water can be saved daily be doing each activity. Some activities listed were to turn off water in between rinsing dishes and to use a broom instead of a water hose to clean off patios and other concrete areas. By reducing the amount of water being wasted on some activities then we can channel that saved water into other areas that are in more need of the water during a drought such as plants and animals.

To help our plants survive these hot and dry summers we need to learn how to garden in a drought. There are several tricks we can do to help extend our watering. We need to start collecting water. Rainwater can be collected by using barrels near the eaves of the house so when it does rain the water will run off the roof and into the barrel. Also water can be collected on the inside of the house and transported to plants. We can collect water in a simple bucket that is placed under the faucet as the water runs while it is heating up for a shower or for washing dishes. And for the true conservationist of water, the leftover water from a bath or washing the dishes can be bucketed up and taken to the plants.

 

I have a greywater system to help reuse water. Greywater is the water that comes from a washing machine or a bathtub that is diverted outdoors for watering plants. If you do use a greywater system make sure you use natural cleaning products in your washing machine and bathtub so as to not adversely affect the plants.

 

Mulching plants also help to retain the precious water in the soil by slowing down water evaporation. Mulch can be leaves, shredded bark, or grass clippings. Put the mulch about 2-3 inches deep around plants. Another way to slow evaporation is to water early in the morning or late in the evening when the sun is at its lowest point. Slowing down the evaporation process helps the moisture to penetrate into the plant’s roots. Also burying a 3 inch wide or larger tube next to a tree helps the moisture to penetrate deeper into the soil so that the water reaches the tree roots.

 

Also if our summers keep getting hotter and drier we need to find alternate sources of water. Do you have an old well that could be used to irrigate? Many older homes in the country only source of water were from individual wells behind the house before local waterlines were used. If you are living in an older home out in the country chances are you have one. Find it, get the water tested for quality, and then start using it for irrigation and for water for the farm animals. I have an old 25 feet deep well. That is a shallow well but, it still produces enough water for me to run 1 water hose for 3 hours daily.

 

Another alternate source of water could be a creek or pond on your property. Most farmers were smart or lucky enough to buy property with water on it. If you do have a small creek or pond, could you dam it up or dig it out so that you have more access to water? If yes, then add a water pump to it and use it to irrigate plants and to provide much needed water for your farm animals.

 

I urge you to start taking action today to prepare for the possibility of an upcoming drought.  Remember there are many possible ways to prepare. Water can be conserved indoors and outdoors and redirected to where it is needed the most. It also can be collected and reused on plants. Also steps can be taken to help preserve the moisture that is already in the soil. Lastly, plans need to be made on finding alternate water sources.

Learn more self-reliant skills at www.thetexaspioneerwoman.blogspot.com .   

According to the National Drought Mitigation Center, “drought is a protracted period of deficient precipitation resulting in extensive damage to crops, resulting in loss of yield.”  47 percent of the continental U.S. is currently experiencing at least moderate drought conditions.  The community in which I live has gone to the strictest water restriction level in an effort to conserve as much water as possible.  No outdoor water use is allowed unless the homeowner has a private well.  Earlier this fall the city council made the decision as to who would shut off the pumps when the water in the city’s wells got too low.  Thankfully that time did not arrive.  Even though our home is supplied by rural water and the farm is on a well, we are involved within the community and the desperate water situation has reached all of us no matter the source in which we pull our water.  In an effort to conserve this precious resource many residents have been ingeniously implementing water saving techniques.  One of the most detailed attempts a local homeowner did was to tap into the shower drain, run the pipe through the outside brick wall and empty into a tank.  He then uses it to water outside.  I am clearly impressed by his ingenuity, but am wondering about the chemical effects on his plants.  Perhaps he uses biodegradable soap.  The most popular effort is to collect rain water in rain barrels.  The local watershed is selling 55 gallon plastic drums turned rain barrel for $20 apiece.  The drums originally contained syrup for making cola.  They are simply cleaned and a great way to reuse materials.  These rain barrels may not be adequate in holding the load coming from your roof.  Consider the following: 

• The typical roof area of a house is between 1200-2000 square feet.
• That's 750 - 1250 gallons of water that runs off each time we have 1 inch of rain!
• To calculate the potential harvesting amount of water from a roof, take the area times 0.623.  This will give you the amount for   1 inch of rain.  Source:  K-State Research and Extension

A larger option is a 250 gallon cube found around many farms, the one in which Roundup is contained.  After a sufficient cleaning
these can be used safely.

Outdoors, it is important to plant with natives whenever possible due to their ability withstand your region’s conditions.  Once planted it is beneficial to mulch which holds in moisture. Now it is time to water with the rain captured in your barrel.  A slow and steady stream will allow for filtration and discourage runoff.

A few ways to save water in the bathroom are shutting the water off while brushing teeth and scrubbing hands, or placing a bucket in the show to catch water as it warms.  A shower timer can prompt a quicker shower.  A small investment in a low flow toilet or showerhead will cut water use and your water bill.  As for the kitchen, run the full high efficiency dishwasher instead of hand washing the dishes.

Many of these water saving tips are not new.  Past generations incorporated such practices in their daily lives out of necessity.  That time has come around again.  So often as resources are plentiful we become indulgent.  Guilty as charged.  I am working to implement many of these practices into my life as I look to my children’s future.  What better way to start than at home on the farm.  Our love for the land and lineage of stewardship can be an example to our communities.

This morning I opened the garage door and stepped out on a thin layer of snow to fetch the paper.  It was cold at 14 degrees and a gray day as we are socked in by clouds.  I stood quietly for a minute as small snowflakes fell on my head.  I could hear the Canada geese warming up their honkers as they assembled for the morning food run.  A grackle screeched from a nearby tree.  “Ah,” I thought, “a little moment of nature before coffee.”

Urban wildlife was a subject of discussion with my holiday guests this last week, so I thought it interesting that I had two birds identified in the first minute of the day.  Just a few days ago, family members decided they needed exercise, so I shared some of my walking paths with them.  My son, an avid hunter and fisherman, commented on the abundance of bird and animal life.  He also indicated that he didn’t normally see wildlife in his home city neighborhood.

Unfortunately, too often urban wildlife is not seen as it is camouflaged by people hurling through their lives.  Web MD “Health News” reports adults are spending 25% less time in nature this year than in 1987 and the time is declining by 1% yearly.  Research reported by the New York Times indicates Americans take fewer steps daily than any other country in the study – walking only half as much as the next country in the study.  Average distance walked?  Less than a mile. 

While the backyards of our homes do not supply walking distances needed to maintain our needed exercise, they can certainly be a good place to start to observe wildlife.  Watching and feeding birds is a good way to get started and can provide hours of nature education.  Birdwatching can also be the stimulus needed for a bit of gardening or landscaping as one provides a better habitat for food and protection.  With habitat comes wildlife.

In my own neighborhood, I have found that if I spend more time specifically looking for wildlife, I find others are doing the same and are willing to share.  A neighbor half a street down has become a friend “over the fence.” She has the tree that the Mississippi Kites nest in and was able to help me identify the birds that glide the skies.  Another neighbor I came to know on one of my walking trails shared the location of an owls’ nest in a nearby hundred year elm.  Raccoons, rabbits and possums are the subjects of conversations all along my street. 

Just a day ago the family went to a science museum with my grandson.  As we loaded into the car, someone said, “Oh, look, there’s a rabbit in the bushes,” and we all stopped to watch.  “No, there are two rabbits,” my grandson observed, “and a bird.” We waited and watched for five minutes and that led to a discussion of “urban” wildlife.

Even if you live in the largest city, there is wildlife.  It just takes a bit of slowing down and looking for it.  We need to look no further than our own backyard.         

I have been writing for the past two years about the difficulties of dry-land farming in Kansas during an long-term and continuing drought.  This has been the worst drought for the state since 1965. It has, of course, affected our gardens.  Insect invasion – especially grasshoppers - has been a challenge as the hoppers move to the only source of moisture available – gardens.

Our gardens were only an early indication of the stress on the environment.  Pastureland yield was only half of the normal hay harvest and farmers were feeding hay as early as August and September.  Although the wheat crop was adequate with spring rains, milo and soy bean crops were poor.  As farmers planted wheat this fall, lack of rainfall prevented sprouting and that which did sprout has died back from lack of moisture. 

In this second year of drought, we now find that wildlife in the area has suffered.  Game reports indicate drought has resulted in high die-off of the deer population and poor fawning.  Populations of quail and pheasant are low. 

USA Today reported in August that many cities are by necessity preparing for climate change as increased heat and decreased moisture has killed off large ornamental trees and grasses.   Major cities have begun preparation through better planting planning to include native trees and grasses.  Programs have been established to increase composting and water conservation. 

I cannot think of a better time to encourage agricultural and environmental awareness at all levels.  Our children are going to face a different world than we have known.  Climate change is a reality and the effects are real.  We need every single person to help us preserve this precious earth.

As I packed a Christmas box headed for my son’s house this week, I threw in an old bumper sticker I found in the garage.  It said “No farms, no food.”  Never has the message been more important.  We must all do more to learn the best way to protect and nurture our environment – for food and for life itself. 

I know that readers of this blog are already on board, and are educating friends and family.  As I see my own environment struggle, it motivates me to make just a little more effort to spread the message.  Not only is it sad to see environmental abundance decline, it is frightening to think that that slogan is true – “No farms, no food.”

I am not normally a resistive person, but requests to hunt on my private property are beginning to raise my ire.  Here I am, just a small farm owner with a few acres of grassland and a couple of fields.  I go out on a regular basis and work my heart out managing the land so that volunteer trees don’t overtake the pasture or that I allow the thistle to overtake the meadow.  I leave some good grasses where quail and turkey can live normal and protected lives and hopefully, raise their young.

This summer I must have had at least a dozen requests to fish in my pond.  These requests apparently came from individuals who had not noticed that we were having a drought and there was no water in the runoff ponds.

This fall, I am getting requests from individuals who just became aware that the cost of beef and pork are expected to rise and so they are thinking deer meat might be an affordable alternative.  Never mind that my entire property is posted “No Trespassing, No Hunting, No Fishing.”  I guess these requests spring from the hope that it never hurts to ask.

It is the requests to hunt game birds that make me snarl the most.  I love to watch the turkey trail across the edge of the pasture, ducking in and out of the protective trees, peeping, tweeting and gobbling their way to breakfast.  The quail are so bold as to come to drink from the garden pond and eat the scratch from the bird feeder.  Pheasant are more often heard than seen, but I’ve nurtured a pair for years in the far windrow.  When I see any of my residents I feel it is a successful and blessed day.

To be kind in my response, I recognize that requests often come only out of ignorance to the extensive management it takes to have game of any kind on my farm.  People don’t realize that mowing is planned for post nesting or that a stand of trees was left for intentional shelter.  I’m sure most would think a pile of brush in the field unsightly, but I’ve noticed the birds don’t agree much with that.

I stand firm each time I am asked in my reply.  “No, you cannot hunt on my land.  I don’t allow hunting or fishing of any kind.  You see, I’m saving a little wildlife for my grandchildren to see.”

 "Our farmers and ranchers have never faced as many problems as they do today with drought, range fires, high gas prices..." - Michael McCau   

The land is dry and cracking across the heart of America.  Drought  is the natural cracker, shriveling everything up till there are gaps that demand radical shifts for  underground pipes  and construction footings, doubtless as well for all forms of subterranean life.  Then there are mournful,  moanful  cracks in the land from the massively arrogant and suicidal impulse of industrial-scale  fracking  in a time of profound earth changes. Foundational cracks abound on planes both inner and outer.

Each day as I open my back door and step out into the world I see this inescapably. I'm confronted with a crazy quilt pattern of cracked land where once had been a lawn. It's a troubling sight. Here at home all 93 of Nebraska's vast, sprawling counties have been declared disaster areas because of the drought. Late August now, and the forecasters say we may not get substantial rain until Halloween.

Our U.S. Midwestern drought -- impacting  over 62%  of the entire nation -- is having and will have  global  consequences : "People in wealthy industrialized countries spend between 10 to 20 per cent of their income on food. Those in the developing world pay between 50 to 80 per cent of their income. According to  Oxfam , a one per cent jump in the price of food results in 16 million more people crashing into poverty -- accelerating what global agriculture ministers call  The Spiral of Hunger.  

Meanwhile, with at least one more long month of melting to go for the Arctic Sea Ice, the pace of heat-driven destruction to our North is staggering in proportion. Behold this  brief composite animation . It's a must see. Just about every record has been shattered, with a month more of melting to come.

Watching the world's larger patterns unfold like this is profoundly unsettling, and can be unbalancing as well without some active, creative initiative to respond to the urgent call of the land.

Proactive response is a key element of 21st Century Agrarianism, and thousands upon thousands of people and communities are responding dynamically, helping to establish healthy new footings and foundations on the land as ballast and complement to the surging waves of digital culture. What is needed now -- in this extreme state -- is positive creative response from millions upon millions of people.

If you are among those who will no longer ignore the call of the land, then here is  one place to initiate a response : to become informed, to find ways to cultivate the land to restore its health and beauty, as well to grow clean food for yourself, your family, and your community. Check out the possibilities.

Prepare to insert a candy corn joke here:

I caught this story yesterday (thanks to Judith from the Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance for putting this out there) and I couldn't help myself. Feeding candy to cows? For one man in Kentucky, that's his solution to providing calories in the face of skyrocketing corn prices. Perhaps because corn is already an unnatural part of a cow's diet, candy can't be much worse? At any rate, here's the original article in full:

Kentucky Feedlot Manager Feeds Candy to Cows

While my initial reaction is just this side of horrified, feeding candy to cows brings up a host of questions in my mind:

- What's the difference between a rancher and someone who operates a feedlot? The article describes the latter by the former's title, is that accurate?

- Is corn expensive only because of drought? Or is it more complicated? What about the effect of land speculation?

- It's said another factor in the price of corn is ethanol production. What regulations are in place that makes this happen? How can they be changed?

- In the price of corn, what is the role of government subsidy programs? What do we want to see in the new Farm Bill regarding these subsidies?

- What is our role as consumers? It's easy to blame someone for feeding candy to their cows, but isn't he merely trying to produce a cheap product? Because we demand cheap meat (and lots of it!) aren't we equally culpable for the means to which that end is achieved?

- Finally, how common is this practice? Although it seems shocking, I'm curious if this occurs in pork production as well?

I'll hop off my little soap box but I'd love to hear others' thoughts. Feeding candy to cows: yay or nay?

There hasn’t been a lot of news in Kansas other than talk of heat waves, drought, and the presumed consequences of both. It's enough to discourage even the heartiest. 

 

At my farm, the effect of the grasshopper invasion could be added as well.  A few root vegetables are hanging on and a few distasteful plants in the garden – like horseradish.  Last week the resurrection lilies made an attempt to come up, but the grasshoppers ate the buds at about two inches.

Despite the dismal outlook, I have been trying to keep watering with the hope my old faithfuls will pull through.  A couple of shrubs at the front of the farmhouse had suffered terribly and I decided to put a hose to them one evening.  I was rewarded with six orioles coming to bathe.  Jubilation would describe their attitude.  They were soon joined by two bluebirds, which politely waited their turn by wading in the birdbath for a few minutes.

 

 

A fifty year old viburnum at the edge of the yard looked dead, but I hosed it down as well.  Soon I saw one of the wild rabbits had dug a furrow in the moist soil and was enjoying a snooze. As I approached, he gave me the look that said “You wouldn’t dare make me move,” so I moved on, leaving him to enjoy his nap.

My farmer neighbor came by in late afternoon. He had been out carrying water to the livestock tanks.  “Hey, you need a little water?” he asked, gesturing to the big tank on the back of his truck. 

“Oh, dear Lord, you’re there for me today!” I thought as I hugged my neighbor for his generosity.  With a high capacity tank, I was able to give my new trees sixty gallons of water each – and they were still in need.  He may have saved them for me. 

Sometimes we forget that the wildlife suffers with the heat as much as the plants, so I am developing a healthy case of Kansas stubborn about this heat wave.  I just keep dumping as much water on as I can, and I know most of the plants and trees will make a comeback and my wildlife will come out after their month-long hunker down.

I guess you just can’t get an old farmer – or her farm - down.  We are Kansas stubborn.

  

Christmas in July? Well not quite perhaps but signs of fall in July are being seen across the area which is rather troubling.  

We had a mild winter, and after a few very warm days in March, the average garden was about 2 weeks ahead of schedule. That was maintained throughout spring, but now that summer is here and a drought, the plants and trees are getting things totally mixed up. 

The first sign that things were romping ahead was the chrysanthemums – they were already putting out buds by July 4^th, not September 4^th. Traditionally the plants are trimmed back on Memorial Day and July 4^th so that you get lots of new stems which in turn create lots of new buds and create a wonderful fall show. Buds are not supposed to be part of the mix in July and I didn’t trim mine back, so I now have delightful fall colors alongside summer flowers.   

Then I was chatting to my homesteading neighbors, and apparently they planted pumpkin seed a little early and joked about getting pumpkins for July 4^th – he missed that by about 2 weeks, and proudly extracted a pumpkin from the dying vines to give to me. I hope the pumpkin farmers are not having such a problem because lots of kids and homes enjoy decorating with, and eating, pumpkins in fall. I was under the impression that things like cooler temperatures and shorter nights were the factors that prompted fruit set in pumpkins but obviously early planting and hot dry conditions can stress the plant enough to produce in July.  

More troubling that early flowers and fall squash, is that some trees are already changing into fall colors and the leaves are dropping – giving lawns a definite fall look. My gut feeling is that the trees are reacting to a temporary stress of heat and drought, and will recover fine next year. Trees tend to take 3 years to react to an environmental factor such as drought, but a lot of that data is based on mature trees not saplings so it will be interesting, from a purely academic point of view, to see what the effect is next year. 

We have rain – a whopping 80-% chance – in the next 24 hours and hopefully that will do more than just refresh the garden but actually reach some of the root zone of trees and shrubs.

Call me crazy (many do) but I like rainy days.  There is something comforting about the sound of rain drumming on the roof, and sometimes a rainy day provides me with a much needed excuse to take some time off.  I love settling into my comfy chair next to the fire place on a chilly, rainy day and reading a good book.  Or taking a mug of hot tea to my desk and writing.

Rainy Day Benefits 

A gentle soaking rain rejuvenates and nourishes my garden, the grass, the trees… it cleans the air and refreshes everything.  Rainfall replenishes the water tables so our wells don’t dry up.  Only a couple of years ago many of my friends and neighbors experienced the distress of a dry well; having to buy water in jugs and bottles, or lug jugs to someone who still had water for filling.  Experiencing that really makes you appreciate the luxury of nudging a faucet and having a ready supply of fresh water.  Rain does that for us.

I’ll admit that sometimes rain will mess up planned activities; but that’s life.  It happens.  Have a back-up plan.  Or plan ahead.  Just last week I swapped a couple of days: I scheduled Saturday as lumber stacking day and Friday and work-in-the-shop day.  Friday was a nice day, rain was expected on Saturday, so I switched those two; stacking lumber on Friday and working in the shop on Saturday.  It worked out great!

Storms with torrential rains and high winds can be damaging, lightning can be scary, but a gentle rain is – I think – soothing, inspiring, refreshing.

Fridays 

Fridays have always been one of my favorite days.  I suppose this was born in my school years and reinforced while I worked Monday through Friday and had weekends off.  Friday is a day of expectation; we’re not out yet, but we’re really close!  Then FREEDOM!  Saturday and Sunday are ours to do with as we please.  The weekend is great, but Friday is the teaser, the part that gets the anticipation worked up.

It’s odd how this became so ingrained that it carried through even when I worked a job with rotating days off.  My “weekends” floated through each week, as did everyone’s: it was a prerequisite of employment there.  Tuesday may have been my last work day before my two days off, but I did not feel the excitement of Friday.

These days I set my own schedule; work when I want, play when I want, rest when I want.  Mostly.  Though I do schedule myself to work Monday through Friday, do yard work and home repairs on Saturday and worship on Sunday, it is within my power to flip any of those, except Sunday, around to suit the circumstances.  Yet Friday is still my favorite day of the week.

And a rainy Friday; well that’s just the best!

My unease about genetically engineered crops and animals dates back to the beginning. I had immediate concerns in the late 1980s and early 90s as I began to learn about the technology and associated marketplace machinations. Over the following decades as more and more facts emerged my concerns deepened.

Then just a couple of weeks ago my misgivings were rudely provoked to the forefront when I read an op-ed column by Nina Federoff, published in The New York Times. Her column amounted to a fact-deficient apologia for the GMO industry, and an exhortation to charge heedlessly forward with genetically engineered food. For me, and for millions of other people, this is a massively deranged and dangerous proposition.

So many factors are coming to a head now. Widespread famine, a global land grab, soaring food prices, a horde of profit-mad speculators, drought on the scale of the Dust Bowl, a host of other wildly wobbling environmental events, and a huge, well-organized, well-funded propaganda push by corporate industrial agriculture to claim that the only sensible way forward is with genetic engineering and its allied cauldron of petrochemical-based herbicides, fungicides, and pesticides. But it's not the only way forward. It is, instead, a profoundly perilous pathway encouraged by what I regard as dangerously deranged ethics.

After the Times published Federoff's column, well-reasoned rebuttals came swiftly from Anna Lappe writing for Civil Eats, from Tom Philpott in Grist, and from Marcia Ishii-Eiteman, Senior Scientist, Pesticide Action Network North America (PANNA). Individually and collectively, their articles constitute a convincing, fact-backed refutation of Federoff's claims for GMO safety and suitability. They effectively assert the case for a global 21st century agrarian vision of human-scale organic sustainable farms and food.

Their responses to the Times column deepened my understanding of why it's fundamentally important to advance clean natural organic practices and products. They also impelled me to consider again my anxiety about the deranged ethics evidenced in the GMO industry: utter disregard of the baseline Precautionary Principle, repeatedly roughshod override of human free will, and a radically impudent abnegation of the Seventh Generation teaching

Seventh Generation Teaching 

 

In the market-driven rush to bring GMO crops into the fields and thence into the people, I see forces and institutions fundamentally averse to the common sense teaching of the Seventh Generation. That precept -- native to North America -- holds that leaders are responsible for considering the impact of their decisions on the seventh generation yet to come.

Most memorably, I heard the seven generations teaching expounded by Leon Shenandoah, the late elder and chief in service to the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois Six Nations).  I shook hands and spoke with Leon in 1995 in a ring of tipis set up for the annual, ecumenical Prayer Vigil for the Earth at the base of the Washington Monument in our U.S. capital city.

“Look behind you," Grandfather Leon said. "See your sons and your daughters. They are your future. Look farther and see your sons' and your daughters' children and their children's children even unto the Seventh Generation. That's the way we were taught. Think about it: you yourself are a Seventh Generation."

Another Six Nations elder, Oren Lyons, has commented, "As a general injunction to live responsibly and respectfully, and as a practical guide to specific moral decision-making, the seventh generation principle may be without equal."

I agree. I look around and I see that just one generation has passed since the widespread introduction of GMO crops. Already potentially catastrophic problems have begun to arise by the bushel. These are amply documented in the rebuttals to Federoff's column.

Free Will 

A second troubling realm of GMO industry ethics and practices involves the ongoingviolation of human free will. From the outset, the industry has insisted and aggressively lobbied to make sure there are never any identifying labels on GMO products.

The American public does not, and never has had, any way to actively choose, or actively avoid GMO food. The real nature of the food is hidden, and consumers have no opportunity whatsoever for informed consent about the nature of the food they feed themselves and their children.

Out of respect for the sacrosanct nature of human free will, we should be able to know the truth of the food that is set before us. But we do not know this in 2011, nor can we. There are no identifying labels to let people know they are eating genetically engineered food. Our free will, thus, is continually disregarded and disrespected.

In response to this abuse, many citizens and organizations are actively advocating the labeling of all genetically engineered foods: to restore for consumers a free-will choice in the marketplace. You can begin to learn about the burgeoning movement for labeling GMO foods at the Non-GMO Project, and at the Truth in Labeling project.

Precautionary Principle 

The Precautionary Principle is a simple and sensible ethical guideline. It holds that if an action or policy has a suspected risk of causing harm to the public or to the environment, the burden of proof that it is not harmful falls on those promoting the product or action. In other words, you must establish that your action or product will not cause harm before you promulgate it and actually cause irreversible harm to human beings or to the natural world essential to life.

This common-sense principle is a statutory requirement in the law of the European Union, but not in the USA. Under the Bush Administration, the USA has, in fact, lobbied actively and secretly -- without citizen knowledge or approval -- to pressure European governments to ease or overlook legitimate objections to genetically engineered food.

Mounting Evidence 

The evidence continues to mount that GMO technologies and practices are causing profound harm. Respected agricultural researchers are repeatedly raising serious concerns.

In mid-August Robert Kremer, a microbiologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service, told a Kansas City audience that repeated use of the chemical glyphosate, the key ingredient in Roundup herbicide, adversely impacts plant roots.

Fifteen years of research indicates that the chemical is causing harmful changes in soil, he said, and potentially reducing yields of the genetically modified crops that dominate vast acreage in North America and elsewhere around the world.

Research shows that genetically engineered crops do not, in fact, yield more than conventional crops, he said. Nutrient deficiencies tied to the root disease problems are likely a limiting factor for crop yield, as is the burgeoning plague of poison-resistant Superweeds unleashed by the overuse of chemical herbicides used on GMO crops.

Meanwhile, Michael McNeill, an agronomist who owns Ag Advisory Ltd. in Algona, Iowa, has pointed out that scientists are seeing new, alarming patterns in plants and animals due to increased use of glyphosate on GMO crops. "When you spray glyphosate on a plant, " McNeill has said, "it's like giving it AIDS."

McNeill reports that he and his colleagues are seeing a higher incidence of infertility and early-term abortion in cattle and hogs that are fed on GM crops. He adds that poultry fed on the suspect crops have been exhibiting reduced fertility rates.

Ominously, the warnings of these scientists echo what Purdue University professor emeritus Don Huber has been saying: “I believe the threat we are facing from this pathogen (nurtured in the context of GMO crops and glyphosate) is unique and of a high-risk status...it should be treated as an emergency.”

Huber said he sees the GMO-glyphosate industrial ag complex as having led to an increase in cancers of the liver, thyroid, kidneys, and skin melanomas, as well as sharp increases in allergic reactions in general,  and an increase on an epidemic-scale in the incidence of Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.

Ethos and Mythos 

Corporations, universities, and governments are racing blithely forward as if the benefits and safety of GMO technology are above question. But for anyone paying attention now, that is clearly not so. A comprehensive 2011 literature review documents the reality that nothing is settled. The GMO debate is still wide open.

The authors of the literature review reported that most studies claiming that GM foods are as nutritional and as safe as those obtained by conventional breeding, have been performed by biotechnology companies or associates. They conclude: “the controversial debate on GMOs…remains completely open at all levels.”  That conclusion should raise ethical red flags for everyone.

The words ethos and ethics derive from the Greek root ethikos, meaning moral, and it's the root of our modern term for moral competence. While ethics may be individual, ethos is communal and arises out of common experience and insight. It denotes a characteristic spirit—the guiding beliefs and values of a team, a company, a tribe, or a nation..

As we confront radically changing circumstances in our economy, energy supply, and food chain, we have an opportunity to change and reconstitute our ethos and the way we live with the land.  The corporate, university, and government institutions that comprise industrial biotech agriculture have embraced an ethos of speed, efficiency, and profit and as a consequence created an environmental behemoth of threatening mien. Yet we have potential to make a deliberate shift to embrace a conservative but enlightened ethos not just out of necessity, but also out of wisdom. Perhaps mythos will be a factor in bringing about this urgently necessary shift.

Forty years ago a small group of citizens -- seeing profound harm being inflicted upon the natural world that supports human life, and impelled by their shared ethos -- formed the nucleus of Greenpeace.

While the actions of that seed group were mandated by immediate realities, much of their inspiration came from the realm of mythos -- specifically, the legend of the rainbow warriors. The myth tells of hope people of all colors and faiths, in response to the obvious and ominous degradation of the natural world, band together peacefully and give birth to a clean world based on principles of respect. That modern myth is so powerful and offers so much hope that as a journalist I've been drawn to write about it repeatedly in several nonfiction books: Legend of theRainbow Warriors, Odyssey of the 8th Fire, and most recently in Tales of the Whirling Rainbow. 

Having long ago embraced a life-preserving ethos including the Precautionary Principle, respect for human free will, and the teaching of the Seventh Generation, Greenpeace has called for a ban on all genetically engineered crop field trials in Australia and elsewhere.

A new report from Greenpeace and GM Freeze, analyzed almost 200 independent and peer-reviewed scientific studies. Those studies show that the culture of genetically engineered food and its chemical supplements has serious problems, and is linked with upsurges in rates of cancer, birth defects and neurological illnesses including Parkinson’s. This study also echoes resoundingly the dire warnings of Don M. Huber.

As The Wall Street Journal noted in a recent article about Greenpeace, an emerging consensus among eco-activists is that environmentalism is now a matter of life and death. It is in this alarming context that new executive director Kumi Naidoo and all of Greenpeace are preparing this month to mark their 40anniversary with the launch of Rainbow Warrior III, a successor to the group's famous flagship sunk by the French government in 1985. 

Perhaps the new ship --  a visible manifestation of the mythos and a powerful action-oriented expression of a wisdom-based ethos -- will help spark and encourage a necessary moral evolution in citizens, governments, universities and corporations.

 

 

 

Drought is igniting Russia, and floods of ‘mind-blowing’ proportion are drowning Pakistan. Dry or wet, unstable climate conditions are wreaking havoc on people’s lives and their crops – not just in those two locales, but in many places around the world as well.

Meanwhile, speculators – not just the usual commodity investors, but big money players – are driving up the cost of food by injecting money into national and international  markets in ways intended to make profits for themselves. But those monetary moves on the part of financiers are a major factor driving up the prices in supermarkets for people who just want to eat.

It is in this context that the Millennial Agrarians are coming forward with their solutions, producing clean food and healing the land. They are imbued with civic courage. In general, civic courage is a term characterizing the soul state of civilians who confront the problems of the world and advance solutions.

With their work on the land – in cities, suburbs and countryside, the Millennial Agrarians are demonstrating both foresight and civic courage. Many of these civic pioneers, and the models they are establishing, are profiled in my book The Call of the Land,  The book is for everyone who aspires to act wisely and courageously. It shows dozens and dozens of sensible, practical,  positive pathways forward in a time of profound uncertainty.

Among the many possibilities, CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) continues to prove itself as a particularly valuable form for these Millennial Agrarians to exercise their will, skill, and determination. Over the course of 2010, news stories  from around North America reported on steady growth and development in the CSA model and its variations. The Seattle Post Intelligencer ran one such story a few weeks back, and reported that there are by now well over 12,500 CSA farms spread across the country.

As the economy and the environment wobble precariously, these farms — and the hundreds of other new agrarian initiatives taking root — are demonstrating the foundation of a path to a clean and sustainable future.