Posted by Carrie on February 23, 2012, 10:48 am, in reply to "real food?"
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This video is definitely worth the 10 minutes it takes to watch. Thanks, Cheryl. What has happened to our food supply (especially the increase in genetically modified crops) is really disturbing. Thank you for bringing up this topic. We should all be talking about it with our friends and neighbors and social networks and we should be ringing alarm bells. We should be asking the questions about the rise of food allergies, and the alarming rates of cancer that are not genetically caused. We should be asking why so much of our food is banned in Europe. Food with built-in pesticides? How can that be healthy?
A good book I've read on this subject is "Genetically Engineered Food: Changing the Nature of Nature" by Teitel and Wilson.
This is one of the reasons I grow as much of my own food from non-GMO seeds as possible, in my organic garden nourished with compost made from fallen leaves and grass clippings. There are many seed companies that have taken a pledge to only sell seeds that are safe and not genetically modified. It's getting harder for them, because they have to keep their fields isolated. Pollen from GMO plants can 'drift' into organic, non-GMO fields by accident, and then Monsanto and the other big companies can sue the organic farmers for patent infringement. It's enough to make your blood boil.
I'm also saving more of my own seed from year to year. In March I hope to go to a workshop sponsored by Seed Savers Exchange, to learn more about saving my own seed.
I know a lot of people can't have gardens, but we can all support local farmers markets and buy from organic growers when possible. We need to stop enriching the multinational food companies that are harming us and start supporting the smaller growers who are trying to do the right thing. An enormous fraction of the grains and soy grown in this country is now GMO. We don't have to buy it. We don't have to buy milk, yogurt, etc. that contains bovine growth hormones, and we can eat a lot less meat that has been produced by feeding genetically modified grains and soy to animals. (Another reason to eat more beans and less meat.)
There is currently a petition asking the FDA to sever ties to Monsanto. It's part of a larger movement to get the government to stop supporting the harmful practices of Big Agriculture in this country. This isn't a political website so I won't post a link to the petition. But you can easily find it if you wish, by googling something like 'petition to break ties between Monsanto and FDA.' The website of the Cornucopia Institute is an excellent resource to learn more about this whole topic.
I see that this is a TED talk. I love TED talks in general. You can find excellent, stimulating talks on a huge variety of subjects by googling 'TED talks."
Thanks again for bringing this up, Cheryl. We all need to be learning about it and talking about it and taking whatever action we can to change things. Together we have power to change the system, like the speaker said. First we have to educate ourselves and tell our friends.
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