In nature, everything is connected

[bixaorellana]

This list is making the rounds on the internet. I wish I knew if it was accurate or not. I'd automatically have more faith in it if it were in alphabetical order.

[fumobici]

www.snopes.com/politics/business/monsanto.asp

[bixaorellana]

I'm always the first person to hop on people telling others to post this or that on their facebook status so x corporation will donate a dollar, or to point out that the "orange alert" has been going around since 1999. Of course, I then direct them to Snopes.

[Deleted]

Just looking at the list, I could tell it was false -- both Coca-Cola and Pepsi are on the list. I think we would know about it if they were owned by the same company. (And Pepsi even appears on the list twice!)

[onlymark]

Thank God it's false.
It mentioned Pringles. I couldn't boycott them.

[bixaorellana]

Glyphosate was developed by Monsanto in the early 1970s and is the active ingredient in its patented herbicide Roundup.

New research published in the journal Current Microbiology highlights the extent to which glyphosate is altering, and in some cases destroying, the very microorganisms upon which the health of the soil, and - amazingly - the benefits of raw and fermented foods as a whole, depend.

This short article covering the newly published research is perhaps the most damning and frightening to date: www.nationofchange.org/monsanto-s-roundup-threatens-stability-global-food-supply-1331648671

[Kimby]

More bad news for GMO crops:

www.foodrenegade.com/mutated-gmo-grass-makes-cyanide-kills-cattle-2/

[bixaorellana]

Dare we hope that the tide might eventually turn against Monsanto?

GMO fail: Monsanto foiled by feds, Supreme Court, and science <-- click

[bixaorellana]

Beautiful & fascinating: the positive impact of wolves on Yellowstone National Park –

[htmb]

Amazing!

[Deleted]

Very interesting video, but I wish it had given some hard statistics instead of just gushing enthusiastically.

[bixaorellana]

So what you're saying is ~~ >click this<, right?

Okay. Skip down to Ecological impacts after re-introduction in this article.

[htmb]

A bit pedantic, I know, and perhaps I'm wrong, but some of the "deer" in the clip looked more like elk to me.

[bixaorellana]

Yours for more organic wine ~ www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/winemakers-are-building-houses-bats-make-vineyards-greener-180956381/

[bixaorellana]

The world continues to wake up. Click texts for links ~

An appeals court in the French city of Lyon has supported a local grain grower in his battle against US herbicide producer Monsanto, upholding a previous ruling that the company is responsible for poisoning the farmer with its toxic weedkiller over ten years ago.

and

GUATEMALA - On September 4th, after ten days of widespread street protests against the biotech giant Monsanto’s expansion into Guatemalan territory, groups of indigenous people joined by social movements, trade unions and farmer and women’s organizations won a victory when congress finally repealed the legislation that had been approved in June.

[Kimby]

Because of Monsanto's "Roundup Ready" crops - which can be drenched in their weed-killer Roundup - weeds are becoming resistant to Roundup. So now they'll probably develop new (more expensive) weed-killing poisons to kill the resistant weeds they created. And then probably more GMO crops able to resist being klilled by the new herbicide.

The cycle repeats as long as anyone is still alive and there's money to be made. Stop the madness!

[Deleted]

Roundup is banned in France as of 1 January 2016.

[bixaorellana]

France has upheld a 2012 ruling that a Monsanto product damaged a French farmer: www.sott.net/article/301532-French-court-finds-Monsanto-guilty-of-poisoning-farmer-with-flagship-product-Rounduplink

Not hard to figure why countries drag their feet in taking on the evil giant company: www.theguardian.com/world/2011/jan/03/wikileaks-us-eu-gm-crops

[bixaorellana]

An album has been recorded by Spiritualized with ... 40,000 bees, and their activity forms the basis of One, a transcendental drone symphony between man and bee that is surely one of the year’s most beguiling offerings. <-- click italized text for full, fascinating story plus three pieces from the album

And here is the art that inspired the music, ... a cube with a honeycomb structure made from 169,300 aluminium and steel pieces. A globe-shaped hollow in the middle includes a glass platform so visitors can walk inside. <-- click italized text for more pictures and full story

cross-posted to Change the Station as "Feel the buzz"

[tod2]

There is more to flies than meets the eye...So says our village vet.
Flies don't get much sympathy. In many cases this is understandable, in others it is totally un-warranted.
Let's concede that they are irritating, transmit disease and have bad table manners, but they also comprise some of the prettiest, most diverse, and most widespread and most industrious members of our lovely planet.

In Africa alone, there are some 16,000 known species. And one can rest assured that there are probably as many still to be named. That is the appeal of Africa. Still so much to know, so much to learn, so much to explore. The problem is that it is human nature to focus on the bigger members of the planet, those at the top of the food chain.
Great White sharks, whales, elephants, rhinos, leopards, lions and tigers.
Who gives a hoot about the welfare of the sardine eaten by the shark, the dung beetle stood on by an ellie, or the impala scoffed by a lion?
Did you know, for example, that the future of a most impeccably designed fly, the largest fly in Africa - an ugly bugger called Gyrostigma rhinocerontis, with red eyes and a wingspan as long as the base of a wine bottle - is indelibly linked with survival of the rhino?
This fly lays it's eggs around the head of the rhino, the larvae hatch, migrate through the moist areas of the nose, eyes, and mouth and grow fat and prosperous in the nutrient-rich stomach of the host. Some of these will be voided during his regular sortie to his midden.
The adult then emerges and the life cycle is complete.

So, in those dark days when rhinos become extinct, did anyone give a thought about the fact that poor old G almost had his last days as well? Maybe the odd well-meaning entomologist.
And it does not end there. What happens when we start farming rhinos? I can tell you that the first thing the game farmer will do is de-worm the animal and that will be the end of the nunu. Bye bye fly for good.

The Aussies, after introducing cattle and other production animals to their large island, woke up one morning with the realization that their country was steadily being drowned in cow poo and that their fashion statement of corks hanging from a hat brim, had progressed to a necessity to combat the fly menace. No one had told them that there were no dung beetles in Oz to get rid of cow poo and the larvae. So they had to import them from sunny South Africa, of course.

When it comes to these fly pests buzzing around in the kitchen soon as you start cooking, you have to remember some animals actually make a living eating flies. A whole family of birds, the Flycatcher's, are named after this habit.
Even with billions of dollars spent annually in designing chemicals and equipment that are focused on killing this unfortunate beastie, they are here to stay for the immediate future.

[bixaorellana]

After hearing so much about the spread of "superbugs" -- bacteria which have become resistant to multiple antibiotics -- we're now learning that fungal infections are also acquiring drug resistance:
www.theguardian.com/society/2016/aug/27/millions-at-risk-as-deadly-fungal-infections-acquire-drug-resistance?CMP=fb_gu

[mossie]

Oh lorgy lordy lordy. We're all going to die

[mossie]

Sometime

[Deleted]

If I hear the term "flesh eating bacteria" again, I am going to move to another planet.

[htmb]

Oh, I had that "flesh eating bacteria" stuff on my face about twenty years ago. I had a spot that wouldn't heal and when it started to spread down the side of my face I quickly got in to see my dermatologist. She put me on a major dose of antibiotic and insisted I delay a scheduled out of town trip until she received lab results and could be determined if the antibiotic was going to work. It worked, but later I got the fungal stuff, mainly in my sinuses and throat and on my face, probably because the antibiotic had killed all the good bacteria in my body, too.

[bixaorellana]

Gad ~ how did you get rid of the fungal problem?

And incidentally, thanks for a pertinent response to the news article, rather than pointless snark.

[htmb]

Getting rid of the fungal infection was a major problem and it took a very long time. For years afterwards I had redness around the right side of my nose and mouth, left over from disgusting sores, and my sinuses were a mess. I had to take super doses of an anti-fungal medication on a few occasions, but what really did the trick was when I completely and temporarily changed my diet. I avoided ALL sugars and any type of fermented food. After being a vegetarian for 15 years, this was the main reason I switched back to eating red meat, chicken and fish, since other food options were so limited.

If I hadn't had this problem, and it hadn't taken a few years to get my body back to normal, I would have at least had some snarky thoughts, too, Bixa. I just don't usually worry about this type of thing.

[bixaorellana]

Having had a family member almost die from a resistant strain of bacteria, and noting how a few years ago people were possibly over-reacting to the threat of fungal problems, I take it seriously.

[htmb]

I don't know the situation you're referring to, obviously, but I'm guessing the odds of contacting something similar are much higher among persons with compromised immune systems. This was the case with both my brother and sister when they were each undergoing chemotherapy treatment. Someone who has a normal immune system is usually much more able to battle bacteria and infection.

[bixaorellana]

Monsanto ordered to pay $289m as jury rules weedkiller cause of man's cancer <-- click