There’s bad ethanol and good ethanol, with the corn-based stuff topping the list when it comes to bad. Or so goes the conventional environmental wisdom. Unfortunately, one of the good ethanols, the one that is fueling a hefty portion of Brazil’s vehicles, has problems, too. But, as Tom Philpott at Grist points out, the sugar-cane crop underpinning that product has a bad history and a not-so-good present.
Sugarcane is a deeply ironic crop on which to hang a "sustainable energy revolution." Historically, the spread of sugarcane in Caribbean islands and South America involved vast clear-cutting of coastal forests.
Socially, its legacy may be worse. To run the bustling cane plantations of the Americas during the colonial period, European powers relied on ruthlessly exploited African slaves.
Still a highly labor-intensive crop, cane evidently remains under the shadow of that atrocious past. Even today, Brazil's much-heralded ethanol miracle is built on the backs of "forced" cane workers. From a Reuters story:
Amnesty International criticized poor working conditions and forced labor in Brazil's fast-growing sugar cane sector on Wednesday, as the government tries to promote the cane-based ethanol industry as a way to reduce poverty. ...
Amnesty said that in March 2007, 288 workers were rescued from forced labor at six cane plantations in Sao Paulo state, and 409 workers from an ethanol distillery in Mato Grosso do Sul state.
I wish Thomas Friedman -- next time he's in Brazil chatting up cab drivers, development gurus, and ethanol execs -- would go spend the night in one of these dreadful barracks, and then turn in a shift in a cane field (where he'd earn about a buck for every ton of cane he harvested, Land Research Action reports). The experience may add a bit of pique to his next gurglings about the genius of cane ethanol.
And keep Friedman away from WiFi for 24 hours. Which can only be a net positive.
Think about joining the DailyKos Environmentalists.
ANIMALS
A jelly fish sandwich? was the unappetizing headline on Pinko Elephant’s Diary: "Human beings can be destructive in the pursuit of profits or commercial activity. Certain forms of capitalism has no vision of the sustainable and has a nasty habit of exploitation of resources. Overfishing is one example. You know there is the possibility one day in which instead of eating tuna fish sandwiches we might be eating jelly fish sandwiches. The occasion then was Daniel Pauly's address to the World Fisheries Congress, in which the distinguished University of British Columbia researcher recounted how in Third World countries, consumers of seafood are turning increasingly to the lower trophic levels, meaning the likes of sea cucumbers and sea urchins – ‘stuff that eats dirt,’ as Pauly noted. In the not-too-distant future ...such delectables could be commonplace, according to Pauly: ‘When we first presented this, it was a joke – you're going to have a jellyfish sandwich. The journalists all ate it up – not the jellyfish, the quote. It was a joke, but now it's real.’
juliewolf presented her Bird Blogging: Maine Trip Report: "This week, we took a few days to do some birding in Maine, staying in Wells and visiting a few nearby areas. Some of our best looks were at Warblers, like this Chestnut-sided warbler, but we also had great looks at some other birds, including two new life birds."
lineatus took a look at feather fashion in this week’s Dawn Chorus Birdblog: Molto Bene: "If the world of birds and birding was like the human world, I'd be like a society section reporter, scrutinizing everyone's attire (to see how well they're doing) and checking on who's aging well and who's not. Fortunately, in the world of birds, there's actually some justification for doing so. I can just say I'm a molt geek, and let it go at that. ... Birds need to molt to replace their feathers, which become less effective as they get worn by age and exposure. Flight feathers lose their strength and body feathers lose their ability to keep the bird dry and regulate temperature. Once or twice a year (or more, or less... it's complicated) those feathers need to be replaced."
Some rare birds could be in deep trouble, according to Deep Harm in Developer gags condor experts: "The Associated Press reports that Tejon Ranch, a California development company, is co-opting the limited number of condor experts by paying them to 'review' its plan for condor preservation and requiring confidentiality as a condition of payment. The company plans to build ‘nearly 3,500 luxury homes, condos and hotels on land used by the endangered California condor,’ writes AP. ... Tejon's Web site declares that the firm has ‘formed a partnership with The Trust for Public Land (TPL) to pursue the permanent conservation of up to 100,000 acres of important habitat lands.’ (Italics added) On its surface, the plan appears to be a death knell for local condors. Tejon's development plans would bring ‘more than 70,000 people to the area,' a population density that seems incompatible with the condor's need for vast, wild spaces."
matching mole wrote another installment about his time in Ecuador called Biodiversity in crisis: creepy-crawlies in the Amazon: "Each fall for the last six years I've taken groups of undergrads on a field trip to a local patch of prairie. These students are not biology majors and are mostly from the Chicago suburbs. Some of them regard this as a trip to the wilderness. Going to Tiputini made me realize that all of our perceptions of nature are determined by our experiences. It made me realize how much the world had changed.
The other point of this diary is that discussions of conservation and diversity tend to focus on larger animals, mostly mammals and birds. These organisms are a tiny fraction of the living things on earth. One of my favourite things to do is take a walk at night through the forest. An amazing array of tiny creatures will show up in your flashlight beam."
bottsimons gave us some moving pictures to look at in Welcome to the Klamath Online Video Festival!.
ENERGY
terryhallinan found a silver bullet in geothermal, which he explained in Why Heat Homes When You Can Heat The Whole Damn Planet: "The Salton Sea KGRA (Known Geothermal Resource Area) is very unusual. One can drill through sedimentary rock as is typical of oil and gas wells rather than granite. It is that drilling through granite that makes geothermal wells much more expensive. And if that cheapo was fully exploited, some think it could supply all the electricity California could use. So why do poor countries like Kenya and Nicaragua and Papua New Guinea anxiously push development of a cheap energy resource and the U.S. mostly lets Israelis, Icelanders and Canadians fund development here? Why, indeed."
More and more countries are pondering whether their approach to energy should revive reliance on a form that has fallen on hard times politically in Europe and America, as
davidwalters recounted in Dutch to weigh benefits of nuclear power: "The Netherlands has added its name to the growing list of European countries that might build nuclear power stations to help meet their greenhouse gas targets. Maria van der Hoeven, Dutch economics minister, said she could not envisage a nuclear-free future if the government was to meet its CO2 targets. 'We are very gas dependent and we have to do something about it,' she said. 'In my opinion it will be very difficult to achieve a clean energy household in 2050 without nuclear energy.' She is due to present a report to parliament next month outlining Dutch energy options. ... The country has one nuclear power station, at Borssele in the south. Nuclear power makes up less than 2 per cent of the Dutch domestic electricity mix, compared with 28 per cent in Germany, 21 per cent in Britain and 78 per cent in France. ... Across Europe, politicians are reassessing nuclear policy. While the German parliament voted in 2000 to phase out nuclear power by 2030, Angela Merkel, chancellor, has said she would extend the life of some power stations if re-elected. Sweden has delayed the phase-out of its nuclear power from 2010 to 2035 or beyond and while Spain is also theoretically phasing out nuclear power by not adding new capacity, the argument for nuclear is gaining ground. Russia, the country benefiting most from the widespread use of natural gas, has announced plans to build 26 nuclear power stations in the next 12 years. Well, that raises some serious issues. Those of us on the Progressive Left who are pro-nuclear in the US have, along with our very conservative collegues in the pro-nuclear blogging world, have looked overseas to see the shape of things to come."
gmoke discovered Solar in Zanzibar: "I met Robert Lange at MIT at a lecture on international development. He's a Brandeis physics professor who has been working since November with Jongowe village on the island of Tumbatu about a mile from Unguja, one of the major islands of Zanzibar. There are no roads, electricity, cars, or bikes on Tumbatu but there are two villages. Jongowe is one of them and consists of 625 households with several thousand people. Through the International Collaborative for Science, Education, and the Environment, Inc. (The ICSEE) and its Village Projects, Professor Lange is helping the village install more efficient stoves then certifying and selling the resulting carbon credits to buy small solar electric systems, a process already proven in Eritrea and Ghana. These solar electric systems cost about $100."
ProfJonathan opined that To Bring Down Oil Prices, We Need Certainty: "Oil prices (and, by extension, gasoline prices) have been rocketing up over the past few years, with no end in sight. While many solutions have been proposed (including Bush's ineffective begging the Saudis to increase production), there is only one thing that will truly bring down prices hard and fast: certainty of a Democratic victory in November."
Damn Frank riffed on George Costanza Energy Policy: The Opposite Effect: "The premise is from Seinfeld, that everything George Costanza does is the wrong thing, and America has had a George Costanza attitude toward oil. And that the prices of oil would be rational or at least a lot lower now if we did the right policy choices and actually though medium to long term. The Costanza Energy Policy: 25 Ways to Drive Oil to $150. I don't agree with all of this but I do agree with most of the article. Most of our government energy. What I think he is missing is a lot of what is on the Energize America Web site."
bink reported about putative corporate meddling in petroleum pricing in Sen. Cantwell: Enron-Style Manipulation in Oil Markets: "No transcript available yet, but Sen. Cantwell charged that trading practices used at Enron to manipulate the cost of energy in California and elsewhere have ‘moved on’ to other commodities markets, including that for crude oil. Some commentators, including Paul Krugman have expressed skepticism here."
Just a couple of years ago, Eternal Hope would have been laughed off the site for the Diary Will Gas Reach $15 per Gallon?. Not now: "Robert Hirsch argues that we could see $15 gas as early as several months from now. He argues that we have hit peak oil and that we can expect gas prices to continue to go up as the world's supply will continue to decrease even as demand continues to skyrocket. ’The problem is that there’s not that much oil left in the ground,’ Hirsch says. ‘What we’ve done is been very fortunate to have oil production increase as our economies have developed over the past decades. And now we’re reaching a point where we’re about to get, or we may be, at the maximum world oil production. After that, oil production will then decline and prices, of course, will continue to do what they’ve been doing recently. So what we’ve got today may be the ‘good old days.’"
POLITICOS
While Eternal Hope pondered $15 gas, Cartoon Messiah asked, Could Obama's Policies Lead to $10.00 Gas?: "The Republicans are trotting out this strategy because they surmise that it is a safe bet that gasoline prices will be around $10 in the next ten years. The Republicans have been in denial about peak oil for years, and now that it is staring them in the face, they want to pin it on Obama."
kubla000 informed us that Obama owns a Hybrid: Memorial Weekend Gas talk...: "I'm sure many if not most of us are enjoying it from our couch rather than the beach. With gas exploding as it is, I find it refreshing that the Democratic Nominee owns a Hybrid."
oregonj took note of a certain presidential candidate’s political agility McCain Backflips on Climate Again: "Yesterday, McCain completely reversed his position on the leading global warming bill in Congress - the Boxer-Lieberman-Warner bill due for a vote in June. ...McCain has changed positions on global warming so many times that he cannot be believed at all."
Bill ONeill For Congress declaredPumping and Discounting Gas, We're Standing Up to Big Oil: "The people of Northeast Ohio deserve a congressman who stands up to these special interests – and stands up for you. Tomorrow, the first 113 people will get the first $1.13 of their fill-up on me. And they’ll also get this souvenir check, from Big Oil to my opponent. Take a look at the check here or below: http://www.flickr.com/... It’s hard to stand up to Big Oil and Big Energy when they’re helping fund your campaign. So let me be very clear: I have never taken a penny from Big Oil, and I never will."
arquebus let us know that Mother Jones Picks Up Phil Gramm Scandal: "... we now have documented evidence linking Gramm not only to the subprime crisis, but to the massive increase in oil futures trading, and thus the rapid increase in the price of gasoline. Thus, perhaps (McCain’s) MAIN economic advisor is linked in no uncertain terms to BOTH causes of the current economic situation in the U.S. I submit that, in a reasonable world, this would sink McCain's campaign, particularly given his oft-quoted remarks about knowing nothing about the economy. If Phil Gramm is the guy he listens to, now we know WHY he's clueless regarding economics."
In an installment of his on-going series, Sven at My Silver State asked Kossacks an Obama Cabinet Poll - Admin. of the Environmental Protection Agency: "Everyone's talking about Obama's running mate. But who would you like to see in an Obama cabinet? Today you can vote on the next Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency."
Indonesia Pulls out of OPEC, Peak Oil Alert!!!!! was Johnny Venom’s claimed top entry in the exclamation-point contest: "The Financial Times dropped an OPEC-related bomb on Wednesday. A long-time member of the petroleum cartel has decided to leave the group. Oil watchers take note of the recent developments in Asia. A big shake-up has arrived and could be a harbinger of things to come."
AFL-CIO likes Rand Knight's green vision
and so does bkfab: "It's heartworming to Georgia's reality-based community to see the field of challengers for Saxby Chambliss' senate seat standing up in the center of the political spectrum. In contrast to the tried-and-true crowd with Jim Martin heading the pack, Rand Knight is a firecracker speaker who can compose a paragraph in his head and let it out in a stream of passionate logic that gets your attention, as he did mine at a recent meetup. When you look at his powerful appeal to our rural agricultural interests creating fuel from ag waste, and his support by union workers in the cities you start to see a new combination of strength that echoes the recent Montana elections of farmer Jon Tester to the Senate and rancher Brian Schweitzer to Governor, both with slim political history and plant-based backgounds."
baratunde talked about filling your tank in Milkshakes Are Harder To Come By: Why Oil Costs Over $120 Per Barrel
GLOBAL WARMING
Contributing Editor Plutonium Page had a strong answer for her own question, Is Exxon Backing Away From Climate Change Deniers?: "Although Exxon is no longer funding a handful of its climate change denier front groups, the key people in these groups are part of the entire Exxon front group network. It doesn't matter that one of their think tanks is losing funding, because they have their fingers in other oily pies, and can get their message out no matter what. Exxon is obviously under pressure to catch up with reality; they no longer strictly deny climate change, but their tepid, equivocating language on their website leaves a lot to be desired. As Cindy Baxter says in her post at Exxon Secrets, ‘it's a start.’ She, like all of us in the real world would love to see Exxon stop funding all of its front groups, and not create more to take their place."
A Siegel wrote a Shocking Analysis of Lie-berman-Warner: "Next week, Senator Harry Reid is going to bring the Lieberman-Warner Coal-Subsidy Act to the Senate floor for debate and votes. Even after modification by Senator Boxer, Lieberman-Warner remains grossly inadequate in face of the challenges we face. Even so, the National Association of Manufacturers, the US Chamber of Commerce, and global warming deniers are attacking it as too high cost. Let us be clear, absolutely clear, these are dishonest claims, claims that insult the term truthiness. To be clear, dealing with global warming is not just an absolute necessity, but a necessity that will leave us far ahead economically (and otherwise) than simply allowing the problem to worsen."
He also looked into Agricultural Geogineering: Planting wheat for carbon sequestration?: "According to this report, some grasses grown in calcium-rich soils will lead to formation of calcium carbonate (e.g., chalk) and the creation of ‘a virtually permanent geological carbon sink.’ And, the levels are not trivial. Isotopic analyses have shown that this carbon-trapping is significant: it could reach 150 kg [330 lbs.] per year per hectare in a field of wheat. How does that translate into actual impact versus current emissions? According to modeling, ‘the 2.5 million hectares of wheat cultivated in England could, in this way, absorb 14 million tons of CO2, or close to 3 percent of the country's emissions.’"
FWIW provided an extensive analysis from a New Report: Effects of Climate Change on the United States
: "A new report on U.S. Climate Change Science Program Scientific Assessment of the Effects of Global Change on the United States has been published by the Committee on Environment and Natural Resources of the National Science and Technology Council. The report ‘integrates, evaluates, and interprets the findings of the U.S. Climate Change Science Program (CCSP) and draws from and synthesizes findings from previous assessments of the science, including CCSP Synthesis and Assessment Products and reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).’ ... This report appears to have escaped editing by political appointees in which science is superceded by policy. Hopefully, it will provide documentation for serious discussion of climate change among policy makers. The complete 271 page report (2.75 MB pdf file) ... can be found here.
GREEN PHILOSOPHY & ACTIVISM
VoodooCadillac got practical in What are you doing to help the Environment?: "It's often said that movements begin with the people - not the Politicians. With that in mind, lets talk environment and what each of us (can) do to contribute. Here's a link to some simple ideas: 21 Practical Ways to help the Environment. Here's another link: Ways to Help the Environment. And another: More you can do!Courtesy of Mr. Gore. The list goes on and on and on."
In a striking essay, futurebird wrote Cities are nature too: 'Save the City, Save the Earth': "Environmentalists have long spoken about the wounded earth, those with spiritual leanings will say that they can feel, in the presence of a clear cut forest, a sewage-choked stream or a toxic strip mine, the cries of the trees and of mother nature. The rationalist, who is an environmentalist, will, instead, talk about the lost diversity of rain-forests that are burned and of coral reefs that are bleached. They will remind us that the next cure for some terrible illness could come from the still unexplored life-forms there. In any case, most people, who are not bound by harsh economies, prefer to know that, someplace, non-human creatures thrive. That someplace, beyond the pesticide-laced wheat fields and strip-malls, we can still find abundant animal life. Since the city is manifestation of nature, it too can become wounded like the earth. The wounded city is the wounded earth, but in the wounded city the environmental disasters are inflicted directly upon human beings."
Nulwee threw down the gantlet in Calling OUT Oil Populism: ‘Save Us From Ourselves’: "Only a mind as balanced and penetrating as George Monbiot could get to the heart of the matter when oil prices meet state policy. In the mess of connections between OPEC outpit, the statements of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, the British, US and French governments, Monbiot organizes them all into coherence. And we can realize the threat looking back in the mirror, the caution we should take at the sign of our own anger and fear. It's not Arabs or OPEC to fear but our own irrationality."
POLLUTION & REGULATION
Carbon Nanotubes – The New Asbestos? was freelixir’s eye-opening look at "New studies by scientists at the University of Edinburgh and Japan's National Institute of Health Sciences (which) have raised disturbing new concerns that the physical structure of a particular type of carbon nanotube fiber, one that is already in use in the real world, may be as hazardous to your health as asbestos."
stillman asked Will a 16 year old science fair winner save us all from plastic pollution?: "While I am delighted for Daniel Burd...why on earth was he the first person to come up with this? To DailyKos readers the problems of plastic pollution are not new - it sits in landfills for millenia. Floats in the ocean and animals eat it or get caught in it and drown. The slurry of chemicals from degrading plastic hurts human health, animal health, and soil and ocean health. Well Daniel was sick and tired of it and came up with a solution for his science fair project."
markthshark stepped into a major controversy with his Depleted Uranium has Destroyed the Genetic Future of Iraq The use of depleted uranium (DU) munitions by the U.S. military may lead to a death toll far higher than that from the nuclear bombs dropped at the end of World War II. A waste product from the enrichment of uranium, DU, contains nearly one-third the radioactive isotopes of uranium that occurs naturally. DU is generally used in armor-piercing ammunition; despite its classification as a weapon of mass destruction, and subsequent banning by the United Nations."
bkfab lamented that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission devolves more authority to states: "Newsvine http://www.newsvine.com/... posts an AP story from Atlanta about a hot-spot on a shipment from reactor manufacturer Areva NP Inc. registering radioactivity ten times that allowed by federal authorities. The radiation was found on the bottom of a box of fuel cleaning equipment located on an open flatbed truck that made a seven-hour trip from Areva's Mount Athos Road facility near Lynchburg, Va. to the Watts Bar Nuclear Plant north of Chattanooga, Tenn. The equipment arrived on Feb. 3. The next morning Watts Bar plant employees found a spot at the bottom of the truck they measured at 2,000 millirem per hour — 10 times higher than the commission's guidelines of 200 millirem per hour. A millirem is a unit of measurement of radiation. A chest X-ray usually is about 10 millirem, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. So I'm guessing the box wasn't very contaminated, it had just been sitting on a contaminated floor somewhere in Areva's Virginia facility. Hmmm. Don't suppose the dirty floor contaminated anything else in an industrial facility?"
TRANSPORTATION
Rob Dapore wondered Why does Detroit hate America?: "Our appeaser-in-chief failed miserably in his most recent attempts to get the nation that helped with the September 11th attacks to produce more oil. Hillary and John McSame attempted to push the ‘gas tax holiday’ proposal that not one major economist has signed on to. So Detroit (aka the big US car companies) has stepped in with its recent marketing ploy: free or nearly free gas. Dodge, Chrysler, and Jeep have been running a promotion where you can get gas for $2.99/gallon for the next three years if you buy one of their vehicles through June 2. Such a wonderful offer! Or is it? Much like the gas-tax holiday scam, anyone who understands even the slightest understanding of supply and demand can figure out it's a scam. ... But the most offensive thing is the message they send. Guzzle away, we'll pay for it!"
Rei wrote two more of her installments on Going EV #5: A victory for electric vehicles, but a few are left in the cold (action item!) and #6: "The economics of electric vehicles There are really three things that need to be discussed when it comes to the economics of electric vehicles: how an EV purchase affects an individual's financial situation, how EVs charging will affect electric utilities, and how the installation of charging stations will pay off for investors. We'll tackle each of these one at a time."
americangoy focused on media coverage in So why are gas prices rising? Investigative reporting, non MSM style: "You have seen the gas prices, and been affected by them. Cable ‘news’ channels run endless reports from ‘the man on the street,’ in which they profile typical Americans bitching and moaning about how high the price of gas is. Every few minutes there will be a different American face on TV moaning and becoming more and more exasperated. Great TV? And what about analysis, cable ‘news’? Ah, that's right ... China and India, growing economies, nothing to see here, standard supply and demand. But is there something that the mainstream is missing here?"
Leon Messi suggested that we bring back Price Controls on Gas: Easing Our Pain at the Pump: "The price of crude oil is about to hit $200 a barrel which will soon push gas prices up to $7.00 a gallon at the pump. If nothing is done to reverse this maddening trend, we will soon be working just to fill our tanks, forced to choose between buying gas to go to work and feeding our children. That’s why we have to take action. I believe the time has come for the federal government to impose a ceiling on the price of gasoline."
In the weekly Kossacks Under 35 series, kath25 brought up the philosophy of Going Carless: "I'm a rarity in modern society: I’ve never owned a car. I grew up in New Jersey, but we didn’t get our drivers licenses until age 17, at which point I was done with my junior year of high school. I knew I wanted to go to college in New York City, so owning a car for fifteen months seemed moot. After college I moved to Chicago and then back to New York, never needing a car. Now, I’m even surviving here in Austin without a car. True, I do a good degree of carpooling and my fair share of swearing at the absent public transit. But, I’m living proof that it can be done. It’s just that our society isn’t yet widely set up to accommodate this choice. Tonight, let’s talk about the choice to go carless, and how it can (or can’t) work for you."
FOOD, ARGRICULTURE & HORTICULTURE
In a stunning photo Diary, Asinus Asinum Fricat looked at Global Food Disparity: "In an increasingly globalized world, it’s still sometimes shocking to see just how disparate our lives are compared with other human beings around the world. A book of photographs by Peter Menzel called Hungry Planet: What the World Eats (©Peter Menzel www.menzelphoto.com. Ten Speed Press, published in 2005) makes a relevant point with great irony: at a time when hundreds of millions of people don't have enough to eat, hundreds of millions more are eating too much and are overweight or obese. In observing what six billion eat for dinner the authors note. ‘Today, more people are overweight than underweight.’
$500.07 a week
It is these cultural differences, emphasized and reinforced by the author, which exemplifies the lifestyles and dietary habits of people around the world. In the United States, processed foods are par for course. In the Philippines, fresh fruit and vegetables play a far more significant role. In the harsh Chad sun, a family of six exists on a measly $1.23 per week.
$1.23 a week
He also wrote GM Sugar: Another Threat from Monsanto: "Look out for genetically modified sugar in a shopping aisle near you by next Fall! American Crystal, a large Wyoming-based sugar company, has announced it will be sourcing its sugar from genetically engineered sugar beets. However, the increasing presence of GM crops in the US food chain has led to a growing resistance movement: several activists groups have filed lawsuits in California calling for the USDA to review its approval of the GM sugar beet, while planting of Monsanto's alfalfa, also genetically modified to resist Roundup, has been delayed after a major campaign against the crop in 2006 calling for a federal environmental review."
And he wrote his weekly Food News Roundup: "I've been addicted to comestibles and their ‘relatives’ since childhood. That's the price I was glad to pay being from a family of hoteliers and restaurateurs. At the tender age of seven I was taught how to differentiate a Burgundy from a Claret, and all my spare time was spent in the hotel kitchens, spying on the chefs, pestering all and sundry with endless questioning, poking my nose into this and that, checking out all the incoming supplies."
cactusflinthead took a detailed look at a federal appropriation little-noticed outside the farmbelt, the 2008 Farm Bill. Do you care?: "The fact that it has problems is no secret and I endorse efforts to correct the mistakes it contains, but it is better than what we had before. A couple of things it does for us... The country of origin labeling requirements — known as COOL — also cover fruits, vegetables, macadamia nuts and peanuts ... ‘I do believe the American public wants to know where their food is coming from,’ said Cal Ransom, president of the Baker County Livestock Association, which supports country of origin labeling. For more than a decade, ranchers in Baker County and across the country have fought to get country of original labeling implemented for beef. But with opposition from Bush and multinational food companies and grocery chains, it's been an uphill battle."
Another extremely detailed look at the bill appeared under Brendon Fisher ’s byline in U.S. Agricultural Policy: The Farm Bill Debate (Very Wonky): "The 19 states represented by Agriculture Committee members receive 61% of all subsidies, but most go to only 3% of the nation’s farms. Those farms receive more than two thirds of all direct payments while producing 50% of all agricultural commodities (Durst, 2007). They each receive at least $44,000 per year in direct payments, and much more from other price support programs. 263 farms receive $200,000 in direct payments per year. 400 farms receive millions annually. The ceiling for subsidy payments is capped at $360,000 per year, but the cap is offset by deriving 75% of income from agriculture (Environmental Working Group, 2008)."
alicescheshirecat showed she wasn’t Corn-fused?: "No disrespect to Marshall Martin, but the price of corn isn't quite a simple as blaming it all on biofuels. I spoke with Jim Martin (no relation to Marshall) who is on the Federal Technical Advisory Committee for Biomass Research and Development, and he confirmed that blaming it all on ethanol neglects a number of other factors that don't always fit into a 30-second analysis."
dsnodgrass wondered about what should be a scandal in Is Dean Foods (Horizon Organic) Killing USDA Investigation?: "Tonight on the Celsias Show, I'll be interviewing Mark Kastel, Senior Farm Policy Analyst from the Cornucopia Institute, one of the truly effective watchdogs of the organic industry. Immediately after the interview, Jill Richardson (who you know as OrangeClouds115) will join me in a discussion that will include the latest developments in Cornucopia's ongoing effort to convince the Inspector General at the USDA to investigate appearances of favoritism at the agency that has benefitted Dean Foods, the company behind Horizon Organic."
He followed up with OrangeClouds115, M. Kastel on Dean Foods and Plum Island Disease Facility: "Plum Island is located approximately 2.5 miles as the crow flies from the northeastern tip of Long Island, its closest mainland neighbor. For nearly 50 years Plum Island has been the home of the Plum Island Animal Disease Center, which had been run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) until 2003, when the reins were handed over to the Department of Homeland Security. ... The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is considering the relocation of a research facility that holds the world's most contagious livestock diseases from an island to the heartland of the United States."
SneakySnu gave us the skinny on News from Havana: Cuba facing rice shortage: "I wish I could provide you with links to prove the following news, but I can't because there don't seem to be any. So, call this on-the-ground reporting. The Cuban government just announced that there is a rice shortage. Cubans will be guaranteed their ration of 7 lbs of rice per month per person only until July. After that, if prices don't come down or more rice isn't available through China, they will have ‘something else’ as a substitute."
JDsg objected to the conventional answer that the Indians and Chinese are putting upward pressure on the price of steak in Why Beef Prices are Getting Higher: "Because Americans prefer corn-fed cattle over grass-fed, cattle producers feed them lots of corn and other grains that, in turn, help them to fatten up quicker before they're slaughtered. Still, it takes feedlot cattle 14-18 months before they are killed, which means they eat a lot of corn. ... Because the price of corn has been going up ($2.00 per bushel in 2005/6 to $3.04 per bushel in 2006/7), it costs the cattle producer that much more to feed a cow until it gets to its terminal weight. Which means that cattle producers are actually losing money now for every cow they sell."
mbzoltan took a look at a little-noticed aspect of current conditions in Food-based medical conditions and skyrocketing food prices
: "Ever heard of Celiac disease? People with the condition can't eat wheat, barley, rye, or most oats. As worldwide rice prices skyrocket, most folks can shift their diet away from rice, but for a person with Celiac, wheat, rye, and barley are not among the choices. What about people with life-threatening food allergies to soy? Corn? Or the millions with food intolerances? Not life-threatening, as a food allergy is, but life-altering, triggering gastrointestinal issues, fatigue, skin disorders, and a host of other medical problems. What happens when food allergies, medical conditions, and skyrocketing food prices converge?"
From my old stomping grounds in Denver, Frankenoid wrote her latest Saturday Morning Garden Blogging Vol. 4.15: "When the grass had dried to damp, rather than soaked, I pulled our little Lawn Pup mower out of the shed and set to mowing. I was about half-way through — had just re-started after emptying the grass catcher and mixing its contents into the compost bin — when the Pup stopped running. I thought I'd dislodged the cord, but when I looked down I saw a little wisp of smoke. And one of the prongs on the Pup's electrical plug was warped where a lump of molten metal had solidified. And one of the socket holes in the extension cord was burned. Oooooh, shit! Had I screwed the pooch? I surely didn't want to replace the mower — we only paid $80 for it a couple of years back, and now they cost $170. I didn't think it had over-heated: it had had a substantial resting period and I didn't smell cooked electronics. The only smoke was that little waft from the extension cord socket."
Some previous Eco-Diary Rescues can be found at:
Eco-Diary Rescue 5.24
Eco-Diary Rescue 5.10
Eco-Diary Rescue 5.3
Eco-Diary Rescue 4.26
Eco-Diary Rescue 4.5
Eco-Diary Rescue 3.29
Eco-Diary Rescue 3.22
Eco-Diary Rescue 3.15
Eco-Diary Rescue 3.1