The United States is the world’s largest grower and consumer of genetically-modified (GM) foods. As of 2010, the United States had 66.8 million hectares of GM crops planted, covering 16.5 percent of our total agricultural area. Because GM foods are made with proteins from organisms that weren’t previously part of the food chain, GM foods have caused allergic reactions in children several years after these foods were made available for public consumption. Additionally, genetically modifying food can result in disease-causing bacteria becoming resistant to antibiotics, leading to widespread food-borne illnesses.
As Americans eat GM foods and get sick, they rely on drugs made by pharmaceutical companies to get well. The relationship between Monsanto, a chief grower of GM crops, and Pfizer, one of the world’s largest prescription drug manufacturers, is insidious. According to Monsanto’s own website, prior to September 1, 1997, the Monsanto Company owned a pharmaceuticals business that later became known as Pharmacia, which is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Pfizer. Both companies are heavily invested in growing food that makes people sick when they eat it, and selling sick people the drugs to treat those health conditions.

Consider the Source

 Consider the First Source!

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word choreographed an assembly of amino acids into an exquisite array of specific proteins. Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.” In so doing God demonstrated a penchant for genomic writing, preceeded by an amazing series of prebiotic events, in a highly orchestrated presentation of evolutionary overcontrol.

More about God’s Handiwork!

Have the rows of organic honey jars at the farmers market got you thinking about starting your own backyard beehive? If you live in a suburban area, you may think that starting a beehive cannot be done. However a common suburban backyard can be a perfect place for beehives if done correctly and you do a bit of research and planning before ordering your bees and supplies. It is actually a very simple and easy process with the right tools.

Mason jars are a staple of the self-sufficient lifestyle. They can be used to serve, grow, or preserve many things, but this is the first time we’ve seen them used as a home for honey bees. It’s easy to turn some scrap wood and quart-sized big mouth jars into unique hives that allow you to watch the bees as they bottle your honey!

Consider the Source

 Consider the First Source!

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word choreographed an assembly of amino acids into an exquisite array of specific proteins. Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.” In so doing God demonstrated a penchant for genomic writing, preceeded by an amazing series of prebiotic events, in a highly orchestrated presentation of evolutionary overcontrol.

More about God’s Handiwork!

Hidden hunger is a form of malnutrition that strikes both the underfed and the overfed. It affects close almost two billion people worldwide. It is caused by micronutrient deficiencies. Micronutrients are vitamins and minerals needed in small amounts in the body, and which are essential to growth and development.

Children and mothers from developing countries are among the most vulnerable to suffering from hidden hunger. Poor nutrition during pregnancy and during a child’s first two years in life significantly slows down growth and cognitive development in children. It also makes the body more susceptible to illness and premature death.

Consider the Source

 Consider the First Source!

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word choreographed an assembly of amino acids into an exquisite array of specific proteins. Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.” In so doing God demonstrated a penchant for genomic writing, preceeded by an amazing series of prebiotic events, in a highly orchestrated presentation of evolutionary overcontrol.

More about God’s Handiwork!

Ever since Monsanto developed, marketed and patented the glyphosate molecule — Roundup (®) herbicide’s active ingredient — beginning in the early 70’s, a substantial and ever-growing portion of the earth’s arable surface has been transformed into an environmental and human health experiment, of unprecedented scale.

Roundup Ready (®) (glyphosate resistant) genetically modified (GM) plants (also created by Monsanto) now constitute 70% of all genetically modified food plants on the market today.2 This has required the use of increasingly larger quantities of glyphosate-based herbicides in the regions where these plants are cultivated, making human exposures inevitable, and now simply a question of to what degree. Despite manufacturers’ claims, pest resistance to GM crops and commonly used herbicides, are becoming a serious problem, and companies like Dow Agrosciences are seizing the opportunity with newly created GM crops that are ‘three herbicide” resistant, requiring the future use of even more toxic combinations and greater quantities of herbicides in America’s farmlands, including 2,4 D, a chemical once used in Agent Orange.

Consider the Source

 Consider the First Source!

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word choreographed an assembly of amino acids into an exquisite array of specific proteins. Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.” In so doing God demonstrated a penchant for genomic writing, preceeded by an amazing series of prebiotic events, in a highly orchestrated presentation of evolutionary overcontrol.

More about God’s Handiwork!

An affordable and effective alternative to glass greenhouses is the walipini (an Aymara Indian word for a “place of warmth”). Also known as an underground or pit greenhouse, it was first developed over 20 years ago for the cold mountainous regions of South America, this method allows growers to maintain a productive garden year-round, even in the coldest of climates.

A walipini combines the principles of passive solar heating with that of an earth-sheltered building. It utilizes nature’s resources to provide a warm, stable, well-lit environment for year-round vegetable production. Locating the growing area 6’- 8’ underground and capturing and storing daytime solar radiation are the most important principles in building a successful Walipini.

Consider the Source

 Consider the First Source!

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word choreographed an assembly of amino acids into an exquisite array of specific proteins. Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.” In so doing God demonstrated a penchant for genomic writing, preceeded by an amazing series of prebiotic events, in a highly orchestrated presentation of evolutionary overcontrol.

More about God’s Handiwork!

The vault will have dual-blast proof doors, motion sensors, two airlocks, and walls reinforced with meter-thick concrete. Inside will be stored more than 3 million varieties of seed. The Norwegian government says the seeds are being stored, ‘so that crop diversity can be conserved for the future.’

Participating in this project, aside from the Norwegians, are:

• The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
• Dupont/Pioneer – owner of GMO seed patents.
• The Syngenta Foundation – Swiss maker of GMO seed and pesticides.
• The Rockefeller Foundation – created the ‘gene revolution with over $100 million invested in GM science since the 1970’s
• CGIAR, a global network of Rockefeller Foundation supporters

Some economists have long believed that consumer sovereignty would be realized in a free market economy. Just how free the market can be in light of  influential forces such as software monopolies, agribusiness concerns, energy consortiums, Wall Street banks, and the governments they control is highly debatable.

Just as Monsanto executives dream of a world with 100 percent of all commercial seeds genetically modified and patented, others imagine global bio-warfare on the world population. Just as the fossil fuels industry is working to retard the growth of a bio-fuels industry, their oilees are sewing up the alternative energy patent portfolio.

Net-Neutrality is probably the most important First Amendment issue of our time. Throughout this country’s history, freedom of the press has only existed for those who own the press. The only way to stop powerful simpletons, from waging the war on poverty by starving the impoverished, is to dilute the power of incumbency.

Start saving our own seed. If enough of us do this, it won’t matter how many seeds they store in their vault. Plant organic gardens and share your seed with neighbors. Plant heirloom varieties, and as many of them as you have space for. Or, better yet, become completely non-dependent on the food supply. Turn your lawn into a garden. Start your own aquaponics system, and throw out the senators and congressmen who vote to support GMO in any way.

City governments may try to fine you $500 a day for planting your own food, like they did in Orlando, but if enough of us do it, and home owner’s associations begin to understand the larger concern, the power-hungry loonies are less likely to be able to interfere with a sweeping grass-roots efforts to take the power back – namely through growing our own non GMO food.

Consider the Source

 Consider the First Source!

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word choreographed an assembly of amino acids into an exquisite array of specific proteins. Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.” In so doing God demonstrated a penchant for genomic writing, preceeded by an amazing series of prebiotic events, in a highly orchestrated presentation of evolutionary overcontrol.

More about God’s Handiwork!

A rich microbial ecosystem in our gut keeps us healthy. Now scientists are linking the health of our gut to the microbial ecosystems in the soils where our food is grown.

Industrial food production pollutes rivers and streams, creating massive offshore dead zones. It kills off bee colonies, consigns millions of animals to inhumane confinement, and disrupts the climate.

True, industrial food is cheap. But one in five children in the United States experiences hunger, and for many, it’s because their parents are paid poverty-level wages working in the food and agriculture sectors.

Industrial food is actually only cheap when the human and ecological costs are ignored.

Consider the Source

 Consider the First Source!

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word choreographed an assembly of amino acids into an exquisite array of specific proteins. Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.” In so doing God demonstrated a penchant for genomic writing, preceeded by an amazing series of prebiotic events, in a highly orchestrated presentation of evolutionary overcontrol.

More about God’s Handiwork!

Because of the insidious way in which it works, it has been sold as a relatively benign replacement for the devastating earlier dioxin-based herbicides. But a barrage of experimental data has now shown glyphosate and the GMO foods incorporating it to pose serious dangers to health.

Compounding the risk is the toxicity of “inert” ingredients used to make glyphosate more potent. Researchers have found, for example, that the surfactant POEA can kill human cells, particularly embryonic, placental and umbilical cord cells. But these risks have been conveniently ignored.

The widespread use of GMO foods and glyphosate herbicides helps explain the anomaly that the US spends over twice as much per capita on healthcare as the average developed country, yet it is rated far down the scale of the world’s healthiest populations. The World Health Organization has ranked the US LAST out of 17 developed nations for overall health.

Sixty to seventy percent of the foods in US supermarkets are now genetically modified. By contrast, in at least 26 other countries—including Switzerland, Australia, Austria, China, India, France, Germany, Hungary, Luxembourg, Greece, Bulgaria, Poland, Italy, Mexico and Russia—GMOs are totally or partially banned; and significant restrictions on GMOs exist in about sixty other countries.

Consider the Source

 Consider the First Source!

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word choreographed an assembly of amino acids into an exquisite array of specific proteins. Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.” In so doing God demonstrated a penchant for genomic writing, preceeded by an amazing series of prebiotic events, in a highly orchestrated presentation of evolutionary overcontrol.

More about God’s Handiwork!

The scene was the annual conference of The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. One speaker staunchly defended GMOs while mocking those who care about organics and sustainability. This presentation replaced a much-anticipated point-counterpoint debate planned by the Academy that was supposed to touch on the issue of partnerships between the private and public sectors.

The “educational” materials provided to conference participants by Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Kellogg’s, General Mills and others, included:

• Coca-Cola’s “Balancing Act” pamphlet, which emphasizes “energy balance,” and recommends burning 100 calories by gardening for 19 minutes, playing soccer for 13 minutes, or climbing stairs for 10 minutes. The pamphlet also states that soda and juice can all help meet hydration needs.

• ConAgra’s oil comparison chart, which argues that the company’s Mazola “heart-healthy” corn oil is superior to olive oil due to the presence of phytosterols. Conveniently, this handout does not compare the amount of healthful monounsaturated fats in corn and olive oil, which would make olive oil the clear winner. Among the “added benefits” of corn oil listed in this handout: “naturally cholesterol-free” (as are all plant foods) and “contains vitamin E” (as all nut and seed oils do).

• Kellogg’s “Comply and Satisfy” booklet for school administrators, which promotes Eggo waffles, multigrain Frosted Flakes, Cheez-Its, and Pop-Tarts as examples of “good nutrition and simple grains.”

• McDonald’s “Enjoy Eating the Food Groups at McDonald’s” handout, which highlights the premium chicken sandwich’s bun as half a serving of whole gains (never mind the 1,410 milligrams of sodium in the crispy premium chicken sandwich), and a Canadian-Style Bacon Egg McMuffin as an example of “protein” (that Egg McMuffin is cooked in partially hydrogenated oils).

• PepsiCo’s “Sodium Content of Commonly Consumed Snack Foods”, which makes Frito-Lay’s chip offerings seem like the best snack choices (in comparison to large muffins, beef jerky, pretzels, bagels and cheese). Conveniently, other common snack foods that would make chips pale in comparison — like fresh fruit, nuts and seeds — are missing.

After the conference, Dietitians for Professional Integrity — an advocacy group co-founded by 14 dietitians that advocates for the Academy to cut its ties to its Big Food partners and sponsors — released “The Food Ties That Bind,” a report that details the messaging Big Food shared with dietitians at the 2013 conference.

Consider the Source

 Consider the First Source!

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word choreographed an assembly of amino acids into an exquisite array of specific proteins. Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.” In so doing God demonstrated a penchant for genomic writing, preceeded by an amazing series of prebiotic events, in a highly orchestrated presentation of evolutionary overcontrol.

More about God’s Handiwork!

“We scaled up our novel photobioreactor design and conducted independent functionality tests that confirmed the unit’s robustness,” said Proterro CEO Kef Kasdin. “The modular photobioreactors, which are made from off-the-shelf materials, including polyethylene, can withstand category 1 hurricane winds,” she explained, adding, “Because of the materials used and the innovative design, we also have been able to validate low fabrication costs.”

Consider the Source