The Truth About Farming

What seems like a more natural cycle than farming? For centuries farmers have sown in the spring and reaped in the fall. It appears as an endless cycle of growth and harvest that creates a world of abundance. In many cultures this is true, for example Japan has used the same growing space for centuries and has become an expert at returning essential nutrients to the soil.

However, the farmers in our own country are not masters of this cycle. In our country it takes 10 calories worth of oil to create 1 calorie worth of food (Biomimicry, Janine Benyus). What that means is that for every calorie of corn we have we have sprayed, fertilized, and used herbicides that equate to 10 calories worth of oil. (many of these chemicals are petroleum products that have been engineered into other products.)

The problem is that more and more the farmer is not the one who is calling the shots. After all if the farmer is just 1 input and the chemicals are 10 who do you think is going to want to be invested in our food? That is right, oil companies. I think that we all know their reputation. We are left with a sick cycle in which farmers are being forced to buy more and more oil products to grow food. Small farms are going out of business and in 1992 85 percent of our food was coming from 15 percent of farmers. This is a terrifying cycle that will leave big oil in charge of your dinner. Do you really want that?

Lighting Update

So I have been paying quite a bit of attention as I drive around Colorado Springs as of late. The mayor had decided to turn off 1/3 of all the lights to help with the budget crisis. I feared that the majority of lights would be turned off in south Colorado Springs. However, I have noticed a number of lights turned off in my own neighborhood. It would seem that equality was taken into account by Colorado Springs for once.

Bombs or food?

Over 30,000 people die from starvation everyday. That is a very disturbing figure. Imagine if a state college worth of people just disappeared. Imagine if everyone you know died. Luckily for most of us in the good old USA starvation is not a major concern. However, for a lot of people in a lot of places it is. This is a problem that could be solved. For most of history starvation was not a major issue, yes there were poor people but even during the middle ages the majority of people were getting enough to eat. What has changed since the middle or "dark ages" that now has so many people starving?

Consider that an F-16 costs somewhere between 50-80 million dollars, depending on how many spare parts and bombs you want to buy it with. That is a lot of money. Enough money that is could go a long way towards solving world hunger, especially when you consider that the United States has hundreds of these. I wonder what would be a better threat deterrent? Owning all the planes and bombs? Or feeding and supporting the hungry so that they come to love and respect your nation?

Fast Food

We all know that fast food is not the most healthy choice for dinner. Well here is a link to a few other reasons to hit up your local deli, find a sit down restaurant, or just plain stay home.

http://health.yahoo.com/experts/eatthis/45380/4-shocking-secrets-about-fast-food/

Illegal Freedom of Speech?

I had the pleasure of visiting Australia for 3 weeks a couple of summers ago. While there I asked numerous questions about the culture and the political system. They seemed to have a lot figured out. They provided for their people with a well worked healthcare and welfare system. The people seemed very happy, the cities were clean, and the standard of living was on the rise. However, they were missing what we would consider uncompramisable rights. For example, their goverment had decided it was dangerous to have gun owners, so they outlawed the right to own a firearm unless you needed it as a farmer. There was no vote about it, they just created the law. This might not seem like the biggest deal. However, they did not have freedom of speech either. They could not say whatever they wanted to like we can. Right?

Well, in actuality there are some limits on our freedom of speech. You can not stand in a theater and yell "FIRE!!!" Which seems to be a good caveat to the law. If this was allowed panic would be caused, people could get hurt, it seems like an excellent exception to the law.

Well here is one that is not. In the lovely state of Colorado it is illegal to "slander" food. Meaning that unless you have scientific proof that the food you are eating is bad for you you can not say a word about it. So if you visit the slaughter house, and see how the meat is being killed, and know that more likely than not that food is not being treated to a standard that you would want to eat, and you say something about it, you are now breaking the law. Or if you look at what meat filler is (a meat like compound that is treated with numerous chemicals in order to render it sterile which is then put into hamburgers that you eat) and say "hey, this is terrible stuff to eat!" you could end up in prison or sued.

So far for freedom of speech right?

Check out if you live in a state where food "slander" is a crime.

http://advocacy.britannica.com/blog/advocacy/2009/11/burger-bashing-and-sirloin-slander-food-disparagement-laws-in-the-united-states/
http://www.rense.com/health/milk.htm

Climate Change

The recent flurry of storms in the east has sparked controversy about "global warming" or as scientists have re-coined the term "climate change". It would seem that if the world is getting warmer than snow should be a thing of the past, right?

Wrong.

No one really knows what is going to happen as the earth warms. We do know that the oceans are going to get warmer, which will most likely cause greater rain/snow fall in some areas. Others will be left with almost no precipitation. The problem is that no one knows what will happen where. Either way it is not something that you want to go messing with.

Lights out for Colorado Springs

Colorado Springs has made an interesting choice. In order to attempt to close the giant gap in the budget they will begin turning off 1/3 of the streetlights in Colorado Springs. I noticed last night that not one of the lights in my neighborhood was off. I am going to go down south tonight to the poor neighborhoods and see how many lights are off down there.

I will keep you posted...

Overpopulation

When President Kennedy stepped into office in the 1960s there were half as many people on the earth as there are today. In his inaugural speech he stated that poverty and hunger would be ended. It did not happen, and the task has become even harder to accomplish now that the amount of people on this earth has doubled. More and more people are going hungry everyday, more and more people are not having their needs met. To make matters worse the amount of people on this earth is growing and growing as the amount of resources stay the same. In an economy where growth is the measure of success what will happen when people can simply not grow anymore?

In biology there is a number called the carrying capacity. What that means is that for any given species there is a maximum population limit. Once this limit has been reached the population begins to suffer devastating effects. These effects include increased rates of disease, higher predation, starvation, etc. Nothing that the human race would like to be experiencing. However, we have seen over the past few years just that. The rate of starvation is increasing, the number of AIDs cases is increasing, SARs, birdflu, and swineflu have all reached pandemic potential. There is not doubt that nature balances out the population of species, humans however have been fighting nature.

What is needed, and needed fast, is a way to halt and eventually reverse the population of earth. This might seem very very harsh but it is what is needed in order for our species to live in a sustainable manner on this earth.

I would love to hear any thoughts you have about stopping the overpopulation of earth.

Health Care

Today's Social Justice Issue: HEALTH CARE

It seems simple enough. People need some form of health care. This health care does not come free. So... people need to find some way to pay for this health care. Our current system had individuals pay for this care. In this system the price is high and people can choose to or not to pay for this service. The problems start when someone without health care goes to the emergency room and receives care that they have not paid for. Where the money comes from to pay for this care is the rest of us who are paying for our own care. They simply raise our rates to cover for these emergency cases. There are many other problems with the system. It is expensive, leaving some people unable to afford health care. It leaves a burden on the insured to care for the uninsured, either through welfare, paying for retirement care, or emergency care for those not covered.

One alternative to the current system is to provide health care for everyone at no cost. In this system everyone is insured. It is a system that has been proven to work in Canada and a multitude of welfare-states in Europe. Such a system would be paid for through higher taxes.

What I think people fail to see is that this system is being paid for right now, but just by a few. Making it into a system that is supported by everyone's taxes will cut down on the overall cost.

That is what I think. What about you?

The Dollar Vote

Throughout the 1950's the United States played a dramatic role in numerous foreign countries as they influenced elections and toppled foreign leaders. There hand reached into Guatemala, Cuba, Iran, etc. It would seem that the United States government was the master of its own destiny and that of many other countries.

Ironically the Supreme Court recently ruled that corporations could begin spending as they see fit in U.S. elections. This includes foreign companies. Obama stated that the decision would allow domestic and "foreign corporations, to spend without limit on our elections." It would seem that the U.S. is no longer the master of even its own destiny. This is what happens when 51 of the 100 wealthiest governments/corporations are corporations.

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/front_page/20090910_Court_weighs_election_finance.html

250 person tent village

Anyone driving south on I-25 between exit 140 and 138 can see a proud American flag rising out of a hobbled together tent. The tent, primarily made of a large blue tarp, is just the tip of the ice-berg. What can not be seen are the nearly 250 other homeless people living in tents that line monument creek off of the highway 24 east exit. The myriad of colored tents mark the home of the displaced, the poor, and the mentally ill. People who live outside in temperatures that have dropped to almost -20 F this winter.
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_14256366

Not only is this a social justice issue it is also a health issue. All the human waste from these people is entering the water supply. Anyone who drives through the city will certainly be turned off by the shanty town that continues to grow in it.

Here are some interesting facts:

Colorado Springs has over 350 churches listed in its yellow pages.
http://www.superpages.com/yellowpages/C-Churches/S-CO/T-Colorado+Springs/

The City of Colorado Springs just invested almost 10$ million in the Olympic Training Center
http://www.springsgov.com/News.aspx?NewsID=248

You would think that either the churches or the city could solve this problem. They have not. The homeless community in Colorado Springs continues to grow as more and more people are being forced to leave their homes and everything that they own.

My thoughts. If each church worked to adopt or take care of just 1 homeless person that is currently living along the creek the problem could be solved.

30,000

Each day somewhere around 30,000 people die of starvation or starvation related disease. In an attempt to fathom that number I made 30,000 tally marks. It took over 12 hours of writing to make the 30,000 marks. To think that that many people die everyday because they do not have enough food is awful. To make matters worse according to the UN all that is needed to stop that death is 7 billion dollars a year, or what citizens in the European Union collectively spend on Tobacco and Alcohol each year.

However, what I want to try and wrap my head around, is how the population of the Earth continues to grow so greatly when those that are already here can not be supported. Might it be better for someone to ensure that the babies that were born yesterday are able to survive before they go about making some of their own?

Making matters worse, the United States defense budget is 663.8 billion. Almost enough to end starvation for 10 years. We as tax payers should be up in arms about this. Even a 10% cut in the budget would provide greatly for these people. Just a little food for thought.

A City Divided

Last night I had the opportunity to see a city divided while attending a community meeting. The meeting focused on a way to keep open four local community centers. In the most recent election voters in Colorado Springs choose to not raise taxes. What that really turned out to be was a vote to close community centers, cut police forces, and gut public transportation. Although this was a city wide vote it would mostly greatly benefit the rich and greatly hurt the poor. The poor community was now left with less protection, no where safe for their children to go after school, and no way to get around. Meanwhile those with the money were left largely unaffected. After all, they own cars and drive to work, have nannies or daycare, and live in safe neighborhoods.

Although little was solved in the meeting what came to the light is that the voters of Colorado Springs really need a lesson in Social Justice. They had the opportunity to shelter the needy (the community center provides a safe place for children to go after school), continue to feed the elderly (the centers provide warm meals for seniors who can not otherwise afford one), and provide a safe place for an entire community (commodities are distributed to a community who could otherwise not afford to eat). They choose not too.

Colorado Springs, a supposed Christian city, decided to do nothing. What will happen when the kids of District 2 grow up? Who will now be responsible for crimes they commit? Who will help this community?

Justice for the poor last night was not present.