Beware the quick fix: Biofuels are NOT the answer

According to Nobel Prize winning chemist, Paul Crutzen, trying to find salvation from global climate change by converting precious aglands from food crops to biofuels will only exacerbate the problem. He says that the crops that are now being plants for biofuels--primarily soy and corn--require so much fertilizer that growing them actually produces MORE green house gases than what is combusted as fuel for transportation. He does say that if less nitrogen-demanding crops were used, biofuels might help reduce GHGs and our dependence on fossil fuels. You can read about it here.


Our current rush to find a 'quick fix' is turning out to be disastrous in many ways, including cutting down rainforests to plant soy crops in Brazil and converting aglands from food to biofuel crops in the US.

Ag and global warming

Well the glow from our Locally Grown 2 benefit concert is wearing off and reality hits again. Some ominous articles lately concering global warming and our food systems. This article maintains that in this century ag will collapse in some of the most populous and poverty stricken in the world--countries like India, Bangladesh in Asia, and Sudan in Africa--that can least afford decreased agricultural productivity. The article says that while ag in temperate countries like the US may not suffer as much, the massive numbers of refugees from these countries certainly will certainly have a huge impact.

Another topic under the umbrella of ag and climate change relates to our diets and what we chose to eat. As I've mentioned in an earlier post, eating meat contributes to climate change because the more cattle on the planet, the more methane from belching and farting cows, and the less land available for forests and food crops that are carbon sinks. Here's a short article from www.planetark.org environmental news website:

Less Meat, Less Heat -- Fewer Steaks May Save Planet
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UK: September 14, 2007

LONDON - Eating too much red meat is not only bad for your health -- it is also bad for the planet, according to scientists.

Worldwide, agricultural activity accounts for about a fifth of total greenhouse-gas emissions and livestock production has a particularly big impact because of the large amount of methane emitted from belching cattle.
Tony McMichael of the Australian National University in Canberra and John Powles of Britain's University of Cambridge, writing in the Lancet journal, said worldwide average meat consumption could be realistically reduced by 10 percent.

This would help in the battle against global warming and also reduce health risks associated with excessive consumption of red meat, they said.

Global average meat consumption is currently 100 grams per person a day but there is a tenfold variation between high-consuming and low-consuming populations.

REUTERS NEWS SERVICE



A ray of hope to end on...regionalizing our ag and food systems is perhaps one of the best things we can do to ensure our food systems sustain us into the future AND begin to minimize the contribution of our food system to the green house gases that cause climate change. A wonderful example (and joyous celebration) can be found at in the Capay Valley in California and the "Hoes Down" event.

Reprogramming summer BBQs

In addition to changing your lightbulbs to more energy-efficient ones, you probably need to consider quitting your hamburger habit. Turns out that eating beef is a great way to contribute to global warming and other negative environmental impacts, not only because of the cow farts (methane is a very significant greenhouse gas!), but also because of the inefficiencies in transfer of nutrients up the food chain, the fossil fuels used in production and delivery of beef products, and the inordinate amount of nitrogen fertilizers used to grow the feed corn to feed the cattle. Even grass-fed organic beef has a significant carbon footprint (although it is 40% less than conventionally grown beef).

For more details go to "Meat is Murder on the Environment". Those grilled portobello mushrooms and egglplants might be a good environmentally-friendly substitute for those cow patties-between-buns on the grill this summer, and might even be better for you!

But you already knew that ;-)

Genetic creeps

A friend sends this in depth article about how Monsanto's Roundup Ready crops are contaminating conventional and organic crops across the country. This was wholly anticipated by ecologists--Mother Nature simply can't be controlled the way Monsanto would like. Pollinators, feral plants, the way natural selection can circumvent human technology to produce "super-weeds" all predictably will help the Monsanto genie out of the bottle. We have to ask ourselves why we are allowing this to happen; is it all for the bottom line that we contaminate our food sources? Read all about it in "Brave New Hay: Is Monsanto's genetic engineering erasing the line between what is natural and what is not?".

Global warming is also eroding the genetic diversity of our food plants. The FEED electronic newsletter provided the following blurb, that indicates to me that with genetic creep by GMOs, and genetic bottlenecks imposed by global warming, we are heading towards a "perfect storm" of problems with regard to maintaining flexibility within our food crops to respond to respond to erratic weather patterns, and increased drought conditions brought on by climate change.

"Global warming threatens wild relatives of food crops.
Global warming is likely to endanger the wild relatives of some of the world's most important food crops, according to a recent study. Using a simulation model, researchers at the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research studied the effect of global warming on wild varieties of several crops, including peanuts and potatoes. They determined that 61 percent of wild peanut species analyzed and 12 percent of wild potato species analyzed could become extinct in the next 50 years. Plant breeders often tap into the rich genetic diversity of wild species for traits allowing crops to adapt to harsh conditions. Wild relatives can contain genes for valuable traits such as drought resistance or insect tolerance. If changes in climate drive wild relatives to extinction, farmers may lose the very genetic resources needed to help our food crops adapt to the same changes. For more information on this topic, visit Biodiversity International's web site."

What are we doing to our food sources? Where is the outrage?

A Common Sensical Food Bill?

Thanks to Chuck for pointing out a great article on the Farm Bill in the New York Times that was buried in the Dining In section on the 4th of July edition. The article, entitled "The Debate Over Subsidizing Snacks" , outlines the problems with subsidies in the current Farm Bill and how these subsidies contribute to our national obesity problem by making junk food cheap, and fresh fruit and vegetables expensive. There is actually a chance that a coalition of activists can turn around the Farm Bill (which should really be called the Food Bil!), despite the big money that conventional agriculture lobbyists spend to maintain the status quo subsidies.

The best thing we can all do is be aware of how important this Bill is to our health, keeping family farmers in business, and helping to heal the land that sustains us, and then do what we can to affect positive change.

An entertaining way to educate yourselves on some of these food and farm issues is to read "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan, and watch some great documentary films that are making their way around the country--in addition to "The Real Dirt on Farmer John" featured in my last blog, try to see "King Corn" .

The Real Dirt on The Real Dirt on Farmer John

Happy 4th of July everyone (or at least all two of you that read my blogs!).

We had the happy honor of hosting Farmer John Peterson in Ojai for a special screening of the documentary of his life, "The Real Dirt on Farmer John". We screened it at the historical little Ojai Playhouse June 30 and July 1 (sponsoring organizations were Food For Thought Ojai, the Ojai Film Society and Slow Food Ojai/Ventura). Farmer John came out for Q&A after the film, and on both evenings, he received a standing ovation. Steve Grumette of the Ojai Film Society said he's never seen that happen over the decade or so that he's been showing films. We followed the Sunday screening with a special dinner at Ironpan Bistro featuring locally grown produce and sea bass from the Channel Islands (caught with hook and line). It was a terrific event, and I hope you have an opportunity to catch this film if it comes to your neighborhood.

"The Real Dirt on Farmer John" is getting rave reviews (New York Times, New Yorker, Wall Street Journal, to drop a few names). Despite this, it hasn't gotten the play in theaters that it deserves. Check out this blog on the Huffington Post, that discusses the film: "Why Isn't The Real Dirt Cleaning Up?" . Then again the film also opened the same weekend as Sicko and Ratatouille--two films I want to catch.

The Real Dirt offers us some hope in making our food and ag systems get on the right track in the US--a track that will also help alleviate the twin terrors of global warming and the growing health crisis associated with obesity.

But do enjoy those grilled hotdogs and hamburgers today!

more corn ethanol+fertilizer leakage=bigger dead zone

The corn ethanol craze is causing more lands to be put into production to grow corn. This is resulting in some really nasty unintended consequences, including the expansion of the already too big "Dead Zone" in the Gulf of Mexico. Read all about it in the Environmental Working Group's article "Rewarding Fertilizer Pollution With Crop Subsidies"

Our disastrous Farm Bill

A friend sent along this link to an article that does a pretty good job of explaining what is wrong with our Farm Bill, and steps that Congress could take to improve it. Steps like taking subsidies away from corn and all the bad derivatives that are making us an obese nation, and instead channeling new funding towards foods that we should be eating--fruits and veggies.

Take a look:

"Why Americans Keep Getting Fatter"

We need more farmers!

A friend (actually a couple of friends in the know!) sent me this link to an article entitled "Fifty Million Farmers".



It was written by a chap named Richard Heinberg who regularly discusses topics associated with "Peak Oil" on his website (www.richardheinberg.com).

The article is a very cogent summary of what ails our food and agricultural systems today, and how we got into this fix. It also offers some suggestions as to how we might fix the situation. Nothing less than our ability to survive depends on it.

Welcome to my blog!

Okay okay. I have been annoying folks by sending numerous links to articles that come across my computer from one source or another, in order to inform you on various subjects that I feel are important. The topics mostly center on human and environmental health, and include our current food and agriculture system, global climate change, the obesity crisis, farm-to-school programs, and such. I have been requested to set up a blog so that those who would like to connect to those articles can easily find them in one place, without having to wade through millions of emails from me in their inbox. So, I've entered the realm of today's technology, to inform you, my friends, colleagues and acquaintances, with a little 'food for thought.' I dubbed this blog "Marty's Food Chain" to reflect the ecological and food and ag perspective I intend to 'blog' about. So hope you check in occasionally so I'm not just blogging to myself!

Chow,

Marty

So to start, here's an interesting article from Grist entitled "Slow Food Fight" on Carlo Petrini's take on the famous San Francisco Ferry Market that caused quite a stir!