First we'll start with a little vocabulary lesson.
1. Conventionally Grown Food
These are foods grown and produced with the use of chemical fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides. Does that sound yummy? Would you pour yourself a glass of water with a dash of Roundup, Miracle Grow and Poison? Well, that's what your fruits and vegetables are covered in. Washing helps, but the junk is in the soil, so you can bet it's in your food too.
2. GMO
This stands for Genetically Modified Food. Sounds awesome already. The way these foods are made is by slicing foreign genes into the DNA of the seeds. The foreign genes can come from anything: viruses, animals, bacteria... This food is created in a laboratory. I think that is WRONG. The food can then do these
GMOs, or “genetically modified organisms,” are plants or animals that have been genetically engineered with DNA from bacteria, viruses or other plants and animals. These experimental combinations of genes from different species cannot occur in nature or in traditional crossbreeding.
Virtually all commercial GMOs are engineered to withstand direct application of herbicide and/or to produce an insecticide. Despite biotech industry promises, none of the GMO traits currently on the market offer increased yield, drought tolerance, enhanced nutrition, or any other consumer benefit.
Meanwhile, a growing body of evidence connects GMOs with health problems, environmental damage and violation of farmers’ and consumers’ rights.
GMOs have been banned around the world and on May 25th there was a worldwide march against their maker, Monsanto. Two million people, from South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia and the US joined together. They didn't do it for the exercise folks. GMOs are dangerous and have no place in our food or the environment.
3. Monsanto (aka They Who Should Not Be Named)
These are the evil corporate monsters who create our frankenfoods. I don't have enough time or patience to describe all the horrible things Monsanto does, so here's a quick list
- Uses us and our kids as guinea pigs in their laboratory food experiment
- Buys out government officials to make themselves immune from the law
- Patents their seeds
- Sells said seed at a ridiculous price to the farmer under a strict contract, while making false promises
- Sues farmers for seed saving
- Sues farmers from nearby GMO fields who's organic plants have wrongly been cross-pollinated with GMO plants and then saves their own harvested seeds
- Ruins crops worldwide causing mass suicide of farmers. (This is a must read article on that point http://www.realfarmacy.com/5-million-farmers-sue-monsanto-for-7-7-billion#mbCQp6IEL5Kveezt.01 )
- Writes their own bills that exempt them from all responsibility, and pays congress to pass them
- Only serves organic food in their own cafeteria
- Pretends these rats don't exist
And so much more...
4. CAFO
This stands for Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation. What better way to raise animals than in a really small space, right? Then, it's easy to clean up after them and feed them and inject them with a disgusting amount of hormones and antibiotics. Did I mention the cows are fed chicken shit? And the chickens are fed diseased cow? And they're all fed mass amounts of GMO corn? The sanitation is beyond horrific. The animals live in a swamp of their own urine and feces. This causes major environmental hazards when it is disposed of. Here's a highly recommended blog that can tell you all about it: http://homesteadinganywhere.wordpress.com/2012/08/29/the-truth-about-cafos/
5. rBST or rGBH
This is a synthetic version of bovine growth hormone and is in non-organic milk. It has been tested and proved harmful and the FDA puts it's seal of approval on it (of course). It is a hormone used to stimulate more milk production in cows. Sounds great until you hear about the unreported hazards. Watch the video on this link to learn more about the health hazards and how it's been covered up.
Okay, now you know the basic lingo. So here are some more things to consider:
- Conventional and GMO farming lead to depleted soil, desertification of the land, polluted water supplies and more. They take large amount of fossil fuels to run their operations.
- GMOs are a major health risk: Most developed nations do not consider GMOs to be safe. In more than 60 countries around the world, including Australia, Japan, and all of the countries in the European Union, there are significant restrictions or outright bans on the production and sale of GMOs. In the U.S., the government has approved GMOs based on studies conducted by the same corporations that created them and profit from their sale. Increasingly, Americans are taking matters into their own hands and choosing to opt out of the GMO experiment. http://www.nongmoproject.org/learn-more/
- Smaller, more diversified farms not only stop the degradation of the environment, but actually increases the health of the land.
- If you have ever considered buying a Prius, you should be a vegan instead. More pollution is released into the air by CAFOs than all the cars driven in one year, in the USA combined.
- Cows eat grass. Grass eats cow poop. Put the damn cows back in the pasture and you won't have any pollution problems, nor will you ever need another chemical fertilizer. Duh.
- This is an article about pigs literally dying of diarrhea, not too mention birth defects and sterility problems found in all animals fed GMOs, and how they healed after TWO DAYS of non-GMO feed: http://www.organicauthority.com/blog/organic/pigs-health-improved-o-gmo-free-diet/
- Our nation is in financial crisis and one reason is the incredible amount of money that gets spent on health care; individually and nationally. Millions of people are on disability. Chronic fatigue, irritable bowel syndrome, cancer, obesity... these are our modern day plagues that can often be linked to our diet. Perhaps if we were willing to spend a quarter of what we give to the doctor (really the health insurance agency) on the farmer, we could prevent a lot of crap that happens to our bodies.
- Do you eat? Then you should care! Stop thinking the problem will solve itself. It's mass ignorance that keeps evil corporate giants alive. They feed on it. Do some research on the internet. Read studies that aren't published by universities funded by evil giant corporations.
- Your wallet is a powerful weapon. There is a consumer tipping point on the mass market. And it has been calculated to be %5. DID YOU JUST READ THAT?! All it takes is %5 of consumers to make different choices at the supermarket and suddenly the market shifts!
- Don't freak out and put your family on a raw, organic kale diet, just because you read this.
If you buy non-organic vegetables, soak them in a sink full of cold water and vinegar. It will remove a lot of the waxes and residues that cover conventional food.
You can be more careful to avoid the major GMO foods flooding our food supply.
You can buy pasture raised meat.
You can buy organic when it's available.
Meet your local farmer. We're everywhere. And we are usually happy to tell you everything that goes into the food we produce, so you don't need to worry. And we can provide you with a CSA (Community supported agriculture. Weekly harvests get delivered right to your door!)
No credit needed. That's just me and my hubby, and our daughter.
Try to buy more raw ingredients and less packaged food. You'd be surprised by what your kids will eat. For instance, a stir-fry that has cabbage and beets can be called pink princess pasta. Cucumbers make great airplanes when cut in half and stuffed with salad.
Grow something. It's much easier than you think. And it can be done just about anywhere...
Stop asking the government to regulate the food market. Small farmers can't keep to the ridiculous standards that are necessary for the corporate giants. And we don't need to. We don't feed our animals feces. We keep healthy sanitation levels. We don't want sick animals. And if you don't believe us, just come and visit! Meet your meat. Or see if we wear hazmat suits when we work in our vegetable gardens.
It's not about the government protecting us. It's about waking up, educating ourselves and making informed decisions. Consumers have the power. All they need is the knowledge. Go out there and spread the word!
Your next meal is the revolution!
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