Palm | Kelapa Sawit

Genetically modified crops are being planted in farmlands at an accelerated rate. This is due to all of the supposed benefits associated with them. For example:

• Lower costs of production


• Fewer weeds


• More abundance and sustainable


• Less Soil erosion


• Cleaner Water


• Less carbon being emitted into the atmosphere

While all of these benefits are amazing in creating a lower polluted, more sustainable planet, we have to ask ourselves "what are we paying for this trade off?" There have been no conclusive studies as to the long term effects of consuming genetically modified foods. There need to be more tests conducted and more reports issued.

The population has been consuming genetically modified foods, sometimes without their knowledge, so we need to start the conversation of "is there a long term effect on humans who eat this food and if there is, is the trade off small enough to justify the continuation of planting these crops?"

Do you know how much of your food consumption contains genetically modified foods? I would love your opinion on this topic and potential ways to create more awareness in order to have a healthy life as well as a healthy planet.

Here is a link for an interesting video on the subject:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7727700015953778314#

(source: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/04/14/92138/overuse-of-genetically-modify.html)

In the article below you see just one example of an environmental battlefront involving sustainability playing out, this one in the San Francisco bay area involving water use. Please read through the article by Amit Srivastava, it is a powerful subject when you consider the very real impact the absence of clean water has in the lives of over a billion people around the world, environmentalists and human rights activists are facing off against corporations over the control of water, with huge implications depending on the decisions and agreements that are eventually arrived at.

Times are changing. While water bottles have become popular in the last five or so years, it is finally apparent that the water touted to be from natural springs from the swiss alps are simply just tap water and marketed as natural from the springs. This is deceptive marketing desgined to sell and enticing, seemingly "miracle water" to the public and we have fallen for it.

Studies are now being done on the water and it is determined that these products are no better than simple tap water from our faucet. The plastic water bottles are also filling up landfills and causing a mess in society. It is not easy to recycle plastic bottles. I have always been under the impression that plastic bottled water is in fact able to be recycled. It is also estimated that we consume more bottled water per year over any other beverage according to research (see: http://www.earth-policy.org/Updates/2007/Update68_data2.htm#table5) for date.

**Pepsico has decided to disclose that their brand of water Aquafina is actually from the tap.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20038120/.

**Coca Cola company has also been charged with Greenwashing practices-http://www.polarisinstitute.org/coke_faces_new_charges_in_india_including_greenwashing.
Coca Cola is also the distributor of Evian water, which is known as one of the best bottled waters straight from the French Alps, bottled at the source with a composition of certain minerals. While I cannot find a site that proves that Evian does not actually come "from the source", I do know that it comes straight from Lake Geneva and has been known to have healing qualities for centuries. I know that when I feel sluggish and if I drink Evian I usually feel better, however, I have recently gone on "strike" from water bottles and feel better anyway. I noticed that when I have a large bottle of Aquafina or Dasani or Fiji water, I tend to feel sluggish afterward. While drinking tap water, I feel more energy and overall, healthier!

The issue is also that companies put so much time and energy into making plastic bottles to sell tap water to people. These products cost consumers more money but we are paying for convenience anyway. It is better to buy our own re-useable water bottle and fill it up with a few ice cubes and tap water. I attend a conference at Portland Community College recently where we were given Klean Kanteen, stainless steel bottles in our goody bags. There was also also a session on take back the tap: http://takebackthetap.org/. I did not attend this session but probably should have. There are lessons to be learned about the water bottle industry, things we may not know about, things I was not interested in until this subject of Greenwashing came up.

The website below is interesting because it allows those of us in the Portland area to understand what the city is doing to help with water conservation. It also is a way for us to help see how much work needs to be done in the Portland area to promote water conservation and to see how much more the city could possibly be doing to help with water conservation. As part of the district in Portland we can push for better water conservation within the city. The Portland Water Bureau needs to display the information concerning water conservation more visibly and to inform the public more with this information so that more would understand and hopefully take the steps to conserve water.

Portland Water Bureau

Visit our site:

http://sites.google.com/site/ecomerge2008/

This article is exactly why we are trying to make the world aware of water conversation. It says if we do not change are ways, in 50 years more than have of the world population will be living with water shortages.

Click Here: Water Shortages Will Leave World in Dire Straits

jamesncrow@gmail.com

Visit our site:

http://sites.google.com/site/ecomerge2008/

The Desert Cube is a waterless urinal system that is 100% biodegradable, sewer and septic safe, reduces the smell associated with urine, and conserves water. When we flush our toilets and urinals, many of us believe it's the water the washes away the "yuck" and keeps our bowls clean when, actually, it's the properties in the water that promote bacterial growth and create that lovely ammonia smell associated with urine. Read more about how this innovative, conservation-minded design can help improve our world.

Waterless Urinal System

Visit our site:

http://sites.google.com/site/ecomerge2008/

I came across this bottle of water, and thought it was worth a word. It seems that bottled water and the goal of "Helping children get clean water" are somewhat contradictory. It turns out this is the Starbucks brand water. Check out their website and see what you think.

Visit our site:

http://sites.google.com/site/ecomerge2008/

The people at “Water Use It Wisely” offer an array of helpful tools, including a pick-your-region water-saving guide. Advice includes keeping drinking water (filled from the tap) in the fridge instead of running the faucet every time you need a drink. They also offer a very easy to use “Home Water Audit” which rates users on their wasteful water habits.

I have often heard that water conservation is important. There are many sites that will share with you ways to save water, but I wanted to know why water conservation is so important. With two-thirds of the Earth covered in water, I couldn't imagine that conserving water would be a global concern. I found my answer on a web site by the World Water Council under the Water at a Glance section. What I learned is that it is not that the world has too little water, but that the world does a poor job managing the water it does have. This poor management has led to high water stress in over half of the U.S. as well as in good portions of Africa and Europe. Water stress is an inbalance between the water we use and the water resources we have available to us. The World Water Council web site is a fascinating source that promotes water conservation programs and education on a global scale. I encourage everyone to visit this site. You'll come away with a new respect for water conservation as I did.

World Water Council

Visit our site:

http://sites.google.com/site/ecomerge2008/

This site provides information on things that are around the house that wastes water and how the little things that we do in making an effort to conserve water can actually help a lot in the long run. It provides information on what you can do yourself to help, such as turning the water off while shaving. We all make a difference in what we decide to do.

Water Conservation: Every Drop Counts

Visit our website:

http://sites.google.com/site/ecomerge2008/

If you are looking for a straightforward approach to home water conservation, check out the California Urban Water Conservation Council’s “H2ouse” project. The site is extremely user friendly, and offers an interactive home tour with suggestions for savvy water use for each area of your home. By mousing over different household areas, visitors can find useful tips, such as running the dishwasher only when it is full and washing dishes in the machine rather than by hand. (Apparently, it takes less water to wash a full load of dishes in the dishwasher than it does to do them in the sink). Other useful sections include a “Water Budget Calculator” and a “Garden Guide”, in which visitors can tour real low-water gardens. Take a look!

Vegetarianism is a viable solution to global warming and one that is often over looked. Even Al Gore fails to discuss it in "An Inconvenient Truth". It is important to talk about if we're truly searching for ways to curb the horrible future that could lie ahead if nothing is done about global warming. It think it is hard to talk about because people love to eat meat. They love it as much as they love to drive their huge SUVs, but that is still being discussed on a very mainstream basis. Here are some statistics that are hard to ignore......

• "the animals we eat emit 21% of all the carbon dioxide that can be attributed to human activity" (http://www.physorg.com/news4998.html)
• "In a groundbreaking 2006 report, the United Nations (U.N.) said that raising animals for food generates more greenhouse gases than all the cars and trucks in the world combined." (http://www.goveg.com/environment-globalwarming.asp)
• "animal agriculture accounts for 9% of our carbon dioxide emissions, it emits 37% of our methane, and a whopping 65% of our nitrous oxide" (http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0120-20.htm)