1. "When pesticide makers and genetic engineers cloak themselves in the term [sustainability], you have to wonder if we haven't succeeded in defining sustainability down, to paraphrase the late Senator Moynihan, and if it will soon possess all the conceptual force of a word like 'natural' or 'green' or 'nice.'"
Beautifully said. "Green" is a term which may mean something, but doesn't necessarily. I proudly declare that I'm pretty "green" because I drive a Chevy Aveo instead of my mom's Ford Explorer. In the end, it doesn't really matter because I am still using precious fossil fuels and the world is still going to end because of our cars.
Being sustainable just means, "Barely breathing."
On a contrary note, genetically engineered food IS sustainable in the true sense. Sorry that feeding millions of people in Africa and Asia with a concept invited by the founder of the Peace Corps sounds a little too "Franken-food" to you.
2. "For years now, drug-resistant staph infections have been a problem in hospitals, where the heavy use of antibiotics can create resistant strains of bacteria... But a new and even more virulent strain -- called 'community-acquired MRSA' -- is now killing young and otherwise healthy people who have not set foot inside a hospital... The Union of Concerned Scientists estimates that at least 70 percent of the antibiotics used in America are fed to animals living on factory farms."
The article goes on to say that there is no direct connection other than an obvious one, but only because there hasn't been studies on it.
Now, I want you all to know that prior to even knowing I had to read this article tonight, Neal and I planned on going to McDonald's for late dinner.
I read this article before we were going to go.
I still went.
In fact, Neal was ready to go so I put down this article and still went.
I ordered chicken nuggets.
I am definitely an indestructible youth. You can threaten me with your staph, scare me with your hormones, concern me with your over-antibiotics.
I will still eat McDonald's. I like it sometimes.
Quoting another article by the same man, "You Are What You Grow":
"Because most of us assume that, true to its name, the farm bill is about 'farming,' an increasingly quaint activity that involves no one we know and in which few of us think we have a stake."
Love it.
But the truth is, I do have my own little "ranch," or what have you. I have three cows (one baby named Mark!), a horse, a sheep, a goat, two silkworms, five chickens, and a duck.
My farm grows a variety of crops including corn, tomatoes, eggplant, strawberries, a variety of herbs, and even has an orange tree.
From my animal products I produce wool, thread, butter, mayonnaise, duckonnaise, and I am researching cheese production.
And while other farms have been financially forced to sell their land to residential and business developers, I am actually in the market to buy new land to plant my increasing number of crops on as well as expand my barn to accommodate new animals.
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