News for October 10, 2011
News Today includes stories about avocados, insects, farmers, Deer, Meatless Monday, Sharks, Bulls, Turkey, Arkansas, Bullfighting, Trapping, Turtles, Food, Bull Sharks, Farming, Elephants, Oceans, Safer Food, GOMBBS, Vegucation, USDA, Clothes, Pasta, Lunchbox, and recipes.
From nutritionfacts.org
The insecticide and fungicide compound found naturally in avocadoes (persin) may damage the DNA of normal cells as well as cancer cells.
US food supply threatened: Foreign insects, diseases got into US post 9/11
From MSNBC
Dozens of foreign insects and plant diseases slipped undetected into the United States in the years after 9/11, when authorities were so focused on preventing another attack that they overlooked a pest explosion that threatened the quality of the nation’s food supply.
Should Oakland’s backyard farmers raise and kill animals for food?
From The Sacramento Bee
The City Council last week rewrote its 46-year-old zoning code to officially allow residents to sell the fruits and vegetables they grow at home. That means that starting Nov. 3, Pallana can sell some of the Fuji apples, figs, berries and other crops she grows in her backyard without the threat of a city crackdown.
Robo-Deer Used To Catch Poachers Across The U.S.
From Huffington Post
Nighttime deer poachers beware – that shadowy creature on the side of the road may just be remote-controlled.
Meatless Monday: Love By The Ladleful With Love Soup’s Anna Thomas
From Huffington Post
” I’m a believer in soup, but Love Soup author Anna Thomas is its high priestess. Her book offers 160 different meatless recipes organized according to seasons, so you taste the benefit of what’s fresh — lush, squashy or beany things for fall and winter, like her Fasolia Gigante soup below and lighter vegcentric soups for spring and summer.”
California Joins Global Movement to Save Sharks
From Huffington Post
It’s official: With a stroke of California Governor Jerry Brown’s pen, the entire U.S. West Coast has now banned the trade of shark fins.
Cave Creek Bull Run In Arizona Faces Scrutiny From Town Officials And Animal Advocates
From Huffington Post
The bulls are better tempered, slower and their horns have been blunted, and this definitely isn’t Pamplona.
Nonetheless, they are bulls, and nearly two dozen of them will be chasing after hundreds of humans on a quarter-mile track this coming weekend in the small town of Cave Creek, Ariz., despite objections from animal advocates and town officials.
News Producer Chased By Turkey Until Saved By Mail Truck
From Huffington Post
“I would not want to be the people living here,” said News10 Sacramento producer Duffy Kelly following her narrow escape from a wild turkey.
Arkansas Turkey Drop Draws FAA Warnings
From Huffington Post
No one in the northern Arkansas town of Yellville will say if they expect wild turkeys to fall from planes for this year’s Turkey Trot festival. But the Federal Aviation Administration says it is watching.
Juan Jose Padilla, Spain Bullfighter, Suffers Terrifying Face Goring
From Huffington Post
A Spanish bullfighter is likely to suffer facial paralysis and lose the sight in one eye after a terrifying goring, the hospital treating him said Saturday.
Wildlife Trapping: Brutal And Barbarous Or A Treasured Tradition?
From Huffington Post
Barry Warner has loved wildlife since boyhood, and lived out his dream of becoming a conservation officer. He sees no contradiction in the fact that he’s also a lifelong trapper, skilled at capturing wild animals and, if appropriate, killing them as part of an avocation that many Americans view as barbarous.
Todd Ray, Two-Headed Turtle Owner, Divided Over Surgical Separation
From Huffington Post
The owner of what is believed to be the largest collection of two-headed animals in the world is of two minds over what to do with the latest member of his menagerie: a two-headed turtle.
World Food Prices Likely To Remain Volatile And High, Says UN
From Huffington Post
Prices for rice, wheat and other key foods are expected to remain volatile and possibly increase – and poor farmers and consumers particularly in Africa will be hurt most, the U.N. food agencies said Monday.
Bull Sharks Invade Australian Golf Course Lake
From Treehugger
“I thought it was only in cartoons that a place would have a shark-infested lake in a random place like a golf course, but apparently it is reality in Australia. After a flood several years ago, a handful of bull sharks found themselves stranded in a lake on a golf course. Bull sharks are able to survive in fresh water and rather than this lake posing an issue for survival, the six sharks have thrived — and even started breeding.”
A Christian Perspective on Organic Dairy Farming and Positive Child Labor
From Treehugger
From retiring dairy cows to asking whether vegetarianism makes you a jerk, The Perennial Plate has contributed greatly to discussion about the rights and wrongs of animals in agriculture. Here we see Daniel and Mirra visit a family-run Ohio dairy farm for a Christian perspective on everything from farming to organics to the importance of positive child labor.
The Horror of Elephant Poaching in Kenya: Shocking Photos by Chris Jordan
From Treehugger
Chris Jordan’s work may be familiar to TreeHuggers because he has been photographing environmental issues for years. He has depicted the ravages of the oceans, and many photos showing the horrors of mass-consumerism in the world.
Human Waste Dumped into Oceans Harms Coral, New Study Reveals
From Treehugger
A recent study published in the journal PLoS One says that human sewage is largely responsible for a disease which is killing off elkhorn coral in Florida. It’s called white pox disease, and at least one scientist argues that the problem goes far beyond the Sunshine State, and is likely contributing to coral decline worldwide.
Study: Consumers Will Pay for Safer Food
From Food Safety News
American shoppers are willing to pay more money for verifiably safer food, but their willingness to pay declines as the cost and level of safety rise.
GOMBBS: Greens, Onions, Mushrooms, Berries, Beans and Seeds
From Huffington Post
“GOMBBS” is an acronym you can use to remember the most nutrient-dense, health-promoting foods on the planet. These are the foods you should eat every day, and they should make up a significant proportion of your diet — these foods can be effective at preventing chronic disease and promoting health and longevity.
Fall Semester Vegucation: Connecting with Your Target Audience
If you’re reading this, chances are you’re a bit of a walking encyclopedia on vegetarian eating. You know which store near you sells Daiya cheese at the best price, which kind of non-dairy milk goes best with your favorite coffee or tea, and know a heavy handful of compelling statistics on how factory farming pollutes our water and air, wastes resources, and is a truly horrific system to live and die within.
USDA Puts Its Money Where Its Mouth Is
From Link
It hasn’t gone unnoticed that First Lady Michelle Obama’s accolades for fresh fruit and veggies haven’t matched up with the subsidies her husband doles out to Big Ag. Of the top twenty crops receiving subsidies between 1995 and 2010, only one was a fruit crop. The effect of those subsidies trickles down to consumers, who find that their food dollars stretch farther on processed junk food than on produce.
Recipe: Breakfast Blueberry Chia Pudding
From One Green Planet
I believe we need to redefine crop yield; not assessing it by caloric value or by volume as we currently do, but by nutrient density. food is no longer synonymous with nutrition, eating more is no longer a guarantee of being better nourished. This causes us to have to a greater volume of food and take in a surplus of calories to satisfy our nutritional requirements. this of course leads to over consumption and directly to weight gain and then increased risk factor for several diseases, all while driving up the environmental cost of food production as well.
Where Can You Buy Cruelty-free Clothes?
From One Green Planet
“When I tell someone that I am vegan they often look at me quizzically (especially once they learn that being vegan is more involved than just what we eat), and, with a slight twist of the head, ask, “So where do you buy your clothes?”
From One Green Planet
I don’t know if this recipe is particularly Swedish, but I do know that Swedish people love easy made meals that can be eaten all year round. This is a easy and tasty recipe made with fake chicken, coconut milk (cream), spinach and bell pepper. For this recipe you will need (serves 4-5 portions)
25 Honest Lunchbox Letters From Parents to Children
From Cracked
Behind the picket fences and bay windows of America’s affluence, a war is raging. Parents are locked in a heated battle with each other that is somehow ugly, vicious and spectacularly boring all at the same time; it is the fight over who can love their kids the hardest. The battlegrounds are parks, play dates and birthday parties where Moms and dads wield violins, Latin Language DVDs and thousand dollar strollers like weapons built exclusively to shame and belittle anyone else who has the audacity to call themselves a good parent. And just like any war, the only real winners are the arms dealers. Toddler clothing boutiques, and asinine product manufacturers has no allegiance except to profit, and they will forever spit out new products that offer conspicuous superiority for the parents who can afford them. Oh, and for kids. They are also for kids.
