MARK TRAN, - The Raw Story
Stephan: Yet another unintended consequence of the industrial agriculture model. It is built around mono-crops, and penalizes bio-diversity and this is what has resulted.
The world food supply has grown increasingly dependent on a shrinking list of crops, such as wheat and maize, in the past 50 years with major consequences for human nutrition and global food security, according to a new study.
The report from the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) in Colombia documents for the first time what experts have long suspected: over the last five decades, human diets around the world have grown more homogeneous and are showing no signs of slowing.
‘More people are consuming more calories, protein and fat, and they rely increasingly on a short list of major food crops, like wheat, maize and soybean, along with meat and dairy products, for most of their food,” said lead author Colin Khoury, a scientist at CIAT, a member of the CGIAR consortium of research institutes. ‘These foods are critical for combating world hunger, but relying on a global diet of such limited diversity obligates us to bolster the nutritional quality of the major crops, as consumption of other nutritious grains and vegetables declines.”
The study, using data from the Food and Agriculture Organisation, encompassed more than 50 crops consumed in more than 150 countries (accounting for 98% of the world’s population) […]
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Stephan: I have been appalled at the superficial nature of the media coverage of what is going on in the Ukraine. For one thing I have only heard one mention in all the stories about why Russian cares about the Crimea -- that it offers the Russian blue water navy a warm weather port. Instead the coverage is like that of a baseball game. Just incredibly vapid. Here is some useful background on what is going on that covers at least some of the major trophes.
Crimea’s new prime minister, Sergei Aksenov, has moved up the date of a planned referendum on the peninsula’s future status to March 30. Voters will be asked to vote ‘yes” or ‘no” on whether “Crimea has state sovereignty and is a part of Ukraine, in accordance with treaties and agreements.”
It seems extremely unlikely that Kiev will recognize the referendum, but with Russian troops occupying the territory, there’s not a whole lot they can do about it. Crimea, therefore, seems destined to join the ranks of the former Soviet Union’s ‘frozen conflicts.” Here’s a quick rundown over the other four:
Transnistria
Also known Trans-Dniester or Pridnestrovie, the traditionally Russian speaking region was joined by Moscow to Bessarabia, formerly part of Romania, to create the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic after World War II.
Amid rising Moldovan nationalism during the break-up of the Soviet Union, Transnistria declared its independence in 1990. After a short and bloody war, a ceasefire was declared in 1992. The region became de facto independent, backed up a significant Russian military presence, but it is not recognized by Moldova or most other countries. Transnistrians have not gained any more enthusiasm for the idea of joining Moldova – Europe’s poorest country – since […]
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NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS, - San Francisco Chronicle/The Associated Press
Stephan: America's own slow-motion Fukushima.
SPOKANE — While one of the newer double-walled nuclear waste storage tanks at a Washington state complex has leaked, six others have “significant construction flaws” that could lead to additional leaks, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.
The 28 double-walled tanks at Hanford nuclear waste complex hold some of the worst radioactive waste at the nation’s most contaminated nuclear weapons site.
One of those giant tanks was found to be leaking in 2012. But subsequent surveys of the other double-walled tanks performed for the U.S. Department of Energy by one of its Hanford contractors found at least six shared defects with the leaking tank that could lead to future leaks, the documents said. Thirteen additional tanks also might be compromised, according to the documents.
Questions about the storage tanks jeopardize efforts to clean up radioactive waste at the southeastern Washington site. Hanford cleanup already costs taxpayers about $2 billion a year.
“It is time for the Department (of Energy) to stop hiding the ball and pretending that the situation at Hanford is being effectively managed,” Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., wrote Friday in a letter to Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz.
Energy Department officials in Richland said the agency continues to make thorough inspections of […]
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Stephan: Water is destiny. Here is a glimpse of what lies ahead for California. It is going to be a very different world.
The rain finally came to California this week, and not a moment too soon. Last year was the state’s driest year in a century. Over the past two weeks, the percentage of California territory in an ‘exceptional drought” – the drought monitor’s highest rating – has expanded from 15 to 26, while over 90 percent of the state remains in ‘severe drought.”
On Jan. 31, 2013, the State Water Project (SWP), the network of pumps and aqueducts that supplies water to 25 million people from Napa to Coachella, issued a historic 0 percent allocation. Translation: Of the 4 million acre-feet of water requested by its constituent water districts, the SWP, for the first time in its 55-year history, can promise nothing.
But what does that mean for the SWP’s largest contractor, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California – which includes Los Angeles and San Diego and requests over 1.9 million acre-feet of water? Are they still taking showers in Hollywood?
Even as California’s very dry rainy season comes to a close, the biggest sacrifice L.A. residents are making is to water their lawns every other day. Folsom Lake looks like Mars, the Sierra snowpack is at 25 percent of normal, and the […]
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ROBERT PARRY, - Reader Supported News/Consortium News
Stephan: Here is a glimpse into the secret world of the Neocons. This is one reason our foreign policies often seem so uncoordinated.
The National Endowment for Democracy, a central part of Ronald Reagan’s propaganda war against the Soviet Union three decades ago, has evolved into a $100 million U.S. government-financed slush fund that generally supports a neocon agenda often at cross-purposes with the Obama administration’s foreign policy.
NED is one reason why there is so much confusion about the administration’s policies toward attempted ousters of democratically elected leaders in Ukraine and Venezuela. Some of the non-government organizations (or NGOs) supporting these rebellions trace back to NED and its U.S. government money, even as Secretary of State John Kerry and other senior officials insist the U.S. is not behind these insurrections.
So, while President Barack Obama has sought to nurture a constructive relationship with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin especially in hotspots like Iran and Syria, NED has invested in projects in Russia’s close neighbor, Ukraine, that fueled violent protests ousting President Viktor Yanukovych, who won election in 2010 in balloting that was viewed by international observers as fair and reflecting the choice of most Ukrainian citizens.
Thus, a U.S.-sponsored organization that claims to promote “democracy” has sided with forces that violently overthrew a democratically elected leader rather than wait for the next scheduled election in 2015 […]
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