Amid government crackdown, seed libraries expand biodiversity and food access. Photo: Betsy Goodman of the Common Soil Seed Library.
Credit: Associated Press
It’s easy to take seeds for granted. Tiny dry pods hidden in packets and sacks, they make a brief appearance as gardeners and farmers collect them for future planting then later drop them into soil. They are not “what’s for dinner,” yet without them there would be no dinner. Seeds are the forgotten heroes of food—and of life itself.
Sharing these wellsprings of sustenance may sound innocuous enough, yet this increasingly popular exchange—and wider seed access—is up against a host of legal and economic obstacles. The players in this surreal saga, wherein the mere sharing of seeds is under attack, range from agriculture officials interpreting seed laws, to powerful corporations expanding their proprietary and market control.
Seed libraries—a type of agricultural commons where […]
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper
Credit: ipolitics.ca
Back in 2006, the newly elected Prime Minister of Canada, right-wing Conservative Stephen Harper warned that “You won’t recognize Canada when I’m through with it.” After nine grueling years, that’s already true in many ways. But now, Harper is going even further in his re-make of the country. Under new and pending legislation, Canada is moving rapidly towards the creation of a police state, with major curtailments of civil liberties. In recent weeks, the Harper Conservatives have introduced and/or passed several pieces of legislation that run roughshod over Canadians’ Charter of Rights and Freedoms and Constitutional rights, giving draconian powers to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS).
There’s Bill C-13, the highly unpopular online spying legislation, which received Royal Assent on Dec. 9, 2014. The Bill allows warrantless internet surveillance through the collection by CSIS of Canadians’ everyday internet use. The Bill contains broad new police powers, including several new warrants for surveillance, tracking and gathering of […]
Florida Governor Rick Scott
Credit: Facebook
A Florida state employee has been reprimanded and told not to come to work after Gov. Rick Scott’s (R) administration banned the use of the terms “climate change” and “global warming.”
Earlier this month, reports said that officials in the Scott administration ordered Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) administrators not to use the terms in documents or meetings because they asserted that the climate science behind global warming was not a “true fact.”
According to the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), Scott’s ban claimed its first victim earlier this month.
A press release from PEER said that Barton Bibler, who works as DEP Land Management Plan Coordinator, had attended a Florida Coastal Managers Forum and took notes when attendees discussed climate change.
“Mr. Bibler’s official notes on this meeting reflected all of that discussion. He was directed to remove any hot button issues, especially explicit references to climate change, and then was given a letter of reprimand for supposedly […]
As the nation’s headlines turn more and more to issues of tolerance—race, religion, free speech, same sex marriage—research by San Diego State University Psychology Professor Jean M. Twenge shows that Americans are actually more tolerant than ever before. (emphasis added)
In a paper released this month by the journal Social Forces, Twenge, along with Nathan T. Carter and Keith Campbell from the University of Georgia, found that Americans are now more likely to believe that people with different views and lifestyles can and should have the same rights as others, such as giving a speech or teaching at a college.
“When old social rules disappear, people have more freedom to live their lives as they want to, and Americans are increasingly tolerant of those choices,” said Twenge, who is also the author of “Generation Me.”
“This goes beyond well-known trends such as the increasing support for gay marriage. People are increasingly saying that it’s OK for those who are different to fully participate in the community and influence everyone else.”
Tolerance for different views
The researchers used data from the General Social Survey, a […]
Breastfeeding mother
Credit: BBC News (U.K.)
A long-term study has pointed to a link between breastfeeding and intelligence.
The research in Brazil traced nearly 3,500 babies, from all walks of life, and found those who had been breastfed for longer went on to score higher on IQ tests as adults.
Experts say the results, while not conclusive, appear to back current advice that babies should be exclusively breastfed for six months.
But they say mothers should still have a choice about whether or not to do it. Advice remains that exclusive breastfeeding for around the first six months of life provides health benefits to babies,” says the Public Health Service in England
Regarding the findings – published in The Lancet Global Health – they stress there are many different factors other than breastfeeding that could have an impact on intelligence, although the researchers did try to rule out the main confounders, such as mother’s education, family income and birth weight.
Dr Bernardo Lessa Horta, from the Federal University of Pelotas […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
