Reduce---Reuse---Recycle
GMO SEEDS YIELD NO ECONOMIC ADVANTAGE
Though GMO's are heavily marketed under the guise of increasing a farmers profits, the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture recently studied a cross-section of USDA data on corn and soybean farms in Iowa, and found that the "use of genetically modified seed did not appear to impact a farmer's bottom line for either corn or soybean production." Farmers planting genetically modified soybeans spent, on average, $6.17 per acre less on herbicides, but $5.69 per acre more on seeds. The slight economic advantage was wiped out by the fact that yield for genetically modified soybeans was 1.6 bushels per acre less than that for traditional seeds. A similar trend occurred for Bt versus traditional corn: the genetically modified seed cost $4.31 more per acre, required $4.63 per acre more for fertilizer, and yielded three more bushels per acre.
www.leopold.iastate.edu/newsletter/2001-4leoletter/gmo.html
NAFTA BAD FOR THE ENVIRONMENT
The North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation, which was established to document the environmental impacts of the North American Free Trade Act (NAFTA), has released "The North American Mosaic: A State of the Environment Report." The report concludes that economic activity has had detrimental environmental effects across the continent, increased greenhouse gas emissions, a rise in air pollution, unacceptably high levels of toxic chemicals, and declining health of biodiversity, forests, agricultural systems and fisheries. One of the CEC's recommendations for correcting these problems is a move toward sustainable energy.
The full report is available at: http://www.cec.org/pubs_docs/documents/index.cfm?varlan=english&ID=629
LOOKING LOCALLY: A BOTTOM-UP ENERGY SOLUTION
"Basement microturbines and fuel cells, rooftop solar cells, backyard wind turbines: these are the power plants for the 21st century."
TomPaine.commentary--AUDIO and TEXT--by David Morris--produced by Steven Rosenfeld.
"Consumer lawn care is a major source of water pollution. Instead of using herbicides on your lawn, try natural weed control. Pull out weeds, use compost, and leave grass trimmings after you mow. It will decrease weeds without toxic chemicals around your home that flow into drains."
Care2 Action Alerts
A BETTER WAY: Why not a clean energy future?
"The Bush-Cheney energy task force all but ignored a U.S. Department of Energy report that concluded that improved efficiencies and renewable power could meet 60 percent of the nation's need for new electric power plants over the next two decades. Increasing the fuel efficiency of cars and SUVs by only 3 miles a gallon, for example, would save more oil within 10 years than could ever be extracted from the Arctic refuge. And scientists at the country's five national laboratories have concluded that a government-led efficiency program emphasizing new technologies could cut growth in electricity demand in half without sacrificing our quality of life."
DENlines 5-21-01
"If every American drove a 70-mile-per-gallon hybrid Honda Insight instead of a gas-guzzling sport utility vehicle, we could stop importing oil tomorrow"
http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/imho/imho012601-b.stm
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful citizens can change the world; indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
- Margaret Mead
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Every $1 invested in space programs has generated $7 in economic growth and technology?
Space exploration has contributed nearly 40,000 technological marvels to our everyday lives?
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SPAACSE, Inc.
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