| The second of the three essential and interdependent prerequisites for a quality product is that it be clean—clean for the earth and for the ecosystems. Clean is sustainable; it does not pollute, it does nothing to put the earth in a condition of ecological deficit. Sustainability is obtained by respecting a criterion of naturalness, and by being aware of limits, whether human, vegetable, animal, or productive. |
Peter Pringle
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 Instead of millions of farmers breeding and growing thousands of crop varieties to adapt to diverse ecosystems and diverse food systems, the Green Revolution reduced agriculture to a few varieties of a few crops (mainly rice, wheat, and maize) bred in one centralized research center in the Philippines for rice and Mexico for wheat and maize." Instead of solving the problem, golden rice had merely masked the shortcomings of the Green Revolution.27
The Plague of Sameness
U.S. agriculture is impressively uniform genetically and impressively vulnerable.
—U.S. |
Dr. Michael Heinrich, Joanne Barnes, Simon Gibbons and Elizabeth M. Williamson
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 Distribution
More than 21,000 species are known from practically all parts of the world, with the exception of Antarctica, and the family has found niches in a large variety of ecosystems. The family is particularly well-represented in Central America and southern North America (Mexico).
Chemical characteristics of the family
A typical chemical trait of this family is the presence of polyfructanes (especially inulin) as storage carbohydrates (instead of polysaccharides) in perennial taxa. Inulin-containing drugs are used for preparing malted coffee (e.g. |
Brian O'Leary
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 Lurking in the future", Linden continues, "are the unfolding consequences of ozone depletion, which may be weakening the immune systems of many creatures on the planet, and the dislocations of ecosystems that may come from climate change." The alarming disappearance of ozone in the stratosphere protecting us from lethal ultraviolet radiation comes from human emitted chemicals that also reinforce global warming itself. |
Doris J. Rapp, M.D.
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 It has been reported that the Office of Homeland Security has urged toxic pesticide spraying of urban areas and ecosystems throughout the United States—even if there is no danger of the West Nile virus.U6a |
Brian O'Leary
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| When ecosystems are out of balance, microbes tend to benefit, when populations of any given species explode, disease can bring them back into balance with brutal efficiency." (p.lll)
Linden referred to the publication in Science in 1997 of an account by a team of ecologists led by Peter Vitousek of Stanford University. |
David Hoffman, FNIMH, AHG
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 Many species are declining to critical population levels; important habitats are being destroyed, fragmented, and degraded; and ecosystems are being destabilized through climate change, pollution, invasive species, and direct human impact. The IUCN Red List is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of plants and animals.
The updated 2002 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species is available as a searchable database at www.redlist.org. |
Jeremy P. Tarcher
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 Chapter 10)
Inspired by ecosystems, Living Machines® are a revolutionary natural wastewater treatment system that accelerate nature's own water-purification process.
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8018NDCBU
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Tel: (505) 751 4448 Fax: (505) 751 9483 www. livingmachines. com
We can choose union and sustainable-farming labels and choose to support companies we know and companies we respect.
Union Label
Lists union-made products and union-provided services and includes a "do buy" and "boycott" list. www. unionlabel. |
| Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
Promotes resilient family farms, rural communities, and ecosystems around the world through research and education, science and technology, and advocacy. 2105 First Avenue South Minneapolis, MN55404 Tel: (612) 870 0453 iatp@iatp.org www.iatp.org
International Forum on Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM)
A platform for international exchange and cooperation to further organic farming.
IFOAM Head Office do Okozentrum Imsbach
D-66636 Tholey- Theley, Germany
Tel: 49 6853 919890 Fax: 49 6853 919899 headoffice@ifoam. org www.ifoam. |
| Thirty years ago I couldn't have imagined the almost overnight, massive spread of genetically modified organisms (GMOs)—with incalculable risks of disrupting ecosystems; of creating new strains of super-resistant pests; of introducing new allergens, or something even more harmful, into our diet.
In one sense I see the genetic-engineering craze—absorbing hundreds of millions of dollars and untold time and energy both of promoters and doubters—as yet another catastrophic diversion from deeper questions about democracy itself. It keeps us from asking, Why hunger? |
Dr. Michael Heinrich, Joanne Barnes, Simon Gibbons and Elizabeth M. Williamson
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| Further investment in research is needed to extend searches into many of the world's ecosystems, some of which may well disappear with changes in climate.
Very often access to microbially derived chemical diversity is limited to the supply of certain types of organisms (e.g. readily culturable actinomycetes). It has been estimated that less than 1% of bacterial species and less than 5% of fungal species are currently known; thus millions of species remain undiscovered and enormous chemical diversity remains to be tapped. |
Peter Pringle
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| The land is where any nation cares for its economic, social, and environmental health, the place where ecosystems, biodiversity, and water quality are nurtured.
In the war over genetic agriculture, the public soon demanded more debate. Prodded by green groups, biotech companies found themselves explaining and defending the right to experiment with complex aspects of genetic engineering that they had imagined were safely secreted in agricultural laboratories. |
Dr. Michael Heinrich, Joanne Barnes, Simon Gibbons and Elizabeth M. Williamson
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| They are trees and shrubs common in alpine ecosystems, flooded areas and along the margins of streams. Willow bark is a European phytomedicine with a long tradition of use for chronic forms of pain, rheumatoid diseases, fever and headache. As is well known, one of its main compounds, salicin, served as a lead molecule for the development of aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid).
Constituents
Phenolic glycosides, including salicin (Fig. 20.1), phenolic acids, flavonoids and tannins are the most prominent groups of compounds known for this botanical drug. |
Jeffrey M. Smith
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 In the presence of the code scramblers, the foreign genes inserted in GM crops might create many unintended proteins "with unpredictable effects on ecosystems and human health."2
The relationship between genes and the code scramblers has evolved for billions of years, right along with the evolution of DNA itself. We do not fully understand how they work together in the same species. We certainly can't predict how they will work when a gene from one species meets a code scrambler from another. Will the code scramblers ignore the foreign gene? |
Peter Pringle
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| They worried that transferring genes between species might cause allergies, or worse; alien genes might "escape" into the wild and create "superweeds" and "superpests" that could disrupt the world's ecosystems.
In Europe the British government was reeling from food scandals, the contamination of pork and poultry with dioxins, and the "mad cow" epidemic. The battles reached such a pitch that the Europeans banned imports of the new transgenic grains except for animal feed and demanded that all products containing the new foods be labeled. The Japanese banned imports of the new modified corn. |
Brian O'Leary
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| Technology, instead of being used to feed a runaway cycle of exploitation and consumerism ("more and more for more and more"), will need to be redirected toward the protection and restoration of damaged ecosystems."
Theologian-ecologist Thomas Berry has pointed out that while we have moral teachings for homicide and suicide, they are lacking for biocide and geocide. |
Jeffrey M. Smith
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| Yet today most of us are eating them, while kept completely in the dark as to the hazards we may be facing—for ourselves, our children, and the farming ecosystems on which our lives depend.
How has this assault on democracy happened?
As citizens, we've been duped and marginalized from our rightful role in momentous public choices. Surveys show that the majority of Americans share unease about the extent of corporate power within government, but that unease remains vague and unfocused. |
Phyllis A. Balch, CNC
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 Ponderosa pine ecosystems; M. nervosa, one to two feet tall with holly, found in lower elevations in coastal forests and interior cedar-hemlock ecosystems; and M. aquifolium, known as tall Oregon grape, which is three to five feet tall. They are used interchangeably for medicinal purposes. All have bright yellow flowers and green berries that ripen to a blue-purple color. The name Oregon grape comes from its use as a medicine and food along the Oregon Trail. Its popularity as a food and medicine nearly led to its extinction in the late nineteenth century. |
Marion Nestle
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 They might, for example, displace existing plants and animals, create new plant pathogens, disrupt ecosystems, transfer genes to weeds or wild relatives, reduce crop diversity, or "contaminate" native plants or organically grown foods. Widespread planting of Bt crops, for example, might encourage the proliferation of insects resistant to the Bt toxin. Similarly, widespread use of herbicide-resistant crops might transfer that resistance to undesirable weeds or encourage further reliance on chemicals—such as Monsanto's Roundup—as pest-management strategies. |
| As we have seen, however, the primary concerns about transgenic crops containing such toxins are about what they might do to the environment: displace existing crops, create resistant weeds, disrupt ecosystems, reduce crop diversity, or, as the most emotionally charged of such problems, kill monarch butterflies. Furthermore, widespread plantings of transgenic Bt crops might undermine the use of this toxin in organic agriculture. Organic growers use Bt as a temporary spray that washes off in the rain. |
Dr. Michael Heinrich, Joanne Barnes, Simon Gibbons and Elizabeth M. Williamson
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| Potentially highly profitable pharmaceutical products are developed, based on the biological and chemical diversity of the various ecosystems of the earth; this requires an enormous financial input. The research starts with the collection of biogenic samples (plants, fungi, other microorganisms and animals), progresses through analysis of the chemical, biological and pharmacological activities to the development of drug templates or new drugs. A key process in this search is high-throughput screening systems such as those that have been established by major
Table 5. |
Brian O'Leary
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| Attempts by humans to manipulate ecosystems provide no match for intelligent design. In fact, the intelligent design itself may be the act of a higher consciousness. More on this later.
Meanwhile, most of us are still using old science and religion in our education and for many of our grossest material creations: internal combustion engines, trucks, cars, buses, trains, drilling rigs, refineries, urban sprawl, highways, boxy buildings, factories, boilers, grids, strip mines, dumps and flying machines. |
| In the end," said Tuxil of Worldwatch, "plant diversity can be securely maintained only by protecting the native habitats and ecosystems where plants have evolved." Here is one very compelling reason to leave the remaining undeveloped land alone. How can we not preserve what's left as we restore what we've messed up? This should be an immediate priority number one policy change: Place a moratorium on further development of any native habitats. This is a good early project for altruistic private money and enlightened public protection, as in the case of the National Parks. |
| In the following sections, we look at what might bring back the most significant layer of the onion: we must preserve and restore our principal ecosystems to sustainability, diversity and beauty. In spite of political gridlock on these issues, it is encouraging to know that there are a dizzying array of solutions, many of which are already being implemented by courageous and innovative individuals and groups in various local areas throughout the world. What follows is a small sample of the kinds of things we can do. |
E. D. Hirsch
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 After oil was discovered in Prudhoe Bay in 1968, construction of the pipeline was delayed for several years, as conservationists warned against the effects of the pipeline on the ecosystems through which it would run. alderman A member of a city council. Aldermen usually represent city districts, called wards, and work with the mayor to run the city government. Jockeying among aldermen for political influence is often associated with machine politics. |
Lesley Tierra
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 Avoid wearing hard-soled shoes, as they may cause delicate hillside ecosystems irreparable damage.
2. Try to discover "secret" favorite areas for picking certain herbs away from common highways subject to pollution by car exhaust and traffic. Also try to harvest in areas not used by other herbalists. Do not pick herbs growing near high tension electric wires (this may cause mutation), on lawns or in public parks that have been fertilized, downstream from mining or agribusiness, or around parking lots and any possible areas sprayed with chemicals, herbicides or pesticides. |
Dr. Julian Whitaker
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| But wild crafting has led to the near-extinction of certain herbs and the degradation of fragile ecosystems like the rainforests. Most of the herbal supplements you find in stores are cultivated varieties. They have fewer environmental and genetic variations because growing conditions can be better controlled. As a result, there is more consistency in the final product. I recommend you choose herbs that have been grown organically and screened for harmful pesticides. If you do use wild-crafted herbs, make sure that they are not endangered species. |
James Trefil
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 Instead of talking about ecosystems and biodiversity as if they were important in their own right, we would be focusing on their value for one member of the ecosystem ?Homo sapiens. In the end, however, I think the unrecognized-services argument is the only one that will garner enough public support for environmental preservation over the long haul. |
| Such machines can be very useful in understanding systems that have a large number of interdependent variables, such as agricultural ecosystems or large molecules.
Having said this, however, I have to make an important distinction between two questions: whether neural nets are useful (they surely are) and whether they provide a model for the workings of the human brain (which remains very much an open question). My guess is that the answer to the second one will turn out to be no.
How Small Can an Electrical Circuit Be? the first transistor was about the size of a golf ball. |
Dr Bernard Jenson and Mark Anderson
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 Soil erosion kills water ecosystems, as well. The silt that accumulates in lakes because of runoff causes the lakes to grow shallower. Then the weeds proliferate, choking off oxygen needed by fish. Fish die, and the same negative sequence of events—only in an aquatic setting—occurs.
My teaching and traveling experiences have made me aware that people are not taught how intricately their lives are woven with the life of their land. This ignorance is reflected in abusive agricultural methods. |
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