Biofuel crops bad for the envrionment

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Countries thinking of joining the rush for biofuels run the risk of planting invasive plant species that could wreak environmental and economic havoc, biologists warned on Tuesday.

In a report issued on the sidelines of a major U.N. conference on biodiversity, an alliance of four expert groups urged governments to select low-risk species of crops for biofuels and impose new controls to manage invasive plants.

Wow, really? Who would have thought it could harm the environment to take plants from one continent after tens of thousands of years of evolution, and transplant them into a totally new environment? No one realized this might be a bad thing for native vegetation?

Goes to show again that as a society, we are not forward-thinking in the least, and care only about trends and immediate payoffs instead of the future.

WSJ advises you to invest in food

The end times for civilization are upon us. Sounds a bit insane, like something you'd hear from one of those guys on the street with a big "The End Is Near" signs. But consider this:

The main reason for rising prices, of course, is the surge in demand from China and India. Hundreds of millions of people are joining the middle class each year, and that means they want to eat more and better food.

A secondary reason has been the growing demand for ethanol as a fuel additive. That's soaking up some of the corn supply.

The WSJ, of all publications, is acknowledging (however indirectly) that there are simply too many of us on this planet. There were for a long time, but now, most of us want first-world lifestyles, something the Earth simply can't provide. Consider:

• Farmers are already having a tough time rotating crops and re-using soil too early
• Oil demand is sky-high, as are prices since the US sold out its currency for a false real-estate boom...growing economies such as China and India will put further strain on oil resources by increasing their own oil purchases in coming months/years
• Companies like Mercedes-Benz and BMW are working hard on viable renewable fuel alternatives, while the US descends into third-world status by frantically attempting to use our own crops, much of which we export, for fuel
• It's politically incorrect to mention that there are too many people on the planet, because everyone should have a right to consume (so goes the logic)

All these factors lead to increased consumption with the same amount of land available to people for cities and crops. That land was already strained; now we have to deal with hundreds of millions more consumers every year, while the number of food riots increase (Haiti & Mexico, anyone?). I agree with the writer - time to stockpile food, guns, and bottled water. Eventually, we'll be living in a future Tyler Durden could appreciate - gun in hand, looking out every window of your house for looters & rapists, boiling the bacteria & pollutants out of your water, etc. At least the McDonald's down the street will still be open.

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Deforestation to support more people?

There are too many people on this planet. The governments of the world, attempting to reduce foreign dependence on oil by using our food as fuel for our cars, is just another example of not even a well-intended idea. It's only accentuating the fact that our planet cannot sustain billions and billions of people, and certainly can't sustain millions and millions of vehicles.

Get ready for carbon emissions to drift through the atmosphere instead of being soaked up by the forests that don't exist anymore - meaning a heated atmosphere, meaning mass extinction. Aw, we created our very own greenhouse effect, how proud we must be!

[deforestation]
[use food for food, idiots]

Bottled Water is...bad for you?

http://www.boston.com/business/ticker/2008/04/communities_res.html

I guess people would rather drink tap water w/ pharmaceutical waste chemicals in it than drink something that comes from a natural spring.

Coffee, grain-fed beef, and quality vs. quantity

http://www.datejesus.com/ (scroll to March 26, 2008 entry)

The Jesus has posted about the American view of good food versus truly "good" food. This resonated with me as I've been to Italy a few times - the ice cream tastes better, the coffee tastes better, the cheese tastes better, the pasta tastes better, the meat tastes better. Everything...even the water. While Europe itself is becoming more Americanized, which is a shame, they still have a knack for making great food, but it's not necessarily in the recipe. It's really in the ingredients - Jesus' point on grain-fed beef, for example. Instead of making good food for the sake of good food, we try to make as much food as possible for the masses, who don't know anything about what makes up good food. Oh, and we are given the privilege of all these choices, so we end up paying a lot more for Starbucks than Dunkin' Donuts. Not only do Americans consume way too much coffee (look at the sizes), we're charged too much for the crap they swill. In Italy, coffee is meant to be enjoyed in a small cup, or maybe a larger one if mixed with milk. In America, part of the reason we eat crap is because we're so used to eating way too much food at all three meals, so companies know they can get away with reducing quality by using preservatives and taking the moisture out of food to make it last longer, enriching it with all sorts of disgusting things that don't belong in our food - corn syrup, anyone?

One interesting experience of mine in Italy was when I was with my cousins and grandparents on a night out to dinner. Suffice it to say, we likely ended up embarrassing my grandparents to a ridiculous degree. My grandparents invited two friends of theirs out for pizza. In Italy, lunch is the big meal, and dinner is a more casual affair - pizza, for example (but like everything else, it's more healthy, tastes better, and far less is consumed in their culture). There we are, myself and two or three of my cousins, ordering individual pizzas and tearing into them with forks and knives - sucking down Coke at the same time - and eating the pizza by crude slice after crude slice - by hand! The two guests of ours were slowly eating their pizza, one bite at a time, with a fork.

This reminds me of a random Sopranos line - Tony telling AJ to slow down, and not gulp the champagne - "hey, slow down - you have to savor it. It's important." If David Chase was really the artist everyone wishes he wasn't (who really liked that ending to the show anyway?), could this be seen as a critique on Americans? Probably - I know I see it.

Team USA bringing own food to China

http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/news/story?id=3256375

Some highlights of the article:

Wary of food quality in China following recent incidents of tainted products and reports of the heavy use of drugs and insecticides in food production, the USOC is planning to transport tons of meats and other foods to a training camp at Beijing Normal University.

"I feel it's a pity that they [Americans] decided to take their own food," Kang Yi, the head of the Food Division for the Beijing organizing committee, said Thursday. She added the U.S. had not officially notified her department of the plan.

The U.S. delegation will number more than 600, and many will eat their daily meals at the training camp, rather than the Athletes Village. The Village will house about 17,000 athletes and officials during the Aug. 8-24 Games and will be capable of serving 6,000 meals simultaneously.

The New York Times reported earlier that the U.S. will ship 25,000 pounds of lean meat to China.

"We have made lots of preparations to ensure that they [athletes] can get together at the Olympic Games," Kang added, speaking at a news conference Thursday on food safety. "If the American delegation is not at that gathering, it's a pity."

The safety of food in China has become a major issue for the Olympics, where athletes will face extensive drug testing. Security officials are aware that a positive drug test triggered by contaminated food could ruin an athlete's career and generate a public-relations disaster for China, which is intent on showing itself as a modern, sophisticated country.

Finally, the US - even if it's just our Olympic committee - is willing to stand up and, in a very public way, proclaim, 'WE DON'T TRUST YOU, CHINA'. How can we trust anything our own companies in China, or the Chinese themselves, produce, after all the recent stories about lead paint potentially poisoning children, among other horrific products coming from China?

This nation does NOT need food or anything else from China, which has years to go before it catches up to safety standards expected of producers in the USj. Unfortunately, in our decaying society, economics and the bottom line rule all. As such, we're going to keep doing business with China and take the diplomatic course, no matter how poisoned their goods are, instead of saying, "no thanks".