Saturday, March 28, 2015
Friday, March 27, 2015
I understand that a person can get 2.3 Melons per plant.. a real moneymaker
Melons
are members of the cucurbit family, which includes pumpkins, zucchini,
cucumbers, summer squash and winter squash. Being closely related,
melons have similar growth requirements, however they will not
cross-pollinate with cucumbers, squash or pumpkins.Read the whole very inspiring educational article
The farming lobby has wrecked efforts to defend our soil | Environment | The Guardian
The farming lobby has wrecked efforts to defend our soil | Environment | The Guardian
You would expect farmers to try to protect their soils, which are the
foundations of their livelihood, and many do. There are some excellent
farmers in Britain, careful, well-informed and always thinking of the
future.
But across large areas of land, short-termism now triumphs over
common sense. Farmers are often in debt to the banks, and seek to clear
that debt as quickly as they can. Many are growing crops that are simply
incompatible with protecting the soil. Some don't seem to know very
much about soil erosion and why it happens. Others – especially contract
farmers working on other people's land – don't seem to care.
Sensible land use is giving way to smash-and grab-exploitation.
Read the whole thing
You would expect farmers to try to protect their soils, which are the
foundations of their livelihood, and many do. There are some excellent
farmers in Britain, careful, well-informed and always thinking of the
future.
But across large areas of land, short-termism now triumphs over
common sense. Farmers are often in debt to the banks, and seek to clear
that debt as quickly as they can. Many are growing crops that are simply
incompatible with protecting the soil. Some don't seem to know very
much about soil erosion and why it happens. Others – especially contract
farmers working on other people's land – don't seem to care.
Sensible land use is giving way to smash-and grab-exploitation.
Read the whole thing
We’re treating soil like dirt. It’s a fatal mistake, because all human life depends on it | George Monbiot | Comment is free | The Guardian
We’re treating soil like dirt. It’s a fatal mistake, because all human life depends on it | George Monbiot | Comment is free | The Guardian
Imagine a wonderful world, a planet on which there was no threat of
climate breakdown, no loss of freshwater, no antibiotic resistance, no
obesity crisis, no terrorism, no war. Surely, then, we would be out of
major danger? Sorry. Even if everything else were miraculously fixed,
we’re finished if we don’t address an issue considered so marginal and
irrelevant that you can go for months without seeing it in a newspaper.
It’s literally and – it seems – metaphorically, beneath us. To judge
by its absence from the media, most journalists consider it unworthy of
consideration. But all human life depends on it. We knew this long ago,
but somehow it has been forgotten. As a Sanskrit text written
in about 1500BC noted: “Upon this handful of soil our survival depends.
Husband it and it will grow our food, our fuel and our shelter and
surround us with beauty. Abuse it and the soil will collapse and die,
taking humanity with it.”
The issue hasn’t changed, but we have. Landowners around the world
are now engaged in an orgy of soil destruction so intense that,
according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation, the world on
average has just 60 more years of growing crops.
Even in Britain, which is spared the tropical downpours that so quickly
strip exposed soil from the land, Farmers Weekly reports, we have “only 100 harvests left”.
To keep up with global food demand, the UN estimates, 6m hectares (14.8m acres) of new farmland will be needed every year. Instead, 12m hectares a year are lost through soil degradation.
We wreck it, then move on, trashing rainforests and other precious
habitats as we go. Soil is an almost magical substance, a living system
that transforms the materials it encounters, making them available to
plants. That handful the Vedic master showed his disciples contains more micro-organisms than all the people who have ever lived on Earth. Yet we treat it like, well, dirt.
Read the whole thing
Imagine a wonderful world, a planet on which there was no threat of
climate breakdown, no loss of freshwater, no antibiotic resistance, no
obesity crisis, no terrorism, no war. Surely, then, we would be out of
major danger? Sorry. Even if everything else were miraculously fixed,
we’re finished if we don’t address an issue considered so marginal and
irrelevant that you can go for months without seeing it in a newspaper.
It’s literally and – it seems – metaphorically, beneath us. To judge
by its absence from the media, most journalists consider it unworthy of
consideration. But all human life depends on it. We knew this long ago,
but somehow it has been forgotten. As a Sanskrit text written
in about 1500BC noted: “Upon this handful of soil our survival depends.
Husband it and it will grow our food, our fuel and our shelter and
surround us with beauty. Abuse it and the soil will collapse and die,
taking humanity with it.”
The issue hasn’t changed, but we have. Landowners around the world
are now engaged in an orgy of soil destruction so intense that,
according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation, the world on
average has just 60 more years of growing crops.
Even in Britain, which is spared the tropical downpours that so quickly
strip exposed soil from the land, Farmers Weekly reports, we have “only 100 harvests left”.
To keep up with global food demand, the UN estimates, 6m hectares (14.8m acres) of new farmland will be needed every year. Instead, 12m hectares a year are lost through soil degradation.
We wreck it, then move on, trashing rainforests and other precious
habitats as we go. Soil is an almost magical substance, a living system
that transforms the materials it encounters, making them available to
plants. That handful the Vedic master showed his disciples contains more micro-organisms than all the people who have ever lived on Earth. Yet we treat it like, well, dirt.
Read the whole thing
Wednesday, March 25, 2015
Sunday, March 22, 2015
I am not allowed to have an opinion because I am WHITE (If that isn't out and out racism I don't know what is)
In the past couple of weeks I have been told outright that my opinion doesn't count on things regarding our cultural divide because I am white, can't understand how things "Really Are", or I am genetically inhibited from understanding because of my DNA (being white).
Do you have any idea how insulting that is. It is racist to the max. You are telling ME that I cannot comprehend, I cannot grasp, I cannot look into a situation and make certain conclusions simply because I am white? I'm not a tree either yet I am considered in the trade as a big time expert on such..
What if I applied the same measure to black people? I would explain how to make a lot of money but since you've always been poor you can't possibly understand. I might have tried to help you with your relationship problems but since your DNA can't seem to stay sexually pure (see Baby Mama's Epidemic for more) you can't possibly understand.
Do you see how outrageous it is to insist that no white man can possibly have a valid opinion because of the color of his skin. If the is ever going to be a bridging of the great divide, you will have to hear and consider my opinions without getting all condescending. When you play the race card you are saying, I don't have any valid arguments, so I'll just say "You can't possibly understand". Nothing is going to change. Worse is when I hear the statement from some, "We need to have a conversation about race". What they are really saying is, "I will talk, you listen, and when I am done talking if you don't yet agree with me I will keep talking until you do". That's not conversation, that's indoctrination.
When I point out ideas and opinions I have line up exactly with Conservative Black men and women, some of whom grew up after world war one in the forties and fifties on the streets of Chicago in poverty but who now are conservatives like Jason Riley or Shelby Steele. The answer I get for that is, "well, there are black conservatives and black liberals. Everyone is untitled to their opinion" UNLESS THEY ARE WHITE!!
So next time some race baiting liberal black man or woman tells me I am not entitled to an opining because I am white, I will understand they are racist bigots of the worst kind. They believe all white people are alike.. and that's the fatal flaw.. of those who are in fact espousers of the same narrow thinking of the KKK.
SHAME!!
Do you have any idea how insulting that is. It is racist to the max. You are telling ME that I cannot comprehend, I cannot grasp, I cannot look into a situation and make certain conclusions simply because I am white? I'm not a tree either yet I am considered in the trade as a big time expert on such..
What if I applied the same measure to black people? I would explain how to make a lot of money but since you've always been poor you can't possibly understand. I might have tried to help you with your relationship problems but since your DNA can't seem to stay sexually pure (see Baby Mama's Epidemic for more) you can't possibly understand.
Do you see how outrageous it is to insist that no white man can possibly have a valid opinion because of the color of his skin. If the is ever going to be a bridging of the great divide, you will have to hear and consider my opinions without getting all condescending. When you play the race card you are saying, I don't have any valid arguments, so I'll just say "You can't possibly understand". Nothing is going to change. Worse is when I hear the statement from some, "We need to have a conversation about race". What they are really saying is, "I will talk, you listen, and when I am done talking if you don't yet agree with me I will keep talking until you do". That's not conversation, that's indoctrination.
When I point out ideas and opinions I have line up exactly with Conservative Black men and women, some of whom grew up after world war one in the forties and fifties on the streets of Chicago in poverty but who now are conservatives like Jason Riley or Shelby Steele. The answer I get for that is, "well, there are black conservatives and black liberals. Everyone is untitled to their opinion" UNLESS THEY ARE WHITE!!
So next time some race baiting liberal black man or woman tells me I am not entitled to an opining because I am white, I will understand they are racist bigots of the worst kind. They believe all white people are alike.. and that's the fatal flaw.. of those who are in fact espousers of the same narrow thinking of the KKK.
SHAME!!
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