Johnathan Hettinger, The Missouri Independent:

“It’s kind of ironic. Cities have become a refuge for some of these most endangered pollinators,” said Bolt, manager of pollinator conservation for the World Wildlife Fund. “Thousands of acres of monocultural row crops leave little to no room for most pollinators.”

Today, the bumblebee is among more than 200 endangered species whose existence is threatened by the nation’s most widely used insecticides (one classification of pesticides), according to a recent analysis by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The endangered species range from Attwater’s greater prairie chicken to the Alabama cave shrimp, from the American burying beetle to the slackwater darter. And the star cactus and four-petal pawpaw are among the 160-plus at-risk plants.

Three neonicotinoids — thiamethoxam, clothianidin and imidacloprid — are applied as seed coatings on some 150 million acres of crops each year, including corn, soybeans and other major crops.

Research shows that treated seeds lose up to 95% of the pesticide to the environment. This happens through seed abrasion and drift during the planting process or loss to soil or waterways through erosion. Birds can also eat treated seeds that are not properly buried.”

Read about how three widely used pesticides are driving hundreds of endangered species toward extinction

TAKE ACTION: Ban Seeds Soaked in Bee-Killing Neonic Insecticides!

Tom Perkins writes for The Guardian:


“As inflation shot to its peak around mid-2022, Chipotle’s prices also rose, pushing up what customers paid for burritos and bowls by as much as several dollars. Since then, the fast casual restaurant’s costs have broadly fallen. Prices have not.

Chipotle’s decision to maintain high prices helped boost profits 110% in recent years, while its executives boasted to investors that they raised prices higher than inflationary costs.

Chipotle’s sparkling financials are representative of much of the food industry, according to a Guardian analysis of financial documents and earning calls transcripts from 36 top US food corporations.”

Read about  “shrinkflation”: exploiting the inflationary atmosphere to raise prices, or to shrink product sizes

BBC
reports:

“Mr. Odhiambo is keen to let others know about plant remedies he believes can deal with common illnesses, such as colds, skin conditions and stomach upsets.

He argues that long before the onset of conventional medicine, there were traditional healers who knew from those before them what was good for treating which condition.

The information exists within communities, but does not really travel further.

Mr. Odhiambo works for the Trust for Indigenous Culture and Health (Ticah), which has formed a partnership with the museum, seen as a repository of the country’s cultural heritage.

There he takes care of a special garden, known as a physic garden, which has more than 250 species of medicinal plants – they are not for sale but for education.

The organization’s key mandate is to show the value of traditional medicine and amplify the voices of those who practice it, he adds.”

Read how Mr. Odhiambo hopes his passion for plants will show Kenyans that common illnesses can be treated without suspicion using remedies “like in the olden days”

Analysis by Ashley Armstrong:

“STORY-AT-A-GLANCE

* Fearmongering around bird flu mirrors COVID-19 responses, with calls for testing, social distancing, and vaccination in the agricultural sector. New RFID tagging requirements for dairy cows represent potential government overreach, aimed at increased animal tracking and control

* Development of mRNA vaccines for bird flu in both humans and animals raises concerns about potential mandatory vaccinations and their impact on the food supply

* FDA warnings against raw milk consumption lack evidence of foodborne transmission of bird flu to humans and may serve to protect industrial dairy interests. The centralization of the food system has led to a 72% decrease in small farms over the last 90 years, emphasizing the need to support small-scale farmers directly

* The H5N1 virus may have origins in gain-of-function research, potentially emerging from a lab rather than occurring naturally in wild birds

* Mass culling of poultry in response to outbreaks has led to over 92 million chickens being slaughtered since 2022, often using inhumane methods”

Learn more

Check out our Regenerative Farm Map and stock up on farm-fresh food while you still can!

Krista Linares writes for Healthline:

“Mexican food is widely known for its flavor and spices, but there can often be confusion about where Mexican food fits into a balanced diet.

It may be common to think that Mexican food should be reserved for special occasions or to think that traditional Mexican meals are incompatible with a healthy diet — but this is mostly due to misconceptions.

In fact, Mexican cultures offer a wide variety of foods that have a lot to teach us about nutrition.

That goes beyond the basic staples too. While Mexican staple ingredients like tomatoes, squash, and corn are typically accepted as healthy, there is a whole additional category of healthy Mexican foods to consider.

Some Mexican ingredients, such as chia seeds, pumpkin, and cactus, are very popular in the health-food world, but many shoppers may not think of them as Mexican.”

Check out these 10 Mexican foods with high nutritional benefits

We need bees in order to grow food, or at least some of it. Yet the food – GMO food – we are growing, drenched in neonics, is killing the bees.

It’s not just the bees that are dying.

Butterfly and bird populations are in decline, too.

And it’s not just the neonicotinoids that are to blame.

Other herbicides and pesticides, especially Bayer-Monsanto’s Roundup, used to grow GMO crops- and also used to contain (kill) weeds in cities and home gardens- are decimating pollinators, fish and wildlife, and some would argue, humans, too.

As consumers ask more and more questions about the impact of GMO foods and crops on our health and environment, we’re making smarter choices about the foods we choose to eat. Does my child’s cereal contain sugar from genetically engineered beets? Did that steak on my dinner plate come from an animal raised on a factory farm, and fed a diet of Roundup-ready GMO corn, canola, soy or cotton seed?

But we need to look at the bigger picture, too. That means calling for an end to the use of Monsanto’s Roundup in urban areas, on our lawns, roadways, schoolyards and parks. It means paying close attention to the seeds and garden plants we buy for our home gardens, as well as its use in industrial agriculture.

Please help support our campaign to ban bee-killing neonic seed treatments and make your state the first to ban Monsanto’s Roundup weedkiller!

Make a tax-deductible donation to Organic Consumers Association, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit

Discussion with Stephanie Sy & Hayley Smith, The Los Angeles Times:

“Many may not realize it but heat is the leading cause of weather-related death in the U.S. The triple-digit temperatures in the days ahead come as President Biden unveils long-awaited regulations designed to protect workers from excessive heat. Stephanie Sy discussed more with Hayley Smith of The Los Angeles Times.


“OSHA this week has moved forward a proposed rule that would establish indoor and outdoor workplace heat standards for millions of workers, some 35 million workers in workplaces like kitchens and farms and warehouses, where temperatures regularly soar to 80 degrees or hotter.

And so what these regulations would do would be triggering things like employers needing to provide water and rest breaks. And at 90 degrees, some of those things would become mandatory, mandatory rest breaks and water breaks, things like that.

And it’s also important to note that these OSHA — these proposed OSHA regulations, would also apply to states that have kind of done the opposite, like Florida and Texas, where they have actually passed laws recently to prevent employers or cities from establishing worker protection.

So these federal rules, if they were approved, would supersede that and hopefully help save some lives.’ —Hayley Smith of The Los Angeles Times.”



Watch or read the transcript

Robin Sweetser, Almanac:

“Gourds, beans, and peppers were being cultivated in Mexico by 5,500 BC, and by 5,000 BC, maize was being grown in Mesoamerica and potatoes in South America. Success or failure of these crops had a major impact on people’s survival. It was critical not only that the land provided sustenance, but that it sustained them year after year, which required knowledge of sustainable growing techniques to preserve the land for future generations.

These techniques were here long before we started talking about “going green.” Perhaps your grandparents also knew some of the older, gentler ways. Many are simply intuitive and based on fostering a closer relationship with nature and the land. If you don’t already, you might want to think about integrating some of these techniques into your own landscape.

Many of the following practices are often viewed as “new” to the gardening world, but they’ve been around for a long, long time. They have all been traditionally used by Native American peoples, but that is not to say that all of these techniques were used by all Native American cultures. Just like separate countries, indigenous cultures vary widely in their gardening philosophies and techniques. Below are just a few sustainable, Earth-conscious ways to grow a better garden.”



Learn about these time-honored ways to grow your food

Michelle Perro, MD, CEO, GMOScience:

“I have introduced a new tool for practitioners and parents alike, the Pediatric Environmental Health Questionnaire (PEHQ), to aid in the assessment of children at risk of harm due to environmental toxicants (such as those toxic metals exposed in our infant formula study).

Categories queried will include allergens, pesticides, solvents, plastics, EMFs, etc. The form can be filled out directly on-line and takes only minutes to complete.

GMOScience will be collecting data from the straightforward and simple questionnaire and scorecard which parents and providers can submit to info@gmoscience.org.

For more information on the PEHQ, survey and recommendations, please visit our site. Please share the survey with your friends, families, clients, and patients. My goal is to reach 1,000 responses from a wide variety of children and locations. The data will be analyzed and published. All participants of the study will receive a detailed analysis.” – Michelle Perro, MD, CEO

Learn more

Stacy Malkan reports for U.S. Right to Know:

“Most people in the United States have been exposed to some PFAS, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The chemicals have been documented in the blood of people and animals around the world, and have been found to be pervasive in the environment, particularly in areas where manufacturers or other industrial users are actively handling PFAS. In response to a Freedom of Information Act request, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2021 released a spreadsheet of more than 120,000 facilities around the U.S. that may be handling PFAS. Download that spreadsheet here.

Some PFAS have been linked to cancer, birth defects, liver disease, thyroid disease, decreased immunity, hormone disruption and a range of other serious health problems.

PFAS chemicals are hard to avoid, but experts say there are ways to reduce exposure. For tips, see this Washington Post article, How Can I Avoid Eating Food With ‘Forever’ Chemicals?


States move to restrict PFAS:

More than 100 laws have been enacted in 24 states to ban or restrict the use of PFAS chemicals used for waterproof, stain-repellent, nonstick or fire-resistant properties in a wide array of everyday household products. So far in 2023, 195 new bills were introduced in dozens of state legislatures, seeking to require that an expanding list of products be PFAS-free.”


Learn more

TAKE ACTION: Tell Your State Legislators to Ban Toxic PFAS!

Organic Rising: Watch This Film

New Study Links Toxic Chemicals & EMF to Autism Causation

Turning Trees Into Water: 
Scenes From a Peruvian Planting Festival

Canada Owes First Nations Billions After Making ‘Mockery’ of Treaty Deal, Top Court Rules

5 Game-Changing, Gut-Healthy Spices To Add to Your Plate

Of the Tested Sparkling Water Brands, the Following Contained the Most PFAS

Meet the Wild Chimpanzees Revealing the Medicinal Properties of Plants to Researchers

Expert Onion Storage Tips

Why Congress Should Change How Medicare Pays Physicians

Genetically Enhanced Humans May Be The Future of Space Travel

How the Apparel Industry Could Refashion Itself With Sustainability in Mind

Painkiller Used in Cattle Wiped Out India’s Vultures, and Scientists Say That Led to 500,000 Human Deaths

Auto Tires Shed Dangerous Microplastics and Harmful Chemicals. New Research Suggests That Both Can Make Their Way Into Crops.

6 Tips for Staying Safe While Exercising or Playing in Extreme Heat