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Extreme weather and GMO crops devastate monarch butterfly migration

by kx93z6g Posted on March 14, 2013

Extreme weather and GMO crops devastate monarch butterfly migration

By Susie Cagle

It’s not so much the butterfly effect as the butterfly affected: We knew monarchs had it bad as of late, but there was some hope for their winter migration — until scientists conducted a census.

JaguarFeather

In just two years, the annual migration of North American monarch butterflies has declined by 59 percent, and scientists are blaming extreme weather and “changed farming practices,” according to the New York Times. In other words, monster storms and monster Monsanto.

The area of forest occupied by the butterflies, once as high at 50 acres, dwindled to 2.94 acres in the annual census conducted in December, Mexico’s National Commission of Natural Protected Areas disclosed at a news conference in Zitácuaro, Mexico. …

The latest decline was hastened by drought and record-breaking heat in North America when the monarchs arrived last spring to reproduce. Warmer than usual conditions led the insects to arrive early and to nest farther north than is typical, Chip Taylor, director of the conservation group Monarch Watch at the University of Kansas, said in an interview. The early arrival disrupted the monarchs’ breeding cycle, he said, and the hot weather dried insect eggs and lowered the nectar content of the milkweed on which they feed.

That in turn weakened the butterflies and lowered the number of eggs laid.

But an equally alarming source of the decline, both Mr. Taylor and Mr. Vidal said, is the explosive increase in American farmland planted in soybean and corn genetically modified to tolerate herbicides.

The milkweed monarchs used to feed on in the corn belt is, well, a weed, and farmers have handily knocked it out while also expanding farmland by millions of acres each year. As milkweed-free farm land expands, food for monarchs disappears. Mexico claims to have cut back on deforestation in the monarchs’ migratory home, but we haven’t done our part on this side of the border. There’s no stopping drought and Roundup-Ready crops at this point.

Monarchs are one of the only insects capable of such a long-distance migration. Here, this cool German gif will tell you all about it:

If the monarch migration drops another half acre next year, scientists say, the butterflies may not be able to recover and the migration will end. If you live along the monarch’s flight path (and almost all of us do), planting milkweed in your garden couldn’t hurt. But also maybe book a flight to Mexico if you really want to see these guys doing their butterfly thing before it’s all gone.

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Extreme weather and GMO crops devastate monarch butterfly migration

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Perfect swarm: Giant mosquitos invade Florida

by PierresHood Posted on March 13, 2013

Perfect swarm: Giant mosquitos invade Florida

By Susie Cagle

“Huge,” “giant,” “mega,” and “aggressive” are not the words you want to hear before “mosquito.” But that’s how experts describe Psorophora ciliata, or the “gallinipper” mosquito. Native to the eastern U.S. and immortalized in stories and folk songs for decades, these big biters are now expanding into Florida.

BenSeese

Up to 20 times the size of other mosquitos, the gallinippers aren’t known for spreading disease, but their bites are likened to being stabbed with a knife — and unlike Florida’s other invasive species, they don’t make for an even remotely good meal (we presume). From the Huffington Post:

Doug Carlson, mosquito control director for Indian River County, told WPTV that the insects are so big, “it can feel like a small bird has landed on you.” Meanwhile, Gary Goode of Palm Beach County Mosquito Control told WPBF the mosquito “practically breaks your arm” when it feeds on you.

A warmer winter and stagnant waters left over from Tropical Storm Debby (some parts of the state got 75 inches of rain in 2012) have scientists and residents nervous about the bites to come. The Gainesville Sun reports:

Whatever the mosquito type, locals could be destined for “a very rough summer,” said Paul Myers, administrator for the Alachua County Health Department.

The area’s mild winter spared mosquitoes from the hard freezes that would have killed many of them, he said, adding that major rainfall would amplify the problem. Two-thirds of the county’s population lives in areas with mosquito spraying, but the rest lives in unincorporated Alachua County, where the County Commission has opted not to spray because of concerns about the cost and effectiveness of the treatment, as well as its environmental impacts, Myers said.

New research suggests those sprays aren’t worth much against increasingly invincible super-skeeters anyway, so mosquitoes giant and non- will probably cause an uptick in bloody bites this summer regardless. But it’s not just “this summer” anymore, is it? With extra rain, rising seas, more warm winters, and more warm bodies, gallinippers have good reason to stay in Florida. Wear your long sleeves, folks.

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Perfect swarm: Giant mosquitos invade Florida

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NYC judge throws out Bloomberg’s big sugar drink ban

by DenaeTina858 Posted on March 11, 2013

NYC judge throws out Bloomberg’s big sugar drink ban

By Susie Cagle

Good news, soda lovers and Bloomberg haters!

Reuters reports that New York State Supreme Court Justice Milton Tingling threw out New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s pet ban, calling it “arbitrary and capricious,” in response to lawsuits brought by the American Beverage Association and other unapologetic sugar peddlers business groups.

Passed last September, the measure would’ve banned the sale of certain sugary drinks bigger than 16 ounces (sweetened iced tea and soda, but not alcoholic drinks or fruit juice) from certain locations (restaurants and movie theater concessions, but not convenience stores). Sweet-toothed sellers defying the ban would’ve faced $200 fines starting in June.

Bloomberg sold the “Big Gulp” ban as an obesity-fighting measure, though it didn’t outlaw fatty fast-food milkshakes or “Big Gulp” drinks themselves.

So what’s next for arbitrary ‘n capricious Bloomy? Perhaps a ban on Styrofoam cups? Because I’m sure they don’t have a powerful industry lobby at all…

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Superstorm Sandy aid dollars go to rebuilding in flood-prone areas

by df4sx12 Posted on March 8, 2013

Superstorm Sandy aid dollars go to rebuilding in flood-prone areas

By Susie Cagle

The Eastern Seaboard is still limping toward recovery post-Superstorm Sandy. Just as the government was really getting rolling distributing $60 billion in federal aid that was authorized in January, that amount was chopped by 5 percent thanks to sequestration.

Jenna Pope

And now comes news that some of that rebuilding money is being spent not-so-wisely. While San Francisco is trying to make a “managed retreat” from rising seas, the tri-state area seems to be more in favor of a “whatevs, fuck it” approach. ProPublica reports:

A WNYC and ProPublica analysis of federal data shows at least 10,500 home and business owners have been approved for $766 million in SBA [Small Business Administration] disaster loans to rebuild in areas that the government now says could flood again in the next big storm. The data, which shows loans approved through mid-February, was obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request.

More loans could be going to flood-prone areas. The analysis did not cover Long Island or Connecticut.

The loans require borrowers to get flood insurance, which in turn could encourage some to rebuild properties to be more flood-resistant. However, for many owners there’s no requirement they raise their properties to the heights FEMA recommends.

The result: the federal government is helping people rebuild despite the risk that flooding will again destroy the properties.

ProPublica talked with folks who plan to rebuild but can’t afford to raise their properties to better withstand future storm surges. Post-Sandy, FEMA released new maps of areas the agency deems at risk of flooding, where buildings should be raised or, well, razed.

New York Times

Revamped flood zones in Staten Island and Brooklyn. Click to embiggen.

But in total, ProPublica reports, 83 percent of loans in New York City went to rebuild properties in those flood zones; in New Jersey, the figure was 71 percent.

The SBA says it’s not their job to assess whether it’s smart to build in flood-prone areas.

“Our mission is to help these homeowners and business become whole again,” said Carol Chastang, an SBA spokeswoman. “We really aren’t in a position to tell people where or where not to rebuild.” …

Environmental groups like the National Wildlife Federation say the best flood protection are wetlands and to leave stretches of the coast undeveloped.

“Ideally we’re going to help people move away from the flood zone and not give them assistance to rebuild exactly as is,” said Joshua Saks, the federation’s legislative director. “But we recognize it’s a very personal decision, it’s a local decision.”

It’s a personal decision for folks like the owners of the private Fairfield Beach Club, which received the biggest loan yet of $1.5 million. “If we really wanted to avoid future damage we’ve got to close the club and move inland two or three miles,” Arthur McCain, a member of the club’s finance committee, told ProPublica.

This isn’t just about private clubs, though — it’s about peoples’ homes and lives. If there’s no immediate incentive and aid to plan ahead for rising seas and storm surges, to move inland, then what else can we expect people to do?

Source

After Sandy, Government Lends to Rebuild in Flood Zones, ProPublica

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Superstorm Sandy aid dollars go to rebuilding in flood-prone areas

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Organic tomatoes are healthier for you, researchers find

by donnajansen Posted on February 25, 2013

Organic tomatoes are healthier for you, researchers find

By Susie Cagle

They may be smaller but they’re also mightier. Organic tomatoes pack in more cancer-fighting phenols and vitamin C than conventionally grown tomatoes, according to research published in the journal PLOS One. But the organic tomatoes do tend to be about 40 percent tinier, so make sure your next tomato fight features the conventional kind.

waltarrrrr

From Mother Jones:

The authors hypothesize that the additional stress experienced by organic plants — having to fend off pests, scrounge harder for nutrients like nitrogen in soil, etc. — “resulted in oxidative stress and the accumulation of higher concentrations of soluble solids as sugars and other compounds contributing to fruit nutritional quality such as vitamin C and phenolic compounds.” In other words, when the plants suffer a bit, they generate more of these vital nutrients. And the same could be true for other phenol-rich fruits and vegetables.

If you’re excited about this news, that’s great! But don’t get too excited. Tomato season is summer and early fall, so even though our globalized industrial food system brings organic tomatoes to stores year-round, they won’t taste really good until several months from now, when they’re also more likely to be locally grown.

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USDA says crops will do better but food prices will do worse

by oks23po Posted on February 22, 2013

USDA says crops will do better but food prices will do worse

By Susie Cagle

It’s more cold comfort for drought-stricken farmers this week, and I don’t mean the snow.

USDA chief economist Joe Glauber was all sunshine this Thursday in announcing that normal spring weather is expected to improve corn and soybean yields by huge percentages over last year’s tiny drought-stricken crops. Bigger yields mean tinier prices — Glauber said corn would be down about a third from last year, soy would drop more than a quarter, and wheat would be down about 11 percent.

From the South Dakota Argus Leader:

The recovery should send prices for most oilseeds and grains sharply lower, providing a much-needed reprieve for livestock, dairy and poultry producers struggling with high feed costs, and relief down the road for consumers who have paid more for food at their local grocery store. …

“The critical factor that people will be following is weather,” Glauber said at the department’s annual outlook forum. “While the outlook for 2013 remains bright, there are many uncertainties.”

Way to bury the lede, Glauber. No matter how many times Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says “American agriculture is quite resilient,” there still remains the fact that American agriculture is also in crisis, and forecasters are expecting more hot and dry weather this year.

And even though industrial prices are dropping, the savings won’t trickle down to consumers for at least quite some time — the USDA anticipates food prices will rise this year between 3 and 4 percent.

Richard Volpe, an economist with USDA’s Economic Research Service, said the evidence of last year’s drought is just now starting to really have an effect on consumer prices at the retail level, resulting in higher costs for everything from meat to corn syrup.

Dammit, if it were only meat and corn syrup and not also everything in between…

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USDA says crops will do better but food prices will do worse

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Farmers markets stand to benefit the poor the most

by Unacoomt Posted on February 21, 2013

Farmers markets stand to benefit the poor the most

By Susie Cagle

Farmers markets sometimes get a bad rap for catering to the moneyed set, as though only the well-to-do like to buy their produce in a pleasant, social, outdoor environment, direct from the source.

It turns out that’s all a bunch of compost. Low-income shoppers are actually the real farmers-market power users, buying bigger shares of their groceries at the markets than at other stores compared to middle- and high-income shoppers, according to a new report from the Project for Public Spaces.

The report looked at eight markets across the country in low-income neighborhoods with otherwise broad differences in demographic makeup. “[A]lmost 60% of farmers market shoppers in low-income neighborhoods believed their market had better prices than the grocery store,” the report states.

The main barrier to low-income shoppers patronizing farmers markets? Just basic information. Researchers found that shoppers often didn’t use their food-stamp benefits even though markets accept them, and shoppers didn’t know where markets were or when they were open.

If farmers markets embrace their low-income shoppers and just let them know what’s up, everyone could win.

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Dodge made ‘God made a farmer’ Super Bowl ad, and I made an angry face

by MayeskiLatouf679 Posted on February 4, 2013

Dodge made ‘God made a farmer’ Super Bowl ad, and I made an angry face

By Susie Cagle

Farmers: We like them! So does Dodge, I guess, because there’s not any other clear reason why the American car company would make this ad except to try to associate itself with a trade close to America’s scrappy — and white male — identity.

From Dodge’s portrayal, you’d hardly know that almost a third of farm operators are women, and the population of farm owners of color is growing by full percentage points each year. You’d also hardly know who does most of the work on most of those farms.

American farm worker conditions are likened to “modern slavery,” where a precarious force of 50 to 80 percent undocumented workers picks the vast majority of our produce by hand, earning, on average, about $10,000 each year, though the majority of these workers are also parents supporting children. The numbers vary from state to state, but a large proportion of that workforce that spends each day picking food has to pay for their own sustenance with food stamps. The cheapest Dodge Ram pickup costs more than two years of their salary.

“To the farmer in all of us,” Dodge proclaims at the end of the ad. The farmer in me doesn’t really want a pickup truck, though — she’d much rather pay those field workers 40 percent more, passing along most of the cost to massive corporate distributors such that the average person would only pay $5 more each year for the tiniest (tiniest!) bit of labor ethics and human decency with their supper.

But you know, that’s just my farmer. What does yours think?

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A be-nice, don’t-hog-the-road guide for cyclists

by Larissaiyb Posted on January 22, 2013

A be-nice, don’t-hog-the-road guide for cyclists

By Susie Cagle

Pro tip: Here is how not to ride your bike in a city unless you want people to think you are a total dick.

To that end, Transportation Alternatives has a new Street Code for Cyclists handbook. It’s specific to New York City’s rules of the road, but a lot of what’s in here is basic common sense for bicycling commuters.

Sarah Becan

The No. 1 message: Biking may in fact rule, but pedestrians are the real road royalty.

We know — and studies show — that more bicyclists make cycling safer and safer cycling will encourage more people to get out and ride. This is a virtuous cycle that we can work together to continue. In this effort the public’s perception of cyclists matters as much as, if not more than, any new bike lane or scores of new riders. …

Here’s a simple proposition: always yield to pedestrians. …

Cyclists often know, in painful detail, the fear and havoc that automobiles can bring to NYC streets. Let’s not pose a similar threat to pedestrians in the walking capital of the world. Instead, let’s seize this opportunity to usher in a new era of safer, saner travel.

Some of this is common sense. Encouraging not just lawful but courteous behavior toward everyone who shares the road is a great ideal, and studies have indeed shown that making cycling safer is what encourages people to choose two wheels over four.

More than 50,000 cyclists are injured on the road each year — almost as high as the number of pedestrians injured, though more pedestrian accidents prove fatal. Rarely are any of those injuries caused by bike-on-ped accidents (though it does sometimes happen, and can be fatal). But both drivers and walkers complain about out-of-control, law-flouting bike-riders from sea to shining sea. It’s a common argument against adding cycling lanes to roads: Won’t those just attract more bike-riding hoodlums who already think they can take the lane??

It’s important that the public perceive cycling as nothing like that Premium Rush movie if we want to make more people comfortable on the roads and break down barriers between four-wheel, two-wheel, and no-wheel groups.

But why does the onus for safety so often fall on cyclists? They’re not the ones routinely maiming and killing people with speeding, two-ton hunks of metal. Maybe a friendly Driving Rules handbook is in order — “rules” as in “guidelines,” not “is awesome.”

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The apocalypse is here: FDA clears way for fast-growing GM monster salmon

by Myrna Posted on December 21, 2012

The apocalypse is here: FDA clears way for fast-growing GM monster salmon

By Susie Cagle

The Food and Drug Administration has a special present for you this holiday season: genetically modified salmon that have been developed to grow at twice the usual salmon speed. What, you didn’t put that on your list? Well, surprise!

rogergolub

Run, little salmon, the monsters are coming!

USA Today reports:

The Food and Drug Administration on Friday released its environmental assessment of the AquaAdvantage salmon, a faster-growing fish which has been subject to a contentious, yearslong debate at the agency. The document concludes that the fish “will not have any significant impacts on the quality of the human environment of the United States.” Regulators also said that the fish is unlikely to harm populations of natural salmon, a key concern for environmental activists.

The FDA will take comments from the public on its report for 60 days before making it final …

Experts view the release of the environmental report as the final step before approval.

The fish was first invented (invented!) in the ’90s but has been swimming around in regulatory limbo for the last two years, with some skeptical it would ever see a dinner plate. From Slate:

[W]ithin days of the expected public release of the [environmental assessment] this spring, the application was frozen. The delay, sources within the government say, came after meetings with the White House, which was debating the political implications of approving the GM salmon, a move likely to infuriate a portion of its base …

When asked about the holdup, FDA spokeswoman Siobhan DeLancey said, “I recommend you talk to the [Office of Management and Budget] or the White House. That’s all I’m willing to say.”

AquaBounty, the company that developed and essentially owns the monster salmon, says there’s little to no risk of fish escaping their growth pens and mating with wild salmon. Food Consumer did its own math:

Ninety-five to 99 percent of AAS [AquAdvantage salmon] are sterile, said AquaBounty at FDA hearings in 2010, so they are unlikely to breed and threaten wild salmon stocks if they escape. (If they did breed, though, it could be Jurassic Park-like since AAS eat five times more food than wild salmon and have less fear of predators, according to background materials.) Nor is 1 to 5 percent a small amount considering the 15 million eggs AquaBounty plans to grow: that could amount to 750,000 fertile fish.

Besides their massive food consumption and lack of fear (!), the FDA’s report found that the AquAdvantage salmon had a high level of infection and “jaw erosion.” There’s also a disturbingly detailed protocol for how to dispose of a whole lot of dead fish in deep “burial pits” that would be covered with plastic. Hungry yet?

With frankenfish now set to be mingling with wild and farmed varieties at the market, the next question is: How will we know? Not that they’d be required to label the stuff, but I hope AquaBounty is so pleased with its frankenfish market dominance that it’ll plaster its name all over these monster salmon meats …

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The apocalypse is here: FDA clears way for fast-growing GM monster salmon

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