[caption id="attachment_30630" align="alignright" width="150"] Bacteria can cause human and animal diseases. However, some bacteria are not harmful at all and are responsible for the production of antibiotics. Still others live symbiotically in the gut of animals (including humans).[/caption] This week has been a time to start...
Thirteen years after AquaBounty first applied for approval of its genetically engineered (GE) AquAdvantage salmon, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is poised to finalize its environmental assessment (EA) with a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) and approve the application. Friday was...
[caption id="attachment_29677" align="alignright" width="300"] This is about "Babe." Ag-Gag laws hide this abuse[/caption] Piglets flung into the air. Calves repeatedly given electric shocks. Dead chickens left to rot in cages next to living ones. Abuses like this should certainly concern lawmakers, both because these practices are...
[caption id="attachment_28788" align="alignright" width="300"] Lettuces, credit http://yearroundharvest.com/tag/organic-gardening/[/caption] In Telluride, it’s still snowy (hurrah!), but here in Washington, DC, it’s starting to feel like spring. The witch hazel is flowering, with its invigorating, refreshing smell, and crocuses and daffodils are starting to brighten the ground with brilliant...
This month, responding to campus activists who have been working on the issue for over a year, Vanderbilt University divested from “land grabbing,” withdrawing a $26 million investment in EMVest, a company that has been buying agricultural properties in Africa and converting them into large-scale...
[caption id="attachment_27653" align="alignright" width="300"] Breathing Bike,©Cool Sparks[/caption] Pollution is a problem. Water pollution can also cause problems in the ocean, like the dead zones I discussed in an earlier post (https://www.tellurideinside.com/2012/06/earth-matters-dead-zones-in-our-waters.html). In addition, I have written about the problem of marine debris and steps we can take...
[caption id="attachment_27069" align="alignright" width="300"] John Kerry, by Creative Commons' Mark Mathosian, 2012John Kerry, by Creative Commons' Mark Mathosian, 2012[/caption] A new Presidential term always starts with some changes, but there are several in store for President Obama’s second term that could make a big difference for...
[caption id="attachment_26746" align="alignright" width="300"] Soybeans, Infinite Unknown[/caption] At lunch, A friend asked “What’s going to happen with GMOs?” I didn’t have an answer, but I did come up with some issues to watch. I’ll go into some of these in more detail in an upcoming blog,...
[caption id="attachment_26567" align="alignright" width="214"] Happy New Year!, American Littoral Society[/caption] For this coming year, I have several fishes – I mean wishes – for the ocean. Here are a few: • Less plastic Plastic is one of the most persistent pollutants in the ocean, and one that can...
[caption id="attachment_26171" align="alignleft" width="150"] Staghorn coral[/caption] Star. Pillar. Elkhorn. Staghorn. Mountainous star. Pocillopora elegans. Pachyseris rugosa. Astreopora cucullata. Barabattoia laddi. Those are just nine of the 66 species of coral proposed for endangered listing under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). On Friday, November 30, after more than three...
