Archived material from historical editions of The Generator
Tyson Foods, the nation’s largest producer of chicken, announced last month that it has begun to produce all of its fresh chicken free of antibiotics and is selling the chicken in grocery stores under a "Raised Without Antibiotics" label. An estimated 70 percent of all antibiotics used in the United States are regularly added to Continue Reading →
Ireland’s new coalition government recently revealed plans to make the island free of genetically engineered (GE) plants and animals. The announcement delighted many Irish farmers and food producers who have been campaigning for years to reach this goal. As a geographically isolated island with very low levels of existing GE contamination, Ireland has the best Continue Reading →
Agro-fuels are being promoted as a green renewable solution to the world’s growing energy needs. Additionally, they are presented as environmentally green, harbingers of rural development and independent of the food system. A new report by Food First, titled Biofuels: Myths of the Agro-fuels transition argues that, in contrast to the above description, agro-fuels are destructive to the environment, cause deforestation, do not propagate rural development and lead to hunger.
“Industrialized countries have unleashed an ‘agro-fuels boom’ by mandating ambitious renewable fuel targets,” writes Eric Holt-Gimenez, director of Food First and author of the report. “These targets far exceed the agricultural capacities of the industrial North. Europe would need to plant 70% of its farmland to fuel. The U.S.’s entire corn and soy harvest would need to be processed as ethanol and bio-diesel. Northern Countries expect the Global South to meet their fuel needs, and southern governments appear eager to oblige.”
A cause for concern, writes Dr. Holt-Gimenez, is the “rapid capitalization and concentration of power within the agro-fuels industry.” Cross industrial partnerships between companies such as ADM and Monsanto; Chevron and Volkswagen, and BP with DuPont are combining the research, processing, production and distribution chains of the food and fuel economy under one umbrella.
The Victorian Government was ignoring the plight of country towns with an arrogant decision to pump water from Lake Eildon to Melbourne, said Wendy Lovell, State Liberal member for Northern Victoria (24/7/2007).
Rural water goes to city folk: "You have to ask yourself how the people of Mansfield feel today, situated right below Lake Eildon when they are facing restrictions for many months. They are told they are not going to be able to access Eildon’s water because the government is going to pipe it to Melbourne. Seventy-five gigalitres of water will flow straight past them to flush Melbourne’s toilets. It hardly seems fair. How do the people of Kilmore and Broadford feel? They have been on level 4 restrictions for many months. They have not had access to water from Eildon or from the Goulburn River. They have had to truck in water, and the Treasurer’s funny straw will just take that water straight past them and deliver it to Melbourne.
The Expert Panel on Health’s report, chaired by Adelaide medical expert lan Falconer, comes after months of community debate on the impact of drinking recycled water, reported The Canberra Times (20/7/2007, p. 1). The environmental impact report, completed by the eWater Cooperative Research Centre’s chief executive, Professor Gary Jones, found that the project was potentially acceptable from an environmental perspective.
Community angst: The report found that the issue had caused considerable angst in the community, with 86 per cent of people who attended public forums around Canberra and Queanbeyan saying they were worried about drinking recycled water. The issue reached a head in April when Planning Minister Simon Corbell accused the Government of not being sufficiently cautious about addressing public health concerns.
After overcoming numerous obstacles in Albany, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s controversial congestion-pricing plan finally appears to be slowly moving forward. Thanks to a last-minute deal between Bloomberg and the leaders of the state Assembly, it is almost certain that New York will receive a $500 million federal grant to fund the equipment and upgrade mass transit in order to begin the program. While New York City has not been given permission to charge tolls to enter Manhattan south of 86th street, the first steps in implementing congestion pricing were authorized by New York state’s famously dysfunctional state government.