Active Ingredient in Roundup Weedkiller Causes Cancer

Revealed: the glyphosate research the GM soy lobby doesn't want you to read

Changes need to be made. Chemical applications containing glyphosate (the active ingredient in Roundup weedkiller) should be banned, period. Tell all of your friends to stop using any products containing glyphosate as they have been found to cause miscarriages, birth defects and childhood cancer.

A Fighting Chance..

Food security is critical for the survival of mankind, yet we've all but acknowledged its immeasurable importance until now. Ask anyone on the street if they know what it means and they probably won't have a clue what you're banging on about. Since my last post, cities around the globe have already witnessed riots due to rising costs and food shortages.

I don't normally write about articles (Foreign Policy - The Great Food Crisis of 2011) that I come across on the web but I believe that education leads to change and that this is so absolutely fundamental to human life that we simply cannot ignore the facets of contention any longer. It's more important now than ever, that we take personal responsibility for the resources that we use and do what we can to minimise our 'footprint', so to speak.

Although the future might seem bleak and overwhelming, we can help ourselves and those in poverty to offset the rising cost of food by growing our own vegies instead of fussing needlessly over perfectly manicured (not to mention useless and superficial) front lawns.

Ps. check out Garden Girl TV for inspired gardening ideas and how-to videos.

Resolute Thoughts In Motion

With Russia up in flames, and Pakistan and our very own Queensland under water; extensive losses of crops and livestock have propelled world food prices to a new high to a level not seen since the United Nations began compiling a monthly index in 1990. It is feared that rising food costs will spark new riots, mirroring those around the world that caused the death of 44 people in 2008.

With the current floods in Queensland, sugar cane growers are warning that production will be affected for the next three years. Australia is the fourth-largest exporter of wheat and the largest exporter of cooking coal. Both losses are expected to increase costs worldwide.

While people in less fortunate situations face serious hardships and food shortages ahead, the majority of us probably won't notice anything other than the inflated price of bananas, pineapples, sugar and meat.  For my fellow food lovers it may not seem like much of an affliction, but in a world where peak oil looms closely up ahead, supply and demand of fresh food are wildly disproportionate and millions of people starve each day, I'm challenging myself to make 2011 a year of good deeds and I challenge you to do the same.

This year I'm going to:

· Ride my bike more often to stay fit and reduce my carbon emissions

· Grow more food to become less reliant on supermarkets that frankly do not stock the best produce, and why pay $2 for a bunch of herbs that has been sitting on the shelf for a week when a packet of seeds costs the same amount and can provide for a lifetime!

· Buy direct from the source where possible, so all profits go straight to the farmer/grower/producer and as they say: "FRESH IS BEST!" 

· Recycle as much as possible - I save glass jars at work to use for my homemade preserves and at home I turn old newspapers into seedling pots that can be planted straight into the ground as is, eliminating transplant shock

· Compost as much as possible to prevent biodegradable products like paper and food from ending up in landfill where they produce methane and leachate

· Plan my meals to reduce waste and save money

· Use food waste to grow food via composting, food scraps decompose and return nutrients to the soil to fuel more growth

· Learn about permaculture and organic gardening methods without the use of harmful chemicals like Roundup

· Learn about beekeeping to prepare us for a future hive that will increase fruit and vegetable pollination within a 5km radius and hopefully provide our household and friends with delicious local honey!