Deepak Chopra LIVE on GM Alfalfa

The Center for Food Safety sits down with Deepak Chopra to discuss the dangers and the reality of today's genetically modified food situation.

Here is the recorded event found on the Center for Food Safety's website.

Below is the original embedded livestream from deepakhomebase. Deepak Chopra has a number of events running on his livestream, so if you are interested in seeing what it's up to right now, then check it out!

Watch live streaming video from deepakhomebase at livestream.com

A Take Action Soundtrack

Ready to dance your way to taking action?

Ready to sing a new anthem for the good of your food and planet?

Here are two incredibly creative groups presenting some must-hear messages using their talents and digital video to spread the word far and wide.

Watch these videos, sing along, share them with friends and family and listen to their messages!

ENJOY!

An Ode to Monsanto



Plastic State of Mind


Check out the following organizations if you are ready to start taking action now:

• Food & Water Watch
• The Center for Food Safety
• Food Democracy Now
• Millions Against Monsanto

A Day of Action

The Rally for the Right to Know
 

For those of you that follow Searching for Sustenance's Facebook Page, you know that today was the Rally for the Right to Know all over the US. While the event in Washington DC is still going on (it is running from 11am to 3pm), the New York City rally at City Hall had a shorter event time from 12pm to 1pm.

I am ashamed to say, I missed it. I had to rely on mass transit since my husband was working, and when I realized it was nearly 11:30am and I was still standing on a bus stop in Staten Island with no signs of my stupid bus that would then take about an hour to get me where I was going, I admitted defeat. I now have a $20 MetroCard burning a hole in my pocket and a raging headache from spending my time reading about homesteading and composting in the Barnes & Noble next to the bus stop (I am NOT supposed to read regular books because this is, inevitably, what happens!). I am looking forward to hearing, seeing and reading about what went on at City Hall and all around the US. I do hope there were large turnouts everywhere.

Here are some things you can do about GMOs and Monsanto so you can still be a part of this action:

• Join the Virtual Rally for the Right to Know How awesome is this? If you can't be there that doesn't mean your voice shouldn't be heard! 
• Tell the Department of Justice to Break Up Monsanto Remember trust-busting? Well, we NEED it in our agriculture industry NOW!
• Download and Print Some Right to Know Materials to Share with Friends and Family Tewo informative leaflets, one entitled "What you can do to avoid GMOs" and the other called "10 things Monsanto does not want you to know."

Earth Hour Beckons...

After I complete my virtual actions, I am going to redirect my disappointment in myself into some productive energy trying to figure out what to do tonight for Earth Hour 2011. I have always loved the idea of Earth Hour and have long thought it would be something to do once a month, instead of just once a year, however, like everything else in my muddled mind, it often gets forgotten until the Earth Hour season springs up again.

This year, however, the Earth Hour cause seems even more relevant to me not only on a compassionate note, but now on a financial one as well. The amount of electricity being used in my home, month for month has been greater this year than it was last year. I have been checking my bills closely and noting it. Sadly, this falls on one pair of shoulders: mine. The only difference between this year and last year is the fact that I am now home from work on medical leave.

I had an electrical epiphany when I took my ASAP Pledge for the Baglady in week one of the Hummingbird Project - I was not turning off my computer EVER. Beyond that, the television is on more during the day, I think I have more "wall warts" than ever and, of course, I put lights on from time to time!

Here are some of the things I am thinking about doing in preparation for Earth Hour, during Earth Hour, and beyond:

• Make a power-outage list. It seems the only time I ever truly realize how much I use electricity is when I lose it! To sit down and really think about what can and can't be used in the event of a power-outage will give me a good place to start to think about what changes I can make.
• Assess the list. Are there anythings I can be doing differently? Do I have things plugged in 24/7, that I only use once in a while ("wall warts")? Am I making the best use of the natural light in my home?
• Pull out the candles and matches. Put them all in one place. Growing up we always had one spot for all of these things (the power in this neighborhood used to go out like crazy in the summer), now, I am not really sure where they are!
• Play more board games. My husband and I love to do this, but always forget because we have all of "our shows" to watch - isn't that sad? Well, enough is enough!
• Get the leashes and flashlights out - let's take the dogs on a nighttime adventure! They would seriously love this and who knows if we will run into a opossum!
• Get a blanket (and, in this weather, unfortunately, I would still need a coat!) and drive down to the beach/park/ferry. We have an amazing view of the Verrazano Bridge from our beach and the night sky is so clear down there as well. In fact, there are a number of fantastic places to go on this island to go check out some amazing views. The view of Manhattan from the ferry is unbelievable.
• Convince my husband to read aloud to me by candlelight.  I think he might do this, and it is so much fun!!
• Check out the Earth Hour website for more ideas! I noticed that the official site has a link to find your local Earth Hour website, so that seems pretty cool!

Questions for you:
ABOUT THE RALLY
Did YOU get out to one of the rallies today? If so, how WAS IT?
What are your feelings about genetically modified foods? Do you think they should be labeled?
ABOUT EARTH HOUR
What are your plans for Earth Hour?
What is the one thing you would miss most if you had to live without electricity?

Why Boycott Land O'Lakes?

Image from the FarmWars blog

Get out your grocery lists.

Grab a pen or pencil.

You have to cross off some stuff on your list and you have to do it NOW.

You must stop buying any products from Land O'Lakes.

OK, I know you're thinking that I've completely lost my mind and you don't want to take any rash action based on my word alone, so let me tell you why this is something that YOU will WANT to do yourself. Here is some information I just read both on the FarmWars blog and Foodmans Blogging for the Future:

"To produce its Round-Up Ready Alfalfa seeds, Monsanto partnered with a company called Forage Genetics International, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Land O’Lakes dairy co-op. That’s right, Land O’Lakes stands to make a fortune from polluting our food supply with untested and unlabeled GMOs."

So there has been a call to action, an action that may actually make some waves in this economy in a way that our protests, petitions, and letters to Washington have failed to accomplish - a boycott of the purchase of Land O'Lakes products. And so that the impact of the action is not mistakenly blamed on our suffering economy or some other financial issue, it is also recommended that we just come right out and tell Land O'Lakes what we are doing!

"Send Land O’Lakes and other companies a clear message:  HAY you — We’re FED UP with GMOs in our food supply!
And to make sure Land O’Lakes knows why its sales are down, contact its president and CEO Chris Policinski and let him know you won’t be buying Land O’Lakes products anymore because you don’t want genetically engineered food or animal feed:
Chris Policinski
President and CEO
Land O’Lakes
4001 Lexington Avenue
Arden Hills, MN 55126-2998
651/481-2222"

In addition, some fired up foodies have decided to share their feelings on the Land O'Lakes Facebook page. Not a bad idea if you ask me since that message will not only be read by Land O'Lakes people, but also customers who may not know about the partnership with Monsanto.

Do you still have that grocery list? Have you crossed them off yet? In the end, it is up to you, of course. However, if you believe in this cause and decide to boycott Land O'Lakes (as I will be doing - I just informed the husband before this writing), then please be sure to share your feelings with others you care about.

For some further information on GMOs:

• Check out the posts about Dr. Oz's Show on the GMO Debate
• Frankenfood: It's Alive! article from New Hyde Park Patch
• The True Food Network
• Mark Bittman's GMO Poll Results (and more) from the NYTimes

Are you ready to answer a call to action in the month of March? 

Check out Where Are All My Hummingbirds? A Call To Action to see what challenge the Searching for Sustenance blog has planned!

Friday's Food Finds

All week I am all over the Internet blogging about food, commenting about food, reading about food and finding tons and tons of stuff! I simply can NOT dedicate a single post to each individual find, so here's what I am going to do: I am going to give you a CliffNotes version of some foodie finds that I think you might all be interested in, so you have stuff to read and tinker with over the weekend! Here it goes:

Food Web Sites and Tools

• the epicentre The first thing that caught my eye on this site ia their encyclopedia of spices, however, it does not end there. They also have some interesting cooking videos, tips with recipes, an ingredients section that discusses each chosen ingredient at length and then includes recipes as well and other categories for the cooking curious. While the recipe index may not be as extensive as some other sites on the Internet, those topics this site does choose to address are done so completely.
• Open Source Food I am beginning to think I have a thing for food photography. This site is exactly what it claims to be open source food. Free to join, open to everyone with the goal of "Amazing Recipes. Delicious Food. Beautiful Photography. Created and rated by you and fellow food-lovers from all over the world. Open Source Food is your gastronomic hub where every visit will bring inspiration and a rumbling belly..."

Food Reads

• Frankenfood:It's Alive! This is a great article from a local Long Island publication. What I love about it is how Marisa Musto teaches us to find out if our food is GMO by READING SOME LABELS!! Yay!! Thanks Marisa!! You should also check out Marisa's blog Cook's Book for a more personal take on her experience of going to The New Generation of Food lecture as well as some sweet-looking recipes!
• The Organic Egg Scorecard We learned that eggs are a bit healthier for us than we first imagined, now the question is - who do we buy them from? This is a fabulous rating system put together by the Cornicopia Institute this past Fall that really looked into how the chickens are raised, fed and treated while they are laying our yummy breakfast treats.
• Farm Bill Issues; Budget Issues; and Rural Data I have been saying it for months - the Farm Bill discussion is important and it is coming - well here is a bit of how it went down this Thursday. Washington officials will be on break next week for President's week, so that gives you time to read this through, mull it over and think about what you might want to tell you rlocal representatives.

Good Food (Recipes)

•  Kale, Spinach and Pear Smoothie This recipe was shared in my comments section by Kim of Incandescent Blue Flame in answer to my plea for produce help. Now I am pretty certain I will end up directly in the dog house if I use our spinach (my husband's favorite) to make a smoothie, however, this is definitely on my list of must-trys. First of all, it is like Yoda-green and the geek in me is screaming that drinking this will ensure that the force is strong with this one (wow... sorry. Did I über-geek you without warning? It has been a rough day. My defenses are down). Secondly, it has PEAR in it and PEAR is deliciously awesome and makes everything so much better.
• Favorite Family Recipe: Eggs Why not go crazy? Eggs are awesome, we can eat them again and with the scorecard above we know which brand to buy to soothe our conscience, so let us eat eggs. This is a listing of all of the egg recipes on the Family Favorite Recipe website. They all look egg-cellent (Oh boy... perhaps I shouldn't be allowed near a keyboard on days like these!).

Food FiGHTS

• Millions Against Monsanto I added this link to the Changing the Way We Eat post, but I could understand, if, with everything else that was in that post you were simply too overwhelmed to take any action at the time. If that was the case, do so now. Join the group to make a difference.
• Food Democracy NOW Is another group from Monday's post, that I simply want to reiterate today. If you have not already joined, do so today. If you have joined, then just hop back on the site to see what the most current action to take may be.

Do you have a food website, tool, food read, recipe or food fight you think I should check out and share with the readers of Searching for Sustenance? If so e-mail me at BlogWithNV@gmail.com!

Dr. Oz and the GMO Debate Part 2

After Dr. Oz introduced GM (genetically modified) foods to the audience, as well as some of his concerns about them in Part 1 of this segment of show, he introduced the three expert panelists invited to speak on the topic of genetically modified foods.

•  Jeffrey Smith, author of two books on the subject of GM foods,
• Dr. Michael Hansen, who works for Consumer Reports and has studied GM foods, and
• Dr. Pamela Ronald, a Plant Pathologist and author of the book and blog of the same name: Tomorrow's Table

Dr. Oz also mentioned that he extended an invitation to someone in the Monsanto company, but they declined, providing a statement, of which he shared this bit:

image from The Dr. Oz Show episode originally aired on 12/7/2010

 Part 2 of Dr. Oz's GMO Segment - The Debate begins
Genetically Modified Foods, Pt. 2 (this video clip is 5 minutes and 29 seconds long)

As Dr. Oz began to engage each of the panelists in their viewpoints of the place GMO foods have in our world and in our diets, he paused to give voice to the major questions raised by the proponents and opponents of this technique of food/crop development. I think it is very important to take note of them, here, again:

image from The Dr. Oz Show episode originally aired on 12/7/2010.

What struck me as this graphic hit the screen was the question marks. So often, being exposed to extremist views in a topic of debate, it is easy to forget that they actually belong there. Are these benefits? Are they always true? Are none of these things possible with non-GMO food? Why does it provide a cheaper food supply? How do they improve the lives of farmers?
More questions rose the more I let these settle...

image from The Dr. Oz Show episode originally aired 12/7/2010

And then the opponents' questions hit the screen. Where is the evidence of each of these harmful effects? I have heard them all before, it is one of the reasons I avoid GMO whenever possible, but when I heard about them, there were no question marks. I began to wonder, what is the flip side to this story, sure Monsanto did not show, but what does Dr. Pamela Ronald have to say? I would like to hear both sides to the story and then make my decision.

I had really high hopes for this episode when I first heard about the panel of GMO experts - for once, I thought, I'll be hearing both sides of the story, even if it is on a short segment of a show! However, I was disappointed by the seemingly one-sided nature of the show (even if it did lean in my direction). Jeffrey Smith spoke of all of the things that he learned through his research for his books (he worked with doctors and scientists, he is not one himself). His claimed that evidence was found to for all of the maledictions in the graphic above, he actually said at one point that all doctors should, "prescribe a non-GMO diet to all of their patients." When he was done, Dr. Oz asked Dr. Ronald to chime in. She claimed that all of Mr. Smith's evidence has been refuted and listed a number of websites (bioforitifed,org, ucbiotech.org and academicsreview.org) to go to in order to see those studies. I thought to myself, "Here we go. This is going to be good," and then Dr. Oz cut her off! I was shocked. He said people don't want to hear about websites, "...they think either you're full of it, or Jeffrey's full of it." That's true.

Her response was spot on, she said, "...Science does not make policy, but we need to make policy based on the best science..."and then got in one more dig that Mr. Smith is not a scientist.

The question in this debate: WHAT IS THE BEST SCIENCE?

I agree with Dr. Ronald. I understand the suspicion of Jeffrey Smith's results, but what about Dr. Hansen?

This debate continues in Part 3 of Dr. Oz's Show on Genetically Modified foods...

Books written by people on the show:

 

Avoiding GMOs - There's a Guide!!

I don't know how I missed this before in all of my web-trolling about food, but, today, while researching phytoremediation research (the study of plants fighting toxins and bad things in the air, the soil and, basically anywhere in the environment - yes, yes - I am home SICK AGAIN!) I, somehow, fell upon The Center for Food Safety which is simply amazing! On the home page of the site is

• the latest news in the food safety fight, as well as 
• a link for you to join the "True Food Network" in order to stay connected with their doings - I, of course, signed up!

Along the top of the page are a number of tabs (all of which I have not yet explored), one of which I simply could not ignore: "Non-GMO's Shoppers' Guide". Here is a snippet of their description of the guide:

After a long wait, we are pleased to announce the arrival of our updated, portable pocket shoppers’ guide to help you find and avoid GE ingredients wherever you shop. Our guide gives you valuable information on common GE ingredients, brands to look for, and look out for, and common sense tips to keep you in the know.

[UPDATE (3/30/2011): There's an APP for that now! The guide has bee made into a mobile phone application for iPhone and Android phnes as well.]

The guide is well-organized and has a "Non-GMO" and a "May Contain GMO" listing for each category. It also has, at the end of the guide, a list of "Invisible GM Ingredients" - those ingredients that may have been created using some GM product. All-in-all, I think this is a handy reference for anyone that is concerned about genetically modified food (as I am!!!), but should, as it all should be, be taken with a grain of salt. The sad, true fact is that the GMOs are out there growing and, as all of us who saw (or read) Jurassic Park know, "Life finds a way." I say this in response to the sobering "special note" found at the end of the guide:

SPECIAL NOTE: This guide was compiled based on company statements, not genetic testing. Any product labeled as Non- GMO indicates that it’s manufacturing process is designed to avoid GMOs, but consumers should be aware that GM contamination is possible due to natural pollen movement, weather events, seed contamination, or human error. Hence there is no guarantee such products are 100% free of GMOs.

...and so I am left wondering: are there or will there ever be any products free of GMOs? Terrifying thought.