Organic produce

Article on organic produce: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37156010/ns/health-kids_and_parenting/

"Exposure to pesticides used on common kid-friendly foods — including frozen blueberries, fresh strawberries and celery — appears to boost the chances that children will be diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, new research shows."

Large corporate farming interests have been saying for years that pesticides (chemicals designed to exterminate living creatures) do not pose harm to humans. This might be true for adult humans, although I would argue that there has been insufficient study of a lifetime exposure to these chemicals, but it is most certainly not true for babies and children, for whom even a little extra Tylenol for a few days could prove lethal.

Even people who are on a limited income can choose not to pay for certain luxuries so that their children are not being systematically poisoned by large corporate food interests.

The Circle of Life

My title, which is in reference to a rather exciting and rousing Disney anthem - if you're six - is about how every animal on the African savanna (incidentally, most of which are in grave danger of extinction by 2050) depends on each other for survival. In this case, I am using it to refer to the fact that everything we do as humans has a reaction somewhere else, and usually the ones to suffer are animals who are doing no harm to anyone.

This picture is of a common pond frog from Wisconsin, according to Yahoo!, which has been infected by parasitic worms as a tadpole and now has two extra deformed hind legs. Why, might you ask, is this frog saddled with two useless legs, which will certainly make it more vulnerable to predators? The answer is an increase in nitrogen and other chemicals found in fertilizer that leach their way into ponds and waterways from farmland, and in a fairly complex chain reaction, cause deformed frogs.
I have been asked before what the difference between organically produced and conventionally produced food is before. The area I live in is quite conservative, mostly due to the high numbers of military personnel stationed here at various bases, and for some reason, a lot of conservatives in this area think that the label 'organic' is a liberal Seattle trick to get them to pay more for produce. The difference is that organic produce uses no pesticides or fertilizers. Conventionally grown produce does. I can't tell you how sick it makes me to think that because of our irresponsibility in finding ways to feed ourselves, we're destroying the natural environment in which we live. And honestly - that poor frog ... that's just wrong.