Reclaiming the Community We Always Wanted

I remember my father telling me that when he was growing up, his family—that had emigrated en masse from Hungary—grew a lot of their own food on their small lot on Washington Street in Boonton, New Jersey. They had fruit trees, they had trellises of grapes from which they made their own wine and they grew vegetables and herbs. Some of their neighbors had chickens. They kept pigeons, which apparently were good eating. They also had a root cellar for storing some of their crops for the winter. And it was a big day when the outhouse was replaced by indoor plumbing.

Dad's old homestead courtesy of Google Maps Street View.

My father said that he and his friends once got in trouble because they were caught overturning outhouses on Mischief Night before Halloween. There was no television, so people in the community used to get together for dances and socialize. He said that everyone truly wished the best for everyone else because getting by was so hard. I used to think that all of his tales of life before and during the Depression were all so strange and old-fashioned. Not anymore.

When I was very young, my father, like most people, walked every day to his local job. When the car became the norm, people ceased walking and drove to their jobs and everywhere else. They no longer needed a community. Or so they thought. Now I don’t want to upset anyone with predictions of doom. Things are happening in this country, but gradually, so there is plenty of time to make adjustments if you should choose to do so. Here are a few things you may want to consider.

“This world of ours... must avoid becoming a community of dreadful fear and hate, and be, instead, a proud confederation of mutual trust and respect.”–Dwight D. Eisenhower

Food

If you follow the news, you may have noticed a corn drought in the U.S. Corn is an essential staple in our country because it is used for animal feed. The prices of corn have skyrocketed since there is so little of it, so farmers who would normally grow other crops, such as wheat and soybeans, are switching to corn to make more money, thus causing shortages of other crops. Frankly, I have no use for corn, whether it is for human consumption or fed to the livestock we eat, because most of it in this country is genetically engineered (GMO), but that is another blog altogether [click here to read about that]. The point is, that due to that drought, produce and livestock food prices will be going up.

Energy

I can only remember one or two blackouts all the years I was growing up. It was a rare event. In the past few years, power outages have occurred with disturbing frequency. When the power goes out, so does the heat, hot water, light and cable internet/television/telephone. You can sit in the cold dark and twiddle your thumbs. Last October, when it was 50 degrees, our power was out for a week. Not cold enough to freeze to death, but not all that comfortable either and a lot of our freezer/fridge food went bad.

Jobs

Like so many Americans, my husband and I have jobs where there are no vacation days or holidays. I am a freelance writer and he works as a retail manager for a locally owned business. If we get sick or otherwise can’t work, we don’t get paid. So how do we afford things when our budget gets lean?

Finding Alternative Ways to Live

Our garden features high deer fence, foot-deep groundhog deterrent.

So with food and energy sources being threatened, and jobs being moved overseas, what can the average person do? Well, it’s not easy to find affordable alternatives, but a few of them are out there.

We buy most of our produce from a local organic community-supported farm. To find one in your area, go to https://www.biodynamics.com/csa.html. In exchange for buying a share of the farm in installments, we get whatever the farmer produces that year. So no matter how scarce food may be in the parched Midwest or how high transport costs are for food grown overseas, we have a supply of produce throughout the year from a local source. We also built a critter-proof (we hope) garden in our backyard this year where we will try to grow as much food as we can using non-GMO heritage seeds. We also plan to learn canning although, sorry Grandma, that may have to wait for next year. We can only handle so much transition at a time.

Meet our alternative to expensive oil heat.

“The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.”—Mitch Albom

We cannot afford solar or wind energy. Right now, they are not priced for the average person. We decided, instead, to get a wood-burning stove to provide us with heat when the power inevitably goes out and to lower our insane oil bills. We chose a wood-burning stove over a pellet stove because pellet stoves require electricity to work. We chose cast-iron over steel because most reviews I read by users favored it for radiant heat that was not too overpowering. You can also put a tea kettle on top of it for hot water. I hope we can learn to properly use the damned thing so that our house doesn’t fill up with smoke or burn down. Wish us luck.

I joined a nearby time bank where you can exchange your skills or talents for other people’s services to save money on, say, home repairs or pet sitting or learning how to can food. See timebanks.org for one in your area. Also, we ask our family, friends and neighbors for help when we need it, something we were too proud to do in the past (not sure why). We intend to help them as well if they ask for anything. That's what community is all about.

I used to think that survivalists were crackpots. Not any more. Our government is corrupt and our economy has been hijacked by crooks in the financial industry and by the multinational corporate mafia. People like the Koch brothers (Google them) call the shots in Washington and elsewhere. They are not great humanitarians.

One of my old high school friends who migrated to California posted a manifesto on Facebook with advice (see poster above). It may not be all that far off.

I don’t know what the future holds, but I think if the average person bands together with their family, friends and neighbors—as they did when my father was young—we can definitely learn from each other, survive quite well and rekindle the sense of community that has long been lost from our society. Maybe, in the long run, our world could end up being a better place.

Waiter, There's a Fish in My Tomato!

Produce is organic if labeled with a number that starts with 9.

The other day I was in the health food store picking up a few things when a woman asked me my opinion on something she was buying for her child. I looked at the ingredients and noticed non-organic corn on the list. "That corn is probably GMO," I said. "I wouldn’t buy it."

Then, to my surprise, she asked me what GMOs were. If someone perusing a health food store doesn’t know what GMOs are, then who does? Unlike Europe, where all foods are labeled by law to show if they contain GMOs, that is not required in the U.S. So most people in this country are eating them without knowing it, and have been for years.

So if you don’t understand what genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are, here’s a brief primer on what it’s all about.

What are GMOs?

A genetically modified organism (GMO, also called "genetically engineered") is a plant, animal or microorganism (eg, bacteria) that is created by means that overcome natural boundaries. Genetic engineering involves crossing species that could not cross in nature. For example, genes from a fish have been inserted into strawberries and tomatoes. While the Food and Drug Administration insists that foods produced by genetic engineering are the same as foods from traditional breeding, their own scientists reported that, "the processes of genetic engineering and traditional breeding are different and... they lead to different risks." (Source: Discovery documents from the lawsuit against the FDA, Alliance for Bio-Integrity et al v. Shalala, May 1998. Center for Food Safety, 666 Pennsylvania Ave SE, Washington, DC 202-547-9359.)

How does genetic engineering differ from traditional grafting or breeding?

In traditional breeding, it is possible to mate a pig with another pig to get a new variety, but it is not possible to mate a pig with a potato or a mouse, according to the Institute for Responsible Technology. Even when species that may seem to be closely related do succeed in breeding, the offspring are usually infertile—a horse, for example, can mate with a donkey, but the offspring (a mule) is sterile.

With genetic engineering, scientists can breach species barriers set up by nature. For example, they have spliced fish genes into tomatoes. The results are plants (or animals) with traits that would be virtually impossible to obtain with natural processes, such as crossbreeding or grafting.

What combinations have been tried?

It is now possible for plants to be engineered with genes taken from bacteria, viruses, insects, animals or even humans. The Institute for Responsible Technology reports that scientists have been busy throwing together some creepy combinations. Here are some of the ones they list on their website:

• Spider genes were inserted into goat DNA, in hopes that the goat milk would contain spider web protein for use in bulletproof vests
• Cow genes turned pigskins into cowhides
• Jellyfish genes lit up pigs' noses in the dark (a truly useful application)
• Arctic fish genes gave tomatoes and strawberries tolerance to frost
• Potatoes were developed that glowed in the dark when they needed watering
• Human genes were inserted into corn to produce spermicide (yuck)

Current field trials include:

• Corn engineered with human genes (Dow)
• Sugarcane engineered with human genes (Hawaii Agriculture Research Center)
• Corn engineered with jellyfish genes (Stanford University)
• Tobacco engineered with lettuce genes (University of Hawaii)
• Rice engineered with human genes (Applied Phytologics)
• Corn engineered with hepatitis virus genes (Prodigene)

Just think, some of your descendants could be vegetables! Wait. Will that make us cannibals?

How do scientists interbreed these species?

Nature gave living organisms barriers to protect themselves against the introduction of DNA from a different species, so genetic engineers have to find ways to "force" the DNA from one organism into another. (Think of it as interspecies rape.) These methods include:

• Using viruses or bacteria to "infect" animal or plant cells with the new DNA
• Coating DNA onto tiny metal pellets, and firing it with a special gun into the cells
• Injecting the new DNA into fertilized eggs with a very fine needle
• Using electric shocks to create holes in the membrane covering sperm, and then forcing the new DNA into the sperm through these holes 

Why are companies spending billions on GMOs?

Because they want to own patents on genes that no one else owns so that they can make billions of dollars from them. Isn’t that the American way?

Who is worried about GMOs? 

Well, the Physicians and Scientists for Responsible Application of 
Science and Technology (PSRAST) is one group. Here’s what they say: “Considering that GE organisms are unsafe to eat and that they expose the environment to unpredictable and irreversible risks, they should be banned. It is not justified to take any risk at all in using them as there is no need for them to feed the world and because they perpetuate unsustainable agriculture that is harmful to health and to the environment.”

Okay, so one group of jittery physicians and scientists are whining. Does anyone else in the scientific community have problems with GMOs? Well, yes.

The American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) has called on "Physicians to educate their patients, the medical community, and the public to avoid GM (genetically modified) foods when possible and provide educational materials concerning GM foods and health risks.” 

An AAEM position paper stated, "Several animal studies indicate serious health risks associated with GM food," including infertility, immune problems, accelerated aging, insulin regulation, and changes in major organs and the gastrointestinal system. They conclude, "There is more than a casual association between GM foods and adverse health effects. There is causation," as defined by recognized scientific criteria. "The strength of association and consistency between GM foods and disease is confirmed in several animal studies."  

After reviewing more than 600 scientific journals, world-renowned biologist Pushpa M. Bhargava concluded that GMOs are a major contributor to the sharply deteriorating health of Americans. 

 Biologist David Schubert of the Salk Institute warns that "children are the most likely to be adversely affected by toxins and other dietary problems" related to GMO foods. He says without adequate studies, children become "the experimental animals."  

The AAEM adds, "GM foods have not been properly tested" and "pose a serious health risk." Not a single human clinical trial on GMOs has been published. A 2007 review of published scientific literature on the "potential toxic effects/health risks of GM plants" revealed "that experimental data are very scarce." The author concludes his review by asking, "Where is the scientific evidence showing that GM plants/food are toxicologically safe, as assumed by the biotechnology companies?"  

Famed Canadian geneticist David Suzuki says, "The experiments simply haven't been done and we now have become the guinea pigs." He adds, "Anyone that says, 'Oh, we know that this is perfectly safe,' I say is either unbelievably stupid or deliberately lying." 

AAEM has called for a moratorium on GM foods, long-term independent studies, and labeling. 

What is everyone so upset about?  

Genetically engineered foods often present unintended side effects. GMO plants create toxins, react to weather differently, contain too much or too little nutrients, become diseased or malfunction and die. When foreign genes are inserted, dormant genes may be activated or the functioning of genes altered, creating new or unknown proteins, or increasing or decreasing the output of existing proteins inside the plant. The effects of consuming these new combinations of proteins are unknown. Here are some of the results, according to PSRAST:

• Some crops have been engineered to create their own pesticides that can harm animals who ingest them. At least 1,820 sheep were reported dead after grazing on post-harvest Bt cotton crops in India; the symptoms and post-mortem findings strongly suggest they died from severe toxicity
• Hazardous genes from GMO foods can become inserted into your own genes. Genes (DNA) from the cells of chickens who had eaten only genetically engineered Bt corn contained pieces of DNA from the GMO food. This DNA contained virus genes that are suspected to be carcinogenic or otherwise pathogenic. This means that if you eat GMO foods, virus genes that may be harmful, can end up in your cells
• An unexpected poison appeared in a GMO food supplement. The poison was not discovered because a careful search for unexpected harmful substances was not made. After eating a food supplement produced by genetically engineered bacteria, 37 persons were killed and 1,500 people were permanently disabled in the U.S. in a disease called eosonophil myalgia syndrome (EMS). It was caused by one or more extremely poisonous substances that unexpectedly appeared in this food supplement. A PSRAST analysis, against the background of the new evidence, concluded that it is extremely unlikely that anything other than genetic engineering caused the appearance of the poison
• Unexpected dangerous substances may be present in GMO foods. This is because the procedure for assessing the safety of GMO foods is not designed to detect them. Most of soy and corn products in the U.S. and Canada are GMO and labeling is not required there. Organic products for corn are no longer reliably GMO-free because of GMO pollen traveling on the wind
• Toxins in GMO food crops are reaching the bloodstreams of women and unborn babies. A recent study carried out by independent doctors at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, at the University of Sherbrooke Hospital Centre in Quebec, Canada, found 93 percent of blood samples taken from pregnant women and 80 percent from umbilical cords tested positive for traces of GMO chemicals. There is speculation these chemicals might lead to allergies, miscarriage, abnormalities or cancer, but no one really knows 
• Top researchers confirm that the results of genetic engineering are unpredictable. This is why unexpected harmful substances may appear in GMO food. Gene technology is based on the belief that genes are carriers of single traits. So it was believed that you can transfer traits by transferring single genes. But in June 2007 a worldwide consensus was reached among leading scientists that this is definitely wrong. The effects of every gene is determined by the total situation in the cell. When genes are transferred to a foreign environment, their effects are therefore inevitably unpredictable. Unexpected substances may appear, which may be harmful
• Scientists are being harassed if they tell the truth about GMO hazards. Research on GMO hazards is being suppressed and negative research reports have been destroyed. Scientists who say GMO-foods are safe are often lying out of fear of becoming unemployed and unable to get any new research job. Read about what happened to the people who cared about our health. 

This is just a small sampling of what is out there. To read more, click here. 

How can you avoid GMO foods?

If you live in Europe, just read the food labels. If you live in the U.S., you may want to write to your Senators and Representatives in Congress to demand food labeling here. Some articles I've read say that up to 70 percent of our food contains one or more components of genetically modified organisms.

Organic foods are less likely to contain GMOs.

The fact is that most processed foods use GMO ingredients and most livestock are fed GMO feed. The only way you can reduce your chances of eating GMO food is to eat organic meat and produce. The cheapest source for that is a Community Supported Garden. To find one in your area, click here. To download a non-GMO shopper's guide, click here.

In a world where millions of people are starving and hundreds of millions more are undernourished, it is disturbing that Monsanto, Dow and DuPont are intent on patenting food for profit.* It is equally as troubling that corporations would experiment with the existing food supply in their pursuit of greed. The only thing more distressing is the fact that our government agencies—charged with the job of protecting us—have allowed them to get away with it.  

*Learn more from watching  The World According to Monsanto, a film by French filmmaker Marie-Monique Robin.

To find out more, consider visiting these sites: 

True Food Network

Seeds of Deception

Institute For Responsible Technology

Organic Consumers Association
Greenpeace Canada

Fast Times at the Dinner Table

I grew up in the Sixties when schools were overcrowded with Baby Boomers—the enthusiastic affirmation of life demonstrated by the returning soldiers of World War II. The country had never seen so many children at one time and schools were not always prepared for this influx of eager minds and stomachs.

My school had a cafeteria that could not fit everyone in at lunch unless we were all restricted to shifts of 15-minutes to eat. That included the five minutes it took to stand in line and buy a tiny milk carton.

I remember the first time I sat down to eat the lunch my mother had lovingly made for me. It was first grade and I was about 6 years old. I had taken three or four bites from my turkey-on-white-bread sandwich. Then the bell rang and we had to throw what we had not eaten into the garbage and return to our classrooms. That was a hungry day for me. I soon learned to wolf down a lunch in five minutes. I was a professional food hurdler. Unfortunately, that is a habit that has remained with me for life.

My younger daughter eats veerrrry slooowwwly. She apologizes for it, but I always remind her that eating slowly is actually the way Nature intended for us to ingest our food. It’s healthier.

My younger daughter partakes in the joy of cupcakes.

At mealtime, I am generally finished eating almost before anyone in my family has raised their forks. They watch me in baffled wonderment. How does that 5-foot, 3-inch, 128-pound, middle-aged woman do it?

I have a sense of guilt about how fast I eat. Does it make me uncouth? I consciously try to eat more slowly in the presence of non-family members so they won’t think I was recently released from a prison camp in Azerbaijan.

I also feel bad about my inferior chewing rate. My doctor says one should chew every bite of food 30 times before swallowing. Sorry, alimentary canal, you will just have to man up on that one. I don’t have the patience or life skills for that much mastication.

Ironically, I will not eat in a fast food restaurant. Why? The “food” there is crap and makes me feel lousy. That means that I spend 30 minutes to an hour in the kitchen preparing edible food so that I can scarf it down in record speed. Something does not add up there.

When I was young, my mother tried to persuade me to finish my food by telling me that people in China were starving. So food has always been saturated with angst for me. Let’s consider that for a moment in the context of today’s world.

According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), in 2010, there were 925 million people in this world who went hungry. Most of them were in Asia and Africa, but 19 million of them were in developed countries like the United States. Poverty is the primary cause. The FAO says that the world produces enough food to feed everyone, but more than 10 million children and 3 million adults die of starvation every year anyway. The principal problem is that many people in the world do not have sufficient land to grow, or income to purchase, enough food. With a global population of about 7 billion people, that means that more than 13 out of every 100 people in this world do not have enough food to eat.

Closer to home, more than one in seven U.S. households lacked food security—defined as access to enough food to lead an active, healthy life—at some point in 2009, according to a report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). That figure is the highest since record-keeping began in 1995.

When you think about that, it really doesn't matter how you eat—fast, slow, mannerly, sleeves as napkins, whatever. The important thing is that when your stomach starts growling, you are fortunate enough to have food on your plate.

Food Anxiety

When I was growing up, people opened up cans, heated up the contents and ate the mushy results without complaining. Well, okay, canned asparagus is disgusting, so is succotash, but for some reason I could not get my parents to understand that.

The point is, people ate bad food, did NOT try to understand the importance of diet and did not take supplements. In short, life was simple. You ate, developed a chronic disease and died. No thinking involved. No one tried to lecture you about anything or make you feel guilty about fat, flaccid vegetables or pounds of sugar.

Today, we are told that our vegetables are laced with insecticides, our meats are infiltrated with hormones and antibiotics, and anything with any promise of nutrition has been pasteurized or irradiated to the point where even bacteria turn up their microscopic noses at the prospect of eating it.

And don’t get me started about eggs—they’re bad for you, they’re good for you, they’re bad for you, they’re good for you. Either way, they may harbor salmonella. The only course left is to eat organic and join a commune.

Sadly, even that won’t do. Regardless of what we eat, we are told we need nutritional supplements. First, there are multivitamins. Not enough. We need to add essential fatty acids and calcium/magnesium to protect our hearts, avoid knife-wielding mood swings and keep our bones from dissolving. Still not enough. We need glucosamine (not good for diabetics) so our joints won’t stick like the Wizard of Oz Tin Man after a rain. But wait, our minds are going, so we need Ginko Biloba so we can remember all the supplements we’re supposed to take. And finally, the latest revelation: we lack vitamin D3 because we are all so busy sitting inside working on our computers that none of us get any natural vitamin D3 from sunshine anymore.

Okay, so now we all know what we need to take. No. It is not that simple.

Now the news is that, like our food, our supplements are crap, and we have to buy an extraordinarily expensive brand of supplements because our bodies are not able to absorb nutrients from the reasonably priced brands. The reasonably priced brands also apparently contain up to 90% fillers that may be bad for us.

Having second-mortgaged our homes to afford noncontaminated foods and quality supplements, more information comes our way. The China Study was published. Why we did a study in China—land of lead paint, tainted baby formula and poisoned pet food--I will never know. But it concludes that calcium and maybe even vitamins—except vitamin B12—may not be necessary after all; what we really need is magnesium and a vegan diet.

Magnesium, apparently, among other things, keeps us calm. Good thing. Because the stress of trying to achieve good nutrition amid a poisoned or genetically altered food supply, poorly absorbed supplements and the shifting sands of nutritional advice is enough to make a wary public want to dump its never-ending line of helpful nutritional prophets into a vat of organic fertilizer.