Culture and Coexistence into the Great Unknown
Imagine a future in which airliners run on cornstalks and Navy ships ply the oceans on tanks of switchgrass. That day may be in sight but challenges remain to scale up production, reduce costs and political opposition, and ensure a sustainably produced feedstock.
Corporate seed monopolies reduce ecosystem health, impoverish farmers, and cheat consumers health and nutrition, writes biodiversity campaigner Vandana Shiva. Canadian farmer Percy Schmeiser found out the extent that Monsanto would go to maintain their monopoly in the anti-GMO documentary “David Versus Monsanto.”
Solazyme is a renewable oil and bioproducts company that transforms algae into high-value oils, and hopes one day to produce enough to rival gasoline and diesel. Their road to the market has been circuitous but instructive as a workable business model for renewable energy.
Millions of activists in 52 countries around the world Marched Against Monsanto, the biotechnology giant of genetically engineered agriculture. They claim GMOs will safely feed the world, but a growing body of scientific evidence shows it is dangerous to human health and the environment, and will not increase productivity.
Millions of activists in 52 countries around the world Marched Against Monsanto, the biotechnology giant of genetically engineered agriculture now owned by Bayer. They claim GMOs will safely feed the world, but a growing body of scientific evidence shows it is dangerous to human health and the environment, and will not increase productivity.
Historically, farmers have stored, traded and shared choice seed from one season to the next. According to Dr. Vandana Shiva, this practice ended with the introduction of patented genetically engineered seeds. Saving seeds now exposes the farmer to costly fines and lawsuits for patent infringement and has resulted in many farmer suicides.
ArborGen, has applied to commercially sell hundreds of millions of freeze tolerant genetically engineered eucalyptus trees annually for vast plantations across Texas, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and South Carolina.