I am furious to hear about chemlawn being sprayed on people’s grass. That is trespass! Sounds like a good fight to take on for anyone living in Colorado.

Yes, the fact is the big chemical agencies, particularly Monsanto, have an obvious goal in mind: to control the world’s food supply and make the growing of all food, all plants, show them a profit whether in rural America or the impoverished countryside of India.

This is why Monstanto is, in my eyes, the world’s #1 enemy. We are born here and have the right to eat food, just as the butterflies, the birds and the bears do. It is our right to find food on our Earth. For anyone to monetize this process is truly diabolical.

And it’s not like, “I will pay farmer Bill to grow my wheat, because I don’t have a big enough field to grown wheat to make my own bread. Farmer Bill will do it, and I’ll honor him with money.”

It’s, “I owe my soul to Monsanto. My Monsanto brand seeds won’t grow unless I spray with Monsanto’s roundup, and my food crops will provide no seed for next year’s planting. I will have to buy seed every year from Monsanto, or we will starve.”

One of the main factors that created civilization as we know it today was the human discovery that plants regenerate themselves so that food this year can mean food next year. Monsanto wants to change all of that, and they are so mixed up with the government, they’re being given permission to do this rather than being punished as crazy people.

Oh, my, it’s all pretty overwhelming, Mary Anne. And ends up with Pesticide Dinners in Kansas. I so wish the farmers would fight back. Well, one of them that I know of did. You might be interested in this website, particularly the coverage of small farmers trying to fight off Monsanto:
http://www.organicconsumers.org/monlink.cfm#farmers

Mim

I thought about the desert…but they are still doing nuclear testing there, under the ground.

I thought about the forested places…but the forest service is horrendous in its spraying.

I thought about the ocean but realized that, without major investment in greenhouses and things like that, it wouldn’t be a suitable place for growing food, so that ruled that out.

Because nearly all land is owned by:

1) Neighbors who may be spraying or cleaning with toxins

2) Agribusinesses with their constant spraying

3) Other businesses with toxic practices

4) Agencies like the forestry service, state parks, etc. who are also always spraying

I couldn’t come up with a solution better than trying to find someplace that felt a little bit safe, from which I could continue to work for a change in the way people live.

So, what is a ’safer’ place? Well, there are a few places in California that might be offer a better choice.

For example, there is a town in Northern California called Sebastopol. Not only have they banned city pesticide spraying there, but they also refused to have cell towers erected because of health concerns. They are a progressive little community.

Then there is the county of Mendocino - a stunningly beautiful place. They banned the growing of GMO crops there a couple of years ago. Very cool.

My bet is that there are other places like this, in different states, where the people are working to be more intelligent in their way of life. Maybe your family could find such a place? I would love to see this.

Something that did occur to me as a potentially good spot to look for a home would be amongst horse ranches. They don’t smell terrible like cattle ranches and people would likely take good, non-toxic care of their land so as to protect their horses.

It takes creativity, for sure, but I am going to pray that both your family and BPMs can find a place that feels a little bit safer, and we will all keep working to promote zero tolerance for toxins.

But I believe the challenge is nation-wide. I was reading a book a while ago about Kansas and all of the farmers there attend meetings called Pesticide Dinners. Can you believe that? These are dinners hosted by the chemical corporations. They feed the farmers and introduce them to new pesticides. Can you imagine going to something called a Pesticide Dinner?

So, I think Americans are surrounded by the chemical problem everywhere, but this means that many of them are seeing health damage, so the potential for them to relate to what we’re talking about is certainly there.

I am so sorry for the suffering in your family, Mary Anne. You deserve so much better than this.
Mim

I think you are right in that the political leaders are going to be essential, and this is why I have been paying attention to Obama’s apparent unwillingness to tie himself to the corporations in terms of his campaign funding. Politics is not my cup of tea, so I consider myself not terribly well educated on this subject, but I do agree with you 100% regarding the wreck of our government that has been wrought by the allegiance of government and corporations. You are completely right.

I am going to go read the article you’ve linked to. Thank you so much, BPM, for sharing so generously of your information as you continue along this learning path. I know you will never go back to sleep.

Mim

P.S. You may have noted I removed the 2nd comment you tried to post because it was basically a duplicate of the first and I guessed that you tried to post, but then when your post didn’t show up, you tried to post again.

Just so you know, when a comment contains 2 or more links, my blog holds it in moderation. It’s a way of keeping the blog safe from spammers who would come in and fill a post with links to erroneous things.

Please, keep linking away to what you find, but just know I then have to approve the comment before it appears live. Hope that’s helpful information for you!

For some time, I have thought about your situation and have felt compelled to write this posting. Your previous postings on the LBAM aerial spraying in Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties last fall and concerns for the victims of the aerial spray and the still unfolding long term health
consequences is truly what this debate is all about on a microscopic scale to a larger world-wide health and environmental crisis.

I am concerned for you and your husband and for the victims of the LBAM spray. I live in Fremont (twist tie) and my daughter attends UC Santa Cruz and she has asthma and allergies. I have been actively opposing the LBAM Program mainly for her health benefit but also because this program is so wrong in so many ways.

My husband and I have lived in the San Francisco Bay Area are entire lives. We are now in our early 60’s. We had hoped to spend the remaining years we have left here in the bay area. However, we are not so sure that living here with the LBAM Program moving forward is going to be desirable for anyone nor anything. The LBAM Program is unnecessary and unhealthy for all living things and the environment. I have hope for state, national, and global environmental change but as you read my posting, you will understand that my hope is growing thin.

It is frightening that our state’s and nation’s policies and decisions that are made by our elected officials are due mainly to lobbyist’s financial political influence and not what is in the best interests for our us, our state, our nation, and the world. It is the opinion of many individuals and researchers that this downward trend has been going on for over thirty years and this upside down political trend is on the verge of a major change and collapse. In fact, our very survival depends on it.

After spending a lot of my time reading and trying to understand the environmental crisis that the world is in, which relates on a smaller scale to the wine industry’s chemicals polluting people and the land and to LBAM and agricultural chemicals polluting us and the planet, it is imperative that the next Presidential candidate, Congress, and our state officials be the key to the environmental change that is absolutely necessary.

Global warming is and will be our environmental catalyst if we are to survive. If indeed this environmental movement does happen, the greening of the planet will transpire an environmental movement like no other and the agricultural and chemical industries will be legally mandated to change for the better.

My daughter just finished her freshman year in college and she and her friends speak openly about global warming and the earth’s pollution and understand they will be the next generation to be a part of the solution and not a part of the problem. Even when she was in high school she and her friends understood the graveness of inheriting a planet that they and their children will be unable to survive in.

I have woken up to a chemical world and global warming nightmare I largely knew nothing about. I can thank a tiny little moth, LBAM, for my newly gained knowledge. I will never go back to sleep.

It is time for a state and national constitutional amendment that prohibits pesticides and other chemicals within so many feet of people without their written consent. This is just the beginning of needed environmental changes. Mim, it may not resolve your immediate problem but it is worth getting this constitutional amendment on the next ballot.

On June 23, 2008 NASA Global Warming Scientist, Jim Hansen, testified before Congress – exactly 20 years after warning America about global warming. It gives me hope that perhaps - just perhaps - that we can save our planet and us - but we are at the tipping point and we must take drastic action now. Too much time has been wasted and we must have governmental leadership to save us. Our voices need to be loud and clear in order to survive.

I hope everyone reads the following news article and James Hansen’s Testimony before Congress. It is definitely worth the read to what lies before us and what is absolutely necessary for our survival.

News article:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080624/ap_on_sc/sci_warming_scientist

James Hansen’s 6/23/08 Congressional Testimony:

http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/2008/TwentyYearsLater_20080623.pdf