Wednesday 25 July 2012

Seeds and Nurseries

Seeds and Nurseries
1. Find up to five local commercial suppliers of seeds who sell heirloom (non-hybrid and genetically unmodified) varieties. Do you also have personal contacts from which you can purchase or trade seed?

Quite annoyingly there are few local heirloom seed suppliers! There are some based around the UK but frustratingly few within a reasonable (10 miles) distance to ourselves, considering our limited transportation:
http://www.realseeds.co.uk/ (who we use) based out of Pembrokeshire in Wales
http://www.vegetableseedstore.co.uk/ Oxfordshire
http://www.chilternseeds.co.uk/ Cumbria
http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/hsl/index.php Warwickshire
http://www.thomasetty.co.uk/ Somerset
We do not currently have personal contacts, with the exception of Ben and Kate @ Real Seeds who are awesome!

2. Find up to three nurseries that supply heirloom plants. Do the suppliers know if the varieties have been locally tested?

Having not been able to find local suppliers of heirloom plants, I contacted all the above seed suppliers who provided the following suppliers. All incidentally, advised the plants were grown and tested locally to them:
http://www.agroforestry.co.uk/ Devon
http://www.poyntzfieldherbs.co.uk/ Scotland
http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/hsl/ Warwickshire

3. Are genetic tests being carried out in your area with plants and animals? Find out – contact your local government and environmental groups for information.

Having contacted a number of different organisations I found the best and most complete information was help by DEFRA (Department for Environment Farming and Rural Affairs). As of March this year field trials were being carried out in only three locations according to DEFRA’s website. http://archive.defra.gov.uk/environment/quality/gm/regulation/documents/trials.pdf

Does your region or country offer companies the option of secret locations for their genetic trials? They are not offered secret trials but security is used to prevent vandalism.

Who is conducting the trials? Rothamstead Research in Harpenden, Hertfordshire; The Sainsburys Lab in Colney, Norfolk; University of Leeds in Bramham, West Yorkshire.

What safety measures are in place to protect the environment/human population? I received feedback from David Sherlock of DEFRA’s, GM Team who stated thusly: “Before release trials are allowed to proceed the proposals are scutinised by an independent committee of scientific experts, the Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment (ACRE) which considers the potential risks and advises ministers on whether it is safe to issue a consent. We are obliged to conduct a public consultation and any scientific points arising from the consultation are taken on board by ACRE before it issues its advice. ACRE will recommend various conditions to be applied to consents to minimise any potential environmental risks”

What are these tests about? Rothamstead is carrying out a trial on GM wheat resistant to aphids http://archive.defra.gov.uk/environment/quality/gm/regulation/documents/11-r8-01-consent.pdf); Sainsburys are doing some testing on Potatoes (http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110203140923/http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/quality/gm/regulation/documents/10-r29-01.pdf); University of Leeds is similar to that of Sainsburys (http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110203140923/http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/quality/gm/regulation/documents/09-r31-01.pdf). Again comment from DEFRA’s David Sherlock states: “This year in the UK two trials of genetically modified crops are being carried out where the plant is released into the environment, but there are no animal release trials. GM wheat is being grown by Rothamsted Research in Harpenden, Herts. The wheat has been modified to produce a pheromone which will repel aphid pests. A trial of genetically modified potatoes is being carried out by the Sainsbury Laboratory at Colney near Norwich, and these have been modified for resistance to potato late blight, a common potato disease. The details of the trials are published on our website http://archive.defra.gov.uk/environment/quality/gm/regulation/registers/consents/index.htm and the locations are at http://archive.defra.gov.uk/environment/quality/gm/regulation/documents/trials.pdf. You will see from these lists that we also have some GM vaccine trials under way.”

Was it difficult to get this information from officials? Not really, a lot of the information is in the public domain and just requires a little bit of searching.

What do you think about the answers you were given? Surprisingly the “officials” were actually very forth-coming, but I’m sure as more trials are started and more groups form to oppose those trials, this information will be harder and harder to come by.

4. Consider the quote on page one of this chapter. To what extent do you agree with the sentiment expressed? Relate your opinion to your own ethical standards. There is no absolutely right answer.

The quote at the beginning of the chapter, “It’s time to stop worshipping gods, and aiming at becoming gods” is completely at odds with my own personal ethic of “Ni dieu ni maitre” (neither god nor master). I follow none that would profess to being in possession of universal truth and would not pretend to hold universal truth either. How can a permaculturalist hold that opinion? I’ve yet to find anyone who practices permaculture that would have this kind of self-centred or probably better described human-centred attitude. We are simply biological entities that live in a number of quite diverse eco-systems; we are very poor stewards of our environment and cannot afford to continue to hold these attitudes if we are to survive much into the late 21st Century, let alone the 22nd Century.

5. Find three statements made by manufacturers of GM products that are not true. Record where you found the statement and why the statement is false.

i. “Food derived from authorized genetically-modified (GM) crops is as safe as conventional (non-GM-derived) food” - http://www.monsanto.com/newsviews/Pages/food-safety.aspx#q1 VERSUS “There is now a worrying body of published, peer-reviewed scientific evidence from controlled animal studies carried out in many countries and by different parties (government, independent and company studies) that demonstrates that GMOs cause a wide range of serious unexpected health impacts.” - http://www.soilassociation.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=SqDvBO1pyEU%3D&tabid=390

ii. There is no evidence to link allergenicity to currently authorized GM crops - http://www.monsanto.com/newsviews/Pages/food-safety.aspx#q4

“Bt proteins have long been used as topical sprays in conventional and organic agriculture because they are effective and safe.” - http://www.monsanto.com/newsviews/Pages/food-safety.aspx#q6 VERSUS Dr Arpad Pusztai: "The capacity of various A-B toxin-lectins, including Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) Cry1Ac protoxin to stimulate and modulate both the systemic and mucosal immune systems is now firmly established. The MON 863 study revealed that rats fed on transgenically expressed Bt toxin in maize caused kidney and liver problems in addition to interfering with the normal growth of young rats. Bt toxin expressed in potatoes caused major changes in the small intestine of mice. Fine structural changes in the ileum of mice fed on delta-endotoxin-treated potatoes and transgenic potatoes. The evidence for the survival of the Bt toxins in the digestive tract and internal organs is clear-cut.” - http://www.gmfreecymru.org/open_letters/Open_letter02Feb2010.html

6. Find three statements made by anti-GM groups or individuals that are not true. Record where you found the statement and why the statement is false.

i. Cornell University published an article which caused worry in the US that Bt-corn pollen might affect the monarch butterfly. - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10353241

The statement isn’t exactly false, but the findings of the original research have been found to have been “selective”! “A collaborative research exercise was carried out over two years by several groups of scientists in the US and Canada, looking at the effects of Bt pollen in both the field and the laboratory. This resulted in a risk assessment that concluded that any risk posed by the corn to butterfly populations under real-world conditions was negligible.” - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11559842

ii. “Pressure groups and consumer rights groups, such as the Organic Consumers Association and Greenpeace claim the long-term health risks which GM could pose, or the environmental risks associated with GM, have not yet been adequately investigated.” - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetically_modified_food_controversies - although according to The European Commission Directorate-General for Research and Innovation 2010 report on GMOs noted that "The main conclusion to be drawn from the efforts of more than 130 research projects, covering a period of more than 25 years of research, and involving more than 500 independent research groups, is that biotechnology, and in particular GMOs, are not per se more risky than e.g. conventional plant breeding technologies.

It’s been a real struggle to find attributable and completely false statements, as each side of the argument, rebuts pretty well the conflicting sides points! Human agriculture “alters” crops and has done, through selection of tastier or resilient crops. But still too little is known about the long-term effects of man’s genetic-level tinkering with our foodstuff.

7. Do you eat products made with GM ingredients? How do you know?

I try not to and as far as possible select organically produced produce. Unfortunately both the Food Standards Agency (http://www.food.gov.uk/policy-advice/gm/gm_labelling) and the European Food Safety Authority (http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/topics/topic/gmo.htm) make it difficult for the inattentive consumer to be completely sure of foods GM content: “The GM Food and Feed Regulation (EC) No. 1829/2003 lays down rules to cover all GM food and animal feed, regardless of the presence of any GM material in the final product. This means products such as flour, oils and glucose syrups have to be labeled as GM if they are from a GM source. Products produced with GM technology (cheese produced with GM enzymes, for example) do not have to be labeled.”

Tuesday 10 July 2012

Waste Disposal and Recycling

Waste Disposal and Recycling
1. Provide examples of how your design and/or current lifestyle implements each of the 5 R’s (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Retrofit, Redesign)

Reduce: In our current setup we focus on trying, as much as possible, to implement these 5 R’s every day. Firstly we choose to not own or use a car. Its impact is huge on our environment and as we live in a well serviced city can substitute this for bicycles and bus transportation. Even the buses are being converted to hybrid vehicles where they run on natural gas and have a switch off/switch on system which lowers their fuel usage.

We continue to grow our staples (Potatoes, turnips, parsnips, carrots, onions) wherever we live and also experiment each year with different varieties. We try as much as possible to use non-hybridised heirloom seeds too as we can then seed save and “reuse” the saved seeds in forthcoming years. We also trade our seeds with others to ensure their ongoing success and survival.

If we need to shop and purchase from a store, we consciously choose products that use less packaging or choose products that we can reuse the packaging (glass jars etc) even going as far as keeping our takeaway food containers (on the rare occasion we do buy takeaway) as these plastic trays make excellent seed nurseries!

A tip that i find useful is when i buy something from a shop that is excessively packaged, I will, if possible, unwrap on site and leave the packaging for the store to dispose of. Hopefully this will make them think about what they sell!

Reuse: As mentioned above we do try to choose packaging that is reusable the easiest being glass jars and containers. We have taken to buying Kilner jars for their size, strength and utility. We have a basic if not all-encompassing ethos of buying stuff that can be decanted into existing containers. It vastly reduces our packaging waste coming into the house.

Recycle: The council provides recycling services in our area and will take all metal, plastic, paper/card and glass. We do have both a wormery and a composter so most of our organic waste is sorted out by those two pretty efficiently.

Retrofit: There are certainly opportunities for us to retrofit some appliances and fixture or fittings in our house, but it is a rental unit and requires permission from our landlord. Poor excuse granted, but it has prevented us from carrying out any retrofitting.

Redesign: By designing a human living habitat from scratch, it has given us the opportunity to consider redesigning our existing living conditions/setup to reduce our pollution impact. Our design project is only a hypothetical plan, but at least affords us the opportunity to test some redesign strategies that can later be applied to our current set of circumstances.

2. What aspects of your lifestyle contribute most to world pollution levels?

I can only think that the biggest impact that we have on our environment is our use of fossil fuels to heat our property and cook our food (Natural Gas) or our use of electricity which is primarily generated in the UK by coal and oil burning power stations. We have tried to ameliorate our impact by reducing our use of these sources as much as possible but are under no illusion that these aren’t damaging!

3. What are the top three causes of global warming?

Greed, ignorance and propaganda?

The three main causes of global warming are actually quite difficult to select. There are natural mechanisms that can cause the mean global temperature to increase such as methane gas release from bogs/swamps, arctic methane clathrates, melting permafrost (which traps methane when frozen) and ruminant digestion. Carbon dioxide increases due to volcanic activity or respiration, solar irradiance and water vapour increases in the atmosphere are all considered natural.

There are man-made causes of global warming that synthesise some of the above processes but cause an imbalance in the natural systems ability to absorb increased pollutants. Carbon dioxide emissions from industrial activity add giga-tonnes of CO2 by burning of fossil fuels, removal of carbon sinks by deforestation that no longer then sequester the carbon back into the natural cycle.

The difficult thing to assess is which are the three main causes of global warming. I would suggest that CO2 emissions from industrial activity would be the main culprit, methane release from feedback loops, ie as the temp increases the more methane released from previously frozen locations and thirdly removal of carbon sequestering plants (deforestation) would be my third choice.

Aquaculture and Mariculture

Aquaculture and Mariculture
1. Is aquaculture a part of your design? Could it be developed later, given the storage facilities you currently have planned? Do you want to practice aquaculture on your property?

Due to the relief at our site, aquaculture has not played a role there. We have a small pond which realistically is probably just a dew pond and a couple of swales to help with retention of water on such a steep slope. Due to the nature of the geology of the site, it doesn’t lend itself really to even a moderate aquaculture project. Predominantly being chalk, which is highly porous, we have only focused on slowing the transit of water across/over our site. On another site i think practising aquaculture would be excellent but not on this particular one.

2. Where does your food and fuel come from? Make a list. Do you depend on the oceans for food or as transportation routes to get materials, food and goods to you? Are you able to substitute goods/foods to eliminate or reduce your dependence on the resources of the ocean?

We get the majority of our food from the local Cooperative and supplement this with our allotment. On the occasion that it isn’t these it will be one of the major supermarket retailers in the UK, Sainsbury, Tesco, Morrisons or Asda. The UK being an island means that any resource, mineral or foodstuff that can’t be mined, grown or manufactured needs to be imported and much of this is carried by sea or by truck via the channel tunnel.
I attempted to find a percentage figure for foods that are grown and supplied to the UK market, by the UK food industry (http://www.defra.gov.uk/food-farm/food/) and also found an interesting paper on food security policy (http://archive.defra.gov.uk/foodfarm/food/pdf/food-assess100105.pdf) hoping to glean from it how dependent we are on foreign market supplied foods and fuel. I can only say with any confidence that we still import WAY too much of our food even if you simply carry out a store audit as I do on occasion at our Cooperative, and they are the market leader in ethical trading policies in the UK, in my humble opinion (http://www.co-operative.coop/food/ethics/).
Of course with the right motivation, correct land use and community involvement anything is possible as far as producing “substitute foods” if not fuel in order to reduce dependence on the oceans resources.