Non-GMO Corn Day Celebration

Launching date of Non-GMO Tortilla Campaign

Dear Allies, Supporters and Friends,

Biosafety Alliance ask Non-GMO advocate individuals and organizations to support the Latino community by participating and attending the “Non-GMO Corn Day Celebration” on September 29th at 24th Street at Mission BART station in San Francisco from 11:00 AM -3:00 PM.

Non-GMO Corn Day Celebration is to bring awareness about the importance to protect native corn from biotech genetic contamination. We are in solidarity with the grassroots movement in Mexico: to protect Mexico as the CENTER OF ORIGIN of native corn therefor not allowing companies like Monsanto to plant GMO corn in Mexico because it will inevitably contaminate native corn through cross pollination.

 Corn has been planted by the indigenous people through the Americas for 10,000 years. Corn is their staple food, good for the body and spirit. It is also an intricate part of their cultural and Identity. Corn is a gift to humanity not a patent for profit. We must keep our seeds pure and untainted for future generations.

 The event will also be the beginning of a Latino campaign demanding the following:

·Demand to Latin Politicians to advocate for Non-GMO corn to be available in food markets in communities of color.

·Demand GMO Foods, in particular GMO Tortillas, to be labeled.

·Demand democracy in our food system, we have the right to know what is in the food we buy and feed our families.

 We intend to gather during next 6 months 1000 000 signatures in support of GMO Tortilla labeling in California that we will bring to Sacramento in a massive mobilization, we need your help!

Come celebrate the food movement as we enjoy Non-GMO food including organic purple tortillas, music, art, speakers, and ceremony. There will be music, poetry and information. This is a family event and everyone is welcomed. The event will also take place in Los Angeles, Stockton, East Palo Alto and San Luis Obispo.

 Facebook event in San Francisco: Join us!  
https://www.facebook.com/events/649965428360717/

Biosafety Alliance: http://biosafetyalliance.org/

Wild and domestic cattle will drastically shed weight as the climate warms

Cattle weight loss means slimmer profits in a warmer world

Burgers may not shrink in the near future, but cattle might, erasing billions of dollars of profit from the agriculture sector. Photo by Mark H. Anbinder/flickr.

July 4, 2013

A study of bison in the U.S. predicts that wild and domestic cattle will drastically shed weight as the climate warms – compromising food security and stripping billions from farm profits

By Tim RadfordClimate News Network

 

LONDON – Cherish your hamburger today, America. Tomorrow it could be skimpier.

The nation's cattle herds will shrink – not in number, but in weight and yield – as the climate warms, according to new research that delivers an ominous warning for farmers.

Animals from warmer, drier grasslands weigh considerably less on average than those from cool, wet ranges.

 

An extensive study of bison – those great wild cattle that evolved to graze the prairies of North America – has confirmed that animals from warmer, drier grasslands weigh considerably less on average than those from cool, wet ranges.

600 pounds lighter

Kansas State University researcher Joseph Craine reports in the Public Library of Science journal PloS One that he analyzed weight, age and sex data from 290,000 bison in 22 herds throughout the United States.

It all lines up to suggest that climate change will cause grasses to have less protein, and cause grazers to gain less weight in future. - Joseph Craine, Kansas State Univ.

 

 

He found that the average seven-year-old male bison in South Dakota weighed 856 kilograms (around 1,900 pounds), while counterparts in Oklahoma clocked in at 596 kg (1,300 lbs).

The difference in mean annual temperature between the two ranges was 11° Celsius, and the two sets of values told an ominous story of change in a warming world – not just for wild bison, but also for domestic cattle.

The world is almost certain to warm by more than 2°C on average in this century, and the rise could be as great at 4°C.

Less protein

"We know that temperatures are going to go up," Craine said. "We also know that warmer grasslands have grasses with less protein, and we now know that warmer grasslands have smaller grazers. It all lines up to suggest that climate change will cause grasses to have less protein, and cause grazers to gain less weight in future."


As temperatures rise, precipitation is likely to fall, with consequences for plant growth. If the same reduction in weight gain applies to beef cattle as to bison, as researchers suspect, the finding is "a pretty clear indication" of bad news for food security and for the grazers.

There are around 500,000 bison in the United States – the species was all but extinguished during the 19th century – and more than 90 million cattle. Craine calculates that each 1°C rise in average temperatures could cost farmers $1 billion in profits, either through direct reduction in weight gains or in the costs of additional supplementary feeds.

The research is in line with other findings this year. Evidence from 55 million years ago – when the world warmed by 6°C – unearthed during the National Science Foundation's Bighorn Basin Coring Project in Wyoming indicated that animal size tended to dwindle with rising temperatures, almost certainly in response to changes in nutritional value.

The implication that mammals could dwarf and humans shrink towards hobbit-like stature under a changing climate was tragically confirmed by a study of body heights among children in north-east Brazil.
In response to near-starvation conditions, children brought up on a diet of rats, snakes and cacti reached an average adult size of only 1.35 meters, or 4.5 feet.

Tim Radford is an editor at Climate News Network, a journalism news service delivering news and commentary about climate change for free to media outlets worldwide.

 

Photo: Cattle near Ladonia, Texas, by CameliaTWU/flickr.

The Daily Climate is an independent news service covering climate change, energy and the environment. Contact Douglas Fischer at dfischer [at] DailyClimate.org