Saving Our Seeds: Protecting the Future of Our Food
Since the start of human agricultural practices, seeds have been traditionally saved and shared between farmers – used and passed down from one season to the next.
Bee-Conscious
Our pesticide and insecticide use is not only hurting our bodies, but it is negatively impacting our food supply by killing our pollinators. In a recent report, the United Nations warned that 40% of the world’s pollinators are at risk of extinction.
How Chemical Dependence Took Over Agriculture
The transition from hunter-gatherer to agricultural-based living was gradual, but posed revolutionary ecological and cultural transformations as centuries have passed. In the United States particularly, increased commercialized farming has simplified ecosystems, embraced monocropping and become dependent on chemical pesticides and fertilizers.
Unfortunate Developments in Chemical Food
At this point in history, the agricultural world is no stranger to genetic modification. With this technology, researchers have created seedless watermelon, gluten-free wheat and apples that don’t turn brown with age. This is done through breeding out unwanted traits of an organism (i.e seeds or spots).
Starving… For Healthy Soil
Soil is the most basic foundation of our food security. Recent scientific assessments have found that one third of the globe’s land is significantly degraded due to numerous factors such as erosion, salinization, compaction, acidification and not least of all, chemical pollution.
Pesticides and Our Immune System
Humans are facing a global disease crisis. This is occurring at alarming rates – it is widespread and endemic. Just consider that 4% of the U.S population had a chronic disease in 1965. As of 2015, 46% of our children have been diagnosed with a chronic disease. For the first time in America’s history, our children’s expected lifespan is a generation shorter than that of their parents.