wakingtimes--2020-03-04--Man Who Said He’d Make Oceans Clean Themselves Has Now Created Solar-Powered Barges to Clean Rivers

Although we all experience life changing events , for some it becomes the catalyst for real change not only on a personal level but on a scale in which we attempt to improve the planet for everyone .
At the tender age of 16 , Boyan Slat from the Netherlands had an epiphany while in Greece on a diving trip .
Boyan was dismayed when he saw more plastic than fish in the coastal waters and promised himself that he was going to do something about it .
Just two years later , Boyan started The Ocean Cleanup project and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ plastic from the ocean .
His mission didn ’ t stop there .
He also created solar powered barges to collect plastic in the rivers which was a brilliant idea considering the fact that rivers are the largest source of plastics ending up in our oceans .
Boyan ’ s mission with The Ocean Cleanup was to develop advanced technology that would rid the planet ’ s oceans of plastic waste and demolish and clean the Great Pacific Garbage Patch which stretches from California to Japan .
Although the non-profit managed to collect @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the area over the years , Boyan made the decision to start with the source creating the problem rather than spend time “ treating the symptoms.
” His research found that 1,000 rivers around the world are the source of about 80 percent of the plastic waste that ends up in the oceans .
With that in mind , the engineer and conservationist created The Ocean Cleanup ’ s latest invention called the “ Inceptor ” to tackle the problem .
The solar-powered barges are created specifically to suck river debris into dumpsters @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Up to 110 tons of garbage can be collected by one barge , drastically reducing the daily amount of waste reaching oceans .
Boyan ’ s hopes to have Inceptor barges in every one of the worst polluting rivers of the world by the year 2025 .
In the meantime , they are already hard at work cleaning the Klang River in Kuala Lumpur , Malaysia and the Cengkareng Drain in Jakarta , Indonesia .
To support The Ocean Cleanup ’ s mission , anyone can nominate their rivers for clean-up and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the effort .
Donations will also help more Inceptors to be built more quickly and placed in the rivers where the need is the greatest .
Like Waking Times on Facebook .
Follow Waking Times on Twitter .

Man Who Said He’d Make Oceans Clean Themselves Has Now Created Solar-Powered Barges to Clean Rivers
Jade Small, The Mind Unleashed
Waking Times
Although we all experience life changing events, for some it becomes the catalyst for real change not only on a personal level but on a scale in which we attempt to improve the planet for everyone. At the tender age of 16, Boyan Slat from the Netherlands had an epiphany while in Greece on a diving trip. Boyan was dismayed when he saw more plastic than fish in the coastal waters and promised himself that he was going to do something about it.
Just two years later, Boyan started The Ocean Cleanup project and created a passive floating device to collect plastic from the ocean. His mission didn’t stop there. He also created solar powered barges to collect plastic in the rivers which was a brilliant idea considering the fact that rivers are the largest source of plastics ending up in our oceans.
That moment when you have to give a serious presentation and you are interrupted by a teddy bear. If this bear is yours, do feel free to reach out to us. pic.twitter.com/Ii3bijSD3x — The Ocean Cleanup (@TheOceanCleanup) November 7, 2019
Boyan’s mission with The Ocean Cleanup was to develop advanced technology that would rid the planet’s oceans of plastic waste and demolish and clean the Great Pacific Garbage Patch which stretches from California to Japan.
Although the non-profit managed to collect two shipping containers full of trash from the area over the years, Boyan made the decision to start with the source creating the problem rather than spend time “treating the symptoms.” His research found that 1,000 rivers around the world are the source of about 80 percent of the plastic waste that ends up in the oceans.
With that in mind, the engineer and conservationist created The Ocean Cleanup’s latest invention called the “Inceptor” to tackle the problem. The solar-powered barges are created specifically to suck river debris into dumpsters and then bring it onshore for recycling.
Up to 110 tons of garbage can be collected by one barge, drastically reducing the daily amount of waste reaching oceans.
Boyan’s hopes to have Inceptor barges in every one of the worst polluting rivers of the world by the year 2025. In the meantime, they are already hard at work cleaning the Klang River in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and the Cengkareng Drain in Jakarta, Indonesia.
“Our team has remained steadfast in its determination to solve immense technical challenges to arrive at this point,” Boyan said. “Though we still have much more work to do, I am eternally grateful for the team’s commitment and dedication to the mission and look forward to continuing to the next phase of development.”
To support The Ocean Cleanup’s mission, anyone can nominate their rivers for clean-up and appeal to their local governments to support the effort. Donations will also help more Inceptors to be built more quickly and placed in the rivers where the need is the greatest.
Who needs a Christmas tree when you have an interceptor to bring some light? We hope to see them cleaning 1000 rivers by 2025. pic.twitter.com/uXatLyuI0m — The Ocean Cleanup (@TheOceanCleanup) December 24, 2019
By Jade Small | Creative Commons | TheMindUnleashed.com


wakingtimes--2020-03-04--Moringa Contains All Essential Amino Acids Your Body Needs

There are 20 basic amino acids that make up the proteins in your body .
In other words , amino acids are the building blocks of proteins .
Conversely , when your body breaks down or digests proteins , amino acids are what ’ s left behind .
Nine of these — histidine , isoleucine , leucine , lysine , methionine , phenylalanine , tryptophan , threonine and valine — are considered “ essential ” as none of them are made by your body and therefore must be obtained from your diet .
Three of these essential amino acids — @ @ @ @ @ @ @ known as branched-chain amino acids ( BCAA ) because they have a branched molecular structure .
While most amino acids are broken down in your liver , BCAAs are broken down primarily in your muscle .
As such , they help improve exercise performance and reduce the breakdown of muscle .
Beef is one dietary protein source , containing 18 different amino acids , including the nine essential ones .
Eggs are another excellent source of all nine essential amino acids , plus another nine nonessential amino acids .
However , protein is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( Moringa oleifera ) , also known as horseradish tree or drumstick tree , is an excellent protein source , containing 30.3 % crude protein and , according to the African Journal of Biotechnology , 19 amino acids , including all nine essential amino acids .
Moringa also contains beneficial fatty acids ( 44.57 % being a-linolenic acid ) , beta-carotene , phenolics , zeatin , quercetin , beta-sitosterol , kaempferol , flavonoids and isothiocyanates .
Many of the health benefits of Moringa — which include the prevention and treatment of inflammatory diseases @ @ @ @ @ @ @ — are attributed to its glucosinolate and isothiocyanate content .
The isothiocyanate moringin , for example , has been shown to have potent anti-inflammatory and cytoprotective effects .
As detailed in several research articles including the journal Amino Acids , the nine essential amino acids — all of which are found in Moringa — have important biological roles , including the following : Certain amino acids also help improve the antioxidant properties of peptides .
Peptides are strings of amino acids that are shorter than those making up proteins .
Due to their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more easily than proteins , and have been shown to have antioxidant activity .
As described in the paper “ Amino acid composition and antioxidant properties of Moringa oleifera seed protein isolate and enzymatic hydrolysates : ” “ Some of these amino acids , especially Tyr [ tyrosine ] , Met [ methionine ] , His [ histidine ] and Lys [ lysine ] have been shown to play specific roles in improving antioxidant properties of peptides .
Besides , aromatic amino acids with a large side group such as His … and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the antioxidant potency of peptides because they act as hydrogen donors .
According to Sarmadi , the interaction of peptides with lipids or entry into target organs can be enhanced by the hydrophobic properties , which helps in promoting the antioxidant effects of peptides.
” Moringa may be one of the most important yet vastly underutilized plants available .
Virtually every part of it is edible and has medicinal qualities , and most parts can be consumed either raw or cooked .
Globally , the leaves , roots , pods and flowers are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ harvest the plant as a microgreen .
As noted in the mini-review “ Health Benefits of Moringa Oleifera , ” published in the Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention ( APJCP ) in 2014 : “ Moringa oleifera is a multi-purpose herbal plant used as human food and an alternative for medicinal purposes worldwide .
It has been identified by researchers as a plant with numerous health benefits including nutritional and medicinal advantages .
Moringa oleifera contains essential amino acids , carotenoids in leaves , and components with nutraceutical properties … An important @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Moringa oleifera is its very wide range of vital antioxidants , antibiotics and nutrients including vitamins and minerals .
Almost all parts from Moringa can be used as a source for nutrition with other useful values.
” Has potent antibiotic activity against a wide variety of pathogens , including Escherichia coli , Salmonella typhimurium , Candida albicans and Helicobacter pylori ( H. pylori ) Has anti-inflammatory and antiviral activity , thanks to quercetin Moringa Is an Inexpensive Way to Optimize Your Nutrition Moringa offers many of the same medicinal benefits as broccoli @ @ @ @ @ @ @ amino acids .
Moringa , however , is far more economical to grow .
It ’ s extremely hardy and drought resistant , making it an attractive alternative — particularly in underserved populations worldwide where health care and Western medicines are hard to come by .
The fact that you can eat more or less the whole tree in a variety of different ways also makes it an attractive option .
The long seed pods , colloquially known as Moringa drumsticks , are a common staple in Indian cuisine .
For information and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Food ’ s website .
You can also harvest these seeds , sow them , and harvest them like microgreens , i.e.
, while they ’ re small like sprouts .
For a quick review of how to do this , see the video above .
For guidance on how to grow Moringa trees in general , see my previous article , “ How to Grow Moringa Tree.
” Last but not least , research has confirmed Moringa has a very high degree of safety,47 although high doses of seed extracts , specifically @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Waking Times on Facebook .
Follow Waking Times on Twitter .

Moringa Contains All Essential Amino Acids Your Body Needs
Dr. Mercola, Guest
Waking Times
There are 20 basic amino acids that make up the proteins in your body. In other words, amino acids are the building blocks of proteins. Conversely, when your body breaks down or digests proteins, amino acids are what’s left behind.
Nine of these — histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, tryptophan, threonine and valine — are considered “essential” as none of them are made by your body and therefore must be obtained from your diet.
Three of these essential amino acids — leucine, isoleucine and valine — are known as branched-chain amino acids (BCAA) because they have a branched molecular structure. While most amino acids are broken down in your liver, BCAAs are broken down primarily in your muscle. As such, they help improve exercise performance and reduce the breakdown of muscle.
Beef is one dietary protein source, containing 18 different amino acids, including the nine essential ones. Eggs are another excellent source of all nine essential amino acids, plus another nine nonessential amino acids.
However, protein is also found in plant foods. Moringa (Moringa oleifera), also known as horseradish tree or drumstick tree, is an excellent protein source, containing 30.3% crude protein and, according to the African Journal of Biotechnology, 19 amino acids, including all nine essential amino acids.
Moringa also contains beneficial fatty acids (44.57% being a-linolenic acid), beta-carotene, phenolics, zeatin, quercetin, beta-sitosterol, kaempferol, flavonoids and isothiocyanates.
Many of the health benefits of Moringa — which include the prevention and treatment of inflammatory diseases, neurodysfunctional diseases, diabetes and cancer — are attributed to its glucosinolate and isothiocyanate content. The isothiocyanate moringin, for example, has been shown to have potent anti-inflammatory and cytoprotective effects.
Health Effects of Essential Amino Acids
As detailed in several research articles including the journal Amino Acids, the nine essential amino acids — all of which are found in Moringa — have important biological roles, including the following:
Isoleucine — Helps stabilize your blood sugar and is required, along with leucine and valine, for muscle synthesis, repair, energy and endurance. Leucine — Helps lower blood sugar that is elevated and triggers the production of growth hormone. Along with isoleucine and valine, leucine promotes the growth of muscle, bone and skin. Valine — Helps maintain muscle metabolism and nitrogen balance. It’s also used in tissue repair and energy production. Lysine — Is needed in the production of hormones, collagen, enzymes and antibodies. It also helps combat viruses and plays a role in calcium assimilation and protein construction in bones and muscle. Methionine — Is converted into cysteine and vice versa, based on the needs of your body. It’s also a primary source of sulfur in your body, which is required for healthy hair, skin and nails. Tryptophan — Aids in the production of niacin (vitamin B3), which is required for serotonin and melatonin production. Phenylalanine — Plays a role in memory formation and nervous system function, and helps reduce inflammation. Threonine — Important for healthy cardiovascular system, central nervous system, immune system and liver function. It also plays a role in the digestion of fats, and promotes healthy collagen, muscle tissue, skin and bones. Histidine — Required for red and white blood cell production, and aids in tissue repair. Importantly, histidine helps protect your nerves by maintaining the myelin sheath around them.
Certain amino acids also help improve the antioxidant properties of peptides. Peptides are strings of amino acids that are shorter than those making up proteins. Due to their smaller size, peptides are broken down more easily than proteins, and have been shown to have antioxidant activity.
As described in the paper “Amino acid composition and antioxidant properties of Moringa oleifera seed protein isolate and enzymatic hydrolysates:”
“Some of these amino acids, especially Tyr [tyrosine], Met [methionine], His [histidine] and Lys [lysine] have been shown to play specific roles in improving antioxidant properties of peptides. Besides, aromatic amino acids with a large side group such as His … and Trp [tryptophan] … contribute to the antioxidant potency of peptides because they act as hydrogen donors. According to Sarmadi, the interaction of peptides with lipids or entry into target organs can be enhanced by the hydrophobic properties, which helps in promoting the antioxidant effects of peptides.”
Moringa — A Powerful Multipurpose Plant
Moringa may be one of the most important yet vastly underutilized plants available. Virtually every part of it is edible and has medicinal qualities, and most parts can be consumed either raw or cooked. Globally, the leaves, roots, pods and flowers are most typically consumed.
You can also harvest the plant as a microgreen. As noted in the mini-review “Health Benefits of Moringa Oleifera,” published in the Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention (APJCP) in 2014:
“Moringa oleifera is a multi-purpose herbal plant used as human food and an alternative for medicinal purposes worldwide. It has been identified by researchers as a plant with numerous health benefits including nutritional and medicinal advantages. Moringa oleifera contains essential amino acids, carotenoids in leaves, and components with nutraceutical properties … An important factor that accounts for the medicinal uses of Moringa oleifera is its very wide range of vital antioxidants, antibiotics and nutrients including vitamins and minerals. Almost all parts from Moringa can be used as a source for nutrition with other useful values.”
Health Benefits of Moringa
According to a 2011 paper on the nutritional composition of Moringa leaves, “The values of amino acids, fatty acids, minerals and vitamin profiles reflect a desirable nutritional balance.” A 2007 paper in Phytotherapy Research also describes Moringa’s benefits, noting that: “… [T]he leaves, roots, seed, bark, fruit, flowers and immature pods act as cardiac and circulatory stimulants, possess antitumor, antipyretic, antiepileptic, antiinflammatory, antiulcer, antispasmodic, diuretic, antihypertensive, cholesterol lowering, antioxidant, antidiabetic, hepatoprotective, antibacterial and antifungal activities, and are being employed for the treatment of different ailments in the indigenous system of medicine …”
Other studies report Moringa:
Helps protect liver, kidney, heart, testes and lung health
Has analgesic properties
Has antiulcer activity
Helps lower blood pressure
Protects against radiation
Helps modulate immune function
Has potent antibiotic activity against a wide variety of pathogens, including Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhimurium, Candida albicans and Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori)
Has anti-inflammatory and antiviral activity, thanks to quercetin
Moringa Is an Inexpensive Way to Optimize Your Nutrition
Moringa offers many of the same medicinal benefits as broccoli. Both also contain all the essential amino acids. Moringa, however, is far more economical to grow. It’s extremely hardy and drought resistant, making it an attractive alternative — particularly in underserved populations worldwide where health care and Western medicines are hard to come by.
The fact that you can eat more or less the whole tree in a variety of different ways also makes it an attractive option. The long seed pods, colloquially known as Moringa drumsticks, are a common staple in Indian cuisine. For information and a few sample recipes, see NDTV Food’s website.
You can also harvest these seeds, sow them, and harvest them like microgreens, i.e., while they’re small like sprouts. For a quick review of how to do this, see the video above. For guidance on how to grow Moringa trees in general, see my previous article, “How to Grow Moringa Tree.”
Last but not least, research has confirmed Moringa has a very high degree of safety,47 although high doses of seed extracts, specifically, may have toxic effects.


wakingtimes--2020-03-05--Physicist Says Parallel Universes Definitely Exist and We May Soon Explore Them

Theoretical physicist Sean Carroll expressed that clues in the small-scale structure of the universe point to the existence of numerous parallel worlds .
The shocking comments were made on the Joe Rogan Experience ( JRE ) podcast last year .
Carroll says that the fact that tiny particles like electrons and photons don ’ t have one set location in the universe is evidence that there are many parallel universes .
The common sense rules of physics that rule our lives everyday make sense to us but at very minuscule scales common sense breaks down altogether .
At the quantum @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is filled with tiny particles constantly popping in and out of existence .
Bell ’ s theorem , a fundamental construct in quantum mechanics , may prove that multiverses exist .
This theorem deals with situations where particles interact with each other , become entangled , and then go their separate ways , according to New Scientist .
In the past , Carroll has advanced some groundbreaking yet controversial theories on topics such as the Big Bang theory and the nature of time .
He has said that the universe didn ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people now believe , but instead it is an infinitely old , constantly inflating entity in which time can run both forward and backward .
For Carroll quantum physics is not something that can be broken down and explained in simpler terms .
“ As far as we currently know , ” he writes .
“ Quantum mechanics isn ’ t just an approximation to the truth ; it is the truth.
” “ Physics is stuck trying to understand the fundamentals of nature and the Big Bang , ” Carroll said .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ a step back and understand its foundations .
It ’ s time to tackle our understanding of the quantum world.
” In 2011 physicist Brian Greene wrote a book exploring the possibility called The Hidden Reality : Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos .
“ You almost can ’ t avoid having some version of the multiverse in your studies if you push deeply enough in the mathematical descriptions of the physical universe , ” Greene told NPR .
“ There are many of us thinking of one version of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it ’ s all a lot of nonsense , then it ’ s a lot of wasted effort going into this far-out idea .
But if this idea is correct , it is a fantastic upheaval in our understanding.
” Even Stephen Hawking suggested that , thanks to quantum mechanics , the Big Bang supplied us with an endless number of universes , not just one .
Up until this point understanding quantum physics and its realms has been impossible , but Carroll hopes that is changing thanks to technology .
Greene , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee want to find out if there are multiverses or mirror images of our own reality .
The team was set to record experiments last year sending a beam of subatomic particles down a 50-foot tunnel , past a powerful magnet and into an impenetrable wall .

Physicist Says Parallel Universes Definitely Exist and We May Soon Explore Them
Aaron Kesel, The Mind Unleashed
Waking Times
Theoretical physicist Sean Carroll expressed that clues in the small-scale structure of the universe point to the existence of numerous parallel worlds.
The shocking comments were made on the Joe Rogan Experience (JRE) podcast last year. Carroll says that the fact that tiny particles like electrons and photons don’t have one set location in the universe is evidence that there are many parallel universes.
Recently, in a follow up interview with News.com.au, Carroll expanded his thoughts. “But there’s a lot more going on,” Carroll told News.com.au. “Not every world you imagine actually comes true.”
The common sense rules of physics that rule our lives everyday make sense to us but at very minuscule scales common sense breaks down altogether. At the quantum level, the empty vacuum of space is filled with tiny particles constantly popping in and out of existence.
Bell’s theorem, a fundamental construct in quantum mechanics, may prove that multiverses exist. This theorem deals with situations where particles interact with each other, become entangled, and then go their separate ways, according to New Scientist.
“There are still equations, physical rules, patterns that must be obeyed. Some possible alternate worlds can come true. But not all of them,” Carroll said.
In the past, Carroll has advanced some groundbreaking yet controversial theories on topics such as the Big Bang theory and the nature of time.
He has said that the universe didn’t start in a huge explosion as most people now believe, but instead it is an infinitely old, constantly inflating entity in which time can run both forward and backward.
For Carroll quantum physics is not something that can be broken down and explained in simpler terms.
“As far as we currently know,” he writes. “Quantum mechanics isn’t just an approximation to the truth; it is the truth.” “Physics is stuck trying to understand the fundamentals of nature and the Big Bang,” Carroll said. “It’s time to take a step back and understand its foundations. It’s time to tackle our understanding of the quantum world.”
In 2011 physicist Brian Greene wrote a book exploring the possibility called The Hidden Reality: Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos.
“You almost can’t avoid having some version of the multiverse in your studies if you push deeply enough in the mathematical descriptions of the physical universe,” Greene told NPR. “There are many of us thinking of one version of parallel universe theory or another. If it’s all a lot of nonsense, then it’s a lot of wasted effort going into this far-out idea. But if this idea is correct, it is a fantastic upheaval in our understanding.”
Even Stephen Hawking suggested that, thanks to quantum mechanics, the Big Bang supplied us with an endless number of universes, not just one.
Up until this point understanding quantum physics and its realms has been impossible, but Carroll hopes that is changing thanks to technology.
“Now we’re getting better at that,” Carroll says. “Technology has improved. Maybe things are going to change.”
Greene, Carroll, and Hawking may be right, and researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee want to find out if there are multiverses or mirror images of our own reality. The team was set to record experiments last year sending a beam of subatomic particles down a 50-foot tunnel, past a powerful magnet and into an impenetrable wall.
“If it exists, it would form a bubble of reality nestling within the fabric of space and time alongside our own familiar universe, with some particles capable of switching between the two,” lead researcher Leah Broussard told New Scientist.
By Aaron Kesel | Creative Commons | TheMindUnleashed.com


wakingtimes--2020-03-05--Schools Across US Find More Success With Yoga, Mindfulness Classes Than Detention, Punishment

An increasing number of schools across the country are introducing mindfulness practice and yoga classes to address student anxiety , tardiness , and disruptions .
The alternative approach to school discipline seeks to address student misbehavior by addressing one of its root causes —namely , allowing students to ground themselves in their senses and calm their emotions .
Two such schools —Yellow Springs High School and McKinney Middle School , both in Yellow Springs , Ohio—have already seen some success after introducing mindfulness practice to students as an alternative to detention , reports Yellow Springs News .
For half an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the class day , students gather in Donna Haller ’ s classroom to sit on blankets and meditate , allowing themselves to calm down and concentrate on stillness , feeling present , and boosting their awareness of themselves and their classroom environments .
And on Wednesday , students at both schools can go to their shared library to take part in a yoga club .
According to Yellow Springs High School Principal Jack Hatert and Vice-Principal Cameron McKoy , the new disciplinary approach focusing on behavioral changes is far more effective than strictly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ us who experienced detention back in K-12 schools know well , sitting alone at one ’ s desk for an hour after school hardly leads to personal reflection or changed behavior —a point that Principal Hatert is all too willing to stress .
For ninth-grader Isabella Beiring , who attends both the Monday and Wednesday groups , the sessions offer a great respite from the hustle and bustle of the school week .
She explained : The Yellow Springs initiative is the result of Ohio ’ s new statewide educational approach .
Dubbed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ plan hopes to offer mindfulness training and other resources as a way of addressing a mental health epidemic that plagues adolescents and adults alike across the United States .
The Yellow Springs campuses aren ’ t alone in offering meditation , mindfulness , and yoga as options to students .
According to a 2015 survey by the National Institute of Health , over 940 schools across the U.S. offer yoga .
And according to federal data , U.S. children practicing yoga rose from 2.3 percent to 8.4 percent —1.3 million to 4.9 million @ @ @ @ @ @ @ trend that has likely only increased .
Research has shown that there are myriad benefits to meditation and mindfulness training , including improved responses to stress , processing past events including trauma , as well as boosted social engagement and possibly academic performance .
Erica Sibinga , a professor of pediatrics at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine , told NPR that it is crucial that the exercises are conducted in a professional manner .
She added : One unlikely champion of the reformed approach is David Lynch , the iconoclastic director of such @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Lost Highway , and Twin Peaks : Fire Walk With Me .
Through his foundation , Lynch started the Quiet Time program , which consists of two 15-minute sessions of transcendental meditation where students are instructed to breathe deeply , clear their minds , and find their center .
The program has been used by the San Francisco Unified School District and other schools across the country .
According to the website for the David Lynch Foundation for Consciousness-Based Education and World Peace website , Quiet Time meditation programs have resulted in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ violent conflict , 40 percent reductions in stress and anxiety , and 86 percent reductions in suspensions over a two-year period .
These drops have been accompanied by major boosts in self-confidence , creativity , and happiness .
Practices revolving around transcendental meditation are largely secularized variants of practices common in Eastern religions like Buddhism and Hinduism .
McKinney Middle School student Foster Shirkey offered a succinct explanation for how it makes him feel after his eight-grade classes :

Schools Across US Find More Success With Yoga, Mindfulness Classes Than Detention, Punishment
Elias Marat, The Mind Unleashed
Waking Times
An increasing number of schools across the country are introducing mindfulness practice and yoga classes to address student anxiety, tardiness, and disruptions. The alternative approach to school discipline seeks to address student misbehavior by addressing one of its root causes —namely, allowing students to ground themselves in their senses and calm their emotions.
Two such schools —Yellow Springs High School and McKinney Middle School, both in Yellow Springs, Ohio—have already seen some success after introducing mindfulness practice to students as an alternative to detention, reports Yellow Springs News.
For half an hour every Monday following the end of the class day, students gather in Donna Haller’s classroom to sit on blankets and meditate, allowing themselves to calm down and concentrate on stillness, feeling present, and boosting their awareness of themselves and their classroom environments.
And on Wednesday, students at both schools can go to their shared library to take part in a yoga club.
According to Yellow Springs High School Principal Jack Hatert and Vice-Principal Cameron McKoy, the new disciplinary approach focusing on behavioral changes is far more effective than strictly punitive measures.
And as those of us who experienced detention back in K-12 schools know well, sitting alone at one’s desk for an hour after school hardly leads to personal reflection or changed behavior —a point that Principal Hatert is all too willing to stress.
For ninth-grader Isabella Beiring, who attends both the Monday and Wednesday groups, the sessions offer a great respite from the hustle and bustle of the school week. She explained:
“I like learning about yoga and mindfulness in general. I like doing the poses … It can help with stress and anxiety.”
The Yellow Springs initiative is the result of Ohio’s new statewide educational approach. Dubbed Each Child, Our Future, the plan hopes to offer mindfulness training and other resources as a way of addressing a mental health epidemic that plagues adolescents and adults alike across the United States.
Among the three fundamentals of the program is social-emotional learning (SEL), which describes the “processes through which children and adults acquire and effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes and skills necessary to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships and make responsible decisions.”
The Yellow Springs campuses aren’t alone in offering meditation, mindfulness, and yoga as options to students.
According to a 2015 survey by the National Institute of Health, over 940 schools across the U.S. offer yoga. And according to federal data, U.S. children practicing yoga rose from 2.3 percent to 8.4 percent —1.3 million to 4.9 million children —between 2007 and 2017, a trend that has likely only increased.
Research has shown that there are myriad benefits to meditation and mindfulness training, including improved responses to stress, processing past events including trauma, as well as boosted social engagement and possibly academic performance.
Erica Sibinga, a professor of pediatrics at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, told NPR that it is crucial that the exercises are conducted in a professional manner. She added:
“Mindfulness when delivered in a high-quality structured program can be beneficial for youth. We can’t immediately assume it’s effective when delivered in other ways.”
One unlikely champion of the reformed approach is David Lynch, the iconoclastic director of such offbeat cult classic films as Blue Velvet, Lost Highway, and Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. Through his foundation, Lynch started the Quiet Time program, which consists of two 15-minute sessions of transcendental meditation where students are instructed to breathe deeply, clear their minds, and find their center. The program has been used by the San Francisco Unified School District and other schools across the country.
According to the website for the David Lynch Foundation for Consciousness-Based Education and World Peace website, Quiet Time meditation programs have resulted in up to a 65 percent decrease in violent conflict, 40 percent reductions in stress and anxiety, and 86 percent reductions in suspensions over a two-year period. These drops have been accompanied by major boosts in self-confidence, creativity, and happiness.
Practices revolving around transcendental meditation are largely secularized variants of practices common in Eastern religions like Buddhism and Hinduism.
McKinney Middle School student Foster Shirkey offered a succinct explanation for how it makes him feel after his eight-grade classes:
“It helps me relax.”
By Elias Marat | Creative Commons | TheMindUnleashed.com


wakingtimes--2020-03-05--Flu Comparisons And Other Myths Downplay The Dangers of COVID-19

The COVID-19 coronavirus is a brand new pathogen that humans still don ’ t know much about .
Scientists from around the world have been researching the cases since the outbreak was first reported to learn as much as they can and while there continues to be disagreements about the origin and severity of the illness , most experts seem to agree that this situation is not something to be taken lightly .
However , for a variety of different reasons , there has been an effort among politicians and some media pundits , to downplay the severity of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Ebola were contained before they created any major clusters in the United States or Europe , which has given many westerners a false sense of security that they are somehow safer from pathogens than the rest of the world is , as the New York Times pointed out in a recent article .
The SARS and Ebola outbreaks were still very serious problems in China and Africa , but many people abroad , especially in the US , believe that the threats of these illnesses were overblown by the media the time , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in their back yard .
It has also been pointed out that COVID-19 seems far less deadly than both Ebola and SARS , but this is a bit misleading .
SARS and Ebola may have an extremely high mortality rate in comparison to the new virus , but were both contained relatively quickly because they are not extremely easy to pass from human to human .
Meanwhile , the novel coronavirus that causes the COVID-19 infection is much more transmissible than SARS or Ebola , and is even more contagious than the seasonal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ director of the Office of Emergency Care Research at the National Institutes of Health and author of Influenza : The Hundred-Year Hunt to Cure the Deadliest Disease in History , told Health.com that “ In public health , we measure something called the R0 ( pronounced ‘ R-naught ’ ) which is the average number of people infected by a person with the virus .
We are still not sure what the R0 is for coronavirus , but it appears to be about 2.0 , which is about the same as SARS .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ likely to change as we get better data.
” Estimations of the R0 for the new virus vary from 2.0 to 3.5 , while the R0 for the seasonal flu is about 1.3 , meaning that it is about twice as infectious as the flu .
The incubation period of the novel coronavirus is another unique trait that increases its ability to spread .
The seasonal flu has an incubation period of between 1 and 4 days on average , which means that someone gets sick just a few days after they are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the time of incubation of this new virus could be up to 24 or even 27 days , meaning that an infected patient could be walking around for a month infecting other people without even knowing that they are sick , which greatly increases the pathogen ’ s ability to spread .
COVID-19 is also much more dangerous than the flu .
The flu has a mortality rate of roughly .1 % , while the preliminary estimations of the mortality rate for the novel coronavirus are around 2-3 % or higher .
This @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in many ways , and it is orders of magnitude more contagious and deadly than the flu , but because there is some overlap in symptoms , there have been some misleading comparisons made between the two .
In the early days of the outbreak , many journalists and even some doctors suggested that we should be more concerned about the flu , citing the hundreds of thousands of people around the world who are killed each year by the seasonal virus .
These statistics are accurate , but once again , misleading @ @ @ @ @ @ @ many parts of the world , meaning that the virus is so widespread and has been around for so long that we have a very high chance of running into it .
The novel coronavirus has only been around for a few months , but if it were to become endemic , as the flu is , the infection rate and death toll for COVID-19 would far surpass the seasonal flu .
Now that it appears that the coronavirus could end up making roots in communities across the world and become endemic , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ flu comparison .
So far , two of the most reliable experts that I have found posting daily updates online are Dr. Eric Feigl-Ding and Dr. John Campbell .
John Vibes is an author and journalist who takes a special interest in the counter culture , and focuses solutions-oriented approaches to social problems .
He is also a host of The Free Your Mind Conference and The Free Thought Project Podcast .

Flu Comparisons And Other Myths Downplay The Dangers of COVID-19
John Vibes, Truth Theory
Waking Times
The COVID-19 coronavirus is a brand new pathogen that humans still don’t know much about. Scientists from around the world have been researching the cases since the outbreak was first reported to learn as much as they can and while there continues to be disagreements about the origin and severity of the illness, most experts seem to agree that this situation is not something to be taken lightly.
However, for a variety of different reasons, there has been an effort among politicians and some media pundits, to downplay the severity of the threat. Previous outbreaks like SARS or Ebola were contained before they created any major clusters in the United States or Europe, which has given many westerners a false sense of security that they are somehow safer from pathogens than the rest of the world is, as the New York Times pointed out in a recent article.
The SARS and Ebola outbreaks were still very serious problems in China and Africa, but many people abroad, especially in the US, believe that the threats of these illnesses were overblown by the media the time, simply because it wasn’t happening in their back yard. It has also been pointed out that COVID-19 seems far less deadly than both Ebola and SARS, but this is a bit misleading. SARS and Ebola may have an extremely high mortality rate in comparison to the new virus, but were both contained relatively quickly because they are not extremely easy to pass from human to human. Meanwhile, the novel coronavirus that causes the COVID-19 infection is much more transmissible than SARS or Ebola, and is even more contagious than the seasonal flu.
Jeremy Brown, MD, director of the Office of Emergency Care Research at the National Institutes of Health and author of Influenza: The Hundred-Year Hunt to Cure the Deadliest Disease in History, told Health.com that “In public health, we measure something called the R0 (pronounced ‘R-naught’) which is the average number of people infected by a person with the virus. We are still not sure what the R0 is for coronavirus, but it appears to be about 2.0, which is about the same as SARS. These are early estimates though and are likely to change as we get better data.”
Estimations of the R0 for the new virus vary from 2.0 to 3.5, while the R0 for the seasonal flu is about 1.3, meaning that it is about twice as infectious as the flu. The incubation period of the novel coronavirus is another unique trait that increases its ability to spread. The seasonal flu has an incubation period of between 1 and 4 days on average, which means that someone gets sick just a few days after they are infected.
Some studies have suggested that the time of incubation of this new virus could be up to 24 or even 27 days, meaning that an infected patient could be walking around for a month infecting other people without even knowing that they are sick, which greatly increases the pathogen’s ability to spread.
COVID-19 is also much more dangerous than the flu. The flu has a mortality rate of roughly .1%, while the preliminary estimations of the mortality rate for the novel coronavirus are around 2-3% or higher.
This virus is very different from the flu in many ways, and it is orders of magnitude more contagious and deadly than the flu, but because there is some overlap in symptoms, there have been some misleading comparisons made between the two.
In the early days of the outbreak, many journalists and even some doctors suggested that we should be more concerned about the flu, citing the hundreds of thousands of people around the world who are killed each year by the seasonal virus. These statistics are accurate, but once again, misleading. The seasonal flu is endemic in many parts of the world, meaning that the virus is so widespread and has been around for so long that we have a very high chance of running into it. The novel coronavirus has only been around for a few months, but if it were to become endemic, as the flu is, the infection rate and death toll for COVID-19 would far surpass the seasonal flu. Now that it appears that the coronavirus could end up making roots in communities across the world and become endemic, very few experts are still making the flu comparison.
So far, two of the most reliable experts that I have found posting daily updates online are Dr. Eric Feigl-Ding and Dr. John Campbell.
About the Author
John Vibes is an author and journalist who takes a special interest in the counter culture, and focuses solutions-oriented approaches to social problems. He is also a host of The Free Your Mind Conference and The Free Thought Project Podcast.


wakingtimes--2020-03-05--Genetically Engineered Food – the Lie That Won’t Die

Promises , promises , promises .
The toxic world of genetically modified organisms ( GMOs ) and industrial agriculture is built on false promises .
For nearly 30 years we have been listening to the propaganda of the big biotech companies like Monsanto/Bayer , Syngenta , DuPont/Pioneer , BASF and others about how genetic engineering will transform farming and food production .
We ’ ve heard how it will reduce the environmental impact of farming by lowering pesticide use .
We ’ ve been promised that it will increase the nutritional content of food .
We ’ ve been told @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by increasing yields , and that those increased yields will help “ feed the world.
” As the problem of man-made climate change has moved to the top of the global agenda , new promises have emerged about how GMOs will fight climate change and how genetic engineering will make plants more resilient to drought and flooding .
The huckster promises keep on coming , but what has the biotech industry actually delivered over nearly three decades ?
First and foremost , GMO crops were sold as a way of reducing on-farm pesticide @ @ @ @ @ @ @ introduced , there has been a dramatic increase in pesticide use on those crops worldwide .
Most GM crops fall into one of two types .
Pesticide “ resisters , ” or “ Roundup Ready ” crops , mostly corn and soya , are genetically engineered to withstand the spraying of Monsanto ’ s Roundup herbicide , the active ingredient of which is glyphosate .
Most recently , pesticide resisters have also been engineered to resist other highly toxic pesticides like dicamba and 2,4-D. GM crops have turned glyphosate into one of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ history .
According to the USDA , more than 90 % of the soybeans harvested on U.S. farms are genetically engineered to withstand herbicides like Roundup .
Pesticide “ producers , ” or Bt plants , which include corn and soya but also cotton , produce their own insecticides .
When an agricultural pest eats the crop , in theory , it will be poisoned and die .
But weeds and insects rapidly evolve to be immune to these poisons .
Most agricultural weeds have become resistant to Roundup , causing farmers to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ use of herbicides creates ever more “ superweeds ” and even higher herbicide use .
The increase was first seen in pesticide resisters .
A 2012 study out of Washington State University found that planting GM crops quickly resulted in herbicide-resistant “ superweeds ” and , as a result , increased herbicide use .
By 2016 , research from University of Virginia confirmed that glyphosate-resistant weeds have led to a 28 % hike in herbicide use on GM soybeans compared with non-GM .
This rise has also been reported in other countries such @ @ @ @ @ @ @ More recently , insects have begun to become resistant to the insecticides bred into pesticide products , causing farmers to use even more and more dangerous mixtures of pesticides to try and keep them under control .
Right now , more than ever , we need a healthy , biodiverse and functioning ecosystem — one that depends on a rich diversity of plants , animals and insects .
Agricultural land that is biodiverse is more productive and more able to cope with unexpected changes , for instance , in climate or cyclical levels @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Studies show that healthy soil can absorb and hold more CO2 than damaged soil .
But today ’ s modern industrial farming involves often-large tracts of land devoted to a single crop , known as monocultures .
In monocultures diversity is discouraged by the use of pesticides which keep every living thing , except the valuable crop , off the land .
In the U.S. , land converted to soy production has typically been pre-existing agricultural land and so is not linked to deforestation , as it is in South America .
But @ @ @ @ @ @ @ American prairies and analysis of satellite data has shown that between 2006 and 2011 , farmers in the Dakotas , Minnesota , Iowa and Nebraska had converted 1.3 million acres of grassland into soybean and corn production .
Research by the USDA ’ s Economic Research Service echoes this finding .
These monocultures are bad news for wildlife , reducing habitats for a wide range of wild creatures , from ground-nesting birds to pollinators like bees and butterflies .
They also are bad for farmers .
An in-depth investigation by The New York @ @ @ @ @ @ @ addition to increasing pesticide use , genetic modification in the U.S. and Canada has failed to bring the expected increases in crop yields .
This resonates with the findings of a 2016 National Academy of Sciences report that found “ there was little evidence ” that the introduction of genetically modified crops in the United States had led to yield gains beyond those seen in conventional crops .
Most recently , U.S. farmers have been suffering from a glut of soy , linked to ongoing trade disputes with China , which have resulted @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Equally important is the fact that GMOs have failed to feed the world .
The main by-products of GMOs are fats and sugars .
GMOs , when they ’ re not being turned into biofuels , are being turned into corn , soya and even cottonseed oil and sugars such as high-fructose corn syrup and beet sugar .
In other words , what GMOs have most successfully done is provide cheap , unhealthy ingredients for ultraprocessed “ ready ” meals , prepackaged foods and fast food restaurants .
All those monoculture crops and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , have consequences for the food we eat .
GMO crop monocultures lead to “ monodiets.
” Today just a handful of crops now dominant diets around the world .
This new monodiet has more calories and less nutrition .
It ’ s a dietary disaster that is accelerating the worldwide rise in noncommunicable diseases such as obesity , heart disease and diabetes .
That global diet is also more poisoned than ever before .
Glyphosate ( Roundup ) , is sprayed liberally on GM crops .
It is also regularly sprayed on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , maize and barley but also soya , rapeseed , sunflower seeds and chick peas , as a desiccant , to dry them out , before harvest .
There is also evidence that glyphosate and its toxic breakdown product AMPA ( α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid ) accumulates in foods like GM soy .
Laboratory tests in both the U.S. and Europe have found it in the popular ice cream brand Ben & Jerry ’ s , likely due to its cookie , cake and other cereal ingredients .
It is also a contaminant in honey @ @ @ @ @ @ @ other foods , especially those containing soy .
A recent laboratory analysis by Moms Across America found glyphosate residues in the new recipe Impossible Burger .
The levels of glyphosate and AMPA were low ( 11ppb ) but evidence from animal feed studies indicates that just 0.1 ppb of glyphosate can destroy gut bacteria .
Hardly surprising , then , that tests show 93 % of Americans tested were positive for glyphosate .
Worryingly high levels have been found in the breastmilk and urine of American mothers , as well as in their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ through breastmilk or the water used to make formula , this could impact infant health since glyphosate is a suspected hormone disrupter .
Other studies of animals fed GM foods and/or glyphosate show worrying trends including damage to vital organs like the liver and kidneys , damage to gut tissues and gut flora , immune system disruption , reproductive abnormalities and even tumors .
In March 2015 , when glyphosate was classified by the World Health Organization as “ probably carcinogenic to humans , ” not many could have been surprised .
Agrichemical @ @ @ @ @ @ @ safe .
But juries across the U.S. say otherwise .
Currently more than 40,000 people in the U.S. have filed lawsuits alleging exposure to Roundup is the cause of their cancer and in particular , lymphomas .
Once a rare cancer , the most common type of lymphoma , Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma , is now the seventh most common cancer in U.S. men and women .
The first three cases to go to trial resulted in a combined $ 2.424 billion in jury verdicts ( though this was subsequently reduced by judges ) .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ recent study showed convincing evidence of a link between glyphosate-based herbicides and endocrine disruption and genetic alterations commonly associated with the development of lymphomas .
One shocking fallout from the first glyphosate case to go to trial , that of Dewayne Johnson , was the unsealing of several previously classified documents .
The documents detailed Monsanto ’ s efforts to collude with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to cover up glyphosate ’ s cancer risks .
Out of 14 glyphosate studies reviewed by the EPA , which looked specifically at cancer in animals @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at least one organ or tissue .
Yet the EPA chose to dismiss these findings , and conclude that glyphosate is “ unlikely to cause cancer.
” Most recently another Monsanto legacy pesticide , dicamba , has hit the headlines .
In 2017-18 , “ dicamba drift ” was responsible for damage to an estimated 5 million acres of non-GM soybeans in 24 states , and numerous specialty crops and wild plants .
In February 2020 , in the first U.S. dicamba trial , a Missouri jury awarded $ 265 million in damages @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from a nearby GM soybean field killed their trees .
All these trials point to a health and environmental emergency and , yet , action at the federal level to curb the use of these toxic chemicals is sorely lacking .
Taking matters into their own hands , some states and local communities are beginning to ban or restrict the use of chemicals like glyphosate .
In 2018 , both Portland and the city of Austin banned it .
In 2019 Miami and Los Angeles County approved their own bans on city property @ @ @ @ @ @ @ use .
Beyond U.S. borders , more than two dozen countries including Canada , Argentina , France , Germany , Italy , Portugal and the U.K. have put bans and/or restrictions in place .
Ever since the first genetically modified ( GMO ) foods and animal drugs , the Flavr Savr tomato and recombinant Bovine Growth Hormpne ( rBGH ) , came onto the U.S. market in 1994 , the biotech industry has been waging a public relations war to get the public to accept genetically engineered food .
But studies continue to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ buy it , and doesn ’ t want to eat it .
Most are concerned about health , and rightly so .
Others are worried about the damage these crops cause to the environment .
These are legitimate concerns , as are those about corporate control of our food .
In fact , in the past few years some big and consequential mergers have taken place in the agri-biotech sector .
With these mergers the “ Big Six ” ( Monsanto , Bayer , BASF , Syngenta , Dow and DuPont ) became @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ChemChina-Syngenta , BASF ) further concentrating the majority of the power and profits of the seed and GM technology market into even fewer hands .
Media response to the proposed mergers has turned up a few surprises .
For instance , the normally ultraconservative and financially focused Bloomberg online news channel focused more on the dubious histories of Bayer and Monsanto , than on any benefits of the deal .
A more sober article in the Wall St Journal suggested this might be a good time to reconsider the path we are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ face of superweeds , higher seed prices and dropping yields , it argued , the GMO crop “ boom ” could well be over .
But the boom isn ’ t over yet and independent testing which reveals how much glyphosate is in our bodies and in our foods has become widespread .
Likewise , the Non-GMO Verified label is now as important as the organic label for consumers wanting to avoid GMOs in their foods .
It ’ s a testimony to the vehemence of public rejection , and the shameful inaction @ @ @ @ @ @ @ these independent backstops has grown .
In spite of all this , the agricultural biotech industry continues to advance with a new suite of genetic engineering technologies known as gene editing , which includes techniques such as CRISPR as well as synthetic biology and gene drives .
What makes these GMO 2.0 technologies different is they can create genetically engineered organisms more cheaply and more quickly than ever before .
Fronting up to critics and the farmers who are abandoning the GMO lie , proponents of synthetic biology claim we no longer need @ @ @ @ @ @ @ novel food products , including meat substitutes , from genetically engineered microbes in big vats in anonymous warehouses , we can improve the efficiency and sustainability of food production .
For anyone who believes that food should come from a living and connected ecosystem this is the grimmest of grim promises — a world without farmers and without farm animals , where the land is used for … what , exactly ?
This grim vision of food production has been given the nickname , the “ dark food chain , ” because it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ alarm bells are ringing as the biotech industry moves into other areas of the natural world .
A recent and alarming report from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature ( IUCN ) suggests that gene drives and synthetic biology could be used to revive declining or even extinct species , eradicate invasive species , improve soil by re-engineering soil microbes and therefore improve plant health and biodiversity .
It could engineer trees to absorb more carbon or to be resistant to diseases , such as the invasive fungus that plagues the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for pest management .
Farming is part of the much larger , connected web of nature .
What happens “ out there ” directly and indirectly affects what happens on the farm , which is why we need to challenge this troubling direction of travel for GMOs .
Strong regulation is there to protect us all — or it should be .
But new methods and proposed uses for GMOs have brought greater complexity to the regulatory sphere .
In some cases , as with the new gene-edited Calyno soybean oil , which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have given in .
In others , such as with proposed gene-edited farm animals , regulators really don ’ t know what to do .
USDA ’ s vague and confusing ‘ bioengineered ’ labeling scheme is a yet another case in point .
Biotech companies argue there is no point in regulating GMO 2.0 anyway since its products are so close to “ natural ” they no longer need to be tested or labeled as GMO .
This new “ naturalness , ” they claim , makes it impossible to tell gene-edited @ @ @ @ @ @ @ This is absolutely not true .
When genetic engineers create new GMOs , they must also create the processes to identify them — if only to monitor and verify their work .
Anyone can use these processes .
That ’ s just what happened in a U.S. Food and Drug Administration study , originally published in 2016 and republished in February 2020 , which found numerous off-target effects in gene-edited “ hornless ” cattle , including a strand of bacterial DNA which could pass on antibiotic resistance .
It concluded “ that both @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the potential for such unintended alterations to take place.
” A frank accompanying editorial explained further why regulation was important .
Following on from this , Belinda Martineau , Ph.D. , developer of the Flavr Savr tomato , noted that the GMO cow developers had the tools to find these mistakes for themselves , but incompetently failed to use them .
“ Such big mistakes made during the development of these ‘ poster children ’ GMOs , ” she wrote , “ make one wonder how carefully other , more run-of-the-mill GMOs @ @ @ @ @ @ @ years as well.
” Marteau went on to say that the data justify , in her mind , “ FDA ’ s intention to carry out mandatory premarket review of all gene-edited livestock and thereby regulate these GE products based on the fact that they were created using genetic engineering , ” adding “ I also think FDA should require premarket review of all GE crops as well.
” If , to coin a phrase , “ a promise is a debt unpaid ” then the biotech companies are racking up some serious @ @ @ @ @ @ @ society .
Out of their failure , however , has emerged the regenerative organic agriculture movement , a response to the growing awareness of the connection between agriculture and health , environmental destruction and climate change .
Regenerative agriculture refers to farming and grazing practices such as : • Reduction/elimination of tillage and use of synthetic chemicals • The use of cover crops , crop rotations , compost and animal manures • Integrating animals with perennial and annual plants to create a biologically diverse ecosystem on the farm • Grazing and pasturing animals @ @ @ @ @ @ @ using a planned multi-paddock rotation system • Raising animals in conditions that mimic their natural habitat It ’ s what every diligent farmer should be doing anyway and , formalized into a growing movement , these practices can improve biodiversity on the farm , enhance productivity , and even help tackle climate change by rebuilding soil organic matter and improving both carbon drawdown and improved water infiltration and storage in soils .
The truth is that conventional ( i.e.
, chemical and GMO-based ) farming needs to change .
The problems farmers face @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , toxic working environments — can ’ t be “ magicked ” away with genetic engineering .
In fact , GMOs just drive farming deeper into a failing , exploitative , chemically-dependent , industrial model .
In contrast , many see regenerative organic farming as the next evolving stage of organic farming , free-range livestock grazing and eco-system restoration .
Rather than promising future benefits , regenerative farming can be put into practice and deliver measurable benefits right now .
For the future ’ s sake , this is the path we need @ @ @

Genetically Engineered Food – the Lie That Won’t Die
Dr. Mercola, Guest
Waking Times
Promises, promises, promises. The toxic world of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and industrial agriculture is built on false promises. For nearly 30 years we have been listening to the propaganda of the big biotech companies like Monsanto/Bayer, Syngenta, DuPont/Pioneer, BASF and others about how genetic engineering will transform farming and food production.
We’ve heard how it will reduce the environmental impact of farming by lowering pesticide use. We’ve been promised that it will increase the nutritional content of food. We’ve been told how it will boost farmers’ profits by increasing yields, and that those increased yields will help “feed the world.”
As the problem of man-made climate change has moved to the top of the global agenda, new promises have emerged about how GMOs will fight climate change and how genetic engineering will make plants more resilient to drought and flooding. The huckster promises keep on coming, but what has the biotech industry actually delivered over nearly three decades?
Increasing Pesticide Use
First and foremost, GMO crops were sold as a way of reducing on-farm pesticide use. But since GM crops were introduced, there has been a dramatic increase in pesticide use on those crops worldwide.
Most GM crops fall into one of two types. Pesticide “resisters,” or “Roundup Ready” crops, mostly corn and soya, are genetically engineered to withstand the spraying of Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide, the active ingredient of which is glyphosate. Most recently, pesticide resisters have also been engineered to resist other highly toxic pesticides like dicamba and 2,4-D.
GM crops have turned glyphosate into one of the most widely and recklessly used herbicides in history. According to the USDA, more than 90% of the soybeans harvested on U.S. farms are genetically engineered to withstand herbicides like Roundup.
Pesticide “producers,” or Bt plants, which include corn and soya but also cotton, produce their own insecticides. When an agricultural pest eats the crop, in theory, it will be poisoned and die.
But weeds and insects rapidly evolve to be immune to these poisons. Most agricultural weeds have become resistant to Roundup, causing farmers to spray more each year. The heavier use of herbicides creates ever more “superweeds” and even higher herbicide use.
The increase was first seen in pesticide resisters. A 2012 study out of Washington State University found that planting GM crops quickly resulted in herbicide-resistant “superweeds” and, as a result, increased herbicide use.
By 2016, research from University of Virginia confirmed that glyphosate-resistant weeds have led to a 28% hike in herbicide use on GM soybeans compared with non-GM. This rise has also been reported in other countries such as Canada, Brazil and Argentina.
More recently, insects have begun to become resistant to the insecticides bred into pesticide products, causing farmers to use even more and more dangerous mixtures of pesticides to try and keep them under control.
Loss of Biodiversity
Right now, more than ever, we need a healthy, biodiverse and functioning ecosystem — one that depends on a rich diversity of plants, animals and insects.
Agricultural land that is biodiverse is more productive and more able to cope with unexpected changes, for instance, in climate or cyclical levels of plant diseases or invasive species. Studies show that healthy soil can absorb and hold more CO2 than damaged soil.
But today’s modern industrial farming involves often-large tracts of land devoted to a single crop, known as monocultures. In monocultures diversity is discouraged by the use of pesticides which keep every living thing, except the valuable crop, off the land.
In the U.S., land converted to soy production has typically been pre-existing agricultural land and so is not linked to deforestation, as it is in South America.
But, increasing demand for soy is destroying American prairies and analysis of satellite data has shown that between 2006 and 2011, farmers in the Dakotas, Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska had converted 1.3 million acres of grassland into soybean and corn production. Research by the USDA’s Economic Research Service echoes this finding.
No Benefit to Farmers
These monocultures are bad news for wildlife, reducing habitats for a wide range of wild creatures, from ground-nesting birds to pollinators like bees and butterflies. They also are bad for farmers.
An in-depth investigation by The New York Times in 2016 revealed that, in addition to increasing pesticide use, genetic modification in the U.S. and Canada has failed to bring the expected increases in crop yields.
This resonates with the findings of a 2016 National Academy of Sciences report that found “there was little evidence” that the introduction of genetically modified crops in the United States had led to yield gains beyond those seen in conventional crops.
Most recently, U.S. farmers have been suffering from a glut of soy, linked to ongoing trade disputes with China, which have resulted in low prices and farm bankruptcies.
Equally important is the fact that GMOs have failed to feed the world. The main by-products of GMOs are fats and sugars. GMOs, when they’re not being turned into biofuels, are being turned into corn, soya and even cottonseed oil and sugars such as high-fructose corn syrup and beet sugar.
In other words, what GMOs have most successfully done is provide cheap, unhealthy ingredients for ultraprocessed “ready” meals, prepackaged foods and fast food restaurants.
A Poisoned Plate
All those monoculture crops and all that spraying, especially with glyphosate, have consequences for the food we eat. GMO crop monocultures lead to “monodiets.”
Today just a handful of crops now dominant diets around the world. This new monodiet has more calories and less nutrition. It’s a dietary disaster that is accelerating the worldwide rise in noncommunicable diseases such as obesity, heart disease and diabetes.
That global diet is also more poisoned than ever before. Glyphosate (Roundup), is sprayed liberally on GM crops. It is also regularly sprayed on non-GMO crops, such wheat, oats, maize and barley but also soya, rapeseed, sunflower seeds and chick peas, as a desiccant, to dry them out, before harvest.
There is also evidence that glyphosate and its toxic breakdown product AMPA (α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid) accumulates in foods like GM soy. Laboratory tests in both the U.S. and Europe have found it in the popular ice cream brand Ben & Jerry’s, likely due to its cookie, cake and other cereal ingredients. It is also a contaminant in honey and in popular oat-based cereals and multiple other foods, especially those containing soy.
A recent laboratory analysis by Moms Across America found glyphosate residues in the new recipe Impossible Burger. The levels of glyphosate and AMPA were low (11ppb) but evidence from animal feed studies indicates that just 0.1 ppb of glyphosate can destroy gut bacteria.
Hardly surprising, then, that tests show 93% of Americans tested were positive for glyphosate. Worryingly high levels have been found in the breastmilk and urine of American mothers, as well as in their drinking water.
Passed on to babies through breastmilk or the water used to make formula, this could impact infant health since glyphosate is a suspected hormone disrupter.
Other studies of animals fed GM foods and/or glyphosate show worrying trends including damage to vital organs like the liver and kidneys, damage to gut tissues and gut flora, immune system disruption, reproductive abnormalities and even tumors.
In March 2015, when glyphosate was classified by the World Health Organization as “probably carcinogenic to humans,” not many could have been surprised.
Judgment Day
Agrichemical companies continue to claim that glyphosate is safe. But juries across the U.S. say otherwise. Currently more than 40,000 people in the U.S. have filed lawsuits alleging exposure to Roundup is the cause of their cancer and in particular, lymphomas. Once a rare cancer, the most common type of lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma, is now the seventh most common cancer in U.S. men and women.
The first three cases to go to trial resulted in a combined $2.424 billion in jury verdicts (though this was subsequently reduced by judges). The science supports these verdicts.
A recent study showed convincing evidence of a link between glyphosate-based herbicides and endocrine disruption and genetic alterations commonly associated with the development of lymphomas.
One shocking fallout from the first glyphosate case to go to trial, that of Dewayne Johnson, was the unsealing of several previously classified documents. The documents detailed Monsanto’s efforts to collude with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to cover up glyphosate’s cancer risks.
Out of 14 glyphosate studies reviewed by the EPA, which looked specifically at cancer in animals, eight found elevated cancer rates in at least one organ or tissue. Yet the EPA chose to dismiss these findings, and conclude that glyphosate is “unlikely to cause cancer.”
Most recently another Monsanto legacy pesticide, dicamba, has hit the headlines. In 2017-18, “dicamba drift” was responsible for damage to an estimated 5 million acres of non-GM soybeans in 24 states, and numerous specialty crops and wild plants.
In February 2020, in the first U.S. dicamba trial, a Missouri jury awarded $265 million in damages to peach producers Bader Farms when drift from a nearby GM soybean field killed their trees. All these trials point to a health and environmental emergency and, yet, action at the federal level to curb the use of these toxic chemicals is sorely lacking.
Taking matters into their own hands, some states and local communities are beginning to ban or restrict the use of chemicals like glyphosate. In 2018, both Portland and the city of Austin banned it. In 2019 Miami and Los Angeles County approved their own bans on city property, while Seattle agreed to restrict its use.
Beyond U.S. borders, more than two dozen countries including Canada, Argentina, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal and the U.K. have put bans and/or restrictions in place.
Consumer Awareness Rising
Ever since the first genetically modified (GMO) foods and animal drugs, the Flavr Savr tomato and recombinant Bovine Growth Hormpne (rBGH), came onto the U.S. market in 1994, the biotech industry has been waging a public relations war to get the public to accept genetically engineered food.
But studies continue to show that the public doesn’t buy it, and doesn’t want to eat it. Most are concerned about health, and rightly so. Others are worried about the damage these crops cause to the environment. These are legitimate concerns, as are those about corporate control of our food.
In fact, in the past few years some big and consequential mergers have taken place in the agri-biotech sector. With these mergers the “Big Six” (Monsanto, Bayer, BASF, Syngenta, Dow and DuPont) became the Big Four (Bayer-Monsanto, DowDuPont/Corteva, ChemChina-Syngenta, BASF) further concentrating the majority of the power and profits of the seed and GM technology market into even fewer hands.
Media response to the proposed mergers has turned up a few surprises. For instance, the normally ultraconservative and financially focused Bloomberg online news channel focused more on the dubious histories of Bayer and Monsanto, than on any benefits of the deal.
A more sober article in the Wall St Journal suggested this might be a good time to reconsider the path we are on, agriculturally speaking. In the face of superweeds, higher seed prices and dropping yields, it argued, the GMO crop “boom” could well be over.
But the boom isn’t over yet and independent testing which reveals how much glyphosate is in our bodies and in our foods has become widespread. Likewise, the Non-GMO Verified label is now as important as the organic label for consumers wanting to avoid GMOs in their foods. It’s a testimony to the vehemence of public rejection, and the shameful inaction of government, that the importance of these independent backstops has grown.
The Lie That Won’t Die
In spite of all this, the agricultural biotech industry continues to advance with a new suite of genetic engineering technologies known as gene editing, which includes techniques such as CRISPR as well as synthetic biology and gene drives.
What makes these GMO 2.0 technologies different is they can create genetically engineered organisms more cheaply and more quickly than ever before.
Fronting up to critics and the farmers who are abandoning the GMO lie, proponents of synthetic biology claim we no longer need farmers to produce food. By creating novel food products, including meat substitutes, from genetically engineered microbes in big vats in anonymous warehouses, we can improve the efficiency and sustainability of food production.
For anyone who believes that food should come from a living and connected ecosystem this is the grimmest of grim promises — a world without farmers and without farm animals, where the land is used for … what, exactly?
This grim vision of food production has been given the nickname, the “dark food chain,” because it doesn’t need sunlight. Further alarm bells are ringing as the biotech industry moves into other areas of the natural world.
A recent and alarming report from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) suggests that gene drives and synthetic biology could be used to revive declining or even extinct species, eradicate invasive species, improve soil by re-engineering soil microbes and therefore improve plant health and biodiversity.
It could engineer trees to absorb more carbon or to be resistant to diseases, such as the invasive fungus that plagues the American chestnut tree, and re-engineer insects for pest management.
Farming is part of the much larger, connected web of nature. What happens “out there” directly and indirectly affects what happens on the farm, which is why we need to challenge this troubling direction of travel for GMOs.
Regulatory Apathy
Strong regulation is there to protect us all — or it should be. But new methods and proposed uses for GMOs have brought greater complexity to the regulatory sphere.
In some cases, as with the new gene-edited Calyno soybean oil, which can be sold without labeling, regulators have given in. In others, such as with proposed gene-edited farm animals, regulators really don’t know what to do. USDA’s vague and confusing ‘bioengineered’ labeling scheme is a yet another case in point.
Biotech companies argue there is no point in regulating GMO 2.0 anyway since its products are so close to “natural” they no longer need to be tested or labeled as GMO.
This new “naturalness,” they claim, makes it impossible to tell gene-edited products from conventionally produced ones anyway. This is absolutely not true. When genetic engineers create new GMOs, they must also create the processes to identify them — if only to monitor and verify their work.
Anyone can use these processes. That’s just what happened in a U.S. Food and Drug Administration study, originally published in 2016 and republished in February 2020, which found numerous off-target effects in gene-edited “hornless” cattle, including a strand of bacterial DNA which could pass on antibiotic resistance.
It concluded “that both scientists and regulators need to be alert to the potential for such unintended alterations to take place.” A frank accompanying editorial explained further why regulation was important.
Following on from this, Belinda Martineau, Ph.D., developer of the Flavr Savr tomato, noted that the GMO cow developers had the tools to find these mistakes for themselves, but incompetently failed to use them.
“Such big mistakes made during the development of these ‘poster children’ GMOs,” she wrote, “make one wonder how carefully other, more run-of-the-mill GMOs have been developed over the last 25 years as well.”
Marteau went on to say that the data justify, in her mind, “FDA’s intention to carry out mandatory premarket review of all gene-edited livestock and thereby regulate these GE products based on the fact that they were created using genetic engineering,” adding “I also think FDA should require premarket review of all GE crops as well.”
Regenerative Agriculture — Action, Not Promises
If, to coin a phrase, “a promise is a debt unpaid” then the biotech companies are racking up some serious ethical, moral and environmental IOUs to society.
Out of their failure, however, has emerged the regenerative organic agriculture movement, a response to the growing awareness of the connection between agriculture and health, environmental destruction and climate change. Regenerative agriculture refers to farming and grazing practices such as:
Reduction/elimination of tillage and use of synthetic chemicals
The use of cover crops, crop rotations, compost and animal manures
Integrating animals with perennial and annual plants to create a biologically diverse ecosystem on the farm
Grazing and pasturing animals on grass and, more specifically, using a planned multi-paddock rotation system
Raising animals in conditions that mimic their natural habitat
It’s what every diligent farmer should be doing anyway and, formalized into a growing movement, these practices can improve biodiversity on the farm, enhance productivity, and even help tackle climate change by rebuilding soil organic matter and improving both carbon drawdown and improved water infiltration and storage in soils.
The truth is that conventional (i.e., chemical and GMO-based) farming needs to change. The problems farmers face now — failing soils, lower yields, toxic working environments — can’t be “magicked” away with genetic engineering. In fact, GMOs just drive farming deeper into a failing, exploitative, chemically-dependent, industrial model.
In contrast, many see regenerative organic farming as the next evolving stage of organic farming, free-range livestock grazing and eco-system restoration. Rather than promising future benefits, regenerative farming can be put into practice and deliver measurable benefits right now. For the future’s sake, this is the path we need to take.