Don’t believe Monsanto’s greenwashing. Genetically modified organisms (GMOs), aren’t meant to feed the world or be resiliant  when there are droughts and floods — they’re designed to sell  pesticides, especially Monsanto’s weed killer RoundUp, which the “Roundup Ready” crops, corn, cotton, soy, canola, and now sugar beets and alfalfa, are genetically engineered to resist.

A 2009 study showed that, over the last 13 years, Roundup Ready crops have dramatically increased herbicide use by 383 million pounds!

Before Obama took office, the movement to stop new GMOs was making progress. In 2007, a Federal court ruled that the Bush USDA’s approval of Roundup Ready alfalfa violated the law because it failed to analyze risks such as the contamination of conventional and organic alfalfa and the development of “super-weeds.” The court banned the planting of GE alfalfa until USDA completed a rigorous analysis of these impacts. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals twice affirmed the national ban on Roundup Ready alfalfa planting, but Monsanto is appealing. They’re taking producers of organic alfalfa seed all the way to the Supreme Court!

Now, OCA’s worst fears — about what would happen if the man who was Biotech Governor of the Year, Obama’s USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack, was put in charge of new genetically modified crops — are coming true. Vilsack is trying to get the court-ordered ban on Roundup Ready alfalfa lifted by issuing a new draft environmental impact statement (EIS). This sets the stage for Obama Administration approval of Roundup Ready alfalfa.

Alfalfa is the fourth most widely grown crop in the U.S. and a key source of dairy forage. The first perennial crop to be genetically engineered, GE alfalfa can regenerate itself from its root-stock. It is open-pollinated by bees, which can cross-pollinate at distances of several miles, spreading the patented, foreign DNA to conventional and organic crops. GMO-contamination of organic alfalfa is inevitable if the Obama Administration successfully commercializes Monsanto’s GM alfalfa.

Consumers who ingest Roundup Ready alfalfa genes are risking their health; according to the EIS, “acute toxicity in mice was observed.”

According to the EIS, consumers who ingest Roundup may experience “general and non-specific signs of toxicity from subchronic and chronic exposure to glyphosate includ[ing] changes in liver weight, blood chemistry (may suggest mild liver toxicity), liver pathology, and weight of the pituitary gland.”

The EIS warns that, “Based on upper estimates of exposure … infants consuming fruit and all age groups consuming vegetables may be at risk of adverse effects associated with acute exposure to glyphosate residues.”

Consuming milk and meat from animals fed crops that are genetically engineered is also risky. In a survey of milk products sold in stores in Italy, results from the screening of 60 samples of 12 different milk brands demonstrated the presence of GM maize sequences in 15 (25%) and of GM soybean sequences in 7 samples (11.7%).

Consumers are going to want to avoid Roundup Ready alfalfa, but according to the EIS, we don’t have that right because, “At the present time, there is no policy regarding the unintended presence of GE material in organic products or food, consistent with the fact that the NOP is a process-based program for certifying a farm or production system as organic, and not a product-based program that tests or certifies individual products as organic.”

We can’t let the Obama administration take away our right to GMO-free food. Please send Secretary Vilsack a letter by clicking “GO!”

all nitrogenous species. Having originated in China, this deciduous

tree can easily grow to 50 feet, often with leaves to 20 inches across.

This tree grows FAST.

* From planting to 5 years, it can be felled as a stable millable

timber, used for artistic carpentry, veneers, glory-boxes, cabinet

making, general lightweight furniture and musical instruments;

* from 5 to 10 years, it can be milled for projects requiring a more resilient timber, such as chairs and interior walls;

* from 10 years and on, it becomes millable as a hardwood for construction and structural quality timber;

* has a very high ignition point, and is also rot and warp resistant.

* At any point in its growth after 3 years, it can be utilized to make rather excellent charcoal, for artworks.

All of these qualities make it a rather attractive timber commercially.

Once cut, at any age, after having shed its stored nitrogen -

comparable to the biomass it has lost, the stump will re-shoot. The

shed nitrogen becoming fertiliser for the soil. The re-growth can then

be selectively pruned to re-start the whole plantation process.

Grazing animals find the leaves quite palatable, too, and it is not

uncommon to let them graze on the re-growth between the rows in

plantation systems.

Compatible plant species, with particular micro-environmental climatic

needs, such as coffee, cocoa, lychees, or any other understorey crop

for that matter, fare very well with this system. (more about this in

another article)

After the second or third season of growth (now at approx. 16 feet),

Paulownias start to flower, adding yet another fascinating dimension to

this remarkable tree.

The flowers, from lilac, or light mauve to white, are produced on

panicles about 18 inches long, or deep, remarkably similar foxglove

flowers.

As each flower falls from the panicle, they make an audible sound when

they hit the ground, they are so heavy. The flowers are a prime source

of bee food and subsequently produce a light, uniquely flavored, high

quality honey.

The seed-pod is fairly non-descript, other than that it is a dry pod

containing myriad minute seeds. (more on this in a following article)

The leaves, being huge, either green or spent, make an excellent mulch, or green manure, high in nitrogen.

There is also anecdotal evidence of the leaves being used in alternative therapies, such as a hedge against intestinal worms.

Paulownias will grow in poor to degraded soils and are often used as a

reclamation species. The only apparent specific growing needs being,

plenty of sun and a dislike of wet feet.

Being a very deep rooted plant, and a phyto-remediator species,

Paulownias take up and process contaminants present in ruined land, in

return delivering masses of organic material to bolster the land.

Due to the rapid rate Paulownia trees grow and their ease of

regeneration, they make an excellent primary reclamation species,

especially if incorporated with grazing animals.

Biomass builds phenomenally fast using this method, and reclamation of ecologically ruined land, is actually assured.

Indeed the paulownia is almost a miracle tree.

Organic Gardening Magic
Organic Food Gardening Beginners Manual
Compost – feed your plants as Nature really intended.

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/gardening-articles/paulownia-tree-organic-nitrogen-872219.html