FROM THE SWEET SONGS OF BIRDS to the scary business of GMO crops and our imperiled food supply, the latest links I’ve been stockpiling are all right here.
NO, THEY AREN’T SINGING HYMNS, or at least not the ones I grew up on, but the songs of all 750ish North American bird species, along with their profiles and vivid images, have been gathered into one oversized “bible” replete with built-in audio player.
I first heard about “Bird Songs Bible: The Complete, Illustrated Reference for North American Birds,” edited by Les Beletsky, featuring sound from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and published by Chronicle Books, in this NPR segment last month. One caveat: The book-cum-boombox (birdbox?) ain’t cheap (cheep?) at $125.
‘Millions Against Monsanto’ Campaign
IWON’T ELABORATE OR START SHOUTING, but rather leave it at this: One of the things that scares me most is GMO crops, whether in the field or in our food. The Organic Consumers Union offers education, and also an advocacy program (aimed squarely at Monsanto, of course, whom they label “the biotech bully”) to make it easy for us all to add our names to the fight.
DON’T MISS THE NON-GMO SHOPPING GUIDE at this link, speaking of getting educated.
ON A RELATED TOPIC, IS THERE ANY REAL FOOD in the supermarket? Blogger Darya Pino of Summer Tomato [dot] com created this flowchart (above) on how to find it in all those confusing aisles. Read her whole post.
THANKS TO MICHAEL POLLAN, author and evangelist, for the tipoff to Darya. His website offers a daily link you can subscribe to for those who want to stay alerted to related subjects Pollan finds in the many studies, news articles, and more that cross his desktop.
IF YOU BELONG TO A Way to Garden’s Facebook page, you’ll get these as I find them—often a week or two before I round a few favorites up here on the blog. Won’t you join us there? Come give it a Like, no?
i have to admit i really want that bird songs bible, but am afraid of its sheer bulk. and, like you said, it’s way pricey!! nice to now it exists, though!!
Welcome, Laguna Dirt. Tempting, right? :) See you soon again, I hope.
Have you seen or read “Food Inc.”? If not, I highly recommend it. The story about the farmers and GMO crops is heartbreaking. What these poor farmers who are just trying to make a living have to go through….
Welcome, JML, and yes, highly recommended; thank you for reminding us to be sure to see it/rewatch it. I see it has a website as well. Hope to see you again soon.
I am so glad you are mentioning GMOs — They are responsible for so much illness and disease today and not enough people even know what they are!
Here’ s another great site with Jeffrey Smith (author of Seeds of Deception) heading it up:
http://www.responsibletechnology.org/
OK, my latest reading find is Silence of the Songbirds. I heard Bridget Stutchbury, the author, on NPR. Couldn’t put it down. Have all my Master Gardener and envrionmental friends nagged into reading it. It’ll make you think about where you get your food from, if you haven’t already!
Love, love, love your newsletter.
Hello, Nora. Going to find it on Amazon, thank you.
Thank you for mentioning and spreading the word on GMOs Margaret!
Food Inc. raised my awareness and got me doing a lot of research. Subsequently I’ve completely changed how and where I shop and what I buy, including supporting local agriculture as much as possible. CSA, farmers market, grass-fed and organic is now my food mantra for everything I can’t grow myself.
Stay warm!
That flow chart….hysterical and so true!
Welcome, Kate Caruso. I know — and she has a lot of good information on her site as well, which I am just getting to know better. Hope to see you again soon.
Did you know that a biproduct of processing sugar beets is used to make glyphosate? And we wonder why the seed pimps are pushing GMO beets…. Nothin really makes u feel more rebellious then having ur own garden. It’s like giving all the GMO veggies at the store a big middle finger.
Welcome, Jorrie. Didn’t know that. You might be interested in this older article on non-GMO seeds, and this one about GMO alfalfa.