For more info, follow the following link:

http://www.thedeal.com/corporatedealmaker/2008/08/monsanto.php

I had to take a little break from writing and editing in order to attend to life. This post was actually written a couple of months ago but is just as relevant today.

My last post about Monsanto included an embedded video from the French documentary “The world according to Monsanto” originally taken from the Internet Archive’s website. It didn’t take long for that copy to stop functioning and apparently many more versions around the internet including ones on Youtube(apparently all taken down – done so by the producer of the video or Monsanto no-one knows!). It looks as if for the time being, we can see the film on YouTube. The embedded video is part 1 of 8 so please make sure to check out the person who posted the video to see the rest of the footage. An amazing wakeup call to this company who single-handedly will be shaping the future of our collective health..

I don’t want to go on a bashing spree about a company which is ultimately run by fellow human beings who for one reason or another are not at a mental and conscious level to fully understand the harmful impacts of their acts even with preponderance of readily available information both in print and on the internet about the safety and health-effects of their products. Similar to how our parents who in the past only knew how to raise us to the best of their abilities and based on their conscious level at that time, we ultimately can’t blame these workers at these forms of companies either for they too are on their learning journey. A company with so many lives(ie. years in existance) is a living being and therefore we must collectively work to make sure that the offsprings of this being, much like our own children, can grow to be of higher consciousness so that they too have the opportunity and ability to change the world for the better.

The direction I’m wanting to steer this post towards however is the relationship between Monsanto and what some would coin the “Green Movement”. How is it that one of the most notorious companies, fought by so many environmentalists(see for yourself in the video) has stories on their website such as “Monsanto’s Biofuels Story — Food and Fuel: It’s not an “either/or” equation” with language that you’d normally see on a “green” blog or green news site such as GreenBiz.com? How is a company such as that connected with “green/clean-tech” companies such as reported in this article from Monsanto. Similarly how the big agricultural firm ADM makes an equity investment into a Bio-bases lubricant company. These examples show just the extent to which big agricultural and bio-engineering firms are now embedding themselves with the growing list of seemingly clean-tech/green companies. Is there anything to worry about you say? I won’t even go into the food supply impact but as more and more of our non-edible products such as building and manufacturing materials, special fluids including fuel, are going to be coming from plant based sources, its going to be critical that we pay attention to how and where these plants are grown. These companies clearly represent entities who are in the business of creating new life-forms made at the lowest price, to be sold at the highest price and with zero disregards for human and planet safety. As apposed to the downstream pollution of the petroleum era, we may soon be faced with an era where we will no longer be able to find plants that are not genetically altered, seeds that can’t be provided to poor or rich countries without patent licenses to companies like Monsanto or lands no longer profitable for anything other than for growing specialty crops to feed our new “green” lifestyle, our new biodegradable plastics, our “green” polymers, and lets not forget our compostable plasticware and green fuel at the pump. In terms of seeming opposition to nature, disregard to societal values and negative impact on world health, Monsanto, ADM and the likes may just be the Chevron, Mobil, Shell, BP of the future(if they’re not already there).

To finish this train of thought, I recently came across this chart showing the amount of crop land the US needs to convert in order to put a dent in our current oil consumption diet … it doesn’t look pretty. If companies such as Monsanto have anything to do with it, they will soon have proprietary, patented genetically modified blends of seeds and herbicides that will go after that market..

Now that I can write with a bit more presence and humility, I do want to point out that today we still as a species need to bring greater awareness to our acts in the name of progress and sustainability. I don’t know what is the right balance when it comes to bio-fuels, the subject of my last post. Do we want to see the earth, its resources in the form of the soil to be depleted so that our cars are fueled? Do we want to see the same pesticides and herbicides that have been devastating the farm lands of the world to be used once again in creating bio-diesel? Is this where food needs to be diverted to for progress? What is progress and who decides if we’ve attained it? I find in times like this it helps to listen to as many sides as possible. In the following excerpt, wisdom from indigenous people of the world is one such viewpoint I’d like to share with you.

Last week 3000 worldwide delegates met at the seventh session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues where Bolivian President Evo Morales gave the keynote address. I wanted to provide you with an excerpt of an interview session with Democracynow.org and Evo Morales regarding bio-fuels:

[Link to entire interview - text and audio/video]

JUAN GONZALEZ(Interviewer): You have raised some criticisms of some other Latin American leaders. You didn’t name any, but it’s obvious to many that some of your questioning is directed at presidents like Lula of Brazil, who has pushed biofuels. Have you talked to President Lula about this? And what’s been his response, if you have?
PRESIDENT EVO MORALES: [translated] We have had discussions at summits of heads of states, sharing some of our experiences. I am certain that these presidents will understand the cry of the people of Bolivia, of the people of Latin America and the whole world, which wants to have more food and not more cars. First food, then if something’s left over, more cars, more automobiles. I think that life has to come first.
But the most important thing—and this is the first time that I find I’m in agreement with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund—they’ve publicly stated that if food prices are going up, it’s precisely because of the biofuels question, and it has a major impact. So if we have these points of agreement, then we have an obligation to together explain and persuade these international organizations, together with the social movements, so as to be able to change the policies of some governments or some presidents.

[See my retraction] 

The mother of the first post was a conversation I had with a good friend of mine during a green/sustainability event in December 2007 at the law firm of Hansen and Bridgett in San Francisco where Taylor Francis a student of Al Gore was giving a presentation on global warming. The conversation with my friend, who happens to be a sustainability consultant, centered around eating meat and it’s impact on global warming. His contention was that we needed to decrease or even eliminate our consumption of meat in order to reduce the CO2 emissions (Methane given off by cows and deforestation of land for cow pastures). He felt that changing our diet would be no issue given that many people today are happy and healthy being vegan. In fact Taylor Francis, during his presentation which was created by Al Gore and his team, included a suggestion for everyone to cut down on their meat consumption. After the story about the recalled beef hit the news, I not only felt absolute sadness for the animals that were miss-treated and needlessly slaughtered but I also felt that this bit of news may further increase the anti-cow farming sentiment from some in the green/sustainability movement.

Knowing how unhealthy most beef in the world is raised and farmed it comes as no surprise to me that it is also not the most environmentally sustainable. In order to have a sound judgment about meat consumption, we need to look at this practice both universally and holistically. I feel CO2 reduction is not a justification for people to go out and stop consuming animal food. To look at this issue consciously we can’t unleash blanket statement such as the ones that I heard that evening. If in our discourse, we continue to bundle together all cows, all cow farmers, all cow farming practices, and all our collective bad eating habits and diets, then we are surely going to come up with conclusions that are at best erroneous, and at worst counter-productive. Can reducing our consumption of meats reduce the impact on atmospheric CO2, absolutely. Is it not a more conscious act to reduce our consumption based on our understanding of our body and soul’s needs and genuine and heartfelt respect for animals vs. through fears of global warming? Specially if both routes have the potential to bring about the same desired effect of reducing CO2 emissions?