Andy Revkin has a post related to a conference I (and numerous other journalists) also attended this week. Due to computer challenges (my laptop died on Tuesday) and other obligations, I haven't yet been able to post on any of the sessions. But I'll get something up by Monday. I'm still digesting it all. Meanwhile, for those who care to engage the intertwined issue of sustainability, agriculture, and genetically modified organisms (GMO's), Andy's diplomatic post is a good primer. Or if you're looking for something with less gloss and more zing, this Dot Earth commenter doesn't disappoint:
Nice, detached kid-gloves comment about the luddite European Union. Dude, the world is amidst a new green revolution everywhere... except Europe. Most of the planet is planting GM crops and saving water, avoiding pesticides, avoiding much of oil-fabricated fertilizer, yielding more food per planted acre, etc... except Europe. Why are the Europeans so anti-green, anti-ecological? They can't even say GM foods have any deleterious health effect, because we have been eating the stuff for 20 years! The other striking thing about your post is how you gloss over the 4 of every 10 rows of U.S. corn that are now destroyed into ethanol and needlessly burned on U.S. cars. You could feed over 600 million people alone on this immense green environmentalist man-made ecological disaster alone. For shame, really.
Yes indeedy, when it comes to biotechnology and GMO's, I'd say that Europe has a bit of groupthink problem. One might even say...anti-science?
