[29]. “Certified GeoExchange Designer Course,” International Ground Source Heat Pump Association,
http://www.igshpa.okstate.edu/training/cgd.htm
[30]. “Nuclear Power by Country,” Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power_by_country
[31]. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, “Atoms for Peace,” December 8, 1953, http://www.iaea.org/About/history_speech.html
[32]. “Backgrounder on the Three Mile Island Accident,” U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, April 7, 2009, http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/3mile-isle.html
[33]. Wm. Robert Johnson, “Chernobyl Reactor Accident, 1986,” June 11, 2006, http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/nuclear/radevents/1986USSR1.html
[34]. “Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Accident, Detection and Monitoring,” Answers.com, http://www.answers.com/topic/chernobyl-nuclear-power-plant-accident-detection-and-monitoring
[35]. “Chernobyl Death Toll Grossly Underestimated,” Greenpeace International, April 18, 2006, http://www.greenpeace.org/international/news/chernobyl-deaths-180406
[36]. “Chernobyl - Appendices: Positive Void Coefficient,” World Nuclear Association, March 2001, http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/chernobyl/voidcoef.htm
[37]. “Chernobyl Forum,” International Atomic Energy Agency, February 3, 2003, http://www-ns.iaea.org/meetings/rw-summaries/chernobyl_forum.htm
[38]. “Health Effects of the Chernobyl Accident,” World Heath Organization, 2006, www.who.int/ionizing_radiation/chernobyl/en/
[39]. “Nuclear Power in the United States,” Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power_in_the_United_States#Worker_safety
[40]. “Safety Indicators Show U.S. Nuclear Industry Sustained Near-Record Levels of Excellence in ’07,” Nuclear Energy Institute, April 14, 2008, http://www.nei.org/newsandevents/newsreleases/safetyindicators/
[41]. Geoffrey R. Howe, Lydia B. Zablotska, Jack J. Fix, John Egel, and Jeff Buchana, “Analysis of the Mortality Experience Amongst U.S. Nuclear Power Industry Workers After Chronic Low-Dose Exposure to Ionizing Radiation,” Radiation Research 162 (November 2004): 517–526.
[42]. Zbigniew Jaworowski, M.D., Ph.D., D.Sc., “The Truth About Chernobyl Is Told,” 21st Century Science and Technology Magazine, Winter 2000–2001, http://www.21stcenturysciencetech.com/articles/chernobyl.html
[43]. “Confirmed Death Toll in Dam Disaster Rises to 69,” AFP, July 23, 2009, http://www.france24.com/en/20090823-sayano-shushenskaya-russia-siberia-hydroelectric-plant-accident-death-toll-69
[44]. Edmund H. Mahony and Eric Gershon, “Five Killed in Connecticut Power Plant Blast,” Los Angeles Times, February 8, 2010, http://articles.latimes.com/2010/feb/08/nation/la-na-conn-blast8-2010feb08
[45]. Howard Berkes, “Massey, Federal Officials Investigated In Mine Blast,” National Public Radio, April 30, 2010, http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126422117
[46]. Patrick Jonsson, “C’mon, How Big Is the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill, Really?” Christian Science Monitor, May 1, 2010, http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2010/0501/C-mon-how-big-is-the-Gulf-of-Mexico-oil-spill-really
[47]. “Tooth Fairy Project,” Radiation and Public Health Project, http://www.radiation.org/projects/tooth_fairy.html
[48]. L.A. Andryushin, N.P. Voloshin, R.I. Ilkaev, A.M. Matushchenko, L.D. Ryabev, V.G. Strukov, A.K. Chernyshev, and Yu.A. Yudin, “Catalog of Worldwide Nuclear Testing,” Begell House, July 18, 1999, http://www.iss.niiit.ru/ksenia/catal_nt/4.htm#Table8
[49]. “History of Nuclear Weapons Testing,” Greenpeace International, April 1996, http://archive.greenpeace.org/comms/nukes/ctbt/read9.html
[50]. “Fact Sheet on Radiation Monitoring at Nuclear Power Plants and the ‘Tooth Fairy Issue,’” U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, August 5, 2009, http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/rad-monitoring-and-tooth-fairy.html
[51]. Seymour Jablon, MA; Zdenek Hrubec, ScD; John D. Boice, Jr, ScD, “Cancer in Populations Living Near Nuclear Facilities,” Journal of the American Medical Association, March 20, 1991, http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/reprint/265/11/1403.pdf
[52]. “Backgrounder on the Three Mile Island Accident,” U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, August 11, 2009, http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/3mile-isle.html
[53]. “Background Radiation,” Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Background_radiation
[54]. Dr. Douglas Chambers, Review of the Report, “Exposure to Radiation and Health Outcomes” June 2009 by Dr. Mark Lemstra; A Report Commissioned by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (Saskatchewan office) and the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses, Canadian Nuclear Association, August 2009, http://cna.ca/english/pdf/studies/ReviewDrDouglasChambers09.pdf
[55]. Edward J. Calabrese, “Hormesis: A Revolution in Toxicology, Risk Assessment and Medicine,” European Molecular Biology Organization, October 2004, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1299203/
[56]. Keith Johnson, “Radford: New Greenpeace Boss on Climate Change, Coal, and Nuclear Power,” Wall Street Journal, April 14, 2009, http://blogs.wsj.com/environmentalcapital/2009/04/14/radford-new-greenpeace-boss-on-climate-change-coal-and-nuclear-power/
[57]. “Statement from Chairman Dale Klein on Commission’s Affirmation of the Final DBT Rule,” U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, January 29, 2007, http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/news/2007/07-013.html
[58]. “La Hague: Recycling Used Fuel,” Areva, 2010, http://www.lahague.areva-nc.com/scripts/areva-nc/publigen/content/templates/Show.asp?P=13&L=EN
[59]. “Japan’s Nuclear Fuel Cycle Facilities,” Japan’s Nuclear Power Program, http://www.japannuclear.com/nuclearpower/fuelcycle/facilities.html
[60]. “Nuclear Information, Comparison of the US-India and US-Japan Nuclear Cooperation (123) Agreements and Their Relationship with US Laws and International Frameworks,” July 26, 2007, http://kakujoho.net/e/us_i_j.html
[61]. “Processing of Used Nuclear Fuel,” World Nuclear Association, July 2010, http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf69.html
[62]. “Safely Managing Used Nuclear Fuel,” Nuclear Energy Institute, January 2009, http://www.nei.org/filefolder/Safely_Managing_Used_Nuclear_Fuel_0109.pdf
[63]. “Very High Temperature Reactor,” Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Very_high_temperature_reactor
[64]. “Fast-neutron Reactor,” Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_neutron_reactor
[65]. “Small Nuclear Power Reactors,” World Nuclear Association, July 2010, http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf33.html
[66]. David Albright, “South Africa’s Nuclear Weapons Program,” Institute for Science and International Security, March 14, 2001, http://web.mit.edu/ssp/seminars/wed_archives_01spring/albright.htm
[67]. “List of States with Nuclear Weapons,” Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_states_with_nuclear_weapons
[68]. Michael Evans, “Obama and Medvedev Seal the Deal on Nuclear Arms by Phone,” Sunday Times, March 27, 2010, http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article7078003.ece
[69]. Matthew Bunn, “Reducing Excess Stockpiles: U.S.-Russian HEU Purchase Agreement,” Nuclear Threat Initiative, March 5, 2003, http://nuclearthreatinitiative.org/e_research/cnwm/reducing/heudeal.asp
[70]. Mary Beth Sheridan, “U.S., Russia Reach Deal on Disposing of Plutonium from Nuclear Weapons,” Washington Post, April 9, 2010, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/08/AR2010040805405.html
[71]. Lynn Sweet, “Obama Wants to Invest in Nuclear Energy: Transcript,” Chicago Sun-Times, February 16, 2010, http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2010/02/obama_wants_to_invest_in_nucle.html
[72]. Daniel Whitten and Hans Nichols, “Obama Said to Seek $54 Billion in Nuclear-Power Loans,” Bloomberg Businessweek, January 29, 2010, http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-01-29/obama-said-to-seek-54-billion-in-nuclear-power-loan-guarantees.html
[73]. Brandon Robshaw, “Why Your World Is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller,
by Jeff Rubin,” Independent, March 14, 2010, http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/why-your-world--is-about-to-get-a-whole-lot-smaller-by-jeff-rubin-1919283.html
[74]. “Oil Sands,” Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_sands
[75]. “Questions and Answers about the Alberta Tar Sands,” Greenpeace Canada, July 26, 2007, http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/recent/tarsandsfaq/
[76]. “Greenhouse Gas Emissions and the Oil Sands,” Government of Alberta, December 2009, http://oilsands.alberta.ca/documents/GHG_oil_sands.pdf
[77]. “Coal,” Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal (This website contains very good basic information about coal.)
[78]. Paul Voosen, “Frightened, Furious Neighbors Undermine German CO2-Trapping Power Project,” New York Times, April 7, 2010, http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/04/07/07greenwire-frightened-furious-neighbors-undermine-german-35436.html
[79]. David Bielo, “Enhanced Oil Recovery: How to Make Money from Carbon Capture and Storage Today,” Scientific American, April 9, 2009, http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=enhanced-oil-recovery
[80]. Katie Fehrenbache, “Five Questions for Vinod Khosla, Mendo Coast Current, January 30, 2008, http://mendocoastcurrent.wordpress.com/2008/01/30/fiv,e-questions-for-vinod-khosla/
[81]. “World Energy Outlook 2009 Fact Sheet,” International Energy Agency, ...... http://www.worldenergyoutlook.org/docs/weo2009/fact_sheets_WEO_2009.pdf
[82]. Ibid.
[83]. Malou Innocent, “The Iraq War: Still a Massive Mistake,” Cato Institute, April 5, 2010, http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=11658
[84]. “World Energy Outlook 2009 Fact Sheet,” International Energy Agency, http://www.worldenergyoutlook.org/docs/weo2009/fact_sheets_WEO_2009.pdf
[85]. James Martin, “Gas Prices in Europe—European Gasoline and Diesel Prices,” About.com, http://goeurope.about.com/od/transportation/a/gas_prices.htm
[86]. Lester R. Brown, “Lowering Income Taxes While Raising Pollution Taxes Reaps Great Returns,” Earth Policy Institute, April 7, 2010, http://www.earthpolicy.org/index.php?/book_bytes/2010/pb4ch10_ss2
Chapter 16 -
Food, Nutrition, and Genetic Science
Before the advent of agriculture humans were hunters and gatherers, who relied on nature to produce their food and fiber. It is generally accepted that agriculture first emerged in the Fertile Crescent of the Middle East about 10,000 years ago. There the ancestors of modern cattle, sheep, and goats were farmed and wheat, barley, oats, and flax were first cultivated, making it possible for humans to abandon a nomadic lifestyle and settle permanently in towns and cities. Eventually agriculture arose independently in other regions: in Asia, where it was based on chickens, pigs, and rice; in Central and South America, where it centered on corn, beans, peas, and potatoes; and in Sub-Saharan Africa, where it was based on millet and cassava.
Ever since farmers began to raise plants and animals for food, the most successful ones have cultivated seeds from the most desirable plants and have selectively bred the most desirable animals. As each of the many hundreds of species brought into cultivation and animal husbandry were adopted, a process of improving them began to better serve the needs of domestication and the human diet. The many qualities of domesticated plants and animals are called traits. Faster growth, sweeter flesh, disease-resistance, drought- tolerance, higher content of various nutritional ingredients, longer shelf-life, bigger fruit, more tender meat—these are examples of desirable traits in food. The desire and the competition to improve on the original wild species has been a principle driving force in the advancement of agriculture since it began 10,000 years ago.
During those 10,000 years, through selective breeding we have transformed hundreds of originally wild species into varieties that barely resemble the original wild strain. Today corn, or maize (Zea mays) is the most widely cultivated crop in the Americas. Yet scientists do not agree which species of wild grass was first cultivated and selectively bred into the many varieties of corn we have today.[1] The sweet corn we now take for granted as a summer treat is found nowhere in nature; it is purely a product of human engineering. This illustrates both the plasticity of genetic material and the ingenuity of farmers.[2]
Consider the Brassicas, also known as the cabbages. From a single species of wild ancestor, Brassica oleracea, 10 of the most important vegetables have been bred. Cabbage, kale, collard greens, Chinese broccoli (kai-lan), Brussels sprouts, kohlrabi, broccoli, broccoflower, broccoli romanesco, cauliflower, and wild broccoli are all derived from the same species. In addition, bok choy, Chinese cabbage, turnips, rutabaga, rapeseed (canola), mustard, radish, daikon (the most widely cultivated vegetable in Japan), horseradish, wasabi, arugula, and watercress have been bred from very closely related species in the same family of plants.[3]
All the varieties of cattle farmed today originated from their now extinct wild ancestors known as the aurochs (Bos primigenius). Over the years the descendents of the aurochs were also interbred with species of yaks and bison to form hybrids that today are entirely distinct from their progenitors.[4] Goats, sheep, pigs, horses, and other domesticated animals have similar histories.
There are 24 billion chickens in the world today, about four for every human on earth. Chickens outnumber any other species of bird. These have all descended from the wild bird, Gallus gallus, thought to have originated in northern Thailand. They too have been bred to grow faster, lay more eggs, and be thoroughly domesticated to serve the human need for food.
The species of fish and shellfish only recently brought into cultivation in marine aquaculture provide an interesting contrast to the plants, animals, and birds that have been farmed for thousands of years. The salmon, shrimp, tilapia, scallops, oysters, mussels, and other aquaculture species now farmed around the world are still very similar to their wild relatives. They have only been bred for a few generations. As time goes by and they are selected for desirable traits, they too will become distinct from their origins, more suitable for domestication and providing superior nutrition.
Transformation of the Land
Since agriculture began, and in particular during the past few centuries as our population soared, farming has transformed more than one-third of the earth’s land surface into landscapes that produce food.[5] About 12 percent is used for growing crops while the balance serves as pasture and grazing lands. Clearing native forests and other natural ecosystems for agricultural purposes has had a significant impact on the earth’s environment, a more significant impact to date, perhaps, than all the CO2 we have emitted over the past 100 years. The effect on biodiversity has been particularly severe. In the past, agricultural clearance was one of the primary causes of species extinction. For example, a number of species became extinct in the Western Australian Wheat Belt due to rapid and extensive clearing. It is hardly surprising that clearing and completely altering landscapes for the production of food would have a major impact on biodiversity. One of the most important elements of modern sustainable agriculture is the conservation of as many native species of plants and animals in the agricultural landscape as is reasonably possible. This never includes agricultural pests, however. Any farmer who is crazy enough to try to save the insects that are devouring his or her produce will not have the financing to plant another crop.
There are a few things about agriculture we must accept. Along with air and water it is the primary requirement for our survival. Rather than simply decrying the negative impacts of farming, a sensible environmentalist will recognize the significance of food to our survival. Even today millions of people don’t have enough food, or enough of the foods that keep you healthy. Therefore the overall objective of sustainable agriculture should be to continue to feed the human population while at the same time working to reduce the negative impacts of farming. We must increase the production of food as the population grows, while at the same time developing techniques to minimize impacts on biodiversity, soil fertility, an
d water quality. This is one of our greatest challenges as agriculture by its very nature radically alters ecosystems. Simply put, we must learn to be better gardeners of this earth.
Intensive Agricultural Production
On April 30, 2002, I joined Nobel Peace Prize recipient Dr. Norman Borlaug, former U.S. senator George McGovern, former president of Costa Rica Dr. Oscar Arias, Dr. James Lovelock, and others in signing a Declaration in Support of Protecting Nature with High-Yield Farming and Forestry.[6] The signing ceremony took place in Washington, D.C., at the Center for Global Food Issues and received extensive media coverage.
Our purpose was clear. We all wanted the world to know one of the best ways to protect nature is to employ modern intensive agricultural practices; these include the use of fertilizers, pesticides, GPS systems, and genetic science. This is not obvious to many people, who might feel the best way to protect nature would be to adopt organic farming and to reject synthetic chemicals and high technology. The problem with this approach is that it’s simply not possible to grow as much food on an area of land with organic methods as it is with modern farming techniques. The more food we can produce on a given area of land, the less native forest must be cleared to grow it. One benefit of higher productivity is improved economic efficiency but from an environmental perspective the real benefit is that less land is converted from nature to food production.
Over the past 100 years, through advances in technology, chemistry, and genetics, we have learned to produce about five times as much food per unit of land. Imagine if we went back to the practices of 100 years ago; it simply wouldn’t be possible to grow as much food as we do today because, even if we cultivated every suitable place on earth, there would not be five times as much land. But regardless, some people feel genuinely concerned about so-called chemical fertilizers and pesticides and genetic modification. Let’s look at these things in more detail:
Confessions of a Greenpeace Dropout: The Making of a Sensible Environmentalist Page 37