Going organic is proving to be a good investment for small and medium-sized farmers—and they are receiving some government protection against Big Agriculture as well.

via Got Data and Regs! | Energy Bulletin.

Thanks to Don Davis for sharing this interesting item: GE is sending these water purification units to Haiti.

“A single Sunspring unit is capable of producing 19,000 liters of drinkable water every day,” notes CBS news in its story about the shipment. “The units are quick to deploy and can be operational three hours after arrival.”

via Solar-powered water purification units ship to Haiti | GE Reports.

Everywhere in the world, women farmers face astonishing barriers. In the US, for example, American women farmers are currently suing the Department of Agriculture (Love v. Vilsack) for discrimination in agricultural loans. In much of Africa, for decades well meaning social agencies directed farm aid at men – rather than the people who actually grew the food. And yet, they keep on growing. And they are feeding us.

via She Farms : Casaubon’s Book.

The plan would take the approval of Congress.

via Cash For Caulkers Rebates: Obama Announces $6 Billion For Homestar Program.

Age of Stupid: Trailers: Original Theatrical Trailer from Age of Stupid on Vimeo.

Film – Gainesville Environmental Film and Art Festival.

Atrazine, one of the most commonly used and controversial weedkillers, can turn male frogs into females, researchers reported on Monday.

“Ten percent of the exposed genetic males developed into functional females that copulated with unexposed males and produced viable eggs,” the researchers wrote.

The European Union banned atrazine in 2004. The finding may add pressure to the United States to more closely regulate the chemical, used widely in agriculture.

“Approximately 80 million pounds (36,287 tonnes) are applied annually in the United States alone, and atrazine is the most common pesticide contaminant of ground and surface water,” the researchers wrote.

via Common weedkiller turns male frogs into females – Yahoo!7 News.

Each year an estimated 30 to 60 million coral reef fish are removed from tropical reefs and shipped halfway around the world for ornamental display in the United States and Europe. Along the way, many die. Their perilous journey takes them from their coral reef home to a diver’s net, to a boat, to a holding facility, to a jet plane, to an importer’s warehouse, then to a retail store. They make this trip largely in plastic baggies and boxes, the water replaced every few days to replenish oxygen and remove built-up waste.

Not surprisingly, the dirty water and stress take their toll. So to make up for the fish that die, divers take even more from the reef.

it’s not just fish populations that get destroyed. Coral reefs are structures produced by living organisms in oceans. The primary organisms typically are stony corals that secrete an exoskeleton of calcium carbonate, creating a reef that supports the corals and a huge variety of other animal and plant life. Divers often squirt cyanide into reefs to stun fish, making them easier to catch. Cyanide typically doesn’t kill the fish outright, but it does kill corals and other life on the reef. Divers also pry corals apart to find fish hiding in crevices, destroying a reef structure that took decades or centuries to build.

The good news and the bad is that this destruction is driven largely by demand in the United States and Europe. Because we created most of the demand, we can also change it.

via Living Green Magazine -Killing Nemo: Coral Reefs Being Destroyed to Fill Aquariums withColorful Fish.