News & Articles

When looking at our Earth today it’s undeniable that we as a Human species have made our mark. Whether by evolution or a higher power, we ended up rising above, dominating and conquering all ends of our planet. Ever since the Industrial Revolution, we have been on a fast track of growth in technology and world economy, but to what end?
Years ago, a friend once told me a quote that she was told Albert Einstein once said, “If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left.” It turns out Einstein probably didn’t say that, but the thought of how the existence of just a little creature could hold the fate of mankind resounded with me. The world has a balance and it’s hard to deny that a Capitalistic run society where we take from the Earth with increasing ferocity by the day has had its share of impacts on it. Rather than passing laws to slow this hemorrhaging of resources, laws are passed to ensure that this system stays in place and makes maximum profits from it. The worst part about it is that all of us who live in this society have little choice but to mostly just go along as being consumers with each one of us leaving our footprint on the world. Some have found ways to minimize their impact, but that seems to be the exception from the norm.
It’s no big secret that one thing that we as a Nation have grown dependent on is our need for oil. It’s not hard to look for examples of how our societal addiction to oil has had significant environmental impacts. Without even counting emissions from the vehicles that oil fuels, Exxon Valdez catching a reef and spilling up to 32 million gallons on to the Alaskan coast in 1989 and Deep Water Horizon in the Gulf Coast releasing up to 210 million gallons in 2010 are two of the more notable disasters. Most recently, an ExxonMobil tar sands pipeline burst in Mayflower, Arkansas on March 29. The details of who will be responsible for the cleanup hasn’t been determined since according to Congress, tar sands are not oil, although it’s even dirtier and more difficult to clean up. “There may be excellent reasons for providing incentives, such as providing jobs, generating revenues, or to ensure that we have accessible domestic supplies to meet high priority national needs should foreign supplies be disrupted. But those reasons, with the exception of protecting against supply disruptions, are not elements of an energy policy; more accurately, they are economic, social, or fiscal policies masquerading as an energy issue,” argues Mark Davis in his essay, Lessons Unlearned: The Legal and Policy Legacy of the BP Deepwater Horizon Spill. We’re not exactly extracting resources because we need to, we’re taking them because it’s profitable. The plans for mining in Northern Wisconsin and Minnesota have a similar outlook. Tony Hayward, the chief executive for BP during Deep Water Horizon, went on to be hired by Glencore, a company backing PolyMet which is working on setting up sulfide mines in the Boundary Waters to this day. Accidents happen, but the attitude seems to be more of “how can we deliver more, faster?” Rather than, “how can we do this in an environmentally safe and responsible manner?” Companies do often receive hefty fines in the wake of an environmental disaster, but the impact on other revenue making businesses who suffer because of an accident and emergency funding paid for by taxes brings up the question if it is all worth it. This isn’t to mention the decades of damage that it causes the environment and wildlife that lives in it, Dawn soap can only wash away so much. Dead zones and badly damaged coral makes up a lot of the Gulf of Mexico and that won’t be getting better any time soon no matter how much money is spent on the clean up process.   
Another environmental disaster associated with the oil industry is war. Iraq is littered with depleted uranium debris from munitions which has affected the health of civilians with things such as severe birth defects and has made the land unusable for the most part.  Fueling and building the war machine has used up countless resources that has been paid for by our taxes at the benefit to corporations and has landed the United States into debt that may never be paid off. In a 2013 CNN report by oil industry analyst, Antonia Juhasz, it notes, “Before the 2003 invasion, Iraq’s domestic oil industry was fully nationalized and closed to Western oil companies. A decade of war later, it is largely privatized and utterly dominated by foreign firms. From ExxonMobil and Chevron to BP and Shell, the West’s largest oil companies have set up shop in Iraq. So have a slew of American oil service companies, including Halliburton, the Texas-based firm Dick Cheney ran before becoming George W. Bush’s running mate in 2000.” In 2007, former head of U.S. Central Command and Military Operations, Gen. John Abizaid, admitted, “Of course it’s about oil; we can’t really deny that.” Tony Hayward’s venture firm, Vallares, merged with the Turkish company, Genel Energy, in September 2011 to create a multi-billion dollar company in Northern Iraq.
Perhaps an even more disturbing relationship between a major corporation and the U.S. Government is Monsanto. It is true that farmer’s have found success with Monsanto’s products but questions remain about the safety and sustainability of Genetically Modified foods and seeds. One of the areas of concern with GM crops is Bt toxin, a pesticide that has been genetically infused into seeds and grains. According to a research study titled GMO Myths and Truths conducted by Michael Antoniou, PhD; Claire Robinson, MPhil; and John Fagan, PhD, “aside from laboratory animals and human cells, GM Bt crops have been found to have toxic effects on butterflies and other non-target insects, beneficial pest predators, bees and aquatic and soil organisms.” One attractive aspect for the GM Bt crops is that versus Bt sprays, they have been more effective at killing “resistant insects” and they don’t wash off with rain or irrigation. A question that arrises is how long before insects start becoming resistant to the crops? There are reports that lice are becoming resistant to over the counter treatments and viruses have been especially known to become resistant to vaccines. The more we fight, the stronger nature gets and not always in a particularly good way.   
Other concerns include biodiversity and the stability of the products, “unintended, uncontrolled mutations occur during the GM process and complex interactions occur at multiple levels within the organism as a result of the insertion of even a single new gene‚ The unintended changes could include alterations in the nutritional content of the food, toxic and allergenic effects, poor crop performance, and generation of characteristics that harm the environment,” noted the study.
Ultimately even those who want to live self sufficiently with their own seeds will find difficulty in it because if surrounding Monsanto crops mix with a non-GM crop and strains of trademarked Monsanto seed DNA are found, a farmer can find themselves in court and it’s not hard to guess who has more money for a legal battle.
When it comes to regulation of GM foods, there is very little. Over a dozen Congressmen, Senators, and other officials in the EPA, USDA and FDA have worked with Monsanto as consultants, lobbyists and in Government affairs including former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, and current Deputy Commissioner for the FDA, Michael Taylor.
It wasn’t a surprise to see the “Farmer Assurance Provision,” which has been coined the “Monsanto Protection Act,” that was tacked on last minute to the “Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2013” get signed by President Obama on March 26. The rider that allows GM products to be planted and used without interference from the courts was not even reviewed by Agricultural or Judiciary Committees. Just who is supposed to be regulating GM foods seems to be an area of confusion for even those on top. “Monsanto should not have to vouchsafe the safety of biotech food. Our interest is in selling as much of it as possible. Assuring its safety is the FDA’s job,” said Philip Angell, Monsanto’s director of corporate communications in 1998. The FDA has stated just the opposite, “ultimately, it is the food producer who is responsible for assuring safety,” said the FDA in a 1992 policy statement on “Foods derived from new plant varieties.” Although the quotes are a bit dated, the lack of accountability and push for worldwide use of a product that has been noted to be harmful to humans, animals and the environment today seems concerning to say the least. On April 16 of this week, Monsanto entered into licensing agreements with Germany’s Bayer AG Crop Science Unit regarding soybeans to be used in Brazil and other Latin American countries. Stocks were up for both companies after the deal.  
In the end, our views towards the environment should have changed decades ago. Is it too late? It’s hard to say, but at the rate we’re going, things are looking bleak. When the bottom line comes down to profit in a global economy that is shaky, it seems that the Earth will continue to take on our mistakes and environmental accidents each step of the way. It’s likely that our kids and grandkids will have to eventually figure out the balance between profit and the environment, but until then, some CEO is probably going to make more money in a year than you will in a lifetime. Long live the bees.  

Sources:

Antoniou, Michael, Claire Robinson and John Fagan. “GMO Myths and Truths.” Ver. 1.3b. (Sections 2 & 3.6) June 2012. http://earthopensource.org/files/pdfs/GMO_Myths_and_Truths/GMO_Myths_and_Truths_1.3b.pdf
Boardman, William. “The ExxonMobil Tar Sands Oil Spill in Arkansas: Media Coverup.” April 12, 2013. http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-exxonmobil-tar-sands-oil-spill-in-arkansas-media-coverup/5331014
Davis, Mark. “Lessons Unlearned: The Legal and Policy Legacy of the BP Deepwater Horizon Spill.” 2012. http://law.wlu.edu/deptimages/journal%20of%20energy,%20climate,%20and%20the%20environment/3-2-6-Davis.pdf
Juhasz, Antonia. “Why the war in Iraq was fought for Big Oil.” April 15, 2013. http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/19/opinion/iraq-war-oil-juhasz