While the Shutdown has monopolized the news cycles this week, a few other articles & posts have caught my attention, that I’d like to share with our readers:
Monsanto Strikes Again
Monsanto is a huge corporation that produces genetically modified seeds for farmers. They are best known for things like suing farmers that accidentally have Monsanto seed in their crops, because they’ve been cross-pollinated from neighboring farms. Where I live we also have a controversial, highly contaminated brownfield area known as “the Monsanto parcel” because Monsanto contaminated the ground and river, making it almost cost-prohibitive to reclaim this property, right on the border with Boston.
Now Monsanto is buying a company called “Climate Corporation” that provides insurance for farmers based on weather data. Read about it in Business Week:
and in Forbes:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/bruceupbin/2013/10/02/monsanto-buys-climate-corp-for-930-million/
The Evils of Buying Chocolate
This is one of my BIG ISSUES. And no, I do not mean the fact that eating chocolate is making me fat (which it is). I do my best to not buy chocolate that has child slavery – or any kind of slavery – in its process line. When I blogged about my 3 Ingredient Chocolate Fudge recipe, I explained why I was so excited to find responsibly sourced chocolate chips at Costco. I also have promoted a source of Vegan, local, fair trade, organic chocolate, on-line. Chocolate.com. Read my tips on how to use their site to find local chocolate.
Another blogger I read beat me to the punch this year writing about the evils of child labor in the chocolate industry. Rather than re-writing this information, I’ll point you to Simplemom.net’s article: Chocolate: the industry’s hidden truth (and the easy stuff we can do to still enjoy it)
Health Insurance and Obamacare
The public’s reaction to the latest step in the implementation of Obamacare is amazing. I wrote a post earlier this week to help people find where to get real information and sign up. It is simply amazing to me now that you can’t be denied health insurance for pre-existing conditions. Breastfeeding supplies and birth control are covered for everyone. There are new subsidies for low and moderate income families. This is a revolution in the American Health Care Industry. Read more at Cutting Through the Health Insurance Propaganda. The marketplaces have been so overwhelmed by customers that this weekend (Oct 5-6, 2013) the system is down during the middle of the night so they can do upgrades to the system. Also, the help lines are getting more staff as of Monday.
Have any articles or posts particularly caught your eye this week? Please share them in the comments!
Happy Greening,
Alicia
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