Interesting stories from this past year related to the environment

While I am certainly no proponent of the politically correct global warming theory, there are certainly issues of stewardship and personal responsibility which we must address regarding our health and the environment. Here is one writer's review of stories from this past year, many of them in which I take particular interest.

Plastic - death by convenience

Plastic, that great invention of convenience is becoming a scourge. Report from BBC.
Years ago in Mexico, as I would see plastic bags scattered across neighborhoods and vacant lots, blowing in the wind, I began to develop a real disdain for the bags and have often thought that very term for plastic bags - scourge but they are just the tip of the iceberg of our irresponsible waste.

Plastic may take hundreds of years to breakdown but as it is breaking down it becomes smaller and smaller particles and molecules of the original toxic material. In the Pacific there is an area called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, GMA video. As these smaller and smaller pieces of plastic breakdown and become more numerous than plankton, animals begin to ingest them and thus these toxic chemicals find another way to enter the food chain. (Another way is through leeching into food stored or heated in plastic.) Here is a study on birds ingesting plastic.

Bisphenol A, one of the toxic substances in some plastics, has been reported to be linked to miscarriages in women with elevated levels of the toxin, video, some vulgar language.

Lot's more info...

Argentina - a blue print for the future of the USA?

Interesting article looking at Argentina's economic history and how the USA is heading in a similar direction.

Harvesting energy on the farm too.

Here is an article about what some are doing to produce energy for self-sustaining farms.

Truvia and the big business of highly processed foods

Wow, whenever I get on one of these tangents of researching health, food, or such subjects, I can spend hours finding and reading lots of scary info.
Truvia is a processed derivative of the natural sweetener Stevia. Why process a natural sweetener like Stevia? To obtain a patent and make money. Red flag enough to be concerned but I find references to Cargill, the maker of Truvia, using GMO-modified corn for one of the ingredients in Truvia. Here is an eye-opening article about Cargill.
Here are some articles looking at the problems with high fructose corn syrup.
Here is an article explaining more about GMO (genetically modified organisms) food.
I'm not saying that I base my life on what I read on the Internet but when that information points to a simpler life, more in harmony with God's creation then I will tend to agree.
May I suggest, read, educate yourself, look for locally grown, minimally processed foods.

The hype on vaccines

Here is another article on how vaccines are hyped up on their safety and effectiveness but really dangerous and ineffective.

Do you know the source of your meat?

Is your meat really what it claims to be and is it safe?
NY Times article

Here are my links for grass-fed meats from local producers. I encourage you to search for producers that are close to you or some from my list will ship to you.