We live in a crazy world, that’s for sure. Many serious problems are now simultaneously coming to a head: groundwater depletion, pollution of groundwater with fracking, mining, industrial and agro chemicals, risk of nuclear war, concerns over Fukushima radioactive fallout. Experts say the oceans are expected to be depleted of sea life in just 30 years. (Most people now live near the oceans and rely on seafood for sustenance and income.)
As one reader recently pointed out, groundwater depletion is a major factor in deciding where to live. The depletion of the Ogallala aquifer in the central US, for example, is of major concern to many millions of people in Kansas, Texas, Nebraska, South Dakota and Colorado.
One more scary example is the government is threatening Azure Standard farm in Oregon to spray Monsanto’s GMO Roundup herbicide on their pristine organic farm, purportedly to control weeds. If the government gets away with this then there’s a good chance other organic farms across the country will be sprayed. This could wipe out commercial scale organic food production in the US.
I don’t want this article or our blog to turn into a ‘fear porn’ website so I’ll keep this short. We’ve all heard the dire problems over and over. But I did want to remind people to seriously consider having some sort of backup plan in case the economy or world in general gets out of control. In my opinion, a sustainable homestead with a good garden and clean water source is great to have in these troubled times. And as I’ve said before, you don’t need to live in the middle of nowhere. Choose a good rural location in or near a small town that has the services you need and a good supportive community of like-minded people.
Map source: USGS
Related: Maps for Choosing Safe Places to Live
The Azure farm situation is very serious. Maybe concerned citizens will rise up and block this particular attempt, but Monsanto has near unlimited funds to keep doing this over and over until they’re successful. Some day they may even successfully bribe politicians and policy makers to mandate the spraying of all organic farms. Then they may come for your little organic garden…
I agree. For now the situation is under control. There was a hearing this week and Azure was told county will work with them on alternate means of weed control that do not involve herbicides. The county received over 40,000 e-mails supporting Azure, including some from outside the US. That is why it is so important to take action when these situations arise. We definitely can’t just sit by and hope things will work out.
Great news. That’s what I was hoping to hear. But how long until Monsanto low lifes try this again? They would love to spray the whole world with their poison. Some people say toxic chemicals like this can be traced back to agent orange, the Nazis and the I.G. Farben company.