Green Notes

Editor's Note: The real purveyors of doom for humanity is the green movement. The moderates among them believe the world’s population needs to be reduced by five or six billion people.  That’s the moderate wing of the movement.  Their policies on pesticides, so-called endocrine disruptors and genetically modified foods alone has literally killed tens of millions, sickened hundreds of millions and caused dystopia everywhere their policies have held sway. I’ve been following Jon Entine’s articles exposing the hysterical and speculative falsehoods spread by environmentalists about pesticides for years. For those who feel all this clabber about Colony Collapse Disorder is leading to another greenie predicted doom I think it worthwhile to ask ourselves this question: which one of their doom scenarios has ever come true? Which one of their "man made" catastrophes materialized? Which one of their many crises was ever based on anything except speculation, lies of omission and outright lies? Starting with Rachel Carson and her science fiction book, Silent Spring! Jon has published another expose on the unending misrepresentations of fact by the green movement with this home run article entitled:

Beemageddon? As hysteria over honey bees recedes, anti-neonic narrative refocuses on wild bees

 Jon Entine| July 16, 2015 | Genetic Literacy Project

 

Like the fictional parents in the edgy comedy show South Park who blame Canada for all of their woes, environmentals often coalesce around an issue and then come up with a simple but sometimes simplistic narrative to anchor their advocacy.  We’ve seen that with fracking, which is often blamed for massive groundwater pollution (the EPA has rejected that claim) and greenhouse gas threatening methane gas releases (rejected as a serious problem by numerous independent researchers). The decades long decline in the global frog population is often blamed on atrazine, although the decline is mostly occurring where atrazine is not used, and recent study by the leading anti-atrazine crusader has now found that exposure to atrazine made zero difference in frog health....... Many advocacy environmental groups and some journalists initially blamed GMOs for bee deaths, and some still make that claim, although there is zero evidence to back it up. When that didn’t get traction, their ire switched to a class of pesticides known popularly as neonics.

“It’s time to ban dangerous neonicotinoid pesticides,” read a headline in Mother Earth News. Highly charged words like “beepocalypse” or “beemageddon” began turning up everywhere on the Internet. As measured a reporter as NPR’s Dan Charles characterized bee health in 2013 as “a crisis point for crops.”....... A 2014 report in the journal Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (ETC) reviewed bee health over multiple years and reached a similar conclusion: “The epidemiological evidence from Europe shows no correlation of honeybee losses to pesticide use and indicates the presence of causal factors other than pesticides.”.......To Read More...

 

A New Pesticide-Free Way to Control Diamondback Moths
July 17, 2015 by Entomology Today 3 Comments

 

An article in the in the journal BioMed Central Biology describes a new pesticide-free and environmentally-friendly way to control diamondback moths (Plutella xylostella) with a “self-limiting gene.” The DBM is an invasive species and is a serious pest of cabbages, kale, canola and other crucifer crops around the world.  The self-limiting gene technique, developed by the British company Oxitec, has already been trialed against dengue fever-carrying mosquitoes, successfully reducing their populations by over 90% in Brazil, Panama and the Cayman Islands — an unprecedented level of control by any method, and one that is leading to municipal projects following approval….To Read More…..

Editor's Note:  You may find the comments interesting.  RK

New Sand Fly Species and Potential Vector of Leishmaniasis Discovered by Navy Entomologists
July 15, 2015 by Entomology Today Leave a Comment

A team of U.S. Navy entomologists has discovered a new species of sand fly in Peru. These flies are tiny, but some of them pack a big punch — they’re known vectors of leishmaniasis, a disease that attacks both animals and humans.  The new species of sand fly was collected during an ecological study of arbovirus vectors in Peru, and is described in an article published in the Journal of Medical Entomology. The new species was given the name Lutzomyia nautaensis. It is named after Nauta, a village located at the origin of the Amazon River……To Read More……

With Will Saletan’s Slate takedown of anti-GMOers, liberal debate about GMO benefits now over
Jon Entine | Genetic Literacy Project

It has not been a good year for the fast shrinking core of fervent anti-GMO activists who continue to maintain that crop and animal biotechnology is dangerous or offers no sustainability benefits or is not a powerful tool to address global food needs.  Sure, there are still high profile opponents and enablers, such as Gary Hirshberg, founder of Stonyfield Organic, once respected for his integrity and independence, but now a poster child for quack science; Michael Pollan, the foodie who apparently feels obliged to share with his hundreds of thousands of followers every crackpot anti-GMO study that shows up up on Greenpeace’s website; black swan economist Nassem Taleb, who has no background in science, let alone genetics, yet continues to promote doomsday GMO scenarios; and sure, even once admired organizations like Consumer Reports and the Union of Concerned Science, which have doubled down on their selective anti-GMO rants....... Believe it not, belying the title, the tone of the piece is moderate to a fault. Saletan’s critique is all substance. It’s such a sad and scary story, because the anti-GMO holdouts, like jihadists who believe they are on the side of god, are actually on a societal suicide mission with the more vulnerable and science as their targets.  Yes, Gary Hirshberg, Michael Pollan, Nassem Taleb, Consumer Reports, Union of Concerned Scientists and Greenpeace: you have blood on your hands - Literally......To Read More.....