How exactly do you figure that out Lion. If you look at the fossil records
of the Mesozoic era it just seems possible to imagine that life may have
been a good bit more abundant then. But we are not talking about that.
Are we not loosing the most abundant part of the global ecosystem at an
increasingly fast rate at present.
How many species become extinct every hour of the day? What percentage of
the global biomass goes up in flames every year? To me that sounds as if our
global ecosystem is collapsing right now.
Here am I getting somewhat depressed about the sorry state of our good space
ship Earth. And you living on the same planet seem to think that things have
never been better. Unless I am missing something fundamental you are one
lucky guy.
John
----- Original Message -----
From: Lion Kuntz <lionkuntz@email.com>
To: wytze <geno@zap.a2000.nl>; John D'hondt <dhondt@eircom.net>
Cc: sanet <sanet-mg@ces.ncsu.edu>
Sent: Monday, April 10, 2000 12:48 AM
Subject: Re: Fw:higher nutrient levels in organic food
> Unless one has apprehended that life has been eating the planet for 3.7
billion years, and is more
> abundant now than ever, one cannot grasp how the sustainable micro-farming
paradigm works. It looks
> like a "miracle" or a "mystery", but it is verifiable by our senses and by
our prothestics
> (instruments). The real mystery, once one does see through to the
essential fact, is why one didn't
> get it sooner.
>
> ------Original Message------
> From: wytze <geno@zap.a2000.nl>
> To: John D'hondt <dhondt@eircom.net>
> Sent: April 9, 2000 8:15:35 PM GMT
> Subject: Re: Fw:higher nutrient levels in organic food
>
>
>
> Hi,
> Imo, the higher content of minerals in organic foods does not necessarily
mean
> that more minerals were taken from the soil. I could imagine that in
organic
> farming the circumstances are more plant-friendly and giving more
opportunity to
> the seeds to realise more of their potential. The minerals in the seed
partly
> come from soil I guess but there is a continuous truely alchemical process
of
> change happening in seeds and plants.
> >From what I heard human manure is very poor and should not be used on the
land
> and to my knowledge was also not used in ancient well performing
agricultural
> systems (but I am no expert on this last point).
> wytze
>
> John D'hondt wrote:
>
> > I can well believe this but one question springs immediately to mind.
How
> > can one maintain mineral content in organic soils if the first objective
in
> > (organic ) agriculture is to make a profit. The farmer exports his
produce
> > and his minerals and he brings only money back, which has a notoriously
low
> > mineral content.
> > Farmers may have to do better than that or sustainability may be no more
> > than a short lived fashion word.
> > There are/were some countries were farming has proven itself to be
> > sustainable for at least a few thousand years. But there the farmers
brought
> > the bodily wastes of their customers back to the farm together with a
little
> > money.
> > Rather impossible to realize in this urbanized, efficient world?
> > John
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: wytze <geno@zap.a2000.nl>
> > To: <sanet-mg@ces.ncsu.edu>
> > Sent: Saturday, April 08, 2000 3:56 PM
> > Subject: Fw:higher nutrient levels in organic food
> >
> > >
> > >
> > > Laurel Hopwood wrote:
> > >
> > > > Journal of Applied Nutrition
> > > > 1993; 45:35-39.
> > > > Organic foods vs. supermarket foods: Element levels
> > > >
> > > > Synopsis:
> > > > Over a 2 yr period, organically and conventionally grown apples,
> > potatoes,
> > > > pears, wheat, and sweet corn were purchased in the western suburbs
of
> > > > Chicago and analyzed for mineral content. Four to 15 samples were
taken
> > > > for each food group. On a per-weight basis, average levels of
essential
> > > > minerals were much higher in the organically grown than in the
> > > > conventionally grown food. The organically grown food averaged 63%
> > higher
> > > > in calcium, 78% higher in chromium, 73% higher in iron, 118% higher
in
> > > > magnesium, 178% higher in molybdenum, 91% higher in phosphorus, 125%
> > higher
> > > > in potassium and 60% higher in zinc. The organically raised food
> > averaged
> > > > 29% lower in mercury than the conventionally raised food.
> > > >
> > > > Laurel Hopwood
> > > >
> > > > ----
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