Published: August 06, 2009 07:55 pm      

Letters to the editor - Friday, Aug. 7, 2009

Change your ways, America, not policy

To what extent will government global warming policies intrude into our private lives? Plenty, if global warming alarmist-activists have their way. According to The Natural Resource Defense Council and Green peace (“Cultural Diversity,” KT, 8/3/09, p. A8), Americans’ use of ultra-soft and quilted toilet paper “imposes more costs on the planet than do gas-guzzling cars.” If they have their way, and they have mounted campaigns to have their way, then we can expect to be told what kind of toilet paper we can get and how much we can use.

In the same issue, Mr. Rick Parsons wrote that the cap-and-trade program is necessary and vital to combat global warming. Allow me to make the inaccurate assumption that there are absolutely no climatologists, other legitimate scientists, or high school biology teachers who question the methodology or conclusions of global warming studies, and that all scientists are in complete agreement with the resource recommendations Mr. Parsons provides. Applying this assumption, we can declare with alarm that the earth is in serious trouble and that, as Mr. Parsons writes, we must make drastic carbon dioxide emission reductions in order to save the planet.

Since this is the case, then Mr. Parsons must be thrilled with my last two published letters concerning steps to take that curb carbon dioxide emissions. I noted in my first that those alarmed over global warming need to live like me. If anyone needs a reminder of the specifics, the editor can pull my letter from the archive or I can resubmit. In my second letter, I recommended that all available public transportation in Kokomo and surrounding areas be thoroughly utilized. I see no need for high school parking lots to be filled with students’ vehicles when there is a school bus transportation system available. Perhaps Mr. Parsons should take away grade points from those students refusing to comply; call it grade-and-trade or something. And perhaps Mr. Parsons should recommend to his school board that a public transportation system be arranged for teachers and administrators as well. I hope that Mr. Parsons sees fit to join me in this crusade. We are, after all, out to save the planet.

Charles A. Layne

Bunker Hill

New studies on organic food

A July 2009 review published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition has found that 55 studies conducted since 1958 fail to show a significant difference in the amounts of 8 of 11 nutrients in organic vs. conventional food.

The news media reversed the meaning of this finding to leap to the conclusion that industrially produced food is as nutritious as organic.

Even putting aside the toxins that adulterate industrial food (pesticides, genetically modified organisms, growth hormones, antibiotics, and fertilizers made from chemicals or sewage, to name just a few), the conclusion that organic is not more nutritious belies common sense.

Nutrition comes from the soil. Industrial agriculture depletes soil.

Organic agriculture makes the soil richer. Soil degraded through industrial farming produces less nutritious food. Soil enriched through organic farming produces more nutritious food.

In North America, industrial farming practices have depleted 85 percent of the mineral content of the farmland. Every 28 years, 1 inch of topsoil is lost to industrial farming. Of 13 major nutrients in fruits and vegetables tracked by the U.S. Department of Agriculture from 1950 to 1999, six showed noticeable declines.

In contrast, organic farming can produce 6 inches of topsoil in as little as 50 years. The Organic Center found 97 studies conducted since 1980 show organic food contains, on average, a 25 percent higher concentration of 11 nutrients than conventional food. (New Evidence Confirms the Nutritional Superiority of Plant-Based Organic Foods, www.organic-

center.org/reportfiles/5367_Nutrient_Content_SSR_FINAL_V2.pdf)

As organic farming becomes more established, it will become increasingly clear there is no more efficient and sustainable way to restore and improve the nutrition of farm products than to enrich the health of the soil through organic farming.

Laura Cone

Kokomo