How to make emergency drinkable water
1. In case of a water emergency you need to clean containers with water containing 1 teaspoon of Clorox per gallon
2. Then you can use rainwater, stream water or any water you can find in the containers.
3. If the water is dirty, you can filter it using an old T-shirt or coffee filters.
4. Then with an eyedropper add eight drops of Clorox per gallon of water and let sit 45 minutes before using.
5. make copies of this; gave to neighbors; and attach to Clorox container. Clorox starts to go bad after a year.
Have fun in your water emergency,
Dave Ashley
Tuesday, March 24, 2015
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Saturday, March 7, 2015
Carbon Sequestration - The Climate Change Solution
Carbon Sequestration - The Climate Change Solution That Virtually All
Climate Activists Ignore
By Dave Cummings
3.7.2015
The year 2015 has been
declared the International Year of Soils. Rarely do you hear climate activists
address the issue of soil and land regeneration.
The global landscape is
changing, and food security is no longer a given, even if you have plenty of
available land. Water scarcity is getting worse as aquifers are drained faster
than they can be refilled. California has been tapping into its underground
aquifers to make up for the lack of water. At present, nearly 60% of the
state’s water needs are being met by groundwater that does not have time to
recharge at the same rate it is being used. Soil erosion and degradation is
rapidly getting worse. Air and water pollution are worsening. Land is turning
desert at a rapid clip, and with it, we’re losing bio-diversity of both plant
and animal life. Everything is getting more toxic, and according to a wide
variety of scientists we are looking at no more than 50-60 years’ worth of
topsoil left.
In 2012 Time Magazine
interview, University of Sydney professor John Crawford discussed this issue,
noting that about 40% of the agricultural soils around the globe is currently
classified as degraded or seriously degraded. “Seriously degraded” means that
70% of the topsoil (the layer of soil in which plants grow) has already
disappeared. The reason for the erosion and degradation is farming methods that
remove carbon from the soil and destroy the microbial balance in the soil
responsible for plant nutrition and growth. And at the present time topsoil is
being lost 10-40 times faster than nature can regenerate and replenish it
naturally. Today agriculture accounts for 70% of our fresh water use.
Under a business as usual
scenario, degraded soil will mean that we will produce 30% less food over the
next 20-50 years. This is against a background of projected demand requiring us
to grow 50% more food, as the population grows.
Synthetic nitrogen
fertilizers add to the problem by turning soil carbon into carbon dioxide
(CO2). Scientists from the University of Illinois analyzed the results of a 50
year agricultural trial and found that synthetic nitrogen fertilizer resulted
in all the carbon residues from the crop disappearing as well as an average
loss of around 10,000 kg of carbon per hectare per year. The researchers found
that the higher the application of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer the greater
the amount of soil carbon lost as CO2. This is one of the major reasons why
conventional agriculture systems have a decline in soil carbon while organic
systems increase soil carbon.
When soil is bare there is
no photosynthesis and very little biological activity. Bare soils lose carbon
and nitrogen, nutrient cycles become dysfunctional, aggregates deferiorate,
structure declines and water-holding capacity is reduced. Bare fallows,
designed to store moisture and retain nutrients, become self-defeating.
Nitrogen application also
pollutes water supplies. The USDA estimates that the cost of removing nitrate
from U.S. drinking water is more than $4.8 billion per year, while nitrogen
run-off from farmland is the single largest source of nutrient pollution
contributing to the massive ‘dead zone’ in the Gulf of Mexico.
Carbon Sequestration is an
Important Part of the Solution
There is an obvious answer
to all of these concerns. Unfortunately, too few are giving it the attention it
deserves, if they’re paying it any attention at all. The answer is to alter our
agricultural practices in such a way as to return and confine organic matter
and carbon in the soil. This will help by regenerating the soil, increasing
crop yields, reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, less water usage with no
till and crop covers, and reduce air and water pollution by lessening the need
for herbicides, pesticides, and synthetic fertilizers.
We cannot continue in this
impasse of an oil dependent food production system. At present most governments
around the world are subsidizing and/or promoting a food production system that
is unsustainable. Moreover, it’s done at the cost of both human and
environmental health.
As noted by Professor
Crawford, modern crop breeding and genetic engineering is also exacerbating malnutrition
and hunger rather than alleviating it. Take wheat for example, which today
contains half the micronutrients of older strains. The same goes for fruits and
vegetables of all kinds. Most are bred or engineered to withstand pests. Very
little attention has been paid to the nutrient content, which has precipitously
fallen. In a previous interview with Dr. August Dunning, he presented data
showing that in order to receive the same amount of iron you used to get from a
single apple in 1950, by 1998 you had to eat 26 apples! The reason for this is
in part due to the excessive use of glyphosate. The United States alone applies
200 million pounds of glyphosate to croplands each year. Worldwide, more than
one billion pounds of glyphosate are used each year. This broad-spectrum
herbicide effectively chelates minerals from the soil, making the minerals
unavailable for plants. It’s also a potent antibiotic that decimates crucial
soil biology responsible for nutrient uptake. as stated by Professor Crawford.
The focus has been on
breeding high-yield crops which can survive on degraded soil, so it’s hardly
surprising that 60 percent of the world’s population is deficient in nutrients
like iron. If it’s not in the soil, it’s not in our food. Significant progress
is technically possible and quite straightforward. First-off I’d
focus on getting carbon back into the soil, by reversing bad farming
practices like tillage, nutrient mismanagement, removing stubble and
over-grazing. In the longer term, breeding targets need to focus more on human
nutrition as well as productivity, and on traits that improve the soil.
The Solution for Reversing
Soil Degradation
A recent paper in the
journal Sustainability presented “an optimistic strategy” for reversing
soil degradation. The authors discussed how, by focusing on soil health, a
number of pressing problems can be successfully addressed and showed how
nutrient availability in soil can be increased, producing high yielding, high
quality crops. Also crops can be naturally protected from pests, pathogens and
weeds.
And restoring the water
cycle in our environment, by sequestering carbon in our soils, will not only
make our food supply more secure, it can also help to moderate changes in
climate. Sequestering carbon in the soil will not only lessen the carbon
dioxide load in the atmosphere. Once in the soil, the carbon does many
beneficial things, including holding water. A mere one percent increase in
organic soil carbon means an acre of land can hold an additional 20,000 gallons
of water. If water can be kept in the soil, that land is supporting life.
Moreover, any rain that falls will also be more effectively absorbed and used,
rather than evaporating into the air or eroding away the soils by rapid
runoff.
Holistic grazing is a
crucial part of regenerative land management. Done properly it can radically
increase cover crop diversity, top soil microbes. At present, a staggering
two-thirds of the landmass on earth is turning into desert, and cattle grazing
is part of the answer to stop and reverse this loss of land.
Last year a few of us
heard about the TED TALK which told the story about the killing of 40,000
African elephants which were destroying the land. Out of this came a new
rebuilding plan in which the elephants grazing land was managed to rebuild the
soil. The result was a fantastic sight of deserts turning back into lush growth
with the land now retaining a lot of carbon and water. What a huge effect this
would have on the planet if it were applied everywhere.
Aside from the
environmental harm being done by confined animal feeding operations and
chemical dependent agriculture, the current food production system also takes
an incredible toll on human health. Many kids are not getting the nutrients
they need in order to thrive, especially in the US where nearly 40 percent of
children’s diets come from added sugars and unhealthy fats. Only 21 percent of
youth aged 6-19 eat the recommended five or more servings of fruits and
vegetables each day.
Ingredients that are of
poor nutritional quality to begin with, and often contaminated with hazardous
chemicals, are being further destroyed via extensive processing. Sugars,
harmful processed fats, and chemicals are then added for taste. And people
wonder why diseases that once appeared only in middle age and beyond, such as severe
obesity, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and even liver disease, are now
so prevalent among our youth.
The sustainable solution
for good human and ecological health is to focus on carbon sequestration. It’s
a solution that can address most of the pressing problems we currently face,
including climate change, water shortages, and lack of food security. So why
don’t major climate activists get on board with regenerative farming
enthusiasts?
I hope in 2015 - the
International Year of Soils - they will.
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