UN allegedly says even you can have the body of a third worlder; yumm crunchy.

In the future, according to the 1973 Charlton Heston sci-fi film Soylent Green, we’ll all be eating recycled people. Although that’s an unlikely scenario (in most parts of the world, anyway), our capability of farming animals for food as we do currently en masse is not suited to sustain the anticipated population explosion. Nor has factory farming ever really been an ecologically responsible method for producing food.  And while the vegan diet may in fact be a natural choice for many, there already are—and will soon be a whole lot more people regularly eating insects.

Developing countries already consume insects and larvae on a daily basis, and bugs have been considered delicacies to many throughout history. Scientists are now suggesting that eating bugs is not only healthy and better for the planet, but our only real long-term option for non-vegetable protein sources.

In a recent edition of the Wall Street Journal, entomologists studying insects for human food consumption from Wageningen University in the Netherlands, Marcel Dicke and Arnold Van Huis, wrote that, “Raising insects for food would avoid many of the problems associated with livestock.” They suggest that insects, which are cold-blooded, require less feed than cows and pigs who turn food into energy to maintain body temperatures. Yields are greater, too. Bugs require less water than animals, and ten pounds of feed can raise six pounds of insect meat compared to just one pound of beef.  >>>more<<<

One way or another Monsanto is going to get you!

Monsanto’s combination of genetically modified seed and Roundup herbicide was supposed to ensure that crops across America grew tall while weeds were laid low. Some 15 years later, most of the corn, soybeans and cotton cultivated in the U.S. stems from these Roundup Ready seeds. But a growing number of these crop acres are also reluctant hosts of Roundup-resistant “superweeds.” Repeated application of the herbicide has literally weeded out the weak weeds and given the rare resistant weeds the opportunity to take over. The situation, according to a reportpublished last Friday in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Sciences Europe, has driven growers to use larger quantities of Roundup, more often and in conjunction with a broader arsenal of other weed-killing chemicals.

Overall, the new study estimates that the engineering of crops immune to the same chemical compound that poisons weeds, and of crops capable of producing their own insecticides, has resulted in an additional 404 million pounds of toxic pesticides doused on U.S. fields between 1996 — when genetically modified organisms (GMOs) were first introduced as farm crops — and 2011. That’s about a 7 percent increase. >>more<<

Monsanto, the world’s largest agriculture seed producer, is under fire after scientists in the U.S. recently discovered what they believe to be a case of crop-eating bugs developing a resistance to the company’s genetically modified corn plants.  Some researchers believe that the discovery validates concerns that biotech crops could spawn new species of pesticide-resistant super-bugs.  Among Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) circles, reports of this phenomenon have sparked discussions about the importance of corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies when it comes to environmental issues.

This is also not the first time that Monsanto has faced criticism for marketing products that have the potential to cause serious environmental damage.>>more<<

Fried Grasshoppers

Many approaches have been employed in curbing the cases of obesity, which continue to skyrocket. But how about eating bugs? According to a UN report, it may be the next best weapon against obesity.

Sure, the thought of eating insects is enough to make anyone lose weight, but it’s actually a very common practice throughout many Asian and African nations. According to the UN, nearly 2,000 species of bugs are regularly eaten by humans.

The UN’s Forestry Department, which is part of the organization’s Food and Agriculture Organization, looked at the nutritional breakdown of insects such as grasshoppers and termites, and found that while many insects fared the same in protein and minerals as meat, the bugs provided healthier fat than animal products. The presence of healthy, less saturated fats in insects are important to a healthy diet, whereas fats in meat (and some dairy) products, are believed to be a major contributing factor to obesity and obesity-related illnesses, including heart disease and high cholesterol.

“In the West we have a cultural bias, and think that because insects come from developing countries, they cannot be good,” said scientist Arnold van Huis from Wageningen University in the Netherlands, one of the authors of the report.

But the trend is catching on. Reuters reports that restaurants throughout Europe—a region known for its fine dining—are beginning to present insect-based dishes on menus as exotic delicacies.

According to the World Health Organization, obesity rates have doubled since 1980, affecting half a billion people world wide.  >>>more<<<

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