Little Changes Today is a conservation themed blog with weekly informative posts aimed at suggesting how you can personally improve the planet. Posts include weekly articles, species information and other interesting information to allow you to become more informed about the natural world.
Just a joke article however it does focus in on an important issue. With today social media facts are sent round which are completely rubbish. For instance I saw one recently on FaceBook claiming mars would appear the same size as the moon on the 27th August this year. This is of course a hoax however it is amazing how many people were commenting on how they could not wait to see it, without thinking about it for even a fraction of a second.
I'm not attempting to call these people stupid at all. All I wanted to say is you should never ever read anything on the internet and just assume it to be true, just a quick google search will usually verify the information from another source.
GM food is today's topic and as I’m sure you are all aware
this is an extremely controversial issue. It has most recently been in the
headlines due to the fact that it has been banned in Scotland, there will be
more about that in a bit.
I want to start however by telling you my opinion on GM
foods, I’m all for them and personally believe that they are and will be an
answer for increasing food production as demand increases. So sorry if there is
any bias in this post but I truly believe they are the way forward and I plan
to explain why.
Now as everyone should know GM stands for genetically
modified, this means that changes have been introduced into their DNA using the
methods of genetic engineering. It is the whole idea of changes which causes concerns
in some groups, a few of the larger organisations against GM foods are
Greenpeace, some religious groups/individuals and as stated before the Scottish
government. Their main arguments and dislikes of GM food are that it is not
natural and ‘against gods will’ and the more scientific argument being that could
open up the food type to new form of disease or
the GM crop might out compete the
native species if it was able to reproduce.
I want to start however by talking about the domestication
of animals instead of plants, which most people assume to be the focus of GM
food. Genetic modification has been going on for many thousands of years, since
man first captured and domesticated animals, they have been breeding for
bigger, or improving the production of their products such as milk. This in its
essence is what genetic modification is, the difference now days is genetic
manipulation is done in labs targeting specific genes instead of broad guesses
like domestication employs. This is a
sort of GM food which many of the people against seem to forget about, it’s not
just food however where animals have been genetically modified, animals such as
dogs have been undergoing the same process for many years. If you now look at
any modern day dogs compared to wolves there is a stark contrast between the
two species. Dogs have been going through genetic modification or human
directed evolution just like animals used in food production and this sort of
genetic manipulation is of very little concern to many people, some do not even
connect this selective breeding with the term genetic modification.
Enough on animals however as when you talk about GM food lots
of people's minds instantly just to a crop of some kind. I just wanted to point
on the fact that some form of genetic modification has been going on for many
thousands of years.
The first argument for GM food I’m going to bring to your
attention is Golden rice; this is famous cases, which causes much up roar. It
is strongly opposed by Greenpeace as they argue that “GE (genetically engineered) 'Golden' rice is environmentally
irresponsible, poses risks to human health, and could compromise food,
nutrition and financial security.” While others believe it’s amazing and in
2015 it was awarded Patents for Humanity award as it can save 2.7 million
children under 5.
Golden rice has been
developed to produce β-carotene which is then providing those who eat it with
vitamin A. Vitamin A is vital for developing children so they are able to
develop good vision and an strong immune system. 250 million preschool and
pregnant women are vitamin A deficient across the world, due to the majority of
their diet being rice or other carbohydrate rich foods which do not contain any
β-carotene. A 50g (dry weight) of Golden rice can now provide ~60% of the
Chinese recommended nutrient intake of vitamin A for 6-8 year olds, which is
why it’s capable of saving so many lives.
Now onto Scotland
has completely ban the use of GM foods within their borders, but they
aren’t the only European country to have at least some
form of ban on GM foods whether it is
just one particular crop or a collection of crops. For instance the majority of
countries in Europe have banned the cultivation of Monsanto’s maize MON 810, it
is however used across most of the rest of the world because it has been
genetically modified to be more resistant to insect attack. They achieved this
by inserting MON810 into the plant which produces the protein Bt toxin which is
poisonous to insects in the Lepidotera order. It is cases such as this that
anti GM food protestors argue against as they believe this new poison will be
damaging to the environment and ecosystem.
Scotland has banned
the cultivation of all GM food, because “it refuses to gamble with the future
of our £14 billion food and drink sector”, and because there was, “no evidence”
of any form of demand for GM food in Scotland. This is a questionable
declaration from Scotland as GM food have done so many good things across the
world saving so many lives, and although the service GM food provide are not
needed in Scotland, this sort of publicity is generally bad for GM food.
So overall I’m all
for GM food and I hope I have persuaded you that they are well worth using.
I want to leave you
with a couple of different facts; carrots used to be purple and are now orange
thanks to genetic modification of the
Dutch who wanted them to be the same
colour as their nation. Also the bananas which people eat everyday are nothing
like the original wild bananas whose body was filled with large inedible seeds.
The process of genetic modification has been going on for many thousands of
years and no one has raised an eyebrow, it is only once the process is sped up
in a lab that people find issue with.
Renewable energy needs to start playing a more substantial role in the worlds energy demand if we want to reduce and slow climate change.
Solar panels for houses are a brilliant idea and if you have the money I urge you to get them, it is an investment which will return the money you put in with free electricity and an small income (depending on the feed in tariff you are on) when any excess power you produce if feed into the national grid. However personal power use is nothing compare to some commercial use and so it falls to large business such as this airport to step up to begin to make a change.
I wanted to write about the Golden mole this week as I was
chatting about it a couple of weeks ago, and it’s something I don’t believe
many people know about.
The Golden mole is found in southern Africa and can be found
under nearly all environments such as grass lands, forests, swamps and deserts.
It is extremely comparable to the European mole with a similar physiology such
as strong powerful forelimbs and large feet and claws to aid with digging and a
narrow streamline body to help them speed through the soil. Although the Golden mole is so similar to the
European Mole they are found in completely different families, the European
mole is part of Talpidae while the Golden mole is found in the family
Chrysochloridae. It does not just stop there however these two moles both also
show extreme similarities with the marsupial moles found in Australia.
So the question is how are these animals so very similar? As
it isn’t just the same physiology which they share, they also share similar
diets, behaviour, senses and habitats. The answer is a process called
coevolution or convergence, this is when two different unconnected animals move
in to fill the exact same niches which dictates their evolution paths and so
they both become closely associated to the other species. This kind of
evolution isn’t uncommon and cases can be seen in insects, birds and even
plants with similar methods of dealing with problems being seen everywhere.
Sadly there are already 10 of the 21 different species of
Golden Mole which are classed as threatened to critically endangered according
to the IUCN. The majority of these species of Golden moles which are suffering
is due to human activity. As is always the case fragmentation and degradation
of habitat are causing population declines. This generally takes the form of
things such as urbanisation, agriculture and destructive forms of mining
destroying indigenous forest and grass lands. There is also a lack of
information on 3 of the 21 species so the conservation status of these species
is classed as unknown but it is extremely likely that like many other animals they
too are experiencing pressure on their populations.
Enough with the doom and gloom though, as I want to close on
a few amazing facts about the Golden Moles.
A Golden mole is capable of eating up to half its own body
weight of insects a day, that is not really that much however as they have an
average weight of around 35g. They are also able to reduce their metabolic rate
when food is hard to find and so conserve energy and heat by entering into torpor
like state.
They are primarily solitary creatures and spend most their
lives alone, only grouping to gather to mate. This grouping is achieved by
producing sounds such as squeals and clicks to draw each other towards each
other using there extremely sensitive hearing.
Finally they are extremely hard to locate and study so most
of the information we know about Golden moles is collected from isolating the
carcasses of them from owl stomachs. In fact we know so little we do not even
have an average lifespan for the majority of species.
I've posted about food waste before, however I just wanted to bring this article to everyone's attention. In today's world every item bought from commercial shops comes with either a best before date or an expiry date.
Many people follow these date religiously and this results in hundred of thousands of tonnes of perfectly edible food being thrown away every week across the world. The article posted below gives more precise details about how long you can actually store some foods for, some of which may surprise you.
I usually just ignore the dates on food and simply judge by sight and smell and if the food looks good and smells alright it's good to go. You must also remember if you are cooking the food and you believe it could be slightly dodgy just cook it for longer. As long as the food reaches a high enough temperature for long enough all the bacteria will be killed as their proteins denature. This will make it safe to eat even if the molecular structure of the food has broken down slightly changing the taste.
This is a problem particular close to my heart as a kayaker,
you’d be amazed how much waste and rubbish you will come across if you travel
down any river. I’m not just talking about rivers which flow through towns and
cities however; even those which are located a fair distance from urban
populations always end up with some form of waste released into them.
It’s important to remember waste isn’t always visible;
chemicals which are washed into a river via storm drains or run off from
farming can be more destructive than filling the river with waste plastic. The
waste doesn’t even have to be put into the river either, for instance a
landfill near Oxford (UK) releases around 27.5tonnes of ammonium from decaying
waste into the River Thames every year. This ammonium once in the water breaks
down into nitrogen which triggers excessive plant growth, this is not as great
as it sounds. A river is a finally balanced ecosystem and this excessive plant
growth has bad repercussions on other organisms. It encourages large algal
blooms which block other plants from receiving the necessary sunlight they
require, the algae also releases toxins which kill aquatic life such as
invertebrates and even fish by direct methods (poor water quality) or indirect
methods (starvation).
River balances are not just upset from chemicals seeping from
waste sources, deforestation also plays a part. A study conducted in Tasman
showed that an area with underlying granite will produce 7 to 10 times more
sediment once the trees were removed due to the thin unstable top soil being
washed into the river by rains. This sediment reduces the amount light is able
to penetrate the water and so kills of plant and therefore other aquatic life,
it would also be imputing excess nutrients which would disrupt the ecosystem
once the sediment settles and disperses.
I also want you to think about the chemicals you could be
adding to the water system, these generally take the form of cleaning products
which people pour down storm drain after activities such as washing cars. These
chemicals on their own are not a large problem but when you magnify it up for
everyone they being to appear in large quantities. These chemicals and other
things such as heavy metals which are released from mines and production
plants, can go through the food chain and create a problem known as biomagnification or bioamplification. This is a process where
animals low in a food chain absorb or consume these toxic items and then store
in within their body, for instance in the liver. This animal along with others
are then eaten by a larger predator and then a larger amount of the toxic
product is stored. In some cases this can continue until this stored chemical
causes problems.
A famous case of bioamplification is DDT which was
originally used for mosquito control however it was found to be harmful to many
animals and was able to work its way through the food chain up to the apex
predator for those food chains such as the Peregrine Falcon which experienced
thinner egg shells and higher mortality in younger animals.
Right so I’ve talked about some of the bad things which are
going on in the water systems throughout the world. But what can you actually
do?
To start with you can monitor what you release straight into
rivers before treatment, sometimes it’s better to pour chemicals you’ve used down
the shower or toilet so you know the water is treated before it reaches the
environment. Also as always place your rubbish in bins and make sure it’s going
to stay in the bin as lots of lighter items such as plastic bags and crisp
packets are regularly blown out of bin and into rivers. You can also get
involved or start a river cleaning day, these are run everywhere and are
surprisingly good fun if you can get a group of mates together.
I know I have not spoken about dams and my views on their
pros and cons but that will be coming in another post.
Just a joke article however it does focus in on an important issue. With today social media facts are sent round which are completely rubbish. For instance I saw one recently on FaceBook claiming mars would appear the same size as the moon on the 27th August this year. This is of course a hoax however it is amazing how many people were commenting on how they could not wait to see it, without thinking about it for even a fraction of a second.
