http://soularempowered.disqus.com/Be Empowered and Be Informed!enFri, 04 Nov 2011 01:26:43 -0000http://www.soularempowered.com/north-shore-naturals/#comment-355364217<p>Thank you Alejandra for commenting on this podcast regarding GMOs. I really appreciate your explanation of 'diversity' and why it is so important in regards to our food supply.</p><p>I can feel your passion regarding the topic of GMOs, and welcome more of your insights about biodiversity, plant breeding, seed saving, etc. Would you be open to sharing some ideas/possible solutions that you may have that we (individuals/society) can implement in order to be less reliant on GMOs (and their manufacturers)? Perhaps as a guest on a podcast episode devoted to GMOs, and how we can all be more sustainable?</p><p>I look forward to your reply!</p><p>Aloha!</p><p>Stephen</p>SoularMysticFri, 04 Nov 2011 01:26:43 -0000http://www.soularempowered.com/north-shore-naturals/#comment-355262956<p>I hope that you do another episode to elaborate on the themes you brought up in this episode, especially with regards to diversity.  Some audience members may be wondering why diversity is important at all.  It's important that people understand that biodiversity, especially when it comes to food, is not just a novelty but a vital necessity.  This is because focusing on one or a few varieties of a plant for agricultural and commercial purposes leaves our food supply vulnerable to news kinds of pests, disease and natural disasters.  By letting many "heirloom" varieties become extinct and engineering a handful of varieties to withstand the pests and disease that we have now we are rendering ourselves defenseless against new kinds of pests and disease.  At the same time we are encouraging new kinds of pests and disease to evolve, survival of the fittest.  In other words if a new disease comes along that devastates all our corn crops this would create a world food crisis.  What if some of these "heirloom" varieties that we let die out had some kind of natural resistance to this new disease or could be crossbred with other varieties to provide some kind of resistance?  When you drastically reduce bio diversity these solutions are no longer available, thus the over reliance on GMOs.  The best way to reduce production and use of GMOs is to drastically increase biodiversity, plant breeding programs and seed saving programs.<br>Anyway people need to understand why diversity is important in order for them to care enough to make an effort to protest through their consumer habits.</p>AlejandraThu, 03 Nov 2011 21:04:43 -0000