"The Earth Path" by Starhawk

"Phantom Parks: The Struggle to Save Canada's National Parks" by Rick Searle

Interesting Links:
Utne Reader
David Suzuki Foundation
New Scientist
Discover Magazine
The Medical Post Online
Ad Busters!
New Internationalist
Mother Jones.com
Salon.com
NOVA On-line
The Book of Zines
Killing the Buddha
London Review of Books
American Council on Exercise
Runner's World
The Great Illusion


Recent reads:
"A Deepness in the Sky" by Vernor Vinge

"Celtic Folklore Cooking" by Joanne Asala

"Power Spellcraft for Life" by Arin Murphy-Hiscock

"Reinventing Medicine" by Larry Dossey

"Wicca: A Year and a Day" by Timothy Roderick

"The Science of the Craft" by William H Keith

"50 Years of Wicca" by Frederic Lamond

"The Magical Life" by Vivianne Crowley

"Which Witch is Which?" by Patricia Telesco

"Perdido Street Station" by China Mieville

"Cyberhenge: Modern Pagans on the Internet" by Douglas E. Cowan

"An Ye Harm None: Magical Morality and Modern Ethics" by Shelley Rabinovitch

"Crystal Ball" by Sibyll Fergusen, revised and expanded by Witch Bree

"Gaia Eros: Reconnecting to the Magic and Sprit of Nature" by Jesse Wolf Hardin

"A Century of Spells" by Draja Mickaharic

"Evolutionary Witchcraft" by T. Thorn Coyle

"Witching Culture: Folklore and Neo-Paganism in America" by Sabina Magliocco

"Kundalini for Beginners" by Ravindra Kumar

"Ka: Stories of the Mind and Gods of India" by Roberto Calasso

"Magical Tattwa Cards" by Dr. John Mumford

"WitchCraft Today (Expanded edition)" by Gerald B. Gardner

"Self-Initiation for the Solitary Witch" by Shanddaramon

"The Second Circle: Tools for the Advancing Pagan" by Vanecia Rauls

"Grimoire for the Apprentice Wizard" by Oberon Zell-Ravenheart

"Black Magick Woman: The Sinister Side of the Song of Solomon" by Janet Tyson

"Everyday Moon Magic" by Dorothy Morrisson

"Advanced Witchcraft" by Edain McCoy"

"Handfasting and Wedding Rituals" by Raven Kaldera and Tannin Schwartzstein

"Joing Hearts and Hands: Interfaith, Intercultural Wedding Celebrations" by Rev Susanna Stefanachi Macomb

"Handfasted and Heartjoined" by Lady Maeve Rhea

"Handfasting: A practical Guide" bu Mary Neasham

" Goddess in the Grass: Sperpentine Mythology and the great Goddess" by Linda Fourbister

"Theories of the Chakras: Bridges to Higher Conciousness" by Hiroshi Motoyama

"The Knife Thrower" by Steven Millhauser

"Schizophrenia: A Very Short Introduction" by Christopher Finn and Eve Johnstone

"Schizophrenia: The Facts" by Ming T. Tsuang and Stephen V. Faraone

"A Community of Witches" by Helen Berger and Colleagues

"American Gods" by Neil Gaiman"

"Scherzo" by Jim Williams"

"Goddess in the Grass: Serpentine Mythology and the Great Goddess" by Linda Fourbister

"The Forest of Souls" by Rachel Pollack

"Wiccan Roots" by Philip Heselton

"A User's Guide to the Brain" by John J Ratey, MD

"A Goddess Arrives" by Gerald Gardner

"A Community of Witches" by Helen Berger

"Nature Spirits" Selected lectures by Rudolf Steiner

"Fatal Majesty" by Reay Tannahill

"Myths to Live By" by Joseph Campbell

"The Secret Life of Germs" by Philip M Tierno Jr, PhD

"Adam, Eve, and the Serpent" by Elaine Pagels

"Whiteout: Melt" by Greg Rucka illustrated by Steve Lieber

"Whiteout" by Greg Rucka illustrated by Steve Lieber

"Queen and Country-Operation: Crystal Ball" by Greg Rucka illustrated by Leandro Fernandez

"Tunnel in the Sky" by Robert Heinlein

"The Sex Chronicles" by Zane

"The Black Man's Guide to Good Health" by Reed, Schulman and Shucker

"The Withdrawing Room" by Charlotte MacLoed

"Queen and Country-Operation: Morningstar" by Greg Rucka illustrated by Brian Hurtt

"The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2000" edited by David Quammen

"The Bourne Identity" by Robert Ludlum

"Gerald Gardner: Witch" by J.L. Bracelin

"Queen and Country-Operation: Broken Ground" by Greg Rucka illustrated by Steve Rolston

"The Ferryman Will Be There" by Rosemary Aubert

"Philosophy of Wicca" by Amber Laine Fisher

"Wilderness Tips" by Margaret Atwood

"Origins of Modern Witchcraft" by Anne Moura

Thursday, November 20, 2003

Canada: Land of Shit

Shit, or manure, from industrial agricuture is one of the major pollution problems facing Canada and 'industrialised' nations. Figures from the Canadian government show that shit produced by cattle and pig farms is about the same as the sewage produced by 100 million people. That's almost three times the human population of the country folks! And unlike human sewage, which is required to be treated before it enters our ecosystems, animal waste has no such requirements. Current practice in animal agricultre in North America is to keep the waste in underground pits or large open cesspools until it is spread onto the land as fertilizer or dumped into local waterways. This discharges potentially toxic chemicals and bacteria (like E. coli, listeria, salmonella, cryptosporidium), as well as antibiotics commonly used in livestock farming, into our precious landscape.

A recent article in the Ottawa Citizen (November 17) briefly reported on this problem. Apparently "a series of public beaches along a 40-kilometre section of Lake Huron have been permanently posted as unsafe for swimming because of 10 years of chronically high E. coli bacteria levels. Huron is the world's third-largest lake and a major tourist destination." You would think that Canadians and bureaucrats would have learnt their lesson about protecting our Great Lakes after the Lake Erie disaster of only a few decades ago. If you recall, following excessive municipal waste dumping along its shores, Lake Erie was considered to be dead. Large amounts of phosphorous (probably caused by laundry detergent) caused rapid growth of aquatic plants and consequently depleted the water of dissolved oxygen necessary to marine animal life, killing off fish and other aquatic animal en-masse. The lake is only now starting to recover following public awareness campaigns about the environmental hazards of phosphorous waste, and improved waste management technology.

To its credit, the government is not totally unaware of the environmental consequences. They have spent or allocated over 2 billion dollars over the past 5 years to investigate the extent of the problem and how to control the pollution. Sadly, this seems disasterously similar to the approach that politicians took to the "factory fishing" of Atlantic Cod of the shore of Newfoundland, and we all know where that approach got us, don't we? Some scientists and local fisherman were already sounding the eco-alarm well over 10 years before modeling techiques and stock surveys revealed that the stocks were on the edge of collapse in 1988. Not that that helped: Despite the recommendations of fisheries scientists to more than half fish catches in order to prevent the stock's collapse, politicians yielded to the economists' and political interests and compromised on what could not be compromised: Quotas were cut by only 10 percent. A decision from which we have never recovered, and has ultimately led to even more environmental and economic devastation for the region.

Okay... but I'm rambling...

Not everyone is taking a research, watch and wait attitude before stepping in and reducing the poop. This year Quebec put the brakes on industiral pig farming in the province. No new industiral pig farming operations will be permitted in the province. But Quebec is the exception, other provinces like New Brunswick are actively solicitating big farming operations to set up shop in their province. It's an appealing prospect for foreign farmers who are being driven out of their countries by tough regulations and environmental restrictions on waste management and industrial farming. How nice...

Organisations like the Canadian Medical Association are also sitting up and taking notice of the situation. Last summer, they passed a resolution asking governments to put a moratorium on large livestock operations, notable hog farms, until the health risks are adequately studied. Many environmental researchers and activists feel the same way.

Now we just have to get the government to listen and put the environment, and the long-term interests of Canada ahead of short-sighted economic greed.

Amanda 11:44 AM
E-mail your comments to: ramblingraven@cosmic-muse.com