Saturday, May 15, 2010

Chemical Submission

"Underkastelsen", or in English, "Submission" is a new or upcoming documentary out of Sweden. It seems to have a look at the 100,000 man-made chemicals in the world, and the effects these chemicals are having on we humans and the world we inhabit. Sounds bloody horrifying and I doubt that I will be surprised by much in it but I will be looking to watch it anyway.

In other news, I was reading an article in a local agricultural paper today. The subject of this article is one that arose almost a month ago, regarding a Canada-EU trade deal which would force Canada into joining much of the rest of the world in bowing to large agribusiness. This would include prohibition against the saving and trading/selling of seed, as well as strengthening intellectual property rights of large multinational agribusinesses like Monsanto. All of these actions have happened in most other parts of the world, with highly dubious results.

I have to look into this more but I am surprised to see the EU attempting to force these changes onto Canada, considering much of Europe seems opposed to GMO seeds and other multinational agribusiness activities like those mentioned above. Canadians have to stand up against these changes or what remains of our small farm industry is quite seriously finished.

9 comments:

Aimee said...

Thanks for the gloom and doom there buddy! I also find it surprising that the EU is trying to force Canada to accept such rules. Let's hope old fashioned Canadian good sense prevails. Probably I shouldn't put this in writing ( oh how far we have fallen) but I personally think seed saving and trading is the perfect place to practice some good old civil disobediance.

Jerry said...

Hear hear, Aimee. I agree, though I already participate in a few methods of civil disobediance!

As for gloom and doom...I`m feeling it far too often lately.

linda said...

I'm surprised too about E.U. since as you said, the opposition in Europe to GMO's is generally fierce. So what gives exactly?

Jerry said...

I suspect that the EU is being represented by "establishment" globalists who support these multinational corporations. I`m not sure the EU is as democratic as it claims to be.

linda said...

But I'm not sure what business they have in Canada at all. Did I miss something?
Democracy? Does it exist anymore? In the U.S. corporations have the same rights as individuals now. Same in Canada?

Jerry said...

That`s the way international trade deals are set in place. The EU representatives must feel they have the upper hand in negotiations to be pushing such policy demands.

linda said...

I see. I forgot to mention that the link to the article gives me a server not found message so I'm not coming from reading the story itself. I might be guessing here as a result, but........
I really feel that nations must turn to protectionism sooner rather than later, but that very idea when mentioned by Obama, brought threats of trade wars from E.U. I believe their power lies in already iron clad agreements.

Jerry said...

This probably isn't a surprise, but I think the best would be a balance between protectionism and open trade. But at the same time, I think the days of sprawling nations like Canada, US, China might be nearing an end. I think the march towards one world government may well be inevitable (this is where those iron-clad agreements factor so heavily), but I also think it will crumble back into a sort of localized neo-tribalism, perhaps rather quickly. Without some new and cheap energy source, there's just no way to control the whole planet for any length of time.

Or so I think!

linda said...

I agree with you about the inevitability of globalization crumbling. However.......I do believe "they" will find a role within neo-tribalism if they can. In some ways, since the power is so far reaching into all the aspects of our lives, it looks to me like they are already setting things up so that they too survive the crumble.