Re: Kona coffee brand protection

Thanks for the info Steve - very interesting, but how does it relate to GM
coffee in Kona?

BTW: I was looking up your Google Groups profile to get a handle on your
postings in other groups & I noticed that you are banned. How does one go
about getting banned by Google?
--
Tex


"Steve" <me@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:pkmd25dqprmc75cqhkqdgn2ilr0vgkb07k@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
On Wed, 3 Jun 2009 13:12:42 -0700 (PDT), Robert Harmon
<r_h_harmon@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Only the farmers who'd grow the GM coffee
would be impacted.

That's simply not true.
Everyone is impacted by plant patents, the application of pesticides
and synthetic fertilizers, and the loss of diversity.

I can't imagine a Hawaii blighted as your own coastline has become:

"The Gulf of Mexico hypoxic zone is a seasonal phenomena occurring in
the northern Gulf of Mexico, from the mouth of the Mississippi River
to beyond the Texas border. It is more commonly referred to as the
Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone, because oxygen levels within the zone are
too low to support marine life. The Dead Zone was first recorded in
the early 1970's. It originally occurred every two to three years, but
now occurs annually. In the summer of 1999 the Dead Zone reached its
peak, encompassing 7,728 square miles.

Hypoxic conditions arise when dissolved oxygen levels in the water
fall below two milligrams per liter of water, too low to sustain
animal life in the bottom strata of the ocean. The Dead Zone forms
each spring as the Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers empty into the
Gulf, bringing nutrient rich waters that form a layer of fresh water
above the existing salt water. It lasts until late August or September
when it is broken up by hurricanes or tropical storms. The nutrients
provide favorable conditions for excessive growth of algae that
utilize the water's oxygen supply for respiration and when
decomposing.

The Mississippi River Basin covers forty-one percent of the
continental United States, contains forty-seven percent of the
nation's rural population, and fifty-two percent of U.S. farms. The
waste from this entire area drains into the Gulf of Mexico through the
Mississippi River. Included in this agricultural waste are phosphorus
and nitrogen, the primary nutrient responsible for algal blooms in the
Dead Zone. Nitrogen and phosphorus were first used in fertilizers in
the United States in the 1930s. Concentrations of nitrate and
phosphate in the lower Mississippi have increased proportionately to
levels of use of fertilizers by agriculture since the 1960s, when
fertilizer use increased by over two million metric tons per year.
Overall, nitrogen input to the Gulf from the Mississippi River Basin
has increased between two and seven times over the past century. In
addition to agricultural waste, inadequately treated or untreated
sewage and other urban pollution is also dumped into these waters.
Nitrogen is normally a limiting factor, meaning its restricted
quantities limit plant growth and reproduction. However, excessive
amounts of nitrogen lead to eutrophication, the takeover of
nutrient-rich surface water by phytoplankton or other plants. If
nutrient pollution is not greatly reduced, fish and shellfish may
someday be permanently replaced by anaerobic bacteria.

The Dead Zone reappears every spring as conditions for algal blooms
become more favorable. Rivers carry greater quantities of water in
the spring, along with greater quantities of dissolved nutrients, as
the snow melts in northern areas and rainfall increases. Sunlight
also increases in intensity and duration during this period,
accompanied by warmer weather and fewer storms, all of which encourage
algal growth. Decreasing storms in late spring and early summer
result in calmer water, which prevents the bottom strata of low-oxygen
water from mixing with oxygenated surface water. Organisms living at
greater depths, including most marine animals, cannot acquire
necessary oxygen. This timing is especially bad, as the summer months
are a time of active reproduction by fish and benthic
(bottom-dwelling) invertebrates. In turn, the Dead Zone is broken up
in late August or September by hurricanes or tropical storms.

As the fresh, nutrient-enriched water from the Mississippi and
Atchafalaya Rivers spread across the Gulf waters, favorable conditions
are created for the production of massive phytoplankton blooms. A
bloom is defined as an "increased abundance of a species above
background numbers in a specific geographic region". Incoming
nutrients stimulate growth of phytoplankton at the surface, providing
food for unicellular animals. Planktonic remains and fecal matter
from these organisms fall to the ocean floor, where they are eaten by
bacteria, which consume excessive amounts of oxygen, creating
eutrophic conditions. Hypoxic waters appear normal on the surface,
but on the bottom, they are covered with dead and distressed animal,
and in extreme cases, layers of stinking, sulfur-oxidizing bacteria,
which cause the sediment in these areas to turn black. These hypoxic
conditions cause food chain alterations, loss of biodiversity, and
high aquatic species mortality. "


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Kona coffee brand protection
    ... from the mouth of the Mississippi River ... Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone, because oxygen levels within the zone are ... Hypoxic conditions arise when dissolved oxygen levels in the water ... bringing nutrient rich waters that form a layer of fresh water ...
    (alt.coffee)
  • Scientific American October, 2001: Drowning New Orleans
    ... A major hurricane could swamp New Orleans under 20 feet of water, ... of southeastern Louisiana can save the city. ... it would drive a sea surge that would drown New Orleans ... to the north and the Mississippi River to the south and west. ...
    (soc.culture.cuba)
  • Re: "Fahrenheit 9/11 showed me the truth and compelled me to do what I can to stop the killing
    ... Annual 'Dead Zone' Spreads Across Gulf of Mexico ... The extensive area of uninhabitable water may be contributing ... indirectly to an unusual spate of shark bites along the Texas coast, ... Three people have been bitten by sharks along the upper Texas coast ...
    (sci.geo.meteorology)
  • Re: experts make me sick
    ... Energy is not a nutrient. ... Energy is extracted from food. ... and water and vitamins are extracted from food? ...
    (sci.med.nutrition)
  • Re: Newer Orleans
    ... >>> hold back all the water all the time but they let predetermined dikes ... >> Admittedly they don't have hurricanes or storms of the same magnitude, ... > Orleans is submerged. ... Mississippi River to an alternate route, called a cutoff, to the Gulf ...
    (sci.military.naval)
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