did anyone watch Kerry on 7.30 report.

he interviewed Michael Pollan

author of “in defense of Food”

was interesting. i’ll try and find the link to the interview but feel free to add it anyone if ya beat me to it.

maybe try this and click on your et speed requirement.

http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2007/s2257391.htm

WH

I saw it – and i agree that scientists can ‘prove’ anything. if they isolate one element then they can always sing its praises.
its the same with soil – scientists are always announcing the benefits of a particular chemical element – but what about all the life in the soil? it annoys me when the ‘living soil’ is so poorly understood and is obviously so complex that science doesn’t even try to make sense of the myriad interactions of life within the soil.

some research is going into “soil life”, which is obviously a complex interaction of living matter and minerals etc. for instance IPM (integrated pest management) is gaining acceptance, especially overseas. some of the important fungi (e.g. mychorrizal) associated with roots of particular plants is becoming much more understood. and even moon planting and other old methods are being rigorously tested and even adopted.
mind you in Australia we’re a little bit behind the rest of the world, mostly because conventional/chemical farming took hold too strongly…when media and government became so blinded. the american influence is also a factor.
in europe and even in some third world countries (where america doesn’t dominate) organic/permaculture and other more wholesome approaches to soil are already well on the way.
as a matter of fact i heard something amusing just recently from my father: back in the communist days of Poland farmers were being forced to apply chemical fertilizers, and these fertilizers were dumped by the truckload and farmers expected to spread. a lot of the farmers knew better, and didn’t apply these highly concentrated chemical fertilizers.
organic farming, and generally more nature watchful approach has been there all along. the chemical companies and their disciples, sometimes in high places, sure have duped a lot of people….but it is slowly changing.
it’s still disheartening to hear in Bunnings immediate recommendation of cemical-warfare-bottle-X whenever a customer mentions aphids or scale…..when the plants were probably in bad spot on badly looked after in the first place, in which case bottle-X will solve nothing. however i am seeing even in Bunnings more and more organic products appear. hopefully buyers are taking note.
i think i’ve gone over my word limit…again ;)

interesting part of interview with M.Pollan

“you need to eat 3 modern day apples to get the same nutrition that you would have, if you had eaten a 1950’s apple”

Aso the information he stated about the anti cancer powers of the humble Carrot. which scientist believed came from beta kerotin. They isolated this and produce a pill, but this did not prevent people from getting cancers. So he believes that you need to eat a carrot and combine all the nutrients to get the most benefit.

Apparently the beta keratin alone does not complete the equation.

He also said that most plants produce anti-oxidants as a protection against sunburn. so if you’re eating greens you get plenty of anti-oxs.
have you ever thought what ‘botanicals’ in shampoo are? it probably is just plants processed.
apparently companies make most money from highly processed goods. so they find out what the properties of a plant are – then they process it into a goo and sell it for a much higher price. the unprocessed goods are best for you though.