| Groundking said: And do you not think that ALL mining activity has an effect on earthquakes? So is that a reason to not mine anything from the ground? no don't be silly, so why is it disastrous for Fracking? And no fracking can't pollute ground water, because for a start there's an impermeable layer between the shale that's being fractured and the ground water about, and the chemicals used are less than 3% of the water pumped down there, sometimes less, almost never more. And just think about it, if it could pollute ground water, wouldn't the water companies be having a massive hissy fit about it all? Yet they're just sitting quiet not doing anything. Can you explain to me how GMO crops can destroy biodiversity, I'm not particularily well researched in this areas, and what's the problem with factory farms? |
Sure all forms of mining can cause pollution or potentially earthquakes. Probably the worst for water pollution would be mountain top removal. I believe the jury is still out on what kind of damage fracking really causes. Sure in some instances it probably affects very little. However, I'm sure in other areas they have suffered from leaching chemicals and other problems.
GMO crops destroy biodiversity because the company that is selling the crop only sells one type of seed. Farmers used to save their best seeds but now companies like Monsanto would rather sell you their seed every year. This is what happens when you industrialize farming though. We only grow one type of banana even though there used to be several types of bananas. There is great concern of tree fungus that could take out the entire banana crop ("In the 1950s, Panama disease, a wilt caused by the fungus Fusarium oxysporum, wiped out vast tracts of ‘Gros Michel’ plantations in South America and Africa, but the cultivar survived in Thailand. By 1960, the major importers of Gros Michel bananas were nearly bankrupt, and had waited to deal with the financial and environmental crisis. The Cavendish was cultivated so consumers would still be able to obtain bananas.") https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gros_Michel_banana
If you have different types of bananas then at least one type would not be susceptible to the fungus. There is danger in only growing one type of apple, banana, corn, etc... Monsanto has over 90% market share of corn right now in USA. If there was a bug (that adapted to round up), fungus, parasite, etc that started going after their corn then most the corn crop could be wiped out. I also don't believe in over use of pesticides and don't believe in the overall increased yields of GMOs because over time your soil turns to crap if you constantly use pesticides.
The world is starting to wake up to GMOs. Japan and Europe banned a huge shipment of wheat because they don't want any GMOs ( http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/01/business/global/japan-and-south-korea-bar-us-wheat-imports.html?_r=0 ). "Although none of the wheat, developed by Monsanto Company, was found in any grain shipments — and the Department of Agriculture said there would be no health risk if any was shipped — governments in Asia and Europe acted quickly to limit their risk." So the shipment supposedly didn't even have Monsanto GMO wheat but they decided to limit all risks. Soon U.S. farmers might not have that much of a market to sell to because the rest of the world doesn't want our crops. Even farmers that aren't growing GMOs suffer due to other countries thinking that the shipment could still be contaminated with GMOs.
Factory farms have cattle, chickens, pigs etc in close spaces or stuck standing up all day long. Would you rather eat something that has been standing around doing nothing all day pumped full of antibiotics and eating food that really isn't in their diet (cows are supposed to eat grass not corn)? You know there is a reason why deer, buffalo or any other game meat taste better than factory farmed animals? Because they actually move around and eat what they are supposed to eat. Sure the companies want to save space and drive down costs. However, animals that are allowed to graze in a field will always produce better meat than ones stuffed into a pin and forced fed questionable food.
