Confessions of a Greenpeace Dropout: The Making of a Sensible Environmentalist (54 page)

[50]
. “Fact Sheet on Radiation Monitoring at Nuclear Power Plants and the ‘Tooth Fairy Issue,’” U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, August 5, 2009, http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/rad-monitoring-and-tooth-fairy.html

[51]
. Seymour Jablon, MA; Zdenek Hrubec, ScD; John D. Boice, Jr, ScD, “Cancer in Populations Living Near Nuclear Facilities,” Journal of the American Medical Association, March 20, 1991, http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/reprint/265/11/1403.pdf

[52]
. “Backgrounder on the Three Mile Island Accident,” U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, August 11, 2009, http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/3mile-isle.html

[53]
. “Background Radiation,” Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Background_radiation

[54]
. Dr. Douglas Chambers,
Review of the Report, “Exposure to Radiation and Health Outcomes” June 2009 by Dr. Mark Lemstra; A Report Commissioned by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (Saskatchewan office) and the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses
, Canadian Nuclear Association, August 2009, http://cna.ca/english/pdf/studies/ReviewDrDouglasChambers09.pdf

[55]
. Edward J. Calabrese, “Hormesis: A Revolution in Toxicology, Risk Assessment and Medicine,” European Molecular Biology Organization, October 2004, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1299203/

[56]
. Keith Johnson, “Radford: New Greenpeace Boss on Climate Change, Coal, and Nuclear Power,”
Wall Street Journal
, April 14, 2009, http://blogs.wsj.com/environmentalcapital/2009/04/14/radford-new-greenpeace-boss-on-climate-changecoal-and-nuclear-power/

[57]
. “Statement from Chairman Dale Klein on Commission’s Affirmation of the Final DBT Rule,” U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, January 29, 2007, http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/news/2007/07-013.html

[58]
. “La Hague: Recycling Used Fuel,” Areva, 2010, http://www.lahague.areva-nc.com/scripts/areva-nc/publigen/content/templates/Show.asp?P=13&L=EN

[59]
. “Japan’s Nuclear Fuel Cycle Facilities,” Japan’s Nuclear Power Program, http://www.japannuclear.com/nuclearpower/fuelcycle/facilities.html

[60]
. “Nuclear Information, Comparison of the US-India and US-Japan Nuclear Cooperation (123) Agreements and Their Relationship with US Laws and International Frameworks,” July 26, 2007, http://kakujoho.net/e/us_i_j.html

[61]
. “Processing of Used Nuclear Fuel,” World Nuclear Association, July 2010, http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf69.html

[62]
. “Safely Managing Used Nuclear Fuel,” Nuclear Energy Institute, January 2009, http://www.nei.org/filefolder/Safely_Managing_Used_Nuclear_Fuel_0109.pdf

[63]
. “Very High Temperature Reactor,” Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Very_high_temperature_reactor

[64]
. “Fast-neutron Reactor,” Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_neutron_reactor

[65]
. “Small Nuclear Power Reactors,” World Nuclear Association, July 2010, http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf33.html

[66]
. David Albright, “South Africa’s Nuclear Weapons Program,” Institute for Science and International Security, March 14, 2001, http://web.mit.edu/ssp/seminars/wed_archives_01spring/albright.htm

[67]
. “List of States with Nuclear Weapons,” Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_states_with_nuclear_weapons

[68]
. Michael Evans, “Obama and Medvedev Seal the Deal on Nuclear Arms by Phone,”
Sunday Times
, March 27, 2010, http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article7078003.ece

[69]
. Matthew Bunn, “Reducing Excess Stockpiles: U.S.-Russian HEU Purchase Agreement,” Nuclear Threat Initiative, March 5, 2003, http://nuclearthreatinitiative.org/e_research/cnwm/reducing/heudeal.asp

[70]
. Mary Beth Sheridan, “U.S., Russia Reach Deal on Disposing of Plutonium from Nuclear Weapons,”
Washington Post
, April 9, 2010, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/08/AR2010040805405.html

[71]
. Lynn Sweet, “Obama Wants to Invest in Nuclear Energy: Transcript,”
Chicago SunTimes
, February 16, 2010, http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2010/02/obama_wants_to_invest_in_nucle.html

[72]
. Daniel Whitten and Hans Nichols, “Obama Said to Seek $54 Billion in NuclearPower Loans,” Bloomberg Businessweek, January 29, 2010, http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-01-29/obama-said-to-seek-54-billion-in-nuclear-power-loan-guarantees.html

[73]
. Brandon Robshaw, “Why Your World Is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller, by Jeff Rubin,”
Independent
, March 14, 2010, http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/why-your-world—is-about-to-get-a-whole-lot-smaller-by-jeff-rubin-1919283.html

[74]
. “Oil Sands,” Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_sands

[75]
. “Questions and Answers about the Alberta Tar Sands,” Greenpeace Canada, July 26, 2007, http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/recent/tarsandsfaq/

[76]
. “Greenhouse Gas Emissions and the Oil Sands,” Government of Alberta, December 2009, http://oilsands.alberta.ca/documents/GHG_oil_sands.pdf

[77]
. “Coal,” Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal (This website contains very good basic information about coal.)

[78]
. Paul Voosen, “Frightened, Furious Neighbors Undermine German CO
₂
-Trapping Power Project,”
New York Times
, April 7, 2010, http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/04/07/07greenwire-frightened-furious-neighbors-undermine-german-35436.html

[79]
. David Bielo, “Enhanced Oil Recovery: How to Make Money from Carbon Capture and Storage Today,”
Scientific American
, April 9, 2009, http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=enhanced-oil-recovery

[80]
. Katie Fehrenbache, “Five Questions for Vinod Khosla,
Mendo Coast Current
, January 30, 2008, http://mendocoastcurrent.wordpress.com/2008/01/30/fiv,equestions-for-vinod-khosla/

[81]
. “World Energy Outlook 2009 Fact Sheet,” International Energy Agency, …… http://www.worldenergyoutlook.org/docs/weo2009/fact_sheets_WEO_2009.pdf

[82]
. Ibid.

[83]
. Malou Innocent, “The Iraq War: Still a Massive Mistake,” Cato Institute, April 5, 2010, http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=11658

[84]
. “World Energy Outlook 2009 Fact Sheet,” International Energy Agency, http://www.worldenergyoutlook.org/docs/weo2009/fact_sheets_WEO_2009.pdf

[85]
. James Martin, “Gas Prices in Europe—European Gasoline and Diesel Prices,” About.com, http://goeurope.about.com/od/transportation/a/gas_prices.htm

[86]
. Lester R. Brown, “Lowering Income Taxes While Raising Pollution Taxes Reaps Great Returns,” Earth Policy Institute, April 7, 2010, http://www.earthpolicy.org/index.php?/book_bytes/2010/pb4ch10_ss2

Chapter 16 -
Food, Nutrition, and Genetic Science

Before the advent of agriculture humans were hunters and gatherers, who relied on nature to produce their food and fiber. It is generally accepted that agriculture first emerged in the Fertile Crescent of the Middle East about 10,000 years ago. There the ancestors of modern cattle, sheep, and goats were farmed and wheat, barley, oats, and flax were first cultivated, making it possible for humans to abandon a nomadic lifestyle and settle permanently in towns and cities. Eventually agriculture arose independently in other regions: in Asia, where it was based on chickens, pigs, and rice; in Central and South America, where it centered on corn, beans, peas, and potatoes; and in Sub-Saharan Africa, where it was based on millet and cassava.

Ever since farmers began to raise plants and animals for food, the most successful ones have cultivated seeds from the most desirable plants and have selectively bred the most desirable animals. As each of the many hundreds of species brought into cultivation and animal husbandry were adopted, a process of improving them began to better serve the needs of domestication and the human diet. The many qualities of domesticated plants and animals are called traits. Faster growth, sweeter flesh, disease-resistance, drought-tolerance, higher content of various nutritional ingredients, longer shelf-life, bigger fruit, more tender meat—these are examples of desirable traits in food. The desire and the competition to improve on the original wild species has been a principle driving force in the advancement of agriculture since it began 10,000 years ago.

During those 10,000 years, through selective breeding we have transformed hundreds of originally wild species into varieties that barely resemble the original wild strain. Today corn, or maize (
Zea mays
) is the most widely cultivated crop in the Americas. Yet scientists do not agree which species of wild grass was first cultivated and selectively bred into the many varieties of corn we have today.
[1]
The sweet corn we now take for granted as a summer treat is found nowhere in nature; it is purely a product of human engineering. This illustrates both the plasticity of genetic material and the ingenuity of farmers.
[2]

Consider the
Brassicas
, also known as the cabbages. From a single species of wild ancestor,
Brassica oleracea
, 10 of the most important vegetables have been bred. Cabbage, kale, collard greens, Chinese broccoli (kai-lan), Brussels sprouts, kohlrabi, broccoli, broccoflower, broccoli romanesco, cauliflower, and wild broccoli are all derived from the same species. In addition, bok choy, Chinese cabbage, turnips, rutabaga, rapeseed (canola), mustard, radish, daikon (the most widely cultivated vegetable in Japan), horseradish, wasabi, arugula, and watercress have been bred from very closely related species in the same family of plants.
[3]

All the varieties of cattle farmed today originated from their now extinct wild ancestors known as the aurochs (
Bos primigenius
). Over the years the descendents of the aurochs were also interbred with species of yaks and bison to form hybrids that today are entirely distinct from their progenitors.
[4]
Goats, sheep, pigs, horses, and other domesticated animals have similar histories.

There are 24 billion chickens in the world today, about four for every human on earth. Chickens outnumber any other species of bird. These have all descended from the wild bird,
Gallus gallus
, thought to have originated in northern Thailand. They too have been bred to grow faster, lay more eggs, and be thoroughly domesticated to serve the human need for food.