Permaculture Blog

So I was talking to a friend the other day who works for a large water company and they told me that the company was currently spraying an herbicide known as Habitat around our water supply (reservoirs and such) rather than using Round Up. Well great that we’re not using roundup all over the place, but what is Habitat? So I decided to do a little investigating on what Habitat was and did.

So my first comment is that if you make the name sound kind and gentle the average person in America now doesn’t question its toxicity. Wow “Habitat” doesn’t it just make you feel warm and fuzzy all over.

Habitat [Wikipedia] is a non-selective herbicide used for the control of a broad range of weeds including terrestrial annual and perennial grasses and broadleaved herbs, woody species, and riparian and emergent aquatic species.

Active ingredient imazapyr (IUPAC name (RS)-2-(4-Methyl-5-oxo-4-propan-2-yl-1H-imidazol-2-yl)pyridine-3-carboxylic acid)
[End Wikipedia]

Remember that herbicide ends with those four bothersome letters CIDE. This stuff is toxic to virtually every plant on earth!

imazapyr is a base analog, meaning it is incorporated incorrectly into DNA thus messing up DNA synthesis. It is reported to be rapidly taken up by virtually all plants and affects their core DNA and protein synthesis, controlling them — Oh wait killing them would probably be more accurate.

In many, many cases base analogs are mutagens and carcinogenic. Since it also messes up protein synthesis it would likely be incorporated into RNA as well. Since RNA is so intricately involved in memory function I think (no pun intended) this is a very bad idea. However as I jokingly replied when I first heard about it: the inhibition of DNA synthesis may help us with our population pressure. And the pharmaceutical companies could sell more viagra. So it’s a good thing.

http://m.csmonitor.com/Environment/2015/1023/To-learn-to-battle-drought-California-turns-to-the-experts-Australia

Go Permaculture :-)
Bob http://www.PuraVidaAquatic.com

Roundup is increasingly found in the environment. It is almost certain that it is present in offshore seawater. Here in California we close beaches after heavy rains because of all the dog waste washing into the ocean. With all our focus on drought tolerant landscaping and the use of Roundup to remove lawns all over coastal areas of California there’s probably been a huge influx of Roundup into the California Coastal seawater.

There is a worldwide increase in coral bleaching. Corals are a community organism consisting of a plant and animal system that build a mineral home. I wondered if anyone has investigated the toxicity of Roundup on the plant component of corals. And for that matter the mind bogglingly large amounts of algae that are the basis the coastal food net. So I googled coral bleaching and Roundup.

http://naturalsociety.com/roundups-glyphosate-fingered-possible-coral-reef-killer/#ixzz3oJD2FiAm describes a new study that

looks at the impact of the agro-chemical on sea life. The researchers found that glyphosate is particularly persistent and dangerous in sea water. It’s half-life, or the rate at which it breaks down, is dramatically longer in the ocean.

The study says, “the half-life for glyphosate at 25°C in low-light was 47 days, extending to 267 days in the dark at 25°C and 315 days in the dark at 31°C, which is the longest persistence reported for this herbicide.” But, in the soil, the chemical’s half-life is as quick as 5 days; in bog or fresh water, it’s 49 days.

Now this study did not investigate specifically the toxicity of Roundup to the coral plant component, but with the potential for rains coming up please stop using products on your yard and property that would likely to be toxic in the ocean. If you are not willing to bathe in it why would you want to force ocean creatures to?

Bob http://www.PuraVidaAquatic.com

Biotech companies want to patent stuff they had no ability to make.

Did they make an enzyme capable of degrading roundup? –No: they simply used one already in existence.

Did they make the “scissors” that were used to cut and move the gene that makes that enzyme from one plant to another? –No: they simply used one already in existence.

Did they create any of the plant cellular processes that create a seed? –No: they simply used those already in existence.

Did they make any of the plant systems that cause that seed to sprout? –No: they simply used those already in existence.

And yet they want second generation plants to be protected by their patents. I am absolutely against the biotech companies being able to patent second generation seed. As a molecular geneticist I am absolutely against GMO seeds in the first place yet In my opinion all permaculturists should buy grain silo seed, grow it, and share the seeds left and right.

Creating something is patentable. At this point only God can create a tree. Until the biotech companies can duplicate that feat second generation seeds should not be patentable.

Do not peel! The sweetness is in the skin. Bite 2 fifths of the way down the kumquat from 1 end. Roll it gently between your fingers until the seeds fallout. Pop the rest in your mouth and chew it up. Delicious! by voice recognition on bob’s droid. Sorry for the Weird capitalization. Website http://www.puravidaaquatic.com/

Permaculture needs thoughtfulness and knowledge! One cannot be ignorant of biology and be successful at permaculture.

The reason that we have the farming that we have is that it does not take a lot of intelligence and understanding to follow the salesman’s advice, manufacturer’s recommendations for mixing, plus a little bit extra for good measure and spray pesticides all over the place.

It does takes some intelligence a lot of hard work, a good deal of observation, and in some cases quite a lot of study to understand how biological systems interact. Which insects are a cause for worry, and what mold, fungus, mite, or other insects that your biocide sprays kill are actually the natural control for the insect that you are worried about.

We need to learn about our environment we need to learn about biology, and microbiology. About how the 99 percent of the life in the world that is too tiny to see, is vastly more important in organic farming than to chemical farming.

:-)

So I was out at my pond and was looking at the Asian pear and saw a praying mantis! Very cool! I felt in my pocket for my camera and didn’t have it.

I decided not to go back up to the house and get it, but I then looked closer at the praying mantis, and there was something on its back. So I ran up to the house grabbed my camera ran back down and took the following pictures.

That extra pair of wings on its back is….

The male

The ex-male

Dinner

Eaten past his head and shoulders.

And apparently still in “position”

Ouch

People ask me all the time, “What is a salt pool?” Or, they tell me “my pool is safe because its a salt pool.” So I have decided to put some information on my website and have transferred some of that here.

Unfortunately a salt pool is far from safe. Salt pools are a misnomer. They should be called e-chlorine pools and they generate the same types of disinfection byproducts (DBPs) as traditional chlorinated pools. Haloketones and trihalomethanes (THMs) are two of the more toxic DBPs.

The system uses electricity to split salt (NaCl) and produce hypochlorous acid (HClO) and sodium hypochlorite (NaClO) directly in your pool water. Sodium hypochlorite is the ingredient in chlorine bleach and many pool chlorination chemicals. HClO is just the acid form. Which means a saltwater pool is not chlorine-free at all. It simply utilizes a chlorine generator and electricity instead of someone running down to the store and buying chlorine.

Copper is another toxin that is often used to kill algae in swimming pools or ponds. Since it gives a nice blue color which tints the water, it gives an impression of purity. But it is only appearances. Maybe we could start thinking that green is clean. If your pond or pool can support algae the water is far less likely to mutagenize you and be toxic.

It is just wrong, in my opinion, for a pool company to advertise their copper containing, algae killing product as “non chemical.” Copper systems are anything but non chemical! If you didn’t add the copper it wouldn’t kill the algae in your pool or pond.

Copper disolved in water is a toxic metal and even more importantly it is a phototoxin. Phototoxins interact with light energy and transmit that energy to living cells thus killing them. And just because the copper is added to your pool or pond through the magic of electricity does not mean the system is non chemical! If you add enough copper that it kills algae, it has a toxic effect on life, and almost certainly you as well. Even if the company selling it claims it is “dilute.”

Plutonium is very toxic, so I guess we could find a low concentration of plutonium that would kill algae and then claim that its ok to use that because it’s so dilute that it has no effect ….– wait… it kills the algae!

Dillute copper solutions and sunlight damages DNA extensively and causes cell death. Which is probably the reason copper kills algae. A copper solution in the absence of light has much less effect on DNA but is toxic. Solid metal copper is pretty safe for use in our pipes.

If you are swimming in your pool, it is generally on a nice sunny day, not cloudy and overcast. Do you really want to be putting a light activated, DNA-damaging toxin in your swimming pool or pond?

PuraVida Aquatic designs pool systems that outcompete algae — not kill it with something toxic. Please remember that if something in your pool is killing the algae it’s probably toxic to you, your family, and your pets too.

Quote A Caltrans engineer was playing golf instead of working, according to a new report from the California State Auditor. This happened 55 times between August 2012 to March 2014 — for an estimated four and half hours each day. End quote

Comment from me. who signed the freaking time sheets?

I also guess it’s more important for Caltrans to have golf courses to play on on our dollar then to protect California’s environment http://www.courthousenews.com/2015/08/28/water-for-golf-but-not-for-nature-in-socal.htm

Forward this link to your representative :-) Bob 310 429 8477 http://www.PuraVidaAquatic.com

Yes I realize this is a little off topic. But permaculture is about living with your neighbors as well as the rest of the world.

The lead character in NEWSROOM railed that “this country used to wage war _on poverty_ not on the poor.” http://america.aljazeera.com/multimedia/2015/8/court-fees-trap-ex-felons-in-a-prison-of-debt.html