Glacial Lake Outburst Food Risk linked to climate change

I picked this up on this evening's Radio New Zealand news, but it has not appeared on their webpage yet. 

According to the report the villagers are aware of the very real risk but aid workers are not.

Risk of Nepal Glacial Lake Outburst

Nouveau Eco,

1 May, 2015

At least 10,000 people live directly in the path of the three very unstable glacial lakes, Imja Tsho, Thulagi and Tsho Rolpa.  These areas include the dozens of towns on the main trekking route to Mt Everest Base Camp.  These lakes are extremely vulnerable to Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOF) from aftershocks following the 7.8 Ricther earthquake on Saturday, 25 April 2015.

GLOFs occur when earth structures damming large glacial lakes collapse.  Formed out of deposited rocks and mud these dams are inherently unstable and can be ruptured by a single landslide or avalanche into the lake.  Past floods have obliterated small hydro electric plants in their path.  In 1980 a GLOF in north eastern Nepal devastated villages over 70km downstream.

The UN and World Bank have a number of development projects in place to improve warning systems about GLOFs, but they have not been adequately successful.  Most towns have limited awareness of these risks and few (if any) have evacuation plans.  Due to lack of resources many of the monitoring systems that did exist have degraded.  The glacier lakes themselves serve as major tourist attractions, so locals’ incomes rely on remaining in endangered areas.  In fact, as visitor numbers to Mt Everest have increased significantly over the past ten years, the local population living the the path of the Imja glacier lake has swelled.

Local District Disaster Relief Committees generally have very little knowledge about climate change or GLOF risk management.  There is also insufficient coordination between different agencies for systematic information sharing on GLOF risk management and no efficient mechanism for communicating GLOF warnings effectively. UNDP Report September 2012

The natural moraine banks that form the dam for these lakes are unstable and are vulnerable to earthquakes.  This instability is exacerbated by the fact that the volume of the glacial lakes has been increasing due to climate change.

Government and disaster management authorities have limited understanding and experience of managing growing climate risks, including current variability and the projected impacts of climate change, that are increasing the range and magnitude of disasters that Nepal is having to cope with UNDP Report September 2012

As these lakes only began forming in the late 1950s, they were not a threat when Nepal last experienced major earthquakes in the 1930s.  Given the volume of water and steep terrain, World Bank flood models predict walls of water and debris up to 10 metres high, even 100km from the source.  There is also a chain reaction risk where a comparably small lake, situated above larger lake, causes a sudden surge of water that then bursts the larger lake’s moraine dam.

Nouveau Eco created this risk map (above) because we want people in this zone, both local and international first responders, to be made aware of the risks facing them so that they can take steps to prevent further disaster in this already devastated region.

This same problem was identified in this excellent documentary

Nepal - I Have Seen the Earth Change

Solukhumbu is one of the 75 districts in Nepal. It gathers most of the 3300 glaciers and 2300 artic lakes of the country. Inhabitants witness huge climatic changes in the Everest area. The most striking being the fast glacier recession, which have given birth to new lakes where there was only ice and snow. Those lakes are a danger for the population, natural bombs, ready to explode. If the water overflows, it will sweep away inhabitants, bridges, houses and villages.

Not only that, but this

Monsoon rains increase risks of landslides in Nepal

Nepal needs to act quickly to reduce the destruction of landslides in earthquake-affected areas before the monsoon rains arrive, warn scientists

the Third Pole,

8 May, 2015

Nepal needs to urgently assess the risks from existing and potential landslides in earthquake affected areas before the monsoon rains come, say scientists who have produced a detailed map of landslide risks using satellite data.

The report released by scientists at the British Geological Survey, Durham University and University of East Anglia this week says: “The need to plan measures to mitigate landslide deaths and disruption in the forthcoming monsoon season must remain a priority. Many more damaging landslides may occur in the 2015 monsoon, likely to start in late June, than would be expected if a major earthquake had not occurred.”

The scientists identified at least six major landslides blocking valleys in areas hit by the 7.8 magnitude earthquake on 25 April. But the team says more major landslides may be found as more satellite imagery becomes available (large areas of the region are still obscured by cloud and dust).

The risks of landslides will “escalate significantly” as the monsoon rains begin, the report added. The monsoon that reaches Nepal in second week of June and withdraws in September brings almost 80% of the country’s total annual rainfall.

Fresh landslides will threaten already-affected areas and wash sediment downstream onto valley floors and floodplains.

Major landslides are limited to a zone that runs east-west almost parallel to the transition between the lesser and High Himalaya near the China-Nepal border. 

This zone includes parts of the most affected districts –Gorkha, Dhading, Nuwakot, Rasuwa, Sindhupalchwok, Dolakha, Ramechhap and Kavre, where most of the fatalities due to the earthquake occurred.   Major roads to Tibet in the north and India in the south have also been blocked.

A team led by the University of Michigan geomorphologist Marin Clark has also identified tens of thousands of locations at risk of mudslides and landslides in the mountainous area along the Nepal-Tibet border, north of Kathmandu and west of Mount Everest.

Image credit: Dam Hazard ~ University of Michigan

According to satellite images, avalanches and landslides have blocked the upper reaches of Buri Gandhaki river in Gorkha district, the Trishuli river near Thansing and the Sunkoshi river near  Sarsunkharka.

No local warning systems

Satellite images provided by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) on their website are consistent with Clark’s assessment.

But this information is not reaching local people. “The district administration has not informed us about the river blockages. People are more concerned about procuring plastic sheets right now,” Kapil Koirala, a resident of Dhulikhel, which lies on the Arniko highway to Tibet, told thethirdpole.net. People are scared about the floods and want to move to safer districts but they don’t know which places are safer, he said.

“The cloud cover has made it difficult for us to get accurate satellite pictures and travelling to the areas where landslides have occurred is not possible right now,” said Narendra Raj Khanal of ICIMOD. “I have asked for water discharge data and once I have this I will be in a better position to say how serious the river blockages could be,” he said.

In 2014 flash floods in Sindhupalchowk district on the Nepal-China border killed 156 people, after a massive landslide blocked the Sunkoshi River

The hand of fascism hits a grocery store

This is in Venice, Ca., where Mike Ruppert used to live.

Police raid organic grocery store with guns drawn

https://www.minds.com/blog/view/410185833539178496/police-raid-organic-grocery-store-with-guns-drawn

Well this is just bonkers...

Multi-agency armed raid hits Rawesome Foods and Healthy Family Farms for selling raw milk and cheese.

According to a blog posted on the LA Times website:

Guns drawn, four officers fanned out across Rawesome Foods in Venice. Skirting past the arugula and peering under crates of zucchini, they found the raid's target inside a walk-in refrigerator: unmarked jugs of raw milk.

"I still can't believe they took our yogurt," said Rawesome volunteer Sea J. Jones, a few days after the raid. "There's a medical marijuana shop a couple miles away, and they're raiding us because we're selling raw dairy products?"

Cartons of raw goat and cow milk and blocks of unpasteurized goat cheese were among the groceries seized in the June 30 raid by federal, state and local authorities — the latest salvo in the heated food fight over what people can put in their mouths.

But why are cops busting into a wholesome food store wielding firearms? George Hemminger weighs in:

In the video below, he claims that the battle over organic foods is heating up because large agricultural businesses and corporations feel threatened by local co-ops and have hijacked the FDA and other government regulatory agencies. 

The issue is that shared farming co-ops don't necessarily fit into the corporate model, and are taking away market share value from Big Ag companies

The coming food crisis

High Food Prices and Food Riots

Extreme weather and agriculture

Extreme Weather Wreaking Havoc on Food as Farmers Suffer

By Brian K. Sullivan, Elizabeth Campbell and Rudy Ruitenberg

Bloomberg,

18 January, 2014

Volatile weather around the world is taking farmers on a wild ride.

Too much rain in northern China damaged crops in May, three years after too little rain turned the world’s second-biggest corn producer into a net importer of the grain. Dry weather in the U.S. will cut beef output from the world’s biggest producer to the lowest level since 1994, following 2013’s bumper corn crop, which pushed America’s inventory up 30 percent. U.K. farmers couldn’t plant in muddy fields after the second-wettest year on record in 2012 dented the nation’s wheat production.

Graphic: Living With Extreme Weather

“Extreme weather events are a massive risk to agriculture,” said Peter Kendall, president of the U.K. National Farmers Union, who raises 1,600 hectares (3,953 acres) of grain crops in Bedfordshire, England. “Farmers can adapt to gradual temperature increases, but extreme weather events have the potential to completely undermine production. It could be drought, it could be too much rain, it could be extreme heat at the wrong time. It’s the extreme that does the damage.”

Farm ministers from around the world are gathering in Berlin tomorrow to discuss climate change and food production at an annual agricultural forum, with a joint statement planned after the meeting.

Arctic Invasion

Fast-changing weather patterns, such as the invasion of Arctic air that pushed the mercury in New York from an unseasonably warm 55 degrees Fahrenheit (13 Celsius) on Jan. 6 to a record low of 4 (minus 16) the next day, will only become more commonplace, according to the New York-based Insurance Information Institute. While the world produces enough to provide its 7 billion people with roughly 2,700 calories daily, and hunger across the globe is declining, one in eight people still don’t get enough to eat, some of which can be blamed on drought, the United Nations said.

Related: Why Is It So Cold? The Polar Vortex, Explained

“There’s no question, while there’s variability and volatility from year to year, the number and the cost of catastrophic weather events is on the rise, not just in the U.S., but on a global scale,” said Robert Hartwig, an economist and president of the insurance institute. “It’s all but certain that the size and the magnitude and the frequency of disaster losses in the future is going to be larger than what we see today.”

The number of weather events and earthquakes resulting in insured losses climbed last year to 880, 40 percent higher than the average of the last 30 years, according to Munich Re, the world’s largest reinsurer.

More Precipitation

Research points to a culprit: an increase in greenhouse gases, generated by human activity, that are forcing global temperatures upward, said Thomas Peterson, principal scientist at the U.S. National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, North Carolina. The warmer the air the more water it can hold, he said.

“What we’re finding worldwide is that heavy precipitation is increasing,” Peterson said.

Flood waters in Passau, Germany, in May and June reached the highest level since 1501, Munich Re said. That was the year Michelangelo first put a chisel to the block of marble that would become his sculpture of David. High water did $15.2 billion in damage in parts of Central and Eastern Europe, according to Munich Re.

A July hailstorm in Reutlingen, Germany, led to $3.7 billion in insured losses, according to Munich Re. Hailstones the size of babies’ fists cracked the windshield of Marco Kaschuba’s Peugeot.

“Two minutes before the storm started you could already hear a very loud noise,” said Kaschuba, a 33-year-old photographer. “That was from hailstones hitting the ground in the distance and coming closer.”

In 2012, the U.K. had its second-highest rainfall going back to 1910, according to the U.K. Met Office. England and Wales had its third-wettest year since 1766.

Israeli Blizzard

December marked the worst blizzard since 1953 in Jerusalem, dumping 15 inches (38 centimeters) of snow on Israel’s capital, where more than 4,000 people were rescued from their vehicles, according to police.

“It was like a neutron bomb hit,” said Eilon Schwartz, 56, an environmental activist living in Tel Aviv who had taken his 11-year-old daughter to play in the snow with friends. “All these cars marooned in the snow and no people.”

December was also Norway’s wettest month in history, according to weather service YR.

Rainfall last year in the contiguous U.S. was 7 percent higher than the 20th century average, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Yet it was difficult to draw broad conclusions because of regional variations. Michigan and North Dakota set records for wetness, while California set its own for lack of rain, NOAA said.

China Cold

Other weather phenomena were similarly topsy-turvy. China shivered through its coldest winter in at least half a century in 2010. Three years later, Shanghai was suffocated by its hottest summer in 140 years, according to the city’s weather bureau.

Record flooding hit the Mississippi River in 2011. The next year, record-low water levels stranded barges, choking the flow of coal, chemicals and wheat.

Such fluctuations were reflected in food prices. In the past three years, orange juice, corn, wheat, soybean meal and sugar were five of the top eight most volatile commodities, according to data on 34 compiled by Bloomberg. Natural gas was No. 1.

While the percentage of the world’s people who go hungry has fallen to 12 percent last year from 19 percent in 1992, and food inflation is ebbing, farming is vulnerable to the extreme weather that comes with climate change, according to the UN.

Price Fluctuations

Record harvests from India to Brazil to the U.S. expanded supply and sent corn, soybeans, wheat, sugar and coffee into markets where prices were falling. The Standard & Poor’s GSCI Agriculture Index of eight crops tumbled 22 percent last year, the biggest annual drop since 1981. The gauge is down 0.8 percent in 2014.

Yet higher food costs pushed 44 million people into poverty from June 2010 to February 2011, the World Bank estimated. The three years in the past two decades when global food costs were highest all occurred after 2007, according to the UN. Historic drought on four continents over the last five years is partly to blame.

“A drought is really all-consuming,” said northeast Texas rancher Phil Sadler. “It doesn’t necessarily have to be on your place to feel the impact.”

Texan Drought

The record Texas dry spell in 2011 was followed the next year by the most severe drought in the U.S. Midwest since the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. Texas cattle herds dwindled, driving the price of beef to a record in the U.S., the world’s biggest producer. As of the beginning of last year, ranchers in Texas had reduced their herds to the smallest since 1967, according to the Agriculture Department. The U.S. herd has shrunk for six straight years and last year was at its smallest since 1952, government data show.

“We had to liquidate our herd in order to be able to take care of what we had left,” Sadler said.

Even as rain returned to Texas in 2012, the problems weren’t over for ranchers such as Sadler. The Midwest drought boosted prices of corn and soybeans, used for feed, to all-time highs. The 2011 drought caused a record $7.62 billion in farm losses in Texas, including $3.23 billion for livestock producers, according to Texas A&M University’s AgriLife Extension Service in College Station.

Russia suffered its worst dry period in at least 50 years in 2010 and two years later lost about 25 percent of its grain harvest in another dry spell, according to the country’s Grain Producers Union.

Powdered Milk

Authorities declared a drought in 2013 across the entire North Island of New Zealand, the world’s biggest dairy exporter, as some areas were the driest in as many as 70 years, according to the government. That pushed the price of whole-milk powder to a record in April last year at Fonterra Cooperative Group Ltd’s GlobalDairyTrade auction.

In 2012, Spain had its driest winter and second-driest summer since at least 1947, cutting olive oil and wine volumes to the lowest in at least a decade.

A temperature of 110 degrees in Melbourne halted tennis matches yesterday at the Australian Open.

The violent ups and downs of the weather in the last few years have vexed agricultural producers, said Ross Burnett, who farms cotton in the northeastern Australian state of Queensland. A drought there, in the country’s biggest sugar- and beef-producing region, follows flooding in 2010 and 2011 so bad it stopped the steady rise of sea levels around the world, according to the U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research.

“The variability is the most difficult part of it,” Burnett said. “It’s difficult given it can change overnight.”

Fonterra

$1 billion wiped off Fonterra's value

Fonterra's food contamination scare has shaken the money markets, and wiped as much as $1 billion off the company's value on the stock market

Radio New Zealand,

5 August, 2013

The country's biggest company revealed three batches of whey protein concentrate, totalling 38 tonnes, are contaminated with the bacterium that can cause botulism, prompting product recalls and import bans in some countries.

New Zealand exported $12.5 billion of dairy products during 2012, which is about 27% of all merchandise exports and Fonterra accounts for most of that.

China comprises 21% of all New Zealand milk powder exports, while Russia accounts for 1%. The other countries affected by product recalls together account for 12%.

That was reflected in the reaction on the money markets - the dollar fell sharply initially - more than 1.5 cents, to US77.1 cents but has recovered slightly to about US77.7 cents.

On the sharemarket the unit price of the Fonterra's Shareholders Fund initally slumped 9%, wiping $60 million off its value, but it did reclaim some ground - about $45 million down - or down 42 cents to $6.70. It has since recovered to $6.68.

An analyst says the market needs further clarification on the crisis before it can acurately price units in the Shareholders' Fund.

The value of the entire company fell as much as $1 billion to $10.4 billion but also has reclaimed some lost ground.

But the fallout is much wider with Synlait intially down 4%, and A2 Corporation down 5%.

Trading in Fonterra shares accounted for half the number of shares changing hands on Monday morning but the overall benchmark NZX50 index is down .2%.

Radio New Zealand's economics correspondent Patrick O'Meara says more volatility is to be expected until more information is revealed.

"Particularly about what some of the affected countries are going to do. And let's not forget this is the second food safety issue for Fonterra just this year alone.

"Later this week, the markets seem to be interested in the the bi-monthly global dairy auction when that comes out. Will buyers want to play? That is going to be the big issue and whether prices hold or whether they fall will be a measure of confidence. Though New Zealand actually accounts for about a third of all globally traded dairy products so it may be difficult for some of these customers to switch away."

China wheat crops ruined

This is China, not Lichtenstein.

This is going to increasingly become the way as weather becomes more chaotic. Where are they going to imnport it from? Britain just lost a third of its crop due to weather events.And then there's Egypt, which until yesterday was the world's biggest buyer - but their economy's collapsing.

China may become top wheat importer after crops ruined

• Wheat crop damaged by frost and rains in northern China
• Around 20 mln tonnes of crop may have been downgraded
• China seen emerging as top buyer, overtaking Egypt
• Buyers have already booked 3 mln tonnes, close to last year

Reuters,

16 July, 2013

China's wheat crop has suffered more severely than previously thought from frost in the growing period and rain during the harvest, and import demand to compensate for the damage could see the country eclipse Egypt as the world's top buyer.

Interviews with farmers and new estimates from analysts have revealed weather damage in China's northern grain belt could have made as much as 20 million tonnes of the wheat crop, or 16 percent, unfit for human consumption. That would be double the volume previously reported as damaged.

Higher imports, which have already been revised upwards on initial damage reports, will further shrink global supplies and support prices, fuelling new worries over global food security.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Thursday raised its forecast for China's imports in 2013/14 to 8.5 million tonnes from 3.2 million tonnes in the previous year, prompting U.S. wheat prices to rally to more than two-week highs.

But overseas traders and analysts estimate imports could rise above 10 million tonnes, surpassing the 9 million tonnes the world's biggest buyer Egypt is expected to buy.

Competition from China for more imports would force other buyers, such as Egypt, to pay more for grains, in a new blow for the Middle East country after two years of political turmoil has left it struggling for funds to pay for food imports.

In China's top wheat producing province of Henan, farmers visited by Reuters said kernels shrunk because of the frost early this year followed by more damage with grains germinating due to the rainstorms in May. Henan is in the northern grain belt, which accounts for about half of China's output.

"The kernels this year are half their normal sizes," said Feng Ling, a 55-year old farmer in Xuchang, central Henan, where some growers have seen their production slashed by 40 percent from year ago. "The harvest was terrible."

China has already booked around 3 million tonnes of wheat for shipment in the year to June 2014, nearing last year's purchases.

That would be the biggest volume imported since the near 10 million tonnes China booked in 2003/2004 after a sharp decrease in the domestic harvest. In a normal year, China accounts for about a fifth of global wheat production and consumption.

"We expect between 15 to 20 million tonnes of wheat will be downgraded to use for animal feed, which will reduce wheat supply for milling purpose," said Li Qiang, chief analyst at agricultural consultancy, the Shanghai JC Intelligence.

The crop damage across large swathes of China's farmland is adding to concerns over global food supplies after unfavourable weather in top wheat exporters the United States and the Black Sea region resulted in quality downgrades.

"The end users have been very relaxed about the wheat supply outlook," said Abah Ofon, a commodities analyst at Standard Chartered Bank in Singapore.

"But as the season is unfolding we are seeing bumps emerge. The market now has to readjust based on the new fundamentals which suggest the demand is going to be more than what the market was expecting."

Global output is expected to rise this year from last, but will still be below demand and leave the world with the lowest wheat stocks since 2008/09.

Chinese analysts and traders see less of a shortfall than those overseas, and have smaller estimates for total wheat imports of around five million to six million tonnes.

This is because they expect limited availability of U.S. soft red winter wheat at a price at which China is interested in buying. China is also likely to draw down its stocks to meet some of the demand.

The weather impact on China's wheat crop will make it harder for Beijing to maintain self-sufficiency in grains. As cities encroaching on arable land and rising incomes drive up demand, China is finding it harder and harder to feed the world's most populous nation with domestic supply.

China has also been snapping up corn shipments in recent weeks with imports forecast to climb to an all-time high of 7 million tonnes this year, according to the USDA.

NOT FIT FOR MILLING OR STORING

Chinese farmers have traditionally relied on Beijing's annual stockpiling programme to protect their income. But the crop quality this year is so bad that even the state granaries are turning grain away.

At Xuchang city, trucks piled high with bags of wheat queued outside the state grain reserve warehouse. Several farmers looking to sell their wheat waited outside the building even though officials had rejected the stocks.

"The rains have caused the kernels to start sprouting, so the warehouse has refused to buy our wheat," said farmer Li Xiaohua, who has been waiting outside the warehouse to sell her stocks. "What can we do now."

She said her family could normally harvest about 500 kg of wheat on one mu (0.07 hectare) of land, but the volume has slumped to just 300 kg this year.

The wheat crop, hit by frost and rains in China, cannot be milled into flour and most of it will be used to feed animals.

The supply situation has been further strained, as some of the wheat in government reserves since 2009/10 is deteriorating. China does not publish data on its state reserves, but analysts said state stockpiler Sinograin still holds between 20-30 million tonnes of wheat.

SERIOUS CROP LOSSES

In addition to around 10 million tonnes of wheat being downgraded in Henan, production in Anhui, Jiangsu and Hubei provinces has also taken a hit.

The four provinces produced nearly half of the China's wheat output in 2012, with Henan accounting for 26 percent of the country's total. Analysts expect Henan's output to fall some 20 percent from last year's 32 million tonnes.

"Good-quality wheat is in a short supply," said Liu Xuepeng, a purchasing manager with a major flour mill in Zhengzhou, capital of Henan.

Millers will need to blend lower-quality wheat with high-quality domestic and imported grains to make flour, he said.

Sinograin is focusing on buying soft red winter wheat from the United States and similar varieties from France and Australia. Flour mills are keen to import high-quality Canadian and U.S. hard red winter wheat to blend for making flour for making bread and biscuits.

Higher imports of top-grade wheat by China would drive up premiums for protein-rich spring wheat traded on the Minneapolis Grain Exchange <0#MWE:> and hard red winter wheat on the Kansas City Board of Trade <0#KW:>.

Although the global wheat market was underpinned by Chinese buying last week, U.S. wheat prices are still around 9 percent below domestic prices of similar quality cited in Jiangsu province, encouraging imports.

Chinese buyers have been locking in cargoes for shipment even in the first quarter of 2014, which shows the shortfall in domestic supplies is likely to last over the next 12 months.

"The way they are buying is something very unusual," said a Singapore-based trader. "They have been signing deals for Australian new-crop wheat and other origins for shipment in the first quarter of 2014. This shows some serious problems with the crop." 

Fukushima radioactivity

Fukushima update - North American food supply poisoned along Pacific Coast

Natural News,

14 July, 2013

If you live on the West Coast of the U.S. or Canada, you may want to reconsider your water filtration method as well as how you select and prepare food. Evidently, the nightmare of Fukushima is far from over - another 16 million years to be exact. Due to the astonishingly long half-life of iodine-129, the whole ecosystem of the Pacific Coast will be contaminated pretty much forever.

Lifespan of radioactive isotopes and other trivia

Among other dangerous radioactive isotopes released from the Fukushima meltdown, iodine-129 also spewed forth from the damaged reactor. Incredibly, this isotope has a half-life of 16 million years. Essentially, the entire West Coast food supply of North America will be contaminated with radiation for unlimited generations. We have fundamentally entered into a new way of life - one that takes a giant leap toward illness, disease and heightened mortality rates.
Consider the water supply. Not only does it provide drinking water for humans and animals, but it also irrigates crops. When the supply is contaminated, it influences everything. According to a public health statement made by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR):


"Iodine in the oceans enters the air from sea spray or as iodine gases. Once in the air, iodine can combine with water or with particles in the air and can enter the soil and surface water, or land on vegetation when these particles fall to the ground or when it rains. Iodine can remain in soil for a long time because it combines with organic material in the soil. It can also be taken up by plants that grow in the soil. Cows or other animals that eat these plants will take up the iodine in the plants. Iodine that enters surface water can reenter the air as iodine gases."


The question is, does radioactive iodine spread in the same manner as its natural counterpart? Unfortunately, the answer is an unequivocal "yes." The agency continues:


"Radioactive iodine also forms naturally from chemical reactions high in the atmosphere. Most radioactive forms of iodine change very quickly (seconds to days) to stable elements that are not radioactive. However, one form, 129I, changes very slowly (millions of years), and its levels build up in the environment."


Before packing up and relocating to Antarctica, a few options are available that can drastically reduce exposure to these harmful elements.

Protect and detoxify

Here are several precautions that can help shield individuals from a radioactive food supply:


- View all fish and crustaceans from the Pacific Ocean as tainted.

- Always use filtered water for cooking and drinking.

- Pay attention to the origin of dairy.

- Wash any produce thoroughly with natural soap and rinse with purified water.
- Avoid meat from contaminated regions (including wild game).

Another level of defense is explained in the article, Remove radiation from your produce with Calcium Bentonite Clay:

"You can add Calcium Bentonite Clay to your milk and drinking water if you're concerned about the possibility of contamination there as well. Add approximately 1 ounce of liquid Calcium Bentonite Clay to a gallon of organic raw milk or water. 

Some people prefer to let the clay settle to the bottom of the liquid and discard that portion, while others prefer to shake it up and drink them together. Either is fine."

All in all, it truly is a sad state of affairs when the idea of donning a hazmat suit simply to handle our food is not as outrageous as it once had been.


Sources for this article include:

http://www.psmag.com/science/an-iodine-chaser-3523/
http://hpschapters.org/northcarolina/NSDS/iodine.pdf
http://www.nndc.bnl.gov/chart/decaysearchdirect.jsp?nuc=129I&unc=nds
http://www.naturalnews.com
http://hpschapters.org/northcarolina/NSDS/iodine.pdf
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxfaqs/tfacts158.pdf
http://www.naturalnews.com


About the author:


Carolanne enthusiastically believes if we want to see change in the world, we need to be the change. As a nutritionist, natural foods chef and wellness coach, Carolanne has encouraged others to embrace a healthy lifestyle of organic living, gratefulness and joyful orientation for over 13 years. Through her website www.Thrive-Living.net she looks forward to connecting with other like-minded people who share a similar vision.