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Re: Global Hunger and Vegetarianism

Over 1,500 farmers in the agricultural Indian state of Chattisgarh have committed suicide after being driven to debt by crop failure. The state was hit hard by falling water levels.

Bharatendu Prakash, of the Organic Farming Association of India, said that, "Farmers' suicides are increasing due to a vicious circle created by money lenders. They lure farmers to take money but when the crops fail, they are left with no option other than death."

Mr. Prakash added that the government needs to take up the cause of the poor farmers just as they fight for a strong economy.

Genetically modified plants and foods are, from my perception, one of the largest threats that we have against the very sustainability of the human race and a healthy future existence on earth.  Let�s face it, how long can your descendants survive if there isn�t any food to eat, and artificial genes start spreading to other native plants so they won�t reproduce naturally?

And that�s over and above the unimaginable, direct harm their �scientific marvels� bring to some of the poorest and most vulnerable people on the planet, such as these Indian farmers.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau of India, more than 182,900 Indian farmers took their own lives between 1997 and 2007. It estimates 46 Indian farmers commit suicide every day. That equates to roughly one suicide every 30 minutes!

And although some will argue that natural events are to blame, such as lack of rain, the fact many believe the situation can be traced directly back to their poor living conditions caused by the forced dependancy on genetically modified plants.

Over the past decade, millions of Indian farmers have been promised radically increased harvests and income if they switch from their traditional age tested farming methods to genetically modified seeds. So, they borrow money to buy these seeds, which need certain pesticides, which requires more money. And when rain fall is sparse, the genetically modified crops fare far worse than traditional crops � a fact that these farmers often times don�t learn until it�s too late and they�re standing there with failed crops, spiraling debts, and no income.

Making matters worse, these genetically modified seeds also contain some genes that render the seeds from this year�s crop useless. They simply won�t grow, so you cannot save them to plant for your next season�s harvest � a traditional farming method that�s been used since the dawn of farming itself.

But that�s not all.

Bt resistant pests and Roundup tolerant superweeds are on the rise, rendering the two major genetically crop traits useless as well. The evolution of Bt resistant bollworms worldwide have now been confirmed and documented.

The end result is that farmers are left with all of the downsides and none of the intended benefits.

So, while drought may be the straw that breaks the camel�s back for some farmers in India, it�s these problems which cause it even before there is any drought.

This latest round of mass suicides in India should be a wake-up call to us all -- that the industrial agriculture model is literally killing the farmers of our world.

I see it as a call to become more vigilant than ever, and speak out against those who exploit farmers and the earth for their own selfish and greedy goals. If we don�t, this will cause unspeakable suffering for our children, grandchildren and future generations.

We�re not just talking about cotton to be used for clothing and other products here; we�re talking about some of the most commonly consumed foods on the market.

Farmers of genetically modified fruits and vegetables across the world have not started committing suicide yet due to failed crops, but the prevalence of these foods are a massive, potentially genocidal, experiment � and you and your children are the guinea pigs.

Did you know that genetically modified foods are so prevalent in the United States that if you randomly pick an item off your grocery store's shelves, you have a 75 percent chance of picking a food with genetically modified ingredients?

It�s true. At least seven out of every 10 food items have been genetically modified!

The potential health ramifications of these world-wide experiments with our food supply are frightening to say the least. If you care about the health and future of your family, I strongly urge you to pay attention to these details.

The True Food Shopping Guide is a great tool for helping you determine which brands and products contain genetically modified ingredients. It lists 20 different food categories that include everything.

Additionally, here are four simple steps to decrease your consumption of genetically modified foods as much as possible:

        * Reduce or eliminate processed foods in your diet. The fact that 75 percent of processed foods contain genetically modified ingredients is only one of the many reasons to stick to a whole foods diet.
        * Read produce and food labels. Conventionally raised soybeans and corn make up the largest portion of genetically modified crops. Ingredients made from these foods include high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), corn flour and meal, dextrin, starch, soy sauce, margarine, and tofu.
        * Buy organic produce. By definition, food that is certified organic must be free from all genetically modified organisms, produced without artificial pesticides and fertilizers and from an animal reared without the routine use of antibiotics, growth promoters or other drugs.
        * Look at produce stickers. The PLU code on stickers for conventionally grown fruit consists of four numbers, organically grown fruit has five numbers prefaced by the number nine, and genetically modified fruit has five numbers prefaced by the number eight.

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Bio fuels are not the Solution

With climate change accepted as a threat by even its strongest sceptics, there is a rush to find quick and dirty answers. One buzz is to substitute fossil fuel with bio-fuels, that is, fuel processed from plants. But unfortunately bio-fuels are fast becoming a good idea, but bad in practice.

We know today that global food prices have risen to an all-time high, already leading to inflation in many countries and even food riots in some. In the last few years, the US alone has diverted about 25% of its maize crop to bio-diesel, and so the price of maize has increased by 60%.

The European Union mandate, to put 6% bio-fuel in the transport sector by 2010, is diverting land from food to fuel and increasing volatility of prices of oilseeds and their substitutes. In part, the price of wheat has increased because it is also used as an animal feed, substituting now-expensive maize. Also, the world is beginning to see the first impact of climate change in the increasingly variable, erratic and unseasonal weather events � tropical cyclones, heavy rains leading to floods, bitter cold spells and frost � which are failing crops and exacerbating the food crisis.

The world needs a policy for bio-fuels. First, it must accept that the �switch� to bio-fuel will do little to avert climate change in the current circumstances. In the US, if the entire corn crop is diverted to ethanol, it would replace only 12% of the petrol used today. And this use is increasing. Instead, global climate policy must be to change consumption patterns to reduce emissions. Governments should not provide subsidies to grow crops for bio-fuel but spend to limit their fuel consumption by reducing the sheer number of vehicles on their roads. Subsidising the bus and not the bio-fuel, will do more for climate mitigation.

Secondly, the policy must be to use non-edible bio-fuels on non-arable land only in high efficiency vehicles of mass transit � buses, not cars. If this is done, bio-fuels, which are renewable and emit less greenhouse gases, will make a difference. Otherwise, we are only fooling ourselves.

Thirdly, bio-fuels could well be a big part of the climate solution but only if they are used to help the world�s poor to leapfrog into a non-fossil based energy future. What we do not realise is that the bulk of what we call renewable energy � as much as 80% � is the biomass energy (chulha) used by the poorest to meet their cooking and fuel needs. Therefore, the opportunity for a massive bio-fuel revolution is not in the rich world�s cities to run vehicles, but in the grid-unconnected world of Indian or African villages.

Instead of bringing fossil fuel long distances to feed this market, this part of the world can leapfrog to a new energy future � from no fuel to the most advanced fuel in the world. The bio-fuel can come from non-edible tree crops � jatropha in India, for example � grown on wasteland, which will also provide employment to people.

This fuel market will demand a different business model. It cannot be conducted along the current so-called free market model, which is based on economies of scale and, therefore, demands consolidation and leads to uncompetitive practices. In today�s business model, the company will grow the crops, extract the oil, transport it first to refineries and then back to consumers. The new generation bio-fuel business needs a model of distributed growth in which we have millions of fuel growers and millions of distributors and millions of users.

For this to happen, we will have to remember that climate change is not a technological fix but a political challenge. Bio-fuel is one part of that new future but only if we can get politics right.

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(GERMAN) 10. Srila Prabhupada über Nityananda Gauranga Naam (10)

Weil beim Chanten der Nityananda- und Gauranga-Mantrarajas die zehn Vergehen nicht ber�cksichtigt werden, braucht die Diksha f�r die Nityananda- und Gauranga-Mantrarajas keine besondere Qualifikation, ausser der Bereitschaft, die heiligen Namen anzunehmen und zu chanten. Aber Diksha f�r das Hare Krischna Mahamantra verlangt vom Sch�ler das volle vergehensfreie Vertrauen in das Chanten des Hare Krischna Mahamantras, weil die zehn Vergehen beim Chanten des heilgen Namens von Krischna ber�cksichtigt werden.
Wenn also die Sch�ler das Hare Krischna Mahamantra ohne ausreichende Zuflucht bei den Nityananda- und Gauranga-Mantrarajas chanten, werden sie gem�ss Srila Prabhupada selbst das gew�nschte Resultat nicht erlangen. Die heiligen Namen von Nityananda und Gauranga zerst�ren alle zehn Vergehen vom Chanten des Hare Krischna Mahamantras und bef�higen den J�nger, sich dem Hare Krischna Mahamantra geeignet zu n�hern, ohne Vergehen bef�rchten zu m�ssen.
Die Diksha in die Nityananda- und Gauranga-Mantras festigt die spirituelle Position des Sch�lers sowie des spirituellen Meisters, und weil die Nityananda- und Gauranga-Mantrarajas die zehn Vergehen des Sch�lers beim Chanten des Hare Krischna Mahamantras vernichten,  bleiben sowohl der Guru wie auch der J�nger spirituell unber�hrt von den Vergehen, welche der Sch�ler beim Chanten des Hare Krischna Mahamantras begangen haben k�nnte, und der Sch�ler wird auf diese Weise raschen Fortschritt in der Wissenschaft des vergehensfreien Chantens der heiligen Namen und der daraus folgenden Verwirklichung Gottes erzielen, und so auch die F�hrung des spirituellen Meisters verstehen.
Also ist die Nityananda- und Gauranga-Mantra Diksha der Kernpunkt im strategischen Plan des Gurus, um dem Sch�ler die beste Erfolgsaussicht im vergehensfreien Chanten des Hare Krischna Mahamantras zu geben. Diejenigen spirituellen Meister, welche sich entschliessen, das Hare Krischna Mahamantra den Sch�lern direkt zu geben, ohne sie zu unterweisen, die heiligen Namen von Nityananda und Gauranga angemessen zu chanten, m�ssen ihre Sch�ler unterweisen, das Hare Krischna Mahamantra ohne Unterbruch in einem Vielfachen von 64 Runden t�glich zu chanten, genauso wie Srila Haridasa Thakura die Prostituierte unterwiesen hat. Weil das fortw�hrende Chanten des Hare Krischna Mahamantras, anf�nglich mit mindestens 64 Runden t�glich, der einzige andere Weg ist, die zehn Vergehen auszumerzen. Jedoch ist das immerw�hrende Chanten sehr schwierig f�r die Seelen im Kalizeitalter, welche Tag und Nacht vollst�ndig in materialistischen T�tigkeiten versunken sind.

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Re: Advice for the Youth and Students

Nityananda!! Gauranga!! Hare Krishna!!

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Re: Cowherd Boys Friendship towards Krsna

Nityananda!! Gauranga!! Hare Krishna!!

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Global Hunger and Vegetarianism

The New York Times, Tuesday, June 20, 1989

Number of people worldwide who will die of starvation this year: 60 million. Number of people who could be adequately fed with the grain saved if Americans reduced their intake of meat by 10 perc.: 60 million.

Human beings in America: 243 million. Number of people who could be fed with grain and soybeans now eaten by U.S. livestock: 1.3 billion. How frequently a child starves to death: every 2 seconds.

Percentage of corn grown in the U.S. eaten by people: 20. Percentage of corn grown in the U.S. eaten by livestock: 80. Percentage of oats grown in the U.S. eaten by livestock: 95. Percentage of protein waste by cycling grain through livestock: 99.

Pounds of potatoes that can be grown on an acre: 20.OOO. Pounds of beef produced on an acre: 165. Percentage of U.S. farmland devoted to beef production: 56. Pounds of grain and soybeans needed to produce a pound of beef: 16.

Cause of global warming: greenhouse effect Primary cause of greenhouse effect: carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels. Fossil fuels needed to produce a meat-centered diet vs. a meat-free diet: 50 times more.

Percentage of U.S. topsoil lost to date: 75. Percentage of U.S. topsoil loss directly related to livestock raising: 85. Number of acres of U.S. forest cleared for cropland to produce meat-centered diet: 260 million.

Amount of meat U.S. imports annually from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Panama: 200 million pounds. Average per capita meat consumption in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Panama: less than eaten by average U.S. housecat.

Area of tropical rainforest consumed in every 1/4 pound hamburger: 55 sq.ft. Current rate of species extinction due to destruction of tropical rainforests for meat grazing and other uses: 1.000 per year.

Increased risk of breast cancer for women who eat meat 4 times a week vs. less than once a week: 4 times. For women who eat eggs daily vs. less than once a week: 3 times.

Increased risk of fatal ovarian cancer for women who eat eggs 3 or more times a week vs. less than once a week: 3 times.

Increased risk of fatal prostate cancer for men who eat meat daily vs. sparingly or not at all: 3.6 times.

Use of more than half of all water used for all purposes in the U.S.: livestock portion. Amount of water used in production of the average steer: sufficient to float a destroyer.

Gallons of water needed to produce a pound of wheat: 25. Gallons of water needed to produce a pound of meat: 2.500.

Cost of common hamburger if water used by meat industry was not subsidized by the U.S. taxpayer: 35 dollars a pound. Current cost of pound of protein from beefsteak, if water was no longer subsidized: 89 dollars.

Years the world's known oil reserves would last if every human ate a meat-centered diet: 13. Years they would last if human beings no longer ate meat: 260.

Barrels of oil imported into U.S. daily: 6.8 million. Percentage of fossil fuel returned as food energy by most efficient factory farming of meat: 34.5. Percentage returned from least efficient plant food: 32.8. Percentage of raw materials consumed by U.S. to produce present meat-centered diet: 33.

Number of U.S. medical schools: 125. Number requiring a course in nutrition: 30. Nutrition training received by average U.S. physician during four years in medical school: 25 hours. 20, 1989)

Most common cause of death in U.S.: heart attack. How frequently a heart attack kills in U.S.: every 45 seconds. Average U.S. man's risk of death from heart attack: 50 perc. Risk for average U.S. man who avoids the meat-centered diet: 15 perc.

Meat industry claims you should not be concerned about your blood cholesterol if it is: normal. Your risk of dying of a disease caused by clogged arteries if your blood cholesterol is 'normal': over 50 perc.

Percentage of U.S. antibiotics fed to livestock: 55. Percentage of staphylococci infections resistant to penicillin in 1960: 13. Percentage resistant in 1988: 91.

Response of European Economic Community to routine feeding of antibiotics to livestock: ban. Response of U.S. meat and pharmaceutical industries to routine feeding of antibiotics to livestock: full and complete support.

Percentage of pesticide residues in the U.S. diet supplied by grains: 1. Percentage of pesticide residues in the U.S. diet supplied by fruits: 4. Percentage of pesticide residues in the U.S. diet suppl. by dairy products: 23. Percentage of pesticide residues in the U.S. diet supplied by meat: 55. Pesticide contamination of breast milk from meat-eating mothers vs. non meat-eating: 35 times higher.

What USDA tells us: meat is inspected. Percentage of slaughtered animals inspected for residues of toxin chemicals including dioxin and DDT: less than 0.00004.

Number of animals killed for meat per hour in U.S.: 500.000. Occupation with highest turnover rate in U.S.: slaughterhouse worker. Occupation with highest rate of on-the-job injury in U.S: slaughterhouse worker. Cost to render animal unconscious with captive bolt pistol before slaughter.: 1 cent. Reason given by meat industry for not using that pistol: too expensive.

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Re: Worshiping Lord Jagannatha alone?

Nityananda!! Gauranga!! Hare Krishna!!

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