Thursday, March 28, 2024
Hawai'i Free Press

Current Articles | Archives

Wednesday, May 2, 2012
GMO Ag Sharply Cuts CO2 Output--Organics Spew Greenhouse Gasses
By NCPA @ 2:03 PM :: 8472 Views :: Energy, Environment, National News, Ethics, World News, Family

Earth Day, the Free Market Way

From NCPA

In recent years, Earth Day has provided an opportunity for passion and zeal to trump science, as environmentalists promulgate fears and bash technological advancements. Specifically, biotech-enhanced crops have been bludgeoned by the environmental community, especially in Europe, which has attempted to blunt their use by the spreading of rumors, says Henry I. Miller, the Robert Wesson Fellow in Scientific Philosophy and Public Policy at the Hoover Institution.

However, these crops offer unprecedented opportunities to do good for the global population. Farmers worldwide can benefit from more efficient farming techniques and yields, and consumers can attain staple food items at lower prices. All of this can be accomplished in tandem with environmental benefits.

  • Crops engineered with higher nutritional inputs, such as vitamin A, can deliver necessary components of a healthy diet to those who have had minimal access to them.
  • Biotech also offers the opportunity to grow crops in places that were previously unavailable as the plants are genetically engineered to resist pests and adverse climate conditions.
  • Similarly, the higher crop yields afforded by engineering allow food items to be sold at lower prices, thereby benefitting all consumers.
  • Additionally, higher yields limit the need to cultivate new lands, such as forests, thereby limiting the environmental footprint of farmers around the world.

These benefits are not only provable by listing them out on paper: people vote with their feet, and the number of farmers that are shifting their focus toward genetically engineered crops suggests that individuals at the ground level are well aware of their superior performance.

  • In about three dozen countries worldwide, more than 17 million farmers are using agbiotech crop varieties.
  • In 2009, the shift to biotech crops reduced carbon dioxide emissions by 17.6 billion kilograms, equal to the removal of 7.8 million cars from the road for a year.
  • Interestingly, organic farming -- which prohibits the use of genetically engineered plant varieties and is the darling of the environmental movement -- has opposite effects on this parameter.

In spite of these achievements and an extraordinary safety record, there remains widespread opposition to cultivating genetically engineered plants and even to importing grains grown from genetically engineered seeds. Even governments have imposed moratoria on commercial-scale cultivation of plants and regulatory approvals are virtually non-existent.

Source: Henry I. Miller, "Earth Day, the Free Market Way," Defining Ideas, April 19, 2012.

Links

TEXT "follow HawaiiFreePress" to 40404

Register to Vote

2aHawaii

808 Silent Majority

Aloha Pregnancy Care Center

AntiPlanner

Antonio Gramsci Reading List

A Place for Women in Waipio

Ballotpedia Hawaii

Broken Trust

Build More Hawaiian Homes Working Group

Christian Homeschoolers of Hawaii

Cliff Slater's Second Opinion

DVids Hawaii

FIRE

Fix Oahu!

Frontline: The Fixers

Genetic Literacy Project

Grassroot Institute

Habele.org

Hawaii Aquarium Fish Report

Hawaii Aviation Preservation Society

Hawaii Catholic TV

Hawaii Christian Coalition

Hawaii Cigar Association

Hawaii ConCon Info

Hawaii Debt Clock

Hawaii Defense Foundation

Hawaii Family Forum

Hawaii Farmers and Ranchers United

Hawaii Farmer's Daughter

Hawaii Federalist Society

Hawaii Federation of Republican Women

Hawaii History Blog

Hawaii Homeschool Association

Hawaii Jihadi Trial

Hawaii Legal News

Hawaii Legal Short-Term Rental Alliance

Hawaii Matters

Hawaii's Partnership for Appropriate & Compassionate Care

Hawaii Public Charter School Network

Hawaii Rifle Association

Hawaii Shippers Council

Hawaii Smokers Alliance

Hawaii State Data Lab

Hawaii Together

HIEC.Coop

HiFiCo

Hiram Fong Papers

Homeschool Legal Defense Hawaii

Honolulu Moms for Liberty

Honolulu Navy League

Honolulu Traffic

House Minority Blog

Imua TMT

Inouye-Kwock, NYT 1992

Inside the Nature Conservancy

Inverse Condemnation

Investigative Project on Terrorism

July 4 in Hawaii

Kakaako Cares

Keep Hawaii's Heroes

Land and Power in Hawaii

Legislative Committee Analysis Tool

Lessons in Firearm Education

Lingle Years

Managed Care Matters -- Hawaii

Malama Pregnancy Center of Maui

MentalIllnessPolicy.org

Military Home Educators' Network Oahu

Missile Defense Advocacy

MIS Veterans Hawaii

NAMI Hawaii

Natatorium.org

National Christian Foundation Hawaii

National Parents Org Hawaii

NFIB Hawaii News

No GMO Means No Aloha

Not Dead Yet, Hawaii

NRA-ILA Hawaii

Oahu Alternative Transport

Obookiah

OHA Lies

Opt Out Today

OurFutureHawaii.com

Patients Rights Council Hawaii

PEACE Hawaii

People vs Machine

Practical Policy Institute of Hawaii

Pritchett Cartoons

Pro-GMO Hawaii

P.U.E.O.

RailRipoff.com

Rental by Owner Awareness Assn

ReRoute the Rail

Research Institute for Hawaii USA

Rick Hamada Show

RJ Rummel

Robotics Organizing Committee

School Choice in Hawaii

SenatorFong.com

Sink the Jones Act

Statehood for Guam

Talking Tax

Tax Foundation of Hawaii

The Real Hanabusa

Time Out Honolulu

Trustee Akina KWO Columns

UCC Truths

US Tax Foundation Hawaii Info

VAREP Honolulu

Waagey.org

West Maui Taxpayers Association

What Natalie Thinks

Whole Life Hawaii

Yes2TMT