Visited ASeed

While much of Amsterdam was outside enjoying yes another day of sunny spring weather, I ventured over to the zoo neighborhood to visit with Nina at the ASeed offices.  Aseed is a nongovernmental organization that focuses on issues related to agriculture in Europe and throughout the world. My interest in meeting them today was to discuss the soy industry and what is going on in terms of who is doing most of the soy growing and what is its effect on the environment and society in general.

When I arrived at the building I realized it was a familiar squat (or former squat at this point) where I, in the past, had visited the wonderful artists of pipslab.  The kind of  building where the doorbells alone indicate that in this place, very creative, unique, and possibly crazy people- work. Naturally I felt welcome and most certainly in my kind of place.

Nina greeted me and led me into a large former auditorium of some sort, which let in lots of natural light, making it easier to see the large signs on the ground.  The signs were being prepared by the Aseed people for an upcoming summit in Bonn, which I’ll be watching for developments that I might bring to you.

From the 19th to the 30th of May, Bonn, Germany will host a global summit on biodiversity.  Though eventually 5,000 participants will make their way to Bonn, many activists, farmers, and concerned citizens will also be converging on Bonn.  The issue is as important as ever; fighting for the rights of small farmers versus the mammoth multinational agribusiness corporations, and questions surrounding genetically modified crops and food – the growing lobby at the EU level, and much more.

In my few hours at Aseed Nina did sit down with me and we recorded a podcast on the Soy industry.  She also informed me about alot of related topics which I hope to pursue in the coming weeks and months.  Look for the podcast at the end of the weekend.

Technical Note

Just a little update regarding what is going on with the site and little things you may find useful or of interest:

On the menu furthest to the right you have feeds which you can and should subscribe to; feed for everything, a feed for those who only want audio, video, and even those who want to read latest comments in their RSS reader. What RSS reader do I recommend lately? Google Reader. In the past I’ve also recommended Bloglines which I still think is a fine choice. Using an RSS reader is not difficult and will actually take care of that problem that has been nagging you – “how can I possibly keep up with the blogs that I like, I have no time”. I read 90% of my news, blogs, comments, weather, torrents, you name it… using feeds in my google reader.

Also, although I thought it pointless in the beginning, twitter certainly has SOME usefulness. My twitter account, which basically is an occasional update of what Im doing, where I’m going, and what issues I’m working on, is open to the public. So if you feel that citizenreporter.org has lost some of the personal details of what bicyclemark is up to, you could follow me on twitter or subscribe to my twitter RSS. But beware, twitter can be choc full of useless mundane statements.

Lastly today, especially for those of you who meet with me in different cities and countries, or who like knowing where I’m going next, dopplr has become my preferred method for informing friends about my trips. As you can see on the menu immediately to the right, there is a dopplr box that shows my next few trips. If you login to dopplr you can share trips with me and vice-versa.

This concludes the technical updates which I felt might be of interest.

bm260 The Other Side of the Filesharing Debate

Following the recent podcast on licences, filesharing, and the pirate bay, I received alot of strong feedback with both opinions that were similar and also very different from those that Peter brought forth.  This podcast features musician and podcaster Michael Harren aka Mikeypod, who talks about things like licenses and artist rights according to his experience and opinions.

We Discuss:

  • Creative Commons
  • The Artist’s Choice and Empowerment
  • Money, making it, deserving it, expecting it
  • Filesharing in terms of music
  • Arists Using CC

 

One Day More

Regularly scheduled citizen reporting will resume tomorrow.

After two months with no internet at home, the corrupt and incompetent phone company is coming to my house to check the wiring.  That combined with the fact that tomorrow is the Drag Queen Olympics, means that we can finally expect my work flo to return to normal and lots of interesting topics to discuss.  Not to mention, who will win the Stiletto Sprint this year?

Questions About Soy

Among the more typical responses if I ever mention that I’m a vegetarian, is the inevitable question of why. Normally I entertain the question, though I’m usually thinking of how unfair it is to get this question since I never ask non vegetarians why they are what they are.

Frequently I refer to how cattle are raised, the hormones, the odd practice of feeding dead animal parts to animals which eventually led to foot and mouth, and that sort of thing. The more combative people will respond with the “don’t you worry about how your plants are being raised, what goes into your vegetables?” To which I normally respond, “Yes. I worry.”

I’ve just begun to look more closely at the soy industry, as I’m a drinker of Soy Milk, and there is often soy in some of my meals as well as the soy pudding I enjoy eating every now and then. No doubt an astute smarty-pants reader of my blog will leave a long comment about the horrors of soy farming. Let me try to mention some of that to save him/her the trouble:

In places such as Paraguay, soy expansion has had a negative impact on water, the environment in general, and the way of life of many small farmers. In Brazil, in the state of Mato Grosso for example, the booming soy industry had led to the clearing of more and more rain forest.

I realize this might only be the tip of the iceberg. But at the same time, this does not summarize what soy means to the world, because I want to hear about the good it can do, and especially the realm of sustainable soy cultivation.

I recently found an organization based here in Amsterdam, “A Seed”, who specialize in reporting on this issue and can also explain how things work with sustainable soy. I’m in contact with them and an interview for the podcast will be coming soon. Lets see what I learn.

bmtv83 Lisbon 1974

The 25 of April is a very special day. As per tradition, here’s a video blog entry paying tribute to 25 de Abril in Portugal.