I spent longer than I probably should have chasing this Monarch Butterfly around the garden. She was gathering nectar for the long journey ahead. All the monarchs east of the Rocky Mountains migrate to one area in Central Mexico for the winter. There they gather in the forest so thickly that tree branches break under the weight of butterflies. Can you imagine?
live 3 times as long as their family members who live in other times of the year. No one knows how they can do this, let alone how they always find their way back to their winter get-away. Amazing.Unfortunately, there are signs that the monarch population is in decline, especially in the Midwest. This decrease in population over the last 17 years has been attributed, at least in part by the widespread use of Genetically Modified Roundup Ready crops. Monarch caterpillars can only eat milkweed, and monarchs will only lay their eggs on milkweed. The widespread and liberal use of Monsanto's Roundup on GM crops is killing off a large portion of the milkweed in agricultural areas. One study found that the amount of milkweed on farms in Iowa declined 90 percent from 1999 to 2009. Monarchs are finding fewer places to lay their eggs, thus their population is shrinking. "It [glyphosate] kills everything," said Lincoln P. Brower, an entomologist who is also an author of the paper detailing the loss of monarch population. "It's like absolute Armageddon for biodiversity over a huge area." You can read the New York Times article here.
This is only one of the many reasons to avoid GMO crops, and I think that many of us would if only we could easily distinguish what was made with genetically engineered crops and what was not. Without a law requiring that products containing GMOs be labeled as such, it is very difficult for we as consumers to know what is GMO free. It is estimated that as much as 75% of processed foods in a conventional grocery store contain GMOs. Most people are completely unaware of this because the large corporations who make heaps of money with their GMO seed and herbicide know that if we knew what we were eating, we would make different choices, and their lucrative business model would be in jeopardy. Their millions are made by keeping millions of consumers ignorant about what they are feeding their children. Even China has labels their GMO food. We have a right to know.
