
Pesticide 'contaminating' Prairie wetlands: scientist (2014) - asaegyn
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/pesticide-contaminating-prairie-wetlands-scientist-1.2482082
======
briga
Many of the large shallow lakes in the Prairie provinces are drying up as
well. For example Miquelon lake in central Alberta has shrunk by at least half
since European settlers arrived. Not to mention the fact that many smaller
lakes are now overgrown with algal blooms during the summer months due to
fertilizer runoff. There is very little natural prairie left in the west, and
pressure from agriculture and development are growing every year.

Question is, is there anything we can do about it, or is it just the price we
pay for human development? When you look at the ecological sterilization that
happened in places like the San Joaquin valley in California things start to
look pretty bleak.

~~~
pjkundert
It only takes a small, vocal minority to turn the tide of civilization.

Vote with your wallet, and demand organic produce and pasture raised, locally
butchered meat. The uptick in price is quite small, and the differences (both
health and flavor) are _huge_ :

\- Pasture grasslands sequester carbon and increase topsoil quantity/quality

\- Industrial farming, livestock finishing and meat processing is of
dramatically lower quality, both ethically and nutritionally

Just 5% of the population expressing their refusal to consume industrially
raised and finished meat, and non-organic produce would up-end the supply
chain -- because even non-interested parties would begin to change their
buying habits, to satisfy the "wacko" uncle or cousin who only eats organic,
pasture-raised stuff...

~~~
shims
In the US, 'organic' _does not_ mean sustainable. Voting with your wallet is
not enough. This situation requires large scale change and regulation to
remedy.

~~~
monetus
And even if it was, the uptick in price is usually quite high; it seems most
groceries have the highest margins on things marketed as healthy/sustainable.

~~~
dbcurtis
Don't confuse margins with prices. I can't speak for the grocery stores, but
at the producer level organic growing practices are higher cost. The farmer
may get a higher price and yet also have a lower margin. That is certainly
true for broad-field crops such as organic soy beans -- the higher price for
organic at the grain terminal often does not make up for lower yields and
higher input costs. I have seen broad-field crop farmers attempt organic and
give it up as a risky, often money losing venture. (Source: I am a fly-over
country landlord with skin in the game.)

~~~
monetus
Yeah, your point about the production costs is correct and seems easily
generalizable. I don't think I can generalize the grocers the same way. This
is an anecdote from 6 years ago, so take it that way, but in my area the
average margin over all the stores and all of their items was just under 2%.
Iirc, most grocers were taking losses on certain staples while maintaining a
+50% markup on food marketable as healthy. I don't mean organic, just things
perceived to be healthy. Some discount grocers and farmers' markets have
opened business since then, so it may not be the same anymore.

------
daxfohl
Has anyone else noticed that flies seem _slower_ now than years ago? I feel
like now I have a 50% or better chance of getting a bug with my hand. Seems
like years ago it was much more rare.

~~~
jobigoud
This is anecdotal obviously, but we recently moved to a new house a bit
further away from the city (Western Europe), and we definitely noticed that
the flies are very slow and generally apathetic / lacking self-preservation
instinct.

Many times they land on a table and you can nudge them and they don't even fly
away. We attributed it to the recent change in location, like maybe the flies
here are stupid or since we have many more lizards maybe there is weird
selection bias.

There is also virtually no mosquitoes even though we are near a lake and when
we used to come here a few decades ago they were everywhere, it was a
impossible to stay outside without repellent.

------
ptah
article is from 2014. these are already banned in EU.
[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-
environment-43910536](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-43910536)
is it not banned in north america yet?

~~~
checktheorder
In 2014, the federal governing party in Canada was the Conservative Party,
renowned for both their extreme hostility to science-based environmental
policy, and their friendliness to large businesses in the prairie provinces.
No-one with any familiarity with Canadian federal politics expected the
Conservatives to lift a finger to ban neonics. This is the same party that
made is a fireable offense for federally-employed scientists to speak to the
media without prior approval.

What's become unexpectedly shameful is the new government under the Liberal
Party elected in late 2015. That party keeps claiming to be in favour of
science-based policy, but they've dragged their feet on the neonic issue just
as much as the Conservatives. The general consensus is that the Liberals are
worried about rural votes in the prairie provinces in the general election to
be held later this year, so they're trying to avoid any action that could be
perceived as "anti farmer".

~~~
pjkundert
The election is "over" by the time the polls in Ontario are tallied, so it is
unlikely that the prairie "rural votes" are a significant issue.

