Fororo,atole,gofio

Will Venezuelans Die of Hunger to Keep Maduro in Power? - Havana ...

www.havanatimes.org/?p=126321

Jul 20, 2017 - Fororo is a drink made from roasted corn, which has recently become very popular again in the Venezuelan kitchen. In Barquisimeto, it's normal ...

http://www.estampas.com/cocina-y-sabor/140424/fororo-un-maiz-de-moreno-cuerpo

Fororo: un maíz de moreno cuerpo

Más allá de los atoles, esta harina puede enriquecer algunas recetas en las que se necesite el cereal, aportándole un sabor especial

por CARMEN ISABEL MARACARA  |  JUEVES 24 DE ABRIL DE 2014

Presente en las mesas venezolana de antaño, el fororo, harina de maíz tostada, constituye un sano brebaje que frío o caliente, puede alentar constituciones débiles –según la tradición-, nutrir a los más pequeños –gracias también a la adición de leche-, o servir de plato único y sencillo para el desayuno o la cena.

Aunque las nuevas generaciones lo desconozcan y muchas personas lo den por desaparecido de los anaqueles, lo cierto es que esta versión del grano de oro, venerado por las culturas americanas, se fabrica en el país, bajo la marca de La Lucha, empresa radicada en Los Teques, la que también elabora el gofio canario.

El fororo se expende en dos versiones, con y sin azúcar. En tierras andinas venezolanas, se expende la harina de siete granos, una versión también tostada y mucho más nutritiva, ya que contiene también proteínicos granos o legumbres como arvejas, por ejemplo.

Una milagrosa pócima caliente
Según la tradición oral de los municipios Puerto Cabello y Juan José Mora, recogida en el libro Patrimonio Cultural, editado por el IPC, la preparación líquida requiere poco tiempo e ingredientes y es un alimento característico de nuestra nacionalidad.

Indica el texto,que se prepara con cinco cucharadas de harina de fororo, ocho cucharadas de leche en polvo batida en un litro de agua, cuatro cucharadas de azúcar y dos trozos de canela. Se hierven dos  tazas de agua con canela y cuatro cucharadas de leche; aparte se disuelve el fororo con cuatro cucharadas de leche en polvo en dos tazas de agua y azúcar. Para finalizar, se unen ambas mezclas y se dejan hervir hasta que espese.  Algunas personas prefieren colocar papelón en vez de azúcar, con lo que gana en sabor y un puntico de sal.

En la niñez de muchos venezolanos, bastaba también mezclar un poco de fororo con azúcar y comerse la harina como una golosina, que entintaba de tono moreno las mejillas de quien se decantaba por este manjar sencillo.

El pan de horno, que hace tiempo no se consigue fácilmente, salvo en algunos mercados tradicionales, se puede realizar con fororo – ya que la harina de maíz cariaco tostado, el ingrediente original, es mucho más difícil de conseguir- y se le agrega manteca, papelón, pimienta guayabita, clavo de olor y anís dulce. También hay quien versiona la torta Bejarana, que se elaboraba con pan de horno triturado y le añade en sustitución fororo, como propone el chef venezolano Carlos Izaguirre, especialista en comidas de tradición venezolana para servicio de catering (www.chefcarlosaguirre.blogspot.com).

Hoy día, en muchas recetas de tradición, el fororo se puede incorporar, así como también enriquecer nuevas propuestas en las que el toque del cereal tostado, otorgue un sabor distintivo.

Otras versiones en cocina creativa
En el blog bienmesabe1.blogspot.com, se ofrece un pan de maíz, al que en vez de integrarle la harina de maíz amarillo, que lleva la receta para realizar el Cornbread, tradicional en los Estados Unidos, se le coloca fororo.

Para preparar un pan cuadrado de aproximadamente 20 cm, se requiere una taza y media de harina de trigo, una taza de fororo, dos cucharaditas de polvo de hornear, un cuarto de taza de azúcar morena (o papelón rallado), un cuarto de taza de granos de maíz de lata o congelados, una taza de suero de leche, dos huevos, 115 gramos de mantequilla derretida y enfriada, una taza de suero de leche.

Precaliente el horno, engrase y enharine el molde. En un envase, coloque la harina de trigo, el fororo y el polvo de hornear. Mezcle y reserve. Licúe el azúcar con los granos de maíz y el suero; bata unos diez segundos, agregue los huevos y siga batiendo unos cinco segundos más. Coloque los ingredientes líquidos en el centro de los ingredientes secos, mezcle con una espátula y agregue la mantequilla derretida, hasta integrar todo. Coloque la mezcla en el molde e introduzca en el horno previamente calentado a 250 grados centígrados durante aproximadamente 40 minutos o hasta que el pan esté dorado y bien cocido por dentro.

Relacionado con: cereales, desayunos

https://www.natursan.net/gofio-beneficios-y-propiedades/

Gofio: beneficios y propiedades

Nuevo estudio confirma los increíbles beneficios del gofio, un alimento canario muy rico en propiedades y con muchísimos nutrientes esenciales. Ideal, muy completo y maravilloso dentro de una dieta variada y equilibrada.

Escrito por Christian Pérez · En Nutrición

El gofio es el nombre con el que popularmente, sobre todo en las Islas Canarias donde era muy consumido por los pueblos indígenas, se le conoce a la harina tostada. Se trata de un alimento formado por una harina de cereales tostados no cernida, en general trigo o millo, que tiende a comerse habitualmente con leche o con determinados platos (como potajes, caldos y purés), o bien se utiliza en distintas preparaciones alimenticias como postres. Es decir, consiste en una mezcla de granos tostados y molidos a la piedra, a la que se le añade una pizca de sal.

Presenta una apariencia que recuerda muchísimo a la que posee la harina blanca, pero su principal diferencia es que cuenta con un color más oscuro o amarillento. La variabilidad en el color la encontramos sobre todo en la composición utilizada para su elaboración, así como el grado utilizado para su tostado.

Podemos considerarlo como un alimento prehispánico, de origen bereber, que los indígenas o aborígenes canarios consumían como parte fundamental de su dieta. En este caso, los antiguos canarios elaboraban diferentes tipos de gofio, utilizando para ello rizomas de helecho, cebada, lentejas y trigo. Luego fueron incorporando nuevos ingredientes, como es el caso del millo y del centeno.

Propiedades nutricionales del gofio

Destaca por ser un alimento sumamente natural, en cuya elaboración sólo se utilizan técnicas naturales (es común, por ejemplo, su elaboración a la piedra). Además, no contiene conservantes ni colorantes.

Desde un punto de vista nutricional, se trata de un alimento muy rico en vitaminas (principalmente vitaminas del grupo B, como la B1, B2 y B2, además de vitamina C, A y D) y también en minerales (como el hierro, calcio, magnesio, potasio, sodio y zinc). También aporta ácidos grasos omega 6 poli insaturados y aminoácidos. Eso sí, por su alto contenido en sodio y potasio no resulta adecuado en pacientes con problemas en los riñones.

También aporta interesantes cantidades de fibra alimentaria, con lo que se convierte en un alimento de elección en la dieta variada y equilibrada, ya que es ideal para aportar fibra a nuestro organismo cada día. Asimismo, aporta proteínas.

Beneficios del gofio más importantes

1. Muy rico en fibra

El gofio es un alimento integral sumamente rico en fibra dietética, de manera que se convierte en una opción natural ideal a la hora de regular el tránsito intestinal, y mantener y mejorar la propia salud intestinal. Es adecuado, por tanto, en el tratamiento del estreñimiento o como forma de prevenirlo naturalmente.

Su contenido en fibra también resulta muy interesante para el control del colesterol y de los triglicéridos.

2. Adecuada para diabéticos

Se trata de un alimento muy adecuado para personas con diabetes, dado que retrasa la absorción de hidratos de carbono simples. Es decir, es un producto natural que ayuda a regular los diferentes niveles de glucosa en la sangre después de haberlos ingerido.

3. Buena para mantener unos niveles óptimos de colesterol

Por su riqueza en ácidos grasos omega 6, el gofio se convierte en un alimento ideal para quienes deseen reducir sus niveles de colesterol alto, gracias a que ayuda a reducir y eliminar la presencia de grasa acumulada en las arterias.

4. Alimento muy nutritivo y bajo en grasas

Es un alimento adecuado en una dieta variada y equilibrada, y también en dietas de adelgazamiento, gracias a que se trata de un producto natural que aporta una gran diversidad de nutrientes esenciales, siendo muy bajo en grasas.

Nuevo estudio confirma que el gofio es bueno para el corazón y la salud cardiovascular

Como te comentábamos, si vives en las Islas Canarias es evidente que ya sepas lo que es el gofio y que incluso ya lo hayas probado en alguna que otra ocasión. Si es así, también es bastante probable que cada mañana desayunes unas cucharadas de gofio con tu café con leche habitual. Pero de no ser así quizá al descubrir los resultados obtenidos en un estudio científico llevado a cabo por el Hospital Universitario de Canarias (HUC) te plantees esta posibilidad.

La investigación sobre la que te hablábamos al comienzo de esta nota se llevó a cabo entre 2007 y 2014 y sus resultados se han conocido recientemente. El estudio fue realizado con datos recabados en mil pacientes de entre 70 y 80 años que presentaban síntomas de dolor de pecho a los cuales se les solicitó una prueba de esfuerzo.

En aquellos momentos el trabajo de investigación empezó con el fin de estudiar si el consumo de gofio ejercía influencia en la capacidad de ejercicio, así como en el riesgo de presentar enfermedad arterial coronaria.

Con todo ello el estudio reveló que las personas mayores que consumieron gofio de manera habitual durante al menos 40 años presentaban una mejor capacidad funcional, un menor riesgo de sufrir una enfermedad arterial coronaria y mayor proporción en la superación de pruebas de esfuerzo.

De acuerdo a los resultados obtenidos con el estudio, publicado en la revista , el consumo mantenido de gofio es muy beneficioso para nuestra salud, dado que su ingesta prolongada ayuda a reducir el riesgo cardiovascular.

Como recuerdan los especialistas, en el siglo XXI la enfermedad cardiovascular continúa siendo la causa más frecuente de mortalidad, añadiendo a su vez que mantener un adecuado bienestar físico y seguir una dieta saludable a base de cereales es fundamental para su prevención.

Imágenes | Sergio Sánchez / Jorge Correa / Lisa Risager / Julen Iturbe-Ormaetxe

Strong women did a lot of the heavy lifting in ancient farming societies

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/11/strong-women-did-lot-heavy-lifting-ancient-agrarian-societies

Strong women did a lot of the heavy lifting in ancient farming societies
By Michael PriceNov. 29, 2017 , 2:00 PM
Forget about emotional labor. Women living 7000 years ago had to deal with another lopsided workload: farming. Prehistoric women shouldered a major share of the hoeing, digging, and hauling in early agricultural societies, according to a new study. Now, by analyzing the bones of these women, scientists have shown that their upper body strength surpassed even today’s elite female athletes. The findings refute popularly held notions that early agrarian women shunned manual labor in favor of domestic work, and they suggest that then—as now—a woman’s work was never done.

“People haven’t typically focused on females in this society, [but] it’s very important for understanding … the divisions of labor that exist today,” says Hila May, an anthropologist at Tel Aviv University in Israel who studies evolutionary anatomy, but was not involved in the new work. “I wish we could go back and ask people how they lived, but all we have is bone.”

Bones stretch and twist throughout the lifetime in response to repeated stresses like lifting, pulling, and running. When humans switched from a roving hunter-gatherer lifestyle to a more sedentary, farming-focused existence some 10,000 years ago, their bones followed suit: The rigid, bent shinbones of men found in central Europe between 5300 B.C.E. and 100 C.E.—shaped by muscles constantly on the run—became progressively straighter and less rigid as people farmed more and roved less. But women’s shinbones didn’t change much during this same period.
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Some have put that down to prehistoric women’s focus on domestic tasks that required comparatively less strength. But Alison Macintosh, an anthropologist at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, thought there might be more to the story. “We felt it was likely a huge oversimplification to say [prehistoric women] were simply not doing that much, or not doing as much as the men, or were largely sedentary,” she says.

To find out what was really going on, she and colleagues used a 3D laser imaging system to record models of 89 shinbones and 78 upper arm bones from women who lived during the Neolithic (5300 B.C.E.–4600 B.C.E.), Bronze Age (3200 B.C.E.–1450 B.C.E.), Iron Age (850 B.C.E.–100 C.E.), and Medieval (800 C.E.–850 C.E.) periods in Central Europe. Then they recruited dozens of female Cambridge students—accomplished runners, soccer players, and rowers as well as moderately active nonathletes—and x-rayed their leg and arm bones using a computerized tomography scanner.

Analyzing the bones’ shapes, they looked at the bends and twists that indicated how much muscle was packed on, then compared them with those of their agrarian foremothers. Macintosh found—similar to previous research—that throughout the ages, women’s leg strength has remained largely the same. But when the researchers looked at the upper arm bones, a new pattern emerged: Prehistoric women in the Neolithic, Bronze, and Iron ages would have had about 5%–10% more arm strength than the modern female athletes in the study, the researchers report today in Science Advances.

In fact, the prehistoric women’s bodies most closely resembled those of modern rowers, who specialize in repetitive, unidirectional pulling strength. That’s the same kind of strength needed for digging ditches, heaving around crop baskets and equipment, and grinding cereal grains. Among the prehistoric women, there was also more variation in strength than in modern women. That means that in these early agricultural societies, women likely specialized in various kinds of heavy manual labor, says Macintosh, whereas men split their time between farming and more lower body–intensive tasks like running and hunting.The findings are convincing, says May, and may help explain why bone diseases such as osteoporosis are so common in women today. Evolution may have shaped women’s bone structure to deal with the stresses of life on the move during hunter-gatherer times, and the rapid shift to a more stationary, farming-focused life might have led to weaker bones.

In future studies, though, she would like researchers to look at the nutritional changes that happened after the agricultural revolution. Eating less meat and more grains and vegetables might have also helped shift bone and muscle strength, she notes. Another unanswered question, says Macintosh: precisely how ancient men and women split up the chores.

Posted in: ArchaeologySociology
doi:10.1126/science.aar6222

Late Classic Industrial Era: ice apocalypse,etc.

Like the Maya and so many post ice age civilizations that collapsed mainly gue to agricultural soil mineral depletion nd soil fertilixzer phosphorous etc. depletion required to sustain burgeoning population growth so our industrial era consuiong mined fertilizers requiring fossil fuels to strip min them or natural gas to produce nitrogen fertilizer from the nitrogen of the atmosphere,etc. we are on a course that can only led to collapse.And sorry Jesus nor Ala nor that scumbag Jewish god really the same one all these idiot bend over and spred their anuses isgoing to save you nor ar the right wing fascist Hindu gods. And you can't et all tht plastic and shit your dumping in oceans and waterways either.And even compters require rare elements and still run on fossil fuel just like our cars which are all chased upon eightennth centurt English coal ltechnolgy of burning fossil fuel to run steam engines to make metal move - i-e. pumps,railroads.steam driven ships,etc.Cars and computers also require
fossil fuel to make metal or autos move down the highway and computers require burning fossil fuels to generate electron flow.
Even when the Maya or Indus Valley or Tigris Euphrates Mesopotamian soil collapses occured abandonment allowed some slow regenertion of soil and their was still wild plant and animal populations to regenerate these biomes.Trees returned and climbed the old Mayan pyramids.Monkeys and jaguars etc. were not made extinct.But the fossil fuel Late Classic Idustrial Era is another beast and plant animal and insect speciesectinction are occuring on a massive acale and genetic diversity is itself becoming extinct.Even ocean ph is chanbing inpart due tofrom burning fossil carbon  CO2 difusing into their waters.

https://www.salon.com/2017/11/26/headed-for-an-ice-apocalypse_partner/


Is the world headed for an ice apocalypse?
Rapid collapse of Antarctic glaciers could flood coastal cities by the end of this century.

ERIC HOLTHAUS, GRIST
11.26.2017•4:59 AM
This post originally appeared on Grist.
In a remote region of Antarctica known as Pine Island Bay, 2,500 miles from the tip of South America, two glaciers hold human civilization hostage.
Stretching across a frozen plain more than 150 miles long, these glaciers, named Pine Island and Thwaites, have marched steadily for millennia toward the Amundsen Sea, part of the vast Southern Ocean. Further inland, the glaciers widen into a two-mile-thick reserve of ice covering an area the size of Texas.
There’s no doubt this ice will melt as the world warms. The vital question is when.
The glaciers of Pine Island Bay are two of the largest and fastest-melting in Antarctica. (A Rolling Stone feature earlier this year dubbed Thwaites “The Doomsday Glacier.”) Together, they act as a plug holding back enough ice to pour 11 feet of sea-level rise into the world’s oceans — an amount that would submerge every coastal city on the planet. For that reason, finding out how fast these glaciers will collapse is one of the most important scientific questions in the world today.
To figure that out, scientists have been looking back to the end of the last ice age, about 11,000 years ago, when global temperatures stood at roughly their current levels. The bad news? There’s growing evidence that the Pine Island Bay glaciers collapsed rapidly back then, flooding the world’s coastlines — partially the result of something called “marine ice-cliff instability.”
The ocean floor gets deeper toward the center of this part of Antarctica, so each new iceberg that breaks away exposes taller and taller cliffs. Ice gets so heavy that these taller cliffs can’t support their own weight. Once they start to crumble, the destruction would be unstoppable.

La libélula viviente más pequeña tiene una longitud corporal de 15 mm y una envergadura de 20 mm. ¿Tengo la libélula más pequeña en ámbar?

El tamaño promedio de una libélula es de 1 a 4 pulgadas de largo. En épocas prehistóricas, las libélulas eran mucho más grandes, los insectos voladores más grandes de la historia. El miembro más grande de libélulas extintas tenía una envergadura de aproximadamente 70-75 cm o aproximadamente 30 pulgadas.
La libélula: errores beneficiosos
beneficialbugs.org/bugs/Dragonfly/dragonfly.htm

La libélula viviente más pequeña es Nannophya pygmaea (Anisoptera: Libellulidae) del este de Asia, que una longitud corporal de 15 mm y una envergadura de 20 mm, y los diablillos más pequeños (y los odonatos más pequeños de todos los tiempos) son especies del género Agriocnemis ( Zygoptera: Coenagrionidae) con una envergadura de solo 17-18 mm.
Odonata - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odonata
Creo que mi libélula en ámbar mexicano es aún más pequeña ...


15 mm equivalen a 19/32 de pulgada
20 mm es igual a 13/16 de pulgada

Jackson Browne-Saturate Before Using

50+REPRODUCIR TODOS

Mix: Jackson Browne-Saturate Before Using [Full Album] 1972

YouTube

smallest living dragonfly is body length of 15 mm and a wing span of 20 mm Do I have smallest dragonfly in amber ?

smallest living dragonfly is body length of 15 mm and a wing span of 20 mm Do I have smallest dragonfly  in amber ?

The average size of a dragonfly is from 1 to 4 inches in length. In prehistoric times dragonflies were much larger - the largest flying insects ever. The largest member of extinct dragonflies had a wing span of about 70-75 cm or about 30 inches.

The Dragonfly - Beneficial Bugs

beneficialbugs.org/bugs/Dragonfly/dragonfly.htm

The smallest living dragonfly is Nannophya pygmaea(Anisoptera: Libellulidae) from east Asia, which a body length of 15 mm and a wing span of 20 mm, and the smallest damselflies (and smallest odonates of all times) are species of the genus Agriocnemis(Zygoptera: Coenagrionidae) with a wing span of only 17–18 mm.

Odonata - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odonata

I believe my dragonfly in Mexican amber is smaller still.......

15mm  equals 19/32 of an inch

20mm  equals  13/16 of an inch

...........................................

15mm  19/32 of an inch
16mm  5/8 of an inch
17mm  11/16 of an inch
18mm  23/32 of an inch
19mm  3/4 of an inch
20mm  13/16 of an inch
22mm  7/8 of a inch

17mm is 11/16 of an inch 18mm  23/32 of an inch

.........................

What Was the Biggest Insect That Ever Lived? - Latest Stories

https://news.nationalgeographic.com/.../animal-science-insects-biggest-moth-weta-butt...

Oct 15, 2016 - The largest insect fossils ever found are griffinflies and giant dragonflies, says Matthew Clapham, a paleobiologist at the University of California ...

Dragonflies of the World - Page 37 - Google Books Result

https://books.google.com/books?isbn=0643102493

Jill Silsby - 2001 - ‎Science

SIZE In Palaeozoic times, giant 'dragonflies' with wingspans of over 60 cm flew ... with a wingspan of 72 cm are among the largest fossil dragonflies yet discovered. ... One of the smallest is the libellulid Collection of Allen Davies Nannophya ...

The World's Largest Fossil Wilderness | History | Smithsonian

www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-worlds-largest-fossil-wilderness-30745943/

Etched into ceilings of the mine shafts is the largest intact fossil forest ever seen—at least four ... Monster dragonflies with 2.5-foot wingspans ruled the skies.

Late Classic Industrial Era:Humans Are Blind to Imminent Environmental Collapse

What, Me Worry? Humans Are Blind to Imminent Environmental Collapse

Accelerating biodiversity loss may turn out to be the sleeper issue of the century.

By William E. Rees 16 Nov 2017 | TheTyee.ca William E. Rees is professor emeritus of human ecology and ecological economics at the University of British Columbia.

A curious thing about H. sapiens is that we are clever enough to document — in exquisite detail — various trends that portend the collapse of modern civilization, yet not nearly smart enough to extricate ourselves from our self-induced predicament.

This was underscored once again in October when scientists reported that flying insect populations in Germany have declined by an alarming 75 per cent in the past three decades accompanied, in the past dozen years, by a 15 per cent drop in bird populations. Trends are similar in other parts of Europe where data are available. Even in Canada, everything from casual windshield “surveys” to formal scientific assessments show a drop in insect numbers. Meanwhile, domestic populations of many insect-eating birds are in freefall. Ontario has lost half its whip-poor-wills in the past 20 years; across the nation, such species as nighthawks, swallows, martins and fly-catchers are down by up to 75 per cent; Greater Vancouver’s barn and bank swallows have plummeted by 98 per cent since 1970. Heard much about these things in the mainstream news?
Too bad. Biodiversity loss may turn out to be the sleeper issue of the century. It is caused by many individual but interacting factors — habitat loss, climate change, intensive pesticide use and various forms of industrial pollution, for example, suppress both insect and bird populations. But the overall driver is what an ecologist might call the “competitive displacement” of non-human life by the inexorable growth of the human enterprise.
On a finite planet where millions of species share the same space and depend on the same finite products of photosynthesis, the continuous expansion of one species necessarily drives the contraction and extinction of others. (Politicians take note — there is always a conflict between human population/economic expansion and “protection of the environment.”)


Remember the 40 to 60 million bison that used to roam the great plains of North America? They — along with the millions of deer, pronghorns, wolves and lesser beasts that once animated prairie ecosystems — have been “competitively displaced,” their habitats taken over by a much greater biomass of humans, cattle, pigs and sheep. And not just North Americans — Great Plains sunshine also supports millions of other people-with-livestock around world who depend, in part on North American grain, oil-seed, pulse and meat exports.

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Competitive displacement has been going on for a long time. Scientists estimate that at the dawn of agriculture 10,000 years ago, H. sapiens comprised less than one per cent of the total weight of mammals on the planet. (There were probably only two to four million people on Earth at the time.) Since then, humans have grown to represent 35 per cent of a much larger total biomass; toss in domestic pets and livestock, and human domination of the world’s mammalian biomass rises to 98.5 per cent!
One needs look no further to explain why wildlife populations globally have plunged by nearly 60 per cent in the past half century. Wild tigers have been driven from 93 per cent of their historic range and are down to fewer than 4,000 individuals globally; the population of African elephants has imploded by as much as 95 per cent to only 500,000 today; poaching drove black rhino numbers from an already much reduced 70,000 in 1960 to only 2,500 individuals in the early 1990s. (With intense conservation effort, they have since rebounded to about 5,000). And those who still think Canada is still a mostly pristine and under-populated wilderness should think again — half the wildlife species regularly monitored in this country are in decline, with an average population drop of 83 per cent since 1970. Did I mention that B.C.’s southern resident killer whale population is down to only 76 animals? That’s in part because human fishers have displaced the orcas from their favoured food, Chinook salmon, even as we simultaneously displace the salmon from their spawning streams through hydro dams, pollution and urbanization.
The story is similar for familiar species everywhere and likely worse for non-charismatic fauna. Scientists estimate that the “modern” species extinction rate is 1,000 to as much as 10,000 times the natural background rate. The global economy is busily converting living nature into human bodies and domestic livestock largely unnoticed by our increasingly urban populations. Urbanization distances people psychologically as well as spatially from the ecosystems that support them.
The human band-wagon may really have started rolling 10 millennia ago but the past two centuries of exponential growth greatly have accelerated the pace of change. It took all of human history — let’s say 200,000 years — for our population to reach one billion in the early 1800s, but only 200 years, 1/1000th as much time, to hit today’s 7.6 billion! Meanwhile, material demand on the planet has ballooned even more — global GDP has increased by over 100-fold since 1800; average per capita incomes by a factor of 13. (rising to 25-fold in the richest countries). Consumption has exploded accordingly — half the fossil fuels and many other resources ever used by humans have been consumed in just the past 40 years. (See graphs in: Steffen, W et al. 2015. The trajectory of the Anthropocene: The Great Acceleration. The Anthropocene Review, Volume: 2 Issue: 1, page(s): 81-98.)
Why does any of this matter, even to those who don’t really give a damn about nature per se? Apart from the moral stain associated with extinguishing thousands of other life-forms, there are purely selfish reasons to be concerned. For example, depending on climate zone, 78 per cent to 94 per cent of flowering plants, including many human food species, are pollinated by insects, birds and even bats. (Bats — also in trouble in many places — are the major or exclusive pollinators of 500 species in at least 67 families of plants.) As much as 35 per cent of the world’s crop production is more or less dependent on animal pollination, which ensures or increases the production of 87 leading food crops worldwide.
But there is a deeper reason to fear the depletion and depopulation of nature. Absent life, planet earth is just an inconsequential wet rock with a poisonous atmosphere revolving pointlessly around an ordinary star on the outer fringes of an undistinguished galaxy. It is life itself, beginning with countless species of microbes, that gradually created the “environment” suitable for life on Earth as we know it. Biological processes are responsible for the life-friendly chemical balance of the oceans; photosynthetic bacteria and green plants have stocked and maintain Earth’s atmosphere with the oxygen necessary for the evolution of animals; the same photosynthesis gradually extracted billions of tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere, storing it in chalk, limestone and fossil fuel deposits, so that Earth’s average temperature (currently about 15 C) has remained for geological ages in the narrow range that makes water-based life possible, even as the sun has been warming (i.e. stable climate is partially a biological phenomenon.); countless species of bacteria, fungi and a veritable menagerie of micro-fauna continuously regenerate the soils that grow our food. (Unfortunately, depletion-by-agriculture is even faster — by some accounts we have only just over a half-century’s worth of arable soils left).
In short, H. sapiens depends utterly on a rich diversity of life-forms to provide various life-support functions essential to the existence and continued survival of human civilization. With an unprecedented human-induced great global die-off well under way, what are the chances the functional integrity of the ecosphere will survive the next doubling of material consumption that everyone expects before mid-century?
Here’s the thing: climate change is not the only shadow darkening humanity’s doorstep. While you wouldn’t know it from the mainstream media, biodiversity loss arguably poses an equivalent existential threat to civilized existence. While we’re at it, let’s toss soil/landscape degradation, potential food or energy shortages and other resource limits into the mix. And if you think we’ll probably be able to “handle” four out of five such environmental problems, it doesn’t matter. The relevant version of Liebig’s Law states that any complex system dependent on several essential inputs can be taken down by that single factor in least supply (and we haven’t yet touched upon the additional risks posed by the geopolitical turmoil that would inevitably follow ecological destabilization).

Staving Off the Coming Global Collapse

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Which raises questions of more than mere academic interest. Why are we not collectively terrified or at least alarmed? If our best science suggests we are en route to systems collapse, why are collapse — and collapse avoidance — not the primary subjects of international political discourse? Why is the world community not engaged in vigorous debate of available initiatives and trans-national institutional mechanisms that could help restore equilibrium to the relationship between humans and the rest of nature?
There are many policy options, from simple full-cost pricing and consumption taxes; through population initiatives and comprehensive planning for a steady-state economy; to general education for voluntary (and beneficial) lifestyle changes, all of which would enhance global society’s prospects for long-term survival. Unique human qualities, from high intelligence (e.g., reasoning from the evidence), through the capacity to plan ahead to moral consciousness, may well be equal to the task but lie dormant — there is little hint of political willingness to acknowledge the problem let alone elaborate genuine solutions (which the Paris climate accord is not).
Bottom line? The world seems in denial of looming disaster; the “C” word remains unvoiced. Governments everywhere dismissed the 1992 scientists’ Warning to Humanity that “...a great change in our stewardship of the Earth and the life on it is required, if vast human misery is to be avoided” and will similarly ignore the scientists’ “second notice." (Published on Nov. 13, this warning states that most negative trends identified 25 years earlier “are getting far worse.”) Despite cascading evidence and detailed analysis to the contrary, the world community trumpets “growth-is-us” as its contemporary holy grail. Even the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals are fixed on economic expansion as the only hammer for every problematic nail. Meanwhile, greenhouse gases reach to at an all-time high, marine dead-zones proliferate, tropical forests fall and extinctions accelerate.
Just what is going on here? The full explanation of this potentially fatal human enigma is no doubt complicated, but Herman Melville summed it up well enough in Moby Dick: “There is no folly of the beasts of the earth which is not infinitely outdone by the madness of men.”

Read more: Environment

Possible sacred maize object found in stream at Olmec site

The Olmec Maize God - The University of Chicago Press: Journals

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Mar 6, 2017 - Maize was a staple of the Olmec diet, although it is possible that it was introduced late in the development of their culture. Whenever it was ...

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Olmec prosperity was initially based on exploiting the fertile and well-watered coastal areas of the Gulf of Mexico to grow such crops as corn and beans (often ...

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10 MARCH, 2015 - 21:51 MARK MILLER

Possible sacred maize object found in stream at Olmec site

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Archaeologists have found an artifact made of jadeite at an Olmec site in Mexico that they think represents a cob of corn and that may have been offered to the gods. Corn was a vitally important crop in ancient Mexican and other parts of the Americas, and ancient natives told stories across its broad range.

Archaeologists found a jadeite object possibly in the shape of a corn cob at an ancient Olmec site in the Mexican state of Veracruz. (Photo by Professor Carl Wendt)

Philip Coppens, who writes and speaks on ancient cultures, wrote an article about the importance of maize in pre-Columbian Mexico: “In a 1982 exhibition, the Mexican National Museum of Culture claimed that maize was ‘not domesticated, but created.’ Indeed, maize is accepted as Man’s first, and perhaps his greatest, feat of genetic engineering. So much so, that it is even said to be a gift from the gods. Despite decades of research, there is no known wild ancestor; there is no known way to evolve a non-shattering variant; it is known that maize does not have a method to propagate itself – and thus relies on humans to survive as a species.”

Coppens said people in Mexico were domesticating corn nearly 5,500 years ago as evidenced by archaeological remains of early maize ears found at Guila Naquitz Cave in the Oaxaca Valley, dating back to around 3450 BC.

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A diver at the site Arroyo Pesquero in Veracruz State found the jadeite object in a stream. He was working with archaeologists, including Carl Wendt of California State University-Fullerton, who said it may have been the tip of a staff and a symbol of authority. Then, perhaps Olmec people placed it in the stream as an offering to the gods. The time frame would have been 900 to 400 B.C.

An Olmec mask from the same site where the corn cob-like object was found. This mask dates between 900 and 500 BC. (Adrienlenoir photo/ Wikimedia Commons )

Wendt and other scholars on the team published a paper in the journal Ancient Mesoamericaabout the find. “While having practical importance today as a spot to collect fresh water, in Olmec times, the confluence would also have been important for symbolic and cosmological reasons, and an ideal place for a ritual hoard or votive offerings,” they wrote. “Freshwater, so critical to daily life, was relatively scarce in a region of stagnant swamps. It is no wonder that springs and other freshwater sources were sacred places, and sacrificing [objects] at them was an important part of Olmec ritual.”

From the Great Lakes of the U.S. Upper Midwest and southern Canada to Central America, natives told stories about how the gods gave corn to the people.

The Aztecs, who came later and were farther north in Mexico than the Olmecs, had a story about how the gods bestowed corn on the weak, hungry people they’d created. From the article The Discovery of Corn at the website Aztecs at Mexico Lore, which summarizes the ancient story “The Legend of the Suns”:

In the paradise of Tamoanchan, the gods looked at the newly formed, but weak, humans and said to each other, ‘What shall the humans eat? Everyone must look for food for them.’ The red ant brought forth some corn kernels from within the Mountain of Our Sustenance, also known as Tonacatépetl. It offered the corn to the humans and Quetzalcóatl saw this. He asked ‘Where did you get it?’ The ant did not want to say and refused to do so for a long time. Nevertheless, it eventually succumbed to pressure and told Quetzalcóatl that Tonacatépetl contained the corn. Quetzalcóatl then became a black ant and went inside this hill, Mountain of Our Sustenance. He collected some corn and returned to Tamoanchan where the gods chewed on it immediately.
The paste from the chewed corn was then placed on the lips of the humans and they began to stir and become stronger.

The gods Oxomoco and Cipactonal throw lots with grains of corn, Codex Borbonicus ( Mexico Lore )

Another type of corn story comes from the Ojibwa people of southern Canada and the northern United States in the Great Lakes Region. From an article at the online Columbia Undergraduate Journal of Art History :

The book Nanabush and the Mandomin presents Ojibwa children with a brave and compassionate hero that they can identify with. In this adventure, Nanabush, after speaking with his grandmother Nokomis, sets out to meet a brave warrior named Mandomin that his grandmother foresaw in a vision. The purpose of his quest was to help his people in a great way. In order to fulfill this task, Nanabush must wrestle with the great warrior spirit for three days. Nanabush finally defeats Mandomin, after which Mandomin instructs Nanabush not to allow weeds to grow on his grave. Nanabush tends the grave and after a few days a wondrous plant began to grow which would come to be known as sweet corn, a substance to feed the Ojibwa people.

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