You might be expecting a comment about Foley and Hastert and GOP panic, but that's not the only fishy story coming out of Washington and the one I'm discussing isn't getting much press coverage.
Since 2003 fish in the Potomac are mutating. Male bass carrying eggs are now common in the Potomac River, a source of drinking water for more than 2 million people in the Washington, D.C. area.
A recent U.S. Geological Survey study found that 80% of all male smallmouth bass are growing eggs.
Scientists believe the cause of these sex changes is pollution, specifically estrogen-like contaminants from human sewage, animal estrogen in farm manure, pesticides and some soaps.
It would appear that smallmouth bass are the "canaries in the coal mine" and I wonder if our obesity epidemic is related to enviromental pollution?
You can find the report here (it's a PDF file).
In recent years we've stopped buying non-organic groceries. Our local natural food store sells only organic produce and we've signed up for a Community Supported Agriculture program. We pay a weekly fee to small local organic farmers and they deliver produce to us on a weekly basis.
This type of project was outlined in a documentary on PBS called "The Real Dirt on Farmer John".
By participating in a program in your area, you can help to support small, organic farmers and your health will benefit from an abundance of fresh, organic, locally-grown produce.
We get our produce from Two Small Farms in Watsonville and we were eating safe spinach we got from them while spinach was banned from grocery stores. Do you have Community Supported Agriculture in your area?
