Big Sugar Summit: Julia Hathaway, Is Big Sugar Burning Your Lungs?
burnt sugar field pahokee
Here is our amazing friend Julia Hathaway at the Big Sugar Summit! I learned so much from her speech and now I know all the things that can be done with sugar cane if it is green harvested. Brazil and Australia do it!
We can green harvest too. Imagine something good coming out this whole mess!
http://sugarcane.org/sustainability/best-practices
Reduced Use of Agrochemicals
“Application of pesticides on Brazilian sugarcane fields is negligible and use of fungicides practically nonexistent. Major diseases that threaten sugarcane are fought through biological control, introducing natural enemies to fight pests and advanced genetic enhancement programs.
Brazilian sugarcane growers also apply relatively few industrialized fertilizers, using on average 75 kilograms per hectare. That’s 50% less than the amount typically applied to corn in the United States and 30% less than what’s used for beet sugar in Europe.
Brazilian sugarcane needs fewer chemicals due to the innovative use of organic fertilizers created during sugarcane processing. For instance, sugarcane mills recover residues called filter cake (which is rich in phosphorus) and vinasse (loaded with potassium, organic matter and other nutrients), which they use in place of traditional fertilizers.”
Is Big Sugar Burning Your Lungs?
You can help by going here and filling out this questionnaire.
http://stopsugarburning.org/contact-us/
http://rrvsga.com/sierra-club-activists-call-for-sugar-cane-clean-up/
Sierra Club Activists Call For Sugar Cane Clean-Up
CBS 12 (TV): Sierra Club Activists Call For Sugar Cane Clean-Up By: Jonathan Beaton
“Hundreds of environmentalists gathered Saturday in West Palm Beach, determined to clean up Palm Beach County’s sugar cane industry.
CBS12 attended Sierra Club’s Sugar Cane Summit, talking with activists about what they call our country’s love of fructose and the dangers the crop potentially poses to you and your family.
Wolfram Alverson, a California nutritionist attended the event, telling CBS12 America is too dependent on sugar, saying with each passing year more and more cases of childhood diabetes are diagnosed.
“In fact we’re seeing type 2 diabetes in the womb now so it’s being transferred from mothers to their children, even before they’re born,” said Wolfram Alverson.
Another troublesome aspect of the industry is how the crop is harvested and what gets left behind.
Julia Hathaway with Sierra Club says it’s common practice for some sugarcane to be burned, sending toxic fumes into the air and possibly into our water supply.
Leftover crops she says could be recycled and used for good.
“That can be used to make products including bio-plastic and parts you can use as mulch,” said Julia Hathaway.
For now, Hathaway says she and her fellow activists have their work cut out for them, raising awareness so lawmakers and companies can make changes, for a better Palm Beach County. “It’s a big problem and it’s a big hill to climb but we’re worth it and we should stand up for ourselves.”
If you would like more information or to be involved go here.
http://stopsugarburning.org/get-involved
Here is a piece I did a few weeks ago on sugar burning your lungs.
https://cyndi-lenz.com/2015/06/16/sugar-u-effects-of-burning-sugar-cane-on-your-lungs/
Here is a video of a sugar burn.
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cyndi lenz 
The numbers are .001% of the total land of Florida, deposits 15% of all the formaldehyde.. they are embalming our lungs…
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Thanks for that info Marty! I don’t think any of us think about it. People actually live right around these fields.
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Reblogged this on Wobbly Warrior's Blog.
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Thank you for the reblog!
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Thank you so very much for this blog, Cyndi — you really do a public service. Hopefully we will have good news soon about the economic opportunities inherent in making use of the entire plant (besides not making people sick!). Florida’s sugar industry talks about the jobs they provide — but greenharvesting has the potential to bring new and better jobs. When Florida’s growers moved from manual to mechanized harvesting, they argued that doing so would cost jobs. Well, check out the documentary H-2 Worker (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H-2_Worker) to see how ethical they were about that!
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Thank you so much! I really find if you keep banging away a day at a time with little bits of information people will listen and they will begin to interested and want to know. I really hope that everyone can have an conversation and actually engage. There is another very interesting documentary called “sugar babies” that had a lot of controversy around it.
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