Saving whales; closing BP service stations:
Greenpeace accomplishes things many of us fainter environmentalists only dream of, and last week was no different. A courageous bunch snuck into a field of GMO corn to deactivate the crop's pollinating tassels -- by way of machete or delicate plucking, we cannot say, but we'd like to think they had some fun.
The event took place in -- where else? -- Italy, the heirloom-touting country responsible for constructing
Slow Food's global umbrella in the '80s, from which all sustainable, green, local and such movements have sprung since. Specifically, the crop-beheading went down on a field in the northern region of Friuli, one of the country's 16 regions (out of 20) that were gradually designated as GMO-free zones starting in 2007.
Greenpeace Italia first took a sample from the field in question and brought it to a certified lab to confirm that it was, in fact, the patented Monsanto GE maize type MON810. Since pollen can quickly spread to other fields, further contaminating non-GMO land, Greenpeace decided to nip it in the bud and send a message to the Italian government to follow through. GMO-free zone or not, a landowner would still need to obtain a permit to grow GMO crop in Italy, which Greenpeace claims the owner had not done.