Thursday, July 30, 2009

Sweet and green: Many sweeteners extract a high environmental price

Manufacturing high fructose corn syrup requires energy and uses chemicals. Some high fructose corn syrup used in U.S. products may be manufactured overseas with fewer safeguards.

How do you define green? Every act by humankind has an impact on the Earth, including every plot cultivated in the 10,000-year history of agriculture. However, in the years after World War II, chemical fertilizers, made from nonrenewable petroleum and pesticides came into wide use to cultivate single crops on the same land -- monoculture. It's a farming practice that depletes soil nutrients and leaves chemical residue in the field, which spreads to watersheds through agricultural runoff. Some crops require intensive irrigation, depleting water resources. Insect, bird and animal habitats are destroyed.

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