Video: 11-year-old Takes Down Monsanto in Ted Talk

My hopes are going higher and higher for the new generation,its about time we start acting dont you think?Well done kid you made my day

Originally posted by sarahlm

The fight against Monsanto has heated up like never before, especially with the recent March Against Monsanto and other campaigns that have been rooted in similar activism. But the simple reality is that it doesn’t take a PHD to realize how Monsanto’s genetic manipulation of the food supply is an assault on the health of the world — an experiment to which we do not know the full extent of the damage. Instead, as 11-year-old Birke Baehr shows us, it simply takes a bit of research.

Source

This kid is awesome. He knows his own mind and did his own research and came to his own conclusion.
He talks more sense in 5 minutes than most adults I know.
My faith in humanity: restored.

 

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edit on 4/6/2013 by ArMaP because: (no reason given)

speechless s+f

What a fantastic kid.

If an 11 year old can figure this stuff out and have the presence of mind and care enough to present it in such an inspirational way...why don't the professionals who we pay to look out for this crap?

Make the kid president, or at least head of the USFDA.

Looks like he's head and shoulders above the morons running the show now.

This kid is the man. More people need to wake up and realize that our commercial food chain is most definitely responsible for the increase in cancers and other major health issues.. I made the switch a little over a year ago and cut ALL processed foods out of my diet, along with anything that is sweetened with corn syrup, or anything that has a name of some chemical i cant pronounce on the side of the box..

My body has never felt better(other than my blown out discs in back).I used to have extremely bad excema and i havent needed meds for that for at least 8 months

"organic food is more expensive...... The way I see it, is we pay the farmer or the hospital, I know what I'd prefer"

That was priceless. Super speech from a very bright kid.

SnF

Permaculture is definitely the way to go for growing vast amount of food and at the same time sustaining a healthy environment.
From Wiki
"Permaculture is a branch of ecological design, ecological engineering, and environmental design which develops sustainable architecture and self-maintained agricultural systems modeled from natural ecosystems.[1][2]
The core tenets of permaculture are:[3][4][5]

Care of the earth: Provision for all life systems to continue and multiply. This is the first principle, because without a healthy earth, humans cannot flourish.

Care of the people: Provision for people to access those resources necessary for their existence.

Return of Surplus: Reinvesting surpluses back into the system to provide for the first two ethics. This includes returning waste back into the system to recycle into usefulness. [6]"

Originally posted by watchitburn
While I agree with the message. (I despise Monsanto and everything they stand for)
I disagree with using children in such a way.
11 year old kids can be relatively intelligent. But, they lack the experience and context required to develop informed opinions of such things.

In a nut shell, he is a parrot taught to regurgitate what he has been told.
That is my opinion of this. Could I be wrong? Sure, but I don't think so.

Their intentions may be in the right place, but using kids makes them no better than Monsanto.

His website addresses you and this question.

www.birkeonthefarm.com...

CONTROVERSY - Alot of people are commenting on YouTube, blogs and other internet places that I didn't write my TEDx Talk and that my Mom and Dad wrote it for me. This is NOT True!! I wrote it myself, yes, my Mom looked at it and helped with grammar and stuff but no one wrote it for me. You see, I've been learning about all of this stuff since I was 8 yrs. old. I saw a post online over my mother's shoulder about mercury being in HFCS-high fructose corn syrup. I still went to public school then and had learned about mercury in science. I asked my Mom what HFCS was and she told me it was what made sodas sweet. We didn't usually have soda at home but my parents let us order it at restaurants. We ate conventional food although my Mom did cook a lot but she still bought packaged stuff and we even ate fast food. When I started looking into this thing about HFCS I just got more and more curious, and it led me to discover all of the things I talk about in my TEDx Talk. I was the youngest presenter at the TEDxNextGeneration Asheville event and the time they gave me was only 5 minutes, it's awfully hard to talk about very complicated subjects in a little time, that's why I used the fish and tomato it was simple and easy to understand. And yes, there was a GMO tomato that had fish DNA in it, it was called the 'flavr savr' tomato. It was not taken out of the stores because of it being a GMO but that it just wasn't any good and the industry wasn't making any money on it. I have done a ton of research but to say something about every study that I got my info from would have taken away from the time I spent on my message. As I kept on finding out things about food, how it's grown and how it ends up at our homes, I kept on my parents not to buy food that I just didn't feel good about eating. Even before I started on all of this my parent's friends would always say that talking to me was like talking to a little adult. I'm not sure why I am this way, some people say I am an old soul, I think I know what that means but I will leave it up to you for what you think. I am still very much a kid, I pick on my brother and sister. I ride my bike and play outside a lot. I like to play football still when I get the chance. I just wanted to say a little bit about all this stuff. It sure does get under my skin a little bit when people say someone told me to say this stuff or wrote it for me. It makes me wonder about about a lot of things about why people think that kids can't think or do stuff for themselves. As I learned about things that's what got me interested in visiting farms and going to workshops and learning what we can do to change. I don't know about you but I want to live a long time and be real healthy while I'm doing it. I just hope what I'm doing helps others to wake up a little to that thinking too. -Birke Baehr (11 years old, Oct. 2010)

reply to post by khimbar


Of course.
"If it's on a website it must be true. "- Abraham Lincoln

I guess plagiarizing comments and thoughts from a variety of documentaries found on the net passes for research and understanding these days. Nothing original was said, we all ready knew what he told us.

Many hard working intelligent people spent many years researching and collating this information. He just repeated their findings and now hes a hero beyond his years..please.

this video and thread is amazing, it truly goes to show that there is hope for us and our future generation with kids like this. i'm also proud to be living in Connecticut as of yesterday the vote was passed to require ALL GMO infested products to be labeled. once people catch on it will grow and grow.

I can't think of anything that hasn't been said already. Great catch. Maybe, with kids like this taking over the future, we DO have a chance!

S & F!

Originally posted by PhoenixOD
I guess plagiarizing comments and thoughts from a variety of documentaries found on the net passes for research and understanding these days. Nothing original was said, we all ready knew what he told us.

Many hard working intelligent people spent many years researching and collating this information. He just repeated their findings and now hes a hero beyond his years..please.

So according to your way of thinking. IF I have to do a "show and tell" how a Diesel engine works i have to find 100 new words to explain it? Because I cant use the definition of a Diesel engine as in a dictionary? He said a lot of original things and most of all watch his body language.

reply to post by PhoenixOD


The kid went to an organic farm and met with the farmer... He saw the pigs and cows... He said that he sometimes volunteers at the farm to get up close to the animals.

You don't get that in a dictionary.

Anybody who drives by a large manufacturing farm can see that the animals look sick. Move from there to volunteering on a farm and you can see a real difference.

Yes, he read about the fish/tomato. He read about the GMO. He read about the cancer causing modifications. I am real glad he didn't have to (and hope he never does) learn first hand about the cancer causing modifications.

This kid has more common sense than most; and that common sense, coupled with desire, will take him far.

Great job Birke! Keep it up!

reply to post by armadi110

The kid went to an organic farm and met with the farmer... He saw the pigs and cows...

So did every child at my school when i was kid. There's nothing special going on here.

Sure what he said was well thought out and researched that because he was just repeating stuff that was well thought out and researched by real experts. Anyone could have read what she read and said what he said the only novelty is that hes a child. If he had done some real research and come up with something original that he actually had to work out himself id say well done.

There are many more people out there who have been working hard for years to get the information he is just repeating, if they did a talk they would be speaking about stuff they understand first hand. Hes just passing on stuff he assumes is true second hand. Id rather listen to the real experts that he only read about.

He even tried passing of the phrase "Pay the farmer or pay the doctor" as his own..that's been around for years.

What a refreshing take on a silent problem, from someone who's peer group is probably at home on the couch playing World of War Craft or some such nonsense.
This kid should run for office as soon as he is eligible.
Well done, and well spoken young man. We need 10,000 of you in all corners of this planet.
My hat is off to you.

reply to post by watchitburn


It rings true. Which -- as a parent of two fully realized "kids" 12 and 15 -- is more than I can say for the arguments of his detractors.My kids speak more eloquently to their areas of knowledge than many twice their age.

The only thing "adults" have on these kids is seniority.

reply to post by sarahlm


so um what about cross pollination between gmo crops and your own crops??

wonder if his parents think the same and maybe tehy coached him.

Good message but I don't think it's his own. Seems a little exploitative.

I wonder why he did not talk about the benefits of geneticaly modified seeds. I for one will be glad in the far, or maybe not so far future we have crops designed say to exist in strenuous atmosphere such as Mars or other planets, perhaps even crops that require little or no shielding from radiation, crops that can exist in any environment such as the most drought ridden places of Africa. That would be cool right?, and the only way we can achieve such a level of science is by experimenting with it now. The potential for this sort of technology, much in the same way it has helped in medicine is almost limitless.

OK, the apparent health issues may be worth looking into but, I have yet to see, posted here anyway actual empirical evidence that GM crops are harmful to humans. Where is the raw data that shows us our genes will be damaged by its consumption?

I stress I am not saying GM crops are not bad for us, just saying ive yet to see any real evidence as to why it damages us, are field mice dying off in vast numbers?, I know bees are taking a big hit but I suspect thats something to do with the pesticides to be honest and what may be bad for bee's may not be bad for us you know.

If someone could help me with a link or two regarding peer reviewed genetic studies regarding the health implications that would be a big help cheers.

And I will not appreciate links to new age blogs trying to get me to buy some sort of magic potion with silver in it, ta.

Oh yeah and that kids acting pretty badly, hand movements, scripted facial expressions etc. Not saying that detracts from what he has to say, but just seems overtly scripted, something to think about.

reply to post by sarahlm
Thanks for posting this video,.


Anyone against companies like monsanto is a friend of mine,.