American Glossary – County Highway

Departments

America by the Numbers

By The Editors

Year in which genetically engineered (GE) crops were introduced to the US – 1996 Percentage of US corn, soybean, and cotton crops now grown from GE seeds – 91% Percentage of world’s commercial seed market owned by Bayer (Monsanto) and Corteva (Dupont) – 40% Percentage of world grain trade controlled by the ABCD corporations (Archer Daniels, Bunge, Cargills, and Louis Dreyfus) – 90% Percentage of Americans with gluten sensitivity – 6-7% Percentage of American children who are allergic to peanuts – 2.5% Percentage of people who have malodorous urine from eating asparagus – 43% Percentage of American adults who are lactose intolerant – 60% Percentage of Northern Europeans who can digest lactose after childhood – 90% Percentage of Asian peoples who can digest lactose after childhood – 5% Percentage of women who are more aroused by a new pair of shoes than by their sexual partner – 20% Percentage of men who are sexually aroused by women’s shoes or feet – 10% Percentage of men and women …

Field Notes

Boundaries

Nature is fluid in nearly every expression

There is nitrogen from the ocean in the trees

Where do I stop, and you begin?

By Heather Heying

Walk along a ridgeline in summer, and waves of heat contort your view. Distant trees shimmer in the hot air separating you and them. High overhead, a hawk rides the thermals. Below, a silvery strand winds through the valley, large lazy curves of water that have found the path that is easiest, for now. It is hot out here, exposed. Your feet catch on the uneven ground, and you kick up dust. A rock slides out from under your shoe and bounces down, down. Your feet carry you onwards. You pay good enough attention to them, but more so to the trees, and the river, and the hawks. The longer you walk, the more attention you pay to the thoughts in your own head. In reverie, you soon realize that you are cool for the first time in a while. You are not on the ridge anymore, but in its shadow, indeed, in the valley. The stark horizon is gone, as are the waves of heat, replaced with a softness, trees muffling noise all around you. Needles are underfoot now, rather than dust. When did ridge become …