On Saturday Sept. 20, Organic Consumers Association is hosting a track of workshops at the NYC Climate Convergence on topics related to the role organic farming—and organic consumers—can play in reversing climate change.

All workshops will be held at:

St. John’s University, 101 Astor Place, New York, NY 10003, Room: CNCRSE C06

To register, visit www.convergeforclimate.org.

9 a.m.-10:30 a.m. and

10:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m. The Carbon Underground

Stopping fossil-foolishness isn’t enough. We’ve got to get the carbon in the atmosphere back underground. There are tried and true, low-tech ways to do this: organic agriculture, composting and carbon ranching. If practiced globally, these soil-building techniques could sequester 100 percent of current annual carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.

Speakers 9 a.m.-10:30 a.m.:
Andre Leu, International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements
Ben Grosscup, Northeast Organic Farming Association/Massachusetts Chapter*
Tom Newmark, The Carbon Underground
Adam Sacks, Biodiversity for a Livable Climate

Speakers 10:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m.:
Dr. Richard Teague, AgriLife Research and Extension Center, Texas A&M University
Seth Itzkan, Biodiversity for a Livable Climate, Planet-TECH Associates
Dan Kittredge, Bionutrient Food Association

 
12:30 p.m.-2:00 p.m. and 2:15 p.m.-3:45 p.m. Family Farmers Can Solve the Climate Crisis, But Only if We Restore Economic Justice.

The world’s 2 billion family farmers, whose low-tech, land-management practices conserve water, improve soil health, prevent soil erosion and increase crop yields, are capable of feeding the world. They also hold the solution to climate change: The more organic matter they add to the soil, the more CO2 they draw out of the atmosphere.

But while family farmers, primarily in the Global South, produce 70 percent of the world’s food on 25 percent of the world’s land, these so-called “subsistence farmers” have always struggled. Climate change makes their struggle even harder. How do we empower these farmers and reverse global warming at the same time? In this workshop, farmers from the U.S. and around the world will offer their proposals for economic justice, from support for organic and Fair Trade agriculture, to community rights to natural resources, and the human right to food.

Speakers 12:30 p.m.-2:00 p.m.

Yvette Aguilar, Latin American and Caribbean Network of Fair Trade Small Producers’ Organizations (CLAC)

Speakers 2:15 p.m.-3:45 p.m.
Nancy Romer, Brooklyn Food Coalition (moderator)
Dena Hoff, National Family Farmers Coalition/La Via Campesina
Will Allen, Cedar Circle Farm (VT)
Elizabeth Henderson, Northeast Organic Farming Association

 
4:00 p.m.-5:30 p.m. Cook Organic Not the Planet: Now that the U.S. Supports “Climate-Smart Agriculture” Is Reform of Our Climate-Dumb Food System Possible?

Speakers:

Ronnie Cummins, Organic Consumers Association
Tara Ritter, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
Elizabeth Kucinich, Center for Food Safety
Anna Lappé, Small Planet Institute, author Diet for a Hot Planet

*Organization name listed for identification purposes only, does not indicate endorsement by the organization.