| SUBSCRIBE | DONATE |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
It’s about California. But it’s about everybody.
The folks at Kiss the Ground have put together a video and a petition.
The video tells the story of how soil, and regenerative agriculture, hold the solution to global warming.
The petition (please sign only if you live in California) asks California lawmakers to fund legislation that could play a critical role in bringing the state, suffering from a prolonged and severe drought, back from the brink of a climate disaster.
There’s nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come. The regeneration of our soils is the task of this generation. Our health, the health of our soils and the health of our planet are one and the same.
Is there ever an instance when a conventionally grown green bean or potato, sprayed liberally with toxic pesticides, is better for you than its certified organic counterpart, grown without those chemicals?
We think not.
Neither do the organic farmers who earlier this year complained to Whole Foods Market (WFM) about the retail giant’s new “Responsibly Grown” labeling program, a controversial (and faulty) “Good,” “Better,” “Best” labeling system—a system under which that pesticide-laden carrot could end up getting a better rating than the certified organic one.
When 17 organic farmers, supported by the Cornucopia Institute, signed on to a letter to WFM CEO John Mackey asking him to withdraw the company’s “Responsibly Grown” produce labeling program, at least temporarily, Mackey admitted the program had flaws. He apologized.
Talk is cheap. Will Mackey really clean up WFM’s act, and ditch a program clearly designed to confuse consumers? As Cornucopia points out, WFM “has done a lot of good by making organic food more accessible in the marketplace. At the same time, sales of conventional food account for a majority of sales in the chain’s 417 stores.”
WFM’s “Responsibly Grown” labeling program misleads consumers into thinking that if they select the “Best” product it must not only be organic, but it’s probably better than organic. Yet researchers at the Cornucopia Institute, with PhDs in plant pathology and other related disciplines, found that a number of “highly disturbing agrichemicals” were allowed on conventional produce labeled “Better” and “Best.”
If you want to give extra points over and above organic status, that’s fine. But the number one employment practice that farmers should be implementing, before labeling any produce “BEST,” is to protect their workers and families, sometimes living close to farm fields, from exposure to toxic and carcinogenic chemicals.– Cornucopia Institute
Cornucopia has pledged to continue monitoring WFM’s irresponsible “Responsibly Grown” program. Meanwhile, buyer beware.
Read the latest Cornucopia Institute commentary
In a recent interview on the Thom Hartmann show, former President Jimmy Carter said the U.S. political system has degenerated into nothing more than an “oligarchy, with unlimited political bribery being the essence of getting the nominations for president or to elect the president.”
It isn’t just the presidential candidates who trade campaign contributions for favors. All we have to do is look at what Monsanto and Big Food have been able to buy with the financial favors they’ve doled out to members of Congress.
We’ve already reported that of the 275 members who voted for the DARK Act—and against consumers—accepted $29.9 million in campaign contributions from Big Ag and Big Food in 2014.
A new report says that food and biotechnology companies and their trade groups have reported spending $51.6 million over the first half of this year to keep labels off foods containing GMOs. Since 2013, they’ve spent $143 million in lobbying against GMO labeling laws.
As OCA staff and consumers like you meet with Congress members around the country to ask them to vote against any federal legislation that would preempt GMO labeling laws, we see, or rather hear, what all that money is buying. One Democratic Congressman from the Midwest actually uttered these statements:
Urban folks just don’t get what needs to be done to feed the world.
We need to define what a GMO is. It’s a term created by Europeans to scare consumers.
Here’s what really scares consumers—“unlimited bribery” and its ability to confuse and influence the people in Washington D.C. who have the power to destroy our health and our planet with their ill-conceived votes.
Donate to the Organic Consumers Association (tax-deductible, helps support our work on behalf of organic standards, fair trade and public education)
Donate to the Organic Consumers Fund (non-tax-deductible, but necessary for our GMO labeling legislative efforts)
Last week, we asked you to sign a petition to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) asking him to speak out against H.R. 1599, a bill passed on July 23 by the U.S. House. H.R. 1599, an anti-consumer, anti-Democracy piece of legislation funded by Monsanto and Big Food, has come to be known as the DARK (Deny Americans the Right to Know) Act, because its sole intent is to make sure food manufacturers never have to reveal the GMO ingredients in their products.
Some of you said, hey wait! Sanders has always supported GMO labeling laws, he’s even a sponsor of the Genetically Engineered Food Right to Know Act. He’s already on our side!
You’re right. But here’s the thing. Sanders has more power than anyone else in the Senate right now to prevent passage of a Senate version of the DARK Act. He could make this an issue in his campaign speeches. He could influence his fellow Senators. Heck, he could even filibuster a Senate bill, if it comes to that. But unless we get a meaningful number of signatures on our petition, we may have a hard time getting his attention.
Sanders has recently issued public statements on gun control laws, and on his opposition to the Keystone Pipeline.
We need him to issue a public statement on the passage of H.R. 1599. Because if he does, the media will pick it up—just as they’ve picked up his other statements.
A recent report says that since 2013, Monsanto and Big Food have spent $143 million in lobbying expenditures that mentioned GMO labeling. And those 275 U.S. Representatives who voted for H.R. 1599? They took in $29.9 million in contributions from agribusiness and Big Food, in 2014 alone.
Sanders has been as outspoken as anyone on the issue of money in politics. The DARK Act is a prime example of what that money can buy.
You don’t have to be a Democrat or an Independent to sign this petition. You don’t have to vote for Sanders. You don’t have to like him. But he’s been a champion of GMO labeling in the past. We need him now, more than ever, to stop Monsanto’s DARK Act. Please sign, and share widely.
TAKE ACTION: Ask Senator Sanders to Protect Our Right to Know. Stop the DARK Act!
It’s recess time for Congress. That means a lot of U.S. Senators are hiking in national parks, or boating and beachcombing, or just kicking back at home, enjoying backyard barbecues and local golf courses.
Maybe. But at least a few Senators are busy putting the finishing touches on a Senate version of the DARK Act, a bill that could permanently scuttle the GMO labeling movement.
That means we need to be working overtime, while Congress is taking a break.
OCA staff recently met with three Senators and staff of an additional 11 Senators, in their Washington D.C. offices. But we really need to get the attention of Senators in their home district offices, too, especially during the August recess.
That’s where you come in. We’’ve begun scheduling meetings with Senators from all over the country, but we need your help. Your Senators will respond best to you, their constituents. And frankly, if they don’t hear from you, they won’t know that you care about GMO labeling or the DARK Act. They may not pay any attention at all to the issue—until they’re handed a slick package of lies from Monsanto’s lobbyists. And from what we’ve seen so far, many of our lawmakers are buying those lies, hook, line and sinker.
Let’s face it. Members of the Senate don’t have time to read every bill that comes across their desks. They pay the most attention to the bills that generate the most media attention, the bills that generate the most knocks on their doors.
If you haven’t yet, please sign this petition asking your Senator to oppose any federal bill that preempts state or federal mandatory labeling laws.
Then, please contact us—campaigns@organicconsumers.org—if you can attend a meeting with your Senator. We’ll connect you with your fellow voters, and provide all the materials you need, including a media advisory and talking points.
Your Senator may be taking a break in August. But we can’t rest for a minute if we want to stop the DARK Act.
Email us if you want to attend or organize a meeting campaigns@organicconsumers.org
Keep track of scheduled meetings
Download these DARK Act talking points
Tips on organizing a meeting (scroll down)
Call 202-224-3121. Ask to speak to your Senator’s staff. After you’ve signed the petition, called your Senator and signed up to attend a meeting, don’t forget to post on your Senator’s Facebook page!
Where profits alone count, there can be no thinking about the rhythms of nature, its phases of decay and regeneration, or the complexity of ecosystems which may be gravely upset by human intervention…. It is not enough to balance, in the medium term, the protection of nature with financial gain, or the preservation of the environment with progress. Halfway measures simply delay the inevitable disaster. – Pope Francis, Papal Encyclical “Laudato Si,” June 18, 2015
Regenerate—to give fresh life or vigor to; to reorganize; to recreate the moral nature; to cause to be born again.” (New Webster’s Dictionary, 1997)
A growing number of climate, food, environment, health and justice advocates are embracing and promoting a world-changing concept: regeneration.
What is regeneration? And why are a so many public figures, including Pope Francis, calling for regeneration or revolution, rather than “halfway measures” such as sustainability or mitigation?
OCA National Director, Ronnie Cummins, answers these questions. He also warns that there will be no organic food, nor food whatsoever, on a burnt planet. Nor will there ever be a 90-percent reduction in greenhouse gas pollution without a transformation of our food and farming and land use practices, both in North America and globally.
The time is late. Circumstances are dire. But we still have time to regenerate the Earth and the body politic. If we act.