Could the dismal state of the U.S. food & farming system finally be getting the attention it deserves? From high-profile politicians?
In the last two months, as they hit the campaign trail, two presidential candidates—Sens. Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.)—have floated proposals to take on Big Agribusiness and start rallying support for America’s small family farmers.
If we let Sens. Warren and Sanders know that we approve, maybe other presidential candidates will start talking about food & farming.
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"Because of the Green New Deal, entirely new thinkers are now at the policy table instead of just Big Ag and Monsanto writing our public policy for us—from regenerative agriculture experts and family farmers, to indigenous leaders with intergenerational knowledge." - Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Instagram post April 7, 2019
The audacious, game-changing Green New Deal (GND) Resolution, backed by the youth-powered Sunrise Movement, introduced in Congress on February 7, by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), has ignited a long-overdue debate on federal policy, including fundamental energy, infrastructure, food, farming and land-management policies.
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The words “consumer” and “choice” are often strung together, implying that as individual consumers, we have power.
It’s true that as consumers, we do—to some extent—have the power to choose what, how much and how often we consume.
Yet our choices are often defined and/or limited by the corporations and politicians who control the markets and the regulations governing products and entire industries.
Thankfully, as consumers shopping in a $200-billion organic and natural food sector, we also have political power. And there’s never been a better time to exercise that power than now.
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Industrial agriculture is perpetuating one of the greatest threats to mankind. From the rampant overuse of antibiotics in factory farm animals to the heavy spraying of pesticides on food crops, industrial agriculture has given rise to deadly antibiotic-resistant superbugs.
The germs are multiplying so rapidly that the number of deaths caused by drug-resistant infections could outpace those caused by cancer in the next three decades, according to a study funded by the British government. More than 10 million people worldwide could die from drug-resistant infections in 2050, surpassing the eight million projected to die from cancer, the study found.
Antibiotic resistance is sometimes attributed to the over prescription of antibiotics in hospitals and clinics. But the main driver is the use of human drugs in livestock raised on factory farms. Nearly 80 percent of antibiotics in the U.S. are administered to conventionally raised cows, pigs and chickens to promote growth and treat disease. This means exposing healthy animals to antibiotics over long periods of time.
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U.S. food, farming, environmental and climate policies are working just fine for giant corporations and their shareholders.
But these policies aren’t working for family farmers. And they sure as heck aren’t working for you.
Change won’t come from the top. It will have to come from people like you. The best place to start? In your own community, by building support for a Green New Deal (GND).
Can you attend or host a Green New Deal Town Hall in your community? Or if you live in one of these cities, can you participate in the Green New Deal Tour?
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The Green New Deal (GND) twin resolutions, introduced February 7, 2019, call for all Americans to have access to healthy food, clean water and clean air. The GND also proposes to provide “economic security,” jobs and good wages to all who want to participate in the new green economy.
For consumers, healthy food (and clean water and clean air, for that matter) mean transitioning away from an industrial agriculture model that poisons our food and pollutes our environment.
For farmers, any promise of “economic security” must include the return to an economic agriculture model based on providing farmers a fair price for the products they produce—or as the agriculture industry calls it, “parity pricing.” Only then, will the GND fulfill its promise to clean up our food system, clean up our environment and provide a “fair and just transition for all communities and workers.”
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The GND twin resolutions were unveiled yesterday. Already, some lawmakers and media outlets are calling the GND “unrealistic” and “unaffordable,” despite plenty of evidence to the contrary.
Powerful corporations—especially the fossil fuel, agribusiness, chemical and pharmaceutical industries—want to kill the GND before it can get off the ground.
The only way the GND will fly, is if we build a powerful social movement to lift it up.
So far criticism of the GND has focused not on whether we need a GND to head off our climate crisis, but whether it’s possible to do what global scientists agree we must do to avoid catastrophe: reduce net greenhouse gas emissions by 45-percent within 12 years, and by 100-percent by 2050. Some critics don't think we can do it.
Those critics are right—if all we focus on is reducing emissions.
That’s why it’s critical, especially in this early stage, to get the word out that in addition to reducing emissions, we must draw down and sequester the carbon already in the atmosphere.
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The Green New Deal (GND) has arrived!
Now that we’ve passed the dangerous tipping point of 350 parts per million (ppm) carbon dioxide in the atmosphere (we’re at 410 ppm), we have to figure out a way to draw down that CO2—or we will continue to suffer the cascading impacts of global warming even after we’ve eliminated greenhouse gas emissions.
The safest and most effective way we have of doing this is to increase the carbon content of our soils in farmland, pasture land, forests, wetlands and coastal marine ecosystems. This can be done on working lands through regenerative organic agriculture techniques that increase fertility and control pests by replacing chemicals with management practices. These include holistic planned grazing, composting, no-till, cover cropping, diverse crop mixes and rotations, and the incorporation of crops that return nutrients and organic matter to the soil.
This is the piece of the puzzle that most climate activists and legislators are unaware of. That’s why it’s so important that this is included in the GND, and why we need to get Congress to support it!
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We never thought we’d see the day when the climate movement joined with the movements for food and farming, and economic and social justice, to put forward a comprehensive solution to the climate crisis that calls for both halting fossil fuel emissions and drawing down excess carbon from the atmosphere.
But . . . this day is dawning under the banner of the #GreenNewDeal (GND). And this week is your opportunity to get involved.
We’re joining two allied calls to action and we hope you will, too.
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Want to know what all the #GreenNewDeal (GND) buzz is about?
Want to know why we’re mobilizing the food and farming movement to support the GND—and how you can help?
Find out by watching the GND livestream on February 5, and by reading my message below.
Leaders of the Sunrise Movement are asking people to attend or host a livestream watch party on February 5. OCA staff members have all signed up—and we hope you will, too!
Sign up to attend a watch party.
Sign up to host a watch party. It’s easy to do. There’s even a step-by-step guide. You can choose to make your party public so others can join, or private with just your friends.
Let us know if you plan to host or attend a watch party. We’ll email you additional materials about why the GND matters to the food & farming movement.
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