A new index ranks states using government agricultural and population data. Community-supported agriculture projects, farmers markets, and other 'local food' systems are on the rise nationwide, according to a first of its kind index based on US government data. And supporting this 'locavore' movement is a growing army of consumers who recognize the connection between their food choices and the impact they have on communities, the environment, and their own health. READ MORE…

Activists from the Attac group in Lower Saxony offer lurid cocktails to highlight the potential environmental risks of the fracking process.

Berlin is opposed to plans to use the controversial fracking process to extract natural gas in Germany, SPIEGEL has learned. Government ministers are "very skeptical" about the technology, which environmentalists claim can pollute groundwater. READ MORE...

I’m posting this message on our blog because it addresses a number of issues that we as Co-op members and citizens will need to confront if we want to see a future in which organically and biodynamically grown foods are available and affordable to everyone who values them. -PW

Why are we striking? Or to put it another way – what’s wrong with the world?

Of course, most of us know what’s wrong with the world. We know about the poverty, war, violence and disease. We’re conscious of the injustice, but not fully conscious of it, because frankly, we have enough to worry about in our own lives. As such, we’ve come to accept these injustices as simple facts of life – prepackaged side effects of the human condition, as natural and intertwined with our existence as water to a stream, beyond our capacity to effect in any significant way. This collective sense of powerlessness and default apathy is why we’re striking.

Our growing sense of isolation and disconnection, whether from ourselves, from those next door to us, or from those producing our food and products halfway across the globe, is why we’re striking. Our forced support of perpetual war waged for and by the 1% - whether explicitly with speech, or implicitly with inaction and tax dollars - without ever paying mind to the true causes and motives behind it, is why we’re striking. Our failure uptil now to connect the dots and realize that the benefits of a cheap iPod, lovely as it may be, would be far outweighed by the benefits of a truly just world free of exploitation, is why we’re striking.

We’re striking because another notion we don’t buy into is the presumption that the profit motive can have no outcome other than the best possible one. We understand that the success of McDonald’s has nothing to do with having the best burger, and everything to do with having the most cutthroat business plan. We understand that building prisons, waging wars, polluting the environment, and paying employees inadequate wages are actually quite profitable. Sustainability, economic justice and true equality? Not so much. We understand that being ruthless and unscrupulous is an economic advantage, and being truthful and virtuous is an economic disadvantage. We understand that money is treated as more natural and inviolable as nature itself, and that too often our place and perceived value in society is determined solely by how much of it we make, or how much of it we make for someone else. We understand that, whether or not you believe in climate change, our ability to adequately address it or any other pressing issue is greatly compromised when our shortsighted need for profit skews our vision of the whole. We’re striking to suggest new motives and new values going forward.
READ MORE…

SUPPORT LOCALLY ADAPTED SEEDS IN THE FARM BILL
"Support Gillibrand Amendment (#4)
to Provide Farmers with Locally Adapted Seeds"

Farmer access to locally adapted seeds is paramount to fostering the competitiveness of agriculture in all regions of the country. Farmers need access to seeds that are bred specifically for their regions and cropping systems, allowing them to grow crops well suited to their local soil, climate and pest conditions. But agricultural research trends have shifted toward the national production of seeds for a few major crops, greatly limiting farmers' seed choice and narrowing the diversity of our agricultural system.

To address this problem, the 2008 Farm Bill required USDA to make conventional plant and animal breeding a priority for funding within the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI). But in the AFRI grant-making process, USDA has imposed hurdles that have prevented the agency from meeting this Congressional mandate.

The Gillibrand amendment would reinforce and build on the mandate from the 2008 Farm Bill by requiring that 5 percent of annual funding for the AFRI program be used for making sure that farmers have access to locally adapted seeds and breeds, by focusing on public cultivar and bred development, and removing the hurdles that have hindered USDA's progress toward this goal.

Please call Sen. Gillibrand -- 202-224-4451
Thank her and encourage her to keep fighting!

by Darcey Rakestraw

On Monday, Nestlé announced it had purchased Pfizer’s infant nutrition unit, which will strengthen their ability to sell infant formula in emerging markets, particularly in Asia. The move is not surprising, since 85 percent of Pfizer’s infant nutrition revenues came from developing countries, where Nestlé is also looking to expand its sales of bottled water.

Food & Water Watch executive director, Wenonah Hauter, released this statement in response to Nestlé’s purchase of Pfizer’s infant nutrition unit:
This renewed focus on growing the market for its infant formula products is troubling given the corporation’s track record of using dubious practices to market infant formula in developing countries, where it is often prepared in unhygienic conditions with unsafe water….Surely, it is no coincidence that many mothers will prepare the formula with bottled water—which will no doubt benefit Nestlé’s emerging market strategy.

Selling bottled water to poor people, and pushing infant formula on poor but otherwise healthy mothers who may not have access to safe drinking water is doing what Nestlé does best: undermining public health in the name of profit. MORE…

On Earth Day, we usually celebrate the enormous contribution that organic and sustainable farmers make to protecting and preserving our Earth’s natural heritage. The fact that they grow such tasty, abundant and healthy fresh food in our communities is worth celebrating. But this year, our celebration is tempered by a looming threat to organic: the approval of a genetically engineered (GE) corn resistant to the toxic pesticide 2,4-D. 2,4-D was a major component of Agent Orange, the chemical defoliant used by the U.S. in Vietnam, and it caused lasting ecological damage as well as many serious medical conditions in both Vietnam veterans and the Vietnamese.

USDA approval of Dow’s GE corn would trigger a major increase in 2,4-D use. Yet, USDA has failed to assess the resulting impacts on public health, the environment, or to neighboring organic and conventional farms. Instead, USDA has once again caved into the pesticide industry demands, by giving preliminary approval to this pesticide-promoting crop that threatens the health of families, communities, farmers, and the environment.

Even though USDA claims to be adhering to a scientific process, we know that the Agency is blatantly ignoring the science on 2,4-D. Exposure to 2,4-D has been linked to cancer (especially non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma), lowered sperm counts, liver disease, and Parkinson’s disease. A growing body of evidence from laboratory studies also shows that 2,4-D causes endocrine (hormone) disruption, reproductive problems, neurotoxicity and immunosuppression.

Tell USDA To Do Its Job And Reject 2,4-D Resistant GE Corn

Large-scale industrial agriculture depends on engineering the land to ensure the absence of natural diversity. But as the recent emergence of herbicide-tolerant weeds on U.S. farms has shown, nature ultimately finds a way to subvert uniformity and assert itself. - Verlyn Klinkenborg

In its short, shameless history, big agriculture has had only one big idea: uniformity. The obvious example is corn. The U.S. Department of Agriculture predicts that American farmers — big farmers — will plant 94 million acres of corn this year. That’s the equivalent of planting corn on every inch of Montana. To do that you’d have to make sure that every inch of Montana fell within corn-growing parameters. That would mean leveling the high spots, irrigating the dry spots, draining the wet spots, fertilizing the infertile spots, and so on. Corn is usually grown where the terrain is less rigorous than it is in Montana. But even in Iowa that has meant leveling, irrigating, draining, fertilizing, and, of course, spraying.

You can argue whether uniformity is the result of efficiency or vice versa. But let’s suppose that efficiency is merely the economic expression of uniformity. The point is this: When you see a Midwestern cornfield, you know you’re looking at nature with one idea superimposed upon it. This is far less confusing, less tangled in variation than the nature you find even in the roadside ditches beside a cornfield or in a last scrap of native prairie growing in a graveyard or along an abandoned railroad right-of-way. Nature is puzzling. Corn is stupefying.

Rather than change the earth to suit a crop, a reasonable agriculture would diversify crops to suit the earth. READ MORE...

We hear of the sweatshops behind our computers, sneakers and other attire--yet the exploitation of farmworkers has become normalized. Cesar Chavez, the champion of farmworkers' rights who gets his annual day of state recognition this Saturday, must be rolling in his grave. It's been 37 years since Governor Jerry Brown, in an earlier life, signed the landmark agricultural labor relations act--and soon California legislators will debate whether to enforce rules to provide water and shade to the 400,000 farmworkers who harvest our food. MORE...

"Some say that agriculture in our region is dead and New York farmers have no economic choice but to lease their land to the gas companies. It's true that the economics of the conventional corporate food system have forced many farmers off the land, but a growing number of others have adapted to the demand for fresh local food and they are making a living producing the food and beverages that millions of us want right now.....New York agriculture is not dead, but fracking can drive a stake in its heart, destroy livelihoods and permanently damage the landscape that we love...our physical and spiritual sustenance."

Hilary Baum, founder of Chefs for the Marcellus, speaking at the anti-fracking rally at the Cathedral of St John the Divine, Feb. 25th.

“…. I have always felt that the preparation of food is one of the most joyful and inwardly satisfying of all activities that we as human beings are peculiarly privileged to indulge in daily. Other creatures receive food simply as fodder. But when we take the raw materials of the earth and work with them--touch them, manipulate them, taste them, revel in their heady smells and glorious colors, and then through a bit of alchemy transform them into delicious creations--we do honor the source from whence they sprang. Cooking demands attention, patience, and, above all, a respect for the gifts of the earth. It is a form of worship, a way of giving thanks.”

Judith B. Jones, Senior editor and Vice President, Alfred A. Knopf, cookbook writer and author of The Tenth Muse: My Life in Food

”Yet another sacrifice made at the altar of the extractive economy is the vitality of our local communities. Whether rural or urban, prior to World War II, our communities and their economies were, in many ways, inseparable. Our neighbors were not simply the people who lived next door. They were our partners in commerce, our local service providers, our local educators… With the American community compelled to always look outside of itself for its basic needs, it becomes merely a shared address on a map.”

-From Radical Homemakers by Shannon Hayes, upstate NY farmer, mother and author.

“I grew up among people who worked together, traded seed, borrowed setting hens if their own were late setting. Early hatched chickens were like a prize. Neighbors would compete to see who would serve the first spring chicken pan-sautéed. The first spring greens, lettuce, scallions in a vinegar dressing with salt, pepper, and sugar--no oil. They shared flavors of all kinds, joined in when it came to planting or harvesting a crop, wheat threshing, hog butchering, and cutting ice on the ponds to store for the summer in the community icehouse.” -EDNA LEWIS known as "the South's answer to Julia Child,” was the cook at Cafe Nicholson in New York City during the 1950s.

She is known for her dedication to the purity of ingredients, authenticity, and importance of eating locally and seasonally, well ahead of today's Food Movement. It was just part of her uncompromising approach to cooking. -KP

The month of March is Women's History Month, and we'd like to share some thoughts from women on the topics of food and farming. The first passage is from Joan Gussow, writer, educator, gardener and activist. We are lucky to live in the same community with this amazing woman, and also to count her as a friend of Hungry Hollow Co-op.

"We know so little about what really produces change in our world, especially when Nature in involved. We know that human interventions can produce solutions as well as problems. To assume the worst will happen is almost as wicked as plunging ahead trying not to notice what is happening under our noses...Everything is possible. Living with possibilities allows me, most of the time, to face deeply disturbing truths about the state of the planet." -From Growing, Older

Tracie McMillan's The American Way of Eating: Undercover at Walmart, Applebee's, Farm Fields and the Dinner Table takes us on a vivid and poignant tour of a place we don't really want to go: the mostly hidden, sometimes horrible world of the workers who form the backbone of our cheap, industrialized food chain. READ MORE...

by JIM HIGHTOWER

We're being told by today's High Priests of Conventional Wisdom that everyone and everything in our economic cosmos necessarily revolves around one dazzling star: the corporation. But wait. The choices for our country's rising forces of economic and political democracy are not limited to corporate or government control. There's another, much better way of organizing America's economic strength: The Cooperative Way.

Cooperatives can (and do) provide a deeply democratic, locally controlled, highly productive, efficient percolate up capitalism.

Co-ops are wholly in step with the values, character, spirit and history of the American people.

While socialism has been cast by the corporatists as a destroyer of our sainted free-enterprise system, the cooperative approach is not an -ism at all, but a democratic structure that literally frees the enterprise of the great majority of Americans — which is why the co-op movement is fast spreading throughout our country. READ MORE...

Energy-intensive industrial farming practices that rely on toxic chemicals and genetically engineered crops are not just undermining public health, they're destroying the planet.

Here's how:

#1 Generating Massive Greenhouse Gas Pollution (CO2, Methane, Nitrous Oxide) and Global Warming, While Promoting False Solutions Such as Industrial Biofuels, So-Called Drought-Resistant Crops, and Genetically Engineered Trees

#2 Polluting the Environment and the Soil-Food Web with Pesticides, Chemical Fertilizers, and Persistent Toxins, Including Dioxin

#3 Draining and Polluting Wetlands and Aquifers, Turning Farmland into Desert

#4 Poisoning Wells and Municipal Drinking Water, Lakes, and Rivers

#5 Chopping Down the Rainforests for Monoculture GMO Crops, Biofuels and Cattle Grazing

#6 Increasing the Cost of Food, While Reducing Nutrition and Biodiversity

#7 Spawning Pesticide-Resistant Superbugs and Weeds, and Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria

#8 Generating New and More Virulent Plant, Animal and Human Diseases

#9 Utilizing Wasteful Fossil Fuel-Intensive Practices and Encouraging the Expansion of Natural Gas Fracking and Tar Sands Extraction (Which Destroy Forests, Aquifers, and Farmland)

#10 Stealing Money From the 99% to Give Huge Subsidies to the 1% Wealthiest, Most Chemical and Energy-Intensive Farms and Food Producers

READ MORE / TAKE ACTION

A new study published in Naturwissenschaften - The Science of Nature by a leading bee expert provides damning evidence that a widely used pesticide, even at low levels, is responsible for the recent catastrophic decline in honey bees. Dr. Jeff Pettis of the USDA's Bee Research Laboratory in Beltsville, MD led the study.

Colony collapse disorder, as this phenomenon is known, has been getting worse since 2006.

The news has brought renewed calls for these pesticides, which only became widely used in the 1990s, to be banned as honey bees are key to human’s survival – pollinating 70 per cent of the crops which produce most of the world’s food. READ MORE...

93% of Americans want the FDA to label genetically engineered foods. Watch the new video from Food, Inc. Filmmaker Robert Kenner to hear why we have the right to know what’s in our food. Will you join these individuals — and over half a million Americans — in contacting the FDA to require the labeling of genetically engineered (GE) foods?
LEARN MORE & TAKE ACTION

According to the National Retail Federation, Americans will spend an average of about $700 per person on holiday season shopping this year and, despite the hype surrounding Black Friday, the busiest shopping week immediately precedes Christmas. But rather than enduring long lines and sparse service at chain stores, we urge you take a different approach: seek out your local independent merchants and service providers, meet your neighbors and fully integrate your values in your purchasing decisions. READ MORE...

The world can feed itself, without corporate America's science-experiment crops and expensive chemicals.

It may be the Wall Street banks that are controlling our lives, or it may be Monsanto, Cargill, DuPont, Kraft, or Tyson's. The system isn't working.

(photo: Brennan Cavanaugh / Flickr)
Farmers have been through this before — our lives and livelihoods falling under corporate control. It has been an ongoing process: consolidation of markets; consolidation of seed companies; an ever-widening gap between our costs of production and the prices we receive. Some of us are catching on, getting the picture of the real enemy.

When Occupy Wall Street (OWS) welcomed the Farmers March to Zuccotti Park in New York on December 4, a natural rural-urban alliance — the Food Justice Movement, gardeners, farmers, seed growers, health care workers, and union members — was formed at Wall Street's back door. READ MORE...

Without labels on genetically engineered food, you have no way of knowing what you're eating for dinner. You have the right to know what's in your food. Tell the FDA to label genetically engineered food. Just Label It!

USDA recently released a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) proposing a full-scale deregulation of Monsanto’s genetically engineered (GE) Roundup Ready sugar beets and is accepting public comments until 11:59pm EST on December 13, 2011. Unfortunately, it is clear that the USDA continues to dismiss the serious concerns of non-GE farmers and consumers regarding the environmental and socioeconomic effects of such an action. Genetically engineered sugar beets threaten the environment through transgenic contamination and weed resistance; threaten consumers by inhibiting the fundamental right to choose, and; threaten organic and non-GE farmers by placing the burden for contamination prevention on them instead of on the producers of the GE crop. READ MORE...

Send your comment to USDA today and urge them not to approve the deregulation of Monsanto’s genetically engineered, “Roundup Ready” sugar beets!

In Mark Bittman's most recent column, he offers a long list of things and people (food-related) that he is thankful for. (Thanks for the shout out to food co-ops, Mark). We'd like to recognize everyone on that list, and add a few more near and dear to us:

1) Rockland County's own Joan Gussow, who we recognize as on of the early leaders of this food movement.
2) Rockland Farm Alliance and the farmers of Cropsey Farm, for helping keep farming viable in Rockland County.
3) Animal Welfare Approved and Cornucopia Institute for their work in maintaining high organic and animal husbandry standards.
4) Edible Hudson Valley and its sister publications for shining a light on local food scenes and issues.
5) Everyone who has had a hand in assisting farmers and others who were devastated by storm related-flooding this summer.

There are many many more people doing great work in getting good food to all, and we thank the farmers, activists, educators, distributors, writers, eaters and especially you, our friends and customers. -kp

Thanksgiving is the biggest food holiday of the year; though Christmas and Easter aren’t far behind! In the cook/bake/eat marathon that is going on this week, we need to take a pause.

We all have much to be grateful for, including the friends we have made along the road. At GoodFood World, we want to say “thanks” to old friends, new friends, and friends we have yet to meet! All the best of Thanksgiving to you!

We also need to recognize that there are many millions of people for whom good food is a luxury. In fact, it’s getting to be a stretch for even middle income families. More consumers are looking for safe, healthy and nutritious food, and yet “purists” with fat pocket books are paying huge sums for overly-hyped birds like these, which sell for $14 a pound – that’s $350 for a 25 pound turkey: READ MORE...

For me, the whole point of asking people to dinner is that you are inviting them into your life. They show up for a true reality show, for a moment when they discover who you really are. Your friends may not get a faultless meal in a fabulous house, but they do get the pleasure of knowing that you trust them. If you want a cleaned up version of the truth, you can always hire a caterer and a phalanx of servers and be assured of a perfect evening. But perfect evenings rarely lead to great friendships. -Ruth Reichl, author and former editor-in-chief of Gourmet.

Federal law requires that organic food products be produced promoting ecological sustainability, without the toxic inputs and genetically engineered ingredients common in the conventional food system.

Increasingly, organic products are forced to compete with products that claim to be "natural".

There are no guidelines or restrictions for foods labeled "natural". The term often indicates nothing more than meaningless marketing hype promoted by corporate interests seeking to cash in on the consumer desire for food produced in a genuinely sustainable manner.

A new video from the Cornucopia Institute explores the vast differences between organic cereal and granola products and so-called natural products, which contain ingredients grown on conventional farms where the use of toxic pesticides and genetically engineered organisms is widespread. READ MORE...

We were disheartened to learn this week that Nancy Stoner, the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) acting assistant administrator for water, is an advocate for water privatization. Hearing a top government official in charge of protecting one of our most essential shared resources laud a scheme that has been linked to the degradation of municipal water supplies definitely makes us wonder where our government is placing its priorities. Across the U.S., privatization has been linked to deteriorating water quality, rate hikes, job force reductions and poor customer service. READ MORE...

It’s been a busy month: Non-GMO Month, Fair Trade Month, and Co-op Month, as well as the growing Occupy Wall Street Movement. That’s a lot of important ground to cover in a short time. I invite you to think about the role Hungry Hollow Co-op plays in your life, because your co-op is more than a conveniently located grocery store. Your co-op is not just about food, it’s about community; it’s about small family farms, organic and biodynamic agriculture, local economy, regional food systems, and more. We work together with local and national organizations to get important information to you about food, the environment, and other related issues, as well as getting healthy food on your tables. Working within the co-operative model, rather than the corporate one, allows us to pursue more than just ever-increasing profits; we support what you support. We are part of the community, and are here to serve you. -kp

The food and farm bill – a mammoth piece of legislation that sets the rules for the American food system every 5 years – is being decided now. The Agriculture Committee leadership proposed to rewrite the farm bill in just a few days behind closed doors. This is usually a year plus process with hearings, circulated bill drafts, mark-ups, and amendments that is being decided without your input unless you act now. Please act today for a chance you have only once every 5 years to reform our food and farming system and protect our natural resources.

If you care about the health of America’s soil, water, and land; promoting organic practices and conservation; helping a new generation of struggling small and mid-sized farmers get their start; rebuilding local and regional food systems; or developing new markets and healthy food access – now is the time to speak up. If you want to see a healthier, more secure, environmentally sustainable, and prosperous America – now is the time to speak up.

According to published accounts, the leaders of the Agriculture Committees are proposing cuts of $6.5 billion to conservation programs, $5 billion to nutrition programs, and $15 billion to commodity subsidy programs. The conservation cuts would be on top of the $2 billion already made by Congress in the appropriations process.This proposal would wipe out over 40 percent of the funding increases for conservation and environmental initiatives achieved in the 2002 and 2008 food and farm bills, setting the clock back and “un-greening” the farm bill. Moreover, it is unclear what the proposal would do to the fair and healthy farm and food system programs won in 2008 with your help, but in need of being renewed in the new farm bill. It could potentially wipe out all of those gains as well.

Will you stand up at this critical moment for family farmers, the environment, and a healthy and fair food system?

Stop Genetically Engineered Salmon!

AquaBounty is seeking approval for a genetically engineered animal that their own data shows would create allergies, increase cancer risks and reduce nutrition.

Public revulsion at the idea of eating a salmon-eelpout combination that could never occur in nature, and the logistical nightmare of trying to figure out how to prevent this Frankenfish from escaping and wiping out wild salmon populations, has made the research, development and regulatory process slow.

After $67m and 16 years, the company is running out of cash. That is, it was, until the USDA gave it a half-million-dollar National Institute of Food and Agriculture grant.

The $500,000 grant to AquaBounty is a bail-out for the firm's main investor, the business tycoon and former economics minister of Georgia, Kakha Bendukidze. Over the years, AquaBounty has received some $3m from the US government and some $6m in funds from Canadian government.

Millions in corporate welfare for a company that can't even prove they have a safe product and a viable business model?!

It's just one more reason to stop GMO salmon!

LEARN MORE...

While it looks like a done deal, the approval of Aquabounty's genetically engineered salmon is still meeting with resistance, including Alaska's senators, who are (rightfully) concerned about the possible impacts on wild Alaskan salmon. Please make yourselves heard--contact your elected officials and let them know about your strong opposition to genetic engineering of foods. As this article states, "Some, frankly. just aren't comfortable with the idea the government thinks it can improve on nature by genetically altering Alaskan wild salmon." Or any food. -kp

Co-ops work for the sustainable development of their communities through policies accepted by their members.  This is a foundation of the co-op movement.  Instead of profits disappearing into far-away pockets, as with the corporate model, co-ops invest in their communities. There is a deep commitment to the health of the community, beyond just donations and support of local events. Community-owned businesses don't just up and leave for greener pastures;  they contribute to the longevity and sustainability of their communities.

While remaining independent and autonomous, co-ops work together. There is no hoarding of information or competitive motivation. Building the co-operative economy is important; willingness to share and extend a helping hand are part of what makes co-ops different from for-profit businesses.

Photograph by: Ward Perrin, PNG, Vancouver Sun

Alternative business model called mechanism for democratizing the economy.

"Co-operatives are a reminder to the international community that it is possible to pursue both economic viability and social responsibility," UN SecretaryGeneral Ban Ki-moon said on the UN website. Read more...

Co-ops offer education and training for their members, employees, managers and elected representatives to enable them to contribute to the development of their co-ops. They also inform the general public about the nature and benefits of co-operation. Additionally, we at Hungry Hollow Co-op strive to educate our members and customers about a wide range of food, farming, and health-related issues.

Co-ops are controlled by their members, not by outside shareholders (which is just one of the ways co-ops are not like Wall St.). If co-ops enter into agreements with other organizations, it must be done in ways that ensure co-operative autonomy and continued member control.

Short and sweet: Support your co-op or it will disappear. When you shop at your co-op, your dollars go back into the local economy. They also support small family farms and lots of other people and things you care about.

In 1844, at the time of the founding of the founding of the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers (the first successful modern co-op), open membership and democratic control were pretty radical ideas. In England, only about one in seven men had the right to vote, and women were about 75 years away from attaining political franchise. The co-op offered membership and voting rights to all.

Membership of a co-op is voluntary and open to all without religious, social, political or other discrimination. Anyone willing to accept the responsibilities of membership can make use of its services.

Co-ops are based on values, like democracy, honesty, and social responsibility. Additionally, most co-ops adopt the Seven Co-operative Principles.

They serve as guidelines to provide a democratic structure for co-ops everywhere. They are: voluntary and open membership, democratic member control, member economic participation, autonomy and independence, education, co-operation among co-ops, and concern for community. For the next seven days, we will focus daily on one of these principles.

Joel Salatin's new book about our "Star Trek" food culture, the rise of alternatives, and freedom of choice.

Buy one hardcover book for $24.99 and get the 2nd book at half price!

An estimated 60 to 70 percent of processed foods contains genetically modified organisms, but unlike 50 other countries, the US doesn't require labeling. READ MORE...

Wall Street and Ethanol Cause Starvation, Say Scientists
by Christopher Mims at grist

Today's supervillains are soooo boring. If only they'd wear tights and touch entrapped damsels’ hair in a way that made us uncomfortable, we'd be up for patriotically pistol-whipping them, Captain America style. Instead we find out that Wall Street and ethanol -- a diffuse network of trading computers and a colorless inebriant, respectively -- are the reason billions are going hungry in the developing world. How are we supposed to launch a hideously expensive vendetta-war against that?

The takeaway from Brandon Keim's excellent writeup of a study conducted by researchers at New England Complex Systems Institute is that if you want to model the extraordinary run-up in food prices worldwide, you have to include both large dollops of speculation by financiers and the increasing diversion of farmland and corn to ethanol, which is now consuming more than half of America's corn crop. Read more HERE and HERE...

Photo by Co-op staffer Ariel Corenthal at #Occupy Wall Street.
If food and agriculture don't spring immediately to mind when you think about the Wall Street Occupation, read this article from Common Dreams. The market does not view food as a human right, but as a commodity, and speculation drives price increases and volatility in agricultural markets. The price is paid by farmers and the world's poor most profoundly, but ultimately we all pay. -kp

Genetically engineered foods are required to be labeled in the 15 European Union nations, Russia, Japan, China, Australia, New Zealand, and many other countries around the world. The United States is one of the only countries that doesn’t require labeling of GE food! It's time to remind President Obama about his campaign promise to label GM foods. Go to Food Democracy Now to sign the petition. Better still, call the White House. Write letters. Get out in the street. Demand labeling of GM foods.

The United Nations has declared 2012 International Year of Co-operatives. Hungry Hollow Co-op joins co-ops around the US in kicking it off in October (Co-op Month) 2011. Follow this blog to learn about what sets co-ops apart from for-profit businesses. For information about International Year of Co-operatives, go to the ICA website. And remember to show your co-op some love and vote for HHC’s video “OMG” at My Co-op Rocks.

October is a busy month for food activism and food related issues. It is Fair Trade Month, Non-GMO Month, and Co-op Month. Check out Hungry Hollow Co-op’s blog for news and information about these important topics--we’ll have daily updates. To begin, October 1st kicks off the Right 2 Know March in New York City. This 313-mile march will end at the White House on October 16 (World Food Day). Hungry Hollow Co-op supports truth in labeling, and we agree with R2K that Americans have a right to know if the food they are buying and eating has been genetically modified or contains such ingredients.

"One question means one career." This was the harsh warning of UC Berkeley Professor Ignacio Chapela for those daring to conduct independent research on genetically engineered foods and crops. "You ask one question, you get the answer and you might or might not be able to publish it; but that is the end of your career." Both he and biologist Arpad Pusztai dared to asked questions and do the research. And then all hell broke lose.

Using stunning visuals filmed on three continents, veteran German filmmaker Bertram Verhaag tracks the fate of these two scientists at the hands of a multi-billion dollar industry that is desperate to hide the dangers of their genetically modified organisms (GMOs). LEARN MORE...

We've been so busy getting ready for FarmFest 2011 that this almost got by us, but check out the link for Slow Food's $5.00 Challenge. Take back the "value meal". Get together with family, friends, and neighbors for a slow food meal that costs no more than $5 per person. I'm making chili and corn bread. kp

There's a whole lot more than just GMO seeds. Let's take a quick look at some of the biotech giant's most dubious contributions to society over the past century. CLICK HERE for the Top 5.

Why We Need to Get GMO Labels on the Ballot

Reason #1 - The Voters Agree: If Genetically Modified Organisms Are Used to Produce Food, the Food Should Be Labeled "GMO"!

Reason #2 - We Need to Bypass the Federal Government Given that Monsanto Has Bribed Politicians & Infiltrated Regulatory Agencies

Reason #3 - We Need High-Profile Statewide Campaigns to Wake Up Consumers Who Don't Even Know What GMOs Are

Reason #4 - Winning GMO Labels in Even One Big State Could Change Food Labeling Practices Nationally and Drastically Reduce GMO Crop Acreage

READ MORE...

Farmageddon - Movie Trailer from Kristin Canty on Vimeo.

Americans' right to access fresh, healthy foods of their choice is under attack.
Farmageddon tells the story of small, family farms that were providing safe, healthy foods to their communities and were forced to stop, sometimes through violent action, by agents of misguided government bureaucracies, and seeks to figure out why. LEARN MORE...

Drawing of Bloom by Joyce
Mr. Bloom ate his strips of sandwich, fresh clean bread, with relish of disgust, pungent mustard, the feety savour of green cheese. Sips of his wine soothed his palate. Not logwood that. Tastes fuller this weather with the chill off. -James Joyce

Today being June 16, the day commemorated by James Joyce in his novel Ulysses, we think a passage from the book is in order. One of my favorite parts is when Leopold Bloom takes lunch in a pub with his friends. It's full of rich descriptions, leading me to wonder what kind of Food Safety standards, if any, there were in Dublin in 1904. My Google search didn't turn up anything in Ireland, but I found this interesting piece about the St. Louis World's Fair of 1904 (which was two years before the publication of Upton Sinclair's The Jungle):

Both companies (Heinz and Schlitz), along with many others represented at the Fair and in Fair advertising, emphasized the wholesomeness of their wares as American anxiety over food and drink, especially those not produced by local farmers but by vast corporations, reached its peak. Indeed, late 19th Century advances in food science actually heightened consumer anxiety....science also afforded food manufacturers new tricks to make food look better and last longer, without regard to actual wholesomeness, safety, or flavor.

Seems like the more things change, the more they stay the same. We have more regulations today, but the manufacturers have more tricks (and lobbyists). -kp

When The Cornucopia Institute, a farm policy research group, officially launched in April 2004, one of its primary issue areas was what it referred to as "The Corporate Attack on Organic Agriculture." At the time, Cornucopia's focus was on the father and son team of Dennis and Alex Avery at the ultra-conservative Hudson Institute’s campaign to discredit organics. Now, in 2011, after seven years of successfully exposing the genesis of Hudson's ire, and greatly diminishing its effectiveness, a new generation of "Trojan horse" naysayers has emerged.

The latest attacks come from Mischa Popoff, a Canadian who purports to be an advocate for organics and is publicizing his self-published book entitled Is It Organic? The author misses few opportunities to impugn the integrity of the organic label, or USDA oversight, while simultaneously defending biotechnology and the industrial agriculture system that organics seeks to replace.

"Addressing the potential damage from attacks by the Hudson Institute, and other right-wing think tanks such as the Hoover Institution, the Heartland Institute, and the Competitive Enterprise Institute, was relatively easy," said Mark A. Kastel, Codirector at the Wisconsin-based Cornucopia Institute. "Every rebuttal that we published, or preemptive media advisory we issued, was put into context by including the corporate agribusiness funding base for the work of these entities." READ MORE...

Investors are involved in massive land grabs in Africa that may cause destabilization of food prices, mass displacement and environmental damage. US and EU investors -- including US universities, pension funds and investment firms -- are involved in unprecedented land grabs currently taking place in Africa, according to a series of investigative reports released on Wednesday by the Oakland Institute. READ MORE...

Ocean Conservancy has organized annual clean-ups, world-wide, since 1989. These clean-ups are documented. On a September day in 2008, 6.8 million pounds of trash were collected by 400,000 volunteers in over 100 countries, predominantly from the ocean’s edge. The Top Ten categories of debris (accounting for 83% of the total) are as follow:
1) Cigarette butts
2) Plastic bags
3) Food containers
4) Caps and lids
5) Plastic bottles
6) Paper bags
7) Straws and stirrers
8) Cups, plates, eating utensils
9) Glass bottles
10) Beverage cans

When the weather turns warm, water seems to be in our thoughts more frequently. If you grew up in the suburbs like me, you may remember the sting of cold water as you danced around under the sprinkler on a hot day, or crashed into water from the high dive at the town pool. These days, I love to go down the shore early Sunday morning and have breakfast at the water's edge. And there's nothing as refreshing as splashing through a cold brook on a hot sweaty mountain bike ride. Our relationship with water is always strong, but it really beckons us in the summer. It's a good time to give some thought to the importance of that relationship, and just how vital clean water and healthy oceans are to life on earth. -kp

Germany announced Monday it would become the biggest industrial power to completely give up nuclear energy following the crisis at the Fukushima plant in Japan, saying that all nuclear reactors would be shut by 2022. READ MORE...

DOUBLE DIPPING DANGER from NO GMO on Vimeo.

Watch this two minute video, produced by Alex Bogusky, and then CLICK HERE to read about new evidence showing even more harm from genetically modified foods.

Now, a very great man once said
That some people rob you with a fountain pen
It didn’t take too long to find out
Just what he was talkin’ about
A lot of people don’t have much food on their table
But they got a lot of forks ’n’ knives
And they gotta cut somethin’

May is a little grey and gloomy this year, but it's still National Bike Month, and there are plenty of rides and events to get you out on two wheels. Transportation Alternatives is a hard working NYC-based organization that's doing great things and deserves support. Check out their website and join them for an event or as a member. -kp

Check out this video from People For Bikes--and please don't rag on them about the people in the video not wearing helmets. It's a piece of art and it's sweet. And help People For Bikes make the world safer for cyclists by visiting their website. When we ride, good things happen. -kp

I’m in Minneapolis for an NCGA conference, and what's the first thing I notice on my way to the hotel? Bikes. Cyclists. Bike Lanes. And check this out-a bicycle co-op!! How cool is that? -kp

May is National Bike Month, and what goes together better than bikes and organic food? After all, the quality of your fuel is important, and what fuels your ride better than real, honest-to-goodness organic food? Sure, those gels and bars are good in a pinch, but for the long haul, your food is your energy source. Check out this link about organic food being served at the velodrome in Trexlertown, PA (aka Valley Preferred Cycling Center). What a great idea--we'd like to see more availability of organic foods at events. In the meantime, keep asking for it, and keep packing it for your rides and post-ride picnics. And come by and tell us what fuels your ride!

The Locust Tree in Flower
(second version)

Among
of
green

stiff
old
bright

broken
branch
come

white
sweet
May

Again

-WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS

Good meat comes from animals that had a good life and one bad day.

How did you learn about factory-farming and CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations)? Certainly not from the industry itself; they have nothing to gain and everything to lose by openness and transparency in their operations. Now Big Ag is going after whistle-blowers and undercover investigators (aka "agro-terrorists") in an effort to keep the public in the dark. Three states (Iowa, Minnesota and Florida) have pending legislation which would make filming and photography in factory farms a crime. Incidentally, the Minnesota law would also punish those who distribute said photos and films. As with the lack labeling of genetically engineered foods, consumers are denied freedom of choice. In a recent poll, the overwhelming majority of citizens said products containing GMOs should be labeled as such. The majority of people also believe that farm animals should be treated humanely. In an economic system that touts the Free Market, why is Big Ag so opposed to letting the Market function? A picture is worth a thousand words, and probably lots of dollars, too. Wouldn't you rather buy your meat from a farm that allows you to drop by and see the conditions under which that animal is being raised? -kp

The seed, the source of life, the embodiment of our biological and cultural diversity, the link between the past and the future of evolution, the common property of past, present and future generations of farming communities who have been seed breeders, is today being stolen from the farmers and being sold back to us as "propriety seed" owned by corporations like the US-headquartered Monsanto. Vandana Shiva

Read the whole article HERE

Today marks the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. A concrete sarcophagus, in place over the reactor that exploded, was to last 30 years. It is falling apart, slowly but surely, and the money to build the new one is not there. An area 30 km in circumference remains a no-man’s land, off limits to humans. High levels of cesium remain undiminished., and machinery, tanks and busses in the area remain highly radioactive. Physicians for Social Responsibility held a press conference this morning jointly with the Institute for Policy Studies, on the ongoing impact of Chernobyl, the continuing catastrophe in Fukushima, and lessons for US public health and safety. Dr. Jeff Patterson, PSR past president, called the use of nuclear power an experiment carried out on unknown and unknowing populations around the world. There is no safe level of radiation. Please consider attending the Discussion on Indian Point tonight at 7 pm at the Nanuet Library. -kp

There Is No Such Thing As A Free Lunch

In ecology, as in economics, the law is intended to warn that every gain is won at some cost….Because the global ecosystem is a connected whole, in which nothing can be gained or lost and which is not subject to over-all improvement, anything extracted from it by human effort must be replaced. Payment on this price cannot be avoided; it can only be delayed. The present environmental crisis is a warning that we have delayed nearly too long.         Barry Commoner, The Closing Circle, 1971

Domesticity and wildness are in fact intimately connected. What is utterly alien to both is corporate industrialism--a displaced economic life that is without affection for the places where it is lived and without regard for the materials it uses.

Wendell Berry, from the essay Conservationist and Agrarian.

It's been one year since the tragic avoidable accident in the Gulf (aka the BP Disaster, or The Well From Hell). It's not over. Do not believe those paid commercials that BP has been airing, telling you how they've cleaned up and made things right. They haven't. Why is the environment always second to our energy appetite and the economy? Eleven men died from the explosion, countless sea creatures and birds died and continue to suffer, and the people of the Gulf Coast are still suffering. We must demand accountability, transparency and commitment to long-term scientific monitoring. Read 10 Reasons to Still Be Pissed at BP

When April pours the colors of a shell
Upon the hills, where every little creek
Is shot with silver from the Chesapeake
In shoals new minted by the ocean swell,
When strawberries go begging, and the sleek
Blue plums lie open to the blackbird's beak,
We shall live well--we shall live very well.

Elinor Wylie, from Wild Peaches

Friday after work I joined Ben and Paula Williams (co-op members and owners of Clockwork Construction Inc Racing Team) for a leisurely bike ride from Nyack north to Haverstraw. The trail runs along the Hudson, and it was my first time there, so I was really taken with how beautiful it all was, especially the river. My experience of the Hudson River has been either viewing it from a bridge at the various upstate crossings, or the non-experience of driving through a tunnel under the river. Oh, and one of those cruises around Manhattan. So it was a real treat to see it up-close and personal--kind of like the first time you actually see a painting you love, in a museum, within touching distance. Breathtaking. So naturally, all of this got me thinking about all the toxins that have been dumped in this jewel of a river, and about Indian Point, which is (or should be) on everyone’s minds these days. I thought I’d share one of Riverkeeper’s Top Ten Reasons To Close Indian Point:

#10: Indian Point Storage Pools are overfilled with spent fuel rods from the past 40 years. These pools are leaking radioactive water into the ground and the Hudson River.

Go to Riverkeeper’s website for the rest of the list, and please support the work they do. -kp

Recommended Reading: Four Fish: the Future of the Last Wild Food
by Paul Greenberg

“When these accountants from these companies call me and tell me that they are raising their prices on me again, I look forward to the day when they will have nothing to eat. That will be some kind of day. And you know what I’ll say at that point? I’ll say, ‘Eat your computer. Eat it. Eat it right now.’” Thanasis Frentzos, speaking with Paul Greenberg in Four Fish

If you eat fish, this is a must read. -kp

“The insatiable demands of a materialist technology have somehow crucially diminished our reverence and compassion for various forms of life and thwarted our understanding of the web of interdependence that weaves our own life together with the other kingdoms.” Toward Saving The Honeybee -Gunther Hauk

By now, most people know about the plight of the honeybees, as well as how much our food supply depends on them, as well as other pollinators. In the introduction to his book, Gunther posits that it is not merely a mite, such as the varroa mite, or some other invader, but rather our whole approach to the bee’s existence that has weakened it, causing its health to deteriorate. The exploitation of bees happens on such a large scale, without much regard to their true nature and role in agriculture, that it’s very likely that we’ve had a hand in their decline. “The honeybees' very existence is threatened by humanity's efforts to capitalize on their largesse. We have been overriding the bees' natural rhythms and intrinsic needs for the last hundred years.” Learn more at Spikenard Farm Honeybee Sanctuary’s website. -kp

Recommended reading: The World is Blue: How Our Fate and the Oceans’s Are One by Sylvia Earle.

“Even if you never have the chance to see or touch the ocean, the ocean touches you with every breath you take, every drop of water you drink, every bite you consume. Everyone, everywhere is inextricably connected to and utterly dependent upon the existence of the sea.” Sylvia Earle

The ocean makes life on earth, our lives on earth, possible. We’ve long held the view that the ocean was limitless, bottomless and endless, as far as our needs were concerned. We are finding out just how wrong we were. Besides over-harvesting marine wildlife and drilling for oil, we’ve also regarded the ocean, as Sylvia Earle says, “the ultimate Dumpster”. The ocean is not infinitely resilient, and as we’re learning from our recent disasters in the Gulf of Mexico and Japan, we are closer together than we realize, though miles of water may separate us. -kp

“The same year as Reagan’s inauguration, 1980, a little-known but important law was passed, The Bayh-Dole Act. For the first time in our history, patents were allowed on the results of research done with public money at public universities. This law increased special interest research and allowed corporations and the universities to keep the patents, and profits, even though the intellectual infrastructure and talent for this innovation was supplied by the public and paid for by taxpayers. The Bayh-Dole Act is just one example, but it’s a major reason why biotechnology has come to dominate food and farming, as it allowed corporations to take over our research institutions….the very public institutions that should be protecting public health and interests.”

Farmer Jane: Women Changing the Way We Eat -TEMRA COSTA

The issue, however, is not simply whether we recognize that diversity is the actual basis of productivity, but whether we understand that diversity has an intrinsic value and should therefore be saved. Only then will it be unthinkable to regard biodiversity as raw material for the uniform fabrications of the genetics industry. The conflict of between the two concepts--diversity as an intrinsic value and diversity as a material resource--touches on issues of power, control, and property. Many people in all cultures share the opinion that life is not something that one can own, and that any exploitation of living things has to be governed by respect. The notions of modern science and biotechnology are irreconcilably opposed to such respect. -Vandana Shiva

April Woods: Morning

Birth of color
Out of the night and the ground.

Luminous the gatherings
Of bloodroot

Newly risen, green leaf
White flower

In the sun, the dark
Grown absent.

-WENDELL BERRY

Today’s blog (or rather, tonight’s) is late because, well, what an amazingly beautiful day it is! After the winter we’ve had, it was such a pleasure to be outside, hanging laundry on the clothesline and checking out what’s growing in the backyard. The nettle is bright green and coming on strong, the rhubarb has poked through the dead leaves, and my tiny patch of ramps is a little bigger than last year. On a day like this, Nature is at her best--so much wiser and more powerful than we humans, yet just quietly carrying on in her gentle way. I hope y’all got outside today and didn’t spend the day at the mall! -KP

If the energy crisis of the 1970s was temporary, today’s energy crisis seems about to be permanent. However much oil prices fluctuate in the short term, the long term is probably closer than we think. -Joan Gussow

Anyone old enough to remember the 1970s probably remembers the long gas lines, the “layered look”, the high prices (especially food prices). You remember Jimmy Carter and his solar panels on the White House. Was Carter a forward-thinking environmentalist? I don’t know, but when was the last time anyone in the White House called on Americans to make any kind of sacrifice? Wars, environmental disasters, terror attacks, whatever-it’s business as usual. Let’s not change our lifestyles, just keep on shopping and watching reality TV. Perhaps if Carter’s initiatives had been taken more seriously by subsequent administrations, we’d be much further along today, and not still talking about “high” gas prices and newer, better nuclear plants. The “long term” may indeed be closer than we think. -kp

Wednesday, March 16 - Capitol Hill
The National Small Farm and Ranch Grassroots Lobby Day & Legislative Reception
With passage of the recent food "safety" bill, it is more important than ever that we be a presence of food freedom and sanity in Congress.

PLEASE INVITE YOUR LEGISLATORS!

Call and email or fax your Representative and two Senators to invite them to the Reception.

Help reveal to Congress the disastrous ramifications of the recent "food safety" legislation and provide them the real food safety solution: unregulated local trade direct from producer to consumer. True food sovereignty means food security and national prosperity.

After deregulating GE alfalfa a couple weeks back, the USDA last week gave GE sugar beets a thumbs-up in the form of a "partial deregulation".

Monsanto and KWS, the two companies which developed the genetically engineered beets, pressured the USDA to allow them to be planted this spring, and not wait for the completion of the Environmental Impact Statement. (The EIS is not expected to be finished until spring of 2012.)

Why the hurry? GE beets account for 90% of the sugar beet crop harvested last year. In August, their approval had been revoked, pending results of the EIS. Because of a likely non-GE seed shortage, the government was projecting (gasp!) a possible 20% reduction in American sugar production. World sugar prices are high because of weather conditions in cane-growing regions, which would have made the importation of sugar to fill the gap more costly. So the bottom line is that the needs of industry outweigh the health of the citizenry. Aren't we being told to consume less sugar, anyway? -kp

Statistics released last month by Brattleboro-based Organic Trade Association showed double-digit growth in organic produce sales in 2009, despite the recession, and there are indications that the category continues to defy economic hard times. Last October, for example, had an 8% growth rate for organic sales overall. Since 2000, when the National Organic Program rule was published, sales of organic fruit & vegetables have grown from 2.6 billion to 9.5 billion dollars currently. "People who buy organic foods," said Simcha Weinstein of Alberts Organics, "are linked by their values and not by demographics." Organic purchases seem to reflect the level of education, as well as a wider world-view, more so than income levels.

"In part, what I see as the continuing attack on good, sound eating and traditional farming in the United States is a political issue".
--Mark Bittman, NY Times, January 26, 2011.

On January 27th, the USDA approved the unrestricted commercial cultivation of Monsanto's Genetically Engineered alfalfa. A "controversial"  compromise that would have offered organic and non-GE farmers a degree of protection against contamination, by way of geographic restrictions and isolation distances, was withdrawn after pressure by the biotechnology industry and some members of Congress.  A spokesman for the National Cotton Council, for example, concerned that such restrictions could be extended to other crops, said, "It's like a Pandora's box." 

In fact, it is bioengineering that is the Pandora's box. We are all going to suffer losses because of the biotech companies disregard for public health and environmental concerns and their unwillingness to allow sound science to get in the way of potential profits.  Some of the individuals and organizations that had supported a complete ban on GE alfalfa are now backing down, advocating peaceful coexistence and calling for other measures to be put in place, like compensating organic farmers if their crops are contaminated.  But, what compensation will there be for the eating public?  Not to be dismissive of any losses of small organic farmers (or any small farmers--conventional farmers have also voiced opposition to GE alfalfa) but how can you possibly compensate for the loss of 100% organic food?  The ubiquity of alfalfa in food production and the fact that it is a bee-pollinated perennial essentially guarantees that, in the long run, no farmland and thus no food will remain free of Genetically Modified Organisms. This is about destroying organic agriculture, taking away your choice regarding what you eat, and giving control of our food system over to Monsanto, Dow, Bayer and the other biotech profiteers.

Do not go down quietly---call the White House, call your elected officials, raise hell, write letters, go out in the streets---make your voice heard!   In truth, I never paid enough attention to the GMO issue because I thought one could avoid it simply by choosing organic.  GE  alfalfa has the potential to undo everything we've all been working for, for so long: clean, healthy food, and the freedom to grow it, buy it, and eat it. Without GMO labeling, which is not required in this country (as it is in the European Union) the only way you can be reasonably sure that your food is not genetically engineered is to buy organic. We now stand to lose even that possibility if we do not succeed in pressuring the USDA to reinstate a full ban on the cultivation of GE alfalfa.   -kp

Beating out a host of corporate criminals, including BP and Chevron, Monsanto garnered 38% of the vote to win the 2010 spot in the Corporate Hall of Shame. Read More

In the 1990s, Monsanto found an ingenious way to sell large quantities of its broad-spectrum toxic herbicide RoundUp to farmers. The company's scientists gene-spliced corn, soy, cotton, and canola with foreign DNA, enabling these "Frankencrops" to survive massive doses of RoundUp. Farmers could now repeatedly spray their fields with RoundUp, killing weeds but not the crop. Unfortunately, the collateral damage of heavy RoundUp spraying includes groundwater pollution, toxic residues in crops, and destruction of essential soil microorganisms. The Genetically Modified (GM) crops themselves create herbicide-resistant Superweeds and spread genetic pollution to organic and non-GMO crops as well as plant relatives. Last but certainly not least, Monsanto's GM foods have been linked to serious health damage - not only for animals, but humans as well.

Today, a major portion of cropland in the US is sown with Monsanto's "RoundUp Ready" corn, soy, cotton, canola, and sugar beets. Eighty percent of these GM crops are then sold as animal feed to the nation's 125,000 factory farms or Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) that produce most of the non-organic meat, dairy, or eggs sold in grocery stores or served in restaurants, schools, and hospitals. The other 20% of Monsanto's Genetically Modified Organisms are laced into non-organic processed foods (soy lecithin, corn or sugar beet sweeteners, cooking oils, etc.) that are found in every grocery store aisle.

There is a direct correlation between our genetically engineered food supply and the $2 trillion the US spends annually on medical care, namely an epidemic of diet-related chronic diseases. Instead of healthy fruits, vegetables, grains, and grass-fed animal products, US factory farms and food processors produce a glut of genetically engineered junk foods that generate heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer. Low fruit and vegetable consumption is directly costing the United States $56 billion a year in diet-related chronic diseases.

Monsanto's GM crops are highly profitable for the food industry, turning cheap, federally subsidized, genetically engineered crops and GE-fed animals into cheap, ubiquitous, junky foods. But from the standpoint of public health and environmental sustainability, Monsanto and their factory farm collaborators are nothing less than merchants of disease and death.

A critical mass of consumers would turn away from GMOs and Factory Farmed meat, dairy, and eggs - if they knew what they were eating. Please join and support OCA in our new Truth-in-Labeling campaign.

Learn More

In 2010, the Organic Consumers Association mobilized organic activists to fight back against Monsanto and the biotech industry. Thanks to your volunteer efforts and financial support, the OCA fought the "good fight" on GM trees, wheat, salmon, alfalfa, sugar beets and rice.

But now the time has come to go on the offensive. We can't wait for Congress, the USDA, EPA, or FDA to regulate GMOs, pesticides and Monsanto's growing seed monopoly. Over one-third of American farmland is now planted with GMOs. Eighty percent of all non-organic processed foods contain GM ingredients.

It's time to mobilize consumer power at the local level. It's time to hit Monsanto and Big Ag where it hurts: at the cash register.

We need to pressure city councils and state legislatures to label GM-tainted foods. If they won't do this, we need to organize ballot initiatives wherever possible. We need to pass local "Truth-in-Labeling" ordinances to inform 75% of the public - who are still in the dark about GMOs - what they're eating, and why it matters.

Grocery stores and restaurants must be forced to admit to their customers that their processed foods, factory farmed milk, eggs and meat, and other junk food ingredients are GM-tainted. Supermarkets and health food stores must come clean and admit that all the non-organic, so-called "natural" foods that contain corn, soy, cottonseed oil, or canola, are likely contaminated with GMOs.

As long as only a quarter of U.S. consumers understand that they're being force-fed GMOs, we'll never create the critical mass necessary to push organic over the tipping point. However, once a majority of consumers are educated about the risks and harms of GMOs, and once non-organic processed foods are truthfully labeled as "may contain GMOs," Monsanto's Biotech Bullying will come to an end.

Please donate to help OCA's Millions Against Monsanto: Truth-in-Labeling Campaign for 2011

The federal organic law's requirement that all animals have access to the outdoors and be able to exhibit their natural behaviors has kept the worst aspects of factory farms out of organic - you won't find battery cages in an organic hen house - but the USDA has turned a blind eye to less cruel forms of confinement.

The USDA has allowed large-scale "organic" producers to get away with keeping thousands of chickens squished into huge sheds where the only access to the outdoors is through tiny doors to small, bare patches of ground or caged "porches" with no dirt at all.

The USDA has never enforced or even described a "natural behaviors" standard for chickens. If they were to address that aspect of the law honestly, they would have to admit that chickens need to be able to scratch and peck for worms and insects and munch on leafy greens.

The organic law also requires farmers to minimize negative effects on the environment, but the USDA has never outlined or implemented rules that direct farmers to control their greenhouse gas emissions.

The chicken manure and urine soaked sawdust that piles up at the large-scale confined animal farming operations that dominate organic chicken and egg production are the source of potent nitrous oxide, methane and carbon emissions.

Please take action to press the USDA to require access to pasture for organic chickens and hens.

Take Action

Call Your Senators Today To Defend Family Farms and Local and Regional Food Systems

Debate and voting on The Food Safety Modernization Act (S. 510) is set to begin on the Senate floor on November 17th. The bill takes important steps to improve corporate food safety rules but it is not appropriate for small farms and food processors that sell to restaurants, food coops, groceries, schools, wholesalers and at farm stands and farmers markets.

These farms and entrepreneurs should have food safety plans appropriate to their size and processing practices. It is critical that food safety protections don’t inadvertently harm family farm value-added processing, and the growing investments in local and regional food systems by imposing expensive, one-size-fits- all rules.

CLICK HERE TO TAKE ACTION

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced on August 25, 2010, that it will potentially approve the long-shelved AquAdvantage transgenic salmon as the first genetically engineered (GE) animal intended for human consumption. The GE Atlantic salmon being considered was developed by AquaBounty Technologies, and genetically engineered to produce growth hormones year-round, creating a fish the company claims grows at twice the normal rate. This could allow factory fish farms to crowd the salmon into pens and still get high production rates. To make matters worse, FDA argues that these GE salmon don’t even need to be labeled! We have only a short window to tell FDA to reject these GE fish, and at the very least label them. Can you send a comment today?

The anonymous poem below was found in a trench in Tunisia during a heavy bombardment in the early days of WWII.

A Soldier---His Prayer

Stay with me, God. The night is dark,
The night is cold: my little spark
Of courage dies. The night is long;
Be with me, God, and make me strong.

I love a game; I love a fight.
I hate the dark; I love the light.
I love my child: I love my wife.
I am no coward. I love Life,

Life with its change of mood and and shade.
I want to live. I'm not afraid,
But me and mine are hard to part;
Oh, unknown God, lift up my heart.

You stilled the waters at Dunkirk
And saved Your Servants. All your work
Is wonderful, dear God. You strode
Before us down that dreadful road.

We were alone, and hope had fled;
We loved our country and our dead,
And could not shame them; so we stayed
The course, and were not much afraid.

Dear God that nightmare road! And them
That sea! We got there--we were men.
My eyes were blind, my feet were torn,
My soul sang like a bird at dawn!

I knew that death is but a door.
I knew what we were fighting for:
Peace for the kids, our brothers freed,
A kinder world, a cleaner breed.

I'm but a son my mother bore,
A simple man, and nothing more.
But--God of strength and gentleness,
Be pleased to make me nothing less.

Help me, O God, when Death is near,
To mock the haggard face of fear,
That when I fall--if fall I must--
My soul may triumph in the Dust

The joy of living, I say, was summed up for me in the remembered sensation of that first burning and aromatic swallow , that mixture of milk and coffee and bread by which men hold communion with tranquil pastures, exotic plantations, and golden harvests, communion with the earth. Amidst all these stars there was but one that could make itself significant for us by composing this aromatic bowl that was its daily gift at dawn. Antoine de Saint-Exupery, Wind,Sand and Stars

Can we invite intelligent thought and discourse back into our lives? We are all connected and should be looking out for each other and our Mother Earth. What can we bring to the table? Rage and rhetoric? No thanks! -kp

From the moment we sit down at the table and put a piece of bread in our mouths, we see that we are in the world and cannot be otherwise than in it, until the day we die. The question, then, is not to speculate about how we are to contact the world - as if we were somehow in outer space - but how to validate our relationship, give it a fully honest and human significance, and make it truly productive and worthwhile for our world. Thomas Merton

It's been 6 months since the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, and about 3 months since the well was capped. If you look at BP's website, you'll read about how well the clean up effort is going, and how BP is working on environmental restoration and the restoration of jobs and livelihoods, as well as "paying all legitimate claims". I invite you to read, instead, The Gulf Between Us by respected writer Terry Tempest Williams, in the current issue of Orion. The article begs the question, “Where is our outrage?” Why is no one talking about these issues? It's not over, it's not cleaned up, it should not be forgotten. -kp

We support the Green Meadow Waldorf School’s initiative to curtail the use of bottled water in our community. We’ll be at the Green Meadow Fall Fair tomorrow offering Klean Kanteen stainless steel reusable water bottles at a special discounted price. Watch this video for an overview of the bottled water issue.

Last week, on a tour of top East Coast universities, Carlo Petrini spoke to an assembly of students, farmers and foodies at Princeton. The discussion included issues of the depletion of soil fertility, loss of farmers, loss of biodiversity, and growing concern over water availability, but he also talked about restoring lost values. We've lost the value of food when what matters the most is price. The price of industrial food is actually more than that of organic; our society bears the costs of the negative externalities. Please try to understand what's behind the price of things. Despite the growing Slow Food Movement, the economic reality for farmers is dire. We must pay farmers a fair amount if we want to attract a new generation of farmers . “Without young people going back to the land, how will we regenerate our culture?” asks Petrini. Food is sacred; how can we manufacture the sacred in a factory?

We need to set a place at the table for conviviality, for love and friendship and enjoyment. We need to restore value to our work, and not allow consumerism to rob us of our precious time. Presently our value is as consumer—the more we consume, the better. But we cannot go on consuming this way. “We have everything we want”, says Petrini, but we are losing meaning and vision. Listening to him speak, I felt at times like I was being scolded, not inappropriately, by my grandfather (had he been Italian), but his practical wisdom is ageless. Support your local economy. Buy less, waste less. Restore seasonality. Eat leftovers. Respect Terre Madre. Join Slow Food. -kp

Michael Pollan says Americans have an unhealthy obsession with "eating healthy". In a talk at Rutgers last week, he talked about our National Eating Disorder. To highlight the problem, he brought forth an array of food-like products he picked up prior to the lecture, "impressive products of technology" like whole grain Wonder Bread (43 ingredients!) and Splenda with fiber (fake sugar, fake fiber--kind of like fake fruit). He posed the question, “How did we get so confused about food?” Nutritionism, the ideology of "science-based" eating, reduces food to a delivery system for nutrients; the whole point of eating is for health.

But food serves other functions that are mostly overlooked by nutrition experts. “Amazing things happen when people break bread together,” says Pollan. Eating together is the heart of community. People's food choices have long been guided by culture, before scientists and nutritionists (and now corporations) began telling us what to eat. But population-wide nutritional recommendations have failed; what was initially a critique of industry selling unhealthy food has become the vehicle for those sales. In his book, Food Rules, Pollan addresses the question of what to eat in simple unscientific terms. We need to change the norms and reacquaint ourselves with real food, with cooking, with diversity of diet and agriculture. Do not be content to be a passive consumer, but become a co-producer, and take back control of what you eat. -kp

The FDA is considering approval of genetically engineered salmon for human consumption. Last month they announced that they are considering approval of AquAdvantage transgenic salmon as the first genetically engineered animal intended for human consumption. The health effects of eating GE salmon are unknown.

Consumers have a short window of opportunity to voice their opinions, until September 19. We urge you to voice your opinion prior to the hearing. Information can be found on The Center For Food Safety's website. The approval process should be transparent, and if approved, the GE salmon should be clearly labelled. Consumers have a right to know what they are eating.

This award winning documentary film explores the growing global threat of genetically engineered trees to our environment and to human health. The film features renowned geneticist and host of PBS' The Nature of Things David Suzuki, who explores the unknown and possibly disastrous consequences of improperly tested GE methods.

Many of us today do not have to work at jobs that are back breaking and soul killing, toiling for wages that are “the minimum amount required to keep alive the flesh and bone machine while it is hired to an employer” (D. De Leon). But have no doubt, there are many who do still earn their wages doing work that is mind numbing, dream crushing, and simply difficult and hard on the body, for very little compensation. At best, they may earn a decent wage, but are not given much respect (except in country music sometimes). But today’s laborer is largely invisible to us. What comes to my mind is the woman scrubbing toilets at the service plaza on the highway, or the train station; I guess that’s what I consider the worst possible job. Maybe we don’t see her because, if we were her, we’d be embarrassed at having been seen. Why do we, as a society, look down on physical labor? Labor built this country, after all, not the government, nor the free market.

Ralph Nader recounts a story told to him by his sister. When she was a child, walking home with their father one day, they passed a street cleaner; she exclaimed that she was glad she would never have to do such dirty work. He in turn pointed out to her that anyone who does a job that you are unwilling to do, but very much want to have done, deserves your respect--and a good salary. He advised her not to look down on anyone for the work they do, nor to be in awe of them. -kp

Educate yourself, family, and friends, with this new pamphlet about organic food created by the University of Minnesota.

All the eggs we sell are salmonella free. Read this article from Saturday’s NY Times about the eggs that aren’t. At the Co-op we do everything we can to avoid doing business with industrial scale producers like Hillandale Farms and people like the DeCosters who, according to Times reporter Monica Davey, have a track record of being “habitual violators” of government regulations, ethical business and labor practices, and community values. And for a broader view of the issues involved, take a look at what The Cornucopia Institute has to say about the true cause of food contamination.

Remember “Freedom Fries”? They were a misguided backlash against France for not supporting the US in waging war on Iraq. Real Freedom Fries are the ones you make yourself, in your kitchen, from locally grown organic potatoes. Freedom from Big Ag deciding what you eat, freedom from fast-food chains that target your kids by offering toys with their unhealthy meals, freedom from artificial ingredients and pesticides, maybe even freedom from obesity. That’s right, eat what you want, just make it yourself. According to Michal Pollan, the time and work that are involved in cooking (from scratch) serve as an important check on our appetite. Commercial convenience foods are marketed to us as being liberating, but that false freedom comes at a very high price. -kp

Time is running out to speak up about the risks to family farmers, animals and eaters by industrial agriculture's unnecessary use of antibiotics in raising livestock. We've only got 24 more hours to get our voices heard by the FDA and White House.

For years, Farm Aid has been warning about the dangers of industrial or "factory farm" livestock operations and their impact on family farms, the environment and our health.

Now the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) may weaken regulations and make it even easier for agribusiness to feed antibiotics to healthy livestock and poultry, putting our health at greater risk and propping up the industrial system of livestock production. PLEASE TAKE ACTION NOW.

Friday night I stopped for dinner at a Cuban cafe in Somerville, NJ. It was well past nine, and my son and I were the only ones in the place. The woman who waited on us was warm, enthusiastic, and full of smiles, despite the late hour. Matt and I were just sharing a Cuban sandwich, rice and beans, and tostones. Maybe it's just because I was so hungry, but I felt such appreciation for how good it all was; even the lollipop colors of the Jarritos sodas were delightful. But mostly I was aware of how lucky I was to be sitting there eating in comfort and safety, and in good company--a simple act that is denied to so many people in our world. At the co-op, those are the very things we try to provide as well--good food, friendship and respect, and a sense of well-being. We can't fix all the problems of the world, but we can all give of ourselves to a cause we are passionate about. And we can begin by breaking bread together. In gratitude. -kp

Organic Consumers Association is a grassroots, on-line non-profit public interest organization campaigning for health, justice, and sustainability. They've been dealing with crucial issues of food safety, industrial agriculture, genetic engineering, and other key topics, since 1998. OCA works with a broad range of public interest organizations in challenging corporations, and inspiring consumers to buy local, organic, and fair made. They are facing a serious financial crisis for the first time in their 12 years, and urgently need to raise funds in the next few weeks. Please read the letter from OCA director Ronnie Cummins, and go to www.organicconsumers.org to make a donation. Thanks. -KP

An Urgent Message from Ronnie Cummins
Dear Friend,
I'm writing you today because this is the first time in 12 years that the Organic Consumers Association has faced such a serious financial crisis. The situation in the U.S. and the world today obviously requires us to step up our efforts to spread the organic revolution, to fight Monsanto, and to reverse global warming before it's too late, but unfortunately we don't have the financial means to do so. Strategic staff and campaign efforts are in jeopardy.
We're getting more new network members, petition signers, and online donors everyday. Our web traffic, newsletter subscribers, media exposure, Twitter activity, Facebook friends, and marketplace pressure are expanding, but the average donation from our network members has fallen from $40 to $20 over the past two years. This means we need twice as many donors as we've ever had before. The unfortunate bottom line is that many of the nation's most conscious and committed organic consumers, those who support the OCA, are struggling financially.
The good news is that our organic food and farming revolution is growing every day. OCA and our allies have managed to beat back most of corporate agribusiness's attempts to degrade organic standards. Over 100,000 people have joined our Millions Against Monsanto Campaign. Consciousness is rising, but meanwhile our public health, political, and climate crisis is metastasizing into a full-blown disaster. While the oil companies, Wall Street, corporate agribusiness, and the military industrial complex still call the shots in Washington, Monsanto and Food Inc. are increasing their stranglehold over the future of food and farming, apparently hell-bent on dragging us, along with the planet's life support systems, over the cliff with them.
We need to raise $50,000 or more in the next few weeks. Last week, in response to our emergency appeal for funds, Organic Bytes readers stood up in support of OCA's mission as never before, but we're not out of the woods yet. This week, a longtime supporter in Maryland has agreed to match or double up to $10,000 in donations. So please stand up for the OCA. Click here to make your donation.
Regards and Solidarity,
Ronnie Cummins Co-Founder and National Director Organic Consumers Association
P.S. Donating isn't the only way you can help.
If you've already given as much as you can, please try using Facebook's Causes application to invite your friends to join and donate to the Organic Consumers Association's Facebook Cause, Stop Monsanto.

The Old Cropsey Farm in New City has been vacant for many years, but five acres will soon turn into fertile farmland once again.

John McDowell, the founder of the Rockland Farm Alliance, had spent years trying to get state local and town officials, who owned the farmland, to use it for a community farm.

This year, officials agreed to lease five acres of the farm at no cost to the Rockland Farm Alliance to build an organic, educational and self-sustaining farm.

McDowell says the group needs to raise $75,000 in start-up costs and recruit thousands of people. The goal is to get the farm up and running by next spring. Click here to make a donation.

News Reports about the new Cropsey Farm: Channel 12 and New City Patch

It has long been the custom for the Co-op to be closed on Memorial Day. While there were certainly practical considerations involved in making this choice (holiday, three day weekend, etc.) there was also a wish to acknowledge the true purpose of the day. On Memorial Day we remember and honor those who have died in military service from the Civil War until the present. We remember and honor them without regard for politics, without glorifying warfare. We remember them as human beings who gave their lives or had their lives taken from them in nightmarish circumstances that were not of their own making. We honor them in the knowledge that they did the best they could to accomplish what was being asked of them, all the while caught in the tension between their dedication to serving their cause, their fellow soldiers, and their own ideals and the hope of surviving to return home. Although the verse below was written in 1810 by a Scottish poet about a mythical hero, the first line establishes a direct link to the young American killed by an IED on a roadside in Iraq. -PW

Soldier, rest! thy warfare o'er,
Sleep the sleep that knows not breaking;
Dream of battled fields no more,
Days of danger, nights of waking.
In our isle's enchanted hall,
Hands unseen thy couch are strewing,
Fairy strains of music fall,
Every sense in slumber dewing.
Soldier, rest! thy warfare o'er,
Dream of fighting fields no more:
Sleep the sleep that knows not breaking,
Morn of toil, nor night of waking.

-Sir Walter Scott, from The Lady of the Lake

"Industrial Agriculture has tended to look on the farmer as a 'worker'--a sort of obsolete but not yet disposable machine--acting on the advice of scientists and economists. We have neglected the truth that a good farmer is a craftsman of the highest order, a kind of artist." -Wendell Berry

In our present day economy, the consumer is "educated", "informed", and "smart". Farmers, on the other hand, have been taught that their knowledge is inferior to that of agricultural "experts". Brian Halweil of WorldWatch Institute made the observation that farmers have extensive knowledge of their local ecology and how their soils, weather, pollinators and plants all work together. He asks the question, "If we have a world where the land is no longer managed by such professionals, but is instead managed by corporate bureaucracies interested in extracting maximum outputs at minimum cost, what kind of food will we have, and at what price?" Remember the scene in The Real Dirt on Farmer John when John Peterson tastes his soil? Not so extreme, really. A good farmer knows his farm that intimately. His methods may not fit within the guidelines of conventional science, but he is flexible, observant, and in touch. I do believe that you are better off putting your faith in someone like Farmer John than in all the experts at Monsanto. Like Wendell Berry says, "It is the good work of good farmers--nothing else--that ensures a sufficiency of food over the long term." -kp

What comes to mind when you think of a family farm? How about when you think of a factory farm? The two conjure up very different images in our minds, but coming to a real definition of how and why they are different can be tricky. See how Farm Aid answered this question from a reader in this month's Ask Farm Aid column.

This past Sunday, I was one of a lucky group of foodies and farmers who attended a pig-to-pork class hosted by Joshua and Jessica Applestone of Fleisher's Grassfed and Organic Meats in Kingston. Standing in an unrelenting cold drizzle, we watched as a pig, just slaughtered, was broken down, and learned about seasonality and sustainability, which applies to animals we consume as well as plant foods. The groundswell of interest in local sustainable agriculture in this country is heartening. If you are a meat-eater, it is all the more important to know where your meat comes from, and how that animal was raised. The respect shown throughout the process Sunday morning was genuine. If you eat meat, consider eating less of it. And try snout-to-tail eating, which has a smaller footprint and is also generally more economical. Check out restaurants that use obscure cuts of meat, like Elephant in Kingston (where we were treated to a wonderful lunch midway through the class). Think outside the styrofoam box. There's a whole world of meat beyond steaks, chops and chicken breast. -kp

While driving to work today, I was thinking about this daily earth-friendly blog, and I thought perhaps it would be about Freecycling. And when I got to work, the coolest thing happened. Our produce manager was outside talking to his buddy, a customer of ours, who saw me parking my truck, and he said, "Hey I have something for you, if you want it." Did I! He gave me his old bedliner from his old truck, that he couldn't bear to throw in the garbage. He was thinking about putting it on Craigslist, and then I showed up. I needed a bedliner and couldn't afford one. Which all brings me back to Freecyclers. Their mission is to build a worldwide gifting movement that reduces waste, saves precious resources and eases the burden on our landfills, while enabling their members to benefit from the strength of a larger community. Check out their website. And when you are getting rid of something, always ask around, or try to donate it, before you put it out on the curb. And if you are looking for something, most towns have certain days when residents can put out furniture and other bulky items--you might find what you're looking for out on the curb. And it's always good to have a friend with a pick-up truck. Thanks Ernie! -kp

NOFA (Northeast Oragnic Farming Association) is an association of seven self-sustaining chapters in the northeastern US. If you believe that organic and sustainable agriculture supports healthy communities as well as your personal health, you might consider joining your state chapter of NOFA: New York or New Jersey. It’s not just for farmers; gardeners and consumers will find the websites, newsletters, and events helpful. By joining you are supporting an organization that promotes land stewardship and local economies involved in the production and marketing of organic foods, through demonstration and education.

Perhaps the biggest business tool for stoking consumption is marketing. Global advertising expenditures hit $643 billion in 2008, and in countries like China and India they are growing at 10 per cent or more per year. In the United States, the average "consumer" sees or hears hundreds of advertisements every day and from an early age learns to associate products with positive imagery and messages. Clearly if advertising were not effective, businesses would not spend 1 per cent of the gross world product to sell their wares, as they do. -Erik Assadourian, World Watch Institute.

The 2010 State of the World Report put out by the World Watch Institute focuses is titled Transforming Cultures--From Consumerism to Sustainability. In recent years, there has been much debate about "personal responsibility" with regard to what and how much people eat, and the kind of debt they take on, among other issues. And while I would never be one to entirely dismiss personal responsibility, I've often thought that the large amount of money spent on advertising was being spent because it is effective. Advertisements appeal to us on deep, psychological levels. More insidious is advertising targeted at children. We even buy items with prominent logos, effectively paying for the privilege of advertising for these companies. It might be good to consider how often we, who are educated and aware, still succumb to the siren song of advertising. -kp

As cash crops increase, staple food production goes down, leading to rising prices of staples and declining consumption by the poor. The hungry starve as scarce land and water are diverted to provide luxuries for rich consumers in Northern countries. Flowers, fruits, shrimp and meat are among the export commodities being promoted in all Third World countries. ...Since the Third World is being told to stop growing food and instead buy food in international markets by exporting cash crops, the process of globalization leads to a situation in which agricultural societies of the South become increasingly dependent of food imports, but do not have the foreign exchange to pay for imported food. -Vandana Shiva from Stolen Harvest

These words were written a decade ago. Last year's food crisis around the world was brought on partly because of weather conditions, partly because of the growing of crops for bio-fuels instead of food, and partly because of World Bank and governmental policies. When we (and other wealthy nations) use the rest of the world as our food source, it usually comes at a cost to the citizens of those countries. And when companies like Monsanto impose upon the farmers in Third World countries to use their patented products, it further decimates their ability to feed themselves and remain self-reliant. A piece I read on Indian farmer suicides (labeled "GM Genocide” by some) was countered by someone who claimed that GM cotton farmers had doubled production and were doing pretty well financially. The claim is made that GM foods feed the world; in actuality, most of the GM crops grown in the Third World are grown for export. Aside from buying organic and avoiding GM products, consider also buying seasonal, regionally grown, sustainably produced, and fairly traded products as the bulk of your shopping. It may be a lot to think about, but small choices add up. -kp

A committed shopper I may not be, but I am a consumer because I cannot not be one. Does this mean I should give up and retreat to the malls-or at least to the wood-paneled shops to buy sandals made of recycled tires and organic blue corn chips? The answer is yes only if I accept the exclusive role the corporation and, increasingly, the government have cast me in: consumer. If I am consumer first and last, all I can do to better the world is consume more responsibly--"buy green", invest in socially responsible business, and buy less.-Judith Levine Not Buying It

She goes on to counter this by reclaiming her other identity, that of citizen. During their year long experiment (not buying anything unnecessarily), Judith and her husband found they had more time for, and more need of, public institutions; they also discovered that the "public good" had become little more than a dream. This book was in part my impetus for doing this month-long blog of earth-friendly ideas for citizens. Citizenship, Judith says, "means demanding policies and working for an economy and a culture that reject environmental destruction, the exploitation of working people, the privatization of the commons, and the commodification of every desire and satisfaction." -kp

Mere intellectualism is not enough; it does not take us deep enough. Nature's life and flow are so fine and subtle that in the end they slip right through the coarse mesh of our rational concepts. That's the mistake science has made in recent times--it tries to use coarse conceptual nets to catch things that are actually much too fine for them... -Rudolf Steiner, 1924

As part of the Pfeiffer Center's biodynamic agriculture course this past week-end, Craig Holdrege of the Nature Institute spoke in a similar vein. He discussed how technology imposes idea structures on Nature that don't fit, and how we create conditions for animals and plants to do what we want them to do. We could, instead, strive to know the animal or plant, to understand what it is and work with it on its' level, the way it "is" in the world. Steiner talks about the farmer having a way of acquiring spiritual knowledge, by walking the fields, by being receptive to what Nature has to teach, by having an intimate relationship with his farm. One has to attend to the process, and not merely the product. -kp

If you don't already know them, please check out www.natureinstitute.org & www.pfeiffercenter.org to learn about the important work they are doing.

In last Sunday's NY Times, there was a short piece by Hannah Fairfield titled "Factory Food" that began: "No country has embraced the movement toward commercialized, pre-packaged food as much as the United States." Ms Fairfield said that we Americans eat 31 percent more packaged food than fresh, but one would think that number is higher, if they were to look in the shopping carts many people are pushing around at the grocery store. Snack foods, frozen dinners, canned soups, deli meats - these processed foods contain a lot of fat, salt and sugar, way more than you would use if you were preparing the same food yourself. These food-products are very profitable for the food industry, but costly for us in terms of our nutrition and health. -kp

The first time I heard the advice to 'just eat food' it was in a speech by Joan Gussow, and it completely baffled me. Of course you should eat food--what else is there to eat?...'In the thirty-four years I've been in the field of nutrition,' she said in the same speech, 'I have watched real food disappear from large areas of the supermarket and from much of the rest of the eating world.' Taking food's place on the shelves has been an unending stream of foodlike substances, some seventeen thousand new ones every year...Ordinary food is still out there, however, still being grown and even occasionally sold at the supermarket, and this ordinary food is what we should eat. -Michael Pollan from In Defense of Food

Most of us, admittedly, eat on the fly at times. And sometimes, it's true, our food choices are limited. But isn't it infinitely more satisfying to prepare even a simple meal based on vegetables, meat, grains or dairy, than to down something from a bag or box, or something handed to you in a greasy bag at a drive-up window? (Full Disclosure: I really enjoy greasy roadside food, but it's an infrequent summertime treat, and I'm kind of picky about where I eat.) Who wouldn't choose a real cappuccino over a package of powder to which one adds hot water? What's in that potato salad from the supermarket, anyway? Want to know what's in those chicken nuggets? (It's not just chicken.) When you buy packaged foods, read the ingredients, do some research, ask questions. And eat as little of it as possible. -kp

At the 2010 Bike Summit last month, Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood stood on a table and told cycling advocates that the days of federal transportation planners placing automobiles above cyclists and pedestrians are over. "...people do want alternatives", he said, "they want out of their cars, they want out of congestion, they want to live in livable neighborhoods and livable communities..." He ended his speech to the cheering crowd by saying "You've got a partner in Ray LaHood." Whether it is the sea change that Mr. LaHood says it is, or just political pandering, remains to be seen. But the fact remains that people are seeking alternatives, and pedestrians and cyclists deserve more respect. According to the Alliance for Biking and Walking, 10% of trips in the US are on foot or by bike, but 13% of traffic fatalities are pedestrians or cyclists. Less than 2% of federal transportation dollars go for walking or cycling. Here at the co-op, we do see a lot of foot traffic, and that's great, but on the other hand, the roads are not very safe for cyclists. Safer alternative transportation requires citizen participation on all levels, from local on up to federal. I'd like to give a shout out to BicycleTimes magazine for the great work they do getting information out, for and from everyday cyclists. Check them out online at bicycletimesmag.com. -KP

"...we've gotten used to paying so little for food. It may be expensive in terms of how much oil it requires, and how much greenhouse gas it pours into the atmosphere, and how much tax subsidy it receives, and how much damage it does to local communities, and how many migrant workers it maims, and how much sewage it piles up, and how many miles of highway it requires--but boy when you pull your cart up to the register, it's pretty cheap. In the 1930s a family might have spent a third of its income on food; middle-class Americans spend more like a tenth....Our food is cheap, fast, and easy. The problem is that cheap, fast, easy food doesn't deliver."

-Bill McKibben from "Deep Economy"

"We should eat in a way that expresses our appreciation of our food and all the efforts that went into making it. We should savor the tastes and textures of our food. In order to do this, it's good to eat slowly....we should take our time."

from Instructions to the Cook by Bernard Glassman with Rick Fields. When we bring consciousness to our eating, we tend to eat the right amount. Not too much, nor too little. So it is with other daily choices we make. Please check out the website of Greyston Foundation, established by Bernard Glassman, or pick up the book. I highly recommend both. -kp

The Co-op is closed today. Here is a Buddhist blessing on Easter Sunday.

Innumerable labors have brought us this food
We should know how it comes to us.
As we receive this offering we should consider
     whether our practice and virtue deserve it.

During April, you will commonly find earth-friendly tips for consumers, like bringing reusable bags when you shop and replacing your lightbulbs with CFL bulbs.  I would like to offer, instead, earth friendly thoughts for citizens.  Wendell Berry is a favorite of ours, and if you aren't familiar with his essay "The Pleasures of Eating", I invite you to find it and read it.-KP

"Eaters...must understand that eating takes place inescapably in the world, that it is inescapably an agricultural act, and that how we eat determines, to a considerable extent, the way the world is used.  This is a simple way of describing a relationship that is inexpressibly complex.  To eat responsibly is to understand and enact, so far as one can, this complex relationship." -WENDELL BERRY