Stay Strong!

 

Coronavirus is dominating the news cycle, and all indications are that it will continue to do so for some time to come.

We've all got so many questions. Where are the confirmed cases? How many people are affected? What are the symptoms? How long will the threat last? Will we be able to get tested? Should we all stay home?

But the most valuable information of all right now is this: What steps can we take to make us more resistant and resilient, so we’re less likely to become infected?

We’ve pulled two articles that outline some of the foods and nutrients you should add to your diet to improve your chances of staying healthy.

Despite the 24/7 news coverage, there’s still a lot we don’t know—and may never know—about COVID-19.

But this we do know: A strong immune system is your best friend right now. And what you eat plays a big role in boosting that system.

Read: ‘Essential Nutrition to Protect Yourself from Coronavirus’

Read ‘Medicinal Foods and Beverages Protect Against Coronavirus, Research Suggests’

Hope for Farmers

 

Droughts, fires, floods . . . climate instability is forcing U.S. farmers and ranchers to face increasingly frequent and intensifying natural disasters that threaten their land and their livelihoods—and increase food insecurity for everyone.

A growing number of farmers and ranchers understand that the more organic and regenerative farming and grazing practices they deploy, the more climate-resilient their operations become.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) knows it, too.

But instead of increasing funding for programs to help farmers adapt to climate change—and help them become part of the climate solution—the Trump administration is proposing drastic cuts to those programs.

Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine), an organic farmer and a member of the Congressional Advisory Committee for the national coalition of U.S. Farmers & Ranchers for a Green New Deal, has a different plan.

Pingree’s plan is called the Agriculture Resilience Act, a bill that needs public support, and support from your representatives and senators.

TAKE ACTION: Ask your members of Congress to help organic farmers by supporting the Agriculture Resilience Act!

Huckster Promises

 

For nearly 30 years we’ve been listening to the propaganda of the big biotech companies like Monsanto/Bayer, Syngenta, DuPont/Pioneer, BASF and others about how genetic engineering will transform farming and food production.

We’ve heard how GMO crops will reduce the environmental impact of farming by lowering pesticide use.

We’ve been promised that it will increase the nutritional content of food. We’ve been told how it will boost farmers’ profits by increasing yields, and that those increased yields will help “feed the world.”

As the problem of man-made climate change has moved to the top of the global agenda, new promises have emerged about how GMOs will fight climate change and how genetic engineering will make plants more resilient to drought and flooding.

The huckster promises keep on coming, but what has the biotech industry actually delivered over nearly three decades?

In case you missed it . . . this article by Ronnie was featured last week during Regenerative Food & Farming Awareness Week.

Read ‘Genetically Engineered Food—The Lie That Won’t Die’

Break Free!

 

It’s great when consumers take responsibility for using less plastic, and for cleaning up plastic waste in their communities.

But wouldn’t it be better if the corporations that put all that plastic into the marketplace and environment had to take responsibility for cleaning it up?

Plastic waste—most of it from single-use processed food and drink packaging—contaminates our drinking water, soil, air and waterways, including the deepest parts of the ocean.

The Break Free From Plastic Act of 2020 would hold major plastic polluters, like Nestlé, PepsiCo and Coca-Cola, accountable for their pollution by requiring them to finance waste and recycling programs.

The Break Free From Plastic Act would also place an all-out ban on certain single-use plastics that are non-recyclable, and prohibit plastic waste from being shipped overseas to developing countries.

TAKE ACTION! Tell Congress to Hold Plastic Polluters Accountable by Supporting the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act of 2020!

The Answer Is You

 

"I want to level with all of you, I'm not a person that aspires to a position, I aspire to a mission. We can't swing from one savior to another. There's a lot of savior-ism in politics, like 'Who's next?' and 'Who's gonna save us?' And the answer is you. The answer is people." - Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

First, we want to say thank you.

Thank you to everyone who donated last week, during Regenerative Food & Farming Awareness Week, so we could take advantage of a generous triple match offer.

As always, we were blown away by your generosity.

But we were also encouraged by your enthusiasm for our mission to transform the global food and farming system.

This is no easy mission.

We know this work will involve lobbying for better food and farming policies, at every level of government.

We know it will involve more consumer education, better resources for farmers and more private and public investment.

But make no mistake: This transformation will require a massive grassroots movement, a people-powered movement that will relentlessly hold our government leaders’ feet to the fire.

The answer really is you. So, thank you.

Make a tax-deductible donation to Organic Consumers Association, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit

Support Citizens Regeneration Lobby, OCA’s 501(c)(4) lobbying arm (not tax-deductible)

Donate $100 or more and we’ll send you a copy of Ronnie’s new book

Click here for more ways to support our work

Holistic Healing

 

Their Aunt Edie had run the farm in Shaftsbury, Vermont, for 40 years. When she died in 2012, Jesse and Cally McDougall became the fourth generation to run Studio Hill Farm.

The first thing Jesse and Cally did? They stopped spraying pesticides and using synthetic fertilizers.

At first, the land got worse, not better—hardly the outcome they were hoping for.

As they researched ways to improve their land, they came across Alan Savory’s TEDx talk on how to fight desertification and climate change.

Since then, the McDougall’s have totally transformed their 100-acre farm through regenerative farming and grazing practices.

Studio Hill Farm is now regenerative both ecologically, and economically. But their story doesn't end there—in this video, they explain what needs to happen next to regenerate farms, communities and the larger food and farming system.

Watch the Studio Hill Farm Video

Essential Reading

 

‘In a Dark Time, the Eye Begins to See’: The 2020 Bernie Campaign Represents a Fight that Must Continue

Planet Plastic

The Rural Resistance Against Cheap Meat Production

Researchers Find a Western-Style Diet Can Impair Brain Function

The Unintended Consequences of Fake Meat

The True Cost of Food: The Bill Is Already in the Mail

This California Farm Helps the Homeless Get Off the Streets