Life and Larders

 

What will we eat in the future?

What was once a rhetorical musing has now become the critical question of our time, as scientists grapple with tricky questions about life—and larders—in a climate-changing world.

Agriculture is both a key contributor to climate change and one of the sectors most vulnerable to those changes.

That fact alone should send an urgent message that the way we farm has to change.

Instead, what we are witnessing is a stubborn cadre of policymakers, tech companies and big agribusinesses that believe that business as usual can be maintained with a just a few tweaks to the system.

But the science is telling a different story.

Read ‘How Climate Change Is Changing the Menu—and What We Can Do About It’

Learn more about U.S. Farmers & Ranchers for a Green New Deal

Cow Flipping?

 

You’ve heard of cow tipping and house flipping. But how about cow flipping?

There are lots of organic dairies producing—with real integrity—authentic nutrient-dense organic milk, including raw milk.

But some “Big Organic” (as in, not really organic) dairies are taking advantage of a loophole in the Origin of Livestock Rule by “flipping” dairy cows in and out of organic production.

Cow flipping lets these organic imposters cut costs by among other things, feeding calves substances that are banned in organic—like “spray-dried bovine plasma” which is really just cow blood.

It’s time to close this loophole.

Cow flipping hurts consumers who think their “certified organic” milk is produced by dairy farmers who follow the rules. And it hurts the small dairy farmers whose prices are undercut in the market by factory farm-style dairies that cheat the system.

SIGN THE PETITION: Tell the National Organic Program: Don’t let 'Big Organic' dairies cheat family farmers and consumers.

Why Now?

 

Why is it especially urgent that we ramp up the campaign against Monsanto’s Roundup weedkiller right now?

Because the evermore corrupt federal government and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) continue to put the profits and campaign donations of chemical/GMO/pesticide companies like Monsanto ahead of the public interest.

And that poses an increasingly dangerous threat to our health, environment, climate and our children.

The EPA—especially under Trump, but also under the next administration, too—will never ban Roundup, or any of the scores of toxic chemicals threatening our lives, without massive grassroots pressure.

OCA and our allies, after 20 years of steady campaigning, have created a growing awareness and resistance against the Poison Cartel.

At the same time, the pro-organic, anti-GMO movement has created massive demand for organic and regenerative food.

But we need to push harder. We need to foment a grassroots uprising in the U.S., part of an international Millions Against Monsanto campaign.

We need to drive Roundup off the market and Monsanto/Bayer into bankruptcy.

We need to put the Poison Cartel out of business.

But we can’t do it without you.

URGENT: A generous donor has offered to match donations to our Millions Against Monsanto campaign through midnight PST, October 13. Please make your donation today, either online, by phone or by mail.

More, Please

 

California did it. Can your state do it, too?

This week, California regulators said that beginning November 8, manufacturers of the pesticide chlorpyrifos can no longer sell the brain-damaging pesticide in the state. Distributors have to stop selling it by Feb. 6, 2020, and it will be against the law to use it beginning Dec. 31, 2020.

Chlorpyrifos, a neurotoxic organophosphate insecticide that, even at very low levels, has been linked to severe birth defects, brain damage and mental disorders in children, including ADHD and autism, was banned in the U.S. under the Obama adminsistration.

Then along came Trump and his “pay for play” U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Now it’s up to the states. Could yours be next?

TAKE ACTION: Ask your Governor and state legislators to ban chlorpyrifos!

A Better World

 

Can the organic food movement create a better world?

A new report by the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM), the worldwide umbrella organization for the organic agriculture movement, says yes.

The report, “Organic Agriculture and the Sustainable Development Goals,” examines how organic farming can help meet many of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) proposed by the United Nations and its member states under the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The agenda is a plan of action based on 17 goals aimed at addressing the main challenges facing the world in the next 15 years.

Organic agriculture can help achieve eight of those goals, according to the IFOAM report. Which ones? And how? Read our blog post of the week.

Read ‘Can Organic Farming Save the World? Yes. But Only Through a Transformation in U.S. Food & Farm Policy’

60 Years

 

Unless we stop abusing the world’s soil, we’ve got 60 years until we run out of farmable land.

"The Need To GROW", an award-winning new film narrated by Rosario Dawson, profiles three very different solutionary heroes and their underdog struggles to save the world.

To celebrate the film’s worldwide release, our friends at Food Revolution Network are teaming up with Earth Conscious films to offer it to you for free—but for only five days.

“The Need to GROW” focuses on how regenerating soils will:

• Store more water in our environment to prevent drought and flood
• Create high-powered nutrient density in ways that can restore human health
• Protect our drinking water and oceans from harmful chemical contaminants
• And reverse climate change by storing huge amounts of carbon in the soil!

Don’t miss out! Watch the entire film, free, from Food Revolution Network and Earth Conscious films, but only until October 15

Missed the date? Watch the “Need to GROW” trailer

Essential Reading

 

Should Kids Avoid This Kind of Milk?

Organic Apples Have More Diverse Microbiome Than Chemically Grown Ones

Organic Chicken Less Likely to Harbor a Dangerous 'Superbug'

Farm to Hospital Bed: This Hospital Uses Its Roof to Feed Thousands

Heart Disease May Be Linked to Pesticide Exposure

Seafood Can Resolve Many Nutrient Deficiencies

Can Your Neighborhood Affect Your Blood Pressure?