Residents fight off 35-acre, 26,000-hog factory farm, at least for now. ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌
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TOP ACTION OF THE WEEKHERE'S WHY

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Some of you have asked us: Why is a consumer advocacy organization, with a focus
on food and the environment, so invested in the climate movement?

Here’s why: Because agriculture is an environmental issue—after all, it’s the
leading cause of water pollution
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global food crisis.

In August, the United Nations warned
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rates. Combine that with climate change, and you have “dire pressure” on the
ability of humanity to feed itself.

The latest report [[link removed]] from the International Panel on Climate Change clearly stated: Reducing
emissions and transitioning to renewable energy, while critically necessary,
won’t be enough to cool the planet. According to the report, how we manage
land—including how we grow food—will determine our success, or failure, when it
comes to preserving life on Earth.

In a recent Washington Post interview
[[link removed]] , former Vice President and climate activist Al Gore, said this in response to
a question about what role consumers can or should play in transforming our food
system:

“There’s a danger in focusing on consumer behavior. There’s a danger of giving
the impression that the solutions to the climate crisis have to be shouldered by
women and men who care enough about it to change their personal choices. They
do. But as important as it is to change a lightbulb, it is way more important to
change policies. And in order to change policies, we have to have new
policymakers. So the most important role that individuals can play is in taking
their concern and passion for a better world into the voting booth and turning
out in large numbers to overcome the dominance of our political system by big
money.”

We couldn’t agree more. As consumers, we absolutely must support the organic
[[link removed]] , regenerative, biodynamic farmers who are not only producing healthy,
high-quality food, but also stewarding the land.

But consumers and farmers can’t change the system without help on the policy
front. That’s why we’ve teamed up with Regeneration International
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[[link removed]] of U.S. Farmers & Ranchers for a Green New Deal. The coalition is committed to
working with local, state and federal lawmakers to scale up regenerative agriculture
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This is why we continue to support the Sunrise Movement, and why we are
committed to educating millions of young climate activists about the potential
of regenerative agriculture, in combination with renewable energy, to address
our climate emergency.

The Sunrise Movement is planning its next round of climate strikes, on December
6. Our ask this week? Get involved. Organize a climate strike.
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And when you’re striking, side by side with young climate activists, engage them
in a conversation about food and climate.

We’re running out of time. Let's not run out of food.

SIGN THE PETITION: Consumers Want a Green New Deal
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SIGN UP for the Regeneration International newsletter
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TAKE ACTION: Support the national coalition of U.S. Farmers and Ranchers for a
Green New Deal!
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TAKE ACTION: Pledge to organize a #ClimateStrike on December 6
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FAIR TRADECRUEL IRONY

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Of the 90 million pounds of chocolate candies on track to be sold this
Halloween, just a tiny fraction will be fair trade.

That’s scary enough, but here’s what’s scarier: It’s been this way for so long,
that most people have just come to accept that cocoa farmers work in poverty,
that children work in dangerous conditions and that forests around the globe are
destroyed for the treats that we hand out to children.

Consumers will buy 300,000 tons
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Not all of it will be chocolate, but a lot of it will be. And much of the
chocolate consumers buy will come from three brands—Hershey’s, Mars and
Nestlé—companies that admit they won’t meet their self-declared 2020 deadline
for eliminating child labor from their supply chains.

That’s not surprising. According to the Washington Post, Big Chocolate companies
have set deadlines before, and always failed
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Child labor isn’t the only issue in conventional chocolate supply chains. But as
millions of people stock up on candy to hand out to costumed kiddos who appear
at their doors, the cruel irony is unavoidable.

What can you do? If you buy chocolate to hand out this Halloween, make sure it’s
a brand that doesn’t allow child labor in its supply chain. Here’s a list.
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Read ‘Conventional Chocolate Is Scary. Fair Trade Your Halloween’
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ACTION ALERTDEEP TROUBLE

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When you hear “factory farm” you probably think cows and pigs and chickens.

But there’s another type of factory farm, one that pollutes our oceans and
produces one of the most toxic
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Industrial fish farms endanger human health and the environment. Yet their
numbers are growing.

Why? To meet the growing demand for salmon in both grocery stores and
restaurants. And because the Trump administration is aggressively pushing to
expand this dirty industry.

Fortunately, Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) has introduced the “Keep Fin Fish Free
Act,” a bill that would place a moratorium on granting commercial permits for
industrial fish farms in federally controlled ocean waters.

TAKE ACTION: Tell Congress: Support the “Keep Fin Fish Free Act” to Ban
Industrial Ocean Fish Farms!
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SUPPORT OCA & CRLJUSTICE DELAYED
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We’d hoped to be in St. Louis, Missouri this month.

We planned to bring in scientists to hold teach-ins on glyphosate. We planned
demonstrations in front of Monsanto headquarters.

The plan was timed to coincide with the next Monsanto Roundup trials. What
happened?

Monsanto and its parent company, Bayer, are doing everything in their power to
delay the next trials.

According to the latest news reports, the next trial won’t happen until early
next year—and it may be moved out of St. Louis.

The longer the trials are delayed, the longer justice is delayed for Monsanto’s
victims.

Bayer remains "unfazed," according to a recent Bloomberg report.

A smug Werner Baumann, CEO of Bayer, recently told Bloomberg that despite his
company’s plummeting stock price, and despite a 12-hour meeting with angry
shareholders ending in a no-confidence vote (the first ever in Bayer’s history),
a “tan and relaxed” Baumann said he “wasn’t losing sleep” over the ligitigation.

Meanwhile, Monsanto’s victims are losing their health. And their lives.

Monsanto-Bayer can play all the legal games they want. But sooner or later,
they’ll have to face the music again.

And we’ll be there. Armed with the truth.

Make a tax-deductible donation to our Millions Against Monsanto campaign
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Make a tax-deductible donation to Organic Consumers Association, a 501(c)(3)
nonprofit
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Support Citizens Regeneration Lobby, OCA’s 501(c)(4) lobbying arm (not
tax-deductible)
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Click here for more ways to support our work
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VIDEO OF THE WEEK'A FLUSH TOILET'

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This week’s video
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But the video also highlights one thing that’s trending in the right direction: More people are fighting back.

When a company revealed plans to build a 35-acre, 26,000-hog factory farm in
Trade Lake, Wisconsin, people in that town had a lot of questions. And they weren’t taking the answers being tossed around by the
project’s developers at face value.

Without any environmental impact study, the project proposed to spread 6.5
million gallons of hog manure over 1,000 acres of land—in a town situated near a
major tributary of the St. Croix River and a nearby wildlife refuge.

One resident summed it up this way at a town meeting: “Basically, we’re a flush
toilet in their eyes.”

Residents fought back. In August, they won a one-year countywide moratorium
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The fight isn’t over yet. But getting started is half the battle.

Watch ‘Farmers, Residents Try to Stop Massive Hog Farm’
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ECO-TRAVELRESTORATIVE TRAVEL

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Eco-restoration is “the great work of our time.”

That’s what one of the participants in last year’s land-restoration camp said
about her experience at the Vía Orgánica Ranch [[link removed]] , a regenerative teaching farm and ranch near San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.

What’s an “ecorestoration camp?” The best explanation is here, in this video
[[link removed]] produced by OCA’s Vía Orgánica [[link removed]] project in collaboration with Ecosystem Restoration Camps
[[link removed]] and Regeneration International
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Want to participate?

Join Vía Orgánica and the Ecosystem Restoration Camp Movement in Mexico, March 3
- 15, 2020, at the land-restoration camp at Vía Orgánica Ranch [[link removed]] .

Volunteer to camp, work, study, connect with the earth and meet new friends in
this beautiful ranch near San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Camp activities will
include restoration work such as tree planting, composting, seed collecting,
earthworks, cooking, listening to music, campfires, making new friends and much
more.

Ecosystem restoration is a growing global strategy to naturally draw down and
sequester carbon from the atmosphere and store it in our soils, forests and
vegetation to reverse global warming.

Learn more and sign up
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Watch this beautiful video filmed on site at the last Vía Orgánica Ecosystem
Restoration Camp
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Questions? Email [email protected]
[[email protected]?subject=Eco%20Restoration%20Camp%3A]


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LITTLE BYTESESSENTIAL READING

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Is Red Meat Good? Why Experts Flip-Flop
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Another St. Louis Roundup Cancer Trial Officially Postponed Until 2020
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How to Cook Cabbage
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In Oregon Wine Country, One Farmer’s Battle to Save the Soil
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Another Way: Desperation Led Farmer 'Back to Nature'
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Extinction Rebellion Sweeps the World
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Leaked Audio Reveals How Coca-Cola Undermines Plastic Recycling Efforts
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[[link removed]] is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. 6771 South Silver Hill Drive - Finland, MN 55603 - Phone: 218-226-4164 - Fax:
218-353-7652

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