Category Archives: sustainability

Monsanto bulldozer keeps on rollin’

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While we’re looking the other way at issues that should be non-issues….another sneaky thing in the House version of the Ag part of the funding of the government is to continue the Monsanto Protection Act.  Yep.

From Organic Consumers:

URGENT: House Passes Monsanto Protection Act. Ask Your Senators to Stop It!

Dear Supporter,

On Friday, September 20, the U.S. House of Representatives passed its version of the Continuing Resolution (H.J.RES.59), a bill to keep the government running through December 15. The bill will force a showdown with the Senate because it includes a provision to defund the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare.

But the Continuing Resolution is controversial for another reason. It extends the Monsanto Protection Act, officially referred to as the Farmers Assurance Provision, a law that gives biotech firms immunity from federal prosecution for illegally growing GMO crops.

Please call your Senators today and ask them to pass a clean version of the Continuing Resolution, one that doesn’t extend the Monsanto Protection Act.

You can call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected with your Senator. Or find individual senators’ phone numbers here.

You can say:

“I’m calling to ask the Senator to oppose the Farmers Assurance Provision, sometimes referred to as the Monsanto Protection Act, and to vote no on any bill, including the Continuing Resolution, which includes the provision.”

If you want to go into more detail, you can add:

“New GMOs aren’t regulated enough as it is. Even the American Medical Association complains that the Food and Drug Administration doesn’t safety test new GMOs for human health risks before allowing them on the market for human consumption. The AMA last year recommended that GMOs undergo mandatory premarket safety testing.

“The U.S. Department of Agriculture does conduct a mandatory review of new GMOs, but not for human health risks.

“The USDA is notorious for ignoring the impact new GMOs will have on organic and non-GMO farmers who experience serious economic losses when their crops are contaminated.

“In recent years, the courts have had to step in and stop the planting of new GMOs. The courts did this by requiring that the USDA complete a thorough Environmental Impact Statement before approving a controversial crop. The Monsanto Protection Act strips the court of its constitutional power to review executive branch decisions, which means the courts can no longer intervene in order to protect the public. Now, the USDA can rubber-stamp new GMOs and, even if serious harm could result, the court can’t stop them from being planted.

“I hope the Senator will work to stop the Monsanto Protection Act from being extended past September 30 and vote against any bill that includes it.”

Background
The Monsanto Protection Act was first passed in March, when it was quietly and without debate slipped into the earlier version of the Continuing Resolution, a bill to fund the government through September 30. As Politico reporter David Rogers explained in his Monsanto Protection Act exposé, “Big Agriculture Flexes its Muscle,” the Monsanto-friendly rider was never voted on. Rogers, a seasoned political reporter, described how the Monsanto Protection Act became law “with little or no floor debate and in a period of turmoil.”

The backroom deal that made the Monsanto Protection Act law generated a public backlash. It was the subject of a Daily Show episode. And it helped spawn a worldwide March against Monsanto, reported on by the New York Times.

Because the Senate never voted on the Monsanto Protection Act, we don’t know where all of the senators stand on the issue. But here’s what we do know:

•    Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) conspired with Monsanto lobbyists to write the law.

•    Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), chair of the full Senate Appropriations Committee, publicly apologized for letting the Monsanto Protection Act slip through. But, she said, she had a responsibility to avoid a government shutdown.

•    Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), tried for a vote to repeal the Monsanto Protection Act during the Senate Farm Bill debate.

•    Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) blocked Merkley’s amendment.

•    Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D- Mich.) promised Merkley that the amendment wouldn’t be renewed without a vote.

Can Sen. Stabenow keep her promise? We’ll find out this week when the Senate debates the new Continuing Resolution. While the focus will be on the House’s provision to defund Obamacare, we need every senator to know that it is not acceptable to include the Monsanto Protection Act in the new bill.

Please call your senators today. Ask them to reject extending the Monsanto Protection Act and vote no on the Continuing Resolution unless this blatant giveaway to the biotech industry is removed.

Thank you!

— Alexis and the team at OCA

Organic Consumers Association

6771 South Silver Hill Drive – Finland, MN 55603 – Phone: 218-226-4164 – Fax: 218-353-7652

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Environmental stuff

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Minke whale washes ashore in Portuguese Cove, Nova Scotia.  Why on Earth are they not taking the whale to someone who can analyze why it died?  They’re more worried about the smell of the carcass than finding out what caused its death. Mercury?  Runoff from chemical farms? Genetically modified organisms? Oil? Pharmaceuticals washed out to the ocean?

Greenpeace protests with mechanical polar bear. Pretty cool exhibit, eh?

 

When is a public forum not a public forum?

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When it involves ag committees who don’t allow the public to speak, but allow a corporate representative to spew their biased views.

Note how the Monsanto rep said she wanted a discussion but opponents to GMO’s were not allowed to speak.  They were characterized as “emotional”….now, how can they preemptively dismiss them if there has been no discussion?    From what I saw on the video, these folks were being respectful.  There were no reports of them disrupting the meeting, or interfering with the Monsanto toadie, so where do they come off saying these folks were emotional?

…and what, exactly, does “emotional” mean?  A definition, please…

Grow your own groceries…

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Link.

This is recommended by organic consumers, but I can’t say that I’ve tried it firsthand.  Margery Wildcraft is a master gardener, however, and it does come with a 60 day money back guarantee, so I feel comfortable putting it up here.

One of the things that folks had during the Great Depression was the ability to grow their own food.  With this un-Depression, folks aren’t as likely to either know how or have the space…to which container gardening or empty city lots come in handy.    I think it is a great idea in that you know your food is grown without chemicals.  It’s local, which they say is better because it doesn’t cost $$ to transport AND there is some evidence that in geographic areas, the food has unique qualities that are beneficial.

 

Walker Backs Down

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Gov. Scott Walker has rescinded a $500,000 grant to the United Sportsmen of Wisconsin.

You know, for folks who are so dead set against government in their lives, via taxation and regulation, they sure to go out of their way to get those tax dollars while trying to circumvent the democratic process.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that the grant was slipped into the budget bill by outgoing Majority Leader Scott Suder with terms that excluded most sporting groups in the state. The grant was not properly advertised, conveniently leaving United Sportsmen as the sole applicant.

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More Wisconsin news here. 

You’re telling me that citizens throwing pop cans and shouting obscenities requires the use of armed guards?  Talk about overreaction.  Yes, it was wrong for the one demonstrator to destroy the camera, no doubt, but having armed guards with assault rifles is just soo over the top.

What I don’t understand is why  they are allowed in the forest at all.  Why are they destroying what little we have left?  People seem to think that climate change is this thingy down the road….hello, it’s happening now and destroying the forests is one of the reasons.    Why are they not valued as much as the mining operations?  Why aren’t the environmental impacts on the land and water considered as important?

The primary cause of this lasting pollution is acid mine drainage. Mining exposes sulfide-bearing ore that generates sulfuric acid and mixes with water. This outflow of acidic water, otherwise known as acid mine drainage, contaminates drinking water aquifers, lakes, and streams, agricultural lands, and prime fish and wildlife habitat. Because acid mine drainage can’t be stopped, once started it must be treated until the acid generating material runs out. As acknowledged in government mining permits, this can take hundreds or thousands of years.

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Texas’ Freedom of Information Foundation is aiding CMD in obtaining public records that members of ALEC are trying to keep in the dark.

The Fight for Fifteen in Wisconsin.  I think $15 per hour is reasonable and would put us back to where we would have been had our wages not stagnated over the last twenty or so years…

There is just something terribly wrong when a CEO can make millions in income while employees are forced on food stamps or food banks to feed themselves and their families.

Finally, in non-Wisconsin news, CMD has this up on the paper trail of Larry Summers.   I haven’t begun to read all the information here, so I’m off to read the links. …note, however, the link to education “reform”–he’s on the board of the Eli Broad Foundation.  Not only that, but Andy Stern is also on the board–he was head of the Service Employees Union…wow….a union supporter on the board of an organization trying to destroy teacher’s unions and public education.  Just wow.

 

 

David Vs. Goliath

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….or in other words, everyday farmers versus Monsanto.

It makes no sense whatsoever that farmers who want nothing to do with Monsanto are being charged with patent infringement when their fields become contaminated.  If anything, they should be able to sue Monsanto for trespass.