Organic Bytes: Organic Solutions 2011

 

Subscribe  | Read Past Issues | OCA Homepage | Organic Solutions 2011 #257, December 30, 2010 In this issue: 1800 Days: Organic Solutions to the Global Crisis, A Year-End Message from the OCA Director Holiday Appeal: Support the Great Organic Transition Alert of the Week: Stop GMO Contamination of Organic! Videos of the Week: Videos to Inspire Your New Year's Resolutions Little Bytes A Year-End Message from the OCA Director 1800 Days: Organic Solutions to the Global Crisis Beyond the deliberate disinformation and gloom and doom of the daily news, we must take decisive action to save ourselves and the future generations. A growing corps of scientists and climatologists have delivered the final warning: we are within 1,800 days – or five years - of passing the atmospheric point of no return, whereby increasing greenhouse gas pollution and global warming will take us over the cliff of climate catastrophe. On the other hand, the grassroots-practical, ready-to-be-scaled-up, healthy and climate-friendly solutions that we need to move away from the precipice are everyday more evident: organic food and farming, green buildings, smart transportation, renewable energy, sustainable living. We are fortunate to have five years or 1800 days to turn things around, to put an end to business as usual, to slash fossil fuel use, to phase-out the coal industry, to retool the electrical grid, to retrofit residential and commercial buildings, and to sequester as much CO2 in the soil as possible through organic farming, ranching, and land management. We have 1800 productive days to reverse the global suicide economy and supercharge a Great Transition toward organic and sustainable ways of living, governance, and commerce. The hour is late. But the power of the people is greater than Fossil Fuel and Food Inc.'s out-of-control technology. Please join us. Please support our efforts. Year-End Appeal: OCA Needs Your Support Help Drive the Great Organic Transition Over the next year and five years, the Organic Consumers Association will focus on strategic grassroots campaigns to promote health, justice, and sustainability, with a special emphasis on local-based practical solutions to the energy and climate crisis. Organic farming and ranching not only uses less fossil fuel and emits fewer climate-disrupting gases, but can actually clean greenhouse gas pollution from the atmosphere; while at the same time feeding the world, improving public health, and restoring biodiversity. If we can move the world's 12 billion acres of farm and ranch lands into a transition to organic, and preserve and restore our 10 billion acres of forests, at least 50ppm of CO2 can be drawn down from the atmosphere and stored naturally and safely in the soil. This is literally the difference between present and future climate stability or climate hell. Organic soil and land management can and must be scaled up now in order to buy us the time we need to make the long-term transition to radical energy efficiency and solar, wind, and geothermal power. Obviously this Great Organic Transition is not going to be easy. Our energy-, chemical-, and GM-intensive food and farming system needs to shift from one where 125,000 megafarms produce 75% of the food, to a mass movement of millions of farmers, ranchers, and urban gardeners growing organic food for their local communities. Factory farms and feedlots belching methane and nitrous oxide must be phased out. Twenty-four billion pounds of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer needs to be replaced with organic compost and compost tea derived from food and yard waste. This Great Transition will require a massive shift in public consciousness to wake up the majority of the population who are being force-fed a nutrition-poor diet of genetically engineered junk food and animal products. Please donate today and help OCA launch our 2011 core campaigns, Millions for Zero Waste/Maximum Compost, and Millions Against Monsanto: Truth-in-Labeling. Please make your year-end donation today. Alert Update Stop GMO Contamination of Organic! So far, 29,210 OCA activists have written Obama's USDA, urging Secretary Vilsack to give up his idea of "coexistence" between GMOs and organic. "Coexistence" will inevitably lead to GMOs contaminating organic crops and destroying the organic seed supply. Instead, Vilsack should: Block Monsanto's new GM alfalfa and any other GM crop that isn't fully safety-tested Implement a strict-liability, polluter-pays rule that holds Monsanto responsible for the harms their GM crops and herbicides cause farmers, farm workers, the environment and consumers Require all Frankenfoods tainted with Monsanto's GMOs and chemicals to be labeled. Please write to the USDA to tell them what you think of their new Environmental Impact Statement on GM alfalfa before the comment period ends on January 23, 2011. Take Action Video of the Week Videos to Inspire New Year's Resolutions for an Organic Revolution What we eat, where it comes from, how it was produced, and by whom, have a decisive impact on the world around us. Our food choices determine whether we are causing or alleviating hunger, poor health, environmental destruction, climate change, poverty among farmers, exploitation of farm workers, and abuses of farm animals. The Organic Consumers Association has identified 12 priorities for action over the next 12 months. These are our New Year's resolutions. We'll be trying to make these priorities official policy at the federal, state and local levels, but they also make a good to-do list for daily living. In hopes of inspiring you, here's an inspirational video that illustrates each. 1. Eat Organic 2. Grow Organic 3. Compost 4. Boycott Factory Farms 5. Support Carbon Farms 6. Defend the Forests 7. Grow Edible Forest Gardens 8. Protect Wild Fish 9. Save the Bees 10. End Exploitation of Farm Workers 11. Promote Local Farmers 12. Learn from First Nations Watch Little Bytes Eliot Coleman: Of Course Organic Farming Can Feed the World READ MORE Year-Round Farmer's Markets Spreading Across the US READ MORE EPA Swats Away Controversy Over Bee-Killing Pesticide READ MORE Study Shows Neurobehavioral Deficits in Children of Farmworkers Exposed to Organophosphate Pesticides READ MORE Panel Challenges Gulf Seafood Safety All-Clear READ MORE LOCAL HI NEWS OF THE WEEK HI - Get Involved Locally Learn more about OCA related action alerts and other news in HI here. Message from our Sponsors Dr. Bronner's is Celebrating Our 60th Anniversary! Marking the 60th Anniversary of the company, Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps is pleased to announce that all classic liquid & bar soaps are now not only certified under the USDA National Organic Program, but also certified Fair Trade! In addition, we are pleased to introduce a revolutionary new range of high-quality organic products, from hair rinses to shaving gels – all certified under the same USDA program that certifies organic foods. Please visit us on the web at DrBronner.com Become an OCA Sponsor! Every issue of Organic Bytes now goes to 250,000 organic consumers with a thousand new subscribers each week. Please help us and your business by letting our subscribers know who you are and that you support the work of the OCA. Please contact us if you want more information! (Note: select "Sponsorship Coordinator" from the dropdown menu) Please forward this publication to family and friends, place it on web sites, print it, duplicate it and post it freely. Knowledge is power! 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