Food and Agriculture

West Virginia Water Crisis Needs Volunteers

February 15, 2014 Staff, www.interoccupy.net Organize! Corporatism, Food and Agriculture, Health Care

It's been a ridiculous few weeks in and around the coalfields of southern West Virginia. The water crisis has not abated, with hundreds of thousands of people still struggling to cope with toxic tap water. Babies, children, pregnant women, and all kinds of folks are getting sick and in many cases being hospitalized due to chemical exposure in their homes. The other day, a Charleston school had to shut down after teachers and students fainted from the fumes. And of course, the state and federal governments seem to be doing everything in their power to do absolutely nothing. To cut to the chase: WE NEED YOU! We especially need longer-term volunteers who can commit to 3+ weeks to several months of organizing around the water crisis and other existential issues in this area.

Are Housing Projects Poisoning People?

February 12, 2014 Daniel Ross, www.vice.com Educate! Environment, Food and Agriculture, Human Rights

Acevedo does get food stamps, but in order to pay for rent, electricity, extra food for her children, clothes, gas for her car, and a spreadsheet's worth of daily expenses, she turns to her friends for financial support—all her family live in Mexico. There’s no spare cash for furnishings. She’s exhausted with worry; the dark shadows haunting her face betray countless sleepless nights. But Acevedo’s concerns extend beyond the immediate. An even greater worry to her is that she has been forced to relocate somewhere that potentially poses a major health risk to her and her children. “When I came here, they never said anything about the development project or the contamination," she said. "They kept their mouths closed… and I’m worried for my kids because lead is very dangerous.”

Saving Children & Families From Mountain Top Removal

February 12, 2014 Staff, www.EarthJustice.org Resist! Energy, Environment, Food and Agriculture

LEXINGTON, KY — Today, national and Kentucky groups argued their challenge to a proposed Kentucky mountaintop removal mine in federal appeals court. Kentuckians For The Commonwealth and Sierra Club Cumberland Chapter, represented by Earthjustice, Appalachian Mountain Advocates, and Appalachian Citizens’ Law Center, made their case against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ approval of Leeco Inc.’s proposed Stacy Branch mountaintop removal mine before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. The groups are challenging the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ position that it can ignore human health risks when it decides whether to permit a mountaintop removal coal mine. Earthjustice attorney Neil Gormley presented the oral arguments on behalf of the groups.

WVA Families Reject Bills For Toxic Water

February 10, 2014 George Chidi, www.rawstory.com Resist! Environment, Food and Agriculture, West Virginia Chemical Spill

The chemical spill in West Virginia has left thousands of people near Charleston with licorice-scented tap water that they’re afraid to use, despite the assurances of government and their water company. West Virginia American Water promised customers a credit on their bills for the water homeowners needed to use to flush their pipes of contamination. But when many received their January bills, the credit was no where to be found, ThinkProgress reported. And some bills showed hundreds of gallons of water use that homeowners claimed as impossible even with the flushing, given how circumspect their water use had been since the January 9 contamination of the Elk River with 10,000 gallons of Crude MCHM. So, about a hundred people marched Saturday to the offices of West Virginia American Water to present the company with invoices for the water they’ve had to buy on the open market, along with their ancillary expenses.

Why The Fight Over GMO Foods Brings Us Together

February 7, 2014 Ronnie Cummins, www.organicconsumers.org Resist! Food and Agriculture, GMOs, Monsanto

The growing strength of this “Movement of Movements” provides hope in desperate times, that by aggressively framing issues, capitalizing on divisions among the elite, utilizing the power of social media, building broad coalitions, carrying out boycotts, mobilizing street protests, and engaging in direct democracy tactics that bypass corrupt federal government officials and politicians (by using county and state ballot initiatives), the global grassroots can begin to overcome the dictatorship of Monsanto and the Corporatocracy. The broader hope is that this embryonic Movement of Movements can rise to the occasion and continue to win over the hearts and minds of the majority, addressing, not only crucial issues of food and farming and public health, but also related life or death issues such as climate change, economic justice, and militarism.

Flagstaff Police Harass Activists As ‘Preventative Maintenance’

February 7, 2014 Staff, www.protectthepeaks.org Educate! Environment, Food and Agriculture

Armed plain-clothed City of Flagstaff cops showed up at a community member’s home and at a community center yesterday. The officers, Kevin Rued and Eric Greenwald, stated that they were doing "preventative maintenance” and that they’re going to "have the entire front grassy area of the courthouse roped off specifically for protestors” as a free speech zone at the City of Flagstaff and Snowbowl sponsored Dew Downtown event. Critics of the event have stated that, “more than 300,000 gallons of drinking water for fake snow at a recreational event sends the wrong message when we live in the high desert and we're facing a water shortage. Dew Downtown is contrary to the values of sustainability that the City of Flagstaff proclaims."

Duke Energy Coal Ash Spill Pollutes River and Threatens Drinking Water

February 5, 2014 Donna Lisenwww.ecowatch.com Educate! Food and Agriculture, pollution

Equally disturbing is that neither Duke Energy nor any of the government regulators issued a press release and informed the public about this massive spill until 24 hours after it was discovered. If a freight train full of this toxic waste had derailed, there would have been immediate notification and quick news coverage in order to inform and protect the public. The delay in reporting this spill is inexcusable. A security guard who noticed unusually low water in the ash pond at the shuttered coal plant led to the discovery of the spill. This means most of the water had escaped and contaminated the river before anyone at Duke noticed. Upon investigation, Duke discovered that a 48-inch stormwater pipe underneath the unlined 27-acre, 155-million-gallon ash pond broke Sunday afternoon and drained tens of thousands of tons of coal ash and water into the Dan River. How could they have missed such a large volume of waste spewing out of their ash pond? Especially since the town of Danville, VA withdraws drinking water just 6 miles downstream.

Thousands Protest GMOs In Ghana

February 2, 2014 Lawrence Lamptey, www.modernghana.com Resist! Food and Agriculture, GMOs, Monsanto

The Coalition For Farmers Rights And Advocacy Against GMOs (COFAM) a grass-roots movement of farmers, labour unions, religious, political and civil society organizations held a public demonstration against the introduction of Genetically Modified Foods and the Plant Breeders Bill on Tuesday January 28 through the principal streets of Accra. The demonstrators later paid a courtesy call on the Nuumo Sakumo, the Chief Priest of the Ga Mashie people. The leading organizations of the coalition including Food Sovereignty Ghana, Convention Peoples Party, Centre For Indigenous Knowledge (CIKOD), The General Agricultural Workers Union of TUC and Rastafarian Council) took advantage of the demonstration to launch the coalition at the Arts Centre. Attached are some photos of the demonstration.

Farmers And Residents Block Frack Waste Disposal Site

February 2, 2014 Appalachia Resist, www.earthfirstjournal.org Resist! Food and Agriculture, Fracking

“I have done everything a citizen is supposed to do to implore elected leaders to protect my community” explained Christine Hughes, owner of the Village Bakery and several other businesses, “I cannot stand by while farmers are forced to accept toxic drilling waste and destruction of their property and property values.” Michelle Ajamian, owner of a local grain mill, concurred: “I have lived in rural Athens County since 1976. Both my children were born, schooled, and raised here. I’m willing to face arrest now to prevent the permanent contamination of our water in the future. I worry about what just happened in West Virginia, happening here.” “I’ve spoken against fracking and injection wells with my mouth, pen, phone, and keyboard, only to receive no response from Ohio’s legislators. It’s now my conviction that it’s time for me to speak with my very body,” said local pastor M. Smiles Welch

Occupy Monsanto: 11 Arrested As GMO Labeling Resolution Fails

January 31, 2014 Staff, www.voiceofrussia.com Resist! Food and Agriculture, Monsanto

The arrests happened shortly after the shareholders failed to pass two resolutions that would have changed Monsanto's policies on its Genetically Modified Organism products. Protesters say people should be concerned they are buying genetically modified food that the organizers say is not safe for human consumption. "Basically GMOs are a big experiment on the American population. And we think many people are suffering food-related illnesses and they can't track it back to the source because the food is not labeled," said Adam Eidinger with Occupy Monsanto. "If GMOs are safe as Monsanto claims, then putting a label on them will only confirm how safe they are."

Occupy Monsanto Protesters Push Labeling At Annual Shareholder Meeting

January 30, 2014 Lacy MacAuley, www.occupy.com Resist! Food and Agriculture, GMOs, Monsanto

Protests occurred both inside and outside the Monsanto shareholder meeting in St. Louis on Tuesday as local activists, shareholders and citizens from across the country joined in 20-degree weather to demand the biotech giant label genetically-modified organisms, or GMOs. The activists arrived accompanied by five colorful “fishy cars” representing the fishy food that has been genetically modified and consumed by Americans now for decades. Protesters hoped to make a single powerful statement: Label it. For the first time ever, Monsanto shareholders convened to vote on a resolution to support GMO labeling – brought by shareholder and food safety activist Adam Eidinger of Occupy Monsanto, and presented by family farm advocate Dave Murphy of Food Democracy Now! “We’re just coming to their shareholder meeting as a response to what they’ve been doing around the country," said Cesar Maxit, designer and architect of the five fish art cars.

Haitian Peasant Movement Creates Food Security, Protests Monsanto

January 29, 2014 Mina Remy, www.grassrootsonline.org Create! Food and Agriculture, Haiti, Occupy, Video

Haiti’s peasant movements are reforesting the countryside, building irrigation systems, feeding communities – just to name a few activites that are improving lives for rural communities across the nation. In the video below, members of Haiti’s Group of Four (G4) and the Dessalines Brigade describe how Haiti’s peasant movement connects with the struggle for food sovereignty in the United States, and globally. The video includes Grassroots International partners from Haiti and Brazil speaking at an Occupy the Food Prize rally on October 17, 2013 in Des Moines. Haiti’s social movements, and its peasant movements in particular, have stepped up to the challenge of re-envisioning Haiti and putting that vision into practice. For Haiti’s peasant movements, agriculture – and the peasants who make it possible – is central to Haiti’s just development. Late last year, a union of the country’s four largest peasant movements known as the G4 (all supported by Grassroots International) shared the 2013 Food Sovereignty Prize with the Dessalines Brigade for their accompaniment of peasant farmers and zealous advocacy of peasant rights.

Food Justice Requires Fair Wages

January 29, 2014 Amy B. Dean, www.truth-out.org Educate! Food and Agriculture, Inequality, Worker Rights and Jobs

As organic, locally grown food has emerged as a cultural and economic counterforce to industrialized agriculture, critics have claimed it is elitist and accessible only to those with the resources to pay more for their nourishment. Pollan and his allies have responded, in part, by drawing the public's attention to the low-wage workers who work in the field, behind the counter, and in the kitchen. In recent years Pollan has supported the efforts of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, an organization dedicated to improving working conditions and wages for tomato pickers' in Florida; in December 2013 he sided with fast food strikers and their demand for a $15 dollar per hour wage. In an email missive for MoveOn.org (received by 8 million subscribers), Pollan wrote: "If we are ever to . . . produce food sustainably and justly and sell it at an honest price, we will first have to pay people a living wage so that they can afford to buy it." In his words, fair wages must be part of the push to democratize food.

West Virginia Chemical Spill Even Worse Than Reported

January 29, 2014 Lauren McCauley, www.commondreams.org Educate! Environment, Food and Agriculture, West Virginia, West Virginia Chemical Spill

The amount of chemicals spilled from a West Virginia coal processing plant into the Elk River is even greater than previously reported, according to a statement issued by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection late Monday. Freedom Industries has revised their estimate to approximately 10,000 gallons as the amount of Crude MCHM/PPH spilled on Jan. 9 into the local water supply, a mile and a half upstream from the intake pipes for the regional water utility, West Virginia American Waters. Most recently reported at 7,500 gallons, the estimate was revised following an order by the DEP demanding Freedom Industries provide the methodology it was using to determine the quantity of the chemicals released. However, the state still doesn’t know how much of the mixture of crude MCHM and PPH—a second chemical which just last week was revealed as being included the spill—seeped from storage tanks through old concrete walls meant to contain such leaks, the Charleston Daily Mail reports.

Tell USDA “No” To Agent Orange Components In Our Foods

January 28, 2014 Staff, www.popularresistance.org Resist! Food and Agriculture, Health Care

The USDA just began accepting public comments on a plan allowing farmers to plant 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D)-resistant corn and soy, and we only have a few weeks to tell them to reject it. Not only does the plan allow farmers to plant these crops wherever they please without any government oversight, but USDA predictably downplays any and all impacts. 2,4-D is a toxic herbicide associated with serious health impacts. Dow AgroSciences created these 2,4-D resistant crops so farmers could spray it without killing their corn and soy. But when the same herbicide is sprayed on a field repeatedly, a few naturally resistant weeds survive, reproduce, and eventually take over.

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