GMO enthusiasts insist that organic, agroecological farming could never feed the world, writes Colin Todhunter. But it has been feeding us all for millennia - and it's the only way to continue while enriching the soils and biodiversity on which all farming depends. As Mahatma Gandhi once observed, industrial agriculture is but a nine-day wonder. And its time will soon be up.
… Organic agriculture, agroecology and the … | 21st March 2016 News Food Farming Ecology Organicorganic-carrots-cut.jpg GMO enthusiasts insist …
Those opposed to the mass release of GM crops and foods inadequately tested for health and ecological safety are routinely accused of being anti-science, writes Elizabeth Henderson. But it's the GM corporations and their academic allies that are suppressing scientific research, and organic farmers that are building alliances with independent scientists for a future of safe, healthy food.
… Organic farmers are not anti-science - we … that are suppressing scientific research, and organic farmers that are building alliances … brainstorming sessions for the New York Organic Action Plan, an organic farmer made an …
The mighty Grocery Manufacturers Association is to sue Vermont for making food companies label GMOs in their products. Ronnie Cummins calls on all concerned consumers to boycott GMA companies and products - starting with their 'traitor brands' ...
… every product, including the natural and organic brands, owned by members of the GMA. … the GMA files a lawsuit against Vermont, the Organic Consumers Association, joined by a … to start? As part of this Great Boycott, pro-organic consumer groups will put a special …
Bhaskar Save, the 'Gandhi of natural farming', died last year after a lifetime of organic growing and determined campaigning against the destruction of India's traditional, sustainable agriculture, writes Colin Todhunter. His 2006 open letter, published here, sets out a devastating critique of industrial agriculture and its impacts, and an eloquent and timely agroecological manifesto.
… January 2016 Comment Farming Ecology India Organic Water bhaskar-save-cut.jpg Bhaskar … farming', died last year after a lifetime of organic growing and determined campaigning … Masanobu Fukuoka, the legendary Japanese organic farmer, once described Bhaskar Hiraji …
The organizers of tomorrow's International Monsanto Tribunal describe it as a 'moral trial', while the company dismisses it as a 'mock trial' and 'stunt'. The truth, writes Pete Dolack, is that it's about much more than this one company. On trial is the entire neoliberal system of 'free market' finance and monopoly capitalism.
… dialogue" , adding that it is "is not against organic agriculture" . But in announcing its …
A radical new Seed Law drafted by Venezuelan people, farmers and NGOs was signed into law in the closing days of 2015, write William Camacaro, Frederick B. Mills & Christina M. Schiavoni. Striking back against the corporate takeover of seeds and peddling of GMOs, the Seed Law bans transgenic seeds, protects the country's germplasm, and establishes the legal foundation for a participatory, agroecological food and farming system.
… power of communal structures in the organic Laws of Popular Power (Poder Popular) … is grounded in the Constitution and the organic laws of popular power, it took some …
From the creation of the very first national parks and game reserves, 'conservation' has always been about repressing and expropriating indigenous tribes, Survival International director Stephen Corry told Alice Bayer. And despite all the evidence that indigenous peoples are the best wildlife managers, old attitudes die hard ...
Stephen Corry: conservation must work with, not against, indigenous peoples Alice Bayer | 29th November 2014 Comment Indigenous Peoples Hunting Conservation Land Grabs Law Natural World sc c.wolfgang …
The Government of Honduras is intent on framing the only witness to the murder of Berta Cáceres as the one guilty of the crime, writes Beverly Bell. Gustavo Castro Soto, an eco-defender from Mexico, is now in effective detention in his country's embassy in Tegucigalpa in fear of his life, having himself been injured in the attack and seen the real assassin. The US Government must break its resounding silence.
Gustavo Castro Soto and the rigged investigation into Berta Cáceres’s assassination Beverly Bell | 23rd March 2016 News Honduras USA Corporations Eco-defenders Finance Mexico Indigenous Peoples Law …
First corporations gained legal personhood, writes Don Fitz. Next they seized the right to force 'free trade' on unwilling populations. Now they are making sure that 'corporate rights' trump citizen rights - like the right to wholesome food and a healthy environment. That's where the 'Right to Farm' constitutional amendments come in ...
Missouri's 'Right-to-Farm' - an early win for third wave corporatocracy Don Fitz | 22nd August 2014 Activism Corporations Law USA Farming mo-hog-farm-cut.jpg First corporations gained legal …
Everyone in this society is caught up in the battle between two models of agriculture, writes Blain Snipsta - industrial agribusiness for profit, control and domination; and small-scale agroecological farming for good food, health, people and planet.
… framework. So it's not just about increasing organic matter in the soil. It is also a … of Southeastern African American Farmers' Organic Network (SAAFON). Blain talks about …
World Bank projects have left a worldwide trail of evictions, displacements, rapes, murders, forest destruction, greenhouse-gas-belching fossil fuel projects, and destruction of farmland and water sources, writes Pete Dolack. But even as internal reports admit the Bank's wrongdoing, it is asserting its immunity from legal action as terrorised communities seek redress in the courts.
World Bank claims 'sovereign immunity' to escape liability for its crimes against humanity Pete Dolack | 23rd March 2017 News Law Finance USA Honduras India dinant-cut.jpg World Bank projects have …
A grassroots movement of eco-activists is achieving unprecedented success in challenging fossil fuel developments in the Cascadia region of the US's Pacific northwest, writes Alexander Reid Ross. And that has attracted the wrong kind of attention - from local police, FBI and right-wing legislators determined to protect the corporate right to exploit and pollute.
FBI harassing fossil fuel activists in the Pacific northwest Alexander Reid Ross | 6th January 2015 News Climate Change USA Law Protest megaload-cut.jpg A grassroots movement of eco-activists is …
Rising levels of carbon dioxide don't just cause global warming, writes Jason Hall-Spencer. Another consequence is acidifying oceans - which promises to disrupt marine ecology around the world, killing off oysters and corals, while boosting 'nuisance species' like stinging jellyfish.
Attack of the stinging jellyfish: the winners of ocean acidification Jason Hall-Spencer Plymouth University | 16th December 2015 Comment Oceans Climate Change COP21 Ecology Fishing jellyfish-cut.jpg …
On Monday the World Bank's Conference on Land and Poverty begins in the US. But farmer organizations, indigenous groups, trade unions and others denounce the whole exercise as a sham that, in tandem with other Bank initiatives, is all about accelerating corporate land grabs and robbing the poor that the Bank was founded to assist.
World Bank's Conference on Land & Poverty is a cruel farce Oliver Tickell | 20th March 2015 News Finance Food Farming Land Development Law land-grab-march-haiti-cut.jpg On Monday the World Bank's …
At what point are technologies so complex, uncertain, or unmanageable as to be beyond regulation? The question is key to human and ecological health, writes Jonatham Latham. But instead of learning from successful approaches, such as aviation safety, we are throwing the lessons away when faced with truly complex problems - like chemicals, GMOs, and now 'gene drives'.
Gene drives: the scientific case for a complete and perpetual ban Jonathan Latham | 13th February 2017 News Regulation GMOs Health Toxics Ecology Pesticides chemical-valley-cut.jpg At what point are …
For long periods animals in ancient oceans could live only in shallow surface waters, above vast 'dead zones' inhabited only by anoxic bacteria, writes Richard Pancost. Human activity is now creating immense new dead zones, and global warming could be helping as it reduces vertical mixing of waters. Could this be the beginning of something big?
… became anoxic, allowing vast amounts of organic matter to escape degradation, and in … largely live off marine snow , the scraps of organic matter that somehow escape from the …
The US EPA has approved new GMO corn and soybean varieties resistant to both glyphosate and 2,4-D, writes Jim Goodman - and the highly toxic herbicide mix itself. In this latest escalation of the chemical war against nature there is one clear winner - Dow AgroSciences. But everyone else loses - farmers, consumers and our increasingly endangered wildlife.
… Regulation Law Natural World USA Toxics GMOs Organic milkweed-monarch-cut.jpg The US EPA … suit. When people ask me why we switched to organic farming, that swirling yellow tank mix … available to growers." (These are tactics organic farmers have always used). But for …
Loneliness, capitalist urbanisation, and ecological crisis. In this world, politics should be about bringing people together and taking control of the spaces where we live. The latest instalment from the SYMBIOSIS RESEARCH COLLECTIVE
… body, it systematically undermines organic interactions—anything unplanned is … should be dynamic and exciting, a space of organic possibility, becomes a space where all …
Humanity is continuing to drive species into extinction at a terrifying rate, writes Robert J. Burrowes - not just nameless beetles and midges, but mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish and trees. The biggest causes are habitat destruction, pollution and hunting ... and unless we stop soon, we too will be among the victims of our ecocidal attack on Earth.
… place, we also dump vast quantities of both inorganic and organic pollutants into it as well. Some of the main toxic substances in waste are inorganic constituents such as heavy metals, …
Increased atmospheric CO2 is doing much more than warming the Earth, writes Tony Juniper - it's also acidifying oceans, something that is already having major impacts on ocean ecology in the Southern Ocean and the North Atlantic. Likely effects: more CO2 in the atmosphere, more jellyfish.
COP21 warned on global warming's evil twin - acidifying oceans Tony Juniper | 3rd December 2015 News Oceans Climate Change Ecology Science coccolith-cut.jpg Increased atmospheric CO2 is doing much …
A year ago today, Europe-wide protests defeated an EU regulation that would have outlawed many seed saving activities, writes Ben Raskin. Now growers are taking matters into their own hands, saving and developing open-pollinated seeds - and campaigning for a seed regulation that supports them, not the monopolist seed corporations.
… to meet the growing demand for high quality, organic, UK-produced open pollinated seeds. … growers I know, even the most zealous organic ones, use some F1 seed. So what we … these (though Defra are running a pilot with Organic Research Centre ). We don't know when …
The nuclear industry and its media cheerleaders have raised a chorus of misinformation over Fukushima, writes Karl Grossman. But their attempts to suppress the truth are ultimately doomed to failure.
'No one died, no one's health was damaged' - Fukushima's big lie Karl Grossman | 8th March 2014 News Fukushima Nuclear Power Health Radiation Law Politics fuku-graffitti.png The nuclear industry and …
The global pesticide and bioscience giant Monsanto is a byword for evil for millions of campaigners and concerned citizens, writes JP Sottile. But that has never stopped it getting its way with the people that matter - politicians and regulators. And now the company is on the verge of biggest victory ever - winning clearance to spray biologically active RNA sequences on US crops.
… . It has also beaten back challenges from organic farmers who fell victim to ' genetic … farmers while also quietly eliminating their organic competition through the sheer ubiquity …