First Crop

First Crop

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Judge's Ruling Fuels Meltdown in Organic Dairy Industry

Sometimes I wonder who is NOT in the pocket of Monsanto and the Big AgriCorporateIndustrialThievesProfiteers-at-any cost!

Judge's Ruling Fuels Meltdown in Organic Dairy Industry

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OCA: Take Action

I don't know how many of you recall that I spoke about Aspartame - in connection with Monsanto - and how it has been linked now to brain cancer...well, speak about collusion and one greedy hand washing the other. The very folks you think have your health in their minds actually have money from Monsanto and others most likely in their pockets. Not only has the American Dietetic Association put their stamp of approval on - guess what - Aspartame - but they are refusing to accept any findings about organic systems and foods....please give this a read. There's an easy way to contact media with this - easy peasy - just pass it on - prefilled - make a difference...or make up your mind that wellness doesn't mean much to these guys and oh well...Stand up as One.

OCA: Take Action

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The American Academy Of Environmental Medicine Calls For Immediate Moratorium On Genetically Modified Foods

Please...please read this critical article, then decide for yourself. Do you really want to continue to allow this kind of poison in our bodies? In the bodies and lives and minds of our children and our grandchildren? What kind of world are we co-creating for them?

The American Academy Of Environmental Medicine Calls For Immediate Moratorium On Genetically Modified Foods

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Getting Started...co-creating Awareness

Getting Started...co-creating Awareness

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A great read from Organic NON GMO-Report

http://www.non-gmoreport.com/articles/OPma08Ingredients.pdf

It's a great read. Take a moment, if you would.

Also, don't forget to call or write your congressperson and senators and let them know that, in addition to this information, that the bill being pushed by Monsanto et al concerning doing away with organic standards and limiting or doing away with access to heritage and organic seeds. This is an insidious bill, and here's the way these guys work:

Just like Monsanto buys land next to an organic farmer (usually much smaller than they), plants their GM Frankencrop, then sues the organic farmer for theft of seed when their GM Frankencrops infect the organic farmer's field - and runs the small farmer out of business, even though they can't really win the suit - because they can run him right out of money and his livelihood...

So too, Monsanto, Big Pharma and other Greed-centered, pretend "People" corporations will bring these bills before our congress - or sue for things they know are at best ridiculous and at worst (which is where they usually operate) uncaring as to whether we or our children/grandchildren die of diseases or live crappy lives from what they are doing to and with our food - twisting it into some Frankenstein semblance of what food should be.

IF WE DON'T MAKE ENOUGH NOISE...
IF WE DON'T TELL OUR ELECTED OFFICIALS THAT THEY WON'T GET ELECTED IF THEY DON'T TAKE CARE OF THE CITIZENS' BUSINESS (we are NOT consumers)...
IF WE DON'T STAND UP - TOGETHER

Then the bills will go through and the suits will continue.

IF WE DO, THEN THEY PACK UP AND SLITHER BACK INTO THEIR CORPORATE, MONEY-LINED GREED HOLES AND AWAIT ANOTHER DAY AND ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY.

MAKE SOME NOISE!
GET UP! STAND UP! TOGETHER WE CAN DO ANYTHING!

Peace. We co-create everything we do.

The First Family will have an organic kitchen garden - Fantastic!

White House to Plant Organic Vegetable Garden

Posted in:
Posted in Community, Food & Drink, Health, Home & Garden, Lifestyle, Other Green Topics, Sustainability

white house organic garden lawn planted rows of vegetable green leafy plants Washington DC president front columns Pennsylvania avenue photo

ABC news’ Brian Hartman has reported what many have been wishfully waiting to hear for months: the Obamas will soon plant an organic vegetable garden on the White House South grounds.

Following a 60 Minutes interview with Chez Panisse chef, renowned slow foodist and activist for improved national eating habits in the US, Alice Waters, on Sunday March 15th, wherein she called with continued clarion for an organic garden at the White House, First lady Michelle Obama talked of her plans for the garden in an interview for Oprah Winfrey’s O Magazine that will feature in its April issue.

* » See also: Monoculture Tree Plantations Negatively Impact Women’s Lives
* » Get Sustainablog by RSS or sign up by email.

Mrs. Obama spoke, also, about the importance of healthy eating in that article, and what she hopes the garden will do to send that message to the nation:

We want to use it as a point of education, to talk about health and how delicious it is to eat fresh food, and how you can take that food and make it part of a healthy diet. You know, the tomato that’s from your garden tastes very different from one that isn’t. And peas - what is it like to eat peas in seasons? So we want the White House to be a place of education and awareness. And hopefully kids will be interested because there are kids living here.

The expected garden represents a victory for sustainable food and agriculture activists, such as the White House Organic Farm Project (WHO Farm), which have campaigned publicly for this outcome for months. WHO Farm traveled across the country in a biofuel-powered school bus last fall to raise awareness of the cause and focus attention on their request to the White House. Looks like grass roots - or plant roots, in this case - activism still works.

The White House grounds have been decidedly less rustic since 1945, after Franklin D Roosevelt left office and the first lady’s “victory garden” was replaced with inedible plants. However, during Woodrow Wilson’s term in office, during World War I, the South lawn looked like a scene from farms in the president’s home state of Virginia, with sheep brought in to freely graze as a gesture of support for the troops overseas. No animal husbandry activists have yet matched the garden campaign efforts by pushing the Obamas to bring back farm animals to the White House.

Editor’s note: Our own Robin Shreeves has more thoughts on the plans for a White House garden at MNN.com

Photo Credit: susty.com

A Reminder Article from CityDog magazine-Never Buy a Puppy from a Pet Store!!!

Why You Should Never Ever Buy a Puppy from a Pet Store
by Wag Reflex at 1:44 PM PDT, March 19, 2009

I know I’m preaching to the choir here on Wag Reflex, but I feel the need to ask this… After everything in the news about puppy mills, who in their right mind would buy a puppy from a pet store or even over the Internet? If you love dogs, the last place you should be shopping for one is in a pet store or online (with the exception of adoption sites like Petfinder.com, of course).

Near my hometown of Seattle, we’ve seen two, alleged puppy mills raided in the last month with nearly 600 dogs seized and now living at the Everett Animal Shelter or in foster homes. These dogs were rescued from deplorable conditions--sick, matted, covered in feces and urine, crammed into cages--one dog even needing an eye removed. Many have tumors or other physical abnormalities and several dead dogs were found on the properties.

I know this is hard to read, but I am outraged and sickened by this as well as discouraged that people continue to sell and buy dogs in pet stores--just perpetuating this scourge.

With that said, I am also encouraged by the outpouring of support and donations from the community--people reaching out to help these dogs--something I’m sure these poor animals have never experienced in their lives.

If you would like to donate dog food or money for medical expenses to the Everett Animal Shelter’s nonprofit agency, ARF (Animal Rescue Foundation), you may do so by calling 425-257-6000 or visiting the ARF Web site at www.everettarf.org.

Thank you for letting me vent.

Photo from the Seattle Times.

--Brandie Ahlgren, CityDog Magazine
---------------------
Brandie Ahlgren is the publisher of CityDog Magazine and a regular contributor to Wag Reflex. Subscribe to CityDog Magazine here.

Oh man, I love Tuna! But why not everything in moderation, yes???

We humans always seem to do everything to overkill...and it could wreck our planet and render us extinct one day. God and the earth don't really need us, you know.

Things that make you go hmmmmm....(at least I hope they do!)

Peace. Think. Feel. Meditate. See what's real.

http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/campaigns/oceans/tuna

Always do the research underneath the research

http://www.exxonsecrets.org/html/orgfactsheet.php?id=20 (a project of Greenpeace.)

You know, the older I get, the more skeptical I get when I come across websites that sound oh, so very altruistic and public-serving. It's kind of like where I live in this moment, when people want to tell me immediately that they're Christian and where they go to church and how much they love Jesus (many folks are wonderful and believers - but they don't normally go around shouting about it to folks they don't even know and have barely met, so please, don't get your back up.)

Thus far, the people who have scammed me or tried to, are those very ones. Gives those of us who have a faith a bad name, for sure.

Same thing for these organizations. They talk so nicely. They spin the words so well. But the research (and then more research) shows a bit of a different story...reveals a tone that speaks to a narrower agenda. And they attach such Freedom-sounding names to their organizations and sub-groups.

Just do the research, yes? My all-time favorite is activistcash.com. And unabashed, unashamed he is, the fellow who runs it - and the Center for Consumer Freedom. He's against everyone and everything from Mary Tyler Moore to the Humane Society.

Watch the words.
Watch the Spin.
Be aware.
Do your own research.
Stand up for Oneness. For a new day for our grandchildren and children. Don't be fooled.

Peace. We are the Awareness of a New Day.

Coal is NOT Clean - no such Animal! Let's Get Real with Energy...from Greenpeace site

Don’t believe the hype put out by the mega-billions wealthy energy companies (ever notice they’re the few making profits, along with Monsanto and Big Pharma?) They’re lying through their pearly whites. There is no such thing as “Clean Coal’ – And oil is going away.

Peace. Do your own research. Don’t just believe what someone/anyone tells you. Otherwise, lie down-you’re done.

Transition Towns New Zealand...an example

Transition Towns...Post Carbon Outposts...Peak Oil...there is so very much information out there - credible - viable. And yet, I was just listening to some folks talking about buying an SUV because it's a deal and because gasoline is so cheap (how quickly we forget! No wonder there's a joke in political circles about the short attention span of Americans and how things go right down the Memory Hole - the corporate/global elite and politicians' dream place for their machinations and foibles to fall.

On the positive side, New Zealand with Transition Towns, and Ireland with Post Carbon Outposts are just great examples of thinking, everyday folks making plans ahead of time, rather than waiting until we get hit by a ton of bricks and begin whining about it. Take a look. Thoughts?

Peace. We are the co-creators of a New Day. Stand Up. Together.

From google video and wideeyecinema...Controlling our Food

Aaah...good, ol' altruistic, we're here to save the world and keep the hungry from starving, Monsanto. The folks whose philosophy is to not miss making one extra dollar - even if it's at the expense of We the People (oops! I forgot that corporations are people, too. Don't they sue for defamation of character? Hurt feelings?). We're the guinea pigs in this experiment of Profit over People/Animals/Planet - and they don't tell us because even if some of us agreed, paying us to take part in their grand experiments would take money away from them.

Think what you will...but think. Do you really wonder why we have so much dis-ease?

Check out "SPECULATORS RAKE PROFITS IN US AGRI AFTER CALAMITIES" on Development Crossing ...

check out the discussion 'SPECULATORS RAKE PROFITS IN US AGRI AFTER CALAMITIES'...     Does Big AgriBusiness engage in guerilla warfare against the regular farmers? What do you think? The 'T' Word? Discussion posted by Erle Frayne Argonza: Good evening! Here is a case of how speculators are making a killing in the food sector, while farmers themselves are having a hard time ... Discussion link: http://www.developmentcrossing.com/forum/topic/

Farmed Fish Confidential - from MetroSantaCruz.com

This is an excellent and informative article...here's the first paragraph and click the link to read the rest. I love fish, and it's another thing to research to find out more about where we are in this category.
***********************************

Farmed Fish Confidential
It's barbecue time. Do you know where your seafood has been?

By Steve Hahn

A cool breeze carries the sound of sizzling grills and popping wine corks across the bay: it's summer in Santa Cruz, and that means the time has come to eat, drink and be merry. But preparing for a summer feast can be a headache, especially for the environmentally minded host. And if fish is on the menu, forget it. Is there any fish species that isn't verboten for a sustainable barbecue anymore?

World Expo in Spain has Water as its Theme

As water shortages grow and clean water increasingly a rare commodity in many places, kudos to Spain - and to the NY Times for mentioning it. Water and Food don't get much coverage on TV, for sure.

Pay attention and do your research.
Don't believe what anyone tells you. DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH.
Right
Left
Up
Down.

Free your mind
If not you, Who?
If not now, When?
Act locally
Think Globally
Connect
Have a conversation
Be positive
Let's work together.

Peace. We are our Hope.

On World Water Day, the Water Crisis deepens

Climate Change deepening world water crisis
World Water Day falls today:



Thalif Deen

When U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon addressed the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland last January, his primary focus was not on the impending global economic recession but on the world’s growing water crisis.

“A shortage of water resources could spell increased conflicts in the future,” he told the annual gathering of business tycoons, academics and leaders from governments, intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations.

“Population growth will make the problem worse. So will climate change. As the global economy grows, so will its thirst. Many more conflicts lie just over the horizon,” he warned.


Access to clean water and sanitation is essential

Anders Berntell, executive director of the Stockholm International Water Institute, says the lack of safe drinking water for over 1.0 billion people worldwide, and the lack of safe sanitation for over 2.5 billion, “is an acute and devastating humanitarian crisis.”

“But this is a crisis of management, not a water crisis per se, because it is caused by a chronic lack of funding and inadequate understanding of the need for sanitation and good hygiene at the local level,” Berntell told IPS.

He said: “This can and must be fixed through improved governance and management, and increased funding, and sustained efforts to achieve the U.N.’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs),” which include the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger and adequate water and sanitation.

A U.N. study released on the eve of World Water Day March 22 says the lack of safe drinking water is not confined to the world’s poorer nations; it also threatens over 100 million Europeans. The result: nearly 40 children in Europe, mostly in Eastern Europe, die every day due to a water-related disease: diarrhoea.

In Eastern Europe, about 16 per cent of the population still does not have access to drinking water in their homes, while in rural areas; over half of all people suffer from the lack of safe water and adequate sanitation.

“The world water crisis is definitely very bad, particularly because it deals with mismanagement of water and how governments have failed to secure the involvement of local communities in the management of water,” says Sunita Narain, director of the New Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment, and the 2005 winner of the prestigious annual Stockholm Water Prize.

“We, as societies, have failed to use small amounts of water for bringing large productivity gains,” she said. However, today the world water crisis faces yet another challenge — one of climate change, Narain told IPS.

“And it is this challenge which the world is completely failing to do anything about, and which will jeopardise the water security of large numbers of people, who already live on the margins of survival,” she declared.

Responding to a question, Berntell admitted there is a “world water crisis” judging by the number of people without safe drinking water and basic sanitation. And this, he said, “in a world which has the financial wealth and technical wherewithal to solve these twin scandals”.

“We must find better ways to manage water resources, in so far as water pollution is concerned, and to meet the food requirements of a human population which will expand by over 3.0 billion people in 2050.”

“We also must meet the water-climate challenge. Everything could become much more desperate and severe in the future if the proper steps are not taken,” he added. So, it is important, Berntell argued, to make a distinction between the water resource crisis — which is primarily caused by an over-exploitation of water resources for agricultural and industrial use, as well as pollution — and the water service and sanitation crisis.

In a statement released Wednesday, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) said many rivers in developing countries and emerging economies are now polluted to the brink of their collapse.

“The Yangtze, China’s longest river, is cancerous with pollution due to untreated agriculture and industrial waste,” IUCN warned Meanwhile, arguing that water shortages will drive future conflicts, the U.N. Secretary-General says the slaughter in Darfur — described as ‘genocide’ by the United States — was triggered by global climate change.

“It is no accident that the violence in Darfur erupted during the drought,” Ban said. When Darfur’s land was rich, black farmers welcomed Arab herders and shared their water. With the drought, however, farmers fenced in their land to prevent overgrazing. “For the first time in memory, there was no longer enough food and water for all. Fighting broke out,” he said.

“Water is a classic common property resource. No one really owns the problem. Therefore, no one really owns the solution,” he declared. Asked if the United Nations and the international community are doing enough to help resolve the problem or even draw attention to it, Narain told IPS: “Definitely there has been an attempt over the last few years to understand both the nature of the crisis as well as to draw attention to it.” “However, I believe that the international community’s understanding of what needs to be done to resolve the water crisis has been both weak as well as misplaced.”

The reason, she pointed out, “is that the international community does not understand water and how it affects local communities and, therefore, the United Nations and the international community is looking for quick fix technological solutions to what is primarily a governance issue.” Berntell took a different perspective.

“Unquestionably,” he said, “water, and in particular sanitation, remain far too low on the international agenda.” Access to clean water and sanitation underpin all human development efforts, and water issues are central to climate change adaptation and sustainable development.

“But much more needs to be done to address the spectrum of challenges,” he told IPS. The U.N. system, and the “UN-Water” collaborative effort in particular, works extremely hard and well and is consistently improving its efforts to better coordinate and make more effective its work, he said.

The U.N.’s declaration of 2008 as the International Year of Sanitation has catalysed increased action and attention to critical health and hygiene issues this year, Berntell added.

“Still, the U.N. must strengthen its efforts to coordinate its monitoring and reporting. They cannot afford to continue delivering too many reports on overlapping issues at the same time.”

A good starting point, he said, would be the “five ones” identified by Britain: one annual global monitoring report; one high-level global ministerial meeting on water; at country level, one national plan for water and sanitation; one coordinating body; and activities of U.N. agencies on water and sanitation to be coordinated by one lead body under the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP) and its country plan.

Inter Press Service (IPS)


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Today is World Water Day
March 22 is the World Water Day. The United Nations theme this year is ‘Sanitation’, which links the Day to the on-going International Year of Sanitation (2008). This year the Day will highlight issues relating to sanitation worldwide.

Between 1990 and 2004 more than 1.2 billion people worldwide have gained access to improved sanitation but still an estimated 2.6 billion people - including 980 million children - are lagging behind. Of this total, more than 1.5 billion people are in the Asia Pacific region.

Lack of proper sanitation leaves people vulnerable to preventable diseases such as cholera, worms, diarrhoea, pneumonia and malnutrition. Globally one child dies every 20 seconds as a result of poor sanitation, that is 1.5 million preventable deaths each year.

Each year, more than 200 million tons of human waste go uncollected and untreated around the world fouling the environment and spreading diseases.

According to a reader survey in the British Medical Journal, sanitation is the most important medical advance since 1840.

A recent World Health Organisation study says that every dollar spent on improving sanitation, generates an average economic return of US $9. Most of the Millennium Development Goals to which the world has committed itself will not be realised even after 2015.

Sanitation and water are inseparably linked. Water is essential for life; yet many millions of people around the world face water shortages - many millions of children die every year from water-borne diseases and drought regularly afflicts some of the world’s poorest countries. At any given time, half of the world’s hospital beds are occupied by patients suffering from water-borne diseases.

The International observance of World Water Day is an initiative that grew out of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro. The UN General Assembly designated March 22 each year as the World Water Day in a resolution adopted in 1992.

The observance aims at promoting public awareness of the relationship between water resources and development and the growing problem of water scarcity.

It also urges people to minimise waste and pollution while maximising productivity in the usage of water.

The true cost of cheap chicken - Independent Online Edition > This Britain

The true cost of cheap chicken - Independent Online Edition > This Britain

And we eat the chicken that is treated this way....with diseases, stressed flesh, horrible mutilation...wow - have you ever had meat or poultry that was raised humanely and fed non-genetically modified feed...not deliberately modified itself so it has distorted bodies that can't function...Brave New World...how brave are we when we allow our own food to be poisoned by these practices....?

Fox News Kills Monsanto Milk Story

Creepy
Are we expendable
In the name of Profit?

Milk...The Deadly Poison

Draw your own conclusions
Do your own research - not just on the surface
Think for yourSelf
Stay in the Question

You and Your Milk

Got Milk?
Got Disease?
Got Diseased/sick Cows?
Got it in your milk?

Yum.

Health Dangers of Genetically Modified Foods- Pt 3

Don't forget to read "Fast Food Nation" for starters. You'll know what you're eating at a Fast Food Place when you're done.

Lies, Profit...more Lies. Wow. Someone (that includes Corporations, remember they've become people) really believes the Everyday folks are stooooooopid!

Peace. Be/Do the Research. Question Authority.

Health Dangers of Genetically Modified Food, Pt 2

Do your own research...don't just look on the surface...draw your own conclusions...question...always stay in the question...watch the words and their spin.

Genetically Modified Corruption of Life

Small, everyday farmers and dairy farmers are being sued and harassed by Monsanto especially, and others like them...if GM seeds...airborne...go into and infect an organic farm's crops...the small farmer is sued for 'theft of seed!' This is true and is going on as we speak.

A Dairy farmer up in New England, who had been in business for years and well-respected...advertised that his milk contained no bovine growth hormones. He was sued for "defamation of character" - AS IF A CORPORATION IS A LIVING PERSON!

And just so you understand...the laws have, on the sly, on the stealth, been changed so that yes, a corporation has the same rights as a RICH living person.

Wow.

Peace. Be the research. What can you do? Spread the word. If it's food in a box, it's most like GM, unless it's certified organic - QAI is a good certifying agency. The USDA...hmmmmm....do your research. Read. Talk with other folks. Learn. We are NOT just dumb consumers. We are citizens of a noble experiment called Democracy...of the people, by the people and for the people.

Right now...WE ARE THE GUINEA PIGS, without our permission.

Check out SOYLENT GREEN with Charlton Heston and Edward G. Robinson. You can get it cheap on Amazon.

The Health Dangers of Genetically Modified Foods

China's e-waste nightmare worsening - Yahoo! News

China's e-waste nightmare worsening - Yahoo! News

The Shameless 7 - and I trusted Publix!!!

Just when I thought I had found a store that told the truth...wow...am I disappointed.

Check it out for your Self.

Peace. Do the research.
Stand up.
Or sit down and do as you're told
And eat what they create for you.

Yummy...Soylent Green.

Dr. Bonner's Products

Been around for years...thought I'd post it and you can take a look. No cah-cah in these products, and an interesting site.

Take a look and, as always, do the research.

Peace. Do your research.

So long, and thanks for all the plastic - Telegraph

Excellent reading...things that make you go hmmmm...

Peace. Do the research for yourself.

So long, and thanks for all the plastic - Telegraph