FIRST THE GOOD NEWS... FOOD-CONNECT! THE BAD NEWS? NEW U.S. FOOD SAFETY LEGISLATION

NOTE ABOUT THIS STORY ADDED SATURDAY 5TH OF FEBRUARY: It took 2 days and many conversations, links and updates to get to the bottom of the central story in this post. I was caught off guard... couldnt work out why such a HUGE issue was so under the radar. The investigation proved that there is a lot if misinformation going around out there... but that there is a LOT to be concerned about at the same time!


Can I say how profoundly important it is we discuss these matters and get to the bottom of what's happening ... wherever possible ... easier said then done I know!


There is so much lobbying and legislation pushing things in directions many are very concerned about. Its so easy to miss whats happening on that level and not have a voice. Living in Brisbane through a hellish summer for so many Queenslanders I saw the most amazing ground swell of care, giving and volunterring take place from so many concerned citizens.


I'd like to think we could apply some of that same energy and drive to some of our long term global issues as this year unfolds and we reflect on the long term implications of current events and what we can do about it.


Lets make our actions really count for the future!

From Ro Bruhn in Melbourne, Australia

artists celebrate seeds... Postcards from the Blogosphere
... Mail art show in July 2010 

from passage paradis in L.A.

Just visited the excellent Brisbane-based venture Food-Connect where I read the most worrying news.

First - THE GOOD NEWS .... about Food Connect:

Food Connect’s aim is to supply local, sustainably produced food to the community in South East Queensland. We are creating a new, more equitable way of distributing local produce in a socially responsible way. Our delicious seasonal produce comes from local farmers living within a five hour radius of Brisbane who are paid a fair price for their hard work and who are encouraged to farm using the most sustainable methods possible. Our subscribers know where their food comes from and are invited to see for themselves on regular farm tours. Click the links below if you want to know more about our unique way of doing things.

The Food Connect story
Community Shared Agriculture
Participatory Farmer Assessment
We do business differently!
Farm tours
The people behind the Food Connect boxes
The Food Connect Kitchen
Our awards

WHAT WE ARE PASSIONATE ABOUT

A fair go for farmers
Local food is better
Eating seasonally
Ecologically sustainable food production
Food security for South East Queensland
Food soverignty in Australia

Food connect is a good news story. And so successful it has been set up in other states recently.

Go to the inspiration page is you want to be inspired.

So what did I find that bothered me so at this blog just now... an article coming out of the US on the proposed new US FOOD SAFETY LEGISLATION.
FOOD SAFETY YOU WONDER???

The US senate Bill S510 “Food Safety Modernization Act” proposes to ban growing food in backyards, seed saving and people will also be unable to sell their produce at markets should this legislation go ahead. See the Natural News website for more information on this story.

Senate Bill S 510 Food Safety Modernization Act vote imminent: Would outlaw gardening and saving seeds

Im going to post that article here. I think it needs to be discussed and I'm wondering what the time-frame for this is... and the likelihood it will come into being! I'd really like to hear from anyone living in the US.... what have you heard about this? 

Senate Bill S 510 Food Safety Modernization Act vote imminent: Would outlaw gardening and saving seeds

by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor 

(NaturalNews) Senate Bill 510, the Food Safety Modernization Act, has been called "the most dangerous bill in the history of the United States of America." It would grant the U.S. government new authority over the public's right to grow, trade and transport any foods. This would give Big brother the power to regulate the tomato plants in your backyard. It would grant them the power to arrest and imprison people selling cucumbers at farmer's markets. It would criminalize the transporting of organic produce if you don't comply with the authoritarian rules of the federal government.

"It will become the most offensive authority against the cultivation, trade and consumption of food and agricultural products of one's choice. It will be unconstitutional and contrary tonatural law or, if you like, the will of God." - Dr. Shiv Chopra, Canada Health whistleblower (http://shivchopra.com/?page_id=2)

This tyrannical law puts all food production (yes, even food produced in your own garden) under the authority of the Department of Homeland Security. Yep -- the very same people running the TSA and its naked body scanner / passenger groping programs.

This law would also give the U.S. government the power to arrest any backyard food producer as a felon (a "smuggler") for merely growing lettuce and selling it at a local farmer's market.

It also sells out U.S. sovereignty over our own food supply by ceding to the authority of both the World Trade Organization (WTO) and Codex Alimentarius.

It would criminalize seed saving (http://foodfreedom.wordpress.com/20...), turning backyard gardeners who save heirloom seeds into common criminals. This is obviously designed to give corporations like Monsanto a monopoly over seeds.

It would create an unreasonable paperwork burden that would put small food producers out of business, resulting in more power over the food supply shifting to large multinational corporations.

I encourage you to read more about this dangerous bill at the Food Freedom blog on Wordpress: http://foodfreedom.wordpress.com/20...

Watch this excellent video on NaturalNews.TV which explains S.510 in more detail:
http://naturalnews.tv/v.asp?v=9209B...

Take action now or lose your right to grow your own food

Sign this petition at Citizens for Health:
http://www.citizens.org/?page_id=2312

Do it today! This is really important.

In addition, the Cornucopia Institute recently sent out an urgent call-to-action email containing the following information: (http://www.cornucopia.org/2010/11/a...)

How to protest Senate Bill 510

1) Go to Congress.org and type in your zip code in the box in the upper right hand corner.

2) Click on your Senator's name, and then on the contact tab for their phone number. You can also call the Capitol Switchboard and ask to be directly connected to your Senator's office: 202-224-3121.

3) Once connected ask to speak to the legislative staff person responsible for agriculture. If they are unavailable leave a voice mail message. Be sure to include your name and phone number.

Give them this message in support of the "Tester Amendment" which would exempt small farms from S.510:

"I am a constituent of Senator___________. I ask that he/she support the Tester Amendment to the food safety bill. The Tester Amendment will exempt the safest, small, owner-operator farms and food facilities and farmers who direct market their products to consumers, stores or restaurants. Food safety legislation should not create inappropriate and costly regulatory barriers to family farms and the growing healthy food movement in the drive to crack down on corporate bad actors. Please support the Tester Amendment and market opportunities for small and mid-sized family farms, and small food processing facilities."

You may also wish to explain that you oppose the Food Safety Modernization Act in its entirety, and it is a destructive, freedom-crushing law that will destroy the future of food inAmerica.

Remember, America has already lost control over its money supply to the Federal Reserve (nearly a hundred years ago). America has lost its health due to the medical industry and its profit-from-sickness agenda. Now we may lose our right to grow our own food and save our own seeds if Senate Bill 510 passes.

This is a dangerous, tyrannical law that would thrust the American people into an age of darkness and malnutrition. It would criminalize many of the very people growing our food and turn food production into yet another corporate monopoly.

Please take the time right now to contact your U.S. Senator and voice your strong opposition to this bill.

Food safety?  ... it seems each time we hear the words food and safety used together there is a rather worrying issue at stake. Euphemisms such as this result in many thinking there's nothing to worry about.

Given there is a huge backyard phenomenon going on in this country as elsewhere ... with people turning to backyard food growing for any number of reasons... this is a critical issue with consequences we all need to be well aware of. ... right around the globe. Please leave a comment and do share this information. Of course we need to learn more on this and verify the story... but given, unfortunately, that there is a precedence for this kind of legislation in measures we well know have taken place already around seeds and copyright... in North America, with the World Trade Organisation ... and thats for starters... we really have to
take notice now... make no mistake about that. What we do ... or don't do now .... can make a historical difference... one way or the other. 


Food sovereignty for all!


NB "Food sovereignty" is a term coined by members of Via Campesina in 1996 ^[1] to refer to a policy framework advocated by a number of farmers, peasants, pastoralists, fisherfolk, indigenous peoples, women, rural youth and environmental organizations, namely the claimed "right" of peoples to define their own food, agriculture, livestock and fisheries systems, in contrast to having food largely subject to international market forces.

READ THE NEXT POST TO FIND UPDATED INFORMATION. THANKS TO ALL WHO TOOK PART IN THIS IMPORTANT DIALOGUE. IT TOOK QUITE A BIT OF DIGGING TO GET TO THE TRUTH OF THE MATTER... AND THEN ONE STLL HAD TO WONDER!

thanks to everyone,
Sophie 

Wearable Gardens?

Yesterday I posted on the UN International Year of the Forests .... I know many of you will be hyper-aware of just why this is so critical! I added the question of what could we bring to this year to impact things for the greater good... and suggested there are multiple ways to apply our skills and ingenuity, our ideas and effort.

I thought I would post this story which I've titled "Wearable Gardens"... just to bring home how left field some ideas might be... but to place value on the fact of attracting attention ... in a brilliantly eye-catching way .... to a profoundly important matter.

This comes from

ecouterre  on wearable technology. (Click on ecouterre title to read more)

“Pollinator Frocks” Are Wearable Gardens That Attract, Feed Hungry Bees

by Jasmin Malik Chua, 01/17/11

Artist Karen Ingham’s latest project is guaranteed to make a buzz. The British insect-lover has produced a series of dresses designed to aid shrinking populations of bees and other pollinators, a growing environmental crisis that threatens our global food system. Featuring electron-microscopy images of pollen, Ingham’s “Pollinator Frocks” are treated with a nectar-like sugar solution that attracts and nourishes bees and their brethren. She even created outfits for separate occasions: day-wear to draw bees and butterflies and evening-wear for nocturnal critters such as moths.

FROCKS THAT ROCK

“Populations of insect pollinators such as bees, butterflies, and moths, and the plants on which they depend, are declining at alarming rates due to deleterious human activity,” says Ingham, who collaborated with entomologists, botanists, microscopists, and engineers to develop her prototypes. “These symbiotic relationships must be protected.”

Treated with a nectar-like sugar solution, the dresses mimic the way insects relate to flowers.

Working with technologists at the Welsh Centre for Printing and Coating, Ingham examined aromas and materials that mimic the way insects relate to flowers before settling on her arresting printed fabrics, which she dubs “wearable gardens.” Ingham sees her dresses having the most impact in urban spaces, where gardens are limited in number, nectar-rich plants are rare, and public engagement is most needed. “The clothing can be hung out as clothes are hung on a washing line, to act as an attractant to pollinators,” she says.


+ Pollinator Frocks
+ Karen Ingham



UPDATE: Hop over to erudite eco-wise woman India to see what she noticed when viewing the above video. As one well aquainted with the workings of nature ... biological and chemical processes ... especially in relation to textiles ... she immediately picked up on question marks in the thinking of this project.
So perhaps we have a successful attention-grabbing project with a not so likely application! Note to self: read the fine print! Thanks India... always much to learn and revel in at her blog Prophet of Bloom!


Also from this fabulous site which is well worth a visit....


Coffee beans are actually the seed of the plant. so how does one make clothes from coffee beans?


Take a good look at this and read more here at Ecouterre.

Fabrictionary

S.Cafe: Clothes Made From Used Coffee Grounds

by Jasmin Malik Chua, 10/01/09

Photo by deapeajay

S.CAFE \ˈes ka-ˈfā\

n. 1 a: A fabric that Singtex Industries in Taiwan knits or weaves using waste coffee grounds. (A single cup of coffee can yield two shirts.) b: Said to dry quickly, protect against UV rays, and neutralize odors. c: Meets Swiss Bluesign standards for sustainable fabrics.
+ S.Cafe

So...what can we bring to 2011?


I'd say our curiosity and willingness to take a look at some great new ideas... and even if not convinced to purchase a coffee ground T-shirt... at least we can celebrate that people are out there are getting very serious about pushing the envelope.


Would I like  wear the pollinator frock?


well ... I'm a little uncomfortable with the idea of bees buzzing around me as I walk along... BUT...  I do think this is a powerful message to put out there... and in the halls of fashion... yes please... bring the message to the masses....


these stories came through INHABITAT - an e-mag that believes design will save the world. Go visit and see what they are up to!

2011: UN International year of the Forests - what can we bring to this year?

There are many ways to contribute in this world!

Whilst visiting Robyn at Fragments, treasures and memories I discovered her post with this wonderful video:   MUSIC PAINTING - Glocal Sound - Matteo Negrin

A gentle approach to Global Warming.

Robyn writes "we are eco-system destroyers and we need to change our ways."

She is based in Perth, Western Australia is both direct and no-nonsense and remarkably warm and caring... with a loyal blog following who relish her desire to speak straight from the heart on what matters most in daily life.

Many times Robyn has sent me things to post on the Homage blog... so dod pop over and see whats happening in her corner of the world!

....and talking about contributing... a visit to the UN website for this years theme offers many ideas for your consideration.

After the global focus on Biodiversity last year this year the UN is celebrating the International Year of Forests - 2011.

Logo for 2011

The International Year of Forests 2011 (Forests 2011) logo is designed to convey the theme of “Forests for People” celebrating the central role of people in the sustainable management, conservation and sustainable development of our world’s forests. The iconographic elements in the design depict some of the multiple values of forests and the need for a 360‐degree perspective: forests provide shelter to people and habitat to biodiversity; are a source of food, medicine and clean water; and play a vital role in maintaining a stable global climate and environment. All of these elements taken together reinforce the message that forests are vital to the survival and well being of people everywhere, all 7 billion of us.

Resolution adopted by the General Assembly

On the report of the Second Committee (A/61/422/Add.1 and Corr.1)

61/193. International Year of Forests, 2011

The General Assembly,
Reaffirming its commitment to the Non-legally Binding Authoritative Statement of Principles for a Global Consensus on the Management, Conservation and Sustainable Development of All Types of Forests and Agenda 21, adopted at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, the United Nations Millennium Declaration, adopted at the Millennium Summit in 2000, the Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development and the Plan of Implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development, adopted at the World Summit on Sustainable Development, held in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 2002,

Recalling the Convention on Biological Diversity, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in Africa, and other relevant conventions dealing with the complexity of forest issues,

Recognizing that forests and sustainable forest management can contribute significantly to sustainable development, poverty eradication and the achievement of internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals,

Recalling Economic and Social Council decision 2006/230 of 24 July 2006,

Emphasizing the need for sustainable management of all types of forests, including fragile forest ecosystems,

Convinced that concerted efforts should focus on raising awareness at all levels to strengthen the sustainable management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests for the benefit of current and future generations,

1. Decides to declare 2011 the International Year of Forests;

2. Requests the secretariat of the United Nations Forum on Forests of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the Secretariat, to serve as the focal point for the implementation of the Year, in collaboration with Governments, the Collaborative Partnership on Forests and international, regional and subregional organizations and processes as well as relevant major groups;

3. Invites, in particular, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, as the Chair of the Collaborative Partnership on Forests, within its mandate, to support the implementation of the Year;

4. Calls upon Governments, relevant regional and international organizations, and major groups to support activities related to the Year, inter alia, through voluntary contributions, and to link their relevant activities to the Year;

5. Encourages voluntary partnerships among Member States, international organizations and major groups to facilitate and promote activities related to the Year at the local and national levels, including by creating national committees or designating focal points in their respective countries;

6. Requests the Secretary-General to report to the General Assembly at its sixty-fourth session on the state of preparations for the Year.

83rd plenary meeting
20 December 2006 

Marking World Environment Day, UN sounds alarm on biodiversity (click on heading to read this article)

so what will we bring to this year?

Sydney Peace Prize - 2010: Dr Vindana Shiva

Biodiversity as Green Oil ?

Seed Copyright?

Seed Sovereignty?

what is this?

Dr Vindana Shiva

In October last year I posted on Dr Vindana Shiva at Navdanya, Grandmother's University where some of her initiatives were presented - such as a learning centre Bija Vidyapeeth (School of the Seed) on biodiversity conservation at an organic farm in Doon Valley, Uttranchal, north India.

Bija Vidyapeeth is Sanskrit for “Seed Learning Centre” with “bija” meaning literally “seed” as well as “origin” or “source.” The Bija Vidyapeeth seal also says “vasudhaiv kutumbakam” in Sanskrit. This means “one world family.”

Today I am adding this information Give Mother earth a Chance about the lecture given by Vindana Shiva at the Sydney (Australia) Opera House in November 2010 when she was awarded with the Sydney Peace Prize.

Give Mother Earth A Chance

(click on this heading to go to website and see lecture video!)

30 Nov 2010, 11:00
“If commerce starts to undermine life support, then commerce must stop, because life has to carry on.” This is the central premise Dr Vandana Shiva’s passionate address for the 2010 City of Sydney Peace Prize Lecture, in which she lambasts global corporations for waging war against nature in the name of profits.

Shiva argues that when commonly used agricultural herbicides have names like “Round Up”, “Squadron”, “Avenge”, one can see there is war being waged against nature…and the humans are winning at the cost of their own future. To Vandana Shiva, fighting for peace for ‘Mother Earth’ is the broadest peace movement we can engage in.

She calls for a form of ‘Earth Democracy’, that re-imagines the biosphere as a citizen, that has universal rights that need protecting and defending.

Dr Vandana Shiva is speaking at the Sydney Opera House for the City of Sydney Peace Prize.

The Sydney Peace Prize was established by the Sydney Peace Foundation in 1998. Each year a prize is awarded to an organisation or individual who has made significant contributions to global peace. Previous winners include Patrick Dodson, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Mary Robinson, Arundhati Roy, Hans Blix and more.

Dr Vandana Shiva is a physicist, environmental activist, author and eco-feminist. As a physicist she trained at the University of Western Ontario and specialised in Quantum Theory. As an environmental activist she has worked for campaigns that focus on the issues of bio-piracy, genetic engineering, sustainable agriculture, intellectual property rights and biodiversity. She has written many books on environmental issues including “The Violence of Green Revolution”, “Bio-piracy: the Plunder of Nature and Knowledge”, “Water, Wars: Privatization, Pollution and Profit”, “Earth Democracy: Justice, Sustainability and Peace” and her most recent book “Soil Not Oil” released in 2008. In 1991, Shiva established “Navdanya” a food security movement based in over 16 states in India, it aims to empower farmers to protect their economic livelihoods and natural resources, especially native seeds. Shiva has been awarded several awards for her efforts including the Right Livelihood Award and the United Nations Environment Program [UNEP] Global 500 Award in 1993, and most recently the 2010 City of Sydney Peace Prize.

Vandana Shiva has been recognised for her work on the empowerment of women in developing countries, her advocacy of the human rights of small farming communities, and her scientific analysis of environmental sustainability.

Vandana is founder of the Navdanya movement and the Bija Vidyapeeth learning centre in India, recognized as a school of the future.

Sydney Peace Foundation director, Professor Stuart Rees, said Dr Shiva was an inspiring recipient of the award. “Many communities are threatened by the consequences of global warming, yet in Australia the movement to address this issue has gone to sleep,” he said. “Vandana’s presence in Sydney in November should wake them up.”

Other distinguished recipients of Australia’s only international prize for peace have included previous Nobel recipients Professor Muhammad Yunus, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and Aboriginal leader Patrick Dodson.

Mary Kostakidis, chair of the Sydney Peace Foundation, said governments around the world sought Dr Shiva’s counsel on issues of sustainable development. “Vandana Shiva’s work highlights the fundamental connection between human rights and the protection of the environment,” Ms Kostakidis said. “She offers solutions to some of the most critical problems posed by the effects of globalisation and climate change on the poorest and most populous nations.”

On a sombre note read the Observer Newspaper's January 2 , 2011 story from India:

India's hidden climate change catastrophe (click on the heading!)

Over the past decade, as crops have failed year after year, 200,000 farmers have killed themselves

By Alex Renton

Images from a Seed Course at Navdanya

Seed Course

Seed Course

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From the Vandanya vision:

“Life will not be a pyramid with the apex sustained by the bottom. But it will be an oceanic circle whose center will be the individual always ready to perish for the village, the latter ready to perish for the circle of villages till at last the whole becomes one life composed of individuals, never aggressive in their arrogance, but ever humble, sharing the majesty of he oceanic circle of which they are integral units. Therefore, the outermost circumference will not wield power to crush the inner circle, but will give strength to all within and will derive its own strength from it.”

Message from the Founder:

Over the past three decades I have tried to be the change I want to see. When I found that dominant science and technology served the interests of powerful, I left academics to found the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology, a participatory, public interest research organisation. When I found global corporations wanted to patent seeds, crops or life forms, I started Navdanya to protect biodiversity, defend farmers’ rights and promote organic farming.

Navdanya/RFSTE’s journey over the past two decades has taken us into creating markets for farmers and promoting tasty, healthy, high quality food for consumers. We have connected the seed to the kitchen, biodiversity to gastronomy. And now we have joined hands with Slow Food to celebrate the quality and cultural diversity of our food.

The seed has inspired us to spread the message of sustainability through Bija Vidyapeeth, which I started with Satish Kumar as a sister institution of the Schumaker College in the UK.

My journey on the road to ecological sustainability started with the Chipko movement in the 1970s when women in the region of the Himalayas protected forests by hugging trees.

For me, ecology and feminism have been inseparable. And Diverse Women for Diversity is one expression of combining women’s rights and nature’s rights, celebrating our cultural diversity and biological diversity.

The defence of nature’s rights and people’s rights have come together for me in Earth Democracy – the democracy of all life on earth, a living democracy which supports and is supported by living culture and living economies.

I am happy you have visited us on the web. We look forward to your visit to our farm, our cafe, our school. Let us together build an earth family. Let us in our diversity create an earth democracy.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!! ONE DOOR CLOSES....ANOTHER IS OPEN

What a year 2010 was! The year-long residency at the Brisbane Botanic Gardens has come to a close... sadly ... but happily this is just the beginning of the next chapter for the project Homage to the Seed.... begun tentatively last February.


I had no idea how many stories, people and initiatives I would touch down with through this project...but it has been extraordinary, precious and hugely uplifting to say the least. 


Its far too early to outline what 2011 will involve ... lets just say research on seeds, considerable reflection and also painting at the Paddington studio has continued to be a big part of daily life... with of course breaks for a recent trip to Melbourne, Xmas and time with friends and family. We've also been having the wettest and, for some, toughest festive season in years. Read a story just posted at my other blog!

New years image from the floods of Qld. See more at that story above!

People are still sending me links to wonderful Seed intitaves... so there are lots of posts waiting for me to put up as soon as I can!


If you wish to visit my latest web-link that I started new years eve for some whimsy click seed capsules and you will find my experiment with Tumblr which I am really enjoying... I love the fact that the archive is a storehouse for images I wish to return to, think more about or use in some way! I was a little rusty at first and have to tidy it up but it is SO convenient and I like the feel of it I must say.


From the archive:

Marian Bijlenga, collage from her book 'written weed'

uncertaintimes: thethirdmind: Materia Medica of Vegetable Origin

eyehavenoi:

Lotus Seeds (Hawaiian Sea)

Tumblr offers a fascinating world and a really viable respository for images, links and ideas.

Food bowl for a continent under water!

Last year Food Security emerged as an issue to take seriously in mainstream media. Events such as the Queensland floods point to the kind of phenomena being discussed as a reason we must rethink  the sustainability of the systems in place - food, water, soil, farming and food production... to cope with changes we are experiencing with climate.


...here's something else to think about in 2011... from National Geographic on population... their theme for the year!

I wish you all a wonderful 2011  and hope you will be back to visit, leave comments and links ... and that together we will find ways to be more creative about how we manage the resources of this planet for the best interests of all!


Abundant blessings to all!
Sophie