agroecology

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, June 29, 2016

Image, right: Alameda County AFL-CIO Central Labor Council president, Josie Camacho, flanked by dozens of Bay Area union leaders and members, representing 21 Bay Area unions (including the Bay Area IWW), join in with Oakland residents to oppose coal handling, storage, shipment, and exports in the Port of Oakland at a special City Council hearing, held June 27, 2016. At the conclusion of the meeting, the City Council voted unanimously, 7-0 with one member absent, in support of the coal ban. Image by Brooke Anderson.

The following news items feature issues, discussions, campaigns, or information potentially relevant to green unionists:

Lead Stories:

• Oakland bans coal shipments in a blow to planned export facility - By William Yardley and Natalie Kitroeff, Los Angeles Times, June 28, 2016; [related]: Oakland's Anti-Coal Activists Decry ‘Deceptive’ Mailer - By Arielle Swedback, East Bay Express, June 27, 2016 | Coal: Economic opportunity or environmental risk for poor neighborood? - By Associated Press, FuelFix, June 27, 2016 | Oakland Just Banned Coal! Coal Processing, Loading and Unloading Banned in Oakland - By J P Masser, Daily Kos, June 27, 2016
• As Britain exits, the need for a strong climate movement remains - By Kate Aronoff, Waging Nonviolence, June 24, 2016
• Mega Corporation Gobbles Up Slightly Less-Mega Corporation; Chops Jobs to Increase Profits; Blames Enviros. Film at 11 - By Matthew Koehler, CounterPunch, June 24, 2016
• Zimbabwe: Trade Unions Embrace Climate Change - By staff, All Africa, June 23, 2016 
• Meet the McDonald’s Cashier Taking on Her CEO for Climate Change - By Brooke Anderson, Yes!, June 17, 2016
• The War on Workers’ Comp - By Stephen Franklin, In These Times, June 13, 2016

Ongoing Mobilizations:

• Flush the TPP - Ongoing through 2016 | #FlushtheTPP
• March for a Clean Energy Revolution - July 24, 2016, Philadelphia | #CleanEnergyMarch
• International Resistance Gathering Against Extractivism - July 28-30, Mexico
• TWAC Cascadia 2016 - August 8th-15th 2016

The Thin Green Line:

• First Day of Hearings on Vancouver, WA Oil Terminal Begins with Broad Opposition - By staff, Stand Up to Oil, June 27, 2016
• Environmentalists, politicians call for shutdown of coal leases in Seattle - By Hal Bernton, Seattle Times, June 21, 2016

Just Transition:

• Oilsands workers know how to lead the way on climate change - By Lliam Hildebrand, Iron and Earth, June 27, 2016; [related]: Iron And Earth: Oilsands Workers Call For Training In Renewable Energy - By David Dodge and Dylan Thompson, Huffington Post, June 24, 2016
• Ontario’s Green Energy Act: A job creation success - By Elizabeth Perry, Work and Climate Change Report, June 27, 2016; [related]: Clean Energy Investment Slows in Canada; Canada ranks 11th in Clean Energy Jobs - By Elizabeth Perry, Work and Climate Change Report, June 26, 2016
• March for a Clean Energy Revolution at the DNC With Breast Cancer Action - By Alyssa Figueroa, EcoWatch, June 26, 2016
• Coal To Solar: Retraining Our Energy Workforce - By Glenn Meyers, Planetsave, June 25, 2016
• After Decades of Protest, Last California Nuclear Plant to Close & Be Replaced by Renewable Energy - Damon Moglen interviewed by Juan González and Amy Goodman, Democracy Now, June 22, 2016 [related]: Nuclear Shutdown in California includes Transition provisions for Workers - By Elizabeth Perry, Work and Climate Change Report, June 27, 2016 | Cost to Replace California Nuclear With Solar: $15 Billion - By Jim Polson and Mark Chediak, Bloomberg, June 23, 2016 | Diablo Shutdown Marks End of Atomic Era - By Harvey Wasserman, EcoWatch, June 23, 2016 | California Goes Nuclear Free As Diablo Canyon Closes In Favor Of Renewables - By Joshua S Hill, Clean Technica, June 22, 2016 | Honey I shrunk the utility: California's final nuclear plant closure attributed to CCA - By staff, Local Power, June 22, 2016 | PG&E to Replace Diablo Canyon Nuclear Plant With 100% Carbon-Free Resources - By Jeff St. John, GreenTech Media, June 21, 2016 | PG&E to close Diablo Canyon nuclear plant, replace it with renewables, efficiency, storage - By Gavin Bade, Utility Dive, June 21, 2016
• Beyond Extreme Energy Too Extreme? Not At All - By Jlstewct, Beyond Extreme Energy, June 21, 2016
• Canada can transition to renewable energy in just a few decades, says Stanford University professor - By Monique Muise, Global News, June 12, 2016

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, June 21, 2016

The following news items feature issues, discussions, campaigns, or information potentially relevant to green unionists:

Lead Stories:

• Oil Companies Facing Spurt of Lawsuits After Robbing Oilfield Workers of Millions in Wages - By Larry Buhl, DeSmog Blog, June 19, 2016
• Rolling blockade at Burghfield nuclear weapons factory - By Theo Simon, Red Pepper, June 16, 2016
• American Seafood Has Its Own Forced Labor Problem - By Alex Sammon, Mother Jones, June 15, 2016; [related]: Let’s stop the downgrading of workers and jobs in supply chains - By Steve Cotton, Equal Times, June 7, 2016
• Nigeria: Niger Delta Avengers Threaten Further Violence in Oil-Producing Region - By Conor Gaffey, Newsweek, June 14, 2016
• Don’t Mess with the Corn: Lessons from Mexico’s Struggle against GMOs - By Soledad Barruti, Argentina Independent, June 7, 2016  

Ongoing Mobilizations:

• Flush the TPP - Ongoing through 2016 | #FlushtheTPP
• March for a Clean Energy Revolution - July 24, 2016, Philadelphia | #CleanEnergyMarch
• TWAC Cascadia 2016 - August 8th-15th 2016

The Thin Green Line:

• Public health experts expose coal hazard ‘protection’ fallacies - By Steve Masover, No Coal in Oakland, June 19, 2016
• Over a Quarter of a Million Public Comments Against Largest Coal Export Terminal in North America - By staff, Power Past Coal, June 13, 2016
• Bay Area Residents and Environmental Advocates Push Swift Adoption of Rule to Cap Refinery Emissions - By Andrés Soto and Ratha Lai, Communities for a Better Environment and Sierra Club SF Bay Chapter, June 14, 2016; [related]: Cap Bay Area refinery emissions now - By Andrés Soto and Sandy Saeteurn, San Francisco Chronicle, June 12, 2016
• Tesoro refinery expansion poses risk to community - By Alicia Rivera, Daily Breeze, June 3, 2016

Just Transition:

• Oil Sands Workers Fear Becoming Climate Change Casualties - By Mychaylo Prystupa, The Tyee, June 17, 2016
• 50% Renewables In Australia Could Create 28,000 New Jobs By 2030 - By Joshua S Hill, Clean Technica, June 17, 2016
• Australian taxpayers could pay billions to clean up old mines, report says - By Thom Mitchell, New Matilda, June 16, 2016
• Here’s How We Get to 100% Renewable Energy - By Richard Heinberg, EcoWatch, June 15, 2016
• Public Banks as the Antithesis of Neoliberalism - By Matt Stannard, Public Banking Institute, May 19, 2016
• Our Fossil-Fuel Economy Destroys the Earth and Exploits Humanity; Here's the Shift We Need to Be Sustainable - By Iliana Salazar-Dodge, Alternet, May 12, 2016

Bread and Roses:

• Pathways of Transition to Agroecological Food Systems - By Adam Parsons, CounterPunch, June 17, 2016
• TTIP and CETA: We won't let them trade us away - By Hanny van Geel, et. al., La Via Campesina, June 16, 2016; [related]: NFU Action alert: Trans Pacific Partnership input deadline coming soon - By National Farmers' Union, La Via Campesina, June 16, 2016
• Women lead the fight against corporate agriculture around the world - By Mark Karlin, Rabble.Ca, June 16, 2016
• “This Program should be everywhere…” - By staff, Coalition of Immokalee Workers, June 15, 2016
• Land Reform and food sovereignty - By Nyéléni, La Via Campesina, June 14, 2016
• With Measure 1 Failure, DRC Applauds North Dakotans for Mobilizing and Rejecting Corporate Farming - By staff, Dakota Resource Council, June 14, 2016
• Sakuma Brothers Farms Raises Wages After Farmworkers Walk Off the Job - By Ansel Herz, The Stranger, June 13, 2016

An Injury to One is an Injury to All:

• NUMSA supports the Working on Fire workers - By Patrick Craven, NUMSA, June 17, 2016
• City of Alexandria tries to censor ATU 981 transit workers - By staff, ATU, June 16, 2016
• Federal regulators must prohibit one-person freight train crews - By staff, Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, June 16, 2016
• Nearly half of NYC private garbage trucks have maintenance issues; drivers say they’re ‘unsafe for everyone’ - By Dan Rivoli, New York Daily News, June 16, 2016
• Toxic Chemicals Found in Residents Living Near Oil and Gas Operations in Pavillion, Wyoming - By Coming Clean, EcoWatch, June 16, 2016
• Payout for widow of forestry worker killed near Stratford - By Jeremy Wilkinson, Stuff, June 3, 2016

Whistleblowers:

• OSHA launches pilot program for severe violators of whistleblower protection laws - By staff, BLR.com, June 7, 2016

By Emile A. Frison - International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems - June 2016

Today’s food and farming systems have succeeded in supplying large volumes of foods to global markets, but are generating negative outcomes on multiple fronts: widespread degradation of land, water and ecosystems; high GHG emissions; biodiversity losses; persistent hunger and micro-nutrient deficiencies alongside the rapid rise of obesity and diet-related diseases; and livelihood stresses for farmers around the world.

Many of these problems are linked specifically to ‘industrial agriculture’: the input-intensive crop monocultures and industrial-scale feedlots that now dominate farming landscapes. The uniformity at the heart of these systems, and their reliance on chemical fertilizers, pesticides and preventive use of antibiotics, leads systematically to negative outcomes and vulnerabilities.

Industrial agriculture and the ‘industrial food systems’ that have developed around it are locked in place by a series of vicious cycles. For example, the way food systems are currently structured allows value to accrue to a limited number of actors, reinforcing their economic and political power, and thus their ability to influence the governance of food systems.

Tweaking practices can improve some of the specific outcomes of industrial agriculture, but will not provide long-term solutions to the multiple problems it generates.

What is required is a fundamentally different model of agriculture based on diversifying farms and farming landscapes, replacing chemical inputs, optimizing biodiversity and stimulating interactions between different species, as part of holistic strategies to build long-term fertility, healthy agro-ecosystems and secure livelihoods, i.e. ‘diversified agroecological systems’.

There is growing evidence that these systems keep carbon in the ground, support biodiversity, rebuild soil fertility and sustain yields over time, providing a basis for secure farm livelihoods.

Data shows that these systems can compete with industrial agriculture in terms of total outputs, performing particularly strongly under environmental stress, and delivering production increases in the places where additional food is desperately needed. Diversified agroecological systems can also pave the way for diverse diets and improved health.

Change is already happening. Industrial food systems are being challenged on multiple fronts, from new forms of cooperation and knowledge-creation to the development of new market relationships that bypass conventional retail circuits.

Political incentives must be shifted in order for these alternatives to emerge beyond the margins. A series of modest steps can collectively shift the centre of gravity in food systems.

Read the report (PDF).

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, May 31, 2016

The following news items feature issues, discussions, campaigns, or information potentially relevant to green unionists:

Lead Stories:

• Niger Delta Avengers militants shut down Chevron oil facility - By Ruth Maclean, The Guardian, May 26, 2016; [related] Who are the Niger Delta Avengers? Deep Sea Divers, Sophisticated Explosives, and Sabotage - By staff, Earth First! Newswire, May 26, 2016; [and]: Local leaders supporting militants attacking Nigerian oil production - By Associated Press, FuelFix, May 27, 2016
• The Oil World in Chaos - By Michael Klare, Tom Dispatch, May 26, 2016
• American Unions Form Alliance to Prevent Climate Disaster and Promote Prosperity - By Joe Uehlein and Jeremy Brecher, Labor Network for Sustainability, May 24, 2016
• Leading US union SEIU makes fighting climate change a campaign priority - By Jana Kasperkevic and Oliver Milman, The Guardian, May 24, 2016
• Progressive Nonprofits That Oppose the New Overtime Rules for Low-Income Workers Are Hypocrites - By Ethan Miller, In These Times, May 23, 2016
• Why the Environmental Movement Is Not Winning - By Peter Montague, Huffington Post, (updated) May 23, 2016

Ongoing Mobilizations:

• Convergence In Support of Eco-Prisoners & Against Toxic Prisons - June 11-13, 2016
• Flush the TPP - Ongoing through 2016 | #FlushtheTPP
• March for a Clean Energy Revolution - July 24, 2016, Philadelphia | #CleanEnergyMarch
• TWAC Cascadia 2016 - August 8th-15th 2016

The Thin Green Line:

• Dangling from a trestle, protesters provoke police - By Elizabeth Floyd Mair, Hudson Valley Earth First!, May 26, 2016
• Supporters of shipping coal through Oakland say it will bring jobs [in fact there will likely be more jobs if coal isn't shipped through Oakland; see No Coal in Oakland's analysis for details] - By Erin Baldassari, East Bay Times, May 24, 2016
• Fracking Comes to the UK for First Time in Five Years Despite Concerns Over Gas Leaks and Safety Breaches - By Victoria Seabrook, DeSmog UK, May 23, 2016 
  

Just Transition:

• Is the real rich v poor climate battle about to start? - By Ed King, Climate Change News, May 27, 2016
• Environmental groups should come to the aid of coal country - By Pete Maysmith, Grand Junction Sentinel, May 22, 2016
• Electrify the Rail System for a Just Transition From Fossil Fuels - By Patrick Mazza and Bill Moyer, Truthout, May 12, 2016

Bread and Roses:

• Food sovereignty and climate change - By La Via Campesina, Climate and Capitalism, May 28, 2016
• United Church of Christ, representing one million followers, endorses Wendy’s boycott! - By staff, Coalition of Immokalee Workers, May 27, 2016
• Insurgency, conflict and communalism in Colombia - By José Antonio Gutiérrez D. and Janet Biehl, ROARmag, May 26, 2016
• ZIMSOFF and Ucama farmers join hands to fight for farmer saved seeds - By staff, La Via Campesina, May 26, 2016
• “As people of faith… we pledge to join the boycott of Wendy’s until Wendy’s commits to justice for the workers that make your profits possible.” - By staff, Coalition of Immokalee Workers, May 25, 2016
• From the Green Revolution to GMOs: Living in the Shadow of Global Agribusiness - By Colin Todhunter, Counterpunch, May 25, 2016
• Kazakhstan: land protesters face police rampage - By Andrei Grishin, People and Nature, May 25, 2016
• Poultry Industry “Sustainability Workshop” Shuts Door to Farmers, Workers, Consumers, Animal Rights Groups - By Jean Willoughby, Rural Advancement Foundation International, May 25, 2016
• Publication: Farm Succession in Romania - By staff, La Via Campesina, May 25, 2016
• Revolt of the ‘Chapulines’: After Strike, Indigenous Mexican Farmworkers Vote To Unionize - By David Bacon, In These Times, May 25, 2016
• Bayer and Monsanto: A Marriage Made in Hell - By Martha Rosenberg and Ronnie Cummins, Organic Consumers Association, May 24, 2016; [related]: Bayer ‘Confident’ It Can Still Strike Deal with Monsanto, Merger Could Spell Disaster for Farmers and Global Food Supply - By Lorraine Chow, EcoWatch, May 26, 2016; [and] Small Farmers Are Foundation to Food Security, Not Corporations Like Monsanto - By Dr. Vandana Shiva, EcoWatch, May 23, 2016
• Bold, fruity, with a hint of RoundUp... - By Christian Kallen, Sonoma Index-Tribune, May 23, 2016
• Unions join the fight to ban glyphosate in the European Union - By staff, European Trade Union Institute, May 23, 2016
• Toxic ‘red tide’ in Chile prompts investigation of salmon farms - By Jonathan Franklin, The Guardian, May 17, 2016

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, May 25, 2016

The following news items feature issues, discussions, campaigns, or information potentially relevant to green unionists:

Lead Stories:

• Breaking Free: A Rising Tide of Climate Resistance - By Amy Goodman and Denis Moynihan, Common Dreams, May 19, 2016
• Explaining the Anthropocene: An interview with Ian Angus - By Socialist Review, Climate and Capitalism, May 18, 2016
• NUMSA statement on silicosis and Aurora judgements - By Irvin Jim, NUMSA, May 17, 2016
• The Hidden Workforce Expanding Tesla’s Factory - By Louis Hansen, San Jose Mercury News, May 15, 2016; [related]: The Slovenian Who Fell 3 Stories Illegally Working On Tesla Paint Shop, and Tesla’s Response - By James Ayre, Clean Technica, May 17, 2016; [and]: Tesla’s labor controversy shows that a green job isn’t always a good job - By Heather Smith, Grist, May 17, 2016
• Iron and Earth: oilsands workers call for training in renewable energy - By David Dodge and Dylan Thompson, Green Energy Futures, May 15, 2016

Ongoing Mobilizations:

• Convergence In Support of Eco-Prisoners & Against Toxic Prisons - June 11-13, 2016
• Flush the TPP - Ongoing through 2016 | #FlushtheTPP
• March for a Clean Energy Revolution - July 24, 2016, Philadelphia | #CleanEnergyMarch
• TWAC Cascadia 2016 - August 8th-15th 2016

The Thin Green Line:

• Concerned Health Professionals Ireland call for frac ban - By Concerned Health Professionals of Ireland, Fracking Free Ireland, May 19, 2016 
  

Just Transition:

• #klimajobber: update on climate jobs in Norway - By Jonathan Neale, Global Climate Jobs, May 20, 2016
• Lançamento da campanha: Empregos para o Clima (Launch of climate jobs at 1 May in Portugal) - By Jonathan Neale, Global Climate Jobs, May 19, 2016
• Bay Area cities can lead the way to 100% clean energy - By Nathan Duran, Sierra Club Yodeler, May 18, 2016
• Film review: 'This Changes Everything' - By Rob Hopkins, Transition Network, May 18, 2016
• Some Say Alameda County's New Green Energy Plan Isn't Green Enough - By Jean Tepperman, East Bay Express, May 18, 2016
• Cracks in Capitalism, Part II: Publicly Owned Energy Comes to London - By Steve Rushton, Occupy.Com, May 16, 2016
• Americans Don’t Miss Manufacturing: They Miss Unions - By Ben Casselman, Five Thirty Eight, May 13, 2016
• From Coal To Code: A New Path For Laid-Off Miners In Kentucky - By Erica Peterson, NPR, May 6, 2016
• The energy fix - By Ruth Nyambura, New Internationalist, May 2016
• 100% Clean Energy Economy Is Much Closer Than You Think - By Marc Gunther, Sierra, May 2016

Bread and Roses:

• Activists, Farmers, Indigenous People Rise Up to March Against Monsanto - By Nika Knight, Common Dreams, May 21, 2016
• How Carbon Farming Can Reverse Climate Change - By Andrea Basche, EcoWatch, May 21, 2016
• Article 19-Right to Land and Other Natural Resources- absolutely unnegotiable - By David Jelinek, La Via Campesina, May 19, 2016
• Mobilisation Call: 2nd NYÉLÉNI Europe Forum For Food Sovereignty - By staff, La Via Campesina, May 19, 2016
• 1.4 million reasons why Publix should join the Fair Food Program… - By staff, Coalition of Immokalee Workers, May 19, 2016
• Chile’s ‘Worst Ever’ Red Tide Kills 20 Million Fish, Prompts Investigation of Salmon Farms - By Lorraine Chow, EcoWatch, May 18, 2016
• What is at stake in the negotiations for a peasant rights' declaration - By Vincent Delobel, La Via Campesina, May 18, 2016
• Blueberry farm workers are striking this morning in protest of wages - By Jeanne Pastore, Kern Golden Empire, May 17, 2016
• How corporate rights protections are threatening farmers' right to seed - By Lois Ross, Rabble.Ca, May 17, 2016
• Signed, sealed, delivered! 300+ Jewish leaders endorse Wendy’s boycott in stinging letter to Nelson Peltz… - By staff, Coalition of Immokalee Workers, May 17, 2016
• ECVC pushes for a united front in defense of Seeds - By staff, La Via Campesina, May 16, 2016
• MST Statement on the suspension of President Dilma Rousseff - By MST National Coordination, La Via Campesina, May 16, 2016
• Nebraska Farmers Sue Monsanto Alleging Roundup Gave Them Cancer - By Lorraine Chow, EcoWatch, May 16, 2016
• Via Campesina and allies in Geneva for next round negotiations on Peasant Rights - By Mohammed Ikhwan and Sandra Moreno Cadena, La Via Campesina, May 16, 2016
• Farmers sue Monsanto over alleged Roundup cancer link - By Nicholas Bergin, Lincoln Journal-Star, May 15, 2016
• Cuomo Decides To Support State Farmworkers After They Sue Him - By Scott Heins, Gothamist, May 11, 2016

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, May 17, 2016

The following news items feature issues, discussions, campaigns, or information potentially relevant to green unionists:

Lead Stories:

• LIVE BLOG: Climate Resistance Breaks Free from Fossil Fuels - By staff, Rising Tide North America, May 14, 2016; [related]: Climate Resistance Escalates Against the Fossil Fuel Empire - By staff, Rising Tide North America, May 14, 2016
• Break Free or Burn in Hell: a Message From the Canadian Tar Sands - By Paul Street, CounterPunch, May 9, 2016
• Exxon scrambles to contain climate crusade - By Andrew Restuccia and Elana Schor, Politico, May 9, 2016
• Is a Fear of Death at the Heart of Capitalism? - By James K. Rowe, The Arrow, April 28, 2016

Ongoing Mobilizations:

• Convergence In Support of Eco-Prisoners & Against Toxic Prisons - June 11-13, 2016
• Flush the TPP - Ongoing through 2016 | #FlushtheTPP
• It’s Time For the Rubber Stamp Rebellion - May 15-22, 2016 | #NoNewPermits #NoPipelines #NoLNG
• March for a Clean Energy Revolution - July 24, 2016, Philadelphia | #CleanEnergyMarch
• TWAC Cascadia 2016 - August 8th-15th 2016

The Thin Green Line:

• Editorial: If coal is too dirty for the U.S., why would Oakland build a dock to export it to Asia? - By The Times Editorial Board, Los Angeles Times, May 9, 2016
• Demonstrators rally in South Philly against refinery expansion - By Dustin Slaughter, Billypenn, May 8, 2016 
  

Just Transition:

• Responding to economic critiques of the Leap Manifesto - By The Redeye Collective, Rabble.Ca, May 11, 2016
• World’s vulnerable must be at the heart of a low carbon transition - By Teresa Ribera and Michael Zammit Cutajar, Climate Change News, May 11, 2016
• Denmark Is Kicking Its Fossil Fuel Habit. Can the Rest of the World Follow? - By Phil McKenna, Inside Climate News, May 10, 2016
• Geothermal Could Put Thousands from Alberta’s Oil and Gas Sector Back to Work - By Carol Linnitt, DeSmog Canada, May 3, 2016

Bread and Roses:

• Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), representing millions, becomes the first major Christian denomination to endorse the Wendy’s boycott! - By staff, Coalition of Immokalee Workers, May 13, 2016; [related]: Official new Wendy’s Boycott website up and running, including a call for endorsements! - By staff, Coalition of Immokalee Workers, May 11, 2016
• Nebraska farmer leaders in Keystone XL battle call for 100% clean energy for all - By Mark Hefflinger, Bold Nebraska, May 12, 2016
• Day of Action in Support of Familias Unidas and San Quintin, MX Farmworkers - By staff, Boycott Sakuma Berries, May 11, 2016; [related]: Driscoll's Workers Call for Global Boycott over Alleged Abuses at World's Biggest Berry Distributor - By Amy Goodman, Democracy Now!, May 6, 2016
• Children in Farm Communities Pay a Steep Price for the Food We Eat - By Elizabeth Grossman, Civil Eats, May 10, 2016
• Brexit or Bremain: Collected Opinions and Resources - By Lynne Davis, Landworkers Alliance, May 9, 2016
• Vietnam police break up protest over fish deaths - By staff and wire, Al Jazeera, May 9, 2016
• Industry benefits but does not pay its dues; Patents are an assault on genetic resources - By Guy Kastler, Agricultures, May 6, 2016
• What Killed Jack McCall? A California Farmer Dies and a Case Against Monsanto Takes Root - By Carey Gillam, Huffington Post, May 6, 2016
• After a Century In Decline, Black Farmers Are Back And On the Rise - By Leah Penniman, Yes!, May 5, 2016

An Injury to One is an Injury to All:

• Federal Toxics Law Still Protecting the Chemical Industry’s Dirty Secrets - By Melanie Benesh, EcoWatch, May 13, 2016
• ‘Indescribable injustice’ - By Ken Ward Jr., Charleston Gazette-Mail, May 13, 2016
• Revision of European legislation on occupational cancers: only a small step forward - By staff, European Trade Union Institute, May 13, 2016
• Worker Killed at Exxon Refinery - By Meagan Parrish, Chem.Info, May 12, 2016
• Don't let the Fort Mac fire turn into feel-good boosterism for the extractive industry; They knew this was coming - By Nora Loreto and Sarah Beuhler, Rabble.Ca, May 9, 2016

Whistleblowers:

• Is the EPA Being Pressured? Environmental Concerns About Syngenta Chemical Removed From EPA Site - By Lisa Graves, PR Watch, May 11, 2016
• Whistleblower Fired for Exposing Flint Mayor’s Plan to Take Water Donations - By Llowell Williams, Care2, May 11, 2016

By Edgar Franks - Front and Centered, April 21, 2016

We at Community to Community (C2C) have been in solidarity with the Boycott Driscoll’s campaign led by Familias Unidas por la Justicia (FUJ) since 2013. We believe that movements are most successful when led by the most affected. It’s not often, if at all, we see a union that is led by indigenous people, FUJ union members are Mixteco and Triqui people and they are dramatically shifting the ways in which we think about farm worker organizing. We have learned from Cesar Chavez and the California farm workers’ strategies on winning contracts using the boycott and in WA State we are continuing that legacy.

FUJ is making history not only in taking on a corporate giant but in the ways they have been able to educate people on the complexities of the food system. Through the boycott of Driscoll’s we are now able to see the dramatic shift that agriculture has been going through. Driscoll’s is an example of why we need a new food system. Apart from the tremendous amount of labor exploitation the fight against Driscoll’s is also about climate and environmental justice.

We can’t call corporate businesses farms or say that they are practicing agriculture. Our campesino way of food production and feeding our people is at odds with the profit/commodity market. Through the industrial agriculture model we see an intensifying use of pesticides and fertilizers, most of which are petroleum based and contribute to ozone depletion. The water that is extracted is drying up our rivers and reservoirs. For example, California is currently going through a historic water shortage mostly due to the amount of water that is used in industrial agriculture.

So when farm workers are calling for a boycott of Driscoll’s berries, it is a much deeper call to action. It is a challenge to all of us to fight for a better way of living and build the food system and economy that we need to thrive in harmony with Mother Earth. We at C2C are working to create a local solidarity economy where profit is not the motive, but living well is the driving factor of our labor. We want food sovereignty for all communities, where communities can decide how to feed their people in an equitable, participatory manner. We want agroecology as the way to build the new food system and to end the corporate industrial model of food production. By doing this we can raise the political consciousness of our people and build solidarity across movements.

By Frances Moore Lappé - Great Transition Initiative, April 2016

By Danny Chivers - New Internationalist, February 9, 2016

‘Why do you keep talking about fossil fuels? Don’t you know that animal agriculture is the biggest cause of global warming? Why don’t you campaign on that? Watch Cowspiracy!’

If you’ve posted anything online about fossil fuels and climate change lately, the chances are you’ve seen a response like this. Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret may have started as a crowdfunded documentary by US filmmakers Kip Andersen and Keegan Kuhn but following a year of online success a new version of the film – executive produced by Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio – has now been launched on Netflix. The film follows Andersen’s investigation into the climate impact of animal agriculture, and his attempts to get a series of large US environmental NGOs to speak to him about it. It’s a compellingly told story, as most of the green groups seem reluctant to answer his questions or to justify their focus on fossil fuels rather than livestock emissions.

The film has built a sizable and vocal following, as evidenced by the critical Cowspiracy-inspired comments that frequently pop up on articles about climate change, bemoaning the lack of coverage of the climate impact of animal agriculture. In Paris for the climate talks in December, there was no escape either. I spotted the headline statistic from the documentary – ‘animal agriculture is responsible for 51 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions’ – emblazoned on at least one placard or banner at most of the protests I attended in Paris. Kip Andersen himself even turned up at the anti-oil protest outside the Louvre, with a film camera and the 51 per cent figure printed on his shirt, presumably to denounce such fossil-fuel-bashing antics as a waste of time compared to stopping the livestock industry.

There’s only one problem with this eye-grabbing stat: it’s a load of manure. Emissions from livestock agriculture – including the methane from animals’ digestive systems, deforestation, land use change and energy use – make up around 15 per cent of global emissions, not 51 per cent. I’ve been vegan for 14 years and have been asked to justify my dietary weirdness at more friend and family meals than I can count, so believe me – I’ve looked into it. If meat and dairy really were the biggest cause of global climate change I’d be trumpeting that statistic myself every chance I got.

But I don’t. Because it’s not true. The 51 per cent number comes from a single non-peer-reviewed report by two researchers – a report littered with statistical errors. This study counts the climate impact of methane from animals as being more than three times more powerful as methane from other sources [1], adds in an inappropriate chunk of extra land use emissions [2], and incorrectly includes all the carbon dioxide that livestock breathe out [3].

Setting aside this deeply flawed paper and looking instead at more reliable studies, we find that livestock’s real climate impacts – methane, land use change, energy use – make up just under 15 per cent of the global total.

The thing is, 15 per cent is still a huge amount, more than all of the world’s cars, ships, trains and planes put together. Environmental campaigners – including large NGOs - certainly should be doing more to tackle it. Which is why the 51 per cent fake statistic is so painfully groan-inducing. It undermines an important argument and makes otherwise well-meaning people look foolish when they use it.