Eco-Chick · The modern girl's guide to living green & fabulous.

Tell the USDA to Regulate GE/GMOs

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by Kimberly Jordan Allen · 03/17/09

Genetically modified organisms were not sufficiently tested before entering our food chain. Today, more than 60-70% of packaged foods contain ingredients that have been genetically engineered. Loopholes have allowed industry to avoid disclosure regarding genetically altered food products and it is time to demand testing and regulation. Concerned citizens have the chance to voice their concern to the USDA.

The folks at FoodDemocracyNow! have sent out a simple form letter that you can copy and paste. It is time to stop experimenting on our bodies. Do you really want to eat a tomato that contains the genetic information of a grouper?

Here is a copy of the form letter – send yours! You can also contact your local legislators, join grassroots activist groups and work to strike up dialogue with anyone who cares about what they eat!

How to Submit Comments to the USDA:

Include “Docket Number APHIS-2008-0023” at the top of your correspondence or in the subject line of your email.

Online Instructions:

1. Click here to send your comments to the USDA electronically or go to:

http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/component/main?main=DocumentDetail&o=0900006480903a8e

The result with Document ID number “APHIS-2008-0023″ is the Interim Final Rule for comments on Importation, Interstate Movement, and Release into the Environment of Certain Genetically Engineered Organisms

2. Click on the “Add Comment” icon and follow the instructions on the next screen.

Tell USDA to: 1. Withdraw the proposed rule; 2. Release the EIS for public review and comment and to be used as a basis for further rule-making; and 3. Suspend all new GE crop approvals until the above has been satisfactorily completed and unless and until GE crops are proven safe.

SAMPLE LETTER (Please cut and paste)

To whom it may concern,
Docket No. APHIS-2008-0023
Regulatory Analysis and Development
PPD, APHIS, Station 3A-03.8
4700 River Road Unit 118
Riverdale, MD 20737-1238.

Re: Docket No. APHIS-2008-0023, Importation, Interstate Movement, and Release into the Environment of Certain Genetically Engineered Organisms.

I am very concerned about the risks posed by genetically engineered crops. They threaten human health, family farmers, and the environment. I urge USDA to withdraw the proposed rule, publish the Environmental Impact Statement for public review and comment, and suspend all new GE crop approvals in the interim.

After USDA releases the EIS, a comment period of at least 90 days is needed so the public has the opportunity to fully participate in a transparent process on this important issue. This will not only aid in the development of the final EIS but also in the drafting of a new proposed rule. The current proposed rule does little to close the loopholes in the regulations the rule is designed to replace and it creates more gaps than it fills.

Sincerely,
Your Name Here!

car, design, farm, Food, fur, health, local, spa, trike, USDA

Food Democracy Now! Petition Sustainable Choices for the USDA

3 Comments

by Kimberly Jordan Allen · 12/29/08

Food Democracy Now! is a grassroots campaign comprised of farmers, writers, activists, policy advocates and people who eat. A petition is circulating to bring our attention to the desperate need for sustainable practices regarding food. The Food Democracy Now! petition asks President-elect Barack Obama and newly appointed Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack to consider leaders for the Under Secretary level who understand organic and sustainable agriculture.

While some are more concerned with the appointment of Vilsack, Dave Murphy of FoodDemocracyNow! remains hopeful;

We understand that many in the sustainable agriculture community are disappointed with President-elect Obama’s selection of former Iowan Governor as our next Secretary of Agriculture. Concern over his record regarding genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and the proliferation of confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) during his time in office have given many in this community pause over the type of change he may be willing to implement as the head of the USDA. The fact is that many in Iowa who have worked with Gov. Vilsack in the past have always appreciated his willingness to listen to the concerns of family farm and rural advocates and believe that he may be able to realize more progressive change at the USDA as he will not be hampered by a Republican House and Senate as he was as governor. We are also encouraged by the fact that President-elect Obama has committed to payment limitations, eliminating subsidies for factory farms and labeling GMOs in the human food chain.

Twelve sustainable choices are listed at the end of the petition. FoodDemocracyNow! is working hard to get 100,000 signatures by January 1st, 2009. To join the likes of Bill McKibben, Michael Pollan, Wendell Berry and Eric Schlosser, just to name a few, SIGN IT!

agriculture, community, farm, farms, Food, mckibben, Michael Pollan, NYTimes, Obama, Organic, Outdoors, sustainable, USDA

President Obama, Your Secretary of Agriculture Choice is The Most Important of All: Here's Why

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by Melissa Goldberg · 11/07/08

Dear President-elect Obama,

After a long, hard and contentious campaign you’ve won the Presidency of the United States. Congratulations. Take a moment to enjoy your success. Ok, that was long enough. Now let’s down to business.

You well know that you have a long hard road ahead of you, but your first order of business is to choose a cabinet that is strong, thoughtful and will move this country in the right direction. In my opinion, and in the opinions of many people like me, administration environmental jobs should a top order of business. Our crumbling economy will not matter if we cannot breath our air, drink our water, or eat our food. Relieving the credit crunch won’t make a difference if rates of obesity, cancer, diabetes, heart disease continue to rise. Keeping people in their homes, empowering people to buy new cars will become meaningless unless we fix the food system, the water system, and limit the spread of untested genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

That is why I am calling out to you to take a good look at who you appoint as Secretary of Energy, Head Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, Secretary of Interior, Secretary of Agriculture and possibly the new position, Climate Change Czar — or make this a function of the Department of Homeland Defense.

Of all the cabinet level posts you will fill, there is one that is usually a second thought, but in my opinion is as important as State, Treasury and Defense — the Secretary of Agriculture. Our food system is in dire need of a change and the right person might be able to help begin the overhaul necessary.

The Secretary of Agriculture oversees food safety and sets farm policy.  He/she makes recommendations to Congress on which crops should be subsidized, how agricultural laws are enforced, crop-land conservation, and setting the nations nutritional standards and even organic labeling. They also oversee our food stamp program, food distribution during disaster relief efforts, the US Forest Service and the food that is fed to our children in school. That’s a big job.

I have read that former Iowa Governor, Tom Vilsack is on the short list for this position. From the corn state, Vilsack strongly supports ethanol subsidies. He believes that he has changed the corn fields of Iowa into energy fields. To me that sounds like a shift in use, not better agriculture or energy policy. As he stated in an op-ed in the Argus Leader, “If you drive across Iowa today, you will see a changing landscape marked by new ethanol and biofuel production plants and wind farms. As a state, we became more economically, environmentally and energy secure.”

Today, Iowa farmers are still hurting the soil and water by using petroleum-based pesticides and fertilizers. Furthermore, these farmers have shifted corn from feeding the world to ethanol production, which, as we all know, is not helping increase our independence from foreign oil. But with all his good intentions, former Governor Vilsak is too much of an insider to create really change.

I have also read that your short list includes Tom Buis, the President of the National Farms Union and the Congresswoman for South Dakota Stephanie Herseth Sandlin. These two are also agriculture “insiders” who are in the pocket of industrial agriculture who might working in the best interest of the farmers they represent, mostly corporate farming, but neither are strong enough or creative enough to achieve real change we need in the system.

Then there is former Congressman Charles Stenholm (D-TX). Charlie is a conservative Democrat that joined the Republicans to kill a bill that would have prevented sick cattle that are unable to walk from entering the US food supply. (Remember the video released by the Humane Society of downer cows?) While part of the House Agriculture Committee he received more than $800,000 in PAC contributions and took numerous trips sponsored by agriculture lobbyist groups. After leaving Congress he became a lobbyist for the agriculture and food industry. Again, not someone who is going to change our system for the better.

So by now President-elect Obama you must say, well then who?

There is one man out there who is not already in politics, who has examined our foods system from farm to table, and who understands the impact it plays on our environment, our economy and our health. He has intimate knowledge of not only farmers, but also diaries, feed-lots, and food processors. He is not a Washington insider and to top it off he has already laid out a plan for tackling the issues we face. His plan takes into account the impact agriculture has on our climate, energy dependence, the healthcare system, foreign and trade policies and national security.

As states in his own words:

We need to wean the American food system off its heavy 20th-century diet of fossil fuel and put it back on a diet of contemporary sunshine. True, this is easier said than done — fossil fuel is deeply implicated in everything about the way we currently grow food and feed ourselves. To put the food system back on sunlight will require policies to change how things work at every link in the food chain: in the farm field, in the way food is processed and sold and even in the American kitchen and at the American dinner table. Yet the sun still shines down on our land every day, and photosynthesis can still work its wonders wherever it does. If any part of the modern economy can be freed from its dependence on oil and successfully resolarized, surely it is food.

The scribe of this plan called the Sun-Food Agenda is Michael Pollan, the Knight Professor of Journalism at the Graduate School of Journalism at UC-Berkeley, director of the Knight Program in Science and Environmental Journalism and author.

President-elect Obama, I urge you to read Professor Pollan’s plan as laid out in an article in the New York Times Magazine entitled “Farmer In Chief” and stick with what you have been saying throughout your campaign; that America needs real change.

I urge you to consider Michael Pollan for the Secretary of Agriculture. (Or at least consult with him to mine his knowledge on the issues to make the best choice possible for the position.)

Pollan’s plans are not liberal.  They are not conservative.  They are what is best for America.  And most importantly they are achievable.

As Pollan states:

[The] sun-food agenda promises to win support across the aisle. It builds on America’s agrarian past, but turns it toward a more sustainable, sophisticated future. It honors the work of American farmers and enlists them in three of the 21st century’s most urgent errands: to move into the post-oil era, to improve the health of the American people and to mitigate climate change. Indeed, it enlists all of us in this great cause by turning food consumers into part-time producers, reconnecting the American people with the American land and demonstrating that we need not choose between the welfare of our families and the health of the environment — that eating less oil and more sunlight will redound to the benefit of both.

This is a new era for America and Michael Pollan may just be The Change We Need.

Yes We Can!

Best,

Green Luvin’

agriculture, goverment, USDA

Miessence: Organic Food for My Skin

11 Comments

by Ann Benoit · 06/24/08

My personal quest to find a skin care line that isn’t toxic like most conventional skin products and WORKS is finally over! I recently discovered a brand, Miessence owned by Australian based company, ONE (Organic and Natural Enterprise) Group that perfectly fits those 2 needs.

Since that time, I’ve become a true Miessence addict! Their price range is comparable to something you would buy from Aveda or Origins, but the ingredients are sooo much better. Miessence has signed the The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, and their products are certified USDA Organic, Australian Certified Organic, and certified by the Biological Farmers of Australia.

Miessence® is currently the only skin care product on the planet that has submitted to, and complies with, the rigorous processing and labelling requirements for certified organic food products.

So, in my book if it’s good enough to eat, then its good enough to put on my face! And more importantly, all of their products are amazing and make my skin look + feel great.

Right now I’m in love with their Balancing Line (for combination skin) of face products. I would recommend ordering a bunch of their samples to try out all their lines to see which one works best since their sample sachets are only $1 and that way you don’t have to commit. In additional to a traditional skin care line, they also sell shampoo and cosmetics (I’m going to try these next). Right now they only sell online. If you’re ordering from the U.S. go here.

Australia, book, car, cosmetics, farm, Food, Home, Organic, organic food, Shampoo, skin, Skin Care, Tea, USDA

Organic Snap, Crackle, & Pop

5 Comments

by Danelle Brown · 08/03/06

A great memory of being a kid in the early 80’s was Saturday mornings cartoons on ABC beginning at 8:00am and then a good old bowl of Kellogg’s Rice Krispies. Today, there are hardly any great cartoons on at all on Saturday mornings for children, but now at least there is organic Rice Krispies. Kellogg’s has just introduced to the grocery shelves, Organic Raisin Bran, Rice Krispies, and Shredded Wheat.

Theses cereals adhere to the strict regulations for which the USDA Certified Organic standards mandate. Kellogg’s have now, for these particular cereal at least, introduced sustainable farming methods that eliminate pesticides and chemical fertilizers. I wonder what will happen with the rest of their cereals. Since Kellogg’s is such a major power house company in the food industry, will they be able to influence others in the industry to practice sustainable farming methods? This is a great step.

car, children, farm, farming, Food, Organic, spa, style, sustainable, USDA