The Killing of a Vibrant Apple Orchard by Shepherd Bliss

by Shepherd Bliss
Writer, Dandelion Salad
June 20, 2013

Image by furbyphotos via Flickr

Do not be deceived by the thin perimeter of a few live apple trees remaining next to Apple Blossom School and the five nearby schools on Watertrough Road with 700 students in the Sebastopol countryside in Sonoma County, Northern California. A glorious, historic 47-acre orchard that nurtured people, wildlife, and the environment thrived there for many decades. Then chain-sawed trees languished on their sides with dying green apples, which will never ripen to red, cut down on June 14. Witnessing this slaughter was enough to make a grown man weep.

Noam Chomsky: The Problem for Latin America With Drugs is the US Demand, and Supply of Arms

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Dandelion Salad

with Noam Chomsky

NACLA’s 45th Anniversary Gala: Noam Chomsky

Ambre Auzanneau Jun 3, 2013

Noam Chomsky is the 2012 recipient of NACLA’s Latin America Peace and Justice Award for his ongoing commitment to social justice in the Americas. The son of Eastern European immigrants, Noam Chomsky is a professor emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a long time friend and supporter of NACLA. His book Turning the Tide: U.S. Intervention in Central America and the struggle for Peace (South End Press, 1985) helped a generation of scholars, activists, and concerned citizens think about the regions different conflicts – in El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Guatemala – as interlocking parts of a single crisis that revealed how the United States had a direct and enduring effect on political and economic policies in the hemisphere.

Seeds Of Death

Dandelion Salad

Image by John Novotny via Flickr

Gary Null May 23, 2013

Mothers and Allies Challenge Wine Industrialist by Shepherd Bliss

Image by furbyphotos via Flickr

by Shepherd Bliss
Writer, Dandelion Salad
May 9, 2013

Half a dozen mothers from small town and rural Sebastopol in Northern California quickly rallied hundreds of people to their side to challenge Sonoma County’s Paul Hobbs Winery. He wants to convert a 40-acre apple orchard into a vineyard that would use pesticides; it borders five schools on Watertrough Road, including Apple Blossom and Orchard View. Together they have around 700 children, as well as many teachers, staff, neighbors and wildlife.

New report: Governments must protect land, food systems as trade liberalization accelerates land grabbing by Sophia Murphy

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Image by Marc Wegerif, Oxfam East Africa via Flickr

by Sophia Murphy
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
March 1, 2013

IATP has always argued that trade agreements need to respect and promote human rights, not drive a process of globalization that privileges commercial interests and tramples on public interests. In a new paper on land grabs, we reaffirm that position.

Organic Farmers Beat US Droughts

Dandelion Salad

Image by Dandelion Salad via Flickr

Sep 30, 2012 by AlJazeeraEnglish

The recent drought in the United States has damaged crops and driven up food prices.

However, organic farmers say that they have fared better, thanks to alternative growing methods.

Al Jazeera’s John Hendren reports from Ottawa, Illiois.

Killing Bees: Are Government and Industry Responsible? + Hope for bees — 48 hours to act!

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Sep 20, 2012 by linktv

A New Dust Bowl? by Chris Williams

Dandelion Salad

Chris Williams, author of Ecology and Socialism: Solutions to Capitalist Ecological Crisis, argues that the drought gripping the U.S. can’t be separated from climate change.
SocialistWorker.org
Aug. 6, 2012

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MORE THAN 50 percent of counties in the United States are now officially designated “disaster” zones. The reason given in 90 percent of cases is the continent-wide drought that has been devastating crop production. Forty-eight percent of the U.S. corn crop is rated as “poor to very poor,” along with 37 percent of soy; 73 percent of cattle acreage is suffering drought conditions, along with 66 percent of land given to the production of hay.

Internet of food: Arduino-based, urban aquaponics in Oakland

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Dandelion Salad

Jun 25, 2012 by kirstendirksen

Moyers and Company: Vandana Shiva on the Problem with Genetically-Modified Seeds

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http://billmoyers.com/
July 13, 2012

Image by DawnOne via Flickr

Bill talks to scientist and philosopher Vandana Shiva, who’s become a rock star in the global battle over genetically modified seeds. These seeds — considered “intellectual property” by the big companies who own the patents — are globally marketed to monopolize food production and profits. Opponents challenge the safety of genetically modified seeds, claiming they also harm the environment, are more costly, and leave local farmers deep in debt as well as dependent on suppliers.

Shiva, who founded a movement in India to promote native seeds, links genetic tinkering to problems in our ecology, economy, and humanity, and sees this as the latest battleground in the war on Planet Earth.

Seeds of Freedom

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Suggested by David Llewellyn Foster. Thank you, David.

Image by entheos via Flickr

by The ABN and The Gaia Foundation

Chris Hedges: Immokalee Workers vs. Publix

with Chris Hedges
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Nov. 16, 2011

Image by Dandelion Salad via Flickr

kombatrock on Nov 14, 2011

On Sunday, Nov 13th at 3 PM, a few dozen tomato pickers from Immokalee will join scores of Sarasota allies to picket outside the Publix that opened this week at 2031 Bay St. Protestors are calling on Publix to take part in the CIW’s Fair Food accords, hailed by the New York Times this summer as “possibly the most successful labor action in the U.S. in 20 years.” The CIW’s Fair Food agreements dramatically lift farmworker wages and improve their work conditions, and are signed by top leaders of the fast-food and foodservice industries, including Taco Bell and McDonald’s, the two stores that sandwich the just opened Publix.

How Hemp Is Used for Food, Clothing, Building Materials and In Cars Like Lotus

Image by greenbird_ontree via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

replaced video Apr. 11, 2014

ŠĩŗĜŕôŵåɭȍҭҭ· on Nov 11, 2010

Hemp is being recognized by more and more people as one of the most versatile plants on the planet.

There are over 25,000 different products that can be made from hemp, some of which include:
– Food
– Clothing
– Building Materials

Let Our Farmers Grow… Hemp, by Ralph Nader

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by Ralph Nader
The Nader Page
Oct. 19, 2011

Image by Gregory Jordan via Flickr

Congressman Ron Paul introduced H.R. 1831, the “Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2011” on May 11th of this year. It is a simple bill at just two pages in length, and it would legalize the growing of industrial hemp in the United States.

Currently farmers can grow industrial hemp only if they have received a permit from the DEA – a prospect that the agency has made all but impossible for decades. Otherwise, it is illegal to grow.

Crops for the Future

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NottmUniversity on Jun 27, 2011

The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus is to co- host the first ever Crops for the Future Research Centre in partnership with the Government of Malaysia.

The centre will be at the heart of an international effort to seek out which crops have the potential to be grown for human sustenance or on a commercial basis for food, pharmaceuticals or biomaterials in the climates of the future.