Organic Bytes: Organics & 2006 Elections

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Fri, 18 Aug 2006 13:20:06 -0700 (PDT)

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Organic Bytes: Organics & 2006 Elections

 

 

 

Oganic Consumers

 

 

ORGANIC BYTES: Organics & 2006 Elections

 

8/17/2006

 

Written and edited by Craig Minowa and Ronnie Cummins

 

IN THIS ISSUE

 

* HELP IDENTIFY THE " REAL ORGANIC CANDIDATES " IN THE 2006 ELECTIONS

* FORWARD, FORWARD, FORWARD!

* DON'T READ THIS PARAGRAPH

(UNLESS YOU'RE READY FOR AN ELECTORAL REVOLUTION)

* FACTORY FARMS SEEK " GRASS-FED " LABEL

* BENEFITS OF GRASS-FED BEEF AND DAIRY

* THE 100 MILE DIET

* RELATED QUOTE OF THE WEEK

* PRODUCT PLUNDER OF THE WEEK: PEPSI & COKE

* WEB VIDEO OF THE WEEK: SPY CHIPS

 

 

 

 

 

HELP IDENTIFY THE " REAL ORGANIC CANDIDATES " IN THE 2006 ELECTIONS

The time has come to put organic and related issues on the table for

the 2006 elections. Please help us identify local, state, and

Congressional politicians seeking office in 2006 who support policies

that move us toward a more democratic, healthy, sustainable and

re-localized society--with organic agriculture and Fair Trade leading

the way. Please take a moment to help OCA's lobbying partner, the

Organic Consumers Fund (OCF), identify our real friends and champions.

This ambitious, people-powered political candidate survey has the

potential to impact local, state, and federal election races across

the country.

 

Please go now to the OCF voter action page and follow the step-by-step

instructions to encourage candidates in your area to take part in the

" Organic Consumers 2006 Political Candidate Survey. " Once your local,

state, and Congressional candidates respond, the OCF website will

automatically rank them in terms of their response on key issues of

health, justice, and sustainability. It's a whole lot easier than you

might think, and the results will have a powerful impact. Please

locate candidates in your area and send them the survey here:

http://www.organicconsumersfund.org/voterguide.cfm

 

_

FORWARD, FORWARD, FORWARD!

There are literally thousands of candidates running for office in the

2006 elections. In order to see how they rank in the " Organic

Consumers 2006 Political Survey " they need to have someone in their

district request that they take part in the Survey. Please forward

this email to friends and family all over the country and ask them to

take a couple of minutes to find out how their candidates stand on

issues that are crucial to organic consumers and all Americans. Thank you!

 

_

 

 

DON'T READ THIS PARAGRAPH

(UNLESS YOU'RE READY FOR AN ELECTORAL REVOLUTION)

The Organic Consumers Fund is a unique and totally grassroots lobbying

organization. Every year, agribusiness, biotech, and other powerful

special interest groups spend hundreds of millions of dollars lobbying

public officials to pass and change legislation in their favor. It's

time that we, organic consumers and farmers, make our voices

heard--from Main Street to the halls of Congress. To revitalize the

country and move in an organic and sustainable direction, we've got to

translate our already formidable economic clout in the marketplace

into a political force. To do this we need your help. We will not take

money from the corporate special interests. All we have is you, the

grassroots. The OCF's goal is to raise $50,000 in grassroots donations

over the next 30 days, so that we can spread our Candidate Survey to

thousands of candidates and follow up with phone calls, emails, and

other lobbying efforts. Later in the fall we'll publish our Voter

Guide, to help people decide who deserves their vote. Our country, as

you know, is facing a terrible crisis, whether we are talking about

public health, environmental sustainability, a democratic media and

elections, or peace and justice. Help us begin to move in New

Directions by putting organic issues on the table in the 2006 elections.

Donate now: http://organicconsumersfund.org/donations.cfm

 

_

 

 

FACTORY FARMS SEEK " GRASS-FED " LABEL

For most people, the concept of beef labeled as " grass-fed " means

animals roaming in pastures, freely grazing on the grasses and forage

that ruminants have evolved over eons to digest. Now the USDA has

proposed federal regulations that would allow the meat from factory

farm animals, injected with antibiotics and hormones, who are fed corn

and grain rather than being raised on pasture to be labeled as

" grass-fed. " Literally no one supports this proposed regulation other

than large beef corporations who would like a federal license to

defraud consumers and put family scale farmers and ranchers who still

pasture their animals out of business. If you'd like to comment on

this issue, letters should reference Docket #LS-05-09 and be mailed

to: Chief, Standardization Branch, Livestock and Seed Program, AMS,

USDA, Room 2607-S, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC

20250-0254

Learn more: http://www.organicconsumers.org/2006/article_1496.cfm

 

 

 

 

BENEFITS OF GRASS-FED BEEF AND DAIRY

 

* Animals raised on factory farms are routinely fed genetically

modified grains, slaughterhouse waste, chicken manure, and municipal

garbage.

* Because ruminants have evolved to eat fibrous grasses (not

starchy low fiber grain) they are more prone to disease when they are

reared on a diet of grains rather than pasture and pasture forage.

* Compared to corn and grain-fed cattle, beef and dairy products

from grass-fed animals have higher levels of vitamin E, beta-carotene,

vitamin C, andomega-3 fatty acids

* The manure from pasture-fed animals is easily taken up by the

soil as natural fertilizer. In factory farm feedlots, the animals are

confined to such a small space, the manure collects and runs-off into

area waterways, increasing algae and bacteria levels.

 

Source: http://www.eatwild.com

 

_

 

 

THE 100 MILE DIET

The everyday-American meal contains an assortment of foods that have

traveled an average of 2,000 miles to get from farm to fork. For those

concerned about energy conservation, greenhouse gases, and oil

dependence, the types of food we choose to eat are as important as the

types of cars we choose to drive (or avoid). Industrial agriculture

and long-distance food transportation generate between 20-25% of all

climate destabilizing greenhouse gases in the U.S. Given this fact,

buying food that is locally or regionally grown can dramatically

reduce energy consumption and greenhouse pollution.. The local food

movement has received a recent boost with the new trend of the " 100

mile diet, " the brainchild of Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon. " We're

the kind of people that ride our bikes everywhere, so we wondered why

we were going to all this effort when our food was flying around the

world, " says Smith. The diet trend, which requires participants to

only eat foods grown within a 100 mile radius, is catching on across

North America. Philadelphia journalist Elisa Ludwig took up the 100

mile diet for 12 days to learn more about the foods she eats. " If

eating local is a moral imperative, then every meal is an opportunity

to do the right thing, " says Ludwig, who kept a daily journal of the

experience.

Read her journal entries here:

http://www.organicconsumers.org/2006/article_1463.cfm

 

 

 

 

RELATED QUOTE OF THE WEEK

" Having raised the earth's temperature 1 degree Fahrenheit in the last

three decades, we're facing another increase of 4 degrees over the

next century. That would imply changes that constitute practically a

different planet. It's not something we can adapt to. We can't let it

go on another 10 years like this. "

 

Source: NASA's Goddard Space Institute Director James Hansen speaking

to the Washington Post about how NASA's computer models are predicting

the quick progression of global climate change.

 

 

 

 

PRODUCT PLUNDER OF THE WEEK: PEPSI & COKE

After repeated discoveries of dangerously high pesticides levels in

Coke and Pepsi products in India, six states have announced bans of

the products in schools and hospitals. In response, the U.S. Under

Secretary for International Trade, Frank Lavin, has threatened India

with withdrawals of foreign investment. Although the Indian Centre for

Science and the Environment have confirmed previous studies, and found

levels of pesticides 24 times the legal limit in the Indian-made

soft-drinks, New York-based spokesman for PepsiCo's international

division, Dick Detwiler, said of the situation, " All of the data and

all of the science point to the fact our products in India are

absolutely safe. "

Learn more: http://www.organicconsumers.org/2006/article_1511.cfm

 

 

WEB VIDEO OF THE WEEK: SPY CHIPS

An increasing number of marketers are apparently implanting Radio

Frequency Identification Devices (RFID) into products to monitor

consumer behavior after they leave stores. The tiny chips, hidden

unnoticeably in the product or its packaging, can be read though your

homes walls, thereby allowing marketers to know exactly when and where

you are using a specific product. Marketers claim it's completely

legal, while opponents refer to them as " spy chips " . Check out this

website to see a short animated video depicting some of RFID's current

capabilities: http://www.spychips.com/RFIDclothingstoredemo.html

 

__

 

We rely on your donations to continue our work on these important issues!

Donate now: http://organicconsumersfund.org/donations.cfm

 

 

 

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Please forward this publication to family and friends, place it on

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Organic Consumers Fund

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Little Marais, MN 55614

Phone: (218)- 226-4164 Fax: (218) 353-7652

 

 

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