Help Stop GE Crops in California!

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Help Stop GE Crops in California!

Become a Regional Organizer

January, 2005

 

Last year, Californian's for GE_Free Agriculture trained teams of

people from 13 counties in California to take local action to protect

their communities against the potential agricultural, ecological,

economic, and health dangers of GE organisms. In the same year, three

counties and one city passed local initiatives to restrict the

production of GE crops and other organisms in their regions.

 

In order to send a strong message to politicians, the media and the

biotechnology industry about consumer and farmer opposition to GE,

and to ensure that our local communities are protected from genetic

contamination, we must continue to organize at the local level and

network across California.

 

It is Cal GE-Free's goal to increase the number of active GE-Free

groups to 20. These groups will be locally autonomous, but connected

to the Cal GE-Free statewide network. We would like you to be one of

these groups by forming a team of 2 to 4 people to attend a Regional

Organizer training, with the goal of launching a local campaign.

 

WHAT CAN YOU LOOK FORWARD TO DURING THE TRAINING?

 

Occidental Arts and Ecology Center (www.oaec.org) will host the

trainings. On their 80 acres of beautiful organic gardens, ponds and

wilderness, you will enjoy a sustainable living experience, complete

with delicious organic meals, a hot tub, sauna and swimming pond, and

yurt dormitories or tent accommodations.

 

The trainings will cover a range of topics including:

 

Issue briefings on a variety of topics including: state, national and

international updates, patents and farmers' rights, regulatory and

legal issues, and global resistance to GE.

 

Skills development workshops on: media outreach, community mapping

and power analysis, local campaign development, tactics and messages,

meeting with decision makers, farmer outreach, organizing and

facilitating meetings, democratic decision making methods and local

fundraising.

 

Your group will leave the training with a specific local campaign

plan and timeline, plus the confidence and skills needed to make it

happen!.

 

We will provide food, accommodation and travel scholarships, as well

as ongoing support through the coming year from our staff to help

implement your plan.

 

HOW TO APPLY

 

We are looking for people who can actively participate in the Cal GE-

Free

network as a regional organizer for one year and commit 20 hours per

month, have

a strong commitment to sustainable agriculture, good communication

skills, and

are willing to work on both local campaigns and collaborative

statewide efforts.

We will give priority to groups of 2-4 people who live in the same

region and

will be attending the training together.

 

For more information and to get involved, check out

http://www.calgefree.org, or

email Renata Brillinger at renata

 

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Sonoma County, California - next county to go GE-Free?

 

GE Free Campaign Gathers Record Number of Signatures

Grassroots Coalition Certain to Qualify for Ballot

 

Santa Rosa, California Advocates for a moratorium on genetically

engineered

crops turned in 45,387 petition signatures today, shattering the

previous Sonoma

County record of less than 33,000. Despite torrential rain in the

past few

weeks, nearly one in five County voters stopped to sign the petition

and show

their support.

 

I talked with people from all ages and backgrounds, all walks of

life, and I

found broad and enthusiastic support every time I went out, said

Christina

Hoex, a Radiologic Technologist at Memorial Hospital in Santa Rosa,

who gathered

over 1500 signatures from people throughout Sonoma County.

 

The signatures were gathered by over 500 volunteers, also a county

record.

Campaign Coordinator Daniel Solnit called the results A real

victory. This

represents an incredible amount of dedication and hard work by

hundreds of

people who took time out of their busy lives, time from work and

family, to make

this happen. Most of our volunteers are not activists, they have not

been

involved in campaigns before, but care deeply about protecting our

food and

farms from this threat.

 

This has been an incredible experience, said Linda Vaccaraza, a

mother of two

and resident of Sonoma, I took time off of work to gather signatures

because

this is so important for my childrens future. We have to know what

is being

done to our food, and that what our kids eat is safe.

 

Derek Trowbridge, winegrower and owner of Old World Winery in

Windsor, said,

Its plain good sense to put a ten-year moratorium on GE crops in

Sonoma County

-- that will give growers time to assess the dangers and possible

benefits of GE

technologies. The risk of contamination of our farms is so serious

that passing

this initiative is our only recourse.

 

Observers consider the anti-GMO measure to be more moderate and

better written

than similar measures passed in Mendocino and Marin Counties last

year. Dave

Henson, Director of Occidental Arts and Ecology Center and the

primary author of

the initiative, spent several months consulting with local farmers,

scientists,

and public officials. In drafting the initiative, we wanted to get

perspectives

from as many stakeholders as possible. I think we succeeded. This

measure really

protects our farmers, our local agricultural economy, and our

environment from

the potential risks of genetic contamination and loss of markets.

 

The initiative prevents contamination of Sonoma Countys agriculture

and

environment by placing a ten- year moratorium on the propagation,

cultivation,

raising, growing, sale or distribution of transgenic organisms within

the

county. The measure makes exceptions for agricultural or medical

research, and

exempts human food and animal feed products. The County Board of

Supervisors

would be able to amend the law by unanimous vote. If passed, the ban

would be

enforced by the Sonoma County Agriculture Commissioner, who would

ensure that

prohibited GE organisms are destroyed or removed from the county.

Violators who

knowingly grow or raise GE crops or animals could be charged for all

abatement

costs, and fined a civil penalty of up to $1,000.

 

 

Kick over the wall 'cause government's to fall

How can you refuse it?

Let fury have the hour, anger can be power

D'you know that you can use it?