New Senate Bill Would Legalize Hemp Nationwide as an Agricultural Product

(TIM) — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) announced he will introduce a new bill on Monday that would legalize hemp, a non-psychoactive relative of marijuana, as an agricultural product. The bill is co-sponsored by Sens. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Rand Paul(R-KY). In addition to legalization, the Hemp Farming Act of 2018 would remove the product from the federal government’s schedule of controlled substances, while […]

Crazy for Grass

In 1999, Jon Taggart converted the 900 acres of crops on his recently purchased 1,400-acre ranch in Grandview, Texas, into 900 acres of native grasses. Then he launched his 100% grass-fed beef business.

Everyone, including the “people in the cow business and people in the meat business” said he was crazy.

But in 2011, when Texas was hit with a drought that dragged on for nearly 18 months, Taggart was one of the few ranchers who was able to keep on doing business as usual, while other ranchers had to move their cattle out to more fertile ground.

While acres of GMO corn and soy on many of the state’s ranches shriveled up and died, the deep-rooted, “warm season grasses, cool-season grasses, grasses that germinate early and grasses that germinate later” on Taggart’s ranch survived.

And so did Taggart.

Taggart, recently featured in an ABC News “Food Forecast” segment, calls himself a pioneer in the grass-fed, grass-finished—also known as 100% grass-fed—meat industry. But he’s the first to admit he isn’t doing anything new.

“Cows are ruminant animals. They have four parts to their stomach for a reason, and that’s so they can digest grass, which we don’t very well, and convert it to a protein that we can consume. They were designed to eat grass. This system worked for a few million years before we got here. It’s designed to work that way and it works very well if you just get out of the way and let it happen.”

And happening it is.

Read ‘Saving the Soil—and Their Ranches—by Raising 100% Grass-Fed Beef’

Watch the video

h/t: Organic Consumers Organization

The post Crazy for Grass appeared first on The Sleuth Journal.

WW3 Preparations: Amidst Drought North Korean Officials Raid Homes And Farms To Feed Army

North Korean officials are ransacking homes and raiding farms in order to feed their starving army.  Not only has the drought taken its toll on the nation, but this newest harsh seizure of food is causing internal clashes between the civilians and the army.

Soldiers for the communist regime had already been given long periods of leave in order to try to find food and make money to purchase food. However, it hasn’t been enough. Collective farms are suffering due to drought and poor harvests, leading officials to ransack farms and homes in order to find any stored food or money that might benefit the army, Daily NK reports.

While North Korean citizens are used to officials searching for food and asking for bribes, their use of increasingly brutal tactics to feed a starving army has led to reported clashes between troops and citizens. Farms in the country have not been able to meet quotas, and in response, officials are giving them new assignments.

“We are suffering because collective farms in our region did not have a good harvest last year and so we were unable to fulfill the mandatory quota for military provisions. All individuals who weren’t able to meet the demands have been receiving additional assignments since the very beginning of January,” a source in South Hamgyong Province reported to Daily NK. “This year, we have to postpone our farm work due to this ‘extremely urgent’ task of gathering food for the military,” the source said.

In the past, individuals were allowed to take leave from farm work to obtain money for fertilizer or farm equipment.  But this year, any money is being used to procure food and other items for military use.

“Last year, most of this region, including the Taehongdan, Pochon, Samjiyon, and Paekam areas, were not able to meet their military provision quotas. These demands are pushing people to their wits’ end,” said a separate source in the Ryanggang Province. “Sometime in spring, the collective farms that are behind on their quotas will have some of their constituents provide frozen potatoes, which are processed by peeling and drying before presentation to the authorities. But many also call the season the ‘time when thieves (in this case, the farm authorities) rear their ugly heads,‘” he added.

Famine is believed to have previously killed millions of people in the hermit kingdom. The communist regime prioritizes sending food and resources to the military and high ranking government officials over its general population.

Antibiotic-Resistance: Bad Bug

We know that the routine use of antibiotics on factory farms led to antibiotic-resistance and a huge public health crisis.

Now new research by scientists at Dalian University of Technology in China have uncovered another factory farm-related source of antibiotic resistance: antibiotic-resistant genes in the fishmeal, meat-and-bone meal and chicken meal fed to animals imprisoned in factory farms.

The Independent reports that researchers have determined that fishmeal, “one of the most globally traded commodities,” is serving as “a vehicle to promote antibiotic-resistant gene dissemination internationally.”

What happens when antibiotics can no longer kill harmful bacteria? Major (but all too often routine) surgery—caesarean sections, hip replacements, organ transplants and cancer chemotherapy—become “very high risk.”

What happens if we don’t fix the superbugs problem? By 2050, 10 million people could die every year.

Read ‘Antibiotic-Resistant Genes Are Being Spread All Over the World in Animal Feed, Scientists Discover’

Read the research report

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Farmer Charged, Fined $2.8 Million, for Plowing His Own Property in the ‘Land of the Free’

Modesto, CA — (RT) The US Army Corps of Engineers and state authorities are seeking almost $3 million in fines from a California farmer because residue from plowing polluted creeks on his property, under environmental rules the Trump administration wants to abolish.

Federal authorities are charging John Duarte of Modesto for not obtaining permits to discharge dredged or fill material into seasonal wetlands that are considered waters of the United States, the Redding Record Searchlight reported this week.

“The case is the first time that we’re aware of that says you need to get a [US Army Corps of Engineers] permit to plow to grow crops,” said Anthony Francois, a lawyer for the Pacific Legal Foundation, a libertarian nonprofit working on Duarte’s behalf. “We’re not going to produce much food under those kinds of regulations.”

Duarte, whose nursery business in Modesto bills itself as the “largest permanent crops nursery in the United States,” bought 450 acres of land in Tehama County in 2012. He hired consultants to map out areas that drained into Coyote and Oat creeks, which were subject to federal regulations, the Record Searchlight reported. He plowed around those and planted a wheat crop.

In February 2013, however, the Army Corps and California’s Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board accused him of not obtaining a permit to deposit drainage into the waters. When Duarte sued the Army Corps and the state for not granting him a hearing, they counter-sued him for violating the Clean Water Act. In June last year, US District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller sided with the government.

Duarte literally became a poster case for repealing the rules, when Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) used a photograph of his furrows as a backdrop during the confirmation hearings for Scott Pruitt, President Donald Trump’s nominee to head the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

READ MORE:  "Officer of the Year" Caught Sexually Preying on Young Girl, She Thought of Him as a "Father Figure"

A week after Pruitt was confirmed, Trump signed an executive order directing the EPA to start repealing the Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule.

“It was a massive power grab,” Trump said at the signing, adding that the EPA applied it to “nearly every puddle or every ditch on a farmer’s land.”

Duarte called Trump’s actions “absolutely timely and very important,” according to the Los Angeles Times. “I hope they’re very broad because what’s happening to my family and myself is just an example of the kind of escalation we’re seeing nationwide,” he added.

According to court documents filed by the US Attorney’s Office in Sacramento, Duarte used a tractor equipped with a “ripper” that has seven 36-inch (91 cm) shanks and dug an average of 10 inches (25 cm) into the soil, damaging wetland areas.

Francois, however, says the federal law explicitly allows farmers to plow their fields.

“A plain reading of the rules says you don’t need a permit to do what he did,” Francois told the Record Searchlight. “How do you impose a multimillion [dollar] penalty on someone for thinking the law says what it says?”

“Even under the farming exemption, a discharge of dredged or fill material incidental to the farming activities that impairs the flow of the waters of the United States still requires a permit because it changes the chemical, physical and biological integrity of the waters,” the government said in the complaint.

In addition to the fine, the government is asking the judge to order Duarte to smooth out the disturbed soil, replant native plants, and maybe even purchase other wetlands to compensate for the damages.

READ MORE:  One Guy Flexing His Rights Vs. Three Cops. This is How its Done!

Big Dairy Continues War Against Farmers and Raw Milk

Increasing numbers of Americans are seeking out unpasteurized, or raw, dairy products — both for the health benefits and the flavor. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), meanwhile, has released a report that’s clearly an attempt to squelch the growing enthusiasm for obtaining farm-fresh foods like raw milk and cheese.¹

The report is only an estimate, made using a model relying on publicly available outbreak data, so it’s far from an exact science. Further, the outbreak numbers are very small. According to the report, dairy consumption causes an average of 760 illnesses and 22 hospitalizations a year. Of those, they claim that 96 percent are caused by contaminated unpasteurized milk.

Statements made in the study suggest it may be used as cannon fodder for government to act against the interest of food freedom, especially in terms of loosening the nonsensical regulations that make it difficult if not impossible for so many Americans to access this natural food.

For instance, the CDC said: “An easing of regulations has allowed greater access to unpasteurized milk in recent years, and this study shows that illnesses and hospitalizations will rise as consumption of unpasteurized dairy products increases” — an assumption that paves the way for raw milk regulations, already a topic of heated debate, to be tightened.

Also curious is the fact that the study specifically looked at raw dairy contaminated with escherichia coli (E. coli), salmonella, listeria and campylobacter — the latter of which is commonly found contaminating produce and CAFO (concentrated animal feeding operation) chickens!

Campylobacter — No. 1 Cause of Food Poisoning in the US — Is a CAFO Chicken Bug

Salmonella has been the leading cause of foodborne illness in the U.S. for the last 20 years, but as of 2016 it’s been unseated by campylobacter. In April 2017, the CDC released a preliminary report stating that 8,547 cases of the more than 24,000 foodborne infections reported in 2016 were caused by campylobacter (compared to 8,172 caused by salmonella).²

It’s likely not a coincidence that these two bugs are then singled out as major drivers of outbreaks related to unpasteurized dairy. The CDC report noted, ” … [O]utbreak-related illnesses will increase steadily as unpasteurized dairy consumption grows, likely driven largely by salmonellosis and campylobacteriosis.”³

It seems strange to peg campylobacter as a “raw milk germ,” when it’s regularly detected in CAFO chicken sold in U.S. supermarkets. According to the CDC, “Campylobacter was found on 47 percent of raw chicken samples bought in grocery stores and tested through the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS).”⁴ The CDC also states:⁵

“Most cases of campylobacteriosis are associated with eating raw or undercooked poultry meat or from cross-contamination of other foods by these items … Even one drop of juice from raw chicken meat can have enough campylobacter in it to infect a person!

One way to become infected is to cut poultry meat on a cutting board, and then use the unwashed cutting board or utensil to prepare vegetables or other raw or lightly cooked foods.”

Also revealing, while campylobacter is the bacteria responsible for most cases of foodborne illness, leafy greens are actually the No. 1 source of food poisoning in the U.S, accounting for nearly half of all illnesses.⁶ It would seem to be a mystery why, then, raw dairy is considered worthy of banning, until you understand that it’s seen as a direct competitor to Big Dairy.

Preventing Farmers From Selling Raw Milk to You Facilitates Price Fixing, Consolidation of Big Dairy

The war against raw milk has been one of the most successful, fear-based campaigns ever created to monopolize an industry. As long as farmers are prevented from selling to consumers directly, processors can and do price fix the market, ultimately leading to the intentional destruction of small, family dairy farms and consolidation of CAFO dairy farms using taxpayer-funded subsidies.⁷

As CAFOs became the norm for dairy farms (even in idyllic-seeming dairy states like Vermont), farmers were forced to grow their herds and increase milk production using artificial (drug and hormone-based) methods, among others (like feeding cows an unnatural amount of grain-based food, 24-hour confinement and increased number of milkings per day).

The price of milk is now so low that an average-sized dairy farm in Vermont (about 125 cows) is operating at a loss of $100,000 a year. It’s gotten so bad that farmers in Vermont only get about $14 for 11.6 gallons of milk, which cost about $22 to produce. So they’re essentially paying about $8 to sell 11.6 gallons of milk.⁸

Corporate Giants Benefit When Milk Prices Tank

In 2016, the industrial dairy industry dumped 43 million gallons of milk due to a massive milk glut. The glut was the result of a 2014 spike in milk prices, which encouraged many dairy farmers to add more milk cows to their farms. U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) data showed that dairy cows increased by 40,000 in 2016, with a 1.4 percent increase in production per cow.

With too much milk and nowhere to sell it, prices tanked. Milk prices declined 22 percent in recent months to $16.39 per 100 pounds — a price so low some farmers could no longer afford to even transport it to the market.⁹ As VT Digger reported:¹⁰

“The only happy faces in the Vermont dairy industry are Ben & Jerry’s, Cabot Cheese, Dean Foods, and a few other conventional milk users. They are happy because they are making huge profits at the same time that milk prices to farmers are hovering in the $13 to $15 range for 100 pounds of milk (11.6 gallons). The farmers are not happy since they are hemorrhaging money — lots of money — since it costs about $22 to produce that 100 pounds of milk.

Both St. Albans Co-op, which supplies Ben & Jerry’s, and Agri-Mark, which supplies Cabot, have been losing an increasing number of farmers to bankruptcy because of too much conventional milk and low prices; all this, while their corporate profits soar.”

Raw Milk Cheese Culture Is Booming in the US

Raw milk cheese is so common in Europe that you can even find it in vending machines, while in the U.S. federal regulators have been threatening to ban raw milk products, including raw cheese, due to what they claim are increased safety risks — safety risks that have been greatly overblown.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) surveyed more than 1,600 raw milk cheeses in 2014 and found only 10 of them, or 0.62 percent, contained listeria.¹¹ Not to mention that, in the U.S., raw milk cheese is aged 60 days before being sold to consumers. In some types of cheeses, such as Gruyere, this process leads to a lower-moisture, more acidic environment that discourages the growth of pathogens like listeria.¹² And there’s a reason why many award-winning cheeses are made from raw milk.

Piero Sardo, president and scientific adviser of the Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity and Cheese, explains some of them in the video above.¹³ Pennsylvania cheesemaker Sue Miller also explained to Mother Nature Network:¹⁴

“There are all these great enzymes living in the milk when it’s raw that create flavor profiles. When milk is pasteurized, they get extinguished so you have to add cultures to accentuate the flavors of the milk … I’d love for people to really try raw milk cheese. In Europe people don’t want pasteurized cheese. They know how good raw milk cheese is.”

‘Food Freedom’ Bill in North Dakota Excludes Raw Milk

As more Americans demand the right to purchase and consume locally sourced food of their own choosing, increasing numbers of states are introducing legislation to loosen restrictions regarding intrastate sales of raw milk. Raw milk, by the way, is the only food banned from interstate commerce.

In North Dakota, House Bill 1433 would have allowed farmers to sell raw milk directly to consumers. As it stands, North Dakotans who wish to purchase raw milk must purchase a share of the cow or herd. The “Food Freedom” bill also includes other measures, like a cottage food operator provision that allows people to produce and package food made in a home kitchen, as well as an exemption from grading eggs that come from a producer’s own flock.

Well, the bill passed easily in April 2017 — but only after the raw milk sales were removed.¹⁵ In Montana, meanwhile, House Bill 325 was voted down by the Senate. The bill would have allowed for limited sales of raw milk.¹⁶ However, efforts continue across the U.S. to expand access to raw milk and, in so doing, protect people’s right to eat and drink what they please. The Durango Herald reported:¹⁷

“Efforts to legalize raw milk sales in some form have succeeded in 42 states, and expansion pushes are ongoing this year in states including Illinois, Massachusetts, Montana, New Jersey, Rhode Island, North Dakota and Texas.”

State Rep. Nancy Balance, who sponsored the Montana bill, added, “It’s time for the state government to get out of our kitchens and end this control of what we choose to eat and drink.” Sen. Anne Gobi of Massachusetts, who sponsored a state bill that would allow farmers with 12 or fewer cows or goats to sell raw milk, further told the Herald:¹⁸

“Raw milk is one area that can help farmers to sustain and grow their dairy business … The opportunity to be able to create a larger market and better marketing ability will be a great assist to our farmers.”

Your help is needed. Please DONATE NOW to support raw milk farmers and help provide funds so they can continue with the tough legal challenges that are required to fend off these government assaults against our right to quality GMO-free, soy-free and organic grassfed foods from the farmers we know and respect. To be an important part of this fight please consider helping with any amount you can.

What’s Really Causing Massive Rates of Foodborne Illness?While the CDC continues to point the finger at raw milk, the reality is that large-scale food production and global distribution means that if bacteria are present, they quickly contaminate massive batches of food, which gets widely distributed, sometimes globally. Even the dangerous and increasingly drug-resistant Clostridium difficile may be spreading via food distribution, according to preliminary research presented at the 27th European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases.¹⁹

The absurdity of targeting raw milk becomes even clearer when contrasted with the real culprits in many cases of food-borne illness: CAFOs. The majority of foods that are making people sick are not coming from small organic farms selling raw milk products. They’re coming from CAFOs and the mega-companies that use their products, along with processed foods. Listeria may live inside the tissue of romaine lettuce leaves, which means even sanitizing it may not remove the pathogen.²⁰

In 2017, salmonella was also detected in jalapeno-flavored potato chips²¹ and frozen brownies (packaged alongside frozen chicken nuggets and macaroni and cheese),²² while listeria was found in frozen pizzas.²³ The bottom line is that bad bugs are found in many food products during random sampling, which means, if you use the same justification used to vilify raw milk, virtually all foods would be banned.

Do You Believe in Food Freedom?

Truth be told, many people should not consume dairy whether it is raw or pasteurized, as they are allergic to the milk proteins. Additionally, if you’re insulin resistant, you would likely be better off avoiding raw and pasteurized milk, as it contains the dairy sugar lactose, which can worsen insulin/leptin resistance.

However, if you are healthy and want to drink milk, grass fed raw milk from a high-quality source is generally superior in nutrition and flavor. It will also help to decrease the likelihood of insulin spikes from the milk sugar, courtesy of the thick layer of cream on top.

But whether you’re a milk drinker or not, there’s no doubt that you should have the option of choosing what to eat and from what sources. This is why the fight over raw milk stands as a symbol of the much larger fight for food freedom. Who gets to decide what you eat? You or the FDA?

If the FDA and other government agencies are allowed to impose their view of “safe food” on consumers, raw milk won’t be the only thing lost — one day virtually all food could be pasteurized, irradiated and/or genetically engineered.

The effort to reclaim your right to buy and consume raw milk is leading the way for everyone who wants to be able to obtain the food of their choice from the source of their choice. So please, get involved! I urge you to get involved with the following action plan to protect your right to choose your own foods:

1. Get informed: Visit www.farmtoconsumer.org or click here to sign up for action alerts. To review the raw milk laws in your state, see Farm-to-Consumer.org’s Raw Milk Nation page.


2. Join the fight for your rights: The Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund (FTCLDF) is the only organization of its kind. This 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization provides a legal defense for farmers who are being pursued by the government for distributing foods directly to consumers. Your donations, although not tax deductible, will be used to support the litigation and legislative and lobbying efforts of the FTCLDF.


3. Support your local farmers: Getting your raw milk from a local organic farm or co-op is one of the best ways to ensure you’re getting high-quality milk. You can locate a raw milk source near you at the Campaign for Real Milk website. California residents can find raw milk retailers by using the store locator available at www.OrganicPastures.com.

As with all foods, the source matters, and this is just as true with raw milk as any other food. If you’re interested in raw milk, here are tips for finding high-quality raw milk sources.

We’re All Tenant Farmers: Oregon Plans to Douse Azure Standard Organic Farm in Pesticide (VIDEO)

If you buy organic products, chances are you have heard of Azure Standard, which is sort of like a mobile co-op that delivers well-priced organic food and products in bulk to drop-off points around the country.

Now that idyllic 2000-acre organic farm, which has produced reasonably priced organic wheat, field peas, barley, Einkorn, and beef for thousands of people across the country, is about to be sprayed against their will with Roundup and other harmful pesticides, due to a ruling from their local municipality about invasive plants.

Oregon state law requires farms to control noxious weeds. In this case, the weed in question is the Canadian Thistle. Sherman County appears to be concerned that Azure has not taken enough steps to eradicate the weed and decided they’ll do it themselves, to the detriment of Azure’s long-standing, 18-year organic certification and their livelihood as organic farmers.

Just in case you were under the misconception that we actually own our land and can decide what happens to it in this country, it appears that we’re tenant farmers with no options if the local government decides to wipe us out:

“Sherman County may be issuing a Court Order on May 22, 2017, to quarantine Azure Farms and possibly to spray the whole farm with poisonous herbicides, contaminating them with Milestone, Escort and Roundup herbicides.

This will destroy all the efforts Azure Farms has made for years to produce the very cleanest and healthiest food humanly possible. About 2,000 organic acres would be impacted; that is about 1.5 times the size of the city center of Philadelphia that is about to be sprayed with noxious, toxic, polluting herbicides.

The county would then put a lien on the farm to pay for the expense of the labor and chemicals used.” (source)

So not only will they poison the crops and kill off Azure’s livelihood, they’ll charge them for it. That’s a brazen insult on top of the injury.

Here’s how you can help Azure Standard.

There is just under a week before this would occur. Here’s what WE can all do.

If you are concerned about where your food comes from, enjoy Organic and non-GMO food grown in the United States, and support organic farmers, contact Sherman County Court before May 22, 2017 (and preferably before May 17 when the next court discussion will be held).

Contact info:

1. Via email at lhernandez@co.sherman.or.us or…


2. Call Lauren at 541-565-3416.

Raise your voice and speak up for you and your families and communities.

This proposed action is completely unreasonable and would destroy an organic farm and pollute a massive area. If enough voices that benefit from organic produce speak up, the county will understand that there are people that care about their food NOT containing toxic chemicals. And if the supporters of healthy food can have a louder voice than the supporters of toxic chemicals, every politician will listen. PLEASE take action today and share this message. Overwhelm the Sherman County representatives with your voice. (source)

I’ve already sent my email and will be making a call later today. Get on board and do the same. And share this article with everyone you know so that we can make our voices heard.

Update: Here are the email addresses of the entire county commission. Please be civil when you contact them, as swearing, threatening, and being rude means your message is lost to the delete bin.

County Commissioners Tom McCoy & Joe Dabulskis along with Administrative Assistant

• tmccoy@gorge.net


• joedab3jma@gmail.com


• lhernandez@co.sherman.or.us

It’s bad enough that everything in the grocery store is already tainted. Actions like this take away our choice to avoid toxic pesticides and poisons in our food. We should have the right to buy organic, but if local governments take away the right to grow organic, we’ll have nothing left to eat than the standard fare.

If we stand by and do nothing but shake our heads sadly, we’ll soon be stuck without dietary options.

An Organic Farm Under Threat from Azure Standard on Vimeo.

Why ‘More Than a Million Traders’ Are Boycotting Coca-Cola and Pepsi in India

(ANTIMEDIA) Trade organizations in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu are boycotting Coca-Cola and Pepsi amid concerns the two companies are using excessive amounts of water to produce their products. The Guardian reports that “[m]ore than a million traders in India” are now boycotting the drinks.

“These foreign companies are using up scarce water resources of the state,” said K Mohan, secretary of the Vanigar Sangam, one of the associations supporting the boycott, the Guardian reported. These concerns are particularly relevant amid low rainfall rates during the region’s last monsoon. In January “the state’s interim chief minister O Panneerselvam declared the state ‘drought-hit’ and asked the central government for funds to help farmers.”

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As the English-language Indian outlet, Daily News and Analysis, reported, “The state has been facing its worst-ever drought in recent decades with over 200 farmers reportedly committing suicide due to multiple crop failure.”

Vikrama Raja, president of Vanigar Sangam, echoed a similar sentiment, singling out Pepsi and Coca-Cola for their role in the dilemma. “[Foreign companies] are exploiting the state’s water bodies to manufacture aerated drinks while farmers were facing severe drought,” he said.

Amit Srivastava, director of the India Resource Center, a non-government organization, further elaborated on these concerns. According to the Guardian, the India Resource Center “estimates that it takes 1.9 litres of water to make one small bottle of Coca-Cola.”

Srivastava “says demand for sugar from fizzy drinks companies is also hugely problematic in India.”

“Sugarcane is a water-guzzling crop. It is the wrong crop for India,” he said, adding that “According to our research Coca-Cola is the number one buyer of sugarcane in India and Pepsi is number three. If you take into account the water used for sugarcane, then we’re using 400 litres of water to make a bottle of Cola.”

Additionally, Vikrama Raja expressed disapproval not only of the environmental impacts of Pepsi and Coca-Cola, but also its health effects. “[Soft drinks] cause more harm than good to the body. Only recently, one of the brands had admitted to the fact that it was not suitable for children and that it contained certain harmful chemicals,” he reportedly said.

According to the Business Standard, “A M Vikrama Raja, president, Tamil Nadu Vanigar Sangham and Tamil Nadu Traders Federation said all retailers and shopkeepers in the state have begun to boycott” Pepsi and Coca-Cola, though “many of the restaurants and super markets are continuing to sell and they have sought time.” Some retailers have vowed to ignore the boycott and continue selling the products.

Nevertheless, if the boycott is successful, it stands to funnel revenue to local soft drink companies. “We are expecting a 100 percent increase in our sales if the boycott is implemented,” said S. Karthigaikani, General Manager of the 118-year-old Sri Mappillai Vinayagar Soda Company,” Daily News and Analysis reported.

Currently, as Quartz points out:

“Foreign companies such as PepsiCo and the Coca-Cola Company, together, account for nearly 90% of the Rs1,400-crore beverage market in the state. Such diktats, if followed by the retailers, could severely affect the two cola majors which have five bottling plants in the state.”

The Indian Beverage Association, which represents both Pepsi and Coca-Cola, unsurprisingly expressed disappointment with the boycott.

“Coca-Cola and PepsiCo India together provide direct employment to 2,000 families in Tamil Nadu and more than 5,000 families indirectly … IBA hopes that good sense will prevail and that consumers will continue to have the right to exercise their choice in Tamil Nadu,” they said.

Coca-Cola and Pepsi are not the only companies to receive pushback over their water usage and the health risks their products present. Nestle, for example, has been under fire for its bottling of public water resources in drought-stricken California, as well as unsavory ingredients in some of its products in India. As trade organizations and local governments push back against these practices around the world, it’s doubtful the tug-of-war over resources and commercial access will cease anytime soon.

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China is About to Build Vertical Forest to Combat City Smog

February 8, 2017   |   James Holbrooks

(ANTIMEDIA) Nanjing, China — With much of the developed world looking to China to take the lead on the highly controversial issue of climate change, it was reported this week that the global power will construct two ‘vertical forest’ towers in the major city of Nanjing in an effort to combat greenhouse gas emissions.

The towers, to be completed by 2018, will be the first of their kind in Asia and will be constructed under the guidance of Stefano Boeri, the architect behind similar forest skyscrapers in Italy and Switzerland.

On his website, Boeri describes the concept behind vertical forests:

“Vertical Forest is a model for sustainable residential building, a project for metropolitan reforestation contributing to the regeneration of the environment and urban biodiversity without the implication of expanding upon the territory.”

Combined, the two structures — the outer facades of which will be studded from top to bottom with thousands of trees, plants, and shrubberies — are predicted to produce around 60 kg of oxygen per day and absorb about 25 tons of CO2 a year.

Reporting on the news, the Daily Mail described the amenities the project will provide:

“The taller tower, 600 feet high, crowned on the top by a green lantern, will host offices — from the 8th floor to the 35th — and it will include a museum, a green architecture school and a private club on the rooftop.

“The second tower, 355 feet high, will provide a Hyatt hotel with 247 rooms and a swimming pool on the rooftop.”

Boeri hopes the Nanjing project will lead to others in China, including a luxury hotel in Guizhou, which will be set among 400 acres of rolling hills and will feature a bar, gym, lounge, VIP area, conference room and restaurant.

China — a nation well-known for its pollution problems — is, of late, being looked to for leadership on the climate change issue. Newly-elected President Donald Trump, who has dismissed climate change as a hoax, has threatened to pull the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement, a United Nations pact signed by nearly 200 countries that aims to tackle environmental concerns such as greenhouse gasses.

Whether or not China will step into this role is yet to be determined, but some analysts believe China’s president, Xi Jinping has recently expressed a willingness. “There is only one Earth in the universe and we mankind have only one homeland,” he said while speaking before a United Nations assembly in Geneva. The leader added:

“The Paris agreement is a milestone in the history of climate governance. We must ensure this endeavor is not derailed.”

This article (China is About to Build Vertical Forest to Combat City Smog) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to James Holbrooks and theAntiMedia.org. Anti-Media Radio airs weeknights at 11 pm Eastern/8 pm Pacific. If you spot a typo, please email the error and name of the article to edits@theantimedia.org.

As U.S. Remains Divided on Islam, These Jews and Muslims Are Coming Together

February 1, 2017   |   Carey Wedler

(ANTIMEDIA) As the United States and the world draw lines in the sand over Trump’s new immigration policies, Muslims, Jews, and people from all walks of life are banding together for peace — both for themselves and the planet.

The EcoMe Center, currently located at the junction of Jericho and Almog, was founded in December of 2010 by a group of Israeli friends who attended the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, a program that includes Israelis, Palestinians, Jordanians, and other international students.

Though the founders are Israeli, they wanted to establish an “ecovillage” run by both Israelis and Palestinians. The ongoing divide between Palestinians and Israelis is one of the longest-running conflicts in the world and continues to inspire vitriol and protest from both sides, with many around the world criticizing Israel for illegally confiscating and occupying the land of Palestinians. Indeed, the relationship is lopsided, with Israeli Defense Forces controlling Palestinians and often committing staggering human rights violations.

Amid this seemingly insurmountable conflict, the group of friends established EcoMe in the hopes of healing these historical and current divisions. According to Arnon Shomer, a spokesman for EcoMe:

“Some of these people never met a person from ‘the other side’ not through military engagement (Israelis as soldiers and Palestinians meet them as soldiers).This creates a very deep impact on everyone who comes to these workshops. For me, the first people that I could call Palestinian friends, I met through the center, and this is one of the only places where we can meet each other on the human level, and not as political entities.”

Seeking to alter this paradigm while also helping the earth, the founders began by “contacting local people and leaders and creating events of music [and] gathering.” They “started to build permaculture structures in the place from local materials.”

EcoMe has successfully created an environmentally-conscious, sustainable community. Shomer says EcoMe has compost toilets and a water reuse system (there is no sewage system at the facility). They construct buildings from “local materials, such as palms and garbage – tires, plastics of greenhouses and anything we can find.”

The center practices recycling and has a seasonal garden where attendees grow vegetables, which are used in EcoMe’s vegetarian communal kitchen. They also have a free range chicken house, projects to help sustain beehives, and permaculture workshops that teach “biodynamic beekeeping, recycled art, and permaculture gardening.”

These efforts are all maintained by visitors to the center, who are primarily Israeli and Palestinian but come from around the world. Though most international visitors come from Europe and North America, Shomer says they have had guests from countries like Japan, Brazil, Iran, Jordan, Kenya, and Colombia. As he explains, “the ones holding the space for the workshops are living in it as a community and do a lot of community work and sharing.”

And that’s what makes EcoMe especially unique. In addition to working with the land and environment, the center places a strong emphasis on healing relations between Palestinians and Israelis who visit the center.

Rather than accepting those tensions, EcoMe seeks to help them interact with each other in a peaceful way to foster friendship, understanding, and tolerance. One of the key methods they employ in this effort is the practice of nonviolent communication (NVC). NVC was developed by Marshall Rosenberg, an American psychologist, and is rooted in finding common ground and empathy.

According to NVC’s website:

“Through the practice of NVC, we can learn to clarify what we are observing, what emotions we are feeling, what values we want to live by, and what we want to ask of ourselves and others. We will no longer need to use the language of blame, judgment or domination. We can experience the deep pleasure of contributing to each others’ well-being.”

The communication method is rooted in listening and compassion, allowing those with grievances to express their frustrations without overtly blaming or lashing out at the other person but still requesting acknowledgment and action to resolve the conflict at hand. NVC has been used for everything from marriage counseling to resolving political conflicts. In fact, in his book on the method, Rosenberg recalled his experience mediating between an Israeli and Palestinian, who were eventually able to find common ground despite their seemingly diametrically opposed views. Rosenberg also worked with individuals who are now members of EcoMe.

As one Palestinian woman, Amal Hedwah, has said of Rosenberg and her experience with him:

“It was an asset for me. He made a shock in my mind and in my soul and in my body – and now I am a new person.”

EcoMe holds an annual NVC workshop that lasts between ten and twelve days and invites Palestinians, Israelis, and other international visitors a chance to communicate with each other. “This creates a wide community of people who are now friends, and sometime partners, and committed to continue [working] for peace,” Shomer says.

According to one attendee at the center:

“I know many of us are working on the peace process as a political process, but for me, it’s looking beyond the political process. How can we engage in peace work as people who live in this land, coming from different identities, different cultures, different religions, but understanding that within all of these identities there are people who want peace, and within these ideas there are people who don’t want peace…for me, it is about the right people…being here who want to work for peace – and how we can work together.”

One of the best examples of this was the group’s recent efforts to help Palestinians clean up the remains of a tent they were living in that had been ravaged by the Israeli military for the third time in a year.

EcoMe does not seek to avoid or gloss over the historical division between Israelis and Palestinians — or Israel’s own role in it. Shomer describes the “normalization” of occupation:

“It is a ‘negative’ aspect of our work since, for Palestinians, meeting Israelis without dealing in ending the occupation is normalizing the situation of privileged citizens and underprivileged occupied people who have no rights.’

Noting the challenges of running a center that brings Israelis and Palestinians together, he continued:

“To acknowledge this is a very basic need for the Palestinian people, and many Israelis do not see it this way, and so, when meeting with each other on the human level, but neglecting the political issue, [it] creates normalization of the situation.”

The center is currently located on a Jewish settler’s land, a region EcoMe chose because, as Shomer explains, “it is the occupied territories, and we are here because we want to be accessible for Palestinians who can not come to Israel because of the separation.” Nevertheless, he says their location has drawn concerns that the center itself engages in normalization.

“This is why we decided to have a meeting about this issue with our Palestinian friends, and the main conclusion was that we need to find another place for the center that is not on settlement land,” he said, adding they are currently searching for a new location to resolve the issue.

As they work to solve this fundamental problem, however, they offer a variety of classes and methods to help those who attend find peace. In addition to NVC, EcoMe offers art workshops and yoga and meditation classes. Both practices are increasingly shown to promote well-being and reduce stress.

The center also offers language classes, “teaching Arabic, Hebrew, and English, as language is one of the barriers for understanding each other.”

Though the world currently appears to be in upheaval and citizens of the world seem increasingly polarized, EcoMe is effectively working to alter this trend one person at a time — driven and sustained by individuals who are truly becoming the change they wish to see in the world.

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