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Soil4Climate: New Organization Fights Global Warming From The Ground Up

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Author: Eric Becker

In my day job, I’m a money guy. I manage socially and environmentally screened investment portfolios for people who want to align their money with their values. I got involved with Slow Money because of a personal interest in organic agriculture, but also because I had clients who wanted to channel some of their assets into sustainable food systems. But soil? I didn’t know anything about soil.

That was about to change. Through my involvement with Slow Money, my appreciation for and understanding of soil has continually grown and deepened. I remember first learning from a Woody Tasch talk that there were upwards of a billion microorganisms in a teaspoon of fertile soil. I learned from farmers and others at Slow Money gatherings about the myriad benefits of healthy soils, from nutritious food to water quality. Meanwhile, wearing my climate activist hat, I met biologists who explained that one of the most powerful tools we have to mitigate climate change is to put the excess carbon in the atmosphere back in the soil through restorative grazing and agriculture.

Increasingly I found myself in the company of soil advocates who view restorative agriculture as a key component of any scenario in which humanity effectively addresses the climate crisis. Now a few of these folks have formed a Vermont-based non-profit organization called Soil4Climate to advance the soil carbon narrative within the larger climate movement. I’m honored to be one of the founding board members of the organization, and further pleased that Woody Tasch has joined our advisory board.

KEEP READING ON SLOW MONEY

Will Environmentally Restorative Practices Transform Maui’s Toxic Agriculture?

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Author: Jonathan Greenberg

Marketed as an island paradise, Maui is not the first place one would think of as ground zero in the battle for the future of agriculture. The golden beaches of Lahaina were recently ranked as the second most popular honeymoon destination in the world (after Las Vegas), and its surfing is legendary. The billions of dollars spent by tourists each year are at least 20 times greater than the value of the island’s agriculture. But amidst complex discussions about the effects of chemical farming practices on public health, whether to choose an industrial or regenerative farming model, and the profitability of future crops, Maui stands at the crossroads between America’s farming past and its green future.

This crossroads is located on 32,400 acres of what is Hawaii’s last sugar plantation. The sun swept farmland is largely owned by Alexander & Baldwin, a 145 year old company whose land holdings and controversial water “rights” grew from the colonization and gunboat diplomacy that uprooted the once independent kingdom of Hawaii. At the start of this year, with world prices for sugar down and agribusiness losses of about $30 million, A&B announced that it would close the plantation before the end of 2016, and lay off most of its 675 workers.

There is great interest across Maui in creating an agricultural future that is more economically viable than the past chemically dependent, water hungry plantation model. This, and a desire to help save agricultural jobs, have inspired Maui Tomorrow, a 26-year old environmental advocacy organization, to facilitate a discussion across the entire community. The organization recently released Mālama ‘Āina: A Conversation About Maui’s Farming Future, a detailed 50 page report (viewable here) that analyzes opportunities to grow profitable crops and market Maui-branded value-added products, using farming methods which offset climate change, end chemical spraying and crop burning, use less water, and restore soil quality. The goal is to transform the industrially farmed A&B lands into a sustainable source of food and energy crops, and diversify an island economy that now imports 90 percent of what its people consume. Maui Tomorrow is asking business leaders, farmers, activists and political candidates to present their own comments, ideas and proposals about economically beneficial and environmentally restorative alternatives to monocrop agriculture. The organization has started this process by hosting a community dialogue on its new website, at www.FutureofMaui.org.

“We believe that this unique opportunity to expand the vision of what’s possible for agriculture on Maui can result in positive outcomes for all concerned,” said Albert Perez, Executive Director of Maui Tomorrow. “Working together, the people of Maui can end the era of toxic chemical agriculture and instead embrace regenerative agriculture, which creates multiple income streams from the same land area, and improves profitability by eliminating the cost of external inputs such as fertilizer and pesticides. This type of agriculture can improve the health of our soil, water, and coastal ecosystems, and increase agricultural jobs, thus maintaining important economic diversification.”

 KEEP READING ON HUFFINGTON POST

We can’t fight climate change without tackling agriculture emissions: Bob McDonald

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Author: Bob McDonald

When it comes to air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, we generally think of the usual suspects: fossil fuel-powered electrical generating stations, vehicles and industry. But, in fact, agriculture represents roughly one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions, as well as a significant amount of air pollution, and that means we need to make significant changes to the way we farm to help curb global warming and clean up the air we breathe.

Two reports released this week say that improvements in agricultural practices based on current technology will not be enough to bring those emissions down.

The first report, in the journal Global Change Biology, was from an international team that focused on emissions from gases other than carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is absorbed from the atmosphere when crops are planted and released after harvest, so in that sense, agriculture is carbon neutral.

Instead, the researchers looked at methane, which comes from livestock and decaying organic matter, and nitrous oxide, which is produced by fertilizer. Both are significant greenhouse gases. The report states that current mitigation plans would only reduce emissions by 20 to 40 per cent, not enough to meet the targets set by the Paris climate accord.

A second report in Geophysical Research Letters shows that agricultural practices in the United States are responsible for more particulate matter in the atmosphere than all other industrial sources. The use of nitrogen fertilizers, techniques used for soil preparation, decaying organic matter and livestock activity produce tiny airborne particles that combine with other air pollution to create aerosols that contribute to a variety of respiratory diseases and public health problems.

Reducing emissions while maintaining production

The agriculture industry faces the difficult challenge of reducing emissions without compromising food production, because more and more mouths to feed are being added to the planet every day.

KEEP READING ON CBC NEWS

GMO decision honors Boulder County values

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Author: Mark Guttridge

Last month’s decision by the Boulder County Commission to phase out GMOs on publicly-owned open space was a monumental decision. In an age where special interests seem to dominate political policy, it was a surprise to see that the will of the citizens still holds weight. Yet the reaction from Paul Danish, who angrily entered the commissioners’ race for this November, calling the decision “an attack on scientific agriculture,” and the editorial by the Camera’s Dave Krieger claiming the commissioners “bowed to popular fears” paint a very different picture. I’m sorry Paul and Dave, but I have to disagree.

With so many of our citizens, non-profits, and county employees working tirelessly to increase access of healthy local food into our school cafeterias, low-income communities, and daily shopping habits, is it not appropriate that the use of our public lands also follows this aim? If the county health department is actively encouraging phasing out processed sugars from our diets, is it not appropriate that their production also be phased out from our public lands? The decision was not an attack on science, it was an investment in the values of Boulder County.

The decision was also an investment in an alternative form of science called regenerative agriculture, one that many climate experts have agreed is our greatest chance to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and return it to our soils. My own research into carbon sequestration has led me to conclude that it occurs most efficiently in healthy ecosystems, with plants and soil biology working together. Like the commissioners, I am less concerned about the gene manipulation technology than I am with the chemicals associated with current GE crops. Spraying glyphosate, coating seeds with neonicotinoids, and relying on petroleum-based nitrogen fertilizers are all crutches designed to make farming in unhealthy ecosystems viable. What the commissioners proposed is a transition period where we research ways to increase the health of our public lands to a point where these crutches are no longer necessary.

KEEP READING ON DAILY CAMERA

Court Ruling a Victory for Mexico Farmers and Anti-GMO Activists

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Authors: Mercedes López Martínez and Ercilia Sahores

On March 8, 2016, Mexican farmers, consumers and activists scored a major victory when a federal appeals court ruled that genetically engineered corn can’t be grown in Mexico until a class action lawsuit, filed by scientists, consumers, farmers and activists has been resolved.

The March 8 ruling allows the biotech industry to continue experimental trials of GM corn, but with a new twist—the Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food (SAGARPA) will now require regular assessments of the impact of the of the test crops on neighboring non-GM fields and human health.

This recent victory follows a seven-year battle that has drawn together a broad coalition of coalition of individuals and civil society organizations, including scientists, farming groups, beekeepers, indigenous groups, environmental groups, human rights groups and artists bound together by a single mission: to protect the integrity of Mexico’s most popular agricultural crop. The coalition, called Sin Maíz, No hay País (Without Corn, There is No Country), has for years been collecting scientific data about GMOs introduced in Mexico.

The Organic Consumers Association’s Mexico-based team, working through our sister organizations, Vía Orgánica and Asociación de Consumidores Orgánicos, is proud to have played a role in achieving this victory. We also know that this is just the first of many legal hurdles we will have to overcome in our continued battle to defend the integrity and diversity of Mexico’s corn and its connection with an entire culture.

The history behind Monsanto’s Assault on Mexico’s Corn

In 2009, changes in Mexican law allowed biotech giants like Monsanto to conduct trials of GMO corn in approved regions of the country.

Two years later, in 2011, Monsanto and Syngenta asked for a permit to plant GM corn in several states in Northern Mexico. Not surprisingly, they found legal loopholes and sympathetic government officials. The imminent infiltration of GM corn in Mexico threatened Mexico’s ancient tradition of seed exchanges and seed banks. It also threatened to cross contaminate native corn crops, pollute the environment, destroy biodiversity, poison the people and bring poverty to small producers by privatizing corn production through the sale of proprietary patented seeds—just as industrial GMO crops have done in other parts of the world.

This new and imminent threat led to the creation of the 73-member Sin Maíz, No hay País Coalition which has since worked tirelessly to protect and defend Mexico’s traditional corn economy and culture. In July 2013, the coalition filed a lawsuit challenging the government’s process for permitting the planting of GM corn, on the basis that GM corn would threaten biodiversity for current and future generations.

Monsanto and Syngenta responded by hiring the best international and national law firms to fight off the coalition’s team of legal experts, some of whom worked pro bono. The coalition sought national and international funding. OCA has so far contributed $30,000 to support the struggle.

In 2014 and 2015, multinational agribusiness companies, led by Monsanto and Syngenta, filed a number of lawsuits in an attempt to defeat the coalition. They were unsuccessful and instead only strengthened the grassroots group, which gained increasing national and international attention.

As the coalitions’ class action suit gained momentum, it was challenged by more than 70 entities, including Syngenta, Pioneer, DuPont and Monsanto, governmental agencies such as the Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT) and SAGARPA.

The formal trial, which ultimately led to the March 8 ruling, began in January 2016.

A heritage worth protecting

Mexico is home to 59 native varieties of corn. The Mexican people have crafted over 600 unique corn-based dishes, creating a rainbow of colors and flavors that come from each unique variety. The story of Mexico’s most commonly produced grain dates back thousands of years, when corn was first domesticated in Mesoamerica. That’s when the relationship between human beings and plants first developed, giving birth to the center of genetic heritage and diversity of corn and a culturally and protein rich civilization.

So central to Mexico’s culture is corn, that it has been the subject of entire books. One of those books, “Men of Maize,” written by Miguel Ángel Asturias and based on the sacred book of the Mayan Popol Vuh, explores the deep connection between the Mexican people and teocintle, as the grandfather of corn

It’s a heritage Sin Maíz, No hay País is determined to vigilantly protect, despite this recent first-round victory. The coalitions demands will not ease until the federal courts:

  • Admit that, voluntarily or involuntarily, significant contamination of non-GM fields has already taken place.
  • Acknowledge that GMO crops affect the human right to conservation, sustainable use and fair and equal participation of biological diversity in native corn because they violate the Law on Biosafety of Genetically Modified Organisms.
  • Acknowledge that agricultural biodiversity will be highly affected by the release of GMO corn.
  • Declare the suspension of the introduction of transgenic maize in all its various forms, including experimental and pilot commercial plantings, in Mexico, birthplace of corn in the world.

For more information:

https://demandacolectivamaiz.mx/wp/
https://viaorganica.org/
https://www.sinmaiznohaypais.org/

Donate to keep Monsanto’s GMO corn out of Mexico.

***

Mercedes López Martínez is the networking coordinator for Vía Orgánica.

Ercilia Sahores is Latin America Political Director for Regeneration International.

Will Allen & Michael Colby: Vermont’s GMO addiction – with or without a label

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Authors: Will Allen and Michael Colby

Vermont has proven itself to be a leader when it comes to showing its concern over the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in agriculture and food production. It was the first state in the nation to pass GMO-labeling legislation, forcing food corporations nationwide to scramble and prepare to meet the law’s requirements when it takes effect in July 2016. But, in many ways, the passage of this historic law has left a false impression that it “solved” the GMO problem in the state. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Vermont agriculture is dominated by GMOs, especially within the commodity dairy sector, which represents more than 70 percent of the state agricultural economy. Currently, there are more than 92,000 acres of GMO feed corn that are grown in Vermont, making it – by far – the state’s number one crop. More than 96 percent of all feed corn grown in Vermont is a GMO variety, and almost all of this GMO corn is used to feed dairy cows.

Ironically, Vermont’s GMO addiction is exempt from its own GMO labeling law, as the law specifically exempts dairy and meat products. So while the law will force mainstream food corporations to label GMOs in products like Cheetos and SpaghettiOs before coming into the state, it turns a blind eye to the GMO-derived dairy that is the primary ingredient in, for example, Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and Cabot’s cheddar cheese.

This is about more than the consumer’s right to know. It’s also about the impact GMO-centered agriculture is having on Vermont’s environment and wildlife, its role in the continued monopolization of the food supply, and the roadblocks it creates in the path toward a truly regenerative, eco-sensitive, and socially just form of agriculture in the state. The current domination of GMOs and industrial agriculture in Vermont dairy is, quite frankly, the elephant on the farm that few want to acknowledge.

The history of Vermont’s heavy adoption of industrial – or degenerative – forms of agriculture is also the history of its failure and decline. At every stage, beginning with chemical agriculture in the post-WWII era, the new techniques being promoted by the increasingly corporate and industrial agriculture came with mighty promises: Labor would be saved, yields would be increase, bugs and insects would be eliminated, and profits would soar. Just get in line, and follow the edicts coming out of the USDA and the agricultural extension centers.

KEEP READING IN VT DIGGER

The Power of… Corn

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[ English | Español ]

Translation by: Eleanor D. Stevens

  • The nixtamalization of corn dough increases its calcium content and the bioavailability of Vitamin B3 and certain proteins.
  • Combining corn with legumes such as beans increases the quality of their proteins.
  •  Blue corn contains anthocyanins, powerful antioxidants that protect our cells.

What is corn?

Corn (zea mays) is a member of the Gramineae family, along with wheat, rice, barley, rye, and oats. However, unlike these other grains, corn is not known to have any direct relatives among wild plants. It is thought that it was developed by domesticating teosintle, another Graminea similar to corn that grows naturally in Mexico and parts of Central America.

Corn is central to all Mesoamerican cultures. The Popul Vuh tell how “Quetzalcóatl went down to Mictlán, the land of the dead, and there he gathered bones from a man and a woman and took them to the goddess Coatlicue. She ground the bones with corn, and from this paste humans were made.”

In industrialized countries, corn is used primarily as feed for animals, raw material for processed foods and, recently, for the production of ethanol. On the other hand, in several Latin American countries and, increasingly, in African countries as well, a high percentage of the corn grown or imported is destined for human consumption.

Currently, corn is cultivated in Mexico in a wide range of climates, altitudes, humidity levels, and soils, using many different technologies. Corn is Mexico’s principal crop, occupying around one third of cultivated land. Every state in the country produces corn, although 64.5% of production is concentrated in Sinaloa, Jalisco, Michoacán, Mexico State, Chiapas, Guerrero, and Veracruz.

What nutrients does corn provide?

Corn, as a cereal, consists primarily of starches. When its hull is not removed, it is also an important source of fiber in our diet.

Its nutritional properties vary depending on its degree of maturity. For this reason, we will first discuss the nutrients in fresh corn and then those in corn dough.

Fresh corn

Fresh corn is considered a vegetable because of its higher water content in comparison to the dry kernel, which is ground into corn dough.

Fresh corn is rich in potassium and folic acid, and yellow corn in particular contains vitamin A.

Corn dough

Corn dough is typically prepared from dried corn kernels soaked in lime water and then ground. This process, known as nixtamalización, or nixtamalization (from the Náhuatl nixtli, ashes, and tamalli, dough) is indispensable for making tortillas and other dough-based products.

Nixtamalization softens the dough and simultaneously improves its nutritional value, adding calcium and facilitating digestion of essential amino acids which make up the corn’s protein. Tortillas are, therefore, a good source of calcium, in addition to the calcium we get from dairy products and some vegetables.

Blue corn has a particular advantage in nutritional terms because it contains anthocyanins, flavonoid compounds with antioxidant properties which protect our cells from oxidation and DNA mutations.

Many people associate tortillas with weight gain. However, it’s important to remember that tortillas only contribute to weight gain if they are consumed in excess.

A typical tortilla from a tortillería (neighborhood tortilla shop) weighs around 30 grams and provides some 65 kilocalories. If we eat two tortillas during a meal, along with a main dish and a side of vegetables, we will probably maintain energetic equilibrium. However, if we consume up to ten tortillas, equivalent to 650 kilocalories, we will probably exceed our daily calorie requirement, since this is a third of the recommended daily calorie intake for a young adult male.

Unlike flour tortillas, corn tortillas contain very little fat, unless they are fried.

How much does corn cost?

According to the Sistema Nacional de Información e Integración de Mercados (National Market Information and Integration System), one kilo of tortillas from a tortillería costs between 10 and 18 pesos, depending on the state in which it is purchased.

As a general rule, corn dough costs slightly less than tortillas.

What’s the best way to eat corn?

In Mexico there exist at least 600 ways to prepare corn for consumption, including: tortillas, tamales, corundas, sopes, huaraches, memelas, peneques, picadas, salbutes, panuchos, molotes, quesadillas, tostadas, tacos, tlacoyos, and other snacks.

Traditional pozole, whether green, red, or white is prepared from cacahuazintle corn kernels. Corn dough can also be made into small balls, which are added to soups, beans, and a variety of sauces such as mole de olla and Oaxacan yellow mole. Corn kernels are boiled and then ground to make drinks such as pozol, tejate, and atole. To prepare pinole, the kernels are first baked and then ground. And, when fermented, they are used to make alcoholic drinks like tesgüino.

Currently, many of the dishes made from corn dough are fried. However, Mesoamerican societies never used this culinary technique. We recommend frying as little as possible in order to enjoy the benefits of corn without adding high quantities of fat.

Because of the nutritional advantages it provides, we recommend eating blue corn rather than white or yellow corn whenever possible.

Why shouldn’t we grow genetically modified corn?

Clearly, in Mexico corn is precious.

The campaign “Sin Maíz no hay Paíz” (No Corn, no Country) summarizes briefly why we should not allow the cultivation of genetically modified corn in Mexico:

“Distributed throughout its national territory, Mexico has 59 corn species and thousands of sub-species which will be contaminated if genetically modified corn is sown in Mexico. Corn is Mexico’s inheritance, our sustenance, and the basis of our diet and our economy, and it is recognized as the heart of indigenous and campesino cultures. It is a fundamental staple of agriculture in the face of climate change and socioeconomic instability. It is our right and our obligation to keep corn a common good, free of genetic modifications.”

For her part, Cristina Barros, a specialist in Mexican cuisine, reminds us: “There are only two varieties [of genetically modified corn], one resistant to a plague that is almost nonexistent in Mexico, and the other resistant to herbicides, when in our milpas many of the “weeds” are quelites, squash, beans, chile, and other plants that are staples of our diet.”

Did you know?

Corn is present in the form of tortillas in the great majority of Mexican homes. On average, a family will consume 20 kg of white or yellow corn tortillas each month. It is present in homes of all social classes, although at the lowest socioeconomic level this food may constitute half of all calories consumed and a third of all protein.

_____________________________________

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT CORN:

Sin Maiz No Hay Pais
Biodiversidad
Greenpeace Mexico

VIEW THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE ON EL PODER DEL CONSUMIDOR

San Francisco Is Now Using Firefighting Goats

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Author: Lydia O’Connor

Nestled between railroad tracks and a cement recycling plant in San Francisco’s Bayview neighborhood lives a little herd of urban goats with a big appetite for one of the only things that flourished in the the California drought: dry, fire-hazard brush.

Since 2008, City Grazing has been herding mixed-breed goats in the unlikely meadow and sending them on freelance assignments to eat up overgrowth everywhere from San Franciscans’ backyards to federal land in the Presidio. The landscaping goats are a green alternative to heavy machinery and pesticides and can easily graze steep hillsides, all while leaving behind a biodegradable fertilizer.

Starting last year, California’s driest year on record and host to the devastating Rim Fire, the company was inundated with calls asking about goat landscaping as a way to protect the land, City Grazing’s Genevieve Church told The Huffington Post.

“There’s been a definite increase in thoughts of, ‘How do we reduce fire hazard?’” she said. “When the number of wildfires increased in California in 2013, we began to get a lot more phone calls asking if goats were a viable option here … They’re the tried and true traditional method. Grazing animals have always been a wonderful way to keep grasslands and brushy areas reduced in that dry material.”

With triple the call volume, City Grazing decided to grow its goat family, and since January, around 50 baby goats, or kids, have been born into the herd and doubled its size. On Sunday, the company held an open house at the meadow where the public could watch a ceremonial “running of the goats” out to pasture.

Keep Reading in The Huffington Post

Carta abierta a Su Santidad el Papa Francisco con motivo de su visita a México

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[ English | Español ]

16 de febrero de 2016

Contact:

Ercilia Sahores, ercilia@organicconsumers.org, +52 (55) 6257 7901

Suscrita por grupos religiosos, indígenas, ambientalistas, de salud, de justicia, de consumidores y agricultores

Por la presente le damos la bienvenida a nuestro país, y damos también la bienvenida a su mensaje de “clima como bien común”. Creemos que es importante que aquellos encargados de la toma de decisiones, como así también los ciudadanos en general, honremos su llamado a una “solidaridad nueva universal” que aborde la crisis ética, económica y ambiental que aqueja a la humanidad.

En México, centro de origen del maíz, se encuentran en peligro de extinción aproximadamente 60 razas y cientos de familias del grano básico, que han sido desarrolladas y cuidadas a lo largo de los siglos por los habitantes originarios de la región y aquellos que aman esta tierra. Están amenazadas por grandes corporaciones que pretenden sembrar el país con maíz genéticamente modificado. La población ha reaccionado interponiendo en 2013 una demanda civil encabezada por 53 personas de la comunidad científica, campesina, indígena, consumidora, artística, medioambientalista y 20 organizaciones civiles.

En esta región del mundo, el maíz se siembra en un sistema holístico llamado milpa, que integra diversas variedades de granos y verduras y constituye la base de una dieta saludable, posee la habilidad de reconstruir la fertilidad del suelo y apoya la agrobiodiversidad. Le pedimos respetuosamente que continúe apoyando y protegiendo este tipo de sistemas de agricultura orgánica regenerativa, y el derecho de todo campesino de “poseer un lote racional de tierra donde pueda establecer su hogar, trabajar para la subsistencia de su familia y tener seguridad existencial.”

Para proteger a los pequeños campesinos, debemos en primer lugar ser conscientes de la conexión existente entre alimentos, agricultura y cambio climático. Dado que es el mayor emisor de gases de efecto invernadero a nivel global, es necesario que cambiemos la forma de cultivar que plantea la la agricultura industrial si es que queremos solucionar esta crisis climática[1]. De acuerdo a la ONU, una transición global de una agricultura de tipo industrial a una agricultura ecológica es nuestra mejor y quizás única opción de mitigar los impactos del cambio climático sobre la seguridad alimentaria[2]. Como lo expresara usted tan acertadamente, “el cambio climático es un tema moral.” También le sugerimos que la agricultura como fuente mayor de emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero y la principal fuente para alimentar el mundo, es también un problema moral de igual importancia.

En este país, tal como en muchos otros, la introducción de la agricultura industrial y su dependencia de fertilizantes en base a petróleo, agrotóxicos y transgénicos ha destruido la salud, la biodiversidad y la sagrada belleza de este mundo. Un ejemplo claro de esta devastación puede observarse en el estado de Michoacán, el santuario de invierno de la mariposas monarca. En las últimas dos décadas, la población de mariposas monarca ha disminuido un 90 por ciento, principalmente debido al aumento del uso en los Estados Unidos del herbicida con glifosato Roundup Ready,los cultivos transgénicos, la tala ilegal y pérdida de hábitat[3].

Las pocas mariposas monarca que quedan ahora se enfrentan a un desafío mayor ya que los científicos indican que el aumento de las temperaturas por el cambio climático amenaza con destruir más del 70 por ciento de lo que queda del hábitat invernal de las monarca para finales de este siglo[4]. Afortunadamente hay investigaciones que demuestran que al implementar sistemas regenerativos orgánicos podemos revertir el aumento de las temperaturas al capturar mas del 100 por ciento de las emisiones de CO2 anuales de vuelta en el suelo, restaurando a su vez la agrobiodiversidad. (Rodale,2014)[5]

Compartimos vuestra convicción de que todo en el mundo está conectado, y que “buscar sólo un remedio técnico a cada problema ambiental que surja es aislar cosas que en la realidad están entrelazadas y esconder los verdaderos y más profundos problemas del sistema mundial.”

Mandatarios y representantes de todo el mundo se preparan para reunirse en México en el mes de diciembre para participar de la COP13, la Convención sobre Diversidad Biológica. En este espíritu, lo instamos a que continúe informando acerca del rol que la agricultura industrial ha tenido en la destrucción de nuestro suelo y agua y ha fallado en su falsa promesa de aliviar el hambre del mundo.

Existe una solución a este problema de inseguridad alimentaria, cambio climático y pérdida de biodiversidad. Debemos optar por la agricultura regenerativa orgánica. La urgencia de este problema implica aunar esfuerzos y voluntades para lograr este cambio. Le damos gracias por su coraje y su compromiso hacia los más pobres y aceptamos su desafío de acercarnos a esta compleja crisis del calentamiento global buscando soluciones que no solo protejan la naturaleza sino que también combatan la pobreza y devuelvan la dignidad a aquellos excluidos del sistema.

Respetuosamente,

La Asociación de Consumidores Orgánicos

Lista de firmantes

Agua para la Vida, México
Agua para Tod@s, México
Anec, México
Asia Pacific Network for Food Sovereignty (APNFS), Philippines
Becket Films, USA
Beyond GM, United Kingdom
Beyond Pesticides Network Canada, Canada
Biodentistry, México
Biodiversity for a Liveable Climate, USA
Bosque Sustentable AC, México
Carnaval del Maíz, México
Cedar Circle Farm, USA
Center for Sustainable Medicine, USA
Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray Francisco de Vitoria, México
Centro de la Tierra, México
CILAS, México
Circle Squared Foundation, The Netherlands
COBOSPO, México
Colectivo Zacahitzco, México
Colectivo Zócalo, México
Comunidades Campesinas y Urbanas, México
Cool Planet, USA
Dr. Pablo Jaramillo López, Ph.D. UNAM, (National Autonomous University of Mexico), México
FAT, México
Favianna Rodriguez Artist, USA
FIAN, México
Fundación Semillas de Vida AC, México
GEA, México
GMO Inside, USA
Greenpeace Mexico, México
Grupo Ecologico Sierra Gorda IAP, México
Grupo Vicente Gutierrez, Tlaxcala, México
Guereni Vendie, México
Kids Right to Know, Canada
Kiss the Ground, USA
LATINDADD, México
MAELA México, México
MaOGM, México
Milliones Against Monsanto, USA
Millones Contra Monsanto, México
NTC-SME, México
Nutiva, USA
Organic Consumers Association, USA
Pasticultores del Desierto, AC, México
People’s Lobby, USA
Programa Ambiental de la Universidad Autónoma de Chapingo, México
Rainman Landcare Foundation, South Africa
RASA, México
Red Nacional de Género y Economía, México
Reg Maíz, México
Regeneration International, USA
RMALC, México
Shumei International, Japan
Sin Maíz No Hay País, México
SME, México
Spiral Farm House, Nepal
STUNAM, México
SUEUM, Michoacán, México
The Hummingbird Project, USA
The Rules, USA
UCCS, México
Valhalla Movement, Canada
Vía Orgánica AC, México
Viva Sierra Gorda, México
El Maíz Más Pequeño AC, México
Caminos de Agua AC, Mexico

 

[1] https://unctad.org/en/PublicationsLibrary/ditcted2012d3_en.pdf

[2] https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?LangID=E&NewsID=16702

[3] https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/10/141010-monarch-butterfly-migration-threatened-plan/

[4] https://e360.yale.edu/feature/to_protect_monarch_butterfly_a_plan_to_save_the_sacred_firs/2942/

[5] https://rodaleinstitute.org/assets/RegenOrgAgricultureAndClimateChange_20140418.pdf

 

An Open Letter to His Holiness Pope Francis, on the Occasion of His Visit to Michoacán, Mexico, Winter Sanctuary of the Monarch Butterfly

/in , /by

[ English | Español ]

February 16, 2016

Contact:

Ercilia Sahores, ercilia@organicconsumers.org, +52 (55) 6257 7901

Endorsed by Bipartisan Faith-Based, Indigenous, Environmental, Natural Health, Justice, Consumer and Farming Groups.

We welcome you and your message of “climate as the common good” to our country. We urge world leaders and ordinary citizens to honor your call to “hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.” And to heed your advice to “adopt clear and firm measures in support of small producers” in order to address the ethical, economic, and environmental crises confronting humanity.

In Mexico, the center of origin of maize, nearly 60 varieties of this staple grain and hundreds of its subfamilies are at risk of extinction due to profit-driven corporations seeking to cultivate genetically modified (GMO) corn across Mexico. In 2013, the people responded by filing a civil lawsuit headed by 53 individuals from the scientific, farming, indigenous, consumer, artistic and environmental communities, as well as 20 nonprofit organizations.

For centuries, small farmers in Mexico cultivated their maize according to a regenerative agroecological farming system called the milpa. This proven system integrates a diverse variety of grains, pulses and vegetables, providing foundation for a healthy diet while simultaneously building soil fertility and supporting agrobiodiversity. We respectfully ask for your continued support in protecting regenerative organic food systems like the milpa, and the rights of “Every campesino…to possess a reasonable allotment of land where he can establish his home, work for subsistence of his family and a secure life.”

In order to protect small farmers, we must first acknowledge the connections between food, farming and climate change. As the largest source of global greenhouse gas emissions, the agriculture industry must be reformed in order fix the climate crisis.[1] According to the UN, a global transition from industrial agriculture to local ecological agriculture offers our best chance at mitigating the impacts of climate change on food security.[2] As you so aptly put it, “Climate change is a moral issue.” And we also humbly suggest that a global transition to regenerative agroecological food systems is an equally important moral issue.

In this country, as in so many others, the global spread of industrial agriculture and its use of petroleum-based fertilizers, agrotoxins and GMOs has devastated the health, biodiversity and sacred beauty of the world. A clear example of this devastation can be seen here in the state of Michoacán, winter sanctuary of the monarch butterfly. Over the past two decades, monarch populations have declined by 90 percent due primarily to the use of the herbicide glyphosate in Roundup Ready GMO crops, illegal logging and habitat loss.[3] Tragically, the few monarchs remaining may face an even greater challenge in the future; scientists indicate that rising temperatures due to climate change threaten to damage more than 70 percent of the monarch’s remaining winter habitat by the end of the century.[4] Fortunately, research has shown that regenerative organic systems can help to reverse rising temperatures by sequestering billions of tons of annual CO2 emissions back into the soil, while restoring agrobiodiversity (Rodale, 2014)[5].

We share your conviction that everything in the world is connected, and that to seek “only a technical remedy to each environmental problem which comes up is to separate what is in reality interconnected and to mask the true and deepest problems of the global system.”

As world leaders prepare to gather here in Mexico for the COP13 Convention On Biodiversity in December, we ask you to continue to speak out about the role that industrial agriculture has played in destroying our soil, health and biodiversity, even as it has failed to alleviate world hunger.

There is a solution to food insecurity, climate change and biodiversity loss. We must opt for regenerative organic agriculture. The urgency of this problem demands that we join forces and work together to achieve change. We thank you for your courage and your commitment to the world’s poorest, and we accept your challenge to approach these complex crises by seeking solutions that not only protect nature, but also combat poverty and restore dignity to the excluded.

Sincerely,

La Asociación de Consumidores Orgánicos

Endorsing Groups:

Agua para la Vida, México
Agua para Tod@s, México
Anec, México
Asia Pacific Network for Food Sovereignty (APNFS), Philippines
Becket Films, USA
Beyond GM, United Kingdom
Beyond Pesticides Network Canada, Canada
Biodentistry, México
Biodiversity for a Liveable Climate, USA
Bosque Sustentable AC, México
Carnaval del Maíz, México
Cedar Circle Farm, USA
Center for Sustainable Medicine, USA
Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray Francisco de Vitoria, México
Centro de la Tierra, México
CILAS, México
Circle Squared Foundation, The Netherlands
COBOSPO, México
Colectivo Zacahitzco, México
Colectivo Zócalo, México
Comunidades Campesinas y Urbanas, México
Cool Planet, USA
Dr. Pablo Jaramillo López, Ph.D. UNAM, (National Autonomous University of Mexico), México
FAT, México
Favianna Rodriguez Artist, USA
FIAN, México
Fundación Semillas de Vida AC, México
GEA, México
GMO Inside, USA
Greenpeace Mexico, México
Grupo Ecologico Sierra Gorda IAP, México
Grupo Vicente Gutierrez, Tlaxcala, México
Guereni Vendie, México
Kids Right to Know, Canada
Kiss the Ground, USA
LATINDADD, México
MAELA México, México
MaOGM, México
Milliones Against Monsanto, USA
Millones Contra Monsanto, México
NTC-SME, México
Nutiva, USA
Organic Consumers Association, USA
Pasticultores del Desierto, AC, México
People’s Lobby, USA
Programa Ambiental de la Universidad Autónoma de Chapingo, México
Rainman Landcare Foundation, South Africa
RASA, México
Red Nacional de Género y Economía, México
Reg Maíz, México
Regeneration International, USA
RMALC, México
Shumei International, Japan
Sin Maíz No Hay País, México
SME, México
Spiral Farm House, Nepal
STUNAM, México
SUEUM, Michoacán, México
The Hummingbird Project, USA
The Rules, USA
UCCS, México
Valhalla Movement, Canada
Vía Orgánica AC, México
Viva Sierra Gorda, México
El Maíz Más Pequeño AC, México
Caminos de Agua AC, Mexico

[1] https://unctad.org/en/PublicationsLibrary/ditcted2012d3_en.pdf

[2] https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?LangID=E&NewsID=16702

[3] https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/10/141010-monarch-butterfly-migration-threatened-plan/

[4] https://e360.yale.edu/feature/to_protect_monarch_butterfly_a_plan_to_save_the_sacred_firs/2942/

[5] https://rodaleinstitute.org/assets/RegenOrgAgricultureAndClimateChange_20140418.pdf