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Tweet | Pinterest  Subscribe & Read Past Issues | OCA Homepage | Donate | View on Web ESSAY OF THE WEEK Boycott, Gandhi-Style The deed is done. On Friday, July 29, 2016, President Obama signed a bill that was written by corporations, paid for by corporations and that serves no one in this country—except corporations. S.764, known by its opponents as the DARK (Deny Americans the Right to Know) Act, preempts Vermont’s mandatory GMO labeling law and substitutes in its place a federal bill that, no matter how Obama and his Congress try to spin it, is not mandatory and does not require labels—at least not labels that anyone can read. Not to mention that most GMO ingredients will be exempt under this fake “law.” I could, once again, list all the reasons this bill fails consumers. But I and others have already done that countless times, to no avail. The bill is a sham, a slap in the face to the 90 percent of Americans who support labeling. It’s an attack on states’ rights. It’s another “gift” to Monsanto and Big Food. And, for anyone who still harbored any doubt, S.764 is proof that our Democracy is broken, that our lawmakers answer to Corporate America, not to us, the people who elect them. It would be easy, after four-and-a-half years of non-stop fighting for labels, to cave in to despair. But let’s not give Monsanto the satisfaction. Because the truth is, while we may not always be able to win in a policy arena awash in corporate money, we, as consumers, still have tremendous power to influence the marketplace. It’s time to wield that power. It’s time to take a page out of Gandhi’s playbook. Read Ronnie’s essay ACTION ALERT #ConsumerRevolution Don’t get mad, get even. That advice may be tough to swallow after the long, exhausting battle for GMO labels ended in defeat last week. Especially given that the defeat was brazenly portrayed by industry, corrupt politicians and mainstream media as a “win” for consumers. We’re grateful to everyone in this movement who worked so hard to win the basic right to know, by working within the system for meaningful policy change. But the system failed us. Now it’s time to take our battle to the marketplace. We think our friends at the Savory Institute are on to something with the launch of their #ConsumerRevolution. It’s time to flex our consumer muscles. It’s time to let corporations know in no uncertain terms that they may be able to bribe politicians—but when we stop buying their products, including the organic brands owned by junk food companies that poison and pollute, they’ll have to either clean up their acts, or pack up and go home. Where do we start? Over the coming months, we will roll out a number of targeted campaigns that will expose some of the worst food companies on the planet, and call on them to start producing healthy food, using farming practices that heal the Earth, not poison it. In the meantime, you can download our Buycott App to help you choose products that both regenerate your health, and the environment, and reject brands owned by corporations that lobbied against GMO labeling. Almost 500,000 consumers have already downloaded the Buycott App. Let the #ConsumerRevolution begin! TAKE ACTION: Download the Buycott App Need help? Follow these detailed instructions for downloading the Buycott App RIGHT TO KNOW Sweet Deal? Seems Coca-Cola has a cozy relationship with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Or at least it did. Thanks to the investigative work of US Right to Know, (USRTK) Coke’s sweet deal with the CDC is turning sour. In June, Dr. Barbara Bowman, a high-ranking CDC official, unexpectedly departed the agency, two days after it was revealed that she had been communicating regularly with—and offering guidance to—a leading Coca-Cola advocate seeking to influence world health authorities on sugar and beverage policy matters, according to USRTK. Now, thanks to emails obtained by US Right to Know, it appears that another veteran CDC official has similarly close ties to the global soft drink giant. Michael Pratt, Senior Advisor for Global Health in the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion at the CDC, has a history of promoting and helping lead research funded by Coca-Cola. Pratt also works closely with the nonprofit corporate interest group set up by Coca-Cola called the International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI), according to emails USRTK obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. What? A multi-national junk food company trying to influence a U.S. government agency? We admit, that hardly seems like news anymore. But it’s important information. And consumers have the right to know. Get the whole story Help us support USRTK Seeking writers! USRTK needs writers, especially those experienced in reviewing and analyzing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) documents. Interested? Email: [log in to unmask]. SUPPORT THE OCA & OCF Can You Handle It? Writing for the Post Carbon Institute, Richard Heinberg provides a long list of grievances Americans have about today’s state of affairs. Which grievances each of us personally relates to depends a lot, he says, on our own economic status, interests, political affiliations, or what have you. In the end, Heinberg says, they’re all symptoms “of an entirely foreseeable systemic crisis.” But here’s the real deal: a few generations ago we started using fossil fuels for energy; the result was an explosion of production and consumption, which (as a byproduct) enabled enormous and rapid increase in human population. Burning all that coal, oil, and natural gas made a few people very rich and enabled a lot more people to enjoy middle-class lifestyles. But it also polluted air, water, and soil, and released so much carbon dioxide that the planet’s climate is now going haywire. Due to large-scale industrial agriculture, topsoil is disappearing at a rate of 25 billion tons a year; at the same time, expanded population and land use is driving thousands, maybe millions of species of plants and animals to extinction. Heinberg’s piece hit home for us this week, on the heels of the GMO labeling loss. Not just because he gets that Big Ag is destroying our soil and that that’s one (of many) reasons we’re headed for catastrophe. But also because he shares our viewpoint that our only hope is, well, us: Given the absence of helpful leadership at the national level, our main opportunity for effective preparation and response to the wolf at our doorstep appears to lie in local community resilience building. It’s the truth. Can you handle it? Rebuilding our local communities. Supporting local farms and farmers. Choosing to buy food produced using farming practices that heal, not harm—practices that are regenerative, not degenerative. We can all do this. And we must. You’ll hear a lot more from us in the coming weeks and months about the #ConsumerRevolution. Because it—you—are our last best hope for turning things around. Before it’s too late. Donate to the Organic Consumers Association (tax-deductible, helps support our work on behalf of organic standards, fair trade and public education) Donate to the Organic Consumers Fund (non-tax-deductible, but necessary for our GMO labeling legislative efforts) Support OCA's Regeneration International Project (tax-deductible, helps support our work on behalf of organic, regenerative agriculture and climate change) VIDEO OF THE WEEK Monsanto Doctrine While the federal government has been busy stomping out consumer and states’ rights to labels on GMO foods, federal judges have been mulling over a plea by Monsanto and friends to overturn public safety laws in three Hawaii counties. Investigative journalist Jonathan Greenberg calls it the Monsanto Doctrine of preemption: Simply put, the Monsanto Doctrine is the right of agrochemical corporations to spray unlimited quantities of industrial poisons regardless of any local law passed to protect human or environmental safety. If it is upheld by the federal Appeals Court, then local governments around the country will be rendered powerless to protect its citizens’ basic civil right to health and safety. Progressive Source, a public interest communications company run by Greenberg, created a short video to tell the story of how agrochemical companies are running roughshod over the rights of Hawaii citizens. The company also produced a longer video, which shows testimony from the actual court hearing. Watch the short video Watch the video NEW REPORT Hot Topic When you factor in everything it takes to run our energy-intensive, polluting industrial agriculture system, that system turns out to be one of the biggest culprits when it comes to global warming. Bring down the industrial agriculture system, a failed model propped up by government subsidies, and we can stabilize the climate by restoring the soil’s capacity to draw down and sequester carbon. How do we undo the corporate stranglehold on our food system? By choosing to eat local, organic, GMO-free foods. This week, The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) released its annual “State of the Climate” report. It was full of bad news. Not only was 2015 the hottest year on record since at least the mid-to-late 19th century, but greenhouse gas concentrations were the highest on record. Farmers have the power to cool the planet. Consumers have the power to push farmers to grow food using planet-cooling, organic, regenerative practices. It’s time to power up. Learn more Download the NOAA State of the Climate report Soil Carbon Restoration: Can Biology Do the Job? ECO TOURS Ready, Set, Travel! If you’re looking to combine international travel, adventure and organic food and agriculture education, you’re in luck. OCA, along with our Regeneration International and Vía Orgánica projects, have scheduled a full slate of eight-day eco tours in the central highlands of Mexico. Deadline to register for the next tour is August 20. The tour runs from September 20-27. If you can’t make the September tour, you can also register ahead of time for another of the upcoming tours (dates and deadlines here). Our eco tours include accommodations at Vía Orgánica’s eco ranch and farm school, which serves as an educational farm and training center for farmers, students and activists in the organic food movement. The ranch includes a natural retreat center with adobe buildings, walking trails, solar power, rainwater catchment, and greywater and composting systems. Tours also include side trips to San Miguel de Allende and other World Heritage sites, trail rides and nature walks, horseback riding, and organic farming and cooking workshops—and of course, the opportunity to join in lively discussions with OCA and Vía Orgánica staff and other tour participants. Cost for accommodations and all-organic meals is $1250 per person. Learn more For more information or to register contact: [log in to unmask] LITTLE BYTES Essential Reading for the Week On the Organic Trade Association’s Betrayal of the Movement for Mandatory GMO Labeling Dr. Mercola's Updated Nutrition Plan: Your Guide to Optimal Health The GMO Debate: One Student’s Experience of Pro-GMO Propaganda at Cornell University Vaccine Studies Debunked 3 Major Problems with Monsanto's New GMO Soybeans If You Thought One Bernie Sanders Was Good, How about 100 of Him? Sorry Food Industry, The Historic GMO Food Labeling Bill Is Anything But

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