Whole Foods CEO Mackey Endorses Cato Book ­ No More Corporate Crime Prosecutions

• By Russell Mokhiber
  Common Dreams News Center, June 29, 2006
  http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0629-21.htm

Most people who shop at Whole Foods are liberal yuppies.

They have enough money to spend $9 on a pound of cherries.

They believe that shopping for groceries at Whole Foods instead of Safeway or Food Lion or Giant or Wal-Mart is the politically correct thing to do.

They probably believe that the President and CEO of Whole Foods is a liberal like themselves.

They of course would be wrong.

John Mackey is instead a libertarian with right-wing tendencies.

Mackey says that Milton Friedman is his hero.

He's a devotee of Ayn Rand.

He's opposed to national health insurance.

He's a union buster.

And he has recently endorsed a book published by the libertarian Cato Institute whose author concludes that no corporation should ever be prosecuted for crimes ­ no matter the corporation, no matter the crime.

The book ­ 'Trapped: When Acting Ethically is Against the Law' ­ is written by Georgetown University Professor John Hasnas.

"John Hasnas shows that new laws and regulations too often force CEOs to choose between acting legally and acting ethically," Mackey says in a blurb on the back cover.

Unlike most books on white collar crime, which tend to rehash bland academic theories or cut corporate crimes of years past and paste them with dogmatic rants, 'Trapped' is actually a compelling read with an original idea sprinkled here and there.

Hasnas' big idea is that the whole system of prosecuting corporate crime is undermining the liberal principles built into traditional criminal law and designed to protect individuals against the power of the state.

The result is that corporations are forced to turn on their own employees to save their own corporate hide.

Hasnas is a hard line libertarian. He worked for a time as lawyer for the politically aggressive, right-wing, and privately-held Koch Industries, ­ one of the nation's largest oil companies.

And instead of concluding that we should fix the criminal justice system so that corporations and federal prosecutors can no longer gang up on individual employees, ­ he concludes in his book that corporations should never be criminally prosecuted ­ ever.

No matter the crime.

No matter the corporation.

Hasnas wants to do away with corporate criminal liability.

If there is a crime committed by someone within the corporation, criminally prosecute the individual, he says.

But a corporation can't commit a crime and should not be criminally prosecuted.

Ever.

We wanted to know: does Whole Foods' CEO Mackey agree ­ corporations should never be criminally prosecuted?

No matter the crime?

No matter the corporation?

Does the libertarian John Mackey support the big business funded Cato Institute and its right wing ideology with cash ­ or just with quotes?

Whole Foods spokesperson Kate Lowery did not return numerous calls and e-mails seeking comment.



Russell Mokhiber is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Corporate Crime Reporter.

For a complete transcript of the Interview with John Hasnas, see 20 Corporate Crime Reporter 27(12), July 5, 2006, print edition only.

IS AL GORE REALLY AN ENVIRONMENTALIST?

Some Inconvenient Truths About Al Gore

Occidental is one of the worst corporate polluters in the world. In its most scandalous case, an Occidental subsidiary dumped thousands of tons of toxic chemical waste near the residential area of Love Canal, New York, causing birth defects, miscarriages, and incidences of cancer in the nearby community. But Gore remained a friend of the company. And the company, a good friend to Al Gore.

Despite being a predominantly Republican supporter, Occidental funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions to the Clinton/Gore Democrats over the course of their two-term administration. In return, Gore maneuvered to facilitate Occidental’s acquisition of oil drilling rights in the Elk Hills National Petroleum Reserve outside Bakersfield, California. Long held as a federal oil resource, Elk Hills represented the largest turnover of public lands to a private corporation in American history. It tripled Occidental’s U.S. petroleum reserves, increasing the company’s stock value by ten percent. Gore later admitted to controlling between $250,000 – $500,000 worth of shares through a family held trust.


How to Deal with Gore: Dump Him

In the 1992 campaign, Gore used the environment as a sledgehammer against Bush and Quayle. One issue raised over and over was a hazardous waste incinerator slated for East Liverpool, Ohio, which Gore vowed to block. But within months of taking office, the EPA, run by former Gore staffer Carol Browner, reversed course and issued a permit for the deadly plant. This stunning betrayal was a sign of things to come. It was swiftly followed by capitulations on the Everglades, ancient forests, fuel efficiency standards, pesticides in foods, wetland protection, oil development in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico, subsidies for nuclear power, organic food standards and ozone-depleting chemicals. And on and on.

200 Activists Occupy Al Gore’s Olympia Office:Demand Gore Take a Stand for the U’wa of Colombia

Olympia, WA, Sept. 19 2000-Some 200 activists have occupied Al Gore’s offices since 12 Noon today and vow to stay through the night and beyond until the vice president comes out against Occidental Petroleum’s drilling project on the U’wa people ’s sacred lands in Colombia. Mr. Gore has deep personal and financial ties to Occidental, including family investments of up to $1 million in the company.


Al Gore: The Other Oil Candidate

by Bill Mesler, Special to CorpWatch

August 29th, 2000

For thousands of years, the Kitanemuk Indians made their home in the Elk Hills of central California. Come February 2001, the last of the 100 burial grounds, holy places and other archaeological sites of the Kitanemuks will be obliterated by the oil drilling of Occidental Petroleum Company. Oxy's plans will "destroy forever the evidence that we once existed on this land," according to Dee Dominguez, a Kitanemuk whose great grandfather was a signatory to the 1851 treaty that surrendered the Elk Hills.

Occidental's planned drilling of the Elk Hills doesn't only threaten the memory of the Kitanemuk. Environmentalists say a rare species of fox, lizard and the kangaroo rat would also be threatened by Oxy's plans. A lawsuit has been filed under the Endangered Species Act. But none of that has given pause to Occidental or the politician who helped engineer the sale of the drilling rights to the federally-owned Elk Hills. That politician is AL GORE.


Gore's Oil Money

Ken Silverstein

One of the world's hottest battles between indigenous groups and multinational oil companies is heating up in Colombia, where Occidental Petroleum is seeking to drill on land claimed by the 5,000-member U'wa tribe. Early this year, the Colombian government deployed several hundred soldiers to guard workers building a road to the multibillion-dollar project. That led to a clash in February when security forces used tear gas to break up an anti-Occidental demonstration of several hundred Indians. Three children reportedly drowned when they fell into a river as they fled from government troops. The U'was won at least a temporary victory on March 31, when a Colombian court ordered the government to stop Occidental from drilling on tribal land.

Meanwhile, an international campaign opposing Occidental's plan is also picking up steam. On April 28 about 100 demonstrators turned up at Occidental's annual meeting in Santa Monica and called on the company to halt the project. Activists have also picketed the offices of Fidelity Investments, which owns about 8 percent of Occidental's shares, and criticized Vice President Al Gore, whose family owns at least a quarter of a million dollars' worth of Occidental stock.

AL GORE: DE POLITICO A ESTRELLA DE CINE

Carmelo Ruiz Marrero
Director, Proyecto de Bioseguridad de Puerto Rico

Ví "An Inconvenient Truth", película protagonizada por el ex-candidato presidencial Al Gore, en la que el ex-político tornado estrella de cine suena la alarma sobre el calentamiento global.

Sin duda muchos ambientalistas deben estar deleitados con la película, pero no veo razón para hacer de Gore un héroe del movimiento ambiental.

¿Qué hizo Gore para combatir el calentamiento global cuando fue vicepresidente de Estados Unidos por ocho años? Absolutamente nada.

En la película, Gore le exhorta a la actual administración a que firme el Protocolo de Kyoto. El Protocolo, que fue redactado en 1997 y entró en vigor en febrero de 2005 y ha sido firmado por sobre cien países, es un tratado internacional que compromete los firmantes a reducir sus emisiones de gases contaminantes de carbono que aportan al calentamiento global. Pero él fue vicepresidente de una administración que se rehusó a firmarlo. Cualquier ambientalista con un poco de memoria puede recordar eso.

Personalmente, yo no apoyo el Protocolo de Kyoto y creo que los ambientalistas que lo apoyan están en un serio error. El Protocolo compromete 38 países industrializados firmantes a reducir sus emisiones a 5.2% debajo de los niveles emitidos en 1990. Pero tales reducciones son insignificantes frente a lo que se necesita hacer para evitar una catástrofe climática planetaria, según el Panel Intergubernamental sobre Cambio Climático, prestigioso cuerpo de expertos convocado por las Naciones Unidas para estudiar el problema. El Panel determinó que las emisiones se reduzcan hasta bajar a 60% debajo de los niveles de 1990. Un número creciente de ambientalistas progresistas se están dando cuenta de que el Protocolo es una pérdida de tiempo y un obstáculo para las verdaderas soluciones a la crisis.

¡Y por favor, no me digan que "por lo menos es algo"! La situación es demasiado urgente y lo que está en juego es demasiado importante como para uno conformarse con metas insignificantes, como las que propone el Protocolo.

Ustedes se preguntarán por qué el Protocolo propone unas reducciones de emisiones tan diminutas y patéticas. Pues se debe exclusivamente a las presiones que ejercieron el vicepresidente Gore y su comandante, el presidente Bill Clinton. Desde que llegaron al poder en 1993, Clinton y Gore se dedicaron a entorpecer y estorbar las negociaciones internacionales sobre cambio climático, contrario a lo que nos quiere hacer creer Gore en su película. Los negociadores de Kyoto respondieron con pragmatismo, emasculando, diluyendo y eviscerando el Protocolo hasta convertirlo en un triste acuerdo que no puede hacer mella contra el calentamiento global. La esperanza de los negociadores era que esto motivaría a Clinton/Gore a firmar el Protocolo, pero ni eso lograron.

Es por esto que veo mucha deshonestidad en este personaje Gore, héroe de su propia película. Durante sus dos términos como vicepresidente entorpeció y obstruyó la lucha contra el calentamiento global, y ahora le pide a los políticos de su país que hagan lo contrario.


LECTURAS RECOMENDADAS:

En entredicho la verdadera función del protocolo ambiental de Kyoto

¿Comercio de carbono o justicia climatica?

Inconvenient Truths About the Ozone Man. Al Gore the Environmental Titan?

Democracy or Carbocracy? Intellectual Corruption and the Future of the Climate Debate

Sustainable Monoculture? No, thanks!

Debunking agribusiness greenwash

June 2006

"Sustainable development" has always been a chameleon-like concept, easily used to mystify environmental destruction. Agribusiness has a particularly talent for such greenwashing. Its latest trick is to present industrial monocultures as sustainable. Today such corporate-backed projects are popping up across the world, ranging from “sustainable palm oil plantations” to “sustainable salmon farms”. This is only to be expected from agribusiness. But what is more disturbing however is that NGOs and farmers’ groups are also participating in these corporate projects.

GRAIN takes a critical look at some of these projects and the new disguises, new players and new language that they utilise for the same old purpose of turning our food and biodiversity into global commodities.

El boom del biodiesel en Europa

Por Mae-Wan Ho

Un estudio realizado en Australia muestra que mientras que biodiesel producido de los residuos del aceite de cocina reduce la emisión de óxido de carbono en un 90%, el biodiesel producido de aceite de colza solo reduce emisiones en un 50% comparado con el diesel normal (7).

El grupo industrial para biodiesel del Reino Unido comisionó un estudio que muestra que la producción de biodiesel de colza “energéticamente muy positivo” con una relación energética de inversión - ganancia de 1,78 cuando se dejaba la paja en el campo; y con una relación aun mejor de 3,71 si la paja se utiliza para energía y la semilla se utiliza como fertilizante.

Pero se llegaron a estas estimaciones favorables usando una combinación de medidas dudosas. Por ejemplo, se infló la producción de aceite de colza por Ha a 4.08 ton/hectárea, cuando en el 2004 en el Reino Unido la media estaba en 2.9 ton/Ha. (9), asignando créditos energéticos ilegítimos al cultivo, y dejando a un lado la energía que se requiere para la construcción de edificios para el procesamiento y en maquinaria e implementos e ignorando muchos de los costos externos ambientales.

Unas investigaciones llevadas a cabo por el Instituto Flamenco de Investigaciones Tecnológicas, financiado por la Oficina Belga para las Ciencias, Tecnología y Asuntos Culturalesy la Comisión Europea, contaron una historia diferente, redactado en el articulo presentado en la conferencia internacional financiado por EPA de los EEUU en el 2000, (10) que dice :

“…el biodiesel causa más problemas a la salud y al medio ambiente porque genera más contaminación del aire y promociona la formación de ozono, genera más desechos y causa eutrofización”. Por lo tanto “los beneficios que otorgan el biodiesel en la reducción de gases con efecto invernadero, no justifican su uso tomando en consideración los impactos ambientales que causa….”

Las conclusiones generaron consternación en la comunidad que promociona el biodiesel.

Jon Van Gerpen de la Universidad de Iowa explicó (10) que la mayoría de evaluaciones del ciclo de vida del biodiesel ignoran los costos externos, sobre los cuales poco se ha escrito. Lo respaldó diciendo que mientras que el biodiesel reduce las emisiones de gases con efecto invernadero en un 40%, genera mayores impactos que el diesel en otras siete categorías de impacto ambiental que normalmente no se incluyen en la evaluación del ciclo de vida.

No dio su respaldo a la validez científica del análisis presentada en el artículo sobre biodiesel en relación a producción de colza en Bélgica, van Gerpen dijo que no se puede extrapolar a la producción de biodiesel de soya en los EE.UU. ya que en su opinión los impactos ambientales serían mínimos, aunque otros no comparten esta opinión.

La colza es en efecto, un cultivo relativamente caro, que requiere de frecuentes rotaciones y el uso extensivo de fertilizantes derivados del petróleo, generando preocupación sobre sus impactos ambientales. Se calcula que el costo de producción de biodiesel es el doble que el costo del diesel convencional (2). Solo para alcanzar la meta de 5,75% se necesitaría más del 9% del área agrícola de los EE. UU.

Comentario del Proyecto de Bioseguridad de Puerto Rico

Jueves 8 de junio 2006

LA AGRICULTURA ORGANICA ES LA ALTERNATIVA PARA PUERTO RICO

Proyecto de Bioseguridad de Puerto Rico se ve obligado a comentar el reportaje de portada de la Revista Negocios de El Nuevo Día del pasado domingo 4 de junio. Titulado "A Vender el Paraíso Biotecnológico", el reportaje hace alabanzas a los supuestos beneficios de las inversiones de compañías biotecnológicas en Puerto Rico.

Un segundo artículo sobre el tema en la página 13 se dedica a la biotecnología agrícola, es decir cultivos transgénicos. El redactor entrevista a una representante de Monsanto en Puerto Rico, Lucy Cruz, quien nos sirve el discurso propagandístico de la industria biotecnológica.

No daremos una disertación detallada sobre por qué los transgénicos son inherentemente peligrosos. Ya eso lo hizo Carmelo Ruiz Marrero, director del Proyecto de Bioseguridad, en su libro "Balada Transgénica" y en escritos más recientes.

Pero ofrecemos un botón de muestra: En el año 2003 una veintena de destacados científicos de siete países, que abarcan las disciplinas de agroecología, agronomía, biomatemática, botánica, química médica, ecología, histopatología, ecología microbiana, genética molecular, bioquímica nutricional, fisiología, toxicología y virología formaron el Grupo de Ciencia Independiente (Independent Science Panel) (http://www.indsp.org/). Esta agrupación presentó un detallado informe sobre los productos transgénicos en el que sostienen que "Los peligros más graves de la ingeniería genética son inherentes al proceso mismo".

Entre los hallazgos del informe:

* Contrario a lo que alegan sus proponentes, no se ha demostrado que estos cultivos sean inocuos. La reglamentación está basada en un enfoque anti-precautorio para apresurar la aprobación de productos a costa de consideraciones de seguridad.
* Los peligros más grandes de la ingeniería genética son- por mucho- inherentes al proceso mismo.
* Ha habido muy pocos estudios creíbles sobre la inocuidad de los transgénicos. Sin embargo, la poca información disponible es preocupante.
* Ya hay evidencia experimental de que el ADN transgénico de plantas puede ser absorbido por bacterias del suelo y de los intestinos de sujetos humanos.
* Se sabe que el ADN transgénico puede sobrevivir las enzimas y ácidos del sistema digestivo y saltar al genoma de células mamíferas, raising the possibility for triggering cancer.
* Hay un historial de tergiversación y supresión de evidencia científica en aras de promover la biotecnología agrícola. Experimentos claves no fueron realizados, o fueron mal realizados y luego tergiversados.
* Suficiente evidencia ha salido a luz como para levantar serias interrogantes sobre la inocuidad de los transgénicos. El ignorar esta evidencia puede resultar en daños irreversibles a la salud humana y el ambiente. Por esto, los cultivos transgénicos deben ser firmemente rechazados ahora.


Alternativas las hay de sobra. No hay necesidad de recurrir a los cultivos transgénicos para alimentar a los hambrientos o para vitalizar la economía puertorriqueña. Ni siquiera hay necesidad alguna de recurrir a venenos tóxicos para combatir plagas o causar algún daño ambiental para hacer agricultura.

Una esperanzadora revolución agroecológica está arropando el mundo, en países pobres y ricos por igual. Agrupaciones de sociedad civil, movimientos de base, pueblos indígenas, intelectuales progresistas, científicos comprometidos y muchos otros sectores se están organizando y están educando y movilizándose contra los cultivos transgénicos y en pro de una agricultura socialmente justa y ecológicamente sana. Están en Bangladesh y Francia, en Brasil y Suráfrica, en Estados Unidos y Puerto Rico, luchando por la soberanía alimentaria, la reforma agraria, la preservación de la semilla como patrimonio de los pueblos, y por demostrar que otro futuro es posible. Esta revolución silenciosa se manifiesta en huertos caseros, jardines comunitarios, mercados agrícolas, cooperativas de alimentos, intercambios de semillas, movimientos en pro de la soberanía alimentaria y la reforma agraria, y el auge de la agricultura orgánica.

La agricultura orgánica es un conjunto de prácticas y conceptos encaminados a unir la producción de alimentos saludables con la protección ambiental. En ella se evita el uso de sustancias tóxicas como insecticidas y herbicidas, las cuales han sido científicamente vinculadas a la destrucción ambiental y a enfermedades degenerativas en seres humanos.

Quienes creen que este tipo de producción agrícola no es práctico ni pasará de ser un mercado de nicho especializado no están debidamente documentados. Hoy día 59 millones de acres alrededor del mundo están dedicados al cultivo orgánico, según el profesor Miguel Altieri, entomólogo de la Universidad de California. Nueve millones de estos acres están en Europa: Alemania tiene alrededor de ocho mil fincas orgánicas, mientras que Italia tiene unas 18 mil. La Unión Europea y sus países miembros tienen directrices específicas para ayudar y fomentar este tipo de agricultura. Se espera que para 2010 de 30% a 50% de la agricultura europea sea orgánica. El mercado global de alimentos orgánicos alcanzó los $23 mil millones en 2002.

“Estudios han comprobado que las fincas orgánicas pueden ser tan productivas como las convencionales, pero sin usar agroquímicos”, dice Altieri. “También consumen menos energía, a la vez que conservan los suelos y el agua”. La evidencia muestra de manera contundente que “los métodos orgánicos pueden producir alimentos para todos, y hacerlo de generación en generación sin desgastar recursos naturales”.

Los defensores de la agricultura industrializada y el uso de transgénicos alegan que el agro orgánico no provee los rendimientos necesitados para alimentar la creciente población mundial. Pero cualquier reducción en rendimientos en la producción orgánica es contrarrestada ampliamente por avances ecológicos y de eficiencia. Investigaciones presentadas por el Grupo de Ciencia Independiente demuestran que la agricultura orgánica puede ser comercialmente viable a largo plazo y producir más alimento por unidad de energía y recursos. De hecho, los costos de producción de la agricultura orgánica son a menudo menores que los del agro convencional, y traen ganancias equivalentes o superiores aún sin el sobreprecio usual de los productos orgánicos. Cuando se incorpora el precio alto del producto a la ecuación, los sistemas de producción orgánica casi siempre son más rentables.

"Datos demuestran que con el tiempo las fincas agroecológicas muestran niveles más estables de producción total por área de unidad que los sistemas de altos insumos; producen réditos favorables; proveen suficiente ingreso en proporción a los costos laborales y otros insumos como para tener un nivel de vida aceptable para pequeños agricultores y sus familias; y aseguran la protección y conservación de los suelos y mejoran la biodiversidad", asegura Altieri.

Un estudio sobre proyectos de agricultura sustentable en los países del Sur global encontró que la producción promedio de alimentos por hogar aumentó en 1.71 toneladas al año (73%) para 4.42 millones de agricultors en 3.58 millones de hectáreas, brindando seguridad alimentaria y beneficios de salud a comunidades locales. "Se ha demostrado que el aumento en la productividad agrícola aumenta el suministro de alimentos y sube ingresos, reduciendo por lo tanto la pobreza, aumentando acceso a alimentos, reduciendo la desnutrición y mejorando la salud y niveles de vida", afirmó el Grupo de Ciencia Independiente.

"Los métodos de la agricultura sustentable se sirven extensamente de conocimientos indígenas y tradicionales y enfatizan la experiencia e innovación del agricultor. Esto por lo tanto utiliza recursos locales apropiados, de bajo costo y corrientemente disponibles y también mejora el estatus y autonomía del agricultor, mejorando las relaciones sociales y culturales en las comunidades locales."

Y además, estudios demuestran que en promedio los alimentos orgánicos son más altos en vitamina C, tienen más minerales y compuestos que combaten el cáncer, enfermedades del corazón, y disfunciones neurológicas relacionadas a la vejez, y tienen niveles significativamente menores de nitratos tóxicos.

"Las prácticas agrícolas sustentables han resultado beneficiosas en todos los aspectos relevantes a la salud y el ambient. Además, traen seguridad alimentaria y bienestar social y cultural a comunidades locales en todas partes", concluye el Grupo de Ciencia Independiente. "Hay una urgente necesidad para un cambio comprensivo a nivel global hacia todas las formas de agricultura sustentable."

******

Para más información sobre los peligros de los cultivos y alimentos transgénicos, les recomendamos estos escritos de Carmelo Ruiz Marrero:

http://www.adital.com.br/site/noticia.asp?lang=ES&cod=21124
http://www.rebelion.org/noticia.php?id=29068


Proyecto de Bioseguridad de Puerto Rico
Edificio Darlington, Suite 703
San Juan, Puerto Rico 00925
Página web: http://bioseguridad.blogspot.com
Contacto: (787) 203-2615, 771-4473

Taken from Grist:

C'est Bonn: Legendary music fest Bonnaroo urges fans to go green By Sarah van Schagen

23 Jun 2006

Two's company, 80,000's a crowd.

Photos: Sarah van Schagen.

For most of the year, this 700-acre farm in Manchester, Tenn., provides open, grassy pasture for a herd of cows. But for a short time each summer, the idyllic setting is taken over by a different kind of herd: the tens of thousands of fans who descend for the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival. The now-legendary event features long-haired musician-types, massive stages, sprawling campgrounds, and vendors hawking all manner of food and crafts. As Thom Yorke -- the frontman for this year's headliner, Radiohead -- put it to the writhing masses waving glow-sticks under a star-speckled sky last week, "Now this is what we call a festival."

But with some 80,000 people camping out for the four-day, 24-hour jam-band showcase, whose other featured acts included Tom Petty, Phil Lesh, and Beck, Bonnaroo is much more than a festival. In the words of psych-folk singer-songwriter Devendra Banhart, "It's an opportunity to live in a temporary village centered around music, expression, awareness, consciousness -- all the goodies!" The festival literally becomes a community -- complete with residential areas, trailers with running water, port-o-potties, wi-fi and cell-phone service, security officials, and medical facilities -- and deals with many of the issues a small city might. Which is why organizers made a conscious effort to reduce its environmental footprint this year, and have even grander plans for the future.

So how do you convince throngs of half-naked, half-baked music lovers to go green? By showing the way. To reduce global-warming impacts, biodiesel generators powered all of the non-music stages, as well as the spotlights used at night and some of the golf carts zipping along the dust-covered "roads" between camping areas. 'Rooers were given the opportunity to purchase Cool Tags to offset their travel. In an area of the grounds known as "Planet Roo," a solar-powered stage was flanked by vendors selling organic foods and natural products, and booths manned by nonprofits ranging from national groups like the Natural Resources Defense Council and the World Resources Institute to advocates working on local issues like mountaintop-removal mining.

Clean Vibes: the quicker picker-upper.

Then there was the eco-army dealing with waste: some 600 tons of it. Clean Vibes -- the official "pick up the mess organization," according to head picker-upper Anna Borofsky -- set up 2,000 trash barrels and 2,000 recycling bins throughout the grounds, carting filled bags to sorting facilities and composting areas. By recycling plastic bottles and aluminum cans, Bonnaroo officials hoped to divert more than 60 percent of the event's waste from landfills. An organization called WastAway will also contribute, by melting down and compacting 250 tons of the non-recyclable, non-biodegradable garbage into "fluff" that can be used for park benches and construction.

"These festivals are a kind of microcosm of the real world," Borofsky said, adding that the Bonnaroo community serves as an example of what's possible. "By showing people that [this community can run] in a sustainable way, then we can apply that to the big picture."

Spanning all generations, Bonnaroo's "citizens" ranged from hippie to hipster, but Borofsky says she's noticed more of a "hippie-crite" presence at many of the large music festivals. "[We're trying to] teach people that if we don't respect the land that we're allowed to have these amazing gatherings on, then we're not going to be able to have these amazing gatherings anymore."

DIGG IT!

Digg is a technology news web page that combines blogging, non-hierarchical editorial control, social bookmarking and RSS. Users submit news items or web links that they find interesting, and these are then promoted to the headlines through a cyber-plebiscite of sorts in which the readers- and not some editor- decide what content gets highlighted.

All of Digg's content is freely accessible, but in order to modify that content- by voting (digging) for the most popular submitted items and/or add comments to them- one has to register as a user. Currently there are some 250,000 registered users. News and web resources featured in Digg span from music and games to cyber-censorship in China and the future of the internet, as well as the latest news from Google, My Space, Microsoft, Netscape, Yahoo and much more.

When it was born in 2004, Digg featured no advertising, but given its explosive popularity, its founders have now endowed it with ads through Google AdSense. It's called Digg and not Dig because the dig.com domain belonged to the Walt Disney corporation.

Digg is going to unveil a bodacious upgrade next Monday. Here's some info about it, taken from the excellent Tech Crunch blog:

Digg 3.0 To Launch Monday: Exclusive Screenshots and Stats, by Michael Arrington

100 comments »

Digg 3.0 will launch Monday, June 26, in the morning PST. The launch is being announced this evening, and Digg has made a number of screen shots available to me which are included in this post.

Richard MacManus and I interviewed Digg founders Jay Adelson and Kevin Rose about the new launch, and we also spent some time talking about new Digg competitor Netscape, as well as other Digg related issues. Listen to the podcast on TalkCrunch.

In addition to a redesign (that retains the essential Digg “experience”), Digg is adding a number of news categories beyond technology. Topics are grouped into six “containers”, including technology, entertainment, gaming, science, world & business, and online video. The default view on Digg is still the technology container, although users can change that view and can also deselect individual topics within containers to further refine what they see on the home page.

There are other significant feature additions as well (we go through all of them in the podcast). In addition to seeing what your friends have dugg, users can also just see stories more than one friend has dugg, further filtering new stories to what they might really want to see. Also, changing views between top stories and new stories won’t require a page refresh - Digg has added Ajax features (sparingly, they stress) to switch quickly between headlines and new stories, and among topics/containers.

Digg is looking more and more like the newspaper of the web, and is challenging even the New York Times on page views (Digg surpassed rival Slashdot long ago).

About 800,000 unique visitors come to Digg every day, generating 9 million plus page views. The site is doubling in traffic every two months. And the amazing thing is that Digg does all of this with just 15 employees.

Digg has raised $2.8 million in venture funding from Greylock and Omidyar as well as angel investors Marc Andreesen, Reid Hoffman and Ron Conway. Given the tremendous growth and passionate users, something tells me they are going to have a rather large liquidity event.

Screen Shots:

Commentary from Carmelo:

Those who have followed my work in the last few years know full well that I harbor a healthy dose of skepticism about enlightened eco-capitalism. However, I find the new forward-looking eco-capitalists a lot more insteresting to talk to than many smart asses in the left who know nothing about ecology. The strident anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist discourses that one hears very often in Puerto Rico and elsewhere in Latin America are often very unhelpful when it comes to figuring ways out of the ecological quagmire the planet is stuck in. The sad truth is that the left has often been as guilty as the capitalists of wrecking the planet. Anyway, that been said, check out this recent post from Grist:

Investors see green in buildings

Posted by Payton Chung at 9:46 PM on 21 Jun 2006

Contrary to popular belief, most developers don't bulldoze Bambi solely to satisfy their innate avarice. Instead, they pave the Earth at the bidding of their clients -- by which I mean lenders and investors, not homebuyers, office tenants, or other such "end users." Regardless of how exciting and cool a development proposal is, it just won't happen if some faceless banker doesn't advance a big pile of cash.

As rapacious national banks swallow smaller, local competitors by the dozen, these lending decisions have increasingly fallen to bankers blindly applying generic guidelines. The result: a paint-by-numbers landscape of interchangeable (but financially safe) subdivisions, strip malls, and office parks. Any developer who dared to innovate would have to do so on his own dime -- and sure enough, many pioneering examples of New Urbanism have been backed by "nontraditional" investors like old-money families, large corporations (like Microsoft, Disney, EDS, and Ebsco), and even charitable foundations. Despite growing interest in socially responsible investing, few investors have thought of how to clean up the picture in the building industry -- source of, say some, half of America's greenhouse gas emissions.

Now, Philip Langdon of New Urban News reports on a new generation of private-equity investment funds that have started up to match socially responsible real estate investors and leading-edge developers. Green developer extraordinaire Jonathan Rose of New York sees his new $100 million fund as an investor alternative to "buying stocks in REITs [Real Estate Investment Trusts, publicly traded corporations whose primary business is real estate] which are based on sprawl." Perhaps the most promising is the $100 million Green Living Fund, based in Santa Cruz and launched by Kacey Fitzpatrick:

Fitzpatrick, cofounder and vice president of sustainability at the Green Living Fund, said her pool is the result of a desire "to promote the right kind of development." She observes: "Our goal is to promote the creation of vibrant, pedestrian-oriented, walkable communities with a mix of uses and a mix of housing types and incomes. Transit is a key piece of what we are doing." The fund will use "the LEED [Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design] standards for Neighborhood Development as the criteria for our initial assessment of a location," she says. Buildings will have to qualify for at least a LEED-Silver designation.

Whereas Rose hopes to raise funds from private and nonprofit investors, Fitzpatrick (an architect by training who hopes to make a bigger impact) hopes to gain substantial funding from public pension funds. If these funds successfully quantify the financial benefits of investing in green development, they could attract more investment, thereby mainstreaming now-unconventional forms of development.

I often liken the process of changing the way America builds cities to turning around a giant ship; many will be frustrated with the slow pace, but taking a trillion-dollar industry optimized to efficiently turn forests and fields into sprawl at the rate of five acres a minute means a lot of change. If investors -- the ones paying for the bulldozers -- catch on, we can count on those bulldozers being used far more gently in the future.

From the Creative Commons web site:

Creative Commons Add-in for Microsoft^® Office

Microsoft and Creative Commons have teamed up to release the Creative Commons Add-in for Microsoft Office, a copyright licensing tool that enables the easy addition of Creative Commons licenses to works created in popular Microsoft Office applications. The software is available free of charge at Microsoft Office Online and will enable the 400 million users of Microsoft Office Word, Microsoft Office Excel, and Microsoft Office PowerPoint to easily select Creative Commons licenses from directly within the application they are working in. The first document to be CC-licensed using this tool is the text of Brazilian Minister of Culture Gilberto Gil's iSummit keynote speech in English and Portugese.

Creative Commons and the Fedora Project have teamed up for the Open Video Contest taking place now through July 20, 2006. To participate, submit a video that explores freedom and openness. Entries should be 30 seconds or less, in Ogg Theora format, and be released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 license. The winner will receive Fedora-branded Sony Camcorder and the first 150 submissions will receive a pair of handsome Fedora flip flops.

IIRSA: La integración a la medida de los mercados

Raúl Zibechi

El proyecto Integración de la Infraestructura Regional Sudamericana (IIRSA), que se viene implementando en silencio, es el más ambicioso y abarcativo plan para integrar a la región al comercio internacional. Si se llevara a cabo completamente, conseguiría conectar las zonas donde se encuentran los recursos naturales (gas, agua, petróleo, biodiversidad) con las grandes ciudades y, a ambos, con los principales mercados del mundo

El 31 de agosto y el 1 de setiembre de 2000, durante la reunión de presidentes sudamericanos realizada en Brasilia (Brasil) a instancias del presidente Fernando Henrique Cardoso, el Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo (BID) presentó la propuesta “Plan de Acción para la Integración de la Infraestructura de Sudamérica”. Fue, de hecho, el lanzamiento de la IIRSA, un ambicioso plan para la ejecución de proyectos físicos y cambios en las legislaciones, normas y reglamentos nacionales para facilitar el comercio regional y global.

El proyecto IIRSA es un proceso multisectorial que pretende desarrollar e integrar las infraestructuras de transporte, energía y telecomunicaciones en diez años. Se trata de organizar el espacio geográfico en base al desarrollo de una infraestructura física de transporte terrestre, aéreo y fluvial; de oleoductos, gasoductos, hidrovías, puertos marítimos y fluviales y tendidos eléctricos y de fibra óptica, entre los más destacados. Esas obras se materializarán en doce ejes de integración y desarrollo, corredores que concentrarán las inversiones para incrementar el comercio y crear cadenas productivas conectadas con los mercados mundiales.

Para poder llevar adelante este megaproyecto es necesario remover las “barreras” físicas, normativas y sociales, lo que supone realizar grandes obras, armonizar las legislaciones nacionales de los doce países implicados en la IIRSA y ocupar los espacios físicos claves que suelen tener baja densidad de población pero guardan las principales reservas de materias primas y biodiversidad.

La IIRSA aparece estrechamente vinculada al ALCA, al punto que puede decirse que son dos caras de una misma moneda. “El ALCA determina lo jurídico administrativo en forma más concreta y la IIRSA la infraestructura”[17]. Y ambos aparecen ligados a un proyecto más vasto del que forma parte también el Plan Puebla-Panamá.

Sin embargo, la IIRSA tiene una particularidad: es un tipo de integración nacida en el Sur, gestionada en gran medida por las elites del Sur, pero que beneficia a los sectores mejor insertos en el mercado internacional. El énfasis en las obras de infraestructura aparece vinculado a la necesidad de los mercados mundiales de conseguir un flujo sostenido y en aumento constante de las exportaciones de materias primas y recursos naturales. Y hacerlo de modo “competitivo”, o sea reduciendo los costos. Es evidente que este tipo de desarrollo generará más pobreza y mayores desigualdades, aumentará la concentración de la riqueza a escala local y global y tendrá profundos impactos ambientales. Entre otras consecuencias negativas, la deuda externa de los países de la región seguirá creciendo y la sobreexplotación de los recursos puede llevar a que en algunas décadas los países que cuentan con petróleo o gas como su principal riqueza, acaben por agotarla sin haber obtenido ninguna ventaja.

Por último, y este es uno de los aspectos más preocupantes de la IIRSA, la forma como se está implementando es muy grave, ya que los proyectos se están llevando adelante en silencio. Así como en todo el continente hay un amplio debate sobre el ALCA y los TLC, los proyectos vinculados a la IIRSA se vienen realizando sin participación de las sociedades civiles ni de los movimientos sociales, sin información por parte de los gobiernos. Este estilo induce a pensar que se busca evitar el debate. En paralelo, se están construyendo los proyectos en partes para más tarde enlazarlos, lo que impide la vigilancia y control de las poblaciones afectadas y facilita que se burlen las leyes ambientales. Formalmente, la IIRSA nació en el año 2000, pero buena parte de los proyectos vienen de los años 90. El aspecto más perturbador es si la creación de esta enorme red de infraestructura no conseguirá, finalmente, imponer los mismos objetivos del ALCA pero sin ese nombre, sin debate, de modo vertical por parte de los mercados y las elites. Si esto fuera así, tal vez en unas décadas se haya consumado, de forma invisible, un gigantesco proyecto que remodela todo el continente y afecta a todos sus habitantes. Porque las elites saben, como lo muestra la experiencia reciente, que un debate abierto de sus planes, los condena al fracaso.

The Way New Urbanism | Alex Steffen

Some see mobile phones, embedded computers, wireless computing and cheap cameras combining to eliminate both privacy and shared experiences of public space, to, in short, undermine urban life.

But such erosion of city life isn't the only possibility. Others see new technologies as restoring the ability of highly mobile and atomized 21st Century city-dwellers to connect to one another, to become better citizens, and to recreate communities.

A whole mess of technologies need to be considered, but it's widely agreed that there are at least six to watch:

1) Mobile phones (which are increasingly mobile computers connected to the Internet, often with cameras) and other wireless technologies;

2) GPS devices (which tell you precisely where you are);

3) GIS programs (which allow you to overlay data onto maps of the landscape);

4) Social software programs and models of cooperation (which allow large numbers of people to socialize and create information collaboratively).

5) Better databases and ever-lower-cost computing;

6) Ubiquitous computing, cheap sensors, and RFID "smart dust."

Put these together and what we get are some novel, potentially revolutionary new ways to inhabit space.

The first is the making of what have been called smart places: neighborhoods where information is tied to places, and accessible through your mobile. In the imaginatively-dwarfed standard iteration, this means your phone will tell you when the store you pass has a sale on, but it might just as well warn you when you start down a street with a high crime-rate, or buzz you when a critical mass of friends are at a nearby coffee shop.

The second is the layering of reputation capital over smart places. It's one thing to have a store invade your phone with ads for its sales. It's another altogether to be able to see what people in your online community think of the service and prices there. It's still a third to be able to access a layer of citizen-created civic data, so that when you walk by your favorite historic building you can find out where the renovation plans stand.

A third is the illumination of flows -- the making visible of the invisible. Cities are, after all, essentially giant engines sucking in materials on the one end and spewing out waste on the other: cheap sensors and digital maps can let us see those materials and wastes as they flow by, helping us mitigate our own ecological wake, certainly, but also helping us protect ourselves from pollution and other health risks.

Smart places: Intelligent environments and location-based services could be the next big step forward for computing, reports Jack Schofield

March 25, 2004, The Guardian

…"intelligent environments" could be the next big thing. Instead of being mute, your surroundings will tell you about themselves, and what they offer. Tourist spots will want to trumpet their attractions, and places such as the Tower of London will be ideal for hosting "located plays". Advertising hoardings will offer one-click ordering: you will be able to buy things, pay by phone, and have them delivered to your home.

All this started to become a reality with location-based services, or LBS for short. The most obvious are "finder applications" - where is the nearest pub, bank etc - and "navigation applications", which offer driving or walking directions. These typically use location information derived from cellular phone networks, which is not very precise. However, they could use more accurate GPS…

RFID chips will become very important because they are small, don't need a power supply, and can be read at a distance. Today, RFID chips are mainly used for transport cards (eg bus passes) and for tagging goods on their way to supermarkets. However, they could easily be used to tag buildings, advertising hoardings, paintings in art galleries, almost anything.

Biocombustibles para los adictos al petróleo: ¿la cura peor que la enfermedad?

Por Mae-Wan Ho

El bioetanol y biosiesel, provenientes de la energía generada por cultivos agrícolas, ocupan tierra de cultivos alimenticios y producen menos energía que la usada para producirla; también afectan el medio ambiente y causan desastres económicos.

15 de julio: Acción Directa para la Justicia Climatológica

El 15 de Julio sera el Día Internacional de Acción en Contra de los Cambios Climatológicos. Mientras los ministros de energía del G8 prometen miles de millones de dólares en nuevos subsidios a las industrias que destruyen nuestro planeta y nuestro futuro, vamos a tomar acción para cerrar permanentemente estas industrias

Día Internacional de Acción Directa en Contra de los Cambios Climatológicos y del G8

Proteste en Contra de Las Industrias de Combustibles Fósiles en su Pueblo o Bioregion!

Desde 1980 hemos tenido 19 de las 20 años más calurosos en la historia. Las islas en el Sur del Pacifico ya han sido evacuadas debido a que el nivel del mar se está subiendo. Las tormentas y los huracanes están aumentando en severidad. Los osos polares se están ahogando debido a que las capas de hielo se están derritiendo y se alejan hacia el mar. Groenlandia y la Antartica se están derritiendo. Todos los días emitimos a la atmósfera cada vez mas gases de invernadero que son generados por los combustibles fosiles; cada dia estamos más cerca a lo que los científicos se refieren como "el punto sin regreso."

Este 15 de Julio, el "Grupo de 8," los 8 países más ricos e industrializados del mundo, se van a reunir en San Petesburgo, Rusia para planear la comercialización y dominación del planeta, esta vez bajo el estandarte de "seguridad energetica."

Un comunicado secreto filtrado del G8 exige el uso de miles de millones de dolares en nuevas inversiones en la producción de petroleo, gas natural, y carbón a nivel mundial, y la expansión a gran escala de energía nuclear. Con significativos cambios climatológicos en un horizonte no tan distante, continuar esta trayectoria neoliberal es una amenaza directa a la la vida en la Tierra tal como la conocemos. Resistir es defenderse!
La agenda del G8 promueve la "seguridad energetica" que depende del petroleo, el cual contamina nuestra Tierra y atmósfera, destruye comunidades pobres e indigenas, y arrasa el clima de la Tierra. Hay que enfrentar este desastre con la resistencia global.

El 15 de Julio sera el Día Internacional de Acción en Contra de los Cambios Climatológicos. Mientras los ministros de energía del G8 prometen miles de millones de dolares en nuevos subsidios a las industrias que destruyen nuestro planeta y nuestro futuro, vamos a tomar acción para cerrar permanentemente estas industrias. Este es un llamado para acciones autonomas y decentralizadas, adecuadas para su pueblo, ciudad, o bioregión. Usa este día internacional de acción para apoyar las luchas locales en contra de refinerias de petroleo, oleoductos, minas a cielo abierto, y plantas de energía con base en el carbón. Deten a los promotores financieros de la indusria de combustibles fosiles. Organiza talleres educativos para diseminar formas de vida sostenible.

Encuentra el punto más debil en la infraestructura de la explotación de recursos y sabotealo, literal o simbolicamente. Visita sus contaminadores locales y hazles la vida dificil.
El día 15 de julio, el Día Internacional de Acción en Contra de los Cambios Climatológicos, está siendo organizado por Rising Tide de América del Norte, una nueva red de los EEUU por el Grupo Climatico, parte de Earth First!, con inspiración y apoyo del grupo Rising Tide del Reino Unido, un movimiento de acción directa por la justicia climatológica y en contra de los cambios climatológicos. El 15 de julio, Rising Tide de América Norte se está movilizando en bioregiones locales, y creando lazos con diferentes movimientos como justicia del medioambiente, acción climatológica, y sustentabilidad radical en todos los paises miembros del G8 y en el sur global.

Rising Tide de América del Norte está juntando materiales de propaganda y enlace que pueden ser usados por grupos en el continente (y el mundo) para organizarse en su localidad. Estos materiales se pueden adquirir (por el momento solo en inglés) en el sitio http://rtc.revolt.org/ y en el sitio de Rising Tide de América Norte (en construcción).

Unete a la red Rising Tide de América del Norte, y informanos sobre acciones en contra de cambios climatológicos que se hagan en su comunidád o bioregión en el 15 de julio. Ponte en contacto con nosotros a traves del siguiente correo: efclimatecaucus@wildmail.com.

Para más información y ultimos avisos sobre acciones internacionales en contra de los cambios climatológicos el 15 de julio, más noticias y vínculos sobre resistencia global en contra de la reunion del G8 de 2006 a realizarse el 14 y el 17 de julio, busca aquí (la pagina está sólo en inglés desgraciadamente).

Por Rising Tide de America Norte

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Organic Bytes #84:

Pesticides, Hormones and Community Gardens

• By Craig Minowa and Ronnie Cummins
  Organic Consumers Association
  

ORGANIC BYTES #84
Health, Justice and Sustainability News Tidbits with an Edge!

6/15/2006

Subscribe to this Bi-weekly Email Newsletter: http://www.organicconsumers.org/organicbytes.htm

IN THIS ISSUE TAKE ACTION: USDA CLOSE TO APPROVING GENETICALLY ENGINEERED PLUMS L.A. RIOT POLICE INVADE NATION'S LARGEST COMMUNITY GARDEN SUCCESSFUL LAWSUIT FORCES EPA TO PHASE OUT DANGEROUS PESTICIDE TIP OF THE WEEK: MAINTAINING A HEALTHY ORGANIC LAWN AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION ASKS GOVERNMENT TO REGULATE SALT NATION'S LARGEST DAIRIES TRYING TO AVOID MONSANTO'S BOVINE GROWTH HORMONE SOME MAJOR U.S. DAIRIES GOING rBGH-FREE OVER THE PAST YEAR COFFEE PROTECTS DRINKERS' LIVERS BEER INGREDIENT REDUCES PROSTATE CANCER RISK

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TAKE ACTION: USDA CLOSE TO APPROVING GENETICALLY ENGINEERED PLUMS The United Sates Department of Agriculture (USDA) is now accepting public comments regarding the commercial approval of a genetically engineered plum, known as "C5." The approval of C5 would be the first widely released genetically engineered (GE) tree in the United States. Approval of C5 will also pave the way for more GE tree and fruit varieties, including peaches, cherries, and apricots. GE tree pollen can drift for several miles, leading to contamination of neighboring organic crops and indigenous trees. The USDA is currently accepting public comments on this issue. Learn more and Take Action: http://organicconsumers.org/plum_alert.htm

DONATE TO THE OCA

http://www.organicconsumers.org/donations.htm

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L.A. POLICE INVADE NATION'S LARGEST COMMUNITY GARDEN Armed police stormed a community garden in South Central Los Angeles this week, arresting 25 people including actress Daryl Hannah. The 14 acre plot of land, tended by over 350 neighborhood fruit and vegetable farmers for a decade, is the largest urban community garden in the country, and a symbol of hope for the embattled South Central neighborhood. Although the highly successful garden provides affordable, mostly organic food for low-income residents in this economically depressed area, a ten-year ownership dispute over the land has led to a dramatic standoff between neighborhood residents and the powerful real estate lobby of Los Angeles. Despite massive public opposition, multi-millionaire real estate developer Ralph Horowitz obtained a court order to pave over the community garden and replace it with an industrial warehouse. After back-tracking on an offer to sell the 14 acre plot to neighborhood residents for $16 million, Horowitz called in the police and bulldozers to clear the property of inhabitants. Neighborhood farmers and residents, along with the L.A. organic community, have vowed to keep up the struggle and save the community garden. Learn more: http://www.organicconsumers.org/2006/article_756.cfm

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SUCCESSFUL LAWSUIT FORCES EPA TO PHASE OUT DANGEROUS PESTICIDE A lawsuit filed by the United Farmworkers of America against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has forced the agency to begin phasing out a highly toxic organophosphate pesticide that has contaminated food and poisoned farmworkers. The pesticide, azinphos-methyl ("AZM"), is used on a variety of food crops, including potatoes, cranberries, and peaches. AZM is a highly toxic neurotoxin derived from nerve agents used during World War II. In 2001, the EPA found that AZM posed unacceptable risks to farmworkers, but due to industry pressure, the agency kept it on the market. "This pesticide has put thousands of workers at risk of serious illness every year," said Erik Nicholson of the United Farmworkers of America. The EPA will phase out AZM over the next four years. http://www.organicconsumers.org/2006/article_748.cfm

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TIP OF THE WEEK: MAINTAINING A HEALTHY ORGANIC LAWN There's no need to water more than an inch per week. Over-watering is unhealthy for lawns and invites lawn disease. Placing a tuna can under the sprinkler will help gauge water depth. Water early in the morning to avoid excessive evaporation from midday sun. Taller grass has deeper roots, causing the plants to need less watering. Set mower height to 3 inches and cut grass when it reaches 4.5 inches. Sharpen mower blades. Dull blades harm grass blades, inviting disease. Return grass clippings to the lawn. Grass mulching decreases weeds up to 60% and is a free natural fertilizer. Avoid cheap grass seed, as it typically has weed seeds mixed in. Buy good quality perennial ryes and fescue's. Each time you mow, try alternating your pattern and path. This prevents the soil from compacting. Soil biota helps provide a stable healthy lawn. If your lawn has been treated chemically, it will take a couple of years for the soil microorganisms to rebuild.

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AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION ASKS GOVERNMENT TO REGULATE SALT In an unprecedented move, the American Medical Association (AMA) voted on June 13 to call on the U.S. government to require salt warning labels on food products and to cut salt content in manufactured foods by 50% within a decade. The AMA, the largest group of physicians in the U.S., is also asking the Food and Drug Administration to revoke salt's status as a food that is "generally recognized as safe," noting there is overwhelming medical evidence that high salt intake dramatically increases risk of heart disease, hypertension and stroke. Heart disease is the nation's leading cause of death. Foods that would require warning labels would include everything from conventional hot dogs to some canned soups. The Food Products Association, a trade group for the food and beverage manufacturing industry, and one of the most powerful lobbying groups in Washington D.C. said the new policy is "misguided," claiming there is not enough scientific evidence tying salt to negative health effects. Learn more: http://www.organicconsumers.org/2006/article_753.cfm

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NATION'S LARGEST DAIRIES TRYING TO AVOID MONSANTO'S BOVINE GROWTH HORMONE The largest retailers and distributors of milk and dairy products in the U.S. are considering going rBGH-free. According to the trade journal Dairy Food and Market Analyst, Wal-Mart and Dean Foods have begun pressing suppliers for a larger supply of rBGH-free milk, in response to increasing consumer demand. The synthetic hormone rBGH is a genetically engineered drug designed to make dairy cows produce more milk. The controversial hormone has been banned in Europe and Canada due to its links to increased risks for breast and colon cancer and antibiotic resistance. Despite these bans, 18% of U.S. dairy cows, especially those on factory-style farms, continue to be injected with the drug. Over the past few years, millions of consumers have switched to milk and dairy products from organic farms, which ban the use of rBGH and antibiotics. Starbucks, by the way, is still serving up coffee drinks across the country that are laced with rBGH--another good reason to patronize local independently owned coffee shops that offer organic and Fair Trade alternatives. Learn more: http://www.organicconsumers.org/2006/article_747.cfm

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SOME MAJOR U.S. DAIRIES GOING rBGH-FREE OVER THE PAST YEAR April, 2005 - Tillamook, the second largest producer of block cheese in the U.S., goes rBGH-free for their cheeses. June, 2005 - Eberhard Dairy, Central Oregon's largest dairy processing plant, goes rBGH-free for all their products. Nov., 2005 - Alpenrose Dairy in Portland goes rBGH-free for all their products. Feb. 2006 - Darigold, a large western U.S. dairy, announces that all of its yogurt will be completely rBGH-free. June 2006 - Garelick, a large East Coast dairy processor, producing 45 million lbs. of milk per month, declares itself rBGH-free. June 2006 - Meadow Gold and Darigold Farms, Montana's largest milk producers, go rBGH-free

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QUICK TIDBITS

COFFEE PROTECTS DRINKERS' LIVERS: A study published in the journal "Archives of Internal Medicine" indicates that coffee may greatly reduce the risk of liver damage in those who consume alcohol regularly. Every daily cup of coffee reduced the incidence of cirrhosis, a condition that destroys liver tissue, by 22 percent, according to researchers at the Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program. However, Dr. Arthur Klatsky, the leader of the study, said the results "should not be interpreted as giving a license to drink without worry, because of all the other problems connected with drinking." adding, "the only proper advice is to drink less." Learn more: http://www.organicconsumers.org/2006/article_751.cfm ----------------------

BEER INGREDIENT REDUCES PROSTATE CANCER RISK: A new study from researchers at Oregon State University reveals that a natural ingredient found in beer may reduce the risk of prostate cancer. The ingredient, found in the hops used to brew beer, is xanthohumol, and belongs to a group of plant compounds called flavonoids that can trigger the death of cancer cells along the surface of the prostate gland. Researchers are quick to point out the amount of xanthohumol in beer is far too low to be of any benefit, estimating it would require consuming a case of beer per day to activate the positive effects. German brewers have already responded by creating a beer with ten times the amount of xanthohumol, marketing it as a "healthy beer." Learn more: http://www.organicconsumers.org/2006/article_761.cfm

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DONATE TO THE OCA

http://www.organicconsumers.org/donations.htm

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Please forward this publication to family and friends, place it on websites, print it, duplicate it and post it freely. Knowledge is power!