Chicken Out! October 13, 2007
Posted by organicresearcher in Organic, environmentalism, ethical living, farming, organic food.1 comment so far
I sit here feeling that this might seem a tiny bit smug, as Hugh F is down the road leading this campaign in a little town in Devon, that I happen to shop in quite a lot and with an organic chicken defrosting ready for tomorrows lunch. Chicken Out is a great idea and I hope it has a huge impact. Yet that change has happened and is continuing to grow because of people like Hugh and his ability to work with local people, there is nothing precious about that and nothing that couldn’t be replicated elsewhere. 
Carnival of the Green August 3, 2007
Posted by organicresearcher in Blogging, Organic, environmentalism, ethical living, fair trade, farming, milk, organic farming, organic food, slow food, supermarkets, vegetarian.3 comments
This post just keeps growing this week…..
Blogging, especially environmental blogging has always been focussed on the personal, in fact it often leads to a cottage industry where micro-scale retailing meets the green life. This posting of the Carnival represents that really well with Betsy Teutsch presenting Money Changes Things: The Perverse and Paradoxical Pricing of Recycled Paper posted at Money Changes Things. thoughts on the cost of recycled paper.
Whilst Tiffany’s family are obviously getting themselves together,
Tiffany Washko presents Eco Friendly School Days posted at Natural Family Living Blog</a
Tiffany Washko presents 30 Ways to Go Green with Your Family posted at Natural Family Living Blog.
Marilyn Terrell is tackling boston by pedal power Biking Boston posted at Intelligent Travel. and is celebrating Google’s latest triumph Intelligent Travel: Google Conquers Mass Transit posted at Intelligent Travel.
Kate and GP are getting seasonal with thoughts on holidays and how to camp it up in a green way.
Kate Baggott presents A Postcard from Bulgaria posted at Babylune.
GP presents How to Be a Happy Green Camper posted at Fish Creek House – INNside Innkeeping.
The Closet Environmentalist asks a really pertinent question about organic leather, which takes me back to a non-violent tannery I visited in India years ago – the heat, the smell, the slime………
I think that Preston is being serious but it is a bit of wild one.
Whilst the Savvy Vegetarian is being far less wild, feeding the planet organic plant materials. Whilst at the Veggie Revolution chimps are found to be altruistic (aren’t they omnivores?). Phil is playing with words and ideas A Plan to Rid the World of Polluting Power Plants « Phil for Humanity posted at Phil for Humanity on a bit of plant theme. Whilst others have taken direct action to shut some plant down.
Stretch Mark Mama presents Awake to Nature posted at Stretch Mark Mama.
For a lighter footprint, you soap dodgers get a second chance.
For Facebookers there is a new way of working out your carbon footprint and how to reduce it. Looks like a good start, but can it be enough? Which takes us to Gavin R. Putland presents Democracy vs. universal suffrage posted at /etc/cron.whenever/. Where he ponders the role of democracy and sufferage.
Leon Gettler presents Climate change and company directors posted at Sox First.
If you are feeling overcome by such a tidal wave of seriousness, Isabella blends the political with the therapeutic at
turn it off posted at change therapy.
In a rain soaked and often very flooded England saving water is not really on the agenda, but if you need to here is how to do it.
A truly carnivalesque blend this week, enjoy.
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Tags: Green, environmentalism, organic, leather, carbon diet, democracy, nature, moms, recycling, paper, blogging
Wot no recipes April 10, 2007
Posted by organicresearcher in Blogging, Food, Organic, ethical living, organic farming, organic food, recipes, slow food.2 comments
As a bit of a keen cook I was thinking about blogging about cooking and nutrition, but that looked over at the
and thought I would leave it to Georgina, who knows much more about it than I ever will.
Pressure from supermarkets drives worker abuse March 10, 2007
Posted by organicresearcher in Food, News, Organic, environmentalism, ethical living, farming, policy, politics.add a comment
Pressure from supermarkets drives worker abuse
1 March 2007
Three years after 23 Chinese cockle-pickers died tragically in Morecambe Bay, new reports reveal that the rights of workers in Britain are still routinely flouted to put dinner on our plates, and pressure from supermarkets is partly to blame.The independent Food Ethics Council[1] today publishes an unprecedented collection of analysis and comment about what it is like to work in farming and the food sector.
Contributors to a special bulletin include investigative journalist Felicity Lawrence and farming minister Lord Rooker, as well as leading trade unionists, regulators, employers and researchers.[2]
The bulletin reports that people working in food and farming are worse paid and more likely to be killed at work than in other sectors. Last year alone, forty-five farm workers died in the UK from injuries sustained at work and 400,000 working days were lost to illness and injury.[3]
Migrant and temporary workers are especially vulnerable to exploitation. They suffer a torrent of abuse that includes harassment, underpayment, and rip-off housing and healthcare. Some, say contributors to the bulletin, “are basically slaves”.[4] Chris Kaufman, from the Transport and General Workers’ Union reports that more than half workers’ pay is sometimes docked by employers, dragging weekly earnings as low as £70.[5]
Temporary labour providers, or ‘gangmasters’, played a pivotal part in the deaths in Morecambe Bay. New regulations have made a difference to how gangmasters work but have not stamped out abuse. Research commissioned by government, reported in the new bulletin, suggests price pressure from supermarkets has hampered efforts to improve labour standards.[6]
“We depend on temporary workers and they deserve better protection,” says Dr Tom MacMillan, Executive Director of the Food Ethics Council. “For a start, they need the same safeguards in law as permanent workers. But government must also ease the squeeze from supermarkets – until that happens, stronger legal rights won’t count for much.”
NOTES TO EDITORS:
1. The Food Ethics Council champions better food and farming through independent research and advice.
2. Press copies of the bulletin are available from info@foodethicscouncil.org. Subscription details can be found at www.foodethicscouncil.org. Felicity Lawrence writes: “The migrant workers who drive the crop sprayers, harvest the flowers and fruit, pack and sort the vegetables, and man the abattoir slaughter and cutting lines for agribusiness, do shifts that are long and unsocial for very low wages, precisely because indigenous workers do not want employment that is so insecure and exploitative”. Lord Rooker writes: “Exploitative labour providers have no place in the agricultural industry and we are determined to root out those who operate illegally”.
3. Figures from the Health & Safety Executive: www.hse.gov.uk/agriculture/fatal.htm and www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/tables/0405/wdlind.htm.
4. According to Jez Lewis, co-writer of the recent film ‘Ghosts’ about Chinese migrant workers, some of the workers he met while researching the film “were basically slaves, unable or afraid to leave the control of their gangmasters for fear of reprisals against themselves or their loved ones”. David de Verny, a Chaplain who works with migrants in Lincolnshire, describes how “calls to abolish this modern day slavery fall on deaf ears”.
5. Chris Kaufman, National Secretary for the Food and Agriculture Sector at the Transport and General Workers’ Union: “At one site we visited, we found open drains, crowded caravans, charges for basic medical attention and pay packets that amounted to only £70 for the working week instead of the £150 they had been led to expect”.
6. The study is reported in the bulletin by Ben Rogaly, University of Sussex, one of the researchers involved. The findings are available at www.defra.gov.uk/farm/working/gangmasters/pdf/research-study1.pdf. Ben Rogaly was also involved in research commissioned by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (www.compas.ox.ac.uk/changingstatus/), who this week announced “that slavery exists in the UK today” (www.jrf.org.uk/pressroom/releases/260207.asp).
Pressure from supermarkets drives worker abuse
Once again the Food Ethics Counicl porduces work that is insightful and useful.
Act Now to Save ATTRA! February 23, 2007
Posted by organicresearcher in Organic, environmentalism, ethical living, organic farming, organic food, policy, politics.add a comment
Act Now to Save ATTRA! Please Call Your Representatives & Senators IMMEDIATELY!!
Dear CCOF Members:
Last week, the Senate passed the “Continuing Resolution,” which makes permanent funding decisions for the fiscal year already underway (Fiscal Year 2007), which wasn’t completed before the last Congress ended. Distressingly, this resolution would IMMEDIATELY eliminate funding for the ATTRA program, which is crucial to sustainable agriculture! The Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas (ATTRA) program is a highly rated national information service that answers practical questions from farmers and others across the US who call its toll-free telephone number, print publications from its website, or attend its workshops.
Congressman Boozman (R-AR) is circulating a sign-on letter to USDA to fund ATTRA’s modest $2.5 million. It’s crucial that you call today and ask your House member to sign onto that letter. NOW is the time to ask them to sign on, as Congressman Boozman will take this message to USDA early the week of February 26. Senators are also sending individual letters to USDA with the same message.
Please call the congressional switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected to the office of your representative and your two senators (this means 3 very quick calls, and your call has a big impact). Ask to speak to the staffer handling appropriations. If he or she is unavailable, leave a message with your name, phone number and the quick message below.
The message is simple:
1. For your Representatives: Please ask Congressman/woman _________ to sign onto Congressman Boozman’s letter asking USDA to restore full 2007 funding to the ATTRA sustainable agriculture information service. (Tell the staffer for your Representative that they can contact Maggie Lemmerman at 202-225-4301 in Mr. Boozman’s office to sign onto the letter.) ATTRA is a national valuable source of information to farmers across the US about how to farm using sustainable practices, and it shouldn’t be cut.
2. For your Senators: Please ask Senator ___________ to send a letter asking USDA to restore full funding to the ATTRA sustainable agriculture information service. (Tell the staffer for your Senator that John Lewis in Senator Baucus’ office (202) 224-2651 can provide information on the wording of the letter that Senator Baucus sent if that’s helpful.) ATTRA is a national valuable source of information to farmers across the US about how to farm using sustainable practices, and it shouldn’t be cut.
Find your Representatives here…
Find your Senators here…
Background:
• For twenty years, ATTRA has been one of the most reliable sources of information for farmers and others who want fact-based information on a wide variety of agronomic, livestock, marketing, and entrepreneurial questions with reliable information, evaluated and summarized from its extensive database.
• ATTRA is an extraordinarily efficient program. Though its funding has remained far too small, at $2.5 million since FY02, it accomplishes great work for farmers and consumers around the nation! ATTRA’s services are in great demand, exceeding 37,000 technical requests last year and drawing over 2.6 million unique visitors to its website, from which there were more than 673,000 publication downloads.
It is phone calls like yours that have protected ATTRA and other sustainable agriculture funding in the past.
THANK YOU again for contacting your House representative and senators immediately to keep ATTRA’s 2007 funding from being cut!
For more about the ATTRA information service, click here…
E-Newsletters and Other CCOF Announcements We want to communicate with you! CCOF sends periodic email updates on organic news and certification issues. If you opt out of these announcements, we are unable to send you ANY future emails using this system. Please – unsubscribe ONLY if you DON’T want to receive any CCOF announcements, news, action alerts and certification updates.
CCOF
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- Always like to pass on these things…
Is Wal-Mart Really Organic January 18, 2007
Posted by organicresearcher in Food, Organic, Protests, advertising, environmentalism, ethical living, farming, milk, organic farming, organic food, policy, supermarkets.1 comment so far
* Is Wal-Mart Really Organic?
The Cornucopia Institute, a farm policy research group based in Wisconsin has been taking a lot of shots at Wal-Mart concerning the retailer’s organic food labeling practices. For one, the organization charges that Wal-Mart’s signage misrepresents nonorganic food as organic. There are photos on Cornucopia’s web site backing up the organization’s allegations. According to The Wall Street Journal, “The organic-food industry has mushroomed into a juggernaut with nearly $14 billion in sales in 2005 and annual growth of roughly 20%,” and, “food empires like Dean Foods Co. and Danone SA now churn out organic products, and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has become a major seller of organic food.”
Fast company are catching up, this has come up before on this blog but interesting to see it reaching a magazine like Fast-company
technorati tags:organic, wal-mart
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Sustainable Food News January 18, 2007
Posted by organicresearcher in Cyber-tools, Food, News, Podcasting, Research, accidental hedonist, ethical living, fair trade, food safety, milk, organic farming, predictions 2007, publishing.add a comment
Top ‘sustainable’ stories of 2006
Sustainable Food News looks back on the year’s headlinesby
Sustainable Food News
December 31, 2006
Dan McGovern, Publisher Related Stories
Welcome to Sustainable Food NewsLike it or not, 2006 is the year sustainable, organic and natural foods went mainstream. Headlines piled up this year revealing a profound shift in food buying habits among consumers who are realizing the impact their purchases have on the environment and communities around the world.
Sustainable Food News – News for the Food Service Natural Organic Foods & Seafood Industry
I’m trying out this service, well actually I’m just checking it out as I don’t have the $299 for a subscription, but it seems a good service if you are busy but this isn’t that detailed and also so far very biased to N.America. Come on guys we live on a whole planet. Most of these stories have been covered on this blog, but not at the speed of these folks so all power to them.
technorati tags:food, organic, news, predictions, 2007
New Consumer.com January 18, 2007
Posted by organicresearcher in environmentalism, ethical living, organic food, policy, politics, publishing.add a comment
Just appeared today is Newconsumer.com, which seems to start where the later pages of The Ecologist are and then go much further into the contemporary format of lifestyle magazines.
There are a number of these sort of magazine/blog projects and I must admit that I’m in two minds about them. Any check it out, look for the advert ‘about what Coldplay are doing about global warming’ ahem – I mentioned it earlier and guess what – it ain’t what you think!
