How we respond to COVID-19 will determine whether the human species survives. ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌
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ESSAY OF THE WEEKSTOP THE MADNESS

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“April is the cruelest month.”–T.S. Eliot, “The Wasteland,” 1922



COVID-19 has now violently emerged, alongside the Climate Emergency, as an
existential threat. Our health, economic livelihoods, climate stability,
democracy—our very survival as a human species—are under attack.

If we’re going to survive this pandemic, and avoid the pandemics lying in wait,
if we’re going to avoid the greatest pandemic of them all looming on the
horizon—runaway global warming and catastrophic climate change—we need to take
control of our destiny and build a new Green Commonwealth that is regenerative,
rather than degenerative.

In his essay this week Ronnie Cummins talks about the origins of COVID-19, the
potential dangers that lie ahead, and how the path to survival must include
rethinking our food production systems, our healthcare system and our political
system.

“It’s time to admit that low-grade industrial food, air pollution, environmental
and occupational hazards, and lack of access to healthy food and medical care
give rise to the 'pre-existing medical conditions' that enable COVID-19 and
other chronic diseases to kill people before their time.”

Read Ronnie’s essay: 'Apocalypse Now: Stop the Madness
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ACTION ALERT#NOTNORMAL. PLEASE.

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If COVID-19 has taught us anything, it's that we need to rethink everything.



From our broken healthcare system, to our poorly supported-yet-so-essential
local family farmers, to our contaminated environment, to our own compromised
immune systems—"normal" isn't working.

We need large-scale systems change. Now, more than ever, we need a Regenerative
Green New Deal (GND).

In an article
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for the Post-Covid-19 Economy,” edie.net editor Matt Mace writes:

“Sir David Attenborough told the Big Issue this week that ‘there’s no moral to
be taken from what happened in the past. We’ve got a completely blank sheet of
paper in front of us.’ By titling that blank sheet with the words ‘Green New
Deal’ nations can recover from an economic slump with climate and health at the
heart of every decision.”

Please let your members of Congress know that you don’t want to go back to
“normal.” You want better.

TAKE ACTION: Ask Your Members of Congress to Co-Sponsor the Green New Deal!
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NEW PODCASTHEAR THEM OUT

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Is it technologically feasible for farmers and ranchers to help turn around
runaway global warming by transitioning to organic regenerative farming and
grazing practices?

Yes, says Francis Thicke, an Iowa organic dairy farmer. The real question, he
says, is whether it’s politically feasible.

Last September, along with Regeneration International
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coalition is committed to advancing policies that support organic regenerative
producers.

This week we officially launch our U.S. Farmers & Ranchers for a Green New Deal
Podcast, with an interview
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In this podcast, Thicke—who holds a Ph.D. in soil science, and was formerly the
program leader at the U.S. Department of Agriculture Soil Fertility
Program—talks about the economic and political challenges farmers face in an
industry dominated by industrial ag mega-corporations that control the market,
and federal farm policy.

Listen to the U.S. Farmers & Ranchers for a Green New Deal interview with Iowa
dairy farmer, Francis Thicke
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FARMERS & RANCHERS ONLY: Sign this letter to Congress from Farmers & Ranchers
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More about the U.S. Farmers & Ranchers for a Green New Deal
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Make a tax-deductible donation to Regeneration International, a 501(c)(3)
nonprofit [[link removed]]

Subscribe to the Regeneration International newsletter
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SUPPORT OCA & CRLREADY TO FIGHT

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Nearly every conversation these days starts with: “How are you doing?” And it
should. We are all worried. We are all trying to take care of ourselves, and
each other.

But we should also be asking each other what we are doing—beyond of course adjusting to and coping with whatever havoc
COVID-19 has wrought on our personal lives.

What are we doing to make our own immune systems more resilient? To demand the
end of pandemic-breeding factory farms and the policies that promote them?

What are we doing to restore and preserve the natural biodiversity so essential
to ecosystem health—and so threatened by industrial GMO monocultures?

What are we doing to force our local, state and federal lawmakers to rethink
unjust social, economic and environmental policies that leave millions of people
unnecessarily and hopelessly vulnerable during a crisis?

Author and activist Arundhati Roy, in an article about the heartwrenching impact
of the coronavirus on the people of India, writes:

“Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine
their world anew. This one is no different. It is a portal, a gateway between
one world and the next.

"We can choose to walk through it, dragging the carcasses of our prejudice and
hatred, our avarice, our data banks and dead ideas, our dead rivers and smoky
skies behind us. Or we can walk through lightly, with little luggage, ready to
imagine another world. And ready to fight for it.”

In a tragic way, the pandemic sweeping the globe today validates so much of the
work we at OCA have been dedicated to for more than 20 years.

In a good way, it has reaffirmed our sense of urgency.

We are (still) ready to fight.

If you can, please make a generous donation to help continue this fight. And
please stay safe.

Make a tax-deductible donation to Organic Consumers Association, a 501(c)(3)
nonprofit
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Support Citizens Regeneration Lobby, OCA’s 501(c)(4) lobbying arm (not
tax-deductible)
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Donate $100 or more and we’ll send you a copy of Ronnie’s new book
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Click here for more ways to support our work
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VIDEO OF THE WEEKTHE MESS WE'RE IN

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This week, Bernie Sanders dropped out of the race for president of the U.S. Last
week, while he was still a candidate, he was interviewed by Bill Maher.

Sanders and Maher both attract plenty of controversy for their opinions. But if
you’re an advocate for a better food system, if you believe that healthy food
and natural health should be part of the COVID-19 conversation, you’ll want to
watch this video (all the way to the end,) when Maher says:

“One reason we're in the mess we're in is because Americans are not very healthy
to begin with. I know this is under the category of 'never going to happen,' but
if I was president I would institute a Manhattan Project for getting our immune
systems in better shape and part of that is suggesting very strongly that people
eat better food and less of it. Would you agree?"

Sanders “absolutely” does.

In fact, the food and agriculture policy plan
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who ran for president in 2020, as was his Green New Deal
[[link removed]] plan. Want to help fight for these policies, regardless of who becomes our next
president? Join
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Watch Bill Maher’s interview with Bernie Sanders
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Join the Sunrise Movement’s ‘Where do we go from here’ national call Thursday,
April 9, 8 p.m. ET (5 p.m. PT)
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LITTLE BYTESESSENTIAL READING

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Can You Clean Coronavirus Off Your Food?
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Capitalist Agriculture and COVID-19: A Deadly Combination
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Big Oil Is Using the Coronavirus Pandemic to Push Through the Keystone XL
Pipeline
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The Coronation
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Covid-19 Stimulus: Bailout for Corporate Agribusiness or a Lifeline for Our Food
System?
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What Happens If America’s 2.5 Million Farmworkers Get Sick?
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The Deeper Source of Grocery Panic
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More Than Ever, We Need Nature. It Makes Us and Our Children Happier
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