Agave Power

 

In addition to our work in the U.S, OCA has a thriving project—Vía Orgánica—in Mexico. The project, which includes a regenerative teaching farm, is testing a potentially revolutionary climate-change solution.

In this week’s essay, Ronnie explains how small-scale farmers and ranchers, living in some of the most challenging climates and landscapes all over the world, could reforest, revegetate, rehydrate and recarbonize depleted soils—and sequester massive amounts of carbon, while raising food for their communities.

Modelo Zamarripa, an agroforestry and livestock-management system, originated in San Luis de la Paz, Mexico, and is now being implemented at Vía Orgánica. At the heart of the system is the agave plant—a plant that grows prolifically in some of the harshest climates in the world, but has been largely ignored, if not outright denigrated.

That’s about to change. And when it does, and the Modelo Zamarripa System is scaled up, millions of acres around the globe, including here in the southwest, could be turned into food-producing massive carbon sinks.

Read ‘This Revolutionary System Can Help Stop Global Warming’

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Ready, Set, Go!

 

Could your state be the first to ban Monsanto’s Roundup weedkiller?

Our Millions Against Monsanto campaign to ban glyphosate is gaining steam in statehouses across the country.

So far, bills to ban glyphosate have been introduced in five states: California, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New York and Vermont. (If you live in one of these states, click on the link for more information and to contact your state lawmakers).

It’s well past time for state lawmakers to respect the independent science on this toxic chemical, and to honor the suffering of those who have—or will—get cancer because of exposure to Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide.

TAKE ACTION: Make your state the first to ban Monsanto’s Roundup weedkiller!

Court Date(s)

 

I think we could all agree that January would mark the beginning of a happy new year, if it meant the end of Monsanto, its parent company, Bayer, and its flagship product, Roundup weedkiller.

Instead, we’ll have to settle for the start-up of another round of trials, where the public will hear lawyers lay out more damning evidence of Roundup’s link to cancer.

Two of those trials will take place in Monsanto’s own backyard, St. Louis, Missouri.

U.S. Right to Know’s Carey Gillam reports that six trials are currently set to take place starting in January, with one in February, two in March and additional trials scheduled almost every month from April through October 2021.

At some point Bayer, facing more than 42,000 lawsuits by people who allege that exposure to Roundup caused their cancer, might cry uncle and offer up some sort of settlement deal.

But for now, Bayer’s CEO, Werner Baumann—who when the company was still facing only a handful of lawsuits called them "nuisances"—is sticking to his story that Roundup is safe . . . even as Germany, where Bayer is based, is planning to ban glyphosate.

Read ‘Six Monsanto Roundup Cancer Trials Set for January’

TAKE ACTION: Make a tax-deductible donation to the Millions Against Monsanto Campaign

Thank You!

 

“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.”—Helen Keller

Another #GivingTuesday has come and gone—but our gratitude for your support is here to stay.

Thank you to all who helped us raise much-needed funds this week. You reminded us again of how your support makes our work possible.

If you’d still like to chip in, here are three ways to do it:

Make a tax-deductible #GivingTuesday donation.

Donate $100 or more here, and we’ll send you a copy of Ronnie’s book when it comes out.

Make a monthly recurring donation here, and we won’t send you anymore fundraising appeals in 2019.

Thank you. For supporting—and inspiring—this work. Everyday.

Farming With Soul

 

After a rapid decline in the number of black farmers over the past century, a new generation of black farmers are reclaiming their relationship with the land.

Twenty-six year-old Kendrick Ransome is one of them. So is Leah Penniman, author of “Farming While Black,” and founder of Soul Fire Farm.

For Ransome, who admits to getting in trouble in his youth, his discovery of agriculture was an awakening:

“When people think of a farmer, I believe they think of a poor peasant, someone that’s uneducated, just of the land, you know, just likes to get dirty. I don’t think people really grasp the significance of farming, or the role of the farmer.”

Ransome’s transition wasn’t easy. He “had nothing to work with,” at first. And folks thought he was crazy.

But he’s made it work—without loans, grants or handouts—and he and Penniman are setting the standard for a whole new generation.

Watch ‘The Young Black Farmers Defying A Legacy of Discrimination’

Coming Soon!

 

“Grassroots Rising outlines a logical and very achievable pathway for how we can shift from degeneration to regeneration and make this an environmentally robust world for all of us.”—André Leu, international director, Regeneration International, former president, International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM); author, “The Myth of Safe Pesticides”

Ready to organize and do your part to prevent ecological collapse? “Grassroots Rising” is your “good news” instruction manual for fixing our broken food and farming system, and our broken climate.

Ronnie’s new book won’t be out until mid-February, but you can reserve a copy now.

The timing couldn’t be better.

As we head into a new year, the climate emergency is bearing down on us. Our family farmers are going bankrupt, and our food is increasingly contaminated and less nutritious.

But there’s hope on the horizon.

Politicians are finally waking up to regenerative agriculture as a climate, health, food security and rural economy revitalization solution. And more than 100 members of Congress have officially endorsed the Green New Deal as the framework for transforming our food and farming (and climate) policy.

It’s a great start. But it will take a lot more pressure from millions of grassroots activists to make the Regenerative Green New Deal a reality.

Want to be part of the Regeneration Revolution? “Grassroots Rising” is your handbook.

Place your pre-sale order now!

TAKE ACTION: Donate $100 or more and get a copy of Ronnie’s book as soon as it’s available (mid-February)

SIGN THE PETITION: Consumers Want a Regenerative Green New Deal!

Essential Reading

 

Why Vegetable Oils Are Carcinogenic

Is the Impossible Burger Healthy?

Monsanto Pleads Guilty to Illegally Spraying Pesticides, Storing Hazardous Waste in Hawaii

How Peru's Potato Museum Could Stave off World Food Crisis

The World's First Human Composting Facility Will Let Us Recycle Ourselves

How Google Is Stealing Your Personal Health Data