Open Letter to the "Farmer-in-Chief"

(I've copied this from the 'Meaninless Drivel' forum.  I hope you don't mind, Paul.)

This is from writer Michael Pollan* to the next President, very good.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/magazine/12policy-t.html?_r=2&hp=&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin&oref=slogin


* Author of the following books, and a writer for the New York Times Magazine (where the above article is):

In Defense of Food:  An Eater's Manifesto;
The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals;
A Place of My Own;
The Botany of Desire; and
Second Nature

Sue

everyone needs to tighten their belt and be strategizing for ways to care for themselves and not depend on the system. Also strategizing on ways to protect themselves from those that don't bother.

fyi,

Obama Response to Michael Pollan's "Farmer in Chief" Article.


"I was just reading an article in the New York Times by Michael Pollan
about food and the fact that our entire agricultural system is built on
cheap oil. As a consequence, our agriculture sector actually is
contributing more greenhouse gases than our transportation sector. And in
the mean time, it's creating monocultures that are vulnerable to national
security threats, are now vulnerable to sky-high food prices or crashes in
food prices, huge swings in commodity prices, and are partly responsible
for the explosion in our healthcare costs because they're contributing to
type 2 diabetes, stroke and heart disease, obesity, all the things that
are driving our huge explosion in healthcare costs. That's just one sector
of the economy. You think about the same thing is true on transportation.
The same thing is true on how we construct our buildings. The same is true
across the board.  For us to say we are just going to completely revamp
how we use energy in a way that deals with climate change, deals with
national security and drives our economy, that's going to be my number one
priority when I get into office, assuming, obviously, that we have done
enough to just stabilize the immediate economic situation."


entire Pollan article, i.e. "Farmer in Chief," at the Growing Power Platform
http://www.milwaukeerenaissance.com/GrowingPower/HomePage

So, after all this, a group called Food Democracy Now, had been sending around a petition and info for Obama on who they'd like to see picked for the new Sec. of Agriculture.

Very sad that he didn't pick any of them!
http://www.fooddemocracynow.org/

What's up with this guy?

"What's up with this guy?"

Probably the same as all the others:  in my personal opinion, I would say that anyone who makes it to the primaries backed by one of the two major parties has already proven to them that he is biddable, buyable, and will do as he's told by the ones who really run this country.  Why would they back someone who isn't already in their pocket?

Cynical Sue

I just got an email with more info about this:

In spite of 20,000 e-mails from organic consumers and, in apparent
contradiction to his announcement that he wants an organic garden at the
White House, Obama has chosen Tom Vilsack, a strong bio-tech proponent
supporting genetically engineered crops, cloned animals, etc., to run the
Department of Agriculture.

As you will see below, Vilsack is truly Monsanto's boy.  He pre-empted the
local votes of towns and counties who had voted to disallow GE seeds! It's
still possible to block Vilsack's confirmation with a massive support of the
petition drafted by the
Organic Consumer Association. It's easy to sign on at this link:


*http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/642/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=1783 *

or from the  Organic Consumer Association website:

*http://www.organicconsumers.org/*

Your email will be sent to your Senators and the President-Elect's office.


*The articles below give further details.*

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Vilsack-is-not-just-totall-by-Linn-Cohen-Cole-081218-394.html

www.haphazardgourmet.blogspot.com/2008/11/tom-vilsack-emerges-as-frontrunner-for.html


http://www.gene.ch/genet/2002/Oct/msg00057.html

http://www.organicconsumers.org/gefood/drugsincorn102302.cfm

http://www.bio.org/news/pressreleases/newsitem.asp?id=200...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hmoc4Qgcm4s

another article on Vilsack

http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSTRE4BF7K820081216

quite a betrayel I think. I wish people would start seeing the common goals and not the differences in the way people come to their conclusions and take that into account when electing our leaders. I don't care if you are against gm food simply because you think its playing god or because you have legit scientific reasoning behind it. the end goal becomes the same irregardless of the different route of thinking.

Over the past month, the Organic Consumers Association (OCA) has been alerting our nationwide network about Obama's proposed appointment of Monsanto ally and former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack to the position of Secretary of Agriculture. Far from representing the "Change" which Obama has promised, Vilsack has a disappointing record of promoting controversial genetically engineered foods, biopharm crops, and animal cloning, as well as cheerleading for unsustainable biofuels derived from corn and soybeans. In addition Vilsack has come under fire for aiding and abetting chemical and energy-intensive industrial agriculture, including Iowa's infamous Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs).

Thanks to all of you who have taken part in OCA's "Stop Vilsack" campaign. So far, they have collected over 60,000 online petition signatures, generating coverage from major media outlets and websites including the New York Times, Washington Post, National Public Radio, Pacifica Radio, Air America, Democracy Now, Common Dreams, Counterpunch, The Nation, and Huffington Post, as well as a number of major daily newspapers. Similar petitions circulated on the internet by OCA's allies, including fooddemocracynow.org, Pesticide Action Network, and the Center for Food Safety have generated an additional 60,000+ supporters, making Vilsack perhaps the most controversial and unpopular Obama cabinet appointment. OCA's petition is being delivered to Obama's Transition Team, as well as Congress.
If you haven't yet signed the petition, please do so now.

I've seen no " cahnge" in this new administration, and in fact see exactly the oppsite. Bigger government with bigger taxes, and bigger cradle to grave "care".

The appointments so far are at minimum alarming.

Sorry for going the political route, I've got grave concerns for our country.

You're not getting any argument from me!  His appointments for his cabinet alone are blatantly obvious that he was bought and paid for long before his name was put on the primary ballots.

Hillary Clinton for Sec. of State???  Tom Vilsack for Sec. of Agriculture???  Jeez Louize!

Sue

I signed the thing.  I hope that everything works out okay. 

When I started this forum, I kinda had this wacky idea of how this forum would be different from some other forums.  Most other forums find a path where people argue about stuff more than share stuff.  Any political discussion tends to end up with heated arguments and the like. 

I'm really glad that this thread is keeping a pretty even keel.  Everybody seems respectful and nobody seems to want to bash other forum participants. 

I would like to ask folks to ... please ... steer clear of politics on this forum.  There's always heaps of stuff to get mighty upset about.  And I'm sure there are thousands of other forums where that's just the thing to do.  I'm keen on the idea that in this forum, our discussion is more about how we can make the best of what we have.  While protesting bad things is important, I would prefer that on this site we focus on building good things.

Please?

Pretty please with sugar on top?

paul wheaton wrote:
I signed the thing.  I hope that everything works out okay. 

When I started this forum, I kinda had this wacky idea of how this forum would be different from some other forums.  Most other forums find a path where people argue about stuff more than share stuff.   Any political discussion tends to end up with heated arguments and the like. 

I'm really glad that this thread is keeping a pretty even keel.  Everybody seems respectful and nobody seems to want to bash other forum participants. 

I would like to ask folks to ... please ... steer clear of politics on this forum.  There's always heaps of stuff to get mighty upset about.  And I'm sure there are thousands of other forums where that's just the thing to do.  I'm keen on the idea that in this forum, our discussion is more about how we can make the best of what we have.   While protesting bad things is important, I would prefer that on this site we focus on building good things.

Please?

Pretty please with sugar on top?

Ahh, Paul, you are so right.

I'll keep it as you ask.

Kelda rocks...I like building good things with her. If any of you get that chance, jump at it.  Can we clone her?   hmmmm 

Ran across this NPR interview of Vilsack at www.worldchanging.com. In politician's speak, he might be saying he'd like to find a way for farmers to be compensated for lowering their carbon footprint and changing to more sustainable methods.

It's murky to venture into politics again - sorry Paul! But wouldn't it be cool if the farmer subsidies shifted (eventually or even a little) to supporting eco methods?

you know things seem to go in cycles, the older you get the more you see it.

i remember when organic gardening, mother earth and permaculture began..back during the last cycle of back to the earth movement, solar, wind, geothermal, etc..

i have books that i bought back then, when hubby and i first got married..

everything happening then is happening again now.

i wonder if this is a 30, 40, or 50 year cycle thing?? I remember double digit unemployment, but I wasn't alive during the great depression...my folks were.

back then they had victory gardens, in the 60's it was communes, now it is lucky if anyone has a garden at all, but they know that if they do they are the most blessed people on earth.

now it is cool to have solar or wind..my mom in the depression had a wind generator on the roof of her house that provided lights and radio.

Interest in things ebbs and flows.  Some things are encouraged, and others suppressed, sometimes opposite from the way it really should be.

There is so much that is twisted to make some people rich that it can be hard for some people to see what is best.  It's so easy to be seduced with all the fun, easy, quick things that are so incredibly non-sustainable.  Then, once you're used to them, it's like you always had them, and you think you can't do without them.

Although electric lights and running water and washing machines REALLY are nice!

But there do seem to be a lot more people interested in growing vegetables all of a sudden.  I guess some sense of self-preservation still exists, despite the Darwin Awards...

But things have changed so much, and a lot of it not for the best.  But if people show interest, it's nice if others can show them the way.

Sue