ENVIRONMENTAL NOTES

 

i did know about this when it happened, but it was during my meltdown, so i never wrote about it.  i was, however, certainly outraged by it.  i'm talking about the changes in organic food standards the administration slipped past us while most of us weren't looking back in April.  among those changes (which the Dept of Agriculture called "clarifications.")  were expanding the use of antibiotics for organic dairy cows, pesticides on organic crops (they have never heard the word "oxymoron."), allowing nonorganic fishmeal and other substances into livestock feed.  sort of eliminates the reasons for going out of our way and paying thru the nose for "organic" produce and meats, doesn't it? 

Well, here's the good news:  organic farmers and shoppers made such an outcry  (see, protests DO WORK!) about this that the Dept of Agriculture is rescinding the changes:  "The Bush administration abruptly reversed itself Wednesday and withdrew four changes in organic food standards that critics had said threatened to undermine public trust in the word organic...The reversal was in response to a broad wave of outrage from organic farmers, the $11 billion organic food industry, its advocates and Republican and Democratic supporters in Congress. They objected both to the changes and to the fact that National Organic Program administrators made them in private without consulting their own advisory board or organic producers."  read the whole article here at the San Francisco Chronicle.

Next note:  today's BushGreenwatch carries this headline:  Bush Salmon Plan Seen as Ruse to Cripple Endangered Species Act.  YES! these clever folk have found a way to get those pesky wild salmon in the Northwest out of trouble!  they're just going to count hatchery salmon, a whole different animal in truth, in with the count of the wild fish!  read the story here at Greenwatch, then go here to read more of it from Tidepool, where it was reported almost a month ago.  put Tidepool on your list of great environmental links, by the way.  i just discovered it and am crazy about it.

And finally, here's an environmental action you can take that will actually help your calorie count!  you probably know that Dennis Quaid's supposedly environmental movie "The Day After Tomorrow" is opening tomorrow (if you're breathing you can't HELP but know this, the advance publicity has been universal).  to help get the word out about the reality (as opposed to the movie fantasy, which looks a lot like, oh, maybe Independence Day) of global warming,  the folks at National Defenses Resource Council are offering you a free scoop of Ben & Jerry's if you go to the link and take a simple action requiring only a mouse click and some informational input, unless you're already registered with their action network, and then it's just the click.  and you'll get your coupon for a yummy treat from those Vermont black and whites!  do it now!