Farmageddon Uncovers Government’s Insane Campaign Against Small Farmers – November 17, 2011

New Documentary Film Examines Attack on Raw Milk Producers, Ranchers

The folks who run Athens Locally Grown in northern Georgia might have known they were crossing the law — but they didn’t believe they were doing anything wrong. Yet the managers of the organic food distribution co-op were, in fact, committing an illegal act. Their crime? Transporting raw milk across the South Carolina-Georgia border and selling it to the co-op’s members.

Photo provided

In mid-October 2009, officials with the Georgia Department of Agriculture impounded 110 gallons of unpasteurized milk co-op members had ordered and then, a week later, ordered Athens Locally Grown to pour out all of the milk. The scene of Locally Grown manager… more

by: Jason Mark

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Letter from Occupy Oakland’s General Strike – November 3, 2011

Good Vibes Take on Corporate Rule

On Tuesday night, the eve of Occupy Oakland’s shutdown of the fifth busiest port in the United States, a strange blast of warm wind came up from the Central Valley, over the Oakland Hills and down to the Bay. It was like the No Cal version of LA’s weird Santa Annas, the kind of weather that makes people wired. “This is earthquake weather,” said my girlfriend, Nell Greenberg (who, full disclosure, is the communications director at Rainforest Action Network). “This is when you have earthquakes.”

All photos by Ian UmedaProtestors sweep over a bridge on the way to Oakland Port.

At… more

by: Jason Mark

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Brower Youth Awardees Offer a Jolt of Inspiration – October 17, 2011

Junior Walk

Junior Walk just made my day. Walk, 21, stopped by the Earth Island Journal offices this afternoon, and in the 10 minutes he spent talking with us I felt a real surge of energy and inspiration. Walk is one of the seven winners of the 2011 Brower Youth Awards, given each year by Earth Island Institute to some of the most exceptional young environmental and social justice leaders in North America. And Walk does, in fact, radiate exceptionalism. Born and raised West Virginia, Walk grew up in a community where just about everyone is in some way connected to the coal industry. Like many… more

by: Jason Mark

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What’s a Tree Worth? – October 11, 2011

A Critique of the Limitations of “Ecosystem Services” and “Natural Capital”

Mark Tercek knows a thing or two about money. For years he worked at the mega investment firm Goldman Sachs, where he headed the Corporate Finance and Equity Capital Markets divisions, and later went on to found the company’s Center for Environmental Markets. Since 2008, he’s been the president and CEO of The Nature Conservancy. Given his background as a Wall Street titan, it’s not surprising that Tercek has taken his market mentality to TNC and tried to focus its efforts on making an economic case for preserving wild places.

“The environmental movement needs to shift gears and try some other approaches,” Tercek… more

by: Jason Mark

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Fracking Law Pits Corporate Secrecy Versus the Public’s Right to Know – October 4, 2011

Halliburton Says that Its Fracking Brew is a Trade Secret

What’s the right balance between corporations’ desire to keep some of their practices secret and the public’s interest in transparent disclosure of those same practices?

I’ve been thinking about that question a lot as I’ve learned about a slow-moving battle in the California legislature over a new bill that would require oil and gas companies to disclose the chemicals they use during hydraulic fracturing — also known as “fracking.”

Photo by M.V. JantzenAt Lafayette Square, Washington D.C., after the Power Shift 2011 rally.

The political fight in California is, in some ways, a repeat of earlier battles in Wyoming in Texas over the controversial fracking… more

by: Jason Mark

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