Life changing values

(My Comments)

There are so many ways that the Government is failing to represent the best interests of the governed that it is chilling and depressing to think about it too much, but the generational future of this country and the world hangs in the balance. We are acting out like a Nation of immature pre-teens with nothing more pressing than instant gratification and the value of corporate stocks on our minds. Our populace is becoming unhealthier every day at the hands of Corporate Government, our children are losing the battle of obesity, and the Bush Administration continues to move further away from any pretense about changing the course. In fact, their battle cry continues to be “Stay the Course” without the benefit of any public debate.
With our stomachs still stretched from holiday overindulgence, this would be a good time to contemplate the wisdom of the eating habits we have been trained to over the years. It is well beyond time for some new understanding of, and changes in the food industry that funnels the goods to our cupboards.

Organic and Beyond

(Excerpt) Read the entire article here

Unfortunately, the future of organic food is in the hands of an Administration and a regulatory agency--the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)--that are backed by powerful agribusiness interests, all of which are openly hostile to the organic and beyond alternative. In less than a year from passage, the Bush administration has sought to seriously undermine the national organic standards in a number of significant ways, including creating numerous potential loopholes that would allow placing unacceptable chemical materials on a list of substances approved for organic use; a number of unapproved additives to be used in processing organic foods; eliminating outdoor access requirements for poultry; eliminating the requirement that livestock feed be 100 percent organic; and forcing small-scale, farmer-based organic certifiers out of the program. If the Bush administration's current policies are continued, the integrity of all organic food could be fatally compromised, and this crucial alternative to industrial agriculture would be lost.

CFS seeks to maintain strong organic standards that live up to the quality and integrity that consumers expect from organic foods while evolving the ethic by promoting agriculture that is local, small-scale and family operated, biologically diverse, humane, and socially just. The ultimate goal of the Organic & Beyond campaign is to replace the industrial agriculture model with a new vision of farming with the natural world.