Who'sa the Biggest Greenwasher of Them All?
Ronnie Cummins- Organic Consumers Assoc.
Ben & Jerry's #DirtyDairy
If there were an award for “greenwashing,” it would likely go to Ben & Jerry’s, the iconic Vermont-based ice cream brand, now owned by Unilever.
Ben & Jerry’s has done a brilliant job of selling consumers on the idea that the company cares about social justice, the environment, the climate, and its customers—the company even brags about its "Caring Dairy" program and its commitment to using non-GMO ingredients.
But behind that greenwashed façade lies the tale of a company that relies on a #dirtydairy industry that has poisoned Vermont’s waterways, abuses animals, is bankrupting farmers and is contributing to global warming by stripping the soil of its ability to draw down and sequester carbon.
It’s not enough to pretend to be a champion of GMO labeling—especially when your company relies on acres upon acres of GMO animal feed to produce your products. Ben & Jerry’s is in the perfect position to lead the dairy industry into an organic, regenerative future. If Ben & Jerry's wants consumers to believe its slogans and value statements, it’s time to get real.
TAKE ACTION: Tell Ben & Jerry’s: Stop Defrauding Consumers—It’s Time to Go Organic!
Ben & Jerry’s at 802-846-1500. Ask them to go organic!
Post on Ben & Jerry’s Facebook page
Tweet this: @benandjerrys: Stop supporting #dirtydairy. Go #organic! http://orgcns.org/2iTt1fn
Music to Our Ears
An article published this week in “Inside Climate News” said that nearly 80 percent of countries signed on to the Paris Climate Agreement are finally factoring in agriculture as a means of fighting climate change.
Unfortunately, the U.S. isn’t leading the charge:
In the U.S., the world's second-largest greenhouse gas emitter, agriculture's role in climate change has been discussed mostly by advocacy groups. And while the Department of Agriculture has launched programs to increase farmland's capacity to capture carbon, those are voluntary. The U.S.'s plans for meeting the Paris goals rely mainly on energy and transportation.
That said, the U.S. is, finally, at least talking about soil health as a climate solution. And we’d like your help in pressuring Congress to keep that conversation going.
We’ve put together two alerts that need your signature this week.
The first is a petition to the National Science and Technology Council’s Soil Science Interagency Working Group thanking the group for compiling “The State and Future of U.S. Soils: A Framework for a Federal Strategic Plan for Soil Science.”
The second is an invitation to your member of Congress inviting him or her to a briefing on the Hill (January 11) that OCA, Regeneration International and other groups organized. The briefing will include presentations by soil scientists on how organic and regenerative agriculture improves the soil’s ability to draw down and sequester carbon in the soil.
It’s music to our ears that U.S. government officials are thinking more about healthy soils and the critical role they play in fighting climate change. Let’s not allow the music to fall on deaf ears!
2017: Agriculture Begins to Tackle Its Role in Climate Change
TAKE ACTION: Invite Your Congresspersons to the 'Soil Is the Solution' Briefing
TAKE ACTION: Sign by Jan. 10! Support Healthy Soils!
Support OCA's Regeneration International Project (tax-deductible, helps support our work on behalf of organic, regenerative agriculture and climate change)
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Thanks, Maggie's!
Maggie’s Organics is the latest “organic hero” to quit the Organic Trade Association (OTA) after the trade group betrayed consumers by colluding with lobbyists and politicians to pass the DARK Act.
In a letter to the OTA, Maggie’s wrote:
While Maggie's has been a strong supporter of the OTA since our inception, we are confused and concerned by OTA's stance and support of the Stabenow-Roberts Senate Bill S.764 (aka: the Dark Act). Although purported to be a bill to require mandatory labeling on all products containing GMO ingredients, we feel this bill would actually cause serious harm to the integrity of the organic industry.
Maggie’s joins other organic heroes—Dr.Bronner’s, Nature’s Path and the Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association (OSGATA)—in quitting the OTA.
After the DARK Act passed, OCA joined about 60 other groups that called for organic brands, retailers and others to quit the OTA.
Read Maggie’s Organics letter to the Organic Trade Association
Post a 'thank you' on Maggie's Organics Facebook page
Unique Perspective
You know the feeling. You read an insightful or controversial article, and you think to yourself . . . wait a minute! That’s not right! Or . . . sure, there are some good points in here—but they’re missing this bit of key information, or this contrary viewpoint.
It happens a lot when much of what you read relates to your work. It’s definitely the case for OCA International Director Ronnie Cummins.
Ronnie has been deeply involved in policies related to organic standards, food, farming and the environment for more than 40 years. He has a unique perspective on just about everything he reads. Now, he’s sharing more of those perspectives, in his new blog.
You can check out Ronnie’s new blog here. Or follow @ronnie_cummins on twitter to catch all his posts.
Ronnie will also continue to write regular blog posts for the OCA blog, which also publishes posts by other OCA staffers.
Follow @ronnie_cummins on twitter
Wow.
We didn’t know what to expect. After losing the GMO labeling battle this summer, after a bitter, divisive and exhausting presidential campaign, we approached end-of-year fundraising with equal parts hope and uncertainty.
Hope won out.
Once again, you showed us that we aren’t alone in the belief that this work is important. And that you’re willing to support it.
Thank you, to each and every one of you who pitched in to help us reach our goal. And to all of you who support OCA’s work in other, equally important ways.
Many challenges lie ahead as we find ourselves up against a cast of corrupt corporate cronies intent on rolling back, instead of improving, policies that already fall far short of protecting our health and our environment.
Thanks to you, and with you, we will face those challenges head on. Here’s to the #ConsumerRevolution2017!
Donate to the Organic Consumers Association (tax-deductible, helps support our work on behalf of organic standards, fair trade and public education)
Donate to the Organic Consumers Fund (non-tax-deductible, but necessary for our GMO labeling legislative efforts)
Support OCA's Regeneration International Project (tax-deductible, helps support our work on behalf of organic, regenerative agriculture and climate change)
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VIDEO OF THE WEEK
Big Fat Bill
Monsanto and Big Food love to claim that their system—the industrial chemical food and farming system—is the only way to feed the world. Because it’s “more efficient” and produces “affordable (cheap) food.”
What Big Ag doesn’t tell you is that its “affordable” (and unhealthy) food comes at great cost. And that it leaves us all, and will surely leave our children and grandchildren, with a big fat bill to pay—for our poor health, our degraded soil and our polluted air and water.
Somebody will have to pay those bills, explains John Ikerd, professor emeritus of agricultural economics at the University of Missouri, in an interview for “Feeding Fairfield,” a documentary by HHW Media.
Learn more about ‘Feeding Fairfield’
Essential Reading for the Week
The Dirty Secret About Your Clothes
Scientists Loved and Loathed by an Agrochemical Giant
More Evidence Linking Monsanto’s Roundup to Cancer
Tanzanian Farmers are Facing Heavy Prison Sentences if They Continue Their Traditional Seed Exchange
Noam Chomsky: With Trump Election, We Are Now Facing Threats to the Survival of the Human Species