A report on Ethan Schaffer (recipient of the Brower Youth Award in 2002) who has created Organic Volunteers, a national outreach and education program for sustainability and organic food systems.

Shorter Supply Chains, Better Food, Healthier Economy - SustainablePR Interviews Tangleroot Farms

In this interview on the sustainability benefits of local agriculture, SPR founder Tony DeFazio speaks with Adam Reed, founder of Tangleroot Farm, about their Community Supported Agriculture program. This CSA, sometimes called a farm share, is like a monthly produce subscription box that provides people, restaurants, and local produce markets with certified organic fruits and veggies that were grown locally. Listen in as these two entrepreneurs talk sustainability and how shortening our food supply chains can help boost the local economy.  

CSA is Community Supported Agriculture.

The Trump administration has advanced the process of opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to lease sales. The Department of Interior released its "Record of Decision" on August 17, 2020 taking the most aggressive and destructive drilling alternative possible. It paves the way for lease sales as early as December. During an oil glut, increasing threats from climate change, and a world-wide pandemic, the administration will attempt to lease the entire Coastal Plain of the Arctic Refuge-- more than 1.5 million acres-- to the oil industry. Representing the last 5% of America’s Arctic Coastal Plain where the law has barred oil and gas activity, this would forever transform these wild lands into a toxic industrial drilling complex. The Gwich’in people who depend on these lands call it “the sacred place where life begins.”

This move threatens the food security, and spiritual and cultural foundation of the Indiginous Gwich'in Nation, in addition to threats to endangered polar bears, the Porcupine Caribou herd, and birds that migrate to these lands from six continents and all 50 states. This is one of the most high-profile battles in America today at the intersection of the environment and social justice. 

This video includes five members of the Gwich’in community-- raising their voices at the 2016 Gwich’in Gathering in Arctic Village, Alaska-- Neets’aii Gwich’in Tribal Land. Thanks to Arctic Village Council, Venetie Tribal Council and Native Village of Venetie Tribal Government for permission for National Geographic photographer Florian Schulz to record these testimonies.

#ProtectTheArctic #StandwiththeGwichin

Voices include:

Dr. Rev. Trimble Gilbert
Sarah James
Nani’eeth Peter
Gideon James
Anthony Garnett
Narrator: Princess Daazhraii Johnson

Fair Farms is a movement of consumers, farmers and environmentalists who are ready for a new food future, one that is healthy for people and focuses on growing what we eat in a way that cares for the land and our waterways.

Fair Farms is a campaign of Waterkeepers Chesapeake, a coalition of 19 Riverkeeper, Shorekeeper and Coastkeepers from around the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Betsy Nicholas is the executive director.

Permaculture designer Andrew Faust of Center for Bioregional Living gives us an inspiring and heady narrative about the evolution of all life and human consciousness on Mother Earth. This is a brilliant condensation of the core of the scientific worldview with the metaphysical implications highlighted along the way.

For more info about Center for Bioregional Living or to subscribe to the newsletter here.Video created by Costa Boutsikaris : http://terravisus.com

Forum for the Future

This webinar, which we ran on 29 April 2020, aims to help you understand whether recent excitement in sustainable protein adds up to a future-fit food system (as reviewed in our Future of Food report here)

We start to explore how the pandemic is now stretching that system to its limits and discuss what the food industry can be doing to shape better outcomes long-term.

This webinar recording is relevant for anyone operating in the food industry, particularly for sustainability professionals or those with a focus on nutrition, sourcing, innovation or strategy. Watch to benefit from Forum’s futures and system change expertise to help navigate this rapidly changing context.

Winemaker and Sustainability Advocate, Paul Dolan talks about what is going on today with addressing carbon and its impact on the wine industry. He feels we are "just working around the edges of being sustainability."

Helen Caldicott - Fukushima's Ongoing Impact - Seattle - 09/28/14

"It's dangerous to live anywhere near a nuclear power plant - especially children under five years old (within 2 miles)."

Helen Caldicott, co-founder of Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) on "Fukushima's Ongoing Impact" recorded September 28, 2014 at Town Hall Seattle.

Ethical Cannabis Alliance Kick off Event with Emma Chasen, Ashley Preece, and Laura Day Rivero. More info here.

In order to address the current state of the industry, and the need for robust labor and environmental standards, ECA Executive Director Ashley Preece was joined by two outstanding guest presenters. Hear from Laura Day Rivero, who has extensive experience implementing sustainable practices in the cannabis industry, most recently as Operations Director at Yerba Buena, one of the first OLCC licensed cannabis cultivators in Oregon;  Dr. Elizabeth Bennett, Assistant Professor of International Affairs and Director of the Political Economy Program at Lewis & Clark College, as well as a Research Associate at the Center for Fair and Alternative Trade (CFAT) at Colorado State University. Recently, Dr. Bennett has been studying the demand for ethically sourced cannabis products in Oregon at the dispensary/retail level. This study is also tracking the how informed the dispensary employee, or “budtender” providing them are on the topic of ethically produced cannabis. 

We hope you’ll take the time to view these presentations on our YouTube channel, as well as following our Facebook and Instagram accounts to get involved and stay informed.

Part 2 is on EarthSayers.tv here. 

Produce/videotaped by Barry Heidt and curated by Ruth Ann Barrett of EarthSayers.tv.