Monthly Archives: June 2014

Slavery for Shrimp

23 Monday Jun 2014

Posted by in Anti-Trafficking, Conscious Eating, Food Consciousness, Rising

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shrimp slavery

In Thailand, they are called the ghost ships.
There are no ghosts. Instead, there are human beings. The marginalized. The poor. The migrant worker…trafficked and enslaved, forced to work on these unregistered ships, so shrimp can be sold to you cheaply. Slave laborers harvest “trash fish” — the fishmeal fed to farm raised shrimp.

CP Foods (Charoen Pokphand) is the world’s largest supplier and offender. They report that over 3 billion people a year globally consume their products. From UK, to Europe to US — in your friendly supermarket, and the largest of the big guys: Costco, Carrefour and Walmart (that’s Woolco in Canada, Walmex in Mexico, Bompreco in Brazil, Asda in the UK), are buying from CP Foods and selling you a forkful of misery in every bite of Thai shrimp…at low, low prices!

Project Issara, founded by Anti-Slavery International, works to eliminate slavery within export-oriented industries in Thailand. The project seeks to push brands to stop buying slavery-made products, and to leverage their power to eliminate slavery within global supply chains. Plausible deniability of Thailand’s deep-sea forced labor is no longer an easy defense for importers. But the practice, and world-wide profiting is still very much a reality.

How can you help? My dear friends…it’s so easy.
Don’t eat the misery…put down your fork and stand up. Stop buying Thai shrimp. Shut your wallet. Feel the power. Use your power! Sign the petition:

Sign the petition at SumofUs

Eat the Sun

21 Saturday Jun 2014

Posted by in Conscious Eating, Family Farms, Food Consciousness, Greenmarkets, Healthy Eating, Locally Grown, Organic

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greenmarket

(Photo: Flickr4jazz


The sun is up,
the sky is blue
Eat the sun,
It’s good for you.

The Solstice spins us into summer today. Shift into the sun with conscious eating: know what’s in your food and where it comes from. Promise yourself you will eat well…and keep your promise.

In June, The CDC reported that more than 29 million people in the United States have diabetes. Three million more since 2010. One in four people with diabetes doesn’t know he or she has it. And another one in three people — 86 million adults, have prediabetes.

The short of it? That’s a lot of people getting sick.

Control, and even cure, includes exercise and better diet choices.

Celebrate summer with fresh, local, non-GMO produce from greenmarkets and natural food centers. Help support local farms, farmers and your own good health.

Go outside! Walk to that produce, my friend, get some Vitamin D from the sun, and find something healthy for dinner.

In NYC?
Visit Grow NYC to find greenmarket locations and hours, which ones accept EBT/Food Stamps, offer textile recycling and have a food scrap compost drop off: http://www.grownyc.org/greenmarket/search

Visit What Is Fresh for greenmarket details around the city.

Seeds Uninvited, Unannounced

18 Wednesday Jun 2014

Posted by in Big Ag, Family Farms, Food Consciousness, Monsanto

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scarecrow

Image: Mauricio Alejo

They came, just before dawn. Uninvited, unannounced. The genetic trespassers were the strangest kind of scarecrows, dotting the fields as they went about their business of searching. The seeds belonged to them. Genetically engineered seeds. Patented. Owned. The seeds grow — strong, vast, close, far, and away. It is the plan. Agricultural is now about control, not nutrition.

Just one percent of seed, carried by the wind, one percent of seed that takes hold, is enough to shut down one man’s farm. That’s all it takes…one percent of seed, uninvited and unwelcome, contaminating the field. And another one percent of seed takes hold in another field, and takes another man’s farm. Those are the rules. Lawsuits are filed. Those family farmers sued, can fight, but may find themselves bankrupt, and have to find another way to earn a living. All of those GMO crops, strong and vast, bio-engineered to survive, survive. And make their way, uninvited, unannounced — to our table. It is the plan.

I wrote this, but it is not fiction. This is real, and happening now…though it is hardly making headlines.
Get involved:

Farmers are often faced with the inability to grow certain organic or conventional crops to avoid genetic contamination and potential litigation. Monsanto has filed over 144 lawsuits against America’s farmers over not much more than a decade, and settled another 700 out of court. Monsanto’s aggressive, abusive lawsuits and tactics put family farmers into bankruptcy, and the future of farming into the hands of Big Ag. The loss is ours too. Farmers need your voice today! Stand up for Family Farmers

C’mon New Yorkers, support Assembly Bill A 3525 / Senate Bill S 3835 and let’s get GMOs labeled. You have the right to know what you are eating! Food Democracy Now’s Red Alert


Monsanto and its allies are suing the state of Vermont to stop a new law that requires genetically engineered foods to be labeled. It is a multi-million dollar lawsuit, the state cannot proceed without support and financial help. How does this affect you? Vermont is the first US state to require GMO labeling. If Vermont’s law can survive this legal challenge, other states will be able to require GMO labeling. Support Vermont! You can donate a dollar to SumofUs?