On My Radar 3.4.12

Recent News. Happenings. Discoveries…Here are some of the items on my radar.

NEWS from ALL OVER:

Judge Rules “For” Monsanto, “Against” CT NOFA (and 80+ other plaintiffs). On the very day that I blogged about why I’d joined CT NOFA, Judge Naomi Buchwald dismissed the case of Organic Seed Growers et al. vs Monsanto. Dan Ravicher, lead attorney for the plaintiffs, stated, “While I have great respect for Judge Buchwald, her decision to deny farmers the right to seek legal protection from one of the world's foremost patent bullies is gravely disappointing." The plaintiffs plan to appeal. Check out CT NOFA’s blog for an excellent summary of the proceedings and more comments from Ravicher and some of the plaintiffs. If you are interested, you can read the judge’s ruling here.

Winter Tornadoes. A wide band of early season tornadoes wreaked havoc in the Midwest on February 29, killing 6 in Harrisburg, Illinois, and causing extensive damage in tourist mecca Branson, Missouri. A story in the Aledo Times Record  reported the Harrisburg tornado as an EF-4 (a measurement used to measure its windspeed by the level of its destruction), with winds up to 170 miles per hour. The article stated, “Before Harrisburg, the only other EF-4 tornado to strike Illinois in February was on February 25, 1956 when one passed south of St. Louis and into St. Clair County Illinois, causing 6 deaths in those two states … Southern Illinois is home to the worst tornado disaster in U.S. history. On March 18, 1925, the infamous Tri-State Tornado caused 695 deaths as it moved through southeast Missouri, southern Illinois, and southern Indiana.” A second devastating outbreak on March 2 brought destruction to a dozen states from Alabama to Indiana. The Weather Channel reported the preliminary count for tornado sightings as 74.  The Weather Channel posted an interactive map of all the reports.  On Sunday CNN listed the death toll as 37. You can see a photo gallery here. 

Sunflowers in Fukushima. It’s coming up to one year since a tsunami struck Japan and triggered a nuclear disaster at Fukushima. In April, 2011, Buddhist monks and scientists planted sunflowers as phytoremediators for the radioactive element cesium, restoring beauty to the area and bringing hope to citizens. Unfortunately, however, it seems the sunflowers did little to reduce the cesium levels. 

Late last month, a VERY large lobster (40” and 27 lbs), was caught near Cushing, Maine and brought to the Maine State Aquarium. He was photographed, given a name (Rocky) and released. Large as Rocky is, he is 17 pounds shy of the Nova Scotia lobster listed in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Bottled Water Banned at the Grand Canyon. The National Park Service has approved a a plan which will eliminate the sale of bottled water by park concessionaires. It will take effect in just a few days. Ten filling stations, where visitors can refill their own water bottles, have been set up inside the park. Officials had estimated that water bottles accounted for 20% of the park’s waste and 30% of its recyclables. Similar bans are in place at two other national parks — Zion and Hawaii Volcanoes. Last March, New Haven’s Board of Aldermen prohibited the use of any public funds to purchase bottled water for the City of New Haven. 

NEWS from NEW HAVEN:

Claire Criscuolo has a new cookbook, Welcome to Claire’s, illustrated with color photos. She has been on a mini book signing tour in the area. Stop by Claire’s to purchase a copy if you are nearby. Otherwise, check it out online. [Check back soon for a review.]

There’s a relatively new 66,000 pound resident on lower Orange Street — a fuel cell, the City’s 3rd. The cell, being rented from United Technologies,  occupies the little-used Millenium Plaza behind City Hall, between the Federal Building and the Hall of Records. The cell is not much to look at, but it is expected to free the City from a contract for power from the adjacent Connecticut Financial Center which expires in 2013. It is estimated that by switching to the cell, in one decade the City will reap a net savings between $500,000 and $1 million in heating and cooling costs. The cell will become operational as soon as possible, with some of the energy coming from the Financial Center until the contract runs out.

The storm sewer separation work continues on Trumbull Street. It is noisy. It is inconveniencing drivers and annoying residents. But it is truly a wonder to behold the pipe jacking being used to minimize the impact on the well established trees which line the street. Here is the latest update. 

The number of owner/members in the Elm City Market continues to grow. When the store opened its doors on November 2, membership was at 750. There were 1431 members when the store’s site was last updated.

DISCOVERIES:

Deer have been ravaging backyards in New Haven’s East Shore, as well as those on the west side of town where they’ve been residing for years. At Master Gardening I learned that stringing pieces of Irish Spring around the periphery of your property is an effective deterrent. Downside? Mice are said to be attracted by the scent. You will have to choose your pest.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

March 7th

6:30 pm - 9:00 pm

Pint Night

Co-sponsored by Trailblazer and Box 63 

in the Broadway District of New Haven

In support of CitySeed. 

More details. 

March 10th

4:00 - 6:00 pm

CT Slow Food Shoreline's Slow Food Swap

Woodland Coffee

The second of what is planned to be a monthly event.

For more info, check here. I hope to trade this time around.

CALLING ALL RIDERS

March 23rd

5:00 pm - 8:00 pm 

Mitchell’s Ride

It’s been almost a year since the passing of popular Devil’s Gear mechanic and musician Mitchell Dubey. Devil’s Gear owner Matt Feiner and Mitch’s many other friends are holding a ride in his honor,  leaving from the shop and ending with a party back at the shop, which will “celebrate Mitch’s love of good things to eat and music.” And they really want you all to be there.

April 21st

Rock to Rock 

Kicks off from Common Ground High School after a hearty breakfast

Hundreds of riders raise money for local environmental groups while exploring New Haven by bicycle (an 8-Mile ride). Hard-core riders have the option of signing on for a 20 or 60 mile route. Last year over 500 riders raised more than $50,000. I had a blast on the short route last year and am looking forward to this year’s ride. I’m thinking of going for the 20 mile route. If you want to ride with me or pledge for my team, let me know.

BLOG NEWS:

I finally put a closing date on my petition asking Stop & Shop to stop sourcing their organic green beans from China. I did gather 290 signatures and raised some awareness of the problem among my readers. And, the next time I want to start a petition, I’ll  know exactly how to do it.

My page views continue to rise. Thanks for all the tweets, +1s and forwards. Together we can make a difference.

Please “visit” again soon. And, for those who live in New Haven, I hope to see you out and about as the days get longer. There’s a lot to do in The Have.

Meatless Monday: Taking on Monsanto

Big, greedy, strong-arming, corporate bully. That’s pretty much the image I had of Monsanto after watching King Corn and Food, Inc.,  both of which paint Monsanto as a chemical company with the goal of cornering the market for seeds of corn, soybeans, and other commodity crops and willing to to shut down anyone who gets in the way — small farmers who do not want to buy Monsanto’s genetically modified (GMO) Roundup-ready seeds, organic farmers, and those who make a living harvesting or selling seeds. My opinion changed for the worse after hearing patent attorney Dan Ravicher’s October 26 talk at the Yale Law School: "Suing Monsanto: Intellectual Property, Genetic Contamination, and Farmers' Rights.” 

I am not a lawyer. I have to confess that although I had heard of this suit, I was unaware of its particulars. Dan Ravicher is leading a preemptive suit by organic seed growers, farmers, and farmer organizations to prevent Monsanto from suing farmers or seed producers should their crops become contaminated by Monsanto’s patented seeds. The suit, filed in March of 2011, is titled organic Seed Growers & Trade Association (OSGATA), et al. v. Monsanto. The CT chapter of the Northeast Organic Farming Association (CTNOFA) is one of the plaintiffs.

The 80+ parties in the suit are requesting that Monsanto sign a simple covenant not to sue. Although Monsanto has stated that they would not sue farmers who were “inadvertently” contaminated or farmers whose crops contain “trace amounts” of GMO, they have refused to sign such a covenant that would bring an effective end to the lawsuit. Monsanto filed a motion to dismiss, and in August the plaintiffs, with the support of 12 agricultural organizations, filed a brief in opposition to the motion. 

Ravicher walked us through the reasoning behind the suit and the four grounds for the suit. All of this material is well summarized in a post by Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, another of the plaintiffs.  Ravicher emphasized and the post re-iterated that if any of the four grounds is proven, it should be sufficient to cause the court to issue a judgement against Monsanto. 

Such a judgment would be a welcome bit of good news for small farmers. Food Democracy Now writes that “Monsanto controls more than 93% of soybeans and 80% of corn grown in the U.S.” 

Ravicher did offer up some hope that the tide is beginning to turn against Monsanto. GMO seed is expensive, and after several years of planting it, life in the soil begins to die off, leading to lower crop yields. He spoke of a surge of interest among farmers to wean themselves from the Monsanto seeds.

It seems appropriate to be writing this post on the day of the planned Occupy Wall Street Farmers March. According to the Food Democracy Now blog, family farmers from around the country will march to Zuccotti Park on December 4th, in a “celebration of community power to regain control over the most basic element to human well-being: food.”  One of the scheduled speakers is organic farmer Jim Gerritsen of Maine, president of the Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association, the lead plaintiff in the suit against Monsanto. If all goes as planned, the day will end with a circle of solidarity and seed swap in the park. 

A New York Times blog profiled Jim Gerritsen in a post titled: “A Maine Farmer Speaks to Wall Street,” which you can read here. 


Eddie C covered the day's events with words and abundant images on the Daily Kos. The National Young Farmers' Coalition was a visible presence in a number of the photos. Speakers spoke. Farmers and friends marched. Drummers drummed. Great signs and banners were everywhere. And, at the march's end in Zuccotti Park, seeds were exchanged. Eddie C wrote, “Free seeds were handed out, heirloom seeds and seeds that were cross pollinated by farmers, anything but the patented property of some major corporation.”


Take that, Monsanto.

Have a great week, and stop by again soon.

I often blog on food or food issues on Monday in support of Meatless Monday, one of several programs developed in the Healthy Monday project, founded in 2003 in association with Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications. Meatless Monday’s goal is “to help reduce meat consumption 15% in order to improve personal  health and the health of our planet.”