Tag Archives: Food

GMO Labeling Victory!

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Whole Foods Market, the eighth largest food and drug store in the U.S. has announced that by 2018, all products sold in U.S. and Canada stores must be labeled if they contain genetically modified organisms (GMOs).  Whole Foods currently provides customers with the choice of over 3,300 Non-GMO products from 250 brands which is more than any other retailer in North America.  While we agree with other groups that want Whole Foods to accelerate their commitment to 2015, we also applaud the company for its leadership.

This is huge news coming just a few months after the California citizen’s initiative  (Proposition 37) that would have mandated clear labeling of genetically engineered ingredients on food packages was defeated. With interest in GMO labeling around the country now at an all time high, recent polls have shown that more than 82 percent of Americans want full GMO transparency making it mandatory to label GMOs. Continue reading →

Is the world heading towards another food crisis?

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Too many countries have in history experienced the devastation of not only failed harvests, but also gross agricultural policy mismanagement.

The Great Famine of the 1930s in the Ukraine, which resulted in millions starving to death, is just one of many. It was a direct result of a political decision to impose a centralised and industrial agriculture model that obliterated centuries of farmers’ know-how. The results were so catastrophic that the Ukraine government describes it as genocide.

There is perhaps little wonder thatUkraine has been restricting wheat exports this year to maintain its own domestic stockpiles and prevent a rise in domestic bread prices following a heat wave and failed harvest. Continue reading →

Vote Yes to Label GMO’s in California!

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“Don’t forget to eat the redwood sorrels!” I was on a hike in Julia Pfeiffer State Park in Big Sur, CA with a close friend. As we were hiking she was teaching me about these small edible heart-shaped plants called redwood sorrels. When you chewed on the leaves, they taste just like the skin of a fresh green apple. Though we had a picnic lunch packed all I could think about was how these wild growing plants could taste just like the apple in my backpack. This experience taught me more about the food I consumed. I never stopped to consider what it was I was putting into my body and how it would affect my health. I never considered the consequences of my consumerism or the industries I was supporting nor the environmental impacts the food system in the US had on our planet. It was then I realized I have the right to know what I am eating and I wanted to learn more. Continue reading →

Return to Report: St. George and the Bering Sea

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Community Meeting on St. George Island, Bering Sea Alaska

George Pletnikoff speaks at a community meeting on St. George Island, Bering Sea Alaska. Photo: Greenpeace/Jiri Rezac

By George Pletnikoff, Alaska Oceans Campaigner

Coming home to St. George sparks a lot of memories. I was very fortunate to grow up in this close knit island community of friends and family that provided for me in my formative years. The abundance of northern fur seals and over 150 different species of marine birds, nesting on thousand foot cliffs lining the northern shore, were a natural laboratory in which to grow. I always new this was a place I had to protect and my family continues to make a pilgrimage each year to return to the seal rookeries and bird cliffs.

A Kitiwake off St. George Island, Bering Sea Alaska

A fulmar flies off St. George Island, Bering Sea Alaska

It also sparks memories of the Esperanza’s visit during its 2007 tour to protect the Bering Sea, the largest food fishery in the United States, that is threatened by large industrial fishing trawlers. Continue reading →

“Ace of Cakes” Celebrates the Rainbow Warrior

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Rainbow Warrior Cake Delivery

Baltimore is perhaps the sweetest stop yet for the new Rainbow Warrior. To celebrate the ship’s maiden US voyage this month, Charm City Cakes, the same shop featured in Food Network’s Ace of Cakes, specially made us a meticulously designed cake that looks just like the ship! They presented it to us yesterday here at our berth at Fell’s Point, Baltimore.

This edible replica of our courageous Warrior comes complete with zodiac boats driving alongside the ship, activists rappelling off the ship’s hull, a blue whale swimming around the ship!

I sat down with Geof Manthorne and Graham Coreil-Allen of Charm City Cakes to learn a bit about the making of the cake. Continue reading →