As our season of feasting approaches, it seems rather apropos for activists to intensify anti-GMO campaigns. On October 12th, Providence joined hundreds of cities worldwide to March Against Monsanto. This particular march was successful in building/inspiring subversive camraderie, and raised some crucial awareness surrounding GMO’s effects on our bodies and ecosystems. Yet, Rhode Island and Massachusetts are still struggling to actually pass GMO labeling bills.  The passage of these bills is necessary for GMO-labeling laws to take effect in CT and Maine. 

However, some would argue that the “movement” should go one step further, and ban GMO’s altogether.  While long-term health studies have not been conducted, it is becoming common knowledge that research shows links between GMOs and digestive disorders, cancer, allergies, and infertility. 

GMOs were quietly introduced into our food supply in the 90’s, and our government never required or performed ANY safety testing. Superweeds and superbugs have become resistant to GMO-related pesticides, and GMO crops have been known to contaminate non-GMO crops.  It seems blatantly obvious that we have been deceived; consumers have been denied accurate information to make informed choices, and have paid a high price.

The time to get involved and make our voices heard is Now.  Particularly when Monsanto spends millions on effective misinformation campaigns, like the most recent one in Washington.  I-522 (a ballot initiative to mandate GMO labeling in the state) is a measure that would require “raw agricultural commodities, processed foods, and seeds and seed stocks” to be labeled as genetically engineered “when offered for retail sale.”  (If the law is passed in November, it would take effect July 2015).  Meanwhile, in DC, members of Congress continue debating the final version of the Farm Bill, including the controversial King Amendment.

If you’re seeking ways to get involved in Rhode Island, you can contact the Rhode Islanders Against GMO’s through their Facebook page, and if you live in Massachusetts, please visit http://marighttoknow.com & check out their talking points for calling elected officials. Some state reps are considering GMO labeling legislation, but have made it clear these bills will not go anywhere without pressure from constituents.

Every Saturday morning from 9:00-12:00 farmers from all over the state gather in the Rhodes on the Pawtuxet Parking Lot to sell their goods to the locals that frequent the market. Patrons can buy anything from heirloom tomatoes to wild flowers or even fresh fish.

The Local Catch is one of the many stands that can be found at the Pawtuxet Farmers Market. Based in Narragansett, The Local Catch is run by Richard and Ann Cook. “We’ve been coming to this farmers market for two years,” said Mike Grattan, who was manning the stand on this particular morning.

“We’re about ten feet from the water so it’s always fresh.” The stand offers anything from haddock to halibut; the quality of the fish was backed by each customer that came to get some of this week’s catch. “It’s very fresh! I come every week,” one woman very eagerly told me as she handpicked her pieces of haddock.

Blue Skys Farm is arguably one of the most popular stands each week at the market, offering beautiful flowers and vegetables grown on the two acre farm in Cranston run by Christina Dedora.

“Farmers Markets make up about 75% of our business,” Dedora said. “The people here are special, they’re very loyal and tend to buy a little from each stand.”

As Dedora told me about the loving, family atmosphere that had welcomed her for years, a woman approached us and, gesturing towards the little girl she was holding, said “Every Saturday morning she asks, ‘Are we seeing Christina?!” At this, Dedora was brought to tears, again repeating the sentiment that the family atmosphere is what keeps her and her goods coming back.

This overall impression was echoed by Bernard Bieder, who runs Bernie B’s Bees, based in Warwick. Bieder’s stand offers jars of honey as well as beeswax candles and sticks of honey for children and adults alike to enjoy. “I’ve been coming here for 9 or 10 years, I’ve had opportunities to go to bigger markets before but it’s a real family affair here.” As I watched Mr. Bieder do his business I couldn’t help but notice how many free honey sticks he was giving out to the children that came to his stand.

“When a little girl comes up to me with a quarter wanting a honey stick, I ask her if she’s been good (they always say yes) and always give her an extra. Ask my wife, I give out more than I make!” Bieder shared with me that he turned 90 recently. “All of the other vendors made me a cake and signed a big card. We’re a family.”

Saturday mornings at Rhodes on the Pawtuxet are filled with family and fresh, local goods from vendors that think highly of their loyal patrons. Attending the Pawtuxet Farmers Market is not only a family affair, but also a great way to support local farmers and vendors from all over the state.

Consumer awareness and grassroots efforts among the 99% make a powerful impact- even in the face of adversarial forces, and despite our invisibility in mainstream media.

While concerned citizens plan another protest for October 2013, Monsanto stocks have fallen (they are going back up now though).  Last week, Connecticut became the first state to pass a GE labeling law. And in Oregon, when a farmer discovered GE wheat growing in his field, Food & Water Watch urged the USDA to end all field testing of GE plants. Japan and South Korea have halted U.S. wheat imports, and many are boycotting brands that have tried to block GMO-labeling ballot measures.

Monsanto has lost the fight in Europe, and will indeed lose the fight here, if momentum continues to build and activists remain committed.

Although it is important to relish our victories, the “bigger picture” is still staring us in the face. GE salmon (on the verge of approval by the FDA) could potentially breed with wild salmon- or worse, breed with brown trout, and create offspring that out-competes native species.  The damage this could do to our environment is as disturbing as the effects of glyphosate, (the active ingredient in Monsanto’s herbicide Roundup).  More and more people are discussing Roundup’s connection to autism and chronic disease, and bringing behemoths like Syngenta into the conversation, too.

Because while Monsanto was recently named the “most evil corporation” in the world, in a NaturalNews poll, this isn’t just about Monsanto.  This is about a tipping point reflecting the impact of “civilized” lifestyles- both on ourselves, and our surroundings.  Between pipelines, fracking, agribusiness gone awry, climate change, and the recent uptick in mass shootings, we have an overwhelming amount of toxicity “on our plate,” as it were.

As progressive activists, and simply as human beings, we must remember:  Monsanto’s wrongdoings have not occurred in a vacuum.  They are interconnected with (and representative of) a hierarchical and dysfunctional system.  Eliminating only one weapon in the arsenal cannot- and will not- end the war; we must see the fight over who controls our seeds, and the battle to know what is in our food, as intertwined with other social, environmental, and political injustices.

Abbie Hoffman said it best: “Revolution is not something fixed in ideology, nor is it something fashioned to a particular decade.  It is a perpetual process embedded in the human spirit.”

This “perpetual process” is complex and ongoing.  As Bob Plain has pointed out, Connecticut’s GMO labeling law will only take effect after four other states pass similar laws. I do hope Rhode Island will be next in demonstrating a commitment to the health of our children (and each other).  But more importantly, I hope activists will not grow tired of protesting Monsanto – for we have only just begun fighting the system it represents.

Connecticut needs Rhode Island’s help. And by helping our neighbors in the nutmeg state, we would also be helping our own economy and creating a healthier, more sustainable food supply for Americans everywhere.

Connecticut recently made big national news for passing the first ever law requiring Frankenfoods be labelled as such. For foodies, this is the most critical political battle being fought between slow, local family farmers and genetically engineered, corporate-controlled agriculture.

But Connecticut’s landmark labeling law only takes affect after four other states pass a similar law. And at least one of them has to share a border. That means it’s up to us, Massachusetts or New York to make this happen.

Let’s have Rhode Island be the next state to pass this important legislation.

Rep. Ray Hull of Providence has introduced this bill. The bill is co-signed by progressive Rep. Art Handy of Cranston, Republican Antony Giarrusso of East Greenwich, conservative Democrat Karen MacBeth of Cumberland and moderate Democrat Joe Scherkachi of Warwick. That’s a pretty much touches the entire RI political spectrum.

Because of our compact size and wealth of great restaurants and innovative young family farmers, this is an obvious area of our economy that Rhode Island should be working hard to grow. High-quality, local food is one of most attractive reasons to come to the Ocean State over, say, Maine, which passed a GMO labeling bill yesterday similar to Connecticut’s. Not to mention that farmers won’t ditch us just because another state offers them a better tax deal.

For more on how economically important sustainable agriculture is for Rhode Island, watch Ted Nesi’s excellent Executive Suite focusing on farmers’ markets and the amazing growth in small agriculture.

Both Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse voted to support Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders amendment, which would make clear that states DO have the authority to require labeling on foods or beverages that contain a genetically engineered ingredient. Though the amendment was rejected, on behalf of Rhode Islanders Against GMO’s, we would like to thank Reed and Whitehouse for their support on GMO labeling and look forward to their support going forward.

Here’s a video of Sanders speaking about Monsanto on the Senate floor from last summer.

Alternative, independent media is clearly more crucial than ever, as is the role of women in politics & journalism. Most of these protests were organized by women, which is encouraging, given their lack of leadership space- both on the whole and in “liberal/radical” movements like Occupy.

So: upon making their voices heard, are things looking up? Sadly, no- the silencing continues, in many ways, in many places.

This Monsanto monster just won’t quit- and it certainly doesn’t sleep. Spending nearly $6 million on lobbying to ensure the passage of the Monsanto Protection Act wasn’t enough. Now it has inserted an amendment into the 2013 Farm Bill (passed by the House of Representatives’ Agriculture Committee) that would make it impossible for individual states to pass GMO-labeling laws. The amendment, introduced by Rep. Steve King, an Iowa Republican, has been dubbed the Protect Interstate Commerce Act (PICA). The PICA amendment would end recent efforts in states like Connecticut and Vermont to label GMO foods. Even in the highly unlikely event that GMO foods are proven to be only economically harmful, consumers nonetheless have a right to know what is in their food, and where it comes from.

Here’s Paul Hubbard’s video set to Jared Paul’s music, ICYMI:

Here’s what the protest looked like in Providence – video by of Paul Hubbard and the soundtrack courtesy of Jared Paul, both local activists.

Providence will join activists from around the world in ten days for the May 25 March Against Monsanto. Monsanto is the biotech giant that is bankrupting American farmers and destroying our food supply, all for its own profit.

Demonstrations in dozens of countries will draw attention to genetically engineered seeds and foods.  In Providence, we begin at 2pm at the State House, and wind through Providence Place Mall, City Hall, Kennedy Plaza, and end back at the State House with some live music, information booths, and guest speakers.

While Monsanto continues to claim GMO food is safe for consumption, research (and common sense) says otherwise.  One recent study has revealed high levels of toxicity in lab-made corn.  As the anti-GMO group Moms Across America to Label GMO‘s has pointed out, when food is covered in glyphosate, you certainly don’t want to eat it, or allow your children to eat it.  Exposure to glyphosate can (and often does) lead to intestinal pain, vomiting, erosion of the gastrointestinal tract, excess fluid in the lungs, pneumonia, clouding of consciousness, destruction of red blood cells, abnormal electrocardiograms, kidney damage and damage to the larynx.  And this is only one concern among many, regarding Monsanto’s impact on agricultural practices.

In March, Congress passed what has been called the “Monsanto Protection Act,” which protects GMO-producing companies from legal action.  It seems that this has only galvanized activists across the globe, and impassioned those who are paying close attention.

You can make sure you don’t buy Monsanto products with this new app, and here’s a list of companies to avoid.

If interested, check out the Facebook event page and get involved- however you can! See you there! Or check out the local Providence Facebook page and/or the global one.

Perhaps the shrewdest business decision made in 21st Century Rhode Island didn’t occur in a board room, but rather a dairy barn. In 2004, five local dairy farmers – led by Portsmouth icon Louie Escobar, who runs Highland Dairy Farm not far from East Main Road – decided to cut out the corporate middle man and go into business for themselves marketing and selling their milk.

Now Rhody Fresh – an employee-owned cooperative that sells locally made milk (and butter now too!) across the Ocean State – is nine farmers strong (nearly half the dairy industry in RI) and they do more than $3 million in business every year.

But a sustainable agriculture sector is much bigger than just the additional money it puts into our local economy. Food, after all, is actually the third most important part of any economy, after oxygen and clean water (if you don’t have those, your tax rate or regulatory process won’t matter much at all!).

If that’s too abstract for you, read this passage from a recent Mark Patinkin story in the Providence Journal about Rodney and Judy Bailey, who own dairy farmer near where I live:

I pointed out that his land seemed hemmed by a lot of development.

“When I was in grammar school,” said Rodney, “there were 30 to 35 dairy farms in East Greenwich. We’re the last ones. I think we’ve been the last ones for close to 20 years.”

Most, said Judy, decided the land was too valuable not to sell.

If the Bailey’s decide to do what is in their own financial best interest and sell their farm to a real estate developer, my community will need to build a new school to educate all the new children who would move there. Last time my town built a school it cost $32 million.

That’s why Senator Jack Reed will announce today new federal funding to help these local farmers sell local products to local people. We can help too by buying their milk and butter.