[Pacg] PACG Healthy Foods Committee will meet this Thursday, August 7th, 6pm

[qcprogressiveaction]

*The PACG Healthy Foods Committee will meet this Thursday, August 7th, 6pm,
at the Unitatian Church.*

If you are interested in woking on this initiative, please feel free to
attend. We are working on implementing Farm to Cafeteria in our area schools
as well as issues pertaining to sustainability. Gary Griffiths, Food Service
Director at Augustana College has accepted our invitation to educate PACG
about Farm to Cafeteria at our August 28th Community meeting. Gary has been
implemeting the Farm to Cafeteria program at Augustana. Gary has also agreed
to be one of the speakers at the upcoming Earth Charter Summit on October
13th. There is currently a lot of synergy around these issues in our
community and PACG hopes to take advantage of this opportune time. We need
dedicated volunteers to help us see this project to fruition.

Hope to see you at the meeting!

Caroline
Volunteer
PACG Healthy Foods Initiative
563-676-7580


*QUOTE OF THE WEEK:*

*"Globalized industrialized food is not cheap: it is too costly for the
Earth, for the farmers, for our health. The Earth can no longer carry the
burden of groundwater mining, pesticide pollution, disappearance of species
and destabilization of the climate. Farmers can no longer carry the burden
of debt, which is inevitable in industrial farming with its high costs of
production. It is incapable of producing safe, culturally appropriate,
tasty, quality food. And it is incapable of producing enough food for all
because it is wasteful of land, water and energy. Industrial agriculture
uses ten times more energy than it produces. It is thus ten times less
efficient."*

Dr. Vandana Shiva, scientist, world-renowned author, and grassroots leader
in India. Member of the Policy Advisory Board of the Organic Consumers
Association.

*SUSTAINABILITY TIPS OF THE WEEK: MICRO-GENERATION AND MICRO-FARMING*

As energy and food prices continue to rise, global experts predict that
micro-generation and micro-farming will boom over the next few years. New
trends in urban farming, like vertical gardening and backyard chickens, can
help feed households in an economical and earth friendly way. New
technologies in micro-generation, powering your home with a wind turbine or
solar paneling, for example, are making off-the-grid living more financially
feasible than ever. In fact, priorities in Silicon Valley are already
shifting from developing better microchips towards focusing on thin-film
solar cells. Meanwhile, programs like 'Solar City' are offering 20% savings
in solar paneling installations for neighborhoods who buy in bulk.
Learn more: http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_13636.cfm

*BREAKING NEWS & ALERT:*

*USDA REPORT INDICATES THAT ORGANIC LABELING FRAUD IS INCREASING*
The U.S. Department of Agriculture National Organic Program (NOP) announced
this week that 15 of the 30 accredited organic certifiers they recently
inspected failed the USDA audit and will have 12 months to make corrections
or lose their accreditation with the NOP. Although the USDA euphemistically
calls their enforcement actions "renewal pending subsequent audit," it is
clear that there are numerous violations of organic standards taking place
in the U.S. and across the world. A number of the violations noted in the
several hundred page audit related to Chinese imports certified by the
French-based organic certifier Ecocert and other certifiers.

Strangely enough, Quality Assurance International (QAI), the largest organic
certifier in the world, is not cited by the USDA, even though the OCA has
recently reviewed documents that indicate that QAI is indeed under
investigation by the NOP. QAI has recently been in the news for sourcing
ginger, contaminated with a dangerous and banned pesticide, Aldicarb, from
its Chinese certification sub-contractors and then labeling it as "USDA
Organic." QAI is also under public fire, along with other certifiers, for
certifying factory farm feedlot dairies supplying milk to Horizon and Aurora
Organic Dairy, who in turn supply Wal-Mart, Costco, Safeway, and other
organic private label organic milk.

Learn more and take action:
http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_13943.cfm
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