Vandana Shiva, author of 20 books including Water Wars Privatization Pollution and Profit and Making Peace With the Earth was again keynote speaker at the National Heirloom Festival, called “The World’s Fair of Pure Food,” this week. She was again insightful and inspiring the audience to action. “Control seed and you control life,” says she, then quoting Henry Kissinger “Control oil and you control nations; control food and yo control the people.”
If it is true as reported that 70% of food grown on earth comes from small farms, yet organic farming is criminalized, that Monsanto Corporation has become a sort of food dictator, directly and indirectly causing suicides of Indian farmers beholden to them, something has got to change! Seems Monsanto creates its own laws as if it’s rights are above and beyond those of the people it feeds. So some brave souls are standing in the face of Monsanto and calling for support for small farms, not the “poison” created by the chemical company.
Details like native cotton seeds produce plants that are drought resistant and pest resistant while Monsanto’s variety dies off, leaving farmers with nothing as they no longer even have their own seed to use. WOW.
Like this quote from her tabloid-size statement:
Henry David Thoreau coined the term Civil Disobedience, calling for the abolition of slavery.
“It is truly enough said that a corporation has no conscience, but a corporation of conscientious men is a corporation with a conscience. Law never made men a whit more just; and, by means of their respect for it, even the well-disposed are daily made the agents of injustice.”
This year’s National Heirloom Festival was the best ever for me – more friends, more fun, more – sense of direction. The story kept coming around from different speakers: we can put carbon back in the soil, we can raise healthy food to feed the planet, we can be heros – and the word is: REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE and everything else it seems. Being able to save your own seeds is crucial says everyone; building the soil with mulch and manure is essential – it IS carbon farming! When mulch is used to cover soil C02 from the air is driven into the soil as it rains, enriching the soil while cleaning the air. Brilliant Nature!
I used to talk about sustainable this and that and use David Brower’s old acryronm, CPR for Conservation Preservation, Restoration…I guess the conversation has moved on but it is still an essential call to action.
Glad to stop by the California Grange booth and talk with folks about all this. Very much enjoyed all the booths, the foods and offerings, bought a Bernie Sanders book and took notes on these:
Erin Axelrod on carbon farming and more
Vandana Shiva on Satygraha: Civil Disodedience to End Seed Slavery
Ronnie Cummins on much the same…healthy food pioneers all.
For more, go to The National Heirloom Festival site and click on these:
The National Heirloom Exposition, termed “The World’s Fair of Pure Food” has been well covered by media!
Check out the links below to see what the “World’s Fair of Pure Food” is all about!
National Geographic
The Etsy Blog
Jim Long’s Blog
Vegetable Gardener
The Press Democrat
Marin Independent Journal
San Francisco Chronicle
The Huffington Post
Food Integrity Now
artofconsciouslivingtv.com