Climate Politics

EPA provides only some documents related to California waiver

The U.S. EPA has given Sen. Barbara Boxer (D) only some documents related to the agency’s refusal to allow California to regulate car greenhouse-gas emissions — not all, as she had asked. Missing or redacted documents include a presentation said to predict that EPA would lose if sued over its recalcitrance (which, of course, it […]

The latest in a string of endorsements for Obama from red-state Dems

Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.), notorious champion of Big Coal, has endorsed Barack Obama. Some greens are no doubt going to use this as evidence that Obama is too close to coal. I share the concern, but I don’t think it’s the most sensible interpretation of this case. Boucher’s endorsement is just the latest in a […]

Livestock registration, pitched by feds as voluntary, is creeping toward mandatory

You have read, in this space among many others, of the sinister nature of genetic modification and the patenting of seeds. I have ranted endlessly about the dangers of the food system being in the hands of just a few corporate land barons.

No reason to stop now.

For about five years now the USDA and many large corporate interests have been pushing a program called the National Animal Identification System. NAIS is touted as an effective tool in battling the spread of livestock diseases such as cattle tuberculosis and bovine spongiform encephalopathy, commonly known as mad cow. It provides methods for tagging livestock of any kind with RFID, the same sort of microchip that many people have put on their pets in hopes of recovering poor Fido if he ever gets lost. The thinking is that if a side of beef in a Greeley, Colorado meatpacking plant tests positive for mad cow, authorities can quickly and easily identify said cow, trace it back through the system, and discover other animals with which it may have made contact.

Currently, at the federal level, NAIS is a voluntary program overseen by the USDA and administered by the several states with help from organizations like the Future Farmers of America and the Farm Bureau. Farms, feedlots, and confined animal feeding operations apply for and receive a formal numerical designation that is then applied to microchips injected into or ear-tagged onto each animal. According to the USDA, in 2007 the state of Iowa went from 11,000 registered sites to more than 20,000, an increase of over 80 percent -- all this despite a lack of any sort of government funding to participants for the program. Farmers must buy in if they choose to participate.

Setting aside for the moment that this system feels like a perfect bureaucratic method for closing the barn doors after the mad cows get out, all this seems fairly innocuous until we look a little deeper. The state of Texas has recently passed legislation requiring NAIS tagging for all dairy cattle. It goes into effect March 31. Wisconsin, Michigan, Virginia, and Tennessee now require participation for goats and sheep. In Michigan, farmer and now reluctant revolutionary Greg Niewendorp has endured visits from the sheriff reminiscent of scenes from and old Billy Jack movie.

At Dem debate, candidates agree on green jobs, fight over everything else

Photo: AP/Mary Ann Chastain At the acrimonious Democratic presidential debate on Monday night, the three leading candidates bickered over a whole range of issues, but they all agreed on one thing: the need to invest in creating green-collar jobs. The CNN moderators didn’t ask any questions about the environment, but Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, and […]

Barack Obama at Ebenezer Baptist Church, 20 Jan. 2008

Full transcript under the fold: —– Barack Obama at Ebenezer Baptist Church, 20 Jan. 2008 The Scripture tells us that when Joshua and the Israelites arrived at the gates of Jericho, they could not enter. The walls of the city were too steep for any one person to climb; too strong to be taken down […]

‘Green empire’ like ‘military intelligence’

Sustainability is not compatible with empire.

Direct and value-added marketing in the farm bill

This is the last installment of a five-part series of farm bill fact sheets from the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition. For additional information about the status of sustainable agriculture priorities in the House and Senate versions of the farm bill, please check out SAC's farm bill progress chart.

Farm Bill "conference" negotiations are underway at the staff level. Please call your Senators and Representative today and tell them what you want to see in the final Farm Bill!

Increasing consumer demand for healthy, sustainably-produced food and agricultural products from local and regional markets has great potential to improve farm income. However, tremendous challenges stand in the way of producers satisfying these consumer preferences, in part because federal policies and programs have been slow to respond.

A number of grassroots farmer and consumer organizations have been working to ensure that the final farm bill includes increased funding for direct market and value-added enterprise opportunities, and the removal of the prohibition on interstate sale of meat products processed in state-inspected plants. Greater federal support for these programs in the 2008 Farm Bill will help a larger number of consumers access good food and allow more producers to stay on the land.

Clinton and Romney win in Nevada; McCain wins in South Carolina

Hillary Clinton beat Barack Obama to win the Democratic caucuses in Nevada on Saturday, getting 51 percent of the vote compared to Obama’s 45 (and John Edwards‘ dismal 4). The economy was the top concern among Nevada voters surveyed, but the environment may have played a role too. Clinton tried to gain an edge in […]

Your weekend in caucuses

CNN is calling Nevada for Clinton and Romney. South Carolina is still going, but early reports tell of a Huckabee surge. UPDATE: NYT sez of Nevada: Clinton 51, Obama 45, Edwards 4 (ouch); Romney 53, Paul 13, McCain 13, Thompson 8, Huckabee 8, Giuliani 5 (ouch). UPDATE: Buzz has it that Clinton won by overwhelming […]

Coal front group pouring millions into targeted disinformation campaign

Speaking of reasons climate legislation is going to be impossible this year: It’s good to see the Washington Post pick up on the coal industry’s massive lobbying effort. The focus is Americans for Balanced Energy Choices (ABEC), which we’ve discussed before. WaPo’s Steven Mufson uncovered a few details. Right now, ABEC is spending $1.3 million […]