Agriculture
Chair: Blanche Lincoln (D-AR)
- Max Baucus (D-MT)
- Michael Bennet (D-CO)
- Sherrod Brown (D-OH)
- Bob Casey (D-PA)
- Kent Conrad (D-ND)
- Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
- Tom Harkin (D-IA)
- Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)
- Pat Leahy (D-VT)
- Ben Nelson (D-NE)
- Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)
- Saxby Chambliss (R-GA)
- Thad Cochran (R-MS)
- John Cornyn (R-TX)
- Chuck Grassley (R-IA)
- Mike Johanns (R-NE)
- Dick Lugar (R-IN)
- Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
- Pat Roberts (R-KS)
- John R. Thune (R-SD)
Appropriations
Chair: Daniel Inouye (D-HI) Ag Sub-Committee
Chair: Herb Kohl (D-WI)
- Byron Dorgan (D-ND)
- Dick Durbin (D-IL)
- Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
- Tom Harkin (D-IA)
- Tim Johnson (D-SD)
- Ben Nelson (D-NE)
- Jack Reed (D-RI)
- Robert Bennett (R-UT)
- Christopher Bond (R-MO)
- Sam Brownback (R-KS)
- Thad Cochran (R-MS)
- Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
- Arlen Specter (R-PA)
Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions
- Chris Dodd (D-CT)
Agriculture
Chair: B Collin Peterson (D-MN)
V. Chair: B Tim Holden (D-PA)
B Joe Baca (D-CA)
- John Boccieri (D-OH)
B* Leonard Boswell (D-IA)
- Bobby Bright (D-AL)
B* Dennis Cardoza (D-CA)
- Travis Childers (D-MS)
B Jim Costa (D-CA)
- Henry Cuellar (D-TX)
- Kathy Dahlkemper (D-PA)
B Brad Ellsworth (D-IN)
- Debbie Halvorson (D-IL)
B Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-SD)
- Steve Kagen (D-WI)
- Larry Kissell (D-NC)
B Frank Kratovil (D-MD)
- Betsy Markey (D-CO)
B Jim Marshall (D-GA)
P Eric Massa (D-NY)
B Mike McIntyre (D-NC)
- Walt Minnick (D-ID)
B Earl Pomeroy (D-ND)
- Mark Schauer (D-MI)
- Kurt Schrader (D-OR)
B David Scott (D-GA)
B Zachary Space (D-OH)
- Timothy Walz (D-MN)
- Frank Lucas (R-OK)
- Bill Cassidy (R-LA)
- K. Michael Conaway (R-TX)
- Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE)
- Virginia Foxx (R-NC)
- Bob Goodlatte (R-VA)
- Sam Graves (R-MO)
- Timothy Johnson (R-IL)
- Steve King (R-IA)
- Robert Latta (R-OH)
- Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO)
- Cynthia Lummis (R-WY)
- Jerry Moran (R-KS)
- Randy Neugebauer (R-TX)
- Phil Roe (R-TN)
- Mike Rogers (R-AL)
- Jean Schmidt (R-OH)
- Adrian Smith (R-NE)
- Glenn Thompson (R-PA) *=House Organic Caucus member B=Blue Dog Democrat
Appropriations
Chair: Dave Obey (D-WI) Ag Sub-Committee
Chair: P Rosa DeLauro (D-CT)
- Sanford Bishop (D-GA)
* Allen Boyd (D-FL)
- Lincoln Davis (D-TN)
*P Sam Farr (D-CA)
*P Maurice D. Hinchey (D-NY)
P Jesse L. Jackson, Jr. (D-IL)
P Marcy Kaptur (D-OH)
- Jack Kingston (R-GA)
- Rodney Alexander (R-LA)
- Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO)
* Tom Latham (R-IA) *=House Organic Caucus member
P=Congressional Progressive Caucus
Education and Labor
P Chair: George Miller (D-CA)
- Jason Altmire (D-PA)
- Robert Andrews (D-NJ)
- Timothy Bishop (D-NY)
P Yvette Clarke (D-NY)
- Joe Courtney (D-CT)
- Susan Davis (D-CA)
P Marcia Fudge (D-OH)
P Raul Grijalva (D-AZ)
P Phil Hare (D-IL)
- Ruben Hinojosa (D-TX)
P Mazie Hirono (D-HI)
- Rush Holt (D-NJ)
- Dale Kildee (D-MI)
P Dennis Kucinich (D-OH)
P Dave Loebsack (D-IA)
- Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY)
P Donald Payne (D-NJ)
- Jared Polis (D-CO)
- Robert Scott (D-VA)
- Joe Sestak (D-PA)
- Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH)
P John Tierney (D-MA)
- Dina Titus (D-NV)
- Paul Tonko (D-NY)
P Lynn Woolsey (D-CA)
- David Wu (D-OR)
- Buck McKeon (R-CA)
- Judy Biggert (R-IL)
- Rob Bishop (R-UT)
- Bill Cassidy (R-LA)
- Michael Castle (R-DE)
- Vernon Ehlers (R-MI)
- Luis F Fortuno (R-PR)
- Brett Guthrie (R-KY)
- Peter Hoekstra (R-MI)
- Duncan D. Hunter (R-CA)
- John Kline (R-MN)
- Kenny Marchant (R-TX)
- Tom McClintock (R-CA)
- Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA)
- Thomas Petri (R-WI)
- Phil Roe (R-TN)
- Todd Russell Platts (R-PA)
- Tom Price (R-GA)
- Mark Souder (R-IN)
- GT Thompson (R-PA)
- Joe Wilson (R-SC) P=Congressional Progressive Caucus
If you are concerned about the environment but live in a city, have a small growing space or yard, or just don't feel like messing with large, outdoor compost bins like the compost strudel below, then bokashi composting might be the right method for you!
Bokashi is a method of kitchen composting developed in Japan where the typical home is the size of a US bedroom and the typical kitchen could fit inside my shoe. Composting is facilitated by anaerobic microorganisms and takes place in a covered bucket under the sink.
I have been using this method off and on for several years. It cuts the amount of rubbish I need to cart to the street nearly in half, and eliminates nasty garbage odors.
This is the first part in a series about our visit with ECOVA MALI.
It's not a new concept-farmers learning from other farmers about different agricultural techniques-but it's one that can be difficult to execute. Foreign NGOs often offer trainings, but they don't always fit farmers needs. But at ECOVA MALI's training center, 35 kilometers outside of Bamako, Mali's capital, farmers are getting the skills they need to be better stewards of the environment, as well as better business women and men.
This is the first post in a regular series about African indigenous crops that can improve food security and protect the environment.
Ever heard of the Bambara Bean? How about Nyimo or Vignea Subterranea or the African Groundnut? No matter what you call it, this little bean, which is indigenous to tropical Africa, is highly overlooked by scientists, development agencies, and humanitarian programs, even though it packs a lot of nutrition. The bean may have originated in Mali, but it's also popular in Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, and Cameroon. It is now widely distributed and grown in Asia, parts of Northern Australia, and South and Central America and is often found for sale on street corners in Johannesburg.
The Oregon Legislative Assembly will convene in Salem this morning to begin a month-long special session. Oregon is one of only five states which still only mandate biennial sessions, and one thing legislators plan to address this special session is to introduce a state constitutional amendment to be voted on by the public in November, mandating annual legislative sessions.
Other issues under consideration include extension of state unemployment benefits, [PDF] SB 1009, which would prohibit grocery and other stores in Oregon from using plastic bags, SB 1032, which would ban the sale of BPA-containing reusable food and beverage containers for children under 3, and a permanent extension of Oregon's offshore oil and gas drilling ban, which expired last month.
Governor Ted Kulongoski is also going to ask the legislature to put kicker reform to a statewide vote in November, in order to create a financial emergency cushion for the state in the case of any further future massive budget shortfalls, like the one we just saw which was mostly fixed by last week's passage of Measures 66 and 67. Sadly, it looks like the legislature probably won't act on that, though. As for the BPA bill, it seems relatively weak and uninspired, but I guess it's a start. If you're in Oregon, you can contact your state legislators here and share your thoughts.
The current composition of the Oregon House is 36 D, 24 R; and the makeup of the Oregon Senate is 18 D, 12 R. Democrats hold 'supermajorities' in both chambers, and Governor Ted Kulongoski is also a Democrat. February 11 is the day to watch for what will and what won't receive a vote during this special session -
Legislative leaders have set rigid deadlines to ensure adjournment by the end of February. That means the pace will be like a regular session on steroids. Of the approximately 200 bills drafted so far, those that don't get a hearing by Feb. 11 are likely dead.
I recently spent a week in the kitchen at H.D. Cooke Elementary School here in the District of Columbia observing how food is prepared. This is the fifth in a six-part series of posts about what I saw.
I loathe to use a Ballardian catchword in the title but it conveys the sheer insanity and the destructive practices that the palm oil business does to our planet (if you have five minutes to spare please peruse the preceding linked pdf)
"Healthy Schools" legislation introduced this week in the D.C. Council would, for the first time, establish a school gardens program within the Office of the State Superintenent of Education as part of a sweeping package of food and environmental initiatives. And while the bill does not mandate gardens in all of the city's schools or provide specific funding for that purpose, it does require the school system to "develop a plan to expand gardens in public schools, including the removal of asphalt or cement to provide outdoor space for gardens."
Here's to December's first cup of coffee. Is it really almost 2010 already?!
Consumer Reports brings us some disturbing news about store-bought chicken. Two-thirds of fresh, whole broilers "harbored salmonella and/or campylobacter". The amazing thing is that this is actually an improvement over their last survey in 2007.
It's time for the 2009 Holiday Ale Festival here in Portland! The event begins tomorrow and goes on through Sunday, Downtown in Pioneer Courthouse Square. If you come on the right day I might just pour you one myself! The O brings us a Q&A with one of the event's organizers.
Food stamp purchases at New York City's Greenmarkets have increased 125% over the past year.
Now these are some holiday gift ideas I can support! "The sweetest gifts of all come from your own kitchen"...
After massive and high-profile failures in Texas and Indiana, the federal government is warning states not to privatize food stamps. Now if only they would use their power to do more to dissuade same besides simply writing "strongly worded letters"...
Are urban hunting clubs the next step in the local foods movement?
A new video shot by Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife officials confirms the existence of a pack of at least 10 gray wolves in Eastern Oregon.
Italy's Chamber of Deputies in Rome passed into law this week (by a vote of 302 to 263) this asinine deal which allows private investment in public utilities, including water. The Minister of European Affairs, Andrea Ronchi, who wrote the bill, assured the public that water rates wouldn't rise, that privatization would help utilities afford repairs to leaking pipelines and that the government would monitor the water sector. What most people don't realize is that the buffoon PM, Silvio Berlusconi, received a vote of confidence called to facilitate the passage of a bill allowing private firms to buy stakes in public utilities. Berlusconi's ruling majority won by 320 votes to 270 (if they had lost, his government would have collapsed.)
"The Noblest of the elements is water." Pindar, 476 B.C.
What does have the privatization of water in Italy got to do with the rest of the world, you may ask.
Plenty is the answer.
I have been monitoring the demise of the (wild) tuna for some time, particularly the bluefin and to a lesser extent the yellowfin kind. It's not good news.
A recent analysis of the Mediterranean bluefin tuna population by the WWF shows that the breeding population of the species will disappear by 2012 if the fisheries continue with business as usual, and urges the immediate cessation of fishing this particular species to stop the impending collapse.
"Mediterranean bluefin tuna is on the slippery slope to collapse, and here is the data to prove it. Whichever way you look at it, the Mediterranean bluefin tuna collapse trend is dramatic, it is alarming, and it is happening now." - Dr Sergi Tudela, Head of Fisheries at WWF Mediterranean
You might say, "well, we have the Atlantic and Pacific and we still have fish farming."
40,000 Atlantic salmon escaped into British Columbia's waters from a Gilford Island fish farm last week, after an accident occurred while workers were removing dead fish from two pens. The accident? A hole in the net.
As if that wasn't enough of a problem, it seems that the company may have taken their emergency response procedures directly from FEMA's playbook, circa 2005 -
But the recapture vessel was not able to start fishing until Thursday and by that time, gillnetters in areas such as Sointula, about 40 kilometres from the Broughton Archipelago, were reporting catches of Atlantic salmon.
"The response time really troubles me," said Chief Bob Chamberlin of the nearby Kwicksutaineuk-Ah-Kwaw-Ah-Mish band.
"One of the only reasons we found out was because a commercial fishery was going on and they were catching Atlantics."
Marine Harvest, the company who runs this particular salmon farm, has also been responsible for other major previous escapes. Escaped farm fish have been found in 80 rivers in the province, and over 100,000 farmed salmon escaped into British Columbia's waters in 2008. Gilford Island, where the escape occurred, is also home to a large First Nations population, many of whom rely upon subsistence fishing in the area.
Chamberlin, who is also secretary-treasurer of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, an organization that's pushing for more First Nations involvement as regulation of fish farms passes from the provincial to the federal government in February, said assurances from the industry that Atlantic salmon won't affect Pacific salmon have been proved wrong.
The State of Oklahoma's lawsuit against the poultry industry for fouling (easy pun passed over, heh) the Illinois River watershed got underway in a Tulsa federal courthouse yesterday. Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson is suing Tyson, Cargill and nine other companies for violation of numerous state and federal laws.
The City of San Jose, California has just passed what is called the nation's strictest bag ban. The ordinance will prohibit all retailers except for restaurants and nonprofits from giving out single-use plastic bags, and will only allow them to give out paper bags (which must be at least 40% recycled) for a fee.
Sustainable transportation news roundup: a census survey released today ranks Portland as #1 of America's 30 largest cities in terms of bicycle commuting, with 6.4% of Portlanders getting to work via bike, a jump of more than 50% since 2007; Streetsblog NYCmakes the case for openness in MTA data to improve riders' transit experience; and the feasability study on reinstatement of Amtrak's old Pioneer Route (Seattle & Portland to Salt Lake City & Denver via Eastern Oregon and Idaho) has just been released. Why is it that highways and airports are never expected to be self-sustaining, while rail transit always is? It's long past time that we stopped leaving most of the West to the tyranny of compulsory private automobile travel.
Each year 30 million tonnes of small wild-caught fish -- one third of the global declared catch -- are ground up to feed industrially farmed fish, chicken, and pigs. In light of widespread overfishing and malnutrition, is it ethical to turn one out of every three marine fish into powdered pig feed?
We were dismayed when we heard that the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) announced recently that the process has begun which could lead to the certification of Peruvian anchovies -- a fish which contributes to about a third of the world's fishmeal production.
The Tyee piece is really worth a read, as it sums up quickly and concisely exactly what the problems are with letting the commercial fishing industry regulate itself, and define what is "sustainable" through the Marine Stewardship Council, a creation of the World Wildlife Fund and Unilever, which just so happens to be one of the world's largest seafood retailers. The reasoning for Unilever's participation in the creation of the MSC was that...
[Unilever] wanted to source all of their fish from sustainable sources by 2005.
...and since nations are hesitant to get into defining 'sustainable' fisheries, what better way to accomplish that goal than to create an industry certification scheme with a little bit of environmental credibility (teaming up with WWF) to do your bidding? WalMart, btw, is also currently basking in the MSC's "green showers" for much of the fish that they sell.
At first, MSC was only able to certify small, actual sustainable fisheries using real science. Of course, that didn't aid in reaching industry's goals (which are unsustainable by definition - there is simply no possible way for corporations whose only concern (by law) is profit, to be able to work with the earth at the expense of a few pennies for shareholders)... so MSC has lately been acting as a Rubber Greenwashing Stamp for Big (Sea)Food.
There's nothing at all "sustainable" about grinding up millions of tons of fish for animal feed, when such fish could of course just be used to feed people in the first place. Especially in Peru, where the anchovy caught just off their coast could go quite a way towards eradicating hunger and malnutrition amongst the Peruvian people themselves, in a much more efficient manner than turning the fish into pellets or powder for industrial pig and salmon farms thousands of miles away ever could.
The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, which brokered the talks, said the treaty will make it harder for illicit catches to be brought ashore and sold on the market.
This should reduce the incentive for activities such as fishing without a license, using banned gear, disregarding fishing seasons and making catches that are illegal or undersized. Such behavior can threaten endangered species and damage the legitimate fisheries industry.