Comments christa has made
Let's think about this tie-in:
Grist has this on the homepage today:
http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2006/9/19/134559/919This development includes low-income housing AND a neighborhood organic garden. I want to live here! Somebody build one of these in Austin!
This is exactly the kind of solution we're looking for, I think, and I find it encouraging.On Big buyers make organic farmers feel smaller than ever posted 3 years, 2 months ago 25 Responses
Let's not give up on democracy just yet!
You've been trying to educate people about this issue for nine years. Great! Do you have any materials you can share? Links to websites we can read? I want to find out more about this issue, but checking out your (beautiful) blogsite and a ten-minute Google search didn't help me much. I want to help save forests too! Where can I learn about healthy husbandry practices? What issues should I--and my friends in the Northwest--be voting on concerning conservation?
And...don't stop believing that it can start with the people.On A roundup of forest-fire news posted 3 years, 2 months ago 29 Responses
What can we do other than email the governor?
StopTXU.com's take action link has participants email Governor Rick Perry, asking him to slow down the (expedited) approval process for these plants so that clean energy alternatives can be reviewed.
I can't see this being particularly effective. For one thing, Rick Perry doesn't care what we email him. At all. Because he is Rick Perry. For another, even if he did take back the order to expedite the permitting process, what good would that do? This is Texas. It will still be approved.
In fact, I can't see anything other than a major grassroots campaign with an enormous amount of negative publicity for the energy company itself being in any way effective. Am I too negative about it because I live here and am frustrated with local politics? Maybe. And yet.
Anybody up for spearheading a major, public protest? I'll come to the picket.
On the other hand, thanks for posting this, Grist. Good start.On Lest we all get screwed. posted 3 years, 2 months ago 2 Responses
Even if it's organized poorly...
...it paves the way for internet activists to do a better job. Take the information, create a better, more easily-searchable form. eDemocracy in action.On Searchable database of government expenditures to be created posted 3 years, 2 months ago 4 Responses
Is Whole Foods really a Wal-Mart?
Hi everyone. I'm new, so don't hate me if I'm uninformed.
I think it's unfair to lump Whole Foods with Wal-Mart, since Wal-Mart is, in environmental circles, the equivalent of Darth Vader.
Whole Foods is at least making an attempt to mitigate the big problem Philpott is talking about: they've started a new local foods initiative. You can read a fairly nuanced discussion of it here:
http://www.reclaimdemocracy.org/articles/2006/whole_foods...On the home page today is an article by Auden Schendler called "Coming Clean," in which he asks people not to castigate those businesses who have good intentions and are making a difference, but aren't 100% there yet. That's exactly what Whole Foods is doing in terms of Philpott's commoditization of food--getting there. And castigating a business that's getting there is exactly what Philpott is doing to Whole Foods by placing it next to Wal-Mart, a national whipping-boy for corporate evil.
And not to defend corporate evil, but I'd like to add to the point made above about making organic affordable to lower socioeconomic classes. What about simple availability? Wal-Mart is a fact of life in rural Texas where organic food has mostly been absent from the radar. That's just an example from close to home. On Big buyers make organic farmers feel smaller than ever posted 3 years, 3 months ago 25 Responses