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  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@gilanet.com>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Defenders of Wildlife Rural Updates!
  • Date: Fri, 07 Nov 2003 11:43:22 -0700


Defenders of Wildlife Rural Updates!
November 5, 2003

Cultivating a vision where rural and urban communities join
together to ensure abundant family farms, healthy critters, clean
water and a wild Earth. Help us spread the word; email this to a
friend and suggest they subscribe! To subscribe go to
http://www.familyfarmer.org/sections/ruralsubscribe.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.
1. Major Victory To Protect Family Farms and the Environment
2. Moophues and The Meatrix
3. The Eat Well Guide
4. Attack of the Aliens
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1. MAJOR VICTORY TO PROTECT FAMILY FARMS AND
THE ENVIRONMENT

Groups across the nation are celebrating passage yesterday of an
amendment in the Senate to reduce the per farm EQIP payment
limitation from $450,000 to $300,000. This provision, now a part
of the agricultural appropriations bill, will also apply this new limit
to all the farming sites that are part of a single operation, regardless
of the number of partners investing in the operation. The
amendment offered by Senators Charles Grassley (R-IA) and Byron
Dorgan (D-ND) "begins to restore fiscal, environmental, and
agricultural sanity to the Environmental Quality Incentives
Program," said a release by the National Campaign for Sustainable
Agriculture. "We applaud the Senate for starting the job of fixing a
big problem," said Ferd Hoefner, Policy Director for the
Sustainable Agriculture Coalition. "The $450,000 payment
limitation skews the distribution of EQIP funds toward the largest
farms and subsidizes expensive technologies that often end up
harming public health and the environment, like leak-prone manure
waste lagoons for large confined animal feeding operations"
Hoefner added. "We call on the House and Senate conferees to
retain this important Senate provision in support of family farms
and the environment."

2. MOOPHEUS AND THE MATRIX

A clever spoof on the movie the Matrix, this 2 minute internet-
based animated movie called the Meatrix tackles the evils of factory
farming with wit and formidable presence. Instead of Matrix star
Keanu Reaves, the Meatrix features a young pig, Leo, who lives on
a pleasant family farm - he thinks. Leo is approached by a wise and
mysterious cow, Moopheus, who shows Leo the truth about
modern farming - the truth about the Meatrix! The animation
describes the problems with factory farming and how meat
production has changed radically in the mid 20th Century by
"greedy agriculture corporations that began destroying family farm
operations to the detriment of both humans and animals." It
outlines the deadly factory farm quadrangle: loss of family farms,
anti-biotic resistance, environmental degradation and animal
cruelty. Moopheus says to Leo, "Take the blue pill and stay here in
the fantasy, take the red pill and I will show you truth." Click on
the link below if you want to join Leo in seeing the truth.
WARNING! Rural UPdates! Has rated this animation appropriate
for activists of all ages.

http://www.themeatrix.com/

3. THE EAT WELL GUIDE AVAILABLE ON LINE

If the dream of a network of viable family farms dotting an
ecologically vibrant rural landscape is to be realized, savvy
consumers are needed. Now the Institute for Agriculture and
Trade Policy has teamed up with G.R.A.C.E. (Global Resource
Action Center for the Environment) to make it easier for consumers
to buy safer, ecologically appropriate meat. Earlier this week the
two organizations launched the "Eat Well Guide" to link consumers
with organic, antibiotic-free, hormone-free, pastured, cage-free and
humanely raised meat. The guide features a special turkey section
just in time for Thanksgiving and features information on beef,
pork, and chicken, as well as dairy products, eggs, and other meat
like buffalo and goat. The Eat Well Guide provides a locally-
searchable online list of producers, grocery stores, restaurants, and
mail-order outlets throughout the country. Users can enter their zip
code and find sustainably-raised meat products close to where they
live. Producers, retailers, restaurants, and online outlets will also be
able to add themselves to the Eat Well Guide's database.

See at: http://www.eatwellguide.org

4. ATTACK OF THE ALIENS

Invasive species are destroying ecosystems around the planet and
the situation is worsening. According to an Associated Press report,
increased global trade is the culprit and governments are often ill-
equipped to deal with the pests and the threat they pose to citizens,
food supplies and economies. Currently experts estimate that in the
US there are about 7,000 destructive foreign plants, mammals,
birds, amphibians, reptiles, fish, arthropods and mollusks.
According to a 1999 Cornell University study invasive species cost
US taxpayers an estimated $138 billion annually causing twice as
much expense as hurricanes, floods, tornadoes and other natural
disasters. "We've pretty well screwed up the whole ecology," said
U.S. Rep. Wayne Gilchrest, a Maryland Republican. The problem is
equally bad in other nations many of which are much less equipped
to deal with the problem.

See the full article at:
http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/michigan/index.ssf?/newsflash/get
_story.ssf?/cgi-free/getstory_ssf.cgi?g9139_BC_MI--InvasiveSpeci
es&&news&newsflash-michigan

****************************************************
To subscribe send an email message to dowrural@gliq.net.net with
the word SUBSCRIBE in the subject line. To contact the editor
send an email to sjohnson@albq.defenders.org

****************************************************
Rural Updates!
Scotty Johnson and Aimee Delach
National Rural Community Outreach Campaign
sjohnson@defenders.org
Defenders of Wildlife
Visit our website at www.familyfarmer.org
520 623-9653 x3





  • [Livingontheland] Defenders of Wildlife Rural Updates!, Tradingpost, 11/07/2003

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