“People keep asking, Who are the organizers of @OccupyWallStreet? Moore told a packed auditorium at Pace University. ” His answer? “Goldman Sachs, BP, and CYGNA. They opened the eyes of our fellow Americans. It’s obvious that the people’s best interests are not in their hearts. And that’s why those in Wall Street are afraid of the 72% of Americans that believe that they’ve been screwed.”

Within a few hours, five hundred people walked down Broadway and entered Zuccotti Park, which was encircled by policemen, and police vehicles. Before midnight, police disrupted the gathering, allegedly beating one young woman, a former cheerleader, inducing seizures that resulted in hospitalization. Those at the scene reportedly called out for help for her, but the police left her unattended lying on the ground.

Earlier in the evening, Moore had expressed his thanks to the generation of young adults spearheading the movement after his boomer generation “fell down on the job of leaving the next generation a better world.”

Some police told this reporter that they had been kept on duty for over twenty-four hours prior to their descent upon the crowd. According to the New York Times, there were numerous arrests and injuries,. Moore tweeted, “The city is full of drunken behavior (on St. Patrick’s Day evening) and this is what gets their attention.”

At his talk just a few hours earlier, Moore recounted that when filming a sequence at the New York Stock Exchange for his film, Capitalism: A Love Story, a NYC policemen walked up and told him, “You take all the time you need. Those bastards have ripped off our pension funds.”

But last night showed that many police had not heeded Moore’s advice, “Don’t be tools for people who want to hurt you.” Nor did they appear to be trained in peaceful crowd management.

At the Left Forum earlier that day, economists, union leaders, educators, and journalists addressed the social factors contributing to the OWS movement.

“Austeriity? No. Accountability–Yes!” The Nation’s John Nichols, the author of the new book, Uprising, told the Left Forum seminar. “Any time, someone tells you that we’re going to have to sacrifice, it means that you are going to have to sacrifice.”

Jill Stein, the likely Green Party candidate for President in 2012 said, “When they say there’s no money, that isn’t true, there’s trillions of dollars in the Federal Reserve. They just mean that there’s no money for you.” Stein counseled moving from the politics of fear to the politics of courage, and voting one’s values in the upcoming election. “Voting in electoral politics may not be enough, but it’s better than remaining silent, and allowing others total control.”

“Don’t believe the myth that only corporations create value,” Nichols said. “We worked hard, we created value, but now someone has stolen all the cookies in the cookie jar. Instead of tightening our belts while producing unprecedented levels of wealth for the 1%, we need to be asking, “Who stole the cookies in the cookie jar?”

Economist and historian, Gar Alperovitz, the author of America Beyond Capitalism, noted that “The top 1% have more wealth than 300 million people in the U.S.” out of a total population of 313,201,00 according to 2011 census figures. In the last decade, the holdings of the 1% have doubled, he says.

His proposed fixes:

Go state by state to pass single payer health care (With eighteen percent of costs nationally spent for health care, thirteen states have done this, including Vermont, he reports.)

Move from banks to credit unions.

Devote one hour per week to activism and solutions. Invite six friends to join you and do it too.

“You’re active when you act to protest a problem or act for a solution,” Moore reminded people, commending such initiatives as OccupyOurHomes, (which aims to support people impacted by the mortgage crisis), removing money from large banks, and amending the constitution to state that:

1. Corporations are not people
2. Money will be removed from politics, and voting be made easier for all.

“Remember, the earth’s resources don’t belong to a corporation, they belong to us,” he concluded.

For Moore’s further comments and tweets on last night’s events and on#OWS #OccupyWallStreet, his website is: http://www.michaelmoore.com/

For more on Left Forum, go here.

For amending the constitution, go here. To hear my radio show with founder, David Cobb, go here.

To hear my upcoming radio interview with Jill Stein on the Green New Deal, go  to the Progressive Radio Network for my program Connect the Dots, which airs every Wednesdays at 10 AM at http://prn.fm You can also sign up for my free ezine in the sign up box at www.healthjournalistblog.com And follow me on the Huffington Post, FB and Twitter @AlisonRoseLevy

“A civilization the proves incapable of solving the problems it creates is a decadent civilization.
“A civilization that chooses to close its eyes to its most crucial problems is a stricken civilization.

“A civilization that uses its principles for trickery and deceit is a dying civilization.”
– Aimè Cèsaire, 1955,

Dylan Ratigan contends that America is out of integrity. His book’s premise is that the misalignment of values is seen at the highest levels of power and within each one of us.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr, a recent guest at DBH had called the problem “kleptocracy,” the theft of freedom, said Deepak. “What is the action step?” Deepak asked his guests. “The House is on fire — before you solve the mysteries of the universe, you don’t ask where the match came from, you first douse the fire. Because the political system is not helping us.”

“When something is bad for everyone, we need a pattern interrupt,” said Arianna Huffington. Citing the Trojan heroine, Cassandra, who in ancient times fruitlessly warned her oblivious compatriots of the upcoming invasion of Troy, “Cassandra felt frustrated that she was not being listened to,” Arianna reported. “How do we communicate the truth? It’s our responsibility to find the way to communicate.”

“It’s the way we reach decisions. It’s too selfish.” Ratigan said. “Take the guys I grew up with. These were people who lacked resources — with their bad decisions, they can only destroy themselves and those close to them. With power and influence, people can affect others. Their decisions have systemic impact.”

“America is overextended economically. But it’s hidden, and we cover the pain. Reserve currency, oil, the banking tax codes, these are ways of gaming the system. When you turn the flow of resources away from investing in America, you are making decisions for short-term self-preservation. Instead, every problem should be seen as a potential job.”

“All of the so-called regulations that protect democracy and help people are filtered and watered down. That is the pattern,” said Arianna.”A lot of the outrage people feel has shifted to resignation. Americans are afraid to be outraged. But if you can’t transcend it, you have to express it.”

Ratigan urged that we seek basic agreement with people we may not agree with on everything. He sees getting money out of politics as a unifying issue that benefits all Americans because it can restore the basic integrity of the democratic system itself. When corporations, erroneously defined by law as “people” unleash a flood of money into political campaigns, it overwhelms the person by person vote that’s the foundation of democracy, allowing corporate will to determine elections. In this current Huffington Post, he explains why this issue is key.

Further, it’s surreal to define corporations as people because as Bill Moyers told Stephen Colbert this week, “Corporations don’t eat, drink, make love, raise children, or take care of aging parents.”

“There are 311 million of us, 545 of them,” Ratigan told the DHB crowd. “There is no way we can’t win except if we fight with each other. We need to get the money out of politics for the benefit of our children.”

“What is the world we want to create together? We need to act right now,” said Arianna. “Don’t wait. Find solutions – individual and collective.”

“Even in the midst of a horrible prognosis there are solutions,” Deepak emphasized.

“Every issue boils down to money in politics. Among all people from all sides of the spectrum, the sense of rejection and manipulation is palpable,” Ratigan reports. “Unless we stop it, these industries can use their capacity to finance the government to advocate for policies that assure their ongoing gatekeeping. We can’t let them prevent the rest of us from getting creative.”

Fortunately, creativity abounds, and in addition to reading Greedy Bastards, here are a few ways to get involved:

Get Money Out is campaign that has so far amassed over 250,000 signatures and you can also share your story there via video.

DeepakHomeBase is running a text poll with the question, “Do you support a Constitutional Ban on corporate funding of political campaigns? 
People can text to 55678 to vote Yes, text DHBY. To vote No, text DHBN
. At this writing, the results are 99%- Yes, and 1%- No.

Move to Amend is organizing Occupy the Courts, a January 20, 2012 nation-wide occupation of local, state, and federal courthouses aimed towards amending the rulings on corporate personhood. Their website has nationwide maps for courthouses, as well as instructions for making a “Corporate Personhood Costume.” those feeling ultra-creative can craft.

For more on health, the environment, and action, follow me on Facebook at Connecting the Dots for Health, and sign up at: www.healthjournalistblog.com for blogs and radio programs.

Follow Alison Rose Levy on Twitter: www.twitter.com/AlisonRoseLevy

“You don’t leave a mess for someone else to clean up.”

“You share your cookies. You don’t hoard wealth.”

“Be kind to each other,”

“Hold hands crossing the street.”

Back in November, McKibben’s Tar Sands Action gave people e the chance to hold hands surrounding the White House, and to ask President Obama to live up to his campaign promise to “end the tyranny of oil,” by saying no to Tar Sands.

“Our job is to make it easier for him to make the right decision.” McKibben told the crowd at a Green Festival LA I attended (and spoke at) in October 2011. (McKibben on radio about this here.)

Gathered at the L.A. Convention Center to access green wisdom, films, tools, jobs, foods, buildings, techniques, activities, products and social media (offered in twelve stages and endless aisles of booths) those assembled were welcomed by L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Environmental champions, like McKibben, Orr, Amy Goodman, Dolores Huerta, John Perkins, David Korten, Marianne Williamson, Lisa J. Ling, Jodie Evans, Pandora Thomas, Hill Harper, Jessie Carmichael, Atossa Soltani, Reverend Lennox Yearwood., and yours truly offered insight addressing interlocking concerns.

“Some say people can’t handle the truth that we’re speeding into planetary destabilization. But when London was bombed during WWII, Churchill didn’t go on TV and say this is a great thing. No! He spoke of blood and sweat and tears. We’re ready for the truth — we can act,” Orr urged.

“We can all go there together, through the grief and anger — we can transform the threat into effective action,” affirmed CodePink’s Jodie Evans.

Bringing the world to the brink of environmental ruin, Orr called, “The largest market failure in history.”

John Perkins, author of Hoodwinked, agreed, explaining that, “Less than 5 percent of the world populace live in the U.S. and we consume 25 percent of the resources. That’s not a model, it’s a failure. In predatory capitalism, corporations are driven by one goal — to maximize profits whatever the human and environmental costs.

“”It’s class war,” said David Korten, author of The Great Turning.

“As America slips into decline, we’re creating more billionaires? Why? The government should be regulating and taxing excess wealth, rather than subsidizing and protecting them,” Korten said, supporting the voices now raised thanks to OccupyWallStreet.

But on Monday when hundreds of people from all parts of the Mid-Atlantic region converged on Trenton, N.J. for a rally to protect the Delaware River from fracking, McClendon’s “well-funded” opponents traveled by bus, carrying their signs and their bag lunches with them. And yet in a time of economic crisis, this dedicated citizenry is making itself heard over the better funded corporate P.R. and advertising campaigns.

With a surprise setback to fracking occurring late last week, the rally on the steps of the War Memorial, and the walk to the State legislature was one part cautious victory celebration, one part rededication rally.

“You won this round. You brought us back from the brink of total devastation. But there’s still more work to do,” Josh Fox, director of the Oscar-nominated film, Gasland, told the gathering, which was originally scheduled for attendance at a meeting of the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC.) Slated to ratify fracking regulations agreed to in private sessions, the five person commission representing four states (New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware) and the President (represented by the Army Corps of Engineers) had issued guidelines to permit fracking in the Delaware River Basin, which supplies water to millions of people. The DRBC public meeting was to have formally ratified those guidelines, launching the fracking of the Delaware. But the session was cancelled at the last minute.

According to Maya K. van Rossum, the Delaware Riverkeeper, of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network that lead the coalition of grass roots groups organizing the event, the DRBC decision-making process “offered no real opportunity for public feedback. The decisions were all made behind closed doors,” despite the pro-forma vote at public sessions.

But the public had its say nevertheless. Through over twenty-thousand phone calls to the President and the four governors, “well-informed, well-educated, well-versed citizens voiced their concerns and educated their elected officials,” says van Rossum. On Thursday night, moved by the public outcry, Delaware’s Governor Markell announced his decision to vote no, joining New York’s Governor Cuomo. With PA Governor Corbett and Governor Christie likely to approve, if the vote came down to a Democrat vs. Republican standoff, the President’s representative would have been in position to cast the deciding vote. “They wanted more of a consensus,” the Delaware Riverkeeper said.

With the cancellation, there’s no outright ban, but fracking in the Delaware is now stalled for an indeterminate amount of time. “As more about this practice comes to light, what politicians had treated as a political issue now becomes better recognized as a public health threat, making them more reluctant to allow fracking’s risks,” van Rossum predicts.

At the rally podium, Fox placed a call to PA Governor Corbett. The phone rang and rang, without any answer. “No one’s home in the Governor’s mansion,” Fox quipped, a reference to Pennsylvania’s lack of taxation or oversight of fracking, with little recourse for citizens who claim harm.

Actor Mark Ruffalo told the crowd that the political temptation to trade life basics, like water, air, land, and food for energy amounts to a “spiritual crisis” for the U.S. He characterized Dimock, PA, as the “Ground Zero” for fracking devastation.

The water supply of Dimock (located in the Northeastern portion of the state) was visibly contaminated after fracking, and has been without water for three years. Craig Sauter of Dimock told the rally that in their drilling leases, residents were guaranteed restoration of water in the event of contamination. But the PA State Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) failed to follow through on an agreement to compel Cabot Energy to build a water pipeline to the town. Instead, Cabot has trucked water buffaloes to Dimock residents but recently announced that they’ll stop in a few weeks. Last week, a capitol district policewoman phoned Sautner to say that if he persists in calling the governor and the DEP, he will be arrested for harassment.

“We’ll call for you, we’ll call for you!” chanted the rally participants, echoing the “human mike” used in OccupyWallStreet.

A pair of teachers leading a group of New Jersey school children on a tour of the State Capitol passed the fractivists on their walk to the legislature. The teachers asked what was going on. As I told them that people had gathered to protect the Delaware River, (and why) I noticed the still, intent faces of the ten year olds. They had pressed forward and were taking in every word. I felt a pang of sadness that children had to feel concern for the safety of their world.

But as the crowd surged along on the walk, they began the OWS chant, “This is what democracy looks like.”

Oh well, I thought, they came for a civics lesson, and they got one.

For health + environmental coverage, radio and activism, sign up in the box for for my ezine atwww.healthjournalistblog.comhttp://www.healthjournalistblog.com Coming up on Connect the Dots radio, an interview with Sandra Steingrabber, author of Raising Elijah.

In the military, up until recently, it’s been an unspoken taboo to avoid treatment, because “60 percent of the military believe that seeking psychological help will harm their career,” said Hendrick. But now, without saying the “p” word — psychology — the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) has turned to integrative health approaches to address physical and psychological health challenges that run the gamut from post-traumatic stress disorder and physical disabilities to divorce, brain injury and suicide.

“That,” Hendrick noted, “is in addition to the obesity that also afflicts the U.S. population as a whole.”

Due to major and chronic health challenges among vets, the VHA, which in 2010 treated six million veterans, now “partners with families,” through offering quote-unquote “tactics” for veterans’ quote-unquote “wellbeing plans.” The miliary’s re-languaging of integrative medicine signals a shift in military culture.

“It’s a shotgun wedding between people who wouldn’t choose to eat together in the lunchroom,” concedes Col. Kevin Galloway, chairman of the army’s Pain Management Task Force. “You can’t order a cultural change. But we are the military.”

There are strong financial imperatives for this change of approach, according to Kenneth H. Paulus, President and CEO of Minneapolis-based Allina Health System. “Health care, the we way we do it is just too costly,” he said. Especially since, with an annual tab of $2.5 trillion dollars, the “average U.S. life expectancy ranks 27th in the world.”

According to Dr. Tracy W. Gaudet, M.D., the VHA health care system outperforms the private sector health through producing better outcomes. Since the VHA also has a long history in leading innovation, their adoption of integrative medicine could help dissolve the highly defended boundary between integrative and conventional care.

The lifestyle changes many people have learned from the integrative approach have been adopted on an individual basis rather than encouraged systemically. The dilemma has always been, “How do you scale it up?” reflected Dr. Jonathan LaPook, M.D., the CBS Evening News Medical Correspondent, who moderated the seminar. “How do you build a system so that integrative medicine is not just for the well-heeled?”

Addressing this challenge has been a major goal of the 10-year-old Bravewell Collaborative, which hosted the seminar and an award dinner later that evening. Bravewell promotes integrative medicine by building the infrastructures that support its use and adoption within the conventional health care system to improve health outcomes and to lower costs.

“The kind of changes we need are big changes,” said Dr. Mehmet Oz, M.D., a keynote speaker. “For years, people said that there was no evidence behind this form of medicine. Now there is.”

“We can’t afford the health care system we’ve built,” said Paulus. “We’ve broken the bank. We’ve run out of money. People don’t change until they have to. Now we have to. That’s where we are today.”

“What I learned in medical school has a place — and that place is in acute care,” said Dr. Erminia “Mimi” Guarneri, M.D., the 2011 recipient of the Bravewell Leadership Award. “In the 1980s, we believed that statins would prevent cardiovascular disease [CVD]. We spend $13.6 billion annually on statin therapy alone. But statins don’t cure CVD. Lifestyle changes do.”

“We incentivize for disease care treatment and we don’t incentivize to make societal policies that keep people well,” said Dr. Gaudet, who moved from her position as executive director of Duke University Integrative to serve as the director of the new Veteran Health Administration Office of Patient-Centered Care and Cultural Transformation. Dr. Gaudet is hopeful that, “If we can get this right and demonstrate what can be done in smaller sites, we can model how it can be done nationally.”

It would be ironic if the upside to the unpopular and costly Iraq War were to be a new military model for integrative medicine. The need for a sociocultural shift to create better health is not confined to the military, an issue I cover in my upcoming book as well as in several prior HuffPost blog posts written during the dialogue for health care reform, which can be seen here and here.

Despite the nearly three decades of integrative wisdom on diet and other healthy lifestyle changes, Dr. LaPook noted that, “There’s a trillion-dollar business that makes us eat what isn’t healthy. People don’t have the will power to avoid poor quality food that surrounds them. How do you make it so that unhealthy behavior is not on the menu?”

Allina’s chief clinical officer, Dr. Penny Wheeler, M.D., shared the results of Allina’s pilot program in creating a health-promoting social environment in Ulm, Minnesota. “It was the land of beer, butter and bratwurst, but we worked with this community to find innovative ways to help eliminate heart attacks. We did screening for risk assessments, social media and workplace wellness. We even had people in the supermarket look into peoples’ grocery carts,” Wheeler recounted.

The results?

“The heart attack rates in Ulm are 24 percent lower than prior year. It’s trending in the right direction.” Wheeler pointed out. “If you engage a community, that helps to redefine normal.”

“Outside influence can support our health and wellbeing. Or not,” said Christy Mack, the chairman and director of the Bravewell Collaborative. “If we want our communities to be healthy, we must make sure that all the decisions we make, make health the top priority.”

Need help? In the U.S., call 1-800-273-8255 for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.

For my articles and blogs connecting health, society, culture, and environment, for radio programs, and for activism, please sign up at www.healthjournalistblog.com Or follow me on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/ConnectingtheDotsforHealth

Follow Alison Rose Levy on Twitter: www.twitter.com/AlisonRoseLevy

Back when President Obama was a Senator, he promised to label GMO foods, to support the consumer right to know “where their food comes from. Americans should know what they are buying,” he said  (see video here.) But despite these promises, it hasn’t happened. Family farmers, seed businesses and organic agricultural organizations filed suit against Monsanto in New York court over six months ago, but still no action from the President. According to the Public Patent Foundation (PUBPAT) which filed on their behalf, the plaintiffs were forced to sue preemptively to protect themselves from future accusations of patent infringement when Monsanto’s genetically modified seed contaminates their crops, something which cannot be prevented once GM seeds are released.

“It seems quite perverse that an organic farmer contaminated by transgenic seed could be accused of patent infringement, but Monsanto has made such accusations before and is notorious for having sued hundreds of farmers,” said Dan Ravicher, PUBPAT’s Executive Director and Lecturer of Law at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York.

A broad array of family farmers, small businesses and organizations from within the organic agriculture community, representing some 270,000 members are plaintiffs in the suit, and many explained the need for the suit in a statement issued by PUBPAT.

“Some say transgenic seed can coexist with organic seed, but history tells us that’s not possible, and it’s actually in Monsanto’s financial interest to eliminate organic seed so that they can have a total monopoly over our food supply,” said Ravicher.

The release of GM canola contaminated organic canola, leading to its near extinction. Organic corn, soybeans, cotton, sugar beets and alfalfa now are now under threat. The agricultural monolith plans to develop GM seed for many crops, which farmers claim threatens the future of food.

“We are rapidly approaching the tipping point when we will be unable to avoid GMOs in our fields and on our plates,” said Dr. Carol Goland, Ph.D. of one of the plaintiff organizations. “That is the inevitable consequence of releasing genetically engineered materials into the environment.”

The challenge to Monsanto’s patents rests on evidence of the negative economic and health effects of GM seed, which the organic groups argue invalidates the legal requirement for “usefulness” under patent law.

“None of Monsanto’s original promises regarding genetically modified seeds have come true after 15 years of wide adoption by commodity farmers,” said David Murphy, founder and Executive Director of plaintiff Food Democracy Now! “Rather than increased yields or less chemical usage, farmers are facing more crop diseases, an onslaught of herbicide-resistant superweeds, and increased costs from additional herbicide application.”

In “The Battle for Biodiversity: Monsanto and Farmers Clash,” an article in the Atlantic, Anna Lappe asks, “Does genetic modification lead to more and better crops? Or will it destroy the foundations of our food systems?”

“Corporate control of seeds and relaxed laws for biotech promotion spur innovation and productivity. That may sound good,” Lappe writes. “But many other groups around the world look at the real-world effects of 20 years of patent approvals and the spread of biotech crops. These critics argue that corporate power over seeds has actually undermined biodiversity and food-system resilience.”

While the jury is out on the health effects of these novel foods, some feel concerned that these novel foods could contribute to an increase in allergies, and learning disabilities. But while many health oriented people emphasize eating organic foods, it remains to be seen whether the health conscious will step to take action to protect the foods they champion. Many are unaware that GMOs are undermining their food options.

“Crop biotechnology has been a miserable failure economically and biologically and now threatens to undermine the basic freedoms that farmers and consumers have enjoyed in our constitutional democracy,” said Murphy.

“It is outrageous that one corporate entity, through the trespass of what they refer to as their ‘technology,’ can intimidate and run roughshod over family farmers,” said Mark Kastel, Senior Farm Policy Analyst for The Cornucopia Institute, one of the plaintiffs. He contends that Monsanto and the farmers licensing its technology should be the ones required to ensure that genetically engineered DNA does not trespass onto neighboring farmland.

“This debate is significant,” Lappe contends. “Which side we listen to will largely determine just how well we can continue to feed the planet.”

Although saving seeds from one year to the next is a farming tradition as old as agriculture, due to Monsanto’s aggressive legal action, “Farmers are being intimidated into not saving seed for fear that they will be doggedly pursued through the court system and potentially bankrupted,” detailed Kastel.

“We must protect our world by protecting our most precious, sacred resource of seed sovereignty. People must have the right to the resources of the earth for our sustenance,” said Rose Marie Burroughs of plaintiff California Cloverleaf Farms.

“The building blocks of life are sacred and should be in the public domain. The private profit motive corrupts pure science and increasingly precludes democratic participation,” claimed Jill Davies, Director of plaintiff Sustainable Living Systems.

“Monsanto, and the biotechnology industry, have made great investments in our executive and legislative branches through campaign contributions and powerful lobbyists in Washington,” Kastel points out. “We need the court system to offset this power and protect individual farmers from corporate tyranny.”

Ravicher noted that “Monsanto is the same chemical company that previously brought us Agent Orange, DDT, PCB’s and other toxins, which they said were safe, but we know are not. Now Monsanto says transgenic seed is safe, but evidence clearly shows it is not.”

“Today is Independence Day for America. Monsanto’s threats and abuse of family farmers stops here. Monsanto’s genetic contamination of organic seed and organic crops ends now.” Declared Jim Gerritsen, a Maine family farmer, who is President of the lead plaintiff Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association. “Americans have the right to choice in the marketplace — to decide what kind of food they will feed their families — and we are taking this action on their behalf to protect that right to choose.”

More information about the lawsuit, including list of participating organizations.

To support the plaintiffs’ cause, go to selected links for Food Democracy Now, the Cornucopia Institute,
and Organic Seed Growers.
For radio shows, blogs, and health and environmental activism links, go to www.healthjournalistblog.com

Come hear me present at Green Festival L.A. http://www.greenfestivals.org/la/social-media-hub I’ll be speaking at #greenfestivals about how to promote environmental health activism via social media. @AlisonRoseLevy Connecting the Dots for Health

Back when President Obama was a Senator, he promised to label GMO foods, to support the consumer right to know “where their food comes from. Americans should know what they are buying,” he said  (see video here.) But despite these promises, it hasn’t happened. Family farmers, seed businesses and organic agricultural organizations filed suit against Monsanto in New York court over six months ago, but still no action from the President. According to the Public Patent Foundation (PUBPAT) which filed on their behalf, the plaintiffs were forced to sue preemptively to protect themselves from future accusations of patent infringement when Monsanto’s genetically modified seed contaminates their crops, something which cannot be prevented once GM seeds are released.

“It seems quite perverse that an organic farmer contaminated by transgenic seed could be accused of patent infringement, but Monsanto has made such accusations before and is notorious for having sued hundreds of farmers,” said Dan Ravicher, PUBPAT’s Executive Director and Lecturer of Law at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York.

A broad array of family farmers, small businesses and organizations from within the organic agriculture community, representing some 270,000 members are plaintiffs in the suit, and many explained the need for the suit in a statement issued by PUBPAT.

“Some say transgenic seed can coexist with organic seed, but history tells us that’s not possible, and it’s actually in Monsanto’s financial interest to eliminate organic seed so that they can have a total monopoly over our food supply,” said Ravicher.

The release of GM canola contaminated organic canola, leading to its near extinction. Organic corn, soybeans, cotton, sugar beets and alfalfa now are now under threat. The agricultural monolith plans to develop GM seed for many crops, which farmers claim threatens the future of food.

“We are rapidly approaching the tipping point when we will be unable to avoid GMOs in our fields and on our plates,” said Dr. Carol Goland, Ph.D. of one of the plaintiff organizations. “That is the inevitable consequence of releasing genetically engineered materials into the environment.”

The challenge to Monsanto’s patents rests on evidence of the negative economic and health effects of GM seed, which the organic groups argue invalidates the legal requirement for “usefulness” under patent law.

“None of Monsanto’s original promises regarding genetically modified seeds have come true after 15 years of wide adoption by commodity farmers,” said David Murphy, founder and Executive Director of plaintiff Food Democracy Now! “Rather than increased yields or less chemical usage, farmers are facing more crop diseases, an onslaught of herbicide-resistant superweeds, and increased costs from additional herbicide application.”

In “The Battle for Biodiversity: Monsanto and Farmers Clash,” an article in the Atlantic, Anna Lappe asks, “Does genetic modification lead to more and better crops? Or will it destroy the foundations of our food systems?”

“Corporate control of seeds and relaxed laws for biotech promotion spur innovation and productivity. That may sound good,” Lappe writes. “But many other groups around the world look at the real-world effects of 20 years of patent approvals and the spread of biotech crops. These critics argue that corporate power over seeds has actually undermined biodiversity and food-system resilience.”

While the jury is out on the health effects of these novel foods, some feel concerned that these novel foods could contribute to an increase in allergies, and learning disabilities. But while many health oriented people emphasize eating organic foods, it remains to be seen whether the health conscious will step to take action to protect the foods they champion. Many are unaware that GMOs are undermining their food options.

“Crop biotechnology has been a miserable failure economically and biologically and now threatens to undermine the basic freedoms that farmers and consumers have enjoyed in our constitutional democracy,” said Murphy.

“It is outrageous that one corporate entity, through the trespass of what they refer to as their ‘technology,’ can intimidate and run roughshod over family farmers,” said Mark Kastel, Senior Farm Policy Analyst for The Cornucopia Institute, one of the plaintiffs. He contends that Monsanto and the farmers licensing its technology should be the ones required to ensure that genetically engineered DNA does not trespass onto neighboring farmland.

“This debate is significant,” Lappe contends. “Which side we listen to will largely determine just how well we can continue to feed the planet.”

Although saving seeds from one year to the next is a farming tradition as old as agriculture, due to Monsanto’s aggressive legal action, “Farmers are being intimidated into not saving seed for fear that they will be doggedly pursued through the court system and potentially bankrupted,” detailed Kastel.

“We must protect our world by protecting our most precious, sacred resource of seed sovereignty. People must have the right to the resources of the earth for our sustenance,” said Rose Marie Burroughs of plaintiff California Cloverleaf Farms.

“The building blocks of life are sacred and should be in the public domain. The private profit motive corrupts pure science and increasingly precludes democratic participation,” claimed Jill Davies, Director of plaintiff Sustainable Living Systems.

“Monsanto, and the biotechnology industry, have made great investments in our executive and legislative branches through campaign contributions and powerful lobbyists in Washington,” Kastel points out. “We need the court system to offset this power and protect individual farmers from corporate tyranny.”

Ravicher noted that “Monsanto is the same chemical company that previously brought us Agent Orange, DDT, PCB’s and other toxins, which they said were safe, but we know are not. Now Monsanto says transgenic seed is safe, but evidence clearly shows it is not.”

“Today is Independence Day for America. Monsanto’s threats and abuse of family farmers stops here. Monsanto’s genetic contamination of organic seed and organic crops ends now.” Declared Jim Gerritsen, a Maine family farmer, who is President of the lead plaintiff Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association. “Americans have the right to choice in the marketplace — to decide what kind of food they will feed their families — and we are taking this action on their behalf to protect that right to choose.”

More information about the lawsuit, including list of participating organizations.

To support the plaintiffs’ cause, go to selected links for Food Democracy Now, the Cornucopia Institute,
and Organic Seed Growers.
For radio shows, blogs, and health and environmental activism links, go to www.healthjournalistblog.com

Come hear me present at Green Festival L.A. http://www.greenfestivals.org/la/social-media-hub I’ll be speaking at #greenfestivals about how to promote environmental health activism via social media. @AlisonRoseLevy Connecting the Dots for Health

With his wife, Holly, Richard Giles typifies this new breed. He owns and runs Lucky Dog Farms, (in Hamden, New York). Sited near the West Branch of the Delaware River, the region of one of New York City’s two watersheds, the farm supplies Swiss chard, kale, and other greens to downstate farmer’s markets, restaurants, wholesalers, and the Park Slope Food Coop. As Irene approached, Giles and his farm staff were up before sunrise harvesting all they could. As the storm hit, they worked in fields in standing water up to their ankles, within two hours, the water had risen to their knees, and a half hour later they had to evacuate waters six feet high, that had yet to fully subside when I spoke with Giles ten days later. Lucky Dog lost nearly the entire Fall crop.

“When Irene happened, most of the group of farmers in our area were saying, “We just have to suck it up,” Martin Stosiek
rt of Markristo Farms in Hillside, New York explained. “Then when Hurricane Lee happened, it was even worse.” Some lost crops but with a whole lot of hard work will survive the coming winter. Some may not. Stosiekrt who sells organic greens to restaurants, farmer’s markets, and wholesalers downstate, detailed his losses: cabbage unsaleable, green beans sitting in a swamp of water, un-harvestable, leafy greens, diseased due to the damp.

But will such losses register with the farmer’s customers, New Yorkers, the poster children for the busiest people on earth? Although NYC has a strong dining out tradition, for everyday meals, NY-ers are famed for eating on the run. No one has the time to look beyond the local farmer’s market to the plight of the farmers who grow New York’s food. While the rains may have passed from the headlines, their impact on area farmers is long-term.

“We can’t plant cover crops (like rye) in flooded fields, which we usually do to protect the soil over the winter months,” says Stosiek
rt. With weeds going to seed just now, com Spring, this unprotected soil will yield a weed, rather than a vegetable harvest. “An organic farm can’t use pesticides for weed management,” Stosiekrt says.

A few winters back, I attended a special dinner at Park Slope’s Applewood Restaurant, which featured the produce grown at Lucky Dog. After a wonderful dinner, that blend of organic sustainable and New York connoisseurship that makes for a delicious meal, the chef told us diners that, “You can vote with your pocketbook to support organic and sustainable farms in our region by going to the farmer’s market and eating at restaurants that use regionally grown food.”

Back then that suggestion still made good sense.

Flash forward two years: In Lucky Dog’s region, entire towns (like Fleischmann’s and Prattsville) were leveled by rains andwinds. “This is the worst flood in everyone’s living memory,” Giles told me. “We didn’t lose our house and the kids are okay. But the fields were flooded. We lost all our crops — lettuce, cabbages, and greens. We’re losing the root vegetables, like potatoes, and onions, which are sitting in water and deteriorating underground.”

Unfortunately, “The crop we lost is the crop we use to pay large bills,” Giles told me. “Like the farm loans, financed by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA).”

Farmers don’t fall under FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Administration), but are administered by the FSA. Obviously, a renegotiation of loans will be needed. But will it be forthcoming in the current political climate? And who will notice when these crucial matters of public policy, impacting New York’s foods, are determined?

“People don’t expect a product like cars to just appear. There are industries and infrastructures that make that happen,” Giles says. “Because we farmers love farming, we put forth that effort. But it shouldn’t be our sole responsibility to supply New York’s food in the absence of policies that sustain that.”

“I choose to farm here and it’s really good soil, and it’s my choice and with these weather changes, it’s becoming a poorer and poorer choice,” Giles ruminates. “But if we admit it, we all know we have contributed to changing weather and flood patterns. We stand by and allow the gas drilling upstate to proceed. We leave it to farmers to go through whatever hardships to get the food to us. We cross our fingers and hope it will be okay.”

“Is this really what food’s worth?” he asks.<strong>So my question to you is this, do <em>you</em> still believe that acting as a consumer and showing up to buy sustainable and healthy food is all you need to do to help farmers make that food available? If so, why? If not, why not?</strong>

To support Lucky Dog Farms and other upstate sustainable farms harmed by the flood, please contact them.

To get the coverage of health, environment, food, public policy, and activism I’ve supplied on Huffington since 2007, please sign up for me free ezine at http://www.healthjournalistblog.com

Come hear me present at Green Festival L.A. http://www.greenfestivals.org/la/social-media-hub I’ll be speaking at #greenfestival about how to promote environmental health activism via social media. @AlisonRoseLevy  or Join me on Facebook at Connecting the Dots for Health

Mark Ruffalo defends the waters of life from fracking. Fran Drescher urges women, industry and government to prevent cancer and save lives. Russell Simmons shifts the conversation from traditional notions of power to compassion as real strength. This coming week at DeepakHomeBase in New York City, Deepak Chopra will engage in three conversations on three different nights with these three stars, people who care. Russell Simmons will join Chopra on September 12th.  Mark Ruffalo will appear on September 14th, and Fran Drescher on September 15th. All programs will be available on livestream during the event, and following it as well. I’ll cover the events and report on them here.

I interviewed Ruffalo on my radio program, Connect the Dots (on the Progressive Radio Network on Saturdays at Noon ET), and he is a knowledgeable champion, probing how to meet our energy needs without allowing hydraulic fracturing for gas (aka fracking) to pollute our water, food, and air. Ruffalo debunks the notion that gas (as opposed to coal) can help to de-accelerate global warming. He points to recent research by Cornell University climate experts showing that gas has a greater greenhouse gas footprint.  Moreover, the same study reveals that flowback water from gas wells carries large quantities of methane, which may be spread far and wide in the hurricane and flood prone Northeast– which in areas upstream from two major cities, just got more flood prone in the last two weeks.

Fran Drescher, who founded Cancer Schmancer in 2007 points out that after a forty year “War on Cancer,” American health is still being held hostage because we aren’t addressing the causes of cancer. She believes that “prevention and early detection should be on equal footing with the search for a cure. Why not triple the weapons in our arsenal?”  Like Ruffalo, Drescher urges citizen action. Drescher wants to “turn the tide on cancer through asking Congress to support the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2011.” Ruffalo urges that citizens ask President Obama to protect the drinking water of 15 million people (in New York and Philly)  through preventing fracking in river basin of the Delaware River. To learn more, people are invited to tune in to DeepakHomeBase to this series of events, follow my reporting on green health activism, and discover why activism is the newest health regimen for healthy people, a healthy society, and a healthy planet.

Become part of the solution by Connecting the Dots on Health. You’re warmly invited to sign up for weekly blogs, radio shows, and activist opportunities in the sign in box on the upper right side of this page.