Ecuador Congress approves law on food sovereignty
Xinhua. February 18, 2009
Text from:
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-02/18/content_10839816.htm
QUITO, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Ecuador's temporary Congress approved on Tuesday
the Organic Law on Food Sovereignty aimed at boosting
domestic production.
The law to guarantee "the self-sufficiency of healthy, nutritive and
culturally appropriate food" was approved with 49 votes in favor, two
against, three blank and 11 abstentions.
Prompted by the approval, other laws to promote food independence and
recover the country's agriculture are likely to gain acknowledgment.
The Organic Law on Food Sovereignty provides a framework to connect the
agricultural, forest, underwater and fishing sectors.
The law highlights the establishment of scientific research and development
on agro-food issues, incentives for small- and medium-sized
producers, creation of an agro-food insurance, and promotion for the
consumption of domestic products.
Under the law, the Consultant Council for food Sovereignty, consisting of
six representatives from the government and six from the civil
society, will be formed.
The law is now be reviewed by President Rafael Correa. He may either ratify
it within 30 days, or send it back to the Legislative Commission for
further discussion.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Friday, February 20, 2009
Global Responses to Eco-migration and Environmental Disasters
This conference is going on on Monday at Fordham. Its during the day, so 1L's can't go, but maybe some 2L's can attend.
http://law.fordham.edu/ihtml/eventitemPP.ihtml?id=37&idc=9579&template=cle
http://law.fordham.edu/ihtml/eventitemPP.ihtml?id=37&idc=9579&template=cle
Thursday, February 19, 2009
New York Budget Cuts
From Environmental Advocates:
Governor Paterson is taking an axe to chop down the state’s Environmental Protection Fund and cut staff at state agencies such as New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation.
A million here, $50 million there, and suddenly the Governor’s budget axe has cut through environmental protections for New York’s children and families.
Environmental Advocates of New York needs your help to tell Governor Paterson and all of our state leaders to protect our natural resources.
Tell Governor Paterson and state lawmakers in Albany that cutting green to stay in the black makes you see red!
Check out Environmental Advocates here.
Governor Paterson is taking an axe to chop down the state’s Environmental Protection Fund and cut staff at state agencies such as New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation.
A million here, $50 million there, and suddenly the Governor’s budget axe has cut through environmental protections for New York’s children and families.
Environmental Advocates of New York needs your help to tell Governor Paterson and all of our state leaders to protect our natural resources.
Tell Governor Paterson and state lawmakers in Albany that cutting green to stay in the black makes you see red!
Check out Environmental Advocates here.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Are you a rider or a driver?
In the shadow of MTA fare hikes, bus route cuts and our ever-shrinking parking lot – lets ride together! The CUNY Law Green Coalition has set up a CUNY Law Rideshare site and we encourage you to use it.
GO TO THE CUNY LAW RIDESHARE SITE
Go to http://cunylaw.erideshare.com/
Enter the group password: “whereareyou”
You will be taken to a screen with a table listing all the rides offered or requested by people in the CUNY Law community and a map.
THE TABLE: In the last column of the table, you can see whether the entry is for an offer or a request. You can sort the table by clicking on “offer or request” in the column heading. You can also sort by any of the other headings. The “entry date” in the last column will tell you how recently the posting was updated.
THE MAP: You can click on the red and green points on the map to see who has a destination or origin near you and when they are driving or wanting a ride.
Get in touch with people using the contact information they have provided in the last column or by clicking on the link in the “Contact/Member ID” column (if you are logged in, you will be taken to a screen where you can send a message that will be delivered to the person’s email).
TO POST YOUR OWN OFFER OR REQUEST:
1. Create an erideshare account (click on the link at the top of the page).
2. Return to http://cunylaw.erideshare.com/
3. Click on “Click here to place a listing.”
4. Fill out the Form:
In the “Destination – City” field, put in your borough.
In the “Destination – Street” field, put in your address (or use both Street fields to enter an intersection).
Use the “Days of the Week” field to enter your regular weekly schedule (e.g. “M-F 8:30am”) or to enter your schedule for a given day (e.g. Thurs 12/17 3pm) or a weekly ride (Every Thurs 3pm).
In the “Other Information” field, put in your contact information – phone, email, etc. Remember that unless you choose to share your posting, only members of the CUNY Law community will be able to see your listing.
When you’re done, click the button labeled “click only once.”
If you are offering or requesting BOTH a ride and a request (roundtrip), the site will work better if you post two separate listings.
Take 30 seconds to update your schedule every day to keep the listings fresh and your car full. RIDERS - chip in for gas!
GO TO THE CUNY LAW RIDESHARE SITE
Go to http://cunylaw.erideshare.com/
Enter the group password: “whereareyou”
You will be taken to a screen with a table listing all the rides offered or requested by people in the CUNY Law community and a map.
THE TABLE: In the last column of the table, you can see whether the entry is for an offer or a request. You can sort the table by clicking on “offer or request” in the column heading. You can also sort by any of the other headings. The “entry date” in the last column will tell you how recently the posting was updated.
THE MAP: You can click on the red and green points on the map to see who has a destination or origin near you and when they are driving or wanting a ride.
Get in touch with people using the contact information they have provided in the last column or by clicking on the link in the “Contact/Member ID” column (if you are logged in, you will be taken to a screen where you can send a message that will be delivered to the person’s email).
TO POST YOUR OWN OFFER OR REQUEST:
1. Create an erideshare account (click on the link at the top of the page).
2. Return to http://cunylaw.erideshare.com/
3. Click on “Click here to place a listing.”
4. Fill out the Form:
In the “Destination – City” field, put in your borough.
In the “Destination – Street” field, put in your address (or use both Street fields to enter an intersection).
Use the “Days of the Week” field to enter your regular weekly schedule (e.g. “M-F 8:30am”) or to enter your schedule for a given day (e.g. Thurs 12/17 3pm) or a weekly ride (Every Thurs 3pm).
In the “Other Information” field, put in your contact information – phone, email, etc. Remember that unless you choose to share your posting, only members of the CUNY Law community will be able to see your listing.
When you’re done, click the button labeled “click only once.”
If you are offering or requesting BOTH a ride and a request (roundtrip), the site will work better if you post two separate listings.
Take 30 seconds to update your schedule every day to keep the listings fresh and your car full. RIDERS - chip in for gas!
Friday, January 30, 2009
St.John's University Sustainability Initiative
What the other Queens law school is doing:
http://www.stjohns.edu/campuses/enhancements/stjsi
http://www.stjohns.edu/campuses/enhancements/stjsi
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Carpool/Ride Share Advocacy
Hey Green-ers!
Thanks to Patrick's superior googling skills, I just set this up:
Dedicated URL for your group: http://cunylaw.erideshare.com
group password: whereareyou
It's a RideShare webpage dedicated to getting folks to CUNY law. It can't be a widget on our webpage, but it does have a great map feature. When you register, the destination will automatically be CUNY Law (though you can change it) and the page is only open to people who have the password. We can use this to encourage people to ride-share with other people in the CUNY Law community. Individuals can choose to make their posting available to people outside the community if they choose, but they don't need to. It will work better the more people from our community join it (I am having visions of ridesharing with Robson).
Click on the link, register and add yourself.
Let's try it out, for real.
Proposed next steps:
1. Feedback from us about whether we want to endorse this. If we do --
2. Posting directing people to this page from forum, with directions on how to use it.
3. Student Events and ALL FACULTY email directing people to this page, with directions on how to use it.
4. Fliers around the building/Flier to include in First Year Orientation packet.
5. Getting a link on CUNY's homepage to this page
6. A survey of driving/carpooling habits in the community a month after we roll this out (advocacy tool for preferred parking)
7. Advocate for preferred parking for ride-sharers (with results of the survey)
Feedback? I am also posting this to the blog. Let's use the comments section and get sign-off from everyone (assuming that the 7 of us are the stake-holders for this initiative) by Feb. 6 (the date we set before).
Paula Z. Segal
Thanks to Patrick's superior googling skills, I just set this up:
Dedicated URL for your group: http://cunylaw.erideshare.com
group password: whereareyou
It's a RideShare webpage dedicated to getting folks to CUNY law. It can't be a widget on our webpage, but it does have a great map feature. When you register, the destination will automatically be CUNY Law (though you can change it) and the page is only open to people who have the password. We can use this to encourage people to ride-share with other people in the CUNY Law community. Individuals can choose to make their posting available to people outside the community if they choose, but they don't need to. It will work better the more people from our community join it (I am having visions of ridesharing with Robson).
Click on the link, register and add yourself.
Let's try it out, for real.
Proposed next steps:
1. Feedback from us about whether we want to endorse this. If we do --
2. Posting directing people to this page from forum, with directions on how to use it.
3. Student Events and ALL FACULTY email directing people to this page, with directions on how to use it.
4. Fliers around the building/Flier to include in First Year Orientation packet.
5. Getting a link on CUNY's homepage to this page
6. A survey of driving/carpooling habits in the community a month after we roll this out (advocacy tool for preferred parking)
7. Advocate for preferred parking for ride-sharers (with results of the survey)
Feedback? I am also posting this to the blog. Let's use the comments section and get sign-off from everyone (assuming that the 7 of us are the stake-holders for this initiative) by Feb. 6 (the date we set before).
Paula Z. Segal
Green Additions to the 1L Orientation Packet
This goes in the category of "changing the culture"...
Do we as the Green Coaliton advocate for including some green initiatives in the folder that 1Ls get during orientation?
Specifically:
A bike map (they're free from the Dept of Transportation)
Directions for RideSharing
A list of LOCALLY owned food establishments (the list we got included McDonalds???)
Composting/Recycling instructions
Clearly its a bit early in the year to be thinking about this, but let's build a list anyways.
Do we as the Green Coaliton advocate for including some green initiatives in the folder that 1Ls get during orientation?
Specifically:
A bike map (they're free from the Dept of Transportation)
Directions for RideSharing
A list of LOCALLY owned food establishments (the list we got included McDonalds???)
Composting/Recycling instructions
Clearly its a bit early in the year to be thinking about this, but let's build a list anyways.
Monday, January 19, 2009
USDA - business as usual?
Follow this link to analysis and actions you can take to try to force the new admin into at least some change in USDA policy by not appointing lobbyists and Giant-Food Industry supporters to key USDA positions. Rumor has it, that's exactly what's coming next.
http://www.ethicurean.com/2009/01/17/usda-rumors/
At ethicurean's suggestion, I modified her email and sent it to the Obama's transition team:
Subject: USDA appointments
From: paula.segal@mail.law.cuny.edu
Date: January 19, 2009 11:55:49 AM EST
To: BChilton@cftc.gov, jettwoman@gmail.com
Dear Mr. Chilton and Ms. Jett:
I am writing to you as the heads of President Obama’s transition team for the Department of Agriculture. I can’t find contact info for Secretary Vilsack, or I’d copy him too.
Rumors on the sustainable food blogosphere have it that people with very clear ties to the industrial meat industry are on the short list for under-secretary and Deputy Secretary positions in the new administration. I have read that Joy Philippi, the formerly of the National Pork Council, and Dennis Wolfe, who opposed consumers’ right to milk labeling by farms that don’t use artificial bovine hormones, are on the short list.
I hope that the rumors are just that. In a country plagued by CAFO pollution, childhood diabetes, and other crises whose root is a broken food system, these candidates represent the interests of corporate food giants and are NOT THE CHANGE THAT I VOTED FOR in November.
We need reformers in the USDA, not agribusiness-as-usual men or women. I am proud to be among the 73,000 and counting Americans who have signed Food Democracy Now’s letter urging the consideration of 12 people who are not only qualified to serve, but who might just begin to make the USDA once again the “people’s Department,” as Lincoln once called it.
I urge you to stand against the appointment of industry representatives and lobbyists to key posts inside the USDA, but instead to consider people like Chuck Hassebrook, Fred Kirschenmann, and Kathleen Merrigan listed here: http://www.fooddemocracynow.org/
Thank you for your time.
Paula Z. Segal
J.D. Candidate 2011
CUNY School of Law
http://www.ethicurean.com/2009/01/17/usda-rumors/
At ethicurean's suggestion, I modified her email and sent it to the Obama's transition team:
Subject: USDA appointments
From: paula.segal@mail.law.cuny.edu
Date: January 19, 2009 11:55:49 AM EST
To: BChilton@cftc.gov, jettwoman@gmail.com
Dear Mr. Chilton and Ms. Jett:
I am writing to you as the heads of President Obama’s transition team for the Department of Agriculture. I can’t find contact info for Secretary Vilsack, or I’d copy him too.
Rumors on the sustainable food blogosphere have it that people with very clear ties to the industrial meat industry are on the short list for under-secretary and Deputy Secretary positions in the new administration. I have read that Joy Philippi, the formerly of the National Pork Council, and Dennis Wolfe, who opposed consumers’ right to milk labeling by farms that don’t use artificial bovine hormones, are on the short list.
I hope that the rumors are just that. In a country plagued by CAFO pollution, childhood diabetes, and other crises whose root is a broken food system, these candidates represent the interests of corporate food giants and are NOT THE CHANGE THAT I VOTED FOR in November.
We need reformers in the USDA, not agribusiness-as-usual men or women. I am proud to be among the 73,000 and counting Americans who have signed Food Democracy Now’s letter urging the consideration of 12 people who are not only qualified to serve, but who might just begin to make the USDA once again the “people’s Department,” as Lincoln once called it.
I urge you to stand against the appointment of industry representatives and lobbyists to key posts inside the USDA, but instead to consider people like Chuck Hassebrook, Fred Kirschenmann, and Kathleen Merrigan listed here: http://www.fooddemocracynow.org/
Thank you for your time.
Paula Z. Segal
J.D. Candidate 2011
CUNY School of Law
Friday, January 16, 2009
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Get Your Conference on Redux
Appleseeds!
I got in touch with the aforementioned James Subudhi (January 5 entry below) at WEACT to see if he could give me some insight into my registration for the Advancing Climate Justice Conference at Fordham late this month. It turns out that he is the volunteer coordinator. It also turns out that he loves CUNY students and would like for as many of us to volunteer for the conference as possible. I'm hoping to go both days, but you can sign up for whatever time frame you wish or for whichever speaker you would like to hear, most likely. If you email me, I'll send you off more information about vounteering.
Can't wait to see everyone next week for the first week of classes!
I got in touch with the aforementioned James Subudhi (January 5 entry below) at WEACT to see if he could give me some insight into my registration for the Advancing Climate Justice Conference at Fordham late this month. It turns out that he is the volunteer coordinator. It also turns out that he loves CUNY students and would like for as many of us to volunteer for the conference as possible. I'm hoping to go both days, but you can sign up for whatever time frame you wish or for whichever speaker you would like to hear, most likely. If you email me, I'll send you off more information about vounteering.
Can't wait to see everyone next week for the first week of classes!
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