Via Daniel Bowman Simon, the food movement’s archival Indiana Jones, comes this nugget from the excellent Joan Gussow. Writing in 1974 she asked a question that, if the Twitterverse’s response to last week’s article and yesterday’s Q interview is anything to go by, still matters to many: Is it Fair to Sell Sugar to Children? It’s a terrific, prescient indictment of the food system.

Continue reading “Joan Gussow: Is it Fair to Sell Sugar to Children?”

La Vía Campesina Call to action

Reclaiming our future: Rio +20 and Beyond

On 20-22 June 2012, governments from around the world will gather in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to commemorate 20 years of the “Earth Summit”, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) that first established a global agenda for “sustainable development”. During the 1992 summit, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CDB), the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) and the Convention to Combat Desertification, were all adopted. The Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) was also established to ensure effective follow-up of the UNCED “Earth Summit.”

Continue reading “La Via Campesina on What Needs to Happen in Rio”

I just had a fine conversation with the lovely Jian Ghomeshi on CBC’s Q. (Although I’m never terribly coherent, I have to admit being reduced to a gibbering idiot by Jian – I can’t get out of my mind the fact that I was a huge fan when he was part of Moxy Früvous in the early 1990s – their Stuck in the 90s is a minor classic, even if the video’s a bit dated.)

Continue reading “Against the Sugar Industry, redux”

Do you like beer? Unions? A good fight? Me too. Which is why I was excited to learn about the struggle at the Moosehead brewery. The New Brunswick Union has put together a documentary called Drink Em Dry that tells more. The tale of family owned brewery vs workers – a reminder that ‘family owned’ doesn’t automatically confer virtue, no matter how feckless the corporate competition – is important to share. I was particularly taken by one of the tactics following the lock-out. Rather than calling for a boycott, the union apparently encouraged people to drink more Moosehead, to force bosses to the table. Trailer below. Continue reading “Drink More Moosehead”