Feature Archives

We buy their tomatoes, but who are they? What stories do small-scale sustainable farmers have to tell, and why does it matter? Santa Cruz author, Jenny Kurzweil began writing six years ago because she felt the disconnect between herself and her food. She didn't have an agent, publisher or MFA, but she plowed ahead anyway.

The book is a thoroughly researched introduction to small-scale sustainable farming, and a fantastic read.

"Perhaps we are getting sick of our 33 new packaged foods a day and the disinfected, anonymous aisles of a supermarket. Going to a farmers' market is worlds away from ordering your groceries online, and people seem hungry for an authentic experience. A farmers' market is a way to get back to basics without romanticizing the past. Sustainable farmers today are translating elements of pre-World War II America into modern times, recognizing the advances of technology while still creating a healthy environment." (page 33)

Read Kaci Elder's interview with Jenny Kurzweil about topics ranging from her inspiration for writing the book, to reconnecting to the land and the roles of race and class in food and sustainable agriculture.

On Friday, January 20th, the Justice Department announced that 11 individuals were being charged in a 65 count indictment handed down by a Eugene, Oregon grand jury. The indictment charged the individuals with a series of arsons, sabotage and vandalism that were claimed by the Earth Liberation Front and the Animal Liberation Front, between 1996 and 2001. The FBI has called these actions terrorism. The indictment includes further charges against some recent arrestees.

The government says that this alleged cell, which supposedly called itself "the family," was involved in more than 15 incidents across five states, included arsons or attempted arsons at U.S. Forest Service Ranger Stations, animal holding facilities, lumber companies and timber farms, the Vail Ski Resort, and the Eugene, Oregon Police Department.

Read more on Indybay's Police and Prisons News Page

On Friday (01/06/06), in Gardiner, Montana, the National Park Service (NPS) was busy harassing wild buffalo, protecting livestock interests instead of the flora and fauna they are mandated by the American people to protect. Park Rangers came out on horseback, dressed in cowboy finery, just miles from the hunt zone, and forced wild buffalo off of their winter range.

On Saturday (01/07/06), BFC got a call from Mike up in Gardiner telling that he just witnessed the 18th buffalo get shot. With sadness, we also breathed a strange sigh of relief because this meant the last of the non-Indian permits for Phase I of the hunt. Since the Crow Nation and Nations of Fort Belknap pulled out of the hunt, we wrongly assumed that other tribes would follow suit and no more buffalo would be shot during this portion of the bison hunt.

On Monday (01/09/06), two BFC volunteers discovered a bull buffalo laying down in the middle of Forest Service Road 610 that runs along the Horse Butte Peninsula. They watched him for a bit, giving him room and the right of way, but when he didn't move for a while they soon found out why; The buffalo had two broken back legs. They had been snapped in half and he was clearly unable to move. BFC called the local Fish Wildlife & Parks (FWP) game warden who was a bit annoyed to have to "put some clothes on" at 9:30 a.m. on a work day and go out to deal with the situation.

On Thursday (01/12/06), without cooperation from Montana, Yellowstone National Park sent twenty-four of America's last wild buffalo to slaughter today, including twelve bulls which pose no risk of transmitting brucellosis. Another forty buffalo may be sent to slaughter facilities tomorrow with the assistance of USDA Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). Meanwhile, Department of Livestock haze buffalo until they fall through lake and a few of them drowned.

On Monday (01/16/06), the National Park Service captured ANOTHER 140 (approx) buffalo - but, none will be transported to slaughter today because the government is celebrating civil liberties. Phase II of Montana's hunt has started and already 6 bulls have been shot in Gardiner. Meanwhile, HOMELAND SECURITY is "escorting" the buffalo to slaughter and harassing BFC patrols; following folks around and watching the house up in Gardiner.

EARTH MATTERS Radio - Interview with Mike Mease from the Buffalo Field Campaign

More info: Update from the Field - 01/12/06 | First Tribal Permit Used | Update - 01/05/06 | Update - 12/29/05 | Quarantine Comment Extended | Volunteer

The whale hunt was last disrupted by activists from two Greenpeace ships on December 21 & 22, 2005. After this, the Nisshin Maru factory ship and the other whaling vessels took off at full speed, chased by the Greenpeace ships, Esperanza and Arctic Sunrise. The Sea Shepherd vessel, the Farley Mowat, intercepted the Nisshin Maru on the December 25, 2005, with the Japanese factory ship threatening to ram the Sea Shepherd ship.

The Japanese Whaling Fleet refueled inside the Antarctic Treaty area watched by Greenpeace activists on board the Esperanza. The whaling fleet then sailed south to recommence the whale hunt and slaughter. For 24 hours Greenpeace lost track of the fleet, but contact has been made again, with 10 whale carcasses seen strung from the side of the fleet's factory ship.

The research by the Japanese whaling fleet has been widely discredited, with scientific whaling being used to cover the commercial slaughter of whales for consumption on the Japanese restaurant market. Japan has increased its quota of whales to be slaughtered this year to 935 minke and 10 of the endangered fin whale.

Norway's government, following a unanimous recommendation by the Storting (Norwegian parliament), increased the kill quota to 1,052 minke whales in 2006, up from a record-high quota of 796 in 2005, in defiance of the International Whaling Commission moratorium established in 1986. Iceland resumed whale hunting under the 'scientific research' loophole in 2003 and killed 39 minkes last year and is expected to hunt a similar number in 2006.

Sources: | Melbourne IMC | Everybody goes back to work - Andrew, onboard the Esperanza, 5 Jan 2006 | Update from the Farley Mowat in Antarctic Waters - Sea Shepherd 4 Jan 2006 | Japan whaling resumes - The Australian, 5 Jan 2006 | Japan resumes whale research (PDF) - ICR website, 5 Jan 2006 | Whalers, Greenpeace resume battle - Sydney Morning Herald, 5 January 2006

More Information: | Greenpeace | Sea Shepherd Whale Defense Campaign 2005 Blog | Ask Gorton's to help stop whaling. - The company invented the McDonald's Filet-O-Fish burger. | Sea Shepard - What you can do!

Photo - Minke whale is transferer onto the Nisshin Maru factory ship of the Japanese whaling fleet. © Greenpeace / Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert

The Organic Consumers Association reports that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has proposed to apply massive amounts of pesticides to public lands in 17 Western states, including California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, and Utah. The BLM claims these pesticides need to be applied to forests, rangelands and aquatic areas in order to reduce the risk of fire and slow the spread of invasive weeds. Under the proposal 932,000 acres would undergo chemical application, including National Monuments and National Conservation areas.

This proposal involves aerial spraying of toxic pesticides, and would mean increased negative impacts on non-targeted vegetation, wildlife, and people. The pesticides that would be used include persistent and mobile chemicals, including known developmental and reproductive toxins. The list of pesticides includes 4 new chemicals and 14 other pesticides, including 2,4-D, bromacil, chlorsulfuron, diquat, diuron, fluridone, hexazinone, teburthiruon, triclopyr, and picloram. The proposal would also allow the use of "new chemicals that may be developed in the future." However, the proposal also includes an analysis of possible outcomes of using nonchemical means of managing these areas and offers an option (Option C) wherein traditional methods of vegetation management would be used on public lands, rather than the widespread application of toxic chemicals. Pesticide opponents are encouraging people to submit public comments in support of Option C of the Bureau of Land Management Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement. The public comment period ends on January 9th, 2006. Read more

From the chaparral of southern California to the ponderosa pines of northern California, fire has been an essential feature of the West's ecosystem since long before the last ice age; native plants and animals are well adapted to and in fact benefit from fire.

Californians for Alternatives to Toxics page about the BLM draft | California's Pesticide Surveillance (Reporting) website | East Bay Pesticide Alert | Beyond Pesticides | Environment and Human Health, Inc

December 22nd: There have been a number of developments in the cases of the eco-defense defendants who were arrested earlier this month and face lonely holidays in prison cells. Daniel Mc Gowan was denied bail based on a conversation that was recorded without his consent. The co-defendant in the charges that he faces is apparently an informant. A former ALF prisoner has received a subpoena for a grand jury hearing. Bill Rodgers was found dead in an apparent suicide in his cell in Arizona, in spite of strong support from his community.

In a bail hearing for Mc Gowan last week, the court learned that an undercover informant had helped investigators to tape a conversation with him. This "evidence" was used to deny bail to Mc Gowan.

Existence of the informant was disclosed last week by an investigator in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, NY, during a bail hearing for McGowan. Mc Gowan faces indictments that he and Stanislas Meyerhoff firebombed the office of a wood products mill and the office and truck shop of a tree farm in 2001. Corporate media reports that a defense motion filed in U.S. District Court in Eugene says that Mc Gowan's co-defendant, Stanislas Meyerhoff, is one of the informants the federal government has relied on for evidence in the investigation. Public defender Craig Weinerman named Meyerhoff and another man, Jacob Ferguson, as informants in a motion for the release of Chelsea Gerlach, who is being held without bail. More about informants Daniel Mc Gowan was moved this week from New York to California and ultimately to Oregon. On December 15th, Democracy Now featured extensive coverage of this case. Audio

Former Animal Liberation Front prisoner Darren Thurston, who is a Canadian citizen, was arrested this month and placed in an INS detention center in Tacoma. His extradition is based on his conviction for raiding a lab in 1992. He was also subpoenaed to the Eugene grand jury for Feb. 16th, 2006. Darren has been told, as were most other recipients of recent subpoenas, that he is a target of the investigation. Read more

Updates about Chelsea Gerlach on Portland IMC's Police State News Page | What to do if the FBI "drops by" | Read more about recent and upcoming Grand Juries | The National Lawyers Guild includes thousands of progressive legal workers | Letter writing recommendations | Prisoner support resources

William C. (Bill) Rodgers, aged 40, of Prescott, Arizona, was found dead in a jail cell in Flagstaff early on December 22nd. The Coconino County sheriff's office and medical examiner said that he had committed suicide by placing a plastic bag over his head while he was in his one-person cell.

Bill Rodgers was one of six people arrested this month in connection with eco-defense actions in Oregon and Washington in recent years. He was charged in the firebombing of a government wildlife lab outside Olympia, Wash. In an affidavit that was filed in federal court last week, an FBI agent said that Rodgers attended a meeting of Earth Liberation Front members in western Colorado where the arson of a Vail, Colo., ski resort was planned.

Community members are mourning the passing of a tireless activist who had worked for social justice and environmental responsibility. He was a co-founder of the Catalyst Infoshop and Bookstore. One of his loved ones said about the case, "We need to show Prescott and the U.S. that we are not ashamed of who Bill—or The Catalyst—is, but proud of how they have served to bring people together."

SupportBill.org | Catalyst Infoshop | Arizona Indymedia