BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 X-WR-CALNAME:www.indybay.org PRODID:-//indybay/ical// v1.0//EN BEGIN:VEVENT UID:Indybay-18625404 SEQUENCE:18683016 CREATED:20091014T054800Z DESCRIPTION:The next phase of the LBAM eradication program is heading to Sonoma with irradiated, dyed, "sterile" moth releases and field studies in the coming weeks.\n\nCome to the \n\nSonoma Farmers' Market\nPlaza on the Square, intersection of Broadway and E. Napa Street\n\nTuesday October 20, from 5:00 pm to 6:15 pm\n\nto demonstrate against the LBAM eradication program and show support for farmers. Tabling and leafleting throughout the Plaza will also be going on then and after 6:15pm...\n\nSigns and banners will be provided, but feel free to bring your own. Please RSVP if you need a sign at yphillips@comcast.net\n\n\n\nMore details:\n\n\nHello all,\n\nThis action letter is going out to a few diverse groups. Please pass along or adapt for your area/county. \n\nYannick\n\nLight Brown Apple Moth (LBAM) Update + Local Action\n\nMany of you have followed the LBAM issue closely or from a distance. Here's an update and actions to take, if you wish to have this program redirected on a correct and appropriate path (see action below).\n\n\nAlthough aerial pesticide spraying is "off the table" for urban/residential areas, aerial pesticide spraying is STILL in the plan for forested, agricultural, rural and inaccessible areas, places where people live, work and hike. The LBAM eradication program, as a whole, remains on track for most of the state of California, excluding only a few areas like Death Valley.\n\nAside from the aerial spray component, the LBAM eradication program includes ground treatments which are known to be harmful to people, pets, wildlife, pollinators, and waterways. These pesticides will be used on people's properties and in parks and not just on farms. In addition, millions of irradiated dyed moths are to be released in Napa and Sonoma this October as part of an LBAM eradication program pilot project. These moths will then be released all over California, regardless of what their impact turns out to have been in Napa and Sonoma. Well respected entomologists have said an irradiated moth program is "massively expensive' and "will not work".\n\nAlmost $100 million of United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)/Ca. Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) money was spent in 2008 on the program; the program is on track to keep spending millions more in 2009 and beyond.\n\nThe moth has caused no documented crop or environmental damage in California.\n\nThe LBAM eradication program is particularly hard on small farmers, growers, and nurseries, because it inflicts harsh and destructive quarantines (along with onerous record-keeping and forced compliance measures) on them.\n\nUSDA/CDFA's LBAM eradication program has tried to place a wedge between farmers and growers and those who benefit from what farmers and growers produce. This is wrong.\n\nSince June 2008, many people have continued to dedicate themselves to stopping the program altogether --- and there are signs of progress. For one, California Senator Dean Florez, the Senate Majority Leader and Chair of the Senate Food and Agriculture Committee, is an outspoken opponent of the program. For another, the National Academy of Science basically has said the USDA has no sound science to justify its program.\n\nSo while progress is being made, there is still work to be done. The good news is we have you!\n\n\nWhat you can do:\n\n\n- Come to the Tuesday's Sonoma Farmers' Market (Plaza on the Square, intersection of Broadway and E. Napa Street) on October 20, from 5:00 p.m. to 6:15 pm. to demonstrate against the LBAM eradication program and show support for farmers. Tabling and leafleting throughout the Plaza will also be going on then and after 6:15pm...\n\nSigns and banners will be provided, but feel free to bring your own. Please RSVP if you need a sign at yphillips@comcast.net\n\nAs an added incentive for making the trip to Sonoma, world-famous sustainable agriculture advocate, Vandana Shiva, will be speaking that evening nearby at 8:00 pm., as part of the Economics of Peace conference. http://www.praxispeace.org/events.php\n \n\nLastly.....\n\n- Call these members of the government to tell them you want 1) funding for LBAM eradication program to be cut, 2) quarantines lifted, and 3) LBAM-associated trade agreements to be worked out:\n\n* Cathy Neville, Sonoma County, Agriculture Commissioner\n (707) 565-2371 in Sonoma\n* Congressman Mike Thompson (St. Helena), member of the House Ways and Means\n Committee (international trade policy)\n (707) 226-9898 in his Napa district office\n* Congressman Sam Farr (Carmel), member of both the House Appropriations\n Committee and the Subcommittee on Agriculture\n (202) 225-2861 in Washington D.C.\n\n\nFor more information on the LBAM eradication program, check out http://www.stopthespray.org\nContact Yannick A. Phillips at yphillips@comcast.net\n https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/10/13/18625404.php SUMMARY:Protest LBAM eradication program LOCATION:Sonoma Farmers' Market\nPlaza on the Square, intersection of Broadway and E. Napa Street URL:https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/10/13/18625404.php DTSTART:20091021T000000Z DTEND:20091021T013000Z END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR