Organic Transitions

OrGANIC IS THE ANSWER

Organic Can Feed the World

People's Food Sovereignty Now!

Most of the world's food is not produced by industrial megafarms. 75 percent of the world's food is produced by 1.5 billion small farmers.

The hunger problem is not caused by low yields. The world has 6 billion people and produces enough food for 9 billion people.

There are now 1.02 billion hungry people in the world (nearly 50 million in the US). At the same time, there are 1 billion people who are overweight, many who are obese and suffer from diet-related diseases.

Hunger and obesity are the result of the overproduction of toxic junk food, the scarcity of healthy organic food, and injustice in the way farmland and food are distributed.

While many of the world's leaders discussed the food crisis at a UN Food Summit in Rome (November 13-17, 2009), farmers, who were not part of the official delegations, took part in demonstrations outside the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) headquarters and met at an alternative forum, People's Food Sovereignty Now! The 642 participants (more than half women) from 93 countries represent the more than 1.5 billion small farmers who produce 75 per cent of the world's food.

Here's what they had to say:

We reaffirm that our ecological food provision actually feeds the large majority of people all over the world in both rural and urban areas (more than 75%). Our practices focus on food for people not profit for corporations. It is healthy, diverse, localized and cools the planet.

...Our practices, because they prioritise feeding people locally, minimize waste and losses of food and do not create the damage caused by industrial production systems. Peasant agriculture is resilient and can adapt to and mitigate climate change...

We call for a reframing of research, using participatory methods, that will support our ecological model of food provision. We are the innovators building on our knowledge and skills. We rehabilitate local seeds systems and livestock breeds and fish/aquatic species for a changing climate...

...We commit to shorten distances between food provider and consumer. We will strengthen urban food movements and advance urban and peri-urban agriculture. We will reclaim the language of food emphasising nutrition and diversity in diets that exclude meat provided from industrial systems.

- From the People's Food Sovereignty Now! Declaration, November 2009

Surviving the Approaching Storm

We are fast approaching a tipping point in terms of climate disruption, food production, financial meltdown, and Peak Oil.

To survive and thrive in turbulent times we will need to organize ourselves at the grassroots level to carry out a series of Organic Transitions - not only in terms of food and farming, but also in transportation, housing, health, and education.

While remaining engaged in pressing governments and businesses to green and revitalize the economy and stabilize the climate, OCA believes that we must "dig in" and prepare ourselves locally and regionally to become as "organic" and self-reliant as possible.

Sign the Garden Pledge!

In a major victory for organic and local food activists, First Lady Michelle Obama broke ground on the White House's first organic kitchen garden since the Roosevelt Administration.

According to the First Lady "I've been able to have my kids eat so many different things that they would have never touched if we had bought it at a store because they either met the farmers that grew it, or they saw how it was grown."

Are you ready to follow the First Lady's lead?
Sign OCA's organic victory garden pledge!

Essays

• Organic Transitions: Beyond Economic Depression, Climate Change, & Peak Oil by Ronnie Cummins
• Open Letter to the President- Elect by Michael Pollan
• How to Build Your Financial Safety Net by Mike Adams

Resources

• Online Training Resources from Transition US
• Peak Oil Wars and Global Permaculture Solutions
• Rodale Institute: Inspiring & informing farmers worldwide
• The Food and Farming Transition: Toward a Post-Carbon Food System
• Questions? Community Solutions' FAQ on peak oil
• Deconstructing Dinner
• OCA's Organic Transition Tips
• Co-op Grocer's Guide to Starting a Food Co-op
• Path to Freedom - How-to's for jumpstarting community, home gardens, sustainable energy & waste alternatives:
  DIY Projects
  Path to Freedom Forum
• Learn more about how you can help your child's school integrate healthier foods into the cafeteria by visiting OCA's Appetite for a Change Campaign
• The Greenhorns Guide for Beginning Farmers
• Community Food Security: Growing Healthy Farms, People and Communities
• The Permaculture Institute:
  What is Permaculture?
  The Flowering Tree Story (PDF)

Publishers

• Acres USA - A voice for eco-agriculture! Books on sustainable organic farming and eco-living.
• Chelsea Green - the politics and practice of sustainable living.
• New Society Publishers - books on ecology, social change and other areas of activism.

Join us!

Contact the OCA about organizing an Organic Transition committee in your community

• Send an Email
• 218-226-4164 or
  888-403-1007

Join Others!

• Join up with these organizations to develop strategy in your area:
• Transition
  United States
• Transition Culture
• Transition Social Networking (US)
• Post Carbon Institute
• Urban Tilth
• North American Food Policy Councils
• BALLE Chapters
• Code Pink Chapters
• 1Sky Chapters
• Local Co-ops and Natural Food Stores
• Sierra Club Chapters
• Local Community Supported Agriculture Groups

Take Action