Have you seen the documentaries Kiss the Ground and Common Ground?

If so, you know the power of the carbon cycle and how regenerative organic agriculture has the potential to reverse climate change by drawing down and trapping greenhouse gas emissions in the soil.

Congress spends about $100 billion every year on food and farming. Shouldn’t it do something to help farmers save the climate?

In fact, it already did, back in 2008, when it created the Conservation Stewardship Program.

The Conservation Stewardship Program is a comprehensive suite of financial incentives and technical assistance to help farmers continuously improve and increase their “climate-smart” agriculture practices.

So why isn’t every farmer enrolled in the Conservation Stewardship Program?

Congress has been stingy about funding it. Three-fourths of farmers who want to join get turned away each year.

Current funding for the Conservation Stewardship Program could increase the amount of carbon stored in working lands by about 70 million metric tons of carbon dioxide per year by 2030.

Agriculture is responsible for 10 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, with emissions in the range of 700 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year. So, the 70 million metric tons of carbon dioxide the Conservation Stewardship Program could sequester is 10 percent of 10 percent or 1 percent of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. That’s the equivalent of taking about 16 million cars off the road.

If that figure were quadrupled, which it easily could be given that 4 times as many farmers have tried to enroll in the Conservation Stewardship Program, it would reduce total greenhouse gas emissions by 4 percent—the same as taking 64 million cars off the road.

Aside from stingy funding, the other problem with the Conservation Stewardship Program is that there are some farmers who use synthetic fertilizers and pesticides who are getting paid to mitigate their own pollution.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is rewarding greenhouse gas polluting industrial farmers for what Bayer and the other agrochemical companies call “precision agriculture.” What it amounts to is adjusting the nozzles on their pesticide sprayers and fertilizer applicators to make sure they use the “right” amount—with no promise they’ll use any less!

Instead of letting Conservation Stewardship Program money get wasted on nozzle adjustment, Congress should make pesticide and synthetic fertilizer pollution illegal!

TAKE ACTION! Tell Congress to Fully Fund the Conservation Stewardship Program—and Get It Right!

By Lauren F. Friedman

“By the time you open a container of yogurt, the food has taken a long journey to reach your spoon. You may have some idea of that journey: From cow to processing to packaging to store shelves. But at each step, there is a chance for a little something extra to sneak in, a stowaway of sorts that shouldn’t be there.

That unexpected ingredient is something called a plasticizer: a chemical used to make plastic more flexible and durable. Today, plasticizers—the most common of which are called phthalates—show up inside almost all of us, right along with other chemicals found in plastic, including bisphenols such as BPA. These have been linked to a long list of health concerns, even at very low levels.

The findings on phthalates are particularly concerning: We found them in almost every food we tested, often at high levels. The levels did not depend on packaging type, and no one particular type of food—say, dairy products or prepared meals—was more likely than another to have them.”

Find out more about the problems with plastic chemicals and how to stay safer

Tell Your State Legislators to Ban Toxic PFAS

Analysis by Dr. Joseph Mercola



“Story at-a-glance

* There are about 10,000 publications showing that prolonged sitting is harmful to your health and promotes chronic diseases, including obesity and Type 2 diabetes. Within 90 seconds of rising from sitting to standing, the muscular and cellular systems that process blood sugar, triglycerides and cholesterol — which are mediated by insulin — are activated. All of these molecular effects are activated simply by carrying your bodyweight upon your legs

* Even if you get 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise each week, there’s still a dose-response association of sitting with waist circumference, systolic blood pressure and glucose levels — a phenomenon referred to as “active couch potato syndrome”

* At bare minimum, avoid sitting for more than 50 minutes out of every hour. Ideally, limit sitting to three hours or less

* According to biological anthropologists, the fossil record suggests that when early man traded their nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyles for a more settled one, it resulted in a less dense bone structure

* Recent research shows moderate exercise — loosely defined as exerting yourself to the point where you’re slightly winded but can carry on a conversation —improves all-cause survival two times better than vigorous exercise, and that more is better. It cannot be overdone”



Read more about why why sitting causes so much harm

Read more: Learn to Squat

by Diana Rodgers (Author), Robb Wolf (Author)

“At our grocery stores and dinner tables, even the most thoughtful consumers are overwhelmed by the number of considerations to weigh when choosing what to eat—especially when it comes to meat. Guided by the noble principle of least harm, many responsible citizens resolve the ethical, environmental and nutritional conundrum by quitting meat entirely. But can a healthy, sustainable and conscientious food system exist without animals?

Sacred Cow probes the fundamental moral, environmental and nutritional quandaries we face in raising and eating animals. In this film project, we focus our lens on the largest and perhaps most maligned of farmed animals, the cow.


Taking a critical look at the assumptions and misinformation about meat, Sacred Cow points out the flaws in our current food system and in the proposed “solutions.” Inside, Rodgers and Wolf reveal contrarian but science-based findings, such as:

* Meat and animal fat are essential for our bodies.

* A sustainable food system cannot exist without animals.

* A vegan diet may destroy more life than sustainable cattle farming.

With scientific rigor, deep compassion, and wit, Rodgers and Wolf argue unequivocally that meat (done right) should have a place on the table.”

It’s not the cow, it’s the how!

Buy the book Sacred Cow here

Watch the film

Who’s driving the bus? This is existentially important because we now know that there is a deadly precipice looming at the end of the road. “The New Normal,” the diabolical genetic engineering of everything, the dead end that we are being manipulated to accept and embrace, is dangerous and frightening, damaging not only our bodies and the bodies of our children, but undermining the good sense, common decency, and moral sensibilities of millions, turning us against one another instead of focusing our attention on the economic and political elite, who are orchestrating the current disaster.

OCA and our allies are doing our best to put an end to the madness, to stop the runaway express, and to help put you, and I, and our fellow Regenerators in the driver’s seat. But we need to regularly clean off the windshield, expose the lies and dangerous paths we are traveling, and follow the signs called “Organic,“ “Regeneration,” and “Peace and Love,” whether we are talking about food, farming, and health, restoring the environment, restabilizing the climate, planting peace, revitalizing participatory democracy, or taking back control of our daily lives.

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for your support.

Make a tax-deductible donation to Organic Consumers Association, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit

Make a tax-deductible donation to Regeneration International, our international sister organization

Click here for more ways to support our work

By Brenda Baletti Ph.D. The Defender,

“Between 2000 and 2021 at least 16 pathogens reportedly escaped from research laboratories, according to a new study published in The Lancet Microbe — but the study authors said their findings may “only represent the tip of the iceberg” in terms of numbers due to a lack of standard reporting requirements.

A team of researchers surveyed peer-reviewed articles and online reports in English, Chinese and German, looking for all indications that a pathogen accidentally “escaped” from a lab or that an infection was determined to be “laboratory-acquired” during the study period.

The vast majority of infections occurred as an outcome of “procedural errors,” breaches of biosafety or risk mitigation procedures, which included using the wrong personal protective equipment, having inadequate training or mishandling samples.”



Read more, including why CDC labs have some of the ‘worst regulatory histories in the country

Read Preventing Catastrophic Pandemics

TAKE ACTION: Ban Gain-of-Function Biolabs!

Author: Kris Bordessa, National Geographic author/certified master food preserver:

“I tend to be less “Doomsday prepper” and more interested in living a more self-reliant lifestyle in which we count on ourselves instead of depending so much on others. It’s a different kind of emergency preparedness, but one that fits our lifestyle. I suppose you might consider us practical preppers.

This topic came up on a local self-sufficient living list and I was impressed with what Sue Barnett had to say. It is a bit localized, but I think that no matter where you live you’ll find something to think about as you plan – or update – your emergency kit.

Unless were are under siege of war, I don’t see a lot of items just disappearing. But they surely [will be] more and more expensive to buy or maintain. There will come a point where you find you cannot afford them, and thus cannot afford to live here. Sadly many people have already reached that point and moved to the mainland. But those people are only putting off total bankruptcy by living some place where it is cheaper rather than learning to be more self-sufficient. Being dependent upon things like propane, lamp oil, generators and gasoline, canned goods and imported food, power tools, etc. is inviting downfall. In my opinion, it would be wise [to] gradually wean oneself from such dependency.

Case in point was the comment about using a water producing machine. Now you are dependent upon a commercial product that needs maintenance and uses electricity. That translates into cash expenditures. While one may be able to afford that now, do you know how to live comfortably without it? Having that knowledge and willingness to do it may become vital. Personally I prefer to store my water in glass one gallon and liter jugs. This frees up money in the budget for other things and makes me more self reliant.
”

Read more about food and lifestyle changes

“Journalists are this nation’s last line of defense for keeping all of us from becoming a nation of expendable cockroaches.”

–Kristina Borjesson, 2002

Kristina Borjesson passed away December 29, 2023. She was an Emmy Award-winning PBS, National Geographic, CBS and CNN journalist whose mainstream media career ended in 1996 when she investigated the demise of TWA Flight 800 and found evidence it was accidentally shot down by a US navyship and covered up by the Pentagon. She still managed to get the story out in a self-produced documentary, TWA Flight 800.

And, she fought back by organizing her most famous colleagues to contribute to a National Press Club Award-winning anthology of first-hand reports of censorship, Into the Buzzsaw: Leading Journalists Expose the Myth of a Free Press (2002, updated 2004) and, then, Feet to the Fire: The Media After 9/11, Top Journalists Speak Out (2005).

One of the stories told in Into the Buzzsaw is Jane Akre’s account of what happened to her in 1997 when, as a veteran TV anchor and reporter with 20 years of experience under her belt, she was fired for her investigative report, “The Mystery in Your Milk,” on Monsanto’s Posilac, the genetically engineered growth hormone given to dairy cows to make them overproduce milk.

Kristina Borjesson was one of the few people who understood that the government and its corporate partners were hiding the truth about everything from 9/11 to the COVID-19 Plandemic. Our late cofounder Ronnie Cummins followed and shared Kristina’s work and she let us know that she kept up with OCA, as well, reaching out to us most recently about our reporting on COVID’s origins.

You can learn more about Kristina Borjesson at the websites of the Lawyers’ Committee for 9/11 Inquiry where she served as a board member and Americans Who Tell the Truth.

Melissa Reid, Cannabis Now

“The West Coast has long been regarded as the epicenter of cannabis culture in the US. Now, the green wave is washing over the Eastern Seaboard and, like the thundering waves of the Atlantic Ocean, the changing tide of legalization brings new opportunities to the Empire State. Nothing is more proof of the plant’s continued decentralization from the Emerald Triangle to New York than Berner’s Cookies brand opening in Herald Square in the heart of Manhattan.

But there’s another indicator. In the Hudson Valley, directly north of New York City, an area traditionally known for its orchards and farms, a newly minted industry is growing as quickly as the crop—cannabis.

Old Mud Creek Farm is part of the largest tract of organic farmland in the Hudson Valley. Owned by philanthropist Abby Rockefeller, the septuagenarian daughter of the late David and Peggy Rockefeller, the property is a large-scale organic regenerative farm that conducts carbon research to quantify and prove the results of regenerative organic agriculture as a potential solution for the climate crisis.

“By building healthy soil and utilizing regenerative agriculture techniques, we sequester more carbon on our farm than we release into the atmosphere,” co-founder Freya Dobson says. “ We wouldn’t do this work if we didn’t think we could have a positive effect on the environment and the way people consume products that come from farms. That’s really at the forefront of everything we do.”

Freya’s brother, Ben Dobson, has managed Old Mud Creek Farm for more than a decade. During that time, the progressive farmer led the transition from a conventional farm to an organic, regenerative one. In 2017, New York opened a pilot program to grow hemp, and Old Mud Creek was one of the first farms to be granted a permit. Dobson’s sisters Melany and Freya came on board soon thereafter. Together, they became co-founders of Hudson Hemp and its product line, Treaty, which consists of five tinctures with supporting botanicals sourced locally for targeted effects.”

Learn more why Ben Dobson says “The beating heart of the company’s vision of success is a world where planetary and human health are interconnected”

Julia Shipley & Muriel Alarcón, Grist


“The mound of discarded fabric in the middle of the Atacama weighed an estimated 11,000 to 59,000 tons, equivalent to one or two times the Brooklyn Bridge.

By the time the team reached the gates of El Paso de la Mula, more than half of the clothes pile was on fire. Smoke obscured everything, hanging like an opaque black curtain. Municipal authorities turned the group away, forbidding them to stay on the premises. But Astudillo knew the landscape, so she directed the team to the dune’s far side, where access was still unimpeded.

Despite the danger, Pino and her students rummaged, pulling out specimens to examine from among unburned portions of the pile. On prior visits to the clothes dump, Astudillo had uncovered clothing produced by the world’s most well-known brands: Nautica, Adidas, Wrangler, Old Navy, H&M, Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, Forever 21, Zara, Banana Republic. Store tags still dangled from many of her findings. The clothes had come to the Atacama from Europe, the United States, Korea, and Japan. Now, as Astudillo began taking pictures and uploading them to Instagram, Pino wandered the mound, horrified and fascinated by the grotesque volume and variety of apparel: ski jackets, ball gowns, bathing suits. She plucked out a rhinestone-encrusted platform stiletto in perfect condition. She crouched to search for its match, but the wind was getting stronger. If it shifted, the team realized, they’d be trapped in the spreading fire.

“The fact that we have a desert, the fact that there’s a place to receive this, doesn’t mean that the place has to become the dump of the world,” she said. Since then, Gajardo’s conviction to never design clothes from virgin materials has deepened. Additionally, through her brand You Are the New Generation, she offers workshops in reusing garments, and visited Kansas City, Missouri, last year through the U.S. State Department’s Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative to teach people to make new clothes by harvesting old ones.

Read more: Burn After Wearing

Saqib Rahim, Grist:

“A toxic mix of dust, ash, and other material from 15 million tons of rubble now blankets the territory and all who live there.

In the months since Hamas attacked Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking hundreds more hostage, Israeli forces have pummeled Gaza in a campaign to dismantle the terrorist organization. The offensive has killed 22,000 Palestinians and dealt a grievous blow to the territory’s fragile air, water, and land — and risks the long-term health of its residents.

The ruin dwarfs anything Gazans have ever experienced. The ongoing aerial, naval, and ground assault has by one United Nations estimate damaged or destroyed about one-fifth of the structures in Gaza. According to Thorsten Kallnischkies, a former disaster waste manager who has advised cleanups in 20 countries, 15 million tons of debris now litter the Gaza Strip.

The last major hostilities between Israel and Gaza, in 2021, left 1 million tons.

When these buildings, some 40,000 in all, were blown up, concrete, insulation, and other materials — not to mention residents’ possessions — were pulverized into toxic dust. The Jabalia refugee camp, for example, a sprawling neighborhood of apartment towers known to contain asbestos, has seen repeated battering.”

Learn more why “we need the military to understand the human and environmental cost when they fight in urban areas, and we need to see that wars aren’t conducted where people live.”

Tell Congress! No More Money for War

Groundbreaking Research Reveals Why Bees Are Increasingly Making Less Honey

Del Monte Sued Over Torture, Death Claims

Starbucks Accused of Rigging Payments in App for Nearly $900 Million Gain Over 5 Years by Consumer Watchdog Group

How Do You Tackle Microplastics? Start With Your Washing Machine.

Cattle in The Earliest European Cities Weren’t Bred as Food: Prized Largely for their Poop

Why This Scientist Studies Soil, the ‘Thin Veneer’ Upon Which Life Depends

Bottled Water Can Contain Hundreds of Thousands of Previously Uncounted Tiny Plastic Bits, Study Finds

The Healthiest Beans For Your Health; Choose These

Why You Should Start Adding Pinecones To The Bottom Of Your Planters

Your Guide to Chaos Gardening: How to Use This Carefree Method

California’s PFAS Regulation Brings a Reckoning for the Fashion Industry

7 Organic Pest Control Methods for a Natural Garden

Wyoming Study: Carnivores and Scavengers Could Help Reduce CWD

The #1 Thing I Do Every Week So My Family Eats More Vegetables

JM Fortier Wants to Help More Small-Scale Farmers Grow Vegetables in Winter