It was the largest climate march’and conversation’in history.
And this time, food was at the table.
OCA International Director Ronnie Cummins, along with other staff members and OCA allies, marched under the ‘Cook Organic Not the Planet’ banner on Sunday, September 21, as part of the Food Justice Contingent of the People’s Climate March.
In all, there were nearly 50,000 people in the contingent representing food, agriculture, farming and food justice groups.
OCA’s message? Industrial agriculture is one of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions’and its counterpart, organic regenerative farming and ranching, offers not only a way to reverse global warming, but a way to have better soil, better health, more justice for farmers, and a proven path for feeding the world.
OCA organized and participated in workshops on Saturday, September 20, and co-hosted a press event on Monday, September 22.
We brought together scientists and journalists, funders and activists, farmers and visionaries.
As Vandana Shiva said at our press conference, by focusing almost exclusively on the energy industry and ignoring the role industrial agriculture plays in global warming, we have been suffering from a ‘monoculture of the mind.’
It’s time to change.
As Anna Lappé told workshop attendees, ‘We are here to put the food industry on notice. They are driving this crisis.’
Critics of the march claimed the peaceful protest lacked a unified message.
They missed the point.
As the march’s organizers said from the very beginning, ‘We need everyone to change everything.’
And everyone showed up. Including those of us who believe that how we grow food has everything to do with our health, and the health of the planet.
More on OCA’s participation in the weekend’s events
OCA’s Cook Organic not the Planet banners make the list of top protest signs
Read Ronnie’s essay on how organic farming can reverse climate change