GMO Labeling Law Pending in New Jersey; Reach Out To JC City Council & State Representatives !

From our friends at FOOD & WATER WATCH, here’s some background on New Jersey's GMO labeling campaign...

While GMO foods are a huge part of the American food supply, GMO foods have not been adequately tested for long-term impacts on humans and environmental health. Without labels, consumers have no idea if the foods they are eating are genetically engineered. Jersey City Council has an opportunity to help make New Jersey just the 4th state to make GMO labeling the law (CT, VT and ME have already passed GMO labeling laws).  By passing a resolution in support of bill # A3192, Jersey City would be calling on their representatives in the New Jersey legislature to pass this urgent bi-partisan legislation, giving consumers the power to decide if they want to eat genetically engineered foods.

Great article here on why you should care.

AND

Our own City Council and JCEC is considering Resoulution to support this important legislation - please contact your City Council Person and voice your support so they get feedback about where you stand in this matter.

If you wish to send a LETTER to our NJ Assembly and Senate representatives, alerting them to your concerns "with unlabeled, genetically modified foods, and urging them to support A3192, bi-partisan legislation that would give consumers the power to decide if they want to eat genetically engineered foods."

Correspondence can be sent to:

1. Gina McCarthy, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, Ariel Rios Building
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20460
2. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, United States Department of Agriculture, 1400 Independence Ave., S.W., Washington, DC 20250
3. Margaret Hamberg M.D., Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, 10903 New Hampshire Avenue, Silver Spring, MD 20993
4. Senators Robert Menendez and Cory Booker, United States Senate, Washington, DC 20510
5. Steven Sweeney, New Jersey Senate President, 935 Kings Highway, Suite 400, West Deptford, NJ 08086
6. Vincent Prieto, New Jersey Assembly Speaker, 1 Harmon Plaza, Suite 205 Secaucus, NJ 07094
7. Governor Chris Christie, PO Box 001, Trenton, NJ 08625
8. Local Representative, United States House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515

Palm Oil & Snack Food Industry; Follow-up Post to 'Years Of Living Dangerously'

 

Climate Mama's website is great tutorial, not only for Parents (Papas too!), on Climate Change Impacts and the related political ping pong game going on with legislators about it, but for all of us.  In addition to being educational, it puts folks in touch with immediate actions they can take when either state bills are being considered or through their extensive partnership network, ways to get more involved if these issues are something you are passionate about.

Find out more about the backstory on Palm Oil by scrolling down to the bottom of this page.  They've partnered with the Rainforest Action Network RAN) to connect the dots for folks, so you understand what's really happening.  RAN's scientists travelled with Harrision Ford in the Showtime documentary 'Years Of Living Dangerously' now airing on Sunday nites at 9pm.  And if you've missed prior episodes, they are all available On Demand on online on the series website.

SHOP LOCAL 2014 BUSINESS EXPO - Hudson County Celebrates National Small Business Week !

Save The Date & Register; Sponsorships Available Saturday May 17th - 11am - 5pm, at the Culinary Conference Center, a short walk from the Journal Square PATH

Sustainable JC has been a planning partner for this initiative and would like to support ALL SMALL BUSINESSES and the contribution they make to our local economy.  This event is being hosted by the Center for Business & Industry (CBI)  and is supported by the Hudson County Chamber of Commerce.  The event offers an opportunity for new and existing small businesses to network, attend workshops and enjoy 'Flavors of Hudson County' Restaurant Fare.  For more information contact  Aycha Edwards at the CBI office at Hudson County Community College - 201.360.4262

Food Waste Recycling Is On My Mind This Earth Week 2014 ~

Lots's of CELEBRATION ENERGY this past week around Earth Day 2014. Will make my observation short and sweet - I observed an EXTRAORDINARY AMOUNT OF STREET LITTER AND FOOD THROWN INTO TRASH BINS as folks gathered consciously to connect about their concerns for the planet.  Leaves me curious.

When folks dump their food scraps into the general waste stream, it makes it's way to a landfill; as does institutional and commercial food waste (schools, hotels, hospitals, restaurants, etc.), unless they have special carting contracts, where this separated waste stream gets brought to a special re-purposing site to be turned into soil amendments, biofuel, etc.  When food waste hits landfills it decomposes and releases dangerous amounts of Methane into our air.  Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas that is a major cause of air quality issues, greatly impacting escalating rates of respiratory disease, as well as accelerating climate changes, that are impacting our environment at alarming rates.

This is something we can control as human beings, and in fact, can be an ENGINE IN REVERSE ! IF . . . we move to change our ways a bit.   As individuals, a small effort toward recycling food scraps at home can make a big difference.  More about SJC's Community Composting / Garden Exchange initiative can be found here - http://sustainablejc.org/wordpress/projects/community-composting/

Small Business, Commercial and Institutional Partnership Matters

While urban landscapes are a bit more challenged to re-purpose their food scraps within their footprint, green corriders and open space can become beneficiaries of healthy soil amendments produced and distributed locally, also fueling the local economy by cutting down on costly carting contracts and commercial products, used to remediate / grow the green corriders in all Cities - parks, community gardens, streetscapes, school yards, institutional footprints, etc.  It can even create new green economy jobs, which is what we want right ?  Other Cities are doing this, and while it takes orchestrated change management and lots of community education, Jersey City can do this too.

Oh yes, wanted to mention the relationship between Composting & Stormwater Management.   That is to say, once we have a commitment toward a Green Infrastructure Strategy for Jersey City, we can follow the lead of other urban centers and deploy 'high absorption' , locally grown compost, in our practices to dramatically lower runoff volume and holding capacity in rain gardens, bioswales and other bioretention systems we may install.  Another example of how looking at some of our challenges from a 'whole systems' perspective, gives us the opportunity to solve multiple problems at once.

More on the impacts of food scraps / methane here -

http://epa.gov/climatechange/ghgemissions/gases/ch4.html

Fun video on what Montpelier, VT is doing; small restaurant operation meets chickens -

http://www.aljazeera.com/video/americas/2014/04/tackling-america-wasteful-lifestyle-2014418115845171972.html

My blogpost from last Sept about NJ townships on the move -

http://sustainablejc.org/wordpress/2013/09/food-waste-what-are-you-doing-about-it/

Years Of Living Dangerously ! James Cameron's Gift, Earth Day 2014.

Director James Cameron (Titanic, Avatar) directs this 9-episode series on the impacts of climate change here in the US and around the globe.  Distinguished narrators take on the topic as an opportunity to educate themselves and others, beyond the rhetoric, about the root causes and the complex interconnections that are driving some very bad decisions. For those who are confused or are sitting on the fence about what you believe or what action, if any, you might want to take, I would highly recommend taking a bit of time to tune in to this intelligent discussion.  However, fair warning . . . is disturbing to watch.  So far, I appreciate most how they are exploring how faithbased communities and individuals who are guided by their religious teachings, are reconciling scientific evidence with their spiritual beliefs.

This is airing on Showtime but each episode can be viewed on the website - www.YearsOfLivingDangerously.com