Proposed Current Use Bill Summary and Plum Creek

House Bill 237, sponsored by Representative Clarkson, makes some minor changes to the use value program. The bill would eliminate the preferential property tax transfer tax rates for enrolled land and use the savings to develop and implement an electronic database for the use value program. The land use change tax would be 10% of fair market price, rather than 20% as it is now. The tax will then be paid to the local municipality, rather than to the general fund. Those enrolled in the program, and who take great issue with the changes created by this bill, would be granted an easy out of the program. The bill’s success would be monitored by a program study, which is implemented by the bill. The bill would take effect in July of 2011.
Rural VT is comfortable with all these changes, and supports this legislation. Currently, Plum Creek (notorious land pillagers and corporate thieves) are bending the ears of Senate and House Ag., about the clause within Current Use that indicates a moratorium on logging all contiguous land to a cut contrary (an area that was over-harvested.) Plum Creek wants legislation that makes the penalty less harsh, as they have hundreds of acres frozen right now on account of the current penalty. I, nor Rural VT, is in favor of an easement and we will continue to monitor Plum Creek in the State House. For more information on Plum Creek, and what these guys are up to, visit this link: http://www.nrcm.org/issue_plumcreek.asp.

Food Sovereignty in Maine Towns

Town meeting. A practice that has held fast in New England for hundreds of years. On town meeting day, issues usually focus on roads, schools, zoning and budget issues there in. But in Sedgwick, Maine town meeting had an additional focus: food sovereignty. The town unanimously passed an ordinance that nullifies federal and state laws that oversee processing and sales of local food products. You might say: "Can they do that?!" That is what I said, and I am not sure yet. This ordinance would allow people to run bakeries out of their kitchens, sell their meat after having processed in on the back step and sell milk that is still warm from the udder. Radical. Powerful. Promising. This is the type of local action that starts entire economic and social revolutions. But is the Agency of Agriculture in Maine going to shut this town down? And if not, can we emulate this type of law-making here, in our state. I will continue to look at case law that would support or refute the town's right to nullify state or federal legislation and promise to update this blog with what I find out. This ordinance is by far the most exciting political action I have witnessed during my time in Montpelier- I want to bring this type of thinking into our towns! I feel a Div III brewing...

For more about Sedgwick, visit: http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2011/03/maine-town-declares-food-sovereignty/

Genetically Modified Foods in VT

Today, two bills dealing with GE Foods were introduced. The first, I discussed in my last posting, and aims to protect and inform consumers. The other GE bill would require all farms using GE alfalfa to register with the Agency, 60 days prior to use of the seeds. This bill would seek to track alfalfa, as well as contain its impact. The bill requires farmers using GE alfalfa to notify all neighboring farms within a three mile radius. The passage of these two bills would mean protections for farmers and for consumers on GE food products within our state.
Today, Jared and I sat down with Will Stevens to see how we could help with this effort. The food labeling bill was given to Human Services, which means getting to know that committee and labeling on the bill's behalf there. The alfalfa bill will be up in House Agriculture. Rural Vermont is thinking of also having an event to discuss GMOs more generally, maybe a panel/ potluck so that we can get the community's input as we move forward.
Although these bills do not do it all, they are a step in the right direction and demonstrate a positive type of legislation: laws that are not overly divisive, yet make a fast improvement. I am very happy to be back at work- there is so much (too much) to do!

From Bonaire to... Bananas

I am sitting in the Rural Vermont office, where Jared (my boss) and I are the only ones coming in for the day. A predicted 4 inches turned into two feet of snow outside, and I could barely step out of my apartment this morning. This past week, I was in Bonaire visiting my friends Stephanie and Clark. Together we swam through reefs teeming with life, lay on beaches made of coral pieces bigger than my fist and ate mangoes shipped in from South America for breakfast. What was most astonishing about Bonaire was how, despite it not having a landscape as lush and rolling as Vermont, I fell in love with it. How tremendous is it to be able to love many ecosystems? To adore the nesting robin equally to the reef-munching parrot fish is to realize the true interconnectedness that exists on earth. Upon arrival back in the states, I was still falling asleep dreaming I was snorkeling but nevertheless was at my parent's house in Thetford, Vermont. My Dad and Step Mom suggested I read a recent New Yorker article, "We Have No Banana's" by Mike Peed. The article describes the devastating banana blight: Tropical Zone Four. This soil-borne fungus affects the most popular breed of banana, the Cavendish.
In 2008, Americans alone at 7.6 billion pounds of Cavendish bananas. Monoculture. Monoculture threatens biological diversity and food security, and as Peed's article eloquently outlines: GMO solutions are only short-term. And as scientists seeks to develop resistant Cavendish-comparable banana, the ugly side effects can be more of these super strong blights. Some scientists, according to Peed, argue that many of the diseases and blights we see today are a product of our own creation: products of the over-use of antibiotics and pesticides. In the long-run, GMO research makes more crops vulnerable to diseases, while making it possibly to utilize them as a monocrop. As the Tropcial Race Four blight decimates banana crops world-wide, exposing the mistake that is monoculture, our government has recently approved GE alfalfa, a new GE corn variety, and a new GE sugar beet variety.
A bill introduced last week in the Vermont House would require all food and food products sold within the state of Vermont with one of more Genetically Engineered (as defined by the National Organic Program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture) ingredient to be labeled as such. If the food is improperly labeled, the vendor or packager would be held accountable under 18 VSA 4050, "Misbranding of Food". The law would take effect on July 1, 2011. This bill is one way for consumers to place their vote on GMOs. It would allow consumers to employ informed consent when ingesting GMOs, as well as raise general awareness amongst consumers on the subject.
While sitting with my feet in the while sand on Bonaire, my whole body surged with a feeling of urgency. Our ecological crisis is not waiting for us to act. The diversity we appreciate (although certainly not enough) is at stake. E.O. Wilson suggests that humans have an innate tendency to love life. He calls this: biophilia. Although, he recognizes that the world consists of developers, loggers, farmers, vegans, etc., he says that all these interactions with the landscape are equal in their love for it. The challenge now is for us to appeal to the biophilia within each other, to find middle ground, so we can keep the reefs, the bananas, the raw milk, the green pasture and the deep forest.

Rural VT "Warned" by the Agency of Agriculture... and I get a JOB!

Yesterday, our group received a letter warning us that we were acting outside the law by offering Raw Milk Cheese Classes. See the email from our direct Jared below for more information. Needless to say this caused for a busy day of brainstorming next steps, as we feel this is a right we want to protect. We met with the Agency to confirm their position and will work to make the next move with the help of our board.
In other news, I ran into the Governor today and he shook my hand and said he would like to hire me as a summer intern (unpaid.) Done and done! I was very happy to walk home along the river, in this Valley of a town and celebrate my success. To celebrate, I am going to the cafe, getting some good coffee and studying for the LSATs. Do I know how to live or what.
I will keep yall posted about developments on the cheese class issue.
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Jared Carter wrote:
Our dairy classes have been put on hold due to
a Notice of Warning from the Agency of Agriculture’s alleging that by
teaching consumers (or “unlicensed persons” in his words) how to make butter,
yogurt, cheese, and other products at home Rural Vermont and our farmer hosts
are in violation of Vermont law. The raw dairy processing classes are an
important part of Rural Vermont’s campaign to educate consumers on raw milk and
to increase exposure for farmers selling raw milk in their community. The
warning threatened legal action towards Rural Vermont and our farmers. Rural
Vermont does not want to put our farmer members at risk so we are temporarily
suspending the classes.

The Agency’s argument centers around its
interpretation of the 2009 Raw Milk Law, in which they claim that it is illegal
for farmers to knowingly sell raw milk to customers who plan to do anything to
their milk besides drink it. Rural Vermont believes this violates the
intent of the law and does not agree with the Agency’s interpretation.
Nevertheless, until we have solid understanding of the Agency’s official
policy, we have decided to suspend the classes.

Keep in touch with us as we work to bring
recognition of farmer and consumer rights around raw dairy. Check our
website,
www.ruralvermont.org where we will post updates as soon as we
can.

Knowing Your Farmer...

Today, the House Ag Committee, look testimony from meat producers in the state. These were folks who either sell meat they have grown or meat they have processed within the state. To be fair, the majority of representatives on the agriculture committee know these businesses already. They know how these businesses function, understand the realities of the VT market, and meat production more generally. Representative Duncan Killmartin, however, seems completely out of touch on these issues. While asking questions of Vermont Smoke and Cure's CEO, the Republic representative asked how the company promoted/utilized the Vermont brand with its products. The company is called Vermont Smoke and Cure. Yes, some of us know these companies, these slaughter houses, from working in Vermont and in the farming community. Others, however, know these groups from shopping at the co-op or an out-of-state Whole Foods. This is what constituents are looking for in Representatives: to have their fingers on the pulse of community life and all that it contains. All Representatives have something to offer, and one silly question does not mean that we should lose faith in them. But, as Will Steven's pointed out this weekend at the NOFA conference: there are 3 farmers in the VT house of Representatives. Good thing Rural VT is there to represent.

Speaking of NOFA, I was thoroughly impressed with the conference and was really honored to speak for our group at the Ag. Policy discussion on Saturday. Everything that folks brought up in the Policy discussion were things I felt well versed in and things that Rural VT is actively pursuing change for in the State House.
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P.S. I am headed to visit Steph and Clark in one week. Noah and I are going together. We will leave this snowy land for snorkeling, white sand beaches and mangroves!

Environmentalist= Commie Pinko Stalin-Spawn?

This week, I was asked to write a blog, on environmentalists as communists (?!?), an accusation made my the new appointee to Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources, for Imagine2050 and the Center for a New Community (http://imagine2050.newcomm.org/). And, since the house and senate are inundated with this beautiful snowstorm, I took the morning to type this up. My blog will be web-published by them in the next few days. But here is a sneak peak for my faithful blog-followers.

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In a 2009 radio appearance, Harrison Schmitt called environmental leaders “communists”. Schmitt was appearing on Alex Jones’ radio show when he located the origin of the present environmental movement’s politics in the fall of the Soviet Union. Schmitt suggests: “Because the great champion of the opponents of liberty, namely communism, had to find some other place to go and they basically went into the environmental movement. … They converted environmental activism to a political movement and some would say a religious movement.”Governor Susana Matinez has appointed Schmitt to be the head of Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department, placing him in charge of: “Mining and Minerals Division, State Parks Division, Oil Conservation Division and Energy Conservation Management Division.”

When I think of environmentalists, or point to the leaders of the environmental movement, I do not tend to think of them as communists. That, however, may be a failure of my imagination (as a self-proclaimed environmentalist). Environmental leaders, such as Bill McKibben, advocate for immediate local and global action to help stave off climate change and other environmental problems. In the face of climate change, McKibben and others tend to refer to the issue as non-partisan. We are all subject to the effects of environmental degradation, and therefore it knows no party lines. That being said, Schmitt suggests that environmentalists operate outside democracy. Environmentalists are, according to Schmitt, the offspring of Stalin’s movement. As long as the Schmitts of the world keep talking, and people keep listening, the words of environmentalists can be discarded. And when the words of scientists, scholars, passionate tree-huggers, etc. go unheard, the degradation can continue unchecked.

Wendell Berry, environmentalist, farmer and author of The Unsettling of America and many other books, warns that America itself is threatened by pollution and land degradation: “(we) are eroding our freedom along with our soil. … We are destroying our country—I mean our country itself, our land…” Berry suggests that our freedom is at stake when we forsake our landscape. To me, he sounds far more like a patriot than a treasonous commie.

Silent Spring, Rachel Carson’s book that is said to be the impetuous for the modern day environmental movement was published some 30 years before the fall of the Soviet Union (1991). So while it is true that environmentalists tend to advocate for some select communists ideals (land conserved for equal, but controlled, public use, e.g. National Parks), it could also be argued that modern day environmentalists and the environmental movement appeal more to Nationhood more than political dissent. So, it seems unlikely that this movement, which began long before the fall of Stalin’s communism, is deeply informed by communist rhetoric. Schmitt uses a now old trick of anti-environmentalists: diverting attention away from the severe environmental problems at hand and instead focusing on the people drawing attention to those problems. If Schmitt can get us liberals in a room for a day to discuss whether Obama’s science advisor, John Holdren, is a pinko, British Petroleum (for example) can move forward with a new pipeline without any of us noticing.