Local Newspaper ‘The Union’ Supports the Sustainability Movement (and Opposes the Mine?)
I’m encouraged to see that the publisher of The Union, in his editorial today (“Can we have our milk and drink it, too?“), supports the sustainability movement
“Who doesn’t support the sustainability movement?” you might ask.
Well, in Jeff Ackerman’s account, mostly the federal government:
Last week I went to see a documentary called “Farmageddon,” which convinced me that our government has declared war on this sustainability movement. The last thing Uncle Sam wants today is a society able to think and act for itself. He’d rather have us clamped firmly on his teat and as far away from a goat or cow’s udder as he can keep us.
If we start drinking milk straight from a goat or cow — like our ancestors did before us — what would happen to the food industry, or the federal Food and Drug Agency that controls it?
… Most of the small farmers grow food and milk cows and goats to feed their families, friends and neighbors. This country was once a nation of farmers, and that’s the way we operated. The upside to this down economy is this sustainability movement, which is encouraging us to return to the days when we fed ourselves, our families and our neighbors with food and milk we grew and raised with our own two hands.
It’s nice to see an editorial in The Union in support of sustainability.
I’m curious to know, though, whether this now means that Jeff Ackerman has joined the growing number of Nevada County residents who oppose the ginormous local non-sustainable project being considered by the City of Grass Valley, the re-opening of the Idaho-Maryland Mine for speculative exploration, a project that he has previously supported? Hardrock mining for gold, a non-renewable resource, is the epitome of non-sustainability.
But back to Farmageddon. I need to understand this better: Is the government at war with organic farming, at war with sustainability, or just at war with raw milk?
Maybe I’ll start by watching Farmageddon, which I’ve not yet seen.
10 thoughts on “Local Newspaper ‘The Union’ Supports the Sustainability Movement (and Opposes the Mine?)”
That’s brilliant – use the sustainability movement as a weapon to attack the legitimacy of government regulation (“… When did our government first begin to hate freedom? …”)
Ironic, too, given that at the end he recommends, “To learn more, check out the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund… [or its parent] the Weston A. Price Foundation”
Yet the Weston A Price Foundation has been “spearheading efforts to have soy formula removed from the market”(link) – I guess that means they hate our freedoms [to hurt the next generation] too?
Great comments, Anna.
I had no idea about Weston Price.
Yeah, as usual, Jeff Ackerman is all over the place in that editorial.
The Union goes wherever it thinks it can make a buck: off IMM or “sustainability” advertising. You might have noticed it is sponsoring a “sustainability” event this fall. In this case that’s what the two issues have in common. Thanks for calling out the inconsistency.
Looks like Jeff is still hitting the trip wire at the IDontKnow-ScaryLand Mine. It was of interest to me the other day down at the Jesse Unruh State Building that in addition to the frieze that states:
“Bring me men to match my mountains”
there are two statues on either side of the entrance. One is male, and is called, “Mineral Wealth,” and the other is female, and is called, “Climatic Wealth”
You can find the images by drilling down from here. Click on any image for larger sizes.
Again, because it didn’t take the first time, the link is:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/keachie/collections/72157627431111293/
Wow, Doug, thanks for the pointer to those images!
… wait a minute … where is the pointer?
That’s fascinating.
It sounds like some images I can use in an editorial I’m working on.
The second post should have the link, not visible to you yet?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/keachie/collections/72157627431111293/
I see it now. Thanks!
Nice – and apropos. Googling will bring up more images of those statues.
Climatic Wealth seems to be shunning Texas and the midwest…
Re the Ackerman column & Farmageddon (which I have not seen), though, perhaps my knee jerked too soon – e.g. if this is accurate (link)…