Environmental for Food Justice

Tsé Bitʼaʼí  (Shiprock). Photo courtesy of Wikipedia   Moderator’s Note: On August 5, 2015, the EPA reported that crews at a defunct gold mine in southern Colorado—the Gold King Mine near Silverton—accidently released more than three million gallons of highly contaminated water into Cement Creek, a tributary of the Animas River. The ‘River of Souls’ is a critical source of agricultural water rights for Native farmers from the Ute and Navajo (Diné) nations. It has been widely reported that the EPA has tried to get Native farmers from the Navajo Nation to sign official forms that are ‘waivers’ releasing the agency from direct lawsuits for damages, in what can only be considered a brazen display of environmental racism in a clear example of a violation of the Obama Administration’s own commitment to Executive Order 12898 (see, for e.g., the August 12 report in Aljazeera-America ). Despite this ecological catastrophe, one of the most serious and damaging mined waste ‘accidents’ i...

Protestan contra el maíz transgénico en el Zócalo capitalino. Foto: Xinhua / Alejandro Ayala Moderator’s Note: This update on the unfolding struggle over the suspension of GMO corn plantings in Mexico, in effect since September 2013, draws from a report by Mexican journalist Mathieu Tourliere that appeared in the on-line Proceso magazine on August 19, 2015 . I have also drawn from reports by Sinembargo , and background briefings from the ETC Group . Mexican judge overturns ruling on the suspension of the planting of transgenic corn in Mexico RULING APPEALED BY CIVIL SOCIETY GROUPS Devon G. Peña | Viejo San Acacio, CO | August 20, 2015 Yesterday (August 19), reports came out of Mexico regarding the continuing legal battle over the cultivation of genetically engineered (GE) maize in the country that is the principal center of origin for this globally vital food staple. According to Mathieu Tourliere, writing in the on-line magazine, Proceso , a judge with the 12th District for Civil Mat...