FROM THE US ORGANIC CONSUMERS ASSOCIATION:

Alert Update of the Week: Vilsack and Riddle Despite a deluge of over 100,000 emails and petition signatures from organic consumers and farmers objecting to the appointment of biotech and biofuels booster Tom Vilsack as Secretary of Agriculture, the Senate is scheduled to begin confirmation hearings for Vilsack today. The Organic Consumers Association (OCA) is disappointed in this controversial appointment, and we are calling on our national network and allies to pressure Obama to move beyond "agribusiness as usual" by drafting Jim Riddle to head the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), the department that oversees organic food, farming, and standards. Riddle is an organic farmer from Minnesota, former Chair of the National Organic Standards Board, and a longtime advocate for sustainable and organic farming. With Riddle heading up the AMS, farmers markets, Community Supported Agriculture, transition to organic programs, and the National Organic Program will finally receive the attention, technical assistance, and funding they deserve. Take action Sustainability Alert: How Much Change Will There Be Inauguration Day? On January 8, the US Senate began confirmation hearings for President-Elect Obama's cabinet. The Salt Lake Tribune sums things up neatly in a headline indicating Obama's Cabinet may be short on reformers. According to Ronnie Cummins, director of the Organic Consumers Association. "The latest polls show that 60 percent of Americans say we're in serious straits and need some major changes, but he's going to have to be pushed if we're going to see anything other than small change." Please follow the link below to learn more about the nominees and send letters to President-Elect Obama and your Senators. The Senate is expected to confirm all the nominees in a floor vote on Inauguration Day, so there's not much time left for public input. Take Action Encouraging Statistics of the Week: Farmers Markets Go "Boom" Essay of the Week: The Urban Homestead: Your Guide to Self-sufficient Living... "Sick of flavorless, genetically modified, pesticide-drenched franken-vegetables? It's time to start growing food in your back yard. Before you start thinking that you have to move somewhere else to grow your own food, take another look around. With a couple of notable exceptions, American cities sprawl. They are full of wasted space. As a homesteader, you will begin to see any open space as a place to grow food. This includes front yards as well as backyards, vacant lots, parkways, alleyways, patios, balconies, window boxes, fire escapes and rooftops. Urban homesteading is an affirmation of the simple pleasures of life. When you spend a Saturday morning making a loaf of bread, or go out on a summer evening after work to sit with your chickens, or take a deep breath of fresh-cut basil, you unplug yourself from the madness. Many of us spend a lot of each day in front of a computer. Homesteading hooks us into the natural world and the passing of the seasons, and reminds us of our place within the greater cycle of life." ---- Source Learn more about OCA's "Organic Transitions" campaign designed to mobilize communities and consumers to develop transition strategies in the new era of Peak Oil and climate change, with organic food & farming providing the healthy cornerstone for a new green economy.