A different perspective on organic standards

Book Review: Organic Revolutionary: A memoir of the movement for real food, planetary healing, and human liberation. By Grace Gershuny, 2016. http://www.organic-revolutionary.com/

Carmelo Ruiz

It has been taken as an article of faith by not few American environmentalists and food activists that organic agriculture was originally a concept filled with revolutionary promise, that was poised to replace the corporate-dominated toxic US food system with a decentralized, ecologically sound, healthy, and socially just, network of eco-farms and eco-villages producing food using the latest eco-technologies. And that the main reason this has not happened is that “the US Department of Agriculture jumped into the organic bandwagon, turned this agricultural revolution into a bureaucratic nightmare and watered down its standards in order to please major corporate retailers and food processors. Now the term ‘organic’ is fast becoming meaningless.” So claims this discourse.

Those of us with some familiarity with the US organic farming scene have at some point heard this account of the rise and fall of organic, along with the list of alleged sellouts who started out as radical hippie back-to-the-landers who became corporate suits or federal bureaucrats. Organic farmer and social ecology professor Grace Gershuny provides a more nuanced view of these processes of transformation in her book Organic Revolutionary: A memoir of the movement for real food, planetary healing, and human liberation. The main focus of this book is the story behind the green and white USDA Organic label, which American grocery shoppers are becoming increasingly familiar with. The process that led to the implementation of the label, as well as nationwide organic standards, is a very contentious one, involving the USDA bureaucracy and countless stakeholders, and is narrated by the author from a very personal perspective.

Gershuny is no dispassionate detached observer. The story of organic is the story of her life. Not just her professional and public life; her love life and family life are also inseparable from the broader drama of Organic USA. For this reason, Gershuny’s history of organic standards and labeling is necessarily an autobiography- and inversely, she could never tell the story of her life without going through the whole history of the organic movement.

The author tells her journey: how her father was influenced by the ideas of maverick Ralph Borsodi, founder of the School of Living, and her early work with the New Alchemy Institute, the Northeast Organic Farmers Association, and the Institute for Social Ecology, back then affiliated with Goddard College. She also provides a brief and useful primer on the origins of organic agriculture, explaining the valuable contributions of its forebears, like F.H. King, Rudolf Steiner, Sir Albert Howard, J.I. Rodale, Vinoba Bhave, and Scott and Helen Nearing. Gershuny also emphasizes the importance of philosopher and social critic Murray Bookchin, founder of social ecology, as an early critic of pesticides and industrial agriculture, and as ecological visionary:

Most people credit Rachel Carson and Silent Spring, published in 1962, with inspiring the environmental movements of the sixties. But Murray Bookchin had published the largely unnoticed Our Synthetic Environment a few months before. While Carson wrote from a scientific perspective and Bookchin from a political and social viewpoint, they converged in raising the alarm about threats to human and non-human health posed by a range of environmental and foodborne toxins… Bookchin, however, identified distorted social relations - not ‘modern technology’ in general - as the root of the ecological crisis. The oppression of nature is an outgrowth of the oppression of one group of humans by another - otherwise known as hierarchy. Although few in the incipient organic movement were aware of the book, Our Synthetic Environment outlined the major thematic ideas that shaped its early development. (P. 45.)

In 1994 she accepted a staff position at the USDA’s newly formed National Organic Program, whose role is to implement the 1990 Organic Food Production Act. Some grassroots activists frowned at this “uncool” move on her part. But as Gershuny explains:

One of my goals in taking on this work for the USDA was to help introduce more organic-friendly thinking within this huge bureaucracy, second only to the Pentagon in size. Never again, I swore, would an organic farmer walk into an Extension Service office and be scoffed at. Once this law was implemented, every federal agricultural agency would have to offer assistance… I saw the sanctioning of organic farming by its former arch-enemy as a turning point in the radical transformation of American agriculture. (From the prologue)

Her account of the various conflicts, contradictions and trade-offs involved in setting up the US organic standards, written simultaneously from the perspective of the committed activist and of the government insider, is must reading for those who want to understand the process by which the USDA Organic label appeared on grocery shelves all over the country. This federal government work sent Gershuny straight to public controversy and made her the object of accusations of “selling out”. Some activists wrote her into the list of “bad guys” in the “government-corporate takeover of organic” narrative described at the beginning of this review. She complains that they have totally misrepresented her views and her work at the USDA without even bothering to check the facts, much less talk with her directly. More than anything else, Organic Revolutionary is Gershuny’s bid to set the record straight.

The messages coming from many activists seemed contrary to the organic principles that we all claimed to espouse, and the demand that the standards must be as high as possible actually played into the likely agribusiness agenda of preventing organic agriculture from becoming any threat to business as usual by limiting it to a tiny niche market. (From the prologue)

This book contains a much needed perspective on the debates that rage within the US organic movement, including labeling and nationwide standards, the role of the US government, and the reconciliation of radical politics with real world practice. Gershuny’s views are unpopular- and will surely remain so- with some activists and organic advocates. But regardless of their viewpoint, readers will come away enriched from reading Organic Revolutionary.

FULL DISCLOSURE: Carmelo Ruiz is a graduate of the Institute for Social Ecology’s MA program and took a summer class with Gershuny. He has also worked with some of her most outspoken critics and attackers.

Ruiz is a Puerto Rican author and journalist and visiting professor at the Institute for Social Ecology and Bates College, and a senior fellow of the Environmental Leadership Program (http://elpnet.org/ ). Since 2004 he directs the Biosafety Blog (http://bioseguridad.blogspot.com/search/label/en ). His most recent blogging venture is The World According to Carmelo (http://carmeloruiz.tumblr.com/ ). His Twitter account is @carmeloruiz.

Brian Tokar on Global Warming and Climate Justice

Save the Date! 2016 Social Ecology Summer Intensive Program

http://social-ecology.org/wp/2016/02/save-the-date-2016-summer-intensive-program/

2015 ISE Summer Intensive @ the Watershed Center.

Please join the Institute for Social Ecology from August 6 – 12, 2016 for our annual summer intensive. Each year, we invite newcomers and experienced students alike to renew the tradition of social ecology through classes, workshops and talks. This year’s  program,  Democracy, Ecology & Social Movements, will offer a 7-day introduction to social ecology and contemporary movements, as well as an advanced track on social ecology’s unique philosophy and politics.

REGISTRATION: seminar@social-ecology.org

LOCATION: We are graciously hosted by the Watershed Center, a social justice retreat and resource center located just 100 miles north of New York City. The Watershed Center is nearby the Metro-North line from New York City. Disability accommodations are available.

COST: The cost of the program is $600. All meals and housing included. Scholarships are available – please write to us!  Students of color and low-income individuals encouraged to apply.

SCHEDULE: We begin Saturday, August 6 and continue until Friday, August 12. Each day, classes begin at 9 AM and end at 6 PM. There are afternoon breaks for swimming, hiking and enjoying the summer sun. Guest lectures and activities take place in the evenings.

Click here for 2016 program details.

See you in August!  

The Paris Climate Agreement: Hope Or Hype?, by Brian Tokar

https://www.popularresistance.org/the-paris-climate-agreement-hope-or-hype/

It has become a predictable pattern at the annual UN climate conferences for participants to describe the outcome in widely divergent ways. This was first apparent after the high-profile Copenhagen conference in 2009, when a four-page non-agreement was praised by diplomats, but denounced by well-known critics as a “sham,” a “farce,” and a mere face-saver. UN insiders proclaimed the divisive 2013 Warsaw climate conference a success, even though global South delegates and most civil society observers had staged an angry walk-out a day prior to its scheduled conclusion.

So it was no surprise when this happened again on December 12th in Paris. Francois Hollande praised the Paris Agreement as “ambitious,” “binding,” and “universal.” Ban Ki-moon said it ushers in a “new era of global cooperation,” and UN climate convention executive secretary Christiana Figueres described it as “an agreement of solidarity with the most vulnerable.” Barack Obama waxed triumphant and proclaimed the outcome a testament to American leadership in diplomacy and technology.

Institute for Social Ecology web site gets makeover

http://social-ecology.org/

Social Ecology n.1: a coherent radical critique of current social, political, and anti-ecological trends. 2: a reconstructive, ecological, communitarian, and ethical approach to society.

Social Ecology advocates a reconstructive and transformative outlook on social and environmental issues, and promotes a directly democratic, confederal politics. Social Ecology envisions a moral economy that moves beyond scarcity and hierarchy, toward a world that reharmonizes human communities with the natural world, while celebrating diversity, creativity and freedom.

Historically, the Institute for Social Ecology has been a pioneer in the exploration of ecological approaches to food production, alternative technologies, and urban design, and has played an essential, catalytic role in movements to challenge nuclear power, global injustices and unsustainable biotechnologies, while building participatory, community-based alternatives. The Institute strives to be an agent of social transformation, demonstrating the skills, ideas and relationships that can nurture vibrant, self-governed, healthy communities.

Interview with Dan Chodorkoff on the founding of the Inst for Social Ecology

Carmelo Ruiz: Botanical Chess

http://www.social-ecology.org/2012/04/exclusive-the-grand-botanical-chess-game/

The Grand Botanical Chess Game

April 19, 2012

From Puerto Rican social ecologist Carmelo Ruiz-Marrero:
All over the world, debates on the future of food and agriculture are dominated by one supreme subject: the seed. Its importance cannot possibly be overstated. Seed is, after all, the beginning of the human food chain. In the words of University of Wisconsin professor Jack R. Kloppenburg: “As both food and means of production, seed sits at a critical nexus where contemporary struggles over the technical, social and environmental conditions of production and consumption converge and are made manifest.”
Current debates on seed center around its appropriation and privatization through intellectual property laws and treaties, and around the growing power of corporations like Monsanto and Syngenta, which are bent on creating virtual monopolies over all seed germplasm.

Biehl breaks with social ecology

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http://www.social-ecology.org/2011/04/biehl-breaks-with-social-ecology/

FYI: Janet Biehl was one of the lecturers at the Institute for Social Ecology back in the 1990's when I arrived there for the summer course. After the course ended I decided to stay in Vermont and enroll in Goddard College's Social Ecology M.A. program. I ended up living there for a few years. After returning to Puerto Rico I visited the Institute every summer and lectured there myself for a few years. I essentially agree with Biehl's views on anti-statism.

Xcerpt:

As American social and economic life has been undergoing turmoil and regression, I found the antistatism of social ecology/viz. communalism paralyzing. In order to at least adhere to the appearance of antistatism, I had to stifle myself politically. (At least in the solitude of a voting booth I could vote for Obama.) But in the fall of 2010, when a Democratic candidate for governor ran on a platform to bring single-payer healthcare to the state of Vermont I could not longer suppress myself. I crossed the thin black line and … did volunteer work for this candidate. Shortly afterward I began “coming out” to my social ecology friends. Fortunately they have mostly taken it in stride, and I remain on good terms with most; my friends at New Compass, for example, continue to publish my writings in areas where we overlap.

Murray developed social ecology in the postwar era, when moving the social agenda forward in a radical way seemed possible. Utopianism, he said, not only possible but necessary. Today it may still be necessary, but it seems very far from possible. The champions of antistatism today are Wall Street, gigantic financial institutions, multinational corporations. The Koch Brothers are the great success story of American libertarianism, champing at the bit to undo the social safety net that progressive people in the twentieth century struggled to create. (Other forces subservient to capital are cutting social programs in Europe and the U.K.) In the coming months the Republicans in Congress are going to put Medicaid and Medicare on the chopping block. Many real people—not theoretical people in the pages of theoretical articles, but real people–are suffering now from the untrammeled financial royalism of Wall Street and will suffer more when they lose the social programs. I fail to see how an antistatist practice can address this ominous situation constructively. What does make sense to me, mundane as you may think it, is a rearguard fight to preserve the social programs. So no, I will not form a study group to smash the state; I will march to defend Medicare and Medicaid. I am not an antistatist—be it anarchist, communalist, or social ecologist; I am a social democrat and make no apologies for it.

Carmelo Ruiz: North & South, Ecology and Justice, Part 1

North & South, Ecology and Justice, Part 1

Posted On May 16, 2011
http://www.social-ecology.org/2011/05/north-south-ecology-and-justice-part-1/

by Carmelo Ruiz-Marrero (First of 3 parts)

The movements for ecology and justice face a particular set of opportunities and perils at the start of the second decade of the 21st century. Those who seek to transform North-South relations to advance sustainability and the eradication of poverty and hunger would do good to re-examine and take a fresh new look at the ideas and concepts espoused by what we could call Third World militancy during the 1950′s, 60′s and 70′s. The goal of this “third world movement”, so to speak, was to engage rich and poor countries in a North-South dialogue that would lead to a new order based on multilateralism and genuine international cooperation. This endeavor must be not only resumed but also modernized and updated to take account of new global realities, like climate change, peak oil, the food crisis, the global economic debacle, and human disasters of untold proportions like the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and the 2011 Fukushima nuclear emergency.

8-Day Social Ecology Intensive

January 9th – 16th, 2010 — New York City — $300 (scholarships available)

The Institute for Social Ecology presents an 8-day intensive introduction to the philosophy and politics of Social Ecology. This 8-day intensive will offer students an introduction to the dialectical philosophy and politics of Social Ecology. Using the lens of Social Ecology, students will participate in four topical seminars focused on climate justice; alternatives to capitalism; race; and the history of Social Ecology and radical movements. Students will also participate in a practicum applying the principles of Social Ecology to their own actual (or imagined) activist campaigns.

The philosophy class will be held in the evening to encourage NYC students with day jobs to attend.

What Is the ISE?

For more than thirty years, the Institute for Social ecology has been offering educational programs focused on a reconstructive social and ecological transformation of society. The ISE views the global penetration of systems of domination into daily life, the centralization of power, the homogenization of culture, and the strengthening of hierarchy and social control as impediments to human freedom and the root causes of the current ecological crisis. It is the ISE’s core belief that that humans have the potential to play a creative role in natural and social evolution, and to foster vibrant, self-governing communities free from hierarchy, social inequity, and ecological degradation.

Contact: Januaryseminar@social-ecology.org

INSTITUTE FOR SOCIAL ECOLOGY

Social Ecology n 1: a coherent radical critique of current social, political, and anti-ecological trends. 2: a reconstructive, ecological, communitarian, and ethical approach to society.

Social ecology advocates a reconstructive and transformative outlook on social and environmental issues, and promotes a directly democratic, confederal politics. As a body of ideas, social ecology envisions a moral economy that moves beyond scarcity and hierarchy, toward a world that reharmonizes human communities with the natural world, while celebrating diversity, creativity and freedom.

– More about Social Ecology
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