We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

One farmer acts to save environment from factory farms

from Food Freedom.
The smell, even in early March, is nearly overpowering. “It’s industrial agriculture using family farms as a disguise,” Henning says. “Manure is no longer manure – it’s toxic waste.” And it needs to be treated as such, she says, not spread untreated on fields or allowed to wash into local water sources.