Winona LaDuke and a Couple of NYTs articles

Executive Director of Honor the Earth, Winona LaDuke, argues for Indigenous concepts of sustainability, and critiques traditional linear models. She is concerned with the present economics of an expansion economy, with its environmental, social and political implications. She also discusses the Ojibwa prophecies of a green path, and presents casework from the White Earth reservation, and other projects, such as the Navajo green economy transition, and the implications of this for a larger society.  She asks how do we transition to a green and sustainable economy and what are  the costs for doing so and the process needed to get us there.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winona_LaDuke
http://nativeharvest.com/winona_laduke
http://www.speakoutnow.org/userdata_display.php?modin=50&uid=79
http://voices.cla.umn.edu/artistpages/laduke_winona.php
http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/173622/june-12-2008/winona-laduke
http://www.amazon.com/Winona-LaDuke-Reader-Collection-Essential/dp/0896585735

It might be interesting to compare LaDuke to McKibben.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Why Aren''t G.M.O. Foods Labeled?" by Mark Bittman  New York Times, February 15, 2011

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/15/why-arent-g-m-o-foods-labeled/?scp=1&sq=gmo%20labeling&st=Search

If you want to avoid sugar, aspartame, trans-fats, MSG, or just about anything else, you read the label. If you want to avoid G.M.O.’s — genetically modified organisms — you’re out of luck. They’re not listed. You could, until now, simply buy organic foods, which by law can’t contain more than 5 percent G.M.O.’s. Now, however, even that may not work.

In the last three weeks, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has approved three new kinds of genetically engineered (G.E.) foods: alfalfa (which becomes hay), a type of corn grown to produce ethanol), and  sugar beets. And super-fast-growing salmon — the first genetically modified animal to be sold in the U.S., but probably not the last — may not be far behind.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Room for Debate: Is the World Producing Enough Food?" New York Times, February 15, 2011

http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/02/15/is-the-world-producing-enough-food?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=thab1


Global food prices are soaring again, as droughts, freezes and floods have affected various crops in many parts of the world. At the same time, demand is rising with living standards in fast-growing countries.
The price spikes are not as sharp as they were in 2008, but the new volatility reflects more than the sum of recent freakish weather "events," from severe droughts in China and Russia to floods in Australia to a deep freeze in Mexico.
Economists and scientists have identified longer-term changes -- from global warming to China's economic growth to a lack of productive farmland -- as the culprits. Is the world producing enough food -- specifically grain? Is this a continuation of the 2008 crisis, or something quite different?


--Katherine