Cheap, Dirty Meat. 2018.

https://www.organicconsumers.org/blog/48-million-sickened-every-year-cheap-dirty-meat

48 Million Sickened Every Year by Cheap, Dirty Meat

February 22, 2018

Organic Consumers Association

 by Katherine Paul

Environment & Climate, 

CAFOs vs. Free Range

pig nose hog snout fence cc 1000x523.jpg

If you live in the U.S., you’re far more likely to get hit with salmonella or some other foodborne illness, than if you live in the U.K.  You can thank the factory farm industry for that.

An investigation by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ) and the Guardian found “shockingly high” levels of foodborne illness in the U.S. The Guardian reports that “annually, around 14.7 percent (48 million people) of the U.S. population is estimated to suffer from an illness, compared to around 1.5 percent (1 million) in the UK. In the U.S., 128,000 are hospitalized, and 3,000 die each year of foodborne diseases.

Driving these grim statistics is the multi-billion-dollar industrial factory farm industry that not only makes us sick, but pollutes our water and air, exploits workers, is causing an antibiotic resistance crisis and is unconscionably inhumane. 

And it’s all done in the name of “cheap food.”

TBIJ and the Guardian conducted its investigation based on U.S. government documents containing data on 47 meat plants across the U.S. According to the Guardian:

Some of the documents relate to certain companies, including Pilgrim’s Pride, one of the US’s biggest poultry producers, and Swift Pork. Although not a comprehensive portrait of the sector - there are around 6,000 US plants regularly inspected by Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) - the documents provide a snapshot of issues rarely detailed in public which has rung alarm bells with campaigners in both the US and UK.

Those rarely detailed “issues” include: meat contaminated with fecal matter; meat processing equipment contaminated with grease and blood; and chicken dropped on the floor then rinsed with chlorine and put back in the production line.

It’s enough to make anyone’s stomach turn.

It’s also enough to make consumers and entire neighborhoods revolt, and citizens to get more politically active.

Last year, the citizens of Tonganoxie, Kansas (population 5,000) stood up to Tyson and successfully scuttled the meat giant’s planned $320-million chicken factory farm.

In Nebraska, citizens are trying to keep out a $180-million factory farm poultry operation that Costco wants to build in the small town of Fremont. (Please sign our petition asking Costco to stop raising and selling factory farm chicken).

People aren’t just getting active. They’re also getting political.

Civil Eats recently reported on candidates running in Iowa, Maryland, Washington, D.C. and Pennsylvania who all have one thing in common: They want better food and farming policies in their states.

One of those candidates is Brandy Brooks, who’s running for Montgomery County (Maryland) city council. Brooks told Civil Eats:

“Food is this amazing lens for talking about justice. You could be talking about land use justice, racial justice, economic justice, immigration, health justice, housing—you can talk about everything through the lens of food.”

Brooks is right. Food is at the center of so many of the issues facing communities large and small, across the globe. That’s why Organic Consumers Association (OCA) partners closely with Regeneration Internationalas we look to transition from our industrial, degenerative food system to a regenerative alternative.

It’s also why we’re inviting consumers to get more politically active through our Citizens Regeneration Lobby. 

The factory farm industry tells us there’s no other way to produce meat. But farmers like Ron Rosmann in Harlan, Iowa, are proof that alternatives exist. The Main Street Project is proof that those alternatives can be scaled up to meet the growing demand for regeneratively produced meat.

We just need to take a stand against Big Meat. Our health depends on it.

Katherine Paul is associate director of the Organic Consumers Association. 

National Latino Farmers & Ranchers Trade Association

1029 Vermont Avenue, NW, Suite 601

Washington, DC 20005

Office: 202-628-8833

Email: latinofarmers@live.com

Twitter: @NLFRTA

Website: www.NLFRTA.org

March 2018. Congress Approves FY18 Funding Levels for Criminal Justice Programs

Congress Approves FY18 Funding Levels for Criminal Justice Programs View this email in your browser

Congress Approves FY18 Funding Levels for Criminal Justice Programs Funding bill provides greater iInvestment in reentry and mental health treatment programs that increase public safety Last week, the U.S. Congress approved the $1.3 trillion Fiscal Year 2018 Omnibus Appropriations bill that would set government funding through Sep. 30, 2018. The bill provides $30.3 billion for the U.S. Department of Justice and includes $2.9 billion for various state and local law enforcement assistance grant programs. Learn more about the FY18 Omnibus Appropriations bill

Copyright © 2018 The Council of State Governments Justice Center, All rights reserved.

April 8, 2018. Los Angeles. Azusa Street Revival

Webinar. FEMA 2018-2022 Strategic Plan Wednesday, March 28, 2018

Private Sector Advisory

FEMA Webinar on 2018-2022 Strategic Plan

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) invites you to join a webinar to discuss its 2018-2022 Strategic Plan (released on March 15, 2018.) The plan seeks to unify and further professionalize emergency management across the country, helping us build a stronger agency and a more resilient nation. 

WHAT: FEMA 2018-2022 Strategic Plan Webinar
WHO: David Bibo, FEMA Associate Administrator for Policy, Program Analysis, and International Affairs (Acting)
WHEN: Wednesday, March 28, 2018 at 2-3 PM EDT

PARTICIPANT INFORMATION:

Via Phone:     Dial in: 323-701-0223
Participant passcode: 883180

Via Adobe Connect: https://fema.connectsolutions.com/stratplan101iga2/ Please sign in as a “Guest” and remember to mute your line if not speaking.
Test your Adobe Connect connection prior to the meeting by clicking here.

Closed captioning: http://www.fedrcc.us//Enter.aspx?EventID=3583750&CustomerID=321

BACKGROUND:
When disasters strike, FEMA cannot succeed alone in the mission of helping people.  We need to work in coordination with our partners and stakeholders to ensure that response and recovery is federally coordinated, state managed, and locally executed. This strategic plan strives to rally all our stakeholders and the Agency around the three goals of preparedness, catastrophic readiness, and reducing complexity.
The Strategic Plan outlines three ambitious, but achievable goals for the next five years:

• Build a culture of preparedness

• Every segment of our society, from individual to government, industry to philanthropy, must be encouraged and empowered with the information it needs to prepare for the inevitable impacts of future disasters.

• Ready the nation for catastrophic disasters

• FEMA will work with its partners across all levels of government to strengthen partnerships and access new sources of scalable capabilities to quickly meet the needs of overwhelming incidents.

• Reduce the complexity of FEMA

• FEMA must continue to be responsible stewards of the resources we are entrusted to administer. We must also do everything that we can to leverage data to drive decision-making, and reduce the administrative and bureaucratic burdens that impede impacted individuals and communities from quickly receiving the assistance they need. 

FEMA is committed to continued engagement with our partners as we implement the Strategic Plan. The Strategic Plan incorporates feedback received from you through previous engagements, and we want to continue that discussion as we define best ways to capture and measure successful implementation of the Strategic Plan and its goals. We value the diverse perspectives and insight each of you provide based on your experiences with disasters, and we seek this input as we begin to move forward.

"The Making of a Resilient Future: Disaster Risk in Developing Countries.". 2018. FEMA PrepTalks

The Federal Emergency Management Agency, in partnership with organizations that collectively represent the emergency management profession, released today the sixth video presentation from the inaugural PrepTalks Symposium, Francis Ghesquiere's "The Making of a Resilient Future: Disaster Risk in Developing Countries."

In his PrepTalk, Ghesquiere presents a global perspective on the need to improve disaster resilience. He highlights the scale of the challenge, from rapid urbanization in areas at risk of earthquakes and floods, to the increasing frequency and intensity of storms. He discusses the need for all sectors to participate in planning and to incorporate future trends in population growth, urbanization, and increasing risk due to future environmental conditions. Ghesquiere heads the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR), a global partnership hosted by the World Bank with programs in more than 80 countries. In a recent report, The making of a riskier future: How our decisions are shaping future disaster risk, GFDRR demonstrates how "tomorrow's risk is being built today. We must therefore move away from risk assessments that show risk at a single point in the present and move instead towards risk assessments that can guide decision makers towards a resilient future." Ghesquiere focuses on the importance of this future perspective in his PrepTalk. 

Ghesquiere's presentation, the question-and-answer session that followed, a discussion guide, and additional reference materials are available at https://www.fema.gov/preptalks. This is the sixth video of eight being produced from the PrepTalks Symposium held in Washington, D.C. in January. The next PrepTalks Symposium is tentatively scheduled for fall of 2018. Upcoming PrepTalk video topics include lessons learned from disaster survivors and financial literacy. The next PrepTalks video is currently scheduled for release later this month.

PrepTalks are a partnership between FEMA, the International Association of Emergency Managers, the National Emergency Management Association, the National Homeland Security Consortium, and the Naval Postgraduate School Center for Homeland Defense and Security.

Congratulations. VFW Teacher of the Year Award. Shondra Pegram Wooden

Congratulations Shondra!

As a veteran of foreign wars it is truly an honor that you are being recognized for your outstanding work in not only teaching, but other works for the youth of Prince Georges County (PGC), Maryland. 

Mark Dozier and I enjoyed the 2017 Summer PGC Bowie State University Capstone Homeland Security & Emergency Management program.  PGC has continued the program throughout the academic year which can be attributed to the initial summer program you assisted in establishing with your hard work.

As a member of BEMA International we stand with you.  Congratulations.

Charles D. Sharp 

CEO, Black Emergency Managers Association International

Good morning!!!! I just wanted to share with u an honor I received last week. I was named Teacher of the Year by the Veterans of Foreign Wars  (VFW) 😊   Shondra

Black Emergency Managers Association            International
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Washington, D.C.  20020
Office:   202-618-9097
bEMA International

     

“Our lives are not our own. We are bound to others, past and present, and by each crime and every kindness, we birth our future.” ¯ David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas

Cooperation, Collaboration, Communication, Coordination, Community engagement, and  Partnering (C5&P)             A 501 (c) 3 organization.

March 2018. Solar grant funding available to District residents!

The 51st State Solar Co-op is open to all District residents, and income-qualified participants may be eligible for a grant to cover their solar installation! Hi Randall, The 51st State Solar Co-op is open to all District residents and offers grant funding for income qualified households to cover the cost of installing a solar system that will cut your electric bill in half! All co-op participants whether they are eligible for grant funding or participating at market rate will own their solar systems from day-one. If you're interested in learning more, be sure to join our next information session on Wednesday, March 28 at the Takoma Community Center! You can also help us spread the word by letting your family, friends, and colleagues know about the 51st State Solar Co-op by forwarding this email or sharing the event on Facebook. 51st State Solar Co-op Information Session Wednesday, March 28 7 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. Takoma Community Center 300 Van Buren Street NW Washington DC, 20012 Click here to RSVP! This co-op is a project funded by Solar for All, a program of the District of Columbia’s Department of Energy and Environment (DOEE) that seeks to provide the benefits of solar electricity to 100,000 low-income households and reduce their energy bills by 50% by 2032. The program, which was established by the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) Expansion Amendment Act of 2016, is funded by the Renewable Energy Development Fund (REDF). The co-op will focus on expanding access to solar for low- and moderate-income households, but is open to all District homeowners, no matter their income or neighborhood. For more information, please visit the 51st State Solar Co-op landing page. Hope to see you there! Yesenia Rivera D.C. Program Director, Solar United Neighbors About us | Go solar | Learn the issues | Get involved | Membership | Donate   DC SUN is now Solar United Neighbors. We are a community of people building a new energy system with rooftop solar as the cornerstone. We help people go solar, join together, and fight for their energy rights.   www.solarunitedneighbors.org  1115 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Washington DC, 20005