Blog of Mary Ellen Ryall
Several years ago I did an interview with Nick Vanderpuy. It appears that nothing has changed in the larger society to correct the way in which food is grown or the way animals are kept. Listen to the interview at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6X-uCP_1c0
A special thank you to Tim Reedy, State Farm Insurance, of Spooner, WI, for voting for our cause. To the countless anonymous voters, we are grateful that you are supporting our grant proposal.
Happy Tonics collaborates with Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe Community College to teach that we need to grow local and native crops to support biodiversity of plants and pollinators during climate change. Please Sign up and VOTE for Climate Change Native Habitat and Community Gardens Shell Lake grant proposal at Brighter Planet at http://brighterplanet.com/project_fund_projects/100 Your votes may help decide if we are able to secure funding for the Morph Your Mind Environmental Education Program that reaches far and wide to bring Indigenous wisdom of sustainability to the public.
The Lac Courte Oreilles OJibwe Community College (LCOOCC) Sustainable Living Institute in partnership with the LCO Green Team, Happy Tonics Butterfly Sanctuary, and LCOOCC Library are bringing an Environmental Film Festival to LCO!
February 18th Event in the Auditorium includes:
Luncheon: Prepared by LCO Elders Association, Student Center $5 – serving starts at 11:30 a.m.
Noon: Speaker: Mary Ellen Ryall, Happy Tonics Butterfly Sanctuary Executive Director.
Topic: Role of biodiversity of native corn and reasons why native crops best survive climate change.
12:15pm Film: “King Corn”
1:45pm Community Discussion: Advocacy to Action!
Almost everything Americans eat contains corn: high fructose corn syrup, corn-fed meat, and corn-based processed foods are the staples of the modern diet. Ready for an adventure and alarmed by signs of their generation’s bulging waistlines, college friends Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis know where to go investigate.
Eighty years ago, Ian and Curt’s great-grandfathers lived just a few miles apart, in the same rural county in northern Iowa. Now their great-grandsons are returning with a mission: they will plant an acre of corn, follow their harvest into the world, and attempt to understand what they—and all of us—are really made of. Visit the movie link to learn more at http://www.kingcorn.net/
Good night dear voters where ever you are.
Please take a minute to REGISTER AND VOTE at http://brighterplanet.com/project_fund_projects/100
Happy Tonics needs your VOTE to help us do our work. Officers and Board Members give of their time to educate and implement programs to adapt to Climate Change by promoting Sustainability of Native Plants, Monarch Butterfly and other pollinator habitat. Our mission is: Sanctuary for the Monarch Butterfly and Food Safety Issues.
We are a small grassroots nonprofit that needs your help to WIN our Climate Change Native Habitat and Community Garden Shell Lake grant proposal.
This is not Happy Tonics first attempt to bring Adapting to Climate Change into national awareness.
We were honored to participate in the Green Effect grant process with National Geographic sponsored by Sun Chips in 2009. Although other worthy causes won, we believe that each of us must do our part to bring the message of adapting to climate change home. (National Geographic, Green Effect Winning Ideas for a Better World, November 2009, insert after pg. 6.)
Won’t you help us now? Please SIGN UP AND VOTE at http://brighterplanet.com/project_fund_projects/100
Thank you.
Des Moines, Iowa, USA – In October 2009, the Borlaug Dialogue and the World Food Prize Foundation hosted the annual World Food Prize. The World Food Prize Laureate is Dr. Gebisa Ejeta of Ethiopia for his discovery of a hybrid species of sorghum that is resistant to drought.
Happy Tonics was attending the 13th Annual Community Food Security Coalition Confernce in Iowa in 2009 around the time this event took place.
Bill Gates spoke at the Borlaug Dialogue event. Bill and Linda Gates Foundation donated a grant of $120 million to the “Second Green Revolution.”
The money is being given to Africa in part to grow drought hardy corn that 300 million Africans are dependent upon. Gates said the grant will be used in part to train African growers in the science of biotechnology. You can listen to Bill Gates speech at http://www.worldfoodprize.org/symposium/2009/video/gates.html
Collaborative efforts are ongoing between Monsanto and the Federal Government and the decision is to allow genetic engineered crops to combat world hunger in developing poor countries.
Monsanto, with approval of governmental partners including the White House, USDA Secretary Vilsack and Dr. Rajiv Shah, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will seek to plant genetically modified wheat in Africa. Africa is besieged with environmental threats to their wheat crop due of drought and disease. Wheat is one of the four most important crops in the world.
Happy Tonics supports local grown and organic crops. None the less, the public needs to be aware that GMOs are on the rise in the Global Food System.
Just when we thought the global food battle was lost to genetic engineering (GE) in Washington, DC, along comes hope. I am thrilled to speak about the Good Food Movement.
The movie FRESH will be out this spring. Watch the movie trailer at http://www.freshthemovie.com/
Happy Tonics promotes the importance of local grown and organic crops and grass fed animals for dairy, poultry and meat.
FRESH the film is already marching forward in Wisconsin. You can view the film in Hayward, on January 31, at 2 p.m. at the Park Theatre. The film features Joel Salatin from Polyface farm, Shenandoah, Virginia, and Will Allen, of California’s Growing Power. Both of these extraordinary people have been instrumental in the Good Food Movement. Allen says,
“The Good Food Movement is now a Revolution.”
If each and every one of us can take this message home and practice it, we can change the global food marketplace one plate at a time. Remember Margaret Meade said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
Visit Will Allen at www.growingpower.org/blog
Visit Joel Salatin at http://www.polyfacefarms.com/
Let us know how we can work together to promote food sustainability in our own neighborhoods right where we live. Home is where the heart is. Let’s hear from yours.
Good day, Mary Ellen
This post is written in memory of Craig Winters and Schuyler Houser.
Say No to GMO!
In 2008, I talked with Craig Winters (1951 – 2009). We discussed The Campaign’s goal of wanting to establish Labeling for Genetically Engineered Foods. Winters passed away on 3 July 2009 after a long bout against cancer. He was the founder and principal driving force behind The Campaign that worked with Congressman Kucinich to introduce a Food Labeling Bill.
Now the work is being carried forward by Jeffrey M. Smith, Institute for Responsible Technology. Smith is the author of Seeds of Deception and Genetic Roulette. Learn more about the the fight to stop GMOs in the food suppy at http://www.seedsofdeception.com/Public/MediaCenter/Videos/index.cfm
Visit the Web site at http://www.responsibletechnology.org/GMFree/Home/index.cfm
Climate Change
Schuyler Houser (1943 -2009) was a champion for climate change education. Sky as he was known, was the President of Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe Community College in 2003 when I graduated. I was privileged to hear him speak on Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change for Native Peoples and Homelands (Chapter 12). His talk gave a lasting impression of how serious climate change may be for all of us. I have been paying attention ever since. The book title is Climate Change Impacts on the United States: The Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change. You can view a PDF file of the book and Chapter 12 at http://www.usgcrp.gov/usgcrp/Library/nationalassessment/00Intro.pdf
Thanks to Winters and Houser we have a road map to follow. We walk into the future with our eyes open and ready to teach others about sustainability.
Take a look at Will Allen.
He walked away from corporate America and sports sixteen years ago to head up a growing business. His main goal is to grow soil at his working farm Growing Power in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It is all about community gardens and we need to get growing in each community. Visit http://www.growingpower.org/
When we realize that it takes nearly 1 gallon of fossil fuel and 5,200 gallons of water to produce just 1 pound of conventionally fed beef (Mooallem, 2009), we might start to realize we need to support local farmers and grazers. Meat taste like meat when it is wild harvested or grass fed. Biofuels made from crops have been responsible for up to 75 percent of the 130 percent increase in global food prices in the past six years (Weltz, 2009). Food is not fuel and should never be taken out of the mouths of people and diverted to another profit making purpose.
It is interesting to note that college campuses across the USA are starting to introduce local grown food right into the cafeteria. Tim Galarneau, is cofounder of Real Feed Challenge, a national campaign, wants to introduce 1,000 universities and colleges to buy 20 percent of their food by 2020. Tim will still be actively working long after I retire. It is good to know that youth are stepping up to the issue now. Communities need to learn how to grow their own food so they can feed themselves in the future. Josh Viertel, the 31year-old president of Slow Food USA says, “It’s just this incredible outpouring of energy to do the right thing.” I feel confident that Tim Galarneau and many other young activists will lead the way to sustainability.
Are we too little too late?
At the same time we need to keep our eyes open and on global food security and climate stress now that climate change is knocking at Earth’s door. Please take a few minutes to listen to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack speaking on Agriculture and Climate Change in the video at http://vimeo.com/8137485
He spoke at Agriculture and Rural Development Day, on 12 December, 2009, a day-long event at the University of Copenhagen with more than 300 policy makers, negotiators, producers and leaders from the agricultural and climate change scientific community. Unfortunately many believe that genetically engineered crops are a possible solution to end world hunger and the second Green Revolution has begun. By listening to this video, we are staying informed and hearing about the world’s challenges to these paramount issues.
Mooallem, J. (2009, March-April). Veg-o-might. Mother Jones, 36-37.
Weltz, A. (2009, March-April). Trouble on the Limpopo. Mother Jones, 44-47.
Viertel, J. (2009, March-April). Tray chic, Mother Jones, 47.
We are pleased to announce that Sandy Stein and Pat Shields, husband and wife, will be in Costa Rica for much of December.
Stein is secretary of Happy Tonics, Inc. a nonprofit environmental education organization and public charity. Pat Shields is a board member and facility at Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe Community College.
They will be staying at Rancho Margot, a 300 acre self sufficient working ranch at tp://www.ranchomargot.org/our_ranch.html
The Reserva Biologica de Monteverde is just 15 km from the ranch. The natural paradise setting of the ranch is on Lago Arenal in view of the Arenal Volcano and the valley of the Rio Cano Negro and is surrounded by the Children Eternal Forest and the Arenal Forest Reserve.
Costa Rica has the most species of butterflies anywhere in the world outside of Ecuador. We hope the team is able to photograph butterfly species that are unfamiliar to us. A video camera will record interviews at the organic ranch. Happy Tonics mission is: Sanctuary for the Monarch Butterfly and Food Safety Issues. We are looking at other countries to see what we can learn about staying small, producing our own local and organic food, promoting biodiversity of habitat for butterflies and eco tourism. Be sure to keep up with the blog news in December here at Insectamonarca’s Blog.
The fall 2009 issues of Butterflies and Gardens is ready for viewing at below link.
http://happytonics.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/butterflies-gardens-issue-4-091.pdf
Our Graphic Artist Cindy Dyer, Vice President of Happy Tonics, Inc. publishes the newsletter for Happy Tonics. Please leave comments and let us know what you think of our blog version.
Thank you, Mary Ellen Ryall, Executive Director, Happy Tonics, Inc.
I watched a video of E. O. Wilson, a biologist, explaining biodiversity and the possible consequence of the loss of at http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/83 He was speaking about the hidden life beneath the soil that supports life.
The topic was of interest to me because of a video I did for News from Indian Country “Tracking the monarch butterfly through corporate killing fields,” at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZ7vl9qJIAA
I touched on the fact that even earth worms were being poisoned by pesticides and herbicides. Sandy Stein, secretary of Happy Tonics, and I experienced what massive doses of ammonia (fertilizer) felt like as we traveled on Route 35 alongside the concentrated animal feeding operations and monoculture fields in Kansas, USA. Please read “Nutrients for plants” to learn about the dangers of ammonia fertilizer at http://www.nutrientsforplants.com/blue-fertilizer.html
If we lose earth worms and kill other (unknown) soil microbes what will be the consequence? E. O. Wilson speaks to this finite hidden world. Please watch his video. We must honor and protect biodiversity including the soil which contains the “mystery of life within.”
Nick Vander Puy, reporter from News from Indian Country, sent a quote that ties right into this plea. “Once there were brook trout in the streams in the mountains. You could see them standing in the amber current where the white edges of their fins wimpled softly in the flow. They smelled of moss in your hand. Polished and muscular and torsional. On their backs were vermiculate patterns that were maps of the world in its becoming. Maps and mazes. Of a thing which could not be put back. Not to be made right again. In the deep glens where they lived all things were older than man and they hummed of mystery.” Source: Cormic McCarthy’s apocalyptic story The Road.
Every precious species belongs here.
Insectamonarca's Blog 