We’d like to welcome you to this third edition of our 100% tree-free, electronic newsletter Manna and hope you find it of value. This month we have several articles addressing sustainability and genetic engineering. We would appreciate your feedback and any suggestions or ideas to better serve you.

Sustainably,
Krista Leraas and Terry Gips, Editors

In this issue of MANNA...

• Alliance Testifies before MN State Senate on Sustainability, the Natural Step and Education
• Take Action! – Should all Hemp Products be Banned? Want GMOs in Your Foods?
• Resource of the Month -- Genetically Engineered Food: A Self-Defense Guide for Consumers
• Center for Judaism and Sustainability and Center for Spirituality and Sustainability
• Personal Sustainability – Taking Another Path: Life Down on Sandhill Farm and a New Workshop
• Organizational Sustainability -- Finding Meaning In a Cup of Coffee
• Planetary Sustainability -- Olive Trees for Peace and Ski to End Hunger
• Selected Upcoming Events – New Natural Step Seminars Announced
• Inside the Alliance – Board and Staff Gathering; Welcomes new Program Director, Rio Anderson

Under the DEA's proposed regulation, literally millions of Americans will be criminalized for possessing shampoos, lotions, and soaps that have the slightest amount of naturally occurring THC, the primary active ingredient in marijuana. (It is impossible to get a psychoactive effect from hemp-based shampoos and soaps, but the DEA is proposing to ban them nevertheless.)

Those who are arrested for shampoo or soap will face up to one year in federal prison and a $10,000 fine.

Hemp is an extremely viable, sustainable, easily grown crop. Its wide range of uses includes making rope, paper, personal care products, foods and more. We need to move toward it's legalization as a commercial crop and product not further away from it.

Visit http://www.SaveHemp.org now to send an updated pre-written letter to all of your elected officials and the DEA.

This book is definitely "biased", even "alarmist". It frequently refers to genetically altered foods as "Frankenfoods", an allusion to Frankenstein. The authors have stated two primary objectives in writing the book: "to help you to clearly understand why you should be concerned about purchasing or consuming genetically engineered foods" and to "alert you to the risks genetically engineered crops are posing to the environment."

I think the book is an excellent overview of the real and potential dangers of genetically engineered food and other products of bio-technology which we are consuming with increasing frequency. It is chock-full of facts and presents a coherent statement against the propaganda of the biotech industry.

For the uninformed, genetic engineers "cut" the DNA of one organism and "paste" it into the DNA of another species using one of several imprecise processes. This has included splicing daffodil genes into rice, bacillus thuringiensis bacteria (Bt) genes into corn and Brazil nut genes into soybeans. (No wonder they’re called "Frankenfoods".)

But what scares me the most is the plan to put human genes into pigs in order to harvest organs for use in humans. Pigs are close to humans in physiology and there is great potential for pig viruses to be transplanted into a humans along with the new organs. And wasn’t there mention of AIDS possibly having come from monkeys—also closely related to humans?

As explained in the book, advocates of genetic engineering claim the resulting new plants and animals will increase the world’s food supply, produce more nutritious food and reduce the use of pesticides. This sounds good, but so far it has mainly allowed pesticide producers to kill less of the planted crop because it is now more resistant to being killed off by the pesticide.

As Cummins and Lilliston, point out, the whole process is largely untested and the earth’s ecosystem and human health are forced to serve as guinea pigs. The authors cite case after case of biotechnology gone bad: The soybeans with Brazil nut genes caused severe reactions in those allergic to Brazil nuts; fortunately they were never sold on the open market. Then there’s the famous case of the Monarch butterflies who died after eating pollen from corn containing bacillus thuringiensis genes, the rats who died from eating potatoes with snowdrop genes—and on and on.

Having been an organic farmer myself, I’m especially concerned with the authors’ claim that because of genetic drift and cross pollination, genetically tampered material is spreading to crops not genetically modified and to wild species— thereby harming biodiversity and upsetting ecological balance.

The authors state there is one basic reason gene-foods are being grown, sold and served in the U.S.: "because the corporations that have invested billions of dollars in this new technology have successfully lobbied U.S. government agencies to allow genetically engineered foods to enter our food chain and the environment virtually undetected." As the Kansas City Star stated in 1994, "If you put a label on a genetically engineered food you might as well put a skull and crossbones on it."

So in the absence of labeling, what is a consumer to do?

The authors truly empower us with tips on avoiding GMOs and how to fight against their proliferation.

1. Avoid certain brand names known to contain genetically engineered ingredients.
2. Choose organic foods from organic sections of [co-ops], supermarkets or from health food stores.
3. Join a food buying club.
4. Order organic food online.
5. Get involved with Community-Supported Agriculture.
6. Grow your own food.

As Jim Hightower said, "Being a consumer is not a passive act. It means taking charge. This book tells you how."

Special thanks go to the Center’s student interns Shula Luck and Shauna Raffety, Amy Olson and Rabbi Sharon Stiefel of the Hillel Center, Steve Silberfarb, Shepard Harris and Nancy Sclar of the Jewish Community Relations Council, Gil Mann of the Minneapolis Jewish Federation, Jeff Schactman, Micki Naiman, Francie Gale and Jeff Prottas of the Minneapolis Jewish Community Center, Rabbi Ze’ev Harari, Debra Krawetz, Steve Prince, Chaya Isenberg, and Steve Share of Mayim Rabim, Frank Hornstein of Jewish Community Action, Rabbi Shirley Idelson of Macalester College, Marianna Levine of the Jewish Singles Collaborative, Ann Silver, Sharon Jaffe and Pat Levine of Shir HaNeshamah, and Nancy Brown, Rachel Roiblatt, Sandy Solomon, Roslye Ultan, and Matthew Cole.

Center President Terry Gips facilitated a visioning process and small group discussions on specific steps that can be taken. Shula Luck and Shauna Raffety gave a creative presentation on various activities in other communities by the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life (COEJL) and then there were brief reports by the attending groups on their activities. The meeting concluded with a discussion on next steps and there was tremendous enthusiasm for a follow-up meeting and creating a Minnesota chapter of the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life that would involve all Jewish institutions. While enjoying kosher, organic refreshments, participants filled out a form to indicate their interest. If you couldn’t attend and would like to be involved, please contact Terry Gips at tgips@mtn.org.

The event was sponsored by the Center for Judaism and Sustainability, Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas, Minneapolis Jewish Community Center, Hillel Center at the University of Minnesota, Jewish Community Action, Jewish Singles Collaborative, Mayim Rabim Congregation, Shir HaNeshamah, and Mount Zion Temple.

We like having interns because of the new energy they bring into our community, deeply appreciate the help they offer, and enjoy sharing our lifestyle. Interns are invited to participate, as non-members, in all aspects of the community for the length of their stay. While we invite Interns to focus on an area of interest, we also expect/encourage all to be flexible and help out where needed. Prior experience or skills are not necessary; lots of energy and enthusiasm for learning are more important. This internship does not offer classes; learning is informal and hands-on. Interns should be ready to initiate contact with members when instruction or direction is needed. Self-and a willingness to work independently are essential. Interns may work in any of these areas: Organic Gardening. Biodynamic Agriculture, Animal Care, Bee Keeping, Food Preservation, and Construction.

Please contact us at: Sandhill Farm Interns, RR 1 Box 155 Rutledge, MO 63563 660-883-5543 (Ask for Rebecca or Lindsey) sandhill@ic.org, www.thefec.org.

My example comes from the specialty coffee industry, a $3 billion sector that is taking small, but critical steps towards tackling entrenched social and ecological problems involved in coffee production.

Coffee is big business. Americans alone drink over 400,000,000 cups every day. 20 million people around the world make their living growing, harvesting and supplying the rest of us with all that coffee. Most of those people are laborers or farmers with small plots of land. Some are both. Normally it's a hard life, but these days it’s even worse. Coffee prices for farmers are at an eight-year low, around 62 cents a pound. Your coffee’s the same. So is the farmer’s work, but their 'paycheck' has been cut in half. Few farmers get even 62 cents. After the exporter, the processor and others take their cuts, a small farmer might not get 30 cents a pound.

We must take small steps to renew trust between our communities, while keeping fresh before us the vision of a broad and comprehensive peace agreement. Without a vision, our steps will stumble; without small steps, our vision will turn into hopelessness.

In some Palestinian towns, Israeli soldiers and settlers have destroyed the olive trees that have been the economic and ecological basis of the town for centuries past and must be for decades to come. It has done this even though Torah itself declares, "Even if you are at war with a city . . . you must not destroy its trees." (Deut 20: 19-20). In the village of Hares, for example, the Israeli rabbis of Rabbis for Human Rights found 1500 olive trees destroyed — many in places far from where they could have been used as cover for violence.

These olive trees were not decorative. They were the life-support of the village. Some of the trees were hundreds of years old, having produced for this village oil and olives for all that time. Each one of them paid the cost of year after year of schooling for a child. Or the cost of a room built for a growing child. Or a dowry for a girl about to be married. In short, these trees are the family bank accounts. They are also beloved members of the families of the village. Many are now gone.

We ask the American Jewish community and all Americans who care about the lives, security, and peaceful future of Israelis and Palestinians to help Rabbis for Human Rights work with Palestinian villages to replace these uprooted olive trees. The OLIVE TREES FOR PEACE CAMPAIGN has the possibility of changing both Palestinian attitudes toward Israelis and Jews, and the attitudes of Jews in Israel and America toward Palestinians.

Welcome New Program Director, Rio Anderson
The Board of the Alliance has named Rio Anderson as its new Program Director. Rio brings a wealth of experience with sustainability both in the US and overseas. A native of the Redwoods of Humboldt County, Rio has a diverse work history, including having been an English as a Second Language Instructor with refugees in Minnesota and Bankok, Program Developer at the International Institute of Minnesota, writer and eco-tour guide with Ancient Forests International in California, a high school teacher with California at-risk teens and Health Food Store Co-manager in Garberville, CA.