SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
For Immediate Release
March, 31 2010, 11:40am EDT
Contact:
Alexis Baden-Mayer 202-744-0853, alexis@organicconsumers.org
John Mayer 925-681-9780, johnm@organicconsumers.org
Organic Consumers Association to Picket Chez Panisse Restaurant on Thursday, April 1st, Noon, in Berkeley, CA
Alice Waters, World Famous Organic Food Chef and Promoter of Safe School Gardens, Does Not Oppose Growing Food on Toxic Sewage Sludge
BERKELEY, Calif.
Thursday, April 1st is the 30th birthday of the famous Chez
Panisse Cafe in Berkeley, California, owned by iconic chef and safe food
advocate Alice Waters. At noon it will be picketed by the Organic
Consumers Association (OCA) in a protest against the dumping of toxic
sewage sludge on gardens in the Bay Area.
OCA Director Ronnie
Cummins announced: "On behalf of our hundreds of thousands of members we
are protesting the failure of Alice Waters to oppose growing food on
toxic sewage sludge, often deceptively labeled as 'organic compost.'"
OCA
is leading a campaign to stop the San Francisco Public Utilities
Commission (PUC) from giving away sewage sludge "compost" to
unsuspecting gardeners in the Bay Area including school gardens.
However, the Executive Director of Alice Waters' Chez Panisse Foundation
is the Vice President of the PUC, Francesca Vietor. Both Vietor and
Waters support growing food on toxic sewage sludge.
San Francisco
Mayor Gavin Newsom appointed Vietor as a leader of the PUC in 2008.
Since then the PUC has given away thousands of tons of toxic sewage
sludge for use on gardens and farms.
The Organic Consumers
Association and the Center for Food Safety have been opposing the PUC
dumping of toxic sewage sludge and want the PUC to clean up the gardens
contaminated with the PUC's toxic sludge.
A March 23, 2010 letter
from OCA National Director Ronnie Cummins to Alice Waters reads in
part:
"Considering that the sludge was given to several local
schools for use on their educational gardens, your work with the Edible
Schoolyard should especially elicit your concern. This is certainly in
direct opposition to the standards that Chez Panisse Foundation and the
Edible Schoolyard encourage and uphold. It seems to us a clear conflict
of interest that Francesca Vietor should serve as both the Executive
Director of the Chez Panisse Foundation and the Vice President of the
PUC. In light of your dedication to non-GMO foods, would you have the
Vice President of Monsanto as your Executive Director? The two do not
seem much dissimilar as both work for organizations that compromise the
integrity of the movement for which you are both a pioneer and a leading
voice."
On March 30 Alice Waters emailed her response to OCA
which reads in its entirety:
"I have been involved with the
organic garden movement for 40 years. I believe in the transparency of
public institutions and count on the government to offer the highest
standards outlined by the Organic Consumers Association and other
reliable advocates. I look forward to reviewing the science and working
with the SFPUC to ensure the safety of composting methods. I support
Francesca Vietor, Executive Director of the Chez Panisse Foundation and a
PUC commissioner, whose environmental work I have admired for many
years and whose integrity has been questioned. Alice Waters, Owner and
Founder of Chez Panisse Restaurant and Foundation."
Ronnie
Cummins, Director of the Organic Consumers Association, responded:
"Growing food on sewage sludge violates USDA Organic Standards and
threatens public safety. We are shocked and disappointed that Alice
Waters has now become a poster child for food grown on toxic sewage
sludge. Is food served at Chez Panisse grown on toxic sewage sludge? Is
toxic sewage sludge used to grow food in Alice Waters' Edible Schoolyard
program? We hope Alice's many admirers and customers will ask her to
oppose growing food on toxic sewage sludge."
The Organic Consumers Association (OCA) is an online and grassroots 501(c)3 nonprofit public interest organization, and the only organization in the U.S. focused exclusively on promoting the views and interests of the nation's estimated 50 million consumers of organically and socially responsibly produced food and other products. OCA educates and advocates on behalf of organic consumers, engages consumers in marketplace pressure campaigns, and works to advance sound food and farming policy through grassroots lobbying. We address crucial issues around food safety, industrial agriculture, genetic engineering, children's health, corporate accountability, Fair Trade, environmental sustainability, including pesticide use, and other food- and agriculture-related topics.
LATEST NEWS
NYC's Congestion Pricing Has Caused 'Quality-of-Life Improvement' in Just Six Months
After six months, the policy of tolling drivers has reduced traffic and raised hundreds of millions of dollars for the city's transit system. But the Trump administration is still trying to shut it down.
Jul 09, 2025
New York City's congestion pricing program has now been in place for six months as of Saturday, and according to state officials, it has already proven remarkably successful. It has survived despite efforts by the Trump administration to shut it down.
The program, which tolls drivers who drive through designated "congestion zones" below 60th Street in Manhattan has dramatically reduced traffic, which in turn has sped up commute times, reduced pollution, and raised hundreds of millions of dollars for the city's Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA).
"Six months in, it's clear: congestion pricing has been a huge success, making life in New York better," Governor Kathy Hochul (D) said Saturday. "In New York, we dare to do big things, and this program represents just that—traffic is down throughout the region, business is booming, transit ridership is up, and we are making historic upgrades to our transit system."
Since the program started, the number of vehicles driving through the congestion zone has decreased by 11%, with a total of 10 million fewer cars having entered compared to last year. In just the first three months of the program, traffic in the congestion zone sped up by 15%.
This has led to reduced wait times for commuters, not just in the congestion zone but in surrounding areas like the Bronx and Bergen County, New Jersey.
The number of crashes is down 14% in the congestion area, while traffic fatalities have reached "historic lows" citywide.
The data has also borne out the predictions from environmentalists and public transit activists who said the program would reduce pollution, both by capping the number of cars on the road and funding long-term investment in the public transit system.
The MTA is on track to raise $500 million from congestion pricing in 2025, as was projected when the policy went into effect. The agency also reports that subway and bus usage have gone up since congestion pricing began, while service speed has improved to "near record levels."
Beyond improving convenience, data shows the program is already improving quality of life in other ways. Early estimates from a working paper by the National Bureau of Economic Research show that within the first month of congestion pricing, CO₂ emissions from vehicles decreased by 2.5% with other forms of air pollution and soot levels also declining. These numbers will likely continue to rise as public transit usage expands.
Ben Furnas, executive director of Transportation Alternatives, a New York-based pro-transit group that supported congestion pricing, told The Guardian that the program exceeded his already-high expectations.
"It's been even more obviously beneficial than even the most fervent proponents had hoped, and there have been really tangible improvements that are really gratifying," he said. "Reducing pollution is often seen to involve a lot of sacrifices, but this has been different. People can see the improvements to their lives. There was this cynical assumption that this was a bullshit charge and life will stay the same, but that assumption has gone away now."
During the tumultuous year leading up to congestion pricing's implementation, business groups raised fears that charging drivers would bankrupt small business owners. Hochul even blocked the policy from going into effect for months last year, citing those concerns.
Trump's Transportation Secretary, Sean Duffy, has called the charge a "slap in the face to working class Americans and small business owners."
But the city reports more pedestrian traffic and faster commutes, increasing economic activity.
"Gridlock is bad for the economy," noted a statement from the state of New York. "Commuters are saving as much as 21 minutes each way. Time savings help businesses make deliveries and save costs."
The city also reports increased Broadway ticket sales, hotel occupancy, and commercial office leasing since the policy went into effect, as well as record employment figures.
Despite nearly immediate indicators of the congestion scheme's success, the Trump administration has been attempting to kill it since he returned to office in January.
"We've...fended off five months of unlawful attempts from the federal government to unwind this successful program and will keep fighting–and winning–in the courts," Hochul said.
In February, the White House infamously posted an artificially generated image of Trump wearing a crown. It quoted President Trump saying: "CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD. Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED. LONG LIVE THE KING!"
That same month, U.S. Transportation Secretary Duffy withdrew federal approval for the congestion pricing pilot program, threatening to pull funding for other state transportation projects if it was not halted.
But a U.S. district judge issued a temporary restraining order in May that has, for the time being, halted the Trump administration's efforts.
Attempts to kill the program may prove more difficult in the future, as it has overcome initial skepticism to grow broadly popular with a majority of New Yorkers. Hochul herself was once among those skeptics, but she has grown to become one of its greatest champions.
"You are seeing in the governor… the zeal of the convert," said Daniel Pearlstein, a spokesperson for the pro-transit Riders Alliance.
"People who had their doubts, they saw it up close. They saw it working," he said. "They are saving New Yorkers and people from New Jersey valuable time every single day. Who would want to rip that away?"
Keep ReadingShow Less
'Don't Sabotage Mamdani': 30,000+ Petitioners Urge Gilibrand to Get Behind Progressive NYC Mayoral Candidate
"Democratic leaders love to talk about unity—until a progressive wins," said one prominent backer.
Jul 09, 2025
Supporters of progressive New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani are putting pressure on reluctant centrist Democrats to fall in line and back his candidacy after he scored an upset win in last month's Democratic primary.
Progressive advocacy organization Our Revolution has gathered more than 30,000 signatures in a petition urging the Democratic political establishment to not sabotage Mamdani's candidacy by backing independent candidates such as incumbent Mayor Eric Adams or former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
The organization said Wednesday that it attempted to deliver the petition to the Manhattan offices of Sen. Kirsten Gilibrand (D-N.Y.), who is one of many big-name Democrats in the state who have yet to back Mamdani's general election candidacy, but was denied access to the building by security.
"After multiple calls to both the NYC and D.C. offices, staff refused to accept the petition in person and directed organizers to submit it online—despite the urgent, NYC-specific nature of the issue," Our Revolution claimed.
The event was organized to draw attention to the double standard and disconnect between party leadership and grassroots voters, especially in races where big money interests—some with ties to the Democratic Party machinery and others without—work behind the scenes to push out progressives.
"Democratic leaders love to talk about unity—until a progressive wins," said Joseph Geevarghese, executive director of Our Revolution. "Every cycle, we're told to fall in line for the good of the party. Well, Zohran Mamdani is the nominee—and yet the establishment's silence is deafening. It's time for party leaders to live up to their own standards and stand with Zohran against these billionaire-funded attempts to undo the will of the voters."
The action was first reported by Politico, which also reports that a dozen chapters of progressive organizing group Indivisible are writing letters to Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul to urge them to get behind Mamdani.
"The party should be celebrating and analyzing this win as we prepare for the fight of our political lives in 2026," wrote Indivisible signatories. "At a time when Democrats have struggled to connect with voters and build credibility, supporting and learning from Mr. Mamdani's playbook is paramount."
Additionally, Politico reports that Jasmine Gripper, the co-director of the New York Working Families Party, is also urging the state's Democratic leadership to put aside their reservations and back the party's nominee. Gripper noted that Mamdani has won the endorsements of his fellow New York state assemblymembers from across the political spectrum, which should ease their concerns that his candidacy is out of the mainstream.
"The Mamdani tent is big enough for everyone," Gripper said. "Any leader who is serious about building a base of energized voters and wins would be smart to join us."
A poll released by political consulting firm Slingshot Strategies on Wednesday shows that Mamdani currently leads among voters, although that advantage could shrink should either Adams or Cuomo drop out of the race to endorse the other's candidacy.
Overall, the poll showed Mamdani scoring 35% of the vote, compared to 25% for Cuomo, 14% for Republican Curtis Sliwa, and just 11% for Adams. Mamdani also held the highest net favorability of the major candidates at +4 percentage points, whereas Cuomo was underwater by 2 percentage points and Adams had a net favorability of -34 percentage points.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Small Investment, Big Reward: Oil Giants Dumped $19 Million Into Trump's Inaugural Fund
"Every month that Donald Trump has been in power, we've seen a raft of anti-climate measures come out which are music to the fossil fuel industry's ears," said one investigator.
Jul 09, 2025
Oil, gas, and coal companies and individuals linked to the climate-wrecking fossil fuel industry contributed more than $19 million to U.S. President Donald Trump's second inaugural fund, an analysis by a leading international environmental and human rights group revealed Wednesday.
Scouring itemized U.S Federal Election Commission data, Global Witness identified 47 individual donations to the Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee between November 2024 and January 2025 totaling $19,151,933. Using an artificial intelligence tool developed by Global Witness to identify corporate lobbyists, the group's researchers were able to automatically determine each donor's ties to the fossil fuel industry.
Global Witness said the $19.15 million figure "is likely an underestimate, as we did not count donations from diversified investors and businesses who couldn't be said to primarily represent the fossil fuel industry," and individuals with common names that couldn't be identified were not included in the final report.
According to the analysis:
The list of donors includes individuals who were given ambassadorships or key positions in the Trump Cabinet.
For example, billionaire Warren Stephens donated $4 million on December 2, 2024, the same day Trump nominated him to be U.S. ambassador to the U.K. Stephens has extensive links to the oil and gas industry but also invests in other sectors and wasn't included in our calculations of fossil fuel industry donors.
Trump also nominated Melinda Hildebrand—who donated $500,000 to the president's inaugural fund—to be U.S. ambassador to Costa Rica.
Hildebrand is the vice president of Hilcorp Ventures, which claims to be of the largest privately owned oil and gas producers in the U.S. Her husband, founder and chairman of Hilcorp, donated another $500,000.
Among fossil fuel corporations, Chevron was by far the largest contributor to Trump's inauguration fund, giving $2 million. Other companies including ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, and Occidental Petroleum each donated $1 million.
Overall, Big Oil gave $445 million to Trump and other Republican candidates during the 2024 election cycle.
Trump, who ran on a "drill, baby, drill" energy policy, has signed a series of executive orders aimed at boosting fossil fuel production, including by declaring a fake "energy emergency" in a push to fast-track permit approvals. He also tapped former fossil fuel executives to head the Department of Energy and Interior Department, which have pursued a policy of opening up more public lands and waters for fossil fuel development.
At the same time, the Trump administration dropped out of the Paris climate agreement for the second time and moved to roll back the modest climate progress achieved under former President Joe Biden.
"It's no surprise the oil and gas industry handed millions to Donald Trump for his inauguration, and they seem to have reaped a huge return on their investment," Global Witness senior data investigator Nicu Calcea said in a statement Wednesday.
"Every month that Donald Trump has been in power, we've seen a raft of anti-climate measures come out which are music to the fossil fuel industry's ears," Calcea continued. "From plans to steamroll through dirty new coal plants, to the attempted quashing of 'polluter pays' laws that would hold oil giants accountable, it's clear where his political priorities lie."
"While Trump sides with his friends in oil and gas, we must keep up the fight for a fair, green future—that means pushing for wind and solar where we live, backing polluters pay bills, and resisting the development of oil, gas and coal projects across the country," he added.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular