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Darcey Rakestraw, Food & Water Watch, 202-683-2467;Â drakestraw@fwwatch.org, Adam Mason, Iowa CCI, 515-282-0484;Â adam@iowacci.org
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A group of farmers, advocates and community leaders gathered in Iowa today to announce the launch of a national campaign to ban factory farming. Factory farming facilitates an unjust, corporate-driven food system that results in unethical, unsafe and polluting food production practices.
The call for a ban on factory farming is a decisive step necessary to protect all Americans from the dangers of unsustainable food animal production. Factory farms exacerbate climate change and contribute to public health crises, release dangerous toxins into the air we breathe and the water we drink, disproportionately affect low-income communities and communities of color, and create dangerous and unhealthy conditions for workers and animals. The rise of factory farms in our nation has transformed rural and economically diverse communities into agribusiness-controlled nightmares.
"In 2011, we joined grassroots groups that were demanding a ban on fracking because it's a threat to our water that turns rural areas into sacrifice zones," said Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch. "Now, we're banding together with communities around the country who believe the time for a ban on factory farming has come as well."
Food & Water Watch also released a report, The Urgent Case for a Ban on Factory Farms, which outlines the policy and regulatory failures that have led the groups to call for a ban on the practice. The report also outlines the climate impacts, the environmental injustice of where these facilities are sited, air and water pollution concerns, antibiotic resistance and other food safety issues, and the impact on rural economies. The report also highlights the massive amounts of manure that highly consolidated livestock operations produce, threatening our waterways: For example, Food & Water Watch calculates that the nearly 500,000 dairy cows on factory farms in Tulare County, California produce five times as much waste as the New York City metropolitan area.
Currently, Iowa houses an estimated 10,000 industrial livestock operations that employ unsustainable methods of raising food animals. Like all factory farms, they pack thousands of animals into confined spaces, pose enormous public health risks, and generate massive amounts of waste. Factory farms in Iowa have high released levels of polluting nitrates into drinking water resources, causing the Des Moines Water Works to pursue costly treatment and upgrades over the years.
"People in Des Moines shouldn't have to worry about our water quality and rate increases required to clean up the pollution that is coming downstream," said Cherie Mortice, retired Des Moines teacher and Iowa CCI board president. "But, this isn't a rural versus urban issue. We're all in this together, and we're all concerned about our water."
The groups are calling for a ban on any new or expanding factory farms, as well as new policies to create a food system that can feed people without this destructive model. Those new policies should include:
The groups support existing efforts to enact a legislative moratorium on new and expanded factory farms in Iowa because it would provide immediate relief to people in impacted communities. A legislative moratorium would also allow for an opportunity to quantify the harms the industry has had on Iowa's water. The groups said they plan to continue working together to build support for legislation that would stop the spread of the factory farming industry in Iowa.
"We've seen family farmers essentially wiped out of the livestock business across Iowa, which in turn has decimated our rural communities," said Barb Kalbach, fourth-generation family farmer and Iowa CCI member from Adair County, Iowa. "Reforming our food and agriculture system so that it works for farmers, workers, eaters, and our environment starts with stopping factory farms."
"Like fracking, factory farming is too dangerous for our environment to simply regulate," said Hauter. "We need to work together around the country to stop factory farms and protect our communities, our air and water, and our climate."
To access the report The Urgent Case for a Ban on Factory Farms, visit:https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/insight/urgent-case-ban-factory-farms
Food & Water Watch mobilizes regular people to build political power to move bold and uncompromised solutions to the most pressing food, water, and climate problems of our time. We work to protect people's health, communities, and democracy from the growing destructive power of the most powerful economic interests.
(202) 683-2500"We made the difference in electing President Biden in 2020, saved Democrats again in 2022," said young organizers, "and if President Biden wants to hold Democratic power long-term, he must listen to us and deliver."
Ahead of U.S. President Joe Biden's State of the Union address scheduled for Tuesday evening, four national youth-led advocacy groups on Monday warned the president that a continued failure to deliver on his promises to young voters could jeopardize his chances of a second term in the White House.
The Sunrise Movement, March for Our Lives, United We Dream Action, and Gen Z for Change reminded Biden in a statement that they helped convince young Americans "to defend our democracy in record numbers in 2020 and in 2022"—and those voters are expecting the president to work in their best interest and enact policies they have long championed.
"We are a vital voting bloc, and in the next two years, President Biden must listen to us and deliver," tweeted the Sunrise Movement, which has been credited with pushing more than 100 Democratic lawmakers to co-sponsor the Green New Deal.
\u201cTODAY: Sunrise, @AMarch4OurLives, @genzforchange and @UWDAction released a joint youth statement ahead of the SOTU, warning President Biden to deliver for our generation or risk 2024.\n\nWe are a vital voting bloc, and in the next two years, @POTUS must listen to us and deliver.\u201d— Sunrise Movement \ud83c\udf05 (@Sunrise Movement \ud83c\udf05) 1675706409
“We need to see more from President Biden," said the organizations. "Without a Democratic majority in Congress, President Biden must step up and use the full extent of his power to invest in the top issues facing our generation. Young people demand bold action on climate change and gun violence, and we need solutions for our country's immigration system that respect people's rights and keep families together."
"In the last two years, young people, especially young people of color, organized to push the Biden administration to cancel student loan debt, make record investments to combat the climate crisis, and to undo some of the most heinous Trump-era policies."
Polls showed after the midterm elections in November that voters between the ages of 18 and 29 supported Democrats by a 28-point margin, and that turnout among young voters was the second-highest for a midterm election in three decades. Young voters of color particularly helped Biden's party to avoid the "red wave" that political observers predicted, with 87% of Black youth and 67% of Latino young voting for Democratic House candidates, compared to 57% of young white voters.
Young voters nationwide also helped "lead Biden to victory" in 2020, reported the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University. Just over half of white young voters supported Biden, while 73% and 87% of Latino and Black young voters, respectively, backed him.
Groups including the Sunrise Movement and Gen Z for Change have been instrumental not just in get-out-the-vote efforts, but also pushing the president to secure broadly popular reforms, including student loan debt cancellation.
"In the last two years, young people, especially young people of color, organized to push the Biden administration to cancel student loan debt, make record investments to combat the climate crisis, and to undo some of the most heinous Trump-era policies," said the groups.
They demanded that he end the anti-immigration policy Title 42, which he expanded last month, and declare a climate emergency and "invoke the Defense Production Act to expedite the U.S. transition to renewable energy."
Although Biden approved major renewable energy investments last year when he signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law, the package also allowed for the expansion of fossil fuel use. Last week, his Bureau of Land Management gave partial approval for a major drilling project, a day after his Environmental Protection Agency blocked the Pebble Mine project.
In addition to pushing the president to deliver climate action and justice for asylum-seekers, the groups called on him to:
The joint statement came as the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research released poll results showing just 37% of Democrats want Biden to run for a second term, down from 52% just before the midterms. The president has not officially stated whether he will seek reelection.
"Young people are the largest voting bloc in this country," said the groups. "We made the difference in electing President Biden in 2020, saved Democrats again in 2022, and if President Biden wants to hold Democratic power long-term, he must listen to us and deliver."
"I do not understand why they will not even privately explain to us what happened to our child," said the mother of Manuel Esteban Paez Terán.
Family members of climate activist Manuel Esteban Paez Terán are demanding answers regarding the January 18 police killing of their 26-year-old relative, commonly known as "Tortuguita."
At a press conference held Monday morning outside the DeKalb County courthouse in suburban Atlanta, family members and lawyers discussed the results of a private autopsy and demanded access to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation's (GBI) full record of events amid its ongoing probe.
According to the private autopsy, multiple officers from a joint task force shot Tortuguita at least 13 times during a raid on an encampment in the Weelaunee Forest. Tortuguita was part of a collective that occupied the forest in an attempt to prevent the construction of a $90 million, 85-acre police and fire training facility popularly known as Cop City.
The GBI alleges that Tortuguita fired a weapon before officers killed him. The GBI claims that it has traced the bullet that wounded a state trooper to a handgun found at the scene and has reportedly provided documents showing Terán purchased the firearm in 2020. However, law enforcement officials continue to evade basic questions about the fatal shooting.
"Manny was a kind person who helped anyone who needed it," Tortuguita's mother, Belkis Terán, said in a statement shared ahead of the press conference. "He was a pacifist. They say he shot a police officer. I do not believe it."
"I do not understand why they will not even privately explain to us what happened to our child," she added.
Civil rights attorney Jeff Filipovits lamented that "the GBI has selectively released information about Manny's death."
"They claim Manny failed to follow orders," said Filipovits. "What orders? The GBI has not talked about the fact that Manny faced a firing squad, when those shots were fired, or who fired them."
"Any evidence, even if it is only an audio recording, will help the family piece together what happened on the morning of January 18. This information is critical, and it is being withheld."
The GBI has stated publicly that body camera footage of the shooting does not exist. However, the bureau has not yet stated whether there is any audio or video from other sources, such as drones or helicopters that were being used at the time.
Tortuguita's family has requested that the GBI release whatever audio or video recordings of the shooting exist or any other information that could help illuminate what occurred.
"Any evidence, even if it is only an audio recording, will help the family piece together what happened on the morning of January 18," said Brian Spears, a civil rights attorney with nearly five decades of experience litigating police shootings. "This information is critical, and it is being withheld."
While the family searches for answers, Tortuguita's killing "escalates concerns related to the construction of a police training center and the government's willingness to deem activists as terrorists," Fossil Free Media noted. "The power used against these activists will soon be used against other protesters."
Several Weelaunee Forest defenders were arrested and charged—under a 2017 Georgia law that expanded the definition of "domestic terrorism" to include certain property crimes—during mid-December raids on their encampment.
More forest defenders were detained on the same charges on January 18, the day police fatally shot Tortuguita—the first or possibly second time that police have killed an environmental activist in modern U.S. history, according to experts. Additional activists are also facing prosecution as a result of Republican Gov. Brian Kemp's crackdown on demonstrations held since Tortuguita's killing.
According toGrist:
Over the course of December and January, 19 opponents of the police training center have been charged with felonies under Georgia's rarely used 2017 domestic terrorism law. But Grist's review of 20 arrest warrants shows that none of those arrested and slapped with terrorism charges are accused of seriously injuring anyone. Nine are alleged to have committed no specific illegal actions beyond misdemeanor trespassing. Instead, their mere association with a group committed to defending the forest appears to be the foundation for declaring them terrorists. Officials have underlined that an investigation is ongoing, and charges could yet be added or removed.
Atlanta Police Department Assistant Chief Carven Tyus was recently quoted as saying, "Protests by non-locals are inherently terrorism," according to Fossil Free Media. Moreover, Tyus has admitted in private meetings with his advisory council: "Can we prove they did it? No. Do we know they did it? Yes."
Fossil Free Media noted that "the city of Atlanta has also admitted to using Georgia's hands-free driving law as a pretext to arrest at least one person for filming officers at Cop City."
Gerry Weber of the Southern Center for Human Rights said that "police who behave legally have no reason to fear being filmed and should welcome it."
"Law enforcement has a vested interest in this training center that demands scrupulous transparency and impartiality," said Weber. "Unfortunately, we are getting the exact opposite."
"Cop City is something that no one in the community asked for, and survey after survey shows that the majority of Atlanta residents are opposed. The mayor continues to run roughshod over the desires of the community."
While Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens and DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond announced what they called a "compromise" for Cop City last week, opposition to the project remains strong among locals.
"Cop City is something that no one in the community asked for, and survey after survey shows that the majority of Atlanta residents are opposed," Kamau Franklin from Community Movement Builders, one of the organizations fighting against Cop City. "The mayor continues to run roughshod over the desires of the community."
The Atlanta City Council gave the Atlanta Police Foundation, a private organization, permission to build Cop City in 2021, four years after the Atlanta City Planning Department recommended that the Weelaunee Forest—deemed one of four "city lungs"—be turned into a massive urban park.
A coalition of more than 1,300 progressive advocacy groups published a letter last week calling for an independent investigation into the killing of Tortuguita. The groups also demanded the resignation of Dickens, a Democrat who they said parroted "the rhetoric of extreme right-wing Gov. Brian Kemp" when he condemned protesters rather than police officers after the shooting.
The coalition pointed out that Dickens and the Atlanta City Council have the authority to terminate the land lease for Cop City and implored local policymakers to do so immediately.
Ikiya Collective, a signatory of the letter, noted that the training set to take place at Cop City "will impact organizing across the country" as police are taught how to repress popular uprisings.
"This is a national issue," said the collective. "Climate justice and police brutality are interconnected, which is why we are joining the Stop Cop City calls to action with the frontline communities in Atlanta."
"We are currently experiencing and causing the Sixth Extinction—the mass extinction of species across the planet," said the head of NatureServe, which also found a third of plants nationwide are under threat.
Underscoring the need for humanity to overhaul its relationship with nature, 34% of plants species and 40% of animal species across the United States are at risk of extinction while 41% of U.S. ecosystems could collapse, according to an analysis published Monday by the nonprofit NatureServe.
"For 50 years, the NatureServe Network has been collecting the information necessary to understand biodiversity imperilment in the United States. This new analysis of that data, a first in 20 years, makes crystal clear the urgency of that work," said the group's vice president for data and methods, Regan Smyth.
"It's suicidal of us to pretend that business as usual is more important than safeguarding the natural world we all depend on."
"Two-fifths of our ecosystems are in trouble. Freshwater invertebrates and many pollinators, the foundation of a healthy, functional planet, are in precipitous decline," she pointed out. "Understanding and addressing these risks is critical if we are to forestall devastating consequences for the biodiversity that humanity needs to survive."
Noting that roughly a third of plants are in danger, the report—Biodiversity in Focus: United States Edition—explains that "this is an alarming general finding, but certain taxa face even greater threats. For example, 48% of cactus species are at risk of extinction, while around 200 tree species (about 20%) are at risk of extinction."
"Of the hundreds of grass species that form our nation's great prairies and marshes, about 19% are at risk of vanishing forever," the document states. "Preventing plant extinction is essential to maintaining ecosystem function and the services that wildlife and people rely upon."
\u201c\ud83d\udea8 NEW REPORT \ud83d\udea8 A new analysis from NatureServe reveals that over one-third of biodiversity in the United States is at risk of extinction. Read the report at:\nhttps://t.co/TceTuw3xgY\n\n#biodiversityinfocus\u201d— NatureServe (@NatureServe) 1675696459
As for animals, the analysis says that "as a group, species associated with fresh water, including amphibians, snails, mussels, crayfish, and many aquatic insects, have the highest percentage of at-risk species, highlighting the importance of conservation strategies to protect freshwater ecosystems."
"Among pollinators, bees are particularly threatened, with 37% of assessed species at risk," the report continues. "The conservation needs of these, and other invertebrate species, are often overlooked, yet many invertebrates are integral to maintaining the ecological functions of freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems."
Ecosystems across the country face potential "range-wide collapse due to extensive threats such as land-cover conversion," the publication warns. "Tropical ecosystems in the U.S. are all under substantial risk, but account for relatively small proportions in number and area."
"Temperate grasslands, boreal grasslands, and shrublands stand out among highly threatened ecosystems that extend over vast areas of the country, with 51% of the 78 grassland types known to be at risk of range-wide collapse," the report adds. "Temperate forests, boreal forests, and woodlands have also experienced multiple pressures, leading to an at-risk status for 40% of the 107 types of native U.S. forests."
(Image: NatureServe)
NatureServe president and CEO Sean T. O'Brien stressed that "we are currently experiencing and causing the Sixth Extinction—the mass extinction of species across the planet. NatureServe's data highlight where the threats are right here at home."
"The plants, animals, and ecosystems found in our state, tribal, and federal lands are key components of our cultural and natural heritage," he said. "We should be proud of the biodiversity in our backyard and should prioritize protecting what is here, now."
The report is just the latest to emphasize the growing threat to various species. Others include the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, updated in December during a summit in Montreal that ultimately produced what many experts and advocates agree is a "weak" global framework to protect biodiversity.
The IUCN update revealed "a perfect storm of unsustainable human activity decimating marine life around the globe," Bruno Oberle, the group's director general, said at the time. He warned that "we urgently need to address the linked climate and biodiversity crises, with profound changes to our economic systems, or we risk losing the crucial benefits the oceans provide us with."
The NatureServe analysis provoked similar demands for action. As Reutersreported:
Vivian Negron-Ortiz, the president of the Botanical Society of America and a botanist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, who was not involved in the NatureServe report, said there is still a lot scientists do not know and have not yet discovered about biodiversity in the United States, and that NatureServe's data helped illuminate that darkness.
More than anything, she sees the new data as a call to action.
"This report shows the need for the public to help prevent the disappearance of many of our plant species," she said. "The public can help by finding and engaging with local organizations that are actively working to protect wild places and conserve rare species."
Tierra Curry, a senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement Monday that "this grim assessment adds to the mountain of science showing that we're creating an extinction crisis."
"It's suicidal of us to pretend that business as usual is more important than safeguarding the natural world we all depend on," Curry declared, spotlighting some potential solutions including the Extinction Prevention Act and Recovering America's Wildlife Act.
"Grassland loss is the biggest U.S. environmental disaster that gets the least attention," she said. "Conversion of grasslands to suburban sprawl and pesticide-intensive agriculture is a primary reason we've lost 3 billion birds and why we could lose monarch butterflies and vital pollinators."
"By taking nature for granted we've pushed natural systems to the brink of collapse," Curry continued. "We've been so neglectful for so long, but we can create a different world that doesn't exploit nature and vulnerable human communities for never-ending sprawl and consumption."