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UN Human Rights Council Takes on Corporations

The UN’s Human Rights Council passed a historic resolution today for a binding International treaty to regulate human rights violations of transnational corporations.

Reforming for international financial stability vs. the TISA counter-reformation

On June 19, Wikileaks posted the April 2014 draft text of the financial services annex of the proposed Trade in Services Agreement (TISA). The Wikileaks posting shows governments, above all the U.S. and EU trade negotiators, in their traditional role of trying to open markets for the big banks and other financial firms.

Synthetically modified organisms aren’t “natural” at all

Synthetic biology is “Still in [the] Uncharted Waters of Public Opinion,” according to a recent focus group study by the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars. That’s not surprising since the technology involved sounds like something out of science fiction.

Revision of the EU fertilizer regulation and cadmium content of fertilizers

Daniel Calleja Crespo May 28 2014 Director General Directorate General for enterprise and industry B - 1049 Brussels Cc Karl Falkenberg, Director General, Directorate General for Environment Re: Revision of the EU fertilizer regulation and cadmium content of fertilisers Dear Director General, We are writing to you in relation to the revision of the EU fertiliser regulation to underline the impo

One rural community responds to climate change

This blog overviews the 2014 Stevens County Climate Dialogue.

TTIP webinar series: TTIP and GMOs

July 8th, 2014

July 8, 2014 9:00 CST / 10:00 EST /16:00 CET Register Now On June 16, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack cautioned European Union members against raising health or safety risks when banning the cultivation of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The debate over GMOs is intensifying as agribusiness on both sides of the Atlantic attempt to weaken standards on genetically modified organisms and their labeling through a new trade agreement. For civil society movements in the EU and the U.S., labeling is a burning issue. Labeling campaigns are already underway in 26 U.S. states. In the EU,

Rural youth and climate: An invitation to attend the Morris Climate Dialogue

A student dialogue at the Morris Area High School set the stage for our 2014 Stevens County Climate Dialogue

Morris citizens to discuss responses to extreme weather in ﬁrst Rural Climate Dialogue, June 12–14

A “Citizen Jury” will come together June 12–14 in Morris, Minn. for an intense three-day deliberative forum to discuss risks posed by climate change and develop a shared, community-based response to changing weather patterns, extreme weather events, and their community.

Seeking the whole story: New metrics needed to evaluate agricultural practices

Jump straight to IATP’s new report, Measuring Success: Local Food Systems and the Need for New Indicators.

Measuring Success: Local Food Systems and the Need for New Indicators

In agriculture, policymakers, analysts and researchers often use a set of indicators to assess whether a farming system, or new technology, is succeeding. The most common indicators focus on increasing “yield,” often of a singular crop or animal unit, within large-scale production systems.