[Scpg] Sustainable Ag Forum-UCSB Friday, May 7 4pm

[Wesley Roe and Marjorie Lakin Erickson]

>Invitation to the
>
>Third Annual UCSB / Worldwatch Institute Event
>
>
>
>Farming in the Public Interest:Friday, May 7 4pm North Hall 1006
>
>University of California, Santa Barbara
>
>Why We Should All Care About Sustainable Agriculture
>
>
>
>Keynote Presentation by:
>
>Brian Halweil, Senior Researcher, Worldwatch Institute
>
>
>Discussants:
>
>Richard Sanford, Sanford Winery
>
>Chris Flavin, President, Worldwatch Institute
>
>David Cleveland, Professor, Environmental Studies Program and
>
>Department of Anthropology
>
>Robert Wilkinson, Lecturer, Environmental Studies Program and
>
>Bren School of Environmental Science and Management
>
>
>
>Friday, May 7
>
>4:00 PM
>
>North Hall 1006
>
>University of California, Santa Barbara
>
>(There is no charge for this event.)
>
>
>Sponsored by the Worldwatch Institute, UCSB Environmental Studies
>Program, Bren School of Environmental Science and Management,
>Community Environmental Council, Fairview Gardens Farms
>
>
>When the U.S. government approved new national organic standards in
>2002, farmers, consumers, and even agribusiness officials began to
>realize that something was missing. Because even in a nation where all
>of the land was farmed organically, the landscape could be paved over
>by sprawl, farm communities could be sapped of life, junk food could
>proliferate, and school children could be obese. Farming that serves
>the public interest must not only keep toxic chemicals out of
>waterways, soil, and the food supply. It will also keep farmers on the
>land and invigorate rural communities. It will protect and nurture
>wild areas. It will reinforce healthy diets. And, finally, farming
>that serves the public interest will be diverse and resilient enough
>to sustain shocks like climate change and bioterrorism. The blueprint
>for going "beyond organic" already exists--on wineries that protect th
>e salmon in their watershed, in dinners that serve only food grown
>within 50 miles, and in school cafeterias that serve food grown and
>prepared by the students.
>
>Brian Halweil, a Senior Researcher, joined Worldwatch in 1997 as the
>John Gardner Public Service Fellow from Stanford University. At the
>Institute, Brian writes on the social and ecological impacts of how we
>grow food, focusing recently on organic farming, biotechnology,
>hunger, and rural communities. Most recently, he wrote Worldwatch
>Paper 163, "Home Grown: The Case for Local Food in a Global Market."
>
>Brian's work has been featured in the international press, and he
>recently testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign
>Relations on the role of biotechnology in combating poverty and hunger
>in the developing world. Brian has traveled extensively in Mexico,
>Central America and the Caribbean, and East Africa learning indigenous
>farming techniques and promoting sustainable food production. Before
>coming to Worldwatch, Brian worked with California farmers interested
>in reducing their pesticide use, and set up a 2-acre student-run
>organic farm on Stanford campus. He writes from Sag Harbor, NY, where
>he and his wife tend a home garden and orchard.
>
>The Worldwatch Institute is an independent research organization that
>works for an environmentally sustainable and socially just society, in
>which the needs of all people are met without threatening the health
>of the natural environment or the well-being of future generations. By
>providing compelling, accessible, and fact-based analysis of critical
>global issues, Worldwatch informs people around the world about the
>complex interactions between people, nature, and economies. Worldwatch
>focuses on the underlying causes of and practical solutions to the
>world's problems, in order to inspire people to demand new policies,
>investment patterns and lifestyle choice s.
>
>
>********************************
>
>Robert C. Wilkinson, Ph.D.
>
>1428 W. Valerio St.
>
>Santa Barbara, CA 93101-4955
>
>
>wilkinson at es.ucsb.edu
>
>  (805) 569-2590 phone / fax



---------------------------------------------------------
Santa Barbara Local Activists SUPERLIST
http://www.sbnatural.com/superlist