[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=523bXlK5t34[/youtube]

http://www.dirtthemovie.org/

‘…Die Agrarsubventionen fließen an Zucker-, Fleisch- und Stärkefabriken, aber auch an Firmen wie RWE und Lufthansa.
Nach monatelangem Streit haben die Bundesländer am Dienstag die Empfänger der EU-Agrarsubventionen in Deutschland veröffentlicht – nur Bayern hält seine Daten weiter zurück. Mehr als sechs Milliarden Euro an Steuergeld überweist die Europäische Union jährlich an deutsche Betriebe. Profiteure sind aber nicht die kleinen Bauern….Aus den Listen im Internet geht hervor, dass Nahrungsmittelkonzerne und große agrarindustrielle Betriebe die Hauptprofiteure der EU-Zahlungen sind…
Laut den Zahlen auf www.agrar-fischerei-zahlungen.de profitieren auch Unternehmen, die keine Landwirtschaft betreiben. Für die Rekultivierung stillgelegter Braunkohlegruben erhielt der Energieversorger RWE Power 590.000 Euro. Eine Tochterfirma der Lufthansa bekam 106.000 Euro für das Servieren von Agrarprodukten auf Flügen über die EU-Grenzen hinaus. Subventionsempfänger sind auch mehrere Golf- oder Reitklubs…’

Der komplette Artikel…

Palestinians Regard Permaculture As A Necessity, Not A Choice

By Nora Barrows-Friedman

Back in my hometown of Berkeley, California, the practice of permaculture is associated within a feel-good, hippie-elite framework. It’s a choice, just like buying locally grown organic heirloom tomatoes from an independent grocer instead of buying conventional Chilean-grown tomatoes hawked at Safeway. But inside the occupied West Bank, permaculture is not just a decision of conscience but a necessary means of empowerment within an ever-changing, uncertain landscape.

The reasons for this earth-friendly approach include accelerated loss of water-rich land to Israeli settlements, and Israeli restrictions on certain types of fertilizer and restrictions on what types of vegetables can be exported out of the occupied-territories. Out of creative necessity for food security, Palestinians have begun to re-green the land; reclaiming the ancient ways of growing crops.

Palestinians in the area say they are excited to participate in this burgeoning permaculture movement. “I was born here,” Munther Rishmawi, a Beit Sahour resident says. “My grandfather farmed here on this same ground. And I’m learning to be a farmer in a new way…in Palestine, we don’t have a lot. We just have land.”

Alice Harrison, an environmental scientist from the United Kingdom, came to Palestine as a tourist and was moved by the humanitarian and environmental fallout from the Israeli occupation. She helped start the Bustan Qaraaqa farm last year after working on water development at a Palestinian NGO. “We were writing these reports about the environment being destroyed,” Harrison says. “From the top-down development level, nothing was happening to prevent the destruction of Palestine. So, instead of saying this is terrible, something must be done, we thought, this is terrible, what do we do now?”

Harrison says the practice of permaculture in Palestine is multi-faceted. “We’re developing simple things that anyone can do in order to salvage something from the occupation…We’re also responding to the economic crisis and the food security crisis.”

Farmers at Bustan Qaraaqa say that over 70 different species of native plants are being propagated and rooted throughout this wadi (Arabic for desert valley). Tiny sprigs of ricinus and pale green thyme reach for the sky in their little pots made from the bottoms of plastic juice bottles. Sage and mint grow in soil-filled car tires, and almond and apricot saplings nurture wildflowers at the base of their skinny trunks. Permaculture is not a tidy, clean-cut way of farming. Instead, plants and trees are packed in all together, grouped by need for certain nutrients, sun or shade, The term “weeds” does not apply; permaculture insists that every plant has its place and can offer something beneficial to the landscape. In the nursery at Bustan Qaraaqa, long, thick blades of wild grass protect new sprouts from the blazing sun.

Across the Green Line, Israeli agri-business flourishes and Israelis enjoy unrestricted access to land and water resources. Water grids and sophisticated irrigation provide an abundance of crops and full swimming pools during the summer. Even illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank enjoy these privileges, while Palestinians in surrounding villages and refugee camps struggle with a fraction of the water supply.

According to a report published this week by the World Bank, the average Israeli receives access to four times as much water as the average Palestinian, resulting in what it calls a “near catastrophe” for the Palestinian Authority’s current water system.

The green fields of vegetable and fruit crops in Israel are fed from water aquifers and the Jordan river as settlements across the West Bank are deliberately placed on top of the most fertile land and the biggest underground water tables. On the other hand, Palestinian farms, villages, towns and refugee camps (all of which are restricted from accessing the same water tables and the Jordan river) must then rely on rainwater-catching tubs on top of roofs and beside homes — a meager source of water especially in the hot summer months.

Bustan Qaraaqa addresses this water crisis head-on. Volunteers are building a massive cistern on the southern edge of the property that will catch and reserve rainwater to be used for irrigation and fish farming; schools of tilapia will be introduced both as a form of mosquito control and as a source of food for the community.

“Palestine could lead the world in arid-zone agriculture,” says Alice Harrison. “Already, 80% of the farming is rain-fed. It’s a sustainable set-up to begin with — but, it’s predicted that, because of global climate change, rainfall in this area will decrease 20% by 2050. We should be prepared for it.”

Working to re-green a drying land within an expanding humanitarian crisis, Bustan Qaraaqa farm volunteers are beginning to coordinate with Palestinian refugee camps, helping develop ideas for rooftop gardens and water re-use. “This isn’t a movement for yuppies,” Harrison continues. “This is a very grassroots concern. These are real problems people are facing.” She quotes a Bedouin friend of hers. “He says that in the [Palestinian] environmental movement, this is a case of us recognizing ourselves.”

Find the article and a video at Huffington Post.

read an excerpt!

‘THE FUTURE OF FOOD examines the complex web of market and political forces that are changing what we eat as huge multinational corporations seek to control the world’s food system.’ – keep on watching the other parts…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUwFPSDvB7I[/youtube]

You might also want to have a look at our ‘Corporate Watch’ playlist on youtube…

[googlevideo]http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4152340418943461860[/googlevideo]

“I still feel that with human transformation, the power to reach deep within to make change, it is really the arts and culture which carry that power.
And therefore even though I am not an artist and I’m not from theatre, I have a very, very deep respect for what the arts can do.”

read the interview by Wallace Heim here!

Vandana Shiva founded the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology, an independent body addressing social and environmental issues in partnership with local farming communities in India. In 1991, she founded Navdanya, meaning nine seeds, a national movement in India to protect biodiversity and farmers’ rights.

Aufwendige GVO-Kontrollen für Sojaimporte aus den USA entfallen nun nach der Zulassung in der EU. EU-Gesundheitskommissarin Androulla Vassiliou erklärte, mit der Zulassung sollten Engpässe bei der Versorgung mit Futtermitteln vermieden werden. Zudem möchte die Kommission Diskussionen um Toleranzschwellen für unerlaubte GVO-Spuren vermeiden.

Well, das ist ein gesundheits- und umweltpolitischer Rückschlag für die BürgerInnen der EU und ein erheblicher finanzieller Gewinn für den Genfood-Riesen Monsanto.

Fakten und Hintergründe zur Gentech-Soja

‘We’ve got multiple products coming from different production systems and over the years there has been a tremendous amount of insulation against variations in the market.
In that sense I think that permaculture’s got a very valuable lesson for farmers in the 21st century.’
Rod May, one of Australia’s most succesful and prominent organic farmers

Permaculture – Principles and Pathways beyond Sustainability, David Holmgren

www.permakultur-info.de – Information on permaculture and initiatives/projects in german speaking countries.
more info on permaculture