Avaaz have organized a campaign to get the European Commission to research GM crops more thoroughly, as they have not yet had independent scientific testing (as reported in Scientific American). GM foods are being pushed on consumers by a handful of large multinationals whether they are genuinely of benefit to our society or not. This is about a small group of people making money, not about what’s best for our health or the environment. The campaign and petition are here.

Any petition which has the backing of 1million EU citizens must, by EU law, be brought before the Commission (the powerhouse of Europe) which must then consider legislation on the issue.

There’s no guarantee that legislation will go through, but this is the channel through which ordinary people can lobby the EU government – which is worth doing when you think about all those corporate interests lobbying away every day. It’s worth voicing your opinion if you have one, or nothing out there will ever change.

I recently watched a great movie Food Inc, which reminded me how corn farmers in the US who sign up for GM crops have to buy their seeds from the producer every year, instead of being allowed to save their seeds to replant the following year – as humans have done since the beginning of agriculture. They get sued for saving their seeds. Something like 90% of all corn is grown from GM in the US now, so people (farmers) no longer own the natural means to feed us on corn: a corporation does. This scares me. I’m planning to plant potatoes on my balcony while I still can :>

I don’t want Europe to go the same way as America. The ideology behind GM is the same ideology which guides the financial markets – profits before people. I don’t share those ideals, and I believe our guiding economic paradigm needs to change: the current thinking, part of which is about deregulating business – has brought financial, social and environmental damage on a global scale. A handful of people got rich. The way we think about how to run our lives has to change, and I believe it is changing. Reasonably levels of regulation and testing would help.

The New Economics Foundation in London is working, surprisingly enough, on a new kind of economics, models that include people, the environment and sustainability.

And in terms of food, I’m going to look into organics. In Spain they are still massively expensive (a good article on this by Nicholas Mead) but at least this is food that aligns with positive values – long live the happy chickens and peaceful pigs.

Genetically Modified crops , argue Monsanto – producer of 90% of the worlds GM seeds – improve harvests by creating plants which are resistant to bugs and /or plants which are resistant to herbicides, which can then be applied onto the crops to kill bugs without damaging the plant.

But green groups such as Friends of the Earth, WWF and Greenpeace and some leading academics say the trouble with GMOs is that they encourage the overuse of strong pesticides which harm the environment. There is no conclusive proof that these pesticides are not harmful to human health. Incidentally, the main claim that GMOs produce higher yeilds than natural crops has been strongly questioned by the negative findings of studies conducted by the University of Kansus in 2008, and by Doug Sherman in 2009.

The GM seeds Monsanto and others sell are bred to be resistant to a specific type of pesticide ‘ Roundup‘, also produced by Monsanto. As use of GM seed increases around the globe, the amount of Roundup that runs off into the surrounding land similarly increases. Good news for the environment or good news for Monsanto? Roundup has been shown to be extremely effective in wiping out wildlife which has not been genetically modified to withstand it. And Monsanto have a proven track record in producing effective poisons – see details on Agent Orange and DDT.

Surely there has been independent, peer reviewed, examination of the safety of this technology and the pesticides which support it?

Apparently not.

It is illegal to publish the results of any independent study because of the extremely controversial ‘end user’ agreement purchases of GM seed have to sign. Scientific American recently wrote a strong article questioning how a product so essential to human health as food could not be independently tested before being brought to market. The first UK tests were carried out for the government by plant lectin expert Dr Arpad Pusztai, author of 270 peer-reviewed papers and three books on the subject. He was hounded from his position in 1998 when he publicly stated he would not eat the GM potatoes he’d been testing, as they caused harm to his rats in the lab. He recieved a Whistleblower Award in 2005 from a German lawyers’ accociation.

All the media air-time given to arguments over GM crops takes reporters attention away from all the other possible solutions to the issue of how to grow enough food to feed the planet, without destroying the environment in the process. One non chemical solution to weeds is solarization. Another is the‘push-pull’ maize farming in east Africa. For every tech solution there are agroecological and organic ideas out there too. See ‘Biomimicry‘ for sound economic arguments for non-chemical farming solutions.

The GM debate is particularly relevant in Spain, as ever increasing quantities of GM maize is being planted here for animal feed. Theoretically Spain is the only country in Europe which grows GM crops, but EU monitors found 11,000 hectares of GM maize being grown in Spain, France, Portugal and Germany in 2007 – up from 62,000 hectares (mostly in Spain) – in 2006. Unlike in the United State, GM products have to be labeled here in Europe, although it’s unlikely you’ll ever know if your supermarket chicken or beef was fed on GM maize.  If you have any concerns about GM foods, it’s probably best to buy organic. Click here for an excellent article on organic food in Cataluña by freelance writer Nicholas Mead.

I think I’m going to avoid GM foods until more rigorous independent testing has taken place. ‘The World According to Monsanto’   makes for interesting viewing and if you want to campaign to keep GM out of Europe see Greenpeace or GM watch.

Commercial fisheries in Spain have recently had bad press about using EU subsidies to over-fish rather than switch to sustainable methods. Seems like the laws will change in 2013. The International regulatory body responsible for overseeing standards is the Marine Stewardship Council which has an excellent guide to the fish you can and can’t eat & where to buy it (see my cut and paste ‘super-supermarkets’ below). The Spanish wing of the World Wildlife Fund also has an on-line guide to fish it’s OK to eat here in Spain, and they also recommend you look for the blue MSC logo on any packaged fish you purchase.

OUT Basically eels (anguila), monk-fish (rape), sword fish (pez espada), tuna (atun rojo), Ruffle (cherna), king prawns (langostino), halibut and turbot (rodaballo) are all out!

IN But happily: mussels (mejillones), clams (almejas), oysters (ostra), razor-clams (navajas), crabs (necora, centollo), sardines (sarda), a type of trout (trucha arcoiris), and red gurnard (rubio) are in.

WOBBLY Then salmon, sea bream (dorada) squid (calamar) and hake (merluza) are all on the warning list. This is really sad because these four are all my favourite fish along with tuna.

For a full list see WWF or MSC as above.

Fish and Trips

There’s a nice site written in English for sports fishing fans wanting to spend a holiday rod in hand, which tells you about permits etc. For less active fish-lovers, it’s worth checking out a great sustainable fishery in the south of Spain in Veta La Parma which offers eco holidays. Click here for more info.

Super-Supermarkets selling MSC marked fish

Aldi

Aldi website

Smoked Alaska salmon
Delikato filetes de arenque con nata fresca 400g
Delikato filetes de arenque en salsa de nata y eneldo con pepinillos 400g
Delikato filetes de arenque en salsa de nata y mostaza con pepinillos a la mostaza 400g
Delikato filetes de arenque en salsa de yogur con hierbas finas 400g

Friedrichs

Friedrichs website

Friedrichs Premium Kodiak Wildlachs Caviar 100g

LIDL

LIDL website

LIDL fish fingers 450g
LIDL Alaska pollock fillet 800g
LIDL Fish in puff pastry 300g
LIDL Alaska pollock fillet 1kg

Stuhrk Delikatessen

Stuhrk website

Alaska wildlachs gravad
Alaska wildlachs
Alaska salmon rojo ahumado

Vesny Espana

Skandia salmon rojo 100g

I heard back from Starbucks today: their 76 Spanish coffee shops are all going to be Comercio Justo (Fair Trade) by the end of October 2009. They will apparently be the first ‘coffee retailer’ to sell the Comerccio Justo brand in Spain.

This is very good news. It seems like they really are trying to make up for previous bad behavior, and they have quite a lot to make up for. The recent closure of 123 stores in the States was accompanied by the statement that the company was searching for: “a more healthy and sustainable business model”, so it seems like a culture change might finally be on the way.

I’d argue that this move to Fair Trade is genuinely inspiring here in Spain, but it seems like there’s still work to do before their mission statement rings true.

Neighborhoods: The company was sued in 2008 over its aggressive expansion tactics - internal documents showed their corporate strategy at that time was to set up too many coffee shops than were really sustainable in a given target area. Economies of scale allowed them to out-compete small local shops: coverage was so intense they even cannibalized their own weaker stores in order to choke all competition. The strategy can only lead to a homogenized monoculture on whichever high streets it is practiced, and but fitted perfectly with the company’s mission statement of the time, to: “establish Starbucks as the premier purveyor of the finest coffee in the world”. The tactic was termed ‘cluster bombing’ although the company has been working hard to distance itself from that image. The case was settled out of court, (as reported on June 1st 2008) so the business strategy was never publically examined. But it seems that the company did go under a degree of self examination. They brought back the old CEO Howard Schultz, and under his guidance the mission statement has changed.

People: Starbucks workers formed a union about five years ago to campaign on low pay, variable working hours and health care. On pay, the national minimum wage varies across American states, and Starbucks appears to pay that much or above – which is quite good for a restaurant chain (John Glass, CIBC World Markets). But working hours are not fixed, and can vary from 35 hours in a week to just 10. Around 58% of employees have no healthcare provision – which is serious in America, which lacks public health service provision. But on pensions they do OK: many companies have frozen their pension contributions this year, where Starbucks have committed to try and honor previous years’ commitments. Starbucks has been trying to quash the union without success since 2004, claiming unionization is unnecessary in a company which takes care of its staff. The most recent ruling against Starbucks suggests this attitude is overly paternalistic. But the mood in America at the moment seems to be that employees who still have a job should basically be grateful for whatever they are able to earn.

Cups of coffee: Starbucks are doing much better here. In 2007 Starbucks stopped blocking Ethiopian coffee farmers who’d been trying to brand the coffee they sold, and thereby earn a higher price. Their Shared Planet initiative projects that by 2015 all Starbucks’ coffee is going to be Fair Trade; that 100% of Starbucks cups  will be “reusable or recyclable” (although this is not the same as committing to the act of reusing or recycling, they are simply committing to the possibility). They have also committed to reducing their environmental footprint through energy and water conservation, recycling and green construction; and to contributing one million community service hours per year.

So, well done Starbucks in leading the way for Comercio Justo coffee in Spain. I wonder how their new mission statement will affect their expansion strategy, and if local workers will receive better care?

Maybe Howard Schultz can inspire us all.

In a recent Observer article: “founder chairman, president and chief executive of the Starbucks Coffee Company Howard Schultz” announced his intention to put Fair Trade coffee in each one of his 747 English outlets.

Hooray! is the only possible response to this move, but my question is – what about the rest of his shops?

When the Fairtrade Foundation comes to a village in Africa – like Musasa mentioned in the article – it agrees to purchase a fixed minimum amount of coffee, and guarantees that the price per kg will not go below a certain fixed minimum.

Since the time of the Pharaohs political leaders have tried to manage agricultural production and store food to avoid mass starvation during times of drought, flood and other natural disaster. But in the 1980s, the prevailing economic model was of the ‘free market’: global food stockpiling of tropical goods like coffee ceased, food prices crashed and tens of millions of small subsistence farmers in the developing world were ruined. Global commodities traders made a lot of money, as did large agri-food businesses which absorbed the lower production costs neglecting to pass lower food price benefits onto consumers (Herman & Kuper 1992). Just one more reason not to eat fast food :>

Free markets are supposed to be self-regulating, but agricultural markets cannot self regulate because of the indeterminacy of the weather and other environmental conditions.

Competition in agriculture does not create wealth for all – it favours the strongest and largest producers over the smaller, individual farmers. In rich countries when small farmers are driven out of business by large multinationals they have some hope of finding alternative employment. But developing world farmers tend to live off their land – there are no alternatives. And is it really ‘competition’ when 28 million industrialized farmers receive state subsidies to invest in their businesses? Sugar farmers in the UK receive an estimated average of £60,000 / year in subsidies (O’Connell 2004)

In the current economic climate coffee bean farmers tend to sell their goods to the first broker who comes along: these farmers have no power to negotiate a fair price for their goods. The Fairtrade Foundation ensures all farmers in the villages they work with have access to this information, so in addition to agreeing to purchase a fixed amount of the commodity, for at least a fixed minimum price, it also offers small farmers the means to check how much more their product is actually worth at any given time. The really good bit is that an additional 10 cents for every dollar earned is ploughed straight back into co-operative projects in the village – like schools, hospitals and clean running water.

I wrote to Starbucks to congratulate them warmly on their move into Fair Trade coffee the UK and their thoughtful lack of carcegens in smoke-filled Spain, but had to ask what plans they have to roll their new UK coffee policy out here in Spain.

I eagerly await thier reply and will report back just as soon as I get one.

But there are serveral differences with Comercio Justo: firstly it’s promoted through OxfamIntermon here, rather than standing up as a lone brand. I want to live in a Fair Trade town! Secondly – I’ve only ever seen comercio justo coffee – where are the bananas and all the rest?

Then there’s a larger environmental problem of air-miles. To be super ethical we really need to eat more locally sourced food rather than food that’s been jetted in from miles away. I figure coffee doesn’t count as I’m unaware of any coffee plantations being done out of business hereabouts. However, I guess someone super ethical might cut coffee out altogether, I’m afraid I’m just not ready yet.

Then there’s the business about the supermarkets. They seem to be better controlled here than in the UK – there are laws restricting their spread and power, so there seem to be plenty of lovely local shops to choose from. Long may this continue :>

I’d like to dig further into how to source my food ethically here in Spain – any help, suggestions and comments would be greatfully recieved!

There are 820 ‘Roba Amiga’ clothes dumps in Catalunya, 283 in Valencia and 5 in Madrid fulfilling the UK Oxfam role here. Clothes in good condition will be cleaned and resold at one of  the 17 Roba Amiga shops (full list of shops below). I popped into the shop on calle hospital and found they offer a mix of second-hand clothes, shoes and bags, together with cheaply priced new accessories such as scarves, belts and bracelets.

But I have to confess  – I’m biased. I used to work for Oxfam and I think they are mostly a fantastic organisation, doing excellent work. As for the cock-ups, well, everyone is human. Most of all, I love their transparency. From their last couple of annual accounts, you can see they’v spent a measly 12% of their income on managing their vast organisation (click here for financials, turn to page 19), less than Save the Children’s 18% and much less than the 35% the RedCross spend on a mixture of fundraising, trading and  ‘Strenghtening and Supporting the Movement’.

What I’d really like to know is, what’s the Spanish version of ‘Companies House’? If anyone can help I’d be really interested, ‘cos it’d be good to know what percentage of the RobaAmiga profits go to the social projects they support. I’d also like to know what competition they have out there? What other outlets are there for second-hand clothes? Any clothes-swapping parties I need to know about, and how about Freecycle?

so many questions :>

Theoretically I like the idea of starting from scratch with a house & building it ethically, in the most energy efficient way right the foundations upwards.

My only hope is that these eco towns are the government’s response to housing shortages in the south, and will not detract from the business we’ll all have to go through of thouroughly greening our homes.

I’m looking forward to exploring how to green my home, and finding out how to get it done here in Spain!

As always, any hints or tips you can offer would be very much appreciated.

Click here for map

My friend Tina recommended this place to me and it’s truly a heaven on earth.  I’m trying to find a local supply of organic milk, but these guys have everything you could possibly need.

Their property extends across 400 acres from mountain top to valley spring, and is home to ten Arabian stallions and mares, a herd of frisky goats, a gaggle of geese, four dogs, a supremely relaxed cat and the couple’s three-year old son, Vito. A huge, fluffy, brown and white Saint Bernard stretches out in the sunshine in front of the door to the house, letting out deep snuffling sighs of contentment as he sleeps. Four years ago their pinky-ginger farmhouse was so dilapidated it didn’t even have windows. It’s a testament to hard work that the building is now a comfortable family home, complete with solar-generated electricity, clean water from the well, and a garden full of broccoli, potatoes & alfalfa.

Victor and Helka teach much more than basic riding skills, they teach people how to communicate with their animals. “You can call it horse whispering if you like, but this is not something magical or mystical” Helka assures me, “what we do is all based on the latest scientific theory and practice”.

Helka grew up in the north of Finland, and has really good memories of riding out there: “One winter the sea froze and there was this huge expansion of white space – we galloped for hours over the ice.” She became a riding instructor whilst studying anthropology at Edinburgh, and came to Spain to research how people who worked with horses communicated with them. After travelling over 500km with some “pretty rough” Spanish cowboys, she met Lucy Rees, a Welsh horse trainer and writer based in Spain. Lucy knew all the local trainers and introduced Helka to Victor, who was at that time running a small farm 40km south of Barcelona.

For his part, Victor had just given up a successful career as a naval surveyor: “I found I kept asking myself, ‘what am I doing with my life?’” One day he costed out his retirement dream of running a little farm in the countryside, and realized he did not have to wait. He left his company and bought the largest farm he could afford. The property came complete with stables, and an old, troubled horse that couldn’t be moved. “I wasn’t very close to horses when I first arrived. I’d had a nasty fall when I was 14 or 15, and still kind of blamed the horse. But this animal was scarred, and more scared than I was, so I took it as a challenge, to try and find out what was wrong and put it right.”

Nothing Victor did seemed to make any difference until he read the, ‘The Horses Mind’ by Lucy Rees. Over the next few months he used Lucy’s techniques and gradually began to win the horse’s trust. “Other trainers and riders used to pop by to see how we were doing, and everyone could see the results were extraordinary.” His own fear had disappeared during the process, and he began to work with Rees, teaching others how to avoid problems with their animals based on a greater understanding of horse-behaviour in the wild.

“When you examine horses in nature, you see they graze for 16 to 17 hours a day, so they need a lot of space to move around and keep healthy. Horses have no teeth or claws to defend themselves from predators; their only protection is to run. So horses are social animals – they have to be for survival. A horse on its own would naturally be too frightened to stoop its head down to eat – but if another horse is there to keep watch, the horse can feed. If you come to a horse in a calm, quiet, peaceful way, and offer it the choice between being on its own and being with you, it is most likely to choose to be with you,” Victor explains. “The result is the creation of a completely different kind of relationship to the usual one based on dominance, where the horse is forced to submit.”

When people come to work with the horses at the farm there are no ropes, reins or saddles. Just you and the horse. Helka continues: “People come here with lots of mental noise, we all think so much about the past and in the future and we often don’t concentrate on the present moment enough. Part of being here at the farm is breathing in the clear mountain air, and tuning into the peaceful nature of the horse. We want people to experience a little bit of peace when they come, to experience being present in a very beautiful moment with an animal, who isn’t thinking about yesterday or tomorrow.”

BECOME A HORSE WHISPERER

Equilibre Gaia is open throughout the summer for individual or group classes and workshops. See http://equilibregaia.wordpress.com/ for more details. Natural Horsemanship classes cost E.25 per class and last between one-two hours. To visit the farm, book lessons or get more information call Helka on 977.266.021 or email her at equilibregaia@gmail.com.