Campaigns

Solidarity with farm workers – SAFE would like to express our solidarity with the Farm Workers of America, and around the world- and to encourage our members to become informed of their plight, and involved in their resistance to exploitation. To mark this commitment we are printing solidarity stickers and distributing materials prepared by the Student Farmworker Alliance at all our events this semester. The migrant, immigrant, an un-protected workers in Caliornia’s agricultural industry are exposed to toxic chemicals, abusive working conditions, cultural alienation, food insecurity and discrimination. These people work without protection in the hottest fields, and narrowest margins of our economy, they are the victims of our “cheap food”-system along with our soil, our water, the wildlife and our rural communities. These people deserve our respect, not only for the work that they do, but also for the struggle that they manage to maintain, despite their conditions. Let us unite with them in articulating a more human, more fair, more ecological vision for agriculture in our state, and our country.

National Animal Identification System campaign- Stop this regressive over-regulation of small family farming operations, it is a system for monitoring cattle from CAFOs (Confined Animal Feeding Operations) not small/family/backyard/4-H farmers+hobbiests. It is a policy that is very costly to small producers (who ought to be exempt) www.nonais.org

Student Farmworker Alliance Burger King campaign- The Imokalee workers unions have successfully negociated price hikes for wages and piece-picked tomatoes, mushrooms etc. from McDonalds and Pizzahut. Now they are targeting Burger King. www.sfalliance.org

CAFF Leafy Greens Campaign- In response to the E Coli contamination incidents earlier this year. BIG farming corporations who process mixed mesclun and other leafy greens have constructed a ‘protection policy” against liability from future contamination. THe trouble is that the policy defines “good agricultural practices’ in monoculture, mega farm terms. It imposes a total bio-mass removal ( to the detriment of perrenial borders/riparian areas) and it further “sterilzes” salad growing areas. www.caff.org

Pesticide Action Network STOP methyl iodide campaign- this is a deeply poisonous, cancer-causing replacement for methyl bromide, a soil fumigant that totally sterilizes the soil ( kills all life). This new, more toxic chemical is used by scientists in the lab to cause mutations in DNA, it is however not as bad for the atmosphere, which is why it is being suggested. Please visit www.panna.org for more information on this terrible chemical, and the work being done to stop its use.

Oakland Food Policy Board/ Food+ Fitness Collaborative-The guiding principle for this Collaborative is to ensure that its structure, operation, and activities are driven by the needs of Oakland residents who face the greatest challenges in accessing fresh, healthy foods, and who are most impacted by the lack of clean, safe accessible public spaces. This principle builds on the growing demand for improved nutritional opportunities and access to safe community streets, parks, and public facilities by Oakland residents and policymakers—-contact NrKhanna@UCDavis.edu

Stop BP Berkeley – On February 1, 2007, BP Amoco PLC (formerly British Petroleum) announced that it had chosen the University of California at Berkeley, in collaboration with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, to host the Energy Biosciences Institute (EBI). Funded with $500 million over 10 years, the agreement would double the amount of corporate funding for research on campus, and change the direction of biofuels research on this campus for years to come. The details of the agreement are currently in negotiation. This deal has not been signed/ We are a UC Berkeley-based student campaign formed to oppose this deal. We insist that UC Berkeley must commit itself to responsible, accountable research in the interest of social justice and sustainability.www.stopbp-berkeley.org