SUN Aug 4, Starting at dawn

Annual Farmworker March for Dignity

Morning meeting place: 1431 Sunset Ave, Ferndale, WA 98248. Details in Facebook event. Join farmworker leaders from Community to Community (C2C) and Familias Unidas por la Justicia in an historic march in rural Whatcom County. The march starts with a sunrise ceremony and mistica at Customs and Border Patrol facility in Ferndale, and will proceed past several worksites where H2A workers have been contracted. We will end around 3pm with our vision of a healthy food system, fair and good for workers and eaters, at C2C's Jardîn de Agroecologica, with a vigil, food and celebration, speakers, and music. See David Bacon's photos from last year's march. Email Simone to join CAGJ’s contingent and fill out this carpool spreadsheet!

TUES AUG 20, 6:30 - 8:30PM

WTO+20 Planning Meeting

No Food Justice Project Meeting in August

Get involved in planning the day-long teach-in at Town Hall Seattle on Saturday Nov 30^th, the 20^th anniversary of the Shutdown of the WTO, where the seeds of CAGJ and many other efforts were planted! The Teach-In will be an opportunity to bring hundreds of people together through work-shops and a movement assembly style gathering to strategize on how We the People will continue to show the WTO and Global Corporations that This is What Democracy Looks Like! Location: CAGJ Office at Welcome Table Church, 1322 S Bayview St, on Beacon Hill. (Note: This meeting will take place at our regularly scheduled Food Justice Project meeting time; FJP meetings will resume in September!) RSVP here.

SAT August 24, 10am - 3pm

CAGJ Teach-Out with Clean Greens Farm & Market

Please help us publicize - share the Facebook event!

Location: Clean Greens Farm, 20121 W Snoqualmie River Rd NE, Duvall, WA. Clean Greens Farm and Market is a nonprofit organization, owned and operated by residents of Seattle's Central District. With the produce grown on its Duvall, Washington farm, Clean Greens meets food access needs in its community by providing healthy and nutritious food at affordable prices through its neighborhood farm stands, Community Supported Agriculture and Giveback Programs. Join us at Clean Greens Farm in August, to give Tom & Venice a hand in the fields, and learn about their food sovereignty work rooted in Seattle’s historically black neighborhood, the Central District. Register here.

SAT Sept 21, 9am-5pm

CAGJ Membership Gathering Part : Past, Present, Future: Assessing CAGJ Register today!

Location: Youngstown Cultural Arts Center, 4408 Delridge Way SW, Seattle, WA 98106. We will feed you! Join us for the first of three membership gatherings during our Strategic Assessment & Planning Process to look back at CAGJ’s story, assess how we’re doing now, and vision the organization and world we want in the future. Our consultant Scott Winn will guide us through conversations to assess CAGJ’s accomplishments and programs through a racial equity lens. We want our members and partners to lead in determining a vision for the future of CAGJ, our organizing strategies, and how we will transform the food system! Register today!

WED OCT 30, 7-9pm, Town Hall Seattle

Eating Tomorrow: The Battle for the Future of Food in Africa

Location: Town Hall Seattle, 1119 8th Ave, Seattle

CAGJ/AGRA Watch are very excited to welcome to Seattle Million Belay, Coordinator of the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa, and Tim Wise, author of Eating Tomorrow: Agribusiness, Family Farmers, and the Battle for the Future of Food (New Press 2019). Belay and Wise will engage in a conversation on the themes of the book, which features stories of the victims of land-grabbing in Mozambique, Monsanto officials trying to push genetically modified corn into Mexico, and Malawian farmers trying to preserve and promote their nutritious native seeds. RSVP here & contact Simone to help organize.

SAT NOV 30, Town Hall Seattle

Save the Date! 20th Anniversary of the WTO Uprising

CAGJ is organizing a day-long event at Town Hall Seattle to mark the 20th anniversary of the people’s victory and shut-down of the 1999 World Trade Organization meetings in Seattle! Come to our planning meeting on TUES August 20 at CAGJ's office (see details above)! Or contact Heather to get involved in planning the event, where we aim to learn from our history and build today’s movements for global justice.

TAKE ACTION

Tell the Gates Foundation: Agroecology for Climate Action!

Share our Banner Drop photo from SLEE

Join AGRA Watch in supporting the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa’s new campaign, Agroecology for Climate Action! Sample social media post: Solidarity with Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa! Agroecology is the solution, not another green revolution #FoodSovereigntyNow! #AgroecologyforClimateAction

Organize an action at the Gates HQ with us!

In October, we will do a public action in solidarity with our partners in the African food sovereignty movement to call attention to the Gates Foundation’s role in pushing corporatization, biotech, and seed privatization in African agriculture. To get plugged in and help plan, contact Simone.

Sign the petition for the Seattle Green New Deal

350 Seattle and Got Green launched a campaign demanding that the City of Seattle create its own Green New Deal to eliminate climate pollution by 2030, address historical injustices, and create thousands of good, green, well-paying, unionized jobs. Show your support for climate justice locally! Sign the petition for Seattle’s Green New Deal at www.seattlegnd.org (If you are part of a Seattle-based organization, business, faith or cultural institution, ask them to endorse at seattlegnd.org/endorsements.)

CAGJ NEWS & ANALYSIS

Agroecology as Innovation By Tim Wise - CAGJ/AGRA Watch are excited to host Tim on his book tour at Town Hall Seattle on October 30th!

On July 3, the High Level Panel of Experts of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) released its much-anticipated report on agroecology in Rome. The report signals the continuing shift in emphasis in the UN agency’s approach to agricultural development. As outgoing FAO Director General Jose Graziano da Silva has indicated, “We need to promote a transformative change in the way that we produce and consume food. We need to put forward sustainable food systems that offer healthy and nutritious food, and also preserve the environment. Agroecology can offer several contributions to this process.” The commissioned report, Agroecological and other innovative approaches for sustainable agriculture and food systems that enhance food security and nutrition, two years in the making, is clear on the urgent need for change. “Food systems are at a crossroads. Profound transformation is needed,” the summary begins. It goes on to stress the importance of ecological agriculture, which supports “diversified and resilient production systems, including mixed livestock, fish, cropping and agroforestry, that preserve and enhance biodiversity, as well as the natural resource base.” Read the article.

Agroecology is More than Science, Practice and Movement By John Wilson, Member of the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa

“When we introduce Agroecology we tend to throw out our little phrase that it’s ‘a science, a set of practices, and a citizen’s movement’. No, no, no, Agroecology is far more than this. It may be a useful summary at times but we don’t do it justice when we only keep throwing that little stock phrase out. The reflection below comes out of today’s time spent in my garden as I wondered: What is Agroecology?” Wilson goes on to describe how Agroecology is art, creative solutions, connection, nurturing people, revolution, potential, and more. Read the article.

Video: Gene Drives in Africa - Civil Society Speaks Out

On July 1, 2019, Target Malaria (funded by the Gates Foundation) announced the release of genetically modified (GM) sterile male mosquitoes in Bana, a village in Burkina Faso – the first GM insect to be released in Africa. This is Phase I – by Phase III, Target Malaria aims to release gene drive mosquitoes. This release occurred despite strong opposition from civil society, in Burkina Faso, and across the continent. In the video, “Gene Drives in Africa: Gene Drives in Africa: Civil Society speaks out”, key figures discuss their concerns regarding gene drive technology and explain how their governments, and the Africa Union’s, position on gene drives, has been captured. Interviewees include Nnimmo Bassey, Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), Lim Li Ching, Third World Network and David Otieno, Kenyan Peasant League. Read African Centre for Biodiversity Briefing Paper to learn more what gene drive organisms are, the risks.

COMMUNITY CALENDAR

SAT August 3, 11am – 4pm

Art Storm to prepare for September Global Climate Action Strike

In September 350 Seattle we will be responding to the global call for climate action, originated by youth worried about the lack of a meaningful response to the crisis by adults, politicians, and governments. The strike on September 20th comes three days before the UN Climate Summit in New York City. An intergenerational Climate Walkout organizing committee is coming together and people are beginning to plan amazing actions for the week. We’ll post updates here as we have them. Make a pledge to join the climate strikes this September, register a strike of your own, or organize your workplace and community here. In preparation for September, a coalition of Puget Sound climate groups is hosting a day of brainstorming, creating, and networking on August 3rd. This event will focus on the many powerful ways we can use art to express dissent and activate the hearts and minds of others. Let’s work together to unleash our creativity and make the Global Week of Climate Action a resounding success! more info here

SAT August 3, 10AM-5PM

Tilth Alliance’s Chicken Coop and Urban Farm Tour

Join us as Tilth Alliance host chicken coops and urban fams! This is your chance to visit folks who are keeping chickens and creating unique and inspiring urban farms. Learn great ideas from creative neighbors who are incorporating animals and gardens into their home landscapes. In this self-guided tour, you will see simple chicken coops built in an afternoon and elaborate finey-crafted coops that took weeks of planning and building. Also see what’s needed for keeping miniature goats, ducks, mason, bees, honey and rabbits. There are sites all around Seattle. Enjoy a unique and inspiring urban adventure! More info.

SAT August 17, 4-7PM

Symphony for Climate Change

Please join Discover Arts in the Park and Terra Nostra invites the community to enjoy the fusion of arts and science at the family-friendly event Symphony for Climate Change at the upper field of the Daybreak Star Center in Discovery Park. The event will feature the screening of Terra Nostra ('Our Earth'), an acclaimed multimedia symphonic creation featuring music, film and poetry about climate change by Seattle composer and conductor Christophe Chagnard, 'EarthQuake' by the Khambatta Dance Company, and a resource fair and family activities with local artists, scientists and environmental groups to engage the community in discourse and motivate people to see what practical steps they can take in their own lives and communities. More info.

THURS August 22, 7:30PM

Penny University: Combating Climate Change

Join Town Hall to explore big ideas through community conversation and popular education. Seattle cultural luminary Anne Focke and Town Hall Curator of Lectures Edward Wolcher guide us through prompts and questions to elevate the insight of our community. They will have the audience imagine they are in positions of power to make radical political or economic decisions in response to climate change. How do you allocate money, attention, time, policy, and legislation? What are your top priorities? How do you trade off between mitigating damage that’s already been done, preventing new damage, and reversing the causes of damage to make it possible for the climate to improve? Discuss, listen, and learn from one another as we envision a better world! More info.

FRI Sept 6-SUN Sept 8, Spokane, WA

AMP: Activists Mobilizing for Power

This September, Western States Center presents Activists Mobilizing for Power (AMP), 2019 in Spokane! Join CAGJ for this year’s leadership development convening. Every two years, AMP attracts hundreds of social justice leaders from across the Pacific Northwest and Intermountain West states for three days of shared learning and opportunities to develop our relationships, skills, and analysis. This year's theme is Democracy Under Siege and will focus on building effective strategies in countering white nationalism and defending inclusive democracy. After a 30-year history of hosting AMP in Portland, AMP 2.0 launches with a new regional model and Spokane is the inaugural host to showcase the vibrant local organizing by Greater Spokane Progress, the Peace and Justice Action League of Spokane, and others. Sponsorships are available: check out AMP website for more information and to sponsor this year's event. For any other questions about AMP, please contact Amy Herzfeld-Copple.

FRI-SUN Nov. 8-10

Tilth Conference: Growing a Resilient Future

Come celebrate the slowing down of the production season over the course of 3 days. Food system professionals, educators, and farmers have the chance to acquire knowledge from each other on best practices, hang with old friends, and create new bonds. A wide range of topics will be presented from different speakers alongside an industry trade show, farm tour, and a chance to network. Learn more.