Diversity in North-America

Over the past 24 years, MADRE has built a network of community-based women's organizations worldwide. This network encompasses thousands of women and families - in Sudan, Iraq, Nicaragua, Cuba, Haiti, Guatemala, Kenya, Peru, Colombia, Panama, Palestine and elsewhere - who are on the frontlines of our global crisis.

We address the socioeconomic and ecological issues surrounding new technologies that could have an impact on the world?s poorest and most vulnerable. We investigate ecological erosion (including the erosion of cultures and human rights); the development of new technologies (especially agricultural but also new technologies that work with genomics and matter); and we monitor global governance issues including corporate concentration and trade in technologies. We operate at the global political level. We work closely with partner civil society organizations (CSOs) and social movements, especially in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

"We, the women of the original peoples of the world have struggled actively to defend our rights to self-determination and to our territories that have been invaded and colonized by powerful nations and interests . . . We still retain the ethical and esthetic values, the knowledge and philosophy and the spirituality, that conserves and nurtures Mother Earth . . .", Indigenous Women's Beijing Declaration

Percy Schmeiser is a farmer from Bruno, Saskatchewan Canada whose Canola fields were contaminated with Monsanto's Round-Up Ready Canola. Monsanto's position was that it didn't matter whether Schmeiser knew or not that his canola field was contaminated with the Roundup Ready gene, or whether or not he took advantage of the technology (he didn't); that he must pay Monsanto their Technology Fee of $15./acre. The Supreme Court of Canada agreed with Schmeiser, ruling that he didn't have to pay Monsanto anything.

"...described by some as a "group of smart, passionate people working flat-out for environmental and social justice", called by others " a public interest environmental think tank in the grassroots mode, lean on spending and long on accomplishments. . ."

The Center for Food Safety (CFS) was established for the purpose of challenging harmful food production technologies and promoting sustainable alternatives. CFS combines multiple tools and strategies in pursuing its goals, including litigation and legal petitions for rulemaking, legal support for various sustainable agriculture and food safety constituencies, as well as public education, grassroots organizing and media outreach.

The NFFC (founded in 1986) represents family farm and rural groups whose members face the challenge of the deepening economic recession in rural communities. NFFC chooses its projects based on the potential to empower family farmers by reducing the corporate control of agriculture and promoting a more socially just farm and food policy.

The GE Free Vermont Campaign on Genetic Engineering is a statewide coalition of public interest groups, businesses, concerned citizens and farmers, who are organizing to oppose genetic engineering at the local, state and national level, and calling for a "Time Out" on GMOs.

Agroecology: a scientific discipline that uses ecological theory to study, design, manage and evaluate agricultural systems that are productive but also resource conserving.

MAELA da sus primeros pasos como iniciativa en 1989, constituyéndose como tal en 1992. De ese año a la fecha ha continuado ampliando su membresía que hoy se aproxima a las 150 organizaciones en 20 países: ONGs, Organizaciones Campesinas, Organizaciones de Consumidores, Organizaciones Indígenas, Movimientos y Redes de Agroecología, Instituciones de Educación y Universidades.

The Greenhorns is a documentary film that explores the lives of America?s young farming community?its spirit, practices, and needs. As the nation experiences a groundswell of interest in sustainable lifestyles, we see the promising beginnings of an agricultural revival. Young farmers? efforts feed us safe food, conserve valuable land, and reconstitute communities split apart by strip malls. It is the filmmakers's hope that by broadcasting the stories and voices of these young farmers, we can inspire another generation of optimistic agrarians.

La mission de Greenpeace est multiple en ce qui a trait aux OGM, à l'agriculture et à l'alimentation. Agir, faire agir et sensibiliser la population aux dangers des OGM constitue en quelque sorte le credo de la campagne OGM de Greenpeace. Connaissons-nous rééllement ce qui se retrouve dans notre assiette et le cycle de vie complet de tous les produits qu'elle contient? Pourtant, le droit à l'information alimentaire est un droit reconnu par les Nations Unies. Au Canada, l'étiquetage des OGM est cependant volontaire. Mais dans certains pays, elle est obligatoire. Nos gouvernements peuvent donc montrer la voie, faire preuve de leadership et légiférer pour l'étiquetage obligatoire des OGM.

Putting the matter plainly: when foreign genes are introduced into an organism, creating a transgenic organism (commonly called a genetically modified or genetically engineered organism), the results for the organism and its environment are almost always unpredictable. The intended result may or may not be achieved in any given case, but the one almost sure thing is that unintended results - nontarget effects - will also be achieved.

To achieve this CBAN works to: ? Facilitate collaborative campaigning at the local, regional, national and international levels ? Enable individual Canadians to take strategic and effective action ? Research and monitor new technologies and provide credible information ? Challenge government to transparency, accountability and democratic process

Founded in 2001, SustainUS is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization of young people advancing sustainable development and youth empowerment in the United States. Through proactive education and advocacy at the policy-making level and at the grassroots, we are building a future in which all people recognize the inherent equality and interdependence of social, economic, and environmental sustainability. We strive to reflect our values through the diversity of members and projects, our ongoing commitment to educating ourselves and others, and the way we live our lives.

The Washington Biotechnology Action Council is a grassroots coalition of organizations including farm, labor, consumer, church, environmental, animal welfare, public affairs, and social justice advocates, as well as academics and scientists. Its work focuses on an articulation of a public interest perspective on the many issues surrounding genetic engineering and the emerging biotech industry?the environmental, ethical, and social justice implications of technologies developing without any public process.

By posting special studies and reports, and by promoting dialogue and research, Global Alternatives intends to contribute to an understanding of the new politics shaking the Americas and to participate in the shaping of an egalitarian and democratic world rooted in the globe's diverse cultures, societies and alternative economic experiences.

The mission of Global Justice Ecology Project is to build local, national and international alliances with action to address the common root causes of social injustice, economic domination and environmental destruction. We have two programs: ? The STOP GE Trees Campaign: the goal of this campaign is a global ban on the release of genetically engineered trees into the environment. ? The Connections Program: What differentiates Global Justice Ecology Project from most groups is our holistic approach to organizing.

In Goiás state, in the wild west of central Brazil, seventeen families are proving that living with the fertile savannah can produce more jobs per acre than monoculture agribusiness or cattle ranching, and that sustainable development can exist hand in hand with preservation of the natural environment.

El Centro de Estudios para el Cambio en el Campo Mexicano (CECCAM), surgió como respuesta a la necesidad de contar con un centro especializado en los problemas del campo desde la perspectiva campesina. Es un punto de enlace, de intercambio de experiencias e investigación, al servicio de las organizaciones campesinas de México y otros países, que a pesar de diferencias culturales, geográficas y de sistemas económicos y políticos, comparten y enfrentan los retos que la modernización plantea a la sociedad campesina. Trabaja principalmente con las organizaciones sociales rurales, campesinas e indígenas. El Centro genera materiales de reflexión y análisis, propicia encuentros y seminarios, favorece la producción intelectual colectiva y el enlace de acciones, buscando producir planteamientos y estrategias para el sector rural.

Apoyo a diversos procesos de organizaciones, comunidades y pueblos indígenas en torno a la reconstitución integral de sus comunidades, desde la lingüística, identidad cultural y cosmovisión: agrícola, económica, política, ecológica, social, ritual y territorial. Desde diversas estrategias de capacitación, formación, articulación regional y nacional e intercambio de experiencias y saberes.

Based on one of the oldest organic farms in California, the Center for Urban Agriculture at Fairview Gardens is an internationally respected model for small-scale urban food production, agricultural preservation, and farm-based education. Our mission is to teach our community about the connections between food, land and well-being, while demonstrating the rewards of small farms. On our twelve and a half acres, we produce a vast variety of fruits and vegetables, feed approximately five hundred families, and employ over twenty people. We also nourish the community through farm-to-school programs, cooking and gardening classes, farm festivals, guided tours, lectures, apprenticeships, and outreach and consultation to schools and communities nationwide. We welcome you to journey with us through our fields and orchards, and into the foods, programs, publications, and resources we offer.

The purpose of the Institute for Food and Development Policy - Food First - is to eliminate the injustices that cause hunger.