IFOAM Organic World Congress History

Here at the KOC office we were saddened to see that the full history of the IFOAM OWC was not available anywhere online. Therefore we have done the footwork and here present the IFOAM Organic World Congress History:

 
It was Known as the IFOAM International Scientific Conference from it's conception in 1977 until 2000:

1st: Sissach, Switzerland (1977)
2nd: Montreal, Canada (1978)
3rd: Brussels, Belgium (1980)
4th: Boston, USA (1982)
5th: Kassel-Witzenhausen, Germany (1984)
6th: Santa Cruz, USA (1986)
7th: Quagadougou, Burkina Faso (1989)
8th: Budapest, Hungary (1990)
9th: Sao Paulo, Brazil (1992)
10th: Christchurch, New Zealand (1994)
11th: Copenhagen, Denmark (1996)
12th: Mar del Plata, Argentina (1998)
13th: Basel, Switzerland (2000)

It then became known as the IFOAM Organic World Congress:

  
14th: Victoria, Canada (2002)
15th: Adelaide, south Australia (2005)
16th: Modena, Italy (2008)
17th: Palddang, Korea (2011)

18th Istanbul (2014)

19th New Delhi (2017) 

20th France (2021) 

21st Digital but also France (2022)

The Joys and Lessons of Failed Work

Listening to a talk from the San Francicso Zen Center last night on failure I contemplated all my own failures and how much space and opportunity was in them.

I could not be more thankful for the failing and the realization they provide: that I can relax into comfortable happy Lucky Idiot-hood and smile.

Failure in good company:


The Joys and Lessons of Failed Work by Wendell Berry

I go by a field where once
I cultivated a few poor crops.
It is now covered with young trees,
for the forest that belongs here
has come back and reclaimed its own.
And I think of all the effort
I have wasted and all the time,
and of how much joy I took
in that failed work and how much
it taught me. For in so failing
I learned something of my place,
something of myself, and now
I welcome back the trees.

waterhemp/marestail

A conversation with a Montana farmer:

Bean Farmer:

"Having a really hard time knocking these pest of weeds down. Sprayed once and knocked them pretty good but there right back again. Anybody have that "special recipe"?


Me: 


"You could try to find a market for it. It is edible. 

I found the following in a quick search of edible plant databases for all amaranthus species like waterhemp/marestail: 

Young leaves - raw or cooked as a spinach. A mild flavour, it is often mixed with stronger flavoured leaves. Very rich in iron, it is also a good source of vitamins A and C.

Seed - raw or cooked. Ground into a powder and used as a cereal substitute, it can also be sprouted and added to salads. The seed is very small, about 1mm in diameter, but easy to harvest and very nutritious. The flavour is greatly improved by roasting the seed before grinding it. It is often added to cornmeal. 

That is my recipe. 

What do you say? "

of course you might need to reconsider some of your pest management strategies if you want to access the wild foods market.

Might be worth it though. 

Can also be used as a dye.

Ex-situ and In-situ Conservation

In-situ conservation is the preferred mechanism for maintaining biodiversity (Tuxtil & Nabhan 2003) because through in-situ conservation target species are preserved, along with all associated species. In-situ conservation can be a bi-product of wild collection when a proper evaluation of the ecosystem (Kacalek et al. 2009) and cultural functions (Melloni et al. 2008; Mitchell et al. 2007) is considered.

Ex-situ conservation as an approach for the conservation of habitats is questionable. Taking a species out of its natural habitat and away from the commensurate species who depend on it may preserve that species but will take attention and resources away from preservation of the diversity of life which depend on that species. Native species of plants, algae and fungi have evolved to create habitat and symbiosis with a host of associated species. Introduced and non-native farmed species are disassociated from native ranges and do not offer the same level of environmental benefits. As lands are converted from wild to human oriented use the loss of biodiversity is high, even in agricultural systems with higher biodiversity, e.g. agroforestry and organic (Steffan-Dewenter et al. 2007). 

Use of Zostera marina for conservation

Seagrass has a number of important eco system functions including habitat for fish spawning, nutrient cycling, erosion protection and buffering of pollutants (Han et al. 2008). The eelgrass, Zostera marina L., has traditionally been used for a myriad of purposes in these North Atlantic coastal communities (Alm 2003). Unfortunately, During the 1930s, a widespread infection of the slime mold, Labryinthula spp., stopped the harvest of this plant species (Cottam 1934; Muhlstein 1989). The plant community rebounded shortly thereafter and was briefly used for the collection of a product called sea-felt. Fiberglass soon filled that cultural and economic niche and ended the wild harvest once again (Wyllie-Echeverria et al. 2000). Thereafter, the areas where the species had previously been protected for the harvest began to be developed and mismanaged.

The hopeful news is that there may be more uses, which will lead to conservation, for the troubled seagrass habitat areas the circumpolar North Atlantic. Ethnobotany plays a role in these cultural conservation mechanisms (Norton & Hannan 1997). Ethnobotany and paleo-ethnobotany of the species was explored through the archives and structured interviews throughout the North Atlantic. Based on these interviews, awareness raising about the cultural and ecological diversity of Z. marina and its habitat have already lead to preservation of historical work sites and habitat conservation in Nova Scotia (Wyllie-Echeverria et al. 2000).

Alm T. 2003. On the Uses of Zostera marina, Mainly in Norway Economic Botany. 57(4):640-45

Cottam, C., 1934. Eelgrass disappearance has serious effects on waterfowl and industry. pp 191-93 in US Department of Agriculture Yearbook of Agriculture ed by M.S. Eisenhower.

Han, Qiu-Ying; Shi, Ping. 2008. Progress in the study of seagrass ecology, Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research for Sustainable Development, Chinese Academy of Sciences. 28(11):5561-5570.

Muhlstein, L. K., 1989. Perspectives on the wasting disease of eelgrass, Zostera marina. Diseases of Aquat. Organ. 7: 211-21

Norton B.G., Hannon B. 1997, Environmental Values: A place-based theory. Environ. Ethics 19: 227-45.

Wyllie-Echeverria, S., Arzel, P., Cox, P. A. 2000. Pacific Conservation Biology. 5:329-35

Maine Woods

I just got a response from Senator Olympia Snowe about this issue. I wrote to her with concern about the changes that are planned for the maine Woods.. 

Looks like it could be bad. Big changes are planned for the Maine woods. 

Maine Governor LePage, among others, is planning to open up the woods to development. 

Snowe assured me that funding is being channeled to help establish better forest management. 

I don't feel that investment of capitol means anything about the effectiveness of programs for conservation.. I worked for the USNPS and I know that more money means more meetings, it means more fat veterans in office chairs waiting for retirement.. It means more starts and less finishes.. more paperwork.. More fancy equipment.. more plaques and statues... 

also.. i am dubious of recreation as a mechanism for conservation.. The farmers where I live have been watching the trails turn to streams and paved walkways.. the roadside stands along the trail turn to restaurants.. the farms in the valley turn to condos.. 

More on this issues from 'Environment Maine' http://www.environmentmaine.org/

Rethinking Property

Above is a cartoon by Edward Linley about the imperialist and colonialist Cecil Rhodes. His vision for a world under British colonial rule has had serious and lasting implications on politics everywhere. His life offers a good example of how morality is missing from both education and visions for 'development' around the world. He was an extremely brilliant Oxford graduate who managed to cause a lot of suffering in his short life.

Today land grabbing, changes in uses of land and general misuse of land is begging attention to some basic fundamental questions about land ownership. To get deeper into this topic I am planning to join the "Re-thinking property. Towards a Well-being Society?" exchange platform from the 25th to the 27th of August in Bangkok.  

Talks are planned from many amazing people including:
Sulak Sivaraksa, Peace Activist
Dasho Karma Ura, Bhutan ("100% organic country"-movement)
Silke Helfrich, Commons Strategy Group, Germany
Takayoshi Kusago, Social Systems Design, Japan
Nicanor Perlas, Centre for Alternative Development Initiatives...

Learn more at the School for Wellbeing Studies and Research
schoolforwellbeing.org  

Here is 'Just Enough' by Nanao Sakaki, a short poem to drive home the notion of enough:


Soil for legs
Axe for hands
Flower for eyes
Bird for ears
Mushroom for nose
Smile for mouth
Songs for lungs
Sweat for skin
Wind for mind