You can see an overview of the program below, as well as some some of the workshops/presentations and the film series program

 

Attention: the registration includes all films and pre-events, as well as meals

Sliding scale in base of income is $150 - $200 - $200

but you can also opt only for Vandana Shiva presentation $20

or 1 film $10 or 4 films for $30

or the whole film series for only $50

You also can buy a Solidarity Student Ticket (include all week events) for only $50

The GMO Awareness Week Film Series 

Films July 29^th/August 1^st. - Summit August 2^nd/3^rd.

Justice Begins with Seeds

2013 International Conference

Featuring Dr. Vandana Shiva

August 2^nd & 3^rd - Seattle, Washington

Seattle First Presbyterian Church, 1013 8th Avenue, Seattle WA 98104

 (For The GMO Awareness Week Film Series and Extended Events see full Program)

 

Seattle First Presbyterian Church, 1013 8th Avenue, Seattle WA 98104

 (PROGRAM BELOW)

(Above you can see the sliding scale, please consider that your donation will hellp with travel assistance and create a more inclusive and diverse conference) 

 

This annual conference is the largest gathering in the US focused on educating and creating awareness about the implications of GMO seeds. As an international platform to share, learn and launch campaigns in support of a GMO FREE food supply, speakers from various backgrounds will examine GMO seed’s relation to health, social justice, environment and corporate consolidation within local to global contexts.

Conference organizer, the Biosafety Alliance, is a cross-sector, multi-level and interethnic alliance of people and organizations dedicated to NON GMO food.

Planning committee includes: Acequias Institute, Agra Watch, Basil, Biosafety Alliance, Community Food and Justice Coalition, Center for Farm Worker Families, Food First, IDEX, Navdanya Institute, Organic Consumers Association, South Central Farmers Cooperative, Vital Systems, Washington Biotechnology Action Council.

For the 2013 edition, we are expecting food justice and non-GMO's advocates from the US, India and Canada. We have confirmed: Vandana Shiva, Wenonah Hauter, Devon Peña, Ignacio Chapela, Ann Lopez, Jeffrey Smith, David Bacon, Phil Bereano, Theo Ferguson, among dozens more.

 

Honoring Life on Earth

Friday August 2^nd, 2013

 

Breakfast/Registration                                                                                 8:00 AM        

Welcoming Biosafety Alliance introduces Senator Maralyn Chase        9:00 AM

 

Plenary I  9:15 AM – 10:00 AM                                                                   Sanctuary

Context: Our Seeds, Our Life & Our Future

Facilitator:

Ignacio Chapela Microbial Ecologist and Mycologist at University of Berkeley CA

Speakers:

Don Comstock Core Faculty Center for Creative Change Antioch University

Eric Holt-Gimenez Executive Director of Food First/Institute for Food and Development Policy

Kristina Hubbard Director of Advocacy & Communications at Organic Seeds Alliance

Brook Brouwer Washington State University

 

Plenary II 10:05 AM – 10:50 AM                                                                             Sanctuary

One World Crisis: Cultures in Resistance

Facilitator:

Heather Day Executive Director of Community Alliance for Global Justice

Speakers:

Devon Peña President of Acequia Institute

Phil Bereano Washington Biotechnology Action Council and Community Alliance for Global Justice

Katherine Zavala Program Manager at Grassroots Alliances, IDEX

Mr. Tezozomoc South Central Farmers Cooperative

 

 

Workshops/presentations                                                                      10:55 AM – 12:25 PM

Title: Just and Sustainable Supply Chains: Opportunities and Challenges for Domestic Fair Trade                                                                                        

Colette Costner Executive Director of Domestic Fair Trade Association(facilitator)

Grace Cox Olympia Food Co-op, DFTA Board Treasure Michael Sligh Rural Advancement Foundation International—USA (RAFI), Chair of DFTA Board Rosalinda Guillén Executive Director of Community to Community Willow Coberly Willamette Seed and Grain                                                                                         Chapel

 

Title: Rescate del Maiz Criollo en los Valles de California (translation available)  

Luis Magaña OTAC Rescate del maiz criollo en los Valles de California Jesus Aceves, Sergio Ortiz, Enrique Esparza, Miguel Rojas Organizers of El Festival del Maiz Stockton California                                                                                            Withword Room

 

Title: Baloney! Animal Ag and Corporate Control of our Food System

Katie Cantrell Executive Director Factory Farming Awareness Coalition  Choir Room    

 

Title: Have the Increased use of GMOs, and Pesticides Associated with GMOs Adversely Altered Human Health?                                                     Campbell Hall

Tom Malterre MS, CN, Functional Medicine Trained Nutritionist & author                                                                                      

Title: Community Seed Saving and Exchanging as an Agent of Change: How Local Efforts Can be a Solution to the Mainstream Agriculture Model      Room A

Caitlin Moore Founder, Co-Director and Education Coordinator of the Olympia Seed Exchange

 

Title: Organizing Power for Regional Air Quality                                             Room B

Rey Leon Executive Director of Latino Environmental Advancement Project (LEAP)

                                                                                                           

Lunch   12:30 PM -1:25 PM                                                                                                           Campbell Hall

 

Plenary III   1:30 PM – 2:15 PM                                                                                                     Sanctuary

Less Water, Less Bees, Let’s Take Action

Facilitator:

Y. Armando Nieto Executive Director of Community Food and Justice Coalition

Speakers:

Laurie Pyne President of Olympic Washington State Beekeepers Association

Adam Scow California Campaign Director at Food and Water Watch

Katherine S. DavisFaculty in the Center for Creative Change at Antioch University Seattle

Rey Leon Executive Director of Latino Environmental Advancement Project (LEAP)

 

Plenary IV   2:20 PM – 3:05 PM                                                                  Sanctuary

Hunger, Genetic Manipulation & Faith:

Are we walking on the Right Path?

Facilitator:

Dana Perls Food and Technology campaigner with Friends of the Earth

Speakers:

Ron Glass Associate Professor of Philosophy of Education at the University of California Santa Cruz

Tom Malterre MS, CN, Functional Medicine Trained Nutritionist & author

Chris Korrow Farmer, naturalist, photographer, filmmaker, and author

 

Workshops/presentations                                                                             3:10 PM – 4:40 PM

Title: GE Salmon                                                                                                       Chapel      

Maralyn Chase Washington State Senator Anne Mosness President of the Women's Maritime Association

 

Title: Building Global Solidarity and Action for Food Justice          Withword Room

Katherine Zavala Program Manager at Grassroots Alliances, IDEX Heather Day Executive Director of Community Alliance for Global Justice

 

Title: Transgenic Invasion to Biological Agriculture: Mexico's Attempt to Transcend Biotech                                                                                                    Choir Room

Dr. Ann Lopez Executive Director of Center for Farm Workers                           

 

Title: Seed Concentration: Barriers and Opportunities for the Organic Seeds Community

Cristina Hubbard Director of Advocacy and Communications at Organic Seeds Alliance Courtney Pineau Assistant Director of Non-GMO Project            Campbell Hall                                                                                        

Title: Moms Across America Asks: Are GMO’s Safe for our Families?                   

Kathleen Hallal Co-Founder Moms Across America                                              Room A

 

Title: Creative Writing for Social Change                                                           Room B          

Miguel Robles Co-Founder and Project Director of Biosafety Alliance

 

Seeds Exchange   5:00 PM – 6:30 PM                                                       Campbell Hall

Patrick O’Connor BASIL (facilitator) Caitlin Moore Founder, Co-Director and Education Coordinator of the Olympia Seed Exchange Brian Campbell Uprising Seeds

Brook Brouwer Washington State University

 

 

Featuring       Dr.Vandana Shiva

7:00 PM      Sanctuary

 

 

Re-vitalizing Living Systems

Saturday August 3^rd, 2013

 

Ceremony Delbert Miller (sm3tcoom) is Skokomish (tuwaduq) 9:00AM–9:15AM

 

Plenary V   9:15 AM- 10:00 AM                                                                    Sanctuary

Food Chain’s Legal Status

Facilitator:

Miguel Robles Co-Founder and Project Director of Biosafety Alliance

Speakers:

Dr. Ann Lopez Executive Director of Center for Farm Workers          

Magdaleno Rose-Avila Director in the Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs for the City of Seattle

Rosalinda Guillen Executive Director of Community to Community  

Katie Cantrell Executive Director of Factory Farming Awareness Coalition 

Luis Magaña Campaign Organizer of Project Voice

 

Plenary VI   10:05 AM – 10:50 AM                                                              Sanctuary

How to Influence your Corporate Political Actors

Facilitator:

Karen Swift Co-Founder and Coordinator of Biosafety Alliance

Speakers:

Maralyn Chase Washington State Senator

George Kimbrell Center for Food Safety CFS Senior Attorney

Y. Armando Nieto Executive Director of Community Food and Justice Coalition

Lorette Picciano Executive Director of the Rural Coalition/Coalición Rural

 

Workshops                                                                                                                    10:55 AM – 12:25 PM

Title: Indigenous Agroecosystems and Seed Sovereignty                              

Devon Peña President of Acequia Institute Paula Garcia Chair of the Mora County Commission Valerie Segrest Member of the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe Miguel Santistevan Biologist                                                                                    Chapel 

 

Title: Genetic Engineering’s hidden evil twin: synthetic biology Withword Room 

Dana Perls Food and Technology campaigner with Friends of the Earth

 

Title: Protecting water as a human right and as a public resource

Adam Scow California Campaign Director at Food and Water Watch Julia DeGraw Northwest Organizer for Food and Water Watch Cindy Black Local Organizer & Volunteer for Food & Water Watch                                                                       Choir Room

 

Title: Market Based Solutions-Preview of New Seed Sourcing Tool

Melanie Cheng Founder of FarmsReach Renee Anderson Interaction Designer at FarmsReach                                                                                                          Campbell Hall

 

Title: Community Organizing: A Tool for Movement-Building                        

Christina Spach Program Manager at Community Food and Justice Coalition Jessy Gill Policy Specialist at Community Food and Justice Coalition Courtney Hendrix Communications Specialist at Community Food and Justice Coalition                      Room A

 

Title: Untying the GMO Gordian Knot                                                                 Room B           

Michael Sligh Rural Advancement Foundation International (RAFI-USA)

 

Networking Sessions                                                                                                  12:25 PM  - 1:15 PM

Just Label it!  

Facilitator: Cindy Black Local Organizer & Volunteer for Food & Water Watch  

Action research

Facilitator: Eric Holt-Gimenez Executive Director of Food First/Institute for Food and Development Policy

 

Brainstorm, Biosafety Alliance Next Steeps

Facilitator: Miguel Robles Co-Founder and Project Director of Biosafety Alliance

 

Food Justice

Facilitator: Jessy Gill Community Food and Justice Coalition

 

Radical Organizing & Revolutionary Farming

Facilitator: Effie Rawlings

Lunch   1:15 PM -1:55 PM                                                                                    Campbell Hall

 

Plenary VII   2:00 PM – 2:45 PM

Investing in My Values

Facilitator:                                                                                                           Sanctuary

Theo Ferguson Founder of Vital Systems/Founding Member of Slow Money    

Speakers:

Mr. Tezozomoc South Central Farmers Cooperative

Rachel Hynes Slow Money Northwest

Jim Gerristen (Comments to be read aloud and distributed)

 

Plenary VIII   2:50 PM – 3:35 PM

GMO Creative Responses for Local Action

Facilitator:                                                                                                         Sanctuary

Lori Lively Editor of Sound Outlook and Steering committee for Yes on 522                  

Speakers: 

Trudy Bialic Director of Public Affairs for PCC Natural Markets

Alexis Baden-Mayer Political Director of the Organic Consumers Association

John Roulac Founder and CEO of Nutiva

Dave Murphy Founder and Executive Director of Food Democracy Now!

Chris Hardy Co-Founder of GMO Free Jackson County

Marney Reynolds GMO-Free San Juans

 

Open Forum   3:45 PM - 6:00 PM                                                          Sanctuary

 

Party     7:00 PM

 

GMO Awareness Week Film Series

Films July 29^th/August 1^st Campbell Hall

 

GMO OMG.

Director Jeremy Seifert. Monday July 29^th, 6:00 PM (90 Minutes)

 

Explores the systematic corporate takeover and potential loss of humanity’s most precious and ancient inheritance: seeds. Director Jeremy Seifert investigates how loss of seed diversity and corresponding laboratory assisted genetic alteration of food affects his young children, the health of our planet, and freedom of choice everywhere. GMO OMG follows one family’s struggle to live and eat without participating in an unhealthy, unjust, and destructive food system.

 

QUEEN OF THE SUN: What Are the Bees Telling Us?

Director Taggart Siegel. Monday July 29^th, 8:00 PM(83 Minutes)

 

QUEEN OF THE SUN: What Are the Bees Telling Us? is a profound, alternative look at the global bee crisis from Taggart Siegel, director of THE REAL DIRT ON FARMER JOHN. Taking us on a journey through the catastrophic disappearance of bees and the mysterious world of the beehive, this engaging and ultimately uplifting film weaves an unusual and dramatic story of the heartfelt struggles of beekeepers, scientists and philosophers from around the world including Michael Pollan, Gunther Hauk and Vandana Shiva. Together they reveal both the problems and the solutions in renewing a culture in balance with nature.

 

The Garden.

Scott Hamilton Kennedy. Tuesday July 30^th, 6:00 PM(80 minutes)

 

The Garden is about the South Central Farmers, a group of dirt-poor Los Angelenos who took a track of urban ruin and turned it into an Eden--only to see the flora they so lovingly planted and tended be bulldozed by a selfish landowner. This film is about their dignity, determination and their fight to preserve their garden--and what they've done to recover from its loss.

 

Dirt! The Movie.

Directed by Bill Benenson. Tuesday July 30^th, 8:00 PM (86 Minutes)

 

A look at man's relationship with Dirt.  Dirt and humans couldn't be closer. We started our journey together as stardust, swirled by cosmic forces into our galaxy, solar system, and planet. We are made of the same stuff. Four billion years of evolution created dirt as the living source of all life on Earth including humans. Dirt has given us food, shelter, fuel, medicine, ceramics, flowers, cosmetics and color --everything needed for our survival. For most of the last ten thousand years we humans understood our intimate bond with dirt and the rest of nature. We took care of the soils that took care of us. But, over time, we lost that connection. Our species became greedy and careless. We still depend on dirt, but now we abuse and ignore it. We are destroying our last natural resource with our agriculture, our mining, and our paving over the planet for cities. We turned dirt into something "dirty." In doing so, we transform the skin of the earth into a hellish and dangerous landscape for all life on earth.

 

 

The Power of Community; How Cuba Survived the Peak Oil.

Director Faith Morgan. Wednesday July 31^st, 6:00 PM (53 Minutes)

 

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1990, Cuba's economy went into a tailspin. With imports of oil cut by more than half – and food by 80 percent – people were desperate. This film tells of the hardships and struggles as well as the community and creativity of the Cuban people during this difficult time. Cubans share how they transitioned from a highly mechanized, industrial agricultural system to one using organic methods of farming and local, urban gardens. It is an unusual look into the Cuban culture during this economic crisis, which they call "The Special Period." The film opens with a short history of Peak Oil, a term for the time in our history when world oil production will reach its all-time peak and begin to decline forever. Cuba, the only country that has faced such a crisis – the massive reduction of fossil fuels – is an example of options and hope.

 

Edible City: Grow the Revolution.

Director Andrew Hasse. Wednesday July 29^th, 7:00 PM (60 minutes)

 

Edible City is a feature-length documentary film that tells the stories of extraordinary people who are digging their hands into the dirt, working to transform their communities and doing something truly revolutionary: growing local Good Food systems that are socially just, environmentally sound, and economically resilient.

 

The Future of food Thursday.

Director Beborah Koon Garcia. August 1^st, 6:00 PM (88 Minutes)

 

THE FUTURE OF FOOD offers an in-depth investigation into the disturbing truth behind the unlabeled, patented, genetically engineered foods that have quietly filled U.S. grocery store shelves for the past decade. From the prairies of Saskatchewan, Canada to the fields of Oaxaca, Mexico, this film gives a voice to farmers whose lives and livelihoods have been negatively impacted by this new technology. The health implications, government policies and push towards globalization are all part of the reason why many people are alarmed about the introduction of genetically altered crops into our food supply.

 

Symphony of the Soil, Thursday.

Director Beborah Koon Garcia. August 1^st, 8:00 PM (104 Minutes)

 

Drawing from ancient knowledge and cutting edge science, Symphony of the Soil is an artistic exploration of the miraculous substance soil. By understanding the elaborate relationships and mutuality between soil, water, the atmosphere, plants and animals, we come to appreciate the complex and dynamic nature of this precious resource. The film also examines our human relationship with soil, the use and misuse of soil in agriculture, deforestation and development, and the latest scientific research on soil's key role in ameliorating the most challenging environmental issues of our time.

 

GMO Speaker Training with Jeffrey Smith

Sunday August 4, 2013

9am - 11am Labeling Training or 9am - 6pm Full Speaker Training

Separate registration directly with IRT:

https://org2.salsalabs.com/o/6236/p/salsa/event/common/public/?event_KEY=67563

 

Conference Steering Committee includes: Acequias Institute, Agra Watch, Basil, Biosafety Alliance, Center for Farm Worker Families, Community Food and Justice Coalition, Food First, IDEX, Navdanya Institute, South Central Farmers Cooperative, Vital Systems, Washington Biotechnology Action Council.

The Biosafety Alliance is a cross sector, multilevel and inter-ethnic alliance of individuals and organizations working together to engage in broader outreach around genetically modified (GMO) food issues and to bring together strategic coalitions of diverse stakeholders to advocate for a GMO free food supply as a means of pushing for a shift from an industrial food model, to a model of local resilience.GMOs are a symbol that represent the industrial food system and a key point that needs to be addressed in order to address and shift the industrial food model.

Our vision is to get the multi-faceted number of issues with GMOs, from health, to social justice, to environmental issues, to corporate consolidation, to enter the framework of various groups who have not traditionally focused on the issue of GMOs as a central theme and point that needs to be addressed to push for a systemic shift in the current corporate food regime.http://biosafetyalliance.org