Newsletter - December 12, 2023

My dear brothers and sisters,

Our pleasure and delight to guide you, step by step, as we prepare a glowingly pink hummus with outstanding flavor.

We put scoops of avocado into a food processor and add chickpeas that have been soaked overnight. The water has been poured off and then simmered in water for half an hour. After pouring the water off, we are ready for use. We blend and then add Alive, Organic Living Tree Tahini, Living Tree Organic California Farm Olive Oil, a few garlic cloves, a pinch of Royal Himalayan Pink Crystal Salt, some lemon juice and a diced beet. We blend. 'Voila'! We have a magnificent pink hummus that will go so well with most everything.

We would like to call to your attention our sale item this week, Cashew Butter 8oz. Created from sundried cashews. Regularly $16.99. This week $13.99.

Next, Ben, our favorite gardener, bubbling with enthusiasm as always, tells us how to grow food in containers. This is especially helpful for people with limited garden space or only porches or patios. We feel that it is more important than ever to plant a Victory Garden, so let's get growing, brothers and sisters!

Our December Victory Garden Sale: 10% off this month's featured items (Remember, if you buy 3 or more of any Living Tree manufactured product, you get an additional 10% off). Our featured items this month are Cashew Butter, Turmeric & Honey Butter and Golden Flax Seeds.

Our Black Sesame Tahini is now available in a 16oz jar.

Our next article "GE Soil Microbes..." tells how biotech companies are developing genetically engineered (GE) microbes (bacteria, viruses and fungi) for use in agriculture. The genetic modifications released inside GE microbes could move across species and geographic boundaries with unforeseen and potentially irreparable consequences.

The we include an article on how electronic systems are used in public schools for such things as facial recognition, predictive policing, geolocation tracking, student device monitoring. Even aerial drones are commonplace in public schools.

Finally, Thomas DeLauer gives a brilliant and insightful talk on the deleterious effects of ultra processed food on an entire generation of Americans.

Please accept our best wishes for a vibrant winter and Spring of good health, prosperity and success to you and family,

Jesse Schwartz PhD
President
Living Tree Community Foods

by IRT News Team

Biotech companies, including the largest agrichemical corporations—Bayer-Monsanto, Syngenta, and BASF—are developing genetically engineered (GE) microbes (bacteria, viruses and fungi) for use in agriculture. The first of these products are already being used across millions of acres of U.S. farmland. The release of live GE microbes in agriculture represents an unprecedented open-air genetic experiment. (Item 1)

A new report on GE microbes details a range of ecological, human health and socioeconomic risks, from the rare but potentially disastrous risk of creating an invasive species or novel human pathogen to the potential for agrichemical corporations to use patents on GE microbes to further entrench their ownership over life and the food system.

Microbes can share genetic material with each other and can travel great distances on the wind. The genetic modifications released inside GE microbes could move across species and geographic boundaries with unforeseen and potentially irreparable consequences. The scale of release is also far larger, and the odds of containment far smaller, than compared to GE crops. (Item 2)

Given the serious potential risks associated with mass environmental release of GE microbes, there is urgent need for strong regulations and independent review and assessment of potential health and environmental risks based on the Precautionary Principle. Oversight should include independent assessment for public health and environmental safety, and long-term impacts should be assessed before products are released onto the market or into the environment.

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by Defender Staff

Controversial, data-driven technologies are showing up in public schools nationwide at alarming rates. AI-enabled systems such as facial recognition, predictive policing, geolocation tracking, student device monitoring and even aerial drones are commonplace in public schools.

For example, a recent national survey of educators found that over 88% of schools use student device monitoring, 33% use facial recognition and 38% share student data with law enforcement. Many of these tools are designed for military use and routinely used by authoritarian regimes to repress ethnic minorities — making their use in schools all the more frightening.

The harms of these technologies are not evenly shared. Research shows that these tools disproportionately affect Black youth, youth with disabilities, immigrant youth, LGBTQ youth and youth in low-income communities. For example, researchers at Johns Hopkins University found that schools with large surveillance infrastructure suspend students at higher rates, leading to worse academic outcomes for Black students.

Despite the prolific use of these technologies, there are still solutions to undo digital authoritarianism in America’s public schools.

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