Agriculture – Rural Tompkins County

“The World According to Doctrine” — GMO Groceries

Food tastes best – when you’ve never had anything better. If you’ve never had the taste of an old hen made into a soup or a fricassee; then the tasteless poundage of today’s juvenile fowl is the standard — and “Everything tastes like nothing” is the new paradigm.

Like setback contractor homes: our food producers push right up to the legal limits to maximize their profits at the expense quality – and rely on additives for any pleasurable eating you think you’re getting.

And what is that strange itch you’re getting down there? Maybe you’re changing with the times.

“The World According to Doctrine” — U.S. Agriculture claims they “Feed the World”

The USDA may talk about three healthy meals a day; but that’s nothing compared the bite they’re putting on the public. First, we pay for the food. And then – since Agribusinesses are some of the biggest contributors to climate change [and the only ones that are still increasing their emissions] – we pay for the cost of that climate change in our lives. And on top of that: When that same climate change impacts their profits – we pay taxes to insure they are still profiting and expanding. We “Feed the Corporations.”

Part 7b – A Cyclic History: Pollute, Distort, Pacify, Repeat . . . In an Ag Zone, No One Can Hear You Scream

Early Sunday morning, June 4, 2017, I was sicker than I had ever been before.

Too sick to even bend over, as I vomited all over the toilet, myself, and the bathroom floor— and I didn’t even care.

Part 7b – A Cyclic History – Pollute-Distort-Pacify-Repeat –In an Ag Zone – No One Can Hear You Scream

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Part 7a – A Cyclic History: Pollute, Distort, Pacify, Repeat . . . The Never Ending Cover-up

August 4, 2017 — Algae blooms close Taughannock Falls State Park, the number of toxic algae blooms in New York is up 25 percent this week, and the presence of toxic blue-green algae in Dryden Lake is confirmed by the DEC.

This isn’t the beginning of some apocalyptic eco-thriller – it’s the reality that people in Tompkins County, and all over the country will have to get used to as the fallout from 30 years of unrestricted agricultural activity has turned toxic Cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) into this summer’s biggest blockbuster.

Part 7a – A Cyclic History – Pollute-Distort-Pacify-Repeat –The Never Ending Cover-up

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Part 6 – Sewers of the Land

The influence of rich and powerful interests in maintaining the status quo in the face of an ever increasing destruction of the environment, is nowhere better seen than in Tompkins County’s handling of agricultural pollution.

The Tompkins County Comprehensive Plan’s representation of environmental issues and policies is a careful dance around the facts — Facts that paint a very different picture of the sources of pollution in the county, and expose an elitist policy making agenda.

Part 6 – Sewers of the Land

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Part 5 –Smoke and Mirrors

Participation Circumvention

“The participation of citizens in an open, responsible and flexible planning process is essential to the designing of the optimum town comprehensive plan.” — Town Law § 272-a

Although New York State Town Law stresses the importance of an open and responsibly designed town comprehensive plan, many local officials downplay this document, claiming the local comp plan is only a “guide” — and hide their agenda behind the minimum legal requirements for public meetings and the placement of notifications that exclude the community from participation.

Part 5 – Smoke and Mirrors

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Part 4 – The Road to Hell is Paved with Good Credentials

The rural Town of Lansing is racing ahead to be the “the growth part of the Tompkins County area,” but when you look around, there’s no competition in sight — are we that smart . . . or that stupid?

Part 4 – The Road to Hell is Paved with Good Credentials

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Part 3 – “Whose Comp Plan is This, Anyway?”

The Tompkins County Comprehensive Plan is a slick promotional piece, but its bright and shiny surface can’t stand the wear and tear of a real world inspection.

Part 3 – Whose Comp Plan is This Anyway

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Part 2 – Debunking the Lansing Ag Plan

The three greatest factors in the approval of the Lansing Agriculture and Farmland Protection Plan are:

The plan was never critically examined or allowed to be publicly questioned.
Lansing’s rural families were unrepresented by any state, local or county agency or government representative, and prevented from having any meaningful participation in the plan themselves.
The lives and welfare of rural families living in the affected area of Lansing are of no importance whatsoever to the people who created and support this plan.

Part 2 – Debunking the Lansing Ag Plan

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Part 1 – The Death of Meaningful Public Participation

Today’s rural residents have no place in Tompkins County’s future.

This statement is based on more than two years of research and review, questions and public meetings concerning the most recent Agriculture and Comprehensive Plans of Lansing and Tompkins County, NY.

Part 1 – Death of Meaningful Public Participation

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