Happy Earth Day

Happy Earth Day everyone! We'll be at a number of Earth Day fairs this upcoming weekend!

On Saturday you can visit us at:
Woodbury Earth Day

Hollow Park, Woodbury, CT
11:00 am – 4:00 pm
FREE Admission
Rain or Shine

Newtown Earth Day

Newtown Middle School
Queen Street
10AM - 4PM
FREE Admission
Rain or Shine

We hope you've had some time to plant your garden! On Saturday, Melissa and I went to the Peabody Museum's Earth Day celebration! What a great day - we were seated in the Peabody's Great Hall giving out pea and bean seeds to Connecticut's youngest (but most enthusiastic) gardeners.

With all the celebrations of our environment, the budding trees, sprouting plants and greening of the landscape, spring is such an inspirational time! Part of your celebration of the Earth this year might be to become involved with the legislative process.

Here's an excerpt from a GMO Free CT update:

The 2013 legislative session ends on June 5^th. This gives us 45 days to pass a GMO labeling bill in CT.  We remain hopeful that with your help, CT will be the first state to give its citizens the right to know what is in their food.  As we track our bills through the legislative process, actions will need to be taken.  See below for our current action alerts.  The only way these bills will pass is if the legislators hear from you.  Please remember that every e-mail, every phone call, and every meeting is extremely important.

ACTION ALERT

HB 6519, AN ACT CONCERNING GENETICALLY ENGINEERED FOOD

The Public Health Committee overwhelmingly voted in favor of HB 6519 with a vote of 23-4 on April 2^nd.  The bill was then analyzed by the Office of Legislative Research and Office of Fiscal Analysis.  HB 6519 will now most likely be sent to the General Law Committee for a vote.  We need to ensure that the committee will vote in favor.  If your legislator is on the General Law Committee, please reach out to them and ask them to support the bill.  If your legislator is not on General Law, ask them to speak to their colleagues on General Law and encourage them to vote in favor.  We have heard that the General Law Committee is not in favor of the bill as of now.  We need your help.  If you are not sure who your local town or city legislator is, you can enter your address to find them here.

HB 6527, AN ACT CONCERNING GENETICALLY ENGINEERED BABY FOOD AND BABY FORMULA

The Children’s Committee overwhelmingly voted in favor of HB 6527 with a vote of 11-1 on March 12th. The bill is currently in front of the Public Health Committee for a vote. While it would seem logical that the Public Health Committee would vote in favor of HB 6527 as it did for HB 6519, we can not take anything for granted. If your legislator is on the Public Health Committee, please contact them and ask them to support HB 6527. If your legislator is not on Public Health, ask them to speak to their colleagues on Public Health and encourage them to vote in favor. If you are not sure who your local town or city legislator is, you can enter your address to find them here.

Whether you're calling your legislator to improve the transparency of the food system or reducing your reliance on industrial food by planting your garden - you're improving our environment and your health!

Happy Earth Day!
Kristiane