Cooperative Democracy????

Is there a chance that this nation and the world for that matter can return to a form of democracy where people working and living in the neighborhoods get to make decisions for their neighborhoods? Can we get away from a profit motivated Corporate Democracy back to a people motivated Cooperative Democracy?

I recently read some articles in a local publication that were very thought provoking and could have been combined for effect.

One I have a link to here:

http://www.worldproutassembly.org/archives/2005/11/the_renaissance.html

The other talked about the effect of industrial dairy farms on our health and the environment. It was titled What Price New Mexico Milk? By Mark Winne

Both articles were in the 3/06 version of the Sun Monthly.

The milk article stated:

- In 1992 Curry and Roosevelt counties had 21,000 dairy cows and by 2002 they had 115,000 and that number will double in 5 years.
- Every cow produces 4 tons of manure X 115,000 cows = amount of excrement as the city of Los Angeles produces.
- Many of these farms have moved here from Southern California. They were essentially forced from there due to pollution.
- Little research has been conducted on the environmental and health impact on New Mexico. One study by New Mexico State University’s Health Science Dept., Dr Stephen Arnold, gathered air and water data from dairies in the southern part of the state. He found an association between increase rates of asthma and diarrhea in children and proximity to the dairies.
- When his findings were published the dairy industry deluged New Mexico State University with letters, phone calls and emails berating them for supporting this kind of research.
- The economic impact of the dairy industry in New Mexico is over $2 billion dollars
- Dr. Arnold’s work involving the dairy industry was curtailed.
- The asthma rate in Curry County is 28. This is 3 times higher than the state average.
- Both Roosevelt and Curry County draw most of their water from the Ogalla aquifer. The biggest water user is the dairy industry. When the aquifer will become unfit for human consumption is not know. It is not an if but a when. Most estimates put the time frame between 5 and 30 years.
- The Clovis school districts water bill has climbed over 3 years from $50,000 to $250,000 due to lower water tables and higher extraction cost.
- Faith in the government to find a solution is faltering, a study showed that 93% of residents think nothing can be done to improve air and water quality.
- A quote from a resident, “Government is in the pocket of the dairy industry.”

Factory Farm

vs



Organic Farm



The question remains what is the cost of milk?
Who is going to pay the real cost for a $2.69/gallon of milk?

The answer is the same as who pays the cost for the low prices at Wal-Mart?
The tax payers
The tax payers pick up the cost of Wal-Mart’s health care for their low payed workers and also are going to pick up the tab when clean up is required for these dairy farms. The tax payers are going to get the bill for all these environmentally induced asthmatics health care. The tax payers are already getting the bill for the increased cost of water.

My question is if we actually had a cooperative democracy instead of a corporate democracy would the citizens of Roosevelt and Curry County allows these factory farms to pollute their neighborhoods and exploit them for a profit or would there be a balance reached between profits and environmental safety?


A fact for those of you who like me buy the organic milk at around $5.50 a gallon

Horizon was bought out by Dean Foods, the number 1 milk producer in America, and they are not actually meeting the standards set for organic farming. They are now saying that they are producing organic milk but with factory farming. For the full story go to http://www.cornucopia.org/

This looks to be nothing more than corporate America trying to again to cash in some extra profits by deceiving the consumer. Will the government do anything about it?