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Digest - News: Vilsack’s singing our song, but he ain’t our valentine yet
The Ethicurean —
Yeah OK, we’re listening: The WashPo’s Jane Black interviews new Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, who says that being an overweight kid has given him insight into childhood nutrition problems, that in an ideal world all food would be purchased locally, and that the USDA needs to help build the infrastructure to make that possible. (Washington Post) He also dared to use the “O-word in front of a bunch of large-scale industrial farmers.” (Gristmill)
Groundbreaking USDA move: Vilsack broke up some concrete at the USDA’s washington, DC headquarters to plant the inaugural USDA “People’s ...
For Tom Vilsack, Grist swings both ways
Grist - the Latest from Grist —
By Kate Sheppard Climate kudos this week go to House and Senate negotiators for cutting out billions of dollars in pork for coal and nuclear from the economic stimulus bill, while managing to protect most of the funding for good, green projects. For once, the legislative sausage-making process did not utterly disappoint. We'd also like to give a shout-out this week to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar for shelving the Bush administration's plan to poke drill bits into every available orifice. Now that's change we Ken believe in! A third green thumbs-up goes to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack for inaugurating the People's Garden on a ...
Vilsack Planting The People's Garden in DC
Green Daily —
Filed under: News, Polit-ecoNew Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack "broke pavement" on a new People's Garden in honor of Abraham Lincoln's 200th birthday on February 12. The garden will be located at the USDA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. Vilsack plans to expand the program to all USDA offices worldwide. It's not a victory garden on the White house lawn, but it's an awfully good start. The People's Garden will have many conservation minded features and include educational opportunities to learn green gardening practices. The project will extend to planting Embassy window boxes, planting trees and more community gardens at ...
Stick that green thumb somewhere else
Grist - the Latest from Grist —
By Tom Laskawy US Department of Agriculture chief Tom Vilsack may not deserve that recently awarded Grist green thumbs-up after all. Obamafoodorama (blissfully abbreviated as ObFo) has an amusing and edifying (and lengthy) disquisition on Tom Vilsack's much ballyhooed "People's Garden." When Vilsack took a jackhammer to a slab of concrete in front of USDA headquarters in honor of Lincoln's Birthday (the USDA was founded under Lincoln and referred to by him as "the People's Department"), he thought he was demonstrating the USDA's commitment to sustainable landscaping. But he did it without, it appears, much forethought. The planning process seems to ...
Organic Compost Delivered To USDA Headquarters
TreeHugger —
The compost, made from leaves, grass clippings, and a small amount of horse manure at the Rodale Institute’s site in southeastern PA, is the foundation of the new People's Garden . The USDA decision to make this garden organic is a deeply symbolic gesture that shows an unprecedented commitment to sustainable agriculture. Rodale Compost at USDA Headquarters Photo Image: Joan Shaffer, USDA Rodale Institute farm director, Jeff Moyer, was on-hand to help with the compost delivery. Compost is a big part of what makes organic farming work so well. We’re happy to donate a truckload ...
