Indigenous Food Systems Network

See a complied list of some great food, land and culture books. Please contact Fiona Devereaux if you have others you would like to share.

Many thanks

Fiona.devereaux@viha.ca
250-886-2122

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FFC Resources Basket.pdf

As people throughout the Western world are increasingly seeking to reconnect with their food, there's a lot to be learned from the many peoples who have long maintained these dynamic relationships between their sustenance and the earth. Ethnobiologists research these very relationships through a scientific lens and it's a field of study bringing together many disciplines like anthropology, ecology and conservation to name just a few.

By Patrick Oppmann, CNN
June 1, 2010 11:44 a.m. EDT

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Gulf oil spill threatens sacred burial ground of Louisiana's Point Aux Chenes Indian Tribe
* Most of the tribe's 700 members also rely on fishing and fear the spill could end their way of life
* Members say no federal or state officials have advised them on dealing with the disaster
* Native Americans from Alaska told the tribe how they dealt with the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill

The spill could have been so much worse, and at least it didn't happen in the remote Arctic. Maybe it will spur Americans to get serious about cutting consumption

Tuesday, 1 June 2010

Hollywood loves a villain with an English accent. After the Deepwater Horizon disaster, it was inevitable American commentators would deride BP as British Petroleum and its CEO as Tony Wayward. But even as residents of the Gulf Coast despair and BP fumbles from one seat-of-the-pants engineering "solution" to another, Americans should realise the company has done them a huge favour.

We the undersigned citizens of Canada stand against the biological and social threat and commerce of industrial marine net-cage feedlots using our global oceans. The science is clear: these operations risk wild salmon populations by intensifying disease and deplete world fishery resources to make the feed. They privatize ocean spaces and threaten our sovereign rights to food security.

We call on the Government of Canada to take the appropriate measures to get open-net aquaculture out of our federal waters:

RAVEN is a charitable organization that provides financial resources to assist Aboriginal Nations within Canada in lawfully forcing industrial development to be reconciled with their traditional ways of life, and in a manner that addresses global warming or other ecological sustainability challenges.

In the film Our Land, My People, the Lubicon people tell the story of their 30 year struggle for justice. It's a story of environmental destruction and shocking discrimination. It's also a story of determination and hope.

I am sending out a link about Sea Urchins that is definitely research and may be very boring to some of you, but I’m totally fascinated and thought I would share. The article describes the feeding habits of the urchin as well as talking about their anatomy. The research does not seem to be the most humane to the urchin but at the same time, it was 1954. Lots of technical information in the article (I skipped over quite a bit) but still quite interesting, seeing as we eat these guys, it would be great to know a bit more about them!

Updated: June 2, 2009

"We believe it is much better to prevent a cancer than to treat it after it has developed."
Dr. David McLean, Head, BC Cancer Agency Prevention Programs

Did you know that more than 50% of cancers are preventable? What you eat, whether you smoke, your level of activity, and how you spend time in the sun are all lifestyle choices that can affect your chances of getting cancer - and your chances of preventing it.

You can also protect yourself through the BC Cancer Agency's Screening Programs, which can detect breast and cervical cancer at early stages.

An amazing lecture by Maude Barlow on the Global Water Crisis.

Maude Barlow is the National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians and chairs the board of Washington-based Food and Water Watch. She also served as Senior Advisor on Water to the 63rd President of the United Nations General Assembly.