Yesterday an EU Advocate-General sided with French seed organization Kokopelli on the provision in EU law prohibiting the sale of unregistered varieties.

In reference to EU seed laws and related French regulations, the Advocate-General said they

“violate the principle of proportionality, free enterprise, free movement of goods, and the principle of non discrimination.”

The Advocate-General said the official seed catalog has

“nothing to do with plant health”

and

“it is up to farmers to decide which varieties they grow”

the Advocate-General added

“the fact that farmers are confined to the listed varieties greatly reduces genetic diversity in European fields.”

Unfortunately the original opinion was written in German, and as of the time of this post had not yet been translated into English.  You can read the opinion in a variety of non-English languages here.

Almost all of Kokopelli’s arguments were upheld, and most of the opposition’s arguments were not.

For those of you who filled in or are interested in the online questionnaire concerning the review of EU seed legislation I posted about here, you can read everyone’s answers here.

I think it makes quite interesting reading, and it shows how your voice can really be heard if you take the time to participate in something like this.

He recently left formal employment, and is pursuing a more self-reliant lifestyle on a property north of Atlanta, Georgia.  This includes bees, chickens, organic gardening and composting, rainwater collection, bread baking and more!  His blog looks really good so far!

I’ve recently come across her website where you can find links to her books for sale on Amazon, and download some excerpts.  You can also find her contact information if you want to ask her questions about her books and inquire about seeds for sale.

You can find the original Dutch language version here.

Here is a reply from the scientists who opposed the demonstration.

The original Dutch language version is here.

Here’s a quote from the second letter:

Sleep comfortable
Just think: what carries the least risk to humans and the environment? A potato with well-characterized resistance genes (the GM version) or a potato with the same genes in it and also a lot of other genes that we all know nothing (and bionica and toluca example)? If you do not see dangers in the use of bionica and toluca varieties, sleep on both ears in terms of the GM potato.

Part of the strange language here is the translation from Dutch, and I’ve fixed it a little by hand, but the point is clear.  From a scientist’s point of view — fewer genetics are better.  The traditionally bred blight resistant varieties Bionica and Toluca are dangerous to plant, because they have too many unknown and not useful genes in them!  Really?

The only way forward is monocultures, and as little biodiversity as possible?  Otherwise humans and the environment are at risk?  If you don’t agree, sleep comfortably on both ears?  This is like president Bush telling the world they were either with him or against him in Iraq.  I don’t think this is the basis for common ground.

For those of you who know him, be sure to update your blogroll and bookmarks.

If you don’t know him, be sure to have a look!  His new blog is here, but he hasn’t migrated his content yet.  You might also want to have a look at his old blog so you can see what he’s written in the past.

In their published documents they offer a number of scenarios, and while some are worse than others, none are completely acceptable.

There’s honestly little hope they’ll actually take public opinion into account, but it’s still very important to give them a run for their money.  Maybe, if they get a large response, and they can see people are very upset about their plans, it may have some impact.  Please try to submit a response if you can.  If you’re unable to read through all of their documents and submit a response using their form, please just send them an email stating your objections to seed laws in general and the registration of varieties.

I’ll try to put together as much information as I can together with arguments, before the deadline for submission.  If you have any ideas or suggestions, please give them here!  I’ll also post my response, so if nothing else, please consider replacing my name with your own and submitting it yourself.

The European seed laws affect everyone everywhere on the planet, and everyone everywhere should respond to this public consultation.  The EU is the largest economy in the world, and rules that become established here will be pushed onto other countries as well.  Above all else it’s vital to protect our rights to save and regrow our own seeds, no matter where in the world we live.

Check out the view from his community garden! It looks out on the San Francisco Mission neighborhood, Twin Peaks and the Sutro Tower, parts of the Civic Center with a glimpse of the upper parts of the of the Golden Gate Bridge towers.

One of the nice things about his blog is he makes the connection between gardening and food, which of course some other blogs do too, but it’s still nice to see.  He and his partner eat mostly vegetarian, so this is emphasized in the blog too.

Mike of Subsistence Pattern has been a reader and commenter here for a long time.  One of the things that really stands out about his blog are the discussions he cultivates among his readers.  If you want to chat with him and other well known veggie bloggers, it’s a great place to go.

Laura of Mas du Diablo in France has for many years been an active participant in the Blogger Seed Network here, as well as actively blogging about her garden and cooking.  I recently exchanged some emails with here, and got some links to new blogs she working on, showing off her paintings, more paintings and cooking.  Imagine 4 blogs!  I have a hard enough time keeping up with this one.

Leigh of The Extreme Gardener recently posts about her experiences growing TPS (True Potato Seeds). Great post!

A fried of mine here in Holland, Anita, has a expat blog.  It’s called Greetings from Holland.  I keep meaning to mention it.  I don’t often write about Holland, and in fact Anita and I were recently talking about that.  She thinks I should write more about Amsterdam and the Netherlands, instead of all the difficult subjects I address here, and she’s probably right.  Anita on the other hand writes a lot about Holland, including things about really interesting places she visits.  She has a lot of great pictures.  If you want to learn something about living in the Netherlands, hers is the blog to visit.

Finally, Randy who lives in North Carolina has a blog called Randy and Meg’s Garden Paradise.  He also has an associated blog about his carpentry projects called the Liberal Handyman’s Blog.  He has some really amazing photographs on his blogs, and his carpentry projects look really interesting.

Probably a lot of people reading this have heard of the Swedish Pirate Party or perhaps The Pirate Bay website where you can find things like videos, music, software and other things to download, copyrighted and otherwise.

In fact the idea of the Pirate Party has spread worldwide, and many countries have similar emerging parties.

The Pirate Party really came to peoples attention when The Pirate Bay website was raided by the Swedish police.  It was raided, not because it was in violation of Swedish or other law, it was raided on the request of the US government who threatened trade sanctions against Sweden(!) if they didn’t shut the website down.  In Sweden this is illegal.  Politicians are not allowed to request the police to do this, but they did it anyway.

In the following video, Peter Sunde, one of the founders of The Pirate Bay website tells the story of The Pirate Bay, the Swedish Pirate Party and Flattr:

In the last European elections the Swedish Pirate Party won 2 seats in the EU Parliament. Since the ISP of The Pirate Bay was ordered by a judge to disconnect the website, the Swedish Pirate Party decided to become an ISP and now hosts The Pirate Bay website in the Swedish parliament building. The Swedish constitution gives them immunity from prosecution as long as their actions are consistent with their party mandate. This is the reason The Pirate Bay website is still available on the Internet.

I am no spokesperson for the Swedish or any other Pirate Party. In fact one of the things I’ve discovered recently is there is a huge diversity of opinions within these parties. As a rule however, these parties are opposed to the injustices imposed by copyright holders on users of the Internet. These include lawsuits, threats of lawsuits, disconnection of Internet service and other actions.

I think many Pirate Party members feel like I do, that downloading anything from the Internet is a good thing. It is the nature of how the Internet works technically. It’s how information and computer tools are distributed and it’s how people communicate. This is simply an important aspect of how the Internet works, and people should use it as such.

Few people are opposed to creators of this content being paid! I think it’s a fine idea for people to be paid for their work. The idea of enforcing this payment by imposing rules on the use of the Internet is seriously flawed.

There are even some politicians who believe people who break these or other rules should have their Internet service disconnected! Can you imagine this? This is like taking away someone’s library card, because they’ve abused the information in the books.

In today’s world the Internet is far beyond a luxury. If you’re a person of any age in school, you’ll almost certainly receive a portion of your assignments on the Internet. Some companies now only bill via the Internet. It’s simply the largest and most important source of information and communication, and it’s not something you take away from someone because they’ve been bad! Already it’s a necessary part of life, and in the coming years it’s going to be even more important.

This video has some Dutch but it’s mostly in English, and features the founder of the Swedish Pirate Party talking a bit about the party principles:

While these principles apply now to the Internet, there are ramifications for Democracy as a whole. Do we want seed companies to someday be able to tell us we can’t trade seeds over the Internet?

Maybe it’s not something everyone would admit to, but I read this blog from time to time and find it very interesting.  With as many as 5-10 posts per day, many of them very long, I certainly don’t keep up with them all.  I do however come across some real gems from time to time, like this recent one entitled Newt Gingrich Gets It Wrong.

Okay, I’m biased.  In general I like Obama and the direction he’s trying to go in.  I’m also no fan of Newt Gingrich.  More than anything however, I think this is just a very well written piece and the White House really understands the concept of a blog and what to use it for.

A blog is really a personal expression of who you are and what you want to say.  When you read someone else’s blog, you really gain a very personal insight into who they are and what they’re thinking.  Of course Obama doesn’t write any of the posts himself, but instead has people close to him who are experts write for him, and it really offers an insight into the White House that’s never existed before.  You can see exatly what’s got their attention and what they are working on at the moment, in near real time.

One of the most valuable things about a blog is the lack of rules.  For example, I’ve been criticized in the past for identifying foods you should not eat or eat less of, in particular meat and other processed foods.  This of course violates the idea you should only promote healthy foods, like the 5 servings of fruit and vegetables we are all supposed to care about.  I’ve been criticized for not being a good journalist or scientist.  Of course I’ve said many things that have upset people in general.

The truth of course is that I don’t represent the interests of the food industry, and I’m not writing as a journalist or scientist.  Therefore, I’m simply not bound by the corresponding rules, and you end up seeing a more personal side of me than you might otherwise.  Having said this, I do put some effort into not intentionally saying things that aren’t true, and don’t intentionally upset people just for the sake of doing it.

When President Obama makes a speech, or the White House gives a press conference, there are rules and protocols that go with this.  Beyond that, it’s up to the various TV networks and news publications to further filter and condense what was said.  Something like the post I linked to above about Newt Gingrich would never survive this sort of condensing and processing, and the average person is unlikely to ever get that message.

The White House blog is not bound by the rules of traditional media.  I really like that I can go there directly, see the information they want me to see, presented in the way they want me to see it.  I think it reflects well on the Obama administration that they can do this so effectively.  I think this kind of communication is changing Democracy the way we know it.

Besides being a fellow blogger and heirloom gardener, Emma Cooper is a good friend of mine and very like minded.  I’m delighted she’s written this book, something I think makes a very important contribution to promoting environmentally friendly and sustainable living.

This book is a very personal account of things she’s done in her garden and home over the last several years, including building a geodesic dome shaped greenhouse, raising chickens as well as heirloom and alternative gardening.

As an alternative to a how-to book, Emma has written an A-Z account of the most important things she’s done.  Everything from Achocha to Zucchini.  She tells you what worked, and what didn’t.  If there are tips and tricks to be had, she spells these out.  She lets you know what she’s still doing, and things she doesn’t have time for any more.

If you’re experienced in alternative living and gardening, this book probably isn’t for you.  At the same time if you are just beginning or only a year or two into things, this is a great book to get ideas from.

While her experiences are based on a wet UK climate, much of what she writes about applies to everyone, regardless of where in the world you live.

To get an idea of the kind of person she is, have a look at her blog and listen to some of her podcasts.

Also important are Permanent Publications where you can purchase this book online if you live in the UK, and the associated Sustainability Centre.  Most people outside the UK can purchase this book online from Amazon.