Greetings from Modena, Italy!
- Topics:
- Organic Food & Farming
Wednesday, June 18th, 2008, 8:34 AM
It’s not supposed to be rainy this time of year in Modena, Italy (about an hour outside of Bologna), but it has been for weeks and it was when we arrived yesterday afternoon.
As many of the farmers have already mentioned here at the 16th annual International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movements, climate change isn’t just something you read about in books: You see it in your fields. One old friend I bumped into here described the fields of wheat she saw surrounding the roads on the way into town yesterday. The muggy weather and the rain has bent the stalks so much it looks as if elephants had sat down in the middle of the fields.
Last night an opening ceremony began for this gathering of people from more than 70 countries in Modena’s beautiful town square. The mayor and the provincial leader of this region of Italy greeted us, singing the praises of organic agriculture and small-scale farming. (I tried to imagine their U.S.-equivalents doing the same).
This morning, in a high-ceilinged white tent, with at least 700 others, I listened as Vandana Shiva, Carlo Petrini (founder of Slow Food) and others described IFOAM’s four tenets of Care, Ecology, Health, and Fairness. This afternoon, I’m heading to the second half of a workshop series on climate change and agriculture.
