by Anna Lappé
We’re popping the virtual champagne today! Friends and colleagues in Hawaii are rejoicing in a big win: Superintendent of Hawaii schools just announced that herbicides are to be banned in all of the state’s public schools. The decision comes in the wake of community organizing and leadership from elected officials in the state–and from the powerful testimony of Lee Johnson, a San Francisco Bay Area school groundskeeper and the first plaintiff in a legal case against Bayer/Monsanto who is suffering from terminal cancer as a result of exposure to glyphosate-based herbicides. You can learn more about the weed killer at the heart of this battle by tuning in to our Real Food Reads podcast with the investigative journalist, Carey Gillam. And you can read more about Lee’s case and his big win here. We’re also raising a toast for former Real Food Media, and toxic-free future dynamo, Mackenzie Feldman who helped organize Lee’s tour of the islands and has been running her own campaign across the University of California system to ban all toxic pesticides on all UC campuses. Read The Ecologist’s profile of their successful UC system-wide campaign here.
