Olympia’s own cherished Food Co-op has returned to its practice of being open every day of the year —except for one single, significant day: it is closed on May 1, International Workers’ Day. The Co-op has posted on its website this explanation of why.
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Holly Lindsey, has been a licensed home child-care provider for 22 years and a union member for 12. She joined SEIU 925 when the local formed in 2006....
The coordinated effort by wealthy financiers to eliminate unions has elements in addition to the “opt out” campaign. As the State Policy Network (SPN) and its right-wing allies secure Republican domination of more state governments, they will turn also to laws requiring union recertification elections. Regulating unions, not corporations In…
Extinction Rebellion is an international movement that uses non-violent civil disobedience to achieve radical change in order to minimise the risk of human extinction and ecological collapse....
The iconic Olympia bookstore, Orca Books, will be expanding its ownership to the community as it transitions into a cooperative business model. The staff, along with current owner Linda Berensten, have been working with the Northwest Cooperative Development Center (NWCDC) to create a plan for the conversion which will occur…
Streams are rated healthy when they support many kinds of life. For a salmon stream, that means benthic invertebrates —little “bugs” that live in sediments and have evolved over thousands of years in the cold, clear-running streams of the Pacific Northwest. The best conditions for stream bugs also tend to…
Things happen for a reason It is easy to vilify the left. Effective vilification requires only money, political power, and access to the media. Those presently involved in the current campaign of defaming the left have had access to those three necessary ingredients for such a long time that engaging…
Congressman Albert Johnson, one of the Pacific Northwest’s most influential politicians, struck many of the same themes in relation to immigrants as does the current commander in chief. Johnson’s greatest legacy was the 1924 Johnson-Reed Act...
The Social Security Board of Trustees released its 2019 report to Congress in April. Right now, the average annual Social Security benefit is about $16,000. The new Trustees Report confirms that expanding vs. cutting Social Security’s modest benefits is a question of values and choice, not affordability. What the report…
Amitav Ghosh, an Indian novelist and winner of numerous honors and awards, including honorary doctorates from the University of Puget Sound and Maastricht College in the Netherlands, is a brilliant novelist and thinker....
Four days of debate in June may yield a progressive Democratic platform focused on addressing systemic inequality. If so, that change will be in no small part because of the ongoing grassroots activism across the country....
The Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace & Justice (RFC) is a grassroots, 501(c)3 non-profit organization that conducts and supports programs that foster connections between people, that build understanding, respect, and appreciation for differences, and that promote cooperation within and between local and global communities. The foundation encourages and supports grassroots…
The May 2019 interview on “Glen’s Parallax Perspectives” series promotes an increasingly popular electoral reform. Everybody knows that our nation’s electoral system is broken. The problems prevent us from having an honest, vibrant democracy. The May 2019 interview on “Glen’s Parallax Perspectives” focuses on an exciting, practical remedy for one…
In the December 2017 issue of Works in Progress we reported on the trial of people involved in a four-state action to shut off a pipeline carrying oil from Canada....
To labor to heal the earth with no direct compensation is the great work of our generation, based on morality, law, and treaty. There is nothing more infuriating and humiliating than were our efforts to be undermined by the very governments obligated to support and protect our work.“ Paul Cereghino…
This issue is dedicated to Labor in all its forms, from waged to unwaged, labor that takes place in traditional settings such as factories, hospitals, construction sites, offices, schools, etc. to less recognized forms of participation in the economic relations of society like reproductive female labor, rearing children, and caring for elders....
Local entities like Slow Food Greater Olympia, the Community Farm Land Trust, regional tribes, and the dozen nearby seasonal or year-round farmers markets all affirm that we live in a community that treasures its thriving small farms. We are a community that likes its local food. Slow Food Greater Olympia…
On a chilly Friday morning in March, before the sun rises, activity begins to stir at Thurston County Food Bank’s Client Services Center in downtown Olympia. Staff drivers depart the Center at 6 am to begin their Food Rescue routes, collecting donated food from local businesses....
Fish matter! Not only because people depend on fish for jobs, but because plants and trees and marine animals depend on nutrients from fish to live. Fish feed on the insects that populate our lakes and streams, playing a critical role in maintaining insect populations. Fish store nutrients in their…
”Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe.”- —Frederick Douglass Harbor Roots is a program with a bold vision:…
Here today, gone tomorrow? It may surprise many people that sales in the Bulk Departments at both of Olympia’s Food Co-ops have been in steady decline for many years. Many of the goods that are in bulk can also be purchased packaged —often in plastic—in the aisles. Whatever the reason,…
Ask not what you can do for your country. Ask what’s for lunch—Orson Welles An early introduction to food geopolitics My first lesson in political economy came at an early age. Granted, it wasn’t given by an economist and it did not take place in a university lecture hall. It was…
For April, we invited articles on food: production, consumption, transformation. Inside this issue, you’ll see that writers chose to address the topic of food in many ways: efforts to support local food systems, food security in the face of climate change,...more...
When farmers lose buyers, whether a farmers’ market customer, local processing facility, or grain mill, it becomes that much more difficult to make a living by farming. Our region’s farmers reflected this reality in 2017 when they identified gaps in the food system infrastructure such as food processing facilities, storage…
The 2008 Farm Bill ushered in a suite of programs that support the development of local and regional food systems, market diversification opportunities for farmers, healthy food access initiatives and other innovative programs that seize upon the great potential of food to bolster local economies, create jobs and deepen the…