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Hey Hey, ho ho, Cargill's fires have got to go!

A group of local activists has been hounding Minnesota based Cargill in recent months. The group points out that Cargill is playing a major role in the destruction of the Amazon, and other South American, ecosystems and, thus, our shared climate. The issue came to a head in recent months with the vast fires not only in Brazil but in Bolivia, Paraguay, and other countries.
Thanks to Cargill protesters
The extent of the destruction underwritten by Cargill is mind boggling. It has been laid out by research done by Mighty Earth and Mongabay. The Mighty Earth report, entitled The Companies Behind te Burning of the Amazon, is wide ranging and implicates not only Cargill but its custoers such as Wal Mart, McDonalds, and Sysco. The Mongabay report focuses in on the Cargill-McDonalds connectionally, especially as it relate to poultry and soy.

Here are some of the introductory bullet points from the Mongabay report:

  • British fast food restaurants and grocery chains, including Tesco, Morrisons and McDonald’s, buy their chicken from Cargill, which feeds its poultry with imported soy, much of it apparently coming from the Bolivian Amazon and Brazilian Cerrado — areas rapidly being deforested for new soy plantations.
• A decade ago, Cargill and other global commodities companies agreed to stop buying soy from the Brazilian Amazon and established a Soy Moratorium in the region.
• But a recent study showed that Cargill and other companies simply began sourcing their soy purchases from nearby areas, including the Bolivian Amazon and Brazilian Cerrado, a vast area of savanna, part of which is included in Brazil’s definition of Legal Amazonia.
• That shift has resulted in rapid deforestation in both areas; a Mighty Earth report revealed that U.S. soy distributor Cargill is a major soy buyer there. Efforts to extend the soy moratorium to the Bolivian Amazon and Brazilian Cerrado have long been opposed by Cargill, despite calls to do so by NGOs, scientists and the Brazilian environment minister.
Thanks to Greenpeace
The Minnesota group protesting the destruction wrought by Cargill’s rapacity most recently protested at a breakfast presentation by Cargill CEO David MacLennan. McLennan was presenting at the Interlachen Country Club in Edina Minnesota. The group was out in force at the Country Club at 6:30 a.m. Thursday November 14th, refusing to let Cargill’s Minnesota Nice image cover up it the ugly ruin it’s bringing to South Aerica and our climate in the name of cheap food.  

The Amazon's in flames
We're out in force and naming names

The Amazon's in flames
Shame, Cargill, Shame

Hey Hey, ho ho,
Cargill's fires have got to go!

Amazon fires
turn them down
Keep that carbon
In the ground . . . they chanted while holding signs such a, “Cargill's Supply Chain Drives Climate Change” and “Cargill isn't (living up to) 'Minnesota Nice’”. 

Here’s a report of the protest from one of the event organiers, Kurt Kimber:

“We arrived at the CC at 6:30 and were greeted by two cop cars at the entrance and two more up in the parking lot. I think Edina police had six cop cars there total. LOL.”

“People continued to arrive and we hung in our cars in the main parking lot. Then the site manager and a cop started going around to all the cars telling people this was private property and they had to leave if they weren't a member or guest.  The cop said the closest public space was the entrance to the CC off of Interlachen Blvd.  Some people went directly there and other rendezvoused at a nearby church parking lot.  From the church parking lot we shuttled protesters to the CC entrance.  Cops wouldn't let us park on Interlachen Blvd (totally an automobile oriented area; zero sidewalks; it was a little dangerous being on the narrow blvd). About 20 of us protested for about 40 minutes, signs and chanting.  People entering the CC definitely saw us.  Cops didn't do anything after that, just let us protest.”

“It was a great action in a chain of actions keeps the pressure on Cargill.”

“Deep gratitude to everyone who hung through the stress and uncertainty to make this powerful action happen.”

If you want to join the next Cargill action, or start your own, you can reach Kurt at

The Mongabay report can be found here  https://news.mongabay.com/2017/10/amazon-deforestation-linked-to-mcdonalds-and-british-retail-giants/ and the Mighty Earth report here https://stories.mightyearth.org/amazonfires/index.html

Tim

Central Minnesota Political

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