Feb4

The Eatles… (She’s Got A Picketing Sign)

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The Eatles began their career in the small English town of Genepool… Here are the lyrics to one of their famous food-revelution tunes, which was thought to have been lost forever…

 

She’s Got A Picketing Sign…

 

Think I’m coming unglued, I think it’s today…

The girl who’s making my food is going away…

 

She’s got a picketing sign… She’s got a picketing sign… She’s got a picketing sign…

And they don’t care…

 

She said that GMO’s were bringing her down…

She would never be free… When they were around…

 

She’s got a picketing sign… She’s got a picketing sign… She’s got a picketing sign…

And they don’t care…

 

I don’t know why the bad food supply…

Better think twice… Ought to do right by me…

Before we get all modified…

Better think twice… Better eat right, eat GMO-Free…

 

Think I’m gonna get real… I think it’s today…

The girl who’s cooking my meal…

Has something to say…

 

She’s got a picketing sign… She’s got a picketing sign… She’s got a picketing sign…

And they don’t care…

 

 

Monsanto don’t care… Monsanto don’t care… Monsanto don’t care… Monsanto don’t care…

 

 

Feb2

DIY Anti-GMO Labeling Campaign!

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Anti-GMO STICKER CAMPAIGN!

Here’s what to do:
1) Download sticker image… (Right-click/Save As)
2) Re-Size and print as a sticker! (Or take to a printshop like Kinko’s)
3) Peel and stick label anywhere you see GMO food!

 

Here is a template you can print onto sticker sheets… The stickers are sized at 1.5″, and please note that this sheet is not designed to be pre-cut, meaning that they will likely have to be hand-cut… Please let us know if you figure out an even better way! We are learning as we go…

Label Yuk Template...

Jan31

Bland Melon… ‘No Bees’

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Sometimes, what begins as a clever pun reveals horrific truth… A few weeks ago, the creative engine inside my soul generated an idea to re-brand a classic album cover to read: Bland Melon… No Bees!

It made sense, on a gut level, since there’s a bee girl on the cover, and part of my artistic process involves making intuitive leaps, with puns and rhymes providing the missing links… I often learn way more authentic information as I search for images in order to add the details it takes to convey the message…

I am under the impression that most folks know we are in serious trouble here… The bees were dying 10 years ago or more, and for several seasons, farmers and beekeepers have been importing millions of bees from Australia, the one continent on Earth which doesn’t suffer colony collapse disorder, or CCD as it’s often referred to… This is not a viable solution, mate! Neither is Monsanto buying a company called BeeLogics, who were actually studying the problem intensely, but got too near to the Truth…

Colony Collapse Disorder is from many things: Pesticides, Monoculture, and Beekeepers supplementing their bees’ food in the winters with High Fructose Corn Syrup… It’s the GMO corn syrup, in my opinion, that drives them crazy, while the pesticides and monoculture likely hasten their demise… All this information is searchable online, and I could provide links, but this blog is more about the art and the issues, since I don’t typically feel qualified to tackle solutions…

Furthermore, I did a search for GMO Melon, just to see what results I would get… You guessed it! Dozens of GMO Melon varieties exist, like watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew, etc… Bottom line, for the future: IF YOU AREN’T SURE, ASSUME IT IS GENETICALLY ENGINEERED!!! Would you trust liars and thieves to produce your food? If you do trust ‘BLINDLY’ then you will have the sad task of explaining to your children why they have more tumors than candles on their birthday cake…

Also, I want to remind everyone that this is simply art, not solid information… I prefer to think of it as a signpost, hinting in the right direction… Like, “Hey, here is something you might want to examine more closely…” I try to provide a wake up call, but once awakened, it is up to each individual to choose how they use that awareness… I am optimistic that we will soon reach a colossal tipping point, where the WalMart Moms are screaming outrage, old ladies carrying torches and pitchforks, and corporate executives hiding underground in terror…

Another discussion that always comes up is whether or not it’s too late to fix this crisis… Well, um… I truly don’t know… BUT, if you sit on your ass and don’t spread the word, I would say you are just as guilty as those who mess with the food supply for profit… Don’t be a bystander, do something… DO ANYTHING! Raise bees! Grow food! Write your elected officials! Burn a GMO field! Make art! Whatever it takes…

And most importantly, at all costs, KEEP YOUR SENSE OF HUMOR! If you lose your joy for living, they have already won…

Jan28

Jason’s Deadly…

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It all started when my mom told me that Jason’s Deli had come out and taken a stand against GMO ingredients, with declarations on their menu… I responded that it was great to see a fast-food restaurant chain who could boldly go where no corporation has gone before… When the time came to actually go to lunch there, I began to survey the menu with one eyebrow raised…

Everything on the menu contained some form of genetically modified ingredient! I was very disappointed, though I did see that their menu proclaimed some Gluten-Free options, and it said their food was, “Really Natural”… (what the hell does THAT mean?) But rather than walk out and ruin a lunch with mom, I asked the person taking my order if there was any NON-GMO options…

She looked at me with that look… I repeated the words, and then changed it to GENETICALLY MODIFIED, and she just pointed to the manager who was already on the way… I must say that the manager was an extremely nice person, to listen to me explain that I don’t want their toxic modified food in my body, under any circumstances… She assured me the beef and chicken they serve are, “Very healthy” and that they don’t use corn syrup… I explained to her that even one GMO-DNA from BT-soy could forever change my genetic structure… To her credit, she never lost her composure… The boss of this particular place of hospitality was desperately uninformed, though she promised to pass my message along up the chain of command…

I ordered the least offensive item on the menu, but won’t say what, because I can’t certify it as clean… Yet I also practice mindful eating, which means that if I sit down to dine with family, I am stress-free and chewing 50 times per bite! My mother mentioned my handling of the situation, and I thanked her that she raised me with some conscience , as well as cojones… We had a good discussion, and I didn’t want to rock her world, as Jason’s is one of her favorite places to go out and eat… In the course of the meal, I proposed a new piece of art, Jason’s Deadly… Her response was that I should visit the website on the napkin holder: http://jasonsdelifeedback.com

So I did… It was a very narrow-minded process that channeled me through a series of questions, and never asking me the one I wanted to answer: “Does your menu have GMO’s?” Nevertheless, at the end there was a box to leave my own words, so I gave it to them… Expressing the sentiment of a paying customer, I informed them of my disappointment that that hadn’t taken a stand against GMO’s, and my shock and disgust that they weren’t properly labeled as such… Then I notified them that until they changed their policy, I would never again be spending dollars in their restaurant… Finally, I offered the Artists Against Monsanto email for them to reply to, and OF COURSE THEY REPLIED THE VERY NEXT MORNING!!! Here is that reply:

Good afternoon,

Our purchasing and R&D teams are continuously looking for better quality and more sustainable foods for us to serve. We are also constantly questioning the ingredients we utilize from our suppliers and pushing them to be better.

 As a restaurant company with 240+ Jason’s Delis nationwide, we rely on some manufacturers to ensure consistency and availability across the country. As you mentioned – there are so many foods containing additives derived from soy and corn such as xanthan gum and ascorbic acid it can be difficult to determine those with and with out GMO’s in them.

With our large menu, we do not yet have ingredient statements for all our menu items – we are working on this project now and hope to have it finished in the next few months. If you have any specific menu items you were interested in, please let me know and I will look into them and see if they contain any GMO’s. I can tell you our Organic Wheat Wrap and our Antibiotic Free Chicken are GMO free along with our organic items on the Salad Bar.

I also want to assure you that we continue to be free of artificial trans fats, msg, high fructose corn syrup and artificial dyes & colors. All this is in our continued pursuit to serve the best quality foods we can.

Our guests’ questions continuously help us become better as a company! Thank you for your interest in us and our future.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me directly if I may be of further assistance. 

 

Kim Jones

Director of Testing & Research
Jason’s Deli

I replied:

Kim,

Thanks for the response… If your chicken is GMO-Free then I want to see it labeled as such… Many factors play into whether they are safe for human consumption, such as what the animals are fed as well as their living conditions… Until Jason’s reverses its approach to GMO food and the labeling of such, it won’t be going into my mouth, or the mouths of those who I can convince to not put it in their bodies…

Thanks,
CMOR
Artists Against Monsanto

 

(Also, I should mention that it’s not only THESE guys who are dealing in bad food, it is the entire industry… This art grew from my personal experience, though also you may notice both signatures! Thanks to Artie Xia for the added style and flavor…)