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Volume 5, Number 25 | August 1, 2013
Rico connecting Carbondale to a corn revolution By Debbie Bruell Sopris Sun Correspondent
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At Carbondale Mountain Fair 2013, the Johnsons rise to the occasion with Matt winning the song-writing contest, Leslie taking third in the four-mile Mt. Sopris Runoff and Patrick (shown here) winning the wood-splitting contest. Spectators report Patrick defeated “a really muscular guy” and might have logged a record time. It’s also believed that Patrick is the only man to ever win both the Dandelion Day slow-bike competition, and Mountain Fair woodsplitting contest, although there’s no truth to the rumor that his pose here will be immortalized as a statue in the roundabout planned for Highway 133. For more photos, please turn to pages 14-17. Photo by Jane Bachrach
ust before Dandelion Day in May, Carbondale resident Alejandra Rico launched a campaign to raise awareness and funds to support an independent documentary film, “Sunnú”, about the struggle of indigenous northern Mexican communities to preserve their native corn seed and their way of life. Rico herself is from Chihuahua City in the northern Mexico state of Chihuahua. Her sister, Ariana Rico Bustillos, is sound manager for the film. The film addresses the ways in which the monopolization of the food industry is threatening to destroy rural life in Mexico as well as the rich diversity of Mexican corn-seed varieties and says the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has allowed U.S. government-subsidized corn to be sold in Mexico at a low price, taking over the market of indigenous corn growers. The film also says the introduction of genetically modified seeds are irreversibly contaminating native seed varieties. Without seed diversity, food production in these communities and across the globe is vulnerable to disease and climate change. Because indigenous people’s lives have centered around the planting and harvesting of corn — from their dances and celebrations to their entire cosmology — their culture is at risk of disappearing as well. Rico said the destructive pattern they’re seeing in Mexico is happening to farming communities all around the world. She organized a booth at Dandelion Day to start spreading the word about the film and the food politics it addresses. She distributed free native Colorado corn seeds to raise people’s awareness about the value of native seed varieties; she shared bilingual copies of “Food, Inc.,” a film about corporate farming in the United States and the unhealthy food it produces; and she talked with people about fundraising efforts to support the making of “Sunnú.” Three months after Dandelion Day, Rico said she is noticing the ripple effects of those efforts: people are coming up to her to tell her how tall their corn is growing; other people are letting her know how the “Food, Inc.” video has changed their family’s eating habits; and as word has spread throughout the community about the film, people are continuing to make donations.
Fund-raising efforts In May, the film makers launched a “Kickstarter” campaign to raise the $50,000 they needed to produce Sunnú FILM page 3
LIFE IS A BEACH! Carbondale is Calling!
BRING YOUR BONGOS TO CARBONDALE AUGUST 2nd FOR FIRST FRIDAY!