Page 19 - Sonoma County Gazette - October 2017

What’s on Those Vines? Wine & Water Watch presents Pam Strayer
Saturday, October 21st 1:00 – 3:00 PM
Do you want to be an informed consumer and support a healthy environment in Sonoma County? Health information and wine expert Pam Strayer will present a guide to using publicly available information to see which vineyard pesticides are being used in Sonoma. She’ll also present information on how to support Sonoma’s best organic and biodynamic producers.
We will look at data collected by the California Department of Pesticide Regulation at the local level and use maps from the California Department of Public Health Agricultural Pesticide Mapping Tool to see which chemicals of concern are being used near you. (Chemicals of concern include carcinogens, neurotoxins, bird and bee toxins and developmental and reproductive toxins.)
• How Gallo sprayed large amounts of the toxic Chlorpyrifos (which the EPA recently tried to ban) at Two Rock
Sebastopol Center for the Arts - Fireside Room, 282 S. High St., Sebastopol
You’ll nd out what is being applied to vineyards in your area.
These maps show us:
• That five Sonoma vineyard management companies are among the very few remaining users in California of the highly toxic fungicide Mancozeb, another nearly banned substance
• That “certified sustainable” wineries have not stopped using the worst chemicals because there are no chemical restrictions in Sonoma’s “sustainability” standards
Drink the change you want to see in the world!
We will also talk about solutions and how to support family friendly farming in Sonoma by supporting Sonoma’s organic vineyards and the wines that come from them. Come get a free list of the wineries to appreciate and support.
Pam is a leading specialist on American organic and biodynamic vineyards. She has worked with environmental groups including David Brower’s Earth Island Institute and Huey Johnson’s Resource Renewal Institute. Her blog “Organic Wines Uncorked” is at winecountrygeographic.blogspot.com.
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