"USDA Organic" labeled food can cost twice as much, but under the loose system set up by the Bush Administration, the label may have become meaningless, threatening a lead industry in Oregon and Lane County.

"Purity of Federal 'Organic' Label Is Questioned," a Washington Post article reported today. The lengthy lead story found lax, corporate controlled regulation under the USDA. Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), who pushed the law to create the federal label, told the Post, "If we don't protect the brand, the organic label, the program is finished. It could disappear overnight."

Here's some of the revelations from the Post article:

• "Organic" beer has non-organic hops.

• "Organic" mock duck has synthetic additives to make it stringy.

• "Organic" baby food has synthetic fatty acids.

• The law required annual testing for pesticides, but USDA hasn't enforced the requirement.

• Corporations Kellogg, Kraft, Coca-Cola, and Dole are big players in "organic" food.

• "Organic" milk can come from factory-like feed lots without grass.

• The National Organic Standards Board has approved 245 non-organic substances for inclusion in "organic" labeled food.

Regulators appear to see their mission as more to grow the supposedly "organic" industry than to actually assure consumers are getting the organic food they paid for.

"People are really hung up on regulations, Joe Smillie a federal organic standards board member and an executive at a corporation that supposedly certifies "65 percent of organic products found on supermarket shelves" told the Post. "Are we selling health food? No," the Post quoted the federal "organic" regulator. "Consumers, they expect organic food to be growing in a greenhouse on Pluto. Hello? We live in a polluted world. It isn't pure."

Internet miscellany: for when it's stupid hot out and thus you I, stupidly, walked to the bank and now have the brain capacity of a dazed manatee. No disrespect meant to manatees, of course.

• Have you heard the news? Apparently it's Author Internet Freakout Week! It kicked off when Alice Hoffman used her now deleted Twitter feed to insult the critic who reviewed her latest novel in The Boston Globe. She also posted the reviewer's phone number and email. Classy. Hoffman later "apologized." But just as that kerfuffle started to fade from memory, Alain de Botton (never lend On Love to a neurotic friend, by the way) got a bit cranky at the critic who reviewed his latest in The New York Times. Unlike Hoffman, de Botton later handled things very gracefully. Good for him. But it's not over yet! On Twitter, I mean. Next, Ayelet Waldman suggested that New Yorker critic Jill Lepore "rot in hell." (I'd like to point out the delightful headline on that last link, just in case you missed it.)

At least no one got punched in the face this time.

• And now for something completely different: RoboGeisha. Via BoingBoing, where it was described it thusly:

There is no part of this trailer that is not made of awesome. A robot geisha transforms into a tank. Two robot geishas (I guess) spew poison milk (don't ask) out of their titties at an opponent. A girl gets stabbed to death in the butt with a giant sword. Robot girls make giant swords pop out of their butts, presumably with which to stab other people in their butts. "Bust Machine Gun." And a dude is blinded with tempura shrimp.

Deadly. Shrimp. And bleeding buildings. And ... yeah, it's really pretty weird, but someone out there will love it.

• Three things make a post, so: two articles I've started reading but not yet finished because it's moments before a three day weekend and my attention span is shrinking:
- Chris Ruen's "The Myth of DIY," a treatise on artists and downloading which includes the succint and smart pullquote, "I don’t see anything artful or transcendent in our favorite record stores closing." I got several paragraphs in and was inspired to stop in at House of Records on my way back from the bank (for the Weakerthans and Dresden Dolls, should you want to track my spending habits).
- And lastly, Graeme McMillan interviews comics genius Grant Morrison, whose Invisibles series is one of the main reasons I start to see red any time someone uses the "Well, it's based on a comic, what did you expect?" line about another shitty comic-book movie adaptation. Morrison's latest is Batman and Robin.

It's been a minute since I've posted anything to the ol' bloggo so I felt compelled to add SOMEthing. And since our summer concert season seems to be at a grinding halt for the moment, I thought I'd hit our readers with what I've had stuck in my headphones lately (for what it's worth). They're all fairly new releases or newly re-issued. So without further adieu, let get into it ...

Local sustainable research and education center Aprovecho has won an international award for their work in developing countries. Aprovecho was the international winner for the Ashden International Energy Champion Award on June 10. The award was presented to Aprovecho's executive director, Dean Still, by Prince Charles.

The Ashden Awards out of the United Kingdom honor work to inspire sustainable energy solutions in the UK and developing world.

The award was presented to Aprovecho Research Center from the US and Shenghou Stove Manufacturers from China for their work to "produce a cheap, robust and efficient stove for mass production to developing countries."

"The stoves replace dirty and polluting kerosene and open fires saving up to 50 percent of fuel wood and reducing 70 percent of dangerous emissions," says the awards web page, and according to Aprovecho only cost $4-$12. They are distributed around the world.

This is the second time that Aprovecho has been part of the Ashden Awards, the first was in 2006 when they worked with Programme for Biomass Energy Conservation in Southern Africa (ProBEC) on their rocket stoves.

This just in from the folks at the Western Environmental Law Center (WELC): SB 528 the field burning bill has passed in the Oregon legislature.

This is the biggest phase-down in field burning in Oregon since 1998. WELC expects the bill to be signed into law in the near future, Gov. Ted Kulongoski has expressed support for the bill in the past.

The bill will allow 20,000 acres of field burning on the valley floor in 2009—a reduction from the current 40,000 acres—with none allowed from 2010 onwards. Up to 15,000 acres of “identified species and steep terrain” grass fields may still be burned in the Silverton Hills region where farmers argue alternative methods to the smoky practice don't work.

Charlie Tebbutt of WELC said in this afternoon's press release: “People have been trying for over 40 years to protect the health of Oregonians by ending field burning. Passage of SB 528 represents a momentous victory for public health. We take this victory with the expectation that in the very near future the state will extend these same protections to Oregonians who live in the Silverton Hills area as well.”

See EW's last two feature stories on field burning for more information: Killing Fields and Blowing Smoke.

The City of Eugene plans to close one of the most popular bike commuter routes in Eugene this summer for repairs.

The city will close sections of the Amazon off-street bike path starting July 6 with work scheduled to be completed by the end of August. Unlike most road repairs, the sections of the bike path under construction will be entirely closed in both directions with bikers and pedestrians forced to take more dangerous alternative routes.

One detour suggested by the city includes south Willamette Street, where citizens have complained of hazardous narrow sidewalks and no bike lanes for decades without the city taking any action to solve the pressing problem.

The city has not disclosed exactly when various sections of the Amazon bike path will be closed during the phased reconstruction from 19th to 31st avenues. The city said it needs to reconstruct the cracked concrete path now because it did a poor job of building the foundation of the path in the 1970s.

The path runs through sensitive restored wetlands, sites with endangered plants and along Amazon Creek. The city's website does not mention any special environmental precautions for the highly visible heavy construction project. In the past, city projects have violated the city's own ordinances designed to protect waterways from construction runoff.

From the city's project website, here's the map of the project and detours:

Terra Firma Botanicals is in the process of moving to a new warehouse space. Terra Firma manufactures a wide variety of natural and organic personal care products. Owner River Kennedy has been in business since 1982 and is still expanding; the new location will allow Terra Firma to double their capacity. Through the first half of 2009, some 25 new retailers have begun to carry Terra Firma’s products around the country. River’s products include herbal salves, tinctures, syrups and massage oils. The transition to the new site in west Eugene is scheduled to be complete by the end of July.

You can find Terra Firma products at a variety of local retailers including Market of Choice, Cappella, Sundance, Saturday Market or online at www.terrafirmabotanicals.com

After 10 years downtown, first in the Meridian Building at 18th and Willamette and then on East 8th Avenue, Letterhead will be closing. Owners Aimee Allen and Ken Herrin said they are closing the store not as victims of the recession but more as a reaction to the economic problems that have long faced our downtown core. In their press release, they cited “The voter rejection of Measure 20-134 felt like a slap in the face to those of us laboring to make downtown into a more vibrant place.”

Letterhead was a unique store downtown, selling everything from stationary to gifts to custom event invitations. They decided not to try to sell the store after realizing they would have had to carry financing and would be left with the inventory if a new owner failed. It will probably take about two or three more weeks, give or take, to sell off their inventory and shut the place for good.