The Path to Sustainability in the Wine Industry
We stand at a critical juncture. At a time when we are experiencing massive wildfires in California, we have also seemingly gone with the “drill baby drill” way of doing things. Many of us(a) are concerned about the future of our only planet. However, we also feel hopeless and helpless. I share that feeling with you. I was a canvasser for four years on Long Island. In that role, I knocked on doors and asked homeowners to sign petitions and get involved in the fight to enact laws that would regulate the use of pesticides. The organization I worked for, the Long Island Neighborhood Network (LINN), successfully protected 100,000 acres of pristine land on Long Island that is known as the Pine Barrens. Of course, that success was shared with other organizations and private individuals who collaborated to enact County law that required a quarter cent of all sales taxes to be used for the protection of the Pine Barrens. LINN also successfully caused the New York State legislature to enact a law that required commercial land applicators of pesticides to provide 24 hour notification to adjacent homeowners. I also led a group of college students in reforming the second largest town in the state of New York. We obtained a sufficient amount of signatures from homeowners in the Town in order to ensure a ballot initiative that changed the way citizens voted from at-large to district voting. District voting minimized the need for candidates for Town Board seats to raise lots of money as they only needed to campaign in smaller districts rather than the entire Town. I graduated from Hofstra Law School after these endeavors. As an attorney, I sued one of the largest natural gas power plants in the nation. I knew, with the benefit of relationships with top experts from Cornell University, that natural gas wasn’t a transition fuel and that we as a society needed to transition quickly to renewable energy sources.
I know quite personally how difficult it is to fight the powers that be. I know that government capture (the ability for corporate power to get their way even when a great majority of citizens want something different) is a powerful thing that is difficult to fight. However, I also know that we have no other choice but to cause major changes to the way we operate as a society. Nature’s Vineyards (“NV”) is dedicated to playing a role in changing the way consumers spend their hard earned dollars. The wine industry has been slow to shift their practices and so has lost a tremendous amount of those dollars. NV seeks to shift the habits of wine-lovers in a way that provides the consumer with better tasting wine that is more healthy for the individual and is better for the planet. As my father likes to say, “it is a win win” for everyone. My father has been tasting wines that are made the right way for a couple of years now. He stands by the concept that these wines really taste better than wines that aren’t made in a collaboration with Mother Nature. I personally believe that NV can cause a revolution in the industry so that the land wineries tend to is treated sustainably. However, this revolution can only be done with your decision to sample our wines. I am confident you will be drinking better wines that are better for your health and the planet once you do. Together, we can play a significant role in transitioning the wine industry and have a real impact on the land.