Colorado Springs Independent, 06 Feb 2013 – Four years ago, Michelle Obama picked up a shovel to make a powerful symbolic statement about America’s food-and-farm future: She turned a patch of White House lawn into a working organic garden. So I’m guessing that now, as she begins another four years in the people’s mansion, the First Lady is asking herself: "What next? What can I do this time around to plant a crop of common sense in our country’s political soil that will link America’s farmers, consumers, environment, and grassroots economy in one big harvest of common good?"

Boulder Weekly, 07 Oct 2010 – In California, a surprising new union movement is growing like a weed, having taken root in a burgeoning economic sector that has enormous potential: marijuana. The Golden State was one of the first to legalize the use of medical marijuana, and a network of licensed growers, dispensaries and other related businesses has since flourished. It turns out that pot is a labor-intensive product, and the producers, distributors and retailers of weed have become something of a hotbed for local job growth. These workers, as in any other industry, need a unified voice to achieve a living wage, decent benefits, training, job security, upward mobility and other elements of a shared prosperity that create a middle class. In a word, unions.