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| The
impact of our food choices |
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By
Julia Scott
The
way you buy your groceries has real implications for the planet, yet
few people are conscious of where their food comes from. Your supermarket-bought
fruit may have been flown in thousands of miles from Central America,
adding to pollution problems. The meat you're eating might be from an
animal that spent its life in a factory farm. Taking responsibility
for your food choices is fun, healthy and delicious. Increasingly, whole
communities are buying local and organic produce, joining in the "slow
food" movement and planting urban gardens.
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"The
scarcity myth"
The Ecologist, March
22, 2003
Hope's Edge co-author Frances Moore LappŽ points out that between
a third and a half of all the world's grain goes to feed livestock while
whole countries starve.
"Prawn fishing 'plundering seas'"
BBC (U.K), February
19, 2003
Conservationists claim "prawn trawlers" damage seabed life, harm the
environment and accidentally kill other marine species.
"Whatever
happened to green consumers?"
Satya Magazine, September
2000
A journalist proposes several reasons why consumers' stated preference
for 'green' products doesn't translate into sales dollars.
"Cattle
farming biggest threat to Amazon"
Reuters, April 2, 2004
Cattle farmers are systematically destroying Brazil's Amazon rainforest
to make room for their cows to graze.
A 2001 report by Future Harvest reveals that 17,000 major nature reserves,
intended to protect wildlife from extinction, are being heavily used
for agriculture. www.futureharvest.org/pdf/biodiversityen.pdf
Soil degradation, pollution and loss of biodiversity have put world
food production at risk, according to the International Food Policy
Research and World
Resources Institutes.
Learn about the environmental impacts of "factory farms," from growing
feed grain to disposing of heaps of methane-laden manure. Excerpts from
a report by the Worldwatch Institute. www.thevegetariansite.com/env_animalfarming.htm
In the United States, food now travels between 1,500 and 2,500 miles
from farm to table, as much as 25 percent farther than two decades ago.
www.worldwatch.org/press/news/2002/11/21/
Proponents of Genetically Modified (GM) technologies for growing staple
crops claim they are the solution to famine. Keep up with the GM
debate on the Guardian's special issue page.
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"Farm
to Table / Food-conscious New Yorkers discover the benefits of buying
locally"
Collage Foundation,
May 2004
The Farm to Table Initiative, a project of Earth Pledge, helps New York
area consumers to link to the local food systems.
"Knowing
your food: The benefits of buying local"
Radford University News
(VA), December 2000
A compelling argument for buying produce at the local farmer's market
or CSA.
"In
search of the ripe stuff"
Christian Science Monitor,
May 14, 2003
People who like to buy local connect issues like food flavor and the
local economy with the cost to the environment.
Find family farms, farmer's markets and restaurants that use locally
grown produce in their dishes (yum!)
www.localharvest.org
Community
Supported Agriculture or CSA's are an arrangement with a local farm
where customers can buy seasonal "shares" which entitle them to weekly
food deliveriesÑand farmers stay in business. Find a CSA
near you.
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"Urban
Gardens / People's Grocery teens take pride in their organic gardens"
Collage Foundation,
2003
At-risk teens gain business skills, grow an urban garden and learn about
nutrition in Oakland, CA.
"Connecting
through composting"
Satya Magazine, June
2001
A community-based recycling group in New York collects 1,500 pounds
a week of food scraps to grow a local garden.
"The
"Food Justice" movement: Trying to break the food chains"
Gotham Gazette (NY),
December 2003
Several "food justice" groups in the U.S. focus on building a healthy
food infrastructure in low-income urban communities.
Get your campus into buying locally, and learn about projects already
at work, with this "Food
and Farm Toolkit" for local organizers.
The
Edible Schoolyard, a middle-school program in Berkeley, CA, transformed
a parking lot into a garden, chicken coop, and pizza oven for students
to learn from.
Garden-Raised
Bounty (GRuB) educates and inspires youth, low-income families,
and seniors through work with gardens in Washington State.
The
Garden Project gives former prisoners job training in gardening
and tree care, and donates the vegetables they grow to needy community
groups.
For 30 years, the New York-based Green
Guerillas have helped grassroots groups turn vacant lots into vibrant
community gardens.
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"Organic:
Is it the future of farming?"
Nature Magazine, April
22, 2004
Low-till agriculture marries organic farming technologies with decreased
use of chemical fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides.
"Slow
Food is out to save the world's richness of food"
Seattle Post-Intelligencer,
April 11, 2004
The Slow Food movement, founded in Italy, preserves food varieties in
danger of disappearing by eating local products.
"Cruelty-free
agriculture: beyond organicÑvegetarian vegetable gardening"
Satya Magazine, June
2001
A couple in upstate New York has invented a vegetarian farming method
using "green manures" (non-animal derived).
"Africa's
Green Belt / Wangari Maathai's movement is built on the power of trees"
E Magazine, July/August
2002
A remarkable Kenyan environmental activist's Green Belt Movement, founded
in 1977, has planted 20 million trees.
Learn how rapidly-disappearing small family farms represent the ultimate
sustainable agriculture model. www.oxfamamerica.org/advocacy/art2570.html
With farmers in East Africa, Latin America, Southern Africa and elsewhere,
the Intermediate
Technology Development Group helps communities to develop sustainable
agriculture.
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Learn
about food activists around the world engaged in social, environmental,
and economic transformation in Hope's Edge: The Next Diet for a Small
Planet by Frances Moore Lappé and Anna Blythe Lappé.
Visit their excellent website for recommendations for further reading.
www.dietforasmallplanet.com
A little chart
depicting which major corporations own organic food companies.
Check out the Worldwatch
Institute's online Research Library on food. The press releases
and many of the articles are free.
Farm
to Table's newswire makes it easy to stay up to date on all aspects
of green cuisine (from energy issues to agriculture).
The International
Food Policy Research Institute is a think-tank that works with developing-country
policymakers and NGOs to advance solutions to poverty and famine. Their
publications are incredibly comprehensive, if you have the patience
to search through them.
Sustainable
Table has an answer to every question you could ask about organic
food, eco-labeling, and factory farming.
Search
FoodRoutes' voluminous
library for the basics on everything from health and food safety to
"farm to school" programs.
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