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Welcome
to this month’s Food Justice E-Newsletter from the Presbyterian Hunger
Program. It is way longer than ‘they’ say it should be, but I believe
that those seeking justice are unique and will appreciate all the juicy
announcements and news below. Shorter next month; I promise!
Warmly, Andrew
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CHURCHES GLOBAL WEEK OF ACTION ON FOOD
A.K.A. Food Week of Action! October 13-20
 As
in past years, the Presbyterian Hunger Program, the US Food Sovereignty
Alliance, interfaith working groups, and others in the United States
will be joining with groups around the world to raise up life and death
issues related to our global food and farm systems. The Food Week of
Action will take place this year from October 13 to Sunday, October 20, spanning the two Sundays that surround World Food Day on October 16.
The theme this year will be “Seeds for Life”.
Access to and control over natural resources, including seeds, is an
essential aspect of supporting small-scale food producers, maintaining
the health of our soils, safeguarding biodiversity and, ultimately,
addressing hunger. The Week of Action on Food is a time to advocate for
policies and practices – locally, nationally and internationally – that
tackle the injustices which cause almost a billion people around the
world to be hungry and malnourished while over a billion suffer the
unhealthy consequences of obesity. The week of action incorporates the
International Day for Rural Women (October 15), World Food Day (October 16) and the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (October 17).
Please join us!
What can you do? Here are just a few actions that individuals, community groups and congregations might do (just to get the ideas flowing…):
- Organize a church service during the
week. The Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance will provide worship material on
“Seeds for Life” in September, or you can draw from past worship
materials available at http://www.e-alliance.ch/en/s/food/food-week-of-action/
- Gather your local traditional farmers
and gardeners to build a seed bank in your local library by
‘checking-in’ your most successful breeds and ‘checking-out’ the
champions among fellow breeders. For inspiration, see the partnership
between Basalt Public Library and the Central Rocky Mountain Permaculture Institute and learn how it’s done.
- Organize a community and/or church
group to study local plants and indigenous seeds and then write a letter
to the editor of your local newspaper to reinforce the need to
safeguard these varieties.
- Prepare a meal for your family using heirloom varieties and discuss the nutrient value of wild species
versus their domesticated varieties. Would you believe that Peruvian
Purple potatoes have 171milligrams of phytonutrients compared to the
Yukon Gold variety (5.45mg) or the standard white potato (1.03mg).
- Consider hosting a screening of Seeds of Freedom.
- Schedule a study group to read the articles on Seeds and Peasant Sovereignty in the 2013 Right to Food and Nutrition Watch, which will be launched on October 16.
- Launch a 'Seed Keepers' network. Learn more by joining the US Food Sovereignty Alliance's Rights of Mother Earth Team. (contact Andrew for additional information)
Plan awareness-raising events on World Food
Day. Support local food markets that return fair prices for small-scale
agricultural and food workers and promote a broader use of agricultural
biodiversity. Better yet, lobby policy makers and businesses to create a
stable demand for local and seasonal produce through school meal
programs and hospitals.
For more information on the issues and opportunities for food justice, plus ideas for action, see the resources at www.e-alliance.ch/en/s/food/food-week-of-action/ , or contact Christine Campeau, EAA Food Campaign Coordinator, at ccampeau@e-alliance.ch or Andrew Kang Bartlett, Food for Life Strategy Group Member, at andrew.kangbartlett@pcusa.org
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Our Government Pushes Local & Culturally Appropriate Food!
Farmers Market Directory
 The Farmers Market Directory,
a voluntary online database, identifies new farmers markets, the states
with the highest number of markets in operation, and the total number
of farmers markets that have registered throughout the United States.
Enjoy Foods from Many Cultures with MyPlate
 Enjoy Foods from Many Cultures highlights ways to maintain a healthy diet while preparing and enjoying the food we love.
Check out these MyPlate-inspired recipes on ChooseMyPlate.gov:
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News Picks of the Month
Turf war: In the battle for our crops, superweeds are winning
It’s fair to say that the story is no longer about the
rise of superweeds and superbugs. It’s now about their dominance. As
this chart from a recent Food and Water Watch report shows, in 2000 —
only a few years after the introduction of GMO crops — superweeds were
barely a blip on farmers’ radar. But now the picture is different: http://grist.org/food/turf-war-in-the-battle-for-our-crops-superweeds-are-winning/
Science Shows Gardening Makes You Happier and Smarter
Researchers reported in the journal Neuroscience that
contact with a soil bacteria called Mycobacterium vaccae triggers the
release of serotonin in the brain. This type of serotonin acts on
several different pathways including mood and learning. Lack of
serotonin in the brains is related to depression. In addition to
increasing happiness and reducing anxiety, serotonin has positive
effects on memory and learning. Read more: http://www.realfarmacy.com/science-shows-gardening-makes-you-happier-and-smarter/
McDonalds Tells Workers To Budget By Getting A Second Job And Turning Off Their Heat
The site includes a sample “budget journal” for
McDonalds’ employees that offers a laughably inaccurate view of what
it’s like to budget on a minimum wage job. Not only does the budget
leave a spot open for “second job,” it also gives wholly unreasonable
estimates for employees’ costs: $20 a month for health care, $0 for
heating, and $600 a month for rent. It does not include any budgeted
money for food or clothing. http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/07/15/2300321/mcdonalds-buget-low-wage/
Why Do Americans Live Lives So Short?
None of these determinants matter more, these
researchers contend, than the level of a society’s economic inequality,
the divide between the affluent and everyone else. Over 170 studies
worldwide have so far linked income inequality to health outcomes. The
more unequal a society, the studies show, the unhealthier most everyone
in it — and not the poor alone. Japan may offer the most encouraging
precedent. In the middle of the 20th century, Japan ranked as a deeply
unequal and unhealthy nation. But since the 1950s Japan has become a
much more equal society, one of the world’s most equal, and, on life
expectancy, Japan now ranks number one globally. http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/17618-why-do-americans-live-lives-so-short
The Charitable-Industrial Complex!
New York Times Op-Ed by Peter Buffet! Provocative and well worth your time and thought. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/27/opinion/the-charitable-industrial-complex.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130727
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Food Sleuth Radio
- August 22nd, Elizabeth U: author of “Raising Dough: the Complete Guide to Financing a Socially Responsible Food Business.”
- August 29: Don
Davis, Ph.D., U. of TX researcher who discovered nutritional decline and
dilution with the rush for higher yields and bigger crops. Join Food
Sleuth on line: www.kopn.org on Thursdays at 6:00 p.m. (EDT).
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