Farmers and Food Advocates Urge Obama to Create a National Sustainable Food and Agricultural Policy

DemocracyNow.org
War and Peace Report

“A group of farmers, chefs and policy advocates called “Food Democracy Now” have submitted a letter to Obama’s transition team urging him to take on industrialized agriculture and promote a more sustainable policy. The letter urges the President-elect to nominate a Secretary of Agriculture who will advocate for independent family farms, nutrition, environmental protection, food workers’ rights and animal welfare.”

Read/Hear/See More Here

Also check out Food Democracy Now to sign the letter to Mr. Obama!

http://www.fooddemocracynow.org/

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Alternative Christmas

Here are some links for those of us interested in a less consumer-driven holiday season…

http://www.buynothingchristmas.org/

http://www.redefine-christmas.org/

http://free-christmas.org/

http://www.pinkchristmas.org/

Happy Holidays! May they be full of love, companions and compassion!

Reporter’s Notes: Food Safety

Reporter’s Notes: Food Safety

“Here’s another item for President-Elect Barack Obama’s to-do list when he takes office in January: food safety. Especially imported foods. Recent scares over melamine-laced cookies from China and salmonella-tainted Mexican jalapenos have raised stark questions: Who’s monitoring the safety of imported food? And does the system work?”

http://www.kqed.org/quest/radio/food-safety

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Eaten by the Chronophage

It’s been months since I’ve written anything of any interest, and much has happened: Slow Food Nation, an unexpected move, the presidential election and the Green Fest. All of which I will touch on at some point in this post. It’s been a tumultuous 3 months and I now feel that I am finally settling down a bit and after some periods of stress and worry, disappointment and disillusionment, I am now feeling hopeful and more inspired. Thank goodness.

Urban Farming in San Francisco

A couple of years ago, I was listening to one of the Deconstructing Dinner shows about Urban Farming and one of the guests was discussing the use of city backyards as a way to use the existing green space to grow crops. I have been fascinated with this idea ever since and have been trying to find information about a similar project in San Francisco. Today I stumbled upon Victory Gardens which, according to the website, is a pilot project funded by the City of San Francisco to support the transition of backyard, front yard, window
boxes, rooftops, and unused land into organic food production areas.

It is still early days yet, but I am very interested to see where this goes.

Update: California Green

Here are some interesting stories I’ve collected over the past few months about California and the San Francisco Bay Area. Thanks to Green Daily!

Fresno-Yosemite International Leads Green Airport Movement

San Fran tests new parking technology to decrease traffic, emissions Visit SFpark website!

San Jose, CA’s Green Vision

San Francisco’s New Solar Program

Mayor Newsom trying to make S.F. recycle

San Francisco’s First Grease-To-Biodiesel Facility

Conservationists win battle on key California land

California and Water

I’ve been thinking about water a lot lately with the drought and all of the fires that are still burning around the state as I type. I am not the only one thinking about this, of course, and there’s a great, locally produced 30 minute program about the future of water in California:
State of Thirst: California’s Water Future
“Are we in danger of running out of water? California’s population is growing by 600,000 people a year, but much of the state receives as much annual rainfall as Morocco. With fish populations crashing, global warming, and the demands of the country’s largest agricultural industry, the pressures on our water supply are increasing.”