wild turkey by stevevoght, Flickr Creative Commons

Since I wrote last year about tips for a sustainable thanksgiving meal, much has transpired in the food movement. We now have a First Family that regularly toils in their backyard to grow and harvest organic produce. The hit documentary, Food, Inc. was released this past year and is now in the running for an Academy Award. I had the pleasure of working on the Social Action campaign for the film which has given me the privilege of learning much from amazing food activists who are working daily in fields, offices, schools and boardrooms daily to help to build a more just and sustainable food system. Read the rest of this entry >>

Thanksgiving is quickly approaching and while many of us envision a table overflowing with a delicious feast, unfortunately the dinner table won’t look the same for the one billion people around the world who suffer from hunger.  So, this holiday season SocialVibe is inviting you to help fight hunger and provide meals for those in need with their new Thanksgiving Feast application on Facebook.

For each virtual food item that you and your friends bring to the online table, real meals will be provided to real people by the UN World Food Programme.

Read the rest of this entry >>

Editor’s Note: This guest post is written by Kristin Schafer, Senior Policy Analyst at the Pesticide Action Network.

I like my cranberries and pumpkin pie chemical-free.

It’s not that you can taste or smell pesticides on food–the levels are much too low for that. It’s just that I sleep better knowing I’ve done all I can to minimize the number of chemicals I put into my body and feed to my kids.

I’ve been a mom for 15 years and a pesticide reform advocate for almost as long. I’ve organized around international treaties, lobbied government officials, and cheered at a lot of swim meets and baseball games. For me, these two worlds come together most clearly around food–in our backyard garden, in the produce aisle and at the dinner table.

So I buy organic and local whenever I can manage it. This keeps pesticides off our plates and helps small organic farmers. My family’s demand for organic sweet potatoes helps spur supply, building a market for produce that doesn’t put farmers, farmworkers and rural families in harm’s way.

But sometimes organic just isn’t available, and that’s where WhatsOnMyFood? comes in. Pesticide Action Network just released a new iPhone App that makes the invisible problem of pesticides more visible to food shoppers. The tool shows which pesticides are found on what foods, and how those chemicals can harm human health. Read the rest of this entry >>

The Bed-Stuy Farm in Brooklyn, NY provides 7,000 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables every month to around 4,000 residents of the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood where healthy produce is otherwise difficult to find.  Unfortunately, this vitally important urban farm is in danger of being torn up and paved over in order to repay a debt owed by a non-profit housing development group that had left the property to languish unused until the Brooklyn Rescue Mission reclaimed the land to provide food for an emergency food pantry.

Our friend Kerry Trueman recently wrote an excellent post about the battle for the Bed-Stuy farm on the Green Fork Blog, where she pointed out that while affordable housing is an important pursuit, other lots should be considered by the city instead, in order to preserve this remarkable example of urban agriculture that benefits the neighborhood in a variety of ways.  As I mentioned the other day in my post about an urban farm in the South Bronx, green spaces such as these provide desperately needed healthy foods to the under-served community, as well as an educational center and a beautiful and quiet space for neighbors, young and old, to gather and celebrate life.

Watch this video, a Grace project directed by Dulce Fernandes and sign the petition below to help save the Bed-Stuy Farm: Read the rest of this entry >>

roytsaplinjr's Flickr photostream/Creative Commons

Warming sea temperatures are driving Cape Cod’s namesake fish farther from Massachusetts shore as they seek colder waters farther out and deeper in the ocean, forcing fishermen to seek alternative catches.  Growing up just outside of Boston I enjoyed plenty of battered and fried cod, and it saddens me to think that future generations may not get to experience the same classic New England dish because of climate change and overfishing.

The federal study confirmed what fisherman have surely known for a while, and found that 24 of the 36 species, including cod, once found close to shore on a day boat, have been migrating 100 to 200 miles further out over the past few decades.  What’s shocking is that the water temperatures have only risen by less than half of a degree on average, yet has been enough to seriously disrupt the regions marine ecosystem.  Read the rest of this entry >>

addictive_picasso's Flickr photostream/Creative Commons

Urban farming has become increasingly popular these days, as more city dwellers search for rooftops, backyards and abandoned lots where they can grow vegetables.  In addition to providing fresh, healthy produce where concrete and convenience stores once dominated, these gardens also provide the neighborhood with a restorative green space and a place for community events.

One group that’s committed to bringing the benefits of the farm to the city is The Point, a non-profit community development program in the South Bronx.  I just stumbled upon this great video about the work that the organization is doing to get kids excited about growing their own food and teach them about sustainability.  Maybe Martha Stewart will stop by one of their gardening projects soon!  Check it out: Read the rest of this entry >>

cornelluniversitylibrary's Flickr photostream/Creative Commons

We take school lunch very seriously here at TakePart, particularly efforts to increase access to healthy, local ingredients, but a Chicago middle-school may have gone a little overboard when they had 25 students arrested for a cafeteria food fight.  I’m in favor of school safety, but did they really need to bring in police officers to round up, arrest, jail and charge these kids with reckless conduct, a misdemeanor?

Maybe the students were fed-up with being fed bland food that lacked nutritional value and decided to stage a revolt and literally throw the junk food out of the cafeteria.  Something tells me that’s not the case, but regardless of what prompted the tossing of edible projectiles, I have to think there are more appropriate ways of handling disciplinary action.  Wouldn’t you agree?  I can recall a few food fights in my day, and I’m thankful no one threw me in the slammer for flipping mashed potatoes from a fork. Read the rest of this entry >>

kevinhutchinson's Flickr photostream/Creative Commons

The vaccine for the H1N1 virus has received quite a bit of attention lately, however, important questions remain unattended about the origins of the vicious strain and the likely possibility that it spread from unsanitary conditions on factory pig farms.  Jonathan Safran Foer, on the other hand, is not shying away from examining the connection between what was originally known as swine flu and large-scale concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs).

I’m glad that Foer is attempting to bring the health risks posed by CAFOs to the attention of the mainstream media, as he did during his recent appearance on Ellen, and hopefully we will begin to see a more thorough investigation of origins of H1N1.  Earlier this year I discussed the concerns that H1N1 may have spread from a hog farm in Mexico, and a lawsuit that was filed against the pork producer Smithfield Foods, but Foer has his sights set on a pig farm in North Carolina as the original source of the virus.  Read the rest of this entry >>

zappowbang, flickr creative commons

A recent New York Times Sunday Style section article reports on the increasingly prevalent cultural trend of cross-dressing amongst teenagers. While this isn’t new in major metropolitan cities hugging the coasts, the article cited examples of the tensions that have arisen between students and school districts in what are typically more conservative bastions of our country, such as Mississippi and Texas. Whether they’re emos, hippies, neo-1980s punks or straight edge kids, teens are craving for self-expression and identity, often through their appearance. Although there have been some legal hurdles, students are increasingly able to dress as they choose at school. What they’re not choosing to use for self-exploration and definition is their food. Read the rest of this entry >>