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Vote Change One More Time — For Our Food System

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I think many of us agree that our food system is a mess. Our industrial ways are destroying our environment and health. We had hope that Obama would pick a Secretary of Agriculture who would be good for our future but his choice in Tom Vilsack is problematic. There appears to be a glimmer of hope, a very small one, that he might become the Secretary of Commerce rather than Agriculture as reported by the New York Daily News the other day. But to date it appears that is is all rumor. Check out one of my new favorite blogs, Obama Foodorama, for an explanation on why the Vilsack move from Agriculture to Commerce Secretary is the best choice for America’s food system.

There has been a lot of talk lately that the overhaul of our food system is going to take a back-burner to the economy. But as Michael Pollan and Grist’s Tom Philpott argue, (and I agree), investing in a new food system should be part of the economic stimulus package. Ignore it and we continue on our way to massive environmental and public health catastrophes.

In a recent article entitled “Eat the Stimulus,” Philpott lays out a plan to overhaul America’s food system that he believes would not require a new program or major expenditure of political capital. In short, Philpott suggest that a bulk of the economic stimulus package should go to support local and regional food systems. “Reviving that infrastructure would significantly lower costs for the sort of pasture-based, sustainable meat farmers who are now badly undercut on price by large-scale, environmentally ruinous producers,” writes Philpott. He also recommends a reinvestment in our school cafeterias and feed our children healthy, unprocessed food –teaching them that our food comes from the earth not a grocery store. Sounds like a great plan to me but I feel that us sustainable foodies have an uphill battle.

One way we can try and make a difference is to be a part of the Change.org campaign. On January 16, Change.org and the Case Foundation are co-hosting an event at the National Press Club in Washington, DC to announce the top 10 rated ideas that have been submitted by Americans across the country. They plan on then launching a national campaign behind each idea using the collective energy of the millions of members of Change.org, MySpace, and partnering organizations to ensure that each winning idea gets the full consideration of the Obama Administration and Members of Congress.

Both Eat the View and The Who Farm have been petitioning the next president to plant an organic garden on the White House lawn. I previously wrote about them in my post entitled “A Victory Garden at the White House?” The two groups have gotten together to put the idea on Change.org and the idea is currently (as I type) in 24th Place and needs 2861 more votes to be part of the final 10 ideas presented at the event in Washington, DC.

The idea as stated on Change.org, Victory Garden 2.0:

Thousands of Americans and people from the around the world are asking the Obamas to lead by example on climate change, health policy, economic self-reliance, food security, and energy independence by replanting an organic food garden at the White House with the produce going to the First Kitchen and to local food pantries.
There’ s no better, more symbolic place for launching a new National Victory Garden Program than at the White House, “America’s House”. There’s no better, more urgent time than now. And there’s NOTHING that can beat the fresh taste of locally-grown, home-cooked foods.
The many successes of the first Victory Garden movement were the result of effective public policy, bold leadership at a time of national crisis, and the commitment of millions of citizens who were ready to roll up their sleeves for the greater good.

The number one idea on Change.org is “Legalize the Medicinal and Recreational Use of Marijuana.” Now I am actually in favor of this idea but I do not believe it is worthy of getting the attention that Change.org plans to put forth. There are much greater and important issues. Having a organic garden at the White House will really put the importance of our food system front and center. And then if a majority of American’s follow the lead of growing their own food, our agricultural system will be forced to change without the force of the government.

So please vote. Voting ends at 5pm ET on January 15th. You can vote by clicking here or click on the image below. You must register on the site but in only takes one second of your time. If every Eco-Chick reader voted, we can definately put Victory Garden 2.o in the top 10. Let’s help make a change in our food system.

Victory Garden, white house

A Victory Garden at the White House?

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by Melissa Goldberg · 11/03/08

The next U.S. president is going to have the daunting task of fixing all that has gone wrong in this country. However, I believe that both candidates are overlooking an extremely important issue — our food system. As Michael Pollan said on WNYC’s Leonard Lopate Show, “It’s true that neither candidate has talked about food policy very much. Some of the issues they have talked about — energy independence, climate change and the health care crisis — I think they will find, as soon as they get into office, that you can’t deal with any of those three problems without dealing with the food system.”

Last month Pollan wrote an article in the New York Times Magazine which was an open letter to the next president called “The Farmer In Chief” where he laid out what is wrong with our food system and what needs to changed. The article has too many important points to lay out here so please read it. However, I will highlight one. Pollan concludes his piece with saying that the White House needs to set an example for the rest of the world. I am a firm believer in setting an example for others whether they be our children, our friends or for the next president — the country.

Pollan recommends that the next President needs to create a new post — White House farmer — who would be in charge of five acres of the White House lawn that would be turned into an organic fruit and vegetable garden. This may sound silly but as Pollen points out back in 1943 Eleanor Roosevelt started the Victory Garden movement; vegetable and fruit gardens planted to ease the burden on the food system during World War II. According to Pollan, by the end of the war more than 20 million home gardens were supplying 40 percent of the produce American’s consumed. Victory Gardens today can help reduce our dependence on fossil-fuels and help address the problems of climate change.

Pollan is not the only one who thought of using the White House as a national organic garden — two groups Eat the View and TheWhoFarm are petitioning the next president to plant an organic garden on the White House lawn.

“Eat the View” is a campaign to plant healthy, edible landscapes in high-impact, high visibility places; whether it’s the “First Lawn” or the lawn in front of your child’s school. “Eat the View” is coordinated by Kitchen Gardeners International, a Maine-based 501c3 nonprofit network of 10,000 gardeners from 100 countries who are inspiring and teaching more people to grow some of their own food. Roger Doiron the founder of Kitchen Gardeners International just wrote his own letter to the next president entitled “Message to the candidates: Listen to Roger the Gardner” stating the importance of this issue.

TheWhoFarm (aka The White House Organic Farm Project) is a non-partisan, petition-based initiative who is requesting that our next president oversee the planting of an organic farm on the grounds of the White House. The farm will be a model for healthy, economical and sustainable living everywhere and serve as an educational tool and economic aid, and as a means to provide food security in the Nation’s Capitol while reconnecting the Office of the Presidency to the self-sufficient agricultural roots of America’s Founding Fathers. TheWhoFarm have been traveling around the country educating Americans on the importance their mission in TheWhoFarmMobile, two school buses fused together with an organic edible garden on the roof.

Instead of a President that loves jelly beans or one that runs to McDonald’s to get a Big Mac or one who hates broccoli, how about a president that walks out his front door and picks his own lunch — or a least his farmer and chef do! Please sign both petitions. You can find the The WhoFarm petition by clicking here and the Eat the View petition by clicking here.

And don’t forget to vote on Tuesday!! Be part of this historic election.

Food, garden, white house

7 Sexiest Green Stars of 2007

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by Olivia Zaleski · 01/07/08

The results are in!
Well, not really. This list is based on my humble blogger opinion. Use the comment section to claim which celebs float your green boat. With enough feedback, I hope to compile a list based on “popular,” not personal, opinion.

Sheryl Crow
2007 was a great year for Sheryl Crow. In addition to advocating “one square per restroom visit,” the singer raised mainstream green awareness by touring the country in a biodiesel-powered bus. With Laurie David at her side, Crow threw the smack down on Karl Rove. After the former senior White House advisor scoffed at global warming evidence, Sheryl got feisty. “You work for us,” the singer said famously. Now, flip me a burger . . . b*tch!

Brad Pitt
Obviously! No “sexy list” is complete without this corn-fed, Oklahoma-born, man-boy from Missouri. Rugged good looks and a hard body (PEOPLE named him Sexiest Man Alive . . . twice) are fascinating, but thanks to the stalkerazzi, we’re also privy to this benevolent gentleman’s every good deed. Following a laundry list, Pitt finished off 2007 with a massive green building project in Katrina-devastated New Orleans. Pitting (ahem, excuse me) a team of world-renowned green architects for projects, Brad is determined to start an unprecedented green building trend. Adopt a green house (not one of his children) at MakeitRight9.org.

Sienna Miller
It’s hard to keep track of this British beauty’s breakups, make-ups . . . and then again breakups; yet, Sienna’s eco-record is as clear as the see-through bra she sports in Hippie Hippie Shake. An ambassador for UK-based climate-change campaign, Global Cool, Miller recently launched the carbon-neutral clothing line Twenty8Twelve. In October 2007, Sienna received an EMA Futures Award—an honor given to those who use their talent and celebrity to draw attention to the problem of global warming. Yay! Now we can raise our beers to eco-activism and sexy starlets . . . it’s Miller time!

Adrian Grenier
Unlike the character he plays on TV, Entourage star Adrian Grenier cares about the environment—no he doesn’t drive a bright yellow Hummer in “real life!” Grenier prefers driving a Prius, living in a fully “green” house (solar roof, reclaimed floors, recycled blue-jean insulation, blah, blah, blah), and offsetting. In 2007, Grenier drew massive attention to Charity Water, a non-profit initiative that sets up drinking water and sanitation infrastructures in the world’s most impoverished communities.

Word in the ‘Hood says Grenier is “fully committed to educating any lady who dares walk into his green life.” According to environmental gossip site Ecorazzi.com, Grenier said, “if a woman isn’t environmentally conscious, she will be after going out with me.”

Too bad, I’m already environmentally conscious . . .

Al Gore
I had to! This greenie may lack chiseled abs and cheekbones. Nonetheless, in 2007 Gore turned us on with unbridled activism and inspirational gusto. You go Gore!

Hayden Panettiere
Emerging from the cesspool of Disney celebs comes Hayden Panettiere. Though best known for her kiddy-porn appeal and role on NBC’s Heroes, Panettiere is raising praise and eyebrows as a young advocate.

This past October, Panettiere thoroughly pissed off Japanese fishermen during their annual dolphin hunt in Taiji, Wakayama. The young star paddled a surfboard out to a cull of captured dolphins. Though blocked from freeing the enmeshed porpoises, Panettiere’s kafuffle drew great attention to animal conservation and her bubble-butt.

Dolphin saving aside, Panettiere reportedly continues to drive a pimped out Porsche SUV . . . ugh, teenagers!

Leonardo Dicaprio
Hardly jaded by my accolades, international stardom, Oscar-nominations and embarrassingly attractive girlfriends, Leonardo DiCaprio has become one of today’s most prominent environmental voices—many say he is following in Al’s footsteps. In 2007 he produced and narrated the 11th Hour, said to be an unofficial sequel to An Inconvenient Truth. Leo’s film stars my favorite environmentalist of all—and someone who should be on this list: David Suzuki.

For more from Olivia Zaleski check in with her on The Huffington Post.

activism, Beauty, biodiesel, brad pitt, car, carbon, children, clothing, conservation, corn, diesel, drinking water, driving, farm, fish, Global Warming, mainstream, New Orleans, Olivia Zalesk, Olivia Zaleski, opinion, prius, produce, recycle, recycled, singer, sport, Tea, tv, water, white house

The World is My Playground: The Summit of the G8

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by Courtney Tenz · 06/05/07

G8 Protesters

Over the last year, people in Rostock, Germany have been preparing for the coming week as though there’s a hurricane brewing off the coast of the Baltic – boarding up windows and building fences and booking tickets to get out of town. And though hurricanes are a relatively new occurrence here on the Continent (the first struck Europe just last year, and this winter Germany has seen two winter storms with hurricane-strength winds), a natural disaster is indeed whipping through the country as the tiny resort town of Heiligendamm plays host to the 2007 G8 summit this week.

Protesters have been organizing and making preparations for the last year, and police have been responding with some less than stellar techniques. A tremendously violent riot on Saturday, unfortunately, detracted from the real issues at hand. One of these issues is climate change. Germany’s Chancellor and hostess to the G8 summit, Angela Merkel, has serious proposals to counter climate change on the agenda for this year’s meeting. From Der Spiegel:

Merkel wants a commitment from the world’s richest nations to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) this century and to cut global greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent below 1990 levels by 2050.

The irony of this is that some policy experts here feel that Merkel is “as green as a chameleon” (one of her ideas for reducing the country’s oil dependency for energy is to burn more coal). But that’s another story.

Chancellor Merkel

Merkel’s also heralded here as a friend of George W. Bush, but it looks like she’s not too happy with the US’s stance on climate change policy. Some changes to the agenda that were required by the White House went unheeded, leading to Bush’s circuitous speech last week. Again from Der Spiegel:

“It’s important to ensure that we get results, and so we will create a strong and transparent system for measuring each country’s performance,” Bush said. “This new framework would help our nations fulfill our responsibilities under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. The United States will work with all nations that are part of this convention to adapt to the impacts of climate change, gain access to clean and more energy-efficient technologies, and promote sustainable forestry and agriculture.”

The media here has suggested that Bush’s speech, while saying nothing groundbreaking nor proposing anything that reflects the immediate necessity of action against climate change, has “torpedoed” the dialogue about global warming. I’m interested to see what becomes of this summit. Will Merkel and Bush remain cozy bedfellows? Will anything actually come of this multi-million dollar meeting?

If you’re as interested as I am in this soap opera of the wealthy and powerful nations and want to see more information about the G8 from the German perspective, two websites in English are devoting extensive coverage: Der Spiegel and Deutsche Welle.

And stay tuned for next week’s installment of “The World is My Playground: The Summit of the G8.”

agriculture, book, Bush, climate change, coal, emissions, Energy, epa, Europe, farm, gas, Germany, Global Warming, media, oil, soap, spa, sustainable, white house

Cooperation between Big Business and Environmental Groups

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by Jennifer Veilleux · 02/01/07

What do DuPont, National Resource Defense Council, and Lehmen Brothers have in common? Normally not too much…but now they make up 3 of the 14 member strong US Climate Action Partnership (USCAP), launched in January of this year. The Partnership was formed to address global warming and emissions where the Feds are not.

The US produces an estimated one quarter of the world’s greenhouse gases, but has failed to sign the Kyoto protocol, and has done little in the last 6 years, at the Federal level, to further regulate emissions.

The Partnership has produced a report “A Call for Action” that proposes an economically based plan to address emissions, especially carbon emissions. They have some comprehensive goals for emission reduction that include mandatory caps on emission, an aggressive approach not echoed in the White House.

The launch of this group is another encouraging step in a series of moves Big Business is making nation-wide to take climate change and global warming seriously, and propose to do something about it. Whether moves such as these are stunts to benefit some economic scheme or are legitimately concern for, and action to improve, the environment, is a question, but the results have the potential to benefit the planet.