Brooklyn Food Conference: Local Action for Global Change

Brooklyn Food Conference: Local Action for Global Change

A grassroots event for a just, sustainable, healthy and delicious food system


~ Saturday, May 2, 2009 ~ 9 a.m. - 9 p.m. ~

Free and Open to the Public

~ PS 321 & John Jay High School, 7th Ave., Park Slope, Brooklyn, N.Y. ~



BROOKLYN, NEW YORK – Rising grocery bills, food riots, and childhood obesity - Food hits home. Food activists, local farmers, health advocates, academics, union leaders and restaurateurs will gather this day with concerned citizens to discuss the changes and challenges in our global food economy and how it impacts our communities. Workshops and speeches will provide education and networking opportunities for individuals to get involved to improve our diet, health and environment.

The Brooklyn Food Conference will have more than 50 partners participating, including Just Food, Slow Food NYC, and The Children’s Aid Society. Key-note speakers include well-known activists Dan Barber, executive chef and owner of Blue Hill Restaurant, and a leader of fair trade development and healthy food, Anna Lappé, co-founder of the Small Planet Institute and the author of Grub: Ideas for an Urban Organic Kitchen; Raj Patel of the University of California, Berkeley, and the author of Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System; as well as LaDonna Redmond, head of the Institute of Community Resource Development in Chicago.

Children and teenagers are invited to participate in educational activities such as cooking classes, and arts activities. A New Orleans-style parade with massive puppets will kick off the day.

The conference will expand community awareness on the policies and issues impacting the way our food is grown, distributed and eaten. Topics will explore the politics behind farming and the food supply, as well as the effect of corporate and government policies on labor, nutrition, production, and programs such as school lunches.

It also seeks to increase individual and family participation in our communities by proposing strategies and tactics for a local response to the important issues surrounding the food we eat. A Legislative Food Agenda will be proposed to help position Brooklyn as a stage for change in the global food movement and to advocate for food democracy.

The conference will be free to all participants. Donations from individuals and funding from foundations and food companies are welcome.

About the organizers:

Founded in 1973, the Park Slope Food Coop is the country’s largest member-owned and operated grocery store in the country with over 15,000 members. http://www.foodcoop.com/

World Hunger Year is a leading advocate for innovative, community-based solutions to hunger and poverty. WHY challenges society to confront these problems by advancing models that create self-reliance, economic justice, and equal access to nutritious and affordable food. http://www.yhunger.org/

The Caribbean Women’s Health Association was founded in 1982, and provides access to health related services for low income and indigent populations, and assists immigrants in adjusting to their new host environment. http://www.cwha.org/

Brooklyn Rescue Mission Inc. is a community-based organization in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn that develops creative solutions to food justice, community health and the economic challenges our community endures on a daily basis. http://brooklynrescuemission.org


Brooklyn’s Bounty is a coalition of farmers markets in Brooklyn, mostly in communities of color. Its mission is to provide healthy food to Brooklynites and increase awareness of health, environmental and justice issues in the food system in our Borough. http://www.brooklynsbounty.org/

The Hidden Cost of CAFO's

This article from the Union of Concerned Scientists on CAFO's (Confined Animal Feeding Operations, or factory farms) had a particular resonance to me after driving on California's Highway 5 last month. Not only the smell would turn you off from beef and dairy for a long time, but also the sight of thousands of cows, standing in their own filth with no green grass to graze on, would do it for you permanently.

Raising livestock in CAFOs (confined animal feeding operations) generates staggering environmental, health, and societal costs—with taxpayers left footing the bill.

• Foul odors and contaminated water caused by CAFOs reduce property values in surrounding communities an estimated $26 billion nationally.

• The overuse of antibiotics at CAFOs leads to drug-resistant illnesses that are more difficult to treat. The public health impacts associated with antibiotic resistance
from CAFOs cost an estimated $1.5 billion to $3 billion per year.

• Leakage of manure from storage “lagoons” at CAFOs contaminates soil and groundwater. Cleaning contaminated
soil under U.S. hog and dairy CAFOs would cost an estimated
$4.1 billion.

• CAFOs generate about 300 million tons of manure per year; distributing this manure to enough farmland to reduce both air and water pollution (to comply with federal standards) would cost as much as $1.16 billion per year.

Food for Thought and Action

From our friends at Grassroots International:

Dear Supporter,

As the holiday season approaches, many of us are looking forward to gathering around the dinner table with friends and family. Why not take this opportunity to share with your loved ones how they can join you in making a difference in the lives of millions around the world who are affected by the global food crisis?

Grassroots International and the National Family Farm Coalition recently published a free online resources called Food for Thought and Action: A Food Sovereignty Curriculum. This collection of education-for-action exercises and factsheets helps us understand how the food system works (and how it doesn't) and offers hopeful alternatives proposed by those most affected. Moreover, it provides a practical way to advocate for food sovereignty as we inform ourselves and those around us.

As we gather around the dinner table, let's not forget about the nearly one billion people around the world now facing hunger. Instead, take this opportunity to share the curriculum with your family, friends, school or faith organization.

During the season of hope and caring, join me in working to fix our broken food system. We can overcome the current food crisis and build a future where family farmers enjoy the right to feed their families, sell in local markets, and care for the environment -- and where consumers have access to healthy, reasonably-priced, local foods. Now that's something to be thankful for!

CA modernizes food animal production

From our friends at UCS:

California voters pass initiative to modernize food animal production
A California ballot measure aimed at improving food animal production practices passed by a wide margin on November 4, signaling an important shift away from the worst practices at CAFOs (confined animal feeding operations). Proposition 2 will phase out the use of battery cages for egg-laying chickens, gestation crates for sows, and crates for veal calves by requiring that these animals have sufficient living space to turn around, stand up, lie down, and fully extend their limbs. CAFOs, which often use crates and cages to crowd too many animals into too small an area, create unnatural and unhealthy conditions that lead to costly air and water pollution, reduced property values in neighboring communities, and antibiotic-resistant illnesses in humans. Proposition 2 is an important step in promoting a modern approach to agriculture that is productive, more healthful, and humane, and its passage is likely to have national implications. Read more from the Los Angeles Times, or download the UCS issue briefing The Hidden Costs of CAFOs (pdf).

Boston event: The Global Food Crisis: A Rural Roundtable

The Global Food Crisis: A Rural Roundtable
Friday, September 12
10 am-1 pm

Mezzanine Conference Room, Johnson Building
Boston Public Library at 700 Boylston St

The Rural Development Leadership Network (RDLN), a national multicultural social change organization that supports leadership development in poor rural areas, will gather in Boston for a "Rural Roundtable" on the world food crisis and how the work of U.S. grassroots leaders in the food system relates to the global situation.

Dr. Daniel Gustafson, Director of the Liaison Office for North America of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), will open with a presentation on the scope of the current world food crisis. He has worked in Brazil, Bhutan, Mozambique, Kenya, India and other countries. Members of the RDLN Network, who include small farmers, farmworkers, fishers, entrepreneurs, and those concerned with diet and health, will speak from the community point of view.

UNA-GB serves as a resource for the citizens of the Greater Boston area on the broad agenda of critical global issues addressed by the United Nations, including peacekeeping, human rights, humanitarian relief, economic development, and education. A membership organization founded more than 50 years ago, UNA-GB is a leading chapter of UNA-USA, the largest grassroots foreign policy organization in the United States.

Guide to Pesticides in Your Food

So, I'm not judging the city of Seattle's decisions to remove a pesticides-rating guide after industry pressure. Ok, maybe I am just a little bit. But in case you wanted to know the worst pesticide-laden fruits and vegetables, the Environmental Working Group has put together
a great list of their own.

To avoid pesticides in your food, buy organic and local when possible. Local farmers tend to use organic or Integrated Pest Management practices. With fewer miles to travel and more suitable environments in which to grow, local foods need less chemicals, and in my opinion, taste better, too!

Blue Ocean Fishphone

This is the coolest thing since Google Text.

If you're out to dinner and want to order seafood, but can't remember which fish is environmentally sustainable, just text 30644 with the message FISH and the name of the fish. The Blue Ocean Institute will text you back with the answer.

Check it out: Blue Ocean Fishphone

Thanks to JW for this tip!

Sick Salmon

Some of our most prized fish, Alaskan salmon, is under attack.

This attack is coming from a tiny parasite called Ich, which creates white spots on the fish and makes them turn bad after being caught. Up to a third of Alaskan salmon are being tossed out because of this disease.

The increase in what used to be a rare but natural occurrence is being blamed on global warming. With warmer waters and climates, the parasite has been allowed to thrive.

Salmon is a staple of some Native American diets, and a lot of my friends’, too (I’m a vegetarian). Learn more about this problem from the LA Times and NPR.

One Farmer's Experience

Here's an interesting article about one family's experience as farmers in the U.S. and how our current agricultural system has changed their lives. It makes great points about the decline of the environment as we move away from local food systems, and makes links to both the obesity crisis and the opportunity to create new jobs in local agricultural sectors. The debate about the solutions in the comments is worth reading, too!

Eat Low Carbon Diet Calculator

Want to know how much your lunch is causing global warming?

Ok, me neither. But it's interesting to be able to calculate how much carbon was used to create your meal. Check out the Eat Low Carbon Diet Calculator to see how much impact you're having on the Earth, and what you can do to change that.

Take a Bite out of Climate Change

How is the food you eat everyday linked to global climate change? Every animal and plant grown for our consumption has an impact on the climate, but the impacts are not all the same.

The Small Planet Institute, founded by Frances Moore Lappe and Anna Lappe, has started a new website called Take a Bite out of Climate Change. It was created to help consumers understand their food's impact on climate change and what they can do about it. Questions like, "why are scientists worried about genetically modified foods" are answered. Since the website is in its early stages, there's only a few questions so far, but you can make a suggestion as to what you'd like to see answered. Check it out!

Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System

Raj Patel has a new book out on the world food system, explaining why some people pay so much for food and some go hungry. Hear and read an interview with the author here.

Call for Applications

Our friends at Slow Food USA are hosting an amazing conference about slow food in Turin, Italy in October of 2008.

Why am I telling you this now? Slow Food is looking for students, cooks, food producers, and others to apply to be a representative at the conference. They're looking for diversity of all kinds and need your participation to do this!

Hope you'll consider applying!

WHAT TO EAT: Making Sustainable Food Choices

If you're around New Haven, CT, tomorrow...

WHAT TO EAT: Making Sustainable Food Choices

Tuesday, April 1

Sage Hall (205 Prospect Street), Bowers Auditorium

4:30-5:30 pm

More and more people are trying to change the way they eat to make more sustainable choices, but sometimes the whole process can feel like a minefield. How local does local food have to be? What does “organically grown” really mean? Does living in New England mean eating potatoes all winter? Buying an apple can quickly become a complicated decision, and inviting people over for dinner an impossible one. Anastatia Curley and Laura Hess, of the Yale Sustainable Food Project, will give a presentation addressing these questions, and giving you the resources to make sustainable decisions about food purchasing and hosting events—whether they be masters’ teas, receptions, or dinners—in New Haven.

This event is part of the Yale Sustainability Summit, a week-long series of events on sustainability at Yale.

Did Your Shopping List Kill a Songbird - The New York Times

Here's a sad tale of what our demand for out of season fruits and vegetables does to other species -- specifically, the beautiful songbirds that we take for granted. Eating locally, in season, means that our food doesn't require the massive amounts of toxic pesticides that those berries in the winter need to make it up to our cold region.

This year, I made it to about January on the frozen peaches and berries I bought at the farmer's market and saved from last season. This just means I'll have to stock up more next summer!

Food News

Here's some food news from the Yale Sustainable Food Project:

Food labels in Europe are causing a sticky situation in Africa. As more and more consumers try to limit the food miles on their plate by shying away from food marked by "air-freighted" stickers, angry scientists aren't sure that food miles are all they're cracked up to be--and African farmers are worried that demand for their crops will plummet. Right now, those crops are mostly wheat, rice, and corn. But UN researchers, citing a 75 percent drop in cultivated crop varieties over the last century, are hoping to encourage more niche and value-added production of heritage crops in Africa.

On our own side of the Atlantic, the Environmental Working Group takes a look at the state of the 2007 Farm Bill and the outpouring of citizen interest that somehow failed to positively shape the bill. A Google Map illustrates the diverse sources of editorials calling for reform and lets you read snippets of each article.

What Happens within the First Hour of Drinking a Cola?

Here we thought the bad news about buying cola products was the multiitude of maladies wrought by the multinational corporate purveyors of the product. Here's some other bad news about the stuff.

-10 minutes: 10 teaspoons of sugar hit your system, which is 100 percent of your recommended daily intake. You'd normally vomit from such an intake, but the phosphoric acid cuts the flavor.

-20 minutes: Your blood sugar skyrockets. Your liver attempts to maximize insulin production in order to turn high levels of sugar into fat.

-40 minutes: As your body finishes absorbing the caffeine, your pupils dilate, your blood pressure rises, and your liver pumps more sugar into the bloodstream.

-45 minutes: Your body increases dopamine production, tricking you into feeling pleasure and adding to the addictiveness of the beverage.

-60 minutes: The sugar crash begins.

Source- Dr. Mercola: http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_9665.cfm

Green Cuisine: Earth-friendly, Healthy Recipes from Top Chefs and Local Farmers

The Union of Concerned Scientists has put out a new series of recipes from chefs using locally-grown, sustainable ingredients. This season's article is on sustainably-grown meats and what it means for meat to have too many antibiotics.

Check it out!

Eaters Unite!

Here's a great article by Michael Pollan on the current Food & Farm Bill being sent through the Senate right now. As Pollan replies to a representative who thinks that the public outcry about subsidies to big ag companies are because people don't know what they're talking about: "It seems more likely that, this time around, people in the city and all across the country know exactly what’s going on — they just don’t like it."

Philanthropy through your food!

Here's an interesting way of thinking of local foods: as a way of spending your money wisely.

Those with philanthropic tendencies can use the local food market, through shopping farmer's markets or demanding local foods in grocery stores, as a way of giving to their community and supporting healthy neighborhoods. This has the added bonus of helping philanthropists eat better, too!

This is one of many ways that shows that you don't have to be rich to be a philanthropist -- it's all about the choices you make in life. For more articles about philanthropy and areas we care about, visit www.philanthromedia.org.