Earth Day is coming up in just a couple of weeks, so start planning
now to show how thankful you are for the planet that supports us!
We all know that following a vegan diet is the best thing you can do
for your health, the animals and the planet. What you choose to eat at each
meal really does make a difference. While everyone’s out celebrating on Earth
Day, why not take the opportunity to make an even bigger impact and spread the green word? There are so many things you can do to get involved and help make the
world a better place for all.
Take a lesson from activists in Alexandria,
Virginia, who worked tirelessly
to make their community more sustainable.Just last month, Alexandria’s city
council unanimously
approved a resolution to establish Healthy Food Alexandria and put the city
on the map as the second in the United
States to enact a Green Foods Resolution.
This citizen-led initiative will work to increase access to locally grown,
environmentally sustainable foods and increase public awareness regarding these
pressing issues.
Fortunately, the citizens of Alexandria
aren’t alone in their desire to make this country a greener place. Nearly
three thousand miles away in San Francisco, the city’s Board of Supervisors
voted unanimously to establish “Meat Free Mondays” and encourage restaurants,
grocery stores, and schools to offer more plant-based fare. This new
development, announced just this past Tuesday, will challenge Bay Area citizens
to rethink their dietary choices, and hopefully remind them how easy it is to get
their fill without meat.
There’s never been a better time to kick off a campaign for a Green
Foods Resolution where you live. Start by thinking of ways to reach out to your
community – you might be surprised by how many of your neighbors feel the same
way! Talk to people on the street and work together to support farmers’ markets
and establish community gardens. Once you’ve garnered support, focus your
efforts and broaden your reach by introducing a resolution to your local
government. Farm Sanctuary’s Green Foods Campaign has
lots of great tips to get the ball rolling.
So get out there and make an impact – for the good of the Earth, the
animals, and your health. And don’t forget to get in touch and let us know what you’re planning
for Earth Day … and beyond!
This week, Alexandria, Virginia became the second U.S. city to enact a Green Foods Resolution, which promotes the consumption of more healthful, plant-based foods, grown locally and sustainably. Given Alexandria’s proximity to Washington, D.C., its action could help raise awareness and advance the thinking of federal policy makers. Across the U.S., citizens are beginning to recognize the critical importance of making more thoughtful and sensible food choices, and Green Foods Resolutions are a positive result of that awareness.
The factory farming system thrives as long as our nation continues its atrocious eating habits, which are laden with meat, dairy and eggs. Our food choices have profound impacts, and the deleterious consequences of eating so many animal products are becoming increasingly clear. The risk of succumbing to the top two causes of death in the U.S., heart disease and cancer, can be lowered by eating plants instead of animals. And eating whole plant foods, including fruits and vegetables, can help combat obesity, which has become epidemic across the U.S. In addition to threatening our health, factory farming subjects billions of animals to intolerable suffering, depletes scarce natural resources, pollutes the environment and destroys the well-being and integrity of rural communities.
It is critical to push for food policy reform in our nation’s capitol, but congressional action often follows movement at the community level, and that’s why I’m so hopeful about the impacts of Green Foods Resolutions. Concerned citizens and policy makers in Alexandria are to be commended for taking action and calling for a more sustainable and healthful food system. You can follow suit by introducing a Green Foods Resolution in your local community today!
Last year was a banner year for farm animal advocacy, and we’re gearing up to build on our successes to make 2010 an even better year for farm animals with your help.
In 2009 two more states enacted anti-confinement legislation, putting the total number of states that ban one or more cruel factory farming confinement systems at seven. We plan to build on this momentum this year and will be pursuing anti-confinement legislation in a number of states, including New York and Massachusetts, where bills that would end the use of veal crates, battery cages for egg-laying hens, and gestation crates for breeding pigs are already pending. If you live in New York state, you can start supporting our efforts now by signing up to host or attend a house party for farm animals on January 31. And if you live elsewhere, take action today to push for anti-confinement legislation in your state.
In addition to these efforts, we’ll be encouraging towns and cities across the country to adopt Green Foods resolutions to draw attention to the significant impact our food choices have on global climate change. Activists are the engine of this groundbreaking campaign, so learn more and get involved.
And on the federal level, we’ll be pushing the Obama Administration to end the slaughter of downed pigs and other animals for food once and for all. But for our legal effort to succeed, the administration needs to hear from the public that this is an issue that matters to the American people. That’s why it’s so important that you sign our petition for the pigs and ask everyone you know to do the same.
These are just a few of the exciting legal efforts in store for the year. To stay on top of our latest campaign updates and opportunities to get involved, make sure to join the Advocacy Campaign Team, and to visit Making Hay often.
Plant a single seed and a garden will grow. The residents of a small Tennessee town called Signal Mountain (with a population of almost 8,000) demonstrated that they’re living by that adage when they adopted the United States’ first green foods resolution six weeks ago. A green foods resolution is a formal commitment to supporting environmentally-friendly farming practices, such as the production of organic, locally-grown and plant-based foods (the cultivation of which is much less detrimental to the environment than animal agriculture is).
On October 12, after a single session of deliberation and a unanimous vote, the local council of Signal Mountain officially resolved that the town will “promote the expansion of the number of Farmers Markets, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs, community gardens, and other venues which provide healthful plant-based foods.”
The full story behind Signal Mountain’s green foods resolution is a shining example of the power that lies in thinking globally, scaling down, and acting locally to inspire change. The resolution was brought to the table by one man: David Cook. A teacher of American Studies, Democracy and Peace Studies, Cook also writes a weekly column for the local newspaper. Each week, he reflects on a national issue and applies it to local life. Many of Cook’s pieces have an environmental and vegetarian bent, and he considers his column an attempt to change how his neighbors live and see the world around them.
With this aim in mind, earlier this autumn, Cook submitted a column on the importance of green foods resolutions. Several weeks later, Councilman Paul Hendricks contacted Cook to express his interest in a local resolution, and to let him know that it was under consideration. At the next public meeting, Cook spoke about his column, and the five-member council passed the nation’s first green foods resolution. “It was so democratic,” Cook said. “This has really been about food democracy and political democracy.”
Cook exudes patience and hope. “I see this as a seed,” he said. “Something will really grow out of this. I think it is part of many things that are moving in the right direction, including community-supported agriculture, organic farming, a greater commitment to vegetarianism, more car-pooling, more questioning. It’s all tied together.”
As for how the rest of us can act locally by thinking globally, Cook emphasizes being hard-headed and resourceful. “Get practical,” he said. “Attend council meetings, write letters to the editor, march, boycott, pray, weep, hug trees. Literally, read and write. You use whatever power you have – leverage connections, or whatever comes into your life each day – and you try to improve the world through that. You try to have the right relationship.”
Back in April I blogged about visiting the People’s Garden at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) headquarters here in Washington, DC with Gene Baur. Essentially a demonstration plot, this garden was the first seed in a bounty of gardens to be established on public land and gave us vegans hope that the colossal agency would be dishing up a more balanced policy diet (a little less heavy on their standard Big Animal Ag fare). When Michelle Obama sang the praises of vegetables and planted an organic garden on the White House lawn, we sang too.
I planted my own Victory Garden in the rather spacious yard of my old Northeast DC rowhouse. Neglected for the decade prior to my moving in last spring, weeds – the kind that wrap around other plants and wrestle the life of out them – flourished in the space where I envisioned bright red tomatoes, shinny yellow peppers and rich purple eggplant. Inspired by the “Yes-I-Can” mindset of President Barack Obama, I fought back enough weeds to make a patch of my own. Five kinds of heirloom tomatoes, a variety of peppers (both sweet and spicy!), zucchini, and eggplant quickly took over my small plot.
I ate the first of my cherry tomatoes as I drove up to Philadelphia for the National Conference of State Legislatures annual summit in mid-July. The following weekend, I nearly slipped on a half-eaten green tomato lying on the path as I rushed past the garden to get to the Taking Action for Animals conference in nearby Arlington. Heavy rains encouraged plant growth while discouraging any gardening on my part. Upon arriving home from Farm Sanctuary’s New York Country Hoe Down, I witnessed the neighborhood squirrels dining on the much easier to carry cherry tomatoes. I’m not sure what happened to my zucchini plants.
Clearly, it is a challenge to grow a vegetable garden with a busy summer conference schedule.
That’s why I say: thank gourd for farmer’s markets!
I’m not the only one, either. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has declared this National Farmer’s Market Week. "One of the Obama Administration's top priorities is to make sure that all Americans – especially children – have access to fresh, nutritious food, and USDA's ongoing support of farmers markets is important to reaching that goal," Secretary Vilsack said in his press release.
Farmer’s markets are growing like weeds. The USDA counts nearly 4,900 of them across the country – 3,000 more than when the agency first started keeping track in 1994. For many, they are more than just an opportunity to get fresh, local produce directly from the farmer, but a social outing where you are likely to bump into your neighbors, be entertained by musicians or get some new recipes at a cooking demonstration. The USDA maintains a searchable list of farmer’s markets so it is easy to find one close to you.
If you don’t have a farmer’s market in your community, you can encourage the formation of one. At Taking Action for Animals, I spoke on a panel called Lobbying in Your Backyard, about just that. Farm Sanctuary’s Foodprint project encourages communities to support plant-based diets through, among other things, farmer’s markets and community gardens. Your foodprint measures the impact of your diet on the planet. Greenhouse gasses and cruelty give you a bigger foodprint while a vegan diet lightens your load.
You can get involved with our Foodprint project by asking your city council to adopt a Foodprint resolution. We’ve created a step-by-step guide on how to go about it. Not incidentally, this happens to also be a great way to raise awareness about factory farming and introduce people to delicious animal-free meals. With figures such as Michelle Obama and Tom Vilsack leading the gardening bandwagon (or should that be a tractor-pulled hay wagon?) foodprint resolutions are something that can and should be embraced by all.
New York City has an ambitious Foodprint resolution pending and the Green Food Resolution in Chicago has gotten green thumbs up from city councilors thus far. Just like the Peoples’ Garden and the White House garden were inspirations for my backyard garden, these resolutions are inspirations to communities like yours to lessen their foodprint.
I am an idealist, so I have plans for an even bigger vegetable garden next summer. I’ll start earlier in the spring, invite the neighborhood kids over to learn about plants and food, then give them the job of tending to the garden while I am away. It will be a sort of community garden.
There’s some very big news on the environmental front,and it’s big news for the animals, too! Green food resolutions are starting to pop up, and this is a very good thing for everyone, as it’s an important sign that the public at large is beginning to confront the truly inconvenient truth: What and whom you consume has a direct effect on our planet.
By consuming a plant-based diet, you are significantly reducing your global foodprint. You’ve probably already heard by now that in 2006, the United Nations came out with a study (“Livestock’s Long Shadow”) documenting that livestock production is a major contributor to global warming, land degradation, air and water pollution, and loss of biodiversity. The report estimates that livestock are responsible for 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions; that’s more than the entire transport sector combined.
Thanks to the diligence of hay-makers like you, people are slowly starting to talk about this. And recently, two city council resolutions have found their way into the mix.
Earlier this week,Chicago's City Council Committee on Energy, Environmental Protection and Public Utilities approved a resolution urging that sustainable plant-based food be made readily available to all the city’s residents. This signaled a milestone in Farm Sanctuary’s campaign to introduce Green Food Resolutions in cities across the country. Thanks to Alderman Margaret Laurino, the sponsor of the resolution, the Windy City is a shining example of green progress. People are listening. Eating animals is simply unsustainable and wreaks havoc on our planet. This resolution is a platform for change, and it shows without a doubt that there is a strong demand for vegan food, which is the best answer for the animals, our health and, of course, the environment.
As if that were not enough, the Big Apple is also making big strides. On June 30, New York City Councilmember Bill de Blasio introduced Resolution 2049, another groundbreaking step toward a greener, kinder planet. FoodprintNYC, as it is called, is the creation of the NYC Foodprint Alliance, a coalition of several nonprofits – including Farm Sanctuary. It is a citywide initiative that aims to create greater access to local, fresh, healthy plant-based food, especially in low-income communities and city-run institutions.
For two years, I have been personally enmeshed in FoodprintNYC. What started with a conversation between Farm Sanctuary and the New York League of Humane Voters grew to become a coalition of movers and shakers, and now, thanks to Councilmember de Blasio, we can see this resolution get passed. If you reside in New York City, we need your help to make that happen.
Here’s a video that Councilmember Bill de Blasio put together, along with the help of me and my dog, Rose:
Watching this idea grow to become a citywide and then national campaign is enough to make this hay-maker a believer. Not only can change happen, but change needs to happen so that we can preserve and care for our planet and all its inhabitants. That is why we’d like to work with you so that a Green Food resolution can be introduced in your city, too. And if you need support in doing that, let me know.
I have the sudden strong desire to end this entry with my favorite quote, said by Margaret Mead. If you know me personally, then you know I recite it on a regular basis. It’s my MO, and it should be yours, too:
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.”
Farm Sanctuary is the nation's leading farm animal protection organization. Since incorporating in 1986, Farm Sanctuary has worked to expose and stop cruel practices of the "food animal" industry ... read more.
Making Hay with Gene Baur features personal blogs from Farm Sanctuary President & Co-founder Gene Baur, as well as other entries focused on Farm Sanctuary’s advocacy efforts and the multiple ways that you can get involved and make a difference for farm animals.
Gene Baur, President and Co-founder of Farm Sanctuary
Gene grew up in Hollywood, California and worked in commercials for McDonald's and other fast food restaurants. He adopted a vegan lifestyle in 1985, and today, he campaigns to raise awareness about the negative consequences of industrialized factory farming and our cheap food system. He lives in Washington, DC and is the co-founder and president of Farm Sanctuary. Read more.
C H E C K O U T F A R M S A N C T U A R Y 'S O T H E R B L O G
Farm Sanctuary does not necessarily share the same views as those expressed in the blogs below ... but we appreciate them nonetheless, and think you might, too.
