Protecting the Growers

The bounty of legislation being written to ensure the quality and safety of food products in the United States is seemingly endless, with all sorts of sensible, predictable titling and rhetoric. There is the Food Safety and Tracking Act, the TRACE Act, the Safe Feast Act, and the recent Food Safety Enhancement Act, among a multitude of others which serve to enforce safety regulations on food processors and producers across the United States. Still, there are often many questions left unanswered with these types of legislation, such as why private firms are being hired to audit food processing plants in place of government authority, why antibiotics are still so rampantly used and loosely monitored, why pesticide use continues to increase, and why small organic farmers who produce the safest foods the natural way are still left out of so many major dialogs and considerations in agricultural legislation.

It seems as though, with the majority of agricultural measures, there is very little protection for organic producers, and to be sheltered by the USDA's organic certification umbrella is a costly endeavor that not many small farmers can easily afford. And as safety laws are becoming ever more stringent, the burden placed on small-scale organic and sustainable farmers grows heavier.

Thankfully, there are a handful of representatives who are seeking to provide provide protection for organic growers facing increasing regulatory constraints. In the new Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009, a bill that will increase the power of the FDA in overseeing the food system, several senators have expressed their commitment to easing the burdens placed on sustainable agricultural practices. Jeff Merkey of Oregon, Al Franken of Minesota, Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, and Michael Bennet of Colorado teamed together to write up a letter addressed to Chairman Harkin last week to help organic farmers comply with the new legislation.

And it worked! The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC), which had advocated vigorously in advance of the bills passage for family farm rights, and to ease the regulations against organic farms by merging FDA efforts with the established USDA organic certification rules, responded to the unanimous passage of the bill this week with an overall positive outlook, although is still pressing the FDA to be more forthcoming about how the new regulations will impact sustainable farmers, and is urging lawmakers to include the Growing Safe Food Act to the food safety bill. The act was coined by Senator Debbie Stabenow of MI, and would require an implementation of educational programs, funding, training, and other support for farmers and food producers. NSAC vowed that they would continue to fight for the inclusion of the Safe Food Act into the bill.

The health and safety of our food should always be at the top of our legislative priority list. However, overregulation of small-scaled and sustainable farming practices is not the answer to food safety concerns. Local and organic farmers should be supported and bolstered, and the gigantic industrial food system is what should be met with equally gargantuan legislation to protect us against its profit-geared agenda that frankly lacks any true regard for safety. Hopefully the passage of this new legislation will reflect the concerns of the NSAC, small farmers, the representatives that support them, and the consumers who want to trust in an agricultural food system that is safe and healthy for everyone.

Undernourished, Overfed

The statistics are terrifying.

Two hundred million Americans are overweight and 100 million are obese. More than 75 million Americans have high blood pressure. 24 million people are diabetic. Heart disease remains the no.1 cause of death for men and women, followed by stroke and obesity-related cancers. Obesity is about to overtake tobacco as the no. 1 cause of preventable deaths in the United States.

60% of bankruptcies are caused by what has become known as "medical debt."

Fast food, fast medicine, fast news and fast lives have turned many Americans into sick, uninformed, indebted, "processed" people. ~from the film "Processed People"

We have come to believe that being healthy is the ability to successfully manage sickness, that public health can be addressed with blanket vaccines, and that individual health can be sustained by swallowing pills.

But health is more than just the absence of symptoms. It is a feeling of holistic wellness and vitality, a feeling that we get when we nourish our bodies with fresh foods rich in beneficial nutrients, when we exercise, and when we maintain health relationships with ourselves and those around us. It is a feeling that connotes being truly alive, thriving instead of simply putting off death.

Preventative medicine is not just a last resort. In fact, it is a choice that we all can make every day. We can avoid the hospitals, the chemicals, the needles & pricks of our trillion dollar health care system, which stands to profit when we become sick. All it takes is fresh fruit, vegetables, sunshine, some time spent outdoors, some time spent with family. These things might not seem like medicine in the way that we have been conditioned to think about it, but they are. They are the purest and simplest ways of healing our bodies and our minds.

The choices that we have made in our personal lives TODAYcan ensure that we enjoy health and happiness in the future. We can spend our extra cash on local, organic food now, instead of spending it on hospital bills later. We can choose to exercise every day, if not on a treadmill than on a walk, so as to not spend that time later in life bound to a sick bed. We can choose to enjoy the outdoors at every given chance, to cleanse our bodies with fresh air and sunshine. We can choose to nourish our bodies, and not fill it with empty calories pumped up with sugar and artificial flavor.

It is never too late for anyone to become truly and holistically healthy. We all have that power to take care of ourselves without pills and pricks, we can take our bodies back for ourselves, and take our funds back for farmers, not pushers.

I choose to be physically, mentally, and spiritually healthy. Every day. How about you?

peace.

Food and Justice for All

The Engaged University is once again making front page headlines, but this time the news is not so good. After almost eight years of linking University of Maryland students with the communities around them and thus creating an enriched atmosphere, the E.U. is facing the chopping block by UMD administrators, who are seeking to cast off financial weights due to recent budget cuts.

Since the University of Maryland is now my alma mater, I feel a close connection to the activites of the school, and the Engaged University was always something I could feel proud of. As the university attempts to project itself as a sustainable, service-oriented campus, this extension was a shining example of the types of programs that could be implemented in hopes of truly achieving substance to reinforce UMD's projected image. Perhaps it was a costly endeavor, but no more so than the university's selection of other superfluous programs, and with the added benefit of providing students with a chance to engage with their community and learn about sustainability in a hands-on manner. This type of learning benefits both the students and the community members they interact with at the E.U. The Master Peace Community Farm is one of the E.U.'s outstanding programs. As my partner stated in The Diamondback, UMD's school newspaper, the farm provides a meeting ground for people who "don't really mingle very much," indicating that it provides a unique opportunity for diversity and understanding that frankly may sometimes be lost on campus. His work, he says, provides "food and justice for all."

The farm, like the fabulous Water Pod Project, is an innovative tool for getting people to connect with one another, as well as with their earth, providing a sense of meaning and purpose in a world where materialism often takes precedent and overshadows our vital relationships. Other programs, such as a biodiesel co-op, a bicycle shop, as well as arts and cultural programs, help to reinforce and integrate ideals of social justice, peace, and environmentalism through youth-centered activities that exist primarily to educate. The University of Maryland's SGA is now fighting to keep the Engaged University as an integral part of the school's mission of achieving sustainability and social service initiatives, and I hope they succeed, as UMD cannot afford to lose such a vital resource for its students as well as its community.

If you would like to make a donation to help to ensure the continued impact of the Engaged University, they are being accepted here: http://engagedu.umd.edu/

Click if you can help!

The Water Pod Project

It is just the kind of innovative creativity and ecological sensibility that our struggling food system and over-wrought welfare system need in this changing world. Part fantastical solution to an overly-populated earth, part urban farm, part artistic ingenuity, the Water Pod Project represents an unprecedented model of sustainable living that had not been seen before on New York City's waterways, or in the city at all, for that matter.

The concept represents a hypothetical example of a maritime lifestyle in the face of explosive population growth and a lack of essential resources on our earth's shores; a fertile lifestyle that is completely self-sufficient and environmentally sustainable. The pod is actually a fully functional farm home, located on a mobile barge which has been docking in and educating each NYC borough one at a time over the course of several months. It is powered by solar panels atop the inhabitant's quarters, nourished by an extensive grey water system which provides for all life on board, sustained by the intensive companion-planting methods of an urban farm, and staffed by some of the friendliest, most impressive examples of progressive thinkers that the area has to offer. On board is also a complete saltwater ecosystem, a kitchen and shower, a composting toilet, and four healthy, beautiful chickens.

The exhibition is open to the public for tours and education. It is currently located in the Bronx, at the Concrete Plant Park, an ironic name for the location of such a project. While it was on display on Staten Island a week ago, I had the sincere pleasure of spending time there, getting to know the crew and basking in the genius design that so optimized the use of a rather small barge to sustain life on board for such an extensive period of time. It is truly a feast for the mind as well as for the soul, as the creative influence of the artist who initiated the project is just as evident as the skill of the farmers who work on board.

I highly recommend a visit to anyone who is in the New York City area. There isn't very much time left, as the pod will only be docked in two more locations in the Bronx through the end of September. After that, the fate of the system is unknown. If it cannot be sold to a supporting organization, the pod will have to be dismantled and consequently recycled. What a shame it would be to lose such a prime and inceptive example of sustainable living, and such an excellent source of education for the city's children! Hopefully it is sold and installed on a permanent basis somewhere in the our waterways, so that we can continue to enjoy the generous beauty of this agricultural and artistic anomaly for years to come.

Peace.

A Rebuttal to the BBC's "Organic 'Has No Health Benefits"

This ludicrously titled article from the BBC is based on a report that was put together by the Nutrition and Public Health Intervention Research Unit at the London School of Hygiene & Topical Medicine (LSHTM), and is unfortunately indicative of a stagnant social mindset regarding natural foods and growing methods in our overly commodified, genetically modified modern world. It is important to note immediately that the title of the article in itself is utterly incorrect; dangerous to public health and well being; and a misinterpretation of the findings of the LSHTM report. Although the research itself has its drawbacks, which I will address later on in this piece, nowhere does it claim that there are NO health benefits associated with eating organic. If scientists were to indeed make such a bold statement according to their research, I would be extremely interested in finding out how they went about producing such a result. As a matter of fact, the study's findings literally reported that there are "no significant differences in nutrients and other nutritional substances" between food that was produced organically, and "conventional" food. But this does not include other health effects and certain benefits that come from partaking in an organic diet.

The first consideration on hand is the use of pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides in non-organic agricultural practices, and the effects that these chemicals have on our health: both directly (from their application onto our food products), and indirectly (from their inevitable infiltration of our land, air, and water supplies). It seems silly to mention, but let us not forget that pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides are compounds which are designed to kill, and are therefore extremely dangerous to all of us- not just the bugs and the plants and the 'shrooms. Such dangerous mixes are not allowed if a farm or growing project is to be given an organic distinction, and organic food is therefor absent of them. It has been reported that certain pesticides are related to both a prevalence of cancer in children as well as a deficiency in male sexual organ development, two public health issues that I'm sure we do NOT mean to mess around with. And of course there are the unspoken dangers associated with land erosion and the appearance of pesticides in our drinking water supply.

Then there is the question of genetically modified foods, which are not allowed in organic growing methods. Many reports have claimed that GM products are related to heightened sensitivity to certain allergens. The more serious health effects of the vegetable clone army are not well understood (likely because a great many of the studies are secretive and funded by Monsanto), however there have been many reports of health defects in animals who are fed a diet of genetically modified foods; including stunted growth, increased death rates, reproductive failures, infant mortality, and sterility. Are these really conditions that we are willing to gamble with in the game of mass-production? Personally, the benefit of choosing organic food is obvious in this case.

Organically grown produce IS healthier for you, on a number of levels. Besides the scientific evidence supporting the superior quality of organic food, it is important to consider the larger picture, and the context within which our food is produced. In order to holistically assess the public health consequences of agricultural methods, we must connect the dots between human health and the health of the environments within which we are existing. In non-organic farming practices, nitrogen fertiliser manufacturing alone produces seven tons of greenhouse gases, uses a ton of oil and a hundred gallons of water, all for just ONE ton of fertilizer. That fertilizer is then likely to be transported to water systems via land erosion and poor waste management systems, a movement which often pollutes drinking supplies and eradicates underwater oxygen supplies, resulting in the chilling effect of aquatic dead zones, where no organisms may survive. Also, in terms of animal products, it is important to note that organic farms generally produce meat and dairy products from animals raised in humane conditions, allowing for a more harmonious method of sowing as well as reaping, instead of the latter exclusively. Not only does this pacify the consciences of both farmers and consumers in terms of animal cruelty, it also alleviates the health risks that are associated with the hormones and antibiotics which are force-fed to animals in a factory farm setting, then ingested by human consumers. In non-organic animal products, such unnatural injections are not given to animals. They are happier and healthier, and ultimately so will we be.

In terms of nutritional content, the final verdict has not been made on whether or not organic food is richer than conventional food. There are many factors; including soil quality, rain and sunlight abundance, and packaging/transportation; which may affect the nutrient levels within a given food. However, there is considerable evidence to suggest the opposite of LSHTM's report claims. In fact, out of 1230 published comparisons between organic and conventional food, 56% claimed that organic was more nutritious, whereas only 7% claimed no difference. The LSHTM's study must be among this small 7 percentage, yet the BBC chose to highlight only this one study and exaggerate it completely.

So what does the study itself encompass? It is massive- there is no doubt about that. The 200 page report is a summary of over 50 years worth of data, collected by a team of doctors, thorough researchers and public health experts. The problem is that within the study there is no direct testing of any one piece of food. Every piece of data has been collected from literature compiled on nutrient content as early as the 1950s. While I am not one to undermine the importance of published scientific works, I am also not so easily convinced of the accuracy of information that is so indirect. I am more encouraged by hands-on scientific testing, such as this one, which proves without a doubt the nutritional superiority of organic tomatoes.

I am obviously not swayed by the BBC's bogus assertion that organic food is not healthy. But what worries me is that when I first read this article today, it was the #1 most read article on the global news website. This internationally renowned source of information reaches millions of people daily, and therefor is responsible for reporting the news fairly and accurately. Those at the BBC, as well as at other major news corporations, have an unspoken authority over people's thoughts and opinions, and putting forth a claim such as "organic has 'no health benefits" is completely irresponsible due to its potential public health implications. I hope that this article was read across the world with a grain of salt, and that we can continue to move forward towards becoming a society which values the health and vitality of our communities, and does not compromise either in the name of convenience or profit. I hope we can continue to think and decide for ourselves when it comes to how we feed our minds and our bodies, and not be swayed by the subjective news media when it comes to matters of such acute personal significance.

So, here's to a healthful life!

peace.