Fast Forward to Farming

One of the things I’ve been finding incredibly encouraging over the last few years is the strength of a growing movement for... well, for better.

A decade ago -- and certainly two -- it was sometimes difficult not to despair. Not to think about hell and hand baskets and wonder where it was all going to end up.

Think of it: global warming, melting icecaps, shrinking glaciers, landfills, factory farming... there seemed to be an endless list of things to be concerned about. And for those of us who were concerned, it was sometimes easy to feel like a Pariah; to feel really alone. So many things wrong in the world. And so few people who seemed to care.

Fast forward to 2009. Inroads are being made in almost all areas. Sure: we have a long, long way to go and we can’t back down from our caring and concern and hard work, but it’s truly amazing, sometimes, to relax a teensy bit. To sit back and see how far we’ve come; how much we’ve accomplished in a relatively short time of wide awareness. I guess I mean, it seems possible -- finally -- to self-congratulate a little bit. We are moving, after all this time, in the right direction.

There are many examples of this but, for today, let me share just one. Farm Forward was incorporated in 2007, though core members of the organization have been active with the work they do much longer. It’s a non-profit advocacy group “at the forefront of pragmatic efforts to transform the way our nation eats and farms.”

In real world terms, Farm Forward works in the field on behalf of farm animals and sustainable farm practices. It works to help educate people about what goes on in contemporary farmer’s fields and barns and it works to help both farmers and laypeople think about the way things could be done and how they really should not be. From the Farm Forward Web site:

From years of innovative efforts to improve conditions on farms and in slaughterhouses worldwide, we have built a unique network of strong relationships with animal welfare experts, food retailers, nonprofit animal advocacy organizations, religious leaders, scholars, small farmers, and writers concerned about farmed animal welfare. This unprecedented network and our tight focus on rolling back factory farming allows us to enhance the effectiveness of existing organizations and implement comprehensive new strategies that are unavailable to other groups.

I’m encouraged by what Farm Forward is accomplishing in part because, as they point out, the descent into factory farming happened very quickly:

Largely out of public view, factory farming began on America's poultry farms in the 1920s and quickly spread to every sector of the meat, dairy, and egg industries. Factory fishing, including fish farming, quickly followed. The use of new technologies could have been a positive development, but instead it has ushered in an era of factory farming and fishing that has brought with it systematic abuse of animals, pollution of the environment, and destruction of rural life. Today, more than 99 percent of our nation’s meat, dairy, and eggs are produced on factory farms, and nearly all seafood comes to us from factory fishing.

As I said, it all happened very quickly. Does it not stand to reason, then, that with our own passion and new knowledge forcing us to activity, we can help roll things like factory farming back even more quickly than they took hold and took root?

Farm Forward is just one example, but it’s a good one. If you’d like to know more about the terrific work the organization is doing, their Web site is here.

Edible SLO: Time For A Change

They say you can never go back. I think, in some ways, that’s true. For instance, once you realize that a lot of little changes add up to gentle revolution. Or, on the other side, once you see how a pile of small things can add up to big damage to the environment. And, maybe most importantly, how powerful one confident voice can be when combined with others to make a chorus for real change.

I should offer you specifics. Look, for instance, at one little container of strawberries grown in Mexico and offered for sale at your local market. How did those strawberries come to be there? What path did they take to show up in your neighborhood? They were grown far away: do you know what pesticides are allowed or disallowed in the region in which they were grown? (Or is their growing region even something the vendor has shared?) They’re out of season: how were they grown? When were they harvested? How were they stored and handled so that they were able to come so far looking so perfect? How much fuel was used to get this tiny basket of berries into your hands? And when, finally, you bite into one, how much flavor is left to enjoy?

There are a lot of reasons to eat locally grown and raised foods. And, joyously, in this region of real bounty, there’s just no reason not to. That’s why I’m especially glad that my friend, HopeDance publisher Bob Banner, will be publishing Edible San Luis Obispo beginning summer 2009. As Bob tells us:

By eating locally, we help to sustain the small family farms which produce healthy foods with fullness of taste and provide for a safer food supply. The publication will follow our seasonal schedule: four times each year, you’ll be enticed with stories about farmers, chefs, and the local food industry. Gorgeous color photography featuring food and landscape will put life on pages full of culinary interest and events.

I’m very much looking forward to the insights and wisdom Bob has been sharing for so many years in HopeDance, now applied to a very specific area of interest. In many ways, Edible San Luis Obispo seems like a natural progression of Bob’s work. We wish him luck in this new part of his journey and anticipate with delight the things he will share with us on the pages of his new publication.

Building A Green Dream

There are some very real challenges to creating a truly sustainable lifestyle. One of the big ones is our home. Your dwelling represents thousands of design decisions. Many of those have a very real impact on the environment. This isn’t something we could give much thought to even a few years ago. That is, you might have thought “there must be a better way!” but few green alternatives were available. When they were available, there were prohibitively expensive.

And now? While we still have a long way to go, things in this regard are much better. Many designers and problem solvers are applying themselves to coming up with green alternatives for home building and refitting.

If these are questions that concern you and you happen to be in the Los Angeles area this coming weekend, you might want to look in at Alt:Build 09. Admission is free on Friday May 8th and Saturday May 9th at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. And I love that, on their Web site, they say they’re going to have free valet bicycle parking available. That’s really walking the walk. More to the point, over 150 exhibitors will be on hand showing off the very latest in green alternatives for your home. Everything from straw bale home design, green alternatives to drywall, installations of living roofs, different types of solar systems, non-toxic paints and furniture, water conservation systems, environmental plumbing, sustainable landscaping... you get the idea: everything.

If these dates don’t work for you (and I’m already afraid they don’t work for me) keep October 2nd and 3rd in mind. Same location, same general thrust, but this time with a focus on the road for the 4th annual AltCar Expo and Conference.

Meanwhile, the Alt:Build 09 Web site is here.

Earth Day is for Everyone

One of the things that’s become very apparent to me on this, the 40th anniversary of the celebration of Earth Day, is just how much towards the mainstream these ideas have moved. When I think about how long I’ve been concerned about the “ozone layer” (remember the ‘70s?), wholesome and organic foods, the fates of endangered species, reducing and reusing and recycling... well, it’s been a long time. Long enough, I almost don’t want to admit to all those years!

When I consider, I really began making some of the choices that now guide my life -- then considered avant garde or worse -- in the 1960s and certainly into the 1970s. Like many others, I was part of shift or groundswell for change that would, in many ways, end up permeating every aspect of my life by the time I got to... well, here and now. As I set out on this journey, some of the choices I made raised the eyebrows of those closest to me. Simple things.

I remember, for instance, the faces of my family when I first talked about eating in a way that was more healthy and considered the way things were raised and grown. It was shocking to talk that way about food then. And maybe, from the viewpoint of my elders, somewhat disrespectful. These were not choices you made then: you ate what your culture handed you and never mind where or how it was grown or killed.

And now? Now there is power even in decisions about that very simple thing: how we eat. Or, more importantly, the consideration and decisions we make before we prepare the foods we consume. And even beyond that: how we deal with the necessary waste associated with consumption. If a lot of people make responsible choices in that regard, we change the world. Simple things. A step at a time. Together.

We change the world.

Happy 40th Earth Day!

Rejoice because while there’s still a long way to go, we’ve come so very, very far.

On the Road with A Long Way to Go

I’m proud to live in a place that makes an effort. There’s a duality to that, though. Because it’s not enough, is it? But it’s better than nothing. It’s a start. From a recent piece on Public Radio International called “California’s Low-Carbon Diet”:

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions isn’t just a good idea -- in California, it’s the law. The state is the first in the nation to go on a low carb diet. Three years ago it passed legislation restricting the release of climate change gases across its economy.

Do you see what I’m saying? On the one hand, it’s great that we’re on that road; we’ve made a start. So many places in the world haven’t even come to terms with the fact that there’s a problem. On the other… well, sometimes I just think about all the wind and sun and waves out there -- all those lovely clean alternatives -- and I shake my head. Well, sometimes I shake my head and get on my soapbox. I’ll get off it now.

There’s just such a long way yet to go.

The link leads to a transcript of the original broadcast. You can listen to it there, as well. It’s an installment of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Steve Curwood’s excellent Living on the Earth program. The show has been running continuously since 1991.