globalbriefs
News and resources to inspire concerned citizens to work together in building a healthier, stronger society that benefits all.
Economic Security Buying at Home Keeps America Strong
Poll after poll points to Americans’ preference for locally produced goods, according to
msn.com; the real ques- tion is if we are willing to look for them and pay more. A 21st-century grassroots website, StillMadeInUSA. com, provides a helping hand with an online shopping directory of American brands. Categories range from personal apparel, handcrafts and household goods to tools, sports and entertain- ment, and include special occasions and shop-by-geography menus. “I try to buy American products whenever possible, but as a working mother of
three boys, I don’t have time to drive from store to store or search for hours online,” says founder Stephanie Sanzone, explaining her website’s genesis. The Made in USA label represents a heightened concern for guarding American manufacturing jobs, worker and environmental health, product quality, consumer safety, national com- petitiveness and security while defending against an increasing trade deficit.
Donate a Day Crop Mobs Sustain Small Farms and Build Communities
Weeding blackberry beds at Spence’s Farm in Chapel Hill, NC.
Across the country, crop mobs comprising dozens of mostly 20-something volunteers periodically gather at local sustainable small farms to donate their time to make immediate improvements. These landless farmers, apprentices, interns and the “agri- curious” comprise a remarkable effective traveling work party, often assisted by experienced farm- ers and gardeners eager to share their know-how with the next generation. Assigned tasks might be mulching, building a greenhouse, prepping garden beds or bringing in a harvest. “The more tedious the work we have, the better,”
says Rob Jones, co-founder of the spreading movement, which originated in North Carolina’s Triangle in response to a regional surge in sustainable farming. “Because part of crop mob is about community and camaraderie, you find there’s nothing like picking rocks out of fields to bring people together.” It’s all about building the community necessary to practice this kind of labor-
intensive agriculture and to put the power to muster help into the hands of future local food producers. Any crob mobber can call a crop mob to do the kind of work it takes a community to do. Participants work together, share meals, play, talk and make music. No money is exchanged; it’s the stuff that communities are made of.
For information and contacts in various states, visit
CropMob.org. natural awakenings July 2010 11
Lunch Box Funding Debate Slows Upgrade of School Nutrition
For the past year, Slow Food USA has led a consumer campaign now exceeding 100,000 emails asking Congress to improve school nutri- tion. “We cannot, in good conscience, continue to make our kids sick by feeding them cheap byproducts of an industrial food system,” states Josh Viertel, president of Slow Food USA. “It is time to give kids real food, food that tastes good, is good for them, is good for the people who grow and prepare it and is good for the planet.”
President Obama has proposed
investing an additional $1 billion a year to help schools serve healthier food, but Congress is hesitating to approve the full amount. This change to the five-year Child Nutrition Act, now up for renewal, would add 20 cents to the $1 allocated for ingredients in each school lunch. School nutrition directors say an ad- ditional $1 is needed to serve sufficient vegetables, fruits and whole grains, mak- ing the ultimate goal $4 billion a year. Meanwhile, the viable farm-to-school movement is seeking just $50 million of the total to link local farms with schools. Vending machines also must be subject to stronger nutrition standards. “Kids have the most at stake here,”
remarks Emily Ventura, of Slow Food Los Angeles. “This is their future, their health, their quality of life. But it’s also America’s future.”
Support the Time for Lunch campaign at
SlowFoodUSA.org.
Parents’ Day on July 25 honors responsible
parenting and uplifts ideal parental role models for our
nation’s children. ~
ParentsDay.com
Photo by Trace Ramsey
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