Thoughts on Ethical Meat, Vegetarianism, and Saving the Planet.

I'm in a crap place these days...my grandfather passed away on January 10, and that's shaken me up pretty well. Other stuff is going on, too - some good, some challenging....but all of it is leaving me pretty low. I keep trying to write about it, but I just get so tired of feeling like all I ever do is whine and bitch, so I never post anything. At some point, I imagine I will, but for now, it's easier to ramble on about something else. Feelings are confusing and frustrating; green activism, particularly food activism, is less so - and what does that tell you about the shit in my head, eh??

So, TreeHugger asked the question "Is Eating Meat the Best Way to Fight Factory Farms?" The various conversations around this topic bring in a lot of perspectives, because this is an incredibly complicated question to ask. Personally, though, I think even that complicated question is an oversimplification. Let me explain.

First off, there are two major reasons to oppose CAFOs (which I'm separating from factory farming, because factory farming also includes non-meat crop farming...which is awful, too) and consider going veggie: either for what I'll call Compassionate Reasons or Environmental Reasons. (I am choosing to ignore religious/spiritual reasons, even though there's some overlap, just for the purpose of keeping this relatively quick.)

If you're doing the compassion thing, the major concern is usually animal cruelty: animals in CAFOs live pretty awful lives. Overcrowded into standing-room-only cages and pens, fighting with their brethren for food and water and space. Poultry birds are debeaked so they can't peck each other. Excrement fumes and dust are inhaled by the animals with every breath, requiring prophylactic antibiotics to prevent illness. Some animals never see sunshine, or eat anything approaching an actual plant. And all of that's not even looking at how factory farmed animals are slaughtered....to put it mildly, it's not done kindly. (And, as someone who grew up seeing livestock and wild game slaughtered, I believe it can indeed be done kindly and ethically.)

If those are the reasons someone opposes factory farms, then eating grass-fed/small farm/ethically-raised-and-slaughtered meat is a much better option (though it's been my experience that many of these folks just oppose eating animals in general), since the animals usually have less horrible lives that end with much less misery. So, yeah, if your goal is to put CAFOs out of the business of torturing animals for us to eat....then yeah, eating meat from small farms with ethical agricultural practices is a good way to vote with your dollars - it more directly gives huge corporate meat producers a profit incentive to change their ways. If you stop eating meat altogether, they may not even notice; if you give their competition a bump, they're more likely to see it and maybe consider trying to get your money.

The other major reason for opposing CAFOs is the environmental one. CAFOs, in addition to all the awful crap already mentioned, also wreak total havoc on the environment. I don't just mean the shit lagoons that stink up the neighborhood and necessitate all that over-medicating the livestock....I'm talking about soil and groundwater contamination (not only with poo and bacteria, but also with those antibiotics I mentioned), I'm talking about waterways flooded with waste, I'm talking about massive fish kills, I'm talking about huge amounts of methane and carbon dioxide produced en masse by confined livestock. Beyond that, CAFOs are an integral part of the overall factory farm system, driven by petrochemically-supported monocrop operations that produce bumper crops of corn and soy that have to go somewhere....like, say, the mouths of food animals in CAFOs. The system as a whole is a major contributor to greenhouse gases, the oil industry via petrochemical fertilizers and pesticides, and climate change overall.

If those are someone's reasons for opposing CAFOs, then it's still true that eating ethically produced meat would be a good step to take. The mechanics of a CAFO are not such an issue for small farms, since the volume of waste is significantly smaller.

However, both of these perspectives miss a bigger issue: even ethically produced meat can be problematic, environmentally speaking. The bottom line is that meat - regardless of how it's produced - requires more resources than plants do. More water, more time, more energy....and if you're trying to find the most environmentally conscious way of eating, meat is likely to be a small part of it, simply because eating vegetarian has the smallest footprint. Even if you don't "eat local," a vegetarian diet uses less water and less oil, and produces fewer greenhouse gases and other pollutants.

Also, as it becomes clear that global hunger is definitely going to be a huge issue (hello, food riots), the plain fact is that feeding food plants to animals instead of hungry people...is not exactly groovy. (Ditto putting food plants into gas tanks, ethanol!) If people ate less meat, that would mean fewer crops would go to feed livestock, meaning they could be shifted towards solving that hunger crisis thing.

So...if the point is to stop CAFOs, yeah, I guess eating ethical meat could be more helpful than skipping meat entirely. But if we think just a smidge bigger, to the overall global environemtal and sociopolitical issues that loom large now and will only become more and more critical, the truth is that eating less meat overall - if not going totally vegetarian - is the best choice for the health of the planet.

Of course, that's on a broad, global scale, and the other truth is that there are tons of complicating factors of economics, physical and mental health, etc. that make it tricky for lots of people to go veggie, even if they wanted to. As in most things, there is no such thing as One Size Fits All.

FUotD: PETA

Hey, PETA: FUCK YOU!

For most of us, summer is fading fast, but for residents of Jacksonville, Florida, bikini season lasts all year. What does the Sunshine State's endless summer mean for PETA? Our phone lines ring off the hook with reports of "beached whale sightings." Good one, guys.

Luckily, we know the secret to getting—and maintaining—a killer beach bod. Did you know that vegetarians are 20 to 30 percent leaner than meat-eaters? So, to help residents and tourists "lose the blubber"—and hopefully to deter prank callers—we're launching a brand-new billboard urging people to go vegetarian:

I'm not linking the post from PETA's blog quoted above, nor am I displaying the billboard in question (you can get them from Lesley's post at Fatshionista if you want 'em).

You know what, PETA? It is pretty damn unlikely that going veggie or vegan will actually result in a "killer beach bod" for many people. Even if I became a vegan and suddenly weighed 30% less...I would still weigh over 200 pounds, which I'm pretty sure would still qualify me as a "whale" by PETA standards.

Also, there are so many really good, ethical reasons to reduce or elminate meat consumption...taking it to a place of fat shaming is a lowest-common-denominator approach that doesn't actually fix the problem. It doesn't actually explain to people the reality of the impact of CAFOs or factory farms, and I highly doubt it will elicit any permanent lifestyle changes for most people.

So, PETA, shame on you. Fuck you for using scare tactics to try to manipulate people into making intimately personal decisions based not on facts and reality, but on fear. Fuck you for spreading total misinformation, encouraging disordered eating, and shoring up misogyny, racism, and fat hatred.

In conclusion, you incredible douchebags: FUCK YOU.

Newsflash: Fat People Are Killing the Planet

Okay, so everybody and their sibling has already debunked and mocked this ridiculous bullshit, but I have to take a quick crack at the version that popped up in my feed reader this morning. The intersection of fat activism and environmentalism holds a special place in my heart, because I think the problems to which they relate can be traced to connected root causes (consumer culture and unrestrained capitalism, in case you were wondering).

So, first, the bullhockey from "HealthDay News:"

Watching your weight does more than protect your health. It also may help fight climate change.

First sentence, first bullshit assumption! Weight has fuck all to do with health. People of all sizes have health problems.

Researchers at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine say that because food production is a major contributor to greenhouse gases, a lean population, such as in Vietnam, consumes about 20 percent less food and produces fewer greenhouse gases than a population in which 40 percent of people are obese, a rate close to that of the United States.

All right, let's just start with the name of this school: Hygiene and Tropical Medicine? I swear, that sounds like a punchline all by itself!

More to the point, though, what they're saying is that the more people eat, the more greenhouse gases produced. Um, actually, no. The more food produced by industrial means, the more greenhouse gases produced. Whether it is eaten or not is beside the point, not only from an environmental perspective, but also from the manufacturer's perspective. I mean, the interconnected parts of the industrial ag world reinforce each other - how many food additives and preservatives were invented as a way to use corn byproducts? The answer is MOST OF THEM. That doesn't happen in a vacuum, it happens within a system involving government subsidies and Big Ag corporations - all looking to make money. They don't care about food, or health, or the environment....they care about profit. Which is not related to what or how much people eat...but profit-seeking measures do tend to directly support habits that piss all over the environment.

Yes, I absolutely agree that food production is a major contributor to greenhouse gases. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: industrial food is toxic on every level imaginable. Vast monocrop farming operations using petrochemical fertilizers destroy soil fertility, pollute waterways, and lock in a cycle of needing more petrochemicals to keep up crop yields from soil that lacks nutrients and the microorganisms that keep healthy soil producing healthy crops. CAFOs are hideously inhumane to the livestock they confine - not to mention they, too, pollute the landscape and waterways, with disastrous results. Oh, and the food is not all that great, either.

But let's look a little more closely at the comparison here: Vietnam is not so much full of skinny people as it is lacking in widespread industrial agriculture. In fact, I'm guessing (since Vietnam's agriculture is only 20% of its GDP, and that's mostly cashews and rice) they probably don't have anything like the food industry we have here in the States. I'm guessing that might account for the smaller environmental footprint, more than the comparative smallness of Vietnam's collective ass.

But wait! There's more total asshattery:

"When it comes to food consumption, moving about in a heavy body is like driving around in a gas guzzler," the researchers said. "The heavier our bodies become, the harder and more unpleasant it is to move about in them, and the more dependent we become on our cars. Staying slim is good for health and for the environment."

This statement makes me so blindingly furious, I had to take a deep breath and stop myself from screaming at the office.

First of all, the meme that fat people eat more than thin people is total crap. I'm not digging up studies or stats, I'm just gonna cite some anecdata - most people know a thin person who eats twice hir weight in bon-bons at every meal...and some big fat fatty who's always eating half a lettuce leaf on the Diet of the Month. The size of a person has fuck all to do with how much or what they eat. Human beings are not all built and wired the same way, and people of identical size (if you could find two such people) might eat similar quantities of food....or they might not. There is NO WAY to know.

Second of all, though I can certainly acknowledge that there are some weights at which movement can be problematic (and with these types of disability, I smell a chicken/egg scenario), I do not find it to be true that the bigger I get, the harder it is to move around and the more dependent I become on a car. I weigh well over 300 pounds (yeah, I said it), and I don't even own a car - my primary form of transport is my feet (with a little help from the much-greener-than-a-car CTA). I also have no trouble dancing around like a maniac, or trying out all kinds of physical activity. Any issues I do have with mobility come not from my giant fat ass, but from the tailbone I broke five years ago that still bothers me sometimes (only time I find movement "unpleasant"). Which, I guess, is sort of located in the vicinity of my giant fat ass....but I think you see my point.

I don't have to point out the correlation of higher BMIs and lower income, lower income with lack of car ownership and use of mass transit, and use of mass transit with *lower* environmental impact...do I?

Also, moving around in a heavy body is NOT like driving around in a gas guzzler, actually. If we buy the idea that fat people have low metabolisms (which I don't exactly buy, and believe varies greatly from person to person), then it's more like driving around in a hybrid - because low metabolisms are *more* efficient, not less. I swear, do these alleged academics actually think about the logic of what they say before opening their mouths??

Finally, there's this:

"We need to be doing a lot more to reverse the global trend toward fatness and recognize it as a key factor in the battle to reduce emissions and slow climate change," they said.

Actually, you know what would be more effective in reducing emissions and slowing climate change? Let me bullet point this, so it's easy for researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine to understand.

• Dismantle industrial agriculture. Stop monocrop operations, petrochemical fertilizer/pesticide usage, CAFOs, etc. Encourage local farming, kitchen gardens, urban agriculture, etc.


• Create mass transit systems that work. Which means systems that actually get people where they need to go, and makes it reasonable for people to live without cars. See also: walkable neighborhoods, bike paths, and the death of far-flung car-based suburbs.


• Switch to renewable energy sources. Like hydro, geothermal, solar & wind power, that don't rely on fossil fuels or pump greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. And we're talking a meaningful switch here, not just a few token windmills. Also, nuclear doesn't count.


• End consumer culture. I struggle with this, but it's important. No more "disposable" anything. Cheap plastic crap is not an option. Planned obsolescence is out of the question. More and more "stuff" means more and more greenhouse gases created during production and manufacture, more and more land laid to waste with pollution and dried-up resources, and more and more landfills producing groundwater contamination and even more greenhouse gases.

There are lots more ways to effect environmental change on a large scale, but these are the ones I think would make the most difference in the shortest time. And not one of these things involves weight loss.

Listen, I understand how fat people are a convenient and semi-logical symbol of the excess that has led the planet to the current environmental crisis. I get how that makes sense and is easily understood shorthand. But you know what? It's fucking lazy not to find a better approach, particularly since this one isn't even grounded in reality. If every fat person in the world went on a diet (or at least the comparative few who aren't *already* dieting, anyway), what would happen? Would the air get cleaner? Would the planet stop warming up? Would the polar ice caps start growing again? NO. Diets, at least as the jagoffs who promote diet culture mean them, mean gym memberships (where exercise means a machine powered by electricity) and diet food (generally produced by - you guessed it - Industrial Ag). Setting aside the fact that they don't actually work in the long term (except inasmuch as the point is making diet companies lots of money), diets are not the cure for global warming. Diets are part of the profit-driven system that created it.

Furthermore, this whole "fat people cause global warming" idea isn't just wrong, it contributes to a culture that demeans and oppresses fat people. It's part of why, statistically, fat people (and people who think they're fat, often) have higher rates of depression, make less money, have worse chances of getting jobs and housing, receive shoddy healthcare, and can be charged as if they were two people when flying. At the end of the day, fat people are *people* and deserve the same human rights as anyone else...which they don't get when stereotypes and assumptions and pure misinformation like the drivel above are so pervasive. It's bullshit, and it's wrong.

Today, in things that are fucked up...

Holy crap, I can't even believe this bullshit: Bill Gates has solved Africa!

Well, okay, he's figured out how to fix that whole problem they have of, like, starving all the time over there. They just need geneticaly modified seeds and lots and lots of agrichemicals (i.e., petrochemical fertilizer!). You know, so they can kick out bumper crops like farmers over here in the States do! 'Cause it's not like there are any negative consequences to that approach, especially not when rich corporations bring it to the tropics. Jeebus, Bill Gates, what is your deal?! Is it not bad enough that you sell buttloads of imperfect operating systems that bring blue screens and frustration* to people around the world....do you have to export crappy (environment-destroying) industrial farming, too?! (P.S. While it may be historically accurate, don't you think you could've found a better way to talk about the increase in crop yield due to petroleum-based mono-crop industrial agriculture than "Green Revolution"? 'Cause I dunno 'bout you, Bill, but I'm interested in a whole 'nother kinda Green Revolution these days...Plus, what the hell? USA, China, India, Africa: one of these things is not like the other.)

In fairness, though, this sentence in Bill's letter is spot fucking on:

It is interesting how often the impact of climate change is illustrated by talking about the problems the polar bears will face rather than the much greater number of poor people who will die unless significant investments are made to help them.

I totally agree, Bill. I'm not sure, though, that expanding industrial farming techniques to countries that don't use them now will actually help this situation. In fact, I'm pretty darn sure it won't. Now, organic and permaculture resources? Whole different story.

In other news of the wackadoo, apparently someone's printing out the Shared Items from their Google Reader, and calling it a newspaper?? I saw one on the el this morning, and literally turned to my roomie and said, "I think they missed the point." Don't get me wrong, I love the tactile experience of printed media; I will probably always keep a magazine subscription or two, and you'll pry my books from my cold, dead hands. But. It makes zero sense to me to compile a bunch of blogs and print it out like a newspaper. Also? STOP NEEDLESSLY KILLING TREES, YOU THOUGHTLESS FUCKS! Read it on your damn laptop!

Another thing fueling my rage today: TreeHugger's "Vegetarians We Love," which is a list of *dudes* who don't eat meat. 'Cause, apparently, it is totally girly to not eat meat. Don't get me wrong, TreeHugger, I get that y'all are trying to show other dudes that not-eating-meat can totally be manly, since Joaquin Phoenix is totally a vegan and all....but excellent work ignoring the fact that food choices (should) have FUCK ALL to do with gender. And that guys need some kind of extra special prize for not guzzling steak at three meals a day.

Finally, to round out the sad state of the good, green earth and some of her fucked up peoples, it seems that Americans don't really buy this whole "climate change" business, and that if those of us who do buy it and give a damn are going to convince them to change, we're gonna have to dumb it down a bit, 'cause all that science talk is just confusing, or something. I know not everybody wants to pore over charts and data and read scientific studies which are, admittedly, often a little on the dry side...but the evidence is ubiquitous enough these days that we've already boiled it down to stuff like the penguins will all die and global warming is irreversible....I dunno how much less "science-y" it gets than those really plain statements, but apparently Jane Six-Pack still somehow thinks that's not a big deal. Ugh.

Le sigh. Okay, some good stuff to get the brain churning a bit: BFP & Jess' collab called (re)Thinking Walking, which is really interesting food for thought; a manifesto from Jeremy Schlosberg at Fingertips, who I find one of the smartest, fairest and most ethical music bloggers on the web; also, this bit about racism in SF&F is delightfully blunt.

The world is a complicated place, and I rarely find enough time to wrap my brain around even a small piece of it. But I keep trying.

_____________________________
* Note: I detest Microsoft only marginally less than I detest anything Apple-related. Just in case you were thinking I was a Mac person or something. *shudder*

Happy World Vegetarian Day!

Today is World Vegetarian Day, the kickoff to Vegetarian Awareness Month.

Now, I am not a vegetarian and probably never will be (the lure of venison tenderloin and morel mushrooms when I'm at my dad's is not something I ever intend to resist). However, I believe that eating less meat is a really important piece of environmental activism.

Let's talk about the reasons that eating less meat is better for the planet. First off, even if you're eating ethical meat (either ethically-raised organic animals raised on small scale farms, or wild caught or hunted animals), more resources go into a meat-based meal than a plant-based one. That cherished venison tenderloin, for example, belonged to a two or three year old buck, who spent those two or three years drinking water and eating grass and leaves and bark and bait carrots and apples and whatever else it is that deer eat...which adds up to a lot of resources just for that one animal. Veggies use less resources, because they only take one season to grow and be harvested for eating. Choosing veggies over meat effectively reduces the amount of energy that goes into making your meal, and reduces your water footprint. It's a sneaky way of conserving energy and water.

Beyond that, though, there are the horrors of the industrial food system. Factory farms and their CAFOs not only rob animals of dignity and any kind of reasonably enjoyable life (like, say, sunshine and fresh air), they pump them full of antibiotics and feed them processed corn and petrochemicals....a diet that is not natural for most livestock animals. Industrial meat (which is what you get in most supermarket - including Whole Foods - meat departments, frozen processed foods, restaurants, and just about anywhere else you encounter meat you don't know for a fact was hunted or caught) takes up an incredible amount of resources: water (which, in addition to what the animals drink, is used to spray down animals and holdings pens to prevent fecal dust from making the animals and farm workers constantly sick), petrochemicals (fertilizer for the animals' feed, as well as the prophylactic antibiotics and nutritional supplements required to keep the animals healthy), as well as all the energy used in mass slaughter and transport and processing. Even choosing industrially grown veggies is a better option here - while they're still saturated in petrochemical fertilizer, they skip the extra additives and antibiotics, and still have an incredibly smaller water footprint.

((Not incidentally, avoiding industrial meat is a socially just call, too: factory farms often employ undocumented workers for tiny salaries, no benefits, and crazy working conditions....like, say, working in animal pens clouded with airborne fecal dust, for example.))

When it comes to cutting out meat, I'm actually pretty lucky. My natural preferences lean away from industrial beef and pork generally (I was raised on game meat, which spoiled me in terms of flavor and texture), and I live with a vegetarian these days. Other than a couple cans of chicken soup and an occasional frozen pizza, I don't really keep meat stocked at home...so typically, I eat meat maybe once a week when I don't carry my lunch from home and splurge on a turkey sandwich (something I venerate like the sacred and holy delight it is).

So, even if you're like me and don't totally give up meat, it's a big step to try to make one meal a day (or even one a week) plant-based. Try subbing roasted zucchini or extra mushrooms for the meat in a pasta dish, or go with a comfort classic like grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup. Try taco night with black beans for filling instead of beef. Make a homemade pizza with as many veggies as you can pile on. Eat a green salad made of handsful of tomatoes and raisins and grapes and blueberries and beets and chickpeas and cucumbers and carrots and croutons and whatever dressing makes you happiest. Soup and bread. Yogurt and granola with fruit for breakfast. Hell, eggs and toast! There are tons of vegetarian options out there; probably ones most people already enjoy without even thinking about the fact that there's no meat involved.

Another way to rock the veggie thing is to patronize vegetarian restaurants - and I don't mean the restaurant that has a token grilled portobello sandwich. In the Chicago area, I can recommend:

• The Chicago Diner
  The Lakeview classic that's been around for 25 years. Easy to get to and a nice menu with lots of options. They first got me hooked on jicama.
  


• Lake Side Cafe
  This place is in my neighborhood, and is a new discovery for me. Holy cows, really amazing food - and a substantial portion of their menu isn't just vegetarian, it's vegan (no eggs or milk). They had this vegan artichoke dip that was creamy...without the cream! Miracle of miracles.
  


• Karyn's Cooked Cafe
  The original Karyn's restaurant serves only raw foods...and I haven't been there. But I've tried the menu at the cooked cafe in River North, and the food is tasty and the mead is awesome.
  

Supporting vegetarian restaurants not only gives you a meat-free meal you don't have to make yourself, but also makes a political statement with your dollars.

I don't necessarily attach any kind of virtue to vegetarianism....but (along with living car-free and trying to grow my own veggies and switching to CFLs and making less trash and buying less stuff ad nauseum) eating less meat is one way I can reduce the impact I have on the planet...so I encourage others to try it as much as they are able to within the constraints of health.

And what better time to try it out than Vegetarian Awareness Month?

Green v. "LOHAS"

If you live in Chicago (or L.A. or San Fran or Seattle...hmmm, one of these things is not like the other...), you may be familiar with Conscious Choice, a magazine dedicated to "LOHAS" (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability), which from what I can deduce, consists of yoga, meditation, and buying a whole buttload of eco-friendly stuff. The consumerist bent of this magazine has really started rubbing me the wrong way; I read it because it also has info on local green happenings and occasionally, interesting articles or essays (I tend to enjoy the heck out of Daniel Pinchbeck's monthly columns). The class blindness generally creeps up my ass only mildly, but this month, when they were running down the idea of green leases, I kinda lost it. I mean, they expect people to pony up two years worth of utilities in advance. So, let's conservatively argue that a month's utilities are, say, $100, between water and gas and electric...which is $1200 a year. Now, I don't know about other folks, but if I'm already shelling out to move into a new apartment, I'm spending on moving costs, plus deposit on the new apartment; on top of that, which could run a couple grand itself, depending, I'd need to come up another $2400 or more?! Who the fuck has money like that laying around, especially these days? So, yeah, not striking me as terribly helpful on that count, Conscious Choice.

((Sidenote: Shucks, it would be nice to find green resources that didn't involve shelling out craploads of money, or just in general green tips that weren't just replacing the same ol' consumerist habits with green versions of the same! End digression.))

Every month, they have a feature that runs down a bunch of statistics. This month's listing included this tidbit, recommending a vegetarian breakfast over the "traditional" American breakfast:

10 Times less, in greenhouse gas emissions, incurred by eating a light breakfast of yogurt, banana, cereal and milk in place of a traditional breakfast of bacon, eggs, sausage, potatoes and toast.

Now, first off, I don't know *anyone* who actually eats a breakfast of bacon, eggs, sausage, potatoes, and toast on a regular basis. Once or twice a month at weekend brunch, maybe, but I can't think of a single person I know who does that more than occasionally. (Granted, my social sphere may be skewed by my hippie liberal leanings, but still...I come from farm folk, and even my grandparents don't eat like that!) In fact, I'd hazard a guess that I know more people who eat *no* breakfast than who eat eggs plus two servings of both meats and carbs for breakfast.

Secondly, and maybe more disturbing to me, the breakfast they're recommending includes yogurt, cereal, milk, and fruit. I like this breakfast - in fact, it's one I have myself fairly often (sans milk - I like cereal in my yogurt). Over this past summer, I've enjoyed it many times with farmer's market blueberries or strawberries. As we shift into fall, I suspect it may become apples, since that's what's both local and seasonal. I'm curious, though, why Conscious Choice would make a specific recommendation for a particular type of fruit, when a general statement would have done just as well. I am specifically curious as to why they felt it necessary to recommend bananas, the evil-est of all evil exotic fruit. Are the Conscious Choice editors and writers not aware of the political ramifications of bananas? Of the environmental ones, due to monoculture and long-distance transport and petrochemical agriculture and genetic modification?

Needless to say, I have written a letter to the editors asking them to reconsider this recommendation. I'm all for yogurt, cereal, and fruit for breakfast - but skip the blood-soaked environmentally-unfriendly banana in favor of some local, seasonal fruit instead. Or, if you can't get local/seasonal fruit, try organic raisins or just about anything at your neighborhood fruit market that's not a banana.

Also annoying? The usual weight loss claptrap. Especially the part about cutting 300-500 calories from your diet to "slow aging." Not only did this two sentence blurb contain three (count 'em) weasel words (might, may, could), it mentioned no cautionary statements about starting points....like if you're already eating 500 calories on a starvation diet, cutting 300 of them might be a bad idea. Also, although it's impossible to know for sure which study they're basing this off, all of the likely studies in the publication they reference involve mice and rats - not a human-based experiment in the lot! Again I say: "THEY DON'T ACTUALLY KNOW FOR SURE, and whatever they're selling you is based on FUCK ALL."

I wish there were better choices in the world.

The weekend was a black hole of motherfucking suck, and I am going to be processing for awhile. This saddens me, and leaves me no spare thoughtspace to pontificate on the ills of the world; my heart is creaking for more personal reasons today.

Lucky for me, other people are saying insightful things, though. For example, there's the Women of Color and Beauty Carnival at Yennenga, which is seriously worth reading. I also liked this rant about torture, from John Buell via Common Dreams. Also exciting: Connecticut's steps to make solar power more accessible to the masses! I also liked the Anti-Advertising Agency's take down of a travel ad.

Then, of course, there's this pile of horse shit that purports to defend GMO crops and by extension agribusiness. I read it over and was too pissed to properly dress it down, but in summary:

If a new product's characteristics are attractive and the price is right, it succeeds in the marketplace, stimulating still more innovation. Ironically, some of Prince Charles's own organically produced vegetables failed this test: so deformed and repulsive to look at, they were not marketable and had to be given to local schools.

...that is bullshit. That framing of success only applies if your goal is to make a profit. If your goal is to properly nourish people with actual real live food, all the while NOT destroying the planet....well, then, maybe GMO crops aren't quite so damn fabulous.

Suck fatigue.

I've been spending a lot of time lately re-educating myself on history and culture, trying to get a more balanced perspective than the white patriarchy version I learned in school. A lot of this has been really jaw-dropping for me, like stumbling across the story of Saartjie Baartman (a.k.a. the 'Hottentot' Venus, a Khoikhoi woman who was shown off like some sideshow freak for the shape of her ass - which, as a substantially bootylicious chick myself, just...yeah, it blew my mind, and not in a good way), learning about the "convict leasing system" (a vomitous practice that kept black men legally enslaved well into the twentieth century), and discovering the truth about "banana republics.

You know, I would think that surviving childhood rape, divorce, a schizophrenic mother, and suicidal-drug-addicted roommates would pretty much keep my expectations for the human race pretty fuckin' low....but turns out I still have a shred of faith in humanity. Lord knows why.

What with my illness awhile back, I spent most of my vacation time from work....but I think I'm going to take a summer media vacation anyway. I declare that I need a break from having my nose rubbed in mankind's shit-on-the-carpet, so my soul can grow back a little. Otherwise, I may just lose all ability to believe that change is possible, and give up, and go buy an SUV or something.

So, for awhile, I am willfully burying my head in the sand, though in this case, the sand is likely to be music and popsicles and fluffy novels and a quest for sunburns at my local beach.

Before I officially shut off my political awareness, though, I need to mention that the ass-kicking Coalition of Immokalee Workers is going after Chipotle (not to mention apparently planning to target Whole Foods soon - yippee!), trying to ensure something closer to fair work conditions for farm workers. You can learn how to help here, including awesome letters you can print up and deliver to your local Chipotle managers. You know, if you eat there.

Also: via my awesome roomie, here's a site encouraging communities to convert high-visibilty lawns and such into organic food gardens. There's a petition to start with the White House lawn. How fucking cool is that?

Water, Water....uh, nowhere?

This article (via Common Dreams) is a good reminder that as important as it is to reduce energy consumption and look for sustainable materials, etc., etc....water conservation cannot be forgotten. Sitting in my cubicle with a bottle (the reusable kind, but of course) full of ice and fresh filtered water from the machine in the break room, it's easy to put the world's water crisis out of mind - but there are water-based injustices all over the planet, and if I do NOTHING else to help them out, I can at least use the water I'm lucky enough to have access to as sparingly as I possibly can.

Suggestions (surprisingly easy!) on how to save water:

* Get rid of your lawn (try ground cover or food plants, instead!!). Or, if you must have a grass lawn, plant native grasses that require less water. Water only when the plants need it, and avoid watering the driveway or sidewalk.

* Turn the water off when you brush your teeth. Shorten your shower; install a low-flow shower head. Catch graywater (water that would normally go down the drain) and use it to water plants.

* Eat less meat; plants require less water before harvest. (More info on environmental reasons to eat less meat here; fair warning, this reference does advocate vegetarianism...but from a strictly environmental perspective.)

More water conservation info here, here, and here. Also, a lot of good advice from Grist's "Ask Umbra".

Hitting a wall.

A lot of activists seem to be hitting a wall this week for some reason. I'm feeling it, too...when I look at the enormity of the injustices in the world, how close the planet is to total oblivion, and how little many people seem to give a damn....it's overwhelming. I get frustrated with what often feels like my own inability to shed the expectations of the culture I grew up in, and engage in more authentic, more sustainable daily habits - not to mention doing stuff beyond the everyday to try make the rest of the world a more equitable place. I forget sometimes, though, just how far outside the "norm" I already am, in many ways. There are plenty of people who consider me obnoxiously radical, even though I feel like there's so much more I could be doing.

That's the context in which I read David Korten's brilliant remarks to the Seattle Green Expo. While part of me thinks the Green Expos are still too driven by commerce and consumerism, I do think they're great baby steps to help spread green ideas and information. Korten's speech, however, was a breath of fresh air - it touched on things I believe but don't always articulate very well - particularly the idea of Empire. Some excerpts:

No more throwaway stuff. No more economic growth for the rich. Our priority must be to grow our well-being rather than our consumption. Invest in peace, education, and health care rather than war. Invest in compact communities rather than suburban sprawl. Invest in local economies and environmental rejuvenation rather than in shipping toys around the world and speculating in the global financial casino. Invest in sidewalks, bicycles, bicycle paths, and public transportation rather than cars and highways. Invest in education for living rather than advertising to get us to consume more. Here is the kicker. We must eliminate exactly those forms of non-essential production and consumption that our economic and political systems are designed to promote.

We might wonder how such injustice could happen in a world governed by democratically elected governments. The answer is simple and alarming. Our world is not governed by democratically elected governments. It is ruled by global financial institutions in the service of financial speculators who exchange trillions of dollars daily in search of instance unearned profits to increase the fortunes — and the power— of the richest people on the planet. They bring down governments that displease them, and buy and sell the largest corporations like commodities. By design and law the defining priority and obligation of these governing institutions is to generate financial profits to make rich people richer, in short to increase inequality in a world in desperate need of greater equity.

Absent the discussions that encouraged the sharing of their true stories, women whose experience failed to conform to the prevailing cultural story held themselves responsible for the failure. They assumed they were simply different, and thus in some way deficient. By breaking the silence to share their stories they ended their isolation and rose above self-doubt as they came to realize that they were in the very good company of a great many other wonderful women. Many then lent their voices to a growing chorus of women engaged in changing the cultural stories by which society had long defined women and their roles.

This bit here strikes me as particularly relevant to social justice movements...it's one reason why fat activism is so important to me, why it's important to share stories that break cultural assumptions about fat bodies and what it means to live in one. Most importantly, this idea of shifting the "failure" from the individual to the cultural construct that defined that failure in privileged terms that excluded the entirely valid experiences of many people.

One of the things Korten mentions is the Earth Charter, a fairly comprehensive statement of principles related to environmental, social, and economic justice that I like a great deal (although there was a spiritual/moral bent that I would want to shift to make more open to those who follow no spiritual path). It's a little more extensive than the Reclaiming Principles of Unity, but covers a lot of the same ground (although minus the witchy framework). In looking over the people involved with creating the Charter and maintaining its propagation in the world, I see a lot of diversity, but also a lot of powerful people; I'm not entirely certain the egalitarianism I find inherent in the values is also present in the actual operation....but then again, there's a whole thing about decentralized expansion - which breaks down hierarchies....so maybe it's more like Reclaiming than not.

Ahem. Anyway.

Sometimes I worry that I am not doing enough. I have no doubt there's more I can be doing everyday to live within my values.....but I also think it's important to recognize how much I'm already doing. Sure, for every radical action (like, say, catching graywater when I'm washing dishes and using it to water the plants - or growing some of my own food in an urban environment - or daring to be fat and not hate myself), there are multiple not-so-radical, not-so-awesome actions (like dying my hair with horrible chemicals - or sometimes getting frou-frou coffee from Starbucks - or buying a new pair of shoes when I have forty pairs at home already). I work a corporate job, and don't own a car. I use laundry detergent made by Proctor & Gamble, but biodegradable dish soap.

It's a process, working towards a sustainable life. I'm not yet ready to give away everything I own, wear sack-cloth, and sleep on a straw pallet....or pull myself entirely out of the capitalist world in which I was born. I add a little bit every day. I come closer every moment. I am compassionate for the times I don't do as well as I'd like, succumbing to convenience and privilege. I try again.

In summary, from Mr. Korten:

In everything you do, share the story of our human possibility and of our right and responsibility to create for ourselves and for future generations, the world of our shared dream. Our distinctive human capacity for reflection and intentional choice carries a corresponding moral responsibility to care for our Mother Earth and for one another. We must now test the limits of the individual and collective creative potential of our species as we strive to become the change we seek.

Today's outrage.

I never really was all that hot for John Edwards as a presidential candidate (I've been a Hillary girl since, well, 1992?), but I always considered him as strong a candidate as either Obama or Clinton. And, since he's officially NOT running for veep (which totally makes me think of that truism from Lions for Lambs), I like what he's doing instead. Beefing up Head Start (of which I'm a beneficiary, by the by), Medicaid, SCHIP, and other programs that offer aid to low income families - especially children - is a great idea.

Disappointingly, though, it seems like corporate interests are running the show pretty much everywhere - first by maintaining a stranglehold on the intellectual property and patent system that keeps medicines only in the hands of those who can afford them (or profit by them) - second by destroying local food systems in favor of agribusiness that propagates GMO crops, enjoys significant government funding in the form of subsidies and grants for cleaning up their own unnecessary environmental messes, survives on the backs of underpaid and overworked labor, not to mention prioritizes profit over human life or environmental sustainability. With those powers at the wheel (and can anyone really argue that corporations aren't calling the shots here? how scary is it that drug companies are giving more to Democrats than Republicans?? REAL scary....and please note that Obama - he of the "no special interests" money position - got the largest number reported in that article...), it's a huge challenge to try and level the playing field for those living in poverty, in this country and around the globe.

In the context of my ongoing re-education about the geography and history of the planet, I found this article from The Independent really fascinating. Now, I hate bananas and don't eat them....but I know lots of people who do, and I think it would be a shame if there were no more bananas. Furthermore, I find it really fucking horrible how rich, white people seem to have swapped the cunning use of flags for equally unjust corporate takeovers, which trend this story illustrates nicely.

((Sidenote: I feel really disappointed in myself for not previously knowing the origin of the term "banana republic," which for some reason I thought was just a descriptor for countries in steamy equatorial regions that would be good for growing bananas. I had no idea it was such a blood-drenched term, and I'm furthermore very interested in following up this read with some digging about what countries currently embroiled in conflict of some sort might be suffering from this kind of corporate interference in their governments.))

I assume that most people think I'm a little crazy for thinking capitalism is evil and money is evil and corporations are evil and banks are evil and that most of the world's ills can be laid directly at the feet of one or more of those culprits. But this pattern is so clear to me, and so clearly WRONG. And killing people, and destroying the planet. Right now, I'm having trouble understanding how anyone can think money and banks and corporations and capitalism *aren't* evil.

Amtrak rocks.

Attention, Democratic Presidential Nominee (whoever you wind up being!):

When you're sitting in the White House, contemplating how to pull out of Iraq and stop worldwide starvation and genocide...here's something to keep in mind when it comes to domestic policy. Nothing takes the sting out of crap gas prices like cheap train tickets....especially if the rail system is maintained well enough to get people from origin to destination in an efficient, timely manner.

A big part of my car-free, green lifestyle has been riding Amtrak as much as possible, when travelling outside the Chicago area. I've taken it to New York, St. Louis, and various destinations in Michigan. I have plans to someday hop the City of New Orleans (will I take my guitar and sing a Steve Goodman cover? you betcha!) and even do the rail vacay to Glacier National Park.

I love Amtrak, dear Democratic Nominee, and I know it's not properly funded. But doing so would be good for the environment, good for people's pocketbooks, and good for public opinion of the U.S. worldwide. Let's stop pandering to automakers, and start making rail service a real alternative form of transport!

Thanks bunches,
Tari
Loyal Amtrak Rider, car free since March 2001

Tuesday Ruminations.

I think it is human nature to separate the micro and the macro into nice, cozy separate boxes. I think the blurry lines between individual choices and the inextricably connected Big Picture are frightening on some insitinctual level - it challenges whatever it is in human brains (or maybe just ones bathed in capitalism and patriarchy and Western culture?) that individuates and helps us prioritize the survival of our genes over the survival of those *other* genes that are NOT ours. I think about this kind of paradox a great deal, which is why I feel like I spend a lot of time walking the razor-thin line between, er, "normal" (for lack of a better term) and some kind of Peak Experience. I see this dynamic in religion (a sort-of-like-a-human God v. the entirety of creation and uncreation being one seamless whole living being in all its diverse parts), in politics (individual freedom v. peaceful coexistence), in activism (my individual actions v. the faceless and overwhelming status quo), etc., etc., etc.

I think it's hard for one brain to comprehend the endless complications of even the most seemingly simple idea. A cup of coffee isn't just a cup of coffee - it's a product of an ancient process with millenia of history and context, with impact based on where and how it was grown and harvested and shipped and processed and transported and prepared and how I choose to drink it, not to mention the various social and cultural and economic and environmental factors for all the people involved in all those processes...and then there's the effect it has on my body when I drink it, the cultural implications of drinking coffee, how it affects my appearance and status and how the way I choose to drink that coffee reflects my personality and my lifestyle, the effects on my immediate environment and possibly the regional environment...but even holding an awareness of all those layers of complication, I have trouble not just focusing on the cup of coffee. I can only hold so much thought at one time, and I haven't yet progressed in my enlightenment enough to truly sip coffee with a full awareness of the vast network of inter-related factors tied to this two second moment of my life.

And therein lies, in my opinion, the central challenge humanity wrestles with as a species. Self. Universe. And the mushy middle between, where most of life fits.

I stumbled aboard this train of thought this morning while reading this piece. The writer talks about the idea of food activism and individual choices being a somehow more manageable alternative to massive environmental problems, like global warming or soil contamination or polluted water or deforestation or toxic chemicals in everything. It's an interesting way of looking at the environmental movement as it's become more and more mainstream over the past few years; I find it particularly interesting the way so much activism (especially the kind I hear about in the media) has shifted from nuclear protests and people chaining themselves to redwoods and laying in front of bulldozers....to more capitalist measures - conscious consumerism, as it were. That's a really noteworthy (and sort of disturbing) shift, and it brings up the idea of individual choice in a context of severely harmful systems of being.

((My inner conspiracy theorist says: How much of a shift from groups challenging systems, to individuals changing how they consume...how much of that shift is a total red herring?))

This theme popped up again for me, in reading the comments on this piece from The Guardian. As always with any story about fat people, there was a lot of "just eat less, and move more" (with various levels of courtesy or coherency) and also plenty of "get rid of your cars and bike everywhere" (not to mention "people just need to learn how to eat healthy" - which makes me wonder, what the fuck rock do people think these alleged ignorant people are living under that they don't know how to "eat healthy"? Seriously, I can't crack a newspaper, flip on a TV, listen to a radio, or surf the internet - or have a conversation with most of my friends and family - without having seventeen opinions about what "healthy eating" means shoved right down my throat! If anyone doesn't know how to eat healthy, it's because the only person they ever talk to is painted on a volleyball...) (/end rant). The premise of the article, though, was that there are systemic issues at work, not just individual choices...that food "choices" are less free than people want to think, that economic realities and various other cultural factors have an effect on fatness. Interestingly enough, the bugaboo of fatness leading to a decrease in life expectancy didn't come up in this article (via Common Dreams), which talked about how life expectancy has gone down, but mostly for poor people with little access to proper healthcare...which again begs the question: is it the individual, or is it the bigger picture? Magic Eight Ball says: Answer Not Clear.

I have said before (in answer to many, many questions) that "It's Not That Simple," and I always mean it. It's been my experience that very little in life is ever simple - and if it appears so, there's likely more to it than what's visible. The personal is political, the part affects the whole, as above - so below, all different ways of saying the same thing: what is done in this moment matters, and cannot be disconnected from what was done in the preceding moment or what will be done in the moment following. When we're talking about fighting presidential secrecy, that won't just be done by my writing to the White House and telling the President I think he's an asshole for legislating from the Oval Office and pissing on the Constitution - it will probably also take massive systemic change coming from Congress and broader, collective efforts to reestablish the checks and balances that separate a representative democracy from a fascist oligarchy. When we're talking about ending racism and sexism and sizism and ableism and looksism and other kinds of outdated (and yet, sadly, still present and active and pervasive) discrimination, it can't just be done by calling out some jerk for shitty comments at a press conference...it will probably also take a complete and total reframing of our cultural understanding of gender and race and ethnicity and all the other visible (and not visible) characteristics that mark the tremendous diversity of the human race. Saving the planet won't just happen because I buy local, organic food...it will take global reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, massive shifts in food and transportation systems, and an overhaul of what "lifestyle" means in a world on the brink of breakdown.

I recognize that I have some pretty radical ideas, in general. I sometimes want to give away everything I own and go walkabout in a veggie-powered RV, fer chrissakes (holy cows, I'm not the only one!). A lot of that has to do with wanting to distance myself from People. You know, Them. They are stupid and ignorant and different and intolerant and judgmental and whatever other adjectives apply. They are faceless and there are way more of Them than there ever are of Us. Part of my desire to go a-wand'ring is tied to my chronic boho hiraeth, but it's also part of how I manifest my own personal need to draw a line around myself and clarify that I Am Not Them. I separate myself from the Whole, because it makes it easier for me to simplify the messy chaos of life - it makes it harder for me to get hamstrung by the heartbreak that would inevitably haunt me if I really could see the impact of every moment I am alive.

But the harder I work to become more aware of my impacts on the world around me, the more I recognize that that line between me and the world around me is a creation in my head and doesn't really exist. And there has to be a way to apply this concept to all the systemic injustice and degradation in the world. I'm still working on that.

The UCS weighs in on CAFOs.

The Union of Concerned Scientists, "the leading science-based nonprofit working for a healthy environment and a safer world" (according to their website blurb), published this report on Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) (via Common Dreams), which are a staple of the meat industry - with horriffic consequences to the local and global environment (anybody remember Al Franken's awesome riff on shit lagoons? brilliant!), not to mention shockingly inhumane treatment for the animals (debeaking, antibiotics and hormones, not to mention the never-seeing-sunshine-ever part).

CAFOs are bad. Learn more here. And, if you must eat meat, look for free range, grass fed animals raised by small scale farmers.

Locavore & Food Activism Miscellany.

First, there's this excellent piece from Grist's Tom Philpott, looking at farming infrastructure, how it favors industrial farming over smaller and mid-sized operations. I also really liked his previous column, which addressed the fact that higher food prices probably won't drive people to make better food choices, but to fall deeper into the cheapest (both economically and nutritionally) traps of the industrialized food system.

Speaking of fast food, we move on to farm labor practices, and TrueMajority's call to action in support of Florida tomato pickers. Turns out, they're getting shafted when it comes to wages and working conditions, all so we can get burgers for under a buck - and this is right here in the U.S., not in a sweatshop on the other side of the globe. (More about this here, again from Philpott - I just can't get enough of the guy!)

A big thing that I hear often in discussing food activism is the idea of "should" and the inherent judgment a lot of people feel, either internally or from other people. This brief, ass-kicking essay on the difference between morals and values is illuminating in that context, and I heartily recommend it for anyone worried about being judged for their food choices. (Also, the comments are pretty funny - though heads up for one that's annoyingly fat-phobic, complete with lame donut-based metaphor - 'cause all fatties eat nothing but donuts, doncha know!)

...and to round things up, if you're local to Chicago - don't forget the upcoming Food Activism Class I'll be teaching in May with my awesome friend, Jennifer Byers. We'll be looking at the realities of industrial food - how it affects us in body, in community, and environmentally - and what we can do to try to change that in our individual lives, as well as on a global scale. (Not like it's ambitious or anything.)

Last Earth Day thing...

This article (by the sainted Michael Pollan!) rocks!!!!

(via commentary on my friend Jen's LJ)

ETA: Also this (heads up for a lame fat-phobic metaphor) and this and this, all via Common Dreams. Seriously, it's greentastic up in here today!

Happy Earth Day!

Today is Earth Day, and while I know the media will be a-buzz with stories on CFLs and hybrid jets and solar panels and water conservation and mass transit and canvas shopping bags...today, I want to look at the intersection between environmentalism and that pesky world hunger thing, through the lens of our current world food crisis and the greenwashed bane of the ecological movement, biofuels.

At first glance, biofuels seem like a brilliant alternative to petroleum products - they're renewable, they burn cleaner and emit less greenhouse gas, and since America is already growing craploads of corn and soy, there's a ready supply of raw materials just waiting to be processed and refined! And certainly, all of these points are true and worth noting. But. When you weigh saving the planet against the starvation of millions of people around the world who could literally AVOID DEATH if they had access to those corn and soy surpluses? No contest. Fuck biofuels, and feed the people.

I love the idea of biodiesel. I, myself, have dreams of someday swanning about the countryside in a veggie oil-powered RV. But this veggie oil is recycled - having already been used for food purposes - and is not taken out of the food supply expressly for the purpose of carrying my ass to the grocery store. Using food crops to make fuel when people are going hungry is just...not fucking okay. It's tacit agreement that starvation is okay, and while I imagine some people will pull out the "survival of the fittest" card or something (regardless of whether they believe in evolution), the reality is that our world does not make food equally accessible to all people. It doesn't make opportunities equally accessible to all people. To claim that starving people wouldn't have to starve if they'd just "work harder" or "do something" is ignorant and reprehensible. Not only that, but rich countries, like the U.S., have an obligation as members of the global community to step up and share the abundance we have been fortunate enough to receive.

Today, while you're swapping out your incandescent bulbs for compact flourescents (and educating yourself about the mercury risk, rather than panicking at the behest of some fear-mongering network news story)....while you're carrying your locally produced organic groceries out of your indie market in a canvas bag....while you're hopping in your hybrid or onto public transportation or a bike....while you're turning off the lights and taking a shorter shower...maybe write your representatives and ask them to stop putting government money behind biofuels, and to find ways to get those funds and surplus foodstuffs to the starving people who need them. Maybe speak up the next time someone you know raves about the joys of ethanol and how eco-friendly their E-85 SUV is. Maybe even join add your voice to the ONE campaign's call to end world hunger.

More about hunger: here and here.

Toronto Residents: Lucky Bastards!

First, there's that whole socialized medicine thing. Then? The local electric company gives away clotheslines as part of a conservation program. Must be nice to have a utility that seems to give a damn about the environment. 'Round these parts, ComEd allegedly cares....but I ain't so sure.

World Hunger Crisis

On the heels of my announcement earlier today...I received a missive from ONE.org, talking about the precipitous rise in food prices that is wreaking havoc on those most vulnerable to the effects of poverty and lack of access to food and basic necessities. (Don't buy it? Look at this or this or this or this or this or this!)

Between biofuels, GMOs, crop subsidies, and unchecked and unjust "free" trade policies...there are hungry people all over the world. I encourage you to visit ONE.org and join their petition to President Bush and the rest of the G8 - asking the richest and most powerful to reach out and help those upon whose backs they got that way.

Announcement: Sacred Food, Sacred Body, Sacred Earth!!

Sacred Food - Sacred Body - Sacred Earth
with Jennifer Byers and Tari Follett
A six week exploration of the impacts of food on
individuals, communities, and the planet.

Dates:        Wednesdays, May 14 – June 25, 6:30 – 9:00 p.m.
                   (no class on June 11)
Location:    Fulton Carroll Center - 2032 W. Fulton, Ste. F-263-A
Cost:          $25-50 sliding scale  (work exchange possible)

E-mail SacredFBE@tarifollett.com with any questions or to register!

Few things in life are more personal and intimate than eating - literally taking something into our bodies in such an intense and permanent (relatively speaking) way. It's surprising how remote we can seem, culturally, from the realities of food. Often, we're not conscious of what is actually in our food, where it comes from, how it affects our bodies, or what the broader impacts of our eating habits might be. Further, because eating is something everyone (with tragic exceptions) does every single day, several times a day, the potential for tremendous impact on the planet is enormous.

Wrapped up in our food disconnects is a related estrangement from our bodies. Pop culture, media of all types, and societal stereotypes and gender norms all feed alleged "ideals" that do not, in fact, reflect averages, health, or happiness...yet every day millions fall prey to advertising smoke and mirrors, sacrificing their mental and physical health (not to mention happiness) and torturing their bodies with insufficient food, toxic chemicals, and other catastrophically harmful behaviors - all in pursuit of an illusion only achievable by a tiny genetic minority.

Addressing all of these issues is the work of several lifetimes, and is most impactful when personally engaged by every individual. Unfortunately, we may not have several lifetimes to tackle these complicated problems - the earth is at a tipping point, and the impacts of our relationships with our bodies and the food we put into them cannot be shifted too soon. Our survival as individuals, as a species, and as one facet of a delicate biosphere depends on the choices we make at the breakfast table.

Our intention in "Sacred Food, Sacred Body, Sacred Earth" is to wade into the confusing morass of issues surrounding food, health, and ecology to broaden perspectives and offer information that will enable students to make wiser, more sustainable choices - for their own understanding of and enjoyment of their food, their bodies, and their planet. What if we knew the life cycle of our food from seed to soup bowl? What if we viewed each bite as an act of devotion to our health? What if we saw ourselves as strong, vibrant, and beautiful - just as we are in this very moment? What if we viewed the health of total strangers as just as sacred as our own? What if every meal was a prayer?

Visit http://www.tarifollett.com/SacredFBE for more information.
E-mail SacredFBE@tarifollett.com with any questions or to register!