"The Food Movement, Rising" - Michael Pollan

Date:   7/20/2015 7:40:10 AM ( 9 y ago)

Found Michael Pollan on the second page of my search results for: "food politics".

Inspired to research this after having posted my comment at Jon Barron's site: "Baseline of Health Foundation" regarding his article: "Why Politics and Nutrition Don't Mix"[1]

Michael says: "Where many social movements tend to splinter as time goes on, breaking into various factions representing divergent concerns or tactics, the food movement starts out splintered. Among the many threads of advocacy that can be lumped together under that rubric we can include school lunch reform; the campaign for animal rights and welfare; the campaign against genetically modified crops; the rise of organic and locally produced food; efforts to combat obesity and type 2 diabetes; “food sovereignty” (the principle that nations should be allowed to decide their agricultural policies rather than submit to free trade regimes); farm bill reform; food safety regulation; farmland preservation; student organizing around food issues on campus; efforts to promote urban agriculture and ensure that communities have access to healthy food; initiatives to create gardens and cooking classes in schools; farm worker rights; nutrition labeling; feedlot pollution; and the various efforts to regulate food ingredients and marketing, especially to kids."[2]

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The impetus for my "food politics" research extends directly from my comment as to "Why Politics and Nutrition Don't Mix"[3]

Writing that comment whetted my appetite for continuing the process of adding my perspective to what appears to me to be wide-spread resistance to both governmental food policy and food politics. Submitting that comment came right on the heels of researching (plus a couple separate conversations with a couple friends) about the idea of having twelve perspectives on a given thing (and possibly seven times that) as Rudolf Steiner had suggested in a number of his lectures.

In light of this I am now simply noting the following organizations for my further research as to their "food politics" and especially regarding their relationship with government.

Politics, Policy, & Governance

#1.) The Center for Food Safety is a public interest organization that challenges harmful food production technologies through litigation and legal petitions.:
http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/

#2.) Center for Rural Affairs is a national, rural organization dedicated to the protection and rebuilding of rural America.:
http://www.cfra.org/

#3.) Community Alliance with Family Farmers advocates for family farmers and sustainable agriculture.:
http://www.caff.org/

#4.) Consumers Union is a nonprofit information organization that promotes consumer protection.:
http://consumersunion.org/

#5.) Environmental Working Group is an organization that aims to spread information to the public in order to protect community health and the environment.:
http://www.ewg.org/

#6.) Farm Aid is an organization dedicated to protecting family farmers.:
https://www.farmaid.org/

#7.) Farm Policy News is a daily news source that analyzes farm policy.:
http://farmpolicy.com/

#8.) Food First: The Institute for Food and Development Policy aims to eliminate the injustices that cause hunger, poverty, and environmental degradation through research, advocacy, and education.:
http://foodfirst.org/

#9.) Food & Water Watch is a group dedicated to ensuring the safety and sustainability of the food, water, and fish that consumers eat.:
http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/

#10) Green for All is a national organization working to create and implement programs that increase quality jobs and opportunities in the green industry.:
http://www.greenforall.org/

#11.) National Family Farm Coalition is an organization that works on family farm issues. NFFC represents 24 grassroots organizations in 32 states.:
http://nffc.net/

#12.) National Young Farmers’ Coalition is an organization that represents, mobilizes, and engages young farmers to ensure their success.:
http://www.youngfarmers.org/

#13.) National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition is an alliance of grassroots organizations that advocates for federal policy reform to advance the sustainability of agriculture, food systems, natural resources, and rural communities.:
http://sustainableagriculture.net/

#14.) Organic Consumers Association is an organization campaigning for health, justice, and sustainability.:
https://www.organicconsumers.org/

#15.) Pesticide Action Network works to replace the use of hazardous pesticides with ecologically sound and socially just alternatives.:
http://www.panna.org/

#16.) Union for Concerned Scientists — founded by students and faculty members at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology — is a science-based nonprofit working for a healthy environment and a safer world.:
http://www.ucsusa.org/

#17.) Agricultural Law blog about agricultural law.:
http://aglaw.blogspot.com/

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August 1, 2015 -

The Local Food Movement -

“In June 2005 during the San Francisco celebration of World Environment Day, Jen Maiser, Jessica Prentice, Sage Van Wing, Dede Sampson, and a group of Northern Californian women unveiled a challenge entitled 'Celebrate Your Foodshed: Eat Locally,' or simply, 'The Local Food Challenge.' ... The authors of the Challenge contended that while organics may once have been a way to find sustainable food options, already by the early-2000s the description (or label) of organic could apply to food produced on the other side of the world on an industrial farm. Local farms, the authors argued—with the small, family farms of Northern California in mind, must go beyond organic to use a variety of agroecological farming practices.

After launching their own Locavores website, the original creators went on to extend the concept in various ways. ... Perhaps most significantly, locavore was embraced by sustainable agriculture movement activists... It was picked up by food writers, restaurant consultants, and famous chefs—including Alice Waters of Chez Panisse, who is synonymous with California regional, organic haute cuisine. In 2007 Barbara Kingsolver used it in her popular book Vegetable, Animal, Miracle, a chronicle of her family’s attempt to eat a local diet. Also in 2007, locavore was voted 'Word of the Year' by the Oxford American Dictionary, and defined a 'a person whose diet consists only or principally of locally grown or produced food.'”[4]

“The name (locavore) caught fire like a match in a bowl of gasoline. It soon spread into the public consciousness via the San Francisco Chronicle and other media. Soon the four women … were challenging Bay Area residents to spend one month eating only what was grown within a hundred-mile radius. The locavore campaign was irresistible and has become a tradition.” -

Locavore Adventures: One Chef's Slow Food Journey - By Jim Weaver[5]

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Footnotes:

[1] http://jonbarron.org/diet-and-nutrition/Government-Regulation-Fats-and-Trans-Fats#

[2] http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2010/jun/10/food-movement-rising/

[3] The comment I submitted at the "Baseline of Health Foundation" website:

Thank you, Jon!

Your reporting is certainly outstanding! (I intend to post and promote links to this.) Although the overall focus is "Politics and Nutrition" the report offers additional substance that deserves the public's recognition. Personally I really appreciate your acknowledgement of the very important nutritional difference in having "grass fed" animal products (rather than the grain-fed variations)!

I definitely agree that "Politics and Nutrition Don’t Mix" - however my conclusion is based on another perspective (that I think deserves to be better known in addition to the fact you and others have presented re: government's nutritional ignorance).

My conclusion: government is not authorized to concern itself with any of this subject matter! I've reported on this:
http://www.curezone.org/blogs/fm.asp?i=2252051

Briefly: agriculture, food, nutrition, health, etc. are all subject matters that are simply not within the delegated "Powers" that were granted to Congress in any of the four foundational Organic Laws of the United States of America. IMO, all representatives need know the limitations of their authority:
http://www.curezone.org/blogs/fm.asp?i=2265823

Would you be willing to consider adding the perspective of the Organic Laws in your "conversation" on "Politics and Nutrition"?

[4] https://critical-sustainabilities.ucsc.edu/locavore/

[5] https://books.google.com/books?id=tBo58jqxMHUC&pg=PA79&lpg=PA79&dq=%22Alice+Waters%22%2B%22jessica+prentice%22&source=bl&ots=V0BYQLuWPW&sig=cYlVs4RHZ1_NRQYyeLJpW9COjFA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAzgKahUKEwiQpbaAkYjHAhWD04AKHYBkBu8#v=onepage&q=%22Alice%20Waters%22%2B%22jessica%20prentice%22&f=false

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Keywords:
Michael Pollan, food politics, Nutrition, food movement, organic, food sovereignty, agriculture, community, Governance, Foodshed, Eat Locally, Local Food Challenge, food law, Slow Food

 

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