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Deepen Involvement | Food & Farming |Food & Farming Links
Links to Food & Farming Resources
Educational,
Action-Oriented Organizations
Coffee Activism (Java Justice)
Animals
Videos
Food, Farming and Your Congregation
Educational,
Action-Oriented Organizations
The Center for a New
American Dream -- The Center has
an excellent website and quality resources including information on
connecting food choices with greater equity and sustainability.
They also highlight issues like "kids and commercialism,"
"simplifying the holidays" and much more. The Center's website includes a web-based calculator (see
their Turn the Tide program) to help individuals and groups quantify the
impacts of daily lifestyle changes (such as eating less beef, or driving
fewer miles). 6930 Carroll
Avenue, Suite 900, Takoma Park, Maryland
20912. 877-68Dream;
www.newdream.org.
Co-op America -- a non-profit organization that
links consumers with socially and environmentally responsible businesses in
a nation-wide "green" marketplace.
Their National Green Pages list over 100 categories of
products and services, including food, body care products, restaurants,
socially responsible financial planning and long-distance telephone service,
travel and more. It also
includes addresses, phone numbers and descriptions of socially and
environmentally responsible businesses.
Co-Op America, 1612 K Street NW,
Suite 600, Washington, DC 20006;
(800) 584-7336; www.coopamerica.org.
EarthSave -- EarthSave has chapters throughout the
country (and some overseas). Many
chapters hold regular vegetarian potlucks.
They have some excellent food specific publications: Our Food, Our
World: Transition to Healthy Food Choices, as well as John Robbins'
books Diet For a New America and May All Be Fed.
For information on the EarthSave chapter nearest you, call: (800)
362-3648; www.earthsave.org.
Ecology Action --
A small non-profit researching, practicing, and promoting the use of
bio-intensive organic gardening methods worldwide. 5798 Ridgewood Road,
Willits, CA 95490; 707-459-0150; www.growbiointensive.org.
Food First/Institute for Food and Development Policy
-- A high-quality, member-supported, nonprofit peoples' think tank and
education-for-action center. For information and action suggestions: 398
60th Street, Oakland, CA 94618; USA; 510-654-4400; www.foodfirst.org.
Heifer Project International
-- Heifer works around the world teaching sustainable,
environmentally sound, agricultural techniques. Heifer animals (and training in their care) offer
hungry families around the world a way to feed themselves and become
self-reliant. Children receive nutritious milk or eggs; families earn income
for school, health care and better housing; communities go beyond meeting
immediate needs to fulfilling dreams. P.O.
Box 8058, Little Rock, AR 72203; (800) 422-0474; www.heifer.org.
Just Community Food Systems began in 1999, through start-up funding provided by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to St. James Lutheran Church in Gettysburg, PA to address food insecurity in south central PA. A good example of a local organization working toward community food security which they define as: when all people in a community have access to nutritious food from non emergency sources that is locally produced and culturally appropriate at all times of the year. 153 North Stratton Street, Gettysburg, PA 17325; (717) 334-7634; www.emmitsburg.net/jcfs.
National Catholic Rural Life Conference is a
membership organization grounded in a spiritual tradition that brings
together the Church, care of community, and care of creation.
NCRLC serves as a prophetic voice for America's countryside, acts as
a catalyst and convener for social justice, and develops support services
for rural pastoral ministers. 4625
Beaver Avenue; Des Moines, Iowa 50310; (515) 270-2634; www.ncrlc.com.
North American Vegetarian Society (NAVS) --
Dedicated to promoting the vegetarian way of life by sponsoring regional and
national conferences and campaigns, distributing educational materials, and
publishing Vegetarian Voice. Contact NAVS for a listing of vegetarian
organizations in North America. P. O. Box 72, Dolgeville, NY 13329;
518-568-7970; www.navs-online.org.
Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine promotes
preventive medicine, encourages higher standards for ethics and
effectiveness in research, advocates broader access to medical services,
offers Vegetarian Starter Kit and numerous publications including Good
Medicine, a quarterly magazine. 5100 Wisconsin Ave., NW, Ste. 404,
Washington, DC 20016; 202-686-2210; www.pcrm.org.
Seed Savers Exchange is the oldest and most
active group in preserving heirloom vegetables, fruits, flowers, and rare
breeds throughout the world. 3076
North Winn Road, Decorah, Iowa 52101;
319-382-5590; www.seedsavers.com.
Slow Food USA is a gastronomic movement ideologically and sensually engaged with regional, traditional foods. PO Box 1737, New York, NY 10021; www.slowfood.com.
Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) -- To find out more about sustainable agriculture, go to www.sare.org. This site includes educational items, news and events, and links to organizations and individuals that support sustainable agriculture across the country.
Web of Creation is a website filled with good
information, including a page entitled "Sustainable Diet," with
helpful book and internet resources; see www.webofcreation.org.
Coffee
Activism (Java Justice)
Coffee is the world's second most heavily traded commodity (next to oil). National programs, such as Equal Exchange, The Songbird Foundation, TransFair USA, and the Organic Coffee Association (see below), help to bridge individuals, and entire congregations, with coffee farmers who are guaranteed a fair price for their beans, and who grow coffee in ecologically-beneficial ways. A number of these organizations have programs that link congregations with Fair Trade coffee, enabling congregations to buy and serve shade-grown, organic, and fair-trade coffee as an example of their commitment to protecting communities and ecosystems world-wide. Individuals can purchase such coffees at many retailers; if not, ask yours to stock it!
Equal Exchange
251 Revere Street, Canton, MA 02021; (781) 830-0303,
www.equalexchange.org.
Organic Coffee Association
www.orcacoffee.org
The Songbird Foundation
2367 Eastlake Ave East, Seattle, WA 98102; 206-374-3674;
www.songbird.org.
TransFair USA
1611 Telegraph Ave. Suite 900, Oakland, CA 94612; (510) 663-5260,
www.transfairusa.org.
Center for Respect of Life and Environment
Farm Animal Reform Movement
(FARM)
Farm Sanctuary
provides refuge for animals rescued from factory farms, stockyards, and
slaughterhouses; wages campaigns to stop cruelty to farm animals, hosts
conferences, and operates a bed and breakfast for visitors to the sanctuary.
P. O. Box 150, Watkins Glen, NY 14891; 607-583-2225; and P. O. Box 1065,
Orland, CA 95963; 530-865-4617; www.farmsanctuary.org;
www.factoryfarming.com.
Food Animal Concerns Trust
(FACT) promotes more humane, safe, and
sustainable methods of raising livestock and poultry; runs Food Safety and
On-Farm programs. P. O. Box 14599, Chicago, IL 60614; 773-525-4952; www.fact.com.
The Fund for Animals protects wildlife and domestic
animals through education, legislation, litigation, and hands-on care at
several sanctuaries. 200 West 57th St., Ste. 705, New York, NY 10019;
888-405-FUND; www.fund.org.
GRACE Factory Farm Project helps rural communities
around the country oppose the spread of new factory farms and helps close
down existing ones which threaten health and well-being; addresses the
impacts of industrial animal production on diet, the environment, and human
and animal health. 145 Spruce St., Lititz, PA 17543; 717-627-0410; www.factoryfarm.org.
Humane Farming Association works to stop animal
abuse in factory farming and slaughterhouses with anti-cruelty
investigations and exposés, national media and ad campaigns, direct
hands-on emergency care and refuge for abused farm animals, consumer
awareness programs, state and federal legislation, and youth humane
education. P. O. Box 3577, San Rafael, CA 94912; 415-485-1495; www.hfa.org.
Tribe of Heart
makes use of storytelling, visual media, and the arts to present a vision of
a compassionate future; creators of Witness, a powerful documentary about
the fur industry. P. O. Box 149, Ithaca, NY 14851; 607-275-0806; www.tribeofheart.org.
Affluenza: The Cost of High Living -- This is an
excellent video -- lively, engaging, and humorous, it highlights
environmental, social, community, and spiritual costs of consumption.
A significant portion of Affluenza focuses on a Christian response to
over-consumerism. About an hour
long, the video comes with a guide for group discussion.
To order call (800) 937-5387; produced by John DeGraaf and public TV
station KCTS in Seattle.
Beyond Organic: The Vision of Fairview Gardens -- Produced
by John DeGraaf (producer of Affluenza), this
inspiring video tells the story of Fairview Gardens and its struggle to
survive in the face of rapid suburban development.
It draws a sharp contrast between community supported agriculture and
conventional chemical farming. 33
minutes. Bullfrog Films, P.O.
Box 149, Oley, PA 19547; 800-543-3764; www.bullfrogfilms.com.
The Global Banquet: The Politics of Food -- One of
the best videos on the globalization of the food industry!
Discussion and study guide included, this video is divided into two
25 minute segments. Produced by
Maryknoll World Productions, P.O. Box 308 Maryknoll, New York 10545;
800-227-8523, www.maryknoll.org.
Hot Potatoes -- Explores the dangers of potato
blight and the chemicals used to control it.
More than 150 years after Ireland's potato famine, late blight is
still an immense global threat. Potatoes have gradually become one of the
world's three most important sources of nutrition, especially in developing
nations. But the failure to heed the warnings of an exceptional scientist
back in the 1950s is having dire consequences at the beginning of 21st
century. 57 minutes;
Bullfrog Films, P.O. Box 149, Oley, PA 19547; 800-543-3764;
www.bullfrogfilms.com.
Who's Counting? Marilyn Waring on Sex, Lies, and Global Economics -- Waring challenges the myths of economics, and our tacit compliance with political agendas that masquerade as objective economic policy. 94 Minutes. Bullfrog Films, P.O. Box 149, Oley, PA 19547; 800-543-3764; www.bullfrogfilms.com.