Donating eco-food at the holidays

© Photos by Patricia Dines, 2012 

Seeing the food donation barrels come out for the holidays made me pause and remember to be grateful that I have enough to eat. Unfortunately, many people in this country do not – including the "working poor," who support so much of the structure of our community. Also impacted are their families, as well as many of our culture's elders, who are living out their golden years on limited incomes.

So I thought to myself that maybe this year I wanted to send some money to the Redwood Empire Food Bank. 

But I hesitated, wondered why, and realized that it was because my money probably wouldn't be used to buy them organic food. 

I rolled my eyes at myself. Really? I know that any food would be appreciated, and I'm glad for the work REFB does. 

Still, I listened to my own heart too. Yes, I'm not personally excited to give people mainstream food that I know probably has toxics and a lot lower nutrients.

But then I realized – I can buy them organic food and put it into one of these bins!  Well, duh! So I found the organic form of the packaged staples that REFB says folks need most (and got them at good sale prices) then put them in the barrel. Yay!

So that felt good. But still I wondered, “Is that the best I can do?” 

Just then my calendar rolled up with a notice for the Ceres Community Project Annual Holiday Party, being held at their new Sebastopol building. Oooo, I love the work that this nonprofit does, so I was glad for the chance to get an update and look for ways that I can support their activities. 

GMO Strategy: Why are you calling the election officials?

In my recent post What do we do now about GMOs?, I outlined what I think are the key beneficial actions that we can do now to protect ourselves and others from risky experimental "novel" GMO food and agricultural products.

In today's blog, I want to highlight an action that I do NOT think is a smart one to take. I'm open to hearing additional facts, but from what I see so far, it doesn't make any sense, and could even have negative impacts. 

To me, when we call others to action, we have a responsibility to make sure that the action is fact-based and strategically smart.

I also think that right now we're in a particularly powerful moment regarding the GMO issue, because so many people have had their attention drawn to it because of our recent election's California Proposition 37 (GMO labeling).

But when we call on people to take ill-considered actions, or worse follow wild goose chases, it can harm not help our mission. For instance:

• It can make our movement look incompetent and silly, undermining our credibility with people who know the facts, and compromising the quality work being done by competent people.
• It can hurt our relationship with our allies, disrupting their ability to take action for our benefit, and even making them want to reduce or withdraw their support for our cause.
• It can waste people's time and energy that could be better spent on actions that are much more likely to have a positive outcome. 
• It can dissipate people's enthusiasm so that they abandon taking action and retreat back into their individual lives.

Let's not waste this opportunity! Let's make sure the actions we do, and encourage others to do, make sense and are the best use of their time and enthusiasm.

The action I'm discussing here is the request that we phone California election officials and ask them to count all the votes. The advocates assert that this will benefit the outcome for Prop. 37. There's also an online petition making a similar request.

However, my assessment is that this will not help Prop. 37 and could hurt our larger mission. Therefore, I encourage people NOT to do or forward this action. Instead, I invite you to look at at my prior blog for smarter actions that we can all do.

OK, so let's look more at this situation.

What do we do now about GMOs? (Part II)

Wow, this conversation about what to do next about GMOs is really buzzing! In my prior post, I covered what I think are the key strategies and my favorite groups. Read that first! 

Then in this post I've gathered some more good action ideas and resources. There are lots of things we can do, so just skim to see what's of interest to you!

What do we do now about GMOs?

Even though California Prop. 37 (GMO labeling) didn't pass, one of the positive aspects of the campaign has been to alert more people to the real dangers and prevalence of experimental GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms) in our food.

So now I hear people wondering what they can do about GMOs. There are lots of options being discussed, with some more reasonable than others. 

I've been writing and educating folks about GMOs for many years (since before most people even heard of them!), so I thought it'd be helpful for me to write out some of my key suggestions about how to approach this. 

I encourage you to share this link with your friends and allies. And feel free to ask me further questions and/or share with me your ideas for constructive action in the comments below!

How I got started on my eco-writing path

Growing up, I never expected to be doing what I am now, writing about eco-issues and seeking to help nurture positive change in my culture. I'm as surprised as anyone! But I'm also thrilled that somehow, though the path has certainly been rocky, I've been able to carve out a way to contribute to a better world.

I say that my eco-writing path officially began in 1992. At that point, I'd been a professional writer and trainer for about 10 years, and had recently moved into a wonderful cottage in the country, nestled on the edge of a valley. Just breath-taking! But then one day, I had a horrifying headache, unlike any I had ever experienced. I looked out the window and saw a huge machine pumping toxic chemicals into the air, running back and forth along the apple trees, as the toxics drifted towards my porch. Eek! 

The toxics made me sick, so I researched what they were, and found out that the impacts were indeed serious — for me, the local critters and eco-systems — even the farmers! But when I looked at how to stop it, I found out that there was little real recourse, that this was just normal and accepted. Really?!