Locally grown, Locally shared: A new model for giving in Baltimore, MD

Over a hundred Baltimore residents gathered on Saturday night for the 4th edition of an innovative fundraising event called STEW. STEW is a joint project of Baltimore Development Cooperative and Red Emma’s Bookstore Coffeehouse, where attendees pay $10/person for the opportunity to share a multi-course locavore meal and listen to the financial needs of three amazing local non-profits. At the end of the meal, attendees vote on how to distribute their +$1,000 of pooled donations.

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The Velocipede Bicycle Project presenting at STEW IV

The eponymous 2640 (St Paul St) housed the event, which contained three communal tables—dressed in brown paper tablecloths, mismatched silverware, cups, and plates—spanning the length of a church hall. The meal left this blogger pleasantly surprised about the delicious variety available within a 40 mi radius of Baltimore, and in April no less! Food was donated by local farms: Calvert’s Gift Farm, Great Kids Farm, Participation Park, Real Food Farm, and Truck Patch Farms. Volunteers cooked and served the food, with a warm and professional feel.

The inspiration for STEW, as decribed on their website, was “the ’network dinners’ organized by the art-activist collective campbaltimore in 2006, Incubate Chicago’s Sunday Soup, Brooklyn’s FEAST, as well as the amazing dinner that took place at 2640 during the City From Below conference.”

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Rod and Amanda at STEW IV

The first course was a tangy and sweet salad of mustard greens, sorrel, and radish tops, which was followed by a presentation by the Velocipede Bike Project, a community bicycle cooperative in the Station North neighborhood of Baltimore. The next course was piquant and crunchy sliced radishes in sorrel butter and roasted asparagus rubbed with salt and pepper. Following these veggies, another group presented on the International Drag King Community Extravaganza to drum up support for this rotating annual event to be held in Baltimore in November 2010.

To much excitement, the main dish and the namesake of the event was a delicious rabbit and dumpling stew (or) a strikingly green, vegan spring onion soup. After slurping up the last drops of soup from my bowl, Follow Your Dreams Inc. (FYD), a youth center and recording studio in the Harwood neighborhood of Baltimore, gave a stirring request for funding along with a deeply introspective, spoken-word poetry piece by a young FYD participant. Over desserts of vegan dark chocolate brownies, buttermilk panna cotta, or almond sponge cake, the attendees voted on how the three groups would receive their pooled money.

The funding breakdown by group was as follows:

· Follow Your Dreams, Inc. ($665)

· International Drag King Community Extravaganza ($170)

· Velocipede Bike Project ($170)

Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future was well represented at STEW IV by Amanda, Angela, Becca, Brent, Jillian and myself (Dave). I’m looking forward to STEW V next month, to learn about, interact with, and support other deserving Baltimore non-profits.

- Dave Love

Food Access Solutions: Panel Discussion in Anacostia

On Friday, April 12th, Food Access Solutions: Urban Agriculture, Local Food, & Community Development, a panel discussion between leaders in the food movement on a regional level and leaders on the local level took place in southeast Washington D.C. in Anacostia. My interest in Urban Agriculture comes from my desire to integrate schools and students with the urban ag movement, but within the specific process comes issues of food access, food security, job promotion, economic and community development. These were all issues that the panels addressed with exciting stories from the trenches of urban agriculture programs and new ideas. In the end, what I took away was a sense that the food movement is maturing with the scope of ideas that are now being talked about consistently and without hesitation. Ideas like partnering with local chefs and restaurants, expanding the number of concentration of farm stands and markets and focusing on community empowerment from the inside and putting the power, leadership and responsibility for urban food production into the hands of those that are affected.

Food access was the topic of discussion and organizers decided to have the event in what is considered a current “food desert” in Washington D.C. to illustrate the need for discussion about food access. Alexandra Ashbrook of DC Hunger Solutions stated that in the richest part of DC there is a full service supermarket for every 7,000 residents, while in Ward 8 where the discussion was held, there was one full service “Giant” supermarket that serves all 70,000 residents of Ward 8. Last month at the DC Healthy Schools Act hearing, I listened to Marion Barry, the city councilman from Ward 8 discuss the closing down of the Ward 8 Farmer’s Market limiting access to healthy foods even further.

The first panel consisted of the following speakers:
• Robert Egger (DC Central Kitchen)
• Michael Heller (Clagett Farm)
• Carolina Valencia (Social Compact)
• Malik Yakini (Detroit Black Community Food Security Network)
• Maurice Smalls (City Fresh, Cleveland, OH)

Much of the discussion focused on issues of race and power, not only within the communities that the panelists served, but within the food movement itself. Malik Yakini, currently working in Detroit for the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network posed some challenging questions to the audience. He is operating within the context of Detroit, what he claims is the most segregated city in the nation. He said, white supremacy exists within our food system, but it also exists in the food justice and food security movement. He talked about looking at the organizations associated with the food movement and seeing most of the leadership being well-intentioned young, white individuals, mostly women. His organization is attempting to place blacks in those leadership roles. He posed an honest question to the audience, “How can we shift the power from those that currently have it, to those that should have it?” Read More >

Meatless Monday: A Campaign Rooted in Public Health

Wellness Corner at The Johns Hopkins Hospital's Cobblestone Cafe

Wellness Corner at The Johns Hopkins Hospital's Cobblestone Cafe

The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health embraced the Meatless Monday campaign back in 2003, and the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future has proudly served as the national campaign’s scientific advisor ever since. Today I welcome and laud The Johns Hopkins Hospital for launching its own Meatless Monday campaign. In an effort to promote the health benefits of eating more grains, fruits and vegetables the “Wellness Corner” in the Hospital’s main cafeteria is cutting out meat and serving only vegetarian options on Mondays. (Meat options will still be available in other parts of the cafeteria.) The national Meatless Monday campaign’s primary focus is to reduce the consumption of saturated fat by 15%, following the recommendations of the Healthy People 2010 report issued by then U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher in 2000. Read More >

Food Access Solutions: Urban Agriculture, Local Food and Community Development

On Friday, April 12th, Food Access Solutions: Urban Agriculture, Local Food, & Community Development, a panel discussion between leaders in the food movement on a regional level and leaders on the local level took place in southeast Washington D.C. in Anacostia.  My interest in Urban Agriculture comes from my desire to integrate schools and students with the urban ag movement, but within the specific process comes issues of food access, food security, job promotion, economic and community development.  These were all issues that the panels addressed with exciting stories from the trenches of urban agriculture programs and new ideas.  In the end, what I took away was a sense that the food movement is maturing with the scope of ideas that are now being talked about consistently and without hesitation.  Ideas like partnering with local chefs and restaurants, expanding the number of concentration of farm stands and markets and focusing on community empowerment from the inside and putting the power, leadership and responsibility for urban food production into the hands of those that are affected.

Food access was the topic of discussion and organizers decided to have the event in what is considered a current “food desert” in Washington D.C. to illustrate the need for discussion about food access.  Alexandra Ashbrook of DC Hunger Solutions stated that in the richest part of DC there is a full service supermarket for every 7,000 residents, while in Ward 8 where the discussion was held, there was one full service “Giant” supermarket that serves all 70,000 residents of Ward 8.  Last month at the DC Healthy Schools Act hearing, I listened to Marion Barry, the city councilman from Ward 8 discuss the closing down of the Ward 8 Farmer’s Market limiting access to healthy foods even further.

The first panel consisted of the following speakers:

Response to Professor Mitloehner

Dear Professor Mitloehner,

I appreciate you taking the time to respond to my post.  What you wrote was informative, but your response also raised additional questions for me.  I will lay them out here and you are welcome to respond again.

From your response:

“I did not write the press releases and feel that a lot of the recent reporting has been a line-up of catchy sound bites.”

I have spoken to researchers here at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and they report being highly involved in the creation of press releases and in making sure the documents are not only accurate, but difficult to misrepresent.  The UC Davis press release contains the following text:

“…it is simply not true that consuming less meat and dairy products will help stop climate change, says a University of California authority on farming and greenhouse gases.”

And these direct quotes:

“Producing less meat and milk will only mean more hunger in poor countries.”

“We certainly can reduce our greenhouse-gas production, but not by consuming less meat and milk.”

As I stated before, those statements are not backed up by “Clearing the Air.”  Based on the report, examples of supported statements include: (1) Livestock’s Long Shadow used flawed methods when they compared global GHG emissions from animal agriculture and transportation, and (2) due to differences between developing and developed countries, some country-level and regional analyses are significantly different than a global comparison of livestock and transportation GHG emissions.  The “catchy sound bites” in the media follow directly from the UC Davis press release (and the subsequent ACS press release).  Do the press releases accurately represent your statements?

“This key statement in LLS’s executive summary – “The Livestock sector is a major player, responsible for 18% of GHG emissions measured in CO2e. This is a higher share than transport.” – has been quoted extensively over the last few years by animal welfare and food activists, leading to Meatless Monday and other social policy initiatives. This statement has now lost its validity (see BBC report http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8583308.stm), which is regretted by many who advocate for meatless nutrition. That’s what happens when a social or political agenda tries to use science as its sword.”

Even though a new comparison of GHGs from livestock and transportation is in the works at the UN, this does not mean eating less meat has no impact on GHGs.  To make that claim, research would need to compare GHG amounts linked to diets with different amounts of animal products and find no difference.  Again, I have not seen any such research.  Also, stating that the Meatless Monday Campaign was created in response to Livestock’s Long Shadow (or livestock GHGs in general) is incorrect.  It was created in 2003 in association with the Center for a Livable Future at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health to prevent disease by decreasing saturated fat intake.   The campaign incorporated the environmental benefits of decreased meat consumption (including GHG reduction) in its messages in 2009.  It is a public health campaign strongly rooted in scientific evidence, and twenty schools of public health have supported it for many years.

“We should not relax on any issue concerning our society’s mass consumption and what it takes to make these products available. My personal approach is to purchase to the greatest extent possible food that is produced locally and sustainably, and that includes meat and dairy products, which we purchase from producers at our local food co-op and farmer’s market. My scientific objective, however, is to find real solutions for society at large that support a reduction in greenhouse gases and other pollutants.” Read More >

A leader for a livable Future – Happy Cesar Chavez Day

Cesar Chavez

Cesar Chavez

It wasn’t until I moved to San Francisco after college that I found out who Cesar Chavez was. Being from Pennsylvania, where his birthday is not celebrated as a state holiday, perhaps I knew his name, but certainly not his legacy as a leader and organizer for farm workers rights.  But in California, where his birthday, March 31st is celebrated as a holiday and where street signs bear his name, I learned of his great achievements.  Most notably, Chavez co-founded the National Farm Workers Association (now United Farm Workers) in 1962.  A tireless activist for human rights, farm workers rights and civil rights throughout his life, Chavez promoted ideas for a Livable Future though non-violence, education and service. He helped give a voice to farm workers, who “… till the soil, cultivate and harvest the fruits, vegetables, and other foods that fill your tables with abundance” and “have nothing left for themselves.”

While California was the first state to put his birthday, March 31st, on the books as a State Holiday to honor his many achievements, it is only one of 8 to do so.  Since Maryland is one of the 42 that don’t, I probably would have forgotten that last week would have been Chavez’s  83rd birthday, had it not been for my trusty twitter feed to alert me that President Obama has honored the original Si se puede chanter with a nationally recognized holiday. Read More >

DC Healthy Schools Act

On Friday, March 26th  the DC Council listened to testimony from various concerned citizens and experts from the community on the DC Healthy Schools Act.  This bill represents a wonderful first step in improving the health of DC’s children and the role that schools play in the sustainability of our communities.   While the bill’s main focus is on nutrition and physical activity, the sustainability language is compelling.  See Washington Post article:

Councilman Catania made his opening statement, championing the advancement that DC has made in the health of children and putting his support squarely behind this bill designed improve the situation in DC’s schools even more.  He started by saying that in the last 5 years, DC had cut the number of uninsured children in half and that the present number of uninsured children is one of the lowest in the nation.  Additionally, the number of school with nurses has increased from 37% to 99% of DC public schools having full time nurses on campus.  As a former teacher in an urban school who never saw a nurse in my school, I can say that this is a major accomplishment.  He also laid out the bare numbers that DC must hurdle with regards to childhood obesity.  According to Catania, 43% of students are overweight and 26% are obese in the district.   Read More >