Archive for the ‘Action’ Category

Posted by Rebecca Kanter | May 25th, 2010

Similar to DC’s proposed soda tax (written about extensively on this blog, such as here), Baltimore City had proposed a bottle tax.

This seems to be a sales tax, rather than an excise tax, because beverage bottles are not of uniform size and “The [Baltimore City] administration has insisted that the bottle tax — which would exempt milk, juice and two-liter containers, would not unduly burden on residents.”
Revenue from the DC soda tax is righteously targeted to towards helping mitigate the chronic health problems that increased sugar-sweetened beverage intake both causes and magnifies, particularly among its most vulnerable consumers: children living in low-income areas (for example, Wards 7 and 8).
Meanwhile our neighbors, in East Baltimore (socio-economically similar to Wards 7 and 8), express their support for the Baltimore City “bottle tax” as a way to save city services.

Posted by Caryn Ernst | May 12th, 2010

Hi Backyard Hen Supporters, I wanted to let you know that the Kojo Namdi Show (WAMU 88.5) will be focusing on the growing Backyard Hen movement around the country tomorrow (Thursday) from 12:00 to 1:00. They will be interviewing Pat Foreman, the author of City Chicks, as well as an urban farmer from Brooklyn and [...]

Posted by Christopher Washington | April 20th, 2010

If your answer is a resounding YES!– we all do have a right to nutritious food for our bodies and souls, then join us in reclaiming our health, our land, and our communities, and help us to sow seeds for the future!

Sowing Seeds Here and Now!: A Chesapeake Area Urban Farming Summit
Featuring Will Allen of Growing Power
Friday, June 18th, 2010 at the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, 10300 Baltimore Ave., Beltsville, MD 20705

Urban Farming is a movement to return the cultivation of our meals to our neighborhoods and cities, revitalizing vacant lots and abandoned properties, productively employing local residents, uniting communities, and ensuring greater social justice. Urban agriculture efforts speak to the well-being and health of our bodies, our society, our environment, the Chesapeake Bay, and our County. It also speaks to our basic right to choose good and have access to good safe nutritious food.

Posted by Liz Whitehurst | April 13th, 2010

When I found out that guerilla gardeners were about to descend on our fair city, I decided to investigate. Theresa, who help found DC Guerilla Gardeners, told me about their first-ever event – coming up this Sunday – and how the group came to be. Read on:

The D.C. Guerilla Gardeners is brand new. I started it because I’ve been interested in urban gardening and guerilla gardening but there didn’t seem to be any groups in the area that were geared toward this type of activity.

I honestly think that my interest in urban gardening is the result of my love of graffiti and street art

Posted by Liz Whitehurst | March 15th, 2010

Students in Washington Youth Garden’s Garden Science program learned about the proposed DC Healthy Schools Act this past week.

We wrote letters to the City Council to express our support of this bill, a few of which you can read below. We will be submitting these letters of support to the DC City Council and will read a few of them during the public testimony period at the upcoming hearing on March 26.

Posted by Xi Wang | March 9th, 2010

DC Food Not Bombs is an adhocratic group that shares vegan and vegetarian meals to promote healthy eating, peace, non-violence, community, and the reduction of waste in our economies. Barrett Jones made this short video of some of the behind-the-scenes preparation and serving.

[Cross posted to DC Food Not Bombs]

Posted by Ethan Genauer | March 1st, 2010

One of DC’s newest school garden teachers wants to enlist you in a national movement to grow sustainable food gardens at every school in the country. And all you have to do (right now) is CAST A VOTE  FOR CHANGE for Universal School Gardens.

by Ethan Genauer

When I started volunteering this winter as a garden science teacher with Washington Youth Garden, entering one 3rd-grade classroom every week to help instill knowledge and enthusiasm by the children for the wonders of nature, I had no idea that this experience would inspire me to initiate a national call for Universal School Gardens.

But when I witnessed the children’s smiles and eyes light up in the course of planting seeds and watching them sprout into seedlings and grow, my appreciation deepened for the many reasons why school gardens are gaining popularity and have an excellent track record for enhancing the educational learning and natural curiosity of young people. “Every student should be free to enjoy the incomparable thrill of tasting fresh healthy food that he or she had a direct hand in growing,” I thought, “and every school in America should sprout a garden!”

That’s why this March 2010, as spring fast approaches, I am asking you to join me in expressing support for the mission of “Good Food For All Kids: A Garden at Every School.” Simply by casting your vote for the principle of Universal School Gardens in the 2010 Ideas for Change in America contest sponsored by Change.org, you can help move this idea one important step closer from inspiration to reality.

Posted by Matt Young | February 24th, 2010

By Matt Young

I’ve recently arrived in Washington from a place a whole world apart, New Mexico, and I’m still delving into how community works in the District. While my Congressional work to date has suggested a less than transparent, if not detached, relationship between the halls of power and the residents of the District, Rooting DC has given me a whole new perspective on the vibrant, stirring, service-driven nature of Washington, DC

The event brought together hundreds of activists, chefs, gardeners, farmers, community organizers, students, nonprofit professionals, and even politicians to bring a  fully-integrated local food system to fruition. It represents a growing movement in D.C. to collaborate on how a local food system should look.

I found myself not just learning how to make a seasonal winter salad from Niko Welch; how to can lusciously spice-packed carrots from Liz Falk; how to realize and sustain a sustainable business model from Robert Egger; how to build kitchen connections between Mennonite farmers and inner-city youth from Kristin Roberts; and how to continually and passionately push for social change and a community voice from Andrea Northrup, Carl Rollins, and Parisa Norouzi.

I also learned that as disconnected as Capitol Hill may be from the rest of the District of Columbia and the country at large, that optimism, transparency, accountability, innovation, responsibility, and community exists at the level of grassroots food systems. Such values provide the root base not only for healthy produce and stewardship, but healthy societies and healthy ecologies.