Lunch is Now Served FREE For All NYC Public School Kids

Helping to eliminate the stigma of Free Lunch for “children in need,” and reinforcing the attitude which many food justice and public health advocates have, that learning is contingent upon being fed and full; New York City joined Detroit, Chicago, and Dallas with the decision to offer Free lunch for all public school kids regardless of their family’s income level.  

Previously districts taking advantage of what they call the Community Eligibility Provision which allows districts and schools to serve free meals without paperwork if at least 40 percent of their students qualify for federal meal assistance, the qualifying percent threshold  is now 60 percent. It is suggested by the author of this article, originally published by the Lunch Tray and then by Civil Eats, the commitment to establish Free Lunch for all kids may have been bolstered by the national attention brought to what I alluded to earlier, that has been specifically identified in the New York Times as “lunch shaming.” 

Losses in Winnie, TX After Harvey Floods Food and Cotton Crops

“It will take months, maybe even a full year, to get final figures on Texas’ agricultural losses to Harvey. But Gene Hall of the Texas Farm Bureau says he’s done some back-of-the-envelope calculations. Roughly, Hall says just looking at cotton, Texas’s No. 2 product, farmers lost at least a fifth of the crop.” –NPR, the salt

Roni Neff is the director of the John Hopkins Center for a Livable Future’s Food System Sustainability & Public Health research program. Here he provides some insight to the damage done by Harvey, and more specifically, it’s potential impacts on consumers. “Reports of drowned fields and escaped livestock raised questions about the effects on farmers and the meat industry. With some refineries flooded or otherwise damaged, Neff said fuel prices might rise, cutting into grocery stores’ margins and perhaps leading to mark-ups for consumers.”

These are only a few examples of what many of us recognize as the repercussions of our history, and our continued denial, of an extractionist approach and industrialized growth, and their respective carbon emitting practices. Thus, the severity of this intense and increased level of environmental activity, let’s call it disasters, have only begun. 

BREAKING: Off Fossil Fuels for a Better Future Act 

This is the “strongest piece of climate legislation ever introduced,” led by Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard and other Democrats who began preparing the bill earlier this year in April. The legislation addresses the switch to renewables while encompassing issues of environmental justice, including the undeniable fact that low-income families and communities of color are disproportionally affected by pollution. 

“The Off Fossil Fuels for a Better Future Act demands a just transition to 100% clean, renewable energy by 2035,” states the Food and Water Watch team. Check out their campaign and tools for activating activism in your community here. 

New App to Help You Find Sustainable Seafood