Make a Change by Joining Slow Food’s Food for Change Campaign this week!
October is Slow Food International’s Food For Change Campaign, and this week. October 16th – 22nd is their “Food for Change” Week! Slow Food is looking to educate people on the intersection of the food system and climate change, to show how interconnected the two are. This campaign is meant to bring thousands of people together to make an effort to reduce CO2 emissions by changing what and how you eat.
A 26 page Climate Change and The Food System position paper that came out this week from Slow Food, goes in depth into the problems of our food system, how it is effecting our planet, and concrete things we can do to make change. They are calling for three major “take actions” for people to do this week. Go Meatless, Eat Local, and Live Zero-Waste for a whole week!
1. Cook using only local ingredients. A local food production system has the advantage of integrating healthy and nutritious food with social responsibility, giving priority to ecological systems, eliminating or reducing chemicals, and safeguarding traditional techniques and knowledge. Local food is fresher, it protects local varieties and species (not to mention traditional production methods), it travels fewer miles, and it requires less packaging. It also allows producers and consumers to have more information about, and control over, production and distribution systems.
2. Do not eat meat. Meat consumption has quadrupled over the last 50 years. The average American citizen consumes 270.7 pounds of meat per year. According to the World Health Organization, a reduction to 55 lbs. per person per year would be sufficient, and halving that amount would be a major victory for our health and that of the planet. More than 95% of the meat we eat comes from industrial farms that are collectively responsible for 14.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions (“Tackling Climate Change Through Livestock”, FAO, 2013).
3. Reduce food waste to zero. In 2014, it was estimated that America wastes about 38 million tons of food every year, at a cost of $161 billion dollars. Of this waste, 42% occurs at the household level and 39% in the manufacturing sector. Food waste also implies the wasting of resources such as land, water, energy, and inputs used for production, packaging, transport, and storage. Producing food that will not be consumed involves unnecessary CO2 emissions, in addition to the loss of the economic value of the food produced.
Sign up and Pledge to Make A Change this Week and Support a More Sustainable Food System and Healthier World!
Stop the Clean Car Act from being Rolled Back!
The Trump Administration is currently attacking the Clean Car Act, one of the Environmental 
Protection Agency’s only successful initiative to reduce Climate Change. After last week’s UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Report, outlining how dire our current climate situation is, we need to take a stand and let the administration know they cannot roll back regulations on carbon emissions.
Here are some facts from the Environmental Defense Fund on the repercussions of a roll back on the Clean Car Act:
- We could lose out on cutting as many as 140 million metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2030 alone — the equivalent of taking 29 million cars off the road entirely.
- American automakers will lose ground in a competitive global market. China is already the top market for vehicle sales. It and other countries around the world are demanding more fuel efficient vehicles, including major increases in EV sales. If we want American-made cars to remain competitive worldwide, we need to keep these standards in place.
- Under the existing standards, Americans buying a car in 2025 would save on gas every time they fuel up — totaling $1,650 in average savings over the lifetime of a car bought in 2025, versus a car just three years older. Pruitt’s attack puts those savings at risk.
Take Action and sign this letter today to tell The EPA Administrator, Andrew Wheeler, and Secretary of Transportation, Elaine Chao, to NOT roll back regulations on car emissions!
Our Public National Lands and Wildlife are in Danger, due to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke!
He Needs To Be Stopped Now!
It is no secret that under the Trump Administration, environmental concerns have not been part of the agency. This is starting to affect all aspects of life in America, including our protected national lands, and wildlife refuges. A Trump cabinet member, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, has allowed the deregulation and destruction of national monuments, public lands, waterways, and wildlife refuges. This deregulation is obviously part of a plan to allow more oil and gas drilling in the middle of our last protected wild lands! Some of the specific things he is trying to do now according to Food and Water Watch is:
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Zinke is clearly not the man we need in charge to fight against climate change!
Also, there are currently 14 federal investigations into Zinke’s decision-making, misuse of funds, and potential corruption. We can’t continue to allow him to destroy our wild places and communities for the benefit of his friends – from private developers to the fossil fuel industry. This makes Zinke just as corrupt as former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt. We need Congress to kick him out of office before he can do any more harm!
Make your voices heard and sign the petition and letter asking Congress to fire Zinke.
There are plans to build a new pipeline, the size of the Keystone-XL tar sands pipeline, throughout the Midwest! This new pipeline would go across Minnesota’s great lakes, indigenous people’s land, and the head of the Mississippi river. If this pipeline moves forward, the potential for contamination, and the damage to natural lands would be huge! This project puts the climate, land, water, and communities at risk, — so people all along the route are standing up against this pipeline. We need to stand in solidarity with them! We need to help build public pressure against Line 3, and ask Minnesota Governor, Mark Dayton, to use his power as Governor, to stop this pipeline, once and for all!
We need to urge the Minnesota Governor, Mark Dayton, to oppose this new plan!
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