You see it in every grocery store, near the back in coolers: plastic-wrapped packages of ground beef. It looks even less appetizing on the front cover of TIME magazine. In the August 31, 2009 issue, article author Bryan Walsh confronts Americans and their demand for cheap food, asking us to truly consider the price we pay.

While it may not be a stretch to consider our food choices as one of the causes of the obesity epidemic, it is much harder for us to connect our food to the unsustainable practice that produces our food: conventional farming. Chemicals and other environmental abuses are now a part of conventional food production, as well as the abundant calories and little nutrients that are a part of the food that we receive. Many of us are so far removed from our food, that we never think about a cow’s living conditions before it ended up in the many packages distributed all over the country, nor the tree that produced the orange many thousands of miles away from the counter you picked the fruit from.

Just to elaborate on how little many of us do know, 1% of cattle are raised organically, free range, eating grass and fertilizing the grass fields with their own waste. The other 99% spend most of their lives crowded in an industrialized feedlot, eating corn grown with subsidies and chemicals, and producing 240 tons of waste per year per 1,000 cattle. Conventional cows take antibiotics for their diet and crowded conditions. This is what the majority of us purchase in the grocery store. Also, have you ever looked at the sticker that finds itself on your produce? The oranges I just bought were shipped all the way from New Zealand. How much gas and energy did that take?

We are challenged not only to think about what we’re eating, but the true cost to the environment and our bodies. We are challenged to be a part of the change. Currently, 99% of farming is done conventionally, and that because that’s where the market is. Vote with your dollar, buy organic, and whenever possible, buy local. While a bit pricer in appearance, try to think of the crop subsidies, ecological damage and health care cost that need to be factored into that cheaper, conventional price. Maybe organic isn’t so pricy after all.

To learn more, read Bryan Walsh’s article The Real Cost of Cheap Food, and he suggests even more sources to check out. The first step to change is to become informed.

Here’s the link to the article: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1917458,00.html

Enjoy!

Recently I jumped on one of our biggest national bandwagons: I rented a self-storage unit.

As a person who tries to live simply, I’m a little ashamed to be among the one in ten American households with a storage unit. But my place had to emptied before I went to the closing and signed it over to the new owners, and I had no new home address. Into the storage unit everything went, along with my $120 monthly rent. No wonder the U.S. self-storage business takes in more than $22 billion a year. Even the recession can’t slow demand for storage!

Compare that to South Africa, where, a leader of the Lutheran Communion in Southern Africa told me, the fastest-growing industry is the funeral industry, driven by the HIV and AIDS pandemic. During the same decade that the U.S. self-storage business was exploding, the annual number of registered deaths in South Africa rose by 91 percent.

One country stores stuff; the other stores people. What would the world feel like if the money spent on our extra stuff were spent on keeping others out of coffins?

I love the idea of voting with your dollar; the simplicity of saying yes or no to a company’s products and practices based on consumer demand. In today’s American society so much is driven by supply and demand. I originally wanted to provide readers with a list of companies that are socially and environmentally responsible. The list would give you the power to make informed shopping decisions that help to make a positive impact for producers, manufacturers and suppliers of quality products as well as a greater impact on the larger supply chain and idea of trade. My plan was to do some research, talk to friends and get the low down myself. Instead, I was shopping at Greenheart, a local Chicago fair trade shop, when my boyfriend pointed out a book to me – The Better World Shopping Guide. Bingo, someone had already done the research! So I give to you a link to the book’s contents and a small preview of what can be found inside. From groceries to cell phones and shoes, happy shopping!

The Top Ten Best Companies
*as listed by The Better World Shopping Guide

1. Seventh Generation
2. Working Assets
3. Eden Foods
4. Organic Valley
5. Clif Bar
6. Honest Tea
7. Patagonia
8. Tom’s of Maine
9. Ben & Jerry’s
10. Aveda

~Post by Lana~

The following was submitted by Brooke Ells at Flathead Lutheran Bible Camp. The camp, with  the support of grant money from ELCA World Hunger, is involving kids in the fight against hunger.

In the past few weeks we’ve harvested lettuce, spinach, kale, onions, and a variety of herbs at Flathead Lutheran Bible Camp in northwest Montana. These fresh vegetables have made welcome appearances on our daily salad bar and outdoor BBQs. We anticipate tomatoes and corn in the coming weeks, which will be donated to local food pantries as a way of acting upon our summer theme, “Love to Serve.” Campers continue to enjoy the garden through educational activities, watering, weeding, harvesting, and eating.  And they continue to be curious as they observe two methods of composting waste from the Camp’s kitchen.

We have been adding more biblical and theological connections to our 6^th and 7^th grade garden scavenger hunt. Following activities at each station we use Bible passages to explore why environmental and social impacts of food production matter for our faith. In order to talk about stewardship and sustainability we read from Leviticus 25: “The land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants. Throughout the country that you hold as a possession, you must provide for the redemption of the land.

Just as God provided for the Israelites, so God continues to provide for us through the miracle and transformation of seeds to plants to flowers to nourishing fruits. After a relay race that represents food miles and food transport, we discuss our buying power as consumers, and our ability to make a difference through growing our own foods or buying local foods. As Luke 12 tells us, “‘Beware and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does life consist of his possessions. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.’”

Finally, in the garden we talk about how our faith is like the parts of a plant. Roots keep us grounded, stems function as our support systems, flowers are our gifts or talents, and fruits are given away in service or nourishment for others. Just as plants need sunlight, so we need a life-giving, transcendent God. Just as plants need water, so we need a cleansing, energizing, ever-present Holy Spirit. And just as seeds are transformed in soil, so we are transformed in Christ’s powerful message of forgiveness.

Campers continue to send letters to their senators and representatives weekly, allowing 8^th and 9^th grade campers to take action on behalf of those who experience hunger and poverty. Campers inspire us as they write with passion and conviction for their peers or themselves, who are in need of discounted or free school lunches. We hope to see effective changes made to the Child Nutrition Act this fall, including more accessible discounted meals, healthier school meals, and additions of breakfast and summer discounted meals.  At the end of each week, campers are each given a list of places they can serve in their home towns.

Many thanks to the ELCA and to all who continue to support the ministry at Flathead Lutheran Bible Camp. Your thoughts and encouragement on our behalf keep us energized and renewed for service to children.

Brooke Ells

     This being my last official day working for ELCA World Hunger, I thought it appropriate for me to offer a few words in this web dialogue.  We have read much in this space about the people who benefit from this ministry, the systems that bring about suffering, organizations that have received grants, and we have been pressed to consider lifestyle changes.  Please, take a moment to think about those who make this work possible, the ones who faithfully share what God has entrusted to them.  Lutherans who write checks, and give credit card numbers, all the while praying for the poor, the hungry, the sick, the imprisoned, and those who render care.

     Without any fear of over simplifying I will say they are saints!  They walk humbly with God as they do justice and love mercy.  Whether it is Edith in Seattle, Leo in northern Wisconsin, the dancing doctor and his wife in Tuscon, or now retired Jerry in the heartland, they all understand the concept of giving.  They wear housecoats and/or suit coats. They have hands that are grease stained or tremor from years of hard work.  Some go through life quietly (a recognizable Lutheran trait) doing whatever they can, while others stand on the steps of state capitals leading chants.  Common to them all is that they rise every day, pick up their crosses, and follow Jesus into the kingdom of God. 

      There are many effective humanitarian causes that do the same work as we do.  They have great networks and are able to raise, through donations or federal grants, huge sums of cash.  Our co-worker saints are different in that they believe that each act performed is incrementally advancing the spread of the kingdom of God.  They hear the words of Matt 6:33 (NRSV) “But strive first for the kingdom of God^* and his^* righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

     In that kingdom God’s justice, established in the creation event, orders all things.  (Thank you brother George)  Martin Luther speaks to this with his teaching on the Lord’s Prayer in the Small Catechism, “Thy kingdom come. What does this mean?— The kingdom of God comes indeed without our prayer, of itself; but we pray in this petition that it may come unto us also. How is this done?–When our heavenly Father gives us His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we believe His holy Word and lead a godly life here in time and yonder in eternity.

      The faithful who give and give and give do so leading a godly life in this time. Their reward is not from what they do, but from what has been done on their behalf, and they then demonstrate their faith with actions.  They are modern day Macedonians (see 2 Cor: 8 & 9).  I pray we may all remember these who labor anonymously so that more may eat, have access to health care, sleep in dry places or simply find a little joy in life.

Peace

Pastor Rodger

Ok, so on occasion I’m one of those people who has to hear or see something more than once before it really clicks. This idea of “being the change” is one of those concepts that is being continually redefined in my mind. When I was a kid, I remember hearing Gandhi’s famous quote “Be the change you want to see in the world” and I’ve heard it a million times since.

Even just last semester at UF in my class on Urban and Rural Communities in Transition my professor showed this short video clip at the start of class to create discussion about our roles in the world and our ability to create change:

Lost Generation

I find it creative and thought provoking and inspiring on several levels, but additionally, I hear once again, at the end, that short phrase, “I can change the world.”

It should have been no surprise to me then, that this summer I would be challenged to make change happen while going about my daily tasks for my internship. I think these three words found me hardest while at the 2009 ELCA Youth Gathering in New Orleans. Prior to the event we had challenged congregations and youth groups to collect “Change for Change” as a part of the Change the World: 2009 Lutheran Youth Challenge to raise $1 million for the World Hunger program and the projects we support. My goal in promoting this beforehand and there at the Gathering and even now post-Gathering is to convey this message: we each have the ability to change the world, right now in this moment, wherever you find yourself.

Not too long ago I was exactly where these most of these 37,000 high school students likely find themselves: wanting to do so much to change the world but feeling that circumstances like age, limited income, and limited mobility are making that task impossible. I watched though, in amazement as these kids, from literally all corners of the U.S. and even around the world, dug through their pockets to find whatever it was they could contribute and they asked questions about how their contribution could possibly make a difference. After just three and a half days of collecting, these kids who thought they were making such a small dent in our challenge goal with their 47 cents or whatever amount it was they had to give, had amassed over $130,000. How cool! We even made those three words a fashion statement at the Gathering, as every person who donated could get a “Be The Change” stamp on their hand or arm to proudly show how they were changing the world, even our staff t-shirts read “I can change the world”. Not only were these kids giving their spare change (and dollars) during this span, but in 3 days every single one of them participated in some form of service for the New Orleans community for a minimum of 4 hours. That’s over 148,000 hours and at $20.25 per hour (the estimated dollar value of one hour of volunteer work in 2008) we’re talking about another $2,997,000 these kids contributed to the world in just 3 days!

Just think how many opportunities we have on a daily basis to change the world. Where we shop and what products we buy. How much we drive as opposed to how often we could carpool or consolidate trips or take public transportation or ride our bikes or walk. How much stuff we buy for ourselves as compared to what we give to others in need. The list of little things we can do goes on and on.

I challenge you to choose one to start with. Stick with it. Then empower others to do the same. The world is ours for the changing. BE THE CHANGE!

~Jessie Fairfax

The following is written by guest blogger Mikka McCracken. Mikka served as an ELCA World Hunger Intern in 2008 and is currently working at the ELCA in the Justice for Women department.

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“Trafficking is a change in your situation, not necessarily your location.” “Human trafficking is one of the top three, international organized crimes.” “I am excited to work for the church, because I get to think about the root causes of human trafficking, like patriarchy, sexism, and racism.” “Rip out your phone book pages!” “Little things matter. Know what it is, and say something.”…and on, and on, again, and again…

I never got tired of it. I said my “spiel” to every wayward person who came by the Justice Town Human Trafficking Post Office. I talked to young people, youth group leaders, pastors, bishops, and sheriff deputy chaperones. I learned, I am inspired, I am uplifted, and I consider my time at the 2009 ELCA Youth Gathering in New Orleans a great success. Here are some things that I learned.

I learned that we cannot underestimate young people. They care. They want to make a difference. I am still in the category of young person, and I underestimated my peers. I will not do that again.

I learned that little things do matter. I stood at the human trafficking booth all day and told young people the little things matter. That night for dinner, some other staff members and I went to eat at a restaurant. To get there, we walked up Bourbon Street and then took a left instead of walking up the parallel street and to the right. I felt like a fool. Here I am, telling young people it’s the little things we do, and I can’t even take a different street to get to where I’m going to make sure that my foot traffic isn’t giving Bourbon a sense of legitimacy. It’s the little things. I truly believe that.

I learned that success is not only measured in numbers. I would estimate that I talked, in depth, with about 100 people during my time in Justice Town at the Gathering. When you count that there were 37,000 people there, I interacted with only about .0027% of the people. However, young people stood around the human trafficking station for 15, 20, 30 minutes. They asked questions and made connections to popular movies like Taken, the Human Trafficking television show, Slumdog Millionaire, and August Rush. When they found out what trafficking was, they mentioned things they’d seen at the airport when they landed, on Bourbon Street, and in their home towns. I watched all day as ‘light bulbs’ went on.

One group took the black and white, two-sided business cards with the National Human Trafficking Hotline number on the back and tried to tape them to massage parlor windows on Bourbon Street on the way back to their hotel. They came back the next day to tell me, and, apparently, saw two people following behind them the whole way taking the cards down. But, they did it, albeit, a little more dangerous than I would like to encourage, but they did it.

I learned that trafficking might be a darker, drearier, scarier reality in our world, but Lutherans care! Thanks be to God that we are blessed to serve in this way, and that we are called to constantly learn from one another.

Peace, Mikka

When you need to get a tune up on your car, you go to the mechanic, and talk with them about just what kind of work is going to be done on your vehicle. If you were going to a hospital for surgery, you may choose to check out the facility as well as meet your surgeon. The first time you sign a lease or take out a mortgage, there is a lot to learn about the whole process.

What about when you are deciding what kind of food to consume? Do you ever wonder where it came from? How do you know exactly what you’re eating? Who do you ask about the fine print?

Michael Pollan challenges many habits of the western culture when it comes to eating in his book In the Defense of Food. The first thing to strike me was that the majority of food in the supermarket was something Mr. Pollan referred to as “food-like substance.” One challenge is to actually take a look at the list of ingredients. Do you recognize everything, or are there some things on that list that you cannot even pronounce?

He picks apart so many aspects of our diets, from nutritionists’ recommendations to the regulations put in place by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The basis of these recommendations and regulations is challenged.

He says that nutritionists practice a thing called nutritionism, an ideology that believes the key to understanding foods is to understand individual nutrients. It is a science that tinkers with substances in order to have them imitate food and have the right nutrients. Take margarine as an example. When cholesterol and saturated fats were targeted as being bad for your health in the 1950’s, margarine emerged as a fantastic imitator, without the fat and cholesterol. Years later it was discovered that the trans fats in margarine was a ‘deadly’ ingredient, worse that the fat and cholesterol it replaced. One thing Mr. Pollan points out is that since the beginning of nutrition science, the overall trend has been unhealthier eating.

 In 1938 congress passed a bill regulating labeling of food. The Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act of 1983 read “if a food resembles a standardized food, but does not comply with the standard, that food must be labeled as ‘imitation’.”  With new substances, such as margarine lining the shelves, this helped consumers recognize what they were eating. Now, ‘imitation’ is a fairly negative label, so of course the food industry did not appreciate this act. In 1973, the act was repealed by the Food and Drug Administration, who decided that as long as the imitation had the same ‘nutritional value’ as the real thing; it did not have to be labeled as fake. Unfortunately, to meet nutritional standards, only the value of known nutrients must be met, and the ‘food-like substance’ is still an extremely processed and manufactured imposter the original food. It may be that industry takes priority, just above our health, when it comes to these types of regulations.

It makes you wonder, who should we be listening too when we make our food choices? Finding out where our food really comes from is a whole other matter. I definitely suggest reading In Defense of Food as one way to become a better informed consumer.

The following is from guest writer Brandon Reed. He writes about how ELCA World Hunger grant money is being used to involve kids at Rainbow Trail Lutheran Camp (CO) in issues of world hunger.

———-

We cannot merely pray to You, O God, to end starvation;
For you have already given us the resources
With which to feed the entire world
If we would only use them wisely.

Jack Riemer’s inspiring words from his poem “We Cannot Merely Pray to You” serve as a reminder that we as Christians are called to action in our unjust world.  At Rainbow Trail Lutheran Camp in Colorado, we are trying to foster a spirit of service in campers with our new Stewardship program.  This program emphasizes global hunger issues as well as other aspects of being good stewards of all that God has created.  Our approach centers on raising awareness, because without appropriate information and understanding of complex issues such as global hunger, action can be useless and even detrimental. 

Rainbow Trail hosts ten one-week camps throughout the summer, including two junior camps (4^th through 6^th grade), two junior high camps, two confirmation camps, two senior high camps, and two family camps.  In the past, confirmation campers experienced a traditional hunger meal where they were divided into groups to represent the state of the world hunger crisis.  Feeling especially adventurous this summer, we decided to switch it up and try something completely different. 

Our new Tastes of the World Lunch operates with similar goals in mind as the hunger meal, but takes a more uplifting approach.  In small groups with their counselors, campers “visit” five countries where they sample a native dish.  At each country’s table, staff members serve campers and talk for a few minutes about hunger issues in that country as they relate to the economic, social, political, and religious situations there.  While eating plantains sprinkled with cinnamon sugar in Cameroon, campers learn about Islamic culture and talk about African stereotypes.  In India, campers eat chole with flatbread and talk about the poverty and hunger that runs rampant through the country.  When campers visit Colombia, they try hominy cheese patties and discuss the impact that deforestation and illegal crops have on hunger and poverty.  After a scoop of peach mango salsa, campers hear about the uneven wealth distribution in Mexico and Rainbow Trail’s Bridging Borders program, which takes trips to Juarez to build houses for families.  Finally, snacking on cheese pizza in the U.S., campers learn that our prominent economic status in the world does not immunize us from hunger within our own borders. 

Although the campers oftentimes hesitate to try new foods, they are usually pleasantly surprised.  While the impact of such a lunch may not be as dramatic as a hunger meal, it has the benefit of engaging campers in a new way.  The menu for the lunch will change every summer so that returning campers experience an entirely new meal when they return the next year. 

In addition to the Tastes of the World Lunch, we are actively working to reduce food waste.  We measure food waste from dinner every day and present the weights to the campers.  We offer some statistics about global hunger issues, and encourage campers to think about what actually constitutes food waste and why it is important to act responsibly with food.  Emphasizing that some food waste is inevitable (i.e. chicken bones), we set goals for how much food waste we should have at the end of every dinner.  And it seems to be sinking in; the other day I forgot to post our food waste number from the previous night, and a handful of fourth graders came up and asked me where we stood. 

Overall, we are taking steps to ensure that campers leave with a few more tools than they came with to address hunger issues at home and around the world.  The ending of Riemer’s poem embodies the light we hope to shine at Rainbow Trail this summer:

 Therefore we pray to You instead, O God,
For strength, determination, and willpower,
To do instead of just to pray,
To become instead of merely to wish.

Brandon Reed
Stewardship Coordinator

In 2008 American’s spent $40 billion on bottled water. One-fourth of which was simply repackaged tap water. Why do we spend so much money on water that we could just as easily get from our own faucet?

The documentary FLOW: How did a handful of corporations steal our water? takes viewers through a journey that ultimately asks the question, “Is access to drinkable water a basic human right?” From the riots of water privatization in Bolivia to low-cost-clean-water supporting jobs in rural India this film looks at the question from multiple sides, but with one major theme: justice. Justice for those who can’t pay, who walk long distances to water sources, who drink from dirty rivers, who are having their aquifers pumped out from underneath them.

Most of us have heard about the detrimental effects that water bottle waste has on the environment. From polluted oceans to filling up landfills at your local dump. What I didn’t know was how just pumping that water has even more direct effects, because according to the Pacific Institute, it takes three liters of water to produce one liter of bottled water. It enlightened me to the true realities of pumping such vast quantities of water out of our ground’s resources.

My reaction to the documentary was intrigue and surprise. I knew that water was a huge issue, that bottled water posed environmental problems and that privatization had caused major riots in other parts of the world – but what I didn’t know was how it all flowed together.

This film is opinionated, hard-hitting, and at times hard to imagine. What would you do if your local river was literally bloody? Can you imagine being thrilled at having 10 liters of clean water per day? Do we realize that preventing disease is as easy as drinking clean water? It may seem like water issues belong to developing countries, to areas with poor sanitation or a desert climate, but in fact they are experienced in our own American backyard, in States as far apart as California and Michigan.

Get ready to be energized and learn the little things you can do to keep water from becoming a privilege, to keep rivers flowing and to prevent disease around the world.

Prepare to never look at a bottle of water the same way again.

Post by Lana Lile
FLOW trailer
Plastic in the Ocean