The REAL National Emergency: Food Justice and Food Insecurity
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(January 13, 2019) Boy, we have a lot to get to on this show, including the very serious subjects of food justice and food insecurity. But right out of the gate we’re taking a quick detour to welcome our long time friend, Green Diva Meg of The Green Divas. The Mike Nowak Show, with and without Peggy Malecki, has been friend of The Green Divas for a number of years. Currently, you can listen to segments of this show on their website under the title, the GD Mike Nowak Show.
Conversely, each week you hear a tidbit of green living advice that we call “Just a GD Minute”, live on our local program on 1590 WCGO, as well as in our other radio markets and on our podcasts. And if you’re wondering just what The Green Divas is all about, Green Diva Meg describes it as
an international media brand and go-to source for people in search of fresh ideas for sustainable living. We’re committed to raising awareness about issues related to climate change, health and social justice in a humorous (whenever appropriate and sometimes when it’s not), low-stress way and making it easy for anyone to live a greener lifestyle.
She visited us in July of last year to tell us about the launch of a new podcast on the GD Network, called GD Spirit Pub, that she records with her lifelong friend, “Weenie Greenie Julie” Bond Genovese. Julie is an inspirational speaker, creative soul coach, workshop leader, artist, unschooling mom and best-selling author of award-winning memoir, Nothing Short of Joy.
Meg is back on the show this morning as we continue to lurch (we’ll be lurching for a long time) into 2019. Do yourself a favor and check out her website and give one of the podcasts there a listen. Right after you listen to one of my podcasts, of course.
Food justice, AmpleHarvest.org and the government shutdown
If you’re reading this on or about January 13, you know that our country’s government is in the midst of a partial shutdown. I’m not going to go into detail about that, except to say that the shutdown is stupid. And it’s caused by somebody who wants to build a stupid wall. If you have an issue with that statement, take it up with the stupid guy in the White House.
The problem is that this debacle is starting to hurt real people–not the fake ones in Washington. It’s affects are wide ranging. And it’s starting to have unintended consequences. Food banks, for instance, are taking a hit.
Given the large number of government workers and contractors situated in the San Antonio area, Eric Cooper, the CEO of the San Antonio Food Bank, expects things to get busier soon and that concerns him.
The food bank has enough food on its shelves to last two more weeks – “maybe less” Cooper told USA TODAY.
“The government shutdown is a bit of a mess. Families that are already struggling with poverty and trying to nourish themselves, they’re hearing that SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) and WIC (Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children) offices are closed,” Cooper said. “The safety nets are breached. We are in big trouble.”
With that as background, I received a newsletter a couple of days ago from AmpleHarvest.org. It noted about the organization is reaching out to gardeners in the southern United States to consider donating their still-growing produce to local food pantries. I knew also that I needed to bring Ample Harvest founder Gary Oppenheimer back on to The Mike Nowak Show with Peggy Malecki to discuss this new initiative.
AmpleHarvest.org describes itself as “a nationwide movement to diminish hunger and malnutrition in America.” They do that by connecting gardeners who have excess produce with local food pantries that serve their local neighborhoods. To date, about a quarter of the 35,000 to 40,000 food pantries in the country have registered on their website.
But with this government shutdown, there’s a problem. It’s smack in the middle of winter. In the newsletter that I received, Oppenheimer speaks to that issue.
“While most of America’s gardeners are only now starting to think about beginning their gardens in the early Spring, those in the southern most reaches of the nation can grow food year round. We will be working to help growers donate their excess harvest from these gardens at this particularly stressful time – especially for the families of Federal employees and those who are impacted by the resulting reduced money in circulation.”
AmpleHarvest.org has devoted a page to the effects of the government shutdown and how people can help food pantries and soup kitchens keep their shelves stocked. According to Oppenheimer, he says that the page will probably continue to exist as resource during times of food crises. He was on our program last September to talk about Food Waste Weekend. That wasn’t very long ago, but trying to reduce waste by helping get that food in the hands of people who need it is something that I’m willing to talk about any time.
Food justice and KAM Isaiah Israel
It’s impossible to talk about food justice in Chicago without mentioning KAM Isaiah Israel in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood and their Food Justice and Sustainability program. In their own words,
Since the start of our award-winning, nationally-recognized Food Justice and Sustainability Program in 2009, we have addressed basic human needs and rights—access to nourishing, wholesome food, clean air and water, healthy soil—through urban farming. We have transformed the synagogue’s lawns and others around the neighborhood into food producing micro-farms, growing fruits and vegetables and distributing the harvests to those in need—over 30,000 pounds to date. In addition to this ongoing work, we constructed food forests in marginalized and unproductive urban areas through fruit and nut tree planting. Just as with the micro-farms, the idea is to transform unproductive spaces into productive ones. The new focus is to establish ever more sustainable and secure sources of food.
This year, the program is presenting the 10th Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Food Justice and Sustainability Weekend on Saturday, January 19 and Sunday, January 20. The Mike Nowak Show has been an advocate of this event for its entire existence, and I couldn’t be prouder of that fact. The weekend is free and open to the public at KAM Isaiah Israel, 1100 E. Hyde Park Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 60615. The theme this year is “Climate Change and Where We Live.”
Saturday features the Community Design Workshop: Reimagining a CHA senior living facility, from about 4:00 to 6:30 p.m. These workshops are an annual feature of the MLK Weekend. In a free-wheeling meeting that features experts, activists and interested citizens, a real Chicago space is considered, and a communal design comes together in about two hours. These designs are not necessarily implemented; they are, instead, ideas of what could be, if sustainability were the driving force behind civic planning.
Sunday is a series of seminars that this year features goodies like
A Smarter Bowl of Lentils: When and why vegan cooking reduces climate impact
Microgreen Production for the Winter Season Gap: Growing nutritious greens in flats in your home all year
Climate Change Advocacy: How you can make a difference
Shifting Seasons: The results of climate change and the moving targets for planting and harvesting
Eco-lawns: Building thriving, low-input landscapes with “weeds”
One is called From Backyards to Balconies: Pollinators in paradise, and it’s presented by a long time friend of mine. Terri Reardon is a Plant Propagator for the Chicago Park District, and has been a professional floriculturist since 2001. She has worked at Friendship Park Conservatory, the Chicago Botanic Garden and, since 2006, has directed propagation for the Garfield Park Conservatory and Lincoln Park Conservatory.
She says that in her talk she will show folks how to attract pollinators to their gardens. It doesn’t matter where it is or how big it is. A big part of that is including the plants that are attractive to hummingbirds, butterflies, bees and other pollinators. She even claims that she’ll help folks learn how to do their part to help endangered species.
And Reardon joins us in the studio this morning. Of course, the man behind the Food Justice and Sustainability Program and the MLK Weekend will also be here, as he has been for ten years. His name is Robert Nevel. He is an architect and visionary and he is always welcome in our studios.