Environmental Justice
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Food for Thought (... and Action!) | reduce world hunger, |
| promote good health, |
| reduce water shortages, |
| reduce air, water, and soil pollution, |
| support local farmers, and |
| reduce global warming? |
You may wonder how you and your congregation would be able to tackle all of these important issues. But by using the "power of the plate" - your daily personal food choices - you can simultaneously make a difference in all of these areas!
Portland 1st Unitarian Church in Oregon conducted a very effective and successful campaign to help their church members use the "power of the plate" to work for social and environmental justice. They have generously agreed to share their campaign materials, and have given permission for other churches to modify these materials for their own use. You can also take this toolkit out into the secular world - anywhere there's a group of people!
Here's the campaign kit of materials
Read this first!
Here are 9 Keys to Success for the Food for Thought campaign leaders. (Here's a .pdf version for printing.)
Results for one congregation
Here are the results from the Portland 1st Unitarian Church congregation after participating in the Food for Thought campaign:
| Evaluation results |
| Further actions taken |
| Supportive statements |
Here are the materials to print out for the participants in your campaign
These materials are available here as Adobe (.pdf) versions. If you would prefer Word docs emailed to you as attachments, contact me (get my email address at the bottom of the home page).
| Pledge Form |
| Power of the Plate |
| Food Facts at a Glance |
| Tips for Further Action |
| Evaluation Form |
Further local information you can compile for your participants:
| Recommended Restaurant List - Compile a list of local restaurant
suggestions that serve organic and/or locally produced food and drink.
Include location, phone number, hours of operation, and so on. This may take a little research, but it will be a helpful aid to your
participants ... and will also alert restaurant owners that people are
looking for such options! Here's an example of what you can create for your own region. |
| Farmer's Markets and CSAs - Compile a list of local
Farmer's Markets and Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)
organizations. Try to provide all the information needed (e.g.
location, phone number, hours of operation, website and so on) so people will
be able to easily take advantage of these sources. Here's an example of what you can create for your own region. |