Food Choices

Making responsible food choices

It may surprise you to learn that what we choose to eat has worldwide implications. But the good news is that earth-friendly food choices also tend to be the healthiest. It's just one more example of God's "abundant life" being more rewarding than our pop culture's idea of "the good life!"

Here are some important ways our food choices can make a difference:

Buy justice coffee
Serve coffee at your church fellowship hour and in your home that is:

	Fair Trade - for the farmer,
	shade-grown - for the birds, and
	organic - for the earth.

Go the Extra Mile in your CROP Walk in October
Most congregations enthusiastically support the CROP Walk because they want no one to go hungry. They're willing to walk miles to do this, but they may not realize that our personal food choices and national policies also affect hunger in the world (as well as global warming, water supplies, pollution, and so on). Take advantage of this annual focus on hunger to address these larger issues as well. For example,

	Sponsor a vegetarian "Low on the food chain" potluck with a variety of great tasting recipes that don't include meat. Display posters with information about how meat production affects the world (as well as the fact that most Americans eat unhealthy quantities of meat!)
	*Launch the Food for Thought (And Action!)* campaign right in your own congregation.**
	Start a Bread for the World campaign.
	Educate people about some of the issues addressed below.

Reduce meat consumption
Surprisingly, it's also the best way to conserve water (since so much water is required to grow the crops to raise the animals) and land. It also conserves rainforest since rainforest is often cleared to raise our burgers (known as the "hamburger connection"). So many more people could be fed from the same amount of land, water, and other resources if we fed grain to people, not animals!

And note that John Wesley was a vegetarian! "Thanks be to God!" he wrote to the bishop of London in 1747. "Since the time I gave up the use of flesh-meats and wine, I have been delivered from all physical ills."

Select seafood carefully
The National Audubon Society has a list which makes recommendations for sustainable seafood choices based on the fishery management, bycatch concerns, and habitat concerns. For example, shrimp - both wild caught and farmed - is an especially poor choice. Other seafood selection guides are Environmental Defense's Seafood Selector and the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch.

Choose organic whenever possible
Organic farming respects the health of the soil, thus helping preserve precious topsoil for future generations. It also prevents further contamination of our soil, air, and water with pesticides, herbicides and all the other "'cides."

Buy local or join a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture)
CSAs tend to be organic farms, but buying local in general reduces the high environmental costs of transporting food long distances. Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is the mutually beneficial arrangement whereby farmers and consumers cooperate so that food grown on small farms can be distributed efficiently for local consumption. The consumer buys a farm membership at the beginning of the season in return for a box of fresh, organically grown vegetables each week during the growing season. This program benefits both the farmer and the consumer: the farmer receives money before the start of the season when it is most needed to buy seed and supplies, and the consumer gets an assortment of fresh vegetables grown using environmentally responsible methods. Everyone in a CSA benefits from the lowered costs of packaging, marketing and advertising.

Here's some interesting faith-based articles on Community Supported Agriculture from Creation Care magazine, a publication of the Evangelical Environmental Network.

Here are some CSAs in the Central New York region:

Frosty Morning Farm in Truxton, NY - Phone 607-842-6799. Frosty Morning Farm is a small scale, NOFA-NY (Northeast Organic Farming Association of NY) certified organic, family farm. The grow a wide variety of vegetables, herbs, flowers and fruits on their 2-acre farm.

Grindstone Farm - Grindstone Farm is the largest organic grower in Central New York. They offer a full range of organically grown fruits and vegetables that they can deliver to your home or office. They make deliveries every Wednesday, and you can place you order right on their website. Tip: Group orders can save on delivery charges!

Environmental Justice

Making responsible food choices