Image via Blog Downtown

I have become very involved in food issues, having realized that food production, vending, consumption, and other food related issues including waste and human health are fundamentally related to environmental health.

As I mentioned in my Grammy Greening Summit article, local growers are uniting with raw foodists who are in turn forming food coops to provide things like raw milk. These efforts are being spawned by the exponentially growing number of people who have come to realize how enormously detrimental “conventional” farming is on human and environmental health, while also discovering the superior potential of responsible, sustainable, live agriculture to augment the Earth’s ability to grow and regenerate, while still providing more than enough food for the world’s peoples.

As many of you know, in the United States, purchasing an industrially farmed, processed and packaged food item containing ingredients shipped several times across the globe and requiring laboratory work (in the form of pesticides and genetically modified seeds) is often far cheaper than purchasing a locally grown carrot or tomato from the neighborhood farmer’s market.  Industrial agriculture is a primary contributor to global warming, behind automobile and factory exhaust, and highly processed foods resulting from the industrial agricultural process are a primary contributor to obesity, diabetes, heart problems and other illnesses. Over 80% of foods eaten by Americans contain genetically modified seeds, and the farming of soy is a primary contributor to the massive destruction of the Amazon rainforest. Food is traded as a commodity on stock exchanges, meaning that it is grown and sold to raise a profit for business people. Meanwhile, in the United States, we waste about enormous amounts of the food we produce.

In response, urban communities across the United States have started to grow their own food from organic and heirloom seed and have started to investigate these issues and how healthier alternatives can be created.

Siel has blogged extensively about the urban garden movement in Los Angeles (and related issues), including info about: signs of its growth; books, and more books; LA based environmental charter schools; yard sharing for those who don’t have land; guerilla gardening; dirt and its importance to our lives; points of personal change and advocacy; etc.

I am dedicating the rest of this post to things you can do and organizations you can follow, join, or donate to in Los Angeles, working hard on these related issues.

1.) First, to have immediate access to gardening and planting related grants, talks, events, classes, etc., join UC Davis cooperative extension Master Gardener program manager Yvonne Savio’s listserve (email ydsavio [at] ucdavis [dot] edu). Also, check out the UC Davis Extension webpage. If you want to learn urban vegetable gardening basics, sign up for the Victory Gardener program at a community garden near you (these classes take place ALL over the city).

2.) Check out the UC Davis list of LA based community gardens, or check the LA Community Garden Council website to find out where the community garden nearest you is located, and go volunteer there. You might be able to take home free veggies, fruits and herbs for your efforts.

3.) Subscribe to the Los Angeles Agriculture blog and LA Farm Girl.

4.) Check out the work of EnrichLA, an organization dedicated to putting a garden in every school in Los Angeles. They do GREAT work, so donate or volunteer at one of their sites if you can.

5.) Check out the trailer for the GMO Film (made by the creators of Dive! for which I posted the film trailer above), and donate to them if you can. They are working hard to create a film to raise awareness on the giant corporate takeover of the American food system, starting with the most ancient of human inheritances: seeds.

6.) Get involved with the campaigns to put an initiative on the upcoming November ballot to label GMOs (genetically modified organisms). Either donate to one of the two major campaigns (Labelgmos.org and Justlabelit.org). Labelgmos.org is doing a lot of work to recruit people to petition the public, so check their website for more info. Host a petitioning party and gather a bunch of signatures to put this issue on our ballot. Attend this Saturday’s SLOLA meeting, where labelgmos.org will be present and handing out free seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom (see info at bottom of this post). We have the right to know what is in our food!

7.) Subscribe to my blog, Local to Global Life Works, to learn more about these issues and how actions and decisions local to Los Angeles are connected to global trends and have global impact. I host events, post about events, etc. to keep you in the loop.

8.) Check out, support, volunteer for or donate to the work of the Los Angeles branch of one of America’s first peace and justice activism organizations, the American Friends Service Committee. One of the LA office’s main projects is maintaining four urban gardens (called Friends Peace Gardens) at high risk Los Angeles high schools to combat gang violence and to create access and awareness about healthy eating and fresh foods.

9.) Check out, support, volunteer for or donate to work of TreePeople, who have been active in LA for decades, and the new project 100 Seeds of Change through the Social Justice Learning Project, trying to bring urban gardening to South Los Angeles food deserts.

10.) Check out, support, volunteer for, donate to, or become a member of SLOLA – the Seed Library of Los Angeles ($10 lifetime membership), and attend their weekly meetings at the Venice Learning Garden. If you live closer to downtown LA or Pasadena, do not fret, because SLOLA is creating an eastern library branch. Feel free to email me for more information on this (namorandovida [at] gmail [dot] com).

If you have some free time this Sat., Mar. 17, be sure to stop by the Venice SLOLA meeting, since they are discussing a subject close to my heart – crop plants plants native to the Americas and their historic/cultural importance, with resources on how to obtain and care for their seeds. Plus, LabelGMOs.org is also sponsoring a distribution of seeds — free to SLOLA members — from Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company. And at the close of the meeting, SLOLA’s ever-expanding seed library will open again for check out.

If you’ve never attended a SLOLA meeting or have questions about seed saving, you’re invited to come 15 minutes early for a “Seed Saving Basics” presentation.

Image via LA Farm Girl

There are some really amazing things happening in Los Angeles with regard to green jobs and funneling employment opportunities into the green sector. This coming week, the Good Jobs, Green Jobs West conference is taking place in Los Angeles on Thu., Mar. 15 and Fri., Mar. 16. Admission for both days is $195.

Good Jobs, Green Jobs West is part of a series of conferences taking place nationally. The Los Angeles conference is partnering with the California Labor Federation, who is also hosting their Workforce & Economic Development conference, Unemployed in America: Causes, Consequences, Solutions, which takes place immediately before Good Jobs, Green Jobs from Tue., Mar. 13 – Thu., Mar.15. You can attend both conferences at the rate of $295, by registering with the California Labor Federation and indicating that you want to attend Good Jobs, Green Jobs West during the registration process. Be sure not to register separately, or the discounted rate will not apply.

Conference keynote speakers and plenary panelists include: Congressman Xavier Becerra, Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa, Teamsters general president James P. Hoffa, California Air Resources board chair Mary Nichols, California Labor Federation chief officer Art Pulaski, Californians for Clean Energy and Jobs co-chair Tom Steyer, Sierra Club national treasurer and past president Allison Chin, chairman of the BlueGreen Alliance’s Apollo Project Phil Angelides, and others.

We have many hard-working people and organizations to thank for this, including Green for All, the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE), Strategic Concepts in Organizing and Policy Education (SCOPE), the Apollo Alliance, our innovative Los Angeles labor unions, and, of course, the countless individuals involved in pushing for transition to a sustainable, green economy.

If you can’t attend the conference, but are interested in the subject matter, check out some of the above organizations. They do amazing work in Los Angeles, pushing forward green changes at the policy level. There are also other interesting green jobs movements afoot, such as the campaign for a Green New Deal.

I also highly recommend that you pick up a copy of Van Jones’ seminal book Green Collar Economy if you haven’t yet, since he has great ideas to rebuild a green, clean, prosperous America. You can also check out the website Green Collar Economy.

Lastly, if you can’t attend the Good Jobs, Green Jobs conference because you are looking for a green job, you might find one at Green Job Search.

Photos via Green Jobs, Good Jobs West

Photo via SLOLA website

>> Big City Forum presents Fast Forward: Los Angeles on the Verge, featuring a panel of speakers that will harness creative methods for a lively discussion around livability, sustainability, community, and the politics of place in Los Angeles. Takes places tonight, Wed., Mar. 7 at 7 pm at the Armory Center for the Arts, 145 North Raymond Avenue, Pasadena. Cost: free.

>> What exactly is a ‘genetically modified seed’? What is ‘heirloom’? How do seed saving and local food growing relate to local and global peace? Who owns the future of food? Join the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) Friends Peace Dialogue, speakers Megan Bomba (SLOLA) and Deanna Marie Weakly (Master Gardener, founder of Skid Row Rooftop Garden), and green LA girl writer Nisha Namorando Vida to learn and dialogue on these questions this Thu., Mar. 8 from 7-8:30 pm at the AFSC headquarters, 634. S. Spring St., 3rd Floor, Los Angeles. Cost: free.

>> The G2 Gallery has begun a weekly screening of Ken Burns’s six-part documentary The National Parks: America’s Best Idea. The screenings provide a deeper understanding from a historical perspective of the people and places that shaped America’s national parks. The screenings will be held every Thu., Feb. 9 – Mar. 15 at 2 pm. Check out this week’s screening “Great Nature (1933–1945)”, on Thu., Mar. 8 at 2 pm, G2 Gallery, 1503 Abbot Kinney Blvd, Venice. Cost: $5. All proceeds will be donated to the World Wildlife Fund and the Sierra Club.

>> Santa Monica College is conducting its 10th annual Environmental and Urban Issues Speakers Series. Join Genevieve Bertone and other Santa Monica College faculty, staff, and students to learn how we are working on transportation, energy, food and other projects that make SMC more efficient and a better neighbor on Tue., Mar. 13 at 6:30 pm in HSS 263 on Santa Monica’s Main Campus (Map). Cost: free.

Photo via Big City Forum

Can the Grammys go green? The Grammys are working on reducing their impact on the environment by implementing a series of steps to minimize energy, food and packaging waste, and to raise public awareness on the need for individuals, events, and corporations to make changes now for a healthier future. Natural Resource Defense Council‘s helping The Grammys learn ways to implement these goals -– definitely a step in the right direction.

This year the Recording Academy (the institution behind the Grammys) organized the 2nd Annual Greening Summit: The Sound Of Social Change at the Conga Room at L.A. Live. The event was sponsored by Waste Management, and featured a panel focusing on “Corporate responsibility in sustainability and how industry insiders can use their collective power to drive change in greening.”

The panel of corporate executives representing four companies working on incorporating initiatives to lessen their impact on Earth’s ecosystems, and two companies focused on sustainability consulting featured Bridgette Bell, global sustainability manager for Yum! Brands (owners of Taco Bell, KFC and Pizza Hut); William Brent, executive vice president of Weber Shandwick’s Cleantech; Jennifer Miller DuBuisson, associate manager of global sustainability for Mattel; Michael J. O’Brien, vice president of corporate and product placement at Hyundai; and Tim Sexton, co-founder of environmental policy business association Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2). Greg Baldwin, executive director of Environmental Media Association, moderated the panel.

There are definitely two ways to interpret the success of this event, a la Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, due to the complexity of the issues surrounding corporate sustainability.

On the one hand, (cue Dr. Jekyll) the Greening Summit should be considered a success and a motivation for other companies around the globe, whether staffed by 5 or 500,000 people. It was also a bit of relief for those (like me) concerned about the impact of non-environmentally sustainable business practices on Earth’s health now and in the future.

The featured panelists concluded that being “green” is a movement and not just a trend, applying this conclusion both to change in the corporate realm and to observed patterns of consumer demand. Considering that each of the panelists represented companies through which pass billions of dollars, this was no small statement.

When asked if they see green practice in their business, each of the individuals presented various strategies that their companies are involved in to lessen ecological impact. For example, Mattel’s toy packaging is now made of sugar cane and they are using sustainably sourced fibers for their toys, Yum! is investing in making their eateries LEED certified, and Hyundai has implemented a zero-waste policy at its manufacturing facilities. Hyundai also has its own steel plant, designed to capture released gases to power the factory itself (a $6 billion investment).

In talking about green strategy, Sexton (E2 co-founder) mentioned that 10 years ago all companies had internet strategies; today there are no internet strategies, as these are fundamentally integrated into a company’s main business strategy. He sees green strategy as being of a similar vein. He also hearkened to the 60s, pointing out that today’s “green movement” is a result of many years of struggle for change.

With regard to “greenwashing,” Brent of Cleantech mentioned that his company’s clients are not interested in implementing strategies that will only market sustainability without having attainable results. Clients are looking for “green” strategies — like using internet conference technologies to replace air travel for business meetings — that can cut costs while saving the planet. He also mentioned growing consumer interest in the greening of businesses, visible through different forums such as carrotmob.org.

It was great to hear individuals in strong positions in the corporate sector talk passionately about wanting to move ahead with sustainability practices in their companies, until the day when their jobs are no longer needed. As a colleague of mine present at the event pointed out, it is good motivation for smaller and mid-sized businesses to see large corporations incorporate waste and eco-impact minimizing strategies into their business plans; if changes can be made on such a large scale, so can they on the smaller scale.

On the other hand, (and out comes Mr. Hyde) there were several shortcomings to this event that demonstrate areas in which serious challenges to true human symbiosis with the earth remain (is symbiosis our ultimate, collective goal? I think so, do you?).

A Waste Management (WM) manager opened the event with a very scripted talk about WM’s sustainability practices. At one point she talked about how our generation is the first ever to be in a position to leave the Earth better than we found it. This unhistorical comment is emblematic of some of the underlying problems within how “sustainability” is framed today, which leads to serious limitations in how “sustainability strategies” become formulated and implemented in businesses.

It is a historical truth that Native American peoples held the Earth in stewardship, until colonization of the Americas meant that American land was transfered from Native stewardship to land ownership by British (and other) colonists, followed by industrialization (which inherently requires natural resource consumption), the post-Great Depression transition from family farming to industrial agriclture, and real estate sprawl. The beauty that John Muir saw in Yosemite was so because of how the Native American peoples worked with forests and ecosystems; their impact on our ecosystems is still visible in today’s remaining wild spaces.

Destruction of native ways of living and subsequent transition to an industrialized, mass production and consumption society is a fundamental reason for the massive problems we face globally today, whether considering the burning of the Amazon for soy, cattle and sugar, the razing of Appalachian mountain tops for coal, or the transformation of our world’s rivers into manufacturing corridors. No matter how you phrase it, Barbies are unnecessary tolls on the Earth, and are simply not ‘eco-friendly’, even if packaged in sugar cane plastic (the ‘eco-friendliness’ of which is itself dubious).

Hyper-processing raw materials (wood, petroleum, corn, sugar cane, iron, etc.) into products with only temporary purpose for humans and limited ability to healthily reintegrate with the Earth cannot be sustainable; it presents a huge toll on the Earth from material extraction and sourcing, the building of factories, toxic outputs from product creation, waste generated by product packaging (and other marketing efforts), and waste generated by the product after it is discarded by human consumers.

Even if there are some native peoples in different parts of the world who did not go out of their way to steward the Earth (or who maybe engaged in damaging practices like slash and burn), their impact was miniscule compared to that of modern industrial practices.

The point is, there have been many generations before ours that left the Earth in a better way than they found it; our generation is the first to face the threats of human induced climate change and mass extinction in a way so pervasive that we are being forced to rethink what it means to “live with the Earth” because of how ill the planet and its people are becoming due to irresponsible use of land and Earth’s resources.

Concerns such as these lie at the root of the “green” movement, which is in turn inspiring many people to invest in local economies, goods and services, while cutting unnecessary consumption out of their lives (nevermind the pathetic state of our economy, generally speaking). It might just be that companies that produce unnecessary goods have to face this reality and start considering how to restructure the goods and services they provide in a more holistic manner – for the benefit of consumers and the futures of their own children and grandchildren.

This event also made me realize how intrinsic food production is to the sustainability movement. Local growers are uniting with raw foodists who are in turn forming food coops to provide things like raw milk. These efforts are being spawned by the exponentially growing number of people who have come to realize how enormously detrimental “conventional” farming is on human and environmental health, while also discovering the superior potential of responsible, sustainable, live agriculture to augment the Earth’s ability to grow and regenerate, while still providing more than enough food for the world’s peoples.

My food epiphany came to me during the question and answer period (which was very short-lived). An audience member representing the Clean Agency asked the Yum! Brands rep (Bell) if Yum’s transition to sustainability included sourcing food from sustainable and organic food growers and farms that use humane practices to raise animals for meat consumption. Bell responded by saying that another department handles food matters. Prior to the q&a, Bell had mentioned that Yum!’s goal is to feed the whole world, meaning that the primary purpose for the existence of Yum! is to give lots of food to lots of people. Industrial agriculture is a primary contributor to global warming, behind automobile and factory exhaust – a fact that a global sustainability executive should know. If Yum! is not looking at alternative sourcing of its food ingredients, then by existing, it is ultimately choosing to be a significant cause of environmental degradation, regardless of measures taken by its stores to “green.”

At that point, I also realized that the panelists seemed to be blurring the difference between implementing sustainability practices to satisfy consumer demand versus creating company sustainability policies based on a prioritization of environmental health. I decided to ask the panel a question about what training they have had that qualifies them to be sustainability experts. A Local to Global volunteer filmed their response (see video below). What do you think of their responses?

My final Mr. Hyde criticism is to emphasize that the Greening Summit lacked any connection whatsoever to organizations contracted by the Recording Academy to build sustainability into the Grammys. There were no introductory or concluding remarks from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the nonprofit advising the Recording Academy on how to plan a more sustainable celebration, and I was unable to meet any NRDC staff. The food served was the standard continental breakfast fare of cantaloupe, pastries and cheap coffee. The only Grammy/Greening Summit connection seemed to be the event’s location at L.A. Live, which uses enormous amounts of energy and water 24/7.

Criticism can be constructed either as means to degrade something, or as an opportunity to make something (like a movement!) stronger by pointing out flaws and weak spots.

The Mr. Hyde criticisms presented here were not written to disparage efforts made thus far in the corporate sector, but instead to challenge green LA girl readers, the corporate sector and the global community toward increasingly innovative thinking — and NOW!

The Greening Summit panel clearly consisted of a group of powerful individuals who are excellent at their jobs, want to care about the planet and its people, are pioneering the drive in the corporate sector to think about human impact on the planet, and seemed to be coming from internal places of honesty and passion. While the work they are doing is crucial, there is just so much more that needs to be done right now by all individuals and businesses throughout the globe.

Through efforts to “green” the Grammys and by organizing the Greening Summit (more photos here from the event), the Recording Academy clearly seems to be interested in opening dialogue and spurring education on how to green businesses. As an inherently cultural institution, they also seem to be interested in inspiring cultural change toward sustainability.

So what are your thoughts on these issues? Let’s keep this dialogue going.

Photo by Nisha Namorando Vida

>> Los Angeles Bioneers is hosting Shannon Biggs who will talk about her work on passing a “Sustainability Bill of Rights” ordinance in Santa Monica, which would strip personhood rights from corporations and give rights to ecosystems instead. Takes place Tue., Jan 31 at 7 pm at G2 Gallery, 1503 Abbot Kinney Blvd., Venice. Cost: free with RSVP to srnichols@mac.com.

>> The LA Bicycle Coalition needs volunteers to help count cars parked in the new Spring St. bike lane to provide LAPD with accurate data during the morning and afternoon commutes this Tue., Jan. 31 to Thu., Feb 2 along Spring St. in downtown Los Angeles. Exact times are flexible. Cost: free. Email martin@la-bike.org to volunteer.

>> Do you home-make, home-grow, and/or forage your own food creations? If so, come trade them at the LA Food Swap, next Thu., Feb 9 from 7-9 pm at ReForm School, 3902 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles. Cost: free with pre-registration. Register now as space is limited.

>> Arcona is hosting a free facial experience with their new mandarin orange brightening peel. Free champagne and brownies from Sweets for the Soul will be served. Enjoy the fun this Sat., Feb. 4 from 12-4 pm at Evolue, 357 1/2 S. Robertson Blvd., Beverly Hills. Cost: free with rsvp to info@evoluebeauty.com.

>> The LA County Bicycle Coalition is organizing 3 three different rides for various cycling abilities to the Watts Towers! All rides will reach the Watts Towers, where you’ll get the chance to take a tour if you choose. All rides take place this Sun., Feb. 5. The 49 and 37-mile rides meet at 8 am and ride at 8:30 am, leaving from Dock 52, 13555 Fiji Way, Marina del Rey. The 10-mile ride meets at 10 am and rides at 10:30 am and meets at Jesse Owens Park, 9651 S. Western Ave., Los Angeles. Cost: free.