When: September 17th through October 9th 2008
Where: Chicago, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Vermont, New York City, Washington,
D.C.
Guest Speaker: Leticia Galeano—Campesina and youth leader from Paraguay

In the midst of a global food, energy and climate crisis more and more people are challenging the destructive industrialized agricultural model by constructing local and regional alternatives with a vision for food sovereignty worldwide.

As momentum grows in the United States around truly local, sustainable and fair food systems, it is also crucial that we stand with the international movements that are actively pursuing these same alternatives and confronting the interests that oppose them—often in the face of violence and oppression.

We hear little to nothing in the U.S. media about Paraguay, yet Paraguayan peasant and Indigenous communities have been fighting one of the most unheard of wars: the “soybean wars.” Soybeans in Paraguay are symbolic of the legacy of a U.S. backed dictatorship and of U.S. economic interests, specifically those of agribusinesses. These are making record high profits through the expansion of large-scale industrial monoculture production of Monsanto’s genetically modified soy at the expense of impoverishing local communities, human rights abuses and environmental destruction.

A National Month of Action for a Just and Sustainable Food System

September 21st-October 21st
www.realfoodchallenge.org/launch-challenge

Take action this fall for Real Food Now! Join thousands of students on hundreds of campuses across the country—including student farmers, fair trade and farmworker rights advocates, local food champions, and climate change activists—as we act for a more just and sustainable food system. Students—from Hawaii to New Hampshire—will organize protest potlucks, community teach-ins, and real food roundtables to highlight the need for real change in campus food.

Especially now, as we witness a growing obesity epidemic, soaring food prices, labor abuses in the fields, and the degradation of our land and water, it’s becoming clear that our food system is in crisis. All across the country students like you are taking action—breaking ground on new community gardens, campaigning for clean energy and local food in campus cafeterias, and working in solidarity with farmworkers and farmers abroad. Real change is happening on campuses nationwide and students are leading the way!

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What you can do:

Chipotle feels the heat as the Campaign for Fair Food marches on following Burger King victory

July 18, 2008 – Chipotle, the fastest-growing chain in the industry, has created quite a set of lofty expectations for itself. In its own words, Chipotle wants to “revolutionize the way America grows and gathers its food” by leveraging its purchasing power to influence its suppliers’ actions.

Basing its public image on the idea of food with integrity, Chipotle has lured socially-conscious consumers by promising a product that is not, in the words of founder and CEO Steve Ells, “tied to the exploitation of animals, farmers, or the environment.”

But wait… the environment, farmers, farm animals. What about the farmworkers? Those whose backbreaking labor makes it possible for fresh produce to arrive from the fields to America’s tables? Apparently, the definition of “food with integrity” does not include produce harvested by workers receiving fair wages and laboring in humane conditions.

For two years, the CIW has called on Chipotle to follow the example of Yum Brands, McDonald’s and now Burger King and take action to end the human rights crisis in its tomato supply chain. And for two years, Chipotle has refused, serving up free-range pork and hormone-free beef while doing nothing to ensure that the tomatoes in its burritos are free of exploitation.

Slow Food Nation inspires and empowers Americans to build a food system that is good, clean and fair. The inaugural edition of Slow Food Nation takes place in San Francisco this Labor Day weekend, August 29 to September 1, 2008. Over 60,000 people will come together to cultivate a Victory Garden, support a sustainable marketplace, share meals and participate in tastings, workshops, forums, films, talks, a music festival and more. The event will be an inclusive platform to allow those working in the fields of social justice, environmentalism, education and food access to engage participants, create momentum and show what “Slow Food” means in action and on the plate.

Slow Food Nation is calling for leaders in the youth food movement to contribute to and participate in a Youth Program during the event. It will be an opportunity for universitylevel students and young farmers, producers, cooks and activists to learn from mentors and peers, exchange ideas and build networks. The Youth Program will feature:

• Panels and forums to address issues in and galvanize the youth food movement;
• Workshops and networking sessions for all participants to connect in the spirit of mentorship/apprenticeship;
• A volunteer program to integrate young people into the event, e.g., cooking meals or leading school groups on tours of the Victory Garden;

http://www.ciw-online.org/2008_Petitions/index.html

The CIW is launching a national petition drive to demand that Burger King and other food industry leaders work with the CIW to improve the wages and working conditions of the workers who pick their tomatoes, and join with the CIW in an industry-wide effort to eliminate modern-day slavery and human rights abuses from Florida’s fields. The petitions will serve as notice that those who sign are “prepared to stop patronizing Burger King now, and other food industry leaders in the future, should they fail to do so.” The campaign comes on the 200th anniversary of the US ban against the importation of slaves, and echoes key strategies of the early abolitionist movement that helped hasten the end of slavery in the 19th century.

April 23, 2008 1:00 – 2:30 p.m. EDT

http://www.sustainablefoodsystems.com/pdffiles/0408-local-food.pdf

Buying, preparing, and eating locally grown food has positive effects on students, the campus, the environment, and the surrounding community. Local food purchasing is also an important part of creating a campus with a sustainable future, and dining services administrators can lead the way in campus sustainability by introducing locally grown foods into their services. Join us and learn what it takes to start a local food purchasing program.

This web conference is aimed at institutions exploring local food purchasing or looking to expand their current local and sustainability initiatives. Directors of dining, dining services managers, purchasing managers, auxiliary service directors, and sustainability coordinators will benefit from attending this event.

USFT is joining forces with the California Student Sustainability Coalition to create a superconvergence! This President’s Day weekend, hundreds of youth and student leaders in the fair trade and sustainability movements will be joining us at UC Santa Cruz for a weekend of workshops, discussions, training, and fun. This conference will provide a means to:

• Develop and strengthen inter-school connections and collaboration in order to deepen and expand the Sustainable Food & Fair Trade movement

The Real Food Challenge will employ a regional organizer at each of its 7 regional hubs, beginning with the Northeast and California in 2008 and extending to all regions by 2010. The Regional Organizer will play a critical role in the regional hub model of RFC, increasing RFC visibility and student participation and building the relationships that will be the core of our success.

We are seeking motivated individuals to become coordinators for the Southwest, Northwest, Midwest, and Southeast regions. It is a part-time, paid position.

From beets in January to chilies in December, this beautiful calendar wows with every month. Offering nude bodies dressed with seasonal, locally grown fruits and vegetables from the northeast, ripe 2008 celebrates the intimate and wondrous connection between our ourselves and our food. Produced with the firm conviction that a tastier, more sustainable future is possible, the calendar seeks to ignite your passion as well as your taste buds.