Farm To School: Ecotrust Keeps It Local
By Lizbeth M. Brown, Esq.
Filed Under Modern Philanthropy | 3 Comments
The coastal Pacific Northwest is referred to as the Salmon Nation. As a self-proclaimed “Citizen Of Salmon Nation,” Portland-based non-profit Ecotrust is committed to improving the economic, ecological, and social conditions of this region. They actively coordinate a number of extremely progressive initiatives, including their Food & Farms program.
Michelle Markesteyn, Ph.D. is a major force at Food & Farms, as the Farm To School and School Garden Program Coordinator. Farm To School programs enable schools to provide students with healthy, locally-sourced meals, incorporate nutrition-based curriculum, and provide experiential learning through farm visits, gardening, and recycling. eCo Times caught up with Michelle to get the inside scoop on her mission…
How would you describe the main impacts your organization is attempting to have on the world ?
I work in the Food & Farms Program within the larger organization Ecotrust. Within my program, we are working to make sustainable regional agriculture the norm rather than the exception. To do that we work through bottom up and top-down approaches - changing behaviors of individuals as well as the policies and the environmental and political contexts in which individuals live, work and play.
How far have you come along the path of success in your mission?
Because there is a lot of momentum among educators, health advocates, agriculturalists and environmentalists for farm to school programs, we’ve been able to come a long way in a short amount of time. For example, in Oregon, in the last 14 months, we’ve gone from one school district with an integrative farm to school and garden program to 40 school districts that have at least shown serious interest in starting a program of their own. These 40 districts have listed themselves as potential purchasers in our regional Guide to Local Seasonal Products.
Talk about changing social norms! Just this past February, the Oregon State Legislature signed into law the creation of a farm to school and school garden program within the Oregon Department of Education, the agency that oversees school food. In that moment, Oregon became the first state in the nation to create such a position, demonstrating our serious commitment to local agriculture and our awareness of its clear relationship to our children’s health. Continue reading Farm To School: Ecotrust Keeps It Local…
Posted on May 5, 2008 |
Drink Coffee, Kick Junk
By Jenn Breckenridge
Filed Under Green Living | 3 Comments
I’m not generally into making New Year’s resolutions and, until now, I’ve never actually kept one. Back in December, I went to have a late night tea with a friend. There was a Coffee Bean And Tea Leaf right there, so we popped in for their last call. I didn’t actually want the tea I ordered, I just wanted to talk with my friend and it seemed polite to have a tea together. My mint tea came in not just one paper cup, but two, and a sleeve. These people really wanted to protect me from the heat of my luke warm tea. I’d been trying to cut down on excess waste (plastic bags and all that), so I gave them back one of the cups. As I sat with my friend, sipping this tea I didn’t really want to begin with, I just realized I can’t do this anymore. I looked at my friend and said, “This is my last paper cup.” Continue reading Drink Coffee, Kick Junk…
Posted on May 2, 2008 |
Top 5 Most Eco Countries
By Pippa Sorley
Filed Under The Big Picture | 27 Comments
Measuring the “eco-ness” of a country immediately begs the question- what exactly is being measured? Is it the country’s cultural and social contributions, or merely the percentage of GNP devoted to renewable and environmental technologies? Do the metrics take into account the losses of warfare or the abundance of natural resources?
Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy, in conjunction with Columbia University, recently released its first official Environmental Performance Index. The EPI is a ranking of almost every nation’s commitment to with a range of metrics for everything from greenhouse gas emissions to water purity and conservation practices.
It is not surprising that the wealthy Scandinavian countries dominate the top five, while the poorest African nations fell into the bottom five. You may think all developing nations would be so focused on daily subsistence over global environmental standards, that they wouldn’t score well on the Environmental Performance Index. However, several developing countries proved that money isn’t everything. Columbia, with a per capita GDP of $6886, came in at number 9, well ahead of France and Japan. And Costa Rica, far from being wealthy, scored number 5 due to its commitment to wildlife conservation and environmental practices. The United States embarrassingly came in at number 39, well below large nations like Canada and Russia, and small ones like Latvia, Panama and the Dominican Republic.
Let’s take a look at how the Eco Top 5 are making it happen… Continue reading Top 5 Most Eco Countries…
Posted on May 1, 2008 |
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