GET UP, STAND UP!
... Stop Eating Fossil Fuel!

Join Our Local Food Picnic & Parade to Mitigate Climate Change

“Step It Up, Capital!”

By Louise Maher-Johnson Nutrition Committee

Bob Marley’s reggae lyrics always spoke to large human rights issues, but he died just as the mother of all moral issues was becoming apparent. It now seems that everyone’s “Babylon” could well be climate instability and ecosystem “crashes” caused by global warming. Large populations, for instance, will face loss of food and water when many mountain glaciers are gone in as few as 15 years. New records for wildfires, hurricanes and planetary warming continue to be set annually. The 6-year Dust Bowl, climatologists say, could be minor in comparison to future mega-droughts in our midwestern breadbasket. We are told the next few years are most crucial for action, as CO2 has a life of 70–100 years in the atmosphere.

Marley’s songs also address the solution: Community. And the food community —everyone who eats—can play an overlooked but strong role in mitigating climate change. Our food community here in the Hudson-Mohawk valleys and here at Honest Weight is well situated to lead in such efforts, given our access to the state legislature and to unused, viable farmland. We can lead in efforts to re-localize food to the extent that New York can, once again, feed New York. Envision robust family farms, farmers’ markets, food co-ops, gardens and CSAs everywhere. Imagine a healthy and appetizing “100 Mile Diet” in winter, using techniques of drying, fermenting, canning and freezing. And root cellars filled with potatoes, onions, squash, beets, carrots (and apples). And enough local grains again to recapture the aroma of fresh baked whole grain breads in a local bakery.

When we eat food from far away— even the best organic food—that has been trucked, shipped or flown, we are “eating fossil fuel.” Eating local food means standing up to the fossil-fueled, industrialized food economy in our era of “peak oil” and oil wars, and stepping up to rapid climate change. By eating New York family-farm food, we can reject the petroleum-based synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, as well as the over-sized diesel farm combines, of agribusiness monocultures. We can boycott meat from animals raised in confined conditions on pesticide-intense GM corn. (All meats sold at Honest Weight are from grass-fed animals raised on local family farms, without a diet of pesticides, hormones and antibiotics.) And we can avoid overprocessed and over-packaged foods with chemical additives used to prettify and prolong shelf life. Oil, oil everywhere— and never a sustainable drop!

As scientists say “climate crisis” and as government says little, we can join the voices of thousands in rallies across the country on April 14 and say, “Step It Up, Congress” (www.stepitup07.org). Our joint message is to begin immediate measures to ensure an 80% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2050.

Our own “low carbon” local rally on Saturday, April 14 is in two parts:

• “Low Carbon Local: Step Up to the Plate” at the Lake House in Washington Park. HWFC will provide local eating and last-minute sign making, music and speeches, etc. Build a float on a garden cart or wheelbarrow. Celebrate food. (11 am–2 pm)

• “Step It Up, Capital” as we step (to Marley’s rhythms?) from the park to the Capitol steps for a photo-op to be displayed alongside photos of hundreds or thousands of other rallies across the country. (2–3 pm)

Celebrate life on the family farm and return to local food systems with colorful wheelbarrow floats, banners and bikes, puppets and placards, costumed children and adults, drumming, dancing and smiling. Imagine costumed earthworms, honeybees, butterflies, beetles, farmers, eggs, chickens, sunflowers, and New York’s own vegetables and fruits! (We encourage using recycled materials for all artwork.) Creative opportunities will abound.

Spread the word. Bring friends and neighbors. We are all the food community. And don’t forget our annual Earth Day fun on Saturday, April 21.

• To get involved in a sign or puppet making party, contact Jess: youthorganics@gmail.com.

• To help in other ways, contact: karisa@hwfc.com, or maherjohnson@gmail.com.

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