Local food culture in the upper Eastern Shore is not just alive and well.  It is thriving.  This was evident at the 2013 Locavore Literature Festival (March 21-24, 2013 in Chestertown, MD) featuring authors, poets, eaters and growers, all speaking and buzzing about the joy, challenge, and possibilities of food.

The festival featured a series of talks about food as a catalyst for healing the environment and health, and building community. Keynote speaker and author Shannon Hayes (Radical Homemakers: Reclaiming Domesticity from a Consumer Culture (2010)) offered stories about what it takes to transition to sustainable, accountable living centered on home and community. In addition to tastings and farmers markets, the program included a lively panel of local food activists sharing their vision for healthy food and resilient communities. I was fortunate enough to catch a poetry reading by Nathaniel Perry, author of Nine Acres (2011), whose prose embraces not so much a romantic view of food and nature, but rather a rich slice of trial and error in growing stuff to eat.

Perry’s reading and discussion was followed by a dynamic presentation by Professor Tanya Denckla Cobb, author of Reclaiming Our Food:  How the Grassroots Food Movement is Changing the Way We Eat (2011).  Cobb highlighted inspiring stories and lessons from community-led food projects around the country. She paid particular attention to projects that are increasing access to healthy food for more members of the community and creating jobs. What I observed in Chestertown can been seen in small pockets across the Chesapeake region –people organizing and energizing themselves around healthy, locally grown, sustainable food. I came away from Cobb’s discussion with a sense of hope about the good things that people are doing in their communities, but I had to wonder –does the collection of earnest efforts add up to a movement that can make the comprehensive reforms we really need?

Fortunately, our friends at Future Harvest-CASA are working to link local efforts together through a regional vision for the future of food called the Chesapeake Foodshed Initiative. The idea is to build collaboration and connection between the innovative projects happening around the region to drive bigger change and impact. Other regions such as New England have used this sort of visioning to help drive policy change and grow the marketplace for local, sustainable food.  In fact, leaders of the New England movement recently set a bold new goal of building the capacity to produce up to 80% clean, fair, just, and accessible food for all New Englanders by 2060. As the Chesapeake Foodshed Initiative evolves and develops, our hope is that a blueprint for the future of food will emerge that reflects thriving local economies, equal access to good food, and healthy communities.

Today is the last day of the 2013 legislative session.  I have followed the advocates on twitter, sat in on committee hearings, attended rallies, and monitored the news outlets.  Maryland’s environmental community, advocating on issues like offshore wind, pesticide reporting, and fracking, has continued to do effective work this session.

Although the work does not end when the session is over (and the advocates are working hard as we speak) I just wanted to say a quick thank you to the advocates and their supporters for their work this session.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” -Margaret Mead

“One of the penalties of an ecological education is that one lives alone in a world of wounds. Much of the damage inflicted on land is quite invisible to laymen. An ecologist must either harden his shell and make believe that the consequences of science are none of his business, or he must be the doctor who sees the marks of death in a community that believes itself well and does not want to be told otherwise” – Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac

If Aldo Leopold were around today I feel like we would be best friends.  Mostly because he would not have a choice if he wanted to be my friend.  I would just pester him until he told me something insightful and profound that I could apply to my work.  I am a professional pesterer, you should ask my parents.  But since being friends with Aldo Leopold is not really possible, unless I went to a medium, I will just have to rely on his writing.  (But seriously we would be like best friends forever. Friendship bracelets and all).

Today in trying to think of what I wanted to write about for this week’s blog I decided to see if Leopold had anything to contribute.  So like any intelligent, well-read person, I googled “Aldo Leopold Quotes.”  I know what you all are thinking. “Wow. I never would have thought to google that.”  I came across the above quote, which I could not have found at a better time.

I graduated from college knowing about various environmental issues within my state, across the county, and across the globe.  What I did not graduate with was a realistic understanding of these issues.  I knew of the general problems, but I did not realize how challenging it would be to fix these problems.  I never expected to have to learn the lesson that just because we may be right on a particular issue, does not mean we will win.  Or that sometimes we have to concede and compromise to the political game at hand.

Now that I am a year out of school and a year into learning about, and working in, the realm of Maryland’s environmental issues, I am constantly gaining perspective of the reality in which we work.  I have observed effective coalitions form within the environmental community to take on an issue.  These coalitions and collaborations have made progress, but they are certainly not enough to create the real systemic change we seek to achieve in Maryland.  We need to begin forming partnerships outside of the environmental community.

Think of how influential we could be if we began investing in relationships outside of the environmental community, if we got involved in issues like the Dream Act or Marriage Equality.  These issues are obviously not environmental ones, but their activists are likely to be supportive.  Most environmental groups tend to have their own rational for not being able to form these alliances, but someone answer me this.  If we cannot support issues outside of our own priorities how can we expect others to support our own causes?

I do not want to write this as if the entire environmental community is at fault, because that is definitely not the case, but they are most certainly not in the majority.

The Stanford Social Innovation Review published the article, “The Permanent Disruption of Social Media,” which explores the impact of social media on the relationship between nonprofits and their supporters/donors.  Nonprofits incorporated social media into their traditional donor engagement model with the mindset of what the donor could provide for the nonprofit.  The problem with this is that the traditional model of donor engagement is not applicable today.  It is not so black and white.  The article illustrated the need to develop a new model of donor engagement, which focuses on what the nonprofit can provide for the donor, strengthening the relationship between the two and increasing the influence of the nonprofit.  This article was obviously written about donor cultivation in the age of the internet and social media, but I think the basic lessons learned can be applied to building relationships outside our environmental community.

If we approach relationship building from the mindset of what I or my organization can do for another cause we can build trust, we can reach a potentially new constituency, and we can provide strength to help achieve a social win.  The time you spent helping this cause developed trust and strengthened your alliance with another organization(s), who in turn, will be available to help achieve your initiative.

We can only achieve so much working within our own community.  Diversifying our collaborative base strengthens our influence and cultivates the power to achieve the real systemic wins and really tackle “the marks of death in a community that believes itself well and does not want to be told otherwise.”

To say I like the website BuzzFeed would be an understatement.  With everything from the deeply unsolvable mysteries of ’90s Hanson to 60 fabulous moments of Seattle’s first day of marriage equality, it is an extremely informative and entertaining website.

This morning during my usual perusing of the site I came across, “11 Horrifying Facts About Your Fresh Groceries.”  Which, by the way, is a GREAT read while you are eating lunch.

The industrial food system we are dependent upon is in need of a serious overhaul.  Our food system comes with a significant carbon and ecological footprint, as well as public health implications as identified by the BuzzFeed post.  Shifting to a more locally focused food system, where farmers can subsist in the market on their own, beyond industrial contracts, and where the destructive “footprints” of the current system can be minimized is essential.

There is a lot of great energy building around food system transformation in the Chesapeake Bay Region.  Below is a list of some of the food work we have supported over the last year.

Real Food Media‘s Food Mythbusters Project:  a collaborative project that uses online videos, grassroots events and workshops, and a web-based action and resource center to inspire, educate, and grow the movement for sustainable food and farming.

Real Food Challenge‘s Real Food Chesapeake project: to build a sustainable food movement in Maryland and the Chesapeake Bay region through university and college campus advocacy.  They work with student activists to secure commitments from their college and university administrations, shifting 20% of their institutional purchases to local, sustainable sources by 2020.

Center for Emerging Media‘s Sound Bites on Delmarva (“Sound Bites”) series, a weekly radio series that investigates the current food system on the Delmarva Peninsula and Chesapeake Watershed, to educate and engage the public in discussions around transforming this food system to one that is more sustainable, healthy for the environment, and allows for accessible nutritious food to all persons regardless of income or location.

Future Harvest – CASA: sustainable farming education and advocacy work and project support for its Food Shed Initative, involving a feasibility study for conducting regional food system vision.

Maryland Hospitals for a Healthy Environment’s Chesapeake Food Leadership Council to begin shifting health care facility food purchase to local, sustainable sources.

 CONGRATULATIONS

to all those involved in the passing of the Maryland Offshore Wind Energy Act of 2013!!!

I do not believe there is anything I could say about this bill, that has not already been said.  I started following the campaign as an intern for the Maryland League of Conservation Voter‘s 3 years ago.  This time last week I was glued to the Foundation’s twitter feed, monitoring the updates activists were providing as the bill was being debated on the Senate floor.

This is a significant win for the state of Maryland and a step forward in meeting our greenhouse gas reduction goals.

THANK YOU to all those who worked throughout this campaign and CONGRATULATIONS on your win!!!

Now it is time for the implementation of this bill and for the achievement of another renewable energy win.

***Check out Chesapeake Climate Action Network’s blog for a summary of the campaign for offshore wind in Maryland.

A few months ago I blogged about Bill Nye the Science Guy and his argument that media outlets are giving climate change believers and deniers equal weight and air time.  The problem? The two sides are not equal.

There is a new social media website called “Reality Drop” that is tackling this very issue: spreading the truth on climate change and combating the lies and confusion spread by climate deniers.  Reality drop uses game dynamics to fight, and win, the conversation on climate change.  This website aggregates climate change related news and data and turns the dialogue of climate change into a game.  You can spread the truth on climate change on your social media and fight the myths and confusion of climate deniers on comment threads.  The more active you are in changing the dialogue on climate change, the more points you earn.

Our society is dominated by online content and social media, so this type of project only makes sense.  People gravitate to liking a post or spreading an alert online; it’s easy, it’s simple, and it’s something you can do in the comfort of your house, behind your computer, with little to no effort.

On paper this idea seems great.  It’s fresh, it’s new, and it’s not a report sitting on a shelf collecting dust.  That being said, I have so many questions about the impact of this project.  Is it enough to win the dialogue on climate change?  Will this make a difference and reach the audiences that matter?  Will this mobilize people into more active roles on climate related issues?

In thinking of all these questions, I immediately think back to the explosion I observed on my own social media sites around KONY 2012.  Will this reach the level of attention that KONY 2012 received?  Only time will tell.

http://towncreekfdn.org//www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kz3Z0zuCczs

I started following the campaign for offshore wind in Maryland when it was first introduced to the Maryland General Assembly three years ago.  On Tuesday, February 26th, the bill was successfully voted out of the Senate Finance Committee.  This achievement had been unaccomplished in the campaign’s previous three years.

I was able to attend both the House and Senate committee hearings on the legislation this year and heard the arguments, first hand, from the opposition in the retail and grocery industries.  Their arguments were surprising as they used short-term rationale to fight long-term progress, arguing that offshore wind would increase commercial utility costs, which hardworking Marylanders would have to pay for in increased product prices.

And while I do not doubt their threats of increased costs to consumers, I do believe this issue needs to be addressed in a larger context.  I would like to take this one step further, beyond grocery and retail store utilities, and broaden this discussion to address what it could mean for our wellbeing if we continue to allow short-term arguments to justify inaction to the long-term problems of climate change.

Climate change is a reality and reacting to its adverse effects comes with a significant economic cost.  Crop yields are being affected due to weather events like droughts, flooding, and fires.  Sea-level rise impacts those who are living in inundation areas who will be forced to pay higher insurance costs (if they can get coverage) or move to a new location.  Natural disasters, strengthened by the effects of climate change, come with a very expensive price tag.  And those same weather events impacting our crops yields and the areas we live in are also effecting our health, with an increase in heat related illnesses, a rise in respiratory diseases, as well as an increase in vector-, food-, and water-borne diseases.  Climate change is not just a scientific term, a temporary weather occurrence, or something often equated with Al Gore, this is something that has a direct impact on our health and wellbeing.  Can we really allow short-term arguments to justify derailment of our attempts at mitigating the impact of climate change and the adverse effects it has, and will continue to have, on our society?

What was so interesting to me about the testimony provided by the opposition in the grocery and retail industries was that their industries are significant contributors to greenhouse gas emissions.  The industrial food system we are dependent upon, that retail and grocery industries play a part of, comes with a significant carbon and ecological footprint.  The adverse impacts of climate change are leading to droughts and fires, and other extreme weather that is directly impacting agricultural crop yields and therefore affecting the prices we see in retail/grocery stores.  This point was conveniently left out of their testimony to legislators at the committee hearings.

Their short-term arguments make it appear as if offshore wind would really impact the wallets of Maryland residents, but in reality it is the impact of climate change if we remain inactive.  If the retail and grocery industry really cared about the income of hardworking Marylanders, which they claimed to be concerned for in their testimony, they would help play a part in a solution to a problem they are accelerating.

I could go on about the issues with our industrial food system and the need to localize or the implications of climate change on our society, but I will save that for another time.  Instead I will quit while I am ahead simply say that as the 2013 Legislative Session progresses we cannot allow short-term arguments to derail long-term progress.  We cannot progress as a state and improve our overall wellbeing if we allow shortsighted arguments to skew the impact of what we are trying to accomplish.  The offshore wind legislation has been able to progress despite concerns from opponents, but you never know when the next bill could be derailed by shortsighted opposition.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” – Margaret Mead

Funder gatherings are a little bit different from most of the conferences I’ve attended. First of all, the early morning sessions are extremely well-attended and filled with lively discussion.  Second, these meetings tend to have fewer talking heads and more focus on dialogue, which I find to be an energizing and refreshing format. The Environmental Grantmakers Association 2013 Federal Policy Briefing in Washington, DC (February 26-27) was no exception.  Over 100 grantmakers from across the country gathered at the Pew Charitable Trusts conference center in Washington, DC to talk about the path forward on Federal issues given the re-election of President Obama, a divided Congress, and game-changing climate-related events like Hurricane Sandy, unprecedented drought, and destructive forest fires. When I arrived for the first morning plenary, Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon was already rolling with his remarks to a standing room only about where we are in the transition towards a new energy future.

One of the best sessions I attended was called “What Did the 2012 Election Mean for the Environmental Community?”  A panel of polling experts, moderated by Washington Post environmental reporter, Juliet Eilperin, discussed what was learned in the 2012 election, how the current electorate is different in its demographics and attitudes from years past, and what these changes might hold for the future on the environment. Ruy Teixeira with the Center for American Progress shared his data about millennials, the demographic cohort born between 1980 and 2000.  The goods news is that Teixeira thinks the millennials, estimated to make up 36% of voters in the next decade, are the most pro-environment generation this country has ever seen.  Celinda Lake, President of Lake Research Partners, shared her sobering research showing that most Americans think that we can adapt to climate change (and therefore are far less motivated to do anything about it right now) and that so long as the economy remains sluggish, people feel the environment is less of a priority. Christine Matthews, President of Bellwether Research, gave us a glimpse of how environmental issues are faring in conservative circles. She confirmed that the era of bi-partisanship on the environment is officially dead. Reality check:  the environment is the second most polarizing issue between democrats and republicans, right behind opposing views about the social safety net.

While some of this was discouraging to hear, the overwhelming attitude of the session was one of optimism. With over 70% of 18-29 year olds supportive of alternative sources of energy, and the fastest growing segments of the electorate leaning strongly in favor of environmental interests, there is a lot to be optimistic about –we have a tremendous opening for progress on the environment if we resist the urge to take the easy route. We’ve got to aim for the result that we really want, instead of what we perceive to be the most politically feasible in the moment.  We also need to do the hard work of building a scaffolding of public support that is informed by and responsive to the needs and concerns of quickly growing sectors of the electorate that support progress for the environment.

In keeping with the dominating theme of climate, Secretary of HUD, Shaun Donovan, who chairs the Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force, gave remarks about the innovative partnerships he and the Obama administration are working on to ensure that recovery from Sandy reaches the communities most in need, and sets into motion a comprehensive planning framework that that takes into consideration equitable access to housing and transportation in order for communities to be more resilient in the future.  Donovan’s vision was refreshing and encouraging.

All in all, the briefing provided a good caffeine boost for environmental grantmakers.

The countdown is on for the Forward on Climate Rally!  Don’t miss this opportunity to be apart of the largest climate rally in history.

If you are interested in going, there are four buses that have been reserved in Maryland to transport attendees.

Bus information can be found at the links below.

#ForwardOnClimate Maryland Buses

Frederick Bus
Annapolis Bus
Harford County Bus
Baltimore Bus

The largest climate rally in history will take place on February 17, 2013.  350.org, with a number of partner organizations, is coordinating the Forward On Climate Rally at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. to urge President Obama to stop the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline and take immediate action on climate in his next four years.

There are a number of volunteers in Maryland coordinating bus transportation.

If you are interested in attending the rally, please contact Megan Milliken (mmilliken@towncreekfdn.org) so you can get connected with the appropriate bus coordinator.

What: The largest climate rally in history.

Where: The National Mall in Washington, D.C., with a march to the White House

When: February 17, 2013, Noon

http://towncreekfdn.org//www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLZt2ZMouB0&feature=player_embedded