FRIED COFFEE

As we grow into the 21st century we need to take a new look at systems and practices that were established for a world that has developed far beyond conceivable expectations.

One example of the incredible journey we’ve witnessed is that of the Internet and attendant technologies.  As recently as 1992 there were only 50 websites.

Our policies on farming,  food production, distribution, and health systems need to focus on the future.

FoodDeclaration.org is working toward doing just that.

.”………a healthy food system is necessary to meet the urgent challenges of our time. Behind us stands a half-century of industrial food production, underwritten by cheap fossil fuels, abundant land and water resources, and a drive to maximize the global harvest of cheap calories. Ahead lie rising energy and food costs, a changing climate, declining water supplies, a growing population, and the paradox of widespread hunger and obesity.”

Here is their state of origin:

Origins

The concept for the declaration began with Michael R. Dimock, the President of Roots of Change (ROC). He was the primary author of Slow Food USA’s first national statute and the founding Chairman of Slow Food USA. Mr. Dimock believed that it would serve the good food movement to collaborate with others on a declaration that could be used to spark the public’s action on national policy. In late 2007, he proposed to Anya Fernald, Executive Director of Slow Food Nation, that ROC could spawn a national effort to develop a declaration related to the farm bill and other food policies that would provide policy content for the Slow Food Nation event. He then proposed the project to ROC’s governing body, the Stewardship Council, in February 2008. With approval from both entities, the project began.

You can read more and endorse the effort here.

A bit further down on the same page you will find Food Democracy Now.

Their efforts toward sustainability are summed up below.  Please take the time to think about this.

Four specific problems to overcome

1. Current policy is mired in a 20th century industrial paradigm, where the primary goals are limited to production volume, efficiency of feeding, and ensured profits for commodity producers and those they supply, thereby, benefiting too few.
2. People, ecosystems, and rural economies are becoming less healthy as a direct result of current American policy.
3. The efforts to solve food and agriculture challenges are not being addressed to the degree required by the scale of the problems.
4. The last farm bill cycle confirmed that too few control the debate and they are focused on protecting the status quo rather than aiding the broader population of the nation.
   
5.