Alternatives Journal 32.3

Thought for Food 32.3

Dragon boat racers, soccer teams and choirs have it. The People’s Food Commission and its report, The Land of Milk and Money, had it too. Team members often display a go-for-it passion that is rooted in a powerful tradition: to believe in tomorrow, we must appreciate yesterday. To become a movement, the assorted collection of pilot food projects and food agencies must coalesce. Today’s food activists need the same camaraderie, solidarity and adrenalin as those dragon boat racers.

Dragon boat racers, soccer teams and choirs have it. The People’s Food Commission and its report, The Land of Milk and Money, had it too. Team members often display a go-for-it passion that is rooted in a powerful tradition: to believe in tomorrow, we must appreciate yesterday. To become a movement, the assorted collection of pilot food projects and food agencies must coalesce. Today’s food activists need the same camaraderie, solidarity and adrenalin as those dragon boat racers.

This edition of Alternatives Journal connects a new generation of food activists to a classic member of Canada’s food heritage. It honours the People’s Food Commission that, in the late 1970s, traveled across the country to hear the views of fellow citizens and then assembled the trend-setting report: The Land of Milk and Money. …

 Read selected articles and web extras from this issue

Here’s what else you get when you buy the issue:

Editorial: Homage to Milk and Money – Susan Scott

The Cupboard is Bare – Darrin Qualman
Transnational interference grinds down world grain supplies.
What you should know about grain prices.

Harvesting Milk and Money – Sally Miller
The time is ripe for a sequel to the People’s Food Commission.

Dirty Work IWC – Research Group
There is little protection for migrant workers on Canadian industrial farms.

Dumpster Dining – Ferne Edwards
Freegans consume waste food to protest consumer waste.

And Miles to Go Before I Eat …

Home-Grown Hurrah – Marc Xuereb
Local Limitations – Peter Andrée

Callaloo & You – Charles Z. Levkoe
Food security is advancing community by community.

Local Flavour Saver – Darcy Higgins
University of Toronto buys into home-grown model.
Certification Standards.
Multiple Benefits.

The Terminator – Fraser Los
The next extreme in GMO could undo 10,000 years of traditional agriculture. Aly Togo’s Seeds

Pace Yourself – Danny Bradbury
Cooking up slow food in a fast food nation.

Disparity in a Prosperous Land – Kelly Skinner
Getting enough affordable, good quality food is difficult in remote Aboriginal communities.

Less Bad – Nathan Ayer
Raising fish on land is not the eco-panacea some would have us believe.

Letters to the Editor

News & Notes

Science Desk – Steve Stockton
CO2 pumps poison ivy.

Letter from New Brunswick

What a Mum Does – Kate Kerr
Memories of spruce budworm spray on the school yard.

Point – CounterPoint
The Carbon Tax Tango: Economists Jack Mintz and Mark Jaccard dance to a different tune when it comes to the taxing of greenhouse gas emissions.

Reviews

The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Michael Pollan.Collapse, Jared Diamond and A Short
History of Progress, Ronald Wright.Last Child in the Woods, Richard Louv.

Brain Mulch – Joel A. Coppieters
A Montreal eco-skeptic turns green.

Brain Mulch: Kewl Environmentalists – Ryan Kennedy

 

Here’s what’s online: