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iEat Green Looks at Capitalism in Our Food System and Land Justice Issues; Dan Marek from Whole Kids Foundation Joins Bhavani on PRN

Hi All,

Eric Holt-Gimenéz, Hartman Deetz and Karen Washington

I just returned home from Food First‘s launch of their new book, Land Justice: Re-Imagining Land, Food, and the Commons. It was an evening of story telling; true tales about acquiring land in this country and the power that land has. The book is a collaboration of about 30 authors, sharing their stories of land injustice, and the struggle for food sovereignty for women, Latinos, Native Americans and African Americans. It is amazing how the wealth in this country is in the hands of so few, and how much power they wield, yet we also heard stories of the power that people can have when they come together and form a unified voice. We all need to read this book and become inspired to raise our voices in unison!

Attending this evenings book launch was coming on the heels of reading the NY Times article about “How Big Business Got Brazil Hooked on Junk Food” It was an unbelievable article, and infuriating, how we allow corporations to market their unhealthy foods as healthy, poison entire populations, and don’t hold them liable for all of the health care costs and premature deaths that they cause. Big food corporations have already made the people in this county sick, so now they are expanding into some of the poorest countries in the world, making them sick too. And yet they look like the good guys, employing poor women who need the money desperately, and who go door to door pushing their products. It is so sad, I want to cry. Both of these issues are so ingrained in the way we do business, it seems like an impossible task to fix. But the only way it will get better is if we start to have these uncomfortable conversations about white privilege, racism, sexism, poverty, exploitation, and capitalism. Are you ready to engage?

My guest this week on the Progressive Radio Network is Dan Marek, the School Programs Manager for the Whole Kids Foundation. Dan runs the Healthy Teachers Program, which is designed to provide teachers and school staff with nutrition inspiration and healthy cooking techniques to transform their own well being, serve as healthy role models for their students, and be change agents in their own communities.  The Healthy Teachers Program has trained nearly 15,000 teachers and food service workers with a fun, interactive class that breaks down simple nutrition into digestible information that everyone can use. I met Dan this summer at Slow Food Nations, as we both toured some of Denver’s model school gardens. We got to talking, and he shared with me the work he does with the Foundation, and I knew I wanted to invite him on to share his story with you. Please join me on Thursday, to learn more about the Whole Kids Foundation and the Healthy Teachers Program he runs.

Remember, my show is recorded live, every Thursday, from 10-11 am, EST.  To tune in, navigate to PRN.fm and click the “Listen Live” button on the left. Also try downloading the PRN mobile app, and take the station with you wherever you go! If you want to call in during the show with any questions for me or my guest, the call in number is 888-874-4888.

If you can’t tune in at that time, you can listen to the show in the PRN archives, or through a direct phone line to my archives. Just dial 1-701-719-0880, and you can listen to the past 5 weeks of shows! Of course you can also access the shows through my website, or through iTunes. Please “like” iEat Green’s Facebook page and feel free to rate the show and leave comments on iTunes and on my website. Thank you all for your support.

With love and gratitude,

Bhavani

 

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