Hi Everyone,

I wake up every morning to The Morning Edition on NPR, and I think I might need to re-evaluate that. I start the day depressed, before I even get out of bed! I’m half kidding, because I am not really depressed, but I am disgusted at the political arena we are living in, and I am frustrated with the lack of uprising that I feel we should be seeing from our elected officials on both sides of the aisle! How can the Democrats or Republicans push through a tax bill that 3/4’s of the American people think is bad? How can they un-protect protected land, or elect pedophiles to Congress, or federal judges with no experience? How can they deny health care to millions of Americans or cut federal funding to safety net programs that help our most needy citizens? And how can they deny science, strip the EPA of all senior scientists and prevent scientists from even referring to Climate Change? It is all infuriating! So what do we do? Believe me, I know how difficult it is with everything going on in our lives to get politically involved, but that is what we all need to do!! We need to band together and cause an uprising! It’s impossible to join every rally and protest, but we all have a responsibility to let our voices be heard, and that means getting out there and joining some of them. Signing petitions and calling our representatives is a start, but we also need to show up and be counted! There are so many organizations working to oppose the current administrations agenda, so find one that you feel is in alignment with your ideals, and become engaged. Together, we can help bring about the changes we want to see in the world!! Here are a few of my favorite organizations taking action;

Rise and Resist; Food and Water Watch; The Sierra Club; 350.org; People’s Climate Movement; Long Island Activists; 

On another note, the Holiday Season is here, and iEat Green is once again partnering with the River Fund-NY, bringing together our community to cook and serve a Holiday Dinner to those in need on December 17th, 18th and 19th. We are also collecting coats and other winter clothing items, as well as blankets, sleeping bags and tote bags, to help those in need. In addition, we are collecting “like new” toys and stuffed animals, and jewelry, to give away as holiday gifts with Santa’s help. If you are interested in volunteering, you can sign up here, or you can drop off your donated items at the iEat Green Homestead at 17 Pinetree Lane in Old Westbury. If you prefer to make a monetary donation to our efforts, The River Fund-NY is a 501c3 tax deductible organization, and donations can be sent directly to them at, 89-11 Lefferts Blvd, Richmond Hill, NY 11418.

This week, my guest on the Progressive Radio Network is Annie Novak, author, urban farmer, educator, and athlete.  Annie is the founder and director of Growing Chefs, a field-to-fork food education program; the Manager of the Edible Academy at the  New York Botanical Garden, and co-founder and farmer of Eagle Street Rooftop Farm in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Her book, The Rooftop Growing Guide; How to Transform your Roof into a Vegetable Garden or Farm is an excellent resource for anyone who wants to start a rooftop garden or grow vegetables in containers. Annie is called upon to speak nationally on farming, gardening, and caring for the earth, and I am thrilled to have her as my guest on my show. Please join me on Thursday for what promises to be a very informative conversation.

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