Take Action: Keep Your Immune System Strong! Eat Well, Breath Deep, and Nurture Your Friendships!

Posted on February 18, 2020

In today’s world, with so many toxins in our food, our water, and our air, it requires attention to minimize one’s exposure, and to keep our immune systems strong. We need to eat organic food as much as we possibly can. We need to breath deeply and be active, and we need to surround ourselves with community.

I want to share some resources that I have grown to depend on to help me make informed choices;

Environmental Working Group- Empowers people to live healthier lives in a healthier environment. They have Consumer Guides on Sunscreen, Cosmetics, Pesticides in Produce, Avoiding GMO’s, Seafood Guide and of course the Clean 15 and the Dirty Dozen Lists! https://www.ewg.org/

The Cornucopia Institute – Seeking economic justice for the family-scale farming community. They have scorecards on just about everything, from Poultry and Plant Based Beverages, to Organic Dairy, Toothpaste, and Organic Eggs. www.cornucopia.org

Community Solidarity- Food is a Right! A philosophy based on the belief that empowered compassionate communities can heal themselves and in doing so create the blueprint for greater social change. They provide free groceries, fresh produce and warm vegan meals to low-income communities. All the food distributed is completely vegetarian and mostly organic. https://communitysolidarity.org/

Local Harvest- America’s #1 organic and local food website. www.localharvest.org

Eat Wild- founded in 2001 to promote the benefits—to consumers, farmers, animals, and the planet—of choosing meat, eggs, and dairy products from 100% grass-fed animals or other non-ruminant animals fed their natural diets. http://www.eatwild.com/index.html

Northeast Organic Farming Association – NOFA-NY – an organization of consumers, gardeners, and farmers working together to create a sustainable regional food system which is ecologically sound and economically viable. www.nofany.org

Slow Food USA and Slow Food North Shore- Slow Food USA gathers likely and unlikely allies to transform the way we produce, consume, and enjoy food. Slow Food North Shore is our local chapter promoting Good, Clean and Fair Food! https://slowfoodusa.org/ www.slowfoodnorthshore.org

Organic Consumers Association – The OCA deals with crucial issues of food safety, industrial agriculture, genetic engineering, children’s health, corporate accountability, Fair Trade, environmental sustainability and other key topics. www.organicconsumers.org

Civil Eats – promotes critical thought about sustainable agriculture and food systems as part of building economically and socially just communities. www.civileats.com

The Non-GMO Project is a non-profit multi-stakeholder collaboration committed to preserving and building sources of non-GMO products, educating consumers, and providing verified non-GMO choices. www.nongmoproject.org

Real Organic Project- is a grassroots, farmer-led movement and add-on label created to distinguish soil-grown and pasture-raised products under USDA organic.- https://www.realorganicproject.org

While, buying organic food at your local farmers market or joining a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) is the best choice for getting fresh, locally grown vegetables, sometimes, for a variety of reasons, that is not possible. I know buying organic food at a big box store like Costco, Target, or BJ’s isn’t the same as buying organic food from your local farmer, but sometimes that is the best we can do. Eating organic food is the only way to protect yourself and your family from pesticides, herbicides, GMO’s, antibiotics and hormones in your foods. It also supports farmers who are part of the solution to climate change by helping to sequester carbon into the soil. Organic farming doesn’t add to the degradation of our soil, contaminating our water with the runoff from synthetic fertilizers and pesticides.

Here are Some Simple Actions Everyone Can Take, to Put Their Belief System Into Alignment with Their Actions, and Help to Restore Carbon in the Soil, Mitigate Climate Change and Support Policies that Promote Family-scale Organic Farming

Eat organically grown food!

Buy from local farmers who: are organic, trade fairly and focus on building soil health

Use organic methods in your own garden or window box

Join an organic Community-supported agriculture (CSA): A CSA is a food production and distribution system that directly connects farmers and consumers. Come Meet Long Island Organic Farmers at the LI CSA Fair on March 21st, at the Sisters of St. Joseph, sponsored by NOFA-NY, Slow Food North Shore, and iEat Green.

Learn more about Soil Carbon Restoration: go to www.nofamass.org/carbon