OUR FOOD SUPPLY

ADDRESSING CHEMICALS IN FOOD PACKAGING

Our current chemical policies can't ensure that products we use are free of toxic chemicals. The Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration have little authority to get necessary data or to take action to prevent chemicals like 2-methylnaphthalene from ending up in food packaging. In fact, according to the Washington Post, the EPA has been trying for 16 years to get basic health and safety data from the manufacturers of this chemical. Protecting human health and God's Creation just shouldn't be this hard.

The National Council of Churches partnered with other faith traditions and faith-based organizations to create a vision of chemical policy that embodies the love of Christ and other prophets central to the great faith traditions. Click here to read the Interfaith Statement for Chemical Policy Reform and add your name or your organization's name to the statement.

As people of faith, we are taught to care for our bodies and to nourish them with the miracle of food grown from seeds, water, and soil by the hands of the Earth's stewards. Food is sacred and toxic chemicals in food packaging should not contaminate it. You can help ensure that our products are safe for all God's people. Click here to read and sign the Interfaith Statement for Chemical Policy Reform.

Congress in now looking at updating and modernizing our chemical policies so that the EPA has basic health and safety data on chemicals up front. The EPA will also have more authority to swiftly address chemicals of concern. Additionally there is a proposal to clean up and mitigate exposures to toxic chemicals in communities where there are high levels of contamination. These communities are predominantly low-income or communities of color. The reforms would create a program to better understand and address the unique vulnerabilities of children to toxic chemicals. These are concerns we share as a faith community. We want to see justice flow like a river to vulnerable populations and God's Creation. Read the new statement and consider adding your name.

Source of Information: National Council of Churches


STOP BIG BUSINESS FROM WASTING FOOD

Every year about 14 billion pounds of food is thrown out in the United States. The food industry is one of the biggest food wasters. It is time they do the responsible thing.

The economic downturn has left an astonishing 25% of American children hungry. Yet, within the state of California alone, less than one percent of food discarded by restaurants is donated to food relief charities.

Don't waste food, donate it

Source of Information: Care2 petitionsite

HELPFUL COMPOSTING ADVICE

Composting provides essential nutrients and helps with weed and erosion control and it also helps the environment. According to the EPA, 24% of our entire waste stream is food and yard scraps! Here are the eight steps to composting: pick your spot, gather your tools, start collecting, start layering, turn the pile, water as needed, let the pile "cook," and watch your plot grow.

What to compost: animal manure, cardboard rolls, clean paper, coffee grounds & filters, cotton rags, dryer & vacuum cleaner lint, eggshells, fireplace ashes, fruits & vegetables, grass clippings, hair & fur, hay & straw, houseplants, leaves, nut shells, paper towels, sawdust, shredded newspaper, tea bags, wood chips, wool rags, yard trimmings.

What not to compost and reasons why: black walnut tree leaves or twigs (releases substances that night be harmful to plants), Coal or charcoal ash (might contain substances harmful to plants), dairy products (create odor problems and attract pests such as rodents and flies), diseased or insect-ridden plants (diseases or insects might survive and be transferred back to other plants), fats, grease, lard or oils (create odor problems and attract pests such as rodents and flies), meat or fish bones and scraps (create odor problems and attract pests such as rodents and flies), pet wastes (might contain parasites, bacteria, germs, pathogens, and viruses harmful to humans), yard trimmings treated with chemical pesticides (might kill beneficial composting organisms).

Hope this proves helpful!

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300,000—Estimated number of sharks killed off the Brazilian coast since 2009 because of the popularity of shark-fin soup.

Every year, Americans eat 35 million cows, 115 million pigs, and 9 billion chickens and turkeys.