Let’s bring in the new year with personal resolutions so meaningful, they will change our world. We can do this! Here is VeganReader’s top 10 list of the work we feel will have the most profound and beautiful impact on the quality of life in 2012.

1. Support the Label GMO Initiative
This is definitely #1 on our list and should be the top priority on every loving, caring, humanitarian list of resolutions for 2012. In November of 2011, the California Right To Know Genetically Engineered Food Act was submitted to California’s State Attorney General. VeganReader is 100% behind this remarkable idea.

We believe that Californians who see a ‘contains gmos’ labels on 80% of the food in the grocery stores will not buy that food (90% of Americans have stated that they want GMO labeling). We believe that other U.S. states will then demand to know why their food lacks these warning labels. And we believe that manufacturers will decide to source their ingredients from non-GMO-contaminated suppliers so that they can avoid that bad label on their products. We believe this will result in the developers of GMOs realizing that there is no money to be had in the production of GMO crops and that they will not continue to pursue an unprofitable business model.

The California Right To Know Genetically Engineered Food Act will appear on ballots in California in 2012. If you live in California, please support this act. If you live outside of the state or outside of the country, please, do anything you can to support this landmark act. At VeganReader.com, we keep current on many topics and struggles and are convinced that there is no more important issue on the entire world scene than the protection of food from GMO contamination. Please, consider becoming educated and active about this as your #1 New Year’s resolution!

2. Grow Food
From a sunny apartment balcony to a big family yard, make room for growing food. Make 2012 the year in which something that ends up on your plate started in your hand as a seed or start. Maybe you only have room for a pot of herbs or a tomato plant, or maybe you’ve got the whole organic family farm in full swing. Either way, you will experience one of the most significant and intimate acts of being alive – feeding yourself.

If you don’t have any room at all to grow any food, search the Internet to discover if there is a community garden in your town where you can volunteer a little of your time each month in exchange for a share of the harvest. This model of community gardening is becoming increasingly abundant in urban communities and provides the vital service of putting people back in touch with the food on which they depend for life.

3. Grow Your Food Organically
Respect Mother Earth’s needs by growing food without toxins. Feed yourself while protecting water, people, animals, insects, fish, soil and air. Refuse to buy pesticides, herbicides and chemical fertilizer when you are in control of how food is grown and be glad that, at least within your power, nothing is being done to poison life.

4. Find Farmers
Few people own enough land to grow all that they need. Use a directory like LocalHarvest.org to find the farm stands, farm markets and CSAs nearest you. Meet the people who grow food for a living and glory in the quality of what they can provide you.

Tell farmers you appreciate them in two ways: support them with your dollars and tell them verbally how glad you are they are growing food in your community. Small farms = diversity that protects us from reliance on the monoculture of corporate agribusiness and reduce the risk of mass food borne illness. Some of your happiest days in 2012 may be spent at farm stands and farm markets. Do as much shopping as you can in these venues as opposed to supermarkets.

5. Learn to Cook
Bring in the crops from the garden or the baskets from the farm stands and cook from scratch the best meals you’ll ever eat in your life! Learn to make your own daily bread – whether that’s a wheat loaf or a gluten-free corn tortilla. Master the arts of hearty soups, crisp salads, filling casseroles, stir fries, whole grains, dried beans and more! Cut out the middle man of the food processing factory and make the steps from earth to table as few and light as possible. Your palette and your planet will thank you for it!

6. Honor Indigenous Cultures
North American residents of non-Native ancestry have been intentionally kept in the dark by the public school system regarding the accurate history of the European conquest of the Americas. Thankfully, public libraries offer a solution to this woeful ignorance. If you live in the United States or Canada, your local public library should have a wonderful selection of books about Native American and First Nations history. The ancestors of today’s Indigenous Americans were the keepers of a level of knowledge about life that is unsurpassed anywhere in world history – their love of the land, love of one another and understanding of how to live is precisely what is most lacking in the modern cultures of the Americas today.

Native Peoples have survived the genocide of the 1500-1800s and many of today’s Indigenous Americans are doing tremendous works of power to preserve what is best in their cultures. Many are looking outside of tribal circles to the whole of the Earth and staging outstanding conferences to promote the rights of Mother Earth. Resolve to read up on the Law of the Rights of Mother Earth that was passed by Bolivia’s Plurinational Legislative Assembly in December 2010.

European immigrants’ most devastating mistake was in failing to ask the Native peoples of North, Central and South America to teach them how to live so that life could be different from what it was back in the polluted chaos of Europe. We can’t undo the past, but we can resolve to learn all that we can from Indigenous peoples today, wherein we will discover that their ancient ways of shaping the land, feeding people and caring for the Earth can sustain human life as they have done since time beyond recall.

7. Find A Wilderness – Or The Closest Thing To It
Spend as much time as you can in the least human-altered setting you can find. Few of us live close enough to true wilderness to be able to escape entirely from the things of man, but regional, state and national parks offer the next best thing. If there is nothing like that within reasonable distance, can you find a field somewhere, or even a vacant, unpaved lot?

Take off your shoes and feel the warmth of your planet on the soles of your feet. You may not have done this since childhood. 2012 is the right year to cut out the concrete middle man between you and your feet, for at least a few minutes. Don’t be surprised if your whole body suddenly calms down with an, “Ah, this is my home,” feeling.

Look around. What does the soil look like? Are there rocks? What plants do you see? Insects? Birds? Animals? What do you hear?

My happiest times in 2011 were spent either sitting on the ground on the family farm at eye level with grasshoppers, butterflies, dragonflies and other gorgeous visitors or out walking in the wildest lands I could find, visiting with bobcats, coyotes, muskrats, foxes, rabbits, turkeys and a host of beautiful birds. I would like every brother and sister to know these feelings of the simplest and best of Earth-bound happiness. May 2012 be wild for you!

8. Think About Animals
Many vegans take on their new non-harming lifestyle after having a good think about the feelings and needs of animals. If you are not vegan, maybe 2012 would be a good year to have a think about this, to read up on the subject and to see if it makes any sense to you. I’ve been a vegan for some 20 years now, and continue to recommend John Robbin’s Diet for a New America as the best book for people interested in this subject.

If you are already a vegan, is there something you can do in 2012 for the cows, pigs, goats, chickens, sheep, turkeys, game birds, ducks, fish, fur-farmed animals, silk worms and beetles who live in a state of enslavement? Or perhaps for the wild animals? Your non-harming lifestyle has already done a significant amount of good, but perhaps, with consideration and creativity, you will think of something more you can do for our animal brothers.

9. Abandon Unnecessary Products
Look down the aisles of the typical U.S. grocery store and you will find hundreds of products that can be cheaply and green-ly replaced with basic soap, vinegar and baking soda. Throw out the detergent, the chemical cleanser, the polish, the fragrance spray, the scented junk. We don’t need this stuff and most of it is toxic to our water, our air and our bodies.

Ladies, scrub off the cosmetics and learn to love the real you – the way the Creator made you. Your smile will be just as bright and your eyes clearer when they aren’t weighted down with totally unnecessary cosmetics. In 2011, spend that time you would have otherwise spent fussing in the mirror doing something truly honoring of your true self. Sing, play music, dance, pray, walk, read. Beauty is soul-deep.

Gentlemen, are you using toxins in your yard or to clean windows, cars or other possessions? Find green, eco-friendly alternatives. Pull those dandelions or learn to love them as nice accents in your lawn. Get tough on dirt with baking soda and a scrubby. Make a safe environment for yourself and your loved ones.

10. Love Life
Those who love their own selves and the people in their lives are best suited to become stewards of the precious gift of life. Love is the antidote to pollution. It is the antidote to hunger. It is the antidote to isolation, war and greed. Love is the power that can make right all of the things we feel are so wrong in the way things are going in our communities, cities, countries and on our planet. This feeling of love for life – this is the thing that empowers us to say no to wrong habits, wrong products, wrong systems and wrong ideas. It all starts with us – with each of us and our ability to live and act in love.

May your 2012 be sacred and loving!

What I have discovered is that by looking around the globe for gluten-free, vegan eating inspiration, I dine sumptuously and never think of ‘deprivation’, and this is what I hope to teach you to do! Today, I’m going to share with you the:

Top 5 Ethnic Cuisines For Gluten-Free Eating, And Vegan Eating, Too!

I am listing these in the order I feel they are easiest to adapt from and draw upon, with #1 being my top choice and then moving on down from there.

#1 Indigenous American / Mexican Food

I have written in the past about my view that Native American Foods form the most superior possible cuisine for all Americans today, and, as it happens, they turn out to be the simplest and most bountiful choice for building the best gluten-free, vegan diet. Indigenous foods form the main base of my family’s daily diet and we never, ever think of our food as limited or dull.

For gluten-free eaters, it is the grain base of any ethnic diet that you must look it to see how friendly it is to your needs and with Indigenous American foods, including the foods of North America, Mexico and South America, no substitutions of any kind are necessary because the grain base is corn. Learn how to make corn tortillas and you will never suffer for want of bread again.

Next, if you are vegan and on a gluten-free diet, you will be looking at the use of legumes, nuts and seeds for high protein dishes, and again, Indigenous American cuisine requires no alterations at all. Your choice of beans is almost limitless and you can top that with a bevy of fabulous nut choices from hazelnuts to cashews to pecans, walnuts and more.

So, without any effort at all, you’ve got an incredibly delicious base of grains and legumes to build on, and the tubers, fruits and vegetables that are native to the Americas cannot be bested anywhere on the world scene. From potatoes to tomatoes, avocados, peppers, onions, bananas, pineapples, plums…well, the list is way too long to write up here, but no other place on the globe has more flavor and variety to offer. Remember, too, that in addition to corn, there is quinoa, amaranth and wild rice to choose from in the grain department and that corn’s uses are incredibly diverse. Your gluten-free, vegan diet, following Indigenous American foodways can include gastronomic triumphs like these:

• Tacos or Tostadas, layered with beans, guacamole, salsas and other fresh delights
• Enchiladas filled with spicy beans, mushrooms or other savory things
• Tamales wrapped in corn husks or banana leaves (hallacas) with fillings of savory potatoes, beans and more
• A rainbow of salsas, from salsa roja made with ripe garden tomatoes, to salsas verdes made with tomatillos or green tomatoes at the end of summer.
• When avocados are in season, you may want nothing more than large bowls of guacamole with large stacks of freshly made corn tortillas.
• Summer and winter squashes, stirfried, stuffed, made into soups and stews or dozens of other preparations.
• Any potato dish you can dream up, thanks to the Andean Peoples who first cultivated these life-giving tubers. Don’t forget sweet potatoes, too!
• Abundant fresh fruits from the tropics up to the northern latitudes. The best desserts you’ll ever eat!

That’s a short list, but I hope your mouth has started to water thinking about how well you can eat from the foods that bless the American continents. And, if you want to mix indigenous foods with non-indigenous ones, you can enjoy hybrid cuisines like those of Cuba where the national dish of black beans and rice (Moros y Cristianos) is a nutritional powerhouse and very good to eat. There is simply no need to feel deprived on a gluten-free and vegan diet with choices as phenomenal as these.

I feel that it’s important to note that anyone choosing a corn-based cuisine for their mainstay must become well-educated about the contamination of the United States’ food supply with genetically modified corn (GMOS). For your health and safety, you must be certain to purchase only organic corn products. In purchasing masa harina for your tortillas and other corn-based dishes, insist on organics. Organic masa harina is totally affordable, when you compare the cost of making your own tortillas from it as opposed to purchasing ready-made tortillas from a grocery store. Support organic corn growers with your money and let agribusiness know we don’t want GMO corn.

#2 Indian Food
With its base of rice and lentils, Indian food is an easy choice for gluten-free diners, and because vegetarianism has long held such a strong foothold in India, vegan options are no problem at all. If you are a fan of Indian spices, going gluten-free will not change your enjoyment of the cuisines of India, though obviously vegans will be avoiding anything containing meat or dairy in this foodway. And, for those who have been having digestive issues leading up to their diagnosis of gluten sensitivity, you can always tone down the spiciness while your stomach heals. Indian cooking does utilize wheat in many dishes, but while skipping these, you can still enjoy:

• All manner of dishes based on the different types of lentils
• All kinds of curries and other dishes based on rice
• Spicy and filling potato dishes
• Hearty stews that include peanut sauces and nut sauces for richness
• An incredible variety of eggplant dishes (there are hundreds of varieties of eggplants grown in India)
• All kinds of fresh and cooked chutneys and other unique preparations of vegetables and spices

If Indian cuisine has always been high on your list, your diagnosis of gluten intolerance will mean that you have to check dishes carefully for the presence of wheat or other gluten-containing substances, but for the most part, you can still enjoy most of the foods of this nation with little adaptation. Hopefully, by now, you’re starting to see that going gluten-free, even if you are already vegan, does not equal hunger or boredom.

#3 Chinese Food
It was long held amongst famed gourmets that the world had only two great cuisines: French and Chinese. While there are some bean and potato-type dishes from Northern Europe that you can easily make gluten free and vegan, much more varied options await you when you step into the world of real Chinese cuisine. The care that traditional Chinese cooks take in the preparation of vegetables is practically matchless and the arts of stir-frying and steaming put foods on the table in their tastiest and most quickly prepared forms, leaving most of their nutrients and taste intact.

When looking to China for vegan and gluten free cooking inspiration, it helps to understand the gastronomic split between the northern and southern parts of the country. Because Northern China has long subsisted on wheat, it is to the south, with its rice-based cuisine, that you will most frequently turn for ideas, though there are many millet-based dishes in the north worth investigating because millet does not contain gluten. Check out this list to begin considering your vegan and gluten-free Chinese food options:

• Countless varieties of delicious rice and countless dishes made from all of the varieties.
• Noodle-based dishes made with rice noodles or mung bean noodles instead of wheat noodles.
• Wonderful stir fries of vegetables, including familiar ones you find in any grocery store, or less-familiar ones you can get at Asian markets.
• The incorporation of seeds and nuts into dishes for extra flavor and protein
• If you eat soy, all of the soy-based dishes including tofu, tempeh and miso.
• Nourishing, restorative soups and broths.
• An abundance of refreshing citrus fruits as well as less familiar fruits like Winter Melon

Stock your pantry with the base of garlic, ginger and scallions and you are on your way to dishes with incredible flavor, without major worry about having to substitute gluten-containing ingredients for gluten-free ones. If the only Chinese food you’ve ever eaten is from a Chinese-American restaurant, check out some traditional Chinese cookbooks from the library and become acquainted with the genuine article. Authentic Chinese food is healthier and better suited to home cooking than the Americanized restaurant version.

As with my note about corn-based diets and genetic modification, above, I feel it is important to mention here that any diner who chooses to eat soy needs to be made aware that America’s soy supply has become contaminated with genetically modified soy. Choose organic soy products only, including tofu, gluten-free soy sauce, etc., as your best hope for protecting yourself from GMOs. If it doesn’t say ‘organic’ on the label, chances are it is genetically modified as 90% of the soy grown in the U.S. is now GMO soy. Support organic soy growers with your dollar.

In my home, we don’t eat soy since my own diagnosis of soy sensitivity. This made me very blue at the time, because I ate tofu daily prior to this. Because of the soy problem, our family doesn’t view Chinese food as the basis of our diet. Instead, we treat it as a treat! A day on which we’ve had a hearty Native American style lunch, we might opt for a light and delicious Chinese-style supper with a steaming hot soup and lovely, crisp stir fry made savory with plenty of garlic, scallions and ginger. Sometimes, we cross cultures and serve a sweet potato dressed in a peanut dressing along side this if we want something heartier – try it, it’s a delicious pairing. And don’t forget other Asian cuisines! You can find great options in the cooking of Thailand, Vietnam, Korea and other Asian countries.

#4 Italian Food
As with China, Italy has traditionally been split between the corn eaters of the north and the wheat eaters of the South. If you look to Northern Italy for polenta-based dishes, you are in for many treats, and, if you can find a good substitute for wheat noodles, you can still have your spaghetti and lasagna, too! Recently, VeganReader.com discovered a brand of Italian-made gluten free pasta that got us excited enough to start eating noodles again after years of being disappointed by other brands. Definitely check that article out!

Grains aside, it is the Italian reverence for vegetables that wins them a spot in our Top 5 Gluten Free Ethnic Cuisines list. Much of this beautiful care for the simplest preparations of the best vegetables actually owes its thanks to the peoples of the Americas. We make no bones here about the fact that we consider the conquest of America the biggest tragedy to happen on the planet in the past millennium, but one of its few positive outcomes was the introduction of the rest of the world to the best fruits and vegetables ever cultivated. In Italian hands, the Indigenous American maize, tomato, potato, pepper and more took on a new life that is worthy in its own right. Just remember, no Andean and Mexican cultures – no Italian pizza. It’s as simple and stunning as that.

When looking to Italy for vegan and gluten-free dining inspiration, your list can start like this:

• Yes, you can still have pizza! Even if you’re vegan, even if you’ve gone gluten-free, you can still gobble up scrumptious pizza once you get the hang of creating the simple polenta bread base described in the article we’ve linked to here. Hooray!
• Beyond pizza, there are numerous polenta-based dishes that can be topped with sauces and stews rich in garlic, tomatoes, peppers and more.
• If you’ve found worthwhile gluten-free pasta, you can simply go wild with the toppings, from red sauces to creamy ones based on nuts and seeds.
• Treating fresh vegetables individually with great care is the hallmark of the best of Italian cooking. From a salad of marinated steamed zucchini or mushrooms, to deep fried artichokes, you can learn a ton from the niceties of Italian vegetable preparation. Everything is so fresh and tasty!
• For heartiest doses of protein, look to Italy’s preparations of garbanzos, cannellini, favas, lentils and more.
• And don’t overlook the use of nuts. Almonds play a much bigger role in common eating in Italy than they do in America, and pistachios make many appearances, too.

#5 Middle Eastern Food
On a hot summer night, there is nothing more apropos than a supper that takes its cues from the warm climes of the Middle East and North Africa, in my opinion. Serve it up with strong, sweet, hot mint tea and you will immediately see that the peoples of these ancient lands have developed a cuisine that is somehow perfect for their warm region. Vegans will veer away from the heavy use of lamb and yoghurt in Middle Eastern cooking, and gluten-free diners will have to pass on the wheat-based pita bread. If they are lucky or determined, they may be able to locate teff flour and make their own injera flat bread as is done in North Africa, or they can break out the white corn tortillas as we do in our home, crossing cultural boundaries but arriving happily at something bread-y to eat with the other Middle Eastern dishes.

To me, the ultimate Middle Eastern summer meal is based on the combination of hummus (rich in protein thanks to its pairing of sesame seeds and garbanzos) and tabbouleh. I was seriously sad when I thought I had to give up tabbouleh because of its base of bulgur wheat which contains gluten. But then I made a stern face about the whole thing and realized I could substitute brown rice with almost no sense of loss at all. My rice-based tabbouleh salad, loaded with diced tomatoes, cucumbers, onion, parsley and mint and dressed in olive oil and lemon juice has become a summer night tradition on our family farm. Try it and you’ll love it. There is so much to enjoy in Middle Eastern cuisine, including:

• All kinds of dips and sauces based on sesame seeds, garbanzos and olive oil
• Stews and casseroles rich in tomatoes, garlic, eggplant and other vegetables
• Wonderful dishes of cold marinated vegetables, as served at the open air cafes of the Middle East
• Mouthwatering and hearty lentil dishes
• Looking towards Africa, there are simply amazing combinations of peanuts and peanut sauces with savory vegetables and grains to consider.
• Don’t forget to set out little dishes of olives, dates, pistachios and other tasty nibbles that make a meal so enjoyable

The cuisines of the Middle East come a little lower on our list than the others because they require a little more of the art of substitutions than, for instance, Mexican food, but I definitely feel this way of eating deserves a place on the list because, if you get the hang of it, it is wildly delicious and also, incredibly nutritious. Middle Eastern cuisines contain a great deal of meat and dairy, as well as a considerable amount of wheat, so the vegan and gluten free diner needs to look past this to their beautiful use of legumes, seeds, nuts, vegetables and fruits and there they will find rich inspiration!

Bonus: Other World Cuisines
This article is being placed in the Reskills Column of VeganReader.com, because your success in superior gluten free and vegan dining is going to be dependent on your ability to cook your meals mainly from scratch. You may be able to find a restaurant here or there that can cater to your needs, but chances are, those will be few and far between, and gaining home cooking skills and a library of helpful ethnic cuisine books will ensure success in your efforts to get plenty of nutrition and, just possibly, eat better than you ever have before in your life.

I’m going to take a moment here to again extol the virtues of the vintage Time Life series of cookbooks, Foods of The World. For a beautiful entry into the subject of world cuisines, no other publication can beat this series, in my considered opinion. Find these books at the library or used on eBay and you will feel like the whole world, and all of its busily cooking people, have become your neighbors and friends and you will find countless recipes to adapt to your gluten free and/or vegan kitchen.

The volumes on Mexico/Latin America, Italy, the Middle East, India and China will all get you going in terms of our top 5 cuisines described here, but then move onto the other world cuisines from which you can derive tons of more inspiration for fine gluten free and vegan cooking. Consider these possibilities:

Scandinavia
Most people may think of Scandinavia’s heavy reliance on fish, but do not miss out on their yellow split pea soup (called Arter) which has become a winter mainstay in our home. Unusually seasoned, it is simply scrumptious. Look to Scandinavia, too, for great potato ideas, like fanned-out hasselbacks that will make the old American baked potato look kind of sleepy. Scandinavians are crazy about almonds, too, and you can find neat ideas for creative usage of these wonderful nuts within these nations. Finland, which is sometimes confusingly considered part of Scandinavia and sometimes isn’t, could teach the whole world a few lessons about the uses of mushrooms which they hold in near-sacred reverence.

Eastern Europe
From stuffed cabbage rolls to goulash to plum preserves, there are gems scattered across the nations of Eastern Europe. Look past the wheat, the sour cream and other items not on your vegan or gluten-free list and you are certain to find unique preparations of vegetables and grains that will add real variety to your menus.

Spain
Gluten-free, vegan versions of paella come naturally – use mushrooms and vegetables and even fruits instead of the traditional meat and seafood. Pay attention to the skillful and interesting Spanish preparations of vegetables. I make a dish of sauteed spinach with onions, peppers, raisins and almonds that is incredibly good and unexpected in its combination of ingredients I wouldn’t have thought of without reading Spanish cookbooks. Garlic lovers (like me) will find a wealth of ideas in Spanish cuisine, and don’t forget the Arabic-inspired dishes of the south of the country. So exciting!

Africa
I am a novice in this area, but whenever I start reading about lists of ingredients like peanuts, yams, greens, coconut and hot spices, I know I get hungry. I have much more to learn about the dishes of the many nations of Africa, and I hope that as I study this further, I will be able to add new dishes to my family’s table. Last winter, I tried my hand at a stew containing, among other things, pumpkin, peanut butter and lentils and it absolutely banished all feelings of chilly weather that evening. I’m intrigued and want to learn more!

These are just a few ideas for your consideration. I doubt that there is a country in the world that couldn’t contribute at least one superlative dish to your repertoire of gluten free and vegan eating, and I hope this article has gotten your creative juices flowing. The secret is to see your dietary needs as opportunities instead of limitations and then cast your eyes over our good Earth for answers. Seek and ye shall find!

I’ll Fly Away chronicles the trials and joys of an African-American mother who works as a housekeeper for the wealthy family of a Georgian lawyer. Like the characters in the recent acclaimed novel, The Help, the housekeeper has to navigate the complexities, heartaches and dangers of raising white children who will one day be taught to think of her race as inferior, and the series also details her first forays into activism in the Civil Rights Movement, including boycotts, voter registration and riding a Freedom Bus.

Simultaneously, the storyline of the successful lawyer depicts the gradual erosion of his confidence in the judicial system and in the overall social system of the South as he witnesses daily the total lack of justice accorded to non-white citizens. This is not dealt with in a simplistic manner. The lawyer definitely does not wake up one day free of his racist cultural teachings. The whole story is one long struggle for him towards awareness and compassion as he is confronted with lynchings and murders that parallel actual events which happened in the mid 20th century.

The reason I am writing about this public television series some twenty years after it first aired is that its conclusion left me thinking deeply about the state of racism in the United States today. In the final episode, the housekeeper returns to her old home town in the South after an absence of 30 years. She and her family had eventually had to flee Georgia when her elderly father testified in a trial resultant from the lynching of a young boy who made a remark to a white woman (a fictionalization of the 1955 murder of Emmett Till). The viewer is gratified to discover that the housekeeper has not only survived, but has become a respected author who is shown speaking to a very integrated group of modern college students.

During her visit home, she pays a call on her former employer, the lawyer, who is now an elderly man. Attentive viewers will be struck by the incredible difference in the way the old lawyer and his ex-housekeeper are now ‘allowed’ to interact with one another. Not only do they sit on the porch together, but he actually invites her out to lunch – something that would have been illegal under segregation. Not only this, the two characters embrace one another in parting, but perhaps most different of all, the author calls the lawyer by his first name. After watching an entire series in which the two characters remain rigidly within their dictated societal roles, this one small change is nothing short of phenomenal. I found this conclusion to be both sensitively portrayed and truly thought-provoking.

In the 1990s, when I first watched I’ll Fly Away and I was a much younger person, if someone had asked me what I thought the state of racism in the country might be, I probably would have responded that African-American people had finally won their way through to being able to follow their hopes, aims and dreams. At that time, the media was filled with wealthy African-American sports heroes, celebrities and fictional portrayals of families who had achieved financial success and social prominence. I was aware of the heart scalding reality of poverty and ghettos, but I think I would have felt that these were problems which the whole country felt terrible about and that most people knew that racism was not acceptable, not ‘cool’. My Scandinavian-Irish grandfather, with his categorization by race of people he had known, definitely sounded to me like a person from a long-gone era.

Thus, watching the conclusion of I’ll Fly Away in the early 1990′s would have confirmed my beliefs in how much the brave heroes of the Civil Rights Movement had succeeded in quelling racism in the country and improving life for all African Americans. I would have felt relieved and happy about this conclusion.

But watching this same show again, in 2011, left me with a very different feeling. Because now, having watched the media highlight the shockingly racist reaction of a segment of the population to the election of the country’s first African-American President, I have been made painfully aware that this land is still full of the ignorance and fear that feed this frightening beast of racial hatred. And this is something I very strongly feel that no American should ignore.

Racial hatred has played such an integral part in the story of America, it is something no American should be left in ignorance about. America was founded on the genocide of the countless races that were conveniently lumped together under the term ‘Indian’. Then there was African-American slavery. Then the kidnapping and enslavement of the Chinese. For several decades, the Irish were barred from employment and business with signs reading ‘No Irish Need Apply’, in addition to periodic discrimination against whichever wave of immigrants was newest.

Then there was segregation, and during World War II the internment of more than 7000 Asian-Americans in concentration camps where many sickened and died. These days, slavery is alive in Florida where Latino workers are held against their will to toil in the tomato fields of agribusiness, and field workers in California sleep on the ground amongst the vineyards and orchards where they work and die in exchange for low wages, no health care and no security. And in full view of the public, elected officials and high-profile media professionals have stirred up racial and religious hatred through fear tactics that paint Islam as the enemy and the United States President as a non-US citizen.

In sum, the targeting, abuse and categorization of human beings by race has been and remains a key facet of the reality of the American story, and the reaction to the election of President Barack Obama has certainly been a wake-up call for me. To my sadness and shame, it is clear to me that a number of my fellow Americans have yet to get it that it is not ‘cool’ to think of people in terms of their race.

My honest belief is that much of the evil being done at the highest levels of government and media has absolutely nothing to do with race and is, in fact, fueled by greed and desire for the acquisition of power. I believe that powerful people are intentionally inciting racial hatred by manipulating the very segments of the public who have had the least opportunities for education and success in life. I believe the instigators are doing this for political and economic reasons and that they have found that appealing to racism is effective. If they had discerned that appealing to a fear of weather was most effective, they would be using that instead, painting the President as the arbiter of rain and snow and the innocent peoples of other nations as harboring hurricanes.

That being said, it is the fact that one can still appeal to feelings of racial hatred that is the problem. People are still raising their children in an atmosphere of ignorance and fear of people who are differently hued than themselves, and only a portion of those children will have the educational and life opportunities that will empower them to become confident enough to break out of this very, very old cycle. Near the end of his life, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. came to the conclusion that the plight of the poor in the realm of the powerful was actually the real root of all of the woes he spent his life trying to heal, and I fully agree with this, and am sure it is true that America’s most abused and fearful citizens are probably its poorest.

So, yes, the quality of life for African-Americans, and for all Americans, was substantially improved by the successes of the Civil Rights Movement, but, in my opinion, we are still suffering badly in many parts of the country from a lack of love, a lack of opportunities and an utter lack of concern on the part of our government and institutions to help the poor uplift themselves so that they don’t fall such easy prey to manipulators who will win their attention and votes by targeting imaginary enemies on the basis of race. Reviewing our bloody and inhumane history of racial discrimination and violence since the days of the first colonies, this is a matter of absolutely serious import. Our work isn’t complete.

As for me, I am extremely thankful to be living in an era and area of diversity. I would not enjoy living in a place where everyone looks the same or has the same roots. Diversity is so much more interesting. Right now, in California, I am watching with greatest interest the re-population of the state by Indigenous and mixed Indigenous-Hispanic citizens. California is starting to look like a place of peoples of color again, cycling back to the time before the gold rush. When I hear white people around me reacting with fear, I remind them that California was long Indian Country, and then for a time part of Mexico, and that we are having the opportunity to witness the vibrant survival of Native Peoples in our own time in history. I thank the Creator that I am living side by side with Indigenous neighbors, as well as more recent arrivals from Europe, Asia and Africa. I want to learn about everybody, benefit from their wisdom and count them as friends. Our diversity is our collective strength, and our love is what makes life sacred.

Suggestions
How would you propose to further heal racial fear and hatred in the hearts of Americans? What do you think works? Have you watched I’ll Fly Away?. What do you feel about its hopeful conclusion, given the evidence of racism in the 21st century? Are we doing better or worse in 2011 than we were in 1990s, in terms of celebrating racial diversity?

I’d like to take a moment to strongly praise another public television show I saw as a child called Eyes on The Prize which can also be found at YouTube. This incredibly educational series was my first formal introduction to the history of the Civil Rights Movement. It filled me with sadness and horror as a child who found the idea of the indignities suffered by African Americans intolerable, and it gifted me with valuable knowledge that I have carried with me throughout life.

And, in closing, I would like to link to what I consider to be the most powerful speech of the 20th century Dr. Martin Luther King Jr On The War In Vietnam. This is a speech for the ages, and the insights provided into the roots of hatred I find to be utterly relevant today.

I hope you will share your own thoughts on racism in the United States today, and what skills, tools and aids you feel might be most effective in truly moving us all away from these disastrous failures to love.

This year, many people will attempt to explore vegan eating either for reasons of health or out of the stirrings of conscience. Perhaps a doctor has recommended they forego meat and dairy to overcome a serious illness. Perhaps they have read books or seen films that have convinced them that the meat and dairy eating habit is causing an ecological disaster while dooming the world’s poor to hunger. Or perhaps they have encountered the facts about factory farming, looked into the eyes of a loved animal and said, “Not me. No more.”

Each scenario, each choice is rooted in compassion – a force I would consider to be one of the most powerful in the life of man. In this article, I would like to share some thoughts about compassion that have occurred to me in my twenty years of vegan eating, and I welcome your comments on this important topic.

Exploring The Roots Of Compassion
Children raised by loving parents are the recipients of a deep fund of compassion. A child who has been faithfully loved by good parents through all of the small challenges of growing up understands what it is like to be around people who offer help in times of pain or controversy. This invaluable example of kindness and loyalty commutes into an understanding that it is wrong to intentionally cause pain to others. “If I wouldn’t like something bad to happen to me, no one else would like it to happen to them, either,” the compassionately-raised child learns to think.

If your adult life is rooted in a loving and relatively happy early childhood, the decision to respect the lives of others is within easy reach. You understand that you are a person of value, and this enables you to recognize that all others have their own value. You’ve heard it before that you can’t love others until you love yourself, and this is absolutely true. In knowing that your life is important and sacred, you are able to grant that the lives of all others are also imbued with sacredness and intrinsic value.

But what about the people who had tragic childhoods? What if your early experiences were filled with neglect, violence and the opposite of loving compassion? When evil has been done to you, you eventually come to a crossroad in which you have the power to decide whether to pass the pain on or let it end with you. Unloved people can either become the next actors of violence, hatred and war, or they can recognize the wrong of their sufferings and refuse to cause such pain as they’ve experienced to anybody else.

Looking at it this way, those who have been hurt most in life may have the strongest reasons for making intentional, compassionate choices, because they know just how terrible it is when love is absent. In order to make this decision, the person must recognize their own value, recognize that bad things they experienced were utterly wrong and that no one deserves to have such experiences. By reclaiming the understanding of your life as sacred and valuable, regardless of what others may have mistakenly thought of you, you are rooting yourself in the truth about you, instead of in the mistakes and misunderstandings of others. If you have been wounded, your choice not to wound others (including all animals) is a miraculous triumph of compassion.

Either path – through love to compassion, or through pain to compassion, is a solid foundation for making choices about the way we interact with all others in our life. Apart from breathing, eating is probably the most unifying and powerful activity of being alive.

Compassion, Health and The Vegan Diet
When illnesses that stem from unhealthy eating choices come to light, and health outcomes will be dictated by deciding whether or not to change the way we eat, our foundation of compassion is there to support us.

The value that we feel for ourselves and the people that love us will be our greatest strength in turning away from foods that make us sick towards new ones that will improve, reverse or correct our condition.

At VeganReader.com, we have always been adamant about refusing to bill the vegan diet as a cure for all ills. This simply is not true, and any publication that makes these claims is probably trying to sell you something. That being said, there are a number of conditions that study after study have concluded can be healed by abstaining from meat and dairy, and if you are fortunate enough to have this choice for a healthier, longer life open to you, as opposed to those people who are burdened with illnesses with no known cause or cure, then making the transition to better eating is an act of profound love. Believe that you are worth taking care of, and you can make the compassionate choice to care for yourself with better eating habits.

I must say, I am most impressed by elders whom, after a life of enjoying bacon and eggs, are willing to transition to healthier foods so that they can keep exploring the gift of life. They deserve many, many wonderful years!

If you have come to this article, at any age, as a result of a health diagnosis that can be improved or reversed by transitioning to a meat and dairy free diet, I promise you that with education, meals that may be better than any you have ever eaten before await you. For flavor, variety, nutrition and deliciousness, home-cooked vegan dishes that are based on whole, fresh, organic ingredients cannot be beat, and your dinners can pay tribute to the finest meals in the cuisines of the world from Mexican, to Italian, to Indian, Chinese, Eastern European, American Indian, African, Middle Eastern and more!

When you free yourself from the meat-and-dairy sameness of what you eat, there is so much to taste and enjoy. Change is seldom easy, but the good eating that is in store for you can make this one change very pleasant.

Compassion, Ecology and The Vegan Diet
There is a Cree American Indian quote which says:

“Only after the last tree has been cut down, Only after the last river has been poisoned, Only after the last fish has been caught, Only then will you find money cannot be eaten.”

This year, many people will consider veganism because they have realized that the ecological costs of factory farm production of meat and dairy are too high. When you have to breathe air that has been polluted with the methane that is destroying the ozone layer of the planet, can’t take a drink out of any stream anywhere in the country because it is toxic with farm animal wastes, and you see those rivers where fish can no longer live because of the pollution, when you look at films of the giant belt of land that has been given over to the production of genetically modified corn for farm animal feed instead of diverse organic crops to feed hungry people…when you read one too many reports of the damage America’s meat-and-dairy habit is causing, you may go vegan in order to opt out of these terrible choices.

Your love for our beautiful planet, its people, plants and animals, its land features, forests and waters can fuel your refusal to funnel your hard earned money into a money-making system that is threatening and destroying all of these irreplaceable wonders. Man cannot make new water, new air. We’ve got to save what we were given on planet earth, and the actions ecologically-minded vegans are taking to protect Earth’s total environment are profoundly compassionate.

Looking at your fork as it travels to your mouth, you know that the organic pinto beans you have chosen are a choice for life and biodiversity and pollution reduction, whereas a bite of hamburger would have been a choice for global warming, pollution, deforestation and ruined soil. That relationship going on between your fork and you is incredibly powerful, and your love of live and value for the ecological miracle of Planet Earth makes your vegan choices compassionate on a truly global scale.

Compassion, Animals and The Vegan Diet
Anyone who has watched a toddler react to the presence of a friendly animal knows that his sense of wonder has a fantastic spontaneous, joyous quality. The little one’s eyes get big, he bounces up and down, gasps, laughs and practically falls over with joy at the experience of this exciting animal encounter. In this demonstration of wonder lies the truth about how we humans authentically feel about our relationship to non-threatening animals.

Children’s nurseries are filled with pictures of animals, books about animals and stuffed animals. Sensitive small children will literally weep out of fondness for their favorite animals. In childhood, in the Western World, most of us get the message early that animals are a big, important deal. But then we come to our own crossroad, somewhere early in life, when we first understand that the chicken on our plate is an actual…chicken. That cute, fluffy little thing in our book of baby animals is now being served to us for dinner. To say the least, this is a confusing dichotomy to confront.

For most children, this realization will come and go and they will continue to eat however their families teach them to. But for children who grow up to be vegans, that confrontation with the facts of what they are doing has a lasting impact that they cannot forget.

Vegans who become so out of compassion for animals have never lost touch with that initial experience of wonder and love that they felt for them. They have never stopped looking at the baby chick, the little curly-tailed piggy, the soft-eyed calf with a feeling of warmth inside. The thought that these lovely fellow creatures would be tormented, tortured and killed becomes intolerable and the vegan refuses to fund this suffering with their money.

Once again, compassion is at the root of this choice. The little human being who understood Wilbur the pig’s desire not to be killed because he loved his life in Charlotte’s Web had those feelings because she loved herself and her own life. And, as an adult, she carries that with her and grants that all other beings love their lives and don’t want them taken away before their time. Value for the self commutes into value for all, and vegans who become so out of compassion for all living things are making choices that have meaningful impacts for so many beings.

Compassion For All
Don’t ever doubt that the choices of just one person make a difference. It is true that our choice to eat vegan will not save the health of every man, save the quality of all soil, water and and air, or save the life of every animal, but our activities within our own sphere count. And when others, in their own spheres, make autonomous compassionate choices, we begin to approach a sum total of real change.

This being said, I think that every discussion of the aspects of veganism should include mention of free will. If you believe, as I do, that life is a spiritual thing, then you will understand that each person is on his own path. My choices are mine – his belong to him. Many people have commented on a phenomenon of phony self-righteousness attached to veganism, and in response to this, I would suggest that vegans who set out to force change upon others are not living a life founded in compassion. Instead, their energy is stemming from anger or fear, perhaps because they are unhappy in their own lives or terribly upset about animal suffering. I can certainly understand that, but unless you are viewing your fellow human beings with compassion and granting that they have the right to choose lives that seem best to them, then you are looking blindly right past the core of veganism.

Vegans have commented honestly about their own problems with this issue here at VeganReader.com. After reading articles here, they have admitted that they feel anger towards people who don’t recognize the wrongness of animal suffering.

If you sense that this anger has convinced you that it’s up to you to convert others to your way of thinking, you are in danger of becoming a dictator. Stop. Turn inward and recognize how valuable, unique and dignified you are because you are carrying the gift of of life with you. Then, look outward again and recognize that gift shining in the minds and hearts of others – animals and people equally. Loving all beings in all forms, at all stages of thought and life…this is the work that is ahead of each of us. If you approach the work from a foundation of compassion, the work will be good.

In this piece, Estabrook documents the conditions of slavery in which workers in the tomato fields of Florida live. Chances are, if you are purchasing off-season tomatoes at the supermarket, you are eating food that has been grown by men and women literally living in slavery.

Now, I know that most Americans must have been shocked by Estabrook’s article, and I hope its distribution and the publication of his new book will do much to enable every reader to look with educated eyes on those peculiar, flavorless tomatoes that sit in gleaming piles on the supermarket shelves all winter. Time and again, people show that they will make good choices, once they know what the choices really represent. VeganReader extends heartfelt thanks to the rising wave of journalists who are devoting their professional lives to shedding light on the vast list of subjects that agribusiness works so hard to keep hidden in the shadows. We believe that all people of good will who have the chance to know the truth will refuse to support slavery on American soil with their hard-earned money.

I hope you will consider reading the article and book, and I can’t think of a better time to give thought to this important subject than right now – in the middle of summer. At this very moment, in gardens and on farms, at farm stands and farmers markets, the real tomatoes have arrived. Those gorgeous, real red, real sweet, real food tomatoes. Now is the time to get your hands on as many of these precious fruits as you can…for canning.

Winter will come again before we know it, but with our own stores of tomatoes, we can walk right past the off-season offerings in the supermarkets. Our own whole tomatoes, tomato sauces and pastes will still hold a great deal of the sweetness and flavor the fruits had in summer, whereas the supermarket winter tomatoes are without gustatory merit of any kind. People have probably gotten into the habit of buying these unappealing oddities just to have something to put in a salad. It is good to ponder what such a small, unthinking choice, made by so many, actually adds up to.

Once you realize winter isn’t the time for fresh tomato-containing salads, you can look elsewhere for great things to eat. If you want that tomato-y taste, make a vinaigrette with plenty of your own tomato sauce as the base. And if you want something acidic and sweet in a winter salad, try orange slices (which are so fabulously ripe in these coldest months). With a little planning ahead, you need not lack for tomatoes, but you can have the preserved versions and wait until summer for the next ripe ones to eat fresh. With slavery hanging in the balance, who needs those dubious things?

You can find recipes all over the web relating to preserving tomatoes – I don’t mean to get into the specifics of this right now, but I did want to take a moment to make a list of your very actionable alternatives to supporting such an abominable situation with the money I know you work so hard for. Take your dollars away from the industry, and you are telling them in the most powerful, effective way that their product and their policies are not wanted and won’t be funded by the American people.

Preserve Tomatoes – And Human Dignity

- If you’re growing your own this year, stock up on mason jars and preserve as many as you can, whether whole or in sauces.

- If you didn’t get to grow your own this year, local farm stands and farmer’s markets will often offer you really good deals on less than perfect tomatoes which are ideal for making tomato sauce. If you see signs that say ‘squishy tomatoes’ or ‘mushy tomatoes’ buy a box full and get canning.

- Many gardeners prefer to dry their tomatoes, claiming that this concentrates and preserves the flavor better than canning. Grocery stores charge a pretty penny for dried tomatoes. You can likely make them a lot more economically at home.

- If you’ve never preserved tomatoes before, buy a book on the subject or check one out of the library or read up thoroughly on the subject on the Internet.

- Use your preserved tomatoes in soups, sauces, pastas, on pizzas and hot sandwiches, and any place else you would like a little zip.

- If you cannot manage to preserve your own tomatoes, you may be able to find a local farm stand that does so. A farm near ours offers shelves and shelves of their own beautiful organic tomato preserves.

- If none of the above are possible for you this year, and you want to purchase tomatoes in the off-season, look for organic hydroponic tomatoes grown within your own state. The natural foods store where we shop has these for sale and they come from a grower about two hours away. They run about $5/lb., so likely this isn’t something you will be purchasing frequently, but if you absolutely have to have a tomato in winter, this is your safest bet for not supporting the abhorrent conditions for human beings in the tomato fields of Florida and Mexico.

- Don’t forget the green tomatoes! As the warm days of summer yield to the cool days and nights of fall, many of the tomatoes on your plants stop ripening. You can make the most savory, snappy, fantastic green tomato salsas and relishes for preserving. You might be able to source some of these green marvels from farm stands that are closing for the season and would love to offload the fruits that didn’t ripen. One of my all-time favorite fall dinners is homemade tortillas filled with sauteed winter squash and topped with spicy green tomato salsa. My mouth just watered thinking about it. It’s something you can really look forward to at the end of the red tomato rush.

Most nutritionists (and farmers) agree that eating with the seasons is your best bet for healthy and balanced nourishment, and it’s definitely the most ecologically-friendly basis for your family’s personal cuisine. But for millennia, people have used the art of preserving to fend off starvation in lean times and to add something special to the good ones. Drying foods, canning them, fermenting them, preserving them in acids and oils – these skills make us strong when it comes to providing food for ourselves and our loved ones. And they make us strong in another very remarkable way – they enable us to break free from corporations that aren’t acting with compassion for humanity. I call that pretty mighty.

We purchase so few commercially manufactured products. Regular readers of this publication will know that our family tries to make as much from scratch as we can here on our small farm. There is a product, though, that I have been buying for many years. For health reasons, I drink a small amount of cranberry juice every morning, and as we don’t have our own cranberry bog, (more’s the pity!) I’ve depended on Santa Cruz Organic’s berry juice to mix with the cranberry juice so it isn’t too sour to drink.

I am feeling so disappointed and surprised right now by a letter that was published on the Organic Consumers Association website, and which you can read for yourself in full here. A letter was apparently sent to Santa Cruz Organic inquiring about their GMO (genetically modified organism) policies and here is the part of the reply from the company that just has me shaking my head:

In recent years, agricultural science has developed and grown crops using modern biotechnology techniques in an effort to produce a higher quality, more economical and dependable food supply. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have determined that existing “biotech” foods are safe and do not differ in any meaningful way from other food. Due to the expanding use of biotechnology by farmers and the commingling of ingredients in storage and shipment, it is possible that some of our products may contain ingredients derived from biotechnology.

Here is why I am so disappointed:
Savvy organic foods purchasers know that our food system has been so heavily compromised by the unwanted products of biotechnology, that even the organic label does not provide 100% protection from accidental contamination.

But what is this? What is this about quoting the bribed mouths of the USDA, EPA and FDA about the safety of GMOs? Savvy organic food purchasers also definitely know that the revolving door between Monsanto’s biotech empire and the U.S. Government has created the disaster of GMO substances being poured, unlabeled and untested, into the nation’s food supply. I believe the most recent figure I read was that 75% of manufactured food products in the U.S. now contain GMOs.

You probably already know this, and my family definitely knows it. We know that GMOs have not been proven safe and that independent scientific studies have, in fact, linked them to all kinds of really scary health harms. We know that our governmental agencies have given into monetary temptations and have compromised themselves and the American people by allowing the country to be fed these unwanted substances.

But what I’d like to know (and maybe you would, too,) is why I’m reading a letter from a business that is trading on the ORGANIC label, mouthing the lies and rhetoric of the biotechnology industry. Come again? This is coming from Santa Cruz Organic – an organic food producer that’s been around since the 1970′s? They support the idea that genetically modified organisms are safe and no different than actual food?

I want readers to know that I tried to get Santa Cruz Organic’s public relations department on the phone this morning and left my name and number, but had not heard back from them by the end of the day. I wanted to speak to them personally about this, but it will be up to them to make this conversation happen, in which case, I will follow up on this post.

Apparently, Santa Cruz Organic was bought out some time ago by Smuckers – a company with no safety policies in regards to GMOs and whether the people who founded the business have passed away, lost their minds, sold out, been convinced of the safety of GMOs or what have you, the choice for me is pretty clear.

There is absolutely no way I can support Santa Cruz Organic after reading that letter. Now, had the letter been worded along the lines of “we’re as freaked out as you are about GMOs and are making every effort to keep them out of our supply chain, which is getting harder and harder to do as more and more farms become contaminated” I would have understood this honest approach.

My take on the letter is that, like so many others, this company has gone over to the dark side and is using the quotes of compromised health agencies to support their beliefs and policies which I consider to be wholly out of alignment with the ethics of organics.

If you’re selling conventional foods…go right ahead and do this. But not if you’re making your millions off the organic label. I’m expecting a lot more from you than this. And, if your ORGANIC food company has a more intelligent GMO policy than Santa Cruz Organic and you’d like to tell me about your juice, I’d love to hear from you. Lakewood? Anyone?

So, that’s it with buying anything manufactured by Santa Cruz Organic. I hope the reputation management marketers employed by the company read this totally honest reaction by a one-time fan. Folks: I’m closing my wallet and it’s all your fault.

——————————————————-

UPDATE: AUGUST 2nd

Today, we received the following email from the SMUCKERS corporation, owners of Santa Cruz Organic:

Dear Mim,

Thank you for contacting us. Recently, it came to our attention that we
inadvertently shared information on GMOs that did not apply to our Smucker
Natural Foods products. We regret this unfortunate incident and have
already taken steps to provide correct information to our consumers. We
sincerely apologize for any confusion that has resulted from this
miscommunication.

Below for your reference is the Smucker Natural Foods position with respect
to GMOs:

Smucker Natural Foods, Inc. is dedicated to the health and safety of our
consumers. We have taken great care to provide products that are made with
high quality and wholesome ingredients.

We have established a documentation program for all of our natural products
and their respective ingredients, with the goal of utilizing only
ingredients grown and produced without the use of biotechnology.

Smucker Natural Foods, Inc. has an extensive documentation program
verifying that suppliers of our organic raw materials meet the requirements
of the National Organic Program.

Our consumers can be assured that we are in full compliance with existing
Federal regulations and policies with respect to food labeling and product
safety. We will continue to monitor this situation and comply with any
future regulations.

Best wishes,
Diane Silverman
Manager, Corporate Communications
The J.M. Smucker Company
330-684-3672

How To Interpret This Response
You must decipher for yourself how you feel about this. It appears to me that some brouhaha happened as a result of the letter sent to the Organic Consumers Association member and that Smuckers is taking steps to correct this by differentiating their ‘natural’ products from their other lines.

Essentially, what customers who continue to purchase Santa Cruz Organic products must confront is that, like so many other organic vendors, the company has been bought out by a large corporation that is not in sympathy with organic policies and values. I believe we have pointed to this terrific graphic illustrating which organic and natural companies are owned by corporate parents, and it’s worth looking at again because it is incredibly hard to keep track of this stuff.

The Smuckers-Santa Cruz Organic connection isn’t on that particular chart, but the information is doubtless out there somewhere.

To purchasers of organic products, knowing what dollars spent are actually supporting can be of real importance. Some of you, after reading SMUCKERS’ reply, may feel that you are safe purchasing products from their Santa Cruz Organic line. Others will have come away with too bad a taste in their mouth from reading the true policies of the actual owners of the business who clearly support genetic engineering and you won’t want to reward such corporate policies with your hard earned money any more.

What decision will you make? We’d like to know.

The basic point of the article is that we’re more or less bound to fail attempting to fight Monsanto and other biotech empires within Washington. Too many politicians all the way up to the level of president are too compromised to put human rights over money in this area because of bribery and revolving doors.

The author suggests a different approach – grass roots initiatives for mandatory GMO labeling on a state level. Read the article and you will see how this would be possible and the massive power that would suddenly be given back to the people if even one state managed to pass such an initiative. Basically, a domino effect could happen, putting GMO profits out of commission on a national scale. According to the article, 85%-95% of Americans believe GMOs should be labeled. Just imagine what would happen if everyone could clearly see which products contain GMOs and which don’t…it’s very doubtful that ANYONE would knowingly eat this stuff provided other choices were available, and any food supplier wishing to remain in business would need to start sourcing from GMO-free suppliers only. Imagine that.

Well, I won’t get started on this right now. Time to go make our organic supper on the family farm, but please, if you have a moment, read that article. I think OCA has hit on what could be an immensely powerful winning strategy.

This has just happened, and our reaction feels very raw, but we just wanted to express our sorrow.

From reading the news, it seems as if the man who caused this tragedy is being described as solo and insane, rather than being affiliated with any group. Oh, my brothers and sisters, how can we create a world that doesn’t create this type of madness in people? How can we give enough love to everyone so that a neighbor isn’t able to descend into this kind of insanity, unnoticed until he strikes out at the community in his madness? Every day, we wake up to news of violence. How can we pour enough love over every brother so that the violence ends?

When I think of those young people, enjoying their summer at a camp in so beautiful a place as Norway, so generally renowned for its peaceful people…when I think of their lives ending so horrifically because somewhere along the way, something must have gone so wrong with just one human being, all I can do is pray. Pray that my own country will stop glorifying violence in its policies and entertainments. Pray that the people in all lands will put away their weapons and their hatreds.

If the time the world’s people currently devote to hatreds could only be melted down into a sense of kinship and love, the difference in everyone’s life would be profound.

Right now, I’m praying that people who own guns are watching this terrible news and asking themselves whether they want to be a part of this pattern. I’m praying that people who make violent tv, movies and games are counting the cost. I’m praying that governments who inspire fear rather than love in their nations are dreaming of a different approach.

And most of all, I’m praying for the people of Norway who have lost so much. May they be comforted, may they be loved.

—————

Photo Credit: Madekla.

Above you will see the ingredients of today’s lunch, including the very first tiny stupice heirloom tomato to ripen in our big tangle of plants. And yes, it was warm from the sun in the palm of my hand when I picked it. The snow peas – those jade jeweled pendants that garland our fencing in such opulent profusion – are giving us some of their last snapping sweet goodness as the weather grows hotter. Briefly stir-friend, they are like candy. I couldn’t wait one more day to gather our first two ripe crooknecks, dainty though they are. Sliced into golden coins and stir-fried in the merest wisp of sunflower oil, they melt on the tongue. As for the new potatoes, no other plant I know of distills Earth’s minerals into such profoundly perfect cream. It is heresy to do other than dig, quickly boil and dress with a little olive oil, salt, pepper and our ferny dill.

I contend that there isn’t a restaurant in the world, no matter how high the price per plate, serving a better lunch than this one right now, but that family farmers are blessed to eat this way every day when the harvest is good. This is why we compost and amend, grow only organic, save our seeds and plant, weed, water and sit among our plants, talking, laughing, singing and praying.

Move into the tiny house with the big yard. If Americans are as devoted to dining as all of the social sharing food photos suggest, they will find the ultimate in gustatory pleasure right in their own dirt. And while it’s true that a number of praiseworthy restaurants work hard to source some of their ingredients from local growers, you just can’t duplicate the farm to table flavor.

My dear foodies: if you’ve never eaten from your own seed, what joys await you when you bid farewell to the fancy chef and pick up your trusty shovel!

The land we call America is like no other. The people we call Americans encompass countless good and caring human beings. And though the past few decades have seen the American government drawing more voiced displeasure than praise from neighboring lands, countless people would still give all they have to be able to come and live here. On the world scene, you cannot best our natural beauty, our interesting history or our potential for goodness, but America was founded on a mistake of cosmic proportions and on this 4th of July weekend, I would like to take a moment to reflect on what happened and what might be done to begin righting past wrongs.

As you travel about this weekend, enjoying the pageantry of flags and fireworks, please pause to remember that where we are today, in terms of our history and accomplishments, did not start from honest beginnings. The theft of the lands, often by brutally violent means, from Native American residents makes the founding of the United States a sorrowful and shameful one. I have noticed that people who don’t want to confront this seem eager to dismiss the facts of the conquest of America as being “so long ago”. However many centuries pass, the fact that the country was taken by force at the cost of countless Indigenous lives will not change, and the benefits enjoyed by non-Native residents will continue to stem from this initial violence.

We can’t undo the past, but if we want something to truly celebrate, I believe the people of America can work towards a new understanding that is worth waving a flag for. Native Americans continue to have the lowest life expectancy, worst health and most complicated social problems of any group in the population. They have not ever really recovered, as a whole people, from what happened to them. Similarly, there are many historians and anthropologists who put forward the theory that problems plaguing the African-American population have their roots in slavery. The devastation of any culture casts a long, long shadow into the future.

No, we cannot undo the past, but this doesn’t mean we can’t make a better choice today, right now, and I believe the state of California is in a unique position to begin to recognize that we have an opportunity to dignify the Indigenous suffering that occurred here between the arrival of the Spanish and the madness of the Gold Rush. Most historians agree that no other American Indians suffered more than those of California – we have the absolute worst record when it comes to hate crimes against Indigenous people. Consider that.

Right now, the state government is planning to close 40% of California’s parks. In my view, frequent visits to open lands are one of the only activities many modern Californians participate in that connect them to the old ways of appreciation that were basic to most Indigenous Californian Peoples. If we cut everybody off from the wild lands, how can we expect them to learn sane behavior here? If all we know is asphalt, we do not really know California and will not understand how to love and protect it.

As an act of sanity, and of recognition of the theft of California, I would like the state government to approach California Indian Tribes with a plea to take over the management of the parks slated for closure. I will gladly pay taxes for this and do whatever else I can to ensure that the California Indians have whatever support they might need to keep the parks clean and safe for all people to visit.

It is an Indigenous custom to share everything, and first European visitors to this country were almost always met with an inclusive, brotherly welcome. It is my fond hope that, despite everything they have suffered, California Indians would still be willing to share the land with everyone else, provided that everyone else recognizes that the tribes have the longest knowledge and greatest understanding of how to care for the land. I believe that, in the spirit of their ancestors, modern California Indigenous Peoples, would take far better care of the parks than state agencies have done and that they would welcome everyone to come walk the land, knowing that this would create a more loving and educated whole society.

Independence and liberty from long ago despots is something worth celebrating, hundreds of years later, but we cannot pride ourselves on justice while holding fast to stolen lands without making even the slightest effort to acknowledge that a major mistake was made so long ago. The Native Californians are still here, still our neighbors, and still dealing with the fallout of long ago actions. California can ask them to take back some of the land, if they would like to, and tend to it in their own ways.

As I see it, this action could start something new, and this good action today would also ripple out into the future, leading to good and just outcomes for future Californians, and future Americans.

I have no idea if tribes like the Yuroks, Pomos, Karoks, Miwoks, Cahuillas, Ohlones or others would be interested in such a plan, but I feel very strongly that they should at least be asked. What do you think?

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