What The FRACK?!

image from the Green Cupboards Fracking Debate

Sometimes when I open my e-mail I get really disappointed.

Today was one such day, because today I saw an e-mail entitled "Obama's Plan to Frack."

I was hoping beyond hope that I read it wrong, or that it was some twisted play on words, but it was not. The subject line summarized the sadness within the e-mail itself, President Obama is planning to use fracking as a technique to unearth the natural gases his energy plan calls for.

What is Fracking and What's the Big Deal?

It is quite possible you have been hearing/reading this term "fracking" a lot lately, but, perhaps are still not really sure what it means. While I have read lots and lots of definitions for hydraulic fracturing (that's what "fracking" is short for), I think this video by Food & Water Watch does an excellent job of showing us what fracking is and why it is so risky.



Needless to say, this is a big deal. Our land, the cleanliness of our water and our water resources are all at risk.

In this country we are extremely lucky to have the clean water we do. I fear that too many people take that for granted and do not fully grasp the horrors of a tainted water system. The types of things that can result from fracking can not be solved with a Brita filter!

What Can We Do?

As the video explained, you can let your representatives know that you wish to have fracking banned. To raise the bar a little bit higher, why not let the President know? That, in fact, was the purpose of the e-mail sent to me today - not to e-mail the president, or sign a petition, but, in fact, give him a call TODAY. Food & Water Watch has declared today a National Day of Action.

I know you're busy, but you stopped to read this, so stop to make a phone call, please.

"Join Thousands: Make a Call Today to End Fracking!
President Obama needs to put an end to fracking and put clean water ahead of dirty energy and put an end to fracking.

Call the White House comment line

(888-498-2945)

and tell them that President Obama must protect all Americans by banning fracking in the United States."

 from Food & Water Watch

Thank you.

TAKE ACTION TUESDAY: Let the EPA Regulate Factory Farms!

Since the beginning of this blog, I have been largely concerned about the nature of the factory farms prolific in the food industry. I feel as though it may be at the root of the problem of our food safety, many of our environmental issues and, perhaps even some of our health issues. However, I can say none of these things with confidence, nor can I dispute them with as much because the effects of this type of farming continue to be under dispute without an unbiased third-party evaluator present.

It is for this reason I was happy to find a petition to "Tell the EPA It's Time to Regulate Factory Farms" over at the Food & Water Watch website.

To get an idea of how prolific these factory farms have become, and some of the risks associated with their presence, you can check out the Factory Farm Map on the Food & Water Watch site. Here is a mini version of the map that you can add on your website, if you have one, too. Get the embed code on the site.

Actions to take right now:

• Check out the Factory Farm Map for the country, your state and filter by various types of animals
• Sign the petition
• Tell a friend, or lots of friends via Twitter, FB or StumbleUpon

Taking Action

In this blog I have written a lot about food choices I have made personally, what I have learned about the food industry through some media at my fingertips (books, movies, web sites, et cetera), but I am not sure I have written enough about taking action.

I was born in 1976, I was a child of the eighties, took on high school and college in the nineties and stepped into my career on the cusp of the new millennium. I will not venture to say that the society around me was not steeped in great changes, amazing innovations and sweeping culture shifts, however, I do believe something really quite important might have been missing and maybe still is. Where is this generation's sense of power?

I learned of the battles my grandparents and great grandparents went through to become Americans, I learned of women getting the right to vote, the battle over prohibition, the civil rights movement - I learned all of these things not only from my teachers, but from my family - they lived in these times, they made things happen. They embraced the American spirit and took action when things needed changing - they sat-in, or marched, or petitioned or rallied - and the powers that be had to listen because the actions and the voices of the many were cacophonous.That is the American way to make change, that is how we take action -we the people get organized and speak our piece loud enough to be heard. We, as Americans, have the right to speak of our discontent and work in a civil manner to make things better. I sometimes fear that branching out into the world wide web has ripped out our grass-roots.

I would like to plant some grass seeds with my blog and help out some organizations that I think are doing a fantastic job of getting the word out in terms of saving our sustenance. It is high time we gather together as our American rights allow us to to fight what I believe to be the great battle of my generation: the people vs. Big Business.

• Food & Water Watch - This is my #1 go to source for news related to my sustenance. I have added their RSS feed to this blog for their "Take Action" page so you can check in on whatever particular court case, petition or issue needs your support at the moment. If you do nothing else, join their mailing list.
• Natural Resources Defense Council (NDRC) - An environmental group that also has a large "Take Action" section of their web site to keep you up to date on their current cases and issues being brought before congress.
• Certified Humane - I am always popping this site up on my iPhone on the way to the grocery store to make sure I am buying the right brand eggs and chicken because, along with their "Take Action" section they also have a nice link for you to "Find Stores" around you that sell "Certified Humane" products.
• The Center for Food Safety - Another great site I have written about before (this is where we got our shopping list for avoiding GMOs!), that has the "True Food Network" which is always looking for more support for their causes in the great food fight.

*Note: all of these sites have facebook pages as well, if that simplifies your screen time.

Here's the deal... at some point we are all going to have to admit that something has gone horribly wrong with our food selections. The food I am exposed to when shopping is not the same that my mother or grandmothers were exposed to - we can blame video games, computers, television and whatever other screen time you can add up for the increasing obesity rates in this country, but that is only ONE PIECE to this puzzle - we should not allow agribusiness to  shield our eyes from the truth for the sakes of their pockets! It is time to take action. It is time to become more knowledgeable. It is time to stop accepting and start QUESTIONING so we can LEARN the TRUTH.

P.S. - If you have a favorite "taking action" site you'd like me to know about, please add it in the comments section! Thanks!