April showers have given way to May flowers and we hope all of your gardens are starting to bloom with the beautiful, bright colors of Spring. Our donors and volunteers helped us deliver 471 delicious and nutritious, ready-to-eat meals this month as well as $2009.20 worth of dry goods and products. Thank you to all of our friends and supporters.
The TAPTF Society has many exciting irons in the fire right now! We were approved for a grant that will allow us to upgrade and expand our kitchen space, we are starting a few more community garden plots in the area, and we are happy to announce the official formation of our Board of Directors. Now more than ever, we need the support of our community. If you or anyone you know is interested in donating their professional services or just looking to lend a hand to our neighbors, please feel free to contact us by replying to this email. May the warm weather thaw our hearts and energize our efforts!
The ‘Acorn Squash Problem’
“If donated food goes to waste, it isn’t helping people get enough to eat – it’s undercutting the entire purpose.”
A major problem with how food donation currently works in the United States is that a lot of the calories in those boxes and bags come from items that aren’t particularly healthy, such as packaged snacks.
This arrangement is troubling in part because of the high rates of nutrition-related illnesses, such as heart disease and diabetes, among low-income people who rely on donated food.
As a result, food banks and pantries around the country have been trying to boost the nutritional value of the food they give away. Their clients are going home with more leafy greens and less processed cheese.
Thank you to the Chronicle of Philanthropy for this article highlighting the need that is out there for the work we do!
Read the rest of the article here and ask yourself These 8 Questions.
You can support the Teach A Person To Fish Society by clicking the image below. All donations go directly to helping neighbors in need. Thank you!
Devouring Our Rainforests
There are approximately 1.5 billion cows in the world, a population second only to humans among large mammals. Cattle ranchers in the Brazilian Amazon are aggressively expanding their herds and are willing to clear-cut the forest and burn what’s left to make way for pastures. As a result, they’ve become the single biggest driver of the Amazon’s deforestation, causing about 80 percent of it. This is the ecological devastation done in the service of the surging demand for beef.
The Amazon Rainforest is responsible for producing more than 20% of the world’s oxygen, while it covers only 3.4 million square miles – less than 2% of the Earth’s surface. It is often referred to as the Lungs of the Earth. It is home to over 40,000 plant species, 3,000 fish species, 1,300 bird species, 430 mammals and an incredible 2.5 million different insect species. Over 60% of the Amazon Rainforest is located in Brazil and over 40% of Brazil’s cattle population is located there. I think you can see where I’m going with this.
Has the corruption of the Brazilian government played a hand by dropping restrictions and fines on deforestation? Absolutely. But, there is plenty of blame to go around. Two years ago, Washington lifted a moratorium that was imposed on Brazilian beef over food safety concerns, and since then the United States has grown to become its second-biggest buyer. The country bought more than 320 million pounds of Brazilian beef last year — and is on pace to purchase nearly twice as much this year. We must reduce our meat consumption to avoid most severe climate emergency predictions. There is just no two ways about it. Our food choices do not exist within a vacuum.
The Amazon Rainforest quite literally harvests carbon. It collects it and houses it. When these areas are razed to make way for inferior grazing land for cattle, it releases that carbon into back into the air. 200,000 acres of rainforest are destroyed a day. Fewer trees, more carbon, to make way for animals that expel methane, a dangerous climate affecting greenhouse gas, out of *ahem* both ends.
If beef consumption were reduced by 90% alongside the 50% reduction in other animal products, it would prevent more than 2 billion tons of greenhouse gas pollution. That’s roughly equivalent to taking nearly half the world’s cars off the roads for a year. The need and greed causing dangerous deforestation and excessive cattle imports would cease.
Ok I understand that 90% sounds like a lot, and it is! But that’s the reality of how serious this situation is. Couple that with a reminder that a diet high in red meat increases the risk of dying of a heart attack, stroke, and certain cancers. Suddenly, the choice isn’t as hard as it seemed.
“Moving the American appetite from our burger-heavy diet to plant-based eating is a powerful and necessary part of curbing the climate crisis,” says Stephanie Feldstein, population and sustainability director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “We desperately need policymakers to support sustainable diets and a resilient food system. If American diets remain unchanged, emissions associated with producing the food we eat will climb 9% by 2030.”
“We can’t ignore that public health, sustainability, climate resilience and food security are all part of the same recipe.”
Read more about the topics discussed here:
The Amazon, Undone
One Tree Planted.org
How Beef Demand is Shrinking the Amazon
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