June 5-7 fast materials
Privatization and Speculation
Brazil
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Children and Fasting | Slow Down — and Fast
Fasting options
The typical fast would begin after a simple meal Friday evening, refrain from food Saturday and break the fast with Communion or a communal meal on Sunday.
Those who are not fasting from food can choose to eat simple meals, skip a meal or design a fast that fits their circumstances.
Fasting from food should be avoided by those with health-related conditions, such as diabetes, heart problems and pregnancy. Anyone with questions about their health condition should consult with their doctor before beginning. Those fasting should read the guidelines in “Fasting 101.”
Friday evening
Preparing and Focusing
Brazil is our focus country this month and here is a snapshot of the food crisis from our partner the Rev. Joao Dias. The Rev. Dias is with the United Presbyterian Church of Brazil and is the director of the Evangelical Commission on Land Rights, Feira de Santana, in Bahia, Brazil.
The Food Crisis in Brazil
Two girls in a settlement camp organized by the Ministry of Agrarian Reform near the town of Wagner, a locus of PC(USA) mission in the state of Bahia, Brazil. Photo by Peter Kemmerle Hunger has been present in the history of Brazil from the beginning. This fact has awakened the interest of many scholars, especially physicians and sociologists. During the 20th Century, the most well-known scholar was Dr. Josue de Castro who wrote two books resulting from his research: The Geo-Politics of Hunger (about world hunger) and Geography of Hunger (about hunger in Brazil). In the latter he shows on the map of Brazil the regions of epidemic hunger (principally in the North and Northeast) and of endemic hunger (or malnutrition) which affects all regions of Brazil. These books helped inspire many campaigns to solve the problem of lack of food for a great part of the population.
Woman camping by the roadside waiting to be resettled by the Ministry of Agrarian Reform, near Rui Barbosa in Bahia, Brazil. Photo by Peter Kemmerle Recent examples of programs working to solve the problem of hunger in Brazil are Christmas Without Hunger, Zero Hunger, Food Security and Family Agriculture. The latter three are programs of the federal government. Today the dilemma for those who seek to combat the scarcity of food is that the government gives more aid to agribusiness that to family agriculture. Brazil has encouraged the production of ethanol and other agrofuels from fruit and vegetables. It has increased the quantity of food, but the price has risen. Hunger continues to be a problem for the majority of the population.
The reconciliation of [humankind] through Jesus Christ makes it plain that enslaving poverty in a world of abundance is an intolerable violation of God’s good creation. Because Jesus identified himself with the needy and exploited, the cause of the world’s poor is the cause of his disciples. … The church calls [all people] to use [their] abilities, [their] possessions and the fruits of technology as gifts entrusted to [them] by God for the maintenance of [their] families and the advancement of the common welfare. … A church that is indifferent to poverty, or evades responsibility in economic affairs, or is open to one social class only, or expects gratitude for its beneficence makes a mockery of reconciliation and offers no acceptable worship to God.
— Presbyterian Book of Confessions, The Confession of 1967, 9.46c, PC(USA), 1967
We believe and teach that God sustains and offers abundance for all from the bounty of the gracious economy of God [oikonomia tou theou]. The economy of God is an economy of life that promotes sharing, globalizing solidarity, dignity of persons, forgiveness as well as love and care for the integrity of creation. The formal market must serve the greater economy of life. Faith compels us to confront the idolatrous assumptions that under gird many current economic practices.
— What Does God Require of Us? A Declaration for Just Trade in the Service of an Economy of Life, January 2004, Stony Point
Bible Study: Profit Motive or Prophet Principle
By Rebecca Todd Peters
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. (Luke 4:18)
Economists make the claim that the primary task of business and markets is to make a profit and generate wealth. This claim is built on a particular theoretical construct about the role and purpose of the economy. The economic structures formed by humans naturally reflect particular values about what it means to live a good life and humans create economies as social tools to help organize society. They are moral instruments which can be shaped in diverse ways with a variety of goals. Accordingly, I would like to suggest the “prophet principle” as an alternative to the profit motive as a guide for shaping the structure of our political economy.
The Jewish and Christian prophetic traditions offer wisdom useful for imagining an alternative ways of shaping the moral foundations of our economy. The prophetic tradition is marked by a commitment to structuring society in ways that reflect God’s concern for the well being of all people and for the created order. This commitment, also known as social justice, is the foundation of the Exodus, in which Moses, Miriam and Aaron led God’s people out of slavery. Social justice is at the core of the prophet’s message which constantly reminds people that God desires that they care for the marginalized in their midst, who are represented by the poor, widows, orphans and foreigners.
Social justice is also the foundation of the ministry of Jesus who calls out for the rearrangement of the social order in which he brings good news to the poor, release to the captives, sight to the blind and freedom for the oppressed. From Isaiah and Micah to Dorothy Day and Martin Luther King Jr., prophets function to call people to accountability before God and they help us to imagine what a new world might be like. Prophets are often figures who stand in solidarity with the poor and oppressed and who work to establish systems of justice in society.
Religious prophets challenge human communities to create social networks and economic systems that establish justice in the world. This is the foundation of the prophet principle, which can be stated as follows:
Human communities should seek to create social networks and economic systems that establish justice in the world.
Rather than profit and wealth accumulation, the prophet principle represents the ideal of social justice as the goal toward which we are striving in the creation and shaping of human relationships, communities and political economies. We must think beyond our borders and our narrow nationalistic viewpoints to understand that our lives and our collective well-being as a human community and an earth community is intimately connected to the well-being of our neighbors who are Ghanaian, Indonesian, Chinese, Bolivian and everything in between. This requires an enormous imagination on our part, for we are used to thinking only of ourselves. We will need to develop the capacity not only to imagine the world as other than we perceive it now, but also to develop the will to transform our own lives, circumstances and social structures to reflect our new visions.
This transformation will require of us a reorientation away from the consciousness of competition, borders and barriers to recognition of our interdependence as human creatures within the larger web of life. A norm of solidarity that focuses on shaping our everyday habits and behaviors in ways that are sustainable and respect the dignity of God’s creation offers us a model for how first-world people can live our lives with integrity as we face the moral challenges of neoliberal globalization. This consciousness and daily practice is the foundation from which we can begin to reorganize the structures of our society in ways that can change the moral fabric of the economy and the world.
Suggested study questions:
- All people, even in Western capitalist societies, are involved in a variety of forms of economic exchange that represent different value systems. Families pool their resources to care for the good of all, and people in congregations contribute as they are able to a common purpose in order to collectively hire staff to help them support and promote the spiritual and social good of the community. What are the values that guide economic activity and exchange in these circumstances? Can you think of other situations/areas of your life where you engage in economic behavior (the exchange of goods and services) that is not driven by the profit motive?
- The creation of low-paying factory jobs may indeed generate wealth — but for whom? Even if the working conditions and wages that are being offered by the generation of free market jobs are better than what people had before a factory came into a country — this doesn’t automatically make the conditions and wages just. By way of example, while it is true that some slave owners treated their slaves well, (i.e. didn’t beat them) — nevertheless, the economic system of slave-holding societies exploited the labor of slaves in order to generate wealth for the slave owners and the system itself was immoral. While capitalism may raise the overall Gross National Product (GNP) of a given country, does this necessarily translate into improved lives of the people? Are there winners and losers?
- We have been conditioned to accept the fact that the profit motive is a necessary and essential guiding principle for economic and market transactions. Can you imagine ways in which we might restructure businesses, markets, and economic activity to reflect the prophet principle? What would that society look like? What would have to change? What are ways in which the prophet principle might begin to shape the economic decisions that you make in your own household?
- The idea of solidarity implies the development of a relationship — between people (or communities) who are different in some significant way (economically, culturally, racially, etc.) — that is based on partnership and equality rather than charity and feelings of responsibility for those “less fortunate”. Have you had or heard stories of people experiencing relationships of solidarity with the “other” that reflected genuine partnership and equality? Are there ways your congregation or denomination can or do live out solidarity?
Rebecca Todd Peters is associate professor and chair of the Religious Studies Department at Elon University. She has authored and co-edited several books on globalization and economic justice, including two aimed at congregation study: Justice in a Global Economy: Strategies for Home, Community, and World and To Do Justice: A Guide for Progressive Christians.
Learn More: Privatization and Speculation Meet the Food Crisis
Privatization in a Nutshell
What happened?
Seeds, the essential foundation of all agriculture, are being privatized. Genetic information itself is being patented and privatized by giant corporations. This is related to the food crisis, but today we will focus on economic privatization.
In the name of free trade and free markets, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have pressured all countries to reduce or even eliminate government buffer stocks and market intervention — and to end aid, credits and advice to small farmers. Even the United States has abandoned its system of national grain reserves. These privatization policies — deadly to the state’s responsibility to protect its farmers and feed its own people — have fueled the food crisis.
What can be done?
Strengthen government management of cereal stocks
Decades of trade liberalization and privatization have reduced governments’ ability to manage cereal stocks, oversee supply and prices, and insure a steady supply of reasonably priced food. Urgent steps to fix this would include:
- end pressure to privatize food stocks
- international assistance to governments (and regional bodies) to enable them to set up or strengthen the storage, management and distribution of grain buffer stocks
Additional Resources on Privatization
Privatization: a Challenge to the Common Good
Faith reflections on privatization from Justice and Witness Ministries, United Church of Christ. Includes study question after each section.
Privatizing Water: Profits Over People
An excerpt from the above resource on water by the Rev. Wallace Ryan Kuroiwa, United Church of Christ.
Food for Thought: Privatizing School Lunches May Impair Learning
Speculation in a Nutshell
What happened?
Commodity speculation caused food price rise and volatility
A significant part of last year’s food price fluctuations that led to the increase of hunger for 100 to 200 million people were the result of excessive speculation in the commodities markets by the very hedge funds and investment banks that have helped create the current economic meltdown.
How speculation influences food prices
Speculation is a bet on the future price of a commodity or financial asset. Speculation occurs on a range of items from currencies and equities to bonds and all kinds of derivatives. Speculators have no intention to really deliver or buy a product.
Read the explanation from “Speculation undermines the right to food,” a two-page analysis.
 "Food Crisis, Challenges and Prospects"
Jean Ziegler, former U.N. special rapporteur, speaks at the Graduate Institute, Geneva. 1 minute, 47 second extract on financial speculation and export agriculture.
What can be done?
Patrick Woodall of the consumer group Food & Water Watch said, “any solution to the food crisis must crack down on rampant commodities speculation. Wall Street poured hundreds of billions of dollars into the under-regulated commodities markets, propelling the skyrocketing prices in 2008. Reigning in excess speculation can help to reduce food prices immediately and for the future.” A recent letter signed by nearly 200 Civil Society groups to President Obama requested decisive support to wring out excess speculation in agriculture futures markets that threatens the food security of millions. Read the letter to President Obama.
Curb Speculation and Price Fixing by Big Trading Firms
Here are some basic steps that could be made to prevent rampant speculation on food prices:
- Investigation of the big trading companies’ cartel practices and price fixing
- Hedging rules that limit investment to legitimate purposes
- Vigorous prosecution for violations of rules that lead to speculative price run-ups
Additional Resources on Speculation:
Speculation and World Food Markets
From the International Food Policy Research Institute
Senate Testimony of Michael W. Masters on Speculation
Friday evening prayer
Open me, O God, as I begin this time of fasting.
Open me to your Holy Spirit.
Open me to my sisters and brothers.
Open me to your children in Brazil.
Open me to your creation.
Open me to myself.
Open me that this might be a time
of drawing closer to you
of reflecting on how I live
of remembering the impact I make on your world
of realizing anew my relations with others
of renewing my efforts to follow Jesus.
Open me, O God.
Amen.
Saturday: fasting and integrating
Saturday Waking Prayer
God of the very breath we breathe
let your peace be known amidst the economic chaos of the day
be with those bound by worry and anxiety
be with those facing loss of food and shelter
be with those who are desperate and panic-filled
be with those who turn away from the stranger
be with those who cling to apathy and comfort
be with those leaning more on self than on You
be with us all as we strive to live lives worthy of Your grace
be with all your children, Lord
be with all your children
And let your peace be known, Lord
let your peace be known..
Amen.
— The Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow, moderator of the 218th General Assembly (2008)
Breakfast-time prayer
God, let us never forget that you are with us always.
Help us to remember that you shine through your people,
And that if we need to see your face,
All we must do is look into the eyes of another.
May we see you
In our next-door neighbor
And in the face of a Haitian farmer
In the people squashed against us in the crowded bus
And in the face of those who speed by in their expensive cars
In the weary shoppers elbowing their way towards the counter
And in the face of a child starving
In the doctor who treats people in a local clinic
And in the face of a young girl dying of AIDS
In the playful children kicking dust
And in the faces of their mothers watching.
O God, our Companion,
Let us never forget that you are with us everywhere.
— Jubilee USA Network, adapted
Lunchtime prayer
You asked for my hands
that you might use them for your purposes
I gave them for a moment then withdrew them
for the work was hard.
You asked for my mouth
to speak out against injustice.
I gave you a whisper that I might not be accused.
You asked for my eyes
to see the pain of poverty.
I closed them for I did not want to see.
You asked for my life
that you might work through me.
I gave you a small part that I might not get "too involved.”
Lord,
forgive me for calculated efforts to serve you
only when it is convenient for me to do so, and
only in those places where it is safe to do so,
and only with those who make it easy to do so.
Father,
forgive me
renew me
send me out
as a usable instrument,
that I may take seriously
the meaning of your cross.
— Joe Seramane, South Africa, from Lifelines, Christian Aid, 1987
Suppertime prayer
God of eternal justice and endless mercy,
we confess our sins of action and complicity,
sins that have oppressed our sisters and brothers,
compromised our witness to the gospel,
and endangered the earth you made.
We have found profit and pleasure in economic injustice.
We are consumed by selfishness and captivated by greed.
We have plundered the resources of nature,
failing to be responsible caretakers for your creation.
We have fractured your church and abandoned your mission.
Forgive us, gracious God.
Restore in us a vision of abundant life for all,
and a longing for the promise of your peaceable realm.
Amen.
—David Gambrell
A Prayer of Confession based on the Accra Confession
Evening prayer time
We dare to imagine a world where hunger has no
chance to show its face.
We dare to dream of a world where war and terror are
afraid to leave their mark.
We long to believe in a world of hope unchained and
lives unfettered.
We dare to share in the creation of a world where your
people break free.
Dare we open our minds to difference?
Dare we open our lives to change?
Your kingdom come, O God.
Your will be done.
Amen.
— Catholic Agency for Overseas Development, U.K.
Learn More
The following is a sobering story from Brazil. Multinational corporations often lease or buy outright large tracts of land for agricultural research and production, especially in developing countries where land is cheap. Ultimately, all land is God’s land. But even where this is not acknowledged, land is considered by many as the patrimony of a nation. Companies using foreign land to make a profit, especially in this case where national laws may have been compromised, is akin to privatization and is included here as an example.
In this case, the Swiss company, Syngenta, came in and set up a large farm to test genetically modified (GM) crops. Landless peasants contested the use and were attacked leaving two people dead. In the end, the governor expropriated the land and the Brazilian Agronomic Institute of Parana, a state government agency plans to test new varieties of agroecological crops and to pass the seeds to farmers hit hard by natural disasters.
Swiss Syngenta hands over test field in Brazil
Monday, October 27, 2008
BRAZIL — Marking an end to a violent conflict, agrochemical multinational Syngenta has handed over its experimental farm in Paraná state, in the South of Brazil, to the state government.
Woman peeling cassava in a settlement of the Ministry of Agrarian Reform near Rui Barbosa in Bahia, Brazil. Photo by Peter Kemmerle This brings to a conclusion a long-standing land dispute between landless workers movements and the Swiss company, which led to the deaths of two men. Syngenta gave the land to the Paraná state government on October 14, 2008. The government has promised to use the land for the production of native seeds for distribution to small holder farmers and impoverished countries who have suffered devastation from hurricanes.
The 127-hectare [more than 300 acres] farm in Santa Tereza do Oeste was used by Syngenta to field test its genetically modified (GM) crops. This was contested because it potentially contravened an environmental zoning law and because it was identified as a possible sit for the settlement of landless agricultural workers.
Two men were killed after the landless workers movements, MST and Via Campesina, occupied the farm in protest on October 21, 2007. An illegal and violent eviction by 40 armed employees of NF Segurança, the private security company hired by Syngenta to protect the farm, led to the deaths of MST leader Valmir Motta de Oliveira (known as Keno) and security guard Fábio Ferreira. [Read an article about the attack]
Human rights groups and land activists in the state of Paraná have previously suffered threats and intimidation from a number of groups formed by landowners. In a public hearing on 18 October 2007, local rights groups presented a dossier of evidence to the state human rights commission that highlighted the activities of armed men hired by landowners and agricultural companies. According to the report, they act with no legal controls, often using violent and illegal methods to forcibly evict, threaten and attack land activists.
Several investigations into irregular and illicit behavior by NF Segurança, including the investigation into Keno`s murder, have led to its license being revoked. The company continues to operate pending its appeal.
Amnesty International has said it is vital that steps are taken by federal and state authorities across Brazil to control the flood of irregular and/or illicit security companies, many of whom are effectively acting as illegal militias in the service of landowners or agro-industry.
"It is essential that the state and federal authorities investigate individuals, organizations or companies which use security companies that commit human rights violations or criminal acts," said Susan Lee, Amnesty International`s America`s director. "Those found to have failed in their duty to adequately vet or oversee their security company must be held to account." With the trial of the suspects of the killings of Keno and Fabio Ferreira about to begin in November Amnesty International calls on the authorities to ensure that it meets international standards for fair trials.
"It is vital that those individuals truly responsible for these deaths are brought to justice, ending the long history of impunity for rural killings and the protection of vested economic and political interests." Susan Lee stated.
Amnesty International called Syngenta’s decision to give back its 127 hectare experimental farm to the Paraná state government a welcome end to a violent conflict over the site.
Syngenta’s decision to relinquish the land, Amnesty says, stands as an important step in the defense of the human rights of those struggling for their rights to land and survival across the state.
The trial of those accused of the murders of MST leader Keno and Fabio Ferreira will begin in November. Amnesty International is calling on the Paraná state authorities to ensure that it meets international standards for fair trials in order that only those responsible are brought to justice. It is time to end impunity for rural killings and the protection of vested political and economic powers.
What Happened
Early in the morning of October 21, 2007, members of the Via Campesina and the Movimento de Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (MST), both landless workers` movements, occupied the 127-hectare farm near the town of Santa Teresa do Oeste. The land was used for field trials of genetically modified crops.
The use of the land was contested both because it potentially contravened an environmental zoning law and because it was identified as a possible site for land reform for the settlement of landless agricultural workers.
Hours after the occupation, 40 armed men entered the farm and shot MST leader Keno dead in the chest at point blank range. One of the security guards, Fabio Ferreira, was also killed. At the time the police suggested he was accidentally shot by his colleagues, though prosecutors later charged a member of the MST with the killing, informing Amnesty International that these possibilities had to be tested in court. Eight others were injured in the attack, including MST member Izabel Nascimento, who was beaten unconscious and remains in a coma in hospital, in a critical condition.
Human rights groups and land activists in the state of Paraná have previously suffered threats and intimidation from members of landowners` associations or those acting in their name. In a public hearing on October 18 2007, local rights groups presented a dossier of evidence to the state human rights commission which highlighted the activities of armed men hired by landowners and agricultural companies. According to the report, they act with no legal controls or oversight, often using violent and illegal methods to forcibly evict, threaten and attack land activists.
© Brazzil Mag 2008
Melhoramento genético e agroecologia substituirão transgênicos em área da Syngenta
Privatization, Deregulation, Speculation and Consolidation:
Food Crisis and Economic Meltdown Share Common Rotten Roots
The spirituality of life, which is basic to our Christian faith, is intrinsically at odds with prevailing political-economic arrangements and policies that are creating and exacerbating human suffering. Therefore, we believe that, eventually, nothing less than a fundamental shift in political-economic paradigms is necessary for humankind to become instruments of God in striving for the vision of just, participatory and sustainable communities.
— World Council of Churches, “Giving Witness of the Hope That Is in Us: Our Passion for the Possible,” Sept. 11-12, 2003. Statement from the WCC Internal Encounter of Churches, Agencies, and other Partners on the World Bank and IMF.
The American economy is in the worst shape since the Great Depression. Both the food and financial crises are rooted in similar polices that have fed on each other for years. Decades of free market reforms worldwide eroded support for family farming and led to massive consolidation in agriculture. In the same period, deregulation in the financial services industry allowed banks to “cross over” their investments and invest in other areas of the economy. Large banks quickly swallowed up small banks (between 1980 and 1998 alone there were over 8,000 bank mergers in the United States, accounting for over $2.4 trillion in assets). As banking became more centralized, loans to small businesses, including farms, became harder to come by. This combined with falling prices and expensive chemical and seed packages leaving many farmers to “get big or get out.”
In the world of investing, large traders moved into futures markets, and some banks began to trade in financial instruments, including food and energy commodities, in order to protect their loans. Some financial services companies, like Goldman Sachs, even became importers of physical goods, while traditional agribusinesses, like Cargill, now have investment banking arms that deal in everything from real estate and corporate securities to information technology.
Deregulation and consolidation both make markets extremely vulnerable to shock. When the sub-prime mortgage crisis hit in 2007, investors began to scramble for safe places to put their investments. At least some of the rampant food price inflation that began at the beginning of 2008 was caused by exactly that scramble — a combination of investing in agricultural commodities and oil, which drove up the price of food and farm inputs. Looking for safer investments, traders that may or may not be in businesses related to food at all put much of their money into commodities futures. This kind of speculative trading that is exacerbating the food crisis was not possible on this scale until financial services deregulation in the 1980s.
This system of deregulation has caught our economy and our food system in a negative feedback loop. Less regulation breeds more consolidation and less stability in both agricultural and financial markets. Because markets and investments are now so intertwined, we are facing a breakdown in the world's food and financial systems at the same time.
The Wall Street bailouts, even if they stabilize financial markets in the short run, will do little or nothing to address the root causes of the current crisis, nor will they stave off the next one. A real solution must include measures to stabilize both food and financial markets. We need strong oversight on large traders and financial services, and increased support to local economies, small farmers, local banks and small borrowers. Most of all, we need a departure from the unfettered form of capitalism that has led us to this crisis situation.
Adapted from Annie Shattuck’s “The Financial Crisis and the Food Crisis: Two Sides of the Same Coin,” Food First.
Sunday: breaking the fast and responding
It's important to break a fast carefully. Eating too much too soon will overload your digestive system, causing uncomfortable and disruptive reactions.
Sunday Waking Prayer
This is a prayer from an ecumenical conference in Brazil, calling for an end to poverty as the first step on the path to peace through justice.
O Lord, God of life,
who cares for all creation, give us your peace.
May our security not come from arms, but from respect,
May our force not be of violence, but of love.
May our wealth not be in money, but in sharing.
May our path not be of ambition, but of justice.
May our victory not be from vengeance, but in forgiveness.
Open and confident, we want to defend the dignity of all creation,
sharing, today and forever, the bread of solidarity and peace.
In the name of Jesus, your holy son, our brother,
who, as victim of our violence, even from the heights of the cross
gave us all forgiveness.
Amen
— Joe Seramane, South Africa, from Lifelines, Christian Aid, 1987
Breakfast-time prayer
This is the day that you have made, gracious God. I rejoice and give you thanks for the miracle of life experienced anew. As Jesus blessed many with the five loaves and the two fishes, may I too, know your blessing as I break my fast. May I experience afresh your peace in my spirit, your love in my heart, and your justice guiding my life that I may work for a world in which your gifts are shared so that everyone has enough and all your children are fed. Grant me the strength and courage to follow Jesus and work for that day.
Break the Fast with Holy Communion
A majority of Presbyterian congregations have communion on the first Sunday of each month, but some do not. If your congregation doesn’t celebrate the Eucharist on the first weekend of the month, you could break the fast with a breakfast or a lunch before or after worship. Alternately, another time of the month can be chosen to do the fast.
Worship Materials
Bringing it home
The following responses are steps towards solutions. They are ways we can engage in our food system and learn ways of working toward the deeper changes needed. Consider choosing one or two to do during the month as part of your faith practice.
Personal responses
- Plant a couple vegetable seeds or seedlings among your flowers or in a big pot. See if you get food!
- Subscribe to the Hunger Program’s Food Justice E-Alerts and advocate once a month to build a sustainable and family farm friendly food system.
- Learn all you can about how our economic system works. Ask informed people for their book recommendations. Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger, Shock Doctrine, The World is Flat, Sweet Charity? and The Omnivore’s Dilemma are popular ones.
Communal responses
- It’s summer. Fresh produce is everywhere! Organize an “Adventure Potluck” at your church. Find out how.
- Recruit a couple people to research your town with you to see if there are low-income areas without sufficient access to fresh, healthy food. If so, are there churches in the area that might be willing to lend their parking lot for a farmers market one morning a week?
- Borrow a film about the politics of food and discuss it with people from your congregation. Invite a farmer to present. Do a film series.
 Share on Facebook
Once you have shared with each other, share with other Presbyterians on Facebook and learn what others are saying and doing.
Glossary of Terms Used in Materials
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