Columbus Oxfam Action Corps

Central Ohio Food Forum

2012-01-12T03:28:00.000-05:00

Central Ohio Food Forum

Date: Monday, January 16, 2012 - 6:00pm - 8:00pm

At our January Food Forum we'll be discussing eating locally through the winter and some of the challenges and opportunities that come with it.

Presented in partnership with Wayward Seed Farm and Edible Columbus, Local Matters is proud to co-host the Central Ohio Food Forum.

Central Ohio Food Forum: The Real Dirt on Your Food is a series of monthly conversation about our food system.

More information about the Central Ohio Food Forum:

We're all familiar with "Know Your Food, Know Your Farmer," but do you? Have you ever wondered what a farmers “living wage” actually is?

Mark your calendars for every 3rd Monday of the month at Wild Goose Creative!

Doors open at 5:30 for mingling, program starts at 6:30. BYOB encouraged (especially if it's local!).

See regular updates on our facebook page.

Join us for a series of open and honest conversations about our food system. With topics ranging from production to distribution, community gardens to backyard chickens, and everything in between, we invite you to join us. Bring your ideas, questions and thoughts, your neighbors, friends and family.

The Central Ohio Food Forum invites farmers, gardeners, growers, chefs, home cooks, homesteaders, planners, and eaters of all types to join in the conversation for the betterment of our food system.

Questions? Email centralohiofoodforum@gmail.com

Oxfam Action Corps 2012 Recruitment

2011-12-20T22:01:00.002-05:00

Hey Everyone,

Oxfam America is currently recruiting new volunteers for 2012-2013. If you are interested in joining the Oxfam Action Corps please sign up and spread the word by February 14th at http://www.oxfamactioncorps.org.

Join the Oxfam Action Corps to support women farmers, fight global hunger, and build a better food system! You will meet great people and work together to change laws that can save lives, defend the rights of the world’s poorest farmers, and protect communities from rising food prices and climate change. You will gain leadership skills, have fun, and change the world!

Anybody can join the local effort! All levels of experience are welcome. You can also apply for Oxfam’s free four-day leadership training in Washington D.C. May 12 – May 15.

This year, we will mobilize for the GROW campaign for global food justice. The women and men in poor countries who struggle to grow enough food to feed their families are facing competition for land and water, rising prices, and climate change. We will call for laws that support women and farmers, sustainable practices, and resilience to climate change, and ensure a better future for people in the poorest regions of the world.

This is a year-round volunteer opportunity, with a deadline of February 14 to apply for the spring training. Find out more and sign up at http://www.oxfamactioncorps.org .

Check out this video to see what we are all about:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FmA5kFi9AA

Turn on your radio!

2011-11-17T08:26:00.004-05:00

Tune in today at 10am to noon on 89.7 WOSU NPR to

hear Ann Fisher from 'All Sides' interview Gawain Kripke

(Oxfam America's Director of Policy and Research)

about Global Food Security...should be a great show!

Don't forget about the luncheon today at noon!

THURSDAY, November 17, 2011

TIME: Check In/Networking: 11:30 am

Program: 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

LOCATION: WOSU @ COSI

333 West Broad Street
Columbus, OH 43215

COST: Members/students: $30 ($15 lecture only)

Members Table of Eight: $250
General Public: $50 ($30 lecture only)
General Public Table of Eight: $450
*Group discounts available for K-12 classes

RSVP BY TUESDAY, November 15, 2011:

ORONLINE: www.columbusworldaffairs.org
EMAIL: rnicholas@ columbusworldaffairs.org
CALL: 614-229-4599 ext. 401 (Rhonda Nicholas)MAIL: 51 Jefferson Avenue, Columbus, OH 4321

Secretary of State Clinton on Foreign Aid

2011-11-16T13:03:00.002-05:00

Here is an excerpt from a recent post on Foreign Policy that stresses the importance of foreign aid for national security:

If Congress doesn't pass an omnibus appropriation bill, the resulting funding cuts will "seriously impede our efforts to meet unanticipated national security needs," Secretary Clinton said yesterday in a statement.

Without an omnibus bill, the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) would be subject to a yearlong continuing resolution that "would sharply cut our funding and severely weaken the [State] Department and USAID's ability to execute our critical civilian missions, particularly in Afghanistan and Iraq," Clinton stated.

She also said, "We need these resources now more than ever to support national security priorities in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan where we are helping secure gains made by our military and preventing the spread of violent extremism."

Clinton and other government officials have repeatedly said that U.S. foreign policy rests on three pillars: defense, diplomacy, and development. Weaken the pillars of diplomacy and development, and the edifice of U.S. foreign policy collapses. Leaders such as Gen. David Petraeus have said that there is "no military solution" to Iraq (and the same can be said of Afghanistan). The Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review -- released yesterday and titled "Leading Through Civilian Power," asks, "How can we do better?" It answers, "we will build up our civilian power: the combined force of civilians working together across the U.S. government to practice diplomacy, carry out development projects, and prevent and respond to crises."

Time is running out to voice your support for the foreign aid budget, so please let your representatives know why it's important to protect it from cuts. Oxfam America has a form that you can fill out, or you can contact your representative directly by finding them on the House of Representative's website.

Columbus Event: Global Food Security: Feeding the World in 2050

2011-11-03T04:51:00.001-04:00

THURSDAY, November 17, 2011

Global Food Security: Feeding the World in 2050

Gawain Kripke
Director of Policy & Research
Oxfam America

United Nations statistics cite the number of malnourished people around the world at 925 million, making hunger the globe's number one health risk. What are the root causes of this problem and what can be done to ensure food security for our growing global population? Join us as Gawain Kripke explores these and other questions.

Gawain Kripke is the director of policy and research at Oxfam America and has more than 20 years of experience working on public policy and advocacy issues. His department conducts research and policy advocacy focusing on the effectiveness of foreign aid and development, climate change, trade and agriculture, humanitarian issues, and extractive industries. Kripke is a frequent commentator on foreign aid, human rights, humanitarian issues, and agricultural policies in major news media, including The New York Times, CNN, NPR, BBC World News, and Marketplace. In addition, he has testified before Congressional committees. At Oxfam, Kripke previously served as senior policy advisor on Oxfam's Make Trade Fair campaign, which aims to reform unfair trade rules so that international trade can become a powerful force for reducing global poverty. Before joining Oxfam, he served as director of economic programs for the environmental organization Friends of the Earth. Kripke earned a BA in government from Harvard College, and has authored numerous opinion pieces and briefing papers on trade and development issues.

THURSDAY, November 17, 2011

TIME: Check In/Networking: 11:30 am

Program: 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

LOCATION: WOSU @ COSI

333 West Broad Street
Columbus, OH 43215

COST: Members/students: $30 ($15 lecture only)

Members Table of Eight: $250
General Public: $50 ($30 lecture only)
General Public Table of Eight: $450
*Group discounts available for K-12 classes

RSVP BY TUESDAY, November 15, 2011:

ORONLINE: www.columbusworldaffairs.org
EMAIL: rnicholas@ columbusworldaffairs.org
CALL: 614-229-4599 ext. 401 (Rhonda Nicholas)MAIL: 51 Jefferson Avenue, Columbus, OH 4321

Coalition of Immokalee Workers will visit Columbus to promote farmworker justice

2011-10-19T22:36:00.000-04:00

The Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) is a community-based organization of mainly Latin@, Mayan Indian, and Haitian immigrants working in low-wage jobs throughout the state of Florida. The CIW’s Campaign for Fair Food has won unprecedented support for fundamental farm labor reforms from retail industry leaders.
Headquartered in Immokalee, Florida, the CIW seeks modern working conditions for farmworkers, and promotes their fair treatment in accordance with national and international human rights standards.

On Monday, October 24, two CIW organizers will be visiting Columbus to build awareness about their Campaign for Fair Food and explain how students, community members, people of faith, and consumers can partner with farmworkers to promote human rights and fair wages in the tomato supply chains of supermarket giants Publix, Trader Joe’s, and Kroger:

Continue reading on Examiner.com Coalition of Immokalee Workers will visit Columbus to promote farmworker justice - Columbus Unitarian Universalist
Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/unitarian-universalist-in-columbus/coalition-for-immokalee-workers-to-visit-columbus-to-promote-farm-worker-justice#ixzz1bHl5T2FW

Columbus fair food activists Wendy Ake, Tom Over, and Deb Steele protest for farmworker justice on Olentangy River Road in front of the Kroger store.

On World Food Day, a Colombian farmer provides for the next generation

2011-10-18T22:17:00.002-04:00

Nelly Velandia’s plans this weekend include a visit to an Iowa farmers’ market.

That’s not unusual; many of us stop by a farmers’ market as part of our regular shopping routine. I go to my local

market for translucent gold tomatoes, earthy carrots still sporting their crown of

greens, even locally-made Mexican-style chocolate.

But for Velandia, a community leader from Colombia now visiting the US, farmers’ markets are more than just a place to shop.

“I grew up on a farm,” in rural Boyacá, Velandia told me when we met in Washington, DC. “My parents cultivated a love of the countryside in me, so after [college] I came back to work the land.” There was not enough land to grow new crops on her parents’ farm, but she was able to obtain her own small plot. (A recent UNDP report found that about 80 percent of Colombian farmers’ plots measure less than three acres.) She earned extra money selling her farm-fresh cheese, eggs, and vegetables.

Meanwhile, Velandia joined with others to advocate for the rights of her fellow women and indigenous people. “It was always my dream to go back and work with the communities where I was raised,” she explained. “What we work on is influence: we want to ensure that rural women can influence government policies to resolve the problems that affect them.” That mission eventually brought her to the capital, Bogotá, where she joined the Communal and Small-Scale Farmers’ Committee for Dialogue (known by its Spanish abbreviation CICC).

Things came full circle for Velandia when CICC came up with a plan to organize farmers’ markets in Bogotá. Supported by Oxfam, these markets would help rural farmers sell directly to city consumers and earn better prices for their crops. Velandia’s group even convinced the mayor’s office to help cover the cost of setting up markets in parks and public squares.

Today, about 2,400 farmers from 60 rural communities sell fruits, vegetables, meat, dairy, prepared foods, and even local crafts in the bimonthly markets. Nearly half of the vendors are women. “The money they make goes directly into their pockets, not through intermediaries,” said Velandia. In a country where about 54 percent of rural people live in poverty, “it has a big impact.”

Urban consumers also benefit from the markets, where food sells for 15 to 25 percent less than it does on supermarket shelves. Velandia noted that the farmers’ produce is fresher, more nutritious, and often organic: in other words, the same reasons we choose to shop at farmers’ markets here in the US.

As part of a global celebration of World Food Day, Oxfam America brought Velandia to the US to share these successes with others. While Oxfam supporters planned World Food Day Sunday Dinners nationwide, Velandia met with legislators in Washington, DC, and agriculture experts at the World Food Prize Symposium in Des Moines. This weekend, she visited an urban farmers’ market in Des Moines and sampled the wares of her Iowa counterparts.

So with all the talk of buying local, I asked Velandia, why should people who care about food support farmers who live thousands of miles away?

She named some urgent reasons why, while shopping locally, we should call on leaders to invest in small-scale farmers worldwide: improving nutrition, keeping global food prices down, reducing poverty and hunger. But the ultimate reason is to “ensure a better future for the next generation,” whether they live on the farm or the city. “By producing and consuming food in a sustainable way,” she said, “[we can] help save the planet and save humanity.”

CROP Walk in Worthington, October 9th at 1pm

2011-10-03T13:57:00.004-04:00

Worthington CROP Hunger Walk 2011

CROP Hunger Walks help children and families worldwide –
and right here in the U.S. –
to have food for today, while building for a better tomorrow.
Our local efforts are making a huge difference...
and you are part of it!

Details:
Registration and CROP Hunger Walk begin at 1 PM at United Methodist Ctr,
32 Wesley Blvd, Worthington.
Two walk routes – 5k or 1 mile.

Worhington Food Pantry and Resource Center
will received 25% of money raised.
Last year we raised over $1,700 for the food pantry.

Check us out on Facebook!

Contact:
Amy Wingerter, worthingtoncropwalk@gmail.com

Look for the Columbus Oxfam Action Corps Table at the event!

USDA offers help to beginning farmers. Will it be enough?

2011-10-03T13:16:00.000-04:00

USDA offers help to beginning farmers. Will it be enough?

BY TOM LASKAWY

30 SEP 2011 3:46 PM

Lindsey Shute and her husband run Pistil Farm and Hearty Roots Community Farm in Tivoli, New York.

Back in the heady days of our youth when anything seemed possible -- you know, 2009 -- USDA Chief Tom Vilsack called for 100,000 new farmers. He even followed it up the next year with $17 million dollars in grants for theBeginning Farmers and Ranchers Training Program designed to help educate and mentor young farmers and ranchers.

Farmers, after all, are an aging bunch. According to the 2007 USDA Agricultural Census, the median age of farmers in the U.S. is 57 years old and rising. Sixty may be the new 50, but even so, America needs the next generation of farmers to step up.

It's not surprising that farming hasn't been a very attractive field for newcomers. New farmers face high land and fuel costs, corporate consolidation, price volatility, and cost-cutting retailers. They're often asked to work long hours, use heavy equipment, and handle dangerous chemicals -- all for a low-margin business. And the spike in commodities like corn, wheat, and soy, while a boon to some current farmers, is raising the bar ever higher for beginners.

If we learned anything from the housing bubble, it's that there's nothing Wall Street loves more than real estate. Land around cities is seen as too valuable to farm. And, as Tom Philpott dug up in his post on commodities speculation, analysts on Wall Street are specifically hyping farmland as an "investment vehicle" to their clients. If enough investors take their advisers up on the suggestion, however, this vehicle may force potential young farmers right off the road.

Of course, an excellent recent report from WBUR details that the problem goes beyond just the upfront costs of land and equipment. Banks don't have much interest in investing in first-time conventional commodity farmers. The article profiles Austin Bruns, a young farmer who grows soybeans and corn under contract for Monsanto on 150 acres of Nebraska company land, sharing equipment to make ends meet. An economist quoted in the piece addresses the real estate conundrum:

[Some people are] sitting in New York [and] saying, 'Well, I don't know, I've never even been to Nebraska, but by golly, I'm going to buy some Nebraska land,' And you have these groups coming together ... that are buying farmland [and] driving up farmland prices to prices we've not seen before.

Banks have been through too many farm crises to want to bet on a new crop of commodities farmers. That said, the USDA is doing what it can to help. Earlier today, Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Kathleen Merrigan announced $18 million in new grants for beginning farmers. In a press conference, she said she just returned from a farm tour where she "got an earful ... about land prices." The good news was that a significant amount was dedicated to sustainable practices training or granted to sustainable organizations across the country. She did, however, admit the USDA currently lacks sufficient "tools in the toolbox" -- read: funding -- to address rising land prices; she hopes it's something the upcoming Farm Bill negotiations will include.

Looking at the grants, it does seem like much of the excitement among beginning farmers seems to reside in organic fruit and vegetable production rather than in adding to the river of corn and soy that flows from the Midwest. In fact, it's possible that more conventional commodity farmers will make the switch to organics.

One inspiring model appeared in The New York Times Magazine last year. The article profiled two old hands -- husband and wife farmers Kurt and Karen Unkel of Kinder, La. After many years of struggling with all these issues, the pair abandoned conventional rice farming (including selling into commodities export markets) in favor of organic rice grown for local markets. "I started this because I could not see the future in conventional farming," Kurt Unkel told the magazine. And their risk paid off. But the article left me wondering: Are transitions like this something the USDA will ever fully embrace?

With Wall Street and international investors bidding up the price of the land itself, it's not hard to imagine a future where most farmers aren't owner-operators but are hired hands on massive corporate farms. To avoid such a fate, we'll need more than just training programs and enthusiasm: It requires a willingness by the federal government to take on Wall Street and anti-competitive corporations. And so far, I'm not impressed.

A 17-year veteran of both traditional and online media, Tom is a Contributing Writer at Grist covering food and agricultural policy. Tom's long and winding road to food politics writing passed through New York, Boston, the San Francisco Bay Area, Florence, Italy and Philadelphia (which has a vibrant progressive food politics and sustainable agriculture scene, thank you very much). In addition to Grist, his writing has appeared online in the American Prospect, Slate, the New York Times and The New Republic. He is on record as believing that wrecking the planet is a bad idea. Follow him on Twitter.

Two Seminars of Interest

2011-10-03T09:51:00.002-04:00

The following are two seminars that may be of interest. Both seminars are located on the OSU campus and open to the public, anyone interested on the topic is encouraged to attend.

Advancing China’s Food Security by Managing Soil Quality
Date: Thursday, Oct. 6, 2011
Time: 3:30 p.m.
Location:103 Kottman Hall, OSU West Campus

SENR AUTUMN 2011 SEMINAR SERIES
Host: Rattan Lal
For More Information
visit http://senr.osu.edu or call 614.292.2265
The School of Environment and Natural Resources
presents Mingsheng Fan
Associate Professor, College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After Cochabamba’s Water War: Water, Scarcity, and Injustice in the Heart of Evo’s Bolivia
Dr. Amber Wutich
CENTER FOR LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES
POVERTY AND INEQUALITY WORKING GROUP

Date: Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Time: 2:00-3:30PM
Location: 038 Townshend Hall
1885 Neil Ave Mall
Cols., OH 43210

For more information:
http://clas.osu.edu
Dr. Barbara Piperata
piperata.1@osu.edu
Erika Colijn
colijn.2@osu.edu
Sponsored by:The Center for Latin American Studies and The Honors and Scholars Program

The “Water War” of 2000 in Cochabamba, Bolivia was widely celebrated
as a triumph of impoverished Bolivians over avaricious private
water companies. This event also marked a major turning point
in Bolivian national politics, and was followed by the election of Evo
Morales, a leftist indigenous activist who played an important role in
the Water War, as president. Given the victory of the Water War and
the broader shift toward policies that prioritize social justice in Bolivia,
many assume that water-related scarcity and injustice have disappeared
in Cochabamba. In reality, however, the exclusion of
Cochabamba’s squatter settlements—containing nearly half of the
city’s population—from the municipal water system has continued
largely unabated since the Water War. This lecture examines how
Cochabamba’s squatters survive in the face of institutional injustice
and severe water scarcity, with a particular focus on local commons
and reciprocal institutions. It also documents the biocultural costs for
squatters, including nutritional impacts, sanitation-related health
risks, and emotional distress. The lecture concludes by putting the
water scarcity and institutional injustice experienced by Cochabamba’s
squatters in cross-cultural perspective.

Oxfam at Short North Gallery Hop Tonight!

2011-10-01T14:37:00.003-04:00

                    Going to gallery hop tonight in the Short North?
                   Make sure to stop by the Oxfam table and say hi!

This is a great opportunity to learn more about the GROW campaign which addresses global hunger, food security, and creating a sustainable future of feeding an increasing population. Volunteers can answer any questions you have and tell you more about ways to get involved locally.

Hope to see you tonight!
4pm to 10pm
Short North Map, Columbus OH

Click here for more information on Gallery Hop

CROP Walk in Worthington, October 9th at 1pm

2011-09-27T12:47:00.009-04:00

Worthington CROP Hunger Walk 2011

Details:
Registration and CROP Hunger Walk begin
at 1 PM at United Methodist Ctr,
32 Wesley Blvd, Worthington.
Two walk routes – 5k or 1 mile.

Worhington Food Pantry and Resource Center
will received 25% of money raised.
Last year we raised over $1,700 for the food pantry.

Check us out on Facebook!

Contact:
Amy Wingerter, worthingtoncropwalk@gmail.com

Call in day of action to save foreign aid!

2011-09-25T20:17:00.001-04:00

Please help us out tomorrow - September 26 is a call in day of action to save foreign aid!
Please take a minute out of your day tomorrow to call your representatives and let them know that life-saving funding is on the line.

Congress is threatening to cut support for poverty-fighting foreign assistance, including for programs that:
    -- Feed more than 46 million of the world’s poorest people,
    -- Prevent more than 114,000 children from being born with HIV,
    -- Save 3 million lives through immunization programs, and
    -- Help poor people lift themselves out of poverty.

It’s up to us to speak up for those whose lives are changed – and saved – by this funding. Congress is about to finalize the budget for next year and years to come. Before they do, we need you to make a quick call to send them a clear message: don’t cut poverty-fighting foreign assistance.
Here's how to make your call:

Call the Congressional switchboard at (202)-224-3121 and tell the operator your name and where you’re calling from. Ask to speak to your Representative – the operator will connect you.

Tell the staffer: “I’m calling to oppose cuts to poverty-focused foreign aid in FY12 and beyond. Do not cut the deficit on the backs of the world’s poor. Many lives depend on these programs that give the world’s poorest people the tools they need to help lift themselves out of hunger and poverty. With high food prices and extreme weather events threatening millions around the world, now is not the time to cut life-saving assistance – which makes up less than 1% of the US budget. These strategic investments help make a safer world today and avert costlier interventions and humanitarian emergencies tomorrow.”

When you’re done, you can call your Senators through the switchboard and ask for their support as well.

Thanks again for your support.

Dedicate Your Dinner to Farmers This World Food Day

2011-09-22T23:00:00.000-04:00

When you sit down to eat every day, do you think about how the meal you’re eating is the product of a complex, and broken, global food system? This World Food Day, Oxfam America has a simple yet compelling idea—to host a Sunday Dinner October 16 that fosters a conversation about where your food comes from, who cultivates it, and how we can make the food system more just and sustainable. Everything you need to host a fun and informative dinner is provided by Oxfam, but need to be ordered by October 12th.

How to host a Sunday Dinner:

Decide what kind of gathering you want. How many people? What kind of food? Have a potluck and ask everyone to bring their favorite dish. You can also make a dish contributed by chefs such as Giada De Laurentiis, Mark Bittman, Eric Yost, José Andrés , and the Mennonite Central Committee, or these cheap recipes for Slow Food USA's $5 Challenge.
Decide on the time and place and get the word out in order to get your guest count.
Promote your event by using one or more of our great Sunday Dinner invite videos from Archbishop Desmond Tutu, food activist Frances Moore Lappé, and Iowa farmer Ellen Walsh-Rosmann.
Order Free Materials for your dinner by Oct. 12. We have World Food Day place mats to use at your table and sets of recipe cards to give out to your guests. For large events we have posters, stickers, and more.
Use our Sunday Dinner Discussion Guide to facilitate the conversation during your dinner.
Before your guests leave, ask them to join the Oxfam America Mobile Action Network. Text OXFAM to 30644 and we’ll send you critical updates about how you can help during global emergencies, take action when Congress is debating important legislation, and join us when there are Oxfam events in your area. Text STOP at any time to unsubscribe.

Hungry Planet

2011-09-20T21:34:00.002-04:00

Oxfam action corps event!

sunday, September 25th from noon to 4pm

at the franklin park conservancy

1777 east broad street

please stop by the oxfam table and say hi,

learn more about volunteering

and the grow campaign!!

Hope to see you there!

Market Days
Sunday, September 25, 12 – 4pm
Visit with and buy from those who grow, tend, harvest, milk and feed the Ohio food we know and love, including Snowville Creamery, Frijolito Farmsand Luna Burger.

HUNGRY PLANET:
LOCAL FOOD, GLOBAL VIEW
AUGUST 20 – NOVEMBER 6, 2011

Explore local and global food culture through art and horticulture displays, children’s interactives and a full menu of programs for all ages.

See what families eat around the world in eye-opening, large-scale photographs from the book Hungry Planet: What the World Eats by Peter Menzel and Faith D’Alusio. Learn about the locales and diets through a display of tropical fruiting and edible plants and a large children’s interactive area.

Share a photograph of your family with a week’s worth of groceries and be a part of the Hungry Planet exhibition. Photographs can be submitted to dashworth@fpconservatory.org.

Reflect on American diets through a three-dimensional juried art show, featuring works by local artists and juried by Michael Mercil, Associate Professor and Chair of Graduate Studies in the Department of Art at The Ohio State University.

Wander through an outdoor fantasy garden of blown glass pumpkins, gourds, fruits and vegetables created by Michael Cohn and Molly Stone of Cohn-Stone Studios. These dazzling art pieces lead the way to the Conservatory Hot Shop, a live glassblowing studio offering daily demonstrations. Cohn-Stone glass art is available for purchase in Botanica, the Conservatory's gift shop and greenhouse.

Tour the expansive edible garden displays at the ScottsMiracle-Gro Community Garden Campus. The berry house, apiary, culinary, herb, fragrance and medicinal gardens, a live-fire cooking theater and demonstration kitchen will be a hub of activity for classes and programs throughout the exhibition.

Guided tours of the Campus are offered daily at 3pm, weather permitting.

An audio tour enhances the experience with additional information about many components of the exhibition. Visitors control what they hear, when and in what order by listening to prompts on their mobile phone. The tour is free, but cell phone carrier charges apply.

About Cohn-Stone Studios
Michael Cohn and Molly Stone have been making glass art pieces at their studio in Richmond, California, since 1980. Many of their pieces are inspired by nature and the horticultural world. Molly is an avid gardener as well as a glass designer/ blower and has created an art garden showroom as a part of the glass blowing studio. Their work has been exhibited throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Scandinavia, Japan and South America; it is included in numerous museum, corporate, private art and botanical garden collections and has been featured in a variety of garden venues. http://www.cohnstone.com

About the Juried Art Show
An exhibition of sculpture by eight local artists that explores the theme “What America Eats” is displayed throughout the Conservatory’s biomes. Ohio artists were invited to submit their ideas for artworks expressing their commentary on American food culture and proposals were juried by Michael Mercil, Associate Professor of Art and Chair of Graduate Studies in the Department of Art at The Ohio State University.

Artists include: Jim Arter, Jesse Hemminger, Abram Kaplan, John McCutcheon, Lauri Lynnxe Murphy, Andrea Myers, Ann Corley Silverman, Austin Stewart. Selected works include a “farming machine” and a robot powered by sauerkraut.

Juror Michael Mercil lives in Columbus, Ohio where he is an Associate Professor and Chair of Graduate Studies in the Department of Art at The Ohio State University. Mercil’s art explores the realms of “the near, the low, the common” and includes public projects: Murmeration (with Ann Hamilton and Ben Rubin) Battery Park City, NYC (2009); Halos for New York City, Battery Park City (2009). In 2006, Mercil planted The Beanfield as an “agri/cultural” experiment and partnership with the Wexner Center for the Arts, the OSU Department of Art Living Culture Initiative and the Social Responsibility Initiative in the College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. Among the awards and recognitions Mercil has received are a Harpo Foundation Visual Artist Award (2010); Battelle Endowment for Technology and Human Affairs Research Award (2009) and Ohio Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship (2009, 2005).

The Nation - Who Says Food Is a Human Right?

2011-09-20T20:56:00.002-04:00

A fellow Action Corps volunteer from Madison, WI let us know about several articles in the upcoming edition of The Nation related to many of the goals that the GROW Campaign is working for. One of those articles is "Who Says Food Is a Human Right?" Anna Lappé. Here is the Q&A part of that article:

How has the idea of the right to food evolved, and how does it help us zero in on the roots of hunger?

The idea is simple: we have failed to end hunger using the traditional recipe that saw hunger as a technical problem, requiring only that we produce more. We’ve failed because we’ve underestimated the need to empower people and hold governments accountable.

This realization has developed over decades, including through work by Amartya Sen in the 1980s. In 1996 we had a pivotal moment at the United Nations World Food Summit in Rome: for the first time the idea of the right to food was identified as central to achieving successes against hunger and malnutrition.

Out of that meeting, many governments requested that human rights bodies develop the normative concept of the right to food. Until then the concept was mostly just a slogan, seen as abstract and vague—sympathetic but not useful. Now the idea has become operational. It is increasingly seen as essential to fighting hunger: unless you increase political pressure on governments, unless you ensure that those in need participate in identifying the solutions to the obstacles they face and play an active role in monitoring progress, nothing will change. This is a core idea of the right to food. It is based on the recognition that you cannot work for people without people.

Why hasn’t the concept of the right to food gained more traction here in the United States?

It’s extremely difficult to get the concept of the right to food across in the United States because of your constitutional tradition that sees human rights as “negative” rights—rights against government—not “positive” rights that can be used to oblige government to take action to secure people’s livelihoods.

So embedded is this in your constitutional culture that the concept that social and economic rights are real rights is generally not accepted. While human rights to health, education, social security or food are guaranteed to a certain extent through legislation, they are still seen as suspect. Indeed, the protective role of government is denounced as paternalistic and even, following Hayek, as paving the way for totalitarianism: such rights could empower courts against the executive in ways perceived as undemocratic.

I disagree. Real freedom can be achieved only when individuals are shielded against the most serious exclusions caused by the market. Rights have been invented precisely because majorities can act abusively, failing to respect the needs of minorities and the underprivileged.

It’s also important to note that while the United States has ratified a major instrument in human rights—the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which the US joined in 1992—it has not ratified the equivalent covenant for economic and social rights adopted internationally that same year. It’s a peculiar position; almost all other countries have approached the two sets of rights together.

Yet, remember, the concept of economic and social rights is not un-American. Consider Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s famous State of the Union address in 1944, in which he articulated the idea of a “Second Bill of Rights,” covering basic social rights as an indispensable complement to the civil liberties listed in the Bill of Rights.

Where do you see some of the best examples of how this framework has helped to address the underlying forces behind hunger and malnourishment?

A number of developing countries have adopted policies based on the right to food. One of the best examples is Brazil. When President Lula came into office in January 2003, he launched Fome Zero [Zero Hunger], which has been tremendously effective in reducing the number of hungry and malnourished. The origins of this program come from the city of Belo Horizonte, where, starting in the 1980s, policies were designed to increase access to food. By developing farmers’ markets, community kitchens, programs to prepare food for the very poor and other initiatives, a new localized food system was rebuilt from the bottom up in ways that later became a source of inspiration for social programs across Brazil.

Here in the United States we saw a lot of press about the “miracle of Malawi,” where, we heard, subsidies of chemical fertilizer took the country from the brink of starvation to being awash in corn. The lesson, it seemed, was that chemical fertilizer handouts are one of the best solutions to ending hunger in some of Africa’s poorest countries. What lesson do you think Malawi teaches us?

In the short term, the country did achieve some success, but behind this short-term success (in part attributable to favorable climatic conditions) there are real questions of environmental and fiscal sustainability. It costs a lot of money to buy chemical fertilizer inputs. The provision of cheap or free inputs (fertilizers in particular) links the cost of supporting farmers to the price of fossil energy, threatening the balance of payments of governments who import these inputs. When donors stop giving, I’m not sure where the funding will be found. These longer-term implications deserve serious study. I am concerned that, in many regions, the price of food is increasingly linked to the price of fossil energies—gas to produce fertilizers, oil to transport the inputs and the crops over long distances, etc.—when we are reaching peak oil and peak gas.

In Malawi the government is re-evaluating the program and exploring other options, like using agroforestry to reduce dependency on agrofertilizers. For instance, one program in the country is exploring incentives for farmers to plant acacia trees that capture nitrogen from the atmosphere to fertilize the soils. This is an important shift to a more sustainable farming system—one I’m encouraging.

We often hear in the media that to meet the food demands of the planet’s 9 billion people in 2050 we will need to double food production. What’s your take?

This a gross simplification yet one many actors are fond of using, because it feeds into the classic, but wrong, idea that the problem of hunger is one of inefficient production. The question is not about increasing food production to meet a demand that is impossible to meet otherwise. We have in the food system huge leakages: in some developing countries, because of lack of storage and losses post-harvest, 30 to 40 percent of food that could be eaten is wasted. Worse, because of these leakages many farmers underinvest because they have no access to markets or because the lack of storage means they must sell at low prices during harvest to the local middleman. The first thing we need to do is to work on this, rather than focus on technical recipes for increasing production.

Also, this way of presenting the issue looks only at the supply side, not the demand side—and that demand side is not written in stone. For instance, I’m critical of the policies to develop biofuels, policies considered a given when we hear these projections about doubling food production.

For these reasons this prediction is misleading, but the problem unfortunately goes far beyond this. The solution we are left to, when we say we have to increase production, is that we promote the same recipes that have been marginalizing small farmers, disempowering communities and creating victims of the development process. It is in the name of boosting production that the scramble for natural resources is legitimized, that the push for more chemical agriculture is justified, and that small-scale farmers are pushed off the land, leading to more rural poverty and rural-to-urban migration. This is a dangerous outcome.

What do you think about the development approach of funders like the Gates Foundation in Africa, which has been supporting a “new” Green Revolution in Africa through AGRA [Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa]?
While I have no reason to doubt the good intentions of AGRA, I note a number of problems with its approach. One is I don’t see the exit strategy. I fear in the long term we will have developed a dependency on external inputs that the poorest farmers will not be able to afford, inputs whose prices will only become more expensive and volatile. Clearly the Green Revolution approach can benefit some producers in the right conditions, but many will be left out and further marginalized. If the objective is to reduce rural poverty and inequality and help all small farmers achieve a decent living, we need to develop something else. In my recent report, for instance, I document agroecology’s potential to address the needs of the most food insecure.

As we talk, a famine is ravaging Somalia. How does the theory of the right to food and the capacity to be self-sustaining influence the United Nations’ response to Somalia and crises like it?

I have repeatedly stated that we need to invest in water-harvesting techniques in areas such as the Horn of Africa, which are on the frontline of climate change. Simple water-harvesting techniques include building reservoirs to collect rainwater, like what has been done on a massive scale in Brazil; creating on-farm strategies to better capture moisture, like digging “half-moons” around the base of trees; and promoting agroforestry, since the roots of trees oxygenate the soil and increase humidity retention. These techniques are far more sustainable than irrigation, and they require relatively little investment. They also can more easily benefit disadvantaged areas to which water from rivers cannot be diverted or which have no underground aquifers. It is regrettable that none of this has been done in the affected region, even though the drought was entirely predictable.

This goes back to what the right to food is about: holding governments accountable so they can’t pretend that crises, even when they have their source in weather-related events, are beyond their ability to address. Even natural disasters are partly manufactured when their human impacts could have been avoided if only government decisions had been informed by the needs of the people.

Monthly Meeting, Tuesday Sept. 20th at 6pm

2011-09-13T18:30:00.003-04:00

Our monthly meeting will be held next Tuesday, September 20th at 6pm. We will be meeting at the Travonna Coffee House (1195 North High Street) in the back meeting room. We'll be discussing upcoming farmers markets, as well as World Food Day events.

Ohio Fair Food

2011-08-24T12:01:00.000-04:00

Location:Kroger
2913 Olentangy River Road
Columbus, Ohio

Time:Friday, August 26 · 4:00pm - 5:00pm

Ohio Fair Food will be visiting Kroger stores each Friday this month. We are looking for enthusiastic volunteers to join us in distributing leaflets telling people how they can help end slavery and abuse of migrant farmworkers simply by asking Kroger to take responsibility for the workers who pick the tomatoes they sell. If you can volunteer, please email Sue Carter at ohiofairfood@gmail.com or call 459-0017. An RSVP is important for these events to help us determine how many materials to bring.

On June 23, Ohio Fair Food was launched with an exciting rally at the Kroger Annual Meeting in Cincinnati. Over 25 enthusiastic volunteers from the Cincinnati Interfaith Workers Center demonstrated outside the meeting while Brigitte Gynther, CIW/Interfaith Action organizer, posed a question to the Board of Directors and talked after the meeting with Mr. Dillion, Kroger CEO. In response to Brigitte's questions asking when Kroger would sign the agreement with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers to help end brutality toward workers, Mr. Dillion responded that Kroger would be watching the Campaign for Fair Food.

Supporters of the Coalition's Campaign for Fair Food can keep sending Kroger management the message -- as consumers, we want Kroger to help end poverty and slavery through corporate responsibility. We ask Kroger to pay one penny more for each pound of tomatoes and sign the agreement for decent working conditions. In the coming months, Ohio Fair Food volunteers will celebrate Fair Food Friday each week by visiting one Kroger store to let Kroger customers know about the hardships migrant workers face and tell Kroger store managers why we are asking Kroger to help solve this serious problem.

Expanding the border of local food advocates

2011-08-22T17:28:00.002-04:00

Today's blog comes from a San Francisco Bay Area Oxfam Action Corps Volunteer.

You can also find her piece at the Ode Magazine website,
http://www.odemagazine.com/exchange/41727/expanding_the_border_of_local_food_advocates

Expanding the border of local food advocates

Thousands of people, mostly women and children, have been walking for days. Not just a day or two, they've been walking for fifteen to twenty days, bound for Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya. Many of the women have lost children to hunger during the trek or taken unaccompanied minors (likely orphans) found along the way into their care. All of these people were in utter desperation to leave their homes and come to a camp in such a remote place for food and water. There are now 400,000 people in Dadaab. The influx of 9,000 people per week is taxing on the resources of the camp.

The ongoing food crisis in East Africa, including Kenya and Ethiopia and the famine in parts of Somalia, is affecting over 11 million people and the result of a series of circumstances. In Somalia, a two-year drought devastated harvests and depleted livestock. This in turn led to record food prices beyond the reach of many. There is also internal conflict in Somalia, tied to a lack of basic infrastructure and social services.

Of course emergency humanitarian relief is needed to save lives now. But equally important is the need to address underlying problems to achieve long-term solutions.

Overall this is an issue of food and power. There is enough food produced to feed everyone but still nearly 1 billion people go to bed hungry every night. The food system is broken, and we need to change the way we grow and share food so everyone has enough to eat.

Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, there are many great efforts to change our local food system and how we eat. We have support for eating local and organic food through farmers’ markets and community supported agriculture, more people taking part in urban gardening in community gardens or their own backyard, many chefs in our restaurants who prepare local and sustainable foods, and efforts to reform school lunches. And from travels to other cities and regions, I’ve witnessed the local food movement’s presence from coast to coast.

Much like the benefits we will reap locally and nationally by moving to more sustainable agriculture and supporting local farmers, these same advantages are desirable to the global food system. Most of the hungry in developing countries are actually small-scale food producers (farmers, pastoralists, fishers). So in order to help those who are vulnerable to hunger, there should be investment in small-scale food producers, protection of their rights to land and other natural resources, and support to maintain resilience through climate change and food price increases.

When it comes to the food movement here, a common saying is “Think globally, act locally.” It’s time for local food advocates to embrace the global food system and to push for changes by focusing on local efforts here and abroad. “Think globally, act locally and support global reform.”

Oxfam’s GROW campaign aims to build a better food system: one that sustainably feeds a growing population (estimated to reach nine billion by 2050) and empowers poor people to earn a living, feed their families, and thrive. Learn more and take the GROW pledge on Oxfam America’s website. Take action today at www.oxfamamerica.org/grow

Monthly Meeting! August 16th @ 6pm

2011-08-11T17:17:00.001-04:00

Oxfam Action Corps Columbus Monthly meeting will be held on Tuesday August 16th at 6pm at the Travonna Coffee House. There is free and metered parking in the lot next to Skully's Bar as well as metered street parking. We will meet in the back meeting room. Come with ideas on how we can hold creative outreach events covering the new GROW campaign! Hope to see you there!

http://www.travonnacoffee.com/

Oxfam Action Corps: From Washington, DC: Growing the GROW Campaign

2011-07-27T16:03:00.001-04:00

Oxfam Action Corps: From Washington, DC: Growing the GROW Campaign: "by Nickolas Johnson, San Francisco Bay Action Corps Organizer and Economic Justice Intern for Oxfam America's Washington, DC office With th..."

SATURDAY, JULY 23, 2011

From Washington, DC: Growing the GROW Campaign
by Nickolas Johnson, San Francisco Bay Action Corps Organizer and Economic Justice Intern for Oxfam America's Washington, DC office

With the 24-hour news cycles constantly discussing the debt ceiling and the nation’s budget woes, it is easy to tune out much of what is said from either side of the aisle. Regardless, I go out of my way to catch new developments and updates from the President, but even I was surprised by what he mentioned at one of his recent press conferences.

“So I think there are ways that you can essentially take a little over a trillion dollars in serious discretionary cuts, meaningful discretionary cuts, and then start building on top of that some cuts in non-health care mandatory payments, ethanol programs...”

Not once had I heard the Administration suggest cutting ethanol programs prior to this conference. Looking back, it was a welcome surprise.

Eliminating ethanol subsides is particularly important to me due to my activism in fighting global hunger. My activism has led me to the Oxfam Action Corps, which I have been a part of for just over a year. I joined as a volunteer and am now the co-leader of the San Francisco Bay Area Action Corps.

Currently, I have been working with Oxfam America’s Policy and Campaigns team as the Economic Justice Intern in Washington, DC. As the Economic Justice Intern, I focus on Oxfam’s most recent and ambitious campaign: GROW.

One of GROW’s campaign goals is for the government to make cuts to its ethanol programs. I joined the GROW team right before its launch and have witnessed the campaign come a long way since then. To have President Obama start mainstream political discourse on cutting ethanol programs is a huge achievement for GROW considering the campaign’s recency.

This experience has showed me that Oxfam’s seeds of ideas can lead to substantive change with hard work and dedication. During my internship, I have been lucky enough to be exposed to and work on the beginning of a new and exciting venture. Seeing ideas take shape into concrete plans and actions, and seeing my fellow Action Corps members help launch the GROW campaign across the country has made me proud to be part of this effo rt.

It was during President Obama’s speech that I had seen the arc of idea to change. I have seen the seed of an idea grow through many of its incarnations to the brink of a full-fledged flower of change. Although we do not know the future of ethanol subsidies, the message to cut the programs has been sent. It is this experience that has deepened my belief in Oxfam and has sparked an even bigger excitement to further and build a bigger and stronger Bay Area Action Corps.

Nickolas Johnson with Oxfam staff at the GROW launch on Capital Hill

Why You Should Support the Ethanol Subsidy Repeal Act

2011-07-27T11:21:00.009-04:00

The Ethanol Su bsidy Repeal Act, introduced by Congressman Wally Herger (R-CA) and Congressman Joseph Crowley (D-NY), is a good example of how there are still issues that both the left and right can work together on - its cosponsors include 10 democrats and 8 republicans. The bill would repeal the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit (VEETC) and ethanol tariff, which currently provide an incentive to overproduce crops, such as corn, and devote them to biofuels. By converting food into fuel, the price of those crops are inflated and price volatility rises.

Those who cannot afford food are not the only ones harmed by these policies. US taxpayers pay $5 billion each year and gain little in return. It is estimated that VEETC will create 400 jobs in 2011, which means each job costs $14 million. Additionally, biofuels don't make enough of an impact to reduce our dependence on foreign oil (if every corn harvest was used to make ethanol, it would only be able to replace 1/6 of the needed gas). Biofuels are also commonly seen as an environmentally friendly alternative to gasoline, but the process of converting corn into ethanol usually emits more greenhouse gases than gasoline.

Calling your local representative is a great way to let them know where their constituents stand on this issue. At the US House of Representatives website, you can find contact information by entering your zip code. Representative Pat Tiberi, being on the Committee of Ways and Means, is particularly important for this issue. The number for his Ohio office is (614) 523-2555. Oxfam America also has an e-action that you can sign, which can be found here.

UN Declares Famine In South Somalia

2011-07-20T13:52:00.005-04:00

The Somali population in Columbus is one of the largest in the nation, meaning that the ongoing famine in Somalia is particularly relevant to our city. In this Reuters article, they explain that "Every day of delay in assistance is literally a matter of life or death for children and their families in the famine-affected areas." One goal of Oxfam's GROW Campaign is to modernize our food aid system, which is not only unnecessarily expensive but slow to respond as well. It is estimated that tens of thousands have already died in the famine, and a more efficient food aid system would decrease the amount of time it takes to help the 3.7 million Somalis in danger. The Somali famine also shows the widespread effects that hunger has: "Nearly 135,000 Somalis have fled since January, mainly to Kenya and Ethiopia. An average of 1,700 and 1,300 Somalis are arriving in Ethiopia and Kenya respectively each day." These forced displacements can create tension in neighboring areas, leading to more problems. More information on the Somali famine can be found at CNN and the BBC.

Why do we know so little about how poor people ‘do’ development?

2011-07-20T12:09:00.004-04:00

Why do we know so little about how poor people ‘do’ development? by Duncan Green

I’ve just been reading the draft of a review by Charlotte Sterrett of climate change adaption experiences in South Asia. It’s great, and I’ll link to it when it’s published, but one conclusion set me thinking more widely:
‘While autonomous adaptation is likely to become more common and widespread than planned adaptation, most research and policy dialogue so far has focused on the latter. Research across a number of related areas to better understand the drivers of autonomous adaptation would benefit the region’.

This observation crops up again and again – people and communities take action for themselves on a range of issues from finance to livelihoods to dealing with shocks or climate change, but we know little about how they do it. Often the key players are barely on the official development radar – families, neighbours, religious institutions or grassroots organizations such as burial societies and savings groups.

Some examples, in addition to climate change adaptation:
Finance: a fascinating study of how poor families in Bangladesh, India and South Africa manage their money found that even people living on $1-$2 a day typically save about 25% of their income and none of the 250 households studied used fewer than four types of financial instrument over the course of the year (most of them invisible to the eyes of either the authorities or finance companies, let alone aid donors).
Research on the food price crisis shows that during an actual shock, state initiatives are often much less important to poor people than their own social coping mechanisms as individuals, communities or through local institutions like churches
The same is true in most natural disasters – by the time the guys with sniffer dogs fly in, tailed by the TV cameras, local people and organizations will have already done most of the life-saving.

Why does this matter? Firstly because it would help correct the negative stereotypes of passivity and aid dependence that so misrepresent the reality of poor people’s lives. But also because if we understand what people do for themselves, we can design aid responses to strengthen and complement (and not undermine) them. Portfolios of the Poor, the wonderful book that emerged from the finance study, sought to identify the financial products lacking from the indigenous ‘portfolio’ of poor people, so that financial institutions could fill the gaps. We need to replicate that approach on a range of other issues.

But why do we know so little about what poor people do for themselves? Probably because we don’t ask or try to find out – the money and energy goes on evaluating aid donor and NGO performance, i.e. the official part of the story, largely to the exclusion of the (often more important) autonomous part.

Surely we could change that fairly easily, e.g. by insisting that any evaluation also studies what people and communities do when the official aid world is absent? I’d be interested in hearing other examples of this phenomenon, along with examples of Portfolios of the Poor-style research into autonomous action on ‘our’ (i.e. official development) issues.

GROW Event Tonight!

2011-06-21T11:43:00.003-04:00

Jim French, the Oxfam America Agriculture Advocacy Lead, is hosting an event in Columbus this Tuesday. Jim is visiting us from Kansas and has been working with Oxfam America for over six years. He is very knowledgeable of food and agriculture policy within the US and a global context. Jim will introduce the new GROW campaign and be available for group discussion and questions. This is a great opportunity to hear policy information directly from an Oxfam staffer. Please join us on Tuesday and learn more about the GROW campaign.

At the beginning of June, Oxfam International launched the GROW campaign which is guided by the vision of a future in which everyone has enough to eat, always. To learn more about GROW and how you might participate in a truly global campaign, plan on coming to the Conference Room of the Broad Street Presbyterian Church at 6pm on Tuesday, June 21. The church is located at 760 E Broad St. Pizza, coffee and tea will be served. http://www.bspc.org/

Please invite others that may be interested. And did I already say pizza, tea and coffee will be provided?

Oxfam America is an international relief and development organization that creates lasting solutions to poverty, hunger, and injustice. Together with individuals and local groups in more than 90 countries, Oxfam saves lives, helps people overcome poverty, and fights for social justice.

Hope to see you next Tuesday!

Best,

Jim French

and Columbus Oxfam Action Corps

Fighting poverty vital to U.S. interests

2011-06-06T16:28:00.002-04:00

Fighting poverty vital to U.S. interests

Check out this well written op-ed piece written by Columbus Oxfam Action Corps volunteer Nancy Prindle!

Way to go Nancy!

Fighting poverty vital to U.S. interests

unday, June 5, 2011 03:12 AM

The Associated Press article “Public wants its entitlements” in the May 24 Dispatchdemonstrated the political backlash that can arise when a powerful group of voters feels vulnerable.

Talk about cutting spending in the abstract is easy. What’s hard is making a reduction that affects a particular constituency.

The budget passed by the U.S. House would reduce U.S. foreign assistance by almost 20 percent, with the lion’s share coming out of programs that could help the poor in developing nations become more productive, more food-secure and less dependent upon future food aid.

We would be smarter and safer and more fiscally responsible to help those folks help themselves.

Global poverty-fighting aid makes up less than 1 percent of the entire federal budget. These cuts would have a devastating impact on the poor.

I hope our Ohio representatives and senators make smart choices that can build a more prosperous and secure world for everyone, not just those with the loudest voices or strongest lobby.

NANCY PRINDLE

Radnor

Food prices could double by 2030

2011-05-31T17:27:00.000-04:00

Setting A "Table for Nine Billion"

2011-05-27T04:22:00.007-04:00

The Columbus Oxfam Action Corps is excited for the launch of Oxfam's new food justice campaign! Oxfam America, along with all of the Oxfam affiliates worldwide, is launching this new campaign on June 1st.

We will be setting up a "Table for Nine Billion" in front of the Clintonville Farmers's Market on Saturday, June 4th from 9:00 am - Noon. Please stop by and join us to learn more information about the campaign.

We are looking for volunteers to help interact with the public and hand out information. Please email us if you can help. Feel free to help out for one hour or all three, please indicate which shift you prefer. We can use any help and we're flexible, so let us know when you're available on the 4th!

Looking forward to having you join us in this new campaign.

Meeting Wed May 18th at 6pm

2011-05-16T10:11:00.001-04:00

We will be having a meeting this upcoming Wednesday May 18th at 6:00pm. The meeting will be in the back room of the Travonna Coffee House, located at 1195 North High Street.

http://www.travonnacoffee.com/

There is street meter parking on High Street or free parking in the lot next to Skully's.

We will primarily be discussing our upcoming event called "A Table for 9 Billion" which will take place during the first week of June.

We are in need of lots of creative brains and ideas for this event. This campaign covers a wide range of topics,

below are a few for you to think about when helping us brainstorm ideas for upcoming events:

-hunger and poverty alleviation

-sustainable agriculture

-empowering female farmers

-climate adaptation

-supporting the US International Affairs Budget

-rising food prices, food sovereignty

-corporate responsibility

-food has a moral right

As always, new members are welcome, so be sure to invite anybody that is interested in getting involved.
Now is the time to take action and help us change the world!

See you there! Columbus Oxfam Action Corps

No Woman, No Cry | Trailer

2011-04-12T07:57:00.000-04:00

No Woman, No Cry

2011-04-12T07:53:00.001-04:00

No Woman, No Cry
A documentary film by Christy Turlington Burns

The film will be shown:
April 13 at 7 p.m.
in the Mershon Auditorium, Wexner
1871 N. High St., on The Ohio State University campus.

The college is offering this event at no charge to the public.

Oxfam will be tabling if anyone wants to help out let us know!

Oxfam and Bon Jovi in Columbus!

2011-04-11T17:29:00.002-04:00

Greetings Columbus! This is a great time to get involved with the Oxfam Action Corps team here in Columbus. We will be tabling at the Bon Jovi concert on May 10th. Come to our next meeting and find out more. Or email us with questions about how you can get involved!

Hunger Banquet at Ohio State University

2011-04-04T20:19:00.002-04:00

Support the Oxfam CHANGE students at Ohio State University by attending their Hunger Banquet, share a meal and meet like-minded people while discussing one of the world's most difficult problems; hunger.

Time: Wednesday, April 6 · 7:00pm - 9:00pm
Location: MLK Lounge, Hale Hall, 153 W 12th Ave, Columbus, OH (Ohio State Campus)

Event is free and everyone is welcome!!

You may think Hunger is about too many people and too little food. That is not the case. Everyone on earth has the same basic needs; it is only our circumstances – where we live and the culture into which we are born – that differ. Come join us as we raise awareness about the issue of Hunger around the world.

Food will be provided generously by LA BAMBA and NOODLES & COMPANY

Ending Hunger Starts with YOU!

2011-03-21T11:47:00.003-04:00

Hi Guys!!

We just wanted to remind everyone about our event tonight. It will be a good time filled with food, a short movie, and culminating in some interesting conversation.

We will be at the Broad Street Presbyterian Church, 760 E. Broad Street, Columbus Ohio.

The event will start at 6:30 pm and run till 8:30 pm. Don't worry about being with us through dinner time, either, because we will be have food from Dragon Fly!

Check out the flyer HERE!

Please RSVP here

We hope to see everyone there!!!

Local Matters, Weinland Park: A Community in Transition

2011-03-10T08:14:00.000-05:00

International Women's Day Event!

2011-03-09T11:15:00.008-05:00

International Women's Day Celebration
Free Event, Everyone Welcome!
Tuesday, March 22nd from 6:30-8:30pm
Broad Street Presbyterian Church

Featuring Speakers from the fudha.com and the Kirwan Institute
Catered by Dragonfly Neo-V

****Please note, we invite you to donate non-perishable products, including toiletries, to the Broad Street Food Pantry, located within the church. We regrettably omitted this from our invitation.

Visit this link for more information:

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/International-Women-s-Day.html?soid=1103281895385&aid=1sY1OPwXdi0

United Nations Association of Columbus Celebrates International Women's Day!

2011-03-05T11:25:00.002-05:00

Hey Everyone, check out this great event our friends at the Untied Nations Association of Columbus is hosting:

International Women's Day (IWD), is marked on the 8th of March every year. It is
a major day of global celebration of women in different regions. The focus of
the celebration ranges from general celebration of respect, appreciation and
love towards women to a celebration for women's economic, political and social
achievements.

We will have a program on that Sunday, March 6th with a presenter from Rwanda
who is also a genocide survivor. Norah is a Columbus resident originally from
Rwanda who will give her first hand account of being a genocide survivor. She
talks about the power women have to reconcile and how to build a bridge for
peace. She will also have items for sale made by Rwandan Artisans. The proceeds
will be used to help the women in Rwanda with financial aid, job skills and
education. For additonal information please contact VP of Programs Audrey Peters at Apeters@unacol.org.

> Location - Ohio Union - Round Meeting Room (Third Floor)
> 1739 High St
> Time - 2pm-4pm
> Date - Sunday, March 6th, 2011
> Cost - Free
Audrey Peters
614-397-3491

2011-02-14T20:30:00.004-05:00

Hi everyone,

Thanks to everyone who was able to come to the meeting last Monday at Travonna Coffee House. It was exciting getting to know the 'newbies' and great to discuss our upcoming event.

Our next meeting will be February 24, @ 7pm, as you can see in the box to the right (Upcoming Events). We'll be at Travonna again. You can RSVP for this event here.

Just as a little tidbit for those who haven't been able to make it to the meetings, Oxfam has been planning for 100 days of celebration for the 100th Anniversary of International Women's Day. We in Columbus have chosen to hold our event on March 22, 2011. We're still in the planning stages, but we will be sending out our flyers on March 1st, so keep checking back. We're really excited and have a ton of creative ideas in the works right now!

If you'd like more information or would like to get involved, email us at columbus@oxfamactioncorps.org.

-j

Last Minute Planning Meeting!

2011-02-07T16:14:00.002-05:00

Hi all,

The last meeting we had on January 17th was great! We were able to meet new people and discuss our upcoming event for the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day.

We want to hold a follow-up meeting tomorrow, Feb 8th. It will be from 7p to 8/8:30p, at Travonna Coffee House (1195 N. High Street Columbus, Ohio 43201). The parking is free in the lot next to Skully's Music Diner, and just feet from the entrance of Travonna. We will be located in the back room, which is in the hallway towards the back.

If you have any questions, please email us at columbus@oxfamactioncorps.org.

We hope to see new faces there tomorrow! If you are interested in volunteering or just knowing a bit more about what we are doing in Columbus this year, email us. We love talking to new people.

Have a good week!

-j

New Member Meet-Up/Brainstorming Meeting

2011-01-17T16:36:00.003-05:00

I would like to invite everyone to a new member and planning meeting. We have a lot of events coming up and need your help! We are hosting a volunteer house party in the Short North/Campus area on January 19th at 7pm. This meeting will be a great opportunity for volunteers to get to know each other, this is intended to be a fun event with drinks and snacks, so bring your friends!

We will be brainstorming how to create meaningful events in Columbus regarding international women's rights, climate change concerns, and food justice issues.

Meeting Location: 1317 Dennison Ave, Columbus OH 43201
Free parking on street
Please call Elissa at 970-420-8784 for directions/questions.

Volunteer with the Oxfam Action Corps

2011-01-17T16:29:00.000-05:00

Campaigners bring progress to Cancun Climate Talks

2010-12-23T15:43:00.001-05:00

2010-12-10T01:09:00.004-05:00

As world leaders meet in Cancun to discuss the feature of the Global Climate Fund and the global response to climate change, we should not forget the role we play in advocating for change. Read the blog postings below, by clicking on the link to hear more about the life changing ideas that could be implemented out of Cancun.

Important climate change negotiations have begun in Cancun, Mexico!

Cancun Summit and Climate Justice in the News
Business Week,
Islands see 'End of history' as goals slip at UN climate talks

Oxfam America,
Climate change talks must deliver following record year of extreme weather

Reuters,
Climate deaths more than double in 2010

The Telegraph,
Scarlett Johansson lends her voice to climate change

Stand Up Against Poverty

2010-09-10T20:30:00.012-04:00

When: Sunday, September 19th at 1-3pm

Where: Travonna Coffee House
1195 N. High Street
(corner of High St & 5th Ave-Short North)

Free Parking in lot next to Skully's Bar & free meters on Sunday!

What's Happening: Join the Columbus Oxfam Action Corps in a discussion with guest speaker Jennifer Williams, a malaria specialist and Peace Corps volunteer. She will talk about her experiences and the necessity to eradicate global poverty. Join us as we come together to examine how these issues correlate through an eye-opening event, all the while joining together to STAND UP and fight poverty.

Along with millions of people worldwide, we will take part in the annual Stand Up Against Poverty events, events that will call upon US and world leaders to meet the UN Millennium Development Goals. These goals, agreed on by world leaders in 2000, are a roadmap towards ending extreme poverty and hunger by 2015.

But to make them a reality we need your help!

On the eve of the global MDG Summit at the UN, Oxfam supporters will join the global action, we will assemble, pledge our commitment to tackling poverty, and stand in unison, calling on US and world leaders to create a strong development strategy to reduce global poverty.

Last year millions of people took part in Stand Up events worldwide. This year, we want to make sure you are counted.

Free CD Give-away to everyone that attends!

Event Partners: ONE, CARE, UNA-USA, and Church World Service

Contact Elissa with any questions
phone: 970-420-8784
columbus@oxfamactioncorps.org

Senate Drops Climate Change Provisions, Oxfam America President Raymond C. Offenheiser Calls for Action Now!

2010-07-26T21:16:00.003-04:00

Dear friend,
We need your help. It takes just 3 steps and 2 minutes.
· Call the congressional switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and tell the operator your name and where you are calling from.
· Ask to speak to your senator – the operator will connect you.
· When they connect you, tell the staffer: I’m calling because it is absolutely critical that we tackle climate change head on, this year. Addressing the oil spill is important, but it is not enough – the world’s poorest communities can’t wait any longer.

Please report your call to us!
Outraged. Influenced by big oil and coal, senators are leaving for the August recess without taking action on climate change.
Last week, the climate and energy bill, the one that we have been working for years to pass, was decimated by oil and coal special interests. Although the bill critically addresses the Gulf Coast oil spill, the fundamental issues of climate change and real energy reform were eliminated.

We cannot let the Senate get away with this – and we need your help. If we don’t do this today, it could take years to get this critical legislation passed. In those years, those living on the front lines of climate change will be fighting even harder to live and maintain their livelihoods.
Do you have just 2 minutes to make a phone call? Here is all you have to do:
Call the congressional switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and tell the operator your name and where you are calling from.
Ask to speak to your senator – the operator will connect you.
When they connect you, tell the staffer: I’m calling because it is absolutely critical that we tackle climate change head on, this year. Addressing the oil spill is important, but it is not enough – the world’s poorest communities can’t wait any longer.

Once you have called, if you could just take 30 seconds to let us know you made your call, it would be greatly appreciated.
Waiting another year to tackle climate change, and its effects on the world’s poorest communities, is unconscionable. Now is the time, and your leaders need to hear from you.

Please just take 2 minutes to make a phone call today – it could make a huge difference in the lives of those who are suffering the effects of climate change already.

Thank you for your support.
Sincerely,
Raymond C. OffenheiserBoard of DirectorsOxfam America Advocacy Fund

Take Action Now!

2010-07-04T23:26:00.003-04:00

Climate change is an issue that has direct human implications that result in loss of life, increased disease, increased hunger, and increased instability in already volatile regions. Oxfam Action Corps Columbus is tackling this issue head on by empowering a grassroots effort to bring the human face to climate change. An imperative component is a comprehensive climate change bill that stops harming through the cutting of emissions and starts helping by providing funding to poor communities around the world that are disproportionately impacted.

Oxfam Action Corps Columbus has taken their message to Ohio elected officials, such as Senator Brown and Senator Voinovich. The message is clear that a comprehensive climate change bill needs to be passed and that an intrical component is the inclusion of adaptation funding now to help communities around the world cope with their changing environments. This funding looks like mangroves being planted to provide a natural barrier to flooding and irrigation systems and agricultural innovations to allow farmers to respond to drought conditions. These investments need to be significant and sizable to ensure that resiliency can be built now and prevent increased expenditures later to deal with more disastrous outcomes.

Oxfam Action Corps needs you to speak for the millions of people around the globe dealing everyday with the crisis of climate change as a vote may be taken in the Senate as soon as July 12th. Click here to take an e-action today.

ComFest was a success!!

2010-07-04T23:15:00.005-04:00

I want to send out a BIG THANKS for everyone's help running the ComFest booth. The weekend couldn't have been accomplished without each of you. It was so hot and humid but everyone pulled through it and I think we really made an impact. We had just over 200 petition signatures and 40 letters to Senator Voinovich. We will be delivering them next week to both Brown and Voinovich's office, urging them to pass a comprehensive climate change bill by July.

Hope to see all again next year at ComFest and of course at the next Oxfam Action Corps event!

I want to thank ProgressOhio for letting us use their table over the weekend! Thanks!

ComFest Volunteer Schedule

2010-06-20T01:27:00.013-04:00

Oxfam booth is set up! Close to Goodale St & Park St, in park behind jazz stage in between statue where all sidewalks merge. If you are the statue, we are 10 o'clock, 3rd booth in from corner next to CATCO.

Location: Jazz Alley JA13

We would like to have at least two people per shift, ideally 4-6....the more the merrier! Hope you can make it!

Friday
10am-noon: Elissa, Sheila, Zach, Maegan
Noon-2pm: Zach
2pm-4pm: Zach
4pm-6pm: Elissa

Saturday
10am-noon: Goodwin, Jenn, Elissa
Noon-2pm: Beth, Kurt, Lori, Devin
2pm-4pm: Jed, Sheila, Sara, Zach
4pm-6pm: Beth, Kurt, Sheila, Elissa

Sunday
10am-noon: Sara, Zach,
noon-2pm: Lori, Sheila
2pm-4pm: Lori, Sheila
4pm-6pm: Elissa, Zach, Sara, Maegan

During the event we will have Oxfam America information available, CD give aways to those wanting to write a letter to their Senator, and we will be asking people to sign a petition urging Ohio Senators to support a comprehensive climate change legislation which includes funding for international adaptation. More information on ComFest can be found at http://www.comfest.com/

We are in need of sandbags to hold the tent in place, if anyone is willing to donate or let us borrow sandbags we would appreciate it, we need 8-12 bags.

Sweet Crude Screening

2010-06-19T20:23:00.008-04:00

Yesterday The New York Times published a story about the ongoing devastation the people of Nigeria face as a result of 50 years of irresponsible oil extraction by Royal Dutch Shell. “Small children swim in the polluted estuary here, fishermen take their skiffs out ever farther, … and market women trudge through oily streams,” reporter Adam Nossiter writes. The destruction of Nigeria’s natural resources is only worsened by their government’s failure to use the money Shell pays them responsibly.

To learn more, read the article and join us for a complimentary screening of the film Sweet Crude at Studio 35 in Columbus. Nigerian environmental and human rights activist Von Kemedi will be in attendance to lead a discussion directly after the screening.

Sweet Crude captures the tragedies of oil extraction in the Niger Delta where billions of dollars of crude oil flow under the feet of a desperate people and immense wealth and abject poverty stand in stark contrast.

Just as the Gulf oil spill threatens to devastate communities here in the US, communities the world over face ongoing threats to their livelihoods and environment while seldom benefiting from the wealth generated through natural resource extraction. This screening is part of our organizations’ ongoing efforts to help citizens from resource-rich countries hold their governments accountable for the management of their natural resources.

WHEN: Monday, June 21st at 7 pm

WHERE: Studio 35 is located at 3055 Indianola Avenue in Columbus.

TICKETS: Admission is free of charge but reservations must be made in advance. Call Rachel at 202-548-6593 or email rachel.ackoff@sierraclub.org.

New Volunteer Summer Kick-Off Meeting

2010-05-13T20:37:00.021-04:00

Followed by a 'Sisters on the Planet' Screening

Want to learn more about the ties between climate change, poverty and injustice? Are you wondering why women are disproportionately affected by climate related disasters? Interested in volunteering for a grassroots organization that has a global impact?

Then join Columbus Oxfam Action Corps for our first event and summer kick-off celebration!

This meeting will be a gathering of new and old volunteers from all parts of Columbus who are interested in making a forceful effort towards tackling hunger, poverty, and social injustice. You will have an opportunity to learn more about what we do, watch a 'Sisters on the Planet' screening, and discuss opportunities to volunteer over food and refreshments.

Learn how women around the globe, especially in poor countries, are disproportionately being affected by climate change and the associated natural disasters like droughts, floods and hurricanes. Hear the stories of Sahena, Sharon, Muriel and Martina as they discuss the impacts of climate change on their lives.

WHEN: Thursday, May 27th, 8:00 - 9:30 pm

WHERE: Sandbox Coworking Community
851 North Pearl Street
Columbus, OH 43215 (in the Short North)
On the corner of E. Prescott & N. High Street
Free parking in the back!
http://www.sandboxcolumbus.com/

Stay tuned to this blog and our soon to come Facebook page to keep updated on this event.

Oxfam America Blog » Blog Archive » Action heroes take on Washington, DC

2010-05-11T04:55:00.001-04:00

Oxfam America Blog » Blog Archive » Action heroes take on Washington, DC

Posted using ShareThis

The Next Step

2009-06-11T20:16:00.003-04:00

Three weeks ago the seminal American Clean Energy and Security Act (H.R. 2454) passed in the Energy and Commerce committee in the House. This is the first bill of it's nature to be in a position to make it through to be made into a law.

This bill may be up for vote on the House floor as soon as the week of the 22nd. The week after next. We need to make sure that it passes and that the International Adaptation Funding remains a part of the bill. Ask Congress to take advantage of this opportunity to stop harming the environment and start helping those already suffering from climate change through greater investment in adaptation.

Let's get this bill through congress! Lets stop harming and start helping.

The Passing of the ACES Act in Committee!

2009-05-23T17:25:00.002-04:00

The American Clean Energy and Security Act (H.R. 2454) just passed through the House Energy and Commerce Committee!!!

To the left are some news articles that will explain what it is a bit more, but let me try to explain why this was and is so important to Oxfam. This Act is a sweeping resolution, the first energy and climate bill to be voted on by the U.S. House of Representatives. It aims to reduce Climate Changing Carbon emissions globally. Though, the percentage of reduction is not as much as environmentalists were hoping for, it is a wonderful first step. Another part of the legislation, a part that helps people affected by climate change immediately, is the allocation of 1% ($750 million per year) of the revenue raised to the International Climate Change Adaptation Program. The original (and needed) amount to go to this fund was 7%, though.

This program would finally put the U.S.A. back on track to being a part of the international environmental community. The funds from this program would go to helping developing communities adapt to changes in their climates. These are changes that we, in America, are so far buffered against.

We at Oxfam Action Corps Columbus would like to thank Representatives Betty Sutton and Zack Space. They are the two Ohioans who were in the position to either help or hinder this monumental piece of legislation and they both voted "yes"! Now, if they could only persuade some other Ohioan congress members to do the same when this goes to the Agriculture and Ways and Means Committees.......

Columbus Oxfam Action Corps

2009-05-18T19:52:00.000-04:00

The Oxfam Action Corps is a group of dedicated volunteers in more than a dozen US cities who campaign with Oxfam America to fight poverty. Our current campaign focuses on climate change and its effects on the world’s poorest communities. Learn more about the Oxfam Action Corps and find links to our local blog and email at www.oxfamactioncorps.org <http://www.oxfamactioncorps.org/>

More info will be posted soon!

Columbus Oxfam Action Corps

Central Ohio Food Forum

Oxfam Action Corps 2012 Recruitment

Turn on your radio!

Secretary of State Clinton on Foreign Aid

Columbus Event: Global Food Security: Feeding the World in 2050

Coalition of Immokalee Workers will visit Columbus to promote farmworker justice

On World Food Day, a Colombian farmer provides for the next generation

CROP Walk in Worthington, October 9th at 1pm

Worthington CROP Hunger Walk 2011

USDA offers help to beginning farmers. Will it be enough?

Two Seminars of Interest

Oxfam at Short North Gallery Hop Tonight!

CROP Walk in Worthington, October 9th at 1pm

Worthington CROP Hunger Walk 2011

Call in day of action to save foreign aid!

Dedicate Your Dinner to Farmers This World Food Day

Hungry Planet

Oxfam action corps event!

sunday, September 25th from noon to 4pm

at the franklin park conservancy

1777 east broad street

please stop by the oxfam table and say hi,

learn more about volunteering

and the grow campaign!!

Hope to see you there!

HUNGRY PLANET:LOCAL FOOD, GLOBAL VIEWAUGUST 20 – NOVEMBER 6, 2011

The Nation - Who Says Food Is a Human Right?

Monthly Meeting, Tuesday Sept. 20th at 6pm

Ohio Fair Food

Expanding the border of local food advocates

Monthly Meeting! August 16th @ 6pm

Oxfam Action Corps: From Washington, DC: Growing the GROW Campaign

Why You Should Support the Ethanol Subsidy Repeal Act

UN Declares Famine In South Somalia

Why do we know so little about how poor people ‘do’ development?

GROW Event Tonight!

Fighting poverty vital to U.S. interests

Food prices could double by 2030

Setting A "Table for Nine Billion"

Meeting Wed May 18th at 6pm

No Woman, No Cry | Trailer

No Woman, No Cry

Oxfam and Bon Jovi in Columbus!

Hunger Banquet at Ohio State University

Ending Hunger Starts with YOU!

Local Matters, Weinland Park: A Community in Transition

International Women's Day Event!

United Nations Association of Columbus Celebrates International Women's Day!

Last Minute Planning Meeting!

New Member Meet-Up/Brainstorming Meeting

Volunteer with the Oxfam Action Corps

Campaigners bring progress to Cancun Climate Talks

Stand Up Against Poverty

Senate Drops Climate Change Provisions, Oxfam America President Raymond C. Offenheiser Calls for Action Now!

Take Action Now!

ComFest was a success!!

ComFest Volunteer Schedule

Sweet Crude Screening

New Volunteer Summer Kick-Off Meeting

Oxfam America Blog » Blog Archive » Action heroes take on Washington, DC

The Next Step

The Passing of the ACES Act in Committee!

Columbus Oxfam Action Corps

HUNGRY PLANET:
LOCAL FOOD, GLOBAL VIEW
AUGUST 20 – NOVEMBER 6, 2011