Anna Lappé

Barbie and I don’t have a lot in common. For one thing, I’m biodegradable and she’s not. But we do agree on one thing; math is hard. For example, how is it that Lisa Simpson’s been a vegetarian for thirteen years when she’s only 8 years old? Is it possible that an anti-oxidant-rich plant-based diet has the power not only to delay the aging process but actually reverse it?

But while eternal tweener Lisa’s the token treehugger in the Simpson household, it’s Bart who’s got the perfect prescription for how to cool Mother Nature’s fevered brow: don’t have a cow. Literally. The less meat you grill, the more you help the planet chill.

Now, before you dismiss me as some kinda free-range Chicken Little, clucking about the catastrophic consequences of our fossil-fueled food chain, you should know that I’m not the only one warning that burgers do more harm than hummers.

Activist/author Anna Lappé’s been looking up at the sky, too, but while I’ve been running around squawking that it’s falling, her brand new campaign Take A Bite Out Of Climate Change looks up and sees a sunny solution--a plant-based food chain founded on the ultimate renewable energy source, solar power.

Lappé’s upcoming book, Eat the Sky: Food, Farming, and the Climate Crisis, will no doubt help spread the word about the wonders of foods grown through the natural miracle of photosynthesis instead of that man-made marvel, synthetic fertilizers, and the power of a naturally biodiverse, balanced ecosystem to protect plants from pests and disease instead of pouring on toxic pesticides.

But in the meantime, she’s put together a wonderful, non-wonky website that lays out for the layperson why switching to a diet dominated by locally grown, organic fruits and vegetables is one of the single most significant things you can do to curb your carbon footprint.

This is a huge public service and a tremendous boon to me, personally, because my endless chanting of the “eat-less-meat” mantra elicits plenty of puzzled looks from folks who can’t grasp the notion that a veggie-centric diet does more to reduce your greenhouse gas emissions than driving a hybrid car. I have been trying to get this message out for a while, now (which, in the interests of full disclosure, may be why Lappé put me on Take A Bite’s advisory council,) but now I can just say, “Go to takeabite.cc and see for yourself!”

Lappé is on a mission to liberate us from a food chain that relies on a systemic abuse of land, animals and people. Industrial agriculture is essentially a failed coup on Mother Earth, a tragically arrogant attempt to overrule the laws of nature, and now it’s coming back to bite us on our ever-expanding asses. It’s fouled our air, water and soil, spoiled our health and worsened global warming.

But Take A Bite’s raison d’etre is not to bum you out about the ecological disaster we call Agribiz; its purpose is to provide you with all the information and resources you need to lighten up your carbon footprint in the most delightful and delicious way. So thanks to Anna and her crew for stepping up to the solar-powered plate. Now even us Henny Pennys can look up and say, here comes the sun!

Give a man a steak, and you feed him for a day; give a man a cow, and you feed him for life? I’m paraphrasing, of course, but that’s pretty much the principle upon which Heifer International was founded, and the means by which this wonderful project feeds families the world over.

Heifer ‘s (live)stock in trade is a kind of microloan that you can milk. This anti-hunger initiative was the inspiration of Dan West, a relief worker and Midwestern farmer who had an epiphany back in 1944 while doling out cups of milk to hungry children. It dawned on West, faced with a surplus of kids and a shortage of milk, that “…these children don’t need a cup, they need a cow.”

Happily, West’s flash of inspiration was no flash in the milking pan; founded in 1944 as Heifers for Relief, the organization has evolved, over 60-odd years, into a powerhouse non-profit that’s nourished 7million people in more than 125 countries.

Credit Heifer’s “passing on the gift” concept for creating this impressive and inspiring achievement. A gift of a heifer is a gift that literally keeps on giving, as the calves mature and give birth to the next generation of heifers. This cycle of giving transforms recipients into givers, as they share the offspring with others in need.

Of course, in order for Heifer to keep feeding the needy, the not-so-needy need to feed Heifer’s coffers, which is why Organic Valley hosted an “Earth Dinner” fundraiser for Heifer at Manhattan’s Prince George Ballroom last night.

It was a swanky setting for a sustainable gala, and the food was naturally all-natural, i.e. organic and/or local, and lovingly prepared. The speakers, who included Organic Valley farmer Travis Forgues and the goddess of GRUB, food activist and author Anna Lappé, sang Heifer’s praises while we savored delicious chicken pot pies courtesy of the Cleaver Company, whose founder, Mary Cleaver, is a proud pioneer in the growing field of sustainable, socially conscious catering. As a bonus, the Cleaver Company created a heifer-shaped cookie cutter, a goody to give all the do-gooders in attendance.

As Anna Lappé wryly noted, Heifer is anything but a cookie-cutter kind of operation. From Appalachia to Zambia, Heifer tailors its projects to meet local needs and provide individuals with the resources to create self-reliant, sustainable communities.

Last night’s fundraiser focused on Heifer’s support for America’s family farmers, who’ve been all but plowed under while industrial agriculture and suburban sprawl deplete our soils and our souls. Sustain the family farms, and the family farms will sustain us.

Kind of a folksy message for a fancy fete, but that’s just the point, isn’t it? It takes a farmer to put food on your plate, whether your place settings are secondhand or Haviland.

And, in our case, it took our generous friend Claire, who shares Heifer’s “passing on the gift” philosophy, to give us entrée to the Earth Dinner. Unable to attend, she insisted on buying us tickets to go in her stead. Talk about passing on the gift! Thanks, Claire. I saved you a heifer-shaped cookie cutter.