Asked what we as individuals can do to help solve the climate crisis, most of us could recite these eco-friendly mantras from memory: Change our light bulbs! Drive less! Choose energy-efficient appliances! Food rarely enters the climate conversation, though this is beginning to change. Awareness about how our dietary choices contribute to the crisis crisis, especially our appetite for meat, is on the rise.

Indeed, industrial meat and dairy production alone are responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than all of the world’s transportation combined. And industrial farming—which largely produces animal feed, biofuels, industrial materials, and unhealthy food products and food additives—is a big part of the problem too. With its reliance on synthetic fertilizers, fossil fuels, and petroleum-based chemicals, the industrial food system contributes at least one third of all greenhouse gas emissions.

And those who contribute least to the climate crisis are those who suffer disproportionately from its impacts. Low-income countries and communities are the most vulnerable to increasingly powerful storms and droughts, pollution-related health effects like respiratory illness, diseases caused by temperature shifts, crop loss and food insecurity, and conflicts intensified by a changing climate.

Unfortunately, many proposed solutions to climate change—like carbon trading or genetically modified crops—fail to address the root cause of both climate change and vulnerability: a system that accumulates profits for a handful of corporations and individuals at the expense of the majority of the world’s people and environments.

With a problem this big, can becoming vegetarian or eating organic help to solve it? Yes and no. Without a doubt, dietary change has to be part of the solution. North Americans and Europeans currently eat a whopping 183 pounds of meat (mainly beef, pork, and chicken) per year, with devastating impacts on the environment, not to mention public health and animal welfare. But unless we put a stop to the massive corporate subsidies that favor industrial agriculture—and shift support towards energy-saving, real-food-producing, and biodiversity-enhancing agroecology—we have little hope of making a dent.

Luckily, there is hope. And that hope lies in building movements for just and sustainable community-based food systems that can take on corporate power and heal the planet. People are already doing it!

The resources in this toolkit will help you organize a fun and engaging film viewing event that highlights local and global initiatives for food & climate justice, exposes corporate greenwashing, and inspires people to join the movement.

The post Organizing Toolkit: Tackling Climate Change through Food appeared first on Real Food Media.

Across the country and around the world, people are asking important questions about their food: Where did it come from? How was it produced? And these questions are sparking conversations, movements, and policy changes with far-reaching impacts on our health and environment. Many people are also taking steps to grow their own food or buy organic for their family. But is that an option for everyone? And is it enough? What can we do to make sure the food system works for everyone?

If we believe that healthy, affordable, delicious food is a human right (and we do!), we have to ask not only where and how our food is grown, but who is behind our food. In the United States, over 21 million people work in “food chain” jobs, growing, harvesting, processing, butchering, transporting, preparing, selling, and serving food. Maybe you even work in the food system or have at one point in your life.

It’s no exaggeration to say that the food system as it currently exists does not work for food workers. Eight out of ten of the lowest-paying jobs in the country are food system jobs. While bringing food to consumers’ tables, many food workers can’t access safe and nutritious food themselves due to poverty wages. Women and workers of color are especially vulnerable to exploitation and workplace abuses, and undocumented immigrants are often afraid to speak up due to fear of deportation.

By choosing to consume food that was produced using fair labor practices, we can grow market demand for worker justice. We can—and should—also go beyond “voting with our forks” by supporting worker-led organizations and campaigns that are fighting for higher wages, fair contracts, the right to organize, safe workplaces, and protection from harassment.

The resources in this toolkit will help you organize a fun and engaging film viewing event and help participants understand why worker justice is a necessary part of food system change.

The post Organizing Toolkit: Building Power With Food Workers appeared first on Real Food Media.

Industrial agriculture and processed food corporations are flooding supermarket shelves with seemingly endless choice. But this abundance of packaged products and sugary drinks is deceiving. In reality, we lack real choice: the choice for fresh, local, and far more nutritious foods.

Around the world, roughly 2 billion people are overweight, consuming too many calories from unhealthy sources driving a global public health crisis. One of the biggest culprits? Sugar and sugary drinks pushed by a handful of big corporations, with Coca-Cola and PepsiCo in the lead. These brands, which many have dubbed Big Soda, spend billions every year on a range of marketing and political tactics—including advertising, lobbying, and free trade agreements—to expand their reach in the United States and around the world.

These tactics are reminiscent of the tobacco industry’s decades-long fight against regulation and public education about the dangers of smoking. Like Big Tobacco, Big Soda has a vested interest in increasing sugary drink consumption despite the tragic and costly public health consequences. Like the tobacco industry, Big Soda markets aggressively, especially to young people and communities of color.

The good news? People power everywhere is taking on Big Soda. Strategies like soda tax campaigns, spearheaded by the communities most affected by health disparities, are spreading and making big wins. As part of a range of community-based strategies to reclaim our food systems, soda taxes have been successful in reducing consumption and generating revenues to support public health.

The resources in this toolkit will help you organize a fun and engaging film-based event, shine a light on Big Soda’s tactics, explore people-powered strategies, and offer ideas to counter Big Soda’s influence in our lives.

Photo by Andy Schultz/Flickr

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We wish them another awesome Film Fest and are proud to share that this year’s program includes three 2016 Real Food Film Winners:

The 2016 Grand Prize Winner Home Flavored

In this powerful and poignant portrait of a Latino American family, award winning Youth Speaks poet Monica Mendoza tells the haunting story of how corporations continue to colonize the bodies of her culture and how to we can return to our roots. Directed by Jamie Wolf, written by Monica Mendoza and produced by Youth Speaks.

Home Flavored | 2016 Real Food Films Winner from Real Food Media on Vimeo.

The 2016 winner for Best Producer Profile, Farmed with Love

Fed up with food safety problems in China, a mother in Shanghai returns to the farm to help rebuild her trust in the local food system through organic farming. Directed by Wang Yu and produced by Li Yang.

Farmed with Love | 2016 Real Food Films Winner from Real Food Media on Vimeo.

The 2016 Grand Prize Runner up and winner of best cinematography, Naturali Tea

Beyond water, tea is the number one consumed beverage in the world. An organic Japanese tea farmer with over three decades of experience shows that soil health is essential for the environment and the future of tea. Directed by Jeremy Seifert and produced by Aaron Stair.

Naturali Tea | 2016 Real Food Films Winner from Real Food Media on Vimeo.

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The afternoon kicked off at Silent Funny, a living and breathing arts space and community hub in Chicago’s West Humboldt Park. Before the screening, participants explored the industrial space including a series of rooms filled with a variety of mixed media art works. Nearly 40 of us gathered for the screening with opening remarks by Whitney Richardson, the Logan Square Market manager and Kris De la Torre, our Chicago based Programs and Communications manager. The screening was followed by a discussion of food issues and initiatives in the Chicago area before we walked the two short blocks to Metropolitan Farm.

Benjamin Kant, Founder/CEO of Metropolitan Farms dropping some knowledge.

At Metropolitan Farm we were met with a warm welcome by Benjamin Kant, the Founder/CEO. Ben shared his tremendous knowledge about the science and art of raising tilapia and growing nutritious greens in the middle of an industrial corridor. The farm’s mission is to grow fresh food in the city – right where it is eaten. By doing so, they hope their work will result in a healthier, more secure and environmentally sustainable food system. They are an aquaponic facility built over concrete, converting a vacant industrial site into a productive growing space. The event wrapped up with delicious snacks by Chef in the Hood including tilapia and watercress greens from the farm. We were thrilled to participate in such an inclusive community-driven event. Thanks to everyone who was able to make it and to Logan Square Farmers Market for hosting a great afternoon.

If you feel inspired to host your own Pop-Up Film Fest get in touch! We offer plenty of resources to plan your own film fest, big or small. 

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CONTACT:

Christina Bronsing-Lazalde
Director of Programs + Partnerships
Real Food Media
christina@realfoodmedia.org
773.808.6737

Real Food Media Announces Winners of 2016 Food and Farming Short Film Competition 

Award-Winning Films That Stir Hearts, Minds, and Action for a Better Food System

SAN FRANCISCO — May 2, 2016 — A stunning diversity of food and farming stories win top honors in the third annual Real Food Films Contest, the food movement’s first and only competition for short films about sustainable food and farming. Founded by author and advocate Anna Lappé, the Real Food Films Contest received 160 submissions from 20 countries this year. Films were required to be four minutes or under and feature original voices that lift up underreported stories at the heart of the food movement. Film styles ranged from documentaries to advocacy films to spoken word poetry shorts. Real Food Films’ prestigious panel of judges—including Padma Lakshmi, author Raj Patel, James Beard Foundation’s Susan Ungaro, and chef Tom Colicchio—selected the prizes from the top ten finalists.

The 2016 Grand Prize winner is Home Flavored a haunting story of how soda companies impact the lives of Latino families in the United States. Contest judge, Raj Patel, described the film as a “powerful fusion of slam poetry, documentary, essay, argument and anthropology. I couldn’t keep my eyes off the screen, and couldn’t wait to hear the next line… It’s the kind of filmmaking that’ll get food issues to a far wider audience.”

Directed by Jamie DeWolf from Oakland, California, Home Flavored features spoken word poet Monica Mendoza and was produced with The Bigger Picture, a collaboration between Youth Speaks and the University of California San Francisco Center for Vulnerable Populations designed to combat the epidemic of Type 2 Diabetes by empowering youth to change the conversation.

Real Food Films media partners — the James Beard Foundation, Slow Food USA, Vimeo among others — will promote the 10 finalist films online and at in-person events around the country. All the films are free to watch online or at more than 50 Pop-Up Film Fests to be hosted around the country. The entire Real Food Films library, of more than 70 captivating short films, is viewable at realfoodfilms.org. 

Additional Prizes include:

First Runner Up + Best Cinematography: Naturali Tea | Jeremy Seifert, Aaron Stair
Fujieda, Japan
After water, tea is the number one consumed beverage in the world. An organic Japanese tea farmer with over three decades of experience shows that soil health is essential for the environment and the future of tea.

Lens On Hunger Award: Everybody Eats | Justinian Dispenza, Tanner Presswood
Boone, North Carolina
Addressing hunger with dignity, pay-as-you-can cafes are popping up across the world. This film tells the story of one innovative, and delicious, alternative to conventional hunger relief efforts and reveals the resiliency and compassion of community at the same time.

People’s Choice Award + Best Student Film: Beyond the Seal | Leah Varjacques and Katherine Nagasawa
El Oro Province, Ecuador
Beyond the Seal peels back our understanding on the most eaten fruit in the United States–the banana–uncovering its toxic production and the people behind a movement to change the industry.

Best Underreported Issue: Saving Sap | Ian Maclellan, Eloise Reed, Dylan Ladds
Loudon, New Hampshire
A story of how climate change touches food, Saving Sap tells the tale of maple syrup tapping in New England and efforts to adapt to a warming world.

Best Food Producer Profile: Farmed with Love | Wang Yu, Li Yang
Shanghai, China
Fed up with food safety problems in China, a mother in Shanghai returns to the farm to help rebuild her trust in the local food system through organic farming.

Best Innovative Initiative: The Kelly Street Garden | Alison Hall Kibbe, Rebecca Scheckman, Sasha Phyars-Burgess, Seyi Adebanjo, Tiana Thomas, Rosalba Lopez Ramirez
South Bronx, New York City
Can a group of dedicated residents rebuild trust and community connections? The Kelly Street Garden in New York City’s South Bronx shows what’s possible when individuals dig deep and commit to transforming neighborhoods through art, wellness – and fresh, healthy food.

Best Animation: Save the Bees | Marta Topolska, Mark Mos
United States
Bees are responsible for one in three bites of food we eat. They are key to healthy ecosystems, plants and agriculture. This short animation tells the story behind dwindling bee populations, and asks us to take action.

ABOUT REAL FOOD FILMS

Real Food Films sparks conversation about food, farming, and sustainability around the world through an international film competition and engaging public events. Real Food Films is an initiative of the Real Food Media, harnessing media and storytelling to educate, inspire and grow the movement for sustainable food and farming via this online film Contest, grassroots events, a web-based action center and strategic partnerships. Follow us on Twitter @realfoodfilms, Instagram @realfoodmedia and like us on Facebook at Real Food Media.

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Although the in-person film vote was split, we are certain everyone agreed that the snacks and drinks provided by our friends Alta Salsa, Sweetgreen, Shrub & Co., House Kombucha and St. George Spirits were winners all-around.

Thank you to our event partners Real Food Real Stories, Berkeley Food Institute, UC Berkeley GradFood, Student Organic Garden Association, The Berkeley Student Food Collective and the Bay Area Book Festival; our media sponsor, Civil Eats; and our incredible hosts at the David Brower Center.

Just in case you missed the evening, you can still host your own Pop-Up Film Fest using our finalist reel and Screening and Action Guide. All of the information is available for free here.

Finally, a huge thank you to Youth Speaks, the Bigger Picture and Gabriel Cortez for providing us with an amazing start to the evening — See below for Gabriel in action!

“Perfect Soldiers” – Gabriel Cortez {The Bigger Picture Project} from Wolf and Holmes Studios on Vimeo.

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From here, we’ll be tapping our advisors for feedback as we narrow down the Top 10 Finalists by April 1 before we send on to our all-star judges panel.

Until then, you can gather your own judges panel / potluck / picnic to watch and vote on this year’s finalists: Sign up to host a Pop-Up Film Fest in April! All hosts and audiences during the month of April will be able to cast your votes for People’s Choice Award and will be entered to win fun real food freebies from cookbooks to DVDs to popcorn and art projects for your events.

Thanks for all being a part of building an incredible community of real food storytellers, media makers and a library of soon to be 70+ films these past three years. Stay tuned for April 1!

Big gratitude,
Anna, Christina, Fiona, and Annie
Real Food Media

The post Submissions Are In… And We’re Just Getting Started appeared first on Real Food Media.

The Gift chronicles Canadian farmer and seed pioneer Dan Janson. Poetically filmed and directed by Jean-Marc Abela, this short film is a poignant reminder of beauty hidden in the smallest places.

With Valentine’s Day nipping at our heels, surrounded by temptations of far-flung diamonds or flowers, this film is a Zen-like prompt to slow down and focus on the gifts all around us. The diminutive nature of seeds masks their power: As Janson recounts with awe, one Amaranth plant can house a quarter of a million seeds.

Janson asks viewers to pause and think of the humble seed grower, the individuals quietly keeping biodiversity alive. According to the Harvard School of Public Health, just twelve seed varieties supply three quarters of the food that nourishes the planet—a scary sign of biodiversity loss. Janson and his comrades around the world—these heroic seed savers—are trying to reverse this troubling trend.

Instead of that box of chocolate or a dangly delight, we advocate for giving the gift of seeds to your loved ones this February, and passing on the gift of life. For some great ideas, visit Janson’s website saltspringseeds.com.

This piece is part of a series in partnership with Food & Wine Magazine.

Photo by Jean Marc-Abela

The Gift | 2014 Real Food Media Contest Winner from Real Food Media on Vimeo. 

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The Real Food Films team was thrilled to see Stephen Ritz, of Green Bronx Machine, featured as one of National Public Radio’s 50 Great Teachers.

Listen to the NPR piece, and to watch Mr. Ritz and his students in action. And check out the 2014 film from the Real Food Films archive, winner of the People’s Choice category!

The post Real Food Films Hero Featured on National Public Radio appeared first on Real Food Media.