“Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.” -Arundhati Roy
Can you believe 2018 is almost over? We’ve been deep in reflection this week thinking about everything we’ve done this year… and everything this year has done to us. We’re not going to sugarcoat it: it’s been a rough ride—from the near-constant climate-fueled disasters to racist rhetoric and attacks to the traumatic reminders that patriarchy is alive and well.
Sure we’ve got some battle scars—and loads of work to do. Yet looking around us at this food movement family, what we see more than ever is resilience, humor, and radical love. Far from feeling defeated, we’re feeling energized and hopeful heading into the New Year. (And in case you want some evidence there’s cause for hope, see here, here, here, and here).
In 2018, Real Food Media continued deepening our strategic partnerships, decoding corporate spin, and taking back control of the food narrative through media and storytelling.
Some highlights from our work this year include:
- completing the second full year of our monthly #realfoodreads podcast and book club and gifting Jahi Chappell’s book Beginning to End Hunger: Food and the Environment in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, and Beyond to nearly 100 Food Policy Council directors nationwide—along with information about the Good Food Purchasing Program;
- organizing a rapid response from allies around the world to denounce chemical giant DowDupont’s underwriting of an event on the future of food hosted by The Atlantic Live;
- using our event organizing expertise to reach thousands of people around the country and help elevate the work of movement allies like the rousing public event we hosted together with sustainability advocates from Hawai’i who this year won major victories in the fight to regulate the pesticide industry;
- writing or contributing to nearly two dozen opinion pieces, columns, and other media on our core themes of food, justice, and sustainability;
- sharpening the racial equity lens in our work processes and organizational culture through internal reflection and strategic planning as well as participating in monthly racial equity discussions as part of the HEAL Food Alliance; and
- continuing to provide communications strategy support to Good Food Purchasing Program partners, with 28 institutions currently participating in the Program at various stages, representing nearly $1 billion in annual food spending; we also celebrated the first county-wide adoption in Cook County, Illinois!
Click here to read our full 2018 Impact Report.
For all the sweat and grit, joy and tears, and muscle and grace that you bring to this movement of movements—thank you.
Here’s to continuing to work together toward another world in 2019.
Christina, Anna, Tiffani, and Tanya
Read the full issue of the Real Food Scoop
Header photo: Miguel Saucedo harvests produce at sunrise on Cottingham Farm in Easton, MD. The driving force behind Cottingham is to produce sustainably grown, locally distributed, and certified organic food. Photo by Keith Rutowski/Chesapeake Bay Program