Oxfam America's website has a feature article about Nelly Velandia, a Colombian farmer who is organizing farmer's markets in Bogota. Nelly is in Iowa right now attending the World Food Prize with several other international farmers. Learn more about Nelly and her project here

School Garden Project Grants Available

Know of a school in your district who could use $2000 to start or support their existing garden projects? The School Garden Grant Program, a collaboration between Whole Kids Foundation, Whole Foods Market and FoodCorps, can help. For more information about the grant application process, go here.

Stop Monsanto GM Corn from coming to your grocery store!

Food & Water Watch is currently circulating a petition that expresses concern about Genetically Modified corn being sold when Monsanto is legally allowed to distribute it next year. To learn more about the dangers of GM corn and/or to sign the petition, go here

Canning Power

Wonderful article with recipes about canning fruits and veggies on NPR. Check it out here

NPR story on Alice Waters

If you missed the story NPR did on Alice Waters, entitled http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif Alice Waters: 40 years of Sustainable Food you should check it out.

ABQ Cultural Conference

Action Corps' Organizers have been working with the Albuquerque Cultural Conference since this May to help make the conference more environmentally friendly and to include food justice & fair trade practices. One of our organizers, Shauna Osborn, is also giving a workshop called DIY Digital Activism: Using Alternative and Digital Media for Activism and Advocacy. Be sure to check out the event--many great activists and scholars will be in attendance.

The problem with biofuels...

Are biofuels the answer for our global oil addiction? Sadly, no. For a more detailed discussion about the problem with biofuel, check this out.

Oxfam Action Corp will be petitioning lawmakers to keep our crops for food, not fuel. To help, join us and Oxfam's GROW campaign.

Interested in Oxfam Action Corps?

Across the US, people are connecting with Oxfam America’s global reach and impact through the Oxfam Action Corps. Members of the Action Corps are leading a charge to improve
national legislation and deepen local community resources to fight poverty and injustice.

THE CHALLENGE OF WIDESPREAD POVERTY

Our global community

Forty percent of the people on our planet—more than 2.5 billion—live in poverty, struggling to survive on less than $2 a day. Poverty affects all aspects of people’s lives. For example, global climate change puts poor people at greater risk. Their homes are often least prepared to withstand the destructive force of an earthquake or a hurricane, and they have the fewest resources for recovery. In fact, 97 percent of all natural disaster-related deaths take place in developing countries.

An American perspective

Poverty is not just a crisis in the developing world. Although the US is one of the wealthiest countries, almost 37 million Americans live in poverty. When hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit the Gulf Coast in 2005, it exposed how inequitable life is right here at home. Like other poor people, Americans living in poverty are particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. The Oxfam Action Corps is working to change that.

The Oxfafam Action Corps

Creating solutions
The Oxfam Action Corps is a nonpartisan volunteer initiative. Active in more than a dozen cities nationwide, the Action Corps’s purpose is to inform, inspire, and mobilize public support for policies to end hunger, poverty, and social injustice in the US
and globally.

Solutions are within reach. As an influential nation with the one of world’s largest economies, the US is in a position where even small changes here can have a global impact. The Action Corps aims to organize those who are concerned and generate the political will for local and global solutions. We all have a part to play in resolving the crises of our time.

Making poverty reduction a priority

The Oxfam Action Corps aims to make poverty reduction a national priority. Members organize in their communities and meet with elected representatives to advocate for policy solutions. Their work is informed by Oxfam’s experience and insight in development and anti-poverty efforts in the US and overseas.

What NM Oxfam Action Corps Do:

• Raise public awareness through house parties and other events;
• Organize delegations of concerned people to visit with elected officials;
• Recruit Oxfam supporters at events and concerts;
• Work together with allied organization;
• Conduct petition drives and letter-writing campaigns.

For more information, please come to our next volunteer meeting--July 14th at 7pm at the Flying Star in Nob Hill (near the corner of Amherst and Central) or email us. We look forward to meeting you soon!

NM Foodshed Field School Report July 13

UNM students will showcase five original media pieces and lead a brief panel discussion regarding research projects they developed during their month studying New Mexico’s food systems. Join us for this special opportunity to gain insight into the state’s flourishing foodshed!

A diverse group of UNM students, including aspiring farmers, architects, teachers, biologists and nutritionists, came together this summer to explore New Mexico’s unique cultural and agricultural landscape and gain firsthand knowledge of the inner workings of the state’s foodshed. The inaugural class, supported by a two-year grant from the USDA Hispanic Serving Institutions program, consisted of 14 students and four instructors traveling across the state during the month of June to visit and learn from farmers, ranchers and communities committed to building and maintaining a thriving foodshed. The field school is based on a multidisciplinary, experiential approach; through observation and interaction with numerous agricultural mentors students strive to identify and invent career paths that will support the local food network.


For more information visit the UNM Foodshed Field School website: http://unmfoodshedfieldschool.wordpress.com/

DATE/TIME: Wed, July 13th, 9:00am-10:30am

LOCATION: MRCOG offices located at 809 Copper Ave NW

For more information: contact Ann Simon at (505) 724-3617 or at asimon@mrcog-nm.gov.

Why GROW?

Reason #1 and Reason #2 why it's important to change the food system

Table for 9 Billion Launch Event

NM Oxfam Action Corps were out spreading the word about the GROW Campaign last weekend in Nob Hill. We set up a table with information and GROW goodies in front of the La Montanita Co Op. We met some wonderful local ABQ folks who were committed to sustainability, organic agriculture, and food security. Lively conversations about ending hunger, population numbers, and NM activism paired with the amazing early June sun left us feeling energized and productive.

Thanks to La Montanita for giving us table space next to their organic herbs and seedlings, which totally fits with the new GROW Campaign.

A big thank you to everyone who came out and supported the event and the GROW Campaign! More local ABQ and Santa Fe events to come later this summer. Let us know if there's somewhere nearby you think we should show up!

Food. Justice. Planet. The Oxfam GROW Campaign

Our global food system is broken. One in seven people go to bed hungry every night. The new Oxfam GROW campaign is about building a better food system. One that feeds all people sustainably. One that empowers poor people to earn a living, feed their families, and thrive.

We're building a table for 9 billion. Join Oxfam and help make sure everyone has a seat at the table.

All of us, in this generation and the next, deserve enough to eat. To meet the needs of humankind and take pressure off the planet, we need to grow more fairly and sustainably and choose cooperation over division. Together, we can fight hunger by urging governments and companies to make smarter investments in agriculture and climate preparedness—investments that protect farmers living in poor and marginalized communities worldwide.

For More information about the GROW campaign, please visit the Oxfam Website.

Stay tuned for more information about how the New Mexico Oxfam Action Corps will be helping you end world hunger.

Oxfam Change.

Any undergrad students looking for a way to address poverty, hunger, and social injustice and support Oxfam on their campusApri?! Apply by l 1 to become an Oxfam CHANGE Leader!

http://oo.oxfamamerica.org/change/index.php/register/

Celebrate the 100th Anniversary of International Women’s Day

Rachel Carson:
The Wonder of Nature
Performed by Ann Beyke
Sunday, March 13, 3 pm
Albuquerque Mennonite Church
1300 Girard Blvd. NE
Rachel Carson was a marine biologist when few women dared even tread the water. Her lifelong love of nature and science led to research on how uncontrolled chemical use in our cities, towns and farming communities devastated wildlife and food sources. Silent Spring, her bestselling book on the topic, detailed this devastation and led to the eventual ban on the use of DDT in the United States. Carson’s work made environmentalism an integral part of our lives as she became the Mother of the Environmental Movement.
Enjoy Homemade Deserts and a silent auction for Earth items for Gardening and Eating as part of the event.
$10 suggested donation or 3 tickets for $25 if purchased by March 11. Tickets $12 at the door.
Checks payable to NM Interfaith Power and Light, PO Box 27162, Albuquerque, NM 87125.
Contact info@nm-ipl.org.
.
Sponsored by New Mexico Interfaith Power and Light and made possible by New Mexico Humanities Council and National Endowment for the Humanities and Department of Cultural Affairs of New Mexico

Mark Your Calendars: Albuquerque Offering of Letters Workshop

Saturday, March 12
St. Andrew Presbyterian Church
5301 Ponderosa Ave NEAlbuquerque, NM
9:30-Noon
Special Guests Speakers: Representatives from the local group Racine Kreyol Cultural Arts, who will tell us about relief efforts in Haiti in the aftermath of the earthquake in January 2010 Sarah Nezzer, local grassroots volunteer for Oxfam Action Corps, will tell us about Oxfam America's efforts related to foreign aid.
Learn more about the 2011 Offering of Letters Campaign.

Share strategies on letter-writing, worship, and other practical matters related to setting up an Offering of Letters at your church.
Please Join Us!
ABOUT THE CAMPAIGN
Bread's 2011 Offering of Letters will continue to push Congress and the administration toward U.S. foreign assistance that is more effective in reducing poverty. We will advocate for a stronger U.S. government focus on reducing poverty, clearer accountability for how aid dollars are spent, a transformed U.S. development agency, and U.S. aid that meets the needs and wants of local people.
The 2011 Offering of Letters campaign will continue to push Congress and the administration toward U.S. foreign assistance that is more effective in reducing global poverty.
We seek changes on four fronts:
A stronger U.S. government focus on reducing poverty.
Clearer accountability for how U.S. aid dollars are spent and their results.
A transformed U.S. development agency.
U.S. aid that meets the needs and wants of local people.
Resources
Where is U.S. foreign aid in action? Read stories from Haiti and Liberia.
Watch the Video
Download a copy of the Handbook in .pdf
Visit Offering of Letters Web site.
Listen to the Webinar from our western regional organizers

Originally Posted by: BreadNewMexico

Oxfam Action Corps 2011 Recruitment

Hey Everyone,
Oxfam America is currently in the process of recruiting new volunteers for 2011-2012. If you are interested in joining the Oxfam Action Corps or if you know someone that might be interested, please spread the word and sign up by February 14th at http://www.oxfamamerica.org/whatyoucando/oxfam-action-corps-application .
You will meet great people and work together to change laws that can save lives, defend the rights of women and farmers, and protect communities from 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.
This year, we will mobilize a political response to the urgent problem of global hunger. 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.oxfamamerica.org/whatyoucando/oxfam-action-corps-application .
Check out this video to see what we are all about: