Organic Boxes » campaigns

Organic Delivery to Schools

admin — Wed, 19 May 2010 10:56:30 +0000

Long ago I was involved with a local wholefood co-operative. About 20 of us clubbed together to order supplies from one of the big wholefood wholesalers once a month. People took turns hosting the supplies and everything was shared out. It was a great way to get cheap food, meet like-minded people and actually was quite good fun!
Now the Soil Association are encouraging people to do something similar through their local school. The idea is that a group can set up a school food co-op. The suggestion with the most educational value is that the pupils should run the group. I think this is a fantastic idea! There’s so much opportunity for great learning and children are far more likely to eat something they’ve been involved in buying.
You can get a handy pdf that gives you more information.

A school buying group makes fresh, local, ethically-
produced food more accessible to its members, and
supports local farmers by providing them with a local,
regular and reliable outlet. A school food co-op can also support other programmes such as Healthy Schools,
Eco Schools and Food For Life.

Food Inc. or How Your Organic Box Can Save The World

Linda — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 13:59:32 +0000

Food Inc. is a new film due out in the UK on February 12th and what it says about the spin used by US supermarkets to promote factory farming holds just as true here in the UK. Have a look at the trailer:

The film will be shown around the country and The Soil Association are looking for volunteers to hand out information and membership leaflets. You can find out the dates and book on the official Food Inc. site

The film is promoting 10 Things You Can Do to Change Our Food System but it’s very US orientated so I thought I’d do us a UK version:

10 Things You Can Do to Change Our Food System

Drink fewer sweetened fizzy drinks and cut down sugar in tea & coffee
Eating in is the new going out
Support moves to force fast food outlets to publish calorie and fat content information on menues
Get soft drinks machines removed from local schools
Meatless Mondays – go without meat for just 1 day a week
Buy organic where possible, when not possible go for sustainable local food
Protect family farms. Find your local Farmers Market and use it. Buy organic boxes direct from farms.
Make a point of knowing where your food comes from. READ THE LABELS!
Tell the government that food safety matters to you – join the Soil Association and support their campaigns.
Demand job protection for farm workers and food processors, including improved protection when using pesticides and other chemicals, and decent wages.

Swine Flu Pandemic – Regulate Factory Pig Farming

admin — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 07:06:11 +0000

Readers of the Organic Boxes blog may well know about the horrific conditions industrial factory farms keep their animals in. It’s not just a problem for the animals and meat consumers though. There’s increasing suspicion that the current triple hybrid H1N1 virus swine flu pandemic may well have originated in large scale pig farms in Mexico owned by an American multinational corporation in Veracruz.

An online petition by Avaaz.org calling for investigation and regulation of factory farms received more than 200,000 signatures in just six days and the organisers are now hoping to boost this number by at least another 50,000. If you would like to add your name to the petition go to http://www.avaaz.org/en/swine_flu_pandemic/98.php?cl_taf_sign=acd1e93cafc0032a88e9144ed9a4b065