Resources

We thought we were riding high when Amy Mayer detailed her work with teachers, students and volunteers at Littlebrook Elementary to create the second annual garden celebration in honor of Food Day on October 24. Then, we learned from Stu Orefice, executive director of campus dining at Princeton University, that he was serving up butternut squash at all dining service venues on that day, too.

It made perfect sense to build on both. So we made a few calls to chefs, restaurateurs and food-based businesses who partner with us, and voila! We used Food Day to build community around good food and the the national event which is now in its second year.

Chef Rob Harbison, at PU, is working with Stu, ensuring that students from Frist Campus Center to Mathey College Dining Hall and all points in between will be served this delicious autumnal vegetable that is packed with Vitamin A and rich in Vitamin C, potassium and fiber.

Cindy Hill, dining services director for Princeton Public Schools, is serving up butternut squash at all four elementary schools, and students at John Witherspoon Middle School and Princeton High School will be treated to squash from New Jersey’s M. Dottavio Farm. (cindy_hill@monet.prs.k12.nj.us).

Wildflour Cafe, in Lawrenceville, will celebrate Food Day – and squash season – with a gluten free flatbread pizzette topped with roasted butternut squash, roasted garlic, and goat cheese, said Marilyn Besner, restaurant owner. (marbesner@hotmail.com)

Look for other participants either selling or serving butternut squash in the Get Squashed: Food Day 2013 campaign by the display of this poster (and speak up when you go there, in appreciation!).

Among them:

John Marshall and Main Street Bistro; Christopher Albrecht at Eno Terra; Raoul and Carlo Momo of Terra Momo Bread Company, Teresa Caffe and Mediterra; Jack Morrison of Witherspoon Grill, Nassau Street Seafood, Blue Point Grill; Josh Thomsen of Agricola; Lori Rabon of Nassau Inn; Alex Levine of Whole Earth Center; Aishling Stevens of Americana Diner; Steve Carney of McCaffrey’s; and Gab Carbone of the bent spoon.

We scooped Bent Spoon’s Princeton School Gardens chocolate-rosemary ice cream as dessert for the Corner House/Princeton University’s Community Dinner under the stars that coincided with the second annual Food Day nationwide. The event drew about 300 people, most of whom were given white T-shirts to help carry out a white theme.

For inspiration, a call to arms and gatherings of well-mannered rabblerousers, look no further than the Princeton Environmental Film Festival, which begins January 26 and runs for three consecutive four-day weekends.

Hosted by the Princeton Public Library and now in its sixth year, the event is coordinated by librarian Susan Conlon and other community volunteers.

There's a meal — Sustainable Princeton's Great Ideas Breakfast, Friday, Feb. 10, 8:30 a.m. — and there are several films that are of interest to the good food crowd. If you're unable to attend a screening, no worries, says Ms. Conlon – most of these DVDs are available at the library.

"Shellshocked: Saying Oysters to Save Ourselves," Saturday, Jan. 28, 12:30 p.m. Follows efforts to prevent extinction of wild oyster reefs, which have been declared 'the most severely impacted marine habitat on Earth' and no longer play a role in ocean ecosystems.

"Rescuing the Raritan," Saturday, Jan. 28, 2 p.m. Tells the story of the Raritan River, a source of water for more than a million people in New Jersey, its contamination and how government agencies, corporations, environmentalists, developers, scientists and lawyers have clashed over cleanup. Followed by a Q&A with filmmaker Eric Schultz.

"Food Stamped," Sunday, Jan. 29, 1 p.m. Follows a couple as they attempt to eat a healthy, well-balanced diet on a food stamp budget. Along the way, they consult with members of Congress, food justice organizations, nutrition experts and people living on food stamps for a deep look at America’s food system. Panel discussion follows, featuring Julia Hicks de Peyster, who attempted to feed her family of five on the allotted food stamp budget for forty days; Crisis Ministry of Princeton and Trenton's Hunger Prevention Director Mark Smith; and moderator Liz Cohen of Yes We CAN! Food Drives, which supports the Crisis Ministry.

"Sola, Louisiana Water Stories," Thursday, Feb. 2, 7 p.m. Water stories from Southern Louisiana (SoLa) which supports the biggest economies in Louisiana – a $63 billion-a-year oil and gas industry and a $200 million-a-year fishing business, in addition to tourism and recreational sports — and is home to some insidious polluters along "Cancer Alley," a 100-mile-long stretch of the Mississippi known as “Cancer Alley," the world’s largest Dead Zone and erosion that is costing the coastline 25 square miles of wetlands a year. Q&A with director Jon Bowmaster will follow.

"Call of Life," Friday, Feb. 3, 4 p.m. Investigates growing threat posed by rapid and massive loss of biodiversity on the planet. Caused by human activity, this contemporary mass extinction, is disrupting and destroying the complex, interconnected biological systems that support life on earth. Its primary drivers are habitat destruction, global warming, pollution, and invasive species, all compounded by the expanding human population and our consumption patterns. Q&A with executive producer David Ulansey to follow.

"The Clean Bin Project," Saturday, Feb. 4, 4 p.m. Jen and Grant compete to see who can produce the least landfill garbage in an year. Their light-hearted contest is set against a darker examination of waste in the U.S. and the large-scale environmental impacts of a throw-away society.

"Mother: Caring for 7 Billion," Sunday, Feb. 5, 4 p.m. Examines population growth, which fuels our most pressing environmental, humanitarian and social crises. Grounded in theories of social scientist Riane Eisler, the film strives to highlight a different path for humanity – one of nurturing rather than conquering, or domination.

"Urban Roots," Friday, Feb. 10, 10:30 a.m. Explores the urban farming phenomenon in Detroit, addressing the epidemic of collapsed industrial towns and the need to forge a sustainable and prosperous future.

"Truck Farm," Saturday, Feb. 11, 4 p.m. Using green-roof technology and heirloom seeds, Ian Cheney plants a vegetable garden on the only land he has: his Granddad’s old pick-up truck. Once the mobile garden begins to sprout, viewers are trucked across New York to see the city’s funkiest urban farms, and to find out if America’s largest city can learn to feed itself. Q&A with director Ian Cheney follows.

Short Films and Talk on Ocean Habitat Conservation, Sunday, Feb. 12, 3 p.m. Stan Waterman, a legendary underwater photographer, filmmaker and diver, and Carrie Manfrino, director of research and conservation for the Central Caribbean Marine Institute, return to the Princeton Environmental Film Festival to discuss their work and share some of their films and stories.

Explore greenhouse gas emissions – minus those from agriculture, transportation or forestry, which are not required to report them in detail, at http://ghgdata.epa.gov/ghgp/main.do. The data, which were drawn from 6,157 sources and are current through 2010, covered nearly 80 percent of the country’s greenhouse gases from large industrial sources.

To understand money’s influence on politics, use the searchable database of Maplight at http://maplight.org/. Search by bills, legislators, interest groups, contributions and companies. It’s interesting to note, for example, that the National Beer Wholesalers Association has contributed $7,108,000 to members of the House and Senate and has taken a position on nine bills before Congress, making it fourth behind the National Association of Realtors, AT&T and Honeywell.