There are many organizations in the Bay Area at the forefront of the food movement.
1. INFORMATION
Food First in Oakland is set up "to eliminate the injustices that cause hunger" by building local agricultural food systems. http://www.foodfirst.org/en/viewtax/term/82
The California Food and Justice Coalition promotes the basic human right to healthy food while advancing social, agricultural, environmental and economic justice priorities. Through advocacy, organizing and education, they collaborate with community-based efforts to create a sustainable food supply for the residents of California. This is a great organization to tap into to stay abreast of state and federal legislation. http://cafoodjustice.org/about/mission-history/
The San Mateo County Food Systems Alliance and the Santa Clara County Food Systems Alliance address local food issues to the county. SMCFSA is working on:
• Promoting integrated health and nutrition education programs at all local elementary schools.
• Enhancing the connection between local producers and large institutional buyers of food.
• Encouraging increased local food production by looking at land use patterns in the County.
http://aginnovations.org/alliances/sanmateo/ http://aginnovations.org/alliances/santaclara/
The Stanford Center for The Ethics of Food and the Environment Is a good place to hear of the larger issues surrounding food. Michael Pollan was a past speaker at this series. http://ethicsinsociety.stanford.edu/ethics-events/food-environment/past-...
http://www.amazon.com/Continuous-Productive-Urban-Landscapes-Viljoen/dp/0750655437
Continuously Productive Urban Landscapes: Designing urban agriculture for sustainable communities by Editor Andre Viljoen. Elservier Architectural Press, Oxford UK. 2005, Greening the city with local food production and distribution are important for sustainability.
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2014/02/26/1313490111.full.pdf+html
Publication from PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences) on the threats emerging from the homogenized food supply: Increasing homogeneity in global food supplies and the implications for food security
http://sf.streetsblog.org/2009/09/24/a-vision-for-transforming-san-franciscos-unaccepted-streets/
This project, by Nicholas de Monchaux, urbanist, architect, and critic, professor in the College of Environmental Design, Berkeley, uses citizen participation to conceive a new, more public infrastructure through community gardens on discarded land --a robust network of urban greenways with tangible benefits to the health and safety of every citizen.
http://courses.umass.edu/greenurb/2006/kzaltzberg/index.html
Keith Zaltzberg's 2006 summary of West Philadelphia Landscape Project started by Anne Spirn.
http://wplp.net/projects/landscapeliteracy.php
Anne Spirn: "For public officials and community residents alike, the inability to 'read' the landscape prevents them from understanding the risks and opportunities posed by the urban watershed. WPLS's landscape literacy projects have helped people to read a deep understanding of how their own neighborhood came to be and the forces that continue to shape it and to envision what it might become."
http://islandpress.org/ip/books/book/islandpress/R/bo3561751.html
Restoring Streams in Cities: A Guide for Planners, Policymakers, and Citizens by Ann L. Riley; Foreword by Luna B. Leopold, Island Press, Washington DC 1998. Conventional engineering solutions to problems of flooding and erosion are extremely destructive to natural environments. Restoring Streams in Cities presents viable alternatives to traditional practices that can be used both to repair existing ecological damage and to prevent such damage from happening.
http://www.amazon.com/California-Rivers-Streams-Conflict-Between/dp/0520202503
California Rivers and Streams: The Conflict Between Fluvial Process and Land Use Paperback by Jeffrey F. Mount, University of California Press Berkeley, 1995
Jeffrey Mount introduces relevant basic principles of hydrology and geomorphology and applies them to an understanding of the differences in character of the state's many rivers. He then builds on this foundation by evaluating the impact on waterways of different land use practices—logging, mining, agriculture, flood control, urbanization, and water supply development.
Organic Consumers Association needs your help.
http://organicconsumersfund.org/label/
Donate: http://organicconsumersfund.org/donate/
Volunteer: http://organicconsumersfund.org/label/
"Farm 2 Schools"
The Hayward Unified School district has implemented a Farm2School program
http://www.localharvest.org/hayward-unified-school-district-farm-to-scho...
Finally the San Mateo Food Systems Alliance has a program to enhance the connection between local producers and large institutional buyers of food like schools.
http://aginnovations.org/alliances/sanmateo/
http://www.foodfirst.org/en/viewtax/term/82
Food First in Oakland is set up "to eliminate the injustices that cause hunger" by building local agricultural food systems.
http://cafoodjustice.org/about/mission-history/
The California Food and Justice Coalition promotes the basic human right to healthy food while advancing social, agricultural, environmental and economic justice priorities. Through advocacy, organizing and education, they collaborate with community-based efforts to create a sustainable food supply for the residents of California. This is a great organization to tap into to stay abreast of state and federal legislation
http://aginnovations.org/alliances/sanmateo/ http://aginnovations.org/alliances/santaclara/
The San Mateo County Food Systems Alliance and the Santa Clara County Food Systems Alliance address local food issues to the county. SMCFSA is working on:
• Promoting integrated health and nutrition education programs at all local elementary schools.
• Enhancing the connection between local producers and large institutional buyers of food.
• Encouraging increased local food production by looking at land use patterns in the County.
http://ethicsinsociety.stanford.edu/ethics-events/food-environment/past-...
The Stanford center for The Ethics of Food and the Environment Is a good place to hear of the larger issues surrounding food. Michael Pollan was a past speaker at this series.
http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/pollinators/documents/AttractingPollinatorsV5.pdf
Even a small backyard garden can make a big difference. Gardening connects us to nature and helps us better understand how nature works. This guide will help you create a pollinator-friendly garden.
http://baynature.org/articles/bees-butterflies-and-other-insect-pollinators/
Bay nature on pollinators.