Hopeful news on food and water

Bean burritos are such an easy supper. Would you like an easy guacamole to dress them up? Here it is:
Guacamole

I talked a bit about water conservation last time and must have been catching thought waves from Mary here in Portland, who sent me this article just before I wrote to you --- an interview with Moby on the California drought :"The Way We're Living is Stupid"
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/moby-on-california-drought-the...

Then Susan in Portland followed up by sending an article by Nicholas Kristof titled "Our Water-Guzzling Food Factory". He documents how much water it takes to grow our food, pointing the finger directly at animal agriculture as the major problem. I was pleased to see that the article appeared in the New York Times, suggesting that this kind of awareness is reaching the mainstream: http://nyti.ms/1FL7kEc

Looking at another side of the problem, the greenhouse-gas emissions caused by our food system, John in Texas sent an article with a novel approach --- "Replanting America: 90 Percent of What We Eat Could Come From Local Farms" by Dan Nosowitz. 90% is a fairly amazing statistic, based on research by J. Elliott Campbell and Andrew Zumkehr:

"Campbell thinks there’s a distinct connection between eating locally and tackling those farm-based emissions. The elephant in the room, he said, is the move from an animal-based diet to a plant-based one. Environmental and food scientists trying to reduce emissions are focused much more intently on that switch than on local food, but Campbell sees the two as related, largely because those who eat locally also tend to eat a much higher concentration of plants. “You walk into a farmers market and into a grocery store, and it’s like two different worlds, you know?” he said. “A grocery store has some vegetables hidden off to the side, and at a farmers market it’s all about the vegetables. That’s not a trivial issue.”
http://www.takepart.com/article/2015/06/01/everyone-could-eat-local?cmpi...

Just imagine all the land that could be converted from growing animal feed to growing vegetables. Let's hope this happens!

Last week Denis and I saw a preview of a new movie by two other Campbells, T. Colin Campbell of China Study fame and his son, Nelson, titled "Plant Pure Nation". They had an opportunity to do a pilot project in Kentucky demonstrating the health benefits of a vegan diet on a group of volunteers. Politics got in the way in Kentucky so they moved to a neighboring state, where they did the study several times with dramatic results. They then tried to have a statement on the health benefits of a plant-based diet recorded officially in the state legislature. It opened my eyes to the possibilities of such a move ---- official recognition could affect everything from school lunches to farm subsidies --- just imagine how quickly things could change! The film opens on July 4th and the plan is to form local groups (called pods) to take this on and push for it to happen in each state. Read all about it here: http://plantpurenation.com/

Reading and writing about all these things really cheers me up. There are so many good ideas taking shape in these times.

And then there is our own project. I hope someone will send a new recipe for next week!

Happy cooking,
Eve