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VERY IMPORTANT! PLEASE SHARE FAR AND WIDE!

Tomorrow, Wednesday, January 4th, US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand will be coming to the Bronx at Hostos Community College as part of her listening sessions for the upcoming ” Food and Farm Bill ”. This is an extremely important event for Bronxites in particular since we have the dubious distinction of being the poorest and unhealthiest and atrocious access to healthy and nutritious produce and vegetables that other areas in the state take for granted.

Please do share and if you can’t make it, send a friend, neighbor or relative in your place. I cannot begin to stress the importance of being there. I do have my reservation with the poor selection of time of day that the event will be held, which is 11am thus limiting the number of Bronxites who can attend. Maybe we can convince Senator Gillibrand to hold another session in the evening when it is more convenient for the working families in the Bronx?

**Spread the word!**

US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand will be coming to the Bronx on January 4th to hear community members’ concerns about the food system and seek input on how she can improve access to healthy, affordable through changes in the “Food and Farm Bill”.

We can have a say in how to make affordable healthy food more accessible in grocery stores, farmers markets, CSAs, and new market opportunities. Come out and let your voice be heard this Wednesday! See below for more detailed information.

United States Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand (NY) cordially extends this invitation to attend her upcoming Farm Bill Listening Session in New York City.

As Congress begins debating the next Farm Bill, Senator Gillibrand will continue her statewide agricultural listening sessions to gather input from local farmers and advocates.

As the first New Yorker to serve on the Senate Agriculture Committee in nearly 40 years, Senator Gillibrand plans to focus on a broad range of food policy and agricultural issues that are important to New York in the next Farm Bill, including nutrition, access to affordable healthy food, farmers markets, CSAs, organics, new market opportunities, assistance for dairy farms and specialty crops, and investments in renewable energy.

EVENT: Farm Bill Listening Session DATE: January 4, 2012 TIME: 11am PLACE: Hostos Community College, D Building 149th Street and Walton Avenue, Bronx Savoy Multipurpose Room on the 2nd Floor

Please RSVP to FarmBillNYC@Gillibrand.Senate.Gov

**Save The Date – Bronx Food and Sustainability Coalition meeting – February 2012 **

Today, on May Day, I have decided to chronicle my journey as a South Bronx resident who is trying to be green including but not limited to eating healthy and in a green fashion.

Why May 1st? Well I decided to take advantage of today’s first ever, Bronx Food Summit which brought together people from all ends of the spectrum to bring the issues of food justice to the spotlight as well as issues of sustainability. Even more overwhelming was the sheer number of the public which came to the event thirsting for the knowledge to learn how they can do their part.

The Bronx has been undeserved in so many areas especially when it comes to food.  Have you ever asked yourself why areas of higher income have access to great produce and better food selections? Are you aware that this great food is already in the Bronx? There are many distributors located in Hunts Point and they won’t even deliver to the Bronx – the same borough they operate out of!

Speaking of which, did you know that Fresh Direct will only deliver to Riverdale but not the Bronx? If that wasn’t enough of an insult to Bronxites, they have now expanded delivery to Westchester County but won’t make stops through the neighborhoods which they pollute with their trucks zipping by to get to the third wealthiest county in the country.

I truly hope that my daily journeys  for a year, struggling to be a better citizen of our planet in the poorest congressional district of our nation, can serve as an inspiration and a wake up call that food justice, being green and the welfare of our environment is in our hands, in your hands and not government or big corporations…let’s reconnect with our farmers, our local community gardens and neighborhoods to become a sustainable society versus a wasteful one.

-Green Bronx Guy

(all photographs were taken at Hostos Community College on May 1st, 2010 for the first ever, Bronx Food Summit)